and afterwards, on the death of Abbot, in 1633, Archbishop of Canterbury, suspended, fined, imprisoned, and ruined, the Nonconformists. Hard must be the heart which can remain unmoved at the detail of this prelate's relentless cruelties. Dr. Alexander Leighton, father of the pious Archbishop Leighton, who had written against the Church with warmth and freedom, in his "Zion's Plea against Prelacy," was, by a warrant from the High Commission, brought before Laud; and, without examination, committed to Newgate, where he was treated with excessive harshness. When brought to trial, that iniquitous Court, at Laud's instigation, inflicted the following unmerciful and barbarous sentence upon him; That he should 'be degraded from his ministry, should have his ears cut, his nose slit, be branded in the face, whipped at a post, stand in the pillory, pay £10,000, and suffer perpetual imprisonment! This horrible sentence being pronounced, Laud pulled off his hat, and, holding up his hands, gave thanks to God, "who had given him the victory over his enemies." This is the man whom certain Reviewers panegyrize as a saint! For other instances of his shocking severities we refer to Mr. Brook's volumes. These dreadful extremities compelled many families to expatriate themselves, and to seek an asylum in the inhospitable deserts of America, till the ruling authority prohibited the Puritans from leaving the kingdom. These migrations were in favour of the extension of liberty.

The tide of oppression, which had long been flowing, began now to chb. On the 3d of November, 1640, the Long Parliament assembled, the members of which were all Churchmen, and the majority of them persons of gravity and wisdom The first acts of this Parliament will never fail to interest and to gratify the man who has any love to human kind, and whose feelings accord with genuine liberty. They released the victims of Laud's persecutions from their bondage, some of whom had been imprisoned ten years, others twelve, and some even fourteen. They abolished the horrible Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission, and prescribed bounds to the royal prerogative. Had the king been willing to adopt principles of justice as the basis of his government, the constitution of England might, at this time, have been renovated, and its liberties established. But the arbitrary measures of that unhappy monarch proceeded till they produced a civil war, in the convulsions of which royalty and episcopacy were overthrown.

Our approbation of the acts of the Long Parliament has its limits. We cannot approve of all its early acts; and we especially except against its interference in religion. The government of the Church was now presbyterian; and the Parliament, in unison with the Assembly of Divines, published several

harsh and persecuting ordinances; especially the ordinance against blasphemy, to which the penalty of death was attached, and which subjected persons questioning the lawfulness of infant baptism, to imprisonment! The Presbyterians were earnest in pressing uniformity of religion, and were enemies to the rights of conscience. Persecution is as odious in the hands of a Parliament, or of an Assembly of Divines, as when employed by Kings, or Bishops, or Popes; and the establishment of presbyterianism, is as incompatible with the rights of mankind, as is that of episcopacy. The restrictions and severities of the Presbyterians, were so much the more inexcusable and shameful, as they themselves had so recently suffered, and had so bitterly complained of the injustice of persecution.

In the interval between the dissolution of the monarchy, in 1649, and the Restoration, in 1660, the genuine principles of religious liberty made great progress. In the latter part of that period, greater deference was paid to the claims of conscience, than at any former time; and as the consequence of the freedom then enjoyed, different sects of Christians arose, and grew, and multiplied.

Charles the Second, on the Restoration, in 1660, assured the Nation, that he should grant liberty to tender consciences. With the examples of bad government and of religious intolerance, which the preceding reigns presented before his eyes, and disciplined by adversity, it was natural to expect from the new sovereign, those attentions to the equal rights and to the welfare of his subjects, which might give permanency to his government. But temperance and justice are virtues the last which princes learn. Contrary to his most solemn declarations, and against the interests of his subjects, he sanctioned an exclusive establishment; and, in 1662, the Act of Uniformity' was passed, commanding conformity to the Book of Common-Prayer, and to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church; when upwards of 2000 ministers were ejected from their livings, and exposed to innumerable hardships. This, however, was an event in favour of liberty. These worthy men were dispersed, as clouds are driven by the storm. to dispense their influence, and to shed their blessings on dry and thirsty lands. As Mr. Brook's volumes do not come lower than this date, we must here break off our narrative, a favourable occasion for resuming it will offer itself in our review of Dr. Toulmin's History, now on our table.

We shall abridge the account of Penry, from Mr. Brook's 2d. vol. pp. 48-68.

John Penry, M. A. was born in Brecknockshire, in the year 1559, and educated, first at Cambridge, then at St. Alban'sHall, Oxford, where he took his degree of M. A. in 1586.

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When he first went over to Cambridge,' says Wood, he was as arrant a papist as ever came out of Wales, and he would have run a false gallop over his beads with any man in England, and help the priest sometimes to say mass at 'inidnight.' He soon, however, renounced popery; and after taking his degrees, became a preacher in both Universities, where, according to the same authority, he was accounted a tolerable scholar, an edifying preacher, and a good man.' Becoming dissatisfied with the Church, he left the University, and settled at Northampton. He then associated with the Brownists, and suffered greatly for his adherence to their

tenets.

About the year 1587, he was convened before Archbishop Whitgift, Bishop Cooper, and other High Commissioners; and charged with having asserted, in a book which he had published, that mere readers, meaning such as could not, or would not preach, were no ministers;'-an opinion which he might surely have been permitted to maintain without molestation. This opinion, however, was declared by the Bishop of Winchester, to be an execrable heresy,' which Whitgift confirmed. It is a heresy,' said the bishop, and thou shalt re'cant it as a heresy.' Never,' replied Peury, God willing, 'so long as I live.' Penry was committed to prison, and after a month's confinement, was discharged. Soon after his release, the pursuivants were sent to apprehend him; but could not find him. Being disappointed of their object on searching his house, they ransacked his study, and took away such of his books and papers as they pleased. In 1590, on the publication of Martin Mar-Prelate, and other satirical pamphlets, a special warrant was issued by the Council to seize him as an enemy to the State; but he had retired into Scotland, where he continued till 1593. While in the north, he made many observations for his own use, relative to religion, and drew up a petition, which he intended to present to the queen, as a representation of its true state. The contents of this petition were conveyed in firm, but rude language, and he returned with it into England, having his observations also with him. Soon after his arrival in London, he was apprehended in Stepney parish, by the information of the Vicar, and was convicted of felony in the King's Bench, before the Lord Chief Justice Popham. During his confinement he underwent an examination, in which he expressed, without reserve, his opinions relative to the Church, but protested, in very strong terms, his loyalty to the Queen, and his obedience to the government. The readers of this examination will be convinced, that Penry was a man of good sense, and of great energy and decision of character.

We are ready' he says, before men and angels, to shew and justify our meetings, and our behaviour in them, earnestly desiring that we may serve God with peace and quietness; and that all men may witness our upright walking towards our God, and all the world, especially towards our prince and government. We know the meeting in woods, in caves, in mountains, &c. is a part of the cross of the Gospel, at which the natural man will easily stumble; but we rejoice to be in this mean estate for the Lord's sacred truth. The question should not be so much where we meet, as what we do at our mectings; whether our meetings and doings be warranted by the word of God, and what constraineth us to meet in those places.'

"We are bound to observe the pure worship of God, though it be in woods, in mountains, or in caves.'

It was at first intended to indict Penry for the books which he had published in his name; but, by the advice of his Counsel, he drew up a paper, which was the means of stopping the proceedings. In this declaration, which is dated May 10th, 1593, he insists, that the statute on which he was indicted, was not intended to include such as wrote against the ecclesiastical establishment only, but that it relates to persons who shall defame her Majesty's royal person; that he was perfectly innocent in this respect; and that, if he had been guilty, he ought to have been accused on the oath of two witnesses within one month after the committing of the crime, and have been indicted within one year; otherwise, the Statute clears him in express words. When he appeared on his trial, the court, being apprehensive that his declaration would occasion an argument at law, set aside his printed books, and indicted and convicted him on the contents of his petition and private observations, which had been taken from his desk by violence. A minister and a scholar condemned to death for private papers found in his study! These were, indeed, days of vengeance! The injured Penry addressed a supplicatory letter to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, enclosing a very interesting protes

tation.

In this latter he writes as follows

My days, I see, are drawing to an end, and, I thank God, an undeserved end, except the Lord God stir up your honour, or some other, to plead my cause, and to acquaint her Majesty with my guiltless state. The case is most lamentable, that the private observations of any student, being in a foreign land, and wishing well to his prince and country, should bring his life with blood to a violent end."

These my writings,' he declares in his protestation, are not only the most imperfect, but even so private, that no creature under heaven, myself excepted, was privy to them, till they were

seized.'

His allegiance he avows in these terms.

The authority of her Highness, I am most willing and ready to defend, and maintain against all the persons and states under heaven, to the loss of my life ten thousand times if it were required. And I take the Lord to record, that, to my knowledge, I am sure that day has not passed over my head, since the Lord, under her gracious reign, hath brought me to the knowledge of the truth, wherein I have not prayed for the blessing of God, both external and internal, to be fully poured forth upon her right excellent Majesty's throne, government, and dominions.'

Penry solicited a conference in the presence of the Queen and the Council, but it was denied. The petition of his wife on his behalf was dismissed; and all the intercessions of his friends for his life were in vain. Penry's death was determined on; and Archbishop Whitgift was the first man who signed the warrant for his execution! Of the parties in this scene, in which are the points of resemblance to the Apostles most discernible? In Whitgift, or in Penry? The warrant was immediately sent to the sheriff, who, the very same day, erected a gallows at St. Thomas Waterings, and, while the prisoner was at dinner, sent his officers to bid him make ready, for he must die that afternoon. Accordingly, he was taken in a cart to the place of execution, and, without being allowed to address the people, or to make any profession of his faith towards God, or his loyalty to the Queen, he was turned off, about five o'clock in the afternoon, May 29th, 1593, in the 34th year of his age, his soul doubtless taking its station under the altar, among them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. He left a widow and four poor children. It is supposed that this great and good man, for so we presume to call him, was the first, after the commencement of the Reformation, who preached the Gospel in Wales.

The following sentiments, copied from his declaration, but not included in Mr. Brook's account, are a proof of the superiority of his mind.

Lastly, I most humbly and earnestly beseech their honours and worships into whose hands this writing of mine shall come, to consider, that 'tis to no purpose that her Majesty's subjects should bestow their time in learning, in study and meditation of the word, in reading the writings and doings of learned men, and of the holy Martyrs which have been in former ages, especially the writings published by her Majesty's authority, if they may not, without danger, profess and hold these truths which they learn out of them, and