4.14.2014 JOHN BUNYAN PERSECUTED

this is taken from 'memoir of john BUNYAN' by george offor in 'the works of john bunyan' vol 1

on november 12th, 1660, as the winter was setting in,
having been invited to preach at samsell, in bedfordshire,
he prepared a sermon upon these words-'dost thou believe in the Son of God?
john 9.35
from which he intended 'to show the absolute need of faith in Jesus Christ
and that it was also a thing of the highest concern for men to inquire into
and to ask their own hearts whether they had it or no'.
he had then been a preacher ..for five or six years without any interruption,
for although indicted he had continued his useful career...

francis wingate, a neighbouring justice of the peace, having heard of the intended meeting,
issued his warrant to bring the preacher before him.
the intention of the magistrate was whispered about
and came to B's ears before the meeting was held, probably to give him an opportunity of escape.
his friends, becoming alarmed for his safety,
advised him to forego the opportunity.
it was a trying moment for him.
he had a beloved wife to whom he had not been long married
and four dear children by his first wife, one of them blind,
all depending upon his daily labour for food.
if he escaped, he might continue his stolen opportunities of doing good to the souls of men.
he hesitated but for a few minutes for private prayer.
he had hitherto shown himself hearty and courageous in preaching
and it was his business to encourage the timid flock.
'therefore, thought i, if i should run, now there was a warrant out for me,
i might by so doing make them afraid to stand when great words only should be spoken to them.

he retired into a close, privately, to seek divine direction
and came back resolved to abide the will of God.
it was the first attempt, near bedford, to apprehend a preacher of the gospel
and the thus argued with himself
-'if God of His mercy, should choose me to go upon the forlorn hope'
that is, to be the first that should be opposed for the gospel,
if i should fly it might be a discouragement to the whole body that should follow after.
and further, i thought that the world thereby would take occasion at my cowardliness
to have blasphemed the gospel.

...when B was advised to escape by dismissing the meeting, which consisted of about 40 persons,
he replied, 'No, by no means.
i will not stir, neither will i have the meeting dismissed.
come, be of good cheer, let us not be daunted. (to be overcome with fear, intimidated).
our cause is good, we need not be ashamed of it.
to preach God's word is so good a work, that we shall be well rewarded if we suffer for that.
all this took place about an hour before the officers arrived.
the service was commenced with prayer at the time appointed.
the preacher and hearers had their bibles in their hands to read the text,
when the constable and his attendants came in
and exhibiting the warrant, ordered him to leave the pulpit and come down,
but he mildly told him that he was about his Master's business
and must rather obey his Lord's voice than that of man.
then a constable was ordered to fetch him down,
who, coming up and taking hold of his coat,
was about to remove him when mr. Bunyan fixed his eyes steadfastly upon him,
having his bible open in his hand.
the man let go, looked pale and retired.
upon which he said to the congregation,
'see how this man trembles at the Word of God'.
truly did one of his friends say,  'he had a sharp, quick eye.
his countenance was grave and did strike something of awe into them
that had nothing of the fear of God....

60..B's sufferings in prison were aggravated by his affectionate feeling for his blind daughter
and with tender apprehension he speaks of her in language of impassioned solicitude.
'poor child,thought i, what sorrow art thou like to have for thy portion in this world!
thou must be beaten, must be, suffer hunger, cold, nakedness and a thousand calamities,
though i cannot now endure the wind shall blow upon thee!'
then he cast himself upon the boundless power of his God,
repents his doubts
and is filled with consolation.

62 after having lain in prison about seven weeks, the session  was held at bedford for the county
and Bunyan was placed at the bar and told that a bill had been found against him
of which he had previously not the slightest intimation.
the indictment preferred against him was,
'that john B, of the town of bedford, labourer,
hath devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church to hear divine service
and is a common upholder of several unlawful meetings and conventicles,
to the great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this kingdom,
contrary to the laws of our sovereign lord the king'.
he was asked whether he confessed the indictment to which he replied,
'we have had many meetings together, both to pray to God and to exhort one another
and that we had the sweet comforting presence of the Lord among us for our encouragement...
i confess myself guilty no otherwise'.
no witness were examined, but a plea of guilty was recorded
and his sentence was,
'you must be had back again to prison and lied there for three months following
and at the three months end, if you do not submit and go to church to hear divine service
and leave your preaching,
you must be banished the realm
and if after such a day as shall be appointed you to be gone, you shall be found in this realm,
without special license from the king,
you must stretch by the neck for it,
i tell you plainly
and so he (the justice) bid the jailer have him away.
the hero answered, 'i am at a point with you:
if i were out of prison today, i would preach the gospel again tomorrow by the help of God.'

...many justices were upon the bench presided over by justice keeling.
if this was serfeant kelynge who, the following year, was made lord chief justice,
he was a most arbitrary tyrant...
it was before him that some persons were indicted for attending a conventicle
but it being only proved that they had assembled on the Lord's day
with bibles in their hands without prayer books
and there being no proof that their meeting was only under color or pretence of religion,
the jury acquitted them. 
upon this he fined each of the jurymen one hundred marks and imprisoned them
till the fines were paid.
again on a trial for murder, the prisoner being under suspicion of dissent,
was one whom the judge had a great desire to hand,
he fined and imprisoned all the jury because contrary to his direction,
they brought in a verdict of manslaughter...
he entered a long argument with the poor tinker about using the liturgy,
first warning him of his danger if he spake lightly of it.
B argued that prayer was purely spiritual,
the offering of the heart and not the reading of a form.
the justice declared, 'we know the Common Prayer book hath been ever since the apostles' time
and is lawful to be used in the church>>'
B replied, 'Sir, the scripture saith that it is the Spirit as helpeth our infirmities
-mark, it doth not say the Common Prayer book teacheth us how to pray, but the Spirit'.
one of the justices said, 'he will do harm, let him speak no farther'.
'i said, blessed be the Lord, we are encouraged to pray and exhort one another,
for we have had the comfortable presence of God among us,
forever blessed be His holy name....

B was, if not the first, one of the first dissenters
who were proceeded against after the restoration of charles II
and his trial, if such it may be called, was followed by a wholesale persecution.
the king, as head of the church of england,
wreaked his vengeance upon all classes of dissenters, excepting roman catholics and jews...

...at the imminent risk of transportation and even of death,
the pious and highly talented mechanic, john B, persevered in instructing
the peasantry who came withi9n the reach of his voice.
he was for this and for not attending his parish church,
seized and sent to jail..
where he was mysteriously screened until the violence of the storm of persecution had passed by.
here, by the overruling power of his God, the means that were thus used top prevent his voice
from being heard by a few poor labourers,
was the means that were thus used to prevent his voice from being heard by a few poor labourers,
was the means by which he has preached to millions
and which opened to this persecuted disciple of Christ
the path to honour as well as to lasting and most extensive usefulness.

at the end of three months he became anxious to know
what the enemies of the cross intended to do with him.
his sentence was transportation and death unless he conformed.
to give up or shrink from his profession of Christ,
by embracing the national forms and submitting his conscience to human laws, he dared not.
he resolved to persevere even at the sacrifice of his life.
to add to his distress, doubts and fears clouded his prospects of futurity..
'satan, said he laid hard at me to beat me out of heart'.
at length he came to the determination to venture his eternal state with Christ,
whether he had present comfort or not.

...by a person sent from the justices...
'B was asked whether he would submit to the judgment of the church;
he replied, yes, sir, to the church of God and that judgment can only be found in the scriptures.
the home thrust which overpowered the clerk of the peace,
when he pressed upon the prisoner not to preach,
was a quotation from fox's Martyrs with which B must have been familiar before he was imprisoned
and which his retentive memory enabled him to quote.
'wickliffe saith, that he which leaveth off preaching and hearing of the word of God
for fear of excommunication of men,
he is already excommunicated of God
and shall in the day of judgment be countered a traitor of Christ'.
it was a pleasing interview, which while it did  not for a moment shake his determination,
led him to thank mr. cobb for his civil and meek discourse,
and to ejaculate (to utter suddenly and briefly; to exclaim) a heartfelt prayer-
'O that we might meet in heaven'....

when the time arrived for the execution of the bitterest part of his sentence, God, in His providence, interposed to save the life of his \servant.
he had familiarized his mind with all the circumstances of a premature and appalling death;
the gibbet, the ladder, the halter, had lost much of their terrors.
he had even studied the sermon he would then have preached to the concourse of spectators.
his feelings are best exhibited in his own words.
'i was once above all the rest in a very sad and low condition for many weeks.
this lay much upon my spirit,
that my imprisonment might end at the gallows for aught that i could tell.
now therefore satan laid hard at me to beat me out of heart  by suggesting thus unto me,
but how if when you come indeed to die you should be in this condition,
that is, as not to savour the things of God
nor to have any evidence upon your soul for a better state hereafter?
for indeed at that time all the things of God were hid from my soul.
wherefore, when i at first began to think of this, it was a great trouble to me,
for i thought with myself, that in the condition i now was in, i was not fit to die,
neither indeed did think i could if i should be called to it.
besides i thought with myself, if i should make a scrabbling shift to clamber up the ladder,
yet i should either with quaking or other symptoms of faintings,
give occasion to the enemy to reproach the way of God and His people for their timorousness.
this therefore lay with great trouble upon me for methought
i was ashamed to die with a pale face and tottering knees, for such a cause as this.
wherefore i prayed to God that He would comfort me and give me strength to do and suffer
what He should call me to.
yet no comfort appeared but all continued hid.
i was also at this time so really possessed with the thought of death,
that oft i was as if i was on the ladder with a rope about my neck.
only this was some encouragement to me.
i thought i might now have an opportunity to speak my last words to a multitude,
which i thought would come to see me die
and thought i, if it must be so, if God will but convert one soul by my very last words,
i shall not count my life thrown away nor lost.
but yet all the things of god were kept out of my sight
and still the tempter followed me with,
but whither must you go when you die?
what will become of your?
where will you be found in another world?
what evidence have you for heaven and glory and an inheritance among them that are sanctified?
thus was i tossed for many weeks and knew not what to do.
at last this consideration fell with weight upon me,
that it was for the word and way of God that i was in this condition,
wherefore I WAS ENGAGED NOT TO FLINCH A HAIR'S BREADTH FROM IT.

i thought also that god might choose whether he would give me comfort now or at the hour of death,
but i might not therefore choose whether i would hold my profession or no.
i was bound, but He was fee.
yea, IT WAS MY DUTY TO STAND TO HIS WORD,
whether He would ever look upon me or no,
or save me at the last.
wherefore, thought i , the point being thus,
I AM FOR GOING ON AND VENTURING MY ETERNAL STATE WITH CHRIST,
WHETHER I HAVE COMFORT HERE OR NO.
IF GOD DOTH NOT COME IN, thought i,
I WILL LEAP OF THE LADDER EVEN BLINDFOLD INTO ETERNITY,
SINK OR SWIM,
COME HEAVEN, COME HELL, Lord Jesus, if Thou wilt catch me, do;
IF NOT, I WILL VENTURE FOR THY NAME.
NOW I WAS F-U-L-L  O-F  C-O-M-F-O-R-T, for i hoped it was sincere.
i would not have been without this trial for much.
i am comforted every time i think of it
and i hope i shall bless God for ever for the teaching i have had by it.

66...at this critical time the king's coronation took place on april 23, 1661.
to garnish this grand ceremony the king had ordered the release of numerous prisoners of certain classes
and within that description of offences was that for which B was confined.
the proclamation allowed twelve months' time to sue out the pardon under the great seal,
but without this expensive process thousands of vagabonds and thieves were set at liberty,
while alas. an offence against the church was not to be pardoned upon such easy terms.
B and his friends were too simple, honest and virtuous to understand
why such a distinction should be made.
the assizes being held in august, he determined to seek his liberty by a petition to the judges.

...when they came the circuit and the assizes were held at bedford.
B in vain besought the local authorities
that he might have liberty to appear in person and plead for his release.
this reasonable request was denied and, as a last resource,
he committed his cause to an affectionate wife. 
several times she appeared before the judges.
love to her husband, a stern sense of duty,
a conviction of the gross injustice practised upon one to whom she was most tenderly attached,
overcame her delicate, modest, retiring habits and forced her upon this strange duty.
well did she support the character of an advocate,
pleading for a beloved husband and his children in impassioned language
-only tolerated by her peculiar position and under protection of a pious chief justice.
this delicate, courageous, high minded woman appeared before judge hale,
who was much affected with her earnest pleading for one so dear to her
and whose life was so valuable to his children.
it was the triumph of love, duty and piety over bashful timidity.
B thus narrates the interview which was held in the swan chamber near his prison.
'she came before the judges with abashed face and trembling heart'
an appealed to judge hale, that as her husband had not been lawfully convicted, he ought to be discharged.
some of the justices rudely asserted that he was lawfully convicted and that it was recorded.
she pleaded for him and his four children, one of whom was blind,
until judge hale, 'looking very soberly on the matter'
was much affected and said ,
'alas, poor woman'.
one of his persecutors taunted her husband with being a tinker.
yes, said she, and because he is a tinker and a poor man,
therefore he is despised and cannot have justice.
he will preach, said justice chester, the doctine of the devil.
no, m lord, she replied-it is the word of God and when the righteous Judge shall appear,
it willo be known that god hath done much good by him.
judge hale said, I am sorry that I can do thee no good.
some of the judges scratched their heads for anger.
hale, much affected and like an angel of mercy, shelteredt the prisoner form their rage.
mrs. B burst into tears, not so much, she said, because they were so hard hearted to her husband,
but to think what a sad account such poor creatures will have to give at the coming of the Lord.

...his wife returned to the prison with a heavy heart, believing that death would be his only release.
how surprised must she have been to find her husband tranquil in holy communion and even rejoicing.
'now was my heart full of comfort.
i would not have been without this trial for much-
THESE ARE THE SPOILS WON IN BATTLE. i CHRONICLES 26.27

70...from fox's book of martyrs...
(which with the bible and a concordance formed B's precious prison possessions)...
the letter of pomponius algerius, a learned italian suffering in prisonfor refusing to deny his saviour,
must have imparted great consolation to his spirit.
in it he learned how to improve by samson's experience
and find honey in the carcass of the lion.
'here the Lord heapeth me up with gladness.
the argument with which satan tempted him to play the hypocrite and regain his leberty,
was the same that was urged by mr. cobb with B
and by southey in condemning his obstinacy-
'Fool art thou, that for speaking one word might regain thy liberty and refusest it'.
what was that word?
'to sell Christ', deny your savior and bring misery and ruin upon your soul.
'the prison, said algerius, is, to the guiltless, mellifluous.
here droppeth the delectable dew-here floweth the pleasnt nectar.
let us be glad and sing unto the Lord.
what man will ever think in the deep dark dungeon to find a paradise of pleasure'.
such truths must have refreshed the soul of B, as the water gushing out of the rock in the wilderness
cheered and comforted the parched israelites...
when the english Established Church considered herself unsafe,
unless B and manyh hundred kindred minds were shut up in prison,
it proved itself to be a disgrace to the gospel and an injury to a free people.
milton fearlessly said, 'though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth,
so truth unfettered be in the field,
we do injuriously to misdoubt by licesnsing and prohibiting.
let her and falsehood grapple;
whoever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?
no one ever: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY'.
all national hierarchies have estimated the minds of others by their own standard,
but no real minister of the gospel can be like the vicar of bray,
who was determined to retain his vicarage, whatever doctrine he might be ordered to preach.

...every solemn event, in divine providence,
is not to be considered a judgment upon those who have offended God.
thus, when charles II said to milton, 'your loss of sight is a judgment of God upon you
for your sins  committed against my father'
the intrepid poet dared to answer,
'does your majesty judge so?
then how much greater must have been the sins of your royal father,
seeing that i have only lost my sight,
while he lost his eyes and head and all!'

...parting with his wife and children, he described as
'the pulling the flesh from the bones.
i saw i was as a man who was pulling down his house upon the head of his wife and children;
yet thought i, i must do it'.
his feelings wee peculiarly excited to his poor blind mary.




would break my heart to pieces'.
it is one of the governing principles of human nature,
that the most delicate or afflicted child excites our tendedrest feelings.
'i have seen men, says B, takemost care of and best provide for those of their children
that have been most infirm and helpless
and our Advocate 'shall gather His lambs with His arms and carry them in His bosom.
while in this state of distress the pomise came to his relief,
'leave thy fatherless children, i will preserve them alive
and let thy widows trust in Me.'
he had heard of the miseries of those transported christians who had been sold into slavery
and perished with cold and calamities, lying in ditches like poor, forlorn desolate sheep.

..nor did he, while he was in prison, spend his time in a supine (inactive, passive or inert)

...a personal friend reports...'and careless manner, nor eat the bread of idleness;
for there have i been witness that his own hands have ministered to hisw and his family's necessities,
making many hundred gross of long tagged laces, to fill up the vacancies of his time,
which he had learned to do for that purpose since he had been in prison.
there, also, i surveyed his library, the least, but yet the best that e'er i saw...
and during his imprisonment (since i have spoken of his library), he writ several excellent and useful treatises,
particularyl the Holy City, Christian Behaviour, the Resurrection of the Dead
and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners'.
besides these valuable treatises..in prison B wrote the Pilgrims Progess, the first part,
and that he had this from his own  mouth.
george whitefield, in recommending these works, says they 'smell of the prison'.
'ministers never write or preach so well as when under the cross.
the spirit of Christ and of glory then rests upon them.
that the first part of this important book was written in prison,
is fully demonstrated in the introduction to the Pilgrim's Progress.
B's statement in introducing his second part shows the alteration in his circumstances-
'now, having taken up my lodgtings in a wood about a mile off the place',
no longer in a 'den', but sheltered, in a wood, in a state of comparative, but not of perfect liberty,
about a mile distant from the den in which he wrote his first part...

...in addition to the workd above enumerated, he there published some extremely valuable tracts,
A Map of Salvation and Damnation; the Four Last Things, a poen;
Mount Ebal and Gerizim or Redemption from the Curse, a poem;
Prison Meditations, a poem; and a small..pamphlet, very recently discovered in a volume of tracts...entitled, 'Profitable Meditations fitted to Man's Different Condition, in a conference between Christ and a Sinner
...the five last works are small pamphlets, probably sold by his children or friends
to assist him in obtaining his livelihood;
also Justification by Faith in Jesus Christ;
Confession of his Faith and Reason of His Practice.
the most remarkable treatise which he published while in confinement is on Prayer,
from the words of the apostle, 'i will pray with the spirit and with the understanding also.
his attention had been fixed on this subject
when his free born spirit was roused by the threat of justice keeling,
,take heed of speaking irreverently of the Book of Common Prayer,
for if you do you will bring great damage upon yourself'.

B had formed his ideas of prayer from heartfelt experience;
it is the cry of the burdened, sinking sinner, 'Lord, save us, we perishp
or adoration rising from the heart to the throne of grace, filled with hopes of pardon and immortality.
in his estimation any form of human invention was an interference with the very nature of prayer
and with the work of the Holy Spirit, who alone can inspire our souls with acceptable prayer.
he thus exclaims: 'look into the jails in england and into the alehouses
and i trow (trust, believe) you will find those that plead for the spirit of prayer in the jail
and those that look after the form of man's inventions in the alehouse.
it is evident by the silencing of god's dear ministers (the several thousand thrown in prison, 1662),
though never so powerfully enabled by the spirit of prayer,
if they in conscience cannot admit of that form of Common Prayer.
if this be not exalting the Common Prayer Book above praying by the Spirit,
i have taken my mark amiss.
it is not pleasant for me to dwell on this.
the Lord in mercy turn the hearts of the people to seek more after the spirit of prayer
and in its strength to pouyr out their souls before the Lord'.

in expressing his views upon this all important subject, B was simply guided by a sense of duty.
fear of the consequences or of offending his enemies, never entered his mind.
he flet that they were in the hands of his heavenly Father
and that all their malice must be overruled for good.
not withstanding the solemn warning of the justices not to speak irreverently of the Book of Common Prayer
his refusal to use which had subjected him to severe privations and the fear of a halter,
(a rope with a noose for hanging criminals)
this christian hero was not daunted, but gives his opinion of it with all that freedom and liberty
which he considered essential to excite in his fellow men inquiries as to its imposition
and this he did in 1663, the year in which the act was passed.
so that with the first edition of the act of uniformity came out B's commentary on it.

it is not my province to enter into the controversy whether in public worship a form of prayer ought to be used.
let every one be persuaded in his own mind.
B felt the deep solemnity of this subject.
the Rev. robert philip, who had carefully read B's works says:
'i know of nothing he has said against forms severer than what he as said against
parade and heartlessness without them'
...Common Prayer might please the persecutor, but the church suffering under persecution
must needs have uncommon prayer suited to their state,
which peculiarly led them to seek from God patience, fortitude, hope, forgiveness to their enemies
and every grace to enable them to do good to those who persecuted them.
all private prayer must be the outpouring of the heart
and those who daily and hourly commune with God will need no form to guide them in public.
many have studied their public prayers with great advantage
-others in extemporary public prayer have preached to the people while professedly speaking to God.
these are what B calls mock prayers and the breathings of an abominable spirit.
'these be they that pray to be heard of men. matt. 6.5
he who prays in an improper spirit, 'is like a painted man
and their prayers like a false voice'.
it is a most important subject upon which we must bear and forbear with each other.
the Book of Common Prayer was compiled in the reign of edward the sixth, when the church was emerging from popish darkness.
it has been altered many times and has many devout admirers.
it has also been injured in public estimation by being violently enforced.

but to interfere with private judgment by proscribing the use of the Common Prayer book
under pain of imprisonment as was done by the Commonwealth,
or to denounce those who refuse conformity in its use, as worthy of punishment
even to the extreme penalty of transportation (banishment, as of a criminal to a penal colony; deportation)
or death..were equally violations of the vital principles of christianity.
the foundation of the christian church differs from that of all false systems of religion.
it rests upon the voluntary submission of the soul to god,
while false religions are founded on coercion to outward observances by human laws.
the christian is restrained by that solemn admonition
-'who art thou that judgest another man's servant?
a christian is God's servant: 'why dost thou judge thy brother?
we shall ALL stand before the judgment seat of Christ'.
to punish those  who spoke irreverently of the book of Common Prayer was almost
an acknowledgment that it would not bear investigation.

79...in prison he received the visits of saints, of angels and the Spirit of God.
'i have been able to laugh at destruction and to fear neither the horse nor his rider.
i have had sweet sights of the forgiveness of my sins in this place
and of my being with Jesus in another world.

the bible, that heavenly storehouse, was more abundantly opened to him while a prisoner.
'i had never had, in all my life, so great an inlet into the word of God as now.
i have had sweet sights of forgiveness and of the heavenly jerusalem.
i have seen here that which, while in this world, i shall never be able to express.
it was here that his spirit became so imbued with the style of our authorized version (note: king james)
perhaps rendered more unctious by comparing it with the genevan translation
that it pervades all his works. ..

..to use his own words, 'if God do not help me,
i am sure it will not be long before my heart deceive me
and so God be dishonoured by me'.

82...(his books, his close fellowship with true followers of Christ from many church traditions0
..'produced a very remarkable decision with respect to his views of church fellowship.
which differed with all denominations of christians who celebrated the Lord's Supper.
hitherto, water baptism had been considered a pre requisite to the Lord's table by all parties.
the episcopalians, presbyterians and independents had denounce the baptists as
guilty of a most serious heresy or blasphemy, in denying the right of infants to baptism.
not only did they exclude the baptists from communion with their churches,
but they persecuted them with extreme rigour.
when the independents mad laws for the government of their colony in america, in 1644,
one of the enactments was, 'that if any person shall either openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of infants
or seduce others or leave the congregation during the administration of the rite,
they shall be sentenced to banishment'.
the same year a poor man was tied up and whipped for refusing to have his child baptized.
the rev. j. clarke and mr. o. holmes of rhode island,
for visiting a sick baptist brother in massachusetts,
instead of being admitted to the Lord's table, they were arrested, fined, imprisoned and whipped.
at this very time the baptists formed their colony at rhode island and the charter concludes with these words:
'all men may walk as their consciences persuade them, every one in the name of his God.
this is probably the only spot in the world where persecution was never known.
some of the baptists considered with danvers
that immersion in water was the marriage rite between the believer and savior;
that to sit at the Lord's table without it was spiritual adultery, to be abhorred and avoided
and therefore refused to admit any person to the Lord's table who had not been baptized in water
upon profession of faith in the saviour.
this was the state of parties when B, at the commencement of his pastorate, entered into the controversy.
his book upon this subject was the last which he published while a prisoner.
it was entitled, 'A Confession of my Faith and a Reason of my Practice;
or with who and who not i can hold church fellowship of the communion of saints:
shewing by diverse arguments that though i dare not communicate with the openly profane,
yet i can with those visible saints that differ about water baptism'.
on the part of the baptists, this controversy with B was peculiarly bitter.
the independents published their exclusive appeal in
'th sin and danger of admitting anabapists to continue in the congregational churches'.
john B and henry jessey (a learned man) introduced a new era into the church.
they were the pioneers of those noble minded men who have, by their scriptural battering rams,
nearly demolished this middle wall of partition among christians.
spiritual baptism or the new birth was, in their opinion, the only fence allowed around the table of the Lord.
the mode or ceremony of applying water being left to the decision  of the new born christian
-some preferring sprinkling in infancy, others immersion on a profession of faith
and a few refusing the application of water altogether.

it was naturally to be expected that so novel a doctrine would excite extraordinary attention
and running counter to an old current of opinion cherished by papist and protestant,
it would be violently opposed...
the most learned men in the baptist denomination entered with great zeal into the controversy against B.
he had been promised a commendation to his book by the great, the grave, the 'sober dr. owen, but he withdrew his sanction.
'and perhaps it was more for the glory of God that truth should go naked into the world', said B,
than as seconded by so weighty an armour bearer as he.
although every iota of revealed religion is of the most solemn importance,
yet nothing can justify personal abuse in debating points of doctrine or modes of worship.
B meekly appealed to the testimony of holy writ-while his opponents showered down upon him
a storm of bitter and most undeserved contumely. (insulting display of contempt in words and or actions)
...B had imbibed one of the plainest lessons of the new testament
-that baptism is not indispensably connected with 'water' nor with a 'cloud' nor with 'afflictions'
but that its most important associate is with a new spiritual life-a walking with God.
he refused to admit to the Lord's table the visibly ungodly or those who had not brought forth fruit meet for repentance
-calling such promiscuous intercourse spiritual adultery.
no one ever felt a deeper solemnity not more ecstatic feelings at the Lord's table than B.
'at his administration of the Lord's supper it was observable that tears came from his eyes in abundance,
form the sense of the sufferings of Chris, that are in that ordinance shadowed forth.
water baptism was considered by many of his learned opponents as the putting on our Lord's livery.
(a distinctive uniform, badge or device formerly provide by someone of rank or title for his retainers,
or servants)
and a refusal of it, the renouncing of His service.
it was also considered as a symbol of marriage with the church
and to live in union without that ceremony most disgraceful.
B's reply was, 'comparing baptism to a livery is fantastical.
go where you are unknown and see how many christians will know you by this goodly livery.
'away, fond man, do you forget the text,
'by this shall all men know that ye are My disciples,
if ye have LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER'.

if water baptism is the marriage of the saint to Christ, without which communion with him is spiritual adultery
how sad a reflection is it upon the saviour who holds communion with His saints
before they are baptized in water
and which communion alone entitles them to be baptized. 

...during his tedious imprisonment, he had examined and minutely re examined his principles
and he arrives at this conclusion as to the right of all christians to the Lord's table
and comes to this determination-
'if nothing will do unless i make of my conscience a continual butcher and slaughter shop
(foot. luther calls popery the slaughter house of conscience, gal. 3.5.
the pope with all his bishops have been very tyrants and butchers of men's consciences, gal. 6.1)
unless putting out my own eyes i commit me to the blind to lead me, as i doubt is desired by some,
i have determined, the Almighty God being my help and shield, yet to suffer,
if frail life might continue so long,
even till the moss shall grow on my eyebrows, rather than thus to violate my faith and principles.

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