Fortunately, a small volume of spiritual testimonies survives for the early eighteenth century.[2] Made by the Presbyterian members of the Great Meeting, Leicester, before their admission to the Lord's Supper, the volume allows what is possibly an unique opportunity to investigate the religious concerns and priorities of a group of ordinary men and women, for it is clear such collections are extremely rare. Although individual accounts of religious experience are not uncommon in private diaries and autobiographies, only a handful of collections of public testimonies appear to have survived. The two volumes most widely studied by English historians were given by members of Independent Churches in London and Dublin and published in the mid-seventeenth century[3]. In addition, there are a small number of American confession narratives, of which the most important and best known is the volume of Confessions made between 1638 and 1645 by Thomas Shepard's congregation at Cambridge in Massachusetts[4]. The Great Meeting volume is therefore a valuable addition to the small body of known testimonies, particularly as the testimonies date from the early eighteenth century and were made by Presbyterians rather than Independents, unlike any of the other collections studied[5].
i
Most public testimonies of individual spiritual experience were made to provide the evidence of saving grace that the gathered churches demanded of prospective members before their admission to the sacraments. The testimonies recorded in the Great Meeting volume served a rather different purpose since Presbyterians did not make evidence of saving grace a test of membership, for they believed such evidence was known only to God. The narratives, therefore, were not concerned with giving proof of internal grace, but rather in providing the individual with assurance of salvation and the evidence of personal fitness to receive the Lord's Supper. As the opening declaration by Samuel Statham stated:
It being usuall in this church for Persons before their admission to the Sacred & Solemn Ordinance of the Lords Supper, not only to give some account to the Minister of the work of Grace wrout by God upon their souls, but also to the Members of the Church (by the Minister) that so they might be more capable of Judging of their meetness for the Ordinance[6].
The testimonies cover the second generation of dissent that followed the granting of toleration in 1689. Only one individual recalled his spiritual experience 'in the Days of his Youth' under the penal laws, though another spoke of how she had taken advantage of &attending as other People did', 'when the Door of Liberty was first opened.'[7] In all, 162 testimonies were made between August 1711 and the end of 1725, with a further entry for April 1726 (a median of 10 a year),[8] after which date the entries became a record of admissions only[9] It is clear that women outnumbered men by almost three to one (v. Table). A few early testimonies are highly detailed accounts of individual spiritual pilgrimages, but the majority are descriptions of the means or signs of grace and include little biographical information.
The first important question concerns the reliability of the testimonies as evidence of lay convictions. The construction of the volume and the opening declaration suggest that the minister, Thomas Gee, interviewed each candidate privately, and subsequently some weeks or months later read the testimony to the existing communicants before the individual was admitted to the Lord's Supper. The main evidence comes from the dating of the entries. The interviews were not apparently held on any set day of the week, while admissions, identified in the volume by Gee's pious exhortations, occur only on Sundays[10]. Statham's opening declaration shows that the minister delivered the testimonies, which are recorded in the third person. The testimonies are transcripts in Gee's hand not holographs, and they give the impression of being carefully copied into the volume, presumably from rough notes; there are occasional interlineations and alterations.[11]
Gee's mediation is most apparent in his use of the third person, but occasionally he adds a personal comment of his joy at finding evidence of God's work in the testimonies he was recording[12]. It is difficult to be certain about the degree of editorial distortion, but unlike editions published for evangelical purposes there is no reason to assume that Gee made any serious revisions, particularly if the candidate was present when the testimony was read. Yet, inevitably, since Gee was responsible for recording each narrative, he would have exercised some editorial control in deciding what was significant. No doubt candidates also moulded their accounts to conform to the expected pattern. Despite such reservations the testimonies are probably still a reliable record of what the candidates considered to be the main features of their spiritual state. While common themes are to be found, there is no evidence that they were in response to set questions, rather they were reflecting a common experience of a religious upbringing and years of evangelical preaching. Moreover, the unsystematic way in which the narrators described the various stages of their conversion, together with the vivid personal details they included, suggests there was considerable scope for individuals to describe personal feelings and experiences.
The absence of any of Gee's own writings or sermons makes a detailed investigation of how far his congregation understood and internalised his ideas impossible. But the testimonies themselves do provide evidence of the impact of evangelical preaching and also indirectly of Gee's own ministerial success. All the principal stages in the conversion process, though rarely present in a single narrative, can be found in the collection. An understanding of orthodox Calvinist soteriology can also be identified in many of the testimonies.[13] Yet the unsystematic way in which the laity generally recounted their spiritual experiences suggests limits in their comprehension of the sermons they heard as well as perhaps a degree of independence in belief. Some testimonies seem more a record of particular incidents or chanced upon passages of Scripture that had proved particularly significant to the individual. Mary Pole 'says that a great many years ago when she was reading, she was mightily affected and delighted with these words, 'behold how is the '''.[14]
Table Annual number of spiritual testimonies given by the Presbyterian members of the Great Meeting, Leicester, 1711-25
Men Women TotalIt is also clear from a detailed analysis of the volume, that the general character and content of the testimonies changed over time. The early testimonies (covering the first three years) were far more concerned than later entries with the evidence of conversion: in describing the actual stages experienced and the means by which a saving grace was obtained. They also contain a much higher level of references to scripture and the formative influence of particular ministers: 21 narratives mention a total of 14 ministers by name, but nearly four-fifths of the references occur during the first three years of the collection. In contrast, the later testimonies were much more anxious to record the signs of grace - their love of Christ, delight in the Sabbath, hatred of sin - as well as evincing a greater concern with evidence of personal assurance. This transformation in the character and content of the testimonies can be attributed to ministerial influence. As a Presbyterian minister Gee would have been less concerned with proof or the means of conversion than with signs of grace and the problems of assurance.1711* 3 10 13
1712 1 12 13
1713 6 14 20
1714 5 11 16
1715 2 15 17
1716 2 1 3
1717 4 8 12
1718 2 5 7
1719 5 5 10
1720 3 4 7
1721 6 10 16
1722 1 6 7
1723 1 5 6
1724 0 7 7
1725 1 7 8
Total+ 42 120 162
Median 3 7 10
KEY
* August to December 1711 only
+ Single testimony for April 1726 not included
SOURCE
N/U/179/50 Great Meeting, Leicester 'Declaration of Communicants', 1711-1732/3
Gee had come to Leicester, probably in about 1709, as assistant to the Congregational Edmund Spencer[15]. Spencer left to become minister at Beccles in 1711 and was replaced by John Greene. The Presbyterian and Congregational parts of the congregation, although separating for communion, apparently met together for public worship, but differences over the management of the meeting and its buildings had to be resolved by arbitration in 1716[16]. Greene became minister at Chelmsford in about 1722, and it was not until after Gee's death in 1729, under his successor James Watson, that Greene's former supporters joined with Gee's to receive communion[17]. When Gee became minister, therefore, he would have found a congregation which had been influenced by his Congregational predecessor. Not surprisingly, Edmund Spencer was the most frequently cited of the 14 ministers named in the volume. Nevertheless, in time the new minister could be expected to influence the thinking and outlook of his auditors. The transformation of the later testimonies recording the signs of grace rather than evidence of conversion is therefore evidence of Gee's ministerial influence.
There are other clues that Gee's teaching was absorbed by his auditors, in their use of particular phrases apparently derived from his sermons. Peter Wood and Hannah Carr, nearly six months apart, both used the same phrase: that they hope they 'can say with the blind man'[18]. Such references can be no more than suggestive. There is, however, evidence that Gee himself was aware that his efforts were being rewarded. Following John Stafford's claim 'that these words 'Rejoice Oh Young Man '' were first made of use', Gee wrote 'Blessed be God that I dont Labour in Vain!' (115)[19]. Sarah Statham and Rebekah Cook both recounted that they had been greatly affected by a sermon from Romans 8:2. In each case Gee was moved to acknowledge in the margin their response to what had clearly been his preaching: 'Adored be Divine ' Sovereign Grace! Let God have all the glory!' (13). 'How great is the Honour that comes from God! Let me value it more ' honour him more!' (17)[20].
In the absence of any of Gee's own sermons there are difficulties in determining to what extent his preaching influenced his congregation and how far they accepted his teaching. Two studies of Thomas Shepard, a leading American minister, have used the volume of Confessions made by members of his congregation to compare his writings with their understanding of his teaching. The studies concluded that Shepard's congregation did internalise his model of conversion and that the strength of the ministerial imprint the testimonies reflect is impressive. All the same it was acknowledged that the laity were far from passive in their response, and that they imposed their own particular interpretations in order to satisfy their personal needs.[21]
ii
From the considerable evidence on preparation in the Great Meeting volume, the overwhelming significance of God's Word in the conversion process is apparent. This emphasis came from the belief that individual salvation is obtained through God's Word as revealed in Scripture, the minister's duty being to awaken the need for salvation and to explain the means of obtaining Saving Grace. The principal vehicle of instruction was the sermon, and there are vivid testimonies to the power of evangelical preaching in the volume. Samuel Statham who went to hear a lecture at Mountsorrel by John Ryther of Nottingham, heard Ryther preach 'at such a rate as he seldom heard from these Words of John ye Baptist, 'Oh Generation of Vipers, ''' (2). Elizabeth Weston was even more affected when she was taken by her mother to hear Mr Bone of Wigston: 'as soon as she came within hearing of his voice she found her soul under mighty impress of the Love of God, that she stood in a sort of Maze'. Further sermons were to bring her to 'such a sight of sin as was followed with True Repentance' and the realisation 'that 'tis a Dismal ' Tremendous thing to fall into the hands of an angry ' Displeased God' (9). But for most communicants it was the didactic rather than the dramatic role of preaching which proved significant. Thomas Townsend 'says that by means of the Preaching of ye Word, God has been pleased to Enlighten his dark understanding to bring him to serious Thouts ' a Concern [with] what he must do to be Saved' (94). The number of references to the other 'means' of obtaining grace, such as reading the Word, are few by comparison.
The enormous influence of preaching revealed by the testimonies is impressive, but ministers were not working in isolation with an unregenerate mass. Religious upbringing, the example of family and friends, personal sufferings and particular incidents were all important in establishing individual religious convictions as the testimonies reveal. Although only about a sixth of the Great Meeting testimonies provide direct evidence on the significance of family and childhood, all the evidence points to the importance of the godly household. A total of 26 narratives mention the benefits of a sound education or a religious upbringing. Samuel Statham, the son of an ejected minister, 'had the advantage of Godly Parents and a Religious Education' (2). Bethia Belton 'had a good mother that was very serious ' strict in her education' (42-3), while Mary Heins had the advantage of a religious mistress (5). But Samuel Tuckivel was originally unappreciative of his religious upbringing, though 'he now sees the priviledges, ' advantage of an early piety, ' how good 'tis for young persons to be under Restraints' (82-3). It is also clear that others received practical assistance or encouragement outside the family, from the wider godly community. Susanna Richardson 'while she was in her natural state, ... was often spoke to by one that was concerned about her soul' (54). Mary Cooper remembered that 'The Lives of some of the People of God that were more Exemplary than others, were the first means of bringing her into a Love with the ways of Religion' (34-5. Cf. 44). Yet as Statham acknowledged, even with the advantage of godly parents, 'Grace be no Inheritance' (2).
A number of individuals admitted that they had lived in a carnal household or fallen in with unsuitable company, but it is clear this was a temporary condition for they already possessed an understanding of sin and came from religious backgrounds. Ann Grew had 'an Extraordinary impression [made] upon her mind by a Sermon' as a result she remained 'uneasy while she lived with a carnal family' (32-3). Elizabeth Drakely had from childhood been inclined to religion, 'but Providence casting her some time in a religious Family, she was more convinct of her neglect' (65). Some of the communicants were not from nonconformist families. At least four had Anglican upbringings or were influenced by clerical preaching, nonetheless it is significant that their backgrounds were religious.[22] None of the communicants recorded having been born into a carnal or sinful family.[23]
The evidence indicates, therefore, that communicants were from religious rather than profane backgrounds, and that from childhood they had been brought up to recognise sin and to seek practical godliness. Ministers were thus working with an 'already churched' audience. Though the testimonies bear overwhelming witness to the influence of preaching in awakening conviction, for preaching to be effective it is clear individuals had to be already inclined to godliness and willing to attend sermons. Evidence from America shows congregations recruited many of their new members from the children of existing supporters. There are no comparable British studies, but religious nonconformity is considered by historians to be very much a family affair, and a number of studies have noted the continuity between the early seventeenth-century and the period after the Restoration of different generations of the same family[24].
The significance of the period during childhood and adolescence in preparing the heart for religion is clear. The period of childhood and adolescence is seen by modern writers as a vital stage in the early socialisation and development of the individual: a stage which, because of the pattern of early modern apprenticeship and service, largely occurred outside the family[25]. During these years the basic training for any trade or craft was acquired, but a period of service was also thought necessary to instil certain moral and economic virtues, such as self-discipline and a work ethic. Parents and guardians, it is clear, were well aware of the crucial significance of these early years for their offspring. Elizabeth Drake considered her younger son's failure to serve a period of apprenticeship to be responsible for his general unsteadiness and continued lack of success in life[26]. The Quaker, William Stout noted, in reference to his apprenticeship, that 'which seemed at first to be a hardship to me ... afterwards turned to my very good liking and benefit'[27].
Because of the importance of this early period of life in the future development of the individual, religious instruction began as soon as possible. Evidence survives for the Presbyterian congregation at Nottingham concerning the systematic approach to the religious preparation of the young. There are a series of lists covering the annual gifts of Bibles and Catechisms provided by Lord Wharton for distribution amongst the children of the Congregation[28]. They were given to those children who demonstrated their ability to repeat their catechism. Though a number knew both the lesser and the greater catechisms, the majority received gifts as long as they demonstrated proof of their progress. Sarah Cook, daughter of Widow Cook, aged about nine, 'could say to the sacraments'; Francis Wells, aged between ten and eleven, 'can say most of his catechism'; and Thomas Elner, 'could say into the Petitions'. Some showed remarkable precocity. John Twells, aged between seven and eight, 'could say all' so had both Catechism and Bible[29]. The whole purpose of catechising and the other methods of instruction was to inculcate the young with an understanding of religion, thus providing the seedbed for the subsequent religious awakening as a result of evangelical preaching.
There was also practical encouragement towards gaining proficiency. The two children 'saying their Catechism and Psalms the most perfectly of the twenty' were each given a copy of 'Mr Lye's Catechism' and the classic 'Mr Allein's Safe Guide to Heaven', while the parents received a shilling for their child's achievement[30]. Naturally, not all the children were obedient. Elizabeth Stafford, 'not making the required proficiency in her Catechism could not have a Bible given her: so now lock[ed] into her room'[31]. The sermon was the main vehicle of instruction and edification for those who were older. In addition, like most Presbyterian congregations, the meetings at Leicester and Nottingham also held regular weekday lectures. Likewise William Bilby, minister of the Presbyterian congregation at Hinckley, 'ordinarily preached twice a week, besides Lectures on ye week days' at Sapcote and Earl Shilton, and 'gave the Lords Supper once a month for many years'. He expressed the hope that his ministry had 'had some success among the younger sort of people of both sexes ' some Aged ones.'[32] The Nottingham ministers also sought to encourage the spiritual development of their congregation in other ways, through pastoral visits and gifts of books. In 1703, one of Baxter's works was given to 'Anne Waplington servant to Mrs White', and another to 'Thomas Henson, who desired a good Book and promised to read it over'.[33]
A vivid personal account illustrating the preparational and formative role of godly religious instruction during adolescence is provided by James Clegg, a future nonconformist minister. In 1688, at the age of eight or nine, he was boarded out with Andrew Bury, 'a Fudling [drunken] man' but his wife was 'a serious Christian' who 'would often be talking to me about religion'. One evening, when she brought the discussion to the subject of death and the punishment of those who were damned,
She told me they must be tormented in fire and that to Eternity; I shall never forget how that work struck me, she left me in the house alone, I fell to thinking of that eternity and the more I thought at, the more was I amasd, frightened and troubled. I wept bitterly fearing it would be my lott to be so tormented, then I begun to pray as well as I could, but continued full of trouble all that night and for some time after, and I cannot say that impression ever quite went off.
This experience was later reinforced by a funeral sermon preached at the opening of Mr Pendlebury's Meeting house in Rochdale[34]. Clegg's account not only reveals the sharp psychological insight of his guardian, and the effectiveness of such an experience in childhood, but how preaching built upon the work that religious instruction and a godly upbringing had begun.
Clegg's religious experience, deliberately contrived, appears to have been unusually powerful, but the Great Meeting testimonies also reveals the importance of personal experience in directing individuals to religion. About one seventh of the communicants were brought to conviction by some great personal affliction or disaster, in particular sickness and bereavement. Such incidents clearly served to bring about a dramatic awareness of personal faults and sins. Women, however, were markedly more affected by afflictions than were men (18 out of a total of 21 examples). Mary Chapman had little understanding of the evil of sin until 'it pleasd God to Visit her with ye Palsy' (4). Ann Grew's family was struck with smallpox, but 'she says it was a good Affliction she was causd to see much of ye hand of God... and she has been under the influence of it ever since' (34. Cf. 19). Sarah Legit, who on losing her children was led to reflect 'on her carriage to em, that she had been careless ' Passionate towards em, these thouts did almost over set her, that she could not tell what to do'. Consolation came from God's Word: 'then she had it brout to her, 'Poor Soul, art thou willing to come to Christ', to which she answered, 'Sweet Jesus, I am freely willing', ' then it was brout to her then 'I will in no wise Cast thee off'' (28). Such sufferings, though terrible, could however be made meaningful and individually fortifying when incorporated into explanations of the pattern of conversion.
iii
What do these testimonies reveal about the differences in religious attitudes between men and women or different social groups? In some respects the results are disappointing. Only about a third of the narratives were by men and few of the leading businessmen who were members of the Great Meeting are included in the volume. This may in itself be significant. Peter Davie and Abstinence Pougher, two of the leading hosiers in the town, together with the mercer John Sheares, supported John Greene, the Congregationalist minister, and are not therefore mentioned in the volume of Presbyterian testimonies. John Simpson who was admitted to Gee's communion did not provide a testimony, the same is true only of Mr John Palmer and four other men. Two of the four, John Billers and Nathaniel Spencer, belonged to prominent Leicester families. Palmer was the grandson of Archdale Palmer, Esq., the leading patron of religious dissent in Leicestershire during the 1660s and '70s. Error or omission may account for the absence of any testimony by the other two[35]. Status is difficult to determine because for most entries the only biographical details provided are names. But three-fifths of the men making testimonies were freemen, almost equally divided between craft and the wealthier trade or manufacturing occupations, a somewhat higher proportion than for the general population, though the occupations of over a third are unknown[36]. Nonetheless, it is likely that the majority of testimonies were made by the humbler members of the congregation, since most of the leading supporters are not included and non-freemen, and those under-recorded in official records, were generally the poorer townsmen.
Since religious behaviour has been so little studied, historians have a very imperfect idea of how far individual beliefs and practices were tied to age, gender, education or social background. That women formed a majority of those giving testimonies will not however surprise historians, who have noted their greater involvement in organised religion[37]. Nonetheless, explanations will need to account for the universality of this phenomenon, since it was not restricted to any particular denomination or even to dissent. It is, however, generally overlooked that women outnumbered men amongst the elderly, who make-up a large proportion of any congregation. Nevertheless, the available evidence would suggest that women responded more positively to religion than men. After 1702, the register of baptisms for the High Pavement congregation at Nottingham often recorded whether the parents were members. From the entries where only one parent belonged it was generally the wife. In most cases the husband apparently stayed away from all forms of regular worship, since loyalty to a different communion is usually recorded. For example, John Roper was described as 'an antipaedo baptist ' Absent, but sober ' leaving his wife to her liberty'. Less commendable was Hezekiah Wildbore, who was 'prodigal ' absent', though 'the wife present, who professed godliness'[38]. In answer it has been argued that the dangers of childbearing increased the susceptibility of women to religion, but this explanation seems insufficient for the many women too old to be at risk. The Great Meeting testimonies, however, do record that personal suffering played a much greater role in the religious experiences of women than of men, over four-fifths of all such references[39]. It must be noted, however, that the size of the sample is too small to be statistically significant. Others have suggested that women were attracted by certain features of institutional religious life, in particular the greater spiritual equality and opportunities it afforded. More work is necessary before any better conclusions are possible.
Social factors also seem to underlie differences in religious behaviour. Puritan religious life encompassed private devotional exercises as well as public worship, but the majority of Great Meeting testimonies make no mention of reading, meditation or prayer. Alice Poyner was among the exceptions: 'she delights in Communion with God, in reading his word, ' meditating on Divine things above all the world'[40]. Bridget Miles 'always when in Distress ' under trouble ' Discouragement, Looked into her Bible, something was out to her that was very Reviving ' Encouraging' (11). Ann Grew, though awakened by preaching 'used to get by herself ' spend her Time in reading ' praying' (32-3). Nevertheless it is clear that what they read privately or heard publicly was almost exclusively from Scripture. Statham was the only person to allude to an author by name, 'holy Mr Dod' (3), the celebrated early seventeenth- century Puritan minister, though Hannah Smith had clearly read the life of a Puritan 'saint' (122). Scriptural references, however, are frequent in the testimonies. Many communicants remembered specific texts they had heard which had proved significant to them. Remembrance of key passages is not merely an indication of the power of the Word, but may also point to an aural rather than a literate tradition. There is also evidence for different levels of understanding in the congregation. In the case of Elizabeth Brown, who found 'the answer of Christ ' his Dealings with ye Poor Woman that we read of in the Gospel has been an e[xample] ' support', it was perhaps the story and its appropriateness to her condition, rather than its scriptural significance, that was important to her.
The contrast with the private introspection and closet religion that the diaries and biographies of godly laymen like Gervase Disney, Ambrose Barnes, Ralph Thoresby and Joseph Barrett have made so familiar is striking. This may reflect the social status of most of those giving testimonies, who had little or no formal education and who also lacked the leisure to read and study. Bridget Miles and Ann Grew both belonged to wealthy Leicester families involved in trade, and Statham was a successful apothecary and the son of an ejected minister. He also had his father's library, which he left his son who became a nonconformist minister like his grandfather. Of the diary keepers, Disney was a gentleman, and Barnes, Barrett and Thoresby were wealthy merchants or tradesmen.[41]
How can the comparative absence of the wealthier members making testimonies be explained? Four of Gee's leading supporters, Simpson, Palmer, Billers and Spencer, made no public testimony though they were admitted to communion. They may have been reluctant for social reasons to make a public declaration, but more probably it was a reflection of their status in the congregation. As trustees and leading members they had no personal need to demonstrate assurance. It should not be surprising to find differences in religious behaviour on the basis of wealth and social background. Direct participation in public worship, through a regular attendance on the ordinances and by gadding to sermons, which were part of a popular godly culture, was always more likely to appeal to ordinary members than the much more intellectually demanding private religion of the closet. The characteristic expression of a religion of the heart is emotional: the joy and sorrow of the heart and the companionship of the sacraments which comes from an immediate and intense religion[42]. But the prosperous and respectable tradesman or manufacturer was wary of religious enthusiasm, because of the lurking fear of social disorder that spiritual revelation and antinomianism were believed to encourage. Their desire was for seemly behaviour and a proper understanding while maintaining an intense personal introspective faith. Ralph Thoresby, a Leeds merchant, writing about his own Presbyterian meeting during the 1680s, complained of 'the unmannerliness of some of the ruder sort' and the 'intolerable disorder of the common people', who belonged to other congregations and 'now in times of restraint flock in multitudes to the great inconvenience of others', like himself, whose worship they interrupted by their enthusiasm[43]. Though it is known that religious behaviour is related to social status, such divisions are never absolute. Evidence from an earlier period reveals that the private religious exercises of Nehemiah Wallington, a not very successful artisan in mid-seventeenth-century London, could be as demanding as those of any godly gentleman[44]. Conversely, though few gentlemen were Baptists, they, or at least their sons, were among the leading supporters of the early Friends: William Penn is only the most prominent example.
If the testimonies themselves are examined then it is clear that all the communicants, businessmen included, were preoccupied with spiritual matters. Despite the political uncertainty for dissenters in the last years of Queen Anne's reign with the ascendancy of the Tories, only Susanna Robinson made clear from her testimony in October 1712, 'she is affraid if Persecution should arise she should not stand', that it was political rather than family opposition she feared (27). Indeed, the testimonies contain little secular material and such details are only included because of their contribution to the overall spiritual account. Margaret Bentley's reference to the death of Queen Anne was mentioned solely because it was the cause of her 'being affrighted with ye fears of Judgments' and thus bringing her 'to a great concern about her soul' (69). Samuel Statham in the most detailed testimony in the volume provided much autobiographical evidence concerning his youth, but it was likewise to illustrate his long spiritual pilgrimage and his many lapses from grace (2-3).[45]
iv
One of the greatest debates concerning the influence of religious beliefs on individual attitudes and behaviour involves the controversial question of the significance of such ideas in determining business success. The most celebrated attempt to link religious beliefs to economic success was made by the German sociologist Max Weber, who, in his essay 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism', laid the foundations of the modern debate[46]. Weber as a sociologist, was primarily concerned with the transformation of general attitudes rather than with the outlook and behaviour of particular individuals. Nonetheless, it was the application of his concept of a 'psychological sanction' driving ascetic Protestants to economic success that captured the imagination of many economic historians, since it seemed to offer a means of explaining why a small number of businessmen who were religious dissenters apparently proved very much more successful than most of their contemporaries. In considering the influence of religious dissent upon economic activity, the central problem concerns the difficult and controversial question of whether there was something inherent in the teachings of particular forms of religious dissent which encouraged, or perhaps discouraged, business success by transforming the individual and instilling a dynamic inner compulsion to succeed. Few modern historians accept Weber's thesis[47]. Nonetheless, there have been a number of recent attempts to advance the hypothesis. In one of the most important, Cohn has argued that evidence of God's love drove the saint to work while in turn its absence initiated efforts to regain it. Cohn therefore reverses Weber's emphasis, claiming that the saint was drawn not driven, but, like Weber, he has not examined the businessman nor proved that experience did in fact follow doctrine[48].
The Great Meeting testimonies provide evidence which can be used to examine the question. It is true that the desire to separate from sin (a sign of grace) instilled a self-conscious striving for personal discipline and restraint, as historians have claimed, but if seen in its proper religious context it is difficult to perceive any practical value for business activity. The fear that the temptations of the world would lead them to ignore their spiritual duties, encouraged many to equate worldliness (especially the neglect of Sabbath) with sin and not only condemn all recreations and pleasures as vanities of the world, but to see worldly activity in general as a danger to religion. Bethia Belton found that after the death of her mother she was 'sometimes drawn away by the world to the neglect of her duty and the neglect of her prayer' (42-3). William Marshall, whose father was a prominent mercer and a leading member of the Great Meeting, was led to see
the Vanity ' Emptiness of all these Enjoyments ... ' the Sabbaths he spent before in Idleness, ' the neglect of the word he can now take Delight in, ' has found Some Communion with God in the word Preacht, which makes him more diligent in working out his own Salvation .... he would herein yield himself up to God to be his for ever.[49]
The great majority of communicants made no reference to secular matters, but Joseph Bentley, one of the leading mercers in the town and a trustee of the congregation, was an exception. It is clear, however, he was concerned that his business commitments had led him to neglect his spiritual duties. In November 1711, after describing his religious condition and the means of obtaining grace, he expressed the desire to continue faithful in God, 'notwithstanding what ever opposition he may meet with from a Lazy, worldly, backward heart, or from an alluring or Terrifying world'. Unusually for the volume, he made a second testimony, and in June 1720 he admitted that 'he has been Keept off' from this ordinance 'by the troubles of the world'. Similarly, the hosier, Henry Rice, 'says that it was good for him that he has been afflicted, and to be taken off from ye Thouts and Business of the World' (71). Poorer members found the conflict even stronger because of the practical problem of having to earn a living. Susannah Richardson was brought to conviction, 'But then she was Poor, ' must mind her Work, ' so was diverted from Prayer'[50].
It is significant that these are the only references to work and economic attitudes in the volume. Moreover, in the examination of the heart, worldly commitments were, even for the leading businessmen, a source of anxiety not assurance. Caution is needed, however, since businessmen are not well represented in the volume: undoubtedly many did not respond positively to an intense godly religion, though this point is significant in itself in discussions concerning dissent and business and the influence of particular religious beliefs. It should also be noted that the intended purpose of the testimonies undoubtedly dictated their preoccupation with religious matters. They were after all designed to record the spiritual state of the communicant. It is, therefore, not surprising that secular matters were largely ignored. Even so, on the rare occasions that worldly issues did surface it was because of the fear that they were crowding out religion.
None of the available evidence on personal convictions identifies any causal link between internalised religious attitudes and a dynamic entrepreneurial spirit as Weber claimed. Whilst the surviving testimonies and biographies confirm that the godly experienced a deep anxiety over salvation and the desire for conviction and assurance, there is nothing to support Weber's thesis that this sense of anxiety drove individuals by means of a 'psychological sanction' to ceaseless, systematic labour in order to obtain a sign of God's Grace, which only worldly success could provide. Indeed the evidence from the Great Meeting volume suggests the reverse: that individuals were concerned rather that their preoccupation with business and other matters would lead them to neglect their spiritual duties. Admittedly, the individuals giving testimonies may not be representative of the leading businessmen. Nonetheless, an examination of the best collection of seventeenth-century American testimonies led the editors to conclude that despite the wealth of some church members, no direct correlation between worldly estate and visible sainthood could be established.[51]
In the everyday world, it was the seriousness with which the godly took and applied otherwise orthodox doctrine to their own lives and experiences that distinguished them from ordinary churchgoers. In their anxiety to live out the gospels and find confirmation of their elect status they were encouraged to bring the affairs of the world under the rule of Christ and act out everyday life as part of their religious duties. It was not the internalisation of some psychological sanction which transformed their behaviour, but the determination to sanctify secular life as part of their inner striving for godliness.
Explanations for the level of involvement of dissenters in business therefore lie elsewhere[52]. Although past explanations of the economic success of dissenters have concentrated on the personal qualities of the individual, it is clear material factors were of great importance in determining success: capital was crucial both for entry into business and for later growth and development. Evidence for Leicester from the freemen records on the geographical origins of dissenters indicates that, in a period of considerable population mobility, a greater proportion of dissenters were from native families, or had long-term connections with the town, than was true of freemen in general[53]. Analysis of the town's top wealth-holders confirms the strength of the orthodox denominations amongst the leading families and, even more significantly, that they included the wealthiest individuals active in Leicester's trades and manufactures[54]. Because the family was the only realistic source of finance and business connections for most individuals, the social and economic structure of dissent, in particular Presbyterians, the wealthiest denomination, was significant.
v
The absence of any comparable collection of testimonies makes it difficult to draw more general conclusions about lay religious beliefs using the Great Meeting volume alone. In part the wider relevance of the findings will depend upon the successful identification of the individuals who gave the testimonies. It has already been suggested that since the collection contains few testimonies by the leading supporters and businessmen the majority must have been made by the humbler members of the congregation. Nonetheless, a total of 162 testimonies in a period of just under 15 years, clearly represents a high proportion of the Presbyterian membership of the congregation[55]. The significance of the volume is increased because the testimonies were made by Presbyterians, the most important but least studied of the main nonconformist denominations. Although the majority of the members could not compare with the trustees and leading supporters in wealth or status, the testimonies cannot be dismissed as having been made only by the poor. The proportion of men making testimonies who were freemen was noticeably greater than was true for the general population. They also do include some prominent businessmen.
The Great Meeting collection therefore allows a rare opportunity to discover the religious experiences and priorities of a group of ordinary men and women. The volume clearly establishes the influence of the minister and the importance of the sermon as the principal vehicle of instruction. Nevertheless, for preaching to be effective it is also clear individuals had to be already inclined to religion and willing to attend sermons. The testimonies indicate that communicants had from childhood been brought up to recognise sin and encouraged to seek practical godliness. If a godly upbringing provided the essential foundation, then regular catechising, as the evidence for the High Pavement Congregation at Nottingham demonstrates, was the main method of instructing the young in a formal understanding of religious faith. The testimonies also record the importance of family and friends, personal sufferings, and particular incidents in directing individuals to religion. Evidence for the significance of preaching comes not only from direct references to sermons in individual testimonies, but also from the overall transformation in the general character and content of the collection in response to a Presbyterian rather than a Congregational minister. Despite the undoubted significance of preaching, there is sufficient evidence to suggest the laity imposed their own often relatively unsophisticated interpretations in order to satisfy personal needs rather than ministerial expectations, and that they could, and did, exercise considerable independence in their response.
The volume also adds to our knowledge of individual beliefs and practices, and how they were tied to age, gender, education and social background. It is clear that such factors cannot be ignored. Women appear to have been more inclined to institutional forms of religion than men, and though the answers are not yet clear, one factor concerns the greater proportion of women amongst the elderly who make up a major part of the membership of any congregation. It is also clear that historians have in general ignored social differences in religious behaviour. Testimonies suggest a popular religious culture involving direct participation in religious exercises, like gadding to sermons and a regular attendance on communion, in contrast to the much more intellectually demanding private religion of the prosperous merchant or successful tradesman. The volume also challenges the common view of eighteenth-century life before the evangelical revival as one of apathy and stagnation. The Leicester collection shows that the concern for salvation had lost none of its evangelical intensity for one group of religious dissenters at least, and the individual testimonies record the considerable religious vitality and conscientious performance of religious duties that was expected. A number of studies of the Church of England have also challenged the prevailing orthodoxy[56]. There is also no evidence to support those who argue for a link between religious beliefs and economic success. On the contrary the evidence suggests that the godly were preoccupied with religious not worldly matters.
Although there are signs of a growing interest in lay religious beliefs and behaviour, the English evidence has been subjected to none of the detailed analysis and sophisticated interpretation found in an increasing number of American studies. In the United States puritanism has been studied as the main source of early American experience and thought, as a result the writings of the leading ministers have been the subject of intense investigation, both by historians and literary scholars, in an attempt to reconstruct the mental world of the people of early colonial America. The seventeenth century deserves its reputation as the most active and innovative field in American history. The level of research has reached a point where it has moved beyond the use of clerical sources alone, and the study of theology or church organisation, to examine religious beliefs and practices of the laity themselves. The most innovative research in Britain has been by social historians, following in particular the work of Keith Thomas and Christopher Hill. Their work has involved a fundamental questioning of the traditional stereotype of popular religious orthodoxy. Nonetheless the benefits of the new historical priorities for the study of religion have not been unqualified. While the broadening out from the traditional preoccupation with religious institutions, doctrine and the clergy is to be welcomed, the secular emphasis of the social sciences has led to the functional aspects of religion being stressed at the expense of its intrinsically religious character. Furthermore, most recent studies have concentrated on the radical sects during the 1640s and '50s, to the neglect of orthodox dissent, in particular the Presbyterians, who were the largest and most influential group. Professor Collinson in particular has challenged some of the results. He has complained that historians have sought to interpret the content of popular religion as magical rather than religious, so ignoring the unspectacular norms of everyday religion[57]. Historians still know virtually nothing about personal religious commitment or the particular appeal of individual denominations.
It is probable that no other collection of religious testimonies comparable with the Great Meeting volume exists. Nonetheless, detailed analysis of the surviving records of baptisms, admissions to communion and the overall pattern of membership, could provide valuable details about the character of religious practice and congregational life. Some periods clearly saw a rapid growth in members, others a decline. How long did individuals remain members? What proportion of losses were due to death or to resignation? The significance of institutional religion and regular weekly worship for ordinary individuals is still hard to assess. Dr Triffitt has suggested a model to explain the different levels of commitment found within individual congregations. He has identified an inner circle of committed members, centred around the vestry made up of the leading laymen and focused on the minister, located within a more casual outer congregation that met on Sundays for worship[58]. In explaining the level of commitment it will be necessary to consider the desire for preaching and the significance attached to the sacraments by individuals. With the answers to these questions it may be possible to come to more general conclusions about the state of religion in the early eighteenth century.
[1]The most celebrated study is K. Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century England (London, 1971). See also A. Macfarlane, The Family Life of Ralph Josselin, a Seventeenth-Century Clergyman: An Essay in Historical Anthropology (Cambridge, 1970).
[2]Leicestershire Record Office [hereafter LRO], Records of the Great Meeting Unitarian Chapel, Leicester, N/U/179/50, 'Declaration of Communicants', 1711-32/3. I am grateful to the Chairman and Vestry of the Great Meeting Unitarian Chapel for permission to use and quote from the volume.
[3][H. Walker], Spiritual Experiences of Sundry Believers (1652); J. Rogers, Obel or Beth-Shemesh, A Tabernacle for the Sun (1653). See J. H. Taylor, 'Some Seventeenth Century Testimonies', Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society, XVI (1949), pp.64-77; O. C. Watkins, The Puritan Experience (London, 1972); M. Watts, The Dissenters From the Reformation to the French Revolution (Oxford, 1978) pp.174-79; P. Caldwell, The Puritan Conversion Narrative: The Beginnings of American Expression (Cambridge, 1983). A further collection of testimonies concerned with the religious revival at Cambuslang in Scotland in 1742 has been analysed: see A. Fawcett, The Cambuslang Revival: The Scottish Evangelical Revival of the Eighteenth Century (London, 1971); T. C. Smout, 'Born Again at Cambuslang: New Evidence on Popular Religion and Literacy in Eighteenth-Century Scotland', Past and Present, No.97 (1982), pp.114-27.
[4]'Thomas Shepard's Confessions' (eds) G. Selement ' B. C. Wooley, Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts Collections, LVIII (1981); G. Selement, 'The Meeting of Elite and Popular Minds at Cambridge, New England, 1638-1645', William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. XLI (1984), pp.32-48; Caldwell, Puritan Conversion Narrative, passim; C. L. Cohn, God's Caress: The Psychology of Puritan Religious Experience (New York, 1986); D. D. Hall, Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (New York, 1989).
[5]I am grateful to Dr G. F. Nuttall for pointing out to me how exceptional it is that the testimonies were made by Presbyterians rather than Congregationals. Outwardly it would appear much more likely that the latter were responsible for the volume. Nonetheless, it is clear, both from the internal evidence of the volume itself and from other evidence, that Thomas Gee ministered to the Presbyterian part of the Meeting. The fact that the testimonies were made by Presbyterians adds greatly to the interest of the volume.
[6]N/U/179/50, p.2 (Samuel Statham, 22 Aug. 1711).
[7]Ibid., pp.52, 32.
[8]A few individuals gave a second testimony, e.g. Eliza Groce, pp.5, 113 (22 Aug. 1711, 4 May 1721), and Joseph Bentley, pp.11, 103 (2 Nov. 1711, 4 June 1720).
[9]The volume measures 148mm by 95mm, and was rebound early this century, probably in 1908 when the last history of the congregation was written. I am grateful to Dr K. M. Thompson, the former County Archivist, for her opinion on the dating of the present binding. The volume is unpaginated I have therefore supplied my own numbering.
[10]Passim. The Presbyterian minister at Pudsey kept a register where he recorded the dates each communicant was 'Discoursed, Proposed, Admitted' and first received communion, S. Rayner, 'A Chapter in the Ecclesiastical History of Pudsey', The Bradford Antiquary, I (1884), pp.127-8. Communicants belonging to the Presbyterian congregation in Nottingham appear to have been proposed and then admitted, usually between a month and six weeks later, see Nottingham University Library, Records of High Pavement Unitarian Chapel, Hi 2 M/1, Minute Book of the Nottingham Presbyterian Classis, 1654-1660 (also contains a list of the members of the congregation from 1691 to c.1732).
[11]N/U/179/50, e.g. pp.5, 15-16.
[12]e.g. pp.13, 17, 70, 73, 74, 102, 115.
[13]See pp.57, 60, 67, 70, 76, 82, 106, 114, 126.
[14]p.114. Quotation incomplete in the original.
[15]Gee's epitaph in St Mary de Castro Church describes him as 'per viginti fere annos pastoris docti seduli ' fidelis' when he died in 1729, see J. Nichols, History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester (London, 1815) I ii, p.315.
[16]D. L. Wykes, 'After the Happy Union: Presbyterians and Independents in the Provinces', Studies in Church History, 32 (1996), pp.291-92.
[17]A. H. Thomas, A History of the Great Meeting, Leicester (Leicester, 1908) pp. 31-36; Public Record Office [hereinafter PRO], Court of Chancery, C11/898/9, Bills ' Answers (15 Jan. 1718); LRO N/U/179/50, p.144 'Mr John Simpson Junr, Mr Poughfer, Mr Shears ' their sisters; all but Mr Simpson were wont to sit down with Mr Green', (1 Feb. 1729/30); 'Goodman Cradock who was joined with Mr Green', 'Alice Brown a Member with Mr Green' (1 Mar. 1729/30); 'Mrs Shipley ' her Daughter members with Mr Green' (10 May 1730).
[18]N/U/179/50, pp.97 ' 110. cf. pp.5 ' 13, 40 ' 48.
[19]Figures in the text refer to page numbers in the volume of testimonies.
[20]Cf. pp.70, 73, 74, 17, 102.
[21]'Thomas Shepard's Confessions', eds., Selement ' Woolley; Selement, 'Meeting of Elite ' Popular Minds', pp.32-48; D. D. Hall, 'Toward a History of Popular Religion in Early New England', William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. XLI (1984) pp.49-55.
[22]N/U/179/50, Mary Hammond, p.15 (22 Dec. 1711); Mary Hennel, p.47 (14 Aug. 1713); John Walton, p.57 (2 July 1714); Katherine Jackson, p.122 (29 Apr. 1722).
[23]Dr Watts has noted that the early Methodists were also from religious backgrounds, Watts, Dissenters, pp.422-3.
[24]G. F. Moran, 'Religious Renewal, Puritan Tribalism, and the Family in Seventeenth-Century Milford, Connecticut', William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. XXXVI (1979), pp.250ff; see A. Everitt, 'Dynasty and Community since the Seventeenth Century' in Landscape and Community in England (London, 1985) pp.309-30.
[25]See J. Demos, 'Development Perspectives on the History of Childhood', Journal of Interdisciplinary History, II (1971-72), pp.316-7.
[26]PRO, Court of Chancery, C110/19/[unnumbered], Masters' Exhibits, Elizabeth Drake, Leicester, to her eldest son Henry Hitchcock, an Oporto Merchant, 23 Jan. 1737/8.
[27]'The Autobiography of William Stout of Lancaster; 1665-1752', ed., J. D. Marshall, Chetham Society, 3rd ser. XIV (1967), pp.4, 75, 82-3.
[28]Nottingham University Library, Hi 2 M/1, Nottingham Classis Minute Book (contains the names of the recipients of Lord Wharton's bibles and catechisms, 1694-1706, 1718-22). For details of the distribution of Lord Wharton's gift, see Letters of addressed to Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S., Printed from the Originals in the Possession of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, ed., W. T. Lancaster (Thoresby Soc., xxi, 1912), pp. 25-6 (Lord Wharton to Ralph Thoresby, 9 Jun. 1693).
[29]Hi 2 M/1, 'Names of 20 children to whom catechisms sent down by Lord Wharton were (according to his directions ' instructions contained in a printed paper sent down) given forth', fos 94r, 97r.
[30]Ibid., fos 91r, 95v. Either Thomas Lye, The Assemblies shorter Catechism (1672; 2nd edn. 1674) or his An Explanation of the Shorter Catechism (1675; 6th edn. 1688); Joseph Allein, A Sure Guide to Heaven (1688; 5th edn. 1700)
[31] Hi 2 M/1, fo.94v. Cf. fo.95r, s.v. Hannah daughter of Thomas Herson: 'not getting her Catechism, now put in her room'.
[32]Dr Williams's Library, London, MS 12.62, typescript copy of 'William Bilby, Remarkable Passages in my Life; An Appendix to ye former Narrative Containing Some more remarkable Passages in my life in ye Several stages to which providence brought me', ch. 16, and s.v. Hinckley 1706 (Original in Nottingham Subscription Library, Angel Row, Nottingham); Cf. C. G. Bolam, 'Some Remarkable Passages in the Life of William Bilby (1664-1738) with an Appendix', Transactions Unitarian Historical Society, X (1952), pp.123-41.
[33]Hi 2 M/1, Minute Book, fo.97v.
[34]'Autobiography' in 'The Diary of James Clegg of Chapel en le Frith, 1708-55', ed., V. S. Doe, Derbyshire Record Society, V (1981), pp.908-9. Clegg was later to become a nonconformist minister in the Peak District.
[35]Neither Croft Pain nor Richard Bass were freemen. For Palmer, see R. H. Evans, 'Nonconformists in Leicestershire in 1669', Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society, XXV (1949) p.111.
[36]See D. L. Wykes, 'Religious Dissent and the Trade and Industry of Leicester, 1660-1720', unpublished Ph.D thesis (University of Leicester, 1987) pp.84, 114-18.
[37]C. D. Field, 'Adam and Eve: Gender in the English Free Church Constituency', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, XLIV (1993), pp.63-79.
[38]PRO, RG4/1587, Non-parochial Registers and Records, Register of Baptisms, High Pavement Chapel, Nottingham, 1690-1723, s.v. 3 Nov. 1707 (Roper), 31 Oct. 1701 (Wildbore). The minister of the congregation at Friargate, Derby, baptised a child in 1714 '(on the mother's engagement, in the Fathers ofence) at my own house', PRO RG4/5, Register of Baptisms, Friargate Chapel, Derby, 1698-1743, fo.23r.
[39]See above.
[40]N/U/179/50, p. 107. Cf. William Blakesly, p.119 (30 Dec. 1721), and Mary Chapman, p.4 (23 Aug. 1711).
[41]LRO, Leicester Archdeaconry Probate Court, Will/1732 Samuel Statham, Leicester, apothecary; for Statham, see D. L. Wykes, 'The Autobiographical Account of a Leicester Apothecary: Samuel Statham (c.1673-1732)', Leicestershire Historian, III, No.8 (1990), pp.6-16; Some Remarkable Passages in the Holy Life and Death of Gervase Disney Esq. (1692); 'Memoirs of the Life of Mr Ambrose Barnes', ed., W. H. D. Longstaffe, Surtees Society for the Year 1866, L (1867); [John Whitlock], A Funeral Sermon Upon the Death of Mr Joseph Barrett (London, 1699); The Remains of Mr Joseph Barrett (London, 1700); The Diary of Ralph Thoresby, FRS, ed., J. Hunter (London, 1830) I ' II.
[42]For a rare personal account of this popular godly culture within orthodox dissent, see The Diary of Roger Lowe of Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire, 1663-74, ed., W. L. Sache (New Haven, 1938), passim. Lowe's religion has been described as 'over-emotional', v. R. C. Latham, 'Roger Lowe, Shopkeeper and Nonconformist', History, new ser. XXVI (1941-42), p.32.
[43]Diary of Ralph Thoresby, ed., Hunter, I, pp.129, 169. For the mixed nature of nonconformist congregations during the period under persecution, see G. F. Nuttall, 'Dissenting Churches in Kent before 1700', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, XIV (1963) p.177.
[44]P. S. Seaver, Wallington's World: A Puritan Artisan in Seventeenth-Century London (London 1985).
[45]The manuscript diary of the London Presbyterian merchant, Daniel Radford, was likewise only an account of his spiritual experiences. As a result few details of personal and family interest were included, and in 52 years only one reference was made to a public event, an earthquake, and then it was because it was intended to show the workings of God's providential nature. University College London Library, Sharpe Papers/2, Manuscript Diary of Daniel Radford, 1715-67; P. W. Clayden, The Early Life of Samuel Rogers (London, 1887) p.3.
[46]Weber's essay, originally published in two parts between 1904 and 1905, was translated from the German by Talcott Parsons as The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Captitalism (London, 1930).
[47]For a good survey of the inconsistencies in Weber's argument, see F. Parkin, Key Sociologists: Max Weber (Chichester, London ' New York, 1982) Ch.2.
[48]Cohn, God's Caress, pp.112-33; D. Zaret, The Heavenly Contract: Ideology and Organisation in Pre-Revolutionary Puritanism (Chicago ' London, 1985).
[49]N/U/179/50, pp. 20-21 (8 May 1712), Register of the Freemen of Leicester, 1196-1770, ed., H. Hartopp (Leicester, 1927), I, p. 225. Cf. John Cowdell, pp.88-9 (6 Sept. 1718); Rebekah Cook, p.17 (11 Feb. 1711/2); Frances Ward, p.12 (2 Nov. 1711).
[50]Ibid., p.55. Cf. Elizabeth Carver, p.79 (20 Aug. 1717).
[51]'Shepherd's Confessions', eds., Selement and Woolley, p.4.
[52]For a discussion, see D. L. Wykes, 'Religious Dissent and the Penal Laws: An Explantion of Business Success?', History, LXXV (1990) pp.39-62, esp. pp.61-2.
[53]Wykes, 'Religious Dissent', pp.218-27.
[54]Wykes, 'Religious Dissent', pp.231-44.
[55]The Evans List recorded 580 hearers for the joint congregation of Presbyterians and Independents at Leicester in 1715, which appears to have included children (perhaps two-fifths of the total) as well as an unknown proportion of individuals who were not communicant members. A plan (now missing) of the rival support for the two ministers made as part of the arbitration agreement in 1716, showed that 22 of the pew sittings supported Gee, 10 his Congregationalist rival, and 5 were divided. Presbyterians, therefore, formed about two-thirds of the Congregation, of which perhaps three-fifths were old enough to be communicants. Thus the 162 testimonies represent about 70 per cent. of the eligible part of the Presbyterian membership, without allowing for those individuals who were only hearers, or accounting for the turnover in the membership of the congregation during the period. Dr Williams's Library, MS 38.4, 'John Evans List', p.64; Watts, Dissenters, pp.492-3.
[56]F. C. Mather, 'Georgian Churchmanship Reconsidered: Some Variations in Anglican Public Worship, 1714-1830', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, XXXVI (1985) pp.255-83; W. M. Marshall, 'Episcopal Activity in the Hereford and Oxford Dioceses, 1660-1760', Midland History, VIII (1983) pp.106-20.
[57]P. Collinson, The Religion of Protestants (Oxford, 1982) pp.191-2.
[58]J. M. Triffitt, 'Believing and Belonging: Church behaviour in Plymouth and Dartmouth, 1710-30' in Parish, Church and People, ed., Wright, pp.182-4.