PURITANS, PURITANISM.
Motives of the First Puritans (§ 1).
Congregation at Frankfort and Geneva (§2).
Relations of Elizabeth and the Puritans (§ 3).
Repressive Measures (§ 4).
Growth of Puritanism; Thomas Cartwright (§ 5).
Attempts at Presbyterianism, 1572 (§ 6).
The " Prophesyings "; Archbishop Grindal (§ 7).
Archbishop Whitgift's Articles (§ 8).
Whitgift's Severity (§ 9).
Attitude of Parliament (§ 10).
The Marprelate Tracts; Brownists (§ 11).
James 1.; Hampton Court Conference (§ 12).
Archbishop Bancroft; Puritan Emigration (§ 13).
The Puritans Calvinists (§ 14).
Charles I. Archbishop Laud (§ 15).
The Reformation in England was begun in the reign of Henry VIII. and consolidated in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. It was unfortunate for religion and the Church that from the first the movement was subordinated to personal caprice and state policy. Most of the principal agents employed to effect it were zealous Protestants and desired that it should be thorough; and although at first unable to do all which they desired, they rejoiced in what they had been permitted to accomplish, and hoped that the work would continue to advance. But-they were doomed to disappointment, and in the end submitted to what appeared to them to be " the inevitable."
.The first Puritans were men who could not accept
the work as complete or rest satisfied with it in its
imperfection. They wished to make the Church as
perfect an instrument as possible for promoting true
religion, and therefore urged the utter
i. Motives rejection of everything that counte-
of the First nanced Roman error and superstition. Puritans. They had no objection to the connection of the Church with the State, or to some control of it by the civil authorities. They submitted to those regulations which they approved, but, whether consistently or inconsistently, they resisted those which appeared to them inexpedient or contrary to the interests of Protestant truth/; They were not actuated solely or chiefly, as has often been charged, by hostility to ecclesiastical government by bishops, but by theimtense conviction that the hierarchy, as it was and as it seemed certain to remain, was destructive of the purity and truth of religion.
/The spirit of Puritanism had appeared in the reign of Edward VI. Bishop Hooper refused to be consecrated in the papal vestments and to take the papal oath, j The latter was altered, but the former could not be dispensed with, j _Fpr his refusal he was imprisoned, but eventually compromised matters
Puritans
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
by consenting to wear the vestments on high occasions only (see Hooper, John).
During the Marian persecution many English divines fled to the continent and several found an asylum in Frankfort, where, having obtained the use of a church on condition that they should subscribe the French confession of faith, 2. Congre- they formed a society, chose John gation at Knox and Thomas Leaver as their min- Frankfort isters, drew up a service-book for themand Geneva, selves, and proceeded in the path of reformation farther than it had yet been possible to do in England. Here they met with opposition from other exiles who had been invited to join them, who insisted on using the English liturgy and on conforming to the rites of the English Church as ordered in the reign of Edward VI. Troubles consequently arose, which disquieted the original ^company and finally caused it to remove to Geneva^ The treatment these brethren met with at Frankfort was only an earnest of what they were to experience in England in the ensuing reign (cf. A Brief Discourse of the Troubles at Frankfort 1554- 1558 A.D. Attributed to William Whittingham, Dean of Durham, 1575 A.D., London, 1908).
' When Elizabeth ascended the throne, the exiles returned home, but, much to their sorrow, found the queen disposed to retrograde 3. Relations rather than to advance. Fond of of Elizabeth pomp, she determined on preserving and the the vestments and some symbols of Puritans, popery, alleging a desire to retain the Roman Catholics in the church; and, to aid in securing this object, some offensive passages in the service-book were removed and ceremonies which favored their opinions were retained. Elizabeth cordially disliked the Puritans,; and therefore such men as Miles Coverdale and John Fox were treated with neglect. Tn the first year of her reign the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity were passed (see Supremacy, Act of; Uniformity, Acts of), the latter of which pressed heavily upon the Puritans, who had scruples respecting the conformity required of them in vestments and forms. They held that certain vestments, having been used by the " idolatrous " priests of Rome, defiled and obscured the priesthood of Christ, that they increased hypocrisy and pride, that they were contrary to Scripture, and that the enforcement of them was tyranny. Many of the bishops would have been glad to dispense with them. But the queen insisted upon retaining them;, and, as Hallam says, " Had her influence been withdrawn, surplices and square caps would have lost their steadiest friend, and several other little accommodations to the prevalent dispositions of Protestants would have taken place " (Constitutional History, chap, iv.). There is do doubt that) Elizabeth, feeling the insecurity of her position and the magnitude of the dangers which encompassed her in the beginning of her reign, acted from policy and endeavored to mark out a via media between Protestantism and popery, This partly accounts for her severities toward \the Puritans, who strongly opposed this course]; but can not excuse them. [The Puritans, on the other hand, were jealous for the honor of
Christ, the true Head of the Church, and would conform to nothing which tended to endanger Protestant truth. They acted, moreover, under the advice of the continental Reformers, who urged them " not to hearken to the counsels of those men, who, when they saw that popery could not be honestly defended nor entirely restrained, would use all artifices to have the outward face of religion to remain mixed, uncertain, and doubtful; so that, while an evangelical religion is pretended, those things should be obtruded on the Church which will make the returning back to popery, superstition, and idolatry, easy."_ Rudolf Gualther, the writer of the advice, says, " We have had experience of this for some years in Germany, and know what influence such persons may have. misapprehend that in the
first beginnings, while men may study to avoid the giving of small offense, many things may be suffered under this color for a little while; and yet it will scarce be possible, by all the endeavors that can be used, to_get them removed, at least without great struggles. 'j Later experience has proved the wisdom of this advice. The Puritans did not refuse to use the vestments as vestments merely, but as symbols;/ and their motto was Obsta principiis.
The parochial clergy at the commencement of Elizabeth's reign were almost entirely the Marian mass-priests who had conformed to the new order. Not more than 300 in the 10,000 parishes of England had vacated their livings; the rest had a great
influence /in Jhe convocation of 1562,
4. Repress- which met to review the doctrine and
ive discipline of the Church. Notwith-
Measures. standing this influence, Bishop Sandys
introduced a petition for reformation, which went very far to satisfy the demands of the Puritans, and which was rejected only by the proxies of absentees, and then by a bare majority of one. This fact will show the strength of the Puritan party at that time. But, although so strong, the quee^i and her ecclesiastics determined to suppress it. 1 The Court of High Commission, constituted by virtue of the royal supremacy, was empowered " to visit, reform, redress, order, correct, and amend all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, contempts, offenses, and enormities whatsoever," and, with its oath ex officio (by which a man was compelled to testify against himself and to tell what he knew of others), \was the means of inflicting extreme suffering on the Puritans!*1 (In order to insure uniformity " advertisements"1 (see" Advertisements, of Elizabeth) fwere issued by the bishops in 1566jprobably originally drawn up by Archbishop Parker in 1564), by which it was ordained that " all licenses for preaching, , granted out by the archbishops and bishops within the province of Canterbury, bearing date before the first day of Mar., 1564, be void and of none effect." Thus all preachers were silenced. And, to complete the work, it was ordained that only " such as shall be thought meet for the office " should receive fresh licenses. Thus only conformable ministers were restored. Some of the best and most conscientious of the clergy were cast out of office and thousands of parishes were destitute and had no ministers to preach to them. iThis, however, in the estimation of the queen and her