any corporate town where they had formerly preached, or from keeping school, or taking boarders, under a penalty of forty pounds. Thus many were driven from their families and their homes; and many were heavily fined and repeatedly imprisoned. It was in the midst of sufferings of this nature that several of the Churches were formed, the Memorials of which are here presented.

When the glorious revolution by William the Third was effected, a very pleasing change in their circumstances took place. "The Act of Toleration" that then passed was viewed by them as a great blessing. Advancing knowledge on the principles of religious liberty may have led us to see that such an Act falls far short of that complete state of freedom to which we should aspire; yet there was abundant reason for our forefathers highly to value the liberty it gave them, and they blessed the memory of him by whom it was obtained. After the passing of this Act, the term Nonconformist was exchanged for that of Dissenter, as applied to those who availed themselves of the advantages it gave. This is the name they now bear, and which they will probably continue to bear until the time when our civil rulers shall cease to raise one denomination of Christians above another, or to legislate for the Church of Christ.

A hundred and twenty years ago, Doddridge entered upon his work as pastor and tutor at Northampton. These offices he filled during twenty years; and he evidently obtained, by his spirit, his preaching, his writings, and his labours as a tutor, great influence in the Churches in the County, which continued to be felt many years after his death. A minister who was ordained over one of these Churches forty years ago observes, "It always appeared to me a pleasing fact, as indicating the hold that Doddridge had obtained on the hearts of the Northamptonshire Nonconformists, that his hymns were almost everywhere in use in conjunction with Watts, and in all the old books used in my day the two were bound up together."

The following character of the Independent Churches in this County is given by Job Orton, from the knowledge he obtained of them while resident at Northampton, first as student, afterwards as assistant, with Doddridge, leaving him in the year 1742. Writing to a young minister, he observes—"I am sorry you have met with such poor encouragement, and especially with any ill treatment, from the people in Northamptonshire. I know them well: some of them are narrow and bigoted, but in general they are serious exemplary Christians, and the bulk of them are not disposed to use a minister ill who is not imprudent, and doth not directly oppose their favourite notions, which is the only way to make people hold them the faster. They are not disposed to censure a person who preaches in a serious and experimental manner, and in an evangelical strain, though he does not use many of their favourite phrases, but will bear almost anything from the pulpit where the main thing is not wanting."

The idea of the present Work originated in a conversation with the author of the Centenary Memorial of Doddridge, at the Autumnal Meetings of the Congregational Union, held at Northampton, 1851. If the Writer could have prevailed on highly esteemed brethren in the County to have undertaken the work, he would gladly have done so; but the impression which he had of its desirableness and adaptation for usefulness produced a conviction that the attempt should be made. He has done what he could. The loss of early records in some cases, and the entire neglect to form them in others, has rendered the accounts of some of the Churches very defective; but in some cases the origin and history of the Churches can be correctly traced.

Materials have been collected from all the sources that supplied any, to which the Writer could have access. His hope is, that the work will tend to serve the cause of evangelical truth and piety, that it will illustrate the nature and importance of Christian Churches formed and sustained on the voluntary principle, and that it may aid in some degree to extend their influence and increase their efficiency. He commends it to the candid attention of the reader, and to the blessing of the Great Head of the Church.

Ashley, December 14th, 1852.

N. B. The Memorials commence with the Churches in Northampton, and the other Churches in the County are placed in chronological order, according to the date of their formation, so far as that could be ascertained.

CONTENTS.