then to renounce his doctrines, and make such public submission as should be enjoined him. No pardon could be obtained, nor the least relaxation of the sentence, which the sheriff took care should be punctually executed.*

Mr. Vavasor Powell might be added to the list of those whose zeal and labors particularly exposed them to persecution. But his sufferings have been already noticed.†

The spirit of persecution thus raged against this people: but not without a mixture of events, which were adapted seriously to effect the minds of their persecutors, and to alarm them to reflection. On the day of the king's proclamation, at Waltham, near Theobalds, there was a man, who at the bonfire, in the evening, expressed a rage against the dissenters, and the baptists in particular, by violence of language and oaths; and as he threw faggots into the fire, cried, "here is a round-head; here is an anabaptist!" he was struck with death that night, and never saw the morning. A minister at one place, inveighing, in his sermon against this sect, fell into a swoon, and was speechless for two hours, so that it was apprehended that he would never recover out of the fit. At Brockington in Gloucestershire, a young woman, who had bitterly reviled them, giving a sudden shriek, as the preacher was discoursing on Jude 14, 15, dropt down in the religious assembly, and never recovered. The sufferings and character of the dissenters were made a jest upon the stage at Oxford. In a play acted there, by the scholars, one personated the Old Puritan; who broke a vein and vomited so much blood, that his immediate death was apprehended, and he lay sometime dangerously ill. Two of the actors, and a woman that joined them in this dramatic exhibition, were cut off by death. Some remarkable calamities befel those who were instruments in the prosecution of Mr. John James.§ One of the actors in the rude and unnatural treatment of Mr. Shalder's corpse, after it was interred, died suddenly; and another languished for some time, terrified with the remembrance of the insults he had offered to the dead.A woman named Anne Clemens, at Chipping-Norton, dis† At the end of chap. viii. Ibid. p. 241.

* Crosby, vol. ii. p. 185-209. Crosby, vol. ii. p. 30-34.

§ Ibid. p. 172.

tinguished by her rage and malice against the dissenters, fell into such circumstances of poverty, as to be obliged to sell her land, and mortgage her house for near its worth. Not one of her children, who resided in the neighborhood, was in a comfortable condition; and she herself was so reduced as to beg alms of those she had hated and persecuted. Her affliction was heightened by a diseased appetite, which called for as much as would satisfy two or three persons; and by a disposition to breed vermin, so that though her clothes were not only washed, but ovened, she could not be kept clean. Richard Allein, an active informer, and violent in his conduct towards the dissenters, fell into afflictions that shortened his days. His eldest son was killed at London; and about the same time, another was accused and convicted for robbing on the highway, and by great friends and fees escaped with his life. An officer in the county troops of Oxford, with an income of seventy pounds per annum, before he could accomplish bis design of suppressing the dissenters, sunk in his own estate, died greatly in debt, and his son's children became common beggars. One Werg, a forward and active constable, did not long survive the expiration of his office, and imputed his death to watching one cold night to take the dissenters at their meeting. Five persons, who received pensions as spies and informers, were observed not to prosper afterwards, and every one of them shortly died. An Irish peer, and three Irish justices of title and rank, bitter persecutors, it was remarked, while they were directing their whole power to the ruin of the dissenters, were themselves ruined, their estates were sold, and their families became extinct. Whereas Sir Littleton Obaldiston, a justice of peace, who had been heard to rail at the dissenters, and acted with others in committing them to prison, afterwards laid aside his enmity, was instrumental in releasing several, and conducted himself in a friendly manner; and it was noticed, that his estate continued to his posterity. And it was remarked, that-Howard, Esq. a justice and officer in the county troops in Oxfordshire, who had from an ene my become a friend to the dissenters, though he adhered to the established worship, was the only one of those who had molested and harassed them that was living on the 30th VOL. IV.

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of December, 1707, being then an old man, full of days, wealth and honor.*

It becomes us, I am sensible, to be very cautious, how we construe the events, which are common to all men. "There is usually" (says an excellent writer) " much rashness and presumption in pronouncing, that the calamities of sinners are particular judgments of God; yet if, from sacred and profane, from ancient and modern historians, a collection were made of all the persecuting tyrants, who delighted in tormenting their fellow-creatures, and who died not the common death of all men, nor were visited after the visitation of all men, but whose plagues were horrible and strange, even a sceptic would be moved at the evidence, and would be apt to suspect that it was Theion ti, that the hand of God was in it."+

But the history, which we are detailing, presents objects to our consideration more pleasing than the sufferings of the persecuted, or calamities that befel persecutors. It records the virtues which the persecuted displayed, and the consolations in which, under their heavy trials, they rejoiced. We see the power of faith and piety, when we hear the Baptists confined in Reading gaol declaring, "Our Lord and King, whom we serve, hath brought us under his own pavilion: and his banner over us hath been and still is love, and hath been teaching of us these lessons following. 1st. In the loss of all outward things, having Christ, we enjoy all things, and are satisfied in the Lord: we shall take the spoiling of our goods with far more comfort, than the enemy will do in the spending of them, for that word [Job xx. 22, 23] is very much on our hearts concerning him. 2dly. We hope we have learned, in whatsoever condition we are, to be therewith contented; and are persuaded in our hearts this is given us in an answer of many prayers breathed forth unto the Lord on our behalfs. 3dly. That whereas formerly we could hardly part with any thing for the Lord, we are now made willing by him, to part with all things for him, and to say with good old Ely, "It is the Lord, let him do what he pleaseth ;" and that in Job, is set before

*Crosby, vol. ii. p. 259–265.

↑ Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. iii. p. 247. 1754.

us for our example, upon whom the ends of the world are come: The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; bles sed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, &c. 4thly. We have since our confinement tasted a greater sweetness in the promises of the Lord than formerly; and particularly these places following, we have sweet experi ence of, and we can truly say by experience, That faithful is he that hath thus promised, for he hath also done it: it is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Phil. iv. 19. 1 Pet. v. 7. Deut. xxxiii. 25. We are also brought by the power of his grace to a more watchful frame over our hearts, thoughts and actions, by these trials than formerly. One thing had almost slipped our memory, the knowledge of which will, we hope, rejoice our hearts; that our relations, that are precious to the Lord and to us, bear this our suffering with incomparable patience, rather singing for joy, than weeping for grief. Also our Societies, from whence we were taken, are exceeding cheerful, and a very lively spirit of faith and prayer is amongst them; and their meetings rather increase than otherwise. Sure, That the Lord is near, his wonderous works declare; for the singing of birds is come, and the turtle is heard in our land. Aud now, brethren, forasmuch as the mercies expected and prayed for by us, are to be enjoyed in the way of righteousness, it greatly concerns us,that we cry mightily to the Lord, as did his servant of old. Isai. lxii. 1. Then shall we have that new name which God will give us, which is expressed in the last verse of that chapter. Now the God of all peace fill you with peace and joy in believing; so pray your brethren through grace."*

In the spirit of these pious sufferers, one whose property was seized, told those who took distress," he never sold any thing to so great advantage, for this would bring him an hundred fold." And another on goods from his shop to the value of 50s. being seized for a fine of 30s. assured them, "that he parted as willingly with them as with any goods he ever sold.”+

When Mr. John James was brought to the bar to receive sentence, he was asked what he had to say for himself, why sentence of death should not be passed upon him. In a Crosby, vol. ii. p. 93, 4, 5. + Ibid. p. 249.

*

manner very expressive of pious submisssion and fortitude, he answered: "That he had not much to say, only two or three scriptures he would leave with them." The first scripture was Jer. xxvi. 14, 15. As for me, do as seemeth good unto you. But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood up on yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof. The second scripture was, Psalm cxvi. 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints. He also reminded them of that good word of the Lord: He that toucheth the Lord's people, toucheth the apple of his eye.

The deportment of Mr. Keach, when he stood in the pillory, at Aylesbury, was singularly serious, devout, and undaunted. To his friends, who accompanied him, expressing their sense of his sufferings, he said, with a cheerful countenance, "the cross is the way to the crown." When his head and hands were fixed, he addressed the spectators to this effect: "Good people, I am not ashamed to stand here this day, with this paper on my head. My Lord Jesus was not ashamed to suffer on the cross for me, and it is for his cause that I am made a gazing-stock, Take notice, it is not for any wickedness that I stand here; but for writing and publishing his truths, which the spirit of the Lord hath revealed in the holy scriptures. It is no new thing for the servants of the Lord to suffer and to be made a gazing-stock; and you that are acquainted with the scriptures know, that the way to the crown is by the cross. The apostle saith, That through many tribulations, we must enter into the kingdom of heaven: and Christ saith, He that is ashamed of me and my words, in an adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, before the Father, and before the holy angels." After frequent interruptions from the jailor, and standing sometime silent, disengaging one of his hands, he pulled his bible out of his pocket, and held it up to the people, saying: "Take notice, that the things which I have written and published, and for which I stand here this day a spec tacle to men and angels, are all contained in this book, as I could prove out of the same, if I had opportunity." The jailor took it from him, and fastened up his hand again : but it was almost impossible to keep him from speaking;