Welsh Journals

But these changes, about which one might feel some reservations, obviously make this book a more commercial proposition for the publisher and more accessible to the non-specialist reader. If it means that more people discover the pleasures of Admiral Morison's writings and read about one of the greatest collective adventures on record, then how can a historian carp? DAVID J. CUBITT Portsmouth Polytechnic. REFORMATION, CONFORMITY AND DISSENT. EssAYs IN HONOUR OF GEOFFREY Nuttall. Edited by R. Buick Knox. Epworth, 1977. Pp. 302. £ 8.50. Geoffrey Nuttall, born in Colwyn Bay in 1911, is a church historian who has long been respected and admired in his native country. Its University has awarded him the degree of D.D. (honoris causa) and the University's Press has published two of his more notable works, The Welsh Saints, 1640-1660 (1957) and Howel Harris, 1714-1773: the Last Enthusiast (1965). The bibliography of his writings compiled by Tai Liu of Newark, Delaware, for this volume of essays establishes plainly the long and vigorous stream of books, articles and reviews flowing from his pen between 1931 and 1977. The essays themselves are a fitting tribute to this dedicated, scrupulous and energetic scholar, whose high repu- tation among his fellow-historians is clearly revealed by the eminence of the contributors, who include some of the most distinguished auth- orities on the religious history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Two essays are on European themes-A. G. Dickens on Johannes Sleidan, and Owen Chadwick on Frederick III, Elector Palatine, while a third by J. van den Berg of Leiden compares the ideas of the Dutchman Petrus Serrarius and the Englishman William Ames. The core of the volume consists of six essays on various aspects of English Puritanism by Patrick Collinson, R. Buick Knox, Gordon Rupp, B. R. White, Christopher Hill, and Basil Hall. J. F. Wilson of Princeton writes on the American Puritan, Jonathan Edwards, and R. L. Greaves of Florida contributes a brilliantly succinct essay on the Puritan tradition in general. Of special interest to Welsh historians is R. Tudur Jones's article, 'The Healing Herb and the Rose of Love', a penetrating discussion of the difference of attitude between two of the foremost Welsh Puritans, Vavasor Powell and Morgan Llwyd. Dr. Jones sums it up thus: 'despite his interest in the need for righteousness in public life, Llwyd tended to promote a quietist piety which moved people away from involvement in public controversy. Powell, despite his profound commitment to deepening the spiritual life, promoted a piety that was productive of vigorous activism.' It is a pity, though, that Dr. Jones twice refers to Mr. Hugh Bevan as Mr. Hugh Bowen. The volume, like most others of this genre, suffers somewhat from fragmentation of theme and diversity of approach, although a brave effort has been made to give it as much coherence as possible. No short review can illustrate all the merits of each essay, but one deeply impressive feature is the memorable quality of some of the generalizations embedded in the detailed observations. For example, A. G. Dickens writes on the