THE LIBRARY
o£
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
Toronto
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
Congregational
Historical Society
VOL. XII.
1933-1936.
EDITED BY
ALBERT PEEL, M.A., LittD.
KRAU5 REPRINT
Nendeln/Liechtenstein
1969
EMMANUff
INDEX.
K y CONTRIBUTORS :— page
Carruthers, S. W.. . The Presbytery at Wandsworth . . 297
Cockftt, C. Bernard George Cokayn 225
Cowell, Henry J. . Valerand Poullain : A Precursor of
Congregationalism ? . . . . 112
The Huguenot Dispersion . . . . 251
Crdppen, T. Q Congregationalism in Ashburton 186, 236
Grieve, A. J Extracts from Robert Browne's
Booke which aheweth, etc. . . . . 11
Frederick James Powicke, 1854-1935 295
Henderson, G. D. . Some Early Scottish Independents . . 67
Heriot, Duncan B. Anabaptism in England during the
16th and 17th Centuries 256, 312
Jones, Geraint V. . Henry Richard and Arbitration . . 272
Martin, R. G Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists 330
Matthews, A. G. . . Some Notes on Staffordshire Non-
conformity . . . . . . . . 2
Johnson's Friendships with Non-
conformists . . . . . . 330
Literary Interests of Nonconform-
ists in the 18th Century . . 347
Mcmford, A. A Family Books and Family Traditions 321
Nuttall, Geoffrey F. Letters written to J. M. Hodgson . . 20
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ? 51
Benson Free Church .. ..239
The Lollard Movement after 1384 :
Its Characteristics and Continuity 243
Johnson's Friendships with Non-
conformists . . . . . . 330
Literary Interests of Nonconform-
ists in the 18th Century . . 347
Peel, Albert The Sub Rosa 132
Co-operation of Presbyterians and
Congregationalists : Some Previ-
ous Attempts . . . . . . 147
Miscellaneous MSS. from New College,
London 283
The Congregational Library . . 340
Robinson, William South Cave Congregational Church . . 80
Sanders, Daisy . . . The Chronicles of a Book Society . . 164
Sanders, H. F Early Puritanism and Separatism
/ in Nottingham 100
Slaughter, Stephen S. The Dutch Church in Norwich ..31,81
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Index.
Contributors — Continued. page
Whitley, W. T. ... Willingham Church 120
Private Schools, 1660-1689 . . 172
Schools Within the Diocese of York
in 1743 213
Whitbrook, J. C. . . Calvin's Institute of Christian Re-
ligion in the Imprints of Thomas
Vautrollier 197
Wrigiit,W.J.Paylino Cromwell's Toleration .. .. 19
John Kay (1627-1705) . . . . 131
Collection for the Piedmontese, 1655 212
Play- Acting during the Common-
wealth 212
ARTICLES.
Anabaptism Anabaptism in England during the
16th and 17th Centuries .. 256, 312
Arbitration See Henry Richard
Ashburton Congregationalism in Ashburton 186, 236
Benson Benson Free Church . . . . 239
Bishop's Stortford . . Sunday School Rules . . . . 338
Browne, Robert .... Extracts from Robert Browne's
Booke which sheweth, etc. . . 11
Calvin, John Calvin's Institute of Christian Re-
ligion in the Imprints of Thomas
Vautrollier 197
Clavering The Chronicles of a Book Society.
Connected with the Congregational
Church, Clavering, 1787-1933 . . 164
Cokayn, George George Cokayn . . . . . . 225
Commonwealth Play- Acting In . . . . . . 212
Congregational Library . . . . . . . . . . 340
Coward Trustees Letter to Ministers . . . . . . 346
Cromwell, Oliver . . . Cromwell's Toleration . . . . 19
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ? . . 51
Family Books and Family Tradi-
tions .. .. \. ..321
Ford, David Everard. John Angell James to David Everard
Ford 349
Hill, Rowland Rowland Hill and the Theatre : A
Broadsheet 218
Hodgson, J. M Letters written to J. M. Hodgson . . 20
Horne, Silvester ... A Characteristic Silvester Home
Letter 141
Huguenot The Huguenot Dispersion . . . . 251
Index.
Abtiolk8 — Continued, page
Humble Hope Society, The . . . . 222
James, John Angell . John Angeil James to David Everard
Ford 349
Johnson, Dr Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists 330
Lollard Movement After 1384, The . . . . . . 243
New College, London Miscellaneous MSS. from New College,
London . . . . . . . . 283
Nonconformists Literary Interests of Nonconform-
ists in the 18th Century . . . . 337
Norwich The Dutch Church in Norwich 31, 81
Nottingham Early Puritanism and Separatism in
Nottingham . . . . . . 100
Oswestry An Oswestry Declaration of Indul-
gence .. .. .. .. 119
Ptedmontese Collection for the Piedmontese, 1655 212
Poullatn, Valerand . Valerand Poullain : A Precursor of
Congregationalism ? . . . . 112
Powicke, Frederick
James Frederick James Powicke, 1854-1935 295
Presbyterians Co-operation with Congregationalists 147
Private Schools, 1660-1689 172
Ray, John John Ray (1627-1705) . . . . 131
Richard, Henry, and Arbitration 272
Ruabon Copy of Licence, Ruabon, 1725 . . 240
Scottish Independents Some Early Scottish Independents 67
South Cave South Cave Congregational Church 80
Staffordshire Some Notes on Staffordshire Non-
conformity 2
Sub Rosa The Sub Rosa 132
Sunday School Rules At Bishop's Stortford in the 19th
Century .. . ; .. ..338
Vautrollier, Thomas Calvin's Institute of Christian Re-
ligion in the Imprints of Thomas
Vautrolher 197
Wandsworth The Presbytery at Wandsworth . . 297
WruJNGHAM Willingham Church 120
York Schools Within the Diocese of York
in 1743 213
Editorial ... 1, 49, 97, 145, 193, 241, 289
Balance Sheet, 1932,
1933, 1934, 1935 96, 146, 288, 349
List of Members . . . . 350
REVIEWS.
Peel, Albert Oithodoxy in Massachusetts. Perry
Miller .. .. ,. ..142
EDITORIAL.
THE Autumnal meeting of the Society was held during
the Autumnal Meetings of the Congregational Union
at Wolverhampton. The Rev. F. W. Newland, M.A.,
presided, and the Rev. A. G. Matthews, M.A., gave
the Society the benefit of his intimate knowledge of the
Nonconformity of the district in the paper on " Some Notes
on Staffordshire Nonconformity " printed within.
The Annual meeting will be held in the Council Chamber
in the Memorial Hall at 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9th, when
Mr. Geoffrey F. Nuttall of Balliol College, Oxford, will speak
on " Was Cromwell an Iconoclast \ " Mr. Nuttall is in the
true apostolic succession, his grandfathers being Dr. J. M.
Hodgson, formerly Principal of Edinburgh Theological Hall
(see the Letters within) and the Rev. J. K. Nuttall, best known
as minister of Great George Street, Liverpool.
A good deal of quiet work is being done in the writing of
the history of local churches. The latest of these is the Rev.
Harold Derbyshire's History of the Congregational Church at
Durham.
To the list of members of our Society the following are to be
added :
Rev. G. Shaw Briggs (omitted from last issue).
Mr. Stanley Griffin.
Mr. T. Hartley.
Mr. Stephen S. Slaughter.
Unitarian Historical Society.
We should be glad to report the addition of at least a hundred
in every number of the Transactions.
A
1 •
Some Notes on Staffordshire Nonconformity.
SOME eight years ago I published, under the auspices of
the Staffordshire Union, a history of the Congrega-
tional Churches in that county. It stands in need of
many corrections and additions, some of which,
relating to the 17th and early 18th centuries, I am glad to
have this opportunity of making. Revision of this kind is
necessarily piecemeal and I must ask your forbearance for not
providing you with a more coherent narrative.
First let us direct our attention to Lichfield, where, in the
years immediately following the Restoration of 1660, Non-
conformity appears to have been relatively stronger than at
any later date. This was chiefly due to the residence there of
a stalwart Nonconformist layman in the person of Thomas
Minors.1 A mercer by trade, and a wealthy one, Minors had
taken a prominent part in public life under Cromwell. He
was M.P. for Lichfield three times during the Interregnum,
and, as I have to add, also sat as member for the city in the
Convention Parliament of 1660, not, however, without oppo-
sition, due no doubt to his previous political record. The
Journal of the House of Commons2 shows that another candidate
was at first returned, but that Minors challenged his election,
and that on 27 June, 1660, the House unseated his opponent,
declared Minors duly elected, and ordered the Sheriff to be
taken into custody for having conducted himself partially at
the election.
Minors was buried at St. Mary's, Lichfield, 10 Sept., 1677.
Two months earlier he had made his will ; it is dated 3 July,
" written with my owne hand in five sheets of Paper " ; they
must have been large ones and covered on both sides, for the
copy in the register of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury,
where probate was granted 12 Oct., 1677, occupies ten pages
of that portly volume. It shows that he was the son of Robert,
who was the son of Richard ; that he was then living in Sadler
1 Congregational Churches of Staffordshire (C.C.8.) 72.
»VIIL,76.
Staffordshire Nonconformity 3
Street, Lichfield ; that he had been twice married, his late wife
being named Sarah, and his then wife Dorothy ; and that he
owned some considerable amount of land, most of it in Uttoxeter
and the neighbourhood. Among his bequests was a tenement
at Hadley, Shropshire, to " my well beloved friend John Barker,
of Lichfield, mercer," a Nonconformist, whose house was
licensed as a Presbyterian meeting-place under the Declaration
of Indulgence in 1672 ; also £10 apiece to seven ejected
ministers. These were Obadiah Grew, ejected at Coventry ;
George Wright, ejected at Congerstone, Leicestershire, after-
wards resident at Moseley, Warwickshire ; and, of the Stafford-
shire ejected, William Grace, Thomas Miles, Thomas Bakewell,
Richard Swynfen, Richard Chauntry, and Thomas Ford, who
was not ejected but an active Nonconformist preacher in the
county. He also remembered the widows left by two ejected
ministers, Joseph Cooper, of Moseley, and the testator's close
friend, John Butler, of Lichfield. On Butler's son Lilly, who
did not follow his father's example, but conformed, and
afterwards held a London living, he bestowed some land at
Edial. Of his benefactions to the school at Lichfield something
has already been said.1
Another name of Nonconformist interest in the will is that
of Margaret Rixam, widow. Her husband presumably was
James Rixam, buried at St. Mary's, Lichfield, 17 Aug., 1676,
formerly the London carrier, " no way fit for that trust, being
a transcendent schismatic," so wrote Bishop Hacket.8 I haa
supposed that he was the James Rixam reported in 1669 as
preaching at a conventicle held in Newborough chapel, but
more probably this was his son, who was also James. Him
we know as something of a theologian, for in Oct. 1661 he
addressed a letter to Richard Baxter, then living in London,
on a difficulty arising from the interpretation of the doctrine
of justification which the great divine had put forth in his
Aphorismes (1649). Writing to Baxter was in those days more
or less the equivalent of writing to the editor of the corre-
spondence column of the Christian World, or some such
present day journal. We need not go into the theological
puzzle which young Rixam had evolved. He had, he said,
successfully posed many others with it, which, perhaps, was
the aspect of the matter which most interested him. Though
he wrote to Baxter :
1 C.C.8., 72. "'
2 ib., 74, 90.
4 Staffordshire Nonconformity
God hath made you even as an Angel of God for your dex-
terity both in practical and polemical Divinity,
he may have hoped that the problem would be too much for
him also. More interesting to us is his postscript :
If you will condescend so far as to return any answers you
may please to do it by my Father who lies at Blossomes Inn
in St. Laurence Lane, and will come out of London the next
Saturday. Hee is a Carrier and [goes] thither every fortnight.1
There is another link, an unfortunate one, between Baxter
and Staffordshire, that should not be overlooked. In 1669
he was living at Acton, Middlesex, whose rector, Bruno Ryves,
was also Dean of Wolverhampton and Windsor. John
Reynolds had been minister at Wolverhampton during the
Commonwealth and was turned out in 1660. With thus much
of introduction the story is best told by Baxter himself.2
At this time our Parson Dean Rive got this following
advantage against me (As I had it from his own mouth ) . At
Wolverhampton in Staffordshire where he was Dean, were
abundant of Papists and Violent Formalists : Among whom
was one Brasgirdle8 an Apothecary , who in Conference with
Mr . Reignolds ... by his bitter words tempted him into so much
indiscretion as to say that [ the Nonconformists were not so
contemptible for Number and Quality as he made them , that
most of the people were of their mind , that Cromwel tho an
Usurper had kept up England against the Dutch , &c . And
that he marvelled he could be so hot against private Meetings ,
when at Acton the Dean suffered them at the next door . ]
With this advantage Brasgirdle writeth all this greatly aggra-
vated to the Dean . The Dean hastens away with it to the
King as if it were the discovery of a Treason . Mr . Reignolds
is questioned , but the Justices of the Country to whom it was
referred , upon hearing of the business , found meer imprudence
heightened to a Crime , and so released him : But before this
could be done , the King exasperated by the name of Cromwell
and other unadvised words , as the Dean told me , bid him go
to the Bishop of London from him , and him so to the sup-
pression of my Meeting .
1 Dr. Williams's Library, Baxter Letters, Vol. III. f. 212.
2 Reliquice, III. 48.
3 See further, Wolverhampton Antiquary, I. 394 ff.
Staffordshire Nonconformity 5
The upshot of the matter was that Baxter was committed
to a not very irksome imprisonment of some weeks in Clerken-
well gaol.
The remainder of the additional matter I have found
concerns the riots of 1715. In passing, however, I may note
that the reflections of John Sparry, minister of Uttoxeter,
upon the Book of Common Prayer, brought him into more
trouble than I had realized.1 Hearne, the Oxford antiquary,
notes,2 15 April, 1710, that the grand jury at Stafford Assizes
had found a true bill against him for saying that :
The Liturgy of the Church of England has no more sense in
it than there is in a Dog's Leg, and some other Words highly
reflecting upon it.
Unfortunately the Assize record for that year has not been
preserved, and what Sparry did really say we shall probably
never know.
The life of meeting-houses, and at times that of their
occupants, had always been precarious. In the Wolverhamp-
ton Constables' Accounts there is an entry under 18 Jan.,
1688-9, of three shillings paid for ale " at the inquests upon
the persons killed at the Chappell,"3 which has the further
interest of showing that there was a meeting-house in the
town at an earlier date than has hitherto been supposed.
Presumably the Wolverhampton mob celebrated the advent
of William and Mary by an attack upon the building, a pro-
ceeding imitated in their own town by the rowdies of New-
castle-under-Lyme on the death of William in 1702.4 These,
however, were but small matters compared to the disorders
which broke out on the accession of George I, ostensibly in
protest against the Whig ministry, with whom the Noncon-
formists were identified, and their impeachment of the Tories
responsible for concluding the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. A
contemporary view of the situation is given in a letter written
by Richard Ames, curate of Bilston, to William Ward, one of
the members for the county, which was read before the House
of Commons, 16 July, 1715. 5
1 C.C.8., 102.
2 Collections (Oxford Hist. Soc.) I. 372.
3 I am indebted for this information to Mr. Gerald P. Mander.
4 Calamy's Abridgement, I. 620.
5 Commons' Journals, XVIII. 227.
Staffordshire Nonconformity
Undoubtedly you have heard of several Passages , that followed
upon the Performance of the Wolverhampton Mob ; as , namely ,
the Demolishing of the Presbyterian Meeting -houses at Stafford
and Walsall , and ( 'tis said) at Stone and Longdon : Yesterday
a Parcel of the Wolverhampton Folks set forth in order to
attack Bromwich Meeting -house : These People took Bilston,
Darlaston and Wednesbury , in the Way ; so that they were a
great Number : But the Dissenters having Notice of what was
intended , came together in great Numbers , Horse and Foot ,
furnished with Guns , Swords , &c . and attackt the Rioters ,
and drove 'um off ; several of whom they have wounded : And
the Mob has a Report among 'um this Day , that one of their
Fraternity is killed ; and they seem resolved ( as Fame Goes )
to venture another Push for it . The Truth of it is , there is no
such thing as appeasing 'um with good Words ; and , I think ,
to cure it by Force will be but an uncomfortable Matter. As
far as I can learn , these poor Fellows have got a Notion , that
the Ministry and Dissenters have ruined Trade , on purpose to
make the Nation out of Love with the late Peace , and Peace-
makers ; and , because the Ministry , and secret Committee , and
their Friends , will not let the Country have Peace and Trade ,
they resolve (if they can hinder it) the Dissenters shall
not have a quiet Toleration . Hunger , and Want of Sleep ,
perhaps , may tame 'um in a little while ; but , if Things don't
mend in a little time , Parishes may be burthened with their
Families .
They will not be persuaded, that there is any Argument
against Experience ; and they say , that One Year's Peace was
better to them , and the Kingdom , than all the glorious Cam-
paigns the D of M has ever made in all his Life ; that
those were the best Friends of the Government that made
Peace ; and that their Impeachers ought much rather to be
impeached than the last Ministry ; so that , in short , thay look
upon these Impeachments as nothing else but a Piece of Spight
and Revenge in this military Ministry , because the Ratifications
of Peace took some Bread off their Trenchers : And they
reason, that 'tis the strangest thing in the World that the
Actions and Negotiations of those worthy Patriots that made
Peace, should be called High Treason, High Crimes and
Misdemeanours , which have been approved by her Majesty's
subsequent Ratifications ; for which her Majesty received the
Thanks and Congratulations of the honourable House of
Commons, and, indeed, of almost the whole Nation. 'Tis
impossible to recount their odd Speculations that they run
into upon these Occasions ; however , I was willing you should
not be wholly a Stranger to these Passages .
Staffordshire Nonconformity 7
After order had been restored, in response to a petition from
the House of Commons, the King, 20 Sept., 1716, appointed
commissioners — Sir John Chetwood, Thos. Birch, John Jarvis,
Arch. Grosvenor, Nich. Minors,1 John Egginton, Geo. Birchard,
Thos. Jukes, jun., Henry Hatrell and Roger Walden, of Clent —
to conduct an inquiry into the damages which any of His
Majesty's Protestant subjects in the county had sustained
between his accession and 1 Aug., 1715, in buildings or goods
by reason of tumultuous and rebellious assemblies. The
depositions made before the commissioners were in due time
returned into the Exchequer in proper form, and the document
is now to be found at the Public Record Office.2
To summarise the particulars given : Inquisition taken at
Stapleford Bridge, 16 Nov., 1716. The jurors say that Henry
Hatrell, of Newcastle, gent., and Wm. Lawton, of the same,
mercer, were seised of a house there commonly called " Le
Meetinghouse," which in July, 1715, was burnt down : damage
assessed at £310. Damage to property of following : Hatrell,
£100 ; Walter Bagnall, 40s. ; Henry Bradshawe, of Uttoxeter,
ironmonger, £37 lis.; Geo. Hatrell, of Stone, £8; Dorothy
Pike, of Burton, widow, £45. 3
Depositions taken at Stafford, 30 Oct., 1716. Roger Walker,
of Walsall, chapman, aged 53, deposed that some time before
25 March, 1710, he treated with Eliz. Bound, of London, who
agreed that her trustees should convey a barn and adjoining
lands in Walsall, to deponent, Ric. Lowe, since deceased,
John Godley,4 John Smith, Fowler Walker, John Cooper and
Abraham Norris. A meeting-house was built on the site
which, on 7 July, 1715, and several days following was demol-
ished by rioters. Thos. Small, of Walsall, mason, aged 45,
deposed that he had viewed the ruins : it would cost £150 lis.
to put the meeting-house in the same condition as before.
John Livesay, of Walsall, carpenter, aged 42, deposed to the
same effect.
Thos. Beech, of Meaford, Stone parish, yeoman, aged 37,
deposed that Geo. Hatrell, of Stone, maltster, by deed of
8 Aug., 1705, conveyed land to John Bradbury and deponent,
which, after the erection of a meeting-house thereon, by
1 Thomas Minors in his will refers to Nicholas, son of his cosen Richard Minors,
of Uttoxeter.
2 E. 179.6908. C.C.8., p. 128, where Oldbury, Shropshire, should be Oldbury,
Worcestershire.
3 Presumably widow of the late minister, Thos. Pyke.
4 Minister at Walsall.
8 Staffordshire Nonconformity
lease of 23 June, 1713, they assigned to John King,1 of
Darlaston2, clerk, Henry Hatrell, of Newcastle, Sam. Martin,
of Seabridge, and Thos. Licett, of Stafford, yeoman. The
building was demolished 8 July, 1715. A carpenter and
a mason deposed that it would cost £135 7s. 6d. to restore
it.
John Lowe, of West Bromwich, gent., aged 60, deposed that
for several years before 1715, he, Josiah Turton and Ric. Brett,
were seised of the meeting-house there. The title-deeds were
sent to London for fear of late riots and could not be produced.
The building was pulled down and burnt by a great number of
rioters, 15 July, 1715. A bricklayer and a carpenter deposed
that rebuilding would cost £209 10s. 4d., allowing for what old
material is still useable. Wm. Parkes, of Dudley, baker,
deposed that, 14 July, 1715, he lent John Lowe for his use in
defending the meeting-house a horse, which was badly wounded,
" ran into the breast " about half a yard ; its cure cost 40s.
Another deposition that a horse worth £8, lent to Geo. Abell
by his brother Thomas Abell, of Birmingham, ironmonger,
was killed by the rioters ; another that a great number of
rioters broke into the house of John Mayo, of West Bromwich,
innholder, one of His Majesty's Protestant subjects, went into
the cellar, drew the ale, pulled down the sign and did other
damage, estimated in all at £8 19s. John Lowe, gent., deposed
he had suffered damages to the amount of £6 12s. 6d. Thos.
Brett, of West Bromwich, maltster, aged 31, deposed he had
suffered loss to the extent of £5 8s. Jonathan Shepheard, of
Dudley, weaver, aged 32, deposed that his warehouse at
Bilston was broken into and yarn taken to the value of £8 2s. 6d.
Moses Byrd, of West Bromwich, nailfactor, aged 64, deposed
that on 14 July, 1715, the rioters took away his gun, valued at
15s. Job Simpcox, of same, husbandman, suffered damage
to extent of £3.
Chris. Hooke, of Birmingham, aged 63, deposed that John
Godley, of Wralsall, clerk, by a deed of 14 Oct., 1707, gave to
farm Pensnett meadow with the meeting-house erected thereon
in Kingswinford parish, to John Spilsbury, clerk, John Warren,
clerk, Josiah Turton, ironmonger, Henry Hunt, yeoman,
Nich. Hancox,3 Syth Smith, John Homer,3 ironmonger, Sam.
Forrest,3 ironmonger, Wm. Deeley, carpenter, Wm. Perkes,
1 Minister at Stone.
2 ? Bar last on. -
3 Died before Oct. 1716.
Staffordshire Nonconformity 9
yeoman, Jer. Bagg, glassworker, John Pearsall, yeoman,
Wm. Parkes, of Pedmore, ironmonger, and John Coley, iron-
monger. Spilsbury and the rest were seised 17 July, 1715.
Deposition that the meeting-house was set on fire 17 July,
1715, and the next day pulled down. Depositions of two
bricklayers and a carpenter that it would cost £1 10 13s. Gd.
to rebuild.
Moses Whitehouse, of Sedgley, carpenter, aged 42, deposed
that for some years past he had rented a house called Coseley
meeting-house, from which goods to value of £7 were carried
off and burnt by rioters, 18 July, 1715.
Josiah Hargreaves, of West wood, Leek, parish clerk, deposed
that for several years past the Dissenters had rented a meeting-
house in Leek from Wm. Gravenor, of Leek, at a rent of
7 nobles a year. The premises were conveyed to deponent
by deed of June, 1716, Gravenor covenanting that deponent
should receive the compensation allowed by the King for
damages done by rioters. A carpenter and a joiner deposed
that it would cost £03 to repair the meeting-house.
Abr. Pearson, of Wolverhampton, ironmonger, age 60,
deposed that 18 Sept., 1701, John Russell enfeoffed deponent,
Joseph Turton and Thos. Sutton, who had both died since,
and John Scott, of land whereon the late meeting-house at
Wolverhampton was built. John Wylde, of Wolverhampton,
carpenter, aged 44, deposed that on 29 June, 1715, and some
days following rioters had pulled down and burnt the premises,
and that it would cost £254 16s. 2d. to rebuild and refurnish
them. Edw. Pagett, of same, mason, aged 31, deposed to
same effect. Sam. Clemson, of same, currier, aged 33, deposed
that on 11 July, 1715, a great number of rioters attacked his
house, being his inheritance, broke the windows, flung great
stones and pieces of timber into the house, threw down the
pewter from the shelves, wounded and bruised deponent and
his wife, and threatened his life so that he was forced to keep
a number of armed men in the house for a fortnight. Damages
estimated at £20.
Wm. Brookes, of Stafford, bodismaker, aged 26, deposed
that he saw lease executed 25 July, 1715, whereby John
Dancer granted the meeting-house in Stafford to Fra. Licett,
Thos. Licett, Wm. Salt, Wm. Dix, John Stych and Wm.
Bagnall. The premises were burnt down by rioters 7 July,
1715. Depositions by a joiner and bricklayer that it will cost
£215 16s. to rebuild them.
io Staffordshire Nonconformity
Further additions and corrections to Congregational Churches
of Staffordshire.
p. 4. Asho was vicar of Rugeley in 1627 (Parish Register).
p. 8. For a further account of Lee, see Wolverhampton Antiquary,
I. 305 ff.
p. 14. Thos. Wood wan of Cheekley, not Stowc.
p. 18. The first signatory of the Testimony was John Taylor.
After G. Crosse add Wm. I Jrook.es, his assistant. For
Garvin Hamilton read Gawin.
p. 24. Later Homing was probably rector of Lydd, Kent ;
ejected thence 1660 : conformed and died in 1070 as
vicar of Swine.shcad, Hunts.
p. 27. Voluntary Associations of Cumberland and Worcester-
shire began 1653, not 16511.
p. 03. The Conventicle Act forbade 5 or more persons over and
above the household to assemble for worship,
p. 68. The Betley incident was one of the grounds for the
Commons' petition for the enforcement of the penal laws,
p. 85. Rich. Astley, ejected from Stowe 1660, returned to his
native Lancashire, and was afterwards minister at
Hull (Nonconformists' Memorial (1775), II. 84, 571).
p. 86. Noah Bryan was ordained deacon and priest by the
Bishop of Fxeter, 13 Feb., 1662-3, but nevertheless
ap|>ears among Dublin Nonconformist ministers in
HUH) (not 1667).
p. 04. The story of the ministers belongs to the accession of
George I, not that of William and Mary,
p. 99. Sam. Doughty, the ejected, died 1671) : the reference is to
his son.
p. 117. Mary Wilkes was no relation or connexion of the
politician's.
p. 152. For a further account of Barr, see Wolverhampton
A ntiquary.
p. 154. Temple Street Cha]>ol was built in 1783, not 1795.
p. 216. There is still a Unitarian Chapel at Oldbury.
p. 265. David Griffiths, previously minister at Bromyard,
removed to Wednesbury, 1705, " in hopes of being
more extensively useful, but to the great Grief and
Loss of ye Bromyard People, and Ho had not much
Comfort or Success at Wednesbury and died there in
.January, 1771. He was a man of bright Parts, a
smart Disputant, an animated Preacher, and a solid
evangelical Divine." (Dr. Williams's Library, Thomp-
son MS).
p. 268. John Stubbs, " Dccenting Teacher," buried at St.
Peter's, Wolverhampton, 10 March, 1738-9, age 66,
mi. A. G. Matthkws.
II
Extracts from Robert Browne's Booke which
sheweth, etc.
A Booke which sheweth the Life and Manners of all True
Christians1 was one of the three tracts published by Robert
Browne at Middelburg in 1582. The others were A Treatise
upon the 23. of Matthewe and A Treatise of Reformation without
Tarying for anie. The cost was borne, at least in part, by
Robert Harrison, and it was for distributing the tracts at Bury
St. Edmunds that John Copping and Elias Thacker were
hanged in 1583.
The Treatise of Reformation, edited by T. G. Crippen, was
published by the Society in 1903, but the Booke which sheweth
is not so available for the general reader. Dr. Williston Walker
in his Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism ( 1 893) rightly
gives it pride of place, for it is the first definite exposition of the
theory of Congregational Independency. Pending the long-
awaited Corpus of our Congregational classics, it has been
thought that many readers would be glad to have the salient
passages of this particular writing, as selected by Dr. Walker,
in handy form. The spelling has been modernized.
The book is a series of 185 questions " each with answer,
counter- question, definition, and division.'' But it will suffice
here to give the questions and answers. Questions 2 to 34 deal
with the nature and attributes of God, Providence, the Fall,
and the Atonement. The " happiness " referred to in question
35 is that purchased for man by Christ. Questions f>4 to 81
refer to the Jewish dispensation ; 82 to 1 1 1 to Christian graces
and duties — two examples are given. Questions 112 to 185
are concerned with the duties of man to man, but only the first
sixteen of them contain anything specifically Brownist.
A. J. Grieve.
1 . Wherefore are we called the people of God and Christians ?
Because that by a willing Covenant made with our God, we are
under the government of God and Christ, and thereby do lead a
godly and Christian life.
35. What is our calling and leading unto this happiness ?
In the New Testament our calling is in plainer manner : as by
the first planting and gathering of the church under one kind of
government.
1 . . . And how unlike they are unto Turks and Papists and Heathen folk.
12 Robert Browne's Booke which sheweth
Also by a further planting of the church according to that
government.
But in the Old Testament, our calling was by shadows and
ceremonies, as among the Jews.
36. How must the church be first planted and gathered under one
kind of government I
First, by a covenant and condition made on God's behalf.
Secondly, by a covenant and condition made on our behalf.
Thirdly, by using the sacrament of Baptism to seal those con-
ditions and covenants.
37. What is the covenant or condition on God's behalf ?
His promise to be our God and Saviour, if we forsake not His
government by disobedience.
Also His promise to be the God of our seed, while we are His
people.
Also the gift of His spirit to His children as an inward calling
and furtherance of godliness.
38. What is the covenant or condition on our behalf ?
We must offer and give up ourselves to be of the church and
people of God.
We must likewise offer and give up our children and others,
being under age, if they be of our household and we have full power
over them.
We must make profession that we are His people by submitting
ourselves to His laws and government.
39. How must Baptism be used as a seal of this covenant ?
They must be duly presented and offered to God and the
church which are to be baptized.
They must be duly received unto grace and fellowship.
40. How must they be presented and offered ?
The children of the faithful though they be infants are to be
offered to God and the church that they may be baptized.
Also those infants or children which are of the household of
the faithful and under their full power.
Also all of discretion which are not baptized if they hold the
Christian profession and show forth the same.
41. How must they be received unto grace and fellowship ?
The word must be duly preached in a holy assembly.
The sign or Sacrament must be applied thereto.
42. How must the word be preached ?
The preacher being called and meet thereto must show the
redemption of Christians by Christ and the promises received by
faith as before.
Also they must show the right use of that redemption in
suffering with Christ to die unto sin by repentance.
Robert Browne's Booke which sheweth 13
Also the raising and quickening again upon repentance.
43. How must the sign be applied thereto ?
The bodies of the parties baptized must be washed with water
or sprinkled or dipped in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost unto the forgiveness of sins, and dying
thereto in one death and burial with Christ.
The preacher must pronounce them to be baptized into the body
and government of Christ, to be taught and to profess His laws,
that by His mediation and victory they might rise again with Him
unto holiness and happiness for ever. The church must give
thanks for the party baptized and pray for his further instruction
and training unto salvation.
44. How must it (the church) be further builded according unto
church government ?
First, by communion of the graces and offices in the head of
the church, which is Christ.
Secondly, by communion of the graces and offices in the body,
which is the church of Christ.
Thirdly, by using the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as a seal
of this communion.
45. How hath the church the communion of those graces and
offices which are in Christ ?
It hath the use of His priesthood : because He is the High
Priest thereof.
Also of His prophecy : because He is the Prophet thereof.
Also of His kingdom and government : because He is the King
and Lord thereof.
46. What use hath the church of His priesthood ?
Thereby He is our mediator, and we present and offer up our
prayers in His name because by His entreaty our sins are forgiven.
Also He is our justification, because by His atonement we are
justified.
Also He is our sanctification, because He partaketh unto us
His holiness and spiritual graces.
47. What use hath the church of His prophecy ?
He Himself hath taught us and given us His laws.
He preacheth unto us by His word and message in the mouths
of His messengers.
He appointeth to everyone their callings and duties.
48. What use hath the church of His kingly office ?
By that He executeth His laws : First, by overseeing and
trying out wickedness.
Also by private or open rebuke of private or open offenders.
Also by separation of the wilful or more grievous offenders.
2
14 Robert Browne's Booke which sheweth
49. What use hath the church of the graces and offices under
Christ ?
It hath those which have office of teaching and guiding.
Also those which have office of cherishing and relieving the
afflicted and poor.
Also it hath the graces of all the brethren and people to do
good withal.
50. Who have the grace and office of teaching and guiding ?
Some have this charge and office together which cannot be
sundered. ,
Some have their several charge over many churches.
Some have charge but in one church only.
51 . How have some their charge and office together ?
There be Synods or meetings of sundry churches which are when
the weaker churches seek help of the stronger, for deciding or
redressing of matters ; or else the stronger look to them for redress.
There is also prophecy, or meetings for the use of every man's
gift in thought or reasoning or exhortation and doctrine.
There is the Eldership, or meetings of the most forward and
wise, for looking to matters.
52. Who have their several charge over many churches ?
Apostles had charge over many churches.
Likewise prophets which had their revelations or visions.
Likewise helpers unto these, as Evangelists, and companions of
their journeys.
53. Who have their several charge in one church only, to teach
and guide the same ?
The Pastor, or he which hath the gift of exhorting, and applying
especially.
The Teacher, or he which hath the gift of teaching especially :
and less gift of exhorting and applying.
They which help unto them both in overseeing and counselling,
as the most forward or Elders.
54. Who have office of cherishing and relieving the afflicted and
poor ?
The Relievers or Deacons, which are to gather and bestow the
church liberality.
The Widows, which are to pray for the church, with attendance
to the sick and afflicted thereof.
55. How hath the church the use of those graces which all the
brethren and people have to do good withal ?
Because every one of the church is made a King, a Priest and
a Prophet under Christ, to uphold and further the kingdom of God
and to break and destroy the kingdom of Antichrist and Satan.
Robert Browne's Booke which sheweth 15
56. How are we made Kings ?
We must all watch one another and try out all wickedness.
We must privately and openly rebuke the private and open
offenders. We must also separate the more wilful and grievous
offenders and withdraw ourselves from them and gather the righteous
together.
57. How are all Christians made Priests under Christ ?
They present and offer up prayers unto God for themselves
and for others.
They turn others from iniquity so that atonement is made in
Christ unto justification.
In them also and for them others are sanctified by partaking
the graces of Christ unto them.
58. How are all Christians made prophets under Christ ?
They teach the laws of Christ and talk and reason for the
maintenance of them.
They exhort, move, and stir up to the keeping of His laws.
They appoint, counsel, and tell one another their duties.
59. How must we use the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a seal
of this communion ?
There must be a due preparation to receive the Lord's Supper.
And a due ministration thereof.
60. What preparation must there be to receive the Lord's Supper ?
There must be a separation from those which are none of the
church, or be unmeet to receive, that the worthy may be only
received.
All open offences and faultings must be redressed.
All must prove and examine themselves, that their conscience
be clear by faith and repentance, before they receive.
61 . How is the Supper rightly ministered ?
The word must be duly preached.
And the sign or sacrament must be rightly applied thereto.
62. How must the word be duly preached ?
The death and torments of Christ, by breaking His body and
shedding His blood for our sins, must be showed by the lawful
preacher.
Also he must show the spiritual use of the body and blood of
Christ Jesus, by a spiritual feeding thereon and growing into it by
one Holy Communion.
Also our thankfulness and further profiting in godliness unto
life everlasting.
63. How must the sign be applied thereto ?
The preacher must take bread and bless and give thanks, and
then must he break it and pronounce it to be the body of Christ
which was broken for them, that by faith they might feed thereon
1 6 Robert Browne's Booke which sheweth
spiritually and grow into one spiritual body of Christ, and so he
eating thereof himself must bid them take and eat it among them
and feed on Christ in their consciences.
Likewise also must he take the cup and bless and give thanks,
and so pronounce it to be the blood of Christ in the new Testament,
which was shed for remission of sins, that by faith we might drink
it spiritually and so be nourished in one spiritual body of Christ,
all sin being cleansed away, and then he drinking thereof himself
must bid them drink thereof likewise and divide it among them and
feed on Christ in their consciences.
Then must they all give thanks praying for their further
profiting in godliness and vowing their obedience.
* * * *
110. What special furtherance of the kingdom of God is there ?
In talk to edify one another by praising God and declaring
His will by rebuke or exhortation.
In doubt and controversy to swear by His name on just
occasions and to use lots.
Also to keep the meetings of the church and with our especial
friends for spiritual exercises.
111. What special duties be there for the Sabbath ?
All the general duties of religion and holiness towards God,
and all the special duties of worshipping God, and furthering His
kingdom, must on the Sabbath be performed with ceasing from
our callings and labour in worldly things. Yet such business as
cannot be put off till the day after, nor done the day before, may
then be done.
112. Which be the duties of righteousness concerning man ?
They be either more bounden, as the general duties in govern
ment between governors and inferiors :
Or they be more free, as the general duties of freedom.
Or else they be more special duties for each other's name, and
for avoiding covetousness.
113. What be the duties of governors ?
They consist in the entrance of that calling.
And in the due execution thereof by ruling well.
114. How must superiors enter and take their calling ?
By assurance of their gift.
By special charge and commandment from God to put it in
practice.
By agreement of men.
115. What gift must they have ?
All governors must have forwardness before others, in know-
ledge and godliness, as able to guide.
And some must have age and eldership.
Robert Browne's Booke which sheweth 17
Also some must have parentage and birth.
116. What charge or commandment of God must they have to
use their gift ?
They have first the special commandment of furthering His
kingdom, by edifying and helping of others, where there is occasion
and persons be worthy.
Also some special prophecy and foretelling of their calling,
or some general commandment for the same.
Also particular warnings from God unknown to the world, as
in old time by vision, dream, and revelation, and now by a special
working of God's spirit in our consciences.
117. What agreement must there be of men ?
For Church governors there must be an agreement of the
church.
For Civil Magistrates there must be an agreement of the
people or Commonwealth.
For Householders, there must be an agreement of the
households. As Husbands, Parents, Masters, Teachers, or School-
masters, etc.
118. What agreement must there be of the church for the calling
of church governors ?
They must try their gifts and godliness.
They must receive them by obedience as their guides and
teachers, where they plant or establish the church.
They must receive them by choice where the church is planted.
The agreement also for the calling of civil magistrates should
be like unto this, excepting their pomp and outward power, and
orders established meet for the people.
119. What choice should there be ?
The prayers and humbling of all, with fasting and exhortation,
that God may be chief in the choice.
The consent of the people must be gathered by the Elders or
guides, and testified by voice, presenting, or naming of some, or
other tokens, that they should approve them as meet for that
calling.
The Elders or forwardest must ordain, and pronounce them,
with prayer and imposition of hands, as called and authorised of
God, and received of their charge to that calling.
Yet imposition of hands is no essential point of their calling,
but it ought to be left, when it is turned into pomp or superstition.
120. What agreement must there be in the households for the
government of them ?
There must be an agreement of Husband and Wife, of Parents
and Children : also of Master and Servant, and likewise of Teachers
and Scholars, etc.
B
2 iit
1 8 Robert Browne's Booke which sheweth
This agreement between parents and children is of natural
desert and duty between them :
But in the other there must be trial and judgment of each
other's meetness for their liking and calling, as is showed before.
Also there must be a due covenant between them.
121. How must Superiors execute their calling by ruling their
inferiors ?
They must esteem right and due.
They must uphold the same :
By appointing to others their duties.
They must take accounts.
122. How must they esteem right and due ?
They must be zealous for equity and innocence.
They must love those and rejoice over them, which do their
duties.
They must hate all vanity and wickedness and be angry and
grieved thereat.
123. How must they appoint unto others their work and duty ?
They must teach them.
They must direct them by their guiding and help.
They must give them good example.
124. How must they teach them ?
They must teach them the grounds of religion and the meaning
of the Scriptures.
They must exhort and dehort particularly for reformation of
their lives.
They must require things again which are taught, by particular
applying and trying their gift.
125. How must they direct them by their guiding and help ?
They must guide them in the worship of God, as in the Word,
Prayer, Thanksgiving, etc.
They must gather their Voices, Doubts, and Questions, and
determine controversies.
They must particularly command and tell them their duties.
126. How must they take accounts ?
They must continually watch them by visiting and looking
to them themselves, and by others helping unto them.
They must try out and search their state and behaviour by
accusations and chargings with witnesses.
They must reform or recompense by rebuke or separation the
wicked and unruly.
127. What say you of the duties of submission to Superiors ?
They consist in esteeming them.
In honouring them.
In serving them.
19
Cromwell's Toleration.
IN the light of Mr. Geoffrey F. Nuttall's article under this
title in the last number of the Transactions (XI. 280) the
following extracts from an anonymous pamphlet pub-
lished in 1660 may be of interest. The writer is a
Presbyterian who says that he was at Oxford " between forty
and fifty years ago," and the pamphlet (B.M. E 1021 (3)) is
entitled A Serious admonition to those Members of Parliament
that sate alone without the Secluded Members, with another
to Those Souldiers yet living that Secluded the major part of the
House of Commons, setting up the rest . . . Together with a
Vindication of the Presbyterian ... by a Minister of the Gospel,
London, 1660. [The Address to the Christian Reader is dated
March 19, 1659-60.] It seems clear that the Protectorate
would have had more friends if it had been less tolerant.
p. 7. Some of you have suffered, if not followed all sorts of hideous
Heresies and execrable Errors ; witness your letting out of
prison that Arch-Quaker and impudent Seducer Nailer
and your general Toleration of, or at least connivance
at all Religions.
p. 8. What makes our once famous England like infamous
Rotterdam suffering all sorts of Religions . . . how exceed-
ingly you have failed in seeking Unity and Uniformity in
Religion.
p. 11. Have you voted anything against Heresies and Errors,
Sects and Schismes ?
p. 11. ... Especially because the thing called Liberty of Con-
science hath been in your time more upheld than ever,
whereby men are encouraged to be of what Religion they
will if they keep it to themselves. Papists or Atheists ;
Jews and Turks of any Religion or no Religion : witness
the multitudes of all sorts of Recusants, besides the arrogant
Ranters and Quakers, because there hath been no restraint,
no command to the contrary, which is not liberty but
licentiousness when everyone may do what is good in his
own eyes. If you object that Popery and Prelacie have
always been excepted against, I answer it is true, but this
is only in word, not indeed1, seeing Papists increase and
are not any way restrained or questioned, much less punished
unless in purse. W. J. Payltng Wright.
1 One word in original.
20
Letters Written to J. M. Hodgson
JAMES MUSCUTT HODGSON, M.A., D.D., D.Sc, 1841-
1923. Born at Cockermouth, the son of John and
Sarah Hodgson, and grandson of the Rev. James
Muscutt. Trained at Lancashire College ; minister at
Uttoxeter, 1866-75; Tutor, Lancashire College, 1875-94;
Principal, Edinburgh Theological Hall, 1894-1916. These
letters, which have been transcribed by Mr. Geoffrey F. Nuttall,
Dr. Hodgson's grandson, need no annotation.1 They were
mostly written to him from Cockermouth during the years he
was training for the ministry.
1. From John Hodgson (his Father). 25 Nov., 1861.
Mr. Hall has accepted the Call & will commence his work either
the 2d or 3d Sunday in Dec1 — they have taken the House next to
John Banks, that one in which D* Stewart lived, for Mr H. at £20.
It used to be £28.
I enclose you some Insurance papers and a Bonus circular. I
think Mr Brown ought to insure by all means & as for Mr Miller I
suppose he will want to lay by his spare cash & I am sure he cannot
invest it better than by effecting an Insurance on his life. There
are many ups & downs in life so that no one can tell what he may
require.
Many of the Aristocracy are insured, even Lord Palmerston is,
and the late Sir Rob* Peel was. . . .
What do you think now about New College or Rotherham ? I
suppose Uncle Muscutt will have stated much the same in that
matter to you as to me.
He says he suggested New College not so much on its own % as
that you could avail yourself of other advantages in London, but
he would not advise us to that if he thought Rotherham would suit
you better. He seems to draw in a little with respect to New
College. I quite think that you ought not to have less than 3 years
preaching & sermonising before having to enter fully upon the work.
However we have time to think & pray over the matter yet. Be sure
to seek by earnest beleving and frequent prayer for Divine guidance
& then all will be ordered aright. Seek daily to live in the Secret
of the Most High. Prayer is the best, & happiest preparation for
any work, especially for God's work. I would sooner be anything
than a Minister who did not possess a devotional habit of mind. The
best and most useful ministers are those most concerned to cultivate
1 In three or four places obvious words omitted can easily be supplied.
Letters to J. M. Hodgson 21
this devotional communion. It gives a power & energy & influence
which tells upon all around. Without it the most splendid talents
are but like sounding brass."
Even in preparing for the work same is true of prayer. If you
would be really happy & useful, Live near to God & spend as much
time as possible in devotion.
2. From John Hodgson. 7 Jan., 1862.
I was glad to hear that you had conducted, for the first time, a
religious service, & would advise you to do so as often as convenient
— if you could get to other localities where you could go over the
same ground as to subject it would be of great benefit as your mind
would be more at liberty & you would be able to speak with greater
freedom of style & manner, at least I find it so in my ministerial
experience. Yesterday I conducted two Meetings in the Kirkgate
& spoke for a short time on both occasions with scarcely any pre-
paration as I did not know I was to take the services untill after I
came from Chapel in the Morning — the oftener I try the easier it
becomes.
Always let your chief aim be to do good — to win souls to Christ.
When there is an earnest desire for that it is very much easier to
speak & what is spoken has far more weight & through God's blessing
more likely to be useful.
I told Mr Hall you had broken the ice & had adopted his plan.
He would like to see your outline. We took tea with Mr & Mw
Hall at Mr Beswick's last Thursday. He is a very nice person &
a first rate Minister. I like him more & more.
3. From John Hodgson. 16 Sept., 1862.
I hope however you may succede [in winning a Scholarship] —
but what is still more important I hope you will have great success
in your preparation for the aJl important work to which you have
given yourself. Let your great & constant endeavour be to attain
all those mental & spiritual qualifications which will eminently fit
for labouring in Christs vineyard — so that you may be wise to " win
souls to Christ." Strive to live near to God — to enjoy His smile &
favor & in order to this be much in prayer. I firmly believe this is
the great reason why some Ministers are so much more succesful
than others because they live by faith & by prayer. May God be
with & bless you.
4. From John Hodgson. 21 Oct., 1862.
Last week we had our Missionary Meeting Mr Pritchard was the
deputation his address was one of the most interesting I ever
heard, of course he had long been in the most interesting part of
22 Letters to J. M. Hodgson
the Missionary field " Tahita " & " Savage Island." When the
French took possession of Tahita he was sent away & then went
to " Savage " Island. He had a great many Diagrams amongst
which was the Portrait of a Chief who once ate his own Cousin
because he had offended him. He first cut off an Arm & ate it
before the poor fellow's eyes & then another limb & thus devoured
him alive bit by bit — this took place after Pritchard went to Tahita
& before he was driven off the same Chief was a local preacher.
Many such striking & interesting incidents he related.
5. From John Hodgson. 1 Apr., 1863.
I am glad your preaching lists are improving & hope they may
continue to do so. I am also glad to hear that you feel happy in
your work, when called out, as very much depends upon a preacher
delighting in his work, & I am sure if the heart be right & influenced
by the love of Christ & the work viewed, by faith, in the light of
eternity it must be one not only of solemn importance, but of
interest & delight. Next to having a personal knowledge of the
Saviour & a good hope of Heaven there can be no greater happiness
on earth, than to tell of that Saviour & to seek to inspire that hope
in others. Let this be your great aim in all your efforts & may
God abundantly bless all your endeavours.
6. From John Hodgson. 10 June, 1863.
I have recently been very much pleased & encouraged in the case
of one of our Senr Sunday school scholars.
She & another of Miss Banks scholars I had noticed attending the
prayer meeting & from their appearance I thought they were under
serious impressions, so one night when returning from a union
meeting I took the opportunity of speaking to them as to their
state of mind & I found that one of them had decided & found peace,
the other was under concern, so I took several opportunities of
talking to her & she became exceedingly anxious but it was some
time before she could obtain peace, at length when I was explaining
to her the text, " He hath made him to be sin for us &c " she was
led to see salvation in Christ's work & at once found peace & is
now very decided & very happy. Mr Hall has conversed with
both of them & will no doubt be proposing them shortly as candidates
for membership.
7. From John Hodgson. 30 Oct., 1863.
I think you ought to devote as much time as possible to sermoni-
sing, as that seems to me the all important work, your preparing
season will soon flit away & I think it must be a great matter to
be prepared with a stock of sermons when entering upon the work.
May ycu be" aided & guided by Divine Wisdom.
Letters to J. M. Hodgson 23
8. From John Hodgson. 15 Apr., 1864.
On Tuesday & Wednesday I attended the meetings of the County
Association in Carlisle — they were the most interesting I have been
at & I hope will result in great good. Sa1 Morely1 & the Sec* of
the Home Missionary Society were present. Also Rogers &
Armitage as a deputation from the Lancashire County Union.
From a statistical account read at the meeting it appears that our
denomination has been retrograding in Cumberland during late
years. Mr Morely said he was appalled to find what was the real
state of things in the County. He had thought that what we
needed was financial help — but he was now satisfied that something
more important & vital was wanting — a Baptism of the Spirit.
The Deputation thought that for one thing there ought to be a
few Evangelists employed to penetrate the masses who attend no
place of worship & a system of lay preaching established.
Mr Morely promised to give £50 per annum provided the churches
will raise £200. The Home Mission Society through the Lancashire
Union will help to the extent of £300 per annum.
It was agreed to affiliate this Association with the Lancashire
Union. Cumberland churches will still hold their own conferences
& appoint Delegates to attend the Lan. Association Meetings.
A deputation was appointed to meet a deputation from Lancashire
to consider & arrange plans to which meeting Sir John Crossley is
to be invited in the interests of Westmoreland. . . .
Morely made a first rate little Teetotal speech after dinner on
Wednesday & Wilson pitched into smoking. He affirmed that
there was no great[er] barrier to all that is good than drink & that
there is no means by which the working class can be so benefitted
as by Teetotalism.
9. From John Hodgson. 10 Dec, 1864.
You will likely be getting anxious now respecting your future lot
& sphere. I hope you are making it a subject of earnest daily
prayer for divine guidance. It is a very important concern & I
hope you may be guided by Divine Wisdom. This you undoubtedly
will if you commit your way unto the Lord & pray unceasingly in
faith & in submission to the Divine Will.
10. From John Hodgson. 27 Jan., 1865.
I suppose you will begin to feel some anxiety respecting your future
position.
Remember the gracious exhortation " commit thy way unto the
Lord." Act upon this, cease not to seek his interposition and
guidance, watch the indications of his unerring hand, leave the
1 Samuel Morley.
24 Letters to J. M. Hodgson
matter in His hands & rest assured he will perform his promise
" he shall direct thy goings."
11. From John Hodgson. 2 Mar., 1865.
I am glad to hear that your preaching lists are still so good.
" Pray without ceasing " that God may open up a plain path before
you & guide you to the right place, when he sees fit you should
settle in a sphere of labour, also that he would thoroughly fit you
by his Spirit for succesful labour.
A month ago it was proposed to elect 2 more Deacons, last night
J Rothery & I were chosen, I had previously told Mr Hall & others,
when wanting to know if I would stand if chosen, that I would not,
unless they took away the drunkards cup from the Lords Table so
that I scarcely thought I would be chosen. It seems however that
I was at the top of the list & so was first called upon to say if I
would accept the office. In doing so I said I was ready to admit
that it was my duty to do all in my power (as a member of the church)
to promote its welfare but as most of them would remember that
some time ago I had refused to stand as Deacon & so felt it my duty
to do again, unless the church was prepared to remove intoxicating
Wine from the Ordinance. As I could not conscientiously take it
neither could I consistently give it to others, because I could not
possibly believe that an article productive of so much sin & misery
— that was such a great curse both to the church & the world, could be
a fit or proper emblem to represent the pure life giving blood of
Christ — that such an idea was to my mind a gross absurdity. I
did not however wish to force my views upon others, but I claimed
the right of acting upon my own convictions of right & duty & that
I was determined never to countenance the use of intoxicating
drink in any place & especially in a religious ordinance. If the
church was willing to meet my views & the views of several of the
members by removing this and using the pure fruit of the Vine,
which I firmly believe was the Wine used by the Saviour when he
established the Ordinance — then I was willing to serve the church
as Deacon or in any way I could. If not I must decline. Mr Hall
then said that it was simply a ques1 for the church to settle, but
before proceeding with that he would call upon MT R. to say if he
would accept. John said his position was precisely the same as
mine & he did not think he could have expressed his own mind so
clearly as I had done.
Mr Hall enquired what was our custom, whether it was usual to
decide a proposal the same night or defer it to another Church
Meeting. Mr Brown was not present. He is in Liverpool. Jno
Banks thought it might as well be settled at once. Had it been put
to the meeting I have no doubt but it would have been unanimously
voted to make the change. It was put to the meeting whether to
Letters to J. M. Hodgson 25
decide at once or at the next meeting the latter was carried. I
have long been waiting for a favourable opportunity to broach
the ques* but never expected such a grand chance as this.
I am confident the decision will be favourable. If not Mr Brown
& Mr Banks will get all the Diaconate to themselves — for no one
will join them.
12. From John Hodgson. 13 May, 1865.
I like the ground you have taken as to the Christian duty in
reference to Teetotalism.
It is the ground upon which I once gave to Mr Wilson who was
our minister a regular nailing.
In a sermon on Sabbath observance he had argued that
Christians ought not to take a walk on Sunday even for the good
of their health — altho' in itself quite right — if they thereby encour-
aged or countenanced others in their pleasure seeking on that day.
So I took his argument & applied to the other subject & he was
fairly fixed. . . .
Have you seen Dr Halley's & Newman Hall's speeches at the
Union Meetings upon American affairs ?
13. From John Hodgson. No date.
I was glad to hear that you are not over anxious about a settle-
ment & that you feel such confidence in divine guidance, which I
am sure will be quite right, trust to that & never yield to doubt or
fear. As to a church with Brewers for its leading men, I would
sooner that you never had one at all than one of that sort, for my
part I would sooner have a room in the centre of S* Giles's.
Such men as Brewers &c must be a great curse to a church how-
ever liberal they may be. Such a church might do for men like
Mr Raby who do not care to wear Christs Livery take the church's
pay and do the Devils work. He has been getting 500 pamphlets
printed & circulated against Teetotalism.
14. From John Hodgson. No date.
At the Church Meeting on Wednesday last the Wine Question
was decided. Every hand was held up in favour of the change.
14 members were present.
15. From John Hodgson. 24 Mar., 1866.
I saw John Pearson last Monday, he said the Deacons & some of
the Aristocrats of the WTiitehaven church were very anxious to get
up a call for Mr Gordon, but many of the commonality are against
him.
MT Muncaster asked Mr P. if he wd vote for to which he replied
26 Letters to J. M. Hodgson
no. Mr M said it was a pity & asked his reason. Mr P told him
he would vote for a man whom the common people could hear
gladly, which was not the case with respect to Mr G. for they often
could not understand him, Mr M thought there could be no difficulty
in their understanding him, Mr P then quoted one of Gordon's
sentences " God brought cosmos out of chaos " & asked how many
wd understand that. Pearson thinks they will not be able to get
up a call.
16. From John Hodgson. 5 Apr., 1866.
I feel that your present position with reference to TJttoxeter is
one which requires much prayerful thought & I trust that you will
be guided by unerring Wisdom.
Judging from what you have stated respecting the place — &
providing the Call should be perfectly unanimous & especially if
you have reason to think that the desire for you to settle there is
strong — I should be inclined to think that to respond to their
invitation would be the path of duty, although the place may not
be exactly what inclination would have chosen.
I do not think that what you state respecting your own feelings
or future prospect should deter you — if the way is plainly & provi-
dentially open before you. It is quite proper (I think) to aspire
to a high & important position in the Church of Christ, but we must
not forget that " God's ways are not our ways." He can raise &
often has raised, at the best time, his servants from the greatest
obscurity to the highest eminence in his service. " He that is
faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much " & "To
him that hath shall be given." My advice is not to trouble yourself
about the future, but endeavour to ascertain what is the Divine
will regarding the present, & leave the future to Him who sees the
end from the beginning.
It is better to begin low & work up, than the reverse which is
often the case, Better too to be in a small place happy & useful than
in a larger sphere with disunion & unpleasantness which might
harrass the mind & unfit it for study or for succesful effort.
From what you say of the people at U. should their invitation be
very cordial I think you might be comfortable amongst them &
do as much good for a few years, as in a larger sphere. If they are
tolerably intelligent I see no reason why you should not exert all
your energies in endeavouring to build up & extend the cause,
' Doing all heartily as unto the Lord " & then instead of such a quiet
place injuring you or preventing you from attaining a more influential
position in the future — the results might be just the opposite.
Suppose you could fill the Chapel & be instrumental in leading a
number of souls into the fold of Christ — you might thus gain a
Letters to J. M. Hodgson 27
reputation & an influence which would open a way for you to a
more important office. I would have you take a sufficient time to
consider before replying. . . .
I think you take a wrong view when you say the que8t comes very
much to this either to take U. or give up the Ministry. I see no
need for such an alternative. It is still true whatever appearances
may say to the contrary — " Commit thy way unto the Lord & he
will direct thy steps."
Write soon & I will write from Carlisle.
17. From John Hodgson. 16 April, 1866.
With respect to the call to Uttoxeter I certainly think that the
path of duty appears plain, everything seems to point you thither
& unless providence should within a few days by some means
indicate otherwise, you ought to accept the call, Gathering asuredly
that the Lord hath called you to preach the gospel there."
I quite agree with those who recommend you not to undertake
to give an address every Sunday afternoon, not by any means.
Monthly is quite often enough to address children, much as Mr Hall
was adapted for the work I sometimes thought that was fully often
for him. Children like change. Besides it is better to addiess
them less frequent & be able to interest them which it is more
likely will be the case than when addressed so often.
It will be most satisfactory to have an understanding with them
on this matter. I would write to them at once before deciding as
to the call, & I would also test them as to changing the Wine, it
will perhaps be the best time to gain the point, you will now possess
an advantage similar to what we had when we got ours changed.
I should not exactly like to object to go to a place simply on the
ground that intoxicating Wine was used at the ordinance but if when
I had assured them that I had a conscientious objection to it, they
should refuse to remove it, I think that it would make me hesitate
& very likely deter me from going. You must however use your
own discretion on these matters.
18. From John Hodgson. 18 May, 1866.
We were glad to hear of your safe arrival & comfortable settle-
ment at your sphere of labour & most earnestly do we hope & pray
that God may smile upon you & all your efforts in His Vineyard.
May He grant you all needed wisdom grace & strength for the
great work to which you are called. May you ever go forth in His
strength making mention of His Righteousness even His only &
feel that you can ' do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
you ' & be very happy & succesful in His service.
28 Letters to J. M. Hodgson
19. From John Hodgson. 6 June, 1866.
How did you get on at your reopening services ? I was sorry
you could not obtain a stranger to preach as it would have been
some relief to you. I am afraid you will find it hard work getting
sermons ready, you had such a poor stock to begin with. Have
you any idea when your ordination will take place ? . . .
I am glad to hear that your folks seem to be turning out satis-
factorily & I pray that you may have Gods richest blessing & be
very happy & useful amongst them.
I believe there is nothing like visiting & looking after both members
of Church & Congregation, judicious visiting promotes a kindly
feeling & excites a greater interest & upon this a Ministers success
very much depends. May )'ou be divinely guided in all things.
20. From John Hodgson. 7 July, 1866.
You will probably have heard by this that Lord Naas having
accepted the office of Sec* for Ireland under the new Government,
has consequently to be reelected for Cockermouth & the liberals
thinking this a favourable opportunity have brought ford Mr
Lawson & it is expected there will be a hard contest.
If we can only get Lawson in, the old Burough will redeem its long
lost noble character. It is likely Mr Hall will have to come to vote.
Should we succede in ousting the Great Lord we shall be like to
run wild with joy. Thursday was the day when it was decided to
contest the election, in the evening Lawson addressed a very large
& enthusiastic meeting. I think there is no fear of a majority
for him in the town the fear is respecting the villages.
If a liberal cannot be returned now the old Burough may just as
well go to sleep for half a century, but I have good hope of success.
21. From John Hodgson. 8 Nov., 1866.
What is Mr Gregory ? I dont remember him at all. It is trying
when people leave a place for another in the same town but you
must not be cast down by such circumstances. Cast all your care
upon him who careth for you. Whatever difficulties or discourage-
ments may cross your path, altho' there should seem to be moun-
tains on each side & the red sea before, still, " Go forward " relying
not upon human aid but upon a divine arm. " It is better to trust
in the Lord than to put confidence in Man." Perseveringly go forth
in divine strength in the faithful discharge of duty depending
firmly upon the promised blessing & that blessing is is certain. I
believe the assurance given to Joshua is applicable to all who are
faithfully labouring in God's service— "Be strong & of a good
courage, be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy
God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
Letters to J. M. Hodgson 29
22. From John Hodgson. 10 Sept., 1867.
When you get your visiting society formed let me know particulars
as I think of speaking to Mr Lewis about starting something of the
sort here. Except those who attend cottage meetings, our members
are absolutely doing nothing to promote the cause of Christ & get
people to hear the gospel & it seems great folly for a Minister to keep
spouting away to the same handful! of folks week after week who
know all that can be told them & who receive the Word just as a
duck receives water on its back. I dont see how we can expect
prosperity while those who profess to feel the value of spiritual
things & the preciousness of souls, sit still as if utterly indifferent
about eternal realities.
23. From Ann Muscutt (his Grandmother). 1857 ?
I have heard Mr Smith but three times but 0 dear what a diff-
rance between Mr Morrison and him I can make nothing of him they
said Mr M would draw no fresh ones to come but this man will drive
many away that did come the place is thin very thin what is to
come of us I do not know for there is no pleasure in going and how
long he is going to stay I know not but till after New years day has
[sic] he is to be one at the tea party also M r Hindes and Mr Sanders
what such a meeting it will be time will show O how I do wish we had
a good minister arise o Lord and plead thine own cause let not the
eneme pravel against us
My dear J neglect not reeding your Bible and pray to the Lord for
grace to understand it where withall shall a young man cleanse his
way by taking heed thereto according to thy word I doubt not
you will have good example set by Mr W be civil and kind to all with
whom you have to do.
24. From Sarah Hodgson (his Mother). 14 April [1866].
I am very glad that you seem more inclined to go to Uttoxeter
for I think that you may be quite as happy at a small place as at a
much larger one and if as I hope may be the case you are the
means with the blessing of God in raising and enlargeing the interest
it will be so much more to your credit.
25. From Polly Hodgson (his Sister). No date.
This week there is a converted clown giving lectures on Total
Abstinence in our Sunday School on Monday night it was on
Englands curse and its victims on Tuesday The Snake in the Grass
to night The young Man's story (his own) and tomorrow night
there is to be a tea drinking and then a lecture on The prodigal's
return (his own).
30 Letters to J. M. Hodgson
26. Prom Sarah Ann Hodgson (his Sister). 20 Dec, 1861.
The gas went out the first Sunday night Mr Hall preached just
in the middle of his sermon, there was not a light left in I think
it was from want of water. The Chapel has to be hung in black
on Sunday because Prince Albert is dead. Mr Hall is going to
preach a sermon on Sunday night on the melancholy death of Prince
Albert.
27. From Sarah Ann Hodgson. 9 July, 1866.
We sang the Tedium yesterday it is the second time for it, once
while I was away, it was very well liked generally.
28. From John William Hodgson (his Brother). 7March, 1867.
Miss Irwin had to be taken out of the Chaple last Sunday night
but one in a fit just as she had got the Te Deum finished.
29. From John William Hodgson. 14 Nov., 1864.
We have got a fire brigade in the town it is comical to see them
running through the town all the men pulling with all their might
and maine at the fire-engine, they wear short frocks and a belt
round them, in the belt they have axeses stuck for breaking windows
to let the flames out.
30. The Call to Uttoxeter.
The Independent Church, Uttoxeter, to Mr James M. Hodgson
MA.
Having at a church meeting unanimously agreed to invite you to
become our Pastor, it was resolved as a further token of unanimity,
and of the earnestness of the Church, that each member's name
should be affixed to its call.
We now cordially invite you to come and labour amongst us in
holy things ; should you be led to do so, you may rely upon our
sympathy and our prayerful help. We are persuaded that there is
a larger field for usefulness than the size of the town itself would
seem to indicate, and we believe that your ministry would be the
means, with the blessing of God, of largely increasing the Church,
and promoting His glory, We pray that in your decision you may
be guided by the Head of the Church with whom we leave the
result. April 2nd 1866.
[47 signatures follow.]
3i
The Dutch Church in Norwich
DURING the religious persecutions in the Low Countries
by the Spanish in the sixteenth century there was a
considerable movement of refugees to various English
towns. As the refugees were industrious, law-
abiding people, many trading and manufacturing centres were
glad to welcome them as settlers. Norwich was one of these.
Through the solicitation of the Queen in the City's behalf by
the Duke of Norfolk1 a small number of Dutch and Walloon
families arrived in Norwich in 1566. While the number of
Strangers was small at first, being about three hundred,1
others soon followed, and as they prospered in their new home
their number rapidly increased. In 1583 there were 4,679,*
certainly a sizable number considering the fact that the City
contained no more than thirteen thousand inhabitants at
that time.4 The Strangers paid the customary taxes and
formed a most useful part of the City's population. Undoubt-
edly their religious beliefs became well known throughout the
City and some of the citizens must have been influenced by
them. Robert Browne " harde saie " that the people in
Norfolk were very forward in religion6 and it may have been
the presence of these Strangers that induced him to come to
*W. J. C. Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich, 1665-1832.
Huguenot Society of London, 1888. Volume I of its publications. This book
gives a fairly complete account of the settlement of the Strangers in Norwich,
and the subsequent history of the Walloon Congregation.
J. S. Burn, The History of the French, Walloon, Dutch, and Other Foreign Protestant
Refugees Settled in England . . . 1846, is interesting, but with regard to Norwich,
at least, it is not always accurate.
•Book of Orders for Strangers, 1564-1643, fo. 27 [p. 37, Johnson's Trans-
cription]. This book, now in the Muniment Room of the Castle in Norwich (Case
17, Shelf d) contains the laws the City passed for the governance of the Strangers,
an account of the difficulties which developed between the Strangers and the
City magistrates, and some of the regulations the Strangers drew up for themselves.
Moens calls it the Dutch and Walloon Book. It is in very poor condition and the
transcription by Frederic Johnson, late City Archivist, was made use of by the
writer.
3 Mayor's Court Book, Norwich, 1582-1587, 9 Nov., 25 Eliz.
4 This is the estimate given by John C. Tingey in Hudson-Tingey, Records of
the City of Norwich, II, cxxiv, cxxvii-cxxviii. Moens followed Blomefield, Essay
towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, 2nd ed., 1805-1810,
III, p. 93, in saying Norwich had a population of 70,000 in the fourteenth century.
Tingey shows this estimate is entirely too high.
* A True and Short Declaration. Printed in the Congregationalist, London, 1882.
32 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Norwich to teach. Some of them were reputed to hold Ana-
baptist views1 and Browne may have taken some of his more
radical ideas from them.
Be that as it may, the influence of the Strangers on religious
beliefs in Norwich must have been considerable, and through
Robert Browne and his Norwich followers Congregationalism
may owe more to these Strangers than it is aware of.
The following articles, taken from the Book of Orders for
Strangers in Norwich, should be of interest to the student of
the Dutch Church in England, as well as to the Congregation-
alism They show the government of the Norwich Congregation
to be more democratic than the one advocated by the Dutch
Church in London in 1 560, 2 but quite similar to the government
finally adopted in 1641, and published in 1645,3 by the London
ministers, as the guide to all Dutch Churches in England.4
The emphasis put on the enforcement of moral laws and the
tendency to mix civil and ecclesiastical matters resembles
some of the practices which developed in certain of the New
England colonies.
The following excerpts are taken from the Book of Orders.
The folio number is that of the original MS. as given in the
margin of Johnson's MS. The page number is that of John-
son's copy of the Strangers' Book.5
Stephen S. Slaughter.
Folio Page
39 66 The manner and order of certayne articles, made by the
mynister of the Duche churche, to kepe ther companye in
good order ffollowinge the delyberacon, Conclusion or
agreemente of the ffower and twentieth daye of februarii
15 6 9 concerninge certayne meanes to be propounded to
the Congregation, wherbye (accordinge to the worde of god)
to mayntayne the church here, in chrystian peace and tran-
quilyte. The brethren of the Concistorye, with the deacons
and men, do geve the bretherne of the congregacion to
understande, That they (accordinge to their uttermoste
indeavoure) can none other wayes perceyve, but that these
1 Book of Orders for Strangers, fo. 81d-82. Johnson's Transcription, pp.
183-185.
2 John H. Hessels, Ecclesice Londino-Baiavce Archivum, II, No. 282.
3 Corpus Disciplines : or the Discipline, Together with the Form ofali Ecclesiastical
Administrations used in the Dutch Churches Within this Kingdom. . . . Published
by the Ministers and Elders of the Dutch Congregation in London . . . 1645.
1 East Anglian, or Notes and Queries, New Srs., xiii, pp. 177-178.
5 |j indicates beginning of new page in Johnson transcript ; occasionally, as
45d. and 48d., the transcript fails to give the folio number; . . . =MS. torn or
inde-ipherable. .
The Dutch Church in Norwich 33
Folio Page
articles followenge, (yf they do please the Congregacion)
shall most beste serve to the peace and unite of the
Churche, so longe as the congregacion shall thynk good.
1. Fyrste inasmuche as here in this congregation or in
anye other, no ordenaunces or articles to the Governe-
mente of the Churche, owght to be accepted : Or (yf it were
accepted) owght to be kepte, but those whiche do accorde
withe the worde of god, or (at the leaste) to the quyetenes
of the Churche. Not contendinge agaynste the same :
Consyderinge also thatt followenge the same, no incon-
venience (whiche nowe or hereafter might be thought
to growe in tyme to come in this congregacion) owght to
be accepted : bycause they maye be used in other Churches :
unlesse yt canne be shewed (by reasons of scripture)
that suche inconvenienses do take their fowndacion (not
in cawses goenge before other churches,) but in godes
worde. Or ellis that theye be shewed to contende agaynste
the same.
2. So it is that the bretherne do fynde yt good, to
cownsell that everye eyght or fortene dayes, accordinge
as tyme and parson wyll sarve : The tewsdaye at twoo
of the clocke at after none, that whiche maye be called to
the acknowledginge of godes worde, shall declare in the
Concistorye, a certayne place of the holye scripture,
67 orderlye ; bycause that they so exercisinge || themsealves
(the one takinge yt ther the other leaveth yt, may (at
tymes convenyentes) exercize themselves to speake
openlye.
3. Itm bycawse that no man shall have Cawse to com-
playne, that ther shulde anye thinge be tawght wherof wo
wyll not, or cann not geve an accoumpte. So yt is, that
the same tewsedaye at tyme aforeseyde (namelye everye
eight or fortene dayes) there shalbe censor holden of the
sermons of the preachers, aswel of those whiche preache
openlye, as of those whiche shall have propounded in the
concistorye, the whiche shalbe done, by the preachers
propoundes and the bretherne of the concistorye, whiche
shall knowe howe to geve an accoumpte of their sensure,
whear as the moste reasons and voyses shall take place.
And those whyche wyll repungne ageynste the same, shall
(by lawefull meanis) be corrected. The whiche sensure
shall contynue so longe as yt shalbe fownde meete and
convenyente to the stablyshemente of the Churche. And
yf that anye dysquyete shall aryse therby we shall not
leave of to use lawefull meanes agaynst yt.
c
3 *
34 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Folio Page
4. Itm. in asmuche as all the membres of the churche
owght to chuse all their parsons as be nedefull for the
governemente of the Churche, So yt is, that the eleccion
of the elders shalbe done everye yere as yt hath bene
39d hether to. And bycawse that the Congregation often
tymes do not knowe who meete to serve, and that they
by their ignoraunce shulde not be disceyved ; Therf or
shall the preachers and Elders whiche have served
that yere, and have beste experyence of the congregation,
preferre xxiiii11 men more unto themsealves befor the
congregation, that owte of the xxxvi ther maye be
chosen by moste voyces of the congregation, Twelve, to
be Elders. Herebye, nottwithstondinge not inhibitynge
the bretherne of their libertye, but yf so be that theye
accordinge to the wittnes of their conscience do knowe
anye other meete for that servis (withoute the nombre of
the foreseyde xxxvi) that they maye freelye electe the
same. ||
68 5. Itm that the Elders (accordinge to their power) shall
have a dilygente regarde unto the congregation as their
offyce dothe requyre, that as sone as is possyble they do
unyte and styll all stryfe and contencion, avoyde all
uncomelynes, have a regarde to the fawltes of the congre-
gation, furder or cause that dronkerdes maye be expelled
oute of the tiplin howses, Often to visyte the healthefuli
and (Especiallye) the sycke everye one in his quarter,
ffurther to declare unto the concistorye that whiche they
cannot styll themselves that ther maye be foresight therin,
And to geve the preachers to understande of the sycke,
that they bothe (aswel Elders as preachers) maye
faythefullye sarve in their offyce.
6. Itm that no man maye have cawse to complayne that
he (throughe the service of the congregacion) doth suffre
hynderaunce eyther in governinge or maynteyninge of his
howsse, Everyone that hath served one yere shall declare
the cause wherfor he desyreth to be discharged. The
whiche beinge consydered of by the bretherne of the con-
cistorye (so fan* as the excuse be fownde worthye) shalbe
accepted. And after that followenge all reason and
necessite of the Churche, shalbe handled and done withe
the moste reasons and voyces of the Churche.
7. Itm that the Elders shall sometymes, upon the Son-
dayes and holye dayes (as yt is needefull) walke dily-
gentlye (by turnes) in all streetes, to cause those people
whiche often in the tyme of Sermons, do use muche lyght
conversacion, the whiche is the cause of the most offence,
The Dutch Church in Norwich 35
Folio Page
to come to the Sermons. An yf that anye man be fownde,
Twoo or three tymes to be dysobedyente to suche good
orders he shalbe ponnyshed accordinglye.
8. Itm that the Elders whiche reade upon the Sondayes
befor the Sermons, after that they have ceased from
readinge in the Byble, shall (before the Sermon) reade the
69 tenne Comandementes || and the beleve : wherbye that
they whiche can them not, maye learne them by the often
contynuaunce of hearinge them.
9. Itm the deacons shall be chosen (yerelye) and that in
this wise, The preachers, Elders and Deacons, shall preferre
unto the congregacion xxiiii men more unto the twelve
whiche have served that yere, that owte of the xxxvi ther
maye be twelve chosen (as yt is sayd of the Elders) unto
the mynisteracion of the poore, withe suche fredom as
befor is sayde of the Elders.
40 10. Itm that the Deacons shall dyligentlye gather in, and
feythf ullye dystrybute the awlmes lyke as they have done
hether to So that they shall mynister unto the poore. Of
whome the mynisters shall geve them to understande
accordinge to the weight of ther offyce in suche wise as the
most voyces of the mynisters and deacons shall conclude.
Also the deacons in suche cases shall not reiecte the
reasons of the mynisters. And that this maye the more
convenientelye be done : The deacons shall (yf they
require it, whiche do serve in ther monethe) come into
the Concistorye for to shewe suche cawses as they have,
and (for the more unite) to comunicate therof together.
11. Itm that it shalbe handeled in the goenge of or dis-
charginge of the deacons, in the exceptynge or refusinge
of their excuses, lyke as above is sayde of the Elders.
12. Itm that the eleccion of the Eight men, shalbe done
(yerelye) in this wise.1 That unto theis eight whiche
1 The tyme of Mr. Thomas Parker Maior. [1568] an ordenaunce made for the
Alyans straungers.
Itm that owte of yo* whoale companye, ye shall electe & name to the Maior for
the tyme beinge, Eight parsons for the Dutche congregation, and fower for the
wallownes, that shalbe governoures to the whoale companye : And shall take upon
them the chardge and awnsweringe, for suche as shalbe fownde remysse and
neclygente in parfourminge the articles afore (for straungers) specif yed, or anye
article or order hereafter thought meete and necessarye to be kepte and observed.
And those eight and fower parsons shall yeerelye be presented to the Maior for the
tyme beinge, within seaven dayes after the Maior shall have taken his chardge.
And yf anye of the eighte and lower shall fortune to departe eyther owte of this
Citye, or ell is shall dye : That then within seaven dayes after his or their departure
of this Citye, or their deathe : the resydewe of the eight and fower shall (in the
name of the whoale companye) present unto the Mayor, the name & names of
hym or them so elected & chosen anewe (fo. 19d, pp. 11-12 Johnson Transcription).
36 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Folio Page
have served the yere before, Syxtene more shalbe pre-
ferred unto the congregacion by the preachers, Elders,
deacons, and the eight men withe the governors, whearbye,
that owte of theise xxxiiiiu eight maye be chosen and
instituted to the service of the congregacion. ||
70 13. Itm. that the Eight men and Governours shall endevoure
themselves to mayntayne the ordenaunces appartayninge
to the draperye and cangeauntrye : And therin neither
to renue, adde to, ne plucke from, withoute the Comon
voyses of the drapers and Cangeantiers. And all those
politicall matters, whiche shall come befor them, shalbe
united uprightelye by them. And not to sufrre anye
obstynate questions or inconveniences, but to suppresse
them accordinge to their discretions, that they maye
not be troubled withe smalle matters, whiche ar nothinge
elles but triffles.
14. Itm that the seyde eight men, whearas they knowe
or ar geven to understaunde of anye fighters, dronckardes,
whooremongers, streete walkers by nighte, contencious or
rebellious parsons, whether they be of the Congregacion or
nor [not ?] they shall cawse them to be ponnyshed accord-
inge to the faulte, that all evell maye be rooted owte from
emongeste us, lyke as theye are therunto ordeyned by the
maiestrates.
15. Itm that yt shalbe handeled in the goenge of, or dis-
charginge of the eight men (in the exceptinge or reiectinge
of their excuse) lyke as above it sayde of the elders.
16. Itm ther shalbe chosen owte of the congregacion,
flower bretherne whiche shall have a regarde to the
wyddowes and fatherles, as thei . . . te oversears, lyke
40d as it is used in all reformed Churches and Cityes : whiche
shalbe preferred unto the Congregacion in suche wise as
before is sayde, namelye twelve : owte of the whiche,
fower shalbe chosen unto the seyde offyce. Referringe
all ways their excuse as is above sayde. Whiche sayde
oversears shall consulte together withe the concistorye
and the eight men, what maye be fownde needefull to
thestablyshinge of their offyce. ||
71 17. Itm that the seyde fower men, shall receyve all
deptes appartayninge to the service of the Churche, and
paye the same unto those to whome yt shall belonge.
And that they maye the better accomplyshe the same,
everye membre of the congregation (whiche can not do
anye contribucion to the service of the Churche) accord-
The Dutch Church in Norwich 37
Folio Pfcgf
inge to his habilite shall declare, what he shall owe to
paye everye quarter : And he that shall unreasonable
withedrawe hymsylfe from it, shalbe accoumpted unworth-
ye of the ministracion and this harborowghe so graciouslye
geven to us.
18. Itm. that all impenitente and obstinate rebelles,
whiehe are disobediente to the governemente of the
Churche, and wyll not (after their tyme admonished)
repente and leave of their wickednes and synne, shall be
presented to the congregacion to be excommunicated,
withoute callinge together of the particuler bretherne :
But to use in that behalf e the governemente of the Churche
(namelye) the Elders, Deacons and eight men. Notwith-
standinge yf anye particular brother do knowe anye reason
to the contrarye, they shall or maye geve yt to be under-
standed to the af oreseyd governors of the Church whiehe
(accordinge unto the power of the most voices of the
Churches shalbe excepted in all thinges meete and reason-
able.
19. Itm that also to the helpe of the Elders, ther shalbe
appointed by the mynisters and Elders in everye quarter,
certayne particuler bretherne, to have a more regarde
to the conversacon of the bretherne. And yf ther be
anye unrewlynes perceyved in them by the same (after
twoo or three tymes beinge admonished) they shall
declare them to the Elders, and therin remedye to be
sought as aboveseyde.
20. Itm that everye quarter, the sowpper of the Lorde
shalbe mynistred beginninge the fyrst sondaye in
auguste : and consequentelye fifollowenge everye fyrst
sondaye of the four the monethe. ||
72 21. Itm that they whiehe desyre to ioyne themselves to
the congregation shall have their names redd from the
pullpitte unto the congregacion fourtene dayes before
the Comunion : Bycause that yf anye man do knowe anye
thynge to be sayde agaynste them, he maye declare yt
in tyme.
22. Itm than nowe from henceforthe, all those whiehe
shall desyre to ioyne themselves to gether in the state of
matrymonie, shall have their names publyshed, three
sever all dayes.
23. Itni that they whiehe shall be preferred to the congre-
gacion, aswell Elders as Deacons, eight men arid oversears,
shalbe chosen by bylles, lyke as it hath bene hetherto
used in this congregacion : And the same to be presented
38 The Dutch Church in Norwich
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unto the congregation (gevinge them eight dayes respite)
bycause, that yf anye man knowe enye lawefull cause in
anye of those elected, whearbye he might be unmeete
for the ministerye, he might declare yt, and geve yt to be
understaunded.
41 24. Itm that these orders shall not be altered, nor anye
other newe orders browght in or publyshed, but by the
consente of the congregation. Nottwithestandynge we
wyll nott herebye exclude necessarye governemente and
ministerye in the Churche.
Itm that these artycles before recited shalbe redd fower
tymes a yere (openlye) to the congregation : that no man
maye complaine that he hath not well understanded them.
And bycause we will not defrawde the congregation of
ther libertye, therfor they shall, on thursdaye nexte
comynge (after the sermon) geve up ther bylles with their
names, and therupon sett these woordes, I consente or
I consente not. And they whiche sett, I consente, shall
geve to understande, that they do aprove this [sic] articles,
and reiecte the former. And theye whiche shall sett,
I consente not, shall geve to understande, that theye reiecte
73 these and || approve the former articles of the churche,
which are no lenger ordeyned, then yt shall please the
congregation. And then, looke whiche is fownde by the
moste voyces of the bretherne, eyther to be consented
unto, or not consented unto — Therbie. Ther bye desyre
the concistorye, eight men, and deacons to rwle them-
selves lyke as it becomethe everye membre of the Churche
not otherwise to do. Here withe also yt is to be under-
standed, that those whiche be bretherne of the churche
and here presente, and do not geve up their bylles on
thursdaye nexte comynge as is aforeseyde, shalbe holden
to have accepted and consented unto these articles, or
ells to have reiected them accordinge to the nombre of the
voices.
These articles declared unto the congregation the seaventhe
daye of Maye 1570 accordinge to the good advice and
pleasure of the whoale congregation : whiche, whether
they shall please them or no, that shall appeare on thurs-
daye nexte comynge, eyther by the consentinge or
reiectynge of the same by the congregation. But bycawse
that the bretherne maye the better conswlte with them-
selves upon the premisses, yt shalbe prolonged untyll
wyttsondaye after the sermon at afternone.
Upon occasions of these articles, grewe great contentions
The Dutch Church in Norwich 39
Folio Page
by reason they were permytted to putt the articles in
execution, and dy verse with their mynisters, were coman-
ded and appeared befor Master Maior and his bretherne
wheare Johannis Pawlus, (a man learned,) had gathered
to hym a xxii parsons, whiche parsons the xiiith. daye of
June, in the presentes of Mr. Clere and Mr. Drewrye, with
Mr. Maior and his bretherne afore upon good cawses proved
agaynste Johannis Pawlus and Peter Obrii was an order
decreed and sett downe, as in these woordes hereafter
ensewethe.
41 d The Decree agaynste Contenders.
Wheras Johannes Pawlus and Peter Obrii, The one elected ||
74 of late senior, and the other one of the eight men for the
governemente of the Duche congregacion in Norwiche, for
that by troublesome dealynges and nawghtye behaviours,
they have geven cawse of greate dyssencion and dyse-
quyetenes in that churche to the offence of the mynisters
therof, and godes people and the peryll of their owne
sowles. We do decree and determyne that the seyde
Johannes Pawlus, and Peter Obrii, Shall openlye in their
foreseyde Churche (at some sermon, or at some solempne
meetynge ther of the multytwde) confesse and acknowe-
ledge their faultes and so reconcile themselves unto the
congregation offended, and that within seaven dayes
nexte ensewenge after this ower order decreed : Or elles
we do pronownce the seyde John and Peter to be unf ytte
men for those offyces, and wyll them utterlye to surcease
to administer enye funccion. And charginge the seyde
congregation that those men Peter and John, beinge thus
from ther oflfyce (for their owne desartes and fawlte) by
ower Decree removed, and suche as maye supplye ther
romethe, as ar therto lawefullye elected, to procede to
suche eleccion apparteyninge.
Itm that whear as the seyde Johannes Pawlus and Peter
Obrii, upon complaynte in suche order as lawe requyrethe,
and do stonde bownde to be of good behavioure, are no
longer here to be suffred then they shall so lyve in order,
yf they shall nott within one senete resolve themselves
accordynge to ye order in the former artycle appoynted,
that then they shall not enioye enye priviledge for their
abidinge here. And yet further stande charged and
awnswerable to all matters as they maye be burdened
iwstelye wythe for the breache of that bonde, and for
dysobeyinge anye other good order by us to them pre-
scrybed. ||
40 The Dutch Church in Norwich
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75 Itm we do determyne, that all the artycles here befor
propownded or sett forthe in yfc churche whiche be eyther
contrarye, dysagreinge, or repugnaunte in anye poynte to
the artycles of late alowed by my Lorde byshoppe of
Norwiche, or to theise orders nowe by us decreed, shalbe
voyde and of no force.
After these thynges was an order decreed for the goodes
of suche as departe havinge no chyldren, which was sett
downe as here after ensewethe, viz — .
Itm that the goodes of suche as departe this lyffe
withowte anye wyll havinge chyldren not of ripe yeris,
shall remayne in the custody and dyspocion of the nexte
of kynne, beinge of full age : And layenge in suffyciente
bonde to the concistorye or senate of the seyde churche
to the use and behoofe (notwithstandinge) of the chyldren
of the parties so departed or their nexte kynsefolke,
untyll the seyde chyldren or kynesefolke, come to the full
yeris of dyscretion : At what tyme the seyde parties to
whome suche goodes were (as aforeseyde) comytted, shall
forthe withe restore the same, and make therof full and
lawefull accoumpte, to be alowed by the senate afore-
seyde.
This order was also referred to the order of my Lorde
the bysshoppe as the rest were, and thus was thought
that all contention had an ende, but yt otherwise fell
owte : for by reason of a newe grudge conceyved emonges
the Duche mynisters, who had gathered unto them of the
congregacon of bothe parties, by reason dyverse of the
Colledge (in puplyque preachinge) were detected for
receyvinge & harbrowenge dyverse Ireligiouse persons,
which under the pretence of sauffe conduycte of the
prince of orange to take his enemies by sea, dyd come on
londe, and became robbers and spoylers of the Comon
wealthe : and in this place wher the ghospell is protested,
the same people to be fostered, is directive agaynste the
ghospell of god, and therfor all suche supporters to be
76 culpable of their robberies, which doctryne || was protested
by Isibrandus Balke the heade mynister ; agaynste whome
stoode up the towched persons, and with them the other
twoo mynisters viz — Theophilus Rickaert, and Anthonius
algoode, who in veyenge on the contrarye parte agaynst
hym, with the reste, fell to suche partes, as the whoale
people were, on a broyle. Wher upon, the Maior hearinge,
and also remembringe his tyme was shorte, and he
verve carefull in his ende to leave them in peace, cawsed
The Dutch Church in Norwich 41
Folio Page
to be warned befor hym at his howsse wheare was
presente the parties named, viz —
Mr John Aldriche Mr Henrye Bryde Mr Thomas
Maior Mr Symon Bowde, Beamond, Aid*
Mr Robert Suck- Aid.' and others.
lynge, Aid'
Before whome dyd appeare aswell Mr Isebrandus with
his adhearents, as Theophilus Rickewarte and Anthonye
Algood preachers with their adhearentes. Wheare was
debated at the full, the cawse and procedinge of all the
contravercies on eyther parte, and after the full fyne
therof was sett downe in wrightinge this order to be
observed, viz —
The xth da}Te of June 15 7 1.
Upon occasion of greate contentions late happened
betwene the Duche mynisters and dyverse of the Duche
nation, for and concernynge dyverse contraversies
arisinge, wherin they of their concistorye have aswel for-
bidden Mr Isibrandus to preache, as also to administer the
sacraments, whiche they have done of their owne aucthorite
42 d withoute eyther complayeninge to the bysshoppe of the
diocesse, or to the Maior of the Citye. Wherupon aswel to
pacifye the contravercye, as to reduce the great enormitie
to peace and quyete. At an assemblye of Mr Aldriche
Maior, Master Henrye Byrde reader of the Devnite [sic]
Lector, Master Thomas Beamonde, Master Robert
Suckelynge, Master Symon Bowde and others, before
whome aswel the seyde Isebrande with his adhearentes,
as Theophilus Rickewarte and Anthonye Algood, Preachers
unto the Duche nation dyd appeare, and after great
77 consultacion and deliberacion (the Cawses of || bothe
parties beinge harde) with the assente of bothe partes
therunto agreenge, The precepte hereafter followenge
to be sente unto the concistorye : And to the reste of the
Duche congregation to be openlye publysshed red and
declared : And to be observed, to all intentes and purposes.
Forasmuche as great contencions are rysen in your
congregations by mystakinge of wordes contrarye to the
meaninge. And therupon hath bene forbidden Master
Isebrandus Balke the administracion of the Lordes
sowpper and ministerye (to my understandynge) withoute
iuste cawse. For the appeasenge and quietinge of all
contravercies emonge you : and to redwce and brynge
agayne to you, Christian love and charite, I do require and
streightlye chardge, that no further dysputacion, argw-
mente, qwarell, or partes takynge, be had, moved, or
42 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Folio Page
steryd, towchinge anye thynge heretofore, passed betweene
anye parties, But that the mynisters in their vocation,
maye exercise their dewetye and offyce (quyetelye) accord-
inge to Godes worde, withoute dysturbaunce of anye
manner of parson, to the dysquyetinge of the congregation,
as they will awnswere hereafter upon ther perilles.
Geven the xiiith daye of June 1571, the xiiith yere of
the Quenis Majestie's reigne that nowe is, etc :
Note that this precepte they lyttle regarded, and sente to the
byshopp to dyspence ther withe, so that by this meanes
grewe greatter contencion rather then lesse, and all bycause
they wolde not be infrynged of anye their procedinges,
which they iustefyed to be iuste and righte : and by no
meanes wolde yelde. Yett bycause Master Maior (nowe
to go of) wolde verie gladelye have browght them to peace
dyd the verye night befor his goenge of, sende for them
and moved them to great quyete, and prayed them
accorde, so as at his goinge ofte he might leave them in
peace as he fownde them, but they wolde notte seace
78 ther || procedinges. So he referringe the redresse to the
nexte maior endyd his yere, whose place was supplyed
by . . . Thomas Grene.
43 In the begynninge of this Gentleman's tyme, cam
presente complayntes of dyverse of the beste of the Duche
congregacion, that bothe Theophilus and Anthonius the
Duche mynisters procedid ageynst Mr Isebraundus con-
trayre to the late exortacon and admonishemente geven
them bothe by the byshopp, Mr. Maior and his bretherne.
Wherupon Mr. Maior with advice of some of his bretherne
addressed ther lettre unto the byshoppe : upon whose
awnswer the xiith of Julye 1571 awcthorisinge Mr. Maior,
Mr. Aldriche, Mr. Docter, Master Chauncelor, Mr. Henrye
Byrde, Mr. Robert Sucklynge, Mr. Thomas Beamonde and
Mr. Symon Bowde aldermen or to fower of them, to the
observacon of the articles after ffollowenge.
Fyrste that the former late decree in Mr. Aldriches tyme
be putt in execution, and they or fowre of them to
reforme it yf they see cawse.
Also to examyne the manner of their eleccion of
Segniours Governours and Elders complayned of, and to
reforme it, as to them seemethe beste.
Also to trye oute the matter betwene Isebrandus and
the reste, with those that refuse to obeye the Maiestrate,
and to refourme by punishinge the parties, withe banyshe-
mente or otherwise, as to them or fower of them shall seeme.
Also that Johannes Pawlus, aucthor of the trowbles
The Dutch Church in Norwich 43
Folio Page
and contencions, (whome the seide byshoppe comaunded
to avoyde the Citye, the xiiiith of Febrwarii laste paste)
be removed withowte delaye, for that it is lyke to be a
meane to qwyete the contravercies.
Upon this (beinge warned to apeare) came Isebrandus withe
fyve of the best of that parte : but Theophilus and
Anthonius withe their parte dyd not appeare. In the
defawlte wherof after the matter was fullye debated of.
79 A Decree beinge drawne by Mr. || Chauncelor then presente
was dyrected in manner followinge.
To the Mynisters, Elders, Deacons, and other the
Governours of the Duche Churche and congregation
in Norwiche.
Whearas we have receyved commyssion from my Lorde
the bysshoppe of Norwiche, to heare & determyne a
contravercye raysed and sometyme contynued in your
churche. And examyninge the cawse indefferentlye,
fynde some wante of inclynacion to qwietenes in bothe
partes : The one mystakinge some matter (trewelye
interpreted) and tendinge but to good purpose : The
other not so readye to geve (for Concordes sake) of his
owne right, as was to be wysshed, thynkynge hymsylfe
fawlteles, and so yt seemythe, unto us. We therfor do
reqwyre and straightelye charge all and everye one of
43d you to move the congregation to unitie. And that
neyther in pryvate nor puplyque dealynge, you geve
enye occasion of contynuance of this ungodlye and dawn-
gerous contendinge. And further that from henceforthe,
ye exercise no kynde of procedinges to the ponnyshemente
or removinge of enye parson for anye matter or circum-
staunce towchinge this late contravercye. And fwrther
that youe that be the mynisters, do puplyshe openlye
this ower precepte unto your whoale congregacion (this
daye) in the pullpyte at everye of your three sermons :
And whosoever shalbe (shewinge hymsylfe a breaker
of this ower finall order) shall not onelye procwre suche
grevous ponnyshementes for that his facte, as shalbe
iudged conveniente : But this offence (dewelye proved)
shalbe bannysshed bothe their congregacion and this ower
Citye. Geven under ower haundes the xvth. daye of
Jwlye 15 7 1 and in the thyrtenthe yere of the Quenis
Majestie's reigne that nowe is, etc. :
Thomas Grene Maior. John Aldriche
r George Gardener f Henry Byrde, Robert Sucklinge
4 Theologia pro- 1 reader, of the Thomas Beamonde
I fessorem | Thursdaye Symon Bowde
[Lector aldermen.
44 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Folio Page
80 Note that by reason the parte of Theophilus neyther
appeared nor wolde assente to this decree, but gatte the
bysshopes consente rather to maynteyne ther procedinges
contrarye to his former order and commaundemente,
(wheareupon Mr. Docter Master Chauncellor refwsed to
sett to his hande to the decree as the reste do). Yett the
parsons aboveseyde (havinge no suche intendemente
from the bysshopee) directed ther decree to Theophilus
to be publyshed at the fyrste Sermon, which he refwsed
it beinge ageinste the order of their consistorye as he
seyde and agaynste the worde of God, and therfor cowlde
nott do yt, but rather chused to go to preson, for whose
contempte he was comytted to preson, together withe
Anthonius the other mynister : who more contemp-
teouslye procedid agenst Isebrandus contrarie to the decre
aforeseyd, wherof the bysshopp beinge (by lettre) certifyed,
dyd verye well alowe ther of . Yet the partyes after called
and admonisshed & wolde not relente, remayned in preson
tyll ther parte had complayned to the Lorde of Cantur-
burye who called all the matters before hym ... ell of
the doeinges of the one parte as the other, as also of the
44 bysshopp & his procedinges, as of the Maior and the reste
appoynted by hym who were called up before hym,
Especiallye upon the complaynte of Theophilus and the
reste, whose complaynte was agaynst the Maior and
bretherne, in fower poyntes as after appearethe.
The complaynte of Theophilus & his parte
agaynste the Maior and his bretherne.
Fyrste that the Maior and his bretherne so dyd malyce
them bycause they had complayned to the cownsell, that
Mr. John Aldriche, Mr. Robert Sucklinge, Mr. Thomas Laior
and Mr. Symon Bowde, (under the pretence of a lyscence to
buye woolle) wente abowght to take awaye the comoditye
of all their woorkes here made : for whiche complaynte
they had no iustyce, but rather were iniwried and wronged.
81 Also that the Maior and the seide aldermen tooke upon
them (of their owne awcthorite) to deale in spirituall
matters, wherin they decreed asewl agaynste the mynisters
as their concistorye, contrarye to the Lawes of the realme,
and therfor hath broken the Citye lyberties ; And that
(witheowte cawse) they enpresoned the seyd mynisters, and
moste crewellye putte them emonges traytors and theeves
moste shamefullye, as never anye mynisters (in anye place)
susteyned the lyke.
Also that wheare (for the iniwries offred, theye dyd
appeale to the highe comissioners for reformacion and
The Dutch Church in Norwich 45
Folio Page
that the seyde Maior and aldermen wolde not parmytte them :
whearin they have done againste the Lawes of this realme.
Also that the Maior and the seyde aldermen, dyd mayn-
tayne Isebrandus their mynister (who was a sectwarye
and full of inovacions, and cawse of all their contravercies).
And that they the Maior and aldermen were suche inno-
vators, as they favowred sectes, more then trewe religion.
Note that the Maior and alder [sic] hearynge of the premisses
sente up to Mr. Aldriche and Master Beamonde (then
beinge at London) to conferr with the seyde Arche-
bysshoppe of the premisses, and sente up the recordes to
them, of their orderlye procedinges : Who havinge not
tyme ther, to terrye the comminge up of the straungers,
for whiche cawse the recordes lefte with the offycer to
be viewed by the seyde Archebysshoppe : who at leisure
viewenge the same, appoynted a daye of hearinge, at
whiche daye, the seyde Archbysshoppe accompanyed
withe Doctor Home Bysshoppe of Winchester, and Doctor
Hamonde chauncelor of London, havinge bothe parties
with their complices before them, Theophilus in the fyrst
parte complayned as befor and furder that Isebrandus
presente for his offence might be corrected, and he putt
in place, from whiche he was uniustelye || dysolved.
82 Unto whiche playnte agaynste the Maior and Aldermen,
Nicholas Sotherton called to awnswere for them : sayde,
that the Maior and aldermen had done nothinge but by
warrent from the bysshopp, and in his name, neyther
mente to wronge them. But havinge the Quenis Majesties
aucthorite, and seinge the seyde preachers contempne
both the aucthorite of the bysshoppe and the lawe, dyd
therfor comytte them, wherin theye often called to
conforme themselves accordinge to good and godlye order,
refuzed so to do, and therfor as dysobedientes worthelye
ponnysshed. And for the contention, the recordes ther
presente declared (bothe by the sprightwal and temporall
governemente, that the whoale cawse therof was in the
seyde complaynantes, and not in the defendauntes at all.
To this the Bysshope of Winchestre replied that the matter
coulde not be decided, excepte the Maior and aldermen
were presente to awnswere ther cause : To which the
seyd Sotherton dyd desyre one to come for the Maior for
that he was the Quenis lyefetennaunte, and might not be
from the service of the Prince : Wherupon was directed
that twoo aldermen shulde come up within xiiii dayes,
who was presented the laste of Awguste 15 7 1 Mr. Robert
Suckelynge, Mr. Symon Bowde, Mr. Thomas Beamonde
4
46 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Folio Page
Aldermen, by aucthorite of the comissioners lettre in
manner hereafter ensewenge, viz —
To ower lovinge frende, the Maior of y6 Citye of
Norwiche. Whearas in the entrye of ower examinacion of
this contravercye late begonne in the Churche of the
straungers, we sawe greate cawses not withstandinge the
diligente informacion of your feythefull Servaunte
Nycholas Sotherton. To have some fwrther information
concerninge the cawse dependinge we require and charge
83 you Master Maior in || the Quenis Majesties name, to sende
up unto us, Twoo of your Aldermen whiche were comonlye
presente at the subscription of those orders, viz — Master
Suckelynge or Master Bowde. Or in the place of the
seyde Mr. Bowde some one other of those your Aldermen
subscribinge, wherbye we maye procede accordinglye.
Prayenge you hereof not to fayle. And thus we bydde
you well to doe: from Lambehithe the last daye of
August 15. . . .
Your Lovinge frrenndes
Robert Winton. Matthue Cantuar'
John . . . onde.
45 From the fyrste of Septembre 1571 to the fyvetenthe of the
same (by comaundemente of the archebyshoppe leste the
CownseU called to hym therfor) the sayde Nicholas
Sotherton wrotte owte for hym the whole order of the
straungers matter in recorde as yt was sette downe. And
the xiiiith of Septembre 1571 cam up Mr. Robert Suckelynge,
Mr. Thomas Beamonde, and Mr. Symon Bowde aldermen,
who browght a lettre from the Maior to the archebishope,
etc. :
To the right honorable and my verie good Lordes
The Archebisshoppee of Canterburies grace and the
bysshop of Wynchester, be theise delyvered.
My humble duetye remembred to your honors : havinge
received your lettre of the laste daye of Auguste, wherbye
I am comaunded in the Quenis Majesties name to sende
twoo of ower aldermen, viz — Master Robert Suckelynge
and Master Bowde, or in the steade of Master Bowde,
some one other of ower aldermen subscribinge. It maye
lyke your good Lordeshipes, that for the accomplyshe-
mente of the same, I have appointed Master John Aldriche
and Master Robert Suckelynge for the twoo, at your
honorable comandementes. And I have also comaunded
Master Beamonde and Master Bowde to be ther to testif ye
a trewthe, whiche were also presente at the subscription
of the orders. And, I || truste upon examyninge the
The Dutch Church in Norwich 47
Folio Page
84 cawses from the beginninge, your Lordshipes shall not
fynde, neither of my parte nor of their parte, to have
dealte anye otherwise then appartayned to my dewetye
(beinge the Quenis Majesties Liefetennaunte) for the
preservacion of comon peace, within this her Majesties
Citye of Norwiche, (whiche was verie likelye to have bene
broken in the Duche congregation, by partes takinge
emonges themselves) yf diligente foresight had not bene.
And thus humblye desyringe your honors to heare them
withe favoure, bye whome you shall receyve nothinge but
the trewthe from the beginninge : I do take my leave
of your honnors, from Norwiche this tenthe daye of
Septembre A° Dni 1571.
Your Honnors to commaunde.
Thomas Grene Maior.
The seide lettre delyverde by the seid Aldermen and
Nicholas Sotherton, Comaundemente was geven them to
appeare the Satterdaye after : wher was delyverde them a
certayne escripte directed from the seyde comissioners
to the seyde aldermen to sett their handes therto : in
these inglyshe wordes hereafter ensewinge.
Be it knowen unto all men by this presence that wheare
ther hathe bene muche trouble and dysquiete in the Citye
of Norwiche, by the particuler doenges of certeyne mynis-
ters of the Duche churche ther, as also by the faccions
partakinge amonge themselves by occasion of the seyde
contencion. In the debatinge of whiche their cawses,
aswel fyrste before the bysshoppe of the diosses, and
Maior, and of the Aldermen of the seide Citye, withe the
assystence called unto them : And also upon further
appeale of the seide straungers to the Quenis Majesties
comyssioners in cawses ecclesiasticall : who havinge all
the parties befor them, and partelye by their awnswers in
85 wrightinge : And by || their owne confession of Norwiche
have made dyverse informations, whiche upon dewe
examination have bene considered. And no we of late,
dyverse of us, beinge sente unto the seide comissioners by
Master Thomas Grene Maior of the Citye of Norwiche,
Robert Suckelinge Thomas Beamonde, and Symon Bowde
Aldermen, in the Cawses aforeseyde, do proteste and saye
as hereafter followethe. viz — :
Wheare ther hathe bene enformation made to us the seide
commyssioners, that partelye the Maior and certayne
Aldermen of that Citye, have taken upon them to use and
challendge to themselves, all suche spirituall iwrisdiccion
as belongethe not unto them. And that therupon they
48 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Folio Page
have imprisoned certayne of the seyde mynisters contrarye
to lawe and equite. We therfor the seyde Comyssioners,
upon dewe prouffe and examination of the same, have
fownde the seyde informacion untrewe. And do also by
these presentes testif ye of the orderlye protestacion made,
by Robert Sukelin Thomas Beamonde and Symon Bowde
aldermen, and in the name of the Maior and his bretherne
ther sente up by hym for thatjpurpose, as by their handes
subscriptions maye appeare. viz — :
Theye do proteste that they meane not at anye tyme
contrarye to the lawes of the realme, and contrarye to the
lybertyes of their Citye, to entermeddle with anye spirit-
wall iwrisdiccion, meerelye pretendinge to the offycer
ecclesiasticall in the ordringe of the strangers.
And further they proteste that neyther they, nor anye
other to their knoweledge, have mente to abbwse the seyde
straungers (as hathe bene complayned) by anye private
order or boocke to preiwdice the libertie of the seyde
straungers, eyther by engrossinge into their owne handes
their Bayes wrowght by them to their private use : or yet
to engrosse up the woolle used of the seyde straungers to
be onelye bowght at the handes of anye of the seyde
aldermen or commoners of the same, otherwise then the
lawes of the realme do permytte, or as they maye do by
the grawnte of the Quenis Majestic ||
86 Itm they do proteste, that they take it not for anye greyfe
or dyspleasure, that the seyde Mynisters shulde be (as
afore ordered) taken from their seyde citye : Or that they
be offended to have the seyde straungers to be well and
quyetelye governed aswel in their manner of lyvinge
ecclesiasticall as in the manner of their lyvinges civillye
amongest them.
And do also proteste, that the seyde straungers accord
. . . Quenis Majestie's charter and letters of tolle . . . her
46 Majesties privye cownsell in that behalf e graunted maye
lyve franckelye and freelye emongest them yf they wyll (so
that they breake not nor dysolve the quyete governemente
in their seide Citye) as before their comminge hathe bene
used, accordinge to the lawes and liberties graunted
aforetyme. In wittnes wherof we have hereunto geven
ower handes and Seales, the ffyvetenthe daye of Septembre,
in the thirtenthe yere of the reigne of ower Sovereigne
Ladye : Elizabethe by the grace of God, of Englaunde,
Fraunce, and Irelande Quene, deffendor of the feythe, etc.
Robert Suckelinge.
Thomas Beamonde. Symon Bowde.
[To be continued.]
EDITORIAL.
THE Annual Meeting of the Society held in the Memorial
Hall on May 9th was a very encouraging one. There
was a good and representative attendance, and keen
interest was shown in the Society's work. The
paper printed within, read by one of the Society's youngest
members, Mr. Geoffrey Nuttall, of Balliol College, Oxford, led
to a brisk discussion. Mr. Nuttall, who has just taken his
degree at Oxford, has our best wishes for his theological course
at Mansfield. Dr. Grieve was re-elected President of the
Society, the Rev. R. G. Martin, M.A., Secretary, and Mr.
R. H. Muddiman, Treasurer. The only disquieting feature
was the balance sheet, which is printed below. It showed that
despite the fact that we are only printing two 48-page issues
annually our balance in hand is gradually diminishing. Much
matter awaits publication, and the Transactions ought to
be enlarged rather than reduced, but unless an increased
income is forthcoming there will be no option in a year or two's
time but to limit our issues to one a year. The alternative,
of course, is a large increase in membership, and once more
we appeal to members to do a little propaganda to secure
ordinary members (5s. a year), honorary members (one guinea
a year), or life members (ten guineas). The Baptist Historical
Society, we were ashamed to learn the other day, has a much
larger membership than our own.
* * * *
The Autumnal Meeting of the Society will be held on Wed-
nesday, September 27th, in Circus Street Church, Nottingham,
when Prof. H. F. Sanders, B.A., D.D., will speak on " Early
Puritanism in Nottingham." The Meeting will be open to
the public as well as to members of the Society.
* * * *
For some time we have had on our desk a massive volume,
Leonard Bacon : A Statesman of the Church (Yale and Oxford
Presses, 30s.). It is described by the late Dr. B. W. Bacon
as a family memorial. Projected immediately after its sub-
ject's death half a century ago, and started by the next
generation, the biography was tackled in earnest by Leonard
Bacon's grandson, Theodore Davenport Bacon. He, too,
died before the final revision was made, and it was left to
his brother, the New Testament scholar, the memory of whose
loss is still with us, to act as editor. It is to be regretted that
▲
4 •
5o Editorial
such a large book, dealing with an important period in the
Congregational life of the United States, should have no index,
for it ought to be frequently used.
Leonard Bacon was born in 1802 and died in 1881. He came
to be known as " the Pope of Congregationalism," and exercised
a powerful ministry, not only in Center Church, New Haven,
but throughout the denomination. He was a controversialist
par excellence, and loved debate. In religious journalism, too,
he was a prominent figure, being one of the founders of The
Independent, and it is well that we should have this full account
of his life and work. A chapter is devoted to the Beecher case,
but much more valuable to-day is the account of Congrega-
tionalism's relationship with Presbyterianism during the period.
It has its lessons for British Congregationalism .at present.
There is much, too, of course, about the Civil War and the
Slavery question.
* * * *
An English Congregational family not unworthy to be
compared with the New England Bacons is that of William
Byles, of Bradford, and we are glad that one of its members,
Mr. F. G. Byles, has written for private circulation a life of
his father, who was a contemporary (1807-1891) of Leonard
Bacon. Born in Henley, William Byles was apprenticed to
printing, and in 1833 went to Bradford as manager of a new
weekly paper, the Bradford Observer. His son describes how
he made that paper into a prosperous daily, which counted a
great deal for Liberalism in the WTest Riding, and how he gave
to education, politics, and business life sons and daughters
to work in his own spirit. He tells, too, of the central
place religion had in his life, of all that he did for Horton
Lane Chapel and for the Congregational Churches in general,
becoming in 1877 the first lay Chairman of the Yorkshire
Congregational Union, as his daughter became the first
woman Chairman half a century later.
Familiar Bradford Congregational names crowd the pages
— Milligan, Salt, Craven, Wade, Fairbairn. Byles lived
through the heyday of West Riding Congregationalism, of
Liberalism, and of the Bradford Observer, and we cannot read
of the period without disquiet, almost consternation, when
we contrast it with our own day.
William Byles is the record of a family of a type not
uncommon in 19th-century Congregationalism, and one which
reflected credit on the denomination. Would that there
were more like it to-day !
5i
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
SYNOPSIS.
I. — Consideration of Reformation iconoclasm : under Henry VIII., Edward VI.,
and Elizabeth ; due to royal injunctions, both general and particular ;
and to Puritan bishops and deans. (This is relevant : for Cromwell
blamed for much Reformation iconoclasm ; and Commonwealth icono-
clasm must be seen against its historical context.)
II. — Soldiers regularly iconoclastic, as in 1264 and 1685. Consideration of
Royalist iconoclasm. Parliamentarian iconoclasm neither due to
Puritanism of soldiers nor attributable to generals.
III. — Parliamentarian officers known to have restrained soldiers and protected
buildings. Parliamentarian iconoclasm exaggerated at Winchester
and Exeter, and lacking at Oxford.
IV. — A note on William Dowsing.
V. — Brief defence of iconoclastic spirit, when proceeding from a religious motive.
We differ from Reformation iconoclasts through holding principles of
toleration first proclaimed in high circles by Cromwell.
IN the Transactions of last September I tried to exhibit some
evidence of the moderation and tolerance which formed
one of Oliver Crom well's most striking characteristics.
In a vague and general way his toleration is now usually
recognized by serious historians ; yet, where religion is con-
cerned, he is still too often spoken and thought of as a bitter
persecutor, a devotee of iconoclasm, and a hypocrite whose
much-boasted freedom of conscience applied only to his own
narrow sect. Even in the " Home University Library," as
I pointed out, we have a book on The Church of England by
the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, in
which the author skims over the Protectorate without so much
as once mentioning Cromwell's name, laying emphasis on " the
tyranny of the Commonwealth," not least in its " cheap and
obvious method ... of retaliation " in the ejection of the
clergy. The impression gained from this book of Canon
Watson's is in part corrected by another volume in the same
series, also by an Oxford historian, where we read that
A London Episcopalian could hear his service with impunity,
Catholics were not persecuted, the Jews were allowed to trade
and open a synagogue.1
1 Keith Feiling, England under the Tvdors and Stuarti, p. 177.
52 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
My object to-day, however, is to consider not so much the
ejection of the clergy or the extent to which Anglican and
Roman Catholic services were prohibited, but rather the
charge of iconoclasm, a charge which is levelled against
Cromwell perhaps more frequently than any other accusation.
Wherever you go, it is the same. In the great cathedrals
it is Cromwell who was responsible for the smashing of the
medieval stained glass windows and for the demolishing of
the images ; in a little village church away in the Welsh hills
it is still Cromwell who broke down their precious rood-screen,
though he kindly left a few fragments to inspire the sightseer
with a keener regret for what is gone. There is endless con-
fusion by unlettered vergers between Oliver and his ancestor,
Thomas Cromwell, whose inroads generally go unmentioned ;
yet Thomas Cromwell is often personally responsible, as the
Vicegerent of Henry VIII., for the ruin of monastic churches,
whether the ruin is complete, as at Winchcomb, or only partial,
as at Malmesbury, where the nave alone still remains in regular
use. It would, however, be absurd to credit Thomas Cromwell
with every piece of Reformation iconoclasm — how much more
absurd to saddle Oliver with whatever damage there was during
the Commonwealth. That there was damage during the
Commonwealth goes without saying ; my present purpose is
to try to determine its relative extent and the degree in which
the Independents, and Cromwell in particular, may be held
responsible for it.
In order to do this and to see Parliamentarian iconoclasm
in its proper relations and proportions, it is necessary first to
consider at some length the damage which was committed at
the Reformation. I therefore ask your patience while I run
over some examples of Reformation destruction — destruction
for which Oliver Cromwell is too often ignorantly blamed. It
may be divided, for purposes of convenience, into two sections ;
the damage done in obedience to royal injunction : and the
damage done by Puritan bishops and deans.
Apart from the general injunctions, which were issued by
Henry in 1538, and by Edward and Elizabeth at the beginning
of their reigns, the Sovereign sometimes sent special commands
to a particular cathedral. Thus Chichester received the
following message from Henry VIII. :
Ye shall see bothe the place where the same shryne standyth
to be raysed and defaced even to the very ground, and all
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ? 53
other such images of the church as any notable superstition
hath been used to be taken and conveyed away.1
At Lincoln in 1540 the authorities were commanded
to take downe as well y6 said shryne and superstitious reliquyes
as superfluouse Jueles ;
and in the next year when
Cranmer deplored the slight effect which had been wrought
by the royal orders for the destruction of the bones and images
of supposed saints ... he forthwith received letters from the
king, enjoining him to cause " due search to be made in his
cathedral churches2, and if any shrine, covering of shrine,
table, monument of miracles, or other pilgrimage, do there
continue, to cause it to be taken away, so as there remain no
memory of it."
For examples of the damage committed by Puritan
ecclesiastical officials, we will pass over such recognized
iconoclasts as Ridley and Hooper and turn our attention to
some less well-known men. At Lincoln
Bishop Holbech . . . together with George Henage Dean of
Lincoln pulled down and defaced most of the beautiful tombs
in this Church ; and broke all the Figures of the Saints round
about this Building, and pulled down those (of) our Saviour,
the Virgin, and the Crucifix ; so that at the End of the Year
1548, there was scarcely a whole Figure or Tomb remaining.
Durham suffered in a similar way from a succession of Puritan
deans. The first was Robert Home, who was Dean from 1551
to 1553 and again from 1559 to 1561.
Without delay Home began reforming his cathedral and its
services on the strictest Puritan lines. With his own hands
he removed St. Cuthbert's tomb in the cloisters, and tore
down the " superstitious ornaments " in the cathedral and in
St. Nicholas Church.3
So much for particular instances of both kinds of destruction
under Henry and Edward. For the purpose of a more general
survey, I quote a passage from an author who writes impartially
alike of Anglican, Roman Catholic and Puritan in Tudor days :
Under Henry images had, as we have seen, suffered. Henry,
however, made an effort to discriminate between them by
1 All quotations not otherwise acknowledged are taken from Bell's Cathedral
Series, the bias of which is not in favour of Puritanism.
2 Note the plural.
3 D. N. B.
54 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
ordering only " abused images " to be taken down. This
differentiation was, at least in theory, continued by the
Edwardine Visitors, with this important difference ; under
Henry it would appear that the final decision lay with the
diocesan authorities, while under Edward this decision passed
into local hands. As a result, a spirit of iconoclasm was let
loose, much wider in its reach than the mere letter of the
Visitors' Injunction demanded. A single complaint in a parish
was sufficient to convince the visitors that an image was abused.
Protest was useless, and an era of destruction began far in
advance of anything Henrician in this connection. . . . On
Feb. 11, 1548, an Order in Council abolished the distinction
between abused and non-abused images, and ordered that
all images should be destroyed. From that point onwards
the work of destruction went on throughout the country.
Cranmer cleared the Diocese of Canterbury of them in 1548.
The Oxford Colleges witnessed a like outbreak of zeal in the
spring of 1549, when even the niches of the statues were
destroyed. Bishop Ridley swept the Diocese of London in
1550, and in the following year Bishop Bulkeley followed
suit in Northern Wales. In the same year Bishop Hooper's
zeal outran the law, as he ordered all the effigies on tombs to
be destroyed in the Dioceses of Gloucester and Worcester,
though " images upon tombs " were specially exempted from
destruction by Act of Parliament. In dealing with pictures,
mural paintings, and stained windows, no quarter was allowed
from the beginning of the reign. From the year of the Royal
Visitation a wholesale destruction in connection with these
pious gifts was carried on. Nor was the destruction confined
to churches alone. The Royal Visitors invaded the privacy
of the people's homes, and the clergy were commanded to
see that their parishioners destroyed all symbols and pictures
in their houses. Indeed, Ridley went so far as to demand
for punishment the names of those who " kept in their houses
undefaced any monuments of superstition." i
If we turn to the early years of Elizabeth's reign we find
a similar state of affairs. The Queen's personal inclinations
became increasingly opposed to Puritan ideals, though at first
the reaction to Romanism after the Marian persecutions was
strong, and in 1559 a Royal Injunction was issued
That they shall take away utterly extinct and destroy all
shrines, coverings of shrines, all tables candlesticks, trindals
and rolls of wax, pictures, paintings, and all other monuments
1 W. P. M. Kennedy, Studies in Tudor History, pp. 91 f.
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast? 55
of feigned miracles, pilgrimages, idolatry and superstition,
so that there remain no memory of the same in walls, glasses,
windows, or elsewhere within their churches and houses.1
Elizabeth also, like her father, sometimes sent special
commands to particular cathedrals. Bristol, for instance,
received the following notice in December, 1561 :
Whereas we are credibly informed that there are divers
tabernacles for Images as well as in the fronture of the Roodloft
. . . as also in the f rontures back and ends of the wall wheare the
comfi table standeth ... we have thought good to direct these
our Ires unto you and to require you to cause the said taber-
nacles to be defaced, hewen down and afterwards to be made
a playne wall. Six months earlier the Queen had sent a
command to Southwark "That the Rood Loft be taken
down."
We left Robert Home as Puritan Dean of Durham. In
1561 he was promoted to the Bishopric of Winchester and
there he continued his iconoclasm.
Home's puritanical fanaticism led him in his visitations of
his cathedral, as well as of the colleges subject to him, to
order the destruction of every painted window, image, vest-
ment, ornament or architectural structure, which he regarded
as superstitious. ... At New College the whole of the rich
tabernacle work covering the east end of the chapel was
shattered to pieces, the wall being made flat, whitened, and
inscribed with scripture texts. The cloisters and chapterhouse
of his cathedral were pulled down to save the cost of repair
and " to turn their leaden roofs into gold." 2
After Home left Durham for Winchester, the next Dean of
Durham but one was William Whittingham, a New Testament
scholar and a friend of John Knox. His zeal for the abolition
of all superstition was as great as Home's.
He caused some of the [stone and marble coffins of the priors]
to be plucked up . . . and to be used as troughs for horses to
drink in, or hogs to feed in. . . . He also defaced aU such stones
as had any pictures of brass, or other imagery work, or chalice
wrought, engraven upon them. . . .
Two holy- water stones of fine marble . . . were taken away . . .
and carried into his kitchen, and employ'd to profane uses by
1 »&., p. 147.
* D. N. B.
56 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
his servants. . . . He also caused the image of St. Cuthbert . . .
and also other ancient monuments to be defaced, and broken
all to pieces.1
Norwich, again, lost its Lady Chapel and Chapter House at the
hands of one of its prebendaries, George Gardiner, who also
in 1570 was one of those who entered the choir of the cathedral
and, among other outrages, broke down the organ.2
Writing of the period immediately following Elizabeth's
accession, Prof. Kennedy says :
Almost immediately a spirit of iconoclasm was let loose, as
the Royal Visitors ordered the churchwardens in every parish
to destroy all shrines, images and stained glass windows as
monuments of the gross superstition abolished by Act of
Parliament. Nor was the sacredness of the houses of the
people respected. "Search was made in them for any images
of the saints, and for holy pictures, and these were ruthlessly
offered up to the new religion, any attempt to retain or conceal
them being severely punished. . . .
We can well imagine how these royal orders turned the
entire country into not only a camp of religious warfare, but
also into a vast field of wanton destruction. Every shrine
and picture, every tabernacle and altar, every image and relic
of the saints was handed over to brutal sacrilege ; while
above all sounded the voice of the new State Minister
denouncing the ancient Faith of England and encouraging
the work of demolition. Indeed, things reached such a pass
that the Government was compelled to step in a few years
later and attempt to save the chancels from complete
destruction . . .
... we pass to the rood screen and loft which guarded
the " holy of holies,'* with beautiful figures of the Crucified
Redeemer and of Our Lady and St. John. The destruction
of these works of art and piety began early in the reign.
It must be remembered that the vast majority of them
were erected by people then alive, as the " reforming zeal "
under Edward VI. had dealt with them in the severest
possible manner, and few, if any, had been allowed to remain.
There was no definite order made for their destruction in 1559,
but the Royal Visitors encouraged the work, and, in many
cases, figures and lofts shared the fate of other " monuments
of superstition." There is quite a strong catena of evidence
which goes to show that the Elizabethan Visitors were not
1 Anthonv a Wood, Athena Oxonienses. 3rd edn., Vol. I., pp. 449 f.
3 D. N. B.
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ? 57
behind their Edwardine predecessors. Roods and lofts were
destroyed and sold in London, in Bedfordshire, in Exeter,
for example, in 1559, and in not a few cases where sales took
place there is a record that the wood of the rood was used
for making bridges, for testers for beds, for ceilings, and for
the Communion Table. It was one of the most usual sights
in an Elizabethan parish from 1559 to 1563 to find the beautiful
carvings at the entrance to the chancel being carted off to
repair some waterway or the floor or roof of some secular
building. On the other hand, it must be recorded that an
effort was made in 1563 by the Government to preserve the
chancel-screens, and in some cases this was successful.1
This long quotation gives us a more general view of the
destruction which was carried on all over the country ; it
also makes it clear that the demand for iconoclasm was not
simply from above but was often spontaneous and local. In
Strype's words :
The people, in the beginning of the King's (Edward VI. 's)
reign, were very forward in pulling down and defacing images,
even without permission. This was done in Portsmouth ;
where divers crucifixes and saints were plucked down and
destroyed. In one church here the image of St. John the
Evangelist, standing in the chancel by the high altar, was
taken away, and a table of alabaster broken, and in it an
image of Christ crucified contemptuously used ; one eye bored
out and the side pierced.*
There is some interesting evidence which goes to show that,
at Rochester at least, the monuments destroyed were left in
their defaced condition after the outburst of Elizabethan
iconoclasm ; for in the British Museum (Mr. G. H. Palmer
tells us) is a MS. entitled A relation of a short survey of the
Westerne Counties of England, by a Norwich lieutenant.
When this Norwich lieutenant comes to describe the monuments
of Rochester Cathedral
he names some and alludes to " diverse others also of antiquity,
so dismembered, defac'd and abused as I was forced to leave
them to some better discovery than I was able to render of
them ; as also the venerable shrine of St. William."
The date of the pamphlet is 1635 ; so the damage cannot
conceivably be due to Cromwellian iconoclasm.
It is now time — indeed more than time — to see how much
1 W. P. M. Kennedy, op. cit.t pp. 167 f., 171 f.
* Strype, Memorials (1822 edn.), Vol. II., pt. I., p. 53.
58 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast?
destruction may, and how much may not, be fairly attributed
to the Parliamentarians. Before doing so, however, it is just
worth noticing that the strong feeling about images and the
like which shows itself under the later Tudors and again
during the Civil Wars did not die out in the intervening years,
though it is not so much in evidence. In 1604, for instance,
a law of Edward VI. declaring all images which had been
the objects of superstitious usage to be illegal was revived,
and is, for that matter, still in force. A few years later the
Bishop of Gloucester refused to enter his Cathedral because
the Dean, who happened to be Laud, had restored the Com-
munion Table to its original eastern position ; while everyone
knows the excitement Laud caused by setting up the image
of the Virgin over the porch of St. Mary's at Oxford, one man
giving evidence at Laud's trial that he had seen a man bow
and pray to the image. At Salisbury Henry Shergold, recorder
of the city and a justice of the peace, persuaded the parish of
St. Edmund's to obtain legal permission to remove a window
representing God the Father, in form of a little old man in a
blue and red coat, with a pouch by his side " ; the very sound
reason for this iconoclasm being that " many simple people, at
their going in and out of church, did reverence to this window,
because, as they said, the Lord their God was there." Yet,
despite the legal permission, Laud moved, at a meeting of the
Star Chamber, " that he might be fined a thousand pounds,
and removed from his recordership ; that he be committed
close prisoner to the Fleet till he pay his fine, and then be
bound to his good behaviour. To all of which the court agreed,
except to the fine, which was mitigated to five hundred
pounds."1 This was in 1632.
It is, therefore, in a historical sequence of almost a hundred
years that the Parliamentarian iconoclasm should be con-
sidered, and not, as is so often the case, as if it were a strange
insensate fury utterly divorced from its historical context.
Anglicans would do well to remember that any fair criticism
of Cromwellian iconoclasm applies also, mutatis mutandis,
to Edwardian and to Elizabethan iconoclasm ; and that
abundance of the damage for which Cromwell is blamed was
committed thirty years and more before he was born.
A further injustice which is often indulged is to write of the
Parliamentarian soldiers' misdeeds as if they were all attri-
1 Neal, Hist, of Puritans, I. 450 If.
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ? 59
butable to their generals or even personally to Cromwell.
Bishop Hall is sometimes quoted as an eye-witness of the
damaging of Norwich Cathedral, but those who quote him
never see that his language demonstrates the absurdity of
seriously attributing the damage to Cromwell or the other
Parliamentarian leaders.
A whole rabble of volunteers (he tells us) clambered over
the walls . . . Lord, what work was here ! what clattering of
glasses ! what beating down of walls ! what tearing up of
monuments ! what pulling down of seats ! . . . what tooting
and piping upon the destroyed organ-pipes ! 1
It is surely a commonplace that soldiers, whether starving
or victorious, have never shown reverence for sacred buildings.
A common popular accusation against the Parliamentarians
is that they stabled their horses in the cathedrals. If they
did, were they the first to do so, or the last ? In 1264, when
Rochester Cathedral was invaded by the soldiers of Simon
de Montfort,
The oratories, cloisters, chapter-house, infirmary and all
the sacred buildings were turned into horses* stables, and
everywhere filled with the dung of animals and the defilement
of dead bodies.
In 1685, again, during Monmouth's rebellion,
The duke's followers came to Wells, turned the cathedral
into a stable, tore the lead off the roof for bullets, pulled
down several of the statues, broached a barrel of beer on the
high altar, and would have destroyed the altar itself, had not
Grey, one of their leaders, defended it with his sword.
We need not, however, take examples so far away from
the Commonwealth period. It was the Parliamentarians who
stormed Lichfield Cathedral and demolished the central spire ;
but they did so only because the Royalists had made of the
cathedral an enemy fort in the midst of a Parliamentarian
city : and to Puritan eyes there does not seem to be any
essential difference between using a sacred building as a
military fort and using it as a stable. The same thing happened
at Hereford.
Hereford Cathedral (says a recent writer) had nearly as
much to endure at the hands of the Royalist garrison as at
those of the Parliamentarian besiegers. The lead was stripped
1 Works (1837 edn.), Vol. I., pp. liv., f.
60 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
from its roof for military purposes. . . . Finally, in December
1645, Hereford was taken for the last time and sacked. Though
some at least of the Parliamentarian officers endeavoured to save
the cathedral,1 the incoming troops committed widespread
destruction, a
At Colchester, once more, the Royalists used the churchyard
for the station of a cannon.3 Further, at Scarborough the
Royalists did exactly what the Parliamentarians did at Lich-
field ; for here it was the Parliamentarians who used the
church as a fort, the Royalists who destroyed it.4 The desecra-
tion and destruction was thus not all on one side. The occasion
when there was least excuse for damage was at Carlisle, since
it had been expressly provided in the terms of submission that
no church should be defaced ;5 but fortunately the destruction
here need not trouble us overmuch, as the general was Leslie
and the soldiers Scottish Presbyterians !
If an instance is wanted where the Cromwellian soldiers
behaved as one would expect of men with some conscience
in them, we can find it at Worcester. For during the siege
of 1646
. . . there is no record of riot or pillage ; in fact, the diarist of
the siege favourably compares the behaviour of the parliament
men with that of the garrison, who says he, " rob and plunder
without discipline or punishment ; whereas the parliament
soldiers behave quietly, receive their contribution, and are
content : having among them good discipline."
In any case, as I have said, it is hardly fair to attribute the
damage committed by victorious soldiers to their generals,
more especially when the generals are found trying to prevent
the destruction. That this was the case at Hereford we have
just seen ; Fairfax's protection of York is well known ; so is
Cromwell's letter " To the Reverend Mr. Hitch, at Ely " :
Lest the Soldiers should in any tumultuary or disorderly
way attempt the reformation of the Cathedral Church, I require
1 My own italics.
2 E. Foord, Hereford and Tintern, pp. 43 f.
3 E. L. Cutts, Colchester, p. 180.
4 See J. B. Baker, History of Scarbrough (sic), p. 152, for a brief addressed
to Charles II. in 1660, pleading that their
two fair churches were by the violence of the canon beat down ; that in one
day there were threescore pieces of ordnance discharged ag"* the steeple of
the upper church there, called St. Mary's, and the choir thereof quite beaten
down . . . the other church, called St. Thomas's Church, was by the violence
of the ordnance quite ruined and battered down.
5 Mandell Creighton, Carlisle, p. 158.
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast? 61
you to forbear altogether your Choir-service, so unedifying and
offensive : — and this as you shall answer it, if any disorder
should arise thereupon.1
Plain-spoken words in all conscience, but surely hardly the
words of an iconoclast !
Less well known perhaps is the fact that a similar care was
shown for Salisbury Cathedral, though the name of its protector
remains unknown.
At the time of the Reformation it suffered but little, except
in the wholesale destruction of its painted glass.* Dr. Pope in
his Life of Bishop Ward says that even during the Civil War,
when it was abandoned, workmen were engaged to keep it in
repair. . . .
We find as evidence of the secret influence exerted in its
behalf that when one of Waller's officers sent up to the
Parliament certain plate and a pulpit cloth from Salisbury
Cathedral, he was ordered to restore them, as it was con-
sidered that he had overstepped his commission ; all that was
retained being certain copes, hangings and a picture of the
Virgin.
An example of a parish church which received protection
is Ewelme, in Oxfordshire, now famous for its remarkable
series of medieval brasses. The preservation of these
monuments is owing to the care of a Parliamentarian colonel,
Anthony Martyn, who locked the doors of the church and so
prevented the soldiers from breaking in. The roodloft is
gone and the niches are bare of their statues, " but," as the
verger for once admits, " those were destroyed at the Reforma-
tion." Another Parliamentarian officer who appears to have
used his influence to prevent destruction was Nathaniel
Fiennes, son of " Old Subtlety," Lord Saye and Sele ; he was
an old Wykehamite and accordingly " interested himself so
warmly in behalf of (Winchester) college as to protect it from
all violence."3
It was probably partly due to Fiennes that Winchester
Cathedral escaped without much harm. The vergers of to-day
love to tell how Cromwell's soldiers blasphemously scattered
the bones of the Saxon kings whose remains lie in the chests
on top of the choir screens. They were not Cromwell's soldiers,
in any case, but Sir William WTaller's, and the bones seem to
1 Carlyle, Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, Letter XIX.
* My own italics.
' J. Milner, History of Winchester, Vol. I., p. 415.
62 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
have been carefully collected, as the chests are where they
always were ; but there is some doubt about the whole story.
For Dean Kitchin quotes contemporary evidence that the
Parliamentarian soldiers ruined the chantries and broke in
pieces Queen Mary's chair in which she sat at her marriage.
... as, however (the Dean continues), the chantries with their
effigies remain unspoiled, and the chair is still in the Cathedral,
we must make allowances for the heat of partisanship. . . .
The truth is (says the Dean) that Thomas Cromwell, over a
century before, and Bishop Home, under Queen Elizabeth,
had already swept away all the statues and objects of worship,
and that the Puritans {i.e., the Parliamentarians) on the whole
did remarkably little mischief.1
This should caution us against accepting with undue con-
fidence even contemporary records of the damage committed
by the Parliamentarians. The same false stories are told of
Exeter. In Freeman's words :
... it is a mere legendary belief that . . . some specially
frightful desecration of Saint Peter's and other churches
followed on the entrance of Fairfax . . . the account in (the
contemporary Royalist journal) Mercurius Rusticus which has
given vogue to the common story is wholly untrue ... no
general mutilation or desecration took place at this time,
[in 1657] . . . the useless cloister was pulled down, and a serge-
market built on its site. This is the only piece of sheer de-
struction recorded in these times, a small matter beside the
sweeping away of all the monastic churches at the earlier time
of havoc. At Exeter, as elsewhere, the sixteenth century
was far more destructive than the seventeenth.2
I quote (may I repeat ?) from E. A. Freeman.
As a final example of the restraining and tolerant spirit
by the Parliamentarian leaders we may consider the University
of Oxford. In the words of the official historian,
Nothing perhaps reveals more clearly the temper of the
English Revolution, the instinctive moderation which pre-
vailed in the end over violence and excess, than the history
of the University of Oxford between the surrender to Fairfax
and the return of Charles II.3
In particular, the Parliamentarian visitation of the University
1 G. W. Kitchin, Winchester, p. 191.
1 E. A. Freeman, Exeter, pp. 206, 208.
3 C. E. Mallet, History of University of Oxford, Vol. II., p. 370.
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ? 63
compares most favourably with the Edwardian visitation :
under the latter
In many quarters there was a fresh outcry against idolatry.
Painted windows were condemned and removed. The noble
reredos at All Souls was demolished.1
Of the Parliamentarian visitors, on the other hand, the historian
remarks :
With the severity shown there mingled a good deal of
magnanimity and patience, and a degree of tolerance which
was remarkable considering the conquerors' reputation for
rigidity of view.2
There is no mention of any iconoclasm such as had taken
place under the Edwardian Visitors ; the object which was
removed was the organ at Magdalen College, but this, so far
from being destroyed, was taken to Hampton Court for
Cromwell's private delight.3
Before concluding, it is only fair to say a word about William
Dowsing, the noted iconoclast of East Anglia during the Civil
Wars. Three points about him should be noticed. The first
is that the warrant for his iconoclasm was given to him, in
accordance with the Ordinance of 1643 for the destruction of
images and other superstitious objects, not by Cromwell, but
by the Earl of Manchester, whose " religious views, though
sincere, were not very deep " — " he inclined to presbyterianism
from circumstances rather than from conviction 4" — and who
quarrelled irreparably with Cromwell in the following year.6
Secondly, it is probably unfair to argue, as is sometimes done,
that iconoclasm like Dowsing's was carried out all over the
country ; one would expect the spirit of iconoclasm to be most
powerful in East Anglia where Puritanism was most vehement,
and it is significant that, apart from his own Deputies, Dowsing
appears to be the only man we know to whom a warrant for
iconoclasm was actually given.
Lastly, the extent of his destruction is often exaggerated.
1 ib., p. 90.
2 ib., p. 383.
3 It is now in Tewkesbury Abbey.
4 D. N. B.
* It is stated in Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser., Vol. XII., p. 380, that " Dowsing
was one of the very men who lost his occupation through Cromwell's usurpation —
one of the creatures whom he afterwards described in such biting words in his
speeches — and who therefore plotted against his life perpetually " ; but I cannot
find any evidence for this.
64 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
The best account of his work, together with a transcript of
his Journal, is to be found in an article by the Rev. C. H. E.
White in Vol. VI. of the Proceedings of the Suffolk Archaeological
Institute. Mr. White can scarcely write for indignation at
Dowsing's vandalism, but even he admits that the church
fabric seems always to have been respected, that fonts were
hardly touched, and that out of the five hundred odd churches
in Suffolk but little more than a third were visited by Dowsing
at all. It also appears that the printed copies of Dowsing's
work give him credit (or discredit) for far more iconoclasm
than do the MSS. of his Journal ; a correspondent of Notes
and Queries called attention to the fact that, where the printed
copies spoke of breaking down 30 superstitious pictures
at Blyford and 28 at Dunwich, a MS. in his possession gave
the numbers as 20 in each case, while, whereas at Cove the
printed copies gave 42 as the number of pictures demolished,
in the MS. the number was only 4.1 In any case Dowsing
gives himself away, so far as accuracy is concerned,2 by his
easy use of round numbers ; " at Buers we brake down 600
superstitious pictures," " at Clare we brake down 1000 pictures
superstitious, I brake down 200 " : how convenient that there
were just 1000, and how strange that Dowsing counted them
so conscientiously !
Looking back over what I have said, I draw three main
conclusions. First, that it is unjust to attribute the iconoclastic
spirit of Parliamentarian armies to their Puritanism or to their
generals, since all soldiers, including Royalist soldiers, tend
inevitably to be iconoclastic ; secondly, that Cromwell3 and
other Parliamentarian leaders are known to have attempted
on several occasions to restrain the soldiers' iconoclasm and
to protect the buildings, and that their attempts are almost
1 Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser., Vol. XII., p. 490.
2 Mr. White speaks of Dowsing's " extreme accuracy " !
3 The only evidence of personal iconoclasm by Cromwell which I have been
able to find is in a 1686 Hist, of the Cath. of Peterborough, where we are told that
Cromwell " espying a little crucifix in a window aloft, which none perhaps before
had scarce observed, gets a ladder and breaks it down zealousy (sic) with his
own hand " ; and this, in view of its standing alone, in view also of the untrust-
worthiness of seventeenth century records of iconoclasm, hardly evokes complete
conviction. It is quoted in Storm Jameson, Decline of Merry England, p. 155.
More characteristic of Cromwell is the story told at Bosbury, near Malvern, that,
when the soldiers would have demolished the churchyard cross, Cromwell allowed
it to remain, on condition that it was inscribed with the words, which may still be
read : Honour not ye t but God for Christ. Cromwell was certainly in the district
for the battle of Worcester ; perhaps it is due to his personal influence that the
windows of Malvern Priorv Church were not touched.
Was Cromwell an Iconoclast? 65
always forgotten, while the damage, whether of the soldiers
or of a man like Dowsing, is often grossly exaggerated ; and
thirdly, that not only is Cromwell unfairly blamed for much
Reformation iconoclasm but that in any case where in the
Civil Wars there was iconoclasm from a serious religious
motive and not from mere military wildness, it should be
considered in its historical context as expressing the extremist
spirit which from the earliest days of the changes in religious
faith and practice had desired " a reformation without tarying
for anie."
Into the reasons for this iconoclastic spirit, which inevitably
accompanies a sincere religious revival, I must not go now ; but
I think we should agree that the basic reason was not the
Puritan desire to return to the simplicity of New Testament
religion, simply as New Testament religion, nor even a pas-
sionate hatred of Rome and all her ways, though no doubt
both emotions played their part ; the basic reason was rather
a deep anxiety to preserve in all its purity the free and direct
communion with God which, once experienced, must direct
and control the whole of life henceforth. Pope and bishop
and priest must go, for they are unnecessary hindrances to
the soul's unfettered relationship with God ; for precisely the
same reason images and all other superstitious trappings
must go too.
Listen to Cromwell's own words. First his deep personal
religion :
What a nature hath my Father : He is LOVE.1
I dare not say, He hideth His face from me. He giveth me
to see light in His light.2
... as well without the Written Word as with it ... He doth
speak to the hearts and consciences of men.3
Who ever tasted that graciousness of His, and could go less
in desire, — less than pressing after full enjoyment ?4
Second, his correspondingly deep impatience with all obstacles
to the full enjoyment of communion :
These men that live upon their mumpsimus and sumpsimus,
their Masses and Service- Books, their dead and carnal worship,
— no marvel if they be strangers to God.5
1 Carlyle, Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, Letter CLXXXVII.
2 ib., Letter II.
8 ib.t Speech IV. (towards the end).
4 t&., Letter XLI.
6 »&., Speech IV. (towards the end).
5 *
66 Was Cromwell an Iconoclast ?
Do we not share this impatience ? I think we do. As
Dr. Selbie said recently, with that apparent self-righteousness
of which Puritans have always been accused, " Ritual is for
babes in the faith, not for grown men . ' ' We are still iconoclasts
in spirit, if we are Puritans at all. The only difference between
us and the Reformation Puritans in this matter is that we
now have a larger tolerance and a conviction that we ought
to " have a respect unto all, and be pitiful and tender towards
all, though of different judgements."1 Whose words are
those ? Oliver Cromwell's. "... because some of us are
enemies to rapine and other wickednesses," writes Oliver, " we
are said to be ' factious ', to ' seek to maintain our opinions
in religion by force ' — which we detest and abhor."2 To-day
we can say with honesty, what the Reformation iconoclasts
could not, that " in things of the mind we look for no com-
pulsion, but that of light and reason."3 And those, once more,
are Oliver Cromwell's words. " In things of the mind we look
for no compulsion, but that of light and reason."
Geoffrey F. Nuttall.
1 1&., Speech I.
2 »&., Letter XXIII.
2 ib., Letter XXXI. (towards the end).
67
Some Early Scottish Independents.
DISTINCTLY the most interesting early appearance of
Independency in Scotland occurred at Aberdeen in the
Cromwellian period. It involved several interesting
and forceful personalities, and of these it is proposed
to give some account. Before attempting this, however, it
seems desirable to present a short reminder of the extent to
which Independent influences from England had prepared the
way for this movement, and then of the precise situation
within Scottish Presbyterianism which immediately induced
it.
In 1584 Robert Browne and a few friends settled for a time
in Edinburgh, but the Presbytery dealt faithfully with them,
and the populace regarded them with an extreme want of
sympathy. John Penry, though for some years in Scotland,
did nothing to further Independency. But Row reports
private religious meetings in Edinburgh as early as 1620.
Those who attended were jeered at as " candle-light congre-
gations," " puritans, separatists, brounists.,, The matter
became more public, and in 1624 some people were charged with
keeping private conventicles, to which they applied the name
Congregations. One was even said to have a Brownist minister
in his house. The result was a proclamation by the Privy
Council against " damnable sortis of Anabaiptistis, Famileis
of Love, Browneists . . . and mony such pestis."
By 1640 Sectarianism could be described as " beginning to
bud in Scotlande," and Brownists who arrived from England
met with some success, aided by Scottish Exiles from Ireland.
Very strong cleavage of opinion resulted in the Church of
Scotland ; some (like David Calderwood, the historian, who
had unpleasant memories of Brownists in Holland) were
violently opposed to anything which endangered the Presby-
terian doctrine of the Church and ministry, while others
(even including such leaders as Dickson, Blair and Rutherford)
were much impressed by the obvious sincerity and piety of
these people. There had been an attempt to bring the matter
before the Assembly of 1639, and in the following year an Act,
carefully worded for the sake of unanimity, was passed against
private religious meetings. The whole question, however, was
68 Some Early Scottish Independents
reopened in 1641, and a new law accepted, deprecating error
and schism rather than forbidding the meetings. The practice
did not cease, and at Aberdeen in 1642 an Irish immigrant
started a repetition of what had been occurring in the South
West. This disturbing " encrease of Browneisme in the
North " was reported to the General Assembly and a similar
complaint came in from the Presbytery of Hamilton.
The worrying feature of the movement was the holding of
religious services without a duly ordained minister. But now
we trace another kind of influence, and this time one which has
left a permanent mark upon the Church of Scotland and its
daughter Churches in the Colonies. The discussion of Brownist
appearances led to the issue of official warnings against
" novations,'* which in turn produced a reply from a band of
ministers in stout defence of these. The innovations were
certain modifications of the accustomed Scottish forms of
worship, in particular, the departure from the use of the
Lord's Prayer and the Doxology.
The former had been a regular feature of John Knox's
service, and Brownist influences (which people did not always
clearly distinguish from those of Puritanism) taught men to
" scunner " at it, and were much resented. The singing of
the Gloria Patri at the end of metrical psalms was also an old
custom in Scotland, and David Calderwood fought against its
discontinuance. Baillie reports some objectors to it in his
parish, and shows little sympathy with them. But opposition
continued, and by the time of the Westminster Directory it
was found advisable for the sake of peace to omit any reference
to the Doxology. The Lord's Prayer was retained, and John
Neave's arguments against it were " heard with disdaine," but
in 1649 the Assembly was persuaded, and a later writer
comments that
As the Oeneral Assembly laid aside the Lord's Prayer, so our
Lord who composed and commanded the use of that prayer, laid
aside the General Assembly.
When in 1661 the Lord's Prayer and Doxology were restored
they very naturally came to be associated in the popular mind
with the Episcopacy with which they returned. A newspaper
in that year reported that a preacher had made use of the
Doxology, a practice which " has been a great stranger to
our Kirk these many years." The new Episcopalian Synod
in Aberdeen in 1662 revived the use of the Lord's Prayer, and
Some Early Scottish Independents 69
recommendations were made about both practices in 1682 and
1688 which shows that they were scarcely universal. The
Doxology Approven of Robert Edward, written in 1683, reveals
widespread disquiet with regard to this innocent detail. Yet
we must remember that between 1662 and 1690 there was
little beyond the Lord's Prayer and the Doxology to distinguish
the service in Scotland from the Presbyterian service of the
preceding period. At the Revolution Settlement they were
dropped simply for this reason, and for a couple of centuries
were unheard of in Presbyterian public worship in Scotland.
Independent ideas in the sphere of Church Government had
made an official entry into Scotland in 1641, when a letter from
some ministers in England called forth a definitely hostile
declaration from the General Assembly. The Assembly soon
afterwards took measures to stop the circulation of books
tending to Separatism, and in the succeeding period a good deal
was written on this subject (e.gr., by the eminent preacher,
James Durham), giving expression to strong Scottish feeling
against anything in the nature of Schism.
The remarkable advance of Independency in England
caused much anxiety to Scottish Church leaders. The
Assembly of 1647 took steps to crush Independent tendencies,
and pointed out that the constant intercourse with England
created
Danger to have infection derived unto us from thence, to have
the beginnings and seeds of heresie and schisme brought in
amongst us, which may spread as a leprosie and fret as a
gangrene.
And later James Guthrie of Stirling was to put in print as
his First Consideration regarding dangers that threatened
Scotland, " the swarm of pestilent errors and heresies " in
England.
No one had been more impressed with the possibilities in
this connexion than Robert Baillie, whose Letters and Journals
are still the best guide to this period of Scottish history.
Already in 1639 he had seen the hand of Brownism in the
movement for popular election of ministers, and he began a
treatise against Independency. As one of the representatives
of the Church to the Westminster Assembly, he was quickly
brought to realize how strong Independent opinion was coming
to be in England and his letters ring with excited warnings.
The toleration so dear to Independents he frequently condemns,
;o Some Early Scottish Independents
and the liberty of lay preaching was to him a specially obnox-
ious feature of their system. He was particularly worried by
the way in which Scottish soldiers in England — " our silly,
simple lads " — might become infected. His Dissuasive
appeared in 1645, and his Anabaptism the true fountain of
Independency in 1647.
An entirely new stage was reached when the " Sectarian
army," as everybody called it, invaded Scotland in 1650.
The ministers were much perturbed. Cromwell's chaplains
and troopers preached in Edinburgh pulpits, ministers who
favoured Independent or Anabaptist principles were planted
in several vacant parishes, toleration was proclaimed to all
who worshipped in any " Gospel way," small congregations
gathered round zealous soldiers at Leith and Ayr and even
beyond Inverness," and the obdurate hostility of the Scottish
Kirk led to the breaking up of the Assembly of 1653, the last
Assembly to meet until 1690. Independents and Anabaptists
had full opportunity to exercise their gifts, and undoubtedly
they made an impression. Some popular excitement was
roused by adult baptisms in the Water of Leith, by the rumour
that a minister's wife had been " dippit " near Dundee, by the
conversion to Baptist principles of more than one parish
minister, and so on. The works of Independent writers found
their way into Scotland, and learned churchmen thought it
necessary to answer them. Thus James Wood, of St. Andrews,
who had already come into conflict with an Independent
chaplain at Cupar, printed an elaborate reply to Lockyer's
Little Stone, and Professor Douglas, of Aberdeen, by his
Vindicice Academiarum joined in the attempt to defend the
University-trained minister, while Brodie of Brodie tried to
confirm his old faith by reading Thomas Edwards Against
Toleration.
It was inevitable that some should permanently and many
temporarily fall under the influence of these live and earnest
invaders. The net result seems to have been small but not
negligible. At the close of the period it could be said that the
Sectaries were
Very few, and inconsiderable in comparison to the body of the
Church, scarce one in a thousand, yet is the infection such as
ought not to be despised or neglected.
Meanwhile a serious split was developing in the Church of
Some Early Scottish Independents 71
Scotland. That there were two parties among the Presby-
terians became increasingly evident after the Engagement with
King Charles (Dec, 1647). The extreme Covenanters regarded
this as a betrayal of the cause of Christ because it did not
require Charles to accept and enforce the Covenant and
permanently establish Presbyterianism in England. All who
supported the Engagement came to be regarded as Malignants.
This moderate party came to grief at the Battle of Preston
(Aug., 1648). The more violent Covenanters rose to power,
and passed the Act of Classes (Jan., 1649) excluding Engagers
from positions of trust. After Dunbar (Sep., 1650) the
moderate party was again in the ascendant and strong enough
to have Charles II crowned (Jan., 1651) and to repeal the Act
of Classes (May, 1651). The Commission of the Church was a
party to this repeal, and when the General Assembly met in
July the stricter party at once made trouble. John Menzeis
proposed that
The members of the Commission of the Kirke could not be
admitted to sit in the Assembly in regard their proceedings had
been scandalouse,
and at a later sitting a formal protest was submitted by the
minority declaring the Assembly illegally constituted. From
this Protest they came to be named Protesters, while the more
moderate party, from certain liberal resolutions in connexion
with the repeal of the Act of Classes, were called Resolutioners.
The Protesters seceded from the Assembly, and there was a
very real rift in the whole Church. It was from among the
strict Protesters that the Aberdeen Independents made their
appearance, and their development in this direction was
undoubtedly due to contact with the English army.
In May, 1652, an important letter was issued by Alexander
Jaffray, John Row, John Menzeis, William Moor, and Andrew
Birnie. Of the first three we shall speak more fully later.
Moor is most probably the laird of Scotstoun, a city bailie,
who had become Professor of Mathematics at Marischal
College, and Principal of the College, a man of learning and of
good position. Birnie was apparently a Regent (or junior
teacher) in Marischal College. The letter emphasizes the
conviction of the signatories that in the Church of Scotland the
ordinances were being prostituted to a profane mixed mul-
titude, and that " the Congregational way comes nearer to the
pattern of the Word than our classical form," and that only
72 Some Early Scottish Independents
those of a " blameless and gospel -like behaviour " should be
constituent members of the Church. Soon afterwards a
similar document was presented to the Synod of Aberdeen
signed by John Row, John Seaton, and John Menzeis. The
Synod found that it was contrary to the Word and to the
mind of the Church, and the three friends formally
Seperated themselffes from the discipline and government of
this Kirk to Independencie.
The leading Protesters, including Rutherford and Warriston,
were so much worried about the schism that they travelled to
Aberdeen for conference with the rebels. Baillie declared that
at this time
Almost all in both Colleges from Remonstrators [Protesters]
had avowedlie gone over to Independencie
and he goes on to speak of " the Apostates in the Colledge of
Aberdeen." The October Synod appointed a special Com-
mittee to look into the matter. The Independents held a
Communion service together in the Greyfriars Kirk, but
thereafter abandoned the idea of forming a separate Church.
The movement, however, by no means immediately collapsed,
for in 1653 we find a report being prepared in Aberdeen regard-
ing
Separatists, Anabaptists, Independents and others of that
manner, the growth of which goes on apace within the bounds.
There was indeed no permanent result from the little revolt,
and the leaders of it had all departed from their Independent
opinions by the Restoration ; but the incident is of genuine
interest as special evidence of the reality of Independent
influence at this period in Scotland, and particularly as showing
how this influence affected one group of men of the highest
standing, intellect, and character.
The leaders of the Aberdeen Independents are worthy of
closer study. John Row came of a celebrated clerical family.
His grandfather, a Doctor of Laws of Padua and agent of the
Scottish clergy at Rome, accepted the Reformation and became
one of Knox's coadjutors in establishing it in Scotland, and
died as minister of Perth. He had a son John, who became
minister of Carnock, zealously opposed the advance of Epis-
copacy in Scotland, and rejoiced in its overthrow, and is
Some Early Scottish Independents 73
remembered for the strong Presbyterian bias of his History of
the Kirk of Scotland.
Though bald with age and prest with weight,
In crooked times, this man went straight,
His pen kept hid things in record,
For which the prelats him abhorred,
And here Carnock, his little quarter,
For Canterbury he would not barter.
It was his son John who became an Independent. He had
been a schoolmaster at Perth, and had there quickly shown his
principles and his determination to maintain them. When
Presbyterianism was confirmed in Scotland he entered the
ministry and was ordained to a charge in Aberdeen. His
outstanding interest was Hebrew. He published a Hebrew
Grammar and Dictionary, and at the request of the Town
Council taught Hebrew at Marischal College. It is evident
from accounts we have of him what an eager disputant he was
in theological and biblical questions ; and how laborious he
was as a student is evident from manuscripts preserved,
especially a little tractate in King's College Library, Aberdeen,
entitled Ane Overture, an attempt to amend many readings of
the Authorized Version of the Bible. An ardent Covenanter,
he introduced the Lecture and other Covenanting practices
and disciplines. Twice he had to flee the city when Montrose
appeared before it, but he had his revenge in the pulpit after-
wards, for Spalding tells us that one of the ministers
Cryit out aganes Montroiss and his army, calling them bloodie
botcheris, traittouris, perfidious and of the hellish crew,
and adds that John Row was " as malicious."
In the counsels of the Church Row played a prominent
part, and it was scarcely surprising that on the ejection of the
generous-hearted but small-minded Dr. Guild, he was singled
out by Cromwell's government for the Principalship of King's
College. King's was a residential College at that time, and
the Principal was largely concerned with the religious instruc-
tion of the students, who were mere boys and upon whom he
exerted permanent influence. But Row had further a busy
time raising money for the new block of College buildings,
part of which remains and is known as the Cromwell Tower,
and securing useful grants for the Universities of Aberdeen.
74 Some Early Scottish Independents
During his day the College regulations were also thoroughly
revised, prescribing the daily routine and the daily fare,
threatening punishment for such student crimes as conversing
in English or answering for others at roll-call, and even for-
bidding the licking of dirty fingers at table and the throwing
of bones at one another.
Scott's Fasti makes out that Row had at one period an
Independent Church in Edinburgh, but this is obvioush a
misunderstanding ; and Lamont says he was an Anabaptist
and refused to baptize infants, but there is no evidence for
this, and as Principal he had no call to baptize anyone. His
interest, however, certainly turned to Congregationalism in
1652. A letter to his brother has been preserved and covers
the whole ground of his difficulties regarding the Church of
Scotland. " We think a member of a congregatione of Christ
ought to be a visible saint," he says, and he refers to the
" impure mixture " at present and to his doubts about the
rights of the Courts of the Church to overrule congregations.
After the failure to establish an Independent congregation
at Aberdeen, Row seems gradually to have settled down under
Presbyterian Church Government, but at the Restoration he
made an undignified attempt to ingratiate himself with the
new authorities by a poem in which he spoke with contempt
of his benefactor Cromwell. He was nevertheless removed
from his office, and had to turn to private teaching, dying at
length in somewhat obscure poverty in the home of a daughter,
the wife of a minister near Aberdeen.
John Sea ton was minister of the Second Charge of St.
Machar's, the Cathedral of Aberdeen, and parish Church of Old
Aberdeen, the tiny city which King's College dominated. He
took part in the effort to propagate Independent teaching in
Aberdeen in 1652, but found little support in his own congre-
gation. It appeared that he disapproved of Kirk Sessions,
and his elders were emphatic in their desire to abide by the
established customs of the Church of Scotland, complained to
the Presbytery, and even sent a representative to Edinburgh
to deal further in the matter. Seaton left the Session and its
discipline work ; and William Douglas, Professor of Divinity
at King's College, was induced to act in his place. Early in
1653 the minister of the First Charge fell ill, but Seaton was
still in disfavour ; and when in March the minister died,
Professor Douglas became Moderator,
Some Early Scottish Independents 75
The elders and deacons having suplicatted him for this end,
and also that everie Weddensday he should lecture, and baptize
the children of the parish.
The Session records, communion vessels, copies of Acts of
Assembly, and various documents, were handed over to
Douglas for safe keeping.
It is evident that Seaton had not the personality to draw
his people to his convictions. Eventually he modified his
views, and in 1656 was accepted as minister of the still vacant
First Charge ; but differences of opinion soon cropped up
again, and next year he moved to a charge at Felton Bridge
in Northumberland. Soon after the Restoration he was
" outed " from this Church, and returned to Aberdeen with his
family.
A more important member of the group was Professor John
Menzeis, a character of great interest and a real force in the
ecclesiastical life of Aberdeen. Connected with an old and
doggedly Roman Catholic family, he was himself most prom-
inent as a zealous champion of Protestantism, and most of
his writing and preaching as well as his University disputations
and lectures were directed against Romanism. His public
discussions with the Jesuit Dempster were famous, denunc-
iation of opponents being still a favourite weapon of the
eloquent in his time, and one which he could wield with the
best. Dempster had called him " a cock in his own midden,"
so he retorted cheaply that
To exchange papers with you in your scurvie straine will be
but as if when an asse kicks at a man he should kick at the
asse again.
Dempster charged him with " continual railing in pulpit "
against Romanism, and said his attacks were
A masse and heap of digressions, copied out of controversy
books, of misapplyed phrases, of grosse mistakeings and of
injurious and railing words.
And elsewhere he added that Menzeis " lives in altercations,
as a salamander in the fire," referred to his " fierceness in
fighting with a scolding and a railing tongue," and attributed
his reputation to
A pharisaical countenance, a puritanical tone and a strong
voice, colouring some slight learning, and reading of pamphlets,
76 Some Early Scottish Independents
with plagiary phrases and passages, to stuff up a book in print,
and turn the glass twice in his sermons.
The fame of this controversy reached the author of the Scots
Hudibras, for he writes :
Who reason in generals
Th' argument contentious and brauls,
They bring but bout-gates and golinzies,
Like Dempster disputing with Meinzies ;
Men hardly can scratch others' faces
When they are distant twenty paces.
Another celebrated controversy in which Menzeis was
specially involved was that against the Quakers, who had risen
to prominence in the district under the leadership, first of
Alexander Jaffray and later of the celebrated Apologist,
Robert Barclay. Menzeis was declared by Quakers to have
" furiously and maliciously " set himself against them, and
they believed it was largely due to him that Bishop and
Magistrates were led to exert themselves in persecution.
Menzeis was Professor of Divinity at Marischal College from
1649 till his death in 1684, with the exception of the year 1679-
80. As a University teacher he was popular and successful,
and we hear of him as
A very great, pious and most learned man, well seen in the
Popish and Arminian controversy.
It was, however, as a preacher that he excelled, and he preached
constantly — " a great preacher of the Gospel," very powerful
and eloquent
Very fervent in his way of preaching, so that after his coming
home, he was necessitate to change his shirt.
His strong personality, religious enthusiasm, acute mind,
eloquent utterance, and sound business capacity gained him
considerable influence and much respect in the city, and we
find him in various positions of honour and trust, such as the
Rectorship of King's College to which he was repeatedly
elected " by unanimous vote." The good opinion he had
earned is clear from the fact that when by 1679 he was finding
the preaching obligations of his Chair a heavy strain, Bishop
Scougall proposed him for the lighter Professorship at King's
College, and the Synod of the Church unanimously approved
Some Early Scottish Independents 77
and he transferee! to Old Aberdeen for a year. The Town
Council, however, exerted itself in the most kindly way to
bring him back to Marischal College on easier terms, showing
what long experience had taught them to think of him.
Menzeis had been a staunch Covenanter, and very energet-
ically took the side of the extremer section of these, the
Protesters, but 1652 saw his further progress to Independency.
Some have regarded him as the leader of the Aberdeen move-
ment. He certainly was its chief speaker. In 1654 he spent
some months in London, whither he had been summoned by
Cromwell to consult upon Scottish affairs, and he was no doubt
an Independent in his sympathies at this time, although a
recorded conversation with Johnston of Warristoun suggests
that he was wavering. Writing in 1658 Baillie stated that
Menzeis was now weary of Independency and content to
return to the Presbytery.
But the pendulum swung further with him as with many
others, and he was content to preach the official sermon in
Aberdeen on the occasion of the Restoration, not refraining
from the expected flatteries of the King, though contriving to
spend much of his time attacking Romanism. In 1661 his
name appeared on a list of possible Bishops ; but by the
following year he was developing scruples once more, and it
was only after a considerable resistance that he finally aban-
doned what the Synod called his " seditious carriage, " and
settled down to be a good Episcopalian. He thus retained
his Chair ; and, when in 1681 the Test was required of him,
although again he hesitated and at first refused, yet presently
he submitted.
His brother-in-law has left on record that at the last Menzeis
Was very penitent for complying with prelacy and even for
turning Independent ; his taking the Test was the thing that
grieved him most.
It is difficult to know how much weight to give to this state-
ment ; but one is not surprised that contemporary judgment
classed Menzeis as a temporizer. Enthusiasm, however, was
his outstanding feature, whatever cause he advocated. Per-
haps one might even apply rather the word used to describe
John Knox, and sum up his characteristics in the word
Vehemency.
In some respects the most interesting man of the Aberdeen
group was the layman, Alexander Jaffray, who describes the
78 Some Early Scottish Independents
movement in his well-known Diary. Son of a landed pro-
prietor near Aberdeen, he had a somewhat random education,
but attained some culture, married young, travelled abroad
and in England, and had much exciting adventure and several
narrow escapes in the wild times which his home district
experienced in 1643-5. He was a man of considerable force
of character, genuine administrative ability, and some social
.gifts, and he rose to eminence in local government, became a
Member of Parliament, served on numerous committees of
State, and was one of the select commissioners sent to Holland
in 1649 and 1650 to negotiate with Charles II. Jaffray was
wounded at the Battle of Dunbar and remained for some
months a prisoner in the hands of the Sectarian troops.
During this time he had some intercourse with Cromwell and
also saw something of John Owen and others who were capable
of influencing an earnest and open-minded gentleman. Crom-
well impressed Jaffray ; but Cromwell must in turn have been
impressed by his prisoner, for he afterwards made him one of
the five Scottish members of his Union Parliament in 1653-54 ;
and in 1657 he moved him to Edinburgh as Director of the
Chancellary in Scotland.
Jaffray was a sincerely religious man, fond of religious
reading, and an eager student of the Bible. He became
troubled and uncomfortable about the trend of the Church in
Scotland since the Covenants, increasingly doubtful of the
lawfulness of forced uniformity, and of that doctrine of
Presbyterian infallibility which he traced in the Covenants.
What he saw and heard of Independency attracted him, and
he was delighted when he discovered that there were men like
Menzeis and Row and others at Aberdeen whose minds were
moving in the same direction. Independents had made on
the whole a good impression in Aberdeen, as we know from
Gilbert Burnet. Now Jaffray discussed their doctrines and
practices with everyone. He even journeyed to Edinburgh to
confer with Church leaders, and although he found them cold
to his enthusiasms he went home more than ever satisfied that
he was following the guidance of the Holy Spirit in advocating
and supporting Separation. He took his share in the attempt
to form a congregation in Aberdeen. When the group drifted
apart he seems to have turned more to personal religion than
to ecclesiastical problems, again a little doubtful, but still
interested afnd always seeking.
After the Restoration he lost his office and returned to
Some Early Scottish Independents 79
Aberdeen, soon beginning to be stirred by the Quaker move-
ment and presently becoming the most prominent and enthus-
iastic of the Quakers of Aberdeenshire, and of course in com-
plete hostility to his former ally, John Menzeis. He died in
1673, having suffered not a little for his opinions, and leaving
a family which long continued the Quaker tradition in the
North-East of Scotland.
Such were Row, Seaton, Menzeis, and Jaffray, the leaders
of what proved a temporary, but was at the time a very signifi-
cant movement. Presbyterianism and Congregationalism do
not seem readily to settle down side by side. Perhaps they
are not sufficiently incompatible. In Scotland the established
Church was scarcely so utterly far away as the established
Church in England seemed to be, and no doubt many people
felt it possible to continue within its fold who were not very
happy there, but who could not at all have endured the
Church of England. In any case Independency did not spread
in Scotland as it had done in England, but during this period
of the 17th century it won the allegiance of a small band of
earnest, capable, intellectual men in and about Aberdeen, and
doubtless to a lesser degree affected the outlook of many
others. It did not outwardly survive the Restoration period
— it must not be forgotten how very Presbyterian was Epis-
copacy in Scotland — and the Haldanes had practically to
begin Independency all over again. In the 17th century,
nevertheless, Independency did travel north, and did quite
definitely, though perhaps more indirectly than directly, leave
its mark upon the religious life of the people of Scotland.
G. D. Henderson.
I
80
South Cave Congregational Church.
N Transactions XL 182, the following note appears in
the interesting story of South Cave Congregational
Church :
The Rev. Mr. Whitridge (who preached here various times,
according to Mr. Tapp's Diary) appears to have supplied
South Cave for a time after Mr. Tapp's decease, but up to
the present no details have come to light.
The following facts may be interesting to your readers.
The settlement and ordination of the Rev. John Whitridge
took place at Carlisle in July, 1814, when the membership of
the Church in the Border City was fifty. In June, 1816, the
Chapel was enlarged and handed over by Trustees of Lady
Glenorchy to the Church. On 17th June, 1819, the Rev. John
Whitridge resigned his pastorate at Carlisle. In February,
1820, Carlisle Church invited Mr. Thomas Woodrow, of
Glasgow Academy, to the pastorate. He was minister of the
Carlisle Church till 1835, when he emigrated to America. Mr.
Woodrow was the grandfather of President Woodrow Wilson.
In the interest of readers of the article on South Cave Church,
it may be pointed out that after 17th June, 1819, Mr. Whitridge
was free to seek another charge and as Mr. Tapp and he were
friendly he may have been living in the vicinity of South
Cave when Mr. Tapp died on 20th Nov., 1819.
In the same article on p. 181 read Forton for Foston.
William Robinson.
8i
The Dutch Church in Norwich1
Folio Page
{Continued from page 48.]
Their handes hereunto sett to the one, and the arche-
bisshopes hande to the other, the one remayninge with
hym and the other withe them : the seyde Isebrandus
and Theophilus called ageyne, had sentence agaynste
eyther of them pronownced, that neyther of them shulde
mynyster anye more within the diosses and other thinges
in manner as after appearethe by his decree followenge.
1571.
The decree of the byshopp of Canturburye withe the
reste of the Comyssioners the xvi of Septembre.
Whearas ther hathe bene certayne dysorders and dissencions
raysed up and maynteyned, betwixte the ministers them ||
87 selves, and also by that occasion the rather, betwixte the
people of the Duche churche in Norwiche, And hathe
further more appeared certeyne contemptes and disobedi-
ence amonges them, aswel towarde the reverende father,
the Bysshoppe of that diocesse, as also agaynste the
quyete governemente of the worshippfull companye of
the Mai or and Citezins, to the greate disquiete and hurte
of the publique peace amonges themselves. Wherupon,
we here underwretton, Comyssioners to the Quenis
Majestie in cawses ecclesiasticall : desyrous that aU
parsons above seyde, shulde demeane themselves to the
pleasure of God, and tractablye, under the quyete governe-
mente of the prince in her lawes, for showinge some thanke-
fullnes to her highnes, for suche benefytes as the partyes
aforesayd have receyved of her princelye favore and
mercye, and to the extirpation of all grwdge and disorder
that maye hereafter ensewe. We the seide commissioners
1 Collation with the original calls for the following corrections in the instalment
previously published. [S.S.S.]
p. 34, 1. 6. Add [is] between ' who ' and ' meete ' to make meaning clear.
p. 36, 1. 4. For xxxiiii* read xxiiii*».
p. 36, 1. 26. For it read is. ^
p. 40. Opposite the second Itm add 42.
p. 41, 1. 32. For parties read partes.
p. 42, 1. 27. For trayre read trarye. %
p. 44, 1. 38. For asewl read aswel.
p. 45. Opposite 1. 15 add 44d.
p. 46, 1. 32. Delete final ' e ' in Archebisshoppee.
82 The Dutch Church in Norwich
Folio Page
have ordered and decreed to stablishe emonges them,
these orders followenge : Over and above all suche rewles
and decrees as shall hereafter be taken by the seyde
Comissioners, for the whole and intire rwle and governe-
mente of all f orreine straungers cominge into the realme for
defence and savegarde of . . . iences, to the trewe worde
of God, as is pretendid.
Ed. London. Robt. Winton. John Hamounde.
46d Fyrste we decree, that the reverende father, the Bysshopp
of the diocesse for the tyme beinge, have to hymsylfe his
ecclesiasticall iwrisdiccion, whole and intyre, as the lawes
of the realme have provided.
That neither the Maior and the Citezins, shall intermedle
themselves, in cawses meere ecclesiasticall. And that the
ministers and people of the seide congregation, be also
obedient and submytte themselves in their spirituall
governemente to his order and direccion (from tyme to
tyme) exceptinge to themselves, their accustomed manner
of governemente amonge themselves, hitherto graciouselye
88 borne and suffred by || the Quenis Highenes, and her
honorable cowncell.
And also reservinge to the Maior and comonaltye of the
Citye for the tyme beinge, their governemente in all civile
and politique cawses, accordinge to the lawes and statutes
of the realme, whiche we meane not to preiudice, by anye
thynge before decreed or otherwise to be decreed, nott
doubghtinge but that they wyll aswel mayntayne all
suche straungers as intende to use the Quenis favoure
toward them obedientlye and thankefullye, as also
correcte and punishe the offenders of the Quenis peace,
or otherwise transegresse the lawes and statutes of the
realme.
And further we ordre and decree, that for the better mayn-
teyninge of peace and quyete hereafter : Neyther Isebran-
dus Balkins, neyther Theophilus Rickwaert, nor Anthonius
Alyvet, (late ministers) shall hereafter remayne in anye
ecclesiasticall ministerie, or anie seniorite, within the
Citye of Norwiche, nor in the cowntye of the same. Nor
yet anie of them to be taken elected or admitted to
minister enie manner publique funccion within the Citye
and subburbes of London. Whiche ower decree, risinge
of greatter cawses then here briefelye can be shewed :
We wyll to be inviolablye observed, under the payne of
enpresonmente withowte redemption of anye partye,
offendinge to the contrarie.
And furthermore, whear ther hathe bene information
The Dutch Church in Norwich 83
Folio Page
made to us the seyde Comyssionars, that partelye the
Maior and certayne aldermen of that Citye, have taken
upon them, to use and chalenge to themselves, all suche
spirituall iwrisdiccion as belongethe not unto them :
And that therupon they have enpresoned certayne of the
seide mynisters, contrarye to lawe and equitie. We the
seyde Comissioners, upon dewe prouffe and examination
of the same, have fownde the seyde information untrewe :
And do also by theese presentes testifye, of the orderlye
protestacion made, by Robert Sucklinge, Thomas
89 Beamonde, || and Symon Bowde Aldermen, and in the name
of the Maior and Comonaltye ther, sente up by hym for that
purpose, as by their handes subscriptions maye appeare,
viz — :
They do proteste that they meane not at anye tyme . . .
con ... to the lawes of the realme, and contrarye to the
1 the Citye, to intermeddle with spiritwall
47 in meerlye partayninge to the offycer eccle-
siasticall in the orderinge of the seyde straungers. And
further they proteste, that neyther they, nor anye other to
their knoweledge, have mente to abbuse the seyde straun-
gers (as have bene complayned) by anye private order or
booke, to preiudice the libertie of the seyde straungers,
either by engrossinge into their owne handes, their bayes
wrowght by them, to their private use, or yett to engrosse
up the woolle used of the seide straungers to be onelye
bowght at the handes of anye of the sej'de aldermen or
comoners of the same (otherwise then the lawes of the
realme do parmytte) or as they maye do by the graunte
of the Quenis Majestic
Itm they do proteste, that they take yt not for anye greife
or displeasure, that the seyde ministers shulde be as afore
ordered, taken from their seyde Citye : Or that they be
offended to have the seyde straungers to be well ?nd
quietelye governed, aswell in their manner of lyvinge
ecclesiasticallye, as in the manner of their lyvinge Civillie
amongest them. And do also proteste, that the seyde
straungers accordinge to the Quenis Majestie's charter
and Letters of tolleracion from her Majestie's privie
cownsell in that behalf e graunted, maye lyve franckelye
and freelye amongest them yf they wyll (so that they
breake not nor disolve the quyete governemente in their
seyde Citye) as before their comynge hath bene used,
accordinge to the lawes and liberties graunted afore tyme.
Itm we do order and decree, that one Johannus Pawlus
sometyme of the Congregation of Sandewiche, do immedi-
84 The Dutch Church in Norwich
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90 atelye || departe the Citye of Norwiche, accordinge to the
decree made the xxiith of the monethe of Decembre 1570
and whatsoever he be that shall contynue, kepe secreate
or maintayne the seide Paule contrarie to the order afore-
seide, that he and theye, do not onelye forfeict twentye
pounde the pece, but also be enpresoned accordinge to the
discretion of the Maior of the Citye.
Itm whear we made restreincte by ower Letters sente from
us to the Duche congregation, for not procedinge to anye
eleccion of newe ministers, of their segniors and eight men,
untyll we shulde consider of the whole matter, Nowe we
decree the seyde restraincte to be voide, and that they
maye procede to the eleccion of (onelie) twoo ministers,
To the eleccion of their segniors, and of their eight men.
Provided allwayes, that the names of the parties so elected,
be declared to the reverende father the Bysshoppe of
Norwiche : And the seide eleccion by hym to be confirmed
47d or repealed, accordinge to his discretion. And that the
persons elected, do contynue in suche sorte as was used
in the dayes of Kynge Edwarde, by the prescription of
Master Alasco, and was practized at the fyrste.
Itm we do decree, and charge all theis followenge, and
othersuche in that congregation : Viz. Romaine de Beere.
John Cuttman. Peter Obrye. Francis Trian. Wylliam Stenae,
Petz de Camere, Charles Harman, beinge translated of their
owne aucthorite from one churche to another : To indea-
voure themselves (principallye) to go abowght ther private
affaires quietelye, and not to entermeddle (beinge exiled
from the ghospell as they pretende) to trouble the peace
and concorde of the reste of the godlye congregation here-
after. Or ellis to avoyde that churche : leaste throughe ||
91 their demerites, others that wolde lyve quyetelye and
godlye, be hyndered by their attemptes and doenges.
Matthu Cantuar'. Ed' London. Robt. Winton. John
Hamont.
This decree under the comissioners greate seale was
directed by the bysshopp and the Maior, and after the
bishop had viewed yt, sent yt to his chauncellor, that he
and Master Maior shulde deale therin, which the chaun-
cellor dyd ; Wher upon grewe a newe contention : for
the byshoppe (somewhat favouringe the parte of Theo-
philus, prycked for ther concistori of the disordered sorte :
and for the politique elders, Master Maior ordeyned viii
Duche and iiii or Wallownes to be of the most honesteste
parsons : and for the brydelynge of the reste, dyd sweare
them to se observed the articles hereafter ensewinge. viz — :
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1. Fyrste that you as oversears of your eircuites, shall se
(accordinge to the Quenis highnes letters pattentes) That yf
anye of the thyrtye masters lyscensed under Mr. Maior's
seale of offyce, do dye or departe the Citye, that you, or
the more parte of you geve names of the moste best men
of occupation and good conversacon (not beinge denizens)
to be placed in their romuthes.
2. Itm. that eche one nowe havinge suche lettres, and be
of the disordered behaviours, or excepted in the former
decrees, that ye presente them to be denownced, and to
nominate for ther places suche as ye wyll undertake
to be of lyke honesty aforeseyde.
3. Itm that none be permitted here to enhabite, not
havinge escriptes from the Maior accordinge to the thred
article. And that suche b ... of your churche, and all
in the Citye not to passe the nombre of iim viiic xxvi parsons,
men, women & chyldren, accordinge to the letters of the
xxi daye of November 1569.
48 4. Itm that ye presente all unbrideled parsons, that wyll
92 not spare || the openinge ther mouthes to speake agaynst
orders made for them, by the lawes of this realme, or
agaynste suche decrees as ar made for them or agaynste
them, eyther by the metropolitan and comyssioners, the
by shop or ordinari, the Maior & aldermen, Shreves and
Comonaltye, or agaynst anye offycer appointed, that
accordinge to their desartes, they maye sustayne con-
dingne ponyshement.
5. Itm that ye presente suche as be sectuaries or do mayn-
teyne anye scismes, contentions, quarellinges or suche
lyke, to the offence and greife of their bretherne.
6. Itm that ye presente suche as make anie conventicles
or gatheringes of people for anye other cause, then
tendethe to suche orders as ar to you prescribed : Or ells
that suche gatheringes and concours tende not to the
breache of the Quenis Highnes peace.
7. Itm that ye presente suche as of themselves presume
to make lawes and ordenaunces for Civil cawses, and put
them in execution befor they be ratefyed by the order
of Master Maior or of the Comon Assemblye.
8. Itm that ye presente suche, as do exacte upon their
bretherne anye sommes of money for their private cawses,
other then the lawes of the realme wyll beare.
9. Itm that ye presente suche, as refuse to be rewled by
you, in all good order : whiche yf they refuse, ye shall call
the ayde of the Counstable of that Warde them to
36 The Dutch Church in Norwich
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enprison withe their ayders and abbettors, dwringe Master
Maiors pleasure.
10. Itm ye shall (as arbitrators of petye cawses) make
ende emonges your bretherne, as before tyme hath bene
accustomed. ||
93 11. Itm ye shall do all other comaundementes from
Master Maior and the aldermen of wardes, and all other
t hinges to you appartayninge.
Note that there is an article lefte owte, which is wretton in
folio. And bycause the governours urged that the
seaventhe article shulde seme to breake their ordenaunces
of the draperye, and that the fourtene parsons prayed a
proviso therin, yt was set downe in these wordes.
Provided allwayes that we the Maior and aldermen do not
lett that those of the draperye maye mete to make orders
for their occupation as is conveniente, so yt be done in the
presentes of the eight and fower and the reste appointed,
and withe their agreemente ratefied with the reste, and
beinge presented to Master Maior and his bretherne to that
ende.
Theis articles by the tenne persons by Mr. Maior appointed
well viewed they presented verye manye disordered
persons to thende that none of them might be in the
eleccon no we to be done. Yet by the labor of Theo-
philus and his complyces, the byshop was made their
frende, so that they were chosen of the most contention
and might not be removed of the bysshop tyll order cam
from the hie comissioners in manner hereafter ensewinge,
viz — :
To the right worshipful Master Maior of the Citye
of Norwiche, and to the Aldermen of the same.
Wheare we understaunde, by credible reporte of the
unrestfull dissention betwixte the straungers themselves,
the conspirators of whiche dissention regardinge nothinge
the goodnes of God in this their exile, nor the Quenis
Maiesties greate favoure towardes them and her lovinge
subiectes good intertaynemente : Neyther consideringe the
shame and sclander they worke to Chryste, his ghospell
and religion, and to the perpetuall blotte of their nation,
so insolente in a straunge countrye. Whiche in sences
pretendinge a defence of their consciens and mainteyn-
94 aunce of trewe religion. And under the cloake || therof,
be rathar as Jwdas and Barrabas amonges a christian
societie. Wherupon we have thought good to advertise
your Lordshipp to stande earnestelye to the reformation
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of them. And seinge that diverse of them, supposinge
that the maiestrates of this nation, havinge nothinge
elles a doo but to sarve their turnes. We require your
Lordeshipp as we do also Master Maior and his bretherne,
to governe them in lesse libertye then they have hetherto
used (or rather abbused.) And therupon we wyll you the
bysshopp to accepte syxe of these men fyrst chosen
seniors, viz — :
Mr. Mathue Richens John de Spigell John de Rode
Nicasius de Wilde Cornelis de Heill Maximilian van
Dan.
And your Lordeshipp or your chauncelor, with the cownsell
of theis aforeseyde syxe of that nombre that had the
moste voyces nexte unto the fyrst xii men
Cornelis Willen Joose de Ram Jaques van Borwen
Hubrect vander Lambrecte Halfe- Phillippus Andrias
Heiden biers
Adrian de Porter Barnard van
Diinsye
Robert Jansy Peter Haegman Jacob de Voider.
And yf this can not be done by your discretion to some
quyete contentation, beinge chosen but for one yere to
come. Then we require you the bysshopp and your
offycers in all cawses ecclesiasticall to proced accordinge
to your ecclesiasticall iurisdiccion, not regardinge their
particuler eleccions or disciplins, befor, so shamefullye
abbused. And appointe you their preachers and ministers
accordinglye. And whearas ther is muche standinge in
the validite of their eleccions (exe . . . they desarve better
by their more quiete behaviour . . . shalbe lesse regarded.
Moreover whear S. . . . thought but to revenge their yll
49 willers (as they take them) and so to abuse their romethes
privatelye in fullfyllinge their owne partiaU stomakes.
We requyre you the bysshopp and the Maior of the Citye
to bridle in suche unruelye sprites : And yf ther be anye
95 contentious heades lurkinge in those || congregations, to
fire them to this unnaturall and barbarows dissention.
We require you and chardge you in the Quenis Maiesties
name, to roote them owte. And yf anye suche be,
whome ye can not rwle, we will be meanis to the uttermost
of ower power to have them considered. And thus
expectinge your anwswers, we corny tte you to God as
ower selves. From Lambhethe this therd of Novembre
1571.
Matthue Cantuar' Ed. London. Thomas Lincha\
Thomas Wattes Thomas Galle. Jo. Hamounde.
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Upon this lettre, The Bysshopp appointed his chauncelor in
his place to sett. Who together with Master Maior and
Master Aldriche, the Satherdaye the xviith. of Novembre
15 7 1 at the Guylde Haule dyd assemble, callynge
befor them the vi parsons before apponted, who by anye
meanis wolde have Joose de Ram to be one. And
bycause he was a denizen, he was reiected. The reste
havinge obieccions ageynste them, ther certified by seaven
of the tenne men. Yet two of them promisinge to con-
forme themselves, were added to the reste, who wyselye
conferringe with the reste and the deacons accorded and
were browght to unitye of all partes, exepte the iiii or
Governors onely. Whiche were Anthonius Paschesson
Anthonius Paulus Jacob de Vos John Gherarde. Who
resysted all the doenges of those appointed by Master
Maior. [ ]
68 142 Note that whylest the Duche churche was somewhat stayed
of the late contention, and whylest men of mysbehavioure
were a sendinge awaye, dyd come from the Lords of the
Cownsell a Lettre dated the xxviii of Octobre 1 5 7 1 to
have greate regarde of the straungers : The contents
wherof be, as hereafter ensewethe.
To ower lovinge ff rends, the Maior and his bretherne : The
Customer, Controller and searcher of the Citye of Norwiche —
After ower hartye comendacions : for asmuche as yt is per-
ceyved, that upon a gracious and mercifull dysposicion,
in the Quens moste excellente majestie, in grauntynge
favoure to suche straungers, as have of late tyme bene
compelled for the avoydinge of the Calamities and troubles
that weare in sondrye countryes beyonde the seas : besyds
a greate multitude of good, honeste, and devoute poore
and afflicted people : Ther are also another nombre of evel
disposed people (under coullour of religion and piety e)
latelye entred at sondry ports and Cryckes into the realme,
wherbie the naturall good subiects are lyke (not onelye
to be corrupted with the evel condicions of them whiche
68d are naught) but also by the excesse nombre of bothe
143 sortes, shall || sustayne dy verse ways suche lacks as yt is
not meete to be borne withall, besydes other inconveni-
ences iustelye to be feared, by practyse of the lewder
sorte. ffor remedye wherof, her maiestye hat he wylled
us, presentlye and withoute delaye, to take order for
redresse hereof : and therwithe also, to cause suche
moderation to be used, as ii* no one Citye or towne, shulde
be anie great ter nombre of strangers, (thoughe they be of
honeste conversation) sufired to resorte and abyde, other-
The Dutch Church in Norwich 89
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wise then maye stande charitablye, with the weale, or at
the leaste, withoute damadge of the naturall enhabitaunts
of the same places. Wherupon as we have directed order
to other cownties, Cities and towns, so do we at this
present to you : wyUinge and comaundinge you (forthe-
withe) to take order. That beginninge the tenthe daye
of the nexte monthe, at whiche tyme, a lyke inquisicion
shalbe begonne, throughe other the maritine cownties
of the realme : You do by all good meanes that in you
shall lye, cawse a good and trewe searche to be made,
howe manye Straungers of everie nation, are within that
Citye. And distinctlie apparte, howe manie are come
into that Citye, sythence the xxv daye of Marche laste,
and by what qualitie and meanis, they do ly ve and sustayne
themselves, and howe they do inhabite, and in what sorte,
they do resorte orderlye to anie churches and places of
prayer, to heare and use divine service and Sacraments,
as (by the Ecclesiasticall Lawes of the realme) they owght
to do : Or otherwise, wheare anie straungers are tollerated
withall, by the Bysshoppe of the diocesse, to use divine
servis in their owne mother toungs : and hereof to make
us sertificate.
And ffurther you shall, circumspective, and charitablye
consider emonge your selves (beinge puplique offycers)
usinge conference herein withe the Bysshoppe of the
diocesse (yf he be neere unto you) or withe the ordenarie,
parson, or curate of the place, whether the whole nombre
144 of straungers || nowe recidente in that Citye (beinge of
honeste conversacion) maye withowte dammadge to the
natwrall good subiects of the same, contynue in as greate
nombre, as they nowe are. And yf the nombre shall
seeme to you to greate : To consider howe manye maye
be suffred to remayne, and in what sorte ; And to what
other places conveniente (for their relief e) the excesse
maye be sente to have habitacion. So as order maye be
geven for that purpose. Wherin we do not meane that
oure regarde be had, but onelye to suche straungers, as
are knowen to be honeste in conversacion, and well
dysposed to the obediens of the Quenis Maiestie, and the
realme. fifor so it is mente : And so, we wyll you, that
all other straungers of contrarye sorte, that shall not shewe
a good and open testymonye, to be obediente, as above is
sayde, shall be charged as unprofitable parsons, to departe
by a reasonable tyme.
And therin you shall use all carefullness and circum-
speccion, to cause them (indede) to departe. . . .
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Besydes this you shall cawse a dewe searche . . . what
69 armoure, or offencyve weapons, and ... in their howses :
And yf cawse, so shall seeme requisyte, to comytte the
same into the custodye, of some meete parsons of that
Citye, that maye be awnswerhable for the same, to the
owners. And of all this the premisses, we chardge you
(with all spede) to make to us awnswere (by wrightinge)
with your opinions in anie thinge, concerninge the same :
when you have considered of the parsons, whome you
shall thinke, meete to be sente awaye owte of the reahne.
We wolde that ye shulde advertise us of the nombre,
qualities and condicions of the trade, and manner of
lyvinge of the same persons so meete to be sente owte of
the realme, before theye be sente awaye. And so we bydd
you farewell, ffrom Grenewiche the xxviii of Octobre 1571 . ||
145 Your lovinge ffreends
N. Bacon C. S.
Tho Sussex fT Bedford Ro Leycestre
EdClynton Wyllm Howarde Willm Burgllye
Jamis Crofte. Raphe Sadlerche. Tho. Smythe.
69d 147 To the right honorable, the Lords of the
Quene her Majestie's privie counsell.
Ower humble dewties to your honors premised, it maye
please the same, that accordinge to the purporte of your
honorable Lettres of the xxvi of October, we have moste
dewetefullye weyed and considered the same. And
accordinge to your honorable comaundements, at the
prescribed daye, have procedid to the iuste viewe and
searche of all strangers, then reciaunte within this Citye,
conteyninge in nombre as ffollowethe.
men of the Duche nation — 868.
men of the Wallowne nation
—203
women of bothe nations 1,173
chyldren under age, of 14 years
—1681 J
Of the whiche nombre aforeseyde,* be come to this
Citye, sythen the xxv daye of Marche laste paste.
Men of the Duche nation — 85 ^ who sustayne them-
Men of the Walloune nation
—25
women of bothe nations — 85
Children of both nations . . .
3,925 wherof
be chyldren
inglish borne
be chyldren > 666
wherof is
and one ffrenche man from Depe of no occ .
selvis by workinge and
„« mak . . . comodities
The Dutch Church in Norwich 91
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70 The aforeseyde Straungers, be of twoo severall churches :
the Duche churche, and Wallowne churche. And bothe
theye do use their divine servis, and the administracion
of Sacraments, in their owne Lauguadge, by the tolleracion
of the Quenis Majesties hie Comissioners, and the Bysshoppe
of the Diocesse.
And concerninge the nombre before specifyed : beinge
of good conversacion, usinge their lawefull exercises j|
148 accordinge to the Quenis Majesties Letters pattents : and
by her highnes clemencie, parmitted here to enhabite, for
the better peoplinge of this her majesties Citye. We
fynde the nombre verie conveniente, and profitable for
this comon weale : Beinge a people hetherto (for the more
parte) well inclyned, in dewe obediens to her Majestie's
Lawes, and well applienge themselves in their exercises,,
wherbie bothe their owne people and owers, be kepte in
worke, (and maynteyned) to the greate benefyte, and
comon weale of this Citye and countrye adioyninge . Onelye
of late, some discention hath rysen emongste them, of the
Duche churche, by three ministers of theirs, and grewe to
partes takinge, one sorte agaynste another : whiche con-
travercie, is not altogether yet pacified (nott withstandinge
the greate paynes, that the Quenis Majestie's highe comis-
sioners have taken therin) nor lyke to be, so longe, as anie
of those three ministers remayne in this Citye : Namelie
Theophilus Rickwaerte, who in ower opinions (if he be
parmitted in anye place of this realme, wyll be a distur-
bance of this congregation, as hetherto he hathe bene.
Here be also certeyne disordered : Some beinge of no
churche, other some geven to odious . . . and trouble-
some parsons, wherof we had geven comandemente
for the amovinge of seaventene of them : And
thoughte furder to have proceded agaynste suche
lyke, as cawse had required, yf your honorable
letters had not come in the meane tyme. Other some
here be of artizans, men of honest conversacion, and yet
not nedefull in this Comonwealthe : As Taylors, Shomakers,
Bakers, and Joyners, whiche be offensyve to some of
ower Citezins (beinge of like occupation) wherupon we
have taken order, to the pacification hereof. Some also
be denizens latelye made, that be entred into trades, to
149 the offence || of many Citezins. Moreover in the searche
and viewe aforeseyde, we fynde no armoure, but offencive
weapons as folowethe, viz, Calyvers twoo,. dags and
pistolats xlv, halberds and bylls fower twoo, Bore spears
two, swords and rapers CCLxx. And for that the quantite
9 2 The Dutch Church in Norwich
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is not greate, we have lefte them remayninge, untyll we
70d knowe furder of your honors pleasure
And herein we thinke ower selves, moste bownden to your
honnors, who from tyme to tyme, have shewed your
speciall care and love towards this Citye and Comon weale
of the same. And for that your pleasure is, that we
shulde not onely certifye awnsweare to your honorable
lettres, but also ower opinions, towchinge some conveni-
ente place for straungers to enhabite in (yf the nombre
weare here to excessyve) whiche indewtifullwise, we have
before awnswered under your honorable flavours : we
suppose in ower cimple opinions, haven townes, to be no
convenient place for straungers, nor yet anie place within
the cownties of Norffolke and Suffolke, but muste needis
be, to the greate detrymente (and hinderaunce) of this
Comon weale, by reason of conveyenge awaye secretelye,
the worke sponne yarne, whiche is more naturallye
sponne here then in anie other place of the realme.
And further, for the Bayes, and mockados, and suche
other comodityes, as are here practized and used.
And thus in moste humble wise we do take ower leaves,
Comyttinge your honours to the proteccion of the
almightye : ffrom Norwiche the xvith. of Novembre a0
1571.
Your honnors to commaunde,
Thomas Grene Maior.
John Aldriche Edmunde Warden John Reade
Thomas SothertonThomas Pecke Eliza Bate
Thomas Whalle Chrystopher Some Symon Bowde
Robert Woode Robert Sucklynge Thomas Layer
r Henrie Grene- Thomas Beamonde Nicholas Baker
Shreves -| wode
I Edwarde Pye John Sucklynge Chrystofer Layer.
Richerd Bate Thomas Cully. Thomas Gleane
Thomas Gooche.
Sid 183
Order for straungers by the comissioners lettre.
Master Wyllm fferrour Maior.
After our hartye comendacons, wheras sondrye straungers
borne in the Lowe countryes, of late examyned befor us the
Quenis Majesties comissioners in their behalf e appoynted,
do maynteyne the most horrible & dampnable error of the
anabaptistes, and in the same detestable erroure, manye of
them do willfullye & obstinatelye contynue. And we fear-
inge leaste these corruptions be spred in dyverse places
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of her Majestie's realme, wheare those straungers do in-
habitte, and so wolde dayelye increase, yf yt be note in
tyme carefullye forsene and suppressed, ffor lyke as her
Majesties good intente and meanynge is, to succoure those
straungers, as for trewe and godly religion ar dryven to
seke refuge, so her highnes intente is not anye wayes to
reliefe anye that under pretence of godly religion, shulde
remayne here in her Maiesties dominions, and professe
so horible heresyes. Wherfor we accordinge to her
Maiesties comyssion directed unto us, for the dyschardge
both of ower dewetyes to God, and her Maiestye, have
thought (upon some spedye order to be taken, for the
suppressinge of them, and for parte of ower determinacion
therin) we have taken order that all straungers aswel
men as women (beinge of yeris of dyscretion, remayeninge
or dwellynge, in anye place within her maiesties realme)
shall geve their assente, and subscrybe to the articles
herein enclosed, devised for that purpose. And therfor
we have thought good, streightelye to chardge and
commande youe, in her maiesties name, that forthewithe,
upon receipte hereof, ye call bef or you all suche straungers,
as are remayninge within that Citye. And therupon,
82 184 takynge their names, aswell men as women, || beinge of
yeris of dyscretion as aforeseyde, to cawse not onelye
everye of them (no we dwellynge ther) but also suche, as
hereafter shall happen to remayne or dwell ther, befor
they shalbe admytted ther to remayne, Publikelye to sub-
scribe their names, or sette their marks or signes (in your
presents) to the seyde articles. We require you, to sende
them withe speede unto us, to be further consydered, as
shall appartayne. And that onys everie yere, ye make us
trewe certificate (in Mychaellmes tearme nexte) of your
doengs herein : Wherof we require you, not to fayle, to
have a carefull and dilygente consideration, as in so
weightye a cause is requisyte, and as ye wyll awnswere
to the contrarye. And so we bydd you hartelye farewell :
from London the seaventh of June 1575.
Your lovinge ffrendes
Ed. London Edmunde Ruffus Wyllm Cordall
Roger Marwoode R. Monson. G. Shearaerde.
John Yongs.
Alex' Nowell. Thomas Brumeleye Thomas Wilson.
The Articles Subscrybed.
1. That Chryste toke ffleshe, of the substaunce of the
Virgyn Marye.
94 The Dutch Church in Norwich
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2. That the inf aunts of the ffeythefull, are to be babtized.
3. That yt is lawefull for a Chrystian, to take an othe.
4. That a Chrystian man : maye be a magestrate, and
beare the sworde of offyce of aucthorite.
5. That yt is lawefuD, for a christian magestrate to
execute obstinate heretiques. ||
185 6. That yt is lawefull, for a Christian man to warre.
7. That yt is lawefull, for a Christian man, to require the
awcthorite of the Magestrate, and of the lawe, that he
maye be delyvered from wronge, and restored to right.
8. That a Christian man, maye lawefullye have proprietye
in his goodes, and not to make them Comon, yet owghte
(accordinge to the rewle of charite) to relieve the nedye,
accordinge to his habilitye.
To all whiche articles, the whole companye of alyens,
dyd putte their hands ffrom the xxvii daye of June 1575,
etc :
98d
231 The same daye Commethe master Salomon Smythe
mynister of the Duche churche, and complaynethe agaynste
dyverse Alyans, as here after ensewethe, viz — :
Right woorshippfull master Maior, these are moste
humblye to beseche you, that to the better advauncinge
of God his glorye, and the avoydinge and repressinge of
greate enormityes, dyseorders and myschefes, whiche
dayelye happenethe here emongst the straungers, to the
greate offence of the godlye, and to the sclaunder of the
ghospell. It shall please you and the aldermen of this
Citye your bretherne to comaunde that these three articles
99 followenge, be (from henceforthe) streightlye observed
and kepte : upon suche paynes as yt shall lyke you to
appoynte.
ffyrste that no stranger that usethe to make or sell aquavite
or aqua cumposita shall (from henceforthe presume to
receyve into his housse, anie one, to sell hym to drynke
or tipple anie aquavite : And also that none shall resorte
to suche howses for to drincke the same : And that none
shall carrye anye, from housse to housse, to provoke men
to the drinkinge of the same.
Itih that no straunger, shall from henceforthe presume,
to go walkinge abowght the Citye, or abrode, upon the
sahaothe dayes and festivall dayes, befor fower of the
Clocke after dynner, or that the divine service be ended.
The Dutch Church in Norwich 95
Folk) Page
Itm that no straunger or straungers inhabitinge this Citye |j
232 shall (from henceforthe) frequente, or resorte to anie
taverne, inne or alehousse for to drincke, excepte upon a
iuste and urgente occasion.
Wherupon the orders before made (for these cawses) were
considered of, upon the whiche, a decree was made, as
hereafter is specifyed.
By the Maior.
To the wallowns and Duche nation of this Citie. Wher
in the tyme of master Pecke Maior, beinge the eleaventh of
Julii 15 7 3, An ordenaunce was made : That no parson
or parsons (beinge Straungers) shall upon anie sondaye
or holidaye (beinge dayes of prayer) to walke abowght
the streetes, or owte of the Citye gates, to playe, or sytte
to talke, in the tyme of the sermons or prayers. Or
dwringe that tyme, or at anye other tyme, shall also
drinke or eate, in anye Inne, Taverne or Tippelynge
housse : upon payne of fyve shillings for the fyrste tyme,
and tenne shyllings for the seconde tyme and everie tyme
after : To be devyded, One parte to the maior, one other
parte to the poore, and the thred to the presentor, and the
fourthe to the balye.
And further to be corrected by Master Maior.
The paynes for the chyldren to be upon ther fathers and
mothers : And servauntes of their masters. And the
balye to loose syxe shyllings, for not presentynge the
same, twoo parts to the Maior and the presentor, and
twoo partes to the poore. And wheras the syxte daye of
Novembre 1574 in the fyrste tyme of eny [my ?] mairaltye,
Emongs other things yt was ordeyned : That no straunger
shulde sell in open streete or housse, anie aquavite or
aquacomposita (by them or other made) to anie other
straunger : Nor shall resorte to drynke, in anye Inne,
Typphnge howsse or other place, upon anye sondaye or
other dayes, and excepte yt be in their owne howses in
good order : In payne of twoo shyllings for everye tyme
One parte to be to the maior, one other to the poore, and ||
233 the thred, to the presentor or present ors. And bycaus
99d the foreseyd offences (nottwithstandinge the premisses)
are of late, growen agayne to suche rypenes, as complayntes
are not onelye made therof, but also earneste requeste,
that the lawes aforeseyde maye be putte in execution.
Knowe ye therfor, That I Chrystopher Some Maior with the
assente of my brethren the Aldermen, do comaunde that
96
Folk) Page
The Dutch Church in Norwich
the seyde ordenaunces (from henceforthe) be putte in
execution upon everye offender accordinglye. In wittnes
wherof I the seyde Maior, have hereunto putte my hande,
the xvth. daye of Marche 15 80, the three and twentyethe
yere of the reigne of ower Sovereigne Ladye : Elizabethe,
by the grace of God of Englande, ffraunce, and Irelande
Quene : defender of the f eithe etc :
Xpofer Some Maior.
[Concluded.]
Stephen S. Slaughter.
CONGREGATIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTS, 1932.
Receipts. £ s.
d.
Expenditure. £ s.
d.
To Balance forward,
By Printing Trans-
31/12/31 .. 27 8
6
actions . . . . 41 3
0
Subscriptions, 1932 32 18
6
Postages and Receipts 2 0
0
Arrears . . . . 15
0
Hire of Hall, Annual
Subscriptions in Ad-
Meeting . . ..11
0
vance . . ..27
7
Subscription to Friends
Sale of Transactions 5
0
Historical Society . . 5
0
Editorial Expenses . . 18
0
Balance in hand,
31/12/32 .. .. 18 7
7
£63 14
7
£63 14
7
Audited and foun<
1 correct,
C. LEE DAVIS,
21/4/33.
Hon. Auditor.
EDITORIAL.
THE Annual Meeting of the Society will be held in the
Council Chamber, the Memorial Hall, on Wednesday,
May 9th. This is a very crowded week, and we are
endeavouring to arrange the meeting so as to give
members of the Society and of the Assembly who would like
to attend other gatherings an opportunity to do so. Our
Meeting will therefore last from three o'clock to four sharp.
Dr. Peel will speak on : " Co-operation of Presbyterians and
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts."
* » * ♦
The outstanding event since the last number of the
Transactions from our point of view has been the publication
of the Rev. A. G. Matthews 's Galamy Revised, the full title of
which is : "A Revision of Edmund Calamy's Account of the
Ministers Ejected and Silenced, 1660-2 " (Oxford Press, 40s.).
Mr. Matthews has often put our Society in his debt ; now he
has put the whole world of scholarship, and we are proud
that one of our own members has rendered such conspicuous
service to learning. It may be possible in the course of the
years to make some slight additions here and there to Mr.
Matthews's work, but in the main it will stand for all time,
and the more serious the student in his search for knowledge,
the more he will realize the magnitude of Mr. Matthews's
achievement, and the more grateful he will be to the compiler
of this massive and masterly volume. The Introduction, the
Biographical Notes of the Ejected Ministers, and the Indexes
are equally well done, and time and trouble are saved for the
student in every possible way. Remembering how long ago
he lived, and the contemporary attitude to historical facts,
Calamy comes out from Mr. Matthews's investigations amazingly
well, though it is revealing to contrast the 17th-century
scholar's methods with those of his 20th-century editor.
Mr. Matthews's final summary is that 695 ministers were
ejected in 1660, 936 in 1662, and 129 at dates unknown,
making a total of 1,760, of whom 171 afterwards conformed.
We take this opportunity of saying that the annotated list
of Baxter's works which Mr. Matthews contributed to the
7 *
9$ Editorial
Transactions has been re-published, with some corrections
and additions. Copies, price 2s., may be obtained from
Mr. Matthews, Farmcote, Oxted, Surrey.
It is always a pleasure to note a piece of research well done,
and Prof. J. A. Muller, of the Episcopalian Theological School,
Cambridge, Mass., has also done excellent service to students
by his edition of The Letters of Stephen Gardiner (Cambridge
Press, 31s. 6d.). In 1926 Prof. Muller published a book on
Stephen Gardiner and the Tudor Reaction, and he has now
documented this in an extremely competent volume, in which
the transcription of the letters, the notes, and the indexes
are a model. For those dealing with the period this work
will be as essential and as useful as that of Mr. Matthews for
students of 17th-century Nonconformity.
* * * *
There has always been a close connexion between the
Society and the Congregational Library, especially in the days
when the Rev. T. G. Crippen, for so long Secretary and Editor,
was Librarian. After the War the Library fell on evil days ;
there was no money available for the purchase of books, and
changes in the structure of the building interfered in a con-
siderable degree with the Library's work. During the last
few years attempts have been made to bring some degree
of order out of the chaos, and soon it is hoped the Library
will be made available for students.
It is not generally known that in Nonconformist history,
especially of the Ejected Ministers of 1662, and in hymnology,
the Library is extremely strong. A glance at Dexter's famous
bibliography of Congregationalism gives some indication of its
treasures. Not only so, but along general lines the Library
could be extremely serviceable to ministers and theological
students.
A card catalogue has now been made of the manuscripts,
the hymnological collection, and the main body of printed
books. Steps are being taken to equip a room as a Students'
Room where books can be consulted in such a degree of quiet
as can be obtained in the Memorial Hall. The money to
provide this equipment has been obtained by the sale of
duplicates. We were specially pleased when, in a recent sale
at Sotheby^s, the duplicate copy of Roger Williams's The Bloudy
Tenent of Persecution for cause of Conscience, discussed in A
Editorial 99
Conference betweene Trvth and Peace (1644) brought a bid of
£138. (This was reduced to £125 owing to some small imper-
fections in the copy.) The Congregational Union and the
Memorial Hall Trustees are uniting to maintain the Library,
so that there will be a clerk in attendance for inquiries and
also some cash available for the purchase of such books of
reference as will make the Library specially useful. In addition
some modern books to the value of £50 have been presented to
the Library, which also houses the accumulation of books
presented by Sir James Carmichael to the London Congrega-
tional Union during the last eight years.
The Library has always been well used by students of
historical research in this and other countries, but the
denomination in general has not realized what a great asset
it possessed in the Library. Ministers will find available
not only recent commentaries but works like Hastings's
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics ; those interested in
hymnology will find a vast amount of data (there are, by
the way, many copies of duplicate hymn-books for disposal
which may be inspected on application).
Sir James Carmichael, as Chairman of the Memorial Hall
Trustees, has taken a great deal of interest in the development
of the Library. One of the last letters read to him on the day
he died suggested that it would be of great value to students
if the Library could possess the Oxford English Dictionary,
and one of his last requests was that a cheque should be sent
to meet the cost — a characteristic act from one of the most
generous and beloved of modern Congregationalists.
We hope members of the Society will make full use of the
Library and help to make its contents widely known.
IOO
Early Puritanism and Separatism in Nottingham.
WHEN we consider how near the city of Nottingham
is to those places in the north of the county, and
on the borders of Lincolnshire, where we find the
homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, it is very strange
that the city itself saw but little of the movement for another
fifty years. There is, however, one link between the city and
the Pilgrim Fathers and more particularly with the story of
Baptist origins, which may be noticed. It is the story of
Thomas Helwys of Broxtowe. Broxtowe is at present within
the bounds of the city, but in those early days it was a hamlet
some three miles to the north. There are still left portions
of an old house which belonged to the days of Queen Elizabeth.
There had been an earlier house which was at one time occupied
by Sir Hugh de Willoughby, an explorer. Before the end
of the 16th century the house was leased to Edmund Helwys,
whose son Thomas succeeded him in its occupation. Thomas
Helwys married Joan Ashmore, of the neighbouring parish
of Bifiborough, and their house became a centre of hospitality
for Puritan clergy. Helwys was deeply interested in religious
questions, and loved to have men about him with whom
he might discuss the problems of the day. Among his guests
were Richard Bernard and John Smyth. Bernard was a
Puritan clergyman, vicar of Worksop, who never went the
length of separation from the Church of England ; Smyth
was the founder of the Church of Gainsborough, and one
of the leaders of the early Pilgrim movement. Smyth came
to Broxtowe to be nursed back to health after a long illness,
and for many years his intercourse with Helwys was intimate.
There was no organized Puritan meeting nearer to Nottingham
than Gainsborough, and among the folk who gathered there
from over a wide countryside and formed a Separatist Church
were Thomas and Joan Helwys of Broxtowe.
This separation caused a great deal of feeling and made
many inroads into friendship. There were many Puritans
who were set on reforming the Church from within, and to
whom such a severance from established things seemed a
hindrance rather than a help to religion. Among such was
Richard Bernard. Bernard's utterances from his pulpit at
Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism
IOI
Worksop had been such as to convince his Puritan friends that
he was willing to go the whole way with them, but when he
was suspended by the Archbishop he began to realize what
separation from the Church would mean for him, and to
question in his own mind the value of that path as a way
to reformation. He became convinced that he could do more
in the way he desired by submission to authority, and so he
disappointed his friends. He had to justify his submission
both to them and to the world, and entered on a polemic with
his former associates. Smyth replied to him :
Then tell me with what face or conscience you can subscribe
to the Prelacy— you can plead for the Prelacy ? Is not this
to build that which you have destroyed ?
The interest of this for Nottingham is that Thomas Helwys
of Broxtowe was the go-between between Bernard and Smyth.
Bernard tried to do his own work of reform in his parish by
a covenant among his people, but he became so afraid of
being tarred by the Separatist brush that his covenant was
not enough for the more serious part of them, and they slipped
away from him to join Smyth at Gainsborough. " They have
taken away part of the seal of my ministry," wrote Bernard,
who sent to Helwys a long letter in which he set out a list
of the Separatist doctrines to which he was opposed. Helwys
forwarded this letter to Smyth, who replied (Nov., 1607),
rebuking Bernard for his inconstancy, replying to his objections,
and setting out the main grounds for separation from the
Church of England.
These two letters were the main documents underlying the
controversy into which before long most of the Separatist
leaders were drawn ; and it was this first-hand information of
the aims and ideals of the Separatists that gave to Bernard
the material for his book on the " Separatists' Schism."
All this seems to argue that the generally given date (1602)
for the separation of these Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire
pilgrims from the fellowship of the Church of England is some
four years too early. In 1605, at least, Smyth and Bernard
were working together, both in the fellowship of the Church.
Before passing to the next stage in the story of Thomas
Helwys it will be interesting to note one clause in the covenant
into which the people at Gainsborough entered : " We covenant
102 Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism
to walk in all His ways made known to us, or to be made known
to us." There has been some speculation as to whether the
phrase " or to be made known to us " was added subsequently
by Governor Bradford, in America. But we like to think of
it as part of the original covenant, as suggesting that from the
very first there was determination not to put themselves under
the tyranny of the dead hand ; there is an outlook about the
phrase that is warming and glad, a real prophecy of freedom.
We recall also the words with which John Robinson said
good-bye to the Pilgrims a few years later :
The Lord hath more truth and light to break forth out of
His Holy Word.
It was quite in the spirit of this that Smyth in different places
in his writings calls attention to the change in his thought.
For instance, in The Differences of the Churches of the Separation
(1608) he says:
Although in this writing something there is that overthwarted
my former judgment in some treatises by me formerly published,
yet I would intreat the reader not to impute that as a fault to
me. Rather it should be accounted a virtue to retract errors.
Know, therefore, that latter thoughts oft-times are better than
the former, and I do profess this that everyday, as my errors
shall be discovered, I confess them and renounce them.
Similarly when Henry Jacob, who had been pastor among
the Pilgrims at Ley den, returned to England and founded
his Independent Church in Southwark, we find that he and
his people covenanted together
to walk in all God's ways as He had revealed, or should make
known to them.
But those considerations, interesting as they are, take us
from our main story. There is yet more to say about Thomas
Helwys and the part that he played in the development of
Puritanism. He was among those who accompanied Smyth
to Holland, where they found a little community of exiles
in Amsterdam already established under the leadership of
Francis Johnson. They did not join this religious fellowship
but held themselves apart as a separate church. Differences
arose amongst them. Robinson moved on to Leyden, Smyth
and Helwys remained in Amsterdam. When Smyth died,
Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism 103
Helwys became the pastor of the church. Not of the whole
church, however, for he renounced the practice of infant
baptism and founded a secession church on Baptist principles.
He soon returned to England, where he established a Baptist
Church in London. He began to differ more and more from
his fellow pilgrims in Holland, partly on the ground of the
stipend paid to the ministers, and partly on the more fun-
damental question as to whether he had been justified in
coming to Holland at all. One wonders whether he was
influenced in this latter matter by the experiences of his wife.
There is no trace of Joan Helwys in Holland at all. Thomas
had escaped arrest at home by his timely flight, and it seems
that he imagined that his wife would be immune from per-
secution. But the authorities, disappointed in their effort
to arrest the husband, had laid hands on the wife, and Joan
was fined and imprisoned in York. When she was liberated
she went to friends in London and remained there until he
joined her.
The real connexion of Broxtowe with the movement thus
ceases with the imprisonment of Joan Helwys and the flight
of Thomas. It had touched Nottingham only to a limited
extent, and it would seem that such Puritans as were in the
locality were of the mind of Bernard of Worksop, content
while remaining in the Establishment to try to accomplish
reformation from within. That there were many such appeared
in the next generation but one, when, after the Commonwealth,
the attempt was made to rid the Church of its Puritan elements.
Under the Commonwealth itself the main Puritan movement
in Nottingham was Presbyterian. The congregation at St.
Mary's Church, at any rate as far back as the year 1642,
appears to have been of Puritan tendency. From that date
there was no settled minister until 1651, when the Marquis
of Dorchester presented the living to Mr. Whitlock. It is
probable that this long vacancy in the parish church was a
consequence of the very troubled state of affairs in the town.
There were then three parishes ; St. Mary's, St. Peter's, and
St. Nicholas's, and the same gap appears in the list of incum-
bents of each of them. There was a considerable amount of
ill-feeling in the town, particularly between the Presbyterians
and the Independents. The Presbyterians had the prestige
of the parish churches behind them ; the Independents were
comparatively few, and they complained of the intolerant
104 Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism
behaviour of the dominant party. This was, of course, only
a local expression of the trouble that existed between the two
parties the country over. What a different story might have
been written if Charles I had been able to use the differences
between these two sections of Puritanism instead of ultimately
driving them to make common cause against himself. Though
politically they were driven together for a time, their religious
animosities were the main cause of undoing the work their
temporary union had accomplished. Such is human nature !
Colonel Hutchinson, the leader of the Parliamentary party
in the town, and the governor of the castle, set a noble example
of charity to all men and of regard to the rights of conscience.
Stories are told of the protection he extended to various
persecuted people, in particular to George Fox, who on a
memorable visit to the town found the people very rude.
Hooper, the castle engineer, and Collin, the master gunner,
were Independents.
By the year 1651 the main struggle in the country was over
and the Commonwealth was established. The Presbyterians,
who were the strongest party in the State, were bent on the
establishment of their form of church government, and having
overthrown Episcopacy, were keen on using Parliament for
their purposes. But they reckoned without Cromwell, under
whose leadership the Independents were rising to great impor-
tance. Unable to accomplish their greater aim, they had
succeeded in filling most of the pulpits of the land with men
of their own choice. The great majority of the men deprived
at the Restoration or ejected under the Act of Uniformity
were Presbyterian. As far as Nottingham was concerned, the
Episcopal Returns for 1669 (seven years after the Act of
Uniformity) show these figures :
Ministers.
Conventicles.
Communicants.
Presbyterian
16
14
900
Independent
5
6
308
Baptist
12
6
300
Quaker
7
11
415
In the meantime, however, in 1651, as soon as the way was
clear, the three parish churches of Nottingham were filled
with Presbyterian ministers. Of the men who came to St.
Mary's it is important to give some personal notes. John
Whitlock was born in London in 1625, and went to Emmanuel
Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism 105
College, Cambridge, where he formed a friendship with William
Reynolds, a friendship which continued without interruption
for more than fifty years. Whitlock wrote :
It was in the year 1643 that he and I became first intimately
acquainted ; and I hope I may say that it was religion that
was the first ground of our acquaintance. Soon after we
became chamber fellows, and so continued till the summer
of 1644 ; and all that time he was studious and improving,
being designed by his father, and himself designing, for the
ministry.
After graduation Whitlock undertook the preaching at Leighton
Buzzard, living during the week at Cambridge, and Reynolds
spent some two years in Russia, but when, after chose two
years, Whitlock was prevailed upon to undertake full charge
of the parish, it was on condition that Reynolds should come
with him, and for a time they together ministered to the
churches at Leighton and Aylesbury. Difficulty arose in the
matter of the " Engagement, " a declaration that all ministers
who received any augmentation to their stipends were expected
to sign. It was to this effect :
I do declare and promise I will be true and faithful to the
Commonwealth of England, as it is now established, without
a King, or House of Lords.
Whitlock wrote :
Could we have been satisfied that no more had been meant
by being true and faithful, than to five quietly and peaceably,
and not by any unlawful ways to disturb and make any altera-
tion in that government, this we could have declared and
actually did perform. But as conceived by those words was
intended and signified an approbation of our endeavouring
to promote that government : and this we were not satisfied
to declare : this alteration of the government being made by
an army and a small part of the House of Commons, the rest
being forcibly excluded.
This bit of personal story has been told in order to show
the type of men who were now called to St. Mary's. When
the offer was made to Whitlock, and he asked about his refusal
to sign the Engagement, he was told that such refusal would
rather commend him to most of the people of Nottingham
than give cause for any objection ; and on this assurance he
promised to pay a visit to the town, it being understood that
io6 Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism
any invitation to him to be vicar should include one to Reynolds
to be lecturer at the church. The two men had not yet been
ordained, but on the presentation to the living they were
ordained in London, after the Presbyterian model, along with
fifteen other men. They then came to Nottingham, and
established a regular church order, Presbyterian in form,
which continued in force until 1662. In this matter they
worked together with the incumbents of the two other parishes
enjoying much peace and comfort with our people and our
neighbour ministers.
In Whitlock's words :
After our return to Nottingham, we soon proceeded, we and
the people, to choose ruling elders, to be assistant to us and
join with us in the admission of persons into church communion
in all ordinances, and to be censors of the manners and con-
versation of persons, and to assist in all acts of order and
discipline that did not belong peculiarly to ministers, and to
deacons. The parish being large the ruling elders were eight.
In the records of High Pavement Chapel in Nottingham
there is a document setting forth the regulations that govern
the Presbytery in Nottingham. The document has no date,
but the signatures that are on it, thirty-two in number, show
that it must have belonged to the period immediately after
the settlement of Whitlock and Reynolds at St. Mary's. It
is considered to belong to 1654 or 1655. The document has
this preamble :
For as much as we judge it the will of Christ there should be
a communion of churches (as well as particular saints) for
the furtherance of the Gospel ; for the more pure, due and
orderly administration of all Gospel ordinances ; for the mutual
help and strengthening of one another in the Lord's work ;
and for the full discharge and exercise of that power and trust
which Christ hath put in our hands ; we therefore, whose
names are here subscribed do associate and are agreed on the
points following. . . .
And then follow four rules to the effect that the ministers and
elders should advise one another in cases considered difficult ;
that they should meet once a month to consult about matters
of rule and government ; that nothing be determined as to
government except in the presence of three ministers at least,
and as many ruling elders as possible, provided that at least
Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism 107
one elder be present, and that anyone in the congregation
represented shall have liberty to appeal to the association.
This association met regularly until the Restoration ; minutes
of its meetings are preserved in the High Pavement Chapel
records, the last date being 4th May, 1660. In these minutes
many ordinations are described, and many of the ministers
afterwards ejected are mentioned as either being ordained or
ordaining others. At one of the meetings the following
certificate of ordination was decided on :
We whose names are underwritten do hereby certify upon
our personal knowledge that our reverend brother Mr. A. B.
is an ordained minister of the Gospel ; and that in regard to
his serious godliness, competent learning, sound judgment,
profitable preaching and exemplary life, we doubt not but he
will be a singular blessing wherever God shall call him to
exercise his ministry.
This certificate was not easily obtained. The candidate
was to be examined in Divinity and in reference to the work
of grace wrought in him. He had to present a thesis written
in Latin on a question to be assigned to him, and be further
examined in philosophy, the tongues, etc. There is a minute
about a candidate who had satisfied all these requirements,
but was put back in order that he should preach before the
Presbytery that they might have further satisfaction concerning
his utterance.
The last meeting of the association was held on 6th June,
1660, eight days after the Restoration, but there is no minute
of this meeting.
At the Act of Uniformity, Whitlock, Reynolds, and Barrett,
from St. Peter's, were deprived of their livings. The Pres-
byterian men the country over responded magnificently to
the challenge of Charles. Their party had undone the work
of the Revolution ; it was through their quarrels with the
Independents that Charles was back on the throne ; they had
resisted to the last every idea of separation from the Church
of England in their fixed resolve to reform it from within ;
but when the last issue came the men in the churches did not
hesitate for a moment. They could not have any dealing
with the terms that were offered them, and, like their In-
dependent brethren, they left their livings and went out into
the wilderness. There were thirty Presbyterians out of a
total of forty-one ejected ministers in the county of Nottingham
108 Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism
(three of them being from the city, two from St. Mary's and
one from St. Peter's). Eleven afterwards conformed.
In the meantime an Independent church had been formed
in Nottingham. The church book at Castlegate records that
the cause was founded in 1655 ; and there has been a church
there ever since. But although the church was not formed
until 1655 there had been Independents in the town for some
years, and it is conjectured that there had been a pastor as
early as 1643. Thomas Palmer took service in a troop of
horse raised for Cromwell, and presumably was on military
service for some years. We do know that the little church
was scattered at the Restoration and the minister driven away.
Palmer, after his return from the army, published in 1659 a
book entitled A Little View of this Old World , on the title-page
of which he described himself as " Pastor of a Church of Christ
at Nottingham." But there is no record in Nottingham of
his return. He may have been the minister driven away at
the Restoration, but we cannot be sure. He is described in
Colonel Hutchinson's Memoirs in a very unflattering way as
a wrangler who must have been a considerable trouble to
any cause he championed. But whatever the truth about
him, the fact is that the church was scattered for a time, and
such meetings as were held must have been held in secret.
When the foundations of the present Sunday School buildings
in Castlegate were being dug, caves with their roofs eleven
feet below the street level were found. It is possible that in
these caves the meetings of the church were held during the
years of persecution. But if there were no minister at Castle-
gate for some years, the little congregation allied itself to the
ministry of Mr. John James. James had been lecturer in
Newark Parish Church until the Restoration, but when he
refused to conform he rented a farm at Flint ham, preached
in his own house, and exercised a ministry there for some
fifteen years. He ministered to the Independents both at
Nottingham and Sutton-in-Ashfield. Many walked from
Nottingham to Flintham, a distance of twelve miles, to hear
him preach, and in his rare visits to the town people would
assemble for worship, probably in one of the caves already
mentioned, at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. In 1672 a house was licensed
for him in Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham.
In a report made by the Vicar of FHntham to the Archdeacon
of Nottingham, James is described as a dangerous seducer
from the Church of England. The vicar wrote :
Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism 109
The pride of a schismaticke I find impenetrable nor will any
of them promise me to forbear their meetings.
The Castlegate church book, on the other hand, describes
James as
A person of great holiness and ministerial abilities who did
press and promote holiness from Gospel principles, with real
clearness and efficacy. He was persecuted and often im-
prisoned, but still he kept on his work when at liberty : and
when under restraint he manifested his care and faithfulness
to Christ and the Church, as appears by the many letters he
wrote to establish and encourage them in the ways of God,
notwithstanding the sufferings they did and were like to meet
withal.
James was imprisoned in Newark twice, one imprisonment
lasting for six years. Still, he continued preaching after his
release, and when further information had been laid against
him, his goods were seized under warrant. So cruelly was this
done that his children were severely frightened, and one of
them died a night or two after. To the great grief of his
people James felt himself a broken man and unable to continue.
He retired to London, but afterwards took charge of a church
at Wapping.
The first meeting-house for Castlegate was built in 1689,
during the ministry of Mr. John Ryther. A plain, unpre-
tentious building, its total cost was £322. For some years
more peaceful times prevailed, and the congregation grew
in numbers. Between it and the Presbyterian congregation
on the High Pavement there were friendly relations, in happy
contrast with the animosity of the Commonwealth period.
Very pleasant testimonies remain in the records of each church
to show the cordiality with which the two peoples and their
ministers laboured together. Both churches prospered, and
it is noteworthy that during the ministry of Mr. Bateson, who
succeeded John Ryther, Castlegate Chapel had twice to be
enlarged, and this despite the difficult times which followed
for all Nonconformists during the High Church revival in the
early years of the 18th century.
We may now return to 1662 and the " outed " Presbyterians.
Whitlock and Reynolds went to Mansfield. The rector there
was a Presbyterian, appointed on the presentation of Cromwell,
but he conformed. In those days Mansfield, not being a
corporate town, became a resort for ejected ministers, as many
as forty living there at the same time. The rector was well
no Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism
disposed to them. There is in the Old Meeting at Mansfield
a memorial to the conscientious sacrifice and Christian labours
of these ejected ministers, who found in Mansfield " a little
Zoar, a shelter and a sanctuary."
The historian of the High Pavement Chapel tells that the
faithful folk of St. Mary's and St. Peter's followed their pastors
out of the churches and were looked after by them as best
they might.
They met in the vaults under a house on the Low Pavement,
convenient of access by more than one private passage from
the open fields lying to the south of the town and to have been
ministered to by Whitlock or Reynolds on one Sunday, and
by Barrett or some other friendly preacher on the next. When
persecution grew too hot, or the watch was too strict, these
ministers would make notes of their sermons and send them
by some trusty messenger to their orphaned people.
But they must have had many influential supporters in the
town, for their meetings could hardly have been kept quite
secret. And when the Toleration Act gave more liberty we
find many leading citizens among them. Again, when the
Declaration of Indulgence came in 1672, and applications
might be received for licenses for rooms for preaching, these
Presbyterians made application for the Town Hall, the Shire
Hall, and the rooms under the Spice Chambers. These were
not granted, but there must have been some considerable
influence for such applications to have been made. Licenses
were granted for the Free School and for a number of private
houses, and Mr. Whitlock travelled from Mansfield to London
to obtain them. But these licenses only availed for a time.
Charles was compelled by his supporters to withdraw them.
It does not appear, however, that this fact affected the comfort
of the Nottingham Puritans very much, and this again argues
that a very considerable number of the leading folk of the
city were of the Puritan way. A book published in 1692,
entitled Some Remarkable Passages in the Holy Life and Death
of Gervase Disney, Esq., describes how Disney, persecuted in
Lincoln, came in 1672 to Nottingham, and had the advantage
" of the comfortable ordinances there, not only on Sabbaths,
but on weekdays too." It was not until 1682, according to
this book, that persecution grew hot in Nottingham.
In 1682 ihe troubles were nearly at an end. Five years
after that Whitlock, Reynolds, and Barrett came back to live
Nottingham Puritanism and Separatism III
in Nottingham. The Presbyterian congregation was meeting
in a dark and secret place on Drury Hill, but now a chapel
could be built for them. It was known for a time as Little
St. Mary's and was on the High Pavement, quite close to the
Parish Church. The building was erected in 1690, about the
same time as the first chapel in Castlegate. The records of
both places show how for some years the ministers and con-
gregations worked happily together. The difficulties that
arose later were due to the High Pavement Congregation
following the Arian movement of the next century, and the
shifting of people from one church to the other as they quar-
relled over doctrine, or were expelled. But that is not in
the story of Early Puritanism. We may take the Toleration
Act of William III as the end of our tale.
H. F. Sanders.
112
Valerand Poullain.
A Precursor of Congregationalism ?
VALERAND POULLAIN was one of the group of notable
individuals who took refuge in England in the reign
of Edward VI from the storm of persecution which
arose on the Continent by reason of the " Interim "
put into force by the Emperor Charles V. He should be of
particular interest to students of Congregational history
inasmuch as his biographer, Professor K. Bauer,1 suggests
that the Walloon French-speaking refugee community estab-
lished at Glastonbury in 1550, under the protection of the
Duke of Somerset, may be regarded as in some sense a precursor
of Congregationalism in England. Bauer says :
From the fact that Poullain received the title " super-
intendent," one may recognize that he and his congregation
were not under the rule either of the English Bishops nor, as
was proposed, of the superintendent of the London congregation
of strangers. In this independence of the Glastonbury congre-
gation consists its chief importance for Church history. Here
we have long before Browne, Smith, and Robinson, and without
any Baptist influences, an example on English ground of the
thing afterwards usually called Congregationalism and Inde-
pendency— that breaking up of the church in which the
individual congregation feels its separate existence for itself
and experiences no need for a connexion with other congre-
gations to form a larger united whole capable of a confession
and a constitution. What in later Congregationalism was
called the " covenant," consisted in Glastonbury in the regula-
tions which Poullain provided for his congregation, and to
which each single member of the congregation pledged himself.
This arrangement, so far as Poullain is concerned, manifestly
grew out of the regulation of the Strasbourg congregation
concerning the formation of a list of members for the purposes
of the discipline and the diaconate. But in Poullain's plan
each member of the congregation entered himself on a list
and thereby expressly committed himself to the confessional
1 The biography is published in German by the Deutsche Hegenotten- Verein. A
copy may be consulted at the Library of the Huguenot Society of London.
Valerand Poullain 115
position and the other regulations of the congregation. The
very thing which Calvin later found so objectionable, namely,
that even experienced Christian believers who had already
belonged to a Reformed congregation somewhere else must
submit to Poullain's confession of faith, was nothing else than
the natural working out of the Congregationalist principle.
" PouUain,,, says Dr. Charles Martin, in Lea Protestants
Anglais Refugie's a Geneve au temps de Calvin,
organized his community at Glastonbury after the rule and
according to the model of that at Strasbourg, in the manner
that Calvin had constituted this during his sojourn in that city.
This Strasbourg congregation, like the Glastonbury
congregation, was both independent " and self-governing.
They were not associated with nor subject to any other like
community. John a Lasco, the superintendent of all the
foreign congregations in London, had no control over Poullain
as superintendent at Glastonbury nor over the congregation
which Poullain superintended.
Poullain was pastor in succession at Strasbourg, Glastonbury,
and Frankfort, and the curious thing is that in each of these
charges the nucleus of the membership was the same. That
is to say, the Glastonbury community was composed of refugees
who fled from Strasbourg " by reason of the Interim," and
the community at Frankfort was made up of refugees from
the congregation at Glastonbury.
Born at Lille, Poullain was a compatriot of Jan Utenhove,
a native of Ghent. Utenhove was an elder of the Dutch
Church in London of which John a Lasco was superintendent.
Under Edward VI the foreign-speaking congregations were
not subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishops ; indeed, they
actually enjoyed greater religious liberty than the English
themselves. Elizabeth, however, insisted on these churches
being subject to the control of the Bishops of London.
Utenhove came to England, apparently, in the summer of
1548.1 Poullain arrived at Lambeth Palace with Bucer and
Fagius in April, 1549. The D.N.B. states that
it was on the recommendation of Utenhove that Poullain wa*w
brought over from Strasbourg as pastor of the French-speaking
Protestant exiles at Canterbury,
1 In 1545 Utenhove was at Strasbourg, where he passed two years and a half
as a member of the French-speaking congregation organiaed by Calvin.
8 *
H4 Valerand Poullain
that
Poullain organized an offshoot from this community at
Glastonbury,
and that it was Utenhove who
sent to Glastonbury the Flemish and Walloon weavers who
introduced the manufacture of broadcloth and blankets in
the west of England.
Personally I have not found anywhere any confirmation
either of the association of Poullain with the Canterbury exiles
in the capacity of pastor or of the suggestion that Glastonbury
was an " offshoot of Canterbury. As to Utenhove, it seems
clear that ho was associated directly or indirectly with at
least five French-speaking refugee churches— Strasbourg,
Canterbury, Austin Friars, Threadneedle Street, Glastonbury.
Poullain graduated in Arts at Louvain University and was
ordained priest in 1540. He was second in succession to John
Calvin as the minister of the French-speaking congregation
at Strasbourg established by the sage of Geneva. According
to Emile Doumergue's monumental work on Calvin, Poullain,
who towards the close of Pierre Brully's pastorate had begun
to act as assistant minister, " provisionally and irregularly,"
succeeded Brully when the latter left Strasbourg in September,
1544. In any case, Poullain was only in charge of the church
for some four or five months at the outside, as dissension soon
arose in the congregation, and at a new election held in
February, 1545, Jean Garnier was unanimously elected as
minister. Bauer informs us that, in the interval between that
date and April, 1549, Poullain was sent on various missions
by Calvin and the Strasbourg theologians. His diplomatic
abilities and knowledge of the French tongue qualified him
for this delicate task of establishing and maintaining relations
with the churches of the lower Rhine. Thus we hear of him
at Romburg, Metz, Wesel, Aachen, Bedburg.
The next we hear of Poullain after his arrival at Lambeth
Palace in April, 1549, is that, on the recommendation of
Peter Martyr, then Professor of Divinity at Oxford, he has
received an appointment as tutor to the son of the Earl of
Derby. C. H. Smyth, in his Cranmer and the Reformation
of Edward VI, suggests that " probably it was this post that
brought him under Somerset's notice," and so led eventually
to the foundation of the colony and church of strangers at
Glastonbury, with Poullain as superintendent.
Valerand Poullain 115
We are indebted to Strype for interesting information
concerning the Walloon refugee community at Glastonbury.
In his Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer he says :
In the same year, viz., 1550, another church of strangers,
and they mostwhat French and Walloons, began to settle
at Glastonbury in Somersetshire. They were weavers, and
followed the manufactures of kersies and cloth of that nature.
Their great patrons were the Duke of Somerset and Sir William
Cecil — I add, and our Archbishop, though I do not find his
name mentioned in the papers I make use of relating to this
church ; for there is no question but that his counsel and aid
concurred in the settlement of this church — particularly as to
the preacher [whose] name was Valerandus Pollanus, a man
of great worth both for learning and integrity, who had the
title of superintendent of the strangers' church at Glastonbury
as John a Lasco had of that at London ; given to each to fix a
character of honour and esteem upon their persons and perhaps
to exempt them and their churches from the jurisdiction of the
Bishops of those respective dioceses.
Poullain was not only superintendent in spiritual matters
but very greatly and gravely concerned in the mundane affairs
of the refugees. Owing to the fall and disgrace of Somerset,
" their affairs were much obstructed," and their condition
became more or less desperate.
Poullain petitioned the Lords of the Council to take their
declining state into their consideration and to carry on that
good work the Duke of Somerset had begun. . . . The result
was that the Lords consented to uphold and encourage them
Orders came down from the Lords to certain gentlemen of the
town and neighbourhood, commissionating them to set this
manufacture forward. ... In all this affair Poullain was very
much employed, taking a great deal of pains in settling this
trade ; for he took many journeys between Glastonbury and
the Court, and was at incredible expenses. The office also
of surveying the reparation of the houses lay upon him.
Things were looking more hopeful, but the boy King died
and upon the accession of his sister Mary,
all strangers being then commanded suddenly to depart the
realm, this congregation accordingly broke up and removed
themselves to Frankfort in Germany.
Baron de Schickler, in Les tlglises du Refuge en Angleterre
states that
n6 Valerand Poullain
The church of Glastonbury was never intended, in the
design of its conductor, to become a crowd. Before anyone
was admitted it was indispensable that he should know by
heart the confession of faith. The candidates, men and
women, presented themselves at worship on Sunday after
the sermon, in front of the superintendent and the elders, and
each recited, in his or her turn, from beginning to end, this
long confession. After this the superintendent subjected
them to questions, and enquired of the elders if they were
satisfied with the answers given.1
Dr. Charles Martin would really appear to use too strong
language when he states that
at the beginning of 1554 Valerand Poullain and his Walloon
weavers were thrust forth with ignominy.
The fact is that on 5th Sept., 1553, two months after the
death of Edward, the Privy Council issued a letter to Sir
John Sydnam, " to permitt the Glastonbury straungiers quietlie
to departe." De Schickler says that " the entire colony at
Glastonbury were allowed to leave in company with their
pasteur."
So far as I have discovered, there is no record of any dispute
on ecclesiastical matters as between Poullain and his con-
gregation at Glastonbury, but alike at Strasbourg and at
Frankfort serious dissensions arose under his pastorate. There
are two curious things about this episode in the history of
Frankfort : ( 1 ) the French-speaking refugee community and
the English-speaking refugee congregation, both of which
gathered for worship in the same building, the church of the
White Ladies, were each " torn with intestine dissensions " ;
(2) Poullain, contending with serious trouble in his own church,
was called in to pour oil upon the troubled waters of the
English-speaking community.
;< The minister of the French congregation at Frankfort,5'
says Henry Reyburn, in John Calvin, his Life, Letters and Work,
was Valerand Poullain, a reckless and injudicious man who
uot only gave unnecessary offence to his Lutheran neighbours
but created strife within his own congregation by mismanaging
an election of elders.
The full text of this confession of faith is to be found in Ordre des prieres ei
miniiUr* ecclesiastique, avec la forme du penitence publique ei ceriaines prieres de
V&ghn d< Londres et la Confession de Foy en Vfiglise de Glastonbury en Somerset,
I.<ndrn. I ~,f.2.
Valerand Poullain 117
And Thomas Dyer, in his Life of John Calvin, adds :
At Frankfort, the refugees were treated with kindness and
consideration, though the bitter quarrels which they fell into
among themselves, respecting ceremonies and points of faith,
rendered them hardly worthy of this leniency. These quarrels
ran so high among the French congregation that they had
almost come to blows in the church itself.
Calvin himself came along from Geneva with the wish " to
appease these dissensions among his countrymen/' In
Reyburn's words :
Calvin was asked to preside at a meeting of the presbytery
in which the case of Poullain was brought up for decision.
His account of the proceedings is : " We have had fourteen
days of the most annoying and exhausting labour, settling the
affairs of the French congregation. Although Valerand was
worthy of punishment, on every charge, we dealt gently with
him. But as the only means of peace, he had to resign hi*
office, and although we used comparatively mild language,
we indicated our opinion that he had not performed the
function of an honourable pastor.''
According to Jules Bonnet, Poullain died in 1557, in the
year following that in which, at the instance of Calvin, he
withdrew from the pastorate at Frankfort. He seems to have
been " game " to the end, for in May of 1557 he " combated
the intolerance of the ultra-Lutheran party by a virulent
writing entitled U Antidote." It sounds as if the antidote was
not greatly to be preferred to the disease !
In seeking to estimate Poullain's personal character, his
biographer writes :
No portrait of Poullain has come down to us, but all the
more has a portrait of his character been established which
is essentially delineated by the disagreeable echo of his life,
for which he is not entirely blameless. His generally-recog-
nized defect of character was an extraordinarily strong self-
consciousness and a lamentable desire to play an important
part. By these he injured in many ways not only himself
but the cause he represented. In addition, there was evidently
something in his nature which got on other people's nerves.
Yet it would be unjust to make the final judgment upon him
depend on these defects. The man who was employed by
Strasbourg and Geneva in several diplomatic missions to the
lower Rhine must have been a personality of more than average
ii 8 Valerand Poullain
gifts and trustworthiness. We are again and again meeting
with most estimable traits in him. We value him for the
untiring zeal with which he served whenever and wherever
he could the cause of his faith, were it in simple congregational
labours as in Strasbourg, Glastonbury and Frankfort, or in
difficult and most responsible missions. What always atones
for his faults is the readiness with which he acknowledges
them and his earnest endeavours to overcome them. We
class him with the brave men of the Reformation era who,
true to their convictions, for the sake of the faith abandoned
their homes, yet loved their homes far too well not to return
to them again at the risk of death in order to serve them in
the Gospel. His forgivingness had its deepest root in his frank,
warm piety. And what a strong faith he must have had !
For at the very time when the plague was demanding its toll
in his house, when the Lutherans marshalled their attack on
him concerning the Sacrament, and when in his own congre-
gation relentless adversaries were agitating against him, he
nevertheless was able to write : " The Lord has not forsaken
me ; never have I or my family lived in greater joy."
Poullain seems to have found it almost impossible to " keep
out of hot water " : he would appear to have obtained a certain
grim enjoyment in a " good scrap." In the closing months
of his stormy career he was still at it " hammer and tongs "
in theological disputation with Beza, Farel, Westphal, and
others. Such a man — especially in those days of fierce con-
tention and unbridled language — naturally found many
opponents, and it is from these opponents that we hear most
of him. These, of course, would not emphasize the kindlier
and happier side of his personality. Zeal he certainly had —
possibly not sufficiently balanced by discretion. The candle
of his spirit flared so fiercely that he passed from this
troubled sphere ere yet he was forty years of age. One of the
reviewers of Bauer's biography says :
The vicissitudes of his troubles and stormy existence explain
his premature end, as also certain defects of his character.
Particulars as to the Glastonbury community are to be
found in Domestic State Papers, Edward VI, Vols. XIII., XIV.,
XV., at the Record Office, and the Acts of the Privy Council,
1551, 1552, 1553. In the Record Office I have examined the
original patent, dated 31st Dec, 1551, signed by the King and
countersigned by Sir William Petre, which bestows upon
Vale rand Poullain 119
Poullain the right of denization for life and serves as a fiat
for the issue of like letters of denization to sixty-nine others
mentioned by name. Many of these names are now un-
decipherable ; all (save one) are described as " natives of the
Emperor's dominions." The reader may also be referred to
the two papers by myself on " The French- Walloon Church at
Glastonbury, 1650-1553," and " The Sixteenth-Century
French-speaking and English-speaking Refugee Churches at
Frankfort," respectively, to be found in Proceedings of the
Huguenot Society of London, Vol. XIII., No. 5, and Vol. XIV.,
No. 1.
Henry J. Cowell.
An Oswestry Declaration of Indulgence*
Charles R,
Charles by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, France,
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith &c. to all Mayors, Bayliffs,
Constables, and other our Officers and Ministers, Civil and Military,
whom it may concern, Greeting — In pursuance of our Declaration
of the 15th of March 1671 (-2) We have allowed and we do hereby
allow of a Roome, or Roomes in the house of Hugh Edwards
att Oswestry Shropshire to be a place for the use of such as do
not conform to the Church of England who are of the Perswasion
commonly called Congregationall to meet and assemble in, in
order to their Publick Worship and Devotion. And all and singular
our Officers and Ministers Ecclesiastical, Civil and Military, whom
it may concern, are to take due notice hereof : And they, and
every of them, are hereby strictly charged and required to hinder
any tumult or disturbance, and to protect them in their said
Meetings and Assemblies.
Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 25th day of July in the
24th year of Our Reign 1672.
By his Majesties Command
Arlington.
120
Willingham Church.1
Congregational 1662-1798.
Baptist 1798-1934.
A GROUP of village churches east of St. Ives and west
of the Cam shows a transition from Congregational
to Baptist fellowship that is rare. It does not seem
connected with the open-membership tradition of the
original Bunyan churches, unless that were mediated through
some of later foundation. Material for a preliminary study
has been provided by Mr. Oswin Smith of Cambridge, in a
batch of papers relating to Willingham between 1774 and
1 834, belonging at the latter date to John Smith, who farmed
k Opposite the Steplehouse," as one stiff correspondent used
to address his letters.
Baptist churches here and northwards were largely due
to Henry Denne, the clergyman who became a famous General
Daptist itinerant. The Fenstanton Records have been in
print nearly a century, and they show interaction with Quakers,
but none with Congregationalists. The work at and round
Willingham, only six miles away, was utterly independent of
the General Baptists. And while there was a Nonconformist
centre at St. Ives, rather earlier, this too seems to have had
little influence here.
In 1772 there was a political agitation to exempt dissenting
ministers from the necessity of signing certain Articles of
the Church of England. A retired Baptist minister, Josiah
Thompson, exerted himself to obtain signatures to a petition
for this purpose. And though the petition was rejected, he
classified all his replies by counties into a valuable volume,
which he annotated. This is now at the library founded by
Dr. Williams, and in 1912 it was edited for the Congregational
Historical Society. It shows churches in this district south
of the fens as follows :
Bur well, Congregational ; Cambridge, 2 Congregational and
1 See Transaction*, VI. 415-428 and VII. 3-15, for an article on " Congrega-
tionalism in the Fen Country." Note especially the map on VI. 428. The date
of the Fordham Church on VII. 17 is given 1818 instead of 1718.— Ed.
Willingham Church 1*1
1 Baptist ; Cottenham C. ; Eversden and Barrington, C.
Fenstanton, B. ; Gamlingay and Sutton, C. ; Gransden, C. B.
Hail Weston, C. B. ; Isleham, C. ; Kimbolton, C. ; Linton, C.
Melbourn and Fulbourn, C. B. ; Needingworth, C.B. ; Ramsey,
C. B. ; St. Ives, C. ; St. Neots, entry cancelled ; Soham and
Fordham, B. ; Spaldwick, C. B. ; Staughton, B. ; Willingham, C.
It was perhaps this political agitation, and the activity of
Thompson, that revived local patriotism in many quarters.
Certainly in 1774 some one at Willingham set himself to jot
down something as to the history of that church. He found
no records before about 1717, and it is another evidence of
the value of central action that it was then Dr. John Evans had
made similar enquiries for a similar purpose. For earlier facts
the compiler evidently drew chiefly on Calamy. Of local
tradition there was apparently little, and that dwelt more on
scandals and schism than on success.
The church was founded by the minister ejected from the
parish church of Willingham in 1662, was on Congregational
lines, and used the Assembly's Catechism as late as 1774. For
thirty years it was ministered to by four such ministers —
Bradshaw, Oddy, Holcroft, Scandaret. But with the death
of the founder, the problem of an educated successor became
urgent. Many ministers had taken " tablers " or boarders,
and had kept private academies ; but in the neighbourhood
of Cambridge there were special difficulties, as the university
strictly enforced the oath that its graduates should teach only
with its approval or that of a bishop. A successor was pre-
sently found in the son of a minister ejected in Worcestershire,
who doubtless had been trained by his father ; but when Henry
Oasland, junior, died in 1711, the difficulty was acute.
It is not known what was the education of Mr. Rudd. But
during his twelve-year pastorate a new phenomenon showed
itself. The strict Calvinism of the Westminster Divines was
no longer appreciated by many ministers, and the quarrel
at Exeter led to a synod at Salters' Hall meeting-house in
London, which reverberated through the country. As Mr.
Rudd " did not preach the Doctrine so freely as it had been
preached," some of his principal members objected. After
several letters, he left for Southill in Bedfordshire, and the
church split, many members going to hear Mr. Hargraves at
St. Ives.
The strict party obtained a learned minister, Mr. Willes.
122 Willingham Church
But hyper-Calvinism seems always liable to dubious moral
conduct, and within four years there was a serious breach due
to his behaviour. He removed to Cottenham, three miles
away, and there found many who rallied to him ; in one sense
this marks the foundation of that church.
At Willingham it took some time to find a man who properly
blended doctrine, conduct, and learning. Such a one was
apparently forthcoming by 1728 in Mr. Almond ; but within
three years another scandal involved the calling in of messengers
from sister churches. Their verdict acquitted him, but general
opinion disagreed. A new church arose at Over, two miles
away, and a second church in Willingham itself for a few
months. However peace was restored, and the church
prospered for some nineteen years. Then, on the death of
the pastor's wife, it proved that the original charges had been
true, so the minister was dismissed. For three years the
church tried vainly for a new pastor, until in 1754 Thomas
Boodger from Oundle was ordained. At first there was trouble,
owing to Almond opening a barn for rival services, but presently
he disappeared to London.
George Whitefield began a new era by his evangelistic tours,
and in 1758 he was active at St. Neots and this neighbourhood.
Within a few years new and vigorous churches arose, one at
Little Staughton, eighteen miles from Willingham, another
at Needing worth, only three miles away. This latter flourished
exceedingly, and under Thomas Ladson came to have eighteen
preaching places. Boodger was not touched by this spirit,
and although the writer of his church's story commends his
exposition of free grace, and his exemplary life, he records
that Boodger's own son did not join the church. The con-
stituency slowly shrank, till there were only sixty-eight families
in the town, and seventeen outside. The church seemed
hardly quickened by repeated visits of Wesley in the neigh-
bourhood, for the narrator has no word about such modern
movements, unless he glances sideways at " The new system
of Divinity brought into some Churches, we are Strangers
to it." Boodger passed away in 1784, ten years after this
verdict, and a copy was then made. A note was added that
the numbers were but small, yet there was a gathering together
for social religion, prayer-meetings twice a week, and a cluster
of fourteen souls " which we hope will be one Day Fruit for
our Beloved, to lay up at our Gate."
Willingham Church 123
The problem recurred, whence to obtain a minister learned,
sound, and moral ; that he should be evangelistic was not
clearly discerned by the copyist, but perhaps some of the
fourteen saw their opportunity. It does not seem that any
application was made to an Academy, but that, as before, a
man trained by his own pastor in his own church was felt
desirable.
We have noted a new church at Little Staughton. Under
Mr. Emery it had become the second largest in Bedfordshire,
with 400 members. And in this church, John Rootham had
been called to the ministry. Within five years, Willingham
chose him to be pastor, and he was duly ordained.
By whom ? The record is curiously vague. We are
inclined to connect this silence with a breach of the church's
tradition. It had heard supplies of the old type, Mr. Jefferes
being mentioned. But Rootham was a baptized believer,
from a church which was apparently all of that type. And
Ladson at Needingworth with his eighteen preaching places
was also Baptist. Godliness and Calvinism were combined,
and if the cluster of fourteen found their spirit of earnestness
also, baptism should not hinder.
Moreover this temper was shown in a new growth, foreign
missions. In 1792 at Kettering, a society had been founded
to propagate the gospel among the heathen. One of the leaders
was Andrew Fuller, once of Soham. In the early lists of
subscribers we find some from Isleham, Cambridge, St. Neots,
and Cottenham. This forward programme evidently brought
new life to many churches, and Willingham seems to have
been touched.
Baptist organizers appeared at this time, founding an Eastern
Association centering at Cambridge, an Itinerant Society
worked from London, and a Register published there. In
1798 John Rippon included the Willingham church and John
Rootham as Baptist, with a frank note that the church had
till lately ranked as " Calvinist," by which he meant Calvinist-
Psedobaptist. What sister churches thought and said and
did, we do not know. But the neighbouring churches at Over,
Cottenham, Waterbeach, passed through the same change,
and, despite their origin, are to-day plain Baptist churches.
Willingham flourished greatly under Rootham, and when
he died in 1827, no thought seems to have been entertained
of retracing its steps. It was indeed faced by a practical
I24
Willingham Church
problem, for the Old Meeting was dilapidated. The solution
was to demolish it and sell the materials by auction, so realizing
about £50 towards a new building, which cost £339 19s. 6d.
In this a succession of high Calvinist Baptist pastors ministered,
with one case of bad conduct and dismissal. The only other
important change has been the foundation of a second church
in 1873 by a pastor of less rigid theology.
The case is interesting as showing the attachment to sound
doctrine and conduct, with comparative indifference to baptism.
Is such a combination paralleled in many places, or is the
nearest in the Sovereign Grace Union ?
The following list may be useful :
CAMBS. AND HUNTS.
The earliest Free Churches surviving claim the
following dates :
Congregational
Baptist
1636 Hail Weston
St. Ives
1642
1654 Chatteris
1655 Wisbech
1660 Waterbeach
Hail Weston
1669
St. Neots
1672 Cottenham
Great Gransden
1675 Melbourn
Barrington
1689
Eversden
Linton
Royston
1690
Cambridge
1691
Burwell
1692
Kimbolton Union
1692
Spaldwick Union
1693 Isleham
Guyhurn
Chishall
1694
Melbourn
Soham
1700 March
1710 Whittlesea
Gamlingay
Fordham
1718
1721 Cambridge
1737 Over
1752 Soham
The earliest Baptist churches were all General, and they have
Willingham Church 12 5
no bearing on this church. The story given here seems to show a
shortage in 1790 of Congregational ministers near Willingham.
It is certain that some of the Calvinistic Baptist churches rose out
of Calvinistic Paedobaptist, some when they were becoming Socinian,
some by the Bedford influence of mixed-membership.
An Authentick account of the Church of Christ at Willingham from
the year 1662 to 1781.
[Transcribed and annotated November, 1933, by W. T. Whitley, to whom was
sent the tattered original in brown paper, with accounts and paptrs of 1813-1840
relating to Willingham, by Oswin Smith of 2, Claremont, Cambridge.]
First. The succession of Pastors to this time.
21y. Occurances and remarkable providances.
31y. The present State of the Church.
The best account of the succession we can procure for we have
no records, is this.
The Revd Nathaniel Bradshaw was ejected from the Rectory of
Willingham by the Act of Uniformity 1662 to the great greife of a
P of whom he had been the means of converting by his
Ministry from the grossest irreligon, to the knowledge and Love of
the practial part of godliness.
After his Ejectment he preached in his own house, and sometimes
was allowed a Pulpit in a neighbouring Village, and now and then
at Childerly an adjacent Village. And as he managed the whole
with remarkable modration and prudence, he continued unmo-
lested for about 5 years but through the severity of the times he
removed to London. After Mr. Bradshaw's departure from
Willingham, the Revd Joseph Oddy who was Ejected from Meldreth
and impriosned five years came to live at Willingham and as the
times would allow preached here and at Cottenham about 3 miles
from hence, sometimes in the night and often in the Day in the
most public manner abroad in the Feilds, so vast multitudes of
people who flocked to here him, . . for this he was often impriosned
and often released [ ]2 years in which time he continued to do
this.8
In 1672 when the indulgance came out, Mr Oddy became an
itinerant preacher all over the Fen Countery and was wonderfully
blessed to the convertion of Souls.* from this time our Church
and other neighbouring Churches was supplied by several Ejected
1 Torn away.
2 Torn away.
3 This is chiefly drawn from Calamy. Matthews finds no evidence that he wa*
ever vicar of Meldreth.
4 Oddy and Holcroft took licenses to preach in the house of Jo,b Hall, Bridge
Street, Cambridge, for Congregational worship. At Willingham, the house of
Francis Duckins was licensed for Presbyterian worship.
126 Willingham Church
Ministers who alternately preached and administred the ordinances,
amongst them there was Mess8 Oddy, Holdcroft, Scanderet, and
Others.1 Mr. Oddy removed latterly to Cottenham and Died
there in the Year 1687.
In 1689 when the Toleration Act gave liberty Mr Bradshaw
returned from London to his old people at Willingham, and tho he
Lived a S* Ives yet came every Saturday to Willingham and
preached to his people on the Lords day returning on the Monday,
he continued this about one Year and then Died 1690 in the 71 year
of his age.
After Mr Bradshaws Death the Church was supply'd a while
and in 1694 settled for there Pastor the Revd Henry Oasland
Youngest son of that famous Mr Oasland who was Ejected from
Bewdly Worcestershire.2
Mr Oasland continued Pastor of the Church till 1711 when he
died aged 43 and was Buried by Mr Oddy at Oakington.
Mr Oasland was succeeded by the ReV1 Mr Rudd who was Pastor
about 12 years and in 1723 removed to Southill Bedfordshire.
Mr Willes succeeded Mr Rudd and having been Pastor about
5 years divided the Church and removing to Cottenham became
the first seprate Pastor of that Church in [which] time our Record
begins. The Church called Mr Almond and [?he became] Pastor
the same year.
Mr. Almond held his office 23 Years and being cut off for his
immoralities, was succeeded by Rev41 Tho8. Boodger sent out by
the Revd Walter Oversto Pastor of the Church of Christ at Oundle
Northamptonshire.
Mr. Boodger Preached to them 2 Years on trial and on June 19
1754 he was ordained Pastor and yet continues to execute that
office, so that the succeession stands thus
Pastors how long so from To
Nathaniel Bradshaw 5 years 1662 1667
Joseph Oddy 5 years 1667 1672
Holdcroft Scanderet* 15 years 1672 1687
* * * or Supplys only 2 years 1687 1689
Mr Bradshaw 1 year 1689 1690
* * ly supplies 4 years 1690 1694
Mr Oasland 17 years 1694 1711
Mr Rudd 12 years 1711 1723
1 Calamy had not heard of Stephen Scandaret here, nor has Matthews.
2 His elder son Edward became pastor of a church in Bewdley.
3 Here the transcriber of 1784 has telescoped Francis Holcroft and Stephen
Scandaret into one person, misunderstanding the text of 1774.
Willingham Church 127
Pastors how long so from To
Mr Willes 5 years 1723 1728
Mr Almond 23 years 1728 1751
Vacancy & tryal Mr Boodger 3 years 1751 1754
Mr Boodger1 30 years 1754 1784
None of these Ministers Published any thing as we know off.
the Church was planted congergational and held the Doctrine of
the Assembleys Catechism, and continue it in Doctrine and Desci-
pline to this Day.
But to come to the second part of occurences and remarkable
providances. which may not be so pleasant but the Adversity as
well as prosperity may be of some use. but the prophet says viz
when I remember the wormwood and the gall my soul is humbled
within me. Mr Bradshaw was a godly graceious [ ]2. The
Minister in the Church at Willingham meet[ing him] in the street
when he was come again and [ ]* meeting, he said Bradshaw
why do you come [and draw] my people away. Mr Bradshaw
replyed Sir they [were mine] before they was yours and when I left
Willingham I left f ourscours and ten praying Families in the Town &
I am afraid that since you came have not made them up a hundred.
Mr. Oddys Ministrey was much blesst, in persecuting times he
preached a nights in the Fields under a Tree and was taken by the
informers Just before he began to preach and was carried a cross
his Horse to Cambridge Castle where he found several prisoners of
his own Church-members, they was prisoners 11 months, some
of there sons and Daughters was members here since I came to
Willingham.
Mr Oasland was a faithfull servant of god, was blessed with
many soals to his Ministery.
Mr Rudd was an honourable man in his Walk and conversation,
but did not preach the Doctrine so freely as it had been preached,
so there arose a dispute between him and some of his principle
members & several Letters passed by both parties, which occasioned
a seperation Mr Rudd went away to a people in Bedfordshire,
this caused a denrance in the Church and some members went to
S* Ives to here Mr. Hargrave.
Mr Willes was a good preacher and a man of Learning as appears
by his Library, but there was some dispute about his Moral
conduct, however he went away from Willingham and lived at
Cottenham [and preached] to that part of the Church till he Died.
1 In 1773 Josiah Thompson noted that «« Budger of Whillingham " signed the
petition for relief.
2 Torn away.
3 Torn.
128 Willingham Church
This made a great breach in the Church and devided it into two
parts, but the part at Willingham looked out for a Minister and
had several upon trial, but at last Mr Almond was fixed on and
accordingly Ordained June 11 1728. he was a good preacher a
man of Learning, and his Labours blest so many Souls, but a
Defferance between him and the Church took place in 1731 his
Moral conduct was Called into question, a Messengers meeting was
called from Sister Churches, and in the preasance of the Church
and Messengers Mr Almond denied the charge, and the person (a
member) prisnciply concerned also cleared him. but this occaisoned
a division, a seperate Meeting was set up and a seperate Minister
&c at Willingham. and also at Over 2 Miles from Willingham
came Mr Fisher to preach at this time, he gathered many people
together and after a time formed a Church which continues to this
Day one Mr The Emery is there on approbation &C.1
but after somtime the seperate party in Willingham returned to
there place, and March 8 1732 was the first Churchmeeting after
there defferance. Mr Almond after this was blesst in his Ministry
at times till the year 1751. then there arose a defferance some
time after the sudden Death of Mre Almond.
The member that cleared him before came to Willingham in 1751,
and joined the Church by giving in her repentance before the
Church, and Charged upon Mr Almond what before she had cleared
him off. Then Mr Almond was set aside from being pastor.
And many Ministers preacht Occaionaly as Dr Conder Mr Simpson
Mr Oversto Wayman and Others and in 1752 came Mr Boodger to
preach here and so continued to preach till the Year 1754 June 19
he was Ordained Pastor. Then Mr Almond set up a Seperate
meeting and preached in his own Barn which he converted into
that purpose, but almost nobody going to hear him he gave it up
after sometime, and then came to meeting to hear Mr Boodger
till he Married the person who thus treated him and went to London
to Live. So that this Church may Justly say and adapt those
Words viz. Thou hast broken us with breach upon breach and it
is of the Lord's mercey we are not consumed.
But 31y the present State of the Church.
N:B: this was wrote in the Year 1774, — tho transcribed in
Year 1784.
Many have been moved by providance from us, & more have
been removed by Death, so that the Number of our members is
small to what they have been in times past, men Members now
22 Women 29 Familes in town that attend 68 Familes out of
town that attend 17.
1 At Staughton Baptist Church, founded 1766, W. Emery was pastor later.
Willingham Church 129
The smallness of our numbers now is principaly occationed by
our being in the midst or Center of several Towns where there is
now a Meeting whereas in times we had several members that
attended as from over 2 Miles from us a meeting, and at Needing-
worth 3 Miles from us a Meeting, at Cottenham three Miles from
us on the Other side a meeting. But though our Numbers are
small we are unanimous in the belife of the Doctrine of free Grace,
and have (we hope) a Savour of the blessed Effects, leading us to
practical holiness, the new system of Divinity brought into some
Churches we are Strangers to it.
We have thought that the Glorious and Essental Doctrines of
the Everlasting God must be heard before they are believed, That
applanation of the Truths by the Spirit of God to the Souls of men
is absolutely necessary to a principle of holiness, and a principle of
holiness can only make a person a real Christian, for without the
new nature or principle of Grace in the Heart, all the forms or
modes in Religion wiU be destitute of the genuine fruit that flows
from the Spirit of God. our Church Covenant is founded upon
those Basies, and we hope now for a little space Grace hath been
showed from the Lord our God, to give us a remnant to escape & to
give us a Name in his holy place that our god may lighten eyes and
give us a little reviving in our Bondage as there is now a trembling
gone thro our Little Camp and a shaking amongst our Dead and
Dry bones, . . . blessed be God there is a gathering together for
soacial Releigon, and prayer meetings twice a week amongst
themselves, a little Cluster of about fourteen souls, which we
hope will be one day Fruit for our Beloved, to lay up at our Gate.
Mr Boodger was a Faithfull & experimental preacher and of a
Steady walk and Conversation, he lived well respected and Died
much regreated by his Church & people for tho he was pastor over
the Church of Christ at Willingham 30 Years within a few weeks
there never was any Defferance between them, and Justly may
it be said that through much triublation he entered the Kingdom
for his Bodily afflictions where long and very heavy which he bore
with remarkable fortitude of mind and submision of Soul, he
preached till within two Lordsdays of his Death, the Last words he
preached from was 68 Psalm 22 verse — the First he preacht from
at Willingham Genesis 49 Ch 9 verse.
Mr Boodger Died May 6 1784 Aged 68 and May 9 Mr Roberson
preached his Funaral Sermon from 6 Ch 2 of Corinthins 10 Verse
last clause part as having nothing yet possessing all thinngs. May
16, or the Next Sabbath, the Rev*1 Mr Jefferes preached at Willing-
ham (being providentaly cast at Cambridge) and supply 'd for us
nine Weeks in which time the Lord wes pleased to bless his Ministry
for not only the Conviction of many, but the saving conversiton
9 *
i3° Willingham Church
of Mr Boodger son of the Revd Mr Boodger above mentioned our
Pastor.
[End of the 1784 transcript. The one blank
page left was afterwards filled thus : — ]
The Church of Christ at Willingham Had Supples from Mc
Boodger to Mr Rootham year And on the Day
of [1789] Mr Jn Rootham was ordained pastor. Mr Rootham is
a faithful Minister, and his walk and conversation that of a Christian.
He has a large Congregation, but few very few indeed in that vast
number whose life and conversation prove them to be. that which
they profess to be. But oh ! to deceive a soul of so much value is
it a trifle, is all God hath said only a fable take heed ! lest Death in
an Instant should arrest you unprepared, and unprovided for so
great a change. God is holy, and unless you are made like unto
him. how will you abide the day of his coming. Farewell. W.B.
Nov1 7th 1811.
[Further notes, by W. T. Whitley, 1933.]
Rootham was a Baptist, called to the ministry by the Bedford-
shire church of Little Staughton. In 1798 Rippon's Baptist
Register for the first time catalogued this church, saying that
Rootham went nine years before. He died 1827, and was soon
followed by W. Reynolds from the Baptist church at Wattisham.
When he went to Sudbury, John Stevens junior from the Baptist
church at St. Neots came for a year on trial, and refused to stay.
The Old Meeting was demolished, and its materials were sold by
auction in 1830 ; a new one was built. Sadler was not acceptable.
W. Palmer came from Spalding 1834. A split occurred in 1838
leading to the High Street Church, and Palmer left next year.
But there was no reversion to the Paedobaptist position, not even
with another split in 1873.
I3i
John Ray (1627-1705).
IN 1928 the Ray Society printed Further Correspondence
of John Ray. On 3 Jan., 1658-9, he wrote [p. 16] of
giving himself "up to the priesthood." What was
thought of " priesthood " in the Cambridge of 1658-9 ?
On 26 Sept., 1660, he wrote [p. 18] "I have long since come
to two resolutions, namely no promise of conformity, and no
orders."
In a letter [undated, p. 25] he wrote :
I am now in Essex where I intend to continue till Barthomew
Day be past. I am as good as resolved not to subscribe the
declaration in the Act of Uniformity, and soe can expect no
other than the deprivation of my fellowship. . . . Many of
our ministers in this County will be deprived upon this act,
and these too the most able and considerable. ... I shall
now cast myself upon Providence and good friends. Liberty
is a sweet thing ... I shall expose myselfe to much trouble
and inconvenience by this refusall but ' Quicquid erit super-
anda omnis Fortuna ferendo est ' (sic) I doubt not but I shall
be, some way or other, sustained and it may be more to my
satisfaction than i* I should swallow the declaration and
continue still in Trinity Colledge.
In a letter dated Cambridge 4 Sept., 1662, he wrote [p. 32] :
I find not many in this University that have refused to
subscribe, in all twelve Fellows, whereof three are of Emanuel
and the rest — two of St. John's, of our College not one besides
myself, two of Magdalen, one of Bennet, two of Pembroke Hall,
one of King's ; one Master, Dr Dillingham of Emanuel College.
W. J. Paylinq Wright.
132
The Sub Rosa.
FOR 150 years there has existed in London a Ministerial
Society known as the Sub Rosa. While meetings of
the Society are private, as the name suggests, there
is no reason for privacy about its history.
The data concerning it are to be found in a printed sketch
and sundry account books. The first was written in 1868
by the Rev. Thomas James, brother of John Angell James,
who was Secretary and Treasurer of the Society, with the title
A Brief Historical Sketch of a Select Society of Protestant
Dissenting Ministers, meeting once a month for friendly and
confidential intercourse. After summarizing the history of
the Society, James gives a list of deceased members, of
" withdrawn members yet living," and of those still members
on 10th March, 1868.
James's sketch was used by the Rev. W. Hardy Harwood
in a paper read to the Sub Rosa some twenty years ago.
Practically the whole of Hardy Harwood's MS remains and
has come into our possession. It reads as follows.1
The Sub Rosa had its beginning in generous and chivalrous
sentiments. In 1780 Homerton College — now incorporated in
New College — was rent asunder by a dispute between a large
number of the students and Dr. Fisher, the senior tutor. It
was a question not of character or orthodoxy but of the all-
important matter of prerogative. That is all we know, but
the grave and reverend seniors known as the " King's Head
Society," who largely helped to maintain the College, evidently
felt that the dignity of their brother was so vital a matter that
nothing short of the expulsion of the refractory students could
meet the case. There was a minority who felt that at least
the men should be heard in their own defence, in the hope
that admonition and rebuke would be all that were needed.
The majority were not to be persuaded, and the students were
expelled. Later, by the advice of the minority, they made
some concessions (one would like to know what they were)
and at the end of the summer vacation they were re-instated.
The ministers of the smaller party had met many times
during all these negotiations and they had found their inter -
1 We print this paper just as read.
The Sub Rosa 133
course so pleasant that they determined to dine together once
a month for nine months in the year. The confidential nature
of the meeting is indicated by the title : the year of its first
meeting was 1781.
There are no documents earlier than 1814, but it is on record
that the original ten members were Thos. Towle, Nathaniel
Jennings (Treasurer), John Winter, Chas. Skelton, John Kello,
Nathaniel Trotman — one would like to think he was a de-
scendant of the Trotman whose bequest has paid the examination
fees of so many struggling students — Joshua Webb, Wm.
Bennett, Jas. Kello, and the one name that we all recognize
— John Clayton, who since 1768 had been the minister of the
Weigh House. He had succeeded Dr. Wilton, whc was
" splendid in his robes in the pulpit " and " in private life
dressed like a dean or an archdeacon," and Clayton himself is
described as " of dignified appearance, urbanity of demeanour,
conversational power, and pulpit ability." He had been at
Trevecca College, was a Calvinist and a Tory, and yet a
Christian !
These ten met at the " Globe Tavern," Moorgate St., till
the end of the century, when they too migrated to the " King's
Head " in the Poultry. For many years the membership did
not rise above twelve and after that, for a very long time,
twenty was the maximum. In the words of the Rev. Thos.
James (for a long time the Treasurer of the Society) :
The primary object of the Meeting was at the beginning,
and continues to be, to hold free, unfettered, and con-
fidential communication on any points which respected
the general interests of Protestant Dissenters — the special
concerns of the Congregation denomination, from which
the members have been invariably selected — the peculiar
circumstances relative to our churches and ministerial
connexions — and any personal matter on which a member
might desire the confidential opinion, or friendly advice
of his brethren.
The books from 1814 are chiefly records of the attendances
and payments of members, but there are occasional notes of
interest and the names themselves are often " significant of
much." The first list still existing, 15th Nov., 1814, has twelve
names, of which three were of survivors of the original gathering
in 1781 (33 years before)— Webb, Clayton, and Winter. Dr.
Winter was minister of New Court, Lincoln's Inn (afterwards
removed to Tollington Park), as his ancestor Thomas Bradbury
had been before him, and where he numbered " some
134 The Sub Rosa
aristocratic citizens amongst his congregation." Of Webb I
have been able to trace nothing except that one event which
makes us all famous, his death in 1820. Of the new names
on that first list, the chief are H. F. Burder, Professor of
Philosophy at Homerton College ; Mr. Wilks, as he is simply
styled ( I am not sure whether this is the famous Matthew
Wilks, who was minister both of Whitefield's, Tottenham Court
Road and also of Moorfield's, described as of a " curious
physiognomy, harsh voice and pointed sayings," or Mark
Wilks, who appears in later lists and who, I suppose, was
father or uncle to the later Mark Wilks of Hofioway, the
educationalist) ; Humphreys, who resigned in 1819 on becoming
president of Mill Hill School, and Dr. Smith, who is undoubtedly
Dr. Pye Smith as he is known later. The son of a bookseller
in Sheffield, where the name is still honoured, he was tutor
at Homerton from 1806 to 1851. He is described as " con-
servative in doctrine but in advance of his brethren in criticism
and science.' ' He was a geologist and anticipated something
of the attitude towards the records of the Book of Genesis
which provoked such a storm thirty or forty years ago. It
is said amongst other things that his courageous independence
of thought with relation to the canonicity of Solomon's Song
exposed him to animadversions which he bore with exemplary
meekness."
It is curious that in 1820 there is a note that " Dr. Smith
withdrew from the Society owing to the multiplicity of his
engagements ; " again in 1821 that " Dr. Smith resigned ; "
and in 1825 that Dr. Smith withdrew." He seems to have
been of a retiring disposition.
In 1821 the Rev. Thos. James was admitted. He was the
brother of John Angell James and for a long time was Secretary
as well as Treasurer of the Sub Rosa.
In 1825 the Rev. Geo. Burder was elected, a name worth
recalling. He was the founder of the Religious Tract Society,
one of the founders of the London Missionary Society, and for
twenty-four years gave his services without charge as Secretary
of the L.M.S., the last few years as Foreign Secretary, retiring
in 1828. He was also Editor of the Evangelical Magazine, a
considerable author, and all the time the minister of the
important Fetter Lane Church.
There is a very human note during 1825. A deputation was
appointed to see if the Society could be " comfortably enter-
tained " at the " Rainbow Tavern," and at any rate it was
resolved to leave the " King's Head." But at the next meeting
the proprietors of the " King's Head " had promised greater
The Sub Rosa 135
attention, and it was resolved to return there and to give the
proprietor of the " Rainbow " 10/6 over and above his bill.
In October, 1826, Dr. E. Henderson was elected. He had
been appointed tutor of the missionary seminary at Gosport
on the death of Dr. Bogue, and when it was determined to
move the college to Hoxton in London he was made Principal
and so remained till 1830, when it was decided to distribute
missionary students amongst other colleges. In 1827 Dr.
Halley, Principal of Highbury College, joined. In 1830 Dr.
Vaughan rejoined " by common consent." He was minister
of Kensington and Professor of Ancient and Modern History
in the University of London, and " attracted hearers not
usually found in dissenting chapels " : whether they were
burglars or peers we are not told. Here is part of the descrip-
tion of Vaughan by Dr. Stoughton : " The searching glance
from under his knitted brow, his compressed lips, his lordly
bearing, his attitude and gesture revealed what was out of
the ordinary way and created expectations rarely disappointed. ' '
In October, 1831, Thomas Binney was elected. Binney
filled much the same place in the religious world as Parker did
later, though the two men were very different : " His portly
frame, noble head, ample brow, thin, scattered locks, expressive
eye, and changeful countenance which could be fierce with
indignation and could also smile in gentlest love even as a little
child." He was intensely practical, and more than once
created a great sensation by strong utterances which he had
afterwards to modify or explain away — as, for instance : " The
Church of England has destroyed more souls than it has
saved," in which he said he meant the State Control of the
Church. In 1832 Dr. Arthur Tidman was elected. Tidman
was Foreign Secretary of the L.M.S. from 1839 to 1868.
In December, 1837, it was resolved that any member absent
for three consecutive times except for illness or absence from
London should be considered to have resigned.
In 1839 John Clayton, Jnr., was elected. John Clayton of
the Poultry had three sons in the ministry : John, the eldest,
succeeded his father at the Poultry (afterwards moved to the
City Temple), having previously been at Camomile St. and
Kensington ; he only remained one year in the Society as he
went to live in Romford, then too far away. His brother
George never seems to have joined the Sub Rosa, but twenty
years ago or more we had as a member P. J. Turquand, who
had been assistant to Geo. Clayton and afterwards his successor,
and it was always a delight to get him to tell Clayton stories.
The public prayers on Sunday were a running account of the
136 The Sub Rosa
events which had happened during the week amongst the
congregation, and the people listened eagerly for the births,
marriages, and deaths. When Turquand's first child was
born Geo. Clayton prayed " for thy servant, our friend and
colleague, unto whom a child is born, unto whom a son is
given." He preached always in gloves, black or lavender,
accordiDg to the occasion, and his man-servant followed him
up the pulpit stairs. John, too, was " wealthy, respectable,
dignified," but old John was unkind enough to say that " one
son had the best stock of goods, the other the best shop-
window." There was a third son, William, who never became
prominent, and was therefore probably the best man of the
three.
In 1846 it was decided to raise the maximum membership
to twenty, and in the same year Dr. William Smith, of Highbury
College, the man of the Classical and Bible dictionaries of past
days, was elected, though he only remained for a year.
In 1848 there is an unusual note in the resolution to discuss
at the next meeting " the influence of philosophy on religion
at the present time." As a rule there was no such formal
discussion.
In 1850 Dr. Stowell joined, and so history repeats itself.
In the same year was elected James Sherman, minister of
Surrey Chapel from 1836 to 1854, a powerful preacher and
great at weeping. In 1853 Henry Allon joined and was a
member for forty years ; in 1854 Baldwin Brown, the large-
hearted and broad-minded, and in 1857 John Kennedy,
brother-in-law of John Stuart Blackie. For some time at
this period the Society met at the Milton Club, an institution
which I have not yet been able to trace,1 but after some
flirtations with the Guildhall Coffee House settled there. It
must not be supposed that the title " Coffee House " excluded
enjoyment of Burgundy and other wines.
There are one or two other notable names which belong to
this earlier period to which a few words should be given :
Dr. Raffles, afterwards so well known in Great George St.,
Liverpool ;
William Orme, of Camberwell, Foreign Secretary — and, I
think, the first paid Secretary— of the L.M.S. from 1828 to 1830 ;
William Walford of Homerton College, described as " a foe to
enthusiasm, devotional in temper, and a considerable author ; "
Dr. Colly er, the popular minister of Peckham, by " a silvery
tone of address and by lectures written in a pleasant style
1 Some of the meetings in connexion with the " Rivulet " Controversy were
held in the Milton Club.— Ed.
The Sat Rosa 137
attracted the notice not only of the middle class but of a few
people of high rank, including the Duke of Kent and the Duke
of Sussex, who treated him with marked kindness " ;
Dr. Morison, Chairman of the Union for 1850, Editor of
the Evangelical Magazine, a man of unbounded industry and
irrepressible spirits, in spite of great suffering ;
Dr. Joseph Fletcher, a popular preacher, argumentative,
illustrative, " his musical voice harmonized with his warmth
of sentiment and a careful study of vocal inflection appeared
in consonance with a smooth rhetorical diction." I believe he
is the man on whose grave in Abney Park are the words " The
Children's Friend " ;
John Blackburn, of Claremont, Pentonville — then in its old
glory but not as glorious as now — a man " whose bland
countenance, reddish hair, and pathetic voice were familiar
to the Dissenting public, and whose popularity, combined
with literary taste and business capacity, gave him influence
amongst his brethren " ;
Dr. Jas. Bennett, at some time of Falcon Square, the father
of the physician, Sir Risdon Bennett, and a hearty worker
for the L.M.S. ;
Algernon Wells, Secretary both of the Union and of the
Colonial Missionary Society : Dr. Binney spoke, in the address
which he gave at his funeral, most strongly of his special gifts
for his work and of his industry and tact, and Stoughton adds :
" He had the gift of tears and was apt to weep on public
occasions when his heart was touched or his carefully finished
plans were interrupted ; but he had a fund of humour in
conversation and could pour forth sunny smiles and hearty
healthy laughs."
Caleb Morris should have been named as belonging to this
period, and between 1840 and 1860 other names appear on
the roll of men who should not be forgotten.
Dr. Stoughton, the embodiment of Nonconformity in its
best Sunday clothes, was our representative on State occasions ;
he was the moving spirit in a gathering of Churchmen and
Nonconformists in 1876 ; in 1877 he lectured in Westminster
Abbey on Missions, and was a pallbearer at Dean Stanley's
funeral ;
Samuel Martin, who should always be remembered by the
fact that not only was he a popular preacher, but he did much
to purify and improve the squalid neighbourhood about
Westminster Chapel, making it much more than a mere
preaching place, an institution which, if that is all it is, I
do not think much advances the Kingdom of God ;
138 The Sub Rosa
Joshua Harrison of Camden Town who was living when
I came to London and who was the ideal of a Christian
gentleman ;
Dr. Stowell, President of Cheshunt from 1850, and according
to the Dictionary of National Biography the pioneer of missions
to working men, though I cannot find any further evidence
on that point ;
Josiah Viney, of Highgate ;
Thos. Hill, of Clapham.
Then from 1860 onward :
Dr. Raleigh, the Scotch preacher, who when he went to
Harecourt in 1858 seemed to attract every Scotchman within
a five-mile radius. Allon especially suffered but did not
allow it to interfere with their friendship ;
Thos. Jones, the poet preacher of Bedford Chapel, who had
Browning amongst his hearers and to a posthumous volume
of whose sermons Browning wrote an Introduction ;
Dr. Reynolds, called from Leeds to his thirty-four years'
Presidency of Cheshunt, a saint if ever there was one, but
who might have been a little more effective had there been
in his nature some slight trace of the old Adam ;
Dr. Mullens, the Foreign Secretary of the L.M.S. ;
Dr. Newth, the New Testament Reviser, connected with New
College for thirty-five years, latterly as Principal but first as
Professor of Mathematics and Ecclesiastical History, which
strikes one as a curious mixture ;
Dr. Hannay, the " good boy " who is always held up as a
pattern to imperfect secretaries ;
W. M. Statlvam, one of those who later, in Dr. Parker's
phrase, " found in the Church of England a temporary obscurity
on their way to oblivion."
Before I close let me glance at the names of those who were
members when I was admitted in February, 1892. Of the
21 members there are only five living — Darlow, W. F. Clarkson,
now of Brading, Isle of Wight, Selbie, Thos. Simon, now
of Stowmarket, and myself. Darlow had been elected two
months before me, but by leaving for a while he lost his position
as Father of the House. In addition there were Allon, who
died suddenly two months later ; Joshua Harrison ; the ever
to be remembered and beloved Silvester Home ; J. Knaggs,
of Stratford, whose stately figure, clothed in his bands and
gown, won the affection of four wives in succession ; Joshua
Nunn, the useful Secretary of this Society and helper of many
others ; his successor here, Richard Lovett, the Tract Society
The Sub Rosa 139
Editor and official historian of the L.M.S. ; Macgregor of
Paddington ; R. A. Redford, of whom wicked students used
to say that he only resigned when his old lecture manuscripts
had become too brown and ragged to be used again ; A. Reed ;
Guinness Rogers, the true friend and tender-hearted, but like
a true Irishman often inviting people to tread on the tail of
his coat ; Selbie, then a modest young man of Highgate ;
Henry Simon of Harecourt, soon to follow his neighbour Allon
to the grave ; Turquand, the good story-teller, not without
a fine taste in Burgundy ; Verrall, of the Pastors' Retiring
Fund, with his strong common sense ; De Kewer Williams,
of the Gravel Pit, wit oozing out at every crevice of his nature,
not to be stifled even in his prayers, a very popular lecturer
and humorist, and we are told by those who knew him a
really earnest and devoted minister at heart. He married
twice and published a little memorial volume, entitled, I
believe, My Two Wives — which shows some courage ; Charles
Wilson ; Woods, the Secretary of the Congregational Union,
and Morley Wright, the devoted pastor and friend of his
great congregation, who preached rather in his life than on
Sundays. The next to join of those who are still members
was Harries, who first appears on the roll in April, 1895 ;
William Bolton joined the previous month, but has since
Here ends Mr. Hardy Harwood's paper, the last page of
which is evidently missing.
Since the above was printed I have been able to examine
the cash books of the Sub Rosa from 1816. Occasionally
there are in them references to matters discussed, but usually
there are only notes about people proposed for election. One
or two customs seem to have fallen into abeyance. The
Sub Rosa sometimes accepted an invitation to dinner at the
home of one of its members, and sometimes went on an excur-
sion. Occasionally visits seem to have been exchanged between
the Eclectic, another Congregational ministers' club in London,
and the Sub Rosa, and in May some twenty ministers from
the country of different denominations were invited to dinner.
Ministers accepting in 1888 were " Dr. Bruce, C. A. Berry,
Dr. Clifford, Dr. Conder, Dr. Dale, Dr. Green, Dr. Macfadyen,
Dr. Mackennal, S. Pearson, Arnold Thomas, Dr. Angus,
T. V. Tymms, and Edward White."
It is interesting to note the change in the nature of the
dinners. At first the club seems to have paid for wines, then,
after examining the procedure of the Eclectic, each member
14° The Sub Rosa
paid for his own wines. For a long time, we imagine, no wine
has been seen at a Stib Rosa luncheon. The luncheon, too,
is probably of a much less sumptuous kind than it used to be ;
complaint was made that the length of the dinner — the
excessive number of courses — encroached on the time for
conversation.
In 1885 it was resolved that minutes be kept. The minutes
from October, 1885, to October, 1888, have come to light, and
they enable us to give a little more information. Apparently
the meeting has always taken more or less the same form.
The names of absent brethren are read and their health drunk.
When a new member is nominated his name is mentioned at
two consecutive meetings. If anyone demurs to any name
the nomination is not proceeded with. Dr. Parker's name,
no one will be surprised to read, caused significant head-
shakings. Subjects discussed during these years include
" The lawfulness and expediency of the action of Mr. Stead to
bring about the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment
Act." Dr. Kennedy asked how far the Nonconformist and
Independent could be regarded as representing the denomina-
tion. Dr. Allon announced the discontinuance of the British
Quarterly and asked whether a monthly magazine with the
same objects would be likely to succeed, while in 1886 " The
adverse influence which is being exerted by the Christian
World Newspaper on Belief and Church life especially in
many Country Congregations " caused some perturbation. On
another occasion it was announced that all persons not members
of the Established Church were excluded from some London
hospitals, and many members felt that therefore Nonconform-
ists should not continue to collect for the Hospital Sunday
Fund. Allon and Kennedy took the opposite view. The
formation of Mansfield College was discussed, the troubles at
Milton Mount, and also the presence of the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher at the London Board of Congregational Ministers.
An interesting entry reads :
Mr. Wright mentioned the case of a member of his Church,
who had just been elected a Deacon. Objection to his holding
the office was being made, privately, by some parties, inso-
much as he had married, albeit in Switzerland, his deceased
wife's Sister. Mr Wright asked whether in the opinion of the
Brethren the objection was valid. Opinions were divided,
but there appeared to be a preponderance against the validity
The Sab Rosa 141
of the objection, not so much because the marriage took place
in a country where it was legal, but because the English law
is discredited by the judgment and opposition of a large and
influential part of the nation as being simply ecclesiastical
and as having no scriptural or moral authority.
Which reflects credit on the members of the Svb Rosa !
With the years the Society has increased in membership, the
present number being forty-nine, the meetings still being held
monthly during the winter months. The present Secretary
and Treasurer is the Rev. R. J. Evans, M.A.
Albert Peel.
A Characteristic Silvester Home Letter.
9, Campden Hill Gardens, W.
My dear Gerard Ford, June 6, 1902.
Your letter took me greatly by surprise. I had had some
correspondence with Withington representatives, but this sug-
gestion had not crossed my mind. Let me say at once that I
always feel any such kind confidence a very real honour, and am
equally conscious of having done very little to deserve it. But
all the more I should not be justified in leaving them in any doubt
as to my reply. No suburban congregation would attract me in
the least. I have the feeling that eventually I shall move to some
central church ; some large empty wilderness of a chapel, and
attempt something of a city ministry. Such an offer as the
[ Y people are laying before me at this very hour in
regard to [ phas a real fascination. If I could tear
up my roots here and make a move, which I hardly dare even
to contemplate, it would have to be for some forlorn hope, at
which a fellow could fail with credit and cheerfulness ! You do
me no more than justice when you say the salary would not count.
I should not haggle about that. But I must see that there is a
fair chance of becoming central to the life and thought of some
town or city in a way I cannot be here. Till I see that, and feel
that the call is to me, and to me only, I shall not entertain the
idea of giving up a position here where I feel God is giving me
influence and usefulness.
Believe me,
Yours very sincerely,
C. Silvester Horne.
P.S. I am so full of engagements that it is, alas, useless to
talk of anniversary services.
1 Two words blotted out. It was in the following year that Horne went to
Whitefield's Tabernacle. Is that the reference T
1 0
142 Review
Orthodoxy in Massachusetts.
By Perry Miller. Harvard University Press. 15s.
ONE of the most gratifying features of historical study
in recent years has been the way American students
have given themselves to the investigation of ecclesi-
astical history. H. M. Dexter has his successors
among young men to-day who visit this country to examine
the religious background of the men of the Mayflower. Mr.
Stephen S. Slaughter is already known to readers of this journal
through his articles on " The Dutch Church in Norwich " ;
Mr. Slaughter has already sent us a typed copy of his thesis.
" Foundations of English Puritan Democracy, as Studied in
the Writings of the Congregationalists, and as Limited to the
City of Norwich, 155S-1665," which, we trust, will be
published in due course.
Not long ago we noticed in these pages Professor S. E.
Morison's Builders of the Bay Colony. That work is now
followed up by Mr. Perry Miller's admirable study, the title of
which scarcely represents its contents, for it is of moment to
students of political philosophy and religious history alike.
Mr. Miller doubts whether justice has been done to the New
England founders either by those who feel that most of them
were impelled merely by economic considerations, or by those
who, like Dexter and Williston Walker, have read their own
conceptions into the story, and " ever felt called upon to
justify." He believes that there has been
no concerted attempt to realize the continuity of thought
extending from the initial stages of English Puritanism to the
peculiar institutions of New England,
and sets himself to trace that continuity.
This he does in a fruitful and suggestive fashion, though
there are many indications that he has had to rely on second-
hand evidence (such as the Calendars of State Papers rather
than the manuscripts themselves), and there is much useful
material available, especially upon the Elizabethan Separatists,
on which lie has failed to draw. Mr. Miller sets out to show
that Puritans and Separatists alike believed that :
Review 143
(1) The Bible provided them with the sufficient rule for
Church organization.
(2) Princes could and should rule over the Church, though
they must respect the fundamental laws of its constitution.
(3) Uniformity should be maintained and enforced.
In the case of the early Separatists this is not so certain as
Mr. Miller makes out, though he brings no mean array of
quotations to show that while the discipline they wanted the
magistrate to impose was Congregationalism, yet they not only
acknowledged his authority, but had no intention themselves
of tolerating other sects — how could they when their way of
the Word was the only true way ! Thus the platform of the
exiled church in Amsterdam (1596) says that princes must
suppress and root out by their authoritie all false ministeries,
voluntarie Relligions and counterfeyt worship of God [and]
establish & mayntein by their lawes every part of Gods word,
his pure Relligion and true ministerie . . . yea, to enforce al
their Subiects whether Ecclesiasticall or civile, to do their
dutyes to God and men.
Very valuable are the chapters in which Mr. Miller distinguishes
between Separatist and Non- Separatist Congregationalism,
where we imagine his exposition of the writings of Ames,
Bradshaw, and Baines, will break new ground for many readers,
even those who were aware from John Robinson of the distinc-
tion made between separation from the Church of England and
separation from the corruptions in the Church. Mr. Miller
then shows, convincingly, that the Bay towns did not catch
their church polity by contagion from Plymouth — their
writings are too anti- Separatist for that — but that they were
adopting the only policy
left open to a people who were at one and the same time
convinced of the absolute truth of a dissenting program and
of the absolute necessity for orthodox uniformity,
and applying the principles that they had brought with them.
The enterprise was a by-product of the Reformation, a
spark shot out from a century of religious friction. From its
inception the colony was consciously dedicated to achieving the
uniformity to which all reformers had aspired. It was to
prove that the Bible could be made a rule of life, that the
essentials of religion could be derived from Scripture, and then
144 Review
reinforced by the enlightened dictation of godly magistrates.
It was to show that these essentials included polity as well as
dogma, and that the one legitimate polity was Congregation-
alism. Because it would harmonize true uniformity with the
true Church, the colony must continue theoretically loyal to
its sovereign and his Church ; it must give no encouragement
to Separation, in either England or New England. It was to
convince the world that a government could admit the Puritan
claim for delimitation of the civil supremacy by the Word of
God without sacrificing a genuine control over the nation's
Church, that the King of England could easily permit the
churches of England to become Congregational without
destroying their continuity or altering the fabric of society.
It was, in short, to demonstrate conclusively that Congre-
gationalism could and should be a competent state religion.
With this thesis Mr. Miller explains the dilemmas in which the
colonists found themselves — in regard to baptism, the admission
to membership, the eldership and synods, the taxation of
rion- members for pastoral support, and the persecution or
banishment of dissidents. He shows how little in the way of
real democracy there was in the constitution of Church and
State, and how little in the way of toleration, so that when the
Independents in England awoke to the idea of toleration the
New England Congregationalists were left high and dry ; as
Katherine Chidley said in 1641, " they had left England too
early, and lost touch with the more recent advances."
Thus did the New England orthodoxy turn its back upon
the greatest single religious advance of modern times, and
exert itself to avoid making innovations in its thinking.
Perhaps this summary will indicate the value of the book,
which we cordially commend to readers. They will, we
imagine, wonder why it contains so little about the Plymouth
Colony.
Albert Peel.
EDITORIAL.
THE Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the
Memorial Hall on Wednesday, May 9th. The officers
were duly re-elected for another year. Mr. R. H.
Muddiman, the Treasurer, presented the Statement
which is printed within. He reported that the total member-
ship to date was 168, 8 new members having been added during
1933, and 14 through an appeal he had recently sent out.
Hearty congratulations were given to the Rev. A. G. Matthews
on the publication of his Calamy Revised. Dr. Peel read a paper
on " Co-operation of Presbyterians and Congregationalists :
Some Previous Attempts."
As we go to press news comes that Dr. S. W. Carruthers,
who was to have spoken at our autumnal meeting, is unable
to keep the engagement through illness. At short notice, the
Rev. A. G. Matthews, M.A., has stepped into the breach, and
will speak on " Puritan Worship." The meeting will be held
on Tuesday, September 25th, at 4 p.m., at George Street
Church, Croydon.
Congregationalism treats its history in a very careless
fashion, and its records are often dealt with in the same way.
In recent years we have had occasion to examine with some
care the Congregational Library at the Memorial Hall, and the
Libraries of Hackney and New Colleges, London, and in each
instance we have been struck by the lack of attention of the
authorities concerned to the precious and rare books and MSS.
in their charge. Occasionally in the history of the denomina-
tion a scholar like Dr. Newth has emerged, prepared to give
his time and energy and substance to the strenuous, often
dirty, and always unrewarded, task of caring for a library.
Both at the Memorial Hall and at New College, Dr. Newth
did splendid work a couple of generations ago. In both
places, however, there were rooms full of books which had not
been examined for decades ; in both treasures of which the
trustees concerned were unaware. How many Congregation-
alists know that the Memorial Hall Library has a first edition
1 0 *
146
Editorial
(third title-page) of Paradise Lost \ Probably no Congre-
gationalist knew that at New College was the inscribed copy
of Isaac Watts's Psalms and Hymns, which he presented to
Lady Abney, for it was recently discovered in a drawer of
miscellaneous books and papers.
In the near future we hope to write descriptive accounts of
these libraries, and of steps that should be taken to make
their contents known and available for students. It is
encouraging to know that a new spirit is evident among those
responsible, and it may be possible to make the library at the
Memorial Hall and the combined Hackney and New Libraries
together a collection comparable to that of the Congregational
Library at 14 Beacon Street, Boston.
Our experience in these libraries makes us wonder, however,
what is the treatment meted out to books and documents in
our colleges and churches generally. Are the church books
always carefully cherished ? Are documents handed down
from the 17th century in good hands and safe keeping ?
Members of the Society could do good work in giving an eye
to these things.
CONGREGATIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTS, 1933.
Receipts. £ s. d.
Expenditure.
£
s.
d.
To Balance brought
By Printing Trans-
forward, 1932 . . 18 7 7
actions . .
38
4
(>
„ Subscriptions, 1933 31 7 10
,, Postage & Receipts
1
16
9
,. Subscriptions
,, Hire Hall, Annual
Arrears . . . . 2 0 0
Meeting . .
1
1
0
,, Subscriptions Ad-
,, Expenses, Annual
vance . . . . 10 0
Meeting . .
10
0
,, Cash Book
3
0
,, Cheque Book
5
0
„ Bank charge stamp
on cheque
2
,, Balance in hand
31/12/33..
10
5
0
£52 5 5
£52 5 5
202 34.
Audited and found correct,
C. LEE DAVIS,
Hon. Auditor.
H7
Co-operation of Presbyterians and
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts.
IN a few weeks a group of representative Presbyterians and
Congregationalists will meet in the College presided over
by our Chairman to discuss possibilities of union or
co-operation between the two denominations. This will
be far from the first attempt of the kind that has been made,
and it might be timely and advisable to look at what has
happened on some previous occasions. I will endeavour to
be as impartial as possible, though you will allow me to confess
that it was with unalloyed delight that the other day I read
the words of the translator of Erastus's Theses (1659), which
is full of mistakes :
Pardon the errors of the press in this edition, for my aman-
uensis and corrector are Presbyterians.
The story is a long one, and I can only take from it for
detailed narration two episodes, one in our own country and the
other in the United States.
Even before the Elizabethan Settlement there had been
indications among the exiles at Frankfort that there were very
divergent views among Protestants about the organization of
the Church, and in England soon after the nature of the Settle-
ment dawned on those who were largely influenced by Geneva,
differences were plainly manifest. Some of the Protestants
were merely Puritan, whose desire it was, while remaining in
the Church, to purify it from all the " dregges of Papistie " ;
others, also remaining in the Church and desiring reform of
worship, wanted to remould the Church on Presbyterian lines,
with ecclesiastical discipline administered by appropriate
Courts ; others separated from the Church and formed their
own fellowships, binding themselves together by a Covenant,
and electing their own officers. After some years the prin-
ciples guiding such Separatist groups found expression in the
writings of that strange and eccentric genius, Robert Browne.
I do not propose to-day to dwell on the relationships between
Presbyterians and Congregationalists at this period save to
point out that Browne and Harrison, Barrow and Greenwood,
were soon engaged in controversy with the Presbyterian
1 48 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
leaders. The title of Browne's A Treatise of Reformation
without tarying for anie was in itself a criticism of the attitude
of Cartwright and other Presbyterians. Returning from
Scotland Browne said that if England became Presbyterian
then instead of one Pope we should have a thousand and [instead]
of some lord bishops in name a thousand lordly tyrants in deed,
which now do disdain the names.
In the same connexion he gives an interesting piece of auto-
biography when he declares :
In England also I have found much more wrong done me by the
preachers of discipline than by any of the bishops, and more
lordly usurping by them than by the other, so that as in Scotland,
the preachers having no names of bishops, did imprison me
more wrongfully than any bishop would have done, so these
having neither the name nor the power have yet usurped more
than the bishops which have power. For before my first voyage
beyond sea and since my last return I have been in more than
twenty prisons. And for once imprisonment by the bishops I
have been more than thrice imprisoned by the preachers of their
procuring.
The Presbyterians then, as always, were extremely respect-
able, and were very anxious to disabuse those who thought
they had anything in common with Brownism, which was
" suspected of popularity," and maybe even of being tainted
with sedition. Alike in England, Scotland, and the Low
Countries the two did not mix.
In the next century Charles I and Laud succeeded in
driving Presbyterians and Independents together where all
other means had failed. Even then, however, the two proved
restless and uncongenial bedfellows. While the Westminster
Assembly unanimously accepted three proposals it split when
it proceeded to define them.
They were :
1. Christ hath instituted a Government, and Governors Eccle-
siastical in the Church.
2. Christ hath furnished some in His Church with gifts for
government and with commission to exercise the same
when called thereto.
3. It is agreeable to and warranted by the Word of God, that
some others beside ministers of the Word should join with
them in the Government of the Church .
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 149
Furious controversy ensued, and the situation is perhaps
adequately represented by Milton's dictum that " new pres-
byter is but old priest writ large," and by the attitude of
Baxter to Cromwell, the evidence for which was collected by
Dr. Powicke in the Transactions some time ago.1 Baxter,
though of no party, accurately reflects the general Presbyterian
attitude to Cromwell and Independency.
Presbyterians and Congregationalists found themselves in
the same boat after the Act of Uniformity ; as Prof. Sanders
well said in his paper read to the Society at its last meeting,
Presbyterians equally with Congregationalists made their
witness for freedom and paid the price of ejectment. Indeed
so much was this the case that it is not always easy during
Charles IPs reign to discover whether particular ministers
were Presbyterians or Congregationalists.
With the accession of William III and the Toleration Act
comes the attempt at co-operation which I propose to describe
in more detail — the " Happy Union."
One thing that must always be borne in mind is that, largely
by necessity, the Presbyterian churches in England were in
great measure Independent. Indeed, apart from the attempt
during the Civil War to impose the Scottish type of Presby-
terianism on England, there never was a time when Presbyteries
and a General Assembly functioned, and in Charles II 's reign
the individual Presbyterian congregation was independent in
the sense of being autonomous. Alexander Gordon has well
said, and it needs to be remembered in the present as in con-
sidering the past 2 :
In a tractate of 21st May 1645, Independency Not Gods Ordinance,
the author, John Bastwick, M.D., discriminates between " the
Presbyterian Government Dependent " and " the Presbyterian
Government Independent." The former, or Dependent, type
may be illustrated by the Presbyterianism of Scotland, and by
the kindred and derivative (though not identical) Presbyterianism
of Ireland. The latter, or Independent, type belongs to England.
A strict autonomy of " particular churches " associated only
for mutual counsel and advice, was the basis of the Pres-
byterianism of Thomas Cartwright and William Bradshaw.
Cartwright might have liked to invest the associations with juris-
1 VoL X. 122, 167, 212, 250.
2 Freedom After Ejection, 151. This volume is the authority for all matters
relating to the Common Fund established by Congregationalists and Presbyterians
in 1690.
150 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
diction, if authorised to do so by law ; in fact they never were so
invested. Bradshaw maintained, in theory as well as practice,
the independence of congregations, while organising them
internally on the Presbyterian plan, the worshippers delegating
their spiritual government to an oligarchy of pastor and elders.
This independence, indeed, has constantly been the character-
istic of English Presbyterianism, save during the short-lived
and imperfectly achieved Parliamentary experiment, 164&-
1660 ; an experiment which has no exact reproduction in any
modern organism. The modern and admirable organisation
(primarily of the Scottish element) under the name of the Pres-
byterian Church of England bears little resemblance to it.
Dale * thus describes the situation.
In practice they became Independents. Each minister, with
his congregation, stood apart ; there were relations of friendly
sympathy between ministers and congregations in the same town
and in the same country ; but the Presbyterian minister and his
people were just as free as the Congregational minister and his
people from the control of any external authority. They were
Independents — but not Congregationalists.
1 . It is of the essence of Congregationalism that the Church —
an organized Society of persons professing personal faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ — should receive members into its fellowship,
should exercise discipline, should elect and depose its ministers
and other church officers. But among the Presbyterians such
a Society was very rarely organized ; and when it was organized,
its powers were extremely restricted.
The Presbyterian Classes, then, had disappeared by the
Restoration, and they were never revived. To quote Gordon
again2 :
Hence, after Ejection (1662) there was Presbyterian organisa-
tion only in particular congregations ; never anything in the
nature of Classical or Synodical courts. All congregations were
now autonomous, all were non-parochial. Presbyterians could
no longer object to the Congregational polity of " gathered
churches," being themselves reduced to this expedient. Some
specialities of internal organisation remained. Having, in their
1 History of English Congregationalism, 482.
2 Op. cit., 153. Gordon goes on to show that the term Presbyterian was pre-
ferred by those who had no Synodical organization because of the political con-
notation, of the. word Independency. Calamy admitted that his own ecclesiastical
ideal could be deemed M a meer Independent scheme," but he never uses the term,
not even for Congregationalists.
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 151
congregations, " presbyteries " (i.e., elderships, according to the
English, which is also, as a rule, the Continental, acceptation
of the term) they were entitled to describe themselves as Pres-
byterians, if they chose to do so. The points of difference were
not enough to preclude plans of co-operation between Pres-
byterians and Congregationals, in view of their common distress,
and in pursuit of the evangelical aims which all alike held supreme.
Co-operation began before the formation of the " Happy
Union/ ' The Episcopal returns of 1669 report a Lecture at
Hackney, the lecturers being three Presbyterians (Peter
Sterry, Thomas Watson, and William Bates) and four Congre-
gationalists (Philip Nye, George Griffith, Thomas Brookes,
and John Owen). On the Indulgence of 1672 London mer-
chants established a Lecture at Pinners' Hall, the meeting-
place of a Congregational church. Three Presbyterians
(Thomas Manton, William Bates, and William Jenkyn), two
Congregationalists (John Collins and John Owen), and Richard
Baxter were to lecture in turn. This Lecture represented
co-operation between the two denominations until the break-
down of the " Happy Union," when it became Congregational.
In other ways London ministers of the two denominations
began to act together, while in many parts of the country
co-operation was also taking place. Indeed, the manuscript
which is our chief authority in regard to the " Happy Union "
has this entry in 1690 :
The ministers of Somersetshire, Wiltshire and Glocestershire
haue of late Sett up an association, and if it be desired the
minutes of what hath beene and what shall be from time to time
transacted among them will be Sent[.] they haue already
agreed upon an accommodation betweene Presb: and Congr:
Ministers and there haue beene talks of raising a fund among
them, but trading Soe dead, taxes so high, and ye poverty of
professors soe great that it greatly discourages.
Possibly the memory of the association of ministers of
varying views gathered by Baxter in Worcestershire during
the Commonwealth played its part. Be that as it may, in
1 690 a definite attempt was made at the formation of a union
of ministers of the two denominations ; it is worthy of note that
the ministers themselves took action ; their churches do not
seem to have entered into the Agreement. This " Happy
Union " was defined by the Heads of Agreement assented to by
the United Ministers in and about London, formerly colled
152 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
Presbyterian and Congregational, drawn up apparently by
John Howe, and accepted by about 80 ministers. Apparently
all the ministers in and near London entered, except three
Congregationalists, who objected to union with any Non-
conformists who were " for Sacramental Communion with the
Church of England." On 6th April, 1691, at Stepney Meeting,
the Union was inaugurated, Matthew Mead, its minister,
preaching on " Two Sticks made One " (Ezek. SI19 ). The
Preamble of the Agreement declares :
It's incumbent on us, to forbear condemning, and disputing
those different sentiments and practices we have expressly
allowed for : to reduce all distinguishing Names to that of
UNITED BRETHREN ; to admit no uncharitable jealousies, or
censorious speeches ; much less any debates whether Party
seems most favoured by this Agreement.
Dale1 gives an admirable summary of the Agreement, showing
where and how it favours the one denomination or the other.
To this we refer readers, and merely indicate one or two points.
The idea of the " gathered Church " is accepted :
None shall be admitted as Members . . . but such persons as are
knowing and sound in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian
religion, without Scandal in their lives . . . Particular Societies of
Visible Saints, who under Christ their Head, are statedly joined
together for ordinary Communion with one another, in the
ordinances of Christ, are particular Churches, and are to be
owned by each other, as Instituted Churches of Christ, though
differing in apprehensions and practice in some lesser things.
The individual Church has the right to choose its officers,
though
In the administration of Church power, it belongs to the Pastors
and other Elders of every particular Church (if such there be) to
rule and govern ; and to the Brotherhood to Consent, according
to the Rule of the Gospel.
Not only so, but
In so great and weighty a matter, as the calling and choosing
a Pastor, we judge it ordinarily requisite that every such Church
consult and advise with the Pastors of neighbouring congrega-
tions,
and it is also " ordinarily requisite " that such pastors should
1 Op. cit., 475 ff.
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 153
not only concur in the ordination of the minister called, but
should be first satisfied that he has the necessary qualifications.
The question of " Ruling Elders " in a congregation was
left open, while no church was to be subordinate to another,
" each being endued with equality of power from Jesus Christ. "
There should, however, be occasional synods, of ministers
only,
in order to concord, and in any other weighty and difficult cases,
it is needful, and according to the mind of Christ, that the
Ministers of several Churches be consulted and advised with . . .
particular Churches, their respective Elders, and Members,
ought to have a reverential regard to their judgment so given,
and not dissent therefrom, without apparent grounds from the
Word of God.
The doctrinal basis made it sufficient for a Church to
acknowledge the Scriptures to be the word of God, the perfect
and only Rule of Faith and Practice ; and own either the Doc-
trinal part of these commonly called the Articles of the Church
of England, or the Confession, or Catechisms, Shorter or Longer,
compiled by the Assembly at Westminster, or the Confession
agreed on at the Savoy, to be agreeable to the said Rule.
Dale's summary reads :
On the whole, the Heads of Agreement are strongly in favour
of the Congregational Polity ; but the Congregationalists who
accepted them could hardly have had the glowing vision of a
society of saints, one with Christ, filled with His Spirit, the organ
of His will, which had kindled the imagination of their eccle-
siastical ancestors. It is still more certain that the Pres-
byterians who accepted it must long have surrendered, if any
of them had ever held, the theory of the divine right of Presbytery.
Many on both sides did accept the Agreement with great
thankfulness and rejoicing, not only in London, but in many
parts of the country, where regular meetings of ministers were
established. In Devon and Cornwall, Hants, Norfolk,
Nottinghamshire, Manchester, and the West Riding there is
evidence of co-operation. Before this short-lived union was
broken, however, the two parties to it had combined in a most
effective piece of work. Prior to its formal inauguration they
they had determined to establish a Common Fund, which
would make more thorough and systematic the support of the
Dissenting interest. Here is the document :
154 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
The occasion and beginning of this vndertaking.
When it pleased God to encline the hearts of our Rulers to
permit ye religious Liberty of Dissenters by a Law, some persons
(concern'd in this present worke) laid to heart ye great dis-
advantages which the Ministry of the Gospell was attended
with in England and Wales, both by ye Poverty of Dissenting
Ministers and the inability and backwardness of many places
to afford them a meere Subsistance.
They considered alsoe that many of the present Ministers
(wonderfully preserved to this time) are aged, and therefore it
was necessary to provide for a succession of fitt persons to
propogate the Gospell when others were removed.
By the importance of these considerations they were lead,
to invite a considerable number of Ministers in and about the
City of London to advise of some methods to obviate these diffi-
culties, and as farr as the Law allowed to improve this Liberty
to the best purposes.
These Ministers judging a select number of Ministers might
best contribute to these designs, did choose seven Ministers
of the Presbiterian perswasion and ye Ministers commonly called
Congregationall fixed on an equall number to assist in an affaire
thus common to all, who desire the advancement of the Interest
of our Blessed Lord.
The Ministers thus appointed mett together and after seeking
Councell of God, and many serious thoughts and Debates among
themselves att last concluded.
1 — That some due course should be taken by way of Benevo-
lence to relieve and assist such Ministers in more settled worke,
as could not subsist without some addition to what their hearers
contributed.
2 ly — That Provision might be made for the preaching of the
Gospell in some most convenient places where there are not as
yett any fixed Ministers.
3 ly — That what is thus contributed should be impartially
applyed according to the Indigent circumstances and work of
every such Minister.
4 ly — That none might be admitted to a share in this supply
as Ministers but such as are devoted to and exercised in the
Ministry as their fixed and only Imployment with the approba-
tion of other Ministers.
5 ly — That some hopefull young men might be incouraged for
ye Ministry, and ye sons of poor Dissenting Ministers (if equally
capeable) might be preferred to all others.
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 155
6 ly — That a number of private Gentlemen should be desired
to concurr with the foreappointed Ministers in the procuring and
disposall of the said Supply to the above described uses ; w«h
Gentlemen were fixed on.
By these steps this happy work was begunn, wch 'tis hoped God
will soe inlarge ye hearts of the well-disposed to contribute to
and attend with such a blessing, as may greatly advance the
Kingdom of Christ, and give Posterity occasion to adore the
goodness of God in thus directing the minds of such as are
ingaged therein.
The management was to be in the hands of " 14 ministers
and 30 gentlemen," who were to meet monthly. The lay-
men seem to have played a very minor part, both in the manage-
ment and by their contributions. The first fourteen ministers
were :
Presbyterian Congregational
Vincent Alsop Matthew Barker
Samuel Annesley Isaac Chauncy
William Bates George Cokayne
John Howe John Faldo
Richard Mayo George Griffith
Richard Stretton Nathanael Mather
Daniel Williams Matthew Mead
All these had been ejected in 1662, except Faldo, who was
then unbeneficed, and Williams, who was then a minor. Most
of these men contributed very liberally to the Fund : in the
first month we have Mead, £100 ; Alsop, £100 ; Howe, £160 ;
Annesley, £100 ; Mayo, £100 ; Williams, £50 ; Bates, £50.
It is impossible here to relate the important and interesting
results of the survey made by the Fund of :
1. Names of survivors of the Ejected divines remaining Non-
conformist ; and of all others " under ye like Circumstances,"
whether Ministers or " disposed for ye Ministry."
2. List of settled Congregations ; by what Ministers supplied ;
how maintained.
3. List of Religious assemblies discontinued ; also of places
where there might be opportunities of public service.
Readers will find for themselves in the manuscript printed by
Gordon much information about the poverty of the ejected
ministers and the extent of their activity, about the size of
156 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
congregations and places of meeting, about the Academies
and the way men were trained with Mr. Frankland, Mr. Jollie,
and other ministers, about grants to ministers, congregations,
and students. There are glorious entries like that for
Wivenhoe :
Kept up their meeting almost constantly in ye worst of times,
a small but zealous people, their allowance is but 6 or 78 pr day.
The whole of the entries on that page 42 of Gordon may be
quoted as typical :
Tiptry, or Where is one Crab a baptist an Ignorant fellow
Messing does much hurt if any maintenance could be had a
minister might doe much good is likely to be a very
large meeting and a very dark corner
Bures A large Village noe meeting neere
Stebbing and
Hedingham
Att Is a meeting kept up by combination by some
Withamstow from Loud
Witham Where mr ffoxton is about to Settle, auditors
about 4 or 500 of the poorer sort, are not able to
raise much if anything aboue 20£ pr anu
Onger A dark corner. mr Paget through mr Rowes
meanes was prevailed wth to come among them,
whose labours are well approved, they promised
him 30£ per annum, but ye performance less
than 20£
Ministers Sibbe Hedinghame. Much pestered wth Quakers
qualifyed kr and Arminian Anabaptists, desire a minister,
ye Minry and and some present maintenance
not fixed
Mr ffelsted In this County a very worthy young man is willing
Mr Porter of to go to Reyleigh if any thing considerable will be
ffelstead allowed for his maintenance. The people have
giuen him a call to Settle among them, hee is
willing to comply if hee may be incouraged
Why did the Union, started so happily, break down so soon ?
It was on account of doctrinal disputes. Richard Davis, of
Rothwell, in Northamptonshire, drew upon himself the censure
of ministers in his own neighbourhood and in London1, not
1 The Sense of the United Nonconforming Ministers, In and about London, Con-
cerning some of the Erroneous Doctrines, and Irregular Practises of Mr. Richard
Davis, of Rothwell, in Northamptonshire.
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 157
merely for " Irregular Practices,' ' " abominable Assertions,' '
and " Arrogancy and Insolence," but for " Erroneous Doc-
trines," and the N United Brethren " disowned him. Imme-
diately, of course, some Independents began to ask " Who
are these United Brethren ? and championed Davis, irre-
spective of the merits of the case. On them Davis worked,
saying:
We evidently perceived their design was to hook away
Judgment from a particular Church of Christ, and fix it in a
Presbyterian Classis.
Davis was a Welshman and an Independent, so Independent
that when he was " installed in the office of pastor or bishop,"
he was installed by the church itself, and neighbouring pastors
who had come to assist withdrew, finding nothing to do. He
preached throughout Northamptonshire, using lay helpers,
and winning converts who would walk 20 miles on dark Sun-
day mornings to hear him preach. It may be that jealousy
at his success played its part in the complaints made against
him. When the excitement about him was at its height, and
his doctrinal views were under discussion, fuel was added to
the flame by the republication of the sermons of Dr. Tobias
Crisp, with a preface by John Howe and others merely stating
that the sermons were genuine, but suggesting, people thought,
approval of their high Calvinism, especially in regard to Pre-
destination, Election, and the Atonement. Daniel Williams
took the lead in attacking Crisp's position, his own Calvinism
being much more moderate. The controversy was a bitter
one, the Presbyterians generally ranging themselves on the
side of Williams, the Independents against him, with the result
that Williams was driven from his Pinners' Hall Lectureship,
and a new Presbyterian Lectureship was set up at Salters' Hall.
Another result was the break-up of the " Happy Union,"
which left one important result, however, in the Congregational
Fund Board,1 founded in 1695 by 19 churches in and about
London to carry on in Congregational Churches the work done
by the Common Fund.
We now turn to the second episode, and travel across the
Atlantic — this example of contact between Presbyterians and
1 The proceedings of the Board during the first year of its existence were
transcribed by Mr. Crippen, and printed in the Transactions, V. 134-148. St-*x
also Transactions, VI. 209-213.
1 1
158 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
Congregationalists being deliberately chosen because of its
relationship to the previous one. I choose it, too, not only to
remind you how large a place controversy in regard to Pres-
byterianism played in the story of our churches across the seas
— a mere glance at Dexter1 will remind you if you have for-
gotten— but in order to bring to your notice a very important
book which is in danger of being overlooked on this side of the
water, if not in the United States itself. I refer to the massive
life2 of Leonard Bacon, the outstanding leader of Congrega-
tionalism in America in the 19th century, the Dale of
United States Congregationalism. Leonard Bacon died in
1881 ; his son and daughter began work on a biography ; his
grandson, Theodore Davenport Bacon, did most of the work,
but died before its completion, leaving it to be seen through
the Press by his brother, the B. W. Bacon whose work on the
New Testament we all know.
In 1705 an Association of Ministers in Massachusetts, and
in 1708 a Synod in Connecticut, took steps which showed
willingness to develop Congregationalism on Presbyterian lines.
I will concentrate on the Connecticut experiment because of
its connexion with the " Happy Union. " The Synod met at
Saybrook. It re-adopted the Savoy Conference as a statement
of the beliefs generally held ; it agreed that the Heads of Agree-
ment drawn up when the " Happy Union " was formed " be
observed by the churches throughout this colony," and then
it added 15 propositions, of which the chief enacted that
the churches which are neighbouring to each other shall consociate,
for mutual affording to each other such assistance as may be
requisite, upon all occasions ecclesiastical.
Other articles showed how these " Consociations " would
function, and, as Dexter said, while in themselves they would
satisfy the most thoroughgoing Congregationalist, read in the
light of the Heads of Agreement, they could easily be patient
of a Presbyterian interpretation. So it happened : New
Haven County made " the Platform a purely and thoroughly
Congregational confederation of Congregational churches,"
1 The Congreqationali8m of the last three hundred years, as seen in its Literature,
passim.
2 Leonard Bacon : A Statesman in the Church. Yale and Oxford University
Presses, 30s. I am indebted to the Yale University Press, and to the Oxford
University Prels, their publishers in England, for permission to quote from this
volume.
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 159
Fairfield County placed " an extended ultra Presbyterian
interpretation and construction on the Articles."
Round the nature and value of these Consociations contro-
versy ranged for many decades. Some held with Dr. Benjamin
Colman, who said, in 1735 :
The Consociation of Churches is the very Soul and Life of the
Congregational Scheme, necessary to the very Esse as well as
Bene of it ; without which we must be Independent and with
which all the Good of Presbyterianism is attainable.
Others were represented by Dr. Emmons, who 80 years later
could say :
All the present disputes about councils mutual, and ex-part e
councils, in respect to their authority, are vain and useless ;
because they have no divine authority at all. And all the present
disputes about the power of ordination, and the power of ordained
ministers, are equally vain and absurd. For there is no power
of ordination but what is lodged in every church of Christ ; and
no church of Christ can give any power to their officers but what
Christ has given to every one of his ministers. The disputes
about ecclesiastical power never will be, nor can be settled,
until the churches will return to the platform of ecclesiastical
power contained in our text {Matt, xviii : 15-17), from which
not only Papists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, but even
Congregationalists, have too far departed.
When Congregationalism was, shall we say, flirting with some
parts of the Presbyterian polity, it was not difficult for co-
operation between the denominations to be established. In
1801 a " Plan of Union " was drawn up between the Pres-
byterian General Assembly and the General Association of
Connecticut to facilitate Home Missionary work. Churches
of one denomination were to be free to employ ministers of
the other, and in mixed congregations what seemed a fair
arrangement was made. With what result ? Here is how
Dr. Bacon's biography sums up the situation :
Yet the arrangement worked overwhelmingly in favor of the
Presbyterians. In the half -century of its duration something
like two thousand churches, Congregational in origin and usage,
became Presbyterian, principally in Western New York, Ohio,
Michigan, and Illinois, and this notwithstanding the fact that
the Plan was repudiated by the Old School section of the Pres-
byterians, at the time of their disruption. It was said at the time
that Congregationalism was a stream which rose in New England,
flowed West, and emptied into Presbyterianism.
160 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
To Dr. Bacon this was deplorable. The effort of the Congre-
gationalists to be unsectarian was causing them to be absorbed
by a denomination ready to exclude Christians not of its own
type. The nonsectarian spirit was defeating its own purpose
in following such a course, and the democratic principle in
religious affairs was suffering a severe setback. Protestants,
instead of drawing nearer to union by this policy, Were getting
farther away from it. As Bacon wrote a few years later, in 1859,
'* The only visible union attainable, or really desirable, is to be
found, not in the Presbyterian idea of government over churches,
but in the Congregational idea of the communion of churches."
In reality the influx of Congregationalists into Presbyterianism
had not resulted in greater unity, but the contrary. It had
been the chief cause for the break between the Old School and
the New, which had split the Presbyterian body into two nearly
equal parts. . .
Then came the disruption and the repudiation, on the part of
the Old School, of the Plan of Union. This was a definite
rebuff to all Congregationalists. It was also a clear indication
that any hope of uniting evangelical Protestants under the
banner of Presbyterianism was futile. Not even the Pres-
byterians themselves had this aim ; for, in the agreement entered
into to form the Synod of New York and Philadelphia it had
been declared that when any matter which the body should judge
to be indispensable in doctrine and Presbyterian government
should be determined by major vote, those conscientiously unable
to submit should peaceably withdraw, without attempting to
make any schism. The spirit of the provision is kindly, but it
implies that there might be good Christians whom the Pres-
byterian church would prefer not to have in its ranks. This
was not the catholic purpose to include all Christians which was
fundamental to the Congregational conception. It was dis-
tinctively sectarian, and militated against a general union among
Protestants, however vigorous the growth of Presbyterianism
might be.
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Congre-
gationalists began to be more doubtful of the wisdom of the
Plan of Union, and to ask themselves whether their democratic
system was not, after all, to be preferred to the seemingly more
efficient Presbyterian polity. The embodiment of the West-
minster Confession in the fundamental articles of the Presbyterian
church was seen to have disadvantages great enough to offset any
good which it might seem to have possessed. The old principle
of the right of the individual church to administer its own affairs,
including standards of orthodoxy, with the advice, but not the
dictation, of neighboring churches was visibly endangered. . . .
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 161
The Westminster Confession was held in high respect by most
Congregationalists, but they were not disposed to regard it as
the final word in religious thought. They felt that the contribu-
tions of their own religious thinkers were improvements on the
older Calvinism, of vital importance in enabling it to bring men
to repentance, and in preventing religion from becoming a dead
formalism. And they were not disposed to bind themselves to
adherence, even in a somewhat general sense, to this formula,
already in some measure outgrown. In a word, they stood for
progressive orthodoxy, though that expression was not yet
coined.
How the Union worked out may be seen by an example
early in Bacon's life. We quote the biography again :
Strangely enough it was primarily a contest within the Pres-
byterian church, his connection with it arising from the fact
that the Congregational churches, especially of Connecticut,
were then ecclesiastically affiliated with the Pre jbyterians. The
Connecticut " consociations " were recognized by the Pres-
byterians as equivalent to presbyteries, delegates from presbytery
to consociation and vice versa were sent and received as " corres-
ponding members," and delegates were also invited and sent
from the consociations to the General Assembly of the Presby-
terian Church, in which they sat as fully accredited. These
" consociations " were a product of the Say brook platform of
1708, which had authorized the Connecticut churches to form
such groupings in the interest of greater efficiency, and had
conferred upon the bodies thus formed somewhat ambiguous
authority. Most of the churches had thus grouped themselves,
and several of the consociations had come to act very much like
presbyteries, while the churches had come to call themselves
indifferently either Presbyterian or Congregational. The prin-
ciple of democracy, on which the churches of New England had
been founded, was being gradually relinquished for the sake of a
supposedly greater efficiency. That it meant also a relinquish-
ment of religious liberty had not yet been realized.
Outside of New England Presbyterianism was regarded as
the equivalent of Congregationalism. Many of the churches
of the Middle Atlantic States had been founded by Scotch or
Scotch-Irish immigrants, but they had been largely recruited by
New Englanders who had gone West or South . The two denomina-
tions were supposedly at one in matters of doctrine, the West
minster Confession being regarded as a standard by both, and the
question of church government was not regarded as a bar.
Congregationalism was in a fair way to disappear.
1 1 *
1 62 Co-operation of Presbyterians and
But this tendency was cheeked in an unexpected way. The
supposition of identity of religious belief proved to be not alto-
gether justified. The Presbyterians in the West, especially
those of Scotch antecedents, grew alarmed at the type of religious
teaching that was set forth by many of the ministers who came
to them from New England.
The Associate Reformed Presbytery, Philadelphia, gave to
John Chambers a licence to preach as candidate for the
ministry. He preached with acceptance to a church in
Philadelphia, but when he applied for ordination he was
rejected because he held the New England theology. This
strained the relationship between the New England Churches
and the Presbyterians. Mr. Chambers, eager to preach, came
to New Haven with high credentials as to his preaching, and
asked for ordination from the New Haven West Consociation.
The Consociation agreed to act as a council for the purpose,
and, after examination, ordained him, Leonard Bacon taking
part in the Ordination Service. Mr. Chambers was then
received with open arms by the Church in Philadelphia, which
withdrew from the Presbytery, constituted itself an Inde-
pendent Church, and prospered greatly under the young
minister. The Presbytery of Philadelphia was greatly con-
cerned and protested to the Consociation, which defended its
action. From the Congregational point of view, says Bacon's
biography, the action was indefensible :
A council can act in such matters only on behalf of a church
of its own order, within its vicinage, to which it gives advice
and assistance. There was nothing of the kind in this case.
But the Consociation, as a quasi-presbytery, affiliated with, but
not subject to the General Assembly, might be considered free
to ordain whom it pleased.
Ultimately the Assembly appointed a Committee to confer
with a Committee of the Consociation. The Committees met,
but nothing could be done. This conflict was preh'minary to
the breaking up of the Presbyterian Church, ten years later,
into Old and New Schools, and to the return of the Connecticut
Churches to the more democratic principles on which they had
been founded, thus breaking off their anomalous relation with
Presbyterianism .
So ended this American experiment, and the churches of our
faith and order turned their attention to develop fellowship
between themselves. In 1853 the American Congregational
Congregationalists : Some Previous Attempts 163
Union came into being ; in 1865 the delegates from the churches
of 25 States
Resolved, that this Council recognizes as distinctive of the
Congregational polity ;
First, The principle that the local or Congregational church
derives its power and authority directly from Christ, and is not
subjected to any ecclesiastical government exterior, or superior,
to itself.
Second, That every local or Congregational church is bound
to observe the duties of mutual respect and charity which are
included in the communion of churches one with another ; and
that every church which refuses to give an account of its pro-
ceedings, when kindly and orderly desired to do so by neighbouring
churches, violates the law of Christ.
Third, That the ministry of the gospel by members of the
churches who have been duly called and set apart to that work,
implies in itself no power of government, and that ministers of
the gospel not elected to office in any church are not a hierarchy,
nor are they invested with any official power in, or over, the
churches.
In 1871 the National Council of the Congregational Churches
of the United States was formed, incorporating into its charter
this statement concerning church polity, which bears traces
of the long experience of the Presbyterian system :
They (the Congregational churches of the United States, by
delegation assembled) agree in belief that the right of government
resides in local churches, or congregations of believers, who are
responsible directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Head of
the Church Universal, and of all particular churches ; but that
all churches, being in communion one with another as parts of
Christ's Catholic Church, have mutual duties subsisting in the
obligations of fellowship.
The churches, therefore, while establishing this National
Council for the furtherance of the common interests and work of
all the churches, do maintain the Scriptural and inalienable right
of each church to self-government and administration ; and this
National Council shall never exercise legislative or judicial
authority, nor consent to act as a Council of Reference.
Albert Peel.
164
The Chronicles of a Book Society.
Connected with the Congregational Church, Clavering,
1787-1933.
PICTURE a yellowed tome, once white, now ink-stained
and thumbed with the fingers of three centuries. A
sturdy volume that has withstood the flight of years,
the copyhand of the early entries still decipherable.
A worthy monument to the high ideals and aims that started
it on its career. Intact, every leaf still secure, I found it
amongst the possessions of the last Secretary and Treasurer,
the late B. C. Custerson, J.P., C.C., who with the help of his
wife carried on the best traditions of the Society from 1914
to 1933.
The Clavering (Essex) Book Society, of which the book is
the earliest known record, was rejuvenated in the year 1787.
This book is the story of the rejuvenation. It contains a
minute made at the house of Mr. Bailey of Clavering, 6th
March, 1787, which reads as follows :
Those which are signed in this book are a revision of the old
laws and extracts from former minutes.
A definite lack of reading material in middle-class families
in the 18th and the early 19th century led to the formation
of these societies for the circulation of books and periodicals.
Gradually, as the 19th century advanced, libraries, newspapers
and magazines became easy of access and the book societies
died out. This one at Clavering must have been one of the
last survivals.
The high ideals of these early high-brows who formed the
Clavering Book Society were recorded in a preface to the
minute book :
The improvement of the human mind is on all hands allowed
to be important and necessary, and happiness, of which every
rational creature must desire and which all are seeking after,
cannot otherwise be obtained. As the mind can only be
improved by the increase of true knowledge or by the obtaining
The Chronicles of a Book Society 165
of just views of these things which nearly concern us, whatever
has a tendency to produce this effect has likewise a most
friendly influence upon real enjoyments.
We advance in knowledge by duly considering those objects
duly presented to us. As those from which improvement is
to be desired are innumerable and each person's own particular
circle of observation is small, it is the part of wisdom to avail
itself of these advantages that may be derived from attending
to the ideals which others have acquired or collected. To
accomplish this, reading, conversation, and serious thought
appear to be necessary, the two first tending to derive improve-
ment from the last. A society of persons formed for the
purpose of reading and conversation and serious thought
appears evidently calculated to enlighten, enlarge, and improve
the mind, consequently to bring about that happiness which is
true and lasting. Convinced of this we at Clavering and its
neighbourhood do agree to form ourselves into a society for
reading, and as order is absolutely necessary for the well
being of every society, we unanimously agree to the following
rules :
1. That the society do always hold its meetings on the
Tuesday upon or next before the full moon in every month at
half past five o'clock in the evening. These meetings shall
be held in rotation at the houses of those members to whom it
may be convenient. That at whose house the society shall
meet shall be chairman for the evening and shall regulate
the time.
2. That each member shall subscribe 10s. 6d. towards a
fund for buying books and after the first subscription 5s. by
the year. When any member shall subscribe on admission in
future he is to pay 5s. besides the annual subscription.
3. That a treasurer shall be appointed whose office it shall
be to produce books voted in by the society, pay for them out
of the common stock, at the same time keeping a regular
account for the inspection of the society ; he shall also fix the
time to be allowed for the reading of each book, order the
rotation in which it is to be sent, and collect for the use of the
society those forfeitures which may be incurred.
4. That every member shall have a right to propose any
book at the monthly meetings of the society. Each book in
order to its being admitted, shall when proposed be seconded
by another member of the society, then balloted for and if
there be a majority, admitted. If it is not seconded it shall
immediately be considered as rejected.
1 66 The Chronicles of a Book Society
5. The review for the preceding month be always produced
at meetings of the society for the purpose of more readily
determining what books are suitable.
6. That the treasurer shall fix to each paper a slip called
the forfeit paper. This shall contain the title and number
of the book, the time that it is to be kept by each member
and the names of the subscribers in the order of rotation in
which it is to be sent.
7. That every member shall enter on the forfeiture paper
the day of the month and the hour on which he received
every book with the condition it is in at the time, and likewise
the day and the hour on which he sends it away. The last
person on the rotation shall after keeping the book the
appointed time, immediately send it to the treasurer, who
shall take charge of the book till the next annual meeting.
8. That on the first Tuesday in the new year upon or next
before the full moon all the books belonging to the society
which shall be in the treasurer's possession shall be sold by
auction and the money thence arising be added to the stock.
At that time also the accounts for the preceding year shall be
audited and a treasurer appointed.
9. That every member of the society shall at each monthly
meeting contribute three pence to be added to the stock.
10. The forfeiture incurred by the breach of the above
laws shall be as follows : not being present at the monthly
meeting by half past five o'clock three pence, not producing
a review for the preceding month three pence. Each book
kept beyond the time appointed in the forfeit paper shall
cause the person keeping it to pay a half penny each hour up
to the price of the book ; N.B. — the hours to be reckoned
from 8 o'clock in the morning to 8 o'clock at night, the Lord's
Day not included. Improper entries in the forfeit paper
three pence.
11. That a person who damages any book belonging to the
society shall pay such damage as the majority shall determine,
And he who loses any book shall produce another and forfeit
sixpence ; but he who lends to a person not of the society any
book shall forfeit the whole price.
12. Whoever shall alter the order of rotation fixed by the
treasurer in the forfeit paper or entry which another person
has made shall, unless such alterations be agreed upon by the
majority of members met together, forfeit Is.
13. Whoever sends a book forward sooner than the time
allowed on the forfeit paper shall enter it as if it were kept
The Chronicles of a Book Society 167
full time, and the member next in rotation is allowed to keep
the remainder of the time and also his own, as settled by the
treasurer. He who does not enter as above incurs the forfeiture
of improper entry.
14. That all questions relative to the Society shall be
unalterably determined by the majority of votes ; and who-
soever does not submit to that determination or refuses to
act in an orderly manner according to the designs of these
rules shall no longer be regarded as a member.
All forfeitures incurred shall be paid to the treasurer on
demand.
16. That these rules be publickly read four times in each year.
Much of the reading was of the magazine type, and the
magazines were passed on from week to week with books of
more solid character. Many partnerships were thus formed
between magazines and the Society that were only broken
by the death of one or the other. As the years advanced the
matter changed, as did the tastes of the Society. Amongst
the early favourites were the Evangelical and the Sunday at
Home. Great Thoughts, the Review of Reviews, the Quiver ;
the Windsor, and Chambers's became popular in their turn,
but it was not until hectic old age that the Grand, Nash's,
the Cornhill, the London, and the various women's magazines
appeared on the rota. The number of magazines varied, but
was sometimes as many as fifteen. They were bound in
cartridge paper, and bore the inscription " Clavering Book
Society." The back of the covering was used as the " forfeit
paper," and in the early days the forfeits were well and truly
paid.
Here are some of the items :
1788. By forfeiture lis. 8Jd.
1790. By Forfeits £1 2s. 8Jd.
1792. By Forfeits £2 5s. OJd.
Did the gradual increase in amount mean that the members
were getting careless ? At any rate, by 1814 forfeits were
less again, amounting only to £l 12s. 6d., and by 1844 the
tale of the forfeits was told. From now on they are designated
as " fines," until in 1864 they disappear altogether. Indeed,
latterly the rules relating to fines were more honoured in the
breach than the observance.
Amongst the Chronicles are many interesting items about
income and expenditure. The accounts were most meticulously
1 68 The Chronicles of a Book Society
kept. In 1788 the expenditure is recorded as amounting to
£6 4s. 2|d., but by 1886 it had amounted to the grand total
of £20 8s. Id. ; from that period it slowly declined until in
1929 it had descended to the low level of £13 Is. Id., leaving
a debit balance of Is. 4d., the first on record.
The Society was generous and some of the records of amounts
given away are worthy of note.
1828. The Postman for books to Newport Is. 3d.
1830. Donation to Clavering School £2 2s.
1834. Benevolent Society £2 3s. ; Essex Congregational
Union 2s. 6d.
1889. For egg and toast rack presented to Mr. Beard
£1 12s.
1906. For Waitresses 2s.
Some of the payments made to the Society make equally
interesting reading.
1846. Sale of History of Herts £1.
Mr. Pavill lor Queen of England 6s.
A " Life of Mohammed " [sic] was bought for 6s.
As these were among the heavier works put forward for
the perusal of the good people of Essex, it is illuminating to
note that at this time the lightest form of literature known
to the Society was perhaps the Evangelical Magazine. The
following is, therefore, a surprise from such a serious-minded
and thoughtful people. In 1854 £1 7s. was paid for the use
of a room at the sign of " The Fox and Hounds at Clavering."
This was the yearly custom, and absent members were requested
to pay 2s. 6d. towards the " dinner." Was this of a more
substantial character than those monthly suppers that were
to be neither "hot" nor of "flesh" meat? The epicures
may believe that in 1896 when James Gurson " declined "
he did so in despair at the frugality of the suppers.
An important feature of the annual gathering was the sale
of the books that had been in circulation during the year.
Friday, Jan. 4th, 1789. Annual Meeting of the Society at
Mr. Cripp's the Fox and Hounds at Clavering. The gentlemen
dined together and the books were sold by auction as usual.
The Annual Meeting was a refreshing season ; there was
dinner, books to be sold and purchased at little cost, and a
lively debate which was recorded in the minute book in the
The Chronicles of a Book Society 169
form of question and answer. But these early high-brows
were feminists and it was not for long that the " gentlemen "
kept these good things to themselves.
At the Annual Meeting on 17th Jan., 1791, it is recorded
that
a respectable number of ladies honoured the Society with
their attendance and much pleasure was apparently enjoyed
during the discussion that followed.
Who were these ladies ? We get the answer in the earlier
entry of 4th May, 1789.
It was proposed that for the encouragement of the female
members they should be admitted upon paying five shillings
only instead of half a guinea.
This suggests that at no time did these good folks exclude
women from the Society but rather encouraged them. One
wonders if the hospitality of the " Fox and Hounds " lacked
anything and they were chary of attending. Anyway, records
of debate show that as far as subject matter went, certain
subjects were a definite draw.
Most frequently the " question " of debate was a religious
one. On July 26th this is recorded as
How ought a Christian to conduct himself, merely as a
member of civil society ?
And the conclusion solemnly recorded is
Keep from bad example in himself, prevent quarrels, offend
none, be benevolent to all.
The answer to " When does mental error become sinful ? " is
When it arises from negligence, from prejudice, from the
desire to five in any sin or when it leads to the indulgence of
anything that is immoral.
By 1791 the Society had shed some of the religious tendency
in debate, and at their Annual Meeting when ladies were
present the debate was on the question,
Is there any just ground for the censures usually cast upon
old maids and batchelors ?
Curiously the answer is recorded as " Comments " :
It was judged to consider the sexes distinctly. The old
maids might generally be considered as not continuing single
170 The Chronicles of a Book Society
out of choice and in that case were objects of pity. As to the
old batchelors it was judged that generally speaking they had
the opportunity of finding agreeable partners.
It was possible for individuals of either sex to be amiable
and worthy. But from the various bad dispositions of old
maids, there appears a just reason for censuring them, while
the old batchelors on these accounts and on others not generally
known deserve even severer censures than those which are
generally cast upon them.
One more record — that of 14th Feb., 1791 :
Which is the most injurious to character, the Spendthrift
or the Miser ?
the answer reading :
If the Miser be rapacious as he generally is and the Spend-
thrift thoroughly dissipated only, which is commonly the fact,
the Miser is the worst ; but if the Spendthrift be also rapacious
his vileness exceeds.
This was almost the last of the debates, and apparently the
monthly meetings ceased about this time. Accounts given
after are of Annual Meetings only. Again and again one reads :
" The Secretary received no minutes of that meeting." One
wonders if bad weather in February may have accounted for
this, or were the attractions of the Society becoming less ?
Some of the accounts of Annual Meetings give interesting
side-lights on the personnel of the Society. One held at the
" Fox and Hounds " on 5th Dec, 1827, gives a list of the
members. They include : Debden Wright of Dudenhoe Grange,
Isaac Hodges of Berden Hall, James Mumford of Colchester
Hall, Thos. Seabrook of Berden Priory.
There is no need to read between the lines of the old accounts
for sidelights on the personalities that touch these pages.
Students, reverend gentlemen, farmers, and shopkeepers appear
on the pages and go.
On 5th April, 1887, the Rev. — Ault gave a review of the
history of the Society, and on that occasion there were two
other members of the cloth present. But here and there
a record leaves one guessing. Who and what was the John
Portway who, joining in 1795, " declined " in 1807 ; why did
Thomas Clark, whose name was mentioned in 1795, " decline "
entering ? There may, of course, have been difficulties, but
was one glance at the intelligentsia of North Essex enough ?
The Chronicles of a Book Society 171
On 25th Jan., 1790, we read :
The usual business of the day was compleated in harmony.
Was this an expression of congratulation or of verbosity ?
Or was it an implication, that matters were not always so ?
It is puzzling.
And there are other puzzles. The Treasurer of 1870 draws
what might have been a cyclone in infancy, in the margin of
the accounts. Was he a budding Phil May or a farmer obsessed
by the weather ?
Then there follows a cryptic entry : " Spare moments, Is."
And what of the Treasurer to whom they presented a time-
piece at the surprising cost of £6 15s. ? Why were his services
so much esteemed ? We are not told. Certainly the Society
was most generous, and gifts in the early days were frequent.
From 1914 there were few meetings. The books were
purchased and circulated by Mr. and Mrs. Custerson with a
regularity and despatch that complied with the strictest rules,
but the Society rarely met. After the War there was some
attempt at reviving the Annual Meeting, but the day of the
Book Society was over, and in 1933 it was decided to abandon
an enterprise that for a century and a half had fulfilled the
need which modern facilities had so gloriously put within the
reach of all.
Daisy Sanders.
172
Private Schools, 1660-1689.
A study based on Matthews's Calamy Revised.
WHEN hundreds of university men were ejected from their
livings in 1660 and 1662 the problem of their daily
bread was serious. Very few were possessed of private
means, and very few were competent to practise
physic or law. Farming land attracted only a handful, and com-
merce was strange to all. One obvious occupation was teaching,
for which Oxford or Cambridge had in some measure fitted them.
Three difficulties stood in the way, civil and ecclesiastical and
university. The new Act of Uniformity which caused half of
these men to retire from their parishes equally forbade them to
keep any public or private school, or teach in a private family as
tutor : and the Parliament of 1665, at Oxford, varied this only
that if they would not take certain oaths they must remove five
miles from every corporate town and any place where they had been
beneficed. To hold any post in a public school necessitated a
licence from the bishop, who was often inclined to stretch that
prerogative further. And every university graduate had sworn
not to give any such higher teaching as might rival that of his
university.
Nevertheless, scores of men did devote themselves to education,
which therefore received a considerable impetus. It is interesting
to survey the country and see what new opportunities were offered
for boys and girls to learn from university graduates.
Berwick introduces us at once to a case that shows the difficulties
of the situation. Nicholas Wressel, of Magdalene at Cambridge,
had been Lecturer in the town since 1652, but ten years later was
presented by the churchwardens for not coming to worship. He
took to teaching, which he supplemented by preaching, and fortified
himself by the king's licence in 1672. But six years later the king
sent to the mayor to enforce the Conventicle Act, and especially
named Wressel, " an unlicensed schoolmaster." He therefore left,
and with considerable astuteness and courage, went to London,
near which we shall meet him again teaching.
In Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, Durham, not
a single man is known who betook himself to teaching. But in the
North Riding of Yorkshire, within the diocese of Chester, we find
one man of great pertinacity, Richard Frankland, whose home was
at Rathmell, near Settle. Here he began taking pupils, and taught
from 1670 till his death in 1698, though he moved to Natland in
Private Schools, 1660-1689 173
1674, and under persecution 1683-9 to Kirby Meltham, Crosthwaite,
Hart barrow, and Attercliffe. At first he had fewer than a dozen
boys, but they were able to win Edinburgh degrees ; and latterly he
had eighty boarding with or near him, so that he was helped
successively by three former pupils . In all, more than three hundred
are known to have studied under Frankland, of whom more than
two score graduated at seven universities. Abundant information
is available about the teaching, and about the careers of the pupils.
On Frankland's death, no one bought the goodwill, and the " sheep
without a shepherd " drifted into other folds. Some of his pupils
established schools of their own.
Across in Lancashire three men of very different types were
doing the same work. Charles Sagar of Burnley had been appointed
Master of the Blackburn Grammar School in 1655-6, and with
considerable courage began lay-preaching in 1660. He held his
post at the school after the Restoration, supported by local opinion,
and felt strong enough to marry, begetting a son Joshua, whom he
sent to Frankland for his schooling. But the Five Mile Act of
1665 exacted an oath from every teacher of a public school that he
would not at any time endeavour any alteration of government,
either in Church or State. This seems to have been too much for
Sagar, and on 28th May, 1666, he was paid out from his place. Soon
he opened a private school, in Blackburn, which was clearly illegal
if he would not take the oath ; but many gentlemen supported him
and sent their sons. He continued preaching also, for which he
was imprisoned six months ; but he was not ordained till James
issued his Declaration of Indulgence in 1687. Even then, his chief
occupation seems to have been his private school, till he died in
Blackburn, 1697-8.
Zachary Taylor, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, had been chap-
lain in the king's armies, and had settled down as incumbent of Grap-
penhall and Gorton successively till he became schoolmaster at
Bolton, and in 1654 schoolmaster at Rochdale, where also he acted
as assistant minister. He did not hesitate to comply in 1660 and
1662, but refused the Oxford Oath of 1665, like Sagar. Again the
parish sympathized and desired him to continue, but the new vicar
urged another appointment. He may have kept a private school
for a few years, but in 1673 he was appointed to the Grammar
School at Kirkham. When persecution was renewed, he fortified
himself by a licence from the Archbishop of York, and was further
supported by the Drapers' Company of London against the vicar
of Kirkham. He lived until 1692.
Adam Martindale does not seem to have received a university
education, but won fame as a mathematician. He was deprived
in 1662 of the vicarage of Rostherne and forbidden to preach in
the diocese ; so he settled in Warrington to teach, being protected
1 2
174 Private Schools, 16604689
by Lord Delamere. When the Five-Mile Act came out, he moved
to Manchester, and presently became chaplain to Lord Delamere at
Dunham. In this later period he can hardly have done much
teaching, except as a tutor. And in all Cheshire there was no
other man of his type.
These four men were all within the diocese of Chester. Within
Yorkshire there were others, under the jurisdiction of the archbishop.
Walkington, near Beverley, belonged to Peter Clark, who had been
rector of Kirby Underdale ; he came to his estate, took boarders,
and conducted school till 1685, apparently unmolested. At
Wetwang the late vicar, Thomas Wait, took to farming ; his wife
taught scholars, to whom he gave two daily lessons. This was an
ingenious construction of the law — that the school was hers ; though
he was sometimes disturbed by the constable for preaching, there
seems to have been no interference with the school.
The West Riding had four centres for parents to choose between.
Thomas Robinson of Rastrick was ejected from the curacy, but
taught school ; he was not a university man, and seems to have
encountered no opposition ; when he died in 1670-1 he was openly
registered as Ludimagister. The situation may have been eased,
since his son John conformed and became the schoolmaster of
Rastrick. At Clayton West, a township of Hoyland, the ejected
rector kept school till his death in 1689, again without trouble.
To Heckmondwike came John Holdsworth, whose father Josiah,
rector of Sutton till 1662, sent John to Frankland to be educated ;
funds cut short his training, but as Josiah had gathered a Congre-
gational church, John came and started a school there ; again no
difficulty arose, although the father as an ex -clergyman did get into
trouble. Near Wakefield, Gamaliel Marsden married a rich widow
at Topcliffe ; though he was a poor preacher, he became " extremely
useful in training up young men in academical learning, in which
he was much employed." When he died in 1681, this work
evidently ended.
The archbishop had Nottingham within his diocese, and three
more men here conducted schools without trouble. Josiah Rock,
a Cambridge undergraduate, had built up a school at Ashbourne,
then had held three successive livings ; when ejected in 1662 he
started another school at Saundby, which he gave up when offered
a " priviledg'd place " as a preacher. John Billingsley had to
leave Chesterfield as he would not take the Oxford Oath ; he crossed
the border to Mansfield and kept a school, where he had a pupil,
Jonathan Sonyer, who himself became a helper to Joseph Dawson.
This we gather from Heywood's diaries (4. 130), and the casual
entry suggests that Dawson had a school at Morley, which other-
wise might pass unnoticed. John Jackson, ejected from Bleasby,
movad to Morton near Southwell and opened a school. He waa
Private Schools, 1660-1689 17 S
cited and excommunicated, then moved to Kneesall, continuing
his school. At his death in 1696 the work evidently ceased.
In the Southern Province we meet many more schools, even more
than would be due to the larger population. The diocese of Lich-
field covered Derby and Staffs, with parts of Salop and Warwick.
In the remote Edale, the ejected curate, Robert Wright, opened
school ; but the churchwardens of Castleton presented him, and
he was excommunicated in 1665 ; this probably ended his effort.
Very different was the lot of Samuel Ogden, who established a
school at Mackworth in 1658 ; as he was also vicar, the Five-Mile Act
obliged him to quit in 1665, when he had the boldness to move into
Derby with his school. The Master of the Free School there
prosecuted him and won after twenty years ; whereupon he simply
moved to Wirksworth, where he carried on until his death in 1697.
His usher, Merrill, left a long account of his forty years' career,
and of his method of school teaching. Much less able was Samuel
Beresford of Derby, who tried to teach but could not keep order,
and laid down his private academy. John Bingham had been
Master of Derby School in 1640, and when forced to move by the
Five-Mile Act, opened Bradley Hall as a boarding school for the
sons of gentlemen ; thence he moved to Brails ford, but being ex-
communicated he moved away about 1675. It is interesting that
though he was intimate with Archbishop Sheldon, this did not
shield him from persecution. Before he ended, John Bennet came
into the county, settling at Littleover, where he began teaching, and
may have continued from 1672 to 1693, despite many troubles.
Samuel Shaw, who had been usher at Tarn worth Grammar School,
became Master of the Grammar School at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in
1668, and on partial conformity obtained the licence of Sheldon
two years later ; he ended in 1695. He had been preceded by
Noah Ward, once usher at Derby, who made way for him on
obtaining a private chaplaincy.
No man kept school in Staffordshire, except on the extreme edge.
John Woodhouse had married an heiress, and considered it his
duty to use his opportunity. He took the manor house of Sheriff
Hales, adjoining Salop, and in 1675 opened a school which won
great fame ; family papers and the enquiries of Josiah Thompson
enabled Toulmin to publish a full account in 1814. Lectures were
given in logic, anatomy, mathematics, physics, ethics, rhetoric,
law, natural theology ; the work was practical — surveying land,
making sun-dials, dissecting animals. Among his pupils were
three who became peers, Thomas Foley, Robert Harley, and Henry
St. John. It is remarkable that the two latter strongly promoted
the Schism Bill, which would have crushed all such schools. Wood-
house himself met some difficulties and had to move ; but one of
his pupils at once followed on and kept up the tradition, while others
176 Private Schools, 1660-1689
transplanted it to Dudley, Newbury, Findern and Hungerford ;
and Woodhouse himself after 1696 was in London, but now perhaps
training only ministers.
Francis Keeling, of Cockshutt and Wallasey, is another instance
where the wife took young gentlewomen in her house for educa-
tion ; but she " was not suffer 'd." John Maiden from Newport
opened a private academy near Whitchurch, attended by many young
men of great promise. With his death in 1681 the school faded out.
The diocese of Worcester is remarkable for the opposition shown.
Luke Milbourne, from Wroxhall, came to Coventry ; " first he could
not be suffer'd to teach a school ; then he was not allow'd to board
young gentlemen that went to the free school there.' ' John
Bryan, formerly of Coventry, was ground down by poverty, till he
took the Oxford Oath " to the heart-breaking of many of his
disciples " and returned to Coventry. Baxter considered him
eminently fit to teach, but does not mention that he gave a general
education, only for the ministry : his career ended in 1676. James
Wright had to leave Wootton Wawen, but found protection at
Knowle, where he presently took a house, kept boarders, and taught
school ; but was imprisoned in 1685.
Ambrose Sparry had once been the Master of Stourbridge School.
As he was a friend of the Foleys, it was connived at when he opened
a private school there, till his death in 1679. Henry Hickman, a
benefactor of the Grammar School, opened another at Dusthorp
near Bromsgrove, where he was trusted with several boys ; but he
went to Holland within three years. In Worcester city Thomas
Juice was forced to cease in 1665 : Woolley of Salwarpe tried
again there, but was presented and excommunicated in 1673.
William Westmacot, formerly of Cropthorne, had a school at
Defford near Pershore, and got the vicar into trouble for permitting
it. After his death in 1686, his son was sent to Woodhouse at
Sheriff Hales.
In Hereford matters were worse, and no one had a school in the
county. But while the bishop of Gloucester was keen against
dissent, he had to reckon with very pertinacious men. The career
of James Forbes was heroic, and he used his knowledge of the law
to confuse both mayor and bishop ; in his latter days he educated
many students for the ministry, but his frequent removals in the
days of persecution suggest that he was not teaching then. At
Oddington, the ejected rector, William Tray, set up a school, which
he may have continued when harried to Leonard Stanley, Horsley,
Chipping Norton ; in any case it died out by 1676. At Great
Witcombe, Alexander Gretorix taught a little school without being
disturbed. Jonathan Smith, once of Hempstead, settled at Ross
and taught till 1678. Bristol had other sturdy men. John Weeks
was in constant trouble, and was constantly defiant, with good
Private Schools, 1660-1689 177
legal advice ; he was presented for keeping school in 1682, but
held on till death in 1698. William Thomas had been the School-
master, and despite many offers if he would conform, steadily
refused, and continued teaching till 1693. Samuel Winney from
Glastonbury had such a capital school that even Hellier upheld
him ; " the best Schoolmaster they had."
On the east coast, Lincolnshire gave only three opportunities.
Theophilus Brittaine from Brattleby opened school at Swinderby,
for which he was imprisoned in 1672 ; afterwards he tried again at
Roxholm on a farm. John Birket, ejected from Swinderby, had
been Master of Grantham Grammar School ; he was soon engaged
as tutor, and when his pupils had gone to Cambridge, he set up
school at his birthplace, Billingborough, where many sons of the
gentry were prepared for the university. Ill-health obliged him
to break up before 1685. It is worth noting that Thomas Willerby,
a native of Spalding, who had settled near Stourbridge, endowed a
new school at Spalding. In Leicestershire no school is known ;
but a justice, when fining Richard Adams for preaching, said he
would raise no objection to his keeping one : Adams, however, had
received no university training, and did not take the hint. Nor
was any school opened in Rutland.
Northamptonshire had three men at work. John Seaton from
Twywell was first at I slip then at Thrapston, with many sons of
the neighbouring gentry, quite unmolested in any way. The former
rector of Thrapston, Thomas Tavey, was actually invited to the
Free School at Higham Ferrers, and took so many boarders that he
grew rich : the position was singular, and some trouble arose so
that he left for the neighbourhood of London. At Northampton,
Richard Hooke from Creaton opened school in his own house, till
his death in 1679.
Oxfordshire presented special difficulties, yet four men were found
to face them. Owen Price had been Master of Magdalen College
School, and after trying to work in Devon, he returned and taught
near the city till 1671. Thomas Gilbert, ex-chaplain of Magdalen,
took boarders whom he sent to Magdalen School ; overtures were
made to take the presidency of Harvard, but he deliberately
framed himself to suffer in Old, than to reign in New, England.
He actually held on, despite frequent trouble, lectured to under-
graduates of Pembroke, and lived into the time of freedom. He
was protected to some extent by Lord Wharton, who was equally
a patron of Samuel Birch. The courage of this man was equalled
by his knowledge of law and by the number of his supporters.
At Bampton Shilton, Cote, he had a very full school ; fourteen of
his scholars sat in Parliament in one session, some being ministers
of Queen Anne. John Troughton, despite his blindness, took
pupils at Bicester and at Witney. Buckingham again had no schools.
1 2 *
1 78 Private Schools, 1660-1689
In Bedfordshire a clever device was tried. Isaac Bedford took
a farm at Clifton, entertained boarders, and engaged a conformist
to teach them. Richard Kennett did the same at Sutton, and
when the teacher died, his stepson took a licence and continued,
while Kennett himself really taught and managed. Huntingdon
had no school ; the bishop lived much at Buckden.
At Cambridge there was a music -master of some note, Robert
Wilson. He had no official position to forfeit, but fewer scholars
resorted to him after 1660. Yet he flourished well enough to be a
great channel for helping those who were in distress. William
Hunt of Eton and King's, when ejected from Sutton in Cambridge-
shire, bought a small farm. While his wife kept a dairy he was
diligent in teaching school.
In Norwich, John Cory taught a private school for 36 years :
he was born in the city, and the bishop was a Puritan leader. It ia
rather surprising that we hear of no other school in the county ;
and that at Ipswich there was none till John Langston, after being
driven from pillar to post, settled in 1686 and took pupils sent by
the Congregational Fund Board. Woodbridge offers a curious
problem, for the former Lecturer, who had founded a Congregational
church in 1652, was Master of the School in 1669, and presumably
till his death in 1681, though he was " a considerable Sufferer
after his Ejectment." Less fortunate was the Lecturer at Stow-
market, John Storer, who was prosecuted for keeping school, and
forced to stop. On the western side of the county there were two
remarkable men. Jonathan Jephcot, who had been Master of
Boston School, 1660-1662, settled at Ousden, perhaps at the invita-
tion of Mr. Mosley ; here he took pupils till his death in 1673, leaving
a fine reputation for learning and character. Just previously,
Samuel Cradock inherited an estate at Wickhambrook ; he was rich
and well connected, and opened an academy, whence he had the
courage to dismiss the son of Lord Wharton for misbehaviour. It
flourished so that he took his nephew to aid him. He rendered
great service by facing the question of the university oath, and
arguing that it did not forbid graduates taking into their own
families any pupils to learn logic and philosophy. As Edmund
Calamy was one of his pupils, information is abundant. Cradock
moved to Bishop's Stortford in 1696 ; after his death in 1706 there
was apparently no successor. And no one else taught in Herts.
Essex fell under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, and
only five cases are known. John Argor was driven from the Gram-
mar School at Braintree by the Five-Mile Act. John Sams at
Coggeshall tried a private school, which was stopped in the same
way ; and Joseph Brown at Nazeing fared exactly the same. But
John Benson* though driven from Little Leighs, was befriended by
the Earl of Warwick and Lord FitzWalter, so that he kept a school
Private Schools, 1660-1689 179
at Writtle. Philip Anderton kept a sohool at Leyton, where he had
been ejected ; but not for long, as he died in 1669 at Kingsland.
But Middlesex was most popular for schoolmasters. Hackney
was the home of three, though each was exceptional. Thomas
Cruttendon helped in the great boarding-school kept by his mother-
in-law. John Hutchinson, a physician, settled here in 1705 at
the age of 67, and opened a boarding-school which he conducted
till his death, nine years later. Benjamin Morland, F.R.S., son of
Martin, an ejected minister, kept a school here, helped by a brother,
till he was appointed High Master of St. Paul's in 1721. At Newing-
ton two tried their fortunes. Charles Morton came to Stoke New-
ington in 1675 with a high reputation, and opened a school which
attained high fame. He was attacked often, and in ten years gave
up the struggle, sailing to New England, where Harvard eagerly
welcomed him. Of his work we know much from two pupils ;
Defoe praised him for being the first to give his instruction in
English ; Wesley blamed him for breaking his university oath.
At one time he had fifty pupils, and some hundreds went in the
ten years, from homes of good estate. It is not clear whether
Jonathan Grew was an assistant, or had an independent school ;
in either case, he left to become a pastor at St. Albans by 1682.
John Chishull taught at Enfield, his native place, till his death in
1672. Richard Swift opened a boarding-school at Mill Hill,
which survived a wreckage by smallpox ; and it may have lasted
till his death in 1701. Thomas Pakeman, ejected from Harrow,
started a good boarding-school there, but presently moved to
Brentford, where he joined forces with Ralph Button. This was
stopped under the Five-Mile- Act, and Button migrated to Islington,
where he kept school till his death in 1680. Philip Taverner also
was convicted at Brentford in 1668. At Islington, John Mitchell,
once usher at Sherborne, seems to have had boarders in 1669 ;
and John Burgess also took some, who certainly attended a famous
school kept by Thomas Singleton, first at Clerkenwell, then at
Hoxton Wells. Singleton had been Master successively at St.
Mary Axe, Eton and Reading, and his reputation drew together
nearly 300 at one time, so it is no wonder if other men kept houses
to board his boys. Yet in his old age he was poor, and one of his
old pupils, Richard Mead, a physician, came to his rescue. Tobias
Ellis apparently taught at Kensington, and certainly earned Baxter's
commendation ; he published a spelling-book before 1686.
London itself might seem a storm centre ; yet as at Bristol and
Norwich, there was enough popular support to warrant several
men teaching. Most of them were on the northern and eastern
margin. Thomas Carter had been a schoolmaster before 1663,
but it is not said that he resumed this work. Edward Veal from
Ireland tried at Wapping, but perhaps only to train for the ministry;
i8o Private Schools, 1660-1689
persecution made him stop by 1680. In East Smithfield, Zachary
Crofton had a hundred pupils between 1669 and 1672, when he
died. Richard Dyer, after doing some private tuition, kept a
grammar school near the Tower for about seven years. His brother
Samuel kept another at Mile End for 25 years. At Bethnal Green ,
Samuel Morland, F.R.S., son of an ejected minister, had a rather
famous school in later days. William Angel became Master of
Houndsditch Grammar School, which implies that he took the
Oxford Oath, at least. John Langston tried twice near Spital fields,
but as has been noted, moved to Ipswich. In Moor fields there was
at one time Thomas Doolittle, who was so persecuted that he had
to move all round London, but persisted in teaching till 1707 ; his
great reputation is illustrated by the number of pupils who carried
on his tradition and kept schools. The Congregational Fund Board
founded an Academy in Tenter Alley, to train ministers, and engaged
Isaac Chauncey as its head in 1701 ; this was a new departure, an
example followed to the present day ; it differed considerably from
the private ventures of the previous century, which are our chief
theme here. A few other men are known to have taught in London,
though their homes are not always known : John Osborne was at
Smithfield till his death in 1665 : Josiah Bassett was perhaps near
Cripplegate, and was certainly bled by an apparitor to prevent
prosecution : Robert Tatnall kept school in Winchester Street,
attended for a short time by Calamy ; he won royal favour, and the
king ordered Cambridge to give him a D.D., but " some peevish
men V found he had not subscribed the Articles, and stopped his
admission : Richard Dowley, after being driven from county to
county, tried to teach in London, but was stopped after four years,
in 1683/4.
Surrey had many pleasant villages which invited trial. Thomas
Lye, who had been Master of Bury St. Edmunds School, opened
school at Clapham about 1665, but was imprisoned. Thomas
Horrockes, who had been Schoolmaster of Romford, was much
harassed in Essex ; he settled in Battersea where he boarded and
taught young gentlemen, some of well-known city families. To
Stockwell came Nicholas Wressel from Berwick, and kept a private
school ; but this may have been after 1689. At Egham, Richard
Wavel lost his curacy, tried to teach in the Grammar School and
was stopped. At Ewell on the contrary, Joseph Hayhurst, from
Iping, qualified in 1662. In Dorking, James Fisher from Fetcham
opened school, and seems to have had no trouble. Similarly in
Ocldey, Robert Fish took refuge from Sussex, and " sometimes
taught school."
In Kent, two men settled near London. Caleb Trenchfield had
an estate at Eltham, to which he returned from Chipstead, and
kept school till 1671. A more singular case was Thomas Ireland,
Private Schools, 1660-1689 181
once Master of Wallingford, then teaching in Cholsey, then Master
of Reading, and ending in 1689 as teaching in a grammar school
at Westerham : evidently he took the Oxford Oath. Farther east,
Thomas Sherwell, ejected from the curacy at Leeds, kept a private
school there, but being imprisoned for other reasons, returned to
his birthplace, Coventry. In Canterbury itself, though Thomas
Ventress was dismissed and excommunicated, he found protectors
and instructed several gentlemen's sons, until his death in 1683.
Less fortunate was Charles Nicholls, pastor of the Congregational
church at Adisham, who acted as schoolmaster and was repeatedly
punished. At Sandwich, the ejected rector, Robert Webber,
became Master of the Free School in 1666, evidently taking the
Oxford Oath. The ex-vicar of St. Lawrence, Peter Johnson,
had many sympathizers, and taught some scholars.
Sussex saw nine places where schools were established. Joseph
Bennet settled at Brightling for twenty years, but his school was
broken up by the Five-Mile Act ; in old age, after toleration, he
began again at Burwash. Perhaps here he was helping Thomas
Goldham, the vicar ejected thence, who in 1690 was keeping a
Grammar school. At Sedlescombe, the ejected rector, Edmund
Thorpe, opened a boarding-school to which many gentry sent their
sons ; even three conforming ministers sent their sons ; one of these
was Samuel Oates, the ex-Baptist, and his son Titus hardly reflected
glory on the school. A similar establishment was at Lewes, under
John Brett, a native, who moved in society at Tunbridge Wells.
He died 1678, and some years later, James Bricknal repeated the
experiment, with little encouragement. Meanwhile, Richard
Turner had kept a capital boarding-school at Plumpton from 1662
to 1680 ; and Edward Beecher certainly began at Kingston in 1661,
though it is not certain he carried on till his death in 1681 . William
Corderoy had several scholars boarding with him at Steyning, but
was forced to stop in 1666 ; and the same fate befel William Wilson
at Billinghurst. More compliant was Thomas Jackson at East
Ashling, for he took the Oxford Oath.
In Hampshire, a Harvard graduate, Urian Oakes, opened school
at Southwick, near Fareham ; but he returned by 1671, to become
President of Harvard later on. This left only a father and son,
both named John Goldwire, the elder of whom had been Drake's
Schoolmaster at Walton. They kept a school first at Broadlands,
near Romsey, then at Baddesley ; it does not seem to have survived
the death of the younger in 1713.
Berkshire saw an attempt by John Woodbridge at Newbury
from 1660 to 1662, while his brother was vicar ; but he gave up and
returned to New England. More serious was the work of Henry
Langley, ejected Master of Pembroke ; he took pupils at Tubney,
perhaps till his death in 1679.
182 Private Schools, 1660-1689
Wiltshire was always a Puritan stronghold, and six schools are
known here. At Devizes indeed, it was the wife of Timothy
Sacheverell, who kept a boarding-school for young gentlemen.
The former Master of Shaftesbury, Matthew Toogood, returned
to Semley where he had been rector, and opened a school. Thomas
Jones, from the vicarage of Calne, kept school at West Lavington
till 1690/1. Nathaniel Webb, when ejected from Yatesbury,
returned to his family estate at Bromham, where he took boarders
and kept school till death in 1678, unmolested. Henry Dent of
Ramsbury was less fortunate, having three bitter enemies ; yet
though they harassed him as a preacher, his boarding-school does
not seem to have been interfered with, and it was his main support ;
after 1689 he moved to London. So also with William Hughes ;
when ejected at Marlborough he bought a house in the town and
opened a flourishing boarding-school ; though he was much inter-
fered with in other ways, and excommunicated, the school seems
to have lasted till his death in 1687/8. We must surmise that the
goodwill of gentry, and some juggling as to the nominal head of
the school, served as protection.
Dorset was in the diocese of Bristol, so it is not surprising that
only one man tried a school — Ames Short of Lyme Regis. The
bishop of Exeter also complained of him, with some reason, as among
his pupils were several sons of leading people in that city : yet
though he was in constant trouble and even outlawed, he held on
till 1697. Such a case makes us marvel what continuity there can
have been in the schooling.
Somerset had nine towns where education was offered. Three
men got into serious trouble. William Hunt had been turned out
from his Mastership of Salisbury Free School ; he tried a private
school at Ilminster, but was obliged to stop. William Hopkins
tried at Milborne Port, but was cited and excommunicated, though
his wife was the bishop's niece. George Hammond, ejected at
Dorchester, had many friends there who urged him to qualify and
become Master of the School ; but there was also opposition, and
he declined ; about 1677 he moved to Taunton and opened a board-
i-ig-school which was wrecked in Monmouth's time. At Batcombe,
Henry Albin had four or five pupils, but was informed upon in 1665.
So also at Stoke Trister, where John Bolster, with no university
degree was Master of the Grammar School, yet keeping conventicles.
At Staplegrove was George Bindon from Bathealton, a great linguist
and mathematician. Charles Darby had fifty scholars, many of
them boarders at Mattock, and was said to have secured a licence
without subscribing ; but he did sign articles before the Five-Mile
Act. Matthew Warren began teaching about 1670, and before
1687 moved to Taunton, where he built up a fine school of the first
rank, about which full particulars are available. At Bridgivater,
Private Schools, 1660-1689 183
John Moore, who resigned the vicarage of Long Burton only in
1667, opened a school in 1688, with the help of two sons, under
whom it flourished till 1747, with seventy-four students to its
credit.
Devon had six men. But Thomas Palke, ejected from Ipplepen,
was obliged to stop, and died excommunicated. And Owen Price,
once Master of Magdalen College School, who cannot really be
placed here, soon returned to Oxford. Zachary Mayne, from the
same college, opened school at Dalwood ; he conformed, and in 1689
became Master of Exeter Grammar School. At Dartmouth, William
Ball was reported in 1665 as keeping an English school, unlicensed ;
he was probably stopped. At Plympton the same report was made
as to the ejected vicar, John Williams, who had no university
training. Near Ugborough the ejected vicar did private tuition,
but kept no school.
Cornwall saw only two attempts. John Herring came to Mary-
stow as usher in the great private school of the vicar. He suc-
ceeded to the vicarage, whence he was ejected, and apparently
continued the school under local protection ; then he bought an
estate at South Ketherurin, whither he transferred the school till
he was eighty years old ; he suffered no molestation at any time
Joseph Halsey from Penkivel was driven by the Five-Mile Act to
Merther, where he soon developed a capital boarding-school, used
even by conforming gentry. He lived to the age of eighty-four.
The distribution of these schools shows how important was the
attitude of the bishops, and of the local people. A few of the bishop?,
like Reynolds, of Norwich, were Puritan, with considerable sym-
pathy for the men who had obeyed their conscience and left their
parishes ; at the other extreme was Ward, of Exeter, who made
careful enquiry, in 1665, which led to the Five-Mile Act and the
Oxford Oath. In lower ranks there were the parish clergy and the
Masters of Grammar Schools ; they would certainly not welcome
the establishment of private schools by ex-clergy.* On the other
hand there was a great body of laity, not only in the towns, but
including nobility and gentry, which in 1640 had stood for liberty,
and in 1643 had fought for it. Charles in 1660 was very uncertain
of the strength of this party, and he employed some of its members
as his ministers. The local power of country gentlemen was great,
as may still be realized. Now the attitude of the Country Party
in this generation is very disappointing. Not fifty men are known
to have taken ejected men as domestic chaplains, who might act
as tutors to their children ; and to find another fifty who actively
protected non-conforming schoolmasters would be very difficult.
The possibilities are shown by the work of Birch ; though he lived
at Shilton, near Oxford, where bishop and university opposed, he
was effectively shielded by local gentry — Lord Wharton, and the
1 84 Private Schools, 1660-1689
Earl of Clare. The Earl of Shaftesbury did recognize this aspect,
and suggested that Wharton's chaplain was well fitted to follow
Birch, but nothing came of the idea. Neither gentry nor clergy
were wide awake to the gradual extinction of Puritan principles in
the upper classes by the steady stifling of these schools, and the
failure to provide successors. Had there been a score of men like
Birch, they would have trained half a Parliament and half a Cabinet ;
had Puritan peers ensured that graduates from Scotland and
Holland should carry on the work, then Oxford and Cambridge
would have been reopened to all comers. The intellectual and the
political life of England in the eighteenth century would have been
very different.
When we consider the actual private schoolmasters of this gener-
ation, we note that, on the most liberal computation, not 160 gradu-
ates tried to use their knowledge in this way ; it is remarkable that
twenty-two who had held official posts at Grammar Schools and
similar places never attempted to conduct private schools. If it be
demurred that such teaching was illegal, the response is that it
was equally illegal for them to preach, as they did. Although a
school conducted six days a week is more conspicuous than a con-
venticle held once, we might have expected much more private
enterprise.
Those who did teach naturally followed the style of education
that had produced them. They came from such places as Em-
manuel at Cambridge, New Inn Hall and Magdalen Hall at Oxford.
The medium of instruction was Latin. While this fitted them for
foreign intercourse — Walpole and George I could converse only
in that tongue — it gave a curious bias to the past, and was of little
help for facing the problems of their own day. If here and there
we find a man mentioned as teaching an English school, it is the
exception, which proves that the rule was a Latin or Grammar
school. It was left to a later generation, in whom the university
tradition was weak or non-existent, frankly to adopt English as
the medium for instruction in all subjects. Even Samuel Jones
of Pennsylvania used Latin at Tewkesbury, as did John Jennings,
son of an ejected minister, at Kibworth ; but his pupil Philip
Doddridge abandoned Latin, and thus adapted his school more
closely to the actual conditions of life.
The continuity of these schools was slight or none. They were
purely private ventures, whose existence was illegal, so that there
was no goodwill to sell. Scarcely ever do we hear of an assistant
or usher, though it seems heroic for one man, however well trained,
to deal with one or two score of pupils in all subjects. Here and
there a son took up the work of his father, but a new supply of
university men was impossible, except from abroad.
The coming of toleration made a difference. In 1688 there were
Private Schools, 1660-1689 185
few left of the men ejected in 1660 or 1662 ; but teaching now became
legal to some extent. Strange to say, Baptists were the first to
realize the possibilities, and in 1689 established a fund for education,
though they contemplated only education for the ministry. Their
plan was apparently to give bursaries to approved candidates, and
send them to approved teachers. The idea was promptly taken
up, and the same year there was a Common Fund for Presbyterians
and Independents, then in 1695 a Congregational Fund Board.
Very soon the " managers " began to concern themselves with the
schoolmasters to whom they sent their bursars, and to make
suggestions. Thus in 1695 the United Brethren of Devon and Corn-
wall resolved " that private tutors among us be cautioned " what
students they should take, and persisted in this attitude. At
Taunton, Matthew Warren ignored their representations, but on
his death in 1706 the}^ leaped at the opportunity and persuaded
three men to open the Taunton Academy. In one sense it was a
continuation of Warren's work ; in another it was a revolution from
private tuition to a controlled academy. Under their auspices, it
ended in 1759. And inasmuch as the control was by ministers, it
was an important step in the evolution of education ; private men
had taught all subjects to all comers ; henceforth much stress was
laid on education for the ministry. One unfortunate result has
been to obscure the part played even by the 18th-century
academies in general education. Even modern students have not
entirely escaped this narrow view.
W. T. Whitley.
1 86
Congregationalism in Ashburton
[This article was written by the Rev. T. G. Crippen some years
ago. The Rev. A. G. Matthews has been good enough to add
two footnotes and the Rev. H. F. Hawkes has written the last
paragraph, bringing the story up to date. — EDITOR.]
THE Congregational Church at Ashburton is one of the
oldest in the county of Devon ; it owes its origin to
the labours of several ministers who were ejected from
neighbouring benefices in 1660 and 1662 ; and occupies
a building of which part is believed to have served the same
purpose before the end of the seventeenth century.
Walker tells us, on somewhat doubtful testimony, that
Samuel Tidball, vicar of Ashburton, was sequestrated, and died
before the Restoration. Whether sequestrated or not, he
died in 1647 ; and was succeeded by Alexander Grosse, an
undoubted Puritan. It is not unlikely that the germs of
Nonconformity in Ashburton were implanted during his seven
years' ministry. He died in 1654, and was followed by the
Rev. Joshua Bowden. In the Nonconformists' Memorial
Bowden figures as an ejected minister who afterwards con-
formed. No particulars are given ; but it seems likely that he
may have been ousted for defect of title under the legislation
of October, 1660. In any case there is no evidence1 that he
was among the very few Bartholomew men who earned the
reproach of being " New Conformists."
In the Episcopal Return of Nonconformists residing in the
diocese of Exeter in 1665, we find the name of
John Nosworthy, a Nonconformist liveing at Manaton, formerly
Rector of that place.
He had been ousted in 1660, and afterwards silenced at Ipplepen
in 1662 ; these places are both six or seven miles from
Ashburton.
1 Joshua Bowden. Mr. Crippen is mistaken here. There is no doubt that
Bowden was a '* New Conformist." Deprived of Ashburton by bishop's sentence
2* Sept., 1662: ordained deacon (Bristol) 25 Sept., 1664: Vicar of Frampton,
Dorset, 1064-86, when died.— A.G.M.
Congregationalism in Ashburton 187
In the Episcopal Return of Conventicles in 1669 (Tenison
MS., 639, p. 185b) this entry appears :
Ashberton, at ye house of ye old John Syms : 100 : ye said John
Syms a Nonconformist minister. This Conventicle is lately
supprest.
Sims was the Puritan minister of Dean Prior, four miles from
Ashburton ; placed there on the sequestration of Robert
Herrick, the poet, and ousted at the Restoration in order to
Herrick's reinstatement.
On the publication of the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672
an address of thanks was presented to the king from seventy-
two Nonconformist ministers in Devon. The date was 22
March ; of the signatures the eighteenth was that of William
Pearse, ejected from Dunsford (about eleven miles from
Ashburton) ; the twentieth was John Sims ; and the forty-first
John Nosworthy. On 11 April a licence was granted to
" John Sims, near Ashburton, Devon " as " a Grail. Pr. Teacher ";
that is, a general licence as a Presbyterian to preach in any
allowed place. On 18 April a similar licence was granted to
John Nosworthy, M.A. About the same time a licence was
requested for " The Schoolhouse at Ashburton in Devon " ;
but no such licence appears to have been issued. Licences
were freely granted for private houses ; but there was a general
unwillingness to grant them for public buildings, of which
the number licensed was very small.
On 25 July a licence was granted for " the house of Richard
Sappers at Ashburton in Devon," as a Presbyterian meeting-
place. The name was evidently misspelled ; for on 10 August
another licence was issued, no doubt by way of correction,
for " the house of Richard Tapper." There is nothing in the
licence documents to support the assertion that Mr. Nosworthy
had a meeting-house at Ashburton ; it is most likely that his
ministry was usually exercised in the house of R. Tapper.
It is likely — though we have no certain proof — that Sims
would occasionally minister at the same place. Sims also
had his own house at Ogwell (about four miles from Ashburton)
licensed as a Presbyterian meeting-place. A brief memoir of
him in the Nonconformists' Memorial contains a number of
interesting particulars, but the date of his death is not stated.
A fuller account is given of Nosworthy, who laboured in the
face of much persecution, especially by a Mr. Stawell, who was
M.P. for the borough. On one occasion he was fined £20 under
1 88 Congregationalism in Ashburton
the Conventicle Act, and a further fine of £20 was levied on
the house. Mr. Nosworthy was a man of considerable learning,
and was generally respected. He died in his sixty-sixth year,
on 19 November, 1677.
On 28 October, 1672 a licence was issued to "Thomas Egbeare
of ye Congl. way to be Teachr at the house of Gregory Millard
of Ashburton in Devon." We know nothing of either Egbeare
or Millard ; but it is evident that there were two dissenting
meetings in the town toward the end of 1672 ; and there are
indications of both existing side by side in 1690.
Between the death of Nosworthy in 1677 and the Revolution
in 1688 we find no definite mention of Nonconformity in
Ashburton. But in 1690 John Fabyan1 made his will, in which
he bequeathed 30s. to " the poor of Mr Pearse his meeting in
Ashburton," and 20s. to " the poor of Mr Palk his meeting in
Ashburton." It is a fair presumption that these two meetings
represented those which, eighteen years earlier, met in the
houses of Richard Tapper and Gregory Millard. Of the two
ministers mentioned in the will, Thomas Palk, M.A., was a
graduate of New Inn Hall, Oxford, and was silenced by the
Act of Uniformity at Woodland, a village only two or three
miles from Ashburton. He afterwards ministered at Ogwell.
about six or seven miles distant. He was a hard student, and
a very laborious man. For keeping a school he was persecuted
by the Ecclesiastical Court, and finally excommunicated ; but
he made no submission, and continued a Nonconformist pastor
to the end of his life. He died on 10 June, 1693, aged
fifty-five. Beside some other writings he published a reply
to a treatise written by a neighbouring minister, who maintained
the sinfulness of lending money on interest.
William Pearse was vicar of Dunsford, and was ejected
under the Act of 1660. He removed to his former home in the
neighbourhood of Tavistock, in which town he preached
privately as he was able, and under the Indulgence took out
licences for himself and his house. After the revocation of
the Indulgence he was much persecuted, and was compelled to
seek concealment in London. Once he was imprisoned, and
many times narrowly escaped arrest. After the Revolution
" he set up a public meeting at Ashburton, where he continued
for the remainder of his days." His sole publication was a
1 Palk married Joan Fabyan of Ashburton, 1651 — John must have been some
relation of hers. — A.G.M.
Congregationalism in Ashburton 189
memoir of his daughter, Damaris Pearse, which he entitled A
Present for Youth, and an Example for the Aged. He died on
17 March, 1691, aged sixty- five. His tombstone remains in
Ashburton churchyard.
It is believed that under Mr. Pearse 's direction a substantially-
built barn was converted into a meeting-house, and that at
least one wall of that building constitutes a part of the still
existing " Great Meeting." Mr. Windeatt, who has devoted
much attention to the Origines of Devonian Nonconformity,
thinks that the conversion took place as far back as the time
of the Indulgence. Whether " converted " during the Indul-
gence or after the Revolution, there seems no reason to doubt
the tradition that in this building the saintly confessor, John
Flavel of Dartmouth, preached his last sermon, on 21 June,
1691. He died at Topsham only five days later.
After the death of Mr. Pearse we find no mention of two
congregations. It is, therefore, a fair presumption that they
coalesced, under the ministry of Mr. Palk, in the converted
barn which gradually became " The Great Meeting/ '
Of the three ministers who followed Mr. Palk we have no
record except their names, and dates, which presumably mark
the close of their ministry, whether by death or removal. The
first is " Mead, 1697." Next comes " John Taylor, 1702 " ;
he may have been a son of John Taylor, ejected from Combe
Raleigh, or of Michael Taylor, ejected from Pyeworthy. Then
follows " Samuel Staddon (or Stoden), 1712 " ; he may have
been a son of Samuel Stoddon, ejected from West Buckland,
Somerset. Was he the Samuel Stoddon who was ordained
on 26 December, 1706, who in 1719 was at Budleigh, and
who died in 1755 ?
Cornelius Bond was ordained on 17 July, 1711. This
may have been as colleague with Staddon, an arrangement
which was quite usual in the old Presbyterian Churches, in
which case he would in due course succeed to the full pastorate.
A deed is extant whereby on 1 5 November, 1 7 1 2,Thomas Glasvill
and Thomas Sainthill conveyed to John Comyn the barn then
used as a meeting-house. In the Evans MS. in Dr. Williams's
Library, we find that about 1717 Mr. Bond had £5 a year from
the Presbyterian Fund ; that the congregation numbered 350,
and that of these forty-one were voters for the county and
thirty-seven for the borough.
On 16 December, 1717, Mr. Bond baptized Robert Palk —
presumably of the same family as the former pastor, the Rev.
1 3
190 Congregationalism in Ashburton
Thomas Palk. This child afterwards became Sir Robert Palk
of Headborough, Bart., and was an ancestor of Lord Halden.
In 1719 we find the name of Mr. Bond as attending a meeting
of the Exeter Assembly, where he was one of the majority
who on 5 or 6 May signed
a voluntary declaration of their faith concerning the Doctrine
of the Blessed Trinity as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.
In November, 1729, the meeting-house was conveyed by
John Comyn to Andrew Quick. Ten years later the daughter
of A. Quick conveyed it to John Enty and Aaron Tozer. Mr.
Enty was minister at Exeter (previously at Plymouth), and was
the recognized leader of the Orthodox party in the Assembly.
Messrs. Enty and Tozer put the meeting-house in trust on 15
May, 1739. The trustees were thirteen in number ; and it
was provided that, in case the meetings of Protestant Dissenters
for worship should ever become illegal, the building should be
let, and the rent " given to poor Christians as the trustees
might think fit."
About the time when this deed was executed the converted
barn was enlarged to about double its former size. There was
an adjacent barn, the two running side by side, each having a
door into Cad Lane. The partition wall was taken down, two
pillars being placed to sustain the roof ; the two doors gave
place to two large windows, the pulpit being between two
windows on the north side. The building was square, having
no gallery ; the centre was occupied by four large family pews.
Three of the walls of this edifice are still standing. An adjacent
garden was taken into use as a burial ground.
The minister, at the time of this reconstruction, was
Nathaniel Cock. Statements respecting him are inconsistent
and there is probably some confusion of names. Mr. Cock
is said to have been ordained in March, 1721 ; to have minis-
tered at Ashburton from 1722 to 1742 ; and to have died 9
February, 1742. Yet it is elsewhere stated that he " went to
Bideford," and that he was " afterwards at Bideford many
years."1
Of the next three ministers we know but little. Samuel
Wrayford was ordained — it does not appear where — on 10
June, 1741 ; he may have been assistant to Mr. Cock. His
1 J. Wilson, MSS.: Possibly a different person is meant, as the memoranda
about Bideford are much confused.
Congregationalism in Ashburton 191
pastorate is reckoned from 1742, and he died in April, 1760.
He published a sermon on " The Immortality of the Soul,
proved from moral arguments " — occasioned by the death of
Mr. Solomon Tozer, aged seventy-five, on 23 April, 1753.
He was followed by Thomas Clarke, who was here only a short
time in 1761 and 1762. A son of his was baptized by the Rev.
Peter Fabyan on 25th March, 1761, and the following year he
removed to Lympstone. About midsummer, 1763, George
Waters (or Walters) came from Falmouth, where he had been
ordained on 20 June, 1750. He was one of the ministers who
in 1772 signed a petition to Parliament for Relief in the
matter of Subscription to Articles of Belief as required by the
Toleration Act. His ministry at Ashburton ended — whether
by death or removal — in 1785.
Reference was made above to the Rev. Peter Fabyan. He
was a native of Ashburton, a kinsman — probably a grandson —
of the John Fabyan who died in 1690. He was minister at
Newton Bushell from 1763 to 1780, and at Bridport from 1780
to 1786 ; in the year last named he removed to Ashburton,
but not as pastor, and died soon afterwards.
Jas. Stoat was a student of the Western College, the first of
those who were trained under Thos. Reader at Taunton. He
settled at Ashburton in 1785, and held the pastorate nearly
thirty years. In 1787 Mr. Colton presented the communion
plate which is still in use. In 1791 the meeting-house was
completely remodelled. The walls were raised two feet and a
half, the two pillars removed and a new roof constructed ;
stone arches were turned over the windows on the outside ;
a new pulpit and clerk's desk were placed in the old situation
on the north side, and a semi-circular gallery was erected
opposite. These alterations cost £218. About the same time
Sir Robert Palk, on his return from India, presented a clock,
gilt-brass chandelier, and candle sconces for the pulpit.
At a meeting of the Western Calvinistic Association on 21st
June, 1797, a Society was formed " for promoting the knowl-
edge of the Gospel of Christ in the Counties of Devon and
Cornwall. " Mr. Stoat was appointed secretary, and Mr.
William Fabyan, also of Ashburton, treasurer, of the new society.
Mr. Stoat resigned the pastorate in 1814, but remained in the
town and conducted a school. Subsequently he entered into
business in partnership with his son ; but the results were
financially disastrous. Mr. Stoat left Ashburton, and we have
not been able to learn the date or place of his death.
192 Congregationalism in Ashburton
David Parker, an American, was a student at the Academy
at Gosport, under Dr. Bogue, whose daughter he married. As
Dr. Bogue did not wish the young couple to return to America
at once, Mr. Parker accepted an invitation to supply Ashburton
for a year. His preaching was effective, and he was much
esteemed, so that he was desired to continue, but did not see
fit to comply. On 16 November, 1815, at the suggestion of
Mrs. Bogue, he commenced a Sunday School — the first in the
town. He was not ordained until the end of his ministry at
Ashburton ; the record is
1816, May 14 : Mr. David Parker, late student at Gosport,
was ordained to Pastoral Office for work in North America
with a view to Pastoral Office there. Ordained at Dr. Waugh's
Meeting, London : Dr Bogue gave the Charge.
Mr. Parker was followed by John Kelly, another student
from Gosport. His ordination took place on 10 April, 1817 ;
Mr. Hooker of Tavistock offered the ordination prayer ; Dr.
Bogue delivered the Charge, from 1 Peter 411 ; the Revs.
Windeatt of Totnes, Mends of Plymouth, Griffin of Portsea,
and Doney of Plymouth took part in the service.
In 1818 the meeting-house was further enlarged and entirely
remodelled. The building was extended about twenty feet
into the burial ground, the present worked limestone front
was erected, the old gallery was taken down and the present
front and side galleries constructed, and the pulpit and pews
were re-arranged very much as they are at present. During
his stay at Ashburton Mr. KeDy published two sermons ;
Christianity Superior to Deism (1819) ; and The grave an
asylum from oppression, on the death of Queen Caroline,
preached 21 August, 1821. In 1827 he removed to Ringwood,
and thence to Wakefield, where he, some time afterward, " took
orders " in the Episcopal Church.
Mr. Kelly left in 1827 ; there was a vacancy of two years in
the pastorate. About this time further improvements were
made, if not in the meeting-house, at least in its surroundings.
Originally a block of cottages stood in front, and access to the
meeting was through a passage connected with a public-house
called "The North Star." In 1829 the trustees acquired a
lease of these buildings ; " the cottages were let in tenements
and a room reserved for meetings."
T. G. Crippen.
(To be concluded.)
EDITORIAL.
MANY readers of this journal will greatly regret to
hear of the death of Mr. George A. Stephen, F.L.A.,
the City Librarian of Norwich. Mr. Stephen was well
known in the Library world as one of the most efficient
of public librarians, and many research students in this
country and in the United States have had reason to be
grateful to him for the assistance he has given them in their
work. A keen Congregationalist, connected with Princes
Street Church, Mr. Stephen had a wide circle of friends who
held him in great respect. His family, his church, and his
city will greatly miss him.
'fiie Autumnal Meeting of the Society was held in George
Street Church, Croydon, on September 25th. Dr. S. W.
Carruthers was unable to be present owing to illness, and the
Society was greatly indebted to the Rev. A. G. Matthews, M.A.,
who spoke on " Puritan Worship." Mr. Matthews's paper
oj) this subject is to appear in a volume of essays shortly
to be published, and so we cannot print it in the Transactions.
The Annual Meeting will be held in the Council Chamber,
Memorial Hall, at 3 p.m., on Wednesday, May 15th. It
will take the form of a discussion on the Society's work in
the immediate future. The time has now come when the
Society might with advantage organize some piece of research.
Individual members have been responsible in past years for
many contributions to ecclesiastical history, but it should
now be possible by means of team-work to tackle many
problems awaiting investigation. A project of this kind
will be outlined at the meeting, at which it will also be wise
to discuss wTays and means of increasing the membership
of the Society so as to banish financial anxiety. Even
i ransactions of the restricted nature of our own call for a
larger sum each year than our annual income, and the balance
in hand has been glowing steadily less. We make a special
1 3 *
194 Editorial
appeal to all members of the Society to be present at the
Annual Meeting.
* * * *
It has been gratifying to note the publication in recent
months of works of great importance to historical study, some
of them by Congregationalists.
We warmly congratulated a member of our Society, Major
N. G. Brett-James, on his authoritative work, The Growth
of Stuart London (Allen & Unwin, 25s.), to which Sir Charles
Collett has written an Introduction. Major Brett-James
describes the growth of the city from 1603 to 1702, from
Elizabeth to Anne, from Stow to Strype, from Shakespeare
to Defoe, and no student of the period can fail to learn much
from his scholarly, well-documented survey. ■ Especially
valuable are the maps, which Major Brett- James has himself
drawn, while the Bibliography, and especially the section
on the Bills of Mortality, is of great service. Perhaps the
most remarkable figure in the history of London's development
during the period is Nicholas Barbon, of whom an excellent
account is given. Many will be surprised at the thoroughness
of London's fortifications during the Civil War ; on this and
on many other topics Major Brett- James has collected much
information.
It is a pleasure to come across a book where justice is
done to Cromwell. He is not only said to have made " the
most striking advance towards a national system of roads,"
but is defended in words which will be of peculiar interest
to readers of recent issues of the Transactions :
It is possible to remark that the damage to church property
frequently alleged against Oliver Cromwell and his Roundheads
and Ironsides, mainly in time of war, is a mere drop in the ocean
compared with the ruthless destruction of the glorious churches
and spacious monastic buildings of London and elsewhere during
the half-century immediately succeeding the Dissolution of
the Monasteries, not unjustly called the Great Pillage.
We noticed a misprint on p. 457.
Another able piece of work which will be of great interest
to students is Prof. M. M. Knappen's Two Elizabethan Puritan
Diaries. By Richard Rogers and Samuel Ward (S.P.C.K., 9s.).
Both these diaries are in the Dr. Williams's Library, and
some twenty years ago we made notes on that of Samuel Ward.
The transcripts now made, with the competent Introduction,
Editorial 195
throw much light on the ecclesiastical affairs of their period,
and it is hoped that the fact that the present volume is
published for the American Society of Church History will
not militate against its being fully used by English students.
In some future issue we propose to write at greater length
about the diaries. Now we merely draw the attention of
X*f%*t r\ pro fo 4" fif»TYl
For the Third Spalding Club (Aberdeen) Prof. G. D. Hender-
son has edited a very attractive volume, which bears the title
Mystics of the North-East, being selections from the Charter
Room of Cullen House, Banffshire. One does not usually
associate Episcopalians in the north-east of Scotland with
mysticism, but here is a group of men, in politics involved
in the Fifteen, eagerly studying mystical literature, especially
the books edited by Pierre Poiret, and corresponding with
Madame Guy on and other French Roman Catholics. Henry
ScougalTs Life of God in the Soul of Man is not unknown
at the present day, and students of mysticism are acquainted
with John Forbes's Spiritual Exercises. Both were Professors
of Divinity at Aberdeen, and a third Professor, George Garden,
the greatest authority on Forbes and the friend of Scougall,
is called by Dr. Henderson " the soul of the Mystical Movement
in the North-East. " Garden, indeed, his elder brother James,
and Dr. James Keith, are the main personalities of a volume
which is full of interest in the light it throws on the religious
life of the period in the corner of Scotland with which it is
concerned. It is edited in competent fashion by Dr. Hender-
son, the Introduction and Notes affording all necessary
information. Dr. Henderson contributed to our pages (XII. 67)
an informing article on ''Some Early Scottish Independents,"
which was marked by the same wide learning and sound
scholarship as the present book.
We wish it could be assumed that the conclusions reached
in Mr. Percy A. Scholes's The Puritans and Music in England
and New England (Oxford Press, 21s.) would be spread far
and wide. For 300 years the Puritans have been charged
with hating music, the drama, dancing, and all kinds of
pleasure ; opinions without foundation have passed on from
one writer to another, and Macaulay's views accepted without
question. Mr. Scholes has made a thorough examination
of the evidence, and he clearly shows that there is no basis
at all for the charges so often preferred. Those with but a
slight acquaintance with Puritan history knew that Cromwell
196 Editorial
and Milton loved music, and that Bunyans Christiana could
play upon the viol, and her daughter, Mercy, upon the lute ;
but they will be surprised at the convincing case Mr. Scholes
presents. Because the Puritans opposed the abuse of a
thing, it does not mean they opposed its use ; because they
hated elaborate music in church, vocal and instrumental,
it does not mean they did not practise it in private ; because
they could not tolerate the immoral associations of stage
plays it does not necessarily mean they were opposed to the
drama per se. Whether dealing with Calvin at Geneva,
with art, recreation, or music in England, or with New England
Mr. Scholes draws on a wide list of authorities. He shows
how Samuel Peters (1735-1826) invented the famous " Blue
Laws," and then goes on to prove that there were musical
instruments in New England, that there was no Puritan
objection to their use, and no laws against them. Mr. Scholes
has given to scholars a valuable study, packed with evidence ;
we are sorry that he frequently adopts a jaunty manner
which may incline critics to dispute the worth of his work.
It is rather a pity, too, that Mr. Scholes does not stick to
those aspects of his subject on which he can speak with
peculiar authority. In an " Interlude ;? he denies that the
Puritans gave their children unusual and Biblical names.
Well, here are some which a member of the Society has
gathered from Calamy Revised : Benoni, Machaliah, Ichabod,
Sabbath, Gratious, Obedience, Deodate, Charity, Godsgift,
Welcome, Deliverance. Lausdeo. Thankfull, Faithfull, Federata,
Signata.
Another volume of which Congregationalism can be proud,
though it does not deal with ecclesiastical history, is
Dr. Howard H. Scullard's History of the Roman World, 763-
146 b.c, in Methuen\s " Historv of the Greek and Roman
World " series (15s.).
'97
Calvin's Institute of Christian Religion
In the Imprints of Thomas Vautrollier.
SOME lip-service is due, even in this generation, to the
character of a work which has racked the Christian
world with controversy and apprehension, which has
entered into the very composition of Scottish character
and religion, and which, for nearly two centuries, informed
the spirit of English Dissent. It is a gaucherie, perhaps,
to name Calvin when modern presentments of Christian
doctrine are discussed ; it has much the effect of a reference
to Bishop Barlow in a gathering of High Churchmen.
But the secondary influences of Calvin's teaching have
been of greater consequence, perhaps, than the primary
results, vast as those were. The modern scientific dogmas
concerning the uniformity of nature and of determinism arose
among men bred to meditate upon predestination. The
genesis of their theories would doubtless be denied by the
twentieth- century physicists, who found their theories upon
a universal necessity, itself unexplained, or by some doubt-
fully Christian Bishop, who would regard Calvin with the
contempt he feels for all not privileged to live in the days
of analytical research. Well, no man is a hero to his lackeys,
or to those who borrow from him. It is, perhaps, those who
disagree fundamentally with Calvin who will be readiest
to recognize his greatness.
The Institute is not only readable : it presents its point
of view with singular clarity. It formed for Puritanism
a manual and standard of theological statement. Prior
to Vautrollier's day, editions of the Institute, both English-
printed and of foreign origin, circulated in England, though
tolerated with growing disfavour by the ecclesiastical authori-
ties. One of the reasons for which Robert Parsons, afterwards
General of the Jesuits, was driven from Balliol, was his dis-
semination of Calvinist books among the students. Strangely
enough, the compliment was amply repaid. In the days
when Parsons was a dreaded exile Calvinists were preparing
editions of his devotional works.
198 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
Thomas Vautrollier, the Blackfriars printer, by whom so
many and so popular editions of the Institute were produced,
was primarily a printer ; he was, nevertheless, a scholar of
abilities hitherto insufficiently recognized. To his firm, and
probably, to the industry of his extraordinary wife, Jacqueline
Du Thuit, who afterwards married Richard Field, the printer
of Venus and Adonis, is owed the production of the first
Greek Testament put into type in this country ; a faithful
reproduction of the text of Stephens, of the same year, 1587,
save for eleven critical alterations derived from Beza.
For a while, after his naturalization in England in 1562,
Vautrollier was agent to the illustrious Plantin of Antwerp,
and, thereafter, singularly, adopted as his patron the Roman
Catholic Earl of Arundel. The nexus, which brought him
into contact with Scotsmen involved in the Ridolfi plot, and
which, after enduring for years, bore its influence in the
attachment of Vautrollier to the Stuarts, did not prevent
him from maintaining a steady production of books, some-
times distinctly and dangerously Puritan, and occasionally
tinged with the more hazardous speculations of Dickson,
and the other followers of Bruno. From 1579 onwards he
conducted business both at London and at Edinburgh, at the
latter of which places he was King's Printer, and brought
into a singularly beautiful volume, for the youthful sovereign,
those fine adventures of an immature genius : The Essayes
of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie.
The editions of Calvin's Institute printed by Vautrollier,
may be summarized as follows : —
1576. Latin edition. Fully indexed. London.
1576. Latin Compendium. Bunney's. London.
1578. English edition. Thos. Norton, translator. Lond.
1583. Latin Epitome. De Lawne's. London.
1584. 2nd. edition of the above. London.
1585. Lawne's Epitome trans, by Fetherstone. Edinburgh.
1586. 2nd. edition of above. Edinburgh.
1587. 3rd edition of above. Edinburgh.
The gap between 1578 and 1583 could probably be filled.
Vautrollier lent the use of his energies to others, described
occasionally as his partners. The fact that the name of some
such stationer is to be found on an edition of Calvin's Institute
would weigh nothing against typographical considerations
that would assign it to the Blackfriars printer.
Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute 199
The frequency with which Vautrollier and others printed
the Institute, Compendia and Epitomes must be regarded
as evidence that they furnished a lucrative source of income.
The English abridgments were not included in Vautrollier's
exclusive Printing Privilege, that is, they could be put forth
by any of his trade rivals, if the author could obtain profitable
terms from such publishers. In the conduct of a business
almost vast, Vautrollier found it remunerative to compete
for editions of this work, and to circulate its great bulk in
numbers that exceeded, in the aggregate, ten thousand.
Such works were read, in Elizabethan days, with avidity
and with bias. The Reformation was so recent that the
discussion of its teachings entered every home — for union
in a mutual enthusiasm, or for division that destroyed every
tie of family affection. Dogmatics were politics, and the
most unlikely and most irreligious of life were often keen
supporters of their favourite brands of theology, suitable
for an ideal Christian State. When Martin Marprelate assailed
the Bishops, Nash joined in. It was possible to rebuke his
scurrility, but his interest in ecclesiastical affairs was not
wholly incongruous. So distant is a day of general theological
heat that the intervention of Mr. George Robey in a dispute
concerning Anglican Orders or the Filioque would be regarded
as almost an impropriety ; and that he should have any, even
the most languid interest concerning them, absurd.
The credit of editing the great Latin edition of 1576 rests
between Edmund Bunney and Vautrollier. Of Edmund
Bunney, scant available biographical material suffices to
establish that he was brother of a popular preacher, Francis
Bunney, that he was incumbent of Bolton Percy, Yorks., and
probably Archdeacon of York. In 1585, he was entrusted with
the compilation of the Exercises for the Seventeenth of
November, the day of the Accession of Queen Elizabeth.
His works are fairly numerous, and are well represented
in the British Museum Catalogue. His eclecticism was
evidenced by editing for Protestant readers The Christian
Directory, a work of Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, and one of
those manuals that belong to all the citizens of the Heavenly
Kingdom. Parsons resented the expurgation — " punished
and plumed " for Protestant perusal.
Bunney's share in the 1576 edition of the Institute is clearly
stated in the Preface, which constitutes Vautrollier 's acknowl-
edgment of indebtedness to the cleric who had assisted him
200 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
in the task of digevsting and indexing the ponderous mass of
material : " Quvm nouam Institutionis Christ ianae Religionis
adornarem, qnam maxime fieri potuit curaui, kit pijs omnibus,
sitsceptus a me labor prodesset. Ac primvm totivs operis initio,
Ubrorum ct capitum argumenta D. Emnndi Bunnij industria,
non ita pridem concinnata, catalogo Caluini adiecimus." Herein
is special reference to the short heads of chapters, occupying
two and a half pages and condensing three hundred times as
much, and general aid with the whole work. The cross-
indexing, which is elaborate, and the explanation of the
ingenious system of references in the Indexes, appear to
have been the work of Vautrollier. To the literary labours
of this great printer catalogues do not bear witness. It is
only by perusal of the books that issued from his press that
the discovery of his translations, editing, and original com-
pilation can be established. He breathed the spirit of accom-
plishment into miscellaneous masses of material, and formed
in readable shape the author whom he published.
The contents of the entire book of 1576 (B.M. 114 c 34)
are stated to be comprised in 920 pages, found by counting,
of which bulk the Institute itself occupies pp. 1 — 742 ; the
summary and indexes, pp. 742 — 902.
The title-page bears the Anchora Spei, and the printer's name.
Then, (a) Typographus lectori, *ii in recto : (6) Theodore de Beza's
Carmen cVt/xt/cTov, the subject, Calvin's unceremonious, but
testamentarjr, burial in the public cemetery at Geneva ; (c) Eidem,
to *ii in verso ; (d) Calvin to the Reader *iij ; (e) Calvin to Francis I,
*iv to **iii in recto ; (/) The Principal Heads of this Book **iij
to iiij in verso ; (g) ***j, Greek verse, 10 lines ; (h) Greek verse, H
lines ; (t) Eidem, i.e. To Calvin, Florus Christianus, nearly three
pages to ***ii in verso, where is a French Sonnet ; (k) Register A,
page 1 of the Institute to page 742, AA 2 iii. The registration shows
error : — ZZ is followed by A 22, misprinted for AAa, and page 742,
which should be AAa iij in verso, is, in actuality, registered
AA 2 iij. From page 742, the registration is resumed regularly, in
great part, to KKKij in verso, which is, however, marked as K ij.
The word " Finis," denotes the real last page and surmounts the
printer's emblem, the woman's head with cornucopia? and " T.V."
The Epistle to Francis I has its history. Calvin had, at
one time, believed it possible to induce Francis I to espouse
the Reforming cause, and this preface of 1536 tells of his
disappointed hopes. According to Vogt, a 1539 edition,
which appears to have been printed at London, added to
Thomas Vautroliie* and Calvin's Institute 201
this Preface the name, " Alcuin," an anagram which barely
disguised the real author. Of this edition, Vogt could find
but two copies, of which one, in the possession of David
Durand, the minister of the French Church, had been collected
from the house of Dr. Martin.
The heads of the Greek verses have been reproduced with
frequency, but without the least explanation. They are
puzzling, but the riddle is not insoluble.
The first is entitled : QPAFKlZKOI TOY IIOPTOY.
The verse that follows is replete with error. It is possible
for an Englishman to write poor English, and for a Greek to
make grammatical errors.
<j>payKi<7KO) rod iroprov is not of this description. It is
beyond the worst that a Greek could have done. Andrew
Melville charged the Greek professor at Geneva, Francis Portus,
a native of Crete, with inability to pronounce his own language,
but both Francis and Emile Portus were scholars. The
'* For Francis of the Portus " is meant, probably, for " By
Francis Du Port." In fact, if half a dozen corrections be
made, the verse is quite equal to the general level of Du Port's
other known productions. He was a doctor, resident at
Geneva, who wrote poems, of which the recitation was designed
to convert Jews. The perusal can be warranted to render them
very uneasy at least.
The second poem, *EPPIKOY TOY ZTE&ANOY, which
is queerly accentuated, leaves greater difficulties. It is a
boyish production crowding the triple crown, seven-hills,
Roman dragon, Styx, and Tartarus, into the first four lines.
But it has also managed to say therein that the sickly body
of Calvin, which now the earth covers, had suffered pains
that one would deem insupportable by the most vigorous,
robust, healthy, and immune. There is a certain gift of
language, not free from grammatical error, but yet quite as
good Greek as would be yielded in half an hour's effort by,
say, a modern clergyman. Eric's verse reads with a swing,
and he evidently disliked the Pope very much.
The difficulty is " Eric " Stephens. There is no uninten-
tional slip for Henry ; '' Eric " was printed, voiced and meant.
No Eric is recorded in the great line of Estienne, the printers.
The boy was perhaps born in Switzerland, and named in
memory of the great hero of Riuli, contemporary and acquain-
tance of " Alcuin."
The prefixes conclude with a French Sonnet, quite astonish-
202 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
ingly fine, and, if the work of Christianus Floras, a key to his
identity. The rhyme scheme is abbaaccaddeffe.
Marlorat's Index at the end of the book was by that Biblical
scholar, the ex-Augustinian who preceded Loyseleur Villerius
in the Huguenot ministry at Rouen. Marlorat's sufferings
and end are recorded in the Biographia Evangelica. His
widow Margaret, who died in February, 1602 — 3, in St.
Katherine's Creechurch, left her all for the poor of the French
Church. Probably, that " all " was augmented by the use
of this Index by Norton and others, and by some aid from
William Feuguerius, later Professor at Leyden, who, in 1574,
completed for Vautrollier the Thesaurus of Marlorat, a fine
Concordance, handsomely printed, and circulated freely by
the hearty commendation of Archbishop Parker.
The Latin Compendium of Calvin's Institute, abridged by
Edmund Bunney, was published in the same year as the
larger work. It is a small octavo, with four folding tables,
printed in Roman type, of which copies for examination
are difficult to obtain. The only example to which reference
can be given is that contained in Catalogue X. of Messrs.
J. & J. Leighton, who cite it as published, " impensis G. Bishop
& T. Vautrollier/' George Bishop, who afterwards occupied
the highest offices in The Stationers' Company, was associated
with Vautrollier in many enterprises, and especially in bringing
Field from Stratford-on-Avon to London.
The translation of Bunney 's Compendium, effected in 1580,
was put forth, not by Vautrollier, but by Thomas Dawson,
for William Norton, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the
sign of the Queen's Armes. This little 1580 Black Letter
describes Edmund Bunnie as Bachelor of Diuinitie, whereby
hangs a tale of disappointed hope, related by Anthony a Wood
with all his malignant passion for unnecessary truth. Those
were the days of supplication for Honorary Divinity Degrees
at Oxford, granted freely enough before ever aspirants
dreamed that America would enter the field, and, by dumping
an unusable article, raise the value of the home product.
In the race for distinction Bunney also ran ; his application
for the doctorate was refused.
This could scarce have been upon the grounds of Puritanism.
The translation is dedicated to the Bishop of London, a
truculent, theftuous bully, if Martin Marprelate's account
Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute 203
of John Aylmer is credible. Edward May, the translator,
who writes the preface of 9 August, 1579, is willing to describe
him as a " reverend Father in Christ." May is quite an
obscure figure. A William May, Dean of St. Paul's, was
nominated by Queen Elizabeth to the Archbishopric of York,
but died before his consecration. He was possibly a relative
of Edward May, in which case it may be assumed that Edward
was a young man, for he did not at any time enjoy a living
or any preferment in the diocese of London. Aylmer would,
certainly, have been little likely to be influenced by the
dedication to him : he had his own young relatives to look
after ; but, if May were young, he could scarcely have been
expected to weigh the worth of complaisant dedications
against family affection.
The first unabridged English translation of the Institute
produced by Vautrollier was made by Thomas Norton. The
whole weight of evidence points to this Thomas Norton being
identical with the part author of Gorboduc, the City Solicitor
and Remembrancer, and the rack-master. The intrinsic
difficulty in accepting the evidence is its incredibility. The
standard account, which is coherent, and supported by
hundreds of contemporary documents, represents an ardent
Christian man, who had married, first Cranmer's daughter,
then Alice Cranmer, her cousin, then a third wife, petition-
ing for the post of rack-master; seeking permission to
have a rack in his private house at the Guildhall, where
he could pursue his avocations in the leisure and comfort
of domestic surroundings ; boasting that he would drag Bryant,
the Jesuit, a good foot longer than God had made him ; thrusting
steel wedges under the finger-nails to split them from the
mangled hands of his victims ; in short, behaving, as Bernardino
de Mendoza, a rather single-minded soldier, wrote, "in a
fashion that might have been reserved for Antichrist in the
last days." In the interval of these employments, Norton
was dramatist and translator of Calvin.
There would appear to be room for a theory that there
were two of the name ; one Thomas Norton, the dramatist ;
the other, the theologian ; two dwellers at the Guildhall,
both of the same name ; one, the father ; the other, perhaps,
the son ; alike in legal avocation, and indistinguishable by
reason of share of work ; distinguishable now by God alone,
in that one sought the accomplishment of His work, and
the other yearned, with the coldest crudity of a nature
204 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
delighting in cruelty, for the accomplishment of the work
of the devil.
For such a theory there is some scrap of evidence, a little
that may rid religion of the discredit of possessing such a
fellow as the rack-master among its writers. In Strype's
account of the last days of Campion is found mention of a
minister, Thomas Norton, who advised concerning the cele-
brated conference between the Jesuit and his old schoolfellow,
Fulke, with whom were Goade, Clarke, and John Field, and
upon a later occasion, No well. (As a schoolboy, Fulke had
wept bitterly at the loss of a silver pen, the prize in a compe
tition won by Campion, and had predicted that he would
win the next contest.) Had Norton, the minister, been
also the rack-master, the fact would assuredly have been
mentioned. Bryant, another of the Jesuits who suffered
at this time, had before his death communicated a singular
account of his racking, by Norton, in which the bodily pain
suffered is minimized. In this most interesting document,
published contemporaneously by G. T. (whoever he was) for
the information of the Lords of the Privy Council, Bryant
would certainly have mentioned the strange fact that his
tormentor had been a cleric, had such been within his knowl-
edge. The Privy Council was concerned with the indignation
aroused throughout Europe by the proceedings in this and
other like cases. The pen of Burleigh was employed, and
in his Defence of English Justice, published by Vautrollier,
the acts were defended and extenuated. The Council's
correspondence evidences its investigation of allegations of
excessive zeal shown by Norton ; detail is given ; the nuisance
arising from the screams of the victims, the illness of Norton's
wife (the poor woman appears to have become insane) and
the general loathing in which Norton was held, all figure in
the documents. Had Norton been a minister, the fact would
not have been overlooked. Norton, the rack-master, was,
therefore, not Norton, the minister.
Again, the public career of Thomas Norton is of a length
inconsistent with the theory that there was but one Thomas
Norton, dramatist, torturer, and translator. Thomas Norton,
tutor to the children of the Protector, Somerset, sends a very
mature letter to Calvin describing the end of Somerset's regime,
and its sequels. It is a letter of one who has learnt the lesson
of caution in the school of revolutions, and of the rise and
fall of rulers of men. Withal, it is the well-informed, cheering
Thomas Vautr oilier and Calvin's Institute 205
epistle of a kindly, polished, and even tolerant man, writing
to one of his own age, and of like rank in life. Among aU
the fierce fanatics by whom he was surrounded, this Thomas
Norton would seem to stand out as a gentleman, willing to
yield to every man his due. He commends the Marquis
of Winchester, whether or no religious differences existed
betwixt him and the writer, as " a worthy and religious man."
If this were the rack-master of later years, he would have
been at least sixty years old when he sought that arduous
employment. It was arduous. It frequently took four men
to throw the victim on the rack, and the bending over to
catch words and phrases, uttered in half delirium, amid the
groans of the torture, was no work for a stiff-backed old
gentleman. There was, apparently, neither pawl nor ratchet
to maintain the strain of the turn of the rollers, and the mere
maintenance of the position of the levers, and their adjustment
to fresh pivots, was not labour that any considerate employer
would have sought of a man getting on for the three-score
and ten. For the credit of the Council of that day, it must
be supposed that the rack-master was not Calvin's old friend.
Thirdly, for what it is worth, we have assertions such as
that of Mr. Edward Farr, who edited the Select Poetry for
the Parker Society, that the Thomas Norton who translated
the Psalms for the metrical version was a barrister, an occupa-
tion not compatible with that of City Solicitor, apparently.
Such an occupation was, however, compatible with that of
Clerk in Holy Orders. Stephen Egerton, the well-known
minister of Blackfriars, became a barrister of Gray's Inn
after his ordination, and during the period of the exercise
of his sacred functions.
Fourthly, a hint is given by one John Norton, an Edinburgh
stationer, of the existence of an elder and a younger Norton,
distinguishable most easily by their ages. This John Norton
was one of Bancroft's spies, placed in Edinburgh in or about
1588. One of his letters to Bancroft was intercepted, and
John Norton was questioned before Robert Bruce and other
of the ministers, " and confessed with tears that he had been
sett on work by his uncle, old Norton, at the request of Doctor
Bancroft, upon promise of some comoditie in his trade."
What emerges from the speculation, certain and definite, is
that there was an eminent City officer, the first Remembrancer
of the City of London, whose life is recorded by hundreds
of official notices. He cannot with absolute certainty be
1 4
206 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
identified with the rack-master. He was a theological writer.
He died in March, 1584, just before the production of the
fourth edition of Norton's translation of the Institute.
In that fourth edition, which gives no hint of the recent
death of its compiler and editor, Thomas Norton furnishes
an interesting account of the method of his work. He writes :-
11 in the very beginning of the Queenes maiesties most blessed
reign, I translated the Institute out of Latin into Englishe
at the request of my deere friends of worthy memory, Reginald
Wolfe and Edward Whitechurch, the one Her Maiesties
Printer for Hebrew, Greek and Latine tongue, the other her
highnes printer of the book of common Prayer. I performed
this work in the house of my friend Edward Whitchurch,
an ancient, zealous Gospeller, as plaine and true a friend as
ever I knew living. The graue, learned and virtuous man,
M. Dauid Whitehead (whom I name with honourable remem-
brance) did compare with the Latin, examining every sentence."
Whilst the first edition was prepared from the written
copy, and had many inaccuracies, the succeeding, of which
Vautrollier's was one, were prepared from the first and later
printed copies, containing Norton's notes of errors. He
expresses regret that his professional avocations have precluded
greater attention to theological works, and animadverts upon
the decay of Latin studies by ministers of the new era.
3557 aaa 7, B.M. is Vautrollier's edition of Norton's
translation. On the title-page of some of the copies is the
statement that they were printed for W. Norton ; on others
that they were printed for H. Toy. Readers of the Marprelate
Tracts will recall the scandalous suggestions made concerning
Mrs. Toy and Archbishop Whitgift, from which only one certain
conclusion can be drawn ; that Toy had offended Waldegrave.
The Anchora Spei upon the title-page has dots before the Anchora
and after the Spei, evidence of the period, even were the date
absent. The following collation will aid librarians : *ij T.N.
The Translator to the Reader ; *iiij To the Most High Mighty
Francisce the Most Christian King etc. (Calvin's Basle preface
of 1536), in eights to **v in recto, where is the symbol, Woman's
head with Cornucopise & T.V. ; thence, John Calvin to the Reader,
Geneva, 1559, to **v in recto ; **vj in verso, What Chapters
are contained in the bookes of the Institution to **viij in verso ;
Blank side ; Register A, page 1, The Institution etc to LLLLij
in verso ; Then LLLL iij, A Table of the Chief e Matters to AAAAAvj
in recto, Woman's head with Cornucopise and T.V.
Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute 207
The Museum copy 3557 aaa7, is bound in original vellum, with
four ribs, and contains an early and rather damaged leaf of fifteenth-
century printing.
The Congregational Library copy lacks title-page but conforms
with the above collation, bears the pagination 635 at LLLLij
in verso, and has Marlorat's Table, dated 1562, and that second
table, which is probably Vautrollier's compilation.
During the year 1583, in which William Lawne's Latin
Epitome of the Institute was put to press, Vautrollier was
absent from London at dates that can be determined with
some exactitude. On 17 March, the Falcon of Saltpreston,
in which Vautrollier, Charteris, and the paper merchant,
Geoffrey Nettleton, had placed their goods for transit to
Edinburgh, was seized at sea, off Lowestoft, by Captain
Chaleis, a pirate, afterwards in the service of Don Antonio,
the Pretender to the throne of Portugal. Whilst the Falcon
was carried away, laden with goods, its consort, the Jesus
of Borrowstown, was merely robbed. Vautrollier continued
his journey, apparently by the Jesus, to Edinburgh, where
he made complaint. Mr. James Lawson, the successor of
Knox, wrote a letter to Davidson on his behalf, and James VI
interested himself in the matter. Vautrollier returned to Lon-
don, and was there for some part of the remainder of the year,
engaged in preparation for re-furnishing his Scottish business.
Upon the occasions of his frequent absences the work of
the firm was superintended with great ability by Mrs. Vau-
trollier. The technical work was preserved at its high level,
and the production of classical works increased in volume.
The accuracy of the texts attests the efficiency of Mrs. Vau-
trollier's superintendence. She alone was responsible for
the production of the Greek Testament of 1587, the completion
of which involved the spirited woman in a contest with the
Stationers* Company, and with the decrees of the Star Chamber.
She won, and to her is due the credit of giving to England the
first Greek Testament printed in this country, a task that
she accomplished in the intervals of devoted attention to
her husband in his last illness. Probably the revision of
the text occupied some of his attention, and the preparation
of the material from Stephens' text, printed earlier in the
year, was such as may have involved a visit to the Continent.
William Lawne, who wrote the 1583 Latin Epitome, was
a well-known physician and minister, whose house, tradition
states, occupied the site of the present Apothecaries' Hall.
208 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
In the Blackfriars' Subsidy Roll of 1581 appears " Gillan
the Lame, French Preacher, and three children," who were
assessed by the Poll at xvi d. The name Guillaume the
Lame was given him, not on account of any personal deformity,
but as an Anglicised form of De Laune. The assessment
per poll was necessary in the case of denizens, lodgers, who
could not be assessed upon their household stuff, bestowed
in their own permanent dwelling.
On 7 December, 1582, de Laune was summoned before
the Royal College of Physicians, for practising medicine in
London without a licence. Extenuating circumstances led to
the postponement of his case. On 22 December he petitioned
for a licence, and showed, in support thereof, that he had
studied for eight years at Paris and Montpellier, under Duretius
and Rondelitius, and had a large family. Moved by the
magnitude of his studies and of his family, the latter of which
must have increased abnormally since the Subsidy, the Faculty
examined the minister, and admitted him to the Licentiateship
of the College the same day.
His son, Gideon de Laune, born at Rheims, was afterwards
apothecary to James I, and flitters in and out of the drug
transactions of that monarch in many interesting cases.
Just once he came into touch with Mr. William Shakespeare.
He was one of the two representatives of Mount joy in the
defence of Bellott's suit in the Consistory Court of the French
Church, a suit in which Shakespeare tendered a signed
deposition. Gideon and his family were fortunate enough
to secure the patronage of the Killigrews, and the increase,
thereby, of the Court favour that endured throughout the
reign of James I. Gideon lived to be ninety-four years of
age, and died in 1659. He was seven years old at the time
of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. William Lawne, the
minister, who outlived his wife, died early in 1611. In his
Will (P.C.C. 23 Wood) he directs that he shall be buried as
near to her as possible. To Gideon, his eldest son, he leaves
his tenement in the precinct of Blackfriars, late purchased
of Sir William More, and charged with legacies to the poor
of Blackfriars, £4. To the poor of Norwich, where one of
his sons was sometime a minister, and to the poor of Dieppe,
each 30s. To poor kindred beyond the seas, £5, to be admin-
istered by the testator's son, Nathaniel. It is singular that
in all the Wills of French refugees, many of them wealth}',
and most of them mindful of the poor, there is not a single
Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute 209
bequest to the needy of Scotland, the country that had come
so generously to the succour of the refugees in London, after
the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. The testator leaves to
his sister-in-law, Mary Desloyes, widow of Cornelius Tance, £3,
alluding to her, after the fashion of the day, by her maiden
name. To his son, Robert, one new house, late built in
Blackfriars, with the apothecaries' stuff there, the legacy
being charged with £50, payable to Gideon. Other sons
named are Peter and Isaac de Laune, the latter of whom had
died, leaving a son, Henry. There were also daughters,
Sarah, Elizabeth and Esther, of whom the last had married
Nathaniel Mary, a minister, native of Leicestershire, and
resident in Blackfriars in his adult age. He was, no doubt of
foreign descent. A family of his name came from Pontayse
to St. Bride's in the later Elizabethan migrations, and of
them, and of Nathaniel, plentiful record exists.
In 1584, a second edition of Laune's Latin Epitome (B.M.
3505 c 22, London) reproduces the features of the former
edition, of which there is no Museum copy.
Register ij of the Preface begins : — Pietate et Digniiate
lUustri Viro Domino Richardo Martini omnium Angliae
Mineralium fidelissimo Custodi Regio ac celeberrimae Ciuifati-s
Londiniensis prudentissimo Senatori "
This preface Launeus (i.e., de Laune) dates February, 1583.
He notes the hospitality of Martin's magnificent house, open
to all. The conjunction of the terms, " Martin " and " The
Minerals " (here the Mint) may have fallen under the mischie-
vous eye of Marprelate at a later date, and suggested to that
Martin's whimsical humour the phrase, " mineral points,"'
points stamped and marked sound and current.
Register iv is an ode by Miles Bodley to Martin. This is followed
by two lines : " Timotheus Massonius, Ad Lectorem." Timotheus
Massonius gives no difficulty, it is the Latinized form of a French
! ame, Timothy le Macon. Robert le Macon was a contemporary
V 1 each minister, a Huguenot. Then comes a distich by Isaac de
Laune (Isaac Launei filii), the son who predeceased William de
Laune. In the burials at St. Anne's, Blackfriars, is that of " Izhak,
son of Mr. de Laune," 28 Oct., 1602. The General Table of the
Whole Institute, followed by some blank verse occupies **j to **vij
in recto, and then Registers A to Aa3, pages 1 to 373 comprise
the body of the book. The Index follows to Cc iiij.
Sir Richard Martin, to whom the Preface was addressed,
was certainly the friend of respectable and eminent Puritans,
1 4 *
210 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
but was himself of an eccentricity that involved him in
continuous quarrelling and loss. In 1581 he was Sheriff,
and was Lord Mayor for the portions of the years 1589 and
1594, remaining from the terms of office of the holders who
had died during their service. In 1602 he was dismissed
from his Aldermanship of Bread Street Ward, on account of
financial difficulties, but on the following St. Thomas's Day,
he persisted in presiding at his Wardmote, garbed in a violet
gown. His differences with the civic authorities led to his
committal for a brief period, from which confinement he was
released to attend to his Mint duties. This concession was
the result of a commutation of imprisonment for a fine of
£500, a course little calculated to relieve his financial straitness.
Whatever the monetary needs of Alderman Martin at
this time, his family possessed goods of fabulous worth. On
the 12 October, 1584, Mr. Lawson, Knox's successor to the
pulpit of St. Giles's, Edinburgh, died, an exile, at Anthony
Martin's house in Storey Lane. Mrs. Martin had given,
for the relief of the dysentery from which Lawson had suffered,
twenty grains of unicorn horn, a medicine then held in high
and just admiration, since a correct dosage of the genuine
preparation had never been known to fail of effect. Mr.
Lawson died, aged 46, attended to his funeral by Mrs. Vautrol-
lier, Mr. Egerton, Mr. John Field, and others whose names
recur in this narrative.
The translations of Lawne's Epitome, published at Edinburgh,
in 1585 and 1586, were effected by Christopher Fetherstone,
a person of some interest, by reason of the perpetuation of
his name in London Street nomenclature.
His translation of Calvin's Commentary upon St. John,
published by Thomas Da vies in 1584, describes him as student
in Divinity. In 1 586 he was, as the edition of Lawne's Epitome
indicates, a minister. As a minister, he was of the uncom-
promising followers of Calvin. In the Church of England
such men as Bunney, and in France such men as Jean de
Serres, had always in mind the possibility of ultimate reunion
with the Roman Catholic Church. Jean de Serres, for whom
Vautrollier published the beginning of a controversy between
members of the University of Nismes and the Jesuits, was
heartily disliked by some Huguenots, and distrusted by
others. In 1582 de Serres returned to Nismes, and retained
his Protestantism, after the reconciliation of Henry IV,
which he had foreseen.
Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute 211
That those who had suffered by persecution should come
to peace with religious antagonists, against whom they had
waged a warfare so long and so bitter, was incredible to
Fetherstone, who, in 1587, in a bitter Sonnet, prefixed to
his Christian and Wholesome, Admonition, assailed the peace-
makers.
Christopher Fetherstone was of that family whose name
is commemorated by Featherstone Buildings, Holborn. Henry
Feat herst one, in 1648, leaves lands in High Holborn to his
daughter, Grace, and to Heneage Featherstone, other lands
in trust for poor printers, and for the poor of Blackfriars.
The 1585 (Edinburgh) edition of Fetherstone's translation,
is B.M. 697 c 26 ; the 1586, also of Edinburgh, 3900 b 49.
The latter is beautifully bound, in the original binding, with
spandrils, central ornament, and the remainder of tapes.
John Gibson was the King's binder at this period, and the
work is not improbably his.
It contains : A2, Dedication by Fetherstone to Lady Judith
Pelham, dated from Maighfield in Sussex, 17 April, 1586 ; A4,
Lawne to Richard Martin, London, 18 Feb., 1583 ; The General
Table ; then, B8 to Z3 in verso, pages 1 to 306, The Abridgment ;
Z4 to Aa8 in recto, The Index.
The 1587 edition, also of Edinburgh (B.M. 3558 aaa 10),
adds to the title, " Now againe corrected and in many places
augmented." There is no printer's name, but the place
and date appear. The reason for the omission of the printer's
name may be twofold. The book may have been on sale by
Charteris and others. Charteris had been permitted to place
his own name on books of Vautrollier 's printing previously ;
for example on Buchanan's Baptistes. Secondly, Fetherstone
was a young hot-head, about to embroil himself in the domestic
differences of Frenchmen, and to assail a cause that he did
not understand, and that the history of events has amply
justified. Vautrollier, on the other hand, did understand.
Himself, he was no bigot. His London house was publishing
for Jean de Serres.
Of the books and of those published at this time in Edin-
burgh by Vautrollier, the paper was probably supplied by
Geoffrey Nettleton. He died in St. Benetfink's, in 1602,
not worth the price of a couple of bales of his own merchandise.
Vautrollier returned from the printing of Fetherstone's
book, bringing back with him one of his presses. Part of
212 Thomas Vautrollier and Calvin's Institute
his stuff was left in the Province of York, and he does not
appear to have completed the journey. But, his wife nursed
him in his last illness, and he made his Will in the presence
of his Blackfriars friends, and of his father-in-law, and died
in July, 1587.
J. C. Whitebrook.
Rustic Play-Acting During the Commonwealth.
For the following transcript acknowledgment is due to " Oxford
Books : A Bibliography of Printed Works Relating to the
University and City of Oxford or Printed or Published there.
Vol. III. Oxford Literature, 1651-1680. Falconer Madan, M.A.,
Hon. Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, formerly Bodley's
Librarian, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1931. [No. 2221.]
Tragi-Comcedia Being a Brief Relation of the strange, and
wonderful hand of God discovered at Witny in the Comedy
Acted there, February the third, where there were some Slaine,
many Hurt By John Rowe of C.C.C. in Oxford
Lecturer in the Towne of Witny. Oxford, Anno. Dom. 1653.
A Brief e Narrative of The Play Acted at Witny the third
of February, 1652, Together with its sad and Tragical! End.
[The substance of the above narrative is as follows : — ]
On Thursday, Feb. 3, 1652(3), a market day, the play of
Mucedorus was acted at the White Hart inn at Witney by
some Stanton Harcourt players who had performed
it at [North] Moor, Standlake, South Leigh, Cumnor. The
Town Hall had been refused them, so they took a large oblong
room in the Yard of the White Hart, which had been a malting
room above a " Shuffle board Roome "... A drum and
trumpet had summoned the people about 7 p.m., and three
hundred crowded in. After two hours (when two-thirds of
the play had been acted) the floor gave way slowly and the
audience found themselves in a heap in the room below.
Only six died ; and about sixty were wounded.
Collection for the Piedmontese, 1655.
Oxford Books . . . Vol. III., 1651—1680. By Falconer Madan,
M.A. Oxford. 1931. p. 42.
[1655] " The University [of Oxford] raised £384 by July
" for a Brief for relief of Protestants in Savoy."
W. J. Payling Wright.
213
Schools Within the Diocese of York in 1743.
IN 1743 the diocese of York obtained a new archbishop
in Thomas Herring. He at once sent out to all parishes
an elaborate series of questions that he might acquaint
himself with their condition. Among the matters which
interested him was education ; he enquired as to the schools
in each parish ; whether the pupils were taught the catechism ;
whether they were brought to church as the canon required.
Replies came from 836 of the 903 parishes, covering the whole
county of Nottingham and the greater part of Yorkshire.
The incumbents were not all sure whether the query related
to public schools only ; perhaps the reference to the canon
added to the uncertainty. And this makes it worth while
to glance at the laws as to education.
In 1581 an Act was passed "which visited with a very
heavy and cumulative fine the employment of a schoolmaster
who did not frequent the parish church, or who did not hold
the bishop's licence to teach." This hit at both Roman
Catholics and Puritans. The canons of 1604 elaborated
the procedure, giving a preference as schoolmasters to beneficed
clergy, and if one so acted, giving him a monopoly in the
parish ; also they prescribed the grammar by Colet and Lyly.
The 1662 Act of Uniformity limited the keeping of public
or private schools to conformists, and expressly extended
the jurisdiction of the bishop to private tutors. This law
was hardly obeyed, and with 1689 most attempts to enforce
it died down.
In 1699 a charge was laid against Richard Scoryer for
keeping school at Wandsworth without a licence. Counsellor
King advised him that the canons of 1604 were of no force
against any but the clergy, unless confirmed by Parliament.
This view was upheld next year by the King's Bench and
henceforth schools for reading, writing, dancing, etc., needed
no licence ; the powers of the bishops extended only to grammar
schools. The Schism Act of 1714 tightened the screw, but it
was never put in force, and was repealed in five years. And
the Courts, where King was now Chief Justice, rising to be
214 Schools Within the Diocese of York in 1743
Lord Chancellor, required the most rigid proof of facts before
they would enforce any narrow law.
Thus, until 1779, Dissenters were indeed excluded from
posts in grammar schools, but otherwise were in practice
free to teach. Abundant illustrations have been published
of where and what they did teach in this period ; there were
many private schools, some for higher education, and a few
even worked under a permanent committee. But hitherto
no systematic survey has been generally known, such as
Archbishop Herring ordered for his diocese in 1743. As
the Yorkshire Archaeological Society has published the
replies in full, study for many purposes is now possible.
The first result is that in 836 parishes 482 schools of all
descriptions were reported. As some parishes, especially
in the towns, had more than one school, this means that
nearly 400 had none. The archbishop would see a wide
field for his energy.
In the great majority of cases the clergy reported that
the canons were being obeyed, that the children were brought
regularly to church, and that they were taught the catechism.
Grammar schools were of long standing. At York itself
one dated from the days of Paulinus, and it boasted of educating
Alcuin ; but it lived by fees, having only a meagre endowment
of £5. In the same ancient class were Beverley, Ripon,
Nottingham. Others of early date were Boroughbridge,
Bradford, Keighley, Normanton, Pickering, Pontefract,
Richmond, Romaldskirk, and Wollaton. In the thirteenth
century, Newark, Nottingham, Kinoulton, Topcliffe and
Helmsley had come to light ; in the next, Northallerton,
Tickhill, Grantham, Farburn, Doncaster, Durham, Crofton
and Howden. The dates are known for Thirsk, Rotherham
1483, Southwell re-founded in 1497, Giggleswick 1499, Owston
and Pocklington 1514, Retford 1518, Sedbergh 1525, Kneesall
1528. Despite all the dangers and changes under Edward VI,
many of these survived ; and indeed a new series opened
with Archbishop Holgate in 1546. He obtained licence to
found schools at York, Hemsworth, Malton. As there was
already the ancient grammar school at York, he offered a
better education, in Hebrew and Greek as well as Latin ;
he endowed it well, so that the teaching should be free ; and
he ordained that the master might be married or a layman.
His example was followed, as at Rotherham. Yet the total
in 1743 — 45 grammar schools only — is somewhat disappointing.
Schools Within the Diocese of York in 1743 215
Holgate indeed had set a new precedent, of a heavy endow-
ment, with no fees payable. The idea had proved acceptable,
though the area for free education was often defined. And
his wide curriculum was not usually imitated. But endowed
Free Schools were now an important class, and in 1743 no
fewer than 198 were reported. It would be interesting if
these were studied more closely, to note in what circum-
stances they were endowed. Archbishop Herring was not
thinking of origins, and did not enquire in that direction.
There was another class of endowed school, of the type
known to London by Christ's Hospital, and to Manchester
by Chetham's Hospital, where children received hospitality,
clothes and education. These were popularly known as
Charity Schools, and while some had their roots in the past,
a great fillip had been given to the class under James II,
and oven more by the S.P.C.K. furthering and promoting
" that good design of erecting catechetical schools " for " the
education of poor children in the knowledge and practice
of the Christian religion as professed and taught in the Church
of England " as well as of " teaching them such other things as
are most suitable to their condition. ' ' The annual reports show
that the chief thing was the catechism ; then followed reading ;
the master received 5s. a head for those who reached this
stage, with 10s. a head more when they could write and " cast
accompts." Much time was spent on making and mending
their own clothes. Such schools were known in this diocese,
but again it is surprising that only 52 were reported. And
it is not easy to understand from the returns how far these
were supported by permanent endowment, by local subscrip-
tion, or by grants from the S.P.C.K. Details are given only
in a few cases, as that one school had an endowment but
no scholars, and that elsewhere the recent death of a benefactor
foreshadowed the early closing of the school.
Many clergy stated plainly in their returns that these were
all the schools licensed, or public schools. It was not clear
whether the enquiry covered schools of every sort. And so
the information as to the remainder may not fully represent
the real state of the case.
However, 63 schools are reported where fees were taken,
and 113 more were mentioned as private. There does not
seem any obvious distinction between them. Some are
called by the old term " petty school," and of others it is
said that a poor man or a widow kept the school. At least
216 Schools Within the Diocese of York in 1743
it is easy to see that the 178 fee-paying schools compare
with the 198 endowed ; and it would be interesting to know
more of what they taught. A London advertisement of this
date offers arithmetic, algebra, Euclid applied to navigation,
geography, and astronomy, the use of globes and charts,
merchant accounts ; and there is a touch of superiority in
the offer to qualify for business *' youth from the publick
grammar schools.'* In 1775 at Catterick, for twelve guineas
a year boys were boarded and taught reading, writing, Latin,
Greek, French, arithmetic, navigation, mathematics, etc.
Of these private schools it has been pointed out that since
they were free from tradition and from supervision, they
were addicted to the subjects which were obviously useful ;
and that in particular they not only taught in English, but
laid great stress on reading and speaking correctly.
There is another group, schools kept by Dissenters. A
few clergy wrote of these rather petulantly, and we may surmise
that they might have ignored them had it not been for the
specific enquiry whether all scholars were catechized and
brought to church. It is obvious that the systematic work
of the Society of Friends, far the largest body in the diocese,
is quite unreported ; there is but a vague note that at Scar-
borough there were many schools unlicensed. Yet 14 schools
of this kind were specified, with the unexpected touches
that at Collingham the Baptists had endowed a school, that
at Sutton-in-Ashfield the Independents had endowed another,
and that at another place the Dissenting schoolmaster was
also the parish clerk.
Parish clerks are mentioned in eight other places as being
masters, public or private. At one place the minister had
remembered his preferential claim, and himself taught. In
one parish the church itself was used as the place of teaching.
These returns are valuable in another way. Water-power
in the Yorkshire dales was beginning to foster the great
development of machine industry which encouraged an
unexampled growth of population in the West Riding. This
necessitated a fresh growth of schools, which took place at
first by private enterprise, so that the historic grammar
schools and the newer endowed schools were gradually
submerged beneath the rising tide. Yorkshire slowly obtained
a name for cheap private establishments, which a century
later were caricatured as Dotheboys Hall. Before that
wave was spent, a new type of organization arose, on lines
Schools Within the Diocese of York in 1743 217
applied throughout the kingdom. The vicar of Catteriek
in 1765 started classes on Sunday for religious instruction ;
a Gloucester curate in 1780 used Sunday for schools free
to ragamuffins ; a Baptist deacon in London promptly urged
that every congregation should establish such schools ; on
the Pennines the curriculum was developed to include reading,
writing, and often summing. Such schools were soon helped
and guided by the Sunday Schools Society, then by the Sunday
School Union. Speedily there followed, for the six week-days,
the British and Foreign School Society, then the National
Society. These three Societies indicate how the nation
awakened to a sense of its obligation to the poor, and discharged
it widely, by voluntary effort. But in Herring's day neither
supply nor demand seems to have existed here. The returns
of 1743 give a useful picture of a time when the few remnants
of the medieval system were decaying in face of endowed
schools teaching in English on a newer pattern, and of private
schools whereof many deliberately sought to prepare for
the actual life ahead.
W. T. Whitley.
218
Rowland Hill and the Theatre.
[The enclosed copy of a broadsheet speaks for itself. It
is not clear who wrote the description with which it is
headed. Editor.]
THE following is a copy of a Bill, written by the late
Rev. Rowland Hill, which was stuck up at Richmond,
on Saturday, 4th June, 1774, close to the Play Bill
for that day. The design of this was to divert the
minds of the gay and dissipated from the vain amusements
of the Theatre, and to fix their attention to the awful circum-
stances which shall usher in and succeed " The Great and
Terrible Day of the Lord."
BY COMMAND OF THE KING OF KINGS, (a)
And at the Desire of All who Love His Appearing, (b)
AT THE THEATRE OF THE UNIVERSE, (c)
ON THE EVE OF TIME (d) WILL BE PERFORMED,
THE GREAT ASSIZE; OR, DAY OF JUDGMENT, (e)
THE SCENERY
Which is now actually preparing, will not only surpass
every thing that has yet been seen, but will infinitely exceed
the utmost stretch of human conception, (/) There will be a
just representation of all the Inhabitants of the World, in
their various and proper colours ; and their customs and
manners will be so exact, and so minutely delineated, that
the most secret thought will be discovered, (g)
" For God shall bring every Work into Judgment, with every
secret thing whether it be Good or whether it be Evil"
— Eccl. xii. 14.
"THIS THEATRE wiU be laid out after a new Plan, and
1 will consist of PIT and GALLERY only ; and contrary
to all others, the GALLERY is fitted up for the reception
of Persons of High (or Heavenly) Birth, (h) And Pit for those
of Low (or earthly) Rank, (i) N.B. — The Gallery is very
spacious, (k) and the Pit without bottom. (I)
Rowland Hill and the Theatre— A Broadsheet 219
To prevent inconvenience, there are separate Doors for
admitting the Company ; and they are so different, that none
can mistake that are not wilfully blind. The Door which
opens into the Gallery is very narrow, and the steps to it
somewhat difficult ; for which reason there are seldom many
people about it. (m) But the Door which gives entrance
into the Pit is very wide and commodious, which causes
such numbers to flock to it, that it is generally crowded, (n)
N.B. — The straight Door leads towards the right hand, and
the broad one to the left, (o) It will be in vain for one in a
tinselled coat and borrowed language, to personate one of
High birth, in order to get admittance into the upper places, (p)
for there is One of wonderful and deep penetration, who
will search and examine every individual ; (q) and all who
cannot pronounce Shibbolith (r) in the language of Canaan, (s)
or has not received a white stone and a new Name ; (t) or
cannot prove a clear title to a certain portion of the Land
of Promise, (u) must be turned in at the left hand Door, (iv)
The Principal Performers are described in /. Thess. iv. 10,
2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 9, Matth. xxiv. 30, 31 ; and xxv. 31, 32, Daniel
vii. 9, 10, Jude 14 to 19, Rev. xx. 12 to 15, &c. But as there
are some People much better acquainted with the contents
of a Play Bill, than the Word of God, it may not be amiss to
transcribe a verse or two for their perusal : —
" The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his
mighty Angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
obey not the Gospel," but, " to be glorified in his Saints, (x)
A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before him ; thousand
thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten
thousand stood before him ; the Judgment was set, and the Books
were opened, (y) And whomsoever was not found written in the
Book of Life, was cast into the Lake of Fire." (z)
ACT FIRST,
of this Grand and Solemn piece will be opened by
AN ARCHANGEL WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD ! ! !
" For the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead
shall be Raised."
ACT SECOND,
PROCESSION OF SAINTS,
In white, with Golden Harps, accompanied with Shouts of Joy
and Songs of Praise, (a)
220 Rowland Hill and the Theatre— A Broadsheet
ACT THIRD,
WILL BE
AN ASSEMBLAGE OF ALL THE UNREGENERATE. (b)
The Music will chiefly consist of Cries, (c) accompanied
with Weeping, Wailing, Mourning,
Lamentation, and Woe. (d)
TO CONCLUDE WITH AN ORATION BY
THE SON OF GOD
It is written in the 5th of Matthew, from the 31st verse to
the end of the chapter ; but for the sake of those who seldom
read the scriptures, I shall here transcribe two verses : —
" Then shall the King say to them on his Right Hand, ' Come
ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the World." Then shall he say
also unto them on his left hand, " Depart from me, ye cursed
into everlasting Fire, prepared (not, indeed, for you, but)
for the Devil and his Angels."
After which the Curtain will Drop.
Then ! 0 to tell !
John v. 28, 29 Some rais'd on high, and others doo'd
to hell !
Rev. v. 9. — xiv. 3, 4 These praise the Lamb, and sing re-
deeming Love,
Luke xvi. 22, 23 Lodg'd in his bosom, all his goodness
prove ;
xix. 14,27 While those who trampled under foot
his grace,
Matth. xxv. 30. 2 Thess. i. 9. Are banished now, for ever from
his Face.
Luke xvi. 26 Divided thus, a Gulf is fixed between,
Matth. xxv. 46 And everlasting, closes up the scene.
' Thus will I do unto thee, O Israel ; and because I will do
thus unto thee, prepare to meet thv God, 0 Israel." Amos iv. 12.
TICKETS for the PIT; at the" easy purchase of following
the vain pomps and vanities of the Fashionable World, and
the desires and Amusements of the Flesh ; (e) to be had at
every Flesh-pleasing Assembly. " If ye live after the flesh,
ve shall die." Bom. viii. 13.
TICKETS for the GALLERY, at no less rate than being
converted, (/) forsaking all (g) denying self, taking up the
Cross, (h) and following Christ in the Regeneration, (i) To be
Rowland Hill and the Theatre — A Broadsheet 221
had nowhere but in the Word of God, and where that word
appoints.
" He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And be not
deceived ; God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap." Matth. xi. 15.
Gal. vi.l.
N.B. No money will be taken at the door, (k) nor will any
Tickets give Admittance into the Gallery, but those sealed
by the Lamb.
" Watch, therefore, be ye also ready ; for in such an hour
as ye think NOT, the Son of Man cometh." Matth. xxiv. 44.
(a) Rev. xix. 16. 1 Tim. vi. 15. (b) 2 Tim. iv. 8. Titus ii. 13. (c) Rev. xx. 11.
Matth. xxiv. 27. (d) Rev. x. 6, 7. 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. (e) Heb. ix. 27. Jude
xv. Psalm ix. 7, 8. Rev. vi. 17. 2 Cor. v. 10. (/) 1 Cor. ii. 9. (g) Matth. xii.
36— xxv. 32. 1 Cor. iv. 5. Rom. ii. 12, 16. (h) John iii. 3, 5. i Peter i. 23.
Rom. viii. 14. (*) James iii. 14, 15. Rom. iii. 8. (Je) Luke xiv. 22. John xiv. 2.
(I) Rev. ix. 1, 2 ; xix. 20. (m) Matth. vii. 11. (n) Matth. vii. 15, etc. (o) Matth.
xxv. 31. (p) Matth. vii. 21-2-3 ; xxii. 11. {q) Psalm liv. 20-1. Jerem. xvi. 10.
2 Tim. ii. 19. John x. 14. (r) Judges xii. 6. (s) Isaiah xix. 18. Zeph. iii. 9.
(t) Rev. ii. 17. (u) 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Gal. iii. 29. Heb. ix. 1-8-9 (w) Heb. iii. 17,
18, 19. Rom. xiii. 9. Psalm ix. 17. (*) 2 Thess. i. 7, 10. Matth. xxiv. 31. (y) Dan.
vii. 10. (*) Rev. xx. 12, 15. (a) Rev. xiv. 2, 3 ; xv. 2, 3, 4. (6) Matth. xiii. 49, 50. ;
xxv. 32, 41. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. (c) Luke xxiii. 30 ; Psalm cxii. 10. Rev. vi. 16, 17.
(d) Luke xiii. 28 ; Matth. xiii. 49, 50 ; Rev. i. 7 ; Ezek. ii. 10. (e) James iv. 4 ;
1 John ii. 15, 16, 17. 1 Tim. v. 6. Eph. ii. 2, 3. (/) Matth. xvii. 3. Acts iii. 19 ;
viii. 18 to 24. (g) Luke xiv. 33 ; xviii 28 to 30. (h) Luke ix. 23 to 26 ; xiv. 27.
(») Matth. xix. 28, 29. (*) Acts viii. 18 to 24. (0 2 Cor. i. 22. Eph. i. 13, 14 ;
iv. 30. (m) Rev. vii. 3. Eph. iv. 30.
LEWIS & Co., Printers, 95, Burhill Row.
1 5
222
[Copy of a Leaflet.]
HUMBLE HOPE SOCIETY,
In Aid of Poor Itinerant Preachers in Country Villages.
Instituted October, 1821.
COMMITTEE.
Mrs. Ellmorb, 31, Bankside. Miss Ad am an, School of Industry,
Mrs. Joyce, North Street School, Dalston Lane.
Finebury. Miss Clark.
Mrs. Williamson, 3, Broad Street Miss Gibson, St. Helena Terrace, Spa
Buildings. Fields.
Mrs. Woodcock, St. Helen Terrace, Miss Henderson, Rose Street, Covent
Spa Fields. Garden.
Miss Hill, Homerton Working School,
Hackney.
Treasurer : — Mrs. E. Edwards, High Holborn
Secretary : — Mrs. Carter, Wormwood Street.
The Managers of the above Society, in urging its claims upon
your benevolence, are not insensible either to the numerous calls
now made on public charity, or to the excellency of their several
objects. They would, however, submit to your notice a statement
of the origin, design, and present efficiency of their particular
Institution, hoping that it will please Him from whom all good
things do come," to incline you to assist in carrying its important
object into effect.
The Society owes its origin to the mutual desire of a few friends
to evince their sense of obligation to a great and glorious Redeemer,
and in some measure to answer the inquiry arising in their hearts,
" What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward
us ? " — knowing that in His infinite condescension he " despiseth
not the day of small things." Their first contributions were of
the small sum of one penny per week ; and in the further prosecution
of their views, they proposed to receive any description of wearing
apparel, &c, which might be presented to them.
The design of the Society is, to assist, as far as their funds shall
enable them, poor Itinerant Preachers, of whose character, and
zeal in the cause of God, they may have received a favourable
report from Ministers and others. Of these worthy men there
are many labouring in the villages of our country, who receive
no support from any institution ; and when the circumstances
in life of an Itinerant Preacher — the hardships he is called to
endure — and the expenses necessarily attendant on his work, are
Humble Hope Society — A Leaflet 223
considered, surely such appear proper objects of our benevolent
assistance ; expecially if we ourselves " have tasted that the Lord
is gracious." Of the utility of such labourers no conception can
be formed, except by those who are acquainted with the state of
populous villages, sitting in spiritual darkness, and destitute of
the light of the Gospel of God. If any thing further need be said
in behalf of these evangelical Missionaries, let it be remembered
that they are frequently called on to provide for very large families ;
and that in their journeys from place to place in their Master's
work, they have frequently to encounter that severity of weather,
which, while it rapidly impairs their constitution, equally tends
to destroy their scanty clothing.
The present efficiency of the Society, and the seasonableness
of the relief it extends, form the strongest inducement for its
support. Of the appropriation of its funds, the following accounts
will inform its friends.
Mr. John Slatterie, of Marazion, in Cornwall, was the first
who derived benefit from it, being recommended to the Society
as one whose only inducement in preaching was the glory of
God, and the welfare of souls. Mr. S. is in the frequent habit of
going to villages 12 miles distant from his home, without any
other provision for the day than bread and a few cold potatoes,
his hearers being too poor either to buy food, or even candles to
light the place where they assemble. Various sums have been
remitted to him, amounting, together, to the sum of Twelve Pounds,
Nineteen Shillings ; besides a quantity of clothing for his family —
a wife and four children.
Mr. Edward Webber, of Mary's Island, Scilly, has been assisted
with a hamper of worn clothes, and Two Pounds in cash.
Mr. John Parkins has received One Pound.
Mr. Isaac Nichols, a most interesting character, nearly 60 years
of age, is in a truly affecting situation, as is shown in the following
extract from a letter, bearing date March 12th, 1824. " I have
not yet received the clothes ; they would be very acceptable to
me, as my pay is so very small, only Ten Pounds a year ; and I
have a wife and six children. The oldest child I now have (21 years
of age) is very much afflicted with dead fits once a month, and some-
times oftener. My wife has been afflicted 12 years with dreadful
wounds in her eyes, and was obliged at length to undergo an
operation of having silver pins let in each corner of her eyes. My
eldest son was drowned in a boat that upset with four young men
in it : he and another were lost." This poor man then proceeds
to describe the difficulties he undergoes. He is often drenched
with the sea in crossing from one to another of the Scilly Islands,
in small open boats, to preach to the poor inhabitants, having no
great-coat all the winter. He is often in danger of being drowned,
224
Humble Hope Society — A Leaflet
especially when he goes to preach on the Light-house Island in the
Western Ocean, where he is sometimes detained several days, no
boats being able to bring him off. Though to one so exercized with
poverty this is very distressing (having then to pay for lodging
and food), he is enabled, through the grace of God, to count all he
can do but little, for the love he bears to his divine Master, and
to the souls of those around him.
Mr. J. T. Jefferies, another faithful servant of his Lord, has
likewise been assisted by the Society with Four Pounds in cash,
and clothes for his family, consisting of a wife, and six children
under ten years of age. This is a very indefatigable labourer, who
has been engaged in the cause of Christ until his constitution is
materially broken.
There are other labourers who have been well recommended,
but whom the Society has not hitherto been able to relieve.
Having thus stated the commencement of the Society among a
few friends ; its object — that of assisting poor Itinerant Preachers ;
and the several instances in which its funds have been usefully
dispensed ; the Committee beg to state, in conclusion, that Sub-
scriptions and Contributions, from One Penny per week and
upwards, and Wearing Apparel of any description, however worn,
will be thankfully received, by
Mr. Williamson, Academy, 14, Bedford Street, Commercial Road.
Miss Hill, Homerton Working School, Hackney Grove.
Mrs. Kempster, Corner of White Hart Court, Bishopsgate Street.
Mrs. Henderson, 5, Rose Street, Covent Garden.
The Committee meet at Mr. Williamson's, 3, Broad Street
Buildings, on the first Monday after each Quarter-day, at Half-
past Six o'Clock in the Evening, when any friends who may wish
to be acquainted with the progress of the Society are welcome to
attend.
NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.
A da man, Miss
Arnel, Mr.
Baker, Mrs.
Bartlett, Mr.
Brand, Mr.
Carter, Mr.
Carter, Mrs.
Clarke, Mr.
Clarke, Miss
Davy, Miss
Edwards, Mrs.
Elmore, Mrs.
Fabian, Lieut.
Glass, Miss
Gibson, Mr.
Gibson, Miss
Gibson, Miss R.
Greirson, Miss
Greirson, Miss S.
Hale, Miss
Harding, S.
Harding, Anna
Harris, Mrs.
Hatfield, Mr. H.
Hatfield, Mr. G.
Henderson, Mrs.
Henderson, Miss G.
Hill, Mrs.
Hill, J.
Hill, Miss M.
Hill, Miss C.
Holloway, Mr.
Holloway, Mrs.
Joyce, Mrs.
Langley, Mrs.
Luis ham, Mrs.
Powell. Mrs.
Segar, Miss
Simpson, Mr.
Staples, Miss
Swan, Mr.
Swan, Mary
Webb, Mrs.
Webb, Master
Williamson, Mr.
Williamson, Mrs.
Woodcock, Mrs.
J. POWELL, Printer, Hand Court, Dowgate Hill.
225
George Cokayn.
THE subject of this study, George Cokayn, belonged to
a well-known family. He is said to have been descended
from the Judge, Sir John Cokayne, of Ashbourne,
Derby, whose son, Sir John Cokayne, of Bury Hatley,
Bedfordshire (afterwards called Cockayne Hatley) was Chief
Baron of the Exchequer in 1401. Chad Cokayn, of Cockayne
Hatley, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Luke, of
Cople, Bedfordshire ; George Cokayne, of Cotton End, in the
parish of Cardington, their third son, married Ann Plomer,
sister of the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, and their nine
children were baptized at Cople. There are so many Cokaynes
associated with Cople, Cardington, and Cotton End that it is
very difficult to be sure of the relationships.
George Cokayn, baptized at Cople on 16th Jan., c619,
was the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Cokayn, and in 1639
a George Cokayn took the degree of Bachelor of Arts at
Cambridge. Educated at Sidney Sussex College, he assisted
in compiling a Greek lexicon, and in 1646 first appeared in
London as a theologian, writing a preface to a volume by
Dr. Tobias Crisp, the eminent Calvinist. Two years later
Cokayn was minister of Pancras, Soper Lane, London, and
he became Chaplain to Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, M.P.
Cokayn was in charge of the most famous City church
during the Commonwealth. Three of the members became
Sheriffs of London and two Lord Mayors. The church stood
on the north side of Pancras Lane, and the chief entrance was
from Soper Lane, now Queen Street, Cheapside. Stow
mentions its " rich parishioners " and " liberal benefactors."
The church was erected in the 12th century, and had interesting
monuments and benefactions. Many important people had
been buried within its vaults — John Barnes, Mayor of London
in 1370, John Hadley, Mayor in 1379, John Stockton, Mayor
in 1470, and Richard Gardner in 1478. The Parsonage House
stood in the north-west corner of Pancras Lane, in Queen Street.
Under Cokayn 's ministry the small congregation he found
there increased in numbers and importance. Independency
became a fashion. Army officers, Ministers of State, Members
1 5 *
226 George Cokayn
of Parliament, and civic personages professed Independent
principles. Even when Cokayn was ejected, his congregation
remained loyal, and a few distinguished persons can be traced
in active co-operation with him from 1648 until their
deaths. The leading member was Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke,
" one of the most interesting as well as amiable characters of
the age in which he lived," a student at Oxford under the
direction of Laud, a Parliamentary leader, law reformer, who
fought with Hampden, and favoured liberty of conscience for
all Dissenters. Cromwell sought his counsel. Other members
were Alderman Robert Tichborne, Col. Rowland Wilson
(Alderman and Sheriff of the City of London), and John Ireton,
brother of Henry Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law. John Ireton
was a soldier who came into prominence near the close of the
Protectorate.
The church was lighted with candles, and servants and
apprentices protected rich members and tradesmen on their
adventurous journeys to church. The Prayer Book was not
used, but psalms were sung by the congregation, extempore
prayers given, and the sermon occupied the greater portion
of the time. Here was liberty of conscience, though doctrine
was Calvinistic.
On 29th Nov., 1648, George Cokayn, with another minister,
preached at St. Margaret's Church before the House of Com-
mons, on their " day of fast monthly." He addressed the
men who helped to rule England without a State Church,
a House of Lords, or a King, from Psalm 82, verses 6, 7, and 8,
pleading for freedom of religious worship. The service
occupied between three and four hours, and there were thirty-
two separate points in his sermon. He wore the Geneva gown
and bands, and his rich brown hair, parted in the centre,
flowed down in masses over his shoulders.
Later Col. Rowland Wilson expressed the thanks of the
House to Cokayn. On 18th Dec. the House asked Cokayn to
preach again, and this time his name was first on the Journals
of the House ; but he declined and was never asked again.
In 1649 Charles the First was executed. Tichborne attached
his name to the death-warrant, but Whitelocke abstained from
taking part in the trial.
Whitelocke's Diary for 1653 states that before he became
Ambassador to Sweden he went to Bedfordshire, and slept
at the house* of Mr. John Cokayn. George was a visitor to his
father's home, and Sir Bulstrode consulted him about Sweden,
George Cokayn 227
and later entrusted his family to Cokayn's care. On 23rd
Oct., 1653, Sir Bulstrode was commended in prayer by Cokayn
at his London church in the presence of a great congregation.
While in Sweden the Queen asked Sir Bulstrode to teach her
ladies of honour the English mode of kissing, and he did so
" most readily," to the great satisfaction of the ladies.
Cokayn, a leader of the Independents, forwarded his patron's
interests, and when Cromwell was appointed Protector during
Sir Bulstrode 's absence Cokayn advised him to return home,
as some wish " to make a Chancellor whilst you are absent."
Sir Bulstrode returned, having arranged a treaty with Sweden,
and was elected to Parliament for the City of Oxford, the
Borough of Bedford, and the County of Buckingham. At
the beginning of September every year he went to Bedford-
shire with a cast of hawks " ; his falconer, Abel, refused to
become Cromwell's falconer-in-chief except with his master's
permission.
In May, 1656, two of Sir Bulstrode's sons were brought
from school at Grandon to Mrs. Cokayn's house in Bedfordshire.
George Cokayn and his wife went into Bedfordshire and brought
up the boys with them to Chelsea. George Cokayn had
married Abigail Plott ; their three children were John, William
and Elizabeth.
In 1656 Sir Robert Tichborne was Lord Mayor of London,
and Pan eras Church was a civic centre. He was succeeded in
1658 by another member of Cokayn's congregation, Sir John
Ireton, another Lord Mayor knighted by Cromwell. It may
be interesting at this point to note that in 1657 John Cockayne,
of Cardington, was one of the " Commissioners for the publique
ffaith," appointed in 1657. "John Cockayne, Esq.," was one
of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Bedford in 1656-7.
The Bunyan Meeting Church Book for Dec, 1659, contains
the information that the Elders and Deacons were seeking
assistance for Bro. Burton (John Gifford was given the living
of St. John's Church, and Cromwell decided that John Burton
should be Gifford's successor) in caring for the Church and
preaching, and it was decided that letters be sent to Mr. Simson,
Mr. Jesse, and Mr. Cockin (the name appears in many forms,
Cockin, Cockayne, Cokayn) for their advice concerning " an
able godly man " to help Mr. Burton. On 25th May, 1660,
" it was ordered according to our agreement that our bro.
Bunyan be prepared to speake a word to us at the next Church
Meeting."
228 George Cokayn
At Newport Pagnell during the Civil War, Private John
Bunyan served under Sir Samuel Luke, of Cople, and from
1644-5 was in the Company of Lt.-Col. Richard Cokayn.
Bunyan very quickly became a prominent member of Gilford's
church, and was well known to Gifford and Burton. Elstow,
Cardington, Cotton End, Cople, and Bedford are close together,
and in those days the population was smaller, and the Inde-
pendents " were smaller still, and probably enjoyed a close
communion. It will be remembered that in 1672 a licence
was granted to John Whiteman, an Elder of the Bedford
church, to preach at George Cokayn's house at Cotton End.
In the Church Book, 1681, in Bunyan's handwriting, the
following entries appear : " That the several Meetings that
are upheld by the congregation, to witt, Bedford, Kempston,
Maiden, Cotton End, Edworth, and Gamblingay, be better
supplied " ; and " The Church of Christ in and about Bedford
to the Church of Christ walking with our beloved Brother
Cockain in London " recommends for fellowship Brother
William Breeden.
Cokayn was the preacher of Col. William Underwood's
funeral sermon in St. Stephen's, Walbrook, in Jan., 1658,
and at the gathering of the godly he predicted " the vengeance
of the Lord " and " a black and gloomy day."
Within eight months Cromwell died, and then confusion
followed. King Charles II, with protestations of religious
freedom, was welcomed by the ministers to London, and
Cokayn signed one petition. Independency fell, and Presby-
terianism and Episcopacy struggled for power. The King
showed his hand, and in May, 1660, Sir Robert Tichborne,
one of the late King's Judges, surrendered, and spent the
remainder of a long life in prison. Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke
was pardoned for his treasonable connection with the previous
Government upon payment of £50,000. He retired to Chilton
Lodge, Hungerford, Wiltshire.
Parliament passed a Bill calling upon ministers to submit
to re-ordination, and Cokayn left or was ejected from his
church. In 1660 his congregation was scattered to prison
and sorrow, and in 1660 Bunyan was cast into a Bedford
prison. The sources of our information are no longer Journals
of the House of Commons, but spy-books, prison records, and
statements of informers.
Cokayn continued to visit the houses of his people, and
after his ejectment preached in City churches under the
George Cokayn 229
pastoral care of his friends, for he was a famous preacher,
and was always zealous for God's work. The supporters
of the Stuarts petitioned for livings and preferments, and
ejected men were suspects. Episcopacy was re-established,
and its opponents were " fanatics.''
After the Fifth Monarchy rebellion, and the troubles caused
by Venner's party, there were severe measures against
" fanatics " and Independents as breeders of rebellion. George
Cokayn signed a minister's petition disavowing all sympathy
with Venner. Measures were instituted against Dissenters
serving in offices of trust and to secure uniformity of prayer.
Spies and informers abounded, and Dissenters were robbed
of home and property and put into prison.
On 30th Oct., 1661, information was given against " G.
Cokayn for holding weekly meetings at an alehouse in
Ivy Lane," and another information is dated 8th Dec.
In 1661 Cokayn was still living at the minister's house in
Soper Lane, after his ejectment, caring for his people. Sir
John Ireton (deprived of his title) was placed in the Tower,
and sent to the Scilly Isles ; and returning to London in 1664
was reported as a dangerous fanatic. Cokayn preached in
City men's houses, occasionally visited Bedfordshire, preaching
in a village near his native place, and at the country retreat
of Whitelocke.
In 1662 the Act of Uniformity shook the foundations of
civil life, and 2,000 clergy were ejected. In 1662 information
was again given against Cokayn. Spies multiplied, gaols
were filled, and on Sunday prisoners preached in turn from
behind iron rails to crowds of people who blocked up the
thoroughfares. In 1663 the emptiness of the churches in the
City was evident, and people had forgotten the responses in
the Book of Common Prayer.
A State Paper, dated 23rd Jan., 1664, contains the in-
formation of Matthew Morgan, of Carrington (Cardington) in
Bedford, yeoman : " On Sunday evening, about a fortnight
before Michaelmas last, Geo. Cokayn, of Soper Lane, London,
was preaching in Mr. John Cokayn's house in Cardington.
There were twenty present. The preacher prayed for those
in prison ' for the Gospel sake.' " Several times last summer
the informant had heard Cokayn pray and preach against
the Government, and " about May last at the same place
Cokayn said the old King deserved to be beheaded."
At that time John Bunyan was in Bedford Gaol, and George
230 George Cokayn
Cokayn, visiting his home, was conducting services. Cokayn
may have visited Bunyan in prison (everything is in favour
of such a suggestion), and told him of conditions in the Metro-
polis. Cokayn returned to London and was soon apprehended,
and it has been suggested that his arrest had some connection
with his visit to Bunyan ; he was released on bail, the bond
{£200 by two London merchants) being in the State Paper
Office, dated 1st March and signed George Cokayn : it is the
only handwriting of his that now exists.
In 1664 the plague appeared, and as many of the newly-
appointed clergy fled, the old ejected ministers returned to
carry on their work. On 5th Aug. Cokayn preached to
about 200 persons in Mr. Blake's house, Covent Garden, when
many of li the quality " were present. The informer of this
service in the heart of a plague-stricken district described
Cokayn as a " Fifth-Monarchy man." The next information
describes a meeting of Fifth-Monarchists and those of Cokayn's
church at Cokayn's house, Soper Lane, on 26th Oct., 1664 ;
and he is mentioned again on 25th Sept., 1666.
There was a movement to unite the ejected Presbyterians
and Independents, for persecution had brought these two
great Separatist sections closer together ; but nothing happened.
The Great Fire of 1666 cleansed the City of plague, and
destroyed Cokayn's church, leaving only a few table tombs
in the churchyard. The church was never rebuilt, and the
parish of Pancras was added to another. Warehouses
now cover the site. The people flocked out of London to
Islington, Highbury, and Newington, and Cokayn was kept
busy. The Bishop of London took forcible possession of
several conventicles in Red Cross Street, that the clergy
might have temporary places in which to preach.
Persecution revived, but in 1671 John Moore, a former
member of Cokayn's church, was elected Sheriff of London,
and Cokayn enjoyed immunity from serious trouble. In
March, 1672, Charles II suspended the Conventicle and Five
Mile Acts, and licensed preachers and preaching places. Some
seven or eight hundred applications are preserved.
John Bunyan applied for a house in Josiah Roughead's
orchard, and on one particular sheet are these entries : Mr.
James Pearson, of the Congregational persuasion, at the
house of Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, at Chilton Lodge,
Wiltshire (Congregational), Mr. John Whiteman, at the house
of Mr. George Cokayn, at Cotton End, in the parish of
George Cokayn 231
Cardington, in Bedfordshire. (Congregational), Mr. George
Cokayn, at his own house in Red Cross Street, London. Pray
deliver these to Nathaniel Ponder (the friend of John Owen,
and publisher of The Pilgrim's Progress).
In London at that time country lanes extended from Red
Cross Street to Bunhill Fields, and the congregation used
the minister's home as a meeting house — as the Pilgrim
Fathers did at Ley den. A spy-book gives us some of Cokayn's
neighbours : Dr. John Owen, and Dr. Goodwin, for Red Cross
Street, Barbican, the Artillery Ground, and Bunhill lanes
were then thickly occupied by conventicles. In 1672 there
was a regular congregation at Cokayn's house, but from
1672-1688 no trace has been found of Cokayn's work, though
he would be active in his duties, in visiting the prisons, and
in giving refuge to persecuted ministers. During that period
Papists were persecuted rather than Dissenters, but during
the reign of James II Dissenting preachers were styled
M itinerants and wanderers," and Cokayn's life was full of
peril.
In 1687 a Declaration of Indulgence gave a new impetus
to the Dissenters, and Red Cross Sreet Stocking Weavers' Hall
was probably hired for Cokayn's congregation.
Bunyan's immortal work came from the prison on Bedford
Bridge, 1675-6. Bishop Barlow of Lincoln ordered Bunyan's
release in 1676. He was inspired by John Owen, for Barlow
had been Owen's Tutor at Queen's College, Oxford. " A
friend of this poor man " (Bunyan) pleaded with Dr. Owen
to use his influence with the Bishop. Was that unknown
friend Cokayn ? There are many reasons for believing that
he was Bunyan's angel. Owen became interested in Bunyan,
and when the Tinker went to London to seek a publisher
for the story of Christian it was Owen's publisher, Nathaniel
Ponder, in the Poultry, near Cornhill (very close to Cokayn's
old church at Pancras, Soper Lane) who displayed the first
best seller, The Pilgrim's Progress, at the Sign of the Peacock.
Cokayn might well have been the link between Bunyan and
Owen, and the key that unlocked London's door for the
Bedford preacher.
" Our beloved Brother Cockaine " was to be Bunyan's
comforter in death, as well as his helper in life.
On a wet August night in 1688, John Bunyan, drenched
to the skin in his ride from Reading, came to the house of John
Strudwick, grocer, at the sign of the Star, Snow Hill, Holborn
232 George Cokayn
Bridge. On 19th August, 1688, Bunyan preached his last
sermon (the text being John i. 13) at Mr. Gamman's meeting
house near Whitechapel ; and during his illness he found
sanctuary in Strudwick's home. George Cokayn was Strud-
wick's pastor and Bunyan's friend, and he tells us of the
constancy and patience with which Bunyan met his last
sufferings before he followed his pilgrim • from the City of
Destruction to the New Jerusalem." On his deathbed
Bunyan partly revised his last book— The Acceptable Sacrifice,
or The Excellency of a Broken Heart — and Cokayn finished
the task. This last work of " that eminent preacher and
faithful minister of Jesus Christ, Mr. John Bunyan " has a
preface by George Cokayn (21st Sept., 1688) " an eminent
Minister of the Gospel in London," and Cokayn hopes that
" what was transcribed out of the author's heart into the book
may be transcribed out of the book into the hearts of all who
shall read it." It is quite possible that Cokayn introduced
Bunyan into these influential London circles where he gained
such fame as a preacher. The Lord Mayor, Sir John Shorter,
was one of his constant hearers, for Cokayn was famous when
Bunyan was a village lay-preacher. If the Dying Words of
John Bunyan are in any way genuine, Strudwick or Cokayn
would be responsible for preserving them.
Bunyan died on 31st Aug., 1688, having enjoyed the
ministries of his " lifelong friend " George Cokayn, in Strud-
wick's home ; the funeral service at Bunhill Fields would
inevitably be conducted by Cokayn. The body was laid to
rest in Strudwick's own vault, and the tomb to-day is one
of our national shrines.
The trial of the seven Bishops, the flight of James, and the
coming of William and Mary brought religious toleration,
which Cokayn was able to enjoy. He was 71 years old before
his church thought of a successor. Paralysed in the lower
limbs, he was carried in a chair and preached on Sunday.
The church invited John Nesbitt, who had also suffered for his
faith, to assist the veteran.
Tichborne, Whitelocke, Milton, and Bunyan were all dead.
Milton died in 1674 at a house in Bunhill Row and was buried
in the church of St. Giles, which stands at the bottom of Red
Cross Street. Cokayn may have attended the service, for
they were near neighbours before the Plague broke out.
Cokayn lived to see his appeal to the members of the House
of Commons for religious and civil liberty answered. He
George Cokayn 233
enjoyed a ministry to a large, unified, and active congregation,
and gained many valuable personal friendships.
" One cold winter night, Nov. 21st, 1691," the Rev. George
Cokayn, aged 72, passed away. He had spent 42 years with
the same congregation. They met at Stocking Weavers' Hall,
Red Cross Street, on Friday for the funeral, and the burial
register of the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, has
this entry : " November 27, George Cockaine, gent., aged,
Tindall's." He was buried at TindalTs ground, or Bunhill
burial fields, but the site is unknown. Bunyan and Cokayn
were Bedfordshire boys, and in their death and burial they
were not divided.
Cokayn had three children : John Cokayn, of Cotton End,
who died unmarried ; William Cokayn, of Cotton End, citizen
and grocer of London (Strudwick's influence may be responsible
for his career) ; and Elizabeth, who married Thomas Lutnam,
citizen and haberdasher of London. Cokayn's will was
dated 11th April, 1691, and it was proved on 9th May, 1695.
An elegy in his honour begins with this tribute :
What, still more breaches ! Is Cokayn dead ?
Who was so desirous the Gospel should be spread.
On the list of church members we read : " Sister Cokaine,
Deceased " but no date is given ; her will was proved on
26th April, 1697.
The Red Cross Street Meeting migrated to Hare Court, the
land having been chosen by George Cokayn, and in 1692 the
Hare Court Church was opened for worship. In 1696 John
Strudwick's name appeared first on the list of Deacons, and
he died on 15th Jan., 1697, aged 43 years, and was laid to
rest in his own vault, where Bunyan's body was buried. His
daughter, Phoebe, died on 15th July, 1718, and her husband,
the Rev. Robert Bragge, who died on 12th Feb., 1737, were
also interred in the same vault.
John Strudwick subscribed £5 to the fund for building
the Tilehouse Street Chapel, Hitchin, which was established
mainly by Bunyan's influence.
In 1772 a larger church was erected at Hare Court, when
Aldersgate Street was on the verge of the open country of
Islington, with a genteel though not fashionable population.
In 1857 the Hare Court Church moved to St. Paul's Road,
Canonbury, London, N.l ; and in 1870, with Dr. Alexander
234 George Cokayn
Raleigh as minister, there were 997 members, and the annual
income amounted to £8,000. Subsequent ministers included
the Rev. Henry Simon, the Rev. Dr. Lawson Forster, the
Rev. H. Elvet Lewis, and the Rev. Dr. Charles Leach. The
Raleigh Memorial, Stamford Hill, and Highbury Quadrant
Churches in London all originated from the Hare Court Church.
The vestry still possesses an excellent oil painting of Cokayn.
The communion plate, perhaps the oldest service of plate
of any Dissenting church in London, comprised four silver
dishes with coats of arms, presented by Sir Bulstrode White-
locke, and one cup with the arms of Sir Robert Tichborne — a
parting gift to Cokayn ? Another cup was probably Sir
Bulstrode's gift. The lips which touched these cups " moved
in prayer at the deaths of Cromwell, Milton, and Bunyan,"
but this silver communion set of seven plates and six large
cups was sold for £2,000 when the church suffered financial
difficulties.
Dr. John Brown supposed that George Cokayn was respon-
sible for the well-known description of Bunyan's personal
appearance, as well as for the tribute to his character and
ability. When minister of Bunyan Meeting I was indebted
to Cokayn's successor, the Rev. Robert Anderson, for interesting
information, and especially for the loan of The Story of Hare
Court, by J. B. Marsh, the chief source of the information
contained in this study.
On 31st Aug., 1928, it was my privilege to give the
Tercentenary address from Bunyan's tomb in BunhiU Fields,
and George Cokayn, the forgotten Bedfordshire man, was
remembered as the friend who comforted Bunyan as he went
down into the River of Death — a Hopeful for Christian.
Since then I have made my way from the Metropolitan
Railway at Aldersgate, along the street past Barbican to
Hare Court, to find the chapel, now occupied by Messrs.
Machin and Kingsley, Ltd., 5, Hare Court, the pillars at the
entrance suggesting a Nonconformist place of worship. Red
Cross Street is about 400 yards away.
The present site of Cokayn's famous Commonwealth Church
is almost covered. Pass out of Queen Street, Cheapside, with
the Guildhall away on the left, and Queen Victoria Street on
the right, and enter Pancras Lane. On the left is a garden
plot, with a central oval garden containing two tall trees, and
another garden plot with three prominent tombs — all that
escaped the Great Fire. There is a commemorative tablet
George Cokayn 235
on the wall — " Site of St. Pancras Church. Destroyed in the
Great Fire, 1666," and on the iron gate is an iron tablet dated
1886 — St. Pancras, Soper Lane. Down the lane and on the
left there is another fragment, with a tablet to remind us of
yet another church that was destroyed in the Great Fire.
Pancras Lane emerges into Queen Victoria Street, with a view
of the Royal Exchange and Mansion House. Not far away
is the Grocers' Hall and the Poultry, where Nathaniel Ponder
first issued The Pilgrim's Progress at the Sign of the Peacock.
There are memories of Cokayn, Bunyan, Strudwick — John
Newton and Dr. Joseph Parker — associated with that great
centre of London life.
C. Bernard Cockett.
236
Congregationalism in Ashburton
(Continued from page 192.)
Two short pastorates followed the vacancy. Benjamin
Byrom was a native of Boston, and a student at Hoxton. His
first pastorate was somewhere in Lincolnshire ; he came to
Ashburton in 1829, and after about a year and a half went to
Newport, Mon. , where he died. Next came John Knight Field,
a native of Devon, and student of Western College. He was
ordained at Ashburton in 1830, but left in 1833. He also
joined the State Church. He ended his days at Manchester.
William Pollard Davis was a native of Coventry, and a
student at Hoxton. He had already held pastorates at
Crediton, London, Plymouth, Penryn, and Falmouth when
he came to Ashburton in 1833. He remained till 1844, but no
specially interesting incidents of his ministry are on record.
He removed to London, afterwards to Cawsand in Cornwall,
and died at Leamington on 13 March, 1872, at the age of
eighty- two.
There was another vacancy of nearly two years ; then James
Anstis Roberts came from Warminster in July, 1846, and left
in July, 1847. He afterwards went to America.
A young man followed who afterwards attained to consider-
able eminence. This was Samuel Hebditch, a native of South
Petherton, Somerset, and student at Highbury. He came to
Ashburton on 9 April, 1848, and was ordained on 5 October
following. Edw. Paltridge of S. Petherton offered the ordina-
tion prayer, J. H. Godwin of Highbury College gave the charge,
and Dr. Alliott, Ebenezer Jones of Plymouth, John Pyer of
Devonport, and W. Spencer of Devonport took part in the
service. The ministry of Mr. Hebditch was attended with a
large measure of success. In 1850 the school buildings were
erected. In April, 1 857 , a public census was taken of attendance
at all places of public worship ; the report for the Congregational
Church at Ashburton was — sittings available, 640 ; attendance,
morning 200 adults and 64 children ; evening 360 adults and
30 children. (It may be noted that while the statement of
attendance rested on actual enumeration, the number of sittings
was in many cases a mere estimate, and was often much
exaggerated. This was probably the case at Ashburton, as the
present number of sittings reported in the Year Book is 450. x)
Mr. Hebditch removed to Ebenezer Chapel, Woolwich, in
1 In 1900 it was given as 600.
Congregationalism in Ashburton 237
April, 1853. He was subsequently at Arley Chapel, Bristol,
and Clapton, London ; and finally went to Adelaide, South
Australia, where he died in 1888, at the age of sixty-seven.
Nathaniel Parkyn was a native of Cornwall. His first
pastorate was at Exmouth, which he resigned on account of
ill-health about 1850 or 1851. After two years at Totnes he
came to Ashburton in June, 1853. Again failure of health
constrained him to relinquish in May, 1858. After living for
some time at Newton he accepted a call to Dartmouth, but a
third time ill-health compelled his resignation, and he passed his
latter days at Torquay, where he died in 1888.
Marcus Hopwood, who went out from Western College in
1843, and had ministered at Thatcham (Berks.) and Harwich,
came to Ashburton in 1 859, and left in August, 1 863. He died in
1887.
John Gibson, from Australia, came to England on account
of his wife's health, and ministered at Ashburton for a few
months in 1864-65. The object of his coming not being
attained, he returned to Australia.
Mention is made of a Mr. Lockwood, " an elderly gentlemen,'*
who " was here about a year " prior to 1867. He does not
seem to have held a regular pastorate.
In January, 1867, Andrew Cooke Moorman, a native of
Devonport, and student of Western College, came from
Appledore. He was at Ashburton about fourteen years.
In 1875 a new organ was purchased, and the old pulpit replaced
by a modern rostrum ; and three years later the roof was re-
slated, the timbers of 1792 being found to be perfectly sound.
Mr. Moorman left in March, 1881. He afterwards held a
pastorate at Stonehouse in Gloucestershire, and died at
Plymouth in 1902, aged sixty-nine.
Thomas Nevitt Oliphant had ministered for two years at
Prees, Salop ; and about six years at Nelson in Lancashire.
His public recognition at Ashburton was on 15 June, 1882,
when a new pulpit Bible was presented, subscribed for by the
young people. In the following year the trustees acquired
the freehold of the schoolroom and yard, and added a vestry,
classroom, and offices ; and in 1892 there was " a thorough
renovation and improvement of the premises." Mr. Oliphant
resigned in June, 1895, having been invited to Kirkstall, Leeds.
Harry Jas. Barton Lee, a student of Western College, was
ordained at Ashburton in 1896 ; removed to Exeter (Heavitree)
in August, 1900. [Now, 1935, at Redhill.]
1 6
238 Congregationalism in Ashburton
Samuel Naish, M.A., LL.D., who was formerly in the
Wesleyan ministry, held the pastorate for about two years
from March 1901. He then went to Exeter (Friernhay), and
subsequently attached himself to the Free Church of England.
James Cullen Hodge came from Wensleydale to Ashburton
in 1904, and removed in 1909 to Lenham in Kent, whence he
retired in 1911. During his ministry at Ashburton the Manse
was purchased, while on 17th November, 1915, during the
pastorate of the Rev. Frank Edward Harker (moved to Swindon
1917) the 250th Aniversary of the Church and the centenary
of the Sunday School were celebrated. Mr. E. Windeatt,
J.P., who presided at the meeting then held, read a sketch of
the church's history, from which a great part of the fore-
going narrative is derived ; and a number of portraits and
other pictures relating to the said history were presented.
It is to be regretted that Ashburton has shared the numerical
decline that has affected most towns of a similar class ; the
official statistics for 1900 are 45 church members, 170 Sunday
scholars, and 15 teachers; while those for 1916 are 35 church
members, 110 Sunday scholars, 16 teachers and two lay
preachers. Mention is made in the Year Book of 1916 of an
outstation at Watergate, commenced in 1837, where there is
accommodation for 100 hearers, a small Sunday School of
12 children, and 5 church members. T. G. Crippen.
The returns in the Year Book of 1934 are church members,
37 (and 7 at Watergate), 60 scholars, 9 teachers, 2 lay preachers.
Subsequent ministers have been J. P. Hocking, 1918-1923,
W. Henrik Jones, 1926-1932, and H. F. Hawkes, 1933—.
On the 20th October, 1934, the Rt. Hon. L. S. Amery, P.C.,
M.P., unveiled the Memorial Window to Peter Fabyan
Sparke Amery and John Sparke Amery, who very largely
lived for the Old Independent Meeting, Ashburton. Unhappily
many of the old records seem to have perished with them.
The window is said to date back to 1610, and has for its
subject the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple. It
is being inserted at the back of the pulpit, in an original wall
of the old building, just above and partly coincident with the
old blocked-up doorway made for the escape of the minister
in earlier days. We cannot trace from what church building
the window originally came, but it is rounded after the Norman
style — all we know is that it was bought by public subscription
in 1800, the then Duke of Cambridge being one of the
subscribers, and it was insured for £1,000. H. F. H.
239
Benson Free Church.
ON 25th Nov., 1934, the Benson Free Church celebrated its
hundredth birthday. It is true that the present chapel
dates from 1879 only, and that at that time a new deed of
membership was adopted, which put the Church upon a
different basis ; but there is a real continuity between the Free
Church, which then came into existence, and the Congregational
Church, from which it sprang.
Nonconformity seems to have originated in Benson in about
1785, when a Mrs. Pricket opened her house for religious services.
At first preaching was only occasional, but in 1799 the Congrega-
tional minister at Wallingford, the Rev. Joseph Griffiths, began
to preach regularly in the building, which is now used by the
Methodists, and which was then first fitted up as a chapel. A
few years later the Nonconformists opened the first Sunday School
in Benson. Until 1834 the pulpit was occupied sometimes by
the minister at Wallingford, sometimes by supplies obtained by
the people at Benson. In this year the people decided to form
themselves into a Congregational Church and to call to the pastoral
office Mr. William Oram, a Hackney College student, who for
some years had lived in the village and preached regularly in the
chapel. Accordingly, on 25th Nov., 1834, a service was held, in
which the Congregational and Baptist ministers at Wallingford
both took part, and at which, after partaking in the Lord's Supper,
Mr. Oram, his wife (formerly a Miss Burgis) and sixteen other
persons mutually entered into a " covenant engagement." By
the signing of this covenant, which was of the simplest nature,
and by which the members " gave themselves to each other in
the fellowship of the Gospel," the Church came into existence.
It is of local interest to note that five of the original sixteen, apart
from Mrs. Oram, were of the family of Burgis. On 1st Jan., 1835,
Mr. Oram was ordained, and he remained the minister of the
Church until his death in 1849.
From this date onwards the services appear to have been regularly
conducted by the Revs. William Harris, C. M'C. Davies and G. T.
Carr, successive ministers at Wallingford.
It was on hearing that Mr. Carr was about to leave Wallingford,
that, in January, 1878, the Church at Benson decided to sever its
connexion with Wallingford and once again to have a minister
of its own. The leaders in the new enterprise, which involved
the building of a new and larger chapel and the drawing up of a
240 Benson Free Church
fresh deed of membership to embrace Free Churchmen of all
denominations, included John Burgis, who had become a member
of the Church in Mr. Oram's time, William Littleboy, and William
Pettit. The new building was opened on 2nd April, 1879, and
the Rev. Charles Williams of Shepherd's Bush was invited to
become the minister. The call was accepted, and on 29th May
of the same year the deed of membership was signed by Mr. Williams,
the three gentlemen mentioned above, and fourteen other persons,
of whom one, Martha Lewendon, was a signatory of the original
covenant of forty-five years before.
Mr. Williams spent twenty-three years at Benson, " where he
really became doctor, dentist, lawyer and surgeon to his people "
{C.Y.B., 1921, Obit. Notice). Since his removal to Nettlebed in
1901, with the exception of short periods during which the Revs.
W. E. Rix and E. Legg resided as ministers, and Dr. C. J. Cadoux
acted as a regular supply, the Church has been in the charge of
Student-Pastors from Mansfield College, Oxford. Among the
names of past Student-Pastors are the Revs. H. Gamble, S. M.
Berry, W. E. Rix, B. A. Yeaxlee, T. S. Taylor, A. Gaunt, C. H. Dodd,
W. S. Bradley, B. R. H. Spaull, N. A. Turner-Smith, and N. Goodall.
The present Student-Pastor is the compiler of these notes. We
are happy to have still with us as our oldest Church member Miss
Emma Burgis, to whose family the Church has always owed so much.
Geoffrey F. Nuttall.
Copy of Licence.
These are to Certify whom it may Concerne that at the
Consistory Court kept & held at S* Asaph this 2d Day of
September 1725. The Now Dwelling house of Mr John
Kenrick in the Parish of Rhuabon & county of Denbigh was
certify*, & Designed to be made use of for the exercise of
Religious Worship by Protestant Dissent™ According To the
Direction of a statute made in the First year of their M.Btys
Reigne K. William & Queen Mary, and the sd Certificate was
Registred in the Registry of the Consistory Court of S* Asaph
the Day & year above mentioned
Hy Hughes N.P.
Regtm Deptum
EDITORIAL.
WE are glad to note that the Baptist Historical Society
has shown its warm appreciation of the long and
distinguished services of its Editor, Dr. W. T.
Whitley. Dr. Whitley's devotion to historical
study has long been an inspiration, and not to Baptists only.
We trust he will long be able to draw upon his stores to the
enlightenment and profit of many students. This recognition
coincides with the publication by our sister Society of a
facsimile reprint of Thomas Helwys's Mister y of Iniquity.
The Annual Meeting of the Society was held on 15 May,
under the chairmanship of the President, Dr. Grieve, who
received the hearty congratulations of the Society on his
election to the Chair of the Congregational Union of England
and Wales. The officers were re-elected, with thanks for their
services, and members then settled down to a discussion of the
future policy of the Society. The Rev. A. G. Matthews out-
lined a scheme whereby the Society should sponsor and guide
research, the results of which should be communicated at
Meetings and, where feasible, in the Transactions. He pointed
out that it was difficult to obtain a representative attendance
of members and others during the crowded weeks of the
Annual and Autumnal Meetings of the Congregational Union,
and that it was embarrassing when a speaker from without was
confronted by a meagre audience. He suggested that at least
one meeting a year should have for its main purpose the
receiving from members of the Society of the fruits of their
researches. It was generally felt that this suggestion was
wise and timely, and Mr. Matthews agreed to act as " Research
Organizer." Members who desire to co-operate in research
should communicate directly with him at Farmcote, Oxted,
Surrey, or with the Editor. Meanwhile Mr. Matthews suggests
that a start might be made at the next meeting of the Society
by discussing "Dr. Johnson and Nonconformity " — what he
said about Nonconformity and what Nonconformists said
▲
1 6 *
242 Editorial
about him. Any contributions on this subject will be welcome.
It may be possible to develop this policy by arranging
groups for co-operative research in different localities or on
special periods or subjects. Mr. Matthews will have his own
suggestions for a group ; there is a possibility of work in Oxford
on Nonconformity in Oxford (communicate with Mr. G. F.
Nuttall, B.A., Mansfield College, Oxford) ; and the Editor has
many side-lines connected with the history of the Colleges
which went to constitute Hackney and New College, London.
* * * *
It has been decided to hold the next meeting of the Society,
not at Brighton during the Union Meetings, but in the Students'
Room at the Memorial Hall, London, on November 20th at
4.15 p.m., when many members from the Provinces have to be
in London.
* * * *
With increased activity in research must go strenuous efforts
to extend the Society's list of members. Other denominational
Societies have larger memberships and, sometimes, denomina-
tional grants. The Balance Sheet (see p. 288) discloses the
fact that our Balance in Hand is now exhausted. The only
alternative to an increased income is to reduce the number of
issues of the Transactions to one a year, which we should be
very loth to do.
* * * *
It is encouraging to note that historians of local churches
have been particularly busy. Among histories that have
reached us are Mr. N. Willett Bocock's The Abbey Lane Con-
gregational Church, Saffron Walden, 1665-1833, Mr. W. J.
Brain's Broad St. Chapel, Beading, 1662-1912, the Rev. H.
Cunlifife- Jones's The History of Witney Congregational Church,
1662-1935, and Dr. John Stevens's Chronicles of Claylands
Congregational Church, 1835-1935. Work is in progress on the
records of Lion Walk, Colchester, and Sherwell, Plymouth.
We should be glad to receive copies of all local church histories
as they are published. Where they are not printed we com-
mend the example of Mr. F. G. Davies, of Reigate, who has
had his very full account of the history of the Reigate church
(1662-1932) typed and bound and deposited in the Con-
gregational Library.
A history of Congregationalism in Sussex is also in
preparation; Material should be sent to the Rev. W. C.
Chisholm and the Rev. W. Silver.
243
The Lollard Movement after 1384 :
its characteristics and continuity.
THE Lollard Movement is one of which it is surprisingly
difficult to obtain a convincing grasp. After the
death of Wyclif in 1384 the Lollards had no scholar
or theological leader amongst them ; Hereford recanted,
as did Purvey , who, like the Wyeliffite party which trickled
on at Oxford,1 seems to have shown- no fresh initiative, once
his translator's work was done. So also, after the death of
Oldcastle in 1417, no nobleman or political leader appears
to support the movement. It tends to become vague and
intangible, and
effugit imago
par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.
Something of the characteristics of the movement, however,
one may certainly recover, and my object in this paper is
first to suggest the nature of these characteristics, and then to
consider some of the evidence for the continuity of the move-
ment through the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
It is a historical as well as a philosophical judgement that an
ever-recurring fundamental ground of division between the
Roman Catholic Church and heretical sects has been the
question of the seat of authority in religion. In Christianity
as a whole the question may be answered in one of three ways ;
authority may be found in the Church, the Bible, or the self.
Each of these may be subdivided : the Church may be the
Church as represented by the local priest, by tradition, by
the Pope, or by a General Council ; the Bible may be taken as
a whole, or especial authority may be found in parts of it, or
in the wore** of Jesus alone ; the authority of the self may be
thought of as dependent on the supernatural enlightening
of the self by the Holy Spirit, on the universal but still God-
given gift of reason, or finally on reason in itself, as the possession
of man in his own right. The attitude which we adopt towards
the Reformation and towards the history of Protestantism
1 See A. B. Emden, An Oxford Hall in Mediaeval Times, c. 5.
244 The Lollard Movement after 1384 :
depends very much on the side we support in this controversy
of authority ; according to our decision we shall condemn the
Reformation as mistaken or arrogant, praise it as the Golden
Age in Christianity, or regard it as but the beginning of a
movement towards freedom, a freedom which, through the
clinging power of tradition, it could not itself immediately
attain. Whatever be our attitude, however, the fact would
seem to be that at the Reformation, the authority of the
Church (as then constituted) was denied, the authority of
the Bible asserted, and the authority of the self, in experience
and in reasoning, foreshadowed. What of the Lollards ?
The outstanding characteristic of the Lollards is their
attitude to the Bible. Of this practically everything else in
their movement may be said to be an outcome. It is useless
to look among them for any direct foreshadowing of the
authority of the self, even as directly inspired by God, unless
it be in the implications of Wyclif 's doctrine of dominion
by grace, which, in any case, his followers never worked out.
The Lollards provide no parallel to the Strassburg Anabaptist
who asked, " meinst du doss mein Geist sich nach dem Maas
des Paulus einschranken miisse t *n The Lollards would have
been at one with the orthodox in condemning any such humanist
arrogance ; to them the part played by the human spirit in
selecting and interpreting Biblical passages was not apparent.
Reginald Pecock alone dared to exalt the doom of human
reason " as the final authority, and he, though he suffered
bitterly for the heresy of it, had intended it as an argument
against the Bibliolatry of the Lollards. For bibliolaters
they were in the full later sense. Just as to the Puritans
Rome is the " daughter of Babylon," " the great whore sitting
upon many waters," and the Pope is discovered to have the
number of the Beast, in that the letters of the words Dux Cleri,
when considered as Roman numerals (dclxvi),2 add up to 666.
In fact the Lollards even advanced to a Biblical casuistry,
which allowed them to answer the question In ecclesiam credis ?
in the affirmative, on the ground that they believed in them-
selves, whose bodies were the temples of God.3
Yet, without intending it, they did lay foundations for
the later claims of reason. The Lollards, like the Apostles,
1 Adam, Evangdische Kirchengeschichte der Stadt Strassburg, p. 1171, as cited by
Courvoisier, La Notion d'Eglise chez Bucer, p. 6, n. 4.
2 Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wycliffe.
3 Clark, Lincoln Dio. Documents (E.E.T.S.).
its characteristics and continuity 245
were unlearned and ignorant men ; as Trevelyan points out,
this was less their own fault than that of their persecutors,
who made it a crime to read or possess Lollard books or to have
a Lollard school. This meant the complete detachment of
some of the most alive religious people in the country from the
orthodox scholastic tradition. Instead of the learned and
ideal arguments advanced by Wyclif, with their basis in
academic tradition, a rough horse-sense appeared in the
forefront of apologetic, not sufficiently self-conscious or ar-
ticulate to defend reason per se and suo jure, yet none the
less dependent on the reasonings of common sense. To bury
the corpse of a dead person in consecrated ground does the
soul of the dead person no more good than if the corpse had
been thrust into a bog, they would say, and a priest has no
more power to make the body of Christ than has a wheatstalk
or Jack Hare. Such language, together with the earnest
and straightforward positive language of their own Biblical
preaching, of which unfortunately we have no account, but
which must have been their mainstay, and which perhaps
(like the preaching of the Friars) included illustrations from
homely incidents, would work quietly but efficiently in recon-
necting religion with the realities of everyday secular life, and
thereby implicitly in heightening self-respect in the religion
of the individual. Their Bible-religion and their common
sense combined in condemning much of the current religion as
mistaken in theory and worthless in practice : for tran-
substantiation they found no defence in the Bible (and it
should be noted that this in itself demands the application
of the use of reason to the categorical saying Hoc est corpus
meum) ; confession to one another they found commanded,
rather than confession to a priest, while of pilgrimages and
devotion to images they very naturally found no trace. It
needs a little historical imagination to appreciate the con-
temptuous zeal with which they condemned these last, and
the mental revolution this implied in a society in which the
place of such things in religion was so large and so assured ;
it is only at the Reformation, in the reports of the commis-
sioners for the dissolution of the monasteries, that their
importance, their ridiculousness, and their choking power
become blindingly apparent.
A further result of the Lollards' devotion to the Bible was a
growth of the use of the vernacular in religion. It is as the
translators and users and distributors of the Bible that the
246 The Lollard Movement after 1384 :
Lollards are usually thought of, and perhaps indirectly by
this means as assisting in the nationalistic break-up of the
Middle Ages. Too much should not be made of this. The
English Bible was no doubt distributed far and wide, and
Wyclif 's Wicket seems to have been much and continuously
read ; but the constant confiscation and burning of Lollard
books must have lessened the extent of their influence, and
in any case the Lollards were in this but the children of their
age, rather than initiators. Rolle's glossed English psalter
remained " the only biblical book which the laity might use
without license " ; but the Carthusian Nicholas Love's Mirrour
of the Blessed Lyf of Iesu Crist, first licensed by Arundel in
1410, was " probably more popular than any other single book
in the fifteenth century," and it was not the only English
gospel harmony. Further, " there was a contemporary move-
ment in favour of vernacular literature ... in Germany,
France, Spain and Italy," as well as in England.1
Their ethical views, though not unimportant, the Lollards
shared with the Waldenses and other medieval heretics. It
is not surprising that men who understood the Bible literally
and who were sufficiently emancipated from convention to
assert that an unspoken prayer was as good as a spoken
prayer, and a prayer in a field as good as a prayer in a church,
should also assert that oaths and war were unChristian (the
use of reason being, again, implied in the selection of texts),
and that the combination of church offices and state offices
was hurtful to both. Wyclif had put the pacifist principle
far more clearly than it was put by the Reformers : " He who
says his Paternoster cannot go to war."2
With ethics politics and industry may be associated, and a
word must be said about the relation of the Lollards to these,
the more since, until recently, they have been supposed to
have had a large share in such economic discontent as came
to a head in the Peasants' Revolt. M. Reville3 has shown,
after detailed research, that
leur re'volte, selon toute vraisemblance, n'eut aucun caractere
religieux . . .
aucun des chroniqueurs n accuse de lollardisme Us insurgds de
ces comtes,
1 See M. Deanesly, Mod. Lang. Rev., xv. 349—358.
2 These are not Wyclif s actual words, but his sermon on the gospel for the
fifth Sunday after Easter makes this simple principle evident.
3 Le Soulevement des Travailleurs d'Angleterre en 1381.
its characteristics and continuity 247
and much more to the same effect. Oman1 also discharges
the Lollards of all responsibility for the revolt. Moreover,
one of the twelve Lollard conclusions presented to Parliament
in 1395 reveals an almost quietistic attitude to industry in
general.
ye multitude of craftis nout nedful usid in our chiche norschith
michil synne in wast, curiosite and disgysing. ... us thinketh
that goldsmethis and armoreris and all manere craftis nout
nedeful to man aftir ye apostle schulde ben distroyd for ye encres
of verou.*
So also Trevelyan has been able to find " between the years
1381 and 1520, only one case of a Lollard accused of holding
communistic theories, " and " not a single case of a Lollard
charged with stirring up the peasantry to right their social
wrongs." Wyclif's doctrine of dominion by grace did not
bear the economic fruit one might have expected.
Politically, it cannot be questioned that they showed more
activity than they did economically, but here also the activity
was incidental rather than an expression of a distinguishing
purpose. The affair of St. Giles' Fields of 1414, which is
hardly to be found in modern history books,3 was a real scare,
and was still remembered a hundred years later — " annates
nostri testantur"* writes Tunstall to Erasmus of it — but
here again Trevelyan finds " no evidence ... of any other
motive save religion." Oldcastle was their leader, Oldcastle
was in danger, and the Lollards had not sufficiently assimilated
their anti-militarist doctrine to see that they might not rightly
fight on his behalf. In 1431 Jack Sharpe headed an abortive
agitation by leaflets for the disendowment of the church,
which we have seen was a Lollard aim ; in 1447 there was a
rebellion in Somerset, where Lollardy was strong, perhaps
through the tenants of Oldcastle 's stepson-in-law, who held
land in the county,5 and the priest was expelled and the
bishop's officers beaten ; but such sporadic riotings hardly
disturbed the public peace, and cannot be said to show a
distinctly political Lollard aim as apart from the occasional
bubbling over of Lollard principles into politics.
1 The Great Revolt of 1381.
2 Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii. 29.
3 But see J. H. Wylie, Henry V., I. c. 17.
* Erasmi Epp. (ed. P. S. Allen), 1367.
6 Waugh & Wylie, Henry V. III. 83.
248 The Lollard Movement after 1384 :
What they do, however, help to show — 1414, 1431, 1447 —
is the continuity of the movement. Reginald Lane Poole,
perhaps with less than his usual caution, lays it down that
the " Wycliffite tradition " which continued
without a hreak until the time of the Protestant Reformation . . .
was so slight and attenuated that it exercised no appreciable
influence upon our later religious history,1
and many other writers are of the same opinion. That there
is a close parallel between the Lollard and the Reforming
movements in their negative attitude to the Church and in
their positive attitude to the Bible, and that the Lollards
further laid the way for the coming of the claims of reason,
we have now seen ; it remains to consider how far the con-
tinuity of the Lollard movement and its merging in the Re-
formation may be accepted. It was necessarily such an
underground movement that its traces must be sought, and
there seems to be no one who has co-ordinated the discoveries
of local research. That the movement was wide-spread in
Oldcastle's time is evident from the appointment of com-
missioners in as many as twenty counties to try those suspected
of Lollardry.2 At the other end of the period, in 1511, we
have Ammonio writing to Erasmus that the price of wood
was going up, the heretics were taking so much of it for burning,
and that his servant's brother, stipes verius quam homo, had
liimself started a secta and had disciples.3 What of the
hundred years in between ?
We can naturally list here only a few pieces of evidence.
Miss Graham declares that " throughout the fifteenth century
Lollard beliefs held ground among the artisans of Bristol,"4
and we find the same Bristol smith named twice as giving
Lollard books to a man tried in 1447 and to another tried in
1462. In Northamptonshire, where John Fox, the Mayor of
Northampton in 1392, though attacked for his Lollardry in
that year, was again Mayor in 1399 and 1400, there were
places where the movement prevailed during the fifteenth
century, and the places were those which in the two succeeding
centuries were permeated with Puritanism. The number
1 Wydiffe <£• Movements for Reform, pp. 118 f. .
2 J. H. Wylie, op. cit., p. 209. 3 Ep. 239.
* Viet, County Hist, of Olos., II. 22.
its characteristics and continuity 249
and the vehemence of Pecock's books in the middle of the
fifteenth century are, again, evidence of the power of the
movement the bishop hoped to quash. In 1457 there was
a congregation at Chesterton, Cambridgeshire, possessing
three teachers, who, as usual, denied transubstantiation,
the necessity of confession, extreme unction, fasting, and
so forth. In the same year two brothers of Somersham,
Huntingdonshire, acknowledged to the bishop of Lincoln
that they had sworn, in a large Lollard meeting, to bring
as many as possible into the movement and not to reveal
the existence of the movement or the names of its adherents,
until there were sufficient of them to destroy Antichrist.
At or in the neighbourhood of Amersham, Buckinghamshire,
Lollards were tried, imprisoned for life or put to death in
1414, 1428, and 1462 ; and at the trial of Thomas Man in 1518
evidence was brought that among the congregations which
he had instructed was one at Amersham, " a godly and great
company, which had continued in that doctrine and teaching
twenty-three years." At Newbury also Man had found
" a glorious and sweet society of faithful favourers, who had
continued the space of fifteen years together " ; London,
Chelmsford, Henley, Norfolk and Suffolk had also known
his ministry ; and he claimed to have turned seven hundred
persons to his religion.1
Such evidence as this, and more could probably be collected,2
surely makes it apparent that the underground workings
of the Lollard Movement had more influence in preparing
the way for the Reformation in England than Lane Poole
allows. To measure the extent of the movement by the
number of prosecutions, and so, because in the middle of the
fifteenth century the number of prosecutions was small, to
suppose that in those years the movement was dead, is at
best a superficial method. There was no new leader, no new
doctrine, to give any other name but Lollard to those who, in
increasing numbers, suffered for heresy in the years either
side of 1500 ; and, when no living leader was claimed, the
increasing numbers themselves demand the moral support
of continuity with the past. Further, in his letter to Erasmus,
already quoted, Tunstall says in so many words :
1 Foxe.
*The Transactions of local archaeological societies need combing, as well as
episcopal registers.
250 The Lollard Movement after 1384
Neque enim una aut altera perniciosa novitas ingeritur, sed ad
ingentem Vvicleficarum1 haeresum catervam nova accedunt arma.
The numbers were at last, with the help of European move-
ments, becoming strong enough to destroy Antichrist.
The merging of the Lollard Movement in the Reformation
may be seen working out in different ways in Colet and Latimer.
Colet was the son of a Lord Mayor of London and of a Bucking-
hamshire family, and Erasmus writes of him :
Nullus erat liber tarn haereticus quern ille non attente evolveret,
dicens se plus aliquotiens ex illis capere fructus quam ex horum
libris qui sic omnia definiunt ut frequenter adulentur coryphaeis,
non nunquam et sibi ipsis.2
To Colet 's sermons on the Epistles, with their fresh common-
sense approach, the Lollards are said to have flocked, and at
the trial of the Lollard John Butler evidence was brought
that he had been persuaded to attend Colet 's sermons. Colet
himself was attacked for essentially Lollard heresies by his
bishop, Fitz james ; yet, like Erasmus, he had too much of
the quiet scholar in him to care to make a stand, and in 1511
he was actually appointed one of the judges in a trial of
Lollards by Archbishop Warham.
Latimer is popularly thought of as the forward-looking
man, with faith in the future through the blood of the martyrs,
but without an undue stretch of the imagination he may
equally be considered the last of the Lollards. He came
from the county of Leicestershire ; his homely outspoken
sermons to Henry and Edward alike had their patterns in
the sermons of Wyclif's " poor priests " and their successors,
though Latimer also introduced economic teaching ; and
the candle he lit at Oxford in 1555, in the enduring light of
which he had such confidence, was a candle which had caught
fire from a Lollard tinder-box. Ignorant, mistaken, fanatical
the Lollards must often have been ; but in their devotion to
the Bible which they made their own, and in the sincere
common sense with which they attacked the accumulations
of tradition, they hold an important place in the evolution
of English Church History. Geoffrey F. Nuttael.
1 Cf. the interlocutor's remark of Pullus (i.e. Colet) in Erasmus' Peregrinatio
Beligionis Ergo : " Viclefita quispiam, ut opinor." Cf. also the late use of the term
Lollard as given in O.E.D. — till 1625 in an oath, according to Summers, Our
Lollard Ancestors, p. 67.
2 £7p. 1211.
25i
The Huguenot Dispersion.
THROUGHOUT the Reformed Churches of France
the 27th October is to be observed as a day of solemn
remembrance of the 250th anniversary of the Revoca-
tion by Louis XIV. of the Edict of Nantes — a Royal
act which had far-reaching and abiding results not only in
France itself but many other lands.
Granted by Henry IV. in April, 1598, the Edict of Nantes,
says Lord Acton,
forms an epoch in the progress of toleration — that is, in the
history of liberty. It pacified France and afforded to the
minority sufficient strength and safety, not on the basis of
religious equality but in the shape of circumscribed and definite
privilege. The Edict involved no declaration of new principles
and no surrender of ancient claims. The power of the Protestants
was acknowledged — not the prerogative of conscience. The
Protestants enjoyed the faculty of self-government, and their
great writers and scholars were free to influence opinion by
their writings.
Specifically, the Edict accorded to the Huguenots freedom
of conscience, civil equality, limited liberty of worship,
guarantees for the administration of justice, and a State
subsidy for the maintenance of Huguenot pastors and troops.
The Edict was avowedly to be permanent, but in the reign
of Louis XIV. the rights of the Huguenots were gradually
taken away until, in October, 1685, the King deliberately
revoked the Edict, with the intention of wiping out Protes-
tantism altogether wherever his writ ran. Louis's action
was very largely due to the Church in France, which had
not only never been in favour of the Edict but ever since its
enactment had passionately desired and worked for its with-
drawal.
The Jesuits were especially elated by the Revocation,
which had been brought about largely by their intrigues. It
enabled them to fill their schools and nunneries with the
children of Protestants, who were compelled by law to pay
for their education by Jesuit priests. To furnish the necessary
252 The Huguenot Dispersion
accommodation, nearly the whole of the Protestant temples
which had not already been pulled down were made over
to the Jesuits to be converted into monastic schools and
nunneries.
The King had solemnly sworn, at the beginning of his
reign, to maintain the Edict, but he came to look upon himself
as really the sole proprietor of all the territory in his kingdom,
the sole legislator, the supreme judge, the living epitome of
the whole State. At length he came to think that minds as
well as bodies were beneath his sway, and he treated as high
treason all conscientious objections to his sovereign pleasure.
So it came to pass that
the King congratulated himself on his power and his piety ;
the Bishops wrote panegyrics of him ; the Jesuits made the
pulpits resound with his praises.
The aged Chancellor of France, Le Tellier, on affixing the
great seal of France to the deed of revocation, was so overjoyed
that he exclaimed, " Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace : for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. "
The Chancellor believed, as did the King, that the Edict
would bring all to an end ; really it was but the beginning.
What did the Revocation mean ? One writer puts it in
this way :
Protestants could neither be born, nor live, nor die, without
State and priestly interference. Protestant midwives were not
permitted to exercise their functions ; Protestant doctors were
prohibited from practising ; Protestant surgeons and apothecaries
were suppressed ; Protestant advocates and lawyers were inter-
dicted ; all Protestant schools, public and private, were put
down. Protestants were no longer employed by the Govern-
ment— not even as labourers on the public roads. Even Pro-
testant grocers were forbidden to exercise their calling. There
must be no Protestant libraries, booksellers, or printers. All
Bibles, Testaments, and books of religious instruction were
collected and publicly burned ; there were bonfires in almost
every town. Protestant grooms were forbidden to give riding
lessons. Artisans — shoemakers, tailors, masons, carpenters —
were forbidden to work without certificates that their religion
was Catholic. Protestant barbers were forbidden to cut hair.
Protestant washerwomen were excluded from their washing-
places on the rivers. In fact, there was scarcely a degradation
that could be invented or an insult that could be perpetrated
that was not practised upon those who refused to be of " the
King's religion."
The Huguenot Dispersion 253
This is by far from being the whole of the story. At no
time in France had it been an easy matter to be a Protestant ;
after the Revocation, it became almost impossible. The
consequences of the King's action were by no means limited
to the religious sphere. In almost every branch of industry,"
writes R. L. Poole, in his History of the Huguenots of the
Dispersion, "the Protestants surpassed the Catholics " ; and
when they left their native land rather than forswear their
faith, they naturally took with them their habits of application
and of industry.
It is thought that more than a quarter of a million became
exiles for conscience' sake. Large numbers settled in Holland,
in Germany, in England, and in Switzerland, but others went
to Scotland, to Ireland, to Boston, New York, South Carolina,
Maryland, and Virginia.
As an example of the way in which the refugees were treated,
the case of Holland may be glanced at. As the people of the
Netherlands themselves had suffered for their Protestant
faith, it is no matter for surprise that the exiles' treatment
there was so friendly. The Estates of Friesland resolved
to grant to all foreign families whom stress of religious opposi-
tion had forced to leave their homes every right enjoyed by
citizens of the country. In other provinces collections were
taken to meet the needs of the newcomers ; master- workers
were free to practise their crafts without fee ; advances of
money were made for trade purposes ; pastors were given a
State allowance and allotted to the places where the refugees
had settled in the greatest numbers. In one town alone —
Middelburg— in the eight years from 1685 to 1693, 532
newcomers were naturalized. At Dordrecht the burghers
welcomed the exiles into their houses, cared for them as for
their own children, and put them in the way of earning their
bread honestly. Rotterdam seems to have been the chief
resort of the poorer emigrants. Within one month of the
Revocation 5,000 (chiefly from Normandy) had arrived.
In Amsterdam the French grew from 2,000 in 1684 to 15,000
by the end of the century. Six weeks from the Revocation
180 Huguenot ministers were in Holland. In 1684 free
passage was offered to any Huguenots who were willing to
apply themselves to husbandry or handicraft in the Cape
Colony. About 80 families went out and were established
at Drakenstein, about 40 miles north of the Cape.
The English seaports all the way from the Severn on the
1 7
254 The Huguenot Dispersion
west to the Thames on the east were thronged with fugitives.
Churches were formed at Bristol, Barnstaple, Bideford,
Plymouth, Dartmouth, and Exeter. In addition, Winchelsea,
Rye, Dover, Sandwich, Faversham, and Yarmouth received
refugees who mostly were on their way to Norwich and Can-
terbury. There are records of calico-workers at Bromley ;
cotton-spinners at Bideford ; lace-makers at Buckingham,
Newport Pagnell, and Stony Stratford ; furriers and hat-
makers at Wandsworth ; tapestry- workers at Exeter ; wool-
carders at Taunton ; linen-makers and sailcloth-makers at
Ipswich ; weavers at Smithfield, Hoxton, Stepney, Bow, and
Canterbury ; silk- workers at Spitalfields ; paper-makers at
Maidstone, Laverstock, and Glasgow ; kersey-workers at
Norwich ; cambric- workers at Edinburgh.
There was, indeed, scarcely a branch of trade in Great
Britain but at once felt the beneficent effects of the large
influx of experienced workmen from France. Besides im-
proving those manufactures which had already been established,
they introduced many entirely new branches of industry ;
and by their skill, their intelligence, their laboriousness, they
richly repaid the land which had welcomed them for the
asylum and the hospitality which had been so generously
accorded to them in their time of need.
The Huguenots did not a little to bring to a head the agitation
which led to the offer of the throne of England to William of
Orange. There is little reason to doubt that the flower of
the little army with which William landed at Torbay in
November, 1688, consisted of Huguenot soldiers trained under
Schomberg, Turenne, and Conde. There were three regiments
of French infantry and a complete squadron of French cavalry.
Nearly all of these were veteran troops. Moreover, many of
William's ablest and most trusted officers were Huguenots.
Louis XIV. lived for nearly thirty years after his rash and
cruel act. He declared that he would extinguish heresy in
his dominions even at the cost of his right hand. The perse-
cution of the Protestants went on not only to the end of his
own reign but throughout the reign of his successor, Louis XV.
Under the severest penalties every man, woman and child
was required to conform to the religion professed by the
monarch.
Nevertheless, in the very year of Louis XIV. 's death there
was held the first of the historic " Synods of the Desert."
This period of the " Synods of the Desert " marks a truly
The Huguenot Dispersion 255
heroic chapter in the story of the Huguenots. It reminds
one of the Covenanters in Scotland. It is the history of a
Church which refused to die. By 1756 there were 48 pastors ;
in 1763 there were 62. In 1789 the States-General voted
for complete religious liberty, and in 1802 the Protestant
religion was not simply tolerated but subsidized by the State.
The 809 pastors and 751 churches in 1626 had been reduced
in 1802 to 121 pastors and 171 churches. State support
continued until December, 1905, and for the last 30 years,
save in Alsace and Lorraine, Protestantism has had to maintain
itself by its own efforts.
The loss to France by the act of Louis XIV. was, of course,
altogether beyond computation ; but that loss was very largely
the gain of the countries to which the exiles fled for refuge.
As one authority writes :
Correctly viewed, the history of the Huguenots is in no sense
the history of a lost cause. The emigration of the Huguenots
must be viewed in the larger relations of world-history, wherein
the advantages accruing to the Netherlands, to Switzerland, to
Germany, to England, to the United States, and to other countries,
far more than offset the damage received by the land which
the fugitives forsook. The principles for which the Huguenots
battled are imperishable.
One striking illustration of the way in which things work
out is the fact that no less than 80 of the German staff in the
Franco-Prussian war of 1870 were descendants of Protestant
families driven from France by the Revocation.
Professor A. J. Grant declares :
Among modern historians, the act of Louis XIV. has found
no defenders. French historians are not one whit less vehement
than English or American in condemning the motives and the
consequences of the King's act. None can refuse their admiration
to the patience and endurance of the Huguenots, or their condemna-
tion to the policy that turned admirable men and citizens into
exiles and outcasts.
Henry J. Coweix.
256
Anabaptism in England during the 16th and
17th Centuries*1
ANABAPTISM in England during the 16th and 17th
centuries is a subject which has not received the
attention it merits. Beyond a few scanty references
history books give it little notice and although some
articles have been written on the subject they are concerned
more with Anabaptism in general in Europe, and even where
they deal with England the writers have stopped their record
shortly after the middle of the 16th century.
There are four probable reasons for this general neglect :
(1) The difficulty of tracing the Anabaptists as such. The
Munster sect had roused such alarm among the authorities
that Anabaptists were hounded down and ruthlessly persecuted
by Catholics and Protestants alike in every country in Europe.
In consequence after the fall of Munster in 1535 the Anabaptists
tried to keep themselves as inconspicuous as possible. Indeed,
their history is chiefly to be traced through the contemporary
writings of those who opposed them and in State Papers.
(2) The authorities themselves are not too clear in the way
they use the term " Anabaptist." This was due to the number
of divisions that existed among the Anabaptists them-
selves, but the authorities often designate anyone who differed
from the State religion as an " Anabaptist."
1 In every case the writer has gone back for his facts to the original documents.
These consist chiefly of letters, books, and documents written by various contem-
porary writers during the period. Most of these are in the British Museum,
although a few are to be found in various other London Libraries and in the
National Library, Edinburgh. The State Papers, the other great source of our
facts, have been examined in the Museum, or in the Public Record Office, and the
writer is also indebted to the Dutch Church at Austin Friars for their courtesy in
allowing him to examine their unique collection of records and documents.
The chief " sources " of the materials consulted may be grouped as follows :
(1) Records of the Baptist Historical Society Transactions.
(2) Records and Papers in the Public Record Office.
(3) Contemporary documents, pamphlets, letters, and books in the British
Museum.
(4) The Publications of the Hanserd Knollys Society.
(5) Wilkins, Concilia Magnae Britanniae.
(6) The Acts of the Privy Council.
(7) Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic (Henry VIII).
(8) Calendar State Papers, (a) Edward VI, (6) Mary, (c) Elizabeth, (d) James I,
(e) Charles I (Cromwell), (/) Charles II.
(9) The Records of the Dutch Church in Austin Friars, London.
(10) The Publications of the Parker Society.
Anabaptism in England 257
(3) The focus of interest to-day has moved away from
Anabaptism in England, although the student of the original
records will find that the subject was of " burning " interest
during the 16th and 17th centuries.
(4) Modern research along this line has been done chiefly by
Baptist scholars, and English Baptists rightly repudiate con-
nexion with the Miinster sect, although in the 16th and 17th
centuries they were frequently confused with it.1 Indeed
English Baptists during those centuries embarked on a long
and vigorous campaign to show the distinction between them-
selves and the Anabaptists of Miinster. This campaign has
had its effect and the term " Baptist " has now no association
with the events that culminated at Miinster in 1535, but the
very vigour of that campaign gives evidence that the Ana-
baptist history on the continent was alive in the memory of
England during those years.
We may divide the history of Anabaptism in England into
two stages. The first roughly covers the 16th century.
During this period frequent refugees from Holland and Ger-
many introduced into different localities in England the
doctrines of the Continental Anabaptists. This stage, however,
never developed into a national movement, and throughout
it was subjected to a persistent campaign of " extermination. "
The second stage is really the growth of the English Baptists
as such, more properly named the " General Baptist Move-
ment." It begins with John Smyth, a Cambridge scholar,8
and this movement, unlike the former, has gone on developing.
It is not our purpose to trace the history of the English
Baptists as such.3 The aim of this article is to show that
Anabaptist doctrines and history were known in England
in the 16th and 17th centuries.4
1 In using the term " Anabaptist " partisan writers of the period classify Baptists
generally with the social disorder and fantastic prophecy (if not profligacy) of
Miinster. This shows a lack of knowledge of the history of English Baptists as
such.
2 Smyth entered Cambridge University in 1586.
8 This has already been brilliantly done by Dr. W. T. Whitley in his History of
British Baptists. See also his Works of John Smyth.
4 Even in the case of Smyth we come up against Anabaptism, for his writin gs
show that he accepted without question the slanders current about the Anabaptists,
such as that they were Anarchists. (Whitley, Works of John Smyth, I. 165) :
Anarchie : which is want of Magistrates, whence issueth disorder and confusion
that every man may do what him listeth . . . for it is a thing that the divell would
wish principally that Magistracie were abolished, and therefore hee hath inspired
that divellish doctrine into the confused heads of the Anabaptists, who take away
all rule and authoritie and all superioritie among men.
B
1 7 *
258 Anabaptism in England
It is difficult to fix the date when Anabaptism first appeared
in England. We catch a glimpse of something like it in 1511
at Bishop Warham's Court at Knoll,1 when proceedings were
instituted against persons who were teaching that the sacra-
ments of Baptism and Confirmation were not necessary or
profitable to a man's soul.2 There is no positive evidence to
show that these were really Anabaptists ; they were more
probably descendants of Lollardy. In any case Warham
succeeded in terrifying them into a renunciation of their
" errors " and compelled them to
wear the badge of a faggot in flames on their clothing duriDg
the rest of their lives or until they were dispensed with for it.
In 1530 Bishop Warham issued an address in which he
warned the authorities that Anabaptist refugees from the
Continent had already begun to seek refuge in England, and
that their heresies were spreading.
Many books in the English tongue containing many detestable
errors and damnable opinions are printed in countries beyond the
seas to be brought into divers towns and sundry of this realm in
England, and sown abroad in the same, to the great decay of our
faith and the perilous corruption of the people, unless speedy
remedy is provided.
On 24 May, 1530, the State itself became alarmed. A
Commission appointed by Henry VIII consisting of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Durham, and others
found that " divers heretical erroneous opinions " were rife
in the country.3
The word " Anabaptist " does not appear in State docu-
1 Modern spelling " Knole."
* This year several in the diocese of Canterbury abjured for heresy before Arch-
bishop Warham at his manor of Knoll. Thus Christopher Grebel :
I, Christopher Grebel, layman of the diocese of Canterbury, of my pure heart and
free-will, confess and knowledge, that I in times past have believed, said, affirmed,
holden and taught . . . specially . . . these errors and heresies . . . that in the sacra-
ment of the altar is not the body of Christ, but material bread ; also that the
sacrament of baptism and confirmation is not necessary (Regist. Warham, fol. 144.
173).
8Wilkins, III., 727-37. Special sections in the report are devoted to the
" heresies and errours " in various Anabaptist publications : (1) In the booke of
The Wicked Mammon, (2) the booke called The obedience of a christen man, (3) the
booke of The revelation of anticriste — The Sum of Scripture, etc.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 259
merits in England before 1534. In that year1 Henry VIII
was declared by Parliament to be Supreme Head of the Church,
and as such he issued the following Proclamation :
Forasmuch as divers and sundray strangers of the sect and
false opinion of the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians been lately
come into this realm, where they lurke secretely in divers corners
and places minding craftely and subtilly to provoke and stir the
King's loving subjects to their errors and opinions, whereof part
of them by the great travail and diligence of the King's highness
and his councill be apprehended and taken ; the King's most royal
majestie declareth and notifyeth to all his loving subjects, that
his highness . . . abhorreth and detesteth the same sects . . . and
intendeth to proceed against such of them as be already appre-
hended. . . . And also that wheresoever any such be known, they
shall be detected and with all convenient diligence as may be,
informe his majesty or some of his councill, to the intent that they
may be punished according to their defects, and the maintainers,
abettors, or printers of the same opinions with an utter abjection
of all books, out of which any such lewd opinions might be
gathered.
1 The Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic afford us some interesting glimpses
of Europe in that eventful year :
II. No. 317 contains a letter from Hackett to Cromwell dated from Basle 12th
March, 1534, and refers to the Anabaptists of the Low Countries. " Divers places
are infected with this nyew seghttes of rebaptissement."
A further letter dated 31 March, 1534 in VII. No. 397 states :
More than 60,000 [Anabaptists] are assembled in Monster, Frisland and West-
falle. The princes know not whom to trust, for men will not take wages to fight
against those who intend to set the world at liberty.
There is an interesting letter in VII. No. 447 dated 7 April, 1534, from Ferdinand,
King of the Romans, to Antonio Leyva, the Captain General of the League :
The King of France and the King of England are assisting the Anabaptists in
Mun6ter, the latter by sending them money. The King of England does all in
his power to create disturbances in Germany.
(This letter is based on a wild report that Henry was seeking revenge for the
Pope's refusing his divorce.)
That affairs in Europe were in a state of religious excitement is evident in an-
other letter, VII. No. 394, written from Antwerp, 31 March, 1534, from John
Coke to Cromwell :
In Holland there is great meeting among the people, who are of sundry sects,
Srincipally of the same sect as the inhabitants of Mynstre, who are besieged by their
ishop and his friends. Many villages are now deserted, the inhabitants having
left their cattle and their goods and fled. Fourteen ships full of women and children,
lately baptized again, have gone towards Mynstre. Two ships with similar cargoes
have also left Amsterdam, and four more would have departed but the borow-
masters and skepyns prevented them . . .
On March 26th, about noon, men with naked swords in their hands ran through
the town crying. You people of Amsterdam, amend your lives ; the ire of God
cometh upon you.
On the 28th a man in Dordrecht cried in like manner and was taken . . . The
gates of Amsterdam, Legh [Leyden ?] and Harlam are kept shut, to prevent many
of the rich burgesses, who are of the same sect, from departing. These people
number more than 20,000.
260 Anabaptism in England
And over this his majesty straightly chargeth and commandeth
all other strangers of the same Anabaptists and Sacramentarians
erroneous sects not being apprehended or known, that they
within 8 or 10 days after this present proclamation with all
celeritie shall depart out of this realme . . . upon pain of loss of
their lives.1
The records of the following year show that the proclamation
was soon put into effect. On 5 June, 1535, Chapuys wrote
from London to Charles V* :
About a score of Dutch Anabaptists have been taken here, of
whom 13 have been condemned to the fire, and will be burnt in
different parts of the kingdom, as the King and Cromwell have
informed me. The others, who have been reconciled to the
Church, will be sent into Flanders to the Queen to be dealt with
as seems right.
A contemporary chronicler, Stow,8 gives us a glimpse of the
actual details.
The 25 day of May — were in St. PauTs Church, London —
examined, 19 men and 6 women born in Holland . . . fowertene
of them were condemned ... a Man and a Woman of them were
brent in Smithfield ; the other 12 were sent to other Towns, there
to be brent.
That Anabaptists were to be found, and that the Munster
doctrines and history were known in England and regarded
as sufficiently strong to require official action, we can see from
the steps taken to stamp them out. Had Anabaptism in
England only been a feeble thing of small account, the King,
Cromwell, the Council, and people in high position would not
have considered it worth more than passing notice, and would
never have bestirred themselves as they actually did, as we
will show from the official documents of the time.
Among the State Papers we find references such as the
1 Wilkins, HL 776-8.
2 Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, HI. No. 826. (The
above extract is taken from a long letter.)
3 Chronicle of England, 1004. The opinions of these Anabaptists were: (1)
That Christ is not two natures God and man ; (2) that Christ took neither flesh
nor blood of the Virgin Mary ; (3) that children born of infidels may be saved ;
(4) that baptism of children is of none effect ; (5) that the sacrament of Christ's
body is but bread only ; (6) that he who after baptism sinneth wittingly sinneth
deadly and cannot be saved.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 261
following:1 Will Lok to Cromwell, dated from Barrow,* 11
February, 1534 :
My lord of Barow is made high commissioner of all this
country touching the Anabaptists who have come hither out of
Holland.
In the same collection of that year is a list of memoranda3
headed, " Remembrances " (partly written in Cromwell's
hand). The first item is, " What will the King do with the
Anabaptists ? "
There is also a letter4 written from Amiens on 8 June, 1535,
by the Bishop of Faenza to M. Ambrogio :
They have also taken in England about 25 Anabaptists with
whom Cranmer and others of the Court disputed . . . several of
them have been already executed, and it appears that the King
intends to persecute this sect as much as he can, as it already has
a firm footing in England.
Here is another extract from a letter6 dated from Antwerp,
4 July, 1535 from Walter Mersche to Cromwell. It shows the
very aim of this article, viz., that Anabaptist history was
known to Englishmen :
The bearer, Thomas Johnston, is an Englishman living at
Amsterdam, and can show you how Mynster was taken, and the
behaviour of the people. ... It is reported that they are fleeing
from the country and many of them to England.
The year 1536 was an eventful one in England. It saw the
abolition of the smaller monasteries, and the " Pilgrimage of
Grace." This rising had three definite aims. The first
(generally omitted by historians) is noteworthy, the destruction
of heresy ; secondly, the overthrow of Cromwell ; thirdly,
the restoration of the monasteries. As was natural, the
clerical element pervaded the rising. A letter to the Queen
Regent at Brussels states that there were 10,000 priests among
the rebels,6 " who never ceased to stir them on to their work."
Against the reformed doctrines and in particular against
the Anabaptists, the " Pilgrims " showed the fiercest hatred.
The first proposition in the list of grievances7 they presented to
Henry was,
1 VIII. No. 198. 2 Bergen-op-Zoom. * VIII. No. 475. * VTH. No. 846.
5 VIII. No. 982.
6 Rebels is too strong a word. The people who took part in the " Pilgrimage "
did not regard themselves as such.
7 The whole of this remarkable document is in manuscript in the Bolls House.
262 Anabaptism in England
Touching our faith . . . such other heresies of Anabaptists
clearly within this realm are to be annihilated and destroyed.
With this fierce statement the Convocation which met in
that year agreed. In its " Articles of Religion," published by
the King's authority,1 it set out,
Item, that they ought to repute, and take all the Anabaptists
. . . opinions contrary to the premisses, and every other man's
opinion agreeable unto the said Anabaptists ... for detestable
heresies, utterly to be condemned.
That this was no idle statement we know from the fact that
fourteen Anabaptists were burned during this year. It is a
remarkable tribute to their courage that despite these pro-
clamations and penalties, the Anabaptists in England sent
deputies to a gathering of all sections of Anabaptists held at
Buckholt in Westphalia in 1536, the year after the Fall of MiXn-
ster. We know that Jan Mathias of Middleburg, who was
afterwards burnt in London, was one.2
Among the State Papers3 is a copy of a letter from Petrus
Taschius to Georgius in which he comforts him in the perse-
cutions to which their sect [the Anabaptists] is exposed :
In England the truth silently but widely is propagated and
powerfully increases : God knows for how long !
At this time the Protestant princes of Germany were seeking
an alliance with England ; accordingly when Peter Tasch was
arrested and incriminating documents found in his possession,
Frederick, Duke of Saxony, and Philip, Landgrave of Hesse,
seized the opportunity to further their aims. On 25 September,
1538, they wrote to Henry.4 They mention it as a friendly
office among those who govern that they should warn each
other of dangers, especially touching religion. They have
found lately certain letters in the hands of an Anabaptist
[Peter Tasch] in which mention is made of England, showing
that the errors of that sect daily spread abroad. They describe
Anabaptist practices in Germany and also the measures taken
to suppress them.
1 Wilkins, III. 818.
1 Barclay, Religious Societies of the Commonwealth, 77-78 n.
3 XIII., n., No. 265.
♦XIII. ii. No. 427.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 263
Henry did not require much stimulus. On 1 October, 1538,
he granted a Commission1 to
Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, John, Bp. of London,
Richard, Bp. of Chichester and others ... to enquire after, and
be informed summarily of all manner of Persons within this
kingdom of the damnable, erroneous and heretical Sect of the
Anabaptists ... to receive back into the Church such as renounce
their error, hand over those who persist in it to the secular arm
for punishment, and destroy all books of that detestable sect.
On 22 November a fresh Proclamation2 was issued by the
King
as Supreme head in earth under God of the Church of England,
ordering all strangers who have lately rebaptized themselves . . .
and hold and teach other pestilent heresies, to leave the realm in
12 days, whether they have recanted or not, on pain of death.
Persons belonging to those sects are forbidden to hold such
heresies, and all persons are ordered to assist in arresting the
guilty.
Four Anabaptists were seized and paid the penalty for their
faith. The details are to be found in a letter3 from John
Husee to Lord Lisle, dated from London 23 November, 1538 :
Yesterday, the 22nd Lambert, alias John Nycolson was burnt
in Smithfield, and the same day two Flemings and one of their
wives, were adjudged to death. A third man abjured. These
were Anabaptists.
A further proclamation4 in 1539 attempted to stamp out
the importing or printing of unlicensed books and ordered the
burning of Anabaptist or Sacramentarian publications :
Item, that those that be in any errors, as Sacramentarians,
Anabaptists, or any other, or any that sell books, having such
opinions in them, being once known, both the books, and such
persons shall be detected and disclosed immediately unto the
King's majesty, or one of his privy council, to the intent to have
it punished without favour, even with the extremity of the law.
Violent measures proving ineffective, it occurred to Henry
on 26 February, 1539, to issue a " Proclamation of Grace,"6
declaring the King's pardon
1 " Commissio regia archiepiscopo Cantuar et aliis contra Anabaptistas " —
signed by Thomas Crumwell (Wilkins, III. 836-837) ; also in Letters and Papers,
XIII. n. No. 498.
2 XIII. n. No. 890. 3 XIII. n. No. 899. 4 Wilkins, III. 847. 8 XIV. I. 374.
264 Anabaptism in England
to all persons, either his own subjects or others who have been
seduced by Anabaptists and Sacramentarians coming from
outward parts into this realm through divers and many perverse
and crafty means and who now be sorry for their offences and
minding fully to return again to the Catholic Church. The King's
highness like a most loving parent much moved with pity,
tendering the winning of them again to Christ's flock, and much
lamenting also their simplicity, so by devilish craft circumscribed
... of his inestimable goodness, pity and clemency, is content to
remit, pardon and forgive ... all and singular such persons. . . .
Yet if any in future fall to any such detestable and damnable
opinions the laws will be mercilessly enforced against them.
During the next seven years (until Henry's death), the perse-
cution of the Anabaptists continued. Many suffered death.
Latimer, referring to those executions says1 :
The Anabaptists that were burnt here in divers towns in Eng-
land, as I heard of credible men — I saw them not myself — went
to their Death, even intrepide, as ye will say, without any Fear
in the World, chearfully ; well let them go.
It is evident from the records that there were many Ana-
baptists (chiefly refugees) in several parts of England. Maril-
lac, writing to Montgomery from London, on 19 March, 1540,
says2 :
Milord of St. John and some officers of justice went a week ago
to Calais to proceed against some Anabaptists who have made a
stir there.
If Bishop Latimer was not misinformed8, there were above
500 in one town,
who spake against the order of Magistrates and Doctrine of
Subjection to them, and who would have no Magistrates nor
Judges in the Earth.
During Edward VI's minority Cranmer prevailed on a number
of leading Continental Protestant theologians to take up their
abode in England and assist in shaping the policy of the
English Church. Heinrich Bullinger was one. He was
Zwingli's successor at Zurich and had taken a foremost part
in the exclusion of the Anabaptists from Switzerland. By his
1 Sermons, V. 151. 2 XV. No. 370. 3 Sermons, V. Sermon IV.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 265
writings1 he added fuel to the flame against the Anabaptists
in England.
In the spring of 1549 a report was laid before the Council
charging the Anabaptists with the usual errors of the sect.
An Ecclesiastical Commission consisting (note the personnel)
of Cranmer, the Bishops of Ely, London, Lincoln, Sir John
Cheke, Latimer, Coverdale, Dr. Parker, and divines of a lower
order, with various distinguished laymen (among others we
find the names of Cecil and Sir Thomas Smith) was appointed
in 1550 to seek out, examine and punish the Anabaptists, " that
now begin to spring up apace and show themselves more
openly. "2
The errors of the Anabaptists in England are described in
the writings of Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester.3 Contemporary
writers such as Becon,4 Bradford,6 Coverdale,6 Ridley,7 and
Whitgift,8 also describe and condemn them. Latimer9 says
the opinions of the Anabaptists in England are " pernicious."
Hooper10 goes a step further and says, " very pernicious and
damnable."
Many other references from contemporary literature could
be quoted, but these chiefly deal with the opinions and theology
of the Anabaptists. Although an interesting volume of refer-
ences to Anabaptist doctrines could be compiled, that lies
outside our aim, except in so far as they show that Anabaptism
was so alive in England that men of the highest rank in the
Church took steps to crush it, and furnish evidence of its
strength by the fierce way they fought it.
The county of Kent was especially " infected " with Ana-
1 An Holsome Antidotus or counter -poy son against the pestylent heresye and secte
of Anabaptistes (1548) ; A treatise or Sermon . . . concernynge Magistrates and obedience
of subiects (1549) ; A most necessary and frutefull Dialogue betwene ye seditious
Libertin or rebel Anabaptist, and the true obedient christian (1551) ; A moste sure and
strong defence . . . against ye pestiferous secte of the Anabaptystes (1551) ; Fiftie godlie
and learned sermons . . . (1577). These sermons contain numerous references to the
Anabaptists. Convocation in 1586 ordered them to be studied by young ministers,
and examination to be made of their written notes before every Michaelmas.
a Strype, Sir Thomas Smith, 37 ; Ecclesiastical Memorials, II. I. 385 ; Parker,
I. 55 ; Coverdale, Remains, II. xiii. (The edition of Strype's Works used is that
of 1822.)
3 Zurich Letters III. 65. * Becon, Works, EL 207, 215, 226. 5 Bradford, Writings,
II. 382, 383. 6 Coverdale, Writings, I. 51. 'Ridley, Works, 120. 8 Whitgift,
Works, III. 552-554. ■ Latimer, Works, I. 1064 10 Hooper, Later Writings, 121.
266 Anabaptism in England
baptism. Take the famous case of Joan Boucher.1 Her name
first appears in an official letter2 written in 1543, by John Milles
to Cranmer :
Pleaseth Your Grace, most of the vulgar people think the
foundation of these errors in these parts cometh by the fault of
heresies not punished set forth by Joan Baron, sometime called
Joan Bucher of Westgate, she being a prisoner detect of heresies.
Joan was more popularly known as Joan of Kent, and it is
evident from this title that she was well known as a power
in that county. That she was no ordinary prisoner we deduce
from the fact that she was imprisoned in the Lord Chancellor's
house, where no less people than Cranmer and Ridley interro-
gated her frequently on her beliefs.3
Anabaptism in Kent and Essex so troubled the authorities
that in 1547 an Ecclesiastical Commission with Cranmer,
Latimer and Ridley at its head was set up4
for the examination of the Anabaptists and Arians that now
begin to spring up apace and show themselves more openly.
If they proved obstinate the Commission was empowered to
excommunicate and imprison them, and deliver them over to
the secular arm to be proceeded further against.
After the rebellion of 15495 Parliament passed an act of
grace and general pardon, but expressly excepted those who
held.
that infants were not to be baptised ; and if they were baptised
they ought to be rebaptised when they came to lawful age, also
1 Joan is first heard of at Colchester before 1539 as Joan Baron, pleading a pardon
by proclamation for those who had been seduced by Anabaptists. She moved to
Canterbury, where apparently she married a butcher, and so became known as
Joan Baron or Bocher. In 1542 she was at Calais, where a jury acquitted her of
heresy, but the council held her to answer another charge at Canterbury. Next
year, after confessing her doctrine, she pleaded the pardon afresh. Ultimately
she was burned in Smithfield by order of Edward VI.
(Baptist Trans., I. 108.) Evans cites a MS. in the archives of the Mennonite
Church, Amsterdam calling her " Joan Knell, alias Butcher, often Joan Van Kent."
2 XVIII. H. No. 546.
3 In an account of the examination by the authorities of one, Philpot, who was
martyred for his faith in 1555, we read :
I [the Lord Chancellor] had myself Joan of Kent a fortnight in my house, after
the writ was out for her to be burnt, when my Lord of Canterbury aDd Bishop
Ridley resorted almost daily to her. But she was so high in the spirit, that they
could do nothing with her for all their learning ; but she went wilfully unto the Are
and was burnt. Philpot, Works, 55.
4 Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, II. I. 385 ; also Vol. II. I. 107 ; Sir Thomas
Smith, 37.
8 Kett's Rising, provoked by the unjust enclosing of common land.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 267
those who held it was not lawful for a Christian man to bear
office or rule in the commonwealth.
The authorities continued their policy of extermination of
the Anabaptists with unabated zeal. Among the list of " Art-
icles to be inquired of " in the Diocese of London at Bishop
Ridley's visitation in 1550, we find the query " Whether there
be any of the Anabaptist sect ? "
Kent continued to give much anxiety to the authorities on
account of the continuance of Anabaptist activity. Gardiner,
Bishop of Winchester, was taken severely to task for lukewarm-
ness in extirpating heresy. In October, 1552, the Cranmer
Commission was renewed, directing1
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London and other
worshipful persons in Kent, to make inquiry after sundry heresies
lately sprung up ; and for the examination and punishment of
erroneous opinions, as it seems of the Anabaptists and Arians of
which sort some now, notwithstanding former severities, show
their heads.
In consequence of this Joan Boucher was burned, also George
van Pare, evidently a Dutch Anabaptist.8 Bishop Ridley
1 Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, II. n. 365.
2 It is interesting to note that John Knox was highly recommended for the
Bishopric of Rochester and the reasons therefor. Some of Knox's biographers
suggest that the Council proposed to form a new bishopric at Newcastle, but in
the Cal. State Papers (Ed. VI, Vol. XV.) is a letter from Northumberland to Sir
William Cecil, dated 28 October, 1552, which makes it quite clear that Rochester
was the place :
I would to God it might please the King to appoint Mr. Knocks to the office of
ochester bishopric ... he would not only be a whetstone to quicken and sharpen
the Bishop of Canterbury, whereof he hath need, but also he would be a great
confounder of the Anabaptists lately springing up in Kent.
The writer is indebted to Dr. Whitley for drawing his attention to an English
Anabaptist of this period. Robert Cooche was not an immigrant refugee but an
Englishman, who was converted by Anabaptist teaching and adopted Anabaptist
beliefs. He was Keeper of the wine-cellar to the Queen-Dowager, Catherine Parr,
and c. 1550 published a pamphlet maintaining that infants have no original sin
and ought not to be baptized. William Turner, Prebendary of York, replied in
1551 with A preservative, or triacle, agaynst the poyson of Pelagius, lately reneued and
styrred up agayn by the furious secte of the Anabaptistes.
In 1557 Cooche again appeared in print with a lengthy tract, The Confutation
of the Errors of the Careless by Necessity. This was the first reasoned attack in
English against the doctrines of Calvin, and the interest it aroused is evident from
the fact that it drew a reply from Knox. Knox was at the Court of King Edward
VI in 1552 and 1553, and had the opportunity then of meeting Cooche ; his
reply shows that he knew the author of The Confutation personally. It was
published in 1560 under the title, An answer to a great nornber of blasphemous
cavillations written by an Anabaptist, and adversarie to Qod^s Eternal Predestination
and Confuted by John Knox, minister of Oods worde in Scotland. (Reprinted in
1591.) The full text of The Confutation is given in the Baptist Trans., IV.
268 Anabaptism in England
was specially instructed to hunt up the Anabaptists and a
congregation of sixty was surprised at worship and seized at
Booking.1
In estimating the extent of Anabaptism in England we must
take into account the action of the authorities, as it furnishes
strong evidence of the strength of the movement. For no
insignificant sect would Ecclesiastical Commissions composed
of the most influential churchmen in the realm, armed with
special powers, have been set in motion. The authorities
themselves try to belittle the movement by saying that its
followers consisted only of " cowherds, clothiers, and such-like
mean people." Why then did they take such special steps to
repress it !■ They further followed this policy by casting
opprobrium on the memory of Joan Boucher3 after her death.
Nevertheless, it is evident, as we have shown, that authority
in England was sufficiently aware of the power of this move-
ment in its midst to dread it. Hence the machinery set in
motion. Yet they did not succeed in stamping it out, for
nearly a century later we find Laud telling Charles I that the
Kent variety of Anabaptist was so deeply rooted that it was
impossible to pluck it out all of a sudden.
The sufferings of the " Reformers " during Mary's reign have
bulked so large that historians have paid small heed to the
" root and branch Reformers," the Anabaptists, whom these
very " martyrs " of " Bloody Mary's " reign had themselves
harried to death. All through Mary's reign the extermination
of the Anabaptists continued, always requiring a repetition of
" extermination " immediately thereafter.
1 Strype (Cranmer, I. 337) records it thus :
In January 27th a number of persons, a sort of Anabaptists about 60, met in a
house on a Sunday, in the parish of Booking in Essex. . . . These were looked upon
as dangerous to Church and State ; and two of the company were therefore com-
mitted to the Marshallsea, and orders were sent to apprehend the rest.
This case has often been quoted, and for that reason the writer has included it,
but as a matter of fact this was not really an Anabaptist gathering. The congre-
gation which was apprehended at Booking consisted of people from Maidstone,
Lenham, Pluckley and Ashford, and the records of the case in the Privy Council
Register show that Anabaptist doctrines did not enter in at all. The main topic of
discussion was " that the preaching of predestynacyon is a damnable doctrine."
If Strype had used the Privy Council records he would not have made the mistake
of calling these people " a sort of Anabaptists."
1 In 1552 under Edward VI the " Forty Two Articles," largely drawn up by
Cranmer, were agreed upon in Convocation and published by the King's Majesty.
Articles 8 and 37 expressly contradict the Anabaptists, and many of the others
are aimed against them.
3 See Becke's rhyming pamphlet, Jhone Bucket's Burning (1550 ; published in
Collins, Illustrations of English Literature, II).
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 269
Bishop Jewel bears witness in 1553 that " the Anabaptists
held private conventicles in London and perverted many."1
The Zurich Letters2 and the contemporary writings of Becon*
bear out this statement of the prevalence of Anabaptism in
England. In that year the Queen issued a proclamation " for
the driving out of the realm strangers and foreigners."4 In 1554
Mary and Philip jointly wrote to the Bishop of London urging
him " to go on in the persecution of the hereticks."5 In 1555
the King and Queen issued a Commission " for repressing of
heresies and false rumours " to the Bishop of Exeter and
others.6
East Anglia was particularly strong in martyrs for their
faith. On one occasion while Hopton, Bishop of Norwich,
was engaged in the work of extirpation at Ipswich, Dunning,
his chancellor, ran up to the ecclesiastical tribunal to announce
to his lordship the glad tidings that a number of heretics had
just arrived — many of them Anabaptists. Baxford and Lan-
ham, and what Foxe7 calls " the cloth country," had supplied
this band. It was maddening to hear them, the chancellor
declared.
Before tracing the main stream of Anabaptism in England
in Elizabeth's reign, it would be well to examine an unexplored
tributary of Anabaptist history.
In the precincts of Austin Friars, London, is a very old
Dutch Church, whose records8 must be among the most interest-
ing in the country. A charter " granting the church of the
Augustine Friars, London, to foreign Protestant refugees,"
was signed by Edward VI on 24 July, 1550.
It cannot be too strongly stated that these " refugees " who
constituted this Church were not Anabaptists, but of the re-
formed Protestant faith. Indeed when the writer explained
it was his purpose to look for Anabaptism among their records
an immediate and rather indignant repudiation of such doc-
trines was at once given.9 When it was pointed out that it
1 Works, IV. 1241. aI. 92. 3III. 6, 293, 401. 4Wilkins, IV. 93. 5 Ibid.,
IV. 102. « Ibid., IV. 140. 7 Book of Martyrs, II. 545.
8 The writer is indebted for the courtesy which allowed him to examine the
documents.
They are stored in a specially built strong room in the church. It was a
suggestion by Dr. Whitley that something might be found there that sent the writer
on the search. The records have been indexed and transcribed by Professor
Hessels.
9 This denial was interesting, for it shows that a body who takes a legitimate
pride in its history has still a recollection of Anabaptism. To how many Baptist
churches would the term mean anything at all to-day ?
1 8
270 Anabaptism in England
was to look for such " heresy " as far back as the 16th and
17th centuries, it was admitted that then such " heresy "
might be found.
Ten years after the receipt of their charter was a record of
the very thing the writer sought, and in none other than
Adriaan Haemstede, the paster of the church. On 16
November, 1560, the Bishop of London excommunicated
Adriaan for holding the erroneous doctrines of the Anabaptists ;
that others among his flock were also " infect " is clear from
further letters.1
Haemstede apparently returned as pastor in 1562, and the
Bishop of London required him to sign a revocation of his
former " heresy." This is also preserved. It is in Latin2, but
the English runs something as follows :
31 July, 1562. On account of certain assertions and tenets
repugnant to the word of God which I entertained while I was
minister in the London Dutch Church, I was deposed and ex-
communicated by a decree of the Bishop of London, but after a
consideration of about eighteen months I think differently,
acknowledge my guilt and am sorry to have given so much offence.
These are my errors : I have acknowledged the Anabaptists,
who deny that Christ is the true seed of woman. . . .
Haemstede again " fell away " and on 19 August, 1562, was
deposed from his ministry, excommunicated, and ordered to
quit the country.
Despite the action of the authorities Anabaptism again
appears in the records of the Dutch Church in London. In a
letter dated 17 November, 1570s, from certain members to
[Edwin Sandes], Bishop of London, repudiating unjust charges
of false doctrine, they nevertheless admit that within their
1 Letter 49 dated from London (Saturday) 19 April, 1561, deals with Haemstede's
supporters, ordering them to confess publicly that Adriaan's Anabaptist doctrines
. . . were false . . . and threatening obstinacy with excommunication. This case was
" acted " (in the legal sense) before the Bishop of London with the consent of the
ministers of the Flemish and French Churches, and in the presence and with the
consent of the Bishop of Durham.
Actum decimo nono Aprilis 1561. Coram Edmundo Episcopo Londinensi cum
consensu ministrorum utriusque Ecclesiae peregrinorum Flandricae scilicet et Oallicae,
presente etiam Domino Episcopo dunelmensi et consentienti.
Letters 49a and 496 show that these " heretical brethren confessed and testified "
in accordance with the dominant party.
1 Letter 66, 31 July, 1562. A copy of this is in Col. S.P.D., 1547-1580—31 July,
1562.
s Letter 104.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 271
fold are those " infected with errors." They give a long list
of such errors and say they are due amongst other things to
the doctrines and heretical pamphlets of divers sects as Arians,
Anabaptists and Familists.1
Among the State Papers8 there is under 3 April, 1575, a
" Confession of Faith and appeal to the Queen's mercy of five
Dutchmen condemned for Anabaptism." Two of these were
burned on 22 July, 1575. There is a lot of correspondence on
the matter in the archives at Austin Friars.
Duncan B. Heriot.
1 The Familists or Family of Love were akin to, if not a band of the Anabaptists.
They believed in " visions and revelations." One of their leaders was Henry
Nicolas (generally H.N.), an Anabaptist, who had been mixed up with the Miinzer
insurrection at Amsterdam and fled thence to Emden. He published several works
the chief being The Glass of Righteousness.
Fuller (Church History, IX. 3. § 38) says that Nicolas came to England
in the latter end of the reign of Edward VI, and joined himself to the Dutch con-
gregation in London, where he seduced a number of artificere and silly women. . . .
Martinus Micronius, writing to Bullinger, 20 May, 1550 (Epistolce Tigurince, p.
365) expresses his satisfaction at the arrival of John a Lasco in England, because
it is a matter of first importance that the Word of God should be preached in London
in the German language, " to guard against heresies which are introduced by our
countrymen. ..."
On 3 October, 1580, a Proclamation was issued against the Sectaries of the
Family of Love.
* Col. 8.P.D., 1547-1580, 496.
(To be continued).
272
Henry Richard and Arbitration*
I. One of the most reasonable ideals in the realm of inter-
national politics is to place disputes between nations on the
same footing as those which take place between individuals,
and to seek their solution by referring them to impartial
justice instead of encouraging their settlement by force. Not
until the establishment of the Permanent International Court
of Justice at the Hague, under the auspices of the League of
Nations, was this ideal finally realized and given the sanction
of the less uncivilized nations of the world. International co-
operation in the legal sphere is, in this way, fairly recent as
an officially recognized technique in dealing with international
complications, and even yet there is no means of compelling
nations to submit their cases to arbitration, though the signa-
tories of the Covenant of the League of Nations have implicitly
committed themselves to this mode of procedure. During the
history of the movement towards the recognition of arbitra-
tion as a principle in international relations in the 19th century,
the man who strove more than any of his contemporaries
to bring home to people the futility and immorality of the
use of force to settle disputes was Henry Richard, who has
with justification been called the Apostle of Peace : it was he
who, during his secretaryship of the Peace Society and the
twenty years in which he was an M.P., brought to the notice
of the Government and of the people of his own and of other
countries the urgent need for a reconsideration of the principles
of international law and of the question of armaments. For
forty years he had been trying to persuade the governments of
Europe both through public action and the activities of inter-
national peace conferences to abolish war as an instrument of
international policy, and to adopt some plan for the reduction
of armaments. If conferences and resolutions are of any
value, which is to be doubted, Richard was responsible for
enough of them to abolish war for ever from the political
landscape of Europe.
A cursory glance at the pamphlet-literature published in
the United States and in Great Britain during the fifty
Henry Richard and Arbitration 273
years in which Richard was active is sufficient to show
that the demand for arbitration and disarmament was
not merely the outcome of the fear and uneasiness which
followed the World War. Throughout this period statistics
were collected and published which actually show that peaceful
methods of dealing with international questions were more
numerous than the instances of resort to arms. And yet, in
spite of petitions, conferences, and semi-officially endorsed
resolutions, during the years 1848-1886, the years of Richard's
political activity, the occurrence of the Crimean, the Franco-
Prussian, and other wars broke into these unofficial strivings
to bring about a more peaceful atmosphere, even though some
of the participators in these wars had shown their willingness
on other occasions to recognize the need for arbitration.
Gladstone's attitude towards proposals for overtures to foreign
powers with a view to facilitating disarmament was also dis-
appointing.
There were, it is true, in all, during the 19th century,
471 settlements of disputes by arbitration ; and between 1816
and 1893 there were eighty important cases of arbitration, in
thirty-three of which the United States took part, and Great
Britain in eight. The most important cases of arbitration
in Europe were : 1834, Belgium and Holland ; 1835, France
and Britain ; 1867, France and Russia ; Turkey and Greece ;
1874, Italy and Switzerland ; 1875, Great Britain and Portu-
gal ; 1885, Great Britain and Russia (Afghan boundary) ;
Britain and Germany (over Fiji, award to Germany) ; 1887,
Britain and Spain ; 1889, France and Russia ; 1890, Britain
and Germany ; Britain and France ; 1891, Britain and France.
All of these cases would not have provoked wars ; yet if handled
tactlessly many of them might have done so. The well-known
Alabama case, in which the award was made against Britain,
was the most sensational example of arbitration during the
century : the incident leading up to it had certainly created
an atmosphere in which an Anglo-American war was by no
means remote.
Arbitration, then, was not a new thing even in 1848 ; what
Henry Richard and the Peace Society did was to force upon
the attention of Europe the compelling need for the solution
of international difficulties without recourse to war. That
was his chief mission. Yet a complete appreciation of his
work is impossible without some knowledge of his achievements
in the interests of Welsh nationalism ; for he was not only a
1 8 *
274 Henry Richard and Arbitration
leader of peace movements but a formidable antagonist of
landlordism and of anti-Welsh Anglicanism in Wales ; he shares
with Tom Ellis and Michael D. Jones the honour of having
helped to produce in Wales a definite political self-consciousness.
His international outlook was all the greater because he
recognized the contributions of individual nationalities to
world-culture.
II. Henry Richard was born on 3 April, 1812, at Tregaron,
in South Wales. His father, Ebenezer Richard, a Calvinistic
Methodist minister, sent Henry in 1826 to be employed as a
draper's apprentice. Four years later Henry Richard decided
to enter the ministry. He went to Highbury Congregational
College, and in 1835 settled at Marlborough Chapel, London,
where he had a very successful ministry. In May, 1848, he
became secretary of the Peace Society, which had been founded
in 1816, chiefly as a result of the activities of Clarkson and the
Quakers. Richard said of the Society that " it has helped to
create something like a Christian conscience in the nation on
questions of peace and war," though Disraeli regarded it as
one of the most sinister and pernicious organizations ever set
on foot.1 Soon after accepting the secretaryship of the Society
Richard began to busy himself with the idea of international
peace congresses, an idea which is said to have originated
with the American, Elihu Burritt. He suggested to Joseph
Sturge, a prominent member of the Society, that a conference
might be held in Paris. Brussels, however, was decided upon,
owing to the political excitement in France that year. The
objects of the conference were three : arbitration, reduction of
armaments, and the improvement of international communica-
tions. At the congress were 200 American and English
delegates. It lasted three days, and Cobden wrote in his
message to those present :
Your congress will be the protest of a minority against a
system repugnant alike to humanity and common sense.
The following year a congress was held in Paris . In the mean-
1 Disraeli's exact words, as quoted by Richard in a paper read at a peace con-
ference at Darlington 30 January, 1885, were as follows :
Their deleterious doctrine haunts the people of this country in every form.
It has done more mischief than anything I can recall that has been afloat
in this country- It has occasioned more wars than the most ruthless conquerors ;
it has destroyed the political equilibrium of the world, it has dimmed for the
moment the majesty of England, and I call upon you to brand these opinions with
the reprobation of the peers of England.
Henry Richard and Arbitration 275
time many large subscriptions were sent to the Society, and
its activities became more widely known. Richard visited
the French Parliament in April, and was received by Lamartine.
The congress opened on 22 April, the president being Victor
Hugo. The American and British delegates numbered 700 ;
Hugo made a rhetorical speech about the United States of
America and the United States of Europe, and the conference,
which brought satisfaction to the delegates, as is the habit with
conferences, passed off pleasantly, though without any reper-
cussions in the European capitals. On his return Richard was
presented with a cheque for £1,000, Cobden and Bright being
among the subscribers. In the summer of 1850, when he
resigned from the ministry, Richard went with Burritt on a
mission to Berlin, taking advantage of the opportunity to
make a tour of central Germany. Travelling via Brussels
and Cologne he visited Giessen (where he met the theologian
Ferdinand Christian Baur), Marburg, Cassel, Eisenach, Gotha,
Erfurt, Weimar, Leipzig, and Dresden. At Potsdam he had
an interview with von Humboldt, then went to Hamburg,
and returned eventually to Frankfurt.
The Frankfurt Congress, the third Continental congress in
two years, opened on 22 August. It was attended by French,
German, Belgian, English, and American delegates. The
resolution adopted was as follows :
That the standing armaments with which the Governments
of Europe menace one another impose intolerable burdens, and
inflict grievous moral and social evils upon their respective
communities. This Congress, therefore, cannot too earnestly
call the attention of Governments to the necessity of entering
upon a system of international disarmament without prejudice
to such measures as may be considered necessary for the mainten-
ance of the security of the citizens and of the internal tranquillity
of the State.
An admirable resolution, similar to the innumerable ones
passed during the last fifteen years, and equally futile. A
German delegate, Bodenstedt, attempted to give practical
expression to the purpose of the congress by proposing the
setting up of a committee of inquiry or arbitration to solve
the Schleswig-Holstein-Danish question.
III. For the next few years Henry Richard was concerned
more with home than Continental affairs, and endeavoured to
276 Henry Richard and Arbitration
intensify and increase the activities of the Peace Society in
England. In July, 1851, a congress met in London, the over-
seas contingent including about sixty Americans. Both The
Times and the Morning Post made fun of the " peace-mongers,"
who continued their congresses by arranging one in Manchester
and another in Edinburgh. On the eve of the Crimean War
Richard decided to appeal for the settlement of the dispute by
arbitration, and with this in view he led a deputation of
members of the Peace Society to Lord Palmerston, urging
upon the Government
the importance of proposing at the conference then sitting some
system of international arbitration which may bring the great
interests of the nations within the cognizance of certain fixed
rules of justice and right.
Richard and Joseph Sturge even went over to Paris to see if
their appeal could be of any avail. It was, obviously, a pity
that this appeal was turned down, for it was thoroughly
sensible, as was Richard's pamphlet on the Crimean War, in
which he condemned the policy of Turkey and of the British
public for supporting her.
In 1857 Richard was appointed editor of the Star. Seven
years later he contributed his letters on the social and political
condition of Wales, published later as a separate volume. In
the general election of 1868 he was returned as Liberal for
Merthyr Tydvil, with a majority of over 4,000 votes. He
immediately proceeded to attack landlord coercion in Wales
and co-operated in raising funds to relieve the two hundred
tenants who had been evicted that year. During these years,
too, he concerned himself with Welsh education and with the
rights of Nonconformity in general. He took a prominent
part in the debates on Forster's Education Bill in 1870.
IV. After Parliament rose in 1870 Richard again visited
the Continent, passing through France, Holland, Prussia,
Bavaria, and Austria, in the endeavour to induce governments
to bring forward motions for disarmament. His success was
not conspicuous, though he had grounds for believing that
Faure and Simon were about to submit a resolution to the
French Parliament in favour of disarmament, an intention the
prosecution of which was made impossible by the outbreak
of the Franco-Prussian war. On 8 July, 1873, Richard
introduced a motion into the House of Commons urging that
Henry Richard and Arbitration 277
an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that she
will be graciously pleased to instruct her principal Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs to enter into communication with Foreign
Powers with a view to the further improvement of international
law, and the establishment of a general and permanent system
of arbitration.
During the course of his speech Richard dealt with the oppro-
brious term " peace at any price," which had been applied to
his party by opponents :
If what is charged against us be that we hate war too much
and love peace too well, I must own that the accusation lies light
enough on my conscience. . . . The only acknowledged solvent of
international disputes in the last resort is the sword. The con-
sequence is that Governments are driven, or imagine themselves
driven, to that system of rivalry in armaments, which, in my
opinion, is at this moment the greatest curse and calamity of
Europe.
(How very recent these phrases sound !) Richard went on to
mention the terrific expenditure and the increase in national
debts incurred by heavy armaments :
While spending so much time, thought, skill and money trying
to organize war, is it not worth while to bestow some forethought
and care in trying to organize peace, by making some provision
beforehand for solving by peaceable means those difficulties and
complications that arise to disturb the relations of States, instead
of leaving them to the excited passions and hazardous accidents
of the moment ?
He emphasized the soundness of his contentions by referring
to instances in which arbitration had proved successful. But
although the motion was agreed to, little seems to have resulted
from it. Yet Richard's courage and outspokenness were
appreciated. Sumner sent him his congratulations from
Washington, and messages were received by him from many
European countries.
In September Richard went to Brussels, where he suggested
the following resolution :
This conference declares that it regards Arbitration as a means
essentially just and reasonable, and even obligatory upon all
nations, of terminating international differences which cannot
be settled by negotiation. It abstains from affirming that in
all cases, without exception, this mode of solution is applicable,
278 Henry Richard and Arbitration
but it believes that exceptions are rare, and it is convinced that
no difference ought to be considered insoluble until after a clear
statement of complaints and reasonable delay, and the exhaustion
of all pacific methods of accommodation.1
This was proposed again at a jurist convention, after he had
paid a visit to Berlin, Dresden and Vienna. On returning to
Vienna, he explored the possibilities of its effective discussion
in the Reichsrat, but found that the difficulty of introducing
it would be very great. Before leaving he received an address
from Italy signed by Garibaldi, Crispi, some University pro-
fessors, and Presidents of Chambers of Commerce. He
proceeded to Rome, where he listened to a speech by the
Italian Foreign Secretary, and in Florence received another
address, this time from the women of Italy. Thereupon he
returned to England, and after two years' preoccupation with
domestic politics and Nonconformist affairs, he went to the
Hague in August, 1875, where he once more spoke on arbitra-
tion, arguing that what was needed was not casual arbitration,
but a tribunal established on a definite legal basis. Two years
later he attended at Bremen a conference for the codification
of International Law. He took an active part in the agitation
against the Turkish atrocities in the Balkans, and while the
Congress of Berlin was in progress in 1878 the committee of
the Peace Society travelled to Berlin to advocate arbitration,
submitting a memorial signed by the French Society of the
Friends of Peace, Mancini (the Italian Minister of Justice) and
others. Richard, who accompanied the committee, had long
interviews with von Bulow and Count Corti, the Italian
representative at the Congress. Two years later (June, 1880)
he again brought forward a disarmament motion in the House
of Commons, having been returned once more for Merthyr.
Gladstone did not anticipate any beneficial results from making
overtures to foreign powers on the subject of disarmament.
Again Richard was far in advance of the Liberal opinion of his
day, and it is a matter of regret that his efforts to secure the
1 Cf. the Covenant of the League, :
Article 12 (1) The Members of the League agree that, if there should arise
between them any dispute likely to lead to a rupture, they will submit the matter
either to arbitration or judicial settlement or to inquiry by the Council and they
agree in no case to resort to war until three months after the award by the arbitra-
tors or the judicial decision, or the report by the Council.
Article 1.3 (1) The Members of the League agree that, whenever any dispute
shall arise between them which they recognize to be suitable to arbitration or
judicial settlement, and which cannot be satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they
will submit the whole subject-matter to arbitration or judicial settlement.
Henry Richard and Arbitration 279
adoption of reasonable principles in the conduct of inter-
national affairs met with so little success. On the outbreak
of the Egyptian revolt in 1882 the Peace Society protested
against armed intervention, denouncing the bombardment of
Alexandria, and Richard attacked what he called a " vote for
blood-money " in the House of Commons.
Until the end of his life Richard was busy. After an Italian
tour in 1884 he resigned the secretaryship of the Peace Society,
but continued to take part in Parliamentary debates. In
March, 1886, he made a speech against a declaration of war
and the making of treaties without Parliamentary sanction,
though his motion was defeated. He was returned by his old
constituency in the elections of 1885 and 1886, and devoted
much of his time to Welsh education, having been appointed
in 1885 a member of the Royal Commission on education in
Wales. He died in South Wales, on 20 August, 1888, the
funeral service at Abney Park, London, being conducted by
Edward White and R. W. Dale, who delivered the address.1
Gladstone's reference to him, made at the National Eisteddfod
at Wrexham in the following September may be quoted as an
indication of his appreciation of his work and personality :
I had the honour of knowing him for the last twenty years, if
not more, and I have always been glad to take occasion of saying
that I regarded him, in respect of conduct, character, and hopes
of the people of Wales, as a teacher and a guide. I have owed
to him much of what I have learned about Wales as my experience
has enlarged, and I owe a debt to him on that account which I
am ever glad to acknowledge. ... I know his name will be long
remembered, and ever be revered among you, and I am glad to
have had the opportunity of paying to him this brief and imper-
fect, but hearty and sincere, tribute of admiration and respect.
V. Gladstone referred to Henry Richard's work as an
exponent of Welsh national aspirations. As a protagonist of
the rights of a small country he must be regarded as outspoken
yet cautious in his refutation of the charges which had been
made on an insufficient basis against Welsh morality and
social life. Tom Ellis said of him :
Mr. Henry Richard was the first real exponent in the House of
Commons of the puritan and progressive life of Wales, and he
expounded the principles which Nonconformity has breathed
into the very life and heart of the Welsh people.
1 In 1877 Richard was elected Chairman of the Congregational Union.
280 Henry Richard and Arbitration
In this his work is of most interest to Welshmen, whereas his
speeches on international affairs and his familiarity with
European politics have a greater significance to those who are
interested in the development of European peace movements,
particularly as most of the things which are being fought for
to-day were equally living issues in his own day. As a con-
cluding estimate of his achievements an account should be
given of two important speeches made at continental congresses :
one on the " Recent Progress of International Arbitration "
delivered at Cologne in 1881, before the " Association for the
Revision and Codification of the Laws of Nations," the other
in Milan in 1883.
In his Cologne speech1 Richard dealt first with objections
to arbitration, and then with the irrationality of warfare, which
he rightly held to be incapable of solving difficulties which
required justice :
Each party loudly asseverates that it is drawing the sword
only in defence of the right. But how are questions of right
to be decided ? Is it by an appeal to the appliances of brute
force, or to reason and justice ? . . . A bayonet has no aptitude
for the discovery of truth ; gunpowder has no quality of moral
discrimination ; a Krupp gun, or a torpedo, no particular relation
to righteousness. A more conclusive proof of the utter impotence
of war cannot be imagined than is afforded by the fact that it
never does settle anything.
For settlement is the result of a treaty. In reply to the criticism
that arbitration is impracticable, he points out that it has
been practised.
Our answer is that it is done. It has been done, it is being
done, almost every year, and in my firm conviction, it will be
done more and more, as mankind advances in enlightenment,
civilization, and morality.
He then cites twelve cases of arbitration between 1873 and
1881, and comments on them :
I do not wish to attach more importance to this recital than
it deserves. But surely there is ground here for encouragement
and hope. Here are about a dozen instances, within eight years,
in which nations have had recourse to arbitration, and in every
case so far as I know, with absolute success. It may be said,
1 The speech was published in pamphlet form in 1882.
Henry Richard and Arbitration 281
for there is a curious propensity in a certain class of minds to
minimize, or to reduce the significance of, these moral conquests
for humanity, that, after all, the cases I have cited concern only
minor matters in the relations of states. In the first place, that
is not quite correct as a question of fact. Some of them were
differences of a very grave character, which might have ripened
into formidable quarrels. . . . Again, we may be told that
isolated cases of arbitration are of little value. I say on the
contrary, that they are of great value. Each case becomes an
example and a precedent, and precedents have a tendency to settle
into law.
Richard was a political prophet when he added, apropos of
the support given by America to the arbitration movement :
It is impossible to exaggerate the importance and value of the
influence which the United States may exercise in this respect,
over Europe and the world.
As a constructive proposal, he suggested that the U.S.A. should
enter into treaties with the European powers, binding them
beforehand to arbitration. This, he thought, might be taken
as a basis for subsequent development into a Tribunal of
fiumanity.
In his Milan speech Richard continued his attack on war,
which he described as
an affront to reason, an outrage on justice, a scandal to civiliza-
tion, and a bitter sarcasm on the professed Christianity of most
of those nations by which it is sustained.
Referring, as was his custom, to the progress made by arbitra-
tion, he mentioned an agreement concluded between England
and Italy, by which all future commercial disputes arising
between the two nations should be settled by arbitration.
Touching on disarmament, he condemned the increasing
competition in armaments among European countries :
They all protest, apparently with the accent of sincerity, that
their policy is a policy of peace ; yet they increase their armaments.
They meet in council to seek a pacific solution for the problems
that trouble Europe, and they may be said metaphorically to
embrace each other with effusive signs of affection ; but they
continue to increase their armaments.
He suggested that arbitration clauses should be inserted in all
treaties, as a preUminary to a general recognition by all
282 Henry Richard and Arbitration
governments that international law and not force should be
the means of settling future disputes. A striking thing about
Richard's speeches is the prophetic accuracy with which they
describe the needs and conditions of the Europe of our own
day. The League of Nations, the Court of International
Justice at the Hague ; Locarno ; the Kellogg Pact ; conferences
to discuss the limitations of armaments : all these things are
the logical outcome of the ideals which inspired him, and in
spite of them there are more men under arms in Europe than
in 1 9 1 4 . Governments still profess that they have no aggressive
intentions ; the principle of arbitration has been accepted and
is binding on more than fifty nations ; yet the practical result
is only a feeling of temporary and provisional security. The
root of the matter has not yet been dealt with — the real limita-
tion and ultimate reduction of armaments according to the
provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. There is still alive in
our midst the temptation to discard whatever pacific methods
of settling disputes there are at our disposal so long as force is
available and ready organized. Only by the reduction of
armaments to the minimum necessary for the preservation of
internal peace can arbitration as an active principle in inter-
national pohtics be safeguarded. The world is still a long
way from the end which Richard sought to realize by appealing
to governments and peoples alike. The only thing which
makes one hope that the work done by him and those who
shared his ideals is not useless is the possibility that nations
will eventually realize the folly and the futility of their ways.
Geraint V. Jones.
283
Miscellaneous MSS. from New College, London.
[Thomas Wilson, 1764-1843. Thomas Wilson, often called " The
Chancellor " and " The Chapel-builder," retired from business as a
young man to give the whole of his time to the work of the King-
dom of God, going to Hoxton (afterwards Highbury) Academy, of
which he was Treasurer for nearly 50 years. Wilson did the
kind of work now done by College Principals, Moderators, and
Chapel Building Societies. He was one of the founders of the
London Missionary Society, the Religious Tract Society, the
British and Foreign Bible Society, the Congregational Union and
the Congregational Library.
(fee his son Joshua's Memoir of Thoracis Wilson, 1846.)
Ebenezer Henderson, 1784^-1858. After being Congregational
minister and Bible Society representative in Denmark, Scandinavia,
Russia and Iceland, was theological tutor at Hoxton and Highbury
from 1826-1850. The misunderstanding with Wilson was evidently
removed. Henderson gave the address at Wilson's funeral.
Henry Rogers, 1806 (?)-1877. Minister at Poole, 1829, afterwards
Lecturer on Rhetoric and Logic at Highbury College. Professor of
English Language and Literature, University College, London, and
then Professor at Spring Hill, Birmingham. Edinburgh Reviewer.
Author of The Eclipse of Faith. Wilson's reply to this letter may
be gathered from the fact that it was in the following year that
Rogers was appointed to Highbury.
Thomas Binney, 1798-1874. Minister of the Weigh House,
London, 1829-69.]
I. Ebenezer Henderson to Thomas Wilson.
Cromer, Norfolk,
My dear Sir, 27th. Aug*. 1835.
I sincerely thank you for the kind terms in which
your communication of the 20th- is expressed, and duly
appreciate the motive by which you were induced to institute
the inquiries and encourage the spirit of criticism — the results
of which you inclosed ; but I cannot describe the pain it has
given me to find that you have had recourse to any such
measures.
I trust I am ever ready to receive advice from those com-
petent to give it (and I can appeal to many of my Brethren,
both in town and country, that I have made the College
284 Miscellaneous MSS. from New College, London
exercises the subject of conversation with them, in order to
elicit their opinion, and obtain practical hints, suggested by
their own experience of ministerial work, that might be made
to tell on the adaptation and efficiency of these exercises) but
to set a student to find fault with the Lectures of his Tutor,
or in other words to ask him to state wherein he considers
them to be defective and how he conceives they might be
improved, is, in my opinion, to engender a spirit than which I
can conceive of none more calculated at once to destroy the
usefulness of the Tutor, impede the progress of the students,
and blast the prospects of the Institution. I cannot, there-
fore, consistently with the position I occupy at the College,
for a moment listen to anything coming from such a quarter ;
but shall continue to prosecute my work in the fear of God
and with a single eye to his glory. The plan of Theological
tuition at present pursued is that which I believe to be best
calculated to improve such young men as we generally receive,
and to be the only one that the circumstances of the Institution
will admit of. At all events it is not the likings or dislikings
of students, but their real benefit that is to be consulted.
I remain,
My Dear Sir,
Yours ever faithfully,
E. Henderson.
II. Henry Rogers to Thomas Wilson.
My dear Sir, Sept 1831
As you have always kindly interested yourself in
my welfare, I take the earliest opportunity of asking your
opinion and advice on a matter of great importance. I can-
not now enter into details but hope to do so a week or two
hence when I shall in all probability see you in town. Suffice
it to say for the present, that my voice has of late exhibited
such symptoms of weakness and huskiness, connected with
extreme irritation and inflammation of the windpipe as to
render it extremely doubtful whether I shall long be able
to continue my public exercises. I have been necessitated to
give up for a few Sabbaths at all events ; and three medical
gentlemen whom I have consulted since I came into the country
— viz. — Dr. Martin of Chatham, my old friend Mr. Ray of
Milton, and Dr. Smith, an eminent physician of Maidstone, all
advise a speedy abandonment or at all events a very long
suspension of the duties of the pulpit. Under such circum-
Miscellaneous MSS. from New College, London 285
stances I have been advised to take a few pupils. Still, how-
ever, I cannot but hope that I shall be permitted at some future
day, to become in some humble measure useful to the church,
if not by the labours of the pulpit, yet in directing the studies
of others for that great office. I am not I trust foolish enough
to suppose myself competent for such an office now, but, as
far as I can, I intend to direct my studies to theology & other
kindred subjects, that if Providence should hereafter point
out an opening, I may be able to embrace it. Should you
think it advisable for me under present circumstances, to take
a few pupils, may I request your kind recommendations should
you have any opportunity of aiding me ? If you can spare
time to write a few lines in answer to this I shall feel greatly
obliged. My address for the next fortnight will be — H.
Rogers — at Mr. W. W. Bentham's, Chatham, Kent — With
best respects to Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Joshua Wilson — believe
me
My dear Sir,
Yours very respectfully,
Henry Rogers.
P.S. Will you present my thanks to Mr. Joshua Wilson
for his pamphlet on the Dissenting Marriages ? Will you
be so kind as to tell him that I have felt much pleasure in
looking over it, and that if he would write a similar tract on
that odious Tax, the Church rates, he would be rendering
most essential service to Dissenters ?
III. Thos. Binney to Thos. Wilson.
40, Trinity Square,
Newington
My dear Sir, June 24th. 1831.
Mr Hoy is a most respectable and worthy man, and
his recommendation of any candidate for admission to High-
bury may be securely depended on. He was a fellow student
with me at Wymondley. If the name of the young man he
recommends be Watson (which you have not mentioned) I
have reason to think him very promising.
As I thus happen to be writing to you I will avail myself
of the opportunity to say, that, last week, when at Manchester,
at a breakfast with between 20 and 30 gentlemen, after which
several toasts were given, your health was drunk as one of
those benefactors of our age & " interest " who deserve to
be remembered whenever dissenters meet together for any
1 9
286 Miscellaneous MSS. from New College, London
good work. Your son, Mr. Joshua, was not with us, as he
ought to have been, and was expected, and therefore /, as the
only other person from London, was required to acknowledge
the toast — and, permit me to say, that however imperfectly I
did it, I felt it to be a happiness and an honour to return
thanks on the behalf of one whom I have long privately
regarded as one of the most nobly benevolent of men & of
Xtians. I think it cannot be wrong, for one Xtian to speak
thus of another, or to him either, when he really thinks it.
Yours dear Sir
very respectfully,
T. Binney.
IV. Thomas Binney to Joshua Wilson.
Kennington Common
Thursday Morning,
My dear Sir, Nov'- 1833
I had hoped to have seen you today — but I have
got a sore throat which confines me to the house. — I want,
very particularly to see that hand-bill about the " Devil
being the first dissenter " which your father had sent to him,
or an accurate copy thereof — I think I can make a capital
use of it. — I think the times are now so important and critical
that it becomes us all to be up and doing ; and instead of
whining and lamenting that nothing is done to set to work and
do something — there is plenty room for individual exertion,
in addition to combined movements, which, I hope, I shall
always stand prepared to share in and accelerate.
Yours in haste
My dear Sir,
Very truly
T. Binney.
V. Thomas Binney to Joshua Wilson.
Kennington Common
My dear Sir, March 8th., 1841
I was led lately to look into the early history of the
Weigh House Church. The Revd. S. Slater, who first founded
it, preached, it appears, a farewell sermon on his ejectment,
from which Wilson, in his Dissenting Churches, gives an
extract. Have you got that sermon ? or can you tell me where
I could see it ? Richard Kentish, Tho Kentish and John
Knowles, who followed Mr. Slater, were ejected ministers.
Miscellaneous MSS. from New College, London 287
Do you know if any of them preached farewell sermons ; and
if I could find them, if they did ?
I want to make a calculation of what it cost our forefathers
in fines, goods, liberty &c to maintain their religion. My
impression is that if we had ten times the calls upon us from
Societies in the present day beyond what we have, our religion
would still be a cheaper thing to us than what it was to our
progenitors. I think a good deal may be made of this as an
argument & appeal to our churches to do the duty to which
they are specially called in their day (viz giving money)
liberally and without grudging, & I mean next Sunday, in
preaching my own missionary services, to dilate upon it.
Now — I find a great deal in Neal's Hist of the Puritans — but
do you know any other source of knowledge on this subject —
calculations of what was taken from the Dissenters from say,
the year 1662 onwards ?
Can you direct me where I can find an account of the manner
in which the money was got to build the Mansion House ?
I should like also to get together an estimate of what the
Episcopalians suffered during the time of the long Parliament
& Commonwealth — where is the best account of that by some
one of themselves ?
Now, my dear sir, can you furnish me with any thing to suit
my purpose ? I have Neal, Clarendon, Burnet, Vaughan,
Wilson, A Hist of the Quakers &c but still you may know
where I might get information condensed. I will take care of
anything you let me have & return it immediately.
I shall be at Broad Street tomorrow at Dr. Fletcher's
Lecture — if you were to be in town I could see you at the
Library afterwards.
I must beg to congratulate you on your higher degree.
I hope Mrs. Wilson & the young Prince & Princess are doing
well. May this be a great & ever increasing source of pleasure
to you both.
I am
My dear Sir
Yours very truly,
T. Binney.
VI. A Transfer of Membership.
The church of Christ meeting in York Street Walworth,
to the Church of Christ under the pastoral care of the Revd
Jn°. Blackburn, Pentonville, sendeth greeting.
288 Miscellaneous MSS. from New College, London
Our Sister, Mary Tilcock, having been called in the course
of providential events, to fix her residence in your immediate
vicinity, has expressed her desire to be transferred from
our community to yours. We therefore commend her to your
Christian esteem and fellowship, most willingly testifying,
that, according to our knowledge and belief, her walk and
conversation have been consistent with her holy profession.
With earnest prayers for your peace, increase and prosperity,
we remain, on behalf of the Church, affectionately yours in
the bonds of the Gospel.
Geo. Clayton - Pastor
Vestry, York St. Chapel
June 2d. 1837.
1 Query "T"or "J.'
P. T.1 Maitland
John Bazley White
William Dickinson
Jas Miller
Deacons
Albert Peel.
Congregational Historical Society Summary of
Accounts, Jan. — Dec, 1934.
Receipts. Expenditure.
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EDITORIAL.
THE Annual Meeting of the Society was held on Tuesday,
May 12th. Dr. Grieve, who was congratulated on his
Chairman's Address to the Congregational Union
earlier in the day, presided. The officers of the Society
were re-elected, and the Balance Sheet adopted. The sugges-
tions made by Dr. Grieve of a reduction in Life Membership
to £5 5s. Od. and the inauguration of Corporate Membership
by Congregational Churches (55. a year), were accepted after
discussion, during which Dr. S. W. Carruthers said that the
Historical Society of the Presbyterian Church of England had
found the Corporate Membership of great service, especially
when combined with the appointment of a Correspondent in
each affiliated church. £4 45. Od. of each Life Membership
Subscription is to be invested to form a Capital Fund. It
was agreed that this year only one number, enlarged to 64
pages, of the Transactions should be issued. This is the present
number. It concludes Vol. XII., and includes the Index.
Dr. Carruthers was warmly welcomed, and his paper, printed
in this issue, greatly appreciated.
# # # #
The next thing is to get a drive for new members of all
kinds — Churches, Life Members, Ordinary Members. The
first church to join as a member was Liscard Church, Wallasey,
Cheshire. Three Life Members have already been enrolled —
Dr. A. J. Grieve, Dr. Peel, and Dr. A. G. Sleep.
# # # *
The Autumnal Meetings of the Congregational Union
are this year in Birmingham. In the Transactions, VII. ,
58-64 there is an account of Thomas Hall of King's Norton.
Hall's Library is now in the City Library, Birmingham, and
the City Librarian has kindly promised to place it on exhibition.
A talk on Hall and his books will be given in the Library on
Wednesday, October 14th, at 4.30.
# # # *
This number contains the first fruits of our research group,
which has met several times in the Students' Room at the
Memorial Hall. The relations between Dr. Johnson and
Nonconformists were studied, first as they were revealed
1 9 *
29° Editorial
in Bos well, and then in other quarters. This led to a discussion
of the reading of Nonconformists, to which discussion Dr.
Mumford's paper is a footnote. Dr. Mumford, by the way,
has added to the service he has rendered to students in his
History of Manchester Grammar School by a life of Hugh
Oldham, the School's Founder. Hugh Oldham, 1452[?]-1519
(Faber, 65.) is a particularly well-illustrated account of the
Bishop of Exeter who had a hand in the founding of Corpus
Christi and Brasenose Colleges. Dr. Mumford has gathered
a wealth of information about Oldham and his contemporaries.
# # # #
We are glad that Mr. Laurence Hanson, of the British
Museum, the son of Mr. T. W. Hanson — one of our members
who has set an example to local historians — is following in
his father's footsteps . His Government and the Press, 1 695-1763
(Oxford Press, 21s.) is a fine piece of work ; its complete
notes, full bibliography, and adequate index all show that
the author has been properly brought up ! The volume
deals almost exclusively with the newspaper press in the
period between the expiration of the Licensing Act and the
publication of No. 45 of the North Briton, and summarizes
the legal consequences which followed the prosecution of
Wilkes. Naturally the name of Defoe is prominent in its
pages, while Fielding, of course, appears before the end.
Mr. Hanson has made an indispensable contribution to the
history of journalism, and in these days a discussion of the
freedom of the Press cannot be said to be untimely : a " Govern-
ment Press " is an actuality in many countries, and in others
there are various degrees of " inspiration." If a student
wants to know the law of libel in this period, and how it was
administered, or to find how the Government handled press
and pamphleteers, he will find authentic information in this
careful study.
Mr. T. W. Hanson himself has made a further contribution
to the Proceedings of the Halifax Antiquarian Society in a
paper on " The Old Independent Chapel in Chapel Fold."
This has been reprinted.
# # * #
We hope that some members of the Society are examining
as they appear the volumes of the Oxford History of England,
not merely in general, but particularly with a view to ascer-
taining whether they are giving a due place to religious matters,
Editorial 291
and especially the history of Nonconformity. Mr. R. C. K.
Ensor, in England, 1870-1918, is right to bring out the decline
in the influence of religion in his period, but we wonder if
there is not a danger of reading back into, say, the 16th and
17th centuries the modern attitude to religion. Will some
readers look at the volumes already issued, The Age of Elizabeth
and The Later Stuarts from this angle ? Even Prof. Ensor's
competent and informing survey, with its admirable chapters
on " Mental and Social Aspects," ignores altogether significant
episodes and movements : the Free Church Council, which had
some political significance, is, we think, not so much as men-
tioned, nor the Down Grade Controversy, the New Theology,
and (though perhaps in England we should not expect this)
the Scottish Churches' Case — and the list could be extended
indefinitely. The Bibliography, however, is full and useful.
• • • «
A long expected desideratum for research students now
appears in the Index of Persons in the Reports of the Royal
Commission on Historical Manuscripts (H.M.S.O., 155. and
12s. 6d.). No. 1 of the Guide to the Report was published
in 1914, but this Index, which is edited by Mr. Francis Bickley,
has been delayed until the present time. Pages vii.-xx.
contain a list of the Report's Indexes ; and the Index itself,
a first volume going as far as " Lever," occupies 448 pages.
There is still much to be discovered in the manuscripts so
far catalogued by the Commission, and anything that makes
the work of the research student easier is welcome.
Members of this Society who desire a picture of the life
of a distinguished Congregational minister in the United
States in the second half of the nineteenth century will do
well to read Dr. Raymond Calkins 's The Life and Times of
Alexander McKenzie (Harvard and Oxford Presses, 21s.). Dr.
Calkins succeeded McKenzie in the pastorate of the First
Congregational Church at Cambridge which he occupied for
forty -three years after a short ministry at Augusta, Maine.
The book could have been shortened with advantage, but
it is very welcome, for McKenzie played a prominent part
in the life of Colleges like Harvard and Wellesley, and in
controversies like those which arose at Andover and the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Born in 1830,
McKenzie had a spell of business life and went to College
292 Editorial
late, and not the least interesting pages of the book are those
describing a young man's life in business and in College.
He was a convinced Congregation alist :
I was born a Congregationalist [he wrote]. I was baptized
into that form of Church belief and life. I have never wished
to make a change. I believe in this method of ecclesiastical
life ; in its divine origin, its history, its faith, its spirit, its force,
its success. It is in sympathy with the political form of the
Republic and so far as I can foresee will be substantially the
method of the perfected Church. The more I see of the working
of other ecclesiastical systems, the better satisfied I am with
our own, imperfect though it is. I like an assured descent from
the first Christian churches. ... I like our free ways wherein
each body of Christians can frame its affairs as it will. ... I
like the liberty of the minister, which is subject only to his
own conscience and to God. ... I recognize my own freedom
and rejoice in it. I rejoice in the life of today which is unham-
pered by obsolete forms and formulas and can think and speak
in the language of the time. I am glad to be the Puritan minister
of a Puritan church. We hold to the faith of the founders of
this church. The Puritan belief and spirit have been preserved.
The Church finds authority for its belief and methods in the
New Testament.
Thus he was proud to be a minister of a Congregational Church
which went back to 1633-6, and to be connected with Harvard.
" He had marvellous fluency, fervent utterance, and unusual
homiletical gifts." He began his sermons with short crisp
sentences :
" How shall we sing a song in a strange land ? " Sing it
as you would in any other land.
" He gave the child to its mother." To whom else should
he give him ?
There is much that is unfamiliar to British readers in the
volume and we commend it to their notice.
It is gratifying to see that other denominations are active in
the work of historical research. We have before us three
books which reflect great credit on their writers, and on the
denominations to which they belong.
Though small in numbers, the Unitarians, like the
Quakers, have always had a number of families distin-
guished for their intellectual attainments. Of these that of
John Relly Beard is the subject of Dr. H. McLachlan's
Editorial 293
Records of a Family, 1800-1933 (Manchester University
Press, 8<s. 6d.). Dr. McLachlan describes the members
of the family as " Pioneers in Education, Social Service, and
Liberal Religion," and they are so varied that an account of
them makes a book as fascinating for the general reader as it
is informing to the student of history. Beard (1800-1876),
Unitarian minister and first Principal of the Unitarian College
at Manchester, had a large family. His eldest son was Charles
Beard (1827-1888), historian of the Reformation and of Port
Royal, and one of the founders of University College, Liverpool.
Charles's only son became Sir Lewis Beard (1858-1933),
Town Clerk of Blackburn and an authority on local adminis-
tration. James Rait Beard (1843-1917), Charles's brother,
was prominent in the business life of Manchester. His
sister Mary Shipman Beard (1861-1926) became an educa-
tionalist. Another sister Sarah (1831-1922) married John
Dendy, and had a family not less distinguished : their son
John (1852-1924) lived a useful life, but he was outshone by
his sisters, Mary (1858-1933), the pioneer in work for feeble-
minded children, and Helen (1860-1925), the authority on
the Poor Law, who married Bernard Bosanquet. Another
brother was Arthur (1864-1925), Prof, of Zoology at King's
College, London. Dr. McLachlan has made himself the
recognized historian of Unitarianism ; it is good to know that
Alexander Gordon is not to be left without at least one
successor.
In Upton (Carey Press, 55. and 2s. 6d.) Mr. Seymour J. Price,
the Secretary of the Baptist Historical Society, has given us
the history of a local church which all church historians could
take as a pattern. Based on full and careful study of the
documents — minutes and the like — it is never dry bones, for
Mr. Price has kept the story pulsing with life from the begin-
nings in 1785 down to the present day. A Baptist Church in
Lambeth in the course of 150 years has seen many changes,
and probably conditions were never more adverse than now,
but its people seem to be tackling their problem with the faith
and courage which marked James Upton, William Williams,
and the less well-known figures on the church's roll of honour.
Certainly those who belong to it to-day could gain much
inspiration from reading this vivid narrative. Students will
learn a good deal about the life of a Baptist Church during
the changing years, and especially of those days when mem-
bership was a real thing and the Church demanded a certain
294 Editorial
standard of living from its members. And how seriously
the members regarded their office may be gathered from the
programme of a recognition service in 1856, where, after a
liberal tea " the congregation heard : —
Rev. Dr. Angus on the various parts of the ministerial office.
Rev. W. Miall on the relations of the pastor to his people.
Rev. W. Howieson on the relations of the people to the pastor.
Rev. J. Betts on the Church's duty to support the ministry.
Rev. J. Hirons on Congregationalism or the Voluntary principle.
Rev. J. Cook on the duty of the Church towards the ungodly.
Rev. P. Green on the encouragement to Christian effort.
Rev. J. Robinson on the Church in relation to and with Sabbath
Schools.
The reading of the Rev. W. Bardsley Brash's The Story of
our Colleges, 1835-1935 (Epworth Press, 3s. 6d.) has been an
extremely pleasant experience, not only because we have
learnt a great deal from it, but because it is written with a
warmth and enthusiasm rarely to be found in church
historians — or anywhere else, for that matter — in these days.
How many Congregationalists, we wonder, know that the Wes-
leyans began the work of ministerial training by renting Hoxton
Academy, previously used for the training of Independent
ministers and then of L.M.S. missionaries ? And how many
know that when Hoxton proved too small, the next building
used was Abney House, where Isaac Watts lived for so long ?
Mr. Brash describes the early Methodist suspicion of training :
even the word " College " was suspect, and " Institution "
had to be used. His picture of the beginnings of ministerial
education, with the figure of Jabez Bunting looming over it,
is full of fascination, and then he goes on to tell in turn of
Didsbury, Richmond, Headingley, Handsworth, and finally,
of Wesley House, Cambridge. The Rev. A. L. Humphries
writes of Hartley, and the Rev. G. G. Hornby of Victoria
Park and Ranmoor, but Mr. Brash's chapters set the tone
of the book. All the denominations could learn from this
story of a century of ministerial training, and we cannot
think any Christian will read these pages without his heart
being strangely warmed. For the first time in my life I
have wished to become a Wesleyan — almost ! Most of the
great names in Methodist 19th century history find a place
in this chronicle, which is alive from first to last. Mr. Brash
must certainly continue to write history or biography — he has
the flair.
29s
Frederick James Powicke
1854-1935
DR. FREDERICK JAMES POWICKE, who died on
December 7th, 1935, at Stockport, was born at
Kidderminster in 1854 — hence the Baxter tradition
that was to bear such rich fruit in later years. He
was trained for the Congregational ministry at Spring Hill
College, Birmingham (the predecessor of Mansfield), under
Dr. D. W. Simon, where, " trying to crowd two years' work
into one," he suffered a nervous breakdown and was obliged
to decline more than one invitation to town charges. So
he began his ministry at Alnwick, the old country town of
Northumberland, and spent over eight very happy years
there among a people " reserved even to coldness, but warm
of heart and true as steel ; while their demeanour in public
worship suggested an inward reverence which I found to be
very real." He never ceased to argue that every minister
should begin his work in a country church, or else in a small
town church, or in a dwindling and distressed city church.
Certainly his own life in a district that has been called " the
penal settlement of Congregationalism " was a happy blend of
study, especially of history and Platonism — in particular the
Cambridge species, — and of practical pastoring. A Bible
class which he founded grew into a noteworthy band of local
preachers, local leaders, and effective political speakers.
In 1886 Powicke left Alnwick for Hatherlow, his only other
charge. In November of that year he began a minis try which
" beyond expectation or intention " lengthened out to thirty
years. It was a ministry marked by the same intensive
culture and by the most happy relationship between pastor
and people.
Its comparative restriction enabled him to serve the Cheshire
Congregational Union and the wider ministry in many ways,
and to bring to fruition the studies on which he had entered in
his previous ministry. His first published work was a dis-
sertation on John Norris, of Bemerton, which gained for him
the degree of Ph.D. from the University of Rostock. In
succession there followed three valuable studies on early
296 Frederick James Powicke 1854-1935
Congregationalism, dealing respectively with Henry Barrow
(and the exiled church of Amsterdam), Robert Browne, and
John Robinson. He also wrote a life of his old principal,
D. W. Simon, and a history of the Cheshire Congregational
Union (for its centenary in 1906). But his ripest fruit came
in the two volumes on Richard Baxter and the choice little
book on the Cambridge Platonists — all when he had passed
his seventieth milestone. Meanwhile he was contributing
regularly to the Transactions of the Congregational Historical
Society and the Bulletin of the Rylands Library. The Uni-
versity of Glasgow gave him an honorary D.D.
Powicke was twice chairman of the Cheshire Congregational
Union and a governor of the Rylands Library. He was a
most valued member of the committee of Lancashire College,
and had been its chairman. But he will be best remembered
as the minister who was among his people " as one that
serveth," as the conscientious and well-balanced research
scholar, as a flower of Catholic Independency, and as a well-
beloved friend with whom to spend a couple of hours was
refreshment and inspiration. Slight in physique and frail in
health for many years, he happily attained a great age while
retaining a marvellously youthful spirit. He knew domestic
sorrow, first in the death of his daughter Gertrude, who died
at Warsaw in 1919 after four years' war relief work in France
and Poland, and who is commemorated by a tablet in the
Women's Union at the University ; and then in the recent
death of his wife. He had great joy in his children, one of
whom is the distinguished Regius Professor of Modern History
at Oxford.
This sketch owes almost everything to Dr. POwicke's own
reminiscences of Thomas Campbell Finlayson, contributed
to the Congregational Quarterly, July, 1934, an article which
happily was autobiographical as well as biographical. And
it may conclude with a couple of sentences which Dr. Mackennal
wrote of Finlayson : —
There was no distinction his brethren had to bestow which
they would not have given him ; and that for two reasons —
because they knew him worthy and because of the love in
which they held him. What the self-seeker can never win
came to this man who sought not himself — ungrudged honour
and affection without stint.
Alex. J. Grieve.
297
The Presbytery of Wandsworth.1
THE Presbytery of Wandsworth is known by name,
but perhaps little more, to most people who know
anything at all £,bout Elizabethan ecclesiastical
history. It has almost as vague but majestic a
value to the average Presbyterian as Magna Carta has to the
average Englishman. Seeing that it is misunderstood even
by Presbyterians, I hope that I am not insulting a Congrega-
tional Historical Society by thinking that it may not be
understood there.
It was really only a " Kirk Session," for at that date the
" lesser presbytery " (that of the congregation) monopolized
the name, and the " greater presbytery " (that of the district)
was called a classis. Further, it was not only a mere kirk
session, but it seems to have had only a brief and feeble life.
Indeed there is but little more than the record of its birth* ;
but the fact that Bancroft notes this at all shews that he
thought it important.
This Presbytery of Wandsworth left no direct results.
Why then has its name lived in fame ? For the same reason
which led Bancroft to record it, namely, that it was the first
attempt to put in practice a new policy. The plan never
materialized, and was eventually repressed altogether ; but
it had later effects, because it remained as a bright memory
and a stimulating hope for a couple of generations, till the
meeting of the Long Parliament. So, shadowy as its outline
is, this Presbytery of Wandsworth is of genuine importance
as the first brick in an edifice which occupies an important
place in ecclesiastical history.
From the time of the Marian exiles there had been in the
Church of England a party, never perhaps very large in
numbers, but full of ardour, and well endowed with men of
1 The main authorities are Bancroft, Dangerous Positions and Proceedings ; Peel,
The Seconde Parte of a Register (Catalogue of MSS. in the Dr. Williams' Library) ;
Usher, The Dedham Classis ; Scott Pearson, Thomas Carttvright ; Drysdale, History
of the Presbyterians in England.
8 I had hoped to be able to search the MSS. in Lambeth Palace Library for
further details, but have not had the leisure.
298 The Presbytery at Wandsworth
piety, learning, and ability — the Puritan party. The reforma-
tion of the Church of England was imperfect ; its lines had
been drawn by the State, and by the State under Tudor
sovereigns ; its machinery was at least inadequate to help
forward a real spiritual revival in the land. The desire of
the Puritan party was to complete the reformation, and
so to transform this Church of England into a spiritually
active Church in which every minister and all the people
should have their part. " We are not for an unspotted
church on earth, and, therefore, though the Church of England
has many faults, we would not willingly leave it " (Quoted,
Waddington, Congregational History, II. 7). Their influence
is often underrated : "A rhyming pamphlet published at
Northampton in 1570 shows how in the popular mind the
issue was between Geneva and Rome. The via media of
Hooker and the High Church Anglican party only became
prominent later in the reign." (Vict. County Hist. Northampton-
shire, II. 43).
From a very early stage the line was clearly drawn between
these Puritans, the party of hope, and the Separatists, the
party of despair, who saw no remedy but to depart out of
so corrupt a Church. At first, no doubt, there were men who
oscillated from hope to despair and even back again to hope ;
possibly this may be a not unfair description of Robert Browne.
But in the days of Elizabeth it was already quite clear that
there were two parties, the Puritans, the more numerous,
whose conscientious duty was to stay in a national Church,
and the smaller group of Separatists, whose equally conscien-
tious duty was to come out into gathered churches.
The accession of Elizabeth kindled brighter hopes in the
hearts of the advanced reforming party, as did that of James
forty -five years later. In neither case did the brightness
last long. But in 1572, fourteen years after Elizabeth's
accession, a Parliament was elected with marked democratic
and Puritan sympathies, and the situation was not unlike
that in 1640 at the meeting of the Long Parliament. The
Puritans had failed with the sovereign ; might they not succeed
through Parliament ? To it, in renewed hope, they submitted
the famous First and Second Admonitions, with the unfor-
tunate result that the Queen at once indicated brusquely to
her Parliament that she could deal with the Church of England
herself, and that she wanted no changes.
The authors of the Admonition were John Field and Thomas
The Presbytery at Wandsworth 299
Wilcocks, and it was Field's hand that endorsed the famous
and mysterious " Order of Wandsworth." Dr. Scott Pearson
oalls him " the organizing secretary of the main body of
Puritans," and he was, as Dr. Peel claims, a determined
propagandist, and evidently had no mind for a helpless inactivity
if Parliament either would not or could not further the ideals
to which he was devoted. There were two possible roads
to the goal ; the swift, but probably less thorough, one of
beginning at the top with parliamentary authority ; the
slow, toilsome, but thorough one of building up brick by
brick, voluntarily, within the national Church, an organization
which would be its own witness, and whose good qualities
would so enlighten the nation that it would in the end receive
a cordial welcome. To attempt the one need not be to relin-
quish the other.
That the slow upbuilding could be done within the bounds
of the law was, or soon became, the firm belief of the Puritan
party ; and how true it was is indicated by the great difficulty
which Bancroft and the High Commission had in finding legal
pleas against them which would hold water. Bancroft tells
(p. 82) how they were prepared to cover their practising
excommunication after admonition by the elders " upon
pretence of certain words in the communion book." At
the Dedham Classis in 1583 "it was said our meetings were
known and threatened, yet it was thought good not to be
left, but that some godly lawyer should be talked with how
we may meet by law " (p. 31). Indeed on several occasions
this same classis advised its members to call in the help of
the magistrate to deal with obstinate offenders. Usher
is strongly of opinion that the Puritans managed to evade
the law by " considering " and by " taking opinions," in
place of voting and resolving. But this is a misconception
of the position ; they knew full well that their associations
were voluntary ones, with no legal authority ; the authority
which they exercised was a moral one, upon the consciences
of the men who joined them, and for such authority their
method of procedure was the natural and normal one.
The Parliament had met on 8th May, 1572, and without
delay had introduced a bill for the relief of the Puritans, to
which the Queen objected. By June 30th Parliament was
dissolved, and just a week later (July 7th) Field and Wilcocks,
who had presented the Admonition, were thrown into Newgate,
and remained in close confinement for at least fifteen months.
300 The Presbytery at Wandsworth
From the fact that Field was in prison, Brook is unwilling to
accept Bancroft's date, 20th Nov., 1572, for the " Order of
Wandsworth," and claims that it must have been previous to
7th July. But Bancroft merely attaches the November date
to " a bill endorsed with Master Field's hand ; thus — ' The
Order of Wandsworth'" (p. 67). It is not suggested that
Field himself took a personal part in any act erecting the
Presbytery ; indeed probability, entirely apart from his
imprisonment, would seem against it. Field was at St Mary
Aldermary, in the City of London ; Wandsworth was a country
village in Surrey. The Puritans in their scheme of erecting
within the national Church a Presbyterian inner organization,
do not seem to have transgressed existing ecclesiastical
boundaries, and it is unlikely that a London man such as
Field would have taken any actual part in the act of erecting
a presbytery in the diocese of Winchester. As a matter
of fact the persons who did the erecting were two ministers
of that diocese, Smith of Mitcham and Crane of Roehampton.
The vicar at this time was John Edwyn, of whom we know
(Sec. Pt., I. 248) that in 1584 he was dealt with by Bishop Cooper.
But his examination was upon the Prayer-Book only : so it is
possible that he belonged to the right wing of the Puritan
party, and was not so keen on discipline. Nevertheless it is a
puzzle that this presbytery should have been established
in his parish without his taking a share in it. But Dr. Scott
Pearson's dictum, " It seems therefore that the Wandsworth
Presbytery was not the session of Wandsworth parish church,"
is in my opinion too strong an inference to draw from Edwyn* s
non-appearance in the matter. These presbyteries were
definitely parochial ; any smaller sphere would have been too
separatist in effect to have met with the approval of Field
and his associates, though Dr. Scott Pearson suggests that
Crane and Smith had separatist views. This he does on
somewhat insecure grounds, perhaps influenced by Strype's
marginal note (Grindal, p. 153) calling Bonham and Crane
" separatists " ; he also makes a quite conjectural identification
of Smith with one of the Plumbers' Hall congregation in 1567
who was apparently an old man even at that time.
It may be that we shall have to content ourselves with
re-echoing Bancroft's own words: " How they grew to be so
far gone at Wandsworth, that I find not."
He goes on, however, to relate that " they had then their
meetings of ministers, termed brethren, in private houses in
The Presbytery at Wandsworth 301
London " and that these meetings " were called conferences," —
note carefully, not presbyteries. He names eight men as
having taken part in these London meetings ; and Brook has
quite erroneously put down these men as " members of the
presbytery erected at Wandsworth," thus of course giving an
entirely mistaken view of its nature ; for it was a body of
elders and not of ministers. It is not easy to trace the precise
ecclesiastical position of all these eight men ; but five or six
of them were within the diocese of London, and that they were
all so may perhaps be inferred from the fact that Bancroft
gives a further list of seven who " joined themselves into
that brotherhood," most if not all of whom (Gardiner of
Maldon in Essex being apparently an exception) were also in
London. Brook calls these seven also members (sometimes
with the qualifying word " additional ") of the Presbytery
of Wandsworth.
One can only conjecture that at this time the " conference "
in London was the only body in existence which in any way
corresponded to our modern presbytery. Was their action
in appointing Crane and Smith " approvers " a purely
temporary expedient, or was it the erection of a nucleus of a
Surrey conference % If it were the latter, that conference
also had apparently a very brief and eventless life, for that is
all we know about it. Yet, on the whole, I am inclined to
think that this was the significance of the step, and that
this was why Field, the most active propagandist of the London
group, endorsed the famous " Order."
It may be objected that this Presbytery of Wandsworth is
not after all the first brick of the proposed Presbyterian
edifice, for it is recorded by Bancroft as contemporaneous
with the London conference. Yet in fact it is so ; for, at this
early stage the conferences were apparently purely ministerial,
and to erect elders was the first step towards true Presby-
terianism, which had never considered itself truly organized
in any purely ministerial body.
This, then, is all that I have been able to gather about
what Dr. Peel in his letter inviting me to speak called " the
mysterious Presbytery of Wandsworth." Much at least of
the mystery was due to Brook's misunderstanding by a lax
perusal of Bancroft ; but by conjectures which have, I believe,
a reasonable basis, one has been able to blow aside a little
more of the mist, and to see perhaps why the incident held
so leading a place in Bancroft's mind. It is therefore an
2 0
302 The Presbytery at Wandsworth
appropriate, if not indeed a necessary, completion of a paper
on the Presbytery of Wandsworth to consider shortly the
building and the features of the edifice of Elizabethan organiza-
tion which was begun there.
It is interesting to note that in Dangerous Positions Bancroft
proceeds straightway from 1572 to 1583, the drafting of the
Book of Discipline." This can hardly be from want of
material in the intervening years ; Dr. Usher brings out the
fact that he of all men probably had the material most acces-
sible. It is probably because, as the High Commission Court
became more active, his later material was richer, and was
especially richer in regard to organization. For he himself
tells us that " in these London meetings, at the first, little
was debated but against subscription, the attire, and book
of common prayer." It was after the second seven joined
in that "then the handling of the discipline began to rise."
The draft Book of Discipline ■■ was after sent abroad about
1587 ; it was put in practice in Northamptonshire and many
other places" (p. 75). It had not a long life; Bancroft's
intelligence officers and Whitgift's strong rule soon ended its
existence.
The policy of the Puritan party was quite clear. Bancroft
quotes, apparently from their own documents, thus : — " That
forasmuch as divers books have been written, and sundry
petitions exhibited to her Majesty, the Parliament, their
Lordships, and yet to little purpose ; therefore every man should
labour, by all the means he could, to bring into the Church
the said reformation themselves " (p. 68). It needs but
little imagination to picture Field proposing such a resolution
to the assembled conference with an inward satisfaction
that he was urging them to resume and extend what had been
begun a decade before at Wandsworth.
Before dealing with the architecture of the presbyterian
edifice, we may perhaps consider what extent of ground
it covered. Bancroft says; "many other places"; can we
get any sort of list by searching his book and the Seconde
Parte of a Register ?
Firstly, as to the obscure period between 1572 and 1583,
of the first part of which Dr. Scott Pearson says the movement
was "at an apparently low ebb." William White,1 a perse-
cuted but staunch layman in London, wrote as early as 1574
1 See a paper on him by Dr. Peel in Trans. Cong. Hist. Soc., VI. 4.
The Presbytery at Wandsworth 303
that men said of the discipline "it is in vain to strive for it,
you see it cannot be had ; and added, " God grant that we
may labour to do what God commandeth us and commit
the success to Him " (Sec. Pt., I. 100). In 1575 we have
evidence of the system in practice in Norwich. Here the
Puritans took advantage of a vacancy in the see to establish
an organization. In this case it was a " prophecy " — a weekly
exercise, every Monday morning from nine to eleven ; and
none was to be suffered to speak " except he will submit
himself to the orders that are or shall be set down hereafter
by the consent of the brethren." (Browne, Hist, of Gong, in
Norfolk and Suffolk, 20). Its scope was entirely confined
to doctrine, a minister preaching a sermon, along Lines which
compelled him to devote himself to real exegesis of the text,
and then being criticised in his absence, and afterwards told
by the " Moderator " of the result of the criticism. There
was, however, an element of discipline, for if " after brotherly
admonition not reforming himself, his name is to be put
out of the table till he be reformed, and if he shall proceed to
the further disquieting of the Church, sharper discipline is
to be required, all just occasion whereof the Lord remove
from us." But there is no definite indication at this time
either of any supervision of the life of the minister, or any
trace of elders, or of discipline of the laity. Dr. Scott Pearson
claims, however, that " the exercises were among the best
practical agencies for the spread of Puritan principles. Under
cover of a legitimate conference, the zealots were enabled
to advance their cause quietly and inconspicuously."
Shortly after this time there was a similar, but perhaps
less fully regulated order for Bible study in a conference at
Cambridge ; this concerned those still at the University. It
seems to have been chiefly for students of divinity ; but one
must surely conclude that teachers also took part, because
two books were to be prepared, in which the " interpretations
of hard and doubtful places " are to be entered. This meeting
is hardly on the same footing as the conferences of ministers,
but is interesting as confirming the view that the chief interest
at this period was the development of a race of efficient and
orthodox preachers.
Of the spiritual gain of these meetings there is abundant
evidence. Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich, said that they
" have and do daily bring singular benefit to the Church
of God, as well in the clergy as the laity " (Parker Corresp.
3°4 The Presbytery at Wandsworth
«?f,.fc,-) ; Mu hfl,.w?:nted t0 suppress only what he called
the abuses ; by this he may, of course, have meant the dis-
ciphnary element Archbishop Parker, ever the courtier-
ecclesiastic, wrote "The Queen's Majesty willed me to suppress
these vain prophesymgs."
™wn £rind51, W^h m ?ore liberal sympathies, became
primate, he made a brave endeavour to secure the continuance
of the prophesymgs. He tells the Queen that he has consulted
mne bishops and that they approve. Indeed, " ministers
U i some of my brethren do certify, grow to such a good know-
ledge by means of these exercises, that where afore there
were not three able preachers, now are thirty meet to preach
at St. Pauls Cross, and forty or fifty besides able to instruct
their own cures (Strype, Grindal, App., p. 81). Elizabeth
was moved by this, but not in the direction which Grindal
hoped, or at least desired. She intimated that in .her opinion
three or tour preachers in a county were enough. She in-
structed him moreover to "abridge the number of preachers
and to put down the religious exercises" (Strype, 221).
Grindal felt this to be an infringement of the spiritual functions
01 the Fnmate, and could not in conscience comply. Where-
upon the Queen simply sent her orders direct to the bishops
accompanying them with a warning that if they were negligent
she might be forced to make some example in reforming
you according to your deserts," and a little later found cause
to sequester Grindal from his office.
Elizabeth's action is the more extraordinary because Grindal
had drawn up orders for reformation of abuses about the
learned exercises and conferences amongst the ministers of
the Church which would have put them entirelv under the
control of the bishops. These orders permitted the laity
as hearers, but emphatically not as speakers. The Queen
however was of opinion that "great numbers of our people,
especially the vulgar sort, meet to be otherwise occupied
with honest abour for their living, are brought to idleness
and seduced." Unless this phrase was merely put in for
ettect, it is a testimony to the wide-spread following which
.Puritan ministers had among the people.
For a time, therefore, we hear nothing more of these meet-
ings and it is noticeable that at this date the documents
in the Seconde Parte of a Register deal with ceremonies and
liturgy. By 1582, however, we find that some individual
unknown approached a Privy Councillor with " A supplication
The Presbytery at Wandsworth 305
for conference to be permitted again" (Sec. Pt.9 I. 153). It
had been found most difficult, he claims, to remove ignorant
and idle ministers already beneficed, so the best thing was
to teach them. The instruction of the laity was thus to
come not directly from the conferences, but mediately through
the better instructed ministers.
In 1583 there were a hundred and seventy-five citizens
of Norwich bold enough to petition the Queen for the abolition
of prelacy, and the planting the holy eldership, the very
sinew of Christ's Church" (Sec. PL, I. 157). They also
asked that ministers be not appointed by " corrupt patrons,"
but by " the flock whose souls pertain to the minister's charge,
so that the judgment of the said flock in their choice be
examined by a synod of lawful ministers." They emphasize
that this is not a petition of the clergy, but " of the poor
lay people, being vexed with the want of the word preached,"
who " with hunger and thirst seek where they may hear it."
(Sec. Pt.t I. 158).
In 1584 we find " conferences of ministers in private places
after a public sermon " being defended as quite a different
thing from " abuses of open disordered prophecies." It is
claimed that besides cultivating ministerial gifts they discover
and confound the adversaries' pamphlets. (Sec. Pt., I. 177).
At this time arose the question of subscription to the Whitgift
Articles (concerning the Queen's supremacy, the Prayer
Book, and the Thirty-nine Articles). This seems to have
brought the Puritan party into closer touch with each other,
for it was desirable that they should have some common plan
as to how far, or with what statement of exceptions, they
should subscribe these three articles.
In November 1584 another Parliament met; once more
the Puritan party hoped for an opportunity of endeavouring
an official and authoritative reformation of the Church.
Petitions to Parliament and to the Queen were prepared ;
in the latter there was an express proposal that the best men
in each congregation be made elders to assist the minister
in admonishing the wayward. (Sec. Pt., I. 255). Tins was
a useless quarter to which to apply ; but the Commons were
favourable, and approached the Lords with a proposal in
favour of the Puritans, which included the permission of
" common exercises and conferences " of ministers in every
archdeaconry. The bishops opposed this in the Lords, and
the Queen again " became jealous of her Parliament's encroach-
2 c *
306 The Presbytery at Wandsworth
ing upon her supremacy in spirituals." (Strype, Whitgift,
297). Once again, when a Parliament met in Feb, 1586,
a similar move was made, and a draft bill actually submitted.
Her Majesty declared the suggested plan to be " most
prejudicial unto the religion established, to her crown, to
her government, and to her subjects," and the petition to be
" against the prerogative of her crown." So once again
the first method failed ; the Puritans had to fall back upon
the second.
It only remains to sketch the main outlines of the edifice
erected, and especially of the " presbytery " to be set up
in each congregation, of which the Presbytery of Wandsworth
was the first example. But it must be remembered that
in the process of their work there was marked development
or clarification of the ideas of the Puritans, and that in all
probability the missing " Order of Wandsworth " may have
been less detailed than later documents. In a draft Act
(dated by Dr. Peel in 1587) it was provided that, at any rate,
the first election of elders should be by the county assembly
of ministers, subject to any exception taken to the names
by the people. But it did not appear that at this time they
expected to be able to have elders in every congregation,
for they were to choose " such a number as shall be convenient
of the worshipful and honest of the shire," and to send the
names to be published " in every parish where any of them
remain " (i.e. dwell) " which are chosen." (Sec. Pt., II. 217).
A draft Act of the previous year had provided that " the
minister and whole congregation, or the most part thereof, . . .
shall nominate and elect six of the least of every parish."
They were to be " the presbytery of the parish " and to have
authority " to hear and examine all causes of offence " (i.e.,
scandal) " to the church. . . . concerning any disorder of life."
(Sec. PL, II. 1).
In practice, according to Bancroft, at Kilsby in Northamp-
tonshire, there was a nomination of elders by the pastor,
and the number for that congregation was six. (Bancroft, 116).
Terminology was not very precise ; while " presbytery "
was the general phrase for the congregational eldership, we
find the phrase " a seignory of elders " (Sec. Pt., II. 211), and
"the holy company of presbyters and elders", where it is
uncertain whether the greater or the lesser presbytery is
meant, and what is the distinction, if any, between the
presbyters and the elders.
The Presbytery at Wandsworth 307
The function of a presbytery is described again and again.
It was definitely disciplinary, for the promotion of the good
life, as we have heard provided in the draft Act. But more
power was exercised by the congregation than in Scottish
Presbyterianism, for while suspension from membershp-
was in the hands of the presbytery, the question of excom-
munication was placed before a meeting of the congregation.
This at least was the provision in the draft Articles of the
Discipline of the Church (Sec. Pt., I. 166), which are probably
an early stage of the Book of Discipline ; but in the final
form of the Book this matter also is in the hands of the " Con-
sistory ", as the congregational presbytery is therein designated.
In a draft Act also it was the minister and elders who were
nominated to deal with this.
In a petition to the Queen (Sec. Pt., II. 255) it is asked
that the best men in each congregation be made elders to
assist the minister in admonishing the wayward. The praise,
limited to Psalms in metre, was, by another draft Act, to be
regulated by the minister and the elders in each parish. (Sec.
PL, II. 216).
Perhaps the finest account of the spiritual work and juris-
diction of the elders is contained in a lengthy anonymous
document entitled " Certain Points concerning the policy
and government of the Ecclesiastical State," dated 1586
by Dr. Peel. (Sec. Pt., II. 20). There were to be chosen
a convenient number, according to the largeness and multitude
of every congregation, of the most religious, godly, and virtuously
disposed parishioners, joined as near as might be with the best
for countenance, credit and ability in that place, who being
sworn to watch over the behaviour of such as are within the
bounds and limits of their wards, by charitable private advice
and admonition, lovingly persuading them to prevent in their
own persons or household the very beginnings of wicked examples
and offences like to annoy and pester the whole congregation ;
and meeting all together in consultation with their pastor for
the better discharge of their oaths, either after evening prayers
Sundays and Holy days, or at some more convenient opportunity
. . . brotherly sending for such as contemning any of their former
secret warnings and cautions go forward, increasing their wicked-
ness to a more dangerous infection, and neighbourly, in all
patience, love and longsuffering, reclaiming or admonishing
him or them as in the presence of God to repent and amend,
and if he grow obstinately worse and worse, notwithstanding
all those former brotherly proceedings, to cut him off with the
308 The Presbytery at Wandsworth
privity and in the face and assembly of the whole congregation,
not to be admitted again or reconciled before he hath openly
allowed and testified his unfeigned repentance to that congre-
gation, so by his offence publicly wounded.
This description can be graphically supplemented from
the regulations at Dedham, entitled " Orders agreed upon the
9th of August by Mr. Doctor Chapman, Mr. Parker, and
the ancients of the congregation of Dedham to be diligently
observed and kept of all persons whatsoever dwelling within
the said town." They deal with Lord's Day observance,
church attendance, catechising, a monthly communion to
which only good livers were to be admitted, provisions for
arbitration in disputes, for maintenance of the poor and
restraint of disorders, and careful provision for all children
to be taught to read. Two of the fifteen items may perhaps
be quoted.
7. Item, that the Tuesday next following the communion
Mr. D. Chapman and Mr. Parker and the ancients of the town
do meet to confer of matters concerning the good government
of the town.
14. Item, that every quarter Mr. D. Chapman, Mr. Parker,
or one of them, with two or three of the ancients of the town,
always accompanied with one of the constables, do visit the
poor and chiefly the suspected places, that understanding the
miserable estate of those that want and the naughty disposition
of disordered persons, they may provide for them accordingly.
Here, then, is what might be called both the necessary
foundation and the supreme object of this Puritan organization,
namely, an effective spiritual supervision of the people of the
land, not carried on by a clerical caste, but by the people
themselves through selected responsible officers. The Church
was to be, as it always had been, co-extensive with the nation ;
and therefore for its cohesion and orderliness it was necessary
to have a co-ordination between the parishes. Hence the
conferences of ministers ; hence the services of Smith and
Crane to see that the parish of Wandsworth had suitable
elders. And this co-ordination was attempted under very
difficult circumstances, under the watchful eye of the bishops
and the High Commission, with a determination to try and
keep within the law, so that the organization might ultimately
merge naturally into the recognized structure of the Church.
Taye suggested to Parker that, with the consent of the Arch-
The Presbytery at Wandsworth 309
deacon, his visitations might be transformed into " the ancient
form of synods " (Usher, 85).
The Book of Discipline provides for a regular gradation
of Assemblies — conferences to meet every six weeks, provincial
synods about every half year, and a national synod, with
a further hope of an oecumenical synod. In all the assemblies
ministers and elders were to be in equal number. But in
practice this did not happen ; it was difficult to include the
laity within the terms of the law. They were sometimes
admitted as hearers of sermons, and on one occasion the Dedham
Classis admitted a Mr. Morse (" being a good man and we
assembled in his house "), but it was not to be a precedent.
It seems that the activity of the elders was little more than
parochial.
Assemblies were however held, and it is possible to enumerate
quite a number of them. Of course the Dedham Classis is
the most fully understood, since its records were printed
by Dr. Usher in 1905. He has drawn up a list of the known
classes, but it is of very little use. Unfortunately he gives
no indication at all of his authority for the names which he
places in each classis, nor even for the existence of the classis.
It is probable, or indeed certain, that there were more
than he names ; for only the stronger and more active classes
would be proceeded against and would therefore find a place in
the pages of Bancroft, Strype, and Heylin. And in the
case of Warwickshire, for instance, (where Dr. Usher's list of
names is especially shadowy) there were several classes,
where he only gives one ; for the synod held in 1587 instructed
the classis of Warwick to take the opinion of the classes of
the said county. (Strype, Annals, III. App. xxxiv.).
The Wandsworth Classis is perhaps the outstanding instance
of Dr. Usher's unsatisfactory method. In the first place
he errs in considering it as a classis at all ; and secondly his
list of names shrivels on analysis. He includes Field, of
course, but, as already stated, he was a London man ; Smith
of Mitcham and Crane of Roehampton may possibly have
been the nucleus of a Classis of North-east Surrey, and as
Home, Bishop of Winchester, was favourable to the Puritans,
it would not be unnecessarily interfered with at this time,
though when Thomas Cooper succeeded him we might have
expected to hear of it. Then come three names the cause
of whose inclusion it is very difficult to conjecture, for they
were not even London men ; Antony Gilby of Ashby-de-la-
310 The Presbytery at Wandsworth
Zouch, Thomas Sampson of Leicester, and Thomas Lever
(misspelt Leser) of Durham. Finally there is Wilcocks,
apparently placed there because of his association with Field
in the Admonition.
I do not propose to go into the other lists in detail. Several
of them merely consist of the two names of the men given
as those to whom the circular letter of the synod of 1587
was to be sent. This is evidence that there were one or
more classes in their districts ; I say more, because only two
names were given for the county of Northampton, where
there were three classes working together in a provincial
synod ; and similarly for Warwickshire, where, as we have
seen, there were also several classes.
On the other hand many of the names inserted in the Oxford,
Cambridge, and Warwick classes seem doubtful, as some at
least were beneficed at a distance. And the inclusion of
Browne as a member of a Bury St. Edmunds Classis, and
of Barrow and Greenwood as members of a second London
Classis, is almost ludicrous. The only possible basis for the
for the former seems to be the prosecution by Bishop Freke
of a congregation of Brownists in that town ; but at this
time Browne himself was settled in Norwich.
The Puritan organizations, in any case, seem to have been
practically confined to the area east and nortli of a curved
line drawn from the Wash through the counties of North-
hampton, Warwick, Oxford, Surrey and Kent, to Dungeness.
This was of course at that time the richest and best educated
portion of England.
What then did these conferences or classes do I A very
brief survey of this will close our paper.
The fullest account of it is in the circular already referred
to, sent out in September, 1587, by a general conference
or synod. Strype does not know whether this conference
was held at Cambridge or at Warwick ; but as the manuscript
was written by a member of Trinity College, Cambridge, and
as the summoning of the ensuing conference was devolved
upon the Warwick Classis, it seems fairly certain that it was
held in the former place.
The letter summoning the classes is very cautious in its
statement of the business to be dealt with : ' ' certain things which
concern me and certain other brethren in the district " was the
phrase. They were careful to disclaim schism. "The calumny
of schism is repudiated; firstly, by the communion of the
The Presbytery at Wandsworth 311
brethren with the Church in the word and sacraments, and
in everything else, save corruptions ; and, secondly, by the
fact that we assume no authority of binding others by our
decrees." Indeed, they went farther than this, for they were
troubled by the thought of the Separatists, and declared
that these conferences were a highly suitable method of
preventing schism and uniting the brethren in a sound unity
of judgment." They would also serve to banish both sloth
and rashness, and " to increase knowledge and all necessary
ministerial gifts." Moreover certain definite questions, very
varied in nature, were remitted to them for consideration by
this Cambridge synod.
This, along with the Book of Discipline, gives us a picture
of the system when it had reached its fullest development ;
it had been slowly shaping itself during some fifteen years ;
but it was to perish under the iron hand of Whitgift and
Bancroft. In February, 1589, Bancroft preached his famous
sermon at Paul's Cross, propounding the novel doctrine of
the Divine Right of Episcopacy ; Drysdale says of Whitgift,
" to stamp out by mere force all religious antagonism was
the policy more resolutely adopted than ever and more
rigorously pursued" (p. 186) ; and again, "The Primate blindly
and stubbornly drove headlong on his own course of applying
with vigour his subscription test." By these two men, then,
followed and even outdone by Laud, the reforming party
was driven underground for just over half a century.
S. W. Carruthers.
312
Anabaptism in England during the 16th and
17th Centuries
(Continued from page 271)
That Anabaptist heresies were rife in England receives further
evidence from the records of the correspondence between the
Dutch Community at Sandwich and the Dutch Church in
London. On 27 June, 1575, the Ministers and Elders of the
Dutch Community, Sandwich wrote to their London brethren1 :
Our Magistracy sent us ... a letter from Her Majesty's Com-
mission commanding that everyone of our Nation, who had come
to years of discretion, should sign certain articles against the
Anabaptists. We have no objection to this . . . but there is a
difference of opinion. . . .*
In August they again wrote3, putting off their proposed
assembly at Sandwich,
as the affairs of the Anabaptists might bring us under the sus-
picion of intending something treasonable.
These records bear witness that Anabaptism was a very
real thing in England. Two further examples from this
source will suffice. On 12 November, 16464, the Dutch Church
in London again found Anabaptist " heresy " in its midst.
Assuerus Fromanteel5 was publicly proclaimed from the pulpit
as having fallen into sin and gone over to the Anabaptists.
We may now return and explore further the main stream of
Anabaptist history in England, but this little tributary swells
the volume of evidence to show that at the very least there
was a living memory of Anabaptism in England.
During Elizabeth's reign not only the existence but the
wide diffusion of Anabaptism is acknowledged on all hands.
1 Letter 342". 2 See Appendix. 3 Letter 346, 1 AugU3t. * Letter 2874.
5 London Dutch Church Certificate of Membership, No. 410.
Anabaptism in England 313
Marsden1, speaking of this period, says :
But the Anabaptists were the most numerous, and for some
time the most formidable opponents of the Church. They are
said to have existed in England from the early days of the
Lollards ; but their chief strength was now derived and their
numbers reinforced from Germany.
Contemporary writers bear witness to their prevalence.
Bishop Jewel in his correspondence with the Swiss divines
writes2 :
We found at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth large and
inauspicious crops of Arians, Anabaptists, and other pests.
" You must not be grieved, my Gaulter," writes Bishop
Cox3,
that sectaries are showing themselves to be mischievous and
wicked interpreters of your most just opinion. For it cannot be
otherwise, but that tares must grow in the Lord's field, and that
in no small quantity. Of this kind are the Anabaptists, Donatists,
Arians, Papists, and all the good-for-nothing tribe of Sectaries.
Bishop Aylmer also bears witness*.
The Anabaptists with infinite other swarms of Satanistes, do
you think that every pulpit wyll be hable to aunswer them ?
Other of his terms for Anabaptists are " ugglie monsters "
and " brodes of the devvil's brotherhood."
In Parker's letter5 declining the Archbishopric of Canter-
bury we read :
They say that the realm is full of Anabaptists, Arians, liber-
tines. . . .
In 1560 the State Papers8 show that Elizabeth issued a
proclamation against
Anabaptists and others of dangerous and pernicious opinions
coming into England from abroad.
1 History of the Early Puritans, 145. 2 Zurich Letters, No. 92.
3 Zurich Letters, No. 285.
4 An Harborowe for Faithful and True Subjects (1559), A3.
5 Burnet, History of the Reformation, II., 359.
1 Cal. S.P.D., Dom. Eliz., XIII., 22 September, 1560.
314 Anabaptism in England
But Elizabeth found that further action was required, for
Anabaptist refugees continued to arrive in England and in the
fourth year of her reign it was deemed necessary to issue an-
other proclamation commanding
Anabaptists and such like heretics which had flocked to the
coast towns of England, from parts beyond the seas, under colour
of shunning persecution, and had spread the poison of their
sects in England, to depart the realm within 20 days whether
they were natural-born people of the land or foreigners, upon
pain of imprisonment and loss of goods.1
The year 1568 was a trying one for the authorities. Dutch
refugees flying from the fury of Alva sought refuge in England,
particularly in Norwich, Sandwich, Colchester, Southampton,
and Maidstone.2
Their rapidly increasing numbers (so far above those licensed)
caused some alarm, a cry having arisen that there were many
Anabaptists among them. The authorities took action. In
May, 1568, the Queen wrote to Archbishop Parker3 :
We do understand, that there do daily repayr into this our realm
great numbers of strangers, from the partyes beyond the seas
. . . and doubting least that amonges such nombres divers . . .
that are infected with dangerous opinions ... as Anabaptists . . .
which kynde of people we do no wyse mean to permit any refuge
within our dominions ; therefore we do wil and require youe to
gyve . . . commandment to . . . the Bishop of London and al
other Ordynarys of any places where you shal think any such
confluence of strangers to be . . . and inquisition to be made in
every parish of al manner of persons, being strangers born . . .
and cause registers to be made and so to continue . . .
A proclamation issued in 1568 refers to those refugees. It
accuses them of having
set up secret conventicles in London by which means many
English people have been corrupted.
1 Camden, Annates of Elizabeth (ed. 1625), 64 ; Camden, Elizabeth, 47 says :
" Some of these were German Anabaptists . . . some of the natives were miserably
misled."
% The Records of the Walloons (or French speaking people of Flanders) and their
church at Norwich have been traced in great detail by Moens (Huguenot Soc.
Pub.) :
In 1568 the Blood Council, the Inquisition . . . caused very many to fly from their
country and brought into England many trades ... as well as many who worked
on the land. These settled chiefly at Norwich, Sandwich, Southampton and
Maidstone, where by favour of the Queen they were able to serve God in their
mother tongue — Ruytink's MS.
3 Strype, Parker, I. 522.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 315
Search was ordered to be made not only of foreigners, but of
home-born subjects, " who had conceived any manner of such
heretical principles as the Anabaptists do hold," and if they
would not yield to " charitable teaching," they were to be
compelled to depart the realm within twenty days under
penahVy of death.1
In 1572 Whitgift published from continental sources* a
highly unfavourable account of the Anabaptists in which the
horrors of the Peasants' War and of the Munster Kingdom of
the Anabaptists were represented as due wholly to their bane-
ful teaching and as samples of what might be expected in
England if such heresy were not ruthlessly repressed.
In 1574 the Privy Council wrote to Lord North a
signifieng the receipt of his letter with the opinions of certein
Aiiabaptistes lately discoverid in the countrye . . . their Lord-
ships could have wisshed that he had informed the Lord Bisshop
and others of the Commission Ecclesiasticall, who have aucthoritee
to take order therein, and therefore desire his Lordship to imparte
it unto them, and to assist them as muche as he might.
The year 1575 saw the first blood spilt for religion by Eliza-
beth, and it is worthy of note that these " martyrs " were
Anabaptists.
On Easter day, which was the 3rd of April, about nine of the
Clocke in the Forenoon, was disclosed a Congregation of Ana-
baptists, Dutchmen, in a House without the Barres of Aldegate
at London.4
That the authorities were alarmed is evident from the stir
they made. The Privy Council sent a letter6
to the Buisshop of London for order to be taken with certain
straingers, Anabaptistes, taken in an assemblye on Esther Day.
1 Strype, Orindal, 180-181.
2 An Answere to a certen libell intituled, An Admonition to the Parliament. It
seta in the forefront 24 Anabaptisticall practices taken from Bullinger's account
in 1535.
8 Ads of the Privy Council, VIII. 1574.
4 Stow's Annales (1
id Progress of Anabt
* Acts, VIII. 1575.
4 Stow's Annales (1631, 679)— also quoted by John Lewis, History of the Rise
and Progress of Anabaptism in England, 1738.
3*6 Anabaptism in England
They also ordered1
the Lord Mayour of London to assiste the Lord Bishop in all
things requisite touching the thordering of the said Anabaptistes,
as he shold be directed by the Bisshop.2
The Anabaptists were tried at St. Paul's by the Bishop
himself. After searching examination five recanted and made
public ceremony of so doing at Paul's Cross3. Some fifteen
were shipped abroad, not, it is said, without a hint to the
captain that he need fear no inquiry if any accident happened.
Five were condemned to the stake. The condition of the
prisoners, however, roused public sympathy. Foxe wrote to
the Queen (in Latin) beseeching her to show mercy. Finally
Van Byler and Van Straatam were liberated, and Kernels
died in prison, but the authorities determined to make a public
example of Jan Pieters and Hendrik Terwoort. The Queen
gave a special commission to Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord
Keeper, to burn the heretics*. The sentence was carried
out. Stow in his Annates records :
On the 22 of July 2 Dutchmen, Anabaptists, were burnt in
Smithfield, who died in great horror with roaring and crying.
Thereafter the authorities kept a close watch on the Dutch
Communities in England. Among the State Documents for
this year is an order from the Bishop of London " for the
1 Acts, VIII. xxvij Aprilis, 1575.
2 Further letters are also given in the Acts, VIII.
(a) xxvij Aprilis 1575. A letter to the Lord Buisshop of London touching the
order to be taken with Anabaptists, being straingers discoverid within the Citie."
(b) xx of May, 1575. " A letter to the Lord Mayour of London that where upon
the discoverie of certain Anabaptistes within the Citie, being straingers, Commission
was directed to the Bisshop of London and others both to conferre with them and
to procede judicially if the case so require ; that his Lordship and his brethren be
aiding and assisting to all directions of the said Bisshopp in that case, either for
corporall punishement or banishement, as shalbe thought nietest and as shalbe
directed."
3 Cnl. S.P.D., Dom. Eliz. CIII : 8 April, 1575, " A confession of faith and appeal
to the Queen's mercy of five Dutchmen condemned for Anabaptism."
4 Wilkins, IV. 281.
Where the reverend father in God, Edwyn, busshope of London, Edmunde,
busshope of Rochester . . . having travayled upon the examination, heringe and
determynation of John Peeters, and Henrie Turwert being Flemyngs borne, and
now lyvinge, in this our real me, concernying theire false opynyons and sects of
Anabaptists, hoiden and averred by them . . . justilie adjudged and declayred to
be heretiques.
A sympathetic account of the sufferings of these Dutch Anabaptists has been
preserved in a letter by Jacques de Somers, a member of one of the Dutch Churches
in London, to his mother in Ghent. A translation will be found in Evans, Early
English Baptists, I. 159 ff.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 317
governing of the Dutch congregations within the City of
London and the town of Colchester."1 There is also a form of
recantation prescribed for certain Anabaptists.8
The death of Pieters and Terwoort is commemorated in a
ballad entitled, " Two Friends." It was published both in
Dutch and in English and besides furnishing evidence of
Anabaptism in England illustrates some of the fundamental
doctrines of Anabaptist belief. Dexter, in his True Story of
John Smyth the Se-Baptist, gives the English version thus :
There were gathered together very many celebrated
Professors highly esteemed,
The Bishop, as the strong one,
And other people of consideration.
They proposed four questions :
The first item where he came
From, Christ they said
If he had taken his flesh
From Mary sweet ; we do not understand
As you say it.
Still with questions they played them
Is then taking an oath a crime ?
Listen to the answer
It was like the other.
They also propounded to them :
May a Christian publicly
Cause his children to be baptised, quickly
Give us the right interpretation ?
They replied without anger
We have not read it.
Yet after this they asked
Is a Christian allowed
To be a magistrate
And to serve as such ?
And he be saved ; understand me well,
Give us the right explanation of this.3
1 Wilkins, IV. 454. « Wilkin8, IV. 282.
3 In the Baptist Transactions, VII., there ia given m full the details of a controversy
between one, S. B., "An English Anabaptist," and William White, Puritan,
now first printed from the MSS. in " The Seconde Parte of a Register " in Dr.
Williams' Library, London. The discussion arises from the concerns and opinions
propounded by these imprisoned Anabaptists in 1575. The wearing and use of
weapons, the employment of oaths, and the individual's attitude to princes and
magistrates, are all considered, and it is clear from White's " postscript," that
another letter deals with the first question put to the Anabaptists, the Incarnation.
Dr. Peel, who edits the MSS., makes the significant statement,
The Mtinster atrocities had cast suck a shadow over the name (even in England
that it was enough to damn individuals or opinions if they could be labelled ' Ana-
laptist'
2 1
318 Anabaptism in England
That Anabaptism was not stamped out in England in the
16th century is clear from further action of the authorities.
In 1575 we find the Privy Council writing1 " the Master of the
Rolles . . . and other Commissioners against the Anabaptists,
to send the certificat of them into the Chauncerye. ..."
The literature of the period is full of references to the Ana-
baptists in England. Their doctrines were challenged and
their errors pointed out throughout Tudor and Stuart times.
For example, Dr. Some in his reply to Barrow,* 1589, affirms,
" there were several Anabaptistical conventicles in London
and other places." These were not exclusively Dutchmen or
foreigners, for he adds : " Some persons of these sentiments have
been bred at our universities."
Strype refers8 to some in Essex :
Would to God the honourable Council saw the face of Essex
as we do see. We have such obstinate heretics, Anabaptists,
and other unruly persons here, as never were heard of.
Among the State Papers, 1591, is a letter4 which shows clearly
there was a recollection in England of Munster Anabaptist
history.
There be three knaves . . . Coppinger . . . Ardington . . .
Hackett. . . . Last Friday in Cheapside they stepped into a cart,
and began to put in practice their communication from Heaven,
and amongst others denounced . . . the Lord Chancellor and the
Bishop of Canterbury, whom they called traitors to God and the
realm . . . they were shortly after apprehended and examined at
the Lord Mayors . . . Men talk of it, and resemble it to that matter
of John of Leyden, who took upon himself the Kingdom of the
Anabaptists and think this mad fool plotted some such Kingdom
as these prophets might have assembled.
In the following year the gentry of Suffolk wrote to the
Council :■
Do not allow the Papists their treacheries, subtilties, and
1 Acta, xxvj of June, 1575.
2 A Godly Treatise wherein are examined and confuted many execrable fancies,
given out and holden partly by Hen. Barrowe . . . partly by other of the Anabaptisticall
order, 1589.
3 Ecclesiastical Memorials, III., I, 54.
*Cal 8.P., Dom. Eliz., ccxxxix, 19 July, 1591.
5 Col. S. P., Dom. Eliz., ccxlui, September ?, 1592.
during the 16th and 17th Centuries 319
heresies, nor the Family of Love, an egg of the same nest, nor
the Anabaptists nor Brownists, the overthrowers of Church and
common weal, but abhor and punish all these.
This closes the record for the 16th century, but the Ana-
baptist tradition persisted and is also to be found in England
of the 17th century.
APPENDIX.
Through the courtesy and help of the Town Sergeant and
the Rev. Hugh Noel Nowell, of Sandwich, the writer has now
been able to trace some references to Anabaptists from the
actual Town Records of Sandwich.
Under the date 7 June, 1575, is to be found the actual letter
(referred to above) from Her Majesty's Commissioners, ap-
pointed for the purpose of examining sundry strangers born in
the Low Countries,
who maintain the most horrible and damnable error of ana-
baptists ; and fearing lest these corruptions be spred in sundrie
places of her majesty's realme, where these straungers do inhabit,
and so would dayly increase yf it be not in tyme carefully f oresene
and suppressed ... all strangers men as well as women, being of years
of discretion, remaining in any place within her majesty's realme
shall give their assent and subscribe to the articles inclosed, de-
vised for the purpose . . . upon refusal ... to be sent to the
commissioners to be further considered as shall appertaine.
(Here follows 11 signatures).
To our lovinge frendes the maior and jurats of Sandwich, and to
the ministers ther.
After this comes a list of " Articles to be subscribed."
Articles to be Subscribed.
1. That Christ take flesshe of the substance of the Virgin.
2. That the infants of the faithfull are to be baptized.
3. That it is lawfull for a christian to take an othe.
4. That a christian man may be a magistrat and beare the
office of auctorite.
5. That it is lawful for a christian magistrat to execute
obstinate heretiques.
6. That it is lawful for a christian man to warre.
320 Anabaptism in England
7. That it is lawful for a christian man to require the auctorite
of the magistrat and of the lawe, that he may be delivered from
wrongs and restored to right.
8. That a christian man may lawfully have propriety in his
goodes, and not make them common ; yet oughte he accordinge
to the rule of charitie to releve the nedie accordinge to his habilitie.
It is interesting to see how fearful the Dutch community
at Sandwich was of being confounded with the " notorious
Anabaptists." This is evident from the reply they eventually
sent to the Commissioners, for they single out the 5th article
for special comment and agreement. When we recall the
events that were happening in London in 1575, events which
excited wide interest throughout the country, we then under-
stand the reason why Art. 5 received special emphasis. Here
is part of the actual reply :
To theis above-wrytten articles of the high commissioners
of her majesty, we, minister, elders and deacons of the dutche
congregation in Sandwyche doe subscribe, and doe approve theim
with our whole harts ; and concernying the fyfth article we
acknowledge that it is lawfull for a christian magistrat to execute
obstinate heretiques . . . when their heresies and their deedes
doe require the same.
Anabaptism appears again in a record dated 29 March, 1582,
wherein the Lord Warden, Lord Cobham, signified to the
" maior and jurats " that again these " divers strangers "
[Anabaptists] were making their presence felt in Sandwich.
Archbishop Laud in 1634 smelt similar " heretic rats " and
cited the ministers of the Dutch Churches at Maidstone and
Sandwich to appear at his Consistory Court at Canterbury,
and before himself at Lambeth. A relation of these troubles
of the three foreign churches in Kent will be found in the
account written in 1645 by John Bulteel, who was minister
of the Walloon congregation at Canterbury.
Duncan B. Heriot.
321
Family Books and Family Traditions
IT must be a very common experience among the reading public
to notice that a few books are often retained among other
family possessions for two or more generations. Is this the
result of pure sentiment or is it because their perusal satisfies
some particular intellectual interest common to several generations,
although the form of its expression may vary considerably ? In
either case, the mere preservation of particular books through
several generations suggests that it is worth while to study the
matter in terms of the persistence of particular interests and in-
stincts, since such persistence plays a large part in the formation
and preservation of family traditions.
As an illustration of the connexion between the books preserved
and the special kinds of intellectual interest maintained in family
life, J should like to take the case of a certain English Dictionary,
originally compiled by Nathan Bailey (in 1721), whose 9th edition,
which is now before me, was issued in 1740. It came into my
possession in 1883 on the distribution of the personal effects of my
father and mother, when the six children were asked to select such
family articles as they specially wished to retain. I myself, then
twenty years of age, chose, inter alia, half a dozen old books and
an oil painting of a Marian martyr. On the opening fly leaf of
Bailey's Dictionary are two signatures, " James Langley," and
" Ann Langley, her book which her father bought for her. God
give her grace and sence therin to look." For many years neither
of these names possessed any significance for me. I merely thought
that the book had been purchased at some second-hand bookstall
as a curiosity, and I wanted the book because I often wished to
compare the modern with the earlier uses of words which I came
across in ordinary reading. About 1903, nearly twenty years later,
I had begun to take a serious interest in genealogy, largely I think
because I wished to test and to apply current opinions about the
relative influence of Nature and Nurture, a subject which had then
been brought to the front by the epoch-making studies of Francis
Galton. Curiosity led me to study the old dictionary in a new light.
I opened it with particular care, and found, for the first time, that
the fly leaf at the end of the book, though semi-adherent to the
cover, was, with care, detachable from it. To my surprise, it con-
tained two very boyish attempts to make a signature which, in its
mature form, was evidently that occurring in some old books
belonging to my great grandfather, Benjamin Ryland, which I had
received in my portion of the family treasures. It naturally at
2 1 *
322 Family Books and Family Traditions
once occurred to me that this boyish signature, occurring in the
book which once belonged to James Langley and then to Ann his
daughter, might not only shed some light on a previously unknown
family pedigree, but might also help in elucidating the intellectual
interests and activities of that branch of the Ryland family to which
I belonged. Up to that time, in our family traditions, Benjamin
Ryland of Biggleswade (1766-1832) had stood out as a marked and
vigorous successful general country merchant, though socially quite
an undistinguished personality. It was believed that he had been
apprenticed to Richard Foster of Cambridge (d. 1790), a prosperous
Nonconformist general merchant, and the founder of Foster's
Bank. It is noteworthy that when Benjamin Ryland was about
twenty-three years of age, his name appears in the printed list of
those who subscribed £1 Is. Od. towards the publication of The
History of Baptism, written by that erratic genius and friend of
Joseph Priestley — Robert Robinson, to whose stirring sermons at
Cambridge Benjamin Ryland must often have listened, while
another tradition tells us that, seeing a copy of Tom Paine's The
Age of Reason in the hands of his son, Benjamin Ryland seized the
book and threw it into the fire, exclaiming : " That book has caused
me many sleepless nights. It shall not disturb yours ! " Richard
Foster had a business depot at Biggleswade, and after his death
Benjamin Ryland married Ruth Edwards, daughter of John
Edwards, Miller, of Saffron Walden, a prominent Evangelical
Baptist, and settled at Biggleswade, where James Bowers, who had
married Ann Edwards, elder sister of Ruth, had for some years
been settled as Pastor of the Baptist Church. Doctrinal opinions,
and strictness or laxity of rules of church government, were in the
absence of Trust Deeds somewhat unstable ; James Bowers had,
in his youth, been attached to White's Row Independent Chapel,
London, where Benjamin Ry land's elder brother had been a
professed member. About this time James Bowers left the Biggles-
wade Baptist Church to take charge at the Independent Church,
Haverhill. It is not surprising therefore that Benjamin Ryland's
attachment to the Biggleswade Baptist Church, which was then
adopting strict terms of membership and perhaps even stricter
theological teaching, was not very close, or that Benjamin Ryland
was accustomed, during the early part of his life at Biggleswade, to
walk four miles to Potton to hear an eminent Evangelical clergyman,
the Rev. Richard Whittingham, an active co-worker with the
famous Rev. John Berridge, Vicar of Everton (d. 1793). Thus he
was socially and politically a Nonconformist, though theologically
lie held quite other views. A daintily bound copy of Watts's
Psalms and Hymns, which he had early bought for his wife, perhaps
suggests his mental attitude, and certainly indicates that he followed
the " Light of Nature " as gathered from daily contact with his
Family Books and Family Traditions 323
fellow human beings rather than the Gospel of Imputed Righteous-
ness, which in its early stages often involved ecstatic self-absorption.
It seems probable that Benjamin Ryland's boyish attempts at
signing his name in his mother's English dictionary were precursory
of some humanizing education, which was being developed in the
English Nonconformist Academies to take the place of the lax and
effete so-called Classical training then common at the English
Grammar Schools and Universities.
The story of James Langley, surgeon, grandfather of Benjamin
Ryland, who, about 1740 had bought and presented to his daughter
Ann the English dictionary, is also one of considerable Noncon-
formist interest. He may, perhaps, be identified with James, son
of Henry and Elizabeth Langley, blacksmith, of Little Harrowden,
baptized 22 Nov., 1699, at Isham, whore John Barnard, evicted from
Burton Latimer, had held a " meeting' ' in 1672. He was married
by licence on 24 April, 1723, at St. Michael's Church, Cambridge,
to Ann Mayhew, daughter of Thomas Mayhew, farmer, of Great
Wilbraham, Cambs. He was summoned 9 August, 1726, to attend
a Bishop's Visitation of the Rothwell Deanery held at Welling-
borough, for practising surgery without a licence, one (if not the
principal) condition of which was the signing a declaration of
adherence to the thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England.
After failing to obtain a bishop's licence, James Langley left
Isham and purchased further property — he already had some there
— at Oundle, voting for Hanbury the Whig candidate in the 1730
and 1737 Parliamentary Elections. It is evident from his Will,
dated April 1734, though not proved till 1758, that at one time he
held considerable property both at Isham and Oundle. He practised
as a surgeon at Oundle for some little while, but did not long escape
Episcopal suspicion, for, at the Episcopal Visitation held at Peter-
borough in 1739 he was again summoned to appear, and against his
name is written " Non Licet," though there is in the Visitation Act
Book an apparently unclaimed contemporary certificate, prepared for
Anthony Bell of Cliff Regis, which contained a signed agreement
to the conditions involved. After this second refusal James
Langley sold his Oundle property in 1741 and finally settled in North
London.
The summoning of James Langley of Isham, "Surgeon," before
the Bishop's Commission at Wellingborough in 1726 and later at
Coventry in 1736, seems to be on a parallel with the challenging
of Dr. P. Doddridge of Northampton by Mr. Wills, Vicar of Kins-
thorpe, Northampton, and his citing before George Reynolds, the
Archdeacon of Northampton, representing the Lord Bishop of
Peterborough, on 6th Nov., 1733, for contravening the Test and
Corporation Acts by " teaching in the liberal Arts and Sciences
without being licensed by the ordinary of the diocese." This
324 Family Books and Family Traditions
action, however, was quashed by the command of the Bang,
George II.
Nothing is known of James Langley after these citations till about
1750, when he was living at Bunhill Row, North London, where
he had, as near neighbour, Dr. Thomas Gibbons (1720-1785),
minister of the Independent Church, Haberdashers' Hall. Dr.
Gibbons had come from Swaffham Priors, Cambridgeshire, which
was only two to three miles distant from the home of Ann Mayhew,
wife of James Langley. It is not therefore surprising that after
the marriage of their daughter Ann to John Ryland of Smithfield,
"oyl merchant and dealer in hops," which took place in 1754 at
St. Luke's Church, we read in Dr. Gibbdns's Diary (now in the
Congregational Library, London) of Dr. Gibbons's frequent visits to
the Ryland family, and of his baptism of some of the Ryland
children. As their eldest son, John Ryland of Islington, was later
described as " Clerk," probably in some mercantile capacity, it
appears likely the education of the children was a liberal one.
I have tried in vain to find some evidence that the Ryland children
were educated at the Newington Academy, especially as another
old family volume, containing Benjamin Ryland's signature, is
Dodsley's Preceptor (first published in 1748), with its sub-title " A
General Course of Education, wherein the first principles of Polite
Learning are laid down." It includes instruction in Reading,
Elocution, Letter-writing, Drawing, Geography, History, the
Principles of Trade and Commerce, and the Laws of Government.
There was also in the family a copy of Enfield's Speaker, with date
of signature 1784. Dr. Gibbons himself must have considered that
John Ryland, " the oylman and dealer in hops," possessed some
general knowledge, for in 1757 it is recorded he placed his brother
Samuel under John Ryland's care, on hearing that he had been
" successful in treating people of unsound mind with oils."
The practical common sense and the wide sympathy of the
Independent Trading Class communities at the beginning of the
eighteenth century is nowhere better shown than in their care for
some general training which involved thought and enlightenment,
i.e., efficient educational training in its widest aspects. Puritan
learning had been remarkable, but it had been largely confined to
scholars. A more general social training received impetus at the
time of the formation of the Societies for the Reformation of
Manners, and by the delivery of special sermons at Salters' Hall,
etc. Among the writings of Isaac Watts (1674-1748) there is a
particularly interesting discourse on the education of children ;
after considering, in much detail and with practical insight, the
subjects most worthy of attentive study, Watts turns his attention
to after-school life, and discusses the ultimate value of apprentice-
ship to particular trades and occupations, not only for the sons of
Family Books and Family Traditions 325
the less prosperous, but also for those of higher station, who, other-
wise, from lack of interest in study or other reasons, would drift
into idleness and purposelessness. Watts continues his observa-
tions by dwelling on the need for care in the choice of the master,
as well as care in the particular form of handicraft to which each
boy was to be apprenticed. He thus forestalled the modern move-
ment for restoring handicrafts in education. In the Trust Deed of
Bury St. Chapel in 1709, Watts includes an agreement " that every
subscriber to have their household servants accommodated with
seats, the apprentices in the third rank of galleries near the pulpit,
the maidservants in the same rank nearest the doors ; the reason is
because the apprentices are esteemed to be in a station above the
others, the subscribers would willingly have all their servants
encouraged to hear the word." Recognition of the work done in
the direction of educational reform by Watts is fully acknowledged
by Philip Doddridge in his famous treatise, The Rise and Progress
of Religion in the Soul (1744), which attempted to call out all the
highest human qualities and to combine them in common service
and worship.
Among the books which contain the mature signature of Benjamin
Ryland is also Domestic Medicine, written by William Buchan, a
remarkable Scotsman, who, after beginning with the study of
Divinity, had abandoned it for the study of Medicine and had
gained much experience at the Quaker Foundling Hospital, at
Ackworth, and had succeeded in promoting reforms in the feeding
and physical care of growing children. The heavy mortality among
the inmates of the London Foundling Hospital had become a matter
of public comment and concern, and the government, in con-
sequence, had discontinued their annual grant of £60,000.
In my early efforts to understand the origin of the independence
of mind and the spirit of enquiry which characterized Benjamin
Ryland, I confined my attention to influences derivable from his
mother's family — the Langleys. My next efforts were directed to
the study of those family books which appeared to have come to
him through his father, John Ryland, the oil merchant, directly, or
indirectly through his elder brother, John Ryland of Islington, and
his only child, Mary Ann (later Mrs. Mentor). To the former class
belong a series of five volumes of Plutarch's Lives, translated by
Dryden, and printed for Jacob Tonson, Gray's Inn, London, 1698.
Also four volumes of The Tatler, 1709-11. This contains, after
other signatures, one of John Ryland, which was probably that of
the oil merchant himself. The books were certainly well read by
his son Benjamin. There were also four volumes of The Rambler,
1750-2, and odd volumes of Pope's Translation of the Odyssey
(1753). Records of the admissions to the Freedom of the City
show that the oil merchant was the son of a David Ryland of
326 Family Books and Family Traditions
Bradwell, Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire, who may clearly
be identified with David Ryland, yeoman-farmer of Bradwell,
whose will was proved at Lichfield in 1712. That this David
Ryland was a man of considerable substance is shown in the fact
that the will is accompanied by an inventory, not only of much
cattle and other live stock, but of furniture in the great parlour,
the large bedroom, and three other bedrooms. A special item in
the inventory refers to his wearing apparel and books, which were
valued at £5.
There must also have been a good deal of force of character in
this (Bradwell) branch of the Ryland family, for a Visitation Act
Book at Lichfield records that in 1665, David Ryland, father of
the aforementioned David, was summoned to a Bishop's Court held
at Coventry, fined, and excommunicated for not receiving the
Sacrament ; and the Summons was repeated in 1668, and again in
1679, for absenting himself from the Parish Church. Many others
were summoned. Some indication of the existence cf an Inde-
pendent church at Bradwell at this time occurs in Thomas's edition
of Dugdale's History of Warwickshire (1730), where it is recorded :
" There was an ancient (Chantry) Chapel at Bradwell, standing, in
the memory of man, which was entirely demolished upon the report
of its being like to be turned into a meeting-house.' ' Entries in
the parish register of Leamington Hastings record the birth of six
children of David Ryland, in contrast to the Christening of con-
temporary children, and an accompanying note states, " The parents
paid the fees."
After the accession of William and Mary, a number of these
(Anglicanly) unbaptized Bradwell Rylands were apprenticed in
London, in order to follow mercantile rather than farming pursuits.
Thus Samuel (1677- ), son of David, was apprenticed in the
Drapers' Company in 1691 to John Dowley, and his sister Mary
Ryland was married in 1695 at St. James's, Aldgate, to Josiah
Saul, merchant, an active member ^f the Independent congregation
under the pastorate of John KiUinghall, in Union Street, Southwark,
later known as the Pilgrim Fathers' church. An elder brother
Richard had, in 1684, been apprenticed to a very prominent and
benevolent Independent, Captain John Smith, Coppersmith, Treas-
urer to St. Thomas's Hospital, London, for the perpetuation of whose
memory a lengthy epitaph was inscribed on the tombstone in
Bunhill Fields cemetery. About 1707 this Richard Ryland appears
as one of the subscribers to the Hare Court Chapel, then under the
guidance of Dr. Nesbit, a very popular and vigorous exponent of
the Calvinist theology. Richard Ryland evidently stopped his
quarterly payments for five quarters during 1709-10, but recom-
menced, paying off all arrears. Again from 1717 he stopped for
seventeen quarters, and again he recommenced, paying off all
Family Books and Family Traditions 327
arrears. In 1713, as a widower, he had married Sarah, youngest
daughter of Rev. Robert Franklyn, a minister who suffered ejection
and later imprisonment on a false charge of preaching, at Aylesbury.
Franklyn remained in London throughout the Plague year, min-
istering to all who sought his service. It was in 1727, on the
death of Richard Ryland, that his nephew, John Ryland, the
oil merchant, decided to give up farming and sold his property
at Bradwell. He settled in Smithfield as an oil merchant and
dealer in hops, and it was in London that his son Benjamin, my
great-grandfather, was born.
Having gone backwards from Benjamin Ryland (1766-1832) and
studied the books and the family traditions which he inherited
from his ancestors, I think I may be permitted to make a short
journey forward, and see if the mental and moral qualities which
seem so deeply ingrained in his nature became dissipated in the
case of his descendants, and whether other qualities, derived from
later marriages with quite other stocks, have taken their place.
As regards the physical and mental vigour which enables mental
and moral qualities to find expression, there certainly was a f alling-
off in physical vigour in the case of his only child, John (1799-1859),
of Biggleswade. This was due I think to the already mentioned
marriage in 1791 of Benjamin Ryland with Ruth Edwards, daughter
of John Edwards of Saffron Walden, who, though also a Baptist,
finding the preaching of J. Gwennop, a high Calvinist, not to his
liking, decided with several others to start a fresh community at
Saffron Walden. The daughter Ruth, my great grandmother, was
short-lived, dying soon after the birth of her only surviving child,
and all her known brothers and sisters also died early, as I think
did the father. This lessening of physical vigour had some com-
pensations, for it was accompanied by the inheritance of a delicacy
and sensitiveness of feeling, which found expression in attempts at
drawing and painting, in a love of poetry, e.g., Cowper, Bloomfield,
and of collecting old china and other artistic objects, especially
those which had historical associations, and so provided a gateway
to the exercise of imagination.
John Ryland of Biggleswade, 1799-1859.
Apart from such innate mental and physical qualities as John
Ryland inherited from his mother, who died before he was three
years old, and those which he inherited from his father, who was
with him till he was thirty -two, we have to consider the nurtural
influences of his stepmother, Martha Luntley, who came when he
was abou; five or six, and the stimulus of his wife Mary Toller.
Martha Luntley came of a strongly marked Nonconformist family
descended from a Colonel John Luntley (d. 1671), which for several
generations had been living in Southwark and were attached to
328 Family Books and Family Traditions
the Maze Pond Baptist Church, and later transferred to Mare
Street, Hackney. They were a markedly intellectual family, en-
gaged in various mercantile pursuits. A John Luntley (1730-1798)
had left two daughters, Martha and Hannah, the latter "of whom
had married Andrew Wilson, an unusually talented schoolmaster
at Edmonton. It was probably through the Wilson family, several
of whom had settled in America, and were customers of Benjamin
Ryland, that the latter came in contact with the Luntleys, for
Benjamin Ryland sent his son John to school at the age of eight.
An intimate friendship based on common religious and intellectual
interests grew up between the Ryland and the Luntley families,
which lasted till the death of Sarah Luntley in 1908 — 100 years
later. We have only to read the life stories of Dr. Augustus Cox
and his successor Dr. Katterns to realize what an active centre
for philanthropic and intellectual religious advance Mare Street
Church had become. Here were held frequent meetings of book
clubs to discuss current works of history and travel and missionary
enterprise, while the school founded at Edmonton by Andrew
Wilson was continued by his daughters as a high level girls' school
at the Elms, Stamford Hill, and the Elms, Finchley. Here teaching
was given by visiting lecturers from the Hackney and other Colleges,
and the school was only closed about 1930. It is therefore difficult
to overestimate the influence which the Luntley family exerted on
the training of the Ry lands.
The influence of the Toller family, introduced by the marriage of
John Ryland and Mary Toller in 1826 was equally remarkable,
for it added innate vigour of body and strength of will-power to
spiritual intensity — but this is another story and must be left.
A. A. Mumpord.
Family Books and Family Traditions 329
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330
Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists
I. Notes from Boswell.
THE references to Johnson and Nonconformity in Boswell
are somewhat scanty and can roughly be divided into
two types — those relating to Johnson's attitude as a
member of the Church as by law established to Dissent in
general, and those concerning his opinion of Dissenters in particular.
The doctor was an intransigent Churchman. Boswell tells us
he was a sincere and zealous Christian of high Church of England
and monarchial principles, which he would not suffer to be
questioned, and had perhaps at an early period narrowed his
mind somewhat too much both as to religion and politicks.
His being impressed with the danger of extreme latitude in
either, though he was of a very independent spirit, occasioned
his appearing somewhat unfavourable to the prevalence of that
noble freedom of sentiment which is the best possession of man
That he had some of that noble freedom of sentiment appeared
in his attitude towards the translation of the Bible into Erse in
1776. Political considerations led many high Anglicans to oppose
the suggestion, but Johnson considered that
to omit for a year or for a day the most efficacious method of
advancing Christianity, in compliance with any purposes that
terminate on this side of the grave, is a crime of which I know
not that the world has yet had an example, except in the practice
of the planters of America, a race of mortals whom, I suppose,
no other man wishes to resemble.
For the dignitaries and their office in his own Church he had a devout
awe. In 1783, when the doctor was seventy-four years of age,
Mr. Seward saw him presented to the Archbishop of York and
described his bow to the prelate as
such a studied elaboration of homage, such an extension of limb,
such a flexion of body, as have seldom or ever been equalled.
Johnson made it his boast that he had never entered a Dissenting
chapel, and was rallied by Dr. Robertson, the Presbyterian historian,
on this score. " Allow me to say," said the Scot, when visiting him
once in 1778,
Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists 331
that in one respect I have the advantage of you ; when you
were in Scotland you would not come to hear any of our preachers,
whereas, when I am here I attend your public worship without
scruple and indeed with great satisfaction.
Johnson. Why, Sir, that is not so extraordinary : the King of
Siam sent ambassadors to Louis XIV ; but Louis sent none to
the King of Siam. (Here he was wrong.)
He rejoiced in the rejection by the Lords of the Commons'
measure granting further relief to Protestant Dissenters (1773).
Writing to Dr. White, Bishop in Pennsylvania, he said :
Of all public transactions the whole world is now informed by
the newspapers. Opposition seems to despond ; and the dis-
senters, though they have taken advantage of unsettled times
and a government much enfeebled, seem not likely to gain any
immunities.
Likewise the defeat of the motion in the Commons remitting
subscription of the thirty-nine articles as a condition of entry to
the Universities caused him much satisfaction (1772).
Boswell. I mentioned the petition to Parliament for removing
the subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles.
Johnson. It was soon thrown out. Sir, they talk of not making
boys at the University subscribe to what they do not understand ;
but they ought to consider that our Universities were founded to
bring up members for the Church of England, and we must not
supply our enemy with arms from our arsenal. No, Sir, the
meaning of subscribing is, not that they fully understand all the
articles, but that they will adhere to the Church of England. . . .
Boswell. But, Sir, would it not be sufficient to subscribe the
Bible ?
Johnson. Why no, Sir ; for all sects will subscribe the Bible ;
Mahometans will subscribe the Bible, for the Mahometans
acknowledge Jesus Christ as well as Moses, but maintain that
God sent Mahomet as a still greater prophet than either.
The suggestion that ministers in Scotland were appointed by
popular election filled him with horror. He had no sympathy with
that democracy which would place power of any kind in the hands
of the common people. It was at the time of the controversy in the
Church of Scotland between those who upheld the right of patrons
independent of the people, and those who advocated the popular
method of appointment.
Johnson. It should be settled one way or the other. I cannot
wish well to a popular election of the clergy when I consider that
332 Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists
it occasions such animosities, such unworthy courting of the
people, such slanders between the contending parties and other
disadvantages. It is enough to allow the people to remonstrate
against the nomination of a minister for solid reasons. (I suppose
he meant heresy or immorality.)
The doctor doubtless felt as strongly against the method obtaining
in the Dissenting conventicles of his day in England.
As for women preachers, those who to-day oppose them would
have found a doughty and devastating champion in Samuel Johnson.
On a Sunday in 1763 Boswell told him that he had that morning
attended a meeting of the people called Quakers, where he had
heard a woman preach, on which Johnson remarked :
Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs.
It is not done well ; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
There is also Eldon's classic story of the doctor's visit to Sir Robert
Chambers at Oxford. Walking in the garden Sir Robert was ever
and again picking up snails and throwing them over the wall.
Johnson reproached his host very roughly for being unmannerly
and unneighbourly. " Sir," said Chambers, " my neighbour is a
dissenter." " Oh, if so, Chambers, toss away, toss away, as hard
as you can ! " In this context we may recall Johnson's approval of
the University's expulsion of six Methodist undergraduates for
preaching in public (1772). Boswell deprecated their being so
hardly treated as he had been told they were " good beings ". This
called forth the retort :
I believe they might be good beings, but they were not fit to be
in the University of Oxford. A cow is a very good animal in the
field, but we turn her out of a garden.
Nevertheless Johnson had a high regard for many individual
Dissenters and certain Dissenting ways. He admitted their success-
ful presentation of the gospel to the common people by the ministry
of preaching. Part of a day spent on the river was devoted to a
discussion with Boswell of the great success which the Methodists
had. " It is owing," said Johnson,
to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner
which is the only way to do good to the common people, and
which clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a
principle of duty when it is suited to their congregations — a
practice for which they will be praised by men of sense. Sir,
when your Scotch clergy give up their homely manner religion
will soon decay in that country.
R. G. Martin.
Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists 333
II. Johnson's Friendships with Nonconformists.
Of Johnson's Nonconformist friendships no doubt the
most intimate was with Edward and Charles Dilly, the well-
known booksellers in the Poultry. Which of the London
churches they belonged to we do not know. Perhaps they
were Congregationausts, for the two Dissenting ministers
whom we hear of as partaking of their famous hospitality —
Thomas Gibbons (1720-85) and Henry Mayo (1 733-93 )— were
both of that persuasion.
Gibbons was for many years one of the tutors at Homerton,
a post which he combined with the pastorate of a church at
Haberdashers' Hall. Among his voluminous publications,
some of them issued by the Dilly brothers, was a memoir of
Watts, on which Johnson drew freely in his account of that
eminent divine in the Lives of the Poets. Gibbons has left
behind him a diary, now among the manuscripts of the Con-
gregational Library, London, and in part reproduced in the
first two volumes of our Transactions — so that we are well-
informed as to at least some of the activities of his busy life.
The first entry of relevance to our present subject is one of
24 July, 1669, when the diarist was on a visit to Scotland :
Dined at Lord Auchinleek's with his Son Mr. James Boswell,
Author of the History of Corsica.
After that we have to turn over a number of pages until
under Monday, 14 Aug., 1780, we find: "Visited the celebrated
Dr. Samuel Johnson."
The great man was favourably impressed by his caller, for some
nine months later, when he was mentioned, Johnson remarked :
" I took to Dr. Gibbons." And addressing himself to Mr.
Charles Dilly, added :
I shall be glad to see him. Tell him, if he'll call on me, and
dawdle over a dish of tea in an afternoon, I shall take it kind.
If anything in that fine occurred it has passed unrecorded.
The next Johnsonian entries are Friday, 7 May, 1784 :
At Home till 5 in the Afternoon, when I visited Mr. Dilly,
the Bookseller, and enjoyed the Company of General Oglethorpe,
Dr. Witherspoon, and Mr . Boswell of Edinburgh. Monday 17 May :
Dined with Dr. Saml. Johnson, Mr. Boswell, &c, at Mr. Dilly's.
Spent the Afternoon in Part with them.
2 2
334 Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists
Henry Mayo was pastor of the church in Nightingale Lane,
Wapping. His first appearance in Boswell is at a dinner in
the Poultry on 7 May, 1773. Two other ministers were of
the party, one of them being Toplady, the hymn- writer. The
conversation began with the migration of birds, but this was
not provocative enough for Boswell's liking, and he introduced
the subject of religious toleration. For his steady persistence
under Johnson's sallies Mayo was dubbed the Literary Anvil.
We hear of him at another Poultry dinner, 15 April, 1778.
Of Johnson's relations with other Nonconformists, we may
note his friendship with John Wesley, and his ever requotable
dictum (1778) :
John Wesley's conversation is good, but he is never at leisure.
He is always obliged to go at a certain hour. This is very dis-
agreeable to a man who loves to fold his legs and have out his
talk, as I do.
Alongside this may be set an entry of 18 Dec, 1783, in Wesley's
diary :
I spent two hours with that great man, Dr. Johnson, who is sinking
into the grave by a gentle decay.
Among Quakers Johnson had a friend in the witty and
beautiful Mrs. Knowles. She won his commendation for her
defence against his contention that friendship was not a
Christian virtue :
Mrs. Knowles : But, Doctor, our Saviour had twelve Apostles,
yet there was one whom He loved.
Johnson (with eyes sparkling benignantly) : Very well, indeed,
Madam. You have said very well.
Boswell : A fine application. Pray, Sir, had you ever thought
of it ?
Johnson : I had not, Sir.
Unfortunately, after this Johnson became sulphurous first
on the topic of Americans, and afterwards apropos of a young
lady, formerly a friend of his, " an odious wench," who had
left the Church of England for the Society of Friends.
A good deal has been written of the relations between
Johnson and Joseph Priestley, the famous Unitarian.
According to Boswell, Johnson would never have remained
in the same room with him had they met. Priestley, for his
Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists 335
part, asserted in his Appeal to the Public after the Birmingham
riots (1792), that he had once, at Johnson's request, dined
with him in London at the house of John Paradise, well-known
as a linguist :
He was particularly civil to me, and promised to call upon me
the next time he should go through Birmingham. He behaved
with the same civility to Dr. Price when they supped together
at Dr. Adams's at Oxford —
this in retort to Boswell's statement that Johnson had refused
to remain in the room with Price.1
Eccentrics were always of interest to Johnson. Such
unquestionably was Edward Elwall (1676-1744), also a Stafford-
shire man, at one time a member of the Presbyterian meeting-
house at Wolverhampton, to the no small trial of its minister,
John Stubbs :
Sir, Mr. Elwall, . . . held, that everything in the Old Testament
that was not typical, was to be of perpetual observance : and
so he wore a riband in the plaits of his coat, and he also wore
a beard. I remember I had the honour of dining in company
with Mr. Elwall. ... To try to make himself distinguished, he
wrote a letter to King George the Second, challenging him to
dispute with him, in which he said, " George, if you be afraid to
come by yourself to dispute with a poor old man, you may bring
a thousand of your black-guards with you ; and if you should
still be afraid, you may bring a thousand of your red-guards."
It is worth while to bring together some of Johnson's
pronouncements on works by Dissenting authors. Of Baxter
he thought very highly, told Boswell to read his works, and
when asked which, replied : " Read any of them, they are all
good." He was equally appreciative of the Pilgrim's Progress,
and called attention to its beginning very much like Dante's
Divina Commedia. Speaking of The Spectator, he remarked :
One of the finest pieces in the English language is the paper
on Novelty ... It was written by Grove, a dissenting teacher.
This was Henry Grove (1684-1738), of the Taunton Academy.
Doddridge's " Live while you live," he declared to be " one of
the finest epigrams in the English language." Of Watts 's
1 Christian Reformer, n.s.f ix. 171 ff. We owe the reference to Mr. Stephen
Jones, Dr. Williams's Librarian.
2 2 *
336 Dr. Johnson and the Nonconformists
publications, or some of them, he was a very hearty admirer,
among other of his dicta being that Watts had first
taught the Dissenters to court attention by the graces of language.
It is hardly necessary to recall here Johnson's pronounce-
ments on Milton, but what of Cromwell ? Boswell was in-
formed by a friend that Johnson had at one time intended
to write a life of the Protector,
saying that he thought it must be highly curious to trace his
extraordinary rise to the supreme power, from so obscure a
beginning.
As reason for his failure to carry out his design he alleged his
discovery that all the authentic information available was
already in print. So far was the great man from foreseeing the
subsequent developments of Cromwellian bibliography.
We know something of what Johnson thought of Noncon-
formists. It would be interesting to hear the other side of
the matter and learn something of what they thought of him
and his works. Who of them read Boswell when first
published ? We invite communications from our readers on
this side of our subject.
According to the Protestant Dissenters* Magazine for 1797
(p. 242), the Rev. John Ward, afterwards Unitarian Minister
of Taunton,
at Litchfield, where some branches of his family resided, formed
in early life an acquaintance with Dr. Samuel Johnson and Mr.
Garrick, which was afterwards renewed, and kept up, when he
lived in London.
A. G. Matthews.
G. F. Nxjttall.
337
The Literary Interests of Nonconformists in the
18th Century.
MATERIAL from which to learn what were the literary
interests, beyond the theological, of Nonconformists
in the earlier 18th century, is not easily come by. There
does not appear to have been any minister of that period
with the range of reading of William Bates (1625-99) in the previous
century. His books, bought by Dr. Williams and bequeathed
by him with his own to form his Library, included a first folio
Shakespeare, other English poets, and also much continental
literature, Bates being a good linguist, and especially well-versed
in Spanish.
Something we know of the literary preferences of Watts and
Doddridge. " Who is there," declares the former1 " that has
any gout for polite writings that would be sufficiently satisfied
with hearing the beautiful pages of Steele or Addison, the admirable
descriptions of Virgil or Milton, or some of the finest poems of
Pope, Young, or Dryden, once read over to them, and then lay
them by for ever ? "
In 1721 Doddridge writes to a friend2 : " I have lately been read-
ing Spratt's History, and the greatest part of Sir William Temple's
works."
In another letter (1723) he writes3 : "Of all their {i.e. French)
dramatic poets, I have met with none that I admire so much
as Racine. It is impossible not to be charmed with the pomp,
elegance, and harmony of his language, as well as the majesty,
tenderness, and propriety of his sentiments. The whole is con-
ducted with a wonderful mixture of grandeur and simplicity, which
sufficiently distinguishes him from the dulness of some tragedians,
and the bombast of others. One of his principal faults is, that
the jingle of his double rhyme is frequently offensive to the ear.
I lately met with the Archbishop of Cambray's Reflections upon
Eloquence, which I think one of the most judicious pieces I have
ever seen. There are some fine criticisms at the end of it, which
well deserve your perusal."
Doddridge shared with Watts an admiration of Fenelon, of
whom the latter writes* :
1 Works (Ed. 1810), V. 212.
8 Works (Ed. 1804), V. 506.
3 Works (Ed. 1804), V. 607f.
* Op. cit., V. 219.
D
338 The Literary Interests of Nonconformists
" in his Posthumous Essays, and his Letters, there are many admirable
thoughts in practical and experimental religion, and very beautiful
and divine sentiments in devotion ; but sometimes in large para-
graphs, or in whole chapters together, you find him in the clouds
of mystic divinity, and he never descends within the reach of
common ideas or common sense."
The practice of selling private libraries by auction was first
introduced into England in 1675 on the suggestion of Joseph Hill,
afterwards minister of the Presbyterian church at Rotterdam,
and previously ejected for Nonconformity from his fellowship
at Magdalene, Cambridge. At the British Museum there is a collec-
tion of sale catalogues. Unfortunately it is not very helpful for
the present purpose. The only Nonconformist sale for our period
thus recorded is that of the library of Joseph Hussey (1660-1726),
minister at Cambridge and afterwards in Petticoat Lane. The
catalogue shows him to have possessed some books of travel and
science : of poetry, Paradise Lost, and the works of Prior and
Quarles ; among historical works, Echard's History of England
and Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, also a life of Xavier (1596) ;
and, to deviate into theology, his only Bunyan was the Defence
of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith.
There is nothing of note to report about the reading of our
diarist, Dr. Thomas Gibbons, but it is interesting to find that
he visited Mrs. Foster, grandaughter of " the famous Mr. Milton,"
and on another occasion the poet Young.
A. G. Matthews.
G. F. Nuttall.
Sunday School Rules in the 19th Century
We are indebted to Mr. Joseph Crisp, of Bishop's Stortford,
who is in his 90th year, for the following rules of the Bishop's
Stortford Independent Chapel Sunday School, taken from
an old register which goes back to 1837. The rules are not
dated, but there are indications that they were passed in 1854.
In 1855 the school had 38 teachers, 16 male and 22 female,
and the 364 scholars are classified as Boys 133 ; Girls 147 ;
Infant Class 73; Boys' Bible Class 5; Girls' Bible Class 6.
1. The objects contemplated by this school are the instruction
of the children in reading and in the doctrines and duties of
Christianity.
2. That the school shall commence in the morning with reading
and prayer.
Sunday Schools Rule in the 19th Century 339
3. The management of the school shall devolve upon a super-
intendent, secretary and committee consisting of the teachers.
4. That quarterly meetings be held on the second Tuesday in
April, July, October and January.
5. That at the quarterly meetings a report be made by the
teachers for the purpose of ascertaining the improvement of the
children and of advancing them according to their attainments.
6. The occasional teachers be invited to attend the quarterly
meetings.
7. After an examination of the class papers such boys whose
attendance and behaviour has been satisfactory be rewarded with
a small book such as shall be approved of at the quarterly meetings.
8. It is desirable that any teacher wishing to be absent on the
Sabbath shall either provide a substitute or request the Secretary
to procure one for them.
9. The teachers be requested to sit in their turn with the children
during Divine Service.
10. That no child be admitted into the school under 5 years of
age, and the parents or friends shall engage for his punctual atten-
dance and obedience to the rules of the school.
11. The children be required to attend the school £ of an hour
before time in the morning and J of an hour before Divine Service
in the afternoon.
12. The children be required to come to school thoroughly
clean, and to be provided with a pocket-handkerchief.
13. The children not be allowed to talk to each other during
school hours, and shall be quiet and orderly in their behaviour
both in school and particularly during Divine Service, and that no
sweetmeats, etc., etc., etc., allowed to be brought to the school.
14. If any child shall be kept from school one month without
any satisfactory reason be assigned for such absence it shall be
considered as a withdrawal from the school.
15. Notice to be given of a child's removal from the school.
34°
The Congregational library.
QUITE naturally when the Congregational Historical
Society was formed it had the closest association
with the Library, not merely because the editor of
the Transactions , that fine antiquarian, the Rev.
T. G. Crippen, was librarian, but because the Library was so
rich in denominational history, having its nucleus in the
books given to it by Mr. Joshua Wilson and his widow. The
close connexion between the Library and the Society has now
been renewed, for the Society's research group is meeting
regularly in the new students' room at the Library. In future
a brief report on the Library will be given in each issue.
It will perhaps be well to begin this first Report with some
account of the Library's resources. It specializes in Non-
conformist history, being especially strong on the Congre-
gational side, and notably on the history of the ejected minis-
ters ; and on hymnology, on which subject its collection is
one of the best in the country. There is still abundant scope
for research among the Library's MSS., pamphlets, and printed
books. In addition to these sections, with their appeal to
special students, there is much for the everyday reading of
the minister and layman. Until the War there was a moderate
accession of modern books each year, but after that the Library
fell on bad times and additions ceased. For some years the
Library was starved, and the then trustees, apparently ignorant
that they held much of the Library's money, came to regard
the Library as a burden, a white elephant which produced no
revenue but was a drain because of necessary upkeep, in-
surance, etc. Gradually this spirit passed away, and in recent
years a good deal has been done to fill up gaps, and now the
Library, by gift and purchase, is strong in the following sub-
jects, in addition to its own special classes :
1. Religious Education.
2. Sociology.
3 . Spiritual Healing .
4. Devotional Books.
In addition, the London Union's Carmichael Loan books (about
thirty volumes a year for ten years) have been added to the
Library.
All the necessary books of reference are now available in the
students' room, including the Dictionary of National
The Congregational Library 341
Biography, the Oxford English Dictionary, the Congregational
Year Books, and the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
An attempt is being made to economize in space by co-operation
between the New College Library and the Library at the
Memorial Hall. It is unnecessary, for example, to keep sets
of the Congregational Year Book at both places.
The students' room is available for all bona fide readers on
Mondays and Fridays from 10 to 5, and ministers and other
Congregationalists may borrow books (with certain exceptions)
on payment of postage. The more use is made of the Library
the more will those in charge of it be pleased. In these days
when ministers find it far from easy to buy books, a Library
of this kind should be specially useful, and members of the
Society should make its existence widely known.
A brief history of the Library may be of service at this point.
The Congregational Library, opened in 1831 the day before
the meeting which decided to form the Congregational Union of
England and Wales, came into being largely through the efforts
of Thomas and Joshua Wilson. In 1830 a prospectus was
issued which said :
It is a remarkable fact, that the most numerous, and perhaps
the most respectable, portion of the Nonconformist community,
that which is commonly designated " the Congregational de-
nomination," has not a building, nor even a room, which can be
called peculiarly its own, or be made applicable to the common
purposes of the whole collective body.
The Library at Red Cross Street, founded by the venerable Dr.
Darnel Williams, is now entirely under the management and con-
trol of trustees selected exclusively from the body of Dissenters
nominally " Presbyterian," but actually, with few exceptions,
" Unitarian." The Baptists have a very respectable library and
museum, connected with their ancient academical institution at
Bristol ; the Wesleyan Methodists have extensive rooms and
premises appropriated to their sole use, and to the advancement
of the common interests of the body, in connexion with their
chapel in the City Road ; and even the small society founded by
the late Countess of Huntingdon, has the house, in Spa Fields, in
which her ladyship resided, for its special use and accommodation.
It is a circumstance creditable to the liberality of the Congre-
gational denomination, that, though its members are the chief
supporters of one of the largest and most flourishing of the
existing missionary societies, they cannot call that society, in
any especial sense, their own ; and have therefore no peculiar, far
less an exclusive right, to the use of the house appropriated to its
342 The Congregational Library
purposes in Austin Friars, as the members of the Baptist denomin-
ation have to that in Fen Court, where meetings of the committee
of their missionary society are held, and where its business is
carried on. . . .
The Committees of the various societies belonging to the Con-
gregational denomination still hold their meetings chiefly at
taverns, by which the credit and respectability of the denomina-
tion are diminished, and great inconvenience is often sustained.
Many arguments are given in favour of the project, including
the provision of secure deposit and safe custody for Trust
Deeds, and then the prospectus goes on :
But the principal, and perhaps the most important, design for
which such a Building is greatly needed, still remains to be stated
— the providing a spacious and handsome room, to be fitted up
in a suitable manner for the reception of an extensive Collection
of Books and Pamphlets, relating chiefly to the Translation and
Interpretation of the Scriptures, the various branches of Theology,
Ecclesiastical History, the principles of Non-conformity, Church
Government, and the History and Biography of the Protestant
Dissenters : — the whole intended to form a valuable Library of
reference, to which the Congregational ministers, and other
members of the body, resident in and near London, may have
ready access, and where ministers from the country, during their
occasional visits to the metropolis, may have the opportunity of
spending, in a manner both agreeable and profitable, such portions
of time as their other engagements may allow them to spare.
The benefit of such a Library to all persons engaged in theological
or biblical researches, and historical inquiries, must be too obvious
to require to be minutely specified.
Such a Library, it is declared, would help to repel the en-
croachments of scepticism and of Roman Catholicism, and to
disseminate the principles of the denomination. Joshua
Wilson had promised to give a large number of books to the
Library, and at a meeting held on 6th December, 1830, presided
over by Dr. Pye Smith, it was resolved :
First. That it is highly desirable to provide, with as little delay
as possible, a commodious Building in the metropolis, to contain
a select Library, consisting chiefly of works on theology and
ecclesiastical history ; in the formation of which special reference
may be had to collecting printed books and manuscripts peculiarly
relating to the body of Congregational Dissenters, for whose use
it will be principally established ; and at the same time to afford
a secure depository for the trust-deeds and other records of their
churches and institutions, and a convenient place for holding the
The Congregational Library 343
meetings of the ministers and societies connected with the de-
nomination.
Secondly. That for earring this object into effect, it is desirable
to erect a respectable and very substantial Building, to be specially
adapted for these purposes ; and, until a suitable spot for such
erection can be found, in a central and convenient situation, to
provide a building suitable for temporary use ; for the control and
management of either or both of which the following regulations
are now adopted, sub, however, to future modifications : —
That the property of the Building be vested in twenty-five
trustees, to be chosen, in the first instance, from contributors of
not less than fifty guineas ; thirteen of whom, at least, must be
resident in, or within ten miles of, London, etc., etc.
The prospectus gives a list of subscribers, and also states that
leasehold premises have been obtained in Bloomfield Street.
The meetings of the Congregational Union were held in the
Library for some years, and when the Bicentenary Committee
in 1862 decided on the building of a Memorial Hall as part of its
celebrations, they sent a deputation to the Committee of the
Congregational Library requesting them, with certain additions
to their number, to undertake the work. The trustees of the
Library accepted the responsibility of carryingout the scheme,
and soon after, the Library premises being required by the
Metropolitan Railway, compensation for the remainder of the
lease was fixed at £8,530, which sum was added to the fund
raised for the Memorial Hall.
Many donations and bequests of books were made during the
years, though the delay in building the Memorial Hall resulted
in the books having to be warehoused, during which time they
suffered considerably. Subsequently Dr. Newth and the Rev.
T. G. Crippen rendered admirable service in arranging and cata-
loguing the Library, Dr. Newth publishing a catalogue of 8,000
titles in 1895, and Mr. Crippen Vol. 2 with 11,000 titles in 1910.
Neither of these catalogues included the MSS. (500)1, the
hymnological collection formed by Mr. Crippen (2,800 volumes),
the liturgical collection (380 volumes), the books in foreign
languages ( 1 , 600 volumes ) , or the pamphlets . These pam phlets
are largely anonymous, and there are perhaps between 5,000
and 10,000 of them altogether ; 300 of them are separately
bound ; the rest are either bound in miscellaneous manner in
hundreds of volumes or kept in 265 boxes. Of miscellaneous
1 These and subsequent numbers relate to 1910. They have since been
considerably increased.
344 The Congregational Library
sermons there are a great many, some of them in 1 80 boxes,
the others bound in 340 volumes.
The hymnological collection now contains over 4,000 volumes,
this including the recently acquired Payne Collection.
It will be seen that, with these resources, the Library could
be of the greatest use, not only to research students, but to
Congregationalists generally. It should also be said that much
work needs still to be done. Duplicates are gradually being
weeded out, but the classification and arrangement of the
books, scattered as they are in half a dozen rooms in addition
to the big Library, leaves much to be desired. Sometime the
Biblical, hymnological, and periodical sections should be
centralized. There are two ways in which members of
the Congregational Historical Society could be of service to
the Library :
1 . Experts might help in the identification of anonymous
books.
2. The huge task of cataloguing the pamphlets should be
taken in hand.
Voluntary help along these lines is the more necessary because,
even with the aid of a grant from the Congregational Union,
the money now available barely serves to keep the Library
open and purchase a few books. We hope the time will come
when the Memorial Hall Trustees will be so prosperous that
they will be able to regard the £8,350 which originally came
from the Library as a Library Endowment, the income of
which shall be at the Library's service.
The following extracts from the reports presented to the
Trustees in the earliest days of the Memorial Hall may be of
interest :
January 19th, 1875.
One of the special objects of the Bicentenary subscription
was the erection of a Memorial Hall and Library, with offices for
the use of the various societies connected with the denomination
in London. This scheme was confided to the trustees of the
Congregational Library, with additions to their number from the
Bicentenary Committee ; and in carrying it out, they were enabled,
by the sale of the lease of the old library buildings, to give about
£9,000 towards the support of the new undertaking. In their
appeal for subscriptions, the committee, having set forth a plan
and assumed its success, said, " Here our Congregational Union
meetings can be held ; here our religious societies may assemble ;
ftere special religious services may be promoted, and all the
interests of our common Christianity advanced."
The Congregational Library 345
Annual meeting, 1877.
It was stated last year that the question of establishing a Library
worthy of the Denomination had received the anxious consider-
ation of the Committee, and that it had been finally resolved ' To
form a complete Library of Nonconformist literature only ; to
arrange for the use of the books specially reserved for consultation
in the room ; whilst others might be lent for use at home/ The
Revd. Dr. Newth having kindly accepted the Office of Honorary
Librarian, and Mrs. Joshua Wilson having accepted this arrange-
ment, 8000 volumes of books bound, and about 2000 volumes of
pamphlets were selected by Dr. Newth, classified, catalogued and
for the most part placed on the shelves under his superintendance.
These volumes, it may be safely said, represent a very valuable
body of Nonconformist literature ancient and modern, and
amongst the books there are some which would have been gladly
purchased by the British Museum Trustees. To Mrs. Joshua
Wilson for this noble gift, the Committee had the great pleasure
of tendering their sincere thanks which the Congregational Union
will no doubt cheerfully endorse, and be pleased to know that
while the Building itself commemorates the fidelity to conscience
shown by the Ejected Ministers of 1662, and expresses the
liberality and sentiment of modern Nonconformists in no stinted
measure, the Library will be an enduring Memorial of Mr. Joshua
Wilson and of the family who have so liberally interpreted his
desires. How these books may be best used, how to make the
Library a teaching as well as a consultative power in relation,
especially to the young in our own Nonconformist families, and
the rising Ministers on whose intelligent, sound, and earnest
preaching and working so much in these eventful days will
depend ; are questions which will receive earnest and prayerful
consideration.
The following resolution was then passed :
" That the best thanks of this meeting be, and are, hereby ten-
dered to Mrs. Joshua Wilson for this noble gift, valuable in Itself
as forming a Library of Nonconformist literature, unique in its
character and intrinsic worth, but rendered still more so by the
handsome and cordial way in which Mrs. Wilson has used her
discretionary power in disposing of the library thus of her late
husband for the benefit of the Congregational denomination."
Resolved also, " That in receiving this gift, the Trustees of the
Memorial Hall Trust beg to assure Mrs. Wilson that it will be their
earnest desire to give full effect in the use of the Library, to the
known wishes of her late husband ; so that it may be instrumental
to the greatest possible extent in fostering and promoting those
great principles of Evangelical Christianity and fidelity to con-
science which the Memorial Hall itself commemorates, and which
he held so firmly and exemplified so consistently during his long
and honourable life." Albert Peel.
2 3
346
The Coward Trustees to Ministers.
June, 174
Reverend SIR,
IT is agreed by Mr. Coward's Trustees, that Part of the Residue of
his Estate shall be laid out towards the maintaining a Catechizing
Lecture or Exercise, in several Towns or Villages in the Country,
in this Manner, viz.
I. Every Minister who undertakes this Service, shall teach Dr.
Watts's three little Books of Catechisms ; the first Sett, or the young
Child's two Catechisms ; The second Sett, or the Child's Doctrinal
Catechism ; and the third Sett, or the Youth's Catechism, which is
the Assembly's Catechism with Notes ; which the Trustees will furnish
the Catechumens with.
II. The Persons to be instructed by each Catechist, are to be Children
above Seven Years old, or Servants, or any other young Persons of
either Sex, who are willing to submit to these Rules, not less in Number
than Fifteen, nor more than Forty.
III. Every Catechist is to go through all these three Catechisms with
the Catechumens in two Years Time, which may be done by explaining
from two to six Questions every week ; it being intended to continue
this Exercise only for two Years in any one place.
IV. It is expected that the Catechist shall spend an Hour, at least, in
every Week, or as much more Time as he may think proper, in this
Exercise ; and teach his Catechumens distinctly to understand the
Sense of every Question and Answer the Week before they get it by
Heart ; and the next Week to examine them upon the past Questions,
and then explain to them further onward. And it is to be preferred,
that this Exercise be carried on upon the Week Days, rather than on
the Lord's Days, and in the Meeting-House rather than in a private
House ; that so other Persons may have the Liberty of attending, if they
think fit.
In explaining the Catechisms, the Minister need not make long
Discourses upon each Question and Answer ; but rather teach the
Meaning of them in a way of Conversation, viz. (1.) By asking them
what is meant by any of the particular Words, which they may be
supposed not to understand. (2.) By breaking the Answer into several
little Questions and Answers. (3.) By explaining the Scriptures,
which belong to the Answers, and shewing how they are applied to
prove the Answer itself.
N.B. As for the Proofs in the second Sett of Catechisms, and the
Child's Historical Catechism at the end of the second Sett, the Cate-
chumens are yot expected to get them by Heart ; but the Minister should
recommend it to them to read them often at Home.
It is not fit that the elder Catechumens, or those who are more perfect,
The Coward Trustees to Ministers 347
should be kept back from learning the second Catechism, or the assembly's
till the more backward have arrived at the same Perfection ; and therefore
it is referred to the Minister to distribute the Catechumens into different
Classes, as he finds occasion, according to their different Attainments.
V. For the Encouragement of the Catechumens, the following
Rewards are promised.
1. For learning the first Sett, or the Young Child's two Catechisms,
one of Dr. Watts 's Divine Songs and Six-pence.
2. For learning the second Sett, or the Child's Doctrinal Catechism
halfway, one of Dr. Watts's Preservatives from Sins and Follies.
3. For learning the second Sett throughout perfectly, a New
Testament and Six-pence.
4. For learning the first Half of the Assembly's Catechism per-
fectly, shall be either Dr. Watts's Book of Prayers, or Dr. Guyse's
or Mr. Jennings's Sermons to Young People.
5. For learning perfectly to the End of the Assembly's Catechism,
a Bible and one Shilling.
VI. For the Encouragement of the Catechists,
1. Every Minister who fulfils this Work with fifteen or more
Catechumens, shall have five Pounds a Year.
2. If he has twenty-five Catechumens or more, six Pounds a Year.
3. And if he has thirty -five, or more, seven Pounds a Year.
N.B. No Minister shall be allowed more than two of his own
Children in fifteen to make up the Number of our Catechumens, which
shall intitle them to the Rewards, or him to the Salary. And no
Addition to be made to the List of Catechumens, after it is first fixed \
except that, if any die, or go off, or are turned out for Negligence, the
Ministers may receive others in their room, provided they are likely to
finish all the Catechisms along with the rest by the Expiration of the
two Years. But such new Catechumens shall not be intitled to any
others Books or Rewards which those have received, in whose room they
come. And if at any time the Number of Catechumens falls short of
Fifteen, from that Time no encouragement to the Exercise is to be
expected from the Trustees.
VEI. The Trustees expect that every Catechist should send them up
once every half Year, viz. within one Month after Lady- Day and
Michaelmas respectively, an Account of the Children's Names, and
what Books have been distributed among them for the preceeding half
Year ; such Account to be signed by the Minister, and attested by two
of his Congregation.
For this purpose, some blank Forms of the Account, or Certificates,
together with Instructions how they are to be filled up, will be sent to
each Catechist in due time.
This work being intended to begin next Michaelmas, you are desired
to acquaint us in six Weeks time, whether you are willing to undertake
it upon these Terms ; and the exact Number of Catechumens you can
348 The Coward Trustees to Ministers
depend on ; and to give the plainest Directions where the Books for the
Catechumens are to be sent here in London, and how the Parcel must be
directed, in order that it may come safe to your Hands in the Country.
And you shall, at the same time, receive a Book of all Dr. Watts's
Catechisms, bound up with his Discourse relating to them, for your
own Use ; or if you have not seen that Book, you shall have one imme-
diately sent you, for your Perusal, (or for your keeping, if you accept
the Work) upon giving Notice how to send it.
It is not supposed that all the Catechumens, who may be entered, will
be perfect Strangers to these Catechisms ; but such as have learnt any of
them already are to be taught them over again, and to be made to under-
stand them perfectly, according to these Rules, and in this way to
become intitled to the Rewards above-mentioned.
If by Sickness, or Avocation of any kind, you should not be able
constantly to attend this Service every Week, 'tis expected those Defic-
iencies shall be made up at other times, so that the Catechumens may be
made perfect in the Catechisms within the limited Time of two Years.
And if any of the Catechumens should, by Sickness, or other unavoidable
Avocation, be prevented from constantly attending this Exercise ; yet if
they make up those Defects by After-Diligence, so as to become perfect
in the Catechisms, they shall nevertheless be intitled to the Rewards.
To render this Exercise more useful and edifying, the Trustees
would earnestly recommend it to the Catechists, at the End of every
Meeting, to talk over with the Catechumens, for a few Minutes, in the
plainest manner, the practical Uses of what has been explain' d, or
rehearsed, and the Concern of their own Souls therein, concluding with
a short Prayer for a Divine Blessing.
And it is their earnest Desire and Hope, that a Sense and Experience
of the great Usefulness of this Service, towards supporting and propa-
gating the true Religion of Christ, will be a more engaging Motive to
the Zeal and Diligence of every Minister therein, than the little Salary
they are able to give.
And as this Exercise is carried on in a Variety of Places, it is desired,
for the saving of Trouble to the Trustees, that the Catechists would send
no Proposals relating thereto contrary to these Rules ; that they would
insert nothing in their Letters, but what is necessary relating to the
State and Success of this Exercise ; and that they would keep this Letter
always by them, and consult it on every Doubt with the greatest Care and
Attention, that they may not mistake any of the Directions, or give the
Trustees the Trouble of receiving or answering any more Letters than
necessary.
I. Watts,
John Guyse,
David Jennings, <kc.
Direct all your Letters to Mr. Parker, at Mr. Brackstone'a Book-
seller, at the Globe in Cornhill, London.
349
John Angell James to David Everard Ford.
No date or address.
COPY.
My D* Sir,
You will be concerned to hear that Mr J T Parker your host
has this week buried his younger son, and will be glad to see you,
if you can call upon him. I fear there was little evidence of [ ? ]
for the change. His poor father and mother cling to some faint hope,
which it would be cruel to extinguish. The living son is I think
much softened and affected — a serious and affectionate admonition
to him might be of service. I wish you could go and dine with
them tomorrow and say something to him. He will take it well.
Perhaps as one of your sermons you could give a solemn address
to young men on the subject. There will be a hatband and scarf
for you, so that you will appear in the pulpit in the habiliments of
mourning. I expect to be back by two o clock on monday ; perhaps
you will be able to stay and dine with me. May the Lord bless your
messages to the people
Yours vy truly
J A James
Balance Sheet, 1935.
Receipts. £ s. d.
Expenditure. £ s.
d.
To Balance brought
By Printing Trans-
forward, 31/12/34.. 18 14 6
actions . . . . 36 13
0
Subscriptions, 1935 . . 34 15 6
Expenses, Dr. Peel . . 10
0
Subscriptions, Arrears 6 0 0
Hire of Hall for An-
Subscriptions in Ad-
nual Meeting . . 11
0
vance . . . . 1 15 0
Postages and Receipts 2 2
Balance in hand,
0
31/12/35 .. .. 20 19
0
£61 5 0
£61 5
;o
The account for printing one
issue of the Transactions
(£18 17s. 6d.) is outstanding.
1/4/36.
Audited and found correct,
C. LEE DAVIS,
Hon. Auditor.
350
List of Members
Aldridge, Harold W. Mooring,
Esq.
Anderton, Rev. W. E., M.A.
Avery, J., Esq., F.S.S.
Bairstow, W. Raymond, Esq.
Bartlet, Rev. J. V., D.D.
Berry, Rev. Sidney M., M.A.,
D.D.
Birmingham Public Library
Bretherton, Rev. F. F., B.A.
Brett- James, Major Norman
G., M.A., B.Litt., F.S.A.
Briggs, Rev. G. Shaw
Briggs, Martin S., Esq.
Briggs, T., Esq.
Brindley, T. Martin, Esq.
Bull, F.W., Esq., F.S.A.
Camfield, Rev. F. W., M.A.,
D.D.
Carter, Rev. H. C, M.A.
Chamberlain, J. T., Esq.
Charles, Rev. M., B.A., B.D.
Clark, Rev. J. Birkett,
F.R.G.S.
Cockett, Rev. C. Bernard,
M.A.
Colman, Miss Ethel M.
Colman, Miss Helen C.
Congregational Library, Bos-
ton, U.S.A.
Cozens-Hardy, Basil, Esq.,
B.A., LL.B.
Crippen, Miss M. E.
Davies, Frank, Esq.
Dixon, H. N., Esq., M.A.,
F.L.S.
Dixon, Rev. L. D.
Dyke, Rev. W. T.
Eason, Rev. B. M., M.A.
Evans, Rev. George Eyre
Farrow, Rev. W. J., M.A.,
B.D.
Feesey, V. C, Esq.
Garwood, J. W., Esq.
Gloucester Public Library
Goodwin, Rev. P. H.
Gowen, H. J. T., Esq.
Grieve, Principal A. J., M.A.,
D.D.
Griffin, Stanley, Esq.
Hackett, Rev. B.
Hackney and New College
Hanson, T. W., Esq.
Harding, Rev. W. E., B.A.,
B.D.
Hartley, T., Esq.
Haworth, Sir Arthur A., Bt.
Hepworth, F. N., Esq.
Hill, Frank J. W., Esq., M.A.,
LL.M.
Home, H. E., Esq.
Hornsby, Rev. John T., M.A.
James, Rev. T. T., M.A.
Johnson, E. J. Martyn, Esq.
Johnstone, Rev. W.
Jones, Sir E. D., Bt.
Jones, Prof. J., Morgan, M.A.
List of Members
3Si
Jones, W. T., Esq.
Keep, H. F., Esq., J.P.
Kiddle, J. EL, Esq.
King, Joseph, Esq., M.A.
Laramie, Misses J. and M.
Lancashire Independent Col-
lege
Lankester, Harold B., Esq.
Leeds Public Library-
Lewis, Prof. D. Morgan, M.A.
Lewis, Rev. H. Elvet, M.A.
Library Associations
Liverpool Public Libraries
Livesey, D. T., Esq.
Lloyd, Prof. J. E., M.A.
Manchester College, Oxford
Manchester Public Libraries
Manning, B. L., Esq., M.A.
Mansfield College, Oxford.
Martin, Rev. E. Neville, M.A.,
B.Sc.
Martin, Rev. R. G., M.A.
Matthewman, A. E., Esq.,
B.A., LL.D.
Matthews, Rev. A. G., M.A.
McCappin, A. H. B., Esq.
McLachlan, Dr. H.
Mellor, Mrs.
Minshall, W. Kenrick, Esq.
Moore, Sydney H., Esq., M.A.
Muddiman, R. H., Esq.
Mumford, A. A., Esq., M.D.
Murphy, Rev. Prof., D.D.
National Library of Wales
Newland, F. W., Rev., M.A.
Newton Theological Seminary
Library, U.S.A.
New York Public Library,
U.S.A.
Northcott, Rev. Cecil, M.A.
Nuttall, Geoffrey, Esq., M.A.
Nuttall, Dr. H.
Osborn, Rev. R. R.
Osborne, G. F., Esq.
The Outlook, New York, U.S.A.
Pagett, Rev. Geo.
Palmer, Philip, Esq.
Palmer, W. J., Esq.
Palmer, W. M., Esq., M.D.,
F.S.A.
Parry, Rev. K. L., B.Sc.
Pearce, Rev. J. H.
Peel, Dr. Albert, M.A.
Percival, J. Beaumont, Esq.
Presbyterian Historical Soc.
Price, Rev. Prof. E. J., M.A.,
B.D.
Price, Seymour J., Esq.
Pryce, Rev.'Bernard Vaughan,
M.A., LL.B.
Pye-Smith, A., Esq.
Rawlinson, Rev. W. M.
Rees, Rev. T. Mardy
Rix, Rev. Wilton, M.A.
Robinson, Rev. W.
Roper, Rev. F. M. Hodgess
Rowland, W., Esq.
Rylands Library, Manchester
Sanders, Rev. Prof. H. F.
Sayers, Rev. A. H.
Selbie, Rev. W. B., M.A., D.D.
Sellers, Rev. A. H.
Serle, S., Esq.
Seventh Day Baptist His-
torical Society, New Jersey,
U.S.A.
352
List of Members
Shillito, Dr. H.
Slaughter, Stephen, S., Esq.
M.A.
Sleep, Dr. A. G.
Smith, Rev. Bertram
Society of Friends Library
Staines, Rev. H., M.A., B.D.
Stewart, Sir Halley, J.P.
Stockport Free Library
Surman, Rev. Charles E., B.A.
Sykes, A. W., Esq.
Thomas, Rev. A. L., M.A.
Thomas, Rev. Harold, M.A.
Thornber J. C. Esq., J.P.
Trout, A. E., Esq.
Turner, Sydney G., Esq., K.C.
Turner, Rev. R. R., M.A.
Union Theological Seminary,
New York
Unitarian Historical Society
United College, Bradford
Walker, Rev. George.
Walmsley, Rev. Alan A.,
M.A.
Walters, Rev. D. Eurof, M.A.,
B.D.
Washington Library of Con-
gress
Watson, Rev. C. E.
Whitebrook, J.C., Esq.
Whitley, A. W., Esq.
Whitley, Rev. W. T., LL.D.
Williams's Library, Dr.
WoodaU, H. J., Esq.
Wrigley, Rev. Francis, B.A.
Yale University Library
Yates, Rev. Thomas, D.D.
Corporate Members
Carrs Lane Church, Birming-
ham
Clapton Park Congregational
Church, Clapton, E.5
Congregational Church, Church
End, Finchley, N.W.3
Liscard Congregational Ch.,
Wallasey, Cheshire.
Mawdsley Street Church, Bol-
ton, Lanes.
North Street Church, Taun-
ton, Som.
Summertown Congregational
Church, Oxford.
Square Church, Halifax, Yorks
Spencer Street Congregational
Church, Leamington Spa.
Wilmslow Congregational Ch.,
Wilmslow, Cheshire.
Transactions of the
Congregational Historical Society
Vol. XIII • 1937-1939
Edited by Albert Peel, M.A., Litt.D.
and Geoffrey F. Nuttall, M.A.., B.D.
INDEX
Contributors —
Blaxill, E. Alec
Buckham, John Wright
Calder, R. F. .
The Ministers of Lion Walk Church,
Colchester .....
The Contribution of the Pilgrims to
American Life ....
Robert Haldane's Theological Semi-
PAGE
54
nary ......
59
Chamberlin, David
Re-housing History ....
79
Franks, R. S. .
The Theology of Andrew Martin
Fairbairn .....
140
Grieve, A. J.
Review ......
150
Griffin, Stanley
Sherwell Sunday School, Plymouth
92
Western Notes ....
169
Heriot, Duncan B.
Anabaptism in England during the
17th Century . . . .
22
Nuttall, Geoffrey F.
Walter Cradock (1606P-1659): The Man
and His Message ....
11
Bishop Pecock and the Lollard Move-
ment ......
82
Reviews 126
150
Peel, Albert
Congregational Historians in the Mak-
ing
120
Congregationalism in 1655.
172
Price, E. J.
Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College:
The Hour and the Man .
131
Rees, T. Mardy
Llanvaches, Monmouthshire, the First
Independent Church in Wales, 1639
87
Surman, Charles E. .
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
A Directory of Congregational Bio-
41
graphy
69
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton,
1811-1813
107
Watson, C. Ernest
George Whitefield and Gloucestershire
Congregationalism.
171
Whitebrook, J. C.
Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and
Regicide, and his Relatives
151
Whitley, W. T.
Anabaptists: The Main Body
166
KRAU5 REPRINT
Nendeln/Liechtenstein
1969
Articles —
Academies and Colleges Airedale College, Dr. Fairbairn and:
The Hour and the Man . . . 131
Haldane's Theological Seminary,Robert 59
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton,
1811-1813 107
New College (London) MSS. . .118
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08 41
American Life, The Contributions of the Pilgrims to 4
\nabaptism in England during the 17th Century ... 22
Anabaptists: The Main Body . . . . . .166
Andrewes, Sir Thomas, Lord Mayor and Regicide, and his
Relatives 151
Bradford House, Austerfield, William . . . . .122
Colchester, The Ministers of Lion Walk Church ... 54
Congregationalism . Congregational Biography, A Directory
of . . .69
Congregational Historians in the Mak-
ing 120
Congregationalism in 1655. . 172
Cradock, Walter ( 1 606 ? - 1 659) : The Man and His Message . . 11
Fairbairn, A. M. Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College: The
Hour and the Man . . 131
The Theology of Andrew Martin Fair-
bairn . . . .140
Llanvaches, Monmouthshire, the First Independent Church in
Wales, 1639 87
Lollard Movement, Bishop Pecock and the .... 82
Pecock, Bishop, and the Lollard Movement .... 82
Pilgrims, The Contribution of the, to American Life . 4
Plymouth, Sherwell Sunday School ..... 92
Re-housing History . ...... 79
Tollesbury Congregational Church, The Minute Book of . . 96
Western Notes 169
Whitefield, George, and Gloucestershire Congregationalism . 171
Reviews —
Grieve, A. J. . Christian Freedom. Albert Peel . . 150
Nuttall, Geoffrey F. . The Theory of Religious Liberty in
England, 1603-39. T. Lyon . . 126
Some Political and Social Ideas of
English Dissent, 1763-1800. Anthony
Lincoln . . . . . 126
The Charity School Movement: a Study
of Eighteenth Century Puritanism in
Action. M. G. Jones . . .126
Why Not Abandon The Church? B. L.
Manning . .. . .150
Peel, Albert Presbyterianism in England in the
Reign of Queen Elizabeth. F. J.
Smithen 127
Reprinted with the permission of the original publishers
by
KRAUS REPRINT
a Division of
KRAUS-THOMSON ORGANIZATION LIMITED
Nendeln/Liechtenstein
1969
Printed in Germany
Lessingdruckerei Wiesbaden
EDITORIAL
THE Annual Meeting of the Society was held on Wednesday,
May 5th, in the Council Chamber, Memorial Hall, Dr.
Grieve presiding. The Report of the Treasurer was read
and the Balance Sheet, printed herewith, showed a balance in hand
at the end of the year of £39 19s. 9d., of which £21 is capital,
representing five Life Members. The Editor reported that one
issue of the Transactions would appear in 1937, a 64 page number
to be issued in September, while in 1938 it was hoped to revert to
two issues per year of 48 pages each. Mr. Geoffrey Nuttall, M.A.,
was unable to be present owing to illness, and his paper, on
"Walter Cradock, 1606(?)— 1659. The Man and His Message",
was read by the Rev. A. G. Matthews. An interesting discussion
followed in which the President, the Rev. T. Mardy Rees, and the
Rev. Maurice Charles participated.
A meeting of the Society will be held at Bristol during the Con-
gregational Union meetings. The Rev. Dr. Piatt, who is the
Warden of John Wesley's Chapel, called by him "The New Room
in the Horsefair", has very kindly arranged to have the New
Room open for the inspection of delegates from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
eacb day during the meetings. He himself will be present and
speak to members of the Society and other friends on Tuesday
afternoon (12th October) at 3 o'clock. The New Room contains
many mementoes of John Wesley and it is hoped that there will be
a good attendance at the meeting.
it * * *
The number of Life Members of the Society is now (September,
1937) 7, the number of churches 18, and the number of Ordinary
Members 151.
* # * *
It must be gratifying to the President of the Society that many
of his old students in Lancashire College are giving themselves to
the work of historical research. We are glad to print two papers
by them in the present number, the Rev. R. F. Calder's "Robert
Haldane's Theological Seminary", and "Roby's Academy,
Manchester", by the Rev. C. E. Surman, who has done a good
deal of work on the alumni of Lancashire College.
2 Editorial
It is a hundred years since the opening of the General Register
Office at Somerset House. Probably most research students have
visited Somerset House at some time in order to study wills, but
certainly few people are aware of the riches of its non-parochial
registers of births^ marriages, and deaths. The registers of the
foreign Protestant Refugee Churches, nearly all French or
Walloon, are kept there, and also those of the Chapels Royal and
of the marriages in the Fleet Prison. There are also the Census
returns of 1841 and 1851. Somerset House is of special interest
to Nonconformists because so many of the churches subsequent to
the incorporation of the new service in 1837 placed their registers
in the General Register Office for safe keeping. In the summer
an exhibition was held in which a number of the most interesting
registers and other exhibits were on view. A booklet has been
issued entitled The Story of The General Register Office and Its
Origins, from 15S8 to 1937. It contains sections devoted to the
Methodist Church (Dr. A. W. Harrison), the Baptist Church (Dr.
W. T. Whitley), the Independent or Congregational Churches (Dr.
Albert Peel), and the Society of Friends (Mr. J. L. Nickalls).
Among the Congregational documents exhibited were Robert
Browning's Baptismal Certificate and the registers of the churches
at Angel Street, Worcester; Kidderminster; Carrs Lane, Bir-
mingham ; Bunyan Meeting, Bedford ; Fetter Lane, London ; Above
Bar, Southampton ; Castle Hill, Northampton ; Northowram,
Yorkshire; Downing Street y Cambridge; Tabernacle, Dursley.
* * * *
All members of our Society will offer warm congratulations to
Dr. S. W. Carruthers on the publication of the critical text of the
Westminster Confession^ together with an account of the prepara-
tion and printing of its seven leading editions. Dr. Carruthers's
father was himself an authority on the Confession, and collected,
copies, and so Dr. Carruthers's work has been a labour of love.
He has collated many copies in Great Britain and America, down
to the last punctuation mark. He prints facsimiles of the title-
pages and of special pages, and describes in detail the changes,
voluntary and involuntary, in the different editions. His work,
it is safe to say, wilt stand for all time, and every college library
should have a copy (The Westminster Confession of Faith : Man-
chester, Aikman, 12s. Gd.).
Another volume which rejoices our hearts comes from the
Chetham Society, for whom Mr. Ernest Axon has edited Oliver
Heywood's Life of his father-in-law, John Angier of Denton. Our
own readers will value Mr. Axon's notes, but it is worth anybody's
while to read the life as it stands, together with Angier's diary,
his "Cases resolved", and the extracts from his Helpe to Better
Editorial 3
Hearts, for Better Times. Angier (1605-1677) though undoubtedly
Presbyterian, was in some ways almost Congregational : while a
devoted pastor and often prevented from preaching, his Noncon-
formity was not aggressive, and he seems to have been unmolested
for long periods. Hey wood's account of the preaching of John
Rogers of Dedham is interesting :
Mr. Angier was kept a season at his mothers house, followed
his studies, attended on Mr. Rogers Ministrie; this Mr. John
Rogers of Dedham was a mirrour and miracle of zeal and
success in his Ministerial labours; it was wont to be said,
Come let's go to Dedham to get a little fire; he was Lecturer
there, and preached once on Lordsday, and a Lecture on the
Tuesday to which multitudes of people flock 'd from the parts
adjacent; and his plain preaching was blessed with a large
Harvest; however some expressions and gestures he used,
would now seem indecent; yet the gravity of the man, and
general reverence people had for him, rendered them not only
not offensive, but sometimes very effectual; his taking hold
with both hands at one time of the supporters of the Canopy
over the Pulpit, and roaring hideously, to represent the tor-
ments of the damned, had an awakening force attending it.
Mr. Thomas Goodwin, after Dr. Goodwin, when we was a
Fellow in Cambridge, and an eminent Preacher, much followed
and honoured, occasionally hearing Mr. Rogers, fell under
such convictions, that he after professed, that he lookt on him-
self neither as a Christian, nor a Preacher.
* » * #
The Presbyterian Historical Society is voted an Annual Grant by
the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of England. It is right
to be taught even by Presbyterianism, and we trust that the Con-
gregational Union of England and Wales will speedily copy this
example.
♦ ♦ * ♦
The Journal of the Friends' Historical Society (1936). The chief
articles are "Benjamin Lay (1681-1759)" (C. Brightwen Rowntree),
"Christian Lodowick" (Henry J. Cadbury), "Elihu Burritt and
Friends" (Samuel Graveson), "The Great Revival at Malton in
1652" (Ernest E. Taylor), "Margaret Edmundson (c. 1630-1691).
Her Husband's Testimony" (Isabel Grubb), "The Quarterly Meet-
ing of Norfolk" (Arthur J. Eddington), "Jacob Boehme's Influence
in England" (Stephen Hobhouse).
1 *
The Contribution of the Pilgrims to American
Life.
THE Christian Pilgrims of New England brought with them
to its bleak but beckoning shores a vital and potent form
of Protestantism, fashioned by English Nonconformity, in-
fluenced and aided by wholesome contact with the religious and
political life of the Netherlands.
In coming to America they faced a great opportunity and equally
great difficulties. The unique task and mission of the New England
colonists lay in fusing, adjusting, and developing the progressive
principles that had already come to birth within them, amidst the
scope and freedom of a new creative and conditioning environment
and under the demanding pressure of pioneer life. Here was one
of those relative racial de novo beginnings, comparable in some
respects to that of the people of Israel as they entered Palestine,
or that of the Aryan peoples from the North as they came to the
shores of the Aegean.
How did these venturesome builders of a new order meet their
major opportunity? What kind of a cultus did they fashion amidst
the vigours and rigours of what Governor Bradford termed a
"hideous and desolate wilderness", which offered, nevertheless,
a chance to build a new heaven and a new earth wherein should
dwell righteousness?
I.
Their first and most urgent problem was political and economic,
i.e., the problem of civil government. The Compact in the cabin
of the Mayflower pre-visioned their ideal, which was confirmed,
enlarged, and implemented as the experiment advanced. The re-
sult was a strikingly idealistic and in many ways effective inter-
fusion of religion and morals — yielding a distinctively theocratic,
moralistic Protestant commonwealth. These men were founders,
framers, and administrators of both Church and State, a select and
highly qualified company, sifted as wheat by the severe threshing
of ecclesiastical persecution ; and resolutely and devotedly did they
give themselves to the severe enterprise in which they felt them-
selves engaged as by divine appointment and direction.
Nothing was more influential in the constructive process, as it
developed, than the interaction of the two somewhat diverse
colonies— the Old Colony of 1620 (Plymouth) and the Massachusetts
Bay Colony of 1630 (Salem and Boston). Both consisted of
The Contribution of the Pilgrims to American Life 5
Pilgrims and Puritans1, but the Plymouth Colony, known as
Separatists, emphasized the principle of independence, being
staunchly autonomous, while the Bay Colony was more deeply
conscious of attachment to the Mother Church, counting too
precious to despise the corporate unity and continuity of the
Christian community.
The story of the political, social, and religious institutions and
customs which these colonies worked out, and of the way in which
they influenced and aided one another in the process, and thus
gradually formed a vital and effective confederation, throws much
light upon the principles and procedures which have made these
United States of America what they became, religiously, politically,
and socially.
II.
These principles may be summarized as follows : full recognition
of the rights and worth of the individual ; representative electoral
government ; a qualified and dutiful exercise of the franchise ; a
just economic co-operation ; a democratic and public-spirited
administration of the local community, centring in the town meet-
ing; a distinctive and loyal recognition of the place and preroga-
tive of religion and the church ; and an outstanding emphasis upon
education, culminating in the education of a thoroughly trained
and qualified ministry2.
To trace the inception, development, and exercise of each of these
principles in the New England colonies would be both instructive
and inspiring, but it cannot be undertaken in so brief a sketch as
this. All that I will attempt to do is to point to some of the out-
standing events in the development and application of two or three
of the most important of these ideals.
Recognition of the freedom, worth, and obligation of the indi-
vidual, anticipating and preparing the way for the Declaration of
Independence and the Bill of Rights, is to be found in the Com-
pact in the Cabin of the Mayflower, centring in the vital principle
of the Covenant there enunciated. The covenant idea was still
more definitely adopted and put in practice by the Salem Church
at its organization in 1629, being given classic expression in the
ever memorable words :
We covenant with the Lord, and one with another and do
bind ourselves to walk together in all his ways, according as
1 It is a manifest injustice to both colonies to call one that of the Pilgrims
and the other that of the Puritans, for they were all Pilgrims and Puritans,
although the Plymouth settlers might be called more Pilgrimatic and the
Massachusetts Bay more Puritanic.
2 It is by no means assumed that these ideals and virtues were confined to
New England, but they were there especially formative and pervasive.
6 The Contribution of the Pilgrims to American Life
he is pleased to reveal himself unto us in his blessed word of
truth.
The free and forward-looking character of this covenant reflects
the same spirit as that of John Robinson's noble "Farewell
Address" with its prophetic anticipation of "more light to break
forth from God's Word".
This severed and fruitful idea of a covenant, taken from the Old
Testament, Christianized, Protestantized and given an individual
as well as a collective import, is the chief contribution of New
England Congregationalism to the structural organization of
society*. It includes all the virtues and values of the social-contract
theory in political life, lifted to the level of the inherent sacredness
of personal and social obligation and given a progressive and
forward-looking character which the contract theory lacked.
III.
Directly associated with the covenant principle were these vital
correlates : congregational appointment by election, congregational
ordination, and church fellowship — all springing into full activity
at once. For as soon as the Salem Church convened its members
they proceeded, first, to adopt the covenant, and then to elect a
pastor and teacher by ballot, reputedly making use for the first
time in history of the written and therefore secret ballot, resulting
in the choice of Samuel Skelton as pastor and Francis Higginson
as teacher. They next went forward, on a day set apart for this
sacred purpose, to ordain these two ministers — already ordained
in England — the solemn rite being performed by the laying on of
hands of the leading laymen of the church and of the two ministers
in turn, each minister thus participating in the ordination of the
other, though not performing the ceremony, that being the pre-
rogative of the church itself. This presumably indicates no
disparagement of previous ordination but the recognition that this'
was the founding of a new church for a new world, its ministers
being chosen out of its membership to fulfil a special service, in
the spirit of Him who came not to be ministered unto but to
minister.
Moreover this signal occasion witnessed the initial act of Church
fellowship in America, the necessary complement of independence,
thus establishing the precedent for a practice that became general
and permanent. It consisted in the participation of the Plymouth
Church in this epochal inauguration of corporate church life in the
New World. For, as a result of the happy and heaven-inspired
3 This does not, of course, imply that this was the first ecclesiastical, or
political, adoption of the Biblical idea, preceded as it was by the Scottish
covenant of 1560. But in this case it was a mutual covenant between equals.
The Contribution of the Pilgrims to American Life 7
instruction and persuasion of Deacon Doctor Samuel Fuller, who
had come from Plymouth to Salem to minister to the sick but who
had also spiritual well-being at heart, and who may well be called
the first apostle of church unity in America, the Plymouth Church
sent a delegation with a message of fraternal greeting, brought by
no less a person than Governor Bradford himself accompanied by
two fellow members of the Plymouth Church. The record of this
event is as follows :
Gov. Bradford, of Plymouth, and some others, "coming by
sea were hindered by cross winds that they could not be there
at the beginning of the day, but they came into the assembly
afterward and gave them the right hand of fellowship wishing
all prosperity and a blessed success unto such good
beginnings".
Well do I remember how deeply I was impressed, when as pastor
of one of the Congregational churches of Salem, I witnessed the
delegates from across the seas (chiefly from England) to the Second
International Congregational Council in 1899, as they came out
from Boston, marched up Washington St. to the site of the old
First Church of Salem, and sang Leonard Bacon's hymn :
O God, beneath Thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea;
And, when they trod the wintry strand,
With prayer and psalm they worshipped Thee.
IV.
Turning now to advances in economic life and relations made by
the colonists, it is to be noted that the ideal, and to a considerable
extent the early practice, of each of the colonies, as also of that
of the important and progressive Connecticut Colony of Hartford
and New Haven, was one of mutual economic co-operation. The
Plymouth householders at first cultivated their land in common
and changed to separate family allotments only after an honest
trial of this form of Christian communism. It is instructive that
they found that the results were much more productive when each
family was responsible for its own garden plot. Alas for human
nature ! shall we say? Or, alas for Christianized human nature !
Shall we not rather say : Witness here an instructive example of
the family unit filling its essential place in corporate community
life.
The custom of common pasture lands, adopted by many com-
munities from the outset, was maintained for an extended period,
until at length these desirable lands were absorbed by the success-
ful representatives of an increasingly acquisitive spirit which
8 The Contribution of the Pilgrims to American Life
gradually insinuated itself into Puritan society before its members
became aware of the truth later so forcefully expressed in those
penetrating lines of Goldsmith :
111 fares the land, td hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
Yet it was long before these sacrificial and devoted New England
folk reached the stage in which the allurements of wealth and
luxury began to undermine their sturdy Christian virtues.
Striking and in some respects reproachful is the contrast between
the living conditions of the original colonists and those of their
descendants of two hundred and fifty years later and to-day. In
no way can this contrast be so poignantly realized as by a visit to
the reconstructed original Salem Village as it is now to be seen
at the head of Salem Harbour. The first hovels, for they were
such, of these refined and cultured English families, as there
reproduced, were nothing more than dugouts and wigwams, con-
sisting of only one room with stone fireplace, dirt floor, and a roof
of bark; and the little houses, built of boards sawed in the saw-
pit, which succeeded the first rude shelters, were not greatly
superior. Conditions at Plymouth were much the same, only there
log construction was used. Nothing less than a virile religious
faith could have enabled these hard-pressed men and women to
keep up their morale under such demoralizing conditions.
V.
Not that all was perfect peace and harmony, however; for in
this great enterprise of laying the foundations of a new religious,
political, and social commonwealth, as it went on, it is not strange
to find the conflict of ideas and the clash of leaders. Conservative
and liberal, literalist and idealist, conformist and antinomian, fell
into sharp controversy — as everywhere has happened.
Among the colonists there stand out above their fellows three
great constructive and guiding spirits : Bradford, Winthrop, and
Roger Williams. In the tercentenary of the banishment of "the
New England Firebrand", as Williams was called, and the found-
ing by him at Providence in 1636 of "the first purely 'social
contract' in history creating a civil state"4 fortified and ennobled
by absolute freedom of conscience from civil control, it is fitting
that all who are of the Pilgrim inheritance should pay to this great
apostle of liberty the tribute of heartfelt honour and gratitude.
Truly a prophet of the Lord in the wilderness was this utterly
fearless, searchingly conscientious man, a veritable incarnation of
conscience; refusing to pray with the "unregenerate", yet becom-
4 James Ernst, Roger Williams, 170.
The Contribution of the Pilgrims to American Life 9
ing the apostle of tolerance ; violently opposing- his fellow ministers,
yet beloved friend of the Indians and of every outcast ; controver-
sialist and pamphleteer, yet protagonist of unity ; transcendentalist
and mystic, yet pioneer progressive ; turning from paedo-baptism
and accepting rebaptism, yet abandoning this, too, and becoming
in the end only a "Seeker" — was ever a greater human paradox?
And yet, when all is said, here is a truly great and free and
magnanimous soul, an Independent indeed in whom is no guile,
pilgrim of pilgrims, wandering alone, ill and in exile, for the
truth, "destitute, tormented, afflicted, of whom the world was
not worthy", puritan of puritans, American of Americans !
Penitent Massachusetts, no longer blinded as to this great
patriot, has now revoked the edict of his banishment with one hand,
but with the other is vainly endeavouring by restrictive legislation
to suppress the freedom for which he stood. Long before the edict
of banishment was repealed the people of every State in America
had welcomed the noble exile and advocate of religious liberty, and
to-day none should honour him more than the religious represen-
tatives of those who, though they banished him, produced this
sorely tried and liberated spirit, who stands staunchly and fully for
,what American Congregationalism represents : freedom, toler-
ance, and progress.
VI.
The principles and ideals of political and social democracy and
co-operation in all the colonies were decidedly advanced for the
time — in spite of some very inconsistent survivals of aristocratic
and class divisions, such, e.g., as the jealous use of titles and the
seating of the congregation in meeting according to rank and
station. While political and social principles were not emphasized
in the Sunday worship the Thursday night lecture was largely used
for this purpose, as the record of John Cotton's lectures on the
laws of commerce and the rules for just buying and selling, in the
First Church of Boston, indicates5.
There is more than ample precedent in the early churches of
New England for the recent uplifting of the Social Ideal by the
National Congregational Council at Oberlin in 1934 and for the
creation of the Council for Social Action. But at the same time it
should not be forgotten that if the principles of the fathers are to
be honoured the personal gospel must never be absorbed in the
social gospel, and also that in their minds doctrinal virility lies
close to vital Christian experience.
Indeed the whole history of English and American Independency
is a standing reproach to any loss of interest in the great in-
5 Cj. Report of Fourth International Congregational Council, 324.
10 The Contribution of the Pilgrims to American Life
tellectual foundations and progressive interpretations of the
Christian faith. This theological virility largely accounts for their
signal achievements in the realm of education and especially of
higher education, and still more for that emphasis upon education
for the ministry which distinguishes New England Congrega-
tionalism.
VII.
The founding of Harvard College in 1636, the commemoration
of whose tercentenary last September signalized an event of
national and even international importance, is the outstanding
evidence of this devotion to higher education, the original purpose
of the College being in classic words :
to advance Learning and perpetuate it to Posterity ; dreading
to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches, when our
present Ministers shall lie in the dust.
This signal tribute to the value of higher education, and espec-
ially of its necessity to the Church, followed by the founding of
Yale College in 1701 — the founders being ten ministers, all
Harvard graduates — "for the instruction of youth for public
employment both in church and civil state", and this in turn
followed by the establishment of theological seminaries, beginning
with Andover in 1807, and of Christian colleges across the whole
breadth of the continent, gives to Congregationalism in America
a place of honour and leadership which should not be lowered in
these days when religion has suffered so ignominious a neglect in
our institutions of learning.
Few enterprises in the history of Congregationalism are so
eloquent of its farsighted and devoted character as the prophetic
and prominent part it played in inaugurating the missionary move-
ment with the formation of the American Board in 1862. To fail
to sustain and carry forward this great Christian enterprise would
be an act of deep disloyalty.
It is no mere flaunting of sectarian pride, or supine satisfaction
with inherited achievement, which prompts the children of the
Pilgrims to rehearse their deeds and honour their memory. It
would dishonour them, however, to stop with commemoration.
New days demand new ideas, new counsels, new deeds. Our tasks
are not the same as theirs. They laboured and we are entered
into their labours. Yet a just and reverent commemoration of their
greatness, in deed and ideal, cannot but nerve us to face, with
new courage and devotion, the difficult task of carrying on the
work for God and man which they so nobly and constructively
began.
John Wright Buckham.
Walter Cradock (i6o6?-i65<)) : The Man and
His Message.
SOME years ago Dr. Selbie wrote in the Congregational
Quarterly1 that belief in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was the
acid test of a living Church : it is in this high tradition, now so
unfashionable, that Cradock takes his place. Together with this
emphasis in his approach goes, I think inevitably, an appeal to
religious experience, a faith in the possibility of fresh light from
God, and a recognition of natural as well as biblical revelation; it
is interesting to observe this, if only as a reminder that, despite the
attacks of the dialectical theologians, natural revelation (as perhaps
it should be called rather than natural theology) is not a nineteenth
century invention nor confined to Catholic mysticism, and that faith
in new light is not a product of the theory of evolution nor the
appeal to experience a result of the "new psychology". Cradock
further insists on the centrality in Christian doctrine of the Father-
hood of God; this also, then, is not simply a "pre- War emphasis,
initiated by Fairbairn and dependent on an undue regard for the
Synoptic Gospels". The fact, of course, is that all these tendencies
— Holy Spirit, natural revelation, experience, fresh light, God's
Fatherhood — form a definite tradition in Christianity, and a tradi-
tion of which there seems no reason to be ashamed, either because
it has been the tradition of the Sects rather than of the Church,
or because it is now out of fashion. Part of the historical interest of
Congregationalism is in its interweaving of the Calvinist and Ana-
baptist strands; in the quater-centenary year of the Institutio it
has been natural to stress the Calvinist strand, but in the classical
Puritans, of whom Cradock may justly be counted as one, the
other strand, the texture of which I have suggested, is often as
markedly present. I have called it Anabaptist for want of a better
name, but I believe that certain of its threads may be discovered
already in the Lollard Movement, while in Cradock's day it was
becoming strongly represented by the Quakers, with whom his
sympathy, at least potentially2, will be evident. Since I am person-
ally in sympathy with the Anabaptist strand, it may be as well to
say plainly that I did not study Cradock on this account, but came
ljuly, 1926.
2 He was not the only man of that age who showed at once a sharp
antagonism to the Quakers and a partial sympathy with their outlook ; cf., e.g.,
Henry More.
11
12 Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message
to him for his own sake, not knowing what I should find. I
thought it best, however, to indicate the general orientation of
my paper, before retiring and allowing Cradock to speak for him-
self.
His dates are usually given as 1606?-1659, he succeeded William
Wroth as minister of the first Congregational church in Wales, and
he was appointed a Trier; otherwise there seems little in his life
which calls for remark3. Yet on his contemporaries his influence
was sufficiently great for them to bring him from Llanvftches in
Monmouthshire to London, to preach at All Hallows and before
the Parliament. A perusal of his sermons4 reveals a most attractive
personality, that of a humble, earnest, deeply spiritual preacher,
whose Celtic5 origin appears in the warm, tender style of his
appeals and illustrations, but who shows above all simply a long-
ing to bring men to Christ. "I doe verily believe, that he preached
these Choise Lectures from the bosome of Jesus Christ, that these
things were the very experiments6 of his owne soule, and the lively
actings of the spirit of God within him" : so writes John Robotham
to the reader, very justly.
Cradock was a Congregationalist, and he could say a word in
defence of the Independent polity, of the theocratic nature of which
he was not unconscious : it was his complaint against Papacy and
Prelacy that under them "the people never had yet liberty to choose
men according to God's own heart, that would feed them with
knowledge and understanding". It was evidently the freedom of
Congregationalism which attracted him, for he was no sectarian.
For him
Presbytery and Independency are not two religions : but one
religion to a godly, honest heart; it is only a little rufling of
the fringe.
In contrast with the army, where "there is abundance of sweet
love", he laments
3 His son-in-law Thomas Jones, of Abergavenny (T. Rees, Prot. Noncon. in
Wales, 57), should perhaps be identified with Thomas Jones, of Bedwellty, who
obtained a licence to teach at a Baptist conventicle in his own house (G. L.
Turner, Orig. Records, II. 1227).
* The original quarto edition of his collected sermons was republished in
1800 : both editions are in the Cong. Library. I am indebted to Dr. Sippell of
Marburg for the loan of the original edition and of other Puritan texts from
which I quote.
5 Cradock is English for Caradoc.
6 This use of experiment and experimentally is significant for Cradock's type
of piety. Geo. Fox's "And this I knew experimentally" (Journal, 1901 edn.,
I. 11) is well known, but the word is also to be found not only in a mystic like
John Everard but in such a sober Puritan as John Owen.
Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message 13
We are the most miserable men in the world, this poor City :
if a man had as much grace as Paul had, if some Independent
see him, and say he is inclining to Presbytery, or if a Pres-
byterian see him, and say, he is inclining to Independencie,
then let him go, and cut his throat. .
When I have communion with a Saint, I must not looke so
much whether he be of such an opinion, or whether he have
taken the Covenant, or have been baptized once or twice or
ten times, but see if he have fellowship with the Father, and
with Jesus Christ7. I speake not this as if my opinion were
for rebaptization or against the baptizing of the infants of
beleevers, the contrary appears by my practise : but only, that
such difference of opinion should not hinder their mutuall
receiving each other to fellowship and communion, who are
in fellowship with God and Jesus Christ.
In keeping with this attitude is his condemnation of undue scrupul-
osity and of the formal fastings which were the order of the day :
I have known one eat but one meal in a week ; and let them eat
little or much, they defile their consciences. One while they
must go so in their apparel with lace, and after that, lace
damneth them. . . . This shews that they are defiled ; for to
a good man everything is pure8.
The first thing that I fear highly provokes God among us
... is our formall humiliation, and repentance, and fasting,
and such like things. ... I feare our fast dayes are the most
smoky dayes in Gods nostrills of all the dayes of the yeer. . . .
There is a great deal of stirre about the Sacrament, and the
mixed multitude, and the Service-Book, and I know not what
. . . and people think there is a glorious reformation, but God
knows where it is, only there is a great stirre about it9.
He reveals very clearly the Puritan's passion for integrity, his
hatred of all sham :
How hatefull, how abominable hypocrisie is to God.
7 Cf. Joshua Sprigg, A Testimony to Approaching Glory (1649), 127:
Is there no unity, but where there is uniformity? Because we have not
strll one form, have we not therefore one Father (sic), one Lord, one Bap-
tism, or one common condition of suffering?
8 Margaret Fox had the same criticism to make, when Quakerism began to
stiffen ( Works, 535) :
they can soon get into an outward garb, to be all alike outwardly ; but this
will not make them true Christians. It's the Spirit that gives life.
9 Cf. John Everard, The Gospel-Treasury Opened (2nd edn. 1659), II. 253:
Truly they make a great deal of stir about the Outward Baptism more
then need : for outward Baptism is but a Type and Shadow of the True
Baptism.
14: Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message
It is a principle in Religion that Christians should observe
(and a principle, that is a generall grand rule) to call things as
they are, to call a Spade a Spade.
With a firm hand Cradock strikes at the root of scrupulosity, when
he warns against an exaggerated biblicism :
Remember, the greatest miserie to an honest heart (next to
an old Testament spirit, that is the rise of all) is this, a mis-
drawing of rules out of the word of God : you take a word
and doe not compare it with other Scriptures, and see whether
it be temporarie and doth absolutely binde : but you goe with
your book under your arme, and think all wise men are out,
and you have Scripture for it : beware of that10.
The question to ask of a man was not, or not only, "Has he
Scripture for it?" but "Has he the Spirit?"11.
O such a one doth great things, he prayes, and hears, and
reads, and disputes much : I [Aye] but hath he the spirit, or
no?
The greatest difference (that I know) in all the Book of
God, between Saints and Sinners is, that the one hath the
Spirit, and the other hath not.
The spirit is all in all in religion.
Like others with experience of spiritual religion, he speaks of its
self-authenticating nature :
A man may know the spirit in himself clearly by the evidence
of the same spirit, And a man that hath the spirit may know
the spirit in another by the spirit . . . How can a poor lamb
know the dam among a thousand?
For as in naturall things, you know, that by the same light
whereby I see the Sun, by the same light I know that I see
him12 : So there is in the very manifestation of God to the
10 Cf. Everard, op. cit., I. 370:
there are Too, Too many such children (who indeed think themselves Tall
men) who have most of the Scriptures at their fingers ends ; who Because
they can answer or discourse of any Catechistical Point in Divinity, they
must be accounted The greatest Proficients and Tallest Christians,
11 The nearness of this to the Quaker approach appears e.g. from a compari-
son with the following from William Penn's Summons or Call to Christendom
(Select Works, 1825 edn., IT. 338):
You profess the holy scriptures, but what do you witness and experience?
; . . Can you set to your seal they are true, by the work of the same Spirit
in you, that gave them forth in the holy ancients?
12 It is interesting to find Bp. Pecock accusing the Lollards of using precisely
this simile (which has a long history) to explain the nature of faith ; cf. also
John Owen on Scripture, Divine Originall (1659), 72 f., 80:
Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message 15
soule, it carries a witnesse in it self, it is so cleare, that when
I have it, though I never had it before, and I cannot demon-
stratively speak a word what it is, yet I know as it is Gods
sight, so I know I see him.
With John Robinson, Cradock believes that "the Lord hath yet
more light" :
One maine cause of contention among us is, God comes now
with more light than wee had before ; we have more, and
more ; but this light is not a full light, I mean thus, this light
comes, and shines but in part of the will of God to us.
Goe on in love, and when it comes to that wee shall see
more light.
If you endeavour to do that which is pleasing in Gods eye,
God will reveale himself more and more clearly and fully to
your soules.
With the "jangling" of "proud Professors" he has no more sym-
pathy than has George Fox :
There are many men, I, and many Professors, that doe not
love to heare a man in a few modest words to commend the
spirit of God : but all must be by studie, and reading, and
learning, and for the spirit of God it is a plaine meere Cypher,
and there is an end. But my life on it (if I had a hundred
I would say so) they shal be beholding to the spirit of God, and
extoll him before they be taught spiritually; they shall be
willing to lay downe all their learning (as I have seen a learned
godly man of late) even with the Plow-boy.
Of the original Gospel
we see the Lord chose simple people to go, and preach it,
he chose generally fisher men, and such poor men, and women13
sometimes. Rude men, in a manner without learning, these
were to goe and tell a simple story of Jesus Christ, and him
crucified, &c.
So of their successors
Let the Sun arise in the firmament, and there is no need of Witnesses to
prove and confirme unto a seeing man that it is day. . . . Doth it not evince
its selfe, with an Assurance above all that can be obteined by any Testimony
whatever? . . • It is all one, by what meanes, by what hand, whether of a
Child or a Church, . . . the Scripture comes unto us ; Come how it will, it
hath its Authority in it's selfe . . . and hath it's power of manifesting it's
selfe . . from it's owne innate Light.
13 This perhaps with a glance at the revival of preaching among women in
Cradock 's time, and not only in Quakerism, though only in Quakerism was
this particular form of the freedom of the spirit permanently retained.
16 Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message
it may be he hath Greek, and Latine, and not Hebrew, though
he be full of the Holy Ghost, and yet the people must be
starved.
and shall we raile at such, and say they are Tub-Preachers,
and they were never at the University? Let us fall downe,
and honour God.
How much better that such Tub-Preachers should help in "the
most glorious work that ever I saw in England . . . the Gospel
is run over the Mountaines between Brecknockshire, and Mon-
mouthshire, as the fire in the thatch" than that the Spirit should be
restrained, as in former days. Of the days of "stinted prayers"
Cradock 's memories are bitter :
When it may be the poore Ministers soule was full of groanes,
and sighs, and he would have rejoyced to have poured out his
soule to the Lord, he was tied to an old Scrvice-Booke, and
must read that till he grieved the Spirit of God, and dried up
his own spirit as a chip, that he could not pray if he would;
and he must read it for an houre together, and then if may be
come into the Pulpit : but his spirit was gone.
This is not to say that Cradock underestimated learning. He
was evidently familiar with Hebrew as well as Greek, and could
quote a Latin poet where it suited. He knew his history too : more
than once he refers to "Queen Maryes time", and of the part
played by the Lollards he is fully aware. Nor does his enthusiasm
for spiritual religion imply a contempt for the ordinances of
Christ's Church :
The devil . . . hath brought us from repetition of the word, and
from singing of Psalms, and many from baptizing the infants
of the godly, and divers from the supper of the Lord14, and
from hearing the word of God preached.
There is a people that throw away the ordinance of prayer,
and they professe to live immediately upon God without ordin-
ances, without prayer, and without all the rest. I do not
know what their perfections may be, therefore I cannot judge;
but this I know as far as ever I had experience, that the
chiefest way of communion with God is spirituall prayer.
Elsewhere he says :
I speak not this as if the Spirit were contrary to the Word, as
some men to advance the Spirit, set the Word and Spirit by
the ears; but the Spirit leads by the Word.
That his idealism was not a spurious one, that he understood men's
frailties well enough, is apparent from the following :
14 This is interesting in view of the date (1650).
Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message 17
But you goe home when Sermon is done, and say there was
a great Company, a throng, and he Preached a little too long,
and we must goe to him againe after Dinner, and so you mind
not, the Lord Jesus pittie you ; that is the reason that you are
ignorant, and will be World without end, because you mind
not spirituall things.
It is his pure spiritual idealism which is Cradock's most marked
characteristic, and which is the grandest thing about him. The
grace of God is a reality to him in his own life, and he longs for
it to be so in the life of others. The Saint, he tells us, can say
God hath appeared two hundred times, two thousand times
to my soule. I have seene him one while in the Sacrament,
I have seene him among the Saints, I have seene him in such
a country, in such a condition, in such a place, in such a
medow, in such a wood, when I read his word, and called upon
his name 15.
I remember, in such a Countrey, in such a Chamber, in such
a place, where God shew'd himself to me, and I was satisfied ;
I saw everything vanish before me, and I desired nothing but
that.
God may be out of sight, and ken, and yet you may be
Saints : but there is a more glorious life, when a man always
walks in Gods sight, God seeing him, and he seeing God.
These things are not for the head, but for the heart. Now
talk with thy heart a little, and see what is thy temper, and
thy way, and if thou finde it not thus, tell God : the minister
said that there be Saints that live gloriously, that are fond of
God, that are always with him, sleeping, and waking, at
bed, and board, they are never out of his sight. Lord, make
me such.
Cradock would have agreed wholeheartedly with Joshua Sprigg
that "the glory of our moderne Orthodox Divinity" was that
"The Father himself loves us, That the enmity is on the creature's
part, not God's"16.
Ye are Come to mount Sion, to the glorious state in the new
Testament ; and there is nothing but what is amiable, and what
is beautiful.
15 Cf. Agnes Beaumont (a member of Runyan Meeting, Bedford), Narrative
(1674 : ed. G. B. Harrison), 6 f :
And, the Lord knowest it, their was scarce A Corner in the house, or
Barnes, or Cowhousen, or Stable, or Closes vnder the hegges, or in the
wood, but I was made to poure out my sou! to god.
16 J. Sprigg, op. cit., Preface; John Smyth also taught that Christ's sacrifice
doth not reconcile God unto us, which did nevor hate us, nor was our
enemy, but reconcilerh us unto God and slayth the enmity and hatred
which is in us against God.
18 Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message
It is ordinary with the Saints, that they have a little
adoption, they can cry Abba father, a little, and low, and at
sometimes : but there is a great deale of the spirit of bondage
mingled with it, there are sometimes feares, secret whisper-
ings in the heart. . . . Now in the New Testament we should
labour for a full spirit of adoption. ... If thou come below
this, if thou call on God with feare, and canst not cry abba,
abba, that is as much as daddie, daddie, as our babes use
to say, if thou doe not come so high, thou art spoiled, and
undone, desire God to teach you this Lesson also.
From this filial relation to God Cradock is not afraid to draw the
conclusion that the Christian has a freedom not known before :
It is base to tie a son as much as a servant. So we being now
to be sonnes, truly and really, the Lord hath given us a larger
liberty.
What an abominable thing is it to tie the sonnes of God that
are not babies, now under tutors, with paltrie things, when
the Spirit of God in the least Saint is better able to determine
than all the Bishops.
More often, however, it is the peace and trust and security of the
Christian upon which he dwells : "we must suffer : talk of Re-
formation, and what you will ; all honest hearts inevitably shall
have tribulation" ; but
our trouble is not a little imprisonment, or poverty : Paul, or
Sylas, were in prison, and were to be hanged the next day,
for ought they knew ; yet they could sing 17. The man is as
his minde is18 . . . There is (saith the Apostle) a peace of God
that shall keep you, or as the word in the Greek is, garison
you.
As if you should see a Plowman, or a countrie man come to
a Mathematician, that were at his Globe, and his compasses,
and were drawing lines from one to another; the Countrie
man knowes nothing of this : but he would not therefore say
the other is a foole, and doth he knoweth not what. He would
rather say, I warrant you he is a Scholler, and hath had good
breeding : but alias what simple people are we in the Countrie,
we know not what belongs to the Globe, and compasses. So
a Christian when he is in affliction, he doth not say, God doth
he knows not what, and he plagueth me : but sayth he, God
hath wisdome, and love, in all this; only I am a simple poore
creature that know not this.
17SoC(»ul-l Fox (Journal. 1. 171 f.).
18 A good" Puritan sontimmt ; cf. Milfon, Paradise Lost, I. 254 f. ; Cromwell,
Letters and Speeches, Sjxvch V.
Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message 1$
When a mans ways please God, the stones of the street shall
be at peace with him. Did you ever see the stones of the
street angry with you? but the meaning is, when a mans ways
are cross with God, and he hath a guilty conscience, a guilty
soul hath no true peace, he is ready almost to fall out with
the stones in the street, he quarrels with his servant, with his
horse, with everything, because he hath an unquiet spirit
within ; when a man pleaseth God, the stones shall be at peace
with him, that is, he shall be at peace with everything. Why
so? because there is an infinite, unspeakable quiet in his own
soul.
One might fear that this quietistic strain would imply a certain
self-centredness in religion, but the passion with which Cradock
preaches to others shows that it need not be so; he also says
expressly that "a strong, fond saint takes less care for his owne
salvation, but he cares much for the service of Jesus Christ".
What it does imply is a tolerance, a slowness to judge others,
springing from a humble gratitude for God's mercies to oneself.
So Cradock interprets Jesus's words :
but many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
As if he should say, I would not have you to be proud, and
to crow over that poor man that is run from me, because you
are old Disciples; it may be that man may come back again
to me, and be my best servant when you may run away : for
many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
With this in mind, he cannot bring himself either to be proud to-
wards sinners or to condemn those who are wanderers in the faith :
It may be because of my fleshliness I think him to be an
heretick or a Schismatick, and it may be he is a Saint, and
childe of God, and one of his hidden ones.
And indeed Beloved, I doubt not but that there is many a
poore sinner that now follows the ale-house, and drinking, and
swearing, and whoreing, that yet may be in Heaven before
thee and me.
The right thing, therefore, is not proudly to condemn sinners but
humbly and gently to invite them to come to Christ :
We are not sent to get Gally-slaves to the Oares, or a Bear
to the stake : but he sends us to wooe you as spouses, to marrie
you to Christ.
I am the doore : But some may say, wee love not to go in
at such a doore, unlesse wee know when it is locked, and when
it is not. No, saith he, I am not a doore that hath locks and
bolts, that will bring you into straits; but I am a doore that
you shall goe in and out, and find pasture for your soules.
2 *
20 Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message
This is Cradock' s characteristic note. It reappears in a passage
with which we must end and which may be quoted in extenso, that
the appeal of his simple sustained rhythms may be felt — they are
simple, but is it fanciful to be reminded by their swayings and
swellings of John Donne?
For your comfort, this is one thing ; thou that hast but little
grace coming in so many yeers : I tell thee, God saith that
grace is like the springing of the sea ; or the springing of the
yeer. Now in the springing of the sea, when men would have
a tide for their passage, a man is glad to see a little turning
of the water first, it is so much the nearer : then he observes,
and is glad to see the Sea rise, and cover a few stones or
marks, though it be little : but stay till it be almost full Sea,
when it is high tide, then every thing almost is covered on
a sudden, the tide over-runs all. Take it in the spring of the
yeer (for we should learn something from the creatures) about
February, you are glad to see the buds of Haw thorn ; you
look a week together, and it grows a little, and you see no
other, it is a signe that Summer is coming. In the beginning
of March it may be there are two or three things more, and
they come slowly, and you are glad to see them, and look on
them every day. In Aprill or May, the Gardens are full of
Flowers, and the fields full of grass ; you know not what to
observe. So it is in experience, in the beginning the Lord
makes a Saint glad of a Primrose, of a little turning of the
water, that the flood, that the stream is turned ; if he begin to
hear the word, that hated it, and to rejoyce in the company of
good neighbours, that hated it, two or three little Primroses.
But grace comes as the tide; stay a while, and thou shalt see
such a flowing of grace in thy soul, that thou knowest not
where to look ; such a tide of love, and joy, and knowledge,
such innumerable lessons, that thou knowest not where to
look. Therefore wait upon the Lord, and thou shalt see grace
come in as the tide.
Lastly, thou dost not (it may be) make use of the experiences
thou hast had of God. Thou hast had abundance of experience
of the Lord ; and we are apt to forget : As Christ saith, do you
now doubt whether you have bread ? O ye of little faith19 !
Truly the very creatures will rise in judgement against us,
that having had so many experiments of God, we are so shie
19 Cf. John Rvirard, op. cit., I. 319:
why murmur you, O you Of little faith? . . • Let me ask you, do you not
believe that God is your Father?
Prof. P. Smith |>oints out. in The Age of the Reformation, 696, that the subject
of the Prodigal Son was treated by 27 German dramatists in that period.
Walter Cradock : The Man and His Message 21
of trusting God, and thinking well of God. Didst thou ever
see a Dog (let me instance in that vile creature) (for God
would have us learn from the creatures, and God hath cast
them so that they should not be onely for our usfc^ but every
thing in reference to his Gospel, that we may not only
occasionaly draw such things that hap hazzard fall out, but
to observe their nature, and qualities, and learn somewhat
from them) you see in a Dog when he hath abused you, it
may be against his will, and it may be you have beat him;
he runs away, or he comes with fear, and is very shie, and
will hardly come to you : but take him in your arms, and stroak
him, and all his fear is gone; when you smile, he thinks you
mean him no hurt, he hath no thought of your former anger.
So we come many times to the Lord, and are shie, and
tremble, and fear, and think he means to hurt us; and what
are his thoughts ? How oft hath God taken us in his arms and
stroaked us, and laid us down again, and yet we fear again,
and are worse in many respects than the bruit creatures.
When the Master hath the Dog, he may kill him if he will ;
but he stroakes him, and the Dog thinks his master means
well to him ; so, many times God might kill us, and throw us
into Hell, and catch us at advantage, yet in stead of that he
loves us, and imbraceth us, and layes us down again ; and yet
we are so shie, we fear, and distrust him. We have not that
plainnesse of heart as that old Martyr said, I have lived eighty
yeers, and he never did me any hurt : So God many times hath
had advantage to have thrown us into hell, yet he hath kissed,
and stroaked us. Why should we be so fearfull, when
afflictions, and troubles come upon us? These things procure
sadnesse, because we do not trust in that God, that in our
extremity hath been friendly, and fatherly to us. The Lord
help you to lay up these few broken words in your hearts.
Geoffrey F. Nuttall.
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century1
THE 17th century saw the development of the movement
which has become historically known as the "Society of
General Baptists"2. Despite the fact that English General
Baptists disowned connexion with Munster Anabaptists, the
charge of Anabaptism was frequently brought against them during
the 17th century. It was often done ignorantly, or derisively,
and even at times maliciously ; but there was some truth in the
charge, and English Baptists must have been aware that there
were some important links between them and the Anabaptists,
although the historian must be careful to distinguish between them
as they differed both in thought and in doctrine. The very
publications denying the connexion can be used as evidence that
Anabaptist doctrines and history were at least a living memory in
England during the 17th century.
James I at the beginning of his reign in England in 1603
attempted to relax the laws against the Roman Catholics. The
number of people who took advantage of this leniency was so
alarming to the Government that the penalties for not attending
the established Church were again enforced. After the Gunpowder
Plot Was detected the King and the authorities enforced the penal
laws against Nonconformists more strictly than ever, although
after 1612 people were no longer burnt at the stake in England.
The last burning of heretics on English soil took place in that
year (and it is worthy of note that it was an Anabaptist) when
Edward Wightman was burnt at Lichfield. Wightman attracted
notice by a petition sent to the King, whereupon he was arrested
and sent before Bishop Neile for examination. The warrant for-
Wightman's arrest informs us that Bishop Neile was aided by
"other divines learned in the law", but in Wightman "were em-
bodied the wicked heresies of . . . the Anabaptists" which . . .
were stubbornly and pertinaciously, knowingly, maliciously,
and with a hardened heart, published, defended, and dispersed
.... We therefore command thee (the Sheriff) that thou cause
the said Edward Wightman ... to be committed to the fire in
some public and open place . . . and the same Edward
Wightman cause really to be burnt, in the detestation of the
1 See previous articles, "Anabaptism in England during the 16th and 17th
Centuries", Trans., C.H.S., XII. 256, 312.
2 Ibid., XII. 257n.
22
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 23
said crime, and for manifest example of other Christians, that
they may not fall into the same crime.
In 1613 English Baptists entered on a literary campaign to make
it clear that they were not of the type brought into odium by the
name Anabaptist. They hoped thus to establish a more tolerant
feeling towards themselves, but they failed completely, for a
generation later they were still regarded as one with the slandered
victims at Miinster>> and another Parliament doomed them to life-
long imprisonment.
Objections Answered came out in 1615. It is signed "By
Christ's Unworthy Witnesses, His Majesty's faithful subjects :
Commonly (but most falsely) called Anabaptists", and the text
is at pains to justify this disclaimer and to lament the strange
opinions held by Continental Anabaptists.
During the next few years considerable interest was shown in
Anabaptism. Books4, some of which ran through several editions,
were published giving an account of their history and doctrines.
The popular editions were in French, German, and Dutch, and an
English account was written by Thomas Harrab5.
Among the papers of the Privy Council is a letter dated 29 Nov.,
161 76, to "his Majestie's learned counsell". It concerns a prisoner
in the "Gatehowse" named William Ellis, "a wycked Anabaptist",
who is charged to have spoken desperate speeches "touching his
Majestie's person". It is followed by a warrant7 to the Master,
Governors, and Keeper of Bethlehem to receive into their charge
the person of William Ellis, . . . "and to keep him safe in their
chaynes untill further order".
In the Churchwarden's Accounts of St. Peter's Church, Tiver-
3 This on the authority of Dr. W. T. Whitley, History of British Baptists, 40.
See also publication (by John Murton?) dated 1613, A most humble supplica-
tion of divers poore prisoners, and many other the King mattes loyall subjects
ready to testifie it by ye oath of allegeance in all sinceritie, — whose Greviances
are lamentable onely for cause of conscience, asking the Commons that they,
"most falsely called Anabaptists", may have the benefits of the Act of 1610,
which widened the oath of allegiance from Popish Recusants in 1606 "to all
your (James I) subjects . • . reiected by committee". Calendared by Hist.
MSS. Comm., III. 14.
* Clouzier, Histoire des Anabaptistes (1615); Hans de Ries, Histoire der
martelaaren . . . sint het jaar 1524 (1615). The history of the German and Dutch
Anabaptists was recast by Van Braght (1660). It went through several editions;
Underhill translated it for the Hanscrd Knollys Society (1850).
5 Tesseradeiphus, or the foure Brothers (Lutherenisme, Calvinisme, Ana-
baptisme, Anglianisme), 1616. Francis Johnson's (Smyth's old tutor) book.
Touching the Anabaptists, widely read in Puritan circles, does not deal with
the Munster sect, but with Smyth's followers.
6 Acts of the Privy Council— 29 Nov., 1617.
7 Ibid., 21 Dec, 1617.
24 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
ton, we again find reference to the Anabaptists, including "An
Accompte of moneys levied on the Anabaptists for their Absence
from Church in the year 1628". These accounts have been ex-
amined by the Rev. W. H. Burgess, who has published his find-
ings in the Transactions of the Baptist Historical Society (IV. 1
and 2). They give evidence of further persecution and add
another grain of evidence to show that Anabaptism was rife in
England.
A study of the Lists of Foreign Protestants and Aliens resident
in England, 1618-1688 (Camden Soc.) reveals another interesting
entry under the heading, "A True Certificate of the names of
straungers residing and dwellinge within the city of London and
the liberties thereof, together with the place of their birthe, and
under the soveraignety of what prince they depende . . . signified
by letters bearing the date of vj of September, 1618" (S.P.D.,
Jas. I, Vol. CI I). Among the names in the Dowgate Ward is one
John Pippinge, who is certified as having been born in Munster
"under the Bishop of Mounster in Jermany".
In 1620 "An Humble Supplication to the King" contains the
clause, "Your Majesty's Subjects, not for fear only, but for con-
science sake, Unjustly called Anabaptists".
From 1624-1630 there was considerable correspondence between
the Waterlander Church in Amsterdam and the six Baptist
Churches in England. The correspondence has been preserved
in Amsterdam, and an English publication has also been issued8.
Dr. Whitley in his History of British Baptists gives a summary of
the doctrinal points discussed ; although the two sects remained
apart, it is significant that they maintained friendly relations, and
that letters passed frequently between them.
Despite a century of "extermination" Anabaptism in England
still continued. In Feb., 1636, the Commissioners for Causes
Ecclesiastical wrote to John Wragge, messenger of the chamber9 :
Credible information has been given that there are at
present in London, and many other parts, sundry sorts of
separatists and sectaries, as namely Brownists, Anabaptists
and others . . . For remedy whereof, taking with him a con-
stable and such other assistance as he shall think meet, he
is to enter into any house where such private conventicles are
held, and search for such sectaries as also for unlawful and
unlicensed books and papers, and such persons, papers and
books so found, to bring forthwith before the writers to be
dealt with as shall be thought fit . . . And all justices of peace
8 Trans. Bapt. Hist. Soc, IV.
» Cal. S.P.D. Chas. /, CCCXIV, 20 Feb . 1636.
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 25
and others are to yield assistance herein as Wragge shall
require.
The State Papers show that this order bore speedy fruit. In
163610
Francis Jones, of Ratcliff, Middlesex, basket-maker, was
charged with keeping private conventicles — being an Ana-
baptist and as he refused to take an oath to answer these
articles, for which contempt, and for that he confesses he had
been rebaptized he was committed to Newgate.
In 1637 Archbishop Laud acquaints the king that
in his diocese near Ashford, several Anabaptists stood out
so obstinately against the customs of the church, that there
was no other way of dealing with them but having recourse
to the Statute of Abjuration, or applying to the assistance of
the Temporal Courts, — But whether this remedy is proper
or not at this disturbed juncture is referred to His Majesty, —
The hurt which they have done is so deeply rooted that it is
impossible to be plucked up on a sudden.
Charles wrote against this report,
Keep these particular persons11 fast until you think what
to do with the rest.
Charles admits12 the influence of the Anabaptists while at the
same time he slanders them.
How many of the gravest and most substantial citizens of
London, . . . are disgraced, robbed and imprisoned, without
any process of law or colour of accusation, but of obedience
to the law and government of the Kingdom; whilest Ana-
baptists and Brownists, with the assistance of vicious and
debauched persons of desperate fortune take upon them to
break up and rife houses, as public and avowed ministers of
a new-invented authority.
After the imprisonment of Laud in 1640 there was a reaction in
favour of Nonconformists ; even the Anabaptists found sympathy.
10 Cal. S.P.D. Chas. I, CCCXIV.
11 A Mr. Brewer and a Mr. Turner. Brewer remained in prison for 14 years.
A courtier is reported to have said, "If I hate any, it is those schismatics that
puzzle the sweet peace of our church ; so that I could be content to see an
Anabaptist go to hell on a Brownist's back" (Howell's Letters, 270).
12 Charles's "Answer to an Ordinance of Parliament" (Parliamentary History,
III. 31). That the "Anabaptists" so-called were not all "mean people" of
"desperate fortune" can also be shown. The Court of High Commission,
sitting in 1640, its last year of existence, dealt with John Fort of Tiverton,
clothier, who on 10 Oct., 1639, had been fined j£500 for his "Anabaptist"
beliefs.
26 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
This would be hard to believe if we had not direct evidence13 :
On 18 Jan., 1640, Edmond Chillendon, Nicholas Tyne, John
Webb, Richard Sturgess, Thomas Gunn, John Ellis, with at
least sixty persons more, were all taken on Sunday last, in
the afternoon in the time of Divine service, by the constables
and churchwardens of St. Saviour (in Southwark), in the house
of Richard Sturgess, where they said they met to teach and
edify one another in Christ. They being brought before Sir
John Lenthal, he demanded why they did not go and resort to
their parish church, according to the law of the 35th Elizabeth?
They answered : 1. That the law of the 35th of Queen
Elizabeth was not a true law, for it was made by the bishops,
and they would not obey it. 2. That they would not go unto
their parish churches, for that those churches were not true
churches; that there was no true church but where the faith-
ful met. 3. That the King could not make a perfect law,
for that he was not a perfect man. 4. That they ought not
to obey him, but in civil things. 5. that some of them
threatened the churchwardens and constables, that they had
not yet answered for this work.
This is subscribed by the Knight and churchwardens.
Sir John was ordered to take care of them and bring them
to the House with all that could witness against them. Accord-
ing to order the Anabaptists were brought to the House and
being severally called on, all of these faithful to our church
did deny the most material things which they were charged
with; whereupon Sir John Lenthal and the other witnesses
were sworn, and did justify what they had subscribed on
oath. Upon wh. the House did order "That these Sectaries
should receive for this time an admonition from this House,
and be enjoy ned hereafter to repair to their several parish
churches to hear Divine service, and give obedience thereto,
according to the Act of Parliament of this Realm : To that
purpose, the order was read to them of this House 16 Jan.".
And they were told "That if hereafter they should not observe
these commands, they should be severely punished, according
to law: and so they were dismissed".
On 4 July, 1642, Charles from his Court at York issued directions
to the Judges going on circuit :
That you take care for the suppressing of Popery in the
counties by putting the laws in due execution, and stop the
over-hasty growth of Anabaptism and other schisms as far
as by the laws you may14.
13 Ndson's Collection, 1. 727 '728. ** Cal. S.P.D. Chas 1, CCCCXCI.
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 27
An interesting side-light which adds another grain of evidence
that Anabaptist doctrines and historical tradition were to be found
in England during this period is found in Stovel's Introduction to
Canne's A Necessity of Separation from the Church of England15 :
And the Anabaptists whereof it is said, are above thirty
several sects have their Churches, . . . Mr. Canne being the
pastor of one company, and Mr. Greenwood, an old man, a
tradesman, who sells stockings in the Exchange, I saw him
there ; he is the leader of another company.
On 26 June, 1643, Charles issued a Proclamation16 declaring
the Common Council of London are many of them being
chosen out of Brownists, Anabaptists and such who oppose the
regular wholesome government of the city.
The General Baptists had entered on another campaign to show
the distinction between them and the Anabaptists. In 1644 they
published a Confession of Faith17, but the very effort they made
to show the distinction between themselves and the Munster sect
shows that they were familiar with Munster doctrine and history,
and it is worthy of note that writers against the Baptists attacked
and accused them (whether ignorantly or maliciously) of holding
the same doctrines.
One writer18, who seeks in the history of German Anabaptists
an armoury of crimes with which to assail them, thus sums up
their offences :
I expect some will say with John of Leyden, that if the word
of God were lost they might soon supply it with another . . .
that regenerate men cannot sin is the very doctrine of the Ana-
15 Hanserd Knollys Soc. John Canne is supposed to have been pastor of the
church in Deadman's Place, but was compiled to flee to Holland where he
became pastor of the "Ancient English Church" in Amsterdam.
16 Parliamentary History, III. 134 f.
17 The confession of faith of those churches which are commonly (though
falsely) called Anabaptists. Subscribed in the names of 7 churches in London.
Revised 1646. Reissued 1651, 1652.
In Edwards's Gangraena (1645) there is a counter-blast to these publications :
"Before you have heard of the condition of these Hereticks in times past ; but
with griefe of heart I speak it. Now they lift up their heads, they write books
and publish them in defence of their detestable opinions, of which I have seen
some . . . and this without any controle that I can heare of. . . . Would to
God our Religious Patriots assembled in Parliament would at length take care
(as they have done with the Romish Emissaries) to suppress these • . . that
they may not infect the simple people with their abominable Errours . . . The
Wolves that were wont to lye in the woods, are come into our Sheepfold, and
roar in the holy Congregations".
18 Underhill, Confessions of Faith and other Public Documents (Hanserd
Knollys Society).
28 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
baptists . . . that a liberty of prophesying must be allowed
... all these are scions of that stock of Anabaptism that was
transplanted out of Holland in the year 1535, when two ships
laden with Anabaptists, fled into England after they had
missed the enterprise of Amsterdam.
Robert Baillie, writing in 164719, ignores the statements of the
General Baptists and repeats the calumnies against the Ana-
baptists :
The London Anabaptists' Confession is such an one as I
believe thousands of our new anabaptists will be far from
owning, as any man may be able to say without a spirit of
divination, knowing that their usual and received doctrines do
much more agree with the Anabaptists in Germany.
Baillie next proceeds in a special chapter to describe the tenets of
the Anabaptists in England; not from their published and united
confessions or their acknowledged writings, but from the pages
of their antagonists.
It is interesting to note how upholders of the various sects
combined against the Anabaptists. Catholics, Episcopalians, and
Presbyterians alike seemed to find it only necessary to say that a
belief or doctrine was Anabaptist to condemn it.
The final defeat of the King gave the supreme power virtually
into the hands of the Army, in which the principles of Independency
were very prevalent. The Presbyterians were therefore very fear-
ful lest the Army should reject their polity and in its stead establish
a more free and liberal government in Church and State. It is
not surprising therefore to find references to Anabaptism in the
letters and documents of the period.
A pamphlet was published in 1655 asserting that Cromwell had
avowed his intention of turning all Anabaptists out of the Army.
It is written apparently by someone with Anabaptist sympathies
and is entitled Queries for His Highness to Answer to his own
Conscience. Its author20 addresses the Protector thus :
The way you intend to bring about this design is two-fold
(1) To purge the Army of the Anabaptists, (2) to do it by
degrees. But O, Oliver, is this thy design? And is this the
way to be rid of the Anabaptists? And is this the reason
because they hinder the reforming of things amiss in the
Church? I confess they have been enemies to the Presby-
terian Church; and so were you when you were at Dunbar in
M Anabaptism* the True Fountaine of Independency, Brownism, Antinomy,
Familisme, etc. (1647).
20 Possibly John Sturgion. Copy in the British Museum.
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 29
Scotland ... so highly did you love the Anabaptists then,
that you did not only invite them into the Army, but enter-
tained them in your family; but it seems the case is altered.
But do not deceive yourself, nor let the priests deceive you ;
for the Anabaptists are men that will not be shuffled out of
their birthright as free-born people of England.
The report, however, was without foundation. Cromwell was
more anxious to keep the Anabaptists in the Army than to turn
them out. Any Anabaptist who was obedient to authority kept
his commission without difficulty. Indeed Henry Cromwell, who
had some trouble with the Anabaptist section among the officers
intriguing against him, complained that the Anabaptists found too
much support from his father. In a letter written from Whitehall
on 21 Nov., 1655, addressed "For my Son, Henry Cromwell, at
Dublin, Ireland*', Cromwell writes21 :
Son,
I have seen your Letter writ unto Mr. Secretary Thurloe;
and to find thereby that you are very apprehensive of the
carriage of some persons with you, towards yourself and the
public affairs . . . Time and patience may work them to a
better frame of mind.
In another letter dated 21 April, 1656, he writes22 :
I think the Anabaptists are to blame in not being pleased
with you. That's their fault ! It will not reach you, whilest
you with singleness of heart make the glory of the Lord your
aim . . . Take care of making it a business to be too hard
for the men who contest with you.
Friction continued, however, and finally Henry cashiered Lieut. -
Colonel Alexander Brayfield, an Anabaptist, for speaking words
against his father. Cromwell wrote, 13 Oct., 165723 :
I am sorrie you gave mee not one word about Leifnt Coll :
Brafeild's businesse ... I would not believe 2 carnell men,
against one such protestinge inocency (minde this)24 it beinge
in a case concerninge my selfe, where it is in my power to
pardon wthout iniustice ... I pray you give a remidee for my
sake, and lett the poore man bee handsomely restored . . .*
With Cromwell's death England for a time fell into a state of
confusion. No man could tell which party would come to power.
21 Letter CCVII (Carlyle).
22 Letter CCVIII (Carlyle).
23 Not in the Carlyle collection. The only copy is in the British Museum.
24 These two words are inserted between the lines in a different handwriting.
25 See Appendix.
30 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
The State Papers contain a letter26 dated July, 1659, written by
Secretary Nicholas to M. de Marces, Palais Royal, Paris, in which
he reports the current rumours :
Hen. Cromwell will, it is said, submit as basely to this rump
of a Parliament as his basely pusillanimous brother Richard
has done. . . The divisions in Parliament and Army continue.
The Presbyterians are quite out of favour. The Anabaptists,
Brownists and Quakers are chief in esteem with Sir Hen. Vane
and the rest of the rulers.
A later letter27 adds :
The rebels are raising in London 3 regiments of Quakers,
Anabaptists and Brownists, called Congregational men to be
under Sir Hen. Vane, Major Skippon, and White, a famous
Quaker from New England.
Still later28 in September he reports :
The Anabaptists and Quakers are most powerful in Parlia-
ment and strongest in London, though disliked by most of the
inhabitants.
But any Anabaptist hopes of power were short lived. The general
feeling was strong against them. In 1659 a mob demolished their
meeting-house on St. Dunstan's Hill in London and the authorities
would give them no redress. An extract from a letter written to
General Monk in the last week of 1659 by a Colonel in the Army
shows that the brief tide of their fortunes had already ebbed. "The
Anabaptists", says the letter, "are all as tame as asses, and as
mute as fishes". In January, 1660, we find the Townsmen of New-
castle petitioning General Monk, that "no Anabaptists nor Quakers
may be admitted to places of trust, either civil or military".
The Petitions presented to Charles II show the Anabaptists were
out of favour. In June, 1660, Jane, a widow of Ralph Shirte, late
Postmaster of Caxton, Cambridgeshire, petitioned29 for the afore-
said office for her son, "it being now held by John Martin, one of
Cromwell's sequestrators, and an Anabaptist".
The Postmaster at Newbury also wrote30 and complained,
"Major Wildman, Thomson and Oxenbridge, Anabaptists, put
whom they please into the post".
In July Nathaniel Butter, citizen and stationer of London,
petitioned31 Sec. Nicholas for his favour to obtain him a place in
Sutton's Hospital "where there are not six pensioners lawfully put
26 Cal. S.P.D., Chas. I, 1659, CCIII.
27 Ibid., CCIV. 28 Ibid., CCIV.
29 Cal. S.P.D., Chas. II, VI, Petition 113.
30 Ibid., XXIII, 71 (2). 31 Ibid., IX. 150.
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 31
in, many being Anabaptists or spurious fellows".
Lord Cleveland's regiment lying at Yarmouth was ordered to be
disbanded in October, 1660. Colonel Doyly wrote32 to Colonel
Blagge saying "he hoped the place would not be trusted without
a guard as the Anabaptists tried to foment differences between the
Episcopalians and the Presbyterians".
In the same month Sir Humphrey Bennet wrote33 Nicholas ask-
ing a recommendation for a lease of Collingborn farm, Wiltshire.
He declares : "Anabaptists and Quakers swarm in every corner of
the country".
Richard Elsworth complained34 to Nicholas in November that he
was obstructed in administering the oath of allegiance by the
Quakers and Anabaptists of Bristol, "who are numerous and
defiant", and he asks power to imprison the refusers.
Three days later he wrote again35, "These monsters are numerous
. . . and have meetings of 1,000 or 1,200 to the great alarm of the
city of Bristol".
On 2 Jan., 1661, orders were issued in Charles II's name36 that
to preserve peace and prevent plots, no people out of their own
families should assemble on pretence of preaching, teaching, pray-
ing, or hearing the same, in any place whatsoever but in public
32 Ibid., XVIII. Si Ibid., XIX. » Ibid., XXI.
35 Ibid., XXI. Bristol seems to have been an Anabaptist stronghold, for in the
same year (1660) the Governor of Hereford wrote : "Teig late postmaster at
Bristol, an Anabaptist, is still powerful hero" (Ibid., XXIII. 71 (1).) In 1661
we find William Colston reporting "the trained bands cannot suppress meetings
of Quakers and Anabaptists at Bristol" (Ibid., 1661, XXIX. 48).
36 Order in Council against Anabaptists, Whitehall Council Board. "Whereas
divers factious persons, under pretence of the liberty indulged by His Majesty's
late gracious declaration, in reference unto tender consciences, do meet in great
numbers and at unusual times, whereby it may be justly apprehended, that many
of them enter into plots. . . It was thereupon ordered . . • that Mr. Solicitor-
General should forthwith prepare a proclamation, commanding all such |>ersons
going under the motion of anabaptists, quakers and other sectaries, hencefor-
ward not to meet under pretence of serving God, at unusual hours . . . and if
any shall bo found to offend therein, the next justices of the j>eace are to cause
them, and every of them, to be proceeded against, according to the laws. . ." —
Kennet, Register, 352.
The State Papers show that the Baptists united and tried to mitigate the
severity of this proclamation by pointing out that they were not the Anabaptists
the momory of whose history alarmed the authorities. In the State Records of
1661 lies "The humble petition of certain baptised Christians (untruly called
Anabaptists), of the counties of Kent, Sussex, Bucks., Dorset, Lincoln and Not-
tingham . . ." (that the Declaration of Breda be fulfilled). Ibid., XLVIII. 41.
That the memory of Anabaptist history in Miinster was alive in England is
evident from a pamphlet (in Sion College Library, London) issued in 1661
entitled Miinster parallel in the late massacres committed by the Fifth Monarch-
ists.
32 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
parish churches and chapels appointed. This caused a rising of the
Fifth Monarchists, but it was suppressed in 4 days.
The Fifth Monarchy Rising gave the government the pretext for
summary measures against conventicles. Accordingly proclama-
tions were issued prohibiting all meetings of Nonconformists
whatsoever.
We find additional confirmation of this in a letter written by Sir
John Finch to Lord Conway, dated 11 Jan., 1661, in which he
describes the Fifth Monarchy Rising under Venner, then goes on37 :
No man is now allowed to have arms, unless registered ; nor
to live in the city without taking the Oath of Allegiance ; nor
to exercise religious duties out of his house ; nor to admit
others into it under penalty of a riot. This troubles the Quakers
and Anabaptists, who had nothing to do with the business.
A quaint popular rhyme, A Lecture for all sects and schismatics
to read, illustrates the situation at this period :
What ayles the Anabaptists
So much to be perplext,
The Quakers they are troubled too
With many scverall sects,
The Brownists and the Adamites,
With fift monarchies too,
In this their mad and frantic fits
Seek Protestants t' o'erthrow.
With hey ho base Quakers,
Your wicked deeds all rue ;
You must to Church or Tiburn
With Anabaptists too.
The Cobblers and the Tinkers
Must now forbear to Preach,
Taylors, Joyners and Tanners,
Must no false doctrine teach.
You Quakers and you Dippers,
Your wicked deeds all rue ;
With speed return and go to Church
And leave that factious crew.
•Nevertheless despite their proclamations the authorities found
themselves faced with the same difficulty as their predecessors, for
Anabaptism still persisted. The State Papers clearly show this,
and that it was not a thing of small moment is evidenced from the
37 ibid., 1661. XXVI 1
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 33
status of the people who wrote and took action against this
"divellified sect".
On 26 Jan., 1661, Colston, Deputy Lieutenant of Bristol, stated38
they were still forced to raise the trained bands for safety of the
city, which abounds with Quakers and Anabaptists, "who meet
contrary to the Proclamation".
On 19 Mar. Henry Toone wrote38 to his brother in Staffordshire :
There are abundance of Quakers in prison, and many Ana-
baptists too, who refuse to swear.
William Williamson wrote40 to Sir John Mennes on 1 April :
Yesterday there were great congregations of Presbyterians,
Anabaptists, and Fifth Monarchy men, so that the major part
of London were there. . . The meeting of sectaries cannot be
particularised for they are everywhere.
Captain Pestell reported41 to Secretary Nicholas on 26 Sept. :
The people are transported with jealousy and will not believe
in the King's goodness, and spread seducing pamphlets every-
where. Several ... at Plymouth are determined that the
Common Prayer shall not come into Mr. Hughes's church ; the
same feeling exists at Dartmouth and other places on the coast,
where Anabaptists and Quakers abound.
From Barwick, Wiltshire, Roger Griffin wrote42 in the same
strain to Lord Falkland :
Yesterday there was a great meeting of Anabaptists held at
Titmarsh's house, where they used words as seditious as they
could find. . . The Mayor sent constables who secured them,
as they denied the Oath of Allegiance and security for good
behaviour.
The State Papers also record43 in Jan., 1662, the examination of
John King, Southwark, and Goody Roberts of Uxbridge, an Ana-
baptist, stating there were divers meetings there. In June Thos.
Culpepper and two other Captains of Militia wrote from Goudhurst
to Sir Edward Hales that there were unlawful meetings of Quakers
and Anabaptists held within the seven hundreds (in Kent) — and
unless this were prevented good subjects must suffer44, and
William Kilburn lodged information duly recorded in the State
documents that meetings of Quakers and Anabaptists had long been
held at or near Cranbrooke in Kent, and lately many strangers had
been amongst them45.
38 Ibid., XXIX. 39 ibid., XXXII. 40 Ibid.. XXXIV.
41 Ibid., XI.IL 42 ibid., XT. IV. 43 Ibid., 1662, XLIX.
44 Ibid.. LV1. 45/b,d., LVI. c
34 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
That some of the Anabaptists took to treasonable plotting is clear
from official records. The first hint the authorities received was in
July, 1662, when John Parker and Charles Wood informed46 Cap-
tain Busbridge of the Lord General's regiment against Robert
Carter, a disbanded lieutenant and an Anabaptist costermonger of
Thames Street, who had abused them when drinking together,
"and spoke of an alteration soon to take place".
That the authorities were afraid of Anabaptism is evident from
the correspondence. Lord Fauconberg wrote47 to Secretary
Nicholas reporting meetings and night ridings of disaffected per-
sons, and he adds definite information :
Being near Beverley, Wm. Hallas, an Anabaptist, formerly
a sergeant in Sir Arthur Hasslerigg's regiment, informed
them of an intended general rising ... to be executed about
August 28, when they intended to seize the trained bands.
Further information is given in the official documents48 under
20 Oct., 1662 :
The Anabaptists and Presbyterians of London unite in their
design against the King, but intend to give it out that the
rising will not be till spring, in order that the Guards may be
taken from the city.
Nevertheless the "Anabaptist rising", if it ever was seriously
proposed, came to nothing, and although many Nonconformists
were persecuted, some being banished, while others were shipped
as criminals to the Barbados, the government was prepared to
pardon those who would accept the Oath of Allegiance and the
State Church. A minute of a letter49 to the Lord Chancellor,
28 Dec, 1662, shows this. It encloses lists of the prisoners in
Newgate and the Gatehouse — among others 289 Anabaptists taken
at unlawful meetings, "Whom the King is willing to set free if
they will take the oaths and give security".
The Anabaptists, however, refused for the most part to forsake
their beliefs despite persecution and penalties. A letter50 written
during this period gives us a detailed account of the sufferings of
those who would not conform in religious matters :
The gaols are so filled that many are stifled through throng-
ing together : Anabaptists hold out long and Quakers to the
last.
Seditious meetings had been held during the previous six months
«/M.. LVII. «f IbiJ.. tA'lT **Ibid.,LXl.
49 Ibid.. I.NV. A furthrr list of 214 Anabaptists and Ouaki'rs is given in
Vol LXVI1 (1G63).
W Ibid.. 1G63, LXIX.
Anabaptism in England during thb 17th Century 35
in Mugglesworth Park, Durham. The record (it is a State
document51, not rumour) adds :
They have correspondence through the nation, and boast
thousands of Independents and Anabaptists.
That the authorities were alarmed and on the alert is shown by
a letter52 dated 30 Mar., which says :
An informer, an Anabaptist who was troubled in conscience,
has revealed his knowledge of a plot to the Bishop of Durham.
Many persons are apprehended but none of quality.
Later in the same year the Government record63 their
Intelligence of designs tending to insurrection. . . Troops are
preparing in Durham and Yorkshire, but disputes have arisen
between the Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchy men. They in-
tend to take Newcastle and Skipton Castle. . . They have
agents in most counties and also in the fleet.
On 15 Oct., Bernard Walker of Newcastle informed54 the
authorities that he
met 80 armed horsemen, Quakers and Anabaptists, near Car-
leton in Coversdale . . . and heard at Whitsuntide that there
were 500 of them and the number daily increasing.
The scare continued, for we find the Duke of Buckingham filing
a letter55 on 7 Mar., 1664, saying,
the malcontents begin to revive in the West of England and
have thoughts of setting the City on fire. . . The time will prob-
ably be the opening of Parliament ... if the Anabaptists and
Fifth Monarchy men are cared for, all will be prevented, the
other sects being but few.
On 10 Mar. the Earl of Derby wrote the Duke of Albemarle
enclosing an anonymous letter, "of great concern if true, and if
the writer will own it at the assizes". . . It contains the names of
several Cheshire men as engaged in the late plot . . . and declares56 :
There are 5,000 Presbyterians, Independents and Anabap-
tists in the two countries, and 500 about Manchester ready . . .
Some of the foregoing statements as to numbers are based on
statements which have no further backing than the speaker who
made them, but we are only seeking to show that Anabaptism was
a real thing in England during the 17th century, and these official
records go to prove it.
The original lists of records of early Nonconformity for the years
a Ibid., 22 Mar., 1663, LXIX. 52 Ibid., LXIX. 83 Jfrid., LXIX.
54 Ibid.. LXXXI. 56 Ibid.. 1684, XCIV. tolbid., XCIV.
3 *
36 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
1665, 1669-1676 have been transcribed, edited and published by
G. Lyon Turner. They give in detail the various parishes of Engr
lanr} and show the different sects therein, giving their number and
their quality, and the names of the "Principalis and Abettors". It
is a most illuminating compilation as to the number and strength
of the Anabaptists in England, showing that they were by no means
a feeble folk57.
After nearly two centuries of persecution the authorities
apparently could think of no better method of dealing with Ana-
baptism than the old penalty — imprisonment. We shall only deal
with this point in brief, taking incidents here and there.
On 28 Feb., 1665, Alexander Rigby wrote58 from Chester to Sir
Geoffrey Shakerley informing him that Mr. Dutton of Hatton had
apprehended some Anabaptists.
On 13 Mar. there is a report59 from Dorchester :
Some Anabaptists were surprized at their meeting at Ford-
ington, a parish near, and carried before a justice.
On 13th June, 1670, John Carlile wrote60 from Dover :
Yesterday being the Sabbath we sent out some officers, who
found upwards of 200 persons at a conventicle of Anabaptists.
On 27 July he added61 :
Much troubled at Dover with an obstinate party of Anabapr
tists who persist in their old way, notwithstanding they are
dispersed.
His last entry62 on 2 Feb., 1671, apparently despairs of stamping
out this persistent sect :
On Friday last the mayor and jurates caused the Ana-
baptists' pulpit, forms and benches to be pulled down, and
hung padlocks upon the doors, but upon Sunday morning be-
times the staples and locks were broke off and the Anabaptists
went to their old trade again.
So the tale goes on. Sometimes it is Yarmouth, where the State
Papers record in 1676 that an informer betrayed a meeting of 80
or 90 Anabaptists63. Sometimes it is Deal that sends a report that
67 The writer has gone over these records and made excerpts in so far as they
concern Anabaptists, but as the research there has been done by Lyon Turner,
they have been omitted from this article. We only use the fact of the great
number of Anabaptists recorded officially in detail during these years as addi-
tional evidence that the Anabaptist tradition was alive in England at that time.
58 Cal. S.P.D.. Chas. II, CXIII. 59 Cal. S.P.D., Chas. II, CIV.
60 Ibid, CCLXXVI, No. J27. 61 Jbid.. CCLXXVII, No. 112.
Mlbid., CCLXXXVII, No. 171. 63 JbH CCCLXXXIH, No. 54.
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 3T
Anabaptist heresy is still to be found in its midst64.
Truly Anabaptism was a stubborn root !
The 17th century was essentially a "religious" age. Even the
common folk of the time were interested in theology and talked
theology. Church fellowship was to them art absorbing reality.
They took as vivid an interest in doctrine and church government
as do their descendants today in sporting events or the cinema.
This is evidenced by the number of religious "tournaments" or
disputations which were held all over the country. The details of
those between Fisher, a Jesuit, and Archbishop Laud occupy an
entire folio. Another is said to have been held in Southwark
between Dr. Featley, a learned divine, and some unknown Baptists.
The Doctor published his argument under the title, The Dippers
Dipt, or the Anabaptists ducked and plunged over Head and ears.
tt is dedicated to Parliament, and the Doctor advises that the Ana-
baptists should be "severely punished, if not utterly exterminated".
Dr. Featley *s book elicited from his opponents a work with an
equally striking title, Baby-baptism mere babyism, but it is futile
to follow out the arguments. The opponents only succeeded in con-
vincing themselves the more firmly.
Another religious debate which was to have been held by Captain
Hobson and Hanserd Knollys against Master Calamy and Master
Crawford on the vexed subject of infant baptism, was prevented by
the authority of the magistrates under the Commonwealth, prob-
ably because these disputes were attended with considerable dis-
order. In the disputation between Danson and Ives on final per-
severance, both complained of the disorderly conduct of the
auditors, and again the Anabaptists were declared to be the Cause
of the disturbance. Danson declares, "there is not a ruder sort of
people (the Quakers not accepted) than Arminian Anabaptists".
Poor Anabaptists ! even the Quakers abused them, for Quaker
William Penn referred to them as "these tumultuous, bloodthirsty,
covenant-breaking, government-destroying Anabaptists".
Space forbids an exhaustive treatment of the publications of the
16th and 17th centuries, but a study of them substantiates our
thesis that the Anabaptist historic tradition was alive in England
during these years.
Ten years after the Fall of Munster in 1535, Kerssenbroick pub-
lished a (biased) history against the Anabaptists (in Latin). This
Roman Catholic work is the source of nearly all the accounts of the
German Anabaptists which appeared for nearly three centuries in
Dutch, German, French or English. The first history by an Ana-
baptist was issued in 1616 by Hans de Ries in Dutch. It was
M Ibid., CCCLXXXIV, No. 179.
38 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century
recast in 1660 by Van Braght and reprinted in 1685 with
illustrations66. That the English Churches knew of Hans de Ries's
writings is evident for they entered into correspondence with him,
and between 1624 and 1630 letters passed between them. A record
of these is given in Evans's Early English Baptists, and in the
Transactions of the Baptist Historical Society.
In 1565 Guy de Bres published La racine, source et fondement
des Anabaptistes. An English translation of this by J. Scottow
appeared in 1685 entitled The Rise, Spring and Foundation of the
Anabaptists. In 1615 (the same year as Hans de Ries's book)
Clouzier published his account of the story, Histoire des Ana-
baptistes : ou Relation curieuse de leur Doctrine, Regne et Revolu-
tions. In 1616 Thomas Harrab issued his Tesseradelphus. The
following year appeared Historiae Anabaptisticae by Arnold
Meschovius, and in 1637 a similar book was written by Conrad
Heresbach, Historia Anabaptistica**.
In 1642 a Pamphlet was published entitled, A Warning for Eng-
land especially for London, in the famous history of the frantick
Anabaptists , their wild preachings and practises in Germany- In
the same year another history appeared — A Short History of the
Anabaptists of High and Low Germany. This was so much in
demand that another edition was issued the following year. It was
reprinted again in 1647, and several copies are still extant. There
are also several copies in existence of a book published in 1645
entitled Mock-Majesty : or the siege of Miinster.
In 1645 Ephraim Pagitt issued a very popular work,
Heresieography : or a description of the hereticks and sectaries of
the latter times. This was enlarged and issued again in the same
year and ran through several editions. It was printed again in
1647, 1648, 1654, 1661, and 1662. As we should expect, the Ana-
baptists come in for severe bludgeonings. First on the list of
Pagitt's
impure Families who blasphemously pretend to be Godified
like God, whereas indeed they are divellified like their Father
the Divell,
come the "illuminated Anabaptists". Pagitt devotes no fewer than
64 pages to pointing out their errors beginning with the Munster
sect.
In 1645, also, a Continental Anabaptist, Friedrich Spanheim,
published a book, Diatriba historica de origine, progressu et sectis
Anabaptistarum. An English version of this appeared in 1646
65 E. B. Underhill translated part of this edition for the Hanserd Knollys
Society.
66 These books are all found in English libraries.
Anabaptism in England during the 17th Century 39
under the title England's warning by Germanies woe : or an his-
toricall narration of the originall, progresse, tenets, names, and
sever all sects of the Anabaptists in Germany and the Low
Countries61.
In 1647 the people of England were again reminded of Anabap-
tist history by Daniel Featley who issued A Warning for England,
especially London, in the famous history of the frantick Anabap-
tists**. W. Hughes of Marlborough followed in his steps, publish-
ing in 1656, Miinster and Abingdon, Or the open rebellion there,
and the unhappy tumult here, while in the same year a pamphlet
appeared entitled, A relation of severall heresies, discovering the
original ringleaders, and the time when they began to spread.
(This account is chiefly drawn from Bullinger on the German Ana-
baptists.) It is published "according to order by a well wisher of
truth and peace".
There is still further evidence that the history of the Munster
Anabaptists was not forgotten. In 1660 someone who writes under
the initials S. T. issued Moderation : or arguments and motives
tending thereunto, humbly tendered to • • . parliament. Together
with a brief touch of the German Anabaptists and the Munster
tragedy. In the same year George Pressick of Dublin published
A brief e relation of some of the most remarkable passages of the
Anabaptists in High and Low Germany in 1521. The rising of the
Fifth Monarchists drew forth yet another publication on the subject
in 1661, Munster parallel in the late massacres committed by the
Fifth Monarchists.
APPENDIX.
The writer has searched the records to find if by chance any of the contem-
porary Captains at Newport Pagnell (where Bunyan served as a "Souldier")
could be charged with Anabaptist heresies.
Captain Paul Hobson was actually arraigned at Newport Pagnell as an Ana-
baptist. One of his sermons even caused a riot in the town and the authorities
had to resort to martial law to quell it. Later for * 'setting up a conventicle"
and absenting himself from "the public thanksgiving service for the victory at
Naseby", he was put in prison by the governor of the garrison, Sir Samuel
Luke.
In Edwards's Gangraena we read :
Extract of a certain letter . . .
There is one Paul Hobson, a Taylor, who comes out of Buckinghamshire,
and is now a Captain having been in the Armies, who hath been a Preacher
a great while ; This man while he was in the Army, wherever he came he
would preach publickly in the Churches, where he could get Pulpits and
W A copy translation of Spanheim's work is in Regent's Park College Library,
Oxford, entitled, An historicall diatribe concerning the originall, progresse, sects
and names of the Anabaptists. It is dated 1653.
68 A reiteration of the Pamphlet of 1642.
40 Anabaptism in England during the 17th Centura
privately to the Souldiers : the subject matter of his sermons was much
against Duties, and of Revelations, what God had revealed to him. . . .
Preaching one time against Holy duties (as an understanding man who
heard him, related it to me and other company), he spake thus : I was once
as legal as any of you can be, I durst never a morning but pray, nor never
a night before I went to Bed but pray ; I durst not eat a bit of bread but
I gave thanks ; I daily prayed and wept for my sins, so that I had almost
wept out my Eyes with sorrow for sin : But I am persvvaded when I used
all these duties, I had not one jot of God in me. This Paul Hobson is one
of those whose hand is subscribed to the Confession of Faith of the Ana-
baptists, set forth last Winter (1644). This Paul Hobson Preached in
Newport- Pagnel, and thereabouts, in contempt of the Ordinance of Parlia-
ment made last April ; After he was once taken and questioned for it, and
let go, he comes back again and does it the second time, in contempt of
the Governor of Newport-Pagnel that then was. . . . The matter of Hobson
and his Confederates preaching was against our Church, Ministry, Chil-
dren's Baptisme. ... Sir Samuel Luke sent him up here for a contempt
against the expresse Ordinance of Parliament, but the businesse was
referred to a Committee, . . . but I know not how it came about, instead
of some exemplary punishment, this Hobson was presently at liberty and
preached the very next Lords Day in Moor Fields or thereabouts. . .
Another interesting point occurs at this time concerning Anabaptist doctrine.
It greatly exercised the Baptist Churches (including Bedford). Matthew Caffin
who was expelled from Oxford about 1645 for his doctrinal views joined the
General Baptist Church near Horsham, under Samuel Lover. He was
appointed coadjutor and displayed considerable evangelical zeal, many little
churches in Sussex and Kent looking up to him as their founder. In 1655 he
opposed the Quakers in speech and in print. In 1656 at an Assembly of
Churches, someone started the question, "How is Jesus Christ David's root
and offspring?". Caffin seems to have become fascinated with the question
and in consequence of the conclusion he came to seems to have become a
veritable storm centre, for he got hold of Hoffmann's Anabaptist books and
adopted his opinion that the flesh of Jesus passed through Mary "as water
through a pipe." Thomas Grantham found speculation on this point so rife
in General Baptist circles that he devoted many pages of his book (Christianis-
mus primitivus, 1678) to a statement of the usual views with a catena of
authorities, while the churches ofr» Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxford,
and Bedfordshire united to publish a most elaborate confession against Hoff-
mann's views (Whitley, History of British Baptists, 172 f.).
Duncan B. Heriot.
The Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society of England
(May, 1937). The chief articles are "The Character of Presbytery"
(Dr. P. Carnegie Simpson), "Richard Baxter, Catholick" (R. D.
Whitehorn), "The 'Stranger' Churches" (R. S. Robson),
"Bartholomew Day, 1662, in the Contemporary News-Sheets"
(Dr. S. W. Carruthers), "The Rev. John Thorley's Book on Bees"
(Dr. H. Malcolm Fraser). Mr: W. B. Shaw continues both his
" 'Fasti' of English Presbyterian Theological Students" and his
" 'Fasti' of the English Presbyterian Ministry, 1836-1876".
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
Manchester has been, and still is, the home of academical
institutions where great numbers of men have been equipped
for ministerial service.
THIS comment, made by Benjamin Nightingale in 1893 in
the fifth volume of his monumental work, Lancashire
Nonconformity, can be even more fully endorsed to-day,
when, in association with the Victoria University and its theo-
logical faculty, almost every denomination has a College for the
training of ministerial candidates in or near the city.
Possibly the earliest attempt at the inauguration of a Dissenting
Academy here was that of Henry Newcome, M.A., the first minister
of Cross Street Chapel, who "united with the character of the
pastor that of the teacher of academical literature"1. After the
death of Newcome in 1695, at all events, a recognized "Academy"
was sustained (1699-1705) by his assistant and successor, John
Chorlton, who was in turn assisted and succeeded in this educa-
tional work by James Coningham, M.A. (1700-09). This academical
line, after several migrations — to Whitehaven, Bolton, Kendal,
Warrington — and some interruptions, gave place to the founda-
tion in 1786 of Manchester New College, which was transferred to
York in 1803, back to Manchester in 1840, thence to London in
1853 and to Oxford in 1889, where the present premises of Man-
chester College were opened in 18932.
Just about the time when this Unitarian foundation was removed
from Manchester to York the need for an institution which would
provide trained evangelists with Congregational interests to meet
the needs of Lancashire and Cheshire and supply candidates for the
Itinerant Society in which he was so deeply interested, was being
felt and advocated by the Rev. William Roby.
Roby, born at Haigh, near Wigan, on 23 Mar., 1766, the son
of an orthodox Churchman, had been led into Nonconformity
under tne preaching of the Rev. John Johnson of the Countess of
Huntingdon's Connexional Church, Wigan. He was educated at
Wigan Grammar School, and for a season held a post as classical
master at the Endowed Grammar School at Bretherton. Thus
early he gave evidence of the zeal and evangelical fervour which
so marked his later career; he began to preach and teach in the
1 Toulmin, Hist. View of the State of the Protestant Dissenters, 246.
2 Vide Manchester College. Oxford. Proceedings and Addresses (1893).
41
42 Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
village and surrounding district, but in consequence of the opposi-
tion which his activities aroused from the incumbent of the parish,
he resigned his post and definitely turned his thoughts to the
ministry. He was received into the Countess of Huntingdon's
College at Trevecca, but only remained there for a very brief period
(six weeks, according to one biographer). For a period he supplied
the C.H. Churches at Worcester, Reading, and Ashby-de-la-
Zouch, and then returned to Wigan as coadjutor to the aforemen-
tioned John Johnson, succeeding him as sole pastor on his removal
in 1789. From Wigan, Roby was called to Cannon Street
Chapel, Manchester, in Sept., 1795, where he exercised a
fruitful ministry until his death on 11 Jan., 18303. During this
period the church was removed to new premises in Grosvenor
Street (1807), and to him perhaps more than any other single person
was due the formation of the Lancashire Congregational Union
(1806), in whose interests he laboured assiduously, as he did also
in promoting itinerancy throughout the county. To improve the
quality and increase the number of evangelists for this work he
proposed to provide training for likely candidates, and in this
design he was happy in finding one of like mind in Robert Spear,
merchant, of Manchester, a generous supporter of the Itinerant
Society, who financed the students received by Roby.
The work of Mr. Roby's Academy was begun in Jan., 1803,
Roby giving his services as Tutor gratuitously and lecturing in the
vestry of Mosley Street Chapel (then under the pastoral charge
of the Rev. Samuel Bradley). Mr. Spear, "at very considerable
expenditure, contributed towards the board and lodging of the
students in private families", and also furnished a large and useful
library of books. Lectures "of a superior order" were given in
Theology and Biblical knowledge, as well as in English Composi-
tion and the rudiments of Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
They were made intimately acquainted with the grammatical
construction of their own language, and particularly instructed
in the formation and arrangement of its sentences. Every
week they received a lecture on the composition of sermons,
and were expected to produce specimens of their own abilities.
Logic formed an eminent part of their studies, and they were
required, not only to read and understand Watts, but to form
an abstract of the whole work for themselves. Ecclesiastical
history, geography, the use of the globes, and the first prin-
ciples of natural and moral philosophy also claimed a due
portion of their time and attention. A knowledge, likewise,
of the Greek and the Hebrew, made a peculiar part of every
3 Memoir, Evangel. Mag^, 1830, 84.
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08 43
day's acquirement. Such was the general course of studies
which the pupils under Mr. Roby's care were directed to
prosecute. But, perhaps, their greatest advantages were de-
rived from a course of theological lectures in which both the
leading features and the minor points of divinity were clearly
and distinctly arranged4.
Whatever the extent of the scholastic acquirements of the students
(and this would appear to have been adequate, judging from their
later work5), Roby certainly seems to have fired his protigis with
tremendous enthusiasm for their task and to have initiated them
fully into the joy of hard work — as the notes of their careers will
reveal.
Robert Spear, the "patron" of the institution, was the son of a
deacon of the first Congregational Church in Manchester — that at
Cannon Street — who appears as one of the seceders who formed
the Mosley Street Chapel in 1788. Born at Hyde's Cross, Man-
chester, on 27 Nov., 1762, Robert was educated at the
Manchester Grammar School51! and at a private academy in Liver-
pool. Becoming one of the early cotton merchants of the city,
"generally a large measure of prosperity attended his specula-
tions". He was a princely giver to the churches in and around
Manchester, as well as to missionary and home evangelization
work. It was largely owing to his retirement from business and
removal to Mill Bank, on the Cheshire side of the Mersey, that
the Academy was dissolved in 1808. Mr. Spear removed to Edin-
burgh in 1816, the better to forward the education of his large
family, and there died on 31 Aug., 1817. He was the first
Treasurer of the Lancashire Union (1806-07), and also a member
of the Leaf Square Academy Committee, which attempted, some-
what abortively, to supply the need created by the closure of Roby's
Academy, as well as a generous subscriber to this later venture.
His interest in the education of ministerial candidates would appear
to have been retained to the end, for the minutes of the Blackburn
Independent Academy (1816-43), which took up the work declined
by Leaf Square, shew him to have presided at the early meetings
of the committee which launched that venture.
Slate6 gives a copy of the "address" which candidates for
admission to Roby's seminary were required to sign.
To Robert Spear, Esq.
We, the undersigned, who shall be educated for the Christian
« Evangel. Mag., 1830, 138.
5 See also Nightingale, Centen. Lanes. Congl. Union (1906), 54.
5» Entered 18 Jan., 1773 — Admission Register Manchester School, I. 184.
6 History of the Lanes. Congl. Union (1840), 18.
44 Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
ministry at your expense, dd declare that we devote the re-
mainder of our lives to the service of God in the Gospel of
His Son ; resolving, through Grace, not to abandon the work
of preaching the Gospel as we shall be enabled, on any account,
except compelled by absolute necessity.
Having thus put our hands to the plough, we consider it
our duty not to draw back; but to be ready to preach the
Gospel wherever openings in Providence may occur ; while, if
need be, we minister to our necessities with our own hands,
and thus prove, to our brethren and to the world, that when
we entered as labourers into our Lord's vineyard, it was not
with an intention to improve our worldly circumstances or to
raise ourselves to stations in Society superior to those we
formerly held.
We understand that we are admitted into the Seminary on
trial ; and that we are to be continued only while we give satis-
faction as to character, abilities and behaviour.
During our continuance, we will readily submit to the
general rules of the Institution, and to any other regulations
which the further experience of the Patron and the Tutor may
recommend to our attention.
With our allowance for support we declare ourselves satis-
fied ; and, in order to prosecute our studies without inter-
ruption, we engage to follow no occupation for further sub-
sistence till our present connexion with this seminary is
dissolved.
There were annexed to this address the following "General
Rules" — which Slate does not give : Nos. 4, 7, and 9 are par-
ticularly interesting : —
1. That each candidate for admission be required to send a
written account of his doctrinal sentiments, his religious
experience, and the circumstances which inclined him to
the Christian Ministry.
2. That each candidate produce satisfactory testimonies
respecting his religious character, and his natural abilities;
and if he has not been previously accustomed to preach or
to exhort, that he be required to do so before his admission,
in the presence of competent judges, in order to determine
his natural aptitude to teach.
3. That each student, on his admission, sign the inscribed
address to Mr. Spear, with professed approbation.
4. That the Hours of Study — except in particular cases — be
from six to eight in the morning; from nine to twelve in the
forenoon ; from two to five in the afternoon ; and from six
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08 46
to eight in the evening ; and that these be employed accord-
ing to direction.
6. That the general term of Education be two years ; but that
this be occasionally abridged or extended if the Patron and
Tutor conceive that circumstances require it.
€. That the Students, during their continuance at the
Seminary, consider themselves under obligation to preach
when and where the Patron and Tutor may appoint.
7. That no Student, during the term of his studies, form any
kind of connection, especially with a Female, which might
retard his improvement, without giving immediate informa-
tion thereof to the Patron or the Tutor.
8. That no Student be out of his Lodging after 10 o'clock at
night ; without assigning some very satisfactory reason.
9. That the Students watch over one another in Love, and
after private admonition, if it fail, inform the Patron or
Tutor of any inconsistency of conduct, or change of senti-
ment, discovered in any of their Brethren, and that neglect
in this case be considered as subjecting the party to a pro-
portional degree of guilt.
10. That the Students pledge themselves to give an ingenuous
answer to all such questions as the Patron or Tutor may at
any time propose to them respecting their sentiments,
their conduct, or their studies.
11. That every Month, each Student renew his professed appro-
bation both of the original address, and of the general rules
of the institution.
No records are available concerning the actual working of the
Academy (if any were, indeed, ever kept by either Roby or Spear)
and the foregoing details are furnished by the Lancashire Congre-
gational historians, Halley, Slate, and Nightingale, supplemented
by some recently found papers of George Hadfield — later M.P.,
and Secretary for a time of both the Leaf Square and Blackburn
Academies. Regarding the students trained by Roby, Slate (p. 19)
says, "the first class was admitted in Jan., 1803; but when the
rest entered cannot now be exactly ascertained". The venture
was brought to a close in 1808, when Mr. Spear removed from
Manchester and apparently withdrew his financial support. With-
out more definite information it can only be surmised that it was
relinquished in view of the project mooted in the first annual report
of the Lancashire Union (published Jan., 1808), which appealed
for support of a County Seminary "on an extensive and liberal
scale" and which bore fruit in the following September, when a
46 Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
plan was outlined leading to the formation in 1810 of the short-
lived Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, and later, in 1816, to
the foundation of the Blackburn Academy. Mr. Spear, at least,
had not tired in his support or generosity, since the early minutes
of Leaf Square reveal him as one of its earliest and most munificent
supporters.
Slate's list of students contains 14 names, to which Nightingale7
adds one (questionably — vide infra) and from which he omits
another. Details of 17 men are here given : whether there were
others cannot now be determined.
James Turner. — Born at Stroud near Oldham, in Mar., 1782.
Bookseller's apprentice in Manchester and an attender at
Cannon Street Chapel, where his attention was turned to the
ministry by Roby. Entered the Academy for the two years'
course and then proceeded to Rotherham. Completing his
training there, he settled in 1808 at Knutsford over a church
which had been regularly supplied since 1803 by the students
from Roby's seminary. This was his only pastorate, held until
his death on Friday, 22 May, 1863. He was for more than
20 years Secretary of the Cheshire Union. (Numerous refer-
ences to him and his work in Powicke's History of the Cheshire
Union.)
Joseph Gill. — Born at Eton in 1776, came to Manchester and be-
came a member of Roby's Church; spent two years at the
Academy and then, like Turner, went to Rotherham. Settled
at Hinckley, Leicestershire, in 1806 and removed in 1816 to
Egerton, near Bolton, where he remained until 1845, when he
retired to live at Pendleton and there died, 30 Nov., 1847.
(His son, also Joseph, born at Hinckley, subsequently entered
the Blackburn Academy (1838-42), and sailed for Africa on
7 Jan., 1843, with Robert Moffat. After service at Graaf
Reinet, Somerset, and Fort Beaufort until 1853, when his work
was broken up by the Kaffir War, he returned to England and
followed his father in the Egerton pastorate, 1854 — 4 Aug.,
1856, when he died.) Obituary notice of Jos. Gill Senr., 18£8
Year Book, 223.
Thomas Jackson. — Born at Sowerby, Yorks, 17 Apr., 1770.
Became a member of Wycliffe Church, Warrington, under
Rev. Jos. Sowden, and was commended by it to the Academy.
Settled at Wharton, near Bolton (1805?), being at that time
close on 40 years of age. Though he had a wife and three
children and a salary which did not average £32 per annum,
he was never known to complain. He seems to have earned
1 Centenary, Lanes. Congl. Union, 54-5.
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08 47
his stipend, preaching regularly at Wharton and in the neigh-
bouring villages and hamlets of Westhoughton, Chowbent,
Astley, Stirrup Brook, Sale Lane, Mosley Common and
Tyldesley. After 14 years' service at Wharton, Jackson re-
moved to Bamford near Rochdale in 1819, where he remained
until his death on 16 May, 1837. "A hard student and a
searching preacher", (v. Congregational Magazine, Nov.,
1837.)
James Mather. Born at Leigh, Lanes, in 1775. His family re-
moved to Warrington after the death of his mother when he
was about 16 years of age, and he was apprenticed to a butcher
in that town. Having served his time, he removed to Bolton-
le-Moors, where he took up again the trade of weaving to
which he had been put earlier in life, and became a successful
master-craftsman. Here he married a Miss Speakman, who
died in child-birth of her tenth child. Of her family, one son
became minister at Bilston, Staffs, and later at Shepherds
Market, Mayfair, London, and another, Robert Cotton
Mather, M.A., LL.D., a missionary at Mirzapur. Mather
became a member of Duke's Alley Church, Bolton, and was
elected a deacon some six months later, and by the church
here was urged to devote himself to the ministry. He was
accepted by Spear and Roby as a student, despite the fact of
of his having already a wife and four children, and, on com-
pleting his course, settled at New Windsor, Salford, early in
1805. He removed in 1808 to Howard Street Chapel,
Sheffield, and about 1827 to Livery Street Chapel, Birming-
ham. From there, after about 15 months, he was called to
Upper Clapton, where he ministered for about ten years. After
resigning his charge he was resident in Islington and associated
himself with Claremont Chapel until the time of his death —
26 May, 1840. (Evangelical Magazine, 18^2, 157ff and
209ff, where it is noted that he was the first to be interred in
Abney Park Cemetery. His resignation from the pastorate
at Upper Clapton, in 1839, followed a controversy with the
church in which he maintained the right of a minister to select
his deacons from those elected by the church, based on his
exegesis of Acts 63 and I Tim. 310.
Robert Matsell Miller.— Born at Lynn, Norfolk, 18 July, 1794,
he became an assistant in a school in Manchester and there
came under the influence of Roby, and was "one of the first
six students" (Evangelical Magazine, 18^.5, 281f). Miller
settled at Hollinshead Street, Chorley, in Mar., 1806, and
resigned in Dec, 1808, to become Town Missioner to
two Congregational and two Baptist Churches in Liverpool
43 Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
for about a year. After four months as an agent of the Surrey
Mission he settled at Earl Shilton, 1810-13, and at Atherstone,
1813-44. During his pastorate here a new chapel was built in
North Street and opened in 1826. He died 24 Sept., 1844.
He published :
A Catechism on ihe Nature of a Christian Church.
The Christian Teacher.
A Catechism of Doctrines and Ordinances of Divine
Revelation.
The Catechist or Religious Instructor.
A Collection of Hymns for Sunday Schools.
The Religious Instruction of Children and Youth.
Remarks on Religious Worship,
as well as improved editions of Watts' 1st and 2nd Catechisms,
and some memoirs.
He did not dazzle, but he enlightened. He did not sur-
prise, but he informed. If he had little for the critic, he
had always something for the Christian.
Peter Ramsay. — Born at Strathmartine, near Dundee, 27 Dec,
1772, was the son of a gardener. He was for some time a
teacher in a private school and became a member of the
Presbyterian Church in Dundee. When the Rev. William
Innes settled in Dundee and formed a Congregational Church
he joined it, and from Innes he received his early ministerial
training, under the patronage of Mr. Haldane of Edinburgh.
After a further course at Roby's Academy he settled at Dundee
Church, Ramsbottom (1807 or 1808), whence he was apparently
ejected in consequence of some disagreement in 1811. He
settled nearby at Holcomb Brook, 1811-14, when he was
almost simultaneously approached by the churches at
Tintwistle, Bethel Chapel, Bury, and Haslingden. Responding
to the invitation of the last, he settled at Haslingden and re-
mained there from 1814 to 1846, when failing health compelled
resignation. He died at Haslingden, 2 July, 1854. {1855
Year Booh, 230-1.)
Among the more prominent members of Dundee Church (said
to be the localized version of Dom. dei, the inscription over the
lintel of the old door) were the brothers Grant — William, John,
Daniel and James— who purchased the print works of Sir John
Peel at Ramsbottom in the year of Ramsay's settlement. Two of
the brothers. William and Daniel, were generally acknowledged
to be the prototypes of Charles Dickens's Cheeryble Brothers, Ned
and Charles, in NicJiolas Xicklcby.
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08 49
Robert Maclean. — Settled at Lowther Street, Kendal, in 18108, and
after a few years resigned and went to North America. Subse-
quently returning to England, he became minister at Newing-
ton Chapel, Liverpool, in 1826, removed to Stone, Staffs,
in 18309, and to Nantwich, Cheshire, in Sept., 1835, where he
remained until his death in June, 1840. "He was a very
popular preacher and attracted great numbers to the chapel.
During his time the chapel was pewed". (Powicke, History
of the Cheshire Cong. Union, 160, gives as M' Clean.)
James Sheppard. — Settled at Glossop, Derbyshire (n.d.), and there
died, 18 Feb., 1931, aet. 69. In 1811 he was one of the
trustees to whom the church property was conveyed, but his
name does not appear in later records of the ministers at
Glossop, though the list is admittedly incomplete. In the
baptismal registers are entries relating to his children in
which he is described as a "Cordwainer" — quite possibly in
addition to ministerial work, at least for a season. George
Partington (v. infra) officiated at his funeral.
George Partington. — Place and date of birth not known. A mem-
ber of Roby's Chapel in Manchester, he was one of those
dismissed in Feb., 1804, to form a new church at Patricroft.
He entered the Academy in 1805, and left in 1807 to settle at
Oldham as an evangelist under the newly-formed Lancashire
Union. He was removed from Oldham after a few months
and settled at Burnley. Here, in a town then described as a
"licentious place with many profligate characters", he became
the first pastor of Bethesda Chapel, 1807 to 1810, and jour-
neyed widely through North-East Lancashire, preaching at
Colne, Whalley, and Great Harwood. He removed to Colne
in 1810, although continuing to preach fortnightly at Burnley,
and from this new centre itinerated at Mosshouses, Barrow-
ford, Blacko, Fence, Rough Lee, Twiston, Newby, Gill,
Martin Top (where the church was formed under his inspira-
tion), in addition to regular preaching appointments at Thorney
Holme, Barley, Clitheroe, and Grindleton. Leaving Colne in
1816, he settled at Park Chapel, Ramsbottom, 1816-26; then at
Glossop, 1826-36, where he died on 29 Feb., 1838.
John Gray. — Date of birth unknown. By his own express wish, his
grave-stone bore no name or details, being engraved merely
"1818. A Sinner saved by grace'1. At the death of his wife
8 The writer suspects that this was the McClean who was minister at Burton-
on-Trent (?1803-09), but has not been able to secure any proof of identity.
(vide Matthews, Congl. Churches of Staffordshire, 251).
9 So Nightingale, but not Matthews, op. cit., 262.
50 Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
in 1864, however, his name was added with hers, and the fact
that he was 42 years of age, which would make his birth circa
1776. From the Academy he proceeded to Bamford, settling
as stated preacher on 16 May, 1810, although he had
supplied on 11 June of the preceding year. He was not
ordained until 23 Aug., 1815 : resigned through failing health
on the first Sunday of Nov., 1817, died 11 April, 1818, and
was interred at Bamford.
Solomon Ashton. — Born at Bury, Lanes, 22 Oct., 1774. His
early connexion was with the Methodists, for whom he
itinerated in North Yorks, Lanes, and S. Westmorland for a
couple of years. Then, inclining to Independency, he
preached as a supply for three Sundays at Old Indept. Chapel,
Stockport, in 1804, a cause then in a very low state. He was
invited to become its pastor, and was formally set apart for
that office on 19 June, 1806, having in the interval become
a student under Roby, entering the Academy on 22 April,
1805. At the Academy he was able to support himself, and
was not maintained by Mr. Spear. He went each Saturday to
Stockport and returned to Manchester on the Monday morn-
ing— an early "Student Pastorate". A new chapel (the
Tabernacle) was opened 23 Aug., 1807. Here Ashton re-
mained until his death — 14 Sept., 1836. • (Evangelical
Magazine, 1838, 53ff.)
George Kilpatrick. — "A native of Ireland". After a period at the
Academy was invited to supply Old Independent Chapel, Farn-
worth (the forerunner of the present Market Street Church),
in Oct., 1809, but after a year's service there was not re-
elected (Simeon Dyson, Rural Congregationalism, 20-1). Some
time later — circa July, 1813 — he assumed the pastoral over-
sight of the Bethesda (C.H.) Chapel, Tockholes, but died in
Mar., 1815 (Nightingale, Histy. Old Ind. Chapel, Tockholes,-
168). Slate (p. 21) says that Kilpatrick was never ordained :
"Deservedly esteemed as a truly pious man, but on account of
bodily affliction was incapable of much ministerial exertion".
Robert Maurice* Griffiths.— Born "in Wales" 1779, and baptized
at Llanfyllin, 26 May, in that year. Member of the Welsh
Calvinistic Methodist Church. Came to Manchester when 20
to perfect his knowledge of English, attended Roby's chapel
and subsequently became one of his students. Settled at
Flag Lane, Warrington, 1811-16, and then appointed to Kirk-
ham, 1816-48, with an itinerancy in the Fylde. In 1848 he
retired to Blackpool, where he gave much help in the early
days of the present Victoria Street Church. He returned to
Ki'rkham to live in 1854 and died there, 12 Aug., 1859, at
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08 51
the age of 80. (1860 Year Book, 186f. : Nightingale, Lan-
cashire None, I. 97-8; IV. 234.) (^Nightingale gives
Morris.)
James Morrow, whose name is given by Slate, p. 20, but for some
reason omitted from Nightingale's list, was appointed by the
Lancashire Congregational Union, on leaving the Academy in
1807, as an itinerant evangelist in the Fylde District, with his
centre at Poulton. He preached regularly at Poulton, Kirk-
ham, Clifton, Thornton, and Marton. In 1812 a church was
formed at Kirkham, as one had previously been at Poulton in
1809, and he transferred his home there. The Lanes. Union
first annual Report (Jan., 1808), says :
Mr. Morrow has now preached at nine or ten different
places in the Filde for the space of about nine months. At
some of these places his hearers amount near to a hundred
in number ; at others, to many more .... As yet, he has
not been able to get a suitable place to preach in at
Poulton ; he, therefore, speaks in his own house, which is
but very small.
In 1813 he removed from Kirkham to Leek, Staffs, where he
remained until his death in 1836.
The next two names are not included in the lists of students
given by Slate or Nightingale, although the latter has a footnote
(Lanes. None., IV. 12) to the effect that Adamson was one of
Roby's Students.
John Adamson. — Born in Scotland, 12 July, 1774, and left an
orphan early in life, came to Liverpool at the beginning of the
century and was a member of Newington Chapel, Liverpool.
He was at the Academy from 1805-07, and then settled as first
pastor of the church at Patricroft, 1807-21, being ordained on
30 Aug., 1808. He preached regularly also at Eccles,
Pendlebury, Folly Lane, Roe Green, and Boothstown. He
removed to Charlesworth, Derbyshire, in 1821, resigned in
1847, and died 31 Oct., 1848. (1848 Year Book, 209.)
William Silvester.— Born at Stafford, 19 Nov., 1777, the
son of James Silvester, an innkeeper. Apprenticed to a tailor
in Stafford in 1795, he removed in due course to Woburn,
where he married Mary Moore, returning with her to Stafford.
Became a member of Vine Street Church, Stafford, and later
of Roby's Church in Manchester, and then for about 15 months
was a student in the Academy. He was appointed to Sandbach
in April, 1807, as an itinerant evangelist, preaching in his own
hired room. Four months later, however, a barn "36' x 21'
4 *
52 Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08
with a gallery at one end" was bought and "opened unen-
cumbered of any debt". A new chapel (Hope) was built in
1837, and Silvester continued to serve here until his death on
1 Sept., 1846. He was "one of the first and one of the
greatest evangelists ever connected with this Union", says
the Report of the Cheshire Union for 1880. (Evangelical
Magazine, 18£8, 529ff — and references in Powicke, Hist, of
Cheshire Congl. Union.)
To his list of the students of Roby's Academy, Nightingale adds
the name of
James Pridie. — Born at Oxford, 22 Sept., 1786, one of 12
children, brought up in connexion with the Church of England.
He removed to London on business at the age of 20, and
thence, after a few years, to Manchester, where he joined him-
self to Roby's Church. He became an assistant master at
Leaf Square Academy from 1811-13. Nightingale, using
mainly data from the obituary notice in the 18? Jf Year Book
(355-7), says that he did this "to prepare himself in some
measure for the duties of the Christian ministry" and that after
three years at Leaf Square "he placed himself under Mr.
Roby for his theological course". If this order is correct,
then he cannot be regarded as one of the Academy Students,
since that was dissolved before the inception of Leaf Square.
The above details, moreover, suggest that he could hardly
have reached Manchester much before 1808 at earliest, and he
did not become a member of Roby's Church until 1811
(Nightingale, V. 136), which would seem to preclude the
possibility. His name is not given by Slate. Pridie resigned
from Leaf Square, where he had been engaged to "attend to
the instruction of the junior children", in July, 1813, after
having made unsuccessful application for admission upon the
foundation as a student. (Leaf Square Academy Minutes, 42,
99.) He settled in 1814 at Malpas, Cheshire, with the over-
sight of Boughton, and removed to New Windsor, Salford,
in 1816. He remained here until 1829, during the last ten
years also keeping a school to supplement his income. Called
to Zion Church, Halifax, in 1829, he served there until 1858,
during which period he became (2nd) Chairman of the West
Riding Congregational Union, and was District Secretary of
the West Riding Home Missionary Society, the Halifax
Auxiliaries of the Bible Society and the R.T.S. He died, 25
Jan., 1873, aged 87. (187 i Year Book, 355-7.)
Although the Grosvenor Street Academy is "officially" regarded
as having etosed its work in 1808, Roby's tutorial labours did not
-.*nd then. While not included bv the countv historians in the lists
Roby's Academy, Manchester, 1803-08 53
of his students, mention can hardly be omitted of some other men
who were trained by Roby for ministerial and missionary ser-
vice, among them not the least distinguished of his pupils. They
were: Robert Moffat, D.D. (See Diet. Nat. Biog., XXXVIII. 97
and Cong. Year Bk. 1884, 311-314; in Moffat's Missionary
Labours & Scenes in S. Africa (1846 edn., 72) he gives a passage
from Roby's lectures on "Revealed Religion" which is of interest
as shewing the type of theology taught); George Piatt (outline
career in Sibree, L.M.S. Register of Missionaries, No. 172);
Samuel Sheridan Wilson (ibid., No. 193) ; William Howe (ibid.,
No. 392) ; John Cummins (ibid., No. 255 and Cong. Year Bk. 1873,
321f); John Ince and John Hampson (Sibree, Nos. 187 and 190),
who were both prepared by Roby for later study at Gosport;
James Kitchingman (ibid., No. 167), and David Dunkerley (Cong.
Year Bk. 187 If, 323f), all known to have been students under Roby
after 1808.
Charles E. Surman.
{Continued from page 63)
wished to acquire the tongue, and instruction could be obtained in
Church Music. In the last five classes Latin was also taught on
request.
The students not only attended lectures, but also wrote essays
upon prescribed subjects and delivered sermons in rotation for
criticism by the tutors. One day in each week was given over to
Scripture exposition. All were required to speak in turn upon
passages chosen for that purpose, the tutor making concluding
observations, explanations, and criticisms as occasion required.
It will be seen from all this that the course of training which
the students received was of a high standard. Scottish Congre-
gationalism owed much, almost its very existence, or rather
persistence, to the interest and liberality of Robert Haldane. In
no way did he serve the cause better than in his work for the
seminary. It was his dream, and he abandoned himself to it. It
was criticized, mostly on the ground that his influence and power
over it were too strong. But there is no doubt that the life and
work of the young denomination were enormously enriched by the
steady flow of educated preachers which the seminary supplied.
And their quality was largely due to the determination of Haldane
that they should have the best that money could buy. His leaving
the denomination was the most serious loss that it suffered, but
his good work had already borne fruit in the churches.
R. F. Calder.
The Ministers of Lion Walk Church, Colchester.
RECENTLY Lion Walk Church, Colchester, one of the
oldest Congregational churches, has erected a "Name
Board" of its ministers dating from 1642.
The earliest name recorded is that of John Ward (1642-1644).
A great deal of research has been carried out to establish his
identity and to disentangle him from several others of the same
name and period. The only history of the church was compiled
by J. A. Tabor in 1861, and he assumed him to be the son of John
Ward (the elder), "Preacher of Haverhill". This was, however,
almost certainly incorrect. It has also been established that
Samuel Ward (a son of John of Haverhill) was not the colleague of
Bridge at Rotterdam as the Dictionary of National Biography
asserts, for he (Samuel) undoubtedly died and was buried as
Rector of St. Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich, in 1640.
What has been ascertained about the John Ward of Colchester
is that he left Norwich with his friend William Bridge, M.A.,
fleeing with him to Holland from the persecutions of Bishop
Wren. There is every right to assume that Ward also was a
Puritan clergyman of the Norwich diocese, but of what church it
has not yet been possible to ascertain. (There was a John Ward
at St. Swithins, Norwich, 1608-1647, and another John Ward at
St. Michael-at-Plea, Norwich, who died 28 June, 1634, neither of
wrhom, it will be seen, can have been the Colchester Ward.)
There is a possibility that Ward was identical with one of that
name who declined an invitation to the pastorate of the Presby-
terian Church at Utrecht in 1637. In any case he and Bridge came
to Rotterdam at about that date and joined themselves as mem-
bers to the English Independent Church there, which Hugh Peters
had founded in 1623. Soon after their admission both Bridge and
Ward were elected and ordained to the pastoral office. Within
two years however it would appear that Ward was deposed by
the Church after a dispute within it on church discipline, but later
was recalled and reinstated in his office. In or about 1641,
Bridge, Ward, and others returned to England, where in the
following year, Bridge became the first minister of the Congrega-
tional or Independent Church at Great Yarmouth. The con-
temporary records of that Church state :
After they came into Holland, divers joined themselves to
the Church at Rotterdam, and abode members five or six
years ; among whom were Master William Bridge and Master
54
The Ministers of Lion Walk Church, Colchester 55
John Ward, who also were chosen officers of the Church
there. But after the glad tidings of a hopeful Parliament
called and convened in England, divers of the Church — not
without hope of liberty there — returned into England. Upon
the return of divers at several times and sitting down in divers
places at Norwich, Yarmouth, etc., they found many lets and
impediments which hindered their present gathering. In the
meantime, Master John Ward being called to Colchester, did
there with others gather into church fellowship, and there
continued.
The record of Ward's ministry at Colchester is confirmed by his
will. The original has been perused and photographed at Somerset
House. It is dated 7 Aug., 1644 ; in it he is described as "Pastor
of a Church of Christ at Colchester" and he bequeaths certain
property of his estate in Rotterdam, thus linking him with cer-
tainty with the John Ward of the church there. An entry of burial
has also been found in the register of St. Botolph's, Colchester,
of "Master John Ward 7th August, 1644" (not 12 May, 1644, as is
erroneously stated in Browne's History of Congregationalism in
Norfolk and Suffolk). The entry is the only one for a long time
preceded by the word "Master" and denotes possibly "Master of
Arts" and certainly one of some social distinction and position.
It will be noted that the date of the will is identical with that of
the burial; is it fanciful to suppose that he died of the plague or
some other virulent disease and made his will, died, and was
buried on the same day?
The next name recorded is that of John Ellis (1645- ), with
the word "uncertain" against it. Tabor says his ministry began
in 1646, but gives no authority for his statement. Of him it can
be said that he was an Independent preacher of some note who
was regularly preaching in Colchester in 1645 and engaging there
in controversy with Presbyterians and others. He entered and
paid for a nephew of the same name at the Colchester Royal
Grammar School in May, 1645, whom he brought from Yorkshire
"because of the war". He is described in the school admission
register as "John Ellis, preacher (concionator) of St. Peter's,
Colchester".
Then came a period of about 40 years of which research reveals
nothing with certainty. But when it is remembered that these
years include the Siege of Colchester (1648), the Act of Uniformity
(1662), the Conventicle Act (1663), and the Five Mile Act (1665),
it is not surprising that, with the secrecy necessary for the
Church's continued existence, all records are lost, if indeed any
were kept. Whatever original books were kept are stated by
56 The Ministers of Lion Walk Church, Colchester
Tabor to have been lost ; the books in existence begin with the
pastorate of John Crisp (1764).
It is possible, however, that the well-known Owen Stockton,
M.A., was one of its ministers. He was born in 1630 and became
M.A. and a Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1653; after
a roving ministry in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Essex, he was
appointed "catechist" of his College and whilst still holding that
position was invited to occupy the pulpit of St. Andrew's, Cam-
bridge, ic 1653. A few years afterwards he was invited by the
Mayor and Corporation of Colchester to become Town Lecturer
(their chaplain), a position which William Bridge had occupied in
1631. He accepted and was to preach each Lord's Day in the
afternoon and every Wednesday in the forenoon, and on every
Midsummer Day, Michaelmas Day, Dennis's Day, and fifth of
November. He also offered to preach each Lord's Day morning
at St. James's Church without reward. With the Act of
Uniformity he was debarred from the exercise of his ministry and
shortly afterwards was suspended from his Lectureship. He
appears to have preached in his own house and was presented in
1663 by the Churchwardens of St. Botolph's for "holding a con-
venticle in his house" and "admonished to forbear". From his
diaries it is evident he was similarly engaged in 1665 in Colchester
and after an absence at Chatsham in Suffolk he returned to Essex
and in 1669 was again reported "for having a conventicle with
George Done". In the following year he was presented in the
Ecclesiastical Court at Ipswich. At the Indulgence in 1672
Stockton took out a licence on 16 Mar. to be "a Presbyterian and
Independent teacher" in Ipswich, and on 22 May a licence was
taken out for "the house of Robert Howlett in St. Martin's Lane,
Colchester, to be an Independent Meeting House" and on the
same day Stockton took out a licence to be "an Independent
teacher" in Colchester. He seems to have collaborated with
Edward Warren, M.A., the ejected minister of St. Peter's,
Colchester, who at the same time obtained a Presbyterian licence
"at his own house or that of John Rayner". They seem with un-
usual interdenominational fellowship for that period to have
preached alternately at each of those licensed houses, and their
joint congregations, at one period, worshipped together in the
Castle, then the property of Sir James Northfolk, Sergeant-at-
Arms of the House of Commons. Stockton died in 1680. Space
has been left for the insertion of other names at this period on the
board.
The next fixed date is 1691, for in that year William Rawlinson
built and put in trust a meeting-house for the Church, of which he
was the minister, in Moor Lane (now Priory Street). His original
The Ministers of Lion Walk Church, Colchester 57
will is also in existence, and in it he is described as "of Col-
chester, Minister of the Gospel", and reference is made to the
Trust Deed. He died in 1692 or 1693 at the age of 33. It is
worthy of comment that John Ward was buried in St. Botolph's
parish, Owen Stockton was presented for holding a conventicle
in his house by the churchwardens of St. Botolph's, Rawlinson
built a meeting-house in the same parish, and in the probate of
his will he is described as "late of St. Buttolph's parish".
Any information (or the means of acquiring it) more certainly
linking Ellis or Stockton, or any others of that period, with Lion
Walk Church, between Ward's death (1644) and the probable
date of the commencement of Rawlinson's pastorate (say 1684),
would be very welcome.
Rawlinson was followed by John Gledhill, who was pastor for
34 years (1693-1727). There is on record his funeral sermon,
preached by the Rev. John Barker, at the Moor Lane Meeting
House on 15 Dec, 1727, from which the following sentence sums
up his ministry : "How faithfully he laboured in his Lord and
Master's work, and how holily and unblameably he lived and
walked amongst you, ye are witnesses, and God also; "
Next came John Collins (1728-1737), the grandson of Rev. John
Collins, a graduate of Harvard (1649), who returned to England
during the Civil War and became chaplain to General Monk. John
Collins of Colchester completed his educational career at the
University of Utrecht. He was the grandfather of the Tabor who
wrote the history of the Church in 1861. Then followed Benjamin
Vowel (1738-1744) who falling seriously ill was succeeded by his
assistant, Ebenezer Cornell (1744-1763). It was during his
pastorate that the church became possessed of the four silver
communion cups, of beaker shape, which were used for over 150
years.
John Crisp (1764-1775) came next in the list, and after he had
been minister but two years the Church took the important
decision, owing to the dilapidated state of the Moor Lane build-
ing, to move to a more central position in the town, where a chapel,
a perfect octagon in shape, which was always known as the "Round
Meeting", was erected. Crisp subsequently held pastorates at
Ringwood, Hertford, and Harleston.
Then followed the long ministry of Giles Hobbs (1775-1808). He
died at the age of 71 and was interred in the graveyard at Lion
Walk, the only pastor to be so buried. John Savill (1809-1828)
after a ministry of nine years accepted a call to Halstead, but three
years later retired and returned to Colchester to live, until his death
in 1836.
Henry March (1829-1839) after a pastorate at Bungay and a
58 The Ministers of Lion Walk Church, Colchester
chaplaincy at Mill Hill came to Lion Walk in 1829, leaving ten
years later for Newbury. He was succeeded by Thomas William
Davids (1841-1874), the Church waiting for him to complete his
college training at Homerton. After about two years of ministry
some twenty to thirty members seceded from the fellowship and
formed themselves into a separate Church and built a chapel now
known as "Headgate". Davids was responsible for the establish-
ment of the four Mission Churches which are still maintained by
Lion Walk Church. He will be remembered chiefly, however, in
the denomination and outside it, as the author of that volume of
great research, Annals of Evangelical Nonconformity in Essex, or,
to give it its full title, Annals of Evangelical Nonconformity in the
County of Essex, from the time of Wycliffe to the Restoration;
with Memorials of the Essex Ministers who were ejected or
silenced in 1660-1662 , and Brief Notes of the Essex Churches
which originated with their Labours. This book was published in
1863 by Jackson, Walford and Hodder of 27 Paternoster Row.
The author says in its preface : "The volume was undertaken in
consequence of a request made to me in the beginning of last year
(1862) by the Committee of the Essex Congregational Union".
His MSS. notes, bound in about thirty volumes, are in the Con-
gregational library at the Memorial Hall, London, and must con-
tain a vast quantity of information never used in his book. He
was Secretary of the Essex Congregational Union (1858-1873).
During his pastorate the present church was built in 1863 and was
strongly criticized by some for its style of architecture with its
steeple.
After him came James Llewelyn (1875-1883) who resigned owing
to continued ill health, to be followed by Thomas Robinson, B.A.
(1885-1900), members of whose family are still associated with
the Church, notably his daughter (Mrs. C. B. Alderton, J. P.,
C.C.). He was Secretary of the Cheshire Union (1870-1885) and
of the Essex Union (1894-1904).
The remaining five ministers are still living and hold honoured
places and names in our denomination.
Frank Y. Leggatt, M.A. (1902-1907), at Aberdeen;
Ernest M. Drew, B.D. (1909-1912), Moderator of the
East Midland Province of the Congregational Union;
Kenneth LI. Parry, B.Sc. (1913-1921), at Bristol;
Douglas W. Langridge, M.A. (1922-1934), at Brighton;
and the present minister, Leslie J. Tizard, B.A., B.D., B.Litt.,
who in 1935 was called to the pastorate after five years
at Southampton.
E. Alec Blaxill.
Robert Haldane's Theological Seminary
THE Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home was
instituted in Edinburgh towards the end of 1797. The
deciding factor was the successful missionary tour of the
Northern Counties of Scotland undertaken that summer by James
Alexander Haldane and John Aikman. The conviction of a group
of earnest people was confirmed by the travellers that there was
an urgent need for the preaching of the Gospel in Scotland which
was not being met by the Established Church. The Society was
therefore formed to supply preachers and teachers and readers of
the Scriptures at its own expense, and on a non-sectarian basis,
wherever there was need. Dissenting ministers were obtained
from England and sent on tours; but most of those engaged to
read the Scriptures, to teach in the Sabbath Schools, and even to
preach the Gospel, were laymen without any training whatever.
The Established Church immediately discredited and violently
opposed this "lay-preaching", and further severely censured those,
particularly ministers, who countenanced or encouraged it. The
Society urged its converts to join themselves to the Church, but
this opposition and the nature of their conversion and faith drove
them to prefer private "fellowship meetings" among themselves.
It was decided, therefore, to break with Establishment and to form
a religious body on Congregational principles. It was in no sense
an organized sect — the Congregational Union of Scotland was not
formed till 1812: the Society simply became Congregational in
thought and life.
This done, it became immediately necessary that regular places
of worship should be set up in the big centres, and arrangements
were started for the building of "Tabernacles" in Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Dundee and later in other places. Mr. Robert Haldane,
who largely financed the Society, said of them :
The general idea affixed to the houses called Tabernacles is
that of large places of worship, where as great a variety as
possible is kept up in preaching by employing different
ministers, in order to excite and maintain attention to the
Gospel, especially in such as are living in open neglect of
religion.
It was now urgently felt that efforts should be made to obtain a
supply of trained men to meet the needs of these churches and to
undertake itinerant and local work. So the Society set itself to
consider the provision, as far as lay within its reach, of suitable
60 Robert Haldane's Theological Seminary
education for those who offered themselves for the work of the
ministry. They felt that those who stood forward in public as
teachers of divine truth should be persons "qualified by liberal
studies and professional instruction, as well as by piety and
natural talents".
Robert Haldane determined to be responsible for the provision
of this education. His first plan was revealed in a letter to Mr.
John Campbell and dated 6 Oct., 1798.
I intend to give one year's education to 10 or 12 persons of
any age that may be fit for it, under Mr. Bogue, with a view
to the ministry.
Dr. Bogue, with whom Haldane already had associations, con-
ducted a seminary in Gosport, Hampshire. This plan, however,
was abandoned on the advice of James Garie and Greville Ewing,
prominent members of the Society, who feared the effects of the
well-known liberal political leanings of Dr. Bogue. This did not
prevent Haldane from giving some effect to his purpose by secur-
ing, partly by personal influence and partly by pecuniary aid, that
ten young men were sent to Gosport to be educated for the ministry
in England. One of these was John Angell James, to whom Dr.
Bogue was wont to refer as one of "Mr. Haldane's students".
Haldane immediately determined to institute a seminary under
his own personal superintendence. One of the keenest of his
supporters had been a minister of the Established Church; but
now, to be precise on 1 Dec, 1798, Greville Ewing resigned
from the Church and associated himself wholly with the new move-
ment. It was decided that he should take charge of the proposed
Tabernacle in Glasgow, but as it was not to be ready for him till
the middle of the following year he was offered the post of tutor in
the seminary. He accepted, and the first class was opened in
Edinburgh in Jan., 1799. It had been decided to accept twenty
students, but of those who applied twenty-four could not be re-
fused, and they became nearly thirty before the session ended.
They resided with friends or in private lodgings and met Ewing
in a room provided by him, whether in his own house or not was
not known even by his daughter who wrote his memoirs. In
May of that year Ewing moved to Glasgow to prepare for the
ministry he commenced there in July. (This Church still exists
as Hillhead Congregational Church.) The class moved with him
and except for brief vacations in the two summers remained under
him until it closed in Nov., 1800. One of the students (John
Munro) afterwards wrote :
Our class was selected from the different bodies of Pres-
byterians, and when placed under Mr. Ewing's care I am not
aware that there was a single individual amongst us that
Robert Haldane's Theological Seminary 61
could be called a Congregationalist in sentiment . . . Mr.
Ewing's plan was to make the Bible its own interpreter, by
comparing one part with another. In this way Congrega-
tional principles insinuated themselves, almost imperceptibly
into our minds . . . We had an opportunity in the Circus
Church of seeing Congregational principles embodied and
exemplified ; and comparing what we saw with the apostolic
epistles our Presbyterian principles were shaken and ulti-
mately became totally untenable. But with some of us the
change was very gradual.
Meanwhile a class was started in Dundee as a preparatory to
training under Ewing. It was placed under the charge of the
Rev. William Innes, brother-in-law of the Haldancs, who had
been minister of the Established Church in Stirling and chaplain
of the garrison, but had resigned and was now in Dundee pre-
paring to take charge of the Tabernacle to be opened there. In
Dec, 1800, the class, almost forty in number, moved to Glasgow
for a year under Ewing, the period of training, however, being
extended to fifteen months. When this class was dispersed Ewing
resigned his tutorship. He had for some time been impatient of
the control exercised by Robert Haldane over both the Tabernacle
and the seminary. As far as the latter was concerned he wished
to have full control himself, or rather that the classes should be
organized into an Academy instead of being a private seminary
under a dictator. To this Haldane, who of course paid and em-
ployed Ewing, would not agree. Ewing wrote and printed a
pamphlet of 206 pages setting forth his complaints, to which
Haldane replied with a volume of 406 pages, offered for sale at
a shilling ! The resignation was accepted.
A third class of twenty-two students had been begun under Innes
in Dundee in 1801. At the end of the first year, however, their
studies were interrupted when they were sent out to meet the great
demand for supplies at preaching stations rapidly springing up.
They came back to Edinburgh and finished their studies in 1804.
In 1802 the fourth class was begun in Edinburgh under John
Aikman (companion of J. A. Haldane in the Missionary Tour to
the Northern Counties and minister of North College Street, now
Augustine Chapel, Edinburgh, from 1802 to 1834) and Thomas
Wemyss (author of Job and his Times, 1839, and Clavis Symbolica,
1840). For a year they had the assistance of John Campbell,
associate of the Haldanes, organizer of the Edinburgh Tract
Society and the Edinburgh Gratis Sabbath School Society,
later to be missionary-traveller in the unexplored interior
of Africa. He resigned at the end of the first year, and his place
62 Robert Haldane's Theological Seminary
was taken in 1803 by the Rev. William Stephens, minister for the
three preceding years of George Street (now Belmont Street),
Aberdeen, and now to be for a few years assistant to J. A. Haldane
at the Tabernacle in Edinburgh.
The fifth class was started in 1803 under Aikman, Wemyss, and
Stephens, but at the end of that year Aikman resigned because of
the pressure of his work as pastor of the Church in North College
Street. His place was taken in 1804 by the Rev. George Cowie,
another minister who resigned from the Established Church to
join the new body, becoming minister of the Montrose Church from
1801 to 1804, assistant to Aikman to 1812, and again minister in
Montrose to 1824. The fourth and fifth classes together numbered
about sixty and met on a part of the ground floor of the Tabernacle.
Meanwhile two preparatory classes had been started by Haldane
for students who wished to go to Edinburgh but would profit by
preliminary training. One was at Armagh and under a Mr.
Hamilton. The other was at Elgin and under the Rev. William
Ballantyne, who had been minister of the Free Presbyterian
Church in Elgin for three years before becoming minister of the
Tabernacle built there in 1804. Quite a number of students were
sent up to the seminary from these classes.
The sixth class was formed in 1804 under Wemyss, Stephens,
and Cowie for the first year, but under Cowie alone for the second.
The seventh was started in 1805 under Cowie and William Walker,
student of the fifth class. The eighth, under the same tutors,
started in Sept., 1806, but Cowie resigned in the spring of 1808.
The ninth was formed at the end of 1807 under Walker alone and
met till Dec, 1808, when the seminary ceased.
The cause of the cessation was the withdrawal of the financial
support which made the classes possible. For some little time
Robert Haldane had, with not a few others, been inclined to alter
his views about the fundamentals of the body he had done so much
to form, notably about "mutual exhortation", the "plurality of
elders", and baptism. In 1808 the two Haldanes, Innes, and others
became Baptists, and the source of liberal financial aid on which
many of the Churches and the seminary depended dried up. The
seminary had to be closed at once. It is not necessary to speak
here of the Memorial for a Theological Academy drawn up in 1 804
by Greville Ewing, of his renewal of the Memorial in 1808 when
the classes ceased, and of the ultimate realization of his hopes in
1811 when the Glasgow Theological Academy was formed — now
the Scottish Congregational College and situate in Edinburgh.
During the nine years of its existence nearly three hundred
students passed through the seminary.
Robert Haldane's Theological Seminary 63
Among the three hundred . . . there were some choice spirits
who, having got a start in learning, pushed on their private
studies with vigour and obtained success1.
Of these should be mentioned John Campbell, John Paterson,
David Russell, and William Orme. Of the rest many entered the
Congregational ministry in Scotland, some became itinerant
preachers, some crossed the Border or went abroad, and not a
few left the denomination. No records of the classes remain, and
it is possible to name and place accurately into their class lists
only some fifty. We are fortunate in possessing, however, in
W. Lindsay Alexander's life of John Watson (Secretary of the
Congregational Union of Scotland, 1813-44) an account of the con-
ditions obtaining in the fifth class, of which he was a student.
The students were entirely maintained by Robert Haldane. He
paid for their lodgings, medical attendance, education, books, and
gave to each student £24 for the first year and £30 for the second.
He provided a well-stocked library for their use. In the Evan-
gelical Magazine for Feb., 1843, it is computed that the seminary
cost him upwards of £20,000. His total expenditure in ten years
on the spread of the Gospel must have been fully £80,000.
The students came from all parts of Scotland and Ireland, and
were divided into three bodies, Highlanders, Lowlanders, and
Irishmen. A student was appointed as censor over each body to
watch over the sayings, doings, and opinions of all and report
anything unusual to Haldane. There is no mention of any resent-
ment being shown at this petty tyranny.
The course normally lasted two years with a vacation of six
weeks in the summer of each year. During the vacations those
students who were deemed competent for such work were sent
out, sometimes alone, more frequently in couples, to itinerate in
different parts of the country, preaching the Gospel as they had
opportunity. Thus in the vacation of 1804 John Watson and
William Walker toured Clackmannanshire, Fife, Kinross, Angus,
Forfar, and Aberdeen, preaching as they went. On Sundays also
in the session the senior students were often sent to assist
ministers and supply vacant churches. Several preaching stations
in Edinburgh and district were regularly maintained by them.
Juniors were rarely sent out, but had to read history in their spare
time on Sundays — Mosheim, Milner, Robertson, Rollin.
The course embraced English grammar, rhetoric, elements of
Greek and Hebrew, and systematic theology. A full list of the
books used and provided for each student by Haldane is given by
Alexander. A teacher in French was also provided for those who
(Continued on page 53)
1 History of the Relief Church, 402.
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EDITORIAL.
OUR warm thanks are due to the Rev. Frederick Piatt, M.A.,
D.D., Warden of John Wesley's Chapel ("the New Room
in Horsefair") for the fascinating address on early
Methodism in Bristol which he delivered to the Society on
October 12th, 1937. Dr. Piatt knows every stone and every
association of "the New Room", which, as he told us, is the only
building in the world which spans the whole period of Wesley's
evangelical ministry. Under the direction of Sir Geo. Oatley the
chapel has been restored with the utmost care, even the walls
having been scraped back to the original coat of paint. The same
clock and candlesticks are there as in Wesley's day, and outside
are the stables where the first preachers stabled their horses. Up-
stairs we saw the rooms where Wesley spent more time in his
itinerant life than anywhere else, planned by him in collegiate
fashion with separate bedrooms opening out of a common-room.
Among the many Wesley mementoes is the clock which was tick-
ing in Epworth Rectory when Wesley was born and which still
keeps good time. Interest was shown by the large attendance,
and the thanks of the Society to Dr. Piatt were expressed by the
Rev. K. L. Parry, B,Sc.
* # # *
The Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Memorial
Hall on May 10th, the President in the Chair. The officers were
re-elected, and in addition the Rev. Geoffrey F. Nuttall, M.A.,
B.D., was appointed Assistant Editor. The Balance Sheet,
printed within, was presented by the Treasurer, and formally
adopted. It shows that the Society is gradually "getting on to
its feet", and we hope that next year it may be possible to revert
to two issues of the Transactions — in April and September. This
Meeting of the Society will, we think, be historic, for to it the Rev.
C. E. Surman outlined his ambitious project of a "Directory of
Congregational Biography". Mr. Surman 's courage in tackling
this tremendous task greatly appealed to the Society, and its
members pledged themselves to do all in their power to assist him.
As a result of subsequent publicity Mr. Surman has received a
large correspondence, but in the tracking down of thousands of
men and their ministries a great deal of help is needed. If
readers learn of histories of local churches with lists of ministers,
will they communicate with Mr. Surman at once (96 Crescent
Road, Reading)?
66 Editorial
Mr. Surman's work is stimulating- research in many quarters.
Many of the Colleges are compiling lists of their alumni, and
many historians of County Unions and local churches are hard at
work. Anything the officers of the Society can do to assist such
historians will be gladly done. The Congregational Library con-
tains a good deal of unexamined material which may contain
valuable information, and it is more than time some of its manu*
script collections were gone through with care. In a subsequent
issue we hope to describe some of them.
At the moment the Librarian's Room is in the hands of
decorators and the Students' Room in a state of chaos compared
with which spring-cleaning is as nothing. Eventually it is hoped
to have available in that room :
(1) The usual works of reference such as the D.N.B., the
E.R.E., etc.
(2) Works of reference on Church History.
(3) The "Carmichael Books" of the last ten years.
(4) Reports of Reunion Conferences, etc.
(5) Recent books on Worship.
The Library is primarily a research library for students of Noncon-
formist history, and it is gratifying to find it is used by American
and Continental as well as British students. At the same time it
is desired to make it as helpful as possible to the ordinary reader,
though, of course, it is out of the question to keep it fully supplied
with modern books.
* * * *
While there are many signs of activity on the Congregational
front, it is encouraging to note the quantity and quality of the
work being published on subjects akin to those with which our
Society is specially concerned. Some such books are reviewed by
Mr. Nuttall in this issue. Among others Mr. J. F. Mozley has
given us an admirable Life of Tyndale, and in the immense out-
put produced by the bicentenary of John Wesley's conversion, the
translation of Father Piette's John Wesley in the Evolution of
Protestantism should not be overlooked : its 200 or so introduc-
tory pages are perhaps the most important part of the book. Dr.
W. K. Jordan has just issued the third volume (1640-1660) of his
very full The Development of Religious Toleration in England,
and Professor W. C. Abbott the first volume of the Writings and
Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. Miss Garrett's The Marian Exiles
students of the origins of Puritanism will find of service, though
it is a pity she does not tell us more about the exiles after "the
Lord showed mercy unto England in removing Queen Mary by
Editorial 67
death". Professor J. W. Allen has followed up his survey of
political thought in the age of Elizabeth by Vol. 1 of English
Political Thought, 1603-1660. Unitarian scholars in England
have been prominent in recent publication, showing that Alexander
Gordon is not without successors, while in Scotland Professor
G. D. Henderson and others have produced some good work. Our
sister Societies are very active : we were privileged to deliver the
Annual Lecture to the Presbyterian Society last winter, and the
Baptist Society included in its Annual Meeting a very interesting
visit to Lambeth Palace, in which we should do well to follow
them some day.
America is now getting to the time of its tercentenaries, and
Dr. Oscar E. Maurer, the new Moderator of the General Council
of the Congregational Churches, has just published the history of
the First Church of New Haven, of which he has been pastor for
the last thirty of its 300 years.
This does not pretend to be anything like a complete record of
historical activity since the issue of our last number but it will
serve to indicate the extent of historical studies of which members
of our Society should be aware.
* * * *
Such awareness might be useful in "keeping up to scratch"
those responsible for such undertakings as the Dictionary of
National Biography. Allowing for the fact that religion is now
but one of many interests in life, and not the central and solitary
interest it once was, we cannot but be struck at the scurvy treatment
divines and theologians now receive from the editors of the
Dictionary of National Biography : soldiers and sportsmen seem
infinitely more important in their eyes than scholars (if their con-
cern be religion) and saints. It would be well if all students who
become aware of this fact as they use the new volumes of the
Dictionary of National Biography would make their views known.
* * * *
Our Autumnal Meeting will be of an unusual character. It will
be a hundred years in November since Andrew Martin Fairbairn
was born, and the Congregational Union of England and Wales
is co-operating with the Society in a Fairbairn Celebration. This
will be held at the United College, Emm Lane, Bradford, on
Wednesday afternoon, October 12th, at 3 p.m. It is peculiarly
fitting that the Meeting should be held at the College, for one of
the Colleges represented in United is Airedale, of which Fair-
bairn was Principal before he went to Oxford. The Principal of
the College, the Rev. E. J. Price, M.A., B.D., will speak, and
the main address will be delivered by Dr. R. S. Franks, Principal
of Western College, Bristol, and one of the most distinguished of
5 *
68 Editorial
Fairbairn's students : his subject will be "Fairbairn's Contribu-
tion to Theology". Our President, another of Fairbairn's old
students, will be the Chairman. The College Chapel is not large
and members of the Society should make a point of being there
in good time. Tea will be provided at the College for those who
notify the Secretary of the Society before Sept. 12th. As Union
delegates are also being invited to send in names for tea on the
official form, this notice only concerns those members of the Society
who are not delegates.
* * * *
The County Council of Warwickshire deserves all praise for
the manner in which it is publishing the County Records. Vol.
Ill, now before us, again skilfully edited by Mr. S. C. Ratcliff
and Mr. H. C. Johnson, in production, annotation and indexing
is a model of what such a work ought to be. Here we have
reproduced the Quarter Sessions Order Book for Easter, 1650 to
Epiphany, 1657. It contains astonishingly little about ecclesias-
tical affairs, but its entries form an intimate picture of life in the
rural England of the 17th century. The only entry (the day after
the feast of Epiphany, 1650) in which Cromwell is mentioned may
be quoted as an illustration of the entries :
Magdalen Varnam, 18d. a week of Birmingham. Upon con-
sideration had of the letters received from his Excellency the lord
general Cromwell on behalf of Magdalen Varnam, widow, whose
husband died in the services of this commonwealth, and of her
petition now exhibited, it is ordered by this court that the overseers
of the poor of Birmingham shall from henceforth pay to the said
Magdalen towards her maintenance eighteen pence a week until
they shall show cause to the contrary to be allowed of by this
court.
* * ■* *
Particulars are still wanted about William Beardsley, aged
30, and his wife Maria, aged 26, who with three children sailed
in the Planter for America in 1635. There is a note about them
in Urwick's Nonconformity in Herts saying that they and other
passengers "brought certificates from the minister of St. Albans,
co. Herts, 2nd Aprilis 1635".
A Directory of Congregational Biography
THE subject-matter of this paper has about it little of that
erudition or originality which is normally associated with
presentations to such a learned Society as this. It is no
more than a brief account of something- attempted and an appeal
for its practical pursuit to completion.
The late Sir J. M. Barrie, in delivering his Rectorial Address,
Courage, made reference to the illustrious literary Rectors who
had preceded him in that honourable office and deliverance, and
added : "My more humble branch of literature may be described
as playing hide-and-seek with angels". I defer for the moment
any allusion to our denominational historians, but I may perhaps
borrow the turn of phrase thus suggested to describe my humble
branch of historical recreation as playing hide-and-seek with the
skeleton careers of some who were a little more than angels and
others a little lower than they : the disinterment and re-articulation
of the biographical bones of men
who were honoured in their generations, and were a glory in
their days, and have left a name behind them to declare their
praises,
as well as of many others, largely forgotten men.
When, at the end of the 18th century, John Howie, the Ayrshire
farmer, published his tome on the lives of The Scots Worthies,
he prefaced to his collection these lines :
I considered that to collect into one volume the most
material relations with respect to as many of them as could
be obtained from such historical records, biographical
accounts, and other authenticated manuscripts as I could have
access to, together with the substance of the lives already in
print, would not only prove useful, as giving the reader a
view all at once of that which before was scattered up and
down in so many quarters, but also as freeing it of the many
inconveniences to which small pamphlets are liable . . .
What Howie felt concerning the desirability of a comprehen-
sive work of reference with respect to the Scottish Covenanters,
many have felt regarding our Congregational Worthies, and
every would-be writer of the history of a church or churches must
have wished that some sort of index of Congregational Biography
were existent which would provide "a view all at once of that
which was scattered up and down in so many quarters".
70 A Directory of Congregational Biography
The summary lists of Ministers Deceased in the Congregational
Year Books for 1901, 1926, 1930, etc., aire very valuable guides,
but the six thousand or so obituary notices included in that publi-
cation in the past 92 years represent, I believe, no more than
roughly one half of the names and careers of our ministers, and
include all too many that are deficient and/or inaccurate. Since
1846, when that hardy annual first made its appearance, there have
been many hundreds of faithful ministers, not a few of real
eminence, who have no memorial therein, and before this (and
especially prior to 1840, when Blackburn's Congl. Calendar pre-
sented its statistical returns), the searcher for biographical material
is in much worse plight. In the Evangelical and Congre gaiional
Magazines the longer memoirs are indexed (though not too well),
but the brief paragraphs which record the deaths, removals, etc.,
of large numbers of our ministers can only be traced by a page
to page search through the volumes of 50 years.
Calamy did us good service when he put on record the names
and works of the Ejected, and one has sometimes wished that Dr.
Peel had made his useful little volume embrace One Thousand
Eminent Congregationatists instead of A Hundred — though even
that number would not be a tithe of the whole, and historically
we cannot ignore the many of no especial eminence save in the
sight of God and in their fidelity to their spheres in obscurity.
Thanks to Calamy, just mentioned, to Palmer, and now to
the Rev. A. G. Matthews, we have fairly full and accurate infor-
mation about the Bartholomeans. Some material (imperfectly
indexed) about the late 17th and early 18th century ministers and
congregations is gathered up in the MSS of Hunter, Evans,
Thompson, and Walter Wilson, with some supplementation by
Alexander Gordon, by T. S. James's monumental work on the
litigation and legislation on the Presbytero-Independent contro-
versies, in Thomas and Joshua Wilson's notes and corres-
pondence, and so on.
In broad outline and some sectional detail, we have printed
histories of those early centuries in Neal, Toulmin, Bogue and
Bennett, Joseph Fletcher, Robert Vaughan, John Waddington,
R. W. Dale, etc., with numerous local works up to the early years
of the present century.
Yet, apart from the Rev. Francis Wrigley's account of the
Yorkshire Union (1923), the Rev. A. G. Matthews's Staffordshire
record of the following year, and Mr. Thomas Whitehead's
History of the Dales Churches (1930), plus, of course, articles in
the Transactions and Dr. Peel's Centenary Survey of the Union,
These Hundred Years, little has been done outside individual
A Directory of Congregational Biography 71
churches to verify, amplify, or publish detailed history of the
denomination in the last three decades.
Moreover, the "standard" works on most counties are out-
dated and frequently unreliable, having been written in days when
communication and reference presented greater difficulties than
they now do. MiaH's Congregationalism in Yorkshire is seventy
years old, and scrappy, and Bryan Dale unfortunately did not pro-
duce a later version (though his MSS remain to be used in the
United College Library and some of his local articles are in print
in the Yorkshire Union's Year Books). Nightingale's Lancashire
Nonconformity gathers up Halley, Slate, and many others, but
wants 40 years of additions and one index instead of six. His
Cumberland and Westmorland volumes give us little about the
Independents beyond what may now be found in Calamy Revised
and in Lyon Turner's Original Records.
Browne's Norfolk and Suffolk history of sixty years ago has
in part been revised by Hosken in more recent years, as Urwick's
Cheshire was by Powicke in 1906 : deal's Surrey of two years
later (1908), added a little to Waddington's of 1866, but is
notoriously unreliable (and un-indexed, to boot) : Davids's
Evangelical Nonconformity in Essex (1863) and Robert Burls 's
partial survey of Congregationalism in the same county (1848)
take us back beyond living memory. So the list might be
extended to Walter Wilson's Dissenting Meeting Houses, etc.,
in London (1808-14), Coleman's Northants (1853), Sibree's
Warwickshire (1855), J. T. Barker's Lincolnshire (1860), Caston's
Bristol of the same year, Urwick's Herts (1884), and his
Worcester record (1897), Stribling's very imperfect Wilts and
East Somerset (1897), Dr. John Brown's Centenary Narrative of
the Bedfordshire Association (1896), Elliot's Shropshire (1898),
Densham and Ogle's Dorset (1899), or to W. H. Summers's
Berks, South Oxon and South Bucks (1905).
A generation has passed since the last of these, and we have
not supplemented their work to any appreciable degree, while
there remain a number of English County Unions which have no
published records at all.
This is by no means due, in the main, to lack of material. In
addresses, funeral and commemorative sermons, newspaper and
magazine articles, church manuals, pamphlets, County Year
Books, and in MS, exist manifold records of our churches and of
the lives and labours of our ministers and laymen. Well might
John Blackburn1, practically the first statistician of our Union and
1 Blackburn reported in the first Year Book, 1846, that full records of all
churches to that date, stoutly bound in seven volumes, were securely deposited
for the use of later historians. Does anyone know where?
72 A Directory of Congregational, Biography
Associations as distinct from the denominational recorders, say
(in 1846) :
We are a people who have a history, but we neglect our
documents.
The very wealth of material probably discourages rather than
encourages now-a-days, and if the would-be local historian comes
away from his search disappointed, it is not so much because the
cupboard is bare, but because the shelves are so crowded and
unclassified that he cannot find what he wants. One of the prob-
lems, at least, is that of providing an adequate source-book which
shall give a conspectus of our history and a key to the treasure
chamber.
The field is now so wide, the noble army so numerous, that any
attempt at the compilation of a record which should be at once
exhaustive and literary is manifestly impossible, but the prepara-
tion of a Directory bringing together essential details and dates
is, I believe, not only over-due but possible. The immediate result
may be little more than a collection of bones — and those very dry —
but around such a framework a body may be moulded : without
it there can be only an incoherent mass or a monstrosity.
The practical problem is, Where and How to begin.
Some years ago your President encouraged me to compile
Registers of the student lines of the early Academies and later
Colleges in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and while I was searching
the records for details of the lives and works of these particular
men, I began to file cards giving the names, date and place of
birth, Academy, College and/or University, pastoral and pro-
fessional appointments, publications, time of death, etc., of other
ministers to whom I found reference, together with the sources of
my information.
An early discovery (not unique or original) was that while in
the matter of scope and accuracy our year books and histories
excel the kindred publications of most, if not all, other denomina-
tions, they left much to be desired.
(That undue reliance cannot be placed on these "official'*
memoirs will be appreciated by those who have had occasion to
try and secure them for inclusion in the Year Book, and by those
who consult them for information. Let one example suffice —
from the 1880 C.Y.B. :
J was born "in the West of England, 1800. I
believe his first church was the English Church at Llanelly.
I know he was afterwards at Cardiff, Newport, and, I believe,
at Portishead, but I cannot give these places in sure
sequence. (There are no dates.)
A Directory of Congregational Biography 73
Other, more apparently certain, records reveal the need for
caution and verification. An obituary in the 1876 C.Y.B. states
that a certain man "served churches at Keighley, Fordingbridge,
Paisley and Ledbury" (no dates again). Investigation has
revealed that he ministered to at least six other churches in addi-
tion to those named, and I am still left with two lacunae in his
ministerial record unaccounted for. These are both fairly
"modern" cases !)
Fortunately many of our ministers remained faithful to their
first love and the story of their life-work is set in one scene : not
a few managed to combine an itinerant ministry with their
Independency and were true wanderers on the face of the earth.
The best — or worst — example I have found thus far is of a man
who in the course of 44 years' ministry managed to serve 22
churches in association with six different denominations, of which
our own was the one of his last sojourning.
It remained to be found that many churches have no record of
their own history —wide correspondence showed that vestry fires
have been all too common, and resigning Church Secretaries who
took their minute books with them, or — presumably — executors
who treated them as so much wastepaper.
A very little inquiry into the published histories of quite a
number of our local churches showed that they must have been
compiled from unverified tradition or from defective accounts —
that dates are wantonly guessed at — and that an all too common
phrase, "nothing is known regarding the next ministers, or the
next years", covers a multitude of sins of omission which
could have been rectified if a biographical index had been avail-
able to show when and where men had served. Deliverance from
parochialism is as valuable historically as religiously.
It became apparent, therefore, that one quite helpful stage in
the work lay in the preparation of two indexes : the first of the
names and stated pastorates of all known ministers of the denom-
ination, as revealed by student rolls, obituaries, published
histories and available MSS : the second of the ministerial succes-
sions of all existing and extinct churches so far as procurable.
Cross-checking frequently revealed gaps and discrepancies in
each, and provided names and localities to fill in and emend the
other.
Alongside it went a minor series of references giving dates of
the formation of societies, the erection, enlargement, demolition,
or rebuilding of churches.
This work has now gone about as far as one man can carry
it, even if it were made a lifetime's work instead of a leisure-hour
occupation.
71 A Directory of Congregational Biography
There are filed about five thousand complete skeleton biogra-
phies and a similar number of loose bones, largely identified but
lacking joints, representing an analysis of the obituaries in the
Year Books, Evangelical and other periodical magazines, and all
published histories of churches and counties on which I have been
able to set my hands, supplemented by details from a number of
MSS, and correspondence with ministers and church secretaries.
In order to make this as accurate and exhaustive as may be,
there is now needed the co-operation of a correspondent in every
County or District who would be willing to inquire for wanted
data in his area ; and probably the issue of a circular something
on the lines of one sent out over the name of G. Currie Martin by
this Society in 1900 (see Transactions, IX. 197)2.
This questionnaire read :
The Committee of the above Society have resolved to invite
from all Churches (formed prior to the year 1750) answers to
the annexed queries in order to facilitate the preparation of
accurate historical information. May I ask your kind
co-operation in the matter by letting me have as early and
full a reply as it is in your power to give?
Church
1. Has any history of your Church been issued in any form.
If so, can we procure a copy?
2. Does your Church possess any original records of its
history? How far do these date back?
3. If such are in your possession, are you willing to have
copied for us interesting and important extracts ; or, on
production of sufficient guarantee, to permit us to have
them until such extracts are made?
4. If the original records are not in your possession, can you
tell us where they are, or when and where they were last
traced ?
Though anxious to prevent the overloading of the question-
naire lest it meet with the same fate as the too ambitious one
sent out in 1820 by the editors of the Congregational Magazine —
vide Albert Peel, These Hundred Years, p. 16,f — I would suggest
a fifth inquiry :
5. Would you be good enough to add a list of the pastors
of your church from its formation to the present time, so
far as they are known, together with the dates of their
2 What became of the fruit — if any — of this inquiry? The writer has only
been able to find a few isolated replies in the Library.
A Directory of Congregational Biography 75
appointment and resignation or death, indicating, if
known, whence they came and whither they removed?
There are in round figures about 4000 possible lists to be
gathered in, added to which may be fully another thousand records
of churches now extinct.
Where details are not forthcoming, they will need — so far as
is possible — to be reconstructed by search of the manuscripts, Year
Books and other sources available : many dates will need to be
supplied or verified, and in the matter of men who left our minis-
try, or of churches which passed into other hands, correspondence
may be necessary with successors, descendants, etc.
This analysis will undoubtedly help to establish the dates of
some churches, and to upset others now assigned or claimed.
It is to be feared that pride in ancestry has led not a few communi-
ties to ante-date their origins without justification. Where a
minister was ejected in 1660 or 1662, there is a tendency to assume
that there must have been a local Church founded before or at
that time, and that it has been consistently Independent ever since,
but inquiry and available data suggest that some of our societies
are by no means entitled to the venerability they claim in the
Year Book.
The printed history of one of them in the West Country openly
acknowledges that it was not formed until 1688, for example, but
it stands in the Year Book as gathered in 1662 : another in the
same county, also alleged Bartholomean, was not formed until
1706; yet another from the opposite end of the country has this
considered judgment recorded by a historian of acknowledged
repute among us :
For some reason or other, the Congregational Church at
W is given in the Denom" national Year Book as
originating in 1666. This is quite a mistake. It is not
older than the 19th century. An earlier Nonconformist in-
terest of about 1789, whose Minister adopted Socinian senti-
ments, was abandoned about 1813; but Congregationalism
does not appear to have been connected with this move-
ment . . .
Although that was written upwards of 30 years ago, the official
dating of the church remains as 1666 in the current Year Book.
The intermingling of Presbyterian and Independent strains in
the earlier years also raises difficulties which are not easy to
lay in a survey even of this kind. When a church gradually
evolved from Presbyterian ism into Independency, it seems fairly
safe, perhaps, to assign a ministerial succession which includes
the Presbyterian fathers. But many of our churches were hived
76 A Directory of Congregational, Biography
off from Presbyterian stock, the parent and daughter communi-
ties existing alongside each other for long periods : some still
continue as Unitarian and Congregational respectively. Are we
then entitled to date our churches to the foundation of the original
Presbyterian meeting, as is often done, or only to the time of
secession ?
The fact of the existence of an early Presbyterian community
in a stated town also gives rise to another form of false deduction.
It is perhaps best exemplified by a specific case. The church at
Romsey, Hants (of which our President was pastor in his earlier
years) is almost undoubtedly entitled to its 1662 dating. But its
history, as published, indicates its founder to have been Thomas
Warren, A.M., the ejected rector of Houghton, Hants, with a
Presbyterian succession through Samuel Tomlins, Phineas Wads-
worth, William Johnson, John Samwell, M.D., etc. But I
personally incline to the belief that Romsey Independency really
belongs to the contemporary society founded in the same year at
Above Bar, Southampton — the records3 of which point to a very
definite Independent church life in Romsey alongside the Presby-
terian one.
Records of the Congregational Church of Christ in South-
ampton, including all the members thereunto belonging,
inhabiting at Romsey and other adjacent places, from the
year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and eighty-
eight . . .
. . . Whereas the number of members at present inhabit-
ing at Romsey, and thereabouts, is something considerable
and for the better inspection into the state of the poor, it was
consented to, that two deacons should be chosen for those
parts, as well as two for Southampton, and accordingly were
elected for Southampton, Isaac Watts4 and Abraham Johns,
and for Romsey, Arthur High and Peter Hollis . . .
(These four were set apart, 24 Aug., 1688.)
In 1773 there were certainly reported to be two separate com-
munities in the town : whether these coalesced or the Presbyterian
line gave place to the Independent one, I have no information,
but historically it appears to me quite as probable that this
ancestry goes back to Southampton as to the local Presbyterian
collateral line5.
3 Vide T. Adkins, Brief Records of the Church of Christ of the Independent
Denomination at Southampton (1836), 46, 484.
4 Father, of course, of the learned Doctor.
5 The next minister was an Independent, as all his successors have been,
which suggests a "Happy Union" about this time. -
A Directory of Congregational Biography 77
With this question goes that of men who progressed from one
form of government to the other — and those who regressed. The
line is not easy to draw. Some present tendencies in our denom-
inational machinery almost incline one to suspect that, if
continued and developed, we shall arrive back at presbyteral
government again before long, so we may perhaps include all who
come to the net : while if doctrinal tests were in vogue, there
would not impossibly be other divisions among us on a basis of
what the fathers would have regarded as sound doctrine and
evangelicalism.
Without detaining you now by any detailed expansion, I venture
to submit to your consideration this project for the compilation
of a Directory to our Churches and their Ministers, which might
provide a helpful fount of information at the Library here and a
guide to detail, which is not per se history but without which
little historical work can be done. Belated it may be, but not
I believe untimely or impossible now.
LEAF SQUARE ACADEMY
[Continued from page 117]
The Secretaries of the Leaf Square Committee were : for the
preliminary arrangements, the Rev. Wm. Roby, Mr. Spear, and
Dr. Jarrold, of Manchester; 1810-15, Messrs. John Hope and
George Hadfield (co-sees.). The Treasurers were Mr. William
Kay, 1809-12; Richard Roberts, 1812-13; Dr. Jarrold until the
transfer to Dr. Clunie was completed.
No note appears of any official appointment of Chairman, but the
meetings were almost all presided over by Robert Spear, Dr.
Jarrold or John Potter.
Re-housing History
THE RECORDS OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY
SOCIETY
JOSEPH HARDCASTLE, Baltic merchant and first Treasurer
of the London Missionary Society, put the Board in his debt
by lending his offices at 8 Old Swan Stairs, London Bridge,
for its meetings prior to 1814. The building still stands almost un-
changed since the days' when the Directors sat among the Baltic
produce to plan their noble enterprise.
The first separate offices occupied by the Society were at 8 Old
Jewry, the tenancy of which began in 1814. In spite of the pro-
visional nature of the earliest Headquarters there still exists a
considerable collection of letters and journals from abroad as
well as proper consecutive minutes of the Board meetings from
the start in 1795. Someone, probably Hardcastle himself, must
have given generously in thought and time to the preservation of
the records during the nineteen years in which there was no office
staff.
Those records were worthy of all care. Some are the sole
authority for happenings in times and places in which the only
valid witnesses were missionaries. In Tahiti, for instance, the
men kept journals in such full detail that it is possible to re-
capture the scenes and feelings of their daily life for many years
after the landing in 1797.
These papers were printed in part at the time in the Evangelical
Magazine or in the Society's Transactions, but the full text has
been preserved for students and writers to inspect, and the number
of such readers has greatly increased in recent years. It has
been a significant and stimulating experience to see the zest with
which a student — perhaps from America or Australia — has
attacked the dusty bundles of manuscripts, hoping with good
reason to light upon some new fact or facet of old history.
But the dusty bundles required much patience and courage, and
some there were who retired baffled.
Richard Lovett told the Directors forty years ago that some-
thing should be done to preserve the early papers from decay.
He had been through them in order to write the standard History
of the Society. Fortunately they are on the whole well preserved,
except against the inevitable fading and brittleness of age. Some
loss there has been : the repeated unfolding of aged letters reduced
a few of them to dust and tatters.
78
Re-Housing History 79
Further harm will, it is hoped, be largely prevented by the
system adopted in the present re-housing. The old bundles will
disappear and each letter or document will be found flattened out
in a proper folder, and indexed so that what is sought can be
instantly found and handled without damage.
There can be no question about the value and importance of the
records, especially the half million or so letters from missionaries
in the field. Many of these were written during the early years
of the nineteenth century when there was a rapid expansion of
white influence in large areas of the earth, previously little known
to average people at home. It is only necessary to recall the
events in those years in Polynesia, Africa, India, Madagascar,
and the West Indies to be reminded of the fact that the agents of
our churches exercised a reconciling and protective ministry
which often changed the course of events.
Brief electric side-lights on this point frequently appear. One
letter records that in the days of the Kanaka traffic a brig arrived
at a lonely island in the Society group. The captain sent a man
ashore with the enquiry, "Is there a missionary here?". "Yes",
was the answer, "there is his house". The ship promptly sailed
away.
Our South African missionaries sometimes aroused the wrath
of those Cape whites, whose interest in the African was not that
of the Society, and Cape historians have repeated and perpetuated
the animosity. But the Cambridge History of the British Empire
(VIII. 850) now tells us that these missionaries
provided a small but valuable leaven of men and women
endued with a spirit of self-sacrificing zeal that has contri-
buted something to the formation of national character.
Other competent witnesses give stronger testimony than that,
but the quotation shows that historians have reconsidered the
doings of Vanderkemp, Philip, Read, Mackenzie, and their com-
panions.
The new appreciation of their efforts is due to a closer study of
the facts — not least to the reading of the letters at L.M.S. Head-
quarters. The people of British Guiana were recently called upon
to celebrate the centenary of the death of John Wray, our first
missionary to the slave plantations of Demerara. There is,
naturally, a general willingness to praise famous men, but there
is also a widespread ignorance of what they did to deserve it.
British Guiana was fortunate in having a Government archivist
who had delved in the old colonial letters in the L.M.S. strong
room, and when the centenary came there appeared in the various
Demerara newspapers forty columns of authentic notes on the
80 Re- Housing History
pioneer. The same kind of service might be given to many
others whose doings were not considered news to their
contemporaries.
Manifestly something had to be done with the Missionary
Society's records, and the matter became urgent when the rapid
increase in research during recent years put a greater wear upon
them than they had suffered since their first writing.
The Pilgrim Trust, founded by Mr. E. S. Harkness, an
American, has been giving large aid for some years past for the
preservation of things and places of historic interest or beauty in
Britain. Among the objects assisted was the restoring of the
archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, whose
agents in New England two centuries ago had provided valuable
records of that country.
As our Society may be regarded as in the direct Pilgrim
tradition it seemed appropriate to ask for the help of the Trust,
which was generously given; the Trustees setting aside £1,138 to
meet the estimated cost of a plan by which it was expected that
the needed work on the documents could be completed within two
years. The plan included some necessary structural improve-
ments in the Muniment Rooms and the purchase of files, folders,
boxes, etc.
Since last April the L.M.S. records have made steady progress
towards an ideal condition. An experienced assistant has been
engaged who attends daily, and ten volunteers (retired mis-
sionaries) help in the listing of the letters from their own fields as
they have opportunity. They all find their job interesting, their
only regret being that they did not study the records before they
went out into the field. The faded letters bring the readers into
the company of Carey, Vanderkemp, Moffat, Williams, Living-
stone, Knill, Ellis, Lockhart, Chalmers, and a host of other men
and women of high purpose and unselfish life. From them come a
new respect for the lost art of letter writing, an added admiration
for the writers, and fresh sympathy with the Directors.
No new pattern of history has yet emerged from these vivid
fragments, but some of them will make good footnotes to Lovett's
History of the L.M.S. and also to that companion volume, These
Hundred Years, which makes the life of the home Churches so
real to us. Here are two examples from the home side.
A letter from William Roby of Manchester to George Burder,
L.M.S. Secretary, deals with a definite proposal as early as 1806
for a general Union of Independent Churches in England. Roby
wrote (11 May, 1806) :
Re-Housing History 81
Besides our County Union we have three distinct Associa-
tions of Ministers in Lancashire. The opinion is that no
church would suffer interference from a National Union in its
inner affairs.
Dr. John Campbell, entrenched in his British Banner office,
could discharge uncommonly virile letters from his profuse pen.
In 1849 he sent a long letter full of current gossip to his friend
J. J. Freeman, then in Africa. He writes about the May meetings
and the Banner thus (23 May, 1849) :
The little Duke was exceedingly at home. If this young
man live, he bids fair in some degree to redeem the Aristocracy.
They have for a long time been a set of barbarous dummies
. . . but such men as Argyll1 promise to inspire them with new
life.
I believe the public have paid for the Banner during the brief
space of its existence somewhere between £11,000 and
£12,000. These are tales which it has seldom been the privi-
lege of Editors to tell, and the matter, as to the Banner, is all
the more marvellous seeing that it only came in to glean after
the harvest had in a measure been reaped by existing publica-
tions.
We are far ahead of all our contemporaries of the same
class, and indeed, with the exception of the two or three
wicked Sunday papers, of every class.
Of the nineteen principal London journals, weekly, we are
ahead of all and have actually a wider circulation than seven
of the daily papers, and are exceeded only by The Times.
Like the domestic spring cleaning, this work on the L.M.S.
records is constantly throwing up fresh tasks which were not ex-
pected. Yet, with the excellent start given by the Pilgrim Trust,
we can confidently look forward to the day when an inquirer, with
the new annotated catalogue in his hand, will see at once what
there is and where it is. It is surely important that students,
journalists, and historians should have access to these wonderful
sources of the history of the best kind of human effort, and that
every possible expedient should be directed to making research
rapid and easy.
It is certainly of the highest importance that the members of the
Society should have their records saved from decay and used for
guidance and encouragement in future days. Loss of memory is
often an embarrassment to a man, but to a Community it may well
prove a disaster.
David Chamberlin.
1 The Duke had presided at the Annual Meeting of the L.M.S.
B
Bishop Pecock and the Lollard Movement
THE neglect of the Lollards by English historians is
hardly stranger than the neglect of their protantagonist,
Reginald Pecock. Pecock 's life is interesting (he was
deprived of his see of Chichester on the charge of heresy,
expelled from the Privy Council, and sent to Thorney Island,
there to end his days in obscurity, without even pen or ink) ; but
the present study will be confined to his thought, and to his
thought in relation to the Lollard Movement. Of his extant
works three have been published since 1920 by the Early English
Text Society; the other two are in the Rolls Series and in an
edition by Professor J. L. Morison respectively.
The controversy between Pecock and the Lollards may be
described as one between rationalism and biblicism. The
biblicism of the Lollards and the faith in inspiration implied in it
are interesting, and must receive attention later ; but the extent of
the bishop's rationalism, together with his neglect of ecclesiastical
authority, is far more remarkable. For the claims of reason he
has the most absolute respect : he speaks of it as the inward book
lying in man's soul in contrast to the outward book of Scripture,
quaintly identifies it with the writing in man's heart of Jer. 3131,
and calls it the largest book of authority that ever God made, the
greatest doctor that is this side God Himself. He admits its
fallibility, but reduces the significance of his admission by point-
ing out that our senses are no less fallible and yet we trust them,
and by arguing for the formal infallibility of the syllogism. The
syllogism is, moreover, practically all-inclusive : the truths which
cannot be proved by a syllogism are merely parenthetic in his
thought. It is here, in his blindness to the place of intuition, that
his weakness, in common with other rationalists, lies; but one
cannot escape a sympathetic admiration for his never-wearying
insistence that for the knowledge of any truth we must have con-
vincing evidence. This principle continues to hold, he affirms,
where faith is concerned : unless we fearlessly examine the
evidence for our faith, we shall be misled as often as the bay horse
goes between the shafts, and for the examination we have no other
power but reason. On reason he is confidently content to rely. In
his life, like Erasmus, he found it better in the end to submit to the
Church, but in his thought the Church's authority finds no place.
It is true that he expects laymen to trust to the conclusions of the
majority and of the more knowledgeable of the clergy, but that is
solely on the ground that the clergy are better educated. For
Bishop Pecock and the Lollard Movement 83
himself he is not afraid to abandon an article of the Church's
faith, where no convincing evidence for its truth can be found. On
this ground he rejects not only a basic patristic dictum of St.
Gregory's but the article of Christ's descent into Hell in the creed :
"it is not al trewe that bi holi men is in parchmyn ynkid".
It is dangerous to compare men of different centuries, but the
two whom Pecock resembles most nearly at first sight are perhaps
Peter Abelard and Richard Hooker. Abelard and Hooker, like
Pecock, had a great faith in reason; their attitude to authority,
particularly ecclesiastical, was similarly negative; and they are
objectively connected by their apologetic interest, and by their dis-
approval of tendencies which appeared to them to be obscurantist.
The differences between Pecock and each of the others are still
more significant for an understanding of his position. For
Abelard reason remained in the sphere of divine inspiration and of
the supernatural, while for Pecock it was natural in the fullest
sense ; with Hooker the contrast is rather in the spirit of the men,
in that Pecock 's rationalism is proud and contemptuous, whereas
Hooker's is combined with a humble acknowledgment of the
divine mysteries.
Before proceeding to a consideration of the Lollards and of
their conflict with Pecock, it will perhaps be of service very
briefly to recall the scholastic development in regard to these
matters- The earlier medieval tendency, which persisted so long
as the traditional approach with its roots in Augustine was
sovereign, was to fuse the two functions of faith and reason as
being merely different aspects of the same activity, an activity
fundamentally supernatural. The triumph of Aristotle meant the
triumph of the humanist theory of reason as natural, and may be
called the turning-point of medieval theology. Henceforward
faith and reason were more and more separated from each other,
until at last their provinces became wholly distinct. Aquinas's
attempt to harmonize the new reason with a theology built upon
Augustine was magnificent, but it was an unstable harmony of
incompatibles which he produced. In Scotus we see a reaction,
in which an irrational scepticism demanded a new stress on the
supernatural authority of the Church and on the moral autonomy
of the will ; but reason once admitted refused to be evicted, and
in Pecock the wheel is come full circle. His scepticism is a
rational one, it is in favour of reason at the expense of
the Church ; and, in that by him faith and reason are brought back
into the closest relationship, it is at the expense of faith too, as
faith was then understood.
To turn to the Lollards is to find ourselves ii a completely
different world. Perhaps the most certain thing we know about
6*
84 Bishop Pecock and the Lollard Movement
them is that they were simple, uneducated folk. They had as
little of Wyclif's scholasticism as the early Methodists had of
Wesley's learning. What distinguished them from their fellows
was that they read the Bible for themselves; and, because they
read it freely, they were not slow to see how alien to it was much
of contemporary religion and to criticize accordingly. Like other
undisciplined readers of it, they were prone to be captured by
exaggerated ideas, of which Pecock delighted to make mock. If
nothing is to be allowed except what is specifically permitted by
the Bible, not only clocks and other modern conveniences must
be abandoned but the more intimate necessities of life must be
omitted- In fairness to Pecock it should be said that his contempt
for the Lollards and their folly is tempered by a certain good-
humouredness. It was hard for him that his rational preference
to argue with them rather than to persecute them should have led
to the Church's persecution of himself. He also went some way
with the Lollards in his attitude to the Bible : he not only granted
that the clergy might err in its interpretation and that only what
was "conteynyd expresseli" in the New Testament was to be
regarded as "catholik feith", he also admitted that Scripture "ful
oft expowneth hir silf", and even that sometimes one simple
person may be wiser to declare what is the true sense of Scripture
than is a great general council.
The conflict came over the question of authority : by what
criterion was the Bible to be interpreted? The Lollards saw no
necessity for a criterion. Any man might understand the Bible,
they said, and he would understand it better according to his
meekness, by which they meant his readiness to receive light from
on high. Pecock had naturally no difficulty in showing, with a
glance at disturbances in Bohemia, that such an idealistic doctrine
provided no means of settling a dispute between differing inter-
pretations by the Lollards themselves : the only possible judge, in
fact, was reason, and reason dispassionately regarding the
evidences offered. On this issue of evidence Pecock certainly had
a case, and a case against the Church as well as against the
Lollards, as the Church (to his pain) soon realized. The intensive
biblicism of the Lollards evidently tended to produce, as again at
the Reformation, a Schwarmerei of varying kinds, as the broad
conception of individual inspiration, on which the notion of the
individual interpretation of Scripture was ultimately based,
narrowed to a conception of individual revelation. To Pecock's
rationalism such a conception was entirely foreign, and not un-
justly. It is amusing to find him deriding a Lollard for claiming a
special revelation on the matter of total abstinence ; to show
Bishop Pecock and the Lollard Movement 85
sufficient evidences that God wills such an abstinence, he says, is
hard, "but if thou were in state of a prophet".
This was the cleft which inevitably divided the parties to the
controversy. With all the dangers involved in the fact, and
without sufficient recognition of them, the Lollards were "in state
of a prophet". Their rediscovery of the Bible had given them a
new approach to life, at the root of which was a new prophetic
insight. Naturally they could not express it so themselves, but
that it was so becomes clear from the theories of faith which
Pecock put9 into their mouths and condemns. These theories are
twofold. One is that faith knows a thing not by evidence judged
by the understanding but by assignment of the will, and that faith
varies in strength according to the strength of the will to believe ;
the other is that, even as the sun, by giving light to the eye and
to a colour, makes the eye to see the colour, so God, by giving
light to the understanding and to an article of faith, makes the
understanding to believe the article, and to believe it with "suerte"
though not with "cleerte". The first of these theories Pecock
stigmatizes as "abhominable", the second as "childeli fantasies".
His cavalier treatment of them is remarkable, and significant
either of his blindness or of his small concern for authority, since
both theories have a respectable tradition in scholasticism. What
is more important is their implication for the Lollards. Probably
they would not have expressed themselves just so, as the tradi-
tional form of the theories indicates : probably Pecock was throw-
ing into as good a rational form as he could devise the fact that,
as he elsewhere complains, the Lollards put all their motive in
their affection or will and not in their intellect or reason, "and in
lijk maner doon wommen". What the Lollards had found in the
Bible, as Pecock expressly admits, was an experience as delightful
as their life : such an experience was something new, and, be-
cause it was new, it would not fit into the normal categories; if
normal categories were to be found, Pecock 's choice was very
just. The Lollards were not theologians but prophets, too content
with the light they had found to seek to theorize about it ; and, if
their biblicism sometimes led to crude absurdities, it also laid the
way for an apologetic of inspiration and intuition which in their
time still lay implicit.
It may be noticed that in the last resort the authority Pecock
advanced for his faith was not so different from that of the
Lollards. If pressed, Pecock could only have admitted that the
reason, by which articles of faith are to be proved, is its own
intrinsic authority, which is a telling illustration of the non-
rationalism, ultimately at one with the non-rationalism of a
religious conviction, to which the rationalist is eventually driven
86 Bishop Pecock and the Lollard Movement
back; for he would have found it hard to defend the authority of
reason by reason. A pragmatic defence he could and did give :
"we han noon other power"; but at least implicit in the Lollards'
biblicism, as we have seen, was the assertion of another power,
in its own sphere as imperious and impregnable as reason, the
power of divine inspiration. Reliance on the one power is in the
end on exactly the same footing as reliance on the other ; and to
live entirely by logic would be as absurd as the life to which an
uncritical biblicism also led.
Conflict between the two is still a matter of experience, and the
struggle between the logical and the intuitive, the classical and
the romantic, the Aristotelian and the Platonic, is written large
on history's face. The absorbing interest of this particular
struggle is that it was the last occasion before the spirit of emanci-
pation and individualism, which animated the combatants on
both sides, revealed itself as single. Within a century Pecock's
appeal to reason and the Lollards' dependence on inspiration
through Scripture combined, and the combination became part of
the breaking of the Middle Ages. This neither side could foresee :
the Lollards could hardly divine the part which rationalism would
play in assisting and developing the individualism of the Refor-
mation, while Pecock would have scorned to recognize the force
brought to the Renaissance movement by the spirit, at once lay
and mystical, of the common bourgeoisie. Whether they foresaw
it or not, it came. When, with a reference to / Cor. 215, Luther
asserted his right as a Christian to private judgment, both Pecock
and the Lollards were behind him, now at one. This is the mean-
ing of the fact that Pecock came to be so closely associated with
the Lollard Movement, a fact which seems at first strange, and
which, so far as conscious purposes are concerned, is not, indeed,
to be justified. The Church was not wrong in recognizing the
same ultimate danger in each of them : both rationalism and.
illuminisTn have an independent outlook, and, though in their
extremes they may degenerate to deism and to ranterism, it was
in their fusion, in the recognition of the Christian's right to judge,
that the glory of the Reformation was revealed.
Geoffrey F. Nuttall.
Llanvaches, Monmouthshire
THE FIRST INDEPENDENT CHURCH IN WALES,
FORMED IN 1639.
MY first visit to Llanvaches took place about forty years ago,
when the ministers of Monmouthshire spent a "Quiet Day"
at the Tabernacle Chapel. The day remains as a green island
in my memory. The Rev. E. Walrond Skinner, of Newport, Secre-
tary of the County Union at that time, was profoundly interested in
Llanvaches, and did his utmost to secure Wroth Cottage, Carrow
Hill, for the denomination. My second visit was in November,
1936, and my host, Mr. A. H. Hollister, Secretary of the Church,
took me in his car to see spots made sacred by the first Independents
in this district. Mrs. Dawes, the owner of Wroth Cottage, stated
that the name Wroth was preserved at the instigation of Mr.
Skinner, and at the bottom of the garden may be seen the site of the
first chapel. The church removed to the present chapel, called
Tabernacle, Llanvaches, in 1802. The new arterial road has
brought Llanvaches, once so isolated, near the stream of modern
traffic. Tabernacle Chapel stands on the left-hand side of this main
road, as you proceed from Newport to Chepstow, and is about equi-
distant from both towns. Behind the fertile meadows a ridge of
hills stands as sentinel, and the beautiful peaks afford charming
views of the country and the Bristol Channel. An ideal spot for
the new venture in religion. Long before Newport Corporation
discovered the site for a reservoir in the hills above Llanvaches,
men and women from all parts of South Wales and the English
Counties who were thirsting for the pure water of the Gospel came
thither to draw water from the wells of salvation. The Rev.
William Wroth, Vicar of Llanvaches, whose concern for souls led
him to other parishes and brought him to the Bishop's Court,
formed the first Independent Church here, in November, 1639, and
was aided by the Rev. Henry Jessey, of Southwark, London, the
first Independent Church in the Kingdom1. John Penry had agon-
ized for his native country, and how fitting that Southwark Church,
London, which the Welsh martyr had served so loyally, should send
its minister to assist "old Mr. Wroth and Cradock and others" in
the formation of the first Independent Church in Wales. Because
he would not read the "Book of Sports" Wroth was deprived of
his living in 1638, and he immediately set about gathering his
followers into a church, "according to the Gospel order of Church
Government". The new church had no building for many years,
1 A claim some would vigorously challenge ! [Fd.]
87
88 Llanvaches, Monmouthshire
but the houses of the members and their barns were utilized for
preaching services at Llanvaches and other parishes. Within two
years there were branches of the mother-church at Mynydd Islwyn,
Cardiff, and Swansea. The Rev. William Erbery in his Apocrypha
gives a memorable description of the first members of Llanvaches
Church. "Spirit and life" were their chief characteristics. Their
minister, William Wroth, well deserved the name given him in the
Broadmead Records, "the Apostle of Wales". His passion was
soul-winning, and his holy character was admitted even by his
enemies. As members of the first formation we find such reformers
as William Erbery, Walter Cradock, Richard Symmonds, Ambrose
Mostyn, Henry Walter, and David Walter. The church was re-
markable for its officers, members, order, and gifts. It was the
Antioch of the Independents. Bristol owes South Wales a deep
debt of gratitude for the services of Wroth, Cradock, Symmonds,
Mostyn, and others, as the Broadmead Records testify, but on the
other hand Wales owes Bristol like gratitude for sheltering the
leading members of Llanvaches Church when the war be-
tween Charles I and Parliament broke out in 1642. Wroth foresaw
this conflict, and prayed God that he would be removed before the
war-drum sounded, and his prayer was answered, for he passed
hence a few months before the Battle of Edgehill.
Walter Cradock succeeded Wroth as minister, but after a con-
ference of the Church members it was agreed that the minister and
the male members of fighting age should cross over to Bristol,
which was then in the possession of the Parliamentary party. The
old men and women who remained at home were diligent in their
religious exercises during the four terrible years of the war, and
Walter Cradock testified in 1646 that there were above 800 members
added to the Church in the meantime. The Gospel had run over the
mountains like "fire in a thatch".
When Walter Cradock, Henry Walter, and Richard Symmonds
returned to Wales after the Civil War, Parliament commissioned
them to be Itinerant Preachers, and therefore not one of them had
charge of Llanvaches. However, Thomas Ewins, of London, was
set apart by prayer and fasting as minister of the church. Llan-
vaches had no separate meeting-house from the time of its forma-
tion till the end of the war in 1646, but from that year till 1660 the
State Church was free for religious services and the Independents
used the building. Ewins was a popular and influential preacher,
and Bristol invited him to be minister there in 1651. The church
members at Llanvaches were unwilling to part with their pastor,
but in the end agreed to loan him to Broadmead, but the loan was
never returned. In 1654 Ewins was baptized by immersion, and
therefore his return to Llanvaches was impossible.
Llanvaches, Monmouthshire 89
The first Church was Independent, and all the members
separatists from the world and its evil customs. If the fellowship
in the State Church had been purified we should not have heard of
Separatists and Nonconformists. Within a few years of the forma-
tion of Llanvaches Independent Church, the Baptists began after
the immersion of the Rev. John Myles, Ilston, and later came the
Quakers. The Quakers carried on their ministry among professors
of religion, and their first converts in Wales were Independents and
Baptists. Although the church at Llanvaches was weakened, the
work spread throughout the whole Principality. The Rev. William
Erbery, in a Tract printed in 1652 when the Independents used the
Parish Church for worship, regretted that the gathered churches at
Llanvaches had become so divided in their religious views. While
in England, the members, although scattered by the sword, con-
tinued with their pastor, teacher and ruling elder, but after their
return to Wales, first their ruling elder was removed, then their
teacher. According to him the spirit and power of godliness were
lost by going into a church way and by looking on forms.
The Rev. Thomas Barnes followed the Rev. Thomas Ewins. He
was one of the six preachers sent from All-Hallows Church,
London, into Wales, with Walter Cradock. Barnes ministered at
Llanvaches and Magor Churches until ejected in 1662 by the Act of
Uniformity, and afterward remained minister of the Independent
Church at Llanvaches till his death in 1703. He was regarded as
a most able preacher, and the Church of Dr. John Owen gave him
a call to succeed the great theologian.
After the passing of the Act of Uniformity the Church at
Llanvaches had its share of persecution and suffering. The mem-
bers met in secret, but we have no records from 1662 to 1688,
except that the members were numerous, and that many were
wealthy, and that the gift of preaching was most marked among
them.
In 1669 the Archbishop of Canterbury ordered that statistics be
prepared of the Separatists in the various dioceses, and these may
be seen in the Library at Lambeth Palace. The church at
Llanvaches is represented as worshipping in dwelling-houses in the
neighbouring parishes. The names of the owners of these dwellings
are given, the preachers, and the approximate number of wor-
shippers. In the parish of Llanvaches Nathan Rogers allowed the
use of his house for meetings ; while in the parish of Magor the
houses of Samuel Jones, Little Salisbury, and Thomas Jones,
Milton, are given. In Caerleon parish — Henry Walter, Park Pill;
Llanfair-Discoed parish — Major Blethin, Dinham ; Caldicot parish
— Hopkin Rogers ; Newport — Rice Williams ; Llantrisant — George
Morgan ; Llangvvm — four addresses are given. The frequenters at
90 Llanvaches, Monmouthshire
meetings in the above places totalled 500, and we are informed that
among those at Llangwm were men worth ,£500, £400, £300, and
£200 a year. The preachers named are Thomas Barnes, William
Thomas, Henry Walter, Rice Williams, Joshua Lloyd, and Watkin
Jones. The following were repeaters (or local preachers) : Samuel
Jones, Hopkin Rogers, Henry Rumsey, Robert Jones, George
Edwards, and Watkin George.
In the year 1672, when Charles II granted a measure of liberty
to the Separatists, the houses of James Lewis, of Caldicot ; Walter
Jones, of Magor ; Mrs. Barbara Williams, of Newport ; George
Morgan, of Llantrisant ; Levi Usk were licensed for preaching.
Thomas Barnes and George Robinson as preachers had licenses
for their own houses. Altogether about 30 licenses were granted.
Some time before 1700 the church met at Carrow Hill Chapel, and
Mill Street, Newport, formed part of the pastorate of Llanvaches.
In 1715 Dr. John Evans prepared a List of Separatist Churches
in England and Wales, with the names of the ministers, number of
worshippers, and their social status. Llanvaches had 236 members,
among whom were six gentlemen ; sixteen men who lived on their
own land ; twenty-eight business men ; nineteen farmers ; and thirty
workmen. The members of the church had twenty-three votes for
the Parliamentary election (County) and nine votes for the Borough.
This list records nothing about the spiritual condition of the church.
The first chapel, at Carrow Hill, served the members for over a
hundred years, and was situated in the parish of Llansantfraid,
Lower Gwent, adjoining that of Llanvaches.
Thomas Lewis, Llanvaches, gave the site of the present Taber-
nacle to the Independents for 999 years for one peppercorn a year
(if requested). The deed bears the date Nov., 1802, but the chapel
at Llanvaches was built the previous year. It occupies a position
midway between the old chapel at Carrow Hill and Llanvaches
Parish Church, and about half-a-mile from Carrow Hill. The
cause has witnessed many fluctuations during the three hundred
years of its existence, but it has never been without members. The
following list of the ministers of the Church may be of interest.
William Wroth, B.A. (1570-1642). Buried under the threshold
of Llanvaches Parish Church, where he laboured for forty years.
Walter Cradock — d. 1659. Buried in chancel of Upper Llangwm
Church, Nr. Usk.
Thomas Ewins — removed to Bristol.
Thomas Barnes — d. 1703.
David Williams— d. 1754.
Roger Rogers — d. 1776.
Thomas Saunders — d. 1790.
Llanvaches, Monmouthshire 91
Howell Powell — removed to America.
William George — removed to Ross.
Walter Thomas — removed to Glamorganshire.
James Williams — removed to Llanvapley.
James Peregrine — removed to America.
James Griffiths — removed to Wiltshire.
David Thomas— 1828-64.
John P. Jones— 1867-70.
W. J. Price— 1871-1887.
George Thomas— 1892-1899.
William John Price — 1901-1907 (who was also minister from
1871-1887).
William Alfred Freeman— 1908-1913.
John Wm. Davies— 1917-1926.
David John Beynon— 1926-1931.
John Charles— 1931-1935.
W. Haydn Morgan, B.A.— 1937-.
In 'November, 1939, the Church intends to celebrate its tercen-
tenary, and what a thrilling story it will be able to relate !
Monmouthshire supplied the first reformers, and their names are
fragrant — Wroth, Cradock, Walter, and Symmonds1.
T. Mardy Rees.
1 For Wroth see D.N.B. ; for Cradock D.N.B. and Trans. C.H.S.. XTII. 11-21.
Sherwell Sunday School, Plymouth.
THIS Sunday School has been in existence for 125 years. It
would appear, from an old minute book, that a meeting of
the members of the Church was called on Monday, May
17th, 1813, when it was decided "that a school be formed
immediately and that it be called the New Tabernacle Sunday
School."
The third resolution passed was : "In order to meet the circum-
stances of everyone disposed to subscribe, it is resolved that a
subscription of 4d. per month or upwards be considered a mem-
bership of the Society" and
"That none but subscribers are to recommend children to be
admitted to the school as scholars."
So full of good works were these people that an adjourned meet-
ing took place on May 20th — only three days afterwards — and then
the President, Secretary, Treasurer, collectors, and no less than
seven Superintendents were appointed, together with a Committee
of sixteen members, who met on the first Wednesday in each
month, to admit children to the School.
Rules were laid down as to the instruction of the scholars, but it
was emphasised "that the children be instructed by means of
gratuitous teachers from the alphabet to the Bible Class, and
taught Dr. Watts' and the Assembly Catechisms."
Further, the Committee had the power conferred on them of
selecting the teachers from among those persons who might come
forward to offer themselves for that purpose.
The School was started in the Church and permission was ob-
tained to erect (at the expense of the School Society) a Schoolroom
on some part of the ground belonging to the Church.
When Sabbath schools were first established, their object was
less definite than at present, and secular education as preliminary
to religious instruction constituted an indispensable part of Sabbath
school labour. At first the number of children who were prepared
by previous education to devote the entire Sabbath to religious
instruction was comparatively few, but the large and constant in-
crease of week-day schools in time relieved the Sabbath school
teachers from these services.
On June 2nd it was decided to purchase "50 of the Assembly and
50 of Dr. Watts' Catechisms with 50 of Dr. Watts' Hymns for the
children, from the Religious Tract Society." Later 100 each 1st
and 2nd spelling books, and 50 historical catechisms were pur-
chased.
Sherwell Sunday School, Plymouth 93
On June 16th, the Church having given permission to erect the
Schoolroom, it was decided to obtain tenders, and on June 23rd
a tender was accepted and the work of erection commenced.
There are entries of admission of the children to the School —
nine on June 2nd, nine on June 16th, two on June 23rd and so on.
It was resolved on June 23rd "that as a stimulus to the exertion
of the children that tickets be adopted as the best plan and six
tickets to be of the value of a penny, the children to have what
books they pleased in return for the tickets." Teachers received
one ticket for each two scholars. No scholar could receive more
than two tickets in one day. Later the value of the tickets was
increased to four a penny.
To give effect to the above, it was decided "that there shall be
a Quarterly Meeting of the Committee for the purpose of examining
the children, settling the rewards and for the teachers to draw lots
for the exchange of classes."
On October 20th, a "General Visitor" was appointed to inquire
into the causes of the children absenting themselves from school.
At the same meeting no less than nine scholars were dismissed for
non-attendance, their names being given in the Minute Book. A
tenth was also discharged, but re-admitted in consequence of his
mother's expression of concern for his past misconduct.
The following Minute was also passed : "That it having been
represented to the Committee that the attendance of many teachers
is very uncertain and irregular, and which materially affects the
well being of the School, they shall draw up a set of Rules for
their private government, which will no doubt, prevent a complaint
of a similar nature being made again."
On November 3rd the different classes were examined : —
The 6th class boys said the Assembly Catechism with proofs,
the 5th class without proofs, the 4th class Dr. Watts' 2nd Cate-
chism, the 6th and 5th class girls, Dr. Watts' 2nd Catechism, 4th
class, Dr. Watts' 1st Catechism.
The children were rewarded according to the value of their
tickets. One boy had to forfeit one-half of his tickets for improper
behaviour on the Sabbath, during service.
The Deacons consented to a collection being taken on behalf of
the School.
It was arranged that the Anniversary should be held on the
second Wednesday in every May and a sermon be preached on the
Sunday preceding.
The first Anniversary sermon was to have been preached by Rev.
W. Stodhart, of London, on Sunday, May 6th, 1814, and 300 bills
were printed and distributed for the purpose of giving publicity.
But through indisposition, Mr. Stodhart was unable to do so and
94 Sherwell Sunday School, Plymouth
"a few bills were printed to contradict this former advertisement.* '
Ultimately the Rev. R.. Davis preached the Anniversary sermon
on June 8th, 1814.
At this time it was deemed expedient that the subscriptions of
the children be set aside towards the Missionary cause, and ever
since Sherwell Sunday School has been a great Missionary School.
On 14th October, 1812, the young people attending the Church
had formed a Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Auxiliary
Missionary Society.
At the Annual Meeting it was found that the system of seven
Superintendents working in rotation was not a success and these
were reduced to three, and later to two acting alternately.
One or two of the rules of this School make interesting reading :
First. — "The hours of the School are from 9 in the morning till
public worship begins and from half-past one o'clock till quarter
before three in the afternoon. As it is a regulation that the School
shall be opened and closed with singing and prayer, it is expected
that all children should be then present. Late attendance will be
particularly noticed and if continued several Sabbaths, the children
so offending will be dismissed."
Third. — "If any scholars do not come cleaned, washed and
combed, or be guilty of lying, swearing, pilfering, talking in an
indecent manner, or otherwise misbehaving, and after repeated
reproof the scholar shall not be reformed, he or she shall be ex-
cluded the School."
Sixth. — "It is earnestly recommended to the parents of the
children to set them proper examples at home and especially to
keep holy the Sabbath day and attend a place of worship, without
which no blessing can be expected on their labours. Parents are
required to be punctual in the observance of these rules as it will
materially assist the instruction of their children, and to ensure
such observance it is recommended to fix up this copy of them in
some conspicuous place in their dwelling."
Is it any wonder that with such a rule as this the School pros-
pered, that by the end of 1817 a resolution was passed that no more
children be taken into the School until three months had elapsed?
The School continued to grow until in the year 1880 there were
over 1,000 scholars, and extra accommodation had to be obtained
near by.
On Christmas morning 1816, the Scholars were provided with
a breakfast, after which they had to repeat pieces. At the Anni-
versary in 1817, the 1st Classes of girls and boys repeated questions
20 to 30 in the Assembly's catechism : and other children recited
2 Chron. 6. On Christmas Day, 1817, the children attended
a Service in the Chapel in the morning, where as usual, they
Sherwell Sunday School, Plymouth 95
repeated various pieces. They were then given a dinner in the
Guildhall, the kitchen utensils being borrowed from the nearby
Workhouse. At the Anniversary in 1819, the children recited
Psalm 84 before, and 1 ]ohn 2 after Prayer. In 1823 it was
decided that the children should cease to recite at the Anniversaries
and on Christmas Days.
In May, 1818, it was resolved, by a ballot by beans, to pay the
bill for the erection of the gallery for the children.
In November 1819, Tracts were distributed to the children,
"particularly those issued by the Tract Society, with a view to
counteract infidel principles.
At the end of 1819 there is a resolution minuted as follows : —
"That a subscription of 10s. 6d. per year from the funds of the
School be made to the Society in London for extending Sunday
Schools," so that Sherwell is one of the oldest subscribing Schools
connected with the National Sunday School Union.
In October 1823, it was resolved that as Mr. G. and the Super-
intendent did not attend to their offices, they were considered as
having left the School.
On 28th June, 1838, in connection with the Coronation of Queen
Victoria, all the Sunday School children in the Town walked to
the Market, where they were treated to a good dinner. Each
child had a plate with several slices of cold beef, hot potatoes, and
a roll. There were no Bands of Hope then; a pint cup of cider
was placed between each pair of children, each one drinking
alternately.
In the year 1864 the congregation had so outgrown their Church
building, which was built in 1797, that it became necessary to leave
the "New Tabernacle" and build the present Church and Schools
called "Sherwell."
Stanley Griffin,
Church Secretary.
The Book of The Independent Church of
Christ at Tollesbury in Essex1.
IN the Riches of Divine Mercy, it hath pleased God, to visit our
neighbourhood, with the Gospel of his "Beloved Son". We
trust this Gospel, has been sanctified to our hearts ; leading us
to the enjoyment of Peace, and Salvation, thro' Christ Jesus our
Lord (altho' we are utterly unworthy of the least Mercy of our
God). We, therefore as the Disciples of Christ, desire to be found
walking in all the commandments of the Lord ; and in all the
Ordinances which he has instituted, in his Holy word — for this
end, we wish to form ourselves into a Christian Church, for which
purpose we have met, to seek divine direction, and to converse with
each other upon the leading Doctrines of the Gospel, etc. etc.
The following are our views of truth, etc.
We believe in One God, who is infinite, in Wisdom, Power, and
Glory, who is Eternal and Incomprehensible — we acknowledge
three Persons in the Godhead ; The Father, The Son, and The Holy
Ghost : these three, we believe to be but one Jehovah. This
glorious Jehovah created man in his own Image, and invested him
with Power, either to stand, or fall ; withall he made him, an
accountable Creature.
Man being thus created, he was placed as the Representative, of
all his future Posterity. Adam by his transgression fell from his
God ; lost his Master's Image ; cut himself off from happiness : and
entailed Sin, and all its miseries, upon all his unborn offspring.
Thus all mankind, were exposed to the miseries attending sin here ;
and to the fire of Hell hereafter.
The great Jehovah, in his eternal Mind foresaw the misery, and
wretchedness, to which man by sin would reduce himself ; and pro-
vided means of Recovery in the Person, of his only begotten Son ;
whom, he appointed as the Sinners Surety, and then did choose a
certain Number from the Race of man, for whom, Christ should
die ; and who thro* his death, should be made the Partakers, of
Righteousness, Peace, and eternal Life.
We believe that Christ came, in the fullness of time, that he was
born of a Virgin, that he was perfect God, and perfect Man, and by
the Union of God and man, in one Body he became, the Christ of
God. He obeyed the Law, in all it's commands, he died under the
Law, and bore it's curse in the room; and stead; of his People.
1 The spelling and punctuation are followed. Where an entry is summarized
square brackets are used.
The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church 97
Now Justice is satisfied, God is well pleased, and his People, are
saved with an everlasting Salvation.
We believe that as Christ died for our Sins ; so, he arose again
from the dead for our Justification ; and is now seated at the right
Hand of God, where he intercedes for his People : and it is thro'
his Intercession, God hearkens to our Prayers.
We believe that whosoever is led to exercise faith in the
Righteousness, and Atonement, of Christ shall not perish, but have
everlasting Life.
We believe that a sinner, is justified, by faith and, not by works,
nevertheless faith, is accompanied, by good works as evidences of
it's being true faith.
We believe in the certainty, of the Salvation, of God's Elect,
that they shall be convinced of Sin ; be led to exercise Repentance
toward God, and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ ; that they
shall be made the Possessors of Christ's Righteousness, and in
Heart they shall have that Holiness, without which no man, shall
see the Lord.
We believe that altho' the Saints may be left to commit sin, and
thereby fall from happiness for a Season ; yet they cannot fall from
Grace : but shall be brought at last to God's Kingdom in Glory.
We believe the Holy Spirit, is the only efficient cause, of mans
conviction, Regeneration, Faith, and Perseverence (sic).
We believe there will be a General Resurrection of the Dead ;
the (sic) the Righteous shall rise to everlasting Life ; but the
wicked, to shame, and contempt.
We believe Christ will come to judge the World, and that he will
receive the Righteous, to himself ; and will condemn the Ungodly,
to everlasting Punishment in Hell.
We believe the Word of God is the Rule by which the Christian,
ought to walk while in this State.
We hold that the Church of Christ, in general, is the whole
Number of Persons, who profess friendship to Christ, as their
Saviour. But, the Church in particular, is that Number of Per-
sons, whose Names are written, in the Lambs Book of Life.
In a more limited sense, a Church, is a Number of Persons, who
profess faith in Christ, who are gathered together for the glory of
God — the Good of mankind, and for their own Edification ; Christ
is the Head, of this Church, and his Laws, are the Rule and Gov-
ernment of this Society ; this therefore we believe to be a real,
visible, and Scriptural Church.
There are two Ordinances, which Christ in his word commands
us to observe ; namely, Baptism, by which Persons are initiated
into the Visible Church, this is for Believers and their Infant off-
spring.
98 The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church
The Lord's Supper, is the Ordinance at which the Church con-
fesses her faith, in the Atonement of Christ, and thus she shews
forth her Lord's Death, till he comes.
With regard to Church Government ; we hold, that the Church
alone ought to choose it's Pastor, and Deacons, — the Members, of
this Church, ought to exercise the Eye of Charity, over each
other ; that if any man fall, he may be restored again, in the Spirit
of Meekness, furthermore, we ought to pray for one another that
the Spirit of Love and Unity, may prevail among us.
All Business, belonging to the Church, is to be confined to the
Church, entirely ; that Church affairs be not spoken of in the
World.
Church affairs, are to be conducted by the male Members of
the Society.
The Church Book, is to be kept at the Meeting House.
P.S. — To shew, that these are our views and that this is our
Faith, we have hereunto set our Names.
Francis Chatterson
Daniel London
Benjamin Sharpe
John Otley
Adam Polley Chatterson
Thomas Chapman
Thomas Martin
James Bowls
Elizabeth Nott
Elizabeth Payne
Mary Lee
Thomas Withams.
This Christian Church was solemnly formed on the Congrega-
tional, or Independent plan, on November 10, 1824. In the
presence of us — W. Merchant, Pastor of the Church of Christ at
Layer Breton in the County of Essex — and J. Trew officiating
Minister at Tollesbury.
[There is an admission by transfer in 1824, a deacon is appointed
in 1825, and another in 1829. J. B. Barker, invited to be minis-
ter in Dec, 1831, adds notes to members' names, such as
"Died"; "Withdrawn from the Church having imbibed other
sentiments".]
Then the book reads [in Barker's handwriting] :
It was unanimously agreed by the Members of the Church
in harmony with the wishes of the people that the Rev. J. B.
Barker should be invited to preach in this part of the Lord's
vineyard for the space of 6 months, which invitation the Rev.
The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church 99
J. B. Barker accepted and commenced his labors at Tollesbury
on the 2nd Lord's day in January, 1832.
Regular Church Meetings have been held on the last Friday
evening in each month. Lamentable to record, that little regard
has been paid in times past to the laws of Christ as head of the
Church in the administration of the spiritual affairs of this body of
people. Great laxity of discipline having prevailed in deference to
the standing members of the Church and little attention paid to the
Scripture declarations or to the real and necessary qualifications of
candidates for Church fellowship, it is not, nor ever should be, a
matter of astonishment that errors in doctrine and anomalies in
disposition and practice should discover themselves to the great
grief of the godly minister and the upright and spiritually minded
members of Christ's true and mystical body.
At a Church Meeting held Oct. 5th, 1832, the Rev. J. B. Barker
being president, it was deemed advisable and in accordance with
the word of God, that the Deacons should kindly but firmly re-
monstrate with several members of the Church in reference to
views of doctrine and the manifestations of spirit, alike contrary
to the simplicity of the new testament and the practice of the primi-
tive churches. The Lord grant that the poor, injured, sickly,
wanderers may be brought to their right minds and again restored
to the fold over which Christ is the great shepherd.
At the Church Meeting above mentioned Thos. Withams having
imbibed Sentiments at variance with those preached by J. B.
Barker and held by his brethren and Christian Churches around,
according to his own wish was dismissed from the Church.
At a Church Meeting held Feb. 28th, 1833, J. B. Barker, Presi-
dent, Messrs. Chatterson and Nott resigned their office as Deacons
which resignation was accepted by the Church then assembled.
Feb. £th, 1836. Ann Pudney was received into Church fellow-
ship J.B.B. Pd : at this meeting of the members it was proposed
by J. B. Barker they hold it was desirable the ordinance of the
Lord's Supper should be regularly administered and it being found
to be inconvenient to procure the assistance of neighbouring
Ministers some steps might be immediately taken to secure that
object — but such was the coarseness of the reply and such the sub-
sequent procedure of the members that all hope of reducing them
to order was abandoned — and in October of the same year J. B.
Barker administered (by consent) the ordinance to those Members
who could receive each other in love and act in concert with the
Minister and with each other for the advancement of personal reli-
gion and the public good after due notice.
On the first Sabbath of October, 1836, J. B. Barker administered
7 *
100 The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper to Daniel London, Robert
Keeble, and Jane Barker.
Michaelmas, 1887. Divine Providence, having removed Mr.
Barker from Tollesbury ; at the request of the Church, Mr. John
Goodrick, having- previously supplied the Pulpit several Sabbaths,
undertook to supply it regularly, and with the consent of the
Trustees, took possession of the Chapel House and premises, at
the same time.
At a Church Meeting held Dec. 21st, 1887, it was unanimously
agreed by the Members present, with the sanction of the Rev. Mr.
Burls, that the sacrament of the Lord's supper should be adminis-
tered, to the Church, by Mr. John Goodrick, in consequence of the
inconvenience, and expense, connected with procuring ministers
to administer it.
[After bare entries of the dates of meetings of the Church and
administration of the Lord's Supper for some pages John Carter
was invited to be Minister at the end of 1846.
His influence is soon seen in Rules to be observed by the
Church submitted to and adopted by its Members at a Church
Meeting held on the 2nd of April, 1847.]
I Rule — Admitting of Members.
Sec. 1. No person shall be admitted a member of this Christian
Church who does not give Evidence of personal piety or
who holds doctrines contrary to the word of God.
Sec. 2. When anyone wishes to join this Christian Society Their
name shall be given in at a Church Meeting when time
and place shall be appointed to meet the candidate for
examination and every Member shall be at liberty to
attend on such an occasion.
Sec. 3. Should any Member know any thing objectionable in the
candidate as to their character and conduct, they shall
mention those objections to the Minister or to the Deacons
before the Meeting of examination.
Sec. 4. The Sabbath after the Meeting of examination The mem-
bers shall be called together to decide on receiving or re-
jecting the Candidate for Church fellowship. Should they
be approved of they then shall be received into communion
next Church Meeting.
II Rule — As to offences and Scandal.
Sec. 1. As to private offences. Here the Rule is laid down in
plain terms by our Lord and to depart from this Rule
would be sinning against Him whom we acknowledge to
be the Head. See Mat. 18—15 to 17.
The Book of Tolles^bury Independent Church 101
Sec. 2. Public offences and scandal or offences against Christ and
His Church.
1. Scandalous sins. Such as are guilty of these shall
be separated from our communion. I Cor. 5-11. But
now I have written unto you not to keep company If
any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or
covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an
extortioner ; with such "an one no not to eat. And at
the 13 verse it says Therefore put away from
among yourselves that wicked person.
2. Severe measures are to be adopted to those who
i.'ake discord and disturb the peace of the Church.
Rom. 16, 17 and 18. Now I beseech you brethren
mark them which cause Division and offences con-
trary to the doctrine which ye have learned ; and avoid
them. For they that are such serve not our Lord
Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words
and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. So
also in Gal. 5-12. I would they were cut off which
trouble you. Again Paul says II Thcs. 3-6 Now we
command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother
that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition
which he received of us.
Sec. 3. According to the Inspired Apostles direction such as are
guilty of scandalous sins shall be cut off for the Credit of
the Church for the honour of Christianity and for the good
of the offender. I Cor. 5.4. In the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. To deliver
such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh
that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Sec. 4. In less heinous cases all means shall be used to bring the
offender to repentance. But should such continue im-
penitent and all means of reclaiming them fail, then such
shall be excluded.
Ill Rule — Relates to other matters necessary to be observed by
Christ's Church.
Sec. 1. When any member absent themselves from Christ's insti-
tuted ordinances Especially that which is called the
Lord's Supper The Deacon or some other Member shall
be appointed to visit such and ascertain the reasons for
their absence and report it to the Church. "Forsake not
102 The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church
the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of
some is", etc.
Sec. 2. Should such continue to neglect the Lord's Supper time
after time the Church shall proceed to deal with them as
in its wisdom it shall think best.
"Let all things be done decently and in order."
Sec. 3. We agree to admitt members of other Churches who hold
Jesus Christ as the Head to the Table of the Lord as
occasional communicants but such shall have no voice in
the Church.
Sec. 4. Lastly what is attended to by the Church at its Meetings
shall be kept within the limits of the Church and not be
told to persons of the world.
1.3.50. [The Rev. John Spurgeon, father of C. H. Spurgeon,
invited.]
15.12.50. [Spurgeon tackles non-attender.]
1.10.52. The Lord's Supper omitted on account of illness of J.
Spurgeon.
8.5.53. It was resolved at a General Church Meeting that any
member absenting himself or herself from the Lord's
Table for three successive months without assigning a
reason for so doing shall be visited by two Messengers
appointed by the Church, and if no justifiable reason be
given and the Brother or Sister still continuing to absent
himself or herself, then such Name shall be erased from
the Church books.
30.9.53. A Church Meeting held at which Sarah Bowles Senr.
Widow of Tollesbury was admitted a member of this
Church. This has rejoiced the Hearts of each of us, is
a token for good.
3.6.55. Lord's Supper administered by J. Spurgeon. All Mem-
bers present excepting three who are ill.
6.7.56. Lord's Supper administered by J. Spurgeon. A Large
Proportion of the Members Present, how pleasing.
4.6.57. Church Meeting held. A conversation was held respect-
ing some of the Members who did not communicate they
attending with the Baptists at Goldanger and elsewhere.
The subject was adjourned till next Church Meeting.
3.8.60. Wm. Harvey and Wm. Carter appointed to visit
report their belief that he has walked contrary to the
Word of God and wished to have his name erased from
the Church Book, but, the Sin of Drunkeness called forth
the discipline of the Church, and the Church has in her
Wisdom withdrawn herself from him.
The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church 103
2.9.60. From the Report of the Messengers — — > was not
admitted thinking him not fully understanding the
Scriptures.
2.11.60. From the Report of the Messengers. Lydia Wood was
unanimously received into Church Fellowship as one
having been translated from the Kingdom of Satan into
the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
9.2.62. Church Meeting called and the Pastor urged upon the
Members the necessity of choosing another Deacon so
that in future accounts may be kept of all monies received
and expended in connection with this place of worship,
etc.
4.3.63. A Sermon was preached by Rev. Walford of Layer Breton
after which a Public Meeting was held in the Chapel
after which was presented by Mr. Chatterson, Sen. to
Mr. and Mrs. Spurgeon an Electro Plated Tea Service
of the value of Ten Pounds purchased by subscriptions
from the members and inhabitants of the Village. Mr.
Charles White Farmer and Churchwarden very kindly
occupied the Chair. The same was presented as a token
of esteem and respect to Mr. and Mrs. Spurgeon from
the Subscribers.
12.3.63. A Special Meeting was held in the Vestry for the purpose
to consult what should be done as Mr. Spurgeon had
accepted a Pastorate at Cranbrook, Kent. It was decided
by the Church to make application to the Essex Congre-
gational Union for a future Supply to occupy the Pulpit
and on the 16th day of March the Deacons and some
Trustees were met and consulted with respecting the
same by the Rev. Wilkenson and Mr. Isaac Perry of
Chelmsford which very gladly took up the matter for the
Church and Congregation to find supplys and as soon as
possible a stated Minister.
22.3.63. The Lord's Supper administered by J. Spurgeon which
was the last time, and also the last Sabbath that he spent
with the friends at Tollesbury as being their Pastor, the
separation was indeed very much felt by the Pastor and
also by the Church and Congregation but so it was in the
order of Divine Providence.
Some of the more interesting entries follow :
2.6.65. Church Meeting held at which time some things of
various kinds in connection with the Church and Congre-
gation were discussed and gone into, principally the new
Hymnbook.
104 The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church
30.6.65. Church Meeting held and the Introduction of the Hymn-
book sharply discussed.
4.8.65. New Hymnbook again gone into which the Church were
not willing to accept.
1.9.65. Church Meeting held. Eight only were present.
3.11.65. Things discussed in relation to the new Hymnbook by
the Consent of the members of the Church, Mr. Chatter-
son Sen. agreed to name the Hymns in both books, the
Church still leaning to the old ones as usual.
1.12.65. Hymnbook again sharply discussed.
2.3.66. Church Meeting held. The New Hymnbook again sug-
gested by Mr. T. Juniper as wishing to see it generally
adopted. After some long consultation the matter was
again dropped, not being accepted by some of the Church.
4.5.66. Church Meeting held at which the Hymnbook question
was again discussed the Friends still preferring the old
ones Watts and Rippons the new Hymnbook was not
altogether adopted although it was resolved and agreed
to give and read them from the new Book.
19.8.66. Mr. Sowter of Tiptree Chapel preached, when the new
Congregational Hymnbook was generally adopted the
Hymns given out of the new Book and not named from
the old ones, although the old ones were laid aside, they
were Preferred by some of the Church and others in office.
28.9.75. A Church Meeting held at which the question was
mooted by F. Banyard Relative to the change of the
Church Book from himself to Mr. Anstey as suggested
by A. Spicer, Esq., of Woodford. It was proposed by
Mr. Anstey to stand over for one month for the Church
to think over.
4.11.75. A Church Meeting held at which the Church Book ques-
tion was again spoken of. The Church generally re-
quested F. Banyard to keep it as usual.
27.2.79. It was proposed by F. Banyard and seconded by A.
Chatterson that in the future any person desiring to be-
come a Member should be allowed to give their experience
in writing if preferable to their being waited upon by
Messengers. The same was carried by all then present.
3.1.84. The Question if anything could be done to make the
Ordinance of the Lord's Supper better attended too, as
Regards attendance of the Members of the Church the
Question was fully discussed and it was proposed to ask
The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church 105
the Church to stay after the Ordinance and report the
same to those that should be then assembled, which was
unanimously carried.
6.1.84. Question as to the better attendance of Church Members
to the Ordinance was gone into Relative to each Mem-
ber to have tickets for the year which would then show
who attended and who did not attend which was objected
too by two or three and was referred to the next Church
Meeting.
31.1.84. Church Meeting held at which the above matter was not
unanimously agreed too — those who were for it did not
wish to force the tickets. Mr. Carter wishing to see
what could be done at the next Church Meeting.
28.2.84. Church Meeting held at which the matter referred too
was objected too by a few — two or three members.
22.4.84. On Tuesday the 22nd day of April 1884 on that morning
at a quarter after nine o'clock a terrible shock from
Earthquake was felt by the inhabitants of Tollesbury. A
chimney of Mr. George Harvey's was shaken down, in
other parts of the surrounding villages, and the town of
Colchester received great damage to the extent of some
thousands of pounds, Wighborough, Peldon, and Mersea
Island almost every house was severely damaged.
1893. Rules of the Tollesbury Congregational Church adopted
at Church Meeting held March 2nd, 1893.
1 . Membership
This Church is ready to welcome to its Fellowship any
persons who give satisfactory evidence of faith in, and
love and loyalty to, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Admission to Membership.
Applications for Membership should be made through
the Pastor or Deacons who shall first be satisfied of the
sincerity of the applicant. The Candidate shall then be
proposed at a Church Meeting (two members being at
the same time appointed Visitors) and shall be admitted to
Membership by vote of the Church at the next Meeting,
provided that the Visitors then report that the conditions
of Rule 1 have been fulfilled.
Candidates who prefer to write a letter to the Church
instead of being visited by Messengers may be received
by vote of the Church on the testimony contained in such
letter.
106 The Book of Tollesbury Independent Church
3. Transfer, etc. of Members from other Churches.
Members from other Evangelical Christian Churches
may be received by vote of the Church on presenting a
letter of Transfer, certificate of Membership, or other
satisfactory credentials of Christian character and con-
sistency.
4. Church Meetings. The Lord's Supper
The ordinary Meetings of the Church shall be held
monthly and the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper shall
be observed on the first Sunday in every month.
5. Withdrawal from fellowship. Revision of Register.
Any Member absent from the Lord's Supper for six con-
secutive months shall be visited or written to and if no
satisfactory reason is given shall be regarded as with-
drawing from Fellowship. The name of such member
after being read at a Church Meeting shall be liable to
removal from the register. The register shall be revised
at least once during each year.
6. Cases of Discipline.
The Pastor and Deacons shall form a Standing Commit-
tee of inquiry into cases of discipline and shall report to
the Church if necessary.
7. Election of Deacons.
Deacons shall be elected for a term of three years. The
Church shall from time to time decide on the number
which it is expedient to elect. The election shall be by
Ballot and no person shall be declared elected unless he
has received the votes of at least one third of the total
number of members voting. Deacons shall be eligible
for re-election at the end of their term of office.
8. Church Secretary and Treasurer.
After each election of Deacons is completed the Church
shall appoint one of its members Church Secretary and
another Church Treasurer for the ensuing term of three
years.
8. Notice of Business.
One month's notice shall be given of new business to be
brought before the Church except that which is intro-
duced by the Pastor or Deacons.
10. Annual Meeting.
A report of the Church's work during the year and a
financial statement duly audited shall be presented at the
Annual Meeting of the Church.
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813.
THE records of the Leaf Square Academy (or Lancashire
Independent Academy, as it was designated in some
Minutes) and those of the Leaf Square Grammar School
are, somewhat unfortunately, merged in one, and although, like the
waters of the Rhone and Arve below Geneva, the different streams
are broadly manifest, it is difficult to determine the precise contri-
bution of each.
Our immediate consideration is the "Leaf Square Academy for
the Education of Pious Young Men for the Dissenting Ministry",
an attempt at ministerial training sponsored, though apparently
not too widely supported, by the constituent ministers and con-
gregations of the infant Lancashire Congregational Union.
As was noted in a preceding article1, Mr. Roby's Academy was
brought to a close in 1808, when Mr. Robert Spear, its "Patron,"
removed from Manchester. Nightingale rightly comments :
No private individual could reasonably be expected to carry
the burden of such a work for any length of time, and the
next attempt in this direction, made almost immediately, was
definitely made by the Union itself.
Even before the dissolution of Roby's seminary, the Union was
being urged to provide alternative and more comprehensive facili-
ties, and the First Annual Report (January, 1808) pleads :
What mighty effort were it for our united congregations to
support, on an extensive and liberal scale, a County Seminary,
in which godly and hopeful young men should be well
instructed in Theology, and the original languages of the Holy
Scriptures, with a special view to the evangelising of Lanca-
shire? The object only wants to interest our feelings as it
deserves, and it would easily be effected.
At the Third Annual Meeting of the Union Society, held at
Warrington in April, 1809, it was resolved,
That it appears highly expedient that an Academical
Institution for the education of young men for the Ministry
be established for the benefit of the Independent Churches in
the Counties of Lancaster, Chester and Derby,
and the Union Committee was instructed to explore the possibili-
ties. In June of the same year, Messrs. Roby, Blackburn (Noah),
Spear and Fletcher (Joseph) were requested to mature a plan for
the formation of an academy, and on 13th July a General Meeting
1 Trans. C.H.S., XIII. 41.
107
108 Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813
of the Union was held in Mosley Street Chapel vestry when Roby
submitted such a plan, and it was resolved,
That a Grammar School embracing the most liberal plan of
education be established for the Youth of Protestant
Dissenters — that this be incorporated with an Academy for the
instruction of Young Men for the Ministry — that both be
under the direction of a Committee and that the emolument,
if any, arising from the School be applied to the support of
the Academy.
The School was opened in January, 1811 : the first three students
of the Academy began their course in the following June, being
non-resident during the term of their probation, and it is not until
November that we find, "That the three students be admitted to
the house immediately." (Mr. Roby had undertaken to find them
lodgings and also to direct their studies until the arrival of Jenkin
Lewis, the tutor. In the following February an allowance at the
rate of £30 a year was made to them towards the expenses of their
board from June to November.)
The projected plan anticipated a term of education extending
over at least three years, to be increased to four years at the dis-
cretion of the Committee. The first year's course was to embrace
English and Latin Grammar, the Principles of Composition and
Elocution, and the commencement of a Theological course with
the evidences of the Jewish and Christian Revelations. For a
second year the curriculum was : Latin, Principles of Composition
applied to the formation of Sermon Plans, Greek, Principles of
Logic and Moral Philosophy, Theology, with particular reference
to a review of Doctrines and Controversies. For the third session
were prescribed : Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Composition, Elocution,
Natural Science, Systematic Theology, Critica Sacra, General and
Ecclesiastical History. The estimated cost was "that for twelve
students it would take £1,000 per annum for three years," to which
it was noted that from sums promised, "it appeared that only the
sum of about £148 18s. Od. could be expected" ! The position
was somewhat eased by promises of £100 each from Robert Spear
and John Potter, and 50 guineas each from Robert and William
Kay, with which assistance, and "after a good deal of desultory
conversation" respecting the propriety of establishing an Academi-
cal Institution at all, on the ground of its interfering with Rother-
ham and the probability of Dr. Williams's mind being hurt at the
establishment, it was resolved, "to forward the business with all
expedition." Premises were found to accommodate the School in
a house leased from Mr. Leaf, in Leaf's Square, Pendleton, while
an adjacent house was apparently rented subsequently from the
same gentleman for the accommodation of the Theological Tutor
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813 109
and students with Mr. Lewis's advent. The rent of the first house
was £42, it to be "finished in a plain neat style to the satisfaction
of the committee."
To the Presidency of the intended School and Academy, the
Rev. Mr. Phillips was invited in July, 1810, at a salary of £200,
"besides his board, washing and lodging during his residence at
the Academy, but not including Wine or Liquors."
The Rev. George Phillips, M.A. (Glasgow), was born at
Haverfordwest, 15th November, 1784, a descendant of Peregrin (e)
Phillips, ejected from Llangone and Fresthorpe, Pembroke, in
1662 (Cal., III. 506, and Lyon Turner, II. 1212). He studied at
Wymondley Academy and Glasgow University, and then supplied
churches at Liverpool, Haverfordwest, Kidderminster, and South-
ampton. About the same time as he accepted the appointment to
the Academy, or a little later, he assumed the pastoral charge of
New Windsor Church, Salford, and was ordained there on 29th
May, 1811. In October of the same year he resigned owing to
ill-health, and died at Glastonbury on 24th Oct., while en route to
Sidmouth. His untimely death was a hard blow to the Committee,
but he had seen the venture launched and rendered valuable
assistance in the equipment of the School. During his brief
tenure of office, John Dalton, the eminent mathematician and
scientist, was appointed to the position of First Mathematical
Tutor to the Academy and School, to attend for two-and-a-half days
each week, an appointment he retained until 1813. M. le Chevalier
de la Radiere was, at the same time, appointed French Tutor
(resigning in 1812) and a Mr. Weidman (or Wiedman?) as junior
master (1810-13), with James Pridie (see account of Roby's
students) as "assistant for the instruction of the younger children."
Some temporary assistance was also given by Mr. William Hope,
who was invited some years later to the Classical Chair of the
Blackburn Academy and later became Principal of the Congrega-
tional School, Lewi sham.
Shortly before Mr. Phillips's resignation, it had been proposed
to separate the Offices of Head Master of the Grammar School and
President of the Academy, and an invitation had been given to,
and accepted in July by, the Rev. Jenkin Lewis in the second
capacity. Mr. Lewis did not reach Manchester until four days after
Mr. Phillips's death, and for a time had to assume responsibility for
both sections of the work. He was engaged at a salary of £100,
with the board of himself and his wife — "and he expressed his
perfect satisfaction with the terms."
The Rev. Jenkin Lewis, D.D., was born at Brithdir, Gelligaer,
near Merthyr, on 12th August, 1760. His education was obtained
in a school at Merthyr and the Academy at Abergavenny. When
110 Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813
the Academy was removed, he was invited to go to Oswestry as
an assistant to Dr. Williams, but at the time he declined, although
subsequently accepting the position in 1782. He became pastor
at Wrexham in 1783, and was asked to succeed Dr. Williams as
tutor at the Oswestry Academy, which was removed to Wrexham
in 1792 to facilitate his superintendence. These positions he re-
tained until his removal to Leaf Square in October, 1811, where
he held office until the closure of the Academy in 1813 — a period
which a biographer declares him to "have considered the most
trying season of his life." After the dissolution of the Academy,
he continued to reside at the Academy House until 1815, declining
an invitation to the pastorate of New Windsor Chapel, Salford. In
March, 1815, he settled at Newport, Mon., received a D.D. "from
the Board of an American University' " in 1831, and died on Thurs-
day 11th August in that year2.
As successor to Mr. Phillips in the charge of the Grammar
School, the Rev- John Reynolds was appointed in January, 1812,
on like terms to those offered to Mr. jlewis, "Mr. Lewis to be
considered Superintendent Tutor in the i\cademy and Mr. Reynolds
in the School.' '
Reynolds was born at Hampstead, 11th June, 1782, the third
son of Dr. Henry Revell Reynolds, physician-in-ordinary to H.M.
George III. He was educated at Westminster School and Oriel
College, Oxford, but did not graduate. On coming down from
Oxford he held appointments at the War Office, in the office of the
Secretary of State for Home Affairs, and as private secretary to
the Duke of Portland. He was also a Royal page and served
about the person of the King. At length, he entered the army and
bore a commission in the North Lincoln Militia, serving under
General Yorke in the Irish Rebellion, being at the time "a gay
and dissipated young man of fashion." Marrying against his
father's consent (his second wife was the sister of Joseph
Fletcher of Blackburn, later the first President of the Blackburn
Academy), it was determined that he should leave the country, his
father promising to provide for him so long as he lived out of
England. America was chosen, and he remained there about five
and a half years.
There under the ministry of Dr. Mason, of New York, it
pleased God to meet with him and his wife. He was peculiarly
concerned to seek a reconciliation with his father and his
family, and Mrs. Reynolds came to England for that purpose
but failed in her object.
About a month after her return, both Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds
sailed for England, but
2 Evang. Mag., 1831, 509 f.
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813 111
Mr. Reynolds never obtained an interview with his father
after his return to England, although the Dr. still continued
his allowance. The father died shortly after, and it has been
no inconsiderable grief to Mr. R. that he died without the re-
conciliation which he so eagerly sought. In his will, however,
the Dr. did not omit him, but left him the sum he had allowed
him, as an annuity for life. After the death of his father,
Mr. R. took a cottage at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. He there
sat under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Williams, to whom he
was much attached ... By that gentleman he was at length
introduced to the Rev. Dr. John Pye Smith, of Homerton,
who recommended him as a suitable person to fill the office of
Head Master in the then recently established Dissenters'
Grammar School at Leaf Square, near Manchester. In his
situation as Master of the Grammar School, Mr. Reynolds
was much beloved by his pupils, and few perhaps ever main-
tained a stricter system of discipline with less severity3.
Reynolds also assumed the pastorate of New Windsor Chapel,
vacant by the death of his predecessor, George Phillips. On leav-
ing Manchester in 1813 (the precise date of his withdrawal not
being recorded, nor the reasons for it4), he accepted the pastorate
at Chester, and subsequently at Romsey, Hants, and at Halstead,
Essex, where he died, 15th Feb., 1862. He was Chairman of the
Congregational Union of England and Wales in 1843, and the
father of Dr. Henry R. Reynolds, President of Cheshunt College,
1860-95.
A further assistant was appointed in January, 1812 — Joseph
Wadsworth, writing master. He was born at Rishworth, near
Halifax, in April, 1792, and apart from one year in a school at
Chester, was self-taught. Leaving Leaf Square, from which he
was "discharged" in 1813, he returned to his native village and
opened a school. When about 21 years of age, he entered the
? Raffles MSS., from which some earlier details are also drawn.
4 Whether Mr. Reynolds withdrew because of the advent of Dr. Clunie and
the projected transfer of the school to him, or Dr. Clunie was installed because
Mr. Reynolds had resigned is not apparent. The last Minute referring to Mr.
Reynolds (Sept., 1813) reads : "A letter from Mr. Reynolds to the Secretary
dated 31st ulto. was read, complaining of being charged with inattention to the
School by a deputation of the Committee and wishing to be informed of the
names of the persons who first made the charge. The letter also states that
nctices had been given of the removal at Michaelmas of the following boys, viz.,
George Rylands, John Rylands, Richard Rylands, George Dawson, John P.
Clapham, Thomas Bradford, William Bradford, Jabez Wilson, and Edward
Sedgwick, and of Charles Norris at Christmas. The Committee request the
Secretary to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Reynold's letter and to inform Mr.
Reynolds that the Gentlemen to whom he refers were not a deputation from the
Committee to him. . .".
112 Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813
Academy at Idle, and after a four years' course, settled at Clitheroe,
Lanes, in 1817, where he continued until 18th March. 1850, the
time of his death. He published : Lectures on the Apocalyptic
Epistles, Fact and Truth, Scripture Illustrations, and a volume of
sermons5.
Wadsworth, Pridie, and others of the junior " ushers" on the
staff were probably in some measure pupils as well as teachers,
but their names are never referred to as among the ''Students" of
the Academy.
Early in 1813, grave concern was being felt at the lack of support
attending the Academy, and it was resolved that
unless there was more liberal support from the Churches and
Congregations, the institution for the Students could not be
carried on.
The Seventh Annual Meeting of the Lancashire Union declared
in April,
That the County Union does consider itself bound to support
the Academy, and that there shall be collections made to defray
the expence of carrying on the Academy ; the Students to pay
£30 each per annum,
and an appeal was circulated, but no great response was evinced :
There was not held out any probability of a larger sum being
received annually than about £60,
in the light of which it was further resolved :
That it appearing to this meeting that the present system of
Education in the Academy at Manchester is not sufficiently
extensive, a Committee be appointed to prepare a new and en-
larged plan, to be submitted to a general meeting (of the
Lanes Union) to be held at Manchester in Dec. next.
In December it was resolved,
That the reduced state of finances and the many discourage-
ments which the Academy labours under compel this meeting
to dissolve it.
5 v. Cong. Year Book, 1853, 231-2. Nightingale, Lancashire Noncon-
formity, II. 203-4, records that during his Clitheroe ministry Wadsworth sus-
tained a minor academy, and "not the least important part of his work was the
training of young men for village preaching, hy whom many of the small country
churches in the neighbourhood of Clitheroe were kept supplied. Some of these
have for many years faithfully served in the Congregational ministry of Lanca-
shire, viz., Rev. Giles Scott, late of Knowle Green, John Robinson, of Elswick.
To these may be added the names of Lawrence Strickland Dewhurst, a promis-
ing young minister, who died at Pateley Bridge, 21st Nov., 1871, and Bulcock
Booth, late of. Newton". He also issued a small religious monthly, The Voice
of Truth (H. Whalley, Clitheroe, 1830).
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813 113
The remaining minutes, covering the period to July, 1815, are con-
cerned mainly with the transfer of the Grammar School to Dr. John
Clunie, with an appendix of others (subsequently re-written into
the Blackburn Academy Minute Book by Mr. George Hadfield,
who was secretary of both institutions) recording the steps taken
to replace the Academy. A few months previous to the dissolution
of the Academy, as already hinted, negotiations had been opened
with the Rev. John Clunie, who was appointed Classical Tutor in
succession to John Reynolds, and shortly after his settlement plans
were drawn up for transferring the School to him, which was ulti-
mately done in 1815 ; it was run by him as a private venture for
something like 40 years.
John Clunie was born in London in April, 1784, and after serving
part of his apprenticeship to a Mr. Reed, woollen-draper of Conduit
Street, he entered Hoxton Academy in 1805, being a contemporary
there of Richard Slate of Preston and Dr. Robert Morrison, the
missionary. He gained a Dr. Williams' Scholarship to Glasgow
University in 1807, where his co-students included H. F. Burder
and Joseph Fletcher, later of Blackburn and Stepney. He was
ordained to the pastorate at Guildford in 1809, but his health shortly
failed and he became tutor to a gentleman's family in Kensington
for some two years. His name was first brought before the Leaf
Square Committee in 1812 as a potential Classical Tutor, but there
was at that time no vacancy. Assuming the Principalship in 1813,
in later years "he acquired a competency and retired from scholas-
tic work." He appears to have directed a seminary at Seedley
Grove in addition to the Leaf Square School. His savings
were lost when the Bank of Manchester failed, but some
of his old pupils purchased him an annuity, and he resided in
Tipping Street, Manchester, until his death on 23rd June, 1858.
Like the other Leaf Square tutors, he was for a period in pastoral
charge of New Windsor Chapel (1813-16). He received the
degree of LL.D. from Glasgow University, of which he was already
a Master of Arts, and in his later years was associated with
Grosvenor Street Chapel. He gave much time and service to the
affairs of the Lancashire Union, Blackburn Academy, Lancashire
Independent College, the L.M.S., and the Manchester Branch of
the Evangelical Alliance.
Before proceeding to some notes regarding the students of the
Academy, we may perhaps quote part of the last official report of
the School, and the first presented by John Clunie, August 1814,
just prior to its being made over to him, which contains what he
terms "an expose of their principles" —
In presenting a brief view of the present state of Leaf Square
Grammar School, the Committee think it not improper to
114 Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813
advert, for a few minutes, to those sacred principles on which
it was first established and which it is highly desirable ever
to pursue. It had long been a subject of deep regret to the
pious and reflecting parents among Protestant Dissenters that,
although very ample provision was made for the classical
education of the sons of the Establishment, not only in the
numerous Grammar Schools placed under its immediate
patronage, but at those seats of learning which have been
honourably designated the Two Eyes of Britain, there were
but few opportunities afforded to the sons of others to obtain
even a respectable acquaintance with classical and general
literature. In some of these also there was too much reason
to fear the acquisition would be at the expence of their moral
witness and religious principles — a sacrifice far too great for
the highest possible attainments in learning and science.
These persons were sensible also, that much of the delight and
pleasure that is acknowledged to be felt in reading the writings
of our distinguished Nonconformist Divines, is to be attri-
buted, next to their unfeigned piety and zeal, to their having
early possessed a complete education as to all the mysteries
of the Schools . . . . It could not therefore but become an
object of serious inquiry whether the mere orthodox Dissenters
could not once more enlist true learning under the banners
of the Cross ; and generally secure for their sons no despicable
rank in the schools of general knowledge and science. It
should, however, be remarked, that, at the same time that
they ardently wished to afford every facility to those persons
whose hearts God had touched by His grace and disposed
towards the honourable functions of the Christian ministry,
to prosecute their studies with success ; yet it was never in
their contemplation to constrain, or even encourage any one to
look forward to such a work, who did not in the judgment of
charity promise to satisfy every reasonable enquiry on this
point. And in the former case — altho' they entertained little
fear that all the learning and science that the body of Pro-
fessors referred to could possibly possess could be able to
overturn the faith once delivered to the saints ; yet they were
convinced that it was proper not only that our Ministers should
in some cases at least be able to meet the foe in armour of
equal strength and with weapons of equal temper so that if
their enemies wore swords they might wear them too ; but that
the rising generation in general should be able to rise superior
to all the little cavils of a false philosophy, and at least repel
and render innoxious the impotent darts of sophistry and scep-
ticism— which they conceived would be most effectually
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813 115
accomplished by bestowing on them a truly classical and
philosophical education, combined with one equally moral and
religious ; for it is only from the union of the two that those
sacred advantages can be expected to be derived. Impressed
with these general and particular facts, the friends of religion
and letters in the Metropolis had several meetings convened in
1807 in order more fully to carry the purposes of their hearts
into immediate execution ; and the happy consequence was the
establishment of Mill Hill Grammar School, where the inter-
ests of both religion and learning are happily combined. That
Institution soon abundantly prospered, so that it has at present
about 80 pupils; and many applications are refused for want
of room. The noble example of what may be called not only
the emporium of the world as to commerce, but the Emporium
of Benevolence, soon produced some correspondent emotions
and energies in the breasts of others at a distance, who aimed
to emulate their example and to tread in their steps. It is with
great pleasure that the Committee observe that the friends of
Religion and Learning in Lancashire were among the very
first who established similar Institutions by founding Leaf
Square Grammar School. This Institution, it will be remem-
bered, was at first incorporated with another immediately
connected with the Christian Ministry, which subsequent
events have separated from it, for it would be too much to say
that the Religious public have relinquished so necessary an
object ....
The Theological Students at Leaf Square Academy do not seem
to have been more than four in number :
Isaac Lowndes. Born 1791 (?) — a member of the Church at
Knutsford. Studied at Leaf Square and then at Gosport
Academy. Appointed to the Greek Mission of the London
Missionary Society — ordained 8th August, 1815, at Chester,
and sailed in October, 1816. He was at Malta from
1816 to 1819, when he removed to Zante, and thence
to Corfu in 1822. His connexion with the L.M.S.
terminated at the end of 18446. At the commencement of the
next year (1845) he was appointed by the British and Foreign
Bible Society as agent in charge of their Malta Auxiliary,
which he had helped to found in 1817. From this post he
retired in 1860, having at that time the superintendence of an
area covering Greece, Malta, North Africa, Syria, Palestine,
and Egypt. Returning to England, "in the quiet of Cornwall
he prepared marginal references to the Modern Greek Bible
6 Sibree, Register of L.M.S. Missionaries, No. 163.
116 Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813
which he had assisted to translate."7 He died, aged 83, at
the house of his only daughter at Basel in 1874. His Literary
work included :
English and Modern Greek Lexicon, 1827.
Modern Greek and English Lexicon, 1837.
Hebrew Old Test, and Mod. Greek Lexicon, 1842.
He also carried through the press the first translation of the
N.T. into Albanian, and revised the Modern Greek Bible in
1850.
John Morris. Born at Denbigh, 10th Nov., 1788. After
the death of his father, he was apprenticed in Manchester and
there became one of Roby's lay-preachers. After leaving
Leaf Square, which he entered at the same time as Lowndes,
he went to Hoxton Academy, and then became first co-pastor
with, and then successor to, the Rev. Mr. Hillyard at Olney.
From there he removed to Leatherhead, and then to Glaston-
bury, Som., 1851-58, where he died of cholera, Saturday, 8th
September, 1866 (v. Yean Book, 1867, 303).
William Lees. The third of the original students. Came
from Tintwistle, having been born at Bugsworth, Derbys., 20th
Aug., 1785. Proceeded to Rotherham College, Jan., 1814 :
supplied Sutton and Thirsk, Yorks., for a time and then
settled at Knottingley. Removed to Dogley Lane, Hudders-
field, Jan., 1820, where he continued till his death, 13th Aug.,
1831. (Memoir, Evang. Mag., 1832, 133-8.)
Thomas Chesters8. Commended by the Church at Sand-
bach, and entered in December 1812. He left in November,
1813, having accepted an invitation to the pastorate at Gatley,
Cheshire, without the sanction of the Committee and before
completing his course. He was here until about 1824, after
which date there is no record of the Church in the Cheshire
Union annals for about 40 years, and all contemporary records
of the Church itself are lost. A note in the Cheshire Union
Report for 1820 states that he also devoted himself to the
villages of Heaton (Mersey), Cheadle Hulme, Long Lane,
Hey Head and Hale Barns. He applied to the Committee of
the Blackburn Academy for admission to that institution when
it was opened in 1816 and was "received on probation," but
there is no evidence that he ever availed himself of the per-
7 Canton, HisL. of the British and Foreign Bible Society, III. 215-6.
8 Powicke, History of the Cheshire Congl. Union, gives Chester. The Leaf
Sq. and Blackburn Minutes always Chesters.
Leaf Square Academy, Pendleton, 1811-1813 117
mission, and his name is never mentioned again in the
Blackburn Minutes, nor does his name ever appear as one of
its students. Nothing is known as to later career or date of
death.
So far as the Leaf Square Grammar School is concerned, there
is very scanty information. No roll of pupils is preserved, though
there are stated at various times to have been about 50 in residence.
The following boys are specifically mentioned in the Minutes —
mainly on appearing before the Committee to answer for various
misdemeanours, or when notice of their withdrawal was given :
— Bowdon (of Hull), Thomas Bradford, William Bradford,
John P. Clapham, — Cole (of Chester) and his brother, Joseph
Dal ton (of Salford), George Dawson, William Grime, —
Hilton (of Darwen), Cyrus Jay (of Bath), — Lee (of Man-
chester), — Middleton and his brother, Charles Norris, —
Parsons (of Chorley), — Parsons (of Leeds), — Piatt (Delph),
— Rymer or Rhymer, George, John and Richard Rylands (all
of Warrington), Edward Sedgwick, James Thom(p)son, —
Williamson (of Chester), Jabez Wilson, — Wrigley.
Some of the names are fairly easily identified, as, e.g., Jay,
Parsons, Rylands, while conjectures could assign others to Con-
gregational families of the period and district. Williamson and
the Coles were "Parlour Boarders" at £80 per annum; the others
apparently on the ordinary basis, which was 40 guineas per annum
for children under twelve and 45 guineas for those above twelve,
from January 1811 to Midsummer 1813, when the terms were in-
creased to £50, £46 and £42 respectively, for three classes, though
the basis of this fresh classification is not stated.
It is interesting to discover pacifist principles at work, as
evidenced by the following :
It having been reported that some soldiers had attended the
school to teach the boys to march and the broad-sword exer-
cise, it was resolved that directions be given to the teachers
to prohibit such practices for the future and that Mr. Roby
be requested to give the information.
After the arrival of Mr. Clunie, the minutes record the appoint-
ment of four further junior members to the staff to replace
Weidman, Pridie, and Wadsworth, viz., G. B. Sharp, Hamilton,
Paxman, and Brindle, but each remained only for a brief period
(one for 24 hours and another for four days only !), and no details
are known concerning them.
[Coniinued on page 77]
New College (London) MSS
[Copy] Wymondley House.
December 2nd, 1807.
Dear Sir,
One of our Students, Mr. Nottage, has been drawn for the
Militia in this County. Upon a former occasion I recollect you in-
formed me, that Mr. Coward's Trustees would pay the sum that
might be required for a substitute, if any of the Students were
drawn. We are allowed to the 17th of this month to settle the
business, at which time Mr. Nottage may be freed from the effects
of this Ballot, on paying the sum of Twenty Pounds. I judge it
necessary to acquaint you with these circumstances ; and if Mr.
Coward's Trustees will pay the expence to be incurred by this
business, I shall be obliged to you to remit me £20 for that purpose,
for as it is near the end of the year, it will be rather inconvenient
for me to advance that sum. Hoping this line will meet you in the
enjoyment of comfortable health, I remain, Dear Sir,
Your obedt. and obliged Friend and Serv.,
(sgd.) Wm. Parry.
[To the Secretary of Mr. Coward's Trustees.]
5 Barnsbury Street,
Islington.
16 June 1840.
To the Trustees of Coward College.
Gentlemen,
For nearly five years I had the privilege of pursuing my studies
under the care of Mr. Bullar of Southampton, and feel thankful to
God for all the advantages I enjoyed under that excellent man.
With the hope that God will realize the desire of my heart, by
permitting me to enter into the ministry, I should prefer Coward
College from the advantages which, I understand, are connected
with that institution.
In making this application to the Trustees to be admitted into
Coward College, I trust I am led by the love of Christ and therefore
wish to return my gratitude to Him by consecrating myself to his
service. Knowing that my heart is desperately wicked and deceit-
ful above all things, I hope I have not been actuated by any worldly
motive. I trust also I have been led to make this application out
118
New College (London) MSS. 119
of love and compassion to immortal souls which have not yet
heard the gospel and are dwelling in the shadow of death, that I
may be educated and qualified to instruct them in things pertaining
to their eternal welfare. It is my wish to promote the glory of God
and to extend Christ's kingdom as much as it is in my power and
to give to Him the glory who is the giver of every good and perfect
gift.
I remain, Gentlemen,
Yours respectfully,
E. K. Campbell.
— Endorsed :
W.C. 1840.
E. K. Campbell,
5 Barnsbury St.,
Islington. 16 June.
Application for Admission to C. College.
Congregational Historians in the Making
CLEARING out a desk in the Congregational Library
recently I came across some howlers collected from the
papers of junior children some years ago : the examination
was on denominational history. Among men who went to Mans-
field College were Robert Browne, John Howard, and David
Livingstone. Silvester Home and J. H. Jowett, however, seem
to be the "star turns", to judge by the examples given below :
Silvester Home used to wear a light grey suit and brown
shoes. He taught the men to smoke and the women to sow
and so make the evening enjoyable.
Silvester Home was a quiet, reserved, little bowed
shouldered old man when he became Minister at Whitefields.
Silvester Home went about his work quietly and peace-
fully.
Silvester Home was a good working-man.
Silvester Home was a small little man who was so enthus-
iastic in his sermons that he was the friend of all people.
In Daniel Buck's Church people were few — not unlike
those in the earliest Christian Churches, but more reasonable
in their ideas ; however, they were of a poor class.
Livingstone joined himself to Dr. Muffet's but he obtained
permission from Queen Elizabeth to go back to Africa.
Robert Browne was a preacher who also believed in
religion.
John Penry was for the same bullseye as Greenwood and
Barrowe.
Americans visit Scrooby because they degenerated from
the Pilgrim Fathers.
They [the Pilgrims] saw no land for a good while. They
then came to a little place called United States of America.
Henry Jowett went about preaching and became a Doctor
because his speeches were about doctorien (presumably
doctrine).
Jowett was imprisoned for hitting a village constable.
Jowett brought Congregationalism into high society.
Jowett could not stand on a platform and make a speech
without being prepared, but Silvester Home could make a
speech anywhere at any time.
Jowett was very advanced in the way he used his lan-
guage.
120
Congregational Historians in the Making 121
Jowett was often persecuted by the King and his officers
but he managed to avoid them for a long time before his
death.
Isaac Watts was a man who found religion easy.
Isaac Watts wrote hymns — also comic songs.
Watts passed on to the land of never-withering flowers
of which one of his hymns were composed.
Isaac Watts was a Congregational Minister although he
was small.
John Milton was the poet who wrote beautiful poems, the
best of which is "The Tulip and the Butterfly".
Livingstone — a stone that will for ever live.
Livingstone founded the Victoria Falls.
I wasn't here when we learnt about John Howard.
Queen Elizabeth had a large Church called Whitefields,
but the Pastor was dead when Silvester Home took it on.
In my exams, at school I ask Christ to help me a little
and then I do the rest myself.
The first Congregationalists were called "Brownies".
Watts changed the way they gambled through the ser-
vices.
The Americans visited Scrooby because the post-master's
house is in ruins and they would like to steel away the build-
ing materials to America.
J. H. Jowett was another torch bearer who taught in Carrs
Lane and other places out of the reach of the law.
J. Henry Jowett tried to do all he could. At first he
thought he would be a bachelor but saw people needed some-
thing more than that, so he became a Minister.
John Penry had a secret typewriter called a Marprelate.
Scrooby was one of the sauces of Congregationalism.
Silvester Home was both a religious man and an M.P.
Silvester Home wrote two hymns — one a funny one and
the other quite fascinating.
A Congregational Church is free to a certain extent. It
is free to choose its own Pastor, Deacons and so on, but
our Pastor could not get up and preach anything.
You do not have to pay a price to belong to a Congrega-
tional Church.
The rule of Congregational Churches is not to have any
fancy services, only plain, and to obey the minister's rules.
There are a lot of Congregationalists now — we are a
grand company.
Congregationalists can copy Livingstone and Howard by
abolishing the Froth blowers, etc. Albert Peel.
The William Bradford House, Austerfield
YORKSHIRE Oongregationalists are mourning the death
of Liady Flisher-Smith of Halifax. We received one of
the last letters Lady Fisher-Smith dictated. It spoke of
her intense interest in the house at Austerfield which was almost
certainly the house in which William Bradford, Governor of the
Plymouth Colony, lived as a youth. Lady Fisher-Smith wrote
an article in an American journal about the house, and we have
permission to print part of it. It will speak for itself. [Editor.]
There is an old house in Austerfield, undoubtedly the survival of
the Austerfield where Governor Bradford spent his youth and boy-
hood, which is called the Manor House, and has been visited by
thousands of Americans who were under the impression that it was
the birthplace and early home of Governor Bradford. The origin
of this tradition is unknown and no evidence of any kind has been
found to prove that the tradition is founded on facts that can con-
nect it with the Bradford family ; for the reason that at the time the
Bradford family were living in Austerfield the Manor House was
known to be in other possession. Incidentally, there is nothing in
the memorial history of Austerfield to warrant the application of
the term "Manor House" to this building.
It was, however, the dilapidated condition of this famous Pilgrim
Father relic that led to the present investigation by a small group
of interested people — inasmuch as the Doncaster Rural District
Council brought it to the notice of the public through the Press
that the house was unfit for human habitation and that the sup-
posed Bradford birthplace was threatened with destruction.
A small committee was formed, one member of which, a London
business man, spent a good deal of time in investigation amongst
documentary records during and after the Governor's lifetime and
succeeded in making discoveries which set the matter in an entirely
new light.
The first discovery was a Survaie of the Mannors of Bawtry,
made under the authority of the Office of the Auditors of Land
Revenue in 1608, the very year in which William Bradford and the
other Scrooby Separatists succeeded in making the migration to
Holland which was the prelude to the Mayflower adventure. Pro-
minently mentioned as landowners and tenants at Austerfield in
this survey are two uncles of Governor William Bradford — his
father's brother, Robert Bradford, and Robert Hanson, a brother
of his mother.
122
The Williiam Bradford House, Austerfield 123
Of Robert Bradford it is recorded that as a freeholder he
"holdeth one messuage with th'appurtenances, nyne acres of land
one rood of meadowe in Bawtry Burres One close called 'Sponge
Close' containing one acre and one croft and half an acre" of land
in Austerfield.
Further particulars of land tenure of Robert Bradford set forth
in the survey are the following : —
pticular Acr. Rod. Perch
In the Hall close meadowe
In Arable Land theer
1
3
0
1
0
0
7
0
0
7
0
0
6
0
0
In the West feild Ar.
In the Ridding feild
In the Low feild Arr.
Com. of pasture on Austerfield
Moore and in the Carr Valet p annu ... ... xl.s
Robert Bradford died in 1609, a year after this survey was made,
and among the bequests made in his will was one to his son Robert
of the reversion of the lease of "all the Kings land which I have in
Austerfield". It is significant that in this will his grandfather
describes himself as a yeoman — a term which in Elizabeth's reign
denoted those next in rank below the armigerous gentry living
usually on land of their own.
Of Robert Bradford the younger, Joseph Hunter (Governor
Bradford's first cousin) writes lugubriously in his Founders of New
Plymouth, depicting him as "sinking, it is to be feared, into
poverty and obscurity". "Before 1628", said Hunter, "he had
sold his lands, or at least portions of them, but probably all".
That Hunter took an unduly gloomy view of the fate of the
family from which Governor William Bradford separated himself
in 1608 is evident from the other document unearthed in the course
of Mr. Ruffin's investigations, which shows that the Bradfords
remained at Austerfield as owners as well as tenants of land for at
least a century and a half after the exodus of the Pilgrims of the
district.
This document is an enclosure award made in 1767 which
described Robert Bradford as "the Proprietor of two freehold
houses or tofts and of one copyhold house or toft and of several
parcels of freehold and copyhold enclosures in Austerfield aforesaid
and also of several parcels of freehold and copyhold lands in the
said open arable feild in Austerfield having such right of common
as aforesaid". Under the awards a number of separate pieces of
land were allotted to him aggregating an area of 84 acres, and
these are delineated on a map which was registered along with the
award itself.
124 The William Bradford House, Austerfield
It is this map, recently found, which shows quite clearly that
in 1767 Robert Bradford was the occupier of the land running in a
narrow strip from east to west down to the village street on which
stands the ancient building which is the subject of the present
article. This building, which is itself marked oh the map, stands
beside a larger house still occupied, which may well have been built
at the time of the enclosure although it may possibly be older, but
of the antiquity of the neighbouring buildings the evidence is plain
enough, and there can be no doubt that it was in existence at the
beginning of the seventeenth century, and probably much earlier.
In view of what has been established concerning the position of
the Bradfords as owners and tenants of land at Austerfield in 1608
and 1767, there seems no reason to doubt that the old building is
the one occupied by Robert Bradford, uncle of the Governor, at
the time when his nephew left Austerfield for Holland. It may
have been the home of Governor William's father, and, indeed, the
Governor's birthplace, but in default of definite evidence of this no
such claim should or would be made.
All that is known of William Bradford's early life is the scanty
account given by Cotton Mather in his well-known work on New
England origins, Magnalia Christi Americana. Here it is stated
that after the death of his parents William was brought up first by
his grandparents and afterwards by his uncles. His father died in
July 1591, when William was sixteen months old. His mother,
who had married again, died in 1597 and his paternal grandfather,
the Elder William, in 1596 — his first wife, grandmother of the
Governor, having been dead many years when the latter was born.
On the maternal side, the Governor's mother, Alice Bradford
(afterwards Alice Briggs), was daughter of John Hanson. A
parishioner of that name was buried in 1601 and his widow, Mar-
garet, in the following year. There were two uncles on the
mother's side, Robert Hanson and George Hanson, who died in
1605 and 1610, and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that
these "Hansons" had some part in Governor William's upbringing
after he had been left an orphan and deprived of his grandparents ;
but the balance of probability would be in favour of his having
chiefly been under the care of his father's relatives.
Of these, the only one known to have been in a position to exer-
cise such care from the end of the sixteenth century onwards was
Robert Bradford, yeoman, his uncle ; while all the Pilgrim Fathers'
origin in the Old Country must inevitably have been surrounded
by a great deal of obscurity. There does appear to be strong
ground for believing that it was under the roof of the Austerfield
The William Bradford House, Austerfield 125
yeoman, Robert Bradford, that the illustrious nephew spent those
years when he came under the influence of Pastor Clyfton and
threw in his lot with the Scrooby congregation.
It would be from the old house, still standing, that — after the
breach with his relatives who, as Cotton Mather more than hints,
"were utterly out of sympathy with his religious convictions" — he
set forth in 1608, sadly but resolutely, with the Scrooby flock to
Holland.
After a few years in Holland they became unhappy for several
reasons. First, the difficulty of getting adequate remuneration to
support their families, and, secondly, seeing their children becom-
ing more Dutch than English, led them to turn their faces to the
New World.
The small committee already formed have now spent two years
in investigating the old houses in Austerfield, and Harold G.
Murray, Esq., Secretary-General of the General Society of the
Mayflower Descendants in U.S.A., has written a letter to the Hon.
Secretary in which he says : "At this time the only authenticated
house standing in which we have every right to presume the
Governor lived", is the one that the Committee have discovered.
He advises us to hasten matters.
They in the U.S.A. have already collected 3,500 dollars (£700)
for the purchase of the Robert Bradford House on terms agreed
upon that we in England raise £400. This seems a small sum
towards creating a monument to the first great builder of a great
nation.
Small or large sums will be gratefully received and contributions
may be sent to :
A. Stockil, Esq.,
Martin's Bank,
Halifax, Yorks.,
or to :
Guy W. Bingham, Esq., Chairman,
Editor Doncaster Gazette,
32 Printing Office Street,
Doncaster.
When sufficient has been raised a Trusteeship will be formed of
prominent men and women in America and England, some of
whom have already consented to act.
REVIEW.
The Theory of Religious Liberty in England, 1603-39. By T.
Lyon, B.A. Cambridge University Press. 7s. 6d.
Some Political and Social Ideas of English Dissent, 1763-
1800. By Anthony Lincoln. Cambridge University Press.
8s. 6d.
The Charity School Movement : a Study of Eighteenth Cen-
tury Puritanism in Action. By M. G. Jones, M.A. Cam-
bridge University Press. 21s.
For these three books students of Nonconformist history owe
the Cambridge Press a real debt. The first two are university
prize essays and relatively slight ; the third is a larger, exhaustive
work.
Mr. Lyon takes the various attitudes towards the idea of reli-
gious freedom adopted in England between the accession of James
I and the commencement of the Long Parliament, and examines
them with a cool and almost unsympathetic detachment : his book
is essentially the study of a theory. The positions taken up by
Anglicans, Separatists, Catholics, Latitudinarians and Erastians
are severally examined, without much attempt being made to show
what their contribution was to the toleration in practice at the time
or later. Dr. Michael Freund's Die Idee der Toleranz itn Eng-
land der grossen Revolution, which Mr. Lyon does not mention,
covers much of the same ground and is a more satisfying work.
Mr. Lincoln's book is much warmer in its atmosphere, and there
is a definite style about his writing which makes it pleasurable
reading. A lively picture is presented of the Rational Dissenters,
who, the author has no difficulty in showing, possessed an import-
ance rarely recognized to-day : * 'perhaps England never wit-
nessed so prominent a minority". "The keyword of their writings,
the text of their apology, the sum of their ideology was
'candour'." Mr. Lincoln, who pays special attention to the suc-
cessive and abortive attempts to have the Test Act repealed, has as
his thesis "the attempt of Protestant Dissent entirely to secularize
its relationship to the larger community ; ... to be recognized not
as sectaries but as citizens", a purpose, which "wielded a great
influence in the final secularization of politics, as what were at first
claimed as Christian liberties were transformed into the Rights of
Man". Both this and Mr. Lyon's book are well documented.
Miss Jones's work on the Charity School Movement is one
which will earn the gratitude of all students of English education
126
Review 127
as well as of religion. The purpose and nature of the charity
schools and the relation of the movement which founded them to
religion and politics are exhaustively discussed ; and this is fol-
lowed by a thorough consideration of the special conditions per-
taining in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and of the bearing of these
conditions on the movement. Miss Jones describes the enmity in
the schools towards Dissenters and the concentration of the Dis-
senters on higher education, and asserts that ''the direct contri-
bution of Methodism to the cause of popular education in the
eighteenth century was a curiously negative one". John Howard's
interest in the Irish schools is noticed, and there is a lengthy
account of the circulating schools in Wales, which the clergy
called "the Nurseries of the Methodists". "In broad outline the
Sunday school movement was a replica of the early charity school
movement". Lists of the schools throughout Great Britain,
classified by counties, maps showing their distribution, and an
extensive bibliography and index complete a work of admirable
scholarship.
Geoffrey F. Nuttall.
In his lecture, Presbyterianism in England in the Reign of
Queen Elizabeth (Manchester; Aikman, Is.), the Rev. F. J.
Smithen, the Editor of the Journal of the Presbyterian Historical
Society, recounts the emergence of Presbyterianism in Elizabeth's
reign, its development in the 70's and 80's, and its disappearance
in the 90's. We scarcely think Mr. Smithen is right in calling
Humphrey and Sampson Separatists, and he certainly accepts too
confidently Dr. R. G. Usher's depreciation of the Presbyterian
movement and its leaders.
Among the local Church histories are the Rev. L. D. Dixon's
Seven Score Years and Ten which tells the story of Islington
Chapel for the last 10 years, and the Rev. Pitt Bonarjee's
History of the Countess of Huntingdon's Church, Brighton.
The Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1938)
contains the annual lecture given by Dr. Peel on Robert Crowley
(since reprinted separately) ; an appreciation of the President,
Dr. Carnegie Simpson, by the Rev. J. Hay Colligan ; Dr. S. W.
Carruthers's annotated extracts from Contemporary News Sheets
about St. Bartholomew's Day, 1662; Mr. R. S. Robson's useful
list of Congregational Histories (i.e., the history of local Presby-
terian Churches) ; the Rev. R. D. Whitehorn's "Presbyterians
and Baptists in Eighteenth Century Oxford"; and Mr. W. B.
Shaw's lt Fasti of English Presbyterian Theological Students".
Editor.
9
128
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EDITORIAL
IT was particularly appropriate that the Autumnal meeting of
the Society should be held in the Chapel of the United College,
Bradford, for it was the occasion of the Centenary Celebrations
of the birth of Andrew Martin Fairbairn. In the Assembly of the
Congregational Union the Rev. T. H. Martin had moved a Resolu-
tion of thanksgiving, setting on record the denomination's apprecia-
tion of the work and witness of a great theologian. At our own
meeting Dr. Grieve .presided, prayer was offered by Prof. J. C.
Ormerod, and the papers printed within were read by Principal
E. J. Price of the United College and Principal R. S. Franks of
Western College, Bristol. Dr. Peel expressed the thanks of the
audience, which nearly filled the Chapel, and other speakers were
Dr. S. M. Berry and the Rev. Bertram Smith.
* * # #
The Annual Meeting of the Society will be held in the Council
Chamber of the Memorial Hall on Wednesday, May 10th, at 3 p.m.
We are fortunate in having as speaker one of our own members,
Mr. N. G. Brett-James, M.A., B.Litt., F.S.A., of Mill Hill, who
has recently written a delightful history of the School where he
has been so long a master. Mr. Brett-James will speak on "Crom-
wellian London" : his knowledge of seventeenth century Middlesex
is perhaps unequalled, and we hope members will not merely come
themselves to the meeting but bring members of the Assembly and
of the public along with them.
* * # #
The Rev. C. E. Surman's work on The Directory of Congrega-
tional Biography proceeds steadily : only a student with great
industry and pertinacity could hope to bring such a colossal task
to a successful conclusion. Mr. Surman is receiving welcome help
from many quarters ; we trust members of the Society will remain
on the qui vive and see that any biographical facts about ministers
and their churches which may be of service to him are sent along.
* * * *
The Society continues to lend a hand to research students from
all over the world who either write or find their way in person to
the Memorial Hall, where the treasures of the Congregational
Library are not so well known as they should be. Not only so,
but many of them are engaged themselves on research work which
will add considerably to our knowledge. The Rev. A. G. Matthews
is to follow up Calamy Revised by an edition of Walker's Sufferings
129
130 Editorial
of the Clergy and the Rev. G. F. Nuttall's Pinney Papers will
shortly see the light and be reviewed in our next issue. By the
time leisure is forthcoming we hope to have the necessary financial
backing for a definitive edition of the writings of the Separatist
Fathers (Browne, Harrison, Barrow, Greenwood, and Penry) both
here and in America, and we hope sufficient time will be allowed to
make the dream of a History of Elizabethan Puritanism and Non-
conformity and an authoritative History of Congregationalism a
reality.
* * * *
Among recent works which students of Congregational History
should not overlook are Dr. W. K. Jordan's Development of
Religious Toleration in England ; Mr. Douglas Nobbs's Theocracy
and Toleration ; Dr. William Haller's The Rise of Puritanism ; the
new edition of the Clarke Papers published under the title of
Puritanism and Liberty ; Dr. Charles Sturge's biography of Bishop
Tunstal ; Dr. David Mathew's The Jacobean Age; Miss Wedg-
wood's Thirty Years' War; Prof. Notestein's English Folks; Vol.
IV. of the Warwick County Records ; and Miss Armitage's The
Taylors of Ongar. A study which will reward readers is Prof.
Arthur Sewell's A Study in Milton* s Christian Doctrine. Some of
these books must be discussed later ; Prof. Haller's is of great
importance.
* * * •*
Just as we go to press there comes to hand from the Yale Univer-
sity Library Miss Anne Stokely Pratt's Isaac Watts and His Gifts
of Books to Yale College. At various dates from 1730 to his death
Watts sent to New Haven 43 volumes, representing 39 works, all
but a few his own writings. Some of his writings he withheld,
notably his Four Discourses (on the Trinity), lest he "be charged
with leading youth into heresie". Whether Watts be the Arian
some thought him or not, he certainly wrote some wise words about-
the doctrine in a letter to Rector Williams on 7th June, 1738 :
But all the explications I have yet seen do still leave great
Darkness upon it, which I expect will be cleared up when
C[hris]ts Kingdom breaks forth in its power; for I believe in
the Apostles days twas a much plainer and easier Doctrine than
all ages ever since have made it, since there were no controver-
sies about it in their Time.
Students of Watts 's life and times (when are we to have a modern
biography?) will find much in these pages to help them. Miss
Pratt's competent work concludes with a bibliographical description
of the books in the order in which they were sent. Many of them
now find a home in the magnificent new Library, where they must
feel strangely out of place.
Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College.
The Hour and the Man.
FROM the beginning of the 19th century there had been two
Congregational Colleges in Yorkshire, viz., Airedale (Brad-
ford) and Rotherham. In the conditions of the time both
Colleges were needed. From the middle of the century, however,
it was increasingly recognized that conditions were rapidly chang-
ing. Railways were facilitating transit and were drawing the two
ends of the County together. Moreover, the foundation of Colleges
at Blackburn, Nottingham, and Birmingham was tending to
narrow the field of operation of the Yorkshire Colleges. Public
opinion was increasingly in favour of the amalgamation of Airedale
and Rotherham so as to form one representative institution for the
whole of the county. There were many practical obstacles. Con-
sultations from time to time showed that, while the principle of
amalgamation was generally accepted on both sides, agreement
could not be reached upon any specific scheme. Hence, in spite of
a strong resolution on the subject passed by the West Riding Con-
gregational Union in 1867, the constituents of the two Colleges
failed to take any practical steps.
Meanwhile it was evident that both existing College buildings
were unsatisfactory and inadequate, and that new buildings would
have to be erected both in Bradford and in Rotherham, if the two
Colleges were to continue. A final effort to bring about agreement
upon the erection of a single building to serve both Colleges broke
down in 1872, and a few months later foundation stones were laid
for new buildings in both places.
The results were heavy debts on both buildings, and constant
deficits owing to inadequate income from subscriptions and
collections which might have sufficed for one College but not for
two. In Bradford the position was made even more difficult by the
resignations of the Treasurer and the Secretary.
Among the Airedale Governors at this time was a growing recog-
nition of the urgent necessity of raising the educational standard of
the College. Dr. Selbie expresses the view that at this period the
standard of education in the Congregational Colleges in general
was not as high as it should have been, and that, in particular, the
preparation in Arts subjects was inadequate. "The older Universi-
ties had just been opened to Nonconformists, and for many reasons
9 * 131
132 Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College
they had been prevented from using the opportunities available to
them in London and in Scotland as freely as they might have done.
It may be said, without injustice, that the outlook in the colleges
was somewhat parochial, and though they had done good work
under great disadvantages, it was obvious that they were capable
of far greater things"1. In 1876 there were but two professors at
Airedale, viz., Principal Fraser, who taught Theology and Hebrew,
and Prof. Shearer, whose subjects were Classics and Philosophy.
A third group of subjects including Mathematics and Logic was
divided between them with some help from outside. The course
was neither wide enough nor deep enough to meet the requirements
of a cultured ministry.
The Governors of Airedale were fully alive to the need of
revision of the educational policy of the College, and in 1873 they
appointed a committee to prepare a new educational scheme with
a view to the opening of the new building. The scheme was drawn
up. It provided for a higher standard in the entrance examination,
for the laying down of a normal course of five years' study, for the
inclusion of new subjects in the curriculum, for the appointment of
an additional professor together with a redistribution of subjects
among the teaching staff, and finally, for the establishment of a
Scholarship Fund. Unhappily Dr. Fraser did not see eye to eye
with the committee so far as its recommendations affected his own
position in the College. He felt impelled to resign and to leave
the new situation to be handled by a new man.
The way was now open for a new venture, provided that the right
man could be found to lead it. Many names were canvassed, in-
cluding those of some of the leading men in the denomination, but
none was found willing to allow his name to go forward. The
search was protracted, and meanwhile Dr. Falding came over week
by week from Rotherham to take the classes in Theology, and the
Principalshtp was put in commission. At the third meeting of the
committee, some seven months after its appointment, the name of
a certain "Mr. Fairbairn" cropped up somehow, but it was not until
February, 1877, that it was decided to open negotiations with the
"Rev. A. M. Fairbairn" (by this time the Secretary has found out his
initials), of St. Paul's Street Evangelical Union Church in Aber-
deen, with a view to his being invited to accept the office of Princi-
pal. A deputation was sent to interview Mr. Fairbairn. The
invitation was accepted and the new Principal agreed to commence
his work in Bradford in the Autumn.
It was agreed that Mr. Fairbairn, in addition to the administra-
tive work devolving upon him as Principal, should teach the follow-
1 W. B. Selbie, Life of Andrew Martin Fairbairn, 90.
Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College 133
ing subjects : New Testament Exegesis, Introduction and
Theology ; Apologetics ; Philosophy ; and Historical and Dogmatic
Theology — a programme that only a giant could even try to carry
through. Prof. Shearer was to continue to teach Classics and
English and was to share in the Theology, while a new professor
was to be engaged to teach Hebrew, Old Testament Exegesis and
History, Church History and Pastoral Theology.
Meanwhile the erection of the new building (in which we meet
to-day) was proceeding apace. It was opened in June, 1877, when
Mr. Fairbairn delivered the Inaugural Address on "The Christian
Ministry and its Preparatory Discipline". The Address, as Dr.
Selbie characterizes it2, constitutes a manifesto which is of great
significance in view of the condition of theological study in Non-
conformist Colleges at the time, and in view of the ideals of which
Fairbairn himself was the pioneer-apostle and which he lived to
see carried out. In this manifesto Fairbairn laid it down that while
the preacher must primarily be a prophet, he must have the tongue
of him who is taught. The whole body of truth, so far as it stands
related to the knowledge of God, is his concern. Hence such
disciplines as history, philosophy and science are needful for the
proper appreciation of Theology, which, beginning with the
Scriptures in their original tongues, includes also Systematic
Theology, the comparative study of Religions, Apologetics, and
Christian Ethics. The address concludes thus : "The education
which can make a man a theologian ought to make him much more.
It ought to make him a man possessed of the divinest truths,
acquainted with the holiest facts and persons, living to lift others
into the sublime fellowship he himself enjoys. Nature and man are
to him a divine speech which he has to interpret. His truths are
not cold and abstract, but vital with Eternal love, beautified with
Eternal righteousness.. They live and make him live : show him
that he may show others the universe, in all its parts and elements,
existing in the present and active and conscious God"3. Such
was the Hour, and now for the Man.
Who was this man whom the discerning eye of the Airedale
Governors recognized as the very man to carry through their new
educational programme and to bring their College into the front
rank of Nonconformist seats of learning? For twelve years (1860-
1872), before moving to Aberdeen, he had exercised a notable minis-
try in the Evangelical Union Church at Bathgate. He was trained
for the E.U. ministry under Dr. James Morison at the Glasgow
Academy and attended classes at Edinburgh University, without,
2 Op. cit., 89.
3 ibid.
134 Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College
however, obtaining a degree. He was thus plain "Mr. Fairbairn"
without academic ornaments of any kind. His early education was
scanty. He began to earn his living as an errand boy at the age of
10. As a student he was eager and painstaking rather than
brilliant. There was little sign as yet of those great powers that
brought him to the front during his ministry at Aberdeen. He
developed late, and his theology was hammered out in his own
experience and reading while he was tirelessly seeking to make
himself the equal of men who had had much better opportunities
than had been his.
Brought up from earliest days in the strict and rigid Calvinism
of the United Secession Church, he later rebelled against its
theological narrowness and identified himself with the Evangelical
Union, whose broader theology and freer spirit were more con-
genial to his mind. It was by this route that he became a Congre-
gationalist, firmly rooted in the classical tradition. On the principle
that no man understands liberty half so well as he who has been
in bondage, Fairbairn could appreciate the significance of the Con-
gregational witness even better than most of those who had been
nursed from the beginning in its traditions.
Nevertheless, in rejecting Calvinism in favour of the Three
Universalities, he came, not without inner conflict, which for a time
thrust him into the darkness of agonizing doubt, to a firm and
abiding assurance of the central affirmations of the Reformation
Theology, and devoted all the developing powers of his mind to
the assertion and defence of these affirmations against all comers.
In his preaching, he sought to give to his hearers a theology by
which they could live, and upon which they could depend as un-
shakeable truth. To that end he devoted himself to wide-reaching
studies in Philosophy and History, and (most notably for his time)
in the new Science of Comparative Religion which he was one of
the first in the country to employ for apologetic purposes. Out of
these studies he shaped an apologetic theology which met the
needs of puzzled and doubting minds — of scientists and philosophers
no less than of men who made no claim to academic attainments.
Thus he was able to meet fearlessly and serenely the naturalistic
and secularistic attacks upon Christianity that characterized the
third quarter of the 1 9th century. And withal, his theology was so
closely related to life that he found in it inspiration to do battle for
the common man by speaking boldly in regard to social injustices,
and by giving a central place in his ethic to social service as an
implicate of the Gospel of Redemption:
And so it came to pass that Andrew Martin Fairbairn, an errand
boy at ten,- a minister without a university degree at twenty-two,
in the course of twelve years had established throughout Scotland a
Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College 135
reputation as a theologian whose utterances commanded respect
even in the most exclusive academic circles. He became Chairman
of the Evangelical Union in 1870 and was appointed examiner in
the Academy. While at Bathgate, he surrendered his charge for
a time, and spent a year in Germany wrestling with the doubts that
a widening culture had forced upon his mind. There he made con-
tacts which transformed Germany for him into a second spiritual
home. Later, at Aberdeen, his preaching drew students and pro-
fessors from the University, and on Sunday evenings he delivered
courses of lectures on various aspects of Christian apologetic which
immensely enhanced his reputation and his usefulness. At the same
time he was contributing widely to the Press with articles on
theological and ecclesiastical themes.
All this was manifestly a preparation for the teaching office, and
it was no matter for surprise when in 1876 Mr. Fairbairn was
offered the Chair of Apologetics in the Evangelical Union Academy.
Nevertheless, while clearly recognizing that it was his destiny to
become a teacher, he desired something more in accordance with
his powers than the Academy could oifer at the time. Accordingly
he declined. In the same year, he put forward his name as a
candidate for the Chairs of Moral Philosophy at Aberdeen and at
St. Andrews, but, although it was generally recognized that he
was admirably qualified for either of these posts, his Evangelical
Union connections and his lack of a University degree destroyed all
hope of success. Shortly afterwards appeared his book Studies in
the Philosophy of Religion and History, which further enhanced his
reputatfon, and may be described as the foundation of all his sub-
sequent work.
Such was the situation when his name was mentioned to the com-
mittee that was seeking a Principal for the new Airedale, then
approaching completion. Here was a man with a broad and rich
sense of the requirements of ministerial education in a critical age,
a man with a firm grasp of all that was significant in Theology and
Philosophy, a man who had travelled far already, and was evidently
going to travel a good deal farther still, and withal, by conviction
a Congregationalist of the first water. The name was mentioned,
and, after some hesitation, based no doubt upon lack of personal
knowledge of the man, the committee called him and he came, to
begin one of the most notable chapters in the history of Noncon-
formist ministerial training in this country.
The work of Fairbairn at Airedale can here be characterized but
briefly. First of all, he was bent on further extending the revised
scheme of education prepared by the committee of 1874. He was
convinced that a fundamental weakness was due to the scattering
of both the staff and the students in having to take Arts subjects
136 Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College
side by side with theological study. In season and out of season
he urged that the proper place for the study of Arts was the
University, and that the College staff should confine itself to the
teaching of Theology in the widest sense. As a matter of fact, up
to this time, individual students had occasionally been permitted to
go to the University at their own charges before entering upon a
theological course, but Fairbairn 's contention was that this should
be the normal rather than the exceptional state Ox things. Again
and again he urged this upon the Governors, who, however, found
it impossible at first to meet the additional expense involved.
Fortunately, however, in the very year that Fairbairn came to
Bradford, a legacy of £5,000 which was specifically intended to
enable students to go to the University, came to the College, under
the will of a former Treasurer, Henry Brown. Thereafter, year
by year, Brown Scholars proceeded regularly to one or other of the
Scottish Universities ; and a few years later, as the result of Fair-
bairn's persistent advocacy, the separation between the Arts and
Theological courses was decided upon. Henceforth all students
took their Arts course in Scotland and came to Bradford for
Theology only. This remains the practice of the College to this
day — a practice which has proved of inestimable value to successive
generations of students, and gives to the College its distinctive
note. As indicative of the affection and confidence inspired by the
new Principal among the constituents of the College, it is worthy
of mention that the Capital debt which stood at £11,000 in 1879
was completely removed by the generosity of friends whose hearts
and pockets had been captured by him.
Another of Fairbairn 's notable contributions to Airedale was Dr.
Duff — that fiery, impetuous spirit which dwelt in the heart of a child,
that dauntless and unsparing critic who at the same time was one
of the humblest believers who ever lived. At the time when Fair-
bairn came to Bradford, Duff was teaching in Canada. The two
had met during a visit paid by the young Canadian to his ancestral
country. They conceived an immense liking for one another, and
when, at length, steps were taken to secure a third professor in
accordance with the scheme of 1874, Fairbairn put forward Duff's
name, and championed his choice so effectively that Duff was
selected without interview ; the invitation was sent across the seas,
and Duff, having accepted, began his work at Airedale in
September, 1878. At first he taught Mathematics as well as
Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis, until the time when the study
of mathematics was relegated to the University. Fairbairn and
Duff carried on a memorable partnership in Bradford. They had a
great deal in common besides their Scottish blood. Theirs was a
love like that of David and Jonathan, and in many respects their
Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College 137
work was mutually complementary. Duff brought into the partner-
ship an enthusiasm for the new methods of Old Testament study —
at that time more than suspect in many quarters — and taught many
generations of students to love the Old Testament with under-
standing. Dr. Selbie remarks4 that "the change which came over
Airedale in his (i.e., Fairbairn's) time seemed, as it were, to set
the pace for a new order of things in theological colleges through-
out the Free Churches of the land". That is very true, but we may
not forget the part played in this change by Fairbairn's alter ego.
Archibald Duff.
Outside the College Fairbairn gave magnificent service to York-
shire Congregationalism. He quickly made himself at home in the
county, which, in its turn, was able to appreciate the greatness of
his mind. He learned to love the West Riding with its splendid
tradition of Independency. Indefatigable in his service to the
churches, small and large, he took a leading part in all that con-
cerned the religious life of the vicinity. So widespread was the
grateful admiration of his leadership that within four years of his
coming to Bradford he was called to the Chair of the Yorkshire
Congregational Union, and three years later to the Chair of the
Congregational Union of England and Wales. This must surely
constitute a record in our denominational history.
In the city of Bradford itself, Fairbairn was the acknowledged
leader of Nonconformity. He was a constant contributor to the
local Press on all manner of social and political as well as religious
topics. He was a mighty defender of the Faith. "He was greatly
impressed with the keenness, intelligence, and zeal of the working
men with whom he came into contact at Bradford, and he spared
himself no pains in order to help them"5. His courses of lectures
on "Faith and modern Free Thought" and "Religion in History"
delivered to crowded congregations of working men on Sunday
evenings in Horton Lane Chapel are still remembered. His stout
defence of Christianity made him the target of attack by the forces
of secularism. But no man was better able to deal with these
attacks than he. He also delivered courses of lectures at the
College for ministers in the neighbourhood. Among his hearers
was a certain Peter Taylor Forsyth, then a young and very un-
orthodox minister at Shipley. It is on record that this young man
was audacious enough to heckle the speaker in good Scots fashion.
Fairbairn took the lead in reviving the Bradford Philosophical
Society, and along wth Duff founded the Bradford Athenaeum, a
discussion society of some 24 members composed of representatives
4 Op. cit., 90.
5 Op. cit., 119.
138 Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College
of the business and professional classes, which after nearly 60
years is still in existence, and still includes among its members the
staff of the College. Furthermore, Fairbairn and Duff were the
leading spirits in the formation of a congregation which met for
worship in the Airedale College Hall, now represented by its off-
shoot in Frizinghall, and were largely responsible for the invitation
to Rhondda Williams on the part of Greenfield, whither they and
others removed when the congregation at the College Hall was dis-
banded. And finally, not the least of Fairbairn 's services to local
Congregationalism was the foundation of the Bradford Congrega-
tional Association as the result of a Meeting convened by him at
the College with a view to bringing the Churches in the city to-
gether in closer fellowship and co-operation.
There was great rejoicing in 1878 when Fairbairn received the
degree of D.D. from his alma mater at Edinburgh, and again in
December of the same year when he was appointed Muir Lecturer
in the Science of Religion at Edinburgh. This post he held for
some two or three years, involving journeys to Edinburgh now and
again in order to deliver his lectures.
On several occasions Fairbairn was approached with a view to
his leaving Bradford for other spheres. Both New College,
London, and Andover, U.S.A., were declined. In 1881 came an
invitation to return to Scotland as Principal of the Congregational
Theological Hall in succession to Dr. Lindsay Alexander. Here he
was confronted with the most difficult choice he had ever been called
upon to make. His feelings are revealed in the noble letter he wrote
to the Governors of Airedale announcing his decision to remain in
Bradford. It had been the great ambition of his life to live, and
study, and teach in Edinburgh. He loved the religious atmosphere
of Scotland and felt a certain noblesse oblige to serve the churches
in his native land. Almost all his personal preferences, he said, and
all his literary plans and hopes, long cherished and deeply loved,
urged him northward. On the other hand, the radical changes
recently introduced into the organization of Airedale College at his
instance made the notion of departure before the new order of
things was consolidated like an undoing of all that had been done.
Many of the students had represented to him that they had come to
Airedale on his account. "But above all the claims most deeply
felt were those of Independency in England with all its splendid
history, and, in view of modern tendencies, intellectual and eccles-
iastical, the greatest task of any of the Free Churches in England".
And so the decision to stay was made under the strong compulsion
of conscience. Nevertheless there remained a deep longing for the
churches of his Fatherland and for the city he loved above all the
cities of earth.
Dr. Fairbairn and Airedale College 139
To this letter the Governors of Airedale College, who out of
respect for his conscience had refrained from exerting any kind of
pressure, replied expressing their devout thankfulness for his
decision to stay. His relations with the Governors were always
of the happiest, and this correspondence on the invitation to Scot-
land is a modeh of the kind of communication that should pass
between Christian gentlemen on occasions such as these.
Four years later came the invitation to lead the great venture at
Oxford. Of that I will say only this. Here again there was an
appeal to conscience, and here again, no other voice was allowed
to be heard. For a man with honorary degrees only and none of
them from Oxford, to beard the lions in their den, as it were, and
to carry through to a triumphant issue a 'Nonconformist invasion of
the most exclusive academic circle in the world, is itself a testimony
to the greatness as well as to the courage of the man who, in Brad-
ford, had lifted theological education to a higher plane than had
been known heretofore in the history of the Free Churches in
England.
E. J. Price.
The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn
WHEN I was asked to read a paper on the theology of my
teacher, Dr. Fairbairn, I recognized it as a duty to answer
the call. Yet it is only right to say that I rather shrank
from the task. If filial piety demands that one should do what
one can for the honour of a revered master, the same filial piety
makes it difficult and indeed ungrateful to engage in criticism of
his work. At the same time you will rightly expect from me not
merely an account of Fairbairn 's theology, but also an estimate of
it as it appears at the present day, when a whole generation has
elapsed since his death ; during which time, moreover, unparalleled
changes have taken place in the world, affecting the thought of
men in every direction and not least in the sphere of religion and
theology. Therefore, I must do the best I can, striving on the
one hand to show the greatness of Fairbairn and to explain the
remarkable influence that he had on the men of his own time, but
endeavouring on the other hand to come to grips with the
undoubted fact that to-day his direct influence has come to an end
and his books are no longer widely read.
The theology we are to study is contained in the two great
works, The Place of Christ in Modern Theology and The Philo-
sophy of the Christian Religion. The former, which contains the
dogmatic theology, was published in 1893, and wrent through
twelve editions in the next four years, a fact which serves to
show the interest the book then created and the power that Fair-
bairn had over his time. The latter, containing the apologetic
theology, appeared in 1902 : it passed through three editions in the
year of its publication, though it was never so entirely successful
as was the earlier book.
The key to the theological system contained in these two books
is to be found in a passage where Fairbairn distinguishes what he
calls the formal and the material principles of his theology, as the
consciousness of Christ and the Fatherhood of God respectively.
This mode of speech is modelled, of course, upon the distinction
commonly current in Continental Protestant theology during the
last century : here it was said that the formal principle of Protes-
tantism was the authority of Holy Scripture and the material
principle was justification by faith. The meaning was that if we
want to know what Christian truth is, we must look into the
Scriptures, and that the essence of what we find there is justifica-
140
The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn 141
tion by faith : all other doctrines are either preambles to this
central article or else deductions from it. Similarly, then, Fair-
bairn means that when we seek to find out what Christianity is,
we must refer to the mind of our Lord Himself as described for
us in the Gospels; while the fundamental thing that we see there
is the Divine Fatherhood — that is the centre of the Christian
religion round about which all other Christian truths naturally
group themselves.
With this clue in hand we can now proceed to the two books
before us and consider how they are related to these twin principles
of Fairbairn's theology. It is the purpose of the dogmatic work,
Christ in Modern Theology, to lead by a process of historical
criticism up to the principle of the consciousness of Christ, and
from that to draw out the principle of the Fatherhood of God.
Then the book goes on to develop the latter principle in an outline
of Christian Theology. The apologetic work, The Philosophy of
the Christian Religion, has the complementary task of philosophi-
cally justifying the principle of the consciousness of Christ, on
which in the first volume everything is made to turn. The question
is proposed : Who and what is Jesus Christ, that we should put
so great an emphasis on His mentality? The Christian Church
replies that He is the Incarnate Son of God ; but this is to estab-
lish His Person as a mystery. Fairbairn says that some mysteries
are artificial and manufactured, others are real and m the very
nature of the thing. He opposes the attempt that has been made
to construe the Christian belief in the Incarnation as the artificial
product of religious syncretism — it is the object of The Philosophy
of the Christian Religion to set Jesus Christ in the framework of
a true conception of the Universe, and to show how inevitably such
a world-view leads up to and culminates in the acknowledgement
of the Person of Christ as the Centre of History and the Revealer
of God, who in revealing God as the Father reveals Himself as
the unique Son of God, as the Christian Church has always
believed. In this way the mystery of the Incarnation turns out
to be coincident with the highest truth of reason.
It is noteworthy that in all the above process of thought in
both books the underlying motive is that of the serviceableness
of reason to faith. In the first book it is reason which, by a critical
process dealing with the history of the Christian religion, discovers
the consciousness of Christ as the true Christian authority — it is
reason which in the second book justifies this authority and exhibits
its deliverances as harmonizing with a true understanding of the
world and of human history. Since this agreement of faith and
reason is the presupposition of all Fairbairn's thought, I cannot
do better than quote an extended passage from The Philosophy of
142 The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn
the Christian Religion, in which he explains and defends it against
the opposite view which regards reason and faith as incompatible.
The passage goes to the very heart of his thinking and reveals the
man himself. He says as follows : —
Of course, a too timid faith may doubt whether it be pious
to regard the Person of Christ as in any proper sense a fit
subject for philosophical discussion ; and it may urge that as
the knowledge of it came by revelation, it is only as revealed
truth, attested and authenticated by inspired men, that it
ought to be accepted and understood. The only proper
method of elucidation and proof is the exegesis of the sacred
Scriptures, while the precise sense in which it is to be con-
strued has been defined by the great Councils of the undivided
Church. The Incarnation is a mystery that transcends
reason, and it can enter into the categories of metaphysical
criticism only to be mishandled, profaned and misjudged.
But to this it may be sufficient to reply, it does not lie in
the power of any man or any society to keep the mysteries of
faith out of the hands of reason. Nature and history, the very
necessities of belief and its continued life, have combined to
invite reason to enter the domain of faith. The only condition
on which reason could have nothing to do with religion is that
religion should have nothing to do with truth. For in every
controversy concerning what is or what is not truth, reason
and not authority is the supreme arbiter ; the authority that
decides against reason commits itself to a conflict which is
certain to issue in its defeat. The men who defend faith must
think as well as the men who oppose it ; their argumentative
processes must be rational and their convictions supported by
rational proofs. If it were illicit for reason to touch the
mysteries of religion, the Church would never have had a creed
or believed in a doctrine, nor would man have possessed a
faith higher than the mythical fancies which pleased his
childhood. Without the exercise of reason we should never
have had the Fourth Gospel or the Pauline Epistles, or any
one of those treatises on the Godhead, the Incarnation or
the Atonement, from Athanasius to Hegel, or from Augustine
to our own day, which have done more than all the decrees
of all the Councils, or all the creeds of all the Churches, to
keep faith living and religion a reality. The man who
despises or distrusts the reason, despises the God who gave
it, and the most efficient of all the servants He has bidden
work w^hin and upon man in behalf of truth. Here, at least,
it may be honestly said there is no desire to build Faith upon
The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn 143
the negation of Reason ; where both are sons of God it were
sin to make the one legitimate at the expense of the other's
legitimacy (pp. 18, 19). <
I have quoted this passage in extenso because it contains a
veritable apologia pro theologia sua on the part of Fairbairn : the
essential man and thinker is there — intellectual and religious pas-
sion throbs in it, so that after the lapse of many years it still
speaks with a power that may enable us even now to understand
a little of what Fairbairn means to his own time.
I now propose to show in rather more detail how Fairbairn
worked out his theme of the agreement of faith and reason. I
have already summarized in a couple of sentences the contents of
The Place of Christ in Modern Theology and The Philosophy of
the Christian Religion. We must now go a little further into the
contents of these great books, great in size as well as in matter,
since together they contain no less than eleven hundred pages.
Christ in Modern Theology opens with a recognition of the
change that historical criticism has made in the outlook of the
Christian minister — not only the criticism of the Scriptures but
also the criticism of the doctrinal development in the Church is
here included. Fairbairn says that he intends to present a
theology that shall take account of historical criticism. He
observed that in his time in England at any rate theology and
criticism ran in separate channels. Theology continued mainly
either along Anglo-Catholic lines in the Church of England or as
a modified Calvinism within Presbyterianism and Congrega-
tionalism ; in neither case was historical criticism seriously taken
into theological account, while at the same time criticism was
intensively studied and pursued, often to the complete neglect of
theology. Fairbairn felt that these things ought not to be, and
he set himself accordingly to the problem of new construction in
theology, such as might meet the demands of the time. I have
quoted already from The Philosophy of the Christian Religion
a passage which exhibits the fundamental principle of Fairbairn 's
whole work : a somewhat shorter passage from Christ in Modern
Theology will show what he contemplated as the end of all his
endeavours. He writes as follows : —
We all feel the distance placed by fifty years of the most
radical and penetrating critical discussions between us and
the older theology, and as the distance widens the theology
that then reigned grows less credible because less relevant to
living mind. Does that mean that the days of definite theo-
logical beliefs are over, or rather that the attempt ought
to be made to re-state them in more living and relevant
1 0
144 The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn
terms ? One thing seems clear : if a Christian theology means
a theology of Christ, at once concerning Him and derived
from Him, then to construct one ought, because of
our greater knowledge of Him and His history, to be more
possible to-day than at any previous moment. And if this
is clear, then the most provisional attempt at performing the
possible is more dutiful than the selfish and idle acquiescence
that would simply leave the old theology and the new criticism
standing side by side, unrelated and unreconciled (pp. 296,
297).
I have called my former quotation, taken from The Philosophy
of the Christian Religion, Fairbairn 's apologia pro theologia sua :
let me call the present quotation from Christ in Modern Theology
his theological programme. We must now ask, What does he
mean when he says that our knowledge of Christ and His history
is greater than that of former times? Why are we in a position
to construct "a theology of Christ, at once concerning Him and
derived from Him"? The answer to these questions is to be
found in the first or critical part of Christ in Modern Theology.
Here, in a survey whose brilliancy has been universally recognized,
Fairbairn traces the history of Christian theology from its first
beginnings in the second century down to the seventeenth century,
when the results of the development stood fixed in the theologies
of the various Christian churches, as they existed after the Refor-
mation had run its course. Fairbairn shows, what is now well
known, that Christian theology started with a double bias, derived
on the one side from Greek philosophy and on the other from
Roman law : he shows further, what is equally certain, that all
the attempts made to correct this bias daring the period mentioned
were based, not on the consciousness of Christ, but on the teaching
of the Apostle Paul. He attributes the new sense for history and
consequent deeper regard for the historic Christ to the literary
and philosophical movement which took place in Germany during
the latter part of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth
century. If Strauss was the enfant terrible of this movement
with his attempt to dissolve the story of Jesus into myth, the
reaction from him brought a new knowledge of the historical Jesus
such as none of the centuries from the second to the seventeenth
had possessed. Fairbairn goes on to study the New Testament
as the reflection of the consciousness of Christ alike in the story
of the Gospels and in the experience of the Epistles : he finds the
fundamental affirmation of this consciousness to be the Fatherhood
of God, as I have already noted.
Here, then, and nowhere else, is the true starting point of
Christian theology. Fairbairn challenges especially the Calvinistic
The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn 145
theology of the Divine sovereignty which was still influential in
the Free Church thought of his time. God is indeed Sovereign,
but first of all He is Father. His is a Regal Paternity, or a
Fatherly Sovereignty. The fundamental truth of Christianity is
the Fatherhood of God. I do not propose, now, further to follow
the master in the way in which he works out the consequences of
this first principle in an outline of Christian theology : it would
take too long, and there is besides another reason for the absten-
tion, to which I shall come presently. Instead, therefore, of
proceeding further with The Place of Christ in Modern Theology,
we will go on to the other book, The Philosophy of the Christian
Religion, and see in more detail how Fairbairn there justifies his
emphasis on the consciousness of Christ.
He begins far away from Christianity and from religion with
the fact of our knowledge of the world. He argues that the world
intelligible by the human intellect must necessarily proceed from
an Intelligence, which is not only the cause of it as a whole but
also of the intellect which is found within its confines. This is the
first step : the second is taken by the consideration of conscience
and the moral order it reveals. The ground of the Universe and
of man is thus seen to be not only intelligent but also moral : thus
we have already a good part of what we mean by God. To go
further we must become concrete and consider history as the
sphere where God and man actually come into relation with one
another, and where God reveals Himself in the process. Now the
core of history is religion, which is no mere survival from the
childhood of the race, but rather the very pulse of its true life.
Religion, once more, becomes concrete in the religions, which
Fairbairn classifies and examines with the result of discovering
Christianity as the one true monotheism free from Jewish partici-
pation and free also from the legalism of Islam, the one religion
that is really spiritual as God is a spirit, and in which He is wor-
shipped in spirit and in truth. But, then, this is the strange thing
about this true monotheism and spiritual religion that it is simply
the perpetuation of the mind of its Founder : His personality
dominates it : He, indeed, is the one real institution of Christian
worship, through whom we come to God. The revelation of God's
Fatherhood is bound up with the Sonship of Christ, through whom
we too learn a filial trust in God, and that in spite of the sin which
everywhere exists through the misuse of human freedom, except
only in Jesus Himself, whose moral transcendence marks Him out
from all others and exhibits Him as the perfect Son of God. Fair-
bairn recognizes the physical transcendence of Jesus, or, in other
words, the miraculous element appearing in the Gospel history ;
but he insists that the special mark of the Gospel picture is that
146 The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairdairn
the physical transcendence in it is everywhere subject to the moral
transcendence. The essential super Naturalness of Jesus is that
He is a moral miracle.
From the Gospel history The Philosophy of the Christian
Religion now moves on to the apostolic interpretation of the
history, and the importance of this interpretation is emphasized.
It is the doctrinal Christology that has made Christianity a uni-
versal religion, translating as it does the reality of history into the
language of the ideal, and so liberating it from the particularity
of time and place. The conclusion of the book deals with the
details of this apostolic interpretation, which, however, we need
not now pursue. The end of the argument is the establishment
as a truth of reason of that supremacy of Christ as the revealer of
God which forms the first principle of the dogmatic theology con-
tained in Christ in Modern Theology. We may sum up the whole
reasoning of Fairbairn's two books by saying that it turns on the
identification of the Divine Logos with the Son of God, just as we
find it in the Prologue to the Fourth Gospel. The manifestation of
the Logos or Divine Reason in the world culminates in the Incarna-
tion, the result of which is Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, and
the Revealer of the Father.
II
I have now come to the end of what I propose to do in the way
of stating Fairbairn's theology : I have next to proceed to the
much more difficult task of appraisement. I have already
explained why I find it difficult. There is the fact to be faced that
in spite of the great impression Fairbairn made on his own genera-
tion, his books seem to be no longer a living force in ours. There
are a number of reasons for this change, into which I now propose
to go.
The first reason, entirely creditable to him and to his work, is
that he did it so well that many of us who were either actually his-
personal pupils or else learned of him from his books as they
appeared, became entirely established in the main principles for
which he stood ; so well established in fact that we have never gone
back upon them or even needed to revive their mastery over us by
fresh contact with his writings. The agreement of faith and
reason, the rationality of the Christian revelation, the founding of
theology upon the consciousness of Christ, the dominance of all
Christian doctrine by the central doctrine of the Fatherhood of God
— these are principles which have become to us more than mere
intellectual principles : they have come to be part of our very selves,
to be, in fact, as Wordsworth expresses it, "felt in the blood, and
felt along the heart". Yes : Fairbairn did his work well. It is
impossible to describe to a new generation the personal impression
The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn 147
that he made on those whom he taught or who may have listened
to his speaking and preaching ; but the ancient adage still comes
true, st monumentum quaeris, circumspice. The influence of Fair-
bairn is still to be seen in the Liberal Evangelicalism that he fos-
tered in his pupils, and that still, in spite of so many changes,
continues as a powerful religious and theological current among
us to-day.
The second reason, however, why Fairbairn 's books are not read
widely to-day is of another character. There is an imperfection
to be admitted in his work, which perhaps in the circumstances was
almost inevitable. Fairbairn laid his theological fundations well
and truly ; but the execution of the edifice built upon them is inade-
quate. Certainly, he himself never proposed to give more than an
outline of the new dogmatic ; and no outline can ever satisfy. But
that is not the whole of the explanation ; nor is it sufficient further
to say, what is the truth, that he shaped his system at a time when
in England both Old Testament and New Testament criticism were
in a very transitional stage : his Old Testament work is pre-
Wellhausen and his New Testament work does not sufficiently
distinguish the Synoptic from the Johannine tradition.
What, then, is the real explanation of the undoubted inadequacy
of Fairbairn's detailed construction? It is in my judgment that
his theology is "mediating theology" in the unsatisfactory sense of
the word. Of course, in one sense all theology is mediating : it
mediates between the original revelation in the Scriptures and the
mentality of those whom it serves for the interpretation of this
revelation. But that is mediation in a good sense : what I mean
by "mediating theology" in a bad sense is the theology that blurs
its outlines by talking two different ways at once. I read not long
ago a description of a theologian, who shall be nameless, where it
was said that if he saw a fence he could not resist the temptation
of sitting on it. It would be most unjust to Fairbairn to describe
him in that way. As we have seen, on the main principles he is
firm and definite ; nay, more, he is trenchant in the extreme. But
in the working out of the details of his theology he uses the tra-
ditional Trinitarian and Christological conceptions, while at times
he throws doubt on their validity : moreover, in the interpretation
of Scripture, and especially of St. Paul, he often reads his own
meaning into the passage and modernizes it in a way that is impos-
sible as sound exegesis. If there is one thing that I hope we may
have learned since Fairbairn's time it is that in giving the sense
of Scripture we must give the historical sense, whether we like it
or not : it is another question altogether what weight we give to
the passage in question in theological construction. I say I hop<^
we have learned this ; but I fear it has not been learned altogether.
1 0 •
148 The Theology or Andrew Martin Fairbairn
The objectionable practice of reading modern meanings into Scrip-
ture still goes on in too many quarters.
The third and last reason for the neglect of Fairbairn's theology
is of course the tremendous change in temper that has come over
theology since the Great War. Even before the war the interpre-
tation of Jesus had been profoundly modified by the eschatological
outlook popularized by Schweitzer's Quest of the Historical Jesus.
Dr. Selbie, in his life of Fairbairn, records a shrewd criticism of
his Christ in Modern Tlieology by Professor Clemen ; and says that
at the time only a German could have thought of such a criticism :
it was to the effect that with all its emphasis on the consciousness
of Jesus, the eschatological element in it was entirely neglected.
The criticism was just : Fairbairn interprets the Kingdom of God
simply as a religious-ethical society, as did also his great contem-
porary, RitschI — both in this respect were children of their own
age.
There, then, was one factor in the change of thought : escha-
tology came into prominence. Then, along with the war itself,
there came rapidly Otto's book, now translated as The Idea of the
Holy ; Barth's Commentary on Romans, and Dibelius's Gospel-
Tradition, introducing the principles of Form-geschichte. The
result of all this is well known. These books embodied the spirit
of the time when confidence was so profoundly shattered by the
world cataclysm. There was, on the one hand, a return to the
theology of Calvin, with its emphasis on the Divine Sovereignty;
on the other hand, there came about a certain scepticism as to the
Gospel history. In some quarters to-day it is customary to defend
ihc Fourth Gospel by saying that the Synoptics are equally works
of faith and not history in our sense of the word : when I come
across such statements I remember Fairbairn and his insistence
that two blacks do not make a white. You will already see what
1 think of this last general reason for the depreciation of Fair-
bairn's work, vis., the different theological temper of our time.
I think that his principles of the agreement of faith and reason, of
the mind of Christ as the canon of Christian truth, and of the
Fatherhood of God as its central affirmation, would serve as a most
wholesome tonic for the thought of the present time ; and that it
might be well worth while to study his works once more, if by so
doing we could regain His spirit. Historical scepticism and the
"Altogether Otherness' ' of God are most unsatisfactory founda-
tions on which to build either Christian theology or the Christian
Church.
It is to be admitted that in some quarters the new emphasis on
God's Fatherhood led to a shallow and easy-going optimism and to
:i Gospel in which the hope of social progress obscured the need of
The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn H9
the forgiveness of sins. But Fairbairn is not to blame for such
misapplication and impoverishment of his teaching. No one can
read his books without realizing his deep religious faith and moral
earnestness : if he had a fault, it was not that he conceded too little,
but rather too much to penal ways of thinking of God's action.
There is really no ground whatever for the calumny that to accept
God's Fatherhood ex animo is to think lightly of sin. As Fair-
bairn himself says over and over again, the Father judges sin even
more strictly than the Sovereign, just because of His love for the
sinner and His inability to be satisfied with anything but a com-
plete change of him into the image of Christ.
Therefore, on this occasion, as a grateful pupil I rejoice to pay
tribute to the memory of a revered teacher, and to say that what-
ever defects there are in his work (as there are defects in the work
of all of us), I consider that his principles still stand, and were
never more needed than to-day.
What seems to me most necessary at the present time is a theo-
logical system conceived in Fairbairn 's spirit, but avoiding as far
as may be the imperfections which belong to the transitional
character of the criticism of his generation and to the too easy and
too indefinite way of mixing old and new which I have spoken of
as "mediating" in an unsatisfactory sense. I cannot believe that
a theology founded upon sheer authority and upon the absolute un-
likeness of God and man will ever permanently satisfy the human
mind ; nor does it make much difference here whether we say that
what authority reveals is the Trinitarianism and Christology of the
creeds, or over and above this is the whole body of Reformation
doctrine contained in Calvin's Institutes. Moreover, I think that
Fairbairn was absolutely right when he made the consciousness of
Christ the norm of Christian thought. It is said to-day, as it has
been said in the past, that the Person of Christ and His redeeming
acts are more than His teaching ; and that is true. But surely it is
equally true that His teaching must be the canon by which to test
the soundness of any theological development that seeks to inter-
pret the Person and the acts : whether this development comes from
Paul, Origen, Augustine, Calvin or Schleiermacher. Jesus must
be the prime interpreter of His own Person and work.
So if the theological pendulum has swung away from Fairbairn
in these days it may yet swing back to him. He reacted from
Calvin and now there has been a reaction from him back to Calvin
again. One thing we may certainly well learn from Calvin, and
that is the thoroughness with which that great theologian carried
out his system into detail, so that it has remained for generations
a mighty monument of thought. I have admitted that it is here
that Fairbairn is wanting : not to speak of Calvin, he has not th
150 The Theology of Andrew Martin Fairbairn
completeness or accuracy of theologians who stand nearer to him,
such as Schleiermacher and Ritschl. If, then, the principles of
Fairbairn are to compete with those of Calvin, they must be
developed with the same remorseless energy with which Calvin
has worked out the theology of the Institutes. It would be a task
worthy of the efforts of any British theologian to complete the
work of Fairbairn in this way.
Note. — The quotations from Fairbairn's Christ in Modern
Theology and his Philosophy of the Christian Religion are printed
by the courtesy of the publishers, Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton.
CHRISTIAN FREEDOM. By Albert Peel, M.A., Litt.D. Independent
Press. 3s. 6d.
In these five lectures delivered to the General Council of the Congregational
Churches of U.S.A. at Beloit in June, 1938, Dr. Peel surveys "the contribution
of Congregationalism to the Church and to the World". If his hearers enjoyed
the spoken word as much as I have enjoyed the written word, their joy must
have been great indeed. I can only hope that many readers will share this
experience. Briefly put, his argument is that in this day when the tide seems
setting towards regimentation in every department of life, it is our especial and
distinctive duty to emphasize the need for liberty. After reviewing our past
efforts and achievements he comes to grips with the present situation and the
need for a revision and clarifying of our witness on such points as the freedom
of individual and Church in the face of new claims of the State, and spiritual
liberty within the Church in regard to scripture, creeds and sacraments, church
organization, and social justice. All these themes are handled suo more, lit
up by apposite quotations which of themselves make an anthology of Christian
freedom, and by telling passages from the author's personal experience. There
are many shrewd but kindly digs at current practices and tendencies in our own
Union, and the whole book is suffused with evangelical passion. The Church
to-day has great and mighty resources. It has the same Lord and the same
guarantee of His leadership. What it lacks is faith and courage — to launch
out into the deep, an adventure in which it is our proud privilege, by heritage
and conviction, to lead the way.
Alex. J. Grieve.
It is hard to think of a book which could be put more suitably into the
hands of young or intending church members than that comprising four talks by
Mr. Bernard Manning and entitled Why Not Abandon The Church? (Ind. Press,
Is. 6d. & 2s. 6d.). It is written with all Mr. Manning's accustomed pungency
and caustic wit. To readers of these Transactions the second talk, "A Congre-
gational Church : What it is and what it is not", will perhaps prove the most
interesting. *'In Congregationalism, properly understood, nothing important is
whittled down, nothing improper is added." For Mr. Manning it is nothing if
not full-blooded — which is a tonic in anaemic days.
G. F. NUTTALL.
Sir Thomas Andre wes, Lord Mayor and Regicide,
and His Relatives
TO the circumstances of the execution of Charles I so much
of interest attaches, the emotions and opinions aroused by
its recountal are still so unexpectedly determinate, that any
fresh material, relative to those who shared in the procedure, has
worth towards the completion of opinion. Of some of the regicides
we have pictures, painted with the master touch of inspiration : the
zeal of the fanatic delivering his message in the face of agonizing
and certain death. We know for ever what sort of man Thomas
Harrison was ; the accounts of Cavaliers, and of his contemporaries
were almost unnecessary additions to his speech upon his trial.
I have earnestly desired of God, the Searcher of Hearts, that
if I have done amiss, I might receive some conviction upon my
Conscience, but, though I have sought it with tears, many a
time, of that God, in respect of Whom you, My Lords, and all
nations are but as a Drop of the Bucket, to this moment I have
rather received Assurance of the Justice of what I have done.
That may be fanaticism, but it is certainly great prose.
There is not extant the record of a single sentence uttered by Sir
Thomas Andrewes. Some of his letters are preserved in the State
Papers ; they have about the same emotional value as would attach
to invoices of biscuits of the like dates. The most that can be
ascertained of the man is that he was loved and trusted in quite an
unusual fashion by his children. Yet this least known of Lord
Mayors lived through a cycle of revolutions, had the financial
control of the nation in his keeping, proclaimed the downfall of the
Monarchy and ushered in two Protectorates, whilst he maintained
his privacy in a half shop at the base of a steeple.
For clues to his identity, we are indebted to a couple of para-
graphs of abuse contributed by his contemporaries, and to the
optimist who claimed from Charles II a sinecure, as a reward for
having thrown stones at the ex-Lord Mayor.
The two Caroline writers who have left record of Andrewes are
George Bates and Winstanley. George Bate, or Bates, printed
The Lives, Actions and Execution of the Prime Actors of that
Horrid Murder of our late Pious and Sacred Sovereign, King
Charles the First. This little book, of 1661, has a brief account
151
152 Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide
upon page 124, to the effect that "Alderman Thomas Andrewes —
a Linnen Draper upon Fish Street Hill — with his brother, Allen,
one of the Treasures (sic) for the sale of the lands of the late King,
and of the Queen and Prince — was a regicide, signatory to the
Warrant of Execution". He continues that Alderman "Reynold-
son", Lord Mayor in 1649, refused to be present at the proclamation
of the Act for abolishing Royalty, and was fined £2,000 and im-
prisoned five months. Andrewes was Mayor in Reynardson's
absence, and Mayor in the succeeding year. He was knighted by
the Protector, and assisted at Richard Cromwell's proclamation.
He had many children, who died so that "he was hardly out of
mourning for one, before he had occasion to mourn for another".
A Suit of Law had been brought, just before his death, for alleged
injurious detention of money. He died suddenly, full of years, in
1659.
The brother, Allen, to whom Bate refers was Alderman Francis
Allen, a brother in deeds, not in blood. Contrary to the account
of Bate, Andrewes was not a signatory to the Death Warrant, a
matter to which reference will be made later.
To these particulars, Winstanley adds that Andrewes was a linen-
draper in Cheapside1. Quite certainly, the author of The Loyal
Martyrology intended to convey a cutting censure, by exposing the
fact that one who presumed to judge a king had been of lowly
origin ; in fact, a linen-draper. Whether Cheapside added to the
offence, as would now "Houndsditch", does not appear. So far
as existing records aid verification, Bate would appear to be the
more accurate in recalling the place of business. Bate had had
close association with the Republicans. He had reported the
sermons of Christopher Love in shorthand for Colonel Venn, the
regicide.
Andrewes may have been resident on Fish Street Hill. He cer-
tainly dwelt near there, in New Fish Street, at the time of the
Heraldic Visitation of 1633 to 1635. He was then of the Ward
of Bridge Within, the ward of the parish of St. Margaret's, New
Fish Street, with which he was associated to the day of his death.
In the pedigree, which he signs, he shows himself as the son of
Robert and Margaret Andrewes of Feltham, Middlesex, the husband
of Eleanor, daughter of Henry Bonwick of Horsley, and the father
of five children ; Thomas, John, Samuel, Nathaniel, and Elinor.
Henry Bonwick of Horley, Surrey, his father-in-law, had died,
after a prolonged illness, in 1624^ leaving, as befitted a yeoman of
small substance, a dowry of sixty pounds to the daughter yet to be
1 Fifty years later, a Lancelot Andrewes was a linen-draper there.
Sir Thomas Andre wes, Lord Mayor and Regicide 153
advanced, and ten shillings to daughters already married, whose
like portions had, doubtless, been paid. His Will (Arch, of Surrey,
Yeast, f. 139) indicates the testator's trust by the appointment of
Thomas Andrewes as Overseer. These duties were performed to
the satisfaction of the Bonwicks apparently, for, thirty years later,
amicable relations existed between Andrewes's children and the son
of the testator. The days of Andrewes's youth could not have been
days of greed, for sixty pounds was but a small dowry for a City
tradesman.
The record of the residence of Thomas Andrewes in the parish
of St. Margaret's, from the year 1631 to the date of his death, is
contained in the churchwardens' accounts. These accounts to-
gether with the early registers must have been among the first
books to have been rescued from the Great Fire.
Under the steeple of the Church of St. Margaret's were two or
more shops, the upper of which was rented at this time by a Mr.
Leake, who does not enter further into the narrative. Of the lower
shop or shops, one sold, amongst other articles, books which by
the time of the end of the Commonwealth bore trace of Fifth
Monarchy influence. The bookseller in 1659 was Andrew Kempe.
The other, or the same shop, for the total number appears more
likely to be two than three, was tenanted in 1630 by Mr. Wm.
Ayerst, the Clerk of the parish. His shop was perhaps smaller
than that of Mr. Leake, since he paid for it only thirty shillings a
year, whilst Mr. Leake paid for the upper one £2. 10s. This tene-
ment was occupied by Mr. Ayerst until his retirement, 'and, perhaps,
after his retirement.
He was pensioned before 1666. When the Great Fire started, a
maidservant in a house close to the church smelt the burning, either
of the coffins in the charnel-house (for room was being made in the
churchyard for fresh interments) or from an over-heated bakery
that adjoined the charnel-house, and found that the adjoining build-
ing beneath her own bedroom was well alight. She woke the
house by screaming, found the stairs cut off, and would have
jumped from her room. But whether from modesty, lest in saving
herself she might appear in the neglige of the night, or from fear
that, in struggling through the narrow opening, she should pitch
upon her head, she hesitated too long, and succumbing to the im-
becility of her sex, fell back into the flames and perished miserably :
the first victim of the fire.
Either Mr. Ayerst, or other, obtained the books from the burn-
ing church, and took them across the river to the parish of St.
Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, where the Clerk died, probably of
shock. There is certainly a record there of the death of the Clerk
at Bermondsey, but whether in the Plague or the Fire Year only
154 Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide
fresh search would show. The early register, which must have
been among the books rescued, was extant until the date of the
Parliamentary Return, and has been lost within the last ninety
years. Such, within the last two paragraphs, is the account,
pieced together from written and verbal information, probably true
in great part, but needing confirmation before it can be accepted
as much more than a reasonable hypothesis to account for the
preservation of the books.
The first record of Mr. Andrewes noted in the churchwardens'
accounts mentions a payment for the burial of a child in the church-
yard. In 1634, he took half of Mr. Ayerst's shop, and paid the
whole rent, retaining his use during the successive years ending
1637. In 1639, Mr. Ayerst had resumed possession of the shop,
which was let in 1640 to Mr. John Andrewes, probably the brother
of Thomas. In 1641, Alderman Andrewes (that is, probably the
original tenant) reappears at the same rental, and also pays £1. 10s.
for part of Mr. Chapman's shop. In 1644, at the same rental, he
became tenant of part of the White Horse, which he retained until
1648. In that year he paid £5 for avoiding the office of church-
warden.
It is not to be supposed that Church property would have been
let to one conspicuously a Puritan or Separatist. Thomas
Andrewes and his son Thomas Andrewes Jnr. upon many occasions
audit the churchwardens' accounts, and there is no reference to
any act that would intimate lukewarm churchmanship, save that
occasionally the elder pays for a dispensation to eat flesh upon days
of fasting. He subscribes to the repairs, and refuses the church-
wardenship only in a year when Puritan domination had already
commenced. He was obviously one of the moderate men slowly
driven to extremism by the drift of events.
In 1647, '8 and '9, Thomas Andrewes rented the glebe land for
£6 5s. per annum, and had as a co-parishioner Mr. Adrian
Lenthall, who during those same years neglected to pay his poor
rates. In 1650 and 1651 there is record still of "My Lord Mayor
for half a year's rent for the parson's parlour, 15/-". In 1651-2
the phrase is, "Of Alderman Andrewes, for a Room at The White
Horse belonging to the parish, called the parson's parlour, £1.10s."
and the statement is made that the room forms part of Mr. Chap-
man's shop. Some pride is shown in the distinction of the tenant,
and the name Sir Thomas Andrewes is written very largely in
1657-8. The last record is subsequent to Alderman Andrewes's
death, and acknowledges the receipt of rent until March, 1660.
The "parson's parlour" had probably received its name from
use to which it had been put in connection with the Church. The
White Horse was almost certainly not an inn, but a house named
Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide 155
after the fashion of the time from the sign that it displayed. The
White Horse seems to have adjoined the Church, or to have been
one of the houses built on the steeple-side, and the parlour was
used, perhaps, for parish business as the parlour in St. Lawrence
Jewry is, or lately was.
Andrewes must have had other residence. He had a wife and
five children. He had civic responsiblities and duties. In 1643,
he was High Sheriff of London and Middlesex, and from that year
offices and functions were heaped upon him. His retention of the
half shop is an interesting incident in a strange career. He was
within a few yards of his dead children, whom he mourned so
conspicuously. Perhaps in the crowded churchyard lay their
mother, his £60 wife. The truth may be that this monstrous
regicide, the man of relentless action, was nothing but a senti-
mentalist, as absorbed in his family as they were in him, a kindly
man, once driven to violence.
Of a public career so utterly incompatible with the modest
residence in a corner of a graveyard, the record is sufficiently found
in the volumes of Domestic State Papers. The office of High
Sheriff was not followed immediately by the Mayoralty. Andrewes
was probably excused city office, even as he had been excused the
functions of churchwarden, in order that he might engage more
fully in the business of the State. In March, 1645, he and Alder-
man Francis Allen and six others were appointed Treasurers at
War to secure the sum of £80,000, needed for the expenses of the
year ending December following. The deplorable innovations of
that revolutionary era had made the fiscal year to coincide with
the civil, instead of beginning and ending, as formerly and now,
with the date of the vernal equinox conventionally calculated
according to the inaccuracies of a calendar dating from a pre-
Christian era.
In 1649, he was one of the judges appointed to try the King.
He was present when sentence was pronounced, but does not
appear to have signed the warrant. Since his act in this matter
must have received comment, the general effect would be to
separate him from those who had not hesitated in the completion
of an act that they had sanctioned by opinion. Possibly the in-
fluence of his son's friend, Sidrach Simpson, long the curate and
lecturer at St. Margaret's, was exercised over him. In 1629, Mr.
Sidrach Simpson had been convented by Laud for breach of the
canons of the Church, at St. Margaret's, and having promised
submission in all things, "My Lord very moderately forebare
further proceedings". Mr. Sidrach Simpson left the kingdom,
but returned at the commencement of the Civil War, to exercise
156 Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide
a moderating influence upon extremists who had had evidence of
his willingness for sacrifice, and of his integrity.
If Andrewes had wavered over the work of blood, he made his
republican sympathies clear within the next few days. Sir
Abraham Reynardson, a Royalist of some distinction and courage,
Merchant Taylor, and Lord Mayor in 1648, refused to publish the
Act for the exheredation of the royal house, and with Sir John
Langham, the Sheriff of 1642, and Sir John Gayre, the Mayor of
1645, was sent to The Tower. Thomas Andrewes thereupon
undertook the duties of declaring the Act, became Lord Mayor
for the remainder of the term that Reynardson should have served,
and, subsequent to election, fulfilled the office in the following and
added civic year, the first alderman of one of the lesser companies
to fulfil the office.
During his mayoralty, exchange operations, to which recent in-
flations and depreciations of currency have accustomed this genera-
tion, were adopted by the Mint, to the disadvantage both of
soldiers paid in the coinage apparently intended for export pur-
poses, and to that of foreigners who accepted the spurious money.
Such is the allegation of a complaint made in the State Papers,
which adds the damaging insinuation that the export had been
supplemented by private venture, that charges of counterfeiting
had been made; and that such charges had been suppressed by
authority, and in particular by the late Lord Mayor, during his
term of office. This allegation (D.S.P., May, 1652) must be re-
garded as having been determined finally in favour of Andrewes.
There is probably an authoritative work upon English coinage
during the Commonwealth and Protectorate, from which the fact
whether there was any such private depreciation as is alleged
could be ascertained ; the mere absence of knowledge of such coin-
age being insufficient evidence. But this much is certain, no
procedure of any kind was undertaken against those at whom the
charge was hinted, and there is no sort of positive evidence of
any portion of its truth.
The advances made by Andrewes to the State were moderate,
and within the means of any merchant of the day with pretensions
to prosperity. They were comparable in magnitude with the loans
of the Bushells to the King of Portugal. The balance of the in-
debtedness of the State in 1658 was £3,000, reduced by 1659 to
£2,200.
Corruption and worldliness were naturally alleged and rather
venomously asserted by some of the Baptists and Fifth Monarchy
men whom Cromwell had disappointed. His entourage shared the
hatred with. which Cromwell was regarded by the extremist
faction. Even the more moderate of the sectaries, who had not
Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide 157
renounced the service of the State under the Protectorate, remon-
strated with Cromwell over the knighthood of Andrewes. This
had been authorized by an Act of Parliament, of June 6th, 1649,
whereby the Speaker of the Rump had been empowered to create
Thomas Andrewes, the Lord Mayor, Isaac Pennington, the late
Lord Mayor, and Thomas Atkin, late Lord Mayor, knights. To
such grant, which was conducted with sword and ceremonial,
Cromwell added his own, for, in March, 1654, Vernon wrote to
reprove his old comrade-in-arms for the investiture into the order
of knighthood conducted upon the previous 16th December.
The worthy Quartermaster-General's letter, Add. MS. 5156, f.47,
is as follows :
When you spoke tremblingly as Ephraim, and, with Moses,
chose affliction with the people of God, the wisdom you sought
with teares among his simple despised ones directed
you, and led you safely, when (I bear you witness)
you were far more afraid of having from men the honour due
unto his name than of any adversary, and endeavoured with
tears to keep men from thinkeing of you above what was meet.
In which path God truly honoured you according to his
promise. Ah, your posture and some practices now seem to
call the proud "happy" (as Malachi speaks). That of knighting
the Mayor (on that day wherein the Lord was so little honoured
and sanctified before all the people) speaks to the World your
approbation of the former evil custom of conferring honour
upon grounds of vanity.
Beyond modernizing the spelling, there is very little necessary
to alter in this letter, and very possibly in their heart of hearts
both Cromwell and Andrewes would have concurred in its opinions.
Sir Thomas Andrewes represented the City at the installation
of Richard Cromwell, and continued his active public life through-
out the period of anarchy. Claims of account against him and
those associated with him for settlement of balances are recorded
in the State Papers, and indicate nothing to his discredit. He died
in August, 1659, and his burial is recorded in the register of St.
Andrew's Undershaft thus : "Sir Thomas Andrewes, Alderman,
was buried the 30th day of August, 1659".
A letter of his, dated the following 1st November, is indexed
in the Domestic State Papers of 1659-1660. The error is one of
transcription and identification. The signatory of the letter, which
recommends two candidates as fit for the command of the ship,
Success, was Thomas Andrew, Governor, whether Governor of the
East India Company or no, not being indicated.
158 Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide
The obscurity of the career of Sir Thomas Andrewes must pardon
many errors, of which some, no doubt, are contained in this narra-
tive. Those in Beavan's Aldermen of the City of London will be
apparent, as will also be the valuable information that supplements
this portion of the account of Andrewes's career.
Thomas Andrewes (Sir) Leatherseller, bur. Aug. 20, 1657.
Master of Leathersellers' Co., 1638-9. Adm. Aug. 20, 1659.
The administration to which Beavan refers is that not of Sir
Thomas Andrewes, but of a Thomas Andrewes, late of the parish
of St. Martin in the Fields, granted to his principal creditor,
William Peas.
There is evidence of the holding of some of the leaseholds of
Thomas by his son Richard, who long survived him. Such
succession of a member of his family, as tenant under the lease, is
not consistent with administration for the benefit of creditors.
Whilst the existence of a will, whether admitted to probate or not,
U probable, of it no record exists. If the will related to real estate
only, probate was unnecessary and conveyance under it could have
been effected legally, despite the statutory provisions that followed.
Such conveyance could apply to any general devise of lands, which
would be construed then as now to include leaseholds, despite their
chattel nature.
The first parliament of Charles II confiscated the property of
Sir Thomas Andrewes. 13 Charles II, cap. 15, provides for the
escheat of the estates of certain living and dead regicides, amongst
whom he is named, and excepts from the operation of the Act
bona fide conveyances made before 25th April, 1660, and enrolled
before 1662, and all conveyances prior to 24th September, 1659.
Some but not all of Sir Thomas's lands were escheated under this
Act. Part of the operation of the Act had been anticipated by the
decrees of the Convention.
D.S.P. vol. 13, no. 93, of August, 1660, contains the petition
of Anne Blount and Mary Copley, daughters of the late Edmund
Church, who desire a letter to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's
for re-admission to the tenancy of Mucking in Essex, wrested from
their late father, taken prisoner at Shrewsbury, who lost £8,000
in the King's cause. Alderman Andrewes, who bought it, is con-
victed of treason, as one of the judges of the late king.
Probably the petitioners were partly successful, for the son of
Andrewes held the manor of Mucking Hall upon a lease subsequent
to the date of petition.
Petition 47 in Volume xx, and in October of the same year, 1660,
is for a grant of so much of the forfeiture of the late Sir Thomas
Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide 159
Andrewes, deceased, and Gregory Clement, forfeit for murder, as
concerns his estate, they having bought from the Commissioners of
Drury House some of Bunce's houses and lands, which sale is
made void by Parliament, and his arrears given him, by order of
the House of Lords.
The final mention of Sir Thomas Andrewes in the State Papers
is that cor.tained in the petition of Richard Green, who seeks the
place of Purveyor of Corn for the great bakehouse. Among his
services he recounts that he threw a stone at Andrewes, Lord
Mayor of London, when proclaiming the Act for the abolishing
kingly government.
Of the son**, of Sir Thomas Andrewes, at least four predeceased
him, and the fourth generation from him ended his whole known
descent, male or female. The comment of George Bate had its
accuracy apparently.
The records of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, contain notes
of payments for the interment of an unnamed son of Mr. Andrewes
in 1632, and for the chancel burial of another in 1648. The eldest
son, Thomas, married Damaris, the daughter of Matthew
Cradock, at St. Swithin's, Cannon Street, upon 12th April, 1642.
In 1650 he became what his father is said to have been, Alderman
of Bridge Ward. How probable the confusion between the father
and son, both Aldermen, is to be seen by comparison of entries
concerning them in Black's History of the Leather sellers' Company
and in Beavan's Aldermen. The dates and particulars suggest
doubt immediately :
(i) Thomas Andrewes [Regicide], Alderman of Tower Ward,
20 Jan., 1641, migrated to Bridge Within, 27 Aug.,
1650. Master of Leathersellers' Company. [Black.]
(ii) Thomas Andrewes, Clothworker. Alderman. Aug. 27,
1650, Bridge. [Beavan.]
The second entry undoubtedly refers to Thomas Andrewes
Junior, who describes himself as a Leatherseller in his will.
By this Will, 332 Brent, dated 20 Aug., 1652, and proved
upon the 7th May following, Thomas Andrewes leaves the
customary third of his personal estate to his wife, Damaris ;
to his daughter Damaris, who afterwards married Sir Edward
Abney, £600 ; to each of his sons, save the eldest, £300 ; to
his father, Thomas Andrewes of London, Alderman, £400 ;
to his uncle, Richard Andrewes, £20 ; to his brothers, John
and Samuel, £20 each ; to his brother, Nathaniel, and Eliza-
beth his wife, £15 apiece; to his brother (i.e., bro. -in-law),
Francis Warner, and Eleanor his wife, £15 each; to hisaunt,
J 1
160 Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide
Catherine Heiburne, £10; to his uncle, Richard ffloyd, £10;
to his father-in-law (i.e., wife's step-father), Benjamin Which-
cott, and his wife, £10 each; to Mr. Sidrach Simpson, £10;
to Dr. Thomas Cox, doctor of physick, £10 ; to Samuel
Cradock, Fellow of Emmanuel, £5 ; to Mr. William Ayerst,
clarke of the parish wheren I now live, £5 ; to the poor, £5 ;
to my cousin, Thomas Vincent and his wife, £2. 10s. each ; to
my cousin, Richard Hall senr., and Robert Smyth senr.,
£2. 10s. each; to my uncle, Henry Bronwick of Horley, Surrey,
and to my friend, John Brett, Merchant Taylor, £2. 10s. each.
The lease of the dwelling house upon Fish St. Hill he devises
to his second son living at the time of his decease with re-
mainder to the younger children, excluding his eldest son.
The residuary gift appears not to include this clause of dis-
herison, but the father Thomas Andrewes was sole executor,
the brother Nathaniel, the brother-in-law, Francis Warner,
and Richard ffloyd were overseers. The eldest son is not
mentioned by name. It is difficult to understand how at nine
years of age he could have escaped any memory of kindness
from a father conscious of the approach of death. Even if
the settlements of marriage provided for him the omission of
any mention is strange. The witnesses were John and Edmund
Rolfe and Thomas Heath.
The widow of Alderman Thomas Andrewes, Junior, was the
Damaris Andrewes who married Dr Ralph Cudworth and by him
had several sons and one daughter, named like her mother and
step-sister, Damaris. This Damaris Cudworth married Sir
Francis Masham, and in later life attained much repute as the
friend and occasional collaborator of John Locke.
For the children of Thomas Andrewes, their mother and their
step-father exhibited a constant assiduity of importunity, and by.
letters addressed to Williamson, the Secretary, and by amiabili-
ties of acknowledgment, achieved for them Fellowships and
oblivion of the group of regicides with whom they were connected.
The longest-lived of her sons by Damaris Cudworth's first
marriage was Richard Andrewes of the Inner Temple, who died
in the same year as his mother, 1695.
Of the other children, Nathaniel Andrewes had died in 1653. He
had varied the staid and prosperous progress common to the mem-
bers of his family by a venture in privateering, in which he was
joined by that Edward Bushell, who later established an ever-
lasting right to remembrance in connection with the Penn and
Mead case, and the establishment of the rights of immunity to up-
right jurors. In July, 1653, Nathaniel Andrewes and Bushell had
Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide 161
petitioned to be allowed to impress men for eight ships, which they
desired to commission as privateers, and to have forty men pro-
tected to sail from the Thames to Plymouth. Such romantic and
comparatively unremunerative, speculative, ambition was scarcely
to be expected from an Army contractor engaged in the supply of
biscuits for military and naval consumption. The change from
constructive patriotism to active service may have hastened the
end of Nathaniel. His will, proved on April 13th, 1654, was, un-
fortunately, seven years old at the time of his death, and, there-
fore, does not indicate what, if any, issue he left.
The testator desires that his wife should be paid £1,100
according to an agreement upon marriage between Thomas
Andrewes, testator's father, the testator himself, and his
"father David". He adds £500 to this amount. To his fath-r,
Thomas Andrewes, Alderman, he bequeaths £300. The
residue to such children as the testator shall have, with re-
mainder to father, sole executor. To this will the witnesses
are Henry Colbron, John Ellis, Val. Crome. The first codicil
gives to his wife £400, to make up the amount already be-
queathed to £2,000, together with all jewels, plate, and house-
hold stuff whatever. A second codicil "which the within-
'named 'Nathaniel Andrewes added to his Will the morning
"before he died, being the five and twentieth day of October,
"1653, in an audible voice", left his whole estate to his
father, Thomas Andrewes, and stated that the testator had
done well for his wife and of his father's care in that business
he had no doubt. It was testator's particular wish, orally
expressed, that £30 should be given to Mr. Simpson. The
witnesses to this codicil were Thomas Coxe, previously
mentioned in connection with Thomas Andrewes Junior,
Damaris Andrewes, and John Bancks.
Elizabeth, n&e Wall, survived Nathaniel, her husband,
scarcely three weeks. Her Will, 472 Alchin, limits her funeral
expenses to £250, and bequeaths, among many legacies, con-
siderably to her uncle, John Banks, and in less amounts to
her "dear and ever-loving father, Alderman Andrewes", to
Sidrach Simpson, to Damaris Andrewes, and to her brother-
in-law, Warner.
Of the remaining children of Sir Thomas Andrewes, Eleanor
married Francis Warner, an alderman and leatherseller, frequently
mentioned in the Domestic State Papers of the Commonwealth
and Protectorate, and identified by Beavan with the member of
Parliament for Tiverton whose will, P.C.C. 121 Carr, was proved
in 1667. Nothing in the will aids the identification.
11* c
162 Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide
The eldest known grandchild of Sir Thomas Andrewes would
appear to be the John Andrewes who became a Fellow of Christ's
College, Cambridge, and died in 1675. An interesting account of
him is contained in Dr. Peile's College History. Therein is
recorded :
Andrewes, John, son of Thomas, born in London. School
(i) Cambridge under Mr. Wighbrow, private (2) Stortford
under Mr. Leigh. Admitted pensioner under Mr. Brookes-
bank, 9 July, 1664, age nearly 15. B.A. 1668/9. M.A. 1672.
Stepson of Ralph Cudworth. Elected Fellow before Mid-
summer 1669, in place of Chris. Bainbridgc. His last payment
was at Michs. 1675. He had a fair number of pupils from
London and elsewhere, of good position ; 9 in 1674, the last
being entered on 3 July, 1675. Apparently he died about 26.
At the end of the year, Mr. Rich. Andrewes paid to the
Library £10 for Mr. John Andrewes, late Fellow. In a MS.
account by Dr. Covel of the Lodge in the time of his pre-
decessors (partly printed by J. W. Clark in Architectural
History 2.214) it is mentioned that in the room where Mr.
Maynard keeps (i.e., the room over the dining-room of the
Lodge), there was acted, while it stood empty, a Pastoral by
Dr. Cudworth 's children and some others, contrived by Mr.
John Andrewes, to which I was courteously admitted as a
spectator.
The remaining grandson of Sir Thomas Andrewes is Richard
Andrewes, the son of Thomas Andrewes, the younger, and
Damaris his wife. To him and to his brothers, Ralph Cudworth,
their step-father, exhibited a kindness that may have been some-
times touching upon partiality. He had lacked a father for his
own boyhood, and the term, "son", that he applies to his step-
child, reflects, probably, the conscious determination of a morose
man to be affectionate where his duty lay.
However, the habit produced a problem. Entered in the days of
Ralph Cudworth, in the Register of Christ's College, Cambridge,
is :
Richard Andrews, son of Ralph, born in London. School,
Stortford under Mr. Leigh. Adm. Fellow-Commoner under
Mr. Burnett, 18 Mar., 1662/3. Age 17. Matric. 13 July,
1663. Adm. at Inner Temple, 8 June, 1663.
To this record, Dr. Peile has added the note in his College History :
Richard was probably a cousin of John Andrews, son of
Thomas and Damaris Andrews. This John had a brother,
Richard, not of this College.
Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide 163
Almost certainly the record has reference to Richard Andrewes,
son of Thomas and Damaris. The slip, "son of Ralph", is one that
Cudworth could easily have made. He was primarily a meta-
physician, not a registrar ; a parent, doubtless, but, as the entries
relative to his children evidence, extraordinarily oblivious of their
existence at times. That he should have omitted Thomas and
Charles Cudworth from his record and entered Richard Andrewes
as his son is entirely credible.
If there were two Richard Andrewes, they were exactly con-
temporaneous, and of like career.
Richard, the son of Thomas and Damaris, died in 1695 ; shortly
before his mother. His Will, 213 Irby P.C.C., is dated 20th
December, 1694, and was proved upon 2nd September, 1695.
Precis. Richard Andrewes of the Inner Temple, London,
Gent. The farm formerly in the possession of Gillman and
now of Lake to mother, Mrs. Cudworth, for life. By fine
levied in Mich. 1693, I have settled upon Sir F. Masham, Sir
Edw. Abney and Francis Barrington of Tofts in Essex the
manor of Malgraves and lands called the Perryhills at Bulban
all in Essex and tenements in Crown Court, Broad St., in
the parish of St. Peter the Poor, London. I bequeath the
same to my god-daughter, Mrs. Anne Andrewes, the last-
named being those settled upon my mother upon her marriage
with Thomas Andrewes, my deceased father. Failing issue of
the said Anne, remainder to my god-daughter and niece, the
Lady Parker. To Anne Andrewes, two closes of lands copy-
hold at Horndon upon the Hill in the occupation of Joseph
Kinsman, two closes called Streathouse in the parish of
Horley, Surrey, in the tenure of John Shoe or Michael Thorn-
ton at the present rental of £5 and a noble, with like remainder.
To Lady Parker the manor of Mucking or Mockinghall Essex
leased from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's by lease dated
19 Nov. 1688, and 22 acres part of the manor of West Leigh
Hall in the County of Essex the wood called Puttock Grove,
being 4 acres and a rood, and a cottage leased from the Dean
and Chapter. I think the Estate at Mucking is onerous, and
the sea-walls have cost me much. To Lady Parker the tene-
ments without Bishopsgate known as the Harp tenements or
Walnut Tree Court, being four houses held by virtue of a lease
made by the Company of Goldsmiths dated 21 March 1652,
and granted to my late grandfather Alderman Thomas
Andrewes for 80 years to commence from Michaelmas 1671
at £10 ground-rent. The greater part being fit only for the
reception of such poor people by whom more trouble than any-
164 Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide
thing of profit is to be got, I advise sale for re-building, which
viewing the large compass of ground may well be. I object
to gifts of mourning. Out of the bond of £300 I have from
Sir Edward Abney, I give him and Lady Abney £5 each, for
rings. To my honoured mother, to my brother, John Cud-
worth, to Sir John Parker, to Lady Parker, to my sister
Chetwood and her daughter Mrs. Anne Andrewes, to Dr.
Cradock, provost of Eton, my relative (this was Zachary
Cradock, J.C.W.), and to Francis Barrington, each £5, for
rings. To Francis Cudworth Masham, my godson, £10, to
Cousin Mary Slade, £10, to my man John Casey, £10. All
my gold or plate to my sister, Lady Masham. Books to her
and her son. Residue to Sir Francis Masham, testator's
executor.
An unimportant codicil is dated 30, April, 1695.
All of which is plain-sailing, save as for Richard's sister, Chetwood
and her daughter, Mrs Anne Andrewes. A marriage-licence of
December 14th, 1687 (Faculty Office of the Abp. of Cant.), issued
for Knightly Chetwood of St. James in the Fields, Mddx., Bac. 30,
and Anne Andrewes of St. Andrew's, Holborn, London, 23, at
her own disposal; at St. James' aforesaid, Lincoln's Inn Chapel,
or St. Sepulchre's, London, The description of the parties is
peculiar. Was Anne Andrewes spinster, or widow?
The well-known Knightly Chetwood, who in the following year
was Archdeacon of York, would surely have been described as
cleric, and not merely as bachelor. He was, moreover, 37 years of
age and not 30 at the time of the licence. As he lived to 1720, his
wife, Anne nee Andrewes, living in 1695 must have been a widow
before her twenty-third year, the widow of a man also named
Andrewes, and so the mother of a daughter, Anne, the devisee of
the Will of Richard Andrewes.
The administration to his estate in the year 1720 adds to the diffi-
culties. He is described as "Reverend". The register, usually
punctilious, should have yielded him the title "Very Reverend".
Perhaps with this last touch upon the proper title of a rather High
Church dean, the account of Sir Thomas Andrewes, Republican and
Regicide, ends aptly. The history of the world is a tale of enthus-
iasms that have waned, and of ideals used and obscured by those
who should have perpetuated them. The oblivion of Sir Thomas
was convenient to a generation unwilling to remember the singular
turning of England's face towards Liberty in the days of the Good
Old Cause.
Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide 165
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Anabaptists : the Main Body.
ALLUSIONS to Anabaptists indicate that most Englishmen
think of one episode in 1535, and imagine this ended their
existence1. A feiv inquirers are better informed, but when
writing for English readers do not free themselves wholly from
the confusion that obtained in England during the seventeenth
century, between the German Anabaptists of Miinster and the
English Baptists a century later. Outside professional historians,
it seems hardly known that the Anabaptists of the Continent have
had a continuous history since 1524. They live to-day not only
in many European lands, but in many parts of North, Central and
South America. One of them was at Edinburgh in 1937 attending
the Conference on Faith and Order. They are a body as distinct
as Lutherans or Presbyterians, and have no more relation with
Baptists than those Churches have. In such towns as Amsterdam,
Philadelphia, in such States as Switzerland and Manitoba, may
be found Anabaptist churches and Baptist churches, as distinct
as Methodists and Anglicans. Because they have not a single
church in England, and no church of English Anabaptists is
known to have existed at any time, there is great mental con-
fusion. English Baptists were nicknamed Anabaptist, despite their
steady repudiation of the title. Not five Englishmen can be named
even in the sixteenth century who were Anabaptists, and their
tenets have little or no relation to the tenets of Baptists. It may
be worth while to sketch briefly the main lines of this body, so little
known to Englishmen.
Anabaptists came to the front in Zurich when Zwingli was head-
ing a reformation there in 1523. Within four years they issued
statements of their beliefs, near Schaffhausen, at Bern, Lichten-
stein, Augsburg, and in Moravia. The Swiss agreed that they
should quite abjure physical force; that none of them would be
a magistrate, much less enlist; and that as truth was always
obligatory, oaths were needless and wrong. These points were
accepted everywhere, and to the present day there is a record of
400 years of consistent Pacifism. Lichtenstein and Moravian
preachers taught that " Christ is not God . . . Christ did not do
enough for the sins of the whole world . . . Within two years the
Lord will come from heaven and will deal and war with the worldly
1 See Peel, .4 Conscientious Objector of 1575, for an account of an Anabaptist
in England in that year.
166
Anabaptists : the Main Body 167
princes". Some tended to communism, even saying that "he who
has property may not partake of the Lord's Supper".
Another group in and near Saxony came into conflict with
Luther. Some of them felt a direct inspiration, and the Prophets
gave a distinct flavour in these quarters. In South Germany there
were saner leaders, many of them well-educated humanists, who
organized believers into congregations, and these by synods.
From Tirol down the Rhine to Strassburg they were numerous.
A fourth district centred in Amsterdam, and here a strong lead
was given by those who believed not only that Christ was about to
return, and war against the ungodly, but that He wanted followers
to prepare the way for Him. This led to armed rebellion, both in
Amsterdam and in Miinster. The suppression of this in 1535 has
left an indelible stain, not on the murderous besiegers, but on
the misguided Anabaptists. It -availed little that a Congress next
year, only a few miles away, repudiated the Fifth Monarchy
notions which had for a few years captured some adherents ; it
availed little that the whole body of North German and Dutch
Anabaptists formally adopted Pacifism. Many men think that
Anabaptists were essentially rebels, and came to an end in 1535.
Englishmen, who had never seen a real Anabaptist, credited every
slander, lumped together every isolated fact, and evolved a
caricature, which was destined to be drawn afresh for 150 years.
All Anabaptists from 1536 were Pacifists. They obtained two
leaders, whose names they came to adopt, just as we hear of
Lutherans, Calvinists, Wesleyans. In the south, they followed
Jacob Hutter ; in the north, Menno Simons. Even at the present
day, the different emphasis of these two organizers and thinkers
can be readily traced.
Before 1547 Peter Riedemann printed an account of the religion
and faith of the Hutterites. They proved such excellent citizens
that many nobles welcomed them when persecution dislodged them
from their homes. Modern students of communism have set forth
with sympathy the story of their industry. In Moravia they did
well, until the Jesuit counter-reformation sent them further afield.
The rulers of Muscovy needed diligent settlers, and promised to
respect their religious views. Right down till the new pattern of
communism introduced by the Bolsheviks, the Hutterite colonies
were model settlements.
In the Netherlands, Menno linked the congregations by an
elaborate system, where bishops superintended. From medieval
times they continued a strict discipline, which maintained a life
which in many respects was model. It proved so rigid that
divisions came about with a view to greater freedom : it is note-
worthy that Conduct, not Creed, was the cause of these fissures.
168 Anabaptists : the Main Body
Mennonites have never put forth an official confession ; though
when English Baptists were considering the possibility of union,
or of fraternizing, two prominent pastors did state their own views
in 40 very elaborate articles. One of these repudiates war ; another
points out that only those parts of the Old Testament are valuable
which are consonant with the doctrine of Christ and the apostles;
another confines baptism to believers (it was generally ad-
ministered by pouring) ; another enjoined obedience to magistrates
in all things agreeable to the word of God, but said that they
would not accept office ; another disclaimed oaths. When
Mennonites were drawing together again in 1632, another Con-
fession was written, which has been widely adopted in France,
Germany, and America.
For in 1650 emigration began, to New Amsterdam at the mouth
of the Hudson, and it has never ceased, though there have been
occasional great waves. Notably William Penn attracted many
from the Rhine to German town in 1683. The revolutionary war
of 1774-1783 so disgusted the Mennonites that many migrated to
Canada. The Napoleonic wars sent many into Russia, where they
gradually became aware of their Hutterite cousins. The reaction
of the Holy Alliance sent thousands from South Germany to
America. Every war since has induced new emigrations, Russia
1857, Germany 1866 and 1870, Europe 1914. They searched for
some land where they would be free from conscription, so that
Mexico and Paraguay have colonies of Mennonites.
To-day the Mennonites in America are slowly coming out of
their shell, are learning to speak English, and publish a Quarterly
which is beginning to make accessible to all readers their very
remarkable history. In their fastnesses they still retain many
German customs, dress, tools, waggons, of two centuries ago.
But the rising generation is becoming less unlike the Americans
in neighbouring towns.
Those who stay in Europe are looking more and more to
Amsterdam as their centre, because for over two centuries there
has been a theological seminary in that city, which has produced
good leaders, and because important societies have been founded
there, especially in 1778, 1784, 1811, which deal with social prob-
lems. On the other hand, while elsewhere Mennonites are simply
old-fashioned, the Dutch group has never been impeccable on the
doctrine of Christ ; some members are probably Unitarian. To
unity of doctrine, as contrasted with actual behaviour, they have
seldom attached importance.
To call them "Anabaptist" to-day would of course be absurd.
The chief people who baptize afresh those who have already been
baptized, are Roman Catholics. W. T. Whitley.
WESTERN NOTES
I— A NONCONFORMIST MINISTER ON A CHURCH
Why will these professionals follow the traditions of the
Pharisees, and think only of the outside and the appearance to the
eye, forgetful of the inside and the use of the building? Above all,
why will they defraud us of the blessed light of heaven, shutting
it out as much as they can with their mullioned windows and heavy
pillars and arches, as if we had too much sunshine beneath our
sober skies? A dimly lighted Church may do very well for a dark
religion or twilight faith, but never for the intelligence, freedom,
and confidence of Congregationalism. For my part, I care very
little what sort of place I preach in, if I have two requisites, light
and air, and can see the people well grouped together, not split up
into sections by transepts, or peeping out of cornices and burrows
beneath the roof. But to come into one of those gothic prison
houses, gloomy as the grave, and find the service bestuck and inter-
mingled with collects and anthems, oh, it tries one's patience ; it
tempts one to wish that both architect and innovators were shut up
in the crypt of a Cathedral for the rest of their days — or until they
repented.
The above remarkable extract appeared some years ago in the
Building News. From The Western Antiquary, 1887.
II— DARTMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Dispute at Dartmouth. A document preserved among the
muniments of the Corporation of Dartmouth shows that the
accounts of Palmer and Calamy were erroneous. The document is
endorsed : —
4 'An agreement made bv General Desborough concerning Mr.
Geare and Mr. Flavel." 7th August, 1656.
For the composing of the differences in the Corporation of Dart-
mouth and their trustees.
It is this day ordered before the Right Honorable Generall Des-
borough agreed as followeth.
That the presentation made by Mr. Edward Spurway and Mr.
John Plumleigh (Feoffees or Trustees of ye Rectory impropriate
of Townstall in trust lor the Corporation of Dartmouth) of Mr.
Allen Geare to the Vicaradge of Townstall & Chaple of St. Saviours
by consent shall stand. And that all Caveats entered against it
shall be forthwith withdrawn and all writes of Quare impedit or
other writtes or proceedings against the Institution and induction
of the said Mr. Geare shall be discontinued and withdrawn to the
end Mr. Geare may have free Institution and induction upon the
same presentation. That Mr. John How or some able pious
Minister shall be appointed (?) as Lecturer at Townstall and Dart-
169
170 Western Notes
mouth to be chosen by Mr. Thomas Boone Esq. Mr. Stephen
Knowling Mr. Obidiah Widger Mr. Edward Elliott Mr. Robert
Baker Mr. Anthony Plumleigh Mr. Richard Aylwin Esq. Mr. John
Whiteway Esq. That ye profits of the Vicaridge and the augmen-
tations now or hereafter to be settled on both or either churches
shall be equally divided between them. That the weekly lecture in
the Chaple shall be performed by both Ministers in turns and the
revenue for maintenance thereof by subscription be equally divided
between them. That ye proffitts of ye said Rectory (wch the Cor-
poration of Dartmouth doe freely give for ye said ministers' better
encouragement) or other publicke maintenance shall be equally
divided between them. But the rents issuing of the same and all
rates and taxes first fruits and tenths are to be first deducted nor
is any tyeth fish to be demanded. That it is intended by all parties
and the true meaning hereof is that Mr. Geare shall officiate at
the usual hours on the Lord's day in the Chaple And Mr. How at
Townstall unless it shall be otherwise agreed between themselves.
And it is further intended and agreed that both the said Ministers
shall signifie their consents by subscribing their hands hereunto,
(signed) Thos Boone, Steph. Knowlinge, Robert Blake1, Rich
Aylwin, Will Barnes, Edw. Wheeler, Joseph Cubitt, Edw. Spur-
waie, John Favell, John Plumleigh, Allen Geare.
Genl. Desborough mentioned in the above document was one of
Cromwell's Major-General's, and as religious affairs had become
inextricably woven with secular ones, these major-generals looked
after the Church as well as the world. Desborough had charge
of the western district, comprising Devon and Cornwall, and in
1654 he was returned to Parliament for Totnes, but in October of
that year elected to sit for county Cambridge.
Mr. Boone was a leading man of influence; there is still "Mount
Boone" at Dartmouth. Mr. Howe's proposed appointment was,
it will be noticed, in conjunction with Mr. Geare about whom the
dispute arose, and Howe not accepting Flavell was appointed, he
was at that time rector of Diptford, Devon.
Totnes, Devon. Edward Windeatt.
From The Western Antiquary, 1890.
Stanley Griffin.
1 This can scarcely be the Admiral, as he was off the coast of Portugal in
August, 1656. Apparently Thomas Boone desired that John Howe should be
appointed to the perpetual curacy of St. Saviour's, Dartmouth, and asked Crom-
well to make the appointment. The Protector invited Howe to preach at White-
hall and, it is said, gave him his text while a psalm was being sung. Howe
was turning the Hour-glass for the third time when Cromwell stopped him,
subsequently saying he must come to London and be his domestic chaplain.
Howe was unwilling, but yielded when it was arranged he could serve Torring-
ton three months in each year. Thus he never became minister at Dartmouth.
Editor.
George Whitefield and Gloucestershire
Congregationalism
Dates
1714 George Whitefield born at Glou-
cester.
1718 Thomas Cole becomes Minister
of the Southgate Church,
Gloucester.
1734 G.W. at Oxford. "The Holy
Club."
1736 G.W. ordained.
1739 G.W. very popular. First meets
Howell Harris and the Coun-
tess of Huntingdon. Thomas
Cole leader of the Methodists
in Gloucester.
1741 The Calvinist Controversy.
Moorfields Tabernacle built.
G.W. among the Presbyterians
in Scotland.
1742 Death of Thomas Cole.
1743 Futile attempt to re-unite the
Calvinists, Arminians and Mor-
avians.
1744 G.W. makes 3rd visit to
America.
Howell Harris becomes leader
of the Whitefield Societies.
1744-1748 G.W. in America. The
Whitefield Societies fall into
chaos.
1745 Cennick joins the Moravians.
1748 G.W. returns. Becomes Chap-
lain to the Countess of H.
1749 G.W. relinquishes to Howell
Harris the oversight of the
Tabernacle Societies.
Another conference between
G.W., the Wesleys and H.H.
1 2
1750 Riots in Cork.
Rodborough Tabernacle
opened.
Rupture between H.H. and
Welsh Calvinists.
1751 Death of the Prince of Wales.
H.H. cedes from the Calvinistic
Methodists in Wales.
1753 Moorfields New Tabernacle
built.
Bristol Tabernacle built.
1756 Tottenham Court Road Chapel
built.
1762 Rodborough Tabernacle
Register begins.
1763 Andrew Kinsman ordained.
Daniel Rowlands excluded.
1764 Dursley Tabernacle Trust Deed
executed.
Tottenham C.R. Chapel and
Moorfields Tabernacle regis-
tered " Independent."
1765 G.W. appoints Kinsman and
Adams to preach at T.C.
Chapel.
1767 The Six Oxford Students
opposed and expelled.
1770 Death of Whitefield, Thomas
Adams, and Howell Davies.
# * *
1772 (c) Capt. Torial Joss ordained
at Rodborough.
1774 Ordination of Hawkesworth.
1779 Rowland Hill, Torial Joss and
all Dissenters excluded from
C. of H. pulpits.
C. Ernest Watson.
171
Congregationalism in 1655.
In August, 1655, Henry Scobell, Clerk of the Council of State,
addressed a circular letter to a number of ministers asking them to
forward at once lists of the Congregational and Presbyterian
ministers in their districts, with suggestions as to which of their
incomes needed augmentation. Some of the replies arc given in
Vol. II. of Peck, Desiderata Cariosa, and are reprinted below. It
is interesting to note that William Bridge, of Yarmouth, is in
receipt of £100 a year from the State, and that there appears to be
no compunction or hesitation about receiving or recommending
State grants. Other replies will be printed in the next issue, and
there some hesitation is expressed. For Bridge and Scobell see
D.N.B. A. P.
Henry Whitfield. To Henry Scobell, Clerk of the Council of State,
14 August, 1655 (n.p.1).
Sir,
1. I received your letter, in the day I make answere to it. I
am glad to see the breathings of your spirit in this way, wherein
you may doe our Lord much service.
3. The truth is, the want of meanes doth very much hinder
the gatheringe of churches in the nation. I suppose much
more might have binn donn, if such a course might have binn
taken.
3. We are not so happy in this countie, as to reckon many
churches gathered, especially in the purest way. Here be
diverse godly men that are presbvterians, that have gathered
some churches in a hopeful way, and some are now gatheringe.
The time you set me for the returne of answere is so short,
that I have no time to make any inquirie in the countrie. But
I shall doe it with all the care and speed I can ; and give you
a farther account of your letter.
4. Here is neere unto us a German stranger, a godly man,
that was driven out of his countrie many yeers since for his
religion ; who came into England, and hath binn a preacher for
about eighteen years. Hee is a good schollcr, and painfull in
his place. Hee hathe a livinge (as they call it) of xl. /. per
annum, with an augmentation of x. /. pet- annum. Hee hath
1 Can any render identify Whitfield? A Mr. Whitfield of Conington was a
mcmlyr of the Cambridgeshire Voluntary Association at this time.
172
Congregationalism in 1655 173
a wife, and ten children. His wife is great with the eleventh.
All little, and at home with him. This man, having but a
small parish, is nowe gatheringe together the godly minded of
his parish, and resolving to enter into a church way according
to Christ. His straits are great, by reason of his great charge.
I should desire that this man's condition might bee taken into
consideration, if it might sute with what you intend. Surely
some small yeerly allowance would much refresh the bowels
of him and his family ; and would much incourage him in his
worke begunn. But I shall leave it with you ; and your selfe to
the guidance of our Lord Christ, in all your purposes and
endeavours for his praise,* in whom I rest.
Your very loving friende.
William Bridge of Yarmouth to the same ; 16 Aug. 1655.
Honored Sir,
1. I have receyved your letters, and am glad that you are
so sensible of the concernments of our Lord Christ in the
ministry of his word.
2. The presbyterian and congregational churches in Norfolk
are many ; and, in soe short a time as one day, I am not able
to enquire into their state and condition. But, haveing lately
receyved a lettre from Mr. Nye2, in reference to the congrega-
tionall, I have enquired after them the more diligently, and
send you the names of all those churches in Norfolk; with the
names of their pastors, and the townes where they are seated,
and the worth of their liveing ; so ncere as I can.
3. The presbyterian churches I have lesse acquaintance with ;
and, if you please to give me longer time to enquire, I shall
serve you therein. Onely, Sir, I can tell you now, that here are
four ministers in this town, and x\o set maintenance for any,
unless c. I. which I have from the state, given me by the long
parliament. The other ministers arc all good men and worthy,
and no revenue, but the peoples charitie.
4. Six miles from us there is a market towne, and the only
great town in the ileland ; the liveing is not worth xl. /. per
annum. If I. I. may be laid to it, and a good man put into
the place, it would be very influential! upon the whole isleland.
The gift of the living belongs to the lord protector. The town
hath bene malignant ; called Laystoffe ; knowen to his highness
beeing part of the first-fruits of his great labours. Much ser-
vice might be done for Christ in setling this place; and if the
2 Philip Nye and Bridge were leaders of the Dissenting Brethren m the
Westminster Assembly.
174 Congregationalism in 1655
Lord will give you hearts to pitty this great town, many soules
will blesse God for your bowels. I will trouble you noe farther,
but present this thing to your goodness, and your selfe to the
• grace of God, who is able to supply all one wants according
to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ, in whom I continue.
Sir,
yours in all christian observance,
I pray you be pleased to send this inclosed to Mr. Nye by the
first.
A list of the independent teachers, who are pastors of churches
in the county of Norfolk*.
1. Church at Norwich. Pastor Mr. [Timothy] Armitage,
who hath an augmentation already.
2. Church at Yarmouth. Mr. [Job] Tooky*, teacher. Mr.
Bridge*, pastor, who hath c. I. per annum from the state
3. Church at North- Walsom. A market town. Pastor Mr.
Brabiter* [Breviter, Richard]. The living about xl. I.
4. Church at Windham. A market town. Pastor Mr.
[John] Mony*. He hath an augmentation alreadye.
5. Church at Hapton. A small town and a small liveing.
Noe pastor. Mr. Wale beeing gone to Ireland.
6. Church at Tunsted and Slowly. Noe pastor ; the revenew
of both about Ixxx. I.
7. Church at Alby and Thwait. Pastor Mr. [Nathanael]
Brewster. The liveing about 1. /.
8. Church at Lesetingham. Pastor Mr. [Peter] Cushin.
The living about c. /.
9. Church at Fowlsome. Mr. [Richard] Worts* pastor.
The worth of the liveing known to Major-General .
Skippon.
10. Church at Edgefield. Pastor Mr. [John] Martin. The
liveing competent.
Adoriram By field4 of Marlborough to the Same. 14 Aug. 1655.
Honored sir,
1. Yours of the x. of August instant I have received, and
rejoice to see in it hopes of a doore open for any incourage-
3 Although John Browne often refer* to the list in his Hist, of Cong, in
Norfolk and Suffolk, he does not print it. From his work and from A. G.
Matthews, Calamy Revised, some Christian names have been supplied. The
asterisked names are in Calamy Revised.
4 Byfield was one of the scribes at the Westminster Assembly. See D.N.B.
Congregationalism in 1655 175
ment to publique preachers ; and shalbe glad to take any oppor-
tunity to be serviceable in so good a worke.
2. You shall for the present (so far as the shortnesse of time
will permitt) receive a list of those preachers, both presby-
terian and independant, commonly so called, who are pastors
of churches within our county ; which list is here inclosed.
3. When I have named these, I must adde, that they are
the most eminent men in our county, and such who may be
very useful in any way shalbe thought fit of holding corre-
spondence with them for the better carrying on the interest of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
4. Besides these we have many others, who are looked upon
as able and faithfull in the worke of the gospell, who yet have
not been so happy as to see the fruite of their ministry amonge
their people, as to finde a number to joyne withall in the pure
administration of the ordinances of Christ. And, if their names
be also desired ; uppon the least intimation from you, I will
send them up.
5. Whereas, in your letter, you mention particularly the
case of such as are straightned in maintenance ; I am able,
at present, onely to give you this account ; that, in this list in-
closed, those who are settled in their several livings in the
country, have a comfortable subsistence, arising out of their
places; but all those, who are settled in corporations (as in
Salisbury, and in Marlebrough) they have little subsistence,
but what they have from their several augmentations ; which
are so hardly gotten, as doth often put them to great streights.
What their particular augmentations are I shall give you an
exact account of (if it be expected) by the next, when I have
more particularly informed my selfe of it.
6. Because you give me soe faire an overture of holding
correspondence, I cannot let this opportunity passe, of giving
you some further account of some things, as to the present
state of our county ; in which you may be serviceable to the
concernments of our Lord.
7. In our proceedings upon the ordinance for ejection, many
places are made voyde (I did not imagine ever to have found
soe much prophanesse, ignorance and negligence in such as
call themselves the ministers of Jesus Christ) soe that if due
care be had above, in settling godly, able and faithful men in
their places; I hope, in a short time, the gospel will have a
freer passage amonge us.
8. But that which I am most especially sollicitous about,
and desire your most serious thoughts of, is the case of great
and populous congregations, which have so small and incon-
176 Congregationalism in 165o
siderable maintenance, as I do almost despaire of having an
able minister settled in them ; except some speedy course be
taken for an addition, by way of augmentation. For the
present, I shall onely mention these great and populous
parishes, the Devises, Calne, Chippenham, Highworth, Greate
Bedwyn, Cricklade, Ramsbury, etc.
9. The premisses I leave to your serious consideration ; and
shalbe ready at more leisure to give you a further account as I
shall heare from you ; being desirous to approve my selfe,
Sir,
Yours in the Lord Jesus.
A list of the names of publique preachers within the county of
Wilts, both presbyterian and independent, who are pastors of
churches*.
1. Dr. Humfry Chambers*, of Pewsy.
2. Mr. Nicholas Proffet, of Peter's in Marleborough.
3. Mr. William Hughes*, of Marie's in Marleborough.
4. Mr. John Strickland*, of Edmund's in Sarum.
5. Mr. Rashleigh*, of the Close in Sarum.
6. Mr. William Eyre*, of Thomas in Sarum.
7. Mr. Peter I nee*, of Dunhead.
8. Mr. John Watts*, of Newton Tony.
9. Mr. John Woodbridge*, of Barford.
10. Mr. [John] Barcroft*, of Broughton.
11. Mr. Phillip Hunton*, of Westbury.
12. Mr. James Hounsel*, of Chilton.
13. Mr. [William] Spinadge*, of Paulshot.
14. Mr. Harrison, of Alborne.
15. Mr. [John] Legg*, of the other Dunhead.
* * * *
The Baptist Quarterly (Jan , 1939).
The longer articles in the Baptist Quarterly for January, 1939, are "The
Reformation and the Word ©f God1' by Dr. Townley Lord, "The Permanency
of Religion" by Dr. A. C. Underwood, "The Present Position of Old Testament
Studies" by the Rev. J. N. Sch field, "Baptist Expansion in N. America" by
IV. R, E. E. Harkness, "Dan Taylor (1738-1816) and Yorkshire Baptist Life"
by Mr. F. Beckwith, and "Col. Paul Hobson" by Dr. Whitley.
The Transaction* of the I'nitarian Historical Society {Oct., 1938).
An interesting number, in which Mr. Ernest Axon's " 'Reverend' and some
other styles of the Nonconformist Ministers" contains valuable information. The
Rev. H. W. Stephenson continues his study of Thomns Firmin and the Rev.
H. J. McLachlan his account of Old Nonconformity in Fulwood ; both these
articles contain things that Congregational scholars should not miss. There is
also an account of early Nonconformity in Stourbridge, and more aJx*u1 Com-
munion Plate and other Treasures. The proof reader should give an eye to the
small print; there are two bad blunders on p. 396.
5 The names with an asterisk are in Cakimy Revised.
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