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university were bound down as slaves to their tyrannical oppressors, and required to swear, that they would never change their opinions. Was ever any thing more unreasonable? Yet such was the tyranny and barbarity of the times! But how long Mr. Knight remained in the Gatehouse, or what other punishment was inflicted upon him, we have not been able to learn.

JOHN RANDALL, B. D.-This zealous minister of Christ was born at Missenden in Buckinghamshire, in the year 1568, and educated first in St. Mary's-hall, then in Trinity college, Oxford, and afterwards elected fellow of Lincoln college. Having entered upon the ministry, he became one of the most noted preachers in the university. In the year 1598, he removed from Oxford, and became rector of St. Andrews, Little Eastcheap, London. In this situation he continued to the end of his days; and by his constant preaching, resolving cases of conscience, and his other ministerial exercises, he went beyond most of his brethren, to the admiration of all who knew him. Though he was uncommonly laborious in the Lord's vineyard, he was mostly exercised with very painful bodily affliction. His learning and piety were unreservedly devoted to public usefulness. It does not, however, appear whether Mr. Randall was ever prosecuted for his nonconformity. He was accounted a zealous and innocent puritan, a judicious and orthodox divine, a harmless and holy man, and one wholly devoted to usefulness in the church of Christ. By his constant and faithful labours, true religion was greatly promoted, many were reclaimed from the ways of ungodliness, and others established in the truth. He died in the beginning of June, 1622, aged fifty-four years; and his remains were interred in his own church.* Mr. Randall was tutor to the famous Mr. Robert Bolton.

His WORKS.-1. Several Sermons, 1623.-2. The Great Mystery of Godliness, 1624.-3. A Treatise concerning the Sacraments, 1630.4. Catechistical Lectures, 1630.—-5. Lectures of the Church, 1631.

* Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. p. 399, 400.-Newcourt's Repert. Eccl. vol. i. p. 265,

NICHOLAS BYFIELD. This pious and learned divine was born in Warwickshire, in the year 1579, and educated in Exeter college, Oxford. He was son to Mr. Richard Byfield, who became minister of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1596. He was a hard student; and having spent four years in the closest application, he left the university, entered upon the ministerial work, and intended to have gone into Ireland; but preaching at Chester, on his way thither, he received an invitation to be pastor of St. Peter's in that city, where he continued a number of years. He was much followed on account of his pious and profitable preaching, especially by all who had any relish for religion. The excellent and celebrated John Bruen, esq. was one of his hearers, from whom he received many acts of kindness.* In the year 1615, he removed from Chester, and became vicar of Isleworth in Middlesex,+ where he continued the rest of his days. He was a divine of "a profound judgment, a strong memory, a quick invention, and unwearied industry." He was a constant, powerful, and useful preacher; a thorough Calvinist, a nonconformist to the ceremonies, and a strict observer of the sabbath. By his zeal for the sanctification of the Lord's day, his labours in the ministry, and his exemplary life, religion flourished, many were converted, and puritanism gained ground. Yet he was a sufferer with his brethren in the cause of nonconformity.§

Mr. Byfield, during the latter part of his life, was exceedingly afflicted with the stone in the bladder, most probably the effect of intense study and hard labour. And

* Mr. Bruen had a servant, named Robert Pasfield, but commonly called Old Robert, who was "mighty in the scriptures," though he could neither write nor read. He was, indeed, as remarkable for remembering texts and sermons, as Judidiah Buxton for remembering numbers. For by the help of his memory, he invented and framed a girdle of leather, long and large, which went twice about him. This he divided into several parts, allotting every book in the Bible, in their order, to some of these divisions; then for the chapters, be affixed points or thongs of leather to the several divisions, and made knots by fives or tens thereupon, to distinguish the chapters of that book; and by other points, he divided the chapters into their particular contents or verses, as occasion required. This he used instead of pen and ink, in hearing sermons, and made so good a use of it, that, coming home, he was able by it to repeat the sermon, quote the texts of scripture, &c. to his own great comfort and to the benefit of others. This girdle Mr. Bruen kept after Old Robert's death, hung it up in his study, and would pleasantly call it "The girdle of Verity."-Hinde's Life of Bruen, p. 58, 135.-Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. i. p. 251.

+ Newcourt's Repert. Eccl. vol. i. p. 676.

Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. p. 402.
MS. Chronology, vol. ii. p. 699. (2.)

having groaned for several years under the most excruciating pain, it brought him at length to his grave, in the year 1622, and the forty-third of his age. Fuller observes, that for fifteen years together, he preached at Isleworth twice every Lord's day, and expounded the scriptures every Wednesday and Friday, till five weeks before his death. If this account be just, the time of his removal from Chester, or the period we have given of his death, must evidently one of them be incorrect. His body being opened after his death, a stone was taken out of his bladder, which weighed thirty-three ounces, and measured about the edges fifteen inches and a half, the length and breadth about thirteen inches, and of a substance like flint. "There are many eye-witnesses, besides myself," says Dr. William Gouge, in his account of this wonderful phenomenon, “who can justify the truth of what I say." He meekly and patiently endured his torturing pains till death gave him perfect ease. Mr. Byfield published several books during his life, and others came forth after his death, shewing him to have been a person of good parts, great learning, and uncommon industry. Bishop Wilkins passes a high encomium upon his sermons, classing them with the most excellent in his day. He was father to Mr. Adoniram Byfield, another puritan divine, of whom some account will be given. Mr. Richard Byfield, the ejected nonconformist in 1662, was his half-brother. §

His WORKS.-1. An Essay on the Assurance of God's Love and Man's Salvation, 1614.-2. An Exposition on the Epistle to the Colossians, 1615.||-3. Directions for the private reading of the Scriptures, 1618.-4. A Treatise shewing how a godly Christian may support his Heart with comfort against all the Distresses which, by reason of any Affliction or Temptation, can befall him in this Life, 1618.-5. The beginning of the Doctrine of Christ, or a Catalogue of Sins, 1609.-6. The Marrow of the Oracles of God, 1620.--7. Commentary or Sermons on the second Chap. of the 1 Epis. of St. Peter, 1623.-8. Sermons on the first ten verses of the third Chap. of the Epis. of St. Peter, 1626.-The two last were published, with additions, entitled, "A Commentary upon the whole First Epistle of St. Peter," 1637.-9. An Exposition of the Apostle's Creed, 1626.— 10. Answer to Mr. Breerwood's Treatise of the Sabbath, 1630.— 11. The Light of Faith and Way of Holiness, 1630.-12. The Signs of

Fuller's Worthies, part iii. p. 127.

+ Ibid.-Evangel. Mag. vol. xvi. p. 416. Wilkins on Preaching, p. 82, 83.

Palmer's Noncon. Mem. vol. iii. p. 301.

This work is full of good sense and spiritual savour, and abounds with pertinent citations of scripture, without any pretensions to oratorial dress. Williams's Christian Preacher, p. 437.

God's Love to us, 1630.-13. The Practice of Christianity; or, an Epitome of Mr. Rich. Rogers's Seven Treatises.-14. The principal Grounds of the Christian Religion.—15. Several Sermons.

HENRY AINSWORTH.-This person was a celebrated scholar, an excellent divine, and a painful sufferer for nonconformity. Though little is known of him, especially during the early part of his life, his uncommon skill in Hebrew learning, and his excellent commentaries on the sacred scriptures, are held in high reputation to this day. About the year 1590, we find him a distinguished leader among the Brownists, to whom he adhered, and with whom he bore his share of grievous persecution. About the same period, among the books that were written against the church of England, and seized by authority, was one entitled "Counter-Poyson." The author of this work, though not mentioned in the first edition, was Mr. Ainsworth; and as it probably drew upon him the vengeance of the ruling prelates, so it might hasten his departure into a foreign land. Though he was a native of England, this is all that we know of him till he became a resident in Holland; but at what period he removed thither, cannot be exactly ascertained. It is most probable, however, that he accompanied the Brownists in their general banishment, in the year 1593. And it is most certain that he was in Holland in 1596, when he carried on a correspondence with the celebrated Junius. Hoornbeck relates, that during Mr. Ainsworth's abode in Holland, he made a voyage to Ireland, and there left some disciples.

Mr. Ainsworth, lived at Amsterdam, where his external circumstances, like those of the church in general, were very low. He is said to have been porter to a bookseller, who, having discovered his skill in the Hebrew language, made it known to his countrymen. Mr. Roger Williams, founder of Providence Plantation in New England, in whose testimony we have reason to confide, informs us, "that he lived upon nine-pence a week, and some boiled roots." The account which the Brownists give of themselves is, "that they were almost consumed with deep poverty; loaded with reproaches; despised and afflicted by all." The reception which they met with from a

*Neal's Puritans, vol. i. p. 441.

+ Ibid. p. 468, 495.-Life of Ainsworth, p. 13. Cotton's Answer to Williams, p. 119.

Ibid. p. 14.

Life of Ainsworth, p. 15.

people just emerging from civil and ecclesiastical oppression, was very different from what might have been expected. The civil power, commonly more friendly to a toleration than the ecclesiastical, does not, indeed, seem to have troubled them. But the Dutch clergy regarded them with a jealous eye; and they appear to have been screened from persecution chiefly by their own insignificance. During this season of tribulation, Mr. Ainsworth did not remain idle; for most of his books, which are evidently the fruit of good learning, much reading, and close application, were written at this period.

After the publication of the above piece, the next work in which we find him to have been engaged was a translation of the Brownists' Confession of Faith into Latin. It appeared in 1598, and was dedicated to the universities of Leyden, Heidelberg, Geneva, St. Andrews, and the other public seminaries of Holland, Germany, France, and Scotland. It was afterwards translated into English, and does not differ much in doctrine from the Harmony of Confessions. In this confession the Brownists did not intend to erect a standard of faith for others, and impose it upon them; but merely to vindicate themselves from the odium under which they laboured, as discontented and factious sectaries. Their conduct was very different from that of the most famous councils or synods, which, while they have compiled systems of faith and tests of orthodoxy for ages and nations, have seldom failed to sow the seeds of discord and enmity among men.

After the Brownists were first settled at Amsterdam, they erected a church, as they thought, according to the model of the New Testament, choosing Mr. Francis Johnson for their pastor, and Mr. Ainsworth for doctor or teacher. The church, however, did not continue long in peace, but was torn in pieces by several unhappy divisions, as will be found particularly noticed in another place. In the first of these divisions Mr. Ainsworth took part with Mr. Johnson the pastor; but was so much grieved at the unnatural heats which the controversy excited, that he spoke of laying down his office as teacher. In the next controversy, Mr. Ainsworth took an active part against Mr. John Smyth, who had espoused sentiments similar to those of Arminius, and who rejected infant baptism. And of the third division, in which he was personally concerned, he + Ibid. p. 15, 18.

Life of Ainsworth, p. 16.
See Art. Francis Johnson.

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