APPENDIX. I. The following Account is extracted from Browne Willis's History of Buckinghamshire, pp. 343—345. In the years 1693 and 1694, this place (Water Stratford) was much resorted unto, on account of its rector, Mr. John Mason, who taught publicly that he had seen Christ, and that he had at this place begun his personal reign on earth; which enthusiastical predictions occasioned great resort hither from many parts of the neighbourhood, insomuch that all the barns and houses hereabouts were filled with his followers, many of whom were so infatuated that they sold their estates, being persuaded that this world was at an end, and so took up their abodes and dwelt here some years after his death. He having given it out that he should rise again in three days, his adherents were so possessed with the belief thereof, that his successor in the rectory, Mr. Rushworth, informed me that he was obliged to open his grave, expose his corpse, and thereby convince the people of the madness of his tenets. There were, as I have seen, some pamphlets wrote to explode his doctrine; particularly one by the Rev. Mr. Henry Maurice, rector of Tyringham, which is entitled, "An Impartial Account of Mr. JOHN MASON of Water Stratford, and his Sentiments: London, 1695," in nine sheets and a half, in 4to. Mr. Mason himself published a rhapsody of hymns, which is in my hands. But as I have (while I am printing this history) been favoured with a more particular account thereof, I shall here insert it, as it was transmitted me in a letter from a gen tleman and lady, seated at the next parish, having their permission so to do. Their account of Mr. Mason is as follows: "He (viz. Mr. Mason) being a popular preacher, the common people, especially the women, came far and near to be his auditors; and as he came out of the church the people used to kneel down and beg his blessing, and he laid his hands on them and blessed them, as our bishops now do. It is thought this was the first occasion of his spiritual pride, which afterwards led him into ecstacies and pretended revelations. "He told his congregation (which was composed of whole families, some of whom sold their estates and lands, and brought their substance to Water Stratford, where they brewed, baked, roasted, and boiled in a notable manner) that our Lord Christ would appear at Water Stratford, and come and judge the world on Whitsunday following. They went out most evenings into the fields and sang their hymns; my grandfather and mother went out to see them. The first object they met with was a countryman, who lay on his face in Water Stratford churchyard, who was quite tired of singing, and when turned on his back was speechless, but came to himself. Then they went into the parsonage-house, and there was a congregation walking round the hall in a ring, making a prodigious noise, and all of them crying out, Glory, Glory, Glory! and all in a sweat and looking as if they were mad. My mother told them she thought theirs was an odd way of serving God, and wished they were not mad; at which they all stood still with their mouths open, and stared fiercely on her, but said nothing; and she verily believed if my grandfather and another gentleman had not been with her, with their swords by their sides, they would have served her as they did Mrs. Lisle of Imber, whose head-clothes they pulled off, and cried, Avoid Satan. Then my mother said, 'Poor deluded people, I am sorry for you, I wish I could speak with Mr. Mason;' then one of their women went up stairs, and brought down word that Mr. Mason was not to be seen or spoken with. "Some time after came the then Duke of Richmond, and a great many more noble persons, who though denied access to him, forced their way up to him, and talked to him a good deal. And amongst other things he told them he had seen our Lord Christ in the room where they were then, with his fleshly eyes, and spoke to him with his fleshly tongue; and that our Lord Christ told him he would come and appear in the air over Water Stratford, and judge the world, on Whitsunday following. After this he looked out of his chamber-window, and said the same things to the multitude who stood underneath. "After this he was struck speechless, which was occasioned (as is supposed) by overtalking himself; on which Dr. Paxton, (a very eminent physician) was sent for from Buckingham, who came from visiting Mr. Mason to our house, and told my father and mother that Mr. Mason's ail was a squinancy, and that he would not recover, and he accordingly died of it. "He told his auditory when he was alive, that he should rise the third day after his decease, and with his body ascend into heaven. He was buried before the third day; and several of his people averring that they had seen him and spoke to him after his resurrection, on a piece of ground or close, behind the parsonage-house, which they called Holy Ground, his successor, the Rev. Mr. Rushworth, thought proper to take his body up, and had the coffin opened and showed them the corpse. But this did not satisfy them; still they would meet on Holy Ground, as they called it, and did so for sundry years; and when Mr. Rushworth discharged them from coming there, they assembled in a house at Water Stratford. "In the year 1710 (sixteen years after his death), on a Sunday, my mother and a neighbouring lady went and saw them. there, and they sung the same hymns, and made the same noise, and went round in a ring as they used to do. There are none of them that now assemble on this Holy Ground, as the sect seems to be quite extinct for these last twelve years. I need not tell you, that our Lord Christ did not appear as Mr. Mason said he would." |