312 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ligion they list, and serve God after what manner it pleaseth them 

 best, but that the parts of God's true worship [Bowndean worship] 

 might be set up everywhere, and all men compelled to stoop unto it." 



There is, it must be admitted, a sad logical consistency in the mode 

 of action advocated by Dr. Bownd and deprecated by Bishojj Heber. 

 As long as men hold that there is a hell to be shunned, they seem logi- 

 cally warranted in treating lightly the claims of religious liberty upon 

 earth. They dare not tolerate a fi-eedom whose end they believe to be 

 eternal perdition. Cruel they may be for the moment, but a passing 

 pang vanishes when compared with an eternity of pain. Unreligious 

 men might call it hallucination, but if I accept undoubtingly the doc- 

 trine of eternal punishment, then, whatever society may think of my 

 act, I am self -justified not only in " letting " but in destroying that 

 which I hold dearest, if I believe it to be thereby stopped in its prog- 

 ress to the fires of hell. Hence, granting the assumptions common to 

 both, the persecution of Puritans by High Churchmen, and of High 

 Churchmen by Puritans, had a basis in reason. I do not think the 

 question can be decided on a priori grounds, as Bishop Heber seemed 

 to suppose. It is not the abstract wickedness of persecution, so much 

 as our experience of its results, that causes us to set our faces against 

 it. It has been tried, and found the most ghastly of failures. This 

 experimental fact overwhelms the plausibilities of logic, and renders 

 persecution, save in its meaner and stealthier aspects, in our day im- 

 possible. 



The combat over Sunday continued, the Sabbatarians continually 

 gaining ground. In 1643 the divines who drew up the famous docu- 

 ment known as the Westminster Confession began their sittings in 

 Henry VII's Chapel. Milton thought lightly of these divines, who, 

 he said, were sometimes chosen by the whim of members oh Parlia- 

 ment ; but the famous Puritan, Baxter, extolled them for their learn- 

 ing, godliness, and ministerial abilities. A journal of their earlier pro- 

 ceedings was kept by one of their members. On the 13th of Novem- 

 ber, 1644, he records the occurrence of " a large debate " on the sanc- 

 tification of the Lord's day. After fixing the introductory phraseol- 

 ogy, the assembly proceeded to consider the second proposition, " To 

 abstain from all unnecessary labors, worldly sports, and recreations." 

 It was debated whether " worldly thoughts " should not be added. 

 " This was scrupulous," says the naive journalist, " whether we should 

 not be a scorn to go about to bind men's thoughts, but at last it was 

 concluded upon to be added, both for the more piety and for that the 

 fourth command includes it." The question of Sunday cookery was 

 then discussed and settled ; and, as regards public worship, it was de- 

 creed " that all the people meet so timely that the whole congregation 

 be present at the beginning, and not depart until after the blessing. 

 That what time is vacant between or after the solemn meetings of the 

 congregation be spent in reading, meditation, repetition of sermons," 



