AFTER THE PURITANS:
The Axminster Independent Church 1660 ˘ 1698
Edited by K.W.H. Howard
Gospel Tidings Publications
280 pages. H/b £9.50
ISBN 0 904731 03 0
Distributed by Mayflower Christian Bookshop, 114 Spring Road, Southampton SO19 2QB
This is a fascinating book, 'a minor classic of English evangelical Christianity', according to the editor's Introduction, a description with which the reviewer heartily concurs.
It is the first-hand account of the trials, tribulations and providential survival of an Independent Church in the Axminster area during the years 1660 to 1698, when it was a crime to be a nonconformist. The record, written in the literary style of the time, details the church's secret meetings for worship, the pastoral oversight, the cases of discipline, and the various sufferings including imprisonments, seizure of personal possessions, and executions. It also includes some pages of heart-warming and challenging exhortations from the pastors of the Axminster church of those days.
