ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



no degree. He seems to have had some influence, and was patronized by 

 the Lord High Admiral and the Earl of Northampton to whom he was 

 chaplain in 1603." In 1584 he was presented to this living by Henry 

 Hickman ; at this time, possibly, his views were not fully formed, for he 

 was ' no preacher ' and did not obtain licence to preach until eight years 

 later.*' In 1603 a return was made that at Bushey ' divine service was twice 

 duly said and the word likewise painfully and profitably preached twice every 

 Sabbath day ' '* ; yet this does not necessarily imply that the Prayer Book 

 was used, and the Prayer Book could be manipulated to meet the views of 

 men whose conscience could not endorse the new canons. The second 

 deprivation was that of John Spenser, vicar of Hoddesdon," whose successor 

 was collated to the living in March 1609-10. Spenser had held the living 

 since 1592, and so may be presumed to have had considerable influence in 

 his neighbourhood.'* Three resignations took effect in the years 1606-9 5 

 all were of livings in the archdeaconry of St. Albans,*' but only one can be 

 assigned with probability to the cause of conscience. Erasmus Cook, B.A., 

 was presented to the vicarage of St. Michael's by Dame Ann Bacon in 1591, 

 and doubtless belonged to the advanced Puritan school of thought of which 

 she was a patron. The records of the archdeaconry represent him as a man 

 of good learning, who catechized diligently, who preached twice on Sundays 

 and generally once on holidays,"" this last a fact of some interest as indicating 

 that he followed the Prayer Book in the observance of such feasts. 



With the first decade of the 17th century the ecclesiastical and academic 

 aspect of Puritanism passed away and gave place to a movement which was 

 essentially political. The old forms were indeed retained and their language 

 popularized, but the informing motive had changed. A learned and preaching 

 ministry and external pressure had spread seriousness from the universities to 

 the middle classes and the middle classes had applied its formulae to politics. 

 But while Puritan ideas were thus making their way in the country at large 

 a reaction was setting in at Oxford and Cambridge, and the study of the 

 Fathers, which in the past generation had led men to long for the 

 re-establishment of the primitive order, was now reviving the conception of 

 the historical church.^ 



The dislike to episcopacy was perhaps the most marked characteristic 

 of public opinion, and with this went a growing distrust of sacramental 

 doctrines. In Elizabeth's reign complaint had been made of the general 

 superstition that sent children in hundreds to be confirmed ; the practice 

 was discouraged by the clergy, and by 16 14 the archdeacon reported to the 

 Bishop of Lincoln that he could not ' perceive any Forwardness in any of 

 the Ministers to have the Children of their Parishes confirmed,' and in the 

 opinion of the chancellor of the diocese a special charge for that purpose 

 was necessary.* 



Neglect of the ordinances of the Church was coupled with direct 

 hostility to its rulers and hence, in the opinion of the time, to the civil 



9^ Newcourt, iJ^/^r/. 87, 116. 95 Ibid. 69, 87. ^ Ibid. 113. '' Ibid. 813. 



9* One other vacancy may possibly be due to deprivation. Thomas Talbot, M.A., vicar of Hexton, was 

 succeeded in July 1609 by Oliver Burdsell, but no reason for the change is assigned (ibid.). 



99 i.e. Sarratt, St. Michael's and Hexton. 10° Rec. of the Old Archd. of St. Albans, 85, 114. 



1 cf. Pocklington, Altare Christianum and Sunday no Sabbath. ^ Add. MS. 5853, fol. 166^. 



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