During the Civil Wars, very unseemly conduct was witnessed occasionally in places of worship. The inhabitants of a parish in the Isle of Wight being divided into two parties as to the great religious questions of the day, the Puritans went one Sunday to church to hear a minister sent down by Parliament. But the previous Anglican incumbent stood upon his rights, and would not allow the new comer to enter within the sacred edifice. Sending for his surplice, he preached in the porch, whereupon the other party adjourned to the school-room, leaving him where he was, surrounded by a small auditory. The correspondent who communicated to the newspaper this piece of intelligence added to it this congratulatory remark: that the discomfiture of the parson was the more remarkable, because in that rude place, the godly folks had before been scorned and derided--as was the case when a certain Lady Norton, living in that neighbourhood, "had repetitions of sermons in her house."[426] There was little or no difference between the Presbyterian and Independent methods of worship, except that the latter would not employ any prescribed method of service; insisting very much upon the advantages of free prayer, and upon the doctrine that in such kind of prayer "the Spirit helpeth our infirmities." [Sidenote: _The Lord's Supper._] XI. Anglicans still knelt in secret, and received the consecrated bread and cup from the hands of one of their own priests; but the Presbyterian incumbent administered the Lord's Supper in the parish church to all parishioners, excepting the ignorant and scandalous. The table, decently covered, was conveniently placed so that the communicants might sit around it. After a short warning against improper communion--called in Scotland _fencing the tables_--the minister began "the action" by sanctifying the elements; then he read the words of institution, and proceeded to pray; after which the bread and wine were distributed, with solemn words, including those used by our blessed Saviour when He instituted the holy feast. Thanksgiving, with a collection, closed the celebration of the Eucharist.