A HISTORY OF LONDON secretly established.' About 1583 a 'form of discipline' was compiled, and an assembly held either at London or Cambridge, at which decrees were made concerning its establishment. The scheme was that men called to the ministry by any church should impart the fact to ' that Classis or conference ' to which they belonged, and that the Classis should commend them to the bishop for ordination. Churchwardens, it was thought, might be turned into elders, and collectors for the poor into deacons." In 1584 the London 'brethren . . . grew more violent, and prepared themselves to proceed more resolutely.' Both in Parliament and at the great conference at Lambeth between the representatives of the Church and those of the Puritan party, they expressed their opinions and wishes with much clearness and force. It appears from certain letters to Field and Charke, two leaders of the Presby- terian party, that ' there was a national synod held ... in London by these brethren ' during this Parliament, attended by representatives from the coun- try.'* Another synod was held there in 1587, and in 1591 it was stated by Mr. Snape that there were three or four small Classes of ministers in every shire where there were any learned preachers, and that these Classes sent the results of their debates to a greater assembly held in London at the time of Bartholomew Fair. Meetings, controlled by Moderators, were held in different houses in London. In 1590, these doings having come to the ears of the authorities, Cartwright and various other ringleaders were examined and imprisoned for a short time. The ' brethren' objected strongly to the use of the Prayer-book form of worship in church. Instead of it they proposed that ' the preacher should appoint a psalm to be sung ; then a short admonition should be made to the congregation, how they shall prepare themselves to pray ' ; then a prayer, followed by the Lord's Prayer ; a sermon, another prayer, a psalm, and a blessing taken from the Scriptures. Those of them who were obliged to read prayers themselves in their churches used a part of the Prayer-book service and then proceeded as above. Others who could afford to do so employed ' a Parliament minister ' (i.e. one who loyally conformed) to read service for them ; whilst those who were merely acting as lecturers in other men's churches absented themselves as far as possible till the service was almost over, on the plea of studying their sermons.'* They frequently used the expression ' the Church of London,' which they explained as meaning some- times the ministers of the Classes, but more usually those laymen as well as clergy who joined with them in their desire to establish Presbyterianism. Those Londoners who were of this way of thinking rarely worshipped at their parish churches except so far as was necessary to avoid the legal penalties for non-attendance, nor did they consider their parish priest as their true pastor unless he were ' one of the brethren ministers ... or very effectually inclining that way.° Meanwhile, besides these nominally conforming Puritans there were a number of Protestant Nonconformists who began very early in their history to be divided into sects. The tenets of the Anabaptists, against whom a proclamation was issued in September 1560, appear to have come originally " B.M. Tracts, 775 (3), pp. 43-7. "Ibid. 74-5. "Ibid. 77, 85-91. " Ibid. 103. Ibid. 122-4. 312
