appalling scourge, the episcopal clergy yielded to the almost universal panic and fled from their pulpits, and abandoned their poor parishioners to their fate. But the Nonconformist ministers, though proscribed, resolved to visit the sick, to relieve the poor, and to preach in the forsaken pulpits, ere the people died. And when the devouring fire had reduced the city to a smouldering heap, and most of the churches were involved in the common ruin, regardless of the threatening penalties, they obtained places in which to preach to the inquiring multitudes, who, aroused by successive calamities, were constrained to ask, "What must we do to be saved?"* 3. As Nonconformists.

While a happy uniformity of sentiment respecting the great verities of the Gospel prevailed amongst them, there was no little diversity of opinion upon subjects connected with church government. The great majority of them were Presbyterians, who earnestly wished to see established by law a system of church polity analogous to that of Scotland or Geneva. Some of them were the friends of a modified episcopacy, and would have cheerfully sat down under a system such as Archbishop Usher had proposed; while others were Erastians, who

*The silenced ministers had till this time preached very privately, and but to a few. But when the plague grew hot, and the ministers in the city churches fled and left their flocks in the time of their extremity, several of the Nonconformists, pitying the distressed and dying people, that had none to call the impenitent to repentance, nor to help them to prepare for another world, nor to comfort them in their terrors; when about ten thousand died in a week, were convinced that no obedience to the laws of any mortal man whosoever, could justify their neglecting men's souls and bodies in such extremities; and therefore they wished to stay with the people, enter the forsaken pulpits, though prohibited, and give them what assistance they could, under such an awakening providence, and also visit the sick and get what relief they could for the poor, especially such as were shut up.

"The persons that set upon this work, were Mr. Thomas Vincent, Mr. Chester, Mr. Janeway, Mr. Turner, Mr. Grimes, Mr. Franklyn, and some others. Those often heard them one day, who were sick the next, and quickly died. The face of death did so awake preachers and hearers, that the former exceeded themselves in lively, fervent preaching; and the latter heard with a peculiar ardour and attention. And through the blessing of God many were converted from their carelessness, impenitence, and youthful lusts and vanities; and religion took that hold on the people's hearts, as could never afterwards be loosed.

"This unhappy fire (of London) made the way of the Nonconformists yet the plainer to them. For the churches being burnt, and the parish ministers gone, for want of places and maintenance, the people's necessities became unquestionable; for they had no places now to worship God in, save a few churches that were left standing, which would not hold any considerable part of them. Wherefore the Nonconformists opened public meeting-houses, and were very full. And as circumstances then stood, to have forbid the people to hear them, had been in effect to forbid them all public worship of God, and require them to live like atheists."-Calamy's Abridgment of Baxter's Life and Times. Vol. i. pp. 130-135.

would not have quarrelled with any ecclesiastical polity that would not impose its usages upon their conscientious observance.

The most active, though certainly not the largest body, were the Independents, or, as they preferred to be called, the Congregational brethren, and who principally maintained those opinions which prevail amongst ourselves. With this class we may include the Baptist brethren, and many others, who were then contemptuously called Sectaries, and some of whom unquestionably held mystical and eccentric opinions, but who had learned at least one lesson, at that time known only to a few,-how to distinguish between spiritual and civil power, and to define with something like correctness the appropriate sphere of each. Between these advocates of opposing systems of church order there were no affinities, but such as their love of the Gospel, and their unaffected integrity and honour supplied. What the heat of Christian love could not accomplish, the fire of persecution effected, and these various bodies were fused into one mass by that law which made them Nonconformists. It is perhaps desirable to recite the leading requirements of the Act of Uniformity, in order to ascertain what great principles were actually avowed by their resignation of their ecclesiastical benefices, and to what extent we are entitled to name the illustrious two thousand as our fathers in Nonconformity.

That act required-1. That they should virtually renounce their ordination by presbyters, and submit to be episcopally ordained. 2. That they should declare their unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing in the Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the Sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the church; and they were required to subscribe ex animo these words: "That the Book of Common Prayer, and of ordaining bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God; and that it may be lawfully used; and that they themselves would use the form in the said books prescribed, in public prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and no other." 3. That they should take oath of canonical obedience, and swear subjection to their ordinary, according to the canons of the church. 4. That they should abjure the solemn league and covenant, and declare it an unlawful oath, and not obligatory on those who took it; and lastly, 5. That they should declare that it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatever, to take up arms against the king. Now it must be conceded, respecting a law of such ample and varied enactments, and for the calm consideration of which no adequate time was allowed, that it is not possible accurately to determine in what degree the whole body of Nonconformists were affected by its requirements. Some might object to all, whilst others might only object to one or two of its impositions. As Mr. Richard Baxter, however, may be considered as the leader and representative of the moderate and more numerous portion of the ejected ministers, we may fairly

gather from his book, "The English Nonconformity truly Stated and Argued," what were the great points of objection with him and his brethren. We learn on his authority that they were then decidedly opposed to arbitrary power, and would not swear that it is always unlawful to take up arms against the king. They were fully convinced of the validity of ordination by presbyters, and would not renounce their own ministerial character, nor virtually disown the ordination of their brethren of the reformed churches in general. They were familiar with the exercise of free prayer, and were reluctant to have that gift superseded by an unvarying formulary. They had specific objections to the Book of Common Prayer, especially to the services of baptism and the burial of the dead, and also to the Athanasian creed. They saw that extensive church reform was necessary, and therefore could not abandon the solemn league and covenant. But the greatest principle they asserted by their noble sacrifice was the supreme authority of conscience in matters of religion, and the lawfulness of refusing obedience in matters of faith and practice to the impositions of the civil power. They generally believed in the lawfulness of a state religion, and consequently were not dissenters from the principle of an establishment, but objected to certain things imposed and practised by it. This led many of the most eminent of the ejected ministers to attend the public services of the church of England, and frequently to commune at her altars.*

*The Rev. John Humfrey, an ejected minister, writing to Ralph Thoresby, of Leeds, on the subject of occasional conformity, says,

"I will tell you first my own judgment and practice, which is perhaps singular. There is our stated communion and our occasional communion. Our moderate Nonconformist Presbyterians are for their stated communion with the congregations whereof they are pastors or members, but they will join in their parish churches for occasional communion, or else they think themselves guilty of schism. Thus Dr. Bates does some time in the year receive the sacrament in his parish, and Mr. Baxter did often in the parish I am. But, as for myself, I declare my stated communion to be with the parish, (where we have a very ingenious, diligent, and exemplary doctor for our minister,) and my occasional communion with the Nonconformist meetings, where I go sometimes; and sometimes I am called to preach. In short, I am a Nonconformist minister, but a conformist parishioner." This is confirmed by the testimony of Dr. John Sharp, archbishop of York, who, writing to Thoresby on the same subject, says, "Mr. Humfrey, I am sure, will vindicate your practice of communicating with us in the holy sacrament, because it is what himself doth, both as to prayers and sacraments, and so did Mr. Baxter; for so long as he lived in my parish, (St. Giles' in the Fields, 1677,) he seldom failed, when he was well, of coming to our prayers and sermons twice every Lord's day; and receiving the communion with us, kneeling at the rails, once or twice every year; this I speak of my own knowledge."-Letters addressed to R. Thoresby. Vol. i. pp. 274, 321. Mr. Baxter's own words may be quoted to complete the evidence. "I constantly join with the church in common prayer: I communicate in the Lord's supper with the church of England: I exhort the people to communion, and I go into the

Dr. John Owen, however, and the Congregational brethren in general, questioned the lawfulness of these acts of occasional conformity, and did not hesitate to gather separate churches of believers wherever they were prepared to do so.

4. As Philanthropists.

It has sometimes been insinuated that the nonconformist ministers of the seventeenth century were deficient in that expansive zeal and benevolence which the love of Christ in the heart invariably inspires. A candid view of their position, and that of our country too, at that period, would at once dispel this notion, and show that according to their opportunities they were as vigorous and devoted as any of their descendants. The commercial enterprise and the colonial empire of England were then in their infancy. The few settlements we then possessed in the West Indies and North America were not contiguous to any great heathen nation. The claims of the North American Indians, however, were not overlooked by the Puritan ministers, when they had influence over the minds and purses of their countrymen. During the commonwealth they formed a society for the promotion of the Gospel; and Elliot, the apostle of the Indians, was one of their first and most successful missionaries.

After the ejectment, many of these confessors thought of the claims of the heathen. Baxter writing to Elliot says, "Though our sins have separated us from the people of our love and care, and deprived us of all public liberty of the Gospel of our Lord, I greatly rejoice in the liberty, help, and success which Christ has so long vouchsafed you in his work. There is no man on earth whose work I think more honourable and comfortable than yours; to propagate the Gospel and kingdom of Christ into those dark parts of the world is better work than our devouring and hating one another. There are many here who would be ambitious of being your fellow-labourers, but that they are informed you have access to no greater number of Indians than you yourself and your present assistants are able to teach. There are many here I conjecture who would be glad to go anywhere,-to Persians, Tartarians, Indians, or any unbelieving nation, to propagate the Gospel."* zeal also for the extension of the Gospel at home, they were fully equal

In

church from my own house in the people's view, that I may persuade them by my example, as well as my doctrine."

Dr. John Owen was of another mind, and published "An Answer unto Two Questions, with Twelve Arguments against any conformity to worship not of Divine institution." (Works xxi., 519-536.) At a somewhat later period of the history of nonconformity, the Rev. John Howe vindicated occasional conformity, from the attacks of Daniel Defoe. That powerful writer replied to Mr. Howe, which brought the Rev. James Owen of Shrewsbury into the field, and several other writers pro et contra on the same subject.

to

any that have succeeded them, not excepting the leaders of methodism themselves. Time would fail to tell of their lengthened itinerancies, and of the perseverance with which they taught the people at the hazard of their liberty, if not their lives.

Nor were they less willing to exert themselves in more tranquil times. When the neglected condition of Wales was made known, an association was formed on the most catholic principles, in 1674, to establish schools, and to circulate the Scriptures and other religious books in that principality. The names of Bates and Baxter, of Gouge and Firmin, are associated with those of Tillotson, Outram, Partrick, and Stillingfleet, to accomplish this benevolent object.

It is an ancient proverb, founded upon obvious laws, "like priest, like people," and it was, therefore, humanly impossible that such as adhered to their persecuted ministers, should fail to imbibe something of their zeal for doctrinal and practical religion. The families of the Nonconformists of the seventeenth century were trained up to write and repeat the sermons they heard, to attend lengthened fasts and family devotions, and to understand most of the theological questions of their times. The strictness of their manners accorded with the sternness of their principles, and thus their rigid observance of the Sabbath, and their entire withdrawal from frivolous amusements, exposed them to the ridicule and contempt of worldly minds. Their liberality was proved by the contributions which were made for the relief of the persecuted Piedmontese, and for the support of Christian missions to the Indians of New England.*

After the Nonconformist ministers had made their costly sacrifice, it was expected that persecution and reproach would break their spirits, destroy their influence, and extinguish their race. By far the greater part of the twenty-six years that elapsed between the return of the Stuarts and the Revolution, were years of unpitying severity and cruel wrong, both to them and to their people. Mr. J. White collected a list of the names of sixty thousand Nonconformists, who suffered in various ways, for their principles, from the Restoration to the Revolution. Nearly eight thousand perished in noxious dungeons, during Charles II.'s reign, besides those who died in bitter exile from their native land.

It is computed that within three years property to the amount of two millions of money was extorted from these faithful confessors, by all the forms of legal robbery and oppression; and happy would they have been could they have purchased at such a price the liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own minds.

*"The Protector," says Whitlock, "appointed a solemn day of humiliation to be kept, and a large contribution to be gathered throughout the nation." The sum raised was £38,000, besides £2000 which Oliver himself contributed. The New England mission had property to the amount of £700 per annum.