148 MINUTE BOOK OF THE WIRKSWORTH CLASSIS. 



byterians, they formed its backbone, and nobles, barons, and gen- 

 tlemen vied with one another in gathering round the blue banner 

 of the Covenant. The laity were with the Presbytery in Scotland, 

 and in Scotland it became the established faith. But in England 

 the laity held more and more aloof; the various grades of Presby- 

 terian assemblies were left to doctors and divines ; they dealt more 

 with books than business; and at last, as has been well remarked, 

 their Classical gatherings " dwindled into little more than clerical 

 meetings for prayer and consultation." 



Many other points of interest will be noticed as referred to in 

 the Wirksworth Minute Book — such as the administration of the 

 Lord's Supper to non-parishioners, the appointing a day of 

 humiliation on account of the prevalence of " feavers and other 

 sicknesses in divers places within this Chassis," the subscribing for 

 the relief of the widows and orphans of ministers, the marriage of 

 cousins-german, the scandalous lives of elders, etc., etc. — but as 

 brief notes will be given of any matters requiring explanation in 

 the places where they occur, they need not here be more than 

 mentioned. 



The Wirksworth Classis met, as a rule, for its regular 

 " Classicall meeting," once a month.* Wirksworth was almost 

 always the place of assembling, but on three occasions they met 

 elsewhere, viz., once at Ashbourn, once at Crich, and once at 

 Kniveton. These exceptional places of meeting were in each 

 case determined on, when an ordination was to be held in the 

 church of that place on the same day. 



The Directory, whilst ridiculing the observance of special 

 seasons and Saints' Days, and forbidding any notice of them as 

 matters of man's invention, most inconsistently decreed the ob- 

 servance of a monthly fast.t This monthly solemnity seems to 



* The congregational or parochial Presbytery met once a week. 



+ The Directory lays down that a Religious Fast requires total abstinence 

 not only from all food (unless bodily weaknesse do manifestly disable of our 

 holding out till the Fast be ended . . . . ) but from all bodily delights, rich 

 apparell, ornaments, and such like. 



The Presbyterians were also most rigid about fasting in connection with 

 ordination. Both the ordaining Presbytery and the candidates strictly fasted 

 until after the conclusion of the service. By some it was even argued that 

 any breach of this rule was sufficient to invalidate the ceremony. 



