PILGRIM DEEDS AND DUTIES CHAPTER I THE BEGINNINGS OF CONGREGATIONALISM Our Heritage of It is hard for any age to imagine the difficulties of its predecessors. In our land and century religious toleration is taken for granted. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Congregationalists live together in friendly relations. All communions to some extent cooperate in good works and are loyal to a common flag. We have not reached agreement in belief but we have learned that each man must be free to believe what he will. How little we realize the long struggle which purchased our freedom. The Act of The story of this struggle as definitely related to Congregationalism begins with Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). She was an enlightened and liberal monarch. But personal religion meant very little to her and the political uses of the church meant much. It appeared to her highly important to prevent any change in the religious organization of her realm. So by the "Act of Uniformity" she made compulsory the use of the Book of Common Prayer by every religious assembly. Narrow-minded ecclesiastics followed the matter with zeal and before long it was almost impossible to hold an unauthorized meeting or "conventicle" without arrest. The English Establishment To understand this state of affairs we must remember the course which the Protestant Reformation had almost universally taken. While the Reformation under Henry VIII in England was more political than religious, it was similar to that of other countries in the assumption that a state could have only one type of Christianity. In Germany, for instance, if a prince changed his faith, the people were forced to change theirs, if he remained Catholic, the people were expected to remain true to Rome. The break with the Pope in England meant merely the substitution of a national for an international authority in the church. The monasteries were suppressed and the spoils divided, otherwise there was as little change as possible. The "reformed church of England" represented no radical reformation and was not intended to do so. Formalism, the ignorance and immorality of the priesthood, the tyranny of the church in purely personal matters these were only slightly mitigated. The people continued to be denied any voice in the appointment of their parish ministers. No general church convocations with lay representatives were allowed. Clerical convocations could assemble only at the command of the sovereign. Instead of freedom Henry had given the church a single despotism in place of the joint authority previously exercised over it by kings and pope. The "Act of Supremacy" by which the King became the head of the church was a declaration of independence for the nation. But for the individual Englishman it was simply a new form of slavery. Under this act when Henry was gone his daughter, Queen Elizabeth, was empowered to establish the court later known as the "High Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical." We shall presently see something of the working of this court. The Rise of Politically the development just described was doubtless a fortunate one for England. Religiously it was most deplorable. It led to long years of corruption and strife. The evil of it is still manifest. The events which followed were very natural. Early Protestantism everywhere believed that the Scriptures are the sole rule of faith and order. These Scriptures, which long years before had been translated into English by Wyclif and others, were permitted by the authorities to circulate freely. They rightly thought that an open Bible would turn the minds of the people against Rome. They failed to see that it would also turn them against the Roman traditions and abuses which Elizabeth was continuing. Protests soon began. At first they were only concerning ceremonies and vestments. A party arose which favored greater simplicity. It soon came to be known as the "Puritan party." The Puritan movement stands out as one of the Puritan great landmarks in the history of Christianity. Views As time went on it came to represent two things of profoundest importance. One was the humble recognition of God's ceaseless and sovereign guidance of human affairs. It was the Puritan's desire to live in constant realization of the presence of God. In the Appendix of this book will be found a passage from Macaulay which wonderfully describes this characteristic. The other mark of the Puritans was their endeavor to |