Baxter Sentenced by Jeffries

The celebrated Richard Baxter was brought to trial merely for publishing a paraphrase of the New Testament, before the infamous Judge Jeffries, May 30, 1685. An eye-witness of the scene says, "When I saw the meek man stand before the flaming eyes and fierce looks of this bigot, I thought of Paul before Nero. The barbarous usage he received drew plenty of tears from mine eyes, as well as from others of the auditors and spectators. He, Jeffries, drove on furiously, like Hannibal over the Alps, with fire and vinegar, pouring all contempt and scorn upon Baxter, as if he had been a link-boy or a knave. He called Baxter an "old blockhead," an "unthankful villain," "a conceited, stubborn, fanatical dog," etc.

And when Baxter attempted to speak, Jeffries reviled him, saying, "Richard, Uichard, dost thou think we'll hear thee poison the court? Richard, thou art an old fellow, an old knave; thou hast written books enough to load a cart, every one as full of sedition, I might say treason, as an egg is full of meat. Come, what do you say for yourself, you old knave? Come, speak up! What doth he say? I'm not afraid of you, for all the snivelling calves you have got about you," alluding to some friends of Baxter who stood by him in tears.

And after much more similar abuse, mingled with gross profaneness, this monster in human shape, of whom history declares, that "his track was marked with blood and murder," sentenced the man of God to a fine of 500 marks, and to lie in prison till it was paid; and would have had him whipped through the city, but that the other judges would not consent. Jeffries himself died a miserable death in 1689.