444 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. admired, that, previous to this year, it passed throughfourteen editions, ' and was translated into the Turkish language.-2. A Treatise of Faith, 1637.-3. FriendlyTrial of the Grounds tending to Separation, 1640.-4. An Answer to two Treatises of Mr. John Can. the Leader of the EnglishBrownists at Amsterdam, 1642.-5. Trial of the New Church-way in New England and Old, 1644.-6. ATreatise of the Covenant of Grace, 1645.-7. Of the Power of Godliness, doctrinally and practically handled, 1657.°-This includes several other articles. -8. A Treatise of Divine Meditation, 1660.-Several of the above pieces werepublished byMr. Simeon Ashe, after Mr. Ball's death. THOMASBREWERwas a zealousminister of the baptist per- suasion, who suffered the most cruel usage under the eccle- siastical oppressions of Bishop Laud. It does not appear whether he was ever beneficed in the established church. . The first account of himwe meet with, is, that, in the year 1626, he was a preacher among the separatists in and about Ashford in Kent. In that year, through the instigation of Laud, he was prosecuted and censured in the high com- mission court, and committed to prison, where he remained no less than fourteen years. The archbishop, afterwards speaking of the mischief done by the nonconformity of Mr. Brewer and Mr. Turner, says, " The hurt which they have done is so deeply rooted, that it is impossible to be plucked up on a sudden ; but I must, crave time to work it off by little and little." His grace, however, certainly fixed upon the most direct and effectual method of doing this. For, in his account of hislrovince addressed to the king, in the year 1637, he says, " I must give your majesty to understand, that at and about Ashford in Kent, the sepa- ratists continue to hold their conventicles, notwithstanding the excommunication of so many of them as have been discovered. Two or three of their principal ringleaders, Brewer, Fenner, andTurner, have long been kept in prison, and it was once thought fit to proceed against them by the statute of abjuration.t Not long since Brewer slipt out of prison, and went to Rochester and other parts of Kent, and held conventicles, and put a great many people into great distempers against the church. He is taken again, and was called before the high commission, where he stood silent, but in such a jeering scornful manner, as I scarcely This work indicates much reflection, an experimental acquaintance with the powers of the soul, and the workings of sin and grace. - Williams's Christian Preacher, p. 455. + Upon this part of the archbishop's accnunt, his majesty inserted the following recommendation: " Keep those persons fast, until you think what to do with the rest."-Wharton's Troubles of Laud, eel. i. p. 546.
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