the Church. The Vicarage is an excellent house close to the Church.

VICARS OF S. JOHN'S.

GEOFFRY BARRINGTON SIMEON. 1883 to 1884. Nominated by Sir C. H. J. Anderson, Bt., Lord Hawke, Somers Clarke jun. Esq., Rev. G. T. Harvey, Rev. G. L. Hodgkinson, Rev. G. W. Danks, James Marshall, Esq, Henry D. Marshall, Esq., and Hon C. L. Wood, a majority of the patrons hac vice, and licensed by Bishop Jan. 16th, 1883. [Son of Charles Simeon, of Bishop's Steignton, Devon, armiger. Matriculated at S. John's Coll. Oxon. 1867, aged 19. B A. 1870, M.A. 1874. Vicar of S. Stephen's Bournemouth 1885 to 1886, Rector of Dunster, Somerset 1886 to 1894, of Haresfield, Gloucester, 1894 to 1896.]

CHARLES EDWARD LAING. 1884 to 1896. By Bishop on res. of Geoffry Barrington Simeon, July 1884. [Vicar of Bardney 1896.]

FREDERIC COLBORNE FIsher. 1896 to 1900.

By Bishop, on

cession of Charles Edward Laing, Sept. 8th, 1896. [Son of Frederic Colborne Fisher, of Walton on Trent, clerk. Matriculated at Oriel Coll. Oxon. 1879, aged 19. B.A. 1883. M.A. 1885. Vicar of Walton on Trent 1900.]

FREDERIC WILLIAM HUTCHINSON. 1900. By Bishop, on cession of Frederic Colborne Fisher, April 10th, 1900. [Keble Coll. Oxon. B.A. 1893, M.A. 1896.]

S. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.

The rapid growth of the population during the last decade of the Nineteenth Century made it adviseable to provide for the needs of church people at the Northern end of Gainsburgh, as those at the Southern end had been provided for by the erection of S. John's Church. Accordingly in 1896 an iron Church, which had served as a temporary structure during the building of a Parish Church at South Norwood, was obtained for a comparatively small sum, together with most of its internal fittings, and

was erected on a piece of land obtained on lease at a nominal rent from Sir H. B. Bacon. The Church, dedicated to S. Michael and All Angels, was opened by the Bishop of Lincoln on November 13th, 1896, as a Chapel of Ease to the Parish Church, the total cost of the building, erection, and fittings being rather more than £400.

CHAPTER XXVII.

NONCONFORMITY in GainsburGH.-UNITARIAns.—Independents. -Friends.-ROMAN CATHOLICS.-WESLEYAN

METHODISTS.

PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.-FREE METHODISTS. THE SALVATION ARMY.

NONCONFORMITY IN GAINSBURGH.

HE human mind is so variously constituted in different individuals that it has always been found extremely difficult to induce the whole number of the people in any community to regard important matters so far in the same way as to avoid at least open disagreement.

In early Christian times there were not only direct ruptures from the main body, but also hot discussions within the fold, and in the Middle Ages the same phenomena presented themselves. Orientals disputed with Occidentals, Thomists with Scotists, Parish Clergy with Friars. Enormous masses of controversial literature remain, mouldering on dusty shelves, to bear witness to the headlong zeal with which our forefathers conducted their discussions.

The great awakening of the human mind in the Fifteenth Century led directly to the fierce disagreements of the Sixteenth, and gave rise to endless controversies. Western Europe seethed with theological polemics, and not seldom boiled over with religious fury. Into the controversies of the age the sturdy English mind entered with zest, many angry words were spoken, and bitter deeds were done. Henry VIII laid down the law with Tudor severity. Queen Elizabeth sternly endeavoured to induce

men at least to act together, if not to think alike, but nevertheless even the great Queen herself could not prevent secessions from the established Church, and we have seen that at the close of her reign a little band of earnest thinkers met together at Gainsburgh, whose actions were destined to have an abiding influence upon the world.

After the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers to Antwerp we have no further trace of direct Nonconformity in Gainsburgh for half a century, if we except the general upheaval that took place in the Cromwellian era. It was perhaps the Act of Uniformity in 1662, or possibly the toleration extended to Dissenters by William III, that brought about the commencement of permanent nonconformist worship. The records of English Roman Catholicism in the Seventeenth Century, on account of the fierce persecution to which it was exposed, are somewhat obscure, and the same may be said of the Society of Friends, although these last kept an excellent series of Registers of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, for the different districts of England, which Registers are preserved at Devonshire House. But we believe it will be found that the first Nonconformist Chapel opened for Divine Worship in Gainsburgh was that which began by being "Presbyterian or Independent," and gradually developed into the present Unitarian Chapel, the Rev. Jeremiah Gill, early in the Nineteenth Century, being the first Minister to preach "more liberal doctrines."

UNITARIANS.

The Chapel now used for Unitarian Worship was probably, according to Stark, a private dwelling house converted to more sacred usage. It is not a conspicuous building, but has attracted considerable benefactions from time to time. Thus in 1725 Francis Hopkinson, mercer in Gainsburgh, left £200 for the purchase of land "for the support of a Presbyterian or Independent Minister to the Society of Protestant Dissenters in Gainsburgh, that he might receive the income thereof during the term of his ministry." Jonathan Jackson, mercer in Gainsburgh, and Mrs. Hannah Jackson, his sister, each left £100 for the same purpose, and the

three legacies, together with £42 12s. 6d., perhaps representing interest, were laid out in the purchase of an estate at Wadingham. Francis Hopkinson also left 40s. yearly, to be paid to the minister out of the Chapel Close.

Mrs. Sarah Leggitt left about four acres of land at Morton, one half of the rent of which was to be paid to the Presbyterian or Independent Minister at Gainsburgh and the other half to one at Lincoln.

Mrs Elizabeth Hopkinson in 1736 left £160 to be laid out in the purchase of land for the same purpose, and John Flower left £100. Matthew and John Coats, of Gainsburgh, each left 40s. per annum to the Dissenting Minister.

The legacies given by Mrs. Hopkinson and John Flower, together with £170 of interest or savings, which Mr. Gill relinquished, and £250 borrowed from Mr. John Jackson, were afterwards used for the purchase of the Chapel Close and buildings, and there were further changes of investment. In 1824, therefore, the annual income of the Minister was thus derived :

Estate at Grayingham £95, Chapel Close and Warehouse £13, Morton Close £4, Coats' Annuity £4, Chaise House £2 5s., from Trustees of the Coal Act £5. Total £123 5s. per annum.

INDEPENDENTS.

It is natural to suppose that under the Cromwellian domination the Independents were prominent in Gainsburgh, as they were elsewhere. They did not, it is true, oust the Vicar, but that may have been because he was influentially supported, or because he had a conforming conscience, and accepted the prevailing opinions of his time. We know from Symon Patrick's Autobiography that during some part of the period referred to, the Prayer Book was used without scruple in Gainsburgh Church, and that afterwards it was no longer used. For some ten years, therefore, more or less, the Church Prayers were disused in the Parish Church, and other voices were heard. Did the Vicar preach and pray as an Independent? Did he conduct the Service and administer the Sacraments in his own words, preserving the essence under