[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.It is quite possible that the same conservative tendencies which held them to the old church held themto their old homes.If they had been as easily detached from their native soil as the Puritans and Quakers, onecannot doubt that some great migration comparable to that of those two bodies would have taken place.CHAPTER XIITHE ENGLISH PURITANS AND THE SECTS (1550-1689)The multitude of Englishmen other than Catholics, who, at the opening of the seventeenth century, weredissatisfied with the church of England as by law established, may be grouped under the general name ofPuritans; although as time passed on various newly organized religious bodies formed themselves fromamong them, so that two more religious classes, at least, have to be differentiated.The roots of Puritanism areto be found in the characteristics of human temperament.Conservatives and radicals will always exist; thePuritans were those who carried or tried to carry the principles and ideas of the Reformation to their logicaland rigorous conclusion.Such men as Latimer, Cranmer, and many of the theologians of the reign of EdwardVI., were already steadily approaching the fundamental position of the Puritans, as their thought developed,long before the foreign influence of the reign of Queen Mary became effective and the modified Protestantismof Elizabeth was introduced.If the government had kept its hands off, England would have divided into two camps, that of the Catholicsand that of a Puritanically reformed church.The Anglican system was an artificial one, a compromiseestablished under the influence of the crown and kept in power by royal determination till it eventually wonthe devotion, the loyalty, or at least the deliberate acceptance of the great body of moderate and conservativeEnglishmen.Catholics and Puritans were the logical opposites, and not Catholics and Anglicans, nor yetAnglicans and Puritans.Yet in a more immediate sense Mary gave occasion to the rise of Puritanism by driving into banishment manyof the more devout Protestants of her day.At Frankfort, Strasburg, Basel, Zurich, and Geneva groups of theseEnglish exiles gathered, formed congregations worshipping together; developed, apart from the restrictions ofgovernment, the logical tendencies of their religious ideas; and in many cases came under the powerful CHAPTER XII 79influence of continental reformers.Especially at Frankfort [Footnote: Hinds, The England of Elizabeth, 12-67.] and at Geneva was the religious life of these Protestant communities at white heat; and controversieswere then begun and principles adopted which dominated all the later life of these Englishmen, and werehanded down to their successors in England and America as party cries through more than a century.Whenthe ordeal of Mary's reign was over, the exiled for conscience' sake returned to England, but they formedalready a body divergent from the church as it was then established.During Elizabeth's reign three stages of the development of Puritanism gave occasion for correspondingconflicts with the crown and for making more clear the differences between Anglican and Puritan.During thefirst decade of the reign, Puritanism meant a protest against certain of the ceremonies and formulas andvestments required of clergymen by the law.The sign of the cross on the child's forehead in baptism, thecelebration of saints' days, insistence on kneeling to receive the communion, the use of church organs, thechanging of robes during the service, and even the wearing of a surplice or a square cap, were to many earnestsouls survivals of "popery" and temptations to superstition.The clergy who held such beliefs tried byresolutions in convocation to change the practices of the church: but notwithstanding the large votes in theirfavor they were still in the minority and were defeated.[Footnote: Strype, Annals, I., 500-505.]Then individual ministers began to disregard the law, and either to neglect the use of certain requirements ofthe prayer-book altogether or to change the forms there laid down.The archbishop and the Court of HighCommission issued detailed instructions insisting on observance of the authorized form of worship; [Footnote:Prothero, Statutes and Constitutional Documents, 191-194.] but the ministers declared that they owedobedience to God rather than to man, and either resigned their pastorates or, encouraged by theircongregations, continued to disobey the law and the archiepiscopal injunctions.It was at this time and in thisconnection that the word "Puritan" came into use, as a term of reproach for those who insisted on anultra-pure ritual, purged from all traces of the old religion."Puritan" was used as "Pharisee" might have been.[Footnote: Camden, Annals, year 1568.]From 1570 onward Puritanism entered upon a second stage, in the form of a contest for changes in theorganization of the established church [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl milosnikstop.keep.pl
.It is quite possible that the same conservative tendencies which held them to the old church held themto their old homes.If they had been as easily detached from their native soil as the Puritans and Quakers, onecannot doubt that some great migration comparable to that of those two bodies would have taken place.CHAPTER XIITHE ENGLISH PURITANS AND THE SECTS (1550-1689)The multitude of Englishmen other than Catholics, who, at the opening of the seventeenth century, weredissatisfied with the church of England as by law established, may be grouped under the general name ofPuritans; although as time passed on various newly organized religious bodies formed themselves fromamong them, so that two more religious classes, at least, have to be differentiated.The roots of Puritanism areto be found in the characteristics of human temperament.Conservatives and radicals will always exist; thePuritans were those who carried or tried to carry the principles and ideas of the Reformation to their logicaland rigorous conclusion.Such men as Latimer, Cranmer, and many of the theologians of the reign of EdwardVI., were already steadily approaching the fundamental position of the Puritans, as their thought developed,long before the foreign influence of the reign of Queen Mary became effective and the modified Protestantismof Elizabeth was introduced.If the government had kept its hands off, England would have divided into two camps, that of the Catholicsand that of a Puritanically reformed church.The Anglican system was an artificial one, a compromiseestablished under the influence of the crown and kept in power by royal determination till it eventually wonthe devotion, the loyalty, or at least the deliberate acceptance of the great body of moderate and conservativeEnglishmen.Catholics and Puritans were the logical opposites, and not Catholics and Anglicans, nor yetAnglicans and Puritans.Yet in a more immediate sense Mary gave occasion to the rise of Puritanism by driving into banishment manyof the more devout Protestants of her day.At Frankfort, Strasburg, Basel, Zurich, and Geneva groups of theseEnglish exiles gathered, formed congregations worshipping together; developed, apart from the restrictions ofgovernment, the logical tendencies of their religious ideas; and in many cases came under the powerful CHAPTER XII 79influence of continental reformers.Especially at Frankfort [Footnote: Hinds, The England of Elizabeth, 12-67.] and at Geneva was the religious life of these Protestant communities at white heat; and controversieswere then begun and principles adopted which dominated all the later life of these Englishmen, and werehanded down to their successors in England and America as party cries through more than a century.Whenthe ordeal of Mary's reign was over, the exiled for conscience' sake returned to England, but they formedalready a body divergent from the church as it was then established.During Elizabeth's reign three stages of the development of Puritanism gave occasion for correspondingconflicts with the crown and for making more clear the differences between Anglican and Puritan.During thefirst decade of the reign, Puritanism meant a protest against certain of the ceremonies and formulas andvestments required of clergymen by the law.The sign of the cross on the child's forehead in baptism, thecelebration of saints' days, insistence on kneeling to receive the communion, the use of church organs, thechanging of robes during the service, and even the wearing of a surplice or a square cap, were to many earnestsouls survivals of "popery" and temptations to superstition.The clergy who held such beliefs tried byresolutions in convocation to change the practices of the church: but notwithstanding the large votes in theirfavor they were still in the minority and were defeated.[Footnote: Strype, Annals, I., 500-505.]Then individual ministers began to disregard the law, and either to neglect the use of certain requirements ofthe prayer-book altogether or to change the forms there laid down.The archbishop and the Court of HighCommission issued detailed instructions insisting on observance of the authorized form of worship; [Footnote:Prothero, Statutes and Constitutional Documents, 191-194.] but the ministers declared that they owedobedience to God rather than to man, and either resigned their pastorates or, encouraged by theircongregations, continued to disobey the law and the archiepiscopal injunctions.It was at this time and in thisconnection that the word "Puritan" came into use, as a term of reproach for those who insisted on anultra-pure ritual, purged from all traces of the old religion."Puritan" was used as "Pharisee" might have been.[Footnote: Camden, Annals, year 1568.]From 1570 onward Puritanism entered upon a second stage, in the form of a contest for changes in theorganization of the established church [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]