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THE

TWO THOUSAND CONFESSORS

SIXTEEN HUNDBED AND SIXTY-TWO.

BY

THOMAS COLEMAN,
AUTHOR OP THE " MEMORIALS OF THE IKDEPEHTIENT CHTJBCHES IN
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE j" "THE REDEEMER'S FINAL TRIUMPH,"
ETC. ETC.

LONDON:
JOHN SiSTOW, 35, PATEBNOSTEB EOW.
MTJCCCLXt.

INTRODUCTION.

Black Bartholomew ! — Such has been the name
given to a day that is designated in the Calendar of
the Church the " Feast of Saint Bartholomew," which
is fixed for August 24th. In the view of many Pro
testants and Protestant Nonconformists, such deeds
of darkness have been perpetrated on that day as to
lead them to give to it this significant name. It is a
day which numbers, who were engaged in the per
formance of those deeds, might wish to have blotted
out from the days of the year, and the remembrance
of it lost in the record of their lives.
It was on this day, in the year 1572, that the
dreadful massacres of the Huguenots, the Protestants
of France, commenced, when a plan had been laid to
extirpate them all from the kingdom at the same time,
and when thousands were hunted out, and shot down,
and otherwise barbarously destroyed. The intelligence
of this created a great sensation throughout Europe.
The indignation which it excited was accompanied by
terror, for it appeared like a signal for a crusade against
the Protestants. AH the princes of Europe expressed
their indignation on the occasion, except two — the
King of Spain and the Pope. At Rome, great rejoi
cings took place, and the messenger that carried the
news was liberally rewarded. The Pope went in a

IT INTBODUCTION.
grand procession, performed high mass with all the
splendour of his court, ordered the Te Deum to be
sung to celebrate the event ; the firing of cannon at
the same time announced the glad tidings to the
neighbouring villages. But it stands on record as
one of the most cruel and horrible events that has
ever taken place under pretence of zeal for the Church.
When Charles IX., who gave orders for this massacre,
was drawing near to the close of his mortal career, he
exhibited a shocking spectacle of wretchedness before
death, as a warning to kings who may have an incli
nation for bigotry or cruelty. His bodily sufferings
were rendered more violent by his dreadful remorse ;
the blood is said to have started through all his pores,
and the Saint Bartholomew being ever present to his
imagination, he could not help expressing the regret
which it caused him.
In the same country, about one hundred and
thirteen years after this dreadful event, we have the
"Revocation of the Edict of Nantes," signed by the
King, Louis XIV., on the eighteenth day of October,
1685, which deprived the Protestants of that day of
the legal protection that had been granted to them.
The said edict was revoked, with every royal decla
ration, in favour of the reformed religion, and Protes
tant worship was prohibited under severe penalties.
All ministers refusing to be converted were to quit
the kingdom within fifteen days, and to abstain from
preaching and exhortation, under pain of condemna
tion to the galleys. These measures, we are assured,
depopulated one-fourth of the kingdom, ruined trade
in all its branches, placed it long under the avowed
pillage of the dragoons, and authorized torments and
executions, in which thousands of innocent persons,

INTEODUOTION. V
of both sexes perished.* Thus they tried, in France,
to complete the work that had been so fearfully begun
in the massacre of Saint Bartholomew's-day.
It appears to be rather a remarkable circumstance
that this very day should have been chosen by the
professedly Protestant rulers of England, ninety years
after the terrible notoriety given to the day by the
massacre of the Protestants in France, when they
would put into force a new " Act of Uniformity,"
which was designed to expel great numbers from the
Church, and which did cause great suffering to thou
sands in this land, Tet thus it was ! In the year six
teen hundred and sixty-two, August twenty-fourth be
came the Black Bartholomew's-day for numbers of the
most decided and consistent Protestants of England.
Mr. Baxter says, " This fatal day called to mind
the French massacre, when, on the same day, thirty
thousand or forty thousand Protestants perished by
religious Boman zeal and charity." " The Presby
terians remembered," observes Bapin, " what a Saint
Bartholomew's was held at Paris ninety years before,
which was the day of that massacre, and did not stick
to compare the one with the other."
" They were then required, if they would be recog
nized as ministers of the Established Church, to give
their solemn and unequivocal ' assent and consent ' to
those very observances to which they objected, and
were to abjure those very views of the ministerial
office which they conscientiously believed. Such was
the requisition and the demand of the law ; and to
such a demand honest and honourable men had but
one reply. They could not commit perjury ; they
could not profess to approve what they in reality con-
* " History of the Huguenots," by W. S. Browning.

VI INTEODUCTION.
demned ; they could not adopt what they believed to
be false, nor abjure what they considered to be true.
They could not do these things either to retain or to
purchase the patronage of Caesar. They were placed
in a position in which it was to be shown whether
they would submit to man or obey God. They chose
the latter alternative. They determined to appeal
from earth to heaveD, and to cast themselves, their
wives, and their little ones, on Sim who feeds the fowls
of the air and the beasts of the forest. The day fixed
for the trial of their resolution and their consistency
at length came — the day fearfully anticipated, but
firmly met. It dawned upon them in the possession
of that which, but for conscience, they might have
continued to retain ; it closed over them beggars and
outcasts. This was the beginning of sorrows."*
It was not, indeed, a plot to murder and shoot
them down, and at once to destroy them all ; yet it
was a deliberate act, planned by the ruling powers of
the Church, to which the restored monarch gave his
consent, and which was passed into law by a British
Parliament, when it was known that it would expose
great numbers to distress and ruin. And it was
followed by further acts of oppression, which brought
untold sufferings on thousands in the land. On that
day, the ministers who did not conform were treated
as men that were dead : " The parsonage, vicarage, or
benefice, curate's place, or lecturer's place, shall be
void as if he were dead." Again: " Such as shall not
consent to receive episcopal ordination before the said
Feast of Bartholomew shall be utterly disabled, and
shall be deprived of any benefice or office they might
hold in the Church, and all their ecclesiastical pro-
* " Dissent not Schism," by T. Binney.

INTEODUOTION.

motions shall be void, as if they were naturally dead." *
And two thousand were thus treated as dead to their
ministry and the Church, because they would not
violate the dictates of conscience.
When nearly one hundred and eighty years had
passed from the time of this ejectment from the
Church of England, a disruption took place in the
Established Church of Scotland on" a somewhat simi
lar principle, but on a smaller scale, and under very
different circumstances. A contest had been going
on for some time between a number of the clergy and
people in Scotland with the Government, in opposition
to lay patronage, for the purpose of obtaining a veto
in the choice of ministers ; in short, to diminish the
authority of the civil rulers in the spiritual concerns
of the Church, wishing to maintain, as some declared,
the Crown rights of the Redeemer. The Government
would not yield. The principle was, as it always has
been, and ever must be, in a Church endowed by the
civil Government, " if you accept our emoluments, it
must be on our terms ; we cannot relinquish control
over that which we support ; to that control you must
submit, or come out, and give up what you receive by
our appointment." This must be conceded by the
members of every Established Church ; and those who
cannot concede this should renounce the Establish-
ment principle, and give up all claim to emoluments
which the State confers.
There were some noble leaders in this movement
in Scotland, who might make some approach to the
Owens, and Baxters, and Howes of English Noncon
formity, viz., Chalmers, and Gordon, and Macfarlane,
and Candlish, and others.
* Tide " Act of Uniformity."

VU1 INTEODUOTION.
The day of decision at length arrived (Thursday,
the 18th of May, 1843). At the meeting of the
General Assembly of the Church a protest was read
by the Moderator, Dr. Welsh. When he closed, the
disruption took place ; the Moderator left the As
sembly, with other of the leaders, followed by more
than four hundred ministers, and a large number of
elders. When the deed was done within, the intima
tion of it passed like lightning through the mass
without ; and when the forms of their venerated
clergymen were seen emerging from the church, a
loud and irrepressible cheer burst from their lips, and
echoed through the now half-empty Assembly Hall.
In the city, Lord Jeffrey was sitting reading in his
quiet room, when one burst in upon him, saying,
" Well, what do you think of it ? More than four
hundred of them are actually out." The book was
flung aside, and, springing to his feet, Lord Jeffrey
exclaimed, " I'm proud of my country ; there is not
another country upon earth where such a deed could
have been done."
On the following Tuesday, the Act of Disruption
Deed was legally completed by the subscription of
the Act of Separation and Deed of Dismission, by
which four hundred and seventy ministers did sepa
rate from and abandon the present subsisting Ecclesi
astical Establishment in Scotland, and renounce all
rights and emoluments pertaining to them in virtue
thereof. A revenue of more than one hundred thou
sand pounds a year was thus voluntarily relinquished
for the keeping of a good conscience, and on behalf of
the liberty of the Church.* This was a noble sacri
fice to principle. The views they had of an Establish-
* " Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers," Vol. iy.

INTEODUCTION. IX
ment were similar to those entertained by the English
Nonconformists of 1662. They thought that the
State ought to make provision for the religious instruc
tion of the people, but that it ought to give them
more liberty in all the spiritual concerns of the
Church. So far as they saw they acted nobly, and
showed, by the sacrifice they made, the reality of the
principles by which they were governed.
But the circumstances in which they were placed
most widely differed from those of the English
Nonconformists. There was no " Act of Uniformity"
forbidding them to minister in any other place,, or in
any other way, than in the Church by law established.
They were in no danger of a " Conventicle Act," with
its penalties of fines, imprisonment, and banishment
hanging over them if they ventured to assemble for
worship and the preaching of the Word, They had
no "Five-Mile Act" before them, that would drive
them from their friends, and from the places where
they had formerly preached. Those days had passed ;
those dangers were over. Our forefathers had toiled,
and suffered, and died in the cause ; and these could
now come in and enjoy the privileges that were dearly
bought by them, and only obtained after years of
painful deprivation and trial. They could now come
under the wing of that toleration that had at length
been granted to the English Dissenters. They were
at liberty to preach wherever they could find an
assembly to hear ; to build churches, to gather con
gregations, and to organize themselves into a new
body, which they did, under the title of the " Free
Church of Scotland." So that, though the sacrifice
they made might be great, yet our noble English con
fessors stand higher than they. Had Lord Jeffrey

X INTEODUCTION.
forgotten them when he said, " he was proud of his
country, and that there was not another country
upon earth where such a deed could have been
done?" They ought not to be forgotten by the
English Nonconformists, who have reason to be proud
of their forefathers, and to consider that there was
not, perhaps, another country on the earth in which
such a deed could have been done as that which was
performed on August 24th, 1662 ; and that, though
they had not attained to the views on religious
liberty and the rights of conscience which their
successors may generally hold, with the prospect
before them of penury, persecution, fines, imprison
ment, and varied sufferings, they made the sacrifice,
and they held on their way through twenty-six dreary
and painful years of trial until the time when the
Revolution took place.
Of the sufferings, in a great variety of forms,
through which they passed, we can make but an
imperfect statement ; the exact record is on high.
Mr. Jeremy White is said to have collected a list of
seventy thousand persons who had suffered for Dis
sent between the Restoration and the Revolution, of
whom five thousand died in prison. Lord Dorset
was assured by Mr. White, that King James had
offered a thousand guineas for the MS., but that, in
tenderness to the reputation of the Church of Eng
land, he had determined to cancel the black record.
It is also stated that, within three years, property
was wrung from them to the amount of two millions
sterling. But who could calculate the total loss of
lives and of substance which the Nonconformists
suffered, from the first rise of the Puritans to the
triumph of Toleration under King William ? It is

INTEODUOTION. XI
justly questioned whether the annals of the Christian
Church, since the Reformation, contain any instance
of persecutions equally severe. But from these accu
mulated injuries the Dissenters rose at the Revolu
tion, little diminished in strength or numbers, and
capable of turning either scale into which they might
choose to throw their weight.*
This small work is written under the impression
that these worthies are comparatively but little known
amongst us, and that their history is too slightly
regarded in the present day.
The volumes containing the more full account of
them are not now extensively read ; and it is with
the hope thajb a condensed account, with selected
instances, to show the principles on which they acted,
and the kind of sufferings to which they were ex
posed, might come into the hands of some who would
not peruse the larger works, that this compendium
has been prepared. It is not written under any
feeling of hostility to the ministers or members of the
Church by law established, but with a deep convic
tion of the unchanging truth and importance of the
great principles on which our Dissent from that
Church is based, and, consequently, with a desire
that those principles may be more closely studied
and more extensively known ; so that the Redeemer
may be increasingly honoured as the Lord and Head
of the Church, and the Saviour and Sovereign of the
souls of men. The whole is affectionately commended
to the attention of the reader, accompanied with an
earnest desire for the blessing of God.
A worthy minister of the Established Church, on
being informed that I was preparing this work, ear-
* "History of Dissenters," by Bogueand Bennet.

Xll INTEODUCTION.
nestly requested me to read " Dr. Walker's Work on
the Sufferings of the Clergy under Cromwell and his
party." With that request I have complied. And
here I would most distinctly state, that I have no
sympathy with oppressors of any party, or under any
circumstances ; and I would fully acknowledge that
there were many cases of great hardship and suffering
among the sequestered clergy in those times, and
that some very worthy men were most unjustly
treated. I also believe, according to the language of a
Nonconformist historian, " that the offence of those
sufferers, who were called Malignants, consisted
frequently in their conscientiousness, and that such
deserve a place among the confessors of the seven
teenth century, no less than the Puritans, who for the
same kind of fault, had been made to endure the same
evils." But, with all respect for the judgment of
those who defer to Dr. Walker's " Attempt to Re
cover an Account of the Number and Sufferings of
the Clergy of the Church of England," I should have
supposed that no one could calmly recommend the
book as containing a trustworthy account of the men
and the times in which they lived. It most evidently
discovers the grossest partiality, and it abounds in
language unworthy of a scholar and a Christian. If
we are to believe the Doctor, we must conclude that
there was scarcely anything but sincerity and excel
lency on the Royal side, and nothing but hypocrisy
and knavery on the contrary side ; not a weak or dis
honest gentleman with the King, nor a wise or honest
patriot with the Parliament.
But whoever is willing to look carefully at the two
cases will see that there is a wide difference between
them, and that both in the circumstances under

INTEODUCTION. Xlll
which they suffered, and in the characters which the
larger proportion of them bore. The sufferings of
the clergy occurred in a time of civil war — one of
the most dreadful calamities that can befall a nation.
" And who can answer for the violence and injustice
of actions at such a time ?" says a divine of the
Church of England. "Those sufferings were in a
time of general calamity ; but these were ejected, not
only in a time of peace, but a time of joy to all the
land, and after an act of oblivion, when all pretended
to be reconciled and made friends, and to whose com
mon rejoicings these suffering ministers had contri
buted their earnest prayers and great endeavours."
Another divine of the Church writes : " I must
own that, in my judgment, both sides have been
excessively to blame ; yet, that the severities used by
the Church to the Dissenters are less excusable than
those used by the Dissenters to the Church. My
reason is, that the former were used in times of peace
and a settled Government, whereas, the latter were
inflicted in a time of tumult and confusion; so that
the plunderings and ravages endured by the Church
ministers were owing (many of them, at least) to the
rudeness of the soldiers and the chances of war ;
they were plundered, not because they were Con
formists, but Cavaliers, and of the King's party. The
allowing of the sequestered ministers a fifth part of
their livings was a Christian act, and what, I confess,
I should have been glad to have seen imitated at the
Restoration. But no mercy was to be shown to these
unhappy sufferers, though it was impossible, on a
sudden, to fill up the gap that was made by their
removal."* * Meal's " History of the Puritans."

XIV INTEODUCTION.
In referring to the character of numbers of the
sequestered clergy in the time of the Commonwealth,
I shall only present two testimonies from men living
at the time, and well acquainted with the parties,
one a Conformist, the other a Nonconformist, just to
show that many of the Episcopalians were deprived of
their livings on the charge, not unjustly, of being
scandalous ministers. Fuller states : " That the
offences of some of these men were so disgraceful as
not to bear repeating — ' crying to heaven for jus
tice.'" Baxter writes : " In all the countries where I
was acquainted, six to one, at least, if not many more,
that were sequestered by the committees, were, by the
oaths of witnesses, proved insufficient and scandalous,
or especially guilty of drunkenness and swearing.
This I know will displease the party, but I am sure
that this is true."* I do not wish to enter further
into this subject, or to make any more painful dis
closures. I leave it to the reader to judge between
this case and that, while we refer the whole to the
final judgment of Heaven.
T. C.
ASHIEY, IfBAB MAEKET HaEBOEOTJ&H,
April 6th, 1861.
* "Baxter's Life and Times."

PREFACE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In sending forth a second edition of the "Two
Thousand Confessors of 1662," the Author has simply
to state that he has carefully revised the work, and
made additions to those parts which relate to the
principles on which they acted, the oppressive mea
sures under which they suffered, and the facts cha
racteristic of the men and the times in which they
lived, which he hopes will be found to increase the
interest of the work.
He would also gratefully acknowledge the favour
able reception that has been given to his humble effort
to revive the memory of these worthies ; and he would
entertain the hope, that it may prove, as has been
suggested, a precursor to some celebration of the
second centenary of the great and memorable event
in 1862.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
Introduction  iii
I. — The Two Thousand Coneessoes — Reyiew oe
Events that led to theib Ejectment . . 17
II. — The Principles on which thet Acted . . 28
III. — The Oppeessive Meastiees undeb which they
Suffered .  52
IV. — Pacts and Anecdotes Characteristic oe the
Men and the Times in which they Lived . 85
Section 1. The Spirit of their Persecutors-
Sufferings Endured .... 86
Section 2. Remarkable Interpositions on their
Behalf  138
Section 3. Adversaries Rebuked . . . 159
V. — Eminent Piety and Useeul Pbeachin& . . 166
VI. — The Influence they have had on Succeeding-
Times .... . . 208
VII. — The Present State oe the Question between
the Conformists and Nonconformists . 224
Appendix  . . 237

THE
TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES
OE
SIXTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO.

CHAPTER I.
THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES  EEVIEW OE
EVENTS THAT LED TO THEIE EJECTMENT.
It was a memorable day in the ecclesiastical annals
of England when her rulers passed a law, which
proved the occasion of separating, from the Estab
lished Church of the country, two thousand of her de
voted ministers, many of whom must ever be regarded
as men of the highest eminence as ministers of Christ.
If we look at such a number, resigning all the emolu
ments which the State conferred, coming down from
the position to which they had attained, casting
themselves and their families on the care of Pro
vidence, rather than violate the dictates of conscience,
or act contrary to what they considered to be the will
of God, it must be regarded as a noble sacrifice to
principle. ? >S B

18 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
There were a number of preparatory steps which
led on to this decisive result ; these we shall endea
vour in the present chapter briefly to trace.
If we could place ourselves at the era of the
Revolution, in the year 1688, and were from that
period to glance over the hundred and fifty years
that had elapsed since the English monarch first
favoured the Reformation from Popery, or denied the
supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, we should see that
there had been a constant endeavour, by the civil
rulers, to establish a uniformity of doctrine, worship,
and ceremonies in religion — a uniformity which has
ever been found to be impracticable, where any con
cern for religious liberty has prevailed, and which is
altogether unnecessary for the promotion of vital
Christianity. When the authority of that visible Head of the
Church which claims infallibility was denied, .the
reigning monarch appeared to set up a similar claim
on his own behalf ; for on what other ground, with
any consistency, could he determine to compel all his
subjects to submit to the one system which he should
appoint in the worship of God ?
If infallibility is claimed by any human being, or
by any society of men, however unfounded or absurd
the claim itself may be, there is some consistency
between such a claim and requiring others to submit
to its dictates. But let all claim to infallibility be
renounced, and there can be no just reason why any
human being, however exalted his station, should
come between his Maker and his fellow- creatures, so
as to impose on them his views of whaf may be right
and proper in the great concerns of religion, and to
strive by coercive means to compel them to submit.

EVENTS THAT LED TO THEIE EJECTMENT. 19
If Henry VIII. seemed to favour the Reformation,
when he denied the supremacy of the Pope of Rome,
he set himself up as the Pope of England, by making
his will the standard of religious faith and worship.
Many of his subjects were made to suffer for daring
to disobey, or to dispute, what he had appointed.
Uniformity in religion was also one great idol of
his daughter Elizabeth ; everything must be regu
lated according to the order which she approved. In
the reign of this queen the number of those had
greatly increased who desired a further reformation
ofthe English Church. Many ofthe Protestants had
been exiles from their country, to escape persecution
during the reign of Mary ; they had visited the Con
tinent, had seen the system adopted at Geneva, where
the reformers had gone much further than in Eng
land, bringing the Church into a greater conformity,
as they believed, to the scriptural model. They
returned to their country, after the accession of
Elizabeth, with a strong aversion to the ceremonies
observed in the English Church, and to the habits
worn by her priesthood. But they must conform, or
be punished. In the High Commission Court and the Star
Chamber scenes were witnessed of oppression and
severity, to force them to a compliance, which have
left an indelible stain on the Protestantism of Eng
land. No liberty of conscience could be obtained.
It was submission or suffering ; that suffering in
cluding fines, deprivations, imprisonments, tortures,
and sometimes death.
The annals of Elizabeth's reign were glorious to
England, if we look to the energy of her government,
the general prosperity of her kingdom, its defence

20 THE TWO THOUSAND CONFESSOES OE 1662.
from foreign invasion, and its influence amongst the
nations of Europe ; but its ecclesiastical history must
be anything but satisfactory to those who recognize
the rights of conscience and the supremacy of the
Redeemer in his Church ; both of these were awfully
violated. But though in these early days of the Reforma
tion there were many that struggled for greater
liberty, and suffered much for conscience sake, yet
they had not completely emerged from the clouds
and darkness with which Popery had surrounded
them. The dense darkness of the night had passed
away, so that some truths, most palpable and im
portant, were discerned in their brightness and their
beauty ; and these were their life. But the shades
which still hung over them prevented them from seeing
clearly what was the right of every man, as a being
accountable only to his God in matters of faith and
practice, and what was due to the great Head of the
Church as her sole Legislator and the only Sovereign
of immortal souls. But the light which had arisen
was to "shine more and more unto the perfect day."
"When the first English Sovereign of the Stuart
line ascended the throne as the successor of Eliza
beth, though he had been brought up among the
Presbyterians of Scotland, and had professed to re
gard that as the purest kirk in the world, he came
with a determination, which was soon made manifest,
to maintain the Episcopal Church in all its dignity,
without the least abatement of the uniformity required
in the reigns of his predecessors. The " Hampton
Court Conference " he proposed to hold was a farce :
his Majesty professing to be willing to hear both sides,
when he lavished all his favour upon the prelates of

EVENTS THAT LED TO THEIK EJECTMENT. 21
the Church, while the Presbyterian ministers were
browbeaten and discouraged ; the homage of the
bishops was presented to the King, whom they basely
flattered, while Archbishop Whitgift said, " He was
verily persuaded the King spake by the Spirit of
God." The whole closed with the royal declaration
concerning the Puritan divines : " If this be all your
party have to say, I'll make them conform, or I will
harry them out of the land, or else do worse." " I
will have none of this arguing. Let them conform,
and that quickly, or they shall hear of it." Such was
the royal logic of the new monarch. Hence the same
system was pursued. Those who could not conform
to all that was required were summoned to the courts
before referred to, and commanded to answer the in
terrogatories proposed. If they refused, they were
punished for contumacy ; when they answered, and
were convicted of a want of conformity, they were
treated with great severity.
Daring the reign of his son and successor,
Charles I., this system was carried to a still greater
length under the bigoted and cruel Archbishop Laud.
The severity of some of the sentences pronounced was
such as to cause a thrill of horror when we read them.
Our compassion for the sufferers is blended with
indignation against their persecutors, when we find
that men of piety, learning, talents, usefulness, be
cause they could not conscientiously comply with all
the forms of sacred service prescribed, and all the
ceremonies and habits required, should be sentenced
to pay heavy fines, to stand in the pillory, to have
their noses slit, their ears cut off, to be branded
on the cheeks with hot irons, and to suffer long im
prisonments ; in some cases, even unto death.

22 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
The religious persecutions carried on, combined
with the exercise of arbitrary power in civil affairs,
led to the overthrow of the Throne and the Church,
and to the establishment of the Commonwealth.
When Cromwell became Lord Protector of the Com
monwealth, he showed that he was far in advance of
the prevailing spirit ofthe age, in the views he enter
tained of the rights of conscience, by the religious
liberty he was willing to grant to his subjects in
general. During that period a greater number of
faithful, devoted ministers had liberty to preach the
gospel, and to conduct the worship of God in the
manner they preferred, than had been the case for
ages before.
But after the death of Cromwell, the sceptre
passing into feebler hands, it was soon lost ; and the
Restoration of the second Charles was shortly accom
plished without any restriction. The changes through
which the nation had passed, with the trying and un
settled state of things when the Protector was re
moved, led great numbers of the people to become
intoxicated with joy when the Restoration took place.
But it was soon found that there was little occasion
for this, as the house of Stuart appeared to be inca
pable of learning wisdom by all the adverse scenes
through which they passed ; for they were perpetually
drifting towards civil and religious tyranny, until they
were entirely wrecked and ruined. The Restoration
would have given no joy to the Nonconformists, if
they could have seen what was before them.
The "Declaration from Breda," that the Kinc
would grant liberty to tender consciences, and that no
man should be questioned for a difference of opinion
in matters of religion, who did not disturb the peace

EVENTS THAT LED TO THEIE EJECTMENT. 23
It
of the kingdom, gave some hope that the restored
sovereign would grant a degree of religious liberty
beyond what his predecessors had done. But when
he was fixed on his throne those obtained the most
favour, and gained the ascendancy in his counsels,
who were opposed to any concessions, many of whom
appeared to be determined that those who had ranked
as Puritan divines should be cast out of the Church.
Though several conferences were held, and some
plausible language was employed, and Church digni
ties were offered to some of the leading Nonconfor
mists, yet all proved abortive. There must be full
uniformity in the Church, and that uniformity must
be according to the former model, and made more
stringent than before.
The decided predilections of the King and many
of his courtiers for the Roman Catholic religion,
though -necessarily kept in abeyance at the time, had
an influence opposed to the bestowtnent of liberty on
Protestant Nonconformists. The power of Lord
Clarendon was great at the Restoration, and his
High Church principles prevailed in the counsels of
the King.
Several of the dignitaries of the Church, and
numbers of the clergy, remembered what they had
suffered during the Civil War, and in the days of the
Commonwealth, for their adherence to the royal cause,
and their security appeared to them to be identified
with the restoration of monarchy, and the uniformity
to be established and maintained in the Church.
Hence, it seems to have been the determination of
these parties "that no concessions should be made to
the Presbyterians.
Dr. Bates observed, "that the ministers fell a

24 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
sacrifice to the wrath and revenge of the old clergy,
and to the servile compliance of the young gentry
with the Court, and their distaste for serious reli
gion." Sheldon, Bishop of London, exerted all his
influence against retaining the Presbyterian ministers
in the Church. When the Earl of Manchester told
the King "he was afraid the terms of conformity were
so hard, that many ministers would not comply," the
Bishop replied, " he was afraid they would ; but now
we know their minds," says he, " we will make them
all knaves if they conform." And when Dr. Allen
said, "It is a pity the door is so strait;" he answered,
" No pity at all ; if we had thought so many of
them would have conformed, we would have made it
straiter." And Mr. Baxter observes, " that as far as
he could perceive, it was by some designed it should
be so."* " Happily, however," says one who is now
pleading for liturgical purity, " the Presbyterians did
not conform. They did not in this instance succumb
to the temptation. Conscience was triumphant, and
if ever there was an event in the whole history of the
Church which calls loudly for admiration, and, even
after the lapse of two centuries, or nearly so, for
vigorous sympathetic action, it is that almost unani
mous secession which followed, as we know, so closely
upon the enforcement of the Act of Uniformity, and
led the way in after times, to that complete recog
nition of dissent as an established institution of this
country, which many affect so deeply to deplore, but
which was, after the rigorous exactions of St. Bartho
lomew's day, and the penal measures consequent there
upon, a simply unavoidable necessity."- " Alienated
by fierce persecution, impoverished by ruinous and
* Neal's " History of the Puritans," Vol. iii.

EVENTS THAT LED TO THEIE EJECTMENT. 25
repeated fines, and embittered by long imprisonment,
the seceding party of 1662 cannot be said, in respect
to their origin, fairly to deserve the name of Sepa
ratists."* A new " Act of Uniformity" must be passed, and
it shall absolutely require that every one who minis
ters in the Church be episcopally ordained, whatever
might have been the method of his introduction into
the ministry aforetime, whatever his standing, attain-
- ments, character, or usefulness ; and he must give his
full and unqualified adhesion to everything the Service-
Book should contain. This was passed into a law by
a Parliament obsequious to the views of the Court,
and with a full knowledge that there were great num
bers who could not, as conscientious men, obey such
a law, but who must rather bear all the sufferings to
which it would expose them.
This Act required that every one who ministered
in the Church should declare " his unfeigned assent
and consent to all and everything contained and pre
scribed in and by the book entitled, ' The Book of
Common Prayer, and Administration of Sacraments,
and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, ac
cording to the Use of the Church of England; together
with the Psalter, or Psalms of David, printed as they
are to be said or sung in Churches ; and the Form
or Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating
of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.'" A declaration of
this nature, and to this extent, surely ought to be
made concerning no book of human composition ; for
it can be claimed only by that which is given by
inspiration of God.
This Act was to come into operation on Bartholo-
* " Liturgical Purity our Rightful Inheritance," by J. C. Eisher.

26 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
mew-day, August 24, 1662. All those ministers who
did not comply with its requirements were deprived,
from that day, of their station in the Church, of what
ever benefice they might have held, and of all the
means of support they might have derived from its
emoluments. They were forbidden to exercise their
ministry in any other way than that appointed for the
Church of England. The time was fixed at such a
part of the year that, if they did not conform, they
would lose all the profits of their livings for that year,
which was drawing towards its close.
That day came ; its approach was beheld by num
bers with great concern; what its results would be
was seen by many hundreds of the faithful servants of
God. At the close of that day two thousand ministers
had resigned all their earthly prospects from the
Church as by law established, and had cast themselves
on the care of their great Lord. It had been a pain
ful struggle with many; but it was a glorious triumph
— a great triumph of principle over power. It was a
moral force, exerted against unjust and arbitrary re
quirements ; and it has been telling on the religious
history of this country from that day to the present,
and it will have an influence for ages yet to come.
If we consider the circumstances in which they
had been placed — trained up as they had been in con
nection with the Church by law established — and the
period at which they lived, when the light was only
just breaking forth which was ultimately to show that
all coercion in matters of religion was contrary to its
nature and to its legitimate influence on the human
mind, and when it was generally allowed, with com
paratively few exceptions, that the magistrate had an
authority which he might rightfully exercise in mat-

EVENTS THAT LED TO THEIE EJECTMENT. 27
ters relating to the Church of Christ — it would be
most unreasonable to expect that they should then
have avowed those principles which the increasing
light of a succeeding century or two may have led
their descendants very generally to adopt. On this
account it was, as must be most fully allowed, that
they did not go so far as many of their successors
have done in their view of the rights of conscience,
and the claims of the great spiritual Legislator of the
Church ; but they acted according to the light they
had and the principles they had embraced.
They were among the pioneers in the path of Non
conformity, and in the great struggle that had to be
carried on against civil power in things sacred. They
toiled, and suffered, and prepared the way, in some
measure, for those that were to come after them.
Their memory is blessed ; their names shall be em
balmed, and they shall be had in remembrance with
lasting veneration, affection, and gratitude.

28 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.

CHAPTER II.
THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED.
When we come to inquire into the principles that
governed so large a number as two thousand ministers
of Christ, who, under certain circumstances, pursued
in the main the same course, we must expect to find
some diversity in the reasons by which they were
actuated and in the statements of those reasons which
they gave. There would be one great principle pre
vailing with them all, viz., that they ought not to
yield obedience to the civil ruler in what they believed
to be contrary to the will of Christ ; yet, in a con
siderable variety of forms might this principle be dis
covered ; and in the judgment of some, it would apply
to things which it did not embrace in the judgment
of others. They did not generally entertain such views- of
the kingdom of Christ, the right of private judgment,
and the sole authority of the Redeemer in his Church,
as to regard civil rulers as going out of their province
when they were legislating on religious, matters;
nor did they renounce entirely the authority of the
civil magistrate in ecclesiastical affairs. It was not
their aim that every man should be at liberty to judge
for himself in his spiritual concerns, without being
accountable to any earthly power. They did not re
cognize the right of all to profess and to propagate
the truth which they were brought to entertain ; nor
would they at once have approved a general tolera-

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THET ACTED. 29
tion. But it was here principally that they made their
stand ; they could not give that subscription to a book
of human composition which they believed to be only
due to the Word of God, and especially to a book
which, in their judgment, contained many things con
trary to the teachings of that Word.
It was directly opposed to the view which they
entertained of their introduction to the ministry to
be reordained, and thus to deny the validity of their
former ordination, which they believed was a proper
introduction to their work. They considered that it
was wrong to be compelled to use, without any liberty,
a number of ceremonies in religious worship, and to
wear certain vestments, which savoured of supersti
tion and were relics of Popery.
Their whole conduct showed that it was not
caprice — not wilful opposition to the powers that be —
not the sensitiveness of weak, tender, but uninformed
consciences, that led to the course they adopted ; but
that it was sterling principle by which they were
governed, in minds essentially enlightened, and gene
rally in hearts renewed — a principle by which they
feared to offend God, would rather suffer than sin,
rather sacrifice the greatest earthly interests than
truth and a good conscience.
When we see,for instance, such men asMr.Edmund
Caiamy, the first and most popular of the ministers of
London, having the greatest interest in the court, city,
and country, of any preacher of that day, coming down
from the eminence to which he had risen, to take his
lot with the outcast and persecuted ; when a Baxter,
who had been offered a bishopric by his sovereign, but
who would gladly have returned to his flock at Kid
derminster, to have lived and laboured for their good,

30 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
chooses rather to be cut off from all his ministry in
the Church, than submit to the terms required ; when
a Howe, with his powerful but finely-balanced mind,
and with his elevated piety, who would have been
delighted to have laboured again among his beloved
people at Torrington, yet rather consents to be
excluded than subscribe ; when a Henry, who was
adorned with a meek and heavenly spirit, who had
a conscientious regard to the Government of his
country, and a concern to be among "the quiet of
the land," most decidedly refuses the terms that were
proposed ; when such men as Owen, and Charnock,
and Manton, and Bates, and Flavel, and a large cluster
of other eminent names, came to the same decision,
we may rest assured that it was a supreme regard to
God, to truth, and duty, by which they were governed.
Much they sacrificed, and much they had to suffer.
All the power of the State was engaged against the
liberty they desired, while thousands were ready to
carry out any further laws that might be framed
against them.
Philip Henry, one of the most moderate of the
Nonconformists, stated that he could by no means
submit to be reordained, so well satisfied was he in
his call to the ministry, and his solemn ordination to
it by the " laying on of the hands of the presbytery,"
which God had graciously owned him in, that he durst
not do anything that looked like a renunciation of it
as null and sinful, which would be at least a tacit
invalidating and condemning of all his ministrations.
He was, besides, not at all satisfied to give his " un
feigned assent and consent to all and everything con
tained in the Book of Common Prayer," for he thought
that thereby he should receive the book itself, and

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 31
every part thereof, rubrics and all, both as true and
good ; whereas there were several things which he
could not think to be so. He could by no means
submit to, much less approve of, the imposition of the
ceremonies. He often said, " that when Christ came
to free us from the yoke of one ceremonial law, he did
not leave it in the power of any man, or any company
of men in the world, to lay another upon our necks."
John Howe, with the largeness of heart by which
he was distinguished, in a conversation with Bishop
Wilkins, remarked, " that one thing he could tell him
with assurance, that that latitude of his, to which the
Bishop had been referring, meaning his catholicity of
spirit and liberality of principle and feeling, was so
far from inducing him to Conformity, that it was the
very thing which made him and kept him a Noncon
formist. He could not recognize, in the present
constitution, those noble and generous principles of
communion which he thought must sooner or later
characterize every Church of Christ ; that, conse
quently, when that flourishing state of religion should
arrive, which he thought he had sufficient warrant
from the Word of God to expect, a constitution which
rested on such an exclusive basis must fall ; that be
lieving this to be the case, he was no more willing to
exercise his ministry under such a system, than he
would be to dwell in a house with an insecure
foundation." This same Bishop Wilkins was very much of
Howe's mind on the subject, as in a conversation with
Dr. Cousins, Bishop of Durham, who was for vigor
ously supporting the ecclesiastical constitution, he
said, " While you, my lord, are for setting the top on
the piqued end downward, you won't be able to keep it

32 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
up any longer than you continue whipping and scourg
ing; whereas I," said he, " am for setting the broad
end downward, and so it will stand of itself."
The reordination required was a point which
Howe greatly disliked, as he stated in conversation
with another bishop, who pressed him to name any
one of the points which he scrupled ; on this, he men
tioned reordination. " Pray, sir," said the bishop,
" what hurt is there in being twice ordained ?"
" Hurt, my lord !" rejoined Howe, " it hurts my un
derstanding ; the thought is shocking ; it is an absur
dity, since nothing can have two beginnings. I am
sure I am a minister of Christ, and am ready to debate
that matter with you, if your lordship pleases, but I
cannot begin again to be a minister."
They regarded their ordination as a valid intro
duction into the Christian ministry, as that by which
they became authorized ministers of Christ ; and
hence they considered that to be reordained would
be a tacit denial of the validity of all their former
ministrations. There are many circumstances which test the prin
ciples of men, and show on what ground they stand.
Here we find a Lawrence, who could say, " that if he
would have consulted with flesh and blood, he had
i eleven good arguments against suffering, for he had a
wife and ten children dependent upon him for sup
port." One of their number counted, within a few
miles around him, so many ministers turned out to the
wide world, stripped of all their maintenance, and ex
posed to continual hardships, as with their wives and
children made up above a hundred individuals.
Men of education, with piety and talents adapted
for the ministry of the gospel, had, in many instances,

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 33
to engage for their support in secular employments.
One appears in the occupation and dress of a shep
herd, uutil circumstances discover to his employer
that he is an eminent minister of Christ. Another is
obliged to take a small farm, and, while cultivating
that, he takes every opportunity he can to preach the
gospel of Christ. His means were scanty, his family
increasing, yet he cheerfully goes on. Circumstances
of peculiar difficulty, poverty, and trial were before
great numbers of them, when they refused to conform.
They had the prospect of the privations and sorrows
of those who were more dear to them than their own
lives — the sordid wants by which they would be op
pressed — the contempt and scorn with which they
would be treated — the intense solicitude, the perpetual
suspicions, which would tend to poison their peace by
day, and haunt their steps by night — which would
wring with anguish many a heart that would not have
faltered at the stake. "Martyrdom," says Rogers,
" might have been borne, nay, in many instances,
would have been most welcome ; but long years of
penury and destitution, with the maddening spectacle
of a starving family, these must have been worse than
many martyrdoms."
When there is a strong attachment to the work in
which ministers are called to engage, it is a great test
of principle to give up what they consider to be the
best opportunities of pursuing that work, in obedience
to the dictates of conscience. Mr. Nathaniel Hey-
wood, who is described as " having been a painful and
successful preacher," when about to leave his living,
was addressed by one of his hearers, who said, " Ah !
Mr. Heywood, we would gladly have you preach still
in the church." " Yes," said he, " I would as gladly
o

34 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
do it as you desire it, if I could do it with a safe con
science." The man replied, " Oh, sir, many a man now-
a-days makes a great gash in his conscience ; cannot
you make a little nick in yours ?" He loved his work,
loved his people, and would with delight have laboured
for their good, but was at length silenced ; after which
he thus wrote to a ministerial brother : " I wish neither
you, nor any faithful minister that minds and loves his
work, may ever know what I have felt in want of
people and work ; other afflictions are light compared
with a dumb mouth and silent Sabbaths." A little
before his death he remarked, " I think this turning
us out of our licensed places will cost me and Mr.
* Tates our lives."
We may here present a brief statement of their
objections to what was contained in the Book of
Common Prayer, to which their unfeigned assent and
consent was demanded. Some things therein appeared
to them to be contrary to the Word of God, and there
were other things unsuitable to be required in his
worship. They believed that it taught baptismal re
generation, which they could by no means admit, con
sidering it to be opposed to divine truth and danger
ous to the souls of men. They viewed it as wrong to
require godfathers and godmothers in baptism, to the
exclusion of parents ; nor could they consent to the
sign of the cross, which was a superstitious addition
to a divine ordinance. They could not reject all from
the Lord's Supper who would not receive it kneeling,
which was the mode in which the Papists worshipped
the host, showing their belief in the absurd notion of
transubstantiation ; nor were they willing to deny the
communion to all who would not yield to be confirmed
in the Episcopal way. They could not assert that

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 35
bishops, priests, and deacons, are three distinct orders
in the Church by divine appointment ; for they saw
no satisfactory evidence of this in the New Testa
ment. They could not consent to pronounce all saved
over whom they were required to read the burial ser
vice, which they believed that service to declare. It
also appeared to them to be wrong to read Apocryphal
lessons in the service of God, under the title of Holy
Scripture. They objected to take the oath of canonical obedi
ence, and to swear subjection to their ordinary, or
ecclesiastical judge, according to the canons of the
Church. By those canons ministers were liable to
excommunication for charging the Prayer-Book with
containing anything repugnant to the Scriptures —
for affirming any of the Thirty-nine Articles to be
erroneous — for affirming that the rites and ceremonies
of the Church of England are superstitious — for
affirming that the government of the Church of Eng
land by archbishops, bishops, deans, etc., is repugnant
to the Word of God — for declaring that the form and
manner of making and consecrating bishops, priests,
and deacons, containeth anything in it repugnant to
the Word of God. For these things the sentence is,
let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not be
restored until he repent and publicly revoke his wicked
errors. And by other canons it was declared, that
such as separate themselves from the Church of Eng
land, and such as own those separate societies to be
true Churches, are all to be excommunicated, and
restored only by the archbishop. By another canon
ministers are debarred the liberty of keeping private
fasts upon any occasion, or so much as being present
at them, without exposing themselves to suspension

36 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
the first time, excommunication the seecnd, and depo
sition the third.
To such canons as these they could not swear
obedience; they must, therefore, renounce their
connection with a Church that required such an
oath. They objected to what the Act of Uniformity re
quired, for every one to abjure the " Solemn League
and Covenant ;" and also to the following declaration,
which that act demanded : — " I, A B, do declare, that
it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatsoever, to take
arms against the king ; and that I do abhor that
traitorous position of taking arms by his authority
against his person, or against those that are commis
sioned by him."
" No class of the British community were more
ready to honour the king, in all that was lawful and
right, than the Nonconformists, of which their entire
history affords abundant proof; but they refused to
sign this declaration, lest they should injure the liber
ties of their country. They deemed it the duty of
Englishmen, as free people and as Christians, to obey
righteous laws rather than the commands of a despotic
king." Many of the nobility greatly disliked the terms of
conformity. On this point one of the ejected minis
ters writes : " A little before the Black Bartholomew,
a noble lord inquired ' whether I would conform or
not.' I answered, ' Such things were enjoined as I
could not swallow, and therefore should be necessi
tated to sound a retreat.' His lordship seemed much
concerned for me ; but perceiving me unmoved, he
said with a sigh, ' I wish it had been otherwise ; but
they were resolved either to reproach you or undo

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 37
you.' " Another great peer, when speaking to him
about the hard terms of conformity, replied, " I con
fess I could scarcely do so much for the Bible as they
require for the Common Prayer-Book," which shows
how little the nobility were pleased with the rigorous
proceedings of the clergy.
We shall here insert an interesting specimen that
has been preserved ofthe serious, searching, impartial,
manner in which the matter was treated by some of
the ministers, as presented in a soliloquy drawn up
by a Mr. John Oldfield, ejected from a living in
Derbyshire : — •
" Consideration is the way to resolution, and
well-governed resolution will fortify the soul against
the impetuous violence of man, and make it as the
rock to repel the dashing waves. To this, O my soul,
I now invite thee ! Rash engagements often end in
shameful retreats, and base tergiversation. O thou
Fountain of Wisdom, who givest it liberally and up-
braidest not, to him that asketh, shine in upon my
dark understanding ! Let the Spirit of truth lead me
into all truth, and so direct me in my consideration
that it may end in pious resolution ; and what through
grace I purpose, let me by grace be enabled to per
form. It is not, O my soul, a light matter thou art
now employed in ; it is not thy maintenance, family,
wife, or children that are the main things considerable
in this inquiry. Forget these till thou art come to a
resolution in the main business. It is, 0 my soul,
the glory of God, the credit and advantage of religion,
the good of that poor flock committed to thy keeping
by the Holy Ghost — thy ministry, thy conscience,
thy salvation, and the salvation of others, that must
cast the scale and determine thy resolution. And,

38 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
where all cannot be at once promoted (or, at least,
seem to cross one another), it is fit the less should
give place to the greater. Thy ministry, thy people,
must be singularly dear and precious to thee ; incom
parably above body, food, raiment, wife, children, and
life itself ; but when thou canst no longer continue
in thy work without dishonour to God, wounding eon-
science, spoiling thy peace, and hazarding the loss of
thy salvation — in a word, when the conditions upon
which thou must continue (if thou wilt continue) in
thy employment are sinful, and unwarranted by the
Word of God, thou mayest, yea, thou must, believe
that God will turn thy very silence, suspension, de
privation, and laying aside, to his glory and the ad
vancement of the gospel interest. When God will
not use thee in one way, he will in another. A soul
that desires to serve and honour God shall never want
opportunity to do it ; nor must thou so limit the Holy
One of Israel as to think he hath but one way to
glorify himself by thee. He can do it by thy silence
as well as by thy preaching. Oh ! put on that holy
indifferency to the means, so the end be but attained,
which the blessed apostle expresses (Phil. i. 20), ' That
Christ may be magnified in his body, whether by life
or by death.' Let God have the disposal of thee, and
doubt not but he will use thee for his own glory and
his Church's good, his respect to which is infinitely
greater than thine can be."
After some further reflections, he observes —
"Here, then, lies the stress of the consideration
thou art upon, whether the grounds upon which thou
art to suffer will bear thee out — whether thou shalt
suffer as a Christian for righteousness' sake — whether
the cause be as weighty as the suffering itself is lite

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 39
to be ; that, if thou findest it otherwise, thou mayest
make a timely retreat.
" I charge thee, 0 my soul, to lay aside all pre
judices, prepossessions, and respects to, or sinister con
ceptions of, men of the one or the other party. Away
with carnal wisdom, leaning upon thy own under
standing, and let the Word of God be umpire.
" And because, 0 blessed Father, the way of man
to know as well as to do is not in himself, nor is it ' in
man that walks to direct his steps,' I again and again
implore directing grace. Lead me, 0 Lord, by thy
counsel ; make thy way plain before me ; lead me in a
plain path, and into the land of uprightness. Let not
former errors be punished in thy leaving me to err in
this thing. Lord, show me thy way, and through
grace I will say it shall be my way. What can a poor
weak creature say more ! Thou knowest the heart of
thy servant. Oh dispel clouds of ignorance, prejudice,
and passion ; take off all preponderating weights and
propensions ; cast the scales which way may be most
for thy glory, thy Church's, and my people's good,
the peace of my own conscience, and the salvation of
my own soul and the souls of others. .
" And canst thou, 0 my soul, think of laying
down thy ministry upon a light occasion ? Must
matters of indifferency give thee a supersedeas ? Oh,
take heed lest if, like Jonah, thou overrunnest thy
embassy through discontent, thou be fetched back
with a storm. What if men be Pharaoh's task
masters — impose such burdens as thou mayest ever
groan under ; if they be only burdens, and not sins,
they must be borne, and not shaken off.
"Nothing but a necessity of sinning in the act
can absolve thee from that necessity which is laid

40 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
upon thee of preaching the gospel, and shelter thee
from the influence of that woe which is denounced
against thee for not preaching it. The plain question,
then, which lies before thee, 0 my soul,, and in the
right resolution whereof consists the comfort of suffer
ing, or the duty of continuing at thy work, is, whether
the conditions that are imposed be sinful or no.
Sinful, I say, not only in the imposition of them, but
in submission to them. Whether thou canst, without
sinning against God, his Church, thy people, thy con
science, and soul — all, or any of these — submit to the
present conditions of continuing in thy place and
employment. Here is no room for comparing sin
with sin, viz., whether it be a greater sin to leave thy
ministry or perform such a sinful condition ? Thou
art not necessitated to sin ; nor must thou do the least
evil though the greatest good might come of it. Thou
wilt have little thanks if, when thou art charged with
corrupting God's worship, falsifying thy vows, thou
pretendest a necessity of it, in order to thy con
tinuance in the ministry."
He afterwards proceeds particularly to mention
the conditions of the continued exercise of his minis
try ; and upon the whole he concludes, that to hold
on in the public exercise of his ministry, on such
conditions, to him it would be sin.
We will here also present the copy of a paper
found among the MSS. of Mr. Samuel Birch, who was
ejected from the vicarage of Bampton, in Oxfordshire.
It is headed, " Upon the Act of Uniformity, etc., and
my Conforming thereto, or Leaving my Ministry,
Yicarage, etc. Humble Address to my Lord, July,
1662 :—
" My Lord and Master, — It is now high time

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 41
that I prostrate myself at thy feet, and earnestly beg
to know thy good pleasure with thy poor creature.
Thou gavest me my commission to preach the gospel,
and, by many strange providences, hast settled my
station in Bampton. The civil magistrate (who is
thine authority) forbids me, under severe penalty, to
perform any of those things for which thou hast given
me commission, unless upon such terms as himself
proposeth. My God, may I declare my unfeigned
assent and consent to all things in this Book of Com
mon Prayer, and to the use of those unprofitable,
but most offensive ceremonies, which have occasioned
so much mischief already in thy Church, and turned
so many out of the way ? to the constant practice of
this Common Prayer as now it is ? to this consecra
tion of bishops, and to many things in the ordaining
priests and deacons ? to the reading of those vain
stories in Apocrypha, while so much of thy Word,
inspired by thy Spirit, is left out ? to those things in
the Catechism, which intimate baptismal regenera
tion ? May I now renounce the solemn oath, the
covenant, wherein the nations stand bound to a refor
mation, and which hath been so great an instrument
for restoring of king, parliament, laws, etc. ? May I
openly profess and subscribe that it is in itself unlaw
ful ? Did thy faithful servants (so many thousands-
in England) wickedly in entering thereunto ? Or
thy ministers (so many hundreds) no better in their
public owning and avouching the same in print, to all
the world, after so many years ?
" My Lord, I am, by Act of Parliament (thy
authority over me), ipso facto avoided as dead, if
within the time I do not this. I am at thy footstool ;
I may not do evil that good may come. I may not do

42 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
this great sin against my God and the dictates of my
conscience. I therefore surrender myself, my soul,
my ministry, my people, my place, my wife and chil
dren, and whatsoever else is herein concerned, into
thy hand, from whom I received them. Lord, have
mercy upon me, and assist me for "ever to keep faith
and a good conscience ! I do not yet see (for all
that is said against it) that the covenant is the worse,
or these other things better, than formerly I accounted
them. Thou hast graciously brought me, without
scandal or breach of conscience, through the former
snares on the other extreme. My gracious Lord,
bring me also safe and sound through this ! I do
not beg for riches, honours, great places, or a pleasant
life for myself or mine. I beg thy grace in Christ,
and that we may be kept from scandal to religion,
and may be brought the next way to heaven. Mor
tify the sin of my heart and life which might turn me
out of the way, blind mine eyes, or occasion thee to
permit my fall. Lord, I earnestly recommend the
souls of this poor people, my flock and charge, to
thee ! O Lord Jesus, the Head of thy Church, the
Redeemer of thy people, the Saviour of thine elect,
the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, take the
care aud charge of them, provide, for them, keep
them, save them ! If thou takest me from this work
here, my God, provide some work somewhere, and set
me about it. Let me live no longer than I may be of
use in such employment as thou shalt assign me, and
therein make me faithful. I am thy servant, let me
not be altogether unprofitable.
"As for my provision, my God, I never had any con
siderable estate, and yet I never wanted. I have lived
well, without injury to or need of others; plentifully, by

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 43
thy gracious providence and bountiful hand. I de
pend on thy promise (Matt. vi. 24, 33), and have
reason more than others, from good experience, to
trust thee. When I come into extreme need or
straits, I will, through thine assistance, as formerly,
come to acquaint thee with it, and to devolve myself
at thy footstool for the like relief. In the meantime,
I give thee most hearty thanks for what I have, and
humbly beseech thee for grace to use it well. My
God, I beg thy direction in this great business, and
beseech thee to show me what is fully pleasing to
thee, and enable me to do it ; for my Lord Jesus
Christ's sake, my Saviour and blessed Redeemer.
Amen." When he came to lie on his dying bed, his eldest
daughter, who sat behind his bolster to bear him up,
asked him what his thoughts then were of the many
changes in public affairs which he had passed through.
Amongst other things, he said, " I bless God with all
my soul I did not conform."
There were a great number of others who acted
with equal seriousness and impartiality in this affair,
who came to the same conclusion. And surely those
who were so deeply concerned to obtain divine light
and guidance, who felt a readiness to yield to it with
out reserve, and who preserved that unbiassed temper
which breathes in these considerations, would not be
left of God, in a matter so momentous, to adopt a
course in which they could not approve themselves to
him. The men who acted on such principles, who
thus sought to honour God, who obtained the testi
mony of a good conscience in their favour, who made
sueh sacrifices rather than violate its dictates or
sin against their God, are worthy of all honour;

44 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
and " them that honour me," says God, " I will
honour." " Brethren," exclaimed Mr. Lye, another of their
number, " I would do very much for the love I bear
to you ; but I dare not sin. I know they will tell
you this is pride and peevishness in us — that we are
tender of our reputation, and would fain all be bishops,
and forty things more ; but the Lord be witness be
tween them and us in this. Beloved, I prefer my
wife and children before a blast of air or people's
talk. I am very sensible of what it is to be reduced
to a morsel of bread. Let the God of heaven and
earth do what he will with me, if I could have sub
scribed with a good conscience I would. I would
do anything to keep myself in the work of God;
but to sin against God I dare not."
In meeting the charge of disaffection to the
Government, a Mr. Atkin observes : " Let him never
be accounted a sound Christian that doth not ' fear
God and honour the king.' I beg you will not inter
pret our Nonconformity to be an act of unpeaceable-
ness 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 dare not be damned for him. We make no ques
tion, however we may be accounted of here, we shall
be found loyal and obedient subjects at our appear
ance before God's tribunal."
Men who could thus talk and act must have felt,
as the feast of Bartholomew closed upon them, a con
scious integrity and self-respect which would prove
to be a compensation for their temporal losses.
The following descriptive passage we quote from a
living writer:— "The parsonages in many parts of

TnE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 45
England, as the corn was ripening in the summer of
1662, must have been the scene of some memorable
struggles between conscience and care, faith and
feeling. Good men were reduced to a sad dilemma.
The alternative was, not the parish church or the
conventicle, tithe or voluntary contribution, but
preaching as a Conformist or silence, a legalized in
come or beggary. To render the hardship the more
severe, the terms of conformity were imposed before
Michaelmas, when the payment of the year's tithes
would be due ; and therefore, the ejected ministers
would lose a twelvemonth's income. They were men
— they were husbands — they were fathers ; they had
their quiet studies, and they saw their families in
comfort — their wives sitting in the snug parlour of
the rectory, their children sporting in the garden or
over the glebe. To leave these tranquil homes, to
exchange them for abject poverty, here was a trial of
faith more easily talked of than thoroughly realized.
It were ridiculous to look on those individuals as
obstinate fanatics — they had heads and hearts, and
both were at work in this trying season. They
thought deeply on the matter, weighed it carefully,
looked at it on all sides, prayed over it, conversed
about it. Perhaps the reader sees one of them in his
study, revolving the whole subject, examining the
Prayer-Book, pondering its objectionable sentences,
and writing down his reasons for dissent. Perhaps a
wife and a mother, who is honouring this volume by
her perusal, may, with all the vividness of a woman's
imagination, picture to herself the country rector and
the beloved companion of his cares sitting at eventide
by the window, round which the honeysuckle and the
rose are entwining their buds and shedding their fra-

46 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
grance, first looking at the garden which she has cul
tivated with her own hands ; and the church, peeping
above the trees, where he has laboured for many a
year, and then gazing on each other with tears, as
they discuss the point, ' We must conform, or leave
all this next August.' Nor did the ministers neglect
to correspond with one another on the question ; the
sluggish post was anxiously waited for by many a
worthy, as he expected from some clerical brother a
folio sheet of closely written answers to a similar
amount of matter in the form of query and objection.
After mature deliberation, the Nonconformist adopted
his resolve; sometimes, as we have seen, with a,
solemnity which rendered all subsequent hesitation
impossible."* Some of the wives, under these trying circum
stances, acted a noble part. Mr. F. Keeling, asking
the thoughts of his wife about it, she readily answered,
" Satisfy God and your own conscience, though you
expose me to bread and water." Of Mr. H. Mau
rice we are informed, that for some time, when he saw
that he could not conform, he kept his trouble to
himself, till his wife, surprising him in his retirement,
told him she was determined not to part from him
for a moment till he communicated to her the cause
of his uneasiness. He then told her he could not be
satisfied to continue any longer in Stretton, as minis
ter of that place, and that he was much concerned
for her and her child, as to their future subsistence.
She desired him to do as his conscience directed,
and assured him, " she could freely resign herself and
her child to the providence of God, whose care of
* Vide " Spiritual Heroes," by J. Stoughton, p. 260.

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 47
them she did not at all distrust." This answer of
hers greatly supported and encouraged him.
Some of their partners nobly stood up for them
in the presence of their persecutors. John Hicks,
who was ejected from Saltash, in Cornwall, had his
house broken into by one Squire Reynells and his men,
under a suspicion of preaching, when he was absent
from home. His wife sent a messenger to meet him
on his way, to inform him of what had taken place.
When he saw him, and perceived that he was the
bearer of bad news, he asked, " Hath aught evil
befallen my wife and children ?"
"Squire Reynells," replied he, "and his men
have broken into your house."
" My family have not been ill-treated ?"
" Oh, Mistress Hicks, father said — and he was on
the stairs till they knocked him down — bore it
bravely ; yet I saw her cheeks turn white as those of
a corpse, when, after calling her names, they began — "
The lad checked himself.
" Go on ; let me know all — keep nothing secret."
" Sir," answered he, hesitating, and growing very
confused, " Mistress Hicks gave them never a word,
till they began to cry you down in so shocking a
manner, that, clasping her hands tightly together,
she said, loud enough for us in the street to hear
every word, ' Revile me, who am a poor, weak woman,
if you like ; but my husband, ah, cowards, abuse him
not in presence of his wife !"
" The true heart !" exclaimed the husband on
hearing this.
"Mistress Hicks," said the messenger, "charged
me herself to try and meet you, and tell what had
been done, for she greatly feared your coming home

48 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
before Squire Reynells with his men were clean gone
from the town."*
The manner in which they came to a decision on
this subject was manifested by many of them, in the
satisfaction they expressed, when near the end of their
days, with the course they had pursued.
Mr. Oliver Heywood thus wrote, twenty-one
years after his ejectment, " I am so well satisfied in
my refusing subscription and conformity to the terms
enjoined by law for the exercise of my public minis
try, that, notwithstanding all the taunts, rebukes, and
affronts I have had from men, the weary travels
many thousand miles, the hazardous meetings, plun-
derings, imprisonments ; the exercise of faith and
patience about worldly subsistence ; the banishing
from my own house, coming home with fear in the
night, etc., which are the least part of my affliction
under this dispensation, for banishing from my people
and stopping my mouth, have occasioned many sad
temptations and discouragements, lest God should be
angry with me, lay me aside, and make no use of me.
Notwithstanding all this, I am so fully satisfied in
my conscience^that my Nonconformity as a minister is
the way of God, and I have so much peace in my
spirit, that what I do in the main is according to the
Word ; that if I knew of all these troubles before
hand, and were to begin again, I would persist in this
course to my dying day."
Although he was thus decided in his opinion, he
entertained Christian charity for the people of God of
every denomination.
The Rev. Henry Pendlebury, M.A., who was
* " Baptist Messenger.''

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 49
ejected from Holcomb Chapel, Lancashire, of whom
it is stated that " he was a man of great learning,
strict godliness, and every ministerial qualification,"
and that he laboured in the vineyard of the Lord
forty-four years.
When he lay on his dying bed, he was asked,
" What are your thoughts now as to your Noncon
formity ? Do you repent of it ?" He replied, " I
bless God I am abundantly satisfied with it, and
if I were to make my choice over again, and if it
were possible for me to see all the sufferings I have
undergone for it (which are nothing to what many of
the precious servants of God have suffered), and
if they were all laid together, I would make the
same choice, and take my Nonconformity with them ;
and I bless God I never so much as tampered with
them."* One more instance of this, which we shall give as
a specimen of many others, is that of Mr. Samuel
Jones, who was ejected from a vicarage in South
Wales. Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of Llandaff, had a great
respect for him, and made him considerable offers ;
but the more he considered the terms of Conformity,
the less he liked them. We are told that he was a
great philosopher, a considerable master of the Latin
and Greek tongues, and a pretty good Orientalist, an
excellent casuist, well read in the modern contro
versies, and a very useful preacher. He was a Chris
tian of the primitive stamp, always meek and humble,
loving and peaceable ; a man of uncommon prudence
in his conduct. He was a great sufferer for Non
conformity, was frequently imprisoned. He lived
* " Select Nonconformist Remains," by R. Slate. D

50 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
till he was near seventy years of age, but a report
was spread, sometime before his death, that he had
renounced his Nonconformity. On account of this
report, he sent a letter to a friend to the following
effect : —
" I was a little surprised by your last. But the
father of lies is not yet dead. I account it a mercy
that God hath thus lengthened out my dying life, that
I might vindicate, not so much my own little name,
as the great name of the holy and blessed God, and
his good ways, wherein myself and Christian friends
have walked with peace and concord, notwithstanding
all the reproaches and sufferings we met with. I
declare unto you, and to all the world, as in the words
of a dying man, that I had not at the time referred to,
and have not since, the least check upon my conscience
for my noncompliance and submission to those impo
sitions that were then made the indispensable terms
of communion with the Church of England. I con
fess that I had then, and have still, a very honourable
respect for the able and conscientious ministers of
it. But to declare an unfeigned assent and consent,
etc., to deny my former ordination, to swallow several
oaths, and to crouch under the burden of the other
impositions, were such blocks, which the law had laid
at the Church's door, that upon mature consideration,
I could not, durst not then, and dare not now leap
over, though to save my credit and livelihood, though
to gain a dignity or preferment, without odious hypo
crisy, and the overthrowing of my inward peace, which
is, and ought' to be, dearer to me than my very life.
To this choice I was then led, not by the examples of
other leading men, nor with any design that others

THE PEINCIPLES ON WHICH THEY ACTED. 51
should be led by mine. This is the living testimony
of, sir, your dying friend."*
This may bring to a suitable close our account of
the principles on which the two thousand confessors
acted. * "Nonconformists' Memorial."

52 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE'1662.

CHAPTER III.
THE OPPEESSIVE MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY
SUFFEEED.
The tyrannical and oppressive proceedings of the
Church of Rome towards all dissentients from her
communion, had been carried on for so long a period,
and in such a number of instances, that it would have
been in accordance with its previous history had it
cruelly treated such men as the Nonconformists of
England. Its persecuting spirit had so displayed itself
in the crusades it sanctioned against the Waldenses
and the Albigenses — in the massacre of the Huguenots
in France — in the horrors of the Inquisition — in the
persecution of the Lollards in England, while with a
lurid flame it had shone in the fires of Smithfield
during the reign of Mary, that no surprise would have
been felt, had it retained its ascendancy, to find it
pursuing a similar course now ; but that the rulers
of a Protestant Church, that had professed to embrace
the principles of the Reformation, should be harsh and
unbending, oppressive and persecuting, might occasion
some surprise.
Light had broken in upon the darkness, and during
the years immediately preceding the Restoration there
had been some discussions on the rights of conscience
and the principles of religious liberty. Some freedom
had been enjoyed. When the King was about to be
restored, some fair promises were made. But the
great fault of the age again prevailed ; they must have

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEEEEED. 53
uniformity of doctrine and of worship ; and those that
would not comply must be deprived and punished.
Their pains and penalties, indeed, should not be
so severe as those inflicted by the Papal power ; they
did not intend to burn Nonconformists at the stake,
they would not cause the fires in Smithfield to be
rekindled. No, they would not violently and sud
denly deprive them of life, but they certainly would
embitter that life to them ; they would cut off many
of its comforts ; they would deprive them of liberty,
the sweetest blessing of life.
If we refer to such an authority as the celebrated
John Locke, who was well acquainted with affairs of
State, he will show to us in what spirit the " Act of
Uniformity " was framed and passed, and while he
concisely describes how it was that so large a number
complied with that Act, he shows that it was framed
to exclude and oppress the most conscientious and
devout. Observe his language : —
" Immediately after this, followed the ' Act of
Uniformity.' This, the clergy, i.e., the greater part,
readily complied with, for you know that sort of men
are taught rather to obey than understand, and to use
that learning they have to justify, not to examine.
And yet, that ' Bartholomew-day' was fatal to our
Church and religion, in throwing out a very great
number of worthy, learned, pious, and orthodox
divines, who could not come up to this and other
things in the Act. And it is upon this occasion
worthy your knowledge, that so great was the zeal in
carrying on this Church affair, and so blind was the
obedience required, that if you compute the time of
the passing of this Act, with the time allowed for
the clergy to subscribe the Book of Common Prayer

54 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
thereby established, you shall find it could not be
printed and distributed so as one man in forty could
have seen and read the book they so perfectly assent
and consent to. It is a fact that the Common Prayer-
Book, with the alterations and amendments made by
the Convocation, did not come out of the press until
a few days before the 24th of August, when those
who could not comply with its requirements were
ejected from their livings."*
Dr. Vaughan, on this period of our ecclesiastical
history, observes : " Never had the chiefs of the Angli
can Church a fairer opportunity of conceding with
dignity and perfect safety ; and rarely has an opportu
nity of this nature been abused in a manner betraying
a greater want ofthe most common feelings of honour
and honesty. The general effect of the measure that
they passed was, that the Prayer-Book became more
exceptionable than ever, and the terms of conformity
more severe than before the late convulsions. So
slowly do some men profit even by chastisement and
experience. Intolerance had brought the hierarchy
to ruin, and it is no sooner conscious of returning
strength than this evil spirit returns, and with an
ardour augmented rather than diminished."f
By the " Act of Uniformity," now passed, no reli
gious liberty was allowed. All the ministers and
their people were deprived of their birthright, viz.,
to worship God after the dictates of their own con
sciences, and to declare to others what they believed
to be truth. No public worship, or preaching of
the Word, was allowed by law in any form different
to that of the Established Church, or in any place
* Locke's Works, vol. x.
t " Memorials of the Stuart Dynasty," by Dr. Vaughan.

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFEEEED. 55
that did not belongto her communion. Those who
ventured to exercise their ministry in any other way
were exposed to fines and imprisonment. It is in refer
ence to this act of uniformity that Archdeacon Hare
observes : " All hope of union was blasted by that
second most disastrous, most tyrannical, and schis
matical ' Act of Uniformity,' the authors of which, it
is plain, were not seeking unity, but division." The
Rev. Isaac Taylor, in a pamphlet recently published,
remarks : " The revision of the Prayer-Book at this
time seems to have been conducted with the express
object of making it as distasteful as possible to the
Puritans, and so of preventing any extensive confor
mity from taking place. In this unwise and unchris
tian spirit the Prayer-Book was systematically revised
— obnoxious ceremonies were not only retained, but
were fortified by auxiliary rubrics ; almost every inci
dental word or phrase in the Liturgy, which the
Puritans valued as being favourable to their own
ecclesiastical theories, or their doctrinal views, was
now carefully excised, and such words and such
phrases were substituted as were known to be spe
cially offensive to their prejudices. Those matters
about which the Puritans scrupled were now made
more prominent, and a coherence and a systematic
consistency were now, for the first time, given to those
sacerdotal and sacramental theories, which had pre
viously existed in the Prayer-Book only in an em-
bryotic condition, and certain dogmas which, by the
moderation of the Reformers, had been couched in
vague and general terms, were now expressed in ample
and emphatic phraseology."
The same writer remarks, that "in the Prayer-
Book, as it came from the hands of the Reformers in

56 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
1552, they would find comparatively little to which
they could object. But since the time of the Refor
mation the Prayer-Book has undergone most material
alterations — it had been subject to no less than three
reactionary revisions. The first, in 1559, was made
with the politic object of facilitating the conformity
of the Romanists, who were then a numerous and
formidable body. The revisions of 1604 and 1662
were carried out under the auspices of the High
Church party, with the object of over-riding and
crushing the Puritans and rendering their conformity
distasteful or impossible.
" In the reigns of Edward and Elizabeth, the
Church of England, by statute as well as in practice,
had recognized Presbyterian ordinances. At the close
of the sixteenth century, scores, if not hundreds of
clergymen were officiating in the Church of England
who had been ordained by the Presbyters in Scotland
or on the Continent. Now, however, a clause was in
serted in the preface to the ordinal, asserting the
necessity of Episcopalian ordination, and consequently
denying the validity of the orders of all those who had
been ordained during the last fifteen or twenty years.
This liturgical change was not suffered to remain a
dead letter. The Act of Uniformity deprived of their
ministerial character all those who had received Pres
byterian ordination, unless, by consenting to Episcopal
reordination, they would agree virtually to confess the
nullity of their previous ministrations." *
In order to make this matter more stringent, and
to prevent every deviation, if possible, from the ap
pointed order, two years after the passing of this
* Rev. I. Taylor.

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFFEEED. 57
" Act of Uniformity " another measure was intro
duced and carried through Parliament, called the
" Conventicle Act," which, under that name, forbids
all meetings for religious worship, contrary to the
order of the Church of England, when there should
be five persons present, besides the members of the
family, above sixteen years of age.
The severest penalties were inflicted where this
was found to be the case. For the first offence they
were to suffer imprisonment for three months, or to
pay five pounds ; for the second offence the penalty
to be doubled.; and for the third, the offenders were
to be banished to America, or to pay one hundred
pounds, and in case they returned or made their
escape, they were to be adjudged felons, and to suffer
death without benefit of clergy. Sheriffs, or justices
of peace, or others commissioned by them, were em
powered to dissolve, dissipate, and break up all un
lawful conventicles, and to take into custody such of
their number as they thought fit. They who suffered
such conventicles in their houses or barns, were to
be liable to the same forfeitures as other offenders.
The prosecution was to be within three months.
Married women taken at conventicles were to be
imprisoned for twelve months, unless their husbands
paid forty shillings for their redemption. The Act
to continue in force for three years after the next
session of Parliament.
" The jails were, therefore, soon crowded with
Dissenters," observes Macaulay ; " and among the
sufferers were some of whose genius and virtue any
Christian society might well be proud." *
* "History of England," by Macaulay.

58 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
One of their number, most eminent for his judg
ment, piety, and prudence, in reference to this Act,
observes : " Let the tenour be considered of that
horrid law, by which our Magna Charta was torn in
pieces ; the worst and most infamous of mankind, at
our expense, hired to accuse us ; multitudes of perju
ries committed ; convictions made without a jury, and
without any hearing of the person accused ; penalties
inflicted, goods rifled, estates seized and embezzled,
houses broken up, families disturbed, often at un
seasonable hours of the night, without any cause or
shadow of a cause, if only a malicious villain could
pretend to suspect a meeting there. No law in any
other case like this ; as if to worship God without
those additions which were confessed unnecessary
were a greater crime than theft, felony, murder, or
treason." *
The next year, 1665, a further addition was made
to the trials of the Nonconformists, by the passing of
what is called the " Five Mile Act."
The circumstances attending the passing of this
Act were such as to demand that they should be pre
sented distinctly before the reader. It was contrived
and carried through Parliament at the time when a
dreadful calamity had fallen upon the metropolis of
the land, so that the Senate assembled at Oxford, and
the clergy fled from their flocks to escape the danger;
some of the ejected ministers went into their places,
and ventured their lives for the benefit of the sick
and dying.
It was at the time when the most dreadful plague
prevailed in London that had been known within
* " Memoirs of John Howe," by Bogers.

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEEEEED. 59
the memory of man. This was preceded by an un
usual drought, the meadows were parched and burnt
up like the highways, insomuch that there was no
food for the cattle, which occasioned first a murrain
amongst them, and then a general contagion among
the human species, which increased in the city and
suburbs of London until eight or ten thousand per
sons died in a week.
The richer inhabitants fled into the remoter
counties ; but the calamities of those who stayed be
hind, and of the poorer sort, are not to be expressed.
Trade was at a full stand ; all commerce between
London and the country was entirely cut off, lest the
infection should be propagated thereby. Nay, the
country housekeepers and farmers durst not entertain
their city friends till they had performed quarantine in
the fields or outhouses. If a stranger passed through
the neighbourhood they fled from him as an enemy. In
London the shops and houses were quite shut up, and
many of them marked with a red cross and an inscrip
tion over the door, " Lord, have mercy upon us."
Grass grew in the streets ; and every night the bell
man went his rounds, crying, " Bring out your dead."
From London the plague spread into the neighbour
ing towns and villages, and continued near three-
quarters of a year, till it had swept away almost one
hundred thousand of the inhabitants.
Some of the established clergy, with a commend
able zeal, ventured to continue in their stations ; but
the most of them fled. Upon this, several of the
ejected ministers ventured to preach in the vacant
pulpits, imagining that so extraordinary a case would
justify their disregard to the law. The ministers who
embarked in this service were Mr. Thomas Vincent,

60 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
Mr. Chester, Mr. Janeway, Mr. Turner, Guines,
Franklin, and others. The face of death, and the
arrows that fled among the people in darkness and
at noonday, awakened both preachers and hearers.
Many who were at church one day were thrown into
their graves the next. The cry of great numbers was,
" What must we do to be saved ?" A more awful time
England had never seen.
" But it will amaze all posterity," says the author
from whom we now quote, " that in a time both of
war and pestilence, and when the Nonconformist
ministers were hazarding their lives in the service of
the souls of the distressed and dying citizens of
London, that the prime minister and his creatures,
instead of mourning for the nation's sins, and medi
tating a reformation of manners, should pour out all
their vengeance upon the Nonconformists. In order
to make their condition more insupportable, an Act
was brought into the House to banish them from their
friends, which had the royal assent October 31st,
1665." *
It was hereby enacted, that, unless in passing the
road, they should not come or be within five miles of
any city, town, corporation, or borough that sends
burgesses to Parliament, or within five miles of any
parish, town, or place wherein they have, since the
Act of Oblivion, been parson, vicar, or lecturer, etc.,
or where they have preached in any conventicle, on
any pretence whatsoever, unless they took a certain
oath, which they generally felt obliged to refuse, upon
forfeiture for every such offence of the sum of forty
pounds, one third to the king, another third to the
* "History of the Puritans," by NeaL

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEFEEED. 61
poor, and a third to him that shall sue for it. And
it is further enacted, that such as shall refuse the oath
shall be incapable of teaching any public or private
schools, or taking any boarders or tablers to be taught
or instructed, under pain of forty pounds, to be dis
tributed as above. Any two justices of peace, upon
oath made before them of any offence committed
against this Act, are empowered to commit the
offenders to prison for six months, without bail or
mainprise. Great numbers were thus buried in obscurity.
Many, who lay concealed in distant places from their
flocks in the daytime, rode thirty or forty miles to
preach to them in the night, and retired again before
daylight. Can we wonder that various means were
devised to escape these penalties ; that in some in
stances they endeavoured to have their ministers heard
in several adjoining houses, by making small openings
by which the sound of the voice might go from one
to the other ; or that they should meet by stealth,
going round in different directions to get to the place
appointed, to deceive their enemies ; or that some of
their number should be set to watch while others
worshipped, and to give the alarm in time for their
escape if their enemies appeared ; or that they should
meet in retired places, thickets, and woods, under
cover of the night, to escape from their foes ? It
was only in such methods as these that, for a consi
derable time, they could exercise their ministry, or
that the people could have any opportunity to meet
for the worship of God, or the hearing of his Word,
in the way they approved. But notwithstanding all
their care, and pains, and efforts, they were exposed
to great sufferings. A brief statement of a few facts

62 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
here will illustrate the trying condition in which they
were placed, under the operation of these Acts. The
following passage is descriptive of a state of things
which became common to nearly every county in the
kingdom : —
Mr. Taverner, late minister of Uxbridge, was
sentenced to Newgate for teaching a few children at
Brentford ; but paying his fine prevented. Mr.
Button, of Brentford, who never had been in orders
or a preacher, but had been canon of Christ's Church,
in Oxford, and orator to the University, was sent to
jail for teaching two Tonights' sons in his house, not
having taken the Oxford oath. Many of his neigh
bours at Brentford were sent to the same prison for
worshipping God in private together, where they all
lay many months.
In 1665, several eminent Protestants on the Con
tinent wished to open a correspondence with Baxter,
having the highest opinion of his talents and piety,
and much sympathy with him and his brethren in
their present state of unrighteous suffering. Amy-
rant, professor of theology at Saumur and Zollicaffer,
were among these persons. But, according to Baxter,
to have complied would have been his ruin, though
the matter of his letters had been ever so much be
yond exception.*
We give another instance from the life of Mr.
John Flavel, who was ejected from Dartmouth.
Being at Exeter, on one occasion, he was invited to
preach by many good people of that city, who for
safety chose a wood, about three miles off, to be the
place of their assembly. But they were broken up
by their enemies before the time the sermon was well
* " Memorials of the Stuart Dynasty," by Dr. Vaughan.

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEFEEED. 63
begun. Mr. Flavel, by the care of the people, made
his escape through the midst of his enraged foes ;
and though many of his hearers were taken, carried
before Justice Tuckfield, and fined, yet the rest, being
nothing discouraged, reassembled, and carried Mr.
Flavel to another wood, where he preached to them
without any disturbance ; and after he had concluded,
he rode to a gentleman's house near the wood, who,
though an absolute stranger to Mr. F., entertained
him with great civility that night, and next day he
returned to Exeter in safety.
Amongst those taken at that time, there was a
tanner that had a numerous family, and but a small
stock. He was fined in forty pounds notwithstand
ing ; at which he was nothing discouraged, but told a
friend, who asked him how he bore up under his loss,
that he took the spoiling of his goods joyfully, for the
sake of his Lord Jesus, for whom his life, and a]l that
he had, was too little.
After the great fire in London in 1666, the meet
ings of the Nonconformists in the city were some
what connived at, so that, according to Burnet,
conventicles abounded in all parts ofthe city. They
began, he states, to raise churches of boards, till the
public allowance should be given towards the build
ing of the churches ; these they called tabernacles,
and fitted them up with pews and galleries as
churches.* In the " Life of Philip Henry" we have the fol
lowing statement,' which has some bearing on the
subsequent proceedings of Parliament : —
" In February, 1667-8, Mr. Lawrence and he were
invited by some of their friends to Betley, in Staf-
* " Bishop Burnet's History of his own Life and Times."

64 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
fordshire, and there being some little public conniv
ance at that time, with the consent of all concerned,
they adventured to preach in the church, one in the
morning, and the other in the afternoon of the Lord's-
day, very peaceably and profitably."
This action of theirs was shortly after reported in
the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament,
with these additions, that they tore the Common
Prayer-Book, trampled the surplice under their feet,
pulled the minister of the place out of the pulpit,
etc. ; reports which there was not the least colour for,
nor the slightest truth iu. But that, with some other
similar false stories, produced an address of the
House of Commons to the King, to issue out a pro
clamation for the putting the laws in execution
against Papists and Nonconformists, which was issued
out accordingly, though the King at the opening of
that session, a little before, had declared his desire that
some course might be taken to compose the minds of
his Protestant subjects in matters of religion, which
had raised the expectations of some that there would
be speedy enlargement; but Mr. Henry had noted
upon it, " We cannot expect too little from man, nor
too much from God."*
Hence, when the Parliament assembled in the
year 1668, the persecuting spirit further appeared,
for the prayer of the House was, that his Majesty
would issue his proclamation for enforcing the laws
against Conventicles, and all unlawful assemblies of
Papists and Nonconformists. In the next session of
Parliament, thanks were given to his Majesty for
putting in execution the laws against Nonconformists,
and several resolutions were passed which declared
* "Life of Philip Henry."

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEEEEED. 65
the strict enforcement of such laws to be necessary,
if the kingdom and the Parliament were to be rescued
from imminent danger.
But after a short time, some events took place
which again caused a relaxation in the enforcement of
the laws against the Nonconformists. They are thus
briefly stated by Baxter : — " The ministers of Lon
don, who had ventured to keep open meetings in
their houses, and preach to great numbers, contrary
to the law, were, by the King's favour, connived at, so
that the people went openly to hear them without
fear. Some imputed this to the King's own inclina
tion towards liberty of conscience, some to the Duke
of Buckingham's influence, and some to the Papists,
who were for liberty of conscience, to serve their own
interests. Whatever was the secret cause, it is evi
dent the visible cause was the burning of London,
and the want of churches for the people to meet in ;
it being at the first a thing too gross to forbid an un
done people all public worship with too great rigour ;
and, if they had been so forbidden, poverty had left
them so little to lose as would have made them despe
rately go on.
" Whatever was the cause of the connivance, it is
certain that the country ministers were so much en
couraged hy the boldness and liberty of those in
London, that they did the like in most parts of
England, and crowds of the most religiously inclined
people were their hearers. This activity of the
Nonconformists, together with the already dissatis
fied state of the people on account of their civil
burdens, the decay of trade, the burning of the
City, and the general inefficiency of the Conformist
clergy, greatly impaired the credit of the prelates

66 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
through the kingdom, both among the rich and the
poor."* While affairs were in this state, there was an
attempt made to prepare a scheme of comprehension
which should either incorporate the Dissenters with
the Established Church or secure them a toleration.
But this project becoming known before the meeting
of Parliament, the prelates and their adherents mar
shalled themselves against it, and the old cry of
" The Church in danger !" was successfully raised.
" It is true," as one observes, " that about this
time the Lord Keeper Bridgman, and Bishop Wil
kins, and the Lord Chief-Justice Hale, were making
some overtures towards an accommodation with the
Nonconformists, but it is as true that those overtures
did but the more exasperate their adversaries, who
were ready to account such moderate men the worst
enemies the Church of England had."
Some time after this, it became the policy of the
Court secretly to encourage the severities that were
adopted by Parliament with reference to the Noncon
formists. The Papal tendencies of the Court led to
this, for it was hoped that the strictness of the terms
of conformity might so augment the number of Dis
senters and the sufferings of that body, as not only
to compel them to take shelter under the prerogative,
but to subdue their repugnance to the toleration of
the Catholics. This, it was thought, would be the
certain effect of the wrongs inflicted on the Protestant
Nonconformists by their Protestant masters. Hence,
Charles could make fair speeches to this body one day
and the next be a party to oppressive laws against
them. It is evident, also, that his advisers sought the
* Baxter's " Life and Times.''

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFFEEED. 67
same ends by the same means. The rigorous Church
of England men were let loose, and encouraged un
derhand to persecute, that the Nonconformists might
be more sensible of the ease they should have when
the Catholics prevailed. The tide in the House of
Commons run very strongly on the side of persecu
tion in the session which commenced October 19th,
1669, for in that session the " Conventicle Act" was
renewed, with the addition of two very extraordinary
clauses. The Court bishops were for the bill, but
the moderate clergy were against it. However, it
passed both Houses, and received the royal assent,
April 11th, 1670.
It was to the following effect : — " That if any per
son of the age of sixteen years, or upwards, shall be
present at any assembly, conventicle, or meeting,
under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion,
in any other manner than according to the Liturgy
and practice of the Church of England, at which there
shall be five or more persons beside those of the
household, in sueh cases the offender shall pay the
sum of five shillings for the first offence, and ten
shillings for the second; and every person taking
upon him to teach or preach in any such meetings
shall forfeit twenty pounds for the first, and forty
pounds for the second offence. And those who know
ingly suffer such conventicles in their houses, barns,
or yards, shall forfeit twenty pounds.
" Any justice of peace, on the oath of two witnesses,
or any other sufficient proof, may record the offence
under his hand and seal, which record shall be taken
in law for a full and perfect conviction, and shall be
certified at the next _ quarter sessions. The above
fines may be levied by distress and sale of the offender's

68 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
goods and chattels ; and incase of the poverty of such
offender, upon the goods or chattels of any other per
son or persons who shall be convicted of having been
present at the said conventicle, at the discretion of
the justice of peace ; so that the sum be levied on any
one person in case of the poverty of others, do not
amount to more than ten pounds for any one meeting ;
the constables and others are to levy the same by
warrant from the justice, and it is to be divided — one-
third to the use of the King, one-third to the poor,
and one-third to the informer or his assistants, regard
being had to their diligence and industry in discover
ing, dispersing, and punishing the said conventicles.
" And it is further enacted, that the justice or jus
tices ofthe peace, constable, or other officers, may, by
warrant, with what aid and assistance they may think
necessary, break open and enter into any house or
place where they shall be informed of any conven
ticle, and take the persons assembled into custody.
And the lieutenants, or other commissioned officers of
the militia, may get together such force and assistance
as they think necessary to dissolve, dissipate, and dis
perse such unlawful meetings, and take the persons
into custody."
Then follow two extraordinary clauses : — " That
if any constable, churchwarden, or overseer of the
poor, shall refuse to give information when he knows
of such conventicles, he shall forfeit ,^>e pounds ; and
if any justice refuse to do his duty, he shall forfeit
one hundred pounds.
" And be it further enacted, that all the clauses in
this Act shall be construed most largely and benefi
cially for the suppressing of conventicles and for the
justification and encouragement of all persons to le

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEFEEED. 69
employed in the execution thereof; and no record or
mittimus shall be reversed, or made void, by reason
of any default in the form ; and if a person fly from
one county or corporation to another, his goods
and chattels shall be seized Wherever they are found.
H the party offending be a wife cohabiting with her
husband, the fine shall be levied on the goods and
chattels of her husband, providing the prosecution be
within three months.
" The parties aggrieved may appeal to the quarter
sessions, if the fine amount to ten pounds, but to no
other court ; and if cast, to pay treble damages."*
The wit of man could hardly invent anything,
short of capital punishment, more cruel and inhuman.
Men's houses are to be plundered, their persons im
prisoned, their goods and chattels carried away and
sold to those who would bid for them. Encourage
ment is given to a vile set of informers and others
to live upon the labour and industry of their con
scientious neighbours. Multitudes of these infamous
wretches spent their profits in ill houses, and upon
lewd women, and then went about the streets again
to hunt for further prey. The law is to be construed
in their favour, and the power to be lodged in the
hand of every individual justice of the peace, who is
to he fined five pounds if he refuses his warrant. Upon
this many honest men, who would not be the instru
ments of such severity, quitted the bench. f
In consequence of this renewal of the " Conven
ticle Act," spies and informers multiplied ; the minis
ters found it necessary to abscond ; houses were
entered by force, and searched without ceremony, and
* Brookes' "History of Religious Liberty," vol. ii.
\ Neal's " History ofthe Puritans," vol. iii.

70 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
the inmates were dragged to prisons, and compelled
to pay fines. When the Nonconformists reminded
the King of his promise of indulgence, he would
acknowledge the hardships of their case, and check
the vigilance of the officers. When the magistrates
remonstrated, and declared that their religious meet
ings were hotbeds of sedition, he would ask, why,
then, did they not execute the laws ? And to the
clergy, who complained of the prevalence of secta
rianism, he would sarcastically reply,- that this never
would have been the case if they had paid less atten
tion to their dues, and more to their duties.
But at length, on March 15, 1672, Charles pub
lished his long-meditated Declaration of Indulgence,
which suspended all the penal laws against Noncon
formists, and granted them the free use of places of
worship. It granted the same liberty to Catholics,
excepting that their religious exercises were to be
confined to private houses.
There were two considerations that rendered this
boon of doubtful value. It owed its existence to a
stretch of the prerogative, or a dispensing power,
which supplies a dangerous precedent; and it was
scarcely a secret that the benefit was meant for the
Catholics, more than for any class of Protestants.
There were a number of places of worship licensed
under this proclamation of indulgence ; but it lasted
only for a very short time, for, when the Parliament
met in 1673, this Declaration of Indulgence was cen
sured generally and vehemently, though a large pro
portion of the members professed that they had no
wish to deprive the Dissenters of the freedom which
that indulgence had conferred upon them ; but they
objected most solemnly to its being granted by an

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEEEEED. 71
exercise of the prerogative. And it was declared, on
a division of 168 against 116, that the statutes them
selves could not be suspended excepting by an Act of
Parliament. After some contest with the House, the King,
with his usual vacillation, when pressed with difficul
ties, at length consented to withdraw the obnoxious
declaration. The Nonconformists were so far suspicious with
respect to the designs of the Court, as to refuse to
give it the least aid while thus occupied in defending
a measure said to have been designed chiefly for their
benefit. Even those amongst them who had availed
themselves of the indulgence not only consented to
sacrifice their personal interest for the general good,
but joined in the popular cry, which demanded addi
tional securities for the reformed faith.
This led on to the passing of the " Test Act,"
which required the Lord's Supper to be taken after
the manner of the Church of England, by all persons
who should be placed in any office or trust, civil or
military. And by that Act, from the year 1673
to the year 1828, the Protestant Nonconformists of
this kingdom were proscribed by the constitution as
a people who were not to be trusted witb any office
that might afford them an opportunity of betraying
the least interest of their country.
The following remarks on the sacramental test,
by a Nonconformist writer of those times, are worthy
of being preserved : — " But we tremble to think of the
exclusive sacramental test, brought down as low as to
the keeper of an alehouse. Are all fit to approach
the sacred table, whom the fear of ruin or the hope of
gain may bring thither ?

72 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
" We cannot but often remember with horror what
happened three or four years ago. A man that led an
ill life, but frequented the church, was observed not
to come to the sacrament, and was pressed by the
officers to come; he yet declined, knowing himself
unfit. At length, being threatened and terrified, he
came, but said, to some present at the time of the
solemn action, that he came only to avoid being
undone ; and took them to witness that what he there
received he took only as common bread and wine, not
daring to receive them as the body and blood of
Christ. 'Tis amazing that among Christians so vene
rable an institution should be prostituted to the
serving so mean purposes, and so foreign to its true
design, and that doing it after the manner of the
Church of England should be the qualification, as if
England were another Christendom, or it were a
greater thing to conform in every punctilio to the
rules of this Church than of Christ himself."
In this state things continued for several succeed
ing years. Dr. Vaughan observes, in a brief review
of ecclesiastical affairs as they stood in 1679, " Since
the passing of the ' Test Act,' the state of those par
ties who were separated from the Established Church
was, upon the whole, more hopeless than it had been
since the return of monarchy. It is true the Non
conformists had their friends in Parliament and
through the nation, and the number of these had
probably increased. But while the test of 1673
added much to the disabilities and sufferings of the
Catholics, the failure of the bill in favour of the Dis
senters, which happened at the same time, left every
class of Separatists exposed to the severity of the
many oppressive laws previously enacted against them."

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFEEEED. 73
" One bill had been framed to exclude them from
the office of magistrates, and especially from possess
ing any place in city or borough corporations. And
in most places the object intended by this law was
accomplished. The 'Act of Uniformity' chiefly
respected the Nonconformist ministers. It was de
signed to exclude them from the Church, and to pro
hibit them as teachers of youth ; and its provisions
were rigorously enforced. A third regulation, called
an ' Act against Conventicles,' was intended to pre
vent the substituting of private for public worship ;
it was generally acted upon, and often with circum
stances of great injury and oppression. Another
instrument was prepared to banish all Dissenting
ministers into obscure villages."
" Subsequently the law against conventicles was
rendered still more inquisitorial and penal. And
finally came the ' Test Act,' to prevent dangers that
may happen from Papist recusants, the effect of
which fell upon the Nonconformists with nearly as
much force as on the party to which alone it had been
understood to have reference. This last Act was
preceded by a recalling of the King's Declaration
of Indulgence — a measure which restored all former
laws on this subject to their full authority .''*
Such was the machinery now put into very general
operation to crush the cause of Nonconformity ; and
the adherents of that cause chose to remain in a state
which exposed them to every sort of insult, spoliation,
and wrong, rather than yield to a course of compli
ance, which in their case must have been inseparable
from self-reproach, hypocrisy, and impiety.
* Dr. Vaughan's " Memorials of the Stuart Dynasty,"
vol. ii.

74 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
Those indulgences, which, during this reign, were
occasionally conceded to the Nonconformists, had
resulted, in nearly every instance, from the influence
of the Catholic party, and, as a natural consequence,
were meant to terminate in favour of that body. But
the conduct of the Dissenters in aiding the progress
of the late " Test Act," had deeply offended these
new friends to liberty of conscience ; and the removal
of all such persons from office by means of that en
actment was followed by a most intolerant coalition
between the Earl of Danby and the leading Church
men. Since the Restoration, the Government had
never derived so much of its complexion from Lam
beth as during the administration of this nobleman.
In the persecution which followed, the most exem
plary Nonconformists, such as Baxter, Manton, and
Owen, were special objects of attack. From the pul
pit the creatures of intolerance poured forth their
lessons with little regard for truth or decency. Some
of the basest of the people took up the trade of in
formers, and, by a dexterity acquired in the exercise
of their honourable calling, succeeded in bringing the
penalty of fines, imprisonment, and frequently total
ruin, on an almost incredible number of persons.
H°nce, many of these sufferers abandoned their coun
try in hope of breathing a freer air in the United
Provinces, or in New England. Dr. Owen was
about to cross the Atlantic in search of liberty of
conscience, and was only prevented by a special man
date from the King. But the authors of these pro
ceedings soon became aware that in adopting them
they had not chosen the road to popularity. The in
formers were a class of persons generally hated, and
it was known that magistrates frequently sought ex-

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFFEEED. 75
cuses to avoid the severities required of them. An
alderman of London assured several prelates that his
brethren, who had found his fellow-citizens honour
able in the dealings of to-day, could never be made
willing to imprison them on account of some religious
peculiarity to-morrow.
Dr. Edmund Calamy, grandson of the celebrated
ejected minister of the same name, gives the following
statement in his historic account of his life, which
may be referred to this period : —
" Often was I (as young as I was) sent in those
days to Newgate new prison, and other place of con
finement, with small presents of money, to such Dis
senting ministers as were clapped up, such as Mr.
Richard Stretton, Mr. Robert Franklin, etc., who
used to talk freely with me, and give me some serious
advice, and their blessing at parting, with thanks to
their benefactors. My own father was never cast
into prison, but often had warrants out against him,
and was forced to disguise himself, and Skulk in pri
vate holes and corners, and frequently change his
lodgings. And he and Mr. Watson, and Mr. Cooper,
and several other ministers, were put into the crown
office, and kept there a good while together, which
they found very chargeable.
" I used at that time, I well remember, to think it
very strange that such men as prayed very heartily
for the King and Government, and gave their neigh
bours no disturbance, could not be suffered to live in
quiet. Often was I at their most private meetings
for worship, and never did I hear them inveigh against
those in power, though they were commonly run down
as enemies of royalty. But I never was at a meeting
when disturbance was given by justices, informers,

76 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
constables, and soldiers, more than twice. One time
at Mr. Jenkyn's, in Jewin Street, and the other
at Mr. Franklin's, in Bunhill Fields, and in both
places they were fierce and noisy, and made great
havoc."* After the death of Charles, when James II. suc
ceeded to the throne, the persecutiug spirit against
the Nonconformists was again displayed. A grand
committee of the Parliament assembled, and recom
mended that the laws against Dissenters should be
more strictly enforced ; and the effect was, that in
formations, fines, and imprisonments were found
attendant on the practice of Nonconformity through
the kingdom. The proscribed ministers consulted
their safety by never appearing abroad except in dis
guise, and every conceivable caution was resorted to,
with a view to keep their secret meetings with their
people from the knowledge of their persecutors, or in
the hope of conducting them so as to avoid the
penalties with which they were threatened. The
expedients, however, too often failed to answer the
end designed. " They continued," says Neal, describ
ing their state at this period, " to take the most pru
dent measures to cover their private meetings from
their adversaries. They assembled in small numbers,
they frequently shifted their places of worship, and
met together late in the evenings, or early in the
mornings ; there were friends without doors always
on the watch, to give notice of approaching danger.
When the dwellings of Dissenters joined, they made
windows or holes in the walls, that the preacher's voice
might be heard in two or three houses ; they had
sometimes private passages from one house to another,
* Dr. Calamy's "Account ofhis Life and Times."

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFFEEED. 77
and trap-doors for the escape of the minister, who
went always in disguise, except when he was dis
charging his office in country towns and villages,
when they were admitted through back-yards or gar
dens into the house, to avoid the observation of
neighbours and passengers ; for the same reason they
never sung psalms, and the minister was placed in
such an inward part of the house that his voice might
not be heard in the streets ; the doors were always
locked, and a sentinel placed near them to give the
alarm, that the preacher might escape by some pri
vate passage, with as many of the congregation as
could avoid the informers. But notwithstanding all
their precautions, spies and false brethren crept in
among them in disguise ; their assemblies were fre
quently interrupted, and great sums of money were
raised by fines or compositions, to the discouragement
of trade and industry, and enriching the officers of
the spiritual courts."*
The informers broke in upon Mr. Fleetwood, Sir
John Hartropp, and some others, at Stoke Newington,
and levied distresses for conventicles to the amount of
six or seven thousand pounds.
Dissenting ministers, however blameless in life,
however eminent for learning and abilities, could not
venture to walk the streets for fear of outrages, which
were not only not repressed, but encouraged by those
whose duty it was to preserve the peace. Some
divines of great fame were in prison, and some, who
had borne up against oppression for a quarter of a
century, now lost heart and quitted the kingdom.
Through many years the autumn of 1685 was re
membered by the Nonconformists as a time of misery
* Neal's " History of the Puritans."

78 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
and terror. Yet in that autumn might be discerned
the first faint indication of a great change in the
state of affairs, and before eighteen months had
elapsed, the intolerant King and the intolerant
Church were eagerly bidding against each other for
the support of the party which both had so deeply
injured. In the year 1686, James asserted his claim to a
dispensing power, and proclaimed himself, in the
second year of his reign, the patron of liberty of
conscience. It was said to be with a sincere wish
that all his subjects should enjoy this liberty that he
issued a declaration, which at once made void all the
statutes that had been framed to secure uniformity of
worship. Some connected with the Court wished the
Nonconformists to present their thanks to the King
for the liberty he had granted ; but while they felt it
to be right to avail themselves of it to conduct more
openly their religious services, yet, discerning the in
sidious designs of the Monarch and the rapid strides
he was taking towards the exercise of arbitrary power,
they refused, to a great extent, to do what was
desired. A recent historian observes, " that the
great body of Protestant Nonconformists, firmly
attached to civil liberty, and distrusting the promises
of the King and the Jesuits, steadily . refused to
return thanks for the favour, which it might well
be suspected concealed a snare. This was the
temper of all the most illustrious chiefs of the
party." *
Baxter had been brought to trial soon after the
accession of James, and had been brutally insulted by
Jeffreys, and had been convicted by a jury such as
* Macaulay's "History of England."

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFEEEED. 79
the courtly sheriffs of these times were in the habit
of selecting, as will appear in a subsequent page.
Baxter had been a year and a-half in prison, when
the Court began to think seriously of gaining the
Nonconformists. He was not only set at liberty, but
was informed that if he chose to reside in London he
might do so without fearing that the " Five Mile
Act" would be enforced against him.
The Government probably hoped that the recol
lection of past suffering, and the thought of present
ease, would produce the same effect on him as it had
done on some others. The hope was disappointed.
Baxter was neither to be corrupted nor to be de
ceived ; he refused to join in any address of thanks
for the "Indulgence," and exerted all his influence
to promote a good feeling between the Church and
the Presbyterians.
If any man stood higher than Baxter in the esti
mation of the Protestant Dissenters, that man was
John Howe. Howe had, like Baxter, been personally
a gainer by the recent change of measures. The
same tyranny which had flung Baxter into jail had
driven Howe into banishment ; and soon after Baxter
had been brought out of the King's Bench, Howe
returned from Utrecht to England. It was expected
at Whitehall that Howe would exert in favour of the
Court all the influence which he might possess over
his brethren. The King himself condescended to ask
the help of the subject that he had oppressed. Howe
appears to have hesitated ; but the influence of Hamp
den, with whom he was on terms of close intimacy,
kept him steady to the cause of the constitution. A
meeting of Presbyterian ministers was held at his
house to consider the state of affairs, and to deter-

80 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
mine on the course to be adopted. There was great
anxiety at the palace to know the result ; two royal
personages were in attendance during the discussion.
They carried back the unwelcome news that Howe
had declared himself decidedly adverse to the dis
pensing power, and that he had, after a long debate,
carried with him the majority of the assembly.
It may be doubted whether any English Dissenter
had suffered much more severely under the penal
laws than John Bunyan, though not one of the
ejected ministers. Of the twenty-seven years that
had elapsed since the Restoration, he had passed
twelve in confinement. He still persisted in preach
ing; but that he might preach, he was under the
necessity of disguising himself like a carter. He was
often introduced into meetings through back doors,
with a smock-frock on his back and a whip in his
hand. If he had thought only of his own ease and
safety, he would have hailed the " Indulgence" with
delight. He was now at length free to pray and
discourse in open day. His congregations rapidly
increased, thousands hung upon his words, and at
Bedford, where he ordinarily resided, money was plen
tifully contributed to build a meeting-house for him.
His influence among the common people was such,
that the Government would willingly have bestowed
upon him some municipal office ; but his vigorous
understanding, and his ardent English heart, were
proof against all delusion and all temptation. He
felt assured that the proffered toleration was merely
a bait intended to allure the Puritan parties to de
struction ; nor would he, by accepting a place for
which he was not legally qualified, recognize the va
lidity of the dispensing power. One of the last acts

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUEFEEED. 81
of his devoted life was to decline an interview, to
which he knew he was invited by an agent of the
Government. Great as was the influence of Bunyan with the
Baptists, that of William Kiffin was still greater.
Kiffin was the first man amongst them in wealth and
station ; he was in the habit of ministering amongst
them, though he did not live by preaching ; he traded
largely, his credit on the Exchange of London stood
high, and he had accumulated an ample fortune.
Perhaps no man could at that conjuncture have ren
dered more valuable service to the Court, but between
him and the Court was interposed one terrible event.
He was the grandfather of the two Hewlings, those
gallant youths who, of all the victims of the Bloody
Assizes, had been the most generally lamented. For
the sad fate of one of them, James was in a peculiar
manner responsible. Jeffreys had respited the younger
brother. The poor lad's sister had been ushered by
Churchill into the royal presence, and had begged for
mercy; but the King's heart had been obdurate.
The misery of the whole family had been great, but
"K"iffin was most to be pitied. He was seventy years
old when he was left destitute, the survivor of those
who should have survived him. The heartless and
venal sycophants of Whitehall, judging by them
selves, thought that the old man would be easily pro
pitiated by an alderman's gown, and by some com
pensation in money, for the property which his
grandsons had forfeited. Penn was employed in the
work of seduction, but to no purpose. The King
determined to try what effect his own civilities would
produce. Kiffin was ordered to attend at the palace ;
ne found a brilliant circle of noblemen and gentlemen

82 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
assembled. James immediately came to him, spoke
to him very graciously, and concluded by saying, " I
have put you down, Mr. Kiffin, for an alderman of
London." The old man looked fixedly at the King,
burst into tears, and made answer, " Sir, I am worn
out ; I am unfit to serve your Majesty or the City ;
and, sir, the death of my poor boys broke my heart.
That wound is as fresh as ever ; I shall carry it to
my grave." The King stood silent for a minute in
some confusion, and then said, "Mr. Kiffin, I will
find a balsam for that sore." Assuredly James did
not mean to say anything cruel or insolent ; on the
contrary, he seems to have been in an unusually
gentle mood, yet no speech that is recorded of him
gives so unfavourable a notion of his character as
those words. They are the words of a hard-hearted
and low-minded man, unable to conceive any laceration
of the affections for which a place or a pension would
not be a full compensation."*
There were some of the Dissenters that wavered,
and very justly has it been said : " Nor is it any re
proach to them that they did so. They were suffering,
and the King had given them relief. Some eminent
pastors had emerged from confinement, others had
ventured to return from exile. Congregations, which
had hitherto met only by stealth or in darkness, now
assembled at noon-day, and sang praises aloud in the
hearing of magistrates, churchwardens, and con
stables. Modest buildings, for the worship of God
after the Puritan fashion, began to arise over all
England. " A Puritan divine could not, indeed, deny that the
dispensing power now claimed by the Crown was in-
* Macaulay's " History of England."

MEASUEES UNDEE WHICH THEY SUFFEEED. 83
consistent with the fundamental principles of the
constitution ; but he might, perhaps, be excused if
he asked, what was the constitution to him ? The
'Act of Uniformity ' had ejected him, in spite of
royal promises, from a benefice which was his free
hold, and had reduced him to beggary and depen
dence. The ' Five Mile Act ' had banished him from
his dwelling, from his friends, from almost all places
of public resort. Under the ' Conventicle Act ' his
goods had been distrained, and he had been flung
into one noisome jail after another, among highway
men and housebreakers. Out of prison he had con
stantly had the officers of justice on his track, had
been forced to pay hush-money to informers, had
stolen in ignominious disguises through windows and
trap-doors to meet his flock, and had, while pouring
the baptismal water or distributing the eucharistic
bread, been anxiously listening for the signal that the
tipstaves were approaching. Was it to be wondered
at that some were disposed to thank the King for his
declaration, especially when it is considered that no
pains were spared to induce them to express their
gratitude for the ' Indulgence ?' Circular letters,
imploring them to sign, were sent to every corner of
the kingdom, in such numbers, it was sportively said,
that the mail-bags were too heavy for the post-horses ;
yet all the addresses which could be obtained from all
the Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists scat
tered over England, did not in six months amount to
sixty ; nor is there any reason to believe that any one
of these addresses was numerously signed." The
very great majority stood firm to the constitution of
their country.
Shortly after this the days of the Stuart dynasty

84 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
were numbered. The rapid strides which James was
taking towards arbitrary power and the introduction
of Popery roused the nation, and so far united all
parties as to lead on to the accomplishment of the
glorious revolution by William III., under whom a
"toleration" was obtained for those that dissented
from the Church by law established. This was a
great and happy change for our persecuted fore
fathers.

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 85

CHAPTER IV.
EACTS AND ANECDOTES CHAEACTEEISTIC OF THE MEN
AND THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED.
It woidd not be fair, generally, to form a judgment of
men from isolated acts ; they might present anything
but a just representation of their main principles,
spirit, and conduct. Nor is it proper to decide the
character of any period of human history from slight
or occasional occurrences ; for the more general course
of events may have been of a very different nature.
If facts, such as we have to relate in this chapter, had
been very " few and far between," during this period
we would have warned the reader against taking them
as any fair sample of the men or the times in which
they lived. But what we are about to present will be
a selection from a large number of facts similar in
their nature and tendency ; and it is our impression,
in presenting them to the reader, that they may be
fairly viewed as characteristic of the parties to which
they refer, aud illustrative of the character and prin
ciples of the individuals introduced, and also of the
real state of the times which passed over them.
Our selection here will be designed to illustrate
the spirit manifested by the opponents of the two
thousand confessors, the sufferings which some of
them endured, with some remarkable interpositions
on their behalf.

86 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.

Section I.
THE SPIEIT OE THEIE PEESECUTOES— THE SUFEEEINGS
ENDUEED.
Will our readers now take a rapid glance with us
at some scenes of persecution as they appeared in
different parts of the country ?
In London the celebrated Edmund Calamy, B.D.,
was one of the first that was imprisoned after the
passing of the " Act of Uniformity." He went on
Lord's-day, December 28, to the church of Alderman-
bury, where he had been minister, with an intention
to be a hearer ; but the person expected to preach
happened to fail. To prevent a disappointment, and
through the importunity of the people present, he
went up and preached upon the concern of old Eli
for the ark of God. Upon this, by a warrant from
the Lord Mayor, he was committed to Newgate as a
breaker of the "Act of Uniformity;" but in a few
days, when it was seen what a resort to him there was
of persons of all qualities, and how generally the
severity was resented, he was discharged by his
Majesty's express order. His grandson relates the
following : — " I have been informed that a certain
Popish lady, happening then to pass through the City,
had much ado to get along Newgate Street, by reason
of the many coaches that attended there, at which
she was not a little surprised. Curiosity led her to
inquire into the occasion of the stoppage, and the
appearance of such a number of coaches in a place
where she thought nothing of that kind was to be
looked for. The standers-by informed her that one
Mr. Calamy, a person generally beloved and respected,

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 87
was imprisoned there for a single sermon, at which
they seemed greatly disturbed and concerned. This
so moved the lady that, taking the first opportunity
of waiting upon the King at Whitehall, she frankly
told his Majesty the whole matter, expressing her fear
that, if such steps as these were taken, he would lose
the affections of the City, which might be a very ill
consequence. Upon this account, and some others,
my grandfather was in a little time discharged by the
express order of his Majesty."* This imprisonment
made no small noise in the country. Dr. Wilde pub
lished a copy of verses, in a facetious style, addressed
to Mr. Calamy, which was spread through all parts of
the kingdom. And oh what insulting, says Mr.
Baxter, there was by that party in the JVeivsbook and
in their discourses, that Calamy, who would not be a
bishop, was in jail.f
It may amuse and interest the reader to have an
extract or two from the production of Dr. Wilde, as
showing in what a humorous manner he could write
on the imprisonment of his friend. It was entitled,
" A Poem upon the Imprisonment of Mr. Calamy in
Newgate, by Robert Wilde, D.D."
" This page I send you, sir, your Newgate fate
Not to condole, but to congratulate.
######
But my heart truly grudges, I confess,
That you thus loaded are with happiness ;
Eor so it is, and you more blessed are
In Peter's chain than if you sat in's chair.
One sermon hath preferred you so much honour,
A man could scarce have had from Bishop Bonner ;
* " Dr. Calamy's Life and Times."
t " Baxter's Life and Times."

THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
"Whilst we, your brethren, poor erratics be,
You are a glorious fixed star we see.
Hundreds of us turn out of house and home —
To a safe habitation you are come.
"What though it be a jail ? Shame and disgrace
Rise only from the crime, not from the place.
"Who thinks reproach or injury is done
0, By an eclipse to the unspotted sun ?
He only, by that black upon his brow,
Allures spectators more, and so do you.
Let me find honey, though upon a rod,
I'll prize the prison where the keeper's God.
Newgate or hell were heaven if Christ were there ;
He made the stable so, and sepulchre.
Indeed, the place did for your presence call ;
Prisons do want perfuming most of all.
Thanks to the Bishop and his good Lord Mayor,
Who turned the den of thieves into a house of prayer ;
And may some thief by you converted be,
Like him who suffered in Christ's company.
Now would I had sight of your mittimus ;
Pain would I know why you are dealt with thus.
Jailor, set forth your prisoner at the bar,
That we may know what his offences are.
First, it is proved that you, being dead in law,
As if you cared not for that death a straw,
Did walk, and haunt your church, as if you'd scare
Away the reader and his common prayer.
Nay, 'twill be proved you did not only walk,
But like a Puritan your ghost did talk.
Dead, and yet preach, these Presbyterian slaves
"Will not give over preaching in their graves !
Item, you play'd the thief; and if t be so,
Good reason, sir, you should to Newgate go.
And now you're there, some dare to say you are
The greatest pickpocket that ere came there.
******
But your great theft — you act it in your church —
I do not mean that you your sermons lurch,

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 89
That crime's canonical ; but you did pray
Aid preach, so that you stole men's hearts away ;
So that good man to whom your place doth fall,
Doth find they have no heart for him at all.
******
Thirdly, 'tis proved, when you pray most devout
Por all good men, you leave the bishops out.
This makes Sir Sheldon, by his powerful spell,
Conjure and lay you in his Newgate hell.
Would I were there, too ; I should like it well.
******
Good men, good women, and good angels come,
And make your prison better than my home."*
In the county of Devon we find a Mr. Nosworthy
meeting with many enemies and much opposition.
One Mr. Stowell distinguished himself in his furious
zeal against him ; and with  Bevan, Esq., came
into his meeting and required him to come down. He
was advised by an attorney who was present to keep
his place ; but they threatened to pull him out of
the pulpit, and at length obliged him to come down.
The same person more than once disturbed his meet
ing afterwards ; and one time, on a week-day, with
drums and muskets, which so frightened Mrs. Nos
worthy that it was thought to occasion her death.
In consequence of his having a service in his house,
they convicted him for holding a conventicle, imposed
upon him a fine of £20, and £20 upon the house.
Vet he was a man whose learning and other ministerial
qualifications were considerable. The neighbouring
ministers paid great deference to his judgment, and
often made him moderator in their debates. After
his death, several of his enemies were troubled on
account of the disturbances they had given him, and
sent to his children, who were eminent for their piety,
* " Christian Spectator."

90 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
begging their prayers, and desiring forgiveness of the
injury they had done their families.
In the same county our attention may be directed
to a Mr. Collins, who preached in his own house after
his ejectment. But under the " Conventicle Act,"
one Lord's-day, in September, 1670, his house was
surrounded with the officers and the vilest rabble of
the town, who, not daring to break open the doors
till they had obtained a warrant from a neighbouring
justice, kept the congregation prisoners till night,
when the warrant arrived. On forcing the doors, the
gentlemen and the rabble treated both the minister
and the people with great incivility. They wrote
down the names of whom they pleased ; took some
into custody ; had warrants issued out for levying £20
on Mr. Collins for preaching, £20 on the house, and
5s. on each of the hearers, though they could produce
no proof that there was any preaching or praying at
all. After this followed breaking open of houses and
shops, taking away goods and wares, forcing open
gates, driving off cattle and exposing to sale for the
raising of the fines.
On another occasion he was brought before a
justice of the peace, who treated him and some others
with great inhumanity, calling Mr. Collins a minister
of the devil, using other abusive and scurrilous lan
guage ; and when Mr. C. offered to reply, threatening
him with the jail, and interlacing his words with oaths
and curses. On another occasion he and his wife
went on horseback to attend a funeral, and a con
stable, by a warrant he obtained, seized them both.
But at length his wife was set at liberty, and he was
taken to the constable's house, and kept there under
a guard, night and day, from Wednesday to Friday,

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 91
when he was brought before the magistrate, and had
the " Corporation Oath" tendered. On his refusing
it, he was sent to the high jail, though a thousand
pounds bail was offered, where he lay six months
with the common prisoners, though while there he
was considered to have been the instrument of con
verting a poor prisoner that was executed. He was
repeatedly persecuted for not attending divine service
at church ; also for living within five miles of the
place where he had been minister ; till he was at last
constrained to leave his family and the kingdom, and
to withdraw to Holland, at the loss of several hundred
pounds, and was obliged to sell a very handsome man
sion-house, and a fine estate adjoining, to maintain
himself and his family in their distracted condition.
He was a grave and holy man. At his death he left
£20 towards building a new meeting-house.*
In Dorsetshire there was a Mr. John Weeks, who
after his ejectment became minister of a large con
gregation at BristoLf But he met with hardships on
account of his Nonconformity, which he bore with
great patience, meekness, and courage. As he was
once preaching in Froom Woodlands, some informers
came who had vowed to shoot him ; but he directed
his discourse to them with such majesty and boldness
that they rode away without giving him any dis
turbance. He was afterwards imprisoned six months
for his Nonconformity, during which he preached out
of the prison windows, and had many of the common
people constantly to hear him. He was once carried
to prison from his pulpit. While he was preaching
the officers came in, and demanded by what authority
* "Nonconformists' Memorial," by Palmer.
t Puller's Account of the Broadmead Church, Bristol.

92 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
he preached. He thereupon clapped his hand upon
the Bible, and said, " By the authority of God and
this book." They ordered him to come down. He
desired he might conclude with prayer, which they
yielded to, standing uncovered. He prayed so heartily
for the King and Government, that one of his friends,
after prayer, asked a clergyman, who came with the
officers, what he had to say against such a man.
" Truly nothing," he replied, " only such men eat the
bread out of our mouths." There was one John
Helliar, a lawyer, crafty and subtle, one of the most
furious persecutors in that part of the kingdom. A
rather amusing anecdote is related concerning him.
On one occasion he went with the bishop to Mr.
Weeks' meeting-house at Bristol, to apprehend Mr.
Weeks, and he took down the names of several who
were present at the meeting. One, however, hesitated
to tell his name, and, though he was pressed again and
again, he still refused. At length, being urged by
several to inform them why he would not tell his
name, he answered, " Because I am ashamed of it."
Being further asked what reason he had to be
ashamed of his name, he answered, with well-feigned
reluctance and shamefacedness, " Because it is
Jlelliar." It is needless to add that there was a general
laugh at the mortified lawyer.
We are informed that Mr. Weeks was as popu
lar a preacher as most in England, and remarkably
fervent in expostulating with sinners. He took pains
with his sermons to the last. He was a minister out of
the pulpit as well as in it; a most affectionate, sympa
thizing friend, and one who became all things to all men.
He discovered a most divine temper in his last illness,
and was serene and joyful in the approach of death.

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 93
A Mr. Francis Bamfield, ejected from Sherbourn,
in the same county, was, after his ejectment, praying
and expounding a portion of Scripture, as was his
custom, with his family, and a few neighbours were
present, when some soldiers broke in upon them, and
obtained a warrant for their imprisonment. He after
wards suffered eight years' confinement in Dorchester
jail, which he bore with great courage and patience,
being filled with the comfort of the Holy Ghost. He
preached in the prison sometimes every day, and
gathered a church there. When he obtained his
liberty he travelled in several counties preaching the
Word. Was taken up again and imprisoned in
Salisbury, where he continued eighteen weeks. He
afterwards formed a church in London, of the Baptist
persuasion, which met at Pinners' Hall ; but here he
was exposed to fresh persecution. On one occasion
the constable and several men with halberts rushed
into the assembly when he was in the pulpit. The
constable ordered him, in the King's name, to come
down. He replied that he was discharging his office
in the name of the King of kings. The constable
told him he had a warrant from the Lord Mayor.
Mr. B. replied, " I have a warrant from Christ, who
is Lord Maximus, to go on ;" and so proceeded in
his discourse. But the constable and one of the
officers pulled him down. They seized him, took him
and six more to the Lord Mayor, who fined several of
them £10. In the same month he was again pulled
out of his pulpit, and led through the streets with
the Bible in his hand, and great numbers of people
after him, some reproaching and other speaking in his
favour ; one of whom said, " See how he walks, with
the Bible in his hand, like one of the old martyrs."

94 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
Being brought to the session, where the Lord Mayor
was, he and three more were sent to prison. When
afterwards brought to receive their sentence, the
recorder, after odiously aggravating their offence, and
reflecting on scrupulous consciences, read their sen
tence as follows : " That they were out of the pro
tection of the king's majesty ; that all their goods
and chattels were forfeited ; and that they were to
remain in jail during their lives, or during the king's
pleasure." Upon this Mr. B. would have spoken, but
there was a great uproar — " Away with them, we
will not hear them" — when Mr. B. said, "The
righteous Lord loveth righteousness," " The Lord be
judge in this case." They were then returned to
Newgate, where Mr. Bamfield, who was of a tender
constitution, soon after died.
Mr. Joseph Alleine, the ejected minister of
Taunton, Somersetshire, was born at Devizes, in Wilt
shire, in the year 1633. He entered on the stated
ministry of the Gospel in the year 1655, as assistant
to the Rev. George Newton, at Taunton, who states
concerning him, " I soon observed him to be a young
man of singular accomplishments, both natural and
acquired ; his mind solid, his memory strong, his
affections lively, his learning superior, and, above all,
his calmness eminent, his conversation exemplary ;
in short, he had a good head and a better heart." He
was remarkably diligent and laborious in the work of
the ministry, in preaching, in visiting, in catechizing ;
and equally so as to his private intercourse with God,
and the spirituality of his mind. His extraordinary
watchings, constant cares, excessive labours in the
work of his ministry, public and private, were gene
rally apprehended to be the cause of those distempers

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 95
and decays, and at last of that ill habit of body
whereof in the end he died. His zeal appears lite
rally to have consumed him.
Before the Act of Uniformity passed, he was very
earnest in prayer with God, that his way might be
made plain before him. When he saw it to be his
duty to quit the public station that he held, he felt
fully persuaded that the ejection of the ministers out
of their places did not free them from obligation to
preach the gospel, so that he took up the firm reso
lution to go on with his work in private, both of
preaching and visiting from house to house, till he
should be carried into prison, or banishment, which
he expected. It pleased the Lord so to indulge him, that he
went on in his work from Bartholomew-day till the
26th of May following. Though often threatened,
yet he was never interrupted, though the people,
both of the town and country, were grown so resolute
that they came in great multitudes, at whatever season
was appointed, very seldom missing twice on a Sab
bath, and often in the week.
At length he was taken up for prison, but he was
not only contented, but joyful to suffer for the name
of Jesus and his Gospel, which was so dear to him.
It was on a Saturday evening, about six o'clock, that
he was seized by an officer in the town, who would
rather, as he often said, been otherwise employed, but
he was forced to a speedy execution of the warrant by
a justice's clerk. He went with the officer, two or
three friends accompanying him, to the justice's
house. Here he was much abused, and received many
scorns and scoffs from the justices and their asso
ciates, who were met to hear his examination ; also

96 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
from the ladies and gentlemen, who often called him
"rogue," and told him "he deserved to be hanged,
and if he were not they would be hanged' for him," all
'which he bore with great patience. They made out
his mittimus to send him to the jail on Monday
morning, after they had detained him till twelve
o'clock at night, abusing him beyond what was dis
tinctly remembered, or fit to express. On the night
before he went to prison, he appointed for the people
to meet him at one or two o'clock, and though at so
unseasonable a time, there were many hundreds came
of young and old, and he preached and prayed with
them about three hours. When he left them in the
morning to go to Uchester jail, the streets were lined
on both sides with people, and many followed him on
foot some miles out of the town with such lamenta
tions that he could scarcely bear it. When he came
to the prison he found there Mr. John Norman, who
for the like cause was apprehended and committed a
few days before him {vide p. 125) . There were also
five more ministers, with fifty quakers, who had all
their lodgings in the same room. Shortly after, Mr.
Coven and Mr. Powell, with eight more taken at \o'\
meetings, were brought into the same place. They
preached and prayed in the prison daily, many coming
eight or ten miles to hear them. Mr. Alleine and
Mr. Norman had many threats from the justices and
judges that they should be sent beyond sea, or to
some island where they should be kept close prisoners.
After a whole year, within three days, Mr. A. was
released, and at his return from prison he was far
more earnest in his work than before, and the people
flocked in great numbers to hear him.
But on the 10th of July, 1665, when several of

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 97
his brethren in the ministry, and many friends had
met together at Taunton, two justices and several
persons attending them, broke open the doors by
force, and with swords came in among them. Mr.
Alleine, with seven other ministers and forty private
persons, were committed to the prison of Ilchester.
There he constantly took his turn, though in a state
of great weakness, with the other ministers in
preaching the gospel in the prison. But after these
labours and sufferings he sunk into a state of great
weakness, was the subject of long and peculiar
afflictions, which issued in death at an early age.
He entered the ministry at twenty-one years of
age, and died about thirty-five. His labours had been
most abundant.
The most useful of his writings, entitled, " The
Alarm to Unconverted Sinners," was not printed
until after his death. It has been widely spread, and
has been made useful in the salvation of many souls.*
Of Mr. Timothy Sacheverel, who was ejected from
Tarrant Hinton, in Dorsetshire, great uncle to the
notorious Doctor Sacheverel, we are informed, that
between the Restoration and Bartholomew-day, he
was put down in a list that contained the names of
several that were to be sent to prison ; but Sir Gerard
Naper, being in the chair at the sessions, and having
a respect for him, refused to set his hand to the com
mitment, and so they all escaped for that time. Soon
after Bartholomew-day he was cited to the Spiritual
Court at Blandford, whither many people came in
hope of something like a public disputation — at least,
expecting to hear him very severely reprimanded ;
* " Life of the Rev. Joseph Alleine."

98 THE TWO THOUSAND CONFESSOES OP 1662.
but the Chancellor told him he did not send for him
to dispute with him, knowing him to be a person of
great worth, temper, and learning, but only desired
him to weigh all matters calmly and without preju
dice, and then left him to do as God should direct
him ; whereupon, as soon as he had in form admo
nished him, he was dismissed. But such was the
hostility to the worship of the Nonconformists in
any way, that not long after several troopers of the
militia rushed suddenly into his house one morning,
while he was at prayer with his family. One of them
came and held a pistol at his back, commanding him,
in the King's name, immediately to stand up, but he
still continued praying. However, he soon con
cluded, and, with great presence of mind, asked the
trooper, " How he durst thus pretend in the King's
name to interrupt him, while he and his family were
presenting their petitions to the King of kings ?"
In the county of Norfolk we find a Mr. R. Worts,
a worthy minister, a great sufferer for his Noncon
formity. He was seized, and made a close prisoner at
the time when the plague raged in London. With
six more he was put into the castle, in a hole in the
wall, where there was neither door, window, nor
chimney. The hole had three wickets into the castle
yard, one of which was of necessity open night and
day, or they must have been suffocated with the
steam of the charcoal. For five weeks the door below
was kept continually locked, the hole being above
forty steps high in a narrow passage in the wall.
The keeper usually went away with the key about
four o'clock, near a mile and a-half from the head
jailer's house, and returned not until about eight
in the morning, during whose absence none could

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 99
come to them, whatever occasion there might be, and
they were not permitted for five wreeks so much
as to come out into the yard. If a prisoner's wife
came to see him, he was called down to the door, and
the keeper used to set his back against one side of
the door, and his foot against the other, and in this
manner the husband and wife might only see and
speak with each other. After about two months'
continuance here, they were removed to another
prison. They were wonderfully preserved this year
from the contagion of the plague, while the arrows
of the Almighty fell very near them, on one side and
another, there being only a lane between, so that they
could see some that were shut up, and hear them cry
for bread. In this trying situation they fled to their
strong tower, the name of the Lord, where they found
safety and peace. Some time after, a great man in
power told the jailer he must forthwith carry them
to the castle, and put up each in a place alone. The
jailer answered, " It cannot be done, the castle is
full, and I daily fear the plague should break out
amongst them." " Then put them into a place toge
ther ; what do I care if the plague be in it ?" was the
reply. However, they were preserved in that filthy
hole, at whose wickets came in the odious smell ofthe
common yard of the felons. One of them, indeed,
was almost suffocated by it, and the physician could
give him no relief, so long as he was confined there.
Mr. Worts continued a prisoner seven years.
In the county of Nottingham lived a Mr. John
James, who was called to suffer great losses and long
imprisonments. For seventeen months he was con
fined in Nottingham jail. He then petitioned Judge
Atkins in the circuit, and was released. But some

100 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
time after he was seized again, and clapped up in
Newark jail, where he lay about six years, and could
obtain no relief, unless he would promise to give over
preaching, which he absolutely refused. His prison,
indeed, here was made tolerably comfortable by the
favour of the keeper, who suffered his friends to come
to him, and gave him leave to preach amongst them,
both in the prison and in other houses in the town.
His confinement continued until the Indulgence in
1672. Afterwards, falling into the same sin of
preaching, he was informed against, and warrants
were granted to seize his goods, which was done with
such rigour, that they left him not a stool to sit on.
They broke open house, stable, and barns, and took
away whatever they met with ; and they did it in so
furious a manner, as to fright three children into con
vulsions, and one of them, six years of age, died a
night or two after. He lost to the value of nearly
£500 in goods and cattle. His chief adversary,
Justice Whaley, who had then an estate of £1500 per
annum, died in prison for debt in London. Some
time before his death he wrote a letter to Mr. James,
acknowledging his great crime in being an enemy to
him, and owning that the hand of God was justly
upon him for it.
A Mr. William Wilson, ejected from a living in
the county of Sussex, was greatly tried. He had
been educated at Cambridge, but was prosecuted after
his ejectment for teaching school and preaching. His
two greatest enemies were a neighbouring justice and
the parson that succeeded him in the parish. The
justice threatened that he would have him, dead
or alive, and make him rot in the jail. But it is ob
served that he himself went first to rot in the grave.

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 101
The parson was so violent, that he directed the
officers how to apprehend him, and vented his malice
upon Mr. Wilson's family after his death, though it
was well known that his interest helped to bring him
into the parish. But though several warrants were
issued out against him, and several attempts were
made to take him, God so preserved him, that he
never fell into their hands, though he often very nar
rowly escaped. His usual refuge was the house
of Dr. Banks, a neighbouring Conformist minister,
where he lay unsuspected. At length he was forced
to give up his school ; and then he purchased a small
farm, which his wife and servants managed ; but he
held on preaching when he could get an auditory, at
his own house, or elsewhere. His heart was so
set upon ministerial service, that in his last illness
nothing was more grievous to him than his being
thereby taken off from his work. When another
ejected minister came to visit him, and asked him
what he would have him pray for, he answered, " That
God would either be pleased to restore him to his
ministerial labours, or else receive him to glory."
The latter of these requests was answered in the year
1670, when he was about forty years of age.
In the county of Northampton we have a Mr.
Thomas Maidwell ejected from the Church at Ketter
ing, and afterwards becoming the devoted successful
pastor of the Independent Church formed in that
place, much tried, like many of his brethren, by per
secutions. One H. Sawyer, Esq., a large landed pro
prietor in the parish, was a bitter enemy to the Non
conformists, and often tried to get Mr. Maidwell into
his power. He frequently escaped with difficulty,
sometimes in disguise. It is said that he was once

102 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
cast into prison. He was also banished from his home
by the " Five Mile Act."
Mr. Thomas Browning, ejected from Desborough,
Northamptonshire, who became pastor of the Inde
pendent Church at Rowell, in the same county, was
for some time confined in Northampton jail for preach
ing the gospel ; and in the records of the church it is
stated, in 1664, " from this time dates a sore per
secution and scattering that lay upon us, that we
hardly got together, much less obtained church meet
ings." In the adjoining county of Leicester we have a
Mr. Matthew Clarke ejected from the living of Nar-
borough, who afterwards became the pastor of the
Independent Churches at Market Harborough and
Ashley, three times cast into Leicester jail for the
crime of preaching the gospel, narrowly watched by
some furious justices of the peace, though he often
had the happiness to escape. He dwelt for a
time in a lone house in Leicester Forest, and was
driven from thence by the " Five Mile Act " to live
at a greater distance from any place where he had
preached. There was also a Mr. Shuttlewood, a friend and
fellow-sufferer of Mr. Clarke, who became the first
pastor of the Independent Churches at Welford and
Creaton, Northamptonshire. In the year 1668, when
he was uniting with some others in singing a psalm,
one Mr. B  , with thirty or forty horsemen, with
swords drawn and pistols loaded, came and seized
him with many that were worshipping with him.
Several of both sexes were beaten and driven into the
field and there dismissed upon promising to appear
the next day before a justice of the peace. Mr. Shut-

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 103
tlewood was conveyed to Leicester jail, where he was a
prisoner for some months. After the " Conventicle
Act " passed, he was again seized by one Charles
Gibbons, a notorious persecutor and profane swearer,
taken by him from one justice of the peace to another,
and warrants were issued to distrain upon him for £20,
upon the owner of the house where he preached for
£20, and 5*. a-piece on others. At another time his
house was entered when he was conducting divine ser
vice ; a warrant was obtained to distrain upon him for
£40, when seven of his milch cows were taken and
sold. He was obliged frequently to change his abode,
sometimes in Leicestershire, sometimes in Northamp
tonshire, to escape from his foes. When he met his
people at Welford, one of the number was appointed
to watch, while the rest were engaged in worship, so
that when the informers were seen to approach, notice
might be given to Mr. Shuttlewood and his hearers,
who escaped by the window into the fields. Some
times they met in the pastures that surrounded the
house at Sulby, amidst the darkness and the damps of
night. These were days of trial, when the reality of
religious principle was tested and its power appeared.
The constitution of Mr. Shuttlewood was greatly in
jured by the sufferings he endured, and also fey his
preaching at unseasonable hours and in unsuitable
places.* As a further illustration of the state of things, we
may present a case from another part of the country.
Mr. N. Heywood, ejected from Ormskirk, in Lan
cashire, where he had been a laborious and successful
minister of the gospel, preached privately after his
* Vide "Memorials of Independent Churches, Northamp
tonshire." <"'* ' ' *-

104 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
ejectment as he had opportunity — usually twice on
Lord's-day, and sometimes repeatedly on week days,
ordering his labours in several parts of the parish,
both in the day and in the night. Nay, in times of
great danger, he had preached at one house the begin
ning of the night, and then gone two miles on foot
over mosses, and preached towards morning to another
company at another house. On the Lord's-day, De
cember 20, 1674, there came three men while Mr.
Heywood was in prayer before sermon, and when he
had ended, one of them came up to the pulpit and
said, " Sir, you are our prisoner, come down and go
along with us." Mr. Heywood desired he might be
suffered to preach, and promised then to submit. But
the wretch held a pistol to his head, and with dreadful
curses and threatenings ordered him down. However,
persons of character espoused his cause, so that he was
kept from prison and his goods from being distrained;
but his spirit was overwhelmed with grief on account
of his people, whom he loved as if they had been his
children. The name of Philip Henry carries with it all that
is pious, peaceful, and benevolent, yet towards him
we find the spirit of bitter persecution arises. He
was emphatically one of the "quiet of the land,"
acting with the greatest caution, anxious to avoid
offence, though continually influenced by a spirit of
supreme regard to God, and ready for every duty to
which he believed his Master called him. Vet he was
subject, with others with whom he was associated, to
great oppression and trial, especially on the following
occasion, the circumstances of which are particularly
narrated in the memoirs of his life. At the beginning
of the year 1681, a great drought prevailed in the

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 105
land; it was generally apprehended that a famine
would ensue. Many of the pious part of the people
thought it was time to seek the Lord, who giveth rain
in its season. In the neighbourhood in which Mr.
Henry resided, some desired to have a day set apart
for fasting and prayer on this account. Suitable ser
vices were to be held at the house of a certain indi
vidual in Hodnet parish, Shropshire, June 14. Mr.
Henry, on being invited to attend and give his assist
ance, inquired how they stood with the neighbouring
justices, and the reply was "well enough."
The drought continuing in extremity, some that
had not been in the habit of attending such meetings
were present, under the apprehension they had of a
threatened judgment. Mr. Edward Bury, of Bolus,
well known by several useful books that he had pub
lished, prayed. Mr. Henry prayed, and then preached
on Psalm lxvi. 18 — " If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me." Hence the doctrine was,
that iniquity regarded in the heart will certainly spoil
the success of prayer. When he was in the midst of
his sermon, closely applying this truth, Sir Thomas
Vernon and Charles Mainwaring, Esq., two justices of
the peace for Shropshire, with several others of their
retinue, came suddenly upon them, disturbed them,
set guards upon the house door, came in themselves,
severely rallied all they knew, reflected upon the late
honourable " House of Commons," and upon the vote
they passed concerning the unreasonableness of putting
the laws in execution against Protestant Dissenters,
as if in so voting they had gone beyond their sphere,
as they did who took away the life of King Charles I.
They diverted themselves with very abusive and un
becoming talk, swearing, and cursing, and reviling

106 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
bitterly. On being told that the occasion of the meet
ing was to turn away the anger of God from us in the
present drought, they showed their ignorance and im
piety by answering that such meetings as these were
the occasion of God's anger. While they were thus
entertaining themselves, their clerk took the names of
those who were present, in all about one hundred and
fifty, and so dismissed them for the present.
Mr. Henry noted, in the account he kept of this
event, that "the justices came to this good work
from the alehouse at Prees Heath, about two miles off,
to which, and to the bowling-green adjoining, they,
with other justices, gentlemen, and clergymen of
the neighbourhood, had long before obliged them
selves to come every Tuesday during the summer
under a penalty of twelve pence a time if they were
absent, and there to spend the day in drinking and
bowling, which was thought to be as much more to
the dishonour of God and the scandal of the Christian
profession as cursing, and swearing, and drunkenness
are worse than praying, and singing psalms, and hear
ing the Word of God."
It is supposed the justices knew of the meeting
before, and might have prevented it by the least in
timation ; but they were determined to take the
opportunity of making sport for themselves, and
giving trouble to their neighbours.
After the feat done, they returned to the ale
house, and made themselves and their companions
merry with calling over the names they had taken,
making their remarks as they saw cause, and recount
ing the particulars of the exploit.
There was one of the company whose wife hap
pened to be present at the meeting, and her name was

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 107
taken down among the rest, with which they up
braided him. But he answered, that " she had been
better employed than he was ; and if Mr. Henry
might be permitted to preach in the church, he would
go a great many miles to hear him." For which
saying he was forthwith expelled their company, and
was never more to show his face at that bowling-
green. To which he replied, "that if they had so
ordered long ago, it would have been a great deal
better for him and his family."
Two days after they met again at Hodnet, where,
upon the oath of two witnesses, who, it was supposed,
were sent on purpose to inform, they signed and
sealed two records of conviction. By one record they
convicted the master of the house and fined him £20,
and £5 more as constable of the town for that year,
and with him all the persons whose names they had
taken down, and fined them 5s., and issued warrants
accordingly. By another record they convicted the two minis
ters, Mr. Bury and Mr. Henry. The Act makes it
only punishable to preach and to teach in any such
conventicles, and yet they fined Mr. Bury £20,
though he only prayed, and did not speak one word
either in the way of preaching or teaching, not so
much as, " Let us pray." However, they said pray
ing was teaching, and right or wrong he must be
fined; though his great piety, peaceableness, and
usefulness, besides his deep poverty, might have
pleaded for him against so palpable a piece of in
justice. They took £7 off from him, and laid it upon
others ; and for the remaining £13, he being utterly
unable to pay, they took from him by distress the bed
which he lay upon, with blankets and rug; also

108 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
another feather bed, nineteen pairs of- sheets, most of
them new, of which he could not prevail to have so
much as one pair returned for him to lie in. Also
books to the value of £5, besides brass and pewter.
And though he was at this time perfectly innocent of
that heinous crime of preaching and teaching with
which he was charged, yet he had no way to right
himself but by appealing to the justices themselves in
quarter sessions, who would be sure to confirm their
own decrees. So the good man sat down with his
loss, and "took joyfully the spoiling of his goods,
knowing in himself that he had in heaven a better
and a more enduring substance."
But Mr. Henry being the greatest criminal, and
having done the most mischief, must needs be animad
verted upon accordingly, and therefore he was fined
£40. It was much pressed upon him to pay the fine,
which might prevent loss to himself, and trouble to
the justices. But he was not willing to do it, partly
because he would give no encouragement to such pro
secutions, nor voluntarily reward the informers for
what he thought they rather deserved punishment ;
and partly because he thought himself wronged in
the doubling of the fine. Whereupon his goods were
distrained upon and taken away. But their warrant
not giving them authority to break open doors, nor
their watchfulness getting them an opportunity to
enter the house, they carried away about thirty-three
cart-loads of goods out of doors — corn cut upon the
ground, hay, coals, etc. — which made a great noise in
the country, and raised the indignation of many
against the decrees which prescribed this grievous-
ness ; while Mr. Henry bore it with his usual evenness
and serenity of mind, not at all moved or disturbed

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 109
by it. He did not boast of his sufferings, or make any
great matter of them, but would often say, " Alas ! this
is nothing to what others suffer, nor to what we our
selves may suffer before we die." And yet he rejoiced
and blessed God, that it was not for debt or evil doing
that his goods were carried away ; and " while it is
for well doing that we suffer," he said, "they cannot
harm us." * Trials of Mr. O. Seywood.
When Mr. Hoole, minister of Caley Chapel, from
which Mr. Heywood had been ejected, was from home
and no supply provided, Mr. Heywood sometimes
preached to his old hearers without interruption.
May 22nd, 1670, early in the morning, two men came
to inform him that Mr. Hoole was absent, and that no
notice had been given of a vacancy. They earnestly
entreated him to preach there that day ; to which re
quest, after seeking divine direction, he consented. The
morning service was peaceably enjoyed ; but in the af
ternoon, while he was preaching, Stephen Ellis brought
with him the churchwarden and overseer, threatening
to have them fined if they refused to act. They at
tempted to take down the names of persons present,
but though there were some hundreds of people, many
of whom were their neighbours, they were so confused
they could recollect only ten, who were fined 5sveach.
July 13th, the officers came to make distress on
Mr. Heywood's goods on account of the above offence
for the sum of £10, having obtained a warrant from
Justice Capley. And they behaved with savage bru
tality. They took away the bed and bedding, some
tables, chests, and books, the value of which greatly
* " Life of Philip Henry," by Sir J. B. Williams.

110 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
exceeded the amount for which they were to distrain.
Mrs. H. entreated them to take chairs rather than
the meal chest ; but instead of complying with her
request, they took a curtain, spread it on the floor,
poured out the meal, and carried away the chest ;
scarcely any of his household goods were left but a
cupboard, and a few chairs. A sale of the goods was
advertised at Halifax, but no articles were sold, and
for some time they were locked up in a barn at Caley
Hall. Afterwards they were removed to Wakefield,
where they remained full ten years after the seizure.
The cheerful manner in which he bore the spoiling
of his goods is thus expressed by him: — "I was lately
a prisoner, and now God hath honoured me with the
loss of part of my estate for him; 'tis welcome — wel
come prisons, losses, crosses, reproaches, racks, and
death itself, if the Lord call me to it, and will enable
me to endure it to his glory."
August 17th, 1687, when he was preaching in his
own house, he states, "There came several bailiffs and
assistants to my house about six o'clock in the morn
ing, and indeed were upon us before we were aware,
for they were tying their horses at Mr. C.'s gate when
the lad came running by to give us notice ; and though
we were dispersed before they got into the room, yet
they saw the people about the house in the lane and
croft. They slipped in at the back door, as people
went out, and found me, made me promise to go before
Justice Horton the day after, who bound me to the
sessions at Wakefield, where I was to appear October
10th, 1684." He accordingly went on the day ap
pointed, and entered his traverse.
January 16th, 1685, he again attended at Wake
field ; was indicted for having a riotous assembly in

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. Ill
his house, and found guilty. He was fined £50, and
was to procure sureties for his good behaviour ; and
because he could not pay the fine, and would not
promise to desist from preaching, he was committed
prisoner to York Castle. A petition was drawn up
and presented to the court in mitigation of his fine ;
but the justices were resolved to grant none. Mr.
Butler, the jailer, to whose custody he was now com
mitted, treated him with great kindness, and even
turned out a Conformist minister, that Mr. H. might
have a chamber to himself, near Mr. Whitaker, a Non
conformist suffering on the same account.
For some time he was much annoyed by the con
duct of a dissolute Papist, confined for debt, whose
chamber nearly adjoined Mr. Heywood's. With this
exception he was as comfortable as the circumstances
of the place would admit. He enjoyed much sweet
and spiritual fellowship with Mr. Whitaker, and many
friends out of the city came to visit him. On the
Sabbath and other days, he preached to several per
sons who were admitted, among whom sometimes was
the jailer's wife.
After an expensive confinement in York Castle,
and several fruitless attempts to obtain his release, a
friend prevailed with the new high sheriff to grant
Mr. H. his liberty, provided the fine was paid at the
next assizes. This was granted, and nothing was in
serted in the bond concerning his future good beha
viour (that is, not preaching), and Mr. H. came out
of prison, December 19th, 1685. He attended with
his friend in' the assize week at York, when the under
sheriff agreed to accept £30, and return the bond for
£50. Mr. Heywood's heart was deeply impressed
with gratitude to God for being restored to liberty.

112 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
He observed two days of thanksgiving, which were
spent in prayer and praise, and entered into renewed
engagements to serve the Lord. On the latter day
he thus writes, " God carried me to York Castle, that
there he might show great and marvellous things to
my soul that I knew not ; he quickened, instructed,
and comforted me, more than ever before. He gave
my body health beyond expectation, increased my
credit amongst his people, and added to my estate
considerably, by tripling my former incomes; thus,
what men devised for my hurt hath turned to my
advantage ; yea, I now perceive my sufferings have
tended to the furtherance of the gospel. Let God
have the glory."
The following extracts are taken from a narrative
drawn up by Mr. Thomas Jollie, ejected from a living
in Lancashire : — "When the Five Mile Act came forth,
I was forced to remove from amongst my friends, and
from that little temporal estate also, which I had, to
my great discomfort and disadvantage. The incon
venience we were put to by our night travels to enjoy
the ordinances according to the gospel, for many
years together, is incredible ; and now, being removed
to this distance, the toil must needs be much more, so
that I contracted such infirmity upon my stomach,
and upon my whole body by the night air, that my
health was much impaired, and life endangered. Three
years I continued in my banishment, and stole my
liberty among my own people with inexpressible dis
advantages. We were taken at the house of Thomas
Blackburn, in Dinkly, while I was preaching, for
which a warrant was issued out against me, in order
to my banishment out of the three kingdoms, accord
ing to the act against conventicles, for the third

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 113
offence as they supposed ; but the warrant very pro
videntially miscarried.
" Another warrant was issued out against Thomas
Tipping, a poor man, who was put to pay forty shil
lings on that account, with several others who were
also fined for that meeting.
" Upon April 25th, 1669, Captain Alexander
Nowell, with his man, came upon us rudely at a
meeting in the house of Abraham Howarth, of Altham,
and took me violently away prisoner. The day fol
lowing, he brought me before Colonel Richard Kirby,
with other deputy lieutenants and justices, who com
mitted me to the common jail at Lancaster, for six
months, because I preached within five miles of
Altham, and because I could not take the oath in
the Oxford Act. Mr. Nathaneel Bannister, younger
brother to my former persecutor, Captain Bannister,
was a special occasion of my being taken at that time,
who, not being well that day, would needs go to his
chamber- window in Altham Hall, and have it opened,
to refresh himself with the sight of me being brought
away prisoner ; but an air then coming in at his win
dow, he took such a cold as shortly after took away
his life. And Colonel Richard Kirby, the great
instrument in sending me to Lancaster at this time,
was himself shortly after made prisoner, and all his
estate in Lancashire seized upon for debt.
" On the 15th of July following, the justices at
Preston sessions refused to set me at liberty, though
they were shown how irregular the proceedings were
against me in my commitment ; and they suffered me
to be indicted as guilty of a riot in that meeting
which I was last taken at, and sent to Lancaster
for ; whereas there was nothing like a riot, neither

114 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
in the meeting, nor towards those who took me
prisoner. " In the beginning of the following October I
was indicted by Captain Nowell .at the quarter
sessions, for the penalty of forty pounds in the Five
Mile Act. I guess that the charge of that suit to me
was about eight pounds. On the 5th of December
the constables served a warrant upon me, to bind me
to the good behaviour ; that is, that I should not
preach to my people, nor meet with them for the
worship of God.
" About the 14th of June, 1675, before we knew
of our licenses granted according to his Majesty's
most gracious declaration being void, as we were at the
solemn worship of God in one of our licensed places,
Captain Nowell, then justice, came into the meeting
in a most rude manner, and commanded me to come
down, or he would pistol me, holding up his pistol at
me in the pulpit, swearing most blasphemously, and
calling me most shamefully. The said Mr. Justice
Nowell issued out his warrants presently, for the
levying of the fine upon my goods, which being
removed out of the way, he issued out two other war
rants to make distress upon the goods of William
Sellar of Wymond houses, and Roger Briars, because
the officers could not light on my goods ; though I
redeemed them when sold, as I judged myself bound
in conscience. Another warrant he issued forth to
make distress for twenty pounds upon the goods of
Thomas Riley, of Slade, the master of the house where
we met. The people paid the money and redeemed
his goods ; other warrants were issued forth to levy
upon the goods of several for the five shillings apiece.
The whole sum was about forty-four pounds, as I

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 115
remember, which he exacted to the utmost, and em
bezzled it to his own private use, without allowing the
King and the poor their parts ; save that he allowed
forty shillings to the poor of that parish where we
were taken. He not only took the informer's part to
himself, but most of the poor's part, alleging that
himself was poor ; 'and as to the King's part, though
we had obtained an order from the Lord Treasurer by
his Majesty's appointment, with about four pounds
further charge to me, yet the said Justice Nowell,
with great disdain, refused to obey the order. About
the same time he used several other meetings in the
same manner to supply his own necessities, and main
tain his most prodigal courses, to the great scandal of
his Majesty and Government.
" William Sclater of Downham, being one who
bought our goods which were seized and sold, did
shortly after break in his estate, and fled out of the
country. A signal hand of God, in a way of judg
ment, was also upon one Fielding, a retainer some
time ago to Captain Nowell, and an instrument to
serve him in persecuting. This Fielding, being a very
drunken, debauched fellow, was upon a time at the
abbey in Whalley, revelling and gaming, at which time
it pleased the Lord to smite him with an insatiate
thirst, insomuch that two days after, he laid him down
and drank at the river to quench his thirst, so coming
into a house in the town, he was suddenly taken ill,
and presently died."
The troubles of Mr. Jollie continued until after the
year 1684. During that year, he was apprehended by
order of the Lord Chief Justice, and brought before
him at Preston, where he was obliged to find sureties,
who were bound in two hundred pounds each (Judge

116 THE TWO THOUSAND CONFESSOES OE 1662.
Jeffreys would have had it two thousand pounds)
for having frequent conventicles in hi3 house. When
he appeared at the next assizes, nothing was alleged
against him, and according to law he should have been
discharged from his recognizance, but it was renewed.
However, Baron Atkins, then upon the bench,
accepted his single bond of one hundred pounds.*
In the published records of the Broadmead church,
in the city of Bristol, we see the spirit of their per
secutors, the sufferings undergone, and the contriv
ances to which they resorted to elude their adver
saries. " In the year 1664, at a week-day meeting,
a guard of musketeers was sent to take them into
custody ; but, having been apprised of their coming,
and the darkness of the night proving favourable, they
withdrew into an underground cellar, which had a
communication with Baldwin Street, and so they
escaped, and left their persecutors disappointed.
" Soon after, on a Lord's-day, the mayor and
aldermen, with their officers, broke open Mr. Ellis's
house at the back-door, and came in. But while these
housebreakers were effecting an entrance, Mr. Ellis
contrived to hide a garret-door, by placing a large
cupboard before it, and by that means sent away
most of the men. Still, many necessarily remained
behind, of whom the mayor and Sir John sent thirty-
one to Bridewell for a month, preparatory to ultimate
banishment. " In November, 1665, a troop of horse were sent to
the city to suppress the conventicles, and very abusive
they were at all the meetings they could discover.
" The first Lord's-day after the 10th of April, when
* " Select Nonconformist Eemains," by R. Slate.

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 117
the ' Conventicle Act ' first came into operation, the
informers were on the alert, and because the church
coidd gain no information of their intended plan of
proceeding, they closed their meeting-house door.
The informers immediately fetched constables, broke
open the door, went in, and took down the names of
those whom they knew, who were in consequence
brought before the magistrate aud convicted. But
persecution sharpened their invention. The next
Lord's-day they broke a large hole in a high wall,
which enabled them to hear the preacher in the next
house, without being present with him. Yet the
bishop's informers went again, and not recognizing
such a nice distinction, took down the names, and
some of them were again taken before the mayor and
convicted. " The scene was also enacted on the third Lord's-
day, and on the fourth the mayor went himself, with
his officers and several of the aldermen ; but finding
these means to be utterly ineffectual, they resorted to
another expedient. On the Saturday evening they
raised the trained bands, some of whom, to prevent
the church from meeting, nailed up the doors, and
put locks upon them. Being thus ejected by force
and power, they met in the public lanes and high-

At another time, when all their ministers were
removed — one dead, three imprisoned, and their
deaths apprehended — the bishop's men and Helliar, a
lawyer, being in hot pursuit and wofully successful,
so that the extinction of the churches seemed almost
inevitable, the members proved themselves men of
the right stamp. They animated each other's hearts,
and, notwithstanding all their discouragements, so

118 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662-
far from forsaking the assembling of themseles to
gether, they clung with greater tenacity to a privilege
difficult of attainment, and exercised all their inge
nuity to accomplish with impunity this one desire of
their hearts.
"When they could again meet in their place of
worship, in order to disappoint spies who might be
present as hearers, and yet not to exclude strangers
who might attend without any evil design, they con
trived that a curtain should be hung all across, the
space behind it being so arranged as to accommodate
the preacher and his confidential friends. Conse
quently, if there were spies present, they could not
see the preacher so as to give any certain information
against him ; and lest any should intrude behind the
curtain, some of the members were especially ap
pointed to prevent all from this whom they did not
know to be the friends of Christ and his cause.
When the time was come for commencing, this curtain
was drawn close, and the stairs completely filled with
female friends. Sentinels were also appointed with
out, who, on seeing the approach of the informers,
passed the word with telegraphic despatch and secrecy ;
the preacher sat down, the curtain was undrawn, the
whole room exposed to view, and the people began
simultaneously to sing a psalm. To prevent con
fusion, the psalm which was to be sung on the
entrance of the informers was previously announced ;
and to avoid the inconvenience of reading it, all
brought their Bibles and read for themselves. ' By
these means when the mayor came he was disap
pointed, they were all singing, and whom to take up
for preaching he could not tell. When the informers
were gone, the singing ceased, the curtain was drawn

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 119
and the preacher resumed his discourse until they
returned, which they sometimes did three times
during one meeting. Then again the preacher re
tired, the curtain was drawn aside, and singing
resumed as before. " This,'' -they say, " was our
constant practice iu Olive's mayoralty, and we were
in a good measure edified, and our enemies often
disappointed." Laus Deo.
One of their ministers, Mr. Hardcastle, ejected
from a living in Yorkshire, had been imprisoned eight
months in York Castle, from thence conveyed to
Chester Castle, where he was detained a close prisoner
fifteen months more. For preaching Christ in London
he was again apprehended, and continued a prisoner
six months. Twice also at Bristol did he pay this
penalty for Christ and a good conscience, each im
prisonment lasting six months ; " still preaching," say
the records, " as soon as ever he came forth, and so
continued till his death."* Death in Prison.
The next case we present is one, amongst many
others, of imprisonment and death — painful confine
ment issuing in death. Mr. William Jenkyn was
maternal grandson to John Rogers, the proto-martyr
in the Marian persecution. In the great storm that
prevailed against the Nonconformists in James II. 's
reign, on September 2, 1684, when he, with Mr.
Reynolds, Mr. J. Flavel, and Mr. Keeling, was spend
ing a day in prayer, with many of his friends, in a
* " History of Dissent in Bristol," by J. G. Fuller.

120 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
place where they thought themselves out of danger,
the soldiers broke in upon them in the midst of the
exercise. All the ministers made their escape except
Mr. Jenkyn. Mr. Flavel was so near that he heard
the insolence of the officers and soldiers to Mr.
Jenkyn when they had taken him, and observes in
his diary that Mr. Jenkyn might have escaped as
well as himself, had it not been for a piece of vanity
in a lady, whose long train hindered his going down
stairs, Mr. Jenkyn, out of his too great civility,
having let her pass before him.
Being taken before two aldermen, Sir James
Edwards and Sir James Smith, they treated him very
roughly, well knowing that it would be acceptable
in the highest places in the land. Upon his refusing
the Oxford oath, they committed him to Newgate, re
jecting his offer of £40 fine which the law empowered
them to take, though it was urged that the air of
Newgate would infallibly suffocate him. He petitioned
the King for a release, which was backed by an assur
ance from his physician that his life was in danger
from his close confinement ; but no other answer
could be obtained but this, " Jenkyn shall be a
prisoner as long as he lives." This was most rigor
ously adhered to. He was not suffered to go to
baptize his daughter's child, though a considerable
sum was offered for his liberty to do it, with security
for his return. The keepers were ordered not to let
him pray with any visitants ; even when his daughter
came to ask his blessing, he was not allowed to pray
with her. He soon began, through his confinement,
to decline in health, but continued all along in the
utmost joy and comfort of soul. He said to one of
his friends, " What a vast difference there is between

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 121
this and my first imprisonment (alluding to his hav
ing formerly been sent to the Tower for being con
cerned in Love's plot) ; then I was full of doubts and
fears, of grief and anguish, and well I might, for going
out of God's way and my calling to meddle with
things that did not belong to me. But now, when I
was found in the way of my duty in my Master's
business, though I suffer even unto bonds, yet I am
comforted beyond measure. The Lord sheds abroad
his love sensibly in my heart : I feel it, I have assur
ance of it." Turning to some who were weeping by
him, he said, " Why weep ye for me ? Christ lives ;
He is my Friend, a Friend born for adversity ; a
Friend that never dies. Weep not for me, but weep
for yourselves and your children." He died in New
gate, January 19, 1685, aged seventy -two, having been
a prisoner there four months, where, as he said a little
before he died, " a man might be as effectually mur
dered as at Tyburn."
A nobleman, having heard of his happy release,
said to the King, "May it please your Majesty,
Jenkyn has got his liberty." Upon which he asked
with eagerness, " Ay, who gave it him ?" The noble
man replied, " A greater than your Majesty, the King
of kings." With which the King appeared greatly
struck, and remained silent.*
Baxter before Judge Jeffreys.
The following remarkable scene — a scene which,
in all its parts, tells most impressively to the honour
of Baxter, and to the condemnation of Jeffreys — •
took place in the Court of King's Bench on May
* " Nonconformist Memorial " and " History of Puritans."

122 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
30th, 1684. In a commentary on the New Testament,
written by Baxter, he had complained with some
bitterness of the persecutions which the Dissenters
suffered; and the main charge was, that in some pas
sages he had reflected on the prelates of the Church
of England, and so was guilty of sedition. We will
give our readers one of these passages, that they may
judge of the nature of this charge. After explaining
Matt. v. 19, he observes, " Are not those preachers
and prelates, then, the least and basest that preach
and tread down Christian love of all that dissent from
any of their presumptions, and so preach down not
the least but the great command ?" " That men who,
for not using the prayer-book," says Macaulay, "had
been driven from their homes, stripped of their pro
perty, and locked up in dungeons, should dare to
utter a murmur, was then thought to be a high crime
against the State and the Church." Roger Lestrange,
the champion of the Government and the oracle of
the clergy, sounded the note of war in the " Obser-
vator." An information was filed ; Baxter begged
that he might be allowed some time to prepare for
his defence. It was on the day on which Oates was
pilloried in Palace Yard that the illustrious chief, the
Puritan, oppressed by age and infirmity, came to
Westminster Hall to make this request. Jeffreys
burst into a storm of rage. " Not a minute," he
cried, " to save his life. I can deal with saints as
well as with sinners. There stands Oates on one side
of the pillory, and if Baxter stood on the other, the
two greatest rogues in the kingdom would stand to
gether." When the trial came on at Guildhall a crowd of
those who loved and honoured Baxter filled the court.

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 123
At his side stood Dr. William Bates, one ofthe most
eminent Nonconformist divines. Two Whig bar
risters of great note, Pollexfen and Wallop, appeared
for the defence. Pollexfen had scarcely begun his
address to the jury, when the Chief Justice broke
forth, " Ah, Pollexfen ! I know you well. I will set
a mark upon you. You are a patron of the faction.
This is an old rogue, a schismatical knave, a hypo
critical villain. He hates the Liturgy. He would
have nothing but long-winded cant without book."
And then his lordship turned up his eyes, clasped his
hands, and began to sing through his nose in imitation
of what he supposed to be Baxter's style of praying,
" Lord, we are thy people, thy peculiar people, thy
dear people."
Pollexfen gently reminded the court that his late
Majesty had thought Baxter deserving of a bishopric.
" And what ailed the old blockhead, then," cried
Jeffreys, "that he did not take it ?" His fury now
rose almost to madness, he called Baxter a dog, and
swore that it would be no more than justice to whip
such a villain through the whole city.
Wallop interposed, but fared no better than his
leader. " You are in all these dirty cases, Mr. Wal
lop," says the judge. " Gentlemen of the long robe
ought to be ashamed to assist such factious knaves."
The advocate made another attempt to obtain a hear
ing, but to no purpose. " If you do not know your
duty," says Jeffreys, " I will teach you." Wallop
sat down, and Baxter himself attempted to put in a
word, but the Chief Justice drowned all expostulation
in a burst of ribaldry and invective, mingled with
scraps of Hudibras. " My lord," said the aged man,
" I have been much blamed by Dissenters for speak-

124 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
ing respectfully of bishops." " Baxter for bishops !"
cried the judge, " that's a merry conceit indeed. I
know what you mean by bishops — rascals like your
self; Kidderminster bishops, factious, snivelling Pres
byterians." Again Baxter essayed to speak, and
again Jeffreys bellowed, " Richard, Richard, dost thou
think we will let thee poison the court ? Richard,
thou art an. old knave ; thou hast written books
enough to load a cart, and every book as full of sedi
tion as an egg is full of meat. By the grace of God,
I'll look after thee. I see a great many of your
brotherhood waiting to see what will befall their
mighty don." And then he continued, fixing his
savage eye on Dr. Bates, " There's a doctor of the
party at your elbow. But by the grace of God
Almighty, I will crush you all."
Baxter held his peace, but one of the junior coun
sel for the defence made a last effort, and undertook
to show that the words of which complaint was
made would not bear the construction put on them
by the information ; with this view he began to read
the context. In a moment he was roared down. "You
shan't turn the court into a conventicle !" A noise
of weeping was heard from some of those that sur
rounded Baxter. " Snivelling calves!" said the judge.
Witnesses to character were in attendance, and
among them were several clergymen of the Established
Church. But the Chief Justice would hear nothing.
"Does your lordship think," said Baxter, "that any
jury will convict a man on such a trial as this ?"
" I warrant you, Mr. Baxter," said Jeffreys ; " don't
trouble yourself about that." Jeffreys was right.
The sheriffs were the tools of the Government ; the
juries were selected by the sheriffs from among the

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 125
fiercest zealots of the Tory party, they conferred for a
moment and returned a verdict of guilty.
" My lord," said Baxter, as he left the court,
" there was once a Chief Justice who would have
treated me very differently." He alluded to his learned
and excellent friend Sir Matthew Hale. " There is
not an honest man in England," answered Jeffreys,
" but looks on thee as a knave."
The sentence was, for those times, it is observed,
a lenient one. What passed in conference among the
judges cannot be certainly known. It was believed
among the Nonconformists, and is highly probable,
that the Chief Justice was overruled by his three
brethren. He proposed, it is said, that Baxter should
be whipped through London at the cart's tail. The
majority thought that an eminent divine, who a
quarter of a century before had been offered a mitre,
and was now in his seventieth year, would be suffi
ciently punished for a few sharp words with fine
and imprisonment.
It is stated that Jeffreys thus summed up the
matter to the jury : " 'Tis notoriously known, that
there has been a design to ruin the king and nation.
The old game has been renewed, and this has been the
main incendiary. He's as modest now as can be, but
the time was when no man was so ready at ' Bind your
kings in chains, and your nobles in fetters of iron ;'
and ' To your tents, 0 Israel.' Gentlemen, for God's
sake, don't let us be gulled twice in an age."
He was sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred
marks, and to lie in prison till it was paid, and bound
to his good behaviour for seven years ; and he con
tinued in the court's prison in pain and languor for
nearly two years; but at length the King changing his

126 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
measures, he was pardoned.* What a scene for a
court of justice ! and what a sentence after such a
trial! At the time of Baxter's trial and imprisonment,
Matthew Henry was in London pursuing his studies
at Gray's Inn. Whether he witnessed the public
obloquy of his father's ancient and beloved friend
does not appear ; but he went to visit him in his
prison, and in giving an account of this visit in a
letter to his father, he says : " I found him in pretty
comfortable circumstances, though a prisoner, in a
private house near the prison, attended on by his own
man and maid. He is in as good health as one can
expect, and methinks looks better and speaks heartier
than when I saw him last. The token you sent he
would by no means be persuaded to accept of, and was
almost angry when I pressed it from one outed (i. e.,
cast out of the Church) as well as himself. He said he
did not use to receive; and I understand since his need
is not great. We sat with him about an hour. . . .
He gave us some good counsel to prepare for trials ;
and said the best preparation for them was a life
of faith, and a constant course of self-denial. He
thought it harder constantly to deny temptations to
sensual lusts and pleasures, than to resist one single
temptation to deny Christ for fear of suffering ; the
former requiring such constant watchfulness — how
ever, after the former, the latter will be easier. He
said, we who are young are apt to count upon great
things, but we must not look for it ; and much more
to the same purpose. He said he thought dying by
sickness usually much more painful and dreadful than
dying a violent death : especially considering the ex-
* " Maeaulay's History of England."

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 127
traordinary supports which those have who suffer for
righteousness' sake." It is gratifying to find on record
such a testimony to the comfort of the suffering saint
in his confinement.*
We would now conduct our readers to another
court, and lead them to behold another case, yet more
affecting than that of Baxter, for here he will be called
to see one of England's highly esteemed matrons, who
had been connected with the Nonconformists, and who
had now sheltered one of their ministers, called to
stand before the same judge, and by him consigned to
death. Alice Lisle, her Trial and Execution.
In Hampshire, John Hickes, a Nonconformist
divine, and Richard Nelthorpe, a lawyer, who had
been outlawed for his share in the Rye House Plot,
had sought refuge at the house of Alice, widow of
John Lisle.
John Lisle had sat in the Long Parliament, and
in the High Court of Justice ; had been a Commis-.
sioner of the Great Seal, in the days of the Common
wealth ; and had been created a Lord by Cromwell.
The titles given by the Protector had not been recog
nized by any Government which had ruled England
since the downfall of his house ; but they appear to
have been often used in conversation, even by
Royalists. John Lisle's widow was, therefore, com
monly known as the Lady Alice. She was related to
many respectable, and to some noble families ; and
she was generally esteemed, even by the other gentry
of her county, for it was well known to them that she
had deeply regretted some violent acts in which her
* "Life of Matthew Henry," by Sir J. B. "Williams.

128 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
husband had borne a part ; that she had shed bitter
tears for Charles I. ; and that she protected and re
lieved many Cavaliers in their distress. The same
womanly kindness which had led her to befriend the
Royalists in their time of trouble, would not suffer
her to refuse a meal and a hiding-place to the
wretched men who now entreated her to protect them.
She took them into her house ; set meat and drink
before them, and showed them where they might take
rest. The next morning her dwelling was surrounded
by soldiers. Strict search was made ; Hickes was
found concealed in a malt-house, and Nelthorpe in a
chimney. If Lady Alice knew her guests to have been con
cerned in the insurrection in the west, she was un
doubtedly guilty of what, in strictness, is a capital
crime; "for the law of principal and accessory then
was, and is to this day," remarks Macaulay, "in a
state disgraceful to English jurisprudence."
Odious as the law was, it was strained for the
purpose of destroying Alice Lisle. She could not,
according to- the doctrine laid down by the highest
authority, be convicted till after the conviction of the
rebels whom she had harboured. She was, however,
set to the bar before either Hickes or Nelthorpe had
been tried. It was no easy matter in such a case to
obtain a verdict for the Crown. The witnesses pre
varicated. The jury, consisting of the principal gen
tlemen of Hampshire, shrank from the thought of
sending a fellow-creature to the stake for conduct
which seemed rather deserving of praise than of
blame. Jeffreys was beside himself with fury. This
was the first case of treason on the circuit, and there
seemed to be a strong probability that his prey would

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 129
escape him. He stormed, cursed, and swore, in lan
guage which no well-bred man would have used at a
race or a cock-fight. One witness, named Dunne,
partly from concern for Lady Alice, and partly from
fright at the threats and maledictions of the Chief
Justice, entirely lost his head, and at last stood silent.
" Oh how hard the truth is," said Jeffreys, " to come
out of a lying Presbyterian knave!" The witness,
after a pause of some minutes, stammered a few un
meaning words.
" Was there ever," exclaimed the judge, with an
oath — " was there ever such a villain on the face of
the earth ? Dost thou believe there is a God ? Dost
thou believe in hell fire ? Of all the witnesses I ever
met with, I never saw thy fellow."
Still the poor man, scared out of his senses, re
mained mute. And again Jeffreys burst forth : —
" I hope, gentlemen of the jury, that you take
notice of the horrible carriage of this fellow. How
can one help abhorring these men and their religion ?
A Turk is a saint to such a fellow as this. A Pagan
would be ashamed of such villany. O blessed Jesus !
what a generation of vipers do we live among."
"I cannot tell what to say, my Lord," faltered
Dunne. The judge again broke forth into a volley of oaths.
" Was there ever," he cried, " such an impudent
rascal ? Hold a candle to him,, that we may see his
brazen face. You, gentlemen, that are the counsel for
the Crown, see that an information for perjury be
preferred against this fellow."
After the witnesses had been thus handled, the
Lady Alice was called on for her defence. She began
by saying, " that though she knew Hickes to be in
i

130 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
trouble when she took him in, she did not know or
suspect that he had been concerned in the rebellion.
He was a divine, a man of peace. It had, therefore,
never occurred to her that he could have borne arms
against the Government ; and she had supposed that
he wished to conceal himself because warrants were
out against him for field preaching."
The Chief Justice began to storm. " There is not
one of these lying, snivelling, canting Presbyterians,
but, one way or another, have a hand in rebellion.
Presbytery has all manner of villany in it. Nothing
but Presbytery could have made Dunne such a rogue.
Show me a Presbyterian, and I'll show you a lying
knave." He summed up in the same style, declaim
ing during an hour against Whigs and Dissenters,
and reminding the jury that the prisoner's husband
had borne a part in the death of Charles I., a fact
which was not proved by any testimony, and which, if
it had been proved, would have been utterly irrelevant
to the issue.
The jury retired, and remained long in consulta
tion. The judge grew impatient. He could not
conceive how, in so plain a case, they should ever have
left the box. He sent a messenger to tell them, that
if they did not instantly return, he would adjourn the
court and lock them up all night. Thus put to the
torture, they came, but came to say " that they
doubted whether the charge had been made out."
Jeffreys expostulated with them vehemently, and after
another consultation, they gave a reluctant verdict of
guilty. Our historians give different statements in refer
ence to the conduct of the jury. Rapin says, " they
found her not guilty three times." Burnet says,

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 131
" they brought her in the second time not guilty, but,
overcome with fear, they brought her in the third
time guilty ;" while Macaulay only gives the one
statement of not guilty, or, " that they doubted
whether the charge had been made out."*
On the following morning sentence was pro
nounced. Jeffreys gave directions that Alice Lisle
should be burned alive that afternoon ! This excess
of barbarity moved the pity and indignation of that
class which was most devoted to the Crown. The
clergy of' Winchester Cathedral remonstrated with
the Chief Justice, who, brutal as he was, was not mad
enough to risk a quarrel on such a subject, with a
body so much respected by the Tory party. He con
sented to put off the execution five days. During
that time the friends of the prisoner besought James
to show her mercy. Ladies of high rank interceded
for her. Feversham, whose recent victory had in
creased his influence at Court, and who, it is said, had
been bribed to take the compassionate side, spoke in
her favour. Clarendon, the king's brother-in-law,
pleaded her cause ; but all was in vain. The utmost
that could be obtained was, that her sentence should
be commuted from burning to beheading. She was
put to death on the scaffold in the market-place of
Winchester, and she passed through it with serene
courage. She was a woman of fine understanding, as
well as exalted devotion and benevolence, and she
behaved in the most heroic manner at the place of
execution. The speech which, notwithstanding her
advanced age, she delivered on the scaffold, is said to
have commenced with a religious exordium, expres-
* Macaulay's " History of England ;" Rapin's " History of
England ;" Burnet's " Account of his Own Times."

132 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
sive ofthe patience and submission of her soul to the
Divine will. Mrs. Gaunt.
There is another female martyr that we cannot
pass by, who died for her religion in the same period,
and by the same guilty hands as Lady Alice. Mrs.
Gaunt, who is called by Burnet an Anabaptist, was
an inhabitant of London, where she spent all her
time in acts of charity, visiting the poor and the pri
soners in jails, without confining her attention to any
religious profession. A person of her character was
likely to become odious, and thus be singled out as a
mark for the arrows of persecution, which thus flew
thick around the most excellent in the nation.
A rebel took refuge in her house, where she con
cealed him till she should find an opportunity of
sending him out of the country, he, with unparalleled
baseness, betrayed her to save his own life, which he
learned would be the reward of the treacherous ingra
titude. But, though the evidence was not sufficient
for a legal conviction, she was condemned to be burnt.
Penn, the quaker, who saw her die, says Bishop
Burnet, told me, " she laid the straw about her to
burn her speedily, and behaved herself in such a
manner that all the spectators melted into tears."
With amazing cheerfulness and firmness she said, " I
exult that God has honoured me to be the first that
is called to suffer by fire in this reign, and that my
suffering is a martyrdom for that religion that is all
love. Charity," said she, " is a part of my religion,
as well as faith. My crime is at worst only that of
feeding an enemy, so I hope I shall have my reward
from Him for whose sake I did this service, how un-

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 133
worthy soever the person was that made so ill a
return for it." The rebel received a pardon as a re
compense for his treachery, she was burned alive
for her charity.*
The conduct of Jeffreys to Philip Henry.
Having presented several cases in which the con
duct of the Chief Justice appears as little else than a
compound of cruelty, injustice, and profaneness, it
will be proper to record one instance in which he
acted in a different manner, which shows some re
maining influence of early education on such a mind
as his. Some time after the prosecution of Philip Henry,
as related in a preceding page, Judge Jeffreys attended
at the assizes for Flintshire, and it was remarked that
he did not in private conversation appear to applaud
what was done in this matter, as was expected. ,It
was also said that he spoke with some respect of Mr.
Henry, saying, " he knew him and his character well,
and that he was a great friend ofhis mother's" — Mrs.
Jeffreys, of Acton, near Wrexham, a very pious, good
woman — " and that sometimes, at his mother's request,
Mr. Henry had examined him in his learning when
he was a schoolboy, and had commended his pro
ficiency." And it was much wondered at by many,
that of all the times Sir George Jeffreys went that
circuit, though it is well known what was his temper,
and what the temper of those times, yet he never
sought any occasion against Mr. Henry, nor took the
occasions that were offered, nor countenanced any
trouble that was intended him.
One particular circumstance may be recorded.
* " History of Dissenters," by Bogue and Bennet.

134 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
There had been an agreement among several ministers
to spend some time, either in secret or in their families,
or both, between six and eight o'clock every Monday
morning, in prayer, for the Church of God and for
the land and nation, more fully and particularly than
at other times, and to make that their special errand
at a throne of grace, and to engage as many of their
praying friends as ever they could to the observance
of it. This had been communicated by Mr. Henry to
some of his friends in London, and he punctually ob
served it in his own practice. He also mentioned
it to some of his acquaintances, who observed it in
like manner.
It happened that Mr. Ambrose Lewis, a minister
in Derbyshire, to whom he had communicated this,
was so well pleased with it that he wrote a letter
concerning it to a friend of his at a distance, which
letter happened to fall into hands that perverted it,
and made information upon it against the writer and
receiver of the letter, who were bound over to the
assizes ; and great suspicions Sir George Jeffreys had
that it was a branch of the Presbyterian plot, and
rallied the parties accused severely.
At length it appeared, either by the letter or the
confession of the parties, that they received the pro
ject from Mr. Henry, which it was greatly feared
would bring him into trouble ; but Sir George, to the
admiration of many, let it fall, and never inquired
further into it.*
It appears that there are some men " whose ways
so please the Lord, that he makes even their enemies
to be at peace with them ;" and there is nothing lost
by trusting in God.
* "Life of Philip Henry," by Sir J. B. -Williams.

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 135

Mr. Isaac Watts.

We shall here present an instance to illustrate the
painful operation of the laws against Nonconformists
in the cases of some respectable laymen, who were
engaged in the education of the young. In the town
of Southampton there were two ministers ejected by
the Act of Uniformity. One of them, Mr. Giles Say,
became the pastor of a congregation of Nonconfor
mists there. Under the Indulgence given by Charles
II. his house was licensed for preaching ; but after .
that Indulgence was withdrawn he was thrown, for
exercising his ministry, into the common jail of the
town. There was cast into the same prison with him,
Mr. Isaac Watts, father of the celebrated Dr. Watts,
the sweet singer of our Israel. He had become a
deacon of the church that had been formed by Mr.
Say, was evidently a man of vigorous intellect, con
siderable information, exalted piety, inflexible princi
ple, every way worthy to be the parent and the father
of the distinguished individual who inherited his
name and perpetuated his virtues. He was master
of a boarding-school in his native town, the repute
of which was so well established and widely diffused,
that pupils from America and the West Indies were
committed to his care. The uncompromising integrity
of his religious principles exposed him to much per
secution, and he was compelled to occupy a cell in
the common prison for the cause of Christ.
The first imprisonment took place during the
infancy of his son Isaac, before he had begun to lisp
in numbers ; and tradition relates that the devoted
wife and mother would visit the prison with her babe
in her arms, and has sometimes placed herself on

136 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
a stone in front of the cell in which her husband was
confined to suckle her child, her beloved Isaac. When
this son was about nine years of age, in the year 1683,
Mr. Watts was again imprisoned, and driven after
wards into exile from his family. His son, in his
memoranda states : — " My father persecuted, and
imprisoned for Nonconformity six months, after that
forced to leave his family, and live privately in London
for two years." The trials of the parents made, as
may be conceived, a deep impression upon the mind
of the son ; the adversities of his early years were
remembered by him in after life, and doubtless
here originated that ardent attachment to civil and
religious liberty which marked his character, and
which led his muse to hail its establishment with
exultation when the dynasty of the tyrannical Stuarts
was driven from the throne.
During the time that Mr. Watts was exiled from
his family he wrote a long and most valuable letter of
pious counsels to his children, which appears to have
been done at the special request ofhis son Isaac. An
extract or two shall be presented to the reader, to show
the spirit of this devoted Nonconformist confessor : —
" My dear Children,— Though it hath pleased the
only wise God to suffer the malice of ungodly men,
the enemies of Jesus Christ, and my enemies for his
sake, to break out so far against me as to remove me
from you in my personal habitation, thereby at once
bereaving me of that comfort which I might have
hoped for in the enjoyment of my family in peace
and you of that education which my love as a father
and duty as a parent, required me to give ; yet such
are the longings of my soul for your good and
prosperity, especially in spiritual concernments, that

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 137
I remember you always with myself in my daily
addresses to the throne of grace. ... I charge you
frequently to read the Holy Scriptures, and that not
as a task or burden laid on you, but get your hearts
to delight in them. There are the only pleasant his
tories, which are certainly true and greatly profitable ;
there are abundance of precious promises made to
sinners such as you are by nature ; there are sweet
invitations and counsels of God and Christ to come in
and lay hold of them ; there are the choice heavenly
sayings and sermons of the Son of God, the blessed
prophets and apostles." He directs them to consider
their sinful and miserable state — to learn to know
God according to the discoveries he hath made of
himself — to remember him as their Creator and Bene
factor — to know that, as they must worship God, so
it must be in his own ways, according to the rules of
his gospel. " Entertain not in your hearts any of the
Popish doctrines of having more Mediators than one,
viz., the Lord Jesus." "Do not entertain any hard
thoughts of God and his ways, because his people
are persecuted for them." " Lastly, I charge you
to be dutiful and obedient to all your superiors,
to your grandfather and both grandmothers, and all
other relations and friends that are over you, but in
an especial manner to your mother, to whose care
and government God hath wholly committed you in
my absence, who, as I am sure, dearly loves you, so
she will command and direct you to her utmost ability,
in all ways for your good of soul and body."
On these points he enlarges with some fulness and
much affection.*
* " Life of Dr. Watts," by Milner, and " Records of the
Church at Southampton," by Atkins.

138 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
Section II.
BEMAEKABLE INTEBPOSITIONS ON THEIE BEHALE.
"There is a God that judgeth in the earth," and
that ruleth over the affairs of men. The providential
government of God, extending to the minutest con
cerns, and having a special regard to the interests of
his servants, was a truth firmly believed and realized
by the body of Nonconformist ministers. It was
under a full conviction of this truth that they cast
themselves on the care of God ; and they trusted that
he would superintend all their concerns.
They knew that in his consummate but inscrutable
wisdom he did frequently call his servants to pass
through- scenes of self-denial, painful trial, and suffer
ing in the path of duty. Yet they believed that he
often interposed on their behalf; that he did impart
special consolation in seasons of greatest trial ; and
that such a sacred, sanctifying influence was bestowed
as made great good to arise out of seeming evil. He
would " cause the wrath of man to praise him, and the
remainder he would restrain."
In accordance with these views, we find a number
of remarkable, well-authenticated facts, in the history
of the two thousand confessors, which indicate divine
interpositions in their favour, deliverances granted
supplies communicated, support and consolation
afforded. There were scenes of darkness which the
light of eternity only can dispel, yet there were
others irradiated with a light from above, while the
sufferers remained on earth.
We select a few instances of this nature and

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 139
bring them together in this part of our work, in order
to render them more full and impressive than when
they are found scattered in different places.
In the memoirs of the life of the eminent Philip
Henry we are informed that there were many worthy,
able ministers, in the part of the country where he
resided, turned out both from work and subsistence,
that had not such comfortable support for the life that
now is as Mr. Henry himself had, for whom he was
most affectionately concerned, and to whom he showed
kindness. There were computed, within a few miles
around him, so many ministers turned out to the
wide world, stripped of all their maintenance, and
exposed to continual hardships, as, with their wives
and children, having most of them numerous families,
made up above a hundred that lived upon Providence,
and though oft reduced to want and straits, were not
forsaken, but were enabled to "rejoice in the Lord,
and to joy in the God of their salvation " notwith
standing ; to whom the promise was fulfilled, " So
shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be
fed." Mr. Henry made the following observation not
long before he died, that though many of the ejected
ministers were brought very low, had many children,
were greatly harassed by persecution, and their
friends generally poor and unable to support them,
yet, in all his acquaintance, he never knew, nor could
remember to have heard of any Nonconformist minister
being in prison for debt.*
Comfort under a First Imprisonment.
In October, 1663, Mr. Henry, Mr. Steele, and
some other of their friends, were taken up and brought
* "Life of Philip Henry," by Sir J. B. Williams.

140 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
prisoners to Hanmer, under pretence of some plot
said to be on foot against the Government, and there
they were kept under confinement some days, on
which Mr. Henry writes, " It is sweet being in any
condition with a clear conscience. The sting of
death is sin, and so of imprisonment also. It is the
first time I was ever a prisoner, but, perhaps, may
not be the last. We felt no hardship, but we know
not what we may."
They were, after some days, examined by the
deputy-lieutenant, charged with they knew not
what, and so dismissed, finding verbal security to be
forthcoming whenever they should be called for.
Mr. Henry returned to his house with thanksgiving
to God, and a hearty prayer for his enemies, that
God would forgive them.
The very next day after they were released, a
great man in the country, at whose instigation they
were brought into that trouble, died, as was said, of
a drunken surfeit ; " so that a man shall say, verily,
there is a God that judgeth in the earth."
A Pleasing Discovery.
Mr. Peter Ince, ejected from the rectory of Dun-
head, in Wilts, after being silenced, clothed himself
in the dress of a shepherd, and engaged himself in
that capacity to a Mr. Grove, that in this way he
might obtain support for himself and his family.
But not long after the year 1662, the wife of Mr.
Grove, who was a gentlemen of great opulence, was
taken dangerously ill, and Mr. G. sent for the parish
minister to pray with her. When the messenger
came, he was just going out with the hounds, and
sent word that he would come when the hunt was over.

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 141
Mr. Grove expressed much resentment against
the minister, for choosing rather to follow his diver
sion than attend his wife, under the circumstances
in which she then -lay, when one ofthe servants said,
" Sir, our shepherd, if you will send for him, can pray
very well ; we have often heard him at prayer in the
field." Upon this he was immediately sent for, and
Mr. Grove asked him whether he ever did or could
pray. The shepherd fixed his eyes upon him, and,
with peculiar seriousness in his countenance, replied,
" God forbid, sir, I should live one day without
prayer." Hereupon he was desired to pray with the
sick lady, which he did so pertinently to her case,
with such fluency and fervency of devotion, as greatly
to astonish the husband and all the family that were
present. When they arose from their knees, Mr.
Grove said, "Your language and manner discover you
to be a very different person from what your present
appearance indicates. I conjure you to inform me
who and what you are, and what were your views
and situation in life before you came into my ser
vice." Whereupon he told him that he was one of
the ministers that had been lately ejected from the
Church, and that having nothing of his own left, he
was content, for a livelihood, to submit to the honest
and peaceful employment of tending sheep. Upon
hearing this, Mr. Grove said, " Then you shall be my
shepherd!" and immediately erected a meeting-house
on his own estate, in which Mr. Ince preached, and
gathered a congregation of Dissenters. He is said
to have been a good scholar, well skilled in the lan
guages, especially in the Hebrew, and a good prac
tical preacher. He had an admirable gift in prayer,
and would, in days of special prayer, pour forth his

142 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
soul with such spirituality, variety, fluency, and
affection, that he was called praying Ince.*
A whole family remarkably provided for.
Mr. David Anderson was ejected from the living
of Walton-upon-Thames. Being apprehensive of a
return to Popery in this country, soon after his eject
ment, he left England, and went with his wife and
five children into Zealand, and settled at Middleburgh.
Having no employment there, he soon consumed the
little money he had, owed a year's rent for his house,
and was reduced so low as to want bread. Such was
his modesty, that he knew not how to make his case
known in a strange country. In this condition, after
he had been one morning at prayer with his family,
his children asked for their breakfast ; but having
none, nor money to buy any, they all burst into tears.
Just then, the bell rang. Mrs. Anderson went to the
door, in a mean and mournful habit. A person asked
for the mistress, and on her telling him that she was
Mrs. A., gave her a paper, saying, " Here, a gentle
man has sent you this paper, and will send you in
some provision presently." On opening the paper,
they found forty pieces of gold in it. The messenger
went away without telling his name or whence he
came. Soon after, came a countryman with a horse-
load of provisions of all kinds ; but did not tell them,
nor did they know to their dying day, who it was
that so seasonably relieved them.
But Mr. John Quick, from whose memoirs this
account is taken, being, in the year 1681, pastor of the
English church at Middleburgh, came accidentally to
a knowledge of the whole matter. Being at the
* " Nonconformists' Memorial," by Palmer.

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 143
counting-house of one Mijn Heer de Koning, a
magistrate of that city, he happened to mention this
story. M. de Koning told him that he was the per
son that carried the gold from Mijn Heer de Hoste, a
pious merchant of that place, with whom he was then
an apprentice. He stated, that M. de Hoste, ob
serving a grave English minister walk the streets
frequently, with a dejected countenance, inquired pri
vately into his circumstances, and apprehending he
might be in want, sent him the gold and the pro
visions, saying, with great Christian tenderness, "God
forbid that any of Christ's ambassadors should be
strangers and we not visit them, or in distress and we
not assist them." But he expressly charged both his
servants to conceal his name. This relief, beside
present provision, enabled Mr. Anderson to pay his
debts. He could not help communicating this instance of
the goodness of God to his friends and acquaintance
in that city. This coming to the ear of M. de Hoste,
he afterwards found a secret way of paying Mr.
Anderson's rent for him yearly, and of conveying to
him, besides, ten pounds every quarter, which he
managed so that he never could or did know his
benefactor. M. de Koning kept the whole matter
secret as long as his master lived, but thought him
self at liberty to give this account of it after his
death. Mr. Anderson was, on the death of the minister,
appointed to the charge of the English Church at
Middleburgh, but he and his wife dying while their
children were young, M. de Hoste took great notice
of them, provided for their suitable training, and sub
sequent settlement in life. Thus did God remarkably

144 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE't662.
appear on behalf of his servant, and those that de
scended from him,
Supplies sent in time of need.
Mr. Henry Erskine, who had been minister at
Cornhill, in Northumberland, suffered much after his
ejectment, and had several remarkable interpositions
on his behalf. He resided for, a time at Dryburgh,
where he and his family were' often in great straits.
Once in particular, when the " cruse of oil and the
barrel of meal" were entirely spent, so that when they
had supped at night, there remained neither bread,
meal, flesh, nor money in the house. In the morning,
the young children crfed for their breakfast, and their
father endeavoured to divert them, and at the same
time did what he could to encourage himself and his
wife to depend upon that Providence which "feeds
the young ravens when they cry." While he was
thus engaged, a countryman knocked hard at the
door, and called for some one to help him off with his
load. Being asked from whence he came, and what
he would have, he told them he came from the Lady
Reburn, with some provisions for Mr. Erskine. They
told him he must be mistaken, and that it was most
likely to be for Mr. Erskine, of Shirfield, in the same
town. He replied, " No, he knew what he said ; he
was sent to Mr. Henry Erskine," and cried " Come,
help me off with my load, or else I will throw it down
at the door." Whereupon they took the sack from
him, and upon opening it, found it well filled with
flesh and meal, which gave him no small encourage
ment to depend upon his bountiful Benefactor in
future straits of a similar nature.
At another time, being at Edinburgh, he was so

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 145
reduced, that he had but three halfpence in his
pocket, when, as he was walking about the streets
not knowing what course to steer, one came to him
in a countryman's habit, and asked him if he was
not Mr. Henry Erskine. He told him he was, and
inquired his business with him. The man replied, " I
have a letter for you," which he accordingly delivered ;
and in it were enclosed seven Scotch ducatoons, with
these words written, " Sir, receive this from a sym
pathizing friend. Farewell." But there was no
name. Mr. Erskine being desirous to know his bene
factor, invited the man to go into a house hard by,
and to have some refreshment with him. Having
got him alone, he inquired of him with some earnest
ness, who it was that sent him. The honest man
told him that secrecy was enjoined upon him, and,
therefore, he desired to be excused from telling, for
he could not betray his trust. Mr. Erskine, how
ever continued to ask him some questions, as to what
part of the country he came from, that he might
better be able to guess from what hand this season
able relief came. Whereupon the man desired him
to sit awhile while he went out of doors ; but being
got out, he returned no more, nor could Mr. Erskine
ever learn who his benefactor was.
Another Remarkable Case.
In the life of Oliver Heywood, ejected from Caley,
in Yorkshire, the following interesting anecdotes are
related. Dr. Fawcett, who published an account of
Mr. Heywood, remarks, " The particular dates of
these events I am not able to ascertain with exact
ness, but the facts have been so strongly, so invariably, K

146 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
and constantly affirmed, by persons of undoubted
verity, some of whom I could name, and others who
have been long dead, that I have not the least reason
to doubt the truth of these facts."
Mr. Heywood being reduced to great straits after
the loss of his income, so that his children began to
be impatient for want of food, called his servant,
Martha, who would not desert the family in their
distress, and said to her, " Martha, take a basket, and
go to Halifax, call upon Mr. N  , a shopkeeper,
and desire him to lend me five shillings. If he is kind
enough to do it, buy such things as you know we
most want. The Lord give you good speed ; and in
the meantime, we will offer up our requests to Him
who " feedeth the young ravens when they cry."
Martha went, but when she came to the house her
heart failed her, and she passed by the door again and
again without going in to tell her errand. Mr. N  ,
standing at the shop door, called her to him, and
asked her if she was not Mr. Heywood's servant.
When she told him that she was, he said to her, " I
am glad to see you, as some friends have given me
five guineas for your master, and I was just thinking
how I could send it." Upon this she burst into tears,
and told him her errand. He was much' affected with
her story, and told her to come to him if the like
necessity should' return. Having procured the neces
sary provisions, she hastened back with them, when,
upon her entering the house, the children eagerly
examined the basket, and the father, hearing the
servant's narrative, smiled, and said, " The Lord hath
not forgotten to be gracious ; his word is true from
the beginning — they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing."

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 147
Another anecdote related of Mr. Heywood is this :
" When the spirit of persecution was so hot against
this good man that he was obliged to leave his family,
he set off on horseback one winter's morning before"
it was light, like Abraham, not knowing whither he
went, and without a farthing in his pocket. Having
committed himself to the care of Providence, he deter
mined at length to let his horse go which way he
would. Having gone all day without refreshment,
the horse, towards the evening, bent his course to a
farmhouse a little out of the road. Mr. Heywood,
calling at the door, a decent woman came, of whom
he requested, after a suitable apology, that she would
give him and his horse shelter for that night ; telling
her that he only wished for a little hay for his beast,
and liberty for himself to sit by the fireside. Upon
calling her husband they both kindly invited him in.
The mistress soon prepared something for him to eat,
at which he expressed his concern as he had no money
to make them any recompense, but hoped God would
reward them. They assured him that he was welcome,
and begged him to make himself easy. After some
time the master asked him what countryman he was.
He answered that he was born in Lancashire, but
had now a wife and children near Halifax. ' That is
a town,' said the farmer, ' where I have been, and
had some acquaintance.' After inquiring about seve
ral of them, he asked if he knew anything of one Mr.
Oliver Heywood, who had been a minister near Hali
fax, but was now, on some account, forbid to preach.
To which he replied, ' There is a great deal of noise
about that man ; some speak well, and some very ill
of him ; for my own part, I can say very little in his
favour.' 'I believe,' said the farmer, 'he is of that

148 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
sect which is everywhere spoken against ; but, pray,
what makes you form such an indifferent opinion of
him?' Mr. Heywood answered, 'I know something
of him, but as I do not choose to propagate an ill
report of any one, let us talk on some other subject.'
After keeping the farmer and his wife some time in
suspense, who were uneasy at what he had said, he at
length told them that he was the poor outcast after
whom they made such kind inquiries.
" All was then surprise, joy, and thankfulness, that
Providence had brought him under their roof. The
master of the house then said to him, ' I have a few
neighbours who love the gospel, if you will give us a
word of exhortation, I will run and acquaint them.
This is an obscure place, and as your coming hither
is not known, I hope we shall have no interruption.'
Mr. Heywood consented, and a small congregation
was gathered, to whom he preached with that fervour,
affection, and enlargement, which the singular cir
cumstances served to inspire. A small collection
was then voluntarily made, to help the poor traveller
on his way.'' Ingenious Contrivance.
Mr. Thomas Jollie, after his ejectment, preached
in his own house. To avoid being informed against
(for he was a man of prudence as well as zeal) he
adopted the following contrivance : — There being in
the common sitting-room a staircase with a door at
the bottom, he stood to preach on the second step ;
the door was cut in two, and while the lower part was
shut, the upper part, being fastened to the other by
hinges, would fall back on brackets, so as to form a
desk. To this was fixed a string, by which he could

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 149
easily draw it up on intelligence being given of the
approach of informers, by those who were appointed
as sentinels to give notice ; he then immediately went
up-stairs, so that when the informers entered they .
could not prove that he had been preaching, though
they found a number of persons in the room.
Providential Deliverances.
Mr. Henry Maurice, ejected from Stretton, in
Shropshire, was often waylaid by his enemies in order
to his apprehension, but was hid in "the hollow of
God's hand." His house was once searched for him
when he had been lately preaching, but his adversaries
could not discover the door of the closet in which he
was, adjoining to the room in which the meeting was
held. Another time a constable came into the room
where he was preaching, commanding him to desist,
when he, with an undaunted courage, charged him, in
the name of the great God, whose word he was preach
ing, to forbear molesting him, as he would answer it
at the great day. The man hereupon sat down and
trembled, heard him patiently till he Concluded, and
then departed. Mr. Maurice was taken but once,
and then he was bailed ; and upon appearance made,
was discharged by the favour of some gentlemen,
who were justices of the peace, and his friends and
relations. He was sometimes reduced to great straits whilst
he lived at Shrewsbury, but was often surprisingly
relieved. One time, when he had been very thought
ful, and was engaged in prayer with his family, suit
ing some petitions to their necessitous case, a carrier
knocked at the door, inquired for him, and delivered
to him a handful of money,, untold, as a present from

150 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
some friends; but would not tell who they were.
The same person also, another time, brought him a
bag of money very seasonably. His wife had an in
heritance of £40 per annum, which she had a right
to be possessed of soon after his leaving Stretton ;
but it was unjustly alienated for ten years. However,
she was cheerful, industrious in many employments,
and contented with the coarsest fare, being ambitious
only, if possible, to have the sureties' obligations dis
charged ; which, through the good providence of God
concurring with frugal management, was done, and
Mr. Maurice had the satisfaction to live to see it, but
died soon after.

V

A Persecuting Magistrate Outwitted.

The following circumstances, handed down by tra
dition, characteristic of the times, are related as hav
ing taken place when Mr. Baxter was residing for a
time in the city of Coventry.
Several of the ministers ejected by the Act of
Uniformity, who resided in this city, united with
Mr. Baxter in establishing a lecture in a private
house, on a neighbouring common, near the village of
Berksweil. The time of worship was, generally, a
very early hour. Mr. Baxter left Coventry in the
evening, intending to preach the lecture in the
morning. The night being dark, he lost his way, and after
wandering about a considerable time, he came to a
gentleman's house, where he asked for direction. The
servant who came to the door informed his master
that a person of very respectable appearance had lost
his way. The gentleman told the servant to invite

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 151
him in. Mr. Baxter readily complied, and met with
a very hospitable reception. His conversation was
such as to give his host an exalted idea of his good
sense and extensive information.
The gentleman wishing to know the quality of
his guest, said, after supper, " As most persons have
some employment or profession in life, I have no
doubt, sir, that you have yours." Mr. Baxter replied
with a smile, " Yes, sir, I am a man-catcher.'' " A
man-catcher," said the gentleman, " are you ? I am
very glad to hear you say so, for you are the very
person I want. I am a justice of the peace in this
district, and am commissioned to secure the person of
Dick Baxter, who is expected to preach at a conven
ticle in this neighbourhood, early to-morrow morning ;
you shall go with me, and, I doubt not, we shall easily
apprehend the rogue."
Mr. Baxter very prudently consented to accompany
him. Accordingly the gentleman, on the following
morning, took Mr. Baxter in his carriage to the place
where the meeting was to be held. When they
arrived at the spot, they saw a considerable number of
people hovering about, for, seeing the carriage of the
justice, and, suspecting his intentions, they were
afraid to enter the house. The justice, observing
this, said to Mr. Baxter, "I am afraid they have
obtained some information of my design. Baxter has
probably been apprised of it, and, therefore, will not
fulfil his engagement, for you see. the people will not
go into the house. I think, if we extend our ride a
little further, our departure may encourage them to
assemble, and on our return we may fulfil our com
mission." When they returned they found their
efforts useless, for the people still appeared unwilling

152 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
to assemble. The magistrate, thinking he should be
disappointed of the object he had in view, observed
to his companion, "that as the people were very much
disaffected to the Government, he would be much
obliged to him to address them on the subject of
loyalty and good behaviour." Mr. Baxter replied
"that perhaps this would not be deemed sufficient,
for as a religious, service was the object for which they
were met together, they would not be satisfied with
advice of that nature ; but if the magistrate would
begin with prayer, he would then endeavour to say
something to them." The gentleman replied, putting
his hand to his pocket, " Indeed, sir, I have not got
my Prayer-book with me, or I would readily comply
with your proposal. However, I am persuaded that
a person of your appearance and respectability would
be able to pray with them as well as talk to them.
I beg, therefore, that you will be so good as to begin
with prayer."
This being agreed to, they alighted from the
carriage, and entered the house, and the people, hesi
tating no longer, immediately followed them.
Mr. Baxter then commenced the service by prayer,
and prayed with that seriousness and fervour for
which he was so eminent. The magistrate standing
by was soon melted into tears. The good divine then
preached in his accustomed lively and zealous manner.
When he had concluded, he turned to the justice and
said, " I am the very Dick Baxter of whom you are
in pursuit. I am entirely at your disposal." The
magistrate, however, had felt so much during the
service, and saw things in so different a light, that he
entirely laid aside all his enmity to the Noncon
formists, and ever afterwards became their sincere

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 153
friend and advocate, and it is believed also a decided
Christian.* The Pev. John Sogers, with Justice Cradock and
his Granddaughter,
It has frequently been found that circumstances
that appear to be of a very trifling incidental nature
lead to results of very great moment and value, and
those results are sometimes brought to light in a
remarkable manner. These things will be regarded
by the reader as strikingly manifest in the following
incidents which occurred in the life of Mr. John
Rogers, who was ejected from the living of Oroglin,
in Cumberland : —
Sir Richard Cradock, who was a violent hater and
persecutor of the Dissenters, and who exerted himself
to enforce all the severe laws then in being against
them, happened to live near Mr. Rogers, to whom he
bore a particular enmity, and whom he wanted above
all things to have in his power. Hearing that he was
one day to preach some miles distant, he thought a
fair opportunity offered for accomplishing his base
design, and in order to it, directed two men to go as
spies, and take down the names of all the hearers
whom they knew, that they might appear as witnesses
against them, and against Mr. Rogers. The plan
seemed to succeed to his wishes. These men brought
him the names of several persons who were present
at the meeting, and he summoned such of them as he
had a particular spite against, together with Mr.
Rogers, to appear before him. Knowing the violence
of the man, they came with trembling hearts, expecting
to be treated with the utmost severity. While they
* "Independency in Warwickshire," by J. Sibree and M. Caston.

154 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
were waiting in the great hall, expecting to be called
upon, a little girl about six or seven years of age, who
was Sir Richard's granddaughter, happened to come
into the hall. She looked at Mr. Rogers, and was
much taken with his venerable appearance.
He being naturally fond of children, took her upon
his knee and caressed her, which occasioned her to
have a great fondness for him. At length Sir Richard
sent a servant to inform him and the rest, that one of
the witnesses being taken ill and unable to attend,
they must come again another day.
They accordingly came at the time appointed, and
being convicted, the justice ordered their mittimus to
be written, to send them all to prison. Mr. Rogers
expecting to see the little girl again, brought some
sweetmeats with him to give her. As soon as she saw
him, she came running to him, and appeared fonder
of him than before. The child was a particular
favourite of her grandfather, and had got such an
ascendancy over him, that he could deny her nothing ;
and she possessed such a violent spirit, that she could
bear no contradiction ; so that she was indulged in
everything she wanted. At one time, when she was
contradicted, she ran a penknife into her arm, to the
great danger of her life. This bad spirit in the
present instance, was overruled fqr good. Whilst
she was sitting on Mr. Rogers's knee, eating the
sweetmeats, she looked earnestly at him, and asked,
" What are you here for, sir ?" He answered, " I be
lieve your grandfather is going to send me and my
friends to jail." " To jail !" says she ; " why, what
have you done ?" " Why, I did nothing but preach
at such a place, and they did nothing but hear me."
" But," says she, " my grandpapa shan't send you

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 155
to jail." "Ay, but, my dear," he replied, "I be
lieve he is now making out our mittimus to send us
ail there." Upon this, she ran up to the chamber
where Sir Richard was, and knocked with her head
and heels till she got in, and said to him, " What are
you going to do with my good old gentleman in the
hall?" "That's nothing to you," said he, "get
about your business." " But I won't," she said, " he
tells me that you are going to send him and his friends
to jail ; and if you send them, I'll drown myself in
the pond as soon as they are gone ; I will, indeed."
When he saw the child thus peremptory, it shook his
resolution, and induced him to abandon his malicious
design. Taking the mittimus in his hand, he went
down into the hall, and thus addressed these good
men : " I had made out your mittimus to send you
all to jail, as you deserve, but at my grandchild's
request, I drop the prosecution, and set you all at
liberty." They all bowed, and thanked his worship ;
but Mr. Rogers, going to the child, laid his hand
upon her head, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, said,
" God bless you, my dear child. May the blessing of
that God whose cause you did now plead, though as yet
you know him not, be upon you, in life, at death, and
to all eternity." He and his friends then went away.
The above remarkable story was told by Mr.
Timothy Rogers, the son of the ejected minister, who
had frequently heard his father relate it with great
pleasure ; and the celebrated Mr. Thomas Bradbury
once heard it from him when he was dining at the
house of Mrs. Tooley, an eminent Christian lady, in
London, who was distinguished for her piety, and for
her love to Christ and his people, whose house and
table, like Lydia's, were always open to them.

156 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
What follows is yet more remarkable, as contain
ing a striking proof of the answer which was returned
to good Mr. Rogers's prayer for this child, and the
blessing which descended upon her who had been
the instrument of such a deliverance for these perse
cuted servants of God. Mrs. Tooley had listened
with uncommon attention to Mr. Rogers's story, and
when he had ended it, she asked him, " And are you
that Mr. Rogers's son?" He told her he was, upon
which she said, " Well, as long as I have been ac
quainted with you, I never knew that before ; and
now I will tell you something which you do not
know — I am the very girl your dear father blessed in
the manner you have related, and it made an impres
sion upon me which I could never forget." Upon this
double discovery, Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Tooley found
an additional tie of Christian affection, and then he
and Mr. Bradbury expressed a desire to know how
she, who had been brought up in an aversion to the
Dissenters, and to serious religion, now discovered
such an attachment to both. Upon which, she cheer
fully gave them the following narrative : —
After her grandfather's death, she became sole
heiress to his estate, which was considerable. Being
in the bloom of youth, and having none to control
her, she ran into all the fashionable diversions of the
age, without any restraint. But she confessed, that
when the pleasurable scenes were over, she found a
dissatisfaction both with them and herself, that always
struck a damp to her heart, which she did not know
how to get rid of any other way than by running
the same round over and over again ; but all was in
vain. Having contracted some slight illness, she thought

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 15.7
she would go to Bath, hearing that it was a place for
pleasure as well as health. When she came thither,
she was providentially led to consult an apothecary,
who was a very worthy and religious man. When he
inquired what ailed her, she answered, " Why, doctor,
I don't ail much as to my body, but I have an uneasy
mind, that I can't get rid of." " Truly, miss," said he,
" I was so, until I met with a certain book, and that
cured me." " Books," she said, " I get all the books
I can lay my hands on ; all the plays, novels, and
romances I hear of ; but, after I have read them, my
uneasiness is the same." " That may be, miss," he
replied, " and I don't wonder at it. But as to this
book I speak of, I can say of it what I can say of no
other I ever read, that I never tire in reading it,
but can begin to read it again as if I had never read
it before; and I always see something new in it."
"Pray, doctor," says she, "what book is that?"
"Nay, miss," said he, "that's a secret I don't tell
every one." "But could I not get a sight of that
book ? " she inquired. " Yes," he said, " if you
speak me fair, I can help you to a sight of it."
"Pray then get it me, doctor, and I will give you
anything you please." " Yes," said he, " if you will
promise me one thing, I will bring it to you; and
that is, that you will read it over carefully, and that
if you should not see much in it at first, that you will
give it a second reading." She promised faithfully
that she would. After coming two or three times
without it, to raise her curiosity, he at last took it
out of his pocket and gave it her. The book was
the New Testament. When she looked at it, she said
with a flirt, "Poh! I could get that at any time."
" Why, miss," said he, " so you might ; but remem-

158 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
ber, I have your solemn promise carefully to read it."
"Well," she said, "though I never read it before,
I'll give it a reading." Accordingly, she began to
read it, and it soon attracted her attention. She saw
something in it wherein she had a deep concern ; but
her mind now became ten times more uneasy than
ever. Not knowing what to do, she soon returned to
London, resolved to try again what the diversions there
would do to dissipate her gloom. But nothing of
this kind answered her purpose. She lodged at the
Court end of the town, where she had with her a
female companion. One Saturday night she had a
remarkable dream, which was, that she was in a. place
of worship, where she heard a sermon ; but when she
awoke, she could remember nothing but the text.
This dream, however, made a deep impression upon
her mind ; and the idea she had of the place, and of
the minister's person, was as strong as if she had
been long acquainted with both. On the Lord's-day
morning, she told her dream to her companion, and
said that, after breakfast, she was resolved to go in
quest of the place, though she should go from one
end of London to the other.
They accordingly set out, and went into several
churches as they passed along, but none of them
answered to what she saw in her dream. About one
o'clock she found herself in the heart of the City,
where they dined, and then set out again in search of
this place of worship. Being in the Poultry, about
half an hour after two o'clock, they saw a great num
ber of people going down the Old Jewry, and she
determined to see where they went. She mingled
with the company, and they conducted her to the

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 159
meeting-house in the Old Jewry, where Mr. Shower
was then minister. As soon as she entered the door
and surveyed the place, she turned to her companion
and said, with some surprise, " This is the very place
I saw in my dream." It was not long before she saw
Mr. Shower go up into the pulpit, and looking at him,
with greater surprise, she said, " This is the very man
I saw in my dream ; and if every part of it hold true,
he will take for his text Psalm cxvi. 7, ' Return unto
thy rest, 0 my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bounti
fully with thee.' " When he rose up to pray, she was
all attention, and every sentence went to her heart.
Having finished his prayer, he took that very passage
which she had mentioned, for his text ; and God was
pleased to make the discourse founded upon it the
means of her saving conversion. And thus she at
last found, what she had so long sought elsewhere in
vain — rest to her soul. And now she obtained that
blessing from God, which pious Mr. Rogers, so many
years before, had so solemnly and fervently implored
on her behalf.*

Section III.
ADVEESAEIES EEBUEED.

It was a sentiment entertained by many of the
worthies to whose memory we devote these pages,
that there were frequent indications of the righteous
* Wilson's "History of Dissenting Churches in London."

160 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
government of God over man in this world, by the
rebukes given in the course of his providence to sin
ners who were acting in opposition to him, and who
were oppressing and persecuting his servants. While
they had a deep conviction that the full retributions
were reserved for the future — the eternal state — and
while they saw, in a great number of cases, that the
righteous were depressed and the wicked triumphed, so
that they must look to the final issue to see the whole
cleared up, yet they believed that there were some
instances of righteous retribution in the present world
to remind men of the great Ruler, and of his righteous
judgment. A few cases illustrative of this we must
present to the reader, or our account would be defec
tive of the men and the times in which they lived.
A Pemarkable Case, well attested.
Mr. Joseph Sherwood, after his ejectment from a
vicarage in Cornwall, went to the parish church where
he was residing, on a certain Lord's-day, and being
informed by the churchwarden, who was his friend,
that there would be no sermon, after the reading of
the prayers, went up into the pulpit and prayed, and
preached from these words, " I will avenge the quarrel
of my covenant." The rumour of this was soon spread
abroad, but such was the people's affection for Mr. S.
that, though there was a crowded congregation in a
great church, his enemies could not get any one to
give information against him, till, by art, they got an
acknowledgment from his friend the churchwarden,
and then by threats frightened him into a formal in
formation. He was then taken to a petty session of
justices, where one Mr. Robinson sat as chairman

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 161
who greatly reviled Mr. S., and called him rebel, etc.,
which he bore patiently, with this reply, " That as
he was a minister of the gospel, and at the church
where there was so great an assembly, he could not
but have compassion on the multitude, and give them
a word of exhortation." Mr. R. said, "But did ever
man preach from such a rebellious text?" "Sir,"
replied Mr. S., " I know man is a rebel against his
Creator, but I never knew that the Creator could be
a rebel against his creature." Mr. R. cried out,
" Write his mittimus for Launceston jail ;" and then
turning to Mr. S., said, " I say, sir, it was a rebel
lious text." Mr. S. looked him full in the face, and
addressed him in these words, " Sir, if you die the
common death of all men, God never spake by me."
He was sent to prison, where he found favour with the
keeper, and had liberty to walk about the castle and
town. Mr. R. returned home, and a few days after,
walking in the fields, a bull, that had been very tame,
came up to a gate where he stood, and his maid before
him, who had been milking, and turning her aside
with his horns, ran directly upon Mr. R. and tore
out his bowels. This strange providence brought to
mind what had passed at the sessions. A short time
after this, Mr. S. getting leave to return home, was
sent for to Penzance, where some justices met. He
immediately went, though he expected no other than
to be sent back to jail; but when he came there,
Mr. Godolphin came out, and took him into another
room, and said, " Sir, I sent for you to know how you
came to express yourself in such a manner when we
committed you ; you know, sir, what has since be
fallen Mr. R.," etc. Mr. S. replied, " Sir, I was far
from bearing any malice against Mr. R., and can give

162 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
no other answer than that, when we are called before
rulers for his name's sake whom we serve, it shall be
given us in that very hour what we shall say." To
which Mr. G. replied, " Well, sir, for your sake, I
will never more have a hand in prosecuting Dis
senters." And he was as good as his word. This
extraordinary story is well attested.*
The Language of Reproach Silenced.
Mr. John Norman was ejected from Bridgewater,
in Somersetshire. About sixteen months after his
ejectment, he was sent, with several other Noncon
formist ministers, to the county jail, and there made
a close prisoner, for preaching to his people in private.
He appeared as a prisoner at the bar before Judge
Foster, 1663, and though he was a man of a very
respectable appearance and address, the judge han
dled him very roughly. " Sirrah," said he, " do you
preach ?" " Yes, my lord," said Mr. Norman. "And
why so, sirrah ?" " Because I was ordained to preach
the gospel." " How were you ordained ?" " In the
same manner as Timothy." "And how was that?"
" By the laying on of the hands of the Presby
tery." Which answer the judge repeated over and
over again, appearing to be a good deal struck with
it. Yet he sentenced him to pay a £100 fine, and to
lie in prison until it was paid. He continued a
prisoner for above a year and a-half, till Baron Hale,
going that circuit, took notice of him, and found out
a way to compound the fine at sixpence in the pound.
When the judge handled Mr. Norman so roughly
he, with great gravity, told him, that a liberal educa
tion at the University, and the holy calling of the
ministry, not stained with any unworthy actions
* " Nonconformists' Memorial," by Palmer.

EACTS AND ANECDOTES. 163
merited good words from his lordship, and better
usage from the world. The judge seemed the more
inflamed, and the more bent upon pouring on him all
possible contempt. Mr. N. then said, " Sir, you
must ere long appear before a greater Judge, to give
an account of your own actions ; and for your railing
at me, the servant of that great Judge." As Mr.
Norman was going to Ilehester jail, the officers passed
by the sheriff's house, and would by all means call
there. The high sheriff's lady began to upbraid
Mr. Norman, and after other words, said, " Where
is your God, now, that suffers you to be carried to
prison ?" Mr. N. asked if she had a Bible in the
house ? " Yes," said she, " we are not so heathenish
as to be without a Bible." He being importunate
for one, a Bible was at last brought, and he read
Micah vii. 8 — 10. The lady was struck with the
words, and immediately retired ; and the dealings of
God with the family, not long after, made this to be
remembered. A Persecutor Discouraged.
The author of the " Conformists' Plea " relates a
remarkable story, in which he was concerned, which
is as follows : —
Some soldiers came one Lord's-day, in April, 1682,
to break up a meeting, and to take Mr. Browning, of
Rowell, in Northamptonshire.
The constable admonished them to be very careful
of what they did : " For," said he, " when Sir 
was alive, he eagerly prosecuted these meetings, and
engaged eight soldiers of the country troop therein,
whereof myself was one. Sir  himself is dead ;
six of the eight soldiers are dead ; some of them were

164 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
hanged, and some of them broke their necks ; and I
myself fell off my horse and broke my collar-bone,
in the act of prosecuting them, and it cost me thirty
shillings to be cured. It hath given me such warning,
that, for my part, I am resolved I will never meddle
with them any more."
This story he repeated several times that day,
which shows how readily conscience, when a little
awakened, construes the Divine providences to be acts
of judgment and admonitions to them.*
A Fatal Duel.
A person of considerable wealth, who had a place
in the Bishop's Court, and was much prejudiced
against the Dissenters, had procured a -writ of excom
munication against a Mr. Ward, who was a very faith
ful minister of Christ. Upon this, some Christians
met at his house on purpose to pray with him, and
to beg of God that he would deliver their minister.
The very next Lord's-day this angry gentleman was
killed in a duel, by an intimate friend of his, whom
he had challenged, and who was very unwilling to
accept the challenge. By this unexpected and unde-
sired means, Mr. Ward was for a good while free from
disturbance. A Smart Repartee.
Mr. Oddy was a fellow in Cambridge University,
and had the living of Meldred, in Cambridgeshire,
but lost both by his Nonconformity. He preached
after this very extensively about the country, and
was much followed, persons travelling twenty miles
to hear him, so that he was sometimes constrained to
preach in the open fields, on which account he was
* " Memorials of Independent Churches, Northamptonshire."

FACTS AND ANECDOTES. 165
frequently imprisoned, and was once confined five
years together. After he was released from prison,
he was met by one of the wits of Cambridge, who, in
an insulting manner, thus addressed him —
" Good day, Mr. Oddy,
Pray how fares your body ;
Methinks you look damnably thin ?"
Mr. Oddy immediately replied :
" That, sir's, your mistake,
'Tis for righteousness' sake j
Damnation's the fruit of your sin." *
* " Nonconformists' Memorial," by Palmer. *

166 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.

CHAPTER V.
EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING.
Theee was, no doubt, a great diversity in the circum
stances of those who were ejected from the Church
on Bartholomew-day, 1662 ; there would be some de
scending from high places, and some coming out from
lower stations. So, also, there would be great diver
sity in their attainments, and the talents with which
they were endowed. In such a number there must be
variety, and that, to a considerable degree would be
manifest, as to their general learning, their acquaint
ance with theology, their preaching ability, general
usefulness, and spiritual excellence.
But times of peculiar trial have generally been
testing times to the servants of God, and have tended
to show more fully the reality and value of their prin
ciples, and greatly to improve their spirit and charac
ter ; so that, during such periods in the history of the
Church, we find a greater number in proportion who '
make high attainments in the divine life, and who
employ the powers they have with the greatest vigour
to the most valuable purposes.
Their sufferings at such seasons are the means of
leading them to examine very minutely into the sound
ness of their principles, and of bringing them to live
more upon them, and to realize their sustaining
power. They come nearer to the great Source of
light and life, holding more intimate communion with
their God and Saviour; they enter more fully into

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 167
the grand and peculiar discoveries of the gospel of
Christ, and form the highest estimate of their value
to themselves and others. Amidst the trials of earth,
and the uncertainties of time, they keep in view the
glories of heaven, the grandeurs of eternity. In sup
port of this latter statement, we might ask — where
have we anything, in these days of peace, relating to
the glory of the Christian's prospects, to be compared
with Howe's " Blessedness of the Righteous," and
Baxter's " Saint's Everlasting Rest ?" They lived as
in the presence, and under the powerful influence, of
the things which they describe.
We do not claim for all the Nonconformist minis
ters the high attainments to which we refer, but, the
spirit of vital Christianity was manifested by a large
number of these noble confessors. The power of their
preaching was connected with the depth and eleva
tion of their piety. We shall present a few illustra
tions of the former, which will show the prevalence of
the latter.
" There was one of their number, the sight of
whom in the pulpit, and of the crowd about him, as
they hung upon his lips in the days previous to his
ejectment, it must have been worth going far to see.
In the pulpit stands the man of God. The book, rich
in the idiom of our mother-tongue, and richer still in
its heavenly treasure, is open before him. The cap
which forms the sable line across the summit of the
forehead, only serves to place the fine intellectuality
of the space beneath in greater prominence. The
mingled force and tenderness of those dark eyes cornea
forth in beautiful keeping with the brow that covers
them, and with the curvature of those lips, so fraught
with sensibility, while in so little sympathy with the

168 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
animal nature, and in such near affinity with the in
tellectual. Over the expression, the complexion, the
whole cast of that countenance, you see the signs of
feeling and of thought — of feeling ever active, of
thought ever intent upon its labour.
" From the shoulders downward fails the drapery
of the college robe, worn with no superstitious or vain
intent, but as a seemly vestment sufficing to distin
guish between the teacher and the taught, and suf
ficing also to bespeak that in religion there is still a
use of authority as well as an abuse of it.
" On every hand, and off to the walls and door
ways, you see gathered men, and women, and chil
dren, of all grades, embracing minds of various adjust
ment, power, and culture, and all moulded into a
greater variety still by the various pressure of those
memorable times. But as the preacher proceeds, you
find that he knows them all — their coming in and
their going out.
" So much skill has come to him from long prac
tice, that the most learned and acute may not readily
evade him. The busy and the worldly soon become
aware that their working-day kind of life has been his
study. The most obscure are made to feel that his
benevolent thought has penetrated into their lot also ;
and even the young children, as they look up here
and there from the family groups around, learn, with
a mixture of surprise and fear, that the preacher has
been careful to watch the budding thought and feeling
even in children; while upon them all you see his
words distil like the dew — words which breathe the
mercy of the Cross, and point, as with a power from
heaven, to the visions of hope and blessedness which
that Cross has revealed to the children of mortality.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 169
What wonder if you see every eye intent on such a
preacher, every ear open to him, every countenance
sending forth the signs of a deep interest, and every
heart vibrating beneath the touch of thoughts so de
vout, of devotion so heaven-born. In him they see
the purified nature of the saint, without the perverted
nature of the ascetic. He is an ambassador from
God, but he is one with man. His devotion is im
passioned, celestial ; but it is a devotion which has
given a new tenderness and force to every feeling of
humanity, to every social affection. His preaching
points to heaven, but his sympathies identify him with
everything in the allotment of humanity on earth,
and all that he might become thus potent in leading
men to heaven.
" Such in the pulpit was Richard Baxter, and
such in no mean degree, according to the testimony
of Baxter, were many, very many, of the Puritan
preachers in the seventeenth century."*
Having glanced at the renowned preacher of Kid
derminster, let us now go look at one who filled the
pulpit at Dartmouth — not equal to Baxter in power,
point, and pathos, but distinguished by his deep and
fervid piety, his attainments in the spirit and prac
tice of devotion, his acquaintance with evangelical
truth, and the Scriptural fulness and fidelity of his
preaching. Dartmouth was favoured for many years with the
ministry of John Flavel. On one occasion he is
preaching from those words of the apostle : " If any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be ana
thema maranatha." The discourse becomes unusually
solemn, especially the explanation of the closing
* " Modern Pulpit," by Dr. Vaughan, p. 81.

170 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
words — Cursed with a curse — cursed of God with a
bitter and grievous curse ! At the conclusion of the
service, when Mr. Flavel rose to pronounce the bene
diction, he paused, and said, " How shall I bless this
whole assembly, when every person in it who loveth
not the Lord Jesus Christ is anathema maranatha ?"
The solemnity of this address deeply affected the
audience, and one gentleman, a person of rank, was
so overcome by his feelings, that he fell senseless to
the floor.
In the congregation was a lad named Luke Short,
then about fifteen years of age, and a native of Dart
mouth. Shortly after the event thus narrated, he
entered into the seafaring line, and sailed to America,
where he passed the rest of his life. Mr. Short's life
was lengthened much beyond the usual term. When
a hundred years old he had sufficient strength to
work on his farm, and his mental faculties were very
little impaired. Hitherto he had lived in carelessness
and sin. He was now " a sinner a hundred years
old," and apparently ready to die accursed. But one
day, as he was in his field, he busied himself in re
flecting on his past life. Recurring to the events of
his youth, his memory fixed on Mr. Flavel's discourse
above alluded to, a considerable part of which he was
able to recollect. The affectionate earnestness of the
preacher's manner, the important truths he delivered,
and the effects produced on the congregation, were
brought fresh to his mind. The blessing of God
accompanied his meditations ; he felt that he had not
loved the Lord Jesus Christ ; he feared the dreadful
anathema ; conviction was followed by repentance ;
and at length this aged sinner obtained peace through
the blood of atonement, and was found in the way of

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 171
righteousness. He joined the Congregational church
in Middleborough, and, to the day of his death, which
took place in his 116th year, gave pleasing evidence
of piety. In this case, eighty-five years passed away after
the seed was sown before it sprang up and brought
forth fruit. What an encouragement to the dejected
and sorrowing minister to hope, that, though his
labours appear to be productive comparatively of
little benefit, yet the fruit of his toil, his prayers, and
his tears, will ultimately appear.*
Mr. Thomas Vincent, in the Time ofthe Plague.
There are times which present special calls for
heroic deeds in the Church, as well as in the world.
Such a time there was, when the great plague was
raging in London, in the year 1665.
Many of the City clergy then deserted their flocks
to escape the infection, and some of the. ejected
ministers, as we have seen, went and occupied the
vacant pulpits, and stood between the living and the
dead, until the plague was stayed. One of the most
remarkable and useful cases of this kind was that of
Mr. Thomas Vincent. He had been ejected from the
living of Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, London, and
was at this time assistant to Mr. Doolittle.
When he found that the plague was extending its
ravages in the City, he acquainted his fellow-labourer
with his design to leave his present employment for a
time, and devote himself to the service of the afflicted
citizens, in the season of their distress. Mr. Doo
little having endeavoured to dissuade him, but with-
* "Life of Plavel."

172 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
out success, it was agreed to consult the most eminent
ministers in the neighbourhood. After Mr. Doolittle's
reasons had been heard, Mr. Vincent acquainted his
brethren, that he had very seriously considered the
matter before he had come to such a resolution. He
had carefully examined the state of his own soul, and
could look death in the face with comfort. He
thought it absolutely necessary that such vast num
bers of dying people should have some spiritual
assistance. He could have no prospect of usefulness
in the exercise of his ministry through his whole life,
like that which now offered itself. He had often
committed the case and himself to God in prayer ;
and, upon the whole, had solemnly devoted himself to
the service of God and souls upon this occasion, and
therefore hoped none of them would endeavour to
weaken his hands in the work.
When the ministers present had heard his reasons,
they unanimously expressed their satisfaction and
joy, and their persuasion that the matter was of God,
and concurred in their prayers for his protection and
success. He went out to this work with the greatest
firmness and magnanimity. He constantly preached
every Lord's-day, through the whole visitation, in
some parish church. His subjects were the most
moving and important, and his management of them
the most pathetic and searching. The awfulness of
the judgment, obvious on every hand of them, gave a
peculiar edge to the, preacher and his auditors. Mul
titudes followed him wherever he went, and some
were awakened by every sermon. He visited all that
sent for him without fear, and did the best he could
for them in their extremity, especially to save their
souls from death.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 173
The historians of Dissent well remark : " The world
has its heroes, whom it holds up to universal admi
ration in the page of history. Here the Church of
Christ presents to us one of hers. The world calls
us particularly to admire them, as they advance to
some arduous enterprise, where perils and death stare
them in the face, but advancing with tranquillity of
mind, with firmness of step, and determined either
to conquer or to die. But which of them can be
compared to this man ? He sees the inhabitants of a
city, from which he had been cast out as unworthy of
the name of a minister of Christ, dying by the pesti
lence, which was augmenting its destructive fury day
by day, and he cannot be restrained from rushing into
the midst of them, to rescue their immortal souls
from miseries infinitely greater. He hastens into
churches from which he was driven out, and pro
claims to listening thousands the glad tidings of salva
tion in pulpits, for entering which the law of the land
dooms him to a dungeon ; but a stronger law, the
law of love to God and man, constrains him to pub
lish the mercy of the gospel to souls on the very
brink of eternity. He goes into the house of pesti
lence, and the chambers of mortal disease, wherever
the voice of misery invites him. His exhortations,
his counsels, and his prayers are ever at their call,
and they ever flow from a compassionate heart, ten
derly sympathizing in their distress, and burning with
zeal for their salvation. Great was the success of
his labours ; and during the plague a harvest of souls
was reaped, exceeding what results from the painful
exertions of many a faithful minister, during a long
life of zeal and effort."
Facts like these are the glory and beauty of

174 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
ecclesiastical history. As long as Christ has a church
on earth, and disciples animated with zeal for the
glory of his name, Thomas Vincent will live ; and let
him have a distinguished niche in the "Temple of
God."* Some other ministers, as before related, engaged
with Vincent in this arduous work. Large churches
were crowded to suffocation, as he and his brethren
preached the gospel. The imagination readily re
stores the time-worn Gothic structure in the narrow
street ; the people coming along in groups ; the
crowded church-doors and the broad aisles, as well as
the oaken pews and benches filled with one dense
mass ; the anxious countenances looking up to the
pulpit ; the Puritan divine in his plain black gown
and cap ; the reading of the Scriptures ; the solemn
prayer; the sermon, quaint, indeed, but full of point
and earnestness, and possessing that prime quality,
adaptation ; the thrilling appeals at the close of each
division of the discourse ; the breathless silence,
broken now and then by half-suppressed sobs and
supplications ; the hymn swelling in dirge-like notes,
and the benediction, which each would regard as a
dismissal for eternity, for who but must have felt his
exposure to the infection while sitting amidst that
promiscuous audience.
Vincent remarks, that every sermon was unto
them as if they were preaching their last. Old
Time seemed to stand at the head of the pulpit
with his great scythe, saying, with a hoarse voice,
"Work while it is called to-day, at night I will
mow thee down." Grim Death seemed to stand at
the side of the pulpit with his sharp arrow, say-
* " History of Dissenters," by Bogue and Bennet.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEEUL PBEACHING. 175
ing, " Do thou shoot God's arrows, and I will shoot
mine." So far as their health was concerned, the prudence
of the people* who congregated together in such
crowds at such a season has been often and fairly
questioned, and it may be admitted that the dis
courses were not always characterized by as much
judgment as could have been wished ; yet who that
looks at the imminent spiritual danger in which
multitudes were placed, but must commend the reli
gious concern that they manifested ; and who that
takes into account the peculiar circumstances of the
preachers, labouring without emolument, at the ha
zard of their lives, but must applaud their apostolic
zeal ? Nor can it be denied, with the records of that
period before us, that, making allowance for much
excitement which soon passed away, there remained
effects of the most blessed kind, resulting from the
labours of these men of God.*
Thus were many of these ministers of Christ in
stant in season and out of season, ready to embrace
any opportunities for usefulness in the work of the
Lord ; and their services proved highly acceptable to
the people, and were greatly blessed.
Mr. Thomas Doolittle's Services.
We would now request our readers to go with us
to a meeting-house in Monkwell Street, London, where
preached and catechized Mr. Thomas Doolittle. First
let us notice one of his catechetical exercises. He
has before him a number of youths, and other persons
who have arrived at adult age. They are attentive
* " Spiritual Heroes," by Stoughton.

176 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
and thoughtful, as their minister is leading them
through some parts of the " Assembly's Catechism."
On this occasion he comes to the question, " What is
effectual calling ?" The answer is given in the words
of the catechism : — " Effectual calling is the work of
God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and
misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of
Christ, and renewing our will, doth persuade and
enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to
us in the gospel." The minister further explains the
points and presses their importance, and then proposes
that the answer shall be repeated again, and that the
words us and our should be changed into me and my,
thus making it a matter of personal experience. Upon
this proposal a solemn silence followed. Many felt
its importance, but no one for a time had courage to
answer. But at length a young man, about twenty-
eight years of age, rose up, and with a humble spirit,
in a tremulous voice, said, " Effectual calling is the
work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing me of my
sin and misery, enlightening my mind in the know
ledge of Christ, and renewing my will, did persuade
and enable me to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered
to me in the gospel." The scene was truly affecting.
The proposal of the question had commanded unusual
solemnity. The rising up of the young man had
created high expectations ; and the answer being ac
companied with proofs of unfeigned piety and modesty,
the congregation were bathed in tears. This young
man had been converted by the divine blessing on
these means, " and to his honour," Mr. Doolittle says,
" of an ignorant and wicked youth, he had become a
knowing and serious professor, to God's glory and my
great comfort."

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 177
We must introduce the reader to another scene, of
a rather remarkable nature, in the same meeting-house,
which is said to be strongly characteristic ofthe Non
conforming ministers of that age. Mr. Doolittle was
engaged in the usual service on a certain occasion,
when, after he had finished his prayer, looking round
upon the congregation, he observed a young man just
seated in one of the pews, and he seemed to discover
much uneasiness in that situation, as if he wished to
go out again. Mr. Doolittle, feeling a peculiar desire
to detain him, hit upon the following expedient.
When he rose to preach, turning towards one of the
members of his church who sat in the gallery, he
asked him the question aloud, " Brother, do you repent
of your coming to Christ ?" " No, sir," he replied,
" I never was happy till then. I only repent that I
did not come to him sooner." Mr. Doolittle then
turned to the opposite gallery, and addressed himself
to an aged member in the same manner, " Brother,
do you repent that you came to Christ ?" " No, sir,"
said he, " I have known the Lord from my youth up."
He then looked down upon the young man, whose
attention was fully engaged, and fixing his eyes upon
him, said, " Young mau, are you willing to come to
Christ ?" This unexpected address from the pulpit,
exciting the observation of all the people, so affected
him that he sat down and hid his face. The person
who sat next him encouraged him to rise and answer
the question. Mr. Doolittle repeated it, " Young
man, are you willing to come to Christ ?" With a
tremulous voice he replied, " Yes, sir." " But when,
sir ?" added the minister, in a solemn and loud tone.
He mildly answered, " Now, sir." " Then stay,"
said he, " and hear the word of the Lord, which
M

178 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
you will find in 2 Cor. vi. 2, 'Behold! now is
the accepted time. Behold ! now is the day of salva
tion.' "
By this sermon God touched the heart of the
young man. He came into the vestry after the ser
vice, dissolved in tears.
That unwillingness to stay which he had discovered
was occasioned by the strict injunction of his father,
who threatened that if he ever went to hear the
fanatics, be would turn him out of doors. Having
now heard, and being unable to conceal the feelings of
his mind, he was afraid to meet his father. Mr. Doo
little sat down and wrote an affectionate letter to him,
which had so good an effect that both father and
mother came to hear for themselves. The Lord gra
ciously met with them both, and father, mother, and
son were together received with universal joy into
that church.*
In the year 1693, Mr. Doolittle published a series
of sermons on " Love to Christ necessary to escape
the curse at his coming," when a similar scene was
presented to that which occurred under Mr. Flavel's
preaching, when he had been discoursing on the same
subject. In that little volume Mr. D. informs us, that
after he had been faithfully applying the whole, and
setting forth the meaning of the solemn curse in the
last sermon from the text, the psalm having been sung,
all the people, as is usual, stood up. "I kept my
seat," he observes, " longer than ordinarily I was wont,
which caused their eyes to be the more towards me.
Then I stood up and said, Why stand ye gazing?
Why are your eyes so intent upon me ? What can I
* Wilson's " History of Dissenting Churches in London."

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 179
say more ? What more do ye expect ? The bless
ing ? What, all of you ? What, whether ye love
Christ or not ? Alas ! if God curse, how can I bless ?
I have day after day set life and death, the blessing
and the curse before you, and must it not be with you
according to your own choice ? If ye will be blest
indeed, ye must love Christ. If ye will not love
Christ, the curse aud not the blessing waiteth for
you, though you here wait for the blessing. If ye
would not go without the pronouncing of this bless
ing from hence to your homes, love Christ. Oh! love
Christ. Oh ! at least be persuaded to love Christ,
that ye may not go from Christ's bar to the flames
of hell without his blessing, for ever. I have done for
this time and text when I have repeated the words of
the text, ' If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be anathema maranatha,' and let all the people
that dare, lest they should wish a curse upon them
selves, say Amen. And for you that have set your
hearts on Christ Jesus, all that I beg from the Father
of mercies is, grace be with all them that love the
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and let all the people
say Amen." .... " What lively countenances, what
affections, what tears and crying," he observes, " with
the Spirit's working, were caused, do not expect that
I should tell." *
John Howe Leaving for Ireland.
An incident that occurred in the life and ministry
of the great and good John Howe may be suitably
introduced here.
In the year 1671, being reduced to straits, Mr.
* Doolittle's " Sermons on Love to Christ."

180 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
Howe accepted an invitation to become domestic
chaplain to Lord Massarene, of Antrim Castle, Ire
land. He embarked at some port in Wales, which
Calamy conjectures to be Holyhead. While wait
ing at this place for a fair wind, a circumstance
occurred, which showed both his anxiety to avail
himself of every opportunity of doing good, and the
instructive and impressive nature of his preaching. It
appears that he was detained at Holyhead for more
than a week. On the Sabbath, he was, of course,
anxious, if not to preach, at least to hear the gospel ;
but, unhappily, though there was a large parish church,
there was no preaching, it being the practice of the
clergyman only to read prayers. As the party, who,
like Howe, were waiting for a fair wind, was nume
rous, they were anxious to find some secluded spot in
which he might preach to them. While they were
seeking some such spot on the sea-shore, they met
two persons on horseback, riding towards the town,
who proved to be parson and clerk. One of the party
accosted the latter, and asked him whether his master
would preaeh that day. " My master," replied the
clerk, "is only accustomed to read prayers." He
then asked whether the clergyman would have any
objection to allow a minister who was tarrying in the
town, waiting to embark for Ireland, to occupy his
pulpit for that day. He replied, " that he believed
his master would willingly comply with such a pro
posal." Upon this, the proposal was made, and the
clergyman, much to his credit, instantly acceded to it.
Howe accordingly preached twice in the parish church
that day. In the afternoon, the congregation was
very large, very attentive, and apparently deeply
affected.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEEUL PBEACHING. 181
The wind continuing contrary all the next week,
and the people having heard of Howe's destination,
and observing that the vessel had not left the port,
thronged the church on the Sabbath morning, in ex
pectation of again hearing the stranger, who had
preached in style so impressive, and, to them, so novel.
The clergyman, who had quite forgotten the whole
matter, and had doubtless only expected the usual
scanty attendance of hearers to accompany him in the
usual frigid service, was confounded at this prodigious
concourse of people. Totally unprovided himself to
meet the exigency, he hastily despatched his clerk to
implore Howe's assistance, declaring that if he would
not come he knew not what to do, for that the coun
try had come in for several miles round, in the hope
of hearing him. The messenger found Howe, who had
been much indisposed, in bed. On his being told the
cause of this strange summons, he was at first in doubt
whether he ought to venture ; but, reflecting that he
knew not how much good might be done by his efforts
amongst a people who seemed desirous to hear the
Word of God, in proportion to the rarity of their
opportunities to hear it, he resolved to risk it. He
afterwards declared, " that he had seldom preached
with more fervour and energy, and never saw a con
gregation more attentive or devout." He at the same
time added, " If my ministry was ever of any use, I
think it must be then." A few days after he set sail
for Ireland.* Howe and Tillotson.
A beautiful instance may here be recorded, as illus
trating the influence which Howe could exert, with
* " Life of John Howe," by Rogers.

182 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
the excellent spirit that he would manifest. In the
year 1680, when great fears were entertained about
the ascendancy of the Papists, Dr. Tillotson was called
to preach a sermon before the king. His text was —
" And the people answered and said, God forbid that
we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods." By
what strange subtlety of reasoning he could extract
such a sentiment from such a passage, it is difficult
to conceive; but in his sermon he maintains, "that no
man is obliged to preach against the religion of his
country, though a false one, unless he has the power
of working miracles." The irreligious monarch, as
was often the case, slept during the greater part of
the sermon. As soon as the service was over, a noble
man stepped up, and said, " It is a pity your Majesty
slept, for we have had the rarest piece of Hobbism "
{i.e., that the people should all submit to the religion
ofthe sovereign) " that ever you heard in your life."
" Odsfish," exclaimed the king with one of his accus
tomed oaths, " he shall print it then ;" and enjoined
the Lord Chamberlain to convey his commands to the
Dean. When printed, the Dean, as was usual with him,
sent a copy to Howe, who, on perusing it, was filled
with alarm at the dangerous position which the
preacher had thought proper to maintain. He in-
¦stantly wrote the Dean a long letter of expostulation,
which, unhappily, has not been preserved. Calamy,
however, whose information in this case is worthy of
implicit confidence, has mentioned the principal topics
on which the writer insisted. He expressed his con
viction, " that the sermon was directly opposed to all
the principles on which alone the Reformation could
be justified; reminded him that Calvin and Luther

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 183
were, happily for mankind, of a very different mind ;
that the Christian religion, being already confirmed
by miracles, was not to be repealed every time a
wicked governor chose to establish a false religion.
and that, consequently, its ministers were bound
publicly to advocate it, even though they could
not work miracles." In conclusion, he expressed
deep regret " that, in a sermon professedly against
Popery, the Dean should thus have pleaded the
Popish cause against the Fathers of the Reforma
tion." This letter Howe carried himself, and delivered
into Tillotson's own hands. After hastily glancing
at its contents, the Dean told Howe that he was
willing freely to discuss the matter with him, and
proposed that, to insure uninterrupted privacy, they
should ride together a little way into the country
Howe accepted the invitation, and they agreed tc
dine that day with the Lady Falconbridge, at Suttor
Court. As they rode together in the Dean's chariot
Howe read his letter aloud, more fully explaining
and enforcing it as he went on. Tillotson, at lengtl
convinced that the doctrine he had advocated was
utterly untenable, even wept over his error, and de-
clared " this was the unhappiest thing which had fo]
a long time happened to him." In mitigation of his
fault, however, he pleaded that he had been unex
pectedly summoned by the Lord Chamberlain t(
preach on that day, the individual whose turn it was
having been suddenly taken ill ; that, having litth
time for preparation, he had fastened on the topi<
which was at that period uppermost in the public
mind — the fear of Popery ; and, lastly, that imme,
diately after he had delivered the sermon, he receivec

184 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
the King's command to print it, which rendered all
revision impossible.
Tillotson's conduct, it is justly remarked, on this
occasion, places his amiable character in the fairest
light. One can hardly regret that he committed a
fault for which he so nobly atoned, and y which has
furnished us with so impressive an example of in
genuousness, candour, and humility.
It is at the same time proper to observe that
there must have been about Howe's manner of expos
tulation something peculiarly insinuating, since, in
general, a more hopeless task can hardly be imagined
than that of inducing a man to recant an error to
which he has given his public sanction. Pride and
shame alike impel him to a more obstinate defence
of it. It may perhaps be said with truth, that on the
present occasion the temper of both parties equally
conspired to produce the happy result. Even the
expostulations of Howe might have failed, unless it
had been a Tillotson to whom they were addressed ;
and even Tillotson might not have relented had the
reproof been administered by a spirit less gentle than
that of Howe.*
The spirit of Howe towards his persecutors is
finely expressed in a farewell letter of his, when he
was going to leave his people for a time : —
" For my own part, I should not have that peace
and consolation, in a suffering condition (as my being
so many years under restraint from that pleasant
work of pleading with sinners that they might be
saved is the greatest suffering I was liable to in this
world), as, through the goodness of God, I have found,
* " Life of J. Howe," by Rogers.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 185
and do find, were I not conscious to myself of no
other than kind and benign thoughts towards them I
have suffered by ; and that my heart tells me. I
desire not the least hurt to them that would do me
the greatest ; and that I feel within myself an un
feigned love and high estimation of divers, accounting
them pious, worthy persons, and hoping to meet them
in the all-reconciling world, that are yet (through some
mistake) too harsh towards us who dissent from them.
And in things of this nature, I pray that you and I
may abound more and more."
" Hoping to meet them in the all -reconciling
world." The all-reconciling world ! How beautiful
is that expression.* Regular Services.
It may now be proper to present one instance, to
illustrate the manner in which the most devoted of
the ejected ministers would conduct the services of
the sanctuary, when they had liberty to attend to the
public worship of God in the manner which they
thought to be most agreeable to the Divine will, and
best adapted to the edification ofthe people.
At Broad Oak, in Flintshire, there was an out
building very decently and conveniently fitted up for
public worship. The people came from surrounding
places, and assembled there at nine o'clock on the
Sabbath morning, at which time the devoted minister
commenced his public services both summer and
winter. He began with prayer, and then sang the
110th Psalm, without reading the lines. Next he
read and expounded a chapter in the Old Testament
* " Life of Howe," by Rogers.

186 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
in the morning, and in the New Testament in the
afternoon. He looked upon the public reading of
the Scriptures in religious assemblies to be an ordi
nance of God, and that it tended very much to the
edification of the people to have what is read ex
pounded to them. The bare reading of the Word he
used to compare to the throwing of a net into the
water, but the expounding of it is like the spreading
out of that net, which makes it the more likely to
catch fish — especially as he managed it, with practical,
profitable observations. After the exposition of the
chapter, he sung a psalm, and commonly chose one
suitable to the chapter he had expounded, and would
briefly tell his hearers how they might sing that psalm
with understanding, and what affections of soul should
be working towards God in the singing of it. He
often said, " The more singing of psalms there is in
our families and congregations on Sabbath-days, the
more like they are to heaven, and the more there is in
them of the everlasting Sabbath."
After the sermon in the morning, he sung the
117th Psalm. He intermitted at noon about an hour
and a-half; on Sacrament-days not near so long.
The morning sermon was repeated by a ready writer
to those that stayed in the meeting-place, as many
did, and when that was done, he began the afternoon
service, in which he not only read and expounded a
chapter, but catechized the children, and expounded
the catechism briefly before sermon. The variety and
vivacity of his public services made them, we are told,
exceedingly pleasant to all that joined with him, who
never had cause to complain of his being tedious. He
used to say, " Every minute of Sabbath time is pre
cious, and none of it to be lost, and that he scarce

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 187
thought the Lord's-day well spent if he were not
weary in body at night — weary with his work, but not
weary of it," as he used to distinguish. He would
say sometimes to those about him, when he had gone
through the duties o'f a Sabbath, " Well, if this be not
the way to heaven, I do not know what is."
As to his constant preaching, it was very substan
tial and elaborate, and greatly to edification. Such
were the public ministrations of the heavenly-minded
Philip Henry.*
The attainments that were made in the graces of
the Christian character by many of these servants of
God were most exemplary ; and the enjoyments with
which they were favoured, and the consolations they
had under their trials, were proportionably great.
Of the last-mentioned minister, his son Matthew
Henry, when improving the death of his father, said,
" It was the felicity of our education that we had a
father whose spirit and converse recommended a life
of serious godliness to us as the most sweet and easy,
the most cheering and charming life that could be,
which demonstrated to us that ' Wisdom's ways are
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths paths of
peace.' "t
Of John Howe it was said by his friend and co
adjutor, who preached his funeral sermon, " That it
seemed as though he were intended by heaven to be
an inviting example of universal goodness." None
can study the writings, or observe attentively the life
of this devoted servant of God, without discerning that
his piety was of the very highest order, that religion
was his element; that in communion with the Su-
* " Life of Philip Henry," by Sir J. B. Williams.
t Matthew Henry's Puneral Sermon for his Pather.

188 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
preme Good, in the contemplation of the noblest forms
of spiritual beauty and spiritual excellence, in a dili
gent preparation for a nobler state of being, in the
contemplation of the future and the unseen, he really
found the highest pleasures of his existence ; that he
had attained as complete an ascendancy over sensual
and animal nature, and as lofty an elevation above the
world, as was ever vouchsafed to poor humanity. This,
indeed, is the secret of that unclouded serenity, that
repose of mind, which characterized his life.*
A very remarkable and deeply interesting state
ment is made by Howe, near the close of his life,
written in Latin on the blank leaf of his study Bible,
of which the following is a translation, given by Mr.
Spademan : —
u December 26, '89. — After that I had long seri
ously and repeatedly thought with myself that besides
a full and undoubted assent to the objects of faith, a
vivifying savoury taste and relish of them was also
necessary ; that with stronger force and more power
ful energy, they might penetrate into the most inward
centre of my breast, and there, being most deeply
fixed and rooted, govern my life, and that there could
be no other sure ground whereon to conclude and pass
a sound judgment on my good estate Godward ; and
after I had, in my course of preaching, been largely
insisting on 2 Cor. i. 12 — ' For our rejoicing is this,
the testimony of our conscience,' etc. — this very
morning I awoke out of a most ravishing and delight
ful dream, that a wonderful and copious stream of
celestial rays from the lofty throne of the Divine
Majesty did seem to dart into my open and expanded
breast. * Sylvester's Euneral Sermon for John Howe.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PEE ACHING. 189
" I have often since, with great complacency, re
flected on that signal pledge of special Divine favour,
vouchsafed to me on that noted memorable day, and
have, with repeated fresh pleasure, tasted the delights
thereof. "But what of the same kind I sensibly felt, through
the admirable bounty of my God, and the most
pleasant comforting influence of the Holy Spirit, on
October 22nd, 1704, far surpassed the most impres
sive words my thoughts can suggest. I then ex
perienced an inexpressible pleasant melting of heart ;
tears gushed out of mine eyes for joy, that God should
shed abroad his love abundantly through the hearts
of men, and that for this very purpose mine own
should be so signally possessed of and by his blessed
Spirit. Romans v. 5."
Here we can discern nothing irrational or en
thusiastic, which was farthest from the temper of
Howe's mind, and the nature of his religion. All is
calm and reasonable, while most elevated and heavenly.
Such were his anticipations of the glory of the celes
tial world, that he once told his wife, that though he
thought he loved her as well as it was fit for one
creature to love another, yet, if he were put to his
choice, whether to die that moment, or to live that \j
night, and the living that night would secure the con
tinuance of his life for seven years to come, he would
choose to die that moment.* Mavel's Ecstasy.
John Flavel was remarkable for his intimate
communion with God, and his heavenly-mindedness ;
and he relates how, on one occasion, he had a special
* " Life of Howe," by Rogers.

190 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES- OF 1662.
foretaste of heaven. In his treatise on the soul of
man, he gives us this account of it in the third
person : —
" I have, with good assurance, this account of a
minister, who, being alone in a journey, and willing
to make the best improvement of that day's solitude,
set himself to a close examination of the state of his
soul, and then of the life to come, and the manner of
its being and living in heaven, in the views of all
those things which are now the pure objects of faith
and hope.
" After awhile, he perceived his thoughts begin to
fix, and come closer to these great and astonishing
things than was usual ; and as his mind settled upon
them, his affections began to rise with answerable
liveliness and vigour. He, therefore, whilst he was
master of his own thoughts, lifted up his heart to
God in a short ejaculation, that God would so order
it in his providence, that he might meet with no
interruption from company, or any other accident in
that journey, which was granted him, for in all that
day's journey he never met, overtook, nor was over
taken by any.
" Thus, going on his way, his thoughts began to
swell and rise higher and higher, like the waters in
Ezekiel's vision, till at last they became an overflow
ing flood. Such was the intention of his mind, such
the ravishing tastes of heavenly joys, and such the
full assurance of his interest therein, that he utterly
lost the sight and sense of this world and all the con
cerns thereof, and for some hours knew no more
where he was than if he had been in a deep sleep
upon his bed.
" At last he began to feel himself very faint and

EMINENT* PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 191
almost choked with blood, which, running in abun
dance from his nose, had discoloured his clothes and
his horse from the shoulder to the hoof. He found
himself almost spent, and nature so faint under the
pressure of joy, unspeakable and unsupportable ; and
at last, perceiving a spring of water in his way, he
with much difficulty alighted to cleanse and cool his
face and hands, which were drenched in blood, tears,
and sweat. By that spring he sat down and washed,
earnestly desiring if it were the pleasure of God,
that it might be his parting place from this world ; he
said that death had the most amiable face in his eye
that he ever beheld, except the face of Jesus Christ
that made it so ; and that he could not remember,
though he believed he should die there, that he had
one thought of his dear wife and children, or any
other earthly concernment.
"But having drank of that spring, his spirits
revived, and he mounted his horse again, and on he
went, in the same frame of spirit, till he had finished
the journey of near thirty miles, and came at night
to his inn, where being come, he greatly admired
how he came thither ; that his horse, without his
direction, had brought him thither ; and that he fell
not all that day, which passed not without several
trances of considerable continuance. Being alighted,
the innkeeper came to him with astonishment, being
acquainted- with him formerly. ' Oh, sir,' said he,
' what is the matter with you ? you look like a dead
man.' ' Friend,' replied he, ' I never was better in
my life. Show me my chamber ; cause my cloak to
be cleansed, and that is all I desire of you for the
present.' Accordingly it was done, and a supper sent
up, which he could not touch, but requested of the

192" THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
people that they would not trouble or disturb him for
that night. All this night passed without one wink
of sleep, though he never had such a night's rest in
all his life. Still, still the joy of the Lord over
powered him, and he seemed to be an inhabitant of
the other world.
" The next morning being come, he was early on
horseback again, fearing the divertisement of the inn
might bereave him of his joy, for he said it was now
with him as with a man that carries a rich treasure
about him, who suspects every passenger to be a
thief. But within a few hours he was sensible of
the ebbing of the tide, and before night, though there
was a heavenly serenity and peace upon his soul
that continued long with him, yet the transports
of joy were over, and the fine edge of his delights
blunted. " He many years after called that day one of the
days of heaven; and professed that he understood more
ofthe life of heaven by it than, by all the books he
ever read, or discourses he ever entertained about it.
This was, indeed, an extraordinary foretaste of heaven
for degree ; but yet it came in the ordinary way and
method of faith and meditation."*
Mr. Matthew Newcomen, ejected from Dedham,
in Essex, attained to considerable eminence as a
minister of Christ. He succeeded that great man,
Mr. John Rogers, the eminent Puritan preacher. In
the funeral sermon for him by Mr. Fairfax, we
have this concise and expressive account of his gifts
and graces: — "He was a scribe well instructed to the
kingdom of God ; one whose gifts were like Aaron's
* Elavel's Treatise on the Soul of Man.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 193
breastplate, whereon holiness to the Lord was en
graven ; one who, like Isaiah, had the tongue of the
learned, and touched with a live coal from God's altar,
knew how to speak a word in season to the weary ;
one who was the desire of thousands, whose doctrine
fell as the rain, whose life shined as the light, whose
zeal provoked others, whose labours blessed the earth,
whose prayers pierced the heavens, at whose presence
the boldest sinners blushed, at whose thundering the
hypocrites trembled, at whose force the kingdom of
darkness shook, and the powers of hsll were van
quished ; as one who bound up many a broken heart,
as a spiritual father to many children, as the happy
instrument of life to many dead souls." Mr. Fairfax
states that he had had thirty years' acquaintance with
him, and never knew any that excelled him as a minister
in the pulpit, a disputant in the schools, or a desirable
companion. His gift in prayer was incomparable. He
was a solid, painful, pathetic, and persuasive preacher.*
A few extracts from letters written in the days of
their trial will further show the principles by which
the writers were influenced, and the spirit they mani
fested. The great and good Dr. Owen published, as the
last production of his pen, " Meditations and Dis
courses on the Glory of Christ." " It embodies,"
says his latest biographer, " the holy musings of his
latest days, and in many parts of it seems actually to
echo the praises of the heavenly worshippers. We
may apply to Owen's meditations, as recorded in this
book, the words of Bunyan in reference to his pilgrim,
' Drawing near to the city, he had yet a more perfect
* Puneral Sermon by Fairfax. N

194 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
view thereof.'" It is a striking circumstance that
each of the three great Puritan divines wrote a treatise
on the subject of Heaven, and that each had his own
distinct aspect in which he delighted to view it. To
the mind of Baxter the most prominent idea of heaven
was that of rest ; and who can wonder, when it is
remembered that his earthly life was little else than
one prolonged disease ? To the mind of Howe, ever
aspiring after a purer state of being, the favourite
conception of heaven was that of holy happiness ;
while to the mind of Owen, heaven's glory was re
garded a3 consisting in the unveiled manifestation of
Christ. The conceptions, though varied, are all true,
and Christ, fully seen and perfectly enjoyed, will
secure all the others.
When his infirmities were growing upon him,
Owen was invited to Woburn, to try the effect of
change of air, and also that others of his persecuted
brethren, meeting him in this safe retreat, might enjoy
the benefit of united counsel and devotion. Here
resided Lord Wharton, one of those noblemen who
continued their kindness to the Nonconformists in the
midst of all their troubles. His country residence at
Woburn, in Buckinghamshire, afforded a frequent
asylum to the persecuted ministers. While there
Owen wrote a letter to his flock in London, which
gives to us a vivid reflection of the anxieties of a period
of persecution, and affords so interesting a specimen of
his fidelity and affection to his people in the present
experience and suffering, aud the dread of more,
that we think it will be gratifying to our readers to
have it' fully before them : —
" Beloved in the Lobd, — Mercy, grace, and peace

EMINENT PIETY AND USEEUL PBEACHING. 195
be multiplied to you from God our Father, and from
our Lord Jesus Christ, by the communication of the
Holy Ghost. I thought and hoped that by this time
I might have been present with you, according to my
desire and resolution ; but it has pleased our holy
gracious Father otherwise to dispose of me, at least
for a season. The continuance of my painful infirmi
ties, and the increase of my weaknesses, will not
allow me at present to hope that I should be able
to bear the journey. How great an exercise this is
to me, considering the season, He knows to whose
will I would in all things cheerfully submit myself.
But although I am absent from you in body, I am in
mind, affection, and spirit present with you, and
in your assemblies ; for I hope you will be found
my crown and rejoicing in the day of the Lord ; and
my prayer for you night and day is, that you may
stand fast in the whole will of God, and maintain the
beginning of your confidence without wavering, firm
unto the end. I know it is needless for me at this
distance to write to you about what concerns you
in point of duty at this season, that work being well
supplied by my brother in the ministry. You will
give me leave, out of my abundant affection towards
you, to bring sonfe few things to your remembrance
as my weakness will permit.
" In the first place, I pray God it may be rooted
and fixed in our minds, that the shame and loss we
may undergo for the sake of Christ and the profession
of the gospel is the greatest honour which in this
life we can be partakers of. So it was esteemed by
the apostles — ' they rejoiced that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name's sake.' It is
a privilege superadded to the grace of faith, which all

196 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
are not made partakers of. Hence it is reckoned to
the Philippians, in a peculiar manner, that it was given
to them not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer
for him ; that it is far more honourable to suffer with
Christ than to reign with the greatest of his ene
mies. If this be fixed by faith in your minds, it will
tend greatly to our encouragement. I mention these
things only, as knowing that they are more at large
pressed on you.
" The next thing I would recommend to you at this
season, is the increase of mutual love among your
selves, for every trial of our faith towards our Lord
Jesus Christ is also a trial of our love towards the
brethren. This is that which the Lord Christ expects
from us, namely, that when the hatred of the world
doth openly manifest and act itself against us all, we
should evidence an active love among ourselves. If
there have been any decays and coldness therein ; if
they are not recovered and treated in such a season, it
can never be expected. I pray God, therefore, that
your mutual love may abound more and more, in all
the effects and fruits of it, towards the whole society
and each member thereof. You may justly measure
the fruit of your present trial by the increase of this
grace among you. In particular, have a due regard
to the weak and tempted, that ' that which is lame
may not be turned out of the way, but rather let it
be healed.' "Furthermore, brethren, I beseech you, hear a
word of advice in case the persecution increases, which
it is like to do for a season. I could wish, that because
you have no ruling elders, and your teachers cannot
walk about publicly with safety, that you would ap
point some among yourselves who may continually, as

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 197
their occasions will admit, go up and down from house
to house, and apply themselves peculiarly to the weak,
the tempted, the fearful, those that are ready to despond
or to halt, and to encourage them in the Lord.
Choose out those to this end who are endued with
a spirit of courage and fortitude, and let them know
tbat they are happy whom Christ will honour with
this blessed work. And I desire the persons may be
of this number who are faithful men, and know the
state of the Church; by this means you will -know
what is the frame of the members of the Church,
which will be a great direction to you even in your
prayers. Watch now, brethren, that if it be the will
of God not one soul may be lost from under your
care. Let no one be overlooked or neglected ; con
sider all their conditions, and apply yourselves to all
their circumstances.
" Finally, brethren, that I be not at present fur
ther troublesome to you, examine yourselves as to
your spiritual benefit which you have received, or do
receive, by your present fears and dangers, which will
alone give you the true measure of your condition, for
if this tends to the exercise of your faith, and love,
and holiness, if this increases your valuation of the
privileges of the gospel, it will be an undoubted
token of the blessed issue which the Lord Christ will
give unto your troubles. Pray for me, as you do,
and do it the rather that, if it be the will of God, I
may be restored to you ; and if not, that a blessed
entrance may be given to me into the kingdom of
God and glory. Salute all the Church in my name.
I take the boldness in the Lord to subscribe myself
your unworthy pastor and your servant for Jesus'
sake, • "J- Owen.

198 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
" P.S. — I humbly desire you would in your prayers
remember the family where I am, from whom I have
received, and do receive, great Christian kindness. I
may say, as the Apostle of Onesiphorus, ' The Lord
give to them that they may find mercy of the Lord
in that day,' for they have often refreshed me in my
great distress."
In a letter to his beloved friend, Charles Fleet
wood, on the day before his death, he says, " I am leav
ing the ship of the Church in a storm, but whilst the
great Pilot is in it, the loss of a poor under-rower will
be inconsiderable." He died on the 24th of August,
1683, the Anniversary of Saint Bartholomew's-day —
" the day memorable in the annals of the Church,"
says our author, " as that on which the two thousand
Nonconformist confessors had exposed themselves to
poverty and persecution at the call of conscience, and
in which heaven's gates had been opened wide to
receive the martyred Protestants of France."*
Mr. John Fairfax wrote thus to his sister, when
he was confined in Bury jail : — " Know, dear sister,
that though I be a prisoner, shut up close now
twenty-seven weeks together, and never set foot over
the threshold at which I entered, yet God hath gra
ciously preserved and provided for me, and made my
bonds no heavier than he hath given me strength to
bear. If ever I had communion with God, inward
peace and satisfaction in my spirit, and good hope
for a better world, I have had it here. My adver
saries intended my hurt, but God hath done me good ;
and I hope hath set me beyond the reach of earth
and hell to do anything against me that shall, indeed,
* Memoirs of Dr. Owen.

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 199
hurt me. Yet, think not that I am attained to that
measure of self-denial and faith in God, as not to be
sensible of any burden. No, God knows I have but
too much self, and corruption, and unbelief in my
heart, which clog me and aggravate my bondage ; but
God's grace hath hitherto been sufficient to support
me ; yea, many times to encourage me. Oh, happy
life, to live by faith ! Oh, glorious and comfortable
privilege of access to the throne of grace ! God en
large his Spirit hi me, and help me to improve, and
answer the obligations of grace and mercy which he
hath laid upon me. The assizes are now approach
ing, and we are waiting what God will do for us, or
with us. He hath so ordered by his providence that
a sober judge comes down this circuit, who we hope
will not entertain such prejudice against us as not to
do us right. But I desire to look further, and to
commit myself to him who I am sure will judge
righteously, in whose hands the hearts of all men
are." Mr. Ralph Ward, ejected from Hartborn, in
Northumberland, wrote a valuable letter to his people
when he was driven into the country, and unable
personally to attend the'm. We shall give the first
and the closing part, and an outline of the rest : —
" Deae Fbiends, — I cannot now, through want
of opportunity, serve you in the work of the gospel
as I would, for you yourselves know under what dis
advantages I am ; but that I may not, however, be
totally wanting to you, that I may show my longing
desire after your good and spiritual health, and that
my labours among you may not be in vain, I write
these lines to put you in remembrance of what you

200 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
have been taught, and to exhort you unto, and to
comfort and encourage you in, your present duty.
"In the course of. my ministry I have endeavoured
to discover the sinful and shameful apostasy of man
from his Maker, and the doleful and damnable state
all mankind are in through the fall. The glorious and
wonderful mystery of redemption by Jesus Christ. The
covenant of grace, both what is promised, and what is
required in it, hath been in some measure made known
unto you. You haveheard that it is impossible to please
God without faith ; that it is impossible to escape
everlasting wrath without repentance, and that these
are the gifts of God through Christ, in the use of the
means he hath appointed, and that, therefore, they
that want them must be diligent in the use of means
for the obtaining of them, in prayer, reading, hearing,
conference, etc., and must look for the promise of the
Spirit of the Father by the Son, that this promise
being made good, the law of the Spirit of Life in
Christ may set them free from the law of sin and
death ; that by the Spirit's working faith in the
heart, the soul comes to Christ, gives up itself to be
his, is united to him, abides in him ; that the Lord
Jesus hath appointed his ministry and ordinances,
and the communion of saints in churches, to be the
means of conveying those spiritual blessings, whereof
he is the Author ; that it is the great duty of those
who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and obe
dience to him, to walk worthy of that high and holy
vocation wherewith they are called, being fruitful in
every good work. You have heard that a Christian's
work is soul-searching work, self-judging work, and
sin-mortifying work ; that we must crucify the flesh
with the affections and lusts ; that it is contrary to

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PEEACniNG. 201
our holy profession to indulge the flesh, and walk
after the flesh ; that it is sinful and shameful, and un
becoming Christians to be proud, passionate, worldly,
wanton, vain, and frothy in discourse, intemperate,
fraudulent, and deceitful, slothful, idle, careless, or
unwatchful, or mispenders of precious time. You
have also heard, that a name to live if we be dead
will not profit us ; that the Lord looks not at the
outward appearance, but at the heart, and requires
truth in the inward parts. And, lastly, that if we
will be Christ's disciples indeed, we must deny our
selves, take up our cross daily, and follow him ; that
it is not he that draws back, but he that endures to
the end that shall be saved ; and that, therefore, it
greatly concerns us to look upon what foundation we
are built, and that the sincerity of our love to our
dearest Lord and Redeemer do appear in sticking
close to him in a day of trial, and being willing to
suffer the loss of all that we may win Christ, and keep
faith and a good conscience to the end of our days."
After this, he gives a variety of exhortations on
which he enlarges :— " 1. I exhort you to hold fast
what is truth in faith and love. 2. Let me beseech
you to exercise yourselves unto godliness. 3. To give
all diligence to make your calling and election sure.
4. Get your hearts and affections weaned from things
here, and set upon things above. 5. Be kindly affec-
tioned one to another with brotherly love. 6. Pre
pare for suffering greater things. 7. Make it your
business to honour the Lord in the station in which
he hath set you, to render your profession more
beautiful and amiable to those who observe you.
8. Bear with patience what the Lord is pleased to
lay upon you. 9. Beware of mispending your time.

202 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
10. And lastly, be importunate with the Lord that
there may be an increasing of those who are faithful
to him in the midst of the land, that so we may be
come more beautiful and glorious, and there may be
a healing of our wounds, that both pastors and people
may rejoice together, and say, ' The Lord hath done
great things for us, whereof we are glad.' "
He closes the letter in the following terms : —
" These are the words of exhortation , which I
would beseech you, my dear friends, to take into your
serious consideration, and be persuaded to follow the
counsel given you, that both you and I may rejoice
together in the day of the Lord. That though we be
now separated in place, not in heart, we may, notwith
standing, be running in the same race ; and if it be
the good pleasure of God, we may meet again with
liberty to wait on the Lord in the- ways of his ap
pointment ; however, we may meet at last with joy
and gladness, that our labours and communion toge
ther have not been in vain. Now, my dear friends, I
hope you will not forget me ; and my request for you
is, that our Lord Jesus Christ, and God even our
Father, who hath loved us and given us everlasting
consolation, and good hope through grace, would com
fort your heart, and establish you in every good word
and work. This is the cordial desire and prayer of
your faithful friend and servant, for Jesus' sake, in the
word of the gospel,
"Ralph Wabd."
Mr. Hugh Owen, who resided in North Wales,
left behind him a letter of advice to his people, which
he styled his last legacy, of which the following is
the substance : — " Beware of worldliness, for I fear

EMINENT PLETT AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 203
lest the world, like a canker, should eat up all the
good that is in many, and leave their souls like drv
shells. Set yourselves against secret pride, and take
care to keep down every proud and high conceited
thought of yourselves npon any account. Set vour-
selves to practise the great duty of self-denial ; yea,
rejoice in opportunities of humbling yourselves to the
very dust for the sake of Jesus, striving to be forward
to forgive; forget and pass by whatever anybody
may do against yon ; yea, apply yourselves first for
peace. Beware of the proud and high temper that
says, It's they offended, and not I; they should
come to me, and not I to them.' These are but the
effects of pride, and of more love to ourselves than to
the Lord Jesus Christ, and his ways." Having given
the officers and ancient members of the church
a hint concerning the prudence and moderation to
be used by them to prevent disputes about baptism,
he observes : " That such disputes had occasioned a
great breach at Wrexham, to the dishonour of God
and the contempt of religion: and that those who
had engaged in them had acknowledged to him that
they had lost the presence of God which thev had
formerly enjoyed, and that there was a stop put to
the work of conversion among them. I press you
to this," says he, "because it should be the desire
and design of every member to increase the kingdom
of Christ, to have the image of Christ, and not their
own opinion, stamped npon the souls of men. If I
have the image of Christ stamped upon my soul, I
shall be sure to get to heaven ; but I may enjoy both
sorts of baptism, and go to hell after alL"
Mr. John Maidwell sent, when banished, a letter to
his friends at Kettering, in which, amidst other affec-

204 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
tionate expressions and excellent counsels, he says :
"Take heed of all sinful compliances and mixtures
of human inventions with divine institutions in the
worship of God. Will-worship will prove vain-wor
ship. We must not be men's servants, but Christ's;
not seek to please them, but him. We must not lift
up our tool on God's altar, lest we defile it ; nor set
our post by his — our Dagon by his ark — lest we be
broke in pieces. * * * Really and frequently, in
your thoughts, resign up yourselves, with all that you
are and have, to the sole and sovereign disposal of the
only wise God and almighty Creator and Governor
of all ; and seeing our times, our all, are in his hand,
a hand so good, so powerful, so tender, so safe, let us
humbly, quietly, contentedly, leave all these, with all
patience and long-suffering, verily believing that he
will order all for his glory, and the good of his.
" Give all diligence to make your calling and elec
tion sure — to get assurance of God's love and favour,
in Christ, to your souls in particular. All we have
is now a-going ; there is no assurance of liberty, estate,
relations, or life, to any. Oh that this might awaken.
us to assure God in Christ to us; that while evil men
are devising and endeavouring to take all from us,
we may, on good grounds, say, the Lord is our por
tion, and he being ours, in him we inherit all things.
Get and maintain in your souls an inward spiritual
joy and peace in believing. In everything give thanks.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice.
This will be your strength — to mortify corruptions,
resist temptations, perform all duties, absolute and
relative, and with courage to undergo the worst of
sufferings you can meet with, to persevere to the end
in doing and suffering God's will, that therein being

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 205
faithful unto death, you may obtain a crown of life.
That you may embrace the counsel given, oh pray,
pray ; watch and pray ; pray for yourselves, for me,
for all that love Christ in sincerity, that I, you, they,
may be accounted worthy, either to escape these
dismal things that are coming upon us, or, if not, yet
may stand before the Son of Man, when he comes to
judge the world in righteousness, with courage, con
fidence, and comfort.
"Thus, my dear hearts, I have answered your desires
in your last I received, heartily letting you know that
though I am absent in body from you, to my great
grief, yet I am present with you in spirit, praying
daily for you, longing to see you, which I should have
done once and again, had not Satan hindered, which
he will do till Christ comes, and binds him in chains,
and removes him out of the way, and gives his people
a quiet and full enjoyment of himself in each other,
which, that he may, is the earnest prayer of your un
worthy pastor, solicitous for your souls' good.
" I am," etc.
Mr. Browning, who had been ejected from Des
borough, in Northamptonshire, wrote to the members
of the Church at Rowell, of which he was the pastor,
from Northampton jail, where he was confined, in
which he shows the fervent and affectionate spirit of
the devoted servant of Christ. We give the following
extract : —
" A suffering day is the trial of our love to follow
Christ. When there is no opposition it is easy. Do
not the hypocrites do so? But this is the com
mendation of Christ's followers—' They follow him
whithersoever he goeth ;' ' These are those that come
out of great tribulation ;' ' They are before the throne,

206 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'
Come, my' brethren, you weep now; our tender Fa
ther will wipe away our tears ere long. Do not
offend with weeping. ' Woman, why weepest thou ?'
was our Lord's inquiry. Too many tears may defile.
Oh, my brethren, methinks I am with you, weeping
with you, praying with you, and hearing with you.
It is true fellowship my soul has with you at a
distance. I long after you much in the Lord, yet
rejoicingly stay his good pleasure. I would not
come out a moment before his time. I would not
take a step without his direction. I am wonder
fully well ; better and better. The cup of affliction
for the gospel is sweeter the deeper ; a stronger cor
dial nearer the bottom ; I mean death itself. Oh,
the joy unspeakable and glorious the dying martyrs
of Jesus have had. I tell you, if you knew what
Christ's prisoners, some of them, enjoyed in their
jails, you would not fear their condition, but long
for it. And I am persuaded could their enemies
conceive of their comfort, in mere vexation of heart
they would stay their persecutions. ' Therefore, my
brethren, my joy, my crown, stand fast in the Lord.'
Rejoice greatly to run your race ; fear not their fear ;
sit loose from the world ; allot yourselves this portion
which God has allotted you, ' through many tribula
tions to enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Come, the
worst is death, and that is the best of all. What, do
we stick at dying for him who stuck not at it for us ?
Do we find difficulty in that which will be an entrance
into glory ? Do princes dread their coronation days ?
Are any loth to come to their nuptials ? Foolish
hearts! why do we err, not knowing, rather not
believing, the Scriptures ?

EMINENT PIETY AND USEFUL PBEACHING. 207
" I must stay my pen to dry my eyes, because ofthe
overflowing of God's love upon my soul. And now I
see, if I had not something to keep me down, I could
not bear the load of God's favours. Blessed be God,
blessed be God. 'Let everyone that hath breath,
praise the Lord.' ' 0 love the Lord, ye his saints.'
My brethren, do not flee. Keep your ground. The
Scripture is your law ; God is your King. Your prin
ciples are sober ; your practices are peaceable ; your
obedience, to superiors known in those things wherein
your obedience is required. If men have nothing
against you but in the matters of your God, rejoice,
and triumph in all your persecutions.
" You that are young, and flourish in the abilities
the Lord has given you, I counsel ; yet not I, but
the Lord in the words of his servant Paul—' If a
man purge himself from all drossy corruption, ' he
shall be a vessel unto honour,' etc. You that are
aged, I advise in the words of Peter — ' If these things
be in you and abound,' etc. I exhort you all to
walk in the faith, fear, love, and joy of the Lord.
Study your mutual edification. Fear nothing of
events till they come; only fear offending God
with a neglect of your duty. There is no shadow
like the shadow of God's wings ; therefore, keep close
to God."*
* Vide " Nonconformist Memorial" for the last five cases.

208 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.

CHAPTER VI.
THE INFLUENCE OE THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES
ON SUCCEEDING TIMES.
A consideeable difference of opinion will, no doubt,
exist as to the nature and extent of that influence
which has been exerted on succeeding generations by
the two thousand ministers who were ejected from the
Church on Bartholomew's-day, 1662. No one can
deny that the influence has been considerable. Some,
who disapprove of their Nonconformity, may regard it
as injurious. It will be considered by such, that in
proportion as they were the means of encouraging
or establishing Dissenting interests, that remain in a
state of permanent separation from the Established
Church of the land, their influence has been anything
but good ; but, on the other hand, those who approve
of their Nonconformity will regard the influence they
have had on the civil and ecclesiastical history of their
country, on the interests of religion and sacred litera
ture, as having been most valuable. It is exceedingly
difficult accurately to weigh the amount of influence
which certain parties, imbibing certain principles, and
pursuing a certain course, may have had ; still the
fact is undeniable, that there is an influence goes
forth, and that in certain cases it is great, and reaches
to a wide extent. Every candid mind, we think, must
allow that such an event as two thousand ministers
coming out under such circumstances from the

THEIE INFLUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 209
Church, because they could not comply with its re
quirements, many of them being men of the highest
eminence, must have had a powerful influence — that
that influence has widely extended, and will never be
lost — and that it has been in a very great degree
beneficial. We appeal to the spirit and principles of
the men ; to what they did and to what they suffered ;
to the works which they left for the benefit of the
Church and the world ; and to the Christian churches
they formed, where the gospel of Christ has for nearly
two centuries been preached. There are names
among them which cannot be forgotten, which will be
be regarded with veneration and affection by the
Churches of Christ so long as truth and purity,
liberty and rectitude, remain in the land. We shall
first observe that — -
1. Their influence has been great on the civil
and religious liberties of Britain. If an historian,
who had no sympathy with the religious principles
of the Puritans, was constrained to declare that " so
absolute was the authority of the Crown, that the
precious spark of liberty had been kindled and was
preserved by the Puritans alone, and that it was to this
sect that the English owe the whole freedom of their
constitution," so it might be said with truth and jus
tice, that their descendants, inheriting their spirit, and
carrying out, to their legitimate extent, some of their
principles, have ever stood firmly by the constitution
of their country, as securing the liberty of the sub
ject, in opposition to all the measures which tended
to the subversion of that liberty. Mr. Howe, whose
penetrating eye had seen much of the interior of
Courts, declared that the grand cause of the hos
tility of Governments to Dissenters was their known
o

210 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
abhorrence of arbitrary rule. The despotic house of
Stuart reproached them as an unyielding race, who
could not be won by any price to sacrifice their coun
try's liberties. To a very great extent, the freedom
enjoyed in Britain is to be ascribed to the influence
of the Nonconformists of the land.
Religious liberty has been obtained and secured by
them. The tendency of an established hierarchy has
always been to exercise an oppressive and coercive
influence in ecclesiastical affairs. The Church that
obtains the patronage of the State — that receives the
emoluments it gives — that enjoys the smiles of the
Court—and that has honours and titles conferred
upon it, is always disposed to entertain the idea that
it has a right to have all the community under its
sway. It would bind down the opinions and practices
of the nation to its own authorized standards, and would
fain treat any dissent from them as a crime, regarding
no principles or proceedings as right, but what were
conformed to their standards or under their direction.
To every reflecting mind, this must surely appear to
have a very deteriorating, debasing influence on the
religion of a people. It must tend to check all vigour
of thought and action, and to promote a dull unifor
mity — to bind the consciences of the people in fetters
— to stereotype their opinions, and to curb their
efforts. This has ever been the case where a Church
establishment has reigned without any rival amongst
a people. And one great reason why this is not the
case with many of the members of the Establishment
¦in our country now, is the existence, to so large an
extent, of the Dissenting communities in the land.
Their efforts have stirred up the Church to a spirit of
rivalry, and have given to many of her ministers and

THEIB INFLUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 211
members a considerable degree of vigour and energy
in seeking to promote the religious instruction and
improvement of the people.
Our forefathers struggled, and laboured, and suf
fered, until they obtained the " Act of Toleration," by
which their public services were legally recognized as
Dissenters from the Church. This gave a very great
relief to them. It made a great and pleasing change
in their circumstances — -was like the Magna_Charta
of their religious liberties. Their descendants regard
this Act as not containing all that they have a right to
expect as the loyal subjects of the realm. They seek
nothing less than a religious equality, which they con
sider to be their due, and by which they believe the in
terests of true religion would be best promoted in the
land. But of the Toleration Act it is justly said, that
" it is a law, in the provisions of which a philosopher
will doubtless find much to condemn, but which had
the practical effect of enabling almost every Protest
tant Nonconformist to follow the dictates of his own
conscience without molestation. Scarcely a law in the
statute-book is theoretically more objectionable than
the Toleration Act. But we question whether, in the
whole of that vast mass of legislation, from the Great
Charter downwards, there be a single law which has so
much diminished the sum of human suffering — which
has done so much to allay bad passions — which has put
an end to so much petty tyranny and vexation — which
has brought gladness, peace, and a sense of security
to so many private dwellings."*
The liberty now enjoyed by the other religious
sections of the community, who stand in a, state of
separation from the Church, is owing to the efforts of
* "History of England," by Maeauley.

212 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
the early Nonconformists. When Whitefield, and Wes
ley, and others were excluded from the Church, their
zeal being too great to yield to all its restrictions, so
that they held separate assemblies which increased
and multiplied in the land, they could only take
shelter under the wing of that " Toleration Act,"
which was first passed for the relief of the Protestant
Dissenters who were ejected from the Church by the
Act of Uniformity ; though their followers long re
fused to be numbered with them as Dissenters, yet
they could only be protected by the laws that had
been passed in their favour. Attempts have been
made to abridge the toleration granted them, yet it has
been confirmed and extended through the efforts of
their descendants. Their separation from the Estab
lished Church placed them in a position to look at the
principles of religious liberty in a new light, led to
further attention to the subject, to renewed discussions
upon it, so that the rights of conscience became better
understood, an effectual check was given to oppres
sive Acts, and the country has been brought on her
way towards the full 'attainment of that religious
liberty which is the birthright of man, i.e., to judge
and act for himself in all matters of faith and worship,
without being exposed to any civil disabilities on
account of his religious profession and practice. We
had the germ of this when these early Nonconformists
withstood the religious tyranny sought to be practised
upon them, and though they did not see what were its
legitimate results, yet its influence has been great and
has been extending from their days to the present
time, and it will go on till everything contrary thereto
has been taken out of the way.
A passage from an eloquent writer may show the

THEIE INELUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 213'
propriety and value of those principles of freedom in
things sacred from civil power, for which Dissenters
now plead : —
" The Ark of God was never taken till it was
surrounded by the arms of earthly defenders. In
captivity its sanctity was sufficient to vindicate it
from insult, and to lay the hostile fiend prostrate on
the threshold of his own temple. The real security
of Christianity is to be found in its benevolent
morality, in its exquisite adaptation to the human
heart, in the facility with which its scheme accom
modates itself to the capacity of every human intel-r
lect, in the consolation which it bears to the house of
mourning, in the light with which it brightens the
great mystery of the grave. To such a system it can
bring no addition of dignity or strength, that it is
part and parcel of the common law. It is not now
left for the first time to rely on the force of its own
evidences, and the attractions of its own beauty. Its
sublime theology confounded the Grecian schools, in
the fair conflict of reason with reason. The bravest
and wisest of the Caesars found their arms and their
policy unavailing, when opposed to the weapons that
were not carnal, and a kingdom that was not of this
world. The victory which Porphyry and Diocletian ,
failed to gain, is not, to all appearance, reserved
for any of those who have in this age directed their
attacks against the last restraint of the powerful
and the last hope of the wretched. The whole his
tory of Christianity shows that she is in far greater
danger of being corrupted by the alliance of power,
than of being crushed by its opposition. Those who
thrust the temporal sovereignty upon her, treat her
as their prototypes treated her Author. They bow

214. THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
the knee and spit upon her ; they cry Hail, and smite
her on the cheek ; they put the sceptre in her hand,
but it is a fragile reed; they crown her, but it is
with thorns ; they cover with purple the wounds which
their own hands have inflicted on her, and inscribe
magnificent titles over the cross on which they have
fixed her to perish in ignominy and pain."
If this testimony is true, the men whose influence
has led to a continued and increasing contest against
the power of the State being brought to bear on
the Church of Christ, must have done some great
things for Christianity, and for the religion of their
country. The great Earl of Chatham, in his place in Par
liament, said : " The Dissenting ministers are repre
sented as men of close ambition. They are so, my
lords, and their .ambition is to keep close to the
college of fishermen, not of cardinals ; and to the
doctrine of inspired apostles, not to the decrees of
interested and aspiring bishops. They contend for a
scriptural creed, and spiritual worship ; we have a
Calvinistic creed, a Popish liturgy, and an Arminian
clergy."* 2. The two thousand confessors have had a power
ful influence in teaching to their own generation, and
to those that have succeeded them, that there is some
thing more in religion than a name and a form. If
the great body of the clergy, with comparatively few
exceptions, turned with the tide in the reigns of
the Tudors, when Henry espoused the Reformation
partially, when Edward carried it still further, when
Mary brought back the superstitions of Popery, and
when Elizabeth succeeded with a modified Pro-
* Letter by Dr. Pye Smith to Dr. S. Lee.

THEIE INFLUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 215
testantism, it must have produced an impression on
the nation that religion was not a matter of prin
ciple inwrought in the heart, but that it was simply
an outward dress, that could be shifted, or changed
into any form as the times might seem to require-
And if, when the second Charles returned from his
banishment, and yielded to the party that wished to
have the Church restored, and to have all its orders,
rites, services, ceremonies, and formularies rendered
imperative, as they were aforetime, with some addi
tions to their objectionable parts, as directly contrary
to the opinions and known practices of a large number
of the ministers in the land — if these ministers had,
under these circumstances, yielded to the demand,
it would have struck a tremendous blow to all faith in
religious principle, sincerity, and. earnestness.
But when it was seen that the sacrifice was made
and that all the temptations to the contrary were
overcome — when it was known to what sufferings
they were exposed, and the stedfastness with which
they pursued their course, those that beheld were
constrained to admit that there was something
genuine here. This was not the religion of a name
or a notion. No, here was sterling principle; here
was some sincere regard to God, to truth and duty,
and to all the highest interests which demand the
decided regard of the human mind. There is some
thing real in the religion which can produce such
results. They show what it is in its spirit and its
power. This, had an influence on thousands of minds
in the times in which they lived ; and that influence
has extended to great numbers who have become
acquainted with their history. A person who was no
Dissenter, observed at that time : "I am glad so

216 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
many have chosen suffering rather than conformity to
the Establishment, for had they complied, the world
would have thought there had been nothing in reli
gion ; but now they have a striking proof that there
are some sincere in their professions." A Conformist
thus pleaded their cause : " They have suffered the
loss of all things. Is it for mere honour, not con
science or religion ? Have they so little wit as not
to know what is best, good livings or filthy prisons ?
Do they hate their wives and children? They de
clare they cannot conform : who should know best,
they or we ?" Unprejudiced spectators were con
vinced that it was done to keep a good conscience
towards God. From the effects produced on our own
mind from an early perusal of the records concerning
these men, we feel no doubt that great numbers who
have had opportunities for a similar acquaintance with
them, have received a deep impression of the genuine:
nature of real religion, and of the powerful effects
that Christian principle will produce. And if our
young people of the present day were to become more
intimately acquainted with these men and the times
in which they lived, the oppressive measures under
which they suffered, and the spirit they manifested
with the course they pursued, so as to notice the
decision and consistency with which they generally
acted, the influence would be of the most beneficial
character, in the impression that it would give them
of what sterling principle is, in a supreme regard
to God and his will, and what it will lead its pos
sessor to do and to suffer, with the rich consola
tions it brings to them under the trials they have
to bear. 3. Their influence has been great on the theology

THEIE INFLUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 217
of their country. The statement which Paul makes
to the Philippians, respecting his imprisonment at
Rome, has often been verified in the history of
the servants of God — " The things that have hap
pened unto me have fallen out rather to the further
ance of the gospel." If Paul not only made known
the gospel as a prisoner for Christ, as " set for the
defence of the gospel, so that his bonds in Christ
were known in all the palace, and in all other places,"
but also wrote some of his most valuable epistles,
which have afforded instruction and consolation to
the Church throughout all ages, during his confine
ment there, so did a considerable number of the
ejected ministers not only embrace opportunities, as
they could be obtained, to preach the gospel, but they
improved their seasons of leisure, when they were in
a great measure cut off from public preaching, in
writing and publishing works, many of which have
proved of permanent interest and value, which have
come down to the present times, and which will con
tinue for many, many days yet to come.
There is a richness and fulness, an evangelical
savour, a point and practical power in their writings
on the great things of Christianity which render
them of peculiar worth, and make their influence to
be great on all that become acquainted with them.
Who is there that can become acquainted with John
Howe's " Living Temple " without having his mental
conceptions brightened and expanded, his heart-im
pressed and improved, with the views presented of
natural and revealed theology ? While he admires the
genius of the writer, he is impressed with his love of
truth, the devotedness ofhis spirit to the supreme good,
and the entire submission of his heart to the method of

218 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
Divine mercy revealed in the gospel. Who can enter
into his " Blessedness of the Righteous " without
having more exalted conceptions of the happiness of
the world to come, in the perfect vision of God, and
conformity to him, and without being drawn nearer to
it? So the Spirit of his "Delighting in God" gives
an impressive sense of the beauty and blessedness of
real religion, etc. Concerning the works of this emi
nent Nonconformist, Doddridge bears this testimony
— " He seems to have understood the gospel as well
as any uninspired man, and to have imbibed as much
of its spirit. The truest sublime is to be found in his
writings, and some of the strongest pathos ; yet he is
often obscure, and generally harsh. He had a vast
variety of uncommon thoughts, and, on the whole, is
one of the most valuable writers in our language, and,
I believe, in the world."* Robert Hall said, " I have
learned more from John Howe than from any other
author I ever read. There is an astonishing magni
ficence in his conceptions. He had not the same per
ception of the beautiful as of the sublime, and hence
his endless subdivisions. He was unquestionably the
greatest of the Puritan divines."t
No one, we apprehend, can become acquainted
with the writings of Dr. Owen without having his
views enlarged of the glories of the Redeemer, of
the methods of sovereign mercy in the salvation of
men, and the agency of the Divine Spirit in their re
covery to God. His exposition of the epistle to the
Hebrews stands as the great work on that valuable
portion of the Book of God.
And who can seriously read the practical works of
* Doddridge's " Lectures on Preaching," etc.
t " Memoirs of Robert Hall."

THEIE INELUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 219
Richard Baxter, with their point, their pathos, their
searching nature, the " thoughts that breathe, and
the words that burn," without receiving some most
valuable impressions of that great change which is
essential to the Christian state, and without seeing
how high should be the Christian's aim ? He has
been called the " English Demosthenes."
If these are the first three amongst those worthies
whose works remain to us, there are many others of
great eminence : Dr. Manton, with his voluminous dis
courses on the Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm, and
exposition of the epistle of James ; Charnock, in his
elaborate sermons on the Divine attributes ; Flavel,
with his holy unction and evangelical fulness ; Dr.
Bates, charming and elegant, with his " Harmony
of the Divine Attributes," " Christian Perfection,"
" Four Last Things," etc. Many useful treatises of
a smaller kind still remain, by Doolittle, and Shower,
and Shaw, and many others. It is impossible to enu
merate, in the space we have, the names of all the
authors, with the works still preserved, and by which
they, being dead, yet speak, and by which they have
been exerting a powerful influence on many minds.
Such is their value, that no theological library is con
sidered as complete without them ; and such is their
influence, that where they are most prized and studied,
sound theology and practical piety is considered most
to prevail, and as they fall into neglect a contrary
state of things appears. We do not extol their me
thod, the quaintness of their phraseology, the number
of their divisions, the prolixity of their schemes, nor
every representation that they give of the doctrines
of Christianity ; but we admire, in the main, their ex
position and defence of evangelical truth, their fulness

220 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
and fervour on the great points of the gospel, their
representations of its experimental influence, and
their powerful enforcement of the practice of the
gospel. While they would exhibit the moral influ
ence of the Saviour's work to bring back man to his
God, and to promote the life of God in the soul of
man, they never lose sight of its infinitely momentous
hearings on the claims of the law and the righteous
government of God, and the suitable and satisfactory
answer it gives to the inquiry, " How shall man be
just with God ?" The doctrines of the gospel were
not dry theories in their hands, but living realities,
to exert a powerful, spiritual, holy influence. " Their
writings have erected to their memory a monument
more durable than brass or marble, which has so per
petuated and diffused their sentiments and spirit, that
had their enemies anticipated the consequences of
excluding them from the pulpits, they would have left
them to preach, that they might have had do leisure
to write."* Thus have these servants of Christ exerted a great
influence on the theology of the Church, and we
believe they will do this for ages to come, for the
gospel they received is the same in its great principles
through every age, and only needs to be correctly set
forth, and its spirit truly displayed. Many thousands
have delighted to learn of them when they have been
expounding and enforcing the will ofthe Great Master,
for in that way they have become more acquainted
with him, have drank deeper into his Spirit, and have
felt more of the power of his truth and grace in their
hearts, and have been able to present a more full em
bodiment of it in their lives.
* "History of Dissenters," by Bogud and Bennet.

THEIE INFLUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 221
The late Dr. J. Pye Smith has observed "that
the conduct of those ministers who came out from
the Church was a most useful demonstration, in that
licentious day, of the power of religious principle ; and
the example of those Nonconformists, their writings,
the fruits of their ministry, and the cruel sufferings
which they and their numerous lay adherents under
went during the greater part of the two second Stuart
reigns, have spread that light so widely, that not the
Dissenters only, nor the thousands of the American
churches, but the Church of England itself, to this
day, has received inestimable benefit from them.
Every intelligent and candid churchman, who has
looked closely into the history of that happy revival
of religion which has blessed the Church within the
last sixty years (written in 1834), will acknowledge
that it has been, and is, in a great degree, sustained
by the writings of the Puritans and Nonconformists
ofthe seventeenth century."*
4. Their influence has been great in maintaining
the vital power of Christianity against the formality
that was promoted by the ritualism of the Church.
There was a time when the Church of England had
sunk under the weight of its forms and its worldly
patronage, so as to lie almost helpless beneath their
paralyzing influence, for very few were the voices that
were lifted up against it. Then the Nonconformists
stood almost alone to declare the great vital truths of
Christianity. Then they maintained the sovereignty
of God in the salvation of man; the depravity of
human nature, which no baptismal water could wash
away; the justification ofthe sinner by the righteous
ness of the incarnate Son of God received by faith ;
* Letter to Dr. Samuel Lee.

222 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
the renewal and sanctification of the heart by the
Holy Spirit. Then they declared the peculiar re
sponsibilities of men who were favoured with the
gospel of the grace of God, and they enforced the
claims of the gospel and its holy requirements by all
the powerful motives that gospel supplies.
Though unhappy events arose among them, which
tended for a time to abate something of their influ
ence, and some of their descendants went off from the
testimony their fathers bore, yet the life of godliness,
if it declined, was never lost from among them, and
it arose again, and soon appeared in all its energy.
Others came forth with holy zeal to declare the same
essential truths. The different bodies of Methodists
arose in the land. At length, some awakening ap
peared in the Church, and a holy emulation took
place. A considerable number of the established
clergy embraced their views of the doctrines of the
gospel, being in the main in accordance with their
own articles, and they declared them from the pulpits
of the Establishment, which tends to counteract the
unfavourable influence of the rites of the Church in
which they minister, though they continue to ad
minister those rites in the same manner and with
the same language, for refusing to do which the two
thousand confessors sacrificed and suffered so much.
It is our full belief, which we express with deep
regret, that a great measure of this formality still
remains in our country, and that much of it is pro
moted by the rites of the Church. It has been brought
out for some years past in a more plain and open
•manner than before. We have seen it in the Pusey-
ism or semi-Popery that has been maintained, and in
the numbers that have gone from this to a complete

THEIE -INFLUENCE ON SUCCEEDING TIMES. 223
subjection to the Papal system. Nor can all the
efforts of those who maintain the great points of
evangelical truth overcome this, nor prevail against
this powerful party in the Church.
A noble earl, of high standing and eminent use
fulness, has sought to bring forward a new Act of
Uniformity, to check the Puseyite tendencies of the
Church; but we suppose it will be found to be in
vain, and that, in the present state of parties in the
Church, every scheme of this nature will fail. What
will be the result, time only can reveal to us. We
think no candid person will suppose that we claim
too much, when we express our conviction that the
influence of the early Nonconformists has been great
and abiding in promoting vital Christianity in our
land. And this is the glory of Britain ; and while
this continues, " God, even our own God, will bless
us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him."

224 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.

CHAPTER VII.
THE PEESENT STATE OE THE QUESTION BETWEEN
CONEOBMISTS AND NONCONEOBMISTS, OE BE
TWEEN THE ESTABLISHED CHUECH AND THE
DISSENTEES.
Aeteb the lapse of nearly two centuries since the
two thousand confessors came out from the Church
by law established, it may not be deemed unsuitable
if we institute a brief inquiry as to the present state
in which the question stands between the Church and
those that dissent from her. Do the same reasons
exist for Nonconformity now that so far prevailed
two centuries ago ? Have they been in any degree
diminished ? Has any addition been made to them ?
Or, do they remain as they were ?
In attempting a reply, we may observe that there
are two aspects in which the subject may now be
viewed : the one is, that things remain as they were
in the Church ; the other is, that there has been an
advance outside the Church — an advance on the
grounds of Nonconformity. Let us look at the latter
first. A very large proportion of Dissenters now take
an advanced ground, beyond that which the greater'
part of these early Nonconformists occupied, in that
they decidedly disapprove of the connection of the
Church with the State. They entertain, to a consi
derable extent, such views of the spiritual nature of
the kingdom of Christ — of the supremacy of the Re-

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DISSENTEES. 225
deemer in his Church — of the claims of real religion
on the willing homage of the heart — of the right of
every man to inquire and judge for himself in all
matters of faith and worship, together with the suffi
ciency and sole authority of the Sacred Scriptures in
what relates to the will of God, that they regard civil
rulers as going out of their province when they legis
late for the Church of Christ, and as acting contrary
to the nature of genuine Christianity when they use
any coercive means for its support. They see also
that when the Church is supported by State endow
ments, it must, to a great extent, be under State
control, and that it is consequently deprived of that
liberty it ought to have in all things relating to the
interests of the Redeemer's kingdom.
On such grounds as these they wish to be in a
state of separation from an Established Church. They
would think it right to dissent from it as an establish
ment, if it was the best constituted Church in the
world, if it could be proved that it had nothing in its
orders, rites, ceremonies, creeds, services, in any degree
contrary to the Word of God. If it was, as its sup
porters frequently designate it, " Our holy and apos
tolic Church," they would still be dissenters from it,
because of the incongruity of the exercise of civil
power in things sacred, because it intrenches on the
sole authority of the Redeemer in his Church, is con
trary to the grand ruling principle of that gospel,
which is a system of Divine truth and love, and has
ever tended to the. desecration of the Church, by
bringing worldly influence to bear upon her, and
worldly motives to corrupt her, and has been a great
hindrance to the fulfilment of her mission to the
world.

226 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
This we consider to be an advance on the views of
the great majority of those who were cast out of the
Church. They would have remained within her pale,
had not her terms of conformity been so opposed to
their conscientious convictions ; but a very large
proportion of their descendants regard the connection
of the Church with the State as the ground on which
they must remain in a state of separation from her.
However she might be reformed, while this connec
tion continues, they could not be of her communion.
There are some who would almost entirely rest their
Nonconformity on this ground ; and their conviction
is that it is- firm and immovable. The homage they
owe to Christ as the sole legislator in his Church
seems to compel them to this ; and their regard for
the rights of conscience appears to them to require it.
They consider that " consciences and souls were made
to be the Lord's alone."
The next view we present of the present state of
this question is, that the ground taken by the two
thousand confessors remains still the same. The
Church, by law established, continues as it was when
they, by the Act of Uniformity, were cast out of their
livings. The Church of eighteen hundred and sixty
is the same, as to her requirements, as was the
Church of sixteen hundred and sixty-two ; so that if
we, with them, could admit the connection of the
Church with the State, we have the same objections
remaining, in all their force, which led our fore
fathers to make the sacrifices, and to endure all the
sufferings they did. It retains all those parts which
were so opposed to their convictions in the orders of
its ministry, in its baptismal service, its confirmation,
its visitation of the sick, its sacramental observance,

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DISSENTERS. 227
its burial of the dead, with its catechism, its canons,
and its creeds, as they were two hundred years ago.
These things have been frequently and fully pointed
out. Many of the clergy have called for alterations,
but have never obtained them. At the present time,
they are felt by numbers to be a burden grievous to
be borne ; they are now furnishing their sanction to
the Puseyite notions and practices that prevail.
Sacramental efficacy and priestly authority are sup
ported by them. Efforts have recently been made to
obtain a revision, with a view to alterations, in the
services of the Church, but they have proved alto
gether abortive. It still remains the same Church,
with all its ritualism unchanged ; it still connects the
grace necessary to salvation with the rites of the
Church, and with those rites as administered by the
regularly-ordained priesthood of that Church ; and
thus it virtually places the salvation of the people in
the hands of the priesthood, coming between them
and the Redeemer of their souls ; " the creed and
orders of the Church include in them a sacramental
and a sacerdotal element at variance with the Scrip
tures, and likely to be spiritually injurious, just in
proportion as they are believed and confided in."
Look at the first of its rites, baptism, as admi
nistered by the Church, and, as plain as language
can express it, it connects the spiritual regeneration
of the child with the administration of that rite.
After the administration, the declaration is — " Seeing
now, dearly beloved, that this child is regenerate,
and grafted into the body of Christ's Church, let
us give thanks to Almighty God for these benefits,"
etc. After this comes the thanksgiving : — " We yield
thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it

228 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with the
Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by
adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy Church."
The catechism, which is to be taught to the child
as it is rising into life, is in accordance with this.
On being asked, who gave him his name, he is to
answer, " My godfathers and godmothers in my bap
tism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, a
child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of
heaven." In the rite of confirmation we have the same sys
tem carried on. This is the language : — " Almighty
and everlasting God, who hast vouchsafed to rege
nerate these thy servants by water and the Holy
Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all
their sins."
Then, all that are confirmed have a right to come
to receive the Lord's Supper, in which they are repre
sented as partaking of the body and blood of Christ,
the benefits of his death being connected with the
communion of the Church in this ordinance.
In the -visitation of the sick we have absolution
pronounced by the priest. " Our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath left power to his Church to absolve all
sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his
great mercy forgive thee thine offences ; and by his
authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all
thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." This goes on to
the burial of the dead, when over all that the priest
inters the following words are used : — " Forasmuch as
it hath pleased Almighty God, of his great mercy, to
take to himself the soul of our dear brother here de
parted, we therefore commit his body to the ground,

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DISSENTEES. 229
in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal
life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Again : " We
give thee hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased thee
to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this
sinful world ; beseeching thee, that it may please thee,
of thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the
number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom ;
that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in
him, as our hope is this our brother doth."
Thus it is manifest, that it is one uniform system
of ritualism, from the commencement to the close,
attending the person from the cradle to the grave,
beginning with his introduction into this world, going
on to his entrance into eternity. All that is con
nected with his salvation, or the grace essential to it,
is professed to be given in the administration of the
rites of the Church by her authorized priesthood.
We may illustrate these statements by the follow
ing facts : — " Matthew Mead, an eminent Noncon
formist, was politely addressed by a nobleman : " I
am sorry, sir, that we have not a person of your
abilities with us in the Established Church. They
would be extensively useful there." " You don't,
my lord, require persons of great abilities in the
Establishment." " Why so, sir ? What do you
mean?" "When you christen a child, you rege
nerate it by the Holy Ghost ? When you confirm a
youth, you assure him of God's favour, and the for
giveness of his sins. When you visit a sick person,
you absolve him from all his iniquities ; and when you
bury the dead, you send them all to heaven. Of
what particular service, then, can great abilities be in
your communion ?"
That reasoning of this kind may not be supposed

230 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
to be the mere effect of prejudice, let the words of a
dignitary of the Church be thrown into the balance,
and have their weight. Dr. Tillotson having frankly
owned, in a sermon, that the Dissenters had some
plausible objections against the Common Prayer,
Archbishop Sancroft sent for him to reprimand him.
The doctor stood to what he had asserted. The
Archbishop asked him what parts of the Common
Prayer he meant. He mentioned the burial ser
vice ; upon which the Archbishop owned to him that
he was so little satisfied with that office himself,
that for that very reason he had never taken a cure
of souls. We may here suitably quote a paragraph or two
from Mr. Binney's " Church Life in Australia." " We
cannot accept and subscribe to the Prayer-book, be
cause we take it to mean what it says. It teaches,
as we think (taking, as an instance, one doctrine),
spiritual regeneration in and by baptism ; in, through
the power of the Holy Ghost ; by, by the rite, as the
instrumental cause. We think the book says this
plainly, uniformly, and in various ways; and that-
other things are harmonized with it. We disbelieve
the doctrine ; we refuse, therefore, to subscribe to
the book, not only on this broad and palpable ground,
but as not being able to accept any of the theories
by which, through some underlying, always unex
plained, but possible-to-be understood, condition, or
hypothesis, the book is made to mean what it does
not say, or, to us at least, does not seem to say, if
language is really to be used to express thought, and
not to conceal it. To justify and to vindicate our
nonconformity in this matter, I call before you, then
the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Tasmania, accom-

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DISSENTEES. 231
panied by a friend, whom he wishes to be heard in
vindication of himself. I find him refusing to admit
' that the compilers of the Liturgy were so double-
minded in their dishonesty as to say what they did
not intend; to assert categorically what they meant
hypothetically.' In support of this statement, he
calls forward Dr. Wordsworth, whom he introduces
as one of the soundest theologians of the present day.
The witness thus speaks : ' If the words of the Eng
lish Church, in the Euglish Prayer-book, are not to
be understood in their plain, simple, literal English
sense ; if, when she says, " Seeing, dearly beloved,
this child is now regenerate," she is not to be under
stood to mean that the child is regenerate, then
doubt, suspicion, and scepticism will lurk beneath
her altars, and steal into the most solemn mysteries
of religion, then faith in subscription to Articles
will be no more ; and all confidence in her teach
ing, and in that of her ministers, will be destroyed.
And so a grievous penalty will be inflicted on her,
and them ; a heavy injury will be sustained by her
people, and the English name and nation icill sink
low in the scale of honesty, sincerity, and truth.'
So far, then, as we are concerned, we claim on this
testimony thanks for our dichostasy, i. e., standing
apart ; and do not deserve, we think, ridicule or
abuse. We, at any rate, do what is in us to save
the national character. We will not perpetrate what
in us, according to Dr. Wordsworth, would be to
lift a disloyal and parricidal hand against the repu
tation of our country — against British virtue and the
English name.
" But this is not all. In a charge delivered by the
Bishop of Tasmania, we have the following passage ; —

232 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OF 1662.
' It is perfectly incomprehensible to me how the denier
of baptismal regeneration can make up his mind to use
the services in which the fact is so positively insisted
upon. He must, as it seems to me, speak with doubt
ing lips,- and a misgiving heart. He must surely use
the Church's words, not in that literal and gramma
tical meaning which she so evidently enjoins, but
rather in that non-natural sense, through the applica
tion of which an attempt was made, some years ago,
so to explain away the Articles as to render it possible
for a man to hold any doctrine of Rome, and yet to
subscribe to them. The principles of Tract 90 (for it
is to that which I allude) are, in my judgment, so
essentially dishonest, that I have no mind to wink at
the adoption of their system of interpretation in this
diocese, whether they lean or lead to Rome or Ge
neva.' These," Mr. Binney adds, " are terrible words.
They involve a fearful moral charge — a charge of
adopting and acting on what is ' essentially dishonest,'
and that, too, against the ministers of the altar, of
whom it is to be emphatically required that their yea
be yea, and their nay, nay. But this charge would
lie against us (that is, our own feeling), if, with our
views of the nature of Christianity, and the meaning
of the Prayer-book, we consented to use the words of
the latter. We should, by doing so, place ourselves
in a position where, to one listening to the words that
came from our lips, and knowing at the same time our
inward thought, the making up our mind to be there,
and to say and do what was seen and heard, would be
a thing perfectly incomprehensible. However weak,
then, or ill-taught, or erring we may be, since we
cannot see things in any other light, all that we can
do ; but are obliged to stand with the Bible under

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DISSENTEES. 233
our arm, saying, ' This forbids, as we read it ; we dare
not say that ; God help us !' "*
Such a system we cannot but regard as contrary
to the tenor of the gospel of Christ, which connects
the salvation of fallen man with the administration of
no external rite, but with the personal exercise of
" repentance towards God, and faith towards the Lord
Jesus Christ," the new nature, aud a holy life. The
work of Christ as the Redeemer being the sole ground
of dependence for our acceptance with God, the opera
tions of the Holy Spirit on the heart constituting the
grand efficient cause of the renewal and sanctification
of the soul, and divine truth to be believed, loved,
and obeyed, furnishing the instrument for promoting
this work. While, then, the Church remains as it is,
and resists any change, as if it were infallible, no
Nonconformist who entertains these views can come
any nearer to it. And as such views may yet, as we
hope, more extensively prevail amongst the people,
the numbers of those who stand apart from her com
munion we believe must increase. We know what is the
prestige, the power, the patronage, the wealth of the
Church, the strength of her alliances, and the educa
tional prejudices in her favour, and how much all this
tends to blind the minds of thousands to what we
regard as its errors ; but surely, as the light of truth,
in connection with the spirit of earnest and candid
inquiry increases, there will be greater numbers who
will not quietly acquiesce in such a system as this.
We say this under a full conviction, which we are
most ready to express, that there are many ministers
of the Clou oh that have attained to great eminence
and usefulness, and that there are many of its
* " Church Life in Australia," by T. Binney.

234 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
members among the most devoted followers of the
Saviour. But may we not at the same time ask whether
the antiquity, status, wealth, and titles of the Church
do not have an influence on many of the best men in
it ? men who have a kind feeling towards those that
dissent from them, and who would fain come nearer to
them — an influence such as leads them to think that
all the concessions must come from the other side ?
Is it not regarded as great condescension on their
part, to be willing in any way to meet us ? We are
not to suppose that they can give up much for us,
but we are to give up very much to meet them ! Is
there not reason to look with some surprise on this
state of things ? Is it not strange that they should
still imagine that the great idol of uniformity to their
Church should ever prevail ? Arnold speaks of uni
formity as " a phantom, which has been our curse
ever since the Reformation." That this should be
expected by men who are connected with a Church
united to the State, of which union they can find not
the slightest vestige in the New Testament — a Church
which has certain orders, of which nothing can be
found satisfactory in the Book of God — a Church that
has a ritual that would be condemned by the tenor
of the gospel of Christ, and which the best of her
sons are obliged to use in a non-natural sense, or to
make use of that hypothetically which is there stated
categorically — a Church that has made additions to
divine ordinances, and absolutely requires ceremonial
observances nowhere prescribed in the Scripture — a
Church which has no power to alter anything or
improve anything without the consent of the civil
government, and that treats as nugatory the ministry

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DISSENTEES. 235
of every other Church in the world that does not
adopt episcopal ordination ; — now, for the worthy
ministers or members of that Church to expect that
the conscientious Nonconformist will come under
such a system should be regarded as a most strange
expectation. Such persons, on the contrary, esteem
it as their honour to stand apart from a Church con
nected with the State. The view they take of their
allegiance to Christ, the great Head of the Church,
prevents them from bowing to the civil power in
things sacred. They rather glory in the freedom
they have from all the ritualism of the Church.
They would wish to imbibe the spirit of John Howe,
when he said he could not unite with a Church formed
on so narrow a basis, which prevents communion with
all other Christians that could not submit to every
punctilio it prescribed. They rejoice that they can,
without uniformity, manifest the unity of the Spirit,
and can associate with all in sacred "services, and can
commune with all, in .the ordinances of the gospel
who give evidence that they "love the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity." And they would make it their
earnest prayer, that whatever stands in the way of
the manifest unity of all Christians, as one in the
faith and hope, the spirit and practice of the gospel,
may be speedily removed ; that all may be " endea
vouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace," to the glory of God, by Christ Jesus the
Lord. Recent events have more fully convinced them
that this great object cannot be attained by' the
English Episcopal Church as connected with the
State. The changes necessary cannot be realized ;
the liberty required will not be granted; the influ-

236 THE TWO THOUSAND CONEESSOES OE 1662.
ence of the system tells powerfully against it. There
are, we rejoice to admit, many noble individual excep
tions. All honour to the men whose hearts are too
large to be bound by that which, in theory, they
have adopted. But the system forbids ; and we see
how that system acts on many a heart that would
fain expand, and get beyond it under the influence of
Christian love. But it is drawn back and confined
and the system prevails, and exerts its fearful influ
ence over thousands of minds.
We can see no other way in which the unity of
the Spirit can be maintained, and suitably manifested
to the satisfaction of the servants of Christ in general
only by the renunciation of the system, and embracing
all true Christians, whatever may be the names they
bear, or the forms they adopt, as one in the common
Lord ; and then " standing fast in the liberty where
with Christ has made us free," and never consenting
" to be entangled again with any yoke of bondage " as
would separate us from the communion of the faithful,
wherever found, or prevent us from receiving those
whom Christ has received, to the glory of God.
Amen.

APPENDIX.

THE NUMBEE OE MINISTEES EJECTED EEOM THE
DIEFEEENT COUNTIES OE ENGLAND, ETC.

London, Westminster, anc

Lancashire

. 81

the Borough of South

Leicestershire

. 42

wark

113

Lincolnshire .

. 54

University of Oxford

35

Middlesex*

. 32

University of Cambridge

45

Northamptonshire

. 48

Bedfordshire .

16

Northumberland

. 38

Berkshire

23

Nottinghamshire

30

Buckinghamshire

33

Oxfordshire ,'.

. 23

Cambridgeshire

18

Rutlandshire .

6

Cheshire

44

Shropshire

43

Cornwall

41

Somersetshire

. 99

Cumberland

27
Staffordshire .
. 49
Derbyshire
39
Suffolk .
. 94
Devonshire
137
Surrey .
. 28
Dorsetshire
54
Sussex .
. 76
Durham
18
Warwickshire
. 40
Essex
127
Westmoreland
5
Gloucestershire
52
Wiltshire
56
Hampshire
58
Worcestershire
37
Herefordshire
17
Yorkshire
126
Hertfordshire
32
North Wales .
. 14
Huntingdonshire .
8
South Wales .
64
Kent
78
Ministers omitted
. 36
INDEX.

Act of Uniformity . . ...
Alice Lisle, trial and execution ....
Alleine, Mr. Joseph, persecuted
Anderson, Mr. David, remarkably provided for .
Atkin, Mr., answer to the charge of disloyalty
Autumn of 1685 a season of great trial
Bamfield, Mr. Prancis, greatly persecuted
Baxter, Mr. Richard, before Judge Jeffreys
 in the pulpit ....
¦ opinion on the dispensing power

-«• outwitting a magistrate
refusing to conform

PAGE 25
127 94
142 447703
121167 78
150 29
Birch, Mr. Samuel, humble address to his Lord . . 40
Bristol Broad Mead Church records .... 116
Browning, Mr., letter from prison .... 205
Button, Mr., imprisoned ..... 62
Bury, Mr. Edward, severely fined and goods distrained 105
Bunyan, Mr. John, view of the dispensing power . 80
Cala'my, Mr. Edmund  29
 -. his grandson visiting Nonconformists in prison . 75
 in prison ...... 86
Canonical obedience, oath of, objected to ... 35
Charles I., treatment of the Puritans .... 21
 II., declaration of indulgence ... 70
 restoration of ..... . 22
Church of Scotland, disruption of ix
 circumstances differing from the eject
ment in England . . . . . xi.
Clarke, Mr. Matthew, suffering imprisonment . . 102
Collins, Mr., his persecutions ..... 90
Comfort under a first imprisonment .... 139
Comprehension proposed ..... 65
Conventicle Act ....... 57
 renewed ...... 67
Cousins, Bishop, conversation with John Howe . . 31
Cromwell, Oliver, granting religious liberty ... 22
Danby, Earl of  74
Death of a persecuting magistrate ..... 160
Declaration from Breda  22
Doolittle, Mr. Thomas, addressing a young man from the
pulpit  . . 177
 catechizing . . . 175
 • preaching on love to Christ . . 188
Duel, fatal  .164
Ejectment of the Two Thousand  26
Elizabeth, Queen, determined to obtain uniformity in reli
gion ......... 19
Erskine, Mr. Henry, supplies in time of need . . 144
Fairfax, Mr. John, letter from prison .... 198

239

PARE
142 03 58
61G2
189 169 132 55 19
126 30
133
104 185 187 63
104 33

Eamily provided for ... . .
Fire of London .....
Eive Mile Act ....
 sufferings under it
Flavel, Mr. John, assembly disturbed
 his ecstasy
 successful preaching .
Gaunt, Mrs., burnt at the stake ....
Hare, Archdeacon, on the Act of Uniformity .
Henry VIII. making himself Pope in England .
Henry, Mr. Matthew, visiting Baxter in prison
 ¦ Philip, ejected, his reasons
 conduct of Jeffreys towards him
 goods distrained ....
 his regular services ....
 example to his children ....
 preaching in a church with Mr. Lawrence
 ¦  prosecuted under the Conventicle Act
Heywood, Mr. Nathaniel, could not conform .
 persecuted .... 103
Heywood, Mr. Oliver, satisfied with his Nonconformity 68
 his trials .... 109
Hieks, Mr. John, his wife ..... 47
High Commission Court and Star Chamber . 19
Howe, Mr. John, ejected ...... 30
 reasons stated ... 31
Howe and Tillotson ... . . 181
— ¦  opinion on the dispensing power 79
 occasional Bervices when leaving for
Ireland  179
 remarkable experience . . . 188
Huguenots in France massacred — Introduction . . iii
Ince, Mr., pleasing discovery . ... 140
Infalhbility  18
James I. coming to the throne . . 20
James I., conduct towards the Puritans . 21
 persecution of ... . 21
' James II., dispensing power claimed . . 78
 Mr. John, persecuted ... 99
Jenkyn, Mr. William, death in prison . . 119
Jollie, Mr. Thomas, ingenious contrivance . . 148
Jones, Mr. Samuel, letter on his Nonconformity 49
Keeling, Mrs.  46
Kiffin, Mr. William, sent for to the palace . . 80
Laud, Archbishop ..... .21
Lawrence, Mr., his eleven good reasons for Conformity 32 .
Locke, Mr. John, on the Act of Uniformity . . 53
Lye, Mr., his Nonconformity ...... 44
Magistrate, persecuting, outwitted by Baxter . 150
Maidwell, Mr. Thomas, persecuted  101

240

INDEX.

Maidwell, Mr. Thomas, letter to his people
Maurice, Mr. Henry, providential deliverance
¦  Mrs 

Newcomen, piety and preaching
Noblemen disliking the terms of Conformity
Norman, Mr. John ......
Nosworthy, Mr., persecution through which he passed
Objections to the Book of Common Prayer
Oldfield, Mr. John, soliloquy ....
Oppressive measures . . .
Owen, Mr. Hugh, letter as his last legacy
 Dr. John, closing scene, last letter to his peopl<
Persecution increasing .....
Persecutor discouraged .....
Plague in London ......
Pleasing discovery ......
Policy of the Court ......
Presbyterian ordination recognized by the Church
Principles on which the ejected ministers acted
Protestant exiles returned .....
Providential deliverances .....
Remarkable interpositions . . . .
Reproach silenced .......
Review of ecclesiastical affairs ....
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ....
Rogers, Mr. John, and Justice Cradock
Sacheverel, Mr. Timothy, persecuted
Severities increased ......
Severity, additional, by a new Act of Uniformity .
Sherwood, Mr. Joseph
Shuttlewood, Mr., persecuted ....
Smart repartee .......
Supplies in time of need .....
Taverner, Mr., sentenced to Newgate
Taylor, Rev. Isaac, on the Act of Uniformity .
Test Act passed 
Tooley, Mrs., remarkable narrative
Uniformity, attempts to establish it
Vaughan, on the Act of Uniformity
Views of Nonconformists .....
Vincent, Mr. Thomas, preaching during the plague
Ward, Mr. Ralph, letter to his people
Weeks, Mr. John, persecuted ....
Watts, Mr. Isaac 
Wilde, Dr., lines on Mr. Calamy' s imprisonment .
Wilkins, Bishop, conversation with Howe .
Wilson, Mr. William, persecuted
Worts, Mr. R., persecuted 
Harrild, Printer, Loudon.

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WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 15
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WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 17
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WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 23
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WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 25
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 Life 6f Rev. William Milne, D.D., Missionary
to China. With Biographical Annals of Asiatic Missions
from Primitive to Protestant Times. Post 8vo, cloth,
7s. 6d.
Phillippo.— Jamaica ; its Past and Present State.
By Rev. James Phillippo. Third Thousand, with many
Engravings, post 8vo, cloth, 8s. 6d.
Polynesia ; or, Missionary Toils and Triumphs in the South
Seas. A Poem. Post 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d.
Pritcbabd. — The Missionary's Reward ; or, The Suc
cess of the Gospel in the Pacific. By George Pritchard,
Esq., Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at the Navigator's
Islands, South Seas. With an Introduction by Rev. J. A.
James. Second Thousand, beautifully illustrated, fcap.
Svo, cloth, 4a. 0

26 WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW.
Procrastination; or, The Vicar's Daughter. A Tale.
Fourth Edition, with Frontispiece, fcap. 8vo, cloth elegant,
3s. 6d.
Raleigh.— The Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen
thereof. A Sermon, delivered at Canonbury Chapel, on
the occasion of the Death of Rev. John Angell James. By
Rev. Alexander Raleigh^ 8vo, Is.
 God's Purpose and Man's Opportunity.
A Sermon, preached in Surrey Chapel, before the Directors
and Friends of the London Missionary Society, May 8th,
1861. Fourth Thousand, crown 8vo, sewed, 6d.
Redford. — Light Beyond : Thoughts to Guide and Cheer.
By Rebecca M. Redford. 18mo, cloth, 2s.
" God speed this little book, with its words of wisdom and
of love." — Evangelical Magazine.
" These pages will soothe the mourner, stimulate the luke
warm, and cheer the depressed." — British Mothers' Journal.
" A volume refreshing to the spirit in a very unusual de
gree." — British Standard.
 True Greatness: a Brief Memoir of the late
Rev. John Angell James. By Rev. George Redford, D.D.,
LL.D. 18mo, 6d.
Rees. — History of Protestant Nonconformity in
Wales, from its Rise to the Present Time. By Rev. Thomas
Rees, Beaufort, Monmouthshire. One large volume, demy
8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.
" This work teems with the lives of some of the greatest men
Wales ever produced, and whose Christian labours and over
whelming eloquence have, under God, made the Principality
what it is, in all that is holy and true. Mr. Rees deserves the
tribute of gratitude from the universal Church for such a work
as this — a work which must have cost him immense research,
and which he has executed with the modesty and charm of true
genius, and the enthusiasm of a patriotic Christian Welshman."
— The Homilist.
"It is the result of much reading, research, and thought, and
will live as a valuable memorial on its subject. It abounds in
information concerning the religious history of Wales, and in
formation of the deepest interest not accessible to the English
student elsewhere." — Tlie British Quarterly Review.

WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 27
Rest in Christ for the Weary. By a Clergyman. 18mo,
6d. ; cloth gilt, Is.
Richardson.— The Wreck of the " Royal Charter."
A Narrative of the Disaster, together with its Practical
Lessons, and a List of the Passengers. By Rev. J. W.
Riohardson. Second Edition, 4d.
Roap.— The Sunday School Question Book, Bible
Class Manual, and Family Cateohist. By Rev. William
Roaf. 3d. ; cloth, 6d. ; interleaved with ruled paper,
cloth, 9d.
Robinson.— The Works of John Robinson, the Pastor
of the Pilgrim Fathers, with a Memoir and Annotations by
Rev. Robert Ashton. 3 vols, post 8vo, cloth, 9s.
Sargeant.— Mamma's Lessons on the History and
Geography of Palestine, and other Places mentioned in the
Bible. In simple and familiar conversation. By Anna
Maria Sargeant. With Map and Illustrations, square fcap.
8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
 A Word in Season : being a Faithful and Affec
tionate Address to Young People, on leaving Sabbath
Schools, etc. 18mo, cloth, Is.
Smith. — Life Spiritual. By Rev. George Smith. Small
8vo, cloth, 5s.
" A piece of rich practical theology, demanded by the spirit
and tendencies of the age, well adapted to nourish the life of
God in the soul unto its final and everlasting perfection." —
Church of England Quarterly Review.
 (J.) Beauties of Sacred Story; or, Family
Pictures from the Bible. By John Smith, LL.D. Fcap.
8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
 (J. D.) — A Voice from the Alps ; or, The Vaudois
Valleys. With Scenes by the Way of Lands and Lakes
Historically Associated. By Rev. J. Denham Smith. Fcap.
8vo, cloth, 3s.
 Connemara ; its Scenery and History. With
a Detailed Account of its present, Protestant Reformation.
Second Edition, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s.
 (S.)— Psalms and Chants, arranged and adapted
for Congregational and Private Use. By Samuel Smith,
Bradford. Fcap. 8vo, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d.

28 WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW.
Smith (T.)— The History of Joseph. Viewed in Con
nection with the Antiquities of Egypt, and the Customs of
the Times in which he lived. By Rev. Thornley Smith.
Third Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.
" The work is written under the full light of the most recent
archaeological discoveries, modern scholarship, and theological
science. It is the book on the subject ; we know of nothing
which could take its place." — Homilist.
"We do not hesitate to pronounce this a volume of great
merit. It was time that recent discoveries should be brought
to bear on the elucidation of the history of Joseph. The volume,
viewed in reference to the particular task it undertakes, is not
likely to be soon superseded in value and interest." — News of
the Churches.
" No Sunday-school teacher who is desirous of interesting
his or her pupils in the early vicissitudes of the Hebrew peoplo
should be without a copy of this work." — Youth's Magazine.
Spence. — The Religion for Mankind: Christianity
adapted to Man in all the Aspects of his being. By Rev.
James Spence, D.D. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 4s.
 The Tractarian Heresy ; A Voice from Oxford.
Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 3s.
Martha Dryland; or, Strength in Quietness.

Memorials of a Sunday-School Teacher. 18mo, cloth
lettered, Is.
Stoughton. — Philip Doddridge : his Life and Labours.
A Centenary Memorial. By Rev. John Stoughton.
Second Edition, with Two Engravings, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s.
Storrow.— India and Christian Missions. By Rev.
Edward Storrow. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
"This is, without exception, the most truthful book on
Indian Missions, published for purely English readers, which
we have met with." — Calcutta Review.
" A volume of deep and abiding interest. The information
contained in it has perhaps never before been given so com
pletely in so compact a form." — Freeman.

WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 29
Storrow. — The Eastern Lily Gathered ; a Memoir of
Bala Shoondore Tagore. With Observations on tho Posi
tion and Prospects of Hindoo Female Society. Second
Edition, much enlarged, 18mo, cloth, Is. 6d.
Stratten. — The Scriptural Argument against
Apostolical Succession, in its Fabulous Genealogy, its
Claim of Supremacy for Peter, its Graduated Scale of
Ministerial Orders, and its Perversion of the Rite of Lay
ing on of Hands. By Rev. Thomas Stratten. Fcap. 8vo,
cloth, 4s.
Takbotton— The Bible and its History; the Manu
script Literature, Translation, and Early Printing of the
Sacred Volume. By Rev. W. Tarbotton. 18mo, cloth,
gilt edges, Is.
Temple. — The Christian's Daily Treasury ; being a
Religious Exercise for Every Day iu the Year. By the
late Rev. E. Temple. Third Edition, 12mo, cloth, 5s. 6d.
 Sermons on various Subjects. Selected from
his Manuscripts. With a Biographical Sketch of the
Author, by his Widow. Royal 12mo, cloth, 6s.
The Three Kingdoms, with an Allegory. A Book for
the Young. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 3s.
The Teacher's Farewell: A Parting Gift to Elder
Scholars on their Leaving the Sunday School. Third
Edition, 18mo, cloth, gilt edges, 2s.
Thomson. — The Soul: its Nature and Destinies. By Rev
P. Thomson, A.M. Small 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d.
"A fine sample of clear thinking, logical precision of argu
ment, and forcible inculcation of Scriptural doctrine." — Evan
gelical Magazine.
Thoughts on the Holy Spirit and his Work. By
the Author of "Thuughts upon Thought." Royal 12mo,
cloth, 5s. 6d. c 2

30 WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW.
Turner.— Nineteen Years in Polynesia. Missionary
Life, Travels, and Researches in the Islands of the Pacific.
By Rev. George Turner, LL.D., of the London Missionary
Society. With many illustrations, 8vo, cloth, 12s.
"We cordially recommend this volume to the friends of
Christian missions as one of the most interesting that has ap
peared in our day." — Scottish Guardian.
" It takes up the narrative of the Polynesian missions at the
point at which it was broken off by the death of the lamented
John Williams, and in no inferior or unworthy manner, carries
it forward to the present day. The ethnology, linguistic pecu
liarities, traditions, mythology, and manners and customs of the
people, are described in a very graphic and spirited manner." —
Baptist Magazine.
" A volume of abiding interest, entertaining, instructive, en
couraging, guiding, historical. The linguist, the ethnologist,
and the naturalist, will find much in these pages to repay the
perusal ; but eminently, and before all, it is a missionary
work." — Wesleyan Times.
" Among missionary books we do not know one of more in
terest and value ; nor have we read for a long time any book of '
ordinary travel which more delighted us." — Scottish Press.
" No reader will put down the volume without wishing the
author a hearty ' God-speed.' " — Record.
" It takes rank with the great missionary works of Williams,
Moffat, Buyers, and Livingstone, and combines in itself the
chief distinctive excellencies of each. It ought to be in every
minister's study, in every Christian's drawing-room, and in
every congregational and public library." — Scottish Review.
" This is a deeply interesting record of the progress of the
Gospel in Tana, Samoa, and other parts of Western Polynesia,
during a most eventful period ; containing an account of the
marvellous preservation of the author and his companions on
the former island ; to which are added valuable ethnological and
other notices of Samoa and the adjacent islands." — Rev. W. Ellis.
Timpson.— Memoirs of One Hundred Eminent
Sunday-School Teachers. With Two Essays : — 1st. On the
Importance of Sunday Schools. 2nd. On the Office of
Sunday-School Teaching. By Rer. Thomas Timpson.
Third Thousand, 18mo, cloth, 2s. 6d.

WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 31
Timpson.— The Youth's Key to the Bible; moluding
the Evidences and History of the Sacred Books, and a
Dictionary of every Important Word in the Old and New
Testaments. Adapted for the Use of Families, Schools,
and Bible Classes. Ninth Thousand, 18mo, Is. ; cloth,
Is. 6d.
 What have I to do with Missions ? Exhibit
ing the Miseries and Degradation of the Heathen Nations,
and the Duty of all to support Christian Missions. With
Ten Engravings, 18mo, cloth, gilt edges, Is.
Toller.— Expository Discourses on the Epistle to
the Philippians. By Rev. Thomas Toller. Fcap. 8vo,
boards, 3s. 6d.
The Unity of the Faith ; or, Jesus as the Manifestation
of God in all Ages. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s.
The Virgin Widow ; or, The Triumphs of Gospel Truth
over Hindoo Ascetic Superstition. A Poem. By a
Christian Missionary. 18mo, cloth, gilt edges, 2s.
Voyages and Travels Round the World. By Rev.
Daniel Tyerman, and George Bennett, Esq., deputed from
the London Missionary Society to visit their various Sta
tions in the South Sea Islands, China, India, etc. Compiled
from Original Documents, by James Montgomery, Esq.
Revised Edition, with Twenty-six Engravings, royal 8vo, 7s.;
cloth, 8s.
Waddington. — Emmaus ; or, Communion with the Saviour
at Eventide. By Rev. John Waddington. Fcap. 8vo,
cloth, 4s.
 The Hebrew Martyrs; or, The Triumph of
Principle. 18mo, cloth, Is.
" It abounds in great principles, in original thoughts, and
striking illustrations ; a fine example, and a meet present for
young men." — Christian Witness.

32 WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW.
Waite.— The Hallelujah ; or, Devotional Psal
mody : now complete in Four Parts. A Collection of 395
Choice and Standard Tunes, Ancient and Modern, 63
Chants, 4 Sanctuses, 2 Doxologies, an Anthem, an Ode,
and 2 renderings of the Te Deum Laudamus. Selected,
Composed, Arranged, and Edited by Rev. J. J. Waite, and
Henry John Gauntlett, Mus. Doc. The 4 Parts
Each Part, in one vol.
Imperial 8vo, Vocal Score and Accompani- s. d. £ s. d.
ment, with Words, fine paper, handsome
cloth boards, gilt  5 0 10 0
Super Royal 8vo, Vocal Score and Accom
paniment, with Words, limp cloth . .30 0120
Demy 8vo, Vocal Score, Figured, limp cloth 2 0 0 8 0
 — Treble, Alto, Tenor, or Bass Vocal
Parts, Figured, limp cloth, each . .10 0 4 0
The Original Edition of the above, containing 100
Classical Tunes and Chants, and Two Essays on Psalmody.
Vocal Score, with or without Organ Accompaniment, 2s. ;
cloth, 2s. 6d.
 Hymns for the Tunes in the Hallelujah.
In Four Parts, limp cloth, 9d. ; gilt edges, Is. each part ;
or, bound together, 3s. and 4s.
 Instructions in Psalmody. In the Form of
Directions for the Teacher of a Class, intended as a Com
panion to the Original Edition of the Hallelujah ; the Treble
Melodies of which it contains. Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d.

Ward.— Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro : his
Anti-Slavery Labours in the United States, Canada, and
England. By Samuel Ringgold Ward. With Portrait,
post 8vo, cloth, 6s. 6d.
Wight. — Genesis [and Geology : a Reconciliation of
Two Records. By Rev. George Wight. Fcap. 8vo,
cloth, 5s.

WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW. 33
Williams.— (De Kewer.)— The Basis of the Evan
gelical Alliance ; a System of Theology without Sectarian
ism. In Eleven Discourses. By Rev. J. De Kewer
Williams. Fcap. 8vo, oloth, 3s. 6d.
Mutual Christianity ; or, the Duties of Christians

one to another. 18mo, Is. ; oloth, Is. 6d.
(Jas.)— The Way to Life :] the Great Question

Answered. By Rev. James Williams, 18mo, sewed, 6d.
Willtams. — A Narrative of Missionary Enter
prises in the South Sea Islands ; with Remarks upon the
Natural History of the Islands, and the Origin, Languages,
Traditions, and Usages of the Inhabitants. By Rev. John
Williams, of the London Missionary Society. Beautifully
Illustrated. Forty-fifth Thousand, post 8vo, cloth, 8s.
Cheap Edition, royal 8vo, 2s. 6d. ; cloth, 3s. 6d. Original
8vo Edition, in morocco, 21s.
" He knew not whether he would not willingly put away at
least half the folios which he possessed, rather than part with
one volume which had recently been published by the Missionary
Williams." — Archbishop of Canterbury at the Bible Meeting.
" This is one of the few books which must give the philanthro
pist unmixed pleasure. The subject is the civilization of the
most barbarous section of the human race : and we are lost in
admiration when we consider the great degree of it that has
been attained." — Atlas.
" As a book of travels, this is one of the most lively and en
tertaining we have ever read. But as a record of the wonderful
changes effected in many of the islands of the South Seas by the
introduction of Christianity, it possesses a far deeper interest,
and deserves to rank among the most remarkable histories illus
trative of the» progress of civilization and the power of the
gospel. Mr. W.'s book is written with admirable candour,
simplicity, and good sense. It contains much information of
use to the naturalist, the philologist, and the moral philosopher.
But, above all, it is unspeakably interesting to the Christian." —
Leeds Mercury.

34 WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW.
Williams.— Memoirs of the Life of Rev. John
Williams, Missionary to Polynesia. Compiled from his
Journals, Correspondence, and other Authentic Sources.
fy Rev. E. Prout. With Portrait, etc., 8vo, cloth, 12s. ;
morocco, 21s. Cheap Edition, royal 8vo, 3s. ; cloth, 4s.
" We feel greatly indebted to Mr. Prout for this valuable
effort of his pen. He has done honour to himself, while he has
conferred a lasting obligation on the Christian church." — Evan
gelical Magazine.
" It is truly an awakening, heart-stirring tale of missionary
enterprise." — Christian Lady's Magazine.
" As a record of bold and enterprising genius, his biography
may rank beside the history of Columbus or Cook. As a nar
rative of skilful ingenuity, it more than realizes the romance of
Robinson Crusoe. As a specimen of the best kind of decision
of character, there is, perhaps, not a more useful study
furnished in the annals of uninspired men. As an example of
successful effort in the work of extending the gospel, we must
go back eighteen hundred years to find its parallel. We welcome,
then, with no common satisfaction, a volume containing a large
amount of such information as the churches have longed to
possess. Mr. Prout has executed his task with taste, judgment,
and ability." — Christian Journal.
"To the work before us the curious as well as the serious
reader will resort." — Monthly Review.
" The materials are abundant, and the arrangement of them
could scarcely have fallen into better hands than those of Mr.
Prout. In the volume before us he has shown himself pos
sessed of some, of the finest qualities of a biographer. Mr.
Prout's work reflects high honour upon himself, and is a valu
able gift to the church of Christ." — Scottish Congregational
Magazine. " To the honour of Mr. Prout we must say he has produced
a memoir every way worthy of the ' manly man ' whose character
it enshrines. It is a most enchanting piece of biography." —
Sunday School Magazine.
" We regard the work as a highly excellent and judicious life
of a great man and an honoured missionary, fitted to be most
extensively useful to the churches of Christ." — United Secession
Magazine. "A book that -must command attention. No missionary
library will have any claim to completeness without the ' Memoir
of John Williams.' " — Watchman.

WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW 35
Wilson.— A Narrative of the Greek Misa:0n; or,
Sixteen Years in Malta and Greece. Including Tours in
the Poloponnesus, in the 2Egean and Ionian Isles, He. By
Rev. S. S. Wilson. Second Thousand, illustrate -l ' h™
cloth, 12s. ' - '
 (T.)— A Memoir of the Life and Character
of the late Thomas Wilson, Esq., Treasurer of Highbury
College. By his Son. Second Edition, with Portrait, 8vo,
cloth, 8s.

THE CHILDREN'S MISSIONARY HYMN BOOK. Id.
MARY GUTZLAFF, THE BLIND CHINESE GIRL. Id.
LUCY GUTZLAFF, THE BLIND CHINESE GIRL. Id.
THE LITTLE GIRLS'. MISSIONARY MEETING. Six
Engravings, 3d.
AFRICAN STORIES. By Rev. R. Moepat. 2d.
THE BANISHED COUNT. By the Author of " Peep of
Day." 3d.
THE BIBLE, THE BOOK OF THE LORD. Six Engra
vings. 2d.
MISSIONARY STORIES FOR THE YOUNG, in a Packet
containing 25. Is.
THE MISSIONARY SHIP "JOHN WILLIAMS." Her
History ; Valedictory Services ; Voyage down the River,
etc., with an Engraving. 6d.
THE RETURN TO ENGLAND OF THE MISSIONARY
SHIP "JOHN WILLIAMS." An Account of her
Voyages during Three Years, as related by Captain
Mohgan, and Rev. Messrs. Barijt?, Buzacott, and Mills.
6d.

MAGAZINES PUBLISHED MONTHLY.
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36 WORKS PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW.

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