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commonly reported, that this Oates had for his pains ten shillings a piece for dipping the richer, and two shillings and six-pence for the poorer. He came very bare and mean into Essex, but, before he had done his work, was well lined, and grown pursy. In the cold weather in March he dipped a young woman, one Ann Martin, whom he held so long in the water that she fell presently sick, and her belly swelled with the abundance of water she took in; and within a fortnight or three weeks died, and upon her death-bed expressed her dipping to be the cause of her death." The enemies of the baptists considered this as a fair opportunity for exercising their power to oppress them. Accordingly, for this, " and other misdemeanors, he was committed to Colchester jail, made fast in irons, and bound over to the next sessions at Chelmsford, The other crimes laid to his charge were these: That he had preached against the assessments of the parliament and the taxes laid upon the people, teaching them that the saints were a free people, and should contribute not by compulsion, but voluntarily; but now, contrary to this, they had assessThat in his ment upon assessment, and rate upon rate.' prayers he made use of this petition: That the parliament might not meddle with making laws for the saints, which Jesus Christ was to do alone.' Since his commitment," our author adds, “there hath been great and mighty resort to him in the prison. Many have come down from London in coaches to visit him; and I have a letter by me," says he, "from a minister in Colchester, wherein he writes thus: 'Oates, the anabaptist, hath had great resort to him in the castle, both of town and country; but the committee ordered the contrary last Saturday.""

Mr. Oates was brought to trial April 7, 1646, and acquitted of the charge of murder; but the judge bound him to his good behaviour that for the future he should neither preach nor dip. This, however, had very little effect upon him; for, on the following Lord's day, he returned to his work as usual. Though Mr. Oates escaped with his life, the presbyterians "The were determined he should not go unpunished. people at Wethersfield," says Edwards, "hearing that Oates and some of his companions were come to the town, seized on them (only Oates was not in the company) and pumped them Soundly. And Oates coming lately to Dunmow in Essex, some of the town hearing where he was, fetched him out of

• Edwards's Gangræna, part îi. p. 121.

+ Ibid. p. 122.

the house, and threw him into the river, thoroughly dipping him."

Dr. Calamy gives an account of a public disputation, in which Mr. Oates was engaged with Mr. William Sheffield, a minister afterwards ejected. He says, "Mr. Oates, an anabaptist, coming into the country, disturbed several congregations, and dispersed public challenges to dispute with any minister or ministers upon the point of baptism. Several justices of the peace sent to Mr. Sheffield, desiring him to accept the challenge, and dispute the point with him in Leicester-castle. He yielded to their desire, and, by agreement, Sir Thomas Beaumont was moderator. At the entrance of the dispute, Mr. Sheffield openly protested that it was truth, and not victory, he was aiming at and pursuing; and that, therefore, if he could not answer the arguments that should be brought against him, or maintain the points he pretended to defend, against the opposition of his opponent, he would frankly acknowledge before them. He desired the same of Mr. Oates, who also agreed. The dispute continued three hours, and was managed with great fairness and temper. At length, Mr. Oates was gravelled with an argument, and yet loudly called on by the people present either to answer, or, according to promise, to confess he could not. Whereupon he frankly confessed that he could not at present answer it. The justices, at the breaking up of the meeting, obliged Mr. Oates to give his promise that he would no more disturb the congregations in that county."+

Mr. Oates lived till after the restoration, when a place of considerable importance was offered him by the Duke of York. This temptation prevailed with him at first to conform ; and he was presented to the living of Hastings in the county of Sussex. Afterwards, according to Crosby, his conscience smote him, and he left his living. Coming again among the nonconformists, he returned to Mr. Lamb's congregation, where he continued about five or six years, and died about the year 1666. The same author, who styles him "a popular preacher and a great disputant," says he was minister to a bap tist church in Lincolnshire. Edwards charges Mr. Oates with

* Edwards's Gangræna, part iii. p. 105, 106.

+ Calamy's Account, vol. ii. p. 421, 422.-Such disputations as that now related, and many others mentioned in this work, are to be regarded only as a sort of religious duels, which can no more decide the equity of any cause than an appeal to the sword or pistol, and ought to be as much discountenanced among all denominations of christians.

Crosby's Baptists, vol. iii. p. 60, 61.

the tenets of arminianism; and with having publicly declared in his sermon in Bell-alley, "That the doctrine of God's eternal election and predestination was a damnable doctrine."* 'Bailie, on the other hand, charges him with propagating antinomianism. These contradictory charges we shall not, however, attempt to reconcile. There is probably no more truth in either of them than there was in similar charges which they brought against his fellow-labourer, Mr. Lamb.:

JOHN WILSON, A. M.-This excellent divine was born at Windsor, in the year 1588, and educated first at Eton school, then in King's college, Cambridge, where he was chosen fellow. While at Eton, he twice narrowly escaped being drowned. He was a youth of considerable talents, application, and improvement; and when the Duke of Biron, ambassador from the court of France, visited the school, he was appointed to deliver a Latin oration in his presence, of which this honourable person manifested his high approbation by making him a very handsome present. During his abode at Cambridge he became seriously concerned about his soul. This soon awakened in his breast the warmest desires for the welfare of others, especially the malefactors. in prison, whom he assiduously visited and instructed. He remained for some time exceedingly bigoted to the established church, and decidedly averse to the puritans, as if they held many strange and erroneous opinions. He utterly declined their acquaintance; yet, on account of his precise deportment, he was denominated one of them. Afterwards, by reading some of their works, he saw cause for altering his opinion, and for thinking more favourably of them, when he formed an intimate acquaintance with Mr. Richard Rogers, Mr. Greenham, Mr. Dod, and others. He now saw, as our author observes, that they who were stigmatized by the name of puritans were the most suitable companions for one seriously concerned about his own salvation. He, therefore, embarked with them, though accounted the offscouring of all things, and united with several of his brethren in the university in keeping private meetings for prayer, fasting, and religious conversation.g

Hitherto he remained a conformist, but determined to examine the subject for himself. To this end he procured all

• Edwards's Gangræna, part i. p. 126. Second edit.
+ Bailie's Anabaptism, p. 95.

§ Mather's Hist. of New Eng. b. iii. p. 41, 42.

See Art. Thomas Lamb.

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the books in his power, both for and against conformity, and entered upon a minute and impartial examination of the arguments on both sides; the result of which was, that he cordially espoused the principles of the nonconformists. Mr. Wilson having, upon conviction, imbibed these sentiments, acted upon them, and omitted certain human impositions in the worship of God; for which the Bishop of Lincoln pronounced his expulsion from the university within fifteen days, if he did not conform. His father, Dr. William Wilson, rector of Cliff, and prebendary of St. Paul's, Rochester, and Windsor, used all the means in his power to bring him back to conformity, and interceded with the bishop to have a longer time allowed him. He sent his son to several learned doctors, with a view to have his scruples and objections removed; but this, instead of reclaiming him, only served to confirm him the more in his principles. His father then diverted his attention from the ministry, and directed him to the study of the law. He accordingly went to London, and spent about three years at one of the inns of court. All his father's efforts, nevertheless, proved ineffectual. He was still bent upon the ministry, and he could be satisfied with no other employment. Therefore, with the consent of his father, he returned to Cambridge, and, by the favour of the Earl of Northampton, obtained admission into Emanuel college without subscription.

Mr. Wilson, having finished his studies at the university, became chaplain in several respectable families; and after preaching about three years at Bumsted, Stoke, Clare, and Cavendish, in Suffolk, he was chosen to succeed old Mr. Jenkin, minister at Sudbury in that county. Here he preached with great acceptance and applause for several years; but was at length suspended by the Bishop of London; and after being restored, he was again silenced by the Bishop of Norwich. Afterwards, by the favour and mediation of the Earl of Warwick, he again obtained his ministerial exercise. But, as he found himself constantly exposed to fresh troubles, he resolved to withdraw from the scenes of persecution, and retire into a foreign land. Previous to his departure, visiting his father on his deathbed, the old gentleman thus addressed him :-"I have taken much care of thee," said he, " while thou wast at the university, because thou wouldst not conform. I fain would have brought thee to some higher preferment; but I see thy conscience is very scrupulous about some things imposed in the church. Nevertheless, I have rejoiced to see the grace

and fear of God in thy heart; and seeing thou hast hitherto maintained a good conscience, and walked according to thy light, do so still. Go by the rule of God's holy word, and the Lord bless thee." Previous to his departure from his native country, he married the pious daughter of Lady Mansfield.

In the year 1630, Mr. Wilson, together with a number of his friends, embarked for New England, where they arrived in the month of July. As the great object of these christian pilgrims, in leaving their native country and settling in this wilderness, was " to enjoy the ordinances of the gospel, and worship the Lord Jesus Christ according to his own' institutions;" so they were no sooner arrived than Mr. Wilson, Governor Winthrop, and some others, entered into' a formal and solemn covenant with each other, to walk together in the fellowship of the gospel. This covenant was as follows:-"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, "and in obedience to his holy will and divine ordinance, "we whose names are here underwritten, being, by his most "wise and good providence, brought together to this part of "America, in the Bay of Massachusets, and desirous to "unite ourselves in one congregation or church, under the "Lord Jesus Christ our head, in such sort as becometh all "those whom he hath redeemed and sanctified to himself, "do hereby solemnly and religiously (as in his most holy "presence) promise and bind ourselves to walk in all our ways according to the rule of the gospel, and in all "sincere conformity to his holy ordinances, and in mutual "love and respect to each other, so near as God shall give ❝us grace.

66

JOHN WINTHROP,
THOMAS DUDLEY,

ISAAC JOHNSON,
JOHN WILSON, &c."+

A foundation was thus laid of the church at Charlestown, in the Massachusets colony. This was in July, immediately on their arrival; and in the month of August the court of government ordered, that a dwelling-house should be built for Mr. Wilson at the public expense, and the governor and Sir Richard Saltonstall were appointed to put the same into effect. By the same authority it was also ordered, that Mr. Wilson's salary, till the arrival of his wife, should be twenty pounds a year. However, before the following winter, he, with the greater part of the church, removed from Charlestown and settled at Trimountain, * Mather's Hist. of New Eng. p. 42-44. + Backus's Hist. of Baptists, vol. i. p. 46. VOL. III.

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