226 QUEEN ELIZABETH CHAP.

new Anglican model was acquiesced in by the majority
of the nation. But it had, at first, no hearty support
except from the Government. The earnest religion-
ists were either Catholics or Puritans. The object of
Elizabeth was to compel these two extreme parties to
outward conformity of worship. What their real beliefs
were she did not care.

The large majority of the Catholics showed a loyal
and patriotic spirit at the time of the Armada. But
they were not treated with confidence by the Govern-
ment. Great numbers of them were imprisoned or
confined in the houses of Protestant gentlemen, by way
of precaution, when the Armada was approaching. No
Catholic, I believe, was intrusted with any command
either by land or sea; and after the danger was over,
the persecution, in all its forms, became sharper than
ever. There was the less reason for this, inasmuch
as it was no secret that the secular priests and the
great majority of the English Catholics had become
bitterly hostile to the small Jesuitical faction whose
treasonable conspiracies had brought so much trouble
on their loyal co-religionists.

The term "Puritan" is used loosely, though con-
veniently, to designate several shades of belief. By
far the larger number of those to whom it is applied
were, and meant to remain, members of the* Established
Church. They objected to certain ceremonies and
vestments. They hoped to procure the, abolition of
these, and, in the meantime, evaded them \vhcn they
could. They were what would now bo called the
Evangelical or Low Church party. They held Calvin's
distinctive doctrines on predestination, as indeed did