ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



not, hid from observers whether the communicants received kneeHng or 

 sitting. The following is an example of the actual wording of this detailed 

 report : — 



The pavement of the church is uneven in most places and broken in divers places, most 

 part of it of rough stone, a great deale of it fitter for the gripp of a cowhouse than the house 



of God The crosse which was upon the east end of the chancell is broken down, 



and instead thereof the towne's armes are sette up, as if it were towne's church and not 



Christ's.! 



On 28 October, Thomas Ball, vicar of All Saints', was cited before the 

 visitors, when he was formally enjoined to observe all the rites of the Church 

 of England, and specially ' not to come out of the Cancellinge (railing) to 

 deliver the communion to any factious person.' The churchwardens were at 

 the same time admonished to rail in the communion table and affix a kneeling 

 bench to the same, together with divers other injunctions. The wardens 

 neglected to obey, and, after the three formal warnings necessary in 

 ecclesiastical law, were excommunicated on 12 January, 1637-8, In the 

 following month the excommunicated wardens petitioned Archbishop Laud, 

 making various excuses for their delay. The matter was referred to Sir John 

 Lambe, as dean of Arches, and on promise of amendment the petitioners were 

 absolved. The chancel rails were duly erected, but they were not suffered 

 long to remain, for from letters addressed to the dean of Arches in the 

 following June, we find that they had been cut to pieces and the holy table 

 brought back into the nave, the alternative position under the rubric which 

 the Puritans preferred. The Domestic State Papers at the Public Record 

 Office and other documents show that there was somewhat similar conduct 

 at Towcester, Daventry, and a few other places in the county, but the instance 

 of All Saints' must suffice as a striking example.'' 



There still remain in a few of the Northamptonshire village churches 

 the Laudian altar-rails, as witnesses that the archbishop's rule for the 

 accessories of sacramental worship were at all events not resented in some of 

 the country districts.' For every set that remains, it is safe to say that 

 the restorations of the last half century have cleared away at least half a 

 dozen. 



With the meeting of the Long Parliament in 1640 the tide turned in 

 favour of the Puritans, but the more ardent Protestants, conceiving that 

 religious changes were not proceeding at a sufficient pace nor always in 

 the direction they wished, held a meeting on 21 January, 164 1—2, at the 

 * Swan,' Northampton, of ' knights and gentlemen and freeholders of the 

 county,' to draw up a petition to the House of Commons, which was pre- 

 sented on 8 February. The petition, which is of some length, opens with 

 warm praise of the general action of Parliament and of 'the justice done 

 upon delinquents,' and then proceeds to state that they had been encouraged 

 to expect ' a perfect reformation in religion.' But to their great grief, their 

 expectations had been disappointed through the actions of the malignants 

 and particularly ' the voting of Popish Lords and Bishops in the House of 

 Peers.' They proceeded to ask, amid divers other requests, that the votes of 



' This report, and other consequent documents, are given in extenso in Rec. of the Borough of Northampt. 



", 39'. 397- 



' Scrjeantson, Hist, of the Church of All Saints, Northampt. cap. ix. and x. 

 ' Creaton, Duddington, and Gretton may be mentioned. 



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