uniformity: V. Of the court of high commission: VI. Of the conference at Hampton Court: VII. Of the legal establishment of the puritans by the long parliament: VIII. Of the act of conformity: IX. and of the act of toleration, in the reign of William III. The insertion of the two last articles will break into the chronological order, generally observed in these pages; but, they will occupy a very small space, and the anticipation will enable the writer to close, in this place, the subject of the present chapter.-X. It will conclude with a brief account of the religious persecutions, suffered and inflicted by the puritans.

XXIX. 1.

The origin of the Puritans.

IT has been mentioned, that, in the reign of Henry the eighth, those, who favoured the reformation, were generally inclined to the Lutheran creed, discipline, and liturgy: that, in the reign of Edward the sixth, they generally inclined to the doctrine of Calvin; and that the change of religion, during the reign of queen Mary, and the consequences of that change, drove some of the most zealous of the English reformers into exile. Their number is supposed to have been about 800. Some settled in Switzerland; but the greater part at Frankfort, or its neighbourhood. Many preserved the form of worship of the English church; others preferred the Helvetian rites, on account of their greater simplicity. The former received the appellation of

Conformists; the latter, that of Non-conformists, or Puritans. These soon split into parties, and scandalised all the protestants of Germany by their quarrels. In the end, the conformists obtained the ascendancy.

The non-conformists, generally, adopted the doctrine, and discipline, of Calvin. On this account, they were disliked by the Lutherans, and the conduct of these, in their regard, was most uncharitable. They proceeded so far, (as we are informed by doctor Maclaine*) as to call "the Eng"lish martyrs, who, in the reign of queen Mary, "had sealed the Reformation with their blood,"The devil's martyrs."

XXIX. 2.

The principal points in difference, between the Church of England, and the Puritans.

FROM Mosheim,† we transcribe the following very accurate statement of this difference.

"The principles laid down by the commissioners "of the queen's high court of commission, on the "one hand, and the puritans on the other, were very different."

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1. "For, in the first place, the former main"tained, that the right of reformation,—that is,— "the privilege of removing the corruptions, and of "correcting the errors, that may have been intro

* Translation of Mosheim's History, ed. 2, vol. iv. p. 87. + Ib. cent. xvi. sec. 3, part 11.

"duced into the doctrine, discipline, or worship, "of the church, is lodged in the sovereign, or civil magistrate alone; while the latter denied, that "the power of the magistrate extended so far, and "maintained, that it was rather the business of the clergy to restore religion to its native dignity and "lustre. This was the opinion of CALVIN, as has "been already observed."

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2dly. "The queen's commissioners maintained, "that the rule of proceeding, in reforming the doctrine, or discipline, of the church, was not to "be derived from the sacred writings alone, but "also from the writings and decisions of the fathers, "in the primitive ages. The puritans, on the contrary, affirmed, that the inspired word of God, being the pure and only fountain of wisdom and

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truth, it was from thence alone, that the rules, "and directions, were to be drawn, which were to guide the measures of those, who undertook to

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purify the faith, or to rectify the discipline, and "worship, of the church; and that the ecclesiastical "institutions of the early ages, as also the writings "of the antient doctors, were absolutely destitute "of all sort of authority."

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3dly. "The queen's commissioners ventured to assert, that the church of Rome was a true church, though corrupt, and erroneous, in many points of "doctrine and government; that the Roman pontiff, though chargeable with temerity, and arrogance, in assuming to himself the title and jurisdiction, of head of the whole church, was, "nevertheless to be esteemed a true and lawful

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bishop; and consequently, that the ministers, "ordained by him, were qualified for performing the pastoral duties. This was a point, which the English bishops thought it absolutely necessary "to maintain, since they could not, otherwise, "claim the honour of deriving their dignities, in

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an uninterrupted line of succession from the apostles.--But, the puritans entertained very different "notions of this matter; they considered the Ro"mish hierarchy, as a system of political, and spi"ritual, tyranny, that had justly forfeited the title, "and privileges, of a true church; they looked upon its pontiff as antichrist; and its discipline as

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vain, superstitious, idolatrous, and diametrically "opposite to the injunctions of the gospel; and, in "consequence of this, they renounced its communion, and regarded all approaches to its discipline, "and worship, as highly dangerous to the cause "of true religion."

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4thly. "The court commissioners considered, as "the best, and most perfect, form of ecclesiastical government, that, which took place, during the "first four or five centuries;-they even preferred "it to that, which had been instituted by the apostles, because, as they alleged, our Saviour, and his

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apostles, had accommodated the form, mentioned "in the scripture, to the feeble, and infant, state of "the church; and left it to the wisdom and discre"tion of future ages, to modify it, in such manner, "as might be suitable to the triumphant progress of christianity, the grandeur of a national establish"ment, and also to the ends of civil policy. The

"puritans asserted, in opposition to this, that the "rules of church government were clearly laid "down in the holy Scriptures, the only standard "of spiritual discipline; and that the apostles, in "establishing the first christian church on the aris"tocratical plan, that was then observed in the "Jewish sanhedrim, designed it, as an unchange"able model, to be followed, in all times, and in "all places."

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5thly. "The court reformers were of opinion, "that things indifferent, which are neither commanded, nor forbidden, by the authority of scrip"ture, such as the external rites of public worship; "the kind of vestments, that are to be used by the clergy; religious festivals, and the like, might "be ordered, determined, and rendered a matter "of obligation, by the authority of the civil magis66 trate; and that, in such a case, the violation of "his commands, would be no less criminal, than an "act of rebellion against the laws of the state."The puritans alleged, in answer to this assertion, that it was an indecent prostitution of power to impose, as necessary, and indispensable, those things, which CHRIST had left, in the class of "matters indifferent; since this was a manifest "encroachment upon that liberty, with which the

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divine Saviour had made us free. To this, they "added, that such rites, and ceremonies, as had "been abused to idolatrous purposes, and had a "manifest tendency to revive the impressions of superstition, and popery, in the minds of men, "could by no means be considered as indifferent,

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