which was not expressly contained in, Or derived from,
them by necessary consequence, adding that if any dis- cretionary power in minor matters were necessary, it
PURITANS
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PURITANS
must be vested, not in the civil magistrate, but in the spiritual office-bearers of the Church itself. The court Reformers held that the practice of the primitive Church for the. four or five earliest centuries was a proper stand- ard of Church government and discipline, even better suited to the dignity of a national establishment than the times of the apostles; and that, therefore, nothing more was needed than merely to remove the more mod- ern innovations of popery. The true Reformers wished to keep close to the Scripture model, and to admit nei- ther office-bearers, ceremonies, nor ordinances, but such as were therein appointed or sanctioned. The court party affirmed that things in their own nature indiffer- ent, such as rites, ceremonies, and vestments, might be appointed and made necessary by the command of the civil magistrates; and that then it was the boundcn duty of all subjects to obey. But the Reformers main- tained that what Christ had left indifferent no human laws ought to make necessary ; and, besides, that such rites and ceremonies as had been abused to idolatry, and tended to lead men back to popery and supersti- tion, were no longer indifferent, but were to be rejected as unlawful. Finally, the court party held that there must be a standard of uniformity, which standard was the queen's supremacj- and the laws of the land. The Reformers regarded the Bible as the only standard, but thought compliance was due to the decrees of provin- cial and national synods, which might be approved and enforced by civil authority."
From this contrast between the opinions of the two parties, it is plain that, though the use of the sacerdotal vestments formed the rallying-point of the whole con- troversy, its foundation lay deeper than any mere out- ward forms. The queen gave strict orders to the arch- bishop of Canterbury that exact order and uniformity should be maintained in all external rites and ceremo- nies. Nay, so determined was she that her royal will should ba obeyed that she issued a proclamation re- quiring immediate uniformity in the vestments on pain of prohibition from preaching and deprivation from of- fice. Matters were now brought to a crisis by this de- cided step on the part of the queen. Multitudes of godly ministers were ejected from their churches and forbidden to preach anywhere else. Hitherto they had Bought reformation within the Church, but now, their hopes from that quarter being wholly blasted, they came to the resolution in 150(3 to form themselves into a body distinct from the Church of England, which they regarded as only half reformed.
Elizabeth was enraged to see her royal mandate so signally set at naught. The suspended ministers took strong ground, and, having separated from the Church as by law established, they published a treatise in their own vindication, boldly declaring that the im- position of mere human appointments, such as the wear- ing of particular vestments by the clergy, was a decided infringement on Christian liberty, which it was not only lawful but a duty to resist. In the face of perse- cution, and under threats of the royal displeasure, the Puritans, who, since the Act of Uniformity had been passed, in 15G2, were sometimes called Nonconformists, continued to hold their private meetings. Their first attempt to engage in public worship was rudely inter- rupted by the officers of justice, and under color of law several were sent to prison and were afterwards tried. The party, however, continued to increase, and so in- fected were the younger students at Cambridge with the Puritan doctrines that the famous Thomas Cart- wright, with three hundred more, threw off their sur- plices in one day within the walls of one college.
The religious condition of England at this time was truly deplorable. "The Churchmen," says Strype, in his Life of Parker, " heaped up many benefices upon themselves, and resided upon none, neglecting their cures; many of them alienated their lands, made un- reasonable leases and wastes of their woods, granted reversions and advowsons to their wives and children,
or to others for their use. Churches ran greatly into dilapidations and decays, and were kept nasty and filthy, and indecent for God's worship. Among the laity there was little devotion. The Lord's day was greatly profaned and little observed. The common prayers were not frequented. Some lived without any service of God at all. Many were mere heathens and atheists. The queen's own court was a harbor for epicures and atheists, and a kind of lawless place, be- cause it stood in no parish. Which things made goo.d men fear some sad judgments impending over the na- tion."
To provide a remedy for the ignorance and inefficien- cy of the clergy, associations were established in differ- ent dioceses for the purpose of conducting "prophesy- ings," as they were called, or private expositions of difficult passages of Scripture. These meetings, how- ever, excited the jealousy of the queen, who issued an order for their suppression. The Parliament seemed to be somewhat disposed to mitigate the sufferings of the Puritans, and in 1572 two bills were passed having that object in view. Encouraged by this movement in their favor, they prepared a full statement of their grievances under the title of an "Admonition to the Parliament ;" and in this document, which is understood to have been the production of Cartwright, the Parlia- ment was urged to reform the churches. Instead of obtaining redress, several of the leading Puritans were imprisoned and treated with great severity. The de- cided opposition which the queen had manifested to all reform in the Church finally led the Puritans to sur- render all hope of any legislative act in favor of their views; and being most of them Presbyterians in prin- ciple, those of them resident in London and its neigh- borhood formed themselves into a presbytery, although the step thus taken called forth from the queen another proclamation enforcing uniformity.