An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the…

Two days after they met again at Hodnet, where, upon the Oath of two Witnesses, wh• (as was supposed) were sent on purpose to inform, they Signed and Sealed two Records of Conviction. By one Record they Convicted the Master of the House, and •in'd him 20 l. and 5 l. more as Constable of the Town that Year, and with him all the Persons present whose Names they had taken, and Fined them 5 l. apiece, and issued out Warrants accordingly. By another Record they Convicted the two Ministers, Mr. Bury and Mr. Henry. The Act makes it only punishable to Preach or Teach in any such Conventicle; and yet they Fined Mr. Bury 20 l. though he only Prayed, and did not speak one word in the way, either of Preaching or Teaching, not so much as Let us Pray; however they said, Praying was Teaching, and right or wrong he must be Fined; though his great Piety, Peaceableness, and Usefulness, besides his deep Poverty, one would think, might have Pleaded for him, against so palpable a piece of Injustice. They took 7 l. off from him, and laid it upon others, as they saw cause; and for the remaining 13 l. he being utterly unable to ⟨p. 150⟩pay it, they took from him by Distress, the Bed which he lay upon, with Blanket and Rug; also another Feather-Bed, Nineteen pair of Sheets, most of them new; of which he could not prevail to have so much as one pair returned, for him to lye in; also Books, to the value of 5 l. besides Brass and Pewter. And though he was at this time perfectly innocent of that heinous Crime of Preaching and Teaching, with which he was charged (for so the Record runs again and again, concerning Mr. Henry and Mr. Bury, Quòd ad tun• & ibidem precaverunt, praedi•averunt & docuerunt.) Yet he had no way to right himself, but by appealing to the Justices themselves in Quarter Sessions, who would be sure to affirm their own Decree (as the Justices in Montgomery-shire had done not long before in a like Case) especially when 'twas to Recover to themselves treble Costs. So the good Man sat down with his Loss, and took joyfully the spoiling of his Goods; knowing in himself, that he had in Heaven a better, and a more enduring Substance.

Two days after they met again at Hodnet, where, upon the Oath of two Witnesses, wh• (as was supposed) were sent on purpose to inform, they Sign'd and Seal'd two Records of Conviction. By one Record they Convicted the Master of the House, and in'd him 20 l. and 5 l. more as Constable of the Town that Year, and with him all the Persons present whose Names they had taken, and Fined them 5 l. apiece, and issued out Warrants accordingly. By another Record they Convicted the two Ministers, Mr. Bury and Mr. Henry. The Act makes it only punishable to Preach or Teach in any such Conventicle; and yet they Fined Mr. Bury 20 l. though he only Prayed, and did not speak one word in the way, either of Preaching or Teaching, not so much as Let us Pray; however they said, Praying was Teaching, and right or wrong he must be Fined; though his great Piety, Peaceableness, and Usefulness, besides his deep Poverty, one would think, might have Pleaded for him, against so palpable a piece of Injustice. They took 7 l. off from him, and laid it upon others, as they saw cause; and for the remaining 13 l. he being utterly unable to