verted on that part of Mr. Dell's discourse, and defended the right of the magistrate to interfere in matters of conscience. This led to public discussion by means of the press, and thus Mr. Dell stood forth as a leader of the party who favored religious liberty, and Mr. Love, his opponent, a Presbyterian, was at the head of those who advocated persecution.

In 1649, Mr. Dell was appointed master of Caius College, Cambridge, and retained his station until he was ejected by the act of uniformity.

VAVASOR POWELL was a native of Radnorshire, in South Wales, where his name has been well known for nearly two centuries, and not only there, but throughout the whole Principality, has been remembered with sentiments of reverence and affection. He was born in 1617, was educated at Jesus College, in Oxford, and went into orders in the established church, about the year 1640. In his youth he was of a gay and impetuous turn of mind, yet, while at Oxford, made great proficiency in the knowledge of languages, and in various branches of literature.

A considerable time elapsed after he became a clergyman, before he knew any thing of experimental religion. In his early days he had been much addicted to a profanation of the Sabbath, and an instance of this kind was made the occasion of arousing his attention and converting him to God. "Being one Lord's day, a stander-by, and beholder of those that broke the Sabbath by divers games, and being there himself, in his clerical dress, or as he calls it, in the habit of a

foolish shepherd, he was ashamed to play with them, yet took as much pleasure therein as if he had; a certain Puritan in the mean time passing by, and seeing him there, came to him, and very mildly asked him, "Doth it become you, sir, that are a scholar, and one that teacheth others, to break the Lord's Sabbath thus?" To which he answered, like the scoffers in Malachi, "Wherein do I break it? you see me only stand by; I do not play at all." "But," replied he, "you find your own pleasure herein, by looking on, and this God forbids in his holy word." So he opened his Bible and read these words, in Isaiah, 58: 13, particularly that expression, "Not finding thy own pleasure upon the Sabbath day." Such was the pertinency of the passage, and the power that came with the word, that he was quite silenced and so far convicted, as to resolve never to transgress in this way again.

From this small beginning, a thorough change of mind and character soon ensued, to which the ministry of the pious and zealous Walter Cradock and other puritans, who were beginning to break out in Wales, greatly contributed. He soon became established in knowledge, and began to preach among his countrymen in the character of an itinerant evangelist.*

After this era of his life, Mr. Powell became an intrepid champion of the Cross, and his history is full of adventure. He suffered much from persecution, which waxed hotter in proportion to his increase of popularity

* Cambro-British Biography, by Rev. William Richards, LL. D., p. 143. London, 1820.

as a preacher. On that account, in 1642, he left Wales, and went to London.

The intrepidity of his character may be judged of in some degree from the fact, that while residing at Dantford, in Kent, the plague broke out in the town. Many houses were shut up, and the dead bodies were carried out by his chamber wall and window, yet did he not suspend his labors, but preached constantly three times a week; and though some that had the sickness upon them came to hear, both he and his family escaped the contagion.

Vavasor Powell was at one time a warm friend of Cromwell, on account of his love of religious liberty; but when Cromwell seized the protectorate, Powell openly denounced him as an usurper, and earnestly remonstrated against it with the men in power. Nevertheless, he was the first of the nonconformist ministers who suffered under the reign of Charles II. Even before the arrival of the king, the agents of the government had marked him for their prey. The most relentless persecution was then carried on in Wales, without respect to age or sex. Mr. Powell was cruelly treated, and at last died in prison, in October, 1670, in the 53d year of his age, and the 11th of his imprison

ment.

Dr. Richards says, "he bore his last illness with great patience, and would bless God and say he • would not entertain one hard thought of God for all the world,' and could scarcely be restrained at the very height of the disorder from acts of devotion, and from expressing his sentiments of zeal and piety." His remains were deposited in Bunhill Fields, in the pres

ence of an innumerable crowd of dissenters, who attended him to his grave. The inscription on his tomb, drawn up, as Wood says, by his dear friend Edward Bagsham, describes him as "A successful teacher of the past, a sincere witness of the present, and an useful example of the future age; who in the defection of many, found mercy to be faithful; for which being called to many prisons, he was there tried, and would not accept deliverance, expecting a better resurrection." Dr. Toulmin observes that Dr. Grey, after Wood, has vilified Mr. Powell, by retailing the falsehoods of a piece entitled Strena Vavasoriensis. Mark Noble is also to be classed among the vilifiers of this good man, without regarding the pieces written in his defence. Noble represents him as a fool, a poor infatuated wretch, a wild enthusiast, a seditious person, fifth-monarchy man, and one who perhaps aspired to be prime minister to King Jesus, &c. But there is no truth in all this, at least not in the sense in which this violent writer would have it understood. Men of his complexion will always despise, revile and persecute such men as Vavasor Powell. Neal, indeed, followed by Palmer, calls him a fifth-monarchy man; but if he was so, it is certain he was not of the same sort with Venner and his violent adherents, but rather more in the way of thinking of such men as Sherwin, and Bishop Newton. Dr. Toulmin says, "that Mr. Powell's sentiments were those of a Sabbatarian Baptist," which is a very great and unaccountable mistake. Any one who consults the history of his life with any degree of attention, may easily see that he was decidedly a First-day Baptist. In the 119th page of that

book, we are plainly told that "he was a very strict and conscientious observer of the Sabbath day," viz. the first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath, "not doing or speaking, on that day, what he saw lawful upon other days; attending the duties thereof, from evening to evening," &c. With the above assertion of Dr. Toulmin, we may venture to class that notable declaration of Messrs. Neal and Palmer, that Mr. Powell was driven from Wales, for want of Presbyterial ordination. Driven from Wales indeed he was, not for want of a Presbyterial ordination, but rather for want of high church malignity and intol erance; or, in other words, for quitting the ruling, or Laudean faction, and joining the Puritans, and preaching as he did about the country. So active and laborious was he in the duties of the ministry, says Dr. Toulmin, that he frequently preached at two or three places in a day, and was seldom two days in the week throughout the year out of the pulpit! He would sometimes ride a hundred miles in the week, and preach in every place where he could gain admittance, either by night or by day. He would often alight from his horse, and set on it any aged person whom he met with on the road on foot, and walk by the side for miles together. He was exceedingly hospitable and generous, and would not only entertain and lodge, but clothe the poor and aged. He was a man of great humility, very conscientious and exemplary in all rela. tive duties, and very punctual to his word. He was a scholar, and his general deportment was that of a gentleman. In 1642, when he left Wales, there were not above one or two gathered churches; but before the