On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
took up their abode at Dedington , and one or more at Empton ; from which places they could easily slip down ,, across the open fields , to Milton , without being much noticed by their enemies .
** Tlie first minister , according to the S > est information that I have received , ( for we have no book of records , ) who preached atMilton , was a Mr . Whatley . I find a very short account of him in the Rev . Samuel Palmer ' s Memorial
of the Ejected Ministers , Vol . II . p . 491 . — ' Sutton-under-Brails , * ( a few miles west of Banbury , ) ' Mr . Thomas Whatley , son of Mr . William ,
baptized September 10 , 1620 . After his ejectment he preached sometimes at Milton , near Banbury , sometimes at Woodstock , and sometimes at Long Crombe , near it . He was buried Jan .
27 , 1698 / * ' There is sufficient reason to believe that he was the son of the very celebrated William Whatley , Vicar of Banbury , who died at Banbury * in the 56 * th year of his age , Anno Dom . 1639 ; for the Banbury Parish Register informs us , that Thomas Whatley , the son of the Rev . William Whatley , was baptized in 1620 ; his residence was but a few miles off , and he was
the ancestor of the late Whatleys , of Banbury . " The next of your ministers that I have any knowledge of was a Mr . Durell . The following facts make it
appear that he came here about the year 1692 . He was a French Protestant , educated at Sedan , and fled to England from the bloody persecution of Louis XIV ., who abolished the Edict of Nantz .
" He first taught the French language in London ; after a time procured a place in the Church of England near Woodstock ; but not being able to take an oath of allegiance to the Prince of Orange , while King James II . was living , he was obliged to leave
his place in tlie Established Church , the consequence of which was , that at length he became the minister of the two Dissenting congregations of Bloxliam and Milton , though he was not a Dissenter in principle . He , therefore , often attended the services of the
Established Church of Bloxham . There is no church at Milton . * ' He appears to have been a very humble and pious person , but I sus-
Untitled Article
pect a poor preacher , for some of his most intelligent hearers went to Banbury to hear a Mr . Davis ,, who , at that time , preached at the great Meeting there .
" A fire breaking out at the north end of the village of Bloxham , and the wind setting so as to blow the flames into it , Mr . Durell went to the place , and there offered up a prayer to God , that he would prevent the threatened evil . The wind changed , and the fire spread no further . This might , by
the good providence of God , have taken place , if Mb * D . had not prayed But it is a serious fact , that he did offer up such a prayer , that the wind did change , and that the people of the village took notice of it . ' Call upon me in the day of trouble , and I will deliver thee , and thou shalt glorify me . ' Psalm : l . 15 .
" He had so tender a conscience that it sometimes led him to act without much judgment . To give one instance . When a thief was taking away some of his raiment from off a hedge , he seeing him do it , cried out , —You don't steal them , you don't steal them ,
I give them you , I give them you . He had a daughter who lies buried by him in the south wing of the parish Church of Bloxham . I shall give , in the Appendix , the inscription that is on the stone that covers his grave . I
apprehend that a clergyman , of the same name and family , came , a number of years ago , from the island of Jersey , into this neighbourhood , to make inquiry concerning Mr . DurelPs family , but we know wo more of it than what is related here .
" Your third minister was a Mr . Hancock , who appears from the time of Mr . Durell's death to have settled among you about the year 17-6 . He continued with you but a little while ;
for his father dying , arid leaving a wife and family , he removed to Dudley , that he might be near them to assist his mother in carrying on his father ' s business , for the benefit of the family . " After him a Mr . Nicklin became
your pastor , but he falling , in a few years , into a low and melancholy state of mind , laid aside preaching , and went to reside in or near Dudley , where he died , as the Rev . Job Orton informed me , about the year 1781 . " The Rev . Thomas Brabant was your fourth minister . He was bom at A b-
Untitled Article
264 Succession of Presbyterian Ministers at Bloxham .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 264, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/8/
-