50 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. I bless God, I am full of comfort." With a grave and cheerful countenance he added : " I was never in such a pulpit before. Little do you know what fruit God is able to produce from this dry tree. Through these holes (meaning the pillory) God can bring light to his church. My con- science, in the discharge of my ministerial duty, in admonish- ing my people to beware of the creeping in ofpopery, and in exhorting them unto a dutiful obedience to God and the king, was that which first occasioned my sufferings. The truth which I have preached, I am ready to seal with my own blood, and this is my crown both here and hereafter." When he was delivered out of the pillory, and again brought upon the scaffold, the executioner cut off his ears in a most barbarous manner ;* during which, and while the blood was streaming in every direction, he manifested the greatest constancy and composure of mind, saying, " Be content ; blessed be God, it is well ;" and much more to the same purpose.f Mr. Prynne and Dr. Bastwick had this part of their sentence executed at the same time and place. The day preceding the execution of the above sentence, it was decreed in the star-chamber, " That Henry Burton shall be sent to Lancaster castle, William Prynne to Carnarvon castle, and John Bastwick to Launceston castle, and there suffer perpetual imprisonment, and not be allowed any use of pen, ink, or paper, or any other book than the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and certain books of devotion ; and no person .to have access to them." Accordingly, July 26th, Dr. Bastwick was taken from the Gatehouse; the day following, Mr. Prynnewas taken from the Tower; and, July 28th, Mr. Burton was taken from the Fleet; and, their sores not being cured, were conveyed to their respective places of confinement. As they passed out of the city, vast multitudes of people came forth to witness their departure, taking final and sorrowful farewell. As Mr. Burton passed from Smithfield to Brown's-well, a little beyond Highgate, it is said that no less than one hundred thousand persons were collected to witness his departure, and that his wife, going along in a coach, had great sums of money thrown to her as she passed along.# But the liberty given to Mr. Burton and his fellow-sufferers to speak in the pillory ; and the affection . His ears were pared is close, that the temporal artery being cut, the blondgushed out in torrents upon the scaffold. The sight of this awakened the compassion and cries of an immense concourse of people.-Fuller's Church Hist. h. xi. p. 155.-Strafforde's Letters, vol. b. p. 85. Prynne's Prelates' Tyranny, p. 46-60. Strafforde's Letters, vol. ii. p. 114.
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