THE '' PECULIAR PEOPLE '' 245
power of prayerful belief. Most of his flock at the time
would not follow him in his supposed heresy, and determined
to deprive him of his bishopric. However, his chapel in
Rochford being his own property, they took away his
authority and left him to preach in his own chapel to a loyal
minority. For a few years more he continued to preach to
them until disease and death silenced him. The Rev.
Charles Herbert records (in 1895)(1) : "A light was put
out. With a voice like thunder and a firm belief in his
heaven-sent mission, and couching his messages in homely
language, he carried conviction into the hearts of many''.
Not a few of the old inhabitants of Rochford believed that
"Rochford had the day of Visitation when James Banyard
lived and that it closed when he died''. One old Peculiar
described Banyard's appearance by saying "He was the
ugliest man I ever saw—as a young man he had been guilty
of all manner of tomfoolery, pulling out his lips like a
horse's mouth".
There is rumour, but apparently no written record, of
another and later split in the ranks of the Peculiars due to
a married Pastor having ''taken up with'' the wife of one
of his flock. Some of the congregation are said to have
followed him to a new church of his own building, the
remainder electing a new pastor in the old church. But this
kind of thing is not confined to the Ministry of the Peculiar
People and sometimes "Rumour is a lying jade": it will
suffice here to record the facts that there are today the
''Original Peculiar People'', the few who insist strictly
upon the three articles of Faith, as in 1852, and the
"Peculiar People", who claim to reject medical aid in the
cure of disease but admit its use in surgical cases while
adhering to the other two, and in fact, original, articles of
faith.(5) The "Original Peculiar People" are now much
in the minority, and their claim to embody the "original"
doctrine is not well-based. The absolute rejection of all
orthodox medical aid even in sickness is not now insisted
upon by the '' Peculiar People '', provided medical aid be
accompanied by prayer. Therefore, the few who remained
with Banyard in 1855 have now, in effect, determined the
faith of the large majority of present-day Peculiars, whose
manner of belief and service is much akin to Methodism.