themselves, as to uniting their forces to persecute the Baptists and Quakers. New England, and especially New Haven, is the most unhappy place for pedobaptists to plead for communion with the Baptists. There are so many Presbyterian blue laws and blue practices fresh in recollection, that it is blushing work for them. to name close communion. The first man that advocated Baptist sentiments in America, was the first that suffered violence. Roger Williams was banished from Salem, Mass. in 1634, by pedobaptist force and arms. In 1639, some Baptists attempted to organize a church at Weymouth, 14 miles east of Boston. For this offense, the pedobaptists arrested John Smith, John Spur, Richard Sylvester, Ambrose Morton, Thomas Macpeace and Robert Lenthal, who were tried before the General court at Boston, March 13th, 1639 and fined from £20 to 20s. each, and threatened with banishment if they persisted. Benedict's Hist. p. 356. The subsequent persecutions which the Baptists suffered in that section was under the following pedobaptist law, enacted by the General Court of Mass., Nov. 13, 1644. "It is ordered and agreed that if any person within this jurisdiction shall either openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of infants, or go about secretly to seduce others from the approbation or use thereof, or shall purposely depart the congregation at the administration of the ordinance, every such person or persons, shall be sentenced to BANISHMENT. See Records of Mass. General Court. Benedict's Hist. p 3 59 October 17th, 1643, Samuel Gorton, John Wickes, Randal Holden, Robert Potter, Richard Carder, Francis Weston, and John Warner, were tried by the General Court at Boston, for being Baptists, and sentenced to be shut up in seperate prisons, and there to be set at work, and to wear such bolts or irons as may hin der their escape. These men were kept in prison until March 7th, 1644, and then BANISHED by order of the General Court, and forbidden to return under the penalty of suffering death. Backus' hist. Vol. 1, p. 126-1 9. In 1644, a pedobaptist named Painter, who belonged to Hingham, turned Baptist, and refused to have his child sprinkled, for which offense by order of the court he was tied up and whipt. Backus' Hist. vol. 1, p. 15). In July, 1651, three Baptist clergymen named, Clark, Holmes, and Moody, were arrested at Lynn ten miles north-east of Boston, while Clark was preaching,on the Lords day, and sent to the prison in Boston, where they lay two weeks,and were fined, one £30, one £20 and one £5, and sentenced to be publicly whipped if they refused to pay. How Moody got out we do not learn; Clark's fine was paid, but Holmes was whipt. John Spur and John Hazel, who were spectators, showed signs of sympathy at Holmes' bloody whipping, which led the pedobaptists to suspicion that Spur and Hazel were Baptists, and they were arrested at Boston, and each sentenced to pay 40 shillings and be publicly whiped. Benedict's hist. p. 364-876. In 1655, Thomas Gould, Thomas Osborne, Edward Drinker, John George, Richard Goodall, William Turner, Robert Lambert, Mary Goodall, and Mary Newel, were imprisoned, some of whom were whiped, and others left to dreadful sufferings for denying infant baptism, and attempting to establish a Baptist Church in Boston. In May 1655, Thomas Gould, William Turner, and John Farnum, were BANISHED by sentence of the General Court, at Boston, and they refusing to leave the country, were imprisoned again. Through all these persecutions, the Baptists persevered and obtained a house to worship in. But the General Court passed a law to shut it up, and the Baptists found the following note on the door. "All persons are to take notice that by order of the Court the doors of this house are shut up; and that they are inhibited to hold any meeting, or to open the doors thereof without license from authority, till the General Court take further order, as they will answer the contrary at their peril. Dated at Boston, 8th of March 1680. EDWARD RAWSON, Secretary. Benedict's hist. 383-400. Between the years 1727 and 1733, there were 28 Baptists, 2 Quakers, and 2 Episcopalians imprisoned at Bristol, Mass., (now R. I.) for Presbyterian priest tax. Benedict's hist. p. 443. In 1751, the Rev. Mr. Moulton was arrested for preaching Baptist sentiments in Sturbridge, Mass., and by public authority shut up in prison, and finally BANISHED as a vagrant and vagabond, and his deacon, Mr. Fisk, and bretheren, John Corey, Jeremiah Barstow, Josiah Perry, and John Draper, were impris oned in Worcester Jail. The following property belonging to the members of that Baptist church, was taken and sold by authority, to pay the salary of the Rev. Caleb Rice, a Congregational priest, Cash, $36, 7 cows, 1 heifer, 2 steers, 2 oxen, a flock of geese, 20 pewter plates, 1 tankard, 1 saddle, a trammel and hooks, shovel, tongs, and andircus, 1 pot, 1 kettle, 1 warming pan, and one broad axe. Benedict's hist. p.432, 433. In 1770, about 400 acres of land, belonging to the members of the Baptist church, in Ashfield, were sold at auction, to pay Congregational priest tax. Benedict's hist. p. 435 So much for Puritan inquisition, and Massachusetts open communion. We pass to Connecticut, and shall glance at her legalized persecutions. The following law was enacted by the General Court of Connecticut, in October, 1650. 'That no town within this Jurisdiction shall entertain any Quakers, Ranters, Adamites, or such like notorious heretics, nor suffer them to continue in them above the space of 14 days, upon the penalty of £5.' 'In 1658, the Court of New Haven made a similar law increasing the penalties and prohibiting all conversation of the common people with any of those heretics (Quakers, Baptists, &c.) and all persons from giving them any entertainment upon penalty of £5.' Trumbull's hist. of Ct. Vol. 1, p. 299, 300. 'And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that whatsoever person not being a lawfully allowed (Congregational) minister of the gospel shall presume to profane the holy sacraments by administering or making a show of administering them to any person or persons whatsoever, and being thereof convicted before the county court in such county where such offense shall be committed, shall incur the penalty of £10, for every such offense, and suffer corporeal punishment by whipping, not exceeding thirty stripes for each offense. Records of the State of Conn. Vol. 5, May 1723. Trumbull's hist., vol. 2, p. 38. In 1738, the Congregational church in Milford, Conn., divided; and one part employed Mr. Finley, a Presbyterian minister, as their pastor; but the Congregational part were so enraged at his Presbyterianism, that they transported him to New-Jersey, as a vagrant; (and I believe that the two churches in Milford, do not commune together to this day.) Trumbull's History, vol. 2, p. 177. In December, 1740, John Merriman, pastor of the Baptist church in Wallingford, invited the Rev. Phil Congregational church emon Robbins, pastor of the in Branford, to preach for him. the invitation, and preached to the Baptist church in Wallingford, January 6, 1741; for this offense, the New-Haven Congregational Association laid Mr. Robbins under censure, and finally deposed him from the ministry. A majority of the church at Branford deeiding with their pastor, rather than with the New Haven Association, renounced the Saybrook and adopted the Cambridge platform; for this act the New-Haven Association held the Branford church under censure till 1748. Trumbull's History, vol. 2, pp. 196, 233. In 1741, Rev. Mr. Humphreys, of Derby, Conn., a Congregational minister, had preached to a Baptist society, and on that account was soon after deprived of a seat in the New-Haven association. Trumbull's History, vol. 2, p. 195. In May 1742, the General Assembly of Connecticut enacted a law, of which the following is an ex tract: "Whereas this assembly did by their act, made in the 27th year of Queen Anne, establish and confirm a confession of faith, and an agreement for ecclesiastical discipline, made at Saybrook in 1708, by the Rev. Elders and Messengers delegated by the churches in this colony; therefore be it enacted by the Gover nor, Council, and representatives in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same, that if any ordained minister, or any other person licensed as aforesaid to preach, shall enter into any parish not immediately under his charge, and shall there preach and exhort the people, he shall be denied and excluded the benefit of any law of this colony:further enacted by the authority aforesaid- -that every such preacher, teacher, or exhorter, shall be sent as a vagrant person, by warrant from any assistant or justice of the peace, from constable to constable, out of the bounds of the colony." -and it is Records ofthe Colony of Conn.,1742. Trumbull's hist of Conn., vol. 2, p. 162–165. In February, A. D. 1744, fourteen persons were arrested at Sayville, in the town of Saybrook, for holding a Baptist mee ting: the charge brought against them was "for holding a meeting, contrary to law, on God's holy Sabbath-day." They were arraigned, tried, fined, and driven on foot, through a deep mud, to New-London jail, a distance of 25 miles, where |