74 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
be not what you approve.' ' Indeed, in a note he goes so far as to 
say, " The conduct and not the creed will to me ever be the 
criterion of Christianity I shall ever deem that govern- 
ment tyrannic that does not afford equal advantages to the Catholic 
and Protestant, the Churchman and Dissenter, the professor of 
Judaism and the follower of Mahomet." Again, ' 'Instead there- 
fore of teaching your offspring blindly that they are governed by 
King, Lords, and Commons, teach them that these are men ; that 
themselves are to arrive at the stature of men ; that the excellence 
of their government is not in having King, Lords, and Commons, 
but in King, Lords, and Commons governing according to laws 
which secure the rights of every individual of the realm, and who 
are only worthy of esteem while they respect and venerate those 
rights.' 1 The second sermon enforced the reciprocal duties of gov- 
ernor and governed; and denounced persecution: " The day is at 
hand when men will no longer be persecuted for their religious 
opinions, further than they are destructive of morality, .... each 
worshipping God according to the dictates of his conscience, none 
daring to make him afraid, finding that while conscience is left at 
liberty men can unite as citizens and Christians ; yea, as friends." 
And so too, raising his voice on behalf of the " unhappy African," 
he declared, " The night of slavery and bondage is far spent, and 
the day of universal liberty is at hand." Such was the man, such 
were the sentiments, such the language; in those days deemed 
worthy of persecution. Yet there was a little religious charity 
even then. When Gibbs, "Winterbotham's co-pastor, died, Dr. 
Hawker, the famous vicar of Charles, and Mr. Hitchens, of St. 
John Chapel, Devonport, were among his pall-bearers. 
Mass was celebrated in the Citadel Chapel during part of the 
reign of James II. by Christopher Turner, his Majesty's Catholic 
chaplain. But this did not lead to the local revival of Roman 
Catholicism ; quite the contrary. The first priest who is known to 
have statedly ministered in Plymouth itself since the Reformation 
was the Rev. Edward Williams, chaplain to Mr. Richard Chester, 
of Buckland-tout-Saints, who occasionally visited the town. This 
was a century since. The first missionary station with regular 
worship was, however, established by the Rev. Thomas Flynn, an 
Irish Franciscan, in a room over a stable behind the George Inn, 
Dock. The first chapel, that in St. Mary's Street, Stonehouse, 
was erected by the Rev. Jean Louis Guilbert, a French refugee, 
