John Arthur. Ejected from CLAPHAM, Surrey.. He was the son of Laurence Arthur, of Springfield, in this county, and brother of Hercules Arthur, who purchased the manor of Fryers, Bocking, in 1632. He was of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was presented to the vicarage of Clapham by Charles I., in 1642. He married Anne, daughter of Miles Corbet, who was member for Yarmouth during the long Parliament. Corbet was of an old Norfolk family, and was recorder of Yarmouth for several years. He was one of the commiffioners for the trial of Charles I., and signed the warrant for his execution. At the restoration he made his escape to the Continent, and, after travelling through many parts of Germany, settled, with Berkstead and Okey, who had also been in the commission, at Hanau, on the Lower Rhine. He imprudently left that city, with his companions, and came to Delft, in Holland, where he was apprehended at the instance of Sir George Downing, the English resident, who had formerly been his friend, and by him he was sent to England. Corbet was tried in the King's Bench, April 16, 1662, and was sentenced to death as a regicide. The day previous to his death, he assured his friends that he was so thoroughly convinced of the justice and necessity of that action for which he was to die, that if the things had been yet intire and to do, he could not refuse to act as he had done, without affronting his reason, and opposing himself to the dictates of his conscience; adding, 'that the immoralities, lewdness, and corruption of all sorts, which had been introduced and encouraged since the late revolution, were no inconsiderable justification of these proceedings.' He was executed at Tyburn, whither he was drawn on a sledge from the Tower; his quarters were placed over the city gates, and his head upon London Bridge.' * By Anne, his wife, Arthur had five children, John, Henry, Anne, Elizabeth, and Dorothy. Arthur drew up the petition for William Jenkyn, when he was imprisoned for his share in Love's conspiracy, and with great difficulty prevailed upon his friend to sign it. In 1654 he was appointed one of the assistants to the commissioners for the ejection of scandalous, ignorant, and insufficient ministers for the county of Surrey. Wood, who speaks of him as a noted theologist, records that he was diplomated D.D., October 10, 1660, by virtue of the King's letters, written to the University in his behalf, and unknown to him;' and adds, this diploma was to pass because Mr. Arthur's great age would not permit him to take a journey to Oxon, to be there presented in person.' On the death of his brother, Hercules, Dr. Arthur succeeded to the manor of Fryers. Henry, his son, was killed in a duel, first himself. Like many others, he was a sider with all changes; a man of note in Cromwell's day, and a member of Parliament in 1654 and 1656. He turned about at the restoration, was M.P. for Norfolk in 1661,' and was now envoy extraordinary to Holland. One of his family was Calybute Downing, who succeeded Gilbert Sheldon in the rectory of Hackney, and was not unknown in Essex. He was of Oriel College, Oxford, which he entered in 1623. On his entry into orders he was made rector of Heckford, in Berks, and about that time he was also made 'doctor of the laws.' On the breaking out of the civil war he was involved in trouble, and retired to Little Leighs, the house of Robert, Earl of Warwick, 'and common rendezvous of all schismatical preachers in those parts.' In 1643, he was elected of the Assembly of Divines, and about that time he resigned the living of Hackney. Shortly afterwards he declared himself an Independent, and was commonly called Hugh Peters the Second.' He wrote, 1. 'A Discourse of the State Ecclesiaftical of this King dom considered under three conclusions.' Oxon. 1633. 2. A Digreflion concerning some ordinary exceptions against Ecclesiaftical Orders.' 3. 'A Discovery of the False Grounds the Bavarians have laid to settle their own Faction, &c.' Lond., 1641, 4to. 4. 'Discourse upon the Interest of England in the case of the Prince Palatine, his dignities, and dominions.' 5. Discoursive Conjecture upon the reasons that produced a desired event of the present Troubles of Great Britain, &c. 1641, 4to. 6. Considerations towards a Peaceable Reformation in matters Ecclesiaftical.' Lond., 1641, 4to. 7. Divers Sermons-as 1. 'Sermon preached before the renowned Company of Artillery, 1st Sept., 1640, on Deut. xxv. 17.' Lond., 4to. In this sermon he argued that for defence of religion and reformation of the church, it was lawful to take up arms against the King. 2. Fast Sermon before the House of Commons, 31st Aug., 1642, on 2 Thess. iii. 2;' and others, says Wood, which I have not yet seen. Ath. Ox. 48-50. and John succeeded his father in the ownership of the estate at Bocking. * Thomas Browning. Ejected from DESBOROUGH, Northamptonshire. He was a native of Effex, and probably of Coggeshall. His parents were godly people, and designed him for the ministry. He was sent by them to Oxford at the age of sixteen. When he left the University he became an inmate of Colonel Sydenham's family, in Hertfordshire. He was as yet without any seriousness of character. Leaving Colonel Sydenham, he married, removed to London, and there became involved in much trouble. One day he dropped in at the morning lecture in Westminster Abbey, where John Rowe, who was then pastor of a congregation there, and was afterwards ejected from the cure by the Act of Uniformity, was preaching on Eph. iv. 8. The sermon proved to be a word in season' to him. He said of it, 'It made my heart to ache and my flesh to tremble. Soon after this he met with John Sames, who, it should appear, was then minister at Kelvedon, in London, and, at his inftance, Browning's parents invited him and his wife to Coggeshall. He soon joined the Congregational church there, and, under the auspices of Sames, he began to preach. His first sermon was on Matt. i. 21. He was shortly called to Desborough, where he settled in 1657. He was afterwards pastor also of the church at Rothwell. Previously to this, some of his friends in Effex endeavoured to prevail upon him to return to his native county, when John Beverley, then pastor of the church at Rothwell, wrote to Sames, Stalham, and others, saying: Far be it from you, my brethren, who have in Essex, through mercy, such plenty comparative of church labourers, to so much as mention what may tend to the depriving us here. O do not blast the buddings of so hopeful a ministry! . . . In May, 1672, Browning's house was licensed to be a Congregational meeting place,' and he himself was licensed to be a Congregational teacher' in his own house, and ‘Susanna Ponder's, in Rothwell.' He was once, at least, imprisoned in + Cal. Acc. 666; Mor. ii. 387; Scobell ii. 343; Wood, Fasti. ii. 137 ; Lyson's Environs; Clapham, Kennet Northampton jail. While there he wrote two most affecting letters to the people of his charge, both of which were publifhed by his biographer, Mr. Maurice. In one of them he says to them: Come, my brethren, ye weep now, our tender Father has a handkerchief in his hand to wipe away our tears ere long. Do not offend with weeping-too many tears may defile. . . . I tell you if you knew what Christ's prisoners, some of them, enjoyed in their gaols, you would not fear their condition, but long for it. What, do we stick at dying for Him who stuck not at death for us? Do we find any difficulty in that which will be our entrance into glory? . . . . My brethren, do not budge; keep your ground. The Scripture is your law. God is your King. Your principles are sober, your practices are peaceable. Your obedience to superiors known, in these things in which your obedience is required. Fear nothing of events till they come: only fear offending God with a neglect of your duty. There is no shadow like the shadow of God's wings. Keep, therefore, close to God. Ps. vii. 1.' Browning died May 9, 1685, aged fifty-two, and was buried in Rothwell churchyard.* Thomas Cawton. Ejected from a fellowship at OXFORD. He was the son of Thomas Cawton, and was born at Wivenhoe about 1637. He received his early education from his father during his residence at Rotterdam. There he was also a pupil of the distinguished orientalist Robert Sherringham. About the year 1656 he became a student in the University of Utrecht, where he acquired the highest honour by his extraordinary skill in the oriental languages, and, in 1657, maintained a thesis on the Syriac version of the New Testament, which he afterwards published under the title of 'Disputatio de Versione Syriaca Veteris et Novi Teftamenta,' 4to., 1657, and also another on the Hebrew language, which he published under the title of 'Dissertatio de Usu Linguæ Hebraicæ in Philosophia Theoretica,' * Palmer iii. 31, 35. Monument of Mercy, or some of the distinguishing favours of Christ to his Congregational Church at Rothwell, as handed down in the ministry of Mr. John Beverley and Mr. Thomas Browning; remembered by Matthew Maurice.' Lond., 1679. License Book, S. P. O., ante p. 340. Utrecht, 1657, 4to. He remained at Utrecht for three years, when he came to England, and entered Merton College, Oxford, in order to avail himself of the further inftruction of the diftinguished orientalist Samuel Clark. In April, 1659, he took the degree of B.A., at Oxford, when a certificate was read from Leusden, the Hebrew professor at Utrecht, recommending him to the University, as one who Totum Vetus Testamentum Hebræum partim punctatum, partim non punctatum perlegit et explicuit, Regulas Grammaticæ et Syntaxeos Hebraicæ optime perdidiscit. Deinde in Lingua Syriaca, Novi Testamenti, et in Lingua Arabica, et Commentariis Rabbinorum strenue sese exercuit. Denique quæstiones Philologico-Hebraicas circa Vetus Testamentum Hebræum moneri solitas, ita perdidiscit, ut summo cum honore duas disputationes philologicas publice defenderit. . . . Certe in Disputatione hac componenda et in ejusdem strenua defensione ingenium et eruditionem suam omnibus palim fecit.' At the restoration Cawton showed his loyalty by writing a Hebrew poem, which was published in the Britannia Rediviva,' published at Oxford, 1660. In 1661 he was ordained by the bishop, but, refusing to comply with the Act of Uniformity, was compelled to leave the University in 1662. He was then received as chaplain into the family of Sir Anthony Irby, at Westminster. When the plague broke out, Sir Anthony retired into Lincolnshire; Cawton then removed into the family of Lady Armin, with whom he continued until the year 1670. In the meanwhile he appears to have preached frequently. 2nd April, 1672, there is entry of a license granted him to be a Prefbyterian teacher in his own house, in St. Anne's Lane, Westminster,' and at the same date there is entry of a license to his house, as a Prefbyterian meeting house." He soon gathered a congregation, to whom he preached until his death, April 10, 1677, at the age of forty. He was buried at the New Church, Tothill Street, Westminster. Cawton was succeeded in the pastoracy by Vincent Alsop, who was ejected from Wilbee, in the county of Northampton; Alsop by Edmund Calamy; Calamy by Samuel Say, the son |