Histor Harding 4-12-48 62673 PREFACE. THIS, though a Sectional, will not, it is hoped, be found a Sectarian history. Written, no doubt, under deep and slowlyformed convictions which the Author has not been careful to conceal, he has made every effort not to allow these to warp his judgment or embitter his style. The Book has been prepared at the request of the Presbyterian Church of England's Law and Historical Documents Committee, over which the late Professor Leone Levi so long presided; but the Author alone is responsible for everything about the work, except the financial arrangements, of which he has been generously and entirely relieved. That such unexpectedly large numbers of copies should have been subscribed for on special terms, seems to indicate a widespread and public-spirited interest on the subject in many quarters, and gives reason for indulging the hope that the book may help to supply a felt need. No one is more aware than the writer himself of the many possible shortcomings which may attach to his labours; but he has not been insensible to the honour done him by his brethren, nor to the obligations laid on him to meet it. Intelligent and discriminating readers will speedily find, that while some portions of the work have required a considerable amount of research, other parts have been compiled from a variety of more or less easily accessible sources, to which attention is called in their proper place. Having to travel over the smouldering ashes of controversies still far from extinct, the Author has tried not unduly to stir their embers; but his plan has necessitated numerous references and quotations, besides bibliographic and other allusions, in what some may deem an excessively large apparatus of footnotes. He is content to have erred on this side, rather than on the score of meagreness in citing authorities. Unvarying courtesy and kindness on the part of Librarians and official Correspondents have greatly facilitated the writer in his work; and while not forgetful of the services of many other kind friends and brethren, he has special reason for thanking William Carruthers, Esq., F.R.S., of the British Museum, the Rev. A. B. Grosart, D.D., LL.D., and J. G. Smieton, Esq., M.A., of the Presbyterian College. He has also to express his sense of obligation to James Robertson, Esq., of Nisbet & Co., and to the Religious Tract Society, through the Rev. John Kelly, M.A., for so readily granting permission to use some previous articles and biographies of his, the copyright of which belongs to them. His brother, the Rev. George Drysdale, formerly of Crouch Hill Church, has been good enough to read the proofs in passing through the press. THE MANSE, MORPETH, May, 1889. The Presbyterians in England: their Rise, Decline, and Revival. CONTENTS. II. Entroduction. I. Development of a Presbyterian Party, 1562-1569 First Enforcement of Uniformity, and its Results. The Early Seceding Presbyterian Puritans, 1566-1567 III. An Early Presbyterianizing Experiment, 1571. IV. Parliament and the First Presbyterian Manifesto, 1572 V. The First Presbytery of Wandsworth, 1572 The Nature of the Controversy Some of the More Prominent Presbyterian Clergy PAGE Growth and Increase of the " Classes," with the Early The Great Directory, or Book of Discipline, 1583 Appendix.-Presbyterianism Established under Elizabeth in Jersey I. Suppression of the Prophesyings, 1577-1582 II. The Great Struggle, Beginning in 1583 Whitgift's Measures and Machinery The Great Struggle in and out of Parliament III. The Mar-Prelate Controversy, 1588-1590 . IV. John Udall, the Presbyterian Martyr, 1592 V. Further Struggles, Parliamentary, Ecclesiastical, and Literary, I. Hampton Court Conference, and the Harryings, 1603–1625 |