Jacob," Parker, and Baynes, on the one side; and Downham, Hooker, Saravia, Andrews, &c. on the other. The consequence of these researches, was his full conviction that the English episcopacy is a totally different thing from the primitive, that it had corrupted the churches and the ministry, and destroyed all christian discipline. Thus this Et-cætera oath, which was framed to produce unalterable subjection to prelacy, was a chief means of alienating Baxter and many others from it. Their former indifference was shaken off by violence, and those who had been disposed to let the bishops alone, were roused by the terrors of an oath, to look about them and resist. Many also, who were formerly against the Nonconformists, were led by the absurdity of this oath, to think more favourably of them: so that on the whole it proved advantageous rather than injurious to their cause. The imposition of the service book on Scotland, at this time, produced great disturbances there also, and led the Scots first to enter into a solemn covenant against Popery and superstition, and afterwards to march an army into England. The imposition of ship-money, which occasioned the celebrated resistance of Hampden, excited great and general discontent in England, and hastened on those civil commotions which so long agitated the country, and from which the most important effects arose. The King met the Scots at Newcastle, and after a time formed an agreement with them. The Earl of Bridgewater, lord president of the Marches of Wales, passing through Bridgnorth Jacob was a Brownist, and one of the earliest Independents in England. The work referred to by Baxter, was probably his Reasons taken out of the Word of God and the best human Testimonies, proving a Necessity for reforming our churches in England." 1604. It is written with very considerable ability; and, amongst other things, endeavours to prove" that for two hundred years after Christ, the churches were not diocesan, but congregational." The work of Parker, 'De Politeia Ecclesiastica Christi, et Hierarchica opposita, Libri Tres,' 4to, 1621, was posthumous, the author having died in Holland, 1614. He was a learned and pious man: his work against 'Symbolizing with Antichrist in Ceremonies,' produced a great effect, and occasioned much trouble to the writer. Parker was, in sentiment, partly Presbyterian, and partly Independent. Paul Baynes was the author of The Diocesan's Trial,' in answer to Dr. Downham's Defence. * Adrian Saravia was a celebrated scholar, a native of Hedin in Artois, but who lived many years in England, and was one of the warmest supporters of episcopacy. He published, among other things, a treatise on 'The divers Degrees of Ministers of the Gospel," and a reply to Beza's tract De Triplici Episcopatu. He was one of the translators of the Bible appointed by King James, and died shortly after the finishing of that work, in his eighty-second year.-Athen. Oxon. vol. i. p. 765. • Baxter's "Treatise of Episcopacy ;'-Preface. to join his majesty, was informed on Saturday evening, that neither Mr. Madstard nor Baxter used the sign of the cross; that they neither wore a surplice, nor prayed against the Scots. These were crimes of no ordinary magnitude in those days of terror. His lordship told them that he would come to church on the morrow, and see what was done. Mr. Madstard went away, and left the reader and Baxter to face the danger. On the sabbath, however, his lordship suddenly changed his purpose, and went to Litchfield, so that nothing came out of the affair. "Thus I continued," says Baxter, " in my liberty of preaching the Gospel at Bridgnorth, about a year and three quarters, which I took to be a very great mercy in those troublesome times." The Long Parliament now began to engage attention, and its proceedings produced the most powerful effects on the country. The members soon discovered their hostility both to ship-money, and the Et-cætera oath; while their impeachment of Strafford and Laud, showed their determination to resist the civil and ecclesiastical domination, under which the country had so long groaned. The speeches of Faulkland, Digby, Grimstone, Pym, Fiennes, and others, were printed and greedily bought. These excited a strong sense of danger among the people, and roused their indignation against the king and the bishops. The unanimity of this celebrated assembly in its opposition to prerogative and high-church claims, did not arise from the members being all of one mind on religious subjects. One party cared little for the alterations which had been made in the church; but said, if parliaments be once put down, and arbitrary government set up, every thing dear to Englishmen will be lost. Another party were better men, who were sensible of the value of civil liberty, but were most concerned for the interests of religion. Hence they inveighed chiefly against the innovations in the church, bowing to altars, Sunday sports, casting out ministers, high-commission courts, and other things of a similar nature. And because they agreed with the former party in asserting the people's rights and liberties, that party concurred with them in opposing the bishops and their ecclesiastical proceedings When the spirit of the Parliament came to be understood, the people of the different counties poured in petitions full of complaints. The number of ministers who had been silenced by the bishops, and of individuals and families who had been banished on account of religion, was attempted to be ascertained. Some who had been condemned to perpetual imprisonment, after suffering the basest indignities, were released and brought home in triumph. Among these were Mr. Peter Smart," Dr. Leighton, Mr. Henry Burton,d Dr. Bastwick, and Mr. Prynne; all of whom e Mr. Smart, for preaching a sermon, in which he spoke very freely against the ceremonies of the church, was fined, excommunicated, degraded, deprived, and imprisoned nearly twelve years. The damage he sustained amounted to several thousand pounds, for which he afterwards received some compensation by order of Parliament. Laud and Cosins were his chief persecutors.-Fuller's Church Hist. b. xi. p. 173. "Leighton (says Heylin) was a Scot by birth, a doctor of physic by profession, a fiery Puritan in faction."-Life of Laud, p. 126. His crime consisted in the publication of 'An Appeal to Parliament, or Sion's Plea against Prelacy.' For this offence he was condemned to suffer the loss of both ears, to have his nostrils slit, his forehead branded, to be publicly whipped, fined ten thousand pounds, and perpetually imprisoned! When this sentence was pronounced, Laud, it is said, took off his hat, and gave thanks to God. The sentence, in all its parts, was executed with shocking barbarity. At the end of his twelve years imprisonment, when set at liberty by the Parliament, he could neither see, hear, nor walk. 'Sion's Plea' is certainly written with much acerbity, and some parts of it are liable to misconstruction. When Heylin alleges that he incites Parliament "to kill all the bishops, and smite them under the fifth rib," he lies and defames. The last expression, indeed, occurs; but that it does not refer to the persons of the bishops, the following sentence from the conclusion of the appeal clearly shows"We fear they (the bishops) are like pleuritic patients, that cannot spit, whom nothing but incision will cure, we mean of their callings, not of their persons, to whom we have no quarrel, but wish them better than they either wish to us or to themselves." (p. 179.) Some of his language is certainly unguarded, but in moderate times would have been liable to no misinterpretation. The physician had, no doubt, more of asperity and vindictiveness in his temper than his son, the amiable, enlightened, and heavenly-minded Bishop of Dumblane. Henry Burton was an Independent, and originally engaged about court, when Charles I. was Prince of Wales. To the loss of his place, Heylin, with his usual charity, ascribes his hostility to the hierarchy.-Life of Laud, p. 98. His own account is more deserving of credit. By several publications, he provoked the wrath of the High Commission Court; but for one, For God and the King,' he was sentenced to be punished in a similar manner to Leighton, and suffered accordingly. A narrative of himself, which he published, and the substance of which was reprinted in the Cong. Mag.' for 1820, is uncommonly interesting. If I may judge from this memoir, and his Vindication of the Churches commonly called Independent,' he was a man of piety, talents, and moderation. * Dr. Bastwick, a physician at Colchester, for publishing a Latin book which reflected on the bishops, and denying their superiority to presbyters, was excommunicated, debarred the exercise of his profession, fined one thousand pounds, and imprisoned till he should recant. For another book, supposed to be written by him while in prison, the same sentence was passed and executed on him as on Burton and Prynne. Dr. Bastwick, I doubt not, was a good man; but his spirit was very violent. His book, 'The Utter Routing of all the Independent Army,' in which his fellow-sufferer Burton is the chief object of attack, is shameful for a Christian to have written. William Prynne, " a bencher, late of Lincoln's Inn," was the most extra had been treated with the most wanton and unmerited cruelty. Acts were passed against the High-commission court, and the secular power of churchmen; and for the continuance of the parliament till it should dissolve itself. A committee was appointed to receive petitions and complaints against the clergy, which produced multitudes of petitions from all parts of the country. As a specimen of what was brought in, White, the chairman, published One Century of Scandalous Ministers,' in which a most dreadful exposure is made of the ignorance, immorality, and incompetency of many of the established teachers. The town of Kidderminster, amongst other places, prepared a petition against their minister, whose name was Dance. They represented him as an ignorant and weak man, who preached but once a quarter, was a frequenter of alehouses, and sometimes drunk. His curate was a common tippler and drunkard, a railler, and trader in unlawful marriages. The vicar knowing his incompetency, offered to compound the business with the town. Instead of his present curate, he offered to allow sixty pounds per annum to a preacher whom a committee of fourteen of them should choose. This person he would permit to preach when he pleased; and he himself would read prayers, and do any other part of the parish routine. The town having agreed to this, withdrew their petition. After trying a Mr. Lapthorn, the committee of Kidderminster applied to Baxter to become their lecturer on the above terms. This invitation is dated the 9th of March, 1640. The legal instrument appointing him to the situation, bears the date of April 5th, 1641, and is signed by about thirty individuals. He also received a very affectionate letter from a number of persons ordinary man of all the sufferers. His first crime consisted in writing the "Histriomastix, or a treatise against plays, masquerades," &c.; for this his ears were cropped, &c. His second crime was a libel against the bishops; for which he received sentence along with the other two. As his ears had formerly been cut off, the stumps were now literally sawed off, or in the words of a coarse, humorous epitaph composed for him, "they fanged the remnant of his lugs." He wrote more books, and quoted more authorities, than any man of his time; and did much to expose the unconstitutional and lawless measures which had been long pursued by the bishops and the court. He seems to have been an Erastian respecting church government. It is wonderful, that after having suffered so much from government interference in religion, he should have written a book to prove that Christian Kings and Magistrates have authority, under the Gospel, to punish idolatry, apostasy, heresy, blasphemy, and obstinate schism, with pecuniary, corporal, and in some cases, with capital punishments."-Athen, Ox. ii. pp. 311-327. 66 belonging to the congregation. With this invitation he was very willing to comply, as, on various accounts, he felt disposed to labour in that place. The congregation was large, and the church very convenient. The people were ignorant, rude, and loose in their manners; but had scarcely ever enjoyed any faithful, evangelical preaching. There was, at the same time, a small number of pious people among them, who were humble and holy, and fit to assist a minister in instructing the rest. The state of Bridgnorth had made him resolve never to settle among people who had been hardened under an awakening ministry; but that he would go either to those who never had enjoyed such a blessing, or to those who had profited by it. He accordingly repaired to the place, and, after preaching only one day, was chosen by the electors nemine contradicente. "Thus," says he, "I was brought, by the gracious providence of God, to that place which had the chiefest of my labours, and yielded me the greatest fruits of comfort; and I noted the mercy of God in this, that I never went to any place in my life which I had before desired, or thought of, much less sought, till the sudden invitation did surprise me." His attachment to Kidderminster remained through all the changes of his future life. Speaking of it many years after he had left it, he says, with much feeling and beauty, "But among all, none did so much abound His removal to Kidderminster took place in 1640. His previous ministry had been spent, he tells us, under the infirmities already noticed, which made him live and preach in the constant prospect of death. This was attended with incalculable benefit to himself and others; it gave much of that earnestness and unction to his preaching for which it was so eminently distinguished, and without which no one will ever preach with much success. All these documents are still preserved among the Baxter MSS. in the library at Red Cross-street. Poetical Fragments, p. 34. |