the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. He gave away bread to the poor, and money for the marriage of one or two maidservants every year. He paid the clerk for taking care of the boys' Bibles, and for keeping in order the church clock, and he also instituted a sermon for the fifth of November. This record of his benefactions will indicate what sort of man was Abraham Colfe; and further glimpses of his character— not a peculiar one in those days are caught in his Will, from which we may gather what were his likes and dislikes he hated gamesters, and frequenters of alehouses, and all who were given to "wanton dalliances," or who lavished unnecessary expenses in following "vain, gaudy fashions of apparel;" he disapproved of all who wore

long, curled, or ruffin-like hair"-strangely associating such persons with the profane and heretical. Moreover, in reading Latin or Greek authors, this same Kentish Incumbent approved of pointing out the errors and vices which there appeared-and such as drew the young to Popish superstition, Epicurean licentiousness, or downright Atheism, instead of drawing them to godliness and a holy life. Nor would he let boys wear "long, curled, frizzled or powdered hair"-but enjoined upon them the importance of cutting it short, and of wearing it in such a manner as that their foreheads should be seen, "and no part of it be allowed to grow longer than one inch below the lowest tips of their ears."1

Some of the clergy in those times were very flexible. The district of Craven, in Yorkshire, is very remarkable for the examples of this description which it afforded. As in the sixteenth century-when the incumbents of that beautiful part of England gently bowed to all ecclesias

1 Lyson's Environs, iv. 530.

tical changes, from the enactment of the Six Articles to the Act of Uniformity of Queen Elizabeth-so was it with their successors in the seventeenth century. Not a name is contributed from that quarter to the list of either Walker or Calamy. Surplice or Genevan cloak, Liturgy or Directory, Episcopacy or Presbyterianism, a King or a Commonwealth-all came alike to the accommodating Rectors and Vicars of that charming locality. Others of a similar temper were found amidst less beautiful

scenery.

1 Whitaker's Hist., p. 7.

A

CHAPTER IX.

S Congregational Churches were in theory select Societies, they shewed great care in the admission of members; and as they believed that all pastoral authority under Christ was communicated not through apostolical succession in the ministry itself, but through the community which invited some Christian teacher to preside over it, the members, at least in some cases, themselves performed the service of ordination. Met together in the name of their Divine Lord, they solemnly elected their Bishop by holding up their hands, and then by fasting and prayer they appointed him to his work. They also made a detailed confession of their faith in the doctrines of Christianity-the chosen minister also on his part doing the same after which the representatives of other and neighbouring Churches who were present, and who were affectionately welcomed on the occasion, united in approving what had been done, and in giving the right hand of fellowship to the assembled brethren and to their new spiritual overseer.1

1 This notice of the appointment of a pastor is founded upon an entry in the Church Book at Bury St. Edmunds, which, on account of the

rare occurrence of such a record, we shall give at length in the Appendix. It should be remembered that this was not an ordination to preach, but

There were officers in these societies of a description not found in Congregational Churches of the present day. Frequent mention is made in Nonconformists' records of persons called Teachers-who appear to have assisted the pastor in his pulpit labours and in his spiritual oversight of the flock, without being exactly on a level with him in his position as President of the community. Mention also is made of Ruling Elders, who must have resembled the Presbyterian order so denominated, and who were distinguished from Preaching Elders by the circumstance of their not being public teachers, and of their not administering the Sacraments. Deacons were chosen in the same manner as were Bishops; and the exercise of gifts, in the way of occasional exhortation by the former, received encouragement from the latter; one of whom quaintly said to his people that if this exercise of prophesying were not maintained, they would be justly regarded by other Churches as in a state of decline, and the gifts of the Spirit bestowed upon them "would dry up and prove unprofitable." Deaconesses or widows also occupied a permanent official position in these communities, and accounts exist of meetings assembled for choosing Christian helpers of that kind.

The Churches sought advice of each other, and when important religious questions agitated the public mind they held convocations for the interchange of opinion and for the expression of a common judgment. For example:-that phase of the millenarian controversy which related to the opinions of the Fifth Monarchists, and which exercised a strange fascination over minds of a

simply an ordination to the exercise of pastoral authority in a particular Church. Ordinations and recogni

tion services amongst Independents are not conducted in the present day after the manner just described.

particular cast, secured the greatest attention, and excited extraordinary interest.1

When cases of scandal occurred, they were subjected to careful investigation. The accused party was summoned to appear before his fellow-members; the Elders, after giving him notice, read to him the charges which were brought against him; and upon his failing to offer a satisfactory explanation, the Church unanimously voted that, according to Scripture, he should be accounted a heathen man and a publican.2

To comprehend clearly the relation in which Congregational pastors and their flocks stood to the civil government of the country, it is necessary to study a number of minute and-to the majority of readers-unimportant, if not uninteresting particulars. Such pastors were also Rectors, Vicars, City lecturers, and Preachers in Cathedrals. They are described in municipal records as "town preachers," and as "our ministers." our ministers." In some cases there were four persons so united-two of them being Presbyterians, and the other two Independents. Assistance was sought from Government for paying these public instructors, and a salary of one hundred pounds per annum was in some cases voted out of the impropriation funds. Applications were occasionally made for Acts of Parliament to authorize the levying of contributions for the support of such ministers, and for the repair of their churches. When indeed attempts were made at Yarmouth to impose rates upon the town for these purposes, the Congregational pastors formally protested against it, as contrary to the Gospel, and as in

There are letters and resolutions on this subject in the Norwich and Yarmouth Church Books, but they are too long to be inserted here.

VOL. II.

P

2 These illustrations are chiefly taken from the Yarmouth Church Book.