INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT; AND APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE MEMORIAL CHURCH OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS IN SOUTHWARK. THIS is especially the age of memorials. A memorial, however, is a vain thing viewed merely as an expedient for preserving the memory of those of whom it is written, “the name of the wicked shall rot," and "their memorial is perished with them;" neither does it possess much value in relation to those benefactors of mankind whose deeds will necessarily be "had in everlasting remembrance" when the jealousies of contemporaries, and the passions and prejudices of party, shall have passed away; but, as the exponent of vital principles, or of truths discovered, vindicated, or rescued from neglect and oblivion, a memorial may be of service in fixing such principles and truths in men's minds, preserving definite impressions which the carelessness of mankind might otherwise efface. We have, in many places, Scripture sanction for such memorials. Joshua, for instance, taking possession of the civil and religious privileges secured by B 6 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 66 territorial occupation of Canaan, set up stones of memorial unto the children of Israel for ever:" and "he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? then ye shall let your children know, saying. That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty; and that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever." (Josh. iv.) It had occurred, some ten years since, to earnest and thoughtful men, that, notwithstanding the light and liberty at present enjoyed, many advantages would attend the erection of a memorial which should remind the present, and keep informed the coming generations, of the martyrdom, sufferings, and privations of those who were the fathers of restored freedom of conscience and free worship in the old world, and who became the founders of an empire of free worshippers in the new. It was felicitously suggested that a memorial building, comprising Lecture-hall, Church, and School-rooms, should be erected, as nearly as circumstances would permit, on the site of the place of meeting of the first Separatists of Southwark (the precursors, from 1559 to 1620, of the expatriated Pilgrim Fathers of New England), in the vicinity of the prisons in which so many of their members were immured, and near to *The Clink and the King's Bench. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 7 the spot where their pastor, PENRY, was, for maintaining their principles, brought to a martyr's grave. * The attention of the friends of religious freedom was directed to the suggested memorial by the Rev. Thomas Binney, in a paper drawn up and subscribed by himself, and subsequently subscribed by the leading ministers of the Congregational body. As it is impossible to improve upon this statement, it is transcribed in this place, to speak for itself on behalf of the Pilgrims' Memorial: MEMORIAL CHURCH OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS, SOUTHWARK. "The Church and Congregation assembling in UNION STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, being under the necessity of soon quitting it, propose to erect, in some conspicuous situation in the neighbourhood, a new place of worship under the above title. "Southwark is famous in the annals of Nonconformity, and was intimately connected, in various ways, with those eminent and heroic men who laid the foundations of society in New England. During the latter half of the sixteenth century, some of the most distinguished Puritan (Separatist+) confessors and martyrs found in Southwark a home, a church, a prison, and a grave. tr "In 1586, JOHN GREENWOOD was a prisoner in the Clink, a place of confinement close to St. Saviour's Church, for advocating, in ecclesiastical arrangements, what he regarded as an approach to the purity and order of Apostolic times. “HENRY BARROWE, another defender of the same views, calling upon GREENWOOD on a Sunday morning, under the impulse of Christian sympathy, 'remembering them that were in bonds as *St. Thomas-a-Watering, Old Kent Road; about half a mile from the selected site of the Memorial Church. † See foot-note at page 50. 8 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. bound with them,' was literally secured and detained by the jailer, carried to Lambeth, and presented as a prisoner to the Archbishop. "In 1593, these men, in the hope of their constancy being shaken, were twice taken from the prison to the gibbet, and reprieved at the last moment. The first time they were led to the foot of the gallows; the second time the ropes were about their necks, and they stood some minutes in the expectation of immediate death, before the reprieve was produced. Nothing could affect them. In a few days they were hanged! "In the same month JOHN PENRY was taken from his cell in the King's Bench prison, Southwark, and executed at St. Thomas-aWatering, Old Kent Road, for Nonconformity! "FRANCIS JOHNSON, while a prisoner in the Clink for the same 'crime,' wrote, in 1596, a defence of Separation, which converted an antagonist, who had forwarded 'an argument' to convert him. This convert was HENRY JACOB, who, as a man of learning, piety, and zeal, soon became celebrated among the Separatists. "HENRY JACOB resided for some time on the Continent, where he came into contact with ROBINSON, from whose church went the emigrants who sailed in the Mayflower, landed at Plymouth Rock, and became known in history as 'THE PILGRIM FATHERS.' "In 1616,* the first Independent Church in England was formed IN SOUTHWARK, by this HENRY JACOB, and some twenty or thirty others who united with him. 'They observed a day of solemn fasting and prayer; made, severally, a confession of their faith in Christ; and then, standing up together, they joined hands, and solemnly covenanted with each other, in the presence of Almighty God, to walk together in all God's ways and ordinances, according as He had already revealed, or should further make them known to them.' "Mr. JACOB was chosen and constituted the pastor of this Church; but, after a service of eight years, crossed the Atlantic to join ‘the Pilgrims' in America. He, however, reached their resting-place only to die. His career closed soon after he touched the shore; he * Since the above was penned, in 1853, the track of the hidden Separatist Church has been traced back to the year 1559. See work by Dr. Waddington, alluded to in foot-note, page 17. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 9 was not allowed to fulfil his purpose in joining his friends, but he found in the midst of them an appropriate grave. "JOHN LATHROP succeeded Mr. JACOB as pastor of the Church in Southwark. In 1632, he and some forty of the members of his Church were apprehended and sentenced to imprisonment for two years! While undergoing this punishment, Mr. Lathrop procured permission from the bishop to visit his wife on her dying bed. He went, commended her soul to God,-and returned to jail. He had a large family; his children, deprived of both parents, petitioned for their father's liberty; the remainder of his sentence was remitted; and, towards the close of 1634, he, with thirty of his Church, joined 'the Pilgrims' in New England. In 1641, the Church being assembled on Lord's-day for worship, but with less than usual secrecy, they were discovered and taken to the Clink. Six or seven of the members appeared before the House of Lords, and received a reprimand. They were ordered 'to repair to the parish church to hear Divine service according to the Acts of Parliament.' They repaired to their own place, and, on the next Sunday, conducted Divine service according to their convictions of the mind and will of God. Three or four peers, interested by what they heard and saw when the men were before them, actually attended and witnessed their proceedings, hearing two sermons on the words, 'All power is given unto ME in heaven and in earth.' They thus heard, no doubt, of ONE whose power was superior to that of any secular assembly, how dignified soever; and they would see, too, the calm confidence of men, who, in the midst of persecution, relying on that power, could exult and sing "God is our refuge, tried and proved Amid a stormy world; We will not fear, though earth be moved And hills in ocean hurl'd. When earth and hell against us came, He spake, and quell'd their powers: "It is unnecessary to add to the above deeply interesting and suggestive facts. It was thus that SOUTHWARK was hallowed and |