Rare C17th tract against the New England practice of ‘lay preaching’, Giles Workman 1646

WORKMAN, Giles. Private-men no Pulpit-men: or, A Modest Examination of Lay-mens Preaching. Discovering it to be neither warranted by the Word of God; nor allowed by the Judgement, or Practise, of
the Churches of Christ in New-England.  London, F. Neile for Tho. Underhill, 1646

Small 4to (178 x 136mm)

28pp. Collation: A-D4. Title within double ruled frame, woodcut initials and headpieces. Title with ink reference, small repaired chip to head affecting ruled border only and ink-stamp “British Museum Sale Duplicate
1787” to verso, D3 small loss to fore-edge affecting some printed side-notes, trimmed at head with some loss to pagination, some soiling, light browning.
Modern half calf, lettering to spine.

Rare First edition of this uncommon and significant polemic work questioning the legitimacy of laypeople preaching in church. It regards such practices as neither biblically justified nor accepted by the early
Congregational practices in New England, drawing frequently on the experiences and writings of John Cotton, in New England. Apparently written as a reply to an anonymously published work (1641) by John
Knowles (fl.1646-1668), anti-Trinitarian preacher from Gloucester, where Giles Workman (c.1604-1665), was master of the College School. We were unable to confirm the existence of this 1641 publication, however Knowles published a reply to Workman’s attack in the same year, under the title A modest plea for private mens preaching (1648).

Provenance
1. British Museum, 1787 (Sale duplicate stamp to title verso).
2. Fox Pointe Collection, Linda and Dr Howard Knohl (bookplate).

References
Sabin 105475; ESTC R201096; USTS 3051260; Wing W3583 – Wing records
two variant imprints also published in the same year (W3584 & W 3584A –
both printed for Toby Langford).

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The Transatlantic Controversy

During the English Civil War and Puritan revolution, questions about “lay preaching”—that is, whether unordained “private men” could preach—became central to disputes between Presbyterians and Independents (Congregationalists).

Workman’s tract is an attack on the New England Congregational model, where local churches sometimes allowed lay exhortation and prophesying by gifted but unordained members. In New England this was part of the “gathered church” model of the Massachusetts Bay and New Haven colonies.

Workman specifically criticizes:

John Cotton and other New England ministers who tolerated or encouraged lay prophesying.

The “New England Way” of church government described in The Cambridge Platform (1648).

The idea that the Spirit alone (without ordination) could authorize preaching.

Thus, the subtitle’s claim—“nor allowed by the Judgement, or Practise, of the Churches of Christ in New-England”—is polemical: Workman argues that even New England’s ministers disapprove of radical lay preaching (a strategic appeal to moderate Puritans in England).

The New England Connection

References: The text cites examples and opinions “from the Churches of Christ in New England,” meaning Workman draws on letters, printed reports, or correspondence circulating in England among Puritans who admired (or feared) the New England experiment.

Audience: It was intended for English Presbyterians debating the Independents in Parliament and the Westminster Assembly.

London–Boston exchange: Works by Cotton, Hooker, Shepard, Davenport, and others were printed in London in the 1640s, and Workman’s tract responds to that same transatlantic stream of ecclesiastical argument.

Collector interest: Early Americanists value it because it shows how “the New England Way” became part of English polemics before 1650, giving insight into how colonial ecclesiology was perceived and contested in England.

Related Works

John Knowles, The Lawful Preacher (London, 1646) – a Congregationalist reply defending lay preaching; sometimes found bound with or referenced against Workman’s tract.

John Cotton, The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (1644) – one of the New England works Workman’s argument implicitly critiques.

Thomas Edwards, Gangraena (1646) – shares Workman’s anxiety over lay teachers and “mechanic preachers.”