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The Good Witness of John James

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 15, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 33.

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The Good Witness of John James

By W. A. S.

In the year 1661, John James went to the gallows-tree at Tyburn for the Sabbath of the Lord. A little pamphlet, “A Narrative,” published anonymously in London, in 1662, gives the story of his trial and execution, “faithfully collected from such as were Eye and Ear Witnesses.”
He was arrested on the Sabbath, while preaching in a chapel in Bullstake Alley, off the Whitechapel Road. The little alley remains to this day, amid all the changes in the crowded East End of London. The warrant on which he was committed to trial is as follows:—
To the Keeper of the Goale of Newgate, or his Deputy:
MIDDLESEX.—These are in the King’s Majesties Name to require you to receive into your Custody the body of John James, whom we send you herewith, being taken this present day at a Conventicl or private meeting, in the Parish of Whitechapel, and there speaking in the audience of the people present, treasonable words against His Majesties Royal Person; you shall therefore keep him Close Prisoner until further order, and this shall be your Warrant. Given under our hands this 10th day of October, 1661.
JOHN ROBINSON, Lieut. of the Tower, THOMAS BIDE, EDWARD CHARD, THOMAS SWALLOW.
The witnesses, on whose testimony John James was convicted of treason, were shown to be unreliable. But with the prejudices of the times against aggressive dissent from the state religion, he was sentenced to be hanged and quartered.
He was but human, and life and loved ones were dear to him. Of the night before his execution, the narrative says:—
About three of the clock in the morning he had a sharp combat with the King of Terrors for about an hour and half’s time, but spake no word, only had an inward wrestling that put him into a sweat; a friend that watched with him read a portion of Scripture to him, which was the 11th of the Hebrews, and therein the Lord discovered, to the refreshing of his soul, how that the way that he was to travel that day had been travelled through by the Lord’s worthies in the days of old, and by faith they endured both stonings and sawings asunder, and accepted not of deliverance upon man’s terms, because they looked for a better resurrection; and afterwards that friend sought the Lord. And then John James declared that the Comforter was come to him again, and had refreshed his soul; and then he made himself ready, and in a joyful frame took his Bible and read James 1:12.
It is a touching testimony to the power of the Word of grace to sustain and comfort in deepest trial. These men of God who bore the martyr’s witness in old time were of common flesh and blood; but God’s truth was precious to them, more precious than life.
On the scaffold John James was allowed to speak and pray. To the commandment-keeping believers he left this word:—
I have one word to say to the people of God, and that is this: I would entreat you not to think ever the worse of the ways of God, because you see such a poor worm as I brought hither to suffer upon that account, let not the assembling of yourselves together be any way a burden to you; know that word, Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but be instructing one another so much the more as you see the day approaching. Heb. 10:25. And let not any of the wages of God, any of the ordinances of God, any of the commandments of God be ever the worse in your eyes, because a poor worm that has professed them, and has in some poor measure tasted in them of the love of God, is brought hither; do not think the words and commandments of God are the worse for that.
Then, kneeling, the martyr prayed for king and country, for the executioner, and for the triumph of the truth of God. As a little child, he cast himself upon his Father in heaven, for comfort and grace in the final trial:—
And keep now the soul of thy servant upright with thee this little moment that he has to live in this world. And dear Father, O give thy poor worm strength enough to encounter the King of Terrors; blessed be God that thou hast been so kind to thy poor worm all the way from Newgate hither. . . . Indeed and in truth let thy poor worm know what it is to be a child, what it is to be an heir, what it is to be a co-heir with Jesus Christ. . . . Blessed be God, blessed be God, thy poor worm knows he is thine, thy poor worm knows he is thine. And now dear and tender Father, think upon thy poor worm, think upon the tryal that at present is upon him; and as tryals and tribulations abound for Christ, so let all grace and consolation abound by Christ. And dear God, in the very passage be thou pleased to sweeten to my soul the very passage; let not the instruments of cruelty that are provided to destroy thy poor worm any way scare him.
Thus John James overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony, sealing his witness with his blood on the morning of Nov. 26, 1661. He and others kept the light of Sabbath truth from dying out in those dark times. They suffered to pass on the torch of truth to us in these last days. Now this same Sabbath truth, in the setting of the third angel’s message, has become the great testing truth in the final gospel warning. Whenever we are tempted to be careless in appreciation of the light given us, let us remember at what cost servants of God have followed the Lord through all the ages. It is no time now to draw back.
W. A. S.