We have heard something of the background to what happened in 1662 and subsequently. What we want to do now is to try and put some flesh on the bones, as it were; to look at the human story acted out in the light of these great changes. We want to consider some of those 2000 who were ejected and the sufferings they endured.
Some we might have expected to have been ejected were not. These include Edward Reynolds (1599-1676), John Lightfoot (1602-75), William Gurnall (1617-79), author of The Christian in complete armour and commentator John Trapp (1601-69). Some too, perhaps, were ejected who one might have expected to conform. This question of conscience was no easy one to decide. Some who were ejected later conformed; some who conformed were later ejected.
Inevitably there was a certain variety among the ejected. Take age for instance. Some were ejected towards the end of their ministries (Simeon Ash died the very evening of the ejection), while others were at the beginning. Financially, some had always been comfortably well off, others had not been or were not from that point on. Some faced great opposition at this time, some less. According to A G Matthews, writing in 1934, a hundred or so had "considerable private means" to fall back on. Among the rest, 101 kept schools (including nine ministerial academies); 59 practiced medicine; 47 became chaplains to the nobility or gentry; 10 became farmers; nine went into trade.
Some names are remembered to this day. In a nineteenth century work Robert Halley speaks of
... the preaching of Baxter, the theology of Owen, the genius of Howe, the learning of Goodwin, the reasoning of Charnock, the sermons of Bates, the devotion of Flavell, the meditations of Isaac Ambrose, the expositions of Matthew Poole, the labours of Oliver Heywood, the life of Joseph Alleine! ... It is not for me to praise the men who have done much to make old England what it is: a great, a free, a glorious, a strong, a religious, a Protestant country. They have left their deep and indelible impressions upon the history of our land, and upon all its institutions ...
These names should be known to you. Certainly Richard Baxter (1615-91), John Owen (1616-83), John Howe (1630-1705), Thomas Goodwin (1600-80), Stephen Charnock (1626-80) and John Flavel (1627-91). William Bates (1625-99) perhaps is less well known. The warm and godly Lancashire author Isaac Ambrose (1604-64) wrote books that were admired for their pathos and beauty even by those with no sympathy for Puritanism. Matthew Poole (1624?-79) was a Bible commentator. Oliver Heywood (1630-1702) was a godly northern Puritan. Joseph Alleine we will speak about later.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography currently considers just over 200 of the ejected worthy of attention. The brief summaries found there can make dry reading at times but every now and again there is a glimpse of something more interesting.
Geographical distribution
As for the geographical extent of dissent, academic David Appleby comments that “religious dissent was everywhere in evidence”. He notes that historian Richard Greaves found presbyterians to be strongly represented in Northumberland, Lancashire, Cheshire, Devon, Somerset (especially Bristol) and Carmarthenshire, while Congregationalists proliferated in South and Central Wales, the Midlands, Essex, Suffolk and Lancashire.
Matthews thought that the concentration of nonconformist ministers was highest in the west country, followed by Essex, Suffolk and Lancashire, with a fairly even distribution elsewhere. This West Country predominance is noticeable in the printed literature. London also, unsurprisingly, dominates with 60 men. The phenomenon was found in every county, facilitated by various efficient networks.
Youthfulness
Appleby says that by the mid-seventeenth century the average clergyman began ministering in his mid-twenties and commonly went on for another 30 years. Historian Paul Seaver says that in 1640-1662 the average age of incumbents rose to 42. Appleby says that the average age at the Ejection of those listed by Matthews (where data is available) was 41.9 years. The average from those who published farewell sermons is 39.6 years. Ten Midlands authors featured in England's Remembrancer were on average aged as low as 32.7 years. The point then is that far from being past their prime, the ejected were younger than average. This factor should be borne in mind when we consider how it was that most of these men (unlike the elderly bishops recently restored) went on preaching for decades after 1662.
Education
Derek Cooper, writing about Thomas Manton, says that
a university education became important for prospective clergymen only during the seventeenth century. Before then, most clergymen did not attend the university. By Manton’s time, however, clerical education at the university level was on the rise. Historian Rosemary O’Day estimates, in fact, that about 15 percent of students at Oxford during the 1630s were “sons of clergy” who were probably following their fathers’ footsteps into the ministry. In this way she wryly asserts that for plebeians such as Manton, “the degree was a meal-ticket.
Though not all university men, those ejected in 1662 were well educated and trained in rhetoric often using Latin, Greek and even Hebrew to get the message across. Non-university men like Baxter and John Oldfield (1626-82) were clearly well read, which was a Puritan tradition. Appleby makes the point that “Far from being inferior, the ejected ministers of 1662 were at the very least the intellectual equals of the conformist clergy.” They were educated not just in their college days but afterwards through household seminaries run by experienced ministers. From the time of Elizabeth, godly conferences had been a feature of the scene. Those such as the one at Dedham had become famous. These have been compared to modern professional associations.
University men
Appleby says (20) that despite statements by W F Mitchell in 1934 saying that those who were ejected were generally poorly educated, some 85% were university graduates. Most had gone to Cambridge, especially those who had farewell sermons printed.
At least 87 attended Emmanuel College, “a hotbed of Puritanism”. Appleby suggests that the tutors would have encouraged friendships and that men like Ralph Venning (1621-74), George Swinnock (1627-73) and John Whitlock (1626-1709) (all graduates of Emmanuel in 1646) would have known each other from their teenage years, being part of a larger group that included men from other colleges. Luke Cranwell (d 1683), Henry Newcombe (1627-95), John Barrett (1631-1713), Robert Seddon (1629-96) and Oliver Heywood all graduated from Cambridge that same year. Fewer had studied at Oxford but just four colleges - Exeter, Magdalen, New Inn Hall and Wadham - produced 111 nonconformists between them. The writers went to Wadham (Robert Adkins [1626-85], Thomas Lye [1621-84], Thomas Manton) and Exeter (Joseph Caryl [1602-73], John Galpin [dates unknown], George Newton [1602-81]).
Prison
John Bunyan was famously imprisoned in Bedford in 1660 and spent some 12 years there (or thereabouts) for his dissent from the national church. He was not the only one. Matthews suggests that 12.4% of the ejected, some 215 altogether, were imprisoned between 1662 and the death of Charles II in 1685. Most were in for short periods but others served lengthy terms – Francis Holcroft (1628/9-92) the Congregationalist and “Apostle of Cambridgeshire”, nine years (apart from a few months in 1672 he was hardly out of prison 1672-80); Presbyterian John Cole, eight years; Congregationalist Richard Worts (d 1686), seven years. Some seven men died in prison. These include Vavasor Powell (imprisoned 1659, died 1670); John Thompson of Bristol (died 1675); Francis Bampfield died in Newgate in 1684 after years of imprisonment, as did London presbyterian William Jenkyn (1613-1685) and Thomas Delaune (1635-1685), also in Newgate.
Plan
Rather than trying to take in a lot of information about a lot of people I thought we might be best to look at three leading men, almost at random, briefly considering the lives of each of them before and after 1662.
I thought of choosing a Presbyterian, a Congregationalist and a Baptist but there did not seem to be any particular advantage in doing that so I have chosen three Presbyterians. In those days, the word presbyterian was used loosely for all the ejected men but these men really were presbyterian. More men went to Cambridge than Oxford but these three were all Oxford men. We will begin with a man from the west country who ministered mainly at the hub of things in London who had already been ministering for 20 years at the Restoration. We will then look at two younger men, one also born in the west country and who ministered there until is early death, and another brought up in London but who ministered for long years in relative obscurity on the borders of North Wales. The names will be familiar to anyone who has looked into Puritan history. They are Thomas Manton, Joseph Alleine and Philip Henry.
Thomas Manton 1620-1677
At his funeral William Bates spoke of Manton as having “a name worthy of precious and eternal memory”. He said
Perhaps few men of the age in which he lived, had more virtues, and fewer failings, or were more remarkable for general knowledge, fearless integrity, great candour and wisdom, sound judgement, and natural eloquence; copious invention, and incredible industry, zeal for the glory of God, and good will to men, for acceptance and usefulness in the world, and a clear unspotted reputation, through a course of many years, among all parties of men.
A very helpful guide to Manton has recently been written by Derek Cooper. He points out that Manton was born five years before the ascension of Charles I, and died seven years before the death of Charles II. Thus his middle years were lived during the Commonwealth (1649–53) and Protectorate (1653–59) under Oliver Cromwell (and briefly his son Richard). One of three scribes who served the Westminster Assembly (1643–49), he was also a chaplain to Cromwell and preached more than once before Parliament. He was very much in favour of the restoration of Charles II but was ejected in 1662 and spent six months in prison in 1670. In all these events, says Cooper, “the changing rhythm and the restless activity of seventeenth century England provide the decisive setting from which to understand the life and writings of Thomas Manton”.
Manton is remembered today for his voluminous writings, still available in 22 volumes. Spurgeon wrote of his style
Manton is not brilliant, but he is always clear; he is not oratorical, but he is powerful; he is not striking, but he is deep. There is not a poor discourse in the whole collection - they are evenly good, constantly excellent. Ministers who do not know Manton need not wonder if they are themselves unknown.
The Servitor from Somerset 1620-1640
Manton was born in the west country, in Lydeard St Lawrence, Somerset, west of Taunton. His father and grandfather were Protestant clergymen. He himself was educated at a free grammar school in Tiverton, Devon and went to Oxford as a servitor, that is to say as one of the poorer students. He began at Wadham College but moved to Hart Hall, probably for economic reasons. He gained his BA in 1639 and was later given a BD by Wadham in 1654. In 1660 he was given a DD, at the request of Charles II.
Cooper says Manton's Library would have been begun at this point. He says that an auction catalogue compiled after his death lists hundreds of volumes, which the auctioneer William Cooper divides into various categories: Greek and Latin works, commentaries, theology, philosophy, history, and divinity. This list confirms the many reports about Manton being a very learned pastor and preacher who spent countless hours in his study in preparation for his sermons.
Following his time at Oxford, he was ordained as a deacon by Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter and about to become Bishop of Norwich. Hall said Manton “would prove [to be] an extraordinary person” throughout his career, but little is known of the direct relationship between the two. Manton never received further ordination, perhaps by conviction.
The London Presbyterian 1640-1656
Manton's first charges were in rural East Devon. He served in Sowton 1640-1643 as town lecturer, a low paid and temporary calling something like being an assistant curate. In 1643 he married Mary Morgan (d 1701) from nearby Sidbury. They were to have three children. In that same year nearby Exeter was besieged by Royalist forces and a move was made to Colyton, where they remained another two years.
In July 1645, Manton, still in his twenties but with a growing reputation, moved from rural Devon to the London area. Colonel Alexander Popham, patron of St Mary’s parish, Stoke Newington, brought him east to what was then little more than a village north of London. The previous incumbent William Heath, a royalist with little support in the parish, was sequestered.
Cooper describes the Stoke Newington period, which lasted until 1656, as successful but hectic. For example, he was very much involved in unsuccessful attempts to set up presbyterianism in the London area. To this end in 1653 he published Smectymnuus Redivivus, a revamped version of the 1641 reply of five presbyterians (Marshall, Calamy, Young, Newcomen and Spurstowe) to Joseph Hall's Humble Remonstrance advocating episcopalianism. “The issue was simple for Manton:” says Cooper “presbyterianism was the best way to organize the church and unify the nation” (51). Cooper notes the disconnect between Parliament and the army on this matter. Manton, like others, was very keen to dissociate himself entirely from the death of Charles I in 1649. In 1651 Christopher Love (1618-1651) was executed for his part in a plot to restore the monarchy. At the risk of his life, Manton readily preached his funeral sermon.
The Westminster Assembly had been convened in 1643. Being so young, Manton was not called to serve as a divine but, as noted, he became one of three scribes or clerks who served that august company and was later appointed to write a preface to the second edition of the Confession in 1658. We have also mentioned how he served Cromwell as a chaplain. He was one of few presbyterians appointed in 1564 as one of 38 triers who examined men for the ministry.
While at Stoke Newington he was invited to preach before Parliament for the first of at least six occasions on June 30, 1647, a fast day. He preached on Zechariah 14:9 a sermon called, “Meat out of the Eater; or, Hopes of Unity in and by Divided and Distracted Times.” Exactly a year later, he preached another fast sermon on Revelation 3:20, “England’s Spiritual Languishing; with the Causes and the Cure.”
It was here too that Manton began his major mid-week lectures or practical commentaries, first on Isaiah 53 (probably mid-1640s), then on James, which he lectured on four evenings a week (late 1640s), and finally on Jude (late 1640s–early 1650s). The last two were first published in 1651. Despite his fondness for systematic preaching, these commentaries on James and Jude remain his only complete works of this sort. Though very much addressed to their times, the sermons are still relevant today and remain in print.
The King of Preachers 1656-1677
In 1656 he moved to London itself when he was appointed rector of St Paul's in the relatively new parish of Covent Garden. He succeeded Obadiah Sedgwick (1600-58), who had resigned his living and died two years later. Important members of the congregation included Oliver St John the judge and MP (c 1558-1673); the diarist and founder member of the Royal Society John Evelyn (1620-1706) and the courtier and politician Sir William Fleetwood.
The work continued to increase. He was made lecturer at Westminster Abbey and was involved in many discussions including those that led to the readmission of the Jews in 1657.
Manton did not find his Covent Garden congregation as sympathetic to his presbyterianism as the Stoke Newington one had been. In 1661 they successfully petitioned to have him use the prayer book. Growing resistance to presbyterianism nationally coincided with the uncertainty that followed the untimely death of Cromwell in 1658 and the period of confusion that ensued. Presbyterians such as Manton were keen to see Charles II restored and he was one of several who travelled to Breda in The Netherlands early in 1660 to negotiate his return. The hope was (in Michael Watts' words) of “comprehension in the new religious establishment”. Of course, with the wisdom of hindsight we can see that this was never to be.
After the restoration, Manton like other moderate presbyterians, became an advocate of Usher's modified episcopalianism and was part of the group that represented the Puritans at the ultimately fruitless Savoy Conference. When The Act of Uniformity was passed Manton was on favourable terms with Charles, being one of his official chaplains, and was offered the Deanery of Rochester. However, he felt entirely unable to accept and when Bartholomew's Day arrived he duly refused to conform. The Sunday before he preached a farewell sermon from Hebrews 12:1, later published and still found in collections today. Typically, it makes no direct reference to the ejection.
Cooper says “The new legislation passed by Parliamant effectively ended the presbyterian cause in England” and that “although vestiges of presbyterianism remained in the London area, Manton is rightly regarded as one of the last old presbyterians in England.”
Manton became what he despised – a separatist. A moderate nonconformist, he continued to attend the parish church until accused of slander and libel by his successor, Simon Patrick. In 1669 he was censured for refusing communion. He had slowly begun to preach at his home on Sunday evenings and Wednesday mornings when he could. He continued to write too.
In 1670 he was arrested for preaching one Sunday afternoon and imprisoned for six months. He continued to preach illegally and was nearly arrested again but was tipped off as to his danger. He was at Arlington House in 1668 when toleration was discussed with the king. At this time two factions existed among the presbyterians. Dons like Manton were well connected and continued to seek comprehension. The Ducklings were younger presbyterians who sought only indulgence or toleration. Great suspicion reigned between the two.
The year 1672 saw the Declaration of Indulgence, in which men like Manton were granted a license to preach at home. Some 1500 licenses were issued. Shortly after this he became one of six lecturers at Pinner’s Hall with Baxter, Owen and others where presbyterians and congregationalists combined to lead “morning exercises.” He also preached at Cripplegate, in a similar set up.
Despite continued efforts to bring about a change, Manton died in 1677 without seeing comprehension or even toleration. His funeral was attended by a large and diverse crowd. Ralph Thoresby (1658-1724) referred to him in his diary as “The King of preachers”. Unlike Owen, whose many volumes contain many learned treatises as well as more popular works, Manton's 22 volumes are all taken up with popular exposition. Not that he is always easy. Perhaps his spirit comes through in this anecdote preserved by Baxter.
After preaching on a difficult subject (chosen to show his ability) before the Lord Mayor of London, a poor man followed him back to Covent Gardens. Tugging on Manton's gown, he of the previous sermon: "Sir, I came with earnest desires after the Word of God, and hopes of getting some good to my soul, but I was greatly disappointed; for I could not understand a great deal of what you said; you were quite above me." This so affected Manton, that he tearfully replied: "Friend, if I did not give you a sermon, you have given me one; and by the grace of God, I will never again play the fool to preach before my Lord Mayor in such a manner again."
Joseph Alleine 1634-1668
Joseph Alleine, the author of the posthumous bestseller Alarm to the unconverted (also known as A sure guide to heaven), was another west countryman born in Devizes, Wiltshire. “Few ages” said Oliver Heywood “have produced more eminent preachers than Mr Joseph Alleine.” The son of a good Puritan, Toby Alleine (1597-1667), Joseph's older brother, Edward, a minister, died prematurely when Joseph was 11, aged only 26. Joseph, the course of whose youth, according to a contemporary was “an even-spun thread of godly conversation” begged his father that he should be trained for the ministry. This he did, when the dust had settled after the parliamentary visitation, at Oxford, first in Lincoln College and then in the more Puritan Corpus Christi. One of the first things witnessed there, in 1649, was Cromwell being made a Doctor of Laws. He was there until 1653 and was a diligent student. After a further year as a tutor and chaplain he went down to the Puritan stronghold of Taunton, where he worked alongside Devonian George Newton. Newton, “a plain, profitable and successful preacher, eminent for meekness and prudence”, would also be ejected in 1662.
In 1655 Alleine married his cousin, Theodosia Alleine (fl 1654-77), the daughter of Richard Alleine (1610-81). He was the soon to be ejected Rector of Batcombe and author of the widely read A Vindication of Godliness. His younger brother William Alleine (1613/14–77) would be ejected from Blandford, Somerset, in 1661. Theodosia subsequently wrote of her husband in a biographical memoir that
He would be much troubled if he heard smiths or shoemakers, or such tradesmen, at work at their trades, before he was in his duties with God: saying to me often, “O how this noise shames me! Doth not my Master deserve more than theirs?”
She also described how in May, 1663, he came to be imprisoned in Ilchester, Somerset. She tells how the two of them were at home in Taunton one Saturday evening when at about six o'clock
my husband was seized on by an officer of our town, who would rather have been otherwise employed, as he hath often said, but that he was forced to a speedy execution of the warrant by a justice’s clerk, who was sent on purpose with it to see it executed, because he feared that none of the town would have done it.
The warrant, signed by three justices, required Alleine to appear at one of their houses, about two miles out of town. He asked if he could eat with his family first. They had a young daughter called Isabella. This was initially denied but a prominent man in the town agreed to guarantee his speedy appearance after that. Theodosia continues, “His supper being prepared, he sat down, eating very heartily, and was very cheerful, but full of holy and gracious expressions, suitable to his and our present state.”
After supper, having prayed with the family, he went with the officer and two or three friends to the justice’s house, where he was accused of breaking the law by preaching, which he denied. He was then accused of “being at a riotous assembly” though he had been involved in nothing but preaching and prayer.
Then he was much abused with many scorns and scoffs from the justices and their associates, and even the ladies as well as the gentlemen often called him rogue, and told him that he deserved to be hanged, and if he were not, they would be hanged for him, with many such like scurrilous passages, which my husband receiving with patience, and his serene countenance showing that he did slight the threatenings, made them the more enraged. They then urged him much to accuse himself, but in vain.
Despite a lack of evidence, after keeping him until twelve with their abuse and mocking, they made out a mittimus or arrest warrant committing him to gaol the following Monday. It was about two in the morning by the time he was home so he did not undress but lay on his bed to sleep for a few hours before rising to pray at about eight o’clock, by which time several friends had arrived. He was not allowed to preach but was free to speak with the various groups that flocked in from the town and nearby villages and to pray with them. Theodosia continues
He was exceeding cheerful in his spirit, full of admiration of the mercies of God, and encouraging all that came to be bold, and venture all for the Gospel and their souls, notwithstanding what was come upon him for their sakes. For, as he told them, he was not at all moved at it, nor did not in the least repent of anything he had done, but accounted himself happy under that promise Christ makes to his, in the 5th of Matthew, that he should be doubly and trebly blessed now he was to suffer for his sake; and was very earnest with his brethren in the ministry that came to see him, that they would not in the least desist when he was gone, that there might not be one sermon the less in Taunton; and with the people, to attend the ministry with greater ardency, diligence, and courage than before; assuring them how sweet and comfortable it was to him to consider what he had done for God in the months past; and that he was going to prison full of joy, being confident that all these things would turn to the furtherance of the Gospel, and the glory of God.
Not wanting to leave his people without some final words, he met with them in the small hours of the following morning. Several hundred gathered and he preached and prayed with them for about three hours.
He prayed for his enemies ... ‘that God would not lay this sin of theirs to their charge.’ The greatest harm that he did wish to any of them was, ‘that they might thoroughly be converted and sanctified, and that their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.’ And so, with his yearnings towards his people, and theirs towards him, they took their farewell of each other – a more affectionate parting could not well be.
At about nine, again with friends accompanying him, he set out for Ilchester. The streets were lined with people on either side. Many followed him out of the town on foot for several miles, earnestly lamenting their loss. Alleine was very moved by all this but did his best to look cheerful and say something to encouraging.
He carried his mittimus himself, and had no officer with him. When he came to the gate of the prison, finding the gaoler absent, he took that opportunity of preaching once more before he entered, which was afterwards considered a great aggravation to his former crimes. When the gaoler came, he delivered his mittimus, and was clapped up in the chamber, which is over the common gaol.
On arriving, Alleine found there his Devon born friend John Norman (1622-1669) of Bridgwater. Norman's first wife, who died about 1650, was probably Alleine's sister, Elizabeth. Norman had been imprisoned a few days before. It is said that one of Norman's great fears was ending up as an indentured labourer on one of the plantations of the West Indies, a realistic fear for a nonconformist at that time.
Alleine spent the next four months in this hole. At that time the gaol held 50 Quakers, 17 Baptists and about 12 other ministers who, like Alleine, had been arrested for preaching and praying. Another 31 Quakers were confined in another building at the other end of the town.
Through the summer months, the heat inside the low ceilinged prison was quite unbearable. There was little privacy and nowhere to eat. Night and day they could hear the singing, the cursing and the clanking chains of the criminals in the cells below. The professed Quakers could be a nuisance too. Alleine himself remarked that they would bother the others “by their cavils in the times of their preaching, praying and singing, and would come and work in their callings just by them, while they were at their duties”.
Alleine and his companions took it in turns to preach and pray publicly once or twice a day. There were usually crowds from the villages around listening at the bars of the prison.
The rest of the day was spent speaking to those who thronged to him for counsel and instruction. He would spend much of the night time studying and in secret prayer. He was allowed to curtain off a corner of the room big enough for his bed, where he could pray in private. Theodosia bravely chose to share imprisonment with him.
After some weeks he was allowed to walk in the countryside morning and evening, if the prison keeper was in a good mood. Friends supplied him with food and money and he stayed healthy in body and mind.
On 14 July he was taken to the court sessions in Taunton, where he was indicted for preaching. Despite a lack of evidence against him he was returned to prison where he and his companions would soon have to face the cold of winter, every bit as trying as the heat of summer.
It was a whole twelve months before Alleine was released again. While inside he kept busy writing books including an exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and “A Synopsis of the Covenant”. There were also weekly letters to his people, a number of which were later collected and published under the title Cardiphonia, a title later used by John Newton for his letters.
Alleine also sent out catechisms for distribution among poor families in Ilchester and nearby villages. When the gaol chaplain fell ill, he dared to take his place, and, until prohibited, preached to the criminals in the gaol and helped them in other ways. He was much in prayer throughout his time in prison.
Once free again Alleine set about his work with alacrity. However, some three years on he was re-arrested, along with his wife and her aged father, Richard. Seven other ministers and 40 others were arrested at the same time and put in the Ilchester gaol. Joseph Alleine was not well when he entered prison this second time and it greatly weakened him so that after returning to Taunton in February, 1668, his health broke down completely. Nine months later, at the age of only 34, weary from hard work and suffering, he died.
Philip Henry 1631-1696
Peter Lewis in the 1981 Evangelical Library lecture begins by saying some are remembered not for what they did but for what they were. This, he suggests is true of Philip Henry, who he says “produced only two things which can be called 'great': his life and his son”!
Writing about his father, Matthew Henry begins by noting that he was born on St Bartholomew's Day, 1631. From 1657 Philip Henry regularly kept a diary and would annually make an interesting note on the return of his birthday. In 1663 he wrote of it as “being the day of the year on which I was born … and also the day of the year on which by law I died, as did also near two thousand faithful ministers of Jesus Christ”.
Henry's father was Welsh and his mother English. They met in London, where his father was a courtier who had worked his way up from humble beginnings. Because of his father's position, as a child Philip played with the princes Charles and James, both of whom would one day reign, though not before many unexpected changes in high places. Henry kept to his dying day a book given him by James but was otherwise glad to be away from the snares the court held.
By the time Henry had completed his primary education the royal court had been scattered to the four winds and very different times had come. In 1643 he began in Westminster School, where he became a favourite of its headmaster Richard Busby (1606-1695). (After his ejection, Henry met his old master who said “Prithee, child, who made thee a non-conformist?” to which Henry answered, “Truly, sir, you made me one, for you taught me those things that hindered me from conforming.”) This influence, with that of his mother, gave him many opportunities to pursue godliness. His mother often took him to hear the godly Stephen Marshall (c 1594-1695) on Sundays and Thomas Case (1598-1682) on Thursdays. We can picture him on the pulpit stairs of St Margaret's, Westminster, diligently taking down notes from the divines of the age. He was an avid and careful taker of sermon notes throughout his life. He himself said
If ever any child, such as I then was, between the tenth and fifteenth years of my age, enjoyed line upon line, precept upon precept, I did. And was it in vain? I trust, not altogether in vain. My soul rejoiceth, and is glad at the remembrance of it; the word distilled as the dew, and dropt as the rain. I loved it, and loved the messengers of it; their very feet were beautiful to me.
In 1647 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, becoming a student just before the turmoil caused by the parliamentary visitation. He would have partly overlapped with Alleine who came up a little later. Back home in January 1649 he saw Charles I, going on foot daily to his trial. On one occasion Charles spoke to his father. Henry gave an eye-witness account of Charles's execution. While at university he felt the pull of worldly glory was strong on his gifted intellect and his skilled rhetoric. He graduated BA in 1650 and MA in 1652.
He preached his first sermon at South Hinksey, Oxfordshire, in 1653 and soon came to the attention of the well to do Pulestones of Emeral, Flintshire, to whom he became a chaplain and tutor. Judge Pulestone's wife was something of a puritan but her eldest son Roger Pulestone had no love for his tutor. At the same time Henry became the preacher at Worthenbury Chapel. In 1654 he was with his pupils at Oxford but from 1655 he was constantly at Worthenbury. The rector of the Bangor parish, in which Worthenbury lay, was Henry Bridgeman, but the living was sequestered in 1646. Having undergone an examination by the fourth Shropshire Classis, Henry was ordained with five others at Prees, Shropshire, in September, 1657.
In 1658 a commission of ecclesiastical promotions took Worthenbury Chapel out of Bangor parish, making it, with Worthenbury Church, a new parish, with Henry as incumbent. Mrs Pulestone died in 1658, and the Judge in 1659 but Henry remained until he was removed. It was a small, working class congregation but he declined more attractive offers to go to Wrexham or to a living near London.
In 1660 Henry married the woman who would be his companion for the next 36 years, Katherine Matthews (1629-1707) of Bronington, Flintshire. Gaining her hand was not easy as her father had reservations. A family story about a conversation between Katherine and her father has come down to us. She argues that Henry is “a gentleman and a scholar, and an excellent preacher and a good man”. Her father says “but he is quite a stranger” and they did not know where he was from. She won the argument though with her “True, but I know where he is going to, and I should like to go with him.”
Peter Lewis attractively depicts his family life with Katherine and their six children. On their twentieth anniversary he quipped that they had been long married but never reconciled – as there had never been any reason to be reconciled! The home that nurtured one of the greatest Bible commentators was clearly a home where there was much prayer, together and apart and much Bible reading. Nevertheless the diaries revel that this did not come easily - “We began the Duty of reading the word in the Family, long omitted, Lord Pardon” (February 1657) “Morning-prayer with my wife omitted for some weeks, this day revived - Lord never let me alone in sin” (February 1663).
The year Henry married was the year of the Restoration, which Henry welcomed at first. Bridgeman resumed the rectory of Bangor, and Henry became his curate at Worthenbury Chapel. In September 1660 he was presented at Flint assizes with his nonconformist neighbours Robert Fogg (1596-1676) and Richard Steele (1629-92) for not reading the common prayer, and again at the spring assizes, without effect. He had taken the oath of allegiance, but refused re-ordination. One gets a sense of his growing fears from his diary, as highlighted by Charles Stanford. These entries are for 16 June, 7 July, 25 July, 8 September and 19 October, 1661.
Strong reports I should not be suffered to preach today; but I did; and no disturbance. Blessed be God, who hath my enemies in a chain!In despite of my enemies, the Lord hath granted the liberty of one Sabbath more. To Him be praise.Common Prayer-book tendered again. Lord, they devise wicked devices against me; but in thee do I put my trust. Father, forgive them!They took the cushion from me, but the pulpit was left. Blessed be God!Day of preparation for the sacrament ... The good Lord pardon! Full of fears lest we should be hindered; for our adversaries bite the lip at us.
On 24 October 1661 Bridgeman, having failed to arrange matters, came to Worthenbury and read Henry's discharge before a crowd. Henry showed some feeling, but was allowed to preach farewell sermons on 27 October. The 1662 act silenced him. He surrendered his house and annuity for £100, to avoid litigation, and left Worthenbury for Broad Oak, Flintshire, a property settled on his wife.
Henry's main problems were with re-ordination, the prayer book and the lack of discipline in churches. On 10 October 1663 he was apprehended with 13 others and imprisoned for four days on suspicion of an insurrectionary plot. In March 1665 he was cited to Malpas, Cheshire, for baptising one of his children; at the end of the month he was treated as a layman, and was made sub-collector of tax for the township of Iscoed. The Five Mile Act of 1665 placed him in a difficulty, Broad Oak being four reputed miles from Worthenbury. On actual measurement, it was found to be 60 yards over the five miles. However, he removed for a season to Whitchurch, Shropshire. All this time he was a regular attender of parish churches, his habit being to stand throughout the service. He objected to kneeling at the Lord's Table and so did not take communion.
An anecdote from this time tells how one Sunday morning the parish preacher had said some hard things against the Dissenters and had endeavoured to prove them schismatics and damnable. When Henry came to preach in the evening, he began his sermon thus: “Perhaps some of you may now expect that I should say something in answer to what we have heard, by which we have been so severely charged, but truly 1 have something else to do:” Without further ado he proceeded to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified.
In February 1668, he preached by request in the parish church of Betley, Staffordshire. For this was reported. It was not until the short-lived indulgence of 1672 that he resumed his public ministry in his licensed house, still avoiding meeting in church hours. On the withdrawal of the indulgence, he continued to preach without molestation till 1681, when he was fined for keeping a conventicle.
What happened was that in 1681 there was a great drought and a famine seemed likely. In Henry's neighbourhood a number agreed to set aside a day for fasting and prayer. Services were arranged at a house in Hodnet near Market Drayton, Shropshire. The writer and nonconformist minister Edward Bury (1616-1700) of Great Bolas led in prayer as did Henry himself, before preaching on Psalm 66:18. In the middle of the sermon two Justices of the Peace suddenly arrived with others and began to speak very abusively, shouting and swearing very loudly and harshly.
When the purpose of the meeting was explained to them, they impudently suggested that such meetings were more likely to offend God than draw down his mercy. While amusing themselves in this way, they had the names taken of all those present, about 150 altogether, then dismissed them.
In his account of the event Henry notes that
the justices came to this good work from the alehouse at Prees Heath, about two miles off, to which, and to the bowling-green adjoining, they, with other justices, gentlemen and clergymen of the neighbourhood, had long before obliged themselves to come every Tuesday during the summer under a penalty of twelve pence a time if they were absent, and there to spend the day in drinking and bowling, which was thought to be as much more to the dishonour of God and the scandal of the Christian profession as cursing and swearing and drunkenness are worse than praying and singing psalms, and hearing the Word of God. It would appear that the justices knew about the meeting in Hodnet beforehand and could easily have prevented it but preferred to enjoy themselves at the expense of others by turning up part way through.
After they had done their work they returned to the alehouse and had further fun with their friends, going over the names taken down and remarking on some of them and recounting the whole incident to one another.
It turned out that the wife of one of their number was on the list. The others thought this was very amusing and began to mock him. However, he countered by saying that she had been better employed than he and, if it was allowed, he would go a good many miles to hear Philip Henry preach. For that remark they threw him out and told him never to show his face there again. He replied that it would have been better for him and his family if such a thing had happened a long time before!
Two days later the justices met at Hodnet again and on the word of two witnesses, no doubt informers sent on purpose, they signed and sealed records of conviction against the house owner, who they fined £20 plus £5 because he was town constable that year and five shillings against all those whose names had been taken.
They also convicted Bury and Henry, though Bury had only prayed. Praying was teaching they claimed and fined him £20. He could only afford £7 so they took from him his bed with the blankets and a rug, another feather bed, 19 pairs of sheets, books to the value of £5 and some brass and pewter.
Henry was fined twice as much, £40. He refused payment so they determined to distrain his goods but had no right or opportunity to enter his house. Instead, therefore, they carried off more than 30 cart-loads of corn, hay, coals and other materials.
Outwardly unmoved Henry bore it with serenity. All he would say was that it was nothing to what others were suffering or to what he himself might have to suffer in the future. He rejoiced that he was not being fined for debt or for an evil deed.
At the time of the Monmouth Rebellion he was confined in Chester Castle for three weeks (July 1685) under a general order from the Lord-lieutenant. At the revolution he had great hopes of ‘comprehension.’ The terms of the Toleration Act he accepted with some reservations. He ministered at Broad Oak in an outbuilding near his house. His last years were spent in pastoral work. He died on 24 June 1696.
Henry brought comfort to those affected by the ejection by turning to Isaiah 16:4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab. God's people may be an outcast people, cast out of men's love, their synagogue, their country; but God will own his people when men cast them out; they are outcasts, but they are his, and somewhere or other he will provide a dwelling for them.
Not long before he died he observed that “though many of the ejected ministers were brought very low, had many children, were greatly harassed by persecution, and their friends generally poor and unable to support them, yet in all his acquaintance he never knew, nor could remember to have heard of, any non-conformist minister in prison for debt.”
Philip Henry was a great one for pithy sayings and perhaps we can end with some examples of what he had to say about troubles or afflictions.
- I find afflictions and persecutions have been always the lot of the people of God, but God hath still upheld his church, and will do it to the end.
- God's vine bears better for bleeding. Israel went but seventy into Egypt, but returned six hundred thousand, - being increased by their bondage.
- The pilot is wise though the sea is rough.
- The graces of God's children are like fire in a flint, the flint must be struck before the fire will appear.
- The way to make a burden light, he writes, is to poise it equally, that it may not hang all on one side. So afflictions are made easy by parting our care, so as to take upon us only the care of duty, and leave events to God.
- Afflictions are enlightening; they open the eyes … - humbling: they help to lay us low; softening: as the rain to the parched earth, as fire that melts the metals; composing: they help to make people sober and serious, opening the ear to discipline.
Conclusion
Here are three men directly affected by the events of 1662 then. Lloyd-Jones wrote of such men that
they have left us this noble, glorious, wonderful example of holy living, patient endurance in suffering, and loyalty to the Word of God and its message, even at the cost of being “fools for Christ's sake” and being regarded as “the offscourings of all things”.
A consideration of such men and the stand that they took should, at the very least, stir us to holiness, patience when we suffer and a strong commitment to being ruled by God's Word.
This paper was given at a special conference on the 1662 Ejection at the Evangelical Library
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