Freedom after Ejection. Edited by Alexander Gordon. (Long- mans and
Co. and Manchester University Press. 15s. net.)—In this book is printed for the first time a review of the Presbyterian and Congregational Nonconformist congregations in England and Wales just after the Revolution, from a manuscript lately found in the archives of the Presbyterian Board of London. The survey was made between 1690 and 1892, for the purposes of the Fund estab- lished in 1890 to assist poor ministers and students for the ininietry. It is obviously a document of the first importance for the history of
Nonconformity, and Mr. Gordon has edited it with the scrupulous rare and exactitude that characterize all his work. The survey names 759 ministers, of whom 2l8 had no competent mean. of support, while 133 had no settled charges. Of these, 380 had boon expelled from their livings or fellowships on St. Bartholomew's Day, 1602, and aro therefore described by the editor as " Barthel° ineeans " ; they were the survivors of a company originally 2,500 strong, according to Mr. Gordon. The list of 1090.92, though sur- prisingly long, is incomplete. Mr. Gordon has supplied in on appendix condensed biographies of all the ministers and students named, with notes, under placomantes, on the ejected clergy. This annotated index must have cost hint infinite labour, but will be invaluable for reference. It L. a sad reminder of °menden'. fatal Act which drove out of the National Church so many able and pious men.
Previous page
