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In our last period, which comes down to the present day, many names occur of persons who have but recently retired to their reward, whose memories still breathe a fresh and sacred fragrance over the immediate scene of their usefulness, and for whom our own personal friendships have solicited an honourable memorial. But they were so numerous that all could not be mentioned, at least without making our biographical department a meagre list of barren names and dates. The design, however, of the chapter which we have devoted, under each period, to the memory of eminent persons, was not merely to gratify vanity, or soothe the affections of surviving relatives and friends. We considered the biography of history as its most useful branch. Here we not only become acquainted with the venerable dead, as in particular biographies, but we converse with them at their own æra, compare them with their surrounding contemporaries, and judge of the degree of their worth and importance by the impulse they have given to the passing events. The extent to which it was neces

sary to enlarge on each individual, in order to render the notice of his life beneficial to our readers, has excluded other names which might seem to demand a place. We stand justified to ourselves, as we trust we shall to our reflecting readers, by choosing rather to promote their improvement than gratify their expectations. We wished to present a picture of each

departed Christian whom we have noticed, sufficiently large and distinct to render him known to survivors, to give prominence to his excellencies, and excite such emulation that the world may never see the last of its benefactors.

As we deem the diffusion of sentiments by the active agency of the press, an affair of the highest importance to the interests of truth and holiness, we should not dare to write in any other way than that for which we should be willing to give an account "to God the judge of all." In view of his tribunal we have given our narration of facts, published our statement of principles, and uttered the emotions of our hearts. For, while this serious impression has guarded us from wilful misrepresentation, it has not extinguished our hatred of tyranny and persecution, though it has induced us to cultivate benevolence for mankind, amidst our abhorrence of their crimes. Should the degree of hilarity in which we may sometimes indulge, seem to discredit this solemn protesta tion, we plead that the seriousness of religion, which loathes the mad laughter of the profane, most perfectly accords with the smile of the cheerful. If, at any time, we invoke irony in aid of truth, we defend ourselves by the example of a prophet and an apostle: the former gravely bids the stupid devotees of Baal "cry aloud, saying, perhaps he is on a journey, or asleep and needs to be waked;" the latter chastises

the vanity of the Corinthians by saying, " ye have reigned as kings without us."

Nor is this without the highest reason; for while the principles which appeal to our judgment deserve to be tried by sober argument, the knots with which the pride of priestly domination would tie up our reason, or the spirit of superstition fetter our conscience, will often be most successfully cut with the keen edge of ridicule.

Ridiculum acri

Fortius et melius magnas plerumque secat res.

With regard to the authorities whence we derived the materials for our history, it had been easy to have swelled our referrences far beyond their present number, had we inserted them for ostentation and not for use. We have, however, appealed to our authors, whenever the nature or importance of the facts seemed to require such evidence. Beyond this it is a needless waste of paper to occupy the foot of each page with titles and figures, referring to books which not one in a hundred may possess, and not one in a thousand would consult.

HISTORY OF DISSENTERS.

INTRODUCTION.

CONTAINING A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN TO THE REVOLUTION.

Section I. From the Introduction of the Gospel to the Reformation.

WHILE Britons are employed in benevolent missions to evangelise the most distant nations, it is highly interesting to enquire at what period, and by whose labours, we ourselves first received the Gospel of Christ. The task however is difficult, and leads to no satisfactory decision; for as the Nile, which conveys fertility to the fields of Egypt, hides its source in obscurity, so the religion of Britain has diffused inestimable blessings to other lands, but its introduction to our own isle is enveloped in the impenetrable clouds of a remote antiquity.

We discover, indeed, with melancholy precision, the gloomy horrors of the long night in which our ancestors wandered, before the beams of divine Revelation darted upon us from the east; and could we stay to draw a full picture of the gross ignorance, the gloomy superstitions, the disgusting vices, and accumulated miseries which then reigned in Britain, it might at once raise a

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blush for our humiliating origin, and en flame our gratitude to him, who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel. The naked bodies, and savage exterior, of the ancient Britons, which Roman historians have described, were less disgraceful than the besotted minds, and depraved hearts, which lurked within. Were we to give full credit to the concise narrative of Cæsar, we should believe that our forefathers practised a singular species of polygamy, or community of wives, elevated but little above the promiscuous intercourse of brutes. The rude lords exercised over their women and children an absolute power of life and death. Prisoners taken in war, or condemned criminals, they enclosed in wicker cages, and burnt alive as sacrifices to their gods, or at the funerals of the deceased, to appease their departed spirits. Britain is said to have been the chief seat of the Druids, who taught the warlike inhabitants to de- · spise death, from the persuasion that their souls would then pass into other bodies: these dark mysteries were, from our isle, propagated among the Gauls*. But enough of a scene where the thick darkness is only interrupted by the gleam of infernal fires, which just serves to make it visible.

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On turning to enquire who brought the light of the Gospel into this realm of night, we are reminded of him that said, "who opened my eyes I know not; one thing I know; whereas I was blind, now I seet.' Has infinite wisdom seen fit to throw a veil of impenetrable darkness over the first introduction of the Gospel into many countries, that we might learn to adore not the hand that brings, but him that sends the blessing? That the benign religion of Jesus was * Cæsar de bello gallico, lib. I. + John.ix. 25.

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