The scene of the first stage was the little town of Rowell, in Northamptonshire, where a devoted Puritan, named John Beverley, had created a considerable sensation in the days of the Commonwealth, and out of this a church had sprung. After the Revolution, Richard Davis, from the Principality, became minister; and as an indication of his narrow and jealous independence, it is mentioned that he was “installed in the office of pastor or bishop” by the church itself, and by that church alone, some pastors of other congregations, who had come “to behold their faith and order,” withdrawing from the assembly, because there was nothing for them to do. Brooking no restraint, he made the whole county of Northampton his diocese, and went from place to place preaching and gathering converts into his fold. He enflamed others with ardour like his own, and became the centre of a wide circle of lay agency. People living at a great distance were brought into fellowship with the band at Rowell, and they would, lantern in hand, trudge twenty miles along dirty roads on winter mornings to hear him preach, and in the same way go back at night. Offshoots from this vigorous community became in time distinct societies. These proceedings soon excited jealousy, and the jealous were not slow to accuse the lay agents of ignorance, and their superintendent of great imprudence.[512] A noisy revival broke out in February, 1692, and the press was soon employed in giving what is called _A Plain and Just Account of a most Horrid and Dismal Plague at Rowell_, in which tract the “visions and revelations” of Richard Davis and his “emissaries, the shoemakers, joiners, dyers, tailors, weavers, farmers, &c.,” are odiously exhibited. Tidings of this reached London, and attracted the attention of respectable Presbyterian ministers, who were as much shocked as it was possible for any Episcopalians to be. What was worse, heresy, as reported, mingled with wildfire, and Davis stood charged with maintaining that believers always appear before God without sin; that if they do wrong they are still without spot; that prayers are offered more for the sake of discovering guilt to their own consciences, than for securing forgiveness from God; and that Christ fulfilled the covenant of grace, “and believed for us as our representative.” Oddly enough, this Antinomian preacher is said to have entertained an idea that baptism in the parish church is invalid, for this, amongst other reasons, that the administrators are not of Christ’s sending. Davis defended himself as best he could, and the church of which he was pastor vindicated his character, denying some ridiculous stories, yet speaking of his ministry in terms corroborative of its high Calvinistic type. [Sidenote: 1688–1702.]