MINUTE BOOK OF THE WIRKSWORTH CLASSIS. 153 



Mr. Rob" Port' Pastor of the Church at Pentridge, being this day Moderator, 

 began with prayer. 



M r Anthony Wood this day preached his approbation sermon , & his paines 

 were approved. 



Mr. Wood {in referrence to his ordinacon and according to this Classis 

 form' ord r ) pduced two Certificates, one from the neighbouring minist" 

 conc'ning his ministerial] abilities and godlie conversacon ; the other from the 

 pshioners of Addenborough conc r ning his Tytle there, they certifying their 

 choice of him to be their Minist'. Both which Certificates were approved by 

 the Classis. 



Hee also gave Testimony of the Grace of God in him of his inward call to 

 & right ende in undertaking the Ministerie of his competent skill in the 

 originall tongues & Arts : & likewise in Divinitie : All which were well 

 app'ved by the Classis ; And so had this Thesis given, viz. : Utrum ordinatio 

 ministrorum sit necessaria, w ch Thesis he was ordered to bring with him to the 

 Classis at their next sitting. 



Ordered that Thursday, the 19th of Febuarie next be set apte for ye 

 Ordination of M r Hieron and M r Wood, w ch day is also ordered to be the 

 Classicall day ; and ordered that Mr. John Otefield preach the said ordination 

 day ; and M r Watkinson make the exhortation to those that are to be ordained, 

 & demand the Questions required to be demanded of all such as are to be 

 ordained by the Ordinance of Parliamt for Ordinacon of Ministers, August 28, 

 1646, and lastly to end with prayer. 



Ordered that Mr. John Hieron's* request be granted, viz'., that y e next 

 Classicall Fast be kept att Bredsall, & M r Watkinson & Mr. Porter there to 

 preach. 



used to be a gravestone to his memory in the centre of the chancel of S. Win- 

 field Church ; on which was inscribed : — " Here lieth the body of Mr. Peter 

 Coles, late Vicar of South Wingfield, who departed this life the 26 th of 

 January, 1675, being 81 years of age." This inscription we fortunately copied 

 in 1873, for we greatly regret to say that a careless builder, acting under care- 

 less instructions, buried this and other slabs beneath a mass of concrete. This 

 was effected in 1S77, when the east end of the chancel was raised by the im- 

 propriator of the rectorial tithes. 



t Peter Watkinson was appointed minister of Kirk Ireton in 1647. 

 In 1653, as we shall subsequently sse, he was invited to the pastorate of 

 Chesterfield, but eventually refused it, after the matter was submitted to the 

 Classis. In 1660, on the death of Martin Topham, he succeeded to the 

 Church of Wirksworth, but only held it for two years. 



J One William Jessopp was minister of Beighton, Derbyshire, during the 

 Commonwealth ; probably this elder was a relative. 



* John Hieron's life was written by Robert Porter, the minister of Pentrich. 

 It is a quaint production and thus opens : — "Mr. John Hieron was a Prophet 

 and the son of a Prophet." He was educated at Repton and Christ College, 

 Cambridge. He was ordained at Lichfield in 1630, and soon after held the 

 Ashbourn Lectureship. In 1644, he was appointed to the living of Breadsall, 

 and served there till his ejection in 1662. He died at Loscoe in 1682, 



