Welsh Journals

in order to reveal God's will to men in intelligible forms. Their keynote was always clarity and explicitness. Puritans were less interested in high-flown metaphors than in the stuff that saved men's souls. The author's own predilections come through clearly enough in his own prose. His introduction, shot through with tortuous metaphors and psychological jargon, is at the opposite pole to the 'plain style.' Not surprisingly, one combs the index in vain for signs of Ramus. Other parts of his com- mentary are disparaging to the point of virulence. He shares a Trevor- Ropean horror of extreme sectarian activity and it is significant that Marxist historians, traditional champions of the Puritan cause, are dealt a few glancing blows in a mordant paragraph tucked away in the biblio- graphy. At times, Chandos's truculence conjures up images redolent of Thomas Edwards's Gangraena. He refers to 'rival sects, with nothing in common but intolerance of each other and, of course, the claim to an exclusive special relationship with the Almighty'. Deeply suspicious of Puritan motives, their ideas were always 'canvassed in the name of reform'. There is also a sly, cutting edge to such statements as 'after a day of prayer, the usual prelude for Puritans to an act of violence'. And when T. S. Eliot's dictum that it takes second-class minds to circulate ideas is invoked to explain the relative success of the Puritan preachers, one wonders whether it is all meant to be taken seriously. The book itself, although sumptuously produced, contains far too many printing errors, betraying hasty proof-reading and also unfamiliarity with some sources. The introduction and bibliography are particularly culpable in this respect. But the sermons themselves are a constant delight and Welsh historians will be happy to find examples of the sermons of Archbishop John Williams and Christopher Love, those adroit political animals, represented here. Chandos prints part of Williams's fulsome funeral sermon to James I, which, ironically, ushered in his own period of decline. Portions of two sermons by Love are printed, the last of which was preached on the occasion of his execution at Tyburn Hill on 22 August 1651 (not 16 July, as Chandos claims) for plotting against the Cromwellian regime. Characteristically, Love held the stage, preaching and praying at such length that it drove the local sheriff and his executioner to near distraction. He took his leave, again appropriately, with this final impish parting shot to his audience: 'I shall be at home before you; I shall be at my father's house, before you will be at your own houses'. Such engaging snippets as these whet the appetite for more, but it is clear that Welsh historiography lacks analytical studies of the Welsh sermon. Way back in 1926, W. J. Gruffydd voiced his hope that some brave soul would set about tracing the development of the art of preaching in Wales from the sixteenth century onwards. Such a study would present a formidable challenge, but, if tackled in the right way, it could prove a fruitful and rewarding line of inquiry. The material certainly exists, and those dwindling numbers of prospective research graduates able to wrest funds from a cheeseparing government could do worse than focus their attention on a genre that has served (with the notable exception of historians) to capture the affections of many Welshmen. GERAINT H. JENKINS Aberystwyth.