SNAPE. 413 irhich shall be proved out of the word of God, to be unlawful, I will leave it : and whatsoever I use not, which may be also proved out of the wordof God that,.I ought to use, I will, God willing, use R.". Also, on one of these occasions, when Mr. Snape ap- peared before his ecclesiastical inquisitors, he confessed, and said, " It was agreed upon in the classical and general assemblies, that dumb ministers were no ministers of Christ, and that the ministers should preach to promote a pure ecclesiastical government."+ Mr. Snape is said to have confessed in effect the wholeof that with which he and his brethren were charged. He acknowledged that he moved the mayor of Northampton to unite with other towns, in presenting a supplication to the queen, humbly beseeching her majesty to hear their cries, and grant them a more pure ecclesiastical discipline. He joinedwith his brethren in their association at Warwick, in 1588 ; when they declared against private baptism, reading apocryphal books and homilies in the church, com- municating with unlawful ministers and the government of bishops and archbishops, and for the erection of a better discipline. He is said, also, to have used the following rash expres- sions, against the persecuting prelates I pray God strengthen our faith, and arm us with patience; and then let the devil and his deputies the bishops, do what they can. In the mean time let us take our pennyworths of them, and not die in their debt. It fareth with us as with the prisoners in popery. God send us their comfort." And he compared the established church, under the oppressions of the bishops, " to Babel and the Red Dragon, dyed red with the blood of the saints."t Oppression will make a wise man mad. At one of Mr. Snape's examinations, the followingcurious interrogatory was proposed, to which he was required to give his answer :-"Have you said and signified this, viz. How say you, if we devise a way to take off all the anti- christian yoke and government of bishops, andwill jointly erectthe discipline and government all in one day, in suck sort as they shall never be able to prevail to the contrary ? But peradventure, it will not be this year and half ?' Or, did you use any words to the like effect, or tending or 4. Baker's ass. Collec. vol. xv. p. 72. t Baxter's Second Plea, p. S2. Baker's MS, Collec. vol. xv. p. 73, 74.
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