1Aa\X4jj

/£?{.

This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in
cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You
may not reproduce this digitized copy of the book for
any purpose other than for scholarship, research,
educational, or, in limited quantity, personal use. You
may not distribute or provide access to this digitized copy
(or modified or partial versions of it) for commercial purposes.

/

yiooy'O^iO'oO'Oysw

SPIRITUAL HEROES

OR,

SKETCHES ORJffiE -PURITANS,
/-•%.-¦ ¦-¦ ,
L A- *.„.----" ;
THEIR (CHARACTER AND TIMES.
\ / . •' » >j< - *- - /
v^ * i .. , ; , ¦ s---
BY JOHN STOUGHTON.
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY LETTER,
BY JOEL HAWES, D.D.

" Hah I these men, 1 think, had a work.— History will have somethiug to say about this
for some time to come."— CARLYLE.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD,
BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, OPPOSITE CITY HALL.
184S.

r-

"> p-->a
i-7 5\ - p

STEREOTYPED BY THOMAS B. SMITH,
216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y.

INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

Hartford, July 18tti, 1848.
Mr. M. W. Dodd,
Deae Sir: — The Volume entitled " Spiritual He
roes," is indeed one of the most readable books that has
come in my way for a long time. It is written in a style
of elegant simplicity, in an excellent Christian spirit, and
abounds with incidents of thrilling and instructive inte
rest. It is not a continuous historical narrative, but rather
a series of paintings, presenting in strong and vivid colors
some of the principal characters and events which are
recorded in the annals of English history in the times of
the Puritans and Nonconformists. No portion of Eng
lish history deserves to be studied more attentively than
this. It relates to a period when great principles were
struggling into birth ; wheji that liberty was asserted
and maintained which has, for so long a time, blessed
our happy land, and which is now extending a like boon
to other nations of the earth. No better service could
well be done our countrymen than to make them, and
especially the rising youth, thoroughly acquainted with
the times to which this volume relates. And I would,
could I make my voice to be heard in the length and
breadth of our land, in the language of the accomplished

IV INTRODUCTORY LETTER.
author, earnestly invite the youth thereof to study the
lives and sufferings of their forefathers, those exiled con
fessors and martyrs, in whose humble annals they will
find much of truth to instruct their understanding, and
much of romantic beauty to kindle their imaginations,
(little as that quality is generally thought to be allied
to Puritanism and Nonconformity,) and much of Chris
tian heroism to thrill their hearts and elevate their piety.
From such a study they would learn what freedom is,
what freedom cost, from what principles our freedom
sprung, and by what means it is to be preserved to bless
those who are to come after us.
Believing, as I do, that this volume of Mr. Stoughton's,
(I know nothing of the author beyond this production
of his pen, which you propose to republish,) is happily
adapted to be useful to all who read it, I would gladly
do any thing in my power to secure for it a wide circu
lation. For this an elaborate introduction is not needed.
Such an introduction would be like placing a clumsy
vestibule in front of a beautiful Grecian temple. No ;
let your readers enter the temple first, and they will
thank you for not detaining them without, when there is
so much within to gratify the taste, enrich the mind, and
make the heart better. I cordially recommend the vol
ume to all who love fine writing, noble sentiments, and
a knowledge of such characters as truly deserve the
name of " Spiritual Heroes." Affectionately yours,
J. HAWES.

PREFACE.

The law of optics is reversed in history. The events
and characters of a past age are often more accurately
discerned, and more correctly appreciated, than the cir
cumstances which now surround us and the men among
whom we live. Hence we meet with persons, who, while
they brand with the stigma of fanaticism certain classes
among the living, are quite prepared to bind the wreath of
honor round the memories of men similar in sentiment and
character, but who are now numbered among the dead.
The remark forcibly applies to the judgment formed ofthe
Puritans. Contemporaries traduced and villified them.
Historians of the next age, influenced by prejudice, gave
to these calumnies implicit credence. But time has been
gradually removing the old Puritans to a. distance which
subdues the force of passion in the mind of the beholder ;
and historical research, especially of late, has brought
facts to light which have tended to vindicate them from
the unjust 'charges preferred by their enemies. Thus
public opinion has, to some extent, been rectified in refer
ence to these memorable characters. They are emerging
from the clouds of slander — their virtue and heroism be
gin to excite general admiration : but it must not be for
gotten that much more remains to be done by the historian
before the debt of justice will be fully paid to their long-
dishonored names.
The Puritans, taking the word in its old-fashioned and
comprehensive signification, saved England in the seven
teenth century from a relapse into Popery. On this ac
count they deserve to be honored and loved by the Protes
tants of the present day. In all probability the salvation
of England from such a relapse in the nineteenth century

VI PREFACE.
will depend, under God, upon the men who imbibe their
sentiments, and emulate their piety and heroism. From
the beginning, Puritanism has been the soul of English
Protestantism, and therefore its history deserves to be dil
igently studied, and its spirit gratefully revered, by all
who really value the cause of the Reformation.
It is not the design of the Author to write a history of
the Puritans. He would venture only on a few sketches
of their character and times, chiefly with a view to illus
trate their spiritual heroism. It has struck him that there
are names and incidents in Puritan annals deserving more
attention than they have received. Some of these are
introduced in the following chapters : they will be found
to reflect honor on the cause with which they are identi
fied, and to purify and elevate the mind employed in con
templating them. It would have been easy to multiply
sketches of this kind, but in order to bring the work within
proper limits the Author has had to reject several which
suggested themselves to his mind. He has not confined
himself to the highways of history, but has wandered fre
quently into bye-paths, where interesting objects have
attracted and repaid his humble researches. In executing
his task he has attempted the painting rather than the
sculpture of history, not confining himself to the exhibition
of groups in bold relief, or in forms of statuary, but aiming
to represent alike the men and the times in which they
lived, combining them as in a picture — the former consti
tuting the leading figures, the latter the background ofthe
composition. Guizot speaks of the anatomy, the physi
ology, and the physiognomy of history — very important
distinctions for the historian to remember. It is that
branch of the pictorial art of history which represents the
last of these that the Author ventures to attempt. He
would fain paint his heroes as living men, "their souls
beaming in their countenances, and vividly transfer to
others the deep impressions which they have made upon
his own mind.
The materials for the volume now laid before the public
have been collected partly from our standard historical
authorities, and partly from unpublished documents and

local tradition, as well as scarce and curious tracts.
During a visit last summer to the county of Norfolk, the
Author was permitted to search the Corporation books of
his native city, and the ecclesiastical records of the Old
Meeting-house. He was also favored by his friend, Joseph
Davy, Esq. of Yarmouth, with the use of three valuable
MS. volumes: — 1. A history of St. Nicholas' Church;
2. A copy of the Church-book of the Independent meeting-
House, Jail-street ; and 3. Materials for a History of the
Suffolk Churches, by the Rev. Thos. Harmer, of Wattis-
field, the learned author of the Observations on Scripture.
From these sources the Author derived most valuable
assistance, especially in the chapter on the East Anglian
Churches, which, indeed, is almost entirely drawn up flglm
these documents. There can be no doubt that many val
uable papers of this kind are in existence; and it would
be well if persons accustomed to antiquarian researches
would devote themselves to this neglected branch of in
quiry, and thus collect and preserve materials of an order
greatly to assist the future historians of Puritan hfe and
times. The Author feels that his thanks are especially
due to the gentlemen already named, as well as to the
Rev. J. Russell, of Yarmouth, who kindly assisted him in
his inquiries, and also to the Rev. Dr. Raffles, Joshua
Wilson, Esq., and other friends, for the loan of MSS. and
rare books. For the beautiful etching which forms the
frontispiece, he is indebted to Miss Brightwell, of Norwich,
whose taste he has no need to praise, but whose kindness
he would gratefully acknowledge.
In the selection of his materials and the mode of em
ploying them, he has especially sought to interest the
youthful part of the community. Earnestly would he
invite them to study the lives and sufferings of these exiled
confessors and martyrs, in whose humble annals they will
find much of truth to instruct their understanding, and
much of romantic beauty to kindle their imaginations,
(little as that quality is generally thought to be allied to
Puritanism and Nonconformity,) and much of Christian
heroism to thrill their hearts and elevate their piety.
On reviewing his labors, the Author can fully sympa-

VIII PREFACE.
thize with the equally ingenious and ingenuous Abraham
Tucker, in his characteristic confession, — '• While the de
sign of these dissertations lay in embryo in my head, they
promised a much more shining appearance than I find
them make now I can review them upon paper. " He there
fore submits his work to the public with great diffidence,
conscious that, though his conceptions of the theme in the
first instance were very imperfect, their expression in the
following pages is still more so.
In conclusion, while the Author would bespeak the
candor of his readers, he would, above all, invoke the
blessing of God. The cause of Puritanism is the cause
of spiritual religion. The men in question were greatly
bej$ved of Heaven. To exhibit their characters in the
true light, to revive or perpetuate the memory of their
excellence, is an act of piety. To the favor of Him, then,
who is the God of truth, and to whom the names of His
saints are precious, this work is humbly and devoutly
commended. " For all is in his hand, whose praise I seek, —
Whose frown can disappoint the proudest strain,
Whose approbation prosper even mine."

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Page
The Islington Congregation  11
CHAPTER II.
The Three Martyrs   31
CHAPTER III.
Pilgrim Fathers  61
CHAPTER IV.
The Church in Southwark  88
CHAPTER V.
The Brave Lord Brooke  96
CHAPTER VI.
The Westminster Assembly  116
CHAPTER VII.
Oxford under Owen  146
CHAPTER VIII.
East Anglian Churches  181

X CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
Page
Black Bartholomew  216
Chapter .x.
The Plague Year . . . . •  235
CHAPTER XI.
Tolerance and Persecution  , . ¦ 256
CHAPTER XII.
The Three Death-beds . . . :  285
CHAPTER XIII.
The Three Graves  303
APPENDIX  ; . . 319

r

SPIRITUAL HEROES.
CHAPTER I.
THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION".
It was on May-day, a. d. 1558,* when Mary occupied
the throne of England, that " a certain companie of godlie
and innocent persons, to the number of forty men and
women," met together in a back close in the field near
St. John's Wood, by the town of Islington. Wonderful
changes have been wrought since then in the whole of the
neighborhood. The " Iseldon" of that day was a pretty
little village, surrounded by fields sprinkled with gardens,
wherein, as Stow informs us, " were built many fair sum
mer-houses, some of them like midsummer pageants, with
towers, turrets, and chimney-tops, not so much for use or
profit, as for show and pleasure." On the return of
spring, the Londoners loved to ramble amidst its rural
scenes, and to drink in the balmy breezes which swept
over from the Highgate hills ; and, in the merry month of
May, many a light-hearted group of citizens might be seen
going up Goswell-street, with "its alleys, banqueting-
houses, and bowling-places," to gather, in the fields and
gardens round Islington, branches and flowers for their
gardens. And on May-day the richly-garnished May-pole
* Foxe, ii. 1850. Roger Holland's examination.

12 SPIRITUAL heroes.
was duly erected on the green, gathering round it the
youths and maidens of the village to celebrate their an
cient games.
But it was for a far different purpose that the company
had assembled in that back close. " They were," says
John Foxe, " sitting together at prayer, and solemnly oc
cupied in the meditation of God's holy Word." They
were earnest souls, recently emancipated from the bond
age of Popery — a band of worshippers, tired of the idola
try and formalism of the Papal Church, and convinced
that they who worship the Father must worship Him in
spirit and in truth — a band of students, weary of the men
tal slavery of Rome, and thirsting for a full acquaintance
with the Book that God had given them. For centuries
the Bible had been withheld from the people. The story
told of the Cathach, a MS. of the Psalms, said to be writ
ten by St. Columba, the great Irish saint, may be taken
as symbolical of the history of the Scriptures throughout
the mediaeval period. Enshrined in a magnificent case,
carried as a sacred standard before the warrior in battle,
employed as a solemn sanction in the taking of oaths, the
Cathach was preserved in the highest veneration from age
to age ; but it was strictly forbidden, under pain of some
awful calamity, that the mysterious volume should ever
be opened. So had the Bible throughout the middle ages
been treated. It was reverenced, but it was closed.
There were, however, many at the time of which we speak,
like the Islington worthies, who had broken the spell, and
had dared to open the sealed book.
The parties who met in the woods of Islington to feed
upon the truth, assembled there from necessity, not from
choice — they were under the ban of persecution. Their
faith exposed them to the charge of heresy — their worship
to the charge of schism. So numerous had been the re-

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGjVTION. 13
cent examples of burning people for such crimes, that
they, were well aware of the peril they incurred. They
belonged to a party of Christians, to whom frequent refer
ence is made in the documents connected with the early
history of English Protestantism. " Although," says
George Withers, in his letter to the Prince Elector Pala
tine, speaking of the reign of Queen Mary, " the Church
seemed at first to be entirely overthrown, and the godly
were dispersed in every quarter, yet a congregation of
some importance collected itself in London, chose its min
isters by common consent, appointed deacons, and in the
midst of enemies, more sharp-sighted than Argus, and
more cruel than Nero, the Church of God was again re
stored entire ; and, in a word, complete in all its parts.
And though it was often dispersed by the attacks of its
enemies, and a very great number of its members perished
at the stake, it nevertheless grew and increased every
day."* This Congregational Church had to worship in secret,
and remarkable instances of the providential escape of its
members are related by Foxe. At Blackfriars, about Aid-
gate, and in a cloth-worker's loft in a strait alley, " near
the Great Conduit of sweet water in Cheape" they assem
bled privately, and were detected by spies, but through
"the Lord's vigilant providence the mischief was pre
vented, and they delivered." " Another like escape they
made in a ship at Billingsgate, belonging to a certain good
man of Ley, where, in the open sight of the people, they
were congregated together, and yet through God's mighty
power escaped. Betwixt Radcliffe and Redriffe, in a ship,
called Jesus's ship, (so they had a floating chapel in
those times,) twice or thrice they assembled, having there
closely, after their accustomed manner, both sermon,
* See Note [1], at the end of the Volume.
3

14 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
prayer, and communion, and yet, through the protection
of the Lord, they returned, although not unespied, yet un-
taken." The numbers which assembled on different occasions va
ried from forty to two hundred. Their prospects and in
crease, from time to time, are distinctly noticed by Foxe and
others. Nor did they lack a succession of strong-hearted
men to watch over them in the pastoral office, despite of
persecution and death. The list of their honorable names
has been preserved : Scambler, afterwards Bishop of Pe
terborough, whence he was translated to the see of Nor
wich ; Fowler, whose name alone remains ; John Rough,
formerly one of the Black Friars at Stirling, and the
friend of young John Knox ; Augustine Bernheir, a for
eigner, who resided with Latimer, witnessed his martyr
dom, and collected and published his sermons ; and
Thomas Bentham, who was raised by Elizabeth to the see
of Lichfield and Coventry. Strype mentions Rose among
the pastors of this church. Such a succession of pastors,
in the space of a, few years, shows how troublous were
the times, and how much of moral heroism was to be
found in the witnesses for truth. Rough was a noble
character. He had zealously preached the Gospel in many
of the northern parts of England, and had been obliged to
flee to the Continent, where he and his wife supported
themselves by knitting caps and hose ; but he returned to
England in 1557 to be the pastor of the prescribed flock.
He preached to them at Islington. He had seen four Prot
estant martyrs burnt in that very place. There, as he
said, he learned the way to die ; and on a Sabbath morn
ing, in December of the same year, he was apprehended
at the Saracen's Head at Islington, — some quaint-looking
old dwelling, no doubt, rich in hallowed associations of
pure worship and heaven-born piety, of which building we

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 15
have searched in vain for some notice or relic among the
antiquities of the place. Within the walls of that building
did the faithful meet on that cold December morning, un
der pretence, as it appears, of witnessing a play, some
mystery in all likelihood — such as the Coventry, or Ches
ter plays, in which sacred stories were acted by monks
and others. But the guards soon appeared. Rough and
the deacon, Cuthbert Simpson, were seized, carried before
the council, and at length condemned to die. " Stand
constant to the end," said this faithful martyr to his flock,
" then shall ye possess your souls. Salute one another
in my name. I go before. The Spirit of God guide you
in and out, rising and sitting, cover you with the shadow
of his wing, defend you against the tyranny of the wicked,
and bring you happily to the port of eternal felicity, where
all tears shall be wiped from your eyes, and you shall al
ways abide with the Lamb." On the 21st of December
he was burnt in Smithfield.
The remembrance of his piety, of his apprehension, and
his martyrdom, which perhaps some of them had witnessed,
is fresh in the minds of the congregation gathered in the
retired close by the town of Islington ; but fidelity to con
science and to God will not allow them to forsake the as
sembling of themselves together. They are, for the most
part, humble in circumstances, — apprentices, artisans,
plain honest housewives, but we recognize in them God's
true nobility. They have noble, independent souls ; inde
pendent of man's authority, but most religiously obedient
to the authority of God. They cannot suffer their con
science to be ensnared by worldly advantage, nor will
they let it be crushed by worldly power. They are ex
ceptions to the fashion of the times. "Religion," says
the Venetian Ambassador in England, writing home about
this time, " though apparently thriving in this country, is,

16 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
] apprehend, in some degree the offspring of dissimulation.
Generally speaking, your Serene Highness may rest as
sured, that with the English the example and authority of
the sovereign is every thing, and religion is only so far
valued as it inculcates the duty due from the subject to
the prince. They love as he loves ; believe as he believes.
They would be full as zealous followers of the Mahome
tan and Jewish religions, did the king prefer either."
The charge is no doubt too true, but the Venetian Ambas
sador knows not of the faithful-hearted ones of the secret
congregation ; and did he know them, in all probability,
while he excused the mass for their pliability, he would
condemn these noble exceptions as obstinate enthusiasts.
But let us watch the fate of this little company. They
have not been there long, occupied in holy duties, and ab
sorbed in the realities of eternity, when the sound of foot
steps, and a suspicious-looking stranger, leaning over the
hedge which incloses the field, startle the party. " Good
morning," says the stranger, " you look like men who
mean no hurt." " Can you tell us," asks one of the con
gregation, " whose close this is, and whether we may be
so bold as to sit here ?" " Yes," he rejoins, " you seem to
me such persons as mean no harm ;" and leaves them
with hearts palpitating between hope and fear. The na
ture of the visit just paid them is soon determined. In a
quarter of an hour appears King the constable, followed
by six or seven men, armed with bill and bow, who tarry
a short distance behind, in a retired nook, where they are
not seen. The officer advances, enters the circle, and
commands the worshippers to show him their books, which
they forthwith deliver. The reserve guard are summoned,
and proceed at once to apprehend the party. " We are
obedient, and ready to go with you," they meekly reply.
Immediately they are conducted to a brewhouse, a little

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 17
way off, and some of the constable's men are dispatched
to fetch the justice. The justice is not at home, and they
must therefore be taken to Sir Roger Chomley.* Twenty-
seven are arraigned before his worship, the rest having
escaped from the clutches of tho constables on their way ;
of one of these Foxe relates the following tale : — '• The
people coming very thick did cut off some of them, to the
number of eight, which were behind, of whom was Ben
net. Then he knocking at the gate to come in, (Sir
Roger Chomloy's,) the porter said ' that he was none of the
company.' He said ' yes,' and knocked again. Then
there stood by one of the congregation, named Johnson,
dwelling now at Hammersmith, which said, ' Edward,
thou hast done, well, do not tempt God, go thy way.' And
so taking the warning as sent of God, with a quiet con
science eschewed burning."-)- Out of the twenty-seven,
twenty-two were sent to Newgate.
About seven weeks passed before any of them were ex
amined ; and during that period, at Whitsuntide, two of
them were released from their sufferings by the hand of
death. Of the remaining twenty only seven escaped with
their lives, and some of them not without cruel scourging.
" The right picture and true counterfeit of Boner and his
cruelty, in scourging of God's saints in his gardens at
Fulham," — that old wood-cut in Foxe, representing the
prelate with his rods lashing his victims, upon which our
eyes in boyhood looked with so much terror and just in
dignation, — relates to one of these Islington Congrega-
tionalists. On the 17th June, Corpus Christi day, a fa
mous feast in the London of the olden time, when flags
and garlands and rich tapestries adorned the streets, and
the citizens entertained themselves with- mirth and music,
— the infamous proceedings of Bishop Bonner's Ecclesias-
* See Note f2]. t Foxe, ii. 1882.
2*

18 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
tical Court stand out in dark and fearful contrast. Seven
of the prisoners were arraigned before him. The charges
were contained in thirteen articles, amounting to the ac
cusation, — that they had forsaken the churches, neglected
the mass and other religious rites and customs ; had not
allowed the Latin service ; had used King Edward's Book
of Common Prayer, and had gone in the time of divine
service into the fields and profane places to read English
Psalms and certain English books. To these charges
they pleaded " guilty ;" but three of the accused were pre
pared to admit that the Latin service, as far as it agrees
with God's word, may be allowed to those who understand
the language. They were examined separately ; and re
quired to reconcile themselves to the Roman Church by
recanting their alleged heresies, which they refused to do,
and, as a matter of course, were consigned over to the
secular magistrate to be executed at the stake.
One of these martyrs, whom Foxe especially notices,
was Roger Holland, a merchant tailor of London, who in
early life had been a profligate character, but was re
claimed by a young woman of singular piety, who had
shown him great kindness, and whom he afterwards mar
ried. With the zeal of a new convert, he sought the
spiritual welfare of his relatives, and repaired to his father
in Lancashire with " divers good books ;" so that his pa
rents tasted of the Gospel, and began to detest the mass,
idolatry, and superstition, to the no small joy of the youth
ful Roger. Before his apprehension at Islington, he had
felt the weight of Rome's injustice, for having had his first
born child christened in his house, and for going into the
country to convey the babe away, " that the Papists should
not have it in their anointing hands." For these crimes
his goods were seized and confiscated, and his wife cru
elly used. The examination of this remarkable man is

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 19
deeply interesting. He confesses that he had been a Pa
pist — the strictest of the sect — and bears testimony to the
fact, — of which the whole history of the Roman Catholic
Church, especially in the middle ages, presents an im
mense mass of examples, — that the effect of a strict ob
servance of its outward rites was to encourage the indul
gence of all kinds of immorality ; " albeit," he says, " I
could not eat meat on the Friday, yet in swearing, drink
ing, or dicing, all the night long, I made no conscience at
all." His Protestantism was as intelligent as it was firm,
and he proved himself a theological antagonist such as
Bonner found it easier to answer by firebrands than by ar
guments. " The antiquity of our Church," says this
dauntless member of the congregation, " is not from Pope
Nicholas or Pope Joan, but our Church is from the begin
ning, even from the time that God said unto Adam, that
the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head ;
and so to faithful Noah, and all the holy fathers that were
from the beginning. All they that believed these promi
ses were of the Church, though the numbers were often
times but few and small, as in Elias's days, when he
thought there was none but he that had not bowed
their knees to Baal, when God had observed seven thou
sand that never had bowed their knees to that idol : as I
trust there be seven hundred thousand more than I know
of that have not bowed their knees to the idol, your mass,
and your god Maozim. For the upholding of your Church
and religion what antiquity can you show 1 yea, the mass,
that idol and chief pillar of your religion, is not four hundred
years old, and some of your masses are younger, as that
mass of St. Thomas a Becket, the traitor, wherein you
pray that you may be saved by the blood of St. Thomas.
So crafty is Satan to devise these his dreams, which you de
fend with faggot and fire, to quench the light of the word of

20 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
God, which, as David said, should be a lantern to our feet.
And, again, wherein shall a young man direct his way,
but by the word of God ; and yet you will hide it from us
in a tongue unknown. St. Paul had rather in the church
have five words spoken with understanding, than ten thou
sand in an unknown tongue ; and yet will you have your
Latin service, and praying in a strange tongue, whereof
the people are utterly ignorant, to be of such antiquity."
In a similar tone of intelligent and earnest feeling, he
continued to defend himself on his second examination.
" Roger," began Dr. Chadsey, who assisted Bonner at
the trial, " I trust you have now better considered of the
Church than you did before." " I consider thus much,"
he said, " that out of the Church there is no salvation, as
divers ancient doctors say." " That is well said," re
joined Bonner, thinking he had won somewhat upon the
mind of the heretic ; but he was mistaken, for, answered
Roger, " I mean that Church which has Christ for her head ;
which also hath his word, and his sacraments, according
to his word and institutions." Chadsey interrupted him,
and turned the conversation by asking, " Is that a Testa
ment which you have in your hand ?" " Yea, master, it
is the New Testament ; you will find no fault with the
translation, I think ; it is of your own translation," turn
ing to Bonner ; " it is according to the great Bible."
This was a home-thrust which the bishop was quite una
ble to parry. It had so happened that Bonner was in Paris
as English ambassador at the time when Coverdale, under
Cromwell's patronage, was there, employed in superintend
ing the printing of the great Bible ; and, to gratify the
minister, then so high in his master's favor, he had shown
great friendship to Coverdale and his assistants ; had in
vited them to his house to dinner, had zealously favored
the undertaking, and, on quitting Paris, had said to them,

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 21
" I will have of your Bibles set up in the church of St.
Paul's, at least, in sundry places, six of them, and I will
pay you honestly for them, and give hearty thanks."
Just then the way to court favor lay in that direction ; but
now times had changed. Bonner was no friend now to the
translation he had encouraged and praised, and the refer
ence made to it by Holland must have been rather morti
fying to his lordship.
Evading the home appeal, he asked, " How say you ?
How do you know it is the Testament of Christ but only
by the Church ? for the Church of Rome hath and doth
preserve it, and out of the same hath made decrees, ordi
nances, and true expositions." " No," said Roger ; " the
Church of Rome hath and doth suppress fhe reading of
the Testament ; and what a. true exposition, I pray you,
did the Pope make thereof when he set his foot on the
Emperor's neck, and said, ' Thou shalt walk upon the lion
and the asp ; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou
trample under thy foot ?' "
Roger was brought to the Consistory, before Bonner,
a third time, with the rest of the party, when they were at
once all excommunicated, except himself, for whom inter
cession was made by certain persons of distinction from
Cheshire, from which it would appear that he was highly
connected. Bonner at first treated him with apparent
kindness, and sought by " rhetorical persuasions," as Foxe
calls them, to recover the religious delinquent ; but all in
vain. On the bishop's propounding the doctrine of the Real
Presence in the Sacrament, Roger Holland readily an
swered, " Your lordship saith, ' The same body which was
born of the Virgin Mary, which was crucified upon the
cross, which rose again the third day,' but you leave out,
' which ascended into heaven ;' and the Scripture saith,
' He shall there remain until He come to judge the quick

22 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
and dead ;' then He is not contained under the forms of
bread and wine." This courageous confessor concluded
his confession with the following solemn declaration : " I
say, and I beseech you all to mark and bear witness with
me, for so you shall do before the judgment-seat of God,
what I speak, for here is the conclusion ; and ye, my dear
friends," turning to his kinsmen who were present, " I
pray you show my father what I do say, that he may
understand I am a Christian man. I say and believe,
and am therein fully persuaded by the Scriptures, that the
Sacrament of the Supper of our Lord, ministered in the
holy communion according to Christ's institution, I being-
penitent and sorry for my sins, and minding to amend and
lead a new life, and so coming worthily unto God's word,
in perfect love and charity, do there receive, by faith, the
body and blood of Christ ; and through Christ, in his human
passion, sit at the right hand of his Father, yet by faith, I
say, his death, his passion, his merits, are mine, and by
faith I dwell in Him, and He in me ; and as for the mass,
transubstantiation, and worshipping of the sacrament, they
are mere impiety and horrible idolatry."
When he had witnessed this good confession, the doom
of fhe faithful martyr was sealed, and he, together with
his six companions, were adjudged to death. The 27th
of June was fixed for their execution.
That morning crowds might be seen gathering in Smith-
field, to gaze on a spectacle with which many of them had
become sadly familiar. In an open space, in the midst of
that old inclosure, stood the murderous pile, with a due
supply of faggots, surrounded by barriers and officers to
keep off the concourse of the people. The tenements in
Long-Lane, built on both sides for " brokers and tipplers,"
yielded their contributions of profane and thoughtless idlers.
Graver and more respectable citizens were wending their

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 23
way through Giltspur-street, and other avenues ; while
from the windows ofthe fair inns, and other comely build
ings, which adorned with their picturesque architecture
the western side of ancient Smithfield, many a face was
looking out upon the dense masses in front of the church
of Bartholomew Priory, whose tottering wooden steeple
still rose to heaven, the memorial of a monastic house,
which, before the dissolution of the abbeys in the time of
Henry VIII., had stood there, in its pomp and pride, one
of the noblest ornaments of London. Some officers of the
Queen pass through the crowds, and, close to the stake,
repeat a proclamation, which they have already announced
by the city walls, near the archway of Newgate, forbidding
any of the people, under pain of imprisonment, to speak a
word to the forthcoming martyrs. A band of serious per
sons yonder, standing close together, listen to those words
with deep emotion, as mon who have come to sympathize
with the sufferers, and are resolved that the expression of
their sympathy shall not be enchained by this merciless
edict. Prominently among them stands Master Bentham,
their loved and honored pastor — for they are no other
than members of " the Congregation," met to see their
brethren die — to cheer them by their prayers, and to be
themselves strengthened by examples of constancy. At
length the procession moves from the Gate-house ; the
seven witnesses for truth are seen emerging from their
prison, attended by officers fully armed. On their approach
ing Smithfield, the faithful Congregation, despite of the
royal edict, press forward, rendering ineffectual the attempt
of the bill-men to keep them back, and affectionately em
bracing their brethren, bring them in their arms to the place
where they are to suffer. The preparations being made
for the last act of this horrid tragedy, the proclamation
forbidding every expression of sympathy is read again.

24 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
A dead silence reigns over the multitude, as they watch
the kindling of the faggots. The heroic Bentham turns
his eyes to the people, and exclaims with a loud voice,
" We know that they are the people of God, and there
fore we cannot choose but wish well to them, and say,
God strengthen them ! Almighty God, for Christ's sake,
strengthen them !" The Queen's proclamation avails not
— a murmur, deep, solemn, sublime, like the sound of many
waters, rolls along the multitude, echoing " Amen —
Amen — Amen !" to the pastor's prayer. The officers
were astounded and abashed ; and the martyrs gathered
strength. They lifted up their eyes to heaven, as Roger
Holland prayed, " Lord, I most humbly thank thy Majesty
that Thou hast called me from this state of death unto the
light of thy heavenly word, and now into the fellowship of
thy saints, that I may sing and say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God of Hosts. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Lord, bless these thy people, and save them from idol
atry." The impression was deep and universal : men left the
scene in Smithfield musing on it in their hearts. Often
had the praise of heroism been there bestowed on some
proud knight, as he bore his lance in the tilt and tournay,
and his name had been inscribed with honor in the rolls
of chivalry ; but the praise of an infinitely nobler heroism
belonged to that martyred band. Their names are em
blazoned on no herald's roll, but they are written in the
book of God's remembrance, and " they shall be m.-.ie, saith
the Lord, in the day that I make up my jewels."
They were the last who suffered at Smithfield.
Six more of the party, apprehended at Islington, were
on the 13th of July burned at Brentford ; and a few days
afterwards, Bentham, whose mind and heart were filled

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 25
with recent events, sat down and wrote the following letter
to his friend Thomas Lever : * —
" The grace and favor of Almighty God be with you
and your godly congregation, Amen. My duty binding
me to remember my dear friends, and our great dangers
moving me to desire their help, enforce me at this present,
both to write unto you, and desire your most godly and
effectual prayers, dear brother, and loving friend, Mr.
Lever ; for now I stand in the gap, whereas you have so
earnestly talked with me. Now, therefore, help me with
your prayers, and I shall think that you stand present at
my back or on my right hand. While I was in Germany,
at liberty of body, having sufficient for it for the time, I
was yet many times in great grief of mind and terrible tor
ments of hell ; and now here being every moment of an
hour in danger of taking, and fear of bodily death, I am
in mind, the Lord be praised, most quiet and joyful, seeing
the fervent zeal of so many, and such increase of our con
gregation, in the midst of this cruel and violent persecution.
" What should I say, but a Domino factum est ? There
were seven men burned in Smithfield, the 27th day of
June, altogether ; a fearful and cruel proclamation being
made, that under pain of present death, no man should
either approach nigh unto them, touch them, neither speak
unto or comfort them : yet were they so mightily spoken
unto, so comfortably taken by the hands, and so godly
comforted, notwithstanding that fearful proclamation, and
the present threatenings of the sheriff and sergeants, that
the adversaries themselves were astonished. And since
that time, the Bishop of London, either for fear or craft,
carried seven more, or six at the least, forth of his Cole-
house to Fulham, the 12th day of this month, and con
demning them there the 13th day, at one of the clock at
* See Note [3],
3

26 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
afternoon, caused them to be carried the same time to
Branford, beside Sion, where they were burned in post
haste the same night. This fact purchased him more
hatred than any that he hath done of the common multi
tude. This I signify, that you, knowing our great dan
gers, may the rather move your godly company to pray
more earnestly for us. It is constantly written by letters
to London, that two towns, a little from Nottingham, about
the 4th or 5th day of this month, were wonderfully beaten
and shaken with thunder, and such storms ; many were
slain, and more were hurt, with great wonders, which I
take to be a token of God's great displeasure for sin, who
will make heaven and earth witness against wickedness.
And yet men for the most part were never more careless,
nor maliciously merry than they are now.
" God amend them !"
Thus far the letter relates to tlie recent martyrdoms and
to public events, and must have been written with a bleed
ing heart. As one reads the autograph preserved in the
Harleian Collection, with its quaint spelling, and not easily
deciphered characters, the time-worn paper seems to glow
with pictorial illustrations of the times, the circumstances,
and the persons connected with that interesting document.
The Smithfield fires blaze— Bentham is seen comforting
the sufferers — the deep Amen reverberates — and the cruel
ties of Fulham, and the holocaust at Brentford, pass in
imagination before the reader.
But the letter refers to other matters. We get a glimpse
of the pastor of the Congregation, revolving certain cases
of conscience which had sprung up among its members,
and touching which he was anxious for the opinion of his
brother divines*?
" I would gladly have your counsel and Mr. Martyr's,
* See Note [4].

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 27
(Peter Martyr, of famous memory,) on these three ques
tions, if you have leisure at any time to walk to Zurich : —
First, Whether a young woman, married at nonage against
her will, and so kept by force, be a lawful wife or not
unto him with whom she is compelled to remain against
her will. Secondly, Whether the professors of the Gos
pel may prosecute their right and cause in any papistical
court, or answer, being called thereunto, or take admin
istration of goods in such courts : and thirdly, Whether
the professors of the Gospel, not communicating with Pa
pists, may yet as well pay their tithes, and such duties to
the Papists as tribute, custom, and subsidy to evil rulers
and wicked magistrates."
These are interesting references, throwing light upon
domestic life, the concern then felt in the question of di
vorce, and the conscientious difficulties experienced by
some of the Congregation in reference to existing insti
tutions. It would appear that they thoroughly dislikdd
the papistical courts, as well they might, and that some,
like their Nonconformist successors in these days, had
doubts as to the lawfulness of paying to-a. Church of which
they disapproved.
" I trust," proceeds the worthy pastor, " that I have
answered some of my friends in these questions according
to the truth ; yet would I have your judgment, both for
greater confirmation and comfort unto them, and for my
further instruction ; also, if you can shortly send me word
of these, you shall greatly comfort me, and help to con
firm my friends in the right ways. I pray you commend
me to all your company by name, most heartily, in our
Lord Jesus Christ, who bless and keep you to the comfort
of his congregation. Written at London, this 17th day
of July."
When this letter was written, the days of Popish ascen-

2S SPIRITUAL HEROES.
dency were drawing to a close. The last fire in Smith-
field had burnt out. The last in England kindled for the
burning of a Protestant was shortly to blaze in the green
knoll by the walls of Canterbury, — a spot which no friend
to religious liberty can visit without deep emotions of pain
that ever such fires were lighted up ; of gratitude, that
there the flickering embers were extinguished.
The reign of Mary was the midnight hour of religious
persecution in England. Intolerance, without a gleam of
charity, brooded over the land. The Church of Rome,
through her willing slave, Queen Mary, and her official
instruments, the bishops, exercised her despotic sway, with
a rigor before unknown in this country. It would cer
tainly be unjust to ascribe the persecutions of that period
to a principle of pure malevolence in the bosoms of the
sovereign and her prelates. Nor must the origin of per
secution be attributed to the Church of Rome, and the
disgrace of practising it be laid solely to her charge ; for
it should be borne in mind that persecution is the sin of
our fallen humanity, and had displayed its terrors ere the
apostate branch of Christendom had any existence. The
practical development of its spirit has tarnished the history
of other churches ; but at the same time it would be as
unfair to deny, that much personal feehng, and severity
of the most aggravated kind in the treatment of their vic
tims* — severity which even their despotic principles did
not require, marked the conduct of the chief actors in the
Marian persecutions, and that to Rome pre-eminently be
longs the sin of intolerance, fostered by her pretended in
fallibility, her denial of salvation to heretics, and her claim
to the subserviency of the civil powers as the ministers
of her supreme will. With her, persecution has not been
so much an accidental circumstance as the natural ex-
* See Note [5].

THE ISLINGTON CONGREGATION. 29
pression of her spirit and the consistent working out of her
principles. Other churches have fallen into the tempta
tion of employing coercion in spite of their system ; but
hers has been a throne of iniquity which frameth mischief
by a law. The Protestant has fancied he might persecute,
the Papist was persuaded he must. The sword trembled
in the hands of the one ; it was grasped with terrible
energy by the other. It is inconsistent for the Protestant
to persecute ; it is inconsistent for the Papist not to do so.
The course which was pursued in the reign of Mary
was as impolitic as it was unjust and unchristian. As in
most cases, persecution defeated its own ends. The cause
sought to be crushed gathered strength. " A sort of in
stinctive reasoning told the people, what the learned on
neither side had been able to discover, that the truth of a
religion begins to be very suspicious when it stands in
need of prisons and scaffolds to eke out its evidences.
Many are said to have become Protestants under Mary,
who at her coming to the throne had retained the contrary
persuasion."* Heavy was the yoke which crushed the neck
of the people, and they looked up to Heaven, and cried for
deliverance. When the death of Mary occurred, the peo
ple felt that a scourge was withdrawn. Never did a sov
ereign's removal excite less grief, and the successor's ac
cession to the throne produce more joy. Mary died on
the 17th November, 1558, and the Lady Elizabeth was
proclaimed about eleven or twelve o'clock the same day.
On the 28th November she left Hatfield House, attended
by a thousand or more of lords, knights, gentlemen ladies,
and gentlewomen. The royal train came through Isling
ton, and perhaps passed hard by the Saracen's Head, and
other spots where stood friends of the martyred ones,
pouring their blessings on the head of the Protestant
* Hallam's Constitutional Hist. ii. 104, 105.
3*

30 SPIRITUAL HERGES.
queen. " All the streets she was to pass, even to the
Tower, were new gravelled. And so she rid through
Barbican, and Cripplegate, and along London Wall unto
Bishopsgate, and thence up to Leaden Hall, and so
through Grasschurch-street, and Fanchurch-street, turn
ing down Mark-lane into Tower-street, and so on to the
Tower. Before her rode many gentlemen, knights, and
nobles ; after them came the trumpeters, blowing, then all
the heralds in array ; my lord mayor, holding the queen's
sceptre, riding with garter ; my lord of Pembroke bare the
queen's sword. Then came her grace on horseback, ap
parelled in purple velvet, with a scarf about her neck, the
sergeants-of-arms being about her person. Next after her
rode Sir Robert Dudley (afterwards Earl of Leicester),
master of her horse, and so the guard with halberds.
There was great shooting of guns— the like was never
heard before."
How far men like our martyrs, and others of the Puri
tan cast, had reason to join in these rejoicings, we shall
see in our next chapter.

CHAPTER II.

THE THREE MARTYRS.

And when the wicked ones behold
Thy favorites walking in thy light,
Just as in fancied triumph bold
They deemed them lost in deadly night,
Amazed they cry, ' What spell is this,
Which turns their sufferings into bliss V "
Christian Year.

" O Queen Mary and the Marian times ! With how
much greater tenderness and moderation is truth now
contended for than falsehood was defended some time
since ! Our adversaries always acted with precipitancy,
without precedent, without law ; while we manage every
thing with so much deliberation, and prudence, and wari
ness, and circumspection, as if God himself could scarce
retain his authority without our ordinances and precau
tions ; so that it is idly and scurrilously said, by way of
joke, that as heretofore Christ was cast out by his ene
mies, so now he is kept out by his friends. This dilatori-
ness has grievously damped the spirit of our brethren,
while it has wonderfully encouraged the rage and fury of
our opponents."* Such is the account of ecclesiastical
affairs in England, which Jewel gave to his friend Martyr
four months after the death of Mary. He had too much
* Zurich Letters, p. 17.

32 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
cause for such complaints. Elizabeth, who was so en
thusiastically hailed by the Protestants on her accession
to the throne, was exceedingly slow in favoring the cause
with which they had identified her name. Indeed, her
first acts left it almost doubtful which side in the grand
religious controversy of the age she intended to support,
as she peremptorily forbade all innovations in the exist
ing order of things, and prohibited all public preaching for
the present, both on the part of Protestants and Papists.
This might well throw a damp on the spirits of men who
had been laboring and suffering in the cause of Protestant
truth, and who looked to Elizabeth's accession as the occa
sion of a perfect triumph. Most provoking to them was
this pause in the conduct of the queen. No doubt her po
litical prudence was much greater than her religious zeal ;
but when her well-known character is considered, it ap
pears quite as probable that the course she thus pursued
arose from her imperious temper, which loved to make her
subjects wait with .submission on her will, as that it arose
from any merely prudential checks which she might put
on her religious feelings. One of the results of the Ref
ormation, both on the Continent and in England, was that
Protestant princes increased their powers and exalted their
prerogatives ; and the daughter of Henry VIIL, who in
herited his spirit along with his crown, was ready enough
to avail herself of the circumstance. However tardy she
might be in supporting the religious interests of the Ref
ormation, she was not slow in seizing upon the political
advantages it offered. The Act of Supremacy was passed
immediately upon the meeting of parliament ; the power
of the pope in England was abolished ; the queen was
constituted supreme governor in all cases, ecclesiastical
and temporal; and power was vested in her majesty to
appoint, under the great seal, the High Commission Court

THE THREE MARTYRS. 33
for the suppression of heresy. An act for the uniformity
of common prayer, and service in the Church, and admin
istration of the sacraments, speedily followed, by which
the first Service-Book of Edward's reign, retaining the
old Church festivals, the Popish habits, and other relics
of tlie ancient system, was enforced as the standard of
religious worship. The love which the queen had for a
splendid ritual is notorious. She looked with favor on
images, crucifixes, and lighted tapers ; and deeply did the
Reformers in general bewail the continuance of those
symbols of Popery in the royal chapel, while some pointed
to it as " the pattern and precedent of all superstition."*
Those who thus strongly reprobated the showy worship
in the queen's chapel were the Puritans. They were
men who had spent their time in exile on the Continent
during the reign of Queen Mary, and had there, in the
exercise of their conscientious judgment, arrived at simpler
views of what Christian worship should be, than were held
by others of their Protestant brethren. The Congrega
tion in England, whose sufferings were related in the pre
vious chapter, retained the use of King Edward's Service-
Book ; but this was laid aside by the Puritan party at
Frankfort, and a form of worship was adopted similar to
that which now obtains among Presbyterians and Con-
gregationalists.f The opposition they met with from
those who were attached to Edward's liturgy, led to the
well-known troubles at Frankfort — the ejectment of Knox,
who was their minister, the division of the Protestant con
gregation in the place, and the removal of the Puritan sec
tion of it to Geneva, where, without molestation, they were
able to carry out their sentiments,, and, as they say in the
dedication of the Service-Book which they prepared for
themselves, " to lay aside those human inventions which
* See Hallam, i. 170. t See Note [6].

34 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
have done so much mischief, and to content themselves
with that wisdom that is contained in God's book, which
directs them to preach the word of God purely, to minister
the sacraments sincerely, and use prayers and other orders
thereby approved, to the edification of the Church and in
crease of God's glory."
With these views, they could not but be grievously
scandalized at the queen's fondness for showy worship.
They had at first no objection to the queen's supremacy,
no scruples about the interference of the magistrate in
religious matters, but they had strong objections to the
cope, the surplice, and other accessories of Popish wor
ship. These men were not, as is sometimes represented,
a few weak fanatics, but a strong party, distinguished by
their piety, talents, and learning, forming the very sinews
of the reformed cause in England. So far were their ob
jections to many of the relics of Popery from being singu
lar, that several of the bishops themselves who adopted
and enforced them, acknowledged that they did so of ne
cessity, because they were imposed by the royal will, and
that they had much rather have seen them altogether abol
ished. Jewel especially lamented the continuance of
" the scenic apparatus of worship, as if the Christian re
ligion could not exist without something tawdry," and
blamed those who were seeking after a "golden," or, as
he termed it, a leaden mediocrity ; but he disavows all re
sponsibility in the matter, for he observes, " We are not
consulted ;" " There seems," he observes in another let
ter, " to be far too much prudence, too much mystery
in the management of these affairs, and God alone knows
what will be the issue. The slow-paced horses retard
the chariot." But though Jewel felt all this, and there
were others in the high places of the Church who felt
with him, they never earnestly sought the abolition of what

THE THREE MARTYRS. 35
they condemned. The best of them were slow-paced
horses, and the slowness of their pace in most cases was
the consequence of the strong curb and the tight reign
with which the royal charioteer of the Church held in
their movements.
The zealous Puritans contended for the complete re
moval of the surplice and other Papal relics. They were
as anxious for uniformity as the rest of the ecclesiastics
of that day, but it must be a uniformity purified from
Popish corruptions. Their own refusal to wear the vest
ments and conform to the appointed service, was in some
cases tolerated for awhile, through the favor of their dio
cesans, and hence arose a diversity of order in the parish
church exceedingly distasteful to her majesty. In one
place of worship might be seen the priest in his surplice
officiating at the altar, and administering unleavened
cakes to the kneeling communicants ; while in another
might be found the presbyter in his Genevan cloak, be
side a table placed in the body of the church, handing
round common bread to the people who stood or sat. Such
irregularity was highly offensive to the queen, and she
resolved speedily to put an end to it. She was bent on
uniformity, and the ecclesiastical authorities were com
manded to enforce the law. Nonconformists must not be
tolerated : her sovereign authority must not be resisted.
Conscience ! Her majesty did not seem to be aware there
was one in existence save her own.
The Puritans would now have been glad of their pre
vious scanty toleration : and Humphrey, one of their most
learned advocates, addressed the queen, urging that, if
she would not yield to her subjects, yet she might of her
clemency spare miserable men. " She would not rescind
a public decree, yet she might relax and remit it. She
could not take away a law, yet she might grant a tolera-

36 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
tion ; that it was not fit to indulge some men's affections,
yet it was most fit and equal not to force the minds of
men."* But the trifling favor which he sought was re
fused. Nonconformists were deprived ; eloquent tongues
were silenced ; brilliant luminaries were quenched. Hum
phrey and Sampson, two of the greatest ornaments the
Church possessed, were treated with much severity : the
former at length submitted j but the latter, retaining his
scruples, lost his church preferment, and, as a special
favor, was allowed to be governor of a poor hospital.f
As the rigorous policy of the queen and the High
Church party increased, the views of the Puritans became
extended. In the beginning they had contended only for
the removal of Popish vestments, and of various corrup
tions in the Church, and of many relics of Popery ; but
now they took the high ground, that the imposition of any
human ceremonies was an invasion of the rights of con
science. At best they were but human appointments,
and came within the Apostle's reproof. " Why, as though
living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances after the
commandments and doctrines of men, which all are to
perish with the using ? Touch not, taste not, handle not."
Supposing the garments were indifferent, (which they did
not grant,) yet they ought not to be imposed, because it
was an infringement of the liberty wherewith Christ had
made them free.J It has often happened in the order of
Divine providence, that the cause of truth is advanced by
the opposition which it meets with. Its advocates, when
enduring oppression, are led to inquire more carefully into
the extent of the injustice which they suffer, and the
grounds of those principles on which they act. Their
views of truth expand on such an inquiry ; and in the
present instance, the Puritans, as they examined their
* Strype, Ann. ii. 143. t See Note [7]. J Neale, i. 226.

THE THREE MARTYRS. 37
reasons for peaceably resisting ecclesiastical tyrranny,
caught a glimpse of the grand principle, that man ought
to have no dominion over tlie conscience of his brother
man. The voice of Scripture and reason, which the Puritans
had on their side, was what their opponents could not
answer ; they had, however, power to silence it, and
therefore they procured u, decree of the Star Chamber
forbidding that any person should publish a book against
the queen's injunctions, under a pain of three months' im
prisonment, and an interdiction of printing any more.
All this could not fail to increase the dislike of scrupulous
and conscientious minds to the Established Church alto
gether ; and therefore many of the Puritans resolved to
separate from its communion, and form a distinct church
more in harmony with the principles and precedents of the
New Testament. It was not, however, to be expected,
from the temper of the queen, and some who were about
her, that toleration which had been refused to parties who
had still remained in the Church would be extended to
them now they had left it. Bitter persecution followed
them. They had to worship in woods and fields, and in
the private houses of their friends ; and one day, when a
party of one hundred of them had met in Plummers' Hall
for worship, under pretence of celebrating a wedding,
their enemies broke into the room, took them in custody,
and sent them to the Compter. " Thus began in Eng
land," says Sir James Mackintosh, " the persecution of
Protestants by their fellow-dissenters from the Church of
Rome." Yet this was scarcely the beginning ofthe career
of intolerance in the bosom of Protestantism ; it was rather
a new manifestation of the spirit which had been growing
ever since the accession of Elizabeth.
A bolder champion than the Puritans had had before,
4

38 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
and one who contended for a far more extensive alteration
in ecclesiastical affairs, arose in the person of Thomas
Cartwright, an advocate for strict Presbyterian government,
and for the emancipation of the Church from the dominion
of the civil power. He saw that the Church was a spirit
ual community, that Christ's kingdom is not of this world,
that the magistrate's authority over religious matters was
an usurpation condemned by the New Testament ; and
this doctrine, so important to the interests of the Church
and religious freedom, he unfolded with uncommon.learn-
ing, argument, eloquence, and power. Yet, entangled bv
the prejudices of the age, he still regarded the civil magis
trate as a fitting instrument for enforcing truth, but an in
strument to be employed only at the Church's discretion.
His vigorous mind clearly saw one side of the truth, but
could not discern the other. The Church must be free
from the trammels of the state — here was a development
of half the principle of religious liberty ; the civil power
must be equally free from the dictation of the Church,
and must not be employed as an instrument for her pur
poses — that was the other half, but it remained concealed.
Thus, by the powerful pen of Cartwright, the form of
religious liberty was but partially evoked, hke the fabled
horse of Neptune under the trident of the god, struggling
to free itself from the earth, in which it was still half
buried. Another powerful advocate on the side of Puri
tanism was Edward Dering. " He was," says Fuller, " a
pious man, and a painful preacher ;" and certainly, if the
Churchman's anecdote of the Puritan be true, he was as
much distinguished by his boldness as by his piety and
painstaking ; for the historian informs us, that once, when
Dering was preaching before the queen, he told her " In
persecution under her sister Mary, her motto was ' tan
quam ovis,' — like a lamb ; but now it might be ' tanq-iiam

THE THREE MARTYRS. 39
indomitajuvenca,-1 — like an untamed heifer." It must be
confessed that such a. manner of speaking was not the
most becoming ; but it was not uncommon in those days
for Church reformers, when addressing majesty, to indulge
in a strain of expression as blunt as the style adopted by
courtiers was flattering and servile. In his famous letter
to Lord Burleigh, he insists, with much power and elo
quence, on the difference between Episcopacy in the days
of the Apostles and tho Episcopacy of late times ; and in
some passages* relative to the political influence possessed
by the dignitaries of the English bench, he touches on a
principle fatal to the employment of civil power in any
way for the support of religion — the very principle over
looked by Cartwright and others, and which, probably, the
zealous pleader himself was not prepared to carry out to
the full extent of its legitimate application.
The Puritans were men in earnest. Their reverence
for the Scriptures was profound ; their zeal in the main
tenance of opinions derived from that book intense. Their
views on some points might be narrow and one-sided, and
their scruples in relation to some things might be carried
to excess, but everlasting honor should be paid them for
the honesty of their principles and the integrity of their
consciences. " They ventured," to use their own lan
guage, " the lo3s of worldly commodities, rather than hazard
that which no earthly treasure can buy."f Their Protest
antism was of the most decided kind, resting not on the
basis of expediency, but on a well-founded conviction of
its Scriptural authority. With all their hearts they hated
the system of Popery, and extended their dislike to its ex
ternal badges and accompaniments. Being themselves
released from the tyranny of the apostate church, they
wished to abolish every memorial of enslavement to its
* See Note [8]. t Strype, vol. 1. p. ii. 168.

40 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
superstitions. As emancipated captives, they looked with
horror on the chains which they and their fathers had
worn, and felt indignant at beholding these signs of former
weakness treated as though they were symbols of beauty
and strength. Men who have had no sympathy with their
bold and ardent spirit, and their fearless love of what they
felt to be right, have charged them with pride, but the truth
is, that deep humility was a distinguishing element of their
character. They humbled themselves under the mighty
hand of God. They yielded up their reason and their
conscience to his teaching. They felt they had no judg
ment of their own in matters upon which they saw with
the clearest light that God had pronounced his judgment.
Their submission to God prevented them from submitting
to man. In matters of conscience they asserted their
independence of tlie creature, because they cherished an
unwavering reliance on their Creator. Men might charge
them with restlessness, obstinacy, and pride, but the eye
of God saw them prostrate in the dust before him.
" To say," observes Dr. Arnold, " that the Puritans
were wanting in humility because they did not acquiesce
in the state of things which they found around them, is a
mere extravagance, arising out of a total misapprehension
of the nature of humility and of the merits of the feeling
of veneration. All earnestness and depth of character is
incompatible with such notion of humility. A man deeply
penetrated with some great truth, and compelled, as it were,
to obey it, cannot listen to every one who may be indiffer
ent to it, or opposed to it. There is a voice to which he al
ready owes obedience, which he serves with the humblest
devotion, which he worships with the most intense venera
tion. It is not that such feelings are dead in him, but that
he has bestowed them on one object, and they are claimed
for another. This charge of want of humility is one fre-

THE THREE MARTYRS. 41
quently brought by weaker and baser minds against the
stronger and the nobler, not seldom by those who are at
once arrogant and indifferent against those who are, in
truth, as humble as they are zealous." These remarks
are as just as they are able ; and it is gratifying to re
member that this noble vindication of the Puritans was ut
tered by the lips of the justly-revered Arnold, in his char
acter of Professor of History, within the walls of that Uni
versity where the men in question have been so often ma
ligned. Such were the men who had to drink so deeply of the
cup of suffering, and whose unrighteous fate has left such -
a dark cloud over the so-called " golden days of good
Queen Bess." The imagination of our youth has often
been dazzled with the story of her fame abroad and her
power at home. We have followed with a kind of boyish
glee her brilliant progresses from town to town, and from
hall to hall ; we have witnessed, with merry hearts, the
gorgeous processions, the quaint pageants, the profuse en
tertainments, and the picturesque scenes at Kenilworth
and elsewhere, but a larger acquaintance with her history
has since thrown far different associations around the
name of the Virgin Queen, and revealed to us many a no
ble-minded man, and ornament of her realm, arraigned be
fore tbe High Court of Commission, and dragged to prison,
because his conscience was not so supple as to bend
under every touch of her ecclesiastical supremacy. We
can now never forget that Elizabeth was a persecutor.
The recollection haunts every brilliant scene in the annals
of her reign, and throws its shadow over her most golden
days. But the moral glory that encircles the sufferers
for conscience sake is as bright as the disgrace which
covers the oppressor is dark. The stern moral grandeur
of the Puritans illuminates the sixteenth century with a
4*

42 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
solemn light, which excites awe, while it inspires admira
tion. It must, however, be confessed that the Puritans of the
Presbyterian class took a rather one-sided view of eccle
siastical questions. They were for releasing the Church
from the dominion of the civil magistrate, but they did
not see that there was any impropriety in employing the
civil magistrate in supporting the dominion of the Church.
They contended for freedom ; but it was too much free
dom for themselves alone. Not that they are to be
charged with a selfish ambition ; they were, no doubt, dis
interested and conscientious in the course they pursued,
and thought they were acting according to the will of
Christ, but they were unable to escape fully from the er
ror of the times in which they lived.
But there were other men in England somewhat in ad
vance of their brethren in their views on such subjects,
and it is to the story of some of these individuals, as illus
trative of their principles, sufferings, and character, that
the observations already made in this chapter are intended
to serve for an introduction.
Henry Barrowe was the son of a gentleman in Norfolk,
and took the degree of B.A. in the College of Corpus
Christi, Cambridge, in 1569. On leaving the University,
he devoted himself to the study of the law, and became a
member of Gray's Inn. His connections and prospects in
life appear to have been highly respectable, and for some
time he was a frequenter of the Court of Elizabeth. In
early life, it is probable that he indulged in the follies, gaye-
ties, and vices of his day ; but he afterwards became a
thoughtful and religious man, and devoted his mind to the
study of ecclesiastical questions.
" ' Did any of you know Mr. Barrowe ?' ask the young
men in Governor Bradford's Dialogues, ' if we may be so

THE THREE MARTYRS. 43
bold as to ask ; for we would willingly know what his life
and conversation were, because some, we perceive, have
him in precious esteem, and others can scarce name him
without some note of obloquy and dislike.' ' We have not
seen his person,' reply the ancient men, 'but some of us
have been well acquainted with those that knew him fa
miliarly, both before and after his conversion ; and one of
us hath had conference with one that was his domestic
servant, and tended upon him, both before and some while
after the same. We have heard his conversion to be on
this wise. Walking in London, one Lord's-day, with one
of his companions, he heard a preacher at his sermon very
loud, as they passed by the church. Upon which Mr.
Barrow said unto his consort, ' Let us go in and hear what
this man saith that is thus earnest.' 'Tush!' said the
other, ' what, shall we go and hear a man talk !' But in
he went, and sat down. And tlie minister was vehement
in reproving sin, and sharply applied the judgment of God
against the same ; and, it should seem, touched him to
the quick in some things as he was guilty of, so as God
set it home to his soul, and began to work his repentance
and conversion thereby. For he was so stricken as he
could not be quiet, until, by conference with godly men
and further hearing of the word, with diligent reading and
meditation, God brought peace to his soul and conscience,
a fter much humiliation of heart and reformation of life ;
so he left the Court, and retired himself to a private life,
sometime in the country, and sometime in the city, giving
himself to study and reading of the Scripture, and other
good works, very diligently. And being missed at Court
by his consorts and acquaintance, it was quickly bruited
abroad that Barrow was turned Puritan.' "*
* Bradford Dialogue, in Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 433.
Boston.

44 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
An attentive examination of all that is contained in the
New Testament respecting Church polity led him to see
the spiritual character of the Church of Christ ; and his
observation of the state of things then existing in the Es
tablishment, convinced him that it was far removed from
the Scriptural model. His views of reformation were
large and sweeping, and his enemies have endeavored to
blacken his name by charging him with selfishness in the
opinions he entertained, representing him as a follower of
Julian the apostate, bent on making the Church " a prey
for bankrupts, cormorants, and suchlike Atheists."* But
how any man could be likely to benefit himself by taking
up the cause of Nonconformists with so much zeal, when
the prison and the gallows were staring him in the face,
none of his virulent accusers have attempted to explain.
Between nine and ten of the clock in the forenoon on
Lord's-day, the 19th of November, 1586, he tells us that
he went to the Clink to visit some brethren who were
there imprisoned for their Nonconformist principles. He
had not been there a quarter of an hour, when he was
himself arrested and locked up in prison. He demanded
of the officer a sight of the warrant by which he acted.
The man promised to show it ; and at one o'clock returned
with two pursuivants, who put their prisoner into a boat,
and took him up the Thames to Lambeth. As they were
gliding on tlie water, one of the pursuivants drew out of
his bosom a letter from Lambeth, saying how long he had
sought to apprehend poor Barrowe. In reply to which
Barrowe observes, " I told him his pains deserved thanks
neither at God's hand nor mine." On the afternoon of
that Sabbath, when it might have been supposed that
Whitgift, Bishop of London, would have found some holier
employment, Barrowe was brought into the presence-cham-
* Strype'sLife of Whitgift, 415.

THE THREE MARTYRS. 45
ber, where his lordship sat in state, and forthwith pro
ceeded to examine him. The plan pursued in this Com
mission Court was not to try the accused on evidence, but
to administer what was called the ex-qfficio oath, and then,
by a train of inquisitorial questionings, to endeavor to make
the individual criminate himself — a precious piece of crim
inal jurisprudence borrowed from tlie Church of Rome,
and sanctified by ihe proceedings of Bonner and others
under Queen Mary. Barrowe sturdily refused to be
sworn, and gave the Bishop several very short and tart
replies ; upon which he was committed to the Gate-house,
and on the 27th November following was brought before
the High Commissioners at Lambeth, where, he informs
us, " he found a goodly synod of bishops, deans, and civil
ians, beside such an appearance of well-fed silken priests
as might have beseemed the Vatican." Again he refused
to swear ; again he was committed. On the 24th March
he was examined on bis affirmation without oath. It ap
pears, from his replies, that he went further than the Pu
ritans in his ecclesiastical views. He strongly objected
to forms of prayer, especially the Common Prayer-Book ;
to the Sacraments, as administered in the Church of Eng
land ; to the ecclesiastical laws and canons ; to the idea
that the Establishment was a true Church ; to the extent
of the Queen's ecclesiastical supremacy ; and to the abo
lition of the judicial law of Moses. He denied that it was
lawful for any private person to intermeddle with the
prince's office, and to reform the state without his good
liking and license ; but he virtually admitted the right of
private Christians to share in the regulation of ecclesias
tical matters, for he expressly contended that the holy
government of Christ's Church belongeth not to the pro
fane or unbelieving, neither can it, without manifest sacri
lege, be set over these parishes as they now stand in con-

46 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
fusion; no difference being made between the faithful
and unbelieving, all being indifferently received into the
body of the Church; but over every particular congrega
tion of Christ there ought to be an eldership, and every
such congregation ought to their uttermost power to en
deavor thereunto.* This important view of a Church, as
a spiritual community distinct from the civil, he fully de-
velopes in his subsequent writings, in which he exposes
the fallacy of the notion that a whole kingdom, composed
of all descriptions of persons, can be regarded as a Church
— that character and title, in his estimation, belongeth of
right only to separate congregations of believers, who,
with their ministers, popularly elected, form a complete
spiritual organization according to the will of Christ, and
have power to manage their affairs without foreign con
trol, f Thus the grand principle of Congregational Dis
senters was brought out in distinction from the views of
Presbyterian Christians. Presbyterian Puritanism had
looked at the formalism of the Church, and at the des
potic authority of bishops, and had taken its stand upon
the point of opposition to these corruptions. The Puri
tanism of Independency went deeper, and saw the root
of all ecclesiastical evils in a departure from the Christian
Congregationalism of the first century. Barrowe was
the first who in modern times clearly exhibited the char
acter of Scriptural Independency.!
The doctrine stated by him involved the inference, that
there ought to be a perfect separation between the Church
and the State, and that religion should be left as a volun
tary duty, with no other sanctions than those which are of
the same spiritual nature with itself. But it would be
saying too much to affirm that Barrowe and his brethren
* Examination, &c. Harleian Miscell. ii. 21.
t Hanbury's Memorial, 1. 54, 57. jj See Note [9].

' THE THREE MARTYRS. 47
distinctly apprehended this. Gleams of such a truth
might, and no doubt did, visit their minds, but they failed
to develop it, and allowed themselves to be entangled in
inconsistencies, at which, however, no one acquainted with
the prevalent notions of the times will wonder. " We
acknowledge," said Barrowe, " that the prince ought to
compel all his subjects to the hearing of Ood's word, in the
public exercises of the Church, yet," he adds, " cannot
the prince compel any to be a member of the Church."
The limit here assigned to the power of compulsion in re
ligious matters is very curious, and shows how large a
portion of the truth in relation to this subject was dis
cerned by this remarkable man. That he did not see the
entire bearings of his own principle is only a fact like
what has occurred in a thousand instances of men who
have struck out new views ; and, perhaps, it has on the
whole been well for the interests of truth that all the_ con
sequences of its assertion have not been at first fully ap
prehended, for had they been so, it is more than possible
that prejudice or timidity might have strangled it in the
birth. It is to be further confessed, in reference to Bar-
rowe's controversy with the Church, that he often dis
played a spirit of violence. That spirit was too common
with the keen advocates of either side of the question at
that time, but it was less reprehensible in him than in his
opponents, because he had to contend not only with their
arguments, but with their weapons of physical force, and
was goaded on without mercy by the prison and the gib
bet ; yet, whatever allowance we may make for persons,
we must not lose sight of the Christian principle as to the
method of carrying on our warfare in the cause of truth —
we must not forget that " the wrath of man worketh not
the righteousness of God."
Barrowe's principles found many adherents; churches

48 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
were gathered on the Congregational model ; and so many
particulars have been preserved respecting the origin of
one of them in the city of London, that a tolerably correct
idea of the interesting scene may be formed by a slight
effort of the imagination.
It was in the year 1592 that certain grave-looking per
sonages might have been seen turning down Nicholas-lane
from Lombard-street, of famous memory, and entering, in
little groups, or one by one, the house of Mr. Fox, who kept
an ordinary in a court opening into the said lane. There
was an air of suspicious caution about these persons as
they approached the door, as of men who felt that spies
were on the look-out to detect their proceedings. A wary
door-keeper let in the visitors, carefully observing each
individual, lest some one should enter who came to spy
out " the liberty which they had in Christ Jesus, and bring
them into bondage." When a, goodly party had assem
bled in the somewhat gloomy-looking wainscoted parlor,
including Mr. Francis Johnson, Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Bow
man, Mr. Lee, Mr. Studley, and Kinaston — names un
known to worldly fame, but celebrated, many now will
think, in a more noble record than any earthly one — the
first of these worthies rose, and in a strain of calm and
earnest devotion, though in a manner, perhaps, rather
tedious to modern ears, prayed for about half an hour,
committing to the care of Heaven the little flock then gath
ered into the Saviour's fold, and also specially remembering
their enemies, beseeching of God to turn their hearts.
Opening the Genevan Bible that lay on the long oaken
table, at the end of which he stood, he discoursed to the
attentive assembly, much to their edification, for the space
of an hour, and then invited any ofthe brethren who chose
to make their comments on the subject he had discussed.
The subject ofhis discourse would be the constitution of a

THE THREE MARTYRS. 49
Christian Church according to the principles which have
been already noticed as taught by Mr. Barrowe. To form
such a Church ; to covenant together to walk in the way
of the Lord, according to tlie warrant of His word ; to
give to each other the right hand of Christian fellowship,
with their hearts in it, is the purpose for which this assem
bly has been convened. As many as seven persons, among
whom were the children of Mr. Studley and Mr. Lee,
without godfathers or godmothers, were solemnly baptized
by effusion, no other ceremony being used than the utter
ance of the inspired formulary. Five white loaves were
then set on the table, with a plain-looking cup of wine, and
Mr. Johnson, whom thef .Church now recognized as their
pastor ,* proceeded to bfess.the bread and wine by prayer,
and then to administer them to Mr. Bowman and.Mr., Lee,
the deacons, who handed' them to the rest ofthe coijrpany.
They sang a hymn, made a- collection for the poor, and
were dismissed, with a caution from their pastor, " to go
home severally, lest the next meeting they should be in
terrupted by those which are of the opinion ofthe wicked."f
Such simplicity, very distasteful to many in the present
day, was still more repulsive to multitudes in an age when
the love of splendor and ceremony in all things, civil and
religious, was a predominant passion. One can hardly
imagine how novel and strange the simple worship of
these primitive Independents must have appeared at a time
when shows and pageants gave a tone to the prevailing
taste, and an imposing ceremonial in religion was loved
and cherished. But no doubt some readers who may honor
this volume with their notice, will discern a more touching
beauty in this specimen of Christian Congregational wor-
* See Note [10].
t See Examination of D. Buck, in Strype's Annals, iv. 243, and the
Brownist's Synagogue, quoted in Hanbury's Memorial, i. 86.

50 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
ship, and certainly, a much stronger resemblance to the
Passover scene in the Upper Room at Jerusalem, than
could be found in the administration of the sacrament in
St. Paul's cathedral of that day, to say nothing of the pom
pous mass in former times celebrated within those venera
ble walls.
Our Nonconformist fathers met and separated in safety
on the occasion just described, but there were liers in wait,
who not long after discovered their proceedings. Besides
Mr. Fox's ordinary, houses in Aldgate and Smithfield are
mentioned ; but above all other places of meeting, the
mind lingers with interest over the quiet close, not far from
the village of Islington, where they were wont to r jet
early in the morning on the summer Sabbaths, the identical
spot where the congregation in Mary's time used to assem
ble, and where the occurrence related in the last chapter
took place. As the dew sparkled on the grass, and the
birds twittered on the hedges, and the sun threw his
brightness over the far-spreaJing landscape, the scene
would wear, in the eyes of these confessors, a robe of holier
beauty, as they thought of their martyred fathers, who had
knelt on the same greensward, and studied their Bible
under the shadow of the same old trees. They viewed
that congregation some thirty years before, as related to
their own by certain common principles and usages ; they
often alluded to it in their examinations and writings, and
no doubt treasured up many a holy legend of heroism and
suffering, which they had heard from eye-witnesses in their
younger days, and which they now loved to relate to their
children as they sat in the winter evenings round their
spacious old English hearths. One Sunday morning they
were tracked by their enemies to the close at Islington,
where fifty-six were apprehended, and sent two by two to
the jails in London, which afterwards received inmates

THE THREE MARTYRS. 51
from other places where the Congregation had been found
worshipping. Many persons of the same principles had
been committed to prison before, and a considerable multi
tude might have been numbered of those who in this way
suffered for their non-conformity.
" Some of us," said they, in their petition to the Coun
cil, " have now been more than five years in prison ; yea,
four of these five years in close prison, with miserable
usage, as Henry Barrowe and John Greenwood at this
present in the Fleet. Others they have cast into their
limbo at Newgate, laden with as many irons as they could
bear ; other into the dangerous and loathsome jail, among
the most facinorous and vile persons, where it is lamen
table to relate how many of these innocents have perished
within these five years, and of these some aged widows,
aged men, and young maidens ; where so many as the
infection hath spared still lie in woful distress, like to fol
low their fellows if speedy redress be not had. Others
of us have been grievously beaten with cudgels in the
prisons, as at Bridewell, and cast into a place called
Little-ease there, for refusing to come to their chapel ser
vice, in which prison they and others of us not long after
ended their lives. Their manner of pursuing and appre
hending us is with no less violence and outrage. Their
pursuivants, with assistants, break into our houses at all
hours of the night. There they break up, ransack, rifle,
and make havoc at their pleasure, under pretext of search
ing for seditious and unlawful books. The husbands in
the deep of the night they have plucked out of their beds
from their wives, and haled them unjustly to prison."
" We profess," they add in another document, " the
same faith and truth of the Gospel, which her Majesty
and your honors, the whole land, and all the reformed
Churches under heaven this day do hold and maintain ;

52 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
we go beyond them, being our only fault, even in the
judgments of our tyrannical and most savage enemies, in
the detestation of all Popery, that most fearful anti-Chris
tian religion, and draw nearer in some points by our prac
tice unto Christ's holy order and institutions. We have
as good warrant to reject the ordinances of Antichrist,
and labor for the recovery of Christ's holy ordinances, as
our fathers in Queen Mary's days. Are we malefactors ?
Are we any more undutiful to our prince ? Maintain we
any errors ? Let us then be judicially convicted thereof
and delivered to the civil authority. We crave for all of
us but liberty either to die openly, or to live openly in the
land of our nativity." The latter request was denied to
all, the former granted to some. On the 21st March,
1593, Barrowe, Greenwood, and others, were indicted at
the Old Bailey upon the statute of 23 Elizabeth, for wri
ting and publishing sundry seditious books and pamphlets
tending to the slander of the Queen's government, whereas
the book complained of in their trial did not at all relate
to the Queen or her government, but treated of religious
questions, and was entitled " A Brief Dissection of the
False Church."* The courage with which conscious in
tegrity filled their hearts greatly annoyed their enemies,
and tbey bitterly complain " that none of them showed
any token of recognition of their offences, and prayer of
mercy for the same."f Barrowe and Greenwood were
to suffer as examples, and the 24th of March was fixed
for their execution. Early in the morning they were
* The examination of Barrowe, Greenwood, and thc rest are pre
served in the Egerton Papers, Camden Society's publications, p. 167,
from which it appears that all the specific accusations against them re
lated simply to their religious opinions.
t An exception was made on behalf of Scipio Bellet, who recanted,
and expressed great sorrow for what he had done. — Strype's Whitgift,
414.

THE THREE MARTYRS. 53
brought out of their dungeon, their irons were smitten
off, but just as they were about being bound to the cart
wliich was to convey them to Tyburn, a reprieve arrived.
The hope of life was re-awakened in minds fully prepared
for death, but the reprieve had come only that the suffer
ings of the martyrs might be prolonged by attempts to
provoke a conference, and to persuade them to recant.
They were firm to their principles, and therefore their
doom was sealed.
On the last day of March, 1593, very early in the
morning, as spring was breathing its fresh breezes about
the environs of London, the mournful procession of the
death-cart, with the condemned and the attendant officers,
passed under the archway of Newgate, and slowly as
cended Oldburn Hill. It was not studded with buildings
and crowded with bustle as it is at the present day, but
from the windows in the picturesque gables which then
stood beside the road, there were not a few who looked
on the sad procession, and pitied the fate of men so un
justly treated. As the train moved along, persons came
out and joined it, to witness the end, if not to sympathize
in the sufferings of the martyr pair. They enter the
St. George's-in-the-Fields, where the fresh grass springing
up after the winter snows, and the budding leaves of the
hedgerows, symbols of life and mementoes of cheerful
youth, bringing joy to the hearts of multitudes, are rather
calculated to fill with melancholy feelings the breasts of
the two condemned, were it not that Christian hope tells
them of a rich and everlasting spring-time in the paradise
of God, soon to open on their eyes. They reach the
gallows-tree at Tyburn, where the vilest malefactors had
paid the penalty of their offences, and patiently do they
undergo, at the hands of the common hangman, the
horrid ceremonv of adjusting the ropes to their necks.
5*

54 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
A large crowd had by this time gathered, notwithstanding
the precautions to keep the tragedy as secret as possible.
They are permitted, according to the common custom in
such cases, to speak for a few moments, when they ex
press their loyalty to the queen, their submission to the
civil government, and their sorrow for any hasty irreve
rent expressions which in the heat of controversy may
have escaped their lips. They declare their continued
faith in the doctrines for which they are about to suffer,
and entreat the people around them to embrace those
principles only as they appear to be the teaching of the
word of God. They then offer a prayer for her Majesty,
the magistrates, and the people, not forgetting their bitter
est enemies. A breathless silence pervades the crowd,
as every eye is fixed on the men standing beneath the
fearful beam, when a faint buzz is heard in the dis
tance, a commotion follows on the outskirts of the dense
mass, and a messenger, hurrying his way through the
opening ranks, speedily approaches the place of death.
The execution is stayed — he has brought a reprieve ; the
men, though ready to die, feel the life-blood, which had
begun already to curdle in their veins, throbbing afresh.
They are grateful for the royal mercy, and bless the name
of Elizabeth ; the multitude partake in the sentiment, and
rend the air with acclamations. They return through
the green fields and down Oldburn Hill, accompanied by
the people, whose rejoicings on their behalf awaken a
sympathetic response on the part of others who line the
streets and lanes to witness this strange spectacle of men
brought back from the gates of the grave. The sight
harmonizes with the season, and the vernal sun seems to
rejoice as he sheds his light on the returning procession.
Barrowe, on re-entering his prison, sits down to write to
a distinguished relative, describes the scene which has

THE THREE MARTYRS. 55
just taken place, and with earnestness implores her lady
ship not to let any impediments hinder her from speaking
to the Queen on his behalf before she goes out of the
city, lest he perish in her absence. Thus twice had these
men passed through the bitterness of death without dying,
and now rejoice, though with some clouds of apprehen
sion, in the hope of brighter earthly scenes. But there
is no hope for them on this side the grave. The reprieve
of to-day, like the former one, is an utter delusion. It is
a new method of ingenious torture. Innocent as they
are, they must perish. The next morning they are dragged
from their cells a third time, to gaze again on the appa
ratus of death with which they have become now so
strangely familiar, to be led forth to Tyburn, but on this
occasion to return no more.
It would seem that Elizabeth lived to repent of this as
well as of some other of her acts. " It is reported that
she asked the learned Dr. Reynolds what he then thought
of those two men, Henry Barrowe and John Greenwood.
He answered her Majesty that it could not avail any thing
to show his judgment concerning them, seeing they were
put to death. .And being loth to speak his mind further,
her Majesty charged him upon his allegiance to speak ;
whereupon he answered, that he was persuaded if they
had lived they would have been two as worthy instru
ments for the Church of God as have been raised up in
this age. Her Majesty sighed, and said no more ; but
after riding to a park near the place where they suffered
death, called again to mind their suffering of death, and
demanded of the Earl of Cumberland, who was present
when they suffered, what end they made. ' A very godly
end, and prayed for your Majesty and the state.' "
John Penry was another of the victims of intolerance.
He came up from Wales, and studied both at Cambridge

56 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
and Oxford, securing for himself the reputation of superior
scholarship, and preaching with much popular applause
in the pulpits of the University and among his native
mountains. He cast in his lot among the Nonconformists,
and his name occurs in connection with the London Con
gregation already noticed. He was charged with being
concerned in the authorship of certain satirical pamphlets
against the Bishops, and to escape apprehension retired
to Scotland, whence he returned to London, and was
seized soon after the execution of Barrowe and Green
wood. He was indicted for seditious words and rumors
against the Queen, tending to the stirring up rebellion
among her subjects. Some papers found in his study,
and never intended for publication, containing observations
on his Scotch visit, and a report of certain objections made
by the people in those parts against her Majesty, but
breathing, where his own sentiments were expressed, a
spirit of loyalty, were produced against him, and he was
doomed to follow his two brethren to an ignominious death.
From his cell he wrote to " the distressed faithful Con
gregation of Christ in London, and all the members
thereof, whether in bonds or at liberty." " Beloved," he
says, " I thank my God, I am not only ready to be bound
and banished, but even to die in this cause by his strength.
Yea, my brethren, I greatly long, in regard of myself, to
be dissolved and to live in the blessed kingdom of heaven
with Jesus Christ and his angels, — with Adam, Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, David, Jeremy, Daniel,
Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, and the rest of
the holy saints, both men and women, with the glorious
kings, prophets, and martyrs and witnesses of Jesus Christ,
that have been from the beginning of the world, with my
two dear brethren, Mr. Henry Barrowe, and Mr. John
Greenwood, which have last of all yielded their blood for

THE THREE MARTYRS. 57
this precious testimony, confessing unto you, my brethren
and sisters, that if I might live on the earth the days of
Methusaleh twice told, and that in no less comfort than
Peter, James, and John were in the Mount, and after this
life might be sure of the kingdom of heaven, that yet to
gain all this I durst not go from the former testimony.
Let not those of you," adds this thoughtful and benevolent
man, " that have either stocks in your hands, or some likely
hoards to live by, dispose of yourselves where it may be
most commodious for your outward estate, and in the mean
time suffer the poor ones that have no such means either
to bear the whole work upon their weak shoulders, or to
end their days in sorrow and mourning, for want of out
ward and inward comforts in the land of strangers, for
the Lord will be an avenger of all such dealings. But
consult with the whole Church, yea, with the brethren of
other places, how the Church may be kept together, and
built whithersoever they go. And here I humbly beseech
you, not in any outward regard, as I shall answer before
my God, that you would take my poor and desolate widow,
and my fatherless and friendless orphans, with you into
exile whithersoever you go, and you shall find, I doubt
not, that the blessed promises of my God, made unto me
and mine, will accompany them, and even the whole
Church, for their sakes. And be every way comfortable
unto the sister and wife of the dead, — I mean my beloved
Mr. Barrowe and Mr. Greenwood, whom I most heartily
salute, and desire much to be comforted in their God, who,
by his blessing from above, will countervail unto them
the want of so notable a brother and a husband." These
are but fragments of an epistle abounding in the eloquence
of nature, heightened by the spirit of Christianity. The
warrant for Penry's execution, was issued on the 29th of
May. The prisoner was informed at noon, while at din-

58 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
ner, that he must die before night ; and ere sunset on that
memorable May evening, this learned, zealous, and amia
ble man, with haste and secrecy, was hung upon the
gallows-tree at St. Thomas Watering, Southwark, after
the manner of a felon.*
There had now been enough of this kind of work ; not,
indeed, to crush Nonconformity, which the rulers hoped
would be the case, but to arouse public sympathy in its
favor, and therefore from this time the plan of gibbeting
Dissenters ceased.
Cowper laments the neglect with which Englishmen
have treated the memory of their Protestant martyrs :—
"Their ashes flew —
No marble tells us whither— with their names
No bard embalms and sanctifies his song —
And history, so warm on other themes,
Is cold on this."
This language, which is hardly just in reference to some
ofthe sufferers in Mary's reign, is applicable in the sever
est truth to the men whose fate has been just reviewed.
Like the once ignominious but now honored cross, the stake
of Smithfield has gathered round it some rays of glory :
but the gibbet, on which Penry and others died as nobly
as Latimer or Ridley did amidst the flames, is still covered
with dishonor, and is left, in the view of many, without a
redeeming association. The men were hanged as trou-
blers of the Church and State : so, for the most part, their
history is read, and Strype and others of the same class
have not even a tear of sympathy for these imagined cul
prits. These men died as martyrs for truth,— truth of
deep import, and to their thoughtful minds involving con
sequences of mighty interest to the cause of spiritual re
ligion — so another race of historical students, now on the
» See Note [11].

THE THREE MARTYRS. 59
increase, more correctly read their story. Why should
not Penry and his martyred compeers be put into the same
list with our Larimers and our Cyprians ? What matters
it whether the sufferer died on a gallows, or at the stake,
or under the headsman's sword ? And is it enough to di
vorce their names, that one died for the truth of his relig
ion in opposition to the falsehoods of Paganism — another
for the reasonableness of his religion in opposition to the
absurd mysteries of Popery — and a third for the spiritu
ality of his religion in opposition to the formalism and
secularity of the age ? I believe all these sufferers have
long since clasped hands before the throne of God. With
kindred feelings I first stand and gaze on the field near
Carthage, where amidst a vast concourse of people, some
climbing up the trees, the African Bishop bows his head
and dies. I then visit the spot in Oxford, -near Balliol
College, where the Protestant prelates suffered amidst the
taunts of their enemies and the sympathy of their friends
— poor Cranmer from his prison-window watching them to
the stake. And, finally, I walk through St. George's-in-
the-Fields, to gaze on the Nonconformist martyrs as they
reach Tyburn ; and in these and suchlike men, I recog
nize true spiritual heroes, supported in their conflict by the
Saviour's presence, and exhibiting the noblest develop
ments of the moral sublime that earth can offer, or Hea
ven look down upon : —
" When persecution's torrent blaze
Wraps the unshrinking martyr's head,
When fade all earthly flowers and bays,
When summer friends are gone and fled,
Is he alone in that dark hour,
Who owns the Lord of love and power 1
" Or waves there not around his brow
A wand no human arm can wield,

60 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Fraught with a spell no angels know,
His steps to guide, his soul to shield
Thou, Saviour, art his charmed bower,
His magic ring, his rock, his tower."
Thus do I feel, and thus others have felt, as the eye
now gazes with tears, or turns away with terror, while
the glittering sword, and the blazing brand, and the fatal
rope, dismisses the patient glorified victim to yonder Tem
ple, where his spirit joins the band of souls already be
neath the altar.

CHAPTER III.

PILGRIM FATHERS.

" I will make them conform, or I will harry them out
of the land, or else worse," was the exclamation of King
James respecting the Puritans, at the mock conference
held in the old withdrawing-room of Hampton Court, that
monument of Wolsey's pride and fall, of ecclesiastical
despotism and humiliation. " I will harry them out of
the land," was the merciful resolve of that orthodox prince,
before whom, at the close of the second day's conference,
Bancroft fell upon his knees, and said, " I protest, my heart
melteth for joy, that Almighty God, of his singular mercy,
has given us such a king as since Christ's time has not
been." " James," adds Daniel Neale, somewhat drily,
" was as good as his word." Many a conscientious Puri
tan was driven from the shores of his fatherland to seek
an asylum in a foreign country, and thus England lost
some of her richest jewels, if citizens of integrity and up
rightness be a nation's wealth, and some of her best royal
blood, if there be truth in the lines of one of the bards of
James'3 native land —
"The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king of men for a' that.' '
The Low Countries, as to religious liberty far surpass
ing the rest of Europe, afforded cities of refuge for the
victims of persecution. The fact was then thrown in the

62 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
teeth of Holland as a reproach, and it formed the spice of
many a piece of wit at the Dutchmen's expense, but their
conduct redounded to their everlasting honor. Many of
the Puritans of the Presbyterian school sought a home in
Holland, and formed churches there upon their own prin
ciples : and the peculiar pressure of the persecuting times
on the men who held the system of Independency, might
well constrain them to seek a resting place in the same
free land.
There was a little flock of persecuted ones who dwelt
in that part of England where Nottinghamshire, Lincoln
shire, and Yorkshire, border on each other. They had a
grave and reverend preacher, Mr. Richard Clyfton, who
had been an instrument in the conversion of many, and
among their number there was "-that famous and worthy
man, Mr. John Robinson, and also Mr. William Brewster,
a reverend man, who was afterwards chosen an elder of
the Church."* Robinson, whose intimate connection with
the Pilgrim Fathers will bring him prominently before us
in this chapter, had been a clergyman in the Church of
England, and had held a benefice near Yarmouth, in Nor
folk, where he was often molested by the Bishop's officers,
while his friends were almost ruined in the ecclesiastical
courts; and as to Brewster, it may be remarked that he
had held offices of trust under Secretary Davison, the un
fortunate person whom Elizabeth made a scapegoat in the
melancholy affair of Mary Queen of Scots. He had re
tired into the country, where he lived respected, and had
been by degrees led to espouse the principles of Independ
ency, upon which he opened his house as a place of wor
ship for the persons we have mentioned. But they felt
* Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, p. 453. Robinson was
born in 1573, but the place of his birth is unknown. He was probably
educated in the University of Cambridge.

PILGRIM FATHERS. 63
themselves in peril from their Argus-eyed persecutors,
and resolved to seek religious freedom under the govern
ment of Holland.
On one occasion, a company of these freedom-seeking
exiles appointed as a place of rendezvous the town of Bos
ton, in Lincolnshire, at which port they were to embark in
a vessel they had hired for the purpose. The party ar
rived, but the ship did not appear. Day after day they
waited in the place with anxious hearts, till at length
news reached them that the ark of refuge they were long
ing for would be ready to take them away at the appointed
time at night for greater safety. They and their goods
were taken on board, when, to their unutterable surprise
and agony, they found themselves betrayed by the unprin
cipled captain into the hands of their enemies, who entered
the vessel, took them prisoners, rifled them of their money,
searched their persons, treated the women with the rudest
indelicacy, and then led the whole party in triumph
through the streets of Boston, for a gazing-stock and a re
proach. Brought before fhe magistrates, these innocent
victims of intolerance found favor in their sight, though
they were put in ward ; but as soon as an order of coun
cil could be obtained, the greater part were dismissed ;
seven of these persons, however, among whom was Brews
ter, were cruelly detained in prison till the next assizes.
This happened in 1607 ; in the spring of the following
year some of the same parties, in connection with others
like minded, made a further attempt to escape from op
pression in their native land. But this time they would
not trust an Englishman. They met with a Dutch cap
tain at Hull, who had a ship of his own, and they arranged
with him for their passage. A solitary part of the beach,
between Grimsby and Hull, far away from any town, was
selected as the place of embarkation. The women and

64 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
children, it was arranged, should go thither by sea, in a
small vessel, the men by land. The former reached their
destination the day before the Dutch ship arrived, and put
into a little creek, where lying at low water they found
protection from the ocean's swell, and some relief from
their distressing sea-sickness. In that condition they
spent the night. How comfortless ! the loud winds sweep
ing over them, the hollow moaning of the waves at the
midnight hour, (for the sea was rough,) deepening the
melancholy feelings that agitated their breasts. The next
morning the longed-for ship arrived. Gladly was it wel
comed by the women and children in their little bark, and
by the fathers and husbands, too, who had been walking
up and down the shore with deep anxiety. A boat was
sent off from the ship, and it was thought best to take
some of the men on board first. A party of them were
conveyed there accordingly, and the boat returned to re
ceive another load, when, to the terror of all present, a
number of persons, some on horse, some on foot, armed
with guns and other weapons, were seen approaching the
spot, evidently for the purpose of arresting the fugitives.
The Dutch captain was alarmed, swore by the sacrament
he would not stay, and spreading his sails to a favorable
wind, which had risen, weighed anchor, and was soon out
of sight. With what aching hearts did the poor exiles in
the vessel look towards the receding shores, to their dis
consolate companions, and their precious wives and chil
dren, who stood there " crying for fear and quaking with
cold." The men had no property on board, not even a
change of raiment, and scarcely a penny in their pock
ets ; but the loss of their possessions was nothing to the
cruel stroke which severed them from those they best
loved on earth. As the wide field of waters spreads be
tween these separated ones, we hardly know which most

PILGRIM FATHERS. 65
to pity, those poor widows, who look with agony on their
little children, playing about the sands, chasing the tide,
and gathering up the pebbles, unconscious of their evil
lot ; and those elder orphans, able to understand the woe
which has come over them, and whose cries, together with
their mothers', mingle with the deep roar of the breakers ;
or those men on board, who weep and pray, and would
give the world to be on land again, to share the destiny
of the sufferers they are leaving behind. On the approach
of the officers, some of the men on shore escaped, others
remained to assist the women. The whole party was ap
prehended, and conveyed from constable to constable, till
their persecutors were weary with the trouble of so large a
number of captives, and permitted them to go their way.
As to those who were in the Dutch vessel, the elements
warred against them. A fearful storm drove them on the
coast of Norway ; " nor sun, nor moon, nor stars for many
days appeared." The mariners despaired of life, and once
gave up all for lost, thinking the ship had foundered.
" But when," says one who was on board, " man's hope
and help wholly failed, the Lord's power and mercy ap
peared for their recovery, for the ship rose again, and gave
the mariners courage again to manage her ; and, if mod
esty would suffer me, I might declare with what fervent
prayers they cried unto the Lord in this great distress, es
pecially some of them, even without any great distraction.
When the waters ran into their very ears and mouths, and
the mariners cried out, ' We sink ! we sink !' they cried,
if not with miraculous yet with a great height of divine
faith, ' Yet, Lord, thou canst save — yet, Lord, thou canst
save !' And He who holds the winds in his fist and the
waters in the hollow of his hands did hear and save them.
" In the end," it is added, " notwithstanding all these
storms of opposition, they all got over at length, some at
6*

66 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
one time, and some at another, and met together again,
according to their desires, with no small rejoicing."*
Every one who has visited a foreign country must re
member the peculiar feelings he experienced when he
first stepped upon its shores. The novelty of the scene,
the architecture of the dwellings and churches, the cos
tume, manners, and language of the people, and a num
ber of little things, in perfect contrast with what he has
been accustomed to witness at home, excite a state of
mind which can be more easily recollected than described.
But it makes a wide difference whether the stranger be a
tourist in quest of recreation, or an exile in search of a
home. The feeling of strangeness, which in the one
case becomes the basis of pleasurable emotions, in the
other case spreads coldly over the heart. And if there
be no prospect of returning back to scenes endeared by
the associations of childhood, and by still more sacred at
tachments, — if the absence, in all probability, be for life,
then is the sadness increased a thousand fold ; and He
who knows what is in man, and watches every chord of
human feeling as it vibrates, has noted down this sorrow
with a touching sympathy in those beautiful words :
" Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him : but weep
sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no
more, nor see his native country." It was with such
feelings that the English refugees landed on the shores
of Holland. " They heard," says Bradford in his narra
tive, " a strange and uncouth language, and beheld the
different manners and customs of the people, with their
strange fashions and attires, all so differing from that of
their plain country villages wherein they were bred and
born, and had so long lived, as it seemed they were come
into a new world. "f Amsterdam was the place to which,
* Young's Chronicles, p. 29. t Ihid. p. 33.

PILGRIM FATHERS. 67
in the first instance, tlioy looked as their future home.
Since the Pacification of Ghent in 1578, this remarkable
city had amazingly advanced in mercantile importance,
and was rising to that pre-eminence among the cities of
the Low Countries, which in the middle ages had distin
guished Antwerp. Two centuries have made but little
difference in Amsterdam ; and the reader who has seen
its canals covered with vessels of various sizes, its streets
adorned with long rows of trees, the picturesque gables
of its houses, and its busy crowds, with their wooden
shoes, can easily picture to himself the novel scene that
spread before the eyes of these pious exiles as they en
tered within that fine old city. But as they mused on
what they saw, they must have gathered a lesson suited
to their situation, and full of encouragement. Their own
energy and perseverance, under the blessing of God,
formed their only means of subsistence ; and what those
qualities of character could do was demonstrated in the
growing power and opulence of that remarkable city. It
was a spot literally won from the ocean by human toil,
and secured by an immense dam from inundation. Its
¦houses were built on a morass, yet they rested on a firm
base, constructed of huge piles, a circumstance which
gave rise to the saying of Erasmus, that multitudes of his
countrymen were like birds, living on tne tops of trees.
Every object the strangers saw as they walked about the
streets of their new home, seemed to bear the motto,
" Labor omnia vincit."
Amsterdam, however, was not altogether a city of stran
gers. There were some there already, who, like themselves,
had left the shores of England for conscience sake. Some
Puritans, among whom was the celebrated Dr. Ames, had
at an early period established themselves in the city ; and
now there had been for several years in the same place a

68 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Congregational Church. Indeed, it was a portion of the
very community whose formation in St. Nicholas-lane we
described in a former chapter. Not long after that inter
esting circumstance, such of the members as could leave
their native land were glad to escape to Holland, under
the care of Mr. Johnson their pastor, and Mr. Ainsworth
their teacher. These men were now presiding over the
flock at Amsterdam. They, particularly the latter, were
men of talent and learning, but unhappily discords after
wards arose between them which led to fierce controversy.
Johnson was a man of ardent temperament and strict
principle, and gave great offence by excommunicating
from the Church his own brother and father. The dis
turbance in the Church was increased by some frivolous
complaints, made by certain members, respecting Mrs.
Johnson's dress, who being a person of some wealth, was
rather smarter than her grave sisters, wearing, it is said,
" cork shoes,'' and ¦' whalebone in the bodice and sleeves
of her gown." Ainsworth is described as a man of
" meek spirit and calm temper, void of passion, and not
easily provoked ;" yet the misunderstanding between him
and his more excitable colleague prevailed to such an ex
tent, that they separated from each other and the Church
divided. This afforded no small occasion of triumph to
the opponents of their principles ; yet with no good rea
son, for every one must see that contention is the fruit
of our fallen nature ; that no system of discipline had
ever proved sufficient to prevent the outbursts of excited
passions ; and that every section of Christendom, what
ever may be its form of government, has in its turn been
troubled with the storms of strife.
Before these unhappy discussions broke out the Church
at Amsterdam was in great prosperity. With feelings of
deep veneration and pleasure did the descendants of the

PILGRIM FATHERS. 69
exiles dwell on their virtues, and the scenes they had
hallowed by their abode and worship. The traditions of
those days wore among the choicest themes' of conver
sation among the pilgrims, after they had settled down in
New England. We fancy we see a family group listening
to stories of the olden time from the lips of the gray-headed
sire, who had known the worthies of the Amsterdam
Church : and surely the little ones would look very grave,
as they heard their father tell of a certain venerable dame,
whom we find mentioned with much honor in the records
of that period, as an ornament to her profession, who used
to sit in a convenient place in the Congregation, with a
birchen rod in her hand, keeping the juveniles in awe, and
thereby preventing any disturbance in the course of worship.
In connection with the Church at Amsterdam the name
of Ainsworth demands further notice. He was the author
of a learned commentary on the five books of Moses, a
work still highly prized by the biblical scholar. Indeed
his erudition was so greatly esteemed, that he was deemed
by competent contemporary judges as one of the first
Hebraists in Europe. It is affecting to read of this great
man's poverty, soon after his arrival in the Low Countries,
when, owing partly to the straitened circumstances of his
friends, but chiefly to his own disinclination to inform them
of his necessities, he subsisted, it is said, upon the misera
ble pittance of nine-pence a week ; but when the circum
stance became known, and the means of the congregation
increased, a comfortable provision was cheerfully made for
the Wants of this disinterested man. If what Neale says
be correct, this able divine met with an untimely end ;
having found a diamond in the streets of Amsterdam, he
advertised the fact, and a Jew came to him and claimed the
lost valuable. On being asked what reward he desired,
the enthusiastic scholar requested a conference with the

70 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Rabbis on the prophecies of the Old Testament respecting
Christ, which the Jew promised to obtain for him. But
" not having interest enough to obtain it, it is thought
Ainsworth was poisoned."
Robinson and his party did not tarry in Amsterdam
more than a, twelve-month. The spirit of strife, which
unhappily prevailed there, greatly distressed them, and they
thought it advisable to remove to Leyden, where happily
they found a peaceful home for many years. Robinson
was now their pastor, the venerable Richard Clifton, who
had watched over them in England with so much success,
and who had accompanied them to Holland, being com
pelled to resign his charge from advanced age. The
veteran's " white beard" is particularly mentioned in the
New England traditions."
While Amsterdam was rising in mercantile wealth,
Leyden was rising in literary reputation. By a singular
but honorable preference, the citizens, on being offered by
the Prince of Orange, in 1575, as a reward for their valor
during the famous siege, either a remission, of taxes, or
the foundation of a university, at once chose the latter.
The city obtained the appellation of the Athens of the
West ; but with its cloisters of learning it combined busy
manufactures ; while in one street the student was engaged
with his books, in another the weaver was sitting at his
loom ; but all breathed quietude and liberty ; and one can
scarcely imagine a more inviting home than that which
Leyden presented to these weary-worn pilgrims, who came
along the pleasant road from Amsterdam, " seeking peace
above all other riches." If the history of the city they had
left was calculated to stimulate them to industry, the his
tory of the city they entered was adapted to keep alive
their love of freedom. Traces might still be seen of
the effects of the heroic deed performed by the citizens

PILGRIM FATHERS. 7l
of Leyden when, contending for their liberties, they pre
ferred to inundate the city and neighborhood, rather than
submit to the cruel 'tyranny of Spain.
But if Leyden afforded a peaceful retreat, that was
almost the only advantage it presented to our pilgrims, for
the city being far inferior to Amsterdam in wealth and
trade, it afforded them but a poor prospect of maintenance.
Industry, however, was not one of the least valuable traits
in their characters, and setting themselves to work at
such trades as they were competent to perform or able to
learn, they obtained a humble and honest subsistence.
Men who had bartered their prospects in life for liberty
and religion, were not the men to be paralyzed by any
difficulty which courage and zeal could overcome. Such
of them as had learned the art of weaving employed them
selves at the Leyden looms. Others were initiated into
the craft of silk-dyeing, and some worked as printers.
But though their temporal circumstances were never very
prosperous, their spiritual enjoyment in each other's so
ciety, and under the ministry of their beloved pastor, Mr.
Robinson, was very great. " Yea, such was the mutual
love and reciprocal respect that this worthy man had to
his flock, and his flock to him, that it might be said of them,
as it was once said of that famous emperor, Marcus Aure
lius, and the people of Rome, that it was hard to judge
whether he delighted more in having such a people or they
in having such a pastor." The society flourished both in
the graces of the spirit and in accessions to their numbers ;
for so remarkable was their peace and unity, that they
attracted others like-minded with themselves from their
native country, so that the Church in time amounted to
nearly three hundred members* When any differences
arose in this primitive Christian community, they were
* See Note [12],

72 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
straightway nipped in the bud by judicious treatment:
when any parties acted inconsistently, they were reproved
in the spirit of love ; and when they proved incorrigible,
which was seldom the case, they were solemnly cut off
from communion. Though strict in their discipline, and
strongly attached to their distinctive principles, they were
far from being bigots. Robinson was a man of large-
hearted benevolence and enlightened catholicity, and he
breathed his own beautiful spirit over his flock. Nothing
more offended the good man than to witness a great rigidity
in the enforcement of subordinate matters, especially when
such sternness on points of outward order was associated,
as is sometimes the case, with considerable laxity in points
of moral conduct. He knew how to estimate " the tithe
of mint, and anise, and cummin," in their relative value to
the weightier matters of the law. Schism he condemned,
and division he deplored. From the government and cere
monies of the Church of England his conscience compelled
him to dissent, but he was prepared to welcome the pious
of that and all other Christian communions to the fellow
ship of the Lord's table. " Our faith is not negative," he
observes, " nor consists in the condemning of others, and
wiping their names out of the bead-roll of Churches, but
in the edifying of ourselves ; neither require we of any of
ours, in the confession of their faiths, that they either
renounce or in one word contest with the Church of
England." The brethren of Leyden always treated with
honor the reformed Churches of the Continent ; and mem
bers of those communities might be seen participating with
them in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. When on
one occasion a Scotch refugee minister, residing in Leyden,
and in the habit of attending on Mr. Robinson's preaching,
requested, at the close of the sermon, that he might tarry
as a spectator during the holy communion, the pastor re-

PILGRIM FATHERS. 73
plied, " Reverend Sir, you may not only stay to behold us,
but partake with us, if you please, for we acknowledge
the churches of Scotland to be the churches of Christ."
The minister, however, felt some difficulty in accepting
this catholic invitation, lest his rigid brethren at home
should take offence at the proceeding.
Distinguished by so much unity, peacefulness, consist
ency, and true-hearted love, otvr exiles could not but win
the sincere respect of the Leyden citizens. The latter
took their word, because they had found the strangers al
ways prepared to keep it. They were glad to trade with
them, ready to employ them, and, when circumstances re
quired, to assist them by pecuniary loans. After the
tradespeople'of the city, in the commercial intercourse of
life, had thus for a long period evinced their esteem of
the English congregation, the magistrates on the bench
of justice, upon the departure of their city guests to their
new home on the other side of the Atlantic, publicly bore
testimony to their social virtues, declaring that the English
had hved among them twelve years, and yet no suit or ac
cusation had ever been brought against any of them. The
reputation of their pastor for sanctity and learning, no doubt
greatly tended to raise the respectability of the Church in
the estimation of the Dutch people. Circumstances af
forded him ample scope for the display of his talents. The
disputes between the Arminians and Calvinists raged in
Leyden during his residence there, and in that far-famed
controversy the English divine was called upon to take a
part. Episcopius had succeeded Arminius as divinity profes
sor, and was zealously advocating the opinions of his re
nowned predecessor. Polyander, another professor of the
ology in the same college, with equal warmth supported
the Calvinistic side of the controversy. Robinson, who
7

74 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
was a thoughtful, well-skilled, and earnest theologian,
could not but feel an interest in this -grand religious dis
pute of the day, and therefore attended the lectures of both
these eminent champions. He himself was a decided
Calvinist, and by his studies at this time became more
than ever master of the subject. His theological reputa
tion rendered him a formidable opponent and a valuable
ally, and therefore the Calvinists courted his assistance,
while the Arminians feared his attacks. Episcopius hav
ing put forth certain theses, and challenged his opponents
to public disputes, Polyander requested Robinson to enter
the lists. The English refugee, as modest as he was
learned, at first shrunk from the idea, till overcome by the
persuasions of his friends, and still more by a sense of
duty, he consented to accept the challenge. Robinson
honorably acquitted himself in these disputations, and won
increased respect and love from the Calvinists, at that
time the leading party in Holland. Indeed, so great was
their esteem for him, that it is affirmed he would have re
ceived some expression of national favor, had it not been
for the fear of giving some offence to the King of Eng
land. It would be departing from the object of this vol
ume to enter into the history of the Arminian controversy
in Holland, but I cannot help remarking how deeply it is
to be regretted that while the advocates of predestinarian-
ism sought the aid of Robinson's argumentative powers,
they did not also imbibe that mild and tolerant spirit which
was breathed by his ecclesiastical principles, for then they
would have saved the sacred name of religion from the
dishonor done to it by the persecutions which ensued upon
the decisions of the Council of Dort.
Eight years rolled away. The exiles were respected,
and their pastor was honored both by themselves and the
Dutch citizens, yet they felt, after all, that they were

PILGRIM FATHERS. 75
strangers in a strange land. The customs of the people
differed from their own. To many of them the language
of the country was unintelligible. They had to struggle
with poverty, and endure hard toil. The fathers were
getting old ; the children were not all of the same heroic
stamp with themselves. Every daughter was not a Ruth,
nor every son a Cato.* Some of the young people,
though they desired liberty, could not bear much hard
ship. Others, who were of a brave and earnest spirit, and
loving religious freedom beyond every thing, bore the yoke
till it bowed down their strength, and the vigor of nature
was consumed in the bud. But what much more grieved
the hearts of some who were parents, was that they saw
their offspring exposed to the corrupting influence of bad
example. Many of the young people were not proof
against temptation. They fell into courses of licentious
ness. One became a soldier, another went to sea. Many
a father mourned, many a mother wept ; and good Mr.
Robinson would strive to soothe them in his pastoral visi
tations and his public preaching.
But what was to be the future course of the exiles ?
This became daily a more and more pressing question.
They thought of England — thought of its beautiful scenery,
and peaceful homesteads, and busy cities, where, as boys
and girls, they had lived in happiness, and which, after all
their persecutions from an unjust government, it was im
possible they could ever cease to love. It was their native
land, and they were bound to it by Nature's spell, which
no tyranny could break. Often, as they paced the flat
banks of the Dutch canal, did they sigh for the hills and
vales of their own more beautiful region —
"For the shieling wood, and stream girt,
Where Romance youth's summer sped ;
* Young's Chronicles, p. 45.

76 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
For the belfry by the gray kirk,
In whose shadow slept their dead."
Their mother tongue was dear to them. The name of
England they revered ; even the name of its intolerant
King they pronounced with honor. They feared their
posterity would forget that tongue, and neglect to cherish
those names. Yet return, to their much-loved England
was impracticable ; persecution frowned on them from its
sands and cliffs, and they dared not to seek their home
again upon its shores.
But there was another land far away over the broad
Atlantic, of which they had heard, whose virgin soil was
fruitful, and whose air was free for all who wished to
breathe it, and the thought struck them, that amidst those
untenanted wilds of nature they might found a colony,
and build up a church, and preserve their name, their lan
guage, and their faith, and advance Christ's kingdom, and
be as stepping-stones to others in performing a great work.
And who can tell what dim and shadowy images of a
grand destiny to be accomplished there, might rise before
the eyes, and awaken strange emotion in the nobler spirits
of that world-despised band of Independent Christians 1
It was a great thought, the seed of a great empire,
which was thrown out by the man, whoever he was, that
first suggested to his companions the daring enterprise.
I should like to know the spot on which it was expressed,
and to have a picture of the countenances of the rest of
the exiles in the moment of hearing it. Amidst the polit
ical and theological contentions of Holland, which filled
Europe with their fame, the sayings and doings of that
humble Congregation never caught the public ear ; but
there were impulses among them at work which were to
strike most powerfully on the destinies of the world;
and when the history of great souls shall be revealed in

PILGRIM FATHERS. 77
eternity, doubtless the words and deeds of these, and such
as these, will be more prominent in the divine record than
those displays of skilful statesmanship and physical valor
on which the pens of historians now are wont to finger.
Some glimpses of the debates upon this project by these
good men are afforded in Bradford's Narra-tive. Persons
among them there were who were startled at the proposal.
" It is a great design," said they, " and subject to many
inconceivable perils and dangers ; besides the casualties
of the seas, the length of the voyage is such as the weak
bodies of men and women, and such other persons, worn
out with age and travel, as many of us are, could never
be able to endure ; and if we should do so, the miseries
we should be exposed to in that land will be too hard for
us to bear ; it is likely that some or all will effect our
ruin. We shall be liable to famine, and nakedness, and
want. The changing of the air, diet, and water, will in
fect us with sickness ; and those who escape these evils
will be in danger of the savages, who are cruel and bar
barous, not being content to kill, but delighting to torment
in the most bloody manner, flaying men alive with the
shells of fishes, cutting off the joints by piecemeal, broil
ing them on coals, and eating collops of their flesh in their
very sight." And the good men shuddered as these hor
rors darkened in their imagination ; and then, turning to
look at other matters, less terrific, yet not to be slighted,
they urged, " It will require more money than we can fur
nish for such a voyage. Similar schemes have failed,
(alluding, perhaps, to the plantation project at Sagadahoc
in 1607),- and our experience in removing to Holland
teaches us how hard it is to live in a strange country,
though it be a civil and rich commonwealth." So they
pleaded ; and the hearts of the weaker died within them.
But others in that chamber of council rose and said, " All

78 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
great and honorable actions are accompanied with great
difficulties, and must be met and overcome with answer
able courage. It is granted that the dangers are great,
but they are not desperate ; the difficulties are many, but
not invincible ; though many of them are likely, none of
them are certain. Some of the things feared may never
befall us ; others, by care and providence, and the use of
means, may be, in a measure, prevented, and all, through
the help of God, by fortitude and patience, may be over
come. True it is, that such attempts are not to be un
dertaken but upon good grounds ; not lightly, as many
have done, for curiosity or gain ; but our ends are not
common, but good and honorable ; our calling lawful and
urgent ; and therefore we may expect the blessing of God
on our proceedings. Yea, and though we should lose our
lives in this action, we may have comfort in it, for the en
deavor will be honorable. We have lived here but as
men in exile, and in a poor condition, and as great mis
eries may befall us here as there, for the twelve years'
truce is now expired, and there is nothing but beating of
drums and preparing for war. The Spaniard may prove
as cruel as the savage of America, and the famine and
the pestilence be as sore here as yonder, with less liberty
to look out for remedy." That was a noble-hearted strain
of speech, and showed that they who uttered it were un
der the influence of another order of feeling altogether
than that which swayed their timid brethren.
Amidst other curious papers by the distinguished phi
losopher Wollaston, he wrote one " on sounds inaudible
to certain ears." " Some persons," he observed, " are
free from deafness, yet are insensible to shrill notes — to
the cricket's chirp, and the swallow's twitter ;" and he
proceeds to suggest it as possible that insects may emit
and listen to sounds which men never hear, while they are

PILGRIM FATI1KRS. 79
deaf to the graver tones of the human voice. The moral
world seems a curious counterpart of the physical. There
are shrill notes of fear which rouse the emotions of one
class of minds, to which others are insensible ; and there
are trumpet tones of courage, which thrill through some
souls, while the rest remain deaf to their inspiring appeal.
So it was on this occasion. The weaker brethren heard
only the shrill suggestions of their own fears ; the heroic
ones were deaf to all but those grave, deep inspirations,
full of daring but calm decision, which came over them
like voices from eternity. Yet the resemblance of the
moral to the physical phenomena in this present case, as
it regarded some, lasted only for a while, for the nobler-
minded at length created a, sympathy with themselves
in the breast of others who had at first shrunk back.
None, however, trusted to the force of argument and hu
man persuasion. They looked to a, higher Power. By
prayer and fasting they sought the Spirit's teaching, and
no doubt earnest were the wrestlings of those devout men
with the Angel of the Covenant that they might know
His will. After much reflection and earnest supplications
for guidance, the majority concluded upon the great en
terprise. Then came the inquiry, What part of America should
they select for their future home ? Guiana was named,
and its claims enforced on the ground of its being blessed
with perpetual spring, and a flourishing greenness ; but
it was objected, that the climate was insalubrious, and,
especially, that the fierce, intolerant, and jealous Spaniard
was already there. At last Virginia was selected as, on
the whole, a more favorable spot. Two were sent to
England to confer with the Virginia Company, and to
gain, if possible, the King's broad seal to authorize the
undertaking. The company entered into their views, but

80 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
the King, as was to be expected, refused his sanction,
though he was not unwilling to connive at their proceed
ings, provided they went on peaceably. The want of the
seal became a trouble to some, but others shrewdly ob
served, " it would not be of much Use if they had it, ' for
though the seal were as broad as the house floor,' there
would be means enough found, if the author wished, to
recall or reverse it." There was much arguing on the
subject ; deputations crossed and recrossed the German
Ocean ; many letters were written ; consultations held,
and prayers offered, till, ultimately, the emigrants re
solved upon going to New England, with no other patent
than what they had at first obtained under the idea of
colonizing Virginia,* and with no other seal than the
broad one of the Divine sanction, which they were per
suaded they had obtained.
It was arranged that some should go before the rest, un
der the direction of Mr. Brewster, an elder of the Chuf ch.
In prospect of their departure, the whole Church spent a
day of humiliation, and Robinson preached from the beau
tiful text, " And there, at the river by Ahava, I proclaimed
a fast, that we might humble ourselves before our God,
and seek of Him a right way for us, and for our children,
and for all our substance."! R was an affecting occasion
— the pastor's heart was full ; and it is reported that he
spent a good part of the day very profitably and suitably
to the occasion. Only a brief outline of that memorable
sermon has been preserved. We would gladly give whole
shoals of published discourses in exchange for that one
homily. While, however, the far greater portion is lost
in the long silence of the past, the fragments of this great
man's utterances on the occasion happily spared to us we
* See Note [13].
t Ezra viii. 21. Version in Bradford's Narrative.

PILGRIM FATHERS. 81
will gather up and preserve among our richest relics. We
seem to be sitting among the Congregation. Many around
us are in tears. Amidst the deep stillness of the place,
an audible sob now and then breaks out, as the preacher
proceeds : —
" Brethren, we are now ere long to part asunder, and
the Lord knoweth whether ever I shall live to see your
faces again. But whether the Lord hath appointed it or
not, I charge you before God and his blessed angels to
follow me no farther than I have followed Christ. If God
should reveal any thing to you by any other instrument of
his, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive
any truth by my ministry, for I am very confident the Lord
hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy
word. " Miserably do I bewail the state and condition of the
reformed Churches, who are come to a period in religion,
and would go no farther than the instruments of their ref
ormation ; as, for example, the Lutherans, they could not
go beyond what Luther saw ; for whatever part of God's
will he has further imparted by Calvin, they will rather
die than embrace it. So, also, you see the Calvinists,
they stick where he left them — a misery much to be la
mented ; for though they were precious shining lights in
their times, yet God did not reveal his whole will to them ;
and were they now living, doubtless they would be willing
to embrace further light as that which they did receive."
Much is said in these days about the development of
Christianity. The sage Robinson understood this matter.
The Bible, not the fathers, formed his text-book ; but he
saw their depths of truth and glory, into which he was
persuaded thoughtful minds might penetrate farther and
farther as time rolled on. The Bible was to him like the
universe, a system unchangeable in its great facts and

82 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
principles, but ever opening wider and brighter upon stu
dious and devout minds. He knew there would be no
change in God's Word, and no addition made to its con
tents ; but he looked for beautiful and improving changes
in men's views — for broader, clearer, and more powerful
conceptions of God's truth. There was deep philosophy
as well as sound practical direction and Christian pathos
in Robinson's sermon. But he was neither Rationalist nor
Mystic, and knew how to guard his notion of development
from abuse.
" Remember your Church covenant," he says, " in
which you have agreed to walk in all the ways of the
Lord made known, or to be made known to you. Re
member you promise and covenant with God and with one
another to receive whatever light or truth shall be made
known to you from his written word ; but withal, take
heed, I beseech you, what you receive for truth, and com
pare it and weigh it with other Scriptures of truth before
you receive it ; for it is not possible the Christian world
should come so lately out of such thick anti-Christian
darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should
break forth at once."
Robinson was no snarling schismatic, but a friend to
Christian Catholic Union, for he goes on to say, in his
practical directions, "Another thing I commend to you.
By all means shake off the name of Brownist. It is a
mere nickname and brand to make religion odious, and the
professors of it, to the Christian world. And to that end
I should be glad if some godly minister would go over with
you before my coming (Robinson meant to follow with
the rest of the congregation), for there will be no differ
ence between the unconformable (the Puritan, or noncon
forming clergy, who had not renounced the Church of
England) and you, when you come to the practice of the

PILGRIM FATHERS. 83
ordinances out of the kingdom. By all means close with
the godly party of the kingdom of England, and rather
study union than division, — in how nearly we may possi
bly, without sin, close with them, than in the least meas
ure to affect division or separation from them."
" Be not loth," he further enjoins, " to take another pas
tor or teacher ; for that flock that hath two shepherds is
not endangered but secured by it." With this commenda
tion of a plurality of Bishops in a Church the fragment
abruptly terminates. " There were other things of great
and weighty consequence," we are told, uttered on the oc
casion. Would we could recover them, with all their
touching appeals and farewells ; but with many other pre
cious things said by tongues long silent, they lie beyond
our reach. What remains, however, is of the greatest
value, and worthy of the study, the careful study, of all
who, like Robinson, are called Independents.
Before the pilgrims embarked, a parting entertainment
was given them by their brethren at the pastor's house,
where they refreshed their hearts by fraternal intercourse
and devotional exercises. On the 21st July they left the
city of Leyden, which had been their quiet resting-place
for eleven years, and journeyed to Delft Haven, where a
ship waited to receive them. Their removal must have
required some preparation, and must have excited some
attention, for, " the number of the names was about a hun
dred and twenty," and they were accompanied on their
their journey by most of the members of the Church,
especially the more aged people, who, though from their in
firmities they could not undertake a long voyage, and en
counter the difficulties of a new colonial settlement, en
tered with the deepest sympathy into the spirit of the en
terprise. They tarried in Delft Haven that night, and
were joined by another party from Leyden, who had fol-

84 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
lowed them as early as possible, to take a parting look
and hear the last farewell. To many it was a sleepless
night, and was spent in Christian conversation and expres
sions of true Christian love. The morning sun must have
gleamed mournfully upon their eyes through the windows
of the apartments where they were assembled. It told
them the last day of their pleasant intercourse with old
and endeared friends had come, for the wind was fresh
and fair, and the vessel was ready to weigh anchor and
depart. And so they went down to the shore, where the
scene at Miletus was literally repeated, save that the peo
ple were the voyagers instead of their apostolic father.
"He kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they
wept sore, and fell upon his neck and kissed him, sorrow
ing most of all for the words which he spake, that they
should see his face no more ; and he accompanied them to
the ship." Even the Dutch strangers, who saw the part
ing, stood and wept. Many eyes full of tears watched the
sails of that vessel as they shone upon the distant waters,
like a flake of snow, till the little white speck quite melted
from their view.
That vessel, with its rich cargo of true-hearted men,
speedily reached Southampton. The voyage answered
the name of the vessel, and the Speedwell entered the port
to join the Mayflower, — ships whose names have become
hallowed, and are worthy of being placed, with the Argo
of the ancients, amidst the constellations of heaven.
It pertains not to our office to tell the story of the voy
age, of the parting of the Mayflower from the Speedwell,
and the solitary course of the former vessel, containing all
the party who at that time went, and the incidents on the
way, and the battling with the elements, and the landing
at Cape Cod, and their adventures there, and their coast
ing expedition, till the feet of the pilgrims stood on the

PILGRIM FATHERS. 85
Plymouth Rock. The story belongs to the heroic age of
America, and may well inspire the enthusiasm of her his
torians, for no other nation can boast of such an origin,
and can adorn its earliest annals with a tale as true as it
is beautiful, as authentic as it is sublime. And when
America shall produce her Virgil, he will find in the voy
age of the Pilgrim Fathers a theme for his muse surpass
ing his of the olden time who sang the adventures of
^Eneaa, — " Trojfe qui primus ab oris
Italian], fato profugus, -liara#m-venit
Littora. /P
Robinson's heart was with the pilgrims, but there were
insuperable difficulties in the way of his following them.
The want of sufficient means was the main hindrance, but
he also had to struggle with contentious spirits at Leyden,
and to meet the opposition of some in New England, who,
knowing the energy of his mind and * the weight of his
character, feared, on selfish grounds, his influence in the
rising colony. But it mattered little. His Lord and Mas
ter had other designs respecting him, and on the 1st of
March, 1625, took him away, " even as fruit falleth before
it is ripe, when neither length of days nor infirmity of body
did seem to call for his end."* His remains were interred
in the chancel of one of the churches at Leyden, allotted
by the Dutch for the use of the English exiles ; and the
magistrate's, ministers, professors, students, and most of
the gentry of the place followed him to the grave.
Robinson was a great man. The allusions made to
him in the documents connected with the Leyden Church
and the Pilgrim Fathers show him to have been one of
those superior spirits, who are born to lead their fellow-
* Young's Chronicles, p. 481. He was born in 1575, but the place of
his birth has never been ascertained.

86 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
men, and on whom feebler natures can rest with confidence
and love. " Strength and beauty" were finely blended
in his composition. With a strong mind he had a tender
heart. His understanding was of a manly make, calm,
clear, vigorous. His controversial writings attest his
theological skill, and his practical compositions evince his
reflective habits, and his sound views of morals and relig
ion. He was a. man of superior learning, of which the
reputation in which he was held by the University of Ley
den is a proof ; but he blended with the pursuits of the
scholar habits of enlarged intercourse with mankind, and
shrewd, business-like observation of human character and
things. Though he did not cultivate the graces of style,
nor adorn his pages with the flowers of imagination, we
cannot peruse his writings without feeling that they pos
sess the charm of practised thought and earnest truth
fulness. He was no enthusiast. " To trust to means is
idolatry, to abuse them want of wisdom or of conscience,"
is a remark he makes in his " Essays," and it is one
which we find illustrated by his prudent conduct through
out his history. His lot was a troubled one, but he had
not learned to look upon the world with a jaundiced eye ;
and it was in no " sour, Puritanical spirit" that he said,
" If a man set his thoughts a-work upon inconveniences
and discommodities alone, he shall heap sorrow on sor
row ; but if, on the contrary, he draw into consideration
such inconveniences as usually fall in with their contra
ries, he shall always find some matter of ease, and some
times that meat comes out of the eater, and that which at
first seemed a cross is rather a benefit."* His catholic
feeling, which increased with his years, expanding itself
beyond all sectarian limits, so uncommon in that age,
shows him to have been a man with a great soul, for his
* Robinson's Essays, Observ. xxxiii.

PILGRIM FATHERS. 87
catholicity was not the mere echo of other voices, calling
him to the exercise of peace and love, but it was the voice
of one who stood almost alone, pleading for union in times
of discord, and running the risk of offending the narrower
minds who belonged to his party. Yet his firm attach
ment to his distinctive principles, which had made him an
exile in fact, and a martyr in spirit, demonstrated that he
was no latitudinarian, but that he knew how to combine
a love to all good men, with a steady adherence to his
own conscientious views on minor points. Abstaining
from that infallible tone of decision in such matters, which
belongs not exclusively to Rome, forbearing to fix any ne
plus xdlra mark in the path of ecclesiastical reformation,
such as other communities besides the Church of England
seem virtually to have done, knowing that truth is not
learned all at once, and that time is a valuable teacher as
to the mode in which the working of a system is to be ac
commodated to the state of society, he enjoined upon his
brethren to watch and wait for further light. He was a
specimen of the true Reformer, well described as one " who
supposes no wonders in himself, and expects them not in
others ; and is rather the sower who goes forth to sow his
seed, than the lord who comes to gather into barns."*
Congregational Christians call no man master on earth,
nor should they ; but it will show them only wise and
grateful to revere the name, follow the advice, and walk
in the steps, of John Robinson.
* Smyth's Lectures on History, vol. i. 94.

CHAPTER IV.
THE CHURCH IN SOUTHWARK.

' Compared with this, how poor religion's pride-
In all the pomp of method and of art ;
When men display to congregations wide
Devotion's every grace except the heart.
'The Power incensed the pageant will desert,
The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole,
But haply in some cottage far apart,
May hear well pleased the language of the soul,
And in his book of life the inmates poor enroll." Burns.

Henry Jacob is a name worthy of being held in re
membrance and honor by the friends of religious liberty.
He is one of the few Puritan worthies whom Anthony
Wood mentions in terms of respect ; and, certainly, the
general reputation of that man must have stood high, who,
while identified with Puritanism, and even with Indepen
dency, escaped the virulent treatment of the heartily-big
oted historian of the Oxford University. Jacob had been
originally a clergyman in Kent, and had written against
Johnson in defence of the Church of England ; but grad
ually his mind became dissatisfied with the episcopal sys
tem, till, on visiting Leyden, where he had a conference
with Robinson, he decidedly embraced Independent princi
ples. His work on Toleration, published in the year 1609,

THE CHURCH IN SOUTHWARK. 89
though little known, deserves to be rescued from oblivion,
and to have an honorable place assigned to it in the history
of the grand struggle in our country for liberty of con
science. The Puritan, Humphrey, in the previous cen
tury, as we have seen, pleaded for the toleration of certain
parties within the Established Church ; but Jacob was the
first to claim, as a sacred right, the liberty of subjects to
form distinct Churches, according to their conscientious
views of the will of Christ.* It was, however, only to
those who held the Protestant faith that this early advo
cate of liberty was for extending toleration. Fearful of
the Papal Church, as the ancient enemy of the privilege
he sought, he wished nothing should be concluded from
his argument in favor of those whose head, he affirms, is
Antichrist, whose worship is idolatry ,. whose doctrine is
heresy, and whose profession is contrary to the lawful
state and government of free countries. Such an exception
our larger views of religious liberty have taught us is in
consistent and unjust ; but with the recollection, then so
fresh in men's minds, of the intolerance of Popery, it was
hardly to be wondered at that even an enlightened advo
cate of toleration should exclude the Papist from its ben
efits. " Religious Peace, or a Plea for Liberty of Con
science," by Leonard Busher, a citizen of London, ap
peared in 1614 ; and in the following year there issued
from the press another work of the same class, entitled
"Persecution for Religion Judged, and Condemned. "f
Busher, and the author of this last publication, were cer
tainly, in their views of religious liberty, much in advance
of their brethren. They were both Antipaedobaptists ;
* See ample quotations from Jacob's tract in Hanbury's Memorials,
vol. i. p. 226.
t These tracts have been published by the Hansard Knollys Society
under the laborious and intelligent editorship of Mr. TJnderhill.
S*

90 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
and it should be deemed matter of peculiar interest, and
of thankfulness to God, by the Congregational and Bap
tist denominations of the present day, that to their despised
fathers was vouchsafed the honor of standing in the front
of freedom's battle. These humble tracts have been too
long forgotten, while incomparably less meritorious pro
ductions have called forth the investigation and the praise
of the antiquarian critic. The solid value of these Puritan '
treatises has missed its meed of honor because they
were written by men unknown, while the most trifling
fragments written by pens of illustrious name have been
treasured up with idolatrous care ; but so it is —

" Men give to dust that is a little gilt
More praise than they will give to g

give to gold o'erdusted ."
Jacob, while still in Holland, published in the year
1610, and the two following years, three small tracts, ex
plaining his views of Independency ; and not long after
wards returned to England, to consult with some of the
leading Puritans respecting the lawfulness of forming a
Congregation upon the principles he had embraced. They
did not dissuade him from such a course ; and, therefore,
in the year 1616, he laid the foundation of a Congrega
tional Church in London. The place of their first meet
ing is not mentioned ; it was probably in some private
dwelling long since swept away by the tide of modern
improvements ; but the simple ceremonial adopted on the
occasion, which vividly brings before us the primitive
scene, has been faithfully recorded. It was akin to that
already described as taking place in St. Nicholas-lajie.
A day of fasting and prayer was appointed ; and at the
close of the solemnity the brethren rose, joined hands, and
solemnly covenanted with each other, in the presence of
Almighty God, to walk together in all God's ways and

THE OIIURCH IN SOUTHWARK. 91
ordinances, according as He had already revealed them,
or should further make them known. These fathers of
Independency, in that old house of tlie seventeenth cen
tury, with hearts panting for religious liberty, their hands
locked in each other, and solemnly vowing before God to
follow the light He should grant them, has in it a touch
of the moral sublime, which, though the background of
the picture differs, and the spirit which animated that for
gotten band was peaceful instead of warlike, reminds us
of the oath of Rutli, and the three-and-thirty who clasped
hands under the Seelisberg, by the Lake of Uri, swearing
before God the famous league of Swiss liberty. Some
may smile at the comparison of our obscure Nonconformist
fathers with heroes whose fame is as wide as the world,
but we are inclined to think that in the aye of Heaven
the latter appear the less noble of the two.
Mr. Hanbury, a pains-taking antiquary in such matters,
contends that a Congregational Church was formed in
London by a Mr. Hubbard five years before Jacob founded
his ; that some of Jacob's members probably merged into
the elder Church at a subsequent period ; and that from
them may be traced in a direct line the community of
Independent Christians now assembling in Union-street,
Southwark. Leaving this question, it may be confidently
stated that at least one Congregational Church from the
year 1616 continued to exist throughout the persecutions
which followed.
In Neale's history we catch a few glimpses of this
little Church.* On the 29th of April, 1632, the Bishop's
pursuivant hunts after the Congregation, and finds them
at Mr. Humphrey Barnet's, a brewer's clerk, in Black
friars, when eighteen escape, and forty-two are seized, of
whom some are taken to the Clink, others to the New-
* Neale, vol. ii. p. 108.

92 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Prison, and the Gate-house, where they continue for two
years, and are then released on bail. Mr. Lathrop, their
minister at the time, is grievously treated, and can only be
liberated from jail on condition of leaving the country,
which he does, betaking himself, like others of the op
pressed, to the friendly shores of New England. Mr.
Canne, celebrated as the author of the marginal references
in our Bibles, succeeds him, till worn out by persecution
he goes over to Holland. Mr. Samuel Howe then under
takes the charge, but being not sufficiently stealthy in times
of espionage, soon lays himself open to the informers,
escapes for a while, is then seized, shut up in prison, and
dies. His friends seek to pay him the last rites of natural
affection in Shoreditch churchyard ; but, no ! he is excom
municated, and only deserves the burial of a dog, and
therefore the poor people must bury him where they can ;
whereupon they take his ashes to an unconsecrated spot,
called Anniseed Clear ; but the interment of the pastor
hallows the spot in the estimation of his flock, and they
wish to have their bones mingle with his, so that Anniseed
at length becomes as sacred as Shoreditch.* Then Mr.
More, a citizen of London, of good natural parts, and of
considerable substance in the world, accepts the office, to
the apparent hazard of his estate and freedom. But times
brighten ; the reign of intolerance is drawing to a close,
and the people who have been shifting from place to place,
fearing detection, become bold, and publicly open a house
for worship.
There stood in Southwark, in the seventeenth century,
a building, which, though long since razed to the ground,
has covered the spot on which it rose with classic associa
tions in the eye of the lovers of the drama — it was the
* In the Patriot newspaper, a few years ago, there was an account
of the discovery and exhumation of the remains of Mr. Howe.

THE CHURCH IN SOUTHWARK. 93
Globe Theatre, of which William Shakspeare was one
of the patentees, and where the productions of his unpar
alleled genius thrilled and delighted many a crowded
audience. It was burnt down in 1613, and rebuilt in 1614.
Hard by that theatre, at the end of Globe-alley, in which
it stood, there lay a piece of ground, bearing the mournful
appellation of Deadman's-place, from the number of persons
buried there during the plague of London in 1625. It
was in some building within that space that Mr. More,
and the good people of his Church, first publicly met for
religious service. The theatre was then on the wane,
but religious freedom was beginning to hold up its head.
Associations of one class cluster round Globe-alley, asso
ciations of another class cluster round Deadman's-place ;
— the merely literary will cherish the former and despise
the latter ; but the man who with a taste for literature
cultivates the spirit of evangelical religion, and the love of
liberty, while he looks with interest towards the one spot
as closely connected with the intellectual history of his
country, will look with a more sacred interest on the
other, connected as it is with our religious history, and
with the progress of principles, little understood, but of the
highest benefit to mankind at large. That same theatre,
too, comes afterwards into connection with the history of
Protestant Dissent, for on its site, or just by where it
stood, there was, at the close of the seventeenth century,
a building called Maid-lane meeting; and some have
affirmed even that the theatre itself, having been shut up
during the Commonwealth, was subsequently accommo
dated to purposes of religious worship.*
The Congregation in Deadman's-place having become
so bold as to worship with open doors, naturally attracted
attention, and as their proceedings were not legalized,
* See Note [14].

94 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
though they were encouraged by the increasingly liberal
spirit of the times, it was to be expected that such as were
violently opposed to their principles would seek to molest
them. Accordingly, one Lord's day, the 16th of January,
1641, when they were assembled for divine service, the
constables and churchwardens of St. Saviour's made their
appearance, and apprehended six of the parties, who were
forthwith taken before Sir John Lenthall, Marshal of the
King's Bench. They were charged with violating the
law of the 35th of Elizabeth, which established the Common
Prayer-book as the only form of Christian worship to be
used in the realm ; but they replied that it was a law made
by the Bishops, and they would not obey it. They refused
to attend the parish churches, alleging that they were not
true churches : and the,y further objected entirely to the
ecclesiastical supremacy of the king. The Marshal im
mediately committed them to the Clink, not far from the
place of their apprehension, where they were detained till
the 18th of January, when they were summoned to appear
before the House of Lords. The course they had pursued
would, twelve months before, as Neale says, have cost them
their ears, but a new spirit had now come over the high
powers of England. King Charles the First was in a far
different position now from his father King James when
he threatened to harry the Puritans out of the land. The
Long Parliament had met ; the influence of the House of
Commons was rapidly on the increase ; Star-chamber prac
tices were at an end ; ecclesiastical tyranny, in the person
of Archbishop Laud, had just been dethroned ; and it was,
therefore, not the time for the House of Lords to treat with
severity the parties arraigned before them. They simply
reprimanded them, enjoined their future attendance at the
parish church, and threatened punishment incase of further

THE CHURCH IN SOUTHWARK. 9.5
disobedience.* This simple threat looks poor after the do
ings of former days, and it shows that intolerance was on
the wane. Those who had seen the thunderbolt in the
hands of Laud and others would now " hardly be intimi
dated at the sallies of decrepitude — the impotent darts of
Priam amidst the crackling ruins of Troy."f
But there were a few of the Lords who looked with
much respect on these accused persons, and treated them
with much civility. They inquired where they held their
meetings, and promised to come and hear them. It was
probably with little expectation of the fulfilment of the
promise that these worthies left the House of Lords, but to
their surprise on the following Sunday they saw three or
four peers entering the Conventicle. The preacher went
on in his usual way, and delivered two discourses to his
flock on the very principles for the maintenance of which
they had so recently been arraigned before the Upper
House, to which discourses the noble lords listened with
much patience. Nay, further, on the administration of
the Lord's Supper, which followed the sermon, these illus
trious visitors contributed to the collection ; and at the
close of the service expressed their satisfaction with what
they had witnessed, and their intention to come again.
But the' presence of nobility at a Nonconformist service
being then so marvellous a thing, became the topic of gen
eral conversation ; and fearing that the populace would be
excited by a repetition of the visit, these liberal peers were
no more seen within the humble place of worship in St.
Saviour's, Southwark.
* Journal of the House of Lords.
t See Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 448.

CHAPTER V.

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE.

" Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail
Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise or blame, nothing but well and fair."
Milton, Samson Agonistes.

Among the beautiful rivers that run through the heart
of old England, there is one which, though inferior to some
of its sister streams in the scenery which adorns its banks,
surpasses them all in its rich associations. The world's
greatest poet played in his boyhood beside its gentle wa
ters, and gathered the wild flowers which they had mois
tened and nourished. From the edge of Shakspeare's
river, at one of its most picturesque points, there rises, in
abrupt grandeur, a massive rock, crowned with a fine spe-
ciment of the baronial architecture of the middle ages.
The battlemented front, pierced by many a deep window,
broken by projecting buttresses, and flanked by lofty ma-
chicolated towers, stretches along the water's side, throw
ing its broad shadow, on a summer's day. over the sil
very surface of the river. Dark pines, with their lofty
heads, skirt the lordly castle, and with their outspread
branches, here and there stooping to touch the water, add
to the sombre beauty of the picture. An old mill is seen
at the foot of the castle bank, where the rude water-wheel,

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 97
in its lazy revolutions, throws its flushes over the stream ;
the weir spreads across from bank to bank, with its mur
murs so musical on a quiet summer's evening ; and the
time-mouldered remains of the ancient bridge, with its
broken arches, still span the river. No one who has
crossed the Avon, on the road from Leamington to War
wick, and stood by the foot of the new stone bridge, or
leaned over the parapet, gazing at the scene on the south
side, but must recognize, in the foregoing description, the
noble castle of Warwick, on the banks of the Avon.
There it stands, a monument of the age when feudal rude
ness was giving place to modern refinement, and the ba
ron's stronghold was swelling into the palace of chivalry
with its courtly halls, open courts, oriel windows, and
richly adorned apartments. When passing through the
edifice, or loitering within its precincts, one thinks of the
Beauchamps, and of the proud race of Nevil, with its fa
mous king-maker, the Earl of Warwick — of the wonder
ful doings in the way of hospitality by that prince of hosts,
and of the dark deeds of violence that have been enacted
within those walls. The place, with its antique grandeur
and romantic associations, is one of those scenes which,
after being once visited, remains mirrored on the memory
forever. But what has Warwick Castle to do with Puritanism
and Nonconformity ? The following narrative will sup
ply the answer.
King James bestowed the castle on Fulke Greville,
whom he created Lord Brooke, a man of learning, taste,
political importance, and historical celebrity, who chose to
transmit his memory to all ages in the well-known epi
taph on his tomb in the interesting church of St. Mary,
Warwick, — " Fulke Greville, servant to Queen Elizabeth,
councillor to King James, and friend to Sir Philip Sidney."
9

98 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
He was barbarously murdered by a discontented servant
in the year 1628, when his barony and estates descended
to his kinsman, Robert Greville.
Robert Greville, Lord Brooke, was a man of thought
ful mind, ardent feeling, and high principle. Having re
ceived an education suited to his rank, he employed his
vigorous intellect in the study of questions relating to the
ology and ecclesiastical government, and applied the re
sults of his study to the controversies of the times. The
character of the patriot was associated with that of the
scholar and the theologian, and he looked with a keen eye
and an earnest heart to those coming events in the history
of his country which were then throwing their long shadows
before them. As he sat in his chamber at Warwick Cas
tle, with the New Testament and the earliest documents
of ecclesiastical history before him, he saw how different
was the simple episcopacy of primitive times from the
prelacy of his own day — that Christ's kingdom was not
of this world, and that the Church of England was sadly
fettered and corrupted by its secular alliance. Musing
much upon such matters, he employed his retirement dur
ing the parliamentary recess of 1641, in composing " a
discourse opening the nature of that episcopacy which is
exercised in England." In that little quarto volume may
be found a well-digested mass of learning and thought,
tinctured, it is true, with severe reflections upon the ec
clesiastical abuses of the times. He describes the char
acter of the primitive Bishop as a true and faithful over
seer of one congregation, and contrasts with this simple
model the prelacy of his own day. He considers that the
humble origin of many of the Clergy, and the theological
studies which ought to be the chief business of them all,
form by no means fitting qualifications for intermeddling
with matters of state ; and that if, by attention to politics,

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 99
' they prepare themselves for the functions of government, it
must be to the neglect of their spiritual duties. He main
tains that the combination of civil and religious authority
is a burden too heavy to be borne by any shoulders but
his on whom God has placed both the world's and the
Church's government. The consequences of prelacy this
noble polemic touches with a firm hand. The Bishop is
dependent on the royal power who creates him, and whose
further favor, in the shape of translation to a richer see,
he hopes to enjoy ; and hence, a spirit of servility is likely
to be the consequence. " None," he says, " ought to vote
in parliament but free 'men ; but how can they be deemed
free who depend on another's thought ?" He then grap
ples with the famous maxim, — No Bishop, no King, and
shows that to maintain this, is to weaken if not to break
the nerves and ligaments of supreme power ; nay, to say
that such a government will best suit with monarchy, is to
veil its lustre, which can easily assimilate all things to
itself, but is not changed by any. He proceeds to inquire
what reason there is why Church government, after the
Presbyterian or Congregational order, may not subsist
with civil monarchy, observing that true Church power
" works in a sweet way," and that so long as the Church
intermeddleth not with the State, the State ought not to
intermeddle with the Church. After advocating the pop
ular election of Congregational Presbyters or Bishops,
and their ordination by their brethren, who are all equals
in rank, and asserting that ecclesiastical power is vested
in the whole people, he answers the objections of those
who apprehended confusion would follow from a change
in relation to Church affairs, and concludes the work, at
which we have thus hastily glanced, with the following
passage, which breathes a truly catholic spirit : —
" When God shall so enlarge a man's heart and unveil

100 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
his face, that the poor creature is brought into communion
and acquaintance with his Creator, steered in all his ways
by his Spirit, and by it carried up above shame, fear,
pleasure, comfort, losses, the grave, and death itself, let
us not censure such tempers, but bless God for them ;
so far as Christ is in us, we shall love, prize, and honor
Christ, and the least particle of his image in others, for
we never prove ourselves members of Christ more than
when we embrace his members with most enlarged yet
straitest affections. To this end, God assisting me, my
desire, prayer, and endeavor, shall still be, as much as in
me lies, to follow peace and holiness ; and though there
may haply be some little dissent between my dark judg
ment and weak conscience and other good men, that are
more clear and strong, yet my prayer still shall be, to
keep the unity of the Spirit in this bond of peace. And
as many as walk after this rule, peace I hope shall still
be on them and the whole Israel of God."
Such were the sentiments of the noble owner of War
wick Castle in the year 1641. He was a decided Inde
pendent.* It would be dfficult to point out any great dif
ference in relation to views of religious polity between
him and the humble Congregation worshipping in South
wark ; and it seems by no means improbable that he was
one of the noble lords who visited that little band, and ad
mired their order and the steadfastness of their faith in
Christ. We have seen Lord Brooke in the character of a dis
senting polemic and an earnest Christian. He is better
known to history as a patriot and a soldier, and has left
behind him a name deserving of honor, though it has
come down to us aspersed by party prejudice.
The book thus noticed was written on the eve ofthe civil
* See Note [15].

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 101
war. During the summer months of 1642, the king and
parliament were in decided opposition, and an appeal to
arms became inevitable. The purpose to resist the en
croachments of the sovereign on tlie liberties of the people
had gradually risen, and was now firmly established in
the minds of many distinguished men, and in that solemn
purpose Lord Brooke keenly sympathized.* On the other
side, the king was fully resolved to conlend for what he
assumed were his prerogatives. The mustering of the
hosts for the battle was now at hand. Brooke was as
brave as he was thoughtful, as valorous in the use of his
sword, as he was skilful in the employment of his pen ;
and when, in his view, there remained no hope for the
liberties of England but in physical resistance, he threw
his energies into that awful conflict, and accepted a col
onel's commission in the parliamentary army. Nothing
but disinterested patriotism and a stern sense of duty could
have induced such men as Lord Brooke to take the course
they did. For themselves they had nothing to gain, but
much to lose from a civil war. They sacrificed their ease,
they hazarded their estates, they emperilled their lives,
with no prize in prospect but their country's good, no re
ward before them but the approbation of their own con
sciences. As the noble owner of Warwick Castle enjoyed
his calm retreat, surrounded by his family, as he looked
from his windows on his broad domain, as he paced the
greensward by the gentle Avon, and thought of the horrors
with which civil conflict might ere long cover that calm and
happy scene, it must have been with reluctance, though it
was with steady heroism, that he buckled on the sword.
Amidst clouds of antiquarian dust we get some glimpses
of Lord Brooke and his brave followers at the very com
mencement of the war. An old pamphlet, dated 3rd Au-
* See Note [16].
9*

102 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
gust, 1642, announces a " Famous victory, obtained by
Lord Brooke against the Earl of Northampton, near Kein-
teth, in Warwickshire." My Lord Brooke set out from
Warwick with three hundred musketeers, and two hun
dred horse ; a little band, but it swelled mightily as it
marched along, for so many persons, well affected to the
cause of the parliament, met and joined it, that before the
noble colonel led his men three miles on their road, he
could number about three thousand horse and foot. The
movement was evidently popular in those parts. " The
country," says a letter-writer of that day, whose epistle
has survived to tell some little incidents about this early
skirmish, — " The country sent my Lord Brooke six load
of harrows, to keep off horses, and a cart-load of bread
and cheese, and great store of beer."* These raw re
cruits, thus humbly supplied in the commissariat depart
ment, seem to have been stout-hearted men, and thor
oughly in earnest ; for when Lord Brooke asked them,
" Are you resolved to stand it out ?" they showed such
eagerness to engage, and raised such enthusiastic shouts,
that his lordship wept for joy. But to repress any rash
ness on the part of his troops, and to show how loth he
was to spill the blood of his countrymen, he entreated his
soldiers, for the kingdom's sake, not to fire a single pistol
but in self-defence. Happily no pistol-firing was needful.
Northampton's men, on the sight of tbe three thousand
parliamentarians, threw down their arms and ran away,
" leaving the earl," says the old pamphlet, " none but one
of nis gentlemen and two footboys to attend him, which
caused the said earl to try whether he or his footboys
could run fastest, which caused such a shouting on the
other side as was wonderful to hear."
Immediately after this ludicrous encounter, the peace-
* King's Pamphlets, Brit. Mus. Acts and Orders, vol. ii. p. 124.

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 103
fulness of Warwick Castle was invaded. " Some special
Passages from Warwickshire," 4th August, 16-12, tell us
that the king gave Warwick Castle to Lord Compton, a
noted royalist, living in that picturesque mansion which
the antiquary now loves to visit, so quiet, so sequestered,
so redolent of the olden time, bearing the name of Compton
Wyneates, or Compton-in-the-Hole, not far from Edge-
hill. Lord Brooke, of course, resisted this lawless dis
posal of his property by the infatuated Charles, and forth
with, says our informant, four great pieces of ordnance
were planted in different parts of the castle, two at the
gate, one on Caesar's Tower, the other on the keep.
Still his lordship professed loyalty to the king, though
opposing his usurped prerogatives ; and he " made great
preparations," says Thomas Johnsons, the writer of these
Special Passages, " to receive him royally should he come
in peace ; if otherwise, I am afraid," adds this person,
" we shall have a woful time of it, and so God, of his
mercy, think upon us." Charles did not come, but the
castle was besieged on the 7th August, and terminated in
the discomfiture of the assailants.
On the 28th August, 1642, the Earl of Newcastle, and
other noblemen, marched to Warwick, where Brooke is ly
ing with his new levies. He meets them coming from Grove-
park, in a field, about a mile from the town. A trumpet
from the lords demands a parley. They propose that he
should lay down his arms, resign Warwick Castle to the
king, disavow the ordinance of militia, endeavor the exe
cution of the commission of array, deliver county maga
zine into the hands of Northampton, and make submission
to his Majesty. Pardon is offered him on these condi
tions ; and he is told, if he refuses he may expect signal
and instant punishment. We see the fire kindling in his
noble countenance as the brave Lord Brooke replies to

104 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
these modest propositions. " My lords, I much wonder
that men of judgment, in whose breasts true honor should
hold her seat, should so much wrong their noble pedigree
as to seek the ruin of those high and noble thoughts they
should endeavor to support. Doth fond ambition or your
self-willed pride so much bewitch you that you cannot see
the crown of this your act ? When the great council of
the parliament was first assembled, you then were mem
bers, honorable members. Why did you not continue ?
Was it because your actions were so bad you were
ashamed of them ? Had you done evil in some petty kind,
a better course might have quitted you from that, and you
had been still more honored, loved, and feared. As for
these propositions, take this in answer. When that his
Majesty, his posterity, and the peace of the kingdom, shall
be secured from you, I shall gladly lay down my arms
and power. As for the castle, it was delivered to my
trust by the high court of parliament, who reserve it for
the King's good use, and I dare boldly say will so employ
it. As for the commission of the array, you know it is
unlawful. For the magazine of the county, it was de
livered to me also by the parliament, and, as a faithful
servant to the country, I am resolved to continue it till
Northampton can show me greater authority for the de
livery of the same. As touching his Majesty's pardon,
as I am confident I have not given any ocoasion of offence
to his Majesty, so I need not his pardon, and I doubt not
in a short time his Majesty will find who are his best
friends. As for your fury I wholly disdain it, and answer
it but by hoping that Northampton may be translated to
Warwick, to stand sentry upon Warwick Castle to fright
crows and kites."* The lords had enough of it, and rode
back to their party. Brooke returned to the castle.
* Nugent's Life of Hampden, ii. 224.

THE BRjVVE LORD BROOKE. 105
Afterwards, Northampton approached the castle while
it was in the charge of Sir Edward Peto ; Brooke being
from home, the royalist general calls on him to surrender.
He refuses. There is a pause of two hours, and then
comes another summons, met by an indignant reply, " that
surely the earl might have taken the soldier's word at
first." Compton, Northampton's son, begins an attack
with a few guns, upon which Sir Edward sends out a
trumpeter into the town, bidding all friends leave it in
stantly, and, " as for the rest, let them take care of them
selves." The red flag of defiance waves over Guy's
tower. The fire of the enemy is returned. The garrison
have little ordnance, but plenty of ammunition, and more
courage, and are prepared to fight it out. The enemy
plant cannon on the church tower, but are dislodged by
shots from the castle. Then the besiegers try to starve
out the garrison. Sir Edward undauntedly hoists a flag
staff, with a Bible and winding-sheet. These heroes are
prepared to die for what they deem the cause of their coun
try and the Bible. Nothing is to be gained by beleaguer
ing such a. stronghold, and therefore Northampton gives it
up in despair.*
Matters were now brought to an extremity, and the
flame of the civil war burst out with violence in the fol
lowing October. The battle of Edge Hill was fought on
the 23rd. The King moved on towards London ; Prince
Rupert scoured the suburbs. The city was alarmed. On
the 8th November the Lord Mayor called a meeting at
Guildhall. A vast concourse assembled ; and among the
speakers was Lord Brooke. He was, perhaps, at the time
at Brooke House, Clapton, his residence when in London,
and having his heart in the parliament cause, he proceeds
to the great city meeting, to arouse and cheer the some-
* Nugent's Life of Hampden, ii. 249.

106 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
what depressed spirits of the people by his warm patriotic
eloquence. The echo of his speech has not quite ¦ died
away, like so many of the orations that have rung around
those ancient walls. After a very confused and incorrect
account of the Battle of Edge Hill, respecting which the
most contradictory reports prevailed, the noble orator ex
horts the citizens of London to rally around the parlia
ment cause, and stand up for the defence of their liberties.
" When you shall hear the drums beat," he exclaims,
" (for it is resolved the drums shall beat to-morrow,) say
not, I beseech you, ' I am not of the trained band,' nor
this, nor that, nor the other, but doubt not to go out to the
work, and fight courageously, and this shall be the day of
your deliverance." Brooke was a man of deeds as well
as words ; and a few days afterwards we find him, with
his illustrious friend Hampden, together with Hollis, resist
ing the royal army, and preventing their march onwards
to the metropolis.
In the deep winter we find him preparing for the fresh
hostilities he foresaw.* The memorial of a scene at War
wick Castle, connected with his preparation for defending
his country, is preserved among the pamphlets of the time,
dated February 26th, 1643, and entitled, "Lord Brooke's
Speech at the Election of Captains and Commanders at
Warwick Castle." On reading the pamphlet, one sees
some of the leading and trusty citizens of Warwick, with
several of the neighboring gentry, on a cold winter's morn
ing, the snow on the ground perhaps, marching up tow
ards the castle-gate, passing under the archway, and
drawn up together in the quadrangle, or in the noble bo-
ronial hall, to listen to the harangue of their brave colonel.
With earnest countenances, they listen, while, in an ear
nest tone, he addresses these companions in arms. " Since
* See Note [17].

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 107
we are forced, for the safeguard of ourselves, the preser
vation of our liberties, the defence of God's true religion,
(invaded by the practices of Popish malignants,) to be
come actors, I doubt not but each of you will play your
part with that noble resolution and Christian courage
which the greatness and meritoriousness of the work doth
challenge. ' No man is born for his own use only,' saith
that great commonwealthsman of the Roma'ns, Cicero ;
his friends and countrymen claim an equal share in his
abilities, as your friends, your country, nay, your relig
ion, and God himself, demands of you. I need not demon
strate what it is you are to fight for — your wives, children,
substance, fives, liberties, and that which is more precious
the testimony of good consciences." His lordship then re
views the conduct of the Popish malignants, plainly indi
cating that he looked on them as enemies to their coun
try ; as political traitors ; as disturbers of the peace ; not
merely as erroneous religionists.
" The going against the King," he proceeds to observe,
" may stagger some resolutions ; I shall, therefore, easily
disabuse you from these vain surmises and uncertain im
aginations. It is for the King we fight ; to keep a crown
for our King ; a kingdom for our sovereign and posterity,
to maintain his own rights and privileges, which are rela
tive with the people's liberties." Brooke here shows that,
like others of the early leaders of tlie parliamentary party,
he was 'not a foe to monarchical dominion, but only to the
unconstitutional extension of regal prerogatives.
Once more our hero glides into warm denunciations of
the Papists, whom he accuses of foreign and domestic
treachery, and holds up to special indignation the Gun
powder Plot and the Spanish Armada, as proofs of Papal
malignity. Returning to the main purpose of his address, he thanks

108 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
the new comers, and reminds them their fighting is not to
be for spoil and money. They were not mercenaries, but
patriots ; disinterested zeal for their country's liberties was
the soul of their enterprise. Alluding to those who would
neither contribute to the cause nor fight for it, yet looked
to be defended and kept from violence, he asks, with some
excitement, " Why should men stand and only look on as
ciphers ? what protection can they expect ?" To which
interrogatory, the brave commanders, who had left their
peaceful homes, and embarked all in this stern fight for
freedom, would murmur — " None !"
This somewhat rambling, but patriotic, earnest-minded,
noble-hearted address, ends with a solemn prayer. Lifting
up his eyes to heaven, while the captains and commanders
would unite in the attitude of devotion, and not a few, per
haps, in its true spirit, Brooke implores that God Almighty
will arise and maintain His own cause, scattering and
confounding the devices of His enemies, not suffering the
ungodly to prevail over His poor innocent flock. '- Lord,
we are but a handful in consideration of Thine and our
enemies ; therefore, O Lord, fight Thou our battle, go, as
Thou didst in the time of King David, before the hosts of
Thy servants, and strengthen, and give us hearts, that we
may show ourselves men for the defence of Thy true re
ligion, and our own, and the King and Kingdom's safety."
These were not words of form, uttered thoughtlessly, or
in hypocritical pretence, as internal evidence bears wit
ness, but the breathing forth of a devout soul, which re
alized the presence of the Almighty, which felt that with
out Him man can do nothing, and therefore committed,
with unfaltering faith, the cause of religion and liberty to
His care. Lord Brooke was well known to be a man of
prayer. The secret wrestlings of his soul with God in
the closet were witnessed only by that Blessed One ; but

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 109
his devotions in his family, where he was wont to pray in
the presence of his chaplains, much to the offence of the
High Church party, had edified many, and convinced thom
that they were listening to one who had prepared for these
social exercises by the culture of private communion with
his Maker.
This scene in Warwick Castle in February was imme
diately followed by active service. Lord Brooke, at the
head of his volunteers, commences his campaign. Was
it with any forebodings of what was so soon to happen
that he took leave of his noble lady, and rode under the
feudal gateway of that old fortress for almost the last
time ? A pamphlet — one of the newspapers of the day — >
traces the proceedings of Lord Brooke and his troops
during this eventful week. The carriages and ammuni
tion come to Northampton on Tuesday ; that night Lord
Brooke advances to Coventry, leaving part of his men at
Northampton. On the way, he sends a party of horse to
Sir Thomas Cave's house, strictly countermanding all
plunder, which injunction is so rigorously adhered to, that
the only complaint made is, that Captain Brown's cornet
took a little parcel of money from a woman, for which the
cornet is forthwith cashiered. His lordship arrives at
Coventry on Wednesday, and sends twenty dragoons to
disturb the enemy at Stratford. He marches to Warwick
on Friday night, then to Stratford. The enemy is met
near the town ; Brooke's men put them to flight, and pur
sue them as fast " as the ploughed lands, softened by
rain, will permit."
Barrels of gunpowder had been artfully laid under the
Town Hall at Stratford by the royalist party, evidently
with the intention of blowing up Lord Brooke and his
council of officers, who, it was expected, were about to
assemble there ; but the plot failed. The powder was,
10

110 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
indeed, fired, the building destroyed, and an officer named
Hunt wounded ; but his lordship, and the rest of. the
party, not having met in the place, escaped the effects
of their enemies' malignity. Yet, with all this provoca
tion, Brooke manifested that forbearance, which seems to
have been characteristic of the man, and strictly com
manded his soldiers not to offer any violence, or plunder
the town. So punctilious were the men in attending to
the injunctions of their commander, and so scrupulously
exact is the person who relates the circumstances of the
affair, that he mentions a major who took an old gown to
watch in, "but it was re-delivered."* There can be no
doubt that the honest principle and the steady demeanor
of many of the parliamentary soldiers, compared with the
Cavaliers, when quartered in any town, tended greatly to
promote the interests of their cause with the people. The
conduct of the most moderate of them in such matters,
was, however, as every one knows, associated with a
lion-like courage in the field. Their enemies often
taunted them with religious enthusiasm ; and Marcba-
mont Needham said jeeringly of Cromwell, " He is gone
in the might of the Spirit, with all his train of disciples,
every one of whom is, as David, a man of war and a
prophet ; gifted men all, who resolve to their work better
than any of the sons of Levi, and run quite through
Wales with their two-edged swords to convert the Gen
tiles, "f But, truly, these jesters had small cause to laugh
when they met the men whom they had mocked foot to
foot in the death-struggle ; they found them indeed like
David's followers, " fit for the battle, that could handle
shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of
lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains."
The paper containing the account of the proceedings
* See Note [18]. f Harris's Life of Cromwell, 81.

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. Ill
at Warwick Castle is dated the 1st of March ;* on the
following day the earthly career of the hero, whose ex
ploits it celebrates, forever closed. Lord Brooke was at
Lichfield, and had just recovered the city from the royal
ist troops. They had fled for refuge to the cathedral
close, which they had converted into a place of intrench-
ment. On the 2nd of March, the festival of St. Chad, to
whom the magnificent cathedral was dedicated, the gal
lant soldier prepared for an assault upon the enemy. He
was standing under the porch of a small house, and was
directing a battery on the east gate of the close, when a
gentleman of the Dyott family, standing on one of the
towers of the cathedral, aimed a musket at the unsuspect
ing nobleman, and killed him on the spot. His unimpeach
able character, inflexible opposition to all tyranny in
Church and State, warlike skill and courage, and great
popularity with his own party, rendered him peculiarly
obnoxious to the adherents of Charles, and it was there
fore to them an object of anxious desire to be rid of their
formidable adversary. The treacherous plot at Stratford
failed, but the expert marksman on Lichfield cathedral
succeeded. The death of Lord Brooke created a great
sensation. The royalist party sought to blacken the fair fame of
Lord Brooke, in which attempt they have been followed by
a large class of writers. For him to assault a cathedral
close was represented as an act of awful profanity, though
it may be difficult to distinguish between his conduct, in
this respect, and the conduct of his adversaries, who had
previously invaded the sacred precincts by turning them into
a garrison. That the death of Brooke should happen at
Lichfield on the day of the patron saint, whose cathedral
walls he had dared to beleaguer, was too strking a coin-
* See Note [10],

112 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
cidence to escape the comments of superstitious persons
among his enemies. It was a judgment on this impious
Puritan, they exclaimed. The tidings ofthe event reached
poor Archbishop Laud, then immured in the Tower of Lon
don, and it was some small relief to the mind of that in
fatuated prelate, to hear of the death of one whom he had
found so very decided an opponent in the House of Lords.
He regarded his removal as a Divine judgment, in which
opinion he was followed by others. Dr. South so inter
prets the event, and adds the idle story, that the man who
shot the bullet was deaf and dumb, and that Brooke that
morning begged of the Almighty to give him a token of
his favor or disapprobation, which statement the preacher
concludes with a heartless jest, regardless alike of the
dignity of the pulpit and the spirit of Christianity, — " As he
asked of God a sign, so God gave him one, signing him in
the forehead, and that with such a mark as he is like to be
known by to all posterity."*
The practice of interpreting every calamity which be
fell a foe as a. Divine judgment, and every success that
crowned their own efforts as a Divine sanction, was but
too common in those unhappy times with both parties ;
nor is the practice altogether discontinued, though one
would hope it is diminished, at the present day. Surely
no person free from the influence of passion and prejudice
can examine our Lord's words, " Suppose ye that these
Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because
they suffered such things ? I tell you nay," — and not
come to the conclusion, that the events which happen to
men in this mortal life are most fallacious signs by which
to judge of the Divine estimate of their character. Nor
can any one carefully reflect upon the Divine government,
as seen in the present treatment of the human race, with-
* South's Sermons, vol. i. p. 185.

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 113
out being convinced that the present dispensation is one
of moral trial, not of rewards and punishments ; that here
below the same events happen to all, and that the allot
ment of human destiny, according to religious character,
is reserved for a future state of existence. The applica
tion of enthusiastic and superstitious views of providence
to passing events, would in many cases lead to the most
contradictory results, and exhibit the Deity as approving
the most opposite courses of proceeding. During the civil
wars, as in more recent instances, the victorious army
claimed the Almighty on their side, though the vanquished
were by no means ready to construe their own defeat as
any sign of Divine disapprobation. The omens of Provi
dence, when prosperous, were graciously significant;
when adverse, they lost their meaning. Such rash inter
pretations of the Divine counsels can have no other effect
than to dishonor the Supreme Being, and to bring discredit
on His holy word ; they ought, therefore, to be most care
fully avoided by short-sighted mortals.
Notwithstanding the speculations on the death of Lord
Brooke, there were persons politically opposed to him,
who felt compelled to admit his virtues. Clarendon con
fesses the kindness of his nature and the integrity of his
principles as being apparent to all who were acquainted
with him ; and he bears testimony to the firmness of his
character, though he considers that he was " seduced and
corrupted in his understanding." The latter remark, so
natural for the royalist historian to make, will be deemed
by the impartial reader as detracting nothing from the
previous admission relative to the moral excellence of this
noble Puritan.
Lord Brooke was certainly one of the brightest orna
ments of the party to which he belonged. No charge has
been brought against him even by his enemies, save that
10*

114 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
he was enthusiastically attached to tlie cause he had es
poused. His incorruptible integrity, firmness of purpose,
ability in counsel, and bravery in war, are attested by the
most unfriendly authorities ; his benevolent regard for the
lives and property of the persons against whom a sense of
duty compelled him to draw his sword, is proved from the
recorded actions of his brief campaign ; his disinterested
patriotism in venturing his all for the good of his country
is beyond any reasonable question ; while the strength of
his mind, the cultivation of his understanding, the depth
and comprehensiveness of his views of Christianity, the
purity and elevation of his spiritual feelings, and the catho
lic temper of his soul, must be apparent to all who have
read his productions. He is worthy of being classed with
his friend Hampden ; and it is not a little remarkable that
two such illustrious patriots should have fallen at the
very commencement of the strife ; that Falkland, too, a
most admirable character, attached to the opposite party,
and doubtless from the purest motives, should also have
been slain at so early a period in the conflict. What their
prolonged lives might have effected it is impossible to con
jecture ; how far they might have had any power to heal
the wounds of their bleeding country no one can determine ;
but that the loss which England sustained in the fall of
the flower of her sons was very great, no one can deny,
while, however, there is most gratifying reason to believe
that to their spirits the change was eternal gain.
With reverence we inscribe the name of Robert Gre
ville, Lord Brooke, on tbe roll of Puritan and Noncon
forming heroes. And now farewell, thou wise and gentle
spirit ; for with all thine ardor thou wast wise, with all
thy valor, gentle ! No calumnies or suspicions can reach
thee in that everlasting rest, whither I doubt not thou didst
ascend from the troubled scenes of thy unhappy country,

THE BRAVE LORD BROOKE. 115
and where now thy presence, together wifh that of Pym
and Hampden, adds to the pleasure of him, who has writ
ten so beautifully of that rest, and who anticipated his
meeting with thee there in words which the bigotry of
others, not any change in his own convictions, tempted
him to blot."* * See Note [20].

CHAPTER VI.
THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY.

" Great men have been amongst us, — hands that penned
And tongues that uttered wisdom." — Wordsworth.

In our last chapter the reader was conducted to War
wick Castle, that proud relic of a feudal age, which, since
the days of Lord Brooke, has retained some associations
unwont to haunt such edifices. Another building of a
later date, rich in objects interesting to the architect, the
antiquary, and the poet, is connected with our present
chapter. Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster is
a magnificent specimen of the last period of mediaeval
church architecture in England. The art had passed
through its springtide bloom and summer glory ; and if, at
the latter part of the fifteenth century, it gave signs of
autumnal decay, in that decay, as in the appearance of
the trees in October, there were tints of peculiar beauty.
As one looks upon this edifice, with its panelled walls
and airy pinnacles, it is impossible not to agree with a
tasteful critic in such matters, who observes, " it would
seem as though the architect had intended to give to
stone the character of embroidery, and inclose the walls
in meshes of network." The vaulted roof, springing
from the clustered pillars in the walls, like branches of

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 117
lofty trees interlaced together, forming a rich canopy of
leaves, with those gorgeously bossed pendants piercing
through, like gracefully drooping stalactites, or like tho
spider's web, covered with hoar-frost, must be acknowl
edged by every one who has a spark of taste to be an
exquisite triumph of artistic skill. Nor can the tout en
semble of the edifice fail to strike such a person as the
embodiment of conceptions redolent of genius and the
muse ; to make him feel that poetry is not confined to
words, to paper books, and parchment rolls ; that it can
be written with the chisel as well as with the pen, and
that a great architect is a great poet.
But while that and kindred structures appeal to the eye
of refined taste as monuments of consummate genius and
skill, the associations connected with the early history of
these edifices, and their purposes in connection with the
Papal religion, appeal to the heart of reformed piety as
the sad memorials of superstition. These poems in stone,
as they have been appropriately called, relate a mournful
story when so regarded ; and the fretwork, elaborately
spread over the cold walls and roof, become no unapt
symbol of that ingeniously wrought system of perverted
religion which overarched society through the mediaeval
age, and has been fitly termed " a petrifaction of Chris
tianity." Many a one, when pacing those dim aisles, has
felt a struggle in his breast between the emotions of taste
and the sentiments of a pure and elevated faith ; the
charms of artistic' beauty and sublimity have been weak
ened, if not dispelled, by the affecting remembrance of the
ecclesiastical despotism which, by means like these among
others, for so many centuries held captive the minds of
our forefathers.
Henry the Seventh's Chapel was only for a little while
the scene of Papal worship, nor has it seen much of the

118 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
pageantry of feudal knighthood, though in the reign of
James the First, the Order of the Bath there held their
grand inaugurations ; yet might it be deemed commemo
rative of the old system of things, both in religious and
civil society ; — a sign of the Roman Church, a sign of
mediaeval chivalry.
On the 1st of July, 1643, an unprecedented clerical
assembly gathered within those walls. They came not
to worship after the manner of those who had formerly
trod that pavement. No bishop's rochet, no priestly alb,
no deacon's dalmatic, not even an Anglican surplice, was
to be seen on any one of them. They were attired in
plain black cloaks and bands, in imitation of the foreign
Protestants. Through " the great gates of brass," which,
as Washington Irving says, " are richly and delicately
wrought, and turn heavily upon their hinges, as if proudly
reluctant to admit the feet of common mortals into this
most gorgeous of sepulchres," did sixty-nine of these
worthies, with a sprinkling of laymen, differently attired,
pass to take their places in that gothic fane ; and one
fancies, if the gates could sympathize with those who
hung them, they turned on their hinges that morning
more reluctantly than ever. The Assembly had come
there, first, to worship, according to Presbyterian order,
and then, by the sanction, and, indeed, by the appointment
of the High Court of Parliament, to confer on matters of
high import, with a view to tlie promotion of the peace,
unity, and welfare of England's distracted realm. The
Houses of Lords and Commons joined these divines with
their lay assessors. The knights' stalls were filled ; all
the benches were crowded. Extemporary prayer was
then solemnly offered to God, after which Dr. Twiss
preached a sermon, to which the congregation reverently
listened. The scene marked an era, not only in the his-

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 119
tory of that chapel and abbey, but in the history of the
nation. The presence of these men, and the purpose for
which they met, betokened the change that had come over
things, temporal and spiritual, in old England. It was
plain that the age of a feudal aristocracy was gone, and
that the power of the Commons had gained the ascend
ant ; that Popery and Prelacy had retired before the
growing influence of Puritan heroism. The building re
mained the symbol of a past era. The assembly within
it were the authors and the types of a new one. The
past and the present were there in contrast; in other
places they were in those days involved in fierce and
sanguinary conflict. The battle of the commonwealth
was a stern fight between men, on the one hand, in whose
bosoms there lingered the spirit of the old civilization, re
ligious and secular, and men, on the other hand, in whose
hearts there rose the spirit of a new and better civiliza
tion in both forms. The grave worthies in black, prob
ably, for the most part, had little regard for the artistic
beauties of tlie place where they were met ; stern indig
nation at the thought of the corrupt worship once con
ducted there, was the feeling uppermost in their minds
as they looked around them. This temple of Prelacy
was covered with gloomy associations in their minds. It
was identified with a system under which they and their
ancestors had been oppressed and persecuted. They
thought of Laud, of the Star Chamber and High Com
mission Court, of the cropping of ears, and the slitting
of noses, and the confiscation of goods ; very sad re
membrances, indeed, and giving to their countenances a
grave and solemn expression, which all the gorgeousness
of gothic architecture could not subdue. Who they were
the reader need not be told. He will recognize at once
the Westminster Assembly 'of Divines.

120 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
They met not to legislate on the affairs of the Church,
but simply to confer and give their opinion on points to be
submitted by Parliament ; and it is proper in addition to
state, that they were not persons chosen by the Clergy or
other members of the Church as their representatives, but
individuals selected from various parts of the country, ac
cording to the will and pleasure of tlie Parliament who
convened them, so that they cannot be considered as an ec
clesiastical council, but merely a committee of advice to as
sist the Lords and Commons in the settlement of religious
matters. The character of this Assembly has been shame
fully misrepresented. Clarendon charges some of the mem
bers with being infamous in their lives and conversation,
and most of them as of mean parts and learning : and even
Milton has aspersed this Convention, declaring that it was
eminent neither for piety or knowledge. But both these
writers were prejudiced witnesses, Clarendon being the
enemy of Puritanism, and Milton being grievously offended
with the Assembly, because some of the members had de
nounced his book on the doctrine and discipline of divorce.
To the testimony of Clarendon may be triumphantly op
posed that of Baxter, who was far better acquainted with
the characters of the men, and who reviews each of the
parties in the Assembly with manifest and characteristic
impartiality. " The divines there congregated," he says,
"were men of eminent learning, godliness, ministerial
abilities, fidelity ; and being not worthy to be one of them
myself, I may the more freely speak the truth, even in the
face of malice and envy, that as far as I am able to judge,
by the information of all history of that kind, and by any
other evidence left us, the Christian world, since the days
of the Apostles, had never a synod of more excellent di
vines than this and the Synod of Dort."* From Milton,
* Baxter's Life and Times, p. 193.

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 121
after some of tlie Assembly had condemned his book, we
may make an appeal to Milton before they had incensed
him, and then we shall find him pronouncing this same
Assembly " a learned and memorable synod, in which piety,
learning, and prudence were housed." Against the allega
tions of both these accusers, we may place the conclusion
formed by a modern historian, well able to judge in such
a matter, and being by no means biassed in favor of the
Puritans. Mr. Hallam describes the Assembly " as equal
in learning, good sense, and other merits to any Lower
House of Convocation that ever made a figure in Eng
land."* Surely no impartial person who has ever heard of the
learning of Lightfoot, Selden, and Goodwin, can impeach
as ignorant an assembly of which they were ornaments ;
and many of whose members they found competent to dis
cuss with them questions of profound Biblical erudition ;
nor will any one who is acquainted with Puritan biography,
on looking over the list of worthies assembled at West
minster, in which he will recognize the names of many
celebrated for their ardent piety, think meanly of the moral
and religious character of an ecclesiastical synod to which
they were willing to belong. And, further, it should be
remembered by those who are prejudiced against every
thing connected with Dissent, that, for the most part, the
men who met at Westminster were not Dissenters but
sons ofthe Church, the alumni of Oxford and Cambridge :
men who had enjoyed the advantage of a University edu
cation, and were still members of the Establishment,
though their views of Church polity had gradually under
gone a change, which had brought them to a conclusion
far distant from Episcopacy.
By far the greater number of the assembly were Presby-
* Hallam, vol. i. p. 609.
11

122 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
terians, — men who believed that Elders, clerical and lay,
were the only divinely-appointed rulers in Christ's Church >
that synods, general and provincial, were the only ecclesi
astical courts of divine appointment.
The spiritual lineage of these men is to be traced
directly to the Puritans of Elizabeth's time. Those Pu
ritans, justly regarding Christianity as a religion of spiritu
ality, not of forms — of simplicity, not of pomp — had at first
objected mainly to certain points in the Church of England
ritual, but when they saw Bishops identifying themselves
with these things, and enforcing them by their authority,
they were led to take another step, and to look at the
foundations of diocesan episcopacy itself. The first Re
formers had not attempted to base the institution upon
Scripture. Cranmer had acknowledged " the Bishops and
priests were at one time, and were no two things, but both
one office in the beginning of Christ's religion."* Expe
diency and custom, therefore, were the only pillars left ;
but the Puritans, seeing nothing very expedient in the
custom, and identifying it with corruptions in Christianity,
came by degrees to repudiate tlie institution. Their cause
assumed a decidedly antiepiscopal character. Their fol
lowers advanced still further, and began an aggressive
attack on Bishops' thrones and Bishops' courts. Black
prelacy became to them an object of intense abhorrence ;
nor could they rest till they had accomplished its overthrow.
No small number of the Westminster divines were ani
mated by such sentiments as they ascended the steps of
Henry the Seventh's chapel.
But many of these enemies of papistry and the prelates
were themselves, in some measure, imbued with one of
the fatal errors which lay at the basis of the two systems
of intolerance they opposed. From the time of Cyprian
* Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 223.

THE WESTMINISTER ASSEMBLY. 123
the grand idea of one visible organized Catholic Church
had prevailed in Christendom ; outward uniformity was
mistaken for inward unity. The notion of a spiritual
fellowship was sacrificed to the imposing conception of
one government, polity and worship. Like Cyprian many
longed for union — longed to see the Church standing before
the world a manifest brotherhood ; their active fancy re
galed itself with the beautiful vision — their warm hearts
panted for the realization of the idea. But they, like the
Bishop of Carthage, confounded the outward with the in
ward — the material with the spiritual — the form with the
substance. When the sword of civil power passed from
the hand of the heathen to the hand of the Christian ruler,
it was thought right to employ it in the enforcement of
such uniformity. Creeds and. canons came to be a sort of
thing like the bed of the old robber Procrustes, who used
to tie travellers to its iron framework, and if their stature
exceeded the length of that rough couch, then their limbs
must be lopped of ; if it was too short, then they must be
submitted to the rack that they might be stretched to the
required length. When once the passion for uniformity
has taken hold of the mind, and the civil power is deemed
a fitting instrument for ecclesiastical purposes, the estab
lishment of Inquisitions and Star Chambers, with all their
paraphernalia of cruelty, follows as a necessary conse
quence. Many of the brethren at Westminster were
smitten with the love of formal unity. They were for one
Church throughout the empire ; and though they shrunk
from the sort of atrocities which had been perpetrated by
Papists and Episcopalians, they were prepared to employ
coercive measures to some extent in support of their own
creed. Within a month after the opening of the Westminster
Assembly two of the clerical members, Mr. Marshall and

124 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Mr. Nye, together with the Earl of Rutland, Sir William
Armyne, Sir Harry Vane, Mr. Hatcher, and Mr. Darley,
were dispatched by the parliament to confer with the
Church of Scotland, respecting the union of the Protes
tant parties in the two countries, and to seek the assist
ance of the Scotch army in the civil war. Arrived in
Edinburgh, they were kindly received by the General As
sembly, who had just commenced their sittings. They
landed on the picturesque old quay at Leith. " The lords
went and conveyed them up in a coach." " A committee
was appointed to salute and welcome them." Arrange
ments were made for their visiting the assembly. The
English commissioners presented, in addition to their cre
dentials and other documents, a letter, subscribed by above
seventy of their divines, supplicating help from their
Scotch brethren. The letter was so plaintive it drew
tears from many eyes. Then came the question — How
should union between the two kingdoms be cemented ?
The English preferred a civil league — the Scotch a re
ligious covenant. The matter was long and gravely de
bated. Sir Harry Vane and Mr. Nye belonged to the
liberal party, and were averse to the rigid uniformity ad
vocated by the Presbyterians. But the latter prevailed,
and their success procured the adoption of the Solemn
League and Covenant. It was called a league to meet
the wishes of Sir Harry Vane, who did not approve of its
religious aspect, and a covenant for the satisfaction of those
who chiefly valued its ecclesiastical character and bear
ing. It consisted of six articles, pledging those who took
it to preserve the established religion of Scotland, and en
deavor to bring the Church of God in the three kingdoms
to fhe nearest conjunction and uniformity possible ; to aim
at the extirpation of Popery, Prelacy, superstition, heresy,
schism, profaneness, and whatsoever is contrary to sound

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 125
doctrine and the power of godliness ; to preserve the
privileges of parliament and the liberties of the kingdom ;
to search out malignants ; to promote peace ; and to de
fend those who enter into the League and Covenant.
With immense ardor was tlie engagement entered into
by the Scotch : they venerated and loved these symbols of
confederation. The duty of swearing this solemn oath
was earnestly enforced. Heavy penalties were threatened
against those who should refuse. The Covenant passed
from city to city, from town to town, from village to vil
lage. It gathered to it the men of the plain and the moun
tain. It was like the fiery cross which summoned the
clansmen to rally round their chieftain's banner : —
" O'er dale and hill the summons flew,
Nor rest nor pause the herald knew ;
Not faster o'er thy heathery braes,
Balquidder, speeds the midnight blaze,
Rushing in conflagration strong
Thy deep ravines and dells along ;
Each valley, each sequestered glen,
Muster'd its little horde of men,
That met as torrents from the height
In Highland dales their streams unite,
Still gathering as they pour along
A voice more loud, a tide more strong."
Scotland put forth its strength on behalf of the Covenant ;
and soon after it had passed the General Assembly, the
English commissioners returned to procure the adhesion
of the people of this country. The instrument met with
decided approbation from the Presbyterian party in Eng
land. It was confirmed by a vote of the House, of Com
mons, and immediately afterwards passed the Lords. But
the mayor and city council petitioned against it ; and some
of the royalists stirred up a mob of women to come to the
door of both houses to cry for peace on any terms. So
11*

126 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
fierce was tlie tumult that it could not be quelled without
loss of life.
The Westminster Assembly met on the 25th of Sep
tember, 1643, in St. Margaret's Church— a building al
most lost in the shadow of the magnificent Abbey of St.
Peter, yet one, interesting, not only in itself, but on this,
among other accounts, that within its walls the senators
of England have been wont to gather for religious wor
ship, and to listen to Christian instruction and warning.
On the day now mentioned there was a large congrega
tion. Both Houses of Parliament, the Scotch Commis
sioners, the Assembly of Divines, were all there. Good
Mr. White, of Dorchester, commenced the service with
prayer. The famous Mr. Henderson, Moderator of the
Church of Scotland, who had come to attend the Assem
bly, continued the devotions. After which, Philip Nye, the
Rector of Kimbolton, descanted at length, and with great
earnestness, on the Covenant, commending it as a measure
which was likely to prove a defence against Popery and
Prelacy ; and a stimulus to other reformed Churches to
seek further reformation.* Mr. Henderson followed him,
and detailed the deliverance of Scotland, through the good
providence of God, from the monstrous dominion and gi
gantic greatness of Prelacy ; and proceeded to speak of
the small beginning and the successful accomplishment
of their enterprise ; of the purity of their intentions ; and
of the manifest blessing of heaven on their efforts.f Mr.
Nye then read the Covenant, article by article, when the
assembly rose, and in that spirit of deep solemnity with
which the Puritans ever did such things, lifted up their
right hands to heaven, worshipping the great name of Godj
and swearing before him to perform their vow. Dr.
* Hanbury's Memorials, vol. ii. p. 216.
t McCrie's Life of Henderson, p. 45.

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 127
Gouge concluded with prayer ; after which the House of
Commons and the Assembly repaired to the chancel, and
appended their names to the venerable document.
That scene in the church of St. Margaret has in it a
dash of true sublimity. The Presbyterian heroes there
swore enmity to formalism, superstition, and disorder.
They were men thoroughly in earnest ; enthusiasts some
of them might be, but not hypocrites. They felt they
were in God's presence, that they were walking on the
sides of eternity, and that they had a great duty to dis
charge. Two objects were before them — the Church's
unity, and the Church's spirituality ; these they diligently,
earnestly, devoutly sought — fancied that they were in the
way that led to them, but, alas ! missed the path.
Instructions were given " for the falsing of the Covenant
throughout the kingdom, the manner of taking it to be
thus : The minister to read the whole Covenant distinctly
and audibly in the pulpit, and during the time of the read
ing thereof the whole congregation to be uncovered ; and
at the end of his reading thereof all to take it standing,
lifting up their right hands bare, and then afterwards to
subscribe it severally, by writing their names, (or their
marks, to which their names are to be added,) in a parch
ment roll — a book, whereinto the Covenant is to be in
serted, purposely provided for that end, and kept as a rec
ord in the parish." Copiesof the Covenant, with a long
array of names appended, according to the Parliament's
order, sometimes present themselves when the antiquary
is turning over the papers of old corporations, or search
ing into the archives of a parish ; and as the eye passes
over the time-worn parchment, or the frail, discolored
paper, it catches a glimpse of the solemn scene once en
acted in many an English church. All young ministers,
we are informed by Neale, were requested to take the

128 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Covenant at their ordination. None of the laity were
continued in any office of trust, civil or military, who re
fused it. At the close of the war those who had opposed
the Parliament were subject to the same thing before they
were admitted to compensation.*
While preparing to do justice to the motives of those
who framed and enforced this League and Covenant, we
cannot but regard it as an act of uniformity akin in prin
ciple to the very measures under which the Puritans had
recently groaned, and which, twenty years afterwards,
were to be revived, to the terror of conscientious minds
and the rending asunder of the English Church. The
Presbyterians were inflicting on Prelatists evils such as
Prelatists had before inflicted upon them, and which after
the Restoration the latter did not fail to retaliate with ten
fold vengeance. Episcopacy had now its confessors, among
whom were able and devoted men, worthy of far different
treatment from what they received ; though, looking at
the ecclesiastical history of the previous years, the rough
usage they experienced is more calculated to excite regret
than surprise. Good Bishop Hall of Norwich met indeed
with " Hard Measure" from the hands of the Parliament
and the soldiers, as appears from his pamphlet bearing
that title ; but it should be remembered that the former
were not responsible for the excesses of violence into
which the latter rushed in carrying their orders into exe
cution. But to return to the Covenant ; some who took it were
far from sympathizing with the Presbyterian party. Sir
Harry Vane had objected to its religious character. He
advocated a civil league ; and when some one charged
him with making frivolous distinctions, he replied, — ¦' You
are mistaken, and do not see enough into the matter ; for
* See Note [21].

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 129
a league shows it is between two nations, and may be
broken upon just reasons, but not a covenant." In the
articles of the Covenant relating to uniformity, the words
were " according to the Word of God, and the example of
the best reformed Churches."- Vane was for leaving out
the last clause, remarking to the same person, " that
Church government according to the Word of God, by the
difference of divines and expositors, would be long enough
before it be determined, for the learned held it clearly for
Episcopacy, so that when all are agreed we may take in
the Scotch Presbytery." This kind of argument savors
much more ofthe statesman, if not ofthe Jesuit, than the
honest Christian. Vane was certainly a friend to tolera
tion, and intended by the plan he adopted to effect " a sav
ing retreat for its supporters," but though the end was
good it did not sanctify the means.
Philip Nye was a prominent person in taking the Cove
nant and urging it upon others. Yet Nye was an Inde
pendent. Some say he was guided by expediency in this
affair. Had such been the case, it would have exposed
Nye, much as we may admire his subsequent advocacy
of toleration, to the charge of disingenuousness. But it
may be questioned whether this were the case. His ad
miration of the Covenant seems to have been sincere.
With much earnestness, he urged it upon the Assembly.
He looked on it as a bond chiefly leaguing them together
in opposition to Popery and Prelacy, which he deemed
enemies to the liberties of the commonwealth, as well as
the purity of the Church. Though by most persons the
terms of the Covenant would be construed as binding the
parties who took it to promote Presbyterianism, yet there
was sufficient ambiguity in the words employed to admit
of that sense being evaded by a dexterous criticism. Like
all other religious articles prepared for subscription, the

130 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Covenant was taken by the parties who signed it accord
ing to their own interpretation. Episcopalians as well as
Independents put their names to the instrument, no doubt
adopting some " unnatural sense" in the explanation of
its contents. Certainly the whole proceeding showed the
futility and folly of such subscription. Nye probably re
garded that part which relates to uniformity as meaning
uniformity so far as it was practicable ; while he felt that
his Independency would not interfere with spiritual union,
and prevent him from living with his brethren in faith and
love. As to the question of toleration in general, it is
likely that Nye and others had not such clear conceptions
on the subject at first-as they had some short time after
wards, when they had been led to reflect and argue upon
the point by the opposition they met with from the Presby
terian party. A broad view, and a clear enunciation of
the principle of religious liberty, like other great princi
ples, comes out only as the result of much debating with
adversaries — much reasoning with one's self.
Whatever might be Nye's motive in espousing the
cause of the Covenant, it certainly was not the fear of
man, for a bolder spirit has rarely trod the earth ; and
whatever the course of inquiry might be through which he
passed, he certainly attained enlarged views of religious
liberty, and announced it with a firmness which not a lit
tle confounded the Westminster Assembly.
" The five dissenting brethren," as they were called,
were distinguished and active members of the Assembly.
They were the steady advocates of Independency, and
numbered about five or seven besides themselves of the
same sentiments. They were men who had taken up the
cause for which Barrowe and his associates suffered, and
the pilgrim fathers were exiled ; for which Robinson
preached, and Lord Brooke pleaded ; and in whose service,

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 131
with humble zeal, the little Church in Southwark had
lifted up its banner,
Jeremiah Burroughs — educated at Cambridge — forced
to quit the University on account of his Nonconformist
opinions — driven to Rotterdam, whence he returned after
the opening of the Long Parliament — a man of candor,
modesty, and moderation — one whose devotional works
breathe a spirit of enlightened and persuasive piety, and
whose gentle spirit, with all the firmness that sustained it,
could not bear the rough beating of the times, so that he
is said to have died heart-broken at the age of forty-seven —
was one of Nye's companions in.the-Westminster Convo
cation ; and, in the debateyfhat were carried on, this ex
cellent man enlightened /She brethren by his clear intelli
gence, and disarmed, if fie did -not subdue, opponents by
his loving spirit. If Nye Was the Luther, Burroughs was
the Melancthon of the party. ' Nye was bold as a lion,
Burroughs gentle as a dove. The. energy of the one was
like the hurricane, sweeping all before it ; the influence
of the other was like the gentle falling of the snow-flake,
or the spring shower. One was like John the Baptist ;
the other resembled the beloved disciple. Men of both
classes were needed, the " sturdy woodcutter," as Luther
called himself, and " the gentle husbandman, sowing and
watering," as he styled Melancthon. William Bridge,
once the minister of the old parish church of St. George's,
Tombland, Norwich, then a refugee in Holland, but now
one of the ministers of Great Yarmouth, a man who had
a library well filled with fathers, schoolmen, critics, and
other authors of worth, and was wont to rise at four
o'clock, both winter and summer, to read them, may be
remembered next among these worthies. Having himself
suffered in the cause of truth and liberty, he stimulate'1
others to the display of like heroism, exhorting hj°

132 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
people at Yarmouth in the following strain : " Certainly,
if God's charge be your charge, your charge shall be his
charge, and being so, you have his bond that they shall
never want their daily bread. Wherefore, think on all
these things ; think on them for the present, and in the
future, if such a condition fall : and the Lord give us un
derstanding in all things." These were sentiments calcu
lated to form heroic sufferers, and heroic soldiers; and
they did both. Bridge was a firm Independent, yet no
boisterous schismatic. He held the truth in love ; and,
when his own party had attained to power, befriended
those who were of different opinions. We shall catch
further glimpses of this great man hereafter. Sydrach
Sympson, according to Neale, a meek and quiet divine,
educated at Cambridge, but driven out of the Church by
Archbishop Laud, a man of great learning, and equal
piety and moderation, though silenced at one time by the
Assembly because he differed from them on some matters
of discipline, was a companion and fellow-laborer of the
Independent band.* Last, but not least, was Dr. Thomas
Goodwin, a divine of much celebrity, respecting whom it
was recorded in the common register of the University of
Cambridge, where he studied, " in scriptis in re theologica
quamplurimus orbi notus." His opinions on the five points
were of the high Calvinistic school, but he did not fail to
inculcate the practical lessons of Christianity, and was
opposed to Antinomianism equally in theory and practice.f
Such were the men who fought the early battles of Inde
pendency. The divines at first, as we have seen, met in Hemy the
Seventh's Chapel. The coolness of that spacious edifice
"^t^pleasant in the summer months ; but when the winter
j^Jftgie on, the Assembly adjourned to the Jerusalem
^<yn. vol. ii. p. 208. f Neale, vol. iv. p. 206.

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 133
Chamber, at the right-hand corner of the western front,
whose plain-looking architecture was more in harmony
with Puritans and their proceedings than the florid Gothic
of the chapel they had left. The chamber still remains
much as it was when the divines met in theological com
bat there. The chimney-piece of cedar, curiously carved,
in the style of James the First's reign, continues to span
the old fire-place. The painted window, on the northern
side, still transmits the colored light, while pieces of arras,
originally belonging to some other part of the abbey, adorn
the walls. The reader may remember that this same
place, according to the old chronicler Fabian and the poet
Shakspeare, was the death scene of Henry the Fourth.
Romance and poetry have thus thrown their rainbow
hues over that room ; but far nobler associations are linked
with it when remembered as the place where the advo
cates of religious freedom stood and fought one of their
earliest battles. The dying Harry, prevented from accom
plishing his wished-for crusade to Palestine, is a picture
of inconsiderable interest, compared with the scene of
those five brave ones who stood up for the claims of God
and the rights of man, and carried on a moral crusade
against those who had usurped dominion over the Holy
Land of conscience.
Baillie has given a perfect painting of the place and of
the men. On both sides, he informs us, are stages of
seats. At the uppermost end there is a chair, set on a
frame, occupied by the prolocutor, Dr. Twiss. Before him
are two chairs, in which the assessors, Dr. Burgess and
Mr. White, take their seats. Immediately before them is
a long table, occupying the middle of the room, close to
which sit Mr. Byfield and Mr. Rodborough, taking notes.
A good fire blazes on the hearth, which the Scotchman
speaks of as " a dainty thing" in London. Opposite the
12

134 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
table, on the president's right hand, on the lowest of the
three or four rows of forms, sit the Scotch Commissioners,
among whom our artist, Professor Baillie, is conspicuous.
Behind them are the members of Parliament deputed to
the Assembly. On the left, running from the upper end
of the room to the fire-place, and at the lower end, till
they come round to the seats of the Scotchmen, are lines
of forms, whereon the divines sit as they please, each,
however, commonly keeping the same place. The Lords
of Parliament, who now and then drop in, sit in chairs
round the fire. Every thing is done in great order, and
each meeting is commenced and closed with prayer. Our
president is far too quiet a man for the Scotch delegate.
He is learned, but too bookish, unfit for action, and sits
mute, — which one thinks a. chairman ought to do, but
Baillie wishes to see in the president more zeal on the side
of Presbyterianism, and therefore prefers " our good friend,
Dr. Burgess, a very active and sharp man, who supplies,
as far as is decent, the prolocutor's place."*
Independency was the terror of Baillie and some others
in the Assembly. With characteristic caution, he wished
to stave off the great question for the present. He says,
in a letter to a friend, dated December 7th, 1643, "We
purpose not to meddle in haste with it till it please God to
advance our army, wliich we expect will much assisi our
arguments ;" a powerful auxiliary, no doubt, and one in
which the Presbyterian champion seemed to have more
confidence than in his own or his brethren's reasonings.
Nye he disliked from the beginning, as a bold, dauntless
man ; but Goodwin, Burroughs, and Bridge, at an early
period, he denominates " persons, as it seems yet, of grace
and modesty." But soon coming storms began to lower;
Goodwin troubled them so that, after long debates, the
* Baillie's Letters, &c. vol. ii. p. 108.

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 135
Presbyterians could not conclude as they wished. The
Scotchmen sought to mollify him ; spoke to him in private,
invited him to dinner, and found him not an angry zealot,
but a loving-hearted man. " We spent an afternoon with
him very sweetly," says Baillie.
In the following February, he complains of the long
weapons of the Independents, their debating every thing
that came within twenty miles of their quarters, and the
quick replies they gave to the divines and Parliament
men on the other side. The handful of Independents soon
found they had not fair play in the Assembly against such
a host of Presbyterian advocates, and therefore addressed
Parliament in an Apologetical Narration. Soon after the
book came out, fhe Independents invited Baillie and his
friends to dine with them ; but as the Scotchmen had not
then read the pamphlet, they made no reference to the
subject. When Baillie perused the work, he was greatly
annoyed by its contents, and spoke of it as " a sly and
cunning petition for toleration, which withal lent two bold
wipes to all the reformed Churches, as if imperfect in their
. reformation." But our opinion of the Narration must not
be formed upon the evidence of an opponent. It was a
very modest production, stating, with calmness, the prin
ciples of the Independent party, and touching, with some
pathos, on their past sufferings.
Mr. Herle, who afterwards succeeded Dr. Twiss in the
president's chair, admitted that the performance was peace
able, modest, and candid, and that the difference between
the Presbyterian and Independent brethren was not so
great as some conceived, and that it did •' but ruffle the
fringe, not in any way rend the garments of Christ." Yet
a fierce onslaught was commenced upon their brethren by
the sterner advocates of Presbyterianism, and a swarm

136 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
of pamphlets, full of bitter invectives, issued from the
press. As the question of Presbyterian discipline came under
discussion, the debates in the Assembly increased in
energy, learning, and acuteness, as well as in prolixity.
No person who has read Dr. Lightfoot's notes of the pro
ceedings can deny the erudition and controversial acumen
of the disputants on both sides ; and all who have glanced
over the lively pages of honest Baillie will admit that this
battle for great principles was waged with sincerity and
earnestness. A very important point of inquiry arose in
the month of April, " Whether many Congregations should
be under one Presbytery?" The Independents pressed
to be heard on the negative side, and spent twenty long
sittings in advocating their opinion. Dr. Goodwin was
foremost in the debate, but the rest of the Dissenting
brethren took their turns. The champions well acquitted
themselves, their enemies being judges. " Truly, if the
cause were good," wrote Professor Baillie, " the men have
plenty of learning, wit, and eloquence, and, above all,
boldness and stiffness to make it out ; but when they have
wearied themselves and overwearied us all, we found the
most they had to say against the Presbytery was but
curious idle niceties. Every one of their arguments, when
it had been pressed to the full in one whole session, and
sometimes in two or three, was voiced, and found to be
light unanimously by all but themselves." There can be
little doubt of this. The reasoning of the Independents
would of course be found wanting when weighed in the
Presbyterian balance, and the majority of the Assembly
would naturally consider their own votes an ample refu
tation of their adversaries' arguments. " They profess,"
says Baillie in another place, respecting the Independents,
" to regard nothing at all what all the reformed or all the

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 137
world say, if their sayings be not backed with convincing
Scripture or reason. All human testimonies they declaim
against as a Popish argument." The simplicity of our
Scotch friend is perfectly amusing as he thus insensibly
glides into the position of a Papal advocate, and tacitly
acknowledges the authority of general opinion in the
Church ; on the other hand, the firmness and consistency
of these genuine Protestants is truly admirable, as they
resolutely adhere to the only invincible method of argu
ment by which the cause of the Reformation can be de
fended. The Presbyterian form of Church government was fully
submitted to the examination of the Assembly, and the In
dependents failed not to contest with energy and skill what
they conceived to be objectionable points in that scheme
of ecclesiastical polity. But it was soon found that the
controversy involved a more general question. The prin
ciples of Independency require of their advocates that they
should be friends to unlimited religious toleration. Every
one who holds those principles, if he be consistent, will
advocate the allowance of perfect civil liberty to all men,
whatever may be their theological tenets. If Christ's
churches should be composed of those only who give credi
ble proof of faith in Christ, — if these Churches are to re
gard their own members as the only parties coming within
the range of their ecclesiastical discipline, — if they are to
be communities standing apart from all political alliances,
and even independent of each other in their organization,
— and these are the principles of Independency, — then it
follows that no ecclesiastical authority can touch those
who are without, that no civil penalties are to be inflicted
for religious offences upon any persons whatever, whether
without or within, and that a political toleration is to be
conceded to religionists of every class, and to men of no
12*

138 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
religion at all. These principles put no bar in the way
of civil punishment for civil offences. They do not cross
the path of the secular magistrate in his appropriate prov
ince, but they place beyond the reach of his jurisdiction
offenders against religion only, and leave them to be dealt
with by a higher authority. An impartial testimony on
this matter is borne by Mr. Hallam : — " It is certain that
the Congregational scheme leads to toleration, as the Na
tional Church scheme is adverse to it, for manifold reasons,
which the reader will discover."* That many persons
who held independent principles did not see clearly the
entire bearing of their own opinions, may be admitted, and
hence the limit they put to the exercise of toleration ; but
it is certain that there were some among them who main
tained publicly, with great intelligence and in a fearless
spirit, the right of every man to unshackled freedom in his
religious profession. In a, pamphlet written in 1644,f it
is remarked, " if security may be taken, by the wisdom of
the State for civil subjection, why may not even Papists
themselves enjoy toleration ?" And in a tract supposed
to be written by John Goodwin, a famous Independent, to
whom Baillie refers with evident horror, occurs the mem
orable sentence, that " by God's command the magistrate
is discharged to put the least discourtesy on any man,
Turk, Jew, Papist, Socinian, or whatever, for his religion. "{
While Independent principles thus favored universal tol
eration, the Presbyterians, by advocating the establishment
of classes, synods, and a general assembly, and by calling
* Hallam's Const. History, vol. i. p. 612.
t " Queries of Consideration, proposed to Mr. Goodwin," &c. Han
bury, vol. ii. p. 246.
t This sentiment has sometimes been put into the lips of Nye, but
there is not any historical evidence of his having uttered it on this oc
casion. I should question whether the five brethren were prepared to
advocate in the Assembly the toleration of Papists.

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 139
on the magistrate to enforce the authority of the Church,
plainly interfered with the civil rights of the people. The
thoughtful among the Independents therefore became more
and more averse to the Presbyterian scheme ; they saw
that it would be fatal to those very liberties for which the
nation had so valiantly contended in the field. Accord
ingly we find that Philip Nye, in the April of 1644, boldly
contended before the Assembly, that a Presbytery was in
consistent with the civil State. This was a galling accu
sation, and the Presbyterian party indignantly cried down
the assertion as impertinent. Great confusion arose in
the Assembly ; but undismayed by the combined opposition
of a large majority, the champion of Independency on the
following day renewed the impeachment. It was an ag.
gravation of his offence in the eyes of his adversaries, that
he took advantage of the presence of some distinguished
noblemen and others that day to make his bold avowal.
He would enlighten these personages on the great ques
tion. He repeated that the liberties for which the people
fought would be unsafe if Presbyterianism were estab
lished. Again the Presbyterians endeavored to silence
him. The meeting was in a tumult. Some would have
expelled him ; but the Independents rallied round their in
trepid friend, declaring their resolution not to enter the As
sembly again if he was excluded. Whether after this scene
of excitement, during which it is not improbable that Nye
manifested some warmth of temper, he really became more
calm in the advocacy of his principles, or whether it was
a mere expression of triumph on the part- of one who
helped to form the majority of the Convocation, and to
overcome by clamor the voice of reason, I do not venture
to determine ; but the Scotch Commissioner concludes his
account of that memorable day's proceedings by observing,

140 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
" Ever since we find him in all things the most accommo
dating man in the company."
The discussion respecting the Divine right of Presbyte
rianism for some time afterwards occupied the attention of
the Assembly, till the majority decided tlie question in the
affirmative. The Independents simply recorded their pro
test against this decision, complaining of the unkind treat
ment they had received, and stating that the majority did
not consider it worth their while to debate with so inconsid
erable a number of men. But though few who met in the
Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster maintained the prin
ciples of Independency and toleration, the number of per
sons who out of doors sympathized in these views daily
increased. The five champions became popular. Their
cause was espoused by many of the people, and advocated
in Parliament. ,. The decision of the Assembly respecting
Presbyterianism was modified in the House of Commons,
and with increased bitterness the Presbyterians went on
assailing the Independents. It had been reported before
by an earnest advocate for a rigid Presbyterian discipline
throughout the land, that the five brethren in the Assem
bly were deemed " the remora to the ship under sail ;
spokes in the wheel of the chariot of reformation." The
accusation was now urged more keenly than ever. Nothing
annoyed the Presbyterian brethren so much as the advo
cacy of toleration by the Independents. This they re
garded as the grand " remora," the main " spoke." They
were men intolerant of error and sin ; they hated them
intensely, and sought to extirpate them from the earth.
Bravely did they fight for Christ's Crown and Covenant
against foes of every class, longing, fervently longing, to
subjugate all to his gracious authority. The spirit of the
early Scotch martyrs and confessors, the spirit of Knox him
self, was in many of them. We do all honor to their noble

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 141
aims, but there is a distinction to be made between just
and unjust intolerance — between war against error to the
death, war maintained with spiritual weapons, which is
right, — and tlie persecution of the heretic, schismatic, and
unbeliever, and his punishment with carnal weapons, which
is wrong. Now our Presbyterian worthies did not make
this distinction. All they thought of was extinguishing
error and sin. They were for suppressing them by law ;
suppressing them by all means, no matter how. Some of
the Independents clearly saw the distinction which their
brethren overlooked. " Let the erring ones remain," said
they, " untouched by law, unharmed by civil penalties."
" What," asked the Presbyterian, " will you then tolerate
error ? will you countenance heresy, schism, and a thou
sand other evils ?" " No, brother," they were prepared
to rejoin : " we are foes to error as decidedly as you can
be ; most intolerant are we of all that invades Christ's em
pire, and disturbs the peace of His realms ; but in putting
it down we must not employ any weapons which He has
forbidden. ' The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.' "
It should here be mentioned, that there was another
party in the country, of considerable 'importance in point
of ability, rank, and influence, though they were but few
in number, who, to some extent, sympathized with the In
dependents, and assisted them to fight their battles both in
the Assembly and in Parliament. Selden, Whitelock, and
some other distinguished men, had adopted the opinions
commonly denominated Erastian. They considered that
in the Scriptures no particular form of ecclesiastical
polity was enjoined, and that it was the business of the
magistrate to determine forms of Church government in
conformity with the interests ofthe commonwealth. These
views were in complete opposition to those of the Inde
pendents : but then they led their advocates to oppose the.

142 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Divine right of Presbyteries, and to anticipate by a firm
resistance the encroachments of spiritual despotism, which
they foresaw would be the result of Presbyterian ascen
dency. Though proceeding on grounds very different
from those adopted by the Independents, yet the Erastians
concurred with them in zealously opposing the scheme of
Presbyterian government and discipline ; so that it hap
pened, as it has often done on the field of controversy, that
parties proceeding from distant and even opposite points,
found themselves at length side by side, and in cordial al
liance, so far as it related to their assault upon the com
mon foe. It was not in the character of religionists that
the two parties formed this combination, for in that re
spect their opinions were far as the poles asunder ; but in
the character of patriots and politicians, in which they
were fervently agreed, as the enemies of a party whose
success they judged would be inimical to the general
welfare of the country.
It forms no part of my purpose to follow the Westmin
ster Assembly through their wearisome though important,
and, on the whole, skilful debates on Presbyterianism and
various collateral questions. I would farther only briefly
advert to the Committee of Accommodation ; the object
of which was to unite if possible the two contending par
ties in the Assembly. This Committee was formed as
early as September 1644; and the Parliament who ap
pointed the Committee directed them, in case union were
impracticable, to devise some plan to meet the scruples of
tender consciences. The committee selected six of their
number, including two Independents, to draw up a draft
of propositions, which was submitted to the Assembly.
From this paper it appeared that the Independents claimed
for all their male Church members the power of voting
upon ecclesiastical questions ; and they contended that

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 143
nothing short 'of decided signs of grace, proving the re
generation of the soul, was a sufficient qualification for
Church membership. These two positions were irrecon
cilable with the scheme supported by their opponents,
which placed the Church under the power of Presbyters,
and admitted to communion all who were not scandalous
in their lives. It was not likely that a method could be
found of comprehending in one scheme the oligarchical
regimen of Presbyterianism with the democratical con
stitution of Independency — the promiscuous communion
of the former with the select communion of tlie latter :
yet the Independents were anxious to make the trial, but
the Presbyterians repulsed them, by determining that fii. t
their own form of Church government should be settled
as a standard, and then the exceptions of the dissentients
should be taken into consideration. With vigorous haste
they pushed onward the completion of their own model,
fearful lest it should be endangered by the Independents
— a course which so disheartened the latter, that they
abandoned in despair all attempts at comprehension, and
satisfied themselves with a remonstrance, complaining of
the unfair conduct ofthe Assembly. In November, 1645,
the Committee was revived, and the Jerusalem Chamber
became once more the scene of earnest debate. But now
the question was simply — How far tender consciences,
who cannot submit to the established form of ecclesias
tical government, may be indulged consistently with the
Word of God and the welfare of the nation ? The Inde
pendents pleaded for a full toleration, to be shared by other
sects as well as themselves, to which the Presbyterians,
of course, would by no means consent ; and with difficulty
could the former be brought to propose any measure of
liberty from which others were to be excluded ; but urged
by their opponents to state what they required in relation

144 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
to their own case, they replied, that they did not demur to
the Confession of Faith promulgated by the Assembly,
but merely sought liberty to form their own congregations,
to have the power ot ordination, and to be free from Pres
byterian domination. " In our answer," observes our
friend, Professor Baillie, glorying in the act as a great
virtue, " we did flatly deny such a vast liberty." A very
limited indulgence was all that they would grant ; namely,
that Independents should not be compelled to receive the
Lord's Supper, nor be liable to synodical censure, pro
vided they joined the parish congregation, and submitted
to the ecclesiastical government in other respects. Yet
even this miserable scantling of indulgence was not of
fered in good faith, for our busy correspondent, who lets
us into the knowledge of many party secrets, informs a
friend, that if they had not offered some positive indul
gence to the Independents, they would have brought on
themselves insupportable odium, but they were persuaded
that the limited offer they had made would not be ac
cepted.* The Independents, of course, were not content
with the Presbyterians' proposition, and still sought the
liberty of meeting as distinct congregations. For doing
this they were accused of schism ; a charge they repelled,
because they regarded schism as a breach of the law of
love, a law they felt they were not violating, since they
regarded with affection their Presbyterian brethren, were
prepared to exchange pulpits with them, and to hold oc
casional communion together. The threadbare argument
about the abuse of liberty, and the opening of a door to
all manner of sectaries, was zealously urged against the
claims of toleration. Altar would be set up against altar,
the seamless robe would be rent ; the unity of the Church
would be destroyed ! At last the gentle Burroughs,
* Baillie's Letters, &c, vol. ii. p. 343.

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 145
whose meek soul sighed over the course pursued by his
opponents, and the stormy character of the times in which
his lot was cast, rose in the Assembly, and declared " that
if their congregations might not be exempted from the
power of the classes, if they might not have liberty to
guide themselves in their own way, as long as they be
haved peaceably towards the civil magistrate, they were
resolved to suffer, or go to some other place in the world
where they might enjoy their liberty. But while men
think there is no way of peace but by forcing all to be of
the same mind, while they think the civil sword is an or
dinance of God to determine all controversies of divinity ;
and that it must needs be attended with fines and im
prisonment to the disobedient ; while they apprehend there
is no medium between a strict uniformity and a general
confusion of all things ; while these sentiments prevail,
there must be a base subjection of men's consciences to
slavery, a suppression of much truth, and great disturban
ces in the Christian world."* The expression of these
wise and beautiful sentiments by the oppressed Independ
ent closed the debates of this fruitless Committee of Ac
commodation. The Assembly now dwindled away in point of numbers,
sunk in public imputation, and declined in importance and
influence, till, three weeks after the execution of Charles,
they held, within the walls of the Abbey of Westminster,
their last meeting, having completed their eleven hundred
and sixty-third session. A few of the members, however,
were constituted a Committee for examining and inducting
ministers, who continued their office till they were broken
up by the dissolution of the Long Parliament.
* Neale's History, vol. iii. p. 309.
13

CHAPTER VII.
OXFORD UNDER OWEN.
Oxpord was for a long period during the civil wars the
head-quarters of King Charles. The city was fortified.
The University became a garrison. The gownsman was
transformed into the military cavalier, and doffed the col
lege cap for the steel helmet. The streets echoed with
the iron-heeled boot of the soldier and the tramp of the
war horse. Many a waggon, laden with ammunition and
military stores, and guarded by pikemen, came rolling over
the bridges and through the gateways, which formed the
inlets to that picturesque city. Valiant and loyal men —
and numbers of the Cavaliers were both — there rallied
round their sovereign in the hour of his need, prepared to
fight his battles, and to die under his standard. The for
tunes of the contest between him and lB Parliament ex
cited there the deepest feeling ; every slight turn of fortune
in his favor animated their hopes ; every announcement
of defeats — and such announcement often came — chilled,
if it did not totally dispirit them. Amidst the excitement
of the conflict, poor Charles there gathered round him the
relics of his court, and strove to establish a Parliament
which should rival the mighty one at Westminster. The
Chapter-House at Christ Church was his council chamber.
In the hall of that noble college he met the Lords and
Commons who had identified themselves with his cause.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 147
It was but the mockery of royal state ; the shadow 6f re
gal power. Charles had grasped at absolute monarchy,
now he had lost all but the name of king.
Armies composed of no common troops, commanded by
no common generals, and on whose banners victory almost
always waited, beleaguered the city of Oxford. That city
made a stout resistance. It repelled the invader again
and again. But at length Fairfax prevailed ; and on Sat-
urday, the 24th June, 1646, at noon, three thousand men,
the surrendering garrison, might be seen marching out,
under arms, along the road to Shotover Hill.
During the whole period of the military occupation of
Oxford, the University was in a most deplorable condition.
Indeed, its literary character had almost entirely disap
peared. Mars usurped the seat of Minerva. The schools
were turned into granaries, the colleges into barracks, the
butteries into shops for the sale of ale and beer to the gar
rison. Buildings fell into decay. Gothic halls and cham
bers were defaced and spoiled by a rude soldiery. Some
were rented out to the townsmen as a source of revenue,
and to prevent their falling into utter ruin. Books disap
peared, to make way for, perhaps to purchase, fire-arms.
College plate was melted down, and sold to procure pay
for the royal arrfiy. Few persons connected with the Uni
versity remained, besides heads of houses and professors.
Lectures and exercises fell into disuse, except in St. Ma
ry's Church, where a scanty remnant of under-graduates
were wont to assemble. The character of these young
men is painted by the Oxford historian in the darkest col
ors, and the state of morals among them must have been
degraded indeed to draw such a description from his par
tial pen. What few students remained, he tells us, were
much debauched, and become idle, bearing arms, and keep
ing company with rude soldiers; they were on guard

148 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
night after night, and were addicted to gaming, drinking,
and profanity. Some men who were of great wit at first,
soon caught the prevalent spirit, and drowned their minds
in habits of intoxication. They became lost and useless,
and wrote songs, ballads, and other frivolous stuff.* The
dilapidation of buildings, the poverty of the colleges, and
the paucity of students, were the immediate effect of the
civil wars ; before which occurrence Oxford shone with
the brightest external glory, numbering her four thousand
scholars, among whom many a gentleman-commoner was
distinguished by his costly doublet, glittering with silver
or gold. But the moral character of the students during
the siege appears to have been little more than a continu
ation of habits prevalent long before ; for I find in the au
tobiography of Arthur Wilson, a student there in 1630,
the following statement : — " That which was most bur
densome to me in this my retirement was the debauchery
of the University. For the most eminent scholars of the
town, especially of St. John's College, (being of my ac
quaintance,) did work upon me by such endearments as
took the name of civilities, (yet day and night could wit
ness our madness,) and, I must confess, the whole time
of my life besides did never so much transport me with
drinking as that short time. I lived at Oxford, and that
with some of the gravest bachelors of divinity there. "j
Such was Prelatical Oxford. In this chapter the reader
will see what it became under Puritan regimen.
As soon as the University fell into the hands of the Par
liament, they concerted measures for its reformation.
They proceeded with prudence, and, in the first instance,
sent down seven popular divines, to subdue, if possible, by
argument and persuasion, the irritated feelings of the van-
* Wood's Annals of the University, edited by Gutch.
t Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. ii. p. 470.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 149
quished party. The attempt entirely failed. The anti-
Puritan prejudices of the Oxford men were only increased
by the pulpit labors of the Presbyterian ministers. The
Parliament then resolved to appoint commissioners to visit
the colleges, to reform abuses, to enforce -the submission
of the University authorities, and to require all parties to
take the Solemn League and Covenant, Certain divines
and civilians of repute were employed in the commission.
Their proceedings were sternly resisted by the vice-chan
cellor and the heads of houses. The authority of Parlia
ment to interfere with the University was denied ; the
imposition of the Covenant was denounced. There were
warm controversies, legal appeals, tumultuous scenes.
The commissioners certainly conducted themselves with
moderation ; the University, on the other hand, did not
treat them with common politeness. The former Chan
cellor, the Earl of Pembroke, who had been deposed by
the Royalists, was now restored by the Parliament to his
high office. On his public entrance to the city he was
treated with the greatest rudeness, and the Oxford press
soon teemed with pamphlets written by the college wits,
and filled with vulgar abuse of the reinstated Chancellor.
" The Owl at Athens," " Lunacy Rampant," " Lord have
mercy upon us," the sign inscribed on the doors of houses
infested with the plague, " The Pegasus, or Flying Horse
from Oxford," were the titles of some of these jeux d'esprit.
In the last mentioned of these, my Lord Pembroke is styled
" a long-legged piece of impertinency," and in all of them
he is abused in a strain of the lowest scurrility, and the
most evenomed malice. " If," as Neale justly remarks,
" the Puritans had published such pamphlets against the
exorbitances of the High Commission Court in the late
times, the authors or publishers must have lost their ears,
as the Brownists did their lives in the latter end of Queen
13*

150 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Elizabeth." But the Parliament were determined not to
be trifled with, and therefore at length took forcible meas
ures to remove the disaffected from the University. The
imposition of the Covenant on all the members must be
deemed a flagrant violation of the rights of conscience ;
yet, the propriety of imposing religious tests being admitted,
and acted on by the Prelatists themselves, it was very in
consistent in them to resist in the present instance. The
Presbyterians were only doing with the Solemn League
and Covenant what the Episcopalians have ever done with
the Thirty-nine articles. If the University be a part of the
rehgious establishment of the country, and the propriety
of religious tests be allowed, then it was only consistent
in the government, now that Presbyterianism was estab
lished, to enforce its own symbol. Still the refusal of the
Oxford men to repudiate their own conscientious views of
Church polity and worship, for the sake of University
emoluments and honors, is worthy of all praise. They,
however, only made a sacrifice of the same kind with that
which Puritans had quietly done before, and had shortly to
do again.
" Drab colored" Puritanism now became the order of
the day at Oxford. The liturgy was no longer chanted
in the College chapel.* The surplice vanished from the
desk. The altar rails were removed. The communion
table was placed in the aisle. The Genevan cloak and
cap appeared in the pulpit. In most places the sounds of
the organ ceased ; the precenter, in Scotch fashion, led the
devotions of the assembly. Images, crucifixes, and some
other relics of Popery were removed. The city as well
as the University underwent a change. The amusements
of former days were abolished ; the theatre was closed.
In the streets, instead of the slashed doublet and drooping
* See Note [22],

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 151
feather of the Cavalier, the high-crowned hat and plain
cloak of the Roundhead became predominant,
All this appears very " drab colored" in the eyes of those
who love the romantic and the picturesque ; but in connec
tion with it, another change appeared, truly beautiful in
the eyes of those who supremely value the interests of
morality and religion. " The very enemies, of the new-
heads of colleges have confessed that they were severe in
the government of their several houses ; that they kept a
more than common watch over the morals of the students,
and obliged them to an exact compliance with their statutes.
The professors were indefatigable in instructing their pupils
both in public and private ; religion flourished more than
before ; drunkenness, oaths, and profanation of the Lord's
day were banished ; strict piety and a profession of religion
were in fashion ; the scholars often met for prayer and re
ligious conference ; so that, as Mr. Philip Henry, who lived
then in the University, observes, ' If those of the old spirit
and way were at first the better scholars, these were the
better men.' "*
A want of taste for the fine arts, for the beautiful and
the fair in artistic civilization, has often been charged on
the Puritans, and, it must be confessed, with justice to a
great extent. That generally they had not so much regard
for such matters as their opponents, must be admitted.
Undoubtedly very many of them were to be blamed for
their utter want of taste. Good men ! they did not seem
as if they could distinguish between art and its abuses ;
and because they saw it made subservient to superstition,
they were for destroying its most exquisite monuments.
Still, however, in this matter, as well as in others, the Pu
ritans have not been always fairly dealt with. The prin
ciples of their conduct are misunderstood. Facts are laid
* Neale's History, vol. iii. p. 473.

152 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
to their charge of which they were innocent. They are
all represented as savage Goths, demolishing what was
beautiful from want of power to appreciate its value. But
in some instances it was from no want of taste that they
destroyed market crosses, pulled down the carved work
in churches, spoiled the richly painted windows, and
marred the exquisite details of gothic architecture. They
looked on them simply as the symbols of superstition and
idolatry. Their feelings, in such respects, were akin to
those of the primitive Christians in reference to the remains
of classic genius, who saw in the temples of Rome the
nests of idolatry, and in whose eyes " they reeked with
impurity," and were on that account devoted to neglect or
destruction. And, farther, it is now acknowledged, even by those
who are strongly prejudiced against all that belongs to Pu
ritanism, that very exaggerated descriptions have come
down to us respecting the destruction of works of art du
ring the civil wars. " It is a common error," observes a
writer in the Archaeological Journal, " with ignorant per
sons, to ascribe most of the mischiefs from which churches
have suffered in the defacement of monuments, or the ab
straction of brasses, to the period of the Great Rebellion.
Scarce a parish-clerk is to be found who, in pointing out
some mutilated figure, or some slab robbed of its effigy,
does not lay the blame on Cromwell's soldiers. The Pu
ritan faction, who overthrew for a time altar and throne,
have sins enough to answer for without the addition of
those which belong to a later period."* In the ordinance
of parliament for the removal of Popish badges, an ex
press provision was introduced for the preservation of other
works of art, " provided that this ordinance shall not ex-
* Archaeological Journal, vol. ii. p. 244. See, also, Weever, Monu
mental Antiq. p. IS.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 153
tend to any image, picture, or coat-of-arms, in glass, stone,
ur otherwise, in any church, chapel, or churchyard, set up
or engraven for a monument of any king, prince, noble
man, or any other dead person, which has not been com
monly reputed or taken for a saint." And that the order,
even with this limitation, was not fully carried out, is ob
vious from the fact of so many statues and other monu
ments of Popery still remaining in places where the Par
liament had full sway. Very little indeed, in the way of
defacing the churches and other ecclesiastical buildings in
Oxford, seems to have been done by the new occupants of
the University. A paper is preserved in Peck's " Deside
rata Curiosa," written by a renegade Papist, who wished
to show his zeal in the cause of the Parliament by inform
ing them of the relics of superstition and Popery, of con
siderable value, which were still spared by the presidents
and fellows of Christ Church and Corpus Christi colleges.
And it appears from Evelyn's Diary, that, when he visited
Oxford in 1654, The University buildings which he went
to see had sustained but little injury. " Went to New
College, where the chapel was in its ancient garb, not
withstanding the scrupulosity of the time. Thence to
Christ Church ; the glass windows of the cathedral I found
much abused. Next we walked to Magdalen College,
where we saw the library and chapel, which was likewise
in pontifical order, the altar only I think turned tablewise ;
and there was still the double organ, which abominations,
as now esteemed, were almost universally abolished."
The colleges that escaped the injuries perpetrated by the
royal garrison, appear to have retained their integrity
throughout the period of the Commonwealth. The soldiers
of Charles did far more mischief there than any ofthe par
ties connected with Cromwell.
The quiet scenes of Puritan study were sometimes en-

154 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
livened by grand ceremonials, after the form and manner
of the olden times, the character of the actors only being
changed. On the 17th May, 1649, there was no small
bustle in the University. Heads of houses, professors,
and other members, were preparing for the arrival of some
distinguished visitors. Crowds gathered in the streets ;
the windows were filled with spectators ; for Fairfax and
Cromwell, with a staff of officers, were on their way to the
seat of learning to receive its honors. They were wel
comed with much rejoicing, and conducted to the apart
ments of the Warden of All Souls, where they were
magnificently entertained. The heads of houses waited
on them at their lodgings, and one of the fellows of the
college delivered to them a congratulatory speech, which
the Oxford historian pronounces a bad one, " but good
enough for the occasion." The hero of Naseby assured
the authorities of the University that he and his companions
were well aware no commonwealth could flourish without
learning, and that, whatever the world said to the contrary,
they meant to encourage it, and were so far from subtract
ing any of their means, that they purposed to add more.
On the 19th they dined with the president of Magdalen
College, and after the entertainment played bowls on the
college green. In the afternoon they were conducted to
the schools, and a convocation being held, the degree of
doctor of laws was conferred on Cromwell and Fairfax,
and that of master of arts on their principal officers. The
chieftains were robed in scarlet gowns in the vestry of the
Convocation House, and, with the exception of the hood
and square cap, which the Puritans scrupled to wear, and
_ the silver staves, which the beadles had not been able to
obtain from their predecessors in office, the appearance of
the procession to the upper end of the Convocation Hall
was as usual on such occasions. All the members stand-

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 155
ing bareheaded, Proctor Zauchy, in a most humble posture,
presented the guests to the Vice-Chancellor, and delivered
a short but flattering speech, " such as 'twas," adds An
thony Wood. The Vice-Chancellor addressed them in a
like flattering strain, and the two brave warriors, crowned
with their literary honors, sat down, one on each side of
the Vice-Chancellor's chair. Zauchy's speech is not re
corded ; but if an incident, like that which once occurred
when South was presenting a brave soldier for an honorary
degree, had taken place, the ready witticism of that cele
brated orator would have been most appropriate. " Prae-
sento vobis virum hunc bellicosissimum," commenced the
doctor, according to the usual form, when the warrior
suddenly turned round, " qui nunquam antea tergiversatus
est," added that eminent wit. Button, a fellow of Merton
College, concluded the public proceedings of the Convoca
tion by an oration, of which Wood can find nothing bad
to say but that it was not without sensible flattery, whence
we may infer that it was not without ability and learning.
The party then adjourned to the Public Library, where
they were entertained with a sumptuous banquet.
The visitors of the University proved the truth of Crom
well's remarks respecting the desire of the men then in
power to promote the interests of learning. Strict orders
were given for the diligent cultivation of literature, as well
as religion ; and it was enjoined, with a view to 'secure the
greatest familiarity with the learned languages, that either
Latin or Greek should be employed, at certain times, in
conversation by the fellows, scholars, and students.
On the death of the Earl of Pembroke, in January, 1650,
a convocation was held, when the members ofthe Univer
sity unanimously elected Oliver Cromwell to the office of
Chancellor. Warriors seem by no means the fittest per
sons for such an office, but Oxford still retains a partiality

156 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
for men of that class. The University has placed Wel
lington in the chair once occupied by Cromwell ; and many
of my readers will agree with Kohl, who says, " These
are the two most remarkable chancellors of Oxford I ever
heard of." Cromwell had something to recommend him
for the post beside his military renown and political power.
He was any thing but an illiterate and tasteless fanatic.
Waller, the poet, who was his kinsman, says he was very
well read in the Greek and Roman story, and Whitelocke
informs us that he was capable of holding a discourse in
Latin with the Swedish Ambassador. Cromwell was a
lover of the fine arts. He saved the painted windows of
King's College Chapel, Cambridge, from spoliation, care
fully preserved the Cartoons, and would permit no injury
to be done to those noble specimens of architecture, Hamp
ton Court and Windsor Castle. The man who employed
Milton to draw up his state-papers, and Simon to engrave
his coins, could not be destitute of taste. He was fond of
music : and when the organ of Magdalen College was, at
last, taken down, he ordered it to be conveyed to Hampton
Court, where he had it placed in the great gallery, and
was accustomed to soothe his mind amidst the cares of
politics by listening to the tones of that noble instrument.
Nor should it be forgotten, that Cromwell proved himself
a patron of literature. His well-known permission to
Walton to import paper for his noble Polyglott duty-free,
is an example. So is the following circumstance, men
tioned by Dibdin in his " Northern Tour."* " An invento
ry of sums contributed to the College Library at Glasgow
is preserved. The first leaf contains this memorandum :
'His Majesty's contribution was graciously granted at
Setoun, the I4th of July, in 1633. Charles R. It is our
gracious pleasure to grant for the advancement ofthe library
* Vol. ii. p. 713.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 157
and fabric of the College of Glasgow the sum of two hun
dred pounds sterling.' So much for the promise of Charles.
The performance was from the privy purse of the Protector
twenty-one years afterwards, and is thus denoted : ' This
sum was paid by the Lord Protector, A. D. 1654.' " It
should also be remembered, that the establishment of a
University at Durham, which has justly been regarded as
reflecting honor on the name of Van Mildert, who was
mainly instrumental in the accomplishment of the object
a few years ago, was contemplated by Oliver Cromwell
nearly two centuries since, and was actually carried into
effect, by writ of privy seal, dated May 1 5th, 1 657 ; but
the infant University speedily perished, owing to the death
ofthe Lord Protector so soon afterwards. After the elec
tion of Cromwell to the office of Chancellor of Oxford, he
sought to promote the literary welfare of the University.
He bestowed on the Public Library twenty-five ancient
MSS., of which the greater part were Greek, and he es
tablished a private divinity reader, with a. stipend of a
hundred pounds per annum.* But the best service he
rendered to the University was in the nomination of Dr.
John Owen, at that time Dean of Christ Church, to the
Vice-Chancellorship. Owen was an Independent, and therefore almost equally
unwelcome to Presbyterians and Episcopalians ; but his
eminent qualifications, as a man of learning, talent, pru
dence, firmness, and piety, enabled him to achieve much
for the good of the University, though the circumstances
in wliich he was placed rendered his position extremely
difficult. Owen had been a student at Oxford, but his Puritanism
and Independency excited a strong prejudice against him.
About the time that he took his Doctor's degree, some of
* Harris's Life of Cromwell, p. 428.

158 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
the leading men " did intend to battle him when he came
to dispute, thinking that as he had been so long time ab
sent from the University, he would be unready both in
speaking Latin and disputing. He was better prepared,
however, than they were aware of, and, keeping them to
the strict rules of disputation, he managed the whole exer
cise with such exactness as frustrated their expectations."*
During the period that Owen held the Vice-Chancellor
ship he devoted himself to the accomplishment of Univer
sity reforms, the promotion of the interests of sound learn
ing, and especially to the object of rendering the college
studies subservent to the efficient training of Chiristian
Ministers. He was anxious to abolish the use of unneces
sary oaths on taking office and other occasions ; to multi
ply public exercises for the improvement of the students ;
to prevent the gownsmen, in general, from living idle in
the University ; so to modify the public Act as to render
it an occasion for serious and useful discussions in philoso
phy ; and to abolish the custom of allowing the terra, filii,
as they were called, to indulge in personal satire and vul
gar abuse. He did not succeed in the accomplishment of
all his plans, in consequence of the strong opposition made
by parties in the University, who where prejudiced in fa
vour of things as they had been. Yet, even Wood, with
all his dislike to Owen and his associates, is compelled to
acknowledge that he achieved some real public reforma
tions. But the Oxford historian is sadly distressed at Owen's
irregular proceedings with regard to college habits. In
deed, this is the principal complaint which he could find
against the Vice-Chancellor's administration of college
affairs. He allowed the preachers and officers of the Uni-
» Old MS. Life of Owen, in the possession of Dr. Raffles, lt was
found among the papers of Rev. Geo. Whitfield.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 159
versity, as well as the students, to dress very much as
they pleased, and seems to have taken the same liberty
himself. " Instead of short hair, collar-band, and cassock
in the pulpit," Mr. Wood informs us, " we might have be
held long powdered hair, large bands, and half-shirts hang
ing out at their sleeves; and they themselves account
ing nothing more ridiculous than starch formality. As
for caps, square or round, none were worn publicly, only
in some colleges at refection or scholastic excercises.
Hoods were used but by few in the solemn meetings ; af
terwards by none but the Proctors, for the Vice-Chancel-
lor never used one, but ¦ sat with his hat on, ' and that
cockt.' Instead of being a grave example to the Univer
sity, he scorned all formality, — undervalued his office, by
going in quirpo, like a young scholar, with powdered hair,
snake-bone band-strings, (or band-strings with very large
tassels,) lawn band, a, large set of ribbons pointed at his
knees, and Spanish leather boots with large lawn tops, and
his hat mostly cocked." This representation brings Owen
before us in the costume of a Cavalier rather than a Pu
ritan ; and if at all correct, is certainly irreconcilable with
the pictures commonly drawn of the class of persons to
whom he belonged. A Roundhead thus attired looks a very
anomalous sort of being ; and the description leads us to
suspect, that let Owen have dressed as he might, he could
not have pleased Mr. Wood and the rest of his prejudiced
opponents. The poor Puritans have long been looked at
by a certain class of historians through colored specta
cles, — or to use the clever illustration of Grainger, the
perfomances of these gentlemen remind us of the paintings
of Brueghel, who so accustomed himself to paint witches
and imps, that if he tried to paint a man he was sure to
make him like a devil.
The state of the case, however, would seem to be, that

160 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
the Independents were by no means so precise in their
dress as their brethren of the Presbyterian order, for we
find Bastwick, one of the latter, in his book, bearing the
formidable title of " The Utter Routing of the Independ
ent Army," very strongly inveighing against the luxu
rious costume in which these sectaries were accustomed
to attire themselves. " You shall find them the only gal
lants in the world ; with cuffs, and those great ones, at
Iheir very heels, and with more silver and gold upon their
clothes and at their heels, (for these upstarts must have
silver spurs,) than many great and honorable personages
have in their purses." Grainger interprets Wood's lu
dicrous description of Owen as amounting to no more
than a proof that the Vice-Chancellor dressed like a gen
tleman — an interpretation in which, perhaps, most of my
leaders will agree. But it is utterly impossible to con
ceive of him as having been any thing of the dandy. No
man was ever removed farther from all that is finical.
Owen had not a very easy time of it at Oxford, for the
work of a reformer, especially in such a place, is a work
of difficulty ; and such was Owen's work during the
whole of his Vice-Chancellorship. He was intent on ef
fecting substantial reforms, promoting the interests of
sound learning, elevating the moral character of the stu
dents, and encouraging the cultivation of evangelical
piety. In doing this he did not heed the forms and usages
of former days sufficiently to please the admirers of the
old system. Hence he met with much opposition, and
was charged sometimes by those who did not understand
him with tolerating, if not countenancing, illiteracy and
confusion. But his work at Oxford was, in truth, a brave
and steady campaign against real abuses. He fought
for true learning against pretended learning — real order
against sham order. It was a battle between truth and

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. • 161
semblances — between power and form — between life it
self and a mere name to live.
Dr. Owen was Dean of Christ Church, the most mag
nificent of all the Oxford foundations, and a fitting memo
rial of the stately Churchmanship of its founder, Cardinal
Wolsey. Within the handsome apartments appropriated
to the Dean the Doctor resided during his continuance in
Oxford, and there pursued those theological studies, and
wrote some of those profound and learned works, which
have immortalized his name as a chief among the Divines
of England. Whatever may be the estimate formed of
him by the subsequent inmates of that noble college, or
however his honored name may have been treated by them
with neglect, it is certainly not least among the distinctions
it enjoys, that it includes in its list of Deans such a man
as John Owen. Nor can it be denied that rarely, if ever,
Christ Church flourished in sounder learning, exhibited
more of order, and produced more hopeful and illustrious
sons, than in the days when our Puritan Doctor, whether
in hood or " cocked hat," with " snake band-strings, and
lawn-topped boots," or more academic attire, presided in
her hall, or rambled through her beautiful gardens.
" Among the students he acted as a father ; while he dis
countenanced and punished the vicious, he encouraged
and rewarded the modest and the indigent. He was hos
pitable in his own house, generous to poor scholars, some
of whom he took into his family, and others he assisted
by presents of money."* The following anecdote sup
plies an illustration of the last remark : " Once, in Lent,
he goes into the schools to hear tlie scholars disputing for
their degrees ; he takes special notice of one of Queen's,
who was then but poor, but since hath made a consider
able figure in the world, who, disputing with great ability,
» Orme's Life of Owen, p. 143.
14*

162 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
discovered the accuracy of his parts. The Doctor was
mightily pleased with him, asked him who he was, and,
understanding his circumstances, gave him 40s. to en
courage him in his studies ; and this gentleman did ever
after acknowledge the Doctor's kindness to him at that
time."* Among the Canons of Christ Church was that distin
guished scholar, Ralph Button, who, on his being elected
to the fellowship of Merton College, in 1633, entirely by his
own merit, won from Dr. Prideaux, the Rector of Exeter
College, the witty compliment, that " all who were elected
beside him were not worth a Button." And among the
gownsmen who in those days paced the solemn quadran
gle, and loitered in the bright green meadows of Christ
Church, were some as notable characters as Oxford has
ever seen. That pale, delicate, studious young man, who
has just taken his Bachelor's degree, is destined to carry
his penetrating genius into the realms of metaphysics, and
to place himself, beyond all reasonable question, at the
head of English philosophers ; and with convincing power
and manly eloquence he will expound those principles of
toleration, for the maintenance of which the head of his
college has had to fight many a battle. Yonder quiet,
sedate youth, just issuing from his college-chambers,
musing much as he walks along, is to be the founder of a
new state in the far-off regions of the West, whose peace
ful government, whose repudiation of war in every form,
will stamp his empire with an unprecedented character,
and render the country of his adoption and his rule unique
in the history of the world. And the hearty-looking
gownsman, with a keen but not very good-humored ex
pression, who has now passed under the college-gateway,
is a person whose talents, wit, and manly eloquence, will
* MS. Life of Owen, in the possession of Dr. Raffles.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 163
render him one of the cleverest, if not one of the best,
preachers of the Church of England. The reader will
recognize these men as Locke, Penn, and South. They
were all three students at Christ Church in Owen's lime.
Each of them was distinguished, though in a manner very
different from the rest, by great ability. It would have
been more honorable to the last of these remarkable indi
viduals if his brilliant wit had not been animated by bigotry
and malevolence : but as early as the period of his taking
a Bachelor's degree, in 1651, when, among the Christ
Church men, he was engaged to perform some public ex
ercise in its far-famed spacious hall, he prepared a speech,
in which he employed all his powers severely to lash the
sectaries of his house and the University. When, how
ever, a. large concourse were assembled to hear the young
orator, he was thoroughly humbled in their presence by
sticking fast in the midst of his oration, and being com
pelled abruptly to give up the attempt. This humiliation
for a while, it seems, had a salutary effect upon Master
South, and he behaved so as to commend himself to the
good opinion of Dr. Owen ; but when the times changed,
his bile rose with redoubled violence against the Sec
taries, and he most unmercifully abused the very man
whose patronage he had sought and enjoyed, calling him
the Coryphaeus of the Independent faction.* Another
distinguished man, but a far different character from
South, was at the same time one of the Commoners at
Christ Church. This was Philip Henry, the father of the
well-known Commentator, and a man distinguished by his
ability and learning, but still more by the elevated tone
of his piety, which his son has so beautifully described in
his matchless memoir.
Other colleges besides Christ Church were honored by
* South's Sermons, vol. v. p. 48. Wood's Athen. vol. ii. p. 1042.

164 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
the presence of very remarkable men during these days of
Puritan ascendency. Crossing from Christ Church walk,
over fhe meadows, we reach the old gray tower of Magda
len, throwing its tall and stately shadow over the classic
stream that flows at its foot. There was presiding over the
college at that time, the learned and pious Dr. Thomas
Goodwin, already referred to as one of the Divines at
Westminster. The report of his deep seriousness, per
verted by the wits of succeeding times, gave rise to absurd
tales respecting the President of Magdalen College ; and
it is to him, no doubt, that allusion is made in the Spectator,
No. 494, where we have an account of a young man led
through a darkened gallery, at noon, into a room hung with
mourning, and illumined by a dim taper, where the Head
of the College, with half-a-dozen night-caps on, issues from
an inner room, with religious horror on his countenance,
to catechize the young matriculatist with questions about
progress, not in learning, but in grace. The deep and
earnest piety of these men was little understood by the
frothy spirits of the next generation ; and if in some cases
it was tinged with an air of sadness we can hardly won
der at it, when considering the troubled times in which
they lived, and the painful trials through which they had
passed. Goodwin is described by Wood as one of the At
lases and Patriarchs of Independency ; and as he was at
tached to the principles of ecclesiastical polity, known by
that designation, he formed, in accordance with those prin
ciples, a church in his own college. Theophilus Gale, a
Fellow of Magdalen, of whose deep and extensive learn
ing " the Court of the Gentiles," is a noble monument ;
Stephen Charnock, the masterly author of the work on
the " Divine Attributes," at that time a Fellow of New
College, and Senior Proctor of the University ; and Thank
ful Owen, a man of polite learning, and President of St.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 165
John's, were among the members of Dr. Goodwin's church.
One truly illustrious individual, who was at tho time Fel
low of Magdalen, and who became a fellow-worshipper
and communicant with that memorable little community,
deserves especial notice. See him there pacing the lovely
walk by the river-side, skirting the boundary of tlie college
garden, — his form and countenance the very image of his
uncommon mind. It may be said of him, as Gregory Nys-
sen said of Basil, that " his face is attuned to harmony
with the soul ;" and, as he said himself of a friend, " he is
wrought ' luto meliore,' of better or more accurately fig
ured and finer turned clay."* " There is that in his looks
and carriage," observes one who well knows him, " which
discovers that he has something within that is uncommonly
great, and tends to excite veneration." A rare combina
tion of dignity and sweetness marks both the outward and
the inward man. Seldom has the world seen a more fin
ished specimen of humanity, both in its physical and intel
lectual aspect. His mind is not so remarkable for the pos
session of any one particular faculty, as for the union and
harmony of his mental endowments, reminding us of a
statue, in which no one limb or feature strikes us so much
as the perfect symmetry of the whole ; or of a beam of
pure light, in ..which the prismatic colors melt into a flood
of candid radiance. This highly-gifted man has cultivated
his powers by the diligent acquisition of various learning ;
and, what is of more importance, has consecrated them to
the service of his Maker. He has but just left his study,
where volumes of the Schoolmen and Reformers, the
Fathers, and the old philosophers, especially Plato, are his
cherished companions, with the last of whom he com
munes in the fellowship of a kindred mind. And as he
treads the river banks, and looks on the heavens, and the
* Rogers' Life of Howe.

166 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
earth, the trees and flowers, his sanctified imagination sees
in such objects a thousand beautiful mementos of the love
and care, the power and wisdom, of that infinite Spirit,
whose presence pervades all nature. By prayer, and med
itation, " delighting in God," through the experience of the
pleasures of elevated piety, tasting the " blessedness of the
righteous," — that extraordinary young man is " a living
temple" to the praise of his Creator and Redeemer. The
great John Howe, for every reader who has any acquaint
ance with his hfe and writings will recognize him in the
person we have in view, was a Fellow of Magdalen during
Goodwin's presidency. There, after having been at Cam
bridge for a short time, he pursued his philosophical and
theological studies, devoting, himself much to the study of
the Scriptures, from which pure source he formed for him
self a system of divinity, uninfluenced as much as possible
by the views of others. It will surely constitute to all
who are acquainted with his invaluable writings, one of
the most beautiful associations with the college buildings
and grounds of Magdalen, to remember that there, in all
probability, were originated some of those trains of origi
nal and profound thought, — that there were kindled some
of those devout sentiments, — that there were suggested
some of those sublime illustrations, — and that there were
coined some of those felicitous expressions, (amidst a style
remarkable for its negligence,) which have raised the
works of John Howe to the highest rank in English theo
logical literature. As Howe had, while at Oxford, a rep
utation for piety, and for a general accordance with the sen
timents of Independency, as well as uncommon talents and
learning, it was natural that Goodwin should wish to
number him among the members of the Church formed at
Magdalen ; and, therefore, he took an opportunity of
speaking to him one day on the subject. Howe frankly in-

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 167
formed him that the reason why he had not already united
himself to them was, that he understood " they laid a
great stress upon some peculiarities for which he had no
fondness, though he could give others their liberty without
any unkind thoughts of them ; but that if they would ad
mit him into their society upon catholic terms, he would
readily become one of them." Goodwin affectionately em
braced his worthy young friend, and told him he would do
this with all his heart, and that he knew it would be much
to the satisfaction and edification of the rest. Howe was
accordingly enrolled among their number. The transac
tion reflected credit upon both parties. It indicated the
conscientiousness of Howe, the catholicity of Goodwin, and
the scriptural principles which guided both ; and it showed
that the Congregational Church, which in those days met
within the walls of Magdalen College, adhered to the law
laid down in the fourteenth chapter of Romans, a law
which has never been repealed, though so commonly dis
regarded by the Churches of Christendom. " The king
dom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost : for he that in these
things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved
of men. Let us, therefore, follow after the things wliich
make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify an
other." In those days Dr. Greenwood was president of Brazen-
nose. According to Neale, he was a profound scholar
and divine ; and according to Wood, a severe and good
governor. Dr. John Conant was rector of Exeter, of
whom Prideaux observed, " Conanti nihil difficile." The
College, we are informed by his biographer, " flourished
so much under his government, that the students were
many more than could be lodged within the walls. In
his time it afforded a vice-chancellor, a proctor, a doctor

168 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
of the chair in divinity, a moral philosophy and rhetoric
reader to the University, a. president of St. John's, a> prin
cipal to Jesus, and a divinity professor to Magdalen Col
lege. Not to mention such as were transplanted thence
to scholarships and fellowships in other colleges, many of
whom were men of eminency afterwards." Dr. Robert
Harris was president of Trinity, a man profoundly skilled
in Hebrew, and well versed in chronology, Church his
tory, the Councils, and Fathers. He gained the affections
of his students, who revered him as a father, because he
treated them as sons. Though he was stigmatized by his
enemies as a pluralist, the writer of his life affirms that
whatever benefices might be conferred on him, he never
reaped the profits of any. Dr. Staunton was president of
Corpus ; a person equally noted for his attainments in lit
erature and religion, and so intimately acquainted with
the Scriptures, that he had the character of being a walk
ing concordance. Hs set up a Divinity lecture in the col
lege chapel, preached himself once or twice on the Lord's
day, catechized the juniors every Saturday, and had a
weekly meeting in his own rooms for prayer and religious
-conversation. By his prudent government and pious exam
ple, religion and learning remarkably flourished in this
college, and many who were educated under his care, be
came learned, pious, and useful men, among whom was
Joseph Alleine, the well-known author of the " Call to
the Unconverted."* •
University College was under the headship of Dr.
Joshua Hoyle, a person of recluse habits, who if but little
acquainted with men and things, had a large and intimate
acquaintance with books. Previously to his residence in
Oxford he had been divinity professor in Dublin, where he
spent more than fifteen years in the study of the Popish
* Palmer, Noncon. Memorial, vol. i. p. 176.

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 169
controversy, and in answering the works of Bellarmine ;
and devoted about the same space of time to the expo
sition of the Bible, ordinarily taking one verse a-day.
Though a recluse, he was no idler; for in addition to
these learned labors, he expounded publicly thrice every
Sabbath, through the greater part of the year ; once
every holyday, and sometimes twice. Dr. Henry Wilkin
son, commonly styled Dean Harry, was president of Mag
dalen Hall. The Royalists at the Restoration were par
ticularly anxious to retain his services ; but he conscien
tiously refused to conform. His social virtues are recorded
by Wood, and they must have been eminent indeed for
him to canonize them. " He was courteous in speech
and carriage, communicative of his knowledge, generous,
charitable to the poor, and so public-spirited that he al
ways minded the common good more than his own private
concerns."* The warden of Wadham was Dr. John Wilkins, who, in
1656, married Oliver Cromwell's sister, and was promoted
to the mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge, whence
he was raised, after the Restoration, to the bishopric of
Chester. Almost equally eminent, as a theologian, a
critic, a preacher, and a mathematician, he reflected upon
his college no small honor, and has associated his name,
and the place of which he was warden, with the infant
history of the most distinguished learned association of
which England boasts. Within the large room, over the
old gateway of Wadham, met some of the philosophers
and scholars — the invisibles, as Boyle called them — the
virtuosi, as they termed themselves — who were after
wards incorporated under the title of the Royal Society.
Ward and Wallis, the first mathematicians of their age ;
Bathurat. Willis, Petty, and afterwards Boyle, names also
* Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 186.
15

170 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
well known to science, were of the party who assembled
in that memorable apartment. Putting aside political and
theological topics of debate, by which the kingdom had
been divided and convulsed, these peaceful sons of sci
ence agreed to discourse of the circulation of the blood,
fhe valves of the veins, the lymphatic vessels, tlie Coper-
nican hypothesis, and a number of other scientific sub
jects. Some politicians, warriors, and perhaps contro
versial divines, of that day, might look with contempt
upon this little band of quiet philosophers ; yet they were,
in a very high degree, promoting the interests of man
kind, while gratifying their own intellectual taste ; and
who is there but must acknowledge there is something
extremely beautiful in this amicable gathering of kindred
minds, whether attached to King or Parliament, to Puri
tanism or Prelacy ? Amidst the storms of civil war, and
of theological strife, one loves in thought to search out
these nooks in old England, where the contemplative, in
sequestered tranquillity, carried on their pursuits ; to think
of Izaak Walton, with his rod and line, on the banks of
the Lea or the Dove ; to visit Sir Thomas Browne, in his
study at Norwich, exploding a long list of vulgar errors;
and then to turn in at the gateway of Wadham, to ascend
the chamber above it, and survey the learned conclave
who formed the nucleus of the Royal Society.
There were other heads of houses, at the time, who
were distinguished as men of high character and sound
learning ; such were Dr. Langbain, provost of Queen's ;
Dr. Hakewell, rector of Exeter ; and Sir Nathaniel Brent,
warden of Merton.
Oxford was also rich in professors. Pocock, the cele
brated oriental scholar, retained the Hebrew and Arabic
chair throughout the Commonwealth; Seth Ward, the
great astronomer as well as mathematician, lectured on

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 171
his favorite science ; Wallis was Savillicin professor of
geometry ; Lewis de Moulin, the son of a French Prot-'
estant, a man of acuteness and learning, was Camden
professor of history ; Harmer, a Latin poet, and one of
the best Grecians of his time, was Greek professor ; and
Dr. Henry Wilkinson, according to Wood, a good scholar,
a, close student, and an excellent preacher, was Margaret
professor of divinity.
And besides these masters and professors, many a re
markable man might then be found within the precincts
of the University. Stepping into the noble Bodleian Li
brary, you see there, in the office of second keeper, Henry
Stubbe, one of the most noted persons of his age. He
pores over books of all kinds, the contents of which he re
tains in his prodigious memory ; he is at home in ecclesi
astical and profane history, and equally so in mathematical
studies. He speaks Greek and Latin with ease ; and can
unfold to you the mysteries of anatomy, chemistry, and
medicine. He has -a. voluble tongue, and can run down
his adversaries in the public school, or in private conver
sation. He is equally dexterous with his pen, and writes
so as " none can equal, answer, or come near him." That
head of carroty hair presents an emblem of the hot and
restless brain it covers, whose everlasting activity has
worn down his poor body to a skeleton. He is a perfect
Ishmael, quarrelling with every-body, and when that fails,
ready to quarrel with himself, like the sword of Hudibras,
" That ate into itself for lack
Of somebody to hew and hack."
Stange that this being, one of the cleverest and most ac
complished of mortals, should not have been tamed by the
remarkable adversities ofhis youth ; by the cuffs and kicks
from his fellow-students which his quarrelsome disposition

172 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
procured for him ; nor by a memorable whipping, to boot,
which, for his impudence, he once received in the public
refectory of Christ Church*. Yonder, in one of the re
cesses of the library, poring over old coins, sits a far differ
ent character, who has come down to Oxford to make a
catalogue of the fine numismatic collection given to the
Bodleian by Archbishop Laud. 'Tis no other than wor
thy Elias Ashmole, the high-priest of astrology, and the
prince of antiquaries.
Among the gownsmen whom you might have passed
in the streets in those days, there were not a few young
scholars and divines rising into distinction, whose names
were ere long to command respect in the republic of let
ters, or to occupy attention in Church or State. Wadham
could boast of Sprat, afterwards bishop of Rochester ;
Queen's, of Compton, bishop of Oxford ; Lincoln, of
Crewe, bishop of Durham ; Magdalen, of Cumberland,
bishop of Peterborough; Cartwright, bishop of Chester;
and Hopkins, bishop of Raphoe and Derry : Hart Hall,
of Bishop Ken, and Corpus Christi of Bishop Jowler ; not
to mention other prelates, who were then among the
alumni of the University. Sir Christopher Wren, at that
time a prodigy of youthful genius ;f Dr. Whitby, the fierce
but talented anti-Calvinist ; Matthew Poole, the great com
mentator, and our old friend Anthony Wood, the antiqua
ry and historian, were also, during the period of the Pu
ritan ascendency, educated at Oxford. If the state of a
University is to be estimated by the subsequent eminence
of the men whom it trains up, then, judged of by this test,
as well as by that of the character of the masters and
professors, who for the time being regulated its affairs,
» Anth. Wood, vol. ii. p. 562.
t "July 10, 1654. Oxford.— After dinner visited that miracle of a
youth, Christopher Wren. — Evelyn's Memoirs

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 173
and taught in its schools, and also by the general reputa
tion which it bore for order, piety and learning, — assured
ly, Oxford may be said to have enjoyed some of its palmi
est days under the vice-chancellorship of Owen and the
protectorate of Oliver.
The inmates of the University were, at the time, by no
means insensible to their advantages, and were neither
slow nor lukewarm in acknowledging their obligations to
the latter of these extraordinary men. No addresses that
Oxford ever presented to a sovereign could be more deeply
charged with expressions of gratitude, and ingenious com
pliments, than the addresses which it now laid at the feet
of the Lord Protector. Some curious specimens of these
productions are preserved in a little volume entitled " Mu-
sarum Oxoniensium E$AIOAOPIA." They were written
to celebrate the peace which Oliver Cromwell concluded
with the Dutch in 1654, and abound in panegyrics on his
valor, policy, and patronage of letters. Owen takes the
lead on the occasion, and, for once in his life, invokes the
muse ; Zouch, Harmer, Bathurst, Busby, Locke, Philip
Henry, and others, take up the theme, in Greek, Latin, or
English verse. But what is most remarkable, Dr. South
figures in the volume among the most glowing eulogists
of the " great usurper." Thirty years afterwards, this
candid and amiable man could exclaim, when preaching in
Westminster Abbey, — " And who that had beheld such a
bankrupt, beggarly fellow as Cromwell, first entering the
parliament-house with a threadbare torn cloak, and a
greasy hat (and perhaps neither of them paid for), could
have expected that in the space of so few years he should,
by the murder of one king and the banishment of another,
ascend the throne, be invested in the royal robes, and want
nothing of the state of a king but the changing of his hat
into a crown." 15*

174 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
But when Cromwell was Protector of England and
Chancellor of the University, South could sing—
" Great ruler of the land and sea profound,
Thy praise the elements conspire to sound ;
Thy genius deeper than the mighty deep,
Thy fame spreads wider than the billows sweep.
If thou ascend thy chariot, either pole
Bears up the wheels which still triumphant roll.
Thy martial scabbard, hanging by thy side,
Ensheaths thy country's power, and life, and pride.
'Tis thine alone to rule the raging main,
And bind proud Neptune in thy sovereign chain.
Thou bravest conqueror, with triumphant hand
Scatt'rest thy trophies over sea and land.
In gentlest, noblest deeds, thy days abound,
The peaceful olive binds thy honors round.
Batavia's realm, rejoicing in thy smile,
Now shares the friendship of our British Isle ;
That Isle, encircled by its ocean guard,
And by the victories of thy peerless sword."*
In the year 1657, Oliver Cromwell resigned the Chan
cellorship of Oxford, upon which his son Richard was
elected his successor. This - led to the resignation of
Owen, who was succeeded by Dr. Conant. On retiring
from office he could, with some satisfaction, review his
labors in the University. "A large number have been
matriculated ; twenty-six admitted to the degree of Doctor ;
three hundred and thirty-seven to the degree of M.A. ; six
hundred and ninety-seven to that of B.A. Professors'
salaries lost for many years have been recovered and
paid ; some offices of respectability have been maintained ;
the rights and privileges of the University have been de
fended against all the efforts of its enemies ; the treasury
is tenfold increased ; many of every rank in the University
have been promoted to various honors and benefices ; new
exercises have been introduced and established ; old ones
* See Note [23].

OXFCRD UNDER OWEN. 175
have been duly performed ; reformation of manners has
been diligently studied, in spite of the grumbling of cer
tain, profligate brawlers : labors have been numberless :
besides submitting to the most enormous expense, often
when brought to the brink of death, on your account, I
have hated these limbs, and this feeble body which was
ready to desert my mind ; the reproaches of the vulgar
have been disregarded, the envy of others has been over
come. I congratulate myself in a successor who can re
lieve me of this burden, and you in one who is able com
pletely to repair any injury which your affairs may have
suffered through our inattention. But as I know not
whither the thread of my discourse might lead me, I here
cut it short. I seek again my old labors, my usual watch-
ings, my interrupted studies : as for you, gentlemen of the
University, may you be happy, and fare you well."*
Such was the state of Oxford during the Common
wealth ; and now let the reader decide whether it be just
to speak of the leaders of the predominant party in Church
and State as ignorant enthusiasts, and the enemies of
learning. It is common to represent Puritanism as a grovelling
spirit, which crushed the seeds of genius and literature.
So far as genius was occupied in the investigation of re
hgious and political principles, and so far as literature
was employed in diffusing their results, it is very unfair
to charge Puritanism with being at all the enemy of either.
As it was seen in the doings of tlie leading men at Ox
ford, it appeared as the friend of both. It animated many
of them to an intense study of divinity, with such an ap
plication of the aids of philology, criticism, the fathers,
schoolmen, and modern writers, as might well shame
numbers of the theologians of later times. The works
* Orme's Life of Owen, p. 151.

176 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
which some of the leading Puritans produced about that
time are monuments of their talents and attainments, as
well as of their piety. Baxter, Owen, Howe, Charnock,
and others, for depth of thought, compass of intelligence,
and occasional power and even felicity of expression, will
bear comparison with the most boasted names among the
Anglican divines of that century. Their fault, and indeed
their only fault, from which even their High-Church ri
vals were not free, was a neglect of artistic culture, a
slovenliness of style and arrangement. Certainly they did
not value the graces of literature, but this, they pleaded —
and there was truth in the plea — was because their souls
were so earnestly occupied about the great realities with
which their literature was conversant. " In my opinion,"
said Owen, and Baxter and Howe would have echoed the
sentiment, " he who in a theological contest should please
himself with a display of rhetorical flourishes would derive
no further advantage from it, but that his head, adorned
with magnificent garlands and pellets, will fall a richer
victim to the strokes of the learned."
As a class, the Puritans can by no means be "said to
have cultivated the forms of poetry ; yet were they poets
in spite of themselves. They scorned the tales of ro
mance, but their imagination was pictured over with the
facts of Scripture. They little cared for Olympus and the
haunts of the Muses, but they daily visited the Hill of
Zion, and talked with Prophets and Apostles. They fre
quented not the scenes of classic story, but they were fa
miliar with scenes more exquisitely beautiful, more aw
fully sublime. Homer, Pindar, and Virgil, perhaps they
might not often study, but Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel
were poets whose rich and divine utterances were known
to them as household words. The theatre they abhorred ;
their just condemnation of its impure accessories preju-

OXFORD UNDER OWEN. 177
diced them against the richest creations of the dramatic
Muse, but they themselves trod an infinitely nobler stage
in the presence of " a great cloud of witnesses." They
felt that they were a spectacle to the world, to angels, and
to men. Others have written wonderful dramas — they
acted one more wonderful than was ever written. They
lived in another world, and there they walked by faith in
that highest realm of poetry. " Truly their lives were a
great Epic." Nor did that soul of poetry which dwelt
within them fail to express itself in their writings and con
versation. There are multitudes of passages in their
books to which, perhaps, some critics would point as teem
ing with enthusiasm, which are, in fact, redolent with the
genuine spirit of poetry; and their ordinary speech, so
often ridiculed, would sometimes glitter with scriptural
allusions instinct with poetic fire.
As to the lower classes among the Puritans, they were,
to say the least, as intelligent as their compeers on the
other side. If they were ignorant of elegant literature,
they knew something about the Bible, and the writings
and sayings of popular divines ; — knowledge which, even
in a literary point of view, it seems a desecration to com
pare with the loose songs and scraps of ribald wit which
formed the staple of Cavalier learning among the lower
orders. But, after all, did Puritanism altogether lack sons who
walked in the paths of polite literature, and in the regions
of poetry, commonly so called ? Were not Harrington
and Marvel Puritans and Common wealthsmen ? Did
they not meet with other wits and poets of the day in true
literary conclave at the Turk's Head in Palace-yard, to
speculate on the profouudest themes, or playfully to chat
together in conversation seasoned with a salt as pungent
as any Attic wit ? And have they not written works of

178 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
literary renown, which all parties since have conspired to
praise ? Was not Milton a Puritan ? Does not his name
stand far above every other poet since the days of Shak
speare ? For the solitary grandeur of his genius, and
for all its wayward aberrations, too, may he not be likened
to his own — " Wandering moon,
Riding near her highest noon,
Like one that hath been led astray,
Through the Heaven's wide pathless way 1"
Was not Waller~of the Puritan school, though some
parts of his history disgrace alike that name and the poetic
talent with which it was associated ? Nor should George
Withers, a poefc who, after long oblivion, is now rising
into merited notice and admiration, be forgotten here.
Did not he imbibe most enthusiastically the principles of
Puritanism, and yet retain, though he overtasked with
labor, that sweet muse, whose praises he thus exquisitely
sang in the days of his youth ?
" By the murmur of a spring,
Or the least bough's rusteling,
By a daisy, whose leaves spread,
Shut when Titan goes to bed ;
Or a shady bush or tree-
She could more infuse in me,
Than all nature's beauties can
In some other wiser man."
Truly, these Puritans were not altogether unpoetical !
But we are wandering far from Oxford, though not from
the haunts of the Muses.
Owen left the University — Cromwell died — Puritanism
declined — the Restoration came — and the old party in Ox
ford regained the ascendant. And let their own partial
historian record the result. " The hope of this," the Res
toration, " made the scholars talk loud, drink healths, and

OXFORD UNDER OWEN.

179

curse Meroz in the very streets ; insomuch that when the
King came in, nay, when the King was but voted in, they
were not only like them that dream, but like them who
are out of their wits ; mad, stark-staring mad : to study
was fanatical ; to be moderate was downright rebellion ;
and thus it continued for a twelvemonth," — and longer
too, it would seem, if we are to believe what Neale says
under the year 1669. After describing the notorious
profligacy of Charles the Second's court, he observes,
" The University was no less corrupt ; there was a gen
eral licentiousnes of manners among the students ; the
sermons of the younger divines were filled with enco
miums upon the Church and satire against the Noncon
formists ; the evangelical doctrines of repentance, faith,
charity, and practical religion were out of fashion. The
speeches and panegyrics pronounced by the orators and
terras filius on public occasions were scurrilous, and little
less than blasphemous." This general statement the his
torian supports by supplying the copy of a letter from Mr.
John Wallis to the Hon. Robert Boyle, dated Oxford,
July 17, 1669, from which the following passages are
extracted :— " Friday, July 9, was the dedication of our
new theatre. In the morning was held a convocation in
it for entering upon the possession of it, wherein was read
first the Archbishop's instrument of donation, sealed with
his episcopal seal, of the theatre, with all its furniture, to
the end that St. Mary's Church may not be further pro
faned by holding the Act in it ; next a letter of his, de
claring his intention to lay out 2,0002. for a purchase to
endow it ; then a letter of thanks to be sent to the Uni
versity to him, wherein he is acknowledged to be both our
Creator and Redeemer, for having not only built a theatre
for the Act, but, which is more, delivered the blessed Vir
gin from being so profaned for the future. — After the

180 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
voting of this letter, Dr. South, as University orator,
made a long oration ; the first part of which consisted of
satirical invectives against Cromwell, fanatics, the Royal
Society, and new philosophy. The next, of encomiastics
in praise of the Archbishop, the theatre, the Vice-Chan-
cellor, the architect, and the painter. The last, of exe
crations against fanatics, conventicles, comprehension,
and new philosophy, damning them ad inferos ad Gehen-
nam. The terra filii for bothdays were abominably scur
rilous, and so suffered to proceed without the least check
or interruption from Vice-Chancellor, pro-Vice-Chancel
lors, Proctors, Curators, or any of those who were
to govern the exercises. During this solemnity, and for
some days before and since, have been constantly acted
by the Vice-Chancellor's allowance, two stage plays in a
day, by those of the Duke of York's house, at a theatre
erected for that purpose at the Town Hall, which, for
aught I hear, was much the more innocent theatre of the
two." All this certainly exhibits a very different state of
things from what prevailed during the commonwealth.
Some will think drab-colored Puritanism was to be pre
ferred to scarlet-colored profligacy.*
* See the whole letter in Neale's History of the Puritans, vol. iv. p.
423.

CHAPTER VIII.

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES.

"To attend to the neglected and to remember the forgotten.". — Burke.

In a curious tract, entitled "Nashe's Lenten Stuff,
concerning the description and first procreation and in
crease of the town of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk," the
author celebrates the praises of that ancient seaport in
the most glowing terms. " I have not travelled far," he
observes, " though conferred with furtherst travellers from
our own realms ; I have turned over Venerable Bede, and
plenteous bead-rolls of friary annals following on the back
of him ; Polydore Virgil, Buchanan, Camden's Britannia,
and most records of friends or enemies, I have searched
as concerning the late model of it ; none of the inland
parts of it but I have treated them as frequently as the
middle walk of St. Paul's, or my way to bed every night ;
yet, for aught I have read, heard, or seen, Yarmouth, regal
Yarmouth, of all maritime towns, that are no more but
fisher towns, solely reigneth sans peer. Not anywhere is
the word severelier practised, the preacher reverentlier
observed and honoured, justice soundlier ministered, and a
warlike people peaceablier demeanoured, between this and
the Grand Cathay, and the strand of prester John." .And
in another part of this singular production the writer re-
16

182 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
marks, that " the city of Norwich fares never the worse
for her, nor would fare so well, if it were not for the fish
of all sorts that she cloyeth her with, and the fellowship
of their haven, into which their three rivers infuse them
selves, and through which their goods and merchandise from
beyond seas are keeled up, with small cost, to their'very
threshholds, and so many good towns on this side and be
yond."* Such was the manner in which this eccentric
writer described the Yarmouth of the sixteenth century,
and referred to the commercial interests which bound up
the city of Norwich in amicable relations with her neighbor
by the sea. To many of the inhabitants of the town, fifty
years after, Nashe's.laudation touching the practice of the
word, and the reverence paid to the preacher, may be
applied with still greater propriety ; while as it regards
the connection of Yarmouth with the city of Norwich, cir
cumstances had arisen to cement a friendship between
them, more cordial and hallowed than any mercantile
relations could have produced. Yarmouth was the first
town in Norfolk in which a Church was formed in the
Congregational way. The Church at Norwich was an
offshoot from this ; and the communities of faithful and
devout men, gathered in the two places upon that principle,
seem to have been as remarkable for the eminence of
their piety as for the priority of their origin among the
Churches of the county, in point of time. The records
preserved in their Church Books are singularly ample and
interesting, fully explaining their " first procreation and
increase," — to use old Neshe's phrase, — affording many
picturesque illustrations of the proceedings of these wor
thies, together with some beautiful views of their Christian
piety. They will supply materials for the present Chapter.
The Yarmouth Church Books begin by stating that cer-
* Harleian Miscellany, vol. ii. pp. 301, 302.

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 183
tain persons had been driven by persecution into Holland,
and had formed themselves into a Church at Rotterdam ;
among whom was the famous Mr. Bridge,* whom the
people chose as " an officer of the Church." It is then
remarked that at the commencement of the sittings of the
Long Parliament, divers of them returned to England ;
some of whom had previously lived in Norwich and Yar-
mouth._ Restored to their own country, these persons
wished to be united together in ecclesiastical fellowship,
as they had been abroad.
The ingathering of a Church was regarded in those days
as a matter ofthe most solemn kind, calling for prayerful
deliberation, and very many were the meetings which the
brethren at Yarmouth held " to seek God, and advise to
gether." And that they might proceed " decently and in
order," and preserve, not a formal and fictitious, but a spir
itual and true succession of Christian Churches, they
wrote to their brethren in Rotterdam for their assent ; and
received in reply a beautiful epistle, approving of their de
termination to incorporate themselves, and affectionately
" commending them to the sweet guidance of the Spirit of
Christ, with earnest desires and prayers that truth and peace
may be their portion." The members dismissed from the
Church at Rotterdam by this primitive document, resided
some in Yarmouth and some in Norwich ; and as they at
first wished to form but one Church, it became an anx
ious question where it should be settled. Numerous
and earnest were the consultations respecting " the lib
erty and hope of increase" offered respectively by the
two places ; but they found it a difficult business, as
they acknowledged, to see their way clear as to which of
them " they should pitch upon." — And well they might ;
for both of them at that time were in a most unsettled
* See p 134.

184 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
state. It was the year 1642 ; the civil war was just
breaking out ; both Norwich and Yarmouth were divided
into factions; each party was anxious to anticipate the
other in rendering the place of their abode a stronghold
for their friends. The Parliamentarians had the ascend
ency in both places, but they found it somewhat difficult
to keep the Royalists in check. — Watches were set, scouts
were sent out, and troops levied by the stronger party ;
they also planted their artillery in convenient places, laid
up provisions in case they should be besieged, stopped the
flight of the King's partisans, and seized their horses, on
which to mount their own cavalry. Such is the account
given of Norwich at that time, by its diligent historian,
Bloomfield ; and he also remarks, that " a great iron chain
was lent to Yarmouth, to lay across the mouth of its har
bor." While that part of Norfolk was in such an unset
tled state, and the cause of King and Parliament, of High
Church domination and religious liberty, were thus trem
bling in the balance, no wonder these Congregational patri
archs of East Anglia found it a difficult problem to decide,
whether they should pitch the Church's tent on the banks
of the Wensum or at the mouth of the Yare. Apparently
tired of the debate on the question, and hoping that Prov
idence would shed some new light ere long upon their path,
they determined to form tlie Church at once, without fixing
upon the place in wliich it should permanently assemble.
" After seeking God, they considered the manner of be
ginning the work of inchurching, and concluded that some
of the brethren, whose hearts God stirred up to the work,
should begin, and they judged ten or twelve to be a com
petent number." Then follow the names of twelve per
sons who joined in this godly work, " moving" one another
to it, as the quaint phraseology runs.
As might be expected, this community, as soon as it

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 185
was formed, revived the question which had been placed
for a while in abeyance ; and after some time " answer
was given that Yarmouth was safer for the present ;" and
though the Norwich brethren thought their own city the
preferable place, they gave way to the wishes of the rest.
According to the custom of the early Congregational
Churches, they then entered into a solemn covenant with
each other, expressive of their religious views and their
pious feelings, but not intended to be imposed upon any
as a test of communion.
Though Yarmouth had been selected as the place of
meeting in general, the covenant was adopted and ratified
at Norwich ; and there, too, soon afterwards, the brethren
met to elect Mr. Bridge as their first pastor. " After they
had blessed God for his great love and gracious presence
hitherto, and seeking his face for further assistance, he
was, by 1he Church, ordained unto the pastor's office;
and in the latter part of the day (being Lord's day) the
Church did comfortably partake in both the Sacraments ;
the children of the members, and members' children of
other Churches, were baptized."
As long as the community remained thus united, it ap
pears that each section was wont to meet for religious
worship on the Lord's day in their own place of abode, in
some humble dwelling, probably, that has long since per
ished ; but for the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and
for Church meetings, they were accustomed to congre
gate at Yarmouth. Along the old road, through Loddon,
crossing the Waveny by St. Olave's Bridge, did this Pu
ritan band from the manufacturing city, wend their way
from time to time, to the maritime town, to share in the
much-prized privilege of communion at the Lords table.
They counted the inconvenience of such a journey, in days
when travelling twenty miles was a serious, and indeed
16*

186 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
dangerous business, not worth consideration, compared
with the spiritual enjoyment they experienced at their jour
ney's end. With religious conversation, and now and
then the singing of a psalm, they would enliven the rather
dreary road they traversed ; and on reaching the houses
of their brethren at Yarmouth, would be cheered by cor
dial greetings ; and sitting down by the blazing hearth of
their warm-hearted hosts, would talk of the days of their
exile, and how the Lord had turned again the captivity of
Zion. The word of the Lord was precious in those days,
and for a long time afterwards, in many parts of the coun
try ; and it was no uncommon thing for persons who val
ued the ordinances of religion to travel many miles in or
der to enjoy them. At Rothwell, in Northamptonshire,
there is a tradition that several of the early Congregation-
alists who worshipped there came from some remote villa
ges in the county — starting on a winter's morning, before
daybreak, and trudging along in the snow, with their lan
terns, which, when the day dawned, they left St a cottage,
midway on the road ; whither they returned in the evening,
and there kindling their lanterns afresh, they went on their
way towards home, which sometimes they did not reach
till the parish clock had sounded twelve.
When the plan of occasionally visiting Yarmouth had
lasted for a while, the Congregationalists who resided in
Norwich, saw the desirableness of forming a distinct
Church, to which their former companions assented ; the
separation, however, was effected with mutual regret, in
asmuch as the parties had become attached to each other,
the more strongly from their having spent some years to
gether in a foreign land. A beautiful letter from Nor
wich has been preserved, in which the separation is pro
posed ; and also the answer from Yarmouth, in which the
mother Church, with touching simplicity, thus expresses

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 187
the feelings with which she dismissed some pf her chil
dren from her immediate fellowship. " We cannot count
it a small affliction, after so long while communion, now
to be severed one from another. We could lament over
the loss we have when we consider the parting with your
actual communion, for it was sweet unto us. But yet
we dare not so much respect ourselves as to forget the
glory of God. But seeing the Lord hath need of you to
do his work, in this respect we give you up, that Jesus
Christ may have the more of you. We desire with you
to learn to submit to the will of God, and to say, with the
disciples, when Paul had his revelation to go up to Je
rusalem, ' The will ofthe Lord be done.' "
Very large additions were speedily made to the number
of the Church at Norwich ; as many as twelve in one
month being admitted to their communion ; and when it
is remembered that Congregationalism had not yet become
popular, and that great caution, as appears from the ec
clesiastical documents of the period, was used in the ad
mission of candiates, such a large and rapid increase be
tokens the blessing of God on the efforts of this infant
community, for the diffusion of their principles. The
Church at Yarmouth also received considerable additions ;
but at an early period, it appears that the Presbyterian
party, who were predominant in tlie town, viewed with
no small jealousy the proceedings of Mr. Bridge and the
Congregationalists. Sir Edward Owner, who represented
Yarmouth in the Long Parliament, and was an alderman,
bailiff, and justice of the peace, in short, a very great man
in tlie town, and withal a stanch Presbyterian, waited,
on the 2nd of February, 1646, in company with Mr.
Whitefield, who was one of the parish ministers, upon
Mr. Bridge, to express their sore displeasure at his gath
ering a Church after the Congregational method. So

188 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
powerful were their expostulations, and so decided was
the opposition of the town authorities to the measure, that
the pastor and his friends, who mingled caution with their
zeal, came to the resolution, " that for a time they should
forbear to receive any into their fellowship, until they
gave notice to the town that they could forbear no longer."
But this restraint was a burden which they could endure
only two months ; and on the 16th of April they resolved
to throw off this yoke ; and it is recorded that the Church
gave the town notice that they could no longer forbear
the duty of admitting into fellowship.
After this very short suspension of their aggressive ef
forts, they proceeded with vigor to maintain and enforce
their principles ; and the Church Book bears witness to
their success in the numerous additions recorded on its
pages. The constitution of the Church is fully devel
oped in its interesting memorials. It had its pastor in the
person of Mr. Bridge, who, from his engagements in Lon
don, where he frequently preached, and attended the con
sultations of the Westminster Assembly, must have been
often absent from his flock. His lack of service was
supplied by an associate in the ministry, called a Teacher,
an officer whom we very commonly find mentioned in the
early history of Congregationalism. It is difficult to de
termine the exact nature of his functions. The distinc
tion bdtween pastor and teacher seems to have been
chiefly nominal ; and " where there was any real differ
ence, it was such as arose from the arbitrary or pruden
tial determinations of the respective Churches in which
they served, rather than from any declaration made in the
New Testament concerning them."* In addition to the
office of teacher, the Yarmouth Church had its ruling
elders, in which respect their organization partook some-
* Harmer's Miscellaneous Works, p. 196.

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 189
what of the Presbyterian cast, as did other Congregational
Churches in those days. The ruling elder was distin
guished from the preaching elder by his not being per
mitted to teach, assist in ordination, baptize, or administer
the Lord's Supper. Mr. Bridge held this office in high
esteem ; and it is reported in the Church Book, that he
said, " then we are in our beauty, when the brethren
prophesy one by one, and when we have ruling elders."
He was also an advocate for the permanence of the office
of deaconesses, or widows, and accordingly the Church
met for the choosing of widows, or deaconesses, and, with
consent, " our sister, Alice Burgesse, was elected ; and
then, for a second, after some debate, sister Joanna Ames
was chosen for another." Deacons, of course, were ap
pointed ; and thus, according to Mr. Bridge's view of what
a Church should be, the Congregationalists of Yarmouth
attained a complete ecclesiastical organization. Most
zealous were the efforts of that good man to preserve his
people in fraternal love and active co-operation, especially
in the matter of prophesying ; but though his flock seem
to have been happily free from contention and strife, they
did not meet his wishes in reference to the exercise of
their gifts, for " the Thursday meeting, at four ofthe clock,"
for that purpose, seems to have been sadly neglected ;
wherefore the good man " admonished the brethren not to
let go the exercise of prophecy for two reasons ; first, that
else the saints and Churches would look on us as declined ;
and secondly, that else our gifts would dry up, and prove
unprofitable." At the meetings of the Church, painful
cases of inconsistency in the members sometimes called
for the exercise of discipline, which appears to have been
administered with firmness, yet with prudence and delicacy.
On the dismissal to some other Church of an old and cher
ished fellow-member, there was a gush of warm affection

190 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
wliich could not be satisfied with granting a mere formal
certificate of consistency. " Our Brother Staffe's desire
for his dismission," it is recorded in the minutes, " was
renewed by our Brother Gidney. The brethren desired
rather that he would come down, for they had something
to communicate unto him, and that our parting might not
be with bare paper." When other persons in the county
or neighborhood, having embraced Congregational princi
ples, applied to Norwich or Yarmouth for advice, and for
the recognition of their Churches as fraternal communities,
much care was exercised in deliberation on such matters ;
nothing like rash zeal is evinced : combining " love, power
and a sound mind," (that precious triple band of virtues)
the brethren encouraged the formation of Churches only
where it was apparent that they would possess the means
to support and perpetuate the cause. Various weighty
matters from time to time were submitted to them, not for
decision, for they formed no court of appeal, but for broth
erly advice. From distant places the Church at Yarmouth
received occasional applications for counsel, for on the
27th January, 1657, it is recorded, that " the Church this
day received a letter from several Churches in Kent about
some questions what to do concerning a Church among
them, the greater part of them fallen to Arminienezme,
which the Church took some time to consider of." When
pastors were less numerous than the Churches, and a
keen, though Christian, struggle for the services of some
eminent minister was being carried on, many knotty points
came before the assembled brethren, and put their judgment
and prudence to the test ; the frequency of such application
being, no doubt, attributable to the position and influence
of Mr. Bridge, whose piety, wisdom, and experience ren
dered him the Congregational Patriarch of East Anglia.
Sometimes his personal services were applied for by neigh-

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 191
boring Churches ; and, on one occasion, the Norwich
brethren crave his presence for a month or six weeks to
help them in their necessities, which the Yarmouth people
are obliged to refuse, because " Mr. Tuky, the teacher, is
gone abroad," and they cannot spare Mr. Bridge so long ;
yet, if a day or two will help, they are willing, though it
be to their loss ; but even for this short time, they cannot
part with him without the proviso, " that they do send us
help." The Yarmouth community, however, was any thing
but selfish. With a large-hearted benevolence, they felt
for the cause of Christian truth in every place, and again
and again decreed a Mr. Cushen and a Mr. Shepherd, or
some other good brother, to go as messenger to certain
towns to help in the work of God. Nor was pecuniary
assistance withheld from those who were in need, for
when the Church at Bury was reduced to straits, it was
ordered at Yarmouth " that the deacons should gather of
the brethren what they pleased, the which was done, and
nine pounds four shillings was gathered." A general
conference of Churches in the neighborhood was occa
sionally held, for the discussion of questions of general
interest, of which a remarkable example occurs in 1655,
when a fraternal letter was addressed by the Church at
Norwich to their brethren in the surrounding district, in
viting them to meet at the house of our Brother Timothy,
Norwich, at Tombland,* that they might come to a clear
understanding relative to the reign of Christ, and the duty
of saints towards the governments of the world, theological
points which then excited peculiar interest in the country,
owing to the increase of the Fifth Monarchy men. To
this meeting the Yarmouth Church sent delegates, who
brought back a report of the conclusion at which the Nor-
* In the Yarmouth Book it is said they were to meet at Mr. Norris's
house in Tombland.

192 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
folk divines and their lay associates had arrived. It is
stated that, with regard to whether there should be a king
dom of Christ visible or personal here on earth, " the con
clusion was, on the general vote of the messengers, that
there should be in the latter days a glorious and visible
kingdom of Christ, wherein the saints should rule ; and to
the second question, whether we should be subject to the
present powers of the world, the general vote of all the
messengers of the Church was, that it was our duty to
give subjection ; and if any should do otherwise, it should
be a matter of grief and great offence unto them." With
out assuming the authority of council, assembly, or synod,
they thus publicly expressed their opinion upon a great
theological and practical question, the effect of which was
hkely to be instructive and salutary, at a time when the
views of many were extremely unsettled, and fanatical
delusions on the matters referred to extensively prevailed.
While the Congregationalists of that day thoroughly un
derstood the Presbyterian controversy, and fought it out
with intelligence and courage — while they were decidedly
averse to courts of ecclesiastical legislation and judicature
— they were not afraid of their liberties being at all en
dangered by a friendly conference of delegates, and a
publication of the opinion given by such an assembly.
But of all the meetings recorded in the volume before me,
there are none which are calculated to excite so deep an
interest as those which were held for strictly devotional
purposes. When any difficult subject was introduced,
the brethren immediately betook themselves to prayer.
Matters relating simply to their own Church, or matters
of great ecclesiastical or national importance, brought
these pious people on their knees, and kept them for hours
prostrate before the throne of grace. " This day was
spent in seeking God," is a kind of entry that frequently

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 193
occurs. National events were specially noticed. When,
in the year 1651, such momentous results depended on the
progress of the army in Scotland, and Cromwell was
sorely ill at Edinburgh, these men, who trusted more in
the arm of Heaven than in the " battle of the warrior,"
fervently united in the public fast and humiliation. Wlien
Admiral Blake encountered the Dutch Fleet in the Downs,
in November, 1652, and suffered a defeat, and the brave
but vain-glorious Van Tromp, with a broom at his topmast,
paraded through the Channel, threatening to sweep the
seas of the English flag, keen was the distress of our
praying friends at Yarmouth, who perhaps had relatives on
board some of Blake's ships, and had seen his flotillas ca
reering through the Roads ; and " on the 7th December
they agreed, that on Thursday following, at ten of the
clock, the Church should meet to seek God for the navy
at sea." When the town was threatened with the plague,
their refuge was the same ; when breaches and divisions
occurred in other Churches, or seemed to threaten their
own — which evils they feared more than the plague —
they had recourse to the same method of relief ; and when
they lost brave old Oliver, the shield of their religious lib
erty, they record the following touching resolution : " The
Lord having caused a great change of providence to pass
upon this nation in taking away the late Lord Protector,
the Church appointed the 1 9th instant, in the afternoon, to
be spent in seeking the Lord for the settlement of the
nation, and for humbling our souls before the Lord for
our sins, as they have had a hand in the same : the meeting
to begin at two of the clock." The time for ridiculing
such persons as mean-souled fanatics, for raising a laugh
at their favorite expression of " seeking the Lord," to
which many of them attached the sublimest scriptural
conceptions, has now almost entirely gone by ; and the
17

194 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
worthies of the Church at Yarmouth, who entered so
deeply into the spirit of the Apostle's injunction, " praying
always," need no vindication from the humble pen which
has here traced, from their own records, a simple memorial
of their devout intercessions.
It is time to notice the relation in which Mr. Bridge
and other Norfolk ministers stood to the civil government.
Previously to our doing so, a few general observations on
the position of Church and State during this singular pe
riod of English history may be desirable.
A civil establishment of religion, of a remarkable kind,
existed throughout the Commonwealth. Christianity was
not left solely to the voluntary principle for support, but a
part of the old revenues of the Church, and also grants of
public money, were appropriated for the purpose. Yet
the Establishment then was so entirely different from
what it had been before, and what it afterwards became,
that the term scarcely conveys a correct idea of the state
of things which it is employed to designate. Had the
original idea of the Presbyterians been carried out, an es
tablishment of their own order, like the Church of Scot
land, would have been the result, and all religionists ex
cept themselves would have been excluded from the pro
tection and maintenance afforded by the State ; but they
were prevented from effecting their object by the growing
influence of more liberal parties, and the consequence
was, that under the Protectorate a scheme of comprehen
sion obtained, and though the Presbyterians formed the
greatest number of those who were supported by the
State, ministers of other denominations were permitted to
share in its emoluments. Papists, of course, were ex
cluded ; and, in accordance with the common prejudice of
the age, and which, till of late, prevailed among Protes
tants, were denied toleration. The supporters of Prelacy,

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 195
partly on political accounts, were also placed under a ban,
and the Litany was forbidden to be read in public ; but all
other Protestants holding what were deemed orthodox opin
ions might come under the wing of this wide-spreading Es
tablishment. An agreement in the fundamental truths of
Christianity, together with the possession of personal piety
and adequate ministerial gifts, were the only requisites
demanded of those who sought to enjoy ecclesiastical
benefices. Triers were appointed by the Government to
ascertain the qualifications of ministers ; and though ridi
cule in abundance has been poured upon the proceedings
of these men, it has been proved that, on the whole, they
discharged their duty with rectitude and prudence. Bax
ter, whose independence and integrity of judgment on
such matters is universally admitted, acknowledges that
these commissioners did abundance of good to the Church.
No doubt there were instances in which conscientious
High Churchmen were roughly dealt with — and persons
who thus suffered wrong for the sake of principle are de
serving of honor — yet, for the most part by far, the men
whom the triers excluded had, by their scandalous lives,
proved themselves utterly unfit for the holy office they
had assumed.
In this comprehensive kind of establishment many In
dependents were included. They were rectors and vicars
of parishes, city lecturers, and preachers in cathedrals.
These good men did not seem to see the inconsistency,
which is so apparent to us, between their principles of
Church government and the acceptance, in any form, of
State support. The unshackled liberty which was then
•allowed them in carrying out their own system of ecclesi
astical polity and discipline, rendered them insensible to
the real nature of their position as dependents on the civil
power, and to the evils which eventually such a position

196 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
must be found to involve. The exercise of Government
control is naturally and necessarily connected with the be
stowment of Government support. The two things may,
in a measure, be parted for a. while, under extraordinary
circumstances, and in unsettled times, as was the case
during the Commonwealth, but they are certain, sooner
or later, to become united again, and then the ecclesiasti
cal beneficiaries of the State are made to feel they are its
servants too. This crisis no doubt would have arrived
sooner or later had the Commonwealth lasted, and then
Independents would have been taught by experience ¦ the
incompatibility of their principles with the acceptance of
pecuniary support from Government. Certainly no es
tablishment of so comprehensive a character, and so toler
ant a spirit, ever existed before. Cromwell, who, as Lord
Protector, was placed at its head, drew around him men
of different denominations, and divided among them his
favors. Though he was most attached to the Indepen
dents, he also employed Presbyterians in his service.
Manton prayed at his inauguration, Baxter preached at
court, and Calamy was admitted to his councils. Moder
ate Episcopalians and Baptists, as well as Presbyterians
and Independents, might be found in the pulpits of the
parish churches, and in some parts of England there were
county associations, in which ministers of several denomi
nations assembled for fraternal conference and prayer.
The spirit of his Highness led him indignantly to inquire
of the Parliament, which he dissolved in 1654, "Is it in
genuous to ask liberty, and not to give it ? What greater
hypocrisy than for those who were oppressed by bishops to
become the greatest oppressors themselves as soon as
their yoke was removed." This noble sentiment he strove
to carry out, and was ready to grant religious liberty to
all whose sentiments were not inimical to the civil govern-

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 197
ment, and dangerous to the peace of the community.
Episcopacy and Popery were suppressed under the idea
of their being at that time so inimical and dangerous, yet
there were supporters of both systems whom the Protector
generously befriended. He treated Brownrigg, Bishop of
Exeter, with great respect ; saved Dr. Barnard's life, and
made him his almoner ; invited Archbishop Usher to visit
him, evinced a warm and sincere regard for his virtues,
and when that excellent prelate died, commanded his inter
ment in Westminster Abbey, and contributed two hundred
pounds to his funeral. Even Romanists themselves were
kindly treated if they conducted themselves with propriety.
Sir Kenelm Digby, a well-known Catholic, was lodged by
Cromwell at Whitehall, and the penal laws against Popish
Priests were sometimes suspended under his hand and
seal. " I should think my heart not an honest one," ob
serves Sir Kenelm in a letter to Secretary Thurlow, "if
the blood about it were not warmed with any the least im
putation upon my respects and duty to his Highness, to
whom I owe so much."
In the records of the Yarmouth Corporation, Mr. Bridge
is referred to as the town preacher, an office which he
continued to hold till he was silenced after the Restora
tion. Mr. Brinsley and Mr. Whitefield, who were Pres
byterians, are also described in these records as " our Min
isters." But soon after the death of Charles I. it was
thought desirable that the number of town ministers should
be increased to four ; whereupon Mr. Tillinghurst * who
was associated with Mr. Bridge as teacher in the Congre
gational Church, was appointed to the office. Upon Mr.
Tillinghurst's removal Mr. Tuky was chosen. Hence
there appear to have been two of the publicly-recognized
preachers or lecturers of the town who were of the Pres-
* See Note [24],
17*

198 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
byterian class, and two who held " the Independent way,"
as it was termed — an instance illustrative of the character
of the Commonwealth Establishment. Mr. Bridge was
evidently a popular preacher, and was high in favor with
the ruling powers. As early as the 17th May, 1648, he
was appointed to preach before the House of Commons at
the public thanksgiving for the great victory obtained in
Wales, for which Miles Corbett, who was representative
for Yarmouth, and a member of Bridge's Church, was de
sired by the House to present their thanks. Frequently do
we find him preaching in London at the parish churches on
particular occasions ; and from the entries in the Yar
mouth Church Book it appears that in November, 1649,
he was invited by the Council of State to become their
Chaplain, at a salary of 200Z. a year, " his work to preach
once a-week on Lord's day," an offer which, after much
consideration, he declined.
The spacious church of St. Nicholas, that fine old build
ing, which affords an interesting study for the architectu
ral antiquary, was so arranged during the Commonwealth
as to accommodate the two denominations to which the town
lecturers belonged. The Presbyterians occupied the nave
of the church. The building was stripped of all vestiges
of Popery ; the royal arms were displaced to make way for
those of the Commonwealth ; a table in the aisle was sub
stituted for the altar ; the Prayer-book and surplice were
banished. Civic processions no longer attended at the
great festivals ; Presbyterian simplicity reigned through
out the old Gothic edifice ; the hymn of praise ascended to
God not less acceptable from its being unaccompanied by
the peal of the organ ; and many a discourse full of sound
scriptural instruction was delivered by good Mr. Brinsley
in his Genevan cloak. His Congregational brother, who
lived with him on the most friendly terms, and who exert-

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 199
ed his influence on his behalf, when, during the Protector
ate, he was in danger of being ejected, was accommodated
at the same time within the walls of the same building. In
January, 1650, it was proposed to the Corporation that the
north aisle of the church should be fitted up for a distinct
place of worship; but a committee being appointed to con
sider the matter, it was at length concluded that the chan
cel " would be much more convenient for the purpose,"
and that " it should be closed in with main walls where
needful, and fitted up for a church-house." An expense
of 9001. was incurred by the entire alterations ofthe church,
which when complete appear to have afforded distinct and
commodious places of worship for the two congregations ;
so that the Presbyterian, and Congregational preacher,
could simultaneously minister under the same roof. Little
difference, if any, was discernible in the mode of worship
adopted by these worthy men, but their principles of
Church Government kept them apart so far as their cleri
cal ministrations were concerned, though they entertained
for each other a sincere regard and affection. The Con
gregational minister at Yarmouth seems to have stood, ec
clesiastically, in a double relation — one to the civil govern
ment as a paid official for the public instruction ofthe peo
ple of the town — another to the Church gathered out of
the town upon those principles of Independent polity which
he was known to advocate. The proceedings of the
Church over which Mr. Bridge presided, were altogether
uncontrolled by any influence on the part of the Corpora
tion or the Council of State, or the Protector, or any other
secular authority, and were altogether as unfettered as the
proceedings of any voluntary association. It was not, I
apprehend, as the Pastor of a Congregational Church that
he was supported by the State, but as one of the town
preachers ; and though I by no means intend to justify or

200 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
excuse the anomalous position occupied by this excellent
person, it is of importance to state what that position ap
pears to have been, as it no doubt resembled that of a con
siderable number of his brethren.
At first a rate was levied on the town for the support of
the Ministry, but in the year 1647 Mr. Miles Corbett pro
cured from the Committee for the revenues of ejected Min
isters an appropriation of 32Z., reserved rent of the Dean
and Chapter, which was paid but for a short time. In
1650 Mr. Isaac Preston and Mr. Bendish (who married Oli
ver Cromwell's eccentric granddaughter), both members
of the Congregational Church, were deputed to wait on
Mr. Corbett, to procure his interest with the Government
for some assistance towards the support of the town Min
isters ; in which application he seems to have been so far
successful as to obtain a salary of 100Z. for Mr. Bridge,
paid out of the impropriations. In 1651 an application
was made to Parliament for an Act to authorize the levy
of a rate on the parish for raising 3001. a-year for the rest
of the Ministers, and a farther sum for the repairs of the
church ; an Act for the support of Ministers at Ipswich be
ing chosen as a model. It is probable that this scheme was
never accomplished, as no farther mention is made of it ;
and an order occurs four months afterwards, that the
charge of maintaining the Ministers of the Presbyterian
Congregation should be paid by the parishioners belonging
to that Congregation, and not out of the town's stock.
Subsequent attempts were made at rating the town forthe
maintenance of the Ministry, but these were resisted by
Mr. Bridge and his associate Mr. Tuky. They disowned
it " as being against the way of the Gospel, and also as
destructive to the Church, whereupon the Church desired
that none of the brethren might have any hand in the act
ing of the same." The ground of their conclusion they do

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 201
not state. Was it that they distinguished between taxation
for the support of religion, and the appropriation of exist
ing Church revenues for religious purposes — objecting to
the former, but acquiescing in the latter ?
From a perusal of the Corporation Records of Norwich
1 have discovered some farther illustrations of the plans
proposed during the Commonwealth for the support of the
City Ministers, among whom were both Presbyterians and
Independents. As early as 1 643 a scheme was projected
for uniting together several of the numerous parishes in
that large city, and for seeking the appropriation of the
revenues of the Dean and Chapter for the support of " an
able Ministry." In 1646 allusion is made to 300Z. out of
such revenues voted by the committee of Parliament ; and
one Mr. Clarke, to whom the united parishes of Simon and
Jude, George Tombland, and Peter of Hungate, were offer
ed, was promised 20Z. per annum as long as he might con
tinue Minister of those parishes. Three years afterwards
reference is made to preparing a petition to Parliament for
power to raise a sum of money upon houses and personal
estate throughout the city for the maintenance of an able
Ministry. Subsequently it was resolved that such monies
as should be raised should be brought into a public stock,
and that the Ministers of the Union should be paid out of the
same. How far these schemes were accomplished does not
appear. For the payment of the City Lecturers, who re
ceived 201. a quarter, it was resolved that the money given
by benefactors should be employed, and that when the Cor
poration were better able they would augment the salary.
But here a difficulty arose. These famous sermons used
to be preached in the Cathedral, or in the greenyard on the
north side by the Bishop's palace — the only places in Cath
olic times where sermons were preached to the Norwich
citizens, and where subsequently the Corporation, in civic

202 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
pomp, with the Dean, and the Prebendaries, and their wives,
and hosts of people besides, paying a halfpenny or a pen-
ny-a-piece for sitting on the forms, were wont to assem
ble. But the Puritan party at Norwich not liking the Ca
thedral, and indeed going so far as to contemplate the sale
of the fine old Norman structure for the benefit of the poor,
arranged that the City Lectures should be delivered in the
yard adjoining St. Andrew's Hall, or in the Dutch Church,
which is connected with that edifice. Hence, according to
Sir Thomas Browne, " the heirs of the benefactors denied
to pay the wonted beneficence for any sermon out of
Christ's Church, (the Cathedral now being commonly so
called,) and some other ways were found to provide a Min
ister at a yearly salary to preach every Sunday."* Some
expenses were incurred in fitting up the new places of wor
ship for the civic body ; and it is curious to notice in the
Corporation books how it was " ordered, that the Mayor
Sheriffs, and Aldermen should every one of them lend 40s.
a man, and every of the Common Council 20s. a man, and
every Liveryman likewise shall be moved to lend 20s. a
man, for the building of the seats in the Dutch chapel for
the Corporation and their wives." It is prudently added,
" If any man will give half rather than lend the whole, let
it be accepted."
Mr. Allen, an Independent Minister, was for some time
the regular City Lecturer at the Dutch Church. Mr. Ar
mitage, of the same denomination, appears at an earlier pe
riod to have been employed in occasionally preaching before
the Norwich Corporation. Fast and thanksgiving sermons
were very common in those days. Allusions to some of
the latter especially, occur in the Norwich records, from
which it appears that there was no want of pomp and cer
emony on the part of the civic authorities when, on public
* Sir Thomas Browne's Works, vol. iv. p. 28.

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 203
occasions, they appeared before their fellow-citizens.
Strict are the injunctions given, " that the Aldermen be in
their scarlet, the Sheriffs in violet, and that the Livery do
attend upon tlie sword in their gowns and tippets ;" and
that these municipal dignitaries were careful not to lose
any of the majesty that pertains to the mantle, is farther
apparent from the old portraits in the Mayor's Council
Chamber, where Mr. Barnard Church and others of the
Corporation, of the Puritan school, are to be seen in deep
red cloaks, with embroidered scarfs, and a full complement
of lace on the collar. Nor were they indifferent to their
comfort while listening to the sermon, as appears from an
order for twenty-six cushions, with the city arms embroid
ered on them, for the Mayor and Aldermen's seats. The
firing of guns formed a part of the public proceedings on
these gala days, and the whole ceremonial seems to have
been conducted with much state. The best part of the af
fair was the collection for the poor, which was diligently
made from house to house.
As one muses over the Corporation records in tbe Mayor's
Chamber in the Norwich Guildhall, with its windows richly
stained, its walls garnished with grave-looking portraits,
its oaken benches finely carved and richly cushioned, it
requires no strong effort of the imagination to picture the
Corporation of the city during the Commonwealth assem
bling in that venerable apartment, and there marshalled
in procession, with due regard to the injunctions entered
in the minute books. Forthwith, accompanying his wor
ship, and attended by the sword-bearer, the city trumpeters,
and other civic officers, the whole party proceed to move in
stately order through the streets, making a duo impression
upon the gazing and spectacle-loving crowds by their
gowns, tippets, and other paraphernalia. Winding along
London-lane, while many a face, peering out of the over-

204 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
hanging windows of the timber-built dwellings, gives a nod
of friendly recognition to one and another of the corpo
rate train, they pass down towards St. Andrew's Hall, and
enter within the gates ofthe Dutch church, where, occu
pying the seats prepared for the worshipful assembly, some
of them having their wives lovingly placed by their side,
they listen with becoming decorum to the sermon which
is delivered by the worthy Master Allen, the City Lecturer.
The service done, the guns fired, and all the public cere
monies ended, we follow the Mayor to his residence ; some
straggling kind of house, with a quadrangular court, into
which you enter though an arched gateway, surmounted
by a merchant's mark — that quaint device interweaving
the initials of the wealthy occupant ; and guarded also by
stately posts, one on either side,— symbols these in our city
of Norwich, indicating that the inhabitant of the mansion
has attained to the highest office in the Corporation, and
commonly called the Mayor's posts. There his worship,
with a few friends and the reverend lecturer, ascend the
steps to the entrance hall, with its flag-stone pavement
and its staircase of polished oak ; and then they are duly
ushered by the servants in waiting into a handsome with-
flrawing-room, which exhibits an abundant supply of chairs,
tables, cabinets, and chests, rather heavy and lumbering it
is true, but withal curiously fashioned, and rather profusely
carved. Conducted to the large dining-room, which wears
an air of enticing comfort, a's the blazing fire fills the am
ple breadth of the fire-place, cheerfully lighting up the
sombre walls, and displaying to advantage the quaintly-
adorned ceiling ; the party seat themselves at the well-
spread table, when Master Allen says grace with much
solemnity, and at rather greater length than perhaps now-
a-days we are wont to hear. The conversation, though
seasoned with religious sentiment, and marked now and

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 205
then by a rather peculiar and affected phraseology, is far
from being pervaded by a melancholy spirit, but sparkles
occasionally with sallies of humor, or sinks into innocent
and cheerful chit-chat. If these good people have not
that marvellous capacity for quaffing cups of sack upon
which some of their contemporaries so much pride them
selves, and if they have some scruples about the practice
of drinking healths, yet they are as far removed from
asceticism as from excess ; they know how to use the
gifts of Providence without abusing them ; and while sip
ping their wine with moderation, delight much more in
the feast of reason and the flow of soul. And if before
the party break up a psalm be devoutly sung, and Mr.
Allen calls for the Bible, and expounds a chapter, and then
engages in prayer, commending the chief magistrate of
the city and the government of the country to the guidance
and blessing of God, perhaps this will be regarded by the
reader as no unseemly conclusion of a rational entertain
ment, though it might in those days call forth the ridicule
ofthe boisterous Cavalier, who preferred a jest-book to the
Bible, and the singing of licentious songs to chanting the
praises of God.
If any one wishes to have a peep into the house of a
wealthy Puritan on ordinary occasions, and to know what
the footmen had to do in the service of such a worshipful
lady as Mistress Mayoress, or the dames of some of the
officers about Cromwell's Court at Whitehall, Joseph Lis
ter, in his amusing Historical Narrative, will give suffi
cient information. " My mistress," he says, " told me
what my employment should be ; viz., to wait upon her at
table, bring the table-cloth, and spread it, lay on the
trenchers, salt and bread ; then set her a chair, and bring
the first dish to the table ; then desire her to sit down, and
so wait till she called for beer, or any other thing ; then
18

206 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
to fetch another dish, and clean the trenchers, and so wait
upon her till she had done ; then to take off and draw the
table, and carry away her seat ; then the two maids and
myself to feed on what she had left, and to wait on her to
hear sermons almost every day. I always wrote the ser
mon, and repeated it ; and as I did at noon, so I did at night,
at supper, and then all my work was done ; and this was
my business day after day." Nor were the Puritan dames
indifferent to the dress of their footmen ; for honest Jo
seph Lister tells us, that his mistress gave him, on entering
her service, a hat, bands, doublet, coat, breeches, stock
ings, and shoes, a cloak, and half-a-dozen pair of cuffs, say
ing, " Whatever I give you at the year's end, you shall
have these things freely given you."*
Dismissing these reminiscences of Puritan times and
manners, we must search once more into the records of
the Congregational Church at Yarmouth. We catch
some glimpses of ecclesiastical proceedings of public in
terest, in which the brethren at Yarmouth took a share. It
appears that, in the September of 1658, the prospect of
the meeting at the Savoy, for publishing a declaration of
the faith and order of Congregational Christians, excited
considerable attention and discussion in the community ;
and that forthwith Mr.' Bridge was dispatched as a mes
senger to the Assembly, and, if necessary, Mr. George
Fryer and Mr. Thomas Dunn were to assist him in his
mission. The Palace of the Savoy, once the abode of
John of Gaunt, had in ancient times gathered round it
many a chivalrous association ; and as the wayfarer of
the seventeenth century travelled along the ill-paved road
in the Strand, or more pleasantly floated down the high-
* Joseph Lister's Narrative, pp. 32, 34. A curious piece of autibi-
ography illustrative of Puritan times. He came from Yorkshire, and
lived in some wealthy families in London as footman.

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 207
way of the Thames, amidst barges of pleasure and boats
of merchandise, he would pause to muse upon those gray
walls, and think of its romantic scenes and stories ; but
of late it had gathered round it associations of a new class,
as a place set apart for the business of the Common
wealth, and the steps by the river-side had been not a lit
tle worn by the feet of courtiers and messengers passing
to and fro between the offices of the Savoy and the palace
of my Lord Protector at Whitehall. It was now to be
employed for a religious purpose, which has rendered it
somewhat celebrated in the ecclesiastical annals of our
country. There, on the 29th of September, two hundred
ministers and lay delegates, Mr. Bridge among the num
ber, assembled to confer upon the publication of a state
ment of their creed and polity, which ended in drawing
up the well-known Savoy Declaration. Their object was
different from that of the persons who drew up the Thirty-
Nine Articles, and of those who framed the Westminster
Confession. The brethren at the Savoy desired to issue
a manifesto, not a test ; to form a symbol, not a standard.
The document they published is very long, and goes much
into detail ; but a habit of over-doing every thing in such
matters was the fault of the age, and the worthies em
ployed would have thought they were slurring their work
if they had not spread it over the surface of a goodly num
ber of quarto pages. The doctrinal portions are in accor
dance with the Westminster Confession, and, for the most
part, are couched in the same terms. With regard to ec
clesiastical polity, it is affirmed that members of Churches
are to be such only as, in the judgment of charity, are be
lievers in Christ ; that ministers are to be elected by the
people ; and that each Church is an independent organ
ization. Yet were the members of the Savoy meeting by
no means extravagant in their notions of Independency.

208 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
They could distinguish between Church Courts having
coercive powers, and associations having only that moral
weight to support their decisions which known wisdom
and piety might supply. They did not wish to see each
Church in a state of perfect isolation, and jealous of
every species of interference, but sought rather to encour
age the habit of submitting cases of difference for the
opinion of those whom age and intelligence might qualify
to be the advisers of their brethren. Nor did they require
as a test of Christian communion any thing more than a
credible profession of faith and piety, and the maintenance
of a blameless reputation. Emancipated from the thral
dom of narrow views on this vital point, the Independents
proclaimed themselves the enlightened friends of thorough
going union. Uniformity they sought not to promote;
they had read the history of the Church too well to be
lieve it was practicable ; they had read the Bible too well
to believe it was the grand thing designed by Jesus Christ ;
but union they did endeavor to advance, regarding it as
capable of being attained and devoutly to be wished.
And especially, it should be remarked, that the Savoy
Declaration asserts the duty of mutual indulgence among
Christians, and that there is no warrant for the magistrate
to abridge them of their liberty. The delegates affirm
that, if they had all the power which any of their brethren
of different opinions had desired to have over them or
others, they would freely grant this liberty to them all.*
It must be confessed, however, on examining the docu
ment, that the members of the Savoy meeting contended
for this liberty as the inheritance of the saint, rather than
the inheritance of the citizen. It seems, in their view, to
have been a religious boon to be conceded to certain
classes, not as an indefeasible right belonging to all men.
* See Savoy Declaration, pref.

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 209
They did not appear to apprehend that religious liberty is
only another name for civil liberty, designating an impor
tant branch of that freedom of which no magistrate can
justly deprive his subjects, namely, freedom from restraint
in all such modes of action as do not interfere with the
rights of others ; in a word, the freedom of each consist
ently with the freedom of all.
Further illustrations of the ecclesiastical views 1 1 some
leading Independents are afforded in a subsequent part of
the Yarmouth records, as well as an insight into some of
the political movements of the day. After the accession
of Richard to the Protectorate, it is well known that a
formidable opposition to his government arose from a large
section of the army. Ludlow describes it as broken up
into three factions, of which one was devoted to the Pro
tector ; another was in favor of a pure republic ; and the
tliird, headed by Fleetwood and others, called, from their
place of meeting, the Wallingford House party. The
latter do not appear to have been pure republicans, but,
dissatisfied with Richard, they coalesced with the repub
lican section, and sought and accomplished the overthrow
of the existing Government. There seems to have been
a Congregational Church assembling in Wallingford
House, who, probably under the influence of Fleetwood,
sought the counsel of other Churches on the political ques
tions of those unsettled times. A communication for the
purpose was dispatched to Yarmouth, and " the Church
at Wallingford House desired advice as to what they
apprehended was needful for the Commonwealth." The
brethren at Yarmouth considered it, and then wisely and
prudently " ordered the elders to write to them, thanking
them for their love and care of them, and also desiring to
give the right hand of fellowship with them, but concern-
18*

210 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
ing civil business, the Church, as a Church, desire not to

me> As the grand question of religious liberty was so much
involved in the political agitations of the time, a careful
abstinence from expressing any opinion on matters of
government by ecclesiastical communities, however desir
able, was more than could be expected.
Accordingly, meetings of Congregational ministers and
laymen were held to deliberate on some of the great ques
tions which absorbed the public mind. Mr. Allen desired
a meeting at Norwich, to which Mr. Bridge and Mr.
Bendish were sent as delegates ; and shortly afterwards,
a meeting was held in London, respecting which Dr.
Owen wrote to the Yarmouth pastor. This appears from
the Church-Book, which also reports certain resolutions in
reference to the matters in debate ; and since they are of
importance, and, as far as I am aware, have never been
published, they are now subjoined, with a few remarks.
It is true they were adopted at the meeting of a single
Church, and therefore are by no means set forth as an au
thorized declaration of the body, yet, as Mr. Bridge was
the pastor, and an influential man in the denomination,
and probably drew up the resolutions, there can be no
doubt that the opinions expressed were shared in by many,
of which, indeed, there is sufficient evidence in the writings
of other distinguished Independents.
" 1659, December 28th.— The Church having met, Mr.
Bridge made a report of what was done by the messengers
of the Churches at London, and these four things offered
as the result of their own thoughts : —
" First. We judge a Parliament to be the expedient for
the peace of these nations ; and withal we do desire that
due care be taken that the Parliament be such as may

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 211
preserve the interest of Christ and his people in these
nations." This resolution refers to what might well be deemed
throughout England the question of questions, — " What
government shall we have ?" for poor England, just then,
had no government at all. The Long Parliament, whose
tenacious life was a strange phenomenon, had now, after
repeated resuscitations, been once more put into a state of
suspended animation, to resume, however, its vital functions
again at the bidding of its magical superiors. The su
preme power devolved on the army: a revolution was
beginning again — all was confusion — each limb of the
body politic was out of joint ; and the cry was, " How shall
it be set ?" Ludlow informs us some were for a select
standing senate, to be joined to the representatives ; others
labored to have the supreme authority to consist of an as
sembly chosen by the people, and a council of state chosen
by that assembly ; some were desirous to have a represen
tative of the people constantly sitting ; others, smitten
with the love of Greek precedents, asked that there might
be joined to the popular assembly a number of persons,
after the fashion of the Lacedaemonian Ephori, who should
have a veto on matters involving the essentials of govern
ment. Another section were of opinion, that it would be
most conducive to the public happiness to have two coun
cils chosen by the people, consisting, the one of three hun
dred, the other of one hundred members ; the former to
debate, the latter to resolve ; something like the tribunate
and legislative bodies in the scheme of the great French
constitution-maker M. Sieyes.*
It was amidst such confusion, such terrors, such cries,
* Sieyes reversed the numbers ; the tribunate who discussed the
laws were one hundred ; the legislative body who decided on them,
three hundred.

212 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
articulate and inarticulate, and such inability on the part
of those who, in this night of darkness, had attempted to
guide the ship through the rude storm — now that the brave
old pilot Cromwell was gone — that some of the Indepen
dents lifted up their voices, and, English like, called for
a Parliament as the only remedy. Whether they meant
by that, the evoking of the defunct Long Parliament from
the shades, or the calling of a new one, does not appear ;
at any rate, their hopes centred in a Parliament, provided
it were a godly one, devoted to " the interests of Christ and
his people."
" Secondly. As touching the magistrate's power in
matters of faith and worship, we have declared our judg
ment in our late Confession ; and though we greatly prize
our Christian liberties, yet we profess our utter dislike and
abhorrence of a universal toleration, as being contrary to
the mind of God in his Word." For men who were the
champions of liberty thus to condemn its universal exten
sion, was certainly inconsistent ; John Goodwin and others
would have thought so ; yet it will be found that what
was thus declared is in harmony with the recorded opinions
of other Independents of that day, and in equal harmony
with the teaching of enlightened advocates of toleration
in later times. Such persons overlooked the distinction
between speculative opinions and the overt acts which
such opinions may have a tendency to produce. Recog
nizing in Popery certain principles inconsistent with sound
notions of civil liberty, and regarding the tenets of the
Fifth Monarchy men, and others, as fraught with evils,
inconsistent with the order of society, the parties in ques
tion treated these men as if they were actually guilty of
the crimes which were only anticipated as the probable
results of their belief. Hence the refusal to tolerate them.
Even Locke affirms — " No opinions contrary to human so-

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 213
ciety, or to those moral rules which are necessary to the
preservation of civil society, are to be tolerated by the
magistrate." Referring to such persons as we have just
named, he adds, " These, therefore, and the hke, who at
tribute unto the faithful, religious, and orthodox, that is,
in plain terms, unto themselves, any peculiar privilege
and power, above other mortals, in civil concernments, or
who, upon pretence of religion, do challenge any matter of
authority over such as are not associated with them" in
their ecclesiastical communion, — " I say, these have no
right to be tolerated by the magistrate ; as neither those
that will not own and teach the duty of tolerating all men
in matters of mere religion."* This passage is quoted
from that immortal reasoner, not at all for the purpose of
defending the above resolution, but simply to show that in
qualifying their doctrine of toleration the Yarmouth Inde
pendents only anticipated one of the greatest philosophers
of the age.
Thirdly. They go on to say : — " We judge that the
taking away of tithes for the maintenance of ministers,
until as full a maintenance be equally secured, and as
legally settled, tend very much to the destruction of the
ministry and the preaching of the Gospel in these nations."
This resolution, in so far as it regards the acceptance of
tithes, was only in accordance with the well-known prac
tice of many Independents, as already illustrated. What
exactly is meant by a provision as secure and legal, does
not appear, though, probably, there may be a reference to
a more extended endowment of the ministry ; for, it is plain
enough that the Congregationalists of that day had not
learned to trust the voluntary principle, of the efficiency of
which, however, recent times have afforded growing proofs.
Fourthly. They add : — " It is our desire that countenance
* Locke's Works, vol. ii. p. 261,

214 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
be not given, or trust reposed, in the hand of Quakers ;
they being persons of such principles as are destructive to
the Gospel, and inconsistent with the peace of civil soci
eties." This resolution does not go so far as to place the Qua
kers beyond the pale of toleration, but simply to refuse
them " countenance" and " trust." Certainly it wears an
uncharitable aspect, and would have been utterly inexcu
sable, had not some in that day, who called themselves Qua
kers, fallen into habits of excessive fanatical absurdity.
Far different from the pacific and respectable members of
that body in later times, were James Naylor and other
enthusiasts, who connected themselves with the primitive
Friends. Such persons certainly laid themselves open to
the charge of being disturbers of the peace of civil socie
ties, while their religous teaching, in many instances, was
such as to be " destructive of the Gospel." Still, one re
grets to find such a resolution on record.
But, to conclude this chapter : the Independents had no
longer any need to pass resolutions about tithes and State
support. Clouds were gathering over the prospects of
their Churches. The Yarmouth brethren were in evident
trouble. Like the sea birds they had often watched on
their own shores giving signs that they saw a rising storm,
did these worthies meet again and again, week after week,
evidently in great trouble, to seek the Lord on behalf of the
Church and nation. " 23d Feb. 1659. This day was kept
according to the former order ; and the Church did order
that Tuesday, the 28th, should be improved for the same
end." These simple entries bring before us the picture
of groups wrestling with God for their distracted country ;
and we see our fathers so employed, not in Yarmouth only,
but in many a town, village, and city of the land. Though
He whose way is in the sea, and whose path is in the deep

EAST ANGLIAN CHURCHES. 215
waters, did not answer their prayer as they desired, but
left a large part ofhis Church and people to endure a long
fight of affliction, yet we know that there were among
them those who found a refuge from the coming storm
beneath the shadow of his wings, and could say with
David, " We will not fear though the earth be removed,
and the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea."
Much certainly did they need such Heaven-inspired faith
and fortitude ; for soon their liberties were wrested from
them by the grasp of reviving despotism. The persecutions
of bygone days were revived ; Charles II. walked in the
footsteps of his father's intolerance ; Bridge was once
more silenced, and the place where his flock had assem
bled barred against them. "Nov. 19th, 1661. Thisday,"
says our old authority, "the keys of the meeting-house
were sent for to the baylifTs, and delivered to the Dean
and Sir Thomas Meadows, and the vestry door nayled up.''
Thus closes the first Chapter in the history of the Mother
Church of the East Anglian Independents.

CHAPTER IX.
BLACK BARTHOLOMEW.
Cromwell was gone ; his son, unable to bear the heavy
load which his father had sustained, was soon oppressed
with the difficulties of his position, and abdicated the Pro
tectorship. By treachery and intrigue the Restoration was
accomplished : and after years of war and suffering for the
sake of liberty, the people were seen prostrate at the feet
of Charles the Second ; asking no guarantees against the
revival of despotism, but rather craving forgiveness for the
victories they had won. The Royalist party, recovering
from their depression, knew no bounds to their joy, as they
welcomed another sovereign ofthe Stuart line. In a state
of perfect delirium they celebrated his accession to his
father's throne. Bonfires blazed in many a market-place
and on many a hill, — the streets at night sparkled with
illuminations, — windows were decorated with tapestry and
garlands, — the May-poles were set up in the cross ways, —
rumps of beef were roasted for the populace, and loaves
of bread were thrown from the tops of market-houses.
The bells rang till the steeples rocked, and the crowds
shouted till the very earth shook. The Royalist, on his
knees, drank to the health of his Prince, and the swagger
ing Cavalier once more boldly sang his favorite lay, " The
King shall enjoy his own again."
" No Bishop, no King," was the motto of James, and his

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 217
grandson, so far adopting the sentiment as to regard epis
copacy as a bulwark to the throne, early restored the pre
lates to their office and rank. Mr. Pepys, in his curious
and inquisitive rambles, went down to Westminster on the
4th of October, 1660, to see how the rochet and lawn
looked after long disuse, and on his return home wrote
down in his Journal, " Saw the Bishops all in their habits
in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, but, at their going out, —
how people did most of them look upon them as strange
creatures, and few with any kind of love or respect."
The altered state of things foreboded evil enough to all
classes of Nonconformists, and however some might be
buoyed up with hopes of " liberty to tender consciences,"
the worst fears of others were completely realized. The
Presbyterians had been active in the restoration of the
King. They had attended him with acclamations through
the city towards Westminster, and good old Mr. Arthur
Jackson had presented the gay Monarch with a richly
bound Bible, which Charles promised should be the rule of
his actions. They had also received the royal assurance
that respect should be paid to their conscientious scruples,
and they soothed themselves with the hope of retaining
their benefices by some compromise with their adversaries.
They sought a revision of the Liturgy and some other al
terations in ecclesiastical matters, in consequence of which
a conference on the subject was appointed by the King to
take place at the Savoy Palace between twenty-one An
glican divines and as many of the Presbyterian order.*
" It broke up," says Burnet, " without doing any good. It
did rather hurt, and heightened the sharpness that was
then on people's minds to such a degree that il needed no
addition to raise it higher. The Presbyterians laid their
complaints before the King. But little regard was had to
* The conference commenced March 25th, 1661.
19

218 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
them ; and now all the concern that seemed to employ the
Bishops' thoughts was, not only to make no alteration on
their account, but to make the terms of conformity much
Btricter than they had been before the war."*
Before the Savoy Conference terminated, the two Houses
of Convocation assembled. The ruling party having re
solved to disregard the conscientious scruples of their
brethren, proceeded to take measures for the full enforce
ment of their own ecclesiastical system. They decided
that episcopal ordination was indispensably necessary, and
that all who would not submit to that rite should be com
pelled to relinquish their benefices. They revised the
Book of Common Prayer, and introduced a number of al
terations, some of which seemed to be intended only for
the purpose of exasperating the Puritans. It was known
that they objected to saints' days, — the Bishops increased
the number. It was known that they disliked the Apoc
ryphal lessons, — the Bishops therefore added another, con
taining the story of Bel and the Dragon. Parliament at
length confirmed the work of the Convocation, and passed
the memorable Act of Uniformity. This law enjoined
on all clergymen to profess their unfeigned assent and
consent to every thing contained in the Book of Common
Prayer, to repudiate the Solemn League and Covenant,
and acknowledge that the oath taken to maintain it in
volved no moral obligation ; and further, to declare that
it was unlawful under any pretence whatever to take up
arms against the King.
The feast of St. Bartholomew, August 24th, 1662, was
the day fixed for the execution of the act. In anticipating
the day there were some who were mainly anxious about
retaining their livings, and were little scrupulous respect
ing their submission to the conditions imposed. Their
* Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. i. p. 182.

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 219
consciences had been so exercised already in the matter
of conformity, that they had become amazingly supple.
Some of these compliant personages had been Prelatists
under Charles, Presbyterians under the Parliament, Inde
pendents under Cromwell, and were theretbre now pre
pared to take another bend in their ecclesiastical course,
and become once more zealous Episcopalians, and advo
cates for the Book of Common Prayer. But others, who
had not attained to such marvellous flexibility of mind, took
into their grave consideration the newly enacted terms of
conformity. Some men who had a conscience did not think
that oaths could be so lightly abjured, and their moral ob
ligations so easily annulled, as this new law took for
granted ; and though quite prepared to swear allegiance
to the Crown, they could not go so far as to subscribe to
the doctrine of unqualified passive obedience. But sub
scription to the revised Book of Common Prayer consti
tuted with many the chief difficulty. As to the exact con
tents of it, some of the ministers could not be informed
previously to the time of their being required to give to it
their unfeigned assent and consent, inasmuch as it was not
issued from the press till a very short time before the 24th
of August, and men living in remote parts of the country
could not obtain the volume by that day. But, of course,
the ministers were acquainted with its contents in general.
Baptismal regeneration, the practice of having godfathers
and godmothers, using the sign of the cross, kneeling at
the Lord's Supper, the belief of a threefold order in the
ministry, the burial-service, confirmation, and the reading of
the Apocrypha in churches, were all still sanctioned in the
Prayer-Book, and these points, which had from the begin
ning been opposed by the Puritans, remained as strongly
objectionable as ever. Exceptions were also taken against
several of the canons. Thus far almost all who belonged

220 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
to the Puritan class were agreed, but the strict Presbyte
rians and Independents obviously had additional and yet
graver objections to the new Establishment.
The parsonages in many parts of England, as the corn
was ripening in the summer of 1662, must have been the
scenes 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 se
vere, the terms of conformity were imposed before Mich
aelmas, 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 hus
bands — they were fathers : they had their quiet studies,
and they saw their families in comfort — their wives sitting
in the snug parlor 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 rea
lized. It were ridiculous to look on these 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 objec
tionable sentences, and writing down his reasons for dis
sent. Perchance a wife and a mother who is honoring
this volume by her perusal, may with all the vividness of
a woman's imagination picture to herself the country rec
tor, and the beloved companion of his cares, sitting at
eventide by the window, round which the honeysuckle

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 221
and the rose aTe entwining their buds and shedding their
fragrance, first looking at the garden which she has culti
vated with her own hands, and the church peeping above
the trees where he has labored 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 simi
lar amount of matter in the form of query and objection.
After mature deliberation the Nonconformist adopted his
resolve, sometimes with a solemnity which rendered all
subsequent hesitation impossible. A copy of a written
resolution by Mr. Samuel Birch, of Bampton, Oxfordshire,
addressed in the most solemn manner to the Deity, is pre
served by Calamy. " I am at thy footstool," says this
confessor, " I may not do evil that good may come — I may
not do 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 children,
and whatsoever else is here concerned, into thy hand from
whom I received them. Lord, have mercy upon me, and
assist me forever to keep faith and a good conscience."
One good man braced himself up for the crisis, by preach
ing to his people for several successive Sabbaths from the
words of Paul to the suffering Hebrews, " Ye took joyfully
the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye
have in heaven a better and an enduring substance."
Another, who had a wife and ten children, fortified himself
by reflecting on that consolatory passage in our Lord's
Sermon on the Mount, where he bids his followers take
no thought for the morrow, and chides their distrust in
Providence by an appeal to the birds of the air and the
19*

222 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
lilies of the field ; and when this excellent individual was
asked how he would maintain his large family, he replied,
" They must live on the sixth chapter of Matthew."*
At length the feast of St. Bartholomew arrived. It was
with an aching heart that many a one arose that morning.
With what deep feeling must the pastor have prayed in
his closet— the father in his family ! That day dawned
on them in plenty ; it would close on them in pauperism.
We are told of the immense congregations that assembled
to hear the farewell discourses, and of the numbers who
were melted to tears. The ejected ministers had to preach
funeral sermons over their own ministry. Their official
charader now ceased. Henceforth their lips in public
must be sealed, as with the touch of death. This gave
unwonted force and pathos to their ministrations, and no
one can wonder that the listening multitudes were melted
into tears. Some of the sermons are preserved, and they
are remarkable for the singleness of purpose which they
display. The preacher evidently aims alone at the edifica
tion of his people on this last opportunity of addressing
them. There is a striking absence in their discourses of
every thing like party feeling, of invectives against their
enemies, of attempts to excite pity for themselves. Their
personal allusions are few, simple, manly, and dignified.
" I know," said the eminent Dr. Bates in his farewell ser
mon, " I know you expect I should say something as to
my Nonconformity ; I shall only say thus much — it is nei
ther fancy, faction, or humor that makes me not to com
ply, but merely for fear of offending God. And if after
the best means used for my illumination, as prayer to God,
discourse, or study, I am not able to be satisfied concern
ing the lawfulness of what is required, — if it be my unhap
piness to be in error, surely men will have no reason to be
* Non. Memorial, vol. ii. p. 312.

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 223
angry with me in this world, and I hope God will pardon
me in the next."*
" Brethren," exclaims Mr. Lye, " I could 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 Bish
ops, 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 subscribed with a good conscience I would :
I would do any thing to keep myself in the work of God,
but to sin against God, I dare not do it." In meeting the
charge of disaffection to the government, Mr. Atkin ob
serves, " Let him never be accounted a sound Christian
that doth not fear God and honor the King. I beg that
you will not interpret our Nonconformity to be an act of
unpeaceableness and disloyalty. We will do any thing for
bis Majesty but sin. We will hazard any thing for him
but our souls. We hope we could die for him, only we
dare not be damned for him. We make no question,
however we may be accounted of here, we shall be found
loyal and obedient subjects at our appearance before
God's tribunal."f
Men who could talk thus and act, must have felt, as the
feast of Bartholomew closed upon them, a conscious in
tegrity, and a self-respect which compensated for their tem
poral losses. Some ministers who had conformed, once
met Mr. Christopher Jackson of Crossby, on the Hill in
Westmoreland, an ejected brother, and taunted him with
* These Sermons were preached the Sunday before St. Bartholo
mew's day.
f See " Sermons by Ejected Ministers."

224 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
his threadbare coat. " If it be bare," he rejoined, " it has
never been turned." And truly a man whose soul is
clothed with an untorn conscience, though his attire be
that of a beggar, may walk through the world with a more
portly bearing and princely step than he whose ragged con
science is covered with the costliest robes ! Some of the
parishioners of these ministers wondered at their scruples.
" Ah ! Mr. Heywood," said a countryman, addressing the
Vicar of Ormskirk, " we would gladly have you preach
still in the church." " Yes," said he, " I would as gladly
preach as you can desire it, if I could do it with a safe
conscience." " Oh, sir," replied the man, " many now-a-
days make a great gash in their consciences : cannot you
make a little nick in yours ?" And some of the very indi
viduals who were in the first instance the loudest in con
demning conformity, and in leading their brethren to the
edge of the Rubicon, and persuading them to make the de
cisive plunge, when it came to the point to do the thing
themselves, shrank back from the danger, and blamed the
men whom they had before cheered on. " Never con
form! never conform !" said the Rector of Burnham to Mr.
Clopton, who had the living of Reckondon, " Never con
form, Sir!" but when St. Bartholomew's day came, this
zealous adviser could not find it in his heart to sacrifice his
tithes and his glebe. He then wrote to Mr. Clopton, and
told him to remember that Reckondon was a good hving ;
but the minister, who had been at first less excited about
the matter than his neighbor, wrote back word that " he
hoped he should keep a good conscience." The men who,
with integrity and uprightness, sacrificed their livings, se
cured for themselves a much better inheritance than the
men who, on the principles of expediency, conformed and
retained their benefices.
Men who could act with such principle, must also have

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 225
endeared themselves more than ever to their pious parish
ioners. The moral heroism they displayed on St. Bartholo
mew's day, must have appeared more impressive than any
of their sermons. Sublimity now seemed blended with
their gentler pastoral qualities. With more than usual
reverence, and with not less affection, must the groups
have gathered round them as they left the church that af
ternoon, to return for the last time to the parsonage —
" The service past, around the pious man,
With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran :
Even children followed with endearing wile,
And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile ;
His ready smile a parent's warmth exprest,
Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distrest ;
To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given ;
But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven :
As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm :
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head."
The 24th of August perhaps was the most trying day
to the ejected ministers, for then as men of God they sur
rendered their spiritual charge ; but the day when they left
their homes, endeared by the domestic associations of past
happy years, could not fail to affect them deeply, for then
came their trial as husbands and fathers. No artist that
I know of has painted the Nonconformist and his family
leaving the parsonage, though it would form an interest
ing subject for his pencil ; nor has any poet selected it as
the theme for his muse, but the well-known lines in Gold
smith's Deserted Village may be accommodated to the in
cident, and will bring before us the picture with touching
beauty. " Good heaven ! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day,
That call'd them from their native walks away,

226 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
When the poor exiles, every pleasure past,
Hung round the bowers, and fondly looked their last.
With loudest plaints the mother spoke her woes,
And blest the cot where every pleasure rose,
And kiss'd her thoughtless babes with many a tear,
And clasp'd them close, in sorrow doubly dear ;
While her fond husband strove to lend relief,
In all the silent manliness of grief."
Upon the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry
VIIL, and upon the deprivation of the Popish priests under
Elizabeth, some provision was made for their necessities ;
and when any one of the Episcopal clergy, during the
Commonwealth, was dismissed from his living, a fifth of
his former income was reserved for his use, but no con
sideration of this kind was shown to the ministers who
were ejected by the act of Uniformity. Numbers of them
were therefore reduced to perfect poverty.
Some interesting facts have been preserved relative to
their sufferings, and the remarkable interpositions of Provi
dence in their behalf: but what a multitude of such facts
in the history of two thousand families or more must have
passed into oblivion !
" Not long after the year 1662, Mr. Grove, a gentleman
of great opulence, whose seat was near Birdbush, upon
his wife's laying dangerously ill, sent to his parish minis
ter to pray with her. When the messenger came he
was just gone out with the hounds, and sent word he
would come when the hunt was over. Mr. Grove ex
pressing much resentment against the minister for choos
ing rather to follow his diversions than attend one of his
flock in such circumstances, one of the servants took the
liberty to say, ' 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 asking him whether he ever did or could pray,

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 227
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.' He was then desired
to pray with the sick lady ; which he did so pertinently to
her case, with such fluency and fervor of devotion, as
greatly to astonish the husband and all the family who
were present. When they arose from their knees, the
gentleman addressed him to this effect : " Your language
and manner discover you to be a very different person
from what your 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.' Upon which he told him he was one of the minis
ters who 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 employ
ment of tending sheep. On 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
(for that was the shepherd's name) preached and gath
ered a congregation of Dissenters."*
After the ejectment of Mr. Perkins, vicar of Burley in
Rutlandshire, he often travelled on the Lord's day several
miles from home to preach, and got ten shillings for his
day's service, which for a great while was the most that
he had to support his family. He was often in straits.
At one time a niece of his whom he had brought up, going
after her marriage to visit him, in the course of free con
versation with her, he said, " Child, how much do you
think I have to keep my family ? — but a poor threepence."
After which, she appearing affected, he with a great deal
of cheerfulness cried out : " Fear not ; God will provide ;"
and in a httle time a gentleman's servant knocked at the
* Palmer's Nonconformist Memorial, vol. iii. p. 363.

228 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
door, who brought him a side of venison for a present, to
gether with some wheat and malt.
Mr. Maurice, rector of Shelton in Shropshire, was some
times reduced to great straits, whilst he lived at Shrews
bury after his ejectment. Once, when he had been very
thoughtful, and was engaged in prayer with his family,
suiting some petitions to their necessitious case, a. carrier
knocked at the door, inquired for him, and delivered to him
a handful of money untold, as a present from some friends,
but would not tell who they were.*
These are but specimens of the legendary tales handed
down respecting the Bartholomew confessors. Some, in
deed, may look on them as fictions ; but those who thor
oughly believe the assurance of the Divine Redeemer,
that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous
ness, all needful things shall be added unto us, will read
ily allow the probability, the verisimilitude of such state
ments ; nor can any fair suspicion be entertained respect
ing the veracity, the means of information, the good sense,
and habits of careful inquiry possessed by the men who
have related these incidents. If we believe (and who that
reads the New Testament can disbelieve it ?) that a special
providence watches over those who strive to do God's will,
and rest upon his promises, we shall be prepared to admit
remarkable interpositions on behalf of men who signal
ized themselves by their religious integrity. Instead of
there being an antecedent improbability against such
facts, they are the very facts which Divine Revelation
stamps with a striking likelihood.
The pecuniary difficulties, however, in which the Act
of Uniformity involved so many devoted men, were only the
beginning of sorrows ; their reputation, their personal lib
erty and their lives were soon in jeopardy. For these
* See Palmer's Nonconformist Memorial, vol. iii. pp. 133, 160.

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 229
silenced ministers to preach to their late parishioners and
friends, for them even to pray with a few devout spirits like
themselves, was deemed a crime. Their words were often
caught up, and with diabolical ingenuity construed into
treason. If some quaint preacher spoke of the devil as a
king who courts the soul, and speaks fair till he has ob
tained his throne, the metaphorical language was grossly
perverted, and there were informers ready to declare that
the good man said the King was like the Evil One.* Trea
son, heresy, schism, were unscrupulously charged upon
this proscribed class, and the malicious were never at a
loss for pretexts to compass their purposes. Ruffians were
ready to execute the bidding of inhuman magistrates and
informers, and would rush into the houses of ejected min
isters while they were praying with their families, and
levelling a pistol at the back of the suppliant, command
him in the King's name to rise and surrender himself.-)-
Dragged before prejudiced justices of the peace to answer
charges equally vague and false, these Puritans were
treated with a brutality which in the present day appears
incredible. When, for example, one of these confessors
was pleading his own cause, an alderman rose from the
bench, tore off the satin cap worn by the accused, and
boxed his ears. J The ejected ministers were sometimes
conducted through the streets by constables after the man
ner of criminals, and compelled to walk long distances to
prison, till their feet were pierced through their worn-out
shoes, and stained with blood.} A memorable story is
* Palmer's Nonconformist Memorial, vol. iii. p. 163. The fact which
is here related occurred before the Act of Uniformity ; but it shows the
animus by which the persecutors ofthe Puritans were ever influenced.
f Palmer, vol. ii. p. 158. t Ibid. vol. ii. p. 207.
$ The attempt to impose silence on these men by confining them in
jails often proved in vain ; for many instances are recorded of their
preaching through the gratings of their prison windows.
20

230 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
told of one of these worthies, illustrative of the inhumanity
of his persecutors and of his own beautiful Christian spirit.
Thomas Worts was curate of Burningham in Norfolk.
Being apprehended after his ejectment by a writ De ex
communicato capiendo, he was brought from Burningham
to Norwich Castle with his legs chained under the horse's
belly. Entering that old wall-girt city through St. Augus
tine's gate, wliich with its square tower guarded one of the
northern entrances, he was watched by a woman looking
from a chamber window, who exclaimed in derision, as he
passed close by her, " Worts, where's now your God ?"
" Turn," said the injured man, " to Micah vii. 10, ' Then
she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover
her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God 1
Mine eye shall behold her : now shall she be trodden down
as the mire of the streets.' " It is added, that the woman,
touched by this allusion, ceased from her enmity, and be
came a kind friend to the man whom she had insulted.*
Worts had a brother named Richard, who in like manner
was apprehended, and was imprisoned for seven years.
Part of this time was spent in Norwich Castle, in a miser
able cell containing six prisoners besides himself, with
wickets looking into the felons' yard, which were constantly
kept open, or the inmates would have been stifled with
the fumes of the charcoal burnt in that cold damp place.
" If his wife came to see one of the captives, he was called
down to the door, and the keeper used to set his back
against one side of the doorway and his foot against the
other, so as to prevent her entrance any farther."f The
plague was raging at the time ; the filth "and stench of
the prison were alone enough to create a pestilence. The
* Palmer, vol. iii. p. 2. A similar story is related of Mr. Norman of
Bridgewater. t Ibid. vol. iii. p 4.

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 231
close confiement of the prisoners seriously affected their
health ; one was in imminent danger ; and under these
circumstances application was made for at least a tempo
rary release — but in vain.
In the year following that ih which the Act of Unifor
mity was passed, another statue was made for the oppres
sion of tlie Nonconformists. Under pretence of prevent
ing riotous assemblies, such as had recently troubled the
peace of Yorkshire and Westmorland, in which a few of
the Fifth Monarchy men were implicated, it was enacted
that if more than five persons, besides the members of a
family, met together for religious exercises, anywhere
but in the churches of the Establishment, the offenders
should in the first instance be fined five pounds, or be im
prisoned three months ; in the second, pay ten pounds or
suffer imprisonment for six months ; and in the third, for
feit* a hundred pounds or be sent over the seas for seven
years. The Act did not remain a dead letter in the statue-book.
In many places it was carried out with extreme rigor.
The Nonconformists were carefully watched ; spies were
set to discover were they worshipped, and inform the local
authorities. Men calling themselves officers of justice
were prompt in endeavoring to arrest the parties, and in
flict the penalty.- The records of the Church at Broad-
mead, Bristol, contain several notices of the operation of
the Act. As the people met at one Mr. Yeats's house, a
baker, in Maryport Street, the house was beset by the
mayor and several aldermen, who demanded entrance;
but the door being kept close, they forced it open with iron
bars ; some of the worshippers escaped at the back of the
premises, others were seized and sent to prison. " We
were hunted by the Nimrods," observe these humble con
fessors, " and assaulted many a time by men. but saved by

232 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
God." One day, on a week meeting, a guard of musket
eers was sent to take them into custody ; but, getting
down into a cellar, they eluded their enemies' search.
" Another time, at brother Ellis's, on a Lord's day, the
mayor and aldermen, with officers, beset the house, and
at last broke open the back door, and so came in ; but in
the meantime our brother having contrived, by a great
cupboard, to hide a garret door, he sent up most of the
men out of the meeting into the said garret ; and so we
were concealed." The Nonconformists in country villages
sometimes avoided detection by assembling in some ma
norial hall belonging to one of the richer brethren ; and
there, at the midnight hour, the ejected pastor gathered
round him some of his scattered flock, and refreshed their
hearts by the sound of his familiar voice, but infinitely
more by the truths he uttered. Thus, in the great hall at
Hudscott, belonging to the family of the Rolles, near
South Moulton, in Devonshire, did John Flavel address
a crowded auditory. Supported by the hospitality, and
screened by the influence, of the owner of the mansion,
he there resided for some time ; and amidst the plantations,
gardens, and rural scenes which environed the spot, gath
ered the materials of his " Husbandry Spiritualized ;" so
that it is highly probable he furnished in his midnight
exercises many of those ingenious illustrations, so suited
to the tastes and habits of his rustic flock, which are found
in the popular work just mentioned. The recesses of the
dark wood offered a still more secure, and in some seasons,
even a more grateful sanctuary ; and beneath the shades
of lofty pines, or overhanging elms, or round the gnarled
trunks of oaks that had stood for ages, forming temples of
God's own building, — the persecuted brotherhood assem
bled to hear the word of God ; and there, too, at times,
without fear, and freely as the birds on the branches,

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 233
would they lift up their voices to heaven, and chant the
high praises of their Creator. So did a group of Christians
at Andover meet in a sequestered dell, amidst a wide-
spreading wood, four miles from the town, while the clear
shining stars, or the pale moon, guided them to their re
treat. The same little company afterwards assembled in
a private dwelling-house, selecting the night as the season
for worship. " It was when the eye of human observation
was closed by sleep, that they ventured to the room ; and
having entered it, made fast the door and closed the win
dow shutter, and even extinguished the light of the candle,
lest its glimmering might be discovered through a crevice,
by some stray enemy from without. Here they often con
tinued all night in prayer to God, until the ray of morning
light, struggling down the chimney, announced the time
to disperse. Thus they learnt that the darkness hideth
not from God, but the night shineth as the day ; and that
the Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward us openly."*
But the cleverest precautions sometimes failed. In
many cases they were altogether neglected, and the wor
shippers exposed themselves to detection, from a conscious
ness that they were only obeying the laws of God, however
their conduct might be regarded by the laws of men. It
touched the heart of Mr. Pepys, High Churchman as he
was, to see these unoffending persons led through the
streets as culprits. He writes in his Journal, under date
1664, " I saw several poor creatures carried by constables,
for being at a conventicle. They go like lambs, without
any resistance ; and would to God they would either
conform, or be more wise, and not be catched."
Such were the consequences of the Restoration of
Charles II. " Fiat justitia, ruat ccelum," said a zealous
* Pearsall's Outlines of Congregationalism, with a Sketch of its Rise
In Andover, p. 94. 20*

234 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Presbyterian Royalist, when conversing with a friend upon
the question of bringing in his Majesty : " Ruat coelum,"
remarked this friend, on meeting him one day after the
Act of Uniformity was passed.*
* Palmer, vol. ii. p. 432.

CHAPTER X.
THE PLAGUE YEAR.

" And though it is true that a great many of the clergy did shut up
their churches, and fled, as other people did, for the safety of their
lives, yet all did not do so : some ventured to officiate. . . . And Dissen
ters did thc like also, even in the very churches where the parish min
isters were either dead or fled ; nor was there any room for making
any difference at such a time as this was." — Defoe.

The year 1665 was an awful period in the annals of
London. During the two previous years the plague had
raged hi Holland, and reports of that dire calamity had
formed the staple of many a conversation by the firesides
of England. People had heard from their parents of a
similar visitation in their own country, in the days of King
James. Cases of plague, too, it was believed, had fre
quently occurred at home since then ; and therefore the
tidings of the Continental pestilence might well fill them
with alarm. Two men sickened in Drury Lane, Decem
ber, 1664. On inquiry, headache, fever, a burning sensa
tion in the stomach, dimness of sight, and, above all, the
livid spots upon the chest, indicated beyond all dispute
that the plague had reached London. The affecting in
telligence soon spread. The weekly bills of mortality for
the next four months exhibited an increase of deaths.
The fears of the public rose to a higher pitch. The
month of May showed that the dreaded disease was con-

236 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
tinuing and extending its ravages ; and in the last week
of June, 276 persons fell victims to the destroyer. The
plague had indeed come, and was spreading its wings over
the great city. Men fled in terror ; coaches and other
vehicles were seen hastening along the highways, filled
with those whose means enabled them to change their
residence. But multitudes remained, especially persons
of the poorer class, who, crowded together in narrow
streets and alleys, seemed marked out by the Angel of
Death as his certain prey ; among them his ravages were
most awful ; they chiefly swelled the amount of deaths
reported from week to week, rising from hundreds to
thousands, till during the month of September, the terrific
number of 10,000, at least, was the weekly average of
the bills of mortality. In one night, it is said, 4000 died,
— a night long to be remembered. One shop after another,
one dwelling after another, was closed. The long red
cross, with the words, " Lord, have mercy upon us," in
scribed on the door, indicated that within Death was do
ing his work. The watchmen appointed by the magis
trates stood at the entrance, armed with halberts, to pre
vent all communication between the inmates and other
persons ; and thus to limit, as far as possible, the spread
of contagion. Instead of the busy crowds that once lined
the thoroughfares, a few persons might be seen walking
cautiously along in the middle of the path, fearful of each
other's touch. " The highways were forsaken, and the
travellers walked in byeways." A coach was rarely met,
save when, with curtains closely drawn, it conveyed some
plague-stricken mortal to the pest-house. The wain, la
den with timber and other materials, had disappeared ; for
men had no heart to build ; and the half-finished structure
was left in premature ruin. The cart bearing provision
came not within the city gate ; the market was held in

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 237
the outskirts, where the seller feared to touch the money
of tlie buyer, till it had been dropped into a vessel of vine
gar. In many of the streets the grass sprung up, and a
fearful silence brooded everywhere, in harmony with the
wide-spread desolation. The London cries, the sounds of
music, the murmur of cheerful groups, the din of business,
had ceased. That deep solitude, in a great city, must
have been overwhelming. And how must the lonely pas
senger, as he walked along, have shuddered while now
and then this portentous silence was broken as there
darted from an open window the shrieks of some misera
ble being, in the agony of disease or bereavement ! In
some cases no human sounds, even of terror, broke the
awful tranquillity of the scene. Whole streets were
desolate — the doors left open — the windows shattering
with the wind — the houses empty — the inmates gone.
Suddenly did the disease smite the patient. Sometimes'
they suddenly dropped in the streets ; others, perhaps, had
time to go to the next stall or porch, " and just sit down
and die." The man who drove the death-cart expired on
his way to tho huge pit dug for the reception of thousands,
or fell down dead upon the heap of corpses that he was
tumbling into that rude place of burial. A person went
home, hale and strong ; " at even-tide there was trouble,
and before the morning he was not." As the mother
nursed the babe, the purple spot appeared on her breast ;
and in a short time the helpless little one would be cling
ing to its lifeless parent — to follow her, in a few brief mo
ments, to another world. Every man who was affected
with sickness naturally thought his hour was come ; and
who but must be deeply affected with the following pas
sage in Pepys's Diaiy : " June 17. It struck me very
deep this afternoon, going with a hackney-coach down
Holborn, from the Lord Treasurer's, the coachman I found

238 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
to drive easily and easily, and at last stood still, and came
down, hardly able to stand, and told me he was suddenly
struck very sick, and almost blind, he could not see ; so I
light and went into another coach, with a sad heart for the
poor man, and for myself also, lest he should have been
struck with the plague."
In some cases the disease lurked for several days in the
system without discovering itself, yet all the while proving
contagious ; " and it was very sad to reflect how such a
person had been a walking destroyer, perhaps for a week
or fortnight — how he had ruined those whom he would
have hazarded his life to save, and had been breathing
death upon them, even, perhaps, in his tender kissings and
embracings of his own children." When the disease
reached its crisis, it was often attended with delirium in
the most appalling forms, and the pitiable sufferers would
start from their beds — rave on the passer-by whom they
saw from the opened casement, — perhaps rush down-stairs
— burst into the street, — screaming in the most terrific
manner, — then haste to the river, and there terminate their
earthly agonies by suicide. Awful as were the real hor
rors of the plague year, they were augmented by excited
imagination. Men saw in the heavens portentous forms,
blazing stars, and angels with flaming swords ; and on the
earth they discerned spectres in significant and menacing
attitudes. Some fancied themselves inspired ; one of these
persons made the silent streets ring with the deep cry, " Yet
forty days, and London shall be destroyed." And another,
with nothing but a girdle round his loins, and bearing a
vessel of burning coal . upon his head, paced the city by
night and by day, exclaiming, " Oh the great and dreadful
God !" There were individuals, even as amidst tlie plague
of Athens, '• who spent their days in merriment and folly
— who feared neither the displeasure of God nor the laws

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 239
of men ; — not the former, because they deemed it the same
thing whether they worshipped or neglected to do so, see
ing that all in common perished : — not the latter, because
no one expected his life would last till he received the pun
ishment of his crimes."* But the greater number of the
population looked on the calamity in the hght of a judg
ment from God, trembled at his displeasure, and sought
his mercy. Multitudes were ready to welcome religious
instruction, by whomsoever conveyed. Those, whose
health continued, thronged to hear the preaching of the
Gospel ; and such as were smitten by disease, but capable
of holding conversation, were glad of the visits of the
Christian minister. There was a wide field opened for
the exercise of diligence and zeal. Some of the conform
ing Clergy availed themselves of the opportunity to attend
to the spiritual wants of their dying flocks, but others of a
different temper fled from the scene of suffering. When
one of the pastors fell sick, it was no easy thing to supply
his lack of service.
" Mr. Partington," says Dr. Bing, writing to a friend,
" lies at the point of death, whose turn being to officiate
this week I supply — for none else would do it except they
were paid for it. Little mercy, the Lord be merciful to
us ! I wish it were as formerly, which was not so in such
cases of necessity." From the same writer it appears,
that the Bishop of London found it necessary to threaten
the refugees with expulsion from their livings if they did
not resume their posts. " It is said my Lord Bishop of
London hath sent to those pastors that have quitted their
flocks by reason of these times, that if they return not
speedily, others will be put into their places, "f
The vacant churches — the neglected parishes — the dying
souls — the awakened multitudes, presented opportunities
* Thucydides, ii. 54. f Ellis's Letters, vol. iv.

240 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
of usefulness to some of the ejected Puritans, of which
they were not slow to avail themselves. Their labors
during the plague year were worthy of their heroism, and
deserve to be held in honorable remembrance. To a
brief record of them, the present chapter is devoted.
The most remarkable of these philanthropists, at least
the person of whose exertions we have the fullest account,
was Mr. Thomas Vincent. He had been a student at
Christ Church, when Dr. Owen was dean, and on leaving
the University he became chaplain to the Earl of Leicester.
He succeeded Mr. Case in the living of St. Mary Mag
dalen, Milk Street, from which he was ejected by the Act
of Uniformity. In his retirement he devoted himself most
earnestly to the study of the Scriptures, and committed to
memory the book of Psalms, together with the whole of
the New Testament ; observing to his friends, that he did
not know but they who had taken from him his pulpit,
might, in time, demand his Bible also." When the plague
broke out he was residing at Islington, as an assistant in
the academy of Mr. Doolittle, — a situation for which his
attainments eminently qualified him. The pestilence, for
some time, did not penetrate into this retired village ; and
therefore Mr. Vincent, while residing there, was compar
atively safe from infection. But sympathy with the suf
ferers in the great city proved a stronger feeling in this
good man's bosom than a regard for his own safety ; and
he acquainted Mr. Doolittle with his design to quit his
academic employment, and devote himself to the visitation
of the sick. The latter endeavored to dissuade him, by
representing the hazard he would run ; told him he thought
that he had no call to it, as he was otherwise employed ;
and urged that it was advisable he should reserve himself
for further service to the young in that station in which
Providence had placed him. But Mr. Vincent not being

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 241
convinced by the arguments of his friend, it Was deter
mined to seek the advice of certain ministerial brethren.
On meeting them, Mr. Vincent observed, that he had very
seriously considered the matter before he had come to a
resolution ; that he had carefully examined the state of
his own soul, and could look death in the face with com
fort. He thought it was absolutely necessary that such
vast numbers of dying people should •Jaaje some spiritual
assistance. " He said he catild have risa prospect of
service in the exercise of, his ministry, through his whole
life, like that which now . offered itself. - He had often
committed the case sjtid himself to God. vd prayer, and,
upon the whole, had/solemnly devoted nihyself to God and
souls, upon this occasion ; and thereftirp hoped none of
them would endeaitor. to weaken* .his Jaands in this work."
The ministers listei\ed with '.-, satisfaction to these noble
sentiments, unanimou»^can£Bired in approving his reso
lution, and then earnestly committed him to God's care
and blessing. This memorable city missionary devoted
himself to his work with zeal, and pursued it with patience.
Every day he went from house to house, visiting the sick ;
every Sabbath he preached in some parish church.
His book, entitled " God's Terrible Voice in the City,"
presents some most graphic accounts of the effects of the
pestilence. " We could hardly go forth," he observes,
" without meeting many coffins, and seeing diseased per
sons limping in the streets. Amongst other sad spectacles,
methought two were very affecting. One of a woman
coming alone, and weeping by the door where I lived
(which was in the midst of the infection), with a little
coffin under her arm, carrying it to the new churchyard.
I did judge that it was the mother ofthe child, and that all
the family besides was dead, and she was forced to coffin
up and to bury with her own hands this her last dead
21

242 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
child. Another was of a man at the corner of Artillery-
wall, that, as I judge through the dizziness of his head
with the disease, which seized upon him there, had dashed
his face against the wall, and when I came by, he lay
hanging with his bloody face over the rails, and bkeding
upon the ground ; and as I came back he was removed
under a tree in Moorfields, and lay upon his back. I
went and spake to him ; he could make no answer, but
rattled in the throat, and, as I was informed, within half
an hour died in the place." The miseries which this man
of God witnessed during the plague year he details at
considerable length, but Sfys little respecting his own
labors, which are known to have been " more abundant."
In the following passage relating to the pestilence in his
own family, the incidental allusion to his daily visits,
brings fhe good man vividly before us in his walks of
mercy :— " At last we were visited — the cup was put into
our hand to drink. And first our maid was smitten. I
had been abroad to see a friend in the city, whose husband
was newly dead of the plague — and she herself visited
with it. I came back to see another whose wife was dead
of the plague, and he himself under apprehensions that he
should die within a few hours : I came home, and the
maid was on her death-bed. What was an interest in
Christ worth then ! What a privilege to have a title to
the kingdom of heaven !" Seven persons in the house died,
and their expressions in their last moments proved how
strongly they v/eia supported by the consolations of Chris
tianity. Mr. Vincent states as remarkable, that it was
generally observed how peacefully God's people died
during that awful season—" that they died with such com
fort as Christians do not ordinarily arrive unto, except
when they are called forth to suffer martyrdom for the
testimony of Jesus Christ. Some," he adds, " who have

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 243
been full of doubts, and fears, and complaints, whilst they
have lived and been well, have been filled with assurance,
and comfort, and praise, and joyful expectations of glory,
when they have laid on their death-beds by this disease,
And not only more grown Christians who have been more
ripe for glory have had these comforts, but also some
younger Christians, whose acquaintance with the Lord
hath been of no long standing."
He says but little of his own pulpit efforts, though they
were so extraordinary, that it was a general inquiry
every week where he would preach on the following
Sunday — and thpugh, among the multitudes who crowded
the churches to hear him, many persons were awakened
by every sermon. But he describes, generally, the motives
which influenced the Puritan preachers to occupy the pul
pits vacated by their endowed brethren, and the powerful
excitement which their preaching produced. It is quite
certain that what he states of others in these respects was
true of himself. "Perceiving the churches to be open,
and pulpits to be open, and finding pamphlets flung about
the streets of ' Pulpits to be let,' they judged that the law
of God and nature did now dispense with, yea, command
their preaching in public places, though the law of man
(it is to be supposed in ordinary cases) did forbid them to
do. Surely," argues this silenced Nonconformist, " surely,
if there had been a law that none should practise physic in
the city but such as were licensed by the College of Phy
sicians, and most of those, when there was the greatest
need of them, should in the time of the plague have retired
into the country, and other physicians who had as good skill
in physic, and no licence, should have stayed among the
sick, none would have judged it to have been breach of law,
iu such an extraordinary case, to endeavor by their prac
tice, though without a licence, to save the lives of those

244 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
who by good care and physic were capable of a cure ; and
they could hardly have freed themselves from the guilt of
murder of many bodies, if for a nicety of law in such a case
of necessity they should have neglected to administer phy
sic : — the case was the same with the unlicensed ministers,
which stayed when so many of the licensed ones were gone ;
and as the need of souls was greater than the need of bodies,
the sickness of the one being more universal and dangerous
than the sickness of the other — and the saving or losing
of the soul being so many degrees beyond the preservation
or death ofthe body; so the obligation upon ministers was
stronger, and the motive to preach greater ; and for them
to have incurred the guilt of soul-murder by their neglect
to administer soul-physic, would have been more heinous
and unanswerable. That they were called by the Lord
into public, I suppose that few of any seriousness will deny,
when the Lord did so eminently own them in giving many
seals of their ministry unto them.
" Now they are preaching, and every sermon was unto
them as if they were preaching their last. Old Time
seems now to stand at the head of the pulpit, with its great
scythe, saying, with a hoarse voice, ' Work while it is
called to-day, at night I will mow thee down.' Grim
Death seems to stand at the side of the pulpit with its
sharp arrow, saying, ' Do thou shoot God's arrows, and I
will shoot mine.' The Grave seems to lie open at the
foot of the pulpit, with dust in her bosom, saying : —
" ' Louden thy cry
To God,
To men,
And now fulfil thy trust ;
Here thou must lye ;
Mouth stopt,
Breath gone,
And silent in the dust.' "

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 245
Large churches were crowded to suffocation, as Vincent
and his brethren preached the Gospel, under the influence
of these exciting thoughts. 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 counte
nances looking up to the pulpit — the Puritan divine in his
plain black gown and cap — the reading ofthe 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 divis
ion 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 to eternity ; — for
who but must have felt his exposure to the infection while
sitting amidst that promiscuous audience ? 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 ad
mitted, that the discourses 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 religious
concern which they manifested ? and who that takes into
account the peculiar circumstances of the preachers, la
boring without emolument at the hazard of their lives,
but must applaud their apostolic zeal ? Nor can it be de
nied, 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 labors of these men of God. " Through the
blessing of God," observes Richard Baxter, " abundance
21*

246 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
were converted from their carelessness, impenitency, and
youthful lusts and vanities, and religion took such a hold
on many hearts as could never afterwards be loosed."
And it is further worthy of notice, that the persons who
were thus busily employed for the good of others during
the plague year, escaped the malady. Mr. Vincent, as
appears from the foregoing narrative, was remarkably
preserved. Three persons died in his house, but he re
mained untouched. Baxter mentions, that three minis
ters of extraordinary worth, Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Cradock,
and Mr. Terry, were together in one house into which
the plague entered, but through the providence of God
they were delivered, in answer, as he considers, to fervent
prayer on their behalf.
Other methods of usefulness besides preaching were
employed by these apostolic men. In a volume of old
broadsheets in the British Museum, may be seen, " Short
Instructions for the Sick, especially who, by contagion or
otherwise, are deprived ofthe presence of a faithful pastor.
By Richard Baxter. Written in the Great Plague Year,
1666." It is full of soul-stirring appeals such as Baxter
knew how to write, and was intended to be pasted on the
cottage-wall, as a faithful monitor to the plague-stricken
inmates. The plague in London began to decline in the latter
part of September. At the end of the year it ceased.
The city soon filled again, and resumed its wonted aspect
of activity and bustle. The beneficed clergy who had fled
reappeared in their pulpits. The minister of St. Olave's,
where Pepys attended, was the first to leave and the last
to return. That minute chronicler informs us, that he
went with his wife to church to hear this divine preach
for the first time to his long-neglected flock, and that he
" made a veiy poor and short excuse, and a bad sermon."

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 247
The plague was not confined to London. Many places
suffered from its visitations, and were, at the same time,
the scenes of ministerial self-denial and activity . A touch
ing story is told respecting the prevalence of the disease
at Eyam, a little village in Derbyshire, and the heroism of
tho clergyman. His name is deserving of grateful re
membrance ; and in connection with his, the name of the
ejected minister of the same parish, who, though generally
forgotten, greatly signalized himself by his exertions. A
box of cloth was sent from London to a tailor at Eyam,
who, soon after he had taken out the contents, fell sick,
and died. The pestilence presently swept away all in the
house save one. It spread from cottage to cottage, and
filled them with mourning and lamentation. Every day
fresh victims fell — one whole family perished with the ex
ception of a little boy. A grave-stone still remains to tell
the story, — seven persons of the name of Hancock, it ap-
. pears from the inscription, died within eight days. The
churchyard was not sufficient for the burial of the dead.
Graves were dug in the fields, and on the hill-side, where
the putrid corpses were hastily interred. The clergyman
was Mr. Monpesson, a young man of twenty-eight. His
wife, alarmed for the safey of her beloved husband and
their two sweet children, besought him to flee from the
fearful scourge ; but the minister of Eyam was devoted to
his office, and would not leave his flock, though it was to
save his live. His zeal, however, was associated with
a tender regard for his family, and he earnestly desired the
removal of his wife and httle ones to some place of secu
rity. But with the heroism of a woman's love, while she
sought his safety, she was prepared to share his danger ;
and, agreeing to the removal of the children, she was re
solved to remain in the parsonage, to cheer her husband's
heart, and aid him in his exertions. And there they were

248 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
for seven months ministering spirits of mercy. While the
Angel of Death was ravaging the village, Monpesson
sought to prevent the extension of the disease. In con
junction with the Earl of Devonshire, his patron, who re
sided at Chatsworth, he arranged that all communication
with the neighboring places should be cut off, and that the
inhabitants of Eyam should remain in the village, and
calmly await their fate ; that no one should go beyond a
boundary marked by certain stones, where people from
other parts came and left provisions, and where the buyer
was to put the money for the articles in a vessel of clear
spring, water. A line of circumvallation was thus drawn
around the place, and the people were as men besieged, ex
cept that the confinement was voluntary, and endured, not
for the sake of themselves, but others. Combining singu
lar prudence with his fervent zeal, Monpesson provided for
the continuance of religious services, without hazarding
the health of his parishioners by bringing them into a
crowded church. He performed the service in the open
air. In Cucklett Dale, beside a running brook, with a rock
for his pulpit, and craggy hills on one side, and lofty trees
on the other for the walls ofhis sanctuary, he and his flock
assembled for worship after the manner of the Cove
nanters. One can see him with his devoted wife sitting
by his side, and can well suppose what must have been the
calm energy of such a man in preaching at such a time.
He was wonderfully preserved from contagion, by means,
it was thought, of an incision in his legs, to which he was
persuaded to have recourse by her whose life was bound
up in his. The plague was just about to decline, and
health to be restored to the village when the noble-hearted
wife of Monpesson fell a victim to its power : and so the
joy that he felt on the disappearance of the pestilence, and
its limited range, effected through the blessing of God on

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 249
his wise precautions, was dashed with this bitter sorrow.
Disinterestedness seems to have been the very soul ofthis
good man's life, for when offered the Deanery of Lincoln
he declined it in favor of his friend Dr. Fuller.
This worthy minister of the Establishment deserves, as
he has received, the praises of posterity ; but let not Tho
mas Stanley, the minister who was ejected from the living
of Eyam by the Bartholomew Act, and who remained in
the village during the plague year, be forgotten. He
could not preach to the people whom he loved ; but by vis
itation, advice, and prayer, he sought to promote both their
temporal and spiritual interests. There were some who
looked with jealousy upon the efforts of this worthy Puritan,
and endeavored to persuade the Earl of Devonshire to re
move him from the place. Surely the generous Monpes
son could not have concurred in this intolerant recom
mendation ! But whoever might be the enemies of Mr.
Stanley, the Earl was his friend, and replied to their solic
itations by observing, " It is more reasonable that the
whole country should testify their thankfulness to him,
who, together with his care of the town, had taken such
care as none else did, to prevent the infection of the
towns adjacent." So that it appears Stanley is at least
entitled to a very large share of the credit of those ju
dicious plans exclusively ascribed to Monpesson.
These are instances of heroic activity. The history of
Puritanism also supplies examples of heroic endurance.
Samuel Shaw was ejected from the rectory of Long
Whatton, in Leicestershire. He retired to the small vil
lage of Coates, near Loughborough, and there engaged in
agricultural pursuits, for the support of his family. His
fields were ripe for the sickle ; the valleys were covered
over with corn, the little hills rejoiced on every side ; and
the good man shared in Nature's joy, as he looked upon

250 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
the smiling scenes which spread round his quiet homestead,
and anticipated the ingathering of the harvest; "little
dreaming," as he tells us, " of the plague, which was al
most a hundred miles off." Some Christian friends from
London came down to see him, and brought the infection :
for soon the plague-spot appeared in one of the members
of the household, and touched another, and another, till all
were smitten, and the farm cottage beca.me a pest-house.
People now dreaded to approach the place ; and the master
of the dwelling was anxious to prevent the spread of the
contagion. Thus he was shut up in that abode of suffer
ing for three months, tending the sick and performing
other painful offices, as his own health permitted ; for he
was himself affected by the malady, but mercifully restored.
Two of his children died, on whom he doated with a
fondness which, in a tone of very fervent spirituality, he
afterwards confessed and deplored. One of his servants
died ; two of his friends from London died. Thus five
out of ten at that time residing with him were cut off.
Though he must himself have been enfeebled by sickness,
there was no one else to perform the last rites of sepul
ture ; hence he turned his garden into a graveyard, and
with his own hands there buried the dead. What a scene
of desolation and sorrow, enough to crush the most elastic
spirit ! But Mr. Shaw was a choice example of the
heroism of endurance, sustained by the power of religion.
In the beautiful little volume he afterwards published, en
titled " Welcome to the Plague," which contains, in an
expanded form, a sermon he preached to his family while
suffering from the visitation, he describes his elevated
state of mind during that afflictive season. " Let me call
upon men and angels," he exclaims in the preface, " to
help me in celebrating the infinite and almighty grace and
goodness of the eternal and blessed God, who enabled me

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 251
to abide the day ofhis coming, to stand when He appeared,
and made me willing to suffer Him to sit as a refiner of
silver in my house — who carried me above all murmurings
against, I had almost said, all remembrance of those in
struments that conveyed the infection to me — who recon
ciled my heart to this disease, so that it seemed no more
grievous or noisome than any other — who subdued me to,
I had almost said, brought me in love with this passage of
the Divine will. I can remember (alas ! that I can say
little more than that I do remember) how my soul was
overpowered, yea, almost ravished, with the goodness,
holiness, and perfection of the will of God ; and verily
judged it my happiness and perfection, as well as my
duty, to comply cheerfully with it, and be moulded into it
— who gave me a most powerful and quick sense .of the
plague of a carnal heart, self-will, and inordinate creature-
love, convincing me that those were infinitely worse than
the plague in the flesh — who wonderfully preserved me
from the assaults of the devil, never let him loose so much
as to try his strength upon my integrity, to drive me to a
despondency or to any uncharitable conclusions concerning
my state — who enabled me to converse with his love and
mercy, in the midst of his chastening — to see his shining
and smiling face through this dark cloud ; yea, kept up
clear and steady persuasions in my soul, that I was be
loved of Him, though afflicted by Him — who knew my
soul in adversity, visited me when I was sick and in prison ;
refreshed, strengthened, and comforted my inner man in a
marvellous manner and measure, and made me appear to
myself never less shut up than when shut up. Oh, would
to God I might be never worse than when I was shut up
of the plague ! The not removing that affliction-frame I
shall account a greater blessing, and a more proper mercy,
than the removing that afflicted state — Who cleared up

252 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
my evidence in his Son, strengthened my evidences of his
love, and satisfied and assured my soul of its happy state,
more than at all times formerly. I had clearer and surer
evidences of Divine grace in that patient, self-denying,
self-submitting frame of spirit, than in all the duties that I
ever performed. The valley of tears brought me more
sight of my God, and more insight into myself, than ever
the valley of visions, all duties and ordinances, had done.
When the Sun of Righteousness arose on my soul, and
chased away all the mists and fogs of self-will and crea
ture-love, then also did all black and dismal fears, all
gloomy doubts, most sensibly flee before Him — Who sup
plied my family, from compassionate friends, with all
things needful for food and physic, (the Lord return it
sevenfold into their bosoms !) — Who maintained my health
in the midst of sickness, in the midst of so great a death !
I do not remember that either sorrow of mind, or sickness
of body, ever prevailed so much upon me, during three
months' seclusion, as to hinder me of my ordinary study,
repast, devotions, or my necessary attendance upon my
several infected rooms, and administering to the necessities
of my sick." These are sentiments such as never in
spired this world's heroes. They must surely awaken
the admiration of every reader, and induce a devout wish
that, amidst the calamities of life, he may sympathize with
this heavenly-minded Puritan in the enjoyment of such
Divine consolations. The secret cause of this elevated
tone of religious feeling was, no doubt, his habit of intense
devotion. His extraordinary depth of feeling, vigor of
thought, and felicity of expression in prayer, are particu
larly mentioned by an intimate friend ; and the circum
stances under which he sometimes prayed with his fellow-
confessors, in those days of persecution, were such as
to enhance the impressions which his devotional exercises

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 253
left upon their minds. What a picture does the following
passage supply ! " I have sometimes been in Mr. Shaw's
company for a whole night together, when we have been
obliged to steal to the place in the dark, stop out the light,
and stop in the voice, by clothing and fast closing the
windows, till tlie first daybreak down a chimney has given
us notice to be gone. I bless God for such seasons."
These Puritans were princes on the earth — for they had
power with God, and they prevailed !
Such were some of the Puritans of the plague year. —
What were Charles and his Parliament doing at Oxford,
while disease ravaged the kingdom, and the persecuted
Nonconformists exhibited edifying examples of piety, and
labored to supply tlie lack of service on the part of their
endowed brethren ? It might have been expected that at
such a time the cords of persecution would be relaxed ;
yet it was in this very plague year that the Five-mile Act
was passed. This infamous statute enacted that no one
in holy orders should be allowed to fill the office of tutor
or schoolmaster, or to come within five miles of any city,
corporate town, or borough sending members to parlia
ment, unless he took a certain oath. The oath was to
the effect that in no case was it lawful to take up arms
against the King, — and that it was to be abhorred as a
traitorous position, that persons might take arms by his
authority against his person, or against those commis
sioned by him ; — the oath further bound the individual,
not to endeavor at any time to procure an alteration of
the government, either in Church or State. The act was
levelled at the Dissenters, who, though loyal, had not all
learned the doctrine of unconditional submission; and
who could not but desire and endeavor by legal means,
to procure some change in the present political constitu
tion of things. A high judicial authority expounded the
22

254 (SPIRITUAL HEROES.
oath as referring only to unlawful endeavors ; and with
that understanding, some excellent men were induced to
take it ; but others who could not admit such a construc
tion of the words, felt compelled by conscience, to decline
this adjuration, and to endure the penalty. Some of them,
though silenced as public teachers, had remained in cities
and towns, the spheres of their former ministry, and by
private visitation and worship kept up a connection with
the more devoted members of their old flocks. This new
act required them to exile themselves from these homes,
endeared to them by many pleasing associations ; and in
many cases, to separate themselves from friends, on
whose voluntary benevolence they and their families were
entirely dependent. Some, in strict obedience to the mer
ciless mandate, went forth, "not knowing whither they
went." Others left their wives and children by day, to
secrete themselves in neighboring woods and retired spots,
and then return under cover of the night ; but many
stayed where they were, and preached more openly than
ever, resolved to brave the vengeance of the iniquitious
laws. An historian of the Nonconformists observes, that
their straits were great, for the country was so impover
ished, that those who were willing to relieve them had
generally no great ability. And yet did God mercifully
provide some supplies for them, so that scarce any of
them perished for want, or were exposed to sordid beg
gary : but some few were tempted against their former
judgments to conform.* The Archbishop of Canterbury
and the Bishop of Salisbury were the chief promoters of
this measure ; and there were men among the inferior
clergy very zealous for its enforcement. It is recorded of
Mr. Woodbridge, an eminent minister ejected from New-
* Calamy. See Introduction to Palmer's Nonconformists' Memorial,
sec. 6.

THE PLAGUE YEAR. 255
bury, in Berkshire, that on his removal from the town
in consequence of the Five-mile Act, his successor, Mr.
Sawyer, thinking that he had not removed sufficiently far,
got the ground measured by night, and was disappointed
to find that his poor brother was actually out of his reach.

CHAPTER XI.
TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION.
The year 1672 is remarkable in the annals of the reign
of Charles II. He was reduced to bankruptcy. Parlia
mentary supplies and French pensions had been expended
upon the payment of his debts and the gratification of his
vices ; and now, by the advice of one of his unprincipled
ministers, he betook himself to the resource of closing
the exchequer, and suspending tlie payment of interest on
the national debt for twelve months ; thereby creating a
commercial panic, and occasioning untold miseries in do
mestic life. While the country was confounded at this
stroke of iniquitous policy, the public confusion was in
creased, first, by the announcement that the English
admiral had attempted to seize the rich freight of the
Dutch Smyrna fleet, and then by a declaration of war
against Holland, founded upon pretences, of which some
were frivolous, and others unjust. The last Dutch war,
so disgraceful to England, was fresh in the memory of
the people, and the proclamation of a new attack upon
the States of Holland, especially with an empty exchequer,
appeared to every honorable and reflecting mind a measure,
of which the iniquity was equalled only by the folly.
" No clap of thunder in a fair frosty day could more as
tonish the world," observes Sir William Temple, " than
our declaration of war against Holland in 1672."

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 257
It was in this memorable year, and just before the com
mencement of the Dutch war, that Charles published
his famous declaration of indulgence. Its benefits were
offered alike to Protestant Nonconformists and Popish
Recusants. The avowed object was the promotion of
internal concord on the eve of a foreign war — the real
motive is considered, and not without good reason, to have
been a desire to pave the way for the future ascendency of
Popery by its present toleration. This design was at the
basis of the existing treaty with France, the accomplish
ment of which was, in part, the service for which the
English monarch received his French pension. So far as
such a thoughtless being could ihe said to be guided by
any policy, the establishment of Popery was no doubt the
policy of Charles. The persecution of the Nonconformists
seems to have been arranged, in a great measure, with a
view to its probable effect'upon the prospects ofthe Papacy.
We learn from the Memoirs of James II. " that the rig
orous partisans of the Church of England were permitted
to persecute the Nonconformists at their discretion. They
were even encouraged in this, the better to make the
latter appreciate the relief they would derive from the
triumph of the Catholics."* On the other hand, the tol
eration of the Dissenters was made to serve as a veil for
the favor shown to the Popish party.
Charles, before this, had occasionally connived at public
Nonconforming worship. He had, even as early as the
year 1663, proclaimed an indulgence, and set forth his
purpose to exercise a dispensing power, with the consent
of Parliament ; but now, in the exercise of an absolute
authority, resembling in its unconstitutional spirit the pro
ceedings of his father, but differing from them in its
apparent liberality, the royal will dispensed with Acts of
* Carrel's " Counter Revolution in England," p. 00.
22*

258 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Parliament, and of itself boldly suspended the penal laws
in ecclesiastical matters. Only one opinion can be formed
of the character of the proceeding in relation to constitu
tional law, and therefore it is not surprising that many
intelligent Dissenters, seeing how the ark of the Constitu
tion was imperilled, scrupled to avail themselves of the
proffered indulgence. Others, especially those of the
Presbyterian class, influenced by their deep hatred of Po
pish principles, and perhaps seeing through the designs
of Charles and his court, condemned the proceeding on re-
ligous rather than political grounds. Regarding it, there
fore, as a sort of Trojan horse, pregnant with evils, there
were some who declined to welcome or to touch it, and
preferred to remain as they were till relief in an unexcep
tionable manner should arrive. But the majority were of
another mind. Wearied with long years of persecution,
with only occasional and temporary suspensions of virulent
intolerance, they were glad to avail themselves of liberty,
let it come from what quarter it might. It is not improb
able that some troubled themselves but little, if at all,
respecting the constitutional question. It is certain that
others, who clearly apprehended the political bearings of
the measure, and who dreaded the progress of Catholicism,
considered, notwithstanding, that to avail themselves of a
right, to which they were entitled on grounds of natural
justice, was only reasonable, and involved no approbation
of the manner, or the suspected design of its bestowment.
Most of the Congregational ministers, both in the me
tropolis and the country, took out licences under the King's
hand and seal, in accordance with the terms of the decla
ration. Many a congregation was formed, or regathered,
during the period that the indulgence remained in force.
Old places of worship were publicly visited once more, and
new ones were erected and prepared for- the infant Church-

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 259
es which were formed. In spite of the medium through
which their liberty was conceded, Nonconformists rejoiced
in its enjoyment, and traced its origin back to His hand by
whom lungs rule, and who maketh the wrath of man to
praise Him. They were like the emancipated Jews, ancl,
looking beyond the decrees of an earthly monarch, could
devoutly say, " And now for a little space grace hath been
shown from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to
escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our
God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in
our bondage." Memorials of certain places where these
persecuted ones resumed their worship, still remain. The
Norwich Puritans, both Presbyterian and Independent,
emerged from their concealment, and took possession of
part of the remains of the fine old Blackfriars' Convent,
which was granted them by the city for the purpose. The
cloisters were, at that time, standing with the buildings on
the eastern and western side, formerly used as a refectory
and a dormitory. These, since the Reformation, had been
turned into granaries for the city corn, but being now dis
used, were accommodated to Dissenting worship — the Pres
byterians occupying the old dormitory, and their brethren
of tlie Congregational order using the refectory. It may
be noticed as curiously illustrating the liberality, and prob
ably the comparative means of the two congregations, that
at a Court of Mayoralty, on the 27th November, 1672, the
officers of the Independent Congregation are reported to
have brought twenty-five shillings and fourpence, the
amount of a collection made for one Cotton's child — some
object of suffering no further known — and the officers of
the Presbyterian Congregation at the other granary, three
pounds eleven shillings and fourpence for the relief of the
same individual.* Our Norwich Nonconformists must
* Kirkpatrick's History of Religious Orders in Norwich, p. 94.

260 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
have been respected by their fellow-citizens, or the latter
would not have permitted them to assemble in a place
which was public property, and under fhe control of the
Corporation. Other facts tend to show that in the minds
of many there was a disposition to treat with neighborly
kindness their dissenting brethren, and to afford them facil
ities for worship. It may not be generally known, that in
some cases even the parish authorities were so favorably
inclined to the Nonconformists as to permit them to wor
ship within consecrated walls. Gardiner, in his History of
Dunwich and Southwold, states, that through the indul
gence of " Master Sharpen, the parish minister, the Sep
aratists were favored with the free use of the church,
where they resorted weekly or oftener, and every fourth
Sunday both ministers met and celebrated Divine worship
alternately. He that entered the church first had the
precedency of officiating, the other keeping silence until
the congregation was renewed at the benediction. Most
of the people attended throughout the two services." The
liberty of using the parish church was also enjoyed by the
Nonconformists of Walsbam-le- Willows, a small village
in Suffolk, and in connection with this circumstance a lu
dicrous occurrence is related.* On one occasion, when
Mr. Salkeld, the Congregational minister, was occupying
the parish pulpit, Sir Edmund Bacon of Redgrave, premier
baronet of England, and Sir William Spring of Pakenham,
greatly scandalized at what they deemed a profanation of
the holy edifice, came with divers other gentlemen to the
church, and planted themselves at the doors. Sir Edmund
was for compelling the minister immediately to desist, but
Sir William was for patiently waiting till he had finished
his discourse. Whereupon a noisy altercation arose in
* I find this anecdote in a MS. History of the Suffolk Churches, by
the Rev. T. Harmer, autriQr of" Observations on Scripture."

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 261
the churchyard between these two personages ; and when
Sir Edmund Bacon had become outrageously violent, his
friend observed, " We read, Sir Edmund, that the devil
entered into a herd of swine, and, upon my word, I think
he has not got out of the Bacon yet."
The persons who composed the congregations, availing
themselves of Charles's indulgence, were, for the most
part, of the middling and the lower class, but some of a
higher rank were associated with them. Individuals of
this description had identified themselves with the Presby
terian or Congregational denomination when in the as
cendant ; and now that the times were changed, though
many had gone over to the Established religion, a few re
mained firm to their former profession. No congregation,
perhaps, was so remarkable for having in it persons of dis
tinction, as that which enjoyed the pastoral superintendence
of Dr. Owen, the late vice-chancellor of Oxford.* Caryl,
the famous commentator on Job, had a congregation which
met in Leaden-hall-street ; and on his death in 1673, the
persons composing it formed a union with Owen's church
which met somewhere in the neighborhood. By the junc
tion of the two, a very strong and influential society was.
formed, including a number of celebrated characters wor
thy of remembrance. Their place of meeting cannot be
determined, but the list of members preserved enables us
to picture to ourselves the assembly whom Owen addressed.
Yonder sits my Lord Charles Fleetwood, Cromwell's son-
in-law, whom Milton has eulogized as inferior to none in
humanity, in gentleness, and in benignity of disposition,
and whom Noble admits to have been a man of religion,
and a venerator of religious liberty. Colonel John Des
borough is just by him — a stanch Republican — a man of
rather rough manners, but a hero, whose name together
* See Note [25]

262 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
with that of Fleetwood's, Milton has embalmed. Major-
General Berry, too, is there, once a friend of Baxter's, and
applauded by him as a man of sincere piety, till he for
feited that excellent person's favor by becoming an Inde
pendent. Young Sir John Hartop, a man of singular in
telligence and piety, is ofthe number, as well as his amiable
and pious lady. Other ladies of distinction may be pointed
out: the Lady Tompson, wife of Sir John Tompson;*
Lady Vere Wilkinson, Mrs. Abney, and especially deser
ving of notice, more however for her eccentricities than
her excellencies, Mrs. — Bendishf, granddaughter of Oli
ver Cromwell. These illustrious personages give a stamp
of nobility to this Nonconforming congregation, and they
deserve all honor for their firmness of character and in
tegrity of principle, in adhering to a cause, often trampled
upon by persecution, and always ridiculed by the wits of
Charles's court. As they left the conventicle in their
coaches, or walked through the city homewards on foot,
perhaps the finger of scorn was pointed at these noble
Puritans ; but they felt within themselves an ample reward
in the testimony of a good conscience ; to say nothing of
the instruction they had received, and the hallowed emo
tions they had felt, as they heard the prince of divines,
with logical acuteness, explain and defend the doctrine of
justification by faith, or with rapturous fervor descant on
the glory of Christ. Now that I am speaking of persons
among the higher classes favorable to Nonconformity,
some others of noble name may be mentioned, who, though
not members of Owen's church, were his especial friends.
The Earls of Orrery and Anglesea — the Lords Willough
by, Wharton, and Berkeley, were of the number. These
* Afterwards Lord Haversham.
t See Anecdotes of Mrs. Bendish, in Noble's Memoirs of the Protec-
toial House of Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 329.

TOLERjVNCE AND PERSECUTION. 263
were all men of the Puritan stamp and of admitted piety ;
perhaps the Earl of Anglesea, certainly Lord Wharton,
was a Nonconformist.*
But the days were numbered, during which, for the
present, the noble or the plebeian Nonconformist was per
mitted to worship God in peace. The Declaration of In
dulgence, issued by Charles in 1672, was withdrawn in
the course of the following year. The House of Com
mons declared against the dispensing power, and Alderman
Love, one of the members for the city of London, himself
a Dissenter, declared that he had rather go without his
own desired liberty, than have it in a way so destruc
tive of the liberties of his country and the Protestant in
terest ; and this, he added, " was the sense of the main
body of the Dissenters." How the latter statement by this
gentleman is to be reconciled with the fact that so large
a number of Nonconformists availed themselves of the In
dulgence, it is difficult to say. Perhaps he alluded to the
Presbyterians, who were generally more averse than their
Independent brethren to the Indulgence, and yet it is evi
dent that a number of them took advantage of the Declara
tion. But whatever might be the extent to which his re
mark was correctly applicable, certainly the circumstance
that any persons were ready to forego their own liberty,
rather than do what, as they conceived, would countenance
a violation of constitutional principles, or be a connivance
at friendship shown to error,betokened the heroic cast of
their patriotism and their piety. Thus condemned for the
policy he had adopted, Charles renounced his Declaration,
broke the seal with his own hands, and recalled the licen
ses for Nonconforming worship.
It was a legal toleration which the Dissenters desired.
* Many particulars respecting Owen's friends are given by Mr. Orme,
in his valuable life of Owen, pp. 277—289.

264 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
After all that had passed, they reasonably hoped that their
desire would be gratified ; but in vain. The Commons
were in favor of it ; it was resolved unanimously that a
bill should be brought in forthe relief of his Majesty's Pro
testant subjects who were Dissenters ; but the measure,
says Echard, was dropped in the House of Lords, on ac
count of some amendments till the Parliament broke up.
" More truly," says another authority, " because the dead
weight of the Bishops joined with the King and the caballing
party against it."* The Test Act followed closely upon
the failure of this measure ; and as its avowed purpose
was to exclude the Catholics from office, though it was
equally unfavorable to Protestant Nonconformists, there
were persons of the latter class, who, with more of honest
zeal against Popery than enlightened views of freedom,
or even religion, supported the unrighteous and profane
enactment. The reign of intolerance was now restored, and the
weight of its iron sceptre was felt by Dissenters of every
class. The men who, rather than countenance any exer
cise of illegal power, or share their liberty with the Pa
pists, had rejected the Indulgence, or supported the Test
Act, must have felt how cruelly they were rewarded for
their zeal ; while others, who had taken no part in either
proceeding, found themselves treated in the same way.
The Court, incensed at being thwarted in their plans
respecting Popery, dispatched an immense tribe of inform
ers to ferret out the Nonconformists. The laws against
them were severely enforced ; the estates of the rich were
ordered to be seized ; and the persons of the ministers to
be apprehended. The drum ecclesiastical was loudly
beaten ; and a High Churchman, in his sermon before the
House of Commons, told them that the Nonconformists
* Neale's Puritans, vol. iv. p. 458.

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 265
could be cured only by vengeance ; and that the best way
was to set fire to the faggot, and to teach these obstinate
people by scourges or scorpions, and open their eyes with
gall.* Places of public Dissenting worship were now closed,
and the proscribed worshippers, if they would still serve
the Almighty as their conscience dictated, must do so in
concealment. Many were the ingenious devices they
adopted to screen themselves from the notice, or to elude
the pursuit, of the quick-sighted and dogged informer.
The tourist who has visited that fine old Tudor mansion
at Compton Wyneates, in Warwickshire, will remember
the chapel in the roof, and the secret passages in the
walls, contrived for the safety of Popish recusants ;f or
if he has seen Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk, he will recollect
the dark recess, through a small arched closet, with a
trap-door concealed in the pavement,}; probably intended
as a refuge for the Cathohc clergy. Similar contrivances
were adopted by the Protestant Nonconformists, in the
times of persecution. There was one existing, not long
since, among the ruins of the old priory of Bartholomew,
in Smithfield, consisting of subterranean passages and
doors in the crypt, which tradition reported to have been
used by Nonconformists and their ministers in the days of
Charles II. There are also written records of divers ex
pedients for concealment and escape invented by Puritan
worthies. The records of the Baptist Church, Broad-
mead, Bristol, are peculiarly rich in such illustrations ;
and the simplicity and fulness of detail with which these
matters are recorded, give them a kind of pictorial effect.^
* Neale's Puritans, vol. iv. p. 465.
t Described in Howitt's Visits to Remarkable Places.
t Described in Colman's Etchings.
§ They have been published by the Hansard Knollys Society.
23

266 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
More solicitious for the safety of their minister than
themselves, they made special arrangements to protect
him from the informer and the justices. They hung up a
curtain in the place where they assembled, and placed
the minister behind it ; so that if an informer came in, he
should not be able to identify the person of the speaker.
None but friends were allowed to sit within the space thus
marked off by the curtain ; in consequence of which, the
strangers who came as spies were defeated in their object,
in so far as the apprehension of the preacher was con
cerned. When a suspicious person was recognized, the
people, by a preconcerted signal, began to sing, and con
tinued the exercise till he left the room, when the min
ister resumed his discourse. Another congregation in
Bristol, at the same time, adopted a similar plan, only
substituting a wainscot-board for a curtain ; and a third
party in their meetings would place a few tall men round
the speaker, who stood over a trap door, and when an
informer was observed, the door was removed, and the
preacher instantly disappeared, to make his escape through
the cellar.
The Broadmead records afford us many such glimpses
of the sufferings and vexations of our Puritan ancestors ;
they place us in the Bristol of the seventeenth century ;
rendering us familiar with the citizens, both High Church
and Nonconformist ; and giving an idea of the state of
the Dissenters in the reign of Charles II. far more vivid
and correct than can be conveyed by any general state
ments. We see how incessantly, except during the pe
riods of regal indulgence, these conscientious men were
harassed by their unprincipled persecutors. The informer
was ever on the watch — tracking their path, discovering
their retreats, and pouncing on his victims. The Broad-
meatl records, in this respect, only exhibit a specimen of

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 267
what was going on in hundreds of towns and villages
throughout the land. Not more frequent in those days,
when old English sports continued to amuse the nobility
and gentry, was the flight of the hawk, freed from his
jess and hood, gliding through the air like a meteor, and
striking his quarry as with a flash of lightning — than was
the prowling abroad of the informer who, freed from all
the restraints of justice and humanity, pursued with the
keenest eye, and seized with merciless vengeance, the ill-
fated sectary. The favorite bird of our forefathers, how
ever, is dishonored by the comparison ; for, with all its
rapacity, these informers had none of its useful and noble
qualities. Sprung from the dregs of the people, mean
and dastardly to the last degree, and spending their ill-
gotten gains in gambling and debauchery — such persons
were as much the objects of abhorrence to the respectable
portion of the community in general, as they were the
objects of terror to the innocent class whom the laws
proscribed. Destitute of religion and the fear of God,
caring not at all for the divine worship performed in the
churches, though professing themselves such zealous
Churchmen, these informers spent the Lord's day in dis
turbing the worship of others, and in tracing the footsteps
ofthe suspected Nonconformist, when he left his dwelling.
In coffee-houses and places of public resort, during the
week, these despicable characters, like the spies of the
Inquisition, were frequent visitors, lying in wait to catch
the unwary in their talk, or to obtain some clue to the
discovery of unknown frequenters of the conventicle.
Many of these men, infamous in their life, were wretched
in death, and perished in poverty, shame, and despair —
smitten, as their pious victims sometimes thought, by the
avenging hand of God. Some died in prison ; and one of
this unhappy fraternity, who was confined for debt, wrote

268 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
to Baxter, whom he had often harassed, and acknowl
edged that his calamities were just retributions for his
treatment of that man of God.
In many instances, the Puritan ministers had hair
breadth escapes from the eye and fang of the pursuer.
Ingenious devices were adopted by the oppressed, that
they might elude the oppressor. Though many a senti
mentalist in our days, who has a sigh for poor Charles
and his Cavaliers, as romantic tales are told of their con
cealment during the Commonwealth, can look with cold
indifference upon the deeds and sufferings of our Puritan
confessors ; minds of a higher tone will thrill with interest
while perusing the story of the adventures and escapes of
these virtuous and pious men.
It is related of James Janeway , the bright ornament o f
a family renowned for its spiritual excellence, that onee,
as he was walking by the wall at Rotherhithe, a bullet
was fired at him by a wretch, who was exasperated by
his popularity and success as a minister. It is further
stated, that a mob of soldiers once broke into his meeting
house in Jamaica-row, and, leaping upon the benches,
endeavored to seize upon the youthful and amiable divine,
while he was preaching, as he was wont to do, with an
unction that might have softened the hardest hearts.
Availing themselves of the confusion, some of his friends
threw over him a colored coat, and put on his head a white
hat, so that the disfigured minister escaped unobserved.
At another time, when he was preaching in a gardener's ¦
house, several troopers came to seize him, but he threw
himself on the ground, and his friends covered him with
cabbage-leaves, so that he again escaped.*
Dean Prior, another worthy of those days, living in the
parish of Ashburton in Devonshire, was once so closely
* Palmer's Noncon. Mem. vol. iii. p. 512.

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 269
pursued by his enemies, that he hid himself in a hay-loft,
when some of the party in searching for him thrust their
swords through the hay, yet the good man escaped. And
the venerable Richard Chantyre, the friend and fellow-
student of Samuel Shaw, residing in an obscure village in
Derbyshire, near the place of his nativity, — successfully
guarded for years against the informers, by going out in
the twilight habited as a husbandman, with a fork on his
shoulder and the Bible in his pocket, to meet the little
company who thirsted for his instructions, thus resembling
" the zealous and courageous builders of the walls of Jeru
salem, who with one hand wrought in the work, and with
the other held a weapon."*
The ministers, of course, were marked men. They
were among the first to be seized and punished, but some
times their apprehension led to considerable popular ex
citement on their side, so that it became rather hazardous
for magistrates to meddle with them. When the persecu
tion of the Conventiclers was renewed with violence in
1682, there was a Mr. Francis Bampfield, the ejected
vicar of Sherborne, who used to preach at Pinner's Hall,
where he was rudely seized and dragged out of the pulpit.
A multitude of the London citizens followed through the
streets ; and, as this example of persecution roused their
Protestant feelings, they exclaimed, " See how he walks
with the Bible in his hand, like one of the old martyrs !"
The exclamation betokened that popular sympathy was
with the persecuted, not with the persecutor. When
these men were regarded as successors of the Latimers
and Ridleys of the former century, it was a dangerous
* Noncon. Mem. vol. iii. p. 244. It is recorded of Mr. Chantyre, that
in his old age, when unable to stand, he was drawn in a chair to the
room where his hearers met, and there he sat and preached to them.
The old chair is still preserved in the Library of Coward College, Lon
don.

270 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
experiment for Protestant rulers, so called, to send out
their myrmidons to arrest such venerated characters. It
could not fail to deepen disaffection to the existing Gov
ernment, and to prepare for a revolution which should
better secure the liberty of innocent and virtuous subjects.
Common sense could not but revolt, and natural feeling
recoil at such monstrous doings ; and no one can be sur
prised at learning, that when some of the Bishops were
dining with Sir Nath. Hern, Sheriff of London in 1676,
and urging him to put the laws against dissent into execu
tion, he told them candidly ; " They could not trade with
their neighbors one day, and send them to the jail the
next." There can be no doubt, that this London sheriff
uttered a sentiment which extensively prevailed ; and that
it would be unjust to the Englishmen in general of the
last half of the seventeenth century, to suppose that their
feelings were represented by hireling informers, and by
the interested parties who urged them on.
Still, however, the storm of persecution raged with more
or less violence to the end of Charles's reign. In 1681,
the fury of the High Church party was stimulated to per
secute the Nonconformists, as the great allies ofthe Whigs.
The laws of Elizabeth and James were revived against
frequenting conventicles, and being absent from church,
and large sums were extorted in the shape of fines. It is
said that in Uxbridge alone, two hundred warrants of dis
tress were issued about this time. In the following year
fresh orders were issued from the Council-board to suppress
the meetings of Dissenters, in consequence of which many
ministers were imprisoned, and they and their hearers
fined. In the records of the Church once assembling in
St. Thomas, Southwark, I find an account of the persecu
tion ofthe excellent Nathaniel Vincent, in 1682. Justice
Spires of the Bridge House, and several other justices and

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 27l
officers, disturbed Mr. Vincent's congregation, and com
manded him, in the King's name, to desist from preaching ;
upon which the preacher, in the name of the King of kings,
commanded them to forbear interrupting him. He was
summoned to appear at the next quarter sessions at Dork
ing ; and on the Lord's day previous, preached to the people
in his own meeting-house from the appropriate words —
" Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel
of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be ab
sent, I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one
spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the
Gospel." " There was," says the Church-book, " a nu
merous auditory, insomuch that the people were ready to
tread one upon another, and some hundreds went away
that could not come near to hear him. In these sermons,
he earnestly pressed us to hold fast our profession, and to
be steadfast in the cause of Christ. The 4th of January,
before Mr. Vincent went to his trial, there was a solemn
day of fasting and prayer kept at his own meeting place,
to seek the Lord on his behalf. On the 8th, there was a
whole night spent in prayer. On the 9th he went to Dork
ing, and had his trial on the 10th, when he was not suf
fered to speak in his own defence, but was found guilty of
the indictment, and was committed prisoner to the Mar-
shalsea, in Southwark, for three months, and then, if he
would not conform according to that statute, he was to
abjure the realm or suffer death." The Church deprived
of their pastor was much harassed by their enemies ; and
we are informed, that on " the 1 0th day of this month,
being Saturday, one Justice Balsh, a silk throwster by
trade, and a very bitter enemy to the Lord's people living
in Spitalfields, having sent word to the other justices of
the peace, his brethren that lived in those parts, that he
would meet them very early the next morning, to disturb

272 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
the Whigs at their meeting places (for so they called
Dissenters at that time) about 8 of the clock at night,
died suddenly in his chair, and never spake a word." —
" The 1 1 th we met in Aldersgate-street at a cloth-worker's,
where Mr. Biggin the minister had but just begun prayer,
but we were disturbed by the train-bands." — " April the
first, we met at Mr. Russell's in Ironmonger-lane, where
Mr. Lambert administered to us the ordinance of the Lord's
Supper, and we sung a psalm with a low voice."
In the same year, the Broadmead records bear testimony
to the rigor of the laws and the activity of the informers.
"On the 2nd of July (Lord's day)," it is observed, "our
pastor preached in the wood. Our friends took much pains
in the rain, because many informers were ordered out to
search, and we were in peace, though there were near
twenty men and boys in search. — On the 14th November,
a day of prayer ; having some hours together in the wood,
between London and Sodbury road, the enemies came upon
us unawares, and seized about eight persons, but the breth
ren escaped to admiration. The bushes were of great ser
vice to us. On the 30th December, being a hard frost,
and snow on the ground, we met in the wood, and though
we stood in the snow the sun shone upon us, and we were
in peace." These extracts, while they furnish some
graphic sketches worthy of being placed beside the pic
tures of the Scotch Covenanters, supply but an imperfect
conception of the danger and sufferings which are de
scribed in the entire narrative.
The two following years are marked in the history of
Nonconformity by numerous facts relative to confiscation
and imprisonment ; and in 1685, about three weeks before
Charles's death, one of the victims of his heartless policy —
the excellent William Jenkyn, formerly of Christ Church,
London — perished in jail. " May it please your Majesty,"

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 273
said a nobleman at Court, " Jenkyn has got his liberty." —
" Aye," rejoined the monarch, " who gave it him ?" — " A
greater than your Majesty, the King of kings," was the
reply. While the Nonconformists were suffering all lands of
hardships during the reign of Charles II. he and his Court
were indulging in unbridled licentiousness. Thomson's
picture of the mysteries of Providence was realized : —
" The good man's share
In life was gall and bitterness of soul :
... . While luxury
In palaces lay straining her low thought
To form unreal wants, and heaven-born truth
And moderation fair, wore the red marks
Of superstition's scourge."
This contrast forces itself upon us, as we read the
history of the second Charles's reign. Imagination is
ever and anon placing side by side the picture of the con
fessor's dungeon and the voluptuary's palace. Let the
eye turn from such records as those of the Church at
Bristol, to glance over the pages of the Count Grammont,
and the heart sickens with disgust. The scenes which
that elegant writer depicts, the characters he draws, and
the intrigues he unravels ; the entire want of moral prin
ciple, the absence of common shame, the barefaced licen
tiousness, the devices to excite and gratify the lowest
passions of our nature, which the author, who had lived
at Court and shared in its pleasures, so graphically and
with entire complacency portrays, makes us blush for hu
manity. The reaction from the simple manners and severe
virtues ofthe Puritan Commonwealth had been tremendous.
Courage, or rather an irritable sense of honor, leading the
gallant to wreak revenge upon any who offended him,
was the chief if not the only virtue of courtiers. Vices,

274 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
and even crimes of foul description, were treated as foibles,
undeserving of harsh condemnation : liveliness and wit
were alone esteemed meritorious ; the manners of Ches
terfield were united with the morals of Rochefoucault."
The book of the Count is indeed a picture of the age —
elegant in style but licentious in character — a veil of em
broidered gauze thrown over the features of a putrescent
corspe. The pure and virtuous turn with horror from the
object, not in the least degree reconciled to its deformity
by the transparent decoration which covers it.
The death of Charles brought but little and short relief
to the Nonconformists. His successor, indeed, though
Head of the Church and Defender of the Faith, was prac
tically a Popish Dissenter, and therefore was bound in all
consistency to tolerate Dissent. Hence the Quakers, in
their address of congratulation to James II. observe, with
exquisite naivete, or with satirical shrewdness — " We are
told thou art not of the persuasion of the Church of Eng
land no more than we ; therefore, we hope thou wilt grant
us the same liberty which thou allowest thyself, which
doing, we wish thee all manner of happiness." But
neither they nor their brethren profited much by the King's
dissent. It is true, that at first, the penal laws concerning
religion were relaxed for the sake of the Papists, a cir
cumstance which yielded some advantage to Protestant
Nonconformists ; but the spirit of persecution was, in fact,
only gathering up strength for a fresh and more dreadful
onset upon liberty and justice. James let loose the High
Church party upon the poor Dissenters, intending thereby
at once to conciliate the former, who were supporters of
the prerogative, and to crush the latter, who were known
to be inexorably opposed to his arbitrary designs. The
result was soon manifest. The trade of the informer
revived. The Spiritual Courts were brought into play

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 275
and filled with causes. The conventicle was broken up.
The minister was seized. The justice of the peace ex
acted a fine or sent him to prison. His house was ran
sacked — rooms and closets were broken up — the privacy
of domestic hfe was invaded with rudeness and incivility.
The shopkeeper was taken from his business ; the husband
was separated from his wife ; parents were dragged away
from their children, and families were compelled to remove
from their habitations to a distance, that they might escape
their oppressors. Vast numbers of Dissenters were im
prisoned — and of those who were saved from the dun
geon, many were mulcted in exorbitant fines. Officers
broke in upon the mansions of Sir John Hartop, Mr.
Fleetwood, and other Nonconformist worthies in Stoke
Newington, to levy distresses to the amount of six or
seven thousand pounds. Baxter, the Puritan patriarch,
was peculiarly obnoxious to the ruling powers ; and the
story of his trial, by the infamous Jeffreys, will ever
remain prominent and unparalleled in the religious history
of our country, for the fierce and vulgar intolerance which
it records. Where fines were notpextorted by the iron
hand of .law, bribes were often wrung by the informer
from his detected victim ; and the opulent Dissenter was
glad to get out of the clutches of the harpy by sending
him a present of wine, or by dropping into his hand a few
pieces of gold. When Divine worship according to Dis
senting usages was performed, it could only be done in
concealment. The expedients adopted in the former reign
were renewed. These worthies would do and suffer any
thing rather than renounce their principles. " How warm
was the zeal of our forefathers !" exclaims Neale, " and
what hazards did they run for the freedom of their con
sciences !" Some, indeed, as might be expected, proved
faithless to their profession, and sought refuge from such

276 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
intolerable oppression in the bosom of the Establishment ;
while it is remarkable, that some who had been educated
in the forms, and had ministered in the pulpits of that Es
tablishment, seeing justice and humanity outraged by its
rulers, left the Church in disgust, and cast in their lot
with the sufferers for conscience' sake.
There were two Nonconformists at this period, who
deserve special notice on account of the moral heroism
with which they endured their trials. They were not,
indeed, arraigned and punished for their profession of
Nonconformity, but it was their attachment to that cause
which led them to act so as to expose them to the inhuman
treatment which they received. Mrs. (sometimes called
Lady) Alicia Lisle was brought to the bar at Winchester,
before the hard-hearted and profligate Jeffreys, charged
with having concealed Mr. Hicks, a Presbyterian clergy
man, and a person named Nelson, one of the insurgents
engaged in the battle of Sedgemoor, in Monmouth's re
bellion. Of Nelson, there is reason to believe that she
knew nothing ; and respecting Hicks, she confessed, " I
knew him to be a Nonconformist minister, and there being,
as is well known, warrants out to apprehend all Noncon
formist ministers, I was willing to give him shelter from
these warrants." It was an office of Christian kindness
she had performed, stimulated by sympathy for one in
sorrow, who professed with her a common faith ; but this
perfectly innocent, and, as she thought, laudable deed,
was construed into an act of treason, and the cowardly
jury, though they expressed their dissatisfaction with the
evidence adduced to criminate her, were bullied by the
brutal judge into a verdict of guilty. " Gentlemen," he
exclaimed, " in your place I would find her guilty were
she my own mother." The venerable matron, weighed
down under a load of years, — for she was now more than

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 277
seventy — was subject to fits, and could hear but imper
fectly ; yet, throughout her trial, she evinced a singular
tranquillity and collectedness of mind, and, save when
drowsiness overcame her feeble frame, exhibited a digni
fied demeanor. Her behavior on the scaffold was in
harmony with her bearing in court, and in the course of a
speech which she delivered to the sheriff, and which con
tained remarks on her unjust trial, she freely forgave all
her enemies, and expressed a desire to possess her soul in
patience. Jeffreys had condemned her to be burnt, but
her sentence, at her own request, was commuted by the
King, and this amiable and excellent lady perished on the
block. The other sufferer was Elizabeth Gaunt, a person in
humble circumstances, and a member of a Baptist Church.
She was charged with an offence similar to that of Mrs.
Lisle — the harboring a person named Burton, suspected
of being concerned in the Ryehouse conspiracy. He was
a Nonconformist by profession, but in reality a worthless
villain, as was abundantly proved by his becoming king's
evidence against the woman who, to save his life, had jeop
ardized her own. It was not proved that she knew he
was concerned in the conspiracy, or was aware of his
name being in any proclamation ; but want of evidence on
a trial was a very small matter in those days, and this
poor woman, without being permitted to call witnesses in
her defence, was, at the bidding of her judge, found guilty.
The miserable favor which had been shown to the nobler
sufferer was denied to this humble person, and she was
left to endure the agony of the stake. Gathering round
her the materials of torture, that, when the flame was
kindled, she might expire the sooner, she said, " Charity
was a part of her religion as well as faith. This, at worst,
was the feeding of an enemy ; so she hoped she had her
24

278 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
reward with him for whose sake she did this service, how
unworthy soever the person was that made so ill a return
for it. She rejoiced that God had suffered her to be the
first to suffer by fire in this reign, and that her suffering
was a martyrdom for that religion which was all love."*
" Thus," says Sir James Mackintosh, " was this poor
and uninstructed woman supported under a death of cruel
torture by the lofty consciousness of suffering for right
eousness, and by that steadfast faith in the final triumph of
justice, which can never visit the last moments of the op
pressor."! There have been many martyrs for religious faith, but
these women were martyrs for religious charity, and their
meek heroism in the hour of death was worthy of the cause
for which they suffered. Such examples illustrate the
power of endurance, with which the Almighty has inspired
the heart of woman, and which shines with such calm
intensity when kindled and aroused by religious zeal.
Strong in the midst of apparent feebleness, she bears up
under trials enough to crush minds of the hardest texture ;
thus resembling those beautiful primroses which flewer
on the rocky mountains of America —
" Leaning their cheeks against the thick-ribbed ice,
And looking up with brilliant eyes to Him
Who bids them bloom, unblanched, amid the waste
Of desolation."
The storm of religious persecution in the reign of James
II., which for two years raged with pitiless fury, was the
last of the kind in this country, and probably the worst ;
like the outburst of Diocletian's violence, which closed the
series of primitive persecutions by the Roman emperors.
* Burnet, History of his own Times, vol. 1. p. 649.
t Dr. Vaughan gives a full and fair account of these trials in his His
tory of England, pp. 856—865.

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 279
Taken in connection with what occurred in the reign of
Charles II. , making about twenty years of persecution
altogether, it presents an amount of suffering greater, per
haps, than had been endured in the same space • of time
since the commencement of the Reformation. Jeremy
White, we are informed, collected a list of Dissenting
sufferers, containing the names of sixty thousand persons,
five thousand of whom died in prison.* That the cause
of Nonconformity should endure such an ordeal is a proof
of its vitality and strength ; and we may accommodate to
this passage in our history, the exclamation of Sulpicius
Severus, when reviewing the sufferings of the Christians
under the reign of Diocletian : " Never did we achieve a
more glorious victory than when we could not be subdued
by so many years of slaughter. "f The historian of the
Puritans records the fact that the numbers of the Noncon
formists did not decrease, though the engines of intolerance
were so long and so assiduously worked against them ; and
this circumstance he attributes to their firmness of char
acter — their plain, practical, and awakening ministry — the
severity of their morals — their strict osbervance of the
Sabbath — their care for family religion — a succession of
able and learned ministers among them — the disgust excit
ed by the persecuting zeal of their adversaries — and, final
ly, the reaction produced by pushing High Church princi
ples to an unbearable extreme.
The storm had now spent its fury, and a fairer sky began
to shine on the harassed successors of the Puritans. James
II., intent on his favorite object, the elevation, if not the
exclusive establishment of the Papal Church in England,
changed his tactics. He had roused the indignation of the
* Neale, vol. iv. p. 554.
t Snip. Severus. Hist. lib. ii. c. 47. His words referring to the length
of Diocletian's persecution are " decern annorum."

280 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
Protestant Episcopal party by his Popish designs, and now,
with a view in some measure to counteract their enmity,
he thought it prudent to conciliate the Protestant Dissent
ers.* With these designs the Nonconformists were re
leased from oppresssion, and even caressed. It was per
mitted them to reopen their places of worship, and assemble
in peace, while as citizens they were no longer disabled
from serving in offices of profit and trust. Certainly, to
those who do not carefully notice the motives which seem
to have influenced him, the proceedings of our Roman
Catholic monarch appear very strange : and, by the way,
a remarkable comparison between the histories of England
and France is suggested at this period. A line of Protest
ant sovereigns on the English throne had been persecuting
Papists and Puritans, and now a Popish prince was ex
tending toleration to the Protestant Dissenter. Elizabeth
of England had been the supporter of ecclesiastical des
potism, when Henry IV. of France, by the Edict of Nantz,
had proclaimed himself a patron of religious liberty ;
whereas, now, while Louis XIV. was dragooning his
Protestant subjects out of the kingdom, James II. was
declaring for liberty of conscience. The tables were com
pletely turned, and the relative positions of the rulers of
the two greatest countries of the earth oddly reversed.
The Dissenters availed themselves of the liberty to re
new their worship in public. Turning to the Yarmouth
Church Book, I find the following entry on the 30th March,
1687 : "Ordered by the Church, that the Meeting-house
should be made clean, and shutters be made for the upper
windows, which was accordingly done by many of our
maid-servants." That curious minute gives us a glimpse
of busy scenes of religious zeal in many a town and vil
lage. The humble conventicle repaired, — the interior
* Hallam's Constitutional History of England, vol. ii. p. 230.

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 281
cleansed, and fitted up for the Sunday gathering,— and
thousands of hearts made glad by signs which promised
that once more they should '• sit under their vine and fig-
tree, none daring to make them afraid." "On tlie 10th
April," adds my authority, " Mr. James Hannot preached
both parts of the day, when was a great auditory ; for
these were permitted by the King to meet by a declaration
from him dated April 4th."* It appears that Mr. Hannot,
who was invited to be the pastor, and at length accepted
the invitation, was deputed to wait upon the king at Wind
sor with an address, which was well accepted. Addresses
of thanks to his Majesty were presented by the various
denominations of Nonconformists ; some, in terms of flat
tery and submission, which the more eminent ministers
disapproved; and others, sufficiently laudatory, yet ex
pressing nothing more than gratitude for his Majesty's in
dulgence.! It was a great matter with the Court party to
secure addresses from the Dissenters, and means were in
dustriously used for the purpose, but the number presented
altogether by Nonconformists did not amount to more than
seventy-seven out of the hundred and eighty addresses
from various civil and ecclesiastical bodies.];"
Though the Dissenters generally accepted the indul
gence, they were jealous of the King's proceedings. They
saw through his designs, and rejoiced with trembling.
" Thankful, as they were, for their liberty," says Lord
Halifax, " tbey were fearful for the issue, neither can any
member of consideration among them be charged with
hazarding the public safety, by falling in with the measures
of the Court, of which they had as great a dread as their
neighbors." They were as much opposed to the princi
ple of the King's power of dispensing with the laws, as
» See Note [26]. t Neale, vol. iv. p. 569.
{ Vaughan, Hist. Eng. p. 890. 24*

282 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
they ever were, deeming it fatal to the constitution of the
country ; and many of them, through their terror of Po
pery, were even averse to the repeal of the Test Act ;
choosing rather to suffer exclusion from civil offices than
open the door for the admission of Papists. Some, who
were advocates for occasional conformity with the Church
of England, (that is, communicating now and then with
their Episcopal brethren at the Lord's table, on the princi
ple of promoting Christian unity,) suffered no personal in
convenience from the Test Act, and therefore advocated
its continuance. Among these was Sir John Shorter, the
Presbyterian Lord Mayor of London, in the year 1687,
who preferred occasionally attending the Church of Eng
land during his mayoralty, to availing himself of the In
dulgence proclaimed by James. Without impugning the
motives of such persons, there was an apparent incon
sistency in their conduct ; and, certainly, if they confined
their occasional conformity to their year of office, which,
however, in some cases, we know was not the fact, they
laid themselves open to the suspicion of a temporary sacri
fice of principle. The Nonconformists, at this time, were
placed in a situation of great perplexity ; here were priv
ileges offered, to which they had a perfect right, yet of
fered through a medium, and under circumstances, which
alarmed them for the consequences. However the wisdom
of their proceedings in some instances may be called in
question, their deep-seated attachment to the cause of civil
and religious liberty is beyond a doubt. A remarkable
example of the perplexity just mentioned is given in the
manuscript history of the Suffolk Churches. Among the
particulars relative to his" own Church at Wattisfield,
Mr. Harmer notices the piety, zeal, and essential services
of Mr. Baker, a gentleman of opulence, who resided at
Wattisfield Hall, and was a member of the Independent

TOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION. 283
Church : — " An affair happened," he says, " in the year
1688, relating to civil government, which gave Mr. Baker
extreme uneasiness, in which, without doubt, his friends
here must have considered themselves a little concerned.
The state of affairs occasioning King James to propose
calling a Parliament, the Dissenters of Bury St. Edmunds
proposed choosing Mr. Baker one of the representatives
of that town, in which the Mayor (the town was at that
time governed by a Mayor,) who was a Papist, and Lord
Dover, who had at that time a great influence at Bury,
and was a great courtier, readily concurred. This would
have been extremely entangling to Mr. Baker, and might
have brought on many reproaches perhaps from both par
ties. But that Parliament never sat, and Infinite Wisdom
freed the Dissenters from the difficulty."*
The affairs of James II. were now approaching a crisis.
He had quarrelled with the Church and with both Univer
sities. His designs in favor of Popery were manifest.
His indulgences were obviously but a cover for the prose
cution of those designs. The Clergy refused to read the
declarations. The seven Bishops resisted the King's as
sumed prerogative, and were committed to the Tower.
Lord Sunderland, the King's chief minister, avowed him
self a convert to Popery. The birth of a Prince of
Wales threatened a Popish succession. Affairs were now
ripe for the interference of the Prince of Orange. Sailing
from Holland, with a fleet of vessels twenty miles in ex
tent, he passed the Straits of Dover, while multitudes
lined the opposite shores of France and England, to look,
with different feelings, on the proud armament which was
to decide the fate of the British empire, now trembling in
the balance.f On the 5th of November, 1688, the Prince
» See Note [27].
t Rapin„History of England, vol. iii. p. 285. He says, " For my part,
who was on board the fleet, I own it struck me extremely."

284 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
landed at Torbay, to ascend the English throne; and
among the early consequences of that great revolution,
was the passing of the Act of Toleration, which, though
it granted but imperfect liberties to the Nonconformist,
stayed the furious hand of persecution, that had so often
smitten the peace, the property, and the lives of the noble-
hearted Puritans.

CHAPTER XII.
THE THREE DEATH-BEDi

" That strain again— it had a dying fall,
Oh ! it came o'er my ear like the sweet south
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odor." Shakspeare.

Owes, Baxter, Howe, were " three mighty men," like
David's " three," mighty among a host of heroes. Gifted
with uncommon natural endowments, they were rendered
still more distinguished by the eminent piety which Divine
grace inspired and nourished in their souls. They were
specimens of humanity such as the Father of Spirits oc
casionally furnishes to the world, to inspire us with rever
ence for our common nature, by showing us what his no
ble creature man may be : " One star differeth from an
other star in glory ;" and in like manner, these three great
moral luminaries shone with varied lustre. Not more di
versified were their faces than their mental idiosyncracies.
Owen's grave and majectic countenance was the image of
his profound and noble mind. "Baxter's prominent and
manly features, with his dark piercing eyes, betokened
his robust, vigorous, and acute intellect; while Howe's
face, which shone as it had been the face of an angel,
with blended dignity and beauty, was the index of his har
monious soul. Owen was a pattern of self-control ; Bax-

286 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
ter was apt to be hurried on by the impetuosity of his feel
ings ; but Howe had a sweetness of disposition and tem
per which it was at once his duty to maintain and his de
light to indulge. Of what this world generally calls pru
dence, Baxter had none : of that wisdom in intercourse
with other men which exclusively deserves the name of
prudence, Baxter had but little ; of the latter, however,
Owen had a goodly share, while Howe most sedulously
cultivated this useful quality, accounting it to hold no mean
place among the virtues. The piety of Owen has been
characterized by his biographer as profoundly spiritual,
such as he himself portrayed in his matchless work on
" Spiritual Mindedness ;" that of Baxter has been pro
nounced by the same authority as of an unearthly order ;
but the writer of John Howe's life has spoken of his hero
as distinguished by a piety which presided alike over every
faculty, and permitted none of them to break the ranks.*
The genius of Owen's character was like a deep, broad
stream, rolling onwards laden with many a rich argosy.
Baxter's was like a majectic cataract — the great Niagara,
pouring down unceasingly its foaming waters : while that
of Howe was like a widely expanded lake, reflecting from
its untroubled surface the light and glory of heaven. Re
garding them as writers and preachers, perhaps the dog
matic form of Christianity was most prominent in Owen,
the practical in Baxter, and the contemplative in Howe.
The first was a great scholar ; the second, a great casuist ;
the third, a great philosopher. Owen worked in the deep
mine of the word of God, and plied his learned skill and
strength in fetching out the rich treasures imbedded there.
Baxter applied the ore so gained to practical uses : while
the peculiar genius of Howe fitted him to do both, and
* See Lives of Owen and Baxter, by Orme, and Life of Howe, by
Rogers.

THE THREE DEATH-BEDS. 287
in addition? to mould truth into the most beautiful forms of
thought, and to place them in relations of exquisite har
mony. But the points of resemblance in these remarkable per
sons were more numerous and strong than the points of
difference. Each one stood chief in the order of mind to
which he belonged. Each was a prince in his own realm.
All three were men, " veritable men," masculine in mind
and soul, sincere and earnest, without the slightest tinge
of affectation. They never strove to appear what they
were not; their striving was to be and do what their
great Master told them. This world was to them no thea
tre for display ; this life no fictitious drama, merely to be
acted with propriety ; but a scene for truly heroic deeds ;
an existence to be spent in working out grand spiritual re
sults for themselves and the human race, preparatory to a
nobler career hereafter. They were indifferent in their
teaching to outward forms, to the proprieties of style, and
to the graces of rhetoric ; as authors they came forth in
negligent attire, (though it was far from habitually un
graceful,) and were intent on the substance rather than
the mode — on things rather than words. As preachers,
all three were absorbed in a common object, — " if by any
means they might save some ;" and upon their earnest,
s faithful, and .affectionate ministry, the Spirit of God set
his seal, by rendering it eminently successful. Each had
a catholic soul, free from sectarian narrowness and rancor.
They mourned and wept over the Church's divisions, and
prayed and longed for the days when throughout.Zion's
borders there would be unbroken peace and unaffected love.
Conscience was not the guide of one of these heroes more
than another. Their sufferings for conscience sake, their
lives as Puritan confessors, attest their common loyalty to
that sacred and supreme rule of action. And, finally, it

288 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
might be said of all the three, they were " in labors more
abundant." Their decision of character was expressed in
untiring action for the good of men. " It was the calm
ness of an intensity kept uniform by the nature of the hu
man mind forbidding it to be more, and by the character of
the individual forbidding it to be less."*
Whatever obloquy might once attach to their names,
it is now well nigh dissipated, and their fair fame shines
forth with a brightness which excites far and wide the
admiration of the Church and the world. In them has
been fulfilled the saying : " Since thou hast been precious
in my sight thou hast been honorable, and I have loved
thee." The men whom God so greatly loved are now
honorable in the sight of their fellow-men. Time at
length is sure to pay the meed of honor to the truly illus
trious. We have had, in the course of this volume, some glimpses
of these great and good men, and witnessed their activity,
sufferings, and patience amidst the scenes of their more
public life. It is the design of the present chapter to
follow them into retirement, and to contemplate the man
ner in which they closed their days. The story of their
death-beds bears witness to the value of their principles.
The faith by which they lived was a faith by which they
were not afraid to die. It is true, men without any faith
have died in peace. The last hours of Hume, the prince
of sceptics, have been often cited by the friends of scepti
cism as a proof of what philosophy can do without religion.
But to die, believing nothing — to die, discrediting the doc
trine of immortality — to die, treating all that has been
said of the future world as mere fable — to die, ridiculing
the event, which, if it be indeed the termination of man'..
intellectual and moral being, must be to us the most sol-
* John Foster.

THE THREE DEATH-BEDS. 289
emn of events,— is to die " even as the fool dieth." It
displays as little of philosophy as of faith. But for a man,
in the full belief of a future world, of its rewards and
punishments, and of the true character of the Almighty,
to die calmly and happily, with no other support than
philosophy can yield, would be something to the purpose ;
such a death, however, was never heard of yet. It is only
the Christian, who properly believes in futurity, who is
fully aware of the solemn grandeur of eternity, who is
truly acquainted with the character of the Author of his
being; and therefore his final hour alone can adequately
test the strength of his principles. Our Puritan heroes
looked into eternity, stood on the edge of life and gazed on
the infinite future ; saw more than most of us can see —
yet trembled not ; but with a calm heroism, like that they
had evinced through life, took the la-st step, crossed the
boundary line of the visible ; and having looked with an
angel's smile on those they left behind, vanished. For
wise purposes, — to teach his people lessons which may be
of incalculable service in another world, — the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, may sometimes
permit them to leave this world in darkness. Though He
be closer to them than any other being ever was, their
eyes may be holden so that they do not see Him ; but the
veiling of his presence is only for a while ; and, oh ! the
rapture of the moment, when, having passed through the
depths ofthe valley, He makes himself known to the once
troubled, but now forever peaceful and happy spirit, say
ing, " It is I, be not afraid." But such instances are ex
ceptions to the general rule. " Mark the perfect, and be
hold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." The
three characters whom we have now before us died con
firming that great law.
Persons generally love to visit the birth-place of the
25

290 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
illustrious. What troops of pilgrims resort to certain
spots, where some master spirit of our world first saw the
light of day, and wept, and smiled ! It is natural to do so.
We heartily sympathize in the feeling, and have experi
enced its rich gratification. But some may think that the
death-places of great men are spots more ennobled. To
stand within some time-worn chamber, and to reflect, —
Here did that mighty, thoughtful, earnest, glorious mind
leave the house of its pilgrimage, to enter its eternal man
sion. Here did prospects, such as earth saw never, break
on his ravished view. Here did his spirit fling off its
trammels, and rise to freedom. Here he was born again,
not into a weeping and dying life, but into one that knows
no tears, no death. Here, not in infant's weakness and
ignorance, but in manhood's intelligence and strength, he
began to live, conscious at the moment of the change, and
even reflecting on it. Here he began to be immortal !
Such associations are certainly of the very noblest kind.
We wish the rooms where John Owen, Richard Baxter,
and John Howe, departed from our world were still in ex
istence and could be identified ; — they would be holy
shrines, worthy of being visited by crowds of reverential
pilgrims: It was in some house in the little quiet village of Ealing
that the great John Owen closed his earthly days.. I have
inquired if any traditions respecting the precise place re
main, but can find none. He had some property there,
and a house of his own ; and in the peaceful seclusion of
such a residence he wrote, not long before his death, his
memorable work on " The Glory of Christ." It shows
that his state of mind was of the most enviable description ;
that (to adopt an allusion to the writings of Bunyan, whom
he highly revered, and for whose singular talents of use
fulness this first biblical critic of his age said he was ready

THE THREE DEATH-BEDS. 291
to give all his learning,) he had reached the land of Beulah,
was reclining on the banks of the river of life, and could
walk and talk with the shining ones. Grainger refers to
this beautiful work by Owen, and says, " There are some
very peculiar expressions in hisVritings. Solomon's Song
could not furnish him with a sufficient number of phrases
to express his love of Christ, but he must invent a jargon
of his own." Poor Grainger ! if he had ever read the
work he criticized, his language showed how little he
knew of that Divine affection which throbbed in Owen's
heart almost to bursting. No wonder that the rapturous
expression of a great and sanctified soul, as it stands by
the half-opened gate of immortality and looks upon the
glory of Christ, appears " jargon" to the ears of many.
But Owen " knew whom he had believed," and with a faith
as intelligent as it was fervent, rejoiced in the unseen ob
ject of his love. Transported by his divine theme, he
spoko with " thoughts that breathe and words that burn,"
spreading out his sublime reflections like " a sea of glass
mingled with fire." The last utterances of his heart in
friendship were in unison with the sentiments he expressed
in his final work. " I am going," says he to his dear
friend, Charles Fleetwood, " I am going to Him whom my
soul has loved, or rather, who has loved me with an ever
lasting love, which is the whole ground of all my conso
lation. I am leaving the ship of the Church in a storm ;
but while the great Pilot is in it, the loss of a poor under-
rower will be inconsiderable. Live, and pray, and hope,
and wait patiently, and do not despond : the promise stands
invincible, that He will never leave us nor forsake us."
The first sheet of his book had passed through the press
under the superintendence of Mr. Payne, an eminent Dis
senting minister at Saffron Walden ; and as that excellent
person informed him of the circumstance, the dying saint

292 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
exclaimed, " I am glad to hear it. But, oh ! brother Payne,
the long-wished-for day is come at last, in which I shall
see that glory in another manner than I have ever done, or
was capable of doing in this world." Owen was a man
of robust constitution, and fearful was the conflict between
his complicated maladies and his remaining strength. It
was a stern struggle, as it often is in such cases, ere " the
keepers of the house bowed themselves ;" and the attend
ants stood round the bed with mingled emotions, gazing on
a spectacle of intense physical agony, combined with a
state of mind " calm and unruffled as a summer sea when
not a breath of wind blows o'er its surface." In silence,
with uplifted eyes and hands, John Owen left the world.
It was on Bartholomew's day, so memorable in Puritan
history and in his own ; and the imagination delights to
follow him to regions of liberty and peace, where he joined
many of that confessor band who had taken joyfully the
spoiling of their goods, and had now found in heaven a
better and more enduring substance. Eleven days after
wards, a long procession of carriages, to the number of
sixty-seven, belonging to the rich and noble, together with
mourning coaches and numbers of persons on horseback,
moved slowly and silently along the streets of London,
conveying the mortal remains of Owen to Bunhill-fields,
the Puritan Necropolis.
Baxter survived him eight years. In a house, near his
friend Sylvester, in Charter House Square, he spent his
last days ; and there did this remarkable man, with regard
to whom activity and existence were but convertible terms,
labor to the end. When disabled from preaching in Sylves
ter's meeting-house, he preached in his own dwelling. Ho
almost died in the pulpit the last time he occupied it.
Such hazards were nought to him. " It would, doubt
less," says nis friend, " have been his joy to have been

THE THREE DEATH-BEDS. 293
transfigured in the Mount." No wonder ! — because his
unearthly soul was now so full of heaven. " Drawing
near to the city," if I may quote Bunyan again, " ho had
yet a more perfect view thereof." He talked in the pulpit,
Calamy tells us, '• with great freedom about another world,
like one who had been there, and was come, as a sort of
express, from thence to make report concerning it." His
pen, too — that busy pen — was employed as long as he
could hold it in writing for the cause dear to his heart ;
and among his last works was his " Dying Thoughts,"
worthy of being bound up with Owen's " Meditations on
the Glory of Christ." But at last his growing infirmities
took him from his favorite employments, confining him
first to his chamber, and then to his bed. But when his
lips could no longer speak in public, and the pen of the
ready writer had been forever dropped, his vigorous mind
" abode rational in faith and hope, arguing itself into, and
preserving itself in patience and joy, through grace." Nor
did he fail to converse with those who visited him on those
subjects which through life had always had the first place
in his thoughts. With unaffected humility, he spoke
of himself as " the vilest dunghill worm," as " a sinner
worthy of being condemned for the best duty he ever did,"
whose hopes were all from the free mercy of God in Christ.
Reminded of the good which his works had produced, this
indefatigable author replied, " I was but a pen in God's
hands, and what praise is due to a pen ?" His resigned
submission to the will of God in his sharp sickness was
eminent. When extremity of pain constrained him ear
nestly to pray to God for his release by death, he would
check himself — " It is not fit for me to prescribe, when thou
wilt, what thou wilt, how thou will .'" Being in great an
guish, he said, " Oh ! how unsearchable are his ways, and
his paths past finding out ; the reaches of his providence
25*

294 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
we cannot fathom.— Do not think," he added to his friends,
" the worse of religion for what you see me suffer." He
had a well-grounded assurance of his eternal happiness,
and great peace and comfort within, only lamenting that
he could not triumphantly express his feelings, owing to
extreme pain. Still, he spoke delightfully of heaven, and,
quoting the Apostle's description of the celestial assembly,
remarked, that it deserved a thousand thousand thoughts.
Words of wisdom and counsel were ever on his lips for
those who visited him ; and, with that large public-spirit-
edness which he displayed throughout his active life, he
spent many of his last hours in praying for this miserable
distracted world, and for the preservation of the Church in
the midst of it. Pain was his constant companion, but
with martyr-like firmness he endured all, exclaiming, " 1
have pain ; there is no arguing against sense ; but I have
peace — I have peace." His life had been a continued
state of physical torture. His manifold diseases and suf
ferings were enough to excite pity in the hearts of the
most inhuman of his enemies. Our sensibilities are pos
itively tortured by the reading of his pathetic descriptions
of himself. Welcome, then, must have been the prospect of
his entering a world of which it is said, " Neither shall there
be any more pain ;" and how beautiful was the oft-quoted
answer which he gave to the question, " How he did ?"
" Almost well. Belter than I deserve lo be, but not so well
as I hope lo be!" Sickness to him was convalescence, and
death was immortal and healthful life. The world had
been to him as an hospital, and his lot had been cast in
the ward appropriated to extreme sufferers ; but now his
recovery was at hand, and he was bound for those salu
brious regions where the air can never be tainted with
disease, and the cry of pain is never heard. " On Mon
day," says his friend Sylvester, " about five in the evening,

THE THREE DEATH-BEDS. 295
death sent his harbinger to summon him away. A great
trembling and coldness extorted strong cries from him for
pity and redress from Heaven, which cries and agonies
continued for some time, till at length he ceased, and lay
in patient expectation of his change." The storm was
now over, and the tempest-tossed vessel was in still waters,
waiting for admission to the harbor. The gentle cry in
the ear of his housekeeper, " Death, death!" betokened
the full consciousness of Baxter in his dying moments.
But it was not in words to reveal the mysteries of that
awful crisis. There is no syllable more common in human
speech — there is nothing more utterly unknown, than
death ! He turned to thank a friend for visiting his dying
bed, and, looking on him with an eye of love exclaimed,
" The Lord teach you how to die !" Truly the Lord had
taught him the lesson, and through the record of his last
hours, which the hand of friendship has carefully preserved,
may the Lord teach the same to every reader ! About
four o'clock on the morning of the 8th December, 1691,
Baxter had done forever with the sorrows of this mortal
state, and had entered on the saints' everlasting rest. His
body sleeps in Christ church, beside the ashes of his wife
and mother. Many vied in doing honor to the man whose
memory they reverenced ; and Conformists as well as Non
conformists carried him to his grave, and made great lam
entations over him. Dr. Earl informed Mr. Palmer that
he was present at Baxter's funeral, and that the train of
coaches reached from Merchant Tailor's Hall — from
whence the corpse was carried — to the place of burial.
John Howe was the last of this rare triumvirate, and
was spared by Divine Providence to adorn the Church
till the year 1705, when he shook off the sorrows of hu
manity forever, and joined his elder brothers before the
throne. In his latter days, he was eminently privileged

296 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
with the joys of Christianity. His mind, singularly pure,
elevated and devout, even from his youth, seemed at this
period to attain a more ethereal purity, to soar to a more
sublime elevation, and to breathe a spirit of more seraphic
devotion. It was the opinion of the ancients, that the
nearer men approach to the hour of death, the more divine
become their souls, and the more piercing their insight
into the mysteries of futurity.* Howe, under the influence
of a diviner enthusiasm than ever touched the spirit of
the Grecian sage or poet, certainly appeared sometimes
during the last year of his life, as if the veil of flesh had
been already parted, and his free spirit had found a path
way which " the vulture's eye had never seen." It is
related that on one occasion, at the Lord's table, his soul
was suffused with such joy, that the communicants thought
his physical strength would have sunk under the load of
such preternatural emotions. Another instance of over
powering rapture about the same time is recorded by
himself, in a Latin note found on the blank leaf of his
study Bible. After the record of a peculiarly beautiful
and refreshing dream, which he had some years before,
he adds : " 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 Oct.
22. 1704, far surpassed the most expressive words my
thoughts can suggest. I then experienced an inexpress
ibly pleasant melting of heart, tears gushing out of my
eyes, for joy that God should shed abroad his love abun
dantly through the hearts of men, and that for this very
purpose, mine own should be so signally possessed of, and
by his blessed Spirit." One trembles at criticizing such a
* " 'H 61 tov dvdpwTTOv tpvxri t6tc SfjTTov dstordrn KaratpaivErai,
Kal t6tc ri twv pOWovTWv Trpoopq." — Xenophon, Cyrop. lib. viii.
chap. 7, §21.

THE THREE DEATH-BEDS. 297
phenomenon in the life of such a man, and attempting to
resolve it all into a mere delirium of excitement. Oh !
who that has ever mused on the mystery of the human
mind, and on the mystery of that unseen world which
presses close around it, on the piety of such a. man as
Howe, and on the special love which God bears to those
whom he has distinguished by a close resemblance to
himself, would dare to speak lightly of such a sacred fact ?
I would ask with his biographer, " Who shall say with
what special tokens of benignant regard the Supreme
Being might think fit to refresh the spirit of his long-tried
and faithful servant, on the eve of the last fearful conflict ;
or with what prelibations of Heaven his gracious Master
might condescend to honor his fidelity and obedience ?"*
Like his two great predecessors, Howe spent some of
his closing days in the composition of a work, expressive
of his own rich religious experience. " On Patience in
Expectation of Future Blessedness," was its remarkable
title, and it shows that so glorious were his thoughts of
heaven, and so intense his desire to depart, that he had to
practise an unwonted form of self-denial to remain willingly
in a world, which, alas ! so many of us are loth to leave.
During Howe's illness he received the visits of his
friends, and was attended with delicate care and affection
by his devoted wife. His wish expressed in a sermon,
preached on the death of Mrs. Esther Sampson, was ful
filled to the letter — " In short, it were desirable (if God
see good) to die amidst the pleasant friends and relatives
who were not ill-pleased that we lived ; that living and
dying breath might mingle, and ascend together in prayers
and praises to the blessed Lord of heaven and earth — the
God of ourselves ; if then we could but part with consent,
a rational and joyful consent. Otherwise, to die among
* Roger's Life of Howe.

298 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
fashionable bemoanings and lamentations, as if we de
spaired of futurity, one would say (with humble submission
to the Divine pleasure), Lord, let me rather die alone — in
perfect solitude — in some unfrequented wood, or on the
top of some far remote mountain, where none might in
terrupt the solemn transactions between thy glorious blessed
self, and my joyfully departing, self-resigning soul. But in
this," he beautifully adds, " we must refer ourselves to
God's holy pleasure, who will dispose of us, living and
dying, in the best, the wisest, and the kindest way."
Howe's friends communed with him to the last, aiding
rather than disturbing his holy contemplations. One can
see his majestic countenance, and his calm bright eye, as
Death's finger touches him, lying upon his couch in that
wainscoted apartment of the beginning of the last century.
The door opens, and there comes one to visit him, whose
history has been marked with strange events — the son of
the only man who ever sat on England's throne without a
crown — born when his father was a country gentleman,
and brought up with no ambitious expectations ; then
raised to occupy for a while his noble father's chair of
state, — and then let down unheeded into the paths of
private life, — ' tis Richard Cromwell : Howe had been his
chaplain, and they cherished for each other a mutual
regard. The divine had seen him amidst the splendor of
a court and the scenes of adversity, and had witnessed in
both conditions the display of virtues which commanded
his admiration. He spoke of him always in the highest
terms. This interview between the ex-Protector and his
late chaplain is one of the many interviews which history
tells us of — the minute details, the accurate report of which
curiosity would fain recover from the shades of oblivion.*
But tbe words they uttered have forever died away, save

THE THREE DEATH-BEDS. 299
that an indistinct but sweet echo of them still lasts in a
brief sentence of Dr. Calamy's : — " There was a great
deal of serious discourse between them ; tears were freely
shed on both sides, and the parting was very solemn, as I
have been informed by one who was present on the occa
sion." One or two of the dying utterances of this great
man are distinctly preserved, and are what we might ex
pect from one so greatly good.
As a proof that he needed patience of the unusual kind
he describes in his last book, he said once to his wife,
" Though he thought he loved her so well as it was fit
for one creature to love another, if it were put to his
choice whether to die that moment or to live that night,
and the living that night would secure the continuance of
his life for seven years to come, he would choose to die
that moment." And in the same spirit, he remarked to an
attendant one morning, after being relieved from the intense
sufferings ofthe previous night, "He was for feeling that
he was alive, though most willing to die, and lay the clog
of mortality aside." When his son, a physician, was lan
cing his leg, to diminish his sufferings, Howe inquired
what he was doing, and observed,—" I am not afraid of
dying, but I am afraid of pain." He had a peculiar sensi
tiveness with regard to physical pain, which seems to have
been constitutional. But his pains soon afterwards termi
nated forever ; and on April the 2nd, 1705, his spirit en
tered those regions of ineffable repose and joy after which
he had so long and fervently aspired.
Thus, one by one, did these three worthies cross that
ever-flowing stream,* to meet on those banks of unfading
greenness which border it on the celestial side. United
together in undying fellowship, all misunderstandings

' Hie

Labitur, et labetur in omne volubilis tevum." — Horace.

300 _ SPIRITUAL HEROES.
between Owen and Baxter have forever ceased, while
the spirit of Howe continues its loving intercourse with
both. Freed from the infirmities of this mortal condition,
their pure and noble natures have attained to the perfec
tion alike of sanctity and friendship. And it is among
the best exercises and richest pleasures of pious minds, in
reading the history of the great and good, to form an ac
quaintance with their characters through this medium, as
a preparation for that intimate fellowship with them here
after, which Christianity encourages us to anticipate.

W W h E <j
^ S 3 [ ^
H m S § £
l^ ^s Q_| »*;

•5 =
»— 1 o
tqeq

g^jZj^s-

-£ fe « J II J
*s^ ^g j^

Si

3°

CHAPTER XIII.
THE THREE GRAVES.

" He freed the funeral stone from the moss which covered it, he re
newed the half-effaced inscription, where the pious friends ofthe dead
had expressed in scriptural style the celestial joys which awaited him."
— Old Mortality.

About four miles north-west from Cambridge lies the
village of Oakington. It has a church dedicated to St.
Andrew, whose aisles have been trodden by the feet of
many generations. Round it spreads the old churchyard,
with its grassy hillocks, beneath which,
" Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
Bordering that churchyard is another place of sepul
ture, which was never touched by any prelatical rites of
consecration. Its only sacredness arises from its religious
associations, and from the precious dust which sleeps un
der its greensward. Three tombs still remain side by side
within that little inclosure, worthy of the visits of those
who cherish the memory of Puritan heroes. The men
who are slumbering there until the resurrection of the
just are little known to fame, save that which speaks
within the circles of Nonconformity ; fame, whose voice
is rarely heard and little heeded by the world at large.
" The tombs," says Mr. Robinson of Cambridge, " were
26

304 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
covered with nettles and elder bushes, and the inscriptions
illegible, till they were cleared away, and the tombs cleaned,
in the beginning of 1774. The fences were gone, and
a neighboring cottager then took it into his own garden."
Since then those humble monuments have been preserved,
and the reader is invited to pause over the three graves and
read the inscriptions. I know nothing respecting Mr.
Osland, but that he was the pastor of the church at Cot-
tenham and Willingham, but some very interesting partic
ulars respecting the two other ministers have been pre
served, and will supply materials for the present chapter.*
Francis Holcroft was son of a knight, who resided at
Westham, in the neighborhood of London. When he had
reached a proper age, his father sent him, together with
his brother Henry, to the University of Cambridge. It
must have been about the time chat this ancient seat of
learning was recovering itself from the confusion ofthe civil
wars, and settling down, like its sister at Oxford, under the
newly established Puritan regimen. Many of its mem
bers, because of their disaffection towards the government,
had been ejected from their offices, and among them, no
doubt, there were men of learning and piety; but they
were replaced by others who were their equals, some their
superiors. Cudworth and Lightfoot, not to mention others
of less extensive fame in the world of letters, were of the
number. Holcroft was entered student of Clare Hall,
which had then been lately rebuilt by the liberality of sev
eral benefactors. Dr. Cudworth was Master of the Col
lege, and the learned David Clarkson, who afterwards
married Holcroft's sister, was one of the Fellows, and tutor
to the young under-graduate ; between them it is said
" there subsisted great endearments." Tillotson was his
chamber and bedfellow ; and as we picture to ourselves
* My authorities are Robinson, Calamy, Palmer, and local traditions.

THE THREE GRAVES. 305
the two youths, in the enjoyment of an intimate and en
deared friendship, pacing the halls of Claro, or rambling
on the banks of the Cam, and then follow them through
their subsequent career?— the one a persecuted Noncon
formist, the other Archbishop of Canterbury, — we have a
striking example of the far divergent paths which open
before college associates when they leave the gates of their
Alma Mater, — contrasts most strongly marked in the days
to which this work relates.*
It would appear as if Holcroft had been educated in
High Church principles under his father's roof; for it is
stated that it was in Clare Hall that he adopted his Puri
tanical principles, probably owing to the instructions ofhis
worthy tutor. Approving of Nonconformist discipline, he
became a communicant with the Rev. Mr. Jephcot of Swaff
ham Prior, eleven miles from Cambridge. Young Hoi croft's
chamber was over the College gate, and as he sat there
by his window on Sunday morning, he often observed a
horse waiting to convey one of the Fellows to the village
of Littlington, about thirteen miles from Cambridge. Not
unfrequently, after waiting some time, the horse was led
away without its rider ; the man was intemperate ; he had
not recovered from the last night's debauch, and therefore
the congregation in the church at Littlington must fare as
they can. Francis Holcroft was touched with compassion
for these poor people, who were indeed as sheep without
a shepherd, and not being able to endure the thought of
their being thus neglected while he was doing nothing on
the Lord's day, he resolved to offer himself to supply the
parish. The services of the young preacher were gladly
accepted, and many a time did he ride over to Littlington,
to instruct and edify the people ofthe village. He received
* It is pleasing to remember that Tillotson befriended Holcroft when
he was persecuted by the ruling powers.

306 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
an ample reward for his labors in the success which
crowned them.
About the year 1655, Holcroft accepted the living of
Bassingbourne. There he became extremely popular, and
preached on Sundays and holidays to very crowded con
gregations. Not content with the impression produced
by his preaching, he was anxious to establish purity of
discipline and promote Christian fellowship among those
to whom his ministry had been useful ; and therefore he
formed a church in the parish upon those principles of
Congregational polity which some time before he had es
poused. Several gownsmen and inhabitants of Cambridge
became members of this Christian community. It was a
solemn service when this church was formed. When the
little group stood up, the following Covenant was read : —
" We do, in the presence of the Lord Jesus, the awful
crowned King of Zion, and in the presence of his holy
angels and people, and all beside here present, solemnly
give up ourselves to the Lord and to one another by the
will of God, solemnly promising and engaging in the afore
said presence to walk with the Lord, and with one another,
in the observation of all godly ordinances, and the dis
charge of all relative duties in this Church of God and
elsewhere, as the Lord shall enlighten and enable us."
The members then proceeded to sign it. After the
Church had been thus constituted, and other persons were
proposed as candidates for membership, a like simple and
touching ceremonial was performed. " Brother," said Hol
croft, turning to the individual, " if you now, in the pres
ence of the Lord Jesus, the awful crowned King of Zion,
do solemnly give up yourself to him, signify it by lifting
up your right hand to the Lord." Then he would add, in
the name of the Church, lifting up his own right hand,
" We likewise, in the aforesaid awful presence, do receive

THE THREE GRAVES. 307
you into our communion, solemnly promising and engaging
to carry it towards you as becomes a Church of Christ,
watching over you in the Lord as he shall enable us, and
in testimony thereof do give you the right hand of fellow
ship." Knit together in love, the Church at Bassingbourne
continued through the Commonwealth to enjoy the much-
valued services of Holcroft. Gladly did the people flock
from miles around to hear their favorite preacher, and on
the Sabbath evening they returned musing on what they
had heard.
But soon the Restoration came ; and all was changed.
Holcroft was ejected and his flock dispersed. Still he re
garded himself as their shepherd, and resolved to " seek
out his sheep in the places where they had been scattered
in the cloudy and dark day." He met them wnere he
could. Some joined him at one Mr. Thurlow's house in
Cambridge. Another band assembled at Barrington;
another at Clopton ; others at Eversden, Guyhorn, and
Waterbeach. It was more than his strength allowed to
to continue the oversight of so many persons in different
places, and it was therefore resolved that four members
ofthe Church should be chosen to assist him. Joseph
Oddy, who now lies side by side with him in the little
graveyard at Oakington, was one of the four. He had
been fellow of Trinity, but was ejected at the Restoration.
The companion of Holcroft in brighter days, he clave to
him in his adversity, and prizing the principles of Congre
gational Church government, and being devoted to his
work as a Christian minister, he accepted the hazardous
office of assistant to his friend.
Oddy was scarcely inferior to Holcroft in popularity as
a preacher. Over the dreary country of the fens he often
travelled, preaching to the people in the open air. So es-
26*

308 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
teemed were his instructions, that some persons went
twenty miles to hear him. Of course this popularity
greatly provoked his persecutors, and both he and his col
league were imprisoned in Cambridge Castle, with two
Elders who had shared in their toils. Holcroft was in
dicted at the assizes, and was sentenced to leave the realm
in three months, or suffer death as a felon. But he had a
friend at Court in the Earl of Anglesea, who represented
his case to the King and obtained a reprieve ; but notwith
standing this he remained a prisoner in the Castle about
nine years. Upon the Proclamation of Indulgence in
1672 he had his liberty, but not long afterwards was seized
and imprisoned again for three years.
Mr. Oddy was released after an imprisonment of five
years, but, like his companion, he was again apprehended
and confined. It is related, that, when preaching one night
in a wood, between Willingham and Cottenham, as he was
sitting on his horse, that he might more readily escape from
his enemies, they assailed him with such abruptness and
violence as to throw him on the ground, so that he became
insensible from the fall. In this state he was laid across
the horse's back by his merciless persecutors, and in this
mournful plight conveyed to Cambridge Castle.
Mr. Oddy was a wit as well as a divine, and a proof of
this occurs in connection with the story of his release from
prison. It is a common thing to regard the Puritans as
a set of moping fanatics, thinking it a sin to smile ; but
this notion is the result of prejudice — not of an impartial
study of their history. Indeed, the pious elevation and
habitual dignity of these men did not allow of their de
scending to the vulgar buffoonery of courtly jesters and
cavaliers ; nor were their afflictive circumstances at all fa
vorable to the sallies of cheerful humor : yet did the lat
ter sometimes playfully gleam in their conversations, and

THE MIREE GRAVES. 309
exhilarate their more melancholy companions, like sun
light falling on a sombre landscape. Their wit was often
called forth by the abusive language of their High Church
persecutors, and then, occasionally, it proved severe and
cutting, as in the following instance. A Cambridge man
addressed Mr. Oddy, soon after his release from prison,
with the insulting lines : —
" Good day, Mr. Oddy ;
Pray, how fares your body ? —
Methinks you look damnably thin."
To which the Puritan quietly replied : —
" That, Sir, 's your mistake ;
'Tis for righteousness' sake ;
Damnation's the fruit of your sin !"
The confinement of such men as Holcroft and Oddy was
not always very strict; much depended on the jailer;
and, sometimes, when he chanced to be a kind-hearted
man, and, perhaps, a little touched with Puritan sympa
thies, he would allow his captive secretly to leave his cell
for a little while, upon promising to return at an appointed
hour. So the jailer of Bedford, as is well known, treated
Bunyan, and so the keeper of Cambridge Castle treated
Holcroft. The congregations he had formed still con
tinued to meet for worship, and spent their time in fasting,
reading the Scriptures, and prayer ; and, sometimes, under
cover of the night, through the connivance of the jailer,
Holcroft clandestinely visited his endeared flocks.
At Eversden there still stands a plain old manor-house,
moated round, and approached by an ancient little bridge.
At the time of which I am speaking it was inhabited by
a gentleman of wealth and influence, a member of Hol-
croft's Church, and an attached friend. Village tradition
relates that a vehicle might often be seen crossing that
old bridge in the evening, on its way to Cambridge, to bring

310 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
back Holcroft, who was to preach at midnight in Eversden
Wood, which skirted the back of the manor-house. Till
within a few years, there also remained in the midst of the
wood, serving as a shelter for the confessor in bonds, a
fine old oak, known through all the neighborhood as the
pulpit-tree. The manorial houses and manorial trees of
Great Britain are among the most interesting of our na
tional relics. They possess a mystic meaning, unlocked
by traditionary associations, as by the key of a hierophant ;
and surely, among such objects, the old tree, now hewn
down, and the manor-house still standing at Eversden, de
serve to be classed. There was once the Gospel Beech
in the wolds of Gloucestershire ; and there is still the Gos
pel Oak at Stonely, near Wolverhampton, " favorable,"
as Strutt says, " to thought and devotion — to the reveries
ofthe philosopher on ages past, and the contemplation of
the Christian on the ages to come." Holcroft's pulpit-tree
may be added to these ; and the thought of it, with its more
distinct legend, and more hallowed associations,will possess,
I doubt not, the mind of many a reader as the image of a
sort of Christian Dodona, beneath whose branches there
used to sound the voice of an oracle, more wise and true
than Greece, in the olden time, had ever heard.
Holcroft was ever intent on the welfare of his flock;
and when he could not reach them with his voice, he
addressed them by his pen, and dispatched his pastoral let
ters round the circuit of his truly primitive diocese. One
of these epistles he afterwards published under the title of
" A Word to the Saints from the Watch Tower." When
the time of his release came, he returned to his public du
ties with renewed vigor, and, re-associating with his for
mer colleague, Mr. Oddy, preached in Cambridge, in spite
of the interruptions of the gownsmen, who would assem
ble at the place of the Nonconformists' meeting, and beat a

THE THREE GRAVES. 311
drum to disturb their worship. All round the country, too,
did these earnest evangelists persevere in their efforts, fol
lowed sometimes by such crowed of people, that they were
compelled to preach to them in the open air. For some
time a union existed among all the brethren in the different
parts of Cambridgeshire who had been gathered into fel
lowship by Holcroft's labors, and, in common, they looked
up to him as their bishop. There were embraced among
them both Paedobaptists and Antipadobaptists ; the terms
of communion were Christian and catholic; and the
Church maintained " the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace." At the same time, though scattered over the
country, the members formed but one Church, quite inde
pendent of other Churches, and maintaining Congrega
tional order and discipline.*
But circumstances at length occurred which rendered
it desirable, in the estimation of all, to alter the arrange
ment. Holcroft's health had been undermined by his im
prisonments, and by his preaching in small places to
crowded assemblies. Throwing off his coat, he would
exert himself till he was much heated, and then passing,
without due precaution, into the open air, took cold. With
impaired health, and enfeebled nerves, he sunk into a state
of profound melancholy, which incapacitated him for his
loved employ. The different little parties in the country
whom his influence had held together, now lost that en
deared bond of fellowship ; and this, in connection with
the inconvenience of the plan — to say nothing of other
objections, and the passing of the Act of Toleration —
induced them to form themselves into distinct Congrega
tional Churches. Holcroft survived his colleague five
years, but he continued to decline in health and spirits
till the time of his death in 1692. Before his departure,
• See Note [29J.

312 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
however, the strength of his faith and the tranquillity of
his mind were restored, and he died exclaiming, " For 1
know, that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dis
solved, I have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens."
This Puritan worthy was no common man : with great
natural talents he united eminent literary attainments,
and was especially renowned for his theological learning
and knowledge of the Scriptures. But as a preacher he
seems to have been most celebrated : " His preaching
was less methodical than that of his contemporaries, but
then it was more useful. ' It appeared to me,' says Mr.
Mildmay, ' in his funeral sermon, truly apostolical, prim
itive, and divine.' His words were sharp arrows in the
people's hearts ; they had a quick, penetrating power and
efficacy, so that his converts were very numerous. He
was so indefatigable in his labors that he preached per
petually ; — there is scarcely a village about Cambridge,
but some old person can show you the barn where Hol
croft preached. He had a lion-like courage, tempered
with the most winning affability in his whole deportment ;
his doctrines were moderate Calvinism ; he had a great
zeal for Nonconformity, though a greater zeal for true
piety, which he revered even in his enemies, — if, indeed,
any could be enemies to so good a man. During the
twelve years of his imprisonment in Cambridge Castle
he was of the most cheerful disposition ; and though in
the latter part of his life his spirits failed, yet all his con
versation was heavenly and useful.'-1*
The names and deeds of the sleepers in the graveyard
at Oakington, are now wholly forgotten, save by a few.
A contemplative son of the Puritans, however, will love
to muse over those crumbling sepulchres, and to repeat
* Robinson's Historical Account, &c. Works, vol. v. p. 263.

THE THREE GRAVES. 313
the pious task of Old Mortality, by " freeing the funeral
stone from the moss that covers it, and renewing the half-
effaced inscription." In his travels over England, he will
not fail to inquire after the shrines of his fathers, and with
reverent step to pace the aisles of the church or the meet
ing-house, and the paths of the burial-place around it,
where those shrines may be discovered, conscious that he
is treading upon holy ground. His thoughts and emotions
will not be of the same order with those of the pilgrim to
the tombs of poets, statesmen, and warriors ; but if they
• be less exciting, they will be more pure ; and if they lack
the effect produced by the brilliant associations of worldly
greatness and renown, they will be under that hallowed
charm, which is excited by the recollection of characters
of the highest moral excellence. If he find little in their
names to fire him with the poetry of romance, he will find
much to inspire him with the poetry of religion ; and being
preserved by his own piety from the temptation to worship
as an idol his brother man, however great and good, his
thoughts will be led upwards to God, the Father of spirits,
and the Giver of every good and perfect gift.
How much is lost of the history of our Puritan ancestors
which we would fain recover ! What stories of thrilling
interest — of heroic characters — of wonderful interpositions
— of adventure, suffering, and escape — of love and sorrow,
fear and hope, care and joy, are buried in those graves !
How difficult to form a true idea of Puritan men and
times, of the Puritan in private life, in the cottage, in the
closet, in the sanctuary, and at his daily toil ! It is only
through some little chink, letting in faintly the light of
other days, that we can catch a glimpse of our fathers as
they were ; and look up those long vistas of the infinite
past which retire into such deep obscurity. A few graphic
touches in quaint chronicles — some scraps of diaries,
27

314 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
journals, and letters ; these are to the historian what fossil
remains are to the geologist — all that we possess, out of
which to form an imaginary picture of the old Puritan
world. We feel this — painfully feel it, as we visit our
fathers' graves ; and we are almost tempted to indulge a
vain wish, that we could disinter the secrets that are there
concealed, that we could raise to life the scenes, incidents,
conversations, and acts, now lost in darkness and silence.
Could that wish be gratified, what lives of the Puritans
might be written ! We doubt not the biographer might
then vie with the novelist, in the relation of truth strange
as fiction, in the description of scenes as romantic as ever
entered the mind of Scott, but fraught with far more
precious lessons.
But enough is preserved respecting these men to con
vince us of their virtues, piety, and worth ; distinguished
as many of them were by mental superiority and literary
attainments, it was their spiritual excellence which im
parted to them, as a class, their highest distinction. Their
piety was intimately connected with their peculiar views
of theology and ecclesiastical discipline. Their humble
and devout frame of mind led them to adopt the most spir
itual and evangelical conceptions of Christianity, and to
strive after the utmost purity, and the nearest resemblance
to the Divine models in Church government. Their sys
tem was not so much a theory elaborated by study and
speculation, as a form of spiritual life and activity pro
duced and supported by their piety. Their reformation
was like Luther's, — a reformation beginning in Christian
experience, in the struggles of the heart, in inward pant-
ings after light, and love, and excellence. They wanted
to attain to greater spirituality in their faith, in their disci
pline, in all their actions. They did not form a theory
first, and then work by it ; but they were led on by the in-

THE THREE GRAVES. 315
ward life of religion step by step, their theory, in the mean
while, gradually evolving itself before their view. They
were led by a way that they knew not, like Israel through
the desert, by God's guidance, farther and farther from
the Egypt of error, formalism, and intolerance, till, after
long wandering and severe discipline, the pillar of cloud
and fire brought them to the borders of the Promised Land
of religious truth, spirituality, and freedom.
Piety was the parent of their system, and the support of
it. They derived no aid from what was prescriptive, ad
ventitious, antique, and romantic ; no aid from what is
pompous in ceremonial and imposing in worship ; no aid
from the power of Jong-continued and venerable associa
tions in the popular mind : — and whatever of patronage,
at any time, might be conferred on them by the civil
power, was, to say the least, of very questionable tenden
cy — perhaps impairing their spiritual, as much as it min
istered to their political strength. For the most part their
history is one of conflict ; the history of a band of men,
linked together by the force of sympathy, entering a pro
test against the vices of the world and the secularity of
the Church, — against abuses and errors, venerable because
of their antiquity, and formidable because of their being
founded on the strongest prejudices of mankind. It is a
history of self-denial and sacrifice, confessorship and im
prisonment, suffering and death. In the circumstances of
their lot, the Puritans were veritable successors of the
men who had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings,
yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment; who were
stoned and sawn asunder ; were tempted ; were slain by
the sword ; who wandered about in sheepskins and goat
skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the
world was not worthy) ; who wandered in deserts and in
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. — Disciples

316 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
of such a peculiar system, and the victims of such afflic
tive circumstances, — holding an unpopular, because spir
itual creed, — smitten and crushed by the world, because
they were not of it, what could have supported them, —
what could have given heroism to their hearts, and life to
their labors, and perpetuity to their profession, but heaven-
born piety ?
History as well as science has her idols of the tribe ;
and the cave, the market, and the theatre — images, illusions,
fallacies, needing some Prospero-wand like that of Bacon
to dissipate them forever.* And, surely, the Puritans
have long suffered under the foul enchantment of the
last of these — the " idol" of the theatre, springing from
long-cherished prejudices, from fabulous stories handed
down from generation to generation, and especially from
the authority of great names, which have given to false
hood the currency of historic truth. The name of Puritan
has been taken as a synonyme for all that, is base, canting,
and hypocritical. Thus, to apply a remark made by
Locke, " Independent ideas of no alliance to one another
have been so coupled in the minds of many, that they
always appear together." And, as the same author fur
ther remarks, — " When men are under this deceit they
applaud themselves as champions for truth, when, indeed,
they are contending for error, and the confusion of two
different ideas, which a customary connection of them in
their minds hath to them made in effect but one, fills their
heads with false views and -their reasonings' with false
consequences."f In this way a certain class of writers
and talkers have been so accustomed to connect the idea
of hypocrisy with the idea of Puritanism, that the former
invariably rises up in their imagination as the clothing of
* Nov. Organum. Lib. i. § 52.
t Essay on the Human Understanding. Book II. Ch. 33. § 18.

THE THREE GRAVES. 317
the latter, so that their Puritan is always arrayed in false
colors — an idol of the brain, a phantasm of the stage,
not the true and real hero of history. It is mournful to
think of men beloved by God being thus caricatured and
maligned by some of their fellow-men, who would not
have been worthy to unloose their shoes; and, if now
those sainted ones know and notice aught of what goes
on in this lower world, it must be with dignified pity that
they look down from their place of glory and repose upon
their infatuated detractors. To search into the true his
tory of these Spiritual Heroes, to form accurate concep
tions of their character, sufferings, and deeds, is an em
ployment worthy of the filial love of those who regard
them as their moral ancestry. It is a debt they owe to
departed worth, and the discharge of the duty will be of
benefit to those who perform it ; for communion with the
characters of good men in former times is the way to
perpetuate, as well as to memorialize, their virtues. The
greatest honor to the Puritans now can be rendered
neither by the eulogy of the historian, the ode of the poet,
nor the monument of the sculptor, but by the imitation of
posterity. And, as it is in art, so it is in morals, the
highest kind of imitation consists in catching the spirit of
the original. Men must not suppose that resemblance to
the Puritans of the olden time consists in a rigid adhe
rence to their forms, a servile copying of their precise
habits, customs, and manners ; but in the maintenance of
their noble principles and tbe cultivation of their heroic
spirit. We do not want men attired in the clothes of the
Puritans, but men animated by the souls of the Puritans.
The mere possession of their mantle will never enable
any to repeat their miracles. Vain will be the waving of
the venerated robe — vain the utterance of the prophetic
27*

318 SPIRITUAL HEROES.
cry, " Where is the Lord God of Elijah ?" — if " the spirit
and power of Elias" be not there.
Such are our thoughts while musing amidst the Puritan
burial-places of old England. And now, farewell, ye
loved and venerated ones ! You deserved a better fate
than you met with in this world, and better memorials
than have been reared to your honor since you left it.
But your record is above, and the all-seeing eye of Heaven
watches over your dust !
Farewell to Oakington ! farewell to the Graves of the
Puritans ! England has many time-worn and ivy-crowned
ruins in her old cities and villages, dear to the antiquary
and the poet, — edifices, now crumbling away in silence and
solitude, but once the scenes of activity and life, — castles
that resounded with the minstrel's lyre, and abbeys and,
churches that echoed with " the service of song ;" — but of
all her ruins, the remains of her illustrious sons, now
crumbled into dust and ashes, but once inhabited by noble
active souls, thrilling with the richest music of genius
and piety, are the most sacred and precious. They
hallow their resting-places — they cover them with holy
recollections — they re-awaken the train of associations
which struck the mind of the Hebrew patriot when he
spake " of the land of his fathers' sepulchres." Imbued
with these sentiments, while I love to wander among the
stately ruins of our ancient architecture, still more do I
love to sit on the grassy hillock of some Puritan grave,
and there to muse over the crumbled heaps of those noble
temples, which God Himself hath built and sanctified, and
will one day re-edify.
" Their dust and ruins that remain
Are precious in our eyes ;
Those ruins shall be built agaiu,
And all that dust shall rise."

NOTES.

Note [1]. Page 13.
Other congregations of a similar character are mentioned
as existing in other places, especially in Suffolk and Essex.
There was a considerable one at Stoke, in Suffolk, whose
spiritual prosperity and sufferings under persecution 'are de
tailed by Foxe, vol. iii. 773. It has been concluded by some
that there were two congregations in London, and that Mr.
Rose, whom Foxe mentions, a famous preacher early in the
reign of Henry VIII. was not a pastor of the church we are
describing. Strype, however, as stated on p. 14, speaks of
him as belonging to it.
Note [2]. Page 17.
Mary, in 1 556, issued a commission against the Lollards,
as the Reformers were called. They were empowered to im
pose an oath on whom they pleased, to answer what should
be demanded of them ; whereby they were to swear in effect
to accuse themselves and all their friends that were of the
same opinion and held the same doctrine. Sir Roger de
Chomley was one of the commissioners ; " a judge, but a
turn-coat, and a covetous man."— Strype, Annals, vol. i. 57.
Note [3]. Page 25.
" Thomas Lever had been Master of St. John's, Cambridge,
from which he was ejected on Queen Mary's accession, and
went abroad to Frankfort, Zurich, and other places. He
was afterwards preferred to a prebend at Durham, of which
he was deprived for Nonconformity, though he was allowed
to retain the mastership of Sherborne Hospital, which he held
till his death, in 1577."— Zurich Letters, vol. ii note, 147.
Note [4], Page 26.
There was much correspondence between the Protestants
who remained in England and their exiled brethren. Some-

320 NOTES.
times messengers were sent from one to the other. " Upon
any cases of difficulty or'emergency, this congregation sent
some of their members beyond sea, to some of the learned
exiles there, for their resolution, counsel, and advice, and so
they returned again to the flock. — Strype, Memorials, vol. v.
p. 288. Note [5]. Page 28.
Dr. Story said, " He wished he had done more than he did,
and that he and others had been more vehement in executing
the laws ; and impudently told the House how he threw a
faggot into the face of one (an earwig, as he styled him,) at
the stake at Uxbridge, as he was singing a psalm, and set a
bush of thorns under bis feet ; and that it was his counsel to
pluck down men of eminency that were heretics, as well as
the more ordinary sort — it grieved him that they labored only
about the young, and little twigs, whereas they should have
struck at the root," meaning Queen Elizabeth — Strype, An
nals, vol. i, p. 115. Note [6]. Page 33.
" They concluded, with universal consent of all present,
not to answer aloud after the minister, nor to use the Litany
and surplice, but that the public service should begin with a
general confession of sins, then the people to sing a psalm in
metre in a plain tune, after which the minister to pray for
the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, and so proceed to the
sermon; after sermon, a general prayer for all estates, and
particularly for England, at the end of which was joined the
Lord's Prayer, and a rehearsal of the articles of belief; then
the people were to sing another psalm, and tbe minister to dis
miss them with a blessing.". — Neale, vol. i. p. 109.
Note [7]. Page 36.
Strange that Jewel, after all he had written in his letters
about vestments, &c, should refuse to admit Humphrey to a
living in the diocese of Salisbury. (Strype, ii. 133.) Any
one acquainted with the history of the period, will be struck
on reading the " Zurich Letters" with the very different tone
of sentiment, in relation to vestments and such matters, ex
pressed by Jewel and others in their letters to the Continen
tal Reformers, from that which they manifested in their con
duct towards the more strict of their Puritan brethren. An
amusing illustration of the effect produced on some of them

NOTES. 321
by being made bishops is afforded in the life of Aylmer, Bish
op of London. " Come off, ye Bishops," said he, in a book
he published in earlier days ; " away with your superfluities ;
yield up your thousands ; be content with hundreds, as they
be in other reformed Churches, where be as great learned
men as you are ; let your portion be priest-like, and not
prince-like ; let the queen have the rest of your temporalities
and other lands, to maintain those wars which you procured ;
that every parish might have its preacher, every city its su
perintendent, to live honestly and not pompously. I would
our countryman Wickliffe's book, ' De Ecclesia,' were in print,
then should ye sec that your wrinches and cavillations be
nothing worth." When he became a bishop, he was put in
mind of this passage. " Ah," said he, " when I was a child,
I spake as a child, I thought as a child." — Neale, vol. i. p. 442.
Spenser, in delicate satire, ridicules Aylmer in " The Shepherd's
Calendar," under the anagrammatic name of Morell.
Note [8], Page 39.
" The lordship or civil government of bishops is utterly un
lawful. My reason is this, — the kingdom of Christ is only a
spiritual government ; but the government ofthe Church is a
part ofthe kingdom of Christ ; and therefore the government
of the Church is only a spiritual government. . . . There are
no chariots that go swift in victory as the word of truth ; no
terror in the world that so shaketh the bowels, and maketh
the thoughts to tremble, as the sword of the Spirit. There is
no sceptre that reacheth so wide a dominion as the law of the
majesty of God, which is written in the hearts of all the world,
and condemneth all flesh before the majesty of God. All other
force is but little, and we may either withstand it or fly from
it. But the power of the word is such as shall pass through
all stops and hindrances." — Strype, Annals, vol. ii. p. 401.
Note [9]. Page 4G.
Robert Brown has been reckoned by some the father of
English Congregationalism. The want of personal religion
which distinguished that unhappy man, his base apostasy,
and his immoral conduct after his restoration to the ministry
of the Church of England, have covered his name with an
amount of disgrace which the enemies of Nonconformity have
ever been anxious to associate with that branch of Dissenters
to which they have supposed him to belong. But here preju
dice has perverted historic truth. The Independents never

322 NOTES.
acknowledged Brown as their apostle. " First," says Green
wood, " you term us Brownists and Donatists, whereas I
never conversed with the men nor their writings. Brown is
a member of your Church — your brother — and all Brownists
do frequent your assemblies." — Hanbury's Mem. vol. i. p. 69.
Note [10]. Page 49.
Mr. Francis Johnson had been preacher to tbe English
Company ofthe Staple at Middleburgh in Zealand, and was at
that time a zealous opponent of Independency. When Bar
row and Greenwood's refutation of Gifford was being printed
privately at Middleburgh, he discovered the secret, informed
against the printers, and caused the book to be publicly burnt.
But he picked up one, that he might see the errors it con
tained ; and on reading it, found what he could not answer.
He crossed the seas, and came to London to confer with the
authors. After which he was so satisfied that he joined him
self to their society in London. — Young's Chronicles of the
Pilgrims, p. 425. Note [11]. Page 58.
Stowe says he was hanged with a small audience of be
holders. Weever, in his " Funeral Monuments," gives some
rude and abusive couplets, composed by a certain northern
rhymer, upon poor Penry, under the notion of his being con
cerned in the Marprelate Tracts, p. 56.
Note [12]. Page 71.
The ecclesiastical order of this society is explained in the
following documents, written in 1618 :—
" Touching the ecclesiastical ministry, namely, of pastors
for teaching, elders for ruling, and deacons for distnbuting
the Church's contributions, as also for the two sacraments,
Baptism and the Lord's Supper, we do wholly and in all
points agree with the French reformed Churches, according
to their public confessions of failb, though some small differ-
ences. " The oath of supremacy we shall willingly take, if it be
required of us, if that convenient satisfaction be not given by
our taking tbe oath of allegiance. " John Robinson,
Willum Brewster."

NOTES. 323
The small differences between themselves and the French
Churches, in a second document they thus explain : —
" 1. Their ministers do pray with their heads covered, we
uncovered. " 2. We choose none for governing elders but such as are
able to teach, which ability they do not require.
" 3. Their elders and deacons are annual, or at most for
two or three years, ours perpetual.
" 4. Our elders do administer their office in admonitions and
excommunications, for public scandals, publicly and before
the congregation, theirs more privately, and in their consisto
ries. " 5. We do administer baptism only to such infants as where
of the one parent, at the least, is of some church, which some
of their churches do not observe, although in it our practice
accords with their public confession and the judgment of the
most learned amongst them."
Note [13]. Page 80.
The patent was taken out in the name of John Wincob, a
relation to the Countess of Lincoln, who intended to go with
them. Several members of her family actually joined the set
tlers afterwards, and of her daughter, the Lady Arabella, who
died at Massachusetts, 1630, it is remarked, " She came from
a paradise of plenty and pleasure, in the family of a noble
earldom, into a wilderness of wants, and took New England
in her way to heaven." Note [14]. Page 93.
Upon the disuse of the theatre for dramatic purposes, its
site again reverted to the service of religion, (it had formerly
belonged to St. Saviour's Priory,) and was formed into a
meeting-house for Protestant Dissenters, occupying a space of
2,000 square feet. The structure was capacious, though built
of wood, and it contained three galleries. — See Wilkinson's
Jjondina llliistrata. Note [15]. Page 100.
There can be no doubt that Lord Brooke was a member of
an Independent church ; and a tradition is current in War
wickshire, that when in the church assembly, he would be
called by his untitled name, " Robert Greville ;" but having
crossed the threshold, he was " Lord Brooke" again. I have
this tradition on thc authority of Mr. Brooke, the laborious

324 NOTES.
author of tbe " Lives of the Puritans." It may be observed,
that Lord Brooke's treatise was highly praised by Milton.
Note [16]. Page 101.
As early as the year 1635, Lords Brooke and Say had some
thoughts of emigrating to New England, because the excesses
of the Court threatened the liberties of their country ; and
they even sent over an agent to prepare a report for them,
which received the name of Saybrooke, but a change in the
prospects of the nation altered their purpose.
Note [17], Page 106.
On the 19th December, 1 642, a speech was published, pur
porting to have been delivered by Lord Brooke against any
terms of accommodation, in reply to one by Lord Pembroke
in favor of peace. It breathes a stern and bitter spirit; but
we learn from Clarendon in his Life (p. 955, Oxf. Edit, of his
Works) that this publication was a deliberate forgery. The
Chancellor, however, relates the story of its fabrication with
some glee as an excellent joke.
Note [18]. Page 110.
Another curious story of the extreme conscientiousness of
the Commonwealthsmen in such matters is related respecting
Cromwell. Hellesdon House, near Buckingham, being be
sieged and taken by him, the small garrison capitulated to
march out with arms and baggage. As soon as they were
out of the gate, one of Cromwell's soldier's snatched off the
Governor's hat. He immediately complained to the General
of the fellow's insolence and breach of the capitulation. " Sir,"
says Cromwell, " if you can point out the man, or I can dis
cover him, I promise you he shall not go unpunished. In the
meantime," taking off his beaver which he had on his head,
" be pleased to accept this hat instead of your own." — King's
Anecdotes. Note [19]. Page 111.
Mr. Hanbury raises a doubt respecting the correctness of
this date, appealing to the authority of Rushworth in his Col
lections, who states that Lord Brooke was killed on the 1st of
March : but that Rushworth here fell into an error, and that
tbe date given by all other historians is correct, appears from
the pamphlet published immediately after Brooke's death by
one of his own party, entitled, " England's Loss and Lamen.

NOTES. 325
tation," on the title-page of which it is stated, that he was
slain on the 2nd of March, 1642. The coat which he wore
when shot is preserved at Warwick Castle, and an inscription
is fixed on the wall of the house where he was slain.
Note [20J. Page 1 15.
In the first edition ofthe " Saints' Rest," Baxter introduces
the names of Brooke, Pym, and Hampden, as persons whom
he expected to meet in heaven. In later editions their names
were omitted. " The need," says Baxter, " which I perceived
Df taking away from before such men as Dr. Jane, anything
which they might stumble at, made me blot out the names of
Lord Brooke, Pym, and Hampden, in all the impressions of
the book that were made since 1659, yet this did not satisfy.
But I must tell the reader that I did it not as changing my
judgment of the persons well known to the world."
Elegies were published on the death of Lord Brooke, more
remarkable for extravagance than poetic merit ; and his vir
tues were also celebrated in the pamphlet, entitled, " England's
Loss and Lamentation." He was much beloved and honored
by the Puritans. Goodwin dedicated to him his " Child of
Light walking in Darkness," styling him, "sumrai candoris,
pietatis ac literarum cultor fautorque," &c.
Samuel Clarke, the Puritan minister of Bennet Fink, Lon
don, in his autobiography, refers to him. " I was by the good
providence of God unexpectedly sent for by Robert Lord
Brooke (who was then a young man and unmarried) to bestow
a sermon upon him in his house at Wedgnock Park, not far
from Warwick, whither (though with much reluctance, he
being a stranger to me) I went and preached before him, and
found such approbation, that he desired me to be his house
hold chaplain ; but such a life not suiting with my estate (be
ing married) nor with my affections, with humble thanks I
refused it, yet found him a fast and faithful friend to me in
all his life after." Clarke became preacher at Warwick, and
during his residence there, he says he was an instrument of
much good to Lord Brooke's family, then residing for the
most part in Warwick Castle. Brooke gave this simple-hearted,
pious, and learned man, the living of Alcester.
Note [21]. Page 128.
The Parliament party, in some places, anticipated resistance
to their proceedings. At a Court of Mayoralty, Norwich,
held 12th of July, 1643, it was " ordered that Captain Leve-
28

326 NOTES.
well Sherwood shall watch-guard the city to-morrow the 13th
instant, in regard that the vow and covenant is then to be
taken, for the appeasing of any stir or tumults that may arise
in the said city." In some places the Covenant was not rigor
ously enforced. Baxter prevented his people from taking it,
lest it should prove a snare to their consciences.
In the archives ofthe Norwich Corporation, I have noticed
copies of the League and Covenant, with the signatures of
many inhabitants in the different parishes ofthe city. In the
original papers, published by the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeo
logical Society, is one relating to this subject : — " The Cove
nant," adds the writer, "either in print or writing, is now
rarely found in our parishes, because I apprehend in most of
them it was torn out of the books, or the rolls were destroyed,
at the Restoration. Indeed, all the documents of this period
are scarce ; their preservation would have furnished very awk
ward evidence against many influential families throughout
the realm, but particularly against the clergy of the associated
counties in the event of a restoration. Burnet, I think, men
tions that the cavalier party counted exactly 0Q6 words, the
number of Antichrist in the Apocalypse, in the Solemn League
and Covenant." — Original Papers, p. 294.
Note [22]. Page 150.
" During the usurpation the Latin prayers were discontin
ued, but some of the members, John Fell, John Dolben Alles-
tree, and others, afterwards men of eminence in the Church,
performed the Common Prayer in the lodgings of the celebrated
Dr. Willis, in Canterbury Quadrangle, and afterwards in his
house, opposite Merton College Chapel, and tbe practice con
tinued until the Restoration. Dr. Willis's house afterwards
became an Independent meeting. In the museum ofthe Dol
by family, in Northamptonshire, is a fine painting by Sir Peter
Lely, grounded on the above circumstance." A copy of this
picture was presented to the Society, and placed in the hall." —
Chalmers' Orford, vol. ii. p. 311.
Note [23]. Page 174.
This is a free translation of some of South's Latin verses : —
" Tu dux pariter terras domitorq; profundi,
Componunt laudes cuncta elementa tuas.
Cui mens alta subest pelagoq; profundior ipso,
Cujus fama sonat, quam procul unda sonat.

NOTES. 327
Si curruui ascendas, domito pcene orbe triumphans,
Incurrus aderunt axis uterq; tuos.
Inclusam populi tua fert vagina salutem,
Ut lateri hine possit semper adesse tuo.
Tu poteras solus motos componere fluctus,
Solus Neptunumsub tua vincladare.
Magna simul fords vicisti et multa, trophffiis
Ut mare, sic pariter cedit arena tuis.
Nomine pacifico gestas insignia pacis
# Blandaque per titulos serpit oliva tuos.
Lesbon Abydos amat; Batavas colit Anglia terras;
Insula te fauto facta beata duce,
Insula quam pelagus simul et victoria cingit,
Qufeq; (quod his prastat) cingitur ense tuo."
It is a little singular that Dr. South, notwithstanding his
vituperation against the Puritans, was on terms of the closest
intimacy with Samuel Jones, a Dissenting minister in Gla
morganshire. The following letter of the Doctor's is preserved
among the Ayscough MSS. (4270), and evinces that there
was at least one poor Puritan whom he loved and honored.
We have here the bright side of South's character : —
"March, 12,1688.
" Most dear and honored Friend, — If I could be ashamed
to be overcome by you in any thing, it should be to be thus
overcome in kindness, and having received from you so much,
to have returned so little. Your love has still the advantage
of prevention, the sure effect of great activity ; so that all I
can express can reach no farther than gratitude, which, at the
best, is but return and imitation ; mean things compared with
what they can but write after.
" Dear Sir, you speak of my sealing your pardon ; but your
love, I am sure, is the object of another thing, unless that
saying should take place, that favors themselves are scarce
pardoned when they cannot be recompensed. I most heartily
confess that I find that stronger reality of affection in you, and
that upon no ground on my part but what entirely your own
sweet disposition and inclination creates to itself, that I am
amazed at what I see and find, having elsewhere seen and
found so much to the contrary.
" I have my present abode at Westminster, but God knows
I look not on that or any place else almost as an abode,
while I see the whole nation so unsettled. I can say as you
do, that (thanks be to God) I enjoy my health, and in exter-

328 NOTES.
nals want nothing but faithful and suitable converse ; for there
may be want of that where there is none of company. And
were you disengaged, as I am, I could even beg of you to
come and live with me, for I know none but yourself and one
more, who also is planted afar off, with many little ones about
him, who, both in respect of learning and affection, could
sweeten my life and promote my studies. But afar off as you
are, you are like now and then to be troubled with me, hav
ing the convenience of writing to you. Our friend, Dr.
Lloyd, I suppose you know is married, and, in my judgment,
very happily. He is an honest and ingenious person, and I
doubt not God has a blessing in store for him. Dear Sir, I
cannot but thank you for all your love, and pray that he would
requite it to you and yours who alone can. I am, I can assure
you, " Your ever faithful and affectionate Friend,
" Robert South."
" For the Rev. and his ],onored friend, Mr.
Samuel Jones, at Codreeken, in Glamor
ganshirc, South Wales, these."
This Mr. Jones was a remarkable man. He had a great
reputation for learning and piety, and suffered much for his
Nonconformity. It was once reported, just before he died,
tbat he had renounced his Dissenting principles, which report
drew from him the following avowal in a letter to a friend : —
"I declare to you and 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 from my own conscience for my non-submis
sion to those impositions which were then made the indispen
sable terms of communion with the Church of England. I
confess I had then, and have still, a very honorable respect
for the able and conscientious ministers of it. But to declare
an unfeigned assent and consent, &c, to deny my former or
dination, 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 door, that upon mature considera
tion I could not, durst not then, and dare not now leap over,
though to save my credit and livelihood, though to gain a dig
nity and preferment, without odious hypocrisy, and the over
throwing of my inward peace, which is' and ought to be dearer
to me than my life." — Non. Mem. vol. iii. p. 502.
I would here observe that I am much indebted to Mr. Orme
for his references to Oxford men in his " Life of Owen." But
in one instance he has misled me. Trusting to his statement

NOTES. 329
that Penn was a student in Christ Church when Owen waa
Dean, supported as that statement is by a reference to Birch's
" Life of Tillotson," I was led lo introduce the illustrious
Quaker as a gownsman ofthe University in Owen's time. On
further examination, I discover that Penn was not entered at
Christ Church till the year 1660, when Owen had left.
Note [24]. Page 197.
This Mr. Tillinghurst, or Tillinghast (as his name is some
times spelt) was rather a remarkable person. In that age of
industrious authorship, he produced several works. In 1642
he published a sermon entitled, " Demetrius's Opposition to
Reformation." In 1654, a book entitled, " Knowledge ofthe
Times;" and also six several " Treatises" on theological sub
jects issued from the press. But his chief publication was
entitled " Generation Work ; or, that work, or those works,
which the way or manner of God's dispensations in the age a
Saint lives in calls him to," A second part, containing an
" Exposition of the Seven Vials;" and a third part, upon the
" Prophecy of the Two Witnesses," speedily followed. His
" Eight Last Sermons" were edited by Christopher Feake, and
published in 1655 ; and his Remains, under the title of " Eli
jah's Mantle," in 1657. He seems to have devoted much of
his time to the study of prophecy, and was a strenuous upholder
ofthe doctrine of the personal reign of Christ. He belonged
to the Fifth Monarchy men. There appear to have been dur
ing the Commonwealth three, classes who bore that appellation.
1. Mere Millennarians ; 2. Theoretical Theocracists, advocates
for a sort of divine dominion, and generally opposed to Crom
well's Protectorship; and. 3. Practical Theocracists, men who
thought it right to strive to overturn even by force tbe exist
ing government, that the way might be opened for God and
his saints to rule. Tillinghurst may, perhaps, be numbered
with the second class. He argued from the prophecies with
great zeal, that the time was at hand for the setting up of
Christ's visible kingdom among men. Tillinghurst was some
time rector of Tarring Neville, then rector of Streate in Sus
sex. Afterwards he went to Yarmouth, then to Trunch,
where he wrote his " Generation Work." He was evidently
a man of ardent piety, but wild and enthusiastic in his notions
of prophecy. Feake, a very violent Fifth Monarchy man,
was a great admirer of Tillinghurst. He informs us that Til
linghurst went to London in the spring of 1655, or a few
months earlier. " The object of his visit was first to speak
28*

330 NOTES.
his mind to the great man Oliver Cromwell ; and he did bear
his testimony to his face, in the first place, in the presence of
divers witnesses, in such a way of plainness and pity to him,
who was guilty of such open abominations, that undoubtedly
it will be of use hereafter to the stopping of the mouth of all
great flatterers: secondly to preach in favor of a Fifth Mon
archy; and thirdly, to travel from prison to prison where any
of the servants of Christ were shut up. He was spirited from
the Lord to do much work in a little time." — Feake' s Pieface
to Tillinghunt's Eight Last Sermons.
Cromwell alludes to Tillinghurst, in a letter to Fleetwood,
preserved in Thurloe's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 572. Rumors
unfriendly to Cromwell, especially respecting his assuming
the crown, had reached Fleetwood. These rumors the Lord
Protector contradicts ; and goes on to say, " Use this bearer,
Mr. Brewster, kindly — let him be near you ; indeed, he is a
very holy able man, trust me you will find him so. He was
a bosom friend of iWr. Tillinghurst, ask him of him, you will
thereby know Mr. Tillinghurst's spirit. This gentleman
brought him to me a little before he died ; and Mr. Cradock,
Mr. Throughton, a godly minister, being, by with himself,
who cried shame."
Mr. Carlyle, among his dramatic and admirable sketches in
his edition of " Cromwell's Letters," vol. iii. p. 137, remarks
upon this letter : — " Godly Mr. Tillinghurst, so noble a phe
nomenon to Oliver and Fleetwood, is to us fallen altogether
silent — seemingly a very godly preacher, of very modest na
ture, who in his old days being brought once before the Lord
Protector, cried it was a shame to trouble any Lord Protector
or sovereign prince with the like of him." It appears from
the above notices, that Tillinghurst is not altogether fallen
silent, and that he was not so very remarkable for his modesty :
probably, Cromwell's obscure allusion to Tillinghurst was by
no means intended to be commendatory, and relates to the in
terview mentioned by Feake. " Shame !" was probably the
cry of Mr. Cradock or Mr. Throughton at Mr. Tillinghurst's
presumption. It speaks well for CromweU, that he showed
no disposition to be revenged upon this plain. spoken man.
He had to bear .a good deal of opposition from such well-
meaning, but misguided persons. Feake seems to have been
a different character from Tillinghurst, and bis extreme vi
olence often brought him into trouble. There is a curious
letter respecting him among the Ayscough MSS. vol. iv.
p. 300. It is too long to be added to this lengthy note.

NOTES. 331
Note [25]. Page 261.
The following anecdote respecting Dr. Owen is related in
tbe MS. life of him before referred to. The circumstance is
said to have happened about the time that Charles's Indul
gence was issued : —
" The Doctor now thinks he may visit his friends at Oxford,
his concerns being also thereabouts, but with all privacy imag
inable. But notwithstanding he was taken notice of, and in
telligence was given of the very house where he lay, upon
which troopers came knocking at the door, the mistress ofthe
house comes down and boldly opens the door, and asks what
they would have. They ask her whether she has any lodgers
in the house ; instead of giving a direct answer to the ques
tion, she asked whether they soujrht for Dr. Owen 1 ' Yes,'
say they. She tells them, ' the Doctor went from my house
this morning betimes.' Upon this they presently rode away ;
and in the meantime the Doctor (who she really thought had
been gone, as he told her be intended), rises, and hastes away
to a field near the house, where he ordered his horse to be
brought him, and rides away immediately to London."
Note [26], Page 281.
James Hannot was educated at an academy at Newington
Green, under the care of that polite and profound scholar, the
Reverend Charles Morton, where he had great advantages for
learning and very agreeable society. Among his schoolfellows
were Mr. Timothy Cruso, Nathaniel Taylor, Mr. Owen, Sam
uel Wesley, and Daniel Defoe. — Defoe's Life and Times, vol. i,
pp. 21-23. Note [27]. Page 283.
A beautiful instance of solicitude for spiritual prosperity as
a Church is given in the Wattesfield Church Book. " The
deaths of several of their small number, and especially of the
men, made this Church very thoughtful, and engaged them in
a serious consideration of the following questions, which were
spoken to by several brethren.
" What are those graces in the exercise of which a Church
may hope from the word of God to be blessed and built up 1
" On the contrary, what are the sins which, according to the
Scriptures, do chiefly lead to unchurching, or removing the
candlestick, and which may be most likely to this day to pro
voke thereunto 1"

332

NOTES.

Note [28] Page 298.
There is another interview which Calamy mentions, which
I never read of without wishing I could know all that was
said on the occasion. " I well remember that he himself
once informed me," says Calamy, " of some very private con
versation he had with that prince (William III.,) not long be
fore his death. Among other things, the king asked him a
great many questions about his old Master Oliver, as he called
him, and seemed not a little pleased with the answers that
were returned to some of his questions." What were those
answers 1 They would, perhaps, throw some additional light
on the now popular question of Oliver's character.
Note [29]. Page 311.
" The Congregational Churches of the last century," ob
serves Mr. Harmer, {Miscell. Works, p. 152,) " were not so
rigid as not to admit of the meetings of their people together
in distinct assemblies, when their circumstances made it of
consequence for them so to do : though, like the Primitive
Churches, they assembled in one congregation in times of par
ticular solemnity. In like manner, in times of persecution,
these Churches were often obliged to meet in small parties,
and hold distinct assemblies, for their better concealment,
which neither was, nor reasonably could be, thought to be
contradictory to their opinion — that Christian Churches ought
to be Congregational." Mr. Harmer considered a multiplicity
of Independent Churches in one city or district to be a devi
ation from primitive practice.

ADDITIONAL NOTE.-
The following letter from Mr. Bridge to a person in London
may be read in connection with the chapter on the East
Anglian Churches. It relates to the income of the Pastors,
and furnishes some interesting particulars : 
" 16ZA Aug. 1655.
" Honored Sir,
" I have received your letters, und am glad that you are so
sensible ofthe concernments of our Lord Christ in the min
istry ofhis word.

NOTES. 333
" The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches in Nor
folk are many ; and, in so short a time as one day, I am not
able to inquire into their state and condition. But having
lately received a letter from Mr. Philip Nye, in reference to
the Congregational, I have inquired after them the more dil
igently, and send you the names of all those churches in Nor
folk, with the names of their pastors, the towns where they
are seated, and the worth of their livings, so near as I can.
" The Presbyterian Churches I have less acquaintance
with, and if you please to give me longer time to inquire. I
shall serve you therein. Only, Sir, I can tell you now that
here are four ministers in this town, and no set maintenance
for any, unless 1002. which I have from the State, given me
by the Long Parliament. The other ministers are all good
men and worthy, and no revenue but Ihe people's charily.
11 Six miles from us there is a market-town, and the only
great town in the island ; the living is not worth 402. a year.
If 502. may be laid to it, and a good man put into the place, it
would be very influential on the whole island. The gift of
the living belongs to the Lord Protector. The town hath
been malignant, called Laystoffe, known to his Highness, be
ing part of the first-fruits of his great labors. Much service
might be done for Christ in settling this place ; and if the
Lord will give your hearts to pity this great town, many
souls will bless God for your bowels. I will trouble you no
further, but present this thing to your goodness, and yourself
to the grace of God, who is able to supply all our wants ac
cording to his riches in glory, by Jesus Christ, in whom I
continue, " Sir,
" Yours in all Christian observance, " William Bridge.

" List of tlie Independent Teachers who are Pastors of Churches
in the county of Norfolk : —
" 1. Church at Norwich. Pastor, Mr. — Armitage, who
hath an augmentation already.
" 2. Church at Yarmouth. Mr. — Tooky, teacher ; Mr.
Bridge, Pastor, who hath 100/. a year from the State.
" 3. Church at North Walsom, a market-town. Pastor,
Mr. Brabiter. The living about 402. per annum.
" 4. Church at Windham, a market-town. Pastor. Mr.
Money. He bath an augmentation already.

334 NOTES.
" 5. Church at Hapton, a small town, and small living.
No Pastor ; Mr. Wale being gone to Ireland.
" 6. Church at Tunsted and Slowly. No Pastor. The
revenue of both about 802.
" 7. Church at Alby and Thwait. Pastor, Mr. Nat.
Brewster. The living about 502.
" 8. Church at Lesetingham. Pastor, Mr. Cushin. The
living about 1002.
" 9. Church at Fowlsham. Mr. Worts, Pastor. The worth
of the living known to Major-General Skippon.
" 10. Church at Edgefield. Pastor, Mr. Martin. The
living competent."
This letter is copied from Peck's Desiderata Curiosa.

THE END.

M. W. DODD,
PUBLISHER AND BOOKSELLER,
Corner qf Park Row and Spruce Sis., opposite City Hall,
NEW YORK
PUBLISHES AMONG OTHERS THE FOLLOWING:

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH'S WORKS.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE,
AND A FOHTRAIT OF THE AUTHORESS
2 Vols. 8vo.,
WITH SEVERAL ILLUSTRATIONS,
ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THE WORK.
The Publisher invites the attention of the public to this
new Edition of one of the most popular and useful writers
of thepresent age. It contains upwards of 1700 large octavo
pages, and nearly thirty different productions; several of
which in prose and poetry, make their first appearance in
our country in this edition. All her volumes, excepting
a few juveniles unsuited to a Standard Edition, are includ
ed in this, making, to all intents and purposes, a complete
Edition of the Works of Charlotte Elizabeth.
To the attractions of our former Editions we have added
several engravings from steel, got up expressly for the
work, as Illustrations and Embellishments.
The news of the death of Mrs. Tonna has awakened a
new interest in her writings. Among her last labors as an
authoress, was the preparation for the press of Judsea
Capta. This we received from Charlotte Elizabeth in
manuscript, in advance of its publication in England, for
this Edition of her works, which has her express endorse
ment, and is the only one in this country from which she
has derived any pecuniary benefit.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
" Charlotte Elizabeth's Works have become so univer
sally known, and are so highly and deservedly appreciated
in this country, that it has become almost superfluous to
praise them. We doubt exceedingly whether there has
been any female writer since Hannah More, whose works
are likely to be so extensively read and so profitably read
as hers She thinks deeply and accurately, is a great an
alyst of the human heart, and withal clothes her ideas in
most appropriate and eloquent language. The present
edition, unlike any of its predecessors in this country, is
in octavo form, and makes a fine substantial book, which,
both in respect to the outer and inner, will be an ornament
to any library." — Albany Argus.
" These productions constitute a bright relief to the
bad and corrupting literature in which our age is so
prolific, full of practical instruction, illustrative of the
beauty of Protestant Christianity, and not the less abound
ing in entertaining description and narrative." — Journal
of Commerce.
" In justice to the publisher and to the public, we add
that this edition of Charlotte Elizabeth's Works will form
a valuable acquisition to the Christian and Family Libra
ry." — Christian Observer.
" We experience a sense of relief in turning from the
countless small volumes, though neat and often ornate,
that the press is constantly throwing in -our way, to a
bold, substantial-looking octavo of 850 pages, in plain
black dress, with a bright, cheerful countenance, such as
the volumes before us. Of the literary characteristics of
Charlotte Elizabeth we have had frequent occasion to
speak. Her merits and defects are too well known to
need recapitulation here." — Newark Daily Advertiser.
This third volume completes this elegant octavo edition
of the works of this popular and useful author. The
works themselves are so well known as not to need com
mendation. The edition we are disposed to speak well
of. It is in clear type, on fine paper, and makes a beauti
ful series. It is, moreover, very cheap." — New York
Evangelist.

WE ALSO PUBLISH THE FOLLOWING OF CHARLOTTE ELIZ
ABETH'S WORKS, IN UNIFORM, NEAT 18mO. VOLS.,
VARYING FROM 25 TO 50 CENTS PER VOL

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08561 7950