One objection remained in James's favour : Tipler
was " a scandalous idle fellow," and no justice would
receive his unsupported testimony. A neighbour
then appeared to make good the accusation, and the
justices supposed they were but consulting public
safety by maintaining due surveillance over the as-
semblings of Bulst rake -alley. On the afternoon of
Saturday, the 19th of October, 1651, a magistrate
and an attendant visited the service. The magis-
trate's servant ordered James to leave the pulpit,
while accusing him of treason ; and on his unheed-
ing the interruption, the preacher was dragged from
Ms desk amid great uproar.
It now remained to tender to the entire society
THE SABBATARIAN BAPTISTS. 197
the oath of allegiance. The congregation, instead of
being allowed to depart, were despatched in com-
panies of seven to a tavern near at hand ; thence, if
they declined the oaths, to be remitted to Newgate.
That this was not the first occasion of James's
arrest transpires in his examination by the lieutenant
of the Tower. The prisoner confessed having pre-
viously appeared before their worships, when the
bench very civilly treated him, and cautioned him
about exercising for the future a more sober circum-
spection. He admitted his sympathy with the Fifth
Monarchists, the Bench meanwhile indulging in some
merriment, and exclaiming, " Now we have it from
himself." Some things adduced as telling against
the pastor were trifling and ludicrous. He had ac-
commodated a lodger, for example, who annoyed the
neighbourhood by practising on a war-trumpet, and
now it was argued that James used the instrument
in question for the purpose of attaining perfection
against the day of a contemplated insurrection. Thus
the court ended the sitting of that autumn day with
" Take this man, be careful of him, and commit
him close prisoner to Newgate."
When the trial came on in Westminster Hall the ;
charge against James had nothing to do with religion.
He was arraigned " for preaching maliciously and
traitorously against the life and safety of our sovereign
lord the king, and against the peace and government
-of the whole realm." However unjustly he may
liave suffered, it is only fair to remember that James
198 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
was not condemned for religious teaching, but for
treason against the State. The jury, it has been
supposed, were unfavourably biassed, for a mys-
terious message received by the pastor while con-
fined in the King's Bench before his trial, advised an
objection to certain "pickt men" who were sum-
moned. If the prisoner adopted the advice volun-
teered, and purified the jury-box of the obnoxious
persons, there is less reason for supposing he had an
unfair trial as trials went in those days. Although
condemned to death, James till the last stoutly main-
tained the reasonableness of his political principles.
On the last Sabbath of his life he addressed a small
company of friends in the yard of Newgate, when he
as bitterly denounced the rule of Cromwell as he did
that of other earthly governors.
Some facts belonging to the imprisonment of this
remarkable man are humiliating revelations of the-
England of the Eestoration. While the prisons in
their loathsomeness resembled literal lazarettos, the
delinquencies of prison officials were in terrible keep-
ing with the iniquitous dens they superintended.
The prisoners were as miserable as disease and filth
could make them. The warders were grasping, heart-
less, and unsympathising. In the person of James
a culprit was delivered into their charge whose woes
in his highest prosperity might have provoked the
compassion of generous hearts. By hard, prolonged,
and painful effort he had barely supplied the wants
of his numerous family. But no such considerations-
THE SABBATARIAN BAPTISTS. 199
affected men grown callous by prison associations.
This man, whose drudgery at his daily business
usually reacted on his system till it deprived him
of sleep, was not used worse than myriads of others,
when on being delivered to the officials of Newgate
he became a prey to their avarice. They stole his
clothes, and worried him out of sums of money,
varying from one to sixteen shillings prisoners'
fees, and fees which officials, whether of high or
low position, were not ashamed to exact at the
expense of starving families.
But another trial and one infinitely more shock-
ing to posterity fell to the lot of this unfortunate
Fifth Monarchist. On the day preceding his execu-
tion the hangman visited his lodging and demanded
twenty pounds, " that he might be favourable to him
at his death." His victim being too poor to raise
so large a sum, this literal " scum of the earth "
reduced his desires to ten pounds ; and anon, on
coming down to five pounds, the wretched bribe-
seeker threatened to " torture him exceeding " if so
reasonable a consideration were not forthcoming.
Stripped of his clothing and robbed of his money,
James could only consign himself to the miscreant's
mercy.
If in his daily life he had favoured an extravagant
enthusiasm, James in his last days displayed much
Christian heroism. Seldom has death more com-
pletely lost his sting. The charms of life were out-
shone by the superior lustre of unfading realities.
200 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
Visitors thronged his apartment to witness the
triumph of his faith. On the last evening of his
life he exultingly observed to some friends who were
present, " I sup with you to-night ; but you would
be glad to sup with me to-morrow." Nevertheless,
he endured temptations. Dark seasons occurred
when the flesh quailed, and when even his brave
heart trembled before the ordeal through which he
was passing. After perspiring with agony through
such a season, he would rise, declare the trial past,
and express that "joy and peace unutterable " which
possessed his spirit.
Even more affecting was the farewell he took of
his wife. After Mrs. James had unsuccessfully
petitioned the King in person to pardon her husband,
they separated in the strongest hope of being eter-
nally reunited ; and thus, by the grace of God, were
" as willing to part as ever they were to come
together."
Then came the end. James was taken from
Newgate on Wednesday, the 26th of November, to
be dragged on a hurdle to Tyburn, through the mud
and water of the sloppy and ill-paved streets. " The
sheriff and hangman were so civil to him in his exe-
cution as to suffer him to be dead before he was cut
down." According to the repulsive custom of the
time, his limbs were exhibited on the city gates, and
his head exposed on a pole to the denizens of White-
chapel. If a misguided, James was at least an
honest man ; and, if he may not be classed among
V
THE SABBATARIAN BAPTISTS. 201
the martyrs of the Church, for the sake of what
was sterling in his character he deserves to be re- ,
membered with respect. If not a martyr, he was at
least a victim of those stirring times in which his
lot was cast.*
John Savage, who died in 1726, presided for a ,
great number of years over these Sabbatarians.
During his pastorate the removal from Balstrake-alley
to Mill-yard occurred. This divine is stated to have
been the grandfather of Dr. Savage.
Savage enjoyed the assistance of an able lecturer
in the person of John Maulden, who, prior to the
Involution, keenly suffered from steadfastly adhering
to the principles of Nonconformity. Refusing to
discontinue preaching, and being unable to pay the
ruinous fines of twenty pounds a month, he was
arrested and thrown into Clerkenwell gaol, his goods,
meanwhile, being sold by his persecutors. At
Olerkenwell he passed his days among common
felons, but remaining himself uncontaminated, he
became to his rough associates a rare exemplar of
Christian patience. His history shows that even
the wretched government of the Stuarts could ex-
perience momentary shame at the scandal in-
* " The Speech and Declaration of John James, a weaver
in the pressyard at Newgate, on Sunday last, to the Fifth
Monarchists, &c., 1661." "A Narrative of the apprehending,
commitment and execution of John James, who suffered at
Tiburne, November the 26th, 1661, &c." See also the
Calendars of State Papers, Domestic Series, 166 1 ; and Crosby's
History of the English Baptists.
202 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
separably connected with the incarceration in
noisome dungeons of men whom God had appointed
to dispense His gospel. Thus it happened in the
case of Maulden and others that criminals' quarters
were exchanged for more comfortable accommoda-
tion. On regaining his liberty Maulden settled with
the Baptists of East Smithfield, who, on account of
the dangers attending the holding of public services,
assembled in private households. After the Eevo-
lution this society erected a chapel in Goodman's-
fields. The pastor, however, did not for long share
this freedom and prosperity, for, accepting office
under John Savage, he continued with the Sab-
batarians till released by death in 1714. He is
the author of several published pieces.
Robert Cornwaite, the successor of Savage, was a
native of Bolton, and born in 1696. His father-
dying early, and the family being large, Robert con-
tributed to their support by establishing a school,
He also proved his capacity to think for himself by
setting his kindred the example of seceding from
the National Church in favour of Presbyterianism,
and thence, by another step, he joined the Baptists.
On assuming pastoral responsibilities he stayed with
his first charge at Boston about twelve months. The
encouragement he met with to work among Dis-
senters was not of the warmest kind, and, had not
conscience dictated his principles, his opportunities
were ample to have retreated from an unattractive
path into the more comfortable parterre of the
THE SABBATAKIAN BAPTISTS. 203
Anglican Church. He appears to have shown a
changeable temperament, but after once forming his
opinions he would zealously defend them. On
settling in London he became attracted by, and then
interested in, the controversy regarding the Sabbath,
the result being his conversion to the sentiments of
the Sabbatarians. Succeeding in 1726 at Mill-yard,
he there laboured till his death. He was a man of
great literary activity, and wrote in defence of the
distinguishing tenet of his denomination, having
been honoured by the opposition of Samuel Wright
and Caleb Fleming. " His death was sudden, but
previously to it he had expressed a complete and
absolute resignation with respect to the length and
shortness of his life." Of one Peter Eussell, an
assistant of Cornwaite, and who was stationed over
this church in 1730, no memorials have survived.*
Daniel Noble was set apart for the ministry at
Mill-yard in the autumn of 1755, and remained till
his death in 1783, meantime holding another charge
at Barbican.
Noble was born at Whitechapel in 1729. After
being grounded in grammar learning by a local
tutor, the pastor Cornwaite directed his education.
He appears to have been no ordinary school-boy, for
he differed from his companions in so far, that he
loved to burden his memory with longer lessons
than either his elders or prudence prescribed. His
* Daniel Noble's Sermon on the death of K. Cornwaite ;
Protestant Dissenters' Magazine, vol. vi.
204 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
strange predilections would draw from his tutor the
Impatient exclamation, " Get you gone ; have I no
other boys to hear but you ?" From his childhood
upward, Noble enjoyed a training worthy of his
abilities, his parents from the first having intended
him for the Nonconformist ministry. After passing
his boyhood in London, he removed to Kendal, and
studied under Dr. Eotheram, thence removing to
Glasgow University. On returning to London in
1752, he succeeded in due course at Mill-yard, and
also established a school at.Peckham. But teaching
and divinity were not the only objects of Noble's
pursuit. Loving literary activity, his experience in
authorship commenced in his sixteenth year, or in
1745, when he wrote against the Young Pretender
in a Letter to the People of England. In maturer
years he started a periodical called The Library,
which only lived till its thirteenth issue. Dr.
Jeffreys, who survived Noble about three days,
prepared a funeral sermon for his friend, but died
before he could deliver it ; and, although he pro-
nounces a high eulogy on his character, it is not
more extravagant than justice demanded. That he
was able and learned, Noble's lifework is sufficient
proof. He may also have been eccentric; for
whether so or not he called his children by eccentric
names, his three daughters having been distinguished
one from the other by Experience, Eusebia, and Serena.*
* Dr. Jeffreys' Sermon on the death of Daniel Noble;
Protestant Dissenters' Magazine, vol. v.
THE SABBATARIAN BAPTISTS. 205
William Slater succeeded Noble, and died in
August 1710. He was followed by his grandson
W7ll. Black. Tlie church, at Mill-yard still exists ;
but any further allusion to its modern upholders-
will not be expected in this place.
We must take our farewell of the Sabbatarian
Baptists. On the formation of Bampfield's Society
in March, 1675, they had a meeting-place in the
old chapel at Devonshire-square. Thence they re-
moved to Pinners' Hall ; thence to Broad-street ;,
thence to Curriers' Hall, Cripplegate ; thence to Bed-
cross-street, and so back again to Devonshire-square.
From Devonshire- square we trace them to Fins-
bury, there to lose sight of them, as we are-
unable to identify them with the little church in
Whitechapel.
The regard these people showed for the seventh
day entailed a self-denial too burdensome, or at the
least, an inconvenience too oft repeated, to allow of
their attracting adherents in any considerable num-
bers after the subsiding of Puritan enthusiasm.
That they could act with straightforward con-
scientiousness, it were easy to prove; since to-
adduce but one example, the father of Burnside
on embracing Sabbatarian views, unhesitatingly
sacrificed a lucrative business to principle. Thus,
while unable to sympathise with them in all things,
we honour the memory of these singular people as
the memory of good Christians and honest citizens
deserves to be honoured ; and gladly add this
206 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
chapter of their history to our annals of Noncon-
formity in London.*
* From time immemorial it has been customary with those
observing the seventh to allow others to assemble in their
chapels on the first day. In the year 1700 the Presbyterians
settled at Mill-yard. Their pastor was Samuel Harris,
formerly of Canterbury, who seceded from a charge
at Wapping in consequence of some change of sentiment,
the nature of which we do not understand. According to
Wilson's manuscript he proved an acceptable preacher, and,
as a Calvinist, divided with the Subscribers at Salters'
Hall in 1719. As Harris grew in years, his secluded habits
and singular bearing lost him many friends and led to the
decrease of the congregation. He had several lecturers, but
"doea not appear to have agreed with any of them," says
Wilson. The assistants alluded to were John Lewis, John
Shuttlewood, Samuel Stockwell, and another of the name of
Clark. The first retired from a meeting in Ropemakers'-
.alley, in consequence of disagreeing with his people. The
second served at Mill-yard till 1711. The third, after com-
ing to a misunderstanding with his superior, settled at
Redcross-street. The fourth came from Potter's Pury, and
retired from the ministry in 1730. Harris was succeeded by
-Joseph Waite, formerly of Saffron Walden and Rornford.
* ' When he came to London he was advanced in years, and
yet a preacher of no small courage and boldness." Without
any pretensions to scholarship or culture, he kept up the
congregation. In or about 1741, the Presbyterians left Mill-
yard and the chapel was occupied on the first day by a
society of Baptists, who paid 10 annually for the accommoda-
tion. These enjoyed sufficient prosperity to remove twenty-
two years later into premises of their own in Church-street
Whitechapel. Mathew Rudmall, who came from a neigh-
bouring chapel in Virginia-street, held the pastorate till his
death in 1756. He was followed by John Brittain, an
THE SABBATARIAN BAPTISTS. 207
3ineducated tradesman. After itinerating for a time about
the south of London he was regularly ordained. He laboured
very zealously by ministering to his own large congregation,
and by setting up two lectureships which he partly sustained.
His election at Mill-yard occasioned division ; but notwith-
standing some discontent he had numerous followers, being
in fact " extremely popular." An anecdote told of Brittain
strikingly shows how deficient in common knowledge even
popular ministers might be in the Georgian era. One day
Brittain and a friend crossed Moorfields for the purpose of
hearing the great orator, who in those days preached in the
Tabernacle, named after him. An expression in Whitfield's
sermon " Some people are as ignorant of religion as they
are of algebra" supplied a topic of conversation during the
walk home to dinner. " Aye," enquired Brittain, with
laudible curiosity, " what language is algebra ?"
We may also notice, "A small society of Particular Bap-
tists'," who favoured Mill-yard with their presence. John Mat-
lock, " not a very honourable character," preached here. He
left for America, and we lose sight of him. Thomas Thomas, a
native of Aberdeen, was also connected with this society.
He studied at Bristol under Hugh and Caleb Evans. Leav-
ing college in 1780, he settled at Pershore, there to be
rendered uncomfortable by disputes and dissatisfaction. On
visiting London, in 1787, he settled at Mill-yard, where he
stayed till his death in 1 808. During his pastorate the chapel
was destroyed by fire and rebuilt, but remained without its
first day frequenters till August 1805, when the Indepen- .
dents reopened the first day services.
(Chapter VI.
BTJEY STEEET, SAINT MAEY AXE.
PROBABLY few only of the sightseers who occasionally
spend a week in London, are ever found turning
down Bury-street, Saint Mary Axe, to visit the
quaint chapel, which through so many years of in-
terest was associated with the honoured name of
Watts. Nevertheless, in the locality specified the
sanctuary may he found, but degenerated into a
merchant's wareroom. The venerable pile will by
no means strike its visitors as being ornamental.
The plainest of brick walls with openings for the
plainest of leaded windows, were what our chapel-
building fathers thought proper for a house of
prayer. Their chapels, moreover, were so erected
from choice rather than necessity, or were so in
numbers of instances ; for the society under notice
was one of the richest in London of the Independent
regimen.
As we walk up this London street, many things
belonging to the past will flit across the memory.
In the olden time, when Popery was dominant, the
abbots of Edmund's-bury inherited a town residence-
BUliY STREET. 209
in this vicinity. Prior to the confiscation of the
monasteries, at the dawn of the Reformation, the
site of Bury-street meeting-house was occupied by
the Priory of the Holy Trinity, founded by Matilda,
Queen of Henry the First. After the King had
confirmed the gift, the house became extremely
wealthy, and consequently strongly provoked the
initiatory attack, when in 1531, Henry the Eighth
decided on demolition. He who chiefly benefited
by the unfortunate monks' change of fortune was Sir
Thomas Audley, successively Speaker of the House
of Commons, and Lord Chancellor. This gentle-
man came into possession of the estate, and after
taking down a portion of the mansion, he converted
the remainder into his town residence, and there
died during the reign of Mary. Holbein the painter
likewise died of plague in this house, in 1554, after
having enjoyed the patronage of Henry the Eighth,
and that of the Norfolk family. Henry had de-
lighted to honour the artist ; for a king, here-
marked, could in a single day make twenty nobles,
but never a single artist. The daughter of Sir
Thomas Audley married one of the Howards, and
after the dukedom of Norfolk, therefore, one part of
the neighbourhood we are concerned with is called
Duke's-place. It was in the days of Queen Anne '.
that the dissenting congregation, then assembling
on Sabbath afternoons at Pinners' Hall, prevailed
on one Charles Great to lease them a portion of
his garden at a ground-rent of twenty pounds,
14
210 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
upon which site they erected the chapel still
extant.
During the reign of William the Third the con-
gregation assembled at a private house in Mark-
lane, but in the summer of 1704 they removed to
Pinners' Hall. Four years later the building in
Bury-street was provided at a cost of 650. This
chapel, which in happier days had three galleries,
was opened by Thomas Bradbury, in October 1708.
At that date the congregation ranked highly among
Nonconformists, many of its members having belonged
to families of title or distinction.
The founder of this important church was Joseph
Caryl, the ejected minister of St. Simon Magnus,
London-bridge. He was born in 1602, and trained
at Oxford University. His descent was genteel, and
to the polished manners of good breeding, he added
the art and subtlety of the accomplished disputant.
In his twenty-fifth year, when national tioubles
loomed in the distance, Caryl took holy orders, and
commenced his pulpit exercises in the vicinity of
Exeter College. As he grew in years the preacher
became " puritanically inclined," but obtained the
lectureship at Lincoln' s-inn. Amid the social and
political confusion engendered by the Civil Wars,
Caryl continued an uncompromising adherent to the
cause of Freedom ; and accordingly he frequently
officiated before the Long Parliament. About this
conjuncture he obtained the living of St. Simon
Magnus, and in that situation found employment on
BURY STREET. 211
several state occasions. He attended the commis-
sioners at Newcastle, who there waited on Charles
the First, in 1646. In the Athense Oxonienses we
are entertained with an anecdote concerning this
journey. The King, as all know, treated Presbyters
themselves with high contempt, as he did their
preaching. He one day refused to delay his dinner
while one of them invoked a blessing. During their
stay at Holinby House, in Northamptonshire, Caryl
and his companion, Stephen Marshall, offered to
officiate before his Majesty, but were of course
denied the honour. The King, it seems, also pre-
ferred saying grace himself a piece of presumption
which Marshal once thought well to rebuke :
" While he was long in forming his chaps, as the
manner was among the saints, and making ugly
faces, his Majesty said grace himself, and was fallen
on his meat, and had eaten up some part of his
dinner before Marshall had ended the blessing."
Caryl, Wood has deigned to inform us, " was not so
impudent." He likewise attended the King at New-
port, in the Isle of Wight, and was appointed to the
melancholy office of chaplain on the fatal 30th
January, 1649 ; but his services were declined, as
were also those of his colleague, Philip Nye.
During the Commonwealth, Caryl rose into high
favour, as his numerous printed sermons preached
before the Parliament on special occasions testify.
In 1650 he attended Cromwell in the Scottish
campaign, and after returning to London was ap-
14*
212 ANCIENT MEETING HOUSES.
pointed a ministerial Trier. Through those momentous
years Caryl may too often have descended from his
high vocation to political interference, but his every-
day life never ceased to discover the laborious and
popular minister. The near prospect of the Stuarts'
return, however, prompted a renewal of his political
activity ; yet, while he conferred with Monk on the
state of the nation, we do not find that he opposed
the King's restoration. After the consummation of
the last-named event, Caryl retired to his charge of
St. Simon Magnus, of which he was finally deprived
by the Act of Uniformity.
The daily life of this old divine is said to have
been a fair acting out of his sermons. Of his literary
abilities and enormous industry he has left us the
most substantial evidences ; indeed, his stupendous
Exposition of the Book of Job, in twelve volumes
quarto, is one of the marvels of English literature.
Probably only the author and the abriclger ever