On the 10th of September the same year, another person at Bath declared that the Nonconformists grew in numbers and insolence, saying they should have liberty of conscience, and that the Government, which could not stand much longer, could do no otherwise than allow them their freedom. They had reached such a degree of insolence as to break open church doors, and to get into the buildings to vent their sedition and rebellion. The minister at Marshfield often returned from church for want of a congregation, even of two or three, whereas, at the same time, 500 met in a barn within the town. They transformed such buildings into the likeness of churches, with seats for the convenience of speaking and hearing. The writer, who was a clergyman, declared that he had taken all ways imaginable to keep his people within the bounds of sobriety and obedience, and had preached constantly twice a day to suit their humour in all things lawful, descending to the plainest and most practical speaking, and had never used a note, or so much as wrote a word. Moreover, he had treated the party with all civility and kindness, and been very pacificatory in public and in private, yet all seemed in vain, and he saw that a minister must be a martyr.[531] [Sidenote: EXTENT OF NONCONFORMITY.] A contemporary author affirms that the Nonconformists everywhere spread through city and country; they made no small part of all ranks and sorts of men; by relations and commerce they were so woven into the nation's interest, that it was not easy to sever them without unravelling the whole skein. They were not excluded from the nobility, among the gentry they were not a few, yet none were of more importance than mere tradesmen, and such as lived by their own industry. To suppress them would beget a general insecurity, and might help to drive trade out of the country, and send it to find a home with an emulous and encroaching nation. If no greater latitude could be allowed than existed at that time, a race of Nonconformists would, in all probability, run parallel with Conformists to the end of the world.[532] CHAPTER XIX.