e to the Jew or Gentile, or the
Churches of Christ.

'3. That we will humbly and willingly submit ourselves to the government
of Christ in this Church--in the administration of the Word, the seals,
and discipline.

'4. That we will in all love approve our communion as brethren by
watching over one another, and as such shall be; counsel, administer,
relieve, assist, and bear with one another, serving one another in love.

'5. Lastly, we do not covenant or promise these things in our own, but
in Christ's strength; neither do we confine ourselves to the words of
this covenant, but shall at all time account it our duty to embrace any
further light or covenant which shall be revealed to us out of God's
Word.'

This covenant, however, was not to prevent in after time censure being
cast on others who, endeavouring to preserve its spirit, were led to
think differently from the majority. For instance, we find in 1656 two
persons, who had been members of the Independent church at Beccles,
received adult baptism, and in so doing were considered to have given
'offence' to the church, and were desired to appear and give an account
of their practices.

At one time there was little of what we know as congregational singing.
In 1657 it was agreed by the Beccles church 'that they do put in practice
the ordinance of singing in the publick upon the forenoon and afternoon
of the Lord's daies, and that it be between praier and sermon; and also
it was agreed that the New England translation of the Psalmes be made use
of by the church at their times of breaking of bread, and it was agreed
that the next Lord's day, seventh night, might be the day to enter upon
the work of singing in publick.' It is interesting to note that one of
the pastors of the Beccles church was a Mr. Nokes, who had been
trained--where Calamy and many others were trained--at the University of
Utrecht, and that in the same year in which Dr. Watts accepted the
pastoral office, he addressed to Mr. Nokes a poem on 'Friendship,' which
is still included in the Doctor's works. Dissent, when I was a boy, was
considered low. We were contemptuously termed 'pograms,' a term of
reproach the origin of which I have never learnt. The landed gentry, the
small squires, the lawyers and the doctors, and the tradespeople who
pandered to their prejudices and fattened on their patronage, were slow
to say a word in favour of a Dissenter. The poor who went to chapel were
excluded