While many Puritans faced persecution, shamming, banishment, and even death, not many experienced it to the level of Dr. Alexander Leighton (1568 – 1643). Leighton was a Scottish medical doctor, teacher, and Puritan preacher who gained attention by writing “An Appeal to Parliament; or Zion`s plea against Prelacy” which was to call out the unbiblical acts of the Anglican Church. He hoped that parliament would see the error of their ways to rescue the nation from the bishops. He provided many examples of where abuse was taking place as the bishops were longing for personal gain and expelling God-honoring ministers. Leighton’s writings were also directed towards Charles I and Archbishop Laud’s views of the high church structure and the power dynamics of the church and state.
Archbishop Laud was the Archbishop of Canterbury. One part of Laud’s initiatives, given by King Charles I, was persecuting Puritan clergy and requiring them to conform to the ideals of worship in the Anglican Church. Laud took great joy in this and longed to do what he could against those who were against the established Church of England. Men who defied Laud were presented before either the court of the High Commission or the Star Chamber, which did not allow for witnesses or appeals.
Laud had his sights set on Leighton and wanted to make an example out of him, Once Leighton’s writings became known in parliament Laud would do everything he could to stop him and strike fear into other Puritans. On 29 February 1629, while walking to church, Leighton was seized by a gang of armed men on a warrant issued by the High Commission Court and forcibly taken to Archbishop Laud’s house. Laud’s influence and power sent Leighton to Newgate Prison. There was no trial and proper examination. The prison conditions were deplorable; Leighton was not confined to a cell but to a rat-infested open pit in the prison yard with no shelter to protect him from the damp winter elements. This sentencing included solitary confinement for fifteen weeks and denied any visitors. It is contested that he was poisoned because when he was eventually allowed medical attention, they noted that his hair was falling out and his skin was shedding.
Outside of the prison, on the orders of Laud, hired men broke into Leighton’s home and ransacked it, roughly treating his wife and holding a pistol to his five-year-old son threatening to kill him if they were not told where his father kept his books and papers. They took anything that could have some sort of evidence against Dr. Leighton, and the home was left in shambles, and anything they saw of value was taken away, including clothing, household equipment, and furnishings.
In 1630, Laud wanted to make an example of Leighton (five months after his initial arrest) and despite clear medical evidence and lack of legal representation, he was forced to attend the Star Chamber court. The Star Chamber was the secret court of the king which denied people the right to appeal and have witnesses. He was tried and convicted without having any opportunity to make any defense. Leighton was pronounced guilty, and Laud requested the harshest punishments possible. Two of the many accusations placed against Leighton were sedition and treason.
The sentence handed to him under the approval of Laud included being degraded from his orders in the ministry, being brought to Westminster to have his ear cut off, one side of his nose slit, and being branded on one cheek. He was to stand in the pillory and be whipped at a post, and some time afterward he would be carried to have the same punishment on the other side of his body. On top of physical torture, he was required to pay a fine of £10,000, and suffer perpetual imprisonment. Upon hearing this sentencing, Laud pulled off his hat and raised his hands to heaven, and “[gave] thanks to God, who had given him the victory over his enemies.”
Some commissioners believed the sentencing would not be carried out and would only serve as a warning to anyone against standing up to the episcopal church. One night, a commissioner complained and viewed the possible torture as barbaric, especially by a bishop, but Laud wanted it.
The night before Leighton was to be whipped, two of his friends snuck into the prison and helped him escape the prison. When the authorities discovered he had escaped, they wrote a “Hue and Cry Against Dr. Leighton.” Which called upon all people to be on the lookout for him, and it was not long before he was captured and brought back to prison for torture. In November of 1630, the hangman cut off one of Leighton’s ears, slit one side of his nose, and with a hot iron, branded one of his cheeks S. S. for Sower of Sedition. Afterward, he was put in the pillory for two hours for public mocking and experienced intense cold temperatures. After the two hours, Leighton was tied to a post, having his back exposed, and whipped with a triple-cord thirty-six times. After the torture, he was dragged back to prison. A week later, he had the second half of his punishment dealt with in the district of Cheapside in London, where the other ear was cut off, the other side of his nose slit, and then branded on the other cheek. Leighton was set up along the pillory and whipped a second time. Due to his wounds from the torture, he could not walk, so he was carried back to prison and kept for ten weeks in deplorable conditions. These were all too familiar for Leighton as he was back in the dirty prison yard, having no shelter, and the only company of rats and mice. After ten weeks, he was placed in a small prison cell to carry out the remainder of his sentencing.
Leighton’s punishment did not go well within the kingdom, as many people stood against the parliament, especially with the treatment of Leighton. Samuel Rutherford wrote letters to Leighton encouraging him to keep his eyes on Christ and his eternal home, knowing that his suffering had a purpose. Leighton was in prison for eleven years until the king called parliament back into session to finance wars. Parliament quickly reacted to limit the power of King Charles I and his bishops.
In 1640, Leighton appealed his sentencing to parliament, and many wept when they read aloud what had happened to him. They motioned to remove him from prison and live in a “comfortable place.” Unfortunately, when Leighton was finally released from prison, he was so malnourished that he could not walk and was blind and deaf. Parliament stated that what was done to Leighton was illegal and reformed laws in an attempt to never have that from happening again. He was awarded £6,000 for damages, but it is believed that he never received the money.
Not much is known about his life after prison, and his exact date of death is debatable. What is known about Dr. Leighton, was that he was a man who stood by his convictions. He saw unorthodox teachings of the Anglican Church and the state veering out of its lane in the 1600s. Dr. Alexander Leighton did not have the faintest idea of what his little book would cost him and he could have capitulated at any time during his imprisonment, but he counted the cost and was willing to be a light for Christ during a very dark time in history.