After the Puritans The Axminister Independent Church 1660 - 1698 (Edited by K.W.Howard)

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Some historians consider the time following the Puritans to be the finest spiritual period in our history. And yet few people are aware of this.

This book sheds light on what happened in those years between the Puritans (1662) and the Methodists (1737).

This has usually been portrayed as a time of spiritual stagnation and decline among Nonconformity as well as the Church of England. This is far from the case among Dissenters (except with the Presbyterians, and then only during the latter part of the period). Older historians and recent research testify to the real blessing during this time.

This story of Axminster Independent Church gives us a wonderful insight.

Reading what happened is like entering another world. The Lord's people at Axminster (1660-1698) suffered enormously and faced great danger.

However the way they met secretly and were preserved and blessed with the presence of the Lord is outstanding. They wanted to record God's kindness to them - to benefit future generations.

Their determination to meet together, come what may, shows how highly they valued true Biblical worship. The great attraction to them was the presence of Christ. They knew that His dwelling place on earth was in the local church. The sufferings they faced and the blessings they enjoyed are recorded for us. They were truly devoted to the Lord and to each other.

Here we have a detailed 'role model' for a local church. And while other churches declined spiritually, the Axminister congregation kept on the right path.

This was also true of the Independents and Baptists, in the West Country as a whole, while the Presbyterians were later engulfed in Unitarianism. The spiritual building was well founded since it lasted at least a century after the period described in this account.