VII. CHAPTER VII. CONDITION OF THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND DURING THE A. D. 1558-1625. The condition of the Church of England at the time of planting our first Colonies, a reason for inquiring into the causes which produced it-Acts of Supremacy and Conformity in the first years of Elizabeth -The Queen's Injunctions concerning the Clergy and Laity, in the same year-The Thirty-nine Articles-Rise of the Puritans-Archbishop Parker-His prudence and forbearance towards Roman Catholics, with regard to enforcing the Act of Supremacy-His conduct towards the Puritans-The Bull of Pope Pius the Fifth, in 1570-Proceedings of the English Parliament, in consequence, against Romish Recusants-The progress of Puritanism—Admonition to the Parliament by the Puritans, in 1572-Cartwright-The first English Presbytery at Wandsworth-Archbishop Grindal-The Brownists -Archbishop Whitgift-Proceedings against the Puritans-The Star Chamber and Court of High Commission-Whitaker-Hooker -Accession of James the First-The Hampton-Court Conference -Translation of the Bible-Canons-Archbishop Bancroft-Archbishop Abbot-Summary Review. CHAP. WE have stated, at the end of the last chapter, that and appalling difficulties beset the Church · tion of the of England, in the age which witnessed the plant The condi Church of many England at ing of our first Colonies; and that the sequel of the time of first Colo planting our this history will show how grievously the exercise nies, a reason of her ministrations, in those new fields of labour, for inquiring was encumbered by their weight. These difficulties produced it. were so various, and, all of them, so closely interwoven with the texture of our national history, that into the causes which VII. it seems scarcely possible to trace, as we have under- CHAP. taken to do, the progress of their consequences abroad, without first taking a brief survey of the causes which originated them at home:-and this we are about to attempt in the present chapter. A reference has been already made, generally, to the commencement of the Reformation, in the reign of Henry the Eighth; its progress, under Edward the Sixth; the check, which it received from Mary; and its renewal and completion, upon the accession of Elizabeth to the throne. The bare recital of these facts prepares us, in some degree, to expect the events which followed them. It tells us what opposition the Reformed Church of our land would be likely to encounter, on the one side, from Rome, eager to regain the power which she had lost; and, on the other side, from those, whose dread of Romish tyranny and Romish corruptions, led them to recoil from every thing which had borne her name, or was associated with her services. And what marvel is it, if, amid the din and turmoil of disputes so complicated, and in an age of such relentless despotism, the champions of the truth themselves should have failed sometimes to listen to her commands, and been betrayed into the performance of acts which her voice condemns, and of which her followers are ashamed? The commencement of Elizabeth's reign was Acts of Sumarked by the enactment of two statutes', which Conformity 1 Elizabeth ascended the throne November 17, 1558; and these Acts VOL. I. were passed in the Parliament con- K premacy and VII. in the first year of CHAP. incorporated the Church of England with the constitution of the realm. They were the Acts of SuElizabeth. premacy and Conformity; the first of which 'restored to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolished all foreign powers repugnant to the same:' and the second legally re-established the reformed worship, and prohibited any change of its rites and discipline, except with the sanction of the appointed rulers of the Church 2. The Queen's injunctions The objects intended to be secured by these Acts, concerning were further explained in the Injunctions given by and Laity, in the Queen's Majesty, concerning both the Clergy the Clergy the same year. and Laity of this Realm,' and published in the first year of her reign, 15593. These Injunctions, after setting forth certain provisions for the faithful and regular discharge of the duties devolving upon the various orders of the Clergy, contain also An Admonition to simple men, deceived by malicious,' in which reference is distinctly made to the oath, required under the Act of Supremacy; and to the 2 Hallam's Constitutional History of England, i. pp. 152 and 231. See also Gladstone's State in its relations with the Church, ii. 118, 119, where it is shown, most clearly, that neither the number nor authority of the Romish prelates, who opposed the passing of the above Acts, was such as to invalidate the proposition there maintained, namely, that the Elizabethan Reformation was founded on, and ratified and accepted by, the authority of the National Church. 3 Bishop Sparrow's Collection of Articles, Injunctions, &c., pp. 66 -84, Second edition. The chief points of difference between these Injunctions of Elizabeth, and those issued by Edward, twelve years before, are given in Blunt's History of the Reformation, pp. 309 -311; and are worthy of notice, as furnishing an index to the progress of opinion which had been made in the interval. See also Cardwell's Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England, i. 178-209. restraints, by which it was still intended to control the exercise of the royal authority. Some persons, it appears, had inferred, from the terms of the said oath, that thereby the kings or queens of this realm, possessors of the crown, might challenge authority and power of ministry of divine service in the Church.' The correctness of such an interpretation is consequently denied, and the assertion broadly made, that no other authority was, or would be, exercised by the Queen than that which was, of ancient time, due to the imperial crown of this realm; that is, under God, to have the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within these her realms, dominions and countries, of what estate, either ecclesiastical or temporal, soever they may be, so as no other foreign power shall or ought to have any superiority over them ?? The principle, upon which such Acts were passed, and such explanations concerning them promulgated, was the belief, that the whole body of citizens, 4 Bishop Sparrow's Collection, &c. ut sup. pp. 81, 82. Mr. Hallam, in his Constitutional History, i. 152, n. has rightly called the attention of the reader to the above document, and pointed out the importance of that contemporaneous exposition of the law' which it contains. This exposition was further confirmed by a proclamation, issued by Elizabeth ten years afterwards, after the suppression of the northern rebellion, in which it is expressly stated, that 'she claimed no other ecclesiastical authority than had been due to her predecessors; that she pretended no right to define articles of faith, to CHAP. VII. VII. CHAP. united under one temporal governor, the Sovereign, could alone be preserved in peace and order, by the exercise, on the one hand, of those means of grace which were ministered through the Church; and by being protected, on the other, from the encroachment of any power, from within or from without, which interfered with the authority of the Crown. The authority, thus established, was not the intrusion of secular dominion into matters spiritual, nor the judgment of human tribunals upon truths which the Spirit of God alone had revealed, and of which His Church was the appointed keeper and witness. Still less was it any compromise of the trust committed to the keeping of the Church,-any faithless desire to reap temporal benefit, at the cost of her own integrity, which led her thus to recognise the supremacy of the Crown. The essential characteristics which belonged to her, in her separate condition, were not lost by her incorporation with the State, any more than were those of the State itself. A freer course only was opened for the exercise of her proper functions, and the solemn avowal more distinctly made, that the glory of God was the salvation of His people. True, the coercive power, which was supplied by this union of the ecclesiastical with the civil authority, and placed in the hands both of the spiritual and temporal rulers of the Church, was a grievous hindrance in the way of her securing the intended benefit; and the difficulties, by which she was afterwards beset, may be traced mainly to the operation of this cause. It is a power, which the |