Bishop. You have preached pernicious doctrine. W. What do you mean by pernicious doctrine? I preach that doctrine which promotes the glory of God, and the salvation of his people. B. We have the queen's authority and commission in our hands. W. I pray for you, that you may do well; but this I tell you, that while I profess to serve God, all that I do is not the service of God: so while you challenge the queen's authority and commission, all that you do is not the queen's authority and commission. A. The papists answer altogether like you. W. The papists eat bread, and so do I: and I fear not to do like them in any good thing. Yet I hope you will make a difference betwixt me and papists. A. Not in that point. W. It is well known that you mistake my design, and I yours; but I wish you well. do A. I care not for your wishes. W. My wishes and prayers, though they be sinful, will you no harm. A. I desire them not, and would be loath to come under them. W. Love me not the worse for being plain with you. Cosin. No, you are not so plain; for you do not directly answer. W. Martin himself, I understand, will come forth, and defend his matters, if he may have fair trial. A. Record that, Mr. Hartwell. W. It is well known that I am as ready to read and lend that book as any person, in a good and lawful manner. Yet I will not accuse myself, and thus do myself hurt, and you no good. And I would rather have to speak well, than ill of you hereafter. Goodman. If we be ill, whom do you mean? Aubery. Did not you tell Mr. Martin, your keeper at the Compter, that he could not find out the author of the book? W. Mr. Martin is a simple man, and imagines from the title of the book, that I am the author. A. Is Mr. Perry then the author of the " Demonstration," or of Martin Mar-Prelate ? W. I think he is not. And I think you are greatly deceived in charging him with it. A. There are many lies in Martin. W. You must then confute them. A. You despise the high commission. Why do you wear a cloak above your gown? W. As a woman just come out of child-bed, I am just come out of the Compter, and dress thus, fearing the cold. A. You make a wise comparison of yourself. Such women must be kept warm. W. Then let them be kept warm.* The commissioners having finished the examination of Mr. Wigginton, and finding him, after using all the inquisition their wits could devise, unwilling to accuse himself or others, they dismissed him from their presence, while they consulted what they should do. And being again called in, the meek and lowly archbishop thus addressed him: Forasmuch as you have refused to swear, and to answer as we have required you, and so, by law, have confessed yourself to be guilty of the accusations charged. against you; and as you have at sundry times, and in divers ways, shewed your contempt of our ecclesiastical authority, and of this our high commission, which the queen hath given unto us, and which you shall obey and yield unto, before I have done with you; therefore, your former enlargement shall now be taken away, and you shall be kept close prisoner in the Gatehouse, until you shall yield in these matters; and when you are so disposed, you may send us word. In the mean time go your way. Away with him pursuivant."+ He was then carried to the Gatehouse, where he remained a long time; and though repeated intercessions were made to the archbishop for his release, it was all to no purpose. Mr. Wigginton was a pious man, a zealous minister, and a learned divine, and was living in the year 1591; but he most probably continued in the Gatehouse for several years, until the general banishment of the puritans. 66 This great sufferer in the cause of nonconformity, during MS. Register, p. 843-848. + Ibid. The warrant sent to the keeper of the Gatehouse, was as follows:"Herewith we send you one Giles Wigginton, whom we will and require you, and in her majesty's name, do strictly charge and command you to "retain in your custody, by virtue of her highness's commission for causes "ecclesiastical to us and others directed, and him safely to keep and "detain, until you shall have further direction from us. And hereof fail you not, as you will answer to the contrary at your peril. Given at "Lambeth, December 6, 1588."-Ibid. p. 848, 849. SMS. Chronology, vol. ii. p. 441. (8.) 66 his confinement in prison, had some correspondence with Hacket, the zealous enthusiast, who is said to have devised mad plots against the government; for which he was hanged, drawn and quartered. Whatever acquaintance or correspondence he had with this man, he never approved of his opinions and practice. However, from his slight connection with Hacket, Coppinger, and Arthington, his memory has suffered greatly from the scurrilous pen of Dr. Cosin, one of the high commission in the above examination; and herein he is followed by other historians. On this account, it will be proper to give a circumstantial statement of the case, even allowing his enemies to be judges. That Wigginton held correspondence with these men in the matters of their conspiracy, and that there was mutual correspondence betwixt him and them in all their plots for advancing their discipline, is manifest, says our author, by the confession of Arthington, who said, "That he heard Hacket singing certain songs, who wished that Arthington had some of them. For it was a very special thing, and, said he, Mr. Wigginton hath a great many of them.' This is one evidence of their mutual and united conspiracy! Coppinger, it is said, had once a conference with Wigginton, in the presence of Arthington, concerning his extraordinary calling. On this occasion, Mr. Wigginton refused to be made acquainted with Coppinger's secrets, saying, "You are known to be an honest gentleman, and sworn to the queen, and therefore I will not be acquainted with those things which God hath revealed unto you for the good of your sovereign."+ Hacket also declared, that he heard Mr. Wigginton say, "That if the magistrates do not govern well, the people might draw themselves together, and see to a reformation." This dangerous opinion, it is said, may be gathered from one of his letters, in which he said, "Mr. Cartwright is in the Fleet, for refusal of the oath, and Mr. K. is sent for, and sundry worthy ministers are disquieted. So that we look for some bickering 'ere long, and then a battle, which cannot long endure."Coppinger and Arthington told Wigginton, "That reformation and the Lord's discipline should now forthwith be established, and therefore charged him in the Lord's name, to put all christians in comfort, that they should see a joyful alteration in the state of church government shortly." Strype's Whitgift, p. 305.-Collier's Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 327-329. + Cosin's Conspiracy, p. 57. Edit. 1699. Ibid. p. 58, 62. They also told him, "That they were provoked to pronounce him the holiest minister of all others, for dealing so plainly and resolutely in God's cause above all ministers, which God would manifest one day to his comfort." At another time, they came to him and said, "We are come to you now to bring you certain news of great comfort, viz. That we have seen Jesus Christ this day, in lively and extraordinary shape or fashion presented unto us, not in his body; for he sitteth at the right hand of God in heaven, until the last judgment; but in his effectual or principal spirit, whereby he dwelleth in William Hacket, more than in any creature upon the earth." Such are the grievous crimes with which Mr. Wigginton is charged! These facts, with a few others equally ridiculous, contain all the evidence of his uniting with Hacket and his companions, in their mad plots to overturn the government! As our informa tion is from the pen of one of his bitterest enemies and persecutors, we may presume it is not given at all in his favour, but in some degree to his disadvantage: the impartial reader will, therefore, judge for himself, how far he was guilty. After the most minute investigation, it appears to me that Mr. Wigginton's character and memory have suffered great injury from the above bigotted historian, and from those who imitated his example. One of them, speaking of Hacket and his companions, observes, "that one of this good brotherhood was Wigginton, as brainsick a teacher as any of the club, and as staunch an enemy to government.”+ The reader will easily perceive the injustice and falsehood of this representation. For, if this statement be correct, why did not his enemies proceed against him, as well as against the other conspirators? They were in possession of all the evidence that ever appeared against him, and he was now a prisoner in the Gatehouse; why then did they not punish him according to his deserts? This, surely, was not owing to their too great lenity, or their want of inclination. During Mr. Wigginton's imprisonment, he published two pamphlets. One was on "Predestination;" the other was entitled "The Fools Bolt; or, a Fatherly Exhortation to a certain Young Courtier." The latter is said to have been "conceived into an halling rhyme;" and written chiefly against the governors of the church. • Cosin's Conspiracy, p. 87, 88. + Kennet's Hist. of Eng. vol. ii. p. 563. THOMAS BARBER was many years the learned and pious minister of Bow-church, London; where he preached four times a week, to a large and affectionate congregation. But his excellent learning, piety, and labours, could not protect him from the persecution of the times. In the month of June, 1584, he was called before Archbishop Whitgift and other high commissioners, and required to take the oath ex officio, to answer the interrogatories of the court. Knowing that by taking this oath, he should be liable to accuse himself; therefore, to avoid further trouble, he refused, and was immediately suspended. After receiving the ecclesiastical censure, his parishioners, to the number of one hundred and twenty, whose names are now before me, signed a petition to Sir Edward Osborne, the lord mayor, and the court of aldermen, to procure his release. But that court could do nothing for them.* Mr. Barber having continued in a state of suspension several years, the archbishop, at length, offered to release him, on condition that he would subscribe with his own hand, the following protestation, dated December, 1587:"I do faithfully promise, and by these presents subscribed "with mine own hand, do testify, that I will not, by word "or deed, publicly or privately, directly or indirectly, "impugn, deprave, or reprehend, any government, rite, "order, or ceremony, by law established, and retained in this "church of England: But, on the contrary, to my power, "will, by God's grace, observe and seek the peace of the "church of England, and will from time to time, adjoin "myself in public prayer, preaching, and admonitions "thereunto, and will frequent them diligently, and none "other assemblies, meetings, or conventicles."+ Mr. Barber was a man of too much learning, piety, and good sense, to bind himself from exercising the right of private judgment, in things sacred. This godly and peaceable divine, therefore, claiming the right of thinking and acting in these things according to the dictates of truth and his own conscience, firmly refused to be tied down with such episcopal cords. But how much longer he continued under suspension, it does not appear. Mr. Barber was one of the additional members of the presbyterian church erected at Wandsworth in Surrey; and his name is among those learned divines who subscribed the "Book of Discipline." About the year 1591, he was * MS. Register, p. 458, 459. Neal's Puritans, vol. i. p. 423. + Ibid. p. 588, 826, |