keep ' by tendernesse ' from seceding. At the
first meeting of the Manchester classis on
16 Feb. 1647, he offered himself to be examined for ordination, but did not immediately follow up the application. On 8 July
John Angier [q. v.] was deputed to find out
why Martindale still held back, ' seeing hee
hath professed to have receiv'd satisfaction ; '
on 2 kept, he was ' warn'd to appeare at the
next meeting,' but did not do so. He was
engaged in studying and epitomising the controversy between presbyterianism and independency. Meantime his ministry at Gorton
prospered; his popularity is proved by his
receipt of calls from six Yorkshire and five
Cheshire parishes.
On 7 Oct. 1648 Martindale, having a call from Rostherne, Cheshire, signed by 268 parishioners, was partly examined by the Manchester classis, and his examination approved, his thesis being 'An liceat mere privatis in ecciesia constituta concionari?' The patron of Rostherne, Peter Venables (1604-9), baron of Kinderton, and eleven parishioners objected to him. After pro- tracted negotiation Martindale, tiring of delay, obtained an order (26 March 1649) from the committee for plundered ministers, ap- pointing him to the vicarage (worth 60/. a year), and declared himself (10 July) ' unwillinge to proceed any further in this classe touchinge his ordination.' He went up to London, arriving on 23 July; next day the eighth London classis, sitting at St. Andrew's Undershaft, with some demur examined and approved him, and on 25 July 1649 he was ordained, Thomas Manton, D.D. [q. v.], presiding and preaching the sermon. He dealt handsomely by his predecessor's widow, who occupied the vicarage and glebe till May day.
A meeting of Lancashire and Cheshire ministers was held at Warrington early in 16*50, to consider the propriety of taking the ' engagement' (of fidelity to the existing government), subscription to which was demanded by 23 Feb. Martindale, who was ' satisfied of the usurpation,' reluctantly subscribed. As a preacher he worked hard, having 'a great congregation' twice every Sunday, besides special sermons and a share in nine different associated lectureships. The congregationalists gave him much trouble in his parish. With the regular ministers of I that body, such as Samuel Eaton [q. v.], he ' was on good terms, in spite of an occasional ' paper scuffle.' It was otherwise with the ' gifted brethren ' who visited his parish as itinerant preachers, ' thrusting their sickle into my harvest.' He preached against them , but declined ' to make a chappell into a cockpit ' by wrangling discussions. He held, however, two open-air disputations with quakers; in the first, on Christmas day 1654, he had ' to deale with ramblers and railers ; ' the second, in 1665, on Knutsford Heath, was with Richard Hubberthorn [q. v.], whose sobriety of judgment he commends.
Martindale was a presbyterian of the English type, exemplified in Cartwright and William Bradshaw (1571-1618) [q. v.] The parliamentary presbyterianism approached the Scottish type [see Marshall, Stephen]. This exotic presbyterianism, organised in Lancashire, was never introduced into Cheshire. Nor, until the publication (1653) of Baxter's Worcestershire l agreement,' which formed the model for other county unions, was there any attempt to form a collective organisation for the puritanism of Cheshire. On 20 Oct. 1653 a ' voluntary association ' was formed at Knutsford. It was called a ' classis ; ' but whereas in the Lancashire ' classes ' the lay element (ruling elders) always preponderated, the Cheshire ' classis' consisted solely of ministers, neither episcopalians nor con^regationalists being excluded. It claimed no jurisdiction, but met for ordination of ministers, approval of elders (where congregations chose to have them), spiritual exercises and advice. Martindale was a warm advocate of this union. In his own congregation six elders were chosen, but only three agreed to act ; the presbyterian system of examination, as a necessary preliminary to communion, he discarded. He kept his people together, though ' the chiefe for parts and pietie leaned much towards the congregationall way.'
Martindale was privy, through Henry Newcome [q. v.], to the projected rising of the 1 new royalists ' under Sir George Booth, afterwards first Lord Delamer [q. v.], and strongly sympathised with the movement, which, however, he did not join. He had long declared himself ' for a king and a free parliament,' though expecting to lose his preferment at the Restoration. The act of September 1660 for confirming and restoring ministers ' made me vicar of Rotherston,' he says ; nevertheless he was prosecuted in January 1661 for holding private meetings, and imprisoned at Chester for some weeks, but released on his bond of 1,000l. A maypole was set up in his parish. He describes how his ' wife, assisted with three young women, whipt it downe in the night with a framing-saw. At the winter assizes of 1661 he was indicted for refusing to read the prayer-book ; it seems he had not refused, for the book had not been tendered to him. The new prayer-book reached Rostherne on Friday, 22 Aug. 1662 ;
