power of imposing a spiritual guide upon
his neighbours; and therefore they resolved that presentations should he
abolished, and the choice of the minister be vested in the body of the
parishioners; a vote which taught the patrons of livings to seek the
protection of the lord-general against the oppression of the parliament.
From advowsons, the next step was to tithes. At the commencement of the
session, after a long debate, it was generally understood that tithes ought
to be done away with, and in their place a compensation be made to the
impropriators, and a decent maintenance be provided for the clergy. The
great subject of dispute was, which question should have the precedence
in point of time, the abolition of the impost, or the substitution of the
equivalent. For five months the committee intrusted with the subject was
silent; now, to prevent, as it was thought, the agitation of the question
of advowsons, they presented a report respecting the method of ejecting
scandalous, and settling godly, ministers; to which they appended their
own opinion, that incumbents, rectors, and impropriators had a property in
tithes. This report provoked a debate of five days. When the question was
put on the first part, though the committee had mustered all the force of
the Independents in its favour, it was rejected by a

[Footnote 1: To procure ready money for the treasury, it was proposed to
allow recusants to redeem the two-thirds for their lives, at four years'
purchase. This amendment passed, but with great opposition, on the ground
that it amounted to a toleration of idolatry.--Ibid, ii. Thurloe, i. 553.]

majority of two. The second part, respecting the property in tithes, was
not put to the vote; its fate was supposed to be included in that of the
former; and it was rumoured through the capital that the parliament had
voted the abolition of tithes, and with them of the ministry, which derived
its maintenance from tithes.[1]

Here it should be noticed that, on every Monday during the session, Feakes
and Powell, two Anabaptist preachers, had delivered weekly lectures
to numerous audiences at Blackfriars. They were eloquent enthusiasts,
commissioned, as they fancied, by the Almighty, and fearless of any earthly
tribunal. They introduced into their sermons most of the subjects discussed
in parliament, and advocated the principles of their sect with a force and
extravagance which alarmed Cromwell and the council. Their favourit