chaplains in ordinary, preached once before him, had frequent access to his majesty, and was always treated by him with peculiar respect. He assisted at the conference at the Savoy, as one of the commissioners, and drew up a reformed Liturgy, which Dr. Johnson pronounced “one of the finest compositions of the ritual kind he had ever seen." He was offered the bishopric of Hereford by the lord chancellor Clarendon, which he refused, and gave his lordship his reasons for not accepting of it, in a letter; he required no favour but that of being permitted to continue minister at Kidderminster, but could not obtain it. Being thus disappointed, he preached occasionally about the city of London, having a licence from bishop Sheldon, upon his subscribing a promise not to preach any thing against the doctrine or ceremonies of the church. May 15, 1662, he preached his farewell sermon at Blackfriars, and afterwards retired to Acton in Middlesex. In 1665, during the plague, he went to Richard Hampden's, esq. in Buckinghamshire; and when it ceased, returned to Acton. He continued here as long as the act against conventicles was in force, and, when that was expired, had so many auditors" that he wanted room: but, while thus employed, by a warrant signed by two justices, he was committed for six months to New Prison gaol; having, however, procured an habeas corpus, he was discharged, and removed to Totteridge near Barnet. In this affair, he experienced the sincerity of many of his best friends. As he was going to prison, he called upon serjeant Fountain for his advice, who, after perusing the mittimus, said, that he might be discharged from his imprisonment by law. The earl of Orrery, the earl of Manchester, the earl of Arlington, and the duke of Buckingham, mentioned the affair to the king, who was pleased to send sir John Baber to him, to let him know, that though his majesty was not willing to relax the law, yet he would not be offended, if by any application to the courts in Westminster-hall he could procure his liberty; upon this an habeas corpus was demanded at the bar of the common pleas, and granted. The judges were clear in their opinion, that the mittimus was insufficient, and thereupon discharged him. This exasperated the justices who committed him; and therefore they made a new mittimus in order to have sent him to the county-gaol of Newgate, which he avoided by keeping out of the way. After the indulgence in 1672, he returned to London, and preached on week-days at Pinner's hall, at a meeting in Fetter-lane, and in St. James's market house; and the times appearing more favourable about two years after, he built a meeting-house in Oxenden-street, where he had preached but once, when a resolution was formed to take him by surprise, and send him to the county gaol, on the Oxford act; which misfortune he escaped, but the person who happened to preach for him was sent to the Gate-house, where he was confined three months. After having been three years kept out of his meeting-house, he took another in Swallow-street, but was likewise prevented from preaching there, a guard having been placed for many Sundays to hinder his entrance. Upon the death of Mr. Wadsworth, he preached to his congregation in Southwark. In 1682, he was seized by a warrant, for coming within five miles of a corporation; and five more warrants were served upon him to distrain for 1957. as a penalty for five sermons he had preached, so that his books and goods were sold. He was not, however, imprisoned on this occasion, which was owing to Dr. Thomas Cox, who went to five justices of the peace, before whom he swore that Mr. Baxter was in such a bad state of health, that he could not go to prison without danger of death. In the beginning of 1685, he was committed to the king's bench prison, by a warrant from the lord chief justice Jefferies, for his paraphrase on the New Testament; and on May 18, of the same year, he was tried in the court of king's bench, and found guilty. He was condemned to prison for two years; but, in 1686, king James, by the mediation of the lord Powis, granted him a pardon; and on Nov. 24, he was discharged out of the king's bench*. After which he retired * As this trial was the most remarkable transaction in Mr. Baxter's life, and one of the most characteristic of Jefferies's arbitrary disposition, we are persuaded our readers will not complain of the length of this note. On the 6th of May, Mr. Baxter appeared in the court of king's bench, and Mr. Attorney declared he would file an information against him. On the 14th, the defendent pleaded not guilty, and on the 18th, Mr. Baxter being much indisposed, and desiring further time than to the 30th, the day appointed for the trial, he moved by his counsel that it might be put off; on which the chief justice answered, "I will not give him a minute's more time to save his life. We have had to do with other sorts of persons, but now we have a saint to dealt with, and I know how to deal with saints as well as sinners. Yonder stands Oates in the pillory (as he actually did in the New Palace yard), and he says, he suffers for the truth, and so does Baxter; but if Baxter did but stand on the other side of the pillory with him, I would say two of the greatest rogues and rascals in the kingdom stood there." On the 30th of May, in the afternoon, he was brought to his trial before the lord chief justice Jefferies at Guildhall. Sir Henry Ashurst, who could not forsake his own to a house in Charterhouse-yard, where he assisted Mr. Sylvester every Sunday morning, and preached a lecture every Thursday. and his father's friend, stood by him all the while. Mr. Baxter came first into court, and with all the marks of serenity and composure waited for the coming of the lord chief justice, who appeared quickly after with great indignation in his face. He no sooner sat down, than a short cause was called, and tried; after which the clerk began to read the title of another cause. You blockhead you (says Jefferies), the next cause is between Richard Baxter and the king: upon which Mr. Baxter's cause was called. The passages mentioned in the information, were his paraphrase on Matth. v. 19. Mark ix. 39. Mark xi. 31. Mark xii. 38, 39, 40. Luke x. 2. John xi. 57. and Acts xv. 2. These passages were picked out by sir Roger L'Estrange, and some of his fraternity. And a certain noted clergyman (who shall be nameless) put into the hands of his enemies some accusations out of Rom. xiii. &c. as against the king, to touch his life; but no use was made of them. The great charge was, that in these several passages he reflected on the prelates of the church of England, and So was guilty of sedition, &c. The king's counsel opened the information at large, with its aggravations. Mr. Wallop, Mr. Williams, Mr. Rotherham, Mr. Atwood, and Mr. Phipps, were Mr. Baxter's counsel, and had been feed by sir Henry Ashurst. Mr. Wallop said, that he conceived the matter depending being a point of doctrine, it ought to be referred to the bishop, his ordinary; but if not, he humbly conceived the doctrine was innocent and justifiable, setting aside the inuendos, for which there was no colour, there being no antecedent to refer them to (i. e, no bishop or clergy of the church of England named). He said the book accused, i. e, The Comment on the New Testament, contained many eternal truths; but they who drew the information were the libellers, in applying to the prelates of the church of England, those severe things which were written concerning some prelates who deserved the characters which he gave. My lord (says he), I humbly conceive the bishops Mr. Bax ter speaks of, as your lordship, if you have read church history, must confess, were the plagues of the church and of the world. "Mr. Wallop," says the lord chief justice, "I observe you are in all these dirty causes; and were it not for you gentlemen of the long robe, who should have more wit and honesty than to support and hold up these factious knaves by the chin, we should not be at the pass we are." My lord, says Mr. Wallop, I humbly conceive, that the passages accused are natural deductions from the text. "You humbly conceive," says Jefferies, " and I humbly conceive: Swear him, swear him." My lord, says he, under favour, I am counsel for the defendant; and, if I understand either Latin or English, the information now brought against Mr. Baxter upon such a slight ground, is a greater reflection upon the church of England, than any thing contained in the book he is accused for. Says Jefferies to him, "Sometimes you humbly conceive, and sometimes you are very positive: You talk of your skill in church history, and of your understanding Latin and English; I think 1 understand something of them as well as you ; but, in short, must tell you, that if you do not understand your duty better, I shall teach it you." Upon which Mr. Wallop sat down. Mr. Rotheram urged, that if Mr. Baxter's book had sharp reflections upon the church of Rome by name, but spake well of the prelates of the church of England, it was to be presumed that the sharp reflections were intended only against the prelates of the church of Rome. The lord chief justice said, Baxter was an enemy to the name and thing, the office and person of bishops. Rotheram added, that Baxter frequently attended divine service, went to the sacrament, and persuaded others to do so too, as was certainly and publicly known; and had, in the very book so charged, spoken very moderately and honourably of the bishops of the church of England. Mr. Baxter added, My lord, I have been so moderate with respect to the church of England, that I have incurred the censure of many Mr. Baxter died Dec. the 8th, 1691, and was interred in Christ-church, whither his corpse was attended by a numerous company of persons of different ranks, and many of the dissenters upon that account. "Baxter for bishops!" says Jefferies, "that's a merry conceit indeed; turn to it, turn to it." Upon this Rotheram turned to a place where it is said, "That great respect is due to those truly called to be bishops among us," or to that purpose. "Ay," saith Jefferies, this is your Presbyterian cant; truly called to be bishops; that is himself, and such rascals, called to be bishops of Kidderminster, and other such places: bishops set apart by such factious, snivelling Presbyterians as himself; a Kidderminster bishop he means: According to the saying of a late learned author, and every parish shall maintain a tithe-pig Metropolitan." Mr. Baxter beginning to speak again, says he to him, "Richard, Richard, dost thou think we will hear thee poison the court, &c. Richard, thou art an old fellow, an old knave; thou hast written books enough to load a cart, every one as full of sedition (I might say treason) as an egg is full of meat. Hadst thou been whipped out of thy writing trade forty years ago, it had been happy. Thou pretendest to be a preacher of the gospel of peace, and thou hast one foot in the grave; 'tis time for thee to begin to think what account thou intendest to give. But leave thee to thyself, and I see thoul't go on as thou hast begun; but, by the grace of God, I will look after thee. I know thou hast a mighty party, and I see a great many of the brotherhood in corners, waiting to see what will become of their mighty don, and a doctor of the party (looking to Dr. Bates) at your elbow; but, by the grace of Almighty God, I'll crush you all." Mr. Rotheram sitting down, Mr. Atwood began to shew, that not one of the passages mentioned in the information ought to be strained to that sense which was put upon them by the inuendos, they being more natural when taken in a milder sense, nor could any one of them be applied to the prelates of the church of England without a very forced construction. To evidence this, he would have read some of the text: But Jefferies cried out, You shall not draw me into a con My venticle with your annotations, nor your snivelling parson neither. My lord, says Atwood, I conceive this to be expressly within Roswell's case, lately before your lordship. You conceive, says Jefferies, you conceive amiss; it is not. My lord, says Mr. Atwood, that I may use the best authority, permit me to repeat your lordship's own words in that case. No, you shall not, says he: You need not speak, for you are an author already; though you speak and write impertinently. Says Atwood, I cannot help that, my lord, if my talent be no better; but it is my duty to do my best for my client. Jefferies thereupon went on, inveighing against what Atwood had published; and Atwood justified it to be in defence of the English constitution, declaring that he never disowned any thing that he had written. Jefferies several times ordered him to sit down, but he still went on. lord, says he, I have matter of law to offer for my client; and he proceeded to cite several cases, wherein it had been adjudged that words ought to be taken in the milder sense, and not to be strained by inuendos. Well, says Jefferies, when he had done, you have had your say. Mr. Williams and Mr. Phipps said nothing, for they saw it was to no purpose. At length, says Mr. Baxter himself, My lord, I think I can clearly answer all that is laid to my charge, and I shall do it briefly. The sum is contained in these few papers, to which I shall add a little by testimony. But Jefferies would not hear a word. At length the chief justice summed up the matter in a long and fulsome harangue. "Tis notoriously known," says he, "there has been a design to ruin the king and the nation. The old game has been renewed, and this has been the main incendiary. He is as modest now as can be; but time was, when no man was so ready to bind your kings in chains, and your nobles in fetters of irou; and to your tents, O Israel. Gentlemen, for God's sake don't let us be gulled twice in an age, &c." And when he concluded, he told the jury, that if they in their consciences be clergymen of the established church. He wrote a great number of books. Mr. Long of Exeter says fourscore; Dr. Calamy, one hundred and twenty; but the author of a note in the Biographia Britannica tells us he had seen an hundred and forty-five distinct treatises of Mr. Baxter's: his practical works have been published in four volumes folio. Of these his "Saint's Everlasting Rest," and his "Call to the Unconverted," are the most popular, but excepting the last, we know not of any of his works that have been reprinted for a century past, doubtless owing to his peculiar notions on points about which the orthodox dissenters are agreed. Bishop Burnet, in the History of his own times, calls him "a man of great piety;" and says, "that if he had not meddled with too many things, he would have been esteemed one of the most learned men of the age; that he had a moving and pathetical way of writ ing, and was his whole life long a man of great zeal and much simplicity, but was unhappily subtle and metaphysical in every thing." This character may be justly applied to Mr. Baxter, whose notions agreed with no church, and no sect. The consequence was, that no man was ever more the subject of controversy. Calamy says that about sixty treatises were opposed to him and his writings. What his sentiments were, will appear from the following sketch drawn up by the late Dr. Kippis. "His Theological System has been called Baxterianism, and those who embrace his sentiments in divinity, are styled Baxterians. Baxterianism strikes into a middle path between Calvinism and Arminianism, endeavouring, in some degree, though perhaps not very consistently, to unite both schemes, and to avoid the supposed errors of each. The Baxterians, we apprehend, believe in the doctrines of election, effectual lieved he meant the bishops and clergy of the church of England, in the passages which the information referred to, they must find him guilty; and he could mean no man else; if not, they must find him not guilty. When he had done, says Mr. Baxter to him, Does your lordship think any jury will pretend to pass a verdict upon me, upon such a trial?" I'll warrant you, Mr. Baxter," says he, "don't you trouble yourself about that." The jury immediately laid their heads together at the bar, and found him guilty. As he was going from the bar, Mr. Baxter told my lord chief justice, who had so loaded him with reproaches, and yet continued them, that a predecessor of his had had other thoughts of him: Upon which he replied, "That there was not an honest man in Englaud but what took him for a great knave." He had subpoenaed several clergymen, who appeared in court, but were of no use to him, through the violence of the chief justice. The trial being over, sir Henry Ashurst led Mr. Baxter through the crowd (I mention it to his honour), and conveyed him away in his coach. |