is well worked out and does not read like the composition of a madman. [1] The conclusion of the matterthe failure of his health and his loss of mental balance through continual dwelling upon the same theme, which resulted at last in a vision of the returning Lord on Low Sunday, 1694[2]can only be briefly noticed here. From this time he, who had been wont to preach for hours together and was often ' ready to faint before he would give over,' whose extempore prayers had been long and vehement with ' an awful silence between each petition ' would no more preach nor pray nor even administer the sacraments : the reign of Christ had begun so he told the people from his open window and the day of such means of grace was past : there was nothing else to do but to await the consummation of all things, which would be on the next Whitsunday. He did not live to see the failure of his own prophecy[3] ; but his followers, who had gathered round the parsonage and in the village to the number of more than four hundred, under the firm con- viction that Water Stratford was the ' holy ground,' the only place where salvation was guaranteed,[4] continued for some time to hold religious exercises by themselves, and even the exhumation of the poor vicar's remains by his successor did not convince them that he was really dead. Their existence as a sect continued some twenty or thirty years.[5] The strangest thing about the whole affair is that the ecclesias- tical authorities do not seem to have taken the slightest notice of it.
The records of the eighteenth century for this county are fairly full and good.[6] There is reason to believe that the revival of Church life under Queen Anne, which was so marked in London, had but little effect upon the country generally. The returns of Bishops Wake and Gibson bear witness to the truth of this statement at any rate within the diocese of Lincoln. These valuable books contain statistics for all
- ↑ This sermon was preached on the parable of the Ten Virgins, and announced the speedy coming of the Judgment. It ends thus' Blessed be God, you have grace, the spirit of grace ; but I fear it is oil in the glass, not in the lamp. Methinks I see when the cry comes, what a pouring of oil there will be out of the vessel into the lamp : what a lively frame Christians will be in. Oil in the vessel is grace in the habit, oil in the lamp is grace in exercise. Therefore see that you have oil in the lamp." This does not fit in very well, however, with predestinarian theories. The sermon was followed by a pamphlet called Two Witnesses to the Midnight Cry, by two disciples of Mason ; and this was answered by another, The Trial and Condemnation of the Two False Witnesses.
- ↑ He saw this vision as he lay in bed, utterly exhausted after long preaching and the fast which he was accustomed to keep on such occasions.
- ↑ There must have been something loveable about the man in spite of his strange theories ; Maurice speaks kindly of him throughout, and says that though he was the ' fiercest man in the world against sin,' he was yet the ' pitifullest man to the sinner,' until the vision came and assured him that ' the books were sealed,' and there was no more place for repentance.
- ↑ They were not quite sure how far the borders of this limited ' Sion ' extended ; but they were sure it would hold all the elect, for these were very few ; and any that were hindered by ignorance or distance from coming to it would on the appointed day be ' haled thither by angels.' They had the usual argument to meet all doubters ; so holy a man could not possibly be deceived.
- ↑ The substance of this account is taken from Maurice's Impartial Account and a paper in Records of Bucks, vii. 9-40. The excesses of Mason's followers, their dancings, shoutings and hand-clappings, were much the same as those of the fanatics of all ages, and are not worthy of special description. ' A conventicle of the disciples of Mr. Mason ' is noticed in connection with Water Stratford in the returns of Bishops Wake and Gibson of Lincoln.
- ↑ At the close of the seventeenth century it should be noted that two non-juring clergy were ejected in this county at the beginning of the reign of William III. : Thomas Bottler, vicar of Marsworth, and John Gilbert, vicar of Medmenhanu Overton, Nonjurors, 473, 478.
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