^{Page No 289 Note 1} See The Exeter Assembly: the minutes of the assemblies of the United Brethren of Devon and Cornwall, 1691-1717, as transcribed by the Reverend Isaac Gilling, edited with an introduction by Allan Brockett (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, new series, vol. 6), Torquay 1963 [hereafter Brockett]; see also Priestley Paine, Record of the United Brethren of Devon and Cornwall, Manchester [1899]; and Allan Brockett, Nonconformity in Exeter 1650-1875, Manchester 1962, index, and for the whereabouts of the unpublished minutes, Appendix C.

^{Page No 290 Note 1} Brockett, 2, 3, 5, 37.

^{Page No 290 Note 2} In 1691 and 1692 the Assembly met three times.

^{Page No 290 Note 3} Brockett, 28.

^{Page No 290 Note 4} Brockett, 6.

^{Page No 290 Note 5} Cf. Brockett, 53.

^{Page No 291 Note 1} For Towgood and others mentioned in the text of the first part of this paper for whom no further reference is given, see Freedom after Ejection, ed. Gordon, Alexander, Manchester 1917, and/or Calamy Revised, ed. Matthews, A. G., Oxford 1934 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 291 Note 2} Brockett, 42.

^{Page No 291 Note 3} Cf. Samuel Stoddon, The Pastor’s Charge and the People’s Duty, 1693; John Enty, The Ministry Secur’d from Contempt, 1707; James Peirce, An Useful Ministry a Valid one, 1714; William Bartlet, Barnabas’s Character and Success, 1716; Benjamin Wills, Ministers set for the Defence of the Gospel, 1720. For information concerning the preacher and his text at the meeting at Exeter on 4 May 1692, at a point where for two consecutive meetings the pages of the transcript of the minutes are left blank (Brockett, 13), see Edmund Calamy, Continuation of the Account, 1727, 217.

^{Page No 291 Note 4} Brockett, 25, 52, 54, 1, 62, 93. For Calamy’s description of his visit, and of the sermon which despite ‘some demur’ (Brockett, 92) he preached and at the Assembly’s request published as The Prudence of the Serpent and Innocence of the Dove (1713), see his Historical Account of my own Life, ed. J. T. Rutt, 2nd ed., 1830, 11, 264-5.

^{Page No 292 Note 1} Brockett, 47, 77, 17, 86. For reference to the Exeter Assembly by the minister disturbed, and for letters to him (translated by him into Welsh) from William Peard, Barnstaple, 7 August 1711, and from Jacob Bailies and William Bartlett, Bideford, 9 August 1711, members of the Assembly who were not present at its meeting in September 1711, see Jeremy Owen, Golwg ar y Beiau (1732-3),ed. R. T. Jenkins, Caerdydd 1950, 58, 60; and for elucidation of the disturbance, Cf. my ‘ Northamptonshire and The Modern Question: a turning-point in eighteenth-century dissent’, in JTS, new series, xvi. 1, 109 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 292 Note 2} Brockett, 53, 75, 40.

^{Page No 292 Note 3} Brockett, 29.

^{Page No 293 Note 1} Ashwood stated in his defence ‘That the neighbouring Ministers particularly Mr John Pinney had been sent to & desir’d to assist at the Ordination but came not’ (Brockett, 29-30); for this invitation to Pinney, dated 10 June 1696 and signed by eleven members of the Bridport congregation, which is preserved in the Pinney family papers, see my Letters of John Pinney 1679-1699, 1939, 95-7, as Letter 55.

^{Page No 293 Note 2} Ashwood had been ordained at ‘Excester’ (Thomas Reynolds, Sermon preach’d on the death of.. John Ashwood, 1707, 65), where he succeeded Lewis Stucley (d. 1687) as minister of Castle Lane Congregational church; unfortunately this church possesses ‘no surviving records’ (Brockett, Nonconformity in Exeter, 58).

^{Page No 293 Note 3} Brockett, 30, 38. Towgood had been ordained in ‘6th moneth’ 1679 as minister of the Axminster Congregational church by Henry Butler of Yeovil, Robert Bartlet of Compton, Dorset, and Richard Down of Bridport, all three being Independents: Cf. [Matthew Towgood] [Axminster 1874], Ecclesiastica, or a Book of Remembrance, 61.

^{Page No 293 Note 4} Brockett, 35-6. The phrase in this letter, dated ‘9bri 30, 1696’, ‘I wish there were more of your spirit to be found among those that are well-willers to these Mathematicks’, indicates that its writer, Isaac Gilling, had been reading the words of John Owen when returning to Richard Baxter papers on ‘ our common Concord’, ‘I am still a well-wisher to those Mathematicks’, as stated by Baxter in his autobiography, then newly published: Cf. Reliquiae Baxterianae, ed. M. Sylvester, 1696 (preface, 13 May), Part 111, p. 69, sect. 145.

^{Page No 294 Note 1} Brockett, Nonconformity in Exeter, 65.

^{Page No 294 Note 2} E.g. John Berry (d. 1704) and Richard Saunders (d. 1694). Other members of the Exeter Assembly who had been members of the Devon Association were William Crompton (d. 1696), Robert Gaylard(d. 1697), Edward Hunt (d. 1695), and Michael Taylor (d. 1705). Another, who also served as Moderator, Samuel Tapper (d. 1709), had been a member of the Cornish Association.

^{Page No 294 Note 3} See Devon, Association Transactions, ix (1877), 279-88Google Scholar.

^{Page No 294 Note 4} Dr Williams’s Library, Quick MSS, 1.2.965; William Yeo of Wolborough is the only one of the other ministers who is named. In 1687, shortly after James II’s Declaration of Indulgence, three other members of the Assembly, Benjamin Hooper, George Mortimer, who had been a member of the earlier Association, and George Trosse, who often served as Moderator of the Assembly, had similarly taken part in an ordination (Brockett, App. A2).

^{Page No 294 Note 5} Calamy Revised, 200, from Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Letters, 109.33.

^{Page No 295 Note 1} Flavell, John, ‘The Character of a Compleat Evangelical Pastor’, in Works, 2nd ed. 1716, 11, 749 Google Scholar. For the identification of this with the sermon which he had prepared for preaching to a Provincial Assembly at Taunton following the meeting of the Exeter Assembly at which he was Moderator, see Quick MSS 1.2.968.

^{Page No 295 Note 2} For this, Cf. From Uniformity to Unity 1662-1962, ed. G. F. Nuttall and Owen Chadwick, 1962, 172-3.

^{Page No 295 Note 3} For the Cornish Association, see Chetham Society, new series, xli, 175-88.

^{Page No 295 Note 4} Brockett, 26.

^{Page No 295 Note 5} There is evidence in some of the published sermons that laymen were present when they were preached.

^{Page No 296 Note 1} In 1711 a testator instructed his executrix to ‘ crave and follow the directions and advice of the Assembly of the Presbyterian Ministers that usually meet twice a year at Exon’; Brockett, 82.

^{Page No 296 Note 2} Brockett, 117.

^{Page No 296 Note 3} For the names of subscribers and non-subscribers, see Powicke, F. J., ‘Arianism and the Exeter Assembly’, in Congregational Hist. Soc. Trans., vii (1916-18), 34–43 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 296 Note 4} Alexander Gordon, in DNB, s.v. Thomas Bradbury.

^{Page No 296 Note 5} JEH, iv. 2.

^{Page No 296 Note 6} See Roger Thomas, ‘The Break-up of Nonconformity ’ in G. F. Nuttall and others, The Beginnings of Nonconformity, 1964, 33-60.

^{Page No 296 Note 7} Brockett, 4.

^{Page No 297 Note 1} Brockett, 13, 16, 60.

^{Page No 297 Note 2} Freedom after Ejection, ed. Gordon, Alexander, Manchester 1917, 47 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 297 Note 3} For their names, see Dr Williams’s Library, Jollie MSS (Cf. [Roger Thomas], Thomas Jollie’s Papers, DWL Occasional Paper no. 3, [1956]), 12. 78.39, pr. by Roger Thomas, An Essay of Accommodation, DWL Occasional Paper no. 6, 1957 12 with identifications in n. 13; ‘Will. Sloan, of Dorsetshire’ died in 1716 as minister at Salisbury (DWL. Evans MS, 123).

^{Page No 298 Note 1} Edmund Calamy, Continuation of the Account, 1727, 412.

^{Page No 298 Note 2} Ibid. 431. This is the same Robert Bartlet as that mentioned above, p. 293, n. 3.

^{Page No 299 Note 1} DWL MSS, 12.78.38. Somerset consisted of a Western and an Eastern Division; in September 1691 a Provincial Assembly attended by only two delegates from the Eastern Division ‘resolv’d that they acquaint the Brethren of that Division that this Assembly is not well pleas’d that no more of them came hither, & that they desire more of them to attend such General Meetings, or greater Associations’ (Brockett, 8).

^{Page No 299 Note 2} DWL MSS, 12.78.39 and 57. That the Somerset Association continued for some years is evident from the appearance of its fraternal delegates in the Exeter Assembly; from a reference to its meeting in 1711 at ‘Siepton Malet’ [Shepton Mallet] (Jeremy Owen, Golwg at y Beiau, 58); and from sermons preached before it at Taunton by John Bowden, Sermon, 1714, and by John Davisson, A Vindication of the Protestant Ministers Mission, 1720. On 27 May 1708 Isaac Gilling preached before an Assembly of ministers from Somerset and Devon a sermon entitled The Qualifications and Duties of Ministers (Exeter 1708); this occasion is not noticed in his transcript of the Exeter Assembly’s minutes.

^{Page No 299 Note 3} For Higgs’s will, see Jones, R.T., ‘Anghydffurfwyr Cymru, 1660-1662’, in Y Cofiadur, xxxi (1962), 32-3Google Scholar.

^{Page No 300 Note 1} Brockett, 66, 68.

^{Page No 300 Note 2} Edmund Calamy, Continuation of the Account, 1727, 500.

^{Page No 300 Note 3} It precedes his funeral sermon by I[saac] N[oble] in the composite volume en titled Pastoral Instruction, 1713.

^{Page No 300 Note 4} Brockett, 19-21; DWL MSS, 12.78.52; Chetham Society, new series, xxiv, 352.

^{Page No 300 Note 5} For a transcript of the Minutes of eight meetings (1719-22) of the Warrington Division, made in 1888 from a manuscript at Renshaw Street (now Ullet Road) Unitarian Church, Liverpool, see DWL MSS 38.56. Cf. Chetham Society, n.s., xxxiii, 106-15.

^{Page No 300 Note 6} DWL MSS, 12.78.40, 58, 10.

^{Page No 301 Note 1} Chetham Society, new series, xxiv, 349-64.

^{Page No 301 Note 2} Cf. Joseph Hunter, The Rise of the Old Dissent, 1842, 373-5, from Heywood’s manuscripts.

^{Page No 301 Note 3} Cf. DWL MSS, 12.78.8b.

^{Page No 301 Note 4} DWL MSS, 12.78.37, Cf. 57. Noble was also in correspondence with Wales: for a letter of 28 July 1711 from him and his colleague George Fownes (here misprinted Townes), translated into Welsh, see Jeremy Owen, Golwg ar y Beiau, 59-60.

^{Page No 301 Note 5} Cheshire Classis Minutes 1691-1745, ed. Alexander Gordon, 1919, 178, 126.

^{Page No 302 Note 1} For four ministers with this double membership, ibid. 143.

^{Page No 302 Note 2} DWL MSS, 12.78.13. On 18 February 1677/8 Jollie wrote to Increase Mather, ‘ Wee kept up our Association-meetings for some time at two severall seasons, viz. before the change [i.e. 1660] and since, but it’s now a long while since I could gett a meeting of the churches in these northern parts’: Massachusetts Hist. Soc. Collections, 4th series, viii, 321.

^{Page No 302 Note 3} DWL MSS, 12.78.1. Cf. Chetham Society, n.s. xxxiii, 129. Gordon remarks that in Cheshire in 1691 Matthew Henry’s ‘Chester flock was.. .the only one in the county distinctively Presbyterian’: Cheshire Classis, 122-3.

^{Page No 302 Note 4} Much assistance may be gained from Early Nonconformity 1566-1800: a catalogue of books in Dr Williams’s Library, London, Boston, Mass.: Hall, G.K., 1968 Google Scholar, Subject Catalogue, s.vv. Associations and United Ministers.

^{Page No 303 Note 1} For a reference in 1752 to ‘the friendly association of the two counties’, see James Daye, The Christian’s Service, Compleated with Honour, [1752], 19, and n.*.

^{Page No 303 Note 2} Since 1826 the Lancashire & Cheshire Assembly has admitted laymen to membership.

^{Page No 304 Note 1} Baptist Annual Register, ed. John Rippon, 1 (1794), following p. 16. For Francis, see Dict, of Welsh Biography (1959).

^{Page No 304 Note 2} Ibid. 1, 56.

^{Page No 305 Note 1} See J. G. Fuller, Brief History of the Western Association, Bristol 1845; Baptist Bibliography, ed. W. T. Whitley, 1916, 1, 171, item 21-752. For its earlier history, see my ‘The Baptist Western Association, 1653-1658’, in JEH, xi. 2, 213-18Google Scholar; Cf. also White, B. R., ‘The Organisation of the Particular Baptists, 1644-1660’, ibid. xvii. 2, 209-26Google Scholar.

^{Page No 305 Note 2} W. T. Whitley, Baptist Association Life in Worcestershire, 1613-1926, Worcester 1926, 6-7.

^{Page No 305 Note 3} Whitley, W. T., ‘Association Life till 1815’, in Baptist Hist. Soc. Trans., v (1916-17), 29 Google Scholar.

^{Page No 305 Note 4} A. C. Underwood, History of the English Baptists, 1947, 172.

^{Page No 305 Note 5} See T. S. H. Elwyn, The Northamptonshire Baptist Association, 1964.

^{Page No 305 Note 6} Cf. Baptist Annual Register, 1. 62.

^{Page No 305 Note 7} W. T. Whitley, ‘Association Life till 1815’, 31. For Wales, see Joshua Thomas, History of the Baptist Association in Wales, 1650-1790, 1795; and app. 3 to the enlarged English translation of Hanes y Bedyddwyr by Thomas preserved in manuscript at Bristol Baptist College.

^{Page No 305 Note 8} Cf. Baptist Annual Register, 1,199, 419; for Carey’s ordination, 519; for the formation of the missionary society, 375; for Carey’s engaging to go to India, 485.

^{Page No 305 Note 9} Cf. E. A. Payne, The Prayer Call of 1784, 1941.

^{Page No 306 Note 1} Cf. Baptist Annual Register, 1, 531.

^{Page No 306 Note 2} Ibid. 206.

^{Page No 306 Note 3} For this, see John Brown and David Prothero, History of the Bedfordshire Union of Christians, 1946.

^{Page No 306 Note 4} See R. T.Jones, Congregationalism in England 1662-1962, 1962, 175, with n. 2; and for the Derbys. & Notts. Association, Maurice Phillips, Family Instruction, Doncaster 1799.

^{Page No 306 Note 5} Evangelical Magazine, 1797, 117-18.

^{Page No 306 Note 6} See W. T.|Owen, Edward Williams, D.D. 1730-1813, Cardiff 1963.

^{Page No 307 Note 1} Edward Williams, Christian Unanimity Recommended, 1808, 13-14; E. A. Payne, The Baptist Union: a short history, 1958, 24-5.

^{Page No 307 Note 2} See Albert Peel, These Hundred Years: a history of the Congregational Union, 1931.

^{Page No 308 Note 1} Whitley, W. T., ‘Association Life till 1815’, in Baptist Hist. Soc. Trans., v (1916-17). 28-9Google Scholar.

^{Page No 308 Note 2} Brockett, Nonconformity in Exeter, 131. Dr Edwin Welch kindly provides references to an orthodox, missionary, Plymouth Association in rivalry with the Exeter Assembly during the years 1798-1808: Batter Street, Plymouth, Congregational Church account book, fol. 14 v, 18 v, 19 and 24 V (Plymouth Public Library, Ace. 168/9); and Diary of Thomas Almond of Devonport (Moravian Church House, London).

^{Page No 308 Note 3} See [Benjamin Davies], Vindication of the Conduct of the Associated Ministers of Wales, Carmarthen 1771; for elucidation of the issues, Cf.Jones, R. T., ‘Trefhiadaeth Ryngeglwysig yr Annibynwyr’ in Y Cofiadur, xxi (1951), 40-4Google Scholar, reprinting (in English) the Independents’ ‘Proposals’ and the Presbyterians’ ‘Declaration and Protest’, or more summarily his Hanes Annibynwyr Cymru, Abertawe 1966, 162-3.

^{Page No 309 Note 1} This Association may have been the one for whose formation on 27 November 1697 at Malcoffe, near Ford, Derbyshire, there is evidence in the manuscript diary of William Bagshaw preserved by his descendants at Ford Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith: see Mansfield, Reginald, ‘The Development of Independency in Derbyshire’, Manchester Ph.D. thesis, 1951, p. 120 Google Scholar; but I have not discovered evidence of meetings in the intervening forty years.

^{Page No 309 Note 2} For this Association, which met regularly till at least 1767, see A. R. Henderson, History of Castle Gate Congregational Church, Nottingham, 1655-19.05, 1905, ch. viii; and Reginald Mansfield, ‘The Development of Independency in Derbyshire’, pp. 108-13. For transcript of the material concerning the Association preserved in the church book at Castle Gate, which was a member of the Association, I have to thank Dr Mansfield.

^{Page No 309 Note 3} Wilbur, E. M., History of Unitarianism, Cambridge, Mass., 1946-52, 11, 343 Google Scholar.