BX 6275 .E92 v. 2 Evans, B. The early English Baptists THE BUNYAN LIBRARY: FOR THE rUELICATIOX AND KEPUBLICATIOX OF STAXDARD WORKS BY EMINENT BAPTIST AUTHORS. VOL. VIII. THE EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS.— Vol. IL THE EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. VOL. II. B. EVANS, D.D. LONDON: J. HEATON & SON, 42, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1864. LONDON : PRINTED BY J. HILVTON AND SON, PATERNOSTEK EOV/. PREFACE. Only a very few words arc necessary in introducing this volume to the attention of the reader. He will find in the preface to the former one the principles which have guided me, and the end I have had in view in writing this work. The few sentences I pen belong to the apologetic class. When I consented to prepare a sketch of Early Baptist History for the BuNYAN Library, I had no idea that it would swell into its present magnitude. As the work progressed, the materials multiplied; but I hoped that, by condensation, the present volume would exhaust my resources. Many of the incidents which form the staple of the works of my prede- cessors, have been reduced in this work to the narrowest bounds. I have done what, honestly and justl}^, I could do. Much that is new and illustrative of our history lies unused before me. The volume might have been enlarged greatly; but at some cost of feeling I have steadily checked this, and omitted much whiclv might have given something like com- pleteness to my outline. I have felt the evil of writing to order. My work is necessarily incomplete. Under other chapters, much would be introduced which forms an important element in Baptist history. Whether tlie outline already sketched in tlie first volume will vi PREFACE. ever be completed, it is not for me to say. It rests with the publishers, and perhaps with the subscribers, to determine if a third volume shall make a part of the Bun VAN Library. I regret this necessity. I have done what I could to escape from it; and I now leave it with my readers to judge, after reading the volume, how far I could have avoided this result. I await their decision without alarm. Grateful for the kind- ness with which the former volume was received, I venture to hope that the present will. not be found unworthy of the same favour. Only in one instance have I been censured for failure — not in what I enga- ged to do, but for not doing more than I promised, and indeed felt that any one could do. My work, says my re\dewer, should have been a history, not a sketch. Indeed! The opinion shows the utter incompetency of this gentleman to sit in the critic's chair, and satisfies me that he is profoundly ignorant of the matter on which he writes. I repeat again, what he knows to be true, if he knows anything about it, that the history of the Baptists cannot yet be wi'itten. I have read much ; I have added here and there a fragment to the labours of my predecessors; but there are masses of still unexplored materials which, when examined, will throw much light on the character and principles of our brethren during the period over which these volumes have carried my readers. The libraries at Lambeth, at Sion College, Red Cross Street, the British Museum, and the State Paper Office, con|^in hundreds of volumes of MSS. never yet examined for this end. Only at some of them have I glanced, but the mass are yet untouched by us. I advert to this, not for the sake of controverting this dictum of my reviewer — I am not troubled at it; but mainly, if possible, to excite the PREFACE. Vil attention of my brethren to this course of investiga- tion. Many might easily do what it would take the life of one man to accomplish. A sample of this was given in the Baptist Magazine only a few months ago; and ft lis is only a specimen of the wealth which is yet unexplored by us. If Nonconformists would employ some competent persons to investigate these hidden sources of their history, the church and the nation would be alike benefited by it. I hope to aid in this; and, if spared, to render at some future time this work more worthy of the body to illustrate whose progress it has been professedly devoted. I have only to add, what indeed justice to myself demands, that it is possible here and there an error may be detected, especially in the notes. I am not aware that it is so; but as most of this volume has been corrected, and no small portion of it written, whilst travelling about the country, far from my books, the probability may be in that direction. I owe no apology for the time at which the volume is published. B. EVANS. Scarborough, August, 1864. CONTEiNTS. Preface ..... V CHAPTER I. CHARLES THE FIEST. The Character of the Monarch at liis Accession to the Throne 1 Parties iu the State .... 3 The Coronation .... 5 The Church— Abbott .... 7 Laud— his influence 9 The condition of the people 12 Tlie morals of the Clergy . 14 The Puritan element .... 18 The prevalence of Baptist principles 20 Letters to the Diitch Churches . . / 21 The mode of Baptism ol 53 54 Church at Stoney Stratford The conflict of the Commons with the Kirig . 57 The Second Parliament GO The Third Parliament .... 62 Elevation of Laud to the Primacy . 05 His policy ..... (38 The Star Chamber — Nonconformist sufferings 71 Piise of Particular Baptists 75 Influence of the Laudian School . 80 Nonconformists emigrate to Holland . S3 Episcopacy and the Scottish Chiu-cli 85 Baptists in Wales .... 88 in England .... 89 CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. THE CIVIL W.\B. State of parties .... The feeling in the Commons' House The Star Chamber The labour of the Patriots . Peeling against Laud Anabaptists before the Lords, &c. . Hostility to the Bishops Remonstrance of the Commons Charles's attempt on the Five Members John Canne and the Baptists Works on Baptism Vavasoiir Powell in Wales . Dr. Feately and the Baptists in Southwark Charles denounces them raises the standard of Civil War Character of the Cavaliers . of the Parliamentarians Baptists — their aim in engaging in the War Thomas Lamb — his sufferings . Rise of sects Influence of Presbyterians Meeting of the Assembly of Divines Influence of this on the Baptists Cause of their increase Confession of Faith Increase of Baptists Efforts for religious freedom Tyranny of Presbyterians . Baxter and Cox at Coventry . Progress of Baptist sentiments Dispiite with Calamy . H. Denne— his sufferings . Laying on of hands on the baptized John Tombes embraces Baptist views Henry Jessey embraces Baptist views • Presbyterian hatred Colonel Hutchinson adopts Baptist views Intolerant Ijaw Xl Progress of the War Duplicity of Charles Death and character of Charles TAGE 154 155 156 CHAPTER III. THE COMMONWEALTH. The spread of Republican principles . . . . 1G9 The strength of parties in the nation . 170 Abolition of the Monarchy 172 Ireland ...... . 172 Charles II. proclaimed by the Scots . 173 Cromwell in Scotland .... 174 Moral state of Wales . . . . 175 Petition of the Anabaptists in London 176 Religious freedom ..... 176 State of the Universities 178 Baptists in the Principality 180 Tombes and Baxter .... 184 Baptists in Ireland ... 187 O 4-1 ^ 189 191 • m ocotianci .... Political changes ..... Cromwell Lord Protector 193 Party feeling ..... 194 The "Tryers" ..... 196 Baptists opposed to them .... 198 Protector favourable to the Baptists . 199 They are hostile to his Government 200 Major-General Harrison 202 Feake, Powell, and others, against the Protector . 203 Letter of Thomas Harrison on Baptists in Ireland, &c 208 Fifth Monarchy men .... 212 Colonel Lilburne in Scotland . 215 Letter to the Church at Hexham . 220 Rise of Associations .... 223 Various sects ..... 225 Baptists opposed to Fifth Monarchy Men 226 Closing scene of the Protector's life 228 Character of Oliver .... 229 Moral state of the country 235 Eichard proclaimed .... State of parties .... The feeling of Baptists .... Case of Colonel Overton Hostility between the Civil and Military Powei'S Royalist rising .... Monk— his duplicity, &c. Baptists — persecuted The Restoration .... CHAPTER IV. CHAKLES THE SECOXD. The joy of the nation The Presbyterians aid in the Restoration Calainy and others at Breda Condiict of the Cavaliers The Regicides .... General Harrison .... The bodies of Cromwell and others dishonoured Restoration of Episcopacy, &c. Savoy Conference .... The spirit of the Presbyterians The spirit of the Church Sufferings of Baptists John Bunyan ..... Venner and the Fifth Monarchy Men [Moral state of the nation Emigrants to Holland Hostility to Baptists .... Trial and martj^rdom of John James Vavasour Powell and the Welsh Baptists (character of the House of Commons Passing of the Corporation Act Episcopacy in Scotland Uniformity Bill ..... Prayer Book modified Ejected Baptists .... Feelings of the ejected . . . Indulgence promised .... CONTENTS. xiii PAGE Sheldon— his hostility to the Nonconformists . . . • 298 Charles and his Court ...••• 299 Sufferings of Nonconformists . . . • • 300 William Klflin ....... 303 Trial of Keach ....... 306 Spirit of the Episcopate ..... 310 State of the Court and CJovernment . . . . 312 The "Cabal" 3L5 Cromwell and Charles's Government . . . . 317 Toleration promised ...... 319 The growth of Popery . . . . . . 320 The Test Act . 321 Sufferings of the Baptists . . . . . . 322 Conflicts with the Quakers ..... 324 George Fox and the Baptists in Leicester, Carlisle, and Scotland 326 French influence . . . . . . . 328 The University of Oxford issues its famous decree on Passive Obedience ....... 330 Attitude of the Patriots . . . . . . 332 Scheme of Comprehension ..... 333 Baptist sufferings — Delaune . . . . . 334 Efforts for training ministers ..... 339 Last days and death of Charles . . . . . 341 Character of Charles . . . . 346 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. THE EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS, CHAPTER I. CHARLES THE FIRST. The accession of Cliiirles was viewed by the nation with some degree of hopefulness. "His coming to the crown was very joyous to the well-affected, but to the Papists not very welcome."'"' There were many features in his character which adapted him for his position, and which were likely to make him popidar with the people. " Charles was temperate, chaste, and serious : so that the fools and bawds, mimics and catamites, of the former court grew out of fashion : and the nobility and courtiers who did not quite abandon their debaucheries, had yet that reverence to the king as to retire into corners to jiractise them : men of learning and ingenuity, in all arts, were in esteem, and received encouragement from the king, who was a most excellent judge and a great lover of paintings, carvings, gravings, and many other ingenuists less offensive than the bawdry and profane abusive wit, which was the only exercise of the other court. t' From the pen of the Puritan matron * Diary of J. Rouse, p. 1. Camden Society. + Mrs. Hutchinson, p. 20. "I am aware," says a competent judge, " that lie was not the i)erfect saint as well as martyr which his panegyrists represent him to have been. " — Hallam, vol. i. , p. 874. ' ' The persons belong- ing to the new court were required to be strictly moral in their conduct ; 2 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. this is no common praise. Charles had probably been destined by his father for the highest offices in the church. During his youth no pains had been spared to cultivate his mind. With the theological controversies which were agitating the entire kingdom he was somewhat familiar. His discussion with Henderson discloses no small mental acumen and theological knowledge. The admirers of the monarch attribute Hen- derson's death to his defeat by the royal theologian. Upon other subjects, of what may be called, even then, polite litei'ature, Charles was by no means deficient.* The death of his brother, Prince Henry, supposed by poison, opened to him the path to the throne.t But these excellences were impaired by other elements of character of the very worst kind. Macaulay has graphically sketched them : — " He had inherited from his father politi- cal theories, and was much more disposed than his father to carry them into practice. He was, like his father, a zealous Episcopalian. He was, moreover, what his father had never fools and buffoons, whom James loved to have about Mm, were kept at a distance ; able men employed, artists and men of learning encouraged." — Raumer's Political History, vol. i., p. 466. "Perhaps the most bitter political enemy of Charles I. will have the candour to allow that, for a prince of those times, he was truly and eminently accomplished. His knowledge of the arts was considerable : and, as a patron of art, he stands foremost amongst all British sovereigns to this hour-," &c. -De Quincey's Works, vol. XV., p. 15 (Note). * Thompson's Buckingham, vol. i., p. 121. " He is well known to have been a great student in his younger days, that his father would say he must make him a bishop. He had more learning and dexterity in state affaii-s, imdoubtedly, than all the kings in Christendom." — Cook's Speech, intended to have been delivered before the High Court of Justice. — Col- lection of Tracts. London, 1748, vol. iv., p. 192. "t" The baptism of this prince was by immersion. "And incontinent, the prince was put into the font, the officers of anns put on their coats, and all the torches were lighted, and then entered the Earl of O.xenford." — Antiquarian's Repertory, vol. i., p. 353. There is a curious plate of the procession in the same volume. An account of the prince's baptism ^vilI be found in a volume of Tracts on Scottish History. Edinbiu-gh, ]836. CHARLES THE FIRST. .> been, a zealous Arminian, and, though no Papist, liked a Papist much better than a Puritan. . . . Faithlessness was the chief cause of his disaster, and is the chief stain on his memory. He was, in truth, imj^elled by an incurable propensity to dark and ci-ooked -ways. It may seem strange that his conscience, which, on occasion of better moments, was sufficiently sensitive, should never have reproached him with this vice. But there is reason to believe that he was perfidious, not only from constitution and from habit, but also on principle. He seems to have learned from the theologians whom he most esteemed, that between him and his subjects there could be nothing of mutual contract : that he could not, even if he would, divest himself of his despotic authority; and that in every promise which he made, there was an implied reservation that such promise might be broken in case of necessity, and that of the necessity he was the sole judge."* The state of parties at this time demands a passing remark, inasmuch as the sufferings of the nation and the death of the monarch may be traced to causes already operating, t We have indicated before that the spirit of liberty had to no inconsiderable extent pervaded the nation. It was born during the Tudor dynasty. J Through the reign of the fii'st Stuart it had grown, and now in both Houses of the Legislature it had assumed an attitude at once command- ing and imposing. The worthless favourite, Buckingham, had roused the self-respect of the Peers, if not their love of popular freedom. The galling yoke, which this unprincipled * History, vol. i., p. 83. t Beaumont, the Frencli ambassador, says: — "I discover so many seeds of disease in England, so much is brooding in silence, and sole and a great tree."* In the higher ecclesiastical cu'cles morals Avere low. Bishop Williams, we are told, could relieve the solemnities of an ordination service by the exhibitions of the theatre. Lord Campbell says: — "He used to have the players down from London to Buckden, when the hall of the Episcopal Palace was converted into a theatre, whei'e comedies were performed, even on a Sunday. Collins, in his ' Annals of the Stage,' asserts that ' The Midsummer Night's Dream' was exhibited there on Sunday the 27th of Septembei-, 1631; and others add, that on that very day he had held an Episcopal ordination, so that the play was for the amusement of the young priests."+ Judging from the state of the universities, * Morals of the People, &c. "Now because Popery and prophaneness, two sisters in evil, had consented and conspiied in this parish (Whalley), as in many other places, to advance their idols against the arke of God, and to celebrate their solemn feasts of their Popish saints, as being Dii Tutelares, the special patrons and protectors of their chui-ch and parish, by their wakes and vigUs, kept in commemoration and honour of these, in all riot and excess of eating and drinking, dalliance and dancing, spoi-ting and gaming, and other abominable impieties and idolation," &c. — Diai-y of Assheton, p. 30 (iSTote). Cheetham Society. t Lives of the Chancelloi'S, vol. ii., p. 496. 16 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. the bishop would, find these young successors to the apostles ready for this or any other pleasure.* The influence of such things told on the morals of the population. The Sabbath and the holy days, precious as the right hand or the right eye to Laud and his followers, were anything but hallowed. They were periods of festi\dty and vice. Brutal and brutalizing sports were common. Bull- baiting, bear-baiting, dancing, interludes, and other kindred sports, entertained the rustic and supplied the citizen with no mean gratifications. These were not alone. Debauchery in every foi'm was rank. The head and the members were tainted by it. Referring to tliis period, Guizot says : — " On the sacred day of the Sabbath did true Christians desii-e to pei-form, in the retii-ement of their homes, their pious exercises. In every square, in every street, the noise of games and dancing, the riots of drunkenness, insultingly broke in upon theii' meditations. And the bishops were not satisfied with permitting these profane pastimes : they I'ecommended, nay, almost commanded them, lest the jieople should acquii-e a taste for more holy pleasures."t " There were some places in England," said Sir B. Rudyard, " in the fii-st year of Charles's reign, which were scarce in * D'Ewes gives us a glimpse of the inner life of one of these famous seats of learning : — "But the main thing which made me weary of the coUege was, that swearing, drinking, rioting, and hatred of all piety and virtue, under false and adulterate nicknames, did abound there, and generally in all the university. Nay, the very sin of lust began to be known and practised by very boys : so as I was fain to live .almost a I'ecluse's life, conversing cheerfully in our own college with some of the honest fellows thereof. But yet no Anabaptistical or Pelagian heresies against God's grace and providence were then stirring, Ijut the truth was in all public sermons and divinity acts asserted and maintained. None then dared to commit idolatry by bowing to or towards or adoring the altar, the communion table, or the bread and wine in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And the power of godliness in respect of the practice of it, was, in a most atheistical and unchristian manner, contemned and scoffed at." — Vol. i., p. 15. t English Revolution, b. ii., p. 59. The whole section is woiih the attention of the reader. CHARLES THE FIRST. 17 Christendom, where God was little better known than among the Indians. I exampled it in the North, whert; the prayers of the common people are more like spells and charms than devotions."* Wales Avas still worse, and Ire- land only a little removed from heathenism. t The representatives of the people were not insensible to this state of things. Against the lofty pretensions of the Crown they assumed a firmer attitude. The first Parliament was marked by a calm and manly statement of grievances, and a request for redress. It touched both elements which were working so disastrously on the best interests of the nation. We have seen that, in the last reign, the Commons had assumed the functions of conservators, not only of liberty, but of Christian doctrine. It was increasingly so now. The ten- dencies of church principles, as propounded by Laud and his colleagues, filled them with intense alarm. They denounced them as dangerous to ti-ue piety, and not less so to civil freedom. Again and again the hall of St. Stephen's echoed with denunciations against the Arminiau and Popish tenden- cies of the courtly divines. :j: Again and again were they * Collier's E. H., p. 743. t Bishop Bramliall tells us that in the metropolis of Ireland, churches were converted to all manner of uses. One was a stable for the Lord Deputy ; another, a dwelling-house for a noble lord ; the choir of a third for a tennis-court. Fearful the grasping spirit of the clergy, those of the higher orders especially. One bishop held twenty-three benefices with cures. This curious document will be found in Collier, p. 579. Referring to Wales, "Wlaitelocke says, "That some of their ministers here are miserably debauched." — Life of AVhitelocke, p. 11. London, 1860. t "Great also was the zeal of that House during the time the Session of Parliament continued, before the fatal and dismal abortive dissolution of it, for the glory of God in the maintenance of the true religion : that it might not be intermixed with Popish ceremonies or idolatrous actions, nor the pure doctrine of the Church of England be cormpted with the blasphemous tenets of the Anabaptists in derogation of God's grace and providence, which tenets had been broached by Sebastian Castellio, in Latin, and by Anabaptists, in English, about seventy years past," &c. — D'Ewes, vol. i., pp. 399, 400. Other allusions to these topics, and the influence of Anabaptistical errors, will be found in pages 405, 406. 18 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. denounced as most dangerous to national libert/. More than this. The House not only took religion under its protection, but, what appeared as a necessaiy consequence, and was doubted by only a few obscure sectaries, assumed to itself the power of judging and punishing error. Before a Committee of the House, Montague, Mainwaring, and Sibthorpe were humbled, not'v\itlistanding the protection of the court.* But amidst all the decay of piety and the prevalence of formalism and popery, we must not overlook an important conservative power. Puritanism still lived. In defiance of Laud, there Avere men in the Anglican Church of high moral character, whose ministry and conduct shed the pure light of Heaven on the moral darkness which surrounded them. Their aim was lofty, their zeal was untii-ing, and their con- versation was holy. In the market-place, in tlxe halls of the rich and the noble, and in the churches to which they had been appointed by the affluence of the wealthy, they preached with earnestness and success the Gospel of Chx'ist.f Nor were the Separatists from the church powerless. The rise of the Presbyterians and the Indejoendents we have already stated. Their numbei's and theii- influence had not diminished. As a whole, they were men of more light, * Mainwaring was, by the decision of the Commons, sentenced to be imprisoned during its pleasure, fined £1,000, suspended for three j'ears from the ministry, and to be disabled for ever from hokling any offlce, or preaching at court. — Pari. Hist., vol. ii., p. 388. Le Bass's Laud, p. 76. In defiance of this censure, the impolitic monarch speedily raised the delinquent to the Episcopal bench. — Vide Rushworth, pp. 593-612; Neal, vol. i., p. 416; Collier, pp. 734, 736, 737, 743, 744. + As early as 1627 a nymber of individuals had combined to buy up certain impropriations, in order to employ the money arising from them in tlie employment of lectui-ers to preach in various parts of the coimtiy. Laud ultimately succeeded in putting down this organization. — Collier, p. 754; Priee, vol. i., p. 58. "The feoff ers that pretended to buy in the impropriations were disabled in the Chequer Court. They were the main instruments for the Puritan faction to undo the church." — Laud's Diary, p. 47. CHARLES THE FIRST. 19 many of them of equal learning, and far more correct views of the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, than the Confor- mists. Persecutions, imprisonments, and suffering in every form never moved them from their stedfiustncss. The martp-- dom of Greenwood, Barrow, and Penryn,* only made them grasp with more tenacity their great principles. Unabashed by the lofty bearing of their great foe, death had no terrors for them. They counted not their lives dear to them. Tnith with them was everything. It was with them a living piinciple, more pi'ecious than a monarch's favour, more dear than life. From the woods and secluded spots, where they were fi'equently compelled to worship, a power went forth which told upon the masses, the senate, and the hiemrchy. Hunted by the spies of the bishops,t driven from place to place, they scattered in their wanderings the seeds of truth, which, in a few years, ripened into a rich and glorious harvest. With many errors, they were noble men, whose worth the moral and intelligent of the future, — * AVe have some diificulty in hai-monizing the conflicting opinions about this niiistrious martyr. Dr. Some, in his reply to Penryn, says, "He hath broached many proud and blasphemous and Anabaptistical fancies. The mask that Mr. Penri levels at is, I fear me, to shake hands with Anabap- tistical recusants ; some parts of his writings looke shrewdly that way." lu another place he calls liim "an heretical Catabaptist." — Mr. Some laid open by an Oxford Man, p. 13. No date. Vide pp. 4, 7, 16. Still Hanbuiy affii-ms that he was not a Baptist; Brook is doubtful; Wood says that he "became a notorious Anabaptist;" and Joshua Thomas, in a MS. History quoted by Brook, says that "he was probably the iirst since the Reformation who openly and publicly preached the doctrines of adult baptism." In his History of the Welsh Associations, he states this unhesitatingly. If any of our readers are ia possession of additional proof, we should be glad to receive it. — Hanbui-y's Memorials, vol. i., p. 75. Brook's Puritans, vol. ii., p. 67. Wood's Albe. Ax., vol. i., 227. Thomas's Histoiy of the Welsh Associations, p. 5. Waddington agrees with Hanbuiy. + "Laud, like the illustrious Burleigh, kept by him a catalogue of the principal nobUity and gentry in the realm, with a notice of their respec- tive interests and inclinations. And it was observed by him that no man was more perfectly acquainted than he with the joints and fiexmes of every party in the state. "— Le Bass, p. 348. 20 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. despite the sneei-s of the Clarendons, the Humes, and Macaulays, at tlieir fanaticism, — will recognise, and truth, sooner or later, will hail them as large contributors to the stately and \inequalled fabric of our national liberty.* This advertence to these topics we feel to be necessary to our readers, in entering on another chapter of the " Early English Baptists." The prevalence of Baptist principles, and the moral heroism of many who held them in the past reign, have already been noticed, yet only glimpses of their organization can we gather from the records of those times. Their exis- tence is certain, but beyond this we can scarcely affirm. Crosby supposes them mixed up with other bodies, and their distinct organization as a separate community he finds at a later period. In one view the historian is right, in another, beyond all doubt, he is wi-ong. The Calvinistic body may date its existence from the period which he and Ivimey indicate : to the Arminian portion of it a much earlier origin must be accorded. In almost every page of con- temporary history, the Anabaptists are associated with Arminians, and in certain circles, we have no doubt, their attachment to these dogmas exposed them to scorn and insult.f The reader will find examples of this in the former volume: they could be greatly multiplied. Daring this reign, however, the light is clearer and the facts become more abundant. From their hiding-places our brethren came, and as the power of spiritual despotism weakens, their principles fill a wider circle, and their power and moral worth ai'e more fully recognised. But we must not antici- pate. The intercourse of the " Early English Baptists" with the * The reader is referred for fuller information on the character of these men, to the pages of Neal, Fletcher, Marsden, and Price. t " In your false doctrine of Free Will and falling from gi-ace, you agree with the antient Anabaptists also."— Truth's Victory, &c. London, 1645. p. 15. CHARLES THE FIRST. 21 Mennoiiite Churcli in Holland has already appeared. Many of the ilhistrious men whose histoiy Ave have traced were closely connected with them. In many cases their dogmas, their practices, and their ecclesiastical polity were modified, if they did not entirely originate with them. For some time this union was maintained. Indeed it is difficult to affirm with certainty when it ceased. Evidence exists which makes this manifest, far beyond what has hitherto been known. We see it not in one place only, but in many. Not only in London, where churches existed who sympathised with their views, and held fraternal intercourse with them, but in the Western and Eastern parts of the kingdom. In this relationship they rejoiced; to the brethren they appealed to solve any difficulty which perplexed them, and by their advice they were in most cases guided. Though a little anticipatory as to time in one or two of the documents, yet ■we think it better to place them at once before our readers. The first of these more particularly belongs rather to the last reign than to the present.* The first is as follows : — " Very dear Friends, — We inform you that we have received your earnest and gracious answer, which has produced great joy in all our souls, for you have very fitly spoken in it to our hearts ; which, properly speaking, is done liy God himself, by the light of Christ, according to the Spirit. And as soon as we had received your letter (for we had a timely messenger) we immediately asseml)led, in order to consider what answer should be sent unto you. In conse- * The author is indebted to his learned friend Dr. Miiller for these valuable documents. Tlie originals are in the archives of the Amsterdam church. A word in the translation is changed here and there, to render tlie sense more clear. The author must add here a sentence or two from his friend's letter on the relations of the Dutch and English churches. "On the -whole I cannot say that, after consulting all the written documents in the archives of our chm-ch, sufficient light is thrown on the relations which e.^isted between the English Baptists and the Netherlands Doops- gezinden. This is evident, in my opinion, that these relations liave been intimate, at least more intimate than we know or think now-a-days, and that, therefore, the fate of the one church is iu many respects connected with the other." 22 E.VRLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. quence of this we now write you about the matters about which j^ou desire we should exphain our opinions. " 1. We perceive that you think that we have failed in the breaking of bread, or the celebrations of the Lord's Supper mth each other, since our excommunication, &c. To which, we answer : 2. We are still of opinion, that a private brother is allowed to minister the sacraments, when the congregation calls him to it, though he be not in possession of the ministerial office : on condition, how- ever, that the church has no minister, for, if it have, we think that a private brother may by no means do it. But also, in this matter, we are very desirous to know whether we are wrong. 3. We do not think it objectionable to fly in time of persecution to other countries, and live there. Many among us now were of opinion that it was. 4. We do not think that the holy and peacefiU doctrine of toleration is misused if some remain in our communion (if they are quiet), who know not yet what they shoidd think of Christ's deity, namely, if they only believe that their salvation is in Christ, and if they are sin- cere in all things to which they have once consented, as we understand that the deity of Christ reveals itself most clearly in the fruits of this sincerity, which assure us that they are the people of God, though they have not yet appropriated to themselves this mystery by their reason. But if it were that some of them contradicted the general opinions of the congregation in this or other doctrines, or that they discovered an unquiet or ambitious spirit, w-e surely think that such should not be tolerated, but ought to be avoided for their unquietness, and because they wish to exercise authority over others. "Further, we inform you, that there is nobodj' amongst us who denies the deity of Christ ; but there are two or three who have a somewhat different opinion than we maintain in general, though, we think that, after all, it comes to the same end. We, in general, think that his deity consists in the endlessness, or the incomprehensible substance of the Godlike nature only; the others think that it should be understood as the natural emanation (just as the light of the sun) out of the eternal substance, and that this emanation takes place also in many other cases, just as we see that one body consists of many members. So also is Christ (1 Cor. xii. 12). It is Godlike strength, wisdom, mercy, justice, &c., &c., that God has sent out to make the world, and to reconcile fallen man. This, in short, is the reason of our difference about the deity of Christ ; and shall we condemn each other for these opinions ? That be far from us. But if we see that some crucify Christ, or the Godlike nature which they partake of, by the wickedness of sin, then we condemn them, as we surely know that the Word of God has already condemned them. Also, in these CHARLES THE FIRST. 23 matters, we are desirous to know what Clod has given in your hearta. We leave it to your discreet consideration. "5. An oath is not many times demanded from us, and some of us may refuse, witliout much guilt or disadvantage. But refusing an oath would be giiilty or hurtful in our country, as some would think that we refused the oath of allegiance to our king, so that we should bo called traitors, and if they should deal with us very severely, they could ai)pl3' their law to us as though we were traitors; and the holy truth also, which we confess, would be esteemed an ill by some wicked men, and we should be esteemed as ill by some wicked men, and should be considered as dangerous and unquiet people in the country, that will not do what we are sure that we may do in such a particular case as this. We desire to know from you, what you think worse, either to take an oath or to refuse it ? and whether we should tolerate with peace those who were compelled by necessity to take one? You should take into consideration, that if we refuse an oath in our countrj'^, we could not be made free citizens in our cities ; nor could we leave our country, it may be to carry on our affairs and trade, or to fly persecution for conscience sake. However, we will avoid all this and all other things, as much as possible, now and for ever. " As concerns magistracy and weapons, or the profession of arms, we will by no means either take or assume one of them. Some of us will not do so for conscience sake, others for that of peace, now and for ever. "Thus we have, with few words, answered according to your desire, while we have no time to write now more about these things, and if we had, we could not, at all events, force you. We hope that you are in or near the fulness of joy, and the point of perfectness in all things, which we believe, but from which we are still far. But wo will not cease praying, that He which hath begun a good work may perfonn it in yoxi and us to the day of Jesus Christ. All of us salute you most heartily in the Lord. Mercy be with you. Amen. " We pray you also that, if you may receive us in your communion, that it may please you to write a few words to John Morton and his friends, in order to augment peace and welfare. We, from our side, Avill do as much as we can to bring this matter to an end. Many that are with him are ready to comply with the doctrine of toleration in order to promote peace. There are two (that were at his side) who have paid attention to the personal succession from the time of the apostles, and they wished to know whether some of those which pro- fess to be true constituted churches, can say that they have their origin from the times of the apostles. They are good people, and -wish 24 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. to please God and to live in a true way; therefore, we hope you will do what is possible to pacify them. — Your friends in and for the holy truth and the heavenly life,* "Elias Tookey, and the others. "Jan. 3, 1624. London." This letter, and some wliicli follow, throw light on some points of our history hitherto vinknown. Tookey and his friends were members of a church which had, probably, been formed by Helwys, but at this time was under the pastoral care of Morton, his companion in suffering, and who had returned with him to England. The points in dispute, and the cause of their disunion, will become manifest from subse- quent letters, if they are not so already from the one before the reader. Keconciliation was difficult ; but efforts Avei-e made by both parties to secure the favour of the Dutch brethren. Morton, and his friends in various parts of the country, sent a depu- tation to Holland to lay their case before the brethren there. The following extract of a letter from Cornells C. Aresto, minister of the United Waterland and High German church at Amsterdam, to Hans de Ries, eldest minister at Alkmaar, Nov. 13th, 1626, will be read with interest: — ■ "Dear, and, in God, beloved Father in Christ, Hans de Ries. Peace be with you ! "To-day, two English have visited us as being commissioners of five churches in England, and who had carried with them a certain letter for you, Renier Wybrant, and the other ministers of our church, which letter is translated by one of our English brethren * " I am lodged in a Frenchman's house, who is one of the deacons of our English Brownist Church here. 1 believe in the street where I lodge there be well near as many religions as there be houses ; for one neigh- bour knows not, nor cares not much, Avhich religion the other is of : so that the mxmber of conventicles exceeds the number of churches here." — Howell's Familiar Letters, p. 26. London, 1754. " Here also is a French church (Dort) ; Aiminians, Brownists, Anabap- tists, and Mennonites do lurke here and also swarm, but not so much tolerated here as at Kotterdam." — Brereton's Travels, 1634, p. 13. Cheet- ham Society. CHARLES THE FIRST. 2/5 from English into Latin ; froni which we uhderstaud that they have read our Confession, and (as they have written) must carefully have reflected on it, and therefore should be inclined to unite themselves with us, as they are of the same opinion in everything of it, except the article on the oath. 2. That they also think that the Lord's Sujiper ought to be celebrated every Sunday, unless it be hindered by a reasonable difficulty. 3. That the brethren, without imposition (of hand) or being ordained to it by the bishop (pastor), are allowed and ought to preach and to administer the Sacraments when the bishops are absent. 4. They. are of opinion that the offices of the authority or Government may be observed by a Christian, though they cannot be reckoned to belong to the church, but are worldly offices. As a proof of their opinions they use some reasons, the principle of which is, that the office is good in itself, and that they, therefore, take it that the use of it does not keep or put one out of the church, nor hinder that he be a Christian. "This is, in short, their intention, jxirpose, and the cause of their coming to us, while we were requested that we should sjieak with these their two commissioners, and forward them an answer on paper. We have told them, that we should ask for your advice, as the letter was directed especially to you. Therefore, in consecpience of this, we request your advice how to do in this affair, whether it suits you to come hither, or that we send them to you ; and also, whether we shall give them a written answer to their letter, or that we should send it after them. May it please you to let us know your opinion as soon as possible. We have delayed them, therefore ; and mean- while ordered our English that they should show them our last answer to Elias Tookey, as he has spoken of the same matter, which they have agreed to do : but these have, concerning the oath and the offices of authority, a somewhat different opinion to that of Elias Tookey and his. "These count a number in England of undoubtedly 150 persons. They have separated from Elias Tookey, and belong to the people of Jan Morton and Thos. Denys. * These two here seem to be clever men, and tolerably excellent in their habits ; they have also, as the others write us, suffered very much for the name of Christ, and have been a long time prisoners." * " Probably the same Thomas who (June 8, 1620) was ordained to the full service by Renier Wybrant and Peter Andi-iessen, in order to secure the Enghsh part of the United Congregation."— Dr. Midler, vol. i. 2Q EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. The following is the letter these brethren were commis- sioned to carry : — "To our dear friends, Hans de Ries and Eeuier Wybrant, and their churches, with all the other servants and churches walking in the same way with them, and living in Holland and those neighbour- hoods ; with the churches of Jesus Christ which are in England, and live in London, Lincoln, Sanim, Coventry, and Tiverton,* all salva- tion, while they heartily wish that much mercy may be multiplied from God the Father by our Lord Jesus Christ. ' ' Dear friends, after presenting you our salutations, we heartily wish you a continual welfare and salvation, because you love the Lord Jesus Christ and his l>lessed truth. It becomes all of us who love the same Lord Jesus Christ and his truth to try for unity in all manners, and to walk with all and every one, as belonging to the same society. And so we thought it an agi-eealile work to the Lord, a work v/hich is praiseworthy, as it will be to the welfare of the people of God, to help and to confirm them in the truth. Formerly we were very much inclined, very desirous to conclude the peace and unity between us ; and though the most principal among us are now dead and rest now with the Lord, we that remain still are full of the same desire to augment the glory of God and the welfare of his people, and therefore we resume the same attempts. For this pur- pose, we have sent to you these two beloved friends and bretliren, — men that are approved among us, and have proved their constancy and faithfulness to the cause of Christ, by continually suffering a long and troublesome captivity almost to their whole ruin. They shall point out to you (as far as it is wanted) our mind and purpose, be- sides all which is written and revealed in our letter. "As regards the articles of your faith which you have published before the whole world, that every one may know what you believe (at least with respect to the foundations), and which you formerly have sent to us, we have read them with all diligence and carefully * The present pastor says : — " We have no doubt that the Baptist church in Tiverton existed very early in 1600, or even before, but we have no positive evidence. Our second church-book begins with 1G78, and at that time the church consisted of 120 members, nearly 60 of them men. The following is the heading of the second church-book : — ' A record or register of the Church of Christ in Tiverton, and of the affairs and proceedings thereof, since, by the mercy and providence of God, we have the enjoy- ment of liberty and peace, in the year 1687. Our former book, containing matters of this nature, being lost in the late time of trouble.'" CHARLES THE FIRST. Zi considered. Wc have highly praised with a sincere heart the AI- miglity God aud his holy name, that our dift'erences are not greater, and that the principles or foundations of Clirist's doctrine so very purely are acknowledged by you ; while, at the same time, we have noted the opinions of some things in which we seem to differ from each other. However, if we do not misunderstand each other, and when we have taken all things into consideration, we believe that we do not differ at all. Therefore, we ]iray you to send us with these our messengers your opinions, and to inform them also about the; same opinions with your own words. "I. We say, then, that we Ijelieve, just as you have written and acknowledged that you do, that Christ is God and man in one person, according to j^our eighth article, though yon say that you do not know whether he has assumed his substance from Mary or not. This is not directly against the belief of others who say that he may be admitted, and, therefore, may remain and be sufTered, in the society of the true believers, without being excommunicated or condemned. "II. As regards the oath, we do not see any difiference in this matter, as we are informed, and partly kno^^' it, that you think it right and allowed to speak the truth before the magistrates, or somebody else, and to take the praiseworthy name of God as a witness in a just affair, as it is proved by the following places in the Scriptures: — Eom. i. 9 ; 2 Cor. i. 2 and 3 ; Phil. 1. 8. And that we else never may swear, according to the following places : — Matt. v. 34 ; Jas. v. 12. "III. We say also, that, when there are important alTairs which prevent it, the Lord's Supper may be left away till the things which hinder are taken away. Otherwise, we do not dare to neglect it on every Sabbath when we come together for other godly things of the pubhc service. Herein we have the example of the churches of God which grant us this matter. And as it is also an important part of our spiritual comfort and union with Christ, and miitual unity as well as any other part of the divine service, so we are resolved to continue. We hope you will allow us to do it seven years, if we like it. For why should not also the other parts of the public service, which are of the same nature and weight, be differed? " IV. We acknowledge that the ministering of the holy sacraments unseparately is united with the ministering of the Word, and that not every member of the body may minister the sacraments. But we say also this, that those also are servants of the body who are not installed in the episcopal office by imposition of hands, but preach, convert, baptize, aud build churches and perform other public actions with the consent of the church when the bishops are not present, who 28 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. only may perform all public actions, as being tbe public and common servants of the church. ' ' V. As regards the fulfilment of an office of magistrature, we understand, first, that your judgment does not extend so far that you do not suffer one of a contrary opinion, but that you admit some who are not quite of the same opinion with you. Indeed, we are in- formed that you really suffer some offices of magistrature in which the questions, affairs, and quarrels about jjossession and other worldly things are regulated, if they have nothing to do with blood, Avar, and weapons. And so it is evident that our difference does not concern the office of magistrature itself, but the manner of execution, namely, not whether the office is without the church, and by no means may exercise its worldly authority in the spiritual kingdom of Christ or of the church; but more this, whether the magistrature may use the sword which is given her by God to the protection of the right of the good siibjects of this world against all invasions, wrongs, and similar crimes, and with which she punishes the murderers. This is, according to oiir opinion, the difference. "That it may please yoii to suffer our freely informing you about our opinion in this matter; while we confess that we are very -willhig to be instructed l>y you, or anybody else, and in what case it may be, and that we will accept all what will be evident to our conscience by the Word of truth. As regards magistracy itself, we acknowledge with you, according to your 37th article, that our Lord Jesus Christ has not established in his spiritual kingdom or chnrch of the New Testament neither magistracy nor any other part of its power, nor that the church has anything to do with the execution of it ; for his kingdom, arms, servants, and all things that belong to it, are spiritual. We should neither make any distinction of persons in this spiritual kingdom, or suffer that there are many masters. But in worldly things the saints ought to respect the magistracy, just as all good subjects do those that are above them, and as children do their parents. In the church there are many masters, — even all of us are masters, — but in all things of the world her believers are servants, and, therefore, they possess an office of magistracy not in ecclesias- tical, but in worldly affairs. For the worldly ordinations are from God, and are good ; and, therefore, we ask. Can those things which are good be an obstacle that one can be a disciple of Christ, or that he may be a Christian ? Or are men hindered by the church to do those things which are good? She may liy no means do so. There is nothing which seduces us from God, but only sin, which is not good, but evil. If magistracy impedes us from Christianity, then it must be considered as sin and evil; and then we must desire its niin CHARLES xilE FIRST. 29 and not pray for it, neither thank God for it as a good ordinance of him. But it is no evil and no sin. We must pray and thank God for it as a good ordinance established by him, _as it is in reality; and, tlierefore, it cannot hinder one to be a Christian.- Must we compel a man who desires to become a Christian, to leave anything else but sin? Baptism, for which we resist the world, is a baptism of conversion to the forgiving of sins which all those are to receive who repent for their sins and believe in the doctrine of the (JospeL Shall we make or suspect a sin in their eyes which is a good ordinance of God? This be far from us. "We could say very much about this; but as you yourselves acknowledge the authority, so we shall only speak of the execution, or the office itself. " It is evident, that he who has established this good ordinance of (xod, has given the sword in their hands to revenge on him who commits evil, and to protect him who acts rightly. If you, then, take away the s\\'ord, you take away the authority. For what wise man will think that, if the magistrates intend to do justice in order to pimish the wicked men, there will be anybody who will esteeni their command, if they have not the power to compel one to the things that are right by the sword ? The magistrates cannot put an example, if they had not the power of — according to God's command — shedding the blood of those who shed the blood of men. What, would the murderer ask for magistracy? Or how could he be hin- dered of shedding continually blood? And so we see of the weapons, that the Lord allows them in the possession of the disciples, but that he does not allow to use them to protect his spiritual kingdom, nor in making one's self the king of that kingdom, for which reason the Jews sought to kill him. Therefore, arms are good, and the possession of them right among the disciples just as all other Avorldly things. But they may not use those arms in his king- dom, as the arms of the host of his kingdom are not carnal, but spiritual, and its subjects have only a Spiritual King. Therefore, also, they may not exercise authority, the one over the other, as the princes of the Gentiles do, because his kingdom is not like the king- doms of this world. Many other things are said to lielong to that kingdom, as the spiritual treasures and purses (Luke xii. 33) ; spiritual building (Ex. ii. 20); spiritual apparel (1 Peter iii. 3); spiritual meat (John vi. 27 — Rom. xiv. — ). Now then, because all these things, and many others, are said to be found in the Kingdom of Christ, may we, therefore, not use them in the world, namely — treasures, purses, buildings, apparel, and meats? We hope that no- body will deny this. ^JU EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. "Besides, tliat you write that j'oii think it is not allowed to you to use arms, seems A'eiy surprising to us. The magistrates who are sure of the faithfulness of their subjects who are inclined to protect their government, will take much more care in order to promote the peace of these subjects, than for those who could suffer that they and their authority were ruined and the inhabitants were attacked, in- stead of protecting them against murderers, thieves, and others, who may attack their country. We are sure, at least, that it is so in our country, however it may be in yours, and with your magistrates. And as regards suffering persecution, we see that godlj' magistrates have often suffered dreadful persecution from their own subjects (Num. xiv. 2 — x. 6 ; 1 Sam. viii. S ; Dan. vi. 2 — v. 12 ; Jolin. vii. 50). These are some of our reasons among so many about our judgment and opinions in this matter. And these are all the differences which we think to exist. The first of your articles we acknowledge freely as well with our hearts as with our mouths, and we shall adhere to them, -vdth the help of God, to owe death. ' ' "We pray you, that it may please you to consider earnestly all these differences ; and to write us, after that consideration, whether you coidd suffer us, as we can suffer you in these matters, that we then may be together as members of one body, of which Christ is the head, and that we, walking in one society, may be of good concord, living together in the union and truth of Christ Jesus as brethren, that it may prove whose disciples we be in reality, namely, those of Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour, to whom be the praise ever- lastingly. Amen. "And thus, dear and very beloved friends, taking leave, we re- commend yoii with all our hearts to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we most earnestly pray that he may lead you in all truth as well as us, and so will keep us irreproachable to the re- velation of His glory." [Translated into Dutch from the Latin manuscript, which was translated from the English in which it was originally written, Nov, IS, 1626.] Whether the deputies were received by Ries, we have no information ; but, on receipt of the letter, he drew up a series of questions, and forwarded them to the two brethren. The queer and brief answers to some of them, are as follows : "List of Questions written by Hans de Eies, and put before the deputies of the five churches in England, followed by some Answers at the foot of the page : — "Whether the churches which they mention are acquainted and have knowledge of their coming to us ? CHARLES THE FIRST. 31 "Whether they he ordered by these, with all concord, to come to us? "Whether they are all, aud unanimously, of the same opinion, ac- cording to the contents of their letter ; especially, whether there be no difference between their doctrine and onrs, but only in those articles they mention in their writing? ' ' As we have here some that are of their nation who are excom- municated by theirs, wherefore do they take them now? "Whether thej^ think them worthy to be excommunicated that came from England and took Tip their residence here ; and think that they who live here are obliged to live again in England? " Whether they think it to be right, and would suffer and directlj' carry on, that every brother, without having an orderly vocation or charge, may serve the sacraments ; and also women, if there were no man ? "Whether there are no other forms of words in use in their coimtry with swearing an oath, than — 'God is my witness'? ' ' Whether they could bear with it when they were in England, that some churches only sometimes in the year take the Lord's Supper? " Wliether any brother in their church, and living in their place, who did not think it according to the command of God to break bread every Sunday, and who, therefore, did not celebrate the Lord's Supper on every Sunday, would be tolerated among them ? ' ' Whether they woidd think to be obliged (as for the promise of being ready to service, promised to the king) to assist the king with weapons, and to protect themselves and their weapons even with then- blood? "According to what law they think that a Chi-istian authority is obliged to punish the evil, to carry on war, and to deal with its enemies ? ^ ' ' Whether a Christian, alsS in the quarrels of his king and in the resistance against his enemies, may touch the goods of these enemies, may extort them, and take them away ; also whether he may possess and keep, as free and own goods, those that are taken away ? [answers.] "Tlie five churches have not every one a minister. Those that have no minister wait w,ith the service till one is coming ; therefore, it is not i)0ssible to break bread every Sunday. "They do not suffer that somebody teaches the congregation with- out being acknowledged that he is able to do it. ' ' They make a difference between one that teaches and serves the sacraments, and one that stands in full service. 32 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. " Two different opinions of foreign chiirclies. "Whether they would receive the English, is doubtful. " Whether it may be thought necessary by all of them to celebrate the Lord's Supper* every Sunday, — they do not know that. "They have neither command nor law to break bread every Sun- day ; but they do not see any ofTence in it, if a minister woidd do so on Sunday." To the dissidents under Elias Tookey, tlie minister of tlie church at Amsterdam had written in May, 1624. The letter is in the name of the United Church of the Dutch and English. "Augmentation of divine wisdom and knowledge of the divine truth, we wish with all our hearts our beloved friends who have the foretaste of the heavenly things (sixteen in number), with all those who are near them and are zealous for the truth of God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and general Saviour. Amen. "Very dear friends, — We have recently received your letter, dated March 29, st'do antlquo, and have read it with a great joy, whUe we thanked God for his mercy which he has poured out over you in great abundance, though undeserved and only by his great love and clemency, and which consists herein, that he makes shine in you the evangelical truth in this dark world, that he enlightened the eyes of your mind, and has endued you Mith the acknowledgment of his will, to his glory and the promotion of your salvation. "We pray the good God that he will bless the conrmienced work by the service of Clirist, and that he will allow that the sun which l)egius to rise at the break of day and goes on to the full day, shines in its glory in your hearts ; that he will give you, at the same time, heavenly strength and mercy, that you^may reveal and promote by a holy life much light among this imtoward generation which has its walks in the midst of darkness and sin, to the honour of God and the augmentation of your own salvation, and the conversion and illumi- nation of many. Amen. ' ' We are most instantly moved to answer you, and to prove you our heartily tender and Christian affection, as well as the joy we have experienced about the commencement of your illumination. Your Christian salutation was very agi'eeable to us ; and though the number of those whom it has pleased the Lord to grace with the knowledge * The writing is here illegible, but the meaning is clear, as it is ex- pressed here. CHARLES THE FIRST. 33 of tnitli is still very small, we were, however, very glad, aud believed that God will cause the light of'his truth to shiue before many. Just as the birth of Christ, according to the flesh, was only informed to few, but afterwards is brought to the knowledge of the whole world, so we are in good hope that the birth and knowledge of Christ, according to the spirit, which has begun in you, will extend more and more to the salvation of many. "With much desire we have waited for your writing, as we under- stand also that you were very desirous to receive some lines from us. You write us about the causes of your delay. We accept them with love. Our reason was, that we, after your taking leave of us, have not received an)'- information about the accejjtance of our writings and the reasoumgs which we had with your messengers. We hope it may please you to accept this excuse also. We learn from your letter, that you are excommunicated or excluded from their meetings by .John Morton and his friends. * The chief cause of it would be, your o])iiiion about bearing with, and tolerating, the weak or those of little understanding about scriiitural matters, who, however, are very conscious in everything they know, and peaceful and quiet in the church. We were, indeed, very sorry to hear this, and it disi)leased us very much. We wish those who have rejected you more wisdom ; and yoii, that you may bear with patience all the injiu-ies which have befallen you, and which have not been few, and are still con- tinuing ; aud that you rely on your own pure hearts, on the justice of yoiu- cause, and the promises of God. In doing so, you do as it be- comes Christians, and, therefore, we were akeady very glad that we heard you did so. We admonish, pray, and beseech you, remain on that same way ; do not reward evil with evil ; do not rail on those that injure you, but look for the footsteps of Christ, and follow the examjtle of the patience of the saints, and take care that your love and kindness become known to every one. Let it be a very small thing to you, as it was to St. Paul, to be judged of man's judgment. Have compassion with such men and their foolishness, and behave yourselves in such storms according to the words of the same ajiostle (1 Cor. vi. ), as servants of God, with great patience and prudence; aud let your prayers for those who grieve you rise to God, according to the example of Christ. Remember that you yourselves have been * "Sir, I perceive you are an Anabaptist, and therefore I shall speedily make good my promise ; and, indeed, some thirty years ago, Mr. Morton, a teacher of a church of Anabaptists in Newgate, then ijjs confessions comprehended all the errors of the Arminians, which now of late many that go under your name in and about London, dissent from." — Truth's Victory, London, 164.5, p. 19. C 34 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. foolish, and probably have condemned unjustly and in a -wrong time. If you behave yourselves thus, you will prove to tha world that you know the words of Christ, written in the tables of your heart with the fingers of God ; and your wisdom, patience, and kindness will be a light to the foolish, and will serve them to a better understanding. "That you have used many means to remain in the unity with those that have excon>muuicated you, makes us very glad ; for it is chris- tian to endeavour for peace and luiity. The Holy Ghost admonishes to do this. We are very sorry that your efforts were in vain in this matter, and that you are now without any hope to do something that will be fruitful in these praiseworthy matters. However, do not repent of all your endeavours, for they vdll always contribute to a good conscience, which is to be esteemed above all treasm-es. But those who have oppressed and contempted you, will suffer affliction and re])entance when they shall have obtained better knowledge, which we hope that very soon will happen, before the day is passed for them. " You wished, as we perceive, that your affair were brought to the judgment of the Dutch aud English church here. We also wish to hear your affair iu an impartial manner and to decide it, that the quarrels may be finished, and peace may be preserved. But how is it possible to perform this, when your parties will not understand each other? It must be recommended to the care of God, and left to the course of time. "If John Morton, or somebody of his followers, comes to us with a kind heart and a manageable mind, we shall be very glad to see him. We wished that God allowed that he appeared in such a manner, then there might follow a good consequence out of his coming. If it happened that he came in another manner, you must not think that they wiU cause here any trouble at all. Our communion has learned by experience, and by taking into consideration the many quarrels caused by the peevish people round us who lack the peace-feeding doctrine of tolerance, how amiable, costly, and good it is that brethren dwell together (Ps. xxxiii. ) ; so that we do not fear any dis- turbance among ours by the arrival of whomsoever. As regards the letter which we gave to your messengers, and which has been with- holden from you as you complain, and which was signed by two of our ministers (Hans de Eies and Eenier Wybrant), we affirm in this, that the contents were the general opinion and the doctrine of all in our church, especially in that of tolerance. This article is held among all of us as one which we embrace with all our heart, as it is one of the fHit causes of peace, and the unity or keeping together of the communion. If John Morton, or somebody of his friends, says otherwise, we must suffer, and christianly bear with that ; biit if he CHAKLES THE FIRST. 35 comes to us, it will be evident, after examination, that our opinion is as we have "v^Tittcn, and write once again here. Therefore, we have no fear for his or another's arrival, as we cannot think that one in our church will be seduced from our peacefulness by such a means. "You should not derive from this fact, however, that we push on tolerance out of its due limits, as if we allow a place among us to all errors, ho^v great or of what nature they may l)e. By no means ! but we limit it according to the Scriptures, and consider it with all wisdom. " We learn that you are very well pleased with the reasons which we have cited for our not having supplicated to our magistrates, according to your desire. We have no objection against tills. ' ' Thus we were also pleased with all that you have written about the first separation, namely, that you see that the sej^aratists are guilty, because they have not joined a real communion, but have formed a new sect according to their arbitrary opinion, and in an irregular manner; also, that they have misused the discipline of Christ, &c. And so we conclude that you are enlightened by the mercy of God, that you can see these mentioned deficiencies ; while we pray and admonish you, that you most diligently take cai-e wisely to use your knowledge, and that you, by no means, resemble the unwise doings which you have seen. We have often warned them in the begimiing of the separation, and disadvised them such dis- order, and admonished them to patience and tolerance ; but our reasons have not found a kind ear with them. "With gi'eat jileasure we have read in yoiu* wi'iting, that you are not of opinion that it is absolutely necessary to break bread on every first day of the week, but that you give liberty about this to every church, as you yourselves exercise this libei-ty. By this expression, 'as you yourselves exei'cise this,' we understand that you break among each other the holy bread of the Lord,' or celebrate the Lord's Supper with each other. If we understand this in the right way, we cannot see but that you do the same that you rebuke in otliers, namely, that you, before you have joined another communion, and are taken up by it to the Christian church, establish a new chui'ch, l)y which fact you fall within the judgment of your adversaries. And as we cannot command you, so we can only advise and admonish you, to be quiet in such chiu-ch matters, that all things among you may be done in good order, and have a scriptural form. Before the beginning of your sejDaration your opinion was, that no private brother, without the calling of the congregation, might distribute the sacraments ; and also that it was not allowed in the time of persecu- tion to fiy to another country, and to live there. We should be very glad to learn whether there is now another opinion among you, or 36 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. whether you still are of the same principles. When your messengers ■were here, and we spoke with them, we declared then that those who have different opinions about the origin of the human body of Christ are esteemed among us as to be borne with, as they still belong to those who do not deny tlie humanity of Christ, but confess that he is truly 7iian. But if one would extend it so far, that we should esteem it excusable that somebody might deny the deity of Christ, or denied that Christ was really God, he Avould not iinderstand us well, but very wrongly. And, therefore, we hope that it may i>lease you to explain to us how we should understand these words: — 'Wt do not compel one to believe of Christ what we do, l)ut bear with each other. ' We desire to know whether this is only said of the origin of Christ's body, or whether the article of the deity of Christ should be contained within. If you bear also with those who deny the deity of Christ, or do not confess that Christ is truly God in the Father, and with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, we hope you will be so kind as to write your true meaning about this to ixs. As regards the doctrine of the oath and magistracy, you write that some are with us and others not. That it may please you to write us, whether those who do not agree with us about both the articles will forsake the practising of their opinions for the love of the peace and edification of the church, or whether they, when they are called for it, especially for the use of arms, would persevere in their opinions. We think it necessary to have true knowledge of this. ' ' That all the other articles which are mentioned in our confession are considered by you as Christian, and that you acknowledge to have received much illumination by them — we thank for this the good God who is the origin and commencer of all good things, and from whom all good and perfect gifts descend. We i)ray him that he, for his own honour and the welfare of all of you, will give you mercy, force, and good gifts, that you maj' increase and grow up in the commenced knowledge and truth. Persevere also continitally in a holy life with beseeching and prajnng to the Almightj'. Remember that he is faithful who will fulfil his promises in you, and make them yea and amen. "With much joy and gladness we have learned that it is j^our holy intention to be admit in our brotherhood, and to lie united with our communion also by the outward bonds. We also are in- clined to it, and we intend to perform it, with the help of God, in good order, when we have received j'^our answer on this, and have learned that we have such harmony in the knowledge of the truth, that we may trust to live in fuU peace the one with the other, as it becomes true Christians. CHARLES THE FIRST. 37 "We have not received any writing or complaint from your adver- saries which was offending you. If something will be delivered us after this, we shall act with it, and behave ourselves as it becomes impartial men. "We suppose that the money which we have delivered to your messengers really has reached you in due time, as we have trusted it to your messengers with perfect confidence. ' ' Now then, as we have answered yoiir letter, which pleased us so very much, we conclude this, and shall expect your kind answer with much desire. The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. "Amsterdam, — May — , Ao. 1024. "Signed with the consent and allowance of the ministers and ser- vants of the Dutch and English churches of Jesus Christ in that place." The reply to tliis letter lies before us, and we give it entire. ' ' Letter written by Elias Tookey to Hans do Ries and the elders of the church at Amsterdam. An answer to the letter from Amster- dam, May, 1024 : — "To the holy and discreet elders, IIcdis de jRks and Reiner Wyhrant, we wish augmentation of all heavenly wisdom and spiritual knowledge (to the use of the Church of Christ, which you defend), from God the Father, by Jesus Christ, as well your Lord as ours, that immortality may be reached by all of ns. Amen. "We inform yon, beloved and very reverend fathers, that your being silent such a long time (which we, however, do not take amiss) was almost the cause that we supjiosed that you had neglected our interests on purpose ; though, as soon as your letter reached ns, we saw clearly that this was not the case, for which we are, indeed, very glad. "In this, your kind letter, you admonish us firstly to persevere in holy prayers, godly exercises, and a holy life, which all of us will endeavour to do, with the help of God ; and to that end we meet continually, though in a deficient manner. However, we do not minister the sacraments nor the church discipline, as we have pro- mised you in our last letter. " You are so very sorry, as you say, that we, who are of so small a numV)er, differ among each other in such a considerable manner, while you fear that, if we increase, we shall occasion troubles, dis- cord, and schism, &c. : on which we answer, that it grieves us that you are so very sorry, while we inform you at the same time that, though we at present, or afterwards when we increase, differ in some opinions of our understanding, we, however, continually persevere in holiness of life, and can bear with each other in peace ; which Chris- tian tolerance, we think, to be a preservative of the church to pre- 38 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. vent the above-mentioned jeopardy, as minute examinations, limita- tions, censures, and condemnations only for opinions, occasion esi)ecially the inconveniences you spoke about. We believe that the Holy Scriptures can prove this. "In your letter you have mentioned three different matters which you consider as encumbrances which prevent our being received among your brotherhood, namely, the deity of Christ, the oath, and the war. We are of opinion that all troubles about these three matters may be taken away by Christian love, and the above-men- tioned tolerance, if a part of the truth of God is not contempted. " As regards the deity of Christ, and to bear with each other •with respect to this doctrine — we are with you of the same opinion, unless you would compel us to believe three different persons in the Deity, which inanner of speaking is not found in the Scriptures. But we surely believe that there is but one single God rev^ealed under three distinguished names — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and, in order to answer directly, as you desire it, we do not say only that there is nobody among us who denies that Christ is God, but we undoubtedly believe that Christ, according to the Spirit, is from the same being and substance with the Father, and that. Go(i is in the Father, with the Son and the Holy Ghost, as you affirm it. "As regards the oath and the war, you direct us to your first propositions, [the unsound opinions?] which are maintained by our adversaries [?] as we told you before. We have, however, most diligently examined your arguments about the two questions, as they are collected by you chiefly out of the words of Christ on the moun- tain, which are added to the other ones in your memoir, and, after that examination, there were three who were then of the same opinion with you ; but the others were not, as they think that, according to the words of Christ, it ought to be as follows : — " The oath was not a manner of use assumed by men, but used by God himself, and was often exerted by the Jews, and those who were converted to their religion in good and righteous matters ; as they before the Gentiles (Jos. ix. 19, xx. 2 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 2) ; and the Gentiles before the Jews (Gen. xxvi. 28, xxix. 34). When we con- sider all this, we are obliged to think that the oath has not only been a mere figure to be annihilated by Christ, as, if this were the case, the holy people would not have used it. "We do not explain the words of Christ, Swear not at all, that Christ has prohibited the oath over good and righteous matters, but misusing the oath, as the Jews did in their iisual conversations, and which is also prohibited by him to the Christians. We only think that the meaning of the words Sivear not at all is, Swear not by CHARLES THE FIRST. 39 heaven, nor earth, nor Jerusalem, nor by the temple, and similar creatures. Again, Swear not at all, in yonr ordinary conversations, but your word be yea, yea ; nay, nay, in all your usual seasons. Do j'ou think that all true words in your ordinary conversations must be affirmed with an oath? or that the Lord demands to please him in such a manner? or that he has ordered an oath over important matters ? To such questions we are moved, and the more for this, that St. Paid has written in the same manner — (2 Cor. i. 2.3 ; Gal. i. 20; and also the Angel, Apoc. x. G; and to the Hebrews vi.) — so that wc have examples as well of God as of men that an oath was sworn in righteous, good, and important matters. We think also that much good is produced in that way, as well for the body as for the soul of men ; so that we truly think that it was really the inten- tion of Christ not only to take away the corrupted misuse of swear- ing, but also to affirm the right manner of swearing an oath, as he does also in the same chapter with other commandments ; for he has not come to annihilate even the least commandment, but to fultil it. But, in order to inform you clearly what is the opinion of some among us, we mention that we have some oaths in our eonntry which we do not venture to consider as those of the church, or an oath in matters of offices, or by authority, as their tendency is to change the belief and to hurt our neighbours. "As regards war, some of us are of the same oi:)inion with you, on account of these words of Christ (Matt. v. ), / say unto you, that ye resist )wt the evil; which words, you yourselves, as we remember, use to prove your opinion. Now, then, these words Besist not evil, which are spoken negatively, have their limits, as other words on other places, as, for instance. Labour not (St. John vi. 27) ; Ov:e no man anything (Kom. xiii. 8) ; Lend not, hoping from this again {Dwich version] (Luke vi. xxxv. ). All of which words have their limitations, and ought to be considered in connexion Math each other, as you yourselves know very well. Not less have these words. Resist not THE evil [Dutch version], a special meaning, though they are so general by themselves. And we think that the meaning is this : Do not resist the evil in a. tvrong or bad uxiy. Math such faults as your enemies do about you, but resist the evil with all good means ; firstly, as it can be, by admonishing (Lev. xix. 17); secondly, by praying (Matt. v. 44) ; thirdly, if these means do not avail veiy much, and if the Christians can apply to worldly judges who can assist them in righteoiis matters ; also when they are wronged for conscience's sake, they may resist the evil actions which they have suflfered by this means. Thus St. Paul has availed himself of the same means (Acts xvi. 37), where the servants of the Emperor are 40 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. ioxind guilty, and (Acts xxiii. 12-32) where St. Paul, defending him- self against the Jews who intended to kill him, uses worldly power, in which defensive measures, warriors, cavaliers, and weapons were made ready, which he would have used if he had been in want of them; and (according to my ojiinion) when he demands protection FROM others, he may not do less in a just matter for others. Other- wise how could the commandment of Christ be fulfilled when he says, ' Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them' (Matt. vii. 12)? and, attain, when he says, ' "Wliosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council' — if we did not imderstand by this that Christ confirms the authority which punishes an evil tongue? And to these words (2 Cor. x. 4), Fvr the lueajjorifi of our warfare are not carnal, we answer that, as we must use spiritual weapons in a spiritual war, it follows simply that it is allowed to Christians to use worldly weapons in a worldly warfare for a righteous matter ; for formerly warriors have used Ijoth (for instance, Heb. xi. 32, 33, 34). Indeed, we think that it is now not less allowed to Christians to use worldly weapons or arms in a just war, with which they must jirotect themselves, as it has been before, and even to perform all other exercises, on condition only that they govern their warfare by justice, faith, sufferance, fear, contentment, and all other virtues (virtues like some warriors for- merly possessed), and that they keep themselves free from covetous- ness, revenge, anger, pride, and ambition, and not enter in an unjust cause — which sins particularly must be avoided by the army of God. We are also of opinion that, if the enemies who carry on an unjust war are killed in that war, their blood will be on their heads, while the defenders are innocent. Now, then, this is our opinion about the war, and we think to be able to prove it with many witnesses. But if we err, we pray you once again to help us as nauch as it is possible in all love. And though our o}iinion is, as we have explained to you, we, nevertheless, intend to alistain from all warfare and the use of arms, by which our friends, or the church of God, or any member of it whatever, might be offended. However, we cannot change our opinions, which are the voice of our conscience. Therefore, if you can admit us, and you have no objection against that Avhich we have said here, we shall be very glad ; but if you cannot admit us, we will wait till God gives us in our hearts what may please him ; and we shall expect that he works in us the desire to bear with each other, though we differ in our oi^nions, it ma}'' be, in the above-mentioned affairs, or in othei's which do not tend to the destruction of the true Christendom. — Your kind and sincere friends, eighteen in number, living in London. " March 17, 1G25 (Old Style J." CHARLES THE FIRST. 41 Beyond tbis, oxir information about these parties does not extend. There are before ns two other documents, in relation to these matters, wliich, though anticipating a year or two in our narrative, maybe as well introduced here. The first is from the church at Lincoln, one of the five churclies referred to in a former letter : — " I acknowledge, beloved and loving friend, that T have received your letter (from the hands of John Drew, our beloved friend,) which was sent to us, and the others of our brethren among this nation ; and as we lind in it an evidence of your good opinion towai-ds us as regards our Christian condition, we may not neglect to return you our gratitude for it, while we heartily wish that you and we may come to the unity of the Holy Ghost, and to those bonds of i)eace which are in the truth. Amen. " We inform you, however, good friend, that we cannot consider that the affair which you impose on lis, and which you wish to be concluded so hastily, is of so little importance as you seem to con- sider it. As for ilatt. xviii. , according to which you wish that we should not i)uuish every difference of opinion or action — we know that it is evident that, in everything by which one of the brethren is offended with reason, repentance is required ; and that, when this is refused, he who will not repent must be considered as a Gentile and publican. This is also taught by our Saviour, St. Matt, v.— (' There- fore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, &c.') And, that it maj'^ not be of too little importance in your opuiion, we advise you to consider attentively the words of our Saviour about the beginning of the 18th chapter, where he says : ' But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which Ijelieve in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' "And when you think that we have more of the spirit of the disciples of Christ than that of our Saviour, ^ — if you meau that spirit when they wished fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans — we may fully say that your opinion is very wrong. For we do not venture to give room to a single thought of corporal op}iression or sorrow to our neighbours, either as regards religion or matters of conscience. Before all things, we strive against this with all men. Nor are we (as we hope, at least) governed by a spirit of ambition or authority: on the contrary, we receive very willingly the right opinions of our Saviour. But when you will explain that expression by assuming that the spirit is willing but the flesh weak, we must 42 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. acknowledge that it is so with us, though we dare 'to hope that the Lord will fulfil his promise in accepting our goodwill for the action, and even that it will be found that we have in some measure the spirit of Christ; otherwise, we are none of his. (Rom. viii. 0.) "But j'ou say that Christ Lore with unbelief, offence, ignorance, and blind zeal in his disciples, and that he only admonished them, &c. Indeed, you might justly rebuke us if we did not act according to that rule. But if we punish, we do so with those who are worthy of punishment, or have given offence, in order that they may con- vert themselves. Or do you think that Christ could have borne with his disciples if they had resisted his rebuke or had refused his teaching and admonition ? Take care that you may not suffer such a thought among you. It may be true that he went not farther than admonishing them ; but it is also true that they were always willing to receive his admonition, and to become informed and reformed by it. Every one who reads may take heed that he is teaching us by many opportunities how to act with irregular persons and those who are obstinate. And, then, when you i">roceed to speak about the abuses or errors in the church of Corinth, and the other churches built by the apostles (just as if you do not think it necessary that one must repent or may be excluded), we pray you to consider how much confusion and misery would arise if we consented in this matter, and suffered that people came to the table of the Lord intoxicated, sleepy, or ungodly in other respects, that they were quarrelling and sowing discord, that they denied the resurrection, that they maintained justification by the law without Christ, and thus fell out of mercy, &c. If such things shoiild be suffered, the church, instead of being a congregation of holy individuals, would grow a company of wicked and ungodly persons. It is true that we do not read of any person who was excluded from the church of Corinth, but only for unchastity ; nor do we read that one single sin for which the apostle rebukes the church, was that of some indi- vidual in particular, so that the Avhole communion could deal with him as it was necessary ; but the whole church was so generally infected that all of them must correct themselves, or must be rebuked by the apostle; therefore, he calls his third admonition his third witness, while he -said that, if he returned to them, he might not spare them : which cannot signify anything else than that he should be obliged to proceed with them to the most extreme punishment, according to the strength the Lord had given him. You should observe also that the church of Ephesus is threatened that her candlestick should be removed out of its place, as she had left her first love. But let us turn to the church of Corinth. The apostle CHARLES TUK FIRST. 43 says that if one calls himself a brother and becomes unchaste, covetous, &c, we should not eat with him. Now, we think that here is meant a npiritual eating, and not a usual dinner, for that would be Pharisaical ; and so you may see that there are still other sins besides unchastity for which one may be excluded : even, we think, all sins for which the church might be slandered, according to the actions of the apostles themselves with Hymeneus and Alexander. Besides, the apostle desires also that they who troubled the church of the (Jalatians (Gal. v. 10, 12) with false doctrines should be cut oS", which, as wc hope, you will understand with us, means excommuni- cation, and not corporal death. And, once again, how can they be avoided who occasion quarrels and discords (Rom. 16, 17) but only by excommunication ? And how can we separate those who preach against the l)lesscd words of our Lord Jesus Christ Init only by excommunication ? And do you not see that the Lord threatens to fight against the church of Pergamos with the sword of his mouth, because she suffered among her those that hold the doctrine of Balaam ? And when you say that the Lord gave to Jesabel a time for repentance, we hope that you will consider that among us the time for repentance is not passed if some are excommunicated or excluded from the church. It is true that all things must be done in love and in the spirit of meekness (and, therefore, if we must be ])unished for forgetting this, it be far from us that we should not suffer this and give promises of correction) ; but it is also necessary that we may not leave rebuking those who err, for suffering their abuses would not be an action of love, but of hatred (Levit. xix, and xvii.). Besides, a kingdom is not divided in itself by pimishing, chastising, or cutting off the evil-doers ; but its peace and rest will rather be established by doing so. We know, beloved brethren, that, as Christ forgives us, we should do so one the other ; Ijut we must consider also that Christ did not forgive anybody but him who repented and turned towards him (Acts iii. 19, 20) ; and, therefore, how shall we venture to do more ? Indeed, we desire most sincerely the reconciliation of all : but reconciliation can only be established on the acknowledgment of guilt and the promise of correction, and cannot be united with stubborn resistance or perseverance in sin. And though we were considered as hasty and severe men, we know this, that though not one of us is ever excommunicated, we shoidd certainly receive him again (suppose we were obliged to exclude one for our love of God or the zeal of our religion) if he repented and were inclined to make peace. And now, to come to a conclusion, we acknowledge, with you, that it is a deplorable and pitiful thing to see that the spiritual stones of the Lord's building are thrown to the 44 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. ground and scattered; but, alas! how shall we always be able to prevent this? By suffering them in their wickedness? But this would be to make the Lord's house a den of thieves, and most awfully to bring imder his eyes, and in his holy temple, uncircumcised persons. So there would be neither a place nor a people where or by whom could be offered him spiritual offerings agreeable unto him by our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we thank you for your love, and we pray the Lord to reward you by keeping you in this true love, and by increasing this and your zeal in the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We ])ray him, that you, by him, may enjoy the abundant gifts of his Holy Spirit to your sanctification in this, and the glorification in the life to come. This may the Giver of all good gifts give both you and us, and all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.- — With our very kind greetings to you and all friends of the holy trutli, we recommend you to the protection and guidance of the Lord, whose peace and blessings be with you eternally (we pray). Amen. — Your most sincere friends in the Lord, the brethren who live there. "Lincolne, September 5, 1630." "Copied May 31, and June ^j/'iwio, 1631, by your servant and ^^I'^^^Cl'' "SWITHUNE GrYNDALL." The last of the letters is from Tiverton. This letter is rather obscure here and there, though it is literally trans- lated : — " Your kind acceptance of my letter, and the care you took to an- swer it, afford me now the opportunity to express my ga-atitude for the kindness you showed me and all others here, who are the friends of the truth which is to be found in Christ Jesiis our Lord. All of them can bear witness that I have received your kind letter, dated Sept. 13, 1630, in which you desire, as you say, -with a sincere heart, the zeal of God and his truth, which we also earnestly desire with a most sincere heart, and for which we strive continually. However, we must know this, that our zeal must be founded on knowledge, and kindled by the lire of Heaven, otherwise it would be more mad- ness than zeal. ' This we see in the sad example of the Jewish people, who possessed, according to the words of the apostle, the zeal of iioA, but not founded on knowledge, and so they were ignorantly raging in such a manner that they crucified the Messiah himself, whom they expected a long time and very ardently, as they hoped he woidd deliver Israel (Luke xxiv. 21). And so we acknowledge with you that we can often err by ignorance, that we can be erring CHARLES THE FIRST. 45 in the fulfiliiieut of all we ought to do accordiug to our knowledge, often perforniing the things more hastily or more slowly than they ought to be performed. Nevertheless, the Lord shows us in his Word his desire in a clear way about the tilings which we ought to do and can do, otherwise the guilt be ours. With all this, we hojie that God will have mercy upon us, and will not impute to us our weak- ness and imperfectness, nor what we misdo in consequence of this ; while we are striving every day to coiTect ourselves, and to grow from perfection to perfection ; though we must acknowledge also that, if we try to do only our own desire, and if we are contented with the ordinary customs and practices of others whom we love, &c., we may not expect any other revelation of God's will to lis, nor any mercy out of his hands. " Let us now go to the answer on my letter in which you say, that the cause for which you suffer and bear with a brother also after re- buke, who has heard a sermon in England, is that you do not dare to deliver liim to the Satan, if he has an understanding to hear, and is able to be edified by hearing one who hohls other opinions ; and secondly, that the action of hearing itself is not bad or carnal, but that the doctrine or person may be disputable, &c.— in which words of j'onrs there are two reasons. The first is, as you say, that he has a judgment that he may do such, and if doing such, may be edified by a person of other opinions ; the second, you say, is that the mere action of hearing is not simply [?] evil or carnal. To the first reason we say that, if you suppose that a usual understanding of a brother, even if he were the most holy one that ever lived on earth, can ])e a good rule for his own or others' direction in the service of God with- out any assurance out of God's Woixl, we surely think that it is un- tenable; for that would be to make a private judgment of a mortal man of the same value with the Holy Scriptures, which assertion would not be better than blasi)hemy. What wickedness, soever, is there, which would not be suffered and excused, or which would not assume an appearance of good, if a man's private judgment were a rule? just as you say about hearing a false prophet (for so you judge of them, or wherefore do you call him an adversary?) to be edified. We have here some among us who think it allowed to hear a false prophet, but not in order to give God honour or praise, or to use that opportunity to do good to man. To go on such or similar purpose is wickedness, as it is emphatically said. But you and yours think it to be allowable to hear for edification. Can a fountain (says St. James) give drinkable water and bitter 'at the same time' ? Just so is it impossible (we may freely say this) that a false 2)rophet can edify or teach Christ's church, or any member of it. For, as the 46 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. tnie prophets of Christ ecTify and augment the church of Christ, so the false proi)hets do the kingdom of the Antichrist. These two works cannot be united in the service of the Lord, nor tend to the completement of the church of Christ— no more, and even less, than the imion of the Gentiles and the Jews to the accomiilishment of the material temple. (Ezra iv. ) Only the people of God, the Jews, must build the material temple, and so the Lord's prox)hets, or people only who are sent by him, have the calling from their Master Christ to build his spiritual temple. Neither Simon Magiis, nor any other false prophet whosoever, has a part in this work. We are ad- monished by St. Jude to build up ourselves in the holy faith; and, therefore, if we went to our adversaries in order to ask their assist- ance, we might incur the punishment of the Lord, as he says to the Jews that they had forsaken the foimtains of the living waters, and had made them wells which cannot keep water. The whole Scripture is against such Balaamitic and wavering transactions. If the religion ■which yoii confess to be true, is the true one, that of your adversaries must be false. "Now we pass to the second part of your reasoning, namely, that the action of hearing is not directly evil or carnal, &c. To this we answer, that, if you mean the action of hearing a false prophet or prophets, preaching or praying in consequence of their spiritual voca- tion, as it seems that you do — and we are of opinion that you will not deny that one can sin by hearing, as well as by seeing, speaking, &c. — we think that all such hearing is evil and carnal bej^ond any doubt, and not a work of the Spirit of God, nor affirmed by his Word, as these places of the Scripture may prove : — Jer. xxiii. 16, where the Lord advises his people, saying, 'Hear not the words of the prophets who teach and prophesy you vanity;' Hos. iv. 15, 'Come not to Gilgal uor go to Beth-haven;' — in the former place they are forbidden to hear with the corpoi'al ear, and in the latter even to come to the place of the false religion in order to hear or to see it. And the voice from the Heavens said (Matt. xvii. 5), ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased : hear ye him ;' and John x., ' My sheep hear my voice, but a stranger they will not follow ;' and again, Jesus said of those whom he sent out: 'He who hears you, hears me ;' but he never says this of his adversaries. Therefore, we conclude that, if it is forbidden the people of God to hear the ser- mons, prayers, or commandments of the false prophets, as it is proved by all the above-cited words of the Scriptures, — then, we say, is it by no means allowed to the sheep of Christ to listen to the voice of the foreigners, especially at the time and place appointed to the meetings of those -who are meeting in the name of Christ. But you say that CHARLES THE FIRST. 47 one does it out of the faith iu himself [?]. Oh, do not shut your eyes, we pray you. What faith can he have, wlien there is no word in the whole of the Book of the Lord in favour of such an exercise ? The Holy Ghost says that faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of the Lord ; and he has no word of God for this his faith, and, therefore, he cannot have a belief in it. And all what is not from the faith is sin, especially when one perseveres iu the exercise of evil — for you yourselves think it, otherwise why do you advise him not to attend it? Will you admonish one for something else but sin? and, therefore, when this hearing has taken place once, it becomes a sin, as we have jirovcd. And if he does not rei)ent when he is ad- monished the lirst, second, and third time, and according to the established rule of our Master Christ Jesus, the only legislator of his church, let him be to you as the Gentile and publican, &c. ; but if he do repent, forgive him, not otherwise. This is the law of Christ, and those who will not obey it are not worthy the name of Christians ; for nobody is a Christian but only those who are obedient and sub- jected to his laws and commandments, just as nobody can be called the king's subject who will not obey his just laws— so in Christ's spiritual kingdom, as all his laws are decidedly just, he who does not obey him cannot be his ; and if he be not his, he cannot possess the spirit of Christ ; and if he have not the spirit of Christ, it is beyond all question that he or she and all their doctrines are evil and carnal — both the projjhets and the people who listen to them, and whoso- ever they may be who belong to the adversaries of the Christian faith. But you think it lit to bear with him in meekness, &c., and even to pray the Lord for his enlightening, &c. , as it is said in the letter of your German brethren. We agree with you, that we should deal with such an one as with a brother, and not esteem him as an enemy during the whole of the time that he is admonished ; but it is just this which we would jiray you to point out in your letters, how long we must bear with a brother in his sin ; whether it must be al- ways, or only during the time that he is kindly admonished the first, second, and third time, or during a period Avhich God gives men for repenting, as he did Jezebel? In this case, we must consider that God gives sometimes men a very long time for repenting, — some- times sixty or eighty years, and even the whole time of theii- life; while he has limited his church with three admonitions, and if he does not repent, then he must be as the Gentile and publican. Now it is true that he, after that moment, is not yet deprived of all means of repentance, but this is the last remedy which is in the power of the church to use with him and to bring him to repentance, when all admonition does not avail; so that you may see that Christ has 48 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. pointed out a time to bis church which that chiu-ch may never pass. I would pray you, at the same time, to show us where the apostles have suffered (aud very long, as you say) great sins. I cannot remember to have ever read that the ai)ostles, or any one of the first church, have suffered a brother above the time appointed by our Saviour, as it is said before. And ^^'hen you say in your letter, that the words of the Scripture which I cited (those to the church of Ephesus, Apoc. ii. 2) do not serve me, then I must say again that they do serve me without doubt ; for how can you restrain the signi- fication only to evil teachers [ministers] when the words are general : — 'And thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars ;' which last words you take and explain as the evil for- merly mentioned, though they are taken together [the evil ?], and de- nominated with a word which exi)resses a general quality, so that all evils are meant in general, and then pointed out with a name: — 'Them which say they are apostles, and are not,' &c. Now then, to follow the rule of God's Word is the best and safest way to walk to the reformation both of little and great sins; if this is our purpose, we shall, undoubtedly, not act in the wrong way. And though we jnight take other ways in human government, yet government which is human may not take place in Christ's church. If we are desirous to seek for reformation, then we must do it according to his Word; and then, also, we may be sure that, in reforming little sins, we may prevent the greater ones, and, at the same time, build up the church of Christ in love. And how shall we show more love to our brother but bj' drawing him out of his sin, and especially to do this by the means which Christ himself has proposed and ordered? If a worldly friend had some disease, so that one of his members must be cut off, imless all his body linger away, would it not be a much greater love showed him to cut off the whole raeml)er, than to cause, by too great tenderness, that all his body is left in jeopardy? And of the same nature is sin if it is left, and if we suffer it in the church ; it will go through all the dough, while it draws over the whole of the church the anger of God, as you may see in the church of Corinth, because they suffered the unchaste among them, more than fitted them (1 Cor. v. ) ; and, as it seems, they exercised the same doctrine of tolerance as you do, for which they were sharply rebuked by the apostle. "As regards the fusion or union, you say that the fault is at our side, because some of us keep and use the material sword, which, as you say, neither Christ nor the apostles ever did, — an assertion of which we do not imderstand how you contrive it, as the Scriptures prove that even among the disciples of Christ who always accom- CHARLES THE FIRST. 49 panied him, swords were used. This is evident from the fact, that our Saviour, a short time before his suffering or ai)prehensiou iu the garden, gave them direction and taught them their duty, saying: — 'When I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, lacked ye anything? .... And he that has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. And they said, Lord, behold here are two swords. ' And Peter had a sword, which he misused as he cut off the ear of Malchus ; but this is a fact, before he misused it, he was never rebuked for having it. So it is beyond all doubt that he used it formerly in some lawful manner, which he may have done also after- wards, and should have done at that moment ; for how was it possible that they otherwise could be ordered to have one, and even that they must sell their garments and buy swords? So that we conclude that they might use it iu some cases and for some purposes. And when the soldiers came to .John the Baptist, they asked him what they must do, and he answered them, that they shoidd not trouble any- body : so that he taught them how to act as Christians, and never- theless to keep their office as soldiers. If you still would say that neither Christ nor the apostles ever used the material sword, then we pray you to explain in your next letter what, according to your judg- ment, they did with the swords above-mentioned. If they by no means might use them, we acknowledge with you that, according to the words of the Scriptures cited by you, and many other places mentioned in your letter, and which prove your assertion — the material sword ought not to be found in the kingdom of Christ. Just so neither purse, scrip, nor shoes, &c., nor many other things of the same nature — though we, as we are flesh or men of this world, may lawfully use them for the maintenance of our natural life, which we are obliged to keep and to preserve ; just as even our Saviom- did when he parted from this world. He says, if one has a purse, let him take it, &c. — among which things the material sword was found also. However, we see that they might not use it in the protection of their Christian profession, or that of their Master and Lord Christ, as he said, when he punished Peter, 'Put your sword in the sheath,' &c. ; and so we do not think it is allowed to use it in the defence of our own life, as we are confessors of the Gospel for which we are suffering and ought to suffer persecution, nor to obtain any worldly crown or worldly dignity which we long for. But, according to our duty to the king aud to the country in which we live, and in all civd things which are lawful; and, if we are worldly subjects in a kingdom of this world, in the defence of our king, his dignity and empire, we use the material sword. It is our conviction that it is allowed to use it in such a manner. Nevertheless, we say also and we judge that, 50 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. if there vrere never an occasion to use the sword, it were much better. We also do not condemn you or any other person who refuses to use it any way ; but we are sure, as we beheve, that, if we use it in some occasions, we do not sin at all. Yoii, however, are now of opinion that we are unworthy of some union or community in Christ's church, on account of this our use and opinion, though you see clearly that we can prove it with the Word of God. Nor will you allow us to have any community with you, unless we forsake all offices of government or authority and the use of the material sword. The office of authority is, as the Holy Ghost teaches us, a good ordi- nation of God ; and should we, or any other person who wishes to be- come a member of the church of Christ, forsake then what is good, or otherwise deny him? That be far from us. Only sia can make one unfit to become a Christian. And for every sin, how little it may be, one must repent ; for if it be sin, it is a transgression of the law, and every transgression of it will receive its just rewai'd if no repent- ance follows, namely, the anger of God. But to hoar a false pro- phet, if it does not offend the brethren, or to avoid persecution, &c. — which, however, is public evil, as we have already pointed out, — you do not think this of sufficient importance to excommunicate one, though he does not repent for having done this. You think it better to bear with such (though they are evil), and thus to bear with those that are evil, for which fact we think that you are guilty, and that the cause comes from your side that there be no unity between us. If we had known that you had such opinions when we asked for union with you, we should first have worked at your reformation. Therefore, we pray you to consider all what is written here, and also what is written by our friends and beloved brethren of Lincolu, as an answer on your letter, and afterwards to send us your understanding or opinion about these matters, that we — just as we try and contend for one thing, namely, the sincerity in the profession of the Gospel — may be one and of the same mind as those who are from the family of faith, founded and established on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and of which Jesus Christ is the chief corner-stone, and that we so may grow up to life everlasting. As regards the oath, the matter stood as follows, if I recollect, when we were with you last time, namely, that there was no difference in our practice, though we called an oath what you did not call so ; for you also will give wit- ness of a thing before the authority by uttering the great name of God, and this we esteem allowed if we are called for it, but not other- wise. We offer you our kind and sincere greeting, also your wife and the other beloved friends living with you, namely, Alexander Hodgkin, John Drew, with their wives, and all others — not forgetting CHARLES THE FIRST. 51 the four elders, whom you should inform, as we pray you, the con- tents of this letter, and that of the other written hy our beloved friends at Lincoln. The Lord lead you always in the truth. Amen. "Written from Tivei-ton. " Your sincere and faithful friends in the Lord, "James Joppe, and Isabel, his Wife." " Translatcil from the English language, June 5, 1031. "Your brother, Swithune Gryndall." The value of these documents needs no comment. They give us interesting -glimpses of the theological dogmas and teachings of the Netherland Baptists and their brethren in Enghmd. Many of their opinions are now obsolete; still tlieir anxiety to know the truth, their forbearance, their zeal, and their sufferings, will clothe their memory with undying interest. Nor is this all: from these documents, Crosby's statement that, up to the formation of the first Pai-ticular Baptist church, our brethren were mingled with other Chris- tian societies, may be estimated at its true value. In one sense it may be true, but in the sense in which he uses it, it is a mistake. That many Baptists were mingled with other Chx'istian organizations is more than probable, but their existence as separate churches is now beyond all doubt. Other evidences of this fact will presently be laid before our readers. Before dismissing this matter, another subject may claim our attention; — the mode of baptism practised by these sufferers for the truth. We have to deal with it in the spirit of history, not of controversy. Only as an historic fact do we touch it. Again and again it has been asserted that at this period immersion was not the mode adopted by these heroic confessors. The question is only of moment in the light of hijstory. Beyond this its intei-est and value do not go. Truth is more important to us than theory. In this spirit we shall enter on the inquiry. In a letter of G. "W. Altute, a Genevan author, on the religious state of Great Britain, he says, " Till the beginning 52 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. of tlie 17th century, the Baptists in England only I'ejected the baptism of infants, and they insisted not on immersion ; but immersion was inti'oduced among them by I. Smith. From that time immersion is practised and considered necessary."* The editor of Robinson's Works has expressed the same opinion. "Nothing," says he, referring to Smith and Helwys, " appears in these controversial writings to warrant the sup- position that they regarded immersion as the proper and only mode of administering the ordinance," &c.t In this opinion, Dr. Miiller fully agrees. But was it sol "We cannot pronounce positively, but are bound to confess that the probabilities are greatly in its favour. The harmony of opinion, and the anxiety for agreement, which their Dutch brethren manifested in the documents laid before our readei's, would more than wai-rant this conclusion. Add to this the fact stated by Ivimey, that, on the formation of the first Par- ticular Baptist church in England, an individual was sent over to Holland to be immersed. Now, this could not arise from there being no Baptists in the country. We have seen that the very opposite was the fact. Other churches, too, as will be seen presently, existed in this country. Only from one of two causes could this conduct arise : dislike to the Arminian doctrines, or dissatisfaction with the mode of baptism. Which of these operated, it is difficult to say. Probably both had an influence in determining their course. Later still, there is positive proof, if credit is to be given to the testimony of men living at the period, that there were communities in existence then who conformed entirely to the mode adopted by our Dutch brethren. The reference is to Chelmsford. " But since this magnified Reformation was set on foot, this town (as, indeed, most corporations, as we find by experience, are nurseries of faction and rebellion) is so filled with sectaries, especially Brownists and Anabaptists, * Vol. iF.,p. 900. t Vide note, Early English Baptists, vol. i., p. 203. CHARLES THE FIRST. 53 that a third part of tlie people refuse to communicate in the Church Liturgy, and half refuse to receive the communion of the blessed sacrament, unless they may receive it in what position they please to take it. They have amongst them two sorts of Anabaptists : the one they call the Old Men, or Aspersi, because they were but sprinkled; the other they call the New Men, or Tlie Immersi, because they were over- whelmed in their rebaptization."* This fact is important on more accounts than one; whilst it can leave no doubt upon the mind of the reader that, at this time, both modes were practised. Judging from the fol- lowing account of the method of baptizing in Holland about this time, their manner was different from the modern method of squeezing a few drops of water on the face of the infant. Sir W. Brereton says, " The minister here (in Amsterdam) baptized after sermon fourteen children; the water not sprinkled upon their faces, but the predicant doth pull back the cloth and dressing on the head, so that all the skull of the child's head is bare, and holding the face downwards, he is sufficiently prodigal of water, pouring divers handfuls iipon the child's head, and holding his hand on the child's head, rubbing the same during all the time that he is pro- nouncing the words of baptism, which, as I conceived, were equivalent to those of ours: — 'I baptize thee in the name of the Father, Son,' &c, using as long a speech whilst he held the child in his anns, as our ministers do. I ob- served diligently, and he used not the sign of the cross, which all the Dutch churches reject. Here were no god- fathers; those that brought and carried the children gave the name unto the predicant, and all those were women that held and brought the children."t *■ Mercurius Rusticus, pp. 25, 20. t Travels, by Sir W. Brereton, in Holland, &c., 1634 to 1635, p. M. Cheetham Society. The same writer gives us an accoixnt of a baptism in Edinbro' in 1635 : — "Here I saw the sacrament of baptism (in the College Kirk) administered in this manner : — The preacher standing in the pulpit, 54 EARLY EXGLISH BAPTISTS. Of the existence of otlier Baptist churches during this period there is no doubt. The limits of this work forbid the notice of them individually; yet the following may be regarded, in its main features, as a sample. The church at Stoney Stratford is one of the earliest of them. The fol- lowing narrative is condensed from an old church-book, now unfortunately lost. " The Baptist church at Stoney Strat- ford dates its origin as early as 1625. At that time, there were a few Puritans living at Stratford, who united together to uphold the principles of the Gos})el, in doing which they were often placed in circumstances of great difficulty, and and there being placed and fastened into the same a frame of iron, shaped and proportioned to a basin, wherein there stands a silver basin and ewer ; here the minister useth an exhortation of gratitude for God's goodness, in admitting thom to this privilege, &c., demanding from the witnesses (which are many — sometimes 12, sometimes 20), according to a printed form of baptism, the parent receives the child from the midwife, presents the same unto the preacher, who doth baptize it without any manner of ceremony, giving a strict care of Christian and religious education, first unto the parent, then to the witness." — Ibid, p. 110. Cheetham Society. It may not be uninteresting to the reader to have an allusion to one of an earlier date, in another part of the Netherlands. During the perse- cutions of Mary, a gi-anddaughter of Sir W. Lock fled with her husband to Antweip, and the following is her description of the baptism of her daughter: — "The fashion was to hang a piece of lawn out at the window when the child was to be Ijaptized ; and her house having two doors into two streets, she hung lawn out at each door, so the neighbours of each side, thinking the child was can-ied out at one door, inquired no farther. The hazard she run was great, for she says that the hatred which was borne by the townsmen to the Anabaptists, the magistrates used to come at midnight into houses where any children were suspected to be kept unbaptized, and if they found any such, they used to put them into a sack, and throw them into the sea and drown them : which cruelty to avoid, she did, as is before said, hang out the la-wn, and there being a secret congregation of Protestants in the town, she procured her child to be carried there, when it was baptized," &c. She stayed at Antwerp till Mary died. — Sir John Bramston's Autobiography, p. 11. Camden Society. The notorious "Wren, Bishop of Norwich, in 1G36, issued in- junctions to his deacons, which give us singiilar glimpses of ecclesiastical manners. In the XIV., he orders that "the fonts at baptism be filled with clean water, and no dishes, pails, nor basins be used in it, or instead of it."— Cardwell, vol. ii., p. 204. CHARLES THE FIRST. 55 sometimes even of imminent danger; in order to escape wliich thej were obliged to meet, sometimes in the neighbouring forest, at other times under the trees and hedges in the adjoining fields, or in private houses about Stoney Stratford. It appears that so formidable was the opposition raised against them at one time, that they were pursued by a body of armed men, who followed them on the road to Newport Pagnall; but, being met by Sir Henry , who was secretly the friend of the Nonconformists, he succeeded in bringing their pursuers back to Stratford, and detained them, by giving them ale, till the persecuted little flock had effected their escape. They were, however, not always so successful, and some of them are said to have been sent to prison for their nonconformity. After some time, they were able to obtain a piece of ground, and soon afterwards a small chajiel, capable of holding about a hundred people, was erected ; but such was the spirit of the times, that they could not always hold their meetings in it. They do not appear to have had any settled minister at first, nor, indeed, for a long time after they were formed into a congregation. The aflairs of the churcli were superintended by deacons, of whom, in consequence of the advanced age at which they were chosen, they had a very quick succession. Whenever deacons were to be oi'dained, or set apart, a day of fasting and prayer was appointed : and the abstinence of those days forms a striking contrast to the feasting and toast-drinking of some modern ordinations."* From a wide district, the members of this church, like many others, were gathered. We have seen that, in early times, Kent was distinguished by the large supply of consecrated sufferers for Christ. It was not des- titute, at this time, of noble-minded men. As early as 1G26, Thomas Brewer, "a zealous minister of the Baptist persuasion," was arrested in his work by the emissaries of Laud. Brook gives us the following information about * Kindly supplied by the Eev. E. L. Forster. 56 E.VKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. him. "The first account of him we meet with, is that, in the year 1626, he was a preacher among the Separatists in and about Ashforcl, in Kent. In that year, through the instigation of Laud, he was persecuted and censured in the High Commission Court, and committed to prison, where lie remained no less than fourteen years. The Archbishop, speaking of the mischief done by the nonconformity of Mr. Brewer and Mr. Turner, says, 'The hurt which they have done is so deeply i-ooted, that it is impossible to be plucked up on a sudden; but I must crave time to work it oif by little and little.' His Grace, however, certainly fixed on the most direct and efiectual method of doing this. For, in his account of his province, addressed to the king, in 1637, he says; ' I must give your Magesty to understand, that at and about Ash ford, in Kent, the Separatists continue to hold their conventicles, notwithstanding the excommunication of so many of them as have been disclosed. Two or three of their principal ringleaders, Brewer, Fenner, and Turner, have been long kept in prison, and it was once thought fit to proceed against them by the statute of abjuration. Not long since. Brewer slipt out of prison, and went to Roches- ter and other parts of Kent, and held conventicles, and put a great many people into great distemper about the church. He is taken again, and was called before the High Commis- sioner, when he stood silent, but in such a jeering, scornful manner, as I scarcely ever saw the like. So in prison, he remains.'"* In 1640, Brewer was liberated from his * Brook's Puritans, vol. ii., p. 444. Collier's account of the latter part is somewhat varied from Brook's. In the Archbishop's account of his province this year, he acquaints the king, that "in his diocese near Ash- ford, several Anabaptists, and other Separatists, stood out so obstinately against the customs of the church, that there was no other way of dealing with them but having recourse to the Statute of Abjuration, or applying some other way to the assistance of the Temporal Courts. But whether tliis remedy was proper or not, at this disturbed juncture, is referred to his Majesty." — Vol. ii., p. 791. Charles wrote against this report: — "Keep these particular persons fast, luitil you think what to do with the CHARLES THE FIRST. ■) t confinement l)y order of the House of Commons. We have no evidence, or if there is any it is scant, which shall enable us to determine to which section of the body these men be- longed. It is enough for us to know, that with them religion was a living power, and that for propagating these views of its renewing and sanctifying influence, they encountered the hos- tility of the High-Priest of formalism,* to embalm them in onr memoiy, and to give them a ])lace in these pages. Our Avork is not the history of the nation, but we cannot avoid an allusion to some of the events which marked the early period of Charles's reign. We have already indicated the existence of opposing elements in the empire. The aggressions of royalty soon brought them into collision. It was well knoAvn that the king's notions of his prerogative and power were of the loftiest order. His ministers nourished them. Buckingham and his satellites everywhere inculcated them. Side by side was growing up with this, more enlightened views of religion and constitutional free- dom. The wealth, the intelligence, and commercial power of the nation were probably with the latter.t The national mind was roused. Hope and fear agitated it. Into every circle these antagonistic influences entered. In the seats of industry, by the stui'dy yeomen of the country, in the home rest." "If I Late any," said a courtier of those times, "it is those schis- matics that puzzle the sweet i^eace of oiir church ; so that I could he con- tent to see an Anabaptist go to hell on a Brownist's back." This was the utterance of a man who fasted and prayed according to the Laudian teaching. — Howell's Letters, p. 270. * "His little Grace did also foment and maintain an opinion, that the Pope was the metropolitan bishop of the world, and that there could be no true church with bishops." — A Perfect Diurnal, No. 5, p. 404. " The great design of the High Church party," said Rudyard, "theii- great de- sign, their masterpiece, now is to make all those of the true religion to be the suspected party in the kingdom." — Foster, vol. i., p. 55. + "Puritans in the better ranks, and in every rank, abounded. Ah-eady, either in conscious act, or in clear tendency, the far greater serious thought and manhood of England had declared itself Puritan." — Carlyle's Cromwell, vol. i., p. 41. 58 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. of the artizan, and in the mansion of the wealthy, these political aspects of the times were examined, and theii" tendencies discussed."' But the great theatre of conflict was in tlie chamber of St. Stephen's. No sooner had the Commons assembled, than two things claimed theii- attention, — the grievances under which the nation laboured, and the state of religion. The representa- tives of the court demanded money. The necessities of the king were urgent; the nation was on the eve of a war. By the patriots his claim was recognised; but the crying evils demanded removal. The two are inseparable, said they. Remove the one, and we will grant the other. Upon this ground they took their stand, and no threatening could move them. The Lord-Keeper indeed uttered high-sounding words, the monarch frowned, and the imperious favourite and minister threatened : but in vain. The men were un- moved. Like some vast rock against which the wild wave breaks, they stood unmoved by the tempest. The pulpit was made to pander to the Royal passions, and to subvert the liberty of the people. The clerical circle was crowded with this class of men. Amongst these time-servers, ignorant alike of the teaching of their master and the origin of civil power, was Dr. Mainwaring. He taught " that the king's royal command, imposing taxes and loans without the consent of Parliament, did so far bind the conscience of the subjects of the kingdom, that they could not refuse the payment without peril of damnation." Still more, "that the authority of the Parliament Avas not neces- saiy to the raising of aids and subsidies, "f * "Tlie nobility and genti-y of England were then a strange body of men. The English squire of tlie seventeenth century clearly appears to Lave believed in God — not as a iigure of speech, but as a very fact, very awful to the heart of the English squire. ' He wore his Bible doctrines round him,' says one, ' as our squire wears his shot belt : went about with it, nothing doubting.' " — Carlyle's Cromwell, p. 45. Marsden's Later Puritans, p. 5. + Pari. History, vol. ii., p. 379. Vide Pym's Speech on this subject. CHARLES THE FIRST. 59 The Commons fell into au error, by no means uncommon, and which can scarcely excite our wonder, — mischievous then, and fraught still with danger to the interests of truth, — they regarded themselves as the great conservators of religion. Nor did they fail in exercising the authority with which they sujoposed God had invested them. Before them the divine was called. A fine of £1U00 was imposed on him ; he was to be imprisoned during the pleasure of the House; sus- pended for three years ; disabled from preaching at court, and from holding any ecclesiastical or civil office ; and his book was ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman.* Popery and Arminianism were alike denounced. Against them both the voice of the Legislature was raised. " About this time," says the authority last quoted, "the Commons voted that Dr. Neal, Bishop of "Winchester, and Dr. Laud, Bishop of Bath and Wells, be named to be those near about the king who are suspected to be Arminians, and that they are justly reputed to be unsound in their opinions that way."t Alarmed at these proceedings, at the risk of losing what Ibid, 390, 401. "To counteract these proceedings, hath it not been preached (or rather prated) in our pulpits, that all we have is the king's, jure divino, say these time-servers ; they forsake theii- own functions, and turn ignorant statesmen ; we see how willingly they will be to change a good conscience for a bishoprick." — Sir F. Seymour. Rush worth, p. 495. "The puljjit," says Disraeli, "was resounding the most slavish tenets, and proclaiming as rebellious those who refused their aid to Government. One of these had dared to avow, in his Lent sermon, that ' all we have w the kinr/'s, bi/ Divine riundant and mature crop. Other events now claim a brief attention. The power of Laud continued to increase. Upon him fresh honours were showered. Raised to the metropolitan see, he prosecuted his designs with sleepless activity. "With the infotuated monarch his influence was unbounded. Politics and religion were alike moulded by his will.* The remonstrances or the com- ])laints of the Commons were met by his ready pen. The death of Buckingham augmented his influence.f " The king seemed to take none to favour so much as Dr. Laud, Bishop of London, to whom he sent many gracious messages, and also writ him with his own hand, the which contained much grace and favour, and immediately afterwards none became so intimate with his Majesty as the said bishop. In the University of Oxford, Bishop Laud bore the sway. The Lord Chancellor (William, Lord Pembroke) committing his power into his liands."|. The death of Abbott now placed within his reach the goal of his ambition. There was no one to compete with him. On his first appearance at court after the death of his rival, Charles signified his decision in the following terms: — "My Lord Grace of Canterbury, you are very welcome."|| In the month of September, his enthronement was completed, and a splendid banquet closed the imposing ceremonial of this successor of the apostles. His pathway was now clear. The whole power of the church was in his hands; the court * The State Papers of Clarendon not only prove the attention of Laud to all political matters, but his all but boundless influence -witli Ms infatuated master, and at the council table. — Vide vol. ii. "The news here is, that Lambeth House bears all the sway, and that the Lord Deputy kings it notably in Ireland. Some that love them best coiild wish them a little more modei-ate." — Howell, p. 337. + ' ' All the kingdom, except the Duke's o^vu dependents and kindi-ed, rejoiced in the death of this Duke." — Mrs. Hutchinson, p. 29. i Kushworth, p. 649. U Le Bass, pp. 168, 169, ()6 EARLY EXGLISH BAPTISTS. Avoiilcl support liim, and his enemies sliould conform, or tlie ■wliole weight of Episcopal vengeance would fall upon them. It was well known that the primate had long entertained the notion that the veiy Lest way to consolidate the power and influence of the church, was to fill its highest offices with churchmen.* " The swoi-d of the Lord and of Gideon" had done wonders before. He would restore the good old practice of the past. For this he could plead, moreover, the example of his own age. The Bishop of Lincoln, his early- patron, thovTgh afterwards the victim of his hostility, had filled the office of Loi'd-Keeper.f The thought was worthy of the man and of the system. Truth could not act alone. Moral power could give but little support. The State should shield the creators of its power ; and under its ample shadow no weapon formed against it could prospei-, and every tongue that rose up against it the church could condemn. This policy had already guided him, as opportunity offered. No doubt at his suggestion, the same course was adopted in Scotland. The Archbishop of St. Andrews was made Chan- cellor of that kingdom, and others of the hienirchy were made Lords of Session or Privy Councillors, and their moral and political suppoi't was secured in favour of those mea- sures which were so disastrous to Laud, and finally to his * "Laud did really believe that notHiig more contributed to the Ijenefit and advancement of the chm-ch, than the promotion of churchmen to places of the gi-eatest honour, and offices of the gi-eatest trust. This opinion, and the prosecution of it, was the unhappy foundation of Ids own ruin, and the prejudice toward, malice against, and almost destruction of, the church." — Napier's Life of Montrose, p. 37 (Note).' t "'Williams, when Lord-Keeper, was famous for having a large number of spies about him. He had petitioned Buckingham for the metropolitan see, but failed. He had nine livings at the same time, and asks that he may retain one or two of them in commendum." — Cabala, p. 374. A curious, though disgraceful, illustration of the meanness to which the Bishop could descend, is given by Lord Campbell, — Lives of the Chancellors, vol. ii., pp. 4G7, 408. CHARLES THE FIRST. G7 master. Juxon," his friend and tool, was raised to the see of London, with the full expectation that it would contri- bute beyond anything else to the consummation of his own plans. In the same feeble hands the Lord Treasurer's staff was soon after placed, f Everything was favourable to his views. The law of action of the new primate was the reverse of that of his predecessor, as the religion and teaching of the one stood in the boldest contrast to the other. Still they were characteristic of the two men, and emljodied theii- spirit. The one was yielding, the other despotic : the one would sacrifice form to the living spirit, the other would tolerate no moral worth if it violated an outward and visible sign: the one could see the highest forms of religious life and unity in harmony with variety, the other had no con- * From the Diary of Laud, it appears that Juxon was sworn Clerk of the Court at his special request, "that he might have one that he could trust near his Majesty." And how much he gloried in procuring for Ids friend the Treasurer's Staff, vnU. best appear from the following memorandum : — " 1G35. March Gth, .Sunday. — William Juxon, Lord Bishop of London, made Lord High Treasurer of England. No church- man had it since Henry the Seventh's time. I pray God bless him to carry it, so that the Church may have honoiu-, and the State service and contentment by it. And now, if the church will not hold up themselves xmder God, I can do no more." Notwithstanding this high strain of self-congratulation upon a step which he concluded so beneficial for the church,. Laiid's policy, in filling up so high an oflSce in such a manner, -vviU appear suspicious, when the importance of the situation, and the expecta- tions of the powei-ful nobles, who looked upon it as their bii-thxight, are fully considered. Clarendon informs us that Juxon's promotion "did not only increase the general envy and malice against Laud, but did even, although unjustly, indispose many towards the church itself, which they looked upon as a gulph ready to swallow up all the great offices of State." — Memoirs of Sir P. Warwick, p. 101. + "Laud's first care was, that the place he was removed from (London) might be supplied by a man who would be vigUant to pull up those weeds which the London soil was too apt to nourish, and so drew his old friend and companion. Dr. Juxon, as near to him as he covdd; when, on a sudden, the staff was put into the hands of the Bishop of London, a man so vmknown that his name was scarce heard of ia the kingdom." — Claren- don, vol. i., pp. 91, 99. Juxon was distinguished as a hunter. He kept the best hounds in the co\intry. — "NVTiitelocke, vol. i., j). 69. 68 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. ception of i-eligious liberty, separate from a cold and power- less uniformity. Abbott's favourite maxim was, " Yield, and they will be pleased at last." The other said, " Resolve, for tliere is no end of yielding." Aided by members of the Episcopate, Laud now sought the full development of his policy. Intense in his hate to Puritanism in every form, he sought to root it out, and to conform the teaching of the English church, in its dogmas and cei'emonial, to the church from which she had descended. ■"■ No higher model could he conceive. Externally, the dif- ferences between the two churches constantly diminished, whilst in many of the rural as well as in the higher circles of the church, the errors of Home wei'e the spiritual food of the people. " The celebration of mass, though illegal, was openly connived at; but woe to the Protestant who declined attending at his parish church, because he would not bow down at the altar! He was punished first by fine, and, on a repetition of his refusal, to transportation."t Romanists enjoyed all encouragement, both from the court and * "The system pursued l)y Bancroft and liis imitators, Niel and Laud, -ttdtli the approbation of the king, far opposed to the healing coun- sels of Burghley and Bacon, was just such as low-born and little-minded men, raised to power by fortune's caprice, are ever found to pursue. They studiously aggi-avated every difference, and created every wound," &c. — Hallam, vol. i., p. 395. -t- Forster's Essays, vol. i., p. 59. " Tlie bishops and the rest of the Poutifician, or rotten-headed clergy and Arrainian factions, \iuder a pre- tence (forsooth) of peace, uniformity, and conformity, have, like so many fiery Caesars, triumphed in the chariots of their spiritual courts, by their suspensions, excommunications, deprecations, and degradations of divers painful, learned and pious pastors of our church, and in the vexatious and grievous grinding ojipressions of great number of his Majesty's good subjects." " The most public and solemn sermons at court before the king were nothing else, for the most part, but either to advance the king's prerogative above the laws, and to l)eat down the subjects' just pro- priety in their estate and goods, or full of such like kind of frothy invec- tive." * * * " And tlien also labouring to make tliose men odious to the king and state who conscientiously sought to maintain tlie religion, laws, and liberties of the kingdom," &c, — Vicar's Jehovah Jireh, pj). 10, 11. London, 1644. CHARLES THE FIUST. G9 luaiiy of the bishops. Nor was this all. From the pulpits and the press, the dogmas of that anti-christiau community wt're inculcated. It was more dangerous to teach the doc- trine of the Evangel, as expounded by Calvin, than to teach tlie creed of Pius VII. "Lord Falkland," one of the noblest men of his time, " distinctly charged the bishops with having destroyed unity under pretence of uniformity; Avith having brought in superstition and scandal, under the letter of reverence luid decency; with having defiled the church, by adorning the church, and destroyed the Gospel as much as they could without bringing themselves into danger of being destroyed by the law." " The design has been to l)ring in an English, though not a Eoman, Popery. I mean not only the outside and dress of it, but an absolute and blind dependence of the people upon the clergy, and of the clergy on themselves."" Even Lingard himself confesses, what indeed no one can well deny, that many of the bishops under Laud were anxious for a reunion with the church of Rome. Goodman, of Gloucester, Montague, of Chichester, were prominent, if not enthusiastic, in this matter.t With such intenseness was this movement watched at Rome, with such satisfaction was it marked, that the highest dignity next to the tiara was offered to the primate, and the ecclesiastical head of the Anglican church might have been raised to the cardinalate in the sister communion.;}: "Under the influence of the Laudian school," says a candid Episco- palian, "change was rapid and comj^rehensive. Efforts were made, and with uncommon vigour, too, to soften down the * Forster, vol. i., pp. 32, 39. t History, vol. x., p. 7. '^ "The affair unquestionably has, at first sight, a very strange appear- ance, and to our apprehension, the mystery is not cleared up by the language and demeanotir of the archbishop on the occasion," &c. — Le IJass, p. 371. " Dr. Price, one of the king's chaplains, died two nights ago, as reported by the Bishop of Lincoln, a Papist. Hopes it will prove a fable."— Letter of William Murray to Sir H. Vane, Dec. 18, 1631. Calendar of State Papers. Domestic. Ch. i., p. 205. 70 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. points of difference between the two churclies, whilst the points of agreement were set foi-th in the most commanding light. Rome ceased to be Babylon — the man of sin, the son of perdition, the antichrist, in their language. Nor was this all. Sacramental efficacy was unblushingly affirmed. The Supper of the Lord, the simple commemorative act of the New Testament, was now a sacrifice, and a sacrifice, was inseparable from an altar; and there followed, as a necessary consequence, the inference of the real presence. Baptism, we are told, was regarded, ia opposition to the doctrine of the Reformers, as conferring the grace of regeneration upon all who received it alike; — that is, they affirmed that all baptized persons were introduced in baptism into a state of grace and acceptance.""' Conformity was the idol of Laud's intensest worship. Deviations from the external unity of the church was a sin of no ordinary magnitude. The want of moral principle in the officiating priesthood could be tolerated; but not the absence of a vestment or a genufluxion at the altar. The weightier matters of the law might be ignored, but not the mint and cummin of the churcLf With this devout attachment to * Marsden, p. 354. No doubt of tliis. It was, and is, the logical con- sequence of infant baptism. From Austin till now, it is the same. "It introduces them," says a modern wi-iter, "into the covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant, including all that God can give, and that man can receive." — Vide Dr. F. Burder on Infant Baptism. f Lord Falkland thus refers to them: — "We shall find them to have tithed mint and anise, and to have left undone the weightier matters of the law; to have been less eager against those who damn our church, than against those who, upon weak conscience, and perhaps as weak reason (the dislike of some commanded gaiinent or some uncommanded posture), only abstained from our church. The conforming to ceremonies has been more insisted on than the conforming to Clu-istianity. The most frequent subjects of their preaching being the jus divinum of bishops and tithes, the sacredness of tithes, the building of the in-erogative, the introduction of such doctrine as (admitting them true) the truth would not recompense the scandal. And some have evidently labom-ed to bring in an English, though not a Eoman, Popery; nay, common fame is more than ordinarily false, if none of them have found a way to reconcile the CHARLES THE BURST. 71 the sensuous and formal, the archbishop had imbibed the spii-it of the olden church. There were two courts through which Laud could wield liis power to crush the Puritan factions. These were the High Commission Court, and that of the Star Chamber. He found them ready to his hands — engines by which he could carry out his plans without let. The Royal pedant of the former reign thus refers to it:— ^^ The Starre Chamber. — It hath a name from heaven; a starre placed in it; and a starre is a glorious creature, and seated in a glorious place, next unto the angels. The Stai-re Chamber is also glorious in substance; for in the compo- sition, it is of foure sorts of persons. The first two are privy councillors and judges, — the one by wisdom in matters of State; the other, by learning in matters of law : to direct and order all things both according to law and State. The other two sorts are bishops, and peers of the realm and bishops: the peers are there, by reason of their greatness, to give authority to that court; the bishops, because of their learning in divinity."* "It took cognizance, principally," says Lord Bacon, "of four kinds of causes — forces, fmuds, crimes, various of stellionate, and the indication or middle acts towards crimes, capital or heinous, not actually committed or perpetrated. opinions of Rome with the preferment of England, being yet so cordially Papist, that it is all £1500 a year can do to prevent them from confessing it. They appeared ever for^vard for monopolies and ship-money, and if any were backward to comply, they blasted both them and their prefer- ment with the utmost expression of their hatred— the title of Puritan. They had done us far more miscliief, if, by the grace of God, their share had not been as small in the subtility of serpents as in the innocency of doves." — Vide his Speech against Episcopacy. "We well know," said the patriotic E-udyard, "how the whole church has been troubled how to place an altar. We have seen ministers, their wives and families, undone against law, against conscience, against aU bowels of compassion, for not dancing on a Sunday," &c. — Vide Lathorp's E. Eps., p. 114. '■ James's Works, p. 559. 72 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. scandalous reports of persons in power, seditious news," etc.'"' Tlie High Commission Court, of a later date tlian the Star Chamber, was instituted " to correct and amend all heresies, schisms, abuses, and offences whatever, which fall under the cognizance, and are subject to the correction, of spiritual authority."t From this agency, it was difficult for any man to flee. It could be made to meet him at all points; and, when worked by a man of Laud's spii-it, there was no escape from the meshes of these infernal machines. Besides, we should form but an imperfect conception of the power of these courts, if we did not state another fact — we mean the oath ex-officio. " It was one whereby any person might be obliged to make any presentment of any crime or offence, or confess or accuse himself of any criminal matter or thing, whereby he might be liable to any censure, penalty, or punishment whatsoever." Whitegift regarded it as "medi- cine," tending to the reformation of the delinquents and the satisfaction of the church. Charles issued a letter to the High Commissioners, urging them to proceed against all who refused to take the oath (1C37), and to treat them "as though they had confessed and been legally convicted of all the articles and matters to which he so refuseth to be sworn."J From another source we have a glimpse at the evils of the ex-officio oath: — "The exercising of ex-officio oaths and proceedings, by way of inquisition, reaching even to men's thoughts; the apprehending and detaining of men by pur- suivants; the frequent suspending and depriving of minis- ters; the fining and imprisoning of all sorts of people, bx'eaking up of men's houses and studies, and taking away their books, letters, and other writings ; ser\ang iipon their estates, removing them from their callings, separating be- tween them and their wives, against both their wills; the rejecting of prohibitions and threatenings ; and the doing of * Bacon's Works, vol. ii., p. 290. Apud Hallam, vol. i., p. 54. t HaUam, vol. i., pp. 200, 201. t Card well, vol. i., pp. 217, 229. CHARLES THE FIRST. 73 many other outrages, to the utter infringing of the laws, the subjects' liberties, and ruining of them and their families. And, of later times, the judges of the land are so awed with the power and greatness of the jn-elates, or otherwise per- verted, that neither prohibitions, nor haheccs corpus, nor any- other cai-eful remedy, can be had or take place for the dis- tressed subjects in most cases; only Papists, Jesuits, priests, and such others as propagate Popery or Arminianism, are countenanced, spared, and have much liberty."* Such was tlie tremendous power now in the hands of Laud. He used it well. Nothing could escape the eagle eye of the "little Doctor." Page after page might be tilled with examples of the sleepless vigilance of his Grace. For the most trifling mat- ters, the vengeance of these inquisitors fell upon the people. Not for crime — not for immorality — but for the violation of some senseless form, which, in the primate's judgment, made a part (perhaps an essential part) of the beauty of holiness. An example or two may be given. We select them from a mass lying before us. Mr. Chancey, minister of Ware, was called before the Court for such expressions as the following: — "That idolatry was admitted into the church ; that the preaching of the Gospel would be suppressed; that there is much Atheism, Popery, Arminianism, and heresy, crept into the church."t Others, for using expi-essious against Arminianism, were banished the University of Oxford. Ptushworth abounds with many like examples of the ci'uel spirit which animated Laud at this time. " The last week, one Bowyer was sentenced to the pillory, and perpetual imjjrisonment in Bridewell, for uttering at Reading (where my Lord Grace of Canterbury was born) divers scandalous reports of his Grace; as that he was an Arminian; that he had written to the Pope, promising his * Proceedings m Kent, p. 37. Camden Society. t Paish worth, vol. ii., pp. 34, 110, 111, 283. 74 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. assistance for the propagation of the Romish faith here," &c." "I have had very ungrateful dealings from the Lambeth patriarch, by whom I have been deprived of my ministry and all the profits of my living three years and seven months, having myself, my wife, and seven children to provide for; such is the prelates' will, for not consenting to morris- dancing on the Lord's day."t " Complaints were actually lodged against individuals who did not stand up at the creed, did not bow to the altar, nor at the name of Jesus, nor receive the sacrament on their knees.":!: Sir A. Haslerig thus states the effect of these proceedings : — ■ *' The Council table bit like a serpent, the Star Chamber like a scorpion. Our souls, our consciences, were put on a rack by the archbishop. We might not speake of Scripture, or repeate a sermon at our table." Even Clarendon is compelled to utter strong things. " When I cast my eyes upon the High Commission, and other ecclesiastical courts, my soul hath bled for the wrongs and pressure which I have observed to have been done and committed in these courts against the king's good people." The maledictions of these infamous courts fell daily on the learned and the holy. Their victims were the men of zeal, of lofty principle, and holy lives. The drunkard, the sycophant, the men of no principle, lived and rejoiced in their debaucheries, untouched by them. In the country, the bishops modelled these courts after the fashion of their metropolitans. The genius of Laud pervaded the * Fairfax's Correspondence, vol. i., pp. 77, 78. "Amongst his liuman frailties, clioler and passion most discord itself. In the Stai- Chamber (where, if the crime be not extraordinaiy, it was fine enough for one to be sued in so chargeable a coui-t), he was observed always to concur with the Jesuit side, and to infuse moi-e vinegar than oil into all his censures ; and idso was much blamed for his severity to his predecessor, easing him against liis wiU, and before his time of his jurisdiction." — Fuller, C. H., p. 217. t Letter from Richard Culmer to Sir E. Daring, Jan. 8, 1640. Pro- ceedings in Kent, p. 120. X Life of "Whitelocke, p. 115. CHARLES THE FIRST. 75 nation. The mainspring of all ecclesiastical machinery was touched by him. He thiis reached all classes. The lowest tradesman, the humblest artificer, as well those of the higher circles of life, were touched by these agencies. The wealth of thousands was absorbed by them.* The measures adopted by him for extending the power of the ecclesiastical courts at the expense of all other courts, had called forth the hostility of the bar to the church. Men of influence in the profession "took all opportunities," Clax-endon informs us, "uncharit- ably to impute mistakes unto crime, and unreasonably to transfer and impute the follies and faults of particular men to the malignity of their own functions ; and so to whet and sharpen the edge of the law to vound the church in its jurisdiction, and at last to cut it iip by the roots, and demolish its foundations, "t On the conduct of this British Inquisitor-General, we shall afterwards remark. In the meanwhile, another topic, though anticipating a little, demands attention. Hitherto only occasional glimpses of Baptist movements, and scattered fragments of their history, have passed under review; we have now reached a period when light and cer- tainty will guide us. Kespecting one section of the body we have supplied much important matter; and in relation to the other, the material will now increase with rapidity. Up to this period we have no clear and decisive proof of the existence of a Particular Baptist Church. Certainly under our notice the evidence has not come. Crosby's con- jecture, that many Baptists were mingled with other churches, is highly probable. With him, it was apparently * "It took under its care the consideration due to the nobility. A want of respect, an inadvertency, a joke, the least action which seemed not to keep in just recognition the superiority of their rank and of theii- rights, was piinished with extreme rigom-, and alwaj's hy enormous fines for the benefit of the king and the offended party." — Fide Note. Guizot. B. I., p. 48. t F(c?eHist.,vol. i.,p. 400. 76 E.UtLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. only conjecture; but many incidental allusions in works of this period would justify xis in aifirming it as fact. But waiving this, a.s a matter in which our readers can have but little interest, we shall narrate the origin of the English Particular Baptist body. One never gazes on the small bubbling spring, hidden in its mossy bed in some secluded dell, then to trace its onward flow till it sweeps past the marts of commerce, and bears on its bosom the navy of a mighty empire or the riches of a nation, but with intense delight. So with the histoiy of a nation. The early struggle of the first Pilgi-im Fathers ; the conflict of barbarism with civilizing influences which are surrounding them ; their gradual rise in the arts of social and commercial importance; their constant subordination of the untoward and the favoui'able to the development of those resources which constitute the greatness and moral worth of a community, till they stand before you on a pedestal as commanding as any of the past. The power of thought can never be fully esti- mated. The results of some new aspects of Christian truth, or an organization for its diff"usion, can never be told. The thought, that it Avas the duty of Christians to seek the con- version of the heathen, which had been growing up in the mind of Carey for years, when embodied in practice changed the moral aspect of the whole chui'ch. The origin of the Par- ticular Baptists was small, but its influence has told, and will yet tell with augmented power, on the church and the world. From the pen of one of the actoi's in this movement, we have the following sketch : — " There was a congregation of Protestant dissenters of the Independent i>ersuasion in London, gathered in the year 1616, of which Mr. Henry Jacob was the first pastor; and after him succeeded Mr. John Lathorp, who was their minister in 1633. In this society several persons, finding that the society kept not to its first principles of separation, and being also convinced that baptism was not to be administered to infants, but to CIIAKLES THE FIRST. 77 such as professed faith in Christ, desired that they might be dismissed from that communion, and allowed to form a dis- tinct congregation in such order as was most agreeable to their own sentiments. The church, considering that they were now grown very numerous, and so more than in those times of pei-secution could conveniently meet togethei", and believing also that those persons acted from a principle of conscience, and not from obstinacy, agreed to allow them the liberty they desired, and that they should be constituted a distinct church; which was performed Sept. 13, 1G.33. And as they believed that baptism was not rightly administered to infants, so they looked upon the baptism they had received at that age as invalid, whereupon most of them received a new baptism. Their minister was Mr. John Spilsbury. What number they were is uncertain, because in the mentioning of about twenty men and women, it is added, divers others. In the year 1638, Mr. William Kiffiu, Mr. Thos. Wilson, and others, being of the same judgment, were upon their request dismissed to the said Mr. Spilsbury's congregation. In the year 1639, another congregation of Baptists was formed, whose place of woi'ship was Crutched Friai-s ; the chief promoters of which were Mr. Grew, Mr. Paul Hobson, and Captain Spencer."'" It ipay interest our readers to know the grounds on which this eminent man (Mr. Kiffin) separated from bi'ethren with whom he had long associated. He had become a Noncon- formist after much prayer and inquiry ; and the same course led to his adoption of those views which he held through life. " I used all endeavours," be says, "by converse with all such as were able, and also by diligently searching the Scriptures, with earnest desires to God that I might be directed in a right way of worship; and after some time concluded that the safest way was to follow the footsteps of the flock, namely, that order laid down by Christ and his apostles, * Crosby, vol. i., pp. 148, 140. 78 EARLY E>-GLISH BAPTISTS. 4 and practised by the primitive Christians in their time; which I found to be, that after conversion they were bap- tized, added to the church, and continued in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of bread and prayers, according to which I bound myself to be conformable."* Upon these high and scriptural principles, Mr. Kiffin acted. They moulded his character, and regulated his future life. A difficulty presented itself to the minds of these men, and, whilst it shows the strength of their conscientiousness, makes it manifest that they were yet not fully enlightened in the nature of Christ's kingdom. Beyond their fellows in the clearness of their views of the absolute spirituality of it, they had not yet attained to the full liberty of the children of God. But we wiU present the matter in the words of one intimate with some of this class. " That they often met together to pray "and confer about this matter, and consult what methods they should take to enjoy tliis ordinance in its primitive purity. That they could not be satisfied about any adminis- tration in England to begin this practice; because though some in this nation rejected tlte baptism of infants, yet they had not, as they kntio of, revived the ancient custom of im- mersion. But hearing that some in the Netherlands prac- tised it, they agreed to send one Mr. Richard Bloun^ who understood the Dutcljk language, cariying letters of recom- mendation with him, and was kindly received both by the church there, and Mr. John Butte, their teacher; that on his return he baptized Mr. Samuel Blacklock, a minister, and these two baptized the rest of this company, whose names are in the MS. to the number of fifty-three." This statement is vague. We have no date, and cannot tell whether the fact refers to the Separatists under Mr. Spilsbury, or to others. Edwards mentions two other ministers with Blount, and calls the church "one of the first and prime * Ivimey's Life of KiflBn, p. 17. CHARLES TUE FIRST, 79 churches of the Anabaptists now in these latter times." Upon the cause of the deputation to Holland we have com- mented already. Most will now see that the practice of the Mennonite brethren was common in this countxy. These "new men" soon cast them into the shade, and their practice speedily become obsolete. Immersion, as the mode of bap- tism, became the rule with both sections of the Baptist com- munity. Indeed from this time, beyond the fact already given, we know not a solitary exception. The long connexion, and the vast and varied influence of Ml'. Kiffiu on the infant cause, will hereafter be detailed. His social position became high — his commercial influence very great — whilst his devotedness to the church of Christ, in connexion with our body, places him in the first rank of those who should be held by us in everlasting remembrance. The retirement of these men excited no ordinaiy amount of attention. It could not be otherwise. Their integi'ity, their consistency and earnest piety, were not hidden. The grounds of their separation had been distinctly stated, and their appeal to the law and the testimony was not in vain. It is probable that for some time others continued to secede on the same ground, as "an ancient member of that long- ago-gathered congregation, whereof Mr. Hemy Jacob was an insti-ument of gathering in, and the pastor worthy of double honour, Mr. John Lathroppe," sought to stay the evil by issuing ^' Sion's Virgins; or, a Short Form of Catechism of the Doctrine of Baj^tism.'"^' Other members followed. Their influence was not injurious. They excited thought, prompted inquiry, and speedily augmented the number of our brethren. As in times long anterior to these, "a pool, a river, a lake," were selected as places for the administration of the ordinance ; so now, the brethren about London had no bap- tistery, and the flowing stream was chosen for this purpose. * London, 1644. 80 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Incidentally, tliis fact is stated by one of the journalists of the time. " And the river Lee, which runs by Bow, wherein the new elect rebaptize themselves, and call it by the name of Jordan."* To other events the attention of the reader must now be called. We have anticipated a little in our narrative. The death of Buckingham increased the power of Laud. To the councils of the Sovereign a man of commanding and subtle genius had been called. Wentworth had been a leading patriot for years. His voice had been one of the loudest in condemnation of the extravagance and tyranny of the court. The cause of Charles now absorbed him.f Into it he threw the whole of his great and restless mind, and, finally, by his tmprincipled support of it, brought himself to the block. :J; To trace the career of the primate and the civilian in detail is im- possible. Only a very brief outline can be given of the former. Sustained by the king, and all-powerful at the Council Board, nothing appeared to check his course. Ojiposition to his wish was powerless. Higher and higher rose his love of form and ceremony, whilst every step led to a closer con- formity to Rome. The want of power, not will, on his part, prevented a closer union. 1| To show liLS contempt for the strictness of the Pui'itans, and probably to gain favour with the multitude, he induced Charles to republish the Booh of Sjiorts. Complaints against * Mercurius Aiiliciis. March, 1643, is the date. 'Y "But there were two above all the rest who led the van of tlie king's councils : and these were Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, a fellow of mean extraction and arrogant pride, and the Earl of Strafford, who as much outstripped all the rest in favour as he did in abilities — being a man of deep policy, stern resolution, and ambitious zeal, to keej) up the glory of his own greatness," &c. — Mrs. Hutchinson, p. 29. X Wentworth (Stratford), after joining the Royal party, appears to have lost all self-respect. The abject flattery with which he addressed the favourite Buckingham, when soliciting the Presidency of the North, awakens but one feeling in the weU-rcgulated mind.— Ftc^c Mrs. Thsmson's Buckingham, p. 83. II A cardinal's hat had been offered to Laud. — Vkk Diary, CHARLES THE FIRST. 81 the various Sunday revels, in the form of wakes, church ales, clerk ales, had been made to some of the judicial bench, and eflforts had been made to suppress them. Laud reproved the judges, and threw the whole weight of his influence around these holy scenes.* The enjoyment of this practice of piety was confined exclusively to the church-going people. "We lack from the benefit and liberty," said the spiritually-minded head of the church, "all such known recusants, either men or women, as will abstain from coming to church or divine ser- vice, being therefore unworthy of any lawful recreation after the said service, that will not first come to church and serve God."t The moral sense of the community was shocked, and it operated subsequently with great power against the primate. The Star Chamber, or the High Commission Court, was ever at command to silence hostility, or to crush a foe. * Elizabeth had set an example of this kind of Sunday devotion. In April, 1569, she issued the following licence : — "Whereas, we are informed that one John Seconton Poulter, dwelling within the parish of St. Clement Danes, being a poor man, having four small children, and fallen into decay, is licensed to have and to use some plays and games at or upon nine several Sundays, for his better relief, comfort, sustcntation, within the county of ^Middlesex, to commence and begin at and from the 22nd day of May next coming after the date hereof, and not to remain in one place above three several Sundays ; and in considering that great crowds of people is like to come thereunto, we wQl and require you, as well for good order af? also for the jn-eservation of the Queen Majesty's peace, that you take with you four or five of the discrete and substantial men within your office and liberties, when the game shall be j^ut in practice, there and then to foresee and do your endeavour to your best in that behalf dui'ing the continuance of the games or plays, which games are severally mentioned Jvereafter; that is to say, the shooting with the standard, the shooting with the broad arrow, the shooting at the twelve score prick, the shooting at the Turk, the leaping for men, the running for men, the wrestling, the throwing of the sledge, and the pitching of the bar, with all such other games as have at any time heretofore, or now be licensed, used, or played. Given the 26th day of April, in the 11th year of the Queen Majcstj^'s reign."— CardweU, vol. i., pp. 311, 312. t " This measure excited more prejudice against the king and the arch- bishop than almost any other action of the period ; indeed, any act of the court seemed calcidated to hasten on that ruin which eventually fol- lowed." — Lathbury's E. Episcopacy, p. 87. »3 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Hundreds, of whose names there is no recox'd, felt the power of tliis English Inquisition.* The case of Dr. Leighton has been noticed, t Another now demands a passing remark. Prynne, a barrister, Burtou, a minister of holy life, and Bastwick, a doctor of mediciue, had, in various ways, given offence to the "little Doctor" at Lambeth. The incidents of their trials we cannot narrate. Theii- punishment only claims our attention. The sentence was, "That Mr. Burton be depx'ived of his living, and degraded from his ministry, as Prynne and Bastwick had been from their pi-ofessions of law and physic; that each of them be fined £5,000; that they stand in the pillory at Westminster, and have their ears cut off; and because Mr. Prynne had already lost his ears by sentence of the court, 1633, it was ordered that the remainder of his stumps should be cut off, and that he should be stig- matized on both cheeks with the letters S. L. ; J and then all three were to suffer perpetual imprisonment in the remotest jn-isons of the kingdom." |1 These are only samples of the * " The oppressions then of the bishops, on men's souls, bodies, and goods, is so pitiful, that it is marvelled if God come not down to plead the cause of the poor innoccnt3."^Baillie, vol. i., p. 67. + "Laud, who as a bishop should have known liimself precluded by the canons of the church from being a judge in any cause Avhich could lead to penalties involving death or mutilations, took off his cap in the court and retiu-ned thanks to God when' the sentence was pronounced." — Kemble, note, p. Ixxviii. Leighton was afterwards made blaster of Lambeth House. X Wliitelocke positively affirms that Laud procured a sharp sentence to be passed on Prynne. — Vol. i., p. 62. II Neal. On the first trial of Prj-nne, the liench was degraded by Lord Dorset, who displayed both his low wit and his inhumanity, in pro- nouncing sentence. Take the following as confirmatory of this: — "Mr. Prynne I do declare to be a schism maker in the church, a seditious source to the commonwealth, a woK in sheep's clothing, — in a word, omnium malorum neqidssimns. I shall fine him £5,000, which is more than he is worth, yet less than he deserveth. I will not set him at liberty, no more than a plagued man, or mad dog, who though he cannot bite, he will foam ; he is so far from being a soci.ible soul, that he is not a rational soul ; he is fit to live in dens vnih. such beasts of prey as wolves and tigers like himself. Therefore, I do condemn him to perpetual CHARLES THE FIRST, 83 ci'uelty of this infamoxis court. The sufferers triumphed over the prelate in the execution of the sentence. Their moral heroism won the admiration of the multitude, whilst the indignation against this ruthless persecution deepened in intensity.* Closer and closer the influence of Laud and his satellites was drawing around the Separatists. Their home was hope- less of comfort or peace. To other lands they began to look. The wild and boundless prairies of the new world had sheltered the Pilgrim Fathers. There was still room for others of the persecuted. Liberty there could be enjoyed, and conscience would be unfettered. Thousands sought the shelter which the New England colonies then offered. The emigrants were men of piety, influence, energy, and moral worth. They carried with them the elements of new and pi'osperous empires, and greatly aided in developing the resources of the then infant colonies. Others fled to Hol- land, and sought freedom under the Republican Govern- ments, t Wrong is never powerless. Violators of rights ultimately sufter. The unprincii)led monarch, and his ecclesiastical adviser, inflicted on the country immense damages. Not less than half-a-million of capital — a very imprisonment, as those monsters that are no longer fit to live amongst men, nor to see the light. I should burn him in the forehead, and slit him in the nose, for I find that it is confessed of all, that Dr. Leightun's offence was less than Mr. PrjTine's ; then why should Mr. Prynne suffer less?" &c. The sentence was inhuman in the extreme, and was executed with i-uthless harbarity. He was expelled from Oxford and the bar; a fine of £5,000 was inflicted, his ears were cut off, and his work was burnt before his face by the common hangman. ^ ""Whilst punishing Bastwick for ^\^iting against the Papacy, he tole- rated a fierce priest of the name of Choroney, who had Avritten in favour of the Pope, and dedicated his work to Laud." — Life of Whitelocke, p. 112. London, 18G0. f "The Anabaptists have three meeting-places which are connived at; these resembling bams, so they term them. Amongst these Ana- baptists, some Arians, some Socinians. Of these Anabaptists 'tis said there are thirty- three sorts." — Brereton's Travels, p. (J8. Cheetham Society. 84 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. large sum at that time — was abstracted from the resources of the nation; and had not the popular power paralyzed this ci-uel policy, it is supposed that a fourth part of the movable property of England would have been carried to America. Cromwell, Hampden, Haslerig, and others, were ready to transfer their persons and their wealth to the same country; but the monarch, as though smitten with judicial blindness, forbade their departure. It was well.* This country could not spare them. Providence, in its hidden but effectual workings, was preparing them for the consummation of those plans which their splendid genius, their lofty principles, and their sleepless vigilance finally achieved. The country was covered, as it were, with a network of spies. In the smallest hamlet, as well as in the marts of commerce, these moral pests were found. With full power they were armed. Wren and others of the Episcopate, with the fidl concurrence of the primate, had issued the most stringent orders to their miserable dependents. We give, as a sample, the following articles of inquiry issued by the former. They are selected from a copy in the British Museum : — "3. Is there in your parish any that have been, or is vehemently suspected to have been present at any unlawful assemblies, conven- ticles, or meetings, under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion? or do any affirm and maintain such meetings to be lawful? "4. Be there any abiding m, or resorting to, youi- parish, . . . factious Separatists, refusing to repair to the chtirch to hear divine service, &c. ? Or that have, or do publish, sell, or dispense any superstitious, seditious, or schismatical books, &c., touching the * "An Order in Council was passed, that the Lord Treasurer of Eng- land should take speedy and effectual course for the stay of eight ships, now in the river of Thames, prepared to go for New England ; and should likewise give orders for the putting on land all the passengers and pro- visions therein intended for the voyage. In these sliips were Sir W. Boynton, Sir "W. Constable, Sir A. Haslerig, John Hampden, and O. Cromwell." — Neal. Vide Robertson's America, lib. x. Burton's Diary, vol. ii., p. 325. D'Ewes, vol. ii., p. 117. CHARLES THE FIRST. 85 religion, state, or ecclesiastical government of this kingdom? Present their names, qualities, and conditions, if you know or have heard of any." These were renewed two years after, on Wren's removal to Ely. To another event the reader's attention must now be called, because it was disastrous to the monarch and perilous to his throne. The bald Presbyterianism of the North had long been distasteful to Laud. It stood in the boldest con- trast to the imposing splendour of his own church. Already to some extent he had forced an Episcopate on the Northern kingdom. Upon the church he again operated. A liturgy more conformed to the English one was designed. The infatuated monarch ordered one to be pi-epared, as well as to enforce with more rigour the new order of bishops on the unwilling people. Others prepared it, but it was pervaded by the spirit of Laud. Its tendency was undisguised. Some of the unmistakable dogmas of Popery were in it.* The friends of the court saw the danger of enforcing it, and urged delay. Remonstrance was in vain. The proud pre- late stormed and threatened to remove the bishops from their sees, if they hesitated. No means were neglected in securing the establishment of the detested hierarchy. Laud had no scruples. Judges were bribed — unprincipled men were invested with power. Known individuals were chosen, already committed to a certain course, to preside at the decision of certain matters, when the most unbiassed judgment should have been exercised.t "Your book of canons, which, perchance, at first, will make more noise than all the cannons of Edinburgh Castle; but when men's ears have been used awhile to the sound of them, they will not startle so much at it, as now at the first.":|: * Neal. Baillie, vol. 1., lett. i., pp. 1, 2. + DalrjTnple's second volume presents abundant evidence from the let- ters of Laud of the utter unprincipledness of this worthless churchman. t Bishop J\xxon. Dalrymple, vol. ii., p. 18. Letter to Maxwell, Bishop of Ross. 1635. eb EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. The Sunday after Easter, 1637, was the day appointed for the iiiti'oduction of the new form. The High Church in Edinburgh was selected for the occasion. Prelates in their robes and mitres, barons in their robes of state, and the representatives of the court, crowded to the chm-ch, to support by their presence the plans of Laud. But there was another element at work. The people in masses assembled also. The Bishop of Edinburgh and the Dean were to oiEciate. For some time the service proceeded with moderate calmness, when up rose a sturdy Scotch matron, imbued alike with the doctrine and spirit of Knox, and seizing the stool on which she had been sitting, flung it at the head of the minister. It was the signal for an outbreak. The assembly was in an uproar. " The serving-maids began such a tumult as was never heard of since the Reformation." *' A similar scene," says Napier, " occurred in Glasgow. At the outgoing of the church, about thii'ty or forty of our honestest women, in one voice, before the bishop and magisti-ates, fell a railing, cursing, scolding, with clamour on Mr. W. Annan ; and when this clergyman was proceeding after supper to visit the Ai'chbishop of Glasgovr, he is no sooner in the street, at nine o'clock on a dark night, with three or four ministers with him, but some hundreds of enraged women, of all qualities, are about him Avith n eaves, staves, and peats, but no stones. They beat him sore; his cloak, ruff, and hat were rent ; however, upon his cries, and candles sent out from many windows, he escaped all bloody wounds; yet he was in great danger even of killing."* * Napier's Montrose, p. 43. Baillie, vol. i., p. 8. "No sooner were tlie books opened by the Dean of Edinburgh, but a number of the vulgar (most of them women), with clapping of their hands, cursing, and out- cries, raised such a barbarous hubbub in the place tliat none could hear or be heard. The Bishop of Edinburgh, who was to preach, stept into the pulpit, &c.; but then the rabble grew so enraged and mad, that if a stool, aimed to be thrown at him, had not been providentially diverted by the hand of one present, the life of the prelate had been endangered, if not lost." — Heath's Chronicles, p. 5. London, 1676. "No man may speak CHAKLES THE FIRST, O/ No one familiar with the past will wonder at this. The younger bishops, prompted by the primate, had led their party into the most violent courses. Imagining that they had subdued their opponents, or awed them to silence, no bounds were set to their pride and ambition. Daily it grew, till it became imbearable. Ministers and nobles alike felt it, and the latter saw that there was danger to their veiy estates from the encroachment of these ecclesiastics." The events in Edinburgh and Glasgow were only the begin- ning of the conflicts. The spirit of the Noi-th was roused. Alarm and consternation prevailed. " There is nothing expected here," said David Mitchel, "but civil war. There is no meeting of Council ; the chancellor may not with any safety attend it, nor any bishops ; the very name is more odious among old and young than the devil' s."t Preparations for war followed. The nation entered into it with spirit. The nobles, the burghers, and the ministers proposed the "Solemn League and Covenant." Around it the popular sympathy gathered. Intense was the feeling it excited. " In the west country, they will give no passenger," says Dalrymple, "either meat, or drink, or lodging for his money, until he first give them assurance that he is a member of this unchristian Covenant. "J Vainly did the monarch strive against the anything in public for the king's party, except he wonld have himself marked for a sacrifice to be killed some day. I think our people possessed w-ith a bloody devil, far above anything that I could have ever imagined though the mass in Latin had been presented." — Baillie, vol. i., p. 10. * Wright's History of Scotland, vol. ii., p. 519. "The same error," says Bishop B,ussell, 'Svhich rendered unpopular the introduction of the canons, was committed in imposing the use of the liturgy. The clergy was not consulted ; the nation, in general, was kept in ignorance till the Koyal mandate was issued ; and no means were employed to prepare the feelings of the common people for a change to which, had it j^roceeded from their own pastors, they would, it is probable, have readily sub- mitted."— History of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii., p. 129. Napier. Montrose, p. 34. Edinburgh, 1840. t Dali-ymple, vol. iL, p. 37. J Ibid, p. 26. " I hear some mutter at Bishop Laud's carriage there (Scotland), that it was too haughty and pontifical." — HoweU, p. 201. 88 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. rising tide. His armies failed liim, and his unwise course laid the foundation of future trouble, whilst it had no feeble influence on the fate of Laud and Wentworth, his leading counsellors in this mischievous affaii*. Fully to appreciate the circumstances of our brethren, and the adverse influences which surrounded them, we felt that these somewhat lengthy details were necessary. Mystery, to a considerable extent, shrouds the movements of our brethren at this period ; yet we know from subsequent facts, not only of their existence, but of their progress in various places. From the grasp of the hierarchy they could not escape. Detested above all other separatists by the ecclesiastics, as opposed to the State-churchism, and hated by the sects from the hostility to the Genevan doctrine, caution became them in all their movements. In houses in secluded places, or in some retu-ed spot distant from the busy haunts of men, they were forced to worship. Only from the utterances of their adversaries, in some cases, do we catch a glimpse of their movements, or from the reports of bishops the reality of their existence. About this time, it is more than probable that their prin- ciples in modern times were first propagated ia the Prin- cipality. Dense was the darkness which rested on the inhabitants. It would be extremely diflicult, if not impos- sible, for us to realise it. Ignorance and immorality marked the conduct of the religious teacher, while vice, in almost every form, grew luxuriantly amongst the people. " It is supposed, from circumstances, that a small Baptist church was formed at Olchon in 1633. If there ever were any written accounts of its regular constitution,' it seems they are irrecoverably lost, like many more valuable papers of that time. Mr. Howell Yaughan was the minister there; it is probable that he preached mostly among his own small congregation, and not much abroad."* This little Border town was a conse- * Thomas's History of the Baptist Associations in "Wales, p. 3. "It is CHARLES THE FIRST. 89 crated spot. Around it recollections of tlie past clustered, of no common interest. About the middle o^the fourteenth century, the pure Word of the Lord sounded from it. Walter Brute, a disciple of Wicklifte, resided here. He was a gentleman of fortune and education. To proclaim the truth was the sole object of his life; for he gives us an interesting sketch of his labours. It is too long for our pages. He gathered separate congregations, and we are told by the author of the History of the Welsh Baptists, that he taught " that faith should precede baptism, and that baptism w;i3 not essential to salvation; yet still admitted that the faith of godly parents was sufficient for their children." Near to this spot, also, resided the celebrated Lord Cobham. Oldcastle is only a short distance from Olchon. Hunted by his fierce persecutors from court on the charge of heresy, he fled to his paternal home. For four years he eluded the vigilance of his foes, and spent this time in inculcating the "true evangel" on the minds of the people. His efforts were not in vain. The conjecture is not improbable, that the flame kindled by Brute and his disciples, and then sustained by the labours of Oldcastle, though often feeble in after ages, still lingered, till it manifested itself in the first Separatist church in the Principality.* The fact is one of singular interest. In the writings of some leading men of this period, there are occasional allusions to the Anabaptists. Mostly they are based in error. No one need wonder at this. It answered an important end to misrepresent. Above all others, they were dreaded as moral pests. Strype thus refers to some in Essex: "Woidd to God the honourable Council saw the face of Essex as we do see. We have such indeed uncertain when this church was constituted ; but, by circumstances, it is supposed to have been about 1633. It is considerably the oldest society of Nonconformists in the Principality," &c. — Rippon's Register, from 1794 to 1797, p. 21. * Fox. Thomas's "Welsh Baptists. Ivimey, vol. i. , pp. 73-70. 90 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. obstinate heretics, Anabaptists, and otber unruly pei'sons here, as never were heard of."* Puller, in a sermon on the Indwelling of the Spirit, thus betrays his ignorance of the views of the brethren at that period: — "And what if some practical Anabaptists by usur- pation have entitled their brain-sick fancies to be so many illuminations of the Spiiit, must we presently turn Sadducees in this point, and deny that there is any Spirit at alii God forbid. "t About the same year, D'Ewes, depicting, with sincere indignation, the gi-owth of superstition under the influence of Laud, refers with no appro-sdng pen to our brethren. It is only the former portion of this statement which can be applied with any truthfulness to them. Their whole history would be an overwhelming refutation of the truth of the latter statement. "At home, many wicked Anabaptistical or Popishly- affected divines and scholars, in both universities and else- where, maintained in the schools and pulpits justification by works, jfreewill, Christ's bodily presence in the sacrament of the Lord's Su])per, and a world of other corrupt and noisome tenets, which made my soul to fetch deep sighs, and my tongue to pray daily that God would preserve his Gospel and truth amongst us. One Dr. Beale (being made master of St. John's College, Cambridge) caused such a general adoration to and towards the altar and sacrament to be practised, that many godly fellows and scholars of the house left their places to avoid the abominations."^ To other events, the attention of the reader will be called in another chapter. * Strype's E. Mem., vol. iii. David's E. Noncon. in Essex, p. 54. t Memorials of T. Fuller, D.D., p. 59. t D'Ewes, vol. ii., pp. Ill, 112. THE CIVIL WAK. 91 CHAPTER II. THE CrV'IL WAR. "We are now approaching a period in our national history to which events had long been tending, and which shook the political and social state of the people to its very centre. Pre- judice or ignorance has so abused tlie leading actors in this crisis, that we feel it a duty, most solemnly binding, to present an accurate view of their character and motives to our readers. The sketch cannot be full length — only in miniature. We have our own opinions, but, for obvious reasons, those of othei's who difler from us on many ecclesiastical matters may be invoked to vindicate the memory of the great and patriotic of that exciting era. Time is doing its work. From the mists which have shrouded them for generations, they are stamUng out before us with a majesty and unsur- passed dignity, commanding our admiration and love. Royalty had not more devoted admirers, liberty not warmer friends, and their interest in the woe or weal of the nation was supreme. They were not Nonconformists, but Church- men, not Anabaptists, but Episcopalians, in the senate, who led the van against the crushing despotism of Whitehall and Lambeth. All facts justify the opinion of the author of the history of the English Episcopacy when he says: — "The great majority of the members were decided friends to Episcopacy, whatever may have been their views of Laud and some of the bishops. They wei'e, however, divided into two parties — rigid and moderate Episcopalians. The latter venerated Episcopacy as that form of Government which had prevailed in the church from the apostolic age; the former assumed a higher ground, and maintained the jus divimim of Episcopacy. . . . Both were decided friends 92 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS, to the Church of England, and, together, they formed a large majority in the two Houses."* "At the opening of Parliament, England had neither desired nor even thought of a revolution; the dissenters merely meditated one in the church; the return of legal orders, the re-establishment of ancient liberties, the reform of actual and pressing abuses, — such had been, or at least so it was thought, the sole wish and hopes of the nation. The leaders themselves, bolder and more enlightened, scarcely formed any more extended projects; the energy of their will surpassed the ambition of their thoughts; and they had gone on from day to day without any ultimate aims, without system, carried forward simply by the pro- gressive developments of their situation, and to satisfy urgent necessities. When the moment arrived for drawing the sword, all were aghast; not that their hearts were timid, nor that civil war in the abstract had either in the eyes of Parliament or the people anything strange or criminal about it; on the contrary, they read it with pride in the great charter, in the history of their countrymen."f Probably the history of Parliaments would show us no period when the feelings of the people were higher, and their discontent more strongly expressed. The causes of this were many. No one felt secure. Their dearest rights were in jeopardy every moment. The recklessness of Laud and his colleagues made them fear the spread of Poiiery. The conduct of the civil courts, the business of ship-money, the ^delation of law, the oppressions of the Star Chamber, and other matters, had filled the nation with gloom, and inspired the public mind with the very wor-st fears. J The conduct of * Latherby, E. Epis., p. 110. Vide p. 139. + Guizot, b. iii., p. 146. Even Clarendon says : "It could never be hoped, that more sober and dispassionate men would meet together in that place, or fewer who brought ill purposes with them : nor could any man imagine what offence they had given to put the king to that resolu- tion (viz., to dissolve it)." — Hist., b. ii., p. 56. + Lord North's Narrative. Somer's Tracts, vol. i.,p. 4. " Their very THE CIVIL WAR. 93 the House was now the only hope of the people. In the liands of the members of that celebrated assembly, the future liberties of the ])eople were placed. Anxiety filled every mind; for the struggle was one of an unparalleled character. At the opening of the session, there was no mistake as to the attitude the Commons would take. The speech from the throne was heard with attention, if not with entire satisfac- tion. Eleven years had passed away since in auger they had been sent to their homes. Law and liberty had been violated ; the word and honour of the monarch had been proclaimed as things of naught; whilst the most despotic power had been wielded during that period. The crisis was now at hand. From it the patriots shrank not. No heart quailed, no hand was feeble. We have seen them already acting as the conservators of religion. With the Church as subordinate to the State, they had a right to interfere. It was the creation of the State, and could be moulded according to their will. Popery and Arminianism were dreaded by them. They were twins, or, rather, they thought one was the product of the other. Episcojialian tendencies were wholly in this direction. Laud favoured the latter, while the court in every way appeared to foster both. A Committee was at once appointed to guard the sacred ark. Its power was great. All matters connected with doctrine, with ceremonies and morals, were placed under its supervision. Right heartily did it enter on its task. From no inquiry did it shrink — no person was placed above its examinations. The urgency was imperative. " It is well known," said the high-minded Rudyard, "what disturbances have been brought unto the church for vain and enemies of this Parliament confess that they met in November, 1640, with almost unminglecl zeal for the public good, and with loyal attach- ment to the crown. Not the demagogue or adventurer of ti-ansient popu- larity, but men well-born and wealthy, than whom there could, perhaps, never be assembled 500 more adequate to redress tlie grievances or fix the laws of a great nation."— Hallam, vol. i., pp. 521, 522. Baxter says there was only one Presbyterian in the House when the war began. —Hist, of Councils, p. 80, 81. 4to. 1682. 94 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. petty trifles; the whole church, the whole kingdom, troubled about where to place a metaphor or an altar. We have seen ministers, their Avives, children, and families, undone against law, against conscience, against all compassions, about dancing on Sundays. These inventions were but sieves made to winnow the best men, and that is the devil's occupation. I never heard of any but diligent preachers that were vexed with them and the like devices."* Lord Andover, on the 5th of March, 1641, in the House of Lords, moved for the abolition of that engine of regal and Episcopal tyranny, the Star Chamber. The High Commis- sion Court soon followed. John Catton thus alludes to the mighty oppressions of the former, and the latter was not behind its twin brother in the magnitude of its crime against the liberties of the nation: — "The ecclesiastical courts are like the courts of the High Priests and Pharisees, which Solomon, by a spirit of prophecy, styleth dens of lions, and mountains of leopards. Those only who have had to do with them have found them to be markets of the sins of the people, the cages of uncleanness, the forgers of extortions, the tabernacles of bribery, and contrary to the ends of civil government," (fec.+ Laud, Wren, and their aids, could tolerate anything but true godliness. Indolence, ignorance, drunkenness, and adultery, could pass unrebuked; but the absence of the cross in baptism, refusing to bow at the name of Jesus, the refusal to read the Book of Sports, or objections to white and black linen in the performance of divine wor- * "What is, or who are, the cause of most schisms amongst us? The Bishop's mad outrage in all the three kingdoms of late, hath so incensed the common people, that in all men's eyes they are become more vile ; and while all men reflect on their constant trade of mischievous prac- tices, the ^^dsest begin to 'conclude the veiy calling hurts the men as much as these disgrace the calling !' Thus we have by too, too long, great, and sad experience, found it true, that our prelates have been so far from preventing divisions, that they have been the parents and patrons of most errors, heresies, sects, and schisms that now disturb this Church and State." — Lord Brook on Episcopacy. Hanbury, vol. ii., p. 129. t Brook, vol. iii. , p. 155. THE CIVIL WAR. 95 ship, excited the Episcopal wrath to the utmost, and subjected the offenders to pains and penalties of no ordinary kind. There was no escape from these infernal powers. An hasty sentence, an objection, however conscientious, some- times a word, reported by the sj^ies of the prelates, would bring the victim to a cruel fate.* It will be obvious that Puritan tendencies, or, still woi-se, nonconformity to the orders of the proud prelates, would be unpardonable crimes. " Had he been guilty of drunkenness, or uncleanness," said the Earl Dorset, to an applicant threatened by these men of blood, " or any such lesser crime, he coiild obtain his pardon; but as he was guilty of nonconformity and Puritanism, his crime was unpardonable."t The abolition of these dens of iniquity was hailed with unmixed joy. The representatives <]f the people did not allow religion only to absorb them. Matters affecting the civil liberties of an oppx-essed nation demanded their attention. Their task was onerous and delicate. To pursue it without hin- di-ance, they proclainied their right to sit till their work was done. Many oppressive laws were repealed; many ci-ying evils were annihihxted. J Steadily the patriots advanced in their healthy and judicious reforms. But many felt that * In the rigour -with which Laud urged conformity, he caused a minister to be censured hy the High Commission Court "for this expression in H sermon, ' That it was suspicious that now the night did approach, liecause the shadows were so much longer than the body, and ceremonies more in force than the power of godliness.'" — FidJer's C. H., p. 150. t Mather's History, b. iii., p. 19. " Not tlie meddling of the Commons with Episcopacy, but the idolatry and Popish ceremonies introduced into the church, by command of the bishops themselves, were the causes why sectaries and conventicles abounded in England, and why Englishmen seeking liberty of worsliip were driven into exile." — Forster, vol. i., p. 31. J "The wrath of the House was directed against evil councillors, mono- polists, judges, and bishops. It was the time of the Achitophels, the Hamans, the Wolseys, the Empsons, the Dudleys, Tressilians, vipers and monsters of all sorts." That the judges had violated and overthrown all law, and the bishops destroyed the Gospel, was the common talk in the city and the country. Defence was useless. The enormity of the criminals was patent to ixU. — Vidc M'Intosh's Hist., vol. v., chap. \-i. 96 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. there was no safety without higher results. Laws had been violated before; they had no security for the future. The word of the monarch had been pledged before; the past had proved it of no value. To the councillors of Charles, many of the unconstitutional acts which have disgraced his reign might be traced. Bewitched by their influence, there was no safety whilst they surrounded him. Laud and Strafford were, in point of fact, the rulers of the kingdom. Upon these great ci'iminals the Commons now fixed their eyes. With closed doors their conduct was discussed. At the close of the debate, Pym, followed by a large number of the members, proceeded to the Lords, and there, in the name of the Commons of England, accused Thomas Earl of Strafford of high treason. To the Tower the great apostate was at once committed. His crimes WGfe enormous. English liberty would have been immolated on the altar of despotism had his power been equal to his will. No effort on his part was wanting to raise the monarch to an equality to con- tinental despots, and to base the throne on the ruins of the constitution.* To detail the progress of tliis trial — one of the most sublime and imposing, perhaps, in the annals of our jurisprudence — is impossible in a work like the present. It is enough to say, that the Earl's career of crime and cruelty was terminated on the scaffold, after his master had promised, but finally violated his promise, that he would not sign the warrant for his execution.t The nation breathed more fpeely when the great apostate expired. * " Under such auspices (Laud and Strafford), and with such appli- ances, was pursued a system of comprehensive and nianifokl oppressions, menacing all persons, sapping all rights, breaking promises deemed in- violable, a tyranny of spies and taxgatherers carrying its vexation into every household, and poisoning the daily comforts of the people, thwart- ing their occupations, despoiling their property, meddling with their trade : yet because this tyranny was not sanguinary, — because it fined, maimed, imprisoned, but did not kill — we are told to wonder that the people should rebel !" — Lister's Life of Clarendon, vol. i., p. 47. f " Charles had bound himself by the most solemn vow to do public TUE CIVIL AVAR. Vi The tide of popular feeling against Land had now risen to an alarming height. Other weapons than the spiritual were necessary for his protection. In his Diary he says : — "Monday, May the 11th, my house at Lambeth was beset by five hundred of the rascal riotous multitude. I had notice, and strengthened my house as well as I could; and, (Jod be praised, I had no harm. Since, I have got cannon, and fortified my house as well as I can, and I hope all will be safe; yet libels are continually set up in places of note in the city."* His committal to the Tower followed. It was in December he entered the gloomy fortress. London was in raptures, and the country echoed back the joy. One of his partial biographers says: — "Every street rang with ballads, every wall was covered with lam])oons, of which the Arch- bishop was the subject. Eare pictures were made, in which lie was represented as confined in a cage, or fastened to a post, with a chain round his neck. The taverns and ale- houses echoed with the ribald merriment of revellers, who were as drixnk with malice as with liquor, and who had been taught to hate him as a common enemy. But the outcry was not confined to the rabble of London. It was taken up penance for the injustice, of which he supposed himself guilty, in con- senting,' to the death of Strafford. Later still, at Oxford, April 13, 1646, he solemnly vowed to give back to the church all the improjjriations wliich were held by the Crown ; and what lands had been taken from any church or religious houses, and in the future to hold them for the church, and to jjay rent for them." Jesse gives the documents. Vide Memoirs of the Court of England during the Reign of the Stuarts, vol. ii., pp. 61, 62. (London, Bentley.) Rush worth gives a full account of Strafford's trial. * Fairfax's Corres., chap, i., p. 4. "On the 9th of May (1640), placards were posted up inviting the people to plunder the palace of the arch- bishop. The attack was, however, repulsed : many who had been made prisoners were rescued by their companions, and only one of the ring- leaders was hanged to deter others." — Collier, p. 722, &c. Raumer, vol. ii., p. 76, note 29. "The women, the apprentices, and even the very porters of London, petitioned against the bishops. The latter, adds T. Fuller, felt it as a burden too heavy for their shoulders." — Vide Lathorp, p. 132. 98 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. by the townsmen of Oxford," &c.'" Before dismissing this great criminal from our pages, we may just add, that after lingering about four years in the Tower, insulted justice over- took him on the scaffold. We have no tears to spare for his mempi-y. Nature had eminently fitted him for his work, and endowed him with all the attributes for an inquisitor above all the men of his age. Fierce, superstitious, unrelenting, void of mercy and compassion, he ahvays appears to giiidge those whom his rage and despotic power had reduced to very great distress, even the tenderness and relief of their firiends.t He was the embodiment of some of the very worst elements of our nature, combined with the hideous pretension to great devotedness to the cause of truth and righteousness. Hated by liis contemporaries, his death was only a miserable atonement for the untold sorrow he had inflicted upon thou- sands of individuals better and holier than himself; and though some modeim Avriters have tried to redeem his character, and to excite sympathy for his fate, truth will hold him up to future times as one of the most cruel and infamous of his class. The crimes of a Bonner are mild and limited, compared with the refined cruelty of this little- minded man. J Other great criminals escaped. Winde- banke, the Secretary of State, and one of Laud's chief friends, and the ready instrument of Charles in dealing with the Catholics, and in his oppression of the people, fled to France. 11 Finch, the infamous Lord-Keeper, who, * Le Bass's Life of Laud, p. 294. t Harris's Life of Charles I., p. 231. SmectjTiins supplies a fearful accusation against tMs prelate.— Pp. 77, 78. J Laud, when itrged to go into Holland, said: — "I should expose myself to the insults of those Sectaries there, to whom my character is odious ; and have every Anabaptist come and pluck me by the beard." — Le Bass, p. 290. II " He tells everybody * * * that he never did anything for concerning the Papists, that he had not either the immediate order from the king, or has not his hand to show for it." — Clarendon, S. Papers, vol. ii., p. 134. The reader may consult Prynne's T/ie Popish Royal Favourite. The influence of the Queen is manifest. Le Maisters, a French priest, thus THE CIVIL WAR. 99 to gi^atify the monarch, poUuted the very fountain of jus- tice, and descended to the most abject means to avert the lionalties to which his notorious crimes exposed liim, at last lied to Holhind. The spirit of the Commons displayed itself in another manner. The victims of the hierarchy were relieved from their oppression, and others from bondage; ministers from sequestration ; and Piynne, Burton, and Bastwick, were recalled from theii* prison-house. The progress of these men to their homes was quite an ovation. The people in all the toAvns through which they passed greeted them with the warmest demonstratious of joy. London was in raptures. An eye-witness says — ," He saw Mr. Prine and Mr. Bourton come into Loundoun : they weare meet by 2,000 hoors and 150 schochess; and the men wore rosemary that meet them."''' Even the Anabaptists foimd sympathy. With others, they had suffered in common. The most hated of all the sects, it indicated the extraordinaiy growth of liberal opuaions, that members of this sect, when detected in their unlaAvful assemblies, should find mercy. But so it was. In Januaiy, 1640, " Edmond Chilleudon, Nicholas Tyne, John "Webb, Eichard Sturgess, Thomas Gunn, John Ellis, with at least 60 persons more, were all taken, on Sixnday last, in the afternoon, iir the time of Divine service, by the constables and churchwardens of St. Saviour, in the house of Bichard Sturgess, where they said they met to teach and edify one another in Christ. They being brought before Sir John Lenthal, he demanded why they did not go and resort to their paiish church, according to the law of the 35th Elizabeth? speaks of her: "In England the heart of persecution hath ceased, through the dignity of a magnanimous king and most invincible prince, by the Bourbonian star, -which hangs over these countries in a most dear wife; by which stars the tempest of persecution will, iieradventure, in time be appeased." — Eushworth, vol. ii., pp. 15, 25, 26, 28, 20, 24. * Lady Harley's Letters, p. 104. Camden Society. 100 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. "Tliey answered: 1. That the law of the 35th of Queen Elizabeth was not a trae law, for that it was made by the bishojis, and they would not obey it. 2. That they would not go unto their parish churches, for that those churches were not true churches ; that there was no tnie church but where the faithful met. 3. That the king could not make a perfect law, for that he was not a perfect man. 4. That they ought not to obey him, but in civil things. 5, That some of them threatened the churchwardens and constables, that they had not yet answered for this work. " This is subscribed by the knight and the churchwardens. "Sir John was ordered to take care of them, and bring them to the House, with all that could witness against them. "According to order, the Anabaptists were brought to the House, and being severally called in, all of these faithful to our church did, like Howard and Pool, deny the most material things which they were charged with; whereupon Sir John Lenthal and tlie other witnesses were sworn, and did justify what they had subscribed on oath. Upon which the House did order, ' That these Sectaries should receive for this time an admonition from this House, and be enjoyned hereafter to repair to their several parish churches to hear Divine service, and give obedience thereto, accordinrj to the Act of Parliament of this Realm : To that piirpose, the order was read to them of this House, 16/ of Separation from the Church of Eng- land, etc. That, he said, appeared some time ago. He had reprinted a work entitled, 'A Brief Eelation of Cei'taiu Special and most Natural Passages, as it Respects the State Chamber at the . . . .' And that he also printed the 'Covenant jSTamed,' . . . 'Van Scotland,' and even a part of the book named, 'A Dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies Obtruded upon the Church of Scotland.' And that all these works and pamphlets being condemned infamous and scandalous, and against all dignity or intent of lus Royal Majesty of Great Britain, and even in opposition to the prescription of the Right Honourable Lords of the General Estates of the Netherlands, dated 16th of January, 1621. Of all this, it is concluded that the said works are punishable, as likely to promote disorder against the Majesty of Great Britain and his allies; and so the Commissary con- clude that the appearon (printer) of said seditious and scan- dalous books is condemned to the confiscation of all the ])rinted editions (which shall be burnt), and to pay the sum of £300 of 40 groots to the pound; and also to an . . . * Vide Stovel's Introduction to Canne's Necessity of Separation. Hans. Knollj's Society. "And the Anabaptists, whereof, it is said, are above thirty several sects, have theii' churches; the Bro\vnists, divided, and differing amongst themselves, Mr. Canne being the pastor of one com- pany, and Mr. Greenwood, an old man, a tradesman, who sells stockings in the Exchange. I saw him there; he is the leader of another com- pany." — Brereton's Travels, p. 65. TUE CIVIL WAR. 109 conviction,"* This document bears date 1638. The cause of Canne's return to his native land may be fcjund here. HLs freedom of action, even in business, was affected, and a heavy- tine imposed for the liberty of printing. He hiboured with success in the city. Availing himself of the measure of liberty which now prevailed, he visited other portions of the kingdom. In 1G41, we find him in Bristol, sometimes preaching in the " public places," and at others in the open air; and founding a church there.t "We know not when he became a Baptist, but know he was "a hcqjiized many Through the stirring period which followed, he was active and laborious. His name will be before us again. :|: The efforts and success of our brethren awakened atten- tion in other circles, and called forth many an outburst of holy indignation. Pamphlets surcharged with every element of fury came bounding from the pi*ess. Caricatures, not * There is another State Paper, of a later date, and though not bearing on the case of Canne, it may not be uninteresting to the reader. It refers to the state of the Englisli and other churches in the Netherlands. "In consequence of the State Council of the Netherlands being informed of many disorders arising in this country amongst Scottish and English preachers : the said disorders consisting bothe in Divine worship and the citations made by them, and all this being to provoke disorders and trouble amongst the people, and prejudicial to the Government ; the sai.l State Council ordered that the instructions given in the year 1G21 of the 27tli of December, be punctually observed by the said ministers ; conse- quently, tliat the classic order followed by the Walloon churches must be kept in good attention, and followed by the English and Scottish preachers ; and that great attention must be paid to the quality, capacity, education, instruction, sentiment, knowledge, and perfect understanding of those who are accepted as preachers. And should it occur that some one should create opposition to the aforesaid orders, the said preachers are to give immediate notice of it to the State Council, to act in tliat case as may be necessaiy." This is dated the 20th of February, 1G33. Signed by order of the State Council. — M. Huggins. Both these MSS. are in Dutch. "\Ve are indebted to a friend for the translation. Originally they belonged to IVIr. Brandt, the author of the Reformation. They are now in the possession of the author. + Broadmead Records, vol. i. Hans. KnoUys Society. t It is certain that he was in Amsterdam in 1644.— Firfe Early English Baptists, vol. i., p. 4. 110 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. facts; slander, not truth, marked tliem. Whatever harm they cHd then, they have some value now, From their pages we can frequently gather information which scarcely any other source would supply. " Xew Preachers! New!" gives us a brief touch in memory of the fiery zeal of Mr. Barebones, "a reverend unlearned leather-seller, who with Mr. Green, the feltrmaker, were both taken preaching, or prating, in a con- venticle of 100 persons, on Sunday, the 19th of December last, 1641." The folio-wing extract will show the spirit of this godly teacher, and at the same time the annoyances to which our brethren were exposed: — "I have made bold to relate briefly your last Sunday afternoon's work, lest in time your meiitorious painstaking should be forgotten (for the which you and your associate, Mr. Green, do well deserve to have your heads in the custody of young Gregory, to make buttons for hemp holes) ; you two ha\'ing the spirit so full, that you must either vent or burst, did, on the Sabbath aforesaid, at your house near Fetter Lane End, Fleet Street, at the sign of the 'Lock and Key,' there and then did you and youi' consort (by turns) unlock most delicate, strange doctrine, where were about thousands of people, of which number the most ignorant applauded your preaching, and those who knew anything derided your ignorant prating. But after four hours' long and tedious tattling, the house where you were was beleaguered with multitudes, that thought fit to rouse you out of your bKnd devotions, so that your walls were battered, your windows all fractions, torn into rattling shires; and worse the hurly-burly might have been, but that sundry constables came in with strong guards of men, to keep the peace, in which conflict your sign was broken down and unhanged, to make room for the owner to supply the place; all wliicli shows had never been, had Mr. Green and Mr. Barebones been content (as they should have done) to have gone to their own parish churches," &c. From Crosby we learn that the church over which Canne presided in Deadman's Place, divided in the spirit of fraternal aflfection. THE CIVIL WAR. Ill ami that a part went with this celebrated man, who subse- quently gave his name to one of Oliver's Parliaments, and the other united under tlie pastoral care of Mr. Jeffrey.* It is more than probable that this church was one of mixed memljership. Another of these fiery spirits now enters " The Brownists' synagogue," and makes a "discovery of their conventicles, assemblies, and places of meeting;" where they preach, and the mamier of their praying and preaching, with a relation of the name, place, and doctrine of those which do commonly preach, Tlie chief of which are these : — " Green, the felt- maker; Maeler, the button-maker; Spence, the coachman; Rogers, the glover; which sect is much increased of late in the city." We quote an extract, as it is honourable to the men on whom this surpliced libeller pours the vials of his scorn: — "In the house where they meet, there is one appointed to keep the door, for the intent to give notice, if there should be any insurrection, warning should he given them. They do not flock together, but come two or three in a company; and all being gathered together, the man appointed to teach stands in the midst of the i*oom, and his audience gather around him. The man prayeth about the space of half an hour; and part of his prayer is, that those who come there to scoff and laugh, God would be pleased to turn their hearts : by which means they think to escape undiscovered. His sermon is about the space of an hour, and then doth another stand up to make the text more plain; and at the latter end he entreats them all to go home severally, lest the next meeting they should be interrupted by those which are of the opinion of the wicked. They seem very steadfast in their opinions, and say, that rather than turn they will burn."t Noble men ! Truth was pre- * Crosby, vol. iii., p. 42. t Ivimey, vol. i., p. 162. Bishop Hall probably alludes to these when he says: — "Alas! my Lords, I beseech you to consider what it is that there shoiild be in London, and the suburbs and liberties, no fewer than fourscore congregations of several sectaries, as I have been too credibly informed, instracted by guides fit for them (cobblers, taylors, felt-makers, 112 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. cious to them, and life was a trifle in comparison with its unutterable worth ! The age was one of excitement and conflict. Mind was liberated from its bondage, and inquiry was pushed into eveiy circle. To its veiy depths the nation was agitated. The past had lost its power. The compulsory and senseless ceremonies of a polluted form of religion were losing their influence, and appeals were made, to a great extent, to the Divine Word. By some this was recognised as the only standard to which conscience should bow. All this was fovourable to our brethren. Fearlessly they could appeal to it, beyond any religionist of the day. Only for the truth, for Christ's supremacy in his church, for man's individual responsibility to God alone, and for the purity and spii'ituality of his church, did they plead. Their distinctive principles involved all this, and they shrank not from their avowal. The power of the press was now employed. Two works were issued about this period. One by Mr. Barber, the minister of a congregation in Bishopsgate Street, entitled, ''A Treatise on Bajitism, or Dipping," &c; the other, "The Vanity of Childish Baptism; wherein is proved that Baptism is Dipping, and Dipping Baptism. By A. R." A reply was speedily given to the former, such as power often gives to the weak, and error to tmth, by incarcerating the author for eleven months in gaol. With these weapons of defence, the ruling power in Church and State had long been familiar. Early in 1G41, Wales attracts attention in connexion with Baptist principles. Its moral state is thus descril)ed by Vava- seur Powell : — "That the professors of religion were very few in Wales, except in the corners of two or three counties ; and that about that time a petition was sent to the king and Parliament; that upon diligent search there was scarcely to be found as many conscientious, diligent preachers, as there and such like trash), which all are taught to spit in the face of their mother, the Church of England, and to defy and revile her Government." —Bishop Hall in the House of Lords. Pari. Hist., vol. ii., p. 990. THE CIVIL WAR. 113 were counties in Wales; and that the few who were there were either silenced or much persecuted." This eminent man, in connexion with Mr, Cradock and others, was successful in preaching the Gos[)el, Originally a member of the Established Church, and educated at Oxford, his conversion to the truth was singularly interesting. Much of the deep and intense soul struggle which marked the early religious life of Bunyan, will be found in Powell. To the evangelising of the Principality he devoted his wliole energies. Persecution everywhere awaited him. Bishops threatened and magistrates punished; but in vain. If opposed in one town, he would go to another. Our pages might be enriched with much from his Life and Works, if our space would allow. With his companions in labour and tribulation, he succeeded in forming churches. No doubt they were of mixed membersliip. They were the first to separate from the corrupt national cliurch, with the exception to which we have before referred, and laid the foundation of JSTonconfoi'mity, the power of which is now so gi-eat in the Principality. On another stage we shall again see him. Southwark witnessed another scene. Dr. Feately, a church- man of some note, now happily deprived of other means, condescended to use his tongue against the Baptists. With four of these heretics he expressed his willingness to dispute. The challenge Avas accepted. Sir J. Lenthal, and various other persons of note, attended the discussion. Histoiy has left no record of the names of the champions. A brewer's clerk is one; probably Mr. Kiffin. The Doctor published his report of the discussions some time after, and, of course, claimed the victory. In "The Dipper Dipt," &c., the reader may find his version of the wordy discussions. A single extract may interest our readers.* "Since the * H. Denne wrote " Antichrist Unmasked," in two treatises. The first in answer to two Poedobaptists, Dr. Feately and S. Marshall, B.D., "The Argument for Childish Baptism Opened, and Answered;" "The Man of H 114 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS, unliappy distraction wliicli our sins have brought upon us, the temporal sword being otherwise employed, and the spiritual being locked up in the scabbard, this sect amongst others liath so far presumed upon the patience of the State, that it hath held weekly conventicles, rebaptized hundreds of men and women in the twilight, in rivers and some arms of the Thames, and elsewhere, dipping them over head and ears. It hath printed divers pamphlets in defence of their heresy; yea, and challenged some of our preachers to dis- putation." '' This venomous serpent {vere solifuga), fl}^ng from and shunning the light of God's Word, is the Anabap- tist, who in these latter times first showed his shining head and speckled skin, and thrust out his sting near the place of my residence, for more than twenty years." The statements of the Doctor as to their increase, are abundantly sustained by other witnesses. Charles, whilst admitting their influence, thus slanders them: — "How many of the gravest and most substantial citizens of London, by whom the government and discipline of that city was pre- served, are disgraced, robbed, and imprisoned, without any pi'ocess of law or colour of accusation, but of obedience to the law and government of the kingdom; whilst Anabaptists and Brownists, with the assistance of \dcious and debauched persons of desperate fortune, take upon them to break up and rifle houses, as public and avowed ministers of a new- invented authority."t " These are the men who, joining with the Anabaptists and Brownists of London, first changed the government and discipline of that city ; and now, by the pride and power of that city, would undo the kingdom; whilst their Lord Mayor (a person accused and known to be Sin Discovered in Doctrine : tlie Root and Foundation of Antichrist Laid Open. By H. Denne. Printed for the edification of the Church and information of the world. 1645." His "Address to the Reader" is dated from Prison in Lord Petre's House, February 23, 1G44. i" Charles's Answer to an Ordinance of Parliament. Pailiamentai-y History, vol. iii., p. 31. THE CIVIL WAR. 115 giiilty of liigh treason), by a new let,dislativc process of Ids own, suppresses and reviles the 'Book of Common Prayer,' robs and imprisons whom he thinks fit, and, Avith the rabble of his faction, gives law to both Houses of Parliament."* Referring to the Baptists' hostility to the Book of Common Prayei', Charles says: — " So he desires that a good bill may be framed for the better preserving the Book of Common Prayer from the scorn and violence of Brownists, Anabap- tists, and other sectaries, Avith such clauses for the ease of tender consciences as his Majesty hath formerly afforded." f Pym, in a speech to the citizens of London, denies this. " To this I am connuanded to say, that hereof there is no proof; it doth not appear that they give any svich counte- nance to sectaries of any kind whatsoever; and if it did, his Majesty hath little reason to object it, while, notwith- standing the profession he hath after made, that he will maintain the Protestant reformed religion, he doth, in the meantime, raise an army of Papists,"- &,c. &c. Pym gives a positive denial to all the charges made by the kiug.:|: A little later on, Charles, in a proclamation forbidding obedience to the Parliament, thus refers to them : — " Some seditious persons assume to themselves (with the assistance of those rebellious armies, and of divers mutinous and desperate Brownists, Anabaptists, and other ill-affected persons in our city of Loudon, by whose means they awe such members of both Houses who yet continue amongst them) a power to do things absolutely contrary to the laws of the land," etc. " That the Common Council of London, * raiiiameutary History, vol. iii. , p. 33. t Heply to propositions submitted to liim, Feb., 1C42. Parliamentary History, vol. iii., p. 73. t Hid, vol. iii., p. 59, In reply to a Petition from the Aldermen and Commons of London, Charles asks, "if the discountenancing and imprisoning godly, learned, and painful preachers, and the clierisliing and countenancing of Bro^vnists, Anabaptists, and aU manner of sectaries, be the way to defend and maintain the true Kef ormed Keligion?" — Parlia- mentary History, vol. iii. , p. 54. 116 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. many of them being factiously chosen out of Brownists, Anabaptists, and such who oppose the regular wholesome government of the city," &c.* Let us add another extract from one who appears to have hated them with intense hatred. " They have been," says Edwards, "and are, polupragmatical, indefatigably active, striving, not less night and day, in city, county, in all places, having their agents to do their work and promote theii- cause ; tlieir eyes are ijitent on everything that may make for them or against them, and they have a hand in everything; they are men of a hundred eyes and hands, out-acting and out- Avorkiug all the Presbyterians; they deal with this man to take them oft', and work with another man to qualify him; they have got most of the weekly wiiters of news to plead their cause, commend their persons, cry u]) their actions; they have sent their emissaries into several counties to preach, carry letters, deal with persons for choosing bur- gesses in Parliament for their way, as Mr. Peters and others ; they observe all men's tempers, humours, and accordingly deal with them all, — some with offices and places, some by holding out principles suited to their lusts, "t The unfurling of the Royal Standard was the signal for actual conflict. Lord Macaulay has given a grapliic view of the elements of which both parties were composed. One equally graphic, and more minute, has been given by one who lived in these exciting times. " In this contest between king and Parliament, the generality of the nobility were on the king's side. After Edgehill fight, when the king was at Oxford, a great part of the Lords, and many of the Commons, went over to him. A great part of the knights and gentlemen of England adhered to him, except in Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, where the king never came with his army. Most of their tenants followed them, * Proclamation of Charles, June 26, 1643. Pailiamentary History, vol. iii., pp. 134, 135. t Edwards's Gangreana, pp. 69, 70. THE CIVIL WAR. 117 and most of the poorer sort of people tlirouglioiit the nation. Ou the Parliament's side were the smaller part of the gentry in most counties, and the greatest part of the tradesmen and freeholders, and the middle sort of men, especially in those corporations and counties wliich depend on clothing and such manufactures. To them also adhered the far greater part of those through the nation who were friends to a religious strictness, and enemies to formality and profane- ness, superstition and immorality. ■'■ It w^as not indeed pro- perly Belltim E2nscopale (the Bishop's War), though by many so styled, t For thousands that wished for good bishops were on the Parliament's side ; l)ut the generality of those who were called Puritans and Precisians, and were for serious godliness, both ministers and people, adhered to the Pai-liament. On the other side, they who were for loose- ness, swearing, gaming, and drinking — the ministers and people who were against the strict observation of the Lord's * Lord MacaiUay thus refers to the same classes : — " In the great straggle into wliich the nation was now plunging, men arrayed them- selves — some from iirinciple, and others from interest. Around the monarch, partly from sympathies with his despotic tendencies, and partly from a chivakous spirit of loyalty, most of the noble and wealthy gathered. The bishops and the clergy, and all dependent in any way on, or expectant from, the church and its patrons, adhered to Mm. Into his position he had been forced in the main by the hierarchy. Following in the wake of them we must class a larger class of persons, whose living depended on their ability and willingness to gratify the pride and luxuiy, or to minister to the vices and vitiated tastes, of this class. To these must be added the whole of the Komanist portion of the community. But though less imposing, yet the champions of liberty had more of the elements of the real power of the nation. The stiuxly yeomen of the kingdom, the merchants and tradesmen — the whole of the Puritan, or perhaps we should say Nonconforming, body of the realm, headed by some few leading noblemen. These were men. Men trained to think, and to act with vigour, when action was required. Men to whom liberty was proportionably sweet, from the giinding oppressions they had suffered," &c. — Vide Macavday's Eng., vol. i., pp.102, 103. + " Good Lord, what fiery clasliings we have had lately for a cap and a surplice ! What oceans of human blood v/as spilt for ceremonies only, and outward fonnalities, for the base position of a table!" — Howell's Lettei's, p. 4S6. ""When they saw the honourable the high Court of lis EARLY E^'GLISH BAPTISTS. day, and fond of dancing and recreations at those sacred seasons, that placed all their religion in going to church and hearing Common Prayer, that were against serious preaching, and for ininning down all those who were stricter than themselves — these adhered all along to the king ; which one consideration was the thing that determined many sober and honest persons which side to take."* As the conflicts progress, the diiference between the classes becomes more apparent. Fiction invested, for a time, the cavaliers with all that was chivalrous and noble ; but history has removed the mask, and exhibited them in their true colours. That many gathered around the misguided sove- reign from the purest motives, and wdiose principles and con- duct would have shed hxstre on any cause, it would be worse than ignorance to doubt. But truth has its obligations. From these the pen of history must not shrink. Lord Goi'ing, one of Charles's dashing generals, was " the most infamous person that ever disgraced, whilst permitted to retain, the Parliament begin to look into their enormities and abuses, beholding how they united religion like a waxen nose, to the furtherance of their ambitious purposes, then Troy was taken in ; then they began to despair of holding any longer their usurped authority ; and, therefore, as much as in them lay, both by public declarations and private councils, they laboured to foment the civil difference between his Majesty and his Parliament, abetting the proceedings of the malignants with large supplies of men and money, and stirring up the people to tumults by their seditious sermons." — Declaration and Defence of J. Pym. Rushworth, vol. ii. , p. 376. Guizot's E. E,., append, x., p. 452. Clarendon, vol. i., p. 355. Burton, vol. ii., p. 328. * "And truly I may almost say, that that corrupt Common Prayer Book was the sole and whole occasior. of all the miseries and wars that since have happened in both nations. Had his Majesty first endeavoured the inspiration of that lame book upon the English, most men do believe we had swallowed it, and then the Scots must have done it afterwards ; for the clergy, at that time, generally, were such idle, lazy lubbers, and so pampered with court preferments, and places temporal in every shire in England, and such flattering sycophants, that doubtless the great hand of God was in it, that those rude Scots fii-st broke the ice, and taught us the way to expel an insulting priesthood and to resist the king, he endea- voiiring, by unwarrantable means, to intrude things contrary to the Divine laws of Almighty God iipon our consciences." — W. Lilly's Life and Death of Charles I., pp. 207, 208. TUE CIVIL WAR. 119 name of gentleman."* Of his troops, Baxter says: — "As they marched along the countiy, they were everywhere entertained with strange relations of the horrid impiety and outrages of Lord Goring's soldiers. A John Guillam he quartered with, at South Pedertom, in Somersetshire, averred to him, ' That with him a company of them pricked their lingers, letting the blood run into a cup, in which they drank a health to the devil."'t "The common soldieiy, imitating the brutal indifference of their master to human suflering, were ravaging the whole country with ruthless pillage, and every sort of licentiousness — all but the true, the bi-ave, the invincible soldiers of Cromwell."| No prin- ciple, no virtue, restrained these men. Deep and intense was their hatred to all that was dignified and moral, and they luxuriated in vice, and delighted in cruelty and blood. Old Adam Martindale gives us a sample of this in the case of his father: — " My poor father sped much worse, for they took the old man prisoner, and used him most barbarously, forcing him to march in his stockings, without shoes, and snapping his eai-s with their firelock pistols. His house they plundered of everything they thought worth cariying away, in carts which they brought to his door for that purpose; and were soi-e troubled (good men) that, the walls being stone, and the roof being well shot over within, they could fasten no fire upon the house, though they several times essayed so to do. His stock of cattle they wholly drove away, and he never had an hoofe again." 1| The officei-s of * Warburton's P. Rupert, &c., vol. i., p. 195. t Baxter's Life, p. 91. Vicar states a similar fact,—" That on lyiarcli 10, 1G44, some of them proposed to drink the health of the devil, and cue doubting his existence, wished he might appear, &c. The request was complied with," &c.— Looking-GIass for Malignants. 2 Pari. Parsig., p. 17. t Life of "VMiitelocke, p. 209. "During the siege (of Brampton Castle), the cook was shot by a poisoned bullet, and a running stream that fur- nished the -voUage with water was iioisoned." — Lady B. Harley's Letters. Intro., p. six. Camden Society. jl Life of Adam Martindale, p. 39. Cheetham Society. " In Shrop- shire," says Baxter, "where his father dwelt, both he and all his neigh- 120 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Charles forced the popttlation, on pain of death, into their ranks, "and armed them with sucli -weapons as they had, if they were but pitchforks; the rear being broxight up with troopers that had commission to shoot such as lagged behind, so as the poor countrymen seemed to be in a dilemma of death, either by the troopers, if they went not on, or by the great and small shots out of the town (Bolton), if they did."'^ Like the locusts, eA^r}i;hing was fair and lovely before them, desolation and miseiy behind them. History more than justifies this accusation. The soldiers of liberty were very different men. We speak not now of a single jieriod, but of the whole. "When I put my hand to the Loi'd's work, in 1642, I did it not i-ashly, but had many an hour and night to seek God, to know my way; it being a time the nation was filled with rumours and fears of some bustling betwixt the king and his great Council, the Parliament, that was called before the rebellion in Ireland," &c.t Histoiy fully warrants the follo-\\-ing sketch of these heroes by the pen of an Episcopalian. However mistaken their motives, however diverse the opinions which men may form of their aims, none Avill venture to question the accuracy of this statement: — " The army of the Pai'liament presented an appearance altogether unlike that of ai-mies in general ; they boui's, that were noted for praying and liearing sermons, were plundered by the king's soldiers, so that some of them had nothing almost but lumber left in their houses ; though his father meddled on neither side, but followed his own business, and held no eoiTespondence at all %vith his son." — Life of Baxter, p. 79. * Life of Mai-tindale, p. 32. Vide AYhitelocke, p. 188. Warburton's P. Rupert, vol. ii., p. 103 (Note). Lady Harley's Letters, &c., p. 167. Memou-s of Sir H. Slingsby, p. 58. Edinbro', 1806. Prynne gives accoTints we could not print. Power of Parliament, part i. , p. 112, t Autobiography of Capt. J. Hodgson, p. 80. "These men were ani- mated with an enthusiasm of which, at the present day, we can form no adequate conception. They divided their time between military duties and prayer; they sung psalms as they advanced to the charges; they called on the name of the Lord wliile they were slaying their enemies." — Lingard, vol. x., p. 305. THE CIVIL WAR. 121 ■were orderly and sober; the singing of psalms occupied the place of songs; instead of spending their leisure hours in frivolous conversation or amusements, they occupied them- selves in praying, reading the Scriptures, and discussing the most abstruse pt)ints of divinity. In the camp, they were tractable; in the field, terrible; and at the sight of what were deemed ol)jects of superstition, their fury was ungovern- able."* It was so with the privates, the officers, and the generals. Religion gave a character to everything they did. At the Council Board, God was acknowledged ; and fre- quently in the battle-field the war cry was, " The Lord is with us," or, " The sword of the Lord and Gideon." Whitelocke, conversing with the Queen of Sweden, thus describes the Parliamentary forces : — "When their enemies are swearing, or debauching, or pillaging, the officers and soldiei-s of the Parliamentary army use to be encouraging and exhorting one another out of the Word of God, and pi-aying together to the Lord of Hosts for his blessing, who has shown his approbation of this military preaching by the success he has given them." The Queen: "Do your generals and other gi-eat officers do sol" Whitelocke : "Yes, Madam, very often, and very well. Nevertheless, they maintain chap- lains and ministers in their houses and regiments. Such as are godly and worthy ministers have as much respect, and as good provision in England, as in any place in christendom."f How far the General Baptists had modified, or renounced, the opinions which had been held by the earlier members of * Lathorp's E. Episcopacy, p. 201. Illustrations of the same disci- pline could be multiplied. The following are selected as examples of Cromwell:— "The General cashiered Colonel Wren, and several of his officers in the head of the army, for plundering with their soldiers. It gave a great deal of encouragement to the honest part of the army, to cashier such time-serving fellows." — Autobiography of Captain Hodgson, p. 123. Paishworth has given Cromwell's Proclamation, vol. vii., p. 1274. "Two troopers were hanged in the view of our army for plundering" at Perth.— /6k?, pp. 151, 152. Vide Eelation of the Fight at Perth. Original Memorials of the Civil War, pp. 209, 253. + Life of AYliitelocke, pp. 339, 340. 122 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. that body on oaths, war, &c., we are not prepared to say. It may be affirmed, we think, with confidence, that to some extent they did retain them, and that few of them mingled in the bloody conflict.* Not so the other section of the body. Into the struggle they threw themselves with ardour, which sprung not merely from their intense love of liberty, l)ut from one of mightier power. "With them it was a holy war — a struggle for Christ and his church. Soul freedom was the end; liberty for truth and righteousness — not for them- selves, but for all men. Theirs was not an uprising against Laud and the hierarchy, but against every yoke forged at Lambeth or in the Westminster Assembly. We only indicate the facts. We know no plea for war, much less a religious one. But they felt intensely, conscientiously felt, that the means and the end were both right. W. Dell, in a noble passage, thus writes : — " To conclude, honourable and worthy, we will be willingly contented to do and suffer all things with you : we will cheerfully run thi'ough honour and dishonour with you : fame and infamacy, gain and loss, trouble and quietness, war and peace, life and death : and do desire to reserve nothing to ourselves, Nisi unicum verbum Domini, ' but only the Woi'd of God,' in its own purity, and liberty to preach it, and to profess it, and to practise it, for the glory of God and his only begotten Son, and for the good of his kingdom, and this kingdom."t Others might be, and doubtless were, animated by this spirit, but only from the lips of Dell did the representatives of the people hear these noble and truthful utterances. Keligious freedom was unknown. It was freedom for a sect, not for man — for certain dogmas, not for free thought and the fearless utter- ance of individual conA'ictions. Our subsequent narrative will place this beyond all doubt. * Prynne says, "It is confessed by all men, yea by those who are most intoxicated witli an Anabaptistical spirit, condemning all kinds of war, refusing to carry arms against any enemies, thieves, pirates, &c."-- Sovereign Power, &c., part iii., pp. 56, 103. t Right Reformation, p. 61. THE CIVIL WAR. 123 The historian of the General Baptist brethren gives us but little information about the proceedings of that body. Nor have we gathered much beyond what appeai-s in the eai'lier part of this vohime. Into more prominency they now rise. Mr. Taylor tells us, that, " previous to the commencement of the civil war, a Bai)tist church had been formed under the care of Mr. Thomas Lamb, which usually met in Bell Alley, Coleman Street, and joined the Particular Baptists, and zealously exerted himself in promoting the spread of their doctrine when Archbishop Laud presided over the affairs of tlie church. At the instigation of this tyrannical prelate, he. was seized at Colchester, his native city, and dragged in chains to London, for dissenting from the national church, and preaching to a separate congregation. He was arraigned before the Star Chambei-, and required to confess that he had administered the Lord's Supper, the penalty for which was banishment. Mr. Lamb, however, pleading the rights of an Englishman, refused to criminate himself, and was remanded to prison. His wife solicited the Archbishop to take pity on a mother and eight children, and to release the husband and father; but the unfeeling priest was untouched by her affliction, and roughly ordered the servants to take away that troublesome woman. After some time he obtained his liberty, and resumed his favourite employment of preaching the Gospel. This brought him into new troubles ; from which he was no sooner delivered than he entered to his sacred work. Thus he pursued the path of duty, till he had been confined in almost every prison in London and its vicinity. He frequently observed, that that man was not fit to preach, who would not preach for God's sake, though he was sure to die for it as soon as he had done."* Mr. Lamb * Taylor's History, vol. i., p. 99. Crosby, vol. iii., p. 54 ; from whom Mr. T. takes the account. A singular note is given by Warbm-ton : — "To reckon up the slain (at Chalgrove) by the number of Christian burials, is no sure way of coming at the truth, for divers Anabaptists and Brownists refuse to bury their soldiers otherwise than they do their horses. A beating up," &c. &c. — Rupert, &c., vol. ii., p. 210 (Note). 124 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. •was very useful, and liad gatliered at this time a large and zealous cliurcli. By this spirit our brethren were animated. To buy the truth, to make it known, and if needs be to die for it, was the absorbing end of their life. The period over which our narrative extends was fruitful in sects. Most of the leading ecclesiastical bodies of the present began to multiply and make themselves a power in the commonwealth. Laud, with all his vast power and multiplied appliances, could not crush them. Freedom from his hateful yoke liberated their energies and kindled their zeal. The spii-it of inquiry had been excited. The genius of Milton had spoken in strains which had already thrilled the nation. The attitude of the patriots, and the power of the press; above all, the Book of God was free, and under its influence authority gave place to conviction. Religious men and religious teachers had much to leai'n ; and what is often harder, much to unlearn. Guizot has said : — " Not- withstanding the active inquisition of Laud, sects of all descriptions assembled, in to\\T.is, in some cellars; in the country, under the roof of a barn, or in the midst of a wood. The dismal character of the locality, their perils and difficul- ties in meeting, all excited the imagination of preachers and hearers ; they passed together long hours, often whole nights, praying, singing hymns, seeking the Lord, and cursing their enemies," &c.* The former part of this statement is true; the last sentence is not so. Guizot could group facts and master principles; but he had no sympathy with, for he did not understand, the pure and lofty motives of the men who asked for no State patronage, and had no worldly honour to gain by the triumph of their principles. In wealth, in numbers, in social and political influence, the Presbyterians stood high. Causes too numerous for us to detail, had contributed to this. Hobbes says, that " in the beginning of the late war, the power of the Presbyterians was •-' English Eev., h. ii., p. Gl. THE CIVIL WAR. 125 SO very great, that not only the citizens of London were, almost all of them, at theii- devotions, but also all the great- est part of all other cities and market towns of England."* Scotland aided this. Hostility to Episcopacy was favourable to the views of the pati'iots. Without their sympathy, despotism would probably triumph. So early as 1639, their commissioners who visited the king won over many of the leading actors in the great drama. " Not one Presbyterian," says Baxter, "was to be seen in the House, when it met. Now, these men had great resort to them, and many secret councils were held with them by the discontented English — cliiefly those who favour Presbyteries, and wei'e no friends to bishojis, or had suffered in the late censure in the Stai* Chamber, Exchequer, High Commission, and other judi- cators. Those who inclined to a i-epublic had much cor- respondence with them ; and they courted all, fomented every discontent, and made large and religious promises of future happy times. The Earls of Essex, Bedford, Holland, the Lord Say, Hampden, Pym, and divers other lords and gentlemen of great interest and quality, were deep in with them."f This overthrow of Episcojiacy, moreover, had aug- mented their power, and many now filled places wliich had been declared vacant by the various committees on religion. Many of the clergy had been ejected from the churches — not for attachment, so much, to Episcopacy, as for immorality and ciying unfitness for the work. With every allowance for exaggeration and improper motives, the reports sub- mitted to the House reveal an affecting, not to say appalling, picture of the state of the church under Laud and his Popish colleagues." J * Behemoth, Maserea Tracts, vol. ii., p. 477. + Peck's Life of MUton, p. 400. "Whitelocke, p. 32. H; Referring to this, Vicar says :— " O what a most rare, blessed, and strange change is already wrought in the city of London ! O what a com- pany of stinking snuffs are put out, and what rare and radiant tapers, and jjurely huniing and shining lamps, are set up in (almost) all our city con- 126 EAELY EXGLISH BAPTISTS, To remedy existing evils, the Senate decided to call an assembly of learned men, to whom all questions relating to religion should be referred. The design of the Assembly is thus defined in the ordinance which convoked it on the 14th of June, 1G43: — "Whereas no blessing is more dear than the purity of religion, and many things remain in the liturgy and discipline of the church requii-ing a further reformation; and the present Parliament has resolved that the present government by archbishops, &c., is evil and burdensome, an impediment to reformation, and to be taken away; that such a church government be settled as is most agreeable to God's Word, and apt to preserve the peace of the church at home, and a nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland, and other reformed churches abroad; for the better effecting hereof, and vindicating the Church of England from all calumnies and aspersions, it is thought necessary to call an assembly of leai'ned and judicious divines liereupon, as shall be proposed by either, or both. Houses of Parliament." " The said persons, more- over, are authorised to confer of such matters concerning the liturgy and discipline of the church, or the vindicating its doctrine from false construction, as shall be proposed by both, or either, Houses of Parliament, and no others."" No ecclesiastical jurisdiction was given to them. Beyond the objects thus defined, they had no power to go. The Assembly was to be composed of repi'esentatives of various bodies, Episcopalians, Presbyteiians, and Independents. No Bap- tist was admitted. To keep their fiery spirits in check, certain members of Parliament were nominated.f After gregations ; and liow piously and preciously does the work begin now to go on, and increase in the county also, where, with what safety to their persons, godly ministers may comfortably reside with the people, to the glory of God and inexpressible joy of the souls of the saints," &c. — Vicar's Jehovah Jii-eh, p. 326. David's Congregationalism in Essex. * Collier, vol. ii. Lathorp's E. Epis. , p. 150. t ■\Miitelocke gives an amusing example of their influence : — " Divers members of both Houses were members of the Assembly of Divines, and THE CIVIL WAR. 127 the usual formalities, the Westminster Assembly was inau- gurated, Avith all the imposing ceremony which could well be thrown around such an august gathering of the learniug and religion of the State. To other sources we must refer our readers for details of its proceedings. Only upon one or two matters can we touch. After long and conflicting debates, the Council produced, in the place of the Common Prayer, a Dii-ectory for public worship, and sought to im^iose on the country the Solemn League and Covenant, as the badge of its subjection to the Presbyterian power.* "With great solemnity and display this latter test was taken by the members of the Legislature in 1643. Mr. White, one of the Assembly, " prayed an hour, to prepare tlieni for the taking of the Covenant; then Mr. Nye, in the pulpit, made some observations touching the Covenant, shewing the warrant from Scripture, the example of it since the creation, and the benefit to the church. Mr. Henderson, one of the Scots Commissioners, concluded in a declaration of what the Scots had done, and the good they had received by such covenants; and then he shewed the prevalency of evil councils about the king, and the resolution of the States of Scotland to assist the Parliament of England. Next Mi'. Nye, in the pulpit, read the Covenant, and all present held up their had the same liberty with the Divines to sit and debate, and give their votes in any matters which was in consideration amongst them ; in which debates Mr. Selden spoke admirably, and confuted divers of them in theii' own learning. And sometimes, when they had cited a text of Scripture to prove their assertion, he would tell them, 'Perhaps iu your little pocket Bibles with gilt leaves (which they would often pull out and read), the translation may be thus, but the Greek or the Hebrew signifies thus and thus;' and so would totally silence them." — Vol. i., p. 209. * The year before, the General Assembly, untaught by their own and the nation's sufferings by the policy of Laud, had requested ' that in all his Majesty's dominions there might be one Confession of Faith, one directory of worship, one public catechism, and one form of church government. That the name of heresies, and sects, Puritans and Con- formists, Separatists, Anabaptists, kc, which do rend the bowels both of kirk and kingdom, might be suppressed,'" &c.— Rush worth, vol. iv., p. 387. Price, vol. L, p. 239. 128 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. hands in testimony of tlieir assent to it. The divines of the Assembly and the Scots Commissioners subscribed it; and then Dr. Yonge, in the puljiit, prayed for a blessing upon it. Afterwards the members of Parliament, in their respective Houses, subscribed their names in a parchment roll when the Covenant was written."* The influence of these proceedings on our brethren must not be overlooked. In many ways it contributed to their prosperity. Their discussion on various dogmas, the pride and insolence of the Presbyterians, and theii* attempts to put down free thought and to fetter religious freedom, their fre- quent appeals to the civil power, their dogmas on other minds, only awakened attention to the claims of our brethren, "Presbyterian zeal," says Guizot, "sometimes obtained from the Houses menacing declarations against the new sectaries; sometimes the fears and hatred of the political reformers, coinciding with those of their devout allies, they employed in concerting measures of rigour against their adversaries. An ordinance, destined, according to the preamble, ' to put down the slanderous papers, books, and pamplilets, by which religion and government had for some time been defamed,' abolished the liberty of the press, hitherto tolerated, and subjected to a strict censoi'ship all publications whatever" (Jime 11, 1643).t Though the liberty of unlicensed printing Avas not enjoyed, yet the press was comparatively free.:}: A stream of deep, * Pai'liamentaiy Hist., vol. iii., p. 173. Whitelocke and Clarendon supply ample details. "The next day, Scottish Commissioners set out for London, wliere both Houses, after having consulted the Assembly of Divines, also sanctioned the Covenant (Sept. 14) ; and a week after (Sept. 25), in the church of St. ]\Iargai-et, Westminster, all the members of Parliament, standing uncovered, -ndith hands raised to heaven, took the oaths of adhesion to it verbally, and then in writing," &c. — Guizot, b. iv., p. 205. Neal, vol. iii., p. 62, &c. t Guizot, b. v., p. 214. X Though far from free, yet the press poured forth a succession of pamphlets. In every form they appeared, from the grave and erudite production of the divine, to the light and sarcastic pasquinade of the poet. THE CIVIL WAR. 129 bitter, malignant calumny flowed from this source. Nothing was spared, no means were neglected, which could blacken the character or caricature the principles of our brethren. Samples of these abuses have already passed under notice. Edwards had published his work, in which the spirit of Bonner and Laud were incarnate, without any of the redeeming qualities which distinguished the lattei-. He had distilled his own gall, and stained every page with its pol- lution. Persuaded of the strength of his own cause, and his ability to defend it, he says, " I could wish with all my heart there were a public disputation, even on the point of'Ptedo- baptism and dipping, between some of the Anabaptists and our ministers. But if, upon disputation and debate, the Ana- baptists should be found in error (as I am confident they would), that then the Parliament should forbid all dipping, and take some sure course with all dippers, as the Senate of Zurich did."* How would the shrivelled heart of this religious teacher have bounded at the sight of the fires of Smithfield, or at witnessing female Anabaptists sewn up in sacks and thrown into the Thames ! This is only a sample of a class. Most of the rigid Presbyterians entertained similar notions, though they clothed their xitterance in a milder form.f Nothing was spared. Examples might be multiplied. "We only select one :^ "Where be our proud prelates that straddle so wide, As if they did meane the worlde to bestride ; To tread on the nobles, to trample them down, To set up the mitre above the king's crown ? That ere he was clerke the priest hath forgot. But pride will come down, God a' mercy, good Scot. "With Scripture divines doe play fast and loose, And turn Holy Writ to capons and goose ; Their gut is their god, religion they mocke. To pamper their flesh they famish their flocke. To preach and to pray they all have forgot, And now they'll be taught, God a' mercy, good Scot." — Rouse, p. 3. Others occur in the same volume. * Gangreana, p. 177. Our readers will find the proceedings of the Senate in the " MartjTology," published by the Hans. Knollys Society. + Examples of these may be seen in Price, Crosby, and Ivimey. 130 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. But the tone of others was very different. Light had been dawning on Episcopal minds, notwithstanding the efforts of Laud. The "Ecclesiastical Polity" of Hooker all but ignores the grounds of Jewel. Chilliugworth, in 1639, advanced still fiu-ther. The great principles for which our forefathers have ever contended was fully recognised by him. "The Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." Not as explained by fathers, or aflii'med by councils, but as the right of every man to investigate for himself "In his great work, all authority in matters of religioi* is openly set at defiance." "He would admit of no reservation which tended to limit the sacred rights of private judgment."* Later still, Lord Brook had ])ublished his work on Episcopacy, in which he expresses doubts as to the stability of the gTound on which infant baptism rested, and throws the shield of his protection over our brethren.t But as indicative of the change of feeling in the Episcopal mind. Bishop Taylor's work on the "Liberty of Prophesying," is the most important. It was issued about this time. One section of this work was devoted to the case of the Anabap- tists. It is i^ut with iincommon fairness, and with great force. The sensation it produced was dee^ and extensive. One of his opponents says, "It is the most diligent collec- tion, and the most exact scheme of the arguments against infant baptism, that he had ever met with; and that he has therein in such manner represented the arguments for and against it, that the latter have seemed to many to be suc- cessful and victorious.":}: The woi'k was felt by the Presby- teiians as an aggression, and severely animadverted upon by * Buckle, vol. i., pp. 320, 323. "h Episcopacy, p. 96. Crosby, vol. i., pp. 105, 167. J Dr. Hammond's Six Queries on Infant Baptism, sect. 49. Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap., p. 271. "Some Avi-iters ascribe great merit to J. Taylor for Ms advocacy of toleration (Heylin's Life, p. 27, and Parr's Works, vol. iv., p. 417); 1)ut the truth is, that when he wrote the then famous 'Liberty of Prophesying,' his enemies were in power; so that he was pleading for his own interest. When, however, the Church of Eng- THE CIVIL WAR. 131 the Rev. S. Rutherford, Professor of Divinity in St. Andrew's, in liis " Free Disputations concerning Pretended Liberty of Conscience."" Dr> Hammond was the bishop's principal antagonist; and so high did tlie feeling run in his own circle, that Dr. Taylor was actually obliged to reply to his own work.t In some cii'cles, men's views of right and wrong depend very much on the circumstances in which they are placed. J For the influence of Milton's magic pen, the reader is referred to another section. Then there was another element of power which must not be overlooked. Men of standing and high nioi'al character in the church openly espoused the cause of the Anabaptists. Cornwall, Blackwood, Denne, KnoUys, and others, gave up their preferments, and united with their churches. All of them had not only received Episcopal ordination, but passed through the Universities. They were men of culture and erudition. Knollys, some years before, had fled from the fierce anger of the hierarchy to the wilds of the new world, but had now retui'ned. If not distingiiished by the highest scholarship, yet his attainments in sacred literature were considerable, whilst his piety and preaching invested him with an influence which was ever used for Christ and his cause. The conversions of the others were singularly inte- land again obtained the upper hand, Taylor withdi'ew the concession which he had made in his adversity." — Buckle, vol. i., pp. 330, 331. * Warwick's Mem., p. 337. f Wall more than warrants Coleridge's very severe remarks on the Bishop. — Lit. Rem., vol. iii., p. 250. + Baxter says that many were influenced by the bishop's work. " But it would appear, that after Taylor's position towards the Government was altered, and ecclesiastical honours had begun to flow upon him, his opinions on the subject of toleration must have become very materially modified, or he coidd never have consented to sit as a member of that Privy Council from wliich those most intolerant edicts emanated, by which 2,000 of the best men the Church of England ever contained were ejected from their pastoral cures, and in many cases imprisoned and treated with harshness that embittered and shortened the remainder of their days." — Cunningham's Lives of Illustrious Englishmen, vol. iii. , pt. i., p. 145, 132 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. resting. A brief detail of the two first may gratify the reader, Mr. Cornwall was minister of Marden, in Kent, and being dissatisfied with many things in the church, was imprisoned in Maidstone gaol. In this part of the coxmty Baptist principles were rather prevalent, and their pro- l^agation excited doubt and much inquiry in the minds of many. A woman, in some perplexity about this matter, applied to Mr. Cornwall for relief in her difficulties. His efforts failed. His own attention was now awakened, he thoroughly investigated the subject, and the result was natural : infant baptism was renounced by him. Liberated afterwards from prison, and called upon to preach at the visitation held at Crausbroke, in 1G44, in the presence of the Assembly he openly denounced infant baptism. His text was, '■'In vain do they worship vie, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men" Unexpected by the audience, the shock was very great ; and more than one of the ministers was anxious to dispute the matter with him. To a General Baptist minister present, Mr. Jeflfrey, he referred them, as an antagonist worthy of their power. After some discussion, Mr. Blackwood, who had taken note of the sermon, promised that at their next meeting he would reply to Mr. Cornwall. Upon the inquiry he entered. In all its relationships he examined it, and found, as the result of his prayerful investigation, that his defence was hojieless. At the next meeting he produced, not a refutation, but a vindication, of Mr. Cornwall's doctrine.* These men gave * His paper was published under the title of "The Storming of Anti- christ." Vide Taylor, Crosby, Ivimey, &c. Thomas Blake replied tcfit in "Infant Baptism Freed from Antichristianism," &c. London, 1(345. "We humbly make bold to mention Mr. Francis Cornwall, a painful preacher of good report," &c. — Petition from the Parish of Yalding, Jan. 28, 1G40. Proceedings in Kent, p. 148. Deune was curate of Pyrton, in Herts, in 1641. He printed a sermon in that year preached at a visitation at Baldoc. Thomas Rotherham, rector of St. John Zacharies, London, replied to it, under the title of "A Den of Thieves Discovered." There is a singular aUusiou to Denne, in "The Axe Laid THE CIVIL WAR. 133 tlieruselves to the work with right-lieartediiess, and widely enlarged the circle of Baptist influence. Denno, who had been minister of Pyrton, in 1643, now united with Mr. Lamb's chnrch in Coleman Street. Over a wide extent of country he travelled. Bedford, Cambridge, and the adjoining counties, were the spheres in which he laboured. Success marked his efforts, but his career of usefulness was impeded by a committee at Cambridge, and by their orders he was cast into prison ; but, by an appeal to Parliament, he was removed to London. It was whilst there confined he met with the redoubted Dr. Feately and his book, and wrote his rei)ly to it. Nor niiist we overlook another cause. The progress of Congregational principles contributed in no small measure to this. The Independents repudiated all external authority in the worship of God. ISTotliing should be received but what had the signet of the Lord upon it. Logically, their ixtterance justified the teaching and practice of our brethren. Many felt this. "We have seen how this operated with many already. How it struck others, may be gathered from the following: — " Bro-wn's church at Middleboro', abundance turned Anabaptists, which discontented him. Smith him- self, the gi-eat leader in this way, turned Anabaptist; so did Canne at last, as I have heard say. Johnson and Ainsworth's church at Amsterdam, abundance of them turned Anabap- tists, and were therefore excommunicated. So also hath it fallen out in England; the churches that came from Hol- land, many of the members fell to Anabaptism, both of Sydrack Sympson and Thomas Goodwin, and some separated upon it into distinct congregations. The same may be said of the churches that began in Independency among ourselves here in England, as Mr. Jeftreys, Mr. J. Simpson, and others. The reason is plain, for no man can be tnie to the principles to the Root of the Tree ; or the Anabaptist Mission and Ministry," &;c. " This is Mr. H. Denne, the Anabaptist, chaplain and apothecary, farmer and minister, and an apologist for the Society of Jesus," p. 51. Other allusions, pp. 49, 50, 52. 134 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. of tlie Independents and Brownists, }3iit tliey must tui'n Ana- baptists, for the reasons aforesaid." "Tliis is tlie reasoning of divers eminent men," the same winter says in anothei- place, "that began at Independency, and upon this groimd, amongst others, slipt into Anabaptism; as Mr. Lam-ance, Mr. Black- wood, Mr. Allen, and many others."* A little before the fight at Edge Hill, Mr. Baxter tells us that he came in con- tact, for the first time, with the Anabaj)tists. It was at Gloucester, to which city he had gone for retirement. " About a dozen young men, or more, of considerable pai'ts, had I'eceived the opinion against infant baptism, and had been i-ebaptized, and laboured to draw others after them, not far from Gloucester. The minister of the place, Mr. "Winnel, being hot and impatient with them, it was thought hardened them the more. He wrote a considerable book at that time agaiast them; but the nation then liaAong no great experi- ence of the tendency of their principles, the people who were not of their opinions did but pity them, and think it was a conceit that had no great harm in it, and blamed Mr. Winnel for his asperity towards them," &c.t The time was now come when on matters of belief they shoiild speak for themselves. Patiently they had waited. All kinds of obloquy had been mercilessly poured out upon them. The atrocities of Munster, heresies of every kind, had been laid to their charge. The ci\T.l power had been invoked to crush them, and the Government was blamed for not framing new laws, or enforcmg old ones, for their banish- ment from the kingdom. Of these tilings our bretlu-en were not ignorant. They issued, therefore, in 1644, a Confession of Faith. The title of this document runs thus: — "The Confession of Faith of those Churches which are commonly (though falsely) called Anabaptist. Presented to the view of all that fear God, to examine by the touchstone of the Word of Truth; as likewise for the taking off those asper- * Fresh Suit against Independency, pp., 36-7. t Calamy's Life of Baxter, vol. i., p. 76. rHE CIVIL WAR. 135 sions which are frequently, both in the pulpit and print (although unjustly), cast upon them." The following Scrip- tures, in full, follow :—"«!lcts iv. 20; Isa. viii. 20; 2 Corin. L 9, 10." " London: printed in the year of our Lord 1G44," This document is signed by representatives of seven churches in London. Their adversaries had represented them as holding free will; falling from grace; denying original sin; disclaiming of magistracy, — denying to assist them, either in person or purse, in any of their lawful commands; doing acts unseemly in the dispensing the ordinance of baptism, not to be named amongst Christians. " AU of which charges we disclaim as notoriously untrue, though by reason t)f these calumnies cast upon us, many that fear God are discouraged and forestalled in harbouring a good thought, either of us or of what we profess ; and many that know not God [are] encouraged, if they can find the place of our meeting, "to gather together in clusters to stone us, looking upon us as a people holding such things as that we arc not worthy to live."* The Confession is calm, clear, and evangelical, embodying those views of Christian doctrine which are termed Calvinistic; yet it excited the virulence of Di\ Feately, and that perfect development of Presbyterian bitterness and arrogance, Principal Baillie.f The seizure of Sir J. Hotham at Hull, in 1643, was mainly, as we gather from various allusions, the work of our brethren. In one of the journals of that year, it is thus noticed: — "Por being they would trust neither of them, it did concerne them very highly to make sure of * Preface, p. 16. Confessions of Faith. Hans. Knollys Society. "The Anabaptists would have no government at all in the chui-ch, neither would they have any baptized but such as are of age ; and they pray more for such a church than for grace or faith. " — Religious Lotteries. London, Printed by T. F., July 20, 1642. "A Declaration against the Anabaptists" was published in London, 1644.— Feately's Description of the Several Sorts of Anabaptists, p. 71. t Dipper Dipt, pp. 177-186. Baillie's Anabaptism the True Fountain of Error. 136 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. both : and to that end tliey sent down a commission to Sir Matthew Boynton, a declared Anabaptist (and, therefore, more serviceable to their ends), i!b seize on Hotham, and take possession of the town ; who coming thither unsus- pected, as being Hotham's brother-in-law, and one in whom he much confided, made himself master of the magazine, and brought over all the soldiers to him before Hotham had any notice of the practice. But finding his danger, though too late, he made haste to Beverley, where he was set upon by his own soldiers, whom Boynton had before corrupted, by Avhom he was pursued back again to Hull ; and at the gate called Beverley Gate (being the very gate at which he had most impudently denied his Majesty entrance into the town), was beaten off his horse." To the same fact the prisoner refers in a letter to the Speaker : — " Lieutenant-General Hotham is* seized upon by thirty or forty rogues aud Anabaptists. If by your orders, I require reparation," &c.* The activity and increase of the body are indicated by various allusions in the writings of their opponents. Spel- man, commenting on the Kentish petitions on tithes, about this time, says : — " If there were no purpose to put down tithes by such as are in authority, how cometh it to pass that the Anabaptists are more bold in London to take up a public contestation against them, than the Presbyterians to make apology for themi For did not one Mr. B. C, an Anabaptist, manage a dispute against Mr. W. J., of Chr., and after that undertake another u];)on the same arguments against Mr. J. Cr., and offered to proceede in it against all opposition, which Mr. C. durst not do, upon pretence of a prohibition from authority?" "Although they may have cause to suspect that some parts of Kent, for the present, are not so reformed as they should be ; Anabaptists and other * Hotham to the Speaker, July 10, 1643. Dalrymple, vol. ii. , p. 413. " Sir J. Hotham, or his son, complains, in his letter to the Parliament, that he had been apprehended by a company of Brownists, Anabaptist factions," &c. — Vicar's Jehovah Jii-eh, p. 3G7. THE CIVIL WAR. 137 sectaries having misled many into advei-se principles, not only on tithes, but to other matters," cfcc."' " John Stalham, a man of strict Congregational principles, in the year 1643 hold a public disputation with Timothy Butt, {ihysician, and Thomas Lambe, soap-boiler, at Tiiting, on the subject of infant baptism; on which occasion he was assisted by his neighbour, John Newton, of Little Badden, and Enoch Gray, of Wickham."+ Attempts were made by our brethren to secure a larger measure of religious freedom. For unlimited toleration they pleaded, but in vain. " Some of the Anabaptists," says Baillie, "came to the Assembly's scribe with a letter, inveighing against our Covenant, and carrying with them a printed sheet of admonition to the Assembly from an old English Anabaptist at Amsterdam, to give full liberty of conscience to all sects, and to beware of keeping any Sab- bath, and such like. The scribe offered to read all in the Assembly. Here rose a quick debate enough. Goodwin, Nye, and their party, pressing the neglect, contempt, and suppressing all such fontastic papers; others were as vehe- ment for the taking notice of them, that the Parliament might be acquainted therewith, to see the remedy of their dangerous sects. ":J: Episcopalians as well as sectaries felt the Presbyterian yoke to be insupportable. || No means were neglected which Avere likely to secure their supremacy. * English Works, pp. 150, 167. + Davids' Congre. in Essex, p. 487. + VoL i., p. 412. "The college lands (Manchester) had been sold, and the college itself, to ]Mr. "Wigan, who now being turned Anti-Padobaptist, and I know not what more, made a barn there into a cliapel, where he and many of his persuasion preach doctrine diametrically opposite to the minister's persuasion under their very nose." — Life of Martindale, p. 75. Cheetliam Society. !| "Ogle, for the king, vri-ote to Mr. Thomas Good%vin and Mr. Nye, of the Independent judgment, to make great promises to them, if they would oppose tlie Presbyterian Government intended by the Scots to be imposed on England; and much to that pui-pose." — Whitelocke, vol, i., p. 236. 138 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Guizot gives a rapid and lucid sketch of their policy from this year to 1645. Multiplied proof could be brought to place beyond all doubt the perfect accuracy of hi.s statement. " Every day it was obliged to tread in diiferent paths, to attempt incongruous efforts. What it sought in the Church it rejected in the State; it was fain, constantly shifting its ground and its language, to invoke in turn democratic prin- ciples and passions against the bishops, monarchical and aristocratical maxims and influences against rising repub- licanism. It was a strange sight to see the same men demolishing with one hand and destroying with the other — now i^reachmg up innovations, now cursing the innovations ; alternately daring and timid, at once rebels and despots; persecuting the bishops in the name of libeiiy, the Inde- pendents in the name of power; arrogating to themselves, in a word, the privileges of insurrection and of tyranny, while daily declaiming against tyranny and insurrection."'"' "VVhitelocke tells us that "the plan had been formed by ■some of the leading Presbyterians to carry their plans in a very thin House, Their scheme was securely planned. A deputation from the "Westminster Divines appeared, as soon as the Commons had assembled, and presented them with the Assembly's advice and opinion for the Presbyterian Government to be settled," «fec. "Glyne and I were in the House," he says, "and few others but who concurred in judgment with the Assembly, and had notice to be there early, thinking to pass this business before the House should * Guizot's Eng. Eev., b. v., p. 211. " On its first appearance, the prin- ciple of liberty of conscience, then proclaimed by obscure sectaries amidst the errors of a blind enthusiasm, was treated as a crime or as madness. .... Episcopalians and Presbyterians, preachers and magistrates, aU alike persecuted it ; the question how and by whom the church of Christ was to be governed, continued to be almost the only point discussed ; all thought thej' had simply to ' choose between the aljsolute power of the Pope, the aristocracy of the bishops, and the democracy of the Presby- terian clergy ; it was not asked whether these governments were legitimate in theii" origin, whatever their form or appellation.' " — Guizot, b. v., p. 213. THE CIVIL WAR. 139 be fulL Botli of them spoke against time, till their friends arrived, and finally defeated the attempt.""' Under these oppressions our brethren suftered not a little. With a bitter hatred they pursued them, and it was only want of power that saved them from exile or death. Every- body, in reading the letters of Baillie, must smile at the almost frantic eaniestncss with which he invokes, iiay implores, in the most piteous accents, the aid of his learned correspondents on the continent to wield their mighty pens against them. If the existence of his idol depended on their extinction, his earnestness could not have been more intense. Logically he was right. Grant the truth of the cardinal verities held by the Baptists, and Presbytery must perish. He acknowledges that if conversion was made a requisite to church-fellowship, forty for one would be excluded from the lists of the Refornied clnirches.f It may amuse the reader to have a specimen or two of this class: — "If Span- heim's book were come out, I wish he were entreated to go on with his Anabaptists. Vossius said to me he had a lai'ge treatise against them, and would push it out. It is the pre- vailing sect here. I have written to D. Stewart, to put Spanheim and Vossius on the Anabaptists.":}: " You will do well to set Dr. Forbes on a supplement, wherein he may handle Anabaptism, Antinoniianism, &c. Will you entreat him to press his friend Vossius to print that he told me he had ready against the Anabaptists, — the greatest and most prevalent sect here? In tumultuous ways they provoke our ministers to public disputations on Predobaptism."|| Again he says — "I wish you might put Forbes to go on with his History, especially of the Anabaptists, Libertines, and such as personally vex us. I wrote to you to cause some press (Vossius') to print what he told me he had beside him against the Anabaptists. When Spanheim is free of Amivant, I wish he went on with his Collegium Anabaptlsticiim. These * Vol. i., p. 327. t Oime's Life of Owen, pp. 80, 97. t Letters, vol. ii., p. 154. |1 Hid, p. 170. 140 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. are the sectaries who most increase amongst us. Tombes, a minister of London, has printed a large book for them, wherein he dares us all."'"' We coukl fill a page with these invocations. To some we have refei-red below. The sturdy Principal was not alone. Following in his wake came another mighty hunter of heretics. The doughty old divinity professor, Rutherford, presents his athletic form with the keys dangling at his girdle, and grasping in his hands the sword of Church power, accompanied by a host of Greek and Latin Fathers, and frowning defiance on Cotton, Robiuson, and others, and threatening the Anabaptists as beyond the pale of his compassion, t He often seeks to alarm his adversary, by declaring that his opinions are Anabaptis- tical, and is satisfied to refute an argument, or to show the danger of a position, by statmg that it necessarily leads to Anabaptism. The wrath of this devout, bvit singularly prejudiced man, was poured out upon the Baptists for their teaching that conversion was necessary to union with the church, and that its purity should be maintained by disci- pluie. " Pastors are to be blamed," said Mr. Cotton, " that there be scandalous persons in the visible church." " This doth but strengthen Anabaptists who objected the same.'' "All which is very Anabaptism, that there is no visible church on earth, but a company of truly, and (in/oroBei) regenerated and converted jiersons, and the only redeemed of God."^ With arg\;ments of this kind he would terrify his opponents. Both Crosby and Taylor give an account of the early * Letters, vol. ii., pp. 170, 171, 201. " He testifies everywhere to their rapid increase." — Vol i., p. 402. " The Independent party gi-ows ; hut the Anahaptists more ; and the Antinomians most." — Vol. i., pp. 402, 408, 431, 437; vol. ii., pp. 3, 4, 14, 24. In these pages the reader will find notices of our hretliren. In one passage he says : — " In the greatest parish in London, scarce one child in a year was brought to the church for baptism." —Ibid, pp. 37, 43, 46, 49, 59. t The Due Right of Presbj'terians, &c. ; by Sam. Rutherford, Professor of Divinity at St. Andrew's. London, 1644. J Ibid, pp. 262, 203, 245. See also pp. 253, 2G1. The work is full of similar allusions. THE CIVIL WAR. 141 planting of a church in Coventry. The former says, " That Mr. Cox, the son of a bishop, was imprisoned in the gaol in that city, for preaching against the baptism of infants. By some means, various pei-sons had embraced Baptist prin- ciples ; and wishing to form themselves into a church, invited Mr. Cox, from Bedford, to undertake that work. Baxter, with other Presbyterian ministers, were in the city as refugees. Alarm seized them. Against the intiiiders the pulpits thundered, and the erroi's of Cox and his brethren were denounced. More than this: Baxter challenged him to a public dispute on the points of difference. The meeting was held, and the issue was an order from the committee commanding the Baptists to depart the city, and to promise not to enter it again. Refusal on the part of Cox was fol- lowed by his immediate loss of liberty."* Baxter's own account is fuller: — "The garrison and city of Coventry (where I lived next) was almost free from them when I first came thither, and a good while after. But while we slept, the envious man sowed these tares; and our tenderness of them, as godly people, caused us at first the more remissly to gainsay them, and so their number to increase: till at last they got a sepai-ated society, and despised the ministers, and got themselves a troop of teachers, some of which we before esteemed godly men, but knew to be silly men to become teachei-s. All this while I had no contest with them, much less any fallmg out: for few of the soldiers had taken the infection, they being many of them the most sober staid men that I ever met with in any gari-ison, and had a reverend esteem of the counsel of their teachers (which being returned home, they do yet continue). But it was some yoimger people of the city that Avex-e then infected most. At last one Mr. Coxe (an ancient minister, of competent learning and parts) was sent from London to confirm them, which when he had done awhile, he was desired to depart. After * Crosby, vol. i., p. 220. Taylor, vol. i. 142 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. that he came down a second time, and because he would not promise to leave the city and come no more, the committee did imprison him, which some of his jiarty gave out to be prociu-ed by me : when I can truly say that I never spoke word to put liim in prison, but (at the motion of Mr. Pinson) did sjieak to get liim out. In this time I desired that Mr. Coxe would entertain some dispute about our dif- ferences, which was consented to, and begun by words, and afterwards we agreed to follow it by writing ; but to my first paper I could never have answer (save to the extemporate writing before at our meeting), and so that labour ended. In wliich dispiite my zeal for unity and peace was so much greater than my zeal for rebaptizing, that I i-esolved to dis- pute the case of separation fii*st, and baptism next; pro- fessing that if they did not hinder the Gospel, and sin against the Divine Word by divisions, I should easily bear with any that differed from me in the point of baptism. For Mr. Coxe taught them (and it was presently swallowed) that our ministei's, being unbaptized, were indeed no ministers of Christ, and it was unlawful to hear them, or to joyn with our people (though never so godly), because they were all unbaptized persons: which doctrine began to make men to look at others as Pag-ans, and to break all to 2:>ieces; so that the rebaptized husband would not pray with his (supposedly) unbaptized wife."* For the same offence, Mr. Hobson was imprisoned by the Governor of Newjiort Pagnal. Hanserd Knollys also was taken up for preaching against infant baptism in Bow Church. This eminent individual suffered much from the malignant interference of little men in power. Forbidden to pi'each in the churches, Mr. Knollys estab- lished a church in Great St. Helen's, in the city. Multi- tudes, it is said, flocked to hear him. This gave gi-eat offence. Before the committee he was called as a trans- gressor of the ordinances. To their command, forbidding * Infant Church Membership. THE CIVIL WAR. 143 him to preach again, he replied, that he Avould make known the Gospel from house to house. The prevalence and strength of our brethren at this period may be gathered from various sources. Some we have already indicated; another must not be overlooked. The hostility of the RoyaKsts was bitter and undisguised. Charles himself breathed it on every occasion. In every form in which it could be uttei-ed we find it. In addresses to the Parliament, his ai-my, or when lie sought to win bis Scottish subjects to his standard, tbey are held up as tbe worst of men. There is nothing to excite surprise in this. As some of them said at a later period, "They did not look on themselves as a band of Janizaries, hired and entertained only to fight their battles, but that they had voluntarily taken up arms for the liberty and defence of the nation," &c. Their hatred of despotism was inferior in intenseness only to their love of truth. We may group in this place a few utterances of tlie monarch. In reply to a petition, be says : — " And his Majesty would know whether the peti- tioners believe that the resisting and suppressing of the ' Book of Common Prayer,' . . . and the cherishing and countenance of Brownists, Anabaptists, and all manner of sectaries," &c.'""" In his address to the Scots, he describes the army as abounding in Brownists, Anabaptists, and other sectaries.t " Yon shall meet with no enemies but traitors," he said, when appealing to his army, "most of them Bro-ftTiists, Anabaptists, and Atheists; such who desire to betray both the Church and the State, and who have already condemned you to ruin for being loyal to me."+ * Clarendon, vol. iii., p. 112. f Ibid, p. 187. Voh iv., p. 747. J Clarendon, p. 7. On the otlier side, we select the following of the same date :— "I first observed that there is no such hating nor traducing of the king, as I was told before ; they pray for hiin in their pulpits for the turning of his heart, and the retuin of his Royal power; only their pamphlets do justly whip their court vices, the supreme sins, whilst oui's do call them virtues. I observe their religion is to pray, preach, and practise only the Word of God, and to have no dealings with Popery, or Hi EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. During the close of 1645, some of our brethren had agreed to hold a disputation with Mr. Calamy, and others in the city. The interposition of the mayor prevented this. The document is singular, and may intei-est our readers. It is as follows : — " Whereas, at the entreaty of Mr. Calamy, and other ministers, as it was represented to me by certain citizens, I did lately give an allowance to them to meet and dispute with certain Anabaptists: and whereas, I understand that in pursuance of that allowance, thei'c is a public disputation intended on Wednesday next, December 3, in the church at Aldermanbury, and that there is likely to be an extra- ordinary concourse of people from all parts of the city, and from other places ; and that in these times of distraction there may be liazard of the disturbance of the public peace ; I have therefore thought lit, upon serious consideration, for preventing the inconveni- ences that may happen therefrom, to forbid the said meeting on Wednesday next, or at any other time, in a public way, before I shall receive the pleasure of the Honourable House of Parhament touching the same, which with all conveniency I shall endeavour to know. "Thomas Adam, Mayor. "This first of Deer., 1645."» Though increasing in numbers, the progress of our brethren was marked by much suffering. The old leaven of persecu- tion still existed in the Senate. Guardians of the truth, as they imagined, they were anxious for a uniformity in faith and practice ; whilst the Presbyterian faction, now very strong, inflamed that sjiirit, and excited it to vengeance on all opposed to them. The Baptists felt it. Everywhere they were in danger. Only on two examples can we touch at present. Liberated from prison, Henry Denne was untiring anything like it; and if we call them Independents, Anabaptists, and Brownists for this, let be all those, and call me worse if you can." — Testi- mony of a Royalist. Mercurius Britannicus, No. xlix., Sept., 1644. "For though all Sir W. Waller's Anabaptists and Brownists, horses and foot, were there (near Oxford), and not so many absent as to make up one conventicle, yet durst they not adventure on 500 of his Majesty's forces." —Mercurius Aulicus, August, 1644, pp. 1112, 1116. Mercurius Britan- nicus, Sept., 1644, p. 387. * Vide Perfect Passages, &c. , p. 464. THE CIVIL WAR. 145 in his efforts to diffuse the truth. Over various parts of Lincolnshire and Huntingdon lie travelled, preaching the Gospel and planting churches. His success was considerable. To the records of the churches at Warboys and Fenstanton, the reader is referred for ample details of his successful mis- sion."' In 164G he visited Spalding, and finding his ministry- blessed, several persons expressed a desii-e to profess Christ by baptism. Fearing the multitude, night was chosen as the safest time for the baptism. Two men and two women then followed their Lord about midnight. The feet was noised abroad in a day or two. Denne was called before the magistrate. It was on Sunday when the warrant was executed, and Mr. Denne was dragged to prLson and pre- vented preaching. Before this "unpaid one" he was strictly examined. He confessed that he had often preached, but declined admitting anything about baptism. Before the same awful tribunal a young woman was called, the com- paiiion or rather an attendant on the females on the occasion of their baptism. Threatening to commit him to Lincoln, Mr. Denne boldly replied that he cared not for himself, he only dx'eaded the hindrance it would be to his great work. Mr. Samuel Gates, in connexion with Mr. Lambe, had car- ried on evangelistic efforts in many parts of Essex, Kent, &c. Many were converted and baptized bj' them. The popu- larity of Gates was great. If we are to believe Edwards, *'no magistrates in the county do meddle with him."+ A young woman, baptized by this minister, died some weeks after. His enemies raised the cry that her death was the result of the baptism. By order of the magistrates, he was thrown into prison, heavily ironed, and treated as a murderer. The trial was conducted at Chelmsford. Every effort was made by his enemies to secure his conviction, but failure marked them. The mother of the girl gave evidence that * Records of the Church of Christ, &c. Hans. Kiiollys Society. 'I" Gangreana, p. 2. K 146 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. her daughter was in better health after her baptism than before. The case broke down in court, and the jury, to the moi-tification of his enemies, acquitted Mr. Gates. The profoundest reverence for the Divine AVord does not secure us at all times from danger. Under it the spirit of truth may be violated, whilst the letter may have the fullest adherence. Instances of this might be miiltiplied from the teaching of this period. Our brethren were not exceptions. Holding and teaching with a clearness and power the great verities of the Gospel above many, yet some were led by name and form to adopt practices which modern times have repudiated, and which only few then adopted. The laying on of the hands of the elder or pastor of the church on the baptized, was now introduced. It appears to have been first practised amongst the English Baptists, in the General Baptist church over which Mr. Barber presided. Mr. Danvers gives us the following account of its rise : — " About the year 1G46, some twenty-seven years ago, one Mr. Cornwall, heretofore a public preacher, then a member and minister of a baptized congregation in Kent, was a great assister of this princijjle and practice; who coming about that time into that baptized congregation then meeting in Bishopsgate Street, London, did, from Hebrews v. 12, 13, and vi. 1, 2, preach the necessity of laying on of hands, inferring from thence that those that were not under laying on of hands were not babes in Christ Jesus, had not God, nor communion with God. "Whereupon several of that congi-egation were persuaded to come under that practice; and which, notwithstanding, the church in tenderness indulged to them, upon their promise of a peace- able demeanour in the church. Notwithstanding which pro- mise, they did afterwards not only press their said persuasions uncharitably, as they had been taught by their aforesaid teacher, viz., that none were babes in Christ, nor had com- munion with God without it, therefore not to be communi- cated with in church ordinances (and as after was published in print, by a leading brother amongst them, in a book THE CIVIL WAR, 147 called 'God's Oracles and Christ's Doctrine'), but made a rent and a sejiaration for the same, and from that very schism propagated the same principles and practices amongst many others in the nation ever since, who have ke})t that distance from their brethren (not owning the same), as not esteeming or communicating with them as the true church of God, because defective in one of the requiring principles or foundations of the Christian religion."* Probably these proceedings, and others which our space does not allow us to detail, may be traced to Presbyterian influence. "About this time (1646), the ' Directory' became the established form of public worship, instead of the * Conimon Prayer,' &c. As the hierarchy of bisho2:is was abolished, the Presbyterian government in every congrega- tion suboixlinate to classical, provn^ncial, and national assem- blies and elders, chosen according to certain regulations, became the ecclesiastical order of the country, to the exclu- sion of other religious distinctions. Thus the Presbyterian party in the Commons restored, in effect, the Act of Uni- formity, but to their own advantage. This was substituting one t}Tanny for another, and it must have appeared a very strange proceeding on the parts of those wlio, under the Episcopalian rule, had cried out so much for liberty."! During this year, Whitelocke tells us that " a remonstrance from the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of London was presented to both Houses, desiring a strict course for suppressing all private and separate congregations. That all Anabaptists, heretics, ifec, as conformed not to the public discipline, may be declared and proceeded against," &C.+ Not only did some of their ministers fill very high places * Laying on of Hands, &c. ; by H. Danvers, p. 58. t D'Aubigne's Protectorate, p. 63. ^ Memorials, vol. ii., p. 25. About the same time, the Parliament of Scotland asked " that all Anabaptists, Independents, and Separatists may be suppressed, and no toleration of any of them." ■ Ibid, vol. iL, p. 307. 148 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. in tlie army, as commanding troops, filling chaplaincies, and the like, but men of eminence and rank xinited with them. Selection only can be adopted.* John Tombes was a man of profound scholarship; not only familiar witli theology in the widest sense, but, as all conversant with his works will admit, not less so \nth. classical literature. Wood's testimony is that of one detesting his principles, and may be, therefore, accepted without any discount : — " He showed himself a most excellent disputant, a person of incomparable parts, well versed in the Hebrew and Greek languages." Referring to Baxter, he says : — " They preached against one another's doctrines, Tombes being then a preacher at Bewdley, which he kept '^^ith Lemster," &c. " Tombes was the Coryphfeus of the Anabaptists, and Baxter of the Presbyterians. Both had a veiy great company of auditors, who came many miles on foot round about to admire them. Once, I think oftener, they disputed face to face, and their followers were like two armies; and at last it came so to pass that they fell together by the ears, whereby hurt was done, and the civil magistrate had much to do to quiet them. All scholars there and then present, who knew the way of disputing and managing arguments, did conclude that Tombes got the better of Baxter by far. His body was little and neatly limbed, he had a quick and searching eye, and was so exceedingly apprehensive that he would find out the end upon the first entry of the dispute."t Doubts appear to have been excited in his mind, from some cause, as to the truth of infant baptism. These doubts he first laid before the London ministers, but without satisfac- tion. To the chairman of the committee of the West- minster Assembly, in 1643 and 1044, he presented certain papers on this subject. Referring to it in his " Uxainen," he * "Dell and others were chaplains. Mr. DeU, the General's chaplain, brought letters and the articles from Oxford to the Parliament, 1646." — AVliitelocke, vol. ii., p. 42. t Wood's Athe. Oxford, vol. ii. , p. 558. THE CIVIL WAR. 149 says: — "It is now full niue months since, that being informed by one of the members of tlie Assembly, of which yon are one, that there was a committee chosen out of the members of the Assembly to give satisfaction in the point of Paedobaptism ; and advised by the same person, out of his tender love to me,* to present the reason of my doubts about Psedobaptism to that cpmmittee, I drew them up in Latin in niue arguments, in a scholastic way, and they were delivered unto Mr. Whitaker, the chairman of the com- mittee, about nine months since; to which I added after an addition of three more reasons of doubting, with a supple- ment of some other things wanting, which was delivered to Mr. Tuckney, and joined by him to the former papers. My aim therein was, either to find better ground than I had then found to pi-actise the baptizing of infants, from that Assembly of learned and holy men, whom I supposed able and ^villing to resolve their brother in the ministry. . . . The success was such as I little expected; to this day I have heard nothing from the committee by way of answer to these doubts, but I have met with many sermons tending to make the questioning of that point odious to the people and the magistracy."f These "learned and holy men" not only refused to solve his doubts, but rested not till they had removed him as preacher at the Temple. + Another, if less learned than Tombes, was on other grounds of equal eminence, — we mean Henry Jessey. He had been pastor of a church, according to Ivimey, of mixed member- ship, since 1637. By various members of known piety and intelligence embracing Baptist views, doubts were excited in his mind. For some time he prosecuted his investigations, and then renounced the former mode of baptism as a modern * Probably his father-in-law, the author of the " Christian in Complete Aimour." + Anti-Psedobaptism, part iii. , p. 8. Examen, pp. 1, 2. J We have mislaid the reference, but allusion to it will be found in his Anti-Predobaptism, as well as to other annoyances to which he was exposed as a Baptist.— Part iii., pp. 8, 9. Ivimey, vol. i., pp. 181, 182. 150 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. iiinoviition ; and told the church, iu 1642, that henceforth immersion would be the mode in which he would administer it. For two or three years his practice was to baptize children by dipping them in -water.* The growiih of Baptist principles, and the discussion to which it led, told on the mind of Mr. Jessey. The consequences were natural. Doubts about infants presented themselves. Dissatisfied, after his own investigations, he submitted his case to some of the most eminent of his brethren. The opinions of Goodwin, Nye, Borroughs, and others, failed to give him the satisfaction he desired, and in 1645 he was baptized by Mr. Knollys.t The efiects of this on the church under his care we know not; but one thing is certain, that the spirit of controversy now rose in all its p?)wer. Rapid and fearful were the assaults on the Baptists, — less from Independents than from Presbyterians. The latter ajipear to have hated them with perfect hatred. Clarendon tells us, that they entered into a covenant with Charles, iu which he agrees to put down Anabaptism, &c.J Black prelacy was not more hideous to these men than the Anabaptists. Pre-eminent amongst these was the author of " The Saint's Rest." The spirit of Christ was largely participated by Baxter, and the spii-it of anger, wrath, and malice. Singular elements are mixed up in his chai'acter. Extremes meet in him. Ana- baptism would rouse his ire, even if wrapt in meditation on "The Saint's Everlasting Rest." Nothing can justify his language. By what law can we palHate the following? — " That which is a plain breach of the Sixth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, is no ordinance of God, but a most * "The mode of baiitism underwent a great change at this time. Sprinkling was only allowed iu certain cases. When discussed in the Assembly, the opposition was so strong against sprinkling, that it was only carried by a majority of one; and he an Erastian." — Robinson's Hist, of Baptism, p. 450. + Bunyan calls him "honest and holy Mr. Jessey." — Works, vol. ii., p. 654. J History, vol. v., pp. 104, 145, 215. THE CIVIL WAR. 151 heiiious sin. Bat the oi'dinaiy practice of baptizing over head in cold water, as necessary, is a plain breach of the Sixth Commandment; therefore it is no ordinance of God, but a heinous sin. That this is flat murder, and no better, being ordinarily and generally used, is undeniable to any understanding man ; and I know not what trick a covetous landlord can tind out to get his tenants to die apace, that ho may have now fines and heriots; likewise to encourage such preachers, that he may get them all to turn Anabaptists." We cannot find space for his filthy allusions, in attributing to immersion all the diseases which may afflict humanity, at the close of which list he says — " In a word, it is good for nothing but to despatch men out of this world that are burdensome, and to ranken churchyards," " I conclude, if murder be a sin, then dipping ordinarily over head in Eng- land is a sin ; and if those who would make it more religion to murder themselves, and urge it upon their consciences as their duty, are not to be suffered in a commonwealth any more than highway robbers, then judge how these Anabap- tists tliat teach the necessity of such dipping are to be suf- fered.""' Pretty well this, for the saintly Baxter ! We have a glimpse of this spirit, and of some of the diffi- culties encountered by others in the adoption of Baptist jjrLu- ciples at this time, in Mrs. Hutchinson's memoirs. She says : " When formerly the Presbyterian ministers had forced him (Col. H.), for quietness' sake, to go and break up a private meeting in the Commoners' Chamber, there were found some notes concerning Psedobaptism, which, being brought into the governor's lodgings, his wife, having then more leisure to read than he, having penised them and compared them with the Scriptures, found not what to say against the truths they asserted concerning the misapplication of that ordinance to infants; but being then young and modest, she thought it * Infant Ch. Memb., pp. 134, 135. Mucli more of tliis sort will be found in Plain Scripture Proofs, &c., pp. 134-137. 152 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. a kind of virtue to submit to the judgment and practice of most cliurches, rather than to defend a singular opinion of her own, she not being then enlightened ia that great mis- take of the national chiuxhes : but in this year, she hap- pening to be with child, communicated her doubts to her husband, and desired him to endeavour her satisfaction, which, while he did, he became himself as unsatisfied, or rather satisfied, against it. First, therefore, he diligently seai'ched the Scriptures alone, and could find in them no ground alone for such practice ; then he bought and read all the eminent treatises on both sides, which at that time came thick from the presses, and still was cleared in the error of the Paidobaptists. After this, his wife being brought to bed, that he might, if possible, give the religious party no otfence, he invited all the ministers to dinner, and propounded his doubt and the ground thereof to them. None of them could defend theii- practice with any satisfactory reason, but the tradition of the church from the primitive times, and their main buckler of panal holiness, which Tombes and Denne had excellently overthrown. He and liis wife, then, pro- fessing themselves unsatisfied in the practice, desii'ed their opinions what they ought to do. Most answered, to conform to the general practice of other Christians, how dark soever it were to themselves; but Mr. Foxci'aft, one of the As- sembly, said that except they were con-sinced of the warrant of that practice from the W^prd, they sinned in doing it : whereupon that infixnt was not baptized. And now the governor and his wife, notwithstanding that they forsook not their assemblies, nor retracted their benevolences and civilities from them, yet were they reviled by them, called fanatics and Anabaptists, and often glanced at in their public sermons. And not only the ministers, but all their zealous sectaries, conceived implacable malice against them upon this account; which was carried on with a spirit of envy and persecution to the last; though he, on his side, might well have said to them, as his Master to the old THE CIVIL WAR. 153 Pharisees, * Many good works have I done among you, for which of these do you hate me?'"* To check the progi-ess of sects, no doubt, the Legislature, as the gi-eat conservators of i-eligion, issued an ordinance ou the 2Gth of April, 16i5, forbidding any 2)erson to preach "who is not ordained a minister either in this or some other Reformed church, except such as, intending the ministry, shall 1)0 allowed for the trial of their gifts, by those who shall be appointed thereunto by both Houses of Parliament." This precious document was ordered to be sent to Fairfax, with strict orders to enforce it, and to report all delinquents. This exercise of ecclesiastical despotism failing, another, more stringent still, was issued December 2G, IGiG. This threatened with the high displeasiu-e of the Commons of England, any unordained person who should preach, or even expound the Scriptures, in any church or chapel, or any other public place. Wider still the authority was stretched against all such ministers or others as "shall publish or main- tain by preaching, writing, printing, or in any other way, anything against, or in degradation of. Church government, •which is now established by authority of both Houses of Parliament; and all Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Mayors, &c., &c., and all officers of the army, are commanded to enforce this, and report the offenders." But those dupes of Presbyterian power had to deal with men, not slaves; — men of mould quite as strong as theirs, with higher principles of action, with a deeper sense of the value and grandeur of religious truth, and with more enlarged and intelligent con- ceptions of the will of God. Men who had struggled and suffered, who had dared the monarch and his hosts, who had snapt asunder the prelate's yoke, who had looked with calm- ness on the pillory, and never shrank from the prison, were not to be driven from their steadfastness by these threats. Such men formed the ranks of our brethren. The vanguard * Memoirs, p. 89. 154 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. of libei-ty, the -v-indictive threats of Presbyterian power awed them not. But if they could not arrest the flowing tide of thouglit and liberty, they could punish. Instruments were always at command for this woi-k. The spirit of Moses was more rife than that of Christ. Upon the Baptists their indigna- tion fell with no light pressure. Instances of suffering have already been given. Others demand attention. Onward the tide of war bad been rolling during the period over which this narrative has extended. From evei-y battle- field the infatuated monarch had been driven. London and other great towns had placed their wealth at the command of the Parliament.* Effort after effort had been made by the patriotic leaders to heal the breach, which Charles's duplicity defeated.t The chivalrous spirit of his first ministers had vanished. His army had undergone as great changes. The leaders, as Goring and Greenville, were men * The wealth of London was immense. The household plate and valu- able tiinkets were dedicated voluntarily to their suppoi-t. "And I think I may truly say that there were few good cobblers in London but had a silver beaker,— so rife were silver vessels among all conditions."— Sir P. Warwick, p. 63. t "AVith anything like sincerity on the part of the king, means would easily have been discovered of settling such disputes as these. But he had no desire that the points in dispute should be settled except on terms of submission to himself. He believed that the machine of Government could not act without him ; that if he could only keep public affairs long enough in the condition of dead lock to which they were now reduced, his enemies would be ruined, or would be forced by the people into yielding to his terms. His mind was as full as ever of the most exalted notions of the sacred and indefeasible character of his Eoyal authority. All who opposed him were, in his estimation, wicked rebels whom God would judge. It was his place to govern, and that of his people to sub- mit. His sins of misgovernmeut never occurred to him. Kegret that for many years his course of action had been totally wanting in the kingly viiiues of justice and fair dealing, never entered his mind. It never troubled him that he sought to govern in defiance of hia own concession, in opposition to the even then acknowledged principles of the Constitu- tion, and in breach of his coronation oath," &c. — Charles I. in 164G. Camden Society. Intro., pjj. viii., ix. TUE CIVIL WAR. 155 of another stamp to the early leaders. The former was a debauched, reckless villain ; the other, the most rapacious of his crew. Affection to the Royal cause never swayed them ; their governing principle was the gratification of passion and the love of plunder. Under their guidance the inferior officers and men were moulded. The chivalry of the past was gone. " It was a rabble of vagabonds, utterly indif- ferent to the cause, committing day and night the most intolerable excesses, and disgixsting by their vices a country ruined by their extortions." " Fellows," says Clarendon, *' whom only their friends feared and their enemies laughed at, being only terrible in plunder and resolute in running away."* With every sect he had tried, excei)t the Baptists. His stratagems had all failed. The leading sects had not been blinded by his duplicity. Foreign aid was hopeless, though he had im])lored it from France. Ireland had failed; his Holiness had foiled ; and now his last retreat was encircled by men whose name was a terror to the monarch as well as his troops. What should he do? It was the alternative of captivity, or liberty in another land. The pathway was narrow; the danger was gathering. " I intend to get peace- ably to Lynn, when I will try if it be possible to make such strength as to procure honourable and safer conditions from the rebels ; if not, then I resolve to go by sea to Scot- land, in case I shall understand that Montrose be in a con- dition fit to receive me; otherwise I mean to make for Ire- land, France, or Denmark." Leaving Oxford, he wandered about for eight days, and finally joined the camp of the Scots under Lesly, &c. We must pass over the subsequent events which marked the infatuated monarch's life. His attempted escape — ^liis * Guizot, b. vi., p. 279. Clarendon, vol. ii., p. 1089. " Gtood men are 80 scandalized at the horrid impiety of our armies, that they will not believe that God can bless any such cause in such hands."— Culpepper to Lord Digby. Clarendon, State Papers, vol. ii., p. 189. 156 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. vinmeaning negotiations — liLs deceitful attempts on the popular leaders — his trial and subsequent execution, would lead us too far from the objects of this volume. Inde- pendents are charged with the murder of the Ptoyal martyr, as he is called. We are not careful to defend them from this charge. History will do its work in time. People are not for kings, but, if at all, kings for the people. So-called royalty has no more right to trample on the majesty of law than the lowKest peasant. " If a king," says Walpole, "deserve to be opposed by force of arms, he deserves death. If he reduces his servants to that extremity, the blood spilt in the quarrel lies on him; the executing him afterwards is a mere formality.""' The character of thLs monarch has called forth opinions of the most opposite nature. On the one hand, the senseless and absurd eulogies of his advisers have approached to blas- phemy. Flattery has exliausted herself, and fancy has put forth her loftiest power, in clothing him with all but super- human vii'tues. In the pages of something called history, he is pourtrayed as faultless. In the wildness of their delii'ium, the Cavaliers, after the Restoration, proclaimed him as a martyr, and the folly of the Legislature was seen in the setting apart of a day for bewailing the crime. Upon his opponents the vials of holy indignation were poured. No terms were too severe to designate the murderers of the * Noble Authors, vol. ii., p. 69. Bui-ton's Diary, vol. ii., p. 320. "I have heard it from the mouths of many worthy gentlemen, whose hap it was to serve him in the late wars, that they did beUeve had he, viz., the king, by armies conquered the Parliament, he would have proved the gi'eatest tyrant the English nation ever had to nile over them ; and, there- fore, they did still pray for a reconciliation betwixt Parliament and them, but could never endure to hear he should conquer their armies, &c. And so much, in a manner, ckopt out from the mouth of Rupert, who giving command for executing something contrary to the laws, and being acquainted with his mistake, ' Tush,' quoth he, ' we wiil have no more law in England henceforward, but the sword.' "—Lilly's Life and Death of Charles I., p. 141. Hyde utters the same opinion. — Letter to Culpepper. Clarendon, vol. ii., p. 411. THE CIVIL WAR. , 157 Lord's anointed. The measure of loyalty was often estimated by the intense hatred with which these men, and those who sympathised mth them, were hated. The day of the " Royal Martyr's" death was hailed as the appropriate occasion, when the wailing of the iin principled, and the roar of the sycophant, against the Nonconformist, was heard the loudest and the longest. From the Episcopal tlu'one to the humblest rural church, the glories of the martyred sovereign were the anniial theme upon which genius displayed its invective jiower, enidition its stores of literary lore, and impassioned hatred its distilled violence. It was the time of the nation's sorrow ; the period of her profound humiliation for the enormous guilt which had been contracted. We could multiply pages of this nonsense. A sample or two must suffice. These bishops and dignitaries speak : — " "When the crown of our head was fallen, then also the joy of our heart was ceased, and our dance was turned into mourning: for this our heart was faint, for these things our eyes were dim, as the prophet Jeremiah complains " (Lam. v. 8). " Wlien the breath of our nosti'ils was expired, all faces wei'e turned into paleness, as the same prophet complains : when the Father of our country, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, we were as orphans, and fatherless " (Lam. v. 3). ** The beauty of Israel is slain ! How are the mighty fallen ! "''^ Thus Bancroft raved: — "Those papers, I mean that related the martyrdom of the best Protestant in these kingdoms, and incompai-ably the best king upon earth, Charles the pious and the glorious, with whom fell the Church and the kingdom, religion and learning, and the rewards of both, and all the piety and honesty Avliich the nation could hope for in this world. And now the breath of our nostrils being taken away, we only draw in so much as we render again in sighs, and wish apace for the time when God shall call for it all."t But enough of this rant. * Worthington's Diary, vol. i., p. 31. Camden Society, t Life, vol. i., p. 44. 158 E^RLT ENGLISH BAPTISTS. From some men of his time — men who had felt the iron hand of oppression, whose liberties had been invaded, and who had struggled with him in the Senate and in the tented held — the estimate is widely diiferent. They paint him as a tyrant whom no law could bind, in whose promise no con- fidence could be placed, and as a monarch destitute of all those principles which are demanded by a constitutional Government. His death, they declare, was necessary to the liberties of the nation, and to the life of the noblest and the most patriotic of her sons. The contrast is striking, and the portraits are veiy unlike. Which is the accurate one] History should know no party. Her aim should be truth, and only truth. Happily, in our day, she is aiming at this. Steadily and increasingly she is throwing her purest light on the past. The mists of ignorance and prejudice are retiring, and things are appearing as they are, unveiled, before us. Our readers will bear with us, if before closing this chapter we offer a remark or two on the character of this misguided and unfortunate man. National degradation — the overthrow of dynasties, the prostration of the illustrious, are not sudden. They are generally the effects of causes which have long been ope- rating; the crisis of some steady but certain revolution. It was so with Charles. His fether's detestable policy laid the foundation of his ruin, Nurtured from infancy in the loftiest notions of kingly prerogative, it gi-ew with his growth and augmented with his years. He was full of haiighty pretensions, and regarded every opposition to his will as fraught with the seeds of rebellion. These notions were sustained by his favourite and unprincipled ministers, whilst many of the clergy laboured with sleepless zeal to uphold the Divine right of kings.* It was the evil star of * "Wlien one talented, but as a common person, yet by the favour of his prince hath gotten that interest, that, in a sort, all the keys of Eng- land hang at his girdle. The Duke of Buckingham had the managing of these things, as it were generally conceived; for what was he not fit to THE CIVIL WAR. 151) his reign. la his deepest distress it ruled him ; in his inter- course with his opponents it defeated every offer of peace. Tlie nation lived for him, and not he for the nation. " The anointed of the Lord," the representative of the Deity, he was above all law, and could rule the nation according to his own will.* Charles's marriage with the daughter of France was pro- ductive of untold misery. Not only did it involve him with Philip of Spain, hut her influence over him ^vi^s extreme. To her he yielded when he should have been firm, and allowed aflfection for her to o^jcrate when his own judgment should have been exercised. His love for her was pure and ardent. To the last it was so. Judging from the state- ments of men of her time, she had much in her appearance to charm and hold captive a man of Charles's character. " We have now a most noble new Queen of England, who in true beauty is beyond the long-wooed Infanta; for she was of a fiiding flaxen hair, big lipped, and somewhat heavy eyed ; but this daughter of France, this youngest branch of Bourljon (being but in her cradle when the great Henry, her father, was put out of the world), is of a more lovely and lasting complexion — a dark brown. She hath eyes that sparkle like stars ; and for her physiognomy, she may be said to be a miiTor of perfection," ttc.f Intensely Romanist, she was ever surrounded by indi- viduals of that faith, who too frequently used her influence over Charles to their advantage, t Self-willed, impulsive, determine in Church or commonwealth — in coui-t or Council -in peace or war — at land or at sea — at home or abroad?" — Archbishop Abbott's Nar- rative. Rushworth, p. 457. * "Fifteen years had he reigned when this Parliament was called (1040). So long had the laws been violated (more than any king), the liberties of the people invaded, and the authority of Parliament, by which laws and liberties are supported, trodden under foot," &c.— May's Re- view of the History of the Parliament of England, &c. , p. 3. Maseres Tracts, vol. i, f Howell's Letters, p. 190. X Her confessor not only made her walk from St, James's to Tyburn, 160 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. and full of passion, the domestic circle was at times not of the calmest order. " The queen," says Meade, " howsoever little of stature, is of spiiit and vigour, and seems of a moi"e than ordinary resohition. With one frown, tlivers of us being at Whitehall to see her being at dinner, and the room somewhat heated with the fire and company, she drove us all out of the chamber. I siipjiose none but a queen could have cast such a scowl.""" " When compelled to dismiss some of her French attendants, her anger was imperial. She stamjied with her foot, tore her hair, and with her delicate hands broke the glass in the windows, and various articles around her. The king's affection for her, we are told, was a composition of conscience and love, and generosity and grati- tude; insomuch that he saw Avith her eyes and determined ■with her judgment; she was admitted to the knowledge and participation of the most secret affairs, and thought that she could dispose of all favours as Buckingham had done. And she did not more desire to be possessed of this power, than that all mankind should take notice that she was possessed of it," &c.t "but had made her to dabble in the dirt, in a foul morning, from Somer- set House to St. James's, her luciferious confessor riding along by her in his coach. Ye have made her to go barefoot, to spin, to cut her meat out of dishes, to -wait at the tables, to sei-ve her servants," &c. — Pory to Meade, 1626. Court and Times of Charles I., vol. i., p. 110. * Letter to Sir M. Stuteville. The Times and Court of Charles I. (London, Colbum.) In the same volume we have a curious domestic scene: — "The king and queen dining together in the presence, Hacket being there to say grace, the confessor would have prevented him, but that Hacket shoved him away. "NYliereupon the confessor went to the queen's side, and was about to say grace again, but that the king, pulling the dishes unto him, and the carvers falling to their business, lundered. AVhen the dinner was done, he thought, standing by the queen, to have been before Mr. Hacket, but Mr. Hacket got the start again. The con- fessor, nevertheless, began his grace as loud as Mr. Hacket, with such confusion that the king, in a great passion, instantly rose from the table, and taking the queen by the hand, retired into the bedchamber."— The Court and Times of Charles I., vol. i., p. 52. t Life of Clarendon, vol. i., p. 155. Waiburton's Rupert and the Cavaliers, p. 139 (Note). THE CIVIL WAR. • IGl To her influence may be traced tlie flood tide of evil ■which finally engiilphed Charles. The attempt to seize the five members in tlie Commons House, so degrading to his own dignity, so insulting to the majesty of the law, and so destructive of all confidence in him, was no doubt her prompting.* As the difliculties of the monarch augmented, her interferences multiplied. In matters of the highest moment she must be consulted. She extorted from him the promise to receive no person into favour who had discarded liim, and not to make peace without her mediation. + As one has said, with justice, "Born to be his ruin, she decidedly objected to his concessions. Although she had herself urged his absolute submission to the Presbyterian government, she disliked his partial surrender. She taunted him with having yielded his ground of conscience, and abandoned his prin- ciples of divine right, by his concession of three years — an argumeiit which touched the king to the quick." His letters exemplify the fatal influence she exerted over him, and pro- bably no one individual contributed more largely to his ruin than this imperious woman. Un-English in her tastes and notions, separated from the people by her religion, and nevev able to form the slightest idea of the dejith and fervour of their opinions, it is clear, from the letters before us, that the future of England was laid at the feet of this unprincipled lady.i Finally, her influence, instead of healing, widened the breach between her husband and the Parliament. At all times jealous of her power, she laid claim to unbounded authority on her arrival from the continent with supplies to the distressed monarch. Around her she gathered her * Forster's Arrest of the Five Members. + Life of Clarendon, vol. i., pp. 179, 18G. :;: CLarles I. in 1646. Intro., p. 26. "The fatal destiny of the kiujj raised up an enemy in his own consort. His escape to France was denounced by her, to whom alone he was sincere ; her word had ever been his law ; she was now, as she had ever been, the instniment of hia ruin." — "VVarburton's Prince Rupert, vol. iii., p. 395. L 162 • EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. creatures, and tlireatened tlie councils of the few wise and principled men who adhered to Charles.* Nor must we overlook another featiire in the character of the man whom bishops and dignitaries have proclaimed to the world as the model of Clmstian piety, and as a martyr to the faith. None could trust him. On his word no reliance could be placed. From liis youth he manifested this dissimulation. No man living was a greater master ui this art, says Lilly. t The weight of his father's example had created and sustained it. It marked all his intercourse at home, and not less his dealings with other nations. May gives us an example. " He openly protested before God, with horrid imprecations, that he endeavoured nothing so much as the preservation of the Protestant religion and rooting out of Popery. Yet, in the meantime, underhand, he promised to the Irish rebels an abrogation of the laws against them, which was contrary to his late expressed promises, in these words : / loill never abrogate the laws against the Papists. And again he said, / ahhor to think of bringing foreign soldiers into the king- dom; and yet he solicited the Duke of Lorraine, the French, .the Danes, and the very Irish, for assistance.''^ This vice was incurable; for he held himself bound by no engagement with rebellious subjects, and he meditated their ruin whilst he implored their aid. || Event after event, during the progress of the civil war-, augmented the distrust * Warburton, vol. ii., p. 300. "I give thee power to promise in my name (to whom thou thinkest most fit), that I will take away all the penal laws against the Romau Catholics in England, as soon as God shall enable me to do it ; so as by their means, or in their favours, I may have so powerful assistance as may deserve so gi-eat favour, and enable me to do it. ■' — Charles to his "Wife, March, 1645. Ludlow, p. 487. Similar to Ormond in relation to the Irish. — Ibid, p. 497. December 15, 1644. f Life of Charles. Maseres Tracts, vol. i. + May, p. 78. Maseres Tracts, vol. i. II Guizot, vol. ii., p. 97. Macaulay's Essays, vol, i., pp. 35, 43, 177. D'Aubigne's Protectorate, pp. 160, 161. The most noble-minded had diffi- culties in joining him. "If they fled to Oxford," says Kemble, "they were terrified with the systematic falsehood that characterised every word THE CIVIL AVAK, 163 of the patriots. The letters of the king seized on the battle- field revealed the hypocrisy which governed him. Guizot is truthful when he says : " It was clear that he had never desired peace; that in his eyes no concession was definitive, no promise obligatory; that, in reality, he relied only on force, and still aimed at absolute power: finally, that, despite protestations a thousand times repeated, he was negociating with the King of France, the Duke of Lorraine, with all the princes of the continent, to have foi-eign soldiers sent into England for his purposes. Even the name of Parliament, which jiist before, to obtain the conference at Uxbridge, he had seemed to give the houses at Westminster, was but a deception on his part, for in giving it he had pri- vately protested against his ofiicial proceeding, and caused his protest to be inscribed on the minutes of the council at Oxford."* Upon all parties he tried this unmanly, not to say unkingly •course. " I am not without hope that I shall be able to draw either the Presbyterians or Independents to side with me for extirpating the one or the other; that I shall really be king again."t Even his commissioners, employed to treat with the agents of the Parliament, he commanded to insinuate, in their private intercourse, that the actors in the great conflict were "arrant rebels, and that their end must of their faithless master, aud oppressed with the miserable convictiou that the triumph of the cause in which they fought would be the downfall of the liberties of their country." — Ibid, pp. xxi., xsii. ■* English Rev., b. vi., p. 277. Evelyn's Mem., app. ii., j). 90. " There were 9,000 foreigners, men of all nations, levied by the Duke of Lorraine and the Prince of Orange, and put into the Isle of Bui'combe, to be thence transported for the service of the King of England. The first design was, that these men, mth some additional numbers, under the conduct of Lord Goring, should endeavour the surprisal of the Isle of Wight, and thereby release the king."— Hyde to Lord Jermyn. Clarendon, vol. ii., pp. 455, 456. f Cartes Ormond, vol. iii., p. 452. Lingard, vol. x., p. 327. "I hope I need not. remember you to cajole well the Independents and the Scots," — Charles to the Duke of Richmond. Ludlow, p. 501. 164 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. be damnation, miin, and infamy, except tbey repent, and found some way to free themselves from the damnable way they were in."" Whilst he was negotiating with Cromwell and his com- panions in arms for his restoration to supreme power, an intercepted letter to the queen disclosed to them the hypocrisy of the monarch, and the precipice on which they stood. Checking her for her finding fault with his promise to them, he says : '•' She might be easy, for he should know in due time how to deal with the rogues, who, instead of a silken garter, should be fitted with a hempen cord." From that moment hope was gone. Their own safety was not comi)atible Avith the life of the truthless monarch. t Infamous as this vice was, — for no social or political eleva- tion can render the individual who practises it free from the profoundest contempt and scorn of upriglit minds, — against the nation and its highest social and political i*igbts he had perpetrated a crime which showed him guilty of treason against the Commonwealth. Before the standard of civil strife had been unfurled, he sought to sustain his rule, and to crush the rising liberties of the people, by armed troops from the continent. The majesty of law was to give way to the glittering spear, and the liberty to oppress was to be maintained by the hired rufiians of some continental despot. Deeper and deeper he plunged into this crime, as the prowess of Fairfax and Cromwell showed the hopeless- ness of his reckless enterprise. The damning facts are mul- titudinous. One or two will suffice for our present purpose. So early as 1G38 he sought "to draw an army of 10,000 * Charles I. in 1G16 (Note). Evelj-n's Diary, vol. iv., p. 137. + Memoirs of Sir J. Berkeley. Maseres Tracts, vol. i. , pp. 386, 387. In a letter addi-essed to the queen, which Cromwell and Ireton intercejited at the Blue Boar, in Holborn, Charles said : " For the rest, I alone under- stand my position. Be quite easy as to the concessions which I may grant. When the time comes I shall very well know how to treat these rogues, and instead of a silken garter, I vidll fit them ^vith a hempen cord." — Vide Guizot's English Rev., b. vi., p. 354. THE CIVIL WAK, 1G5 men from Flanders, with sucli cantionary conditions as his Majesty need not feai*, and yet his ill-affected subjects should not dare to budge. Nor would a far greater army of our own men awe the subjects half so much as a few foreign forces. And one main caution to his Majesty was to have some subjects of his own in joint commission with the liead commander of these foreign forces," &c. " Three weeks since I sent you word of my resolution to taste (.^('c') the Spaniards about their siding with his Majesty, if the Scotch and English Puritans should attempt at home, and then* brother Hollanders and French foment their attempts," tfcc* On the same mission Colonel Gage was sent to the Car- dinal Governor of the Netherlands. His instructions were definite. So they run : " You shall represent to him that the number which we desire for the present service is 6,000 foot and 400 horse. Take special care that the men be able, and their arms complete and serviceable, and the like for the horse. You must use great secresy, dexterity, and expedition in this business; and take care that it be not divulged, seeing, if the party in Scotland should come to the knowledge of it, it would be utterly overthrown. "t Later on, in a letter to his wife, Charles says : " I must again tell thee that most assuredly Fi-ance will be the best way for transportation of the Duke of Lorraine's army, there being divers fit and safe places of landing there, upon the wx'stern coast, besides the ports under my obedience," &c.X In another letter to his wife, he wishes her to invite the * Clarendon, State Papers, vol. ii. , pp. 19, 21. t IliJ, vol. ii., i\ 24. Other instances, pp. 31, 50, 51. J Dated March 30th, 1641. Ludlow, p. 482, App. The queen says in reply that the duke had promised to bring 10,000 men.— Ibid, p. 507. "Whilst thus seeking the overthrow of his adversaries by a foreign power, Charles, in a declaration from Newark, March 9th, 1G41, said to the Par- liament : "Whatever you are advertised from Rome, Venice, Paris, of the Pope's nuncio, soliciting France, Spain, &c., for foreign aid, we are confi- dent no sober honest man in our kingdom can believe that we are so 166 EARLY E^XLISH BAPTISTS. Pope, and the Roman Catliolics of England, to help him in the restoration of Episcopacy in England, on condition of his giving them full liberty of conscience.* The history of this period is full of proof of the treason of the monarch against the State. We have only to add, that in forming a true estimate of the character of Charles, the religious element of the time should not be overlooked. His devotion to the hierarchy was intense. That he was swayed by the narrow and superstitious-minded Laud admits of no doubt. The semi- Papist had all power. Against the sternest principle which ever swayed the mind of man, Charles was precipitated by his spiritual guide. The attempt was disastrous. The Puritan principle was interwoven with the religious life of England. The Laudian school violated its most deeply cherished sympathies. The leaders of the nation were devout religious men, who claimed free exercise for their religion ; but, inseparable from the Protestant Reformation and its overthrow of Roman Catholic bondage, to whose immediate inspiration they owed their greatness, was the passion for civil freedom not less than for religious free- dom.t The violence of Laiid only facilitated the destruction of the throne and the church. Charles was professedly intensely attached to the Episcopal platform, though of the full extent of this there is reason to suspect. J In a letter to the queen he says, referring to his willingness in 1646 to give up the militia, '' The retaining of it is not of so much consequence (I am far from sapng none) as is thought, with- clesperate or so senseless to entertain such designs as would not only bring this our kingdom in certain destruction and ruin, but our name and posterity in perpetual scorn and infamy." — Ludlow. Collections of Letters, p. 518. Letter to Lord Digby from Lord Jemayn, pp. 543, 545. * Letters of Charles. Camden Society. Forstei-'s Essays, vol. i., p. 76. + Forster, vol. i., p. 174. + "Though he (Charles) should swear it, no man will believe it, that he sticks upon E2)iscopacy for any conscience."— Baillie to Henderson. 1646. Dalrymple, vol. ii., p. 165. THK CIVIL WAU. 1G7 out tho concurrence of other things. If the pulpit teacli not obedience (which will never be if Presbyterian govern- ment is absolutely settled) the Ci'own will have little comfort in the militia,"* Pepys gives us the following, on the autho- rity of Mr. Blackburne: " He told me that to his knowledges (being present at every meeting at the treaty in the Isle of Wight) that the old king did confess himself overruled and convinced in his judgment against the bishops, and would have suffered, and did agree to exclude the service out of the chiu'ches, nay, his ovm. chapel. He did always say, that this he did, not by force, for he would not abate one inch by any violence, but what ho did was out of his reason and judgment."! Nor was this all. The majority of the Legislature, and probably of the nation, were intense haters of Popery. The manifest tendency of Laud and many of the bishops in tliis direction, sharpened their hostility to Episcopacy. Again and again it was denounced in the Senate. Law after law was passed for its repression. Its existence and growth stood in the front of every list of grievances. The recollec- tion of the past aixgmented this. It hauiated these men of principle at all times. The sympathy of the court with it was unmistakable. The queen and her household were only tools in the hands of the priesthood. + Through her the monarch was influenced. We have seen the effects of this already in the household of Charles. Later on, he looked to the Catholics as the mainstay of his power against the Parlia- ment. Hordes of savage Irish were imported to desolate the * Clarendon, State Papers, vol. ii., i>. 296. + Diary, vol. ii., pp. 117, 118. + The niimbers and the influence of the Catholics in the early part of the reign were considerable. " It was a less crime," says one, " to violate a maid iipon an altar, than to settle amongst us the heUef of the Pope's infallibility." In the course of his reign, it is said Charles liberated 11,000 priests. — Disraeli's Com. Charles I., pp. 36, 172, 175, 178. W. Prynne, with his usual industry, has gathered a mass of information on this sub- ject. He states them at 4000. -Fuller, p. 101. 168 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. country, whilst from foreign nations their presence was invoked to secure his triumph. Everything deepened the conviction upon the minds of the leaders of the nation, that Popery would not only be tolerated, but invested with power. A calamity more awful and disastrous to the highest inte- rests of the nation could not be felt; a severer proof of the Divine displeasure against a people could not be seen: so they felt, and under its impulse they acted for the liberty of body and mind. No one can rightly estimate the conduct of these men, without taking them, and other matters our space does not even suffer us to indicate, into full consideration. Their circumstances admitted of no alternative. One party must suffer. Either they were traitors, and would suffer the aimiliilating weight of Royal vengeance, — and they well knew that it would be so, if victory crowned the efforts of the rebel kiug,* — or, as a traitor against the constitution he had sworn to protect, he must bear the punishment which the violated majesty of the law would inflict. We repeat that there was no alternative. Self interest, the liberty of the nation, the power of law, — all that was dear to men, all that was elevating to the nation, demanded as with one voice the death of the tyrant. Posterity has at last justified their decision.f * "Never had the people of England, in so advanced a state of civili- zation, been subject to an oppression so general, so odious, so little redeemed by aught that could either flatter the nation, or even conciliate a particular class." — Life of Claiendon, vol. i., pp. 44-5. Charles "bullied his Parliament, as a tyi-aut his refractory slave." He granted nothing wliich he did not hope secretly to regain. --Forster, vol. i., p. 10. "It has been his (Charles's) constant unhappiiiess to give nothing in time ; all things have been given at last, but he has even lost the thanks, and liis gifts have been coveted, constrained, and extorted." — Baillie to Hen- derson. Dalrymple, vol. ii., p. 167. t " To speak my own thoughts, I could never see any jilace of the New Testament (which is most insisted on) did, to my understanding, neces- sarily infer defensive arms in subjects to be always, upon all occasions, absolutely unlawfid ; and, indeed, when I consider it, I cannot apprehend TUE COMMONWEALTH. 169 CHAPTER III. THE COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTOllATE. Republican principles had rapidly increased during the war. Many of the leaders in the Parliamentary army had imbibed them, aiid, in the mixed hosts which followed, these democratic views prevailed. Cromwell, Lambert, Fleet- wood, Harrison, Ireton, and other men of rank, were all avowedly in fevour of a Commonwealth. They declared that all power was in the people, and that Government existed only for their benefit. Probably their position invested this form of government with commanding interest, not only as aftbrding security to themselves, but as best adapted, in the circumstances in which they were placed, to secure the peace and prosperity of the nation. The restoration of the monarchy in the family of the Stuarts would appear to them impossible. The t[uestion of investing the Royal authority in the person of the Duke of Gloucester had been discussed before the death of his father, but for various reasons had been rejected. Now the difficulties were augmented. The men in power, who had been the chief actors in the fearful tragedy, though confessedly a minority, would feel that in calling the first-born to the throne, their own heads would be demanded as a sacrifice for the past. how it can be otherwise ; for if the manner of government, the qualifica- tions of, be human (as I think all affirm), how shall we draw necessary consequences out of divinity for that structure, whose foundation is not otherwise divine than as it is settled by man ? I do confess, therefore, there are other arguments do with mc more dissuade the taking of arms in a well settled Commonwealth, be it regal or popular, than anything in Holy Writ," &c. — Sir R. Twisden on the Government of England, pp. 98-9. Camden Society. 170 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. But tliougli no alternative conld present itself, the estab- lishment of a Commonwealth was a work which would task the extraordinary powers with which these men were endowed. The Royalists, though defeated, and many of their leaders in exile, were not insignificant either in numbers or wealth. Their loyalty — though in many cases, as we have seen, springing less from attachment to the person of Charles — :was intense to "the Lord's anointed." Monarchy was an integi-al part of the constitution. For six hundred years kings had governed. Under it, England had reached an extraordinary degree of power. All that con- feiTed true dignity on a nation it had realised. In com- merce, in literature, in art, and war, it could compete with any other. Many even of the Royalists might admit that the former part of Charles's reign had violated all law, and trampled out the nation's liberty; yet these evils might be checked. They were less the effect of the constitution than of the evil counsels to which the king had listened. The one might be so fenced as that its working might justly and at all times contribute to the prosperity of the people. Their activity in availing themselves of every incident to deepen the pojiular sympathies with the cause, is manifest from another fact. " On the day of the king's execution, and even below the scaffold, had been sold the earliest copies of a work admirably fitted to shake the new Government. Fifty thousand copies, it is asserted, were sold within one year; and posthumous power was thus given to the king's name by one little book, which exceeds in alarm to his enemies all that his ai-mies could accomplish in his life- time."* We will only add, that the Episcopal party, smarting tinder their deep humiliation, lauded the monarch, and elevated him to the rank of the martyrs. * De Quincey's AVorks, vol. x. , p. 89. The reader who wishes to inves- tigate the authorslup of "Eikou Basilike," may consult the worka of "Wordsworth and Todd. The latter writer, we think, has shown, beyond all doubt, that the work was from the pen of Dr. Gauden. THE COMMONWEALTH. 171 Greater in power and influence, if not in numbers, than the Episcopalians, Avere tlie Presbyterians. In England they had ruled with an iron hand, and the forces of Scotland had sustained them. They had moulded the ecclesiastical plat- form of the nation. They had secured the vacant churches and the revenues of the ejected clergy. Their hatred to Epis- copacy was intense."' They had used every means to crush the various sects, and the Solemn League and Covenant they had forced upon the nation. Though the leaders, at first, if not the chief instigators of the war, they had opposed the execution of Charles.t Love to Charles had only a modi- cum of influence in their councils. They had liigher aims. Ci-ushed politically by men of opposite religious views, they would have gained tlieir lost supremacy by making tenns with the sovereign. Again and again they tried the experi- ment. Their projects were defeated. Under a Common- wealth their power would never recover, and their hatred and hostility to it was soon manifested in their proclamation of the second Chai-les, who subscribed " the Solemn League and Covenant without a scruple." * " It appears to me, aud to many wiser than I am, that the heat of the people is not cooled by all the pain and charges for so long a time ; and at this hour they are more animated against the sei-vice book, and against the prelates and their adherents, than at the first hour and time since. If the king's Majesty -vvill land bishops here, he must either root out all the generations of people, which will be a hard task, since now they be resolved and so armed, and are assured that the English will not trouble them for the point of religion, or kirk government by bishops," &c. — Letter from a supposed minister in S . June, 1639. Dalrymple, vol. ii., p. 08. t Baxter and others protested against the execiition of Charles. "The London Presbyterian ministers would not oiBciate neither at their fasts nor thanksgiving (the new Lords), for Avhich contempt several of them were brought before their committees, and after some reprehension and warning dismissed, as namely, Master Love, Master Jenkins, and Master Ashe."— Heath, p. 255. "How the angry Presbyterians spit fire out of their pidpits, and endeavoured to blow up the people against the Parlia- ment ; how they entered into a treasonable conspiracy with Scotland, who had now received and cro^^led the son of the late kingdom, who led them in hither in a great army, which the Lord of Hosts discomfited." — Hutchinson, p. 99. 172 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Difficult as the path of the people was, no retreat was open for them. The leaders met and consulted. Kingly power was abolished, and to proclaim a monarch without authority of Parliament was declared to be treason. The abolition of the House of Lords follov/ed, though the members of that augixst assembly were allowed to retain their titles. On the 1 7th of February, 1649, a Council of State, consisting of forty-one members, was inaugurated, as the executors of the Common- wealth of England. From principle, as well as from the well- grounded expectation of greater liberty to make known their own religious convictions, the leading Baptists gave in at first their adhesion to the new Government. Severity marked the very early proceedings of the Cox;ncil. Orders were issued to the proper officers to try some of the leading agents of the late monarch. The Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of Holland and Norwich, and others, had subjected themselves to the charge of high treason against the State. Their guilt was unquestioned, and their doom soon followed. Irregular in the form of proceeding, still, necessity ap- parently justified the punishment. Vigour in the adminis- tration of the law was demanded, for the spirit of rebellion was now rife. Ireland had for some time fixed the attention of the Par- liament. From the Emerald Isle, troops of semi-barbarians had flocked to the aid of Charles. Ignorant, imbued with the fiercest spirit of religious fanaticism, and marking their pro- gress in England by the most savage cruelty, these unhappy men had exposed themselves to the vengeance of the Govern- ment. The recollection of the Irish massacre, that monu- ment of Popish cruelty, was still fresh in the memory of the people. Unsettled, restless, and some of its chief cities and towns held for the second Charles, to carry the war into that unhappy country became a matter of necessity.* To the * This outbreak of the Romanists in Ireland has perhaps no parallel in the history of civilised nations for the intenseness of the cruelty which marked it. Heath in his "Chronicles" gives the number butchered at 150,000. Vicar states it at 200,000. THE COMMONWEALTH. 173 genius of Cromwell the command was entrusted. He had just, in connexion with Fairfax, his nominal cliief, arrested the disoi'ders of the army, and punished the levellers and agitators in its ranks.* His pi'eparations for his entei-j^rise were speedily accomplished. We cannot trace his progress, or mark the terrible jiroofs of his vengeance. His success was complete. He might have said, in the language of Ciesar, " I came, I saw, I conquered." In Wexford, in Drogheda, in Waterford, and other places, his name is still detested. To another land the conqueror was sjjeedily called. The Scots, in the madness of their disappointment, had pro- claimed the eldest sou of Charles as king. The solemn farce was enacted in the ancient palace of their monarchs. The traditions of centuries were gathered there; and all the pomp which the Kirk and the State could command was throAvn ai'ound it. The hypocrisy of the father was unfolded in the son. The Covenant was taken by him without scruple, * "Mrs. Hutchinson speaks of them, in 1647, as declaring against the factions of the Presbj-terians and Independents, and the ambitious views of tlieir leaders. She says that they were men of just and sober prin- ciples, of honest and religious ends, and were, therefore, hated by all the designing self-interested men of both factions. Colonel H. had great intimacy with many of them." So earlj' as 1647, a " Remonstrance from the Armj- to the Parliament" was presented. The warriors say : — "So this generation of men, in the application of the Parliament's powers (succeediug the former in the exercises of the king's), have made use of the odious names of Brownists, Anabaptists, Independents, &c., to blast such men in whom the truth and power of religion, or a just sense of the common interests of the kingdom, hath appeared," &c. — Remonstrance of the Army to the Parliament. Hist., vol. iii., p. 759. Of the West- minster Di\ines, a member of the Commons said : — " More shame it is for the Synod, that they being the men which condemned and cried out against the plui-alities of the Episcopal clergy, they should enjoy far more than the corruptest of the bishops and their chaplains did ever allow of ; divers of them at this time possessing two, three, yea, and four livings apiece, which they come not at once in a twelvemonth; besides them which are not visible, wherein they have placed their deputies, and share with them the profits," &;c. — Speech of a Member in the Commons. Pari. History, vol. iii., p. 1039. Bastwick, in his Utter Routing of the Independents, says: — "You shall find them the only gallants in the world, so that one who should meet them would take them for roarers 17-1- EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. though it was in his heai-t detested; the sins of his father and the weakness of his power he was forced to acknow- ledge, and to the care of the nation whose religion he hated, and whose forms of godliness he ridiculed, he committed hLs fortunes. TJn^villingly Cromwell entered on this enterprise. By every motive which can sway the soldier he urged liis chief to conduct the campaign, avowing that it would be to him a source of delight if permitted to sei've under him. The wife of Fail-fax was a Presbyterian. She was imbued with the essence of theii- bitterness, and was under the control of her chaplain. To her imperious spirit the general submitted, and retired from the theatre on which he had performed for years so distinguished a part.'"' Cromwell had now no alter- native. To the North he advanced, and by a rapid succession of victories the power of the Scotch was soon broken, and the authority of the Commonwealth was acknowledged throughout the empire. Not only was ^dctory fomid amidst the mountains of Caledonia, but Cromwell rested not till the power of Charles was annihilated. Into England, where Charles had gone with considerable force, the general now advanced. From post to post the young monarch was driven. Be- fore the invincible arms of the militaiy chief the Scots army was forced. At Worcester their forces were concen- trated. It was their last refuge. Hope hovered here for a moment or two. Despair prompted the Northern army to prodigies of valour. Vain were their efforts. The veteran and ruffians rather than saints. You shall find them with cuffs (and those gi-eat ones) at their heels, and more silver and gold on their clothes than many great persons have in their purses." — Vide also British Quar- terly, April, 1862, pp. 306-7. Hollis, and Walker also, in his " Secrets of Presbyterians and Independents," charges the leading men -with large appropriations of public money. * "But this great man was then as unmovable by his friends as per- tinacious in obeying his wife, whereby he then died to all liis former glory, and became the monument of his own name, which every day wore out."— Hutchinson, p. 101. Many instances of the fanaticism of this lady occur in tliis volume. THE COJIliONWEALTU. 17 O troops of the great general never quailed. Defence after defence was beaten down. Over the bodies of their fallen comrades tlicy marched. The issues were not doubtful. Charles fled from the lost battle-field, and ultimately, aftia' the most wondrous escapes, reached the continent in safety.'^' In these conflicts many of the leading Baptists were engaged, and Ireland and Scotland witnessed the zeal with which their opinions were propagated. In a subsequent page wo may more particularly refer to them. Five days after the inauguration of the Commonwealth, the Parliament, in its character as the conservator of religion, passed an ordinance for the better propagation of religion in Wales, and for the ejection of scandalous ministers and school- masters. To carry this oixt, commissioners were appointed. One of these was Vavaseur Powell. On the moral state of Wales about this time we have already remarked. The highest testimony is borne to the success of this experiment. Powell loved his country. His whole energies were absorbed in efibrts for her welfare. " The Pai'liament ordered him <£100 per cxnnum out of a sine cura, whereof he received about .£60 for seven or eight years. Many considerable gifts he refused. And never did he get anything by the act for the propagation of the Gospel in Wales, as was slanderously laid to his charge, for which his vindications in print, to this day unansweredjt may stop the mouth of envy itself."J The * The reader may consult the Boscobel Tracts for a narrative of his adventures. We have graphic sketches of the ravages of the Scots in 1(548, in Lancasliire : — " lu divers places, some whole families have not left them where^v-ith to subsist a day, but are glad to come here for mere sub- sistence. They have taken forth of divers families aU, — the very racken- crocks and pot-hooks ; they have driven away all the beasts, sheep, and horses, in divers townships, all without redemption save some poor milch kine. They tell the people they must have their houses too. Duke Hamilton hath told them it should be so. Their usage of some women is extremely abominable, and of men very barbarous," &c. — Cheetham Society, vol. ii., p. 254. Lancashire Valley of Action. f Vide Examen et Purgament Vavasaries. Life of Powell, p. 132. t Life of Powell, p. 112. "In the interim, believe not their libels, for I know them to be false : primary things, particularly in the accusations 176 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. life of this zealous man, frequently designated the Apostle of Wales, is full of the most wondei-fiil incidents and inter- positions of Providence. In the same year we find a '' humble petition and repre- sentation of several churches of God in London, commonly, though falsely, called Anabaptists." The petitionei-s acknow- ledge the goodness of God to the Parliament and kingdom; disown in manly terms their knowledge or consent to the writing of the book called " The Second Part of England's New Chaia Discovered;" justify theu' own principles and obedience to authority ; and pray the Parliament to make good laws for the punishment of wickedness. " The House," we are told, " was satisfied with the disoviTiing of the book, and their expression to live peaceably and in submission to the civil magistrate, which the Speaker told them by the direction of the House." The book had been denounced in very severe terms by the Parliament, and the authors proclaimed giiilty of high ti-eason against the State.* Many cii-cumstances, under the new Government, were favourable to the Baptists. CromweU, though far fi*om having perfect views of religious libeity, yet was an avowed enemy to persecution. He had no sympathy with the doc- trine of the Presbyterians on this subject. Either, therefore, from policy or conviction, on his departure for Ireland, he addressed letters to the Parliament, ad\-ising the removal of the penal laws relating to religion. Eaiifax and his council of officers sustained this in a petition which they presented to the House. The army was full of sectaries. Upon these the hopes of the general rested. Without their aid defeat awaited him. The appeal to the House was successful, A and aspersions cast upon those good and painful instruments, Mr. Cradock, Mr. V. Powell, Mr. Jones, and several others, whose doctrines and lives thousands know so well," &c. — Perfect Diurnal, No. 144, Sept. 13th, 1652, p. 2156. * Whitelocke, vol. iii., pp. 3, 7. THE COMMONWEALTU. 177 oommittee was appointed, and a Bill was ordered to be brought in, by wliicli commissions were to be appointed for every county for the approbation of able and well-qualified men to be made ministei's, who cannot comply with the present ordinance for the ordination of ministers.* This mea- sure removed many impediments from the path of those who had refused ordination from men who had persecuted them. Nor was this all. The abolition of kingly power, and the establishment of a Commonwealth, involved the abo- lition of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy; and in their jjlace a new fonn was appointed, called the Engage- ment, which simply requii'ed the individual to be faithful to the Government in its new form. The Baptists had no difficulty in this. Their political leaders had no small share in the establishment of the constitution, and there was nothing in it to encroach in any way on their religious jw-inciples. Exceptions, doubtless, there were. Opposition to all oaths and the use of arms was still cherished by some, but there was none to magistracy, t * Neal, vol. ii., p. 319. + "But either to procure or maintain our own or other liberties by force of ai-ms, or the least violence, we can find no warrant from the Scriptures of truth, in the least, which is that only and above rule that we walk by," &c. — Declarations, &c., p. 54. "And we further declare, that as we are a peaceable people upon the accounts of action, so we look upon it to be our duty to keep ourselves from oaths, engagements, and covenants, either for or against this or that jjerson whatsoever. 'For because of swearing the land mourneth.' . . . And we further declare, as in the presence of God, who is the searcher of all hearts, that as it hath been a source of our great trouble for a long time to see some of those that are of the same faith and order with us so acting : so it is now become an overwhelming burden upon om- souls, to see them gene- rally r\mning such a precipitant coiu-se : by which actings of theii-s, the mouths of all men are opened against them, and the tnith they pro- fess most ignominiously branded and reproached." — Declaration of a Small Society of Baptized Believers, undergoing the name of Freewillers, pp. 57, 58. " His zeal is to be limited (for matters of God's worship and spiritual service) unto the rule of the Gospel as well as other men ; for he ia a fellow-subject unto Christ's kingdom, and hath but his measure of grace as other brethren ; and is as subject to seducement, and as prepos- M 178 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. The Engagement was now enforced. All ministers, all mem- bers of the universities and the great schools, with all civil and militaiy servants of the Government, on pain of leaving their situations, Avere ordered to take it. No minister was to be admitted to a living, or sit in the assembly, or be capable of retaining any emoluments in the Church, unless withm six months he qualitied liimself by taking the Engage- ment in tlie presence of the congregation. The test was a heavy^ trial to most of the Presbyterian body. Many of them refused it. Baxter preached and wrote against it. In many of the large towns the excitement was great. They declined the fasts, and some of them closed their churches on the day of the national thanksgivmg for the Irish victories.* But their hostility was in vain. The vacant churches were soon filled, if not by men their equals in learning, yet then- superiors in correct and enlarged views of Christian doctrine and policy, and with more of the loving spirit of their common Lord. The Presbyterian policy was still recognised as the national form. Obvious reasons would, probably, justify the Pai-liament in this course. The two universities demanded now a vigorous reform. During the civil conflict Cambridge had undoi-gone a great change. Episcopacy, to a great extent, had given place to Presbjiierian teaching. Many of the leading divines of this sect had seats in the halls of leai'ning. Oxford had been the stronghold of Charles fur nearly four years. " The principal officers and heads of houses, together Avith the herd of dissipated scholars who formed their bodyguard, were not only devoted to the hierarchy, with all its magnificence of revenue and amplitude of power, but also, as an inseparable tei-ous in his zeal as others are ; and must give his account before, and unto the Lord Jesus, of all his doings in the flesh, whether good or evil ; before an impartial judge, who is no respecter of persons." — Tuthill's Mysterious Kingdom, p. 48. * Neal, vol. ii., p. 320. THE COMMONWEALTH. 179 member of tlic same establishment, to tlic prei-ogatives of tlie king in their hxrgest sense, and to the doctrine of passive obedience."* Their loyalty was most exuberant. Theii' plate had been melted down for the use of Charles. Their halls had echoed A\-ith the tread of the warriors, and rung with the boisterous mii-th of the troops; and their schools had Iteen converted into granaries and depots for the material of war.t This stronghold of despotic teaching, as well as that seated on the Cam, was now to be visited. The spirit of I'eform which entered them was lasting and firm. Other minds must pour instruction into the rising manhood of England, and other doctrines must be taught within their classic walls. Liberty must flourish where despotism had reigned, and I'eligion be taught where form and empty cere- mony had prevailed. Cromwell had, during liis expedition to Scotland, been made Chancellor of the Univei-sity of Oxford. Both these celebi-ated schools now underwent some change. Presbyterians gave place to others. Owen, who had accepted the deanery of Christ Church, was now made Vice-Chan- cellor. Dr. Goodwin Avas raised to the Presidency of Mag- dalen, whilst Charnock, Gale, Howe, and others, filled subordinate situations. Only one Baptist do we find raised to distinction. Dell, the chaplain of Fairfax, was made ]\Iastcr of Caius College, Cambridge.:}: The influence of * Goodwin's Comniomvealth, vol. iii., p. 85. + Ibid, vol. iii. , p. 84. t Dell thus justifies lus coDnexion with the university, though he had spoken in very strong language against many of its practices: "But as by the providence of God alone, I have Leen brought to that relation in which I now stand, and continue in it, against the wiles and workings of man}-, so, through his good pleasure, I }\'ill remain till he shall otherwise dispose of me ; and during my sojourn with them I will not fail to testify against their evil, and endeavour to win all those whom God shall per- suaxle to receive his truth, from heathenism to the Gospel, and from Antichrist to Christ."— Works, vol. ii., p. 11.5. It is difficult to know wth what class of theologians to associate Dell. Rutherford treats him as an Antinomian, Familist, &c., &c. "H. Denne, an high-altar man, 180 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. these appointments was felt. Presbyterians viewed the change with gi'eat dislike. The morality and chai-acter of these institutions rose with rapidity. Science and the arts, literature and religion, found within their walls a safe and genial retreat. Men of the higliest rank shed the splendour of then- genius around these time-honoured schools, whilst they sent forth to the world a race of men of the very highest eminence. No one can impartially trace the history of these establishments during tlie period over which this sketch extends, without admitting all this.'"' This altered policy of the Government soon told on the Baptists. Wales now felt their influence. Powell, Cradock, and theii* brethren, had succeeded in establishing many churches, but of a mixed character, f Under tlie operations of the commissions referred to above, many a wide and effectual door had been opened for the preaching of the a bower at the syllables of the name Jesus, and conformed to all the abominable late narrations introduced by Canterbury, who also opposed the Remonstrance and Petition of the well-affected, pleading for a riddance from Episcopacy, ceremonies, and other con-uptions, and is now a rigid Arrainian, and an enemy to free grace, an Anabaptist, an Anti- nomiau. To these join Paul Hobson, who speaks more warily than the sects. ... To these add Mr. Dell, in his sermon before the House of Commons, whose noble ancestors coidd not have endured Familism, Socinianism, or the like preached in their ears." — Rutherford's Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist, p. 193. "Denne and Moore, who were both Arminians and Antinomians." — Rutherford's Survey, part ii., p. 16. Many of his notions approximate closely to the religious dogmas of the Friends. * Clarendon's testimony may be accepted on this matter. Referring to Oxford, he says : "It yielded a harvest of extraordinary good and sound knowledge, in all parts of learning : and many who were wickedly intro- duced applied themselves to the study of learning and the practices of virtue. So that when it pleased God to bring King Charles back to his throne, he found that universil^ abounding in excellent learning, and little inferior to what it was before the desolation." — History of Reb., vol. iii. f Powell's views on baptism are thus expressed: "Water baptism is a solemn significant dipping into, or washing with water the body in (or into) the name of the Father, &c. (Matt, xxviii. 19). It signifies the death, the burial, and resurrection of Christ, also the spiritual cleansing THE COMMONWEALTH. 181 Gospel.* Baptist cliurches, separate from these, were now foiTQed. Ilston, near Swansea, appears to claim the honour of the fii'st-born of a class which have multiplied with almost unparalleled rapidity since that time. It was foxxnded about 1649. This is the earliest notice of it. Mr. Myles, the pastor, was a person of gi-eat zeal and success in the ministry. Other churches were soon gathered. Persecution compelled tliis excellent man to flee to the American conti- nent. Brancli cliurches were formed at A-arious out-stations. From a fragment of the Church-book of tliis mother church we And " that members of the two churches of the Hay and Llanafran assembled at Ilston, the 6th and 7th days of the 9th month, 1650, who were sent there by the said churches to the brethren at Ilston, to consult concerning such busi- ness as was then, by God's assistance, determined, and expressed as follows : The brethren, previously weigldng the great scarcity of ministers that will soundly hold forth the word of tinith in Cannai-thenshire, and the seasonable oppor- and washing of justification and regeneration (or sanctification), together with the baptism or pouring forth of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5; Col. ii. 12; Heb. x. 22). Tliough baptism be not abso- lutely necessary to salvation, yet, being commanded by Christ, it is the duty of all professing and visible believers and penitent persons, men and women, to be baptized once, and that upon their fir.st believing and con- version, and liefore they enter into a visible church or partake of the Lord's Supper (Acts ii. 41, 42). Yet it is not baptism, but an interest in Christ, that gives a man a right to either. Neither is it the proper work of baptism to confer or work gi-ace, but to seal, confirm, and increase it (1 Pet. iii. 21). Much less are all those that are baptized true believers, and saved (John iii. 3, 7 ; Acts viii. 13, 23). But in this of baptism, as in many other cases, difference of persuasion and practice may well consist with brotherly love and Christian communion (Phil. iii. 15; Rom. xiv,, &c.)." Mr. Powell also held the laying on of hands on the baptized, and the anointing the sick with oil, as ordinances of the Gospel (Jas. v. 14, 15. Life, pp. 35, 36, 41). * "The scandalous and ignorant ministers were ejected. Instead of these, 150 good preachers were planted in Wales, most of whom preached three or four times a week. Six preachers were appointed to intinerate in each of the six Welsh counties. These men laboured with great zeal in their work, and great changes marked the character of the population." — Orme's Life of Owen, p. 124. 182 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. tunity now afforded Ijy tlie providence of God for tlie propa- gation of the truth in those parts, do judge that brother David Davis shall henceforth endeavour to preach two first days of every month in Cannaii;hen town, or there- about; and that brother Myles shall preach that way one fii'st day in every two months ; and that brother Prosser shall preach there one first day in every two months; and these brethren are desired to consult and agi-ee among them- selves when it may be most convenient for eveiy one of them to be there. And upon the like serious considerations of tlie present condition of our brethren at Llanafran, it is, by the brethren here, judged convenient that a constant meeting be there kept by the churches until the Lord shall raise up more able men among themselves, and that brother David Davis be desired, to be there present as often as he possibly can; but wlien he is necessitated to be at Carmarthen, that our brethren of the Hay are desu'ed to take care to send either brother Prosser or brother Thomas "Watkins, or some other whom they shall judge convenient." More than this. These brethren agreed, " That these ministers should be assisted by the churches, and contributions made for that purpose." For that year, it was settled that each of the three churches should collect £10 among themselves, in the whole, £30, and a brother in each church was then named to take care of the contributions. " The first collection to be made as soon as convenient after that agreement, without burdening any of the brethren." Such were the decisions of the first Baptist Convention in the Principality. They were worthy of the purest age of Christianity. David Davis had been a minister of a church, on the election of the parishioners, in 1645. He appears to have united with the church at Ilston about the close of 1649 or 1650. About the same time we may date the origin of the Associations in the Principality, which form so distinguished a feature in the ecclesiastical polity of our Welsh brethren. Nothing of the kind as yet existed amongst the English THE COMMONWEALTH. 183 Baptists. In this dawn of fraternal intercourse between separate chui-ches, we not only ascertain the fact, but the useful objects they were intended to accomplish. The doc- trine of laying on of hands and singing had already reached these bi-ethren. Powell taught both. The record from which we draw our information tells us that "the four churches of Ilston, Hay, Llanafran, and Carmarthen, met at Carmarthen the 19th of lir.st month, 1651, and appointed some meetings to be at Galligan. Questions concerning singing of psalms and layiug on of hands were propo.sed to be considered by the churches." During this year, a friendly intercourse was opened with some of the London brethren. In a letter to the church in Broad Street, they give information of their present state, and ask the advice of the bretlu-en on various points relating to their future movements. The brethren say Lu reply : — " Eeganling the distance of your habitations, we advise, if God hath endowed you with gifts whereby you may edify one another, and keep up the order and ministry of the church of Christ, you may divide into more particular congregations, but with mutual consent ; and if there be among you those who can, in some measure, take the over- sight of you in the Lord, but not else."'"' Following this ad^dce, the churches multiplied, and throughout the Princi- pality Baptist principles have spread much more rapidly than in any other part of the empire. From the magnificent mountain scenery of the Principality, and the apostolic simplicity of these brethren, the reader must now turn to a border county. Not far from the northern portions of the county were the towns of Bewdley and Kid- derminster. At this time the pulpits were occupied, — the former by J. Tombes,t the latter by R. Baxtei-. Their inter- course was frequent and fraternal. They expressed the * Thomas's History of the Baptist Associations in Wales, pp. 6-8. t Tombes was a pluralist. "To be parson of Ross, and vicar of Lemster, and preacher of Bewdley, and master of the hospital at Led- bury," kc— Baxter's Infant Church Membership, p. 203. London, 1656. 184 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. warmest affection for each other, not only as men, but as ministers of Christ. " For my reverend and much-honoured brother, Mr. Eichard Baxter," was the address of Mr. Tombes ; whilst the great Pi'esbyterian responded to his "reverend and much-honoured brother, Mr. Tombes, preacher of the Gospel at Bewdley." The convictions of the former on the subject of baptism were strong. He had suffered for them. Those of the latter were very loose and undefined. The former felt it his duty to urge obedience to Christ's com- mand on the attention of liis hearers; the latter had hesi- tated to sprinkle an infant.* Mr. Tombes had preached on the subject in a series of sermons. Some of the Mends of Mr. Baxter travelled to Bewdley to take notes of the sermons, and report them to him. Lettei'S between the chiefs followed, but they only augmented the difiiculty. The magistrates of the town, and some of the ministers there and in the locality, urged their chief to encounter the Baptist. The challenge was given. On the 1st of January, 1650, the wordy con- flict was to begin. Tombes was strong and vigorous. His mind was replenished with all the learning of the schools, and he was not unused to controvei-sy. Baxter was the Don Quixote of his age. "A lover of peace and concord," yet always in strife. "A friend of unity in the Church," yet full of domination and bitterness in the extreme. Modest almost to excess, yet always disputing with his brethren. Upon the verge of the grave, he was meditating on and composing the " Saint's Everlasting Rest." His own pen shall present him to our readers at the present time: "I had importuned God in my prayers, as I was able, long before, that if I were mistaken he would show me my error; and if Mr. Tombes had the truth on his side, that he would not sirffer me to resist it, or speake a word against it. And the more I prayed, the more I was animated to the work. I had * "For my part, I may say with Mr. Blake, that I never saw a child sprinkled ; but all that I have seen baptised had water poured on them. and 80 were washed."— Infant Church Membership, p. 134. THE COMMONWEALTH. 185 been so weak and pained long before, that I was scarce able to rise and walk about the very day before, yet did I resolve to go, if I were able to ride and speake ; and when the time came I was eased mucli of all my pains ; and whereas I can hardly on any Lord's day speake above an hour without the prostration of my strength and extreme languishing of my body, nor could scarcely take the air without taking a dangerous cold, it pleased God then, in the midst of winter, to enable me to continue tlie dispute in the open church, and that fasting, from before ten of the clock in the morning till between four and five, without any of my usual infirmities, and had more ease from them a fortnight after than of many months : wliich those that know me do confidently believe was from the direct encouraging hand of God." In the midst of some excitement and interruption, the discussion continued seven or eight hours. As most verbal disputes terminate, each party claimed the victory. Mr. Baxter pi-inted the substance of his arguments, at the request of many. His book now lies before lis. It is a fair specimen of his power. His ingenuity was almost unparalleled. A few sentences will show the spiiit of the man, and the mode of his proceeding. His arguments are as singular as his slan- ders are unmerited. "Argt. 1. All that are Christ's disciples ordinarily ought to be baptized ; but some infants are Christ's disciples: therefore some infants ordinarily ought to be baptized." "Argt. 21. That doctrine which maketh all infants to be members of the visible kingdom of the devil is false doctrine : but that doctrine which denieth any infant to be a member of the visible church doth make them all members of the visible kingdom of the devH : therefore it is false." Only one other. "Argt. 23. If an infant wei-e head of the visible church, then infants may be mem- bers; but Christ, an infant, was head of the church : therefore infants may be members." But from his arguments let us look at his slanders. Mr. Baxter not only throws the Mimster fanatics at his adversary, but reiterates, what the largest 186 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. cliarity can scarcely suppose him ignorant of, the calumny of candidates being baptized naked. " My seventh argument is also against another wickedness in their manner of bapti- zing, which is, their dipping persons naked, as is very xisual with many of them ; or next to naked, as is usual with the modestest of them, as I have heard. Against which I argue thus : If it be a breach of the Seventh Commandment, Tho^i shalt not commit adultery, ordinarily to baptize the naked, then it is intolerable wickedness, and not God's command- ment ; but it is a breach of the Seventh Commandment ordi- narily to baptize naked: therefore it is intolerable wicked- ness, and not God's commandment." This saintly man thus dwells on it. He was meditating on the " Saint's Rest" about this time. " If Mx\ Tombes could baptize naked all the maids in Bewdley, and think it no immodesty, he hath lost his common ingenuity and modesty with the truth." " Would it be no snare or temptation to Mr. Tombes to be frequently employed in baptizing maids naked] Let him search and judge." "Would not vain young men come to a baptizing to see the nakedness of maids, and make a mere jest and sport of iti" In another part he says: "If you would be i-uled by me, you should not endeavour to intro- duce into the church a custom for any young minister or neighbour so much as to look on a bathing Bathsheba or Susannah, Ijut to those Tvdthout the name of a church and a stew, and Presbyter and Panderer, a Christian and a forni- cator, to pure Simonians."'"' Mr, Tombes had urged that the water need not be cold. Baxter replied : " But then, he forsaketh the generality of his partners in this opinion, who, so far as we can leai'n, usually baptize in rivers and ponds. And if they can no better agree among themselves, we have no reason to be hasty in believing them." Kicher still is the following : "And his warm bath would be dangerous to many persons. And where shall this bath be prepared? If in private, it * Infant Church Membership, pp. 136, 137, 245. THE COMMONWEALTH. 187 will scarcely be a solemn engaging act. If in the meeting place of the church, then it will take up no small room, and require no small stir to have a bathing place and water wherein to dip people overhead. 2. If they do not run home quickly, before they are well engaged, the hot bath will be turned into a cold one to them, and make them repent this badge of repentance, except they will have all things ready, and be brought to bed also in the church before the peojile.""' This is a fair sample of the way in which the doctrine and practices of our brethren were treated. God's judgment had fallen on them. Hated of men, the indignation of heaven was not less clear, says Baxter, t In 1652, various parties in Leicestershire presented a petition to the House, asking for liberty of conscience : and on the 2nd of April following a similar one was presented, entitled, " The humble petition and representation of several churches of God in London, commonly, though falsely, called Anabaptists," which was gracioiisly accepted. J CromAvell always entered on his engagements in the spirit of enlightened piety. Every enterprise was sanctified by devo- tion. His dependence on God was always recognised. Before entering on his arduous woi'k in Ireland, such a scene was witnessed as seldom sanctifies the palace of the great or the council chamber of the warrior. Before embarking at Mil- ford, a day of fasting and prayer was observed. These solemn occasions were now frequent. Their influence was benignant and elevating. The form of dependence on God, if not its vital power, met you everywhere in the camp and in the field. 1| On this occasion three ministers led the devo- * Infant Church Membership, p. 135. + The reader will find Baxter's proofs of this, as he thinks, on p. 147. X Vide Christian Moderator ; or, Persecution for Religion Condemned. By William Birckley. Part ii. , p. 4. 1652. II "No man swears but he pays his 12d. If he be drunk, he is set in the stocks, or worse. If one calls the other Roundhead, he is cashiered, insomuch that the counties whence they come leap for joy of them, and 188 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. tions of the assembly. Then the mighty chief expounded some portions of the Divine Word suitable to the occasion, and then Colonels Gough and Harrison followed in the same strain.* Interested in the spii'itual welfare of the troops, and aiming at the diifusion of right views of religion, wherever he went his chaplain always attended him, and sometimes he selected as his companions men of the highest moral worth and distinguished talents. The policy of this Avill be evident to every thoughtful reader. Dr. Owen was honoured, by command of the Parliament, to attend the general. In the same train, probably as chaplain to one of the colonels or regiments, was Thomas Patient, the co-pastor of William Kiffin. It is probable that, in that fiercely Romish country, the doctrines held by Patient and his brethren were unknown. He was a man of zeal and great moral worth. Fixing on Dublin as the seat of his opera- tions, he soon gathered a church in that city, and by the aid of other brethren, in a comparatively short time other cities were blessed with churches of our faith. C. Blackwood was in Ireland about this period, and laboured with some success at Wexford. In 1653, churches existed in Dublin, Water- ford, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick, Wexford, Carrick- come in and join with them. How happy were it if all the forces were thus disciplined ! "— D' Aubigne's Protectorate, p. 65. "' Penalties for Public Swearing. — A lord of any degree to be fined 30s.; a baronet or knight, 20^. ; an esquire, 10s. ; a gentleman, 6s. 8d. ; and all inferiors, 3s. id. Double for the second, and so on to the ninth, and for the tenth, to be bound for their good behaviour. On women the like penalties. A wife or widow, to pay according to the quality of her hus- band; a maiden, that of her father. Penalties recoverable by distress and sale of goods, and in default thereof, the party, if above twelve years of age, to be set in the stocks; if under, to be publicly whipt." — 1650. Parliamentary Histoiy, vol. iii. , p. 1351. * We have given evidence already of the devout spirit of these hardy warriors, but we cannot forbear adding the testimony of the great Chilling- worth here: "I observe," he says, "a great deal of piety in the com- manders and soldiers of the Parliament army. I confess their discourse and behaviour do speak them Christians. But I can see little of God or godliness in our men." — Life, p. 331, THE COMMONWEALTH. 189 fergus, and Kerry. Mo.st of these })laces were strongholds of Rome, and the members composing these congregations ■were probably drawn from the troops of the Commonwealth. Ivimey has given some corresj)ondence from these churches to the churches in London.* Patient and his brethren will come under our notice in a subsequent page. There are allusions in this correspondence to churches in Scotland as well :is Wales. The origin of the former cannot, in modem times, be traced to an earlier period than Crom- well's campaign in these northern regions. Tnie it is, there were churches already existing in the north of England. Broughton, Hexham, if not Newcastle, had congregations of Baptists. But of their influence beyond their own circle we know nothing.f "The principal officers," says a writer of this time, " in different regiments of horse and foot, became Baptists, pax-ticularly in Oliver Cromwell's own regiment, when he was General of all the Parliament forces, and in the Duke of Albemarle's (Geo. Monk), when he was General of all the English forces in Scotland." Religion in Scotland at this time was very low. The form existed, but the life was going. There were splendid sepulchres in which truth was entombed. From a multitiide of proofs lying before us, our space allows us only to select one. It shall be that of H. Binning, a man of saintly character : " Set aside your public sei-vices," says he, ''and professions; and is there anything behind, in your conversations, but drunken- ness, lying, swearing, contention, envy, -wrath, covetousness, and such like? Have not the multittide been as evil, and carried themselves as blamelessly, as the tlu-ong of our visible church? Wliat have ye more than they? What, then, are the most part of you? Ye neither bow the knee in secret nor in your families.''^ The condition of such a people * History, vol. i., pp. 240, 252. + Douglas's History of the Baptist Churches in the North of England, chap. L, p. 3, &:c., &c. X Works, p. 546. Vide Rutherford's Testimony. Kiiion's Hist, of the 190 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. would excite the sympathy jind call forth the efforts of our brethren. Upon them the spirit of the great ]\Iaster rested. Both the officers and men in the humbler ranks felt for them, and, as opportunity presented itself, when free from their warlike duties, they preached the Gospel to them, and sought to give their Presbyterian countrymen clearer notions of the nature of Christ's kingdom, and the individuality of religion. Cromwell's dealings with the Scotch place this beyond all doubt. There is a singularly interesting testi- mony by Burnet to tlie conduct of our brethren : " I remember well of three regiments coming to Aberdeen. There was an order and discipline, and a face of gravity and piety among them, that amazed all people. Most of them were Independents and Anabaptists. They were all gifted men, and preached as they were moved."* The efforts of these bi-ethren were successful. Converts were won to the faith, and at an early period of the war a church was formed at Leith, which had fraternal intercourse with the one at Hexham. In other parts of the country, as it was brought under the authority of the Commonwealth, they acted with the same zeal. An example is before us which we quote from one of the News Letters of that period: "There was a dispute begun at Cupar in Fife, on Tuesday last, between one Mr. Brown, chaplain to Colonel Fail-fax's regiment, and one James Wood, a Scotch ministei'. Many people were present, but the discourse referred till Thursday following, upon these three heads, viz. : 1 st. Whether Adam, by his sin, contracted in mankind a temporal death only or a spiritual and eternal death. 2nd. Whether infant baptism be groimded on the Word of God or no. 3rd. Con- Clmrcli of Scotland, p. 54. A short time before, "the clergy of Scotland had procured strict orders from the Commissioners of the State for the persecuting of the sectaiies, and have a great arbitrary power against them ; and they are purged out of the army as well as the malignants." — AVhitelocke. Apud, 1G50. * Own Times, vol. i., p. 58. THE COilMONWEALTU. 191 cernlng the redemption," &e* "Their zeal," says Mr. Douglas, " was increased when Monk left the army to command the fleet against the Dutch, in the beginning of 1G53, leaving IMajor-General Robert Lilburne in command of the troops in Scotland. General Lilburne himself was a Baptist, and gave to the Baptists eveiy facility to promote their peculiar views of Divine truth, and any Baptist muiis- ter from England who A-isited Scotland met with his warm regard and especial protection." Mr. Douglas gives examples of tliis. Lilburne was anxious to employ gifted brethren as chaplains. For his own family he wanted one, whilst "there were divers honest Scotch people that longed to be gathered into the same Gospel order as with themselves, but Ahey wanted a faithful pastor, "f These movements we must leave for the present. In a subsequent page we shall have more to say about them. The Constitution had undergone various changes during this period. Circumstances demanded, and, perhaps, fully justified them. The Long Parliament had been dismissed. In 1G53 another Parliament wixs called. The summons was by order of the Lord General. Only 150 persons were requested to attend the Council Chamber at Whitehall. Amongst the individuals was Mr. Praise God Barebones, by whose name this Parliament has been designated. He was pastor, as we have seen, of one of the London churches. The Assembly, though only short-lived, passed some important measures, alike tending to the social and religious improvement of the nation. We can only indicate one or two as bearing some- what on the design of this work. An Act was passed, August 24th, 1653, and which continued in force till the Restoration. It recognised marriage as a mere civil con- * A Perfect Diurnal, No. 150, October 25, 1652. t Douglas, pp. :-53, 34. "The fact was, the army in Scotland had been already filled with these people by Lilburne, a fanatic Anabaptist, who had been left in command there."— Life of Monk, by Guizot, p. 76. Note by the translator, J. S. "Wortley. 192 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. tract, and provided tliat the " age for a man to consent unto marriage shall be sixteen years, and the age of a woman fourteen years, and not before." It required proof of the consent of the parents or guardians if either party were under the age of twenty-one. The follomng is the form, without a ring : " The man to be married, taking the woman to be mai-ried by the hand, shall plainly and distinctly pronovince these words: I, A B, do here, in the presence of God, the Searcher of all hearts, take thee, C D, to be my wedded wife; and do also, in the presence of God, and before these witnesses, promise to be unto thee a loving and faithfid hus- band." The same form is used by the woman, except her promise to be an obedient wife. No other marriage, from the 29th day of September, 1653, was to be held as a legal one.* Measures were also taken for improving the Chancery Courts. Tithes were discussed; and the right of presentation to Church livings was taken away. But the intelligence and clearsightedness of the House was manifested especially in its attempts to form the vast and varied acts of the Legisla- tui'e into a simple and consistent code. The project was a noble one. To a committee the whole question was refen-ed. Upon their task the members entered, and had proceeded with zeal and success in their great enterprise, when their labours and existence were closed by the hand which had called them into being. The little Parliament was dissolved. There was much of public \irtue in this Assembly. They possessed no common portion of that wisdom and penetra- * Burton's Diary, vol. ii., pp. 38, 39. The cliairman of the committee on this bill, Mi-. Nichols, was a Baptist. " Three several Lord's days then next following, at the close of the morning servdce in the public meeting place, commonly called the chui'cli or chapel, or (if the parties to be married shall desire it) in the market-place, on three market days next following."— Burton, vol. ii., p. 44. "They went tlirough the old ceremony of hand-fasting or espousing. This was done ia Mr. Angier's study a month before the day appointed for their marriage. The entire day was spent in prayer, except that there was a sermon preached by Mr. Nathaniel Ruthband. At the close of it, the parties were contracted." — Notice of Heywood's Marriage. Hunter's Life of O. Heywood, p. 91. THE COMMONWEALTK. 193 tion into the spirit and consequence of social institutions which might seem to qualify them to secure essential benefits to that age, and to ages which should succeed. But they had no solid foundation to repose upon. Their courage was too great for their strength.* The fact is, the will of the General was their law : beyond that they had no power. Cromwell had for some time wielded the supreme power of the State. It now suited his policy, and probably the best interests of the nation, that he should more for- mally assume it. With a magnificence scarcely inferior to royal coronations, he was, on the 16th of December, 1G53, in the presence of the Council, the mayor and aldermen of tlie city, and the judicial and civil ofiicers of the State, installed into his high office, as " Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Irelaml, and of the dominions thereunto belonging." The city, at least, if not the nation at lai'ge, had been prepared for this by a document issued by the Council some time before. This State paper contains some forty-two articles. It is too long for insertion in these pages. Only two can we give as bearing on the subject of our narrative. The 36 th declares, " That none be compelled to conform to tlie public religion, by penalties or otherwise ; but that endeavoui-s be used to win them by sound doctrine and the example of a good conversation." The 37th, " That such as profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, though diflFering in judgment from the doctrine, worship, or discipline publicly held forth, shall not be restrained from, but shall be protected in, the profes- sion of their faith and exercise of their religion, so as they abuse not this liberty to the civil injury of others, and to the actual disturbance of the public peace on their part; pi"o- vided this liberty be not extended to Popery or Prelacy, or to such, under a profession of Christ, as hold forth and practise licentiousness." Another article provides that all the * Goodwin's Commonwealth, vol. iiL, chapters 30 and 34. N 194 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. penal laws contrary to this liberty shall be null and void. Greatly as these concessions were in advance of former governments, they fall far short of the full liberty of con- science for which the Baptists had long pleaded. Romanists and Episcopalians were still under the ban of the State, while the Pi-esbj'terian platform was fully recognLsed as the religion of the nation."' The difficulties of the Loi'd Protector were rather increased by his assumption of this high office. It not only did not weaken the hatred which in many quarters had long rankled in the breasts of many, but it greatly diminished the number of his warmest friends. The Royalists and EpiscojDalians saw their sanguine hopes for a restoration of the Stuarts and their return to spiritual power, dispelled, with little or no prospect of their speedy return. The Presby- * Look at these. Tlie former is from Nye, the assumed assertor of religious liberty in the assembly of diviues ; the latter is from the pen of a persecuted Anabaptist. " For persons and causes, spu-itual or ecclesias- tical, that are properly and indeed such, as fii-st-table duties, which con- tain matters of faith and holiness, and what conduceth to the eternal welfare of men's souls, an interest and duty there is in the civil magis- trate, more sua, to give commands, and exercise baneful jurisdiction about things of that nature. And for persons, there is no man for his grace so spiritual, or, in respect of his gifts and office, so eminent, but he is under the government of the civil powers in the place where he lives, as much, in all respects, as any other subject." — Quoted by Tombcs, Theodulia, p. 181. "But I demand why sects should not be tolerated? Thou wilt, haply, answer. Because they hold and teach errors, v/hereby people are seduced. Well, and can we think tliat there is any church in the world (at this day) that doth not so in some measiu-e ? Else what need were there of further reformation, which yet all churches almost confess they stand in need of ? . . . Yea, I desire you to consider this, that there are not two men to be found in the world, how learned or godly soever, that in all things concerning God's word and worship are of one and the same judgment, b\it vary in their opinions more or less, as may easily be proved upon occasion." — Tuthill, pp. 10, 11. "I judge it his duty to suffer no man (that otherwise liveth an honest sober life) to be molested, much less persecuted, for his conscience sake ; but to be a nursing father unto all Christians and Jews, causing that, under him, they may live in peace, in godliness, and honesty, according to their own consciences, and that he be found a terror only to those that do evil, and that he subject. THE COMMONWEALTH. 195 terians detested the toleration' of the sects, and denounced, from the pulpit and the press, the liberty conceded by the Articles above-mentioned. But 'the most formidable of all were the Republicans. They were numerous in the array and in the nation, and they beheld, with unmiugled anger, the destruction of theii* long-cherished political oi-ganization by the man whom they had aided in his extraordinary advance to power*. Amongst them we shall find many of our brethren taking an active part. But the genius of the Protector triumphed. By his skill and management he not only defeated every plot against him, and they were many, but raised the nation to an vmparalloled degree of glory. Nothing in the past can compare with the prowess of his fleets and the skill of his diplomacy. In all his undertakings success awaited him. The continent feared him ; the perse- cuted found in him a shield from their adversaries; the commerce of England found, under his guidance, new fields for enterprise and gain; whilst religion, literature, and science at home floiuished under his patronage. To other sources our readers must turn for the history of his reign. The right of the Government to interfere in matters of religion was always admitted by the mass of the nation. All sects conceded this, with the exception of our brethren. The evidence is overwhelming. The most enlightened of Non- conformists pleaded for toleration for themselves, but not for all. Hence the legislatoi's had been allowed to deal wdth purely religious questions; — to settle disputes between conflicting (in his dominions), tlie foresaid Mysterious Kingdom, and reduce the Cliurch ministry unto the simplicity of the Gospel, allowing them onlj' God's allowance, viz., the authority of pastors in their own congregations imto which they minister, hut no other, either in Church or Common- wealth, more than other common men have. If it should he put to all of them (learned Christians) hy the poll, to resolve this question, AVill you he content that the magistrates should leave religion free, so as any one might freely exercise the worship of God according to the light lit up in his own conscience, as they have in Holland? I fear greatly that there would scarce he found one in a thousand afiiiinative votes to this ques- tion. " — Tuthill's Mysterious Kingdom, p. 9. 196 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. creeds, and to sequester ministers of immoral and doubtful character, and to fill up tlie vacancies by tlioroughly oi-tho- dox men. One of the early acts of the Protector and his Council was to transfer this power, in part, if not entirely, to a number of leading divines of various sections of the church. Their business was to investigate the claims of candidates for the ministry, — not only their mental, but theii- moral fitness for the work, — to inquire " into the grace of God in the candidate, his holy and unblameable conversation; also into his knowledge, and utterance, and fitness to preach the Gospel." This Board of Examiners, " Tryers," as they wei*e called, consisted of thirty-eight men, selected from the Pres- byterian, Independent, and Baptist bodies. Of the latter there were thi'ee — John Tombes, D. Dyke, and H. Jessey. Acceptance of such an office would excite surprise in the present day. It appears to us to violate many of our cherished principles. Still reasons might be urged, of no small weight, to justify their conduct. The mere examina- tion of men, as to their religious character, might not have appeai-ed to them inconsistent with their own teaching. The labours of these men were most onerous. Into the vacant churches they introduced men of piety and zeal, and perhaps at no period — certainly not during the time of the church's unchecked magnificence and power — was tlie moral state of the nation so elevated. It is useless to talk of the formality and hypocrisy of the people, of the cropped hair and nasal twang of tlie men. The days of Heylin and Hudibras are past. Under the outward form there was a substratum of earnest piety which dignified human nature, and which stands in the boldest contrast to the awful impiety of the succeeding reign.* Baxter had not much sympathy with the men. The presence of Anabaptists w^ould give him an im- * "It is related of "Wilson, the Puritan reformer of Maidstone, a member of the Assembly of DiA-ines, that he brought the parish to that state, that not a rose or flower was suffered to be gathered on the Lord's day."— Life of O. Heywood by Hunter, p. 11. THE COMMON WEALTH. 197 mixed dislike to the board. Still he says* : — " They saved many a congregation from ignorant, ungodly, drunken teachers — that sort of men who intend no more in the ministiy than to say a sermon as readers say their Common Prayers on Sundays, and all the rest of the -week go -with the people to the alehoiise, and harden them in sin; and that sort of niinistei's who either preached against a holy life, or preached as men who were never acquainted with it. These they usually rejected, and in their stead admitted of any that were able, serious preachers, and lived a godly life, of what tolerable opinions soever they were ; so that though many of them were a little partial for the Independents, Separatists, fifth monarchy men, and Anabaptists, and against the Prelatists and Arminians, yet so great was the benefit above the hurt which they brought to the church, that many thousands of souls blessed God for the faithful ministers whom they let in, and grieved when the Prelatists afterwards cast out."t Another ordinance followed, appointing a lay commission for every county, with ten or more of the gi-avest and most noted ministers as their assistants, for rejecting scandalous, ignorant, and inefficient ministers. Any five of these had power to call before them any minister or schoolmaster who " is, or shall be, reported of this character." Their labours were arduous, and were discharged with much fidelity. "They * "Yet, as the world goes, it is not safe to speak all or half the wickedness of the Anabaptists now living, which the history of the age will speak to posterity." — Baxter's Infant Church Membership, p. 201. + The candidate "was called to expound before the Presbytery some given text. If the Presbytery were satisfied, an intimation was forwarded to the parish to which the candidate was appointed, and a notice affixed to tlie cliurch doors, to the effect that a certain number of the parishioners should appear before the Presbytery to signify their consent, or other- ■ivise to forward their exception. If no exception was taken, the candi- date was ordained in the church in which he was to serve. The ceremony consisted of preaching, prayer, a declaration of faith on the part of the candidate, and the imposition of hands," &c. — Lathorp's English Epis- copacy, p. 204. 198 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. were a greater terror," says Neal, "to the fanatics and visionaries of those times, than to the regular clergy of any denomination." Many hard drinkers and scandalous hypo- crites were removed from the church, in many districts of the country, by the laboui-s of these men. The commission was continued till some time after the Protector's death. Wales was blest with one also, the influence of which was soon seen in the improved morals and religious state of the then wildish mountaineers. To other topics we must now turn. The Baptists, as a body, appear to have had no sympathy with the Tryers. Against their appointment and their work, many of them from various parts of the country pro- tested. In the metropolis a very large assembly met, and protested against their proceedings. Their sentiments were made known in a publication issvied in 1654, in which they condemn the Tryers, and say, " Is not the new Court of Tryers at Whitehall for ministers of like make with the High Commission Court? The grave image of the worldly powers creating a worldly clergy for worldly ends; highly scandalous; against the rule of the Gospel and the faith of Christ; and as much to be exploded as the Pope and the prelates."* This protest was signed by the following, selected from a mass of names in the city and country, and especially Kent: — "Ten from the church that walks with Mr. Feake, now a close prisoner for the cause of Christ in Windsor Castle; seven in the name of the church that walks with Dr. Chamberlin; twenty-five in the name of the whole body that walks with Mr. Rogers, now a prisoner for this cause in Lambeth ; thirteen of the church that walks with Mr. Raworth ; fourteen with Mr. Knollys ; nine of the church that walks with Mr. Simpson ; twelve of the church that walks with Mr. Jessey; twenty-two of the church that * A Declaration of certain Churches of Christ and Godly People in and about the City of London, concerning the Kingly Interest of Christ, and the Patient Suffeiings of His Cause and Saints in England. THE COMMONWEALTH. 199 walks with Mr. Barebones ; eighteen (if the church that walks with Lieutenant-Colouel Fenton; and thii-teeii of the church that walks with Justice Highland."* That Cromwell was favourahle to the Baptists admits of no doubt. Their aid he had received, and on them he could generally rely. In his own family circle they wore found ;t in his most secret councils they liad participated ; and some of his most trusted generals belonged to this body.j. Against them his anger was now excited, and vigorous cttbi-ts were made to crash their growing power. Both these facts are clearly stated by Baxter : — " The Sectarian party in his army, and elsewhere, he chiefly trusted to, and pleased, till by the pcojile's submission and quietness he thought himself well settled : and then he began to undermine them, and by degrees to work them out. And though he had so often spoken for the Ayiabaptists, he now finds them so heady, and so miich against any settled Government, and so set upon the promoting of their way and party, that he doth not only begin to blame their unndiness, but also designeth to settle himself in the people's favour by supjiressing them. In * A Declaration of certain Churches of Christ and Godly People in and about the City of London, concerning the Kingly Interest of Christ, and the Patient Sufferings of His Cause and Saints in England, p. 21. t Charles Fleetwood, Colonel and Lord-Deputy of Ireland. "Tliis pitifiU Anabaptist was Oliver's son-in-law, and, upon that score, advanced to be Lieutenant-Genera] of the army; for merit he never had any." —Mystery of the good Old Cause briefly unfolded. — Fiit^e Pari. Hist., vol. iii., p. 1597 (Appendix). The Desboroughs were also closely connected with them. :J: Baxter attributes much to their influence. In the Parliament, in the treatment 6i the king, in the Scottish wars, in the purging of the uni- versities, in the ejecting of improper ministers, "the Anabaptists were the forwardest in this work." All this occurs as an apology for the alrase which the good man had heaped on them. — Vide More Proofs of Infant Chui-ch Membership, p. 216. " It nearly concerned him (Cromwell) to make much of the Anabaptists and Sectaries, which now succeeded Inde- pendency as the religion maintained and favoured above all others ; and Kiffin, a great leader and teacher, was now in great request at the court in Whitehall."— Heath's Chronicles, p. 355. 200 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Ireland they were grown so Iiigli, that the soldiers were many of them re-baptized as the way to preferment; and they who opposed them were crushed with uncharitable fierceness. He sent his son Henry Cromwell into Ireland, who mightily supprest them, and carried it so obligingly to all that he was generally beloved; so that Major-General Ludlow, who headed the Anabaptists in Ireland, was forced to submit. And though he long connived at his old friend Harrison, the head of the Anabaptists here, yet finding it would be an acceptable thing to the nation to suppress him, he doth it in a trice, and makes him contemptible who but yesterday thought himself not much below him; — as easily also to the full doth he lay by Lambert : w-hich were very pleasing actions."* Many of these were dissatisfied with the Government. They wei-e republican from principle. They had risked theii- lives and shed their blood for the Commonwealth. Their favourite Constitution had crumbled before their eyes. The labours and risks of years had vanished from before them ; and they dreaded the restoration of a monarchy in the person of the Lord Protector, as fraught with great evils to religion and the State. Their numbers, their influence, their talents, were not despicable. Hence the policy and the conduct of the Protector towards them. In a letter addressed to liitj Highness in 1654, we have some glimpses of these facts. The writer says : — " The way you intend to take to bring about this design (the reform of the church) is twofold. 1. To purge the army of the Anabaptists. 2. To do it by degrees. But oh! Oliver, is this thy design? And is this the way to be rid of the Anabaptists? And is this the reason, because they hinder the reforming the things amiss in the church? I confess they have been enemies to the Pres- bjrterian church; and so were you when at Dunbar, in Scotland, or at least you seemed to be so by your words and * Baxter's Life, pp. G9, 70. THE COMMONWEALTH. 201 actions; for you speake as pure Independency as any of us all then, and made this an argument why we should fight stoutly, because we had the prayers of the Independent and baptized churches. So highly did you seem to love the Anabaptists then, that you did not only invite them into the army, but entei-tain them in your families; but it seems the case is altered. But do not deceive yourself, nor let the priests deceive you ; for the Anabaptists are men that will not be shuffled out of their birthrights as freeborn people of England. And have they not filled your towns, your cities, your provinces, your castles, your navies, your tents, your armies, except that which went to the West Indies, which prosper so well] Your coux't, your very Council is not free; only we have left your temples for yourself to worship in. So that I believe it will be a hard thing to root them out, although you tell the Scottish lord you will do it by degi-ees, as he reports.""' The writer then asks: — " 1. Whether yoii had come to that height you are now in, if the Anabaptists had been as much your enemies as they were your friends'? 2. Whether the Anabaptists were ever unfaithful either to the Commonwealth, oth friends and enemies, who formerly knew my lord. Sir, I dare adde no fui-ther to your trouble at ))resent, but begge you would pardon, " Su-, your faithfidl Servant in the Lord, "T. Haekison. "Dublin, 8ber 17, 1G55."* Tlie anxiety of the Government, and the extent and influ- ence of our brethren in this country, may be accounted for by several facts. Goodwin assures us that the majority of new * Vol. xxxi.,p. 207. o 210 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. settlers planted in Ireland by Cromwell and his officers were Baptists, that the leading officers of the victorious troops belonged to that community, and that, by the influence of Fleetv.'ood, a Baptist was made Lord Chancellor and a Privy Councillor. On the retirement of Fleetwood, the second son of the Protector was made Lord-Deputy. From his pen we have an expression of the hopes and fears of the Government. We arrange them in the oi'der in which they occur. Lord Henry thus writes : — " Here, about the head- quai-ters, as also those in other parts of the nation, are abundantly' satisfied and well pleased with the present Government in England; unless it be some few inconsider- able persons of the Anabaptist judgment, who are also quite, though not very well contented; but I believe they will I'eceive much satisfaction from a letter lately come into their hands from Mi\ Kiffin and Spilsburj^, in which they have dealt very homely and plainly with those of that judgment here. But I must say this, that if they had been inclinable to have made disturbance, they had sufficient encouragement from those in chief places here, who have managed business of late with much peevishness and forwardness, endeavouring to render the Government as unacceptable as possibly they could, especially Ludlow and Jones."" From another pen Thurloe is informed: — "Upon the first knowledge of this great alteration, the A(nabaptists) were much troubled, many of their objections being against the title of ' Highness' and 'Protector,' which they conceive are to be attributed to God alone. Some were also grounded upon his reports of my lord's sitting at table alone, and being served on the knees. But that which I find to lie at the bottom is this, that the late Parliament did countenance their way more than any others; and that his Highness was privy to, if not instrumental to their breaking up, and that at a time when * H. Cromwell to Thmloe, 8th March, 1653. State Papers, vol. ii., p. 149. THE COMMONWEALTH. 211 they were parsing a glorious reforming Act, tlio taking away tithes, the maintenance of the rotten clergy. Their invec- tives and deri.si^•e expressions were many and frequent, and nsed by the chief of them." Allusion also to Kiffin and Spilsbury's letter occurs in this letter, and to other matters.* " Sii-, as to your grand affairs of Ii-eland, especially as to the Anabaptist pai-ty, I am con6dent they are much conceived in England. Truly, I am apt to believe that on the change of affairs hei-e was discontent enough, but very little ani- mosity : for certainly never yet any faction, so well fortified by all the oflBcers, civil and military, almost in the whole nation, did quit their interests with more silence. Some two or three were at the first impiisoned for plots and libels, which caused such a general compliance, that should a stranger arrive here now, ho would never believe that there had been any difference, unless upon the Sabbath a congre- gation may be discovered of which Mr. Patient is pastor, from whose church those in profitable employment daily do dcclaim."t "I hear of some strange passages of your Ajia- baptists of Dublin, to the grief and offence of Lord Henry Cromwell. I do marvel what that people would have. My lord's demeanour hath been such everywhere since his coming, that godly people generally speak well of him, and are much satisfied with him. But the Anabaptists, I hear (especially those of Dublin, for I heard our Governor, Col. Leigh, much commend him), are not pleased. Surely the pride and uncharitableness of that people shall ere long bring them low. I hope Lliat the horrid schism of the Anabaptists, the madness of the Quakers, &c. &c., should all ply that petition more, ' Thy kingdom come,' " &c.+ " Can his High- ness believe that the Anabaptists were, especially those " Letter of J. Lloyd to Thurloe. Dublin, March 13, 1653. Vol. ii., pp. 163, 164. t R. Jennings to W. Howard. Thurloe, vol. ii., p. 213. J Edward Wales to Dr. Harrison. Dublin, 14th of 10th montli, 1G55, Thurloe, vol. iv., p. 314. 212 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. here, to be his best and most faithful friends; and that when others -vvill desert him they "will stand by him, as Colonel Harrison says] But let the sober, good people throvighout Ireland be asked their knowledge, they will be able to tell you, that when they appeared for the owning of his High- ness, these men did openly deny him; and not only so, but reproached and reviled those who did own him, and I am confident have marked him out for revenge, if ever the scale should turn. Let us not be deceived. You wrote me word in your last of Day's and Sympson's can-iage. Dare they be so bold if they had not good backs? How long have the Anabaptists and they been at odds? From whence comes John SjToapson? We have cause to bless the Lord that he had not left us to such a spirit. It is good to use tenderness towards them. I have done it, and shall still do it; but shall withal be careful to keep them from power who, if they had power, would express little tenderness towards those that would not submit to their way."* " I have since my return been more courted by the Anabaptists than formerly. Mr. Patient and some others, who had not been with me of a long time before, came to -visit me, and expressed much as to their satisfaction with my management of things here, and that then- people had as much liberty as they could desire ; and much to the same purpose. What this means, I must of a sudden imagine. I shall, as formerly, cany it with all moderation towards them."t The only other allusions we shall give for the present are the fol- lowing: — "I am glad the ministers parted so well satisfied; only it is said, that not only those inclined to Anabaptism disliked the proceedings, but that the soberest Independents were and are dissenters to most of the things agreed on," &c, J * H. Cromwell to Tliurloe. Dublin, Dec. 22, 1655. Thurloe, vol. iv., p. 348. t Letter from H. Cromwell. Dublin, 22d Oct., 1656. Thurloe, voL i., p. 731. t Thurloe to H. Cromwell. Whitehall, June 4, 1658. Vol. viL, p. 153. THE CO.MMONWEALTU. 213 "The Anabaptists seem, for the major party here, to be neither j^^'o nor con: they neither rejoice with those that rejoice, nor moiuii with those that mourn, as to the present; but they still look like a Commonwealth of their own," &c.* "He (Fleetwood) then began to tell me of dissatisfaction amongst the Anabaptists, Independents, and others pro- fessing godliness ; offered his help and assurance to write and compose, and to that end he would bring the most discon- tented of all parties to set meetings. You know I have had my shai-e of trouble by the Anabaptists. And now things were reduced to that calm state that I have not since that time heard the least stir or complaint from them, but at that time many professions of abundant satisfaction from the chief amongst them. The Independents were thus above measui-e pleased; and the fresh joy of being delivered from the reign of the Anabaptists gave him no time to think of setting up for himself't Many of these had embraced the doctrine of the personal reign of Christ. In history they are classed with the fifth monarchy men of this j)eriod. The doctrine was not confined to our brethren. Men of distinction in other communities held it. The opinion was probably not more common then than now. They not only taught this, but apparently regarded the saints as the only fit persons for rulers. The fact is not very clear. Warwick charges them with this, but his competency to judge, or his honesty in describing, may often be ques- tioned: — " For by this time the officers of the army, especi- ally Harrison and his fifth monarchy men, pretended Christ was only to reign and his government to be exercised by the saints, new distinctions are raised betwixt the people of the land (who were not promiscuously to be trusted with the choice of their own representatives) and the people of God, who were both to choose and fill up the vacant places; and * Letter to Thurloe. Leith, June 22, 1658. Thurloe, vol. vii., p. 194. t H. CromweU to Monk. June 23, 1658. Thurloe, vol. vii., p. 199. 214 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. in such persons it was fit only to lodge the supreme autho- rity, men fearing God and of approved sincerity."* These attemjits, like most others against the Protector's Government, were abortive. His genius penetrated every plot, and at the most fitting time defeated it. It was so in this case. An order was issued about Feb. 19, 1655, by which Major-General Harrison, Colonel Eich, and others, were placed under arrest, t How soon after the general was liberated we know not, but his zeal was not exhausted. We find him at large agaiu, and with his friends pursuing the same course. Two years later tlian his fii-st imprison- ment (Feb., 1G57), Ci-omwell issued his commands to one of his ofiicers in these words: — "Sii-, I desire you to seize Major-General Harrison, Mr. Carew, Portman, and such as are eminent fifth monarchy men, especially Fecike and Rogers: do it speedily, and you shall have a warrant after you have done.":}: Eegaining their liberty, they, with other repub- licans, made an attempt the year after, but were seized, and Harrison, Lawson, Rich, and Col. Dan vers, with some of their accomplices, were confined in the Gate House tDl the death of the Protector.il We have entered into these details, as tending to illustrate some important movements in our body during this period of our history. Other matters will now claim the reader's attention. During Monk's absence from Scotland, Colonel Lilburne encouraged his brethren in their work of faith and labour of * Memoirs of Sir P. "Warwick, p. 40o. + Perfect Diurnal, 1655, p. 272. t A True and Impartial Narrative, kc, by Kingsley Bethel. Maseres Tracts, vol. iv., ji. .527. II Public Intelligence, April 13, 1657. A manifesto was issued, called "A Standard Set up, whereuuto the true Seed and Saints of the Most High may be gathered together for the Lamb, against the Beast and the False Prophet ; or the principles and declarations of the Eemnant who have waited for the blessed appearance and hope." Harrison, Admiral Lawson, Colonel Oakey, Portman, and others, had been consulted, but there is no proof that they united in the foolish enterprise.— r/(/'j Goodwin, vol. iv., chap. 24. THE COMMONWEALTH. 215 love. His troops contained many Baptists. In all their stations tlioy held their meetings. Aid from the churches in the North was sent at the Colonel's request, especially from the church at Hcxluun. Their succe.ss was considerable. Monlc's return in lG5i checked this. He had no sympathy with them. His deej), designing spirit, must often have been crossed by their manly uprightness and Christian simplicity. With the Presbyterians there was more of harmony. Their hatred to our brethren was intense. The Parliament of the nation, in 1652, had issued a declai-ation against the new Scotch dippei-s.* A memorial was presented to him from the Bajitist churches in IGoo, and another in 1G59, by the Baptists in and around Edinburgh, in which they asked for a toleration to all sects except Papists and Prelatists.+ The reply of Monk, as he was de})arting on his treacherous enterprise, was worthy of the deep-laid hypocrisy of the man. The following, presented to Monk in 16-54, may be taken as a specimen of these memorials. It probably refers to charges of attempts to overthrow the Government : — "Presented January 24, 1654. "To the El^ht Honourable General Monk, Comraander-iu-L'liief of all the Forces in Scotland. " The humble address of the baptized churches, consisting of officers, soldiers, and others, walking together in Gospel order, at St. Johnston's, Leith and Edinburgh. " May it please your honour, that good hand of Providence which called many of us into the armies, from the beginning of the late intestine troubles, hath also (to our comfort) kejit us hitherto free from those works of darkness which tend to division and confusion both in State and arm}'. Therefore we desire, by this our humble address, to vindicate om- integrity before men and angels from those calumnies lately cast upon us, making us the authors of dissention and distiu'b- ance to the publique ; when, on the contrary, our conscience bears us witness, that our weak endeavours have been to promote the publique * Wliitelocke, vol. iii., p. 480. t The former may be found in the Perfect Diurnal, No. 270, Feb., 1G55 ; the latter fact in Douglas's Hist., p. 43. Johnston's Ciicular Letter of the Baptist Union of Scotland will supply more details. 216 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. interest in the greatest danger and hardship ; for which also we have improved oivc portion in heaven, by prayers and tears to Him that was able to save. And seeing now at length we are so saved that we are brought (by a continued series of providences, through all the visible difficulties of twelve years' warr) unto a blessed hope and expectation of reaping a harvest of rest and peace, we are grieved, and cannot but mourn to see that raging spirit of enmitj' lie in the hearts of men bent to destroy their brethren ; some, like Core and his companies, labouring to turn the people from obedience to their leaders ; others by false surmisings and open reproaching, endea- vouring to exasperate the spirit of superiors against their people : so that if there be any enchantment against Jacob or divination against Israel, if men woiild have cursed where C4od hath blessed, they had, ere this, involved the nation into blood again ; and as no age since Israel's coming out of Egypt can j'^rallel the great and weighty works of God for a poor despised people, with this we live in, even so we are persuaded that there was never more subtilties of Sathan, imder specious pretences of religion and conscience, both in ecclesias- ticks and politicks, than this age hath produced. " Therefore we have cause to judge, that these late devices of some men are but new tricks of the old deceiver to subvert the founda- tions of good government, and hinder an established liberty to God's people, that in the midst of our divisions he might more easily strengthen his own kingdom, and in time bring a yoak again upon tlie necks of saints. But that which is our greatest tro*ble in the midst of these stirrs, is to see that any who have professed godhness, or any member of our body, should give the least occasion to be sus- j)ected to joyn hands with the workers of iniquity. By which mis- carriage, the honor of Christ, religion, and ourselves, lie obnoxious to the calumnies of such as delight to render our profession odious, and wait for occasion to say of us, as sometimes it was said of o\ir betters, * These are they that turn the world upside down ; charging us with despising dominion, and speaking evil of dignities, as if our designs were to pull down others, that we might set up ourselves.' Now, lest our silence in this day of slander should seem to plead lis guilty, we are prest in our consciences, first, in the deep sense of the honour of Christ that lies at stake. Secondly, out of duty to his High- ness, your Honor, and all good men, to present this our humble address, to clear our innocency from those unjust aspersions we are charged with, through the defect of one, we knowing none more under suspicion of guilt in this matter of our society. " We do, therefore, as in the presence of the Searcher of all hearts, declare, — THE COMMONWEALTH. 217 "1. That we are altogether innocent and ignorant of any plotting and contriving with any person whatsoever in this design spoken of, or in any other tending to division in State or army. "2. We doe disown all such (though our brethren) that were or may be found contrivers or fomentors of any of the aforesaid wicked devices, and bear our testimonies against such as great sinners, and as enemies to the publique peace and welfair of the nation. "3. We doe declare, hereby, freedom in owning the present raagis- tracj' and authority, by the providence of (iod set over us, in the hands of our present govern ours, and goveruour-in-chief, to whom we owe not only our civil subjection, for conscience sake, but also our prayers and supplications for a blessing upon their righteous endea- vours; and that at tlie end of their work they may receive that immortal crown of righteousness, as a reward for all that hath or shall be done by them for God and his i)Oor people. "4. Seeing it is the design of our enemies to brand us, as those that woidd throw down others to set up ourselves and interest, we doe humbly manifest as unto your Honor, so to all the world, that it is neither our opinion or desire that men of our judgment, or any other particiUar interest or faction of men so called, should be set up to lord it over their differing lirethren ; but count it mercy that there is a curbe upon each interest, and yet all have their liberty. As for our parts, we lay no other claim to State affairs, or great places, than our national birthright, in a peaceable subjection to the powers set over us. Our greatest expected freedom being quietly to worship God : which freedom we conceive is a fruit of the purchase of our dear Redeemer, an answer to prayers of many generations and a nine years' contest with tears and blood. And in this we are confident to have the favoiu-able aspect of his Highness the Lord Protector, your Honor, and all unbyassed Christians ; and as for those other expected good things for the nation, and ourselves as part, we are taught by the husbandman that laboureth, to wait with patience till the Lord caiise the early and latter rain of heaven to water the hearts of governors and govem'd, that the fruits of righteousness, love, and meekness, may more abimdantly appear in a wise and holy conver- sation ; then will magistrates be more apt to rule, and people more ready to obey, and the nations more fit to receive the mercies, which we fear their imworthyness hinders. "And now having freely opened our hearts, as in the presence of the Almighty, we dare appeal from heaven to earth, and let our enemies lie our judges; yea, if wee have done tliis, if iniquity be in our hands, let the enemy tread down our lives upon the earth, and lay down our honor in the dust ; but our defense is of God, as con- 218 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. siderecl this oiu* liiimble address (wherein we mind ouely plainness and truth, measuring our words with the upright meanings of our hearts), we may expect the continuance of your Honor's good affec- tions, which we shall always endeavour to answer in all humble sub- mission to your just conmiands, with earnest desire for a portion of that heavenly wisdom to direct you in going in and out before so great a people. If any thmk we plead too freely in our own cause, let them consider it's matter of fact we are charged with, and they will say it's lawful for us to plead not guilty ; and we desire the neces- sity of union amongst good men in this day, when division is our enemies' greatest strength, may make our apology for this trouble, there being nothing that will more rejoice oiu- hearts than to see the Lord's people in the nations and army to joyn hearts and hands with their leaders, to advance the great work of God begun in our days; wherefore we hope we shall not cease night and day beseech- ing the great Shepherd of Israel to give unto his people (scattered flock) one heart to fear him, tliat they may stand fast with one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel, that the beloved of his soul may be but one protector, Parliament ; and people, one general, commander, superior and inferior, fearing God ; to be all one in and for Christ, and the i)romotion of his kingdom in this world. Then might ^se assnredly exjiect that the Lord would go forth with our armies, that his glory would dwell in our camps, and that he woidd delight in us to do us good, and still use us as his poor instruments in the rest of his work, and at length cause righteous- ness, truth, peace, meekness, and sweetness to flow forth from rulers to people, from people to rulers : so shall all of ns have occasion to bless God for such magistrates, and they to bless God for such people ; and both rulers and people, with joynt consent, will have abundant cause to praise the Lord for his unspeakable mercy." Heatli tells iis, that "ou arri-ving at Leith, October 19th, lGo9, he turned all the Anabaptistical officers out of his regiments, and secured them in Tiniptallan Castle. His own lieutenant, Colonel Holmes, was an Anabajitist. They were afterwards removed to the Basse (the Bass Rock) Island, out of the way of all communication. "J The reason is obvious, from another fact which we select from the same Clironicle. Lambert, who had been ordered to check the progress ot the suspected general, had ma;iy Baptists in his array. * Chron., pp.430, 432. THE COMMONWEALTH. 219 " Relying on the army interest, and the Anabaptist party (now very numerous, and at this time the uppermost), for that had its turn, too, as well as the Presljyterians and Inde- pendents, but swayed not so long (all the other sects centre- ing here); for now was the time of the fulness and visible power of Zion, sis it was concluded by this people."* It is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain with any de- gree of accuracy the total number of Baptist churches at this time ; but one thing is certain, the rapidity of their increase. In the metropolis, in Kent, in the Midland counties, and in the northern parts of the island, they had multiplied greatly.t Better still, their order and discipline was assuming the form and consistency which now marks them. The facilities for personal intercourse with each other were exceedingly few. Travelling was not only difficult, but dangerous. Yet a deep fraternal interest in each other's spiritual welfare was cherished. They looked on each (thoiigh separate and independent communities) as forming one common brother- hood. They were the depositories of precious truth, luiknowii and rejected by other devout men. The purity of Christ's church — the individuality of religion — the freedom of con- science, were held by them ^vith a clearness found in no other community. To cherish and expand them, two plans were adopted by our brethren. One was, intercoui'se by * Chron.,p. 431. + One 01- two items of information we have gleaned since tlie above was written. In 1653, H. Jessey says : "That in the church meeting in Great All-Hallows, London, 200 have been baptized within these three years." That a messenger from his own church, and another from the one above, had been sent to visit churches in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, and to understand their way and orders, and to further love amongst them all that love our Lord Christ in sincerity and communion with theirs. . . They were received in the Lord by several churches — • about ten in Essex, as many in Suffolk, and as many in Norfolk— sound in the faith and holy in life ; though differing with some about the subject and manner of the ordinances of baptism, or some about such as laying on of hands, or blessing of children, or singing psalms or hymns or spiritual songs, as they were advised by those messengers. — Letter to the Church at Hexham, from the Church under H. Jessey's care. Douglas, p. 51. 220 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. letter with distant cliui'clies ; the other, the fraternal and voluntary union of churches in a given district for mutual Christian intercourse and prayer. In the former, the London chui'ches took the lead. " It hath pleased the Lord, we hope, to put into the churches in London, that there might be more knowledge taken of all the chui'ches of Christ in the nation, whereby they may the better know how to own them, and demean themselves to each other upon all occa- sions, confirming their love to each other, that they may sei-ve one another in love, as becometh saints; and, there- fore, it would much sadden our spirits if there should be any occasion, given or taken, amongst you, that you might not be upon the hearts of the chui'ches, in owning you as other churches." These letters were frequently sent also in cases of difficulty, arising from disputes on doctrine or dis- cipline. At times they were the expressions of various churches, and not unfrequently conveyed by some brother possessing the confidence of the brethren, as well fitted to discharge the onerqus duties of his mission. There was no authority assumed. The intercourse was of a purely frateraal kind. The following is a sample of these epistles : — "To the Chiirch of Clirist at Hexham. — 1653. "Dearly-beloved Bretheen m our Lord Christ, — We salute you in the Lord, prajang for the multiplying of grace and peace upon you, from God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. "The report of the work of God in you and for you, in persuading your hearts to obey his will in being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, whilst so many in all places endeavoiir to deter people from embracing the plain precepts of Christ, and liy all sorts of arts seem to darken the truth, and to continue the profane abiise of infant sprinkling on superstitious and Judaizing grounds, by which the refor- mation of the churches is hindered; and not only so, but that he hath kept you from those errors of universal grace — proficient, but becoming efifectual by the motion of man's will not determined by God, such other errors that corrupt other baptized people ; and that he timely discovered that counterfeit Jew, who was likely either to have corrapted you, or brought you into obloquy ; and the keeping you, as we hope, unspotted of the world ; — hath filled our hearts with joy, and enlarged our hearts with thanksgiving to God; and so much THE COMMONWEALTH, 221 the rather because we hope that from you the trixth of God may sound fartlicr, and your holy conversation provoke those that yet are averae from tho right ways of the Lord in \\ hich you walk, to con- sider their M'ays, and inquire after the mind of the Lord more earnestly; for all which reasons, and that there might be a holy correspondence held between us and you, as those that are members of one body, have one spu-it, ami called in one hope of t)ur calling — have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who is above all, and through all, and in you all — we have judged it our duty to "write unto you, that we might congratulate with you for tlie mercy and the grace of God vouchsafed to you, and assure you of our readiness to assist you in anything that may tend to youi' edification ; and to concur with you in any work of the Lord, where1)y the kingdom of Christ may be advanced, and the opposite dominion, of Mdiat sort soever, depressed. As for yourselves, though we are contidout that he who hath begun the good work in you will perfect it to the day of Jesus Christ, yet beiug sensible that you have potent adversaries, who will endeavour with all cunning and violence to cast you down to the earth, that you may lose your crown ; we think it safe for you that you Ije exhoi-ted by us to look to your garments that they be kept clean, and that you may be as ' the sous of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, amongst whom ye shine as lights in the world j' and because your steadfastness will rest much upon your order and imity, we beseech you that ye mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine you have received, and avoid them ; and that you obey them that are over you in the Lord, who watch for your souls as them that must give account to God, that they may do it vrith joy and not with grief. "Whatever differences may arise, labour to com- pose them among youi'selvcs, and to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ; let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others before themselves ; love humility, it will help nuich to unity ; take heed of lightness and inconstancy. If any have private opinions, let them not be dividged ; each one seek privately information of their teachers, or such as are onost able, and not zealously promote them without regard to the church's peace. Let every one study to be quiet, and to do his own business, remembering that as in the body all members have not the same ofhce, so it is in the chm-ch ; and, therefore, each member is to keep his own place, and thei-ein abide with God. "Brethren, if it had seemed good to the Lord, we should have been glad if our dwelling had been nearer, that we might have visited you in person; but the Lord otherwise ordering it, we have contented 222 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. ourselves only at this time to signif^r our miud to you by writing, hoping to hear from you of the grace of God to j^ou, in preser\T[ng and increasing you in the knowledge of Christ, and the love of God unto eternal life. We farther signify to you our longing to have mth you, and all the baptized churches that hold the faith purely, such communion as that we may, by letters or messengers, in some meeting or meetings, communicate to each other our knowledge for the testifying of each other, and obtaining of consent of doctrine among the churches ; and we further desire that there may be some certain way of approving and sending teachers from the cliurches, and of signifying to all churches of our communion who are approved or disallowed as teachers, or in case of removal as brethren, that the chiu'ches of God may not be deceived by such impostors as the coun- terfeit Jew with you, and that Popish and other devilish practices to divide or corrupt them may be prevented, though we hope the pastors in every church will be very watchfid in this thing. ' ' For the present we have no more to write to you, but to entreat your prayers for us as we for you, that you may stand complete in all the will of God, to whose tuition we commend you, and remain your strongly uuchamed brethren in the bonds of perfectness, and the unfeigned love of you in the Lord. "Signed, in the name of the church at Weston, near Permaid, in Herefordshire : — John Skinner, Teacher; John Street, John Skinner, Thomas Rudge, Brethren. "Do., church meeting at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire : — William Pritchard, Elder; Richard Rogers, Anthoney Hare, Brethren. "Do., baptized church in the Forest of Dean, in the county of Gloucester : — William Skinner, John Lills, Elders. "Do., church of Aintile, in Herefordshire: — John Tombcs, Pastor; John Patshall, John Warracklow, Elders. "Do., Beaudly, in Worcestershire: — Thomas Bolstonne, Philip Man, Piobert Girdler, Elders. "Do., the church at Netherton, in Gloucestershire: — Richard Harrison, Paul Frum, William Drew, Elders. "Do., in the city of Hereford: — R. Loudon, Pastor; Charles Powell, Steven Chamberlin. "Do., the church at Wormbredy :— John Bell, Francis Pobb. "Do., in Colman Street, Swan Alley, London (it coming to us the 2d of the 8th month, 1653) : — Henry Jessey, I'eacher ; George Bag- gett, George Wadde, Brethren."* The formation of Associations is traced to this period. * New Evangelical Magazine, vol. x. (1824). THE COMMONWEALTH. J^O They have long funned a source of healthful and pleasant intercourse to many. From various parts of the county or district, brethren came. Intercourse was not ea,sy. Roads existed more in name than in fact. No means of public transit existed, and commerce called individuals but rarely from their homes, or only to the next market town. These annual gatherings of the brethren were hailed as seasons of holy festivity. Men of note, both for piety and action, were brought together, and by their counsel and preaching greatly aided the church of God. The records of many of these early ones have been lost. From them, if they were at connuand, might be traced the progress of opinion and ecclesiastical polity which finally governed them. The earliest notice we have of these gatherings in England is about 1653, when the Western Association was formed. The Midland followed in 1G55, and others in various parts of the country were soon after established. To these annual gatherings the churches frequently sent many queries, and solicited advice on topics which might have disturbed their unity. We select one or two. On the doctrine of laying on of hands, one church had asked the opinion of the assembled brethren. The fullow-ing was the reply: — " The laying on of hands on baptized believers should be left to the judgment of the individual churches; but that if any minister con- tended for it as a term of communion, he should not be per- mitted to preach in any of tlie churches of the Association."'"" The singing of psalms, the public fasts, and other topics, mark the early gatherings of these bodies. Their letters are full of these inquiries, and the replies which were given to them. In many cases their proceedings were not printed, but the minister or messenger of each church was expected to take a copy for the use of the church, and in many cases they were regularly transcribed amongst the records of the church. We have examined some of them, though none of Mould's Norwich Cr.se, pp. 2.32, 239. 224: EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. SO early a date as 1655. Thomas has given us an account of these gatherings in Wales of a later period, when vast num- bers assembled at them. " About a eentmy ago," he says, "it was sometimes necessaiy to prepare for 700 or 800 horses, which graze in the time of sei'vice; two or three persons are appointed to take care of them. The inhabitants for five or six miles round the place provide lodgings for the strangers, and good entertainment for man and horse gratis. The generosity of the county is sxich, that at these times all descriptions of persons open their doors cordially, whether religious or not, gentlemen as well as farmers. The leading men of the congregations know beforehand where to send two, four, six, or more guests, and there are persons ready to take them to their respective lodgings. On Tuesday evening, there is a meeting almost on pui-jiose to accom- modate the strangers. They generally take their horses with them; and where they lodge that night, they commonly do the next. The chief public day is the Wednesday. Thursday is the afternoon they set out on theii* return. They sup and breakfast where they lodge. The people before- hand bake a quantity of good bread, and brew good table beer, and put it in the vestry, or some convenient place; this, with cheese and butter, makes their dinner on Wed- nesday, which they take in and about the meeting-house on tables, boards, and as they can. As no meeting-house will contain the people, a temporary pulpit is prepared in a most convenient place, that the auditory may hear in the house and out; it is so covered as to prevent the sun and rain from coming to the minister. The multitude is peculiarly numerous on Wednesday, as all the neighbourhood flock together on that day," &c.* During this period, many sects suddenly rose for a time before the people, and then retired, f Under various names * Thomas, p. 87. The reader may consult also Douglas's Northern Church. Gould has collected many examples. Norwich Chapel Case. 1* " I speak not of sects in an ill sense, but the nation is mightily made up of them."— Cromwell's Speech, Jan. 25, 1057. Burton, vol. ii., p. 365. THE COMMONWEALTH. 225 they pass before lis. Kanters,"' Muggletonians,t Seekei's,J Familists,|| and Quakers. § Many of these frequently were passed as Anabaptists, and not less frequently the latter were confounded with them. Most of the former sects have passed away, and the followers of Fox alone remain with any distinct organization. Upon many of them the hand of the Government was heavy. Toleration of religious ojiinion during this period was various. Upon Fox, ISTaylor, and others, ])crsecution fell vei-y severely. Imprisonment, whipping, the stocks, and other modes of treatment, were familiar to these men. They bore their trials with patience. Kor were our own brethren free from this kind of oppression. .Some of them, far from the seat of Government, suffered frequently from the little men in power. Mr. Gi'antham says : — " In the tmie of Cromwell's usurpation, they did pull us before the judgment-seats, because we could not worship God after the will of the Lord Protector; for so they styled him in their articles against us. And we had then our goods taken away, and never restored to this day." The pretensions of some of the former were blasphemous — their conduct frequently outraging all law, interfering with the order of public service, and it is probable that many of them would be treated not as sufferers for religion, but as the violators of public order, and subject, therefore, to the common law. We only suggest; we offer no apology for suffering for conscience sake. * "They made it tlieu" business to set up the light of nature, untler the name of Christ in man, and to dishonour and cry down the churcli. Scriptures, ministry, worship, and ordinances ; and called men to hearken to Christ within them," &c.— Baxter's Life, p. 101. t Muggleton and Reeve, the founders of this sect, professed to be the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth spoken of in the Revelation. J Tliese taught, "That the Scriptures were uncei'tain; that present mii-acles are necessary to faith ; that our ministry is null, and without authority; and our worship and ordinances unnecessary and vain," &c. — Baxter, p. 101. II A notice of the founder of this sect has appeared in vol. i. of this work. 5 Fox's Journal. 22G EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. A writer, wlio ordinarily manifests considerable impar- tiality when dealing with dissidents from his church, has said : " The sectaries Avho broke out at the close of the reign of James, and were now (1642) spreading like locusts over the whole land, held and taught, without any reserve, that the actions recorded in the Old Testament were recorded for imitation." Hence, that the religion of many "was a strange compotmd of Christian doctrine, often distorted and engrafted upon Jewish modes of thought and principles of action," &c.'"" This is true in a wider sense than this ■s\a-iter affirms here. The principle from which it springs is the corner-stone of all national establishments. Our brethren from the first dissented from it on this ground. It was against their principles; as Jewish, and not Christian, as sprung from Moses, and not Christ; as one of compulsion, and not the result of intelligent conviction. The proof of this is overwhelming. If by sectaries Mr. INIarsden means all dissidents from Episcopacy, then his statement needs limitation. Presbyterianism, like Episcopacy, embodied it to a great extent. To the records of the Old Testament they frequently appealed, as afibrding a broad ground of justifica- tion for imprisoning, for depriving of all* civil rights, and forcing into exile all sectaries. They had caught the spirit from the sister establishment. Other sects were less tinged with it ; for though the Independents had not yet attained, nor were already perfect, though they had much to learn on the power of the magistrates, and the perfect freedom of the individual conscience, they were far in advance of the advo- cates of a national form of faith enforced by the sword of the civil power. The more sober and regular Baptists of this period, the men who were not imbued with fifth monarchy principles, were in advance of their brethren. In no sense could this apply to them. The hostility of their essential principles to these views exposed them to the scorn * Marsden, Early Puritans, pp. 419, 420. THK COMMONWEALTH. 227 of the holy, and to the wrath of kings. The church at pre- .sent has vindicated their accuracy by adopting, to a great extent, tlieir primary dogmas, and }nany of the evangelical clergy are now compelled to form a church within a church. From his obscure hiding-place, one of the Anaba])tist fanatics thus writes. If bishops and High Commissions had taught these doctrines, the crimes and miseries which marked this period of our history would have been unknown : — " Lastly, my judgment concerning this point is (and that according to the best light that it hath pleased God to give unto me by his Word and Spirit), that the Gospel, or New Testament, is that part (only) of God's written Word whereby we Chris- tians (of the Gentiles) are to be regulated, and whereunto oiu' consciences are (by God'rf appointment) bound to have due regard; and from thence to i-eceive our warrant and direc- tions for all our woi-ship and ser\T.ce of God (John v. 24; Jas. i. 21 j 1 Peter i. 8, 9; Kom. vi. 17 ; Heb. iii. 1-6). Yet not that I give not the Old Testament all holy reverence in its due place, as — 1. To acknowledge it to be the Word of God, indited by the Spii'it of God, and written for the benefit and instruction of all God's people in all ages. 2. That any, or all parts thereof, may lawfully and profit- ably be made use of for the confii'mation of the accomplish- ment of all God's promises, judgments, and projihecies, either of Christ, or of the calling of the Gentiles ; or briefly, for any other end for which either Christ Jesus, or any of his penmen of the New Testament, have made use thereof. But this is that what I deny unto the Old Testa- ment, viz., authority to bind our conscience by any of the doctrines whereof which have not their confii'mation in the New Testament."* In another place he thus writes : — " Doth not the Church of Scotland make the whole kingdom to swear (as often as they please) to a covenant that they shall prescribe unto them"? And have they not their lordly * The Mysterious Kingdom Discovered ; by Henry Tuthill, pp. 4, 5. No titlepage. Dated Rotterdam, Sept. 26, 1C44 (n.s.). 228 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTLSTS. pimislmient at luiud (by the magistrate's sword wliicli they have at command) against all refusers? If this be not to rule as lords over God's heritage ; and that a man (though otherwise never so godly) cannot be suffered to dwell in their land, unless he join with them in all the parts of their worship, though against his conscience," &c."' The closing scene of the long chequered life of the great Protector was now rapidly approaching. Death had invaded his domestic circle, always the abode of the piirest affection and of religious life. His aged mother had passed away; his son-in-law, the amiable Rich, had been car-ried to an early grave; and finally his daiighter Clayj)ole, whose losing sj^irit, and vigorous and well- cultivated mind, had enthroned her in the highest place of her father's affection. They created a void which nothing could fill. The sjilendour of his all but regal state was dimmed by these events. He found relief in loneliness and prayer. Ague seized him on the 26th of August, and after lingering for some time his great spix-ifc bade adieu to the conflicts of the present life. The Protector died on the 3d of September, the anniversary of his great vic- tories at Dunbar and Worcester. His funeral was conducted with great splendour. His detractors have delighted to pourtray the final scene with the most fearful accompani- ments. Truth never checked them, in their miserable and i;nmanly course. The elements raged with unwonted fury. It was the advent of the great adversary to fetch his victim. Nothing coiild be more certain : and these unprincipled writers uttered it with as much confidence as though their great master had imparted to them his design. Goodwin, with his stern pen, has swept away all these infamous false- hoods. The reports of Lady Claypole; the inter^-iew with Goodwin and Owen, in the sense in which the writers of this period have misrepresented it ; and tlie furious tempest which occurred on the day of his departure, are myths, and * Tuthill, p. 43. THE COMMONWEALTH. 229 not historic facts.""' The last days of tliis great man were marked by that earnest piety which ever, more or less, distinguished him through life. The night before he died, he was heard to utter this prayer: — "Lord, I am a poor, foolish creature; this people would have me live; they think it will be best for them, and that it will redound much to thy gloiy : all the stir is about this. Others would have me die. Lord i>ardon them, and pardon thy foolish people; for- give their sins, and do not forsake them ; but love and bless them, and give them rest, and bring them to a consistency; and give me rest, for Christ's sake: to whom, with thyself ajul the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory."+ The con- trast between this and the Lord's anointed, Elizabeth and James, cannot fail to strike all our readers. No one can tell with accuracy the ultimate results of a single action. Events the most disastrous or benignant may follow every move- ment. One step leads onward to another. History, to say nothing of flicts which crowd into every circle, places this l)efore us. " The great men of action never construct their plans beforehand, or in one piece. Their genius is alike in the instinct and the ambition. From day to day, in each cir- cumstance as it occurs, they see facts such as they really are. They discover the path which these facts indicate, and the chance which that path opens, to thein. They enter it resolutely, and advance along it, still guided by the same * Goodwin, vol. iv., chap, xxxiii. " The truth, however, was, that this storm preceded his death by five da}'s, happening on Monday, the 30th of August. On that day died Dennis Bond, a considerable Hepublican ; and the Koyalists turned this event into a cold pun, saying that Cromwell not being ready, the devil had taken Bond for his future appearing." — P. .575. t "The Lord," says Fleetwood, "did draw forth his Highness's heart to set apart that day to seek the Lord ; and, indeed, there was a very good spirit appearing. Whilst we were praying, they were fighting ; and the Lord hath given a signal answer. And the Lord hath not only owned us in our work there, but in our waiting upon him in one way of prayer, which is, indeed, our old experienced approved way in aU our difficulties and straits."- Lingard, vol. xi., p. 346. Thurloe, vol. viii., p. 159. 230 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. light, as far as space opens before them. Cromwell thus advanced, on and on, to the dictatorship itself, without well knowing whither he was going, or at what cost; but onward still he went."* Cromwell's whole life manifests this. We are not forced to admit his h}-i:)ocrisy, or to attribute to him an ambition limitless in its recklessness, to account for the position which he ultimately reached. His career, in many respects, has no parallel in liistoiy. Occupying the lot of a country gentleman at first, busy with his farms; pondering, and ultimately enjojdng, the great verities of the Christian faith, his religious conflicts were long, and marked with much anguish of mind. It was a discipline in perfect har- mony with God's government. He always prepares men for great usefuhiess in public life by previous training. It has been so in all ages, from Moses to Bunyan. It was pre- eminently so with Cromwell. His entrance on the stirring period of his early life gave no promise to some of futm'e greatuess.t One of the sycophants of the day thus describes him : — " The first time that ever I took notice of him was in the very beginning of the Parliament held in November, 1640, when I vainly thought myself a courtly young gentleman; for we couiiiers valued ourselves much upon our good clothes. I came one morning into the Hovise well clad, and perceived a gentleman speaking (whom I knew not) very ordinarily apparelled, for it was a plain cloth suit which seemed to have been made by an ill country tailor. His linen was plain, and not very clean; and I remember a speck or two of blood upon his little band, which was not much larger than his collar ; liis * Giiizot's Et)glish Rev., p. 17. + "Pray, Mr. Hampden," said Lord Digby, "who is that man, that sloven, who spoke just now, for I see he is on our side by his speaking so warmly?" "That sloven," replied the gi-eat patriot, "whom you see before you, hath no ornament in his speech; that sloven, I say, if we should ever come to a breach with the king, which God forbid, in such case, I say, that sloven wiU be the greatest man in England." Hampden and Cromwell were cousins. TIIi; COMMONWEALTH. 231 hat was without a hat-baud, his stature was of good size, his sword stuck close to his side, his comiteuance swollen and reddish, his voice sharp and untamcable, and his elo- quence full of fervour."* His own words give us a glimpse of the motives wliich influenced him, and discover the secret of that success which has placed him high, if not the very highest, amongst the politicians and rulers of modern times: — " I was a person that from my first employment was suddenly i)referred and lifted up from lesser trusts to greater, from my being first a captain of a troop of horse. And I did labour as well as I could to discharge my trust; and God did bless me as it pleased him. . . I had a very worthy friend then, and a very noble person, and I know his memory is veiy grateful to yon all, Mr. J. Hampden. At my first going out into this engagement, I saw our men beaten on every hand; and I desired him that he wonld make some additions to my Lord of Essex's ax'my of some new regiments; and I told him I would be serviceable to him in bringing such men in as I thought had a spiiit that would do something in the work. Yoiir troops, said I, are most of them old and decayed serving-men, and tapsters, and such kind of fellows; and, said I, theii- troops are gentlemen's sous, and younger sons, and persons of quality. Do you think that the spirits of such base and mean fellows will be ever able to encounter gentlemen that have honour and courage and resolution to back them'? . . . He was a wise and worthy person, and did think I talked a good notion, but an impracticable one. Truly, I told him I could do something in it. And I must needs say (impute it to what you please), I raised such men as had the fear of God before them, and made conscience of what they did; and from that day forward, I must say to you, that we were never beaten, and whenever they were engaged against the enemy they beat continually." In this part of his speech to * Warwick's Memoirs of Charles I., pp. 273, 274. 232 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. his Parliament, iu 1657, we discover the secret of the Pro- tector's success. His power of attaching men to his standard was unparalleled. His presence would quell a mutiny, and his voice would disarm his foes. With a mind of vast jwwer, with resources which never appear to have been (ixhausted, with a geniiis for command of the highest order, his i^rojects seldom failed. Steadily Providence seemed to be fitting him for, and leading him to, his exalted state of ]iower. Judging from the estimate of his character given by the writers of the period immediately succeeding him, both political and ecclesiastical, he was the embodiment of all crimes, the incarnation of hypocrisy and cruelty. The lan- guage of vituperation was exhausted. He was lost to all sense of moral feeling — low, grovelling, haunted with per- j)etvial terror through life, and amidst the lightning's flash and thunder's roai*, snatched away to the abodes of darkness, Avhere crime reaps its ripened harvest. We need not wonder that this necessity was upon them. To the court of the abandoned monarch who succeeded him, nothing was so acceptable as to insult the memory of their invincible foe. Their unmixed hatred had been treasured up for years. In all its fulness it was now poured out. They could not under- stand the man. The loftiness and purity of his principles were in bold contrast to the lasciviousness of their idol. His piety was a power which their formalism and h}q30crisy rendered them incapable of a]ipreciating, and his large- heartedness and spirit of rational liberty chafed their proud and stunted souls. But all were not blind. Our readers will be pleased with the contrast. A spirit more intensely devoted to liberty never dwelt in the bosom of an indi- vidual, than that which lived and breathed in the bosom of Milton. In the full confidence of Cromwell, associated with him in the exercise of his official duties, few men were more capable of forming an estimate of the man than the illustrious poet. Thus he described his friend and patron : THE COMMONWEALTH. 233 " He was a soldier tlioroughly accomplished in the art of self-knowledge, and his fii'st successes were against the internal enemies of human virtues, — vain hopes, fears, aspir- ings, and ambition. His first triumphs were over himself; and lie was thus enabled, from the day he beheld an enemy in the field, to exhibit the endowments of a veteran. Such was the temper aiid discipline of his mind, that all the good aiid valiant were irresistibly drawn to his camp, not nierely a.s the best school of martial science, but also of piety and religion; and those who joined it were necessarily rendered such by his example. lu his empire over the minds of his followers, he was surpassed neither by Epaminondas, nor Cyi'us, nor any of the most vaunted generals of antiqiiity. Then he fornied to himself an anny of men who were no sooner under his command than they became the pattern of ordei-, obedient to his slightest suggestions, popular, and })eloved by theii- fellow-citizens, and to the enemy not more terrible in the Held than welcome in their quarters. In the towns and villages where they sojourned, in no way oftensive or rapacious, abstaining from violence, wine, intemperance, and impurity; so that suddenly the inhabitants, rejoicing in their disappointment, regarded them not as enemies, but as guests and ])rotectors: a terror to the disorderly, a safeguard to the good, and by precept and example the teachers of all piety."* At the policy of Charles, we may for a moment * Defensio Secxmda, 1654. lUd, 1058. "The superior officers, the subalterns, the privates, all held themselves forth as professors of godli- ness. Anaong them every public breach of morality was punished ; the exercises of religious worship were of as frequent recurrence as those of military duty. In council, the officers always opened the proceedings with extempore prayer ; and to implore with due solemnity the protection of the Lord of Hosts, was held an indispensable part of the preparations for battle," &c.— Lingard, vol. xi., pp. 358-9. Vide Fletcher's Hist. Indcp., vol. iv., pp. 80, 83, 8-1. "As for Col. Cromwell, he h.ath 2,000 brave men, well disciplined; no man swears but he pays his twelve pence ; if he be drunk, he is set in the stocks, or worse ; if one calls the other Roundhead, he is cashiered ; insomuch that the counties, where they come, leap for joy of them, and come in and join them."— Crom- 234 EARLY EXGLISH BAPTISTS. glance. Its religious aspect we have to do with in the main. Its contx-ast with the past, we see in his own words. The court party, said the Protector, sought " to innovate upon us in matters of religion also ; and so to innovate as to eat out the love, and power, and heart, and life of all religion, by bringing on us a company of poisonous Popish ceremonies, and imposing upon those that were accounted the Piu'itans of the nation, and professors of religion among us ; desiring them to seek their bread in an howling wilderness : as was instanced to our friends who were forced to fly for Holland, New England, almost anywhither, to find liberty for their consciences."* The policy of the great Protector, in rela- tion to the various sects, was for the time an enlightened one. Though far below Avhat it should have been, it was far above his predecessors, and stood in the boldest contrast to the two wretched Ijigots who claimed to reign by Divine right under him. The Episcopalian found his sway easier than that of the Presbyterian Commonwealth. Theii" private meetings were tolerated, and the use of the Prayer Book winked at. Under him the clergy enjoyed far more freedom than they granted to the sects in the palmy days of their greatness when Laud ruled, and covered the country with multiplied examples of his ecclesiastical displeasure.f But justice never slumbers. Her decision may be de- layed, but in the end she utters her voice ; and the mists and dark clouds which ignorance and malignity have thrown vrelliana, p. 5. Vide Bakei-'s Chronicles for a similar testimony. "Now I lived in peace, and enjoyed sweet communiou with the religious officers of the company, wliich used to meet every night at one another's quarters by turns, to read the Scriptures, to confer of good things, and to pray together." — Life of Adam Martindale, p. 37. Cheetham Society. "Cromwell was a man of great \drtues, sincere in his religion, fervent in his patriotism, and earnestly devoted to the best interests of mankind." — Goodwin, vol. iv., p. \-ii. ^7e cannot refrain from recommending to our readers an admirable lecture on Cromwell, by the Kev. N. Haycroft, of Bristol. It is published by Snow, London. * Protector's Speech, January, 1G57. i" Vide examples in Lathorp, Echard, and Evelyn. THE COMMONWEALTH. 235 around the characters of the virtuous, the good, and truly great, are dispersed, and they stand out before us as the models to which every true man aspires, and the admiration of the world. It was so with the great Protector, Whether we compare him with his pi'edecessors, or contrast him with the wretched men who followed him, in every ^icw the com- parison only enhances the majesty of Cromwell, and the boundless debt of obligation under which he has laid us. His own utterances and letters will form the noblest monu- ments to his fame. Posterity will find in them all the ele- ments of true greatness. There, the patriot, the man of genius, and the true Christian, will be traced in all their fulness and beauty.* It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that the moral state of the country, for the most part, was of the highest order. This may be affirmed Avdth confidence, after large allowances have been made for the impei-fections of human nature, and the mere fomialism which distinguished some. Compared with the past, and now placed in contrast with the reign that followed, the difference is immeasurable. Eeligious phrases and Scripture allusions marked the family cii-cle, the senate, and the bar. To seek God — to fast and pray, marked their public and private engagements. They were men to whom religion was a living reality, who felt its power, who aimed to realise its glorious end. Sacrifice to them was easy ; self-denial a daily task. If anything clothed life with interest, it was the opportunity it sup- plied for glorifying Christ. Mistakes there were; much of Judaism was mingled with the Gospel — much of the spii'it of the world with the lowly one of Jesus; much bitterness was manifested against our brethren ; still truth leads (not constrains) us to say, that there were men of the highest Chi'istian attainment, whose influence still operates, and as * Vide Carlyle's Speeches and Letters of Cromwell. A noble monu- ment to the immortal Protector. 236 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. truth and vii-tue gain power in the future, will fill a wider circle, and lay the world under a larger debt than even now. Cromwell, before his death, had named his eldest son Richard as his successor. There were but one or two elements of character which they had in common, and it was soon mani- fest that the iron will was broken, and that the hand which held together the heterogeneous materials of which the Commonwealth was composed was paralyzed. High above the rest rose the great Protector, with more martial glory, with a loftier genius for government, and far more resources at command, and awed ever}'- aspirant to his exalted position. Not so Richard. There was scarcely a single element in his character which fitted him for the trying crisis through which the nation was now passing. One that knew him thus speaks of him: — "Richard was so flexible to good counsels, that there was nothing desirable in a prince which might not have been hoped in him, but a great spirit and a good title; the first of which sometimes doth more hurt than good in a sovereign — the latter would have been supplied by the people's desired approbation."* Perhaps the pai-tiality of the father, or the feeling of primogeniture in this case, might have influenced the mind of Cromwell. But the choice was unfortunate. The second son, Lord Henry, had more fitness for the crisis. He had filled important posts. He was now Lord-Deputy of Ireland, and had ruled that wild and savage nation with considerable success. Considering the circum- stances in which he was placed, a higher meed of praise might have been truthfully pronounced. Though not equal to his father in diplomacy and the extent of his resources — • though not clothed "with the military prestige of Lambert, as the hero of many fights, — yet he exhibited qualities in governing, and a temper kind and winning, which, if he had been i-aised to the vacant seat, might have perpetuated the house of Cromwell even with regal digiiity, and saved Mrs. Hutchinson, p. 110. THE COMMONWEALTH. 237 the nation from the disastrous reigu of the hist of the Stuarts. The new Protector entered on his mission with lofty aims and pure motives. He assured Colonel Hutcliinscni, "that since God had called him to the Government, it was his desire to make men of uprightness his associates, to rule by their counsels and assistance, and not enslave the nation to an enemy."* Difficulties soon presented themselves. The exche(iuer was \ow, and the troops became clamorous for pay. Large arrears were due. The Government had no funds to meet these demands. A Parliament was necessary. Writs were issued in July. They were sent not only to the cities and large towns, but to many of the small boroughs which had been ignored by Oliver. A majority for the Government was obtained, but the opposition was strong. Leading Republicans — men of power, eloquent, and conver- sant with the forms of the House — ^were associated with a few whose tendencies \vere unmistakably in favour of the Stuarts. Long and various were the debates on the forms of Government — the power of the new Protector- — the limits within which his authority should be confined — the right of the Irish and Scotch members to sit and vote. The anise, the mint, and the cummin, exhausted their strength and time, whilst the weightier matters of the nation lay comparatively unheeded before them.f It was not long before the military forces Avere in collision with them. Theii* rights had been infringed, and the various sections into which the commanders had been divided combined to compel Richard to dissolve the House. Virtually this anni- hilated his power. But he had no sure alternative, if he * Mrs. Hutchinson, p. 110. "The Lord hath so ordered it, that the Council and army hath received him with all manner of affection. He is this day proclaimed, and hitherto there seems great face of peace : the Lord continue it." — Thurloe, vol. vii., p. 372. Baxter also says: — "Many sober men that called his father no better than a traitorous hypocrite, did begin to think that they owed him subjection." — P. 100. t Vide Burton's Diary, for proofs. 238 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. would avoid a renewal of civil discord." The year following, the remains of the Long Parliament were recalled. It bears in history the title of the " Rnmp." It did not exceed one hundi'ed on its first gathering in Westminster; and it appears to have inspired the army ^vith confidence, and it is all but certain the Republicans also. Addresses flowed in upon them from all j^arts, congratulating them on their restoration. Amongst others, Heath tells us that " addresses likewise came from the Independents and Anabaptist churches, some of Avhom kept a thanksgiving, and invited all the other congregations of that sect to join with them in that voluntary solemnization of this good proAidence ; the chief of these were one Jessey's and Canne's disciples : the prime favourites of this Rump."t Many of our brethren, animated by a similar spirit, took an active part in these affairs. The Commonwealth was dear to them. They regarded it as the only government in which perfect liberty could be enjoyed. Vane, who symjiathised ■with them in politics, and regularly preached to a congrega- tion of fifth monarchy men, now allied himself with the Anabaptists, Millenarians, and fifth monarchy men, in order to secure their devoted adherence to the cause of the Com- monwealth. J They had united before with Quakers and others, in a petition to the House, exjjressing Republican prin- ciples, and ignoring the Protector. In tliis feeling, "the greater number of the officers and subalterns," says Guizot, " were desirous that the Commonwealth should be re-estab- lished ; the Anabaptists, fifth monarchy men, and other mystic sectaries, who had great power among the soldiers, were all furious in their hostility to the Protector. Each of these various factions of the army had its official meetings, its secret conclaves, its agents, preachers, and pamphlets, &c." There is an allusion in one of the letters of the French * Vaughan, vol. ii., p. 553. + Heath, Chronicles, p. 422. t Guizot's Richard Cromwell, vol. i., p. 185. Hid, pp. 1.32, 133. THE COMMONWEALTH. 239 Ambassador, which give us a glimpse of the attitude aud influence of our brethren at this time: — "Although men now despise the Anabaptist faction, and they have been for- bidden to assemble again, some satisfaction will nevertheless be given to them; and it is said that, in conformity with their wishes, Fleetwood, whom they wished to have as general, will be made commander-in-chief."* There is a statement, also, that they were kept in check by the hope of obtaining some authority, "if the House of Lords, composed of their leaders, Ls contmued in existence."t M. Bordeaux, writing to Mazarin, in May, referring to the feeling in the city, says: ''Not that the Corporation of the city, which is composed of Presbyterians, is not entii'ely opposed to them (the military cliiefs), as well as the ministers, who rightly think that their tithes will be in danger if the Government falls into the hands of the Anabaptists and other sectaries, of whom Lieutenant-General Fleetwood is reputed to be the protector," «fec.:j: Referring to the order for organizing the militia, he says : " The Ajiabaptists and the Quakers are the classes in whom the greatest confidence is placed; the Pres- byterians murmur Avithout revolting, and, indeed, there is not so miich talk of insurrection since the tithes have been secured to the ministers." || " Their strength in the army and the House was not equal," says the Frenchman. " These two bodies are divided into two factions — one, of the true Rejiub- licans, who are reputed Presbyterians; aud the others, of the Anabaptists and JMillenarians, or saints. That the former party prevails in the Parliament, and that the other is not so powerful in that assembly, but that it has on its side the majority of the officers of the army; which leads to the inference that, either by purgation or dissolution of the Parliament, it will assume the entire authority of the State," &c.§ No doubt many of the leading officers were professed Baptists. It was so in the navy. Admiral Lawson, and * Guizot's Richard Cromwell, vol. i., p. 24G. t Ibid, p. 821. t Hid, p. 373. || Ibid, p. 433. § Ibid, pp. 485, 6. 240 EAJtLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. many other dijitinguislied comiaanders, belonged to this community; and nearly to a man they were strongly imbued with Republican principles. But their wishes, and the exjiectations they had cherished from the re-assembling of the old "Eump;' were doomed to early disappointment. The civil and military elements came into speedy conflict. During the sitting of this Parliament the case of Overton was brought up. We have seen before the suspicions he had excited, and his arrest liy Cromwell. No doubt he was favourable, from disappointment at the overthrow of the Com- monwealth by Oliver, to the restoration of the monarchy. He had been confined in Jersey since January, 1655. A frigate was prepared to be sent to the island to convey him to the House. He reached the city on the 11th of March. He was ordered to attend the House. Yane said, "He is brought so weak with four years' imprisonment, that he can scarce go over the floor. If you please, he may be called on Monday." On the 16th of March he went to the House, attended by 400 or 500 men on horseback, and a vast crowd bearing branches of laurel in their hands. Standing before the members, he said : "I acknowledge it a great mercy of God, that after three .years' imprisonment, succeeding four- teen years in your service, I am brought to the bar of this honourable House. As I have been in a suffering condition for four years, so I desire to be passive still. I had better have been torn in pieces by wild horses, than have endured this great torment ; that would have been but for a moment. I hope I have not done anything conti'ary to what I at first engaged and fought for. You are my judges, and I think it a great mercy that it is so. I most humbly leave myself, my cause, and condition, to this House. I will not justify myself; I only desire one way or other, to receive as I have done."* Overton was acquitted, and was afterwards restored to his goveraorshij) of Hull. * Guizot's Richard Cromwell, vol. i., pp. 31-4. Burton's Diaiy, vcl. iii., p. 448, &c. &c. THE COMMONWEALTH. 241 Hot-headed men, led by Haslerig,* souglit to crusli the men of the sword. Lambert, Desborough, and other chiefs, were cashiered. The action only showed the depth of their hostility, and the feebleness of their power. Whilst aiming at the destruction of their enemies, they were crushed by the efibrt. These party conflicts only hastened the downfall of the feeble fabric of Government then in power. The nation panted for repose. A settled Government, under which the people could pursue their occupations, and enjoy security of life and property, was desired. The restoration of the Stuarts api)eai"ed inevitable. The means by which tliis was eftected can only bo briefly detailed in these pages. The Royalists were not insignificant in numbers, though greatly reduced in wealth and influence, under Oliver. During the latter part of his life, their schemes had been various to overthrow liis power. They multiplied now with great rapidity. The disorders of the Commonwealth were hopeful to them. Those immediately around the pei'son of the exiled prince, and those at home, augmented them in every way within their powei*. Many of the leading- Presbyterians, never satisfied with the Protectorate, as it limited their power, now gave in theii- adhesion to the Poyal cause; and even Richard, and members of his family, were by no means vmfavoui-able to the restoration of Charles.t Encouraged by these fiivourable symptoms, a rising was projected. Cheshire witnessed the unfurling of the Royal Standard. Sir George Booth conducted this rash enterprise, but defeat awaited him. J Lambert, with the forces imder * Ludlow describes him as "a man of disobliging temper, sour and morose of temper, liable to be transported with passion, and in whom liberality seemed to be a vice." — Memoirs, p. 718. Guizot's Richard Cromwell, vol. i., p. 223. t HaUam, vol. i., pp. G98, 9. J About this time many political squibs were issued. In one of the doggerel pieces, the " iN'ew Liturgy," we find the following : — " From the Anabaptists and the shivering Quakers; From such as rule us like low-legged bakers ; From those that undo us, yet are good law makers ; —Libera nos Doviine." 242 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. his commantl, speedily dispersed them, and for the pi'e- sent threw a gloom over the whole circle. Again the sword gave place to the pen, and for a time the soldiers made way for the politicians. The leading men were again tried. Fleetwood, Lambert, and Monk, were the chiefs. Every influence was brought to bear upon them. Pardon for the past was readily promised. Titles and wealth were lavishly offered. Well one of these succeeded. Monk, Ave have seen, had been left in the command of the forces in Scotland. On the elevation of Richard, he ad- dressed him in the most friendly manner, suggesting wise counsels as to his government of the nation. He was a man of no principle. No engagement could bind him, and only ambition and the love of wealth appear to be the motives of his conduct. Amidst the numerous actors in these busy • scenes, Monk stands pre-eminent for all that is mean, hypo- critical, and despicable. He was a traitor to every high and lioly feeling. Of his personal courage there can be no doubt; but it is the only redeeming element, if ever that can be called one, in a character formed by selfishness and hypocrisy. In the whole of his forces, a baser could not be found in its lowest ranks.* Before marching to England, he had received his brother, a devoted Royalist, into secret confidence with him.f It was at this time he had, as we have noted already, weeded his forces of Baptist officers and men, and placed in their stead others kno-svn for their attachment to Charles. * Fox's James II., p. 19. f Dr. Price's Narrative. Maseres Ti-acts, vol. ii. Tlioresby says: — " "Was especially pleased ^\"itll the relation of Dr. Fairfax's secret trans- action with General Monk, to whom he went from the old Lord Fairfax into Scotland, where he conducted that great transaction about the restoration of King Charles the Second ; j'et M'itli such privacy, that he never saw Scotland, though the matter was transacted there." — Diary, vol. i., p. 445 (Note). "Towards noon, a great number of officers, mostly Republicans, Anabaptists, or Quakers, came to dine with the general, and loudly expressed their joy at the intelligence they had received." — The Defeat of Booth. Guizot's Richard Cromwell, vol. ii., p. 13. THE COMMONWEALTH. 243 His march to London was all but intercepted. For though Lambert had been sent to oppose his f)rogress, or at the least to watch his motions, he escaped the vigilance of that general, and appeared in the vicinity of the city. Pepys thus describes the scene on the entrance of Monk: — "In Clieapside there were a great many bonfires ; and Bow bells, and all the bells in all the churches as we went home, were a-ringiug. Hence we went homewards, it being about ten at night. But the common joy that was everywhei-e to be seen ! The number of bonfires, there being fourteen between St. Dunstan's and Temple Bar; and at Strand Bridge, I could at one time tell thirty-one fires. In King Street, seven or eight; and all along burning and roasting, and drinking for rumps. There being rumi)S tied upon sticks, and carried up and down. The butchers at the maypole in the Strand rang a peal with their knives when they were going to sacrifice their rumps. On Ludgate Hill, there was one turning of the spit that had a rump tied upon it, and another basting it. Indeed it was past imagination, both the greatness and the suddenness of it. At one end of the street you would think there was a whole line of fire, and so hot that we were fain to keep on the further side."* "Indeed," he adds, "the city is ^'ery open handed to the soldiers, that they are most o€ them drunk all day, and had money given them."+ During the sittii^gs of the Long Parliament, which had been convened ^vith the full accpiiescence of the now all- * Di-iiy, vol. i., pp. 27, 28. J Ibid, p. 29. " Monday at night (Feb. 13) was a great rejoicing at Oxon, for the news that there was brought that there shoukl suddenly be a Free Parliament. The bells rang, and bonfires were made, and some rumps and tails of sheep were flung into a bonfire at Queen's College gate. Di\ John Palmer, a great Plumper, warden of All-Souls' College, in the place of Dr. Sheldon, being then very ill and weak, had a rump thro-mi up from the street at his windows. He had been one of the Rump Parliament, and a great follower of Oliver."— Wood's Life, by himself. Vide Oxonian, vol, ii., p. 217. London, 1807. 244 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. powerful general, we have another notice of Praise God Barebones. He had received a lucrative appointment only a shorf time before, from the Parliament. We find him now, with a large body of the class to which he belonged, pz-esenting a petition to the House, full of the wai-mest expressions of attachment to the Commonwealth, and asking that no one should be appointed to any ci%-il or military office xmless he expressly abjured Charles Stuart and his lUce, and every other pretender to the crown, as well as any Upper House, or any power of equal authority with the Commons. The House expressed its satisfaction, by conveying to the petitioners their warmest thanks for the address. ■•■' But their anticipations were speedily annihilated. Monk was steadily pursuing his treacherous course. With the most solemn impi'ecations avowing liis fidelity to the Common- wealth, he was pledging himself to Charles, and secretly arranging for his restoration. Everywhere suspicion was awakened, and he attempted to veil his designs by the most solemn oaths. " I call God to witness that the asserting of a Commonwealth is the only intent of my heart."t Just before, he had publicly declared for the restoi-ation. He drew ofi" his glove, and placing his hand in that of Haslerig, said: — "I do protest to you, and in the presence of these gentlemen, tlio.t I will oppose to the utmost the setting u]) of Charles Stuart, a single pei-son, or a House of Peers." "It is most manifest that, if it be monarchical in the State, the Cluu-ch must follow, and pre- lacy must be brought in ; which these nations, 1 tuow, can- not bear, and against which they have so solemnly .-.worn; and indeed moderate, not rigid, Presbyterian Government, with a sufficient liberty for consciences tiiily tender, appears * Parliamentary Historj', vol. iii., 1569. f Guizot, Monk, p. 227. "Many think," says Pepys, "that he is honest yet ; and some think him to be a post that will raise himself, but think that he will undo himself by encouraging it." — Diaiy, vol. i., p. 42. Other instances of his treachery in pp. 62, 63. THE COMMONWEALTH. 245 at present to be the most iiidilferent and acceptable way to the church's settlement."* The Restoration admitted noAV of no doubt. The details we cannot supply. The pent-up fury of the Royalists was now unloosed. In every way it manifested itself Ballads of the most ribald kind against the Sectaries wei-e widely circulated. Men known I'or their Republican principles were loaded with insults. Our brethren did not escape their indignation. Some of their chapels in the city were de- stroyed, and theii- congregations dispersed. Barbour, Har- rison, and others, had been seized by an order of the Council of State, but remained at liberty, on the promise that they would not intei'fere. We have a sample of the annoyances to which many of our brethi'en were subjected, in the case of Mr. Kiffin. He was a man of the most peaceable spirit, opposed to the fifth monarchy men, but warmly attached to the late Government. He had been returned as member for Middlesex in 1656. Heath thus refers to it: — " Thus Buck- stead got himself, witli Kiffin, the Anabaptist, returned as Knight for Middlesex. A rout was brought down for Kiffin, who, together with the Red Coats (that were only the good people, and had most right to choose), bawled, scuffled, and juggled a-way the fair electors for yovtng Mr. Chute, his father difficultly carrying it."t Ministers were not excluded from the House then. Dr. Owen had been returned. It ap- pears probable, from some allusions in a pamphlet published against him, that Mr. Kiftin took his seat, and took part in the discussion in that assembly. He says : — " A little before his Majesty's return, upon General Monk's coming to London, he took up his quarters near to my house. In a few days after, I, with several others, were seized at mid- night by some of his soldiers, and carried to the Gate-House at Paul's; the next day it was rumoured in the city that a great quantity of arms had been taken in our houses. As * Speech in Pai-liament. Vide Pari. Hist., vol. iii., p. 1580. t Chronicles, p. 383. 24G EARLY EXGLISH BAPTISTS. we were citizens, and not soldiers under liis command, we tlioiiglit it convenient to write to my Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Almin, signifying to liim the scandal that was upon ns; liaving, indeed, had no arms in any of our houses l)ut what was ordinary for house-keeping. We prayed him that matters might be examined into, and that we might not be detained from our callings, and kept prisoners without cause. My Lord Mayor was pleased to order the letter to be read at the Common Council, who, being satisfied of our innocence, sent some officers, desiring that we might be released, and our arms, which had been taken from us, restored."* Major-General Harrison was brought to London by force, because he would not leave his home, in order that he might not desert his cause. Thus early had they a taste of the sufierings which in the reign of the restored Stuarts awaited them.f "We have only to add, that in Ireland the proposal to restore the prince was hailed vnih joy. Heath gives an amusing account of the way in which the opposition of some of our brethren in that country was overcome: — " Sir C. Coot declared for a Free Parliament, 1659, by the readmission of the secluded members, and, therefore, jios- sessed himself of Dublin Castle, having first of all sui'})rised Galloway from Colonel Sadler in this manner: — He invited him and his officers (all Anabaptists) to his house over the waters, to be merry; which doing, Mr. Coot pretended a desire to drink a glass of wine in Galloway, privately, with Sadler. So they two secretly took boat, with each a servant, and being on the other side, ' Sir C.,' said Colonel Sadler, ' I am resolved for a Free Parliament, &c. You have a sword, draw and fight, or else engage your honour you will make no kind of disturbance,' &c. The Colonel, surj^rised, acquiesced," ctc.+ * Life, p. 40. Sometimes he is called Captain, and occasionally Colonel. He was in the militia. + Guizot, vol. ii., pp. 183, 184, 203, 209. J Chronicles, p. 438. CHARLES THE SECOND. Thus pei-islied a form of government, by the ambition of military chiefs, and the conflicting passions of religious men, which had cost much bh)od and treasure, and gave place to one which ojjened the floodgate of vice and ci-uelty through- out; the whole land. CHAPTER IV. CHARLES THE SECOND. Few events in our national history are more striking or suggestive than the restoration of the exiled Stuart to the throne of his father. It was hailed with the wildest tumult of joy. The nation was intoxicated with delight. Passion was enthroned, and the judgment was fettered. Dissatisfied with the rivalry of men, with the conflict of pai-ties, and the dawn of an unchecked military despotism, the representative of the wretched Stuarts was welcomed by men who had bitterly opposed the second of that dynasty. Loyalty harl no limits. It overleaped every barrier which the wisdom of the past had thrown up against despotic power, and men who had risked all in the defence of liberty were now seen pros- trate at the feet of a monarch who had no moral principles to guide him, but every motive to wield those very powers which had covered the reign of his grandfather with infiimy, and 1)rought his father to the block. The golden age was anticipated. Bewildered, fascinated Ijy the smiles of royalty, the men of mark and influence looked forward to a reign of prosperity, of morality, and peace. Never was expectation less realized; never did the nature of things less warrant it. Eveiy year accumulated proof of the fearful mistake which had been made. IMrs. Hutchinson thus describes it : — " And almost all the gentry of all pai-ties went — some to fetch him 34:8 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. over, some to meet liim at the sea-side, some to fetch him into London, into which he entered on the 29th of May, with a universal joy and triumph, even to his own amazement; who, when he saw all the nobility and gentry of the land flowing unto him, asked where were his enemies? For he saw nothiag but prostrates, expressing all that love that could make a prince happy. Indeed, it was a wonder, in that day, to see the mutability of some and the hypocrisy of others, and the servile flattery of others. Monk, like his better genius, conducted him, and was adored like one that had brought all the glory and felicity of mankind home with this" prince."* The loyalty of the North was not less intense than that of the South. The reason will be manifest from the facts already detailed : — "As soon as the certainty of the king's return arrived in Scotland, I believe there was never acci- dent in the world altered the disposition of a people more than that did the Scottish nation. Sober men observed it ; it did not only inebriate but really intoxicate, and made people not only drunk but frantic; men did not think they could handsomely express their joy, except they turned brutes for debauch, revels, and pageants; yea, many a sober man was tempted to exceed, lest he should be condemned as unnatural, disloyal, and unsensible. Most of the nobility, ■* Hutchinson, p. 116. "The Sectaries will not he ahle to do anything to prevent the king's coming in ; oiu- honest Preshyterian brethren are cordial for him. I have been dealing ^vith some of them, to send some testimony of their affection for him ; and yesterday some of them pro- mised within a week to make a shift to send 1000 pieces of gold to him. The Episcopal party are making application to the Presbyterians for an accommodation; biit the Presbyterians resolved to stick to their prin- ciples." — Woodi'ow, vol. i., p. 19. (Shari^. ) At .the coronation, Heath says: — "Infinite and innumerable were the acclamations and shouts from all parts as his Magesty passed along, to the no less joy and amazement of the spectators, who beheld these glorious personages that rid before and behind his Magesty."— Heath, p. 484. "It is incredible to think what costly cloathes were worn that day ; the cloaks could hardly be seen what silk or satin they were made of, for the gold and silver lace and en\- broidery that was laid upon them," &c. — Ibid, CHARLES THE SECOND. 249 gentry, and hungry old soldiers, flew to London, just as the vulture does to the carcase."* "All believed it wovdd be the golden age, when the king returned in peace ; and some of our British divines made it the date of the accomplish- ment of the glorious promises in the Apocalypse, not doubting he was assiu-edly to be the man who should destroy Kome, as sure as he was Constantine's successor. In fine, the eagei-- ness of theii- longing was so gi'eat, some would never cut their liaii-, some would never drink wine, some would never wear linen, till they might see the desire of their eyes — the king."t This outburst of feeling excites no surprise. The Pres- byterian body had taken an active part in the restoration. Without their aid, it would have been impossible. " They were in possession of the whole power of England; the Council of State, the chief officers of the anny and navy, and the governors of the cliief forts and garrisons were there; their clergy were in possession of both universities, and of the best livings in the kingdom. There was hardly a royalist or professed Episcopalian in any post of honour or tinist ; nor had the king any number of friends capable of promoting his restoration," &c. It is more than probable, we tliink, that their conduct sprang not so much from love * Kirton's History. Apud Woodrow, vol. i., p. 64. "Five drunkards in Berks agreed to di-ink the king's health in their blood, and that each shovild cut a piece off his buttocks and fry it, wliich foui- of them did ; but the wife of the fifth coming into the room, and taking up a pair of tongs laid about her so, that she saved the cutting of her husband." — Whitelocke, p. 445. Woodrow, vol. i., p. 225. ■f" Kirton's History. Apud Woodrow, vol. i., p. 64. "A day of thanksgiving was kept in Edinbro', June 19, 1660. After sermons were over, the magistrates came to the Cross, where was a covered table ivith sweetmeats; the Cross ran -with wine, 300 dozen of glasses were broke, the bells tolled, trumpets sounded, and drums beat. There were fireworks upon the Castle Hill, mth the effigies of Cromwell and the devil pursuing him, tUl all was blown up iu the aii'. Great solemnity, bonfires, music, and the like, were in other places upon this occasion," &c. — WoodroVs Cli. History, vol. i., p. 62. 250 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. to the Stuarts, as very ardent attachment to monarchy.* Defeat had marked their movements for some time past. Under the loss of power they had smarted, and the preva- lence and influence of the sectaries, especially the Anabap- tists, had kindled in their minds an intense hatred against tliem and the Independents.t Visions of power, wealth, and supremacy gleamed in the distance. The centre figure was the exiled monarch. Their great Diana could only be enthroned by his restoration. Reflection, which would have placed before them a crowd of improbabilities had it been indulged, was abandoned. In their enthusiasm for the Covenant, they forgot that Charles had violated already his most solemn oath to them; that he was educated amidst influences of a Papal rather than a Protestant character; that he had renounced the faith of his father, and been reconciled to the Romish church;^ that he was sun-ounded by men whose attachment to the Episcopal church was * " The king's interest is also supported by the Presbyterians, although tliey are Republicans in principle ; and it is only the fear of these sectaries that the Anabaptists and other sectarians may obtain the Oovernment, which leads them to oppose the present authorities."— Guizot's Richard Cromwell, vol. i., p. 407. Neal, vol. ii., chap. iv. t " And now the ministers of the Presbj-terian persuasion daily fre- quented St. James's (Plonk's residence) ; they were in a hopeful expecta- tion tliat all those sects who had supplanted them would with little etuousness of these men; all that is hoped is to bring them to some moderation and closure with an Episcoi^acy of a new make." '"Tis much to be lamented that such men as Wren, whose corrupt principles and wicked practices, in liersecuting conscientious ministers, who, though conforming, are too well known to be soon forgotten, shoidd have the impudence to appear with these Babylonish brats." — Mr. Douglas. "Woodrow, vol. i., pp. 37, 38. CHARLES THE SECOND, 261 quoted, we gathei- that "The influencing men of tlie Pres- byterian judgment ai'e content with Episcopacy of Bishop Usher's model, and a liturgy somewhat connected with the ceremonies of surplice," &c. " The moderate Episcopalians and Presbyterians fear that, either the high Episco})al men be uppermost, or that the Erastians carry it from both." " Some leading Presbyterians tell me they must resolve to close in with what they call moderate Ejiiscopacy, else open profanity will, upon the one hand, overwhelm them, or Erastianism (which may be the design of some statesmen) on the other.""' With these feelings the Conference was held. Over several days it extended. Baxter and Gunning Avere the chief gladiators in the arena. The contrast between them was great. Men more unfit for the task could not have been found. Both were men of large reading, of subtle intellect, and ti-ained in all the dialectics of the schools. " They spent some days in much logical inquiry, to the diversion of the town, who thought them a couple of fencers engaged in a dis})ute that could never be brought to an end or have any good efiect."t The demands of the Presbyterians were not great. Changes in the liturgy, modifications in the festivals, occasional free prayer, omission of the Apocrypha in the service of the church, the omission of the cross in baptism, kneeling at the Lord's Supper, embraced, in the main, the extent of their demands. To embody their views more clearly, Baxter, with his very ready pen, produced a liturgy, * Sha:-p to Douglas. Woodrow, vol. i., pp. 33, 39. It may amuse our leaders to see the opinions of Douglas on Episcopacy at this time : — "The government by presljytery is good, but prelacy is neitlier good in Christian policy or civil. Some say, May we not liave a moderate Epis- copacy? But 'tis a plant God never planted, and the ladder whereby antichrist mounted his throne. Bishops get caveats, and never kept one of them ; and will just do the like again. "Wc have abjured Episcopacy, let us not lick it up again." — Sei-mon by Douglas, 1660. Woodrow, vol. i., p. 62. t Buniet's Own Times, vol. i., pp. 283, 284. 262 EARLY ElfGLISH BAPTISTS. wliicli he tliought might satisfy all pai-ties.* But all these efforts were vain. The results of the Savoy Conference stand before lis as a monument of the folly of such gather- ings. The bishops would not move. Concession was not their aim. On no point would they change. Both parties now appealed to the king. Promises, as usual, were given to the Presbyterian party: their value will presently be seen. In this Confei-ence the Baptists and Independents had no part.t The spii-it of the leading Presbyterians in Scotland may be gathered from the paper of advice sent to Sharp about this time: " We shall not concern to dive into the temper of Independents and other sectaries, and how they may relish Episcopacy and the liturgy in the recent establishment of affairs; nor troiible you with an account of what noise is raised, upon the very appearance thereof, by others whom you know; but if his Majesty knew what giief of heart the fear of Episcopacy and the service-book is to many loyal and honest subjects, who have much and often mourned in secret for him, and do now rejoice in his wonderful restitution, and how much it woixld refresh them to be secured against these fears; we are confident he would be most ready to satisfy such subjects, who will count nothing temporal too dear to be laid forth as his Majesty's affairs shall requixe ; and though it may be conceived that the affairs of England do nothing concern them, yet they cannot but remember, from former experience, what influ- ence the state of the Church of England hath had upon this chu.rch," etc. J We only add another specimen of the mean and despicable spirit which governed some of these men at this time : — * Calamy lias given this in Ms Life of Baxter. An outline of Usher will be found in the same work. + Collier, vol. ii., p. 878, &c. Baxter's Life and Times. t Paper of Advice to Sharp from Messrs. Douglas, &c. Woocli-ow, vol. i., pp. 36, 37 (Note). CHARLES THE SECOND. 263 " We tinist that our courage upon all occasions shall argue in us indelible evidence of unstained loyalty and love to our Sovereign, whom we honour as a man next unto God, inferior to none but God, who is his only judge ; invested by God with a peerless supremacy over all persons and ranks of persons within his Majesty's dominions; the chief nurse, father of the church, and keeper of both tables of God's law, the Sovereign pi-otector and defender of the woi-ship and ordinances of God; God's vicegei-ent, sent by him to bear the sword, with imperial power, to punish all e\'il deeds and e\il-doers trespassing against religion and piety, or moral honesty, and duties that man doth owe to man, and to put any one in his dominions to the doing of their duty to God and man," Ac* And this from a body of men who claimed to be the faithful ministers of Christ, to a man unprincipled, hypocritical, and awfully vicious, t But this self-abasement was all in vain. The Episcopal party soon manifested that their restoration to office was not a mere form. The return of royalty to the thi-onc had brought back the full power of the church.;}: The court and the senate presented only the feeblest bar- riers to its exercise. Men filled the E})iscopal tlu-ones, who had pleaded for moderation in their adversity; but * The SjTiod of Fife, April 2d, 1661. Woodrow, vol, i., p. 120. The city of John Knox thus spoke:— "We are very hopeful, and humbly supplicate this High C'oui-t of Parliament will, by their civil sanction, establish, maintain, and defend the true religion, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, presently professed, received, practised ; and restrain and suppress aU impiety, vice, profaneness, and whatever is con- trary to ti-uth and godliness." — Petition of the Presbytery of Edinboro', 1661. Woodi-ow, vol. i, p. 113. + It is said that on the first night of his landing, he took from her hus- band Barbara ViUiers, a woman of great beauty, but of most dissolute manners. X "Here I saw the Bishops of Winchester, Bangor, &c., all in theii- habits, in King Henry the Seventh's chapel. But, lord ! at their going out, how people did most of them look upon them as strange creatures, and few with any kind of love or respect."— Pepys, vol. i., p. 143. 1660. 2G4 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS, who now appeared animated by the spirit of Bonner or Laud. No toleration for tender consciences could be allowed. The " Liberty of Prophesying" was ignored, and measures were soon propounded which breathed the most intense hatred to everything, however holy, if it was associated with the sectarians. The conscience of the king, if ever troubled about his declaration from Breda, was speedily calmed by Protestant Jesuitry, and the hope of toleration was soon extmguished from the breasts of the most sanguine. True it is, Charles issued a declaration, which appeared to satisfy some of the leading Presbyterians, but which shortly after, when submitted to the Commons that it might have the force of law, was rejected by that sage assembly by a majority of twenty-eight, headed by the ministei-s of the crown.* The Baptists were very early made to feel the power of their oppressors. Probably none were more obnoxious to the ruling power in Church and State. Suspected by the latter as opposed to all monarchical governments, holding and teaching principles which, if embraced universally, must in the end overthrow the power of the former, both had motives of the most potent and influential kind for their repression. Na means were neglected to awaken suspicion as to their want of attachment to the existing Government. Thousands were ready to do the bidding of the unprincipled and the vengeful in Church and State. The following example will illustrate this. Six months after the return of Charles, a letter was addressed to Mr. Kiffin from Taunton to this eflect: — "That the Princess of Orange being noAv dead, they wei-e now ready to put their design into execution ; if, according to my promise, I would provide and send doAvn powder, matches, bullets, &c, ; for they believed the promise that one of these should chase a thousand," &c. " In conse- quence of this letter," he says, " I was seized on a Saturday * Vaughan, vol. ii., p. 590. CHARLES THE SECOND. 265 at midnight, and carried to the giiard-house at Whitehall ; no one being suffered to speak with me. There I continued all the Lord's day, exposed to the taunts and threats of the soldiers. In the evening, I was sent for to appear before General Monk, and sevei-al others of the Privy Council, who read the above-mentioned letter to me; adding, I must needs be guilty of the things contained in it. I replied, that I knew not so much as the name of the man by whom it was said to be written; and that I did abhor even enter- taining a thought of doing anything which might lead to the tlisturbance of the kingdom. After examination, I was again placed under the protection of the soldiers, avIio were ordered to take me the next day to the Lord Chief-Justice Foster to be examined. They took me to an inn in King Street, whex-e I was strictly guarded through the night. Under this dispensation, I found much support from God; and, knowing my innocency, I did not doubt but he would, in some way or other, work deliverance for me. The next day I was taken in a coach to Sergeants' Inn, to be examined : soldiers being about the coach occasioned a great concourse of people, who inquired what was the matter; some of them shouting, 'Traitoi-s, rogues, hang them all!' Appearing before my Lord Chief-Justice, I was strictly examined by him about the said letter; I answered all his lordship's questions, and then told him that I did not doubt but his lordsliip would take more pleasure to clear an innocent man than to condemn one who was guilty; and therefore prayed him I might have liberty to speak for myself, as I felt per- suaded my innocency would ajipear. His lordship replied, I might speak freely what I could. I said there were some things in the letter itself which might satisfy him it was a forged letter. The letter takes the rise of the execution of this plot from the death of the Princess of Orange, and yet it was dated at Taunton three days before she died. To which his lordship replied, it was indeed a weighty obser- vation, and seeing the date of the letter to be as I had stated, 266 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. observed that might be but a mistake in the date, and yet the letter itself might be true. To wliicli I answered, I should leave that to his honour's consideration; but there •was one tiling more, in which, with, submission to his lord- ship's judgment, there could be no mistake; that was, there could be no letter written from London to Taunton, and an answer to it be obtained from Taunton, from the time of the death of the piincess to the time when I was taken; for his lordshii) knew the princess died on the Monday night Now, no letter could give advice of it by post till the next night, and no answer could be obtained to that letter till the next Monday morning; but I was seized the Satiirday night after her death, which must needs be before any post came in. Upon which, my lord looked very steadfastly upon the Lieutenant-Colonel, whose prisoner I was ; and the said officer desired my lord to put me upon my oath. His lord- ship replied, in great anger, he would not; and that things were come to a fine pass, when a Lord Chief-Justice niiist be instructed by a soldier telling him what he ought to do; telling him it was a trepan. And then directing his speech to me, he said he was persuaded I was abused, and that if I would find out the authors of the said letter, he would punish them ; and so he discharged me. Mr. Henry Jessey and INIr. Crape were also mentioned in the letter, who were examined and discharged. Thus did God work deliverance for me." " A little after this (1661), being at a meeting on a Lord's day in Shoreditch, we were apprehended and carried before Sir Thomas Bide, by whom I and some others were committed to the new prison; but ha\-ing been in confine- ment three or four days, I was by liim released."* Upon others the heavy hand of the oppressor fell. In the county as well as the city, suspicion, insults, and the jail awaited our brethren. These pages might be crowded with examplies of the cruelty and lawlessness of men, who, under * Life, pp. 43, 44. CHARLES THE SECOND. 26T the pretence of sustaining the church of Clirist, were sapping its foundation, and suspending the laljours of some of its brightest ornaments. The case of John Bunyan can only be noticed, and that, too, in the very briefest way. His liistory is fiimiliar to most. For some time he had laboured with great zeal iu Bedford, and the neighboiuing districts. Churches had been formed by him ui various places, but ail- on the mixed principle. It is doubtful if the chiu'ch at Bedford was ever a Baptist church, in the sense in which the term would be ordinarily imderstood. But though pro- fessing that water baptism should be no barrier to com- munion, sti-ange as it may appear, he invariably declined to dismiss any member to a Baptist church where the com- munion was restricted.* A congregation had gathered in the agricultural village of Haslington to heai* the Gospel. It was about the 12tli of November. The xisual worship had finished, and Bunyan was in the act of ministering the ti-uth of God to the people, when the deep attention of the * The following extracts from the Eedford Church-Book have been supplied by our friend the Eev. J. Jukes, the senior pastor of the chui'ch. there : — "Jan. 6, 1695.— At a church -meeting held at Bedford, cm- Bro. Henry- Mann's letter for a dismission was read ; but being desired to be dismissed to a baptized congregation, 'twas denied, and an answer to be sent : and oui- Bro. Chandler to write and send it. "1700.— At a chiu-ch-meeting the beginning of December, a letter from our Sister Stover to the church, she being now in London, was read, wherein she desii-ed to be dismissed from us to a baptized church in London, under Mr. Piggott ; and 'twas concluded to deny it her, as being contrary to the mind of Christ, and the received principles and practices of tills church : and Bro. Chandler sent her the church's answer. "Jan. 4, 1720. — ^At this church-meeting, our Sister Tutzell's letter was read, desiring dismission to the Baptist church in London luider Mr. Skip, but the church took time to deliberate upon the answer to her tUl the next church-meeting. " 1st March, 1720. — The church concluded not to dismiss Ann Tutzell to Mr. Skip, because he and his people were for communion with baptized believers only, and that by inmaersion." "We have impublished letters on the same subject, which may appear in another part of this work. 268 EARLY EXGLISH BAPTISTS. people was broken by the entrance of tlie constable. Francis Wingate, one of tlie great unpaid ministers of justice, had commissioned tliis man to execute this task. Bunyan was a man of undoubted courage. In the army of his countiy he had braved danger. " Had he been minded to play the coward, he could have escaped and kept out of then- hands." He felt that it was a call from God, and he was ready to obey it. Doubtless the change of the times had prepared him for this. He knew what the forlorn hope was, and from it he was not anxious to shrink. In the morning he was con- ducted before the magistrate. The threats of the little man in authority were many. Bunyan had broken the law; such meetings were dangei'ous; and unless he was prepared to find sureties that would be bound to keep him from such practices, their bonds would be forfeited, and he must go to prison. " 'Tis useless," said the heroic man; "I shall bx'eak them, for I shall not leave speaking the Word of God." To prison Bunyan went. Efforts were made by his friends to mitigate the evil, and to secure his liberation, but in vain. For five weeks the prisoner was confined. The sessions were now held at Bedford. Before the assembled administrators of law the prisoner was brought. The charges against him were read. They were of the gravest kind. The indictment said : — " That John Bunyan, of the town of Bedford, labourer, being a person of such and such condition, hath, since such a time, devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church to hear the Divine service, and is a common upholder of several unlawful meetings and conventicles, to the great disturbance and destruction of the good subjects of this kingdom, contrary to the laws of our Sovereign Lord the King," &c. The prisoner said : — " We have had many meetings together, both to pray to God and to exliort one another; and that we have had the sweet comforting pre- sence of the Lord amongst us for our encouragement (blessed be his name, therefore !), I confess myself guilty, not other- wise." No witnesses were examined, but the plea was CHARLES THE SECOND. 269 recorded, and then the sentence wa.s passed. For the great crime of preaching God's Word to a few poor people and praying witli them, tlie administrator of justice said: — " You must be htul back again to prison, and thei*e lie for three montlis following; and at the three months' end, if jow do not submit and go to church to hear Divine service, and leave your preacliing, you must be banished the realm; and if, after such a day as shall be a})pointed you to be gone, you shall be found in this realm, you must stretch by the neck for it, I tell you plainly;" and so he bid the jailor have him away. To the solitude of the cold damp prison-house on Bedford Bridge, Bunyan retired. "We can have no difficulty in conceiving how his active mind would I'evolve every ele- ment of this appalling sentence. Before his vivid imagina- tion would rise the wife of his ardent affection, and the loved ones whose youthful prattle had so often delighted him — their wretchedness and sorrow, theii- want and unpro- tected condition. The reality, or even worse than the reality, would be distinctly before him. Exile from his country was not what we understand by it in these happier times. It was slavery. Banishment to the plantations involved all this.* Of this he could not be ignorant, as only a short time before St. Stephen's had rung with eloquent invectives against this evil. Return, and ignominy and death awaited him. But all this could be escaj^ed. Only give up preaching ! Forsake your love of telling the poor wanderer of Christ's love ! Come to church and hear the Divine service read by some unlioly lips, and freedom, domestic enjoyment, yea, and patronage too, shall await you ! The stmggle was fearful, but it was soon ovei\ Like the rock in the ocean, the * "Some were employed giinding at the mills, attending at the fur- naces, and digging in that scorching island (Barbadoes), being bought and sold still from one planter to another, or attaclied as horses or beasts of burden for the debts of their masters, being whipped at the whipping- posts as rogues at their masters' pleasure, and sleeping in styes worse than hogs in England." — Burton's Diarj-. Liugard, vol. xi., p. 384. 270 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. thtincler-cloud gathers around it, and the angry billows dash against its base; but it remains xinshaken amidst the wildest confusion of this war of elements. Nothing coiild move the illustrious sufferer. All efforts failed to change him. All efforts, therefore, for his release were abortive. For twelve years his imprisonment was continued. God's hand was in it. The wicked ones meant it for evil ; but God designed it for good. From that prison-house issued words of fire, which have enlightened, guided, and comforted more "pilgrims from the City of Desti'uction to the Celestial City" than any other -sviitten volume, except the inspired one, in the world. But of the glorious dreamer — ^more hereafter."' Of the mad attempt of Venner and his fifth monarchy men at insurrection, and their defeat and subsequent punish- ment, we cannot say much, beyond the fact that our brethren were free fiom it. In various memorials from Baptists in various parts of the kingdom it was disowned, and expressions of loyalty and attachment to the reigning sovereign were laid at the foot of the thi'one. But all was in vain. Alarm was excited in the circles of power, civil and ecclesiastical. It was only a pretence — a veil to cover deeper and long-planned designs. The dissidents must now be punished. Clarendon and his colleagues were for the work. "He and Lord Southampton," says Clarke, "with the bishops, were the great opposers in the House of Lords of the king's inclinations and intentions to grant, according to his promise, given at Breda, a toleration to Dissenters so limited as not to distui-b the public peace of the kingdom. "f The meetings of the Anabaptists, Quakers, and fifth monarchy men were forbidden by a proclamation from the king. They might meet in churches, but not in their own places of wor- ship. In private houses, with the consent of the j^ropi^ietors, * Pilgrim's Progress, by Offor. Hans. KJnollys Society. Works by Off 01% 3 vols. Crosby and Ivimey may be consulted for details, t Life of James n., vol. i., p. 391. CHARLES THE SECOND. 271 they might convene, but gatherings anywhere else were declared to be unlawful. The mayo is in towns, and other officers of justice, were commanded to search out these con- venticles, to seize the persons found there, and bind them to appear at the next sessions. Fully convinced of the will of these men to persecute, their power to execute depends very much oa circumstances. The disposition of a people will always modify the mandates of a tyrant, lliglitly then to estimate the condition of our brethren, as well as foi' other reasons, we should know the moral state of the people. To inquire into the causes which produced the marked change in the moral condition of the nation immediately on the accession of Charles, though a subject of profound interest, is not our business now. No one familiar with the period can doubt the fact, or question its awful magnitude. The court already was the centre of corruption and impiety." Virtues were not safe within its precincts, and moral principle was unlaiown. Charles, fond of ease, careless about business, gave himself up to self-indulgence without restx-aint. But the sources of enlightenment and spiritual power were dark and coiTupt. Burnet, in his MS. History of his own Times, thus describes the bishops and clergy : — " Many books came out against the Church of England. This alarmed the bishops and clergy much; so that they set up to preach against rebellion and the late times, in such a strain that it was visible they meant a parallel between these and the pre- sent times. And this produced at last that heat and rage into which the clergy had run so far, that it is like to end veiy fatally. They, on their part, should have showed more temper, and more of the spirit of the Gospel; whereas, foi' the greatest part, they are the worst-natured, the fiercest^ indecentest, and most persecuting sort of jieople that are in the nation. There is a sort of them do aspii-e to preferment, * "I had some discourse with Povey, who is mightily discontented, I find, about his disappointment at court ; and says, of all places, if there be heU, it is here." — Pepys, vol. ii., p. 450. ^Ji-2 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. tliat there is notliing so mean aucl indecent that they will not do to compass it; and when they have got into prefer- ment, they take no care either of themselves or of those committed to their charge, but do generally neglect their parishes. If they are rich enough, they hire some pitiful curate at as low price as they can, and turn all over to him; or if their income will not bear out that, they perform the public offices in the slightest manner they can ; but take no care of their people in the way of private admonition, and so do nothing to justify the character of pastors or watchmen that feed the souls of their people or watch over them. And they allow themselves in many indecent liberties of going to taverns and alehouses, and of railing scurrilously against all that differ from them; and they cherish the pro- faneness of their people, if they but come to church and rail with them against the Dissenters; and are implacably set on the ruin of all that separate from them, if the course of their lives were otherwise ever so good and unblamable. In a word, many of them are a reproach to Christianity and to their profession, and are now, perhaps, one of the most corrupt bodies of men in the nation."* Though the bishop modified this, of the correctness of the sketch there can be no doubt. The outline may be accurately drawn, but no one yet has furnished a finished portrait. From Episcopal thrones and parish pulpits the doctrines of the Laudian school were pro- mulgated. Non-resistance and passive obedience were every- where promulgated. Vacancies in the Episcopate were filled * Maseres Tracts, vol. i., p. 116. The bishop modified this in his printed copy: — "A nation where infidelity was, at that time, considered more pardonable than a superstitious reverence for saints," kc. — Strickland's Queen Catherine of Braganza, vol. viii., p. 286. " Catherine was wedded to the most witty and fascinating prince in the world, constitutionally good humoured, but mthout religion or moral principles— brave, reckless, and devoted to pleasure," &c. — Ibid, p. 314. " The clergy," says Carlyle, "study Pan, Bacchus, and the longs and the shorts, rather than the Hebrew Bible, and the truths of the living Jehovah,"— Cromwell, vol. iii., p. 181. CHARLES THE SECOND. 273 by men of the highest church principles, "and most inveterate resentments." Their lines on the renewal of leases were extraoixlinary. Bishop Burnet says: — "What the bishops did with these great lines was a pattern to all their lower dignitaries, who generally took more care of themselves than of the church; the men of service were loaded with many livings and many dignities. With this accession of wealth, there broke in upon tlw; church a great deal of luxuiy and high living, on pretence of hospitality; and with this onset of wealth and pomp that came upon men in the decline of their age, they who wei-e now gi-owing into old age became lazy and negligent in all the true con- cerns of the church." Nor was this limited to Episcopal and clerical circles. The jfloodgates of vice were thrown open. The holy checks of the past were broken ; the mighty influence of the Government and official men in favour of virtue was Avithdrawn ; to ridicule and insult devout ministers were exposed; and in the place of them every encouragement was given to the most sinful habits and criminal indulgences — gaming, drunkenness, and kindred exih. The psalm gave place to the lewd song, the voice of prayer to the voice of mirth and ribaldry, and immorality of the most debasing kind threatened to sweep away all the landmarks of virtue and godliness. One of our brethren thus describes tlie city in 1660: — "But the moon-sick madness of the multitude, yet unrepented of, together with the revived and daily continued acts of the abominations in stage plays, May- games and pastimes, with the many bitter and most horrid oaths and execrations, uttered almost in every corner, by ninepin, ninehole, and by pigeon-hole players, and to the poisoning of the youth of oiu' age in the multitude of damning and debauched bawdiy-houses, even the foul and detestable sham of a Christian kingdom," (fee* Poets * Fanatics' Mite Cast into the King's Treasuiy; by Henry Adis, a baptized believer, undergoing the name of a Freewiller ; and also most 274 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. kindled their genius at tliis altar, and iavoked the Mnse to hold lip to the scorn of the pampered voluptuary the sacred claims of piety, and to cherish in the minds of the reckless liostility to the Gospel.* The reader must bear in mind this state of things, as deepening and Avidening in its influence throughout the whole of this reign. Many of our brethren soon felt, as we have seen, the effects of this change. The hostility which hatl existed, but ■which had by the strong hand of the law been repressed, now broke forth. To escape this, a number of Baptists, with crowds of other religionists, fled to the continent. Holland now, as in former times, was a refuge for these oppressed ones. The sons of liberty found protection under the form of government to which, by suffering and toil, tliey had sought to conform their country. "It is not to be believed," says Sir G. Downing, " what numbers of dissatis- fied persons come daily out of England into this country. They have settled at Rotterdam an Independent, an Ana- baptist, and Quaker church; and do hire the best houses, and have gi-eat bills of Exchange come over from England. . i I am about setting correspondence at Rotterdam and other parts, that I may know who they are, and what they do."t Clarendon encouraged this. Again and again in his own cori-espondence with this unprincipled creature, we find him urging it.ij: Every movement was watched, and all their pro- ignoniiniously by the tongues of infamy called a fanatic or a madman. London, 1660. * In an old ballad of these times, the following occurs :— " Farewell, Say and Seale, with hey ; Farewell, Say and Seale, with hey ho ! And those valiant sons of Aymon, May they hang as high as Hainan, AVith the old Anabaptist they came on, With a hely, trolly, lolly, ho." - A Farewell to Parliament. Vide Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers, vol. ii., p. 56. t Life of Clarendon, vol. iii., p. 144. + Ibid, vol. iii., pp. 169, 170. Letter to Downing. Other examples of this detestable policy may be seen, vol. iii., pp. 155, 388. A feeling of alann perhaps prompted this conduct. CHARLES THE SECOND. 275 ceedings carefully registered. Witli or without the consent of the State, Downing would have seized the leading exiles, and exposed them to the malice of their foes. Hume tells us that Downing was once chaplain to Colonel Oakey's regiment. He now at Delpt seized Corbet, Oakey, and Buckstead, and sent them to England, in violation of the laws of the States, where they finished their course on the gibbet, and thus added to the long list of victims to the royal ven- geance* Hostility at home was not diminished. From place to place the sectiiries were hunted. Rumours of dissatisfaction with the exi.sting Government were rife. Sham plots were reported, and every means employed to awaken suspicion h\ the minds of the authorities against them. The jails were * Some writers distilled their own gall, and dipped their pen in it. The following is a sample: — "Pettit places Baxter in hell, where Brad- shaw acts as president of an infernal tribunal, and Halbcr and Neville strive in vain to obtain from his adjudication the crown for pre-eminence of evil and mischief on earth ; which he awards to the Nonconformists. • Let him come in,' exclaims the new Khadamau— thus, ' and be crowned with wreaths of seipents and chaplets of adders. Let his triumphant chariot be a pulpit, drawn on the wheels of cannon by a brace of wolves in sheep's clothing. Let the ancient fathers of the church, whom out of ignorance he has vilified ; the reverend and learned prelates, whom out of pride and malice he has belied, abused, and pei-secuted ; the most right- eous king whose murder he has justified, come, and let them all be bound in chains to attend his infernal triumphs to his Saint's Everlasting Rest ; then make room, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, atheists, and poli- ticians, for the greatest rcliel on earth, and next to him who fell from heaven.'" — Sir J. Stephen's Essays. South, who was the incarnation i)i intolerance, was ever spitting forth his venom upon the wise and the good. Milton, whose genius and morals he could never reach, and cer- tainly could never appi-eciate, was the blind adder who spit venom on the king's person ; and Cromwell, now rising from the mists with which the age of Charles II. had encircled him, in all his massive and fair proportions, was only a bankrupt beggarly fellow, who entered the Parliament House with a thread-bare torn coat and greasy hat, and perhaps neither of them paid for. South's judgment of men was much influenced by the cut and condition of the garment. Moral worth beyond the Episcopal pale was unmixed pollution, but hypocrisy and the most revolting sensuality were trifles, if covered by an Episcopal cloak. — Vide Life and Seimous of South. Bohn, London, 1855. 276 EARLY EXGLISH BAPTISTS. crowded with tliem. From tlieir peaceful homes they were dragged, and their families plunged into deepest sorrow. Their fortitude was tried in the severest way. Hunger, cold, and insu.lts were theii- daily lot. The prisons at this time were foul and loathsome. But their faith failed not. In Kent — always fruitful in heroic confessors — there was a large number of sufferers. The metropolis, the eastern, the mid- land, and the nortliern parts of the empire, felt the power of the oppressors. They uttered their complaints in touching appeals to the king. Fi'om some of them we extract a sen- tence or two, as they will place before us the sentiments they cherished on magistracy, and the aimoyances they endured. "From wliich assemblings, king," said the General Baptists in Lincolnshire, soon after the Eestoration, " we have been discharged by some in magisterial capacity in these parts; although therein we bless God, none hath ever found us with midtitude or tumult. But being taught of God to obey him in the things by liim commanded, rather than man, though in the places of magistracy, when com- manding things contrary; we durst not receive that dis- charge. Wherefore some of us have been silenced from mention of the name of the Lord as formerly, by being entangled in bonds, pretendedly imposed on us for our good behaviom-. Since thus entangled, O king, we have been much abused as we pass in the streets, and as we sit in our houses; being threatened to be hanged if heard but praying to the Lord in our families, and disturbed in our so waiting upon God by an unci\il beating at our doors, and soxmding of horns; yea, we have been stoned when going to our meetings, the windows of the places where we have been met struck down with stones ; yea, also taken as evildoers, and imprisoned when peaceably met together to worship the Most High, in the use of his most precious ordinances."* "We have, king, spread those things before them in * Crosby, vol. ii., pp. 20, 21. CHARLES THE SECOND. 277 authority in these parts, but can have no redress from them ; but the rage of oiu* adveraaries liath been augmented by- hearing us abused by some of them in open court, who sat on tlic bench of justice, under the odious terms of knavish, jtigglinff, imjnulent and fanatic felloivs, &c. And as if all this Avcre too littk', they have, to till up tlieir measure, very lately indicted many of us at the sessions; and intend, as we are informed, to impose upon us the penalty of £20 per month, for not coming to hear such men as they provide us, of whose principles and practices we could give a most sad and doleful," &c. The prisonei-s in Maidstone jail thus spoke to the king : — " Thou hast already seen our Confession TISTS. which would rise in the minds, not of ministers only, but of thousands of the holiest and best men in the land, Hope and fear would rapidly alternate in many. Intense would be the solicitude in the miuds of ministers to know and to do what was right. With what care would they examine the requisitions of this iniquitous law, and the claims of their families ! Who can tell the depth of anguish which rolled across the mind of many a faithful pastor, as he gazed on his perhaps delicate wife, and the suffering and want to which she and their loved but helpless little ones would be exposed, if the claims of conscience were heard ! We may gauge the outward suffering — we may estimate the physical — but the hidden springs which poured their bitterest sufferings upon them will never be known. Our power to measure these utterly fails. In contrast to this, we can have no diffi- culty in imagining the emotions of Sheldon and his brethren as they reposed in their splendid palaces in line linen — if not in Imperial purple — amidst the returned luxuries of the revived Chiirch, waiting, with sanctified hypocrisy, the success of their infamous measures. Their feelings even then would be mixed. And how would these multiply their influence as the day approached! It came. Hypocrisy had unveiled itself before. Thousands had thrown aside the form of godliness. Vice and immorality prevailed in the palace where virtue and purity only a few months before had reigned ; but on this day — memorable in the history of Christ's church — one of the brightest and most illustrious examples of the power of tiTith and of fidelity to Christ was witnessed. It told then; it tells still; and future ages will point to August the 24th, 1662, as a memorable proof of the potent influence and of the living power of true piety.* * " It is somewhat bold in Anglican writers to complain, as they now and then do, of the persecutions tliey suffered at this period, when we consider what had been tlie conduct of the bishops before, and what it was after- wards. I do not know that any member of the Church of England was imprisoned under the Commonwealth, except for some political reason; certain it is, that the jails were not filled with them." — HaUam, vol. ii., p,14. CllAllLES THK SECOND. 295 It is difficult to teil the exact number of the faitliful in this time of trial. More than 7,000 ministei-s liad sworn to the Solemn League and Covenant ; at least 5,000 now repudiated it iu the terms of the Act. The number 'of the dissidents is variously I'eported. Collier, never disposed to exaggerate on tliis side of the question, gives them at 2,000; Calamy says 2,188 ; Mather estimates them at 2,500- Probably the first is near the mark. To these must be added the families of these heroic servants of Christ. Only few of our brethren were found occupying " the public places" at this time. Many of them had resigned their ap- pointments before. Previous writers of our history have given us a list, but it appears to us defective. Some names are inserted wliich should, we think, be left out, and others are omitted which should find a place there. Ivimey gives the following list: — Henry Jessey, M.A. W. DeU, M.A. F. Bampfield, M.A. Thos. Jennings. P. Frenen. J. Head. J. Tombes, B.D. D. Dyke, M.A. R. Adams. .J. Miirsden. T. Hardcastle. R. Browne. G. Camelford. J. Skinner. — Baker. J. Gosnold. T. Quarrel. T. Ewin.s. L. Wise. J. Donne. P. Hobson.* J. Gibbs. .J. Smith. T. EUis. T. Pickford. J. Chaimcey, M.D. To these must be added Thomas Horrexe, vicai- of Maldon,t Mr. Woodward, ejected from Southwood, E. Stennett, from * We have seen that Hobson was in the North, and we find that Burton mentions liim as a visitor to the intended University of Durham, which Cromwell intended to found. He m\ist have heen a non-resident. He is called Gentleman of Seggerston Hugli. — Diary, vol. ii., p. 536. + Davids' Essex, p. 425. There is the following notice of Horrexe in an account of "Informations of Meetings in Hertfordshire," dated Jan. 2, 1664 :— " Horre.Ke, late vicar of Maldon, in Essex, who hath bin severall times indited at y' assize in that county for holding conventicles, is now preacher to y' Anabaptists of Hertford, who meet on Sunday at y" house of one Hules, a flarmer, cald Brickingtonbury, to y° number of 500 at a time, from y" parts thereabout. These talke higli, y' the time of their liberty draweth neare. . . . And Horrexe, aforesaid, is to them as 296 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Wallingford, B. Cox, and about tliirteen in the Principality.'^ Let it be remembered that the public places were occupied by them under the authority of the Government, simply a,s places where they could preach the Gospel, and nothing more. Their churches were separate things. Their relation to the latter was pastoral- — to the former it was only ministerial. Government dealt with ecclesiastical property then, as it may do again, as the property of the nation, and placed in the ecclesiastical structures such ministers of Christ as they approved, without restricting their teaching, or interfering, as a general principle, with their views of chui'ch govern- ment. It may be doubted if these men did more then than the most consistent voluntary would do now, if placed in .similar circumstances. Our brethren, at least, were sinijily teachers — not pastors in their places. The reader may like to know with ^\llat feelings these men of God regarded their trial. Only with a sentence or two can we gratify this natural desire. With the fullest conviction that deep and bitter hostility from men in power, from the highest officer of the Government to the village constable, was cherished ; that poverty, if not absolute want, stared them in the face ; that their property and theii- do- mestic circles would be invaded by the ruthless hands of their foes; they went fortli ■wdth a calmness all but unparalleled, and with a confidence in God of the very highest degree. " So long as we have a good God, a good cause, and a good con- science, why .should our faces look pale for fear of man," said one of these confessors. " I beg," said another, " that one of the fuiys to spurn them onward. He p(rea)ches to them, y' he comes not to them with a sennon out of a booke, hut with that which the Lord hath spoken to him, viz., y' theye must not goe back nor bee daunted with any terrors, lest God spue them out of his mouth." Calamy says that Horrexe died at Battersea, about 1687. The institution of Head, his successor at Maldon, is given as "per inconformUatmii Thomas Horrexe." * Thomas's Hist., pp. 17, 18. Davids' Essex, pp. 425, G31. Life of J. Stcunett. ClIARLKS THE SECOND. ^97 you would not suffer our Nonconfoi-mity, for which we patiently bear the loss of our places, to be an act of un- ))eaceablencss and disloyalty. We will do anything for his Majesty but sin. We will hazard anything for him but our souls. We hope we could die for him, only we dai-e not be damned for him. We make no question, however we may be accounted of here, we shall be found loyal and obedient subjects at our appearance before God's trib\inal." " Brethren, T could do very much for the love I bear to yo\i, but I dare not sin. I know some will tell you this is pride and |ice\Tshness in us, and that we would fain all be bishops; but tlie Lord l)e witness between them and us. I am sensible what it is to be reduced to a morsel of bread. Let the God of heaven and earth do what he will A\dth me. If I could subscribe with a good conscience, I would ; 1 would do anything to keep myself in the work of God; but to sin against God I dare not do it." Noble, true-hearted men ! it was not your disloyalty to Charles, but your attachment to •Tesus.* It was neither fancy, faction, nor humour, that made you not comply, but simply the fear of offending God. You gave up all, in the true martyr-sjiirit, rather than dis- honour your gi-eater Master. Of you it might be most truly said, " Ye took joyfully the s])oiling of your goods, knowing that for yourselves you have hi iLcaven a better and 'more enduring substance. " Professedly to mitigate the evils of this Act, Charles pro- posed an indulgence, and to grant some liberty in matters of religion to the suffering Nonconformists. For a short time it shed a gleam of light on their dark prospects, but the hypocrisy of the monarch was soon detected. Popery, not * "The king by name, with all his dignitaries, is prayed for by tliem that they call Fanatiques, as heartily and powerfully as in any of the other churches that are tliought better; and that, let the king think what lie will, it is them that must help him in the (hiy of war. For, generally they are the most substantial yieople, and tlie sobiircst." — Pepys, vol. ii., p. 118. 298 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTLSTS. Nonconformity, the Papists, "who had deserved well of him," not the men who had hailed his retui-n and prepared the way for it, were the objects of his Royal solicitudes. Popular feeling in the House and in the nation was roused against it. Low as moral sentiment had fallen, Romanism was still detested. Pepys says : — " All the news is the great odds yesterday in the votes between them that are for the indulg- ence of Papists and Presbyters, and those that ax-e against it, which did carry it by 200 against 30."* In 1 663 Juxon died, and Sheldon was raised to the throne of Canterbury. The change brought no relief to the perse- cuted. About the time of his enthi'oning, the nation wit- nessed another mthless attack on the liberty of conscience. The Conventicle Act joassed the Commons, and received the Royal assent. Tliis infamous measui-e pro^dded, amongst other things, " That any person above sixteen years of age, present at any meeting imder pretence of any exei'cise of religion, in other manners than is the practice of the Church of England, where there are five persons more than the household, shall, for the first oflence, by a justice of peace be recorded, and sent to jail three months, tiR he pay £5 ; and for the second oflence, six months, till he pay £10; and the thii-d time, being convicted by a jury, shall be banished to some of the American 2Jla'ntations, excepting iVew England or Virginia." -^^ The former conviction could be effected without a jury. The squire, armed with magisterial autho- rity, could call before him a suspected one, and sentence to fine or imprisonment without the intervention of a third party. "We shall presently see with what fearful power it was made to act. * Diary, vol. ii., \}. 10. "A work published about this time, though in favour of the hieraichy, complains of about 3000 ministers admitted into the Church, who were unfit to teach because of their youth ; and of 1500 debauched men ordained ; and of more unlearned men ordained ; and of 1342 factious ministers a little before ordained," &c. The bishops had cast out the fine gold, and with a judicial blindness kept -vvith com- placency tlie dross. — Baxter's Life, p. 307. i" The Act may be seen in "English Puritanism." CHARLES Tni: SECOND. 299 Mad uijon his pleasure, Charles appears to have grown insensible to all moral claims. The diaries already quoted give us a glimpse of the life of this abandoned prince. " The king do mind nothing but pleasure, and hates the very sight or thouglit of business. If any of the councillors give him good advice, and move him to anything that is to his good and honour, the other party, which are his coun- cillors of pleasure, take him when he is with Lady Castle- maine, and in a humour of delight, and then pei-suade him tliat he ought not to listen to the advice of these old dotards or councillors that were heretofore his enemies, when, God knows, it is they that now-a-days do most study his honour."* " The king," says another, " was inordinately fond of plea- sure, and lamentably ignorant. It was difficult to get him to write even a short letter; only oa one day in the week (Friday) would he devote any time to such duties; and even that day was often entirely disposed of other ways, and a whole week would elapse before he could be persuaded to repair the omission."! Absorbed in his seraglio; amusing him- self and his mistresses with the most frivolous engagements; sometimes hunting a moth, or engaged in kindred sports, or planning new schemes of pleasure and extravagance unworthy of the monarch of a gi-eat nation, the appearance of the plague in the metropolis filled the abandoned king and his debauched court with alarm. The first thought on the con- firmation of the repoi-t was flight. To escape with his con- cubines and the panderers to his lusts to a place of safety, was the absorbing desire. About the people there was no care. Death was everywhere. Every day augmented the conster- nation. Business almost ceased. Fear was in every hoxise, and social intercourse was dreaded. Ten thousand a week at the crisis fell by the power of this fearful scourge. J Many * Pepys, vol. iL, p. 37. t Life of Clarendon, vol. i., p. 888. X At least more than 100,000 died by this visitation in London and the villages around it. In a letter to Sancroft from J. Tillison, the writer 300 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. of tlie clergy fled, and left their charges uucared for. The bishops found it convenient to visit their dioceses, and give tliemselves np to the spiritual improvement of the rural population. Heedless of Lnv, fearless of the contagion which everywhere was spreading, into this sea of death many of the persecuted ministers threw themselves. They occupied the deserted churches, and thousands hung on their lips with an intensity of feeling imknown before ; into the lanes and ilark alleys of the city, where Death was holding liis court, they penetrated, warning, encouraging, and shedding the radiance of ho})e on the prospects of the dying. Theii- self- denial, their faithfulness, and their success, whilst they stood in the boldest relief to the heartlessness of their rivals, awakened no gratitude in their minds, but rather intensified the hatred of the Episcopate against them. The monarch and his court had fled to Oxford. There the Parliament also w^as convened. Another Act of oppres- sion was proposed. The Act of Uniformity imposed, with other things, upon every ofiicial person connected with the Church, an oath that it was not lawful, under any pretence whatever, to take up arms against the Sovereign, or persons commissioned by him. Under the influence of this it was now sought to bring all the Nonconformist clergy. It was now enacted, that all persons in holy orders that had not subscribed the Act of Uniformity should take the oath, and in case of refusal, they were rendered incapable of teaching schools, and prohibited from coming within five miles of any city, corporate town, or borough sending members to Parlia- says : — " The desolation of the city is very great. That heaii is either of steel or stone that will not lament this sad visitation, and will not bleed for those unutterable woes ! What eye would not weep to see so many habitations uninhabited —the poor sick not visited— the hungry not fed — the grave not satisfied. Death stares us continually in the face in every infected person that passes by us, in every coffin which is daily and hourly carried along the streets. The custom was in the beginning to bury the dead in the night only; but now both night and day will hardly be time enough to do it."— Ellis's Letters, &c. CHARLES THE SECOND. 301 ineut. Sheldon aided Clarendon witli all bis might to cany this measure. Success crowned their effoi'ts. The influence of these measures on the Nonconformists generally, and the Baptists in particular, was great. To the fall power of their foes they were now exposed, and the latter used it in no small degree. They had no protector but God. To no law could they appeal. No liberty could they plead. E\erywhere they were met with dangers, imprisonments, or exile. The Act of Uniformity cast them from their livings, and cut oii" their ordinary means of support; the Conventicle Act sought to annihilate the congregations which had gathered around them, by tine, imprisonment, and exile; and now this Five-mile Act forbade their approach to cities and corporations where their influence had been felt, and where merchants and the trading community had gathered around them, and drove them into the sparsely occupied districts of the coiintry, in too many cases the abodes of ignorance and vice, Avhere their means of support were hourly diminished. Pepys thus notices the sutfer- ings of some of these confessors: — " Many j)ious ministers of the Word of God, some thousands of them, do now beg tht'ir bread; and told me how highly the present clergy carry themselves everj'where, so as that they are hated and laughed at by eveiybody; among other things, for their excommunication, which they serve upon the least occasion almost that can be. . . . He gave me many stories of the affronts which the clergy receive in all places of England from the gentry and ordinary persons of the parish."* Some days after, he refers to this again : — " I saw several poor creatures carried by constables for being at a conven- ticle. They go like lambs, without any resistance. I would to God they would either conform, or be more wise and not be catched."t But their cup of misery was not yet full. They were * Diarj-, vol. i., pp. 116, 117. t Ibid, vol. ii., p. 20;>. 302 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. prostrate before the successors of the apostles, but the foot of the conqueror was not yet on the neck of the foe. From the churches, from the cities and corporate towns of the kingdom, from the back streets and upper rooms where they met to carry on theii- simple worship, they had been hu.nted; their means of suppoi-t had been abridged, if not entirely destroyed; still they did not quail before the mitred dignity, but lived and laboured on. Where did they reside*? who gave them shelter? By what means did they support their families in the difficulties in which they had been plunged? These and other kiudred questions did the mind of the imperious Sheldon i-evolve, as he lounged at ease amidst the splendour of Lambeth. His restless spirit could find no ease whilst Mordecai sat at the gate. In 1665, the archbishop issued orders to all the bishops of his province, commanding them : — " Particularly certify me the names, surnames, and degrees of all nonconforming ministers that within their resi^ective dioceses have been ejected out of any ecclesiastical benefice, promotion, or charge for non-subscription or nonconformity; and wliere, and how, and in what profession of life they do now live; and how they behave themselves in relation to the peace and quiet as well of the Church as of the State; and fui-ther, if any such Nonconformists shall have removed from any other diocese into any of their respective dioceses, that they certify the same thing concerning them," &c.* With relentless severity was this measure executed. The names and resi- dences, the employment and other sources of support, of the Nonconformist ministry, wei-e reported to the bishops, " in order," says Lister, " that their retreats might be discovered, and all sojourners within interdicted limits summarily dis- lodged. There are many unoffending men whose conscien- tious disinterestedness had deprived them of theii- ecclesias- tical incomes, who were again excluded from the means of * Life of Clarendon, vol. ii., p. 294. CHARLES THE SECOND. 303 subsistence which they had subseqiieutly adopted, and were driven from the vicinity of friends who had ministered to their comfort and support. The first pei-secutuig statutes had deprived them of theii- preferment ; the second debarred them from public worship; the third drove them from their homes."* To this pitch had persecution risen within six years, from the king's Declarations promising "indulgence to tender consciences." No one was safe; no home was free from the intrusion of the spies of the bishops. Uncei-tainty and dread guarded the fireside. No act was so innocent, no word so harmless, but they might be urged against the per- secuted. Into eveiy city, town, village, and hamlet, the emis- saries of evil jjenetrated. In almost every vicar and parish curate the Nonconformist found a bitter foe. Tlie justice, the constable, the unprincipled, were banded against them. Their holiness was a living rebuke to the immorality which existed ; their high principle a constant condemnation of the hypocrisy and deceit which abounded. Into the woods and the forests, which were not few at this time, many of them were driven. In dark places they were com- pelled to hide, when the jaQ was not their home. Under the cover of midnight they frequently met for worship, or in some hidden room carefully watched by some faithful one from the stealthy footfall of the unprincipled. The sufferings of oui- brethx'en may form the subject of another chapter, and we will only give one or two examples of individual suffering here. Page after page could be covered, but selec- tion must be the rule. The case of Kiffin shows to what means the friends of the Chvu'ch had recourse. Plots, intended murdei-, and risings were laid to the charge of our brethren. "About midnight," says Mr, Eliflin, "I was seized by Mr. Wickliam, one of the messengers of the Privy Council, by order of the Duke of Buckingham. By him I was given in chai-ge to Mr. Clifford, a * Cardwell, vol. ii., p. 275, This inquiry was repeated in 1678. 304 i;akly English baptists. gentleman belonging to tlie duke. Many othei*s also were seized at the same time. I was taken to York House, and continued there till the next night, under the care of soldiers. In the evening the duke came to me, accompanied by several others, and told me I would have hired two men to kill the king, saying, if they would not do it, I would do it myself ; adding, if I would confess the truth, care should be taken that I should not suffer. I was gi'eatly amazed at the charge, and returned the duke for answer, ' that I would rather he should charge me with the crime, than I should give the least enter- tainment to such an intention so much as in my thoughts ; for, I thanked God, I did abhor from my soul such a design against the meanest man in the kingdom, mxich more towards his Majesty;' and I further said, that the person could not be considered his Majesty's friend that should say a word of tlie saving the life of any man, if in his wits, that should speak of any such thing! The duke told me he knew I could speak well enough for myself, having so often spoken before the Council ; but what he had charged me with would be proved by two witnesses, and ordered Clifford to deliver me to the soldiers till the rest had been examined, whose crimes, it seemed, were not so great as mine. I certainly felt some consternation, thoiigh I knew my innocence; but it pleased the Lord, whose care and goodness had been extended towards me in all diiKculties to that day, greatly to revive me, bringing that Scripture with great power to my soul, Isa. xli. 10, ' Fear not, I am with thee,' &c. . , . I was made willing to submit to whatever the pleasure of God should be towards me in this matter. About two hours after, when all were examined, and several had been sent to the Gate-House, Mr. Wickham requested the duke that I might be his prisoner; it was accordingly so ordered that I went to his house, where I went to bed and slept soundly. The next day Lady Eanelagh came to visit me. She ad- vised me to write to the Chancellor to acquaint him with my present condition, and offering to carry it to him herself. CHARLES THE SECOND. 305 She did so. The Chancellor having read it, told her there was nothing of those things before them in Council, and said he wonld lay the matter before the king. The next morning the letter was read, and the Secretaries of State were asked if any charge against me had been received. On their saying there was none, an order for my discharge was issued without the i)ayment of fees. I thouglit the storm, was over, and that I was again delivered out of the hands of wicked and unreasonable men. Having been infonned of the kindness of the Chancellor, I went the next morning to liis house to acknowledge my obligation to him. While I stood without, I saw go to him the Lord Chief-Justice Bridgman; Sir G. Palmer, the Attorney-General; Sir H. Finch, the Solicitor-General; and Sir R. Brown.* After some time I was called in, and asked if 1 was still a pri- soner. I told him I had been, but was come to thank him for presenting my case to his Majesty, and obtaining my pardon. He asked me how it was that I was released. I .said by order of the king and Council. He asked for the order. I told him the original was in the messenger's hands, but that I had a copy of it. He told me that there had * " This man, who had been a very active partizan during the civil war and the Piotectonite, had manifested strong Eoyalist tendencies. He had been forbidden the House; but amidst the tide of loyal feeling, 'the Acts passed against Major-General Brown, a timber merchant in London, who had greatly distinguished himself of late, were abrogate, and liberty was given him to resume his place in the House.'" — French Ambassador, Guizot, vol. ii., p. 363. The fury of tliis apostate is thus indicated by a sufferer from his malice : — " Why are we in several gaols and dungeons in most counties in England, where are found no evil doers, when they have nothing against us in anything save in the matter of our God ; — who saith by his Son, ' Swear not at all ' 1 Nay, why are, ;ind have been, several imprisoned that have sworn ? . . . Why, cry out sevei'al in Newgate, are we thus rudely imprisoned by Richard Brown, and kept in without trial? Why were we — cry out some thirty of them, committed to New- gate the 10th day of Abib (Exo. xiii. 4), or the iii-st month — driven from our peaceable meeting out of Birch Lane, by the city marshal, till, the 18th day after, we were carried before him ; the tenderest of whose mercies are mere cruelty?" — Adis' Fanatics' Alarm to the Mayor, p. 22. U 306 E,\RLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. been such an oi'der issued, biit that last night, just after- wards, the Duke of Buckingham came and brought in the charge; and it was ordered that I should remain with the messenger, and that I must retiu-n again to his care, and that I should have a fair and speedy trial. 1 thanked his lordship, and said I was very willing to do so, knowing my innocence. He wished me to go to the back stairs at White- hall, and speak to one of the king's pages who attended there, and desire him to tell the king that I was there. I went immediately. Tlie king was gone out, and I returned to the city, and took two sufficient citizens with me to tender bail, if it were demanded, and hastened back again. As the pro- vidence of God ordered it, just as the king came into the palace, the Chancellor had come into the king. At the door I was remanded, and after waiting an hour, the mes- senger came to tell that the king said I might go home. He asked if there was a messenger with me; but finding none, he said that if there had been one, he had orders to dis- charge me, but I must be ready at all times to come when his Majesty sent for me." The reflections of this good man, on this interposition of the Divine hand, we dare not omit. "This great deliverance was cause for wonder to all that heard of it: for many who were taken at the same time, whose charges were not by any means so high as mine, were kept in the Gate-House more than six months, although nothing was ever exliibited against them fi'om their commit- ment until their release."* To another scene the reader's attention must now be turned. Not only did the men in power tiy to silence the voice, but they would not allow their victims to use the pen with impunity. Deprived to a great extent of the liberty of ministering, some of our brethren sought to inculcate the truth of God through the medium of the press. * Life, pp. 47-51. We have slightly abridged this. It is due to Hyde to say, that in more than one instance he showed favour to Kiffin and hie friends. CHARLES THE SECOND. 307 AmoTigst these was Benjamin Keach. He had suftered mvich before. He had been dragged from his meeting-house by troojjei-s, threatened to be trampled to death with their horses, and was only saved from this fate by the interposition of an officer. Tlirown across the back of one of the animals, he w;is conilucted to prison. About this time he printed and published a small book, entitled " The ChilcUs Instnictoi'; or, A New and Easy Primer^ A coi)y of this little book falling into the hands of Mr. Stafford, a magistrate of the county, he went w^th a constable to Mr. Keach's ; and, seizing all the copies, bound him over to the assizes at £100, and two sureties in bonds of £50 each. The assizes w^ere held at Aylesbury, October 8th, 1G64. Chief-Justice Hyde pre- sided. At an early period the prisoner was called before him. Hyde was one of those time-serving men who had no sense of justice, and disgraced the bench on which they sat. Ridiculing Mr. Keach's person and profession, he held up the little book, and ii,sked the culprit if it was not his ju-oduction. Mr. Keach's assenting brought down another dignified tirade against him, alike expressive of the ignorance of the man and the unfitness of the ermined villain for his office. The following samples of his insolence may be selected : — " Chief-Justice. — In your book you have made a new creed; I have seen three creeds before, but I never saw a fourth till you made one, ^' Keach. — I have not made a creed, but a confession of the Christian faith. " Chief-Jiistice. — What is a creed, then? " Keoxh. — Your lordship said that you had never seen but three creeds, but thousands of Christians have made a con- fession of their faith !" Upon the natiire of baptism and the ministry his lordship expatiated ; and Mr. Keach, attempting to correct his mistakes, was insolently rebuked, and told that he should not preach there, or give the reasons of his damnahh doctrines to seduce and infect the lieges of the king. 308 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. During the prepai'atiou of the indictment, the Chief- Justice, breaking through all law and decency, represented him to the grand jury as a man of the most dangerous principles, attempting to poison the minds of chikken by his pernicious priuciples; and exhorted them to do their duty when the bill came before them. The next day the judge was gratified with the success of his appeal; a true bill was brought in against the author. Standing at the bar, the following indictment was read by the clerk : — "Thou art here indicted by the name of Benjamin Keach, of Wiiaslow, in the county of Bucks, for that thou, being a seditious, heretical, and schismatical person, evily and maliciously disposed, and disafiected to Ms Magesty's Government and the government of the Church of England, didst maliciously and wickedly, on the first day of May, in the 1 6tli year of our Sovereign Lord the King, write, print, publish, or cause to be written, printed, and published, one seditious and venomous book, entitled ' Tim Child's Instructor ; or, A New and Easy Primer;^ wherein are contained, by way of question and answer, these damyiahle 2Jositio7is, contrary to the Book of Common Prayer and the liturgy of the Church of England; that is to say, in one place you have thus written: — Ques. Who are the right subjects of baptism? Ans. Be- lievers, or godly men and women only who can make con- fession of their faith and repentance. And in another place you have maliciously and wickedly written these words: — Ques. How shall it go with the saints'? Ans. O, very well; it is the day they have longed for; then shall they hear that sentence, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- dom prepared for youf and so shall they reign with Christ on the earth a thousand years, even on Mount Zion, in the new Jerusalem, for there will Christ's throne be, on which they must sit down with him." Omitting a paragraph, as not necessary to a correct view of the proceedings, the indictment proceeds. " In another place, you have wickedly and maliciously written these plain English words ; — Ques. CHARLES THE SECOND. 309 Why may not infants be received into the church now, as they were xiiider the lawl Ans. Because the fleshly seed is cast out, though God under that dispensation did receive infiints in a lineal way by generation ; yet he that hath the key of Da^■id, that openeth and no mtm shuttcth, that shutteth anil no niaii openeth, hatli shiit up that way into the church, and hath opened the door of regeneration, re- ceiving in none now but bclievei-s. Qioes. What, then, is the case of infants '] A 'tis. Infants that die arc members of the kingdom of glory, though they be not members of the visible church. Ques. Do they, then, that bring in infants in a lineal way by generation err from the way of truth? Ans. Yea, they do; for they make not God's Holy Word their nde, but do presume to open the door that Christ hath shut, and none ought to open," &c. Other points are alleged, l)ut they need not be quoted. Such now, gentle reader, were the gnxvc charges for which an Englishman and a Christian minister was depi'ived of libei-ty, imprisoned, and called before the bar of his coimtiy ! The trial was a mockery of justice. Bullied by the judge, who compelled liim to i)lead before he would allow him a copy of the indictment — the chai-ges in it were compared with the tendency of the Prayei" Book. Being found in opposition to its pernicious doctrines — the juiy, after some delay, and an abusive chai-ge from Hyde, brought him in guilty. Upon this, the Chief- Justice said: — "Benjamin Keach, you are here con^^cted for writing, printing, and publishing a seditious and schismatical book, for which the court's judgment is this, and the court doth award, that you shall go to gaol for a period of fourteen days ^vithout bail; and that next Saturday, to .stand upon the pillory at Ailsbmy, in the open market, for the space of two houi-s, from eleven o'clock till one, with a paper on your head with this inscription : ' For wi-iting, printing, and publishing a schismatical book, entitled The Child's Instructor; or, A New and Easy PrlmerJ And the next Tuesday, to stand in the same manner in the market of 310 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Win.slow; and there your book shall be openly burnt before your face by the common hangman, in disgrace of you and your doctrine. And you shall forfeit to the king's Magesty the sum of £20; and shall remain in gaol until you find sureties for your good beha\'iour and appearance at the next assizes, there to renounce your doctrines, and make such public submission as sliall then be enjoined you." " I hope I shall never renounce those doctrines which are taught in that book," said the heroic sufferer, at the close of this unjust sentence.""' To the letter, and more, was this order carried out. In the market-places of these two towns, Mr. Keach appeared on the appointed days. The sympathies of some were warmly expressed, wliilst the insults and scoffs of others marked the scene. Such was English liberty in the days of the restored Stuarts; such is a sample of the feeble evidence on which devout men were exposed to suffering ! The confessors were not alone in their complaints of the cruelty of these men of peace. The conduct of the bishops awakened in other minds — minds that had no sympathy, because they could not comprehend the lofty principles by which the Baptists and their brethi-eu were influenced — the deepest anxiety. As politicians, if not as enlightened Chris- tian men, they could see the monstrous evils of the course which Sheldon and his brethren Avere pursuing. The conduct of many of the clergy was in striking contrast to that of the persecuted ministers. With the loftiest pretensions to sanctity and Divine authority, immorality and vice were wide-spread and unchecked in the presence of these men. Every barrier was overleaped, and true piety had retired from the cathedi-al to the watched haunts of the fanatics. As a sample of the feeling indicated, we select the following, t Referring to the * We have abridged Crosby's Narrative, vol. ii., pp. 180, 209. t Pepys' Diary, vol. iv., pp. 26, 27, 41, 42. "Wickedness, like a flood, is like to drown our English world. It begins already to be above the tops of the mountains ; it has almost swallowed up all ; our youth, CHARLES THB SECOND. 311 bishops, the writer says: — "I know they iiiust fall, and they are near it, taking all the ways tliey can to nndo themselves, and showing \is tlie way." "The king is for toleration, thougli the bishops be against it.'' " Much discourse about the bad state of the Church, and how tlie clergy are come to be men of no worth in the world; and as the world do now generally discourse, they must be reformed; and I believe the liierarchy will in a little time be shaken, whether they will or no — the kiug being offended with them and set upon it, as I hear." In the highest circle this feeling was growing. About this time. Clarendon, with all his faults, and they were not few — the friend of his father, and the devoted adherent of Charles in all his wanderings, and since his restoration the able minister of the crown — was driven into exile. Men steeped in corruption grasped the helm of the State, and left tin; monarch unchecked in his senseless and lascivious career. The influ- ence of this is thus given by a writer whose testimony can- not well be doubted by the friends of monarchy and the Church : — " The king was now at liberty to pursue his own })rojects, not only without restraint, but even mth the aid of counsellors more fertile in expedients and more regardless about consequences than he himself was. And this was the darkest and most intricate period of a reign which may justly be called throughout the greater portion of it, the mystery of iniquity. Within the compass of a few years the king resolved to be independent of Parliament, entered into a war to which the nation was generally adverse, declared his treasmy insolvent, united himself with France, and became the pensioner of the French monarch, formed a secret compact to surrendei- the liberties and religion of his own kiugdom," &c.* middle age, old age, and all are almost earned away by this flood. O debauchei7, debauchery, what hast thou done in England ! Thou haat corrupted our young men, and hast made our old men beasts ; thou hast deflowered our virgins, and hast made matrons bawdy. Thou hast made our earth ' to reel to and fro like a drunken man,'" kc. — Bunyan, vol. iii., p. 593. * Cardwell, vol. ii., p. 282 (Note). 312 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Another view our readers must have, if they are rightly to understand the circumstances in which our brethren were placed. Not only was the fountain of honour, as it is called, thoroughly polluted, but the Senate was probably never more corruirt. Lost to all moral, to all patriotic feeling, the legislators were selfish, and luxuriated in the misery and ruin of their country. Well might one of England's noblest sons say, referring to the Lower House: — " It is too notorious to be concealed, that near a tliird part of the House have beneficial offices under his Majesty in the Privy Council, the army, the navy, the law, the household, the revenue, both in England and Ireland, or in attendance on his Majesty's person. , . . Then those that are both hungry and out of office make another third part of this House of Commons. There are such as having observed by what steps, or rather leaps or strides, others of this House have ascended into the highest places of the kingdom, do upon measuring their own birth, estates, parts, and merits, think themselves as well and better qualified, in all respects, as their former companions. They are generally men who, by speaking against the French, inveighing against the de- baucheries of the court, talking of the ill-management of the revenue, and such popular flourishes, have cheated the country into electing them, &c. In money matters they seem at first difficult; hut having been discoursed with in private, they are soon set right, and begin to understand it better themselves, and also begin to correct their brethren. There is a third part still remaining, but as contrary in themselves as light and darkness ; they are either the worst or the best of men; the first are the most profligate persons, that have neither estate, conscience, nor good manners; yet are therefore picked out as the necessary men, and ■whose votes will go furthest; the charges of their elections a/re defrayed, whatever they amount to ; tables are kept for them at Whitehall, and through Westminster they may be ready at hand within call at a question : all of these are OHAKUflS THE SECOND. 313 received into pension, and know tlieii- pay-day, which they never fail of; insomuch that a gi-out oflicer (the Lord Trea- surer) wji,s pleased to say, that they came about him like so many jackdaws for cheese at the end of tlio session. If they be not in Parliament, they must be in prison." Justice demands that we should add, from this faithful amongst the faithless : — " But notwithstanding these, there is a handful of salt, a sparkle of soul tliat hath hitherto preserved tlus gi-oss body from putrefaction ; some gentlemen that are con- stant, invariable, indeed Englishmen ; such as are above hopes and feat's, or dissimulation; that can neither flatter nor betray their king or country; but being conscious of their own loyalty and integrity, proceed through good and bad report to acquit themselves in tlieir duty to God, their prince, and their country."* Nor was this all. Official life was as polluted as senatorial. Places were bought and sold as any other article in the market. Many of these passed through the hands of the court ladies. The wretched mistresses of the wretched monarch were often the brokei-s in these matters, and the bribes tliey i*eceived were no trifles. Nay, the highest per- sonages in the land, as well as the ministers, pai-ticipated in this corruption.! "There was one Gi-aham who told me that he knew the designs the king of France had upon Eng- * Andrew Marvell's Works. " Being absolutely resolved to sell my place, and being dispensed with by his Royal Highness (Duke of York) from any attendance in it till I have disposed of it, you may imagine I shall be very glad to make the best of it," &c. " And considering both Mr. Loftus' desire and his conditions, if I ask £2,000 for it and take £1,800, I think I do not use him iU ; if he seems very averse to any such proposi- tion, which I desire may be insisted on awhile, the best terms he shall ever receive from me shall be £1,600, of which I will have £1,200 down," &c. — SaviUe Con-espondence, Let. xxviii., p. 30. Camden Society. t Dalrj-mple supplies abundant proof, vol. ii. ; also Burnet, Raresby, and others. Lady Danby and the Countess of Lauderdale were regular traffickers in these matters. "I presume you know that H. Sidney hath bought Mr. Godolphin's place of the Master of the Robes; gives £5,000," &c.— Saville Correspondence, pp. 46-48. 314 KARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. land; that he distributed every year £3,000,000; that he knew who it is gone to ; and if the king give liim orders, he will discoA^er it," Ac* The fountain of justice was not pure. Examples of the Adolation of all law by the highest judicial authority have already passed before us. They existed everywhere. The highest and most important transactions of the coui-t Avere marked by manifest injustice. Trial by jury was a farce; fine or imprisonment frequently compelled the juroi-s to give a verdict the opposite of truth. In many cases the wishes of the court ruled, not law. No man could be sure of the decision of the court. He might be right; no doubt could exist as to the case; still he would retire with defeat and heavy costs. The Conventicle Acts and other oppressive statiites were made to tell with feai'ful effect. In the hands of the notorious Justice Keeling, and men of his class, they became terrible instruments of op- pression. It is not easy to conceive, much less to describe, the con- dition of the population at this period. The head and heart of the community were immoral, vicious, and degraded. A writer, by no means of Puritan or Nonconformist sympathies, says : — " In carne a torrent of atheism and debauchery, as if all sense of good and evil was qiiite obliterated out of their minds. What nursing, sweainng, whoi'ing, blas- pheming, even in the face of the sun ! All manner of filthi- ness, even to a prodigy! And he was no gentleman, nor person of any honour, that had not a two hoiirs' sitting at wine; or invented some new modish oath; or found out the late intrigue between the L. B. and L. P.; laughed at the fopperies of priests, and made lampoons and drolleries on the sacred Scriptures themselves. This was and is the prac- tice of our young nobility and gentry, to the great scandal and reproach of their families."t This witness is true, not * Sidney's Diary, vol. i., p. 267. t Great Interest of King and People. Maseres Tracts, vol. i., p. 53. Another glimpse of social life : — "I have been all tbis day sick to agonies CHA,RLK3 THK SECOND. 315 only ill relation to the higher classes, but, in the main, to tlie community at large. Tlie fall of Clarendon pUioed the full power of the State in the hands of men who have scarcely been surpassed for infamy in tlie annals of the nati(jn — Shaftesbuiy, Ai'ling- ton, Buckingham, Clilford, and Lauderdale." From the initials of their names, it was called the Cabal ministry. Cliftbrd and Ai'liugton were Romanists; Buckingham, the most debauched man of his age, was an Atheist; Ashley was a Deist; and Lauderdale as unprincipled as any of them. Under the guidance of these men the court aimed at the diffusion of Popery, and the establishment of arbitrary power. Romanists had .suflered but little since the Restora- tion. Laws had \wv.n enacted, and edicts fulminated against them, but Charles had managed to neutralize the one and counteract the other. In every way the royal convert to Rome aided then>.+ Under the mask of favour to the Non- with foiu' days' swallowing more good ale and ill sack than one would liave thought a countiy town would hold ; and this worthy employment must be begini again to-nioiTow, though I burst for it." — An Election of Newark. Sa^dlle Correspondence, p. 'M. "You woidd have laughed to see how pleased I seemed to be in kissing of old women, and drinking \vine with haudfuls of sugar, and great glasses of burnt brandy — three things much against tlie stomach, yet with a very good will, because to serve him I most honoured."— Sidney's Diary, vol. i., p. 119. "" The reader may consult Burnet's Own Times. " It is almost unneces- .sary to remind the reader, that Lauderdale was one of the most depraved characters of his age, and totally without principle, whether considered as a Covenanter in the reign of Charles I., or as an enemy to that party a few years afterwards."— Napier's Montrose, &c., p. 4.53. t But little doubt can be cherished about Charles's early reconciliation to Rome. Dalrymple supplies, we tliink, abundant proof of this. Later still we find the following :— "The king of Great Britain, beibg convinced of the truth of the Catholic religion, and resolved to declare himself a Catholic and to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, thinks the assistance of his most Christian Magesty necessary to facilitate his design; it is tlierefore agreed and concluded upon, that his most Christian Magesty sliall furnish to the king of England, before the said declaration, the sum of Jt;200,000, iic. And further, that the said lord, the most Christian king, shall assist his Britanick Magesty with troops and money as often 316 EAKLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. conformists, lie urged on his Parliament a toleration of dis- sidents from the Church. Sheldon and his persecuting brethren had lost much of their influence with the court on the fall of their patron. But it was not so in the Senate. Many causes contributed to this. Our limits forbid details. It is enough to say that, though the court brought all its influence to bear on the Commons, the proposition was rejected. More; the House in 1670 passed a Bill enacting additional and more severe clauses to the Conventicle Acts. Upon all classes of Nonconformists it fell with terrible power. No motives more powerful could be presented to the minds of the abandoned to annoy and distress the Baptists than this bill supplied. It gave one-third of the fines in- flicted on oficnders "to the informer or his assistants, regard being had to their diligence and industry in discovering, dis- pensing, and punishing the said conventicles." It inflicted on the teacher of any conventicle £20 for the first ofience, and £40 for the second. Upon those who allowed their barns, houses, yards, to be used for any service, the fine was £20. The bill also provided an easy process by which con- viction might be obtained. Distraint on the ofiender's goods was allowed, and in case of poverty, on those of others. Authority was given to all constables and head-boroughs to break open and enter any place where they might suspect the ofi"enders to be assembled. Under these provisions, and in the hands of such men, the reader will easily conceive the dis- tress and sufierings which our brethren endured throughout the nation. The remainder of this volume might be filled with the most affecting details. '"' Many will appear in another chapter. The oppression fell upon all classes. The people as well as the ministers suffered. Cutlers, shoe- as there shall be need, in case the subjects of the said lord the king shall not acquiesce with the said declaration, but rebel against his said Britanick Magesty," &c. — Leagues, &c. Dalrymple, vol. ii., p. 49. Charles's Ministers bribed by France. Ibid, vol. ii. , p. 82. * Ample details will be found in the pages of Crosby and Ivimey. CHARLES THE SECOND. 317 makers, tanners, di-apei-s, grocei-s, gardenei-s, maltstei-Sjand the names of almost every class of trades appear in the records. Fines were inflicted of every def];ree, from five shillings and upwards. Their houses were broken open, their goods seized, and in the public markets they were exposed for sale. The distress of famili(;s, the teai-s of the widow, and the plaints of the children, had no effect on the minds or hearts of these men. Invincible hatred to the princii)les of our brethren, and the love of gain, were motives of the very highest power in this case. The spirit and temper of the judges and justices were such, that, when any of these men came before them with accusations against our brethren, they were zealous in aggra- vating their crime, and aiding in every way in then- oppres- sion. Many of thesi; informers were men who had formerly associated with them, united in their assemblies, and made loud and earnest professions of their attachment to Christ's holy Gospel. Seasons of persecution, whilst they agitate the Church to its centre, invariably separate from it the formalist and the hypocritical.* Such a course of action on the part of the men in office was not powerless. Indeed, long ere this the splendid vision which the Restoration had opened to some minds had vanished. Presby-terian songs of gladnesst had given place to the wail of sorrow. Persecution had fallen with a heavy • Crosby, vol. ii., p. 258. t "Mr. Newcome, of Manchester, addressed the people of that town in a strain of vehement indignation against the persons who had abolished monarchy for their own selfish ends, and nearly destroyed religion itself." "Mr. Heyrick preached on the day of the king's coronation from the words, ' And he brought foi-th the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they made him king and anointed him; and they clapped their hands and said, God save the king,' " &c. — Hunter's Life of Oliver Heywood, p. 120. Other examples are given. "The Presbyterian pulpits do tliunder against our electors, and Baxter, the Corypheus of Worcestershire, is come here for no good. I am certain he labours much to preach on Sunday before Monk, who is not now to be altered." — Lady Willoughby to Hyde. Clarendon State Papers, vol. iii, p. 7;u. 318 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. hand on tJiose who hailed the return of the exiled monarch its an era of peace and liberty. The iron yoke of Cromwell, which was to give place to silken cords and a gentle and loving sceptre, was followed by the reign of the lowest vice and the most revolting corruption. The palace of St. James's, adorned by the lofty but stern virtue of the Puritan Pro- tector, had become the abode of the courtezan, and the home • •f every corraption, and the living embodiment of all that wiis opposed to purity and domestic virtue. The influence of the monarch filled a wide circle. His example operated with fearful eftect. Says one : — " The exiled and outcast king seemed to have brought back the seven spirits of holy writ — two more besides the personages in the Cabal; and the last state of England was worse than the first. There never was a period in honest England in which all the virtues and even the decencies of life were so disregarded."* The Dutch war, which covered the nation with infamy, deepened the feeling of discontent.f The past was again compared with the present. " The relation of England to Europe during the Protectorate — the might of her naAdes, the extent of her commerce, and the terror of her name in countries which had no sympathy with her religion — rose up before the public, and tinged the dark cloud which had been cast on the memory of the great ones of that wondrous period of our national history Avith a gleam of brightness." " It is strange," says the old diarist, "how everybody do now-a-days reflect upon Oliver, and commend him wliat brave things he did, and made all the neighbour princes fear him; while here a prince comes in with all the love and prayers and good liking of his people, who have given greater signs of loyalty and willing- * Warburton, vol. iii., p. 465. t "The night the Dutch burnt our ships," says Pepys, "the king did sup Avith Lady Castlemaine at the Duchess of Monmouth's, and they were all mad in hunting a poor moth. The king has taken ten times more pains in making friends betAveen my Lady Castlemaine and Mrs. Stuart Avhen they have fallen out, tlian ever lie did to save his kingdom. "—Diary, vol. iii., pp. 262, 208, CHARLES THE SECOND. -HO ness to serve him with their estates than ever wiis done V»y any people, hatli lost all so soon that it is a miracle Avhat way a man could devise to lose so much in so little time."* Danger was npprcliended hy many, and a loader of courage might have closed the despicable dynasty of the Stuarts sooner by some yeai"S than it was.+ The j)olicy of the court about this time underwent a great change. Persecution was to give plac(.' to the spii-it of toleration. The favour of the Dissenters was to be culti- vated. Tlie penal laws were to be suspended, and liberty of conscience, to some extent, was to be enjoyed. In 1G72, the Indulgence was issued, (shades confesses that coercion had failed. For twelve years the experiment had been tried, and with only a very little fruit. Now, he says: — "We think ourselves obliged to make use of that supreme power in ecclesiastical matters Avhich is not only inherent in us, but liath boon declared and recognized by several statutes and Acts of Parliament." In relation to Disscmters, the will of the monarch was, " That none of our sulyects do presume to meet in any place, initil such place be allowed, and the teaclier of that congregation be allowed by us." His Majesty was prompted to this act by his clemency and indulgence; but every violation of the Declaration would be visited with the strongest marks of the royal displeasure. The Declara- * Diary, vol. iii., p. 289. At a little earlier period we discern the fol- lowing contrast :— " Of all the old army, now you cannot see a man beg- ging about the streets; but what? You shall have this captain turned u shoemaker ; the lieutenant a baker ; this a brewer ; that a haberdasher ; this common soldier a porter : and eveiy man in his apron and frock, &c., as if they had never done anything else ; whereas the others go with their belts and swords, swearing and cursing and stealing; running into people's houses by force, oftentimes to cany away something; and this is the difference between the temper of the one and the others," &c. — Pepys, vol. iL, pp. 118, 119. t Even the idtra Royalist Evelyn could tell Pepys, "That wise mew do purpose to remove abroad what they have, for that we must be levised, our case being so past relief; the kingdom so much in debt, and the king minding nothing but his lusts."— Diary, vol. iii., p. 321. 320 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. tion failed. Most saw that it was not Protestantism that was shielded by this, but Popery. Many of the Presby- terians embraced this liberty and took out licences, and here and there Baptists did the same ; but the mass of them could not. It recognized a power they could not acknowledge. On all grounds, both civil and political, then- compliance would have invoked a sacrifice of i)rinciple. But the exist- ence of the Declaration was only veiy brief. In the Senate, the right and the tendency of the Act were questioned; and so strong was the feeling of the Lower House against it, not so much from hostility to Dissent as to Popery, that it was speedily recalled.* The growth of Popeiy had been rapid. All the influences which the court durst bring were thrown around it. Facts place it beyond all doubt that Charles for years, if not before his restoration, had been a convei-t to Popery, f At the Duke of York's he often met with Lords Arlington, Clifford, and Arundel, to advise on the best methods of advancing Romanism in the kingdom. ^: Even Clarendon, the patron of Sheldon, had invoked the aid of the Romanists in behalf of a king "who will perform whatsoever can reasonably be asked of him, and under whom his Catholic subjects might enjoy a full happiness, flatter themselves that they shall enjoy protection and security under these devils, who, in the end, will extirpate them out of all their dominions," &c.§ The Duke of York left no doubt about his state. More * Hallam hints that Charles's women prevailed on him to bow to the wishes of the Commons. — Vol. ii., p. 90. f Vide Evidence in Jessey's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 3.52. + Clarke's Life of James II., vol. i., pp. 441, 442. § Life, vol. iii., pp. 55, 56. " The Duchess of Orleans had prevailed on her brother to relinquish," says Hume, "the most settled maxim of honour and poUcy, and to finish his engagement witli Lewis for the destruction of Holland, as well as for the subsequent change of religion in England." — Pari. Hist., vol. iv., p. 455. "Papists and swaims of sectaries now boldly showing themselves." — Evelyn's Mem., vol. i., p. 450. CHARLES THE SECOND. 321 conscientious tlian Charles, he had declined keeping tip the awful hypocrisy of commtiiiing with the EstablLshinent, though urged again and again to continue the solemn mockery by his unprincipled brother. The conviction was growing in the national mind, that, under the combined influence of the two brothers and the reckless men at the head of the State, an eftbrt would be made to restore the tlctosted system of Popeiy. Probably from this feeling, a.s much as from hatred to Nonconformity, the Legislature added another Act to its o])pressive enactments. We refer to the Test Act. This bill passed the Legislature in 1673. It excluded from all places of civil trust all persons who did not receive the Sacrament in the State Church, and required the renunciation of the cardinal doctrine of Rome — the dogma of transubstautiation. The penalty of disobedience was a fine of £.500; incapacity for suing in the law eoui-ts; for being an executor or administrator in any case. No legacy or deed of gift could be enjoyed, and the guardianship of children was taken from them. The whole influence of the court was exerted agamst the bill. Pity for the Noncon- formists was urged. Their loyalty was undoubted, and the measure would be as unjust as it was cruel. The representa- tives of these men repudiated the former. They expressed their willingness to suffer, rather than impair any Act which would retard the progress of a system which would enthrone both a cixW. and a religious despotism in the nation. Tliis Act told with power on many of the class at which it was aimed. The Duke of York gave u}) his office, and the most unprin- cipled and dangerous men in the ministry were compelled to retii-e to private life.* From this vantage ground the Commons advanced, and implored the interposition of the king against the marriage of the duke with a Popiiih princess. * Pari. Hist., vol. iv. Prallam, vol. u., pp. 91, 92. Neal, vol ii., pp. 566, 567. 322 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. The patriotism of the !N"onconforniists was followed on the one hand by the eifoi-ts of the Lower House to ameliorate their condition, but the indulgence was defeated in the Upper House through the bitterness of Sheldon; on the other hand, the hatred of the court was kindled afresh. From all restraint the penal laws were now released. The mitred priests, acting in consort with the di-unken iiiffians, inter- fered again \\dth the peaceful habits and religious sei-vices of the brethren. Sheldon employed his old tactics. Cii'cular letters were addi'essed by him to the bishops, commanding them to tell their ofl&cials to employ informers to ascertain eveiything about the Dissenters in their parishes, and to report to him. The labour was one of love in many cases. From place to place the ministers were driven. Many fled to the New World — the plantations, as the Colonies were then called. Owen had made arrangements for his depar- ture, but was prevented by the express command of the king. The details of the sufferings of other bodies may be found in various works on this subject.* Amongst this cloud of confessors, our brethren were not the least. Compression is necessary; ovu' pages might be crowded with examples of moral heroism of the highest order. In every way the hand of the oppressors fell heavily upon them. Their meetings were disturbed, their ministers imprisoned and fined, and their people subjected to every form of annoyance. Informers evei-ywhere surrounded them. They were followed in the streets by these colleagues of the Episcopate. Into theii' secret retirement they intruded; and like the frogs of Egypt, they were found everywhere. No means came amiss to these men, which could impair the confidence of the public in. our brethren, or hold them up to the sconi or contempt of the commimity. We have an example before us. " In 1673 was issued a 'pamphlet, under • * The reader may consvdt Neal, Calamy's Noncon. Memorial, Baxter's Life, Bnrnet's Own Times, &c. CHARLES THE SECOND. 323 the alarming title of ' Mr. Baxter Bajitized in Blood' " To give wciglit to its statements, Dr. Samuel Parker, a man of some note in the ecclesiastical world, licensed the publication. [t professes to give an account of a horrible murder com- mitted by four Baptists, at Boston, in New England, upon a minister, a Mr. Josiah Baxter, because he had defeated them in a dispute. It assumes the form of a narrative, detailing the jilace, the names of the disputants, the speeches — and then gives all the particulars of the tragedy. Full details are given of their enteiing his house, seizing the godly man, wliip- ping him, then disembowelling him, and finally flaying him alive, amidst the shrieks of liis family lying bound before hiin. This libel was professedly ])ublished by the brother of the muidered man, Mr. B. Baxter, residing in Fenchurch Street, London. The writer says, in closing : — " I have penned and published this narrative in lyerpetuam rei memoriam, that the world may see the spirit of tliese men, and that it may stand as an eternal memorial of their cruelty and hatred to all orthodox ministers." Though the animus wsis evident, its eftect was not powerless. Hajjpily, the infamous fraud was soon detected. Mr. Kiffin, whose influ- ence at court had often been exei-ted on behalf of the oppressed, brought the matter before the Privy Coimcil. After a rigid examination, the following order was issued by that board: — "Whereas there is a pamphlet lately pub- lished, entitled ' Mr. Baxter Baptized in Blood,' containing a horrible murder committed by four Anabaptists upon the pei-son of Mr. Josiah Baxter, near Boston, in New England ; the whole matter having been inquired into and examined at the Council board, is found altogether false and fictitious." More than this: — "The licenser. Dr. Samuel Parker, being also acquainted with the whole matter, confesseth his mis- take, and too 'sudden credulity in the licensing so strange a ])amphlet, as appears by the testimonial under liis own hand." The sale was interdicted by order of the Lord Mayor; and some of the publishers were imprisoned. The 324 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. strongest suspicion was fixed on tliis violent cLurcliman as the autlior of this attempt to identify the sect with the fol- lowers of Jolm Leyden and the Munster Anabaptists.* With the exploits of these men, the brethren had been pelted by all sects. Of this treatment, Bunyan complains again and again. " It was rumoured that he was a witch, a pirate, a highwayman." His moral character was impeached, and charges of the most infamous kind alleged against it. They charged me," he says, " that I went thither (to London) to plot and raise tlivision, and make insurrections : which God knows was a slander." The mud stuck for a while, but soon fell off, and left the garment unsullied by the contact. The Society of Friends, or Quakers as they were called, originated at a much later period than the Presbyterians, or either of the Congregational bodies. The founder, George Fox, was marked by many elements of greatness. Dissatis- fied with all other sects, he began a course of religious refor- mation, and soon gathered around him a number of followers. "We pass over the lofty pretensions and the unmixed fanaticism of many of the early members of this sect. Forgetfubiess of their errors is best. Their hostility to others, and especially the manner in which it was mani- fested, exposed them to the greatest suffering. Into the "public places" they would intrude; and not only interrupt the services, but, in language which nothing could justify, denounce the ministers. This conduct was pursued every- where. Fox travelled the country, propagating his religious views, and opposing all others. During the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, and up to the present time, their sufferings had been almost unparalleled, t They were the Ishmaelites of the ecclesiastical world ; they were against every man, and every man's hand was against them, * Crosby, vol. ii. Ivimey, vol. ii. The reader will find more details in Marvell's Works, wlio distinctly charges Parker -with this infamous attempt to augment the hostility of the country against this sect. + The reader may consult Burton's Diary for the trial and punishment of Naylor hy the Commons. OUAKLES THE SECOXP. <>--J Time luul niocUficd their pugnacity only in a very small degree. With the Baptists they had had numy a tierce encounter. The wordy war, at the ])i-esent time, broke out afiesh. It involved the leading men of both sides; and it was protracted and tierce. It would be amusing to collect choice specimens of the phraseology of both parties. The vocabulary of abusive terms was exhau.sted.* Boroughs' reply to Bunyan shall su])ply an example or two: — "How long, ye crafty fowlers, will ye prey upon the innocent, and shoot at him craftily? How long shall the righteous be a jn-ey to your teeth, ye subtle foxes, who seek to devour?" " And John Bunyan and his fellows, who have joined them- selves to the broken army of Magog, now in the heat of the day of great stirring, are not the least of all guilty amongst their brethren of secret .smiting the innocent with secret lies and slanders, who have showed themselves in defence of the Dragon against the Lamb." Warmer and still warmer Edward becomes. Flash after flash illuminates the darkness, as he proclaims Bunyan "of the stock of Ishmael, and of the seed of Cain, whose line reacheth unto the m\irdering priests and Scribes and Pharisees," " O thou blind priest," he exclaims, "whom God hath confounded in thy language — the design of the devil in deceiving souls is thy own, and I toss it back to thee." " The Lord rebuke thee, thou unclean spirit, who hast falsely accused the innocent to clear thyself from guilt." In this spirit Christian verities were frequently discussed in those days. Abuse was often con- * Baxter gives an amusing instance of their abuse : — " The Quakers in theii" shops, when I go along London streets, say : 'Alas! poor man, thou art yet in darkness.' They have oft cnnie to the congiegation, when I had liberty to preach Chiist's Gospel, and cried out against me as a deceiver of the people. They have followed me lionie, I'rying out in the streets, ' The day of the Lord is coming, and thou shalt perish as a deceiver.' Theyhave stood in the market-place, and under my window, year after year, crying to the people, 'Take heed of your priests, they deceive your_8ouls;' and if any one wore a lace or neat clothing, they cried out to me, 'These are the fruits of yoiu- ministry.'"— Sir J. Stephen's Essays — Richard Baxter. 326 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. founded with argument, and impudence with depth of conviction. In too many cases it marked all professors.* The present dispute originated in a publication by Mr. Thomas Hicks, charging the Friends with certain errors, which he thought subversive of the Christian faith. WiUiam Pemi, George Whitehead, and others of the Friends, inished into the arena in defence of their principles, charging Hicks with falsehood, robably, not love, was the most potent motive. CHAltLKS THE SECOND. 333 Ou the other liand, the position the Nonconformists had taken in relation to the Test Act and the Popish designs of the court, had aroused tlie anger of the monai'ch. The penal laws were unloosed, and every impediment to tlieir full working was removed. Sheldon and many of his brethren hated Dissent more than Popery. Their love of arbitrary power we have seen; their detestation of Non- conformity was as intense. Into all the persecuting mea- sures of the infixtuated monarch they readily fell. The appliances of the bishops for this work were ample. They had only to speak, and, in every parish in the kingdom, the instruments of their power were found. For the work of suflering the machinery was perfect ; but for life and purity it was powerless. A letter from the Princess Anne, after- wards queen, to her sister of Orange, gives us a glimpse of the men who ruled in the highest circles. Referring to Sunderland, she says : — " Everybody knoAvs how often this nian turned backwards and forwards in the late king's reign, and now, to complete all his ^drtues, he is working with all his might to bring in Popery. He is perpetually with the jn-iests, and stirs up the king to do things faster than I believe he would of himself Things are come to tliat pass now, that if they go on much longer, I believe, in a little while, no Pi-otestant will be able to live here."* Upon our brethren the storm broke with great fuiy. Escape was impossible. From all i)arts of the empire the cry was heard, and probably not a county in the kingdom that did not supply some \Tictim to gi'atify the saintly malice of Sheldon and his Poi)ish auxiliaries.t * Sidney, voL ii., p. 263. "Mr. Godolpliin, Mr. May, and two oi- three more, are still very honest, but have little power with the king; the others are great I'ogues, and betray their master every day." — Sidney to the Prince of Orange. Diary, vol. ii., pp. 21G, 217. + From the Correspondence of Thoreshy, we get some curious glimpses of the religious life of the Pi-eshyterians of this time. It excites no wonder in us. Sharp, of Leeds, thus writes :— " Men choose new things with us, as in the Egyptian darkness men know not what way to go— 334 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Only a few examples cau be given of this savage raid against peaceable and honest men. First in the list of suf- ferers, and perhaps illiistratuig the spirit of the court and the Episcopate as fully as any one we can select, we place Delaune. His crime in the eyes of his oppressors was of fearful magnitude. He had simply asserted the dignity of our common humanity, and maintained the birthright of every man to think for himself. A Dr. Calamy, who would never have emerged from the obscurity to which natm-e and Providence would have consigned him, -with the. impudence inseparable from little minds, in a printed sermon abused the Nonconformist body, and in the plenitude of his conde- scension ui-ged them to propound theii- doubts, and offered to give them, if they were meek enough to receive, instruction. To this insolence, Delaune replied in his unanswered and un- answerable ^^ Plea for the Nonconformists^* Little doubt can be chei-ished about Calamy. It was a bravado — a flash of zeal for a certain purpose. The practice is common enough with men of his class. No answer could be expected ; none was desii-ed. The hint that such an one was preparing was enough. Its publication, if possible, must be ctecked. Only one way was ojieu to these thoughtful and truthful instructors of the people. It was a favoui'ite one. Within some to Quakerism, Anabaptism, Antinomianism, and they will not leave their Delilahs, theii- beloved errors. "—Sharp, of Leeds. Thoresby's Diary, vol. i., pp. 58, 59, "Most of our people are Protestants upon no better principle than many of them are Papists, ^dz., education and inte- rest, &c. &c.; carnal policy and interest make many seem fine Protestants that else see or know little difference between religion, nor are one jot better in their practice. Most conclude a freehold is better than a life estate ; and, as it is not genteel, so it would not be worth their while to change their religion on such imcei-tainties. Could they secure the suc- cession, and get off all penal laws, that it should not be high treason (as our law makes it) to qxiit their own and embrace the Eomish communion, they would go over by shoals, of all ranks and professions, that now seem much averse to it," &c. — E.. Steelton. Conespondence of K. Thoresby, vol. i., p. 90. * A Mr. Hart published a reply to this, entitled, ''The Bulwark Stormed." CHAKLES THK SECOND. 335 the damp walls of the wretched j>rison-house, liberty could be abridged. Means might be employed there to calm the spirit of the insulted one. It was so with Delauue. Before the publication of his " Plea," he was lodged within the walls of Wood Street, by a warrant from the Recorder (Jenner), Nov. 30th, 1G83. Writing to his antagonist, he thus describes his suffering. It is only a sami)lc of what his brethi-cn in jirison, Bamplicld, Ralphson, and others, had to endure : — " I was turned in among the common side prisonei-s, where a hard bench was my bed, and two bricks my i)illow ; and I was not suffered to see some of my acquaintance who were prisoners there as Dissenters. I was soon after sent to Newgate, and lodged among felons, whose horrid company made a perfect representation of that place which you de- scribe when you mention hell. But after two days and nights, without any refreshments — the unusualness of that society and place has changed my health, the constitution of which at best is very tender and crazy — I was removed, and am now in the press-yard, a place of some sobriety, though still a prison." Failing in this appeal, he again addressed the orthodox di\dae. His claim was ju.st and reasonable. " I had some thoughts that you would perform the office of a divine in ^dsiting me in my place of confine- ment, either to argue me out of my doubts, which you pro- mised Scripture and reason, not a mittimus and Newgate, could easily do. To the fonner I can yield ; to the latter it seems I must. This is a severe kind of logic, and will pro- bably dispute me out of the world." The logical power of this argument wa.s well understood by Calamy and his friends. Experience had frequently tested its force. Before the infamous Jeffreys Mr. Delaune was called. The highest legal officials of the Government were engaged against him, — men who knew that the more abuse they laAoshed on him the more acceptable woiild their service be. He was tried in the Court of the Old Bailey. In such cases, the fountain of justice was corrupt in the extreme. The follow- S3 6 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. ing portion of the indictment will show the animus of the whole: — The "Plea" was a libel of the worst character, and " contained these false fictions and scandalous sentences fol- lowing, viz. : The Church of Rome and England, who are great transgressors, to i)resume to vary from Christ's precepts in altering or adding to the form of words ex- pressed by Christ in the 11th of Luke: for so they have done. They say, ' Forgive us our tresjiasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us,' when there are no such words in Christ's prayer. His words are, ' Forgive us our sins or debts, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.' And, says the indictment, in another pai't of the said libel, are contained these false fictions, seditious and scandalous sentences following, viz. : And may we not say that, in these following particulars, we do symbolize with idolatrous Rome herein? Firstly, enjoining and imposing this (the Common Prayer), as a set form, as they do with penalties contrary to the Scriptures. Secondly, by an open repetition of the same form in the exercises three or four times, at least, insomuch that, in cathedral churches, it is said or sung ten or twelve times a day, contraiy to Christ's express words that, ' When we pray, we do not make vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking.' Thirdly, by enjoining the whole congregation, men and women, to repeat after the priest, though no such directions by Christ: nay, he forbids women to pray or prophesy in the church. Fourthly, in singing this prayer in the cathedrals by responses of people, without the least warrant from Christ for such song- praying." "Then the indictment ends with a fearful aggravation that is in contempt of the king, and to the evil and most pernicious example of all such other delinquents in the like case, and against the peace of the said lord now king, his crown and dignity." Such was the crime of this heroic sufferer for Christ. Agaiast these charges the pleadings of IMr. Delaune were CHARLES THE SECOND. 337 in vain. lu that court, and under sucli a president, Iiojh' had vanished. The Attoniey-General made very large demands on his powers to pervert the facts. Jeffreys, with his all but unequalled talent for abuse, and utter absence of all moral principle, bullied the prisoner; and the jury decided, in harmony with the unmistakable wishes of the coui-t, that he was guilty of the charges alleged in the indictment. The sentence was as follows : — " Thomas Delauno, fined one hundred marks, and to be kept prisoner (i.e., till the fine was paid), and to find good security for his good behaviour for one whole year afterwards ; and that the said books and seditious libels, by him published, shall be burnt with fire before the Royal Exchange in London; and if he be dis- charged, to pay six shillings." Well may De Foe say, " To answer sober argument with sour conscience, to dispute by the gaol and the hangman, to debate by the prison and not by the pen — these have been the peculiar tactics of the paxty — and the power of persecu- tion, not of persuasion, has been the way of their usage to the Dissenter." For fifteen months Delaune endured his con- fijiement, in the midst of poverty and extreme siiffering, and, by lingering sickness, closed his chequered career. " I cannot refrain saying, such a champion, of such a cause, desei'ved better usage. But it was very hard, such a man, such a Christian, and such a scholar, and on sixch an occasion, should starve in a dimgeon, and the whole body of Dis- senters in England, whose cause he died for defending, should not raise him £Q6 I3s. id. to save his life." "We would not mitigate this crime an atom; but it is right to suggest that Mr. Delaune may have interdicted the jmyment of the fine. It is not likely that the associate of Knollys, Kiffin, Keach, and others of this class, would excite no interest. The man that could present £10,000 to Charles, would not hesitate about the payment of a trifle for the relief of such a man from the power of the harpies of the law,* * Plea for the Nonconformiats. Y 338 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. Tliis case is only a sample of a numerous class. Multi- tudes crowded the horrid dens, called at this time prisons. Newgate, the Fleet, the Gate-House, were the chief places where holy men endured the cruel imposition of jailors and their savage wardens, and the revolting annoyances which marked these residences of the most hardened criminals of the nation. Mr. Delaime, in his touching narrative, men- tions the names of two of his fellow-sufferers — Bampfield and Ralphson. Their crimes were similar to his own; their imprisonment was more pi-otracted ; and both of them fell Anctims to disease, induced by the sanitary condition of these sinks of corruption.* Both of these men had laboured with great devotedness in their ministry. Forced from one place, they repaired to another, and proclaimed the glad tidings. From the pulpit both of them were carried to prison, where they found other confessors sulfering in the .Saviour's cause. In this list of sufferers at this time, the names of Griffiths, Gifford, KnoUys, and others, stand out prominently before us. The former was the companion of Bampj&eld ; the latter, torn from the bosom of his family * "We have a glimpse of the state of tlie prisons after the Restoration. Ellwood, the friend of Milton, thus refers to one: — "At night all the prisoners were lodged in one room, wliich was large and round, having in the middle of it a great pillar of oaken timber, which bore up the chapel over it. To this pillar was fastened our hammocks at one end, and to the opposite wall on the other end, quite round the room, and in three degi-ees or three storeys high, one over the other, so that they who lay in the upper and middle rows of hammocks were obliged to go to bed first, because they were to climb up to the higher by getting into the lower. And under the lower rank of hammocks, by the wall side, were laid beds on the floor, in which the sick and such weak persons as could not get into the hammocks lay. And, indeed, though the room was large and pretty aiiy, yet the breath and steam that came from so many bodies of different ages, conditions, and constitutions, jiacked up so close together, was enough to cause sickness amongst lis, and I believe did so," kc. — EUwood, p. 164. In 1579, one hundred persons died within the King's Bench in a few days. " Many times it so happened, viz., in the summer, persons that through want of air, and to avoid smouldering, were forced in the night to call out to come and open the windows of the wards." — Strj^pe's Stow, b. iv., p. 10. fHAKLES THE SECOXD. 33li amidst the infinuities of age, was kei)t in conftnemeufc for six inoiith.s. Gitibrd was liunted from place to pWe. In Bristol, Kingswood, and the adjacent districts, he jireached to the colliers and othei"s with great success. The rapidity of his movements, and the various disguises he }>ut on, saved him lor a season; but at last Gloucester Castle received the ser- vant of God. Other details of the sufl"erings of those men will be found elsewhere. A little before this time, a new and important movement was commenced by our brethren, which has exerted an influ- ence of the very best kind on the denomination. Their <)p]»onents had lavished every species of abuse on them for \\ suit of learning. To the scorn of the nation their ministers had been held up, as tradesmen u( the lowest order. Exam})lcs of this have been already given. Not only so; l)ut the charges, though utterly without foundation, had been made, that they were opposed to a learned ministry. They were not the patrons of ignorance, or opposed to secular learning; but they despised the useless forms of the schools for the higher teaching of the divine Spirit; they trampled on the mischievous formalities of Episcopal and l*resbyterian introductions to the miuistiy, and rested more fully on the judgment and authority of the church, in estimating the fitness of those they called to office to contri- l)ute to the full development of their spiritual welfare. lUitei-ate some of them might be; but none were ignorant. They could not annotate a Greek play; but they could expound the language of a Paul, and inculcate the sublime morality of Jesus. The immort^il dreamer belonged to this class.* He, too, was branded by the lofty scorn of these l^retendei-s, whilst true enlightenment, in modern times, has f« irgottea the tinker in the man of genius, and hailed him as a * Lord Campbell says of his Pilgrim: — "AAHiich has done more to R.waken i)iety, and to enforce tlie precepts of Chiistiau morality, than all the sermons that have been published by all the juelates of tlie Anglican Church."— Chief Justices, vol. i., p. 561. 340 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. teaclier for all times, for all nations, for the child as well as the man of years, for the philosopher as well as the peasant. Kiffin, Dyke, Collier, and other ministerial brethren, in 1675, called the attention of the whole body to the im- portance of training young men for the ministry. The great national schools were closed against them. Into Oxford and Cambridge none could enter without the most costly sacrifice which man can make. At the thresholds of these seats of learning, where Owen and Goodwin and Dell had shed the light of their genius, stood the representatives of proud prelacy, forbidding the approach of the student, unless he would have the badge of slavery stamped on his forehead. To the continent many of the younger men retired for their education. At Leyden, and other places, they sought the intellectual culture which was denied them at home. Gale, Stennett, and others, gathered their rich stores of learning there. There was no alternative before them. Circumstances, for a time, prevented their realizing their purpose. But the object was not relinquished. Two years later, an assembly was held; and though we have no record of its deliberations on the subject of ministerial training, we have a valuable Confession of Faith, issued under its authority. The closing scene of the life of the monarch was drawing nigh. Evelyn, the adorer of Charles, shall supply the pic- ture of his last Sabbath: — "I shall never forget the inex- pressible luxuiy and profaneness, and all dissoluteness, and as it were total forgetfulness of God, it being Sunday. The kiag sitting and toying with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleveland, Mazarine, &c. ; a French boy singing love songs in that glorious gallery ; whilst about twenty of the great courtiers, and other dissolute persons, were at basset around a large table, a bank of at least £2,000 in gold before them."* This was on the 15th of Febmary, 1685. On * Diary, Macaulay, with his usual skill, has amplified this into gorgeous picture.— Vol. ii., chap. iv. CHARLES THE SECOND. 341 Monday morning the scene changed. Consternation filled the palace. The news reached the sultana, that the monarch was smitten by an invisible hand. Apoplexy had seized him. For a short time he rallied, but it wtus only for a day. Aroimd him the dignified clergy crowded, but he heeded not their admonitions. His hypocrisy had been long, but he shrank from it now. For years he had been reconciled to the Church of Rome.* At'the suggestion of his early mis- tress, a priest was smuggled into the chamber of death, and in broken accents the dying man acknowledged, in general terms, the wickedness of his life; absolution of all his sins was then pronounced, the body and blood of the Lord administered, and the tender mother received her straying son into her maternal bosom. With such perfect ease, with- out any signs of genuine penitence, conld the Church of Rome cancel the guilt of a Ufe of extraordinaiy turpitude, and marked by the most revolting vices.f Our space forbids a lengthened re^dew of the character of this embodiment of the veiy worst elements of human nature. Indeed, the necessity is by no means m-gent. Every reader will at once see that he stands alone in the pages of our history. All the worst characteristics of his family were intensified in him, without a single redeeming feature. Raised to the throne amidst the wHdest outbursts of loyalty, a prospect of national prosperity and peace lay before him unequaUed in the past.:}: The nation panted for repose; he * Lord CampbeU, vol. ii., p. 214. , , ,, t. u a v, „ t The death of Charles is minutely descnbed by the French Ambas- sador. Dalryiuple, vol. ii., p. 98. It was attributed to poison The reader may consvdt, on this matter, the examination of J. Dugdale, ajid others, pubHshed by order of ParUament. Rome rejoiced at his death. ParL Hist., vol. iv. ,, ■■, t, vr^ni= t "Theii- hearts are fiUed with a veneration of you, said D. Hollis, "longings for you, confidence in you, and desire to see and serve you; and their tongues do, upon all occasions, express it, and m so domg they are (according to the nature of Parliament) the true representatives of the whole nation; for they but do that in a more contracted and regular way, which the generaUty of the people of the land, from one 3-12 EARLY EXGLISH BAPTISTS. could have given it. With few exceptions, men anticipated a reign of peace, of wealth, and liberty. The vision wii.-* speedily dissipated. He had gathered no experience from the past. The errors of liis lamily had supplied no elements of warning. Blinded hy the sudden changes from exile to the throne — from the deepest poverty to the voluntary homage and wealth of the nation — he rushed into the vortex of self-indulgence at once, and made the gratification of his passions, not the dignity and prosperity of the nation, the absorbing end of his life. "Charles," says Macaulay, "was sensual, indolent, unequal to any strong intellectual exeition, and destitute alike of all patriotism, and of all sense of per- sonal dignity." Carry this description to the highest degree, and our readers will form nearly an accurate conception of this monarcl !."■■■ end of it to the other, do in a more confused and disorderly manner, yet as heartily and as afifectionately, all degi-ees and ages and sexes, high and low, ricli and poor (as I may say), men, women, and children, join in sending up their pi-ayers to heaven, ' God bless King Charles ! long live King Charles!' So as our English air is not susceptible of any other sounds, and echoes out notliing else; our bells, bonfires, peals of ord- nance, volleys of' shot, the shouts and acclamations of the people, bear no other moral, have no other signification but to triumph in the triumphs of our king in the hearts of his peojile," &c. &c. — Speech to the King at Breda. Pari. Hist., vol. iv., pp. 38, .56. Clarendon's History, vol. vi., p. 773. Such was the tumult of passion, that it is said that some of the old cavaliers died from joy. "The ^xliole country flocked in, and cutting down palms and stre-iving the way with all sorts of fragrant flowers, aneril in composing the quarrels of his rival mistresses," &c. — Vol. ii., pp. 389, 390. Pepys confirms this. "Sir H. Chomlcy came to me to-day, and tells me the court is as mad as ever ; and that the night the Dutch burned our ships, the king did sup with Lady Castlonaine at the Duchess of Monmouth's ; and they were all mud in hunting of a poor moth." — Diary, vol. iii., p. 2G2. 348 EARLY ENGLISH BAPTISTS. hapless queen, and Charles had the infamous sai^isfaction of seeing this shameless prostitute installed as the attendant on his wife in her most domestic seclusion. But the most enormovis e\als are never unmixed. The wildest tempest is often followed by largest benefits. The greatest tyranny is often the birthtime of liberty. So here the unparalleled evils which marked the reign of the restored Stuart, wrought out for the nation an earlier dawn of free- dom. " We are, however, much indebted to the memory of Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland; Louisa, Duchess of Ports- mouth ; and Mrs. E. Gwyn. We owe a tribute of gratitude to the Mays, the Killigi-ews, and the Chaffinches of the Government. They played a serviceable part in ridding the kingdom of its besotted loyalty; they saved our forefathers from the ' Star Chamber and the High Commissioned Court;' they laboured in theii' vocation against standing armies and corruption; they pressed forward the great ultimate security of English freedom, the expvilsion of the house of Stuart."* * Hallam, vol. ii., p. 53. END OF VOL. II. J. HEATON AND SON, PRINTERS, PATEBNOSTER-BOW, LONDON. BX6275.E92V.2 The early English Baptists. Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00035 6214