cabal, among whom were those bold fellows whose active fingers forced the door, and so nimbly retreated on the application of the cleaver, set off with the preacher to Bosworth, and applied to Sir Wolston Dixie, at the same time laying a heavy charge against the preacher and his followers. In confirmation of their charge, the sore fingers were shewn; and indeed they formed a miserable spectacle, having ben marked very sufficiently to be seen by others, as well as felt by the owners. The baronet, of course, wished to know what their fingers had been doing, to be cut in such uniform order. The story was related, and afforded no small diversion; though in the issue the preacher and his friends became rather the objects of the ridicule than of the protection of the magistrate. They were branded with the name of Methodists, and loaded with calumny, and every measure, whether legal or otherwise, was thought justifiable, if it could suppress the heresy and punish its advocates.

Sir Wolston not choosing to settle the business himself, bound the parties over to the next quarter session at Leicester.

On retiring from Sir Wolston Dixie's they received fresh abuse from the populace, who were waiting for the opportunity, and who seemed encouraged by the manner in which Sir Wolston had behaved. They assailed them with dirt, and obliged them to fly. J. Taylor (the preacher), J. Aldridge, and Whyatt, ran toward Hinckley, and were pursued some miles. J. Whyatt was overtaken and put into ditch of water, and much abused. He afterwards returned by Osbaston, not daring to go through Bosworth; but on his approach to that place he found the whole village in an uproar. A large bonfire was made, as a testimony of their joy on the defeat of the Methodists, as they called them; and various threatenings were denounced against all whom they might catch in future. Some cried they would burn the Holy Ghost with the Methodists, with other expressions which proclaimed their ignorance, as well as impiety.

The same day, while the parties were before Sir Wolston, a gentleman of Coventry, and his brother, who lived at Ratby, both Dissenters, being on a journey, put up at the Wheat-sheaf in Bosworth, and hearing of the proceedings, expressed a desire to see the preacher, and availed themselves of the opportuity to speak with him. This immediately drew a suspicion on themselves. Indeed they openly defended the cause of the persecuted, till they experienced similar treatment They were abused in the inn, pushed into the street, their saddles were daubed, their bags cut open and filled with dung, and it was with difficulty they could escape personal injury. They, however, brought an action against the principal persons concerned, and recovered the damages.

In consequence of these disturbances, and the countenance given to the persecutors, it was not practicable to meet publicly as they had done before; but still the union of the people with each other, and their attachment to the cause, were preserved and strengthened. They continued to meet together as often as convenient, for the purpose of social friendship and religious instruction. They attended the established church, though much dissatisfied with the doctrines they generally heard. Several of them were rather partial to a clergyman at Markfield,* whose mode of preaching was more evangelical, and whose spirit and behaviour was candid and benevolent. Some of them took courage to speak to Mr Ellis, and also to the Rev. Mr. Holwell,† the clergyman of Nailstone; but they failed in gaining that satisfaction which they wished for, which contributed to weaken their attachment to the established church, and to make them determine on a total dissent.

During the interval betwixt their appearance before Dixie, and the quarter session, they continued to receive new insults, and met with increasing trials. Some who depended on their labour for subsistence, and who had large families, were deserted by their employers, and thus were very much injured in their temporal circumstances: all which they bore with fortitude, and even "took joyfully

The Rev. Mr. Ellis.

+ Mr. Holwell once preached a railing sermon against these people and their tenets, and challenged them to come forward and defend them. Mr. John Aldridge accepted the challenge.

the spoiling of their goods, knowing that in heaven they had a better and an enduring substance."

The session being just after Christmas, anno 1744, Mr. Aldridge, Mr. Whyatt, and Mr. Taylor, the preacher, with several other of their friends, net at the Castle, at Leicester. The cause was tried, and strange to relate, the poor Bartonian methodists were cast. The story of the cleaver was brought forward, and the wounded fingers exhibited in court. Terrible complaints were lodged against them, and not a few false witnesses were suborned to criminate them. Their artorney, seeing that partiality governed the whole of their proceedings, and that no redress could be obtained for his clients there, advised them not to sit down by their decision, inasmuch as he assured them it was in direct opposition to the law of the realm. Application was accordingly made to Sir John Strange, who gave his opinion decidedly opposite to the verdict of the jury. Mr. Peck therefore indicted the principal offenders in the crown-office.

*

When the verdict was given in favour of the people of Nailstone, it is scarcely possible to conceive the infernal triumph. Every outrage was deemed a virtue, when committed against the Methodists; and when letters were afterward sent to the persons indicted in the crown-office, they treated the letters with contempt, making a parade of tearing them, and trampling upon them in the street. Thus they set every thing at defiance, and persisted in their usual mode of harrassing the Barton people, till the following summer, when the rules of court and a citation from the crown-office, were sent to each person indicted.

When the attorney's clerk went to Nailstone to present the citations, most of the persons for whom they were intended were gone to a fair held at Bosworth. The clerk went to Bosworth after them, and found the persons he wanted, who then began somewhat to lower their note. The fair being a time of diversion, one of the men to whom the clerk had a commission was about to display his oratory in the public fair, by preaching a Methodist sermon. His congregation was collected, he mounts the stool, and begins to draw up the muscles of his face to put his countenance in the true methodistic form. The clerk, being in the crowd, stepped up at that instant with the citation in his hand, saying, "Here, my lad, I'll furnish you with a text:" but, alas! the methodistical mimic could not read it, and might have remained ignorant of its contents, had his auditory been as ignorant as himself. He was soon instructed into its meaning; but it damped the flame of his devotion, made his face longer than before, and instead of performing his exploits to a gaping crowd, was glad to sneak away in disgraceful silence.

After the presentation of these citations the clouds withdrew from Barton, and rested over Nailstone. Foreboding fears arose as to the consequences of their late proceedings. They began to pay their court to those whom they had so long abused, and wished for terms of peace. A meeting was accordingly proposed by the people of Nailstone to be held at Leicester, and the Barton people were invited to attend. The affair was settled at this meeting on the condition of the persecutors paying all the expenses incurred by their proceedings from the first. These were indeed very moderate terms, when it is considered that many of the Barton people had sustained considerable loss of property through the riotous conduct of their enemies, had wasted much time, and suffered very considerably in their business besides. But mercy triumphed over justice in the whole of their behaviour, which though their persecutors did not deserve, it was to their honour to manifest. Lenient as they were, the expenses fell pretty heavy on about seven or eight of the farmers, and two or three others were so far alarmed at the approaching storm, that, previous to the final agreement, they fled, and were never more heard of.

After this time, the people of that neighbourhood were pretty well cured of the persecuting mania, and (a few instances excepted) suffered the Methodists to enjoy their sentiments in peace.

(To be continued.)

* Mr. Peck, of Leicester.

QUERY.

DID the commission, mentioned in Mark xvi. 15-18, extend beyond the Apostolic age! If so, why do not the signs follow? G. B. B.

REVIEW.

THE BITER BIT; or, an Answer to "The
Dregs Examined.” By the RECTOR OF
CONGERSTONE.

WITH a view to administer a little wholesome rebuke to Mr. Knollis, whose extravagant pretensions and movements have been as annoying to the better part of churchmen as to the dissenters in his neighbourhood, we inserted the strictures of "Observator" in our May number. This liberty, of which he has no right to complain, he being the assailant, has very greatly disturbed the proverbial serenity of his temper, and led him, besides talking, as is reported, of things very unclerical, by way of rejoinder, to indulge his cacoëthes scribendi in the production of what he chooses to call his "Biter bit." Often has the admonition been given to petulant persons, not to make too much show of their propensities, lest their weakness should expose them to ridicule. In this case "Observator" sees the canine instruments of torture, but as for feeling them, that is out of the question.

Our readers deserve an apology for the notice that is taken of this last effort. But as it is remarkable in its way, and very amusing, and we promise to be very brief, we hope that they will endure it. Mr. Knollis assures us of his own valour-"We too are ready," he says, "to play the man,' and convince our adversaries," &c. It is really interesting to observe how adroitly he attempts to "play the man." He pours his wrath on the defenceless heads of his dissenting neighbours, by giving a number of garbled statements as to what they have said of him, and to him, in consequence of his ungentlemanly intrusions: he is careful to style them "anabaptists-a mushroom sect of yesterday, taking their rise in the rebel lion and bloodshed of German revolters, and still in their malignant hatred and impotent rage against Christ's Church, showing whose they are, and whom they serve"-"that paltry sect assembling at Barton-in-the-beans, a place of pretended worship:" he intimates that satan was "the first dissenter:" he boasts of the rapid circulation of his "Dregs," which it seems were given away-honours the production of a mere 'prentice boy with a long quotation, as a formidable blow at the Church-threatens the "sneaking cowards," who he says have troubled him with anonymous letters, (?) that if "he discovers them VOL 3.-N. S.

he will prosecute them to the uttermost farthing' -assumes that Greek words have a contrary meaning in the New Testament from what they have in Greek authors-and concludes by valiantly stating his "fixed determination to take no further notice of any dissenting slanders, or to answer any anabaptistical periodicals." What is the part played by Mr. K. in this comedy, must of course be left to the judgment of his readers. His warmest admirers will scarcely say he "played the man."

Let us now see how he plays the priest and the polemic. He reiterates, in various ways, the assertion, that "by the appointment of God" he has the charge of "all souls whatsoever in his parish," and urges as an indisputable proof, that the bishop, and not the patron of the living, appointed him! But as the patron gave him the rectory, for a time, at least, and the bishop could not invest him with it without his consent, it is virtually the appointment of the patron. This is too well understood to be explained away. And then, the bishop, who appointed him? Is it not as notorious as that the sun shines at noon, that his appointment is virtually with the crown? The solemn pretension, therefore, of having charge from heaven of all the souls in a parish, through such a medium, can impose only upon the understandings of children.

Mr. K. disclaims all connexion with the Puseyites; though he was their apologist in his sermon before the bishop, at his primary visitation last year.* He says that he has always preached justification by faith only; but he does not tell us how this agrees with baptismal regeneration. He denies that the Church of England is a branch of that of Rome; though the orders and liturgy of Rome are retained. But why proceed farther with a person so possessed with contradictions, as to lament in one sermon that "persons will sign testimonials, so as to be the instruments of admitting immoral men into holy orders ;" and in another, asserts that the wickedness of ministers "will never prevent" their flocks from being benefited by their ministry, and that because they have been lawfully appointed. In reference to these contradictions, as well as many others, we are constrained to use his words, "Let

2 E

* Page 31.

+ Visitation Sermon, p. 10. + Sermon at Diggeswell, pp. 9, 10.

Church people think and judge, if these and similar statements are the genuine effusions of the Spirit of Christ."

The statement that dissenters wish to persecute churchmen, comes with a bad grace from one who belongs to a party in the church that has always persecuted when it has had the power-an admirer of "the venerable and much-enduring Laud."!!! All dissenters wish is to be let alone, quietly to follow out the guidance of God's word and their own consciences; and if young gentlemen, fresh from college, will assume popish airs, and strut in the garments of Babylon,* they are at liberty to do so; but when they violate the charities of good neighbourhood, and step aside to insult and anathematize those who, for the sake of a good conscience, do not range under their banner, they must not be surprised, if, in a free country, they occasionally meet with some measure of merited rebuke.

INCOMPETENCY OF DR. HENDERSON as an Umpire on the Philology of the word Baptism, proved from the unsoundness and extravagance of the principles of interpretation implied in his letter to Mr. Brandram, with reference to that question. By ALEXANDER CARSON, A. M. London: Simpkin & Marshall. 8vo. pp. 24.

We have not space to follow him through his lucid argument, but do most cordially recommend its perusal to all our readers, and especially to our students and junior ministers. A more searching and complete exposure of philological fallacies does not exist in any language.

A BOOK FOR THE SABBATH; in three parts. I. The origin, design, and obligation of the Sabbath; II. Practical improvement of the Sabbath; III. Devotional exercises for the Sabbath. By J. B. WATERBURY. Tract Society. 18mo., pp. 238.

THIS is really a beautiful little volume. It is learned, argumentative, devotional, and written in a clear and elegant style. The first part consists of a series of excellently written chapters on the obligation, and perpetuity, and importance of the Sabbath; the second directs how to hallow it so as to derive the most spiritual benefit from its sacred ditations and prayers suitable for every day, seasons; and the third contains fifty-two mebut especially the day of rest. If all trans

atlantic reprints were equal to this, England would soon become deeply indebted to the new country.

THE CHRISTIAN ARMOUR. Ten Sermons, by the REV. S. WALKER, B. A., late of Truro, Cornwall. Tract Society. 18mo., pp. 126.

THE SEED.

Illustrated with Engravings.

16mo., square, pp. 32. CoMMON SENSE; or, hints on your nearest and most considerable affairs. 32mo., pp. 64. Tract Society.

"FALSE principles of interpretation are the chief source of the corruption and ordinances of Scripture. It is not possible that THESE ten sermons are founded on Eph. conclusions so very different on almost every vi. 13-19. They constitute a complete question, should be grounded on the same course, and evince a deep acquaintance with words, if on all sides the same sound and the human heart, and a firm grasp of the self-evident laws of language were employed sublime truths of evangelical religion. They in the deduction. The meaning of the word were preached during the last century, and baptism has no difficulties arising from its we doubt not that their publication will do use, or its origin; and never has been ques- good in this. tioned by any of the great masters of Greek literature. The claims of immersion never have been disputed but from the necessity of shielding present practice; and on grounds subversive of sound criticism. Immersion can be evaded only by trampling on first principles, and by establishing false principles. A more flagrant manifestation of this I have never seen, than in Dr. Henderson's letter to Mr. Brandram. He grounds on principles of interpretation, which, if admitted, would render all language definitely inexplicable. This may be supposed a learned question, but I engage to take my unlearned reader with me. To understand my arguments, and estimate their force, I demand nothing but a sound and an unprejudiced mind."

Such are the statements with which Mr. Carson commences this valuable pamphlet.

* See Visitation Sermon, passim.

THE first of these is a beautiful book, which gives most interesting and scientific information on the growth, variety, coverings, and dispersion of seeds, illustrated by engravings.

The second contains useful hints on scepticism, selfishness, vague views of religion, and self-love; very fit for a present to the young of both sexes. FREESTON'S DIRECTIONS, &c. ton: J. Taylor.

Northamp

THIS admirable book, as is generally known, has been for a number of years out of print. Mr. J. Taylor, of Northampton,

OBITUARY.

INTELLIGENCE.