COLLIER. 27 to silence all preachers who had not received episcopal or presbyterian ordination, or who should preach any thing contrary to the articles of faith, and the directory of public worship, set forth by the assembly. He maintained, that all who prohibited any minister from preaching the gospel freely, acted like the Jews of old, who cast the blind man out of the temple, for confessing that Jesus was the Christ.. His WORKS.-1. A Vindication of the Royal Commissionof. King Jesus, 1613,-2. A Description of the Spiritual Temple; or, the Difference between the Christian and Antichristian Church, 1646.- 3. A Conference between Mr. John Cotton and the Elders of New England, 1646.-4. Two Queries worthy of Consideration. THOMAS COLLIER was a minister of the baptist persua- sion, a person of great diligence, moderation and usefulness, and a sufferer in the evil times in which he lived. Edwards denominates him a great sectary, and a man of great power among them ; who had emissaries under him, whom he sent abroad into various parts of the country. He preached some time in the island of Guernsey, where he had many converts; but his cruel persecutors would not allow him to enjoy peace. They banished him and many of his followers from the place, and cast them into prison at Portsmouth; but how long they remained under confinement, we are not informed.+ On account of his incessant labours and exten- sive usefulness, he is represented by his adversaries as having done much hurt at Lymington, Hampton, Waltham, and all along the west country. " This Collier," says my author; " is a great sectary in the west of England, a mechanical fellow, and a great emissary, a dipper, who goes about Surrey, Hampshire, and those counties, preaching and dipping. About a fortnight ago, on the Lord's day, he preached at Guildford in the meeting-place, and to the company of one old Mr. Close, an independent minister, who bath set up at Guildford, and done a great deal of mischief, having drawn away many of the well-meaning people from the ministry of other godly ministers. There: this Collier exercised; and it was given out in the country, that he was a rare man ; and the people came from the towns about to hear him. This fellow, in his circuit, at an exercise where he was preaching to many women for'rebap-. tt Crosby's Baptists, vol. i. p. 348, 349. -1- Edwards's Gangrzena, part iii. p. 41.
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