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Engravd for the Oxford Magazine.

C.Grignion sculp

CHRISTIAN VII.
King of Denmark.

UNIV

OF

MICK

The Oxford Magazine;

For OCTOBER, 1768.

The Behaviour of Judge JEFFERIES, at the Trial of the Reverend RICHARD BAXTER, in the Court of King's Bench.

HE revival of the name of judge Jefferies, among political writers, feems to carry with it fome degree of ignorance, as well as malice. That there can be no grounds for the infinuation that any judge upon the bench refembles him at prefent, will appear from confidering his behaviour at the trial of the famous Richard Baxter, a non-conformist minister, in the court of king's bench.

In the beginning of the year 1685, Mr. Baxter was committed to the king's bench prifon, by a warrant from the lord chief juftice Jefferies, for his Paraphrafe on the New Teftament, and tried on the 18th of May, in the fame year, in the court of king's bench. As his trial was a very remarkable one, it is fubmitted to the notice of the public.

On the 6th of May, being the firft day of Eafter term, 1685, Mr. Baxter appeared in the court of king's bench, and Mr. Attorney declared he would file an information against him. On the 14th,, the defendant pleaded Not guilty; and on the 18th, Mr. Baxter being much indifpofed, and defiring farther time than to the 30th, which was the day appointed for the trial, he moved, by his counfel, that it might be put off; on which occafion the chief justice anfwered angrily, VOL. I

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"I will not give him a minute's time more to fave his life.' "We have had, fays he, to do with other forts of perfons, but now we have a faint to deal with; and I know how to deal with faints as well as finners Yonder ftands Oats in the pillory, and he fays he fuffers for the truth, and fo does Baxter. But did Baxter but ftand on the other fide of the pillory with him, I would fay two of the greateft rogues and rafcals in the kingdom ftood there."

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On the 30th of May, in the afternoon, Baxter was brought to his trial before the lord chief juftice at Guild4" hall. Sir Henry Afhhurst flood by him. Mr. Baxter came first into court, and waited for the lord chief juftice, with all the marks of ferenity and compofure; and his lordship made his appearance foon after with great indignation in his countenance. foon as his lordship was feated, a fhort caufe was called and tried; after which, the clerk beginning to read the title of another, "You blockhead, you, fays Jefferies, the next caufe is between Richard Baxter and the king." Upon this, Baxter's caufe was called. The paffages, mentioned in the information, were his Paraphrafe on Matthew v. 19.Mark ix. 39-xi. 31.-xii. 38, 39,

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126 The Behaviour of Judge Jefferies
40.-Luke x. 2.-John xi. 57.-and
Acts xv. 2. Thefe paffages were fe-
lected by Sir Roge. L'Eftrange, and
fome of his party. And a certain
noted clergyman furnished his ene-
mies with fome accufations found in
his Paraphrafe on Romans xiii, &c.
as threatening the king's life; but
no ufe was made of them. The main
charge was, that, in thefe paffages,
he reflected on the prelates of the church
of England, and fo was guilty of fedi-
tion, &c. The king's counsel opened
the information at large, with its
aggravations. Meffrs. Wallop, Wil-
liams, Rotherham, Atwood, and
Phipps, were counsel for Mr. Baxter,
and were retained by Sir H. Afhhurft.
Mr. Wallop faid, "That he con.
ceived the matter depending, being
a point of doctrine, it ought to be
referred to the bishop, or his ordinary;
but if not, he humbly conceived the
doctrine was innocent and juftifiable,
fetting afide the inuendoes, for which
there was no colour, there being no
antecedent to refer them to" (i. e. no
bishop or clergy of the church of
England named.) He added, "that
the book accufed, contained many
eternal truths; but they, who drew
the information, were the libellers, in
applying to the prelates of the church
of England, thofe fevere things,
which were written concerning Some
prelates, who deferved the characters
which he gave them.". "My lord,"
added he," I humbly conceive, the
bishops Mr. Baxter fpeaks of, as your
lordship, if you have read church hif
tory, muft confefs, were the plagues
of the church, and of the world.".
Mr. Wallop, replied his lordship,
"I obferve you are in all these dirty
caufes; and were it not for you Gen-
tlemen of the long robe, who fhould
have more wit and honefty, than to
fupport and hold up thefe factious
knaves by the chin, we should not be at
the pafs we are. -"My lord," added
Mr. Wallop, "I humbly conceive,

at the Trial of Richard Baster.
that the paffages accused are natural
deductions from the text.”—“ You
humbly conceive," interrupted the
judge," and I humbly conceive
fwear him, fwear him!"" My lord,
anfwered Mr. Wallop, under favour,
I am counfel for the defendant; and,
if I understand either Latin or English,
the information now brought against
Mr. Baxter, upon fuch a flight ground,
is a greater reflection upon the church
of England, than any thing contained
in the book he is accused for."-To
this his lordship replied,
"Some-
times you humbly conceive, and fome-
times you are very pofitive. You talk
of your skill in church hiftory, and of
your understanding Latin and English.
I think I understand something of
them, as well as you; but, in short,
must tell you, that if you do not un-
derftand your duty better, I fhall teach
it you."-Upon this Mr. Wallop fat
down. Mr.Rotheram argued, "that
if Mr. Baxter's book had sharp reflec
tions upon the church of Rome by
name, but Spoke evil of the prelates
of the church of England, it was to
be prefumed, that the sharp reflections
were intended only against the pre-
lates of the church of Rome."-The
lord chief juftice replied, "That
Baxter was an enemy to the name and
thing, the office and perfon of the
bishops."-Rotherham added, " that
Baxter frequently attended divine fer
vice, went to the facrament, and per
Juaded others to do fo too, as was cer-
tainly and publicly known, and had,
in the very book fo charged, fpoken
very moderately and honourably of the
bishops of the church of England."
Mr. Baxter added, "My lord, I
have been fo moderate with respect to
the church of England, that I have
incurred the cenfure of many of the
Diffenters upon that account.".
"Baxter for bishops! fays Jefferies,
that's a merry conceit indeed! Turn
to it! Turn to it!"-Upon this, Ro-
theram turned to a place, where it is

faid,

The Behaviour of Judge Jefferies at the Trial of Richard Baxter. 127

faid, "That great refpect is due to thofe truly called bishops among us." Aye, faid Jefferies, this is your Prefbyterian cant-truly called to be bifhops; that is himself, and fuch raf cals, called to be bishops of Kidderminster, and other fuch places. Bishops fet apart by fuch factious, niveling Presbyterians as himself. A Kidderminfter bishop he means; according to the faying of a late learned author, and every parifh fhall maintain,a tithe pig metropolitan." Mr. Baxter beginning to fpeak again, Jefferies fays to him, Richard! Richard! doft thou think we will hear thee poison the court? &c. Richard! thou art an old fellow, an old knave. Thou haft written books enough to load a cart, every one as full of fedition (I might fay treafon) as an egg is full of meat. Hadft thou been whip ped out of thy writing trade forty years ago, it had been happy. Thou pretendett to be a preacher of the Gofpel of Peace, and thou hast one foot in the grave: 'tis time for thee to begin to think what account thou intendent to give. But leave thee to thyfelf, and, I fee, thou'lt go on as thou haft begun: but, by the grace of God, I will look after thee, I fee a great many of the brotherhood, in corners, waiting to fee what will be come of their mighty don, and a doctor of the party [Dr. Bates] at your elbow; but, by the grace of almighty God, I will crush you all."Mr. Rotherham fitting down, Mr. Atwood endeavoured to fhew, that not one of the paffages, mentioned in the information, ought to be ftrained to that fenfe, which was put upon them by the inuendoes, they be ing more natural when taken in a milder fenfe; nor could any of them be applied to the prelates of the church of England, without a very forced conftruction." To evidence this, he would read fome of the text; but Jefferies cried out, "You fhall

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not draw me into a conventicle with your annotations, nor your niveling parfon neither." My lord, rejoins Atwood, I conceive this to be exprefsly within Rofwell's cafe, lately before your lordship." 66. You conceive, fays Jefferies, you conceive AMISS: it is not." "My lord," replied Atwood," that I may use the best authority, permit me to repeat your lordship's own words in that cafe." "No, you shall not, anfwered his lordship. You need not fpeak, for you are an author already; tho' you fpeak and write impertinently." Says Atwood, "I cannot help that, my lord, if my talent be no better; but it is my duty to do my best for my client." After this, Jefferies proceeded to expofe what Atwood had published; and Atwood, on the other hand, infifted, "that it was in defence of the English constitution; adding, that he never difowned any thing that he had written." Jefferies commanded him to fit down feveral times, but he ftill continued fpeaking. "My lord, faid he, I have matter of law to offer my client;" and he proceeded to cite feveral cafes, wherein it had been adjudged,

that words ought to be taken in the MILDER fenfe, and not to be trained by inuendoes." "Well," fays Jefferies, when Atwood had done fpeaking, "You have had your fay."Mr. Williams and Mr. Phipps faid nothing; for they faw it would be to no purpofe. At lalt Mr. Baxter himself addreffed his lordship to this effect: "My lord, I think I can clearly anfwer all that is laid to my charge; and I fhall do it briefly. The fum is contained in these few papers; to which I shall add a little by teftimony." But the judge would not hear him. After fome time, the chief justice fummed up the whole, in a long, and, fome fay, fulfome harangue, to this purport and tenor, "Tis notoriously known, there has R 2

been

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