The conclusions at the Savoy meeting were not ec- clesiastical canons, but simply united opinions. They had no binding force. They aspired to no higher char- acter than that of counsel and advice. Lest this decla- ration should endanger their principles, the assembly took the precaution not to invest it with binding sjon- bolical authoritj- ; and, to guard against the possibility of hierarchical schemes, they further enacted that no one should be ordained without having a call to some particular congregation. Similar precautions Avere also taken by them against all possible civil interference in ecclesiastical affairs, except cases in which Christian societies had laid themselves open to investigation by the civil authorities for the encouragement of civil dis- turbances (comp. art. Coxgkegatioxalists, voL ii, p. 480, II, 2). After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, and the re-establishment of episcopacy, the Indepen-
INDEPENDENTS
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INDEPENDENTS
dents, like all other nonconforming '-sects," suffered from illiberal enactments, especiaUy from the "Act cf Uniformity," which was passed in 1G62. "Indepen- dents retired into obscurity for a while after the Resto- ration. The doors of buildings where they had been wont to assemble were nailed up, the pastors were driv- en out, flocks were scattered, the administration of or- dinances coidd not take place, and meetings coidd not be held, and coramuuities which had been prosperous un- der the Commonwealth dimmished in number" (Stough- ton, Eccles. History of England [Church of the Restora- tion'], ii, lC-4). The Act of Uniformity, however, was the most severe of all enactments against dissenters. Some 2000 of tlie ablest and best of England's clergy were forced to leave the Chvirch. " They included Presby- terians, Independents, Baptists, and not a few whom it woidd be dithcult to reduce entirely under any of those denominations; both Calvinists and Arminians, with other divines scarcely belonging to either of those schools. In point of learning, eloquence, reasoning, and imagination the men varied ; but under aU their pecul- iarities lay a common faith of no ordinary character, a faith of that rare kind which makes the confessor. They beUeved in God, in Christ, in truth, in heaven ; and in the controversy which they carried on they regarded themselves as fightmg for a divine cause. . . . They believed that tliey were acting in the defence of the Gospel. A strong evangelical faith upheld their eccle- siastical opinions like the everlastmg rocks which form the ribs and backbone of this grand old world. The Church of England suffered no small loss when she lost such men" (Stoughton). Yet, in spite of these perse- cutions, the Independents stiU contmued to subsist un- til, in 1688, the Revolution, and in 1689 the "Act of Tol- eration," tinally restored to them the enjoj-ment of Uber- ty of worship.
Shortly after the publication of the Act of Toleration, efforts were made to bring about a miion between the Presbyterians and the Independents (who by this time generally styled themselves CongregationalLsts), and in 1691 heads of agreement were drawn up (compare i\Ios- heim, Ecd. Hist, v, 361-363). But " within a year from the formation of the union two discussions on points of doctrine and order arose. The first of these was excited by a Congregational minister holding high Calvinistic or rather Antinomian opinions, believing and preaching that repentance is not necessary to salvation, that the elect are always without sin, and always without ' spot before God.' " The controversy which this course pro- voked " threw eleven counties into disorder, and before a year had passed away the Congregationalists had be- gun to be weaned from the miion" (Skeats ; comp. also our article on Hoave, John). From the position which the Independents assumed, it is curious to notice " that the Presbyterians, at this time, Avere more moderate Calvmists than the Congregationalists, and that the ep- ithet of • Baxterians' was not inappropriately appUed to them ; but as Baxterianism included the articles of the Church of England, and the confessions of Dort and Savoy, their moderation was certainly limited. What they did not beUeve was the doctrine of absolute repro- bation, held in the sense that persons were condemned irrespective of their character and faith. They did not believe that sinners were pardoned without repentance. They did not believe that the Saviour so stood in the sinner's place that God ever looked upon him as a sin- ner. The last point was the point most vehemently de- bated in this controversy. The question was. Is there a change of persons, or only of person, in the redemp- tion ; and according as this was answered, and the sense in which the answer was understood, the controversial- ist was classed as an. Arminian, or even Unitarian, on the one side, or as an Antinomian on the other. Jlather went so far as to state that believers were as righteous as Christ himself, and the Congregational body support- ed Mather."
After the Revolution the Independents greatly in-
^^ 1660
creased in numbers and influence, especially diuring the middle of the last century, imder " the extraordmar^- re- vival of rehgious zeal" which the earnest labors of "Wes- ley and Whitefield occasioned. Many converts of these eminent preachers joined the Independents, favoring their views on Chturch government. Since the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts m 1828, by which all civil abilities were removed from the Independents, and their right to social equality with their fellow-subjects was legally acknowledged, they have especially pros- pered, and their accessions have been so great that they have become the largest dissenting body in England ex- cept the Wesleyan INIethodists. In 1831 a " Congrega- tional Union of England and "Wales" was formed, and their " Declaration of Faith, Order, and Discipline" was adopted in 1833. By the census of 1851 (in the census of 1861 religious statistics were not included), the num- ber of their churches in England and Wales is given at 3244, with accommodation for 1,067,760 persons, and an estimated attendance of 793,142. The Independents, who have always evinced great interest in education, at present have under their control in England ten training colleges, with a staff of twenty-six professors. These are, -^ , , ^- ,