Williston Walker

“ For the general student of the religious conditions of the period no documents are more suggestive than the elaborate surveys of the ministry of a considerable portion of England prepared by Puritans in 1586, and giving names of clergymen, parishes, sometimes stipends, and indicating whether pluralists, residents, and preachers or "dumbe". Even more significant is the estimate of moral worth or worthlessness given, with definite charges in the case of a large portion of the clergy here enumerated. ”

“ Naturally such a collection is of a very miscellaneous character, but there is abundant evidence of the aims of the Puritans, of the attempts made to realize those wishes in practice, and of the resistance encountered from the ecclesiastical authorities. Much light is thrown on the extent and localities of the Puritan movement among the clergy, and on the relatively scanty participation of the laity in it, in contrast to the seventeenth century. ”

“ About 1593 there was printed without name of publisher or place, but probably from the press of Robert Waldegrave in Edinburgh, or by that of Richard Schilders, possibly in London, a now rare volume, long known to students of English Puritanism, entitled A Parte of a Register; contayninge sundrie memorable Matters, written by divers godly and learned in our Time, which stande for and desire the Reformation of our Church, in Discipline and Ceremonies, accordinge to the pure Worde of God and the Lawe of our Lande. ”