John Agricola.
A German divine, born at Isleb. He was the friend and the disciple of Luther, but afterwards violently opposed him, and became the head of the Antinomians, a sect which regarded faith as the whole of the duties of man. He was also engaged in a dispute with Melancthon; but, with the most laudable motives, he endeavored to effect a reconciliation between the Catholics and Protestants. He died at Berlin, 1566, aged seventy-four.
Michael Servetus.
A native of Villanuova, in Arragon, son of a notary. He studied the law at Toulouse, but afterwards applied to medicine at Paris, and took there his doctor's degree. The boldness and pertinacity of his opinions created him enemies, and he left the capital to settle at Lyons, but afterwards he retired to Charlieu. On the invitation of the archbishop of Vienne, in Dauphiny, he was prevailed upon to fix his residence there, and he might have lived in peace and respected, had he been satisfied to seek celebrity in medical pursuits alone. Eager to publish his Arian opinions on religion, he sent three questions to Calvin on the Divinity of Christ, on Regeneration, and on the Necessity of Baptism, and, when answered with civility, he reflected on the sentiments of his correspondent with arrogant harshness. This produced a quarrel, and ended in the most implacable hatred, so that Calvin, bent on revenge, obtained, by secret means, copies of a work in which his antagonist was engaged, and caused him to be accused before the archbishop as a dangerous man. Servetus escaped from prison; but, on his way to Italy, he had the imprudence to pass in disguise through Geneva, where he was recognized by Calvin, and immediately seized by the magistrate as an impious heretic. Forty heretical errors were proved against him by his accusers; but Servetus refused to renounce them, and the magistrates, at last yielding to the loud representations of the ministers of Bâsle, Berne, and Zurich, and especially of Calvin, who demanded the punishment of a profane heretic, ordered the unhappy man to be burnt. On the 27th October, 1553, the wretched Servetus was conducted to the stake, and, as the wind prevented the flames from fully reaching his body, two long hours elapsed before he was freed from his miseries. This cruel treatment deservedly called down the general odium on the head of Calvin, who ably defended his conduct and that of the magistrates. Servetus published various works against [pg 372] the Trinity, which were burnt in disgrace at Geneva, and other places.
Simonis Menno.
An ecclesiastic of Friesland, embraced the tenets of the Anabaptists, and, after being again baptized by Ubbo Philippi, became a powerful leader of his sect. He denied that Jesus Christ received a human shape from his mother, the virgin Mary; and while he maintained the necessity of again baptizing adults, he inveighed against the custom of infant baptism, which he regarded as Popish innovation. His eloquence and his learning were so much admired, that he gained a great number of followers in Westphalia, Guelderland, Holland, and Brabant; but, though a price was set on his head, he had the good fortune to escape his persecutors. He was, in his opinions, more moderate than the rest of the Anabaptists. His followers are still to be found in the Low Countries, under the name of Mennonites, divided into two distinct sects. He died at Oldeslo, between Lubec and Hamburg, 1565. His works were published at Amsterdam, 1681.
Francis Xavier.
Denominated the Apostle of the Indies, was born, in 1506, at the castle of Xavier, in Navarre; studied at Paris; became one of the first and most zealous disciples of Ignatius Loyola; was sent to the East by John III. of Portugal, to propagate the gospel; performed his mission in Hindoostan, the Moluccas, and Japan; and was on the point of landing in China, when he died, 1552.
Faustus Socinus.
He who from whom the Socinians derive their name, was born, in 1539, at Sienna, and was for a considerable period in the service of the grand duke of Tuscany; after which he [pg 373] went to study theology, at Bâsle. The result of his studies was the adoption of those anti-Trinitarian doctrines, which his uncle Lelio Socinus is believed also to have professed. Faustus settled in Poland, gained many followers, endured much persecution, and died in 1604.
Robert Brown.
Educated at Cambridge, and was a man of good parts and some learning. He began to inveigh openly against the ceremonies of the church, at Norwich, in 1580; but, being much opposed by the bishops, he, with his congregation, left England, and settled at Middleburgh, in Zealand, where they obtained leave to worship God in their own way, and form a church according to their own model. They soon, however, began to differ among themselves, so that Brown, growing weary of his office, returned to England in 1589, renounced his principles of separation, and was preferred to the rectory of a church in Northamptonshire. He died in prison in 1630. The revolt of Brown was attended with the dissolution of the church at Middleburgh; but the seeds of Brownism which he had sown in England were so far from being destroyed, that Sir Walter Raleigh, in a speech in 1592, computes no less than twenty thousand of this sect.
James Arminius.
A native of Oude-water, in Holland, 1560, founder of the sect of the Arminians. As he lost his father early, he was supported at the university of Utrecht, and of Marpurg, by the liberality of his friends; but when he returned home, in the midst of the ravages caused by the Spanish arms, instead of being received by his mother, he found that she, as well as her daughters, and all her family, had been sacrificed to the wantonness of the ferocious enemy. His distress was for a while inconsolable; but the thirst after distinction called [pg 374] him to the newly-founded university of Leyden, where his industry acquired him the protection of the magistrates of Amsterdam, at whose expense he travelled to Geneva and Italy, to hear the lectures of Theodore Beza and James Zabarella. On his return to Holland, he was ordained minister of Amsterdam, 1588. As professor of divinity at Leyden, to which office he was called 1603, he distinguished himself by three valuable orations on the object of theology, on the author and end of it, and on the certainty of it; and he afterwards explained the prophet Jonah. In his public and private life, Arminius has been admired for his moderation; and though many gross insinuations have been thrown against him, yet his memory has been fully vindicated by the ablest pens, and he seemed entitled to the motto which he assumed,—A good conscience is a paradise. A life of perpetual labor and vexation of mind at last brought on a sickness of which he died, October 19, 1619. His writings were all on controversial and theological subjects, and were published in one volume, quarto, Frankfort, 1661.
Francis Higginson.
First minister of Salem, Massachusetts, after receiving his education at Emanuel College, in Cambridge, became the minister of a church at Leicester, in England. While his popular talents filled his church with attentive hearers, such was the divine blessing upon his labors, that a deep attention to religious subjects was excited among his people. Becoming at length a conscientious Nonconformist to the rites of the English church, some of which he thought not only were unsupported by Scripture, but corrupted the purity of Christian worship and discipline, he was excluded from the parish church, and became obnoxious to the High Commission Court. One day two messengers came to his house, and with loud knocks cried out, “Where is Mr. Higginson? We must speak with Mr. Higginson!” His wife ran to his chamber, and entreated him to conceal himself; but he replied, that he [pg 375] should acquiesce in the will of God. He went down, and, as the messengers entered the hall, they presented him with some papers, saying, in a rough manner, “Sir, we came from London, and our business is to convey you to London, as you may see by those papers.” “I thought so,” exclaimed Mrs. Higginson, weeping; but a woman's tears could have but little effect upon hard-hearted pursuivants. Mr. Higginson opened the packet to read the form of his arrest, but, instead of an order from Bishop Laud for his seizure, he found a copy of the charter of Massachusetts, and letters from the governor and company, inviting him to embark with them for New England. The sudden transition of feeling from despondence to joy, may be better imagined than described.
Having sought advice and implored the divine direction, he resolved to accept the invitation. In his farewell sermon, preached before a vast assembly, he declared his persuasion, that England would be chastised by war, and that Leicester would have more than an ordinary share of sufferings. It was not long before his prediction was verified. It is not meant that he claimed the power of foretelling future events, but he could reason with considerable accuracy from cause to effect, knowing that iniquity is generally followed by its punishment; and he lived in an age when it was usual for ministers to speak with more confidence, and authority, and efficacy, than at present. He sailed from Gravesend, April 25, 1629, accompanied by Mr. Skelton, whose principles accorded with his own. When he came to the Land's End, he called his children and the other passengers on deck to take the last view of their native country; and he now exclaimed, “Farewell, England! farewell, the church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there! We do not go to America as separatists from the church of England, though we cannot but separate from its corruptions.” He then concluded with a fervent prayer for the king, church, and state, in England. He arrived at Cape Ann, June 27, 1629, and, having spent the next day there, which was Sunday, on the 29th he entered the harbor of Salem. July the 20th was [pg 376] observed as a day of fasting by the appointment of Governor Endicott, and the church then made choice of Mr. Higginson to be their teacher, and Mr. Skelton their pastor.
Thus auspicious was the commencement of the settlement of Naumkeag, or Salem; but the scene was soon changed. During the first winter, about one hundred persons died, and Mr. Higginson was soon seized with a hectic, which terminated his days in August, 1630, aged forty-two. In his last sickness, he was reminded of his benevolent exertions in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. To consoling suggestions of this kind he replied, “I have been an unprofitable servant, and all my desire is to win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness.”
Richard Baxter.
A Nonconformist, born at Rowton, Shropshire, 12th November, 1615. He compensated for the deficiencies of a neglected education by unusual application, and was appointed master of Dudley free-school by the interest of Mr. Richard Foley, of Stourbridge, and soon after admitted into orders by the bishop of Winchester. His scruples were raised by the oath which was proposed by the convention at that time sitting, and he was among the number of those who showed their dislike to an unqualified submission “to archbishops, bishops, et cetera,” as they knew not what the et cetera comprehended. In 1640, he was invited to be minister at Kidderminster; but the civil war, which broke out soon after, exposed him to persecution, as he espoused the cause of the parliament. He retired to Coventry, and continued his ministerial labors till the success of the republicans recalled him to his favorite flock at Kidderminster. The usurpation of Cromwell gave him great offence, and he even presumed to argue in private with the tyrant on the nature and illegality of his power; but in the only sermon which he preached before him, he wisely confined his subject to the dissensions which existed in the kingdom on religious matters. He was in London after [pg 377] Cromwell's death, and preached before parliament the day before the king's return was voted, and likewise before the lord mayor for Monk's successes. Charles II. made him one of his chaplains, and Chancellor Clarendon offered him the bishopric of Hereford, which he declined. He was, however, soon involved in the general persecution of the Nonconformists. His paraphrase on the New Testament drew upon him, in 1685, the vengeance of Jeffreys, and he was condemned to be imprisoned for two years, from which punishment, six months after, he was discharged by the interference of Lord Powis with King James. He died December 8th, 1691, and was interred in Christ Church.
George Fox.
The founder of the society of Friends, or Quakers, was born, in 1624, at Drayton, in Leicestershire, and was the son of a weaver, a pious and virtuous man, who gave him a religious education. Being apprenticed to a grazier, he was employed in keeping sheep—an occupation, the silence and solitude of which were well calculated to nurse his naturally enthusiastic feelings. When he was about nineteen, he believed himself to have received a divine command to forsake all, renounce society, and dedicate his existence to the service of religion. For five years, he accordingly led a wandering life, fasting, praying, and living secluded; but it was not till about 1648 that he began to preach his doctrines. Manchester was the place where he first promulgated them. Thenceforth he pursued his career with untirable zeal and activity, in spite of frequent imprisonment and brutal usage. It was at Derby that his followers were first denominated Quakers, either from their tremulous mode of speaking, or from their calling on their hearers to “tremble at the name of the Lord.” The labors of Fox were crowned with considerable success; and, in 1669, he extended the sphere of them to America, where he spent two years. He also twice visited the continent. He died in 1690. His writings were collected in three volumes, [pg 378] folio. Whatever may be thought of the tenets of Fox there can be no doubt that he was sincere in them, and that he was a man of strict temperance, humility, moderation, and piety.
William Penn.
The founder of Pennsylvania, born in London, 1644, From a private school at Chigwell, Essex, he entered, in 1660, as a gentleman commoner at Christ Church, Oxford; but, as he withdrew from the national forms of worship with other students, who, like himself, had listened to the preaching of Thomas Loe, a Quaker of eminence, who was fined for Non-conformity, and, the next year, as he pertinaciously adhered to his opinions, he was expelled from the college. His father sent him to France, and, on his return, he entered at Lincoln's Inn, as a law student. In 1666, he was sent to manage an estate in Ireland, and, during his residence there, he renewed his acquaintance with Loe, and showed such partiality to the Quakers, that he was, in those days of persecution, taken up at a meeting at Cork, and imprisoned by the mayor, who at last restored him to liberty at the request of Lord Orrery. His return to England produced a violent altercation with his father, who wished him to abandon those singular habits so offensive to decorum and established forms; and, when he refused to appear uncovered before him and before the king, he a second time dismissed him from his protection and favor. In 1668, he first appeared as a preacher and as an author among the Quakers; and, in consequence of some controversial dispute, he was sent to the Tower, where he remained in confinement for seven months. The passing of the conventicle act soon after again sent him to prison in Newgate, from which he was released by the interest of his father, who about this time was reconciled to him, and left him, on his decease some time after, a valuable estate of about fifteen hundred pounds per annum. In 1672, he married Gulielma Maria Springett, a lady of principles similar to his own, and then fixed his residence at Rickmansworth, where he employed [pg 379] himself zealously in promoting the cause of the Friends by his preaching, as well as by his writings. In 1677, he went, with George Fox and Robert Barclay, to the continent on a religious excursion; and, after visiting Amsterdam and the other chief towns of Holland, they proceeded to the court of Princess Elizabeth, the granddaughter of James I., at Herwerden or Herford, where they were received with great kindness and hospitality. Soon after his return to England, Charles II. granted him, in consideration of the services of his father, and for a debt due to him from the crown, a province of North America, then called New Netherlands, but now making the state of Pennsylvania. In consequence of this acquisition, he invited, under the royal patent, settlers from all parts of the kingdom, and drew up, in twenty-four articles, the fundamental constitution of his new province, in which he held out a greater degree of religious liberty than had at that time appeared in the Christian world. A colony of people, chiefly of his persuasion, soon flocked to share his fortunes; the lands of the country were cleared and improved, and a town was built, which, on the principle of brotherly love, received the name of Philadelphia. In 1682, Penn visited the province, and confirmed that good understanding which he had recommended with the natives; and, after two years' residence, and with the satisfaction of witnessing and promoting the prosperity of the colonists, he returned to England. Soon after, Charles died, and the acquaintance which Penn had with the new monarch was honorably used to protect the people of his persuasion. At the revolution however, he was suspected of treasonable correspondence with the exiled prince, and therefore exposed to molestation and persecution. In 1694, he lost his wife; but, though severely afflicted by the event, he in about two years married again, and afterwards employed himself in travelling in Ireland, and over England, in disseminating, as a preacher, the doctrines of his sect. He visited, in 1699, his province with his wife and family, and returned to England in 1701. The suspicion with which he had been regarded under William's [pg 380] government, ceased at the accession of Queen Anne, and the unyielding advocate of Quakerism was permitted to live with greater freedom, and to fear persecution less. In 1710, he removed to Rushcomb, near Twyford, Berks, where he spent the rest of his life. Three repeated attacks of an apoplexy at last came to weaken his faculties and his constitution, and, after nearly losing all recollection of his former friends and associates, he expired, 30th July, 1718, and was buried at Jordan, near Beaconsfield, Bucks. The character of Penn is truly amiable, benevolent, and humane; his labors were exerted for the good of mankind, and, with the strictest consistency of moral conduct and religious opinion, he endured persecution and malice with resignation; and, guided by the approbation of a pure conscience, he showed himself indefatigable in the fulfilling of what he considered as the law of God, and the clear demonstration of the truth of the gospel. The long prosperity of Pennsylvania, and of his favorite city, Philadelphia, furnishes the best evidence of his wisdom as a legislator.
Benedict Spinoza.
An atheistical writer, son of a Portuguese Jew, born at Amsterdam, 1638. He studied medicine and theology; but his religion was so loose, and his inquiries for the reason of every thing which he was to believe, became so offensive to the rabbies, that he was thrust out of the synagogue. In consequence of this, he became a Christian, and was baptized; but his conversion was insincere, and though, during his life, he did not openly profess himself an atheist, his posthumous works plainly proved him such. He died, of a consumption, at the Hague, February, 1677, aged forty-five. He is the founder of a regular system of atheism, and by his hypothesis he wished to establish that there is but one substance in nature, which is endowed with infinite attributes, with extension and thought; that all spirits are modifications of that substance; and that God, the necessary and most [pg 381] perfect being, is the cause of all things that exist, but does not differ from them. These monstrous doctrines, though not new, were thus built into a regular system by this extraordinary man, who is said in other respects to have been of a good moral character in private life, benevolent, friendly, and charitable. His conduct was marked by no licentiousness or irregularity; but he retired from the tumults of Amsterdam to a more peaceful residence at the Hague, where curiosity led princes, philosophers, and learned men, to see and to converse with this bold assertor of atheism.
Ann Lee.
Born in the town of Manchester, in England, in 1736. Her father, John Lee, though not in affluent circumstances, was an honest and industrious man. Her mother was esteemed as a very pious woman. As was common with the laboring classes of people in England at that period, their children, instead of being sent to school, were brought up to work from early childhood. By this means, Ann, though quite illiterate, acquired a habit of industry, and was early distinguished for her activity, faithfulness, neatness, and good economy in her temporal employments.
From early childhood she was the subject of religious impressions and divine manifestations. These continued, in a greater or less degree, as she advanced in years; so that, at times, she was strongly impressed with a sense of the great depravity of human nature, and of the lost state of mankind by reason of sin. But losing her mother at an early age, and finding no person to assist her in the pursuit of a life of holiness, and being urged by the solicitations of her relations and friends, she was married to Abraham Stanley, by whom she had four children, who all died in infancy. But the convictions of her youth often returned upon her with great force, which at length brought her under excessive tribulation of soul. In this situation, she sought earnestly for deliverance from the bondage of sin.
[pg 382]While under these exercises of mind, she became acquainted with a society of people associated under the ministration of James Wardly, who, with Jane, his wife, had been greatly favored with divine manifestations concerning the second appearing of Christ, which they foresaw was near at hand. Ann readily embraced their testimony, and united herself to the society in the month of September, 1758.
In this society, Ann found that strength and protection against the powerful influences of evil, which, for the time being, were answerable to her faith; and, by her faithful obedience, she by degrees attained to the full knowledge and experience in spiritual things which they had found. But as she still found in herself the remains of the propensities of fallen nature, she could not rest satisfied short of full salvation; she therefore sought earnestly, day and night, in the most fervent prayers and cries to God, to find complete deliverance from a sinful nature, and to know more perfectly the way of full redemption and final salvation.
After passing through many scenes of tribulation and suffering, she received a full answer to her prayers and desires to God. She then came forward, and, with extraordinary power and energy of spirit, testified that she had received, through the Spirit of Christ, a full revelation of the fallen nature of man, and of the only means of redemption, which were comprised in his precepts and living example while on earth. The astonishing power of God which accompanied her testimony of this revelation to the society, was too awakening and convincing to leave a doubt on the minds of the society of its divine authority. When, therefore, Ann had thus manifested to the society the revelation of light which she had received, she was received and acknowledged as their leader and spiritual Mother in Christ. This was the only name of distinction by which she was known in the society. The term Elect Lady was given to her by her enemies. Ann, with a number of her followers, visited America in 1774, and formed the first society of Shakers in this country, at Watervliet, N. Y., where she died in 1784.
John Glass.
Scotch divine, born at Dundee, 1698, and educated at Aberdeen. Upon his publication of a pamphlet on the inconsistency of a civil establishment with Christianity, he was deposed from his church, near Dundee, and then became the founder of a new sect, called the Glassites in Scotland, and Sandemanians in England. As the discipline of his sect was very rigorous, few embraced his tenets, and the name is scarce known now.
George Keith.
A Quaker, born at Aberdeen, and was well educated. He came, in 1682, to East Jersey, where he was surveyor-general. In 1689, he taught a school in Philadelphia. After various exertions, writing and travelling for the propagation of the sentiments of his sect, he at first seceded, and at length entirely deserted the society. In England, he became an Episcopalian, and was consecrated as an Episcopal missionary, and in that capacity officiated for a short time in New York and Boston. Returning to England in 1706, he was a rector at Edburton, in Sussex, where he died. His publications were numerous, but almost exclusively controversial.
Nicholas Louis, Count Zinzendorf.
The patron of the sect of the Moravians, was born at Dresden, in May, 1700. He studied at Halle and Utrecht. About the year 1721, he purchased the lordship of Bertholdsdorf, in Lusatia. Some poor Christians, the followers of John Huss, obtained leave, in 1722, to settle on his estate. They soon made converts. Such was the origin of the village of Herrnhut. Their noble patron soon after joined them.
From this period Count Zinzendorf devoted himself to the business of instructing his fellow-men by his writings and by [pg 384] preaching. He travelled through Germany, and in Denmark became acquainted with the Danish missions in the East Indies and Greenland. About 1732, he engaged earnestly in the promotion of missions by his Moravian brethren, whose numbers at Herrnhut were then about five hundred. So successful were these missions, that in a few years four thousand negroes were baptized in the West Indies, and the converts in Greenland amounted to seven hundred and eighty-four.
In 1737, he visited London, and, in 1741, came to America, and preached at Germantown and Bethlehem. February 11, 1742, he ordained at Oly, in Pennsylvania, the missionaries Rauch and Buettner, and Rauch baptized three Indians from Shekomeco, east of the Hudson, “the firstlings of the Indians.” He soon, with his daughter, Benigna, and several brethren and sisters, visited various tribes of Indians. At Shekomeco he established the first Indian Moravian congregation in North America. In 1743, he returned to Europe. He died at Herrnhut, in 1760, and his coffin was carried to the grave by thirty-two preachers and missionaries, whom he had reared, and some of whom had toiled in Holland, England, Ireland, North America, and Greenland. What monarch was ever honored by a funeral like this?
William Courtney.
Archbishop of Canterbury, the fourth son of Hugh Courtney, earl of Devonshire, by Margaret, granddaughter of Edward I. He was educated at Oxford, and, though possessed of abilities, owed his elevation in the church to the consequence of his family. When twenty-eight, he was made bishop of Hereford, and afterwards translated to London, where he summoned before him the great Wickliffe, in St. Paul's Cathedral, 1377. The bold reformer was on this occasion attended by his friends John of Gaunt and Lord Percy, who, in supporting his tenets, treated the prelate with such asperity, that a tumult was excited among the citizens [pg 385] of London. Courtney was made chancellor, 1381, and afterwards raised to the see of Canterbury. He was a violent persecutor of the Wickliffites, and condemned their tenets in a synod. He died at Maidstone, 1396, aged 55.
Richard Hooker.
An eminent divine of the church of England, was born in 1553, at Heavitree, near Exeter, and, under the patronage of Bishop Jewel, was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he was distinguished for his piety and exemplary conduct. An unhappy marriage, which he contracted before he was thirty, with a scold who had neither beauty, money, nor manners, lost him his college fellowship, and was a fertile source of annoyance to him. In 1585, he was made master of the Temple; but, weary of disputes with the afternoon lecturer,—a violent Presbyterian,—and longing for rural retirement, he relinquished this preferment, and obtained the rectory of Bishop's Bourne, in Kent, at which he resided till his decease, in 1600. His great work is the treatise on “Ecclesiastical Polity;” of which Pope Clement VIII. said, “There are in it such seeds of eternity as will continue till the last fire shall devour all learning.”
Charles Chauncey.
Second president of Harvard College, born in England, in 1589. He received his grammar education at Westminster, and took the degree of M. D. at the university of Cambridge. He emigrated to New England in 1638, and, after serving for a number of years in the ministry at Scituate, was appointed, in 1654, president of Harvard College. In this office he remained till his death, in 1671, performing all its duties with industrious fidelity. He was eminent as a physician, and was of opinion that there ought to be no distinction between physic and divinity.
Roger Williams.
The founder of the Providence Plantations, born in Wales, in 1599, and was educated at Oxford. Being a dissenter, he came to America, in the hope of enjoying in freedom his religious opinions. He arrived at Hull, February 5, 1631, and was established at Salem, Massachusetts, as colleague with Mr. Skelton. His peculiar notions soon subjected him to the severest censure. He maintained that the magistrates were bound to grant toleration to all sects of Christians, and in his actions and words avowed the liberality of his principles. After the death of Mr. Skelton, he was sole minister of Salem. Continuing to avow his opinions, which were considered not only heretical, but seditious, he was summoned before the General Court, to answer to numerous charges. He, however, refused to retract any of his opinions, and was accordingly banished, 1635. He first repaired to Seekonk: but, being informed that that territory was within the jurisdiction of Plymouth, he proceeded to Mooshausic, where, with others, in 1636, he began a plantation. The land was honestly purchased of the Indians; and the town, in acknowledgment of the kindness of Heaven, was called Providence. Mr. Williams's benevolence was not confined to his civilized brethren; he learned the language of the Indians, travelled among them, won the entire confidence of their chiefs, and was often the means of saving from injury the colony that had driven him from its protection. In 1643, he was sent to England, as agent for both settlements, and in September, 1644, returned with a patent for the territory, with permission for the inhabitants to institute a government for themselves. In 1651, he was again sent to England, in the capacity of agent, and returned in 1654, when he was chosen president of the government. Benedict Arnold succeeded him in 1657. He died in April, 1683, aged eighty-four. Mr. Williams was consistent in his religious doctrines, and set a bright example of that toleration which he demanded from others. His mind was strong and well cultivated; and [pg 387] he read the Scriptures in the originals. After his banishment from Massachusetts, he maintained a correspondence with some of its principal men, and ever entertained for them the highest affection and respect. In his writings, he evinces his power at argument. In 1672, he held a public dispute with the most eminent Quaker preachers, of which he has published an account. He also published a “Key to the Indian Language,” octavo, 1643; an answer to Mr. Cotton's letters, concerning the power of the magistrate in matters of religion, with other letters and discourses.
John Clarke.
A distinguished Baptist minister, and one of the first founders of Rhode Island, was a physician in London, before he came to this country. Soon after the first settlement of Massachusetts, he was driven from that colony with a number of others; and March 7, 1638, they formed themselves into a body politic, and purchased Aquetneck of the Indian sachems, calling it the Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Island. The settlement commenced at Pocasset, or Portsmouth. The Indian deed is dated March 24, 1638. Mr. Clarke was soon employed as a preacher; and, in 1644, he formed a church at Newport, and became its pastor. This was the second Baptist church which was established in America.
In 1649, he was an assistant and treasurer of Rhode Island colony. In 1651, he went to visit one of his brethren at Lynn, near Boston, and he preached on Sunday, July 20; but, before he had completed the services of the forenoon, he was seized, with his friends, by an officer of the government. In the afternoon, he was compelled to attend the parish meeting, at the close of which he spoke a few words. He was tried before the Court of Assistants, and fined twenty pounds; in case of failure in the payment of which sum he was to be whipped. In passing the sentence, Judge Endicott observed, “You secretly insinuate things into those who are weak, which you cannot maintain before our ministers; you may [pg 388] try and dispute with them.” Mr. Clarke accordingly wrote from prison, proposing a dispute upon the principles which he professed. He represented his principles to be, that Jesus Christ had the sole right of prescribing any laws respecting the worship of God which it was necessary to obey; that baptism, or dipping in water, was an ordinance to be administered only to those who gave some evidence of repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ; that such visible believers only constituted the church; that each of them had a right to speak in the congregation, according as the Lord had given him talents, either to make inquiries for his own instruction, or to prophesy for the edification of others, and that at all times and in all places they ought to reprove folly and open their lips to justify wisdom; and that no servant of Jesus Christ had any authority to restrain any fellow-servant in his worship, where injury was not offered to others. No dispute, however, occurred, and Mr. Clarke, his friends paying his fine without his consent, was soon released from prison, and directed to leave the colony. His companion Obadiah Holmes shared a severer fate; for, on declining to pay his fine of thirty pounds, which his friends offered to do for him, he was publicly whipped in Boston.
Mr. Clarke died at Newport, April 20, 1676, aged about 66 years, resigning his soul to his merciful Redeemer, through faith in whose name he enjoyed the hope of a resurrection to eternal life.
His life was so pure, that he was never accused of any vice, to leave a blot on his memory. His noble sentiments respecting religious toleration did not, indeed, accord with the sentiments of the age in which he lived, and exposed him to trouble; but at the present time they are almost universally embraced. His exertions to promote the civil prosperity of Rhode Island must endear his name to those who are now enjoying the fruits of his labors. He possessed the singular honor of contributing much towards establishing the first government upon the earth, which gave equal liberty, civil and religious, to all men living under it.
Ann Hutchinson.
A woman who occasioned much difficulty in New England, soon after its first settlement, came from Lincolnshire to Boston, 1635, and was the wife of one of the representatives of Boston. The members of Mr. Cotton's church used to meet every week to repeat his sermons, and discourse on doctrines. She set up meetings for women, and soon had a numerous audience. After repeating the sermons of Mr. Cotton, she added reflections of her own; she advocated her own sentiments, and warped the discourses of her minister to coincide with them. She soon threw the whole colony into a flame. The progress of her sentiments occasioned the synod of 1637, the first synod in America. This convention of ministers condemned eighty-two erroneous opinions, then propagated in the country. Mrs. Hutchinson, after this sentence of her opinions, was herself called before the court in November of the same year, and, being convicted of traducing the ministers, and advancing errors, was banished the colony. She went with her husband to Rhode Island. In the year 1642, after her husband's death, she removed into the Dutch country beyond New Haven; and the next year, she, her son Francis, and most of her family of sixteen persons, were killed by the Indians.
Michael Molinos.
Founder of the ancient sect of Quietists, was a Spaniard, of a rich and honorable family. He entered into priest's orders young, but would accept no preferment in the church. He possessed great talents, and was ardently pious, without any of the austerities of the Romish religious orders. He went to Rome, where, in 1675, he published his “Spiritual Guide,” which gave him universal reputation. The Jesuits and Dominicans, envious at his success, charged him with heresy, and at last succeeded in getting him condemned by the Inquisition. He died of torment in their dungeons, a few years after.
John Wesley.
The great founder of Methodism was born at Epworth, in England, in 1703. In 1714, he was placed at the Charter House; and two years after he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford. In 1725, he was ordained deacon, and the next year became fellow and tutor of Lincoln College.
Wesley's character, says his biographer, is itself a study. He equalled Luther in energy and courage, and Melancthon in learning and prudence. All the excellences of both the Wittemberg reformers were combined, if not transcended, in his individual character.
He possessed, in an eminent degree, the power of comprehending at once the general outlines and the details of plans, the aggregate and the integrants. It is this power which forms the philosophical genius in science; it is indispensable to the successful commander and the great statesman. It is illustrated in the whole economical system of Methodism—a system which, while it fixes itself to the smallest localities with the utmost detail and tenacity, is sufficiently general in its provisions to reach the ends of the world, and still maintain its unity of spirit and discipline.
No man knew better than Wesley the importance of small things. His whole financial system was based on weekly penny collections. It was a rule of his preachers never to omit a single preaching appointment, except when the “risk of limb or life” required. He was the first to apply extensively the plan of tract distribution. He wrote, printed, and scattered over the kingdom, placards on almost every topic of morals and religion. In addition to the usual means of grace, he introduced the band meeting, the class meeting, the prayer meeting, the love feast, and the watch night. Not content with his itinerant laborers, he called into use the less available powers of his people by establishing the new departments of local preachers, exhorters, and leaders. It was, in fine, by gathering together fragments, by combining [pg 391] minutiæ, that he formed that stupendous system of spiritual means which is rapidly evangelizing the world.
It was not only in the theoretical construction of plans that he excelled; he was, if possible, still more distinguished by practical energy. The variety and number of his labors would be absolutely incredible with less authentic evidence than that which corroborates them. He was perpetually travelling and preaching, studying and writing, translating and abridging, superintending his societies, and applying his great plans. He travelled usually five thousand miles a year, preaching twice and thrice a day, commencing at five o'clock in the morning. In the midst of all this travelling and preaching, he carried with him the meditative and studious habits of the philosopher. No department of human inquiry was omitted by him. “History, poetry, and philosophy,” said he, “I read on horseback.”
Like Luther, he knew the importance of the press; he kept it teeming with his publications. His itinerant preachers were good agents for their circulation. “Carry them with you through every round,” he would say; “exert yourselves in this; be not ashamed, be not weary, leave no stone unturned.” His works, including abridgments and translations, amounted to about two hundred volumes. These comprise treatises on almost every subject of divinity, poetry, music, history,—natural, moral, metaphysical, and political philosophy. He wrote, as he preached, ad populum; and his works have given to his people, especially in Great Britain, an elevated tone of intelligence as well as of piety. He may, indeed, be considered the leader in those exertions which are now being made for the popular diffusion of knowledge.
Differing from the usual character of men who are given to various exertions and many plans, he was accurate and profound. He was an adept in classical literature and the use of the classical tongues; his writings are adorned with their finest passages. He was familiar with a number of modern languages; his own style is one of the best examples of strength and perspicuity among English writers. He was [pg 392] ready on every subject of learning and general literature. As a logician, he was considered by his enemies, as well as his friends, to be unrivalled.
He was but little addicted to those exhilarations and contrarieties of frame which characterize imaginative minds. His temperament was warm, but not fiery. His intellect never appears inflamed, but was a glowing, serene radiance. His immense labors were accomplished, not by the impulses of restless enthusiasm, but by the cool calculations of his plans, and the steady self-possession with which he pursued them. “Though always in haste,” he said, “I am never in a hurry.” He was as economical with his time as a miser could be with his gold; rising at four o'clock in the morning, and allotting to every hour its appropriate work. “Leisure and I have taken leave of each other,” said he. And yet such was the happy arrangement of his employments, that, amidst a multiplicity that would distract an ordinary man, he declares that “there are few persons who spend so many hours secluded from all company as myself.” “The wonder of his character,” said Robert Hall, “is the self-control by which he preserved himself calm, while he kept all in excitement around him. He was the last man to be infected by fanaticism. His writings abound in statements of preternatural circumstances; but it must be remembered that his faults in these respects were those of his age, while his virtues were peculiarly his own.”
Though of a feeble constitution, the regularity of his habits, sustained through a life of great exertions and vicissitudes, produced a vigor and equanimity which are seldom the accompaniments of a laborious mind or of a distracted life. “I do not remember,” he says, “to have felt lowness of spirits one quarter of an hour since I was born.” “Ten thousand cares are no more weight to my mind than ten thousand hairs are to my head.” “I have never lost a night's sleep in my life.” “His face was remarkably fine, his complexion fresh to the last week of his life, and his eye quick, keen, and active.” He ceased not his labors till death. After [pg 393] the eightieth year of his age, he visited Holland twice. At the end of his eighty-second, he says, “I am never tired (such is the goodness of God) either with writing, preaching, or travelling.” He preached under trees which he had planted himself, at Kingswood. He outlived most of his first disciples and preachers, and stood up, mighty in intellect and labors, among the second and third generations of his people. In his later years persecution had subsided; he was every where received as a patriarch, and sometimes excited, by his arrival in towns and cities, an interest “such as the presence of the king himself would produce.” He attracted the largest assemblies, perhaps, which were ever congregated for religious instruction, being estimated sometimes at more than thirty thousand! Great intellectually, morally, and physically, he at length died, in the eighty-eighth year of his age and sixty-fifth of his ministry, unquestionably one of the most extraordinary men of any age.
Nearly one hundred and forty thousand members, upward of five hundred itinerant, and more than one thousand local preachers, were connected with him when he died.