Barebone
Barebone PRAISE-GOD. The person who had this singular name was a Baptist minister in London. In 1640 he became pastor of a colony that separated from Rev. Henry Jersey's Church. Besides preaching, he carried on the secular occupation of a leather-seller in Fleet street. Rapin, in his second volume of the History of England, tells us that he "passed among his neighbors for a notable speaker, being used to entertain them with long harrangues upon the times. This pointed him out to the notice of Cromwell, who nominated him a member of the legislative body that succeeded the Long Parliament in 1653." Such a man could not fail to make himself conspicuous in such a body; and from the special prominence which he attained as one of the most active members of the assembly, it was called, by way of derision, "Barebone's Parliament." When this Parliament dissolved, he seems to have ended his connection with the government, being dissatisfied with the course which Oliver Cromwell took in setting himself up as "lord protector" of England, and assuming an authority that seemed to have all the qualities belonging to the rightful possessor of the throne. After the restoration of Charles II, the government regarded him with a jealous eye, and upon some pretext he was seized and committed to the Tower. It is very evident that he was a strong republican, and held views which, although accepted in these days, were exceedingly obnoxious at the time. It is not known what were his circumstances in the later years of his life, nor when he died. It is said that he had two brothers whose names were more remarkable even than his own. The name of one of them was Christ-came-into-the-world-to-save Barebone; and that of the other was And-if-Christ-had-not-come-into-the-world-thou-hadst-been- damned Barebone. For short, this latter was called "Damned Barebone." See Wilson, History of Dissenting Churches, 1, 47-49. (J. C. S.)
