The Society for the Reformation of Manners in Hull, 1698-1706: 'Favour'd with the Lord's Wonders'

A behind-the-scenes look at one nonconformist society in the United Kingdom.

The 1698 Act of Toleration legalized Christian worship outside the Church of England and unleashed a wave of religious fervor throughout the United Kingdom. In Hull, a group of nonconformist mariners, merchants, and tradesmen formed a regional branch of the Society for the Reformation of Manners to turn back the swelling tides of sin they perceived in their community. To this end, they sued their neighbors and sponsored sermons on spiritual reformation. Their successes and failures shed new light on the degree to which High Church Tories were willing to tolerate the Toleration. This volume presents the society's records in full for the first time, with an introduction analyzing their origins, methods, and ultimate decline by historian Daniel Reed.