Griffin, John. The Evils of Persecution ; and the Advantages of the British Constitution: A Sermon, Occasioned by The Death of Mr. J. S. Charrier, Late French Master of the Royal Academy in his Majesty's Dock-Yard, Portsmouth; who fled from France, in 1764, on account of the Persecution of the Protestants. Portsmouth: Printed and Sold by Mottley, Harrison, and MIller, &c., c. 1820. First Edition. [11654]
Sewn into a new acid-free wrapper, 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 62 pp., light foxing. Good. Pamphlet.
The text is Matthew 10:23, "When they persecute you in one city, flee ye to another."
The evils of religious persecutions are discussed, along with the superiority of the policy of religious toleration. The persecutions of French Protestants by the Papists is delineated.
No date, and we have been able to find the exact date of J. S. Charrier's death. Charrier was a Frenchman, a Protestant, who fled the persecution by the Roman Catholics of his home country. He had been captured when in command of a French merchant vessel and paroled on his honor in England. He soon embraced an evangelical faith, and settled in Portsmouth as a teacher a school for the members of the British Navy. An irony is that he was appointed to the post by the same naval officer who had previously captured him.
Rev. John Griffin (1769-1834). b. Woburn, England. An Independent minister, Griffin was the pastor of a congregation in Portsea, England. He was minister to and author of the Life of Captain James Wilson, who commanded the ship Duff to convey a team of missionaries to Tahiti, Tonga, and the Marquesas islands.
