First minister of Salem, Massachusetts, after receiving his education at Emanuel College, in Cambridge, became the minister of a church at Leicester, in England. While his popular talents filled his church with attentive hearers, such was the divine blessing upon his labors, that a deep attention to religious subjects was excited among his people. Becoming at length a conscientious Nonconformist to the rites of the English church, some of which he thought not only were unsupported by Scripture, but corrupted the purity of Christian worship and discipline, he was excluded from the parish church, and became obnoxious to the High Commission Court. One day two messengers came to his house, and with loud knocks cried out, “Where is Mr. Higginson? We must speak with Mr. Higginson!” His wife ran to his chamber, and entreated him to conceal himself; but he replied, that he [pg 375] should acquiesce in the will of God. He went down, and, as the messengers entered the hall, they presented him with some papers, saying, in a rough manner, “Sir, we came from London, and our business is to convey you to London, as you may see by those papers.” “I thought so,” exclaimed Mrs. Higginson, weeping; but a woman's tears could have but little effect upon hard-hearted pursuivants. Mr. Higginson opened the packet to read the form of his arrest, but, instead of an order from Bishop Laud for his seizure, he found a copy of the charter of Massachusetts, and letters from the governor and company, inviting him to embark with them for New England. The sudden transition of feeling from despondence to joy, may be better imagined than described.
Having sought advice and implored the divine direction, he resolved to accept the invitation. In his farewell sermon, preached before a vast assembly, he declared his persuasion, that England would be chastised by war, and that Leicester would have more than an ordinary share of sufferings. It was not long before his prediction was verified. It is not meant that he claimed the power of foretelling future events, but he could reason with considerable accuracy from cause to effect, knowing that iniquity is generally followed by its punishment; and he lived in an age when it was usual for ministers to speak with more confidence, and authority, and efficacy, than at present. He sailed from Gravesend, April 25, 1629, accompanied by Mr. Skelton, whose principles accorded with his own. When he came to the Land's End, he called his children and the other passengers on deck to take the last view of their native country; and he now exclaimed, “Farewell, England! farewell, the church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there! We do not go to America as separatists from the church of England, though we cannot but separate from its corruptions.” He then concluded with a fervent prayer for the king, church, and state, in England. He arrived at Cape Ann, June 27, 1629, and, having spent the next day there, which was Sunday, on the 29th he entered the harbor of Salem. July the 20th was [pg 376] observed as a day of fasting by the appointment of Governor Endicott, and the church then made choice of Mr. Higginson to be their teacher, and Mr. Skelton their pastor.
Thus auspicious was the commencement of the settlement of Naumkeag, or Salem; but the scene was soon changed. During the first winter, about one hundred persons died, and Mr. Higginson was soon seized with a hectic, which terminated his days in August, 1630, aged forty-two. In his last sickness, he was reminded of his benevolent exertions in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. To consoling suggestions of this kind he replied, “I have been an unprofitable servant, and all my desire is to win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness.”
Richard Baxter.
A Nonconformist, born at Rowton, Shropshire, 12th November, 1615. He compensated for the deficiencies of a neglected education by unusual application, and was appointed master of Dudley free-school by the interest of Mr. Richard Foley, of Stourbridge, and soon after admitted into orders by the bishop of Winchester. His scruples were raised by the oath which was proposed by the convention at that time sitting, and he was among the number of those who showed their dislike to an unqualified submission “to archbishops, bishops, et cetera,” as they knew not what the et cetera comprehended. In 1640, he was invited to be minister at Kidderminster; but the civil war, which broke out soon after, exposed him to persecution, as he espoused the cause of the parliament. He retired to Coventry, and continued his ministerial labors till the success of the republicans recalled him to his favorite flock at Kidderminster. The usurpation of Cromwell gave him great offence, and he even presumed to argue in private with the tyrant on the nature and illegality of his power; but in the only sermon which he preached before him, he wisely confined his subject to the dissensions which existed in the kingdom on religious matters. He was in London after [pg 377] Cromwell's death, and preached before parliament the day before the king's return was voted, and likewise before the lord mayor for Monk's successes. Charles II. made him one of his chaplains, and Chancellor Clarendon offered him the bishopric of Hereford, which he declined. He was, however, soon involved in the general persecution of the Nonconformists. His paraphrase on the New Testament drew upon him, in 1685, the vengeance of Jeffreys, and he was condemned to be imprisoned for two years, from which punishment, six months after, he was discharged by the interference of Lord Powis with King James. He died December 8th, 1691, and was interred in Christ Church.
George Fox.
The founder of the society of Friends, or Quakers, was born, in 1624, at Drayton, in Leicestershire, and was the son of a weaver, a pious and virtuous man, who gave him a religious education. Being apprenticed to a grazier, he was employed in keeping sheep—an occupation, the silence and solitude of which were well calculated to nurse his naturally enthusiastic feelings. When he was about nineteen, he believed himself to have received a divine command to forsake all, renounce society, and dedicate his existence to the service of religion. For five years, he accordingly led a wandering life, fasting, praying, and living secluded; but it was not till about 1648 that he began to preach his doctrines. Manchester was the place where he first promulgated them. Thenceforth he pursued his career with untirable zeal and activity, in spite of frequent imprisonment and brutal usage. It was at Derby that his followers were first denominated Quakers, either from their tremulous mode of speaking, or from their calling on their hearers to “tremble at the name of the Lord.” The labors of Fox were crowned with considerable success; and, in 1669, he extended the sphere of them to America, where he spent two years. He also twice visited the continent. He died in 1690. His writings were collected in three volumes, [pg 378] folio. Whatever may be thought of the tenets of Fox there can be no doubt that he was sincere in them, and that he was a man of strict temperance, humility, moderation, and piety.