Pentecost

PENRY (AP-HENRY), JOHN: English Puritan and separatist; b. in the parish of Llangamarch, northern Brecknockshire, Wales, 1559; hanged in London May 29, 1593. He studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and at St. Alban's Hall, Oxford (B.A., Cambridge, 1584; M.A., Oxford, 1586). He is Said to have been brought up a Roman Catholic, but became an extreme Puritan at Cambridge; preached there and at Oxford with fervor and acceptance, although it is doubtful if he ever took orders. In 1587 he published at Oxford a plea for the better preaching of the Gospel in Wales; he criticized unsparingly the non-residence and incompetency of the clergy and other abuses, was brought before the high commission court in consequence, and suffered an imprisonment of a few days. In 1588 he was at Moulsey, Surrey, connected with the surreptitious press from which the Marprelate tracts were issued. When the press was seized by the authorities at Manchester in Aug., 1589, he escaped to Scotland, was well received and protected by the clergy there, and remained till Sept., 1592, maintaining his attacks on the bishops. Returning to London he joined Johnson and Greenwood's congregation of separatists; was arrested as a suspicious character in Mar., 1593, brought to trial in May on a charge of inciting a rebellion, was found guilty on somewhat forced testimony, and executed at St. Thomas-a-Watering, Surrey. It is admitted that he was the chief agent in publishing the Marprelate tracts, and it is held by many that he was their principal author [though this distinction seems rather to belong to Henry Barrow (q.v.) A. H. N.]. His acknowledged writings are very similar in tone and manner.

BIBLIoaHAPHY: Besides the literature on the Marprelate Tracts (q.v.), consult: J. Waddington, John Penry the Pilgrim Martyr, London, 1854; C. H. and T. Cooper, Atheno Cantabripiensea, ii. 154-158, London, 1861; H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred Years, pp. 246-252, New York, 1880; DNB, xliv. 346-350. PENTATEUCH. See HExATEuCH.

PENTECOST: The name of two feasts, one Jewish and the other Christian, so called from their

452

[Page 452]

453
[Page 453]

454
[Page 454]

455
[Page 455]

456
[Page 456]

457
[Page 457]

458
[Page 458]

459
[Page 459]

460
[Page 460]

461
[Page 461]