PURITANS. 



quiring uniformity in the habits, upon pain of prohibition 

 from preacbing, and deprivation. Parker, the archbifliop 

 of Canterbury, was violent and unrelenting ; and by various 

 methods of feverity, haraffed, fdenced, and deprived many 

 of tliofe who fcrupled the ufe of the habits. The fufpended 

 minifters, finding that renewed apphcations to the queen and 

 her commiffioners were ineffeftual, publifhed, in 1566, a 

 fmall trea^ife in vindication of their conduct ; in which they 

 allege, that neither the prophets of the Old Teftament, nor 

 the apoftles of the New, were dillinguillied by their gar- 

 ments ; that a diftinftion of garments in the ChrilUan church 

 did not generally obtain till long after the rifing of anti- 

 chrift ; that the garments againft whieh they objefted, had ■ 

 been abufed to idolatry, forcery, and all kinds of conju- 

 rations ; that they were an offence to weak Chriftians, an 

 encouragement to ignorant and obllinate papifts, and the 

 ufe of them an afFeftation of returning to their communion ; 

 that at beft they were only human appointments, fubjeft to 

 the apoftle's reproof. Col. ii. 20 — 22 ; that allowing them 

 to be indifferent (which they did not grant), yet they ought 

 not to be impofed, becaufe it was an infringement of the 

 liberty with which Chrift had made them free ; and finally 

 they urged the fuffrage of foreign divines, who all condemned 

 the habits, though they were not willing to hazard the re- 

 formation in its infancy, on account of them. 



If, at this time, the habits and a few ceremonies had been 

 left indifferent, both minifters and people would have ac- 

 quiefced ; but it was the compelling of thefe things by law 

 that made them feparate from the citablifhed church. Ac- 

 cordingly, in I ^66, they came to a 'refolution, alleging it 

 to be their duty, in tlieir prefent circumftances, to break off 

 from the pubhc churches, and to affemble, as they had op- 

 portunity, in private houfes, or elfewhere, to worfliip God 

 ill a manner that might not ofl'end againft the light of their 

 confciences ; and it was debated among them, whether they 

 fliould ufe as much of the common prayer and fervice of the 

 church as was not offenlive, or refolve at once, lince they 

 were cut off from the church of England, to fet up the 

 pureft and befl form of worfhip, moft confonant to the holy 

 fcriptures, and to the praftice of the foreign reformers. 

 The latter of thefe meafures was concluded upon ; and 

 accordingly they laid afide the Englifh liturgy, and made 

 ufe of the Geneva fervice-book. However, it is neceflary 

 to obferve, that though all the Puritans of thefe times would 

 have remained in the church, if they might have been in- 

 dulged in the habits and a few ceremonies, yet they were far 

 from being fatisfied with the hierarchy. They had other 

 objeftions befides thofe for which they were deprived ; of 

 which we fhall here fubjdin a fummary. They complained 

 of the bifhops aifefting to be thought a fuperior order to 

 prefbyters, and claiming the fole right of ordination, and the 

 ufe of the keys ; and affuming, in conneftion with their 

 office, temporal dignities, titles, and employments. As 

 long, however, as the Englifh bifliops pretended to derive 

 their dignity and authority from no other fource than the 

 laws of their country, and pleaded a right, merely human, 

 to the rank they held in the church and ftate, the controverfy 

 was carried on without excefTive animofity and zeal ; but the 

 ■flame broke out with redoubled fury in the year 1588, when 

 Bancroft, afterwards archbifhop of Canterbury, ventured 

 to aflert that the order of bifhops was fuperior to the body 

 of prefbyters, not in confequence of any human inftitution, 

 hut jure divino, or by the exprefs appointment of God him- 

 felf. Farther, the Puritans excepted againft the titles and 

 offices of archdeacons, deans, chapters, and other officials, 

 belonging to cathedrals, as having no foundation in fcrip- 

 ture, or primitive aatiquity, and intrenching upon the 



privileges of the prefbyters in the feveral diocefes. TJjey 

 complained of the exorbitant power and jurifdidtion of the 

 bifliops and their chancellors in their fpiritual courts, as de- 

 rived from the canon law of the pope, and not from the 

 word of God, or the ftatute law of the land. They la- 

 mented the want of a godly difcipline, and were uneafy at 

 the promifcuous and general accefs of all perfons to the 

 Lord's table. Though they did not difpute the lawfulnefs 

 of fet forms of prayer, provided a <lue liberty was allowed 

 for prayers of their own compolure before and after fermon, 

 yet they dillikcd the frequent repetition of the Lord's 

 prayer in the liturgy, the interruption of the prayers by the 

 frequent refponfes of the pcopk-, fome paflages in the office 

 of marriage, as With my body I thee worjh'ip, and in that of 

 burial, as Injure and certain hope of the refurreclion to eternal 

 life, pronounced over the worft of men, if not excommuni- 

 cated, &c. They alfo objedted againft the reading of the 

 apocryphal books in the church, while fome parts of 

 canonical fcripture were omitted ; and though they did not 

 diflike the homilies, they thouglit that no man fliould be 

 ordained a minifter in the church who was not capable of 

 preaching and expounding the holy fcriptures. They dif- 

 approved of feveral of the church fettivals or holidays, as 

 having no foundation in fcripture, or primitive antiquity ; 

 and they difallowed of the cathedral mode of worfliip ; nor 

 did they approve of mufical inftruments in the church 

 fervice. Finally, they fcruplsd conformity to certain rites 

 and ceremonies, which were enjoined by the rubric, or the 

 queen's injunftions ; as the fign of the crofs in baptifm, 

 baptifm bymidwives, or other women, in cafes of ficknefs, 

 and the mode of churching women ; the ufe of god-fathers and 

 god-mothers, to the exclufion of parents from being fureties 

 for the education of their own children ; the cuftom of con- 

 firming children, as foon as they could repeat the Lord's 

 prayer and their catechifm, by which they had a right to 

 come to the facrament, without any other qualification, and 

 the impofition of hands, as a fign of the divine favour, 

 which feeraed to them to imply a facramental efficacy in 

 this ceremony ; kneeling at the facrament of the Lord's 

 fupper, whilft they confidered that Chrift gave it to his dif- 

 ciples rather in a pofture of feafting than of adoration ; that 

 it had no foundation in antiquity ; that it had been grofsly 

 abufed by the papifts to idolatry in their adoration of the 

 holt ; and that, if the pofture were indifferent, it ought not 

 to be impofed as a neceffary term of communion ; nor did 

 they approve of adminiilering either of the facraments in 

 private, even in cafes of danger ; bowing at the name of 

 Jefus ; giving the ring in marriage, which they confidered 

 as derived from the papifts, who made marriage a facrament, 

 and the ring a fort of facred fign or fymbol ; the prohibition 

 of marriage during certain times of the year, and the licenfing 

 it for money ; and, laftl)-, the wearing of the furplice, and 

 other veftments to be ufed in divine fervice. 



In points of dottrine there was, at this time, no difference 

 between the Puritans and Conformifts ; and if we add one 

 article more to the preceding, we fhall have the principal 

 heads of controverfy between the church of England and 

 the Proteftant Diflenters, at this day ; iiiz. the natural 

 right which every man has to judge for himfelf, and make 

 profeffion of that religion he apprehends moft agreeable to 

 truth, as far as it does not affeft the peace and fafety of the 

 government under which he lives ; without being determine^ 

 by the prejudices of education, the laws of the civil magif- 

 trate, or the decrees of councils, churches, or fynods. See 

 Protejlant Dissenters. 



Towards the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign, there 

 arofe a party, which were lirft for foftening, and then for 



overthrowing. 



