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he engaged Mr. Row, Hebrew Professor at Aberdeen, and other literary men in this undertaking. They advanced far in their design, but the turn given to pub. lic affairs both in church and state, by the restoration, defeated all their purposes.

Mr. Jessey was distinguished in his day for his interest in the welfare of the Jews. When intelligence reached England, that those of them who were living at Jerusalem, had been reduced to a state of extreme suffering, he exerted himself in their behalf, and in a short time three hundred pounds sterling were collected and sent to them. In 1650, when the Jews were permitted to return and trade in England as formerly, he wrote a treatise on the Messiah, addressed to them, which was highly commended by a number of the assembly of divines, and was prepared in Hebrew for dispersion amongst the Jews of all nations.

Distinguished for his piety, industry and learning, Mr. Jessey commanded universal esteem. He was for the most part free from persecution, until the restoration, when he was committed to prison for nonconformity, and died there in the triumphs of faith, on the 4th of September, 1663, in the sixtythird year of his age. His life was published in 1671, and from it Crosby has drawn the materials of the ample sketch which we find in his pages.

DANIEL DYKE, was born at Epping, in Essex, in the year 1617. He was the son of a clergyman of the Church of England, was educated at Cambridge, and became rector of Great Haddam, in Hertfordshire.

When Cromwell came to be Lord Protector, Dyke was appointed one of his chaplains in ordinary, and in 1653, when examiners were appointed by government to try such as should be admitted to livings in the established church, he was chosen to be one of them. Not long after he left his rectorship in the established church, he became minister of the Baptist church in Devonshire Square, London, where he labored until his death, in 1688.

JOHN GOSNOLD was a minister of the Church of England, and was ejected by the act of uniformity. He united with the Baptists on the ground of their conformity to the Scriptures in the constitution of the church. He thought that he saw in the Bible no more authority for infant baptism, than for the other ceremonies which are sanctioned by tradition and the authority of councils. He became pastor of a church in London, and notwithstanding the change in his sentiments, he continued to be intimate with many men of high standing in the establishment. Dr. Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, used to attend his week-day lecture. Dr. Calamy says of him, "He was bred in the Charter-house School, and in Pembroke Hall, Cambridge; and was afterwards Chaplain to Lord Grey. He was against infant baptism. He was deprived of his liberty of preaching, and forced to hide, though he was always peaceably minded, and never gave any disturbance to the government." He died in the year 1678, in the sixtythird year of his age, and was interred at the burying ground near Bunhillfields, where a tombstone was erected to his memory.

HANSARD KNOLLYS was a native of Chalkwell, in Lincolnshire, was well educated at home, and graduated at the University of Cambridge. He became pious while at the University, and after he left it, was master of the free school at Gainsborough. He was ordained by the Bishop of Peterborough, first a deacon, then a presbyter of the church of England, and afterwards received the living of Humberton from the Bishop of Lincoln. He had not possessed it more than three years, before he began to feel scruples of conscience touching the usages of the church, such as the sign of the cross in baptism, the surplice, and the ad. mission of men promiscuously to the Lord's Supper. He thence resigned his living, yet preached in different parishes, with the connivance of the bishop, whose personal feelings toward him seem to have been friendly. He afterwards joined the Baptists, and preached with great success in London. It appears that he was much strengthened in his change of opinion, by finding that inasmuch as while preaching in the establishment his labors were not the means of converting any one, yet "when he set out upon another foundation, and experienced more of God's teaching and assistance in the work, he quickly found to his comfort, that from thence. forward he continued to receive many seals of his ministry." He appears to have been a man of fine scholarship, and having been forced to fly to New-England to escape the persecution of the high commission court, is honorably mentioned by Cotton Mather among those "whose names deserve to live in our books for their piety."

HENRY DENNE was a graduate of the University of Cambridge, received orders from the Bishop of St. David's, in the year 1630, and was settled in the parish of Pynton, in Hertfordshire. At a visitation held in his county in 1661, he was appointed to preach the sermon to the clergy and gentry. With a heart set on the reformation of the church, he exposed the existing abuses with a fearless and powerful eloquence. Much excitement followed that occasion, and it seemed at that time, that Mr. Denne would have been satisfied with the established church, if conformity to the papal ceremonies were not enforced. But when in the change of times, the government avowed the intention to reform religion, Mr. Denne devoted himself more closely to the study of the scriptures, in order to aid in that great work. By this means he became convinced that infant baptism has no warrant in the bible, and following out his conviction, was baptized on a profession of his faith, in 1643, and joined the church which was then under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Lamb. He afterwards suffered much, but was faithful unto death. He possessed great force of character, manifested an enlightened and warm attachment to his opinions, and did much to promote them by public discussion. His writings breathe a christian spirit, and do honor both to his intellect and his heart.

WILLIAM COLLINS was copastor of a Baptist church in London, in connexion with Dr. Nehemiah Coxe. After obtaining the esteem of Busby, young Collins travelled in France and Italy, and on returning to his

own country, rejected every offer that was made to induce him to join the establishment, "for it was conscience not humor that made him a dissenter." In his funeral sermon which was printed in London in 1702, it is said, that having set apart a day for fasting and prayer, in order to seek divine direction as to the disposal of himself in the exercise of his ministry, on that very evening he received an invitation to settle as a pastor, from a church which met in that part of London called Petty France. The coincidence made a favorable impression on his mind, and a connexion was formed which continued until his death.

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CAROLUS MARIA DE VEIL, D. D. was a native of France. He was born of Jewish parents, and educated in the Jewish religion. By the study of the prophecies of the Old Testament, compared with the statements of the Evangelists, he became convinced of the Messiahship of Jesus, and professed himself a christian. The announcement of this so enraged his father, that with a drawn sword he attempted to kill him, but was prevented by some who were present. De Veil joined the Roman Catholics, was celebrated among them as a preacher, and was made Doctor of Divinity in the University of Anjou.

In 1672, he published his Commentary on the Gospels, and from the learning he there exhibited, he was appointed to aid in writing against the Huguenots, the chief opponents of the Romish Church in France. Being thus led to study the Protestant controversy, he was convinced of his error and became a Protest

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