The First Congregational Churches

Preface; 1. When did congregationalism emerge?; 2. Preparation - abroad (Frankfort) and at home (secret meetings); 3. Insistence upon uniformity produces nonconformity; 4. The problem for Puritans - to leave the church or remain in it?; 5. The Plumbers' Hall congregation; 6. 'Pattenson', a separatist preacher; 7. Traces of other congregations; 8. The congregation in Goldsmith's house, March 1568; 9. William Bonham and Nicholas Crane; 10. Was the Plumbers' Hall congregation separatist?; 11. Separatists sent to Scotland; 12. Their relations with John Knox; 13. Thomas Lever and separatist prisoners; 14. Evidence indicating existence of several congregations; 15. A congregation with a covenant; 16. The community from which this congregation seceded - minister John Browne; 17. Congregations so far disclosed; 18. John Browne (and 'the Brownings') - sometimes confused with the English church at Frankfort; 19. Browne associated with both Puritans and separatists; 20. Richard Fitz's congregation; 21. Three papers relating thereto; 22. Analysis of the names of its members; 23. John Nashe's 'articles'; 24. 'The separatist covenant of Richard Fitz's congregation'; 25. Its recurrence; 26. Was Fitz's a real congregational church?; 27. How it anticipated Robert Browne; 28. The persistence of the covenant; 29. The number of the separatists; 30. Degree of separation; 31. Later Brownists (and their opponents) place their origin in Fitz's time; 32. Fitz's congregation, and the first congregational church; 33. The name Brownists; Index.