Religious ministry in Bristol 1603-16892017

"The seventeenth century saw non-conformist denominations spring up and eventually survive savage persecution to achieve the right to operate outside the official Church of England. Bristol, with a cathedral, seventeen parishes, six gathered churches and two Quaker meetings, was heavily involved in this struggle. It was a confusing period and one of the aims of this volume is to sort out, for the first time, just who was ministering where and when; placing and documenting some 150 names. But the other aim is to show, by excerpt, something of the content of religious ministry over this century. This draws much on sermons, then regarded as the major function of ministry, and a staple of publishers. From sermons and other devotional works a rather surprising but interesting conclusion...