Struggles and triumphs of religious liberty

Qass.
Book.

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

AN

HISTORICAL SURVEY

CONTROVERSIES PERTAINING TO THE RIGHTS OF CON-
SCIENCE, FROM THE ENGLISH REFORMATION TO
THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND.

BY

EDWARD B. UNDEEHILL, Esq.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY SEWALL S. CUTTING,

NEW YOKK:
PUBLISHED BY LEWIS

122 NASSAU STREET
1851.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,

BY LEWIS COLBY,

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York.

PKEFACE.

A FEW years ago a society was formed in England, called the
" Hanserd Knollys Society," — so named in honor of a distin-
guished Baptist minister of the l7th century, — " for the Publica-
tion of the Works of Early English and other Baptist Writers."
The first volume issued by this society appeared in 1846, under
the title, " Tracts on Liberty of Conscience and Persecution,
1614 — 1661." The second volume, issued in 184Y, contained
" the Records of a Church of Christ, meeting in Broadmead,
Bristol, 1640 — 1687." Since then have appeared successively,
a reprint of the first editions of the first and second parts of
the " Pilgrim's Progress," by John Bunyan, the " Bloody
Tenent," by Roger Williams, and the " Necessitie of Separa-
tion," by John Canne. These works, all of them of great his-
torical interest and value, are the more valuable for the amount
of dihgent editorial labor which has been bestowed upon these
elegant editions. It is to be regretted, that they have attained
no wider circulation in this country. A few copies only have
been circulated from the American Baptist Publication Society
in Philadelphia. Even our public libraries are generally with-
out them.

The "Tracts," the "Broadmead Records," and the "Bloody
Tenent," were edited by Edward B. Underbill, Esq. From the
Introductions to these volumes the Historical Survey contained
in the following pages has been taken. The introduction to
the " Bloody Tenent" is, in strictness. Biographical, but the
omission of many personal details not connected with the de-
sign of the present publication, gives it sufficiently an historical
character, and renders it a fitting conclusion to the volume. It

VI PREFACE.

brings down the survey of controversies to the settlement of
New England, from which point a new work should start, illus-
trating the progress of religious liberty in this country.

The present writer has given some attention to this subject,
with a view to such an undertaking. The materials are abund-
ant, and are not wanting in interest. Massachusetts and Vir-
ginia furnished the great battle-fields where the contest was
most violent, but through nearly all the older states there were
strifes sufficiently earnest and significant. The authority of
magistrates over the conscience was, both as a doctrine and a
practice, too thoroughly a part of English national life, to be
expelled from the forming institutions of this Western World,
without long debate. Those who suffered for conscience' sake,
— who declared steadfastly, through successive generations, the
principles of rehgious liberty which Roger Williams affirmed
and illustrated in Rhode Island, and won at last signal and
glorious triumphs, most certainly merit a record of their deeds.
Such a record, written in a spirit of candor and discrimination,
and after a full examination of all available sources of informa-
tion, it may be believed, would be welcomed by our country-
men, as an important contribution to our history. The pres-
ent writer is not prepared to pledge himself to such an attempt ;
but should no abler hand undertake it, and should Divine
Providence give him life and leisure, he may, at some future
period, present such an offering to the public.

\

CONTENTS.

PAOK
INTRODUCTION 1

SECTION I. HENRY VIII 15

i

II. EDWARD VI 64

III. THE BAPTISTS . . , , . . 79

IV.— MARY 119

v.- — THE BAPTISTS 127

VI. ELIZABETH 134

VII. THE PURITANS . , . , .147

VTII. THE BROWNISTS *i59

IX. THE BAPTISTS 169

X. THE INDEPENDENTS 202

XI. THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND . . 216

INTRODUCTION.

Whoever looks abroad over these American States observes the
■workings of institutions such as have never before blessed the world.
N"ot till the darkness of the Middle Ages had yielded to the rising
dawn of the new and better Ages succeeding ; — not till Feudalism was
giving place to doctrines and actual developments in which Human
Rights were recognized, did it please God to discover to the civilized
world this "Western Hemisphere, and to lay here the foundations of
new Empires. How marked too was the presence of his guiding
Hand in partitioning this Hemisphere among those who struggled for
the prize ! That portion which lay nearest the Old World was un-
questionably the most important ; — it had not indeed mountains whose
bowels yielded silver, nor streams whose waters washed out gold, but
it had a genial clime and a productive soil, capacious harbors and far-
reaching inland water-courses, with a broad, unmeasured, and ua-
imagined interior, capable of sustaining the population of Europe five
times told. Into whose hands should it fall ? By what people should
it be settled, and whose institutions should find here opportunities for
boundless development ? It was a critical period in the history of the
world. Suppose for one moment that Spain had won the prize, —
Spain, rich, proud, the first of European States in material possessions
and in rank, but at the same time most bigoted of all in obsequious-
ness to Rome, — dry, like Gideon's fleece, amid the dews of the Ref-
ormation,*— and sworn to an everlasting war against civil and relig-
ious freedom ! Or suppose that this portion of the Continent had
become the possession of France, which, standing for a while poised
between the Reformation and the Roman Apostasy, at length fell back
to the latter, and wedded herself anew to the work of human enslave-
ment ! Both sought the coveted acquisition. Spain planted her stand-
ard amid the luxuriant flowers of the South, and France believed that
the lilies of Bourbon would grow on the cold shores of the St. Law-
rence. Spain sent her pioneers along the Gulf of Mexico to the Mis-
sissippi, and France with equal zeal established posts along the

* Macanlay.

11 INTRODUCTION.

Northern Lakes, and far down the same great river of the "West.
These powers had belted the Eastern half of the Continent, and its
partition between them was the only prospect which opened to the
human eye. Alas for the world if such had been the fate of America !
But Divine Providence was at this very time training another people
to become the possessors of this wide domain. The Reformation had
stirred the English mind to its depths. Looking back now upon the
history of England for centuries preceding the period of which we are
speaking, we are able to see in the commingling of races and of insti-
tutions, and specially in the demands for a purer worship which had
often sprung from the people, and in the recognition and settlement of
great and immutable principles of law which had agitated Parliaments
and Courts, the progress of a Providential discipline which prepared
England to become Protestant, True, she did not become so without
long struggles in Church and State. Parties of the Old Learning and
the 'New contended violently for the mastery, and through successive
generations confessors and patriots bore their dying testimonies at the
stake and on the scaffold. But the principles of civil and religious
liberty had found a place in the English mind from which they could
not be dislodged. Every struggle, whatever the immediate issue, was
a triumph on the side of freedom. Principles are more powerful than
arms, and the contest is never doubtful. "When England accepted the
Reformation, — and England, as God had trained her, could not do
otherwise, — she committed herself to the glorious destiny which she
has fulfilled. She became the Mistress of Nations, and under God the
Regenerator and Hope of the world.

To England, pledged to such a mission, God gave for the time this
Western domain. His purposes, however, could not then be foreseen.
Those whom the mother country sent hither, some as exiles and some
as adventurers, brought with them the agitations which rent society at
home, and out of which were to be eliminated the principles and the
institutions of freedom. The scenes amid which they planted them-
selves, the occupations to which their necessities gave rise, the oppor-
tunities for popular government which their Charters secured and their
condition rendered indispensable, all conspired to carry forward the
developments of freedom more rapidly than was possible in the land
which the colonists had left. And now the purposes of Providence
became apparent. The Reformation was not more a necessity to
England, than was the Revolution to the Colonies. That Revolution
lay along the path of inevitable destiny. It gave to a Continent the
institutions of which the Reformation in England was the prophecy
and the pledge. It consecrated this wide and glorious domain to the
illustration of civil and religious liberty.

INTRODUCTION. lU

It requires an effort of attention, and a comparison of our condition
with that of the people of other countries, to estimate justly the bless-
ings of our freedom. It is a freedom limited and regulated by law,
but the limitations and regulations lie just at those points beyond
which freedom becomes anarchy and a curse. It is the inalienable
right of every American citizen to seek his own happiness in his own
way, provided only that he shall not invade the equal rights of his
neighbors. Every sphere of life is open to every man. The largest
wealth, the highest stations, are the fair prizes for which all are the
equally protected competitors. As matters of fact, our merchant-
princes and our Senators and Presidents are often from humble
spheres of life, and have worked their way to wealth and rank by
the force of talents exercised where opportunities were free. Our in-
stitutions are precisely in harmony with man's nature, and meet his
conscious wants. They invite him to progress, and have their best
illustration when he avails himself most of the privileges which they
furnish.

It is not so in the older nations. There are seats of power which it
would be treason to attempt to reach even by honorable means. The
avenues to wealth and even to knowledge are obstructed by oppres-
sive restrictions, and society is divided into castes by barriers which it
is scarcely possible to surmount. And this whole frame-work of op-
pression is held together by the presence of a mihtary force, which,
rmder the pretext of defending against invasion from abroad, really is
maintained to preserve the thrones of tyrants and the ascendency of
privileged classes at home. The foreigner coming to our shores finds
it difBcult to put himself fully in sympathy with his new condition.
Our equality of rights and opportunities is to him a new experience,
and amid the absence of a military force he wonders what holds our
society together. At length he learns that the conservative forces of
American society are spiritual, — that the spirit of freedom is likewise
the spirit of law, — that an intelligent and virtuous community of free-
men will maintain social quietness and order, by a law within as un-
failing as that law of the material world which holds the planets in
then steady pathway around the sun. There may be, there are,
crimes against peace and order, and there must be laws and constabu-
lary forces for the lawless and disturbers of the peace, but it is not
these laws and forces which maintain the quietness of our great family
of free citizens. J^"ever was there a government where so little out-
ward force was seen, — never one where so little was needed. The
secret hes in the fact that here man has attained and understands his
rights ; he has attained true freedom, the very spirit of which is rev-
erential to law.

IV INTRODUCTION.

But it was not our purpose to speak at length of civil freedom.
Our religious freedom is even more our distinction and honor. It is
Freedom, Other lands may boast of Toleration ; we boast of Free-
dom. None with us has the right or the power to tolerate. There is
neither magistrate nor priest of their great clemency to permit A to be
an Episcopalian, or B to be a Presbyterian, or C to be a Baptist, or D to
be a Roman Catholic. They are the one or the other because as Free-
men they are so persuaded, and because, under responsibility to God
only, they so choose to be. Such is the religious liberty of these
States. No denomination is patronized, — none is proscribed. The
State confines its jurisdiction to civil affairs only, and so long as its
peace is preserved, leaves the domain of Conscience to the unshared
supremacy of its rightful Lord. With us the State and the Church
have learned respectively their spheres, and each confines itself within
its own realm. Our institutions can boast no higher honor than the
solution of this problem. To many foreigners it is a marvel that the
State can preserve order without the organized alliance of the Church
as a moral police, and not less a marvel that the Church can thrive
without drawing patronage and aid from the State. To us it is no
marvel. The State derives aid from the Church unquestionably, but
derives that aid only as the Church untrammelled and free promotes
sentiments of piety and virtue among the people. Purer because she
is free, she for that reason thrives best and accomplishes most. Her
very freedom quickens thought, and awakens energy, and incites to
prayer, and her power to conserve the State can be illustrated and
known only when the last link which binds her to the State is sun-
dered. She demands the right to declare a free gospel to free con-
sciences, and having that she demands no more. The support of her
ministry and worship she will derive from the willing offerings of those
whom her teachings bless.

How happy our lot is in respect to religious freedom is seen, as in
the former instance, by comparing our condition with that of the
people of other, and even the most favored nations. The rising Bap-
tists of Germany, for no other crime than their faith, have been sub-
jected to fines, imprisonment and banishment, and even while we write
are enduring these vexations and wrongs. Baptists have shared the
same fate in Denmark, and the banishment of a Baptist minister from
Sweden is fresh in the recollection of the reader as an item of recent
news. France has belied her clamorous boasts of republicanism as
much by petty persecutions at home as by crushing the rising liberties
of Italy. But it is not necessary to seek out special instances of per-
secution to illustrate the wide differences between our condition and
that of nations where the Church is connected with the State. The

INTRODT-OTIOX. V

Tvhole system of religious establishments is evil only ; and when it
ceases to be a persecution it becomes a bribe. Under such establish-
ments religious freedom in its broadest and truest sense is an impos-
sibility, and the compulsory taxes which -vvring from Dissenters the
stipends with which priests whom they never hear, and whose doc-
trines they do not believe, are paid, are among the minor evils of such
a connection. It is not necessary to allude to Cathohc countries where
penalties follow the slightest indications of free thought, or to recur to
the history of those times when the Inquisition sought victims for the
rack, and the souls of martyrs ascended to heaven amid the flames by
which their bodies were consumed.

It is perhaps sufficiently plain, and is generally recognized, that our
institutions are a growth of many ages, — the fruits of contests carried
on through successive generations. It may be doubted, however,
whether .the stages of the growth, and the histories of particular con-
tests, are as well understood as is desirable, — whether indeed we
should not prize far more highly our " goodly heritage," and render a
warmer tribute of gratitude for it, if we more distinctly recognized
the actors and the incidents in the Struggles and Triumphs of Religious
Liberty. Our special Liability is to overlook the earlier struggles, and
the noble braveiy of the earlier combatants. We venture to say that
it is a limited number, of even intelligent readers, who are accustomed
to trace the progress of civil freedom farther back than the Revolu-
tion of 1688, or at farthest than the period of the contests with Charles
I. and the overthrow of the monarchy. True, they carry in their rec-
olleclion the testimony borne in general phrases, as in Hume, that
England is indebted for the liberties of her people, more to the Puri-
tans than to any other class or party, but a search into the grounds on
which such testimony is borne, — an inquiry into the circumstances of
the rise of the Puritans, — the principles which they affirmed, — the
parties into which they themselves were divided, — their relations to
the State, — the struggles through which they passed in their earlier
collisions with the ruling powers, — their sufferings as patriots of whom
the world was not worthy, and the steady triumphs which prepared
them for the more notable events of the seventeenth century ; these
are matters too often regarded with indifference and overlooked.

It is so likewise in relation to religious liberty. There are multi-
tudes who, though they may have read of earlier demands for the
rights of conscience, have nevertheless no distinct apprehension of hard
contests for religious freedom previous to those which brought the
Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock. The first great shock, in which the in-
alienable rights of free consciences were fully and distinctly affirmed
against the remnants of tyranny which still lingered among the best

VI INTRODL'GTION.

of English Protestants, is most generally supposed to have occurred
on these shores, when Roger Williams confronted the powers of Church
and State in Massachusetts. Even Bancroft, in his warm eulogy of
the Baptists as the true champions of intellectual freedom, accounts
Koger Williams as a discoverer of principles, and writes his name by
the side of those of Kepler and Kewton.* The truth, however, is
that the contest in the colony of Massachusetts Bay was an imported
contest ; it came, with all its distinctly recognized principles, across
the Atlantic in the breasts of men who had fought the same battles in
Holland and England, John Cotton and Roger Williams had had
their teachers in such men as John Robinson and Thomas Helwys.
Indeed, the whole series of struggles in behalf of religious freedom
which had occurred in England since the Reformation, had been marked
by developments of similar character. While the far greater part of
those who claimed for themselves the right to worship God according
to the demands of their own consciences, clung still to partial and in-
consistent views, there were others, fewer in numbers perhaps and
less influential, who had attained to clearer perceptions, and were the
true lights of their times. The discussions which sprung up between
these parties, and their common resistance to the tyranny of the State,
had been steadily preparing the way for the developments of a later
period. The course of human events is never accidental — never ca-
pricious ; it is a connected series, and the men and events of one age
are as the excitations and causes of preceding times have made them.
The issues of the reign of James I. had been long in course of prepara-
tion; and John Robinson and John Cotton, Thomas Helwys and
Roger Williams, were but the exponents and representatives of the
long progress of opinion. It was the glory of the two last named,
that the one gave full form and expression to the rights of conscience
as an article of religious belief, and maintained his views with singular
personal boldness and magnanimity — and of the other, that he stated
and defended the doctrine of " soul-liberty" with great skill and force
in his writings, and honorably illustrated it in the planting of a civil
State where consciences, however diverse or eccentric, were never op-
pressed. That small territory, scarcely noticeable upon a map of the
great confederacy of States of which it is now a part, has furnished
the example of religious freedom which that confederacy has copied ;
and across this wide continent the millions of our people account it as
their highest distinction and happiness to dwell under institutions

* Bancroft says, " He was the fli-st person in modern Christendom to assert In its
plenitude the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions ^fore
the law, and in its defence he was the harbinger of Milton, the precursor and the
superior of Jeremy Taylor." [Vol. i., p. 375.]

INTRODUCTION. Til

wliich had their first illustration around the shores of Narragansett
Bay.

The historical contributions herewith presented to the reader will
be found of special value in relation to the point under notice. They
illustrate those struggles for the rights of conscience which lie back of
the more familiar contests of later times, and which had effected the
indispensable preparations for the triumphs finally won. They recount
the names and the deeds of the men who were in advance of their
fellows in recognizing with clearness the principles of religious freedom,
as they were likewise in advance in sufferings for their testimony.
There will be found in these pages many interesting facts, brought to
light by patient investigation, and a thoroughness of historical analysis
which will aid in dispensing praise and blame in just measures. The
reader will be able both to note with great distinctness the general
progress of opinion, and to trace the movements of particular parties
down to the time when the English nation was ripe for the Common-
wealth, and prepared to plant on these Western shores the germs of
those glorious institutions under wliich we live.

Though we are reluctant to detain the reader from the volume to
which these remarks are only introductory, we think it not unsuitable
to dwell for a moment upon the period immediately preceding the
settlement of Massachusetts and the controversy with Roger Williams,
in order to show, as we have before affirmed, that that controversy
was no new one, but was essentially the same with that which the
same parties, Baptists and Independents, had waged on the other side
of the water.'^

In the year 1611, the present English version of the Holy Scriptures
was given to the world. The event constitutes an era in the world's
history. That year has however another distinction which will make
it ever memorable. In 1611 the Baptists issued a Confession of Faith
in which they say, " that the magistrate is not to meddle with religion,
or matters of conscience, nor compel men to this or that form of re-
hgion, because Christ is the King and Lawgiver of the Church and
Conscience." The gift to the world of that version of the Holy Scrip-
tures which has shed the light of salvation wherever the spirit of
Anglo-Saxon adventure has borne the English tongue, and the an-
nouncement by a Christian denomination of that true liberty of con-
science under which each man, as his inalienable birth-right, interprets
that Word for himself and follows freely its biddings, were worthy to
be contemporaneous events.

The tyranny of the English Estabhshment had driven a large num-

• Some of these thoughts were expressed by the writer in the JVezo York Re-
corder, of which he was then editor, in February, 1848.

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

ber of worthy men into exile in Holland. Some of these were Bap-
tists, some Independents, — fellow-sufferers for their testimony to the
truth. Prominent among the former were John Smyth, a learned
man, and once a clergyman of the Establishment, many years af-
terwards, and without any known authority, spoken of in derision by
his enemies as a Se-Baptist, — that is, one who had baptized himself,*)
and Thomas Helwys ; — prominent among the latter was John Robin-
son, renowned over the world as the " father of the Pilgrims." Mr.
Smyth very soon died, — not however till he had written largely in
favor of his new views, and with so much ability, that Bishop Hall
tells Mr. Robinson : " There is no remedy ; you must go forward to
Anabaptism or back to us ; all your Rabbins cannot answer the charge
of your rebaptized brother. * * * He tells you true, — your
station is unsafe ; either you must go forward to him or come back to
us." That Mr. Smyth was a man of superior abilities is further indi-
cated by the fact that Bishop Hall spoke of Mr. Robinson as no more
than his " shadow." Mr. Smyth was succeeded by Mr. Helwys. And
what then do we hear of this Christian pastor and his brethren ? Do
they remain in their exile ? No. Do they migrate to distant portions
of the world to find a spot in the wilderness, where they may both as-
sert and enjoy the rights of conscience in quietness ? ISTo. They de-
termine " to challenge king and state to their faces, and not give way
to them, no, not a foot." Accordingly, hanging out their flag in the
Confession to which we have referred, they return to their own
COUNTRY, to assert there their rights of conscience, and to suffer for
them if need be. They believed that a conflict for the rights of con-
science was imminent, and they were ready to participate in its dan-
gers. Englishmen they were born, and Englishmen they would die.
But in this movement they had not the sympathy of Mr. Robinson and
his associates. So strong was the opposition from this source which
they encountered, that in the year 1612, Mr. Helwys felt called upon
to defend the return of the Baptists in a book which he published at
that time. Among the considerations put forth in justification of their
course, we find the following : —

" 1. That fleeing from persecution hath been the overthrow of re-
ligion in this island ; the best able and greater part being gone, and
leaving behind them some few who, by the others' departure, have had
their afilictions and their contempt increased, hath been the cause of
many falling back, and of their adversaries rejoicing.

" 2. Great help and encouragement would it be to God's people in
affliction, imprisonment, and the like, to have their brethren's presence
to administer to their souls and bodies ; and for which cause Christ

♦ This calumny has been of late successfully refuted by E. B. Underbill, Esq.

INTRODUCTION?. IX

■will say, ' I was in prison, and ye visited me ; in distress, and ye com-
forted me.' "*

It would be difficult to find heroic conduct justified by more honor-
able motives.

If now we advance a little further, (1615,) we find these Baptists
sending forth a voliune entitled, " Objections : Answered by way of
Dialogue, wherein is proved, By the Law of God, By the Law of our
Land, and By his Majesty's [James 1] many testimonies, That no man
ought to be persecuted for his religion, so he testify his allegiance by
the Oath, appointed by Law." And what does the reader imagine to
have been a special occasion for the production of this work ? If not
already aware of the fact, he will be surprised to learn that Mr. Robin-
son had put himself in opposition, not only to the return to England of
the Baptists, but likewise to their sentiments on the rights of conscience.
Though an exile himself for conscience' sake, his mind still held fast
the doctrine of the magistrate's jurisdiction over spiritual matters ; and
he was ready to defend this doctrine against his Baptist brethren who
at that very moment were " challenging king and state to their faces."

Let us then leave the Baptists contending for the rights of man, on
their own soil, and amid the perils of persecution, and turn to the
writings of Mr. Robinson here alluded to, which were sent forth from
his more quiet asylum in Holland, His book, published in 1614, is
entitled, " Of Rehgious Communion, Private and Public, With the
silencing of the Clamours raised by Mr. Thomas Helwisse against our
retaining the Baptism received in England ; and administering of Bap-
tism unto Infants. As also, A Survey of the Confession of Faith, pub-
lished in certain Conclusions, by the remainder of Mr. Smyth's com-
pany."

The latter part only of the book concerns our present purpose. We
are indebted for the extract to the Hanserd Knollys Society's edition
of the " Objections" above named. f Mr. Robinson knows too well the
perfect loyalty of his opponents, and their quiet and conscientious de-
meanor as good subjects and citizens, to indulge in the common cal-
umny which charged them with insubordination and rebellion, but he
insists that the Baptists are wrong in denying to the magistrate au-
thority in matters of religion. He says : —

" They add, ' that the magistrate is not to meddle with religion, or
matters of conscience, nor compel men to this or that form of religion
because Christ is the King and Lawgiver of the church and conscience,
James iv. 12.'"

And will the "father of the Pilgrims" put himself in direct and

♦ See Benedict's History of the Baptists, Colby's ed. p. 330.
t Page 92.

1*

X INTRODUCTION.

formal opposition to this sound and comprehensive statement of the
rights of conscience, and the prerogatives of Christ ? He proceeds : —

" I answer, that this indeed proves that he may alter, devise, or
establish nothing in religion othenvise than Christ hath appointed, but
proves not that he may not use his lawful power lawfully for the fur-
therance of Christ's kingdom and laws. The prophet Isaiah, speaking
of the church of Christ, foretells that kings shall be her nursing fathers,
and queens her nursing mothers ; which, if they meddle not with her,
how can they be ? And where these men make this the magistrate's
only work, ' that justice and civility may be preserved amongst men,'
the apostle teaches another end, which is, that we may lead a peace-
able life under them in all godliness. It is true they have no power
against the laws, doctrine, and religion of Christ ; but/o?- the same, if
their power be of God, they may use it lawfully, and against the con-
trary. And so it was in special foretold by John, that the kings of the
earth should make the whore desolate, and naked, and eat her flesh,
and burn her with fire.

" This Mr. Helwisse frivolously interprets ' of their spiritual weap-
ons ;' which are no other than the spiritual weapons of all other
Christians. Besides that, it is contrary to the clear meaning of the
Holy Ghost, which is, that these kings should first use their civil
power for the beast and whore, and after against them to their de-
struction."

Thus wrote John Robinson, — not at this time only, for we have be-
fore us passages from other works of his in which kindred sentiments
are held forth. Will the reader carefully examine what we have
quoted ? The magistrate may " use his lawful power laiofully for the
furtherance of Christ's kingdom and laws." Magistrates " have no
power against the laws, doctrine, and religion of Christ ; but for the
same, if their power be of God, they may use it lawfully, and against
the contrary" "Was ever license for tyranny over souls granted in
broader terms ? Who but the magistrate himself shall determine the
lawful use of power, what are the laws and kingdom of Christ, and
what the contrary ? And then how significant the illustration which
Mr. Robinson cites from " the kings of the earth," with the protest that
" spiritual weapons" are not intended ! " These kings should first use
their civil power for the beast and whore, and after against them to
their destruction." In other words, if Mr. Robinson's views of proph-
ecy were such as the use of the illustration would indicate, it was de-
signed and authorized by the Almighty, that as the civil authorities
had built up Mohammedanism and the Papacy by persecuting the
saints, so now the civil authorities might turn around and burn Mo-
hammedans and Papists, and — which was the doctrine to be deduced

INTRODUCTION. XI

— by a fair inference inflict penalties on all varieties of heresy ! The
persecutions of New England were but the practical exemplification
of these teachings.

Let not the reader, however, imagine that we determine our esti-
mate of the character of John Robinson by his opinions on the authority
of magistrates. He was a good man, — an honor to the noble race who
hail him as a spiritual father. If it were our purpose to vindicate his
character, — as certainly it is not our purpose to defame it, — the ma-
terials are abundant. Few men have made a deeper impression on
the world ; fewer still an impression so largely beneficent. "We say
only that on the point under notice he was m error, and at a time
when the antagonists whom he affected to despise as " ignorant" and
" frivolous," were pouring upon him a flood of light which he strangely
failed to recognize. From him we turn to the testimony of those an-
tagonists, referring the reader to a few striking passages in the book
which the Baptists sent forth in reply to this animadversioii upon their
faith. How wide the difference ! How honorable to them the
contrast !

" The power and authority of the king is earthly, and God hath com-
manded me to submit to all ordinances of man, and therefore I have
faith to submit to what ordinances of man soever the king commands,
if it be a human ordinance and not against the manifest word of God ;
let him require what he will, I must of conscience obey him, with my
body, goods, and all that I have. But my soul, wherewith I am to
worship God, that belongeth to another King, whose kingdom is not
of this world ; whose people must come willingly ; whose weapons
are not carnal, but spiritual, (Hanserd Knollys Society's edition,
p. 107,)

" I acknowledge unfeignedly that God hath given to magistrates a
sword to cut off wicked men, and to reward the well-doers. But this
ministry is a worldly ministry, their sword is a worldly sword, their
ptmishments can extend no further than the outward man, they can
but kiU the body. And therefore this ministry and sword is appointed
only to punish the breach of worldly ordinances, which is all that
God hath given to any mortal man to punish. The king may make
laws for the safety and good of his person, state, and subjects, against
the which whoever is disloyal or disobedient, he may dispose of at his
pleasure. The Lord hath given him this sword of authority, foreseeing
in his eternal wisdom, that if this, his ordinance of magisti'acy were
not, there would be no living for men in the world, and especially for
the godly ; and therefore the godly have particular cause to glorify
God for this, his blessed ordinance of magistracy, and to regard it with
all reverence.

201 INTRODUCTION.

" But now the breach of Christ's laws, of the which we all this while
speak, which is the only thing I stand upon ; his kingdom is spiritual,
his laws spiritual, the transgression spiritual, the punishment spiritual,
everlasting death of soul, his sword spiritual, no carnal or worldly

WEAPON IS GIVEN TO THE SUPPORTATION OF HIS KINGDOM. (lb. pp.

121, 122.)

" Magistracy is God's blessed ordinance in its right place ; but let us
not be wiser than God to devise him a means for the publishing of his
gospel, which he that had all power had not, nor hath commanded.
Magistracy is a power of this world ; the kingdom, power, subjects
and means of publishing the gospel, are not of this world. (lb. p. 133.)

" If I do take any authority from the king's majesty, let me be
judged worthy my desert; but if I defend the authority of Christ
Jesus over men's souls, which appertaineth to no mortal man whatso-
ever, then know you, that whosoever would rob him of the honor
which is not of this world, he will tread them under foot. Earthly
authority belongeth to earthly kings ; but spiritual authority belongeth
to that one spiritual King who is King of kings." (lb. p. 134.)

Well spoken all, — and we commend to the special attention of all
those who think it necessary to defend the Puritans by decrying the
early Baptists as ignorant, fanatical, and disturbers of the civil peace,
the unanswerable argumentations by which these positions were sup-
ported. We regret to say that Mr. Robinson was not convinced, for
we find him at a later day (1625,) affirming still the authority of
magistrates in matters of religion.

Such were the relations of the Baptists of that early period to the
party which most nearly sympathized with them. They had taken
bolder strides, — they had attained the true idea of religious freedom,
and had thus clearly and vigorously stated it to the world. But the
days of their sufiering for conscience' sake were not yet ended. The
followers of John Robinson crossed the Atlantic, and they and the Bap-
tists soon met again on the shores of New-England. The sword of the
magistrate was now held by those who held Robinson's principles, and
the Baptists at an early day felt its edge. The struggle was a pro-
tracted one, but truth was mightier than the sword, and in the end
the principles of religious liberty, which were a part of Baptist faith,
triumphed and became the crowning glory of our institutions.

SEWALL S. CUTTma.
New York, April 1, 1851.

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

RELIGIOUS LIBEETY.

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

OF

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,

SECTION I.

HEI^RY VIII.

Amidst the many eminent and remarkable events that sig-
nahzed the rise and establishment of the Reformation in
England — next after the introduction of the word of God,
translated, and for the first time printed in the language of
the people, in the year 1526, by the martyr Tyndale — there
is not one of greater moment, nor so productive of large and
continuing results, as the transference to the reigning sove-
reign of the ecclesiastical authority till then exercised by the
pope. The exaltation of the royal prerogative above all
ecclesiastical claims, and the imposition of a form of belief,
accordant with the convictions or policy of the secular magis-
trate, were leading features of that great movement. To
this, duty, based on a supposed right, sternly called him,
even should it lead to the forfeiture of the life of a conscien-
tious opponent. Thus in every country where the Reforma-
tion took root, and flourished, the church became subordinate
to the civil power. The royalties of Jesus Christ were swal-
lowed up in the regale of human potentates.

It is not within our object to relate the tortuous policy
unremittingly pursued by noble, priest, and king, during the

16 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

early part of the sixteentli century, by which the way was
prepared for the bringing in of the reformed doctrines ; nor
to mark those prehminary steps, which, terminating in the
fall of Cardinal Wolsey, who had exercised a more than
papal authority over the land, ushered in a complete change
in the religious policy of the state.

But taking up at this point our national history, we shall
briefly sketch, from its rise to its settlement in 1603, that
interference of the secular power in the things of God, which
has proved itself to be ahke fatal to liberty of conscience, and
to the scriptural form and purity of the church of Christ.

It is not improbable that the ambitious cardinal, failing in
all his efforts to obtain the triple crown, and foiled at his own
weapons by the very parties he was endeavoring to cajole,
had at last conceived the idea of erecting an ecclesiastical
authority in England which should be free from papal con-
trol.* In the matter of the divorce of Henry from Queen
Katharine, he had sought to obtain unhmited powers. He
wished that the sentence of his legatine court should be
final, subject neither to the revision nor to the reversal of
the pope.f

But "his last and highest office as vicar-general, had
brought into this kingdom a species of authority, altogether
unknown ; and in doing this, he had put a cup to the lips
of his royal master, and afforded him one taste, for the first
time, of the sweetness of dominion over all the clergy of the
kingdom."];

In the cardinal's service had been trained Thomas Crom-
well. For some time his employment was that of secretary :
but he had been particularly useful to his master, in the
suppression of certain monasteries, the revenues of which

* Tyndale's Practice of Prelates. Works, vol. i. p. 480. Russell's edit
f Dodd's Chm-ch History, vol. i. p. 103. Tierney's edition.
X Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, vol. i. p. 224.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. l7

were devoted to the establishment of Wolsey's colleges at
Oxford and Ipswich. By and by we shall find him acting
as vicar-general also, and following, with no mean results, in
the steps of his predecessor.

The authority exercised by the cardinal, as legate a latere,
especially in the celebrated trial of Queen Katharine, was
the proximate cause of his fall. This power, having its ex-
istence in the arrogant claims of the papacy, had been often
a matter of parliamentary interference, denunciation, and
enactment ; and was therefore exercised in defiance of the
law. But those statutes were inoperative. "Several car-
dinals before Wolsey had procured, and executed with im-
punity, a legatine power which was clearly contrary to
them ;" and, in his case, with the full knowledge and ap-
probation of the king, who had even granted letters patent
to Wolsey, freeing him from the legal consequences of this
breach of the nation's law.* This, however, mattered not ;
Wolsey must fall, and with him the papal supremacy. That
fall made way for the elevation of his servant Cromwell, the
instrument in the hand of God to overthrow the domination
of Rome.

Many things also conspired to render the assumption of a
regal sovereignty over the church, palatable to all classes of
the community. The adherents of the new learning, a rap-
idly increasing section of the people, of course saw without
regret the papal tiara trodden in the mire. To them such
an event appeared as the " beginning of days," as " life from
the dead," Their conviction of the religious errors of Rome,
and their attachment to the life-giving truths of the scrip-
tures, just put so providentially into their hands, led them
to hail with joy the dethronement of antichrist. Experience
had not taught them, as it has their posterity, how bitter
are the streams that flow from the fountain of ecclesiastical

* Burnet's Hist, of Reformation, vol. I p. 204. 8vo. edit, Oxford.

18 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

authority and power, when diluted and measured out by
regal hands.

]^ot much less desirable, though for other 'reasons, did this
assumption appear to the adherents of the old learning.
The nation had through long centuries sighed and groaned,
uttering often inarticulate moanings, while suffering the in-
tolerable exactions of the papal see. Its wealth was forever
flowing into the coffers of the church, enriching a gorgeous
ceremonial, and gloating an idle priesthood. All classes
were impoverished by the innumerable levies made upon
them. Crowds of cowled monks, barefooted friars, and Sir
priests, of innumerable grades,* lined the avenues of heaven
and hell, to tax earth's pilgrims, stumbling on their way, to
those regions of joy and woe. And again, these publicans
and tax-gatherers, were themselves taxed, and their mer-
chandise of souls excised, to sustain the triple crown in its
grandeur, and in its pride.f Good Cathohcs mourned over
this, and longed for some relief.

The papacy itself had lost much of its former power and
dread. But a few years since, and Rome, the " holy of
holies" of Christendom, had been pillaged, and the pope, its
high priest, a prisoner. And now its bulls and its briefs, its
anathemas and its blessings, were alike unheeded by the
nations, except so far as policy dictated their observance, or
desired their fragment of influence. Mightier than human
words w^ere being uttered with unwonted power, and souls
were emancipated from the chains of error and superstition.

The king's cherished project of a divorce from Katharine
of Arragon, his queen, seemed also on the point of failing.

* " For there one sort are your grace, youi' holiness, your fatherhood ;
another my lord bishop, my lord abbot, my lord prior ; another master
doctor, father, bachelor, master parson, master vicar, and at the last
Cometh in simple Sir John," — Tyndale's Pract. of Prelates. Works, vol. i.
p. 896.

f Ibid. p. 433

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 19

The pope, now subject to the wishes of the emperor Charles
the Fifth, the uncle of the queen, dared not pronounce a
judgment in Henry's favor. Universities, EngHsh and for-
eign, had in vain determined from scripture and canon law,
the unlawfulness of his marriage with liis brother's wife, and
the invalidity of the pope's dispensation to authorize the
same ; Rome was silent. That divorce was destined to pluck
the fairest jewel of the papal tiara from its gorgeous setting,
*' To the intent that the living may know that the Most High
ruhth in the Mngdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will, and setteth up over it the basest of men."*

The House of Commons, after seven years' repose, was
summoned to meet in 1529. It evinced much determination
to hmit the extortions and immunities, so long, and so profit-
ably to the papacy, submitted to. Their short session of
about six weeks, was signalized by a bold and successful
attack upon some of the leading sources of clerical wealth.
Certain bills for the correction of the abuses of ecclesiastical
power, were passed, and soon laid before the Lords ; but
they left not the hands of the Commons " without severe re-
flections on the vices and corruptions of the clergy of that
time; which were believed to flow from men who favored
Luther's doctrine in their hearts. "f It was not without
much debate, and opposition from the clergy, the conserva-
tors of all profitable abuses, that the bills were sufiered to
pass ; Fisher, bishop of Rochester, bitterly complaining, that
" the charge of abuses on the hierarchy proceeded from dis-
afiection, and that nothing would content the Commons, but
pulhng down the church."

This disafiection must have proceeded to some consider-
able extent, even to something like free-thinking, if a notable

* Dan, iv. 17.

f Burnet, History of Reformation, L 149. CoUier's Eccles. Hist. iv.
131. 8vo. edit

20 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

speech, recorded by Herbert, may be taken as an indication
of what was passing in thoughtful minds; "Because the
chief business of man's hfe," says this unnamed member of
the Commons, " is to inquire into the means of being happy
forever, it is fit he should not resign himself to chance, but
carefully compute upon the qualities and conduct of his
spiritual guides Every man may collect the more essen-
tial and demonstrative parts of his own religion, and lay
them by themselves. Neither ought he to be overruled in
his freedom by the discountenance of any other persuasion.
Having thus exerted his reason, and implored the assistance
of the Supreme Being, his next business will be to find out
what inward means Providence has furnished for a test of
truth and falsehood. . . . Clear universal truths should be
first ascertained ; they will never check the progress of our
faith, nor weaken the authority of the church. So that
whether the eastern or the western Christians, whether my
lord of Rochester or Luther, whether Eccius or Zuinglius,
Erasmus or Melancthon, are in the right, we of the laity
shall suffer nothing by the disagreement."* A sign truly,
was such language as this, of a coming change. Super-
stitions were relaxing their grasp ; a new era was about to
dawn upon the prostrate rehgion and liberty of man. For
once, the church was verily in danger ; it was the distant
flash of the approaching storm. Once more parliament pro-
hibited all suits to the court of Rome for dispensations on
non-residence and pluralities, and this time not without effect.
It is the first successful blow at the papal supremacy in
England.

The time is come for its overthrow. Another power, as
much opposed to hberty of conscience, will gather up the
fragments, and, having fashioned them anew, rule for centu-
ries more in the temple of God. Cromwell's services to

* CoUier, iv. 132-184.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 21

Wolsey are nearly at an end, and he must seek another mas-
ter. Not an unfaithful servant, nor wanting in diligence, he
had not failed to profit in the service of ambition, chicanery,
and intrigue. He has a secret of state-craft worth commu-
nicating ; to no one more valuable than to Henry, now styled
by papal grace, " Defender of the Faith." ..." And, foras-
much, as now his majesty had to do with the pope, his great
enemy, there was in all England none so apt for the king's
purpose, which could say or do more in that matter, than
could Thomas Cromwell." The necessity of the case puts
the king's hatred of this " apt" man in abeyance ; and an
interview, the germ of many future things, is had in the
king's "garden at Westminster, which was about the year
of our Lord 1530."

After his " most loyal obeisance, doing duty to the king,"
Cromwell proceeds to make especially " manifest unto his
highness, how his princely authority was abused, within his
o^yn realm, by the pope and his clergy ; who, being swoni
unto him, were afterwards dispensed the same, and sworn
anew unto the pope, so that he was. as but half king, and
they but half his subjects, in his own land ; which was de-
rogatory to his crown, and utterly prejudicial to the common
laws of his realm. Declaring therefore how his majesty
might accumulate to himself great riches, so much as all the
clergy in his realm was worth, if it so pleased him to take
the occasion now offered." Advice this, admirably adapted
to be " right well liked" by the royal listener ; nor was the
occasion suffered to pass without its due and profitable im-
provement.*

With the parliament of 1531, just previous to which this
memorable interview took place, the clergy also assembled in
convocation. The first subject laid before them was Henry's
divorce, which was quickly despatched, the clergy seeming

* Fox's Acts and Monuments, ii. 1076. edit. 1610.

22 • STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

satisfied that the marriage was unlawful. A far more
weighty question, one that touched their spiritual gains and
immunities, remained behind. At the close of the year pre-
ceding, an indictment had been brought into the king's bench
against the clergy of England, for breaking the statutes
against provisors. A little while before, and cardinal Wol-
sey had fallen beneath the penalties of a premunire for ille^
gaily exercising his legatine authority ; now, all who had
appeared in his courts, or who in any way had acknowledged
his unconstitutional power, were involved in his guilt, and its
consequent forfeiture.* The king is but ** following the vein"
of Cromwell's counsel ; nor is he slow in availing himself of
the aid of his counsellor.

By whom can the rising wrath of the astonished clergy, at
this bold invasion of their time-sanctioned immunities and
jurisdiction, be sooner calmed, than by the man whose sug-
gestions threatened to evoke a storm of hierarchical indigna-
tion, before whose blast princes and potentates had often fled
away ? Shall ecclesiastical power and assumption again rise
superior to royal and parliamentary control ? Will the new
ropes be again broken like a thread from off the armsf of this

" Giant of mighty bone, and bold emprise ?" — Milton.

Nay, its hour is come ! " Cromwell entering with the king's
signet into the clergy-house, and then placing himself among
the bishops, began to make his oration — Declaring unto them
the authority of a king, and the office of subjects, and espe-
cially the obedience of bishops and churchmen under public
laws, necessarily, provided for the profit and quiet of the
commonwealth. Which laws, notwithstanding, they had all
transgressed and highly offended, in derogation of the king's
royal estate, falling in the law of premunire, in that not only
they had consented to the power legantine of the cardinal,

* Burnet, i. 194. \ Judges xvi, 12.

OP RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 23

but also in that they had all sworn to the pope, contrary to
the fealty of their sovereign lord and king; and therefore
had forfeited to the king all their goods, chattels, lands,
possessions, and whatsoever livings they had. The bishops
hearing this, were not a little annoyed, and first began to
excuse and deny the fact; but after that Cromwell had
shown them the very copy of their oath, made to the pope
at their consecration, and the matter was so plain that they
could not deny it, they began to shrink and to fall to en-
treaty, desiring respite to pause upon the matter."^'

Resistance was in vain — popular feeling was against them
— old attachments, the very superstitions on which they had
fattened, now availed them nothing — eveiy compassionate
emotion for their pitiable condition was swallowed up in the
one absorbing idea of their rapacity and licentiousness ; — by
the one they had exasperated the people, by the other loos-
ened all sense of moral and religious obligation. Submission
was the only course open to them, and to save their lands
and livings, a grant, by way of composition, Avas proposed of
some hundred and eighteen thousand pounds. " But now a
question rose, compared with which, the entire substance of
the whole body, their goods and chattels, their lands and
hvings, were but like the drop of a bucket, or the small dust
of the balance ; a question which was to affect not England
alone, but Great Britain and Ireland, with all their depen-
dencies in other quarters of the world, for many generations.
The anticipated moment had now anived when it was con-
venient to divulge that no subsidy would be accepted, unless
his majesty were acknowledged in the petition or address as
' Head of the Church.' "f

The immediate concurrence of the clergy could not be ex-
pected to this important and far-reaching measure. They

* Fox's Acts and Mon. ii 1066.
f Anderson, Annals, <fec. i. 292, 293.

24 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

demurred as to the meaning of the words. Misunderstand-
ings, they said, might arise in future years, of a phrase so
general, and dangerous consequences would probably result.
For three days, in secret conclave, they debated the matter^
with hot words and strife. To hasten their decision, further
penalties were freely threatened by Lord Rochford, Crom-
well, and others of the king's council. The sense of the
house was at last called for by archbishop Warhara — the last
of Catholic archbishops. Most were silent. He told them,
" Silence implied consent." " Then we are all silent," was
the reply. A more explicit resolution was ultimately agreed
upon, the king was acknowledged to be '* Supreme Lord and
Protector," and also, as far as is consistent with the laws of
the gospel, "Supreme Head of the Church of England."*

Yet were they extremely unwilling to acknowledge, to
themselves or others, the true character of this fatal conces-
sion. They avoided all recognition of the compulsory nature
of the subsidy, so reluctantly granted to the king. It was
only a benevolence or gratuity, an evidence of their gratitude,
particularly for the king's book against Luther, his active
suppression of heresies, and his gracious interference in
checking the insults of the Lutheran party. As for their
submission, it was "not only penned with a salvo, but
thrown into a parenthesis, as if it came in only by the by."
Any reference to the premunire, or to the legatine authority
of Wolsey, their submission to which had prepared the way
for this sore humiliation, was most carefully eschewed. Nine
bishops, sixty-two abbots and priors, with eighty-four of the
clergy of the province of Canterbury, carried this obnoxious
measure.f

The convocation at York, led by Tunstal, the bishop of
Durham, the archbishopric being then vacant, 3delded not so
soon to the king's demand. This prelate protests against the

* Collier, iv. 1*78. f Ibid. iv. 179.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 25

measure. He intimates that some heretics had already ques-
tioned the jurisdiction of their ordinaries, and sought to
escape the censures of the church, by appeahng to the sup-
posed higher authority of the king. The words should be
therefore more precise. They might mean that the long was
supreme head in his dominions, under Christ, only in tempo-
ral matters, which he would most wiUingly acknowledge;
or they might be made to mean, that the king's lordship, by
the laws of the gospel, related to both spirituals and tempo-
rals, than which, nothing coidd be more contrary to the
teaching of the Catholic church. To the former he would
most cheerfully subscribe, but against the latter he must
protest, and would enter his protest on the journals of the
convocation. These views of the bishop met with a no less
distinguished opponent than the king himself. " The bishop,"
says the royal polemic, " had proved our Saviour the head of
the church, that he lodged the branches of his spiritual and
temporal jurisdiction in different subjects, that he made a
grant of the latter to princes, and that bishops were commis-
sioned for the other. But then the text cited, to prove obe-
dience due to princes, comprehends all persons, both clergy
and laity, and no order of the hierarchy is exempted. It is
ti-ue, you restrain this submission to temporal matters, but
the scripture expressions are general and without reserve.
For you do not stick to confess, that whatever power is
necessary for the peace of civil society, is included in the
chief magistrates' commission. From hence we infer, that
the prince is authorized to animadvert upon those who out-
rage religion, and are guilty of the breach of the divine pre-
cepts. For certainly we are not bound to give our own
laws a preference over those of God Almighty, nor punish
the violation of the one, and connive at the other. All spir-
itual things, therefore, in which liberty or property is con-
cerned, are necessarily included in the prince's power. Our

2

26 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Saviour himself had a sacerdotal character, and yet submit-
ted to Pilate's jurisdiction. And St. Paul, though a priest
of apostolical distinction, makes no scruple to say, * I stand
at Caesar's judgment-seat, where I ought to be judged.' "*

Such are the most important of the arguments advanced
in this valuable document ; sufficient to evince the ignorance
of the high parties engaged, of the true nature of the church
of Christ. It also exhibits their unacquaintance with the
Christian laws of liberty and of obedience ; by the one of
which the church is free from secular control, and by the
other bound to the observance of the statutes of the King
of kings, to whom alone belongs the power and the right to
punish all breaches of his precepts, in that community of
which he is the rightful and only Head. It is the priest and
the prince in conflict, for the exercise of an usurped power
over the consciences and souls of men. But the star of
princely power was in the ascendant, and York, in spite of
some other similar protests, must bend, with Canterbury, to
the yoke.

The step thus successfully gained, did not however amount
to the entire rejection of the papal authority ; it was not a
complete, nor an irrevocable separation of the kingdom from
the Roman obedience. A series of minor measures were
necessary before the end could come. All hope of compro-
mise with Rome was not yet abandoned, nor were the king's
projects yet ripe for the full assertion of the nation's eccle-
siastical independence. It was, however, a golden opportu-
nity for the Commons to endeavor the destruction of the
many oppressive burdens under which the people groaned —
efforts which subserved the schemes of Henry, in his inter-
course with the Romish see.

At an early period of the parliamentary session of 1532,
which began upon the 15th of January, the Commons pre-

* Collier, Iv. 183.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

27

sented to the king an address, praying for reformation of the
many grievances occasioned by the immunities and privileges
of the clergy.* Though the supphcation was well received,
two years elapsed before these grievances were entirely re-
dressed. The people were, however, gratified that their
complaints were at length listened to, and the hierarchy,
with the pope, kept in awe.

But the clergy deserved some recompense for their sub-
mission to the supreme head of the church, constrained as it
was. The abolition of the payment of annates, or first-fruits,
a year's value of ecclesiastical benefices, demanded by the
see of Rome, was their reward. The convocation resolved
upon an address to their head concerning the matter ; to him
not unwelcome. Was it not a practical acknowledgment of
his supremacy ? " May it please the king's most noble
grace," say they, " having tender compassion to the wealth
of this his realm, which hath been so greatly extenuate and
hindered by the payments of the said annates, and by other
exactions and slights, by which the thesaure of this land hath
been carried and conveyed beyond the mountains to the court
of Rome, that the subjects of this realm be brought to great
penury, and by necessity be forced to make their most hum-
ble complaint for stopping and restraining the said annates,
and other exactions and expilations, taking for indulgencies
and dispensations, legacies and delegacies, and other feats,

* Rapin, i. p. 795. " Unto the laymen, whom they have falsely robbed,
and from which they have divided themselves, and made them a several
kingdom of themselves, they leave the paying of toll, custom, tribute ; for
unto all the charges of the realm will they not pay one mite ; and the
finding of aU the poor, the repairing of the highways and bridges, the
building and reparations of their abbies and cathedral churches, chapels,
colleges ; for -which they send out their pardons daily by heaps, and
gather a thousand pounds for every hundred that they bestow truly."
Tyndale, Pract, of PreL Works, L 423. Many curious particulars are to
be found of the " practices" of the clergy, in this remarkable production.

28 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

which were too long to remember ; to cause the said unjust
exactions of annates to cease, and to be foredoen forever, by
acts of this his grace's high court of parhament."* It was
calculated that upwards of two milhons and a half had passed
from the country since the second year of Henry YII. ; on
this account alone parliament was not backward to fulfil their
desires. It was also an uprooting of one great branch of
papal prerogative. They accordingly resolved that annates
should cease to be levied, and that if his holiness would not
accept a composition of five per cent, for his trouble in draw-
ing up bulls, sealing them in lead, &c.,f he should be op-
posed altogether in his demands. Should he attempt to en-
force their payment by excommunications, interdict, or other
censures, the clergy were to be at liberty to disregard them,
and to perform the divine services *' of holy church, or any
other thing necessary for the health of the souls of mankind
as heretofore. "J

Anti-papal principles must have been widely held, and
alienation of feeling from Rome very prevalent among all
classes of the people, that this provision against the papal
ban should be made at the clergy's own request ! For thus
runs their prayer — "Forasmuch as all good Christian men
be more bound to obey God than any man, it may please the
king's most noble grace to ordain in this present parliament,
that then the obedience of him and the people be withdrawn
from the see of Rome."§ Such a check to Romish exactions
was too consonant with the desires of the king and nation to

* Stiype's Memorial's, I. ii. 160, 8vo, edit,

f " And as bishops pay for their bulls, even so do an infinite number
of abbats in Chiistendome. And other abbats and priors send after the
same ensample daily unto Rome, to purchase licence to wear a mitre and
a cross, and gay ornaments, to be as glorious as the best." Tyndale,
Works, i. 434.

X Dodd's Ch. Hist. i. 236. Collier, iv. 187.

§ Strype's Memor. I ii. 161

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 29

allow any delay in granting their request ; yet with a pro-
vision, that the king might confirm, or disannul the statute,
or any part of it, within two years. In the following year,
however, it became by the king's letters patent, the law of
the land. And thus another link, and that no unimportant
one, was broken, in the chain of the pope's supremacy.

Gratifying as was this affair to the avarice of the clergy, it
is manifestly but another step in furtherance of the king's
designs. He was not indifferent to the favorable opportu-
nity presented to him by the temper of the Commons, to
proceed in his "advised" course. In all former periods, the
sovereign had encountered a clergy sustained by popular re-
ligious feeling, but that had been outraged by their rapacity
and unrestrained license through a long series of years. The
clergy now stood alone, to meet as they could the attack of
a monarch whom the people regarded as their friend and
savior. For "the Commons, being resolutely bent to hum-
ble the clergy to the very groimd, remonstrated against them
in several articles, which all terminate in this ; — that an inde-
pendent power in the clergy to make laws, though entirely
spiritual, was prejudicial to the civil magistrates, and deroga-
tory to the royal prerogative.'"^

In the formation and execution of ecclesiastical laws, ex-
empt from secular control, lay the great strength of the
papal hierarchy. As between it and the state there was no
difference of opinion upon the right of some party to impose
fonns of behef, and to enjoin by a law, binding upon the
conscience, whether assenting or dissenting, the profession
of some religious faith, then called the Catholic faith. Thus
the ground of conflict was narrowed to the question, whether
the privilege of making laws to bind the conscience should
vest in the church, or in the chief magistrate. This privi-
lege the clergy had most disgracefully abused, if indeed it

* Dodd, i. 238.

30 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

can exist without abuse, and the European mind had arisen
in revolt against it. But such was the very partial preva-
lence of a purely religious purpose among the secular au-
thorities in the various stages of the reformation, that it
soon became evident that either party must fail of attaining
its object, or of preserving its immunities, if left dependent
on its own strength alone. Hence, the universal fusion of
the regal with the popular power in every country where
the reformation prevailed, the conflicts which arose between
Rome and its hitherto dependent sovereigns, and the recog-
nition by the reformers of the supremacy of the civil magis-
trate in matters of faith ; — a supremacy as fatal to liberty of
conscience as was that of Rome, though perhaps, on the
whole, not so liable to perversion. Temporal interests, vary-
ing in character and power, may clash or coalesce with the
religious views of the secular authority, to the production of
a more moderate and vacillating treatment of spiritual con-
cerns. But to the attainment of the one object of ecclesias-
tical rulers, the government of man's soul, all interests, of
every kind, are made subservient, and it is carried out with
a singleness of aim and purpose, not to be acquired by the
state. To the secular arm, however, the reformers trusted
for their superiority over Rome. That alone, they supposed,
could or would assure the final triumph of the gospel. This
union was fatal to their object, and jeopardized very early
the existence of the reformed churches. Less than half a
century witnessed the almost entire banishment of a pure and
simple piety from the communities thus allied.

The complaint of the Commons coincided with the views,
and met with the entire acquiescence of the king. Full of
alarm, the bishops and abbots returned distinct answers to
every part of the complaint. The time for defiance was
passed. Their independent action, their canonical authority,
their right to consecrate and administer the sacraments, to

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 31

censure erroneous opinions, and issue precepts concerning
faith and morals, were in peril ; but they will not abandon
them without a struggle.

Had not the king sufficiently humbled them ? Had they
not already submitted to a headship, questionable by scrip-
ture and canon law ? What then will be their position, if
they yield their prescript, and hitherto uncontrolled pri\'i-
leges, into the hands of the civil magistrate ?

Has the inanity of age, or the darkening shadow of their
coming fate, paralyzed the uphfted arm, at which nations and
mighty monarchs have often trembled, that words of per-
suasion and entreaty must suffice to screen their feebleness ?

Verily theu glory has waned ; it is ready to vanish away ;
the magic spell of centuries is broken.

Such pleas, however, as can be found, shall be employed.
Humihty, a stranger to these priestly men, and flattery, not
unknown to them, are heard once more to speak, perhaps
somewhat mechanically, from priestly hps ; " After our most
humble wise, with our most bounden duty of honor and
reverence to your most excellent majesty, endued of God
with most incomparable wisdom and goodness ; pleaseth it
the same to understand that we, your orators, and daily
bounden bedesmen, the ordinaries, have read and perused a
certain supplication, which the Commons of your grace's most
honorable parliament now assembled, have offered unto your
highness, and by your command delivered to us, to make
thereimto answer." And what, if they have fallen foul of
the constitution, and made canons contradictory to the laws
of the realm ; and passed ecclesiastical regulations Avithout
the assent of the laity or the crown ; and trespassed some-
what upon the royal prerogative ; and oppressed liberty and
property, interdicting lands and estates ; and menaced with
excommunication every breach of their spiritual injunctions.
Is not their authority founded upon the holy scripture, and

32 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

the resolutions of holy church ? — on grounds and principles
unquestionable, proper to test and try the reasonableness of
all other laws, both temporal and spiritual ? By this rule,
therefore, they profess themselves willing to amend all that
is amiss, and hope his highness will not be backward to alter
such laws of the state as deviate from the inspired writings,
or clash with the privileges of the church, so that harmony
may prevail between both societies.

Displeasure appears upon the brow of their supreme head.
Their humihty and flattery are alike unavailing to move his
determination, or to repress his scornful • refusal of their
prayer. Their scribe, Gardiner, of late made bishop of
Winchester, must even write a letter of excuse; "Did not
his highness's book against Luther concede the legislative
authority of the clergy in matters spiritual ? But he hopes
his majesty will excuse his mistakes, and ignorance of the
strength of those proofs his majesty can produce. Still,
bishops have their authority by divine right, nor can it be
resigned to the secular magistrate ; such a surrender would
be dangerous both to giver and receiver." His wriggling
apology is offered in vain, the king is inexorable. A strange
and unusual sight is this. Since St. Ambrose bowed the
stubbornness of an emperor, bishops and abbots have not
been wont to be thus treated by kings. Day after day, the
upper house of convocation is agitated, and in great commo-
tion with the anxious debate. " The defects and reserva-
tions in the answer," are at last thought too perplexing to
be removed or amended by episcopal acumen, and the lower
house must nov/ try its hand.

The king's " most humble chaplains are sorry that the
answer of the clergy" does not please, nor satisfy " his high-
ness;" and for his "better contentation in that behalf," they
do now more specially reply.

All Christian princes, say they, have hitherto recognized

OF RELIGIOrS LIBERTY. 33

themselves bound to suffer the prelates to exercise their
authority, in making laws in matters concerning faith and
good manners, necessary to the soul's health ; nor have they
required the prelates to seek their consent or license. The
spiritual jurisdiction of the clergy "proceeds immediately
from God, and from no power or consent authorizable of any
secular prince." Moreover, it ''is right well founded in
many places of holy scripture," as in his highness's book
against Luther, " with most vehement and inexpugnable rea-
sons and authorities," is proved, Notwithstanding, ^'we
your most humble chaplains and bedesmen, considering your
high wisdom, great learning, and infinite goodness towards
us and the church, and having special trust in the same, and
not minding to fall into contention or disputations with your
highness, — promise — -that in all laws we shall hereafter make
by the reason of our spiritual jurisdiction and judicial power,
we shall not publish, nor put them forth, except first we re-
quire your highness to give your consent and authority unto
them ; — except such as shall concern the maintenance of the
faith and good manners in Christ's church, and such as shall
be for the reformation and correction of sin, after the com-
mandments of Almighty God, according unto such laws of
the church, and laudable customs as have been heretofore
made." And for the rest, such laws as are contrary to the
prerogative and statutes of the realm, shall be "right gladly"
revoked.

Will not this pacify the king ? No. There is too much
ambiguity and subterfuge in it. Their fawning humility and
ill-disguised sense of weakness, excite his arrogance and
cupidity. His claims become more urgent and exorbitant.
They are required to sign a form of submission prepared by
himself, that not only shall all new laws have his approval
and royal assent previous to their promulgation, but also that
all the old constitutions shall be revised by a mixed commis-

2^

34 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

sion of the laity and clergy, appointed by liimself, and such
as they please be abrogated and annulled. And now per-
plexities thicken around them. They are in the hunter's
toils, and there is no escape. Is there no experienced pilot
at hand, to steer them safely through the breakers, foaming
on every side ? Let that fast friend of the Catholic faith,
bishop Fisher, of Rochester, advise them, and all may yet be
well. " And to wait for this prelate's resolution, they ad-
journ for three days."'*

Such a step bodes not well for the king's designs : it must
be prevented. The speaker and twelve of the Commons*
house are sent for, and to them the sovereign thus addresses
himself: "Well, beloved subjects, we had thought the clergy
of our realm had been our subjects wholly ; but now we have
well perceived that they be but half our subjects. For all
the prelates at their consecration, make an oath to the pope
clean contrary to the oath that they make unto us, so that
they seem to be his subjects and not ours." — " And so the
king delivering to them the copy of both the oaths, required
them to invent some order that he might not be thus deluded
of his spiritual subjects."! The appearance of the plague
alone prevented some grave parliamentary censure ; for on
this account the house rose in three days after this message
of the king. Yet it was not without its effect. The first
part of the king's demands the clergy will now accede to, if
the promise might be binding for his life only ; but in the old
canons they can permit no change.

The king's determination is, however, unaltered ; and a
new form of submission is sent them. But to this the pre-
lates object, and then venture upon a positive refusal. The
lower house of convocation, more apprehensive of the royal
wrath, at last submit ; and the prelates also, with only one

* Collier, iv. 189-199.

f Fox, Acts and Mon. ii. 961. Burnet, i. 225.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 35

exception, finally agree, without any limitation whatever, not
to enact, promulge, or put in use any new canons, without
the royal permission.* If the king obtained not all that he
desired, sufl&cient was gained to lay the whole body of the
clergy at his feet. A little more time must pass, and all will
be granted to the sovereign that his ambition or rapacity may
instigate him to demand. Hitherto, no reformed doctrine had
been admitted among the clergy. 'No change of religious
faith had occurred. As Catholics they had submitted to a
Catholic king, anxious only to preserve their livings, lands,
and wealth ; not dreaming that all would soon be in the
grasp of the monarch, to whom they now yielded up their
cherished independence, and for which act of spoliation they
had themselves prepared the way.

The royal supremacy over the clergy was by no means
suffered to sleep. One priest was imprisoned for upholding
the papal authority. Another, charged with Lutheranism
and thrown into prison by the archbishop of Canterbur}^, was
immediately released on appealing to the king as supreme
head. It now only remained to give these concessions of the
clergy the force of public law, and for the commonalty to
approve the exercise of this novel power. At present, it
suited not with Henry's great cause at the court of Rome
wholly to throw off the authority of that see ; but everything
was gradually prepared to effect it. Early in 1533. the par-
hament passed an act against all appeals to Rome in testa-
mentary and matrimonial causes, and on the rights of tithes
and oblations. In the following language they set forth the
reasons for this fresh inroad upon papal usages : •' That the
kingdom of England is an empire provided with persons, both
spiritual and temporal, well qualified to determine all contro-
versies arising in it, without application to any foreign princes
or potentates. And more particularly that part of the said

* Collier, iv. 199.

S6 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

body, called the spirituality, or the English church, have al-
ways been esteemed, and found upon trial, sufficiently fur-
nished with skill and integrity to determine all such doubts,
and to administer all such offices and duties," as appertain to
their spiritual station.*

In the early part of this year, Granmer was consecrated to
the see of Canterbury, which had been vacant since August,
1532. For this purpose Henry procured bulls from Rome;
and so anxious was Cranmer to exhibit his entire approval
of the course adopted towards the clergy, that he refused to
accept them but from the king's own hand. Nor would he
take the usual oath to the pope, without first protesting
against those parts of it which he conceived might be a bar
to the performance of his duty to God, the king, and his
country. By this expedient, unworthy of an honorable mind,
he entered on his high functions as the first archbishop of
Canterbury, recognizing in spirituals the supremacy of the
king. The subserviency he here displayed marked his whole
career ; on all occasions he evinced a remarkable readiness to
do and to say all that could be pleasing to his royal master.
He was immediately instructed, to declare the marriage of
Henry with Katharine null and void, in conformity with the
decision of convocation, and to pronounce on the legitimacy
of the king's union with Anne Boleyn, some months after the
nuptials had been 'solemnized. f Negotiations were kept up
at Rome during the remainder of the year, until the decision
of the pope (March 21st, 1534,) put an end to the entire
procedure. An immediate separation from his new queen,
and the restoration of Katharine to all her conjugal rights,
were the terms of the papal decree.J

It does not appear that these proceedings at Rome at all

* Burnet, i. 232. Collier, iv. 201.

f Strype's Cranmer, pp. 26, 29, 8vo. edit.

X Short, Ch. Hist. p. 92.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 37

accelerated the complete establishment of the royal suprem-
acy ; although they may have conduced to that utter exclu-
sion of the pope from every kind of influence in the internal
spiritual affairs of the kingdom, which so quickly followed
the settlement of this great question by the parliament then
assembled. This exclusion was owing, for the most part, to
the nature of those principles on which the king's ecclesias-
tical authority was based, rather than to any purpose of the
sovereign, the clergy, or the nation, to bring it to pass.

But while the pope was thus busily engaged at Rome, in
rendering irrevocable the humihation of his power in this
country, the houses of parliament, which assembled on the
15th of January, 1534, completed the work so auspiciously
begun in former sessions. The king's council had in the pre-
vious month, but after the revocation of Cranmer's sentence
of divorce by the pontifif, entered on the consideration of
various questions relating to the pope's "usurped power," as
it was called, " within the realm ;" and measures were re-
solved upon for the support of the royal prerogative.*

The statutes relating to heresy, were the first to be singled
out by the Commons for amendment. The inquisitorial
power of the bishops' courts was destroyed ; all proceedings
were to take place in open court, and by witnesses. Those
adjudged guilty were not to suffer death until the king's writ,
De heretico comburendo, had been obtained ; but none were
to be troubled upon any of the pope's canons or laws.f They
next proceeded to the submission of the clergy, who had ac-
knowledged, "according to the truth," that their convoca-
tions ought to assemble only by the king's writ, and had
promised never to attempt the promulgation or execution of
any canons without the royal assent to the same.

This submission the parliament enacted for a law, and thus
extinguished the independent power of the clergy forever.

* Strype, Memor. I. i. 231. f Burnet, I 270.

38 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

All appeals to Rome were prohibited, and the monasteries
put under the jurisdiction of the crown. The payment of
annates was wholly forbidden ; the procuring of bulls, briefs,
or palls from the see of Rome denounced ; every kind of pay-
ment formerly made under the names of pensions, censes,
Peter-pence, dispensations, licenses, &c. "&c., interdicted; the
manner of the election of bishops determined to be thereafter
by a conge d'elire from the king to the dean and chapter ;
and, lastly, the succession to the crown was settled on the
issue of queen Anne.*

In the session at the close of the year all these acts were
confirmed ; the separation from Rome was completed, by
the full recognition of the king, *'as the supreme head in
earth of the church in England," and to his spiritual juris-
diction all heresies and abuses were referred. It was made
treason to deny the king this title, as also the once calling
him heretic, schismatic, infidel, or usurper of the crown.f

In the interval of the two sessions, commissioners were
sent through the land to offer the oath of submission to the
clergy, in which was included a declaration that the king was
head of the church ; that the bishop of Rome had no more
power than any other bishop ; and that in their sermons they
would not pervert the scripture, but preach Christ and his
gospel sincerely, according to the scripture, and the tradition
of orthodox and catholic doctors. Bishop Fisher and Sir
Thomas More refused the oath, and forfeited their lives for
resisting the royal power. J

Thus was consummated the abolition of the papal power in
this country, and the formation of that' regal prerogative in
spirituals, as well as in temporals, which has continued to be
an incubus upon the Anglican church to the present day. It
is evident that in the procurement of this change, a sincere
and profound conviction of the errors of Rome, and of the

* Collier, iv. 234-241. f Burnet, i. 288. X Bm-net, i. 284.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 39

value of a scriptural faith and piety, bad not the least share.
The welfare of the church of Christ', the recognition of his
claims as the King of saints, the emancipation of the human
mind from the bondage of superstition, and the attainment
of liberty of thought and freedom of conscience, formed no
part of the object of the actors in this revolutionary drama.

" To this crisis the king of England had driven on . . . for
with regard to the separation of this country from Rome, it
has already been demonstrated, that Henry the Eighth had
no credit whatever. At the moment * he meant not so,' nei-
ther did he in his heart so intend. Could he only have
moulded the pontiff to his will, no such event would have
happened during his administration ; and had Clement not
been under the control of the emperor, Henry would have
been an adherent still ; as in opinion, if he had any opinions,
he remained to the end of his life."*

The whole nation seems to have been content with the
change. During the session of parliament in which it was
effected, care was taken, that from Sunday to Sunday, at St.
Paul's Cross, the usurpation of the pope in exercising juris-
diction within the realm, should be proclaimed to be as con-
trary to God's laws as it was to the rights of princes.

Divines were employed to write on the king's behalf ; and
books on the supremacy were plentifully distributed in the
land. Gardiner, Tunstal, and Bonner, made their zeal in the
king's cause eminently to appear by their writings and ser-
mons. " If you think," says the bishop of Durham to Regi-
nald Pole, in 1536, " the hearts of the subjects of this realm,
greatly offended with abolishing of the bishop of Rome's
usurped authority in this realm, as if all the people, or most
part of them, took the matter as ye do .... I do assure you,
ye be deceived. For the people perceive right well what
profit Cometh to the realm thereby ; and that all such money

* Anderson's Annals, i. 406, 407.

40 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

as before issued that way, now is kept within the realm

So that, if at this day the king's grace would go about to re-
new in his realm the said abolished authority of the bishop
of Rome, I think he should find much more difficulty to bring
it about in his parliament, and to induce his people to agree
thereunto, than anything that ever he purposed in his parlia-
ment, since his first reign."*

One tyranny was thus exchanged for another. A new
feature, likewise hostile to true Christian liberty, becomes
noticeable in the history of the church ; and we now proceed
to trace its characteristics as embraced and moulded by the
teachers of reformation.

It was of necessity that Henry should call to his councils,
Cranmer, Cromwell, and Audley ; men tinged, to say the
least, with the new learning. The position taken by the
sovereign, could not be maintained upon any principle recog-
nized as catholic ; nay, it was a position destructive of the
main pillar of Roman orthodoxy.

If the priestly order is by divine right the alone source and
executive of spiritual jurisdiction, then by no proper title can
it be claimed or exercised by any secular potentate ; the as-
sumption of a controlling and legislative power over the
clergy, stands in direct antagonism with it.

The newly-acquired authority of Henry could find con-
sistent supporters in the propagators of the new learning
alone. From the commencement of the Reformation they
had made the secular power their strength and shield. Nor
was it long before it became distinctly visible to those who
continued to adhere to the papacy, with all the fondness of old
and early associations, that submission to the king involved
an entire defection from the dogmas, as well as from the
power of Rome. The acquisition of the supreme headship
of the Anglican church, necessitated the introduction and par-

* Burnet, Records, III. ii. No, 62.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 41

tial toleration of the reformed doctrines, if only as a counter-
poise to the claims of the pope ; and the king's reluctance to
entertain Lutheran views must give way to that necessity.
Gradually, but certainly, every consistent Romanist will be
obliged to place himself in opposition to the royal prerogative ;
and as certainly will England, if determined to maintain that
exclusive privilege, be thrown into the bosom of the reforma-
tion. Cranmer, during his residence abroad, as ambassador,
had mingled much in the society of the leading continental
reformers, having, indeed, married the niece of Osiander.
From them he had imbibed the doctrine of secular interference
in ]-eligious affairs ; and on his elevation to the archiepiscopal
see of Canterbury, he proceeded to introduce changes in the
doctrine and discipline of the Anglican church, so far as the
king's prejudices and policy would allow.

During the progress of the events already related, God's
word had been spreading, somewhat rapidly, among the
people. In 1526, the newly-translated Testament of Tyndale
was in general circulation, awakening the fears and fiery
wrath of Wolsey, Warham, and Tunstal. By the year 1534,
not less than twelve editions of the New Testament were being
perused throughout the land, besides some other portions of
the lively oracles of truth. ^ The laws against heretics were
not, however, put into execution with any severity, until,
on the disgrace of Wolsey, Sir Thomas More became lord
chancellor. It seems singular, that a man who in his Utopia
had allowed of no persecution for religious tenets, should be
thus blinded to " the partial advantage of that liberty," which
in theory he had advocated.f In conjunction with Archbishop
Warham and Tunstal, this eminent man, and persecutor,
issued a warning against several heretical books in the English
tongue that had been lately introduced, especially informing

* Anderson's Annals, ii. Index.
t Burnet, i 292. Short, p. 95.

42 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

the people, that the king did well in not permitting the scrip-
tures to be set out in the vulgar tongue."^

Great numbers of persons were brought before the bishops*
courts, and compelled to abjure; and were oftentimes con-
demned to a public penance of flogging, bearing fagots and
wax candles, in the white garb of penitents. It was their
crime that they were ''very expert in the gospels, and all
other things belonging to divine service ;" that they refused
to go on pilgrimage, or to fast on saints' days, saying that
salvation could not be obtained by good deeds; that "on
Sunday then last past, in sacring time, they held down their
heads and would not looli upon the sacrament ;" that they
were heard to say, that it booted not to pray to images ; that
the *' sacrament of the altar was not, as it was pretended, the
flesh, blood, and bone of Christ ;" and especially, that they
possessed the gospels and the psalter in English, the sum of
scripture, and a variety of other books containing " pestilent
and other horrible heresies." A few were burnt, as Thomas
Hitton, for bringing in books from abroad ; Thomas Bilney,
for preaching against images, pilgrimages, and prayers to
saints; Byfield and Tewksbury, as relapsed heretics. The
most eminent was John Frith, the friend and companion
of Tyndale. He combated successfully Sir Thomas More
on the real presence ; his reply to his learned antago-
nist was written while in confinement, and deprived of his
books. f

These severities did not stay the progress of the truth, for
the time was come, when, even in high places, the whole
circle of Roman doctrines and ceremonies must be reviewed ;
and with the pope's supremacy, his dogmas, and discipline,
be abandoned. The extirpation of the pontifical authority,
and with it the rule of the canon law, threw the judgment of
heresy upon its discordance with scripture ; and by royal

» Burnet, i. 294. \ Fox, Acts and Mon. 897, 898, 910, 934, 941.

I

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 43

command, this became the standard of decision. Moreover,
the necessities of the king's affairs abroad, constrained him
to solicit the assistance of the foreign reformers, and of the
princes by whom they were protected, in order to strengthen
himself against the emperor, the nephew of his divorced
queen, to whom was committed the execution of the pope's
adverse decree."^

Now also, the encouragement shown by queen Anne, aided
materially the extension of divine truth at home ; and for a
time, a greater liberty to preach and distribute the word of
God prevailed. By her influence Latimer and Shaxton, both
deeply imbued with the reformed doctrine, were advanced to
bishoprics, and it is more than doubtful, whether Cranmer,
without their help, would have dared to proceed in the path of
reformation. The first use which had been made of his
authority by this timid and obsequious prelate, was to issue,
in conjunction with Gardiner, Stokesley, and Longland, an in-
hibition against preaching, unless permitted by a new license.
To this was appended an order, "that no preachers for a
year shall preach, neither with nor against purgatory, honor-
ing of saints, that priests may have wives, that faith only
justifietli, to go on pilgrimages, to forge miracles, considering
these things have caused dissension, "f

Under the fostering care of the royal prerogative, the year
1535 was chiefly occupied in preparing the way for the disso-
lution of the monasteries : the other portion of the " well-
liked" advice of Cromwell to his sovereign in 1529. For this
purpose Cromwell was named Vicegerent, the General Visitor
of all monasteries and privileged places, with authority also
to visit every archbishop and bishop of the kingdom. By the
year 1540, their suppression was complete, and the king and
his courtiers revelling in the spoils. Some few new bishoprics

* Burnet, i. 313. Collier, iv. 290.
\ Craumer's Works, L 98 ; iv. 253. Jenkyn's edit

44 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

were founded, tlie royal exchequer was replenished, and the
greatest hindrances to the advance of the Reformation were
moved out of the way.*

But the king's proceedings towards the bishops exhibited the
boldest exercise of his supremacy that had yet occurred.
On the 18th of September, he issued an order to the arch-
bishops of Canterbury and York, suspending the ordinary
jurisdiction of the whole hierarchy, until the general visitation
of the clergy, he had recently set on foot, should be finished.
It appears that this novel exercise of the prerogative was
expected to call forth expressions of episcopal discontent ; for
six days after we find Legh and Ap Rice, two of the Vice-
gerent's delegates, urging their master to persist in the
suspension. They say, that the bishops' jurisdiction is re-
ceived, either by the law of God, by the bishop of Rome's
authority, or else by the king's grace's permission. If by the
first, let them bring forth scripture to prove it; if by the
second, "let them exercise [it] still, if they think it meet f^ or
if by the last, wherefore should they be grieved if the king
recall that which came from him ? "It seems to us good that
they should be driven by this means to agnize their author,
spring, and fountain, as else they be too ingrate to enjoy it.
Let them sue for it again by supplication, that they and all
other may understand him to be the head-power within this

* Collier, iv. 294. l^urnet, i. 331, 346. " These means he (Cromwell)
used. He first found means to persuade the king that it might lawfully
be done ; that for his crown and state in safety it was necessary to he
done, for that he made appear to the king how by their means the pope
and clergy had so great authority, revenue, alliance, and principally cap-
tivity of the souls, and obedience of subjects, that they were able to put
kings in hazard at their will ; that for his revenue and maintenance of
his estate, wars, and affairs, both in peace and in war, at home and
abroad, with others, it was most profitable to dissolve them for augmen-
tation of his treasure," Contemporary MS. in Letters relating to the
Suppression of the Monasteries, Camden Society, p. 112.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 45

realm under God ; and that no jurisdiction proceedeth within
the same, but from him."^

The suspension was not removed, until thus compelled they
"sued with words of prayer" for the restoration of their
episcopal functions. Their prayer was granted, to be enjoyed
during the royal pleasure only, and attended with the follow-
ing extraordinary declaration : — That as his vicegerent, Crom-
well, was so fully occupied with the arduous duties committed
to his charge, and fearing lest injuiy should accrue thereby
to his subjects, the supreme head on earth of the Anglican
church, therefore, empowered the bishops in his stead, to con-
fer orders, to institute and to collate to benefices, and to
exercise other branches of episcopal jurisdiction, " beside and
beyond those things which are divinely committed to their
charge by the holy scriptures. "f

To this humiliation all the bishops quietly submitted,
excepting only Gardiner who was abroad, apparently content
to derive their ofiSce, as ministers of the gospel, from the civil
magistrate ; thereby virtually disclaiming the authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ to set teachers in his church, and at the
same time overthrowing the rights of the Christian communify.
The vicegerent's commissioners diligently carried out the in-
structions of their master, as is seen by the following letter to
their employer : — " Right worshipful sir, my duty presup-
posed, this is to advertise you that Master Doctor Layton and
I, the 11th day of January (1536), were with the archbishop
of York, whom we, according to your pleasure and precepts,
have visited, enjoining him to preach and teach the word of
God, according to his bound duty, to his cure committed unto
him ; and to see others here in his jurisdiction, being endued
with good quahties, having any respect either to God, good-
ness, virtue or godliness, to perform the same ; enjoining, more-
over, to him, to bring up unto you his first, second, and third

* Strype, Memor. I. ii 216, 217. f Collier, ix, 156. Short, p. 104.

46 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

foundations whereupon he enjoyeth his office and prerogative
power, with the grants, privileges, and concessions, given to
him, and to his see appertaining."*

The whole hierarchy was now at the king's command ; a
despotic power was fully accorded him over body and soul.
His subjects await the next utterance of their sovereign with
anxiety and suspense; for he will immediately proceed to
determine what they must believe. Their consciences must be
for him a tabula rasa ; a plastic, formless clay, ready to re-
ceive whatever form of doctrine the royal potter may think fit
to frame. What is it to him that there is one Lord and one
Lawgiver, the Everlasting Word, whose voice alone can speak
into life, and illuminate the soul of man with the rays of
truth ? Is he not the only reflector of that bright image,
and by divine right the only promulgator of eternal verities,
within this his land ?

Is it not treason to believe otherwise than as the head of the
body politic ? He deems it, therefore, to be his especial duty
to take into his care the well-being of the souls with the
bodies of his people.

The murder of Anne Boleyn was consummated ; a spiritless
parliament and a time-serving prelate had sanctioned the
bloody deed ; the one by reversing the law of succession, and
Cranmer by annulling the marriage of his protectress and
friend, as she stood in mockery of justice at his tribunal ;
when, on Friday, the 9th of June, the new convocation
assembled. *' Therein, the Lord Cromwell, prime secretary,
sat in state above all the bishops as the king's vicar or vice-
regent-general in all spiritual matters. "f

The convocation is opened with a Latin sermon from
Latymer, in obedience to " the commandment of our primate."
With great fidelity and boldness, the preacher sets before

* Dr. Legh to Cromwell, Letters relating to Suppression, &c. p. 95.
f Fuller, Ch. Hist. Book v. Sect. 26.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 47

them their high duties as the stewards of Christ, though he
fears many of them are children of darkness. He declaims,
with pointed severity, against the general topics handled in
their discourses to the people : — " Your care," he exclaims," is
not that all men may hear God's word, but all your care is,
that no layman do read it ; surely, being afraid lest they by
their reading should understand it, and understanding learn to
rebuke our slothfulness. What have ye done hitherto, I pray
you, these seven years and more ? What one thing that the
people of England hath been the better of a hair ; or you
yourselves, either more accepted before God, or better dis-
charged toward the people committed to your care ? Is it
unknown, think you, how both ye and your curates were, in a
manner, by violence enforced to let books to be made, not by
you, but by profane and lay persons ; to let them, I say, be
sold abroad, and read for the instruction of the people?" In
a similar strain, he rebukes their cruel and persecuting spirit ;
their worldliness, their frauds, and deceptions practised on a
foohsh people, exhorting them to a reformation of their
worship, to take away images and relics, to purify the bishops'
courts, and to reduce the number of holidays.*

This startling and ominous discourse gave note of that which
was about to follow. The first act of convocation, was to
sign publicly an instrument, presented by Cromwell, relating
to the nullity of the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn.
" Oh ! the operation of the purge of a premunire, so lately
taken by the clergy, and a hundred thousand pounds paid
thereupon ! How did the remembrance thereof still work
upon their spirits, and make them meek and mortified ! — They
knew the temper of the king, and had read the text. The
lion hath roared, who will not fear ? Amos iii. 8."f

And now the important object of their assembling was

* Latymer's Sermons, pp. 33-58, Parker Society edit.
f Fuller, Book v. Sect. 26.

48 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

brought forward. On Friday, July 23rd, the prolocutor of
the lower house laid before the prelates a collection of sixty-
seven erroneous doctrines, which, to the great grief of the
clergy, were publicly preached, printed, and professed, " and
are either the tenets of the old Lollards, or the new reformers,
together with the anabaptists' opinions."* Here are some
of them. " That all ceremonies accustomed in the church,
which are not clearly expressed in scripture, must be taken
away, because they are men's inventions : the church is the
congregation of good men only : that it is as lawful to christen
a child in a tub of water at home, or in a ditch by the way,
as in a font-stone in the church : it is sufficient for a man or
woman to make their confession to God alone : that it is not
necessary or profitable to have any church or chapel to pray
in, or to do any divine service in : that saints are not to be
invoked or honored: that prayers, suffrages, fastings, or
alms-deeds, do not help to take away sin : that by preaching
the people have been brought in opinion and behef, that
nothing is to be beheved, except it can be proved expressly by
scripture : that it is preached and taught, that, forasmuch as
Christ hath shed his blood for us, and redeemed us, we need
not to do anything at all but to believe and repent, if we have
offended : that no human constitutions, or laws, do bind any
Christian man, but such as be in the gospels, Paul's epistles,
or the New Testament, and that a man may break them with-
out any offence at all." These opinions were the fruit of
freedom of thought, and of a sole regard to the testimony of
holy writ. We shall presently see that they did not in the
least harmonize with the views of either party, into which the
convocation was divided, nor with the determination of him
by whom their faith is about to be settled — for the present.f
It is the king's study, says his noble representative, day
and night, to set a quietness in the church ; nay, he cannot

* Burnet, i. 388. f Fuller, book v. sect. 28.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 49

rest till these controversies be fully debated and ended. A
very special desire moves him to ^' set a stay for the un-
learned people, whose consciences are in doubt what they
may believe." But, well as the king is acquainted with these
controversies, and able by his excellent learning to determine
upon them, yet his great love to the clergy prompts him to
lay the matter before them. He desires " you lovingly and
friendly to dispute among yourselves, and conclude all things
by the word of God, without all brawling and scolding."
But he will not suffer scripture to be wrested, nor defaced,
by any glosses, or papistical laws, or decrees of fathers and
councils. " And his majesty will give you high thanks, if
ye will sit and conclude a perfect unity."

After " this godly exhortation, of so worthy a prince," for
which the bishops all rise up together to give thanks, they
proceed to disputation. The thorny questions of the nature
and number of the sacraments are their topics. Rome and
Wittenburg produce their arguments, in the persons of op-
posing prelates. " Oh what tugging was here," says Fuller,
" betwixt these opposite sides, whilst with all earnestness
they thought to advance their several designs." "Let us
grant," submits the bishop of London, " that the sacraments
may be gathered out of the word of God, yet are you far de-
ceived, if you think there is none other word of God, but that
which every sowter and cobler do read in their mother tongue.
And if ye think, that nothing pertaineth unto the Ohristiaii
faith, but that only which is written in the Bible, then err ye
plainly with the Lutherans. . . . Now when the right noble
Lord Cromwell, the archbishop, with the other bishops,
which did defend the pure doctrine of the gospel, heard this,
they smiled a little one upon another, forasmuch as they saw
him flee, even in the very beginning of the disputation, into
his old rusty sophistry and unwritten verities."* But what

* Fox, p. 3, 1080.
3

60 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

■unity can be " set and concluded," when it is found that
seven against seven the antagonists stand, and each side im-
movable ? while a nation's faith, the obedience of myriads of
consciences, must hang balanced in the scale — if it may.

A faith is however ready and at hand — at which these
episcopal warriors will not venture to tilt. Unity can be
"set and concluded," though bishops may fail to effect it;
there is one, at least, bold enough to attempt it. ** Articles
concerning^ our faith, and laudable ceremonies in the church
of Christ" — a " twiHght religion" — may be framed, to which
the consciences of the people, both cleric and lay, can and
must obediently conform, and that by " Henry the Eighth,
by the grace of God, King of England, and of France, De-
fender of the Faith, Lord of Ireland, and in Earth Supreme
Head of the Church of England."* "For," saith he, "it
most chiefly belongeth unto our charge, diligently to foresee,
and cause that not only the most holy word and command-
ments of God should most sincerely be believed, and most
reverently be observed, and kept of our subjects; but also
that unity and concord in opinions, namely, in such things as
do concern our religion, may increase and go forward, and all
occasion of dissent and discord touching the same be re-
pressed and utterly extinguished." Such is the introduction
to the articles, which after several disputations were assented
to, and signed by the convocation, and then published for the
souls' health of the community.

In the first, they are taught that the entire canon of the
Bible, which, at that time, included the apocrypha, as also
the Apostles', the Nicene, and Athanasian creeds, are "the
most certain and infallible words of God," which ought and
must be most reverently observed and religiously kept, else
were they " infidels, heretics, and members of the devil, with
whom they shall be perpetually damned." In the second,

* Titla to Book of Articles, tlien publiehed. Fuller, book v. sect, 84, 86.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 61

that of necessity they must and ought to beheve, that bap-
tism ordained by our Saviour, is to be given to all men, as
also to infants, that thereby all sin, original and actual, may
be washed away, and that " all the Anabaptists' or Pelagians'
opinions in this behalf, ought to be reputed for detestable
heresies, and utterly to be condemned." In the third, that
penance is a sacrament appointed by Christ, and that without
it, and "such good works of the same," no one shall obtain
everlasting life, neither remission nor mitigation of present
pains and afflictions in this hfe. In the fourth, that in the
sacrament of the altar, the very flesh and blood of Christ is
really and substantially present. In the fifth, that sinners
are justified "by contrition and faith, joined with charity:"
not as deserving to attain the said justification, but through
the merits of the blood and passion of Jesus Christ. Next
follow articles concerning the ceremonies to be used. Images
are to be employed as " representors of virtue and good ex-
ample :" the images of Christ and our Lady to kindle, and
stir men's minds to recollection and lamentation of their sins.
Saints are to be honored as the elect persons of Christ, who
passed in godly life out of this transitory world, to whom we
may laudably pray, and their holy days observe, except so
far as they may be mitigated and moderated by the com-
mandment " of us the supreme head." Holy vestments, the
giving of holy bread, the sprinkling of holy water, bearing
of candles on Candlemas-day, giving ashes on Ash Wednes-
day, bearing palms on Palm Sunday, creeping to the cross
on Good Friday, and kissing it, setting up the sepulture of
Christ, the hallowing of the font, and other exorcisms, cus-
toms, and benedictions, are not to be contemned, but used
and continued. And lastly, prayers and masses are to be of-
fered for souls departed, though it "be to us uncertain by
scripture," where they are.*

* Fuller, book v. sect. 34, 35. Burnet, L ii 467. Add. L i 890.

62 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Such was the commencement of the doctrinal refonnation
of the church of England, and the first example of the exer-
cise of the royal prerogative in the imposition of dogmas of
faith on the consciences of people. *' For good instruction
must they be taken" until such time as his majesty shall
change or abrogate any of them.* Neither priest, bishop,
nor king, seems to have thought of the impracticability of
the work they took in hand, or of the iniquitous presumption
of the endeavor to command and control the conscience.
Nay, with a condescension amounting to mockery, the people
are exhorted in "charitable unity and loving concord," to
observe the same, as thereby they will " not a little encourage
us to take farther travails, pains, and labors, for your com-
modities in all such other matters, as in time to come, may
happen to occur, and as it shall be most to the honor of God,
the profit, tranquillity, and quietness of all you, our most
loving subjects."

May we not fairly suspect that none of these parties knew
the power of true godliness to excite a most tender and sen-
sitive regard to every, even the least, commandment of Jesus
Christ ? That such regard would lead its possessor through
*' floods and flames" to obey them ? Surely their only con-
ception of religion must have been that of a system of spirit-
ual tyranny over the souls of men, as the source of wealth
and power. The clergy, indeed, murmured at the authority
assumed; but they knew the temper of Henry too well to
off'er any open resistance. Although their mass-money, their
lucrative indulgencies, their shrined wealth, were at stake, a
premunire might again pluck them of their gains, and the
coffers of their sovereign be once more weighty with their
gold, should tljey dare to oppose his will. The convocation
completed its labors with a petition to the king, " that he
would graciously indulge unto his subjects of the laity, the

* Strype's Cranmer, p. 690.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 53

reading of the Bible in the English tongue, — and that a new
translation might be forthwith made for that end and pur-
pose." Their petition eighteen months before had not suc-
ceeded. Nor was this regarded ; for although in the ensuing
year a reprint of Tyndale's own translation, under another's
name, was ushered into the world under royal auspices, it
was without the consent of the clergy, and to their very
great vexation.^

The people were by no means pleased with the freedom so
boldly taken with their faith. A general discontent, breaking
out into open rebellion, soon displayed itself, which was with
difficulty quelled. Yet in marvellous blindness they acknowl-
edged the sovereign to be their supreme head under God,
for the settlement of their religious behef.f The articles
alluded to above, were in the following year embodied in the
book entitled, ''The Institution of a Christian Man." Many
additions were made to them, during the preparation of the
work, by a number of bishops, and other learned men, who
were appointed by the king to this weighty charge. It was
not, however, easily achieved ; so numerous were the objec-
tions of the partisans of the old learning. *' Yerily for my
part," says Latymer, " I liad lever be poor parson of poor
Kynton again, than to continue thus bishop of Worcester."!
Here is the principle on which this reformed faith was im-
posed on the people : "It appertains to Christian kings and
princes, in the discharge of their duty to God, to reform and
reduce again the laws to their old limits, and pristine state of
their power and jurisdiction, which was given them by Christ,
and used in the primitive church. For it is out of all doubt
that Christ's faith was then most firm and pure, and the
scriptures of God were then best understood. And therefore
the customs and ordinances then used and made, must needs

* Anderson, Annals, L 548, 578. -j- Burnet, i 413.

\ Quoted in Cranmer's Works, i 188.

54 STRUGGLFJS AND TRIUMPHS

be more conform, and agreeable unto the true doctrine of
Christ, and more conducing to the edifying and benefit of the
church of Christ, than any customs or laws used or made
since that time."'* Thus another rule of faith, one established
by the prince and his church, was introduced into the place
of the word of God.

For more than ten years, the sacred volume had found an
entrance into the land, although forbidden, and its suppression
earnestly sought. Until now, none in authority cared for
these things, when by the wonderful providence of God the
labors of the martyr of Vilvorde were crowned with success.
Twenty-five editions of the New Testament at least, and four
of the whole Bible, had been distributed, bearing fruit unto
eternal life, ere it was allowed by the king's grace to be
bought and read in his realm.f The law of man and the law
of God were now brought into conflict for the sovereignty of
the soul : not without an assured victory to the latter, though
it must win its way through tears, imprisonment, and blood.
At the door of every man's conscience the combatants stood,
the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man. A struggle was
inevitable ; it has been long and severe : our own day has yet
to witness its close.

By royal permission and command, a Bible was ordered to
be set up in every church, and none hindered in its perusal;
for " it is the true lively word of God, which every Christian
ought to believe, embrace, and follow, if he expects to be
saved." But the people must beware of their own judgment.
Let them not contest with each other the sense of difficult
places, but refer themselves to men of better judgment, to
the scribes and rabbis of the church.J Does the vicegerent,
Cromwell, think, while he issues this injunction, that he can
control the operations of the Spirit of God, whose living word

* Strype's Cranmer, p. XT'?. f Anderson's Annals, l 579. ii App.

X Burnet, i 453.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 55

he thus places before the eyes and understandings of the
people ? or that those consciences in which the Spirit of truth
shall speak with power, are amenable to his judgment? It
is to be feared, that he who thus opened the sealed waters
of life to thirsty souls, was himself a stranger to the grace
of God, and that nothing but a low and worldly policy led
him to an act so fertile in blessing to his country and the
world.

But as if to illustrate tlffe degree of liberty which the people
were to be permitted to enjoy, the king himself engaged in
the examination of Lambert for heresy. " A more miserable
spectacle of a royal tyrant taunting and worrying his victim,
Westminster Hall probably never witnessed before nor since."
At this sad scene, Cromwell and Cranraer assisted, in con-
junction with Gardiner; the first of them delivering without
repugnance the sentence which consigned the martyr to the
flames.* Other victims also were sought out to exhibit the
fidelity of the sovereign to the catholic faith, but which he had
unwittingly brought to the very verge of destruction. Cran-
mer again comes before us a persecutor. To him, with some
others, including Robert Barnes, a martyr in the reign of
Mary, was issued a commission signed by Cromwell, to seek
out and try a certain people, " lurking secretly in divers
corners and places," whose sentiments on baptism were not
in harmony with the articles, recently set forth, to produce
unity and contentation ; who, moreover, ventured " to con-
temn and despise, of their own private wills and appetites,"
the laudable rites and ceremonies of his grace's church. They
had committed treason in daring to think differently from the
king, and for this they were to be pursued to death, even, if
need be, in a manner contrary/ to the due course of laiu ! Tliree
men and a woman, with fagots bound on their backs, did
penance for the crime at St. Paul's Cross, and one man and

* Anderson's Annals, ii 19. Collier, iv, 436.

56 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

a woman of the same sect and country were burnt in Smith-
field.*

The leaders of the catholic party had been recovering their
influence with Henry for some time past, " when Gardiner,
Tunstal, and other bishops, zealous for the old religion, put
the king upon such methods, as dashed all the present hopes
of the other party. "f The tide of reformation began thus
early to ebb. The royal power, which had hitherto opened
channels for its flow, was now, and for the rest of Henry's
days, to be employed in forming*^dykes against its further
progress. It was to be clearly manifest that " it was not hy
might, nor hy power, hut hy the Spirit of the Lord of Ifosts,"
that the flood of divine truth was to pour its salutary streams
into the souls of the people. Symptoms of the repaired
strength of the old party had been shown in the prosecutions
which had taken place in various parts of Kent, of '* fautors
of the new learning, as they call it," which the influence of
Cranmer, even in his own diocese, and sustained by the vice-
gerent's power, could not prevent.J But this change was
most fully exhibited, when, in the parliament of 1539, the act
of six articles was affirmed to be the law of belief to the king's
subjects for the future.

The disagreement of the hierarchy on the doctrines to be
enforced, afforded another opportunity for the royal polemic
to exhibit his theological, as well as his regal power. For
" in his own princely person," he vouchsafed " to descend and
come into his said high court of parliament and council, and
there like a prince of most high prudence, and no less
learning, opened and declared many things of high learning
and great knowledge, touching the said articles, matters, and
questions, for our unity to be had in the same."§ So the

* Collier, ix. 161, iv. 486. Anderson, ii. 18. Strype's Cranmer, p. 686.
f Dodd's Ch. Hist. i. 305. Tierney's ed. X Cranmer's works, i. 242.
§ Preamble to the Act, in Dodd. i. p. 444.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 57

people must believe, or profess to believe, 1. That in tbe
holy sacrament of the altar, under the form of bread and
wine, is present really the natural body and blood of our
Saviour. 2, That communion in both kinds is not necessary
to salvation. 3. That priests may not marry. 4. That vows
of chastity are according to the law of God. 5. As is also
the mass. 6. And that auricular confession is necessary for
the church of God.* The blessed effects of union, and the
mischiefs of discord, could, however, be evinced and cured
only by the fagot and the stake, to which the venturous
being was to be consigned, who dared to deny the truth of
the first article. He who denied the rest, was to be impris-
oned during pleasure, and, if obstinate and hardy in his
opposition, hanging should put an end to every conscientious
scruple.

The bishops proceeded with alacrity to employ the powers
intrusted to them, " Great perturbation," says our martyr-
ologist, " followed in all parishes almost through London,"
and five hundred persons were soon immured in fetid dun-
geons for their faith. ISTo wonder it was complained of as a
great hardship against conscience. " Men do not love to be
dragged into religion; to be under the necessity of being
either a martyr or an hypocrite, they thought singular
usage. "f But "the godly study, pain, and travail of his
majesty, was undergone for the conservation of the church
and congregation in a true, and sincere, and uniform doctrine
of Christ's religion." Ought not therefore every loyal subject
to accept the results of such self-imposed and disinterested
toil ? Could any motives but of the purest kind have influ-
enced the sovereign in this kindly regard for the spiritual weal
of his people? "This measure," we are told, "very much
quieted the bigots, who were now persuaded that the king
would not set up heresy, since he passed so severe an act

* Preamble to Act, in Dodd i. p. 444. f Collier, v. 48

68 STRUGGLES AND TRIULIPHS

against it, a7id it made the total suppression of the monasteries
go the more easily through''^ The pocket and the conscience
of the king were always nearly allied to each other; and
probably he thought those of his subjects were so too.

The royal interference did not, however, reach to the pre-
vention of the perusal of the word of God. Often were the
church services interrupted by the loud voice of some reader,
more lettered than his fellows, as, surrounded in the porch by
Hstening crowds, he broke to the joyful and expecting throng
the bread of life. Everywhere might be heard the eager con-
versation of minds, enlightened by the truth, speaking of
those wonderful words which the Most High had spoken unto
men; the street, the tavern, the ale-house, the church,
and every company, were the scenes of earnest dispute, or
holy zeal. Scripture was compared with scripture, and its
sense closely scrutinized. The night of superstition retired
before the morning dawn, and the " sacraments of holy
church" were threatened with subversion and overthrow;
some even had ventured to whisper thoughts which appeared
to destroy " the power and authority of princes and magis-
trates.'" It was time, therefore, that that power should vin-
dicate its divine original, and remedy, by " most excellent
wisdom," all irregularities and diversities of opinion, that by
reducing the people to unity of judgment, there might be an
increase of love and charity among them. For this purpose,
his majesty issued a proclamation at the commencement of
the session. His people must cease such disorderly practices.
Nevertheless, his highness is content, ".that such as can and
will read in the English tongue, shall and may quietly and
reverently read the Bible and New Testament by themselves
secretly, at all times and places, convenient for their own
instruction and edification, to increase thereby godliness and
virtuous living." Only let them not attempt to understand

^ Burnet, L 471.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 69

difficult places, without the assistance of the learned ; and
moreover, " his majesty was not, nor is, compelled by God's
word to set forth the scripture in English to his lay subjects ;
but, of his own liberality and o-oodness, was and is pleased
that his said loving subjects should have and read the same in
convenient places and times, to the only intent to bring them
from their old ignorance and blindness to virtuous living
and godliness, to God's glory and honor, and not to make
and take occasion of dissension and tumult, by reason of
the same. Wherefore his majesty chargeth and command-
eth all his said subjects to use the holy scripture in
English, according to his godly purpose and gracious intent,
as they would avoid his most high displeasure and indigna-
tion."^

Thus did Henry strive to realize, in the omnipotency of
his power, his supreme headship over the consciences of his
subjects, and to restrain by his permission the all-conquering
progress of the sacred word. They had read, and would con-
tinue to read, with or without his sanction, the holy page ;
notwithstanding that he may say by proclamations to the
flood of heavenly truth, "Hitherto shalt thou come; hut no
further^

But few other events will require our notice in the present
reign. The most important was the publication, in 1543. of
"The Erudition of a Christian Man." The issue of this work
closed the labors of a commission of bishops, appointed three
years before by the king, to fix the rule of religious belief.
The influence of the catholic party in this also prevailed, and
put back still further the reformation of the national faith.
The people were commanded to " order" their lives by
this book, the doctrine of it " having been seen and liked
very well by both houses of parliament." It contained
everything needful for the attainment of everlasting life.

* DodA i 310, 451.

60 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

They were no longer to busy *' their heads and senses" about
free-will, justification, good works, &c. ; all these things were
here fully and most certainly explained for their perfect con-
tentation.

Moreover, they were instructed, " that the reading of the
Old and New Testament is not so necessary for all those
folks, that of duty they ought, and be bound to read it ; but
as the prince and the poHcy of the realm shall think conve-
nient to be tolerated or taken from it."^ This same parlia-
ment, which so well liked the new creed set forth by the
king's authority, for the advancement of true religion, com-
manded that all Bibles and Testaments of Tyndale's transla-
tion, should be utterly extinguished and abolished, and all
annotations and preambles be blotted out from all others. ISTo
women, except gentlewomen, no artificers, no journeymen, no
husbandmen, nor laborers, were to read the Bible to them-
selves, nor to any other, privately or openly, on pain of a
month's incarceration in prison.f

Such were the fetters and restrictions under which the
nation was to learn the divine truths of Scripture. Nor must
we be surprised that these were sanctioned and promoted by
Cranmer, since he beheved that all civil and ecclesiastical
power had the same origin ; that to the Christian prince was
committed, immediately from God, not only the administration
of things political, and civil governance, " but also the admin-
istration of God's word for the cure of souls." He thought
that the election of the pastors of the church, should be " by
the laws and orders of kings and princes. "J Hence the sim-
plest act of worship must be a matter of royal regulation ; a
prayer, in the people's tongue, may not rise from any hps in
the public assemblies to the great Father and Fountain of
mercy, until it shall please the sovereign to permit. The

* Strype, Mem. I. i. 586. f Burnet, i. 584.

J Cranmer's Remauas, ii. 101.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 61

very matter of the preacher's sermon must be, and was, deter-
mined for him ; and every truth, even the most precious to the
soul's salvation, must give way to the frequent inculcation of
the profane dogma of the king's supremacy ; that must never
be forgotten.

If souls were awakened into life ; if any found their way
to the Lamb of God, through the thick mists of superstition
which hid him from their view ; if a gem of heavenly truth
glimmered in the surrounding darkness, from the brow of one
made free by the Spirit of God, it was not the fault of princes
and bishops if the soul thus blessed did not ascend to the
regions of bliss in the lurid glare of the martyr-pile, or from
the filthy and pestilential dungeon. Guided by nO conscien-
tious motive, or true religious sense themselves, they could
not understand nor would they suffer any other to possess,
that of which they were so painfully deficient. Soul, mind,
thought, everything which elevates man to his Creator, to-
gether with the secular interests of humanity, must be subject
to a domination fatal to their welfare, their expansion, their
freedom, and their life.

We may close this portion of our sketch with the following
accurate picture of the state of this, so-called, reformation,
from the pen of an eye-witness. " Still remaineth their foul
masses, of all abominations the principal ; their prodigious
sacrifices, their censings of idols, their boyish processions,
their uncommanded worshippings, and their confessions in the
ear, of all traitory the fountain ; with many other strange ob-
servations, which the scripture of God kiioweth not. Nothing
is brought as yet to Christ's clear institution and sincere or-
dinance, but all remaineth still as the antichrists left it. No-
thing is tried by God's word, but by the ancient authority of

fathers : now passeth all under their title If it were

naught afore, I think it is now much worse ; for now are they
become ' laudable ceremonies,' whereas before time they were

62 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

but ceremonies alone. !N'ow are tliey become necessary rites,
godly constitutions, seemly usages, and civil ordinances, where-
as before they had no such names ; and he that disobeyeth
them, shall not only be judged a felon, and worthy to be
hanged, by their new forged laws, but also condemned for a
traitor against the king. To put this, with such like, in ex-
ecution, the bishops have authority, every month in the year
if they list, to call a session, to hang and burn at their
pleasure. And this is ratified and confirmed by act of par-
liament, to stand the more in effect."*

The king himself corroborates all this, though in more
courtly phrase, in his speech to his last parliament. The
close of his reign was at hand, though he knew it not ; and
from the lips of the sovereign we receive a confession of the
utter futility of all his attempts to control the conscience, to
fix the faith of his liege subjects, or to establish that unity
and concord which had ever been pleaded, as the sufficient
reason for his interference. " Behold, then," he says, " what
love and charity is amongst you, when the one calletli the other
heretic and anabaptist, and he calleth him again papist,
hypocrite, and pharisee. ... I see and hear daily, that you of
the clergy preach one against another, teach one contrary to
another, inveigh one against another, without charity or dis-
cretion. Some be too stiff in their old mumpsimus, others
be too busy and curious in their new sumpsimus. Thus all
men almost be in variety, in discord, and few or none do
preach, truly and sincerely, the word of God according as
they ought to do. . . . You of the temporality be not clean and
unspotted of malice and envy ; for you rail on bishops, speak
slanderously of priests, and rebuke and taunt preachers. . . .
And although you be permitted to read holy scripture, and to
have the word of God in your mother tongue, you must under-
stand, that it is licensed you so to do, only to inform your own

* John Bale, quoted in Strype'g Cranmer, p. 186.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 63

conscience, and to instruct your children and family, and not
to dispute, and make scripture a railing and a vaunting-stock
against priests and preachers, as many light persons do. I
am very sorry to know and hear how unreverently that most
precious jewel, the word of God, is disputed, rhymed, sung,
and jangled, in every alehouse and tavern, contrary to the
true meaning and doctrine of the same ; and yet I am even
as much sorry, that the readers of the same follow it in
doing so faintly and coldly. For of this I am sure, that
charity was never so faint amongst you, and virtuous and godly
living was never less used, nor was God himself amongst
Christians never less reverenced, honored and served.'"^

His failure to rule the conscience was complete. Honors,
wealth, and power, had induced many to applaud and follow
their sovereign in his revolutionary proceedings, and multi-
tudes witli him had bowed in worship, and sacrificed their
souls, at the golden shrine of mammon ; but others received
the reward of their fidehty to God in stripes, bonds, and death.
The soul eluded his grasp ; it escaped his toils. There were
those whom the Son had made free indeed, who dared to taste
and handle the holy truths of the oracles of God, apart from,
and uncontaminated by, the doctrines of men, however erudite
and necessary to elucidate heaven's laws they were proclaim-
ed to be, by this usurper of Christ's prerogative ; of these we
shall presently speak.

* Dodd. I App. 454, 455.

64 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

SECTIOiN 11.

EDWARD VI.

When the youthful Edward ascended the throne, in 1547,
but little more had been effected in the way of reformation
than an entire separation of the English church from the
Roman obedience. Many corruptions and abuses had been
moderated or destroyed, but the national faith and discipline
remained essentially catholic. It may be said, indeed, that
but one of the various doctrines which were regarded as pecu-
liarly protestant, had obtained any ascendency at all ; a doc-
trine too consonant to the pride and ambition of sovereigns,
to be allowed to remain in abeyance by the tyrannical and un-
scrupulous Henry. Everywhere among the reformers, the
right of the Christian magistrate to rule the conscience as well
as the body of the subject, was asserted ; and while them-
selves exercising their lately-acquired Hberty to the fullest ex-
tent, they regarded with jealousy and bitter hatred all who
ventured, while copying their example, to depart from their
standard of truth. " Whether the omnipotence of the state
be or be not a Christian or protestant principle, this is at any
rate the form that protestantism then assumed most distinctly
in England. Political and worldly interests soon gained an
entire preponderance over all questions of religion and of
truth ; with whatever sincerity the latter may have been
pleaded at the beginning of the movement."* This vicious
principle distorted the fairer features of the reformation from

* Heber's English Universities, edit, by F. W. Newman, i. 269.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 65

its very birth, and has been productive of untold mischiefs to
the present hour. The doctrines, the ceremonies, the services
of the AngHcan church, were not founded on a conscientious
conviction of their necessity to salvation, or of their harmony
with the divine mind uttered in the oracles of truth. Neither
were they the spring blossomings of an internal and renewed
life, bursting forth into forms expressive of its vigor, its pu-
rity, and its heavenly origin. On the contrary, they were
imposed upon an unwilling people, and but little, if any, im-
provement took place in the general character and religious
feelings of the mass. Whatever of true piety was actually
existent was not the fruit of these changes ; neither did it
spring from the holy seed of the gospel sown and cherished by
regal power. The unsanctioned, discountenanced, and per-
secuted efforts of men in lowly life, whose hearts the Lord
had opened, alone issued in the planting of the tree of liberty
and truth.

With the above principle as the basis of their proceedings,
Somerset the protector, Cranmer, and others forming the in-
fluential portion of the young king's council, commenced their
alterations in the national faith. They labored to erect a
church which should retain in mental slavery, and under
religious bondage, a people among whom the emancipating
truths of scripture were yet freely to circulate ; thus insuring
a state of unceasing conflict. The Christian community was
to be kept in a perpetual childhood, ever to remain under the
thraldom of tutors and governors. On the day of the youth-
ful sovereign's coronation, the archbishop solemnly reminded
him, " That being God's vicegerent, and Christ's vicar in his
own dominions, he was obliged to follow the precedent of
Josias, to take care the worship of God was under due regu-
lations, to suppress idolatry, remove images, and discharge the
tyranny of the bishop of Rome."* These " due regulations"

* ColHer, v, 182.

66 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

were quickly supplied by the primate's zeal. A series of in-
junctions relating to every part of public worship, public in-
struction, and private devotion, were furnished to certain
visitors appointed to proceed through the length and breadth
of the land, that idolatry and superstition might be suppress-
ed, the true religion planted, and all hypocrisy, enormities, and
abuses extirpated."*

The publication of a volume of homilies, to be read to their
flocks by those ministers who could not preach, soon followed,
in which for the first time the important doctrine of justifica-
tion by faith alone, was clearly enunciated by state authority.
To Cranmer that part of the book is attributed. f Latymer
thus amusingly informs his sovereign how his homiletic instruc-
tions were received among his people: **Some call them
komelies, and indeed so they may be called, for they are
homely handled. For though the priest read them never so
well, yet if the parish like them not, there is such a talking
and babbling in the church, that nothing can be heard ; and
if the parish be good, and the priest naught, he will so hack
it, and chop it, that it were as good for them to be without
it, for any word that shall be understood. And yet (the
more pity) this is suffered of your grace's bishops, in their
dioceses, unpunished. But I will be a suitor to your grace,
that ye will give your bishops charge ere they go home, upon
their allegiance, to look better to their flock, and to see your
majesty's injunctions better kept, and send your visitors in
their tails, and if they be found negligent and faulty in their
duties, out with them. I require it, in God's behalf, make
them quondams, all the pack of them. "J Such was the in-
formation and advice given by Latymer, himself a quondam
bishop, to the youthful monarch, in the "preaching place,"
in the king's garden at Westminster, the very place where,

* Documentary Annals, i. 4, (fee, f Cranmer's Remains, ii. 138.
:(: Latymer's Sermons, pp. 121, 122. Parker Soc. edit.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 67

thirteen years before, Cromwell had advised his sovereign to
a course, of which the above was the fruit.

The mental activity of the people could not, however, be
confined to the channels hewn out for it. Curious questions
were passed about as to the nature of the mystery in the
sacrament of the altar, which they were called upon to receive
with an unreasoning faith. Even "unseemly and ungodly
words" were uttered, by which " the holy body and blood of
the Lord" were depraved and reviled. Was it indeed his
" blessed body there, head, legs, arms, toes, and nails ?"
Could it be broken, or chewed in the mouths of the faithful,
or was he always swallowed whole ? Did they drink the
very blood that flowed from his side, or that which remained
in the lifeless, crucified form of the buried Saviour ? And many
other speeches, alike irreverent, were made on this profound
mystery. *' For reformation whereof, the king's highness, by
advice of the lord protector, and other his majesty's council,
straitly willeth and commandeth, that no man, nor person,
from henceforth, do in anywise contentiously and openly argue,
dispute, reason, preach, or teach, than be expressly taught in
the holy scripture ; — imtil such time as the king's majesty
shall declare, and set forth, an open doctrine thereof, for he
shall incur the king's high indignation, and suffer imprison-
ment, or be otherwise grievously punished."*

The " private mind and fantasy" of many persons outran the
wishes of even Cranmer himself, though in some measure
sanctioned by him. The non-observance of many of the
laudable ceremonies of Henry's imposition, called forth, in less
than two months, another proclamation to restrain their zeal.
It was pronounced rash and seditious for any to preach in any
open and unlicensed place, without royal or episcopal permis-
sion, especially since the people were persuaded by private

* Doc. Annals, Proclamation, Dec. 2tth, 1547, vol. I 26.

68 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

curates, preachers, and other laymen, not to observe the old
and accustomed rites and formahties."*

The parliament also added its quota to the general progress.
The statute of the six articles was repealed, which opened the
way for the return of many who had gone abroad, fearing its
cruel threatenings, among whom may be mentioned John
Hooper and Miles Coverdale. The communion was command-
ed to be administered in both kinds, private masses abolished,
and bishops in future were to be appointed by the royal letters
patent alone. A further gift of all unsuppressed chantries,
and of legacies given for obits and lamps in churches, was be-
stowed upon the king, to the profit of his many hungry
courtiers.f

Many of the old superstitions were by this means rooted
up, but without any general increase of true piety or even
morality. This " dissolution of life," says Becon, a reformer
and actor in these times, " this impiety of manners, maketh
the gospel of our salvation to be evil spoken of. How can it
otherwise be ? For when they see an alteration in religion,
and no alteration in manners, but a continuance in the old, or
else a practice of much more ungodhness than heretofore
hath been used, the adversaries of God's truth take easily an
occasion to blaspheme the Christian doctrine."| Churches
did not escape profanation ; frays, quarrels, blood-shedding,
the passage of horses and mules through them, were fright-
fully prevalent. " They were like a stable, or common inn,
or rather a den and sink of all unchristness," says the
proclamation by which these " evil demeanors" were for-
bidden.§

To this was added a prohibition of the exercise of the
public ministry. The people had been fed with controversy,

* Doc. Annals, i. 34. f 'Neal, i. 33, 84.

X Bacon's Jewel of Joy, p. 416. Works, Parker Soc. edit.
§ Strype's Cranmer, p. 251.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 69

and with bitter disputes, it was said, instead of " the manna
sent down from heaven."

But few, therefore, were permitted to exercise the calling
of God, being those only who were licensed by the king's
council. It appeared fitting to the rulers of the nation's con-
science to send the clergy for a space into retirement, " to
apply themselves to prayer to Almighty God." The loving
subjects of the sovereign, could in the meantime occupy them-
selves with "due prayer in the church," although the service
was still in Latin, " and in the patient hearing of the godly
homilies," until one uniform order could be prepared for their
use.* "What a system must that be, which recognizes in
any human being a right to issue such an edict as this ; an
edict so fearfully impious as to involve a counteraction, and
that on no Umited scale, of God's wisest and most gracious
designs ! But such is the system which the Reformation per-
petuated in this country, and which has subsequently been
maintained by means in perfect harmony with its antichristian
character."! j

As the clergy were unable to instruct the people by an
exhibition of divine truth, derived from a knowledge of God's
word, and an experience of its power, so were they equally
impotent and unqualified to pour forth at the throne of grace
acceptable prayer.

With them, prayer could be nothing but a form, and that
was now provided. Uniformity in divine worship was deemed
a matter of the greatest moment. To effect this, every holy
emotion of the heart must be suppressed, every aspiration of
the heaven-born spirit hindered in its flight, and all commu-
nion with the Father in heaven checked, but such as the
book of Common Prayer now set forth, allowed. True it is,
that legends, responds, commemorations, synodals, and the un-

* Fuller, book I. sect. L c. 15, vol. ii. 314. edit, 1842.
f Price, Hist, of Nonconf. I 76.

70 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

certain stories of the Roman breviaries, had no place in this
purgated edition of the missal ; but yet there were prayers
for the dead, Mariolatry was tacitly sanctioned, baptismal
regeneration taught, and the exorcism of the unclean spirit
from the infant to be baptized, was commanded to the offici-
ating priest.*

"Here you have," say the compilers, in the preface, "an
order for prayer (as touching the reading of holy scripture),
much agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old fathers,
and a great deal more profitable and commodious than that
which of late was used. It is more profitable, because there
are left out many things whereof some be untrue, some uncer-
tain, some vain and superstitious ; and is ordained nothing to
be read, but the very pure word of God, the holy scriptures,
or that which is evidently grounded upon the same." In this
the Apocrypha was included.^

The ceremonies to be used were at the same time deter-
mined. In the exposition of their sentiments on this subject,
it was declared by the compilers to be a great crime to neglect
or break in upon the order of the church, and that private
men ought not to presume to draw models or make such ar-
rangements; it was the sole duty of the governors of the
church. An exact uniformity of habits and ceremonies was
insisted upon. The square cap and the surplice were so im-
portant as to be retained at the risk of the reformation itself.

* " I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name, <fec., that thou come
out and depart from these infants, whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath
vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism, to be made members of his body
and of his holy congregation. Thou cursed spirit, remember thy sen-
tence, remember thy judgment, remember the day to be at hand wherein
thou shalt burn in fire everlasting, prepared for thee and thy angels.
And presume not hereafter to exercise any tyranny towards these in-
fants, whom Christ has bought with his precious blood, and by his holy
baptism, calleth to be of his flock." King Edward's Liturgies, pp. 108»
109 ; Parker Society's edit. f King Edward's Liturgies, p. 18.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. Yl

Superstitious in their use, abused to idolatrous purposes as
they had been, and conscientious as some were in the rejection
of them, yet it was the pleasure of the rulers of the church
to preserve them.

" Our reformers split upon this rock, sacrificing the peace
of the church to a mistaken necessity of an exact uniformity
of doctrine and worship, in which it was impossible for all
men to agree." jSTevertheless, in all this we are informed by
the act of uniformity, which imposed the book upon the
people, that the " archbishop of Canterbury, and certain of
the most discreet and learned bishops, had as well an eye and
respect to the most sincere and pure Christian religion taught
by the scripture, as to the usages of the primitive church ;"
and thus had made ** one convenient and meet order, rite,
and fashion, of common and open prayer, and administra-
tion of the sacraments ; . . . the which, at this time, hy aid of
the Holy Ghost, with one uniform agreement is of them con-
cluded."^

And now Cranmer and his associates in this work flatter
themselves that the honor of God, and great quietness, will
ensue by the compulsory use of a form thus divinely prepared ;
as if at their command life would breathe its vital energy
through this mechanism of piety. At all events, every other
manifestation of spiritual life must be extinguished. He who
ventures to " sing or say common prayer" after any other
manner, or speak anything that may derogate from the
excellence of the book, shall forfeit a year's income from his
benefice, and be imprisoned for six months. For a second
offence, he shall be deprived altogether of his promotions,
and be imprisoned for a year. A pei'son having no prefer-
ment, shall be incarcerated ; the first time for six months, the
second during the remainder of his life. So solicitous indeed
are they that due honor and respect should be paid to the
* Neal, i. 37, edit. 18S7.

72 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

work of their hands, that penalties are enacted for those who
in " interludes, plays, songs, or rhymes, or by any other open
words declare or speak" to the depravation or despising of
the book.* Thus they enforced the motto so significantly
adopted, and placed in " the border around the title page in
black letter," Let every soul submit himself unto the authority
of the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The
powers that he are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore,
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.

Can it be supposed that a book so imperfect as in three
years to require revision, so full of erroneous sentiments, and
imposed with such cruel conditions, was indeed according to
the mind of the Spirit of God ? Could this volume be the
true exponent of the unutterable groanings which he oft
raiseth in the hearts of God's children ? Was this persecuting
edict a fit accompaniment to the confessions of sin, of human
frailty and corruption, marked down in its pages as the meet
language of priest and people, of king and subject, when in
His presence who willeth not the death of a sinner? Or
must we think that the difference of the human and divine is
such, that the work of man requires for its recommendation
and defence, an artillery of power which the word of God in
its plenitude of might rejects? Surely the claim of infalli-
bility involved in this assumption of sovereignty over con- I
science, is ahke odious and profane, whether exercised by a
king or by a pope.

The reformation in this reign was completed by the pro-
mulgation of a series of forty -two articles, which were to con-
stitute the doctrinal belief of the church of England. These
. vary but little from those afterwards adopted in the reign of
Elizabeth, and which have ever since continued to be recog-
nized as the standard of faith by the oaths and subscriptions
of the Anglican clergy. Whether they have produced that

* Dodd, ii. App. Ixxii.

I

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 73

unity in the faith, and rooted out " that discord of opinions,"
for -which they were intended, we need not inquire. Those
who subscribe either beheve them to be true, or else they
greatly prevaricate.* At all events, we know that their au-
thoritative imposition has not quieted the scruples of tender
consciences, nor silenced the utterances of some true-hearted
men, whose faith has been drawn from another standard,
which, in their weakness it may be, they have thought to
be the only one — the volume of inspired truth.

That persecutions should result from these proceedings,
was inevitable. Violent efforts to burst open the doors of con-
science, and to sit enthroned on that seat of Deity, as his
vicegerent, cannot fail to awaken resistance or produce hy-
pocrisy ; to advance true religion, they were worse than use-
less. Therefore, " ambition and emulation among the nobili-
ty, presumption and disobedience among the common people,
grew so extravagant and insolent, that England seemed to be
in a downright frenzy. The wise and good among the papists
grew confirmed in their persuasion, that a corrupt church
was better than no church at all." The sermons of the
time give a frightful picture of the state of society. " AH
men," says Hooper, in one of his discourses, " confess that
sin never so abounded."! Gambhng, prostitution, separations
of husbands from their wives, profane swearing, frauds in
every trade, impunity of murder and theft, owing to the
corruption of judges, and of every principle of justice,
were the frequent topics of denunciation from the pulpits of
the day.

While bishops and legislators were settling creeds and
forms of worship, the people were running madly to destruc-
tion. The shackles of ancient superstitions were in part
broken, their spells were well-nigh gone. No new form of

* Burnet, iL 313.

f Haweia's Sketches of the Reformation, pp. 142, 148.
4

74 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

spiritual belief had as yet taken their place, and bound the
partially freed spiiit. Licentiousness even found a support in
a perverted view of gospel truth.

The martyr Ridley shall speak for us in a "Piteous Lamen-
tation," when taking a retrospect of these times : " As for
Latymer, Lever, Bradford, and Knox, their tongues were so
sharp, they ripped in so deep in their galled backs, to have
purged them, no doubt, of that filthy matter that was festered
in their hearts, of insatiable covetousness, of filthy carnality and
voluptuousness, of intolerable ambition and pride, of ungodly
loathsomeness to hear poor men's causes, and to hear God's
word, that these men of all other, these magistrates then
could never abide. Other there were, very godly men, and
well learned, that went about by the wholesome plasters of
God's word, howbeit after a more soft manner of handling
the matter ; but alas ! all sped in like. For all that could be
done of all hands, their disease did not minish, but daily did
increase. ... As for the common sort of other infeiior magis-
trates, as judges of the laws, justices of the peace, sergeants,
common lawyers, it may be truly said of them, as of the
most part of the clergy, of curates, vicai-s, parsons, prebenda-
ries, doctors of the law, archdeacons, deans, yea, and I may
say, of bishops also, I fear me, for the most part, although I
doubt not but God had, and hath ever, whom he in every
state knew and knoweth to be his — but for the most part, I
say, they were never persuaded in their hearts, but from the
teeth forward, and for the king's sake, in the truth of God's
•word ; and yet all these did dissemble, and bear a copy of a
countenance, as if they had been sound within.'"^" Truly no
very encouraging success for formularies of faith enjoined by
royalty, for changes of religion supported by hope of gain, or
fear of suffering.

The reformers were not backward in recognizing, both in

* Ridley's "Works, p. 59 ; Parker Society's edit

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 75

theory and practice, the principle of persecution necessarily
involved in the assumption of a regal right to determine the
faith of the people. Prosecution was not an accident of the
system which the protestant divines sought to establish. It
was as much involved in their idea of th& might and majesty of
kings, as rulers of the church and lawgivers to the consciences
of their subjects, as in the pope's claim of supremacy over the
soul, as the representative on earth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Both were hateful and blasphemous assumptions of a power be-
longing to the Highest alone ; when exerted, it must persecute.
For a hundred and fifty years, the church of England became
a persecuting church, and for another equal period she strenu-
ously maintained the test and corporation laws ; which, while
in some measure they restrained her power, stamped with ob-
loquy and degradation those whom she could no longer hurt
or destroy.

The act of parliament of 1534, by which the submission of
the clergy to the royal supremacy was sanctioned, and enacted
into law, provided that the various constitutions, canons, and
synodical decrees, under which the church had been governed,
should be revised by a commission of thirty-two persons, to
be appointed by the king. Whatever canons they deemed
worthy of preservation, were to be retained, the remainder
abolished, "and made frustrate;" the royal consent being
declared sufiBcient to give them the force of law. This act
was renewed in 1536, and again in 1544. By the commis-
sioners appointed under the last act, a body of ecclesiastical
law was prepared, but the letter of ratification, though made
out, never obtained the royal signature. Another ineffectual
attempt to give it legal existence followed in 1550, when,
under the immediate direction of Cranmer, assisted by Taylor,
Haddon, and Peter Martyr, the compilation was perfected.
Numerous corrections, in the handwriting of Cranmer and
Martyr, may still be seen in a manuscript copy of the code.

76

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

preserved in the British Museum. The early death of
Edward alone prevented it from having legal authority.*
This code of ecclesiastical law punishes heresy with death.

We are told by the editor of Cranmer's Remains, that this
book " may be safely referred to as an authentic record of
the archbishop's opinions,"f It threatens the penalty of
death, and confiscation of goods, against a denial of the
Trinity, and certain sentiments of the baptists. The unlaw-
fulness of magistracy, a community of goods, the universal
right of any to assume the pastoral office, the symbolical
nature of the sacraments, and the unlawfulness of infant bap-
tism, are particularly denounced as heretical. " In case ex-
communication was despised, and the discipline of the church
made no impression, the culprits were then to be delivered
into the hands of the secular magistrates, and they were to
suffer death by the law."|

It has been questioned by some of our historians, as by
Burnet, and more lately by Townsend, whether this deliverance
to the secular power really implied the penalty of death.
But no doubt can be left on this point, if we take into con-
sideration the share that Cranmer had in the martyrdoms of
Joan Boucher and George Van Pare, and the expressed sen-
timents of others of the reformers.

Thus writes Thomas Becon, chaplain to archbishop Cran-
mer, and prebendary of Canterbury, in the reign of Edward
the Sixth : —

** Father. And what sayest thou of heretics ?

** Son. Even the same that I have said of idolaters, and
false prophets.

" Father. May the magistrates also punish them ?

* Jenkyn's Cranmer, i. Pref. p. ex. f Ibid. p. cxi.

X Collier, v, 480, edit. 1840. Preb. Townsend's Prel. Dissertation to
Fox's Acts and Mon. p. 181, last edit.

i

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 77

" Son. Yea, and also take them out of this life, if they
will not repent, amend, and come to the truth." Again —

" Father. Shall ho be straightways put to death ?

''Son, St. Paul saith, The magistrate heareth not the sword
in vain. If he that beareth false witness against man be
worthy of death by the commandment of God, is he worthy
of less punishment that beareth false witness against God ? . . .
N'otwithstandiug, it is to be wished that. . . .the magistrate
would first of all gently and lovingly deal with heretics, and
see into what conformity he could bring them with his wis-
dom and counsel, and also suflfer them to have access unto
such as be godly learned, which may yet once again have
conference with them."

It is somewhat sickening, after this, to hear him exhorting
the temporal rulers to " be no longer the pope's hangmen."
He adds, " these smeared pill-pates, I would say, prelates,
first of all accused him (the heretic), and afterwards pro-
nounced the sentence of death upon him, and straightways
delivered him to the temporal magistrate for to be put to
execution, making the magistrate their hangman, and bond-
slave, to hang, to draw, to quarter, to bum, to drown, &c., as
it pleased them to appoint. O slavery ! 0 misery ! 0 unnoble
nobihty!"* Is this mere blindness, or worthless hypocrisy?
What appreciable difierence is there between the reformer and
the papist ?

Even Latymer could speak complacently to his young sove-
reign of the cruel death that certain had sufi'ered for their
faith. " The anabaptists," says he, " that were burnt here in
divers towns in England (as I heard of credible men, I saw
not them myself), went to their death even intrepide, as ye
will say, without any fear in the world, cheerfully. — Well, let
them go !"t

* Becon's Catechism, pp. 312-315. Parker Society's edit.
\ Fourth Sermon before Edward VI. p. 160 ; Parker Society.

78 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

To these let us add one more testimony ; that of the orna-
ment and boast of the English church, bishop Jewel. His
adversary, Harding, taunted him with the brotherhood of
certain heretics, whom the papists regarded as the spawn of
the reformation. " There is Servetus," saith he, " the Arian,
burnt at Geneva, and David George, whose bones were ex-
humed and burnt at Basil, were they not your brothers?
And was not poor Joan of Kent also a sister of yours?"
Thus replieth the " Bishop of Sarisburie. As for David
George, and Servetus the Arian, and such other the like,
they were yours, M. Harding, they were not of us. You
brought them up, the one in Spain, the other in Flanders.
We detected their heresies, and not you. We arraigned them ;
we condemned them. We put them to the execution of the
laws. It seemeth very much to call them our brothers,
because we burnt them."* Alas ! in Joan's condemnation
many of the principal reformers had a hand, and countenanced ,
her death. Cranmer, Latymer, Ridley, Lever, and Hutchin-
son, beside the members of the king's council, consented to
imbrue their hands in the blood of this poor female, whose
opinion it is more than probable they mistook on a point of
the profoundest mystery. Our duty now calls us to refer to
the history of the people to whom she belonged, and to
view under these two reigns their struggle for truth and
liberty.

* Jewel's Works, Defence of Apology, pp. 27, 28, folio edit. 1611.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBEETT. 79

SECTION III.

THE BAPTISTS.

"The Reformation had scarcely boasted an existence of
five years, when, from the midst of its adherents, men arose
■who dechired it to be insufficient."* Their proceedings at
once awakened the most virulent opposition and bitter com-
plaint. The chief weapon of the reformers was most unex-
pectedly employed Mgainst themselves ; their professed scrip-
tural teacliing came to be examined by the test they had. so
successfully applied to the dogmas of Rome ; and scripture
authority to be urged by men, whom universities had not
nourished, nor academical honors graced, for practices and
truths, to some extent destructive of the position which
liad been taken by the followers of Luther, Zuingle, and
Calvin.

The church of God must be a community of holy men.

Faith is the result of divine tuition alone, and cannot be
compelled by fire or sword.

A rite which has neither the sanction nor command of the
Lord Jesus Christ, or his apostles, must not be admitted among
the ordinances of the Lord's house.

Secular potentates have neither place nor dominion in the
kingdom of Him who is th.e blessed mid onbj Potentate,
the King of kings and Lord of lords. As there is but one

* Moenler's Symbolism, ii. 155, translated by Robertson.

80 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Lord, so there is but one lawgiver in the church, Jesus
Christ.*

Such were some of those principles, the enunciation of
which called forth a torrent of abuse and persecution upon
the heads of the baptists. They were regarded as the Pariah
sect among religious communities, and no outrage upon truth
or justice was left uncommitted to crush them.

One simple principle, now regarded as an axiom of a scrip-
tural church policy, lay at the foundation of this internal move-
ment in the bosom of the reformation. It shall be given in
the words of the historian Mosheim : " The kingdom of
Christ, or the visible church he had established on earth, was
an assembly of true and real saints, and ought, therefore, to be
inaccessible to the wicked and unrighteous, and also exempt
from all those institutions which human prudence suggests
to oppose the progress of iniquity, or to correct or reform
transgressors."!

All secular interference must therefore be excluded from
this holy community. Its formation is the work of the divine
Spirit operating through the word. Its laws are the precepts,
holy and self-denying, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its cer-
emonies are the simple emblems and memorials of a life
imparted and sustained by the Spirit of God, through the
death of the Son of God. Here, since no human laws can

* Osiandri, Enchiridion, Controv. pp. SO, 43, 112, 113. Tubingge,
1605. Credunt, Dominum nostrum et Salvatorem Jesum Christum, illud
in regno sue spirituali, hoc est, in ecclesia I^ovi Testamenti, quae non est
de mundo, ideoque mundanum regnum maxime respicit, non instituisse,
neque ofEciis suss ecclesise adjunxisse, &c. Schyn, Hist. Mennonitarum
Plenior Deductio, p. 50. JS'on ensibus et corporalibus armis, sed spiritu*
alibus solummodo, hoc est verbo Dei et Spiritu sancto pugnant. Ibid. p.
147. Populus Dei sese non armat carnahbus armis, sed solum armatura
Dei, armisque justitiffi. Ibid. p. 214. BuUinger, adv. Catabaptist, fol. 108,
152, edit. 1535. Symbolism, ii. pp. 183-185.

f Eccles. Hist. pp. 517, 518 ; royal 8vo. edit.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBlERTT. 81

inten^ene, no human alliance can be due. The conscience is
God's seat, the church his temple ; which no human legislator
should dare to desecrate, no human power control.'^

This primary and exalted idea of the church of Christ,
cherished, and sought to be reahzed by the baptists, was
adverse to the views of the reformer. From this difference
naturally resulted the opposition, which, on the one side, led to
the oppression of conscience, and on the other, to the main-
tenance of its freedom. The reformers, by inclosing in the fold
of the chiu-ch all of every degree, age, and character, were
constrained to employ, and to rely upon external means to
effect that internal -change which was allowed to be an
essential feature of the true Chiistian. The church with them
was not the segi'egation of the good, in bonds of holy amity
and alliance with each other and the Lord, from the mass of
pollution reigning around them, but embraced in its maternal
arms all who at any age had been sealed by baptism as the
chiu'ch's own, whether they were helpless infants, or strangei's
to the power of spiritual truth. It was sufficient that they
bore the magic mark, which, it was asserted, made them
children of God, and iuheritoi-s of the kingdom of heaven.
Such a chm'ch might be constituted by human agencies ; it was
within hiunan power to effect it; and accordingly, by the
secular arm the reformei^ sought to frame it. The operations
of the di\ine Spirit were not absolutely essential to the forma-
tion of such a community ; nor need they wait for ]i\ing
stones to build the temple of the Lord. The materials were at
hand ; the initiatory rite could be easily appHed. Repentance
towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, could be
promised by surety, or suppHed by an assent to creeds.

* Nam quia Rex spiritualia est, ipsius regnum non de mundo, sed de
ckIo et spirituale, ipsius leges spirituales, ipsius subditi caelorum municipes,
qui in. hoc mundo non stabilem habent civitatem, sed futuram expectant.
Schyn, Plenior Deduct., p. 53

4*

82 STRUGfGLES AND TRIUMPHS

It was, moreover, the duty of the secular magistrate to shape
and fashion the church, so called, to that form which his
conscience, instructed by the word of God, or by the interpreta-
tions of the church's teachers, should dictate.* To kings was
granted the high honor of being its nursing fathers, to protect
it from its foes, to maintain in physical comfort its ministers, to
root out the weeds of evil doctrine, and to execute the decisions
of the ecclesiastical body ; force thus necessarily entered into
this idea of the Christian community ; and, without exception,
the reformers yielded to the temporal powers the right of
determining the form of the church in then* respective
dominions.

The fundamental idea of the baptists was antagonistic with
all this. They thought and said that the temple could not be
built until God had provided the stones. Holy men must be
first produced by the power of the Spirit of God, and then shall
a building rise to the glory of Him who had redeemed them
by his blood. No human workman could be of use but as the
channel of blessing ; it was the prerogative of God to create
anew in Christ Jesus. His word was the only effectual
instrument of divine energy : force and coercion of every kind
were inadmissible. Faith is the gift of God. Faith cometh
hy hearing^ and hearing hy the luord of God ; and no other
weapon must the ministers of God's word employ.

Since then the church ought to be the aggregated result of
an internal divine operation, isxerted on every individual before
he becomes a member of it, so in its formation no kind of
outward compulsion can be permitted. The unconscious babe
cannot be made a member of a community, where a hearty

* Cur ego hodie tantam sibi potestatem in rebus fidei sumit Christianus
magistratus 1 — Hoc agit non ut magistratus Bed ut Christian us magistratus,
nee facit hoc sine precepto et exemplo . . . Inspectemus exemplum Josaphat,
Joiadse, Josice, Ezechiae, Nabuchodonoseris, et Darii, apud Danielera.
Bullinger, adv. Catabapt.. fol. 108, 109.

I

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 83

willing assent of the regenerated mind is an essential condition
of membership, since intelligence is not there to give value and
significance to the deed ; nor may men be driven by force or
fear, as foolish sheep, ^vithin the fortified barrier of the nation's
church, since these cannot convert the soul. " Thus it was an
ideal state of the Christian church, that floated before the
imagination of the anabaptists, — the confused representation of
a joyful kingdom of holy and blessed spirits, which inspired
these sectaries with such deep enthusiasm, gave them such
power and constancy of endurance, under all persecutions, and
caused them to exert on all sides so contagious an influence."*
In accordance with these views, they are represented by Justus
Menius as thus introducing the novice into the sacred fold :
" If thou wilt be saved, thou must truly renounce and give up
all thy works, and all creatures, and lastly, thy own self, and
must beheve in God alone. But now I ask thee, dost thou
renounce creatures? Yes. I ask thee again, dost thou re-
nounce thy own self? Yes. Dost thou beheve in God alone?
Yes. Then I baptize thee in the name," &c,f

We may briefly state the opposite ideas of the reformers and
the baptists ou this important subject, as follows.

The former rehed on the secular arm to build and maintain
the church ; the latter, on the Spirit of God. Hence arose on
the one side the ci\il changes, the congresses, the diets, the
wars, the conflicts of crowned heads, as they adhered to Rome
or Wittenberg. On the other, the persecutions, oppressions,
sufferings, scourgings, the tioyades, and fiery martyrdoms,
which attended and ht up the labors of these calumniated men.
Oppression of conscience signahzed the progress of the first,
liberty of conscience attended the teaching of the last.

Nothing can be more plain on the surface of history than
the fact, that this people came every where into colhsion with

* Moehler's Symbolism, ii. 157, 158.

t Quoted in Moehler's Symbolism, ii. 163.

84 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

the civil magistrate. Their existence was regarded as fatal to
the well-being of all society. " They show themselves to be
the enemies of God and man," says Calvin. ** They wish,"
he continues, "to abrogate the power of the sword, the
administration of the public weal. By a shorter cut they plot
the ruin of the world, and the introduction of a greater license
for robbery, than can otherwise be found."* But is this
heavy charge true ? Were they the enemies of all government*
the sworn foes of all rule and magisterial authority ? Let the
accuser himself reply ; for it is thus he represents their senti-
ments as from their own lips. " We grant that the sword is
ordained of God, but it is without the fold or perfect commu-
nity of Christ. For this reason the princes and powers of this
world are appointed to punish offenders, even with death.
But in the perfect church of Christ, excommunication is the
final punishment, and without corporal death. "f What is this
but to say that the sphere of the civil magistrate is without
the church, and not within it ; that his laws bind man in his
social relations only, but that in the church there is another
Lawgiver, on whose prerogative he must not trench. Obedi-
ence to the civil power they enjoined both as a civil and
rehgious duty, but resisted its exercise in things of God.

A considerable number of the baptists, however, carried their
views of the spirituality and purity of the church still further.
It was thought to be opposed to the humility of the Christian,
to seek for lordship over his brethren. Christians were to be
subject only to the meek, gentle, and pure precepts of Jesus ;
their only power was that of separation from the evils that arose
in their midst. N"or can we be surprised, that, witnessing as
they did the perversion of the civil authority, and suffering in-
conceivable anguish from its cruel exercise, they came to deem

* Instruct, adv. Anab. in Tract. Theol. fol. 367. Amstel. IG'ZY.
\ Ibid. fol. 364.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 85

it an office incompatible with their allegiance to their Lord, and
thought it a forbidden thing to perform the functions of magis-
tracy ; that is, of such magistracy, since they saw it nowhere
exercised in the mild and loving spirit of the gospel."^" For,
surely nothing could be more dreadful, or more unchristian,
than the barbarous and excruciating tortures inflicted by magis-
trates in the name of the law on these disciples of Christ ;
magistrates were their foes, their oppressors, their persecutors ;
inflicting punishment, not for sedition, treason, or crime, but for
matters of opinion and faith.f Is it wonderful if in some few
instances they became foes to magistrates ? The coercion and
force daily practised in both temporal and spiritual affairs, must
have appeared to them inseparable from the magisterial office ;
which, however necessary for the civil rule of empires and king-
doms, are utterly inadmissible into the kingdom of Christ.

It is not within our purpose to examine or refute the com-
mon relations of the deeds at Munster. Various considerations
might be suggested that would palhate or throw doubt on the
narratives of those events. It is certain that the insurrection
was clearly opposed to the doctrine, universally maintained
among the baptists, of the divine institution of magistracy for
the government of the world ;J and it must be traced to that

^ Ipsis admodum difficile videtur, religioni Christians exacte obedire,
et simul officio magistratus politici rite perfungi. Schyn, Plenior Deduct,
p. 50. Some thought capital punishments altogether discordant with the
spirit of the gospel, and desired their cessation.

t " Could the baptists," says Bayle, " only produce those who were
put to death for attempts against the government, their bulky martyrology
would make a ridiculous figure ; but it is certain that several anabaptists,
who suffered death courageously for their opinions, had never any inten-
tion of rebelling." Hist, and Critical Diet. Art. Anabaptists, Note F.
edit. Lond. 1734. A specimen of the deeply interesting narratives, con-
tained in the martyrology above referred to, will be presently given in
the martyrdoms of Jan Peters and Hendrik Terwoot.

i Credunt, eum esse Dei ordinationera, necessariam instilutamque ad

66 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

oppression ■whicli makes a wise man mad. Laden witli chains,
incarcerated in a noisome and pestilential dungeon, a cruel and
merciless death before hira, KnipperdoUing maintained to his
examiners that magistracy was the ordinance of God, but that
when the commands of the temporal were opposed to those of
the heavenly superior, " we must obey God rather than man."
We allow, said his interrogators, that we do not owe obedience
to the magistrate when he would compel us contrary to the.
teaching of Christ ; but it does not follow that it is lawful for a
private person to repel force by force, he should rather observe
the precept of Christ, who saith, When men persecute you in
one city, flee ye to another. Most significant is the bre\dty and
treacherous recollection of the examiner as he gives the pri-
soner's reply. " He answered, I know not what," says Cor-
vinus, " concerning the tyi'anny of those who had been the
cause of their revolt." The rapacity and cruelty of his
employers must be touched with a gentle hand. The words of
the " babbhng " prisoner might awaken, if repeated, unpleasant
and perhaps fearful thoughts in the mind of the oppressor.*

It was the crime of these persecuted people, that they rejected
secular interference in the church of God ; it was the boast and
aim of the reformers everywhere to employ it : the natural fruit
of the one was persecution, of the other hberty. Among them,

gubernationem communis societatis humanas, (See. Schyn, Plen. Deduct,
p. 49. Hist. Mennon. p. 214.

* Eadem inscitia de inagistratu garriebat, quem, tametsi ordLnationem
Dei esse fatebatur, tamen rebellionem, si quid secus ac Christus docet,
jubeat, approbavit, fretus petrina ilia sententia, Oportet Deo magis obedire
quam hominibus. Ubi quum nos fateiemur obedientiam quidem magis-
tratui non debeii, si nos a Christi doctrina tiansversos agere conetur,
attamen hinc non sequi, idcirco vim vi repellere, privatis personis licere,
Sed potius id faciendum esse, quod Chrittus docuerit, Si vo3 persecuti
fuerint in hac civitate migrate in aliam, respondit quid nescio de eorum
Tyrannide, qui rebellandi ipsis oceasionem preebuissont. De Miserabili
Monast. Anabap. Epistola Ant. Corvini ad Spalatinum Viteb. 1536.

OF RELlGIors LIBERTY. 87

therefore, we must look for the germs of that religious freedom
we now enjoy, though still imperfectly understood. Nor shall
we be disappointed in our search ; nor open to contradiction,
when we say, that they alone clearly perceived its truth and
value, and maintained it during the stormy and eventful period
of the reformation. That they should hold it was the inevitable
consequence of then- idea of the church, and it was stamped
upon them with a distinctness, which neither the flames nor
floods of martyrdom could destroy. It is only thus can be
explained the univei-sal storm of execration and persecution
that fell upon them. They were thought to deny one of the
highest attributes of human government : it brought them into
colhsion with the very mainspring and support of the reforma-
tion.

There is not a Confession of faith, nor a Creed fi'amed by
any of the reformers, which does not give to the magistrate a
coercive power in religion, and almost every one at the same
time curses the resisting baptist. Thus, in the confession of
Basle, it is written, "God hath assigned to the magistrate,
who is his minister, the sword, and chief external power, for
the defence of the g<^l, and for the revenging and punishing
of the evil, Rom. xiii. 4 ; 1 Peter ii. 14. Therefore eveiy
Christian magistrate doth direct all his strength to this, that
among those which are committed to his charge, the word of
God may be sanctified, his kingdom may be enlarged, and men
may hve according to his will, with an earnest rooting out of all
naughtiness." Thus the confession of Bohemia, " They do
govern instead of God upon earth, and are his deputies ; it is
meet that they frame themselves to the example of the superior
Lord, by following and resembling him, and by learning of him

mercy and justice He ought to be a partaker, and, as

it were, chiefly, a minister of the power of the Lamb, Jesus
Christ, .... by this authority of his, to set forth the truth of
the holy gospel, make way for the truth wheresoever, be a

88 STRUaGLES AND TRIUMPHS

defender of the ministers and people of Christ, suffer not (so far
as in him heth) idolatry, or the tyranny of antichrist, much less
follow the same."*

In these sentiments all the reformed commmiities agi-eed.
All committed themselves to a course fatal to the liberties of
man, and to the regal prerogatives of Jesus Christ. Honor,
ease, and wealth flowed in upon the supporters of thrones, but
tribulation unto death was the portion of those who ventured to
oppose them. Most affectingly does the eminent Simon Menno
refer to this contrast. " For eighteen years with my poor fee-
ble wife and httle children has it behoved me to bear great and
various anxieties, sufferings, griefs, afflictions, miseries, and per-
secutions, and in every place to find a bare existence, in fear
and danger of my hfe. While some preachers are reclining on
their soft beds and downy pillows, we oft are hidden in the
caves of the earth ; while they are celebrating the nuptial or
natal days of their children, with feasts and pipes, and rejoicing
with the timbrel and the harp, we are looking anxiously about,
fearing the barking of the dogs, lest persecutors should be sud-
denly at the door ; while they are saluted by all around as
doctors, masters, lords, we are compellediJo hear ourselves called
anabaptists, ale-house preachers, seducers, heretics, and to be
hailed in the devil's name. In a word, while they for their
ministry are remunerated with annual stipends, and prosperous
days, our wages are the fire, the sword, the death."|

Were they inferior to their persecutors in godhness, or deserv-
ing of this fate for their crimes ? Or was it but the fulfilment
of the Saviour's word. In the world ye shall have tribulation?
Let a catholic reply, the president of the famous council of
Trent. " If you behold their cheerfulness in suffering persecu-
tions, the anabaptists run before all their heretics. If you will
have regard to the number, it is like that in multitude they

* Harmony of Confessions, pp. 475 — 477. Hall's edit. 1842.
t Schyn. Plenior Deduct, p. 133.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 89

would swarm above all others, if they were not giievouslj
plagued and cut off with the knife of persecution. If you have
an eye to the outward appearance of godliness, both the
Lutherans and Zuinghans must needs grant that they far pass
them.

" If you wiU be moved by the boasting of the word of God,
these be no less bold than Calvin to preach, and then- doctrine
must stand aloft above all the glory of the world, must stand
inducible above all power, because it is not their word, but the
word of the h\nng God. ISTeither do they cry with less boldness
than Luther, that with their doctrine, which is the word of God,
they shall judge the angels. And surely, how many soever have
written against this heresy, whether they were cathohcs or
heretics [reformers], they were able to overthrow it, not so much
by the testimony of the scriptures, as by the authority of the
chm'ch."^

We cannot pass over one instance of theu' patience under
suffering and boldness in the face of death, illustrative as it is
of their attachment to hberty of conscience, and of the views of
theh character we have endeavored to enforce. The scene is
in Holland, the year 1551. An old man of seventy-five is
brought before the bloody tribunal ; his hair white, his body
lean with age, his manners irreproachable, springing from a
heart fearing God. In his old age he had been baptized, and
received into the community of the church. And now, as a
sheep bound for the slaughter-house, and surrounded by a num-
ber of the burghers, he sjis cahnly awaiting the approach of the
criminal magistrate to pronounce the sentence of death.

* The Hatchet of Heresies, translated by R. Shacklock, fol. 48, edit.
1565. After noticing the arguments of Guy de Bres, Bayle proceeds,
" A proof how greatly prejudicial the sect of the anabaptists has been to
the protestants, who were obliged to refute it by arguments, which were
turned against them by the papists." Bayle's Diet. Art. Anabaptists,
Note F.

90 STRrGQLEB AND TRIUMPHS

An officer speaks to him : Good father, why do you continue
thus obstinately in your cursed error, do you think there is no
such place as hell ?

Old Man. Sir, I believe a hell most certainly, but I know-
nothing of the errors you mention.

Another. Yes, you are in an error, and in so dreadful a one,
that if you die in it you will be damned for ever.

Old Man. Are you sure of that ?

Officer. Yes, it is as sure as anything in the world.

Old Man. If it is so, then are ye murderers of my soul.

There is silence in the multitude as the old man thus dis-
courses ; their attention is more earnest, and the officer, half
enraged, and ashamed, loudly continues.

Officer. What do you say, you impertinent fellow ? Ai'e
we the murderers of your soul ?

Old Man. Do not be angry, Sir, at the sound of truth.
You yourself know that faith is the gift of God, that neither I
nor any other can extort this saving gift out of God's hands,
that God bestows his gifts on one man early, on another late,
just as he called the husbandmen into the vineyard. Suppose
now that I had not yet received this gift, as you have, ought
you to punish me for that misfortune ? Might not God, in case
you suffered me to live, might he not impart to me as well as
to you, this wholesome gift in a week, a month, a year ? If
then you hinder me from sharing therein, by depriving me of
this time of grace, what are you otherwise than murderers of
my soul ?

But the officer of justice hurries him away, amid the mur-
murs of the people, whose hearts are moved by his courage and
his words. His condemnation does not linger, neither does the
sun reach his meridian splendor, before the glory of the Lamb
bursts upon the vision of his martyred servant. He was
beheaded for his testimony to Christ.*

* Brandt's Hist, of the Reformation in the Low Countries, 1. 92, edit,
Lond. 1720.

I

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. • 91

No countiy afforded a refuge to this persecuted people,
thougli everywhere identified with the beginnings of the refor-
mation.* Under whatever phase the reformed doctrines appeared,
the principle which governed their success or defeat met with
strenuous opponents in the baptists. Others might lend then*
consciences to the yoke of the civil power, they must resist ;
it was not the easy yoke of Christ. Their appearance in
England had been prepared by the publication of a book,
entitled " The Sum of Scripture ;" many extracts from which
obtained the honor of a formal condemnation in an assembly of
bishops and others, convened by Warham, the archbishop of
Canterbury, at the command of king Henry VIII., in the year
1530. It does not appear whether this book was the produc-
tion of a baptist, although the sentiments condemned were
unquestionably held by them, and for aught that we can find,
by them only. We pass by such as do not relate to oui' imme-
diate subject, and produce the following : —

" There be two sorts of people in the world, one is the king-
dom of God, to which belongeth all true Christian people, and
in this kingdom Christ is king and lord, and it is impossible
that in this kingdom, that is to say, among very true Christian
men, that the sword of justice temporal should have aught to
do."

" There is another sort of people belongeth to the world, and
they be unrighteous ; and they had need of the sword of tem-
poral justice."

" Jesus Christ hath not ordained in his spiritual kingdom,
which is all true Christian people, any sword, for he himself is
the king and governor, without sword, and w^ithout auy outward
law."

" Christian men among themselves have nought to do with

* Nam ubicumque Christus emergit, mox adsunt catabaptistse, ut
ecclesias renatus et feliciter institutas vastent ac dissecent. Bullinger,
adv. Gatabapt. Epist. ad Lector.

92 STRUG&LES AND TRIUMPHS

1

the sword, nor with the law, for that is to them neither needful
nor profitable ; the secular sword belongeth not to Christ's
kingdom, for in it is none but good, and justice."

In another work, condemned at the same time, it was also
asserted that, " No man ought to enforce, and compel men to
fasting and prayer by laws, as they hitherto have done."*

Many other sentiments were with these pronounced ungodly
and erroneous. Tyndale's New Testament was especially stig-
matized, and the scriptures were declared to be unnecessary for
the people. The source of these " damnable heresies " would
seem to be indicated by the two proclamations for their suppres-
sion, which immediately followed the convention. They had
been sown, it was declared, by the disciples of Luther, and other
heretics^ perverters of Christ's religion. Severe punishments
were threatened " against the malicious and wicked sects of
heretics, who, by perversion of holy scripture, do induce erro-
neous opinions, sow sedition among Christian people, and finally
disturb the peace and tranquillity of Christian realms, as lately
happened in some parts of Germany, where, by the procure-
ment and sedition of Martin Luther and other heretics, were
slain an infinite number of Christian people."f

Reference is here evidently made to the tumults which
sprang up in Germany in 1525, and with which it was supposed
the doctrines of the baptists had much to do. To none
other sect can the sentiments we have quoted, and the con-
demnation of them in the proclamation, be supposed to refer.
Two years before, seven baptists from Holland had been
imprisoned, and two of them burnt.}; Thus clearly showing
that such opinions had been broached in this countiy by
members of that sect which was known to hold them.

The year in which Henry obtained the recognition of his

* Wilkins, Concilia, iii. 732, 733, fol. ed. 1738.

t Ibid. iii. 737.

X Danvers, Treatise of Baptism, p. 307, edit. 1674.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 93

claim as supreme head of the clim-cli, witnessed its exercise in
two proclamations published against the baptists and sacra-
mentaries, as the followei*s of Zuingie in his opinions on the
eucharist, were called. Many of the king's " lo\dng subjects
had been induced and encouraged, arrogantly and superstitious-
ly, to argue and dispute in open places, taverns, and ale-houses,
not only upon baptism, but also upon the holy sacrament of the
altar." The di^dne honor and glory required his immediate
interference, and his grace's church must be defended from the
inroads of these pestilent fellows. Of them, and his purposes
towards them, he thus informs us : — " Forasmuch as divei-s and
sundry strangere of the sect and false opinion of the anabaptists
and sacramentaries, being lately come into this realm, where
they lurk secretly in divei's corners and places, minding craftily
and subtilly to provoke and stir the king's lo\ing subjects to
their errors and opinions, whereof part of them, by the gi'eat
travail and dihgence of the king's highness and his council, be
apprehended and taken, the king's most royal majesty

declareth like a godly and cathohc prince, that he

abhon-eth and detesteth the same sects, and their wicked and
abominable errors and opinions, and intendeth to proceed
against such of them as be already apprehended, according to
then merits, and the laws of the realm." And he further
commands all such as hav^e not been found, to depart in eight
or ten days, with all celerity from the kingdom.*

The proclamation next following biings into yet closer
juxtaposition the royal prerogative, and its pereecuting cha-
racter ; it also shows, by its early pubHcation after the above,
the futility of all the despot's efforts to destroy the maintainers
of these obnoxious opinions. Many strangers, we are informed,
baptized in infancy, but who, contemning that holy sacrament,
had presumptuously re-baptized themselves, had entered the
realm, spreading eveiy where their pestilent heresies " against

* Wilkins, iii. 777.

94' STRtrGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

God and his holy scriptures, to the great unquietness of
Chiistendom, and perdition of innumerable Christian souls."
A great number had been judicially convicted, " and have and
shall for the same suffer the pains of death." The king's most
royal majesty, being " supreme head in earth, under God, of
the church of England, alway intending to defend and main-
tain the faith of Christ, and daily studying and minding above
all things to save his lo\dng subjects from falling into any
erroneous opinions," accordingly ordains the banishment of all
such heretics in twelve days, " on pain to suffer death," if they
abide, and be apprehended and taken.'*

The royal pastor and vicar of Christ soon exhibited, in a
somewhat sanguinary manner, his care and anxiety for the
eternal well-being of his people. In the following year ten were
put to death in sundiy places of the realm, while ten others
saved their lives by a timely recantation. Besides these, nine-
teen Hollanders were accused of heretical opinions, " denying
Christ to be God and man, or that he took flesh and blood of
the Virgin Maiy, or that the sacraments had any effect on those
that received them." Fom-teen adhered to their convictions,
and were burnt in pairs in several places. " It was complained,"
says the historian, "" that all these drew their damnable errors
from the indiscreet use of the scriptures." It was probably of
these sufferers for conscience sake that Latymer spake in his
sermon l^efore king Edward in 1552.

The oppressive and persecuting nature of the royal supre-
macy was thus distinctly evinced. The political necessities of
the king prevented its exercise on cathohcs or reformers ; but it
fell with crushing weight on a defenceless people, who dared
not yield their rehgious convictions, as was done by othei's, to
the dictation of an arrogant and impious trespasser upon the
domain of the Highest.

The year 1538 is pai'ticularly noticeable for the zealous

* Wilkiris, iii. 779.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 95

effoi-ts made to eradicate the baptists from the land. The king
had been for some time flattered with the hope of being placed
at the head of the league, -svhich was contemplated by the
German Protestant princes for their defence, against the
combined powers of the emperor, Charles the Fifth, and the
cxtholic states. It promised to be mutually ad^'antageous,
could it be effected. In 1535, therefore, the king sent bishops
Fox and Heath, with Dr. Barnes, as ambassadors to Smalcalde,
to treat upon the subject, and several divines were to be sent
to England for the purpose of determining those points of a
rehgions character to which the king hesitated to agree.

It was in this year (1538) that the ambassadors of the league
appeared at Henry's court, headed by Burghardt, ^'ice-
chancellor of the elector of Saxony. Three points only
remained for determination, the denial of the cup to the laity,
the continuance of private masses, and the cehbacy of the
clergy. Henry would not give way. His mind w^as biassed
by the bishops who still adhered to the old superstition.^ In
the month of October the king wrote to the elector, requesting
the presence of Melancthon to assist him in promoting the
" true glory of Christ, and the tranquillity and discipline of his
rehgion." It might be that one so gentle could strike out a
middle path, at once satisfactory to the royal conscience, and to
the earnest desires of the reformers.

About this time one Peter Tasch, a baptist, was apprehended
by the landgrave of Hesse. On him was found a correspon-
dence with certain Enghsh baptists, some one of w^hom had
recently published a book on the incarnation of Christ. Much
benefit was expected to follow this pubhcation, in the wider
dissemination of their opinions in this country, whither Tasch
himself proposed shortly to proceed, unless hindered, as he
said, by the Spirit of God. Of these circumstances the elector

• Short's Hist, of the Ch. of England, p. 132, edit. 1840.

06 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

informs Hemy, when replying to his application for the assist-
ance of Melancthon. A two-fold good was expected to follow
this token of evident anxiety for the welfare of Henry's realm.
The king would be flattered and pleased, and, at the same
time, the elector would purge himself from all suspicion of
harboring these people in his own dominions ; thus the main
object of the ambassage, the union of Henry with the league,
would be facihtated. He therefore transmitted a copy of the
correspondence, and described their heresies and practices. It
was in Frisia and Westphaha, he tells the king, that the sect
especially found its home. It fled those countries where the
gospel shone with purest light. For this reason the churches
of Germany were more tranquil than those of Belgia; still,
through the whole of Germany these errorists, impostors, and
fanatics, stealthily wandereid. One feature, especially, marked
them, — they condemned the baptism of infants. To this prime
heresy they added many other errors. " And inasmuch as an
appearance of great humility and patience is most efficacious in
deceiving the souls of men, they teach a community of goods,
disapprove of all punishment, deny the duty of a Christian to
exercise magistracy or justice, refuse to take an oath, and lastly
they take away the political administration which God hath
appointed and approved." He further enumerates some other
errors by which a superstitious people were led astray. " They
wander," he says, " in secret places, and spread in privacy the
virus of their doctrine. When seized, learned men attempt to
save them, but if they pertinaciously defend their condemnation
of baptism, or their other impieties, or their judgment of
political duties, which itself is seditious, then they are punished."
Thus did the elector, under the tuition of the reformers, and by
the pen of Melancthon, exhibit his zeal and resolution to defend
the " true and cathoUc doctrine of the church of Christ."*
Henry's zeal required but little to inflame it against these

* Seckendorf, Hist. Lutheran., lib. III. sect. 66. Add. i. p. 181.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 97

obnoxious oppugners of his supremacy over the church of God.
On the 1st of October he issued a proclamation to Cranmer,
and eight other bishops and clerics, to proceed inquisitorially
against the baptists, to search for their books, and particularly
to scnitinize with all diligence their letters. They were to urge
them to recant, confuting and judging them " by the dogmas
of the cathohc church, and by the scripture." But if tliey were
obstinate, then were they to exterminate them from the con-
gregation of the faithful, and finally at their pleasure commit
them, with their writings, to the flames.* This cruel edict
could not have much hindered the progress of the truth, since
we find the king, on the 16th of K"ovember following, con-
strained to publish a proclamation commanding that no book
should be imported or printed without a hcense, especially and
again condemning to the flames the works of baptists and
sacramentaries."f

Not that these proceedings were without their seal of blood
and martyrdom. On the 24th of November some of these
men, who, " whilst their hands were busied about their manu-
factm-es, theh heads were also beating about points of divinity,"
bare fagots at Paul's Cross, and three days after a man and
woman were burnt in Smithfield.]; The \dolence of the king
yet further appeared in the following month, while keeping
Oluistmas at Hampton Court. Cruelty was pastime and
festidty to him. A letter was issued to the justices of peace
throughout the countiy " to set forth his good intentions for
the wealth and happiness of his people !" Its burden was an
increase of rigor against the imfortunate baptists.§ Many of
them fled. It was in the depth of winter when in secrecy and
haste they sought refuge in Holland. But betrayed by en^dous
men they feU into the hands of tyrants there. After many
trials of then* faith, exhibiting thi'oughout great patience and

» Wilkins, iii. 836, 837. t Fuller, Bk. V. sect. iv. c. 11.

1 Bumetjii. 13, edit. 1715. § Burnet, iii. 140.

98 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

perseverance under their sufferings, they were sentenced to
death. On the 7th of January, sixteen men were beheaded at
Delft, and fifteen women di'owned, for their testimony to the
truth of God. Twenty-seven other refugees had but a few
months before passed through the gi'eat tribulation, and laid
down their lives on the same spot.*

No crime was charged against them, but that of thinking
differently from their persecutors. Whether their sentiments
were true or false, they were martyrs for opinion. No pretence
of rebellion, nor any disposition to resist lawful authority, could
be substantiated. It was seditious in them merely to reject the
exercise of royal or magisterial power in things of God. That
this cruelty failed as it deserved, we have the king's own decla-
ration ; he found it needful to adopt milder measures, and to
try what an act of grace could do. On February 25th, 1539,
he accordingly issued his royal proclamation of mercy. The
baptists were the particular objects of the sovereign's anxiety ;
many of his people had imbibed their doctrines, and this docu-
ment is an unexpected and unquestionable testimony to their
numbers and constancy.f

* Van Braght, Het Bloedig Toonel of Martalaers-Spigel des Deops-
gesinde, ii. 145.

t " And wherefore of late certain anabaptists and sacramentaries, com-
ing out of outward parts into this realm, have, by diverse and many-
perverse and crafty means, seduced many simple persons of the king's
subjects, which, as his highness trusteth, now be sorry for their offences,
and minding fully to return again to the catholic church .... the king's
highness, like a most loving parent much moved with pity, tendering the
winning of them again to Christ's flock, and much lamenting also their
simplicity, so by devilish craft circumscribed .... of his inestimable good-
ness, pity, and clemency, is content to remit, pardon, and.forgive .... all
and singular such persons, as well his grace's subjects as other, all such
faults as they have committed by falling into such wrong and perverse
opinions, by word or writing." He concludes by announcing his deter-
mination that if any should in future " fall to any such detestable and
damnable opinions," the laws should be strictly and without mercy
enforced against them. Wilkins, iii. 843.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 99

It is not conceivable that this degi-ee of lenity should have been
exhibited towards them, had they been guilty of rebelhous or trai-
torous practices. Their rehgious sentiments alone exposed them
to the stroke of the u'on hand of the oppressor — sentiments fatal
to the high-handed and impious assumption of the monarch. But
neither gentleness nor severity could hinder the progress of the
truth. The king's care about rehgion failed to prevent " divers
great and real errors and anabaptistical opinions from creeping
about the realm." In 1540, he again attempted what threats
could do. Resolved, if possible, to exterminate them, the bap-
tists were excluded from the general pardon proclaimed at the
rising of parhament in July. That none might mistake the
objects of his indignation, he enumerated then* errors. " Infants
ought not to be baptized ; it is not lawful for a Christian man
to bear office or rule in the commonwealth ; every manner of
death, with the time and horn* thereof, is so certainly prescribed,
appointed, and determined to every man by God, that neither
any piince by his word can alter it, nor any man by his wilful-
ness prevent or change it."'^ Such were some of the opinions
to be answered with fieiy wrath to those that maintained them.
Truly they imply the helplessness of sovereign authority to turn
back the purposes of God, or to change the ordinances of his
house. But the oppressed, like the childi'en of Israel in Egypt,
grew and multiphed.

Amid the fluctuating pohcy of this reign, an almost uniform
course of pei-secution was pursued. And if both cathohcs and
protestants felt occasionally the severity of the royal prerogative,
they yet united to hunt down with loud howhngs of execration
those who committed the unpardonable crime of exercising
hberty of judgTnent, and of uttering sentiments destructive of
the monstrous assumptions which make the church the fold of
every unclean beast, the prey of ravening wolves wearing the
garb of messengers of the Hving God.

« Collier, v. 69. Strype, Mem. I. i. 552.

100 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

The ascendancy of the reform party in the councils of
Edward, by no means improved the position of the baptists.
Theii' presence was regarded as the reproach of the reformation,
and doubtless in some measure retarded its progi-ess. The
reformers stigmatized their opinions as the depths of Satan —
an artifice of the gi-eat enemy to support his tottering throne
against the true followers of the Lamb. They attempted dis-
putation by word and writing, inveighed strongly against their
so-called sedition against the rightful power of princes, and
urged its repression by force of arms. Not a reformer of any
eminence can be named who did not take part in this crusade.
Luther, Melancthon, Zuingle, Bucer, Bulhnger, Calvin, and
others abroad ; at home, Cranmer, Latymer, Ridley, Barnes,
Philpot, Becon, Turner, Veron, and many more. Whether the
baptists were confounded in dispu.tation or not, " the burden of
the song is always, that at the last the magistrates exerted their
authority." Penal laws, the ratio ultima of divines, were their
most convincing arguments — their Achilles.*

It was natural that the reformers should highly laud the
tranquillity which they enjoyed during the short reign of the
youthful Edward. It was indeed to them " a breathing time."
So far as they v/ere concerned, the rage of persecution ceased :
to try, as it were, their temper, and to put to the proof their
charity and magnanimity. But though the sword was wrested
from their adversaries' hands, it was employed with unsparing
severity on the obnoxious sect. Even in the first year of
Edward's reign, we find Ridley and Gardiner strangely united
together in a commission to deal with two baptists of Kent.
Gardiner had but lately been released from prison, into which
he had been thrown for his bold remonstrances against the
innovating purposes of the council. He must have been reluc-
tant to act with his fellow bishop, though it were to pei"secute,
since Ridley felt himself constrained seriously to exhort his

* Bayle's Diet. Art. Anabaptists, Note B.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 101

colleague, not only to receive tlie true doctrine of justification,
but also to be diligent in confounding the numerous baptists of
his diocese.*

Their numbers, however, still increased. Theii* opinions were
"beheved by many honest-meaning people."f It might be
that Robert Cook, or Cooch, was not one of this kind, since
through fear of loss of place he finally recanted, and solaced
himself for his retractation by retaining the office of gentleman
of the queen's chapel in Ehzabeth's reign, which his opinions
had brought in jeopardy ; at the period in question he was a
man in some repute in the court of Edward. He was of com*-
teous, fair deportment, of some learning, and well skilled in
music ; to which we may add, the description of Dr. Tm'ner,
his antagonist, a few years later, that he wore a ring, was a
curious musician, a tall man, and hved single. He was in
habits of intimacy with Parkhurst, Coverdale, Jewel, Turner,
and other learned men, with whom he often disputed against
the baptism of infants, and on original sin, besides " dispersing
divers odd things ";|; about the Lord's supper. With them he
went into exile during the reign of Mary.

* Strype's Memorials, II. i. 107. " In very deed I was sent from the
council to my lord of Winchester, to exhort him to receive also the true
confession of justification. And because he was very refractorious, I said
to him. Why, my lord, what make you so great a matter herein 1 You
see many anabaptists rise up against the sacrament of the altar : I pray
you, my lord, be diligent in confounding of them. For at that time my
lord of Winchester and I had to do with two anabaptists in Kent."
Ridley's Examinations, Fox, Acts, &c. iii. 489, ed. 1641.

t Strype, Mem. II. i. 110.

t Among the Zurich Letters, second series, page 236, is a letter from
him to Rodolph Gualter, under the date of August 13th, 1573. In this
he inquires the opinion of Gualter on certain circumstances attending the
primitive celebration of the Lord's supper, which he thinks ought to be
observed with a plentiful supply of food and wine, after the manner of
the paschal feast, and the Corinthian agapae. In Edward's reign, he was
keeper of the wine-cellar. Peter Martyr wrote him a long letter in
defence of infant baptism.

102 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Dr. Turner seems to have been particularly incited to oppose
him. "Because," says he, in the dedication of his book to
Latymer, " I did perceive that divers began to be infected with
the poison of Pelagius, I devised a lecture in Thistleworth
against two of the opinions of Pelagius, namely, against that
children have no original sin, and that they ought not to be
baptized. But within a few weeks after, one of Pelagius' dis-
ciples, in the defence of his master's doctrine, wrote against my
lecture, with all the learning and cunning that he had. But
lest he should glory and crake among his disciples, that I could
not answer him, and to the intent that the venomous seed of
his sowing may be destroyed, and so hindered from bring-
ing forth fruit, I have set out this book."*

The paucity of existing documents written by baptists of this
age, renders any accession to our gains, however small, of
great value. And though they may pass through the refracting
medium of bitter enmity, they are of the more value from their
unquestionable authenticity. We may then be permitted to
quote a few passages from this rare work.

The rejection of the reformers' practice of infant baptism
might, on the principle of antagonism which so often rules in
controversy, be expected to lead to some modification of the
doctrine of original sin, on which it was professedly founded.
It was held that baptism was necessary to salvation, that by it

* A Preservatiue, or Triacle agaynste the poyson of Pelagius lately
renued and styrred up agayn by the furious secte of the Anabaptistes :
deuysed by Wyllyam Turner, Doctor of Physick. Imprint, 30th Jan.
1551, not paged. In the reign of Henry, Turner was an active preacher
of Lutheranism throughout the country, for which he was imprisoned.
Being liberated, he went to Italy, and at Ferrara acquired the title of
Doctor of Medicine. On Edward's accession, he returned home, and
was preferred to a prebend of York, and made canon of Windsor ; he
was ordained in 1552, after his preferment. He was also incorporated
M.D. of Oxford, and made physician to the Duke of Somerset. After
his exile under Mary, he regained all his preferaients. Tanner, Biblioth.
Script. &c. p. 726, ed. 1748.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 103

sins actual and original were remitted, and it was concluded
that to refuse baptism to infants, involved either their final per-
dition, if so dying, or their freedom from that original depra^dty
or guilt which brings death on all the posterity of Adam. It
was in the following manner, Turner informs us, that the bap-
tists met the former part of the assertion. " By baptism alone
is no salvation, but by baptism and preaching ; and certain it is
that God is able to save his chosen church without these means.
But this is his ordinary way to save and damn the whole
world, namely, by offering remission of sins and baptism to all
the world, that thereby the behevers may be absolved from all
conscience of sin, and the disobedient and unbelievers bound
still either to amend or to be damned ; for he that beheveth not
is already damned." In another place the baptist most plainly
asserts, for Turner professes to quote from one of their writings,
that a moral change must precede the rite ; of this it is only
the symbol, and without it is unprofitable. " For this, I say,
the remission of sins is offered to all, but all receive it not ; the
chm-ch sanctified by faith in the blood of Christ only receiveth
it, and unto them only baptism belongeth. Therefore none
ought to receive it but such as have not only heard the good
promises of God, but have also thereby received a singular con-
solation in their hearts, through remission of sin, which they by
faith have received. For if any receive baptism without this

persuasion, it profiteth them nothing Sacraments do not

profit them which hear not the promise, and know not what it
meaneth."

But if so, the reformer would reply, how can the original
depra\ity of man be removed ? The laver of baptism is the
fountain where the birth-sin is washed away ; do you mean to
say that mankind did not fall in Adam, and become partaker
of his guilt ? " But now, I say," rephes the baptist, " that all
the world hath sinned, and is defiled in Adam. How now,
will water scorn' away the filth of this corruption ? No ; it is

104 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

a wound received in the soul, and is washed away but with the
only faith in the blood of Christ Though sin be com-
mon to all, yet baptism is not common to all." But what of
infants ? Can they beheve ? Are they not defiled with the
leprosy of sin ? How may they wash and be clean ? Thus
then the baptist. " If Christ had counted infants so defiled
with Adam's sin as ye do, he would never have sent his apostles
and us unto children to be defiled of them. But now he sendeth
us thither for cleanness, to become such as they are, if we would
enter into the kingdom of God ; washed to the unwashed,
christened to the unchristened, believers to unbelievers : not to
become leprous, but that we should be full of innocency and
simphcity ; for it is written, Except ye convert, and become as
these infants, ye shall not enter in the hingdom of heaven.
(For they are pure virgins, and they have made white their
garments in the blood of the Lamb.)" His evident meaning is,
that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin ; original, in
those who cannot believe, — original and actual, in those who
can. Turner would seem most reluctantly to quote the latter
explanatory clause of this passage (for he places it in the mar-
gin), important as it is to vindicate the baptists from the charge
of denying with Pelagius all original defilement ; there was cor-
ruption, but not guilt-; depravity, but not sin. That ancient
heretic held, " that baptism is necessary for persons of all ages,
in order that the baptized pereon might be adopted as a son of
God ; not because he derived from his parents anything which
could be expiated in the laver of regeneration."* An opinion
sufficiently diverse to have prevented the confounding the bap-
tists with the Pelagians. But a point vi^as gained, if. ancient
obloquy could be attached to their supposed modern represen-
tatives.

Whether Dr. Turner felt himself unable to reply, or the
question too thorny for a clerical physician to handle, he was

* Davenant on Colossians, ii. 326. Allport's translation.

OF KELIGIOUS LIEERTi-. 105

not unwilling nor forgetful to remind his antagonist of the peril
in which he stood, while maintaining these obnoxious views,
" For as much as ye are an open felon against the king's laws,
and have committed such felony, as ye are excepted out of the'
pardon, whereof thieves and robbers are partakers, Almighty
God amend you, and bring you into the high way again, and
save you from it, that ye have justly deserved." Threats and
bribes were well approved modes of conversion in those days,
and Eobert Cook fell beneath their combined power. Heresy
had ceased to be ti-eated as an ecclesiastical offence among the
reformers, inasmuch as it was felony and ti'eason to oppose the
will of the magistrate in the imposition of religious behef.^'
True martyrs were thought to be found only amongst the pro-
testants of estabhshed churches, the upholders of national creeds.
All other sufferei-s for conscience' sake, were execrable traitors
and felons, enduring that only which they had "justly deserved."
That hfe and death should hang on the profession of such sen-
timents as the above, is truly a display of the most hateful
tyranny, to be abhorred by eveiy one who receives the words of
Jesus, / came not to destroy meii's lives, but to save them.

The year 1548 A\itnessed several recantations of these
sentiments. Many strenuous efforts were made to put down by
force opinions now freely broached in opposition to the views
of the ruhng party .f The absurdity of supposing that the
civil magistrate has superior advantages for the discernment of
truth, or that anything short of infalhbility can justify the
presumption of dictating to the conscience of his subjects, may
be well illustrated by a reference to the catechism now put forth

* " Let it not make thee despair, neither yet discourage thee, O reader,
that it is forbidden thee in pain of life and goods, or that it is made
breaking of the king's peace, or treason unto his highness, to read the
word of thy soul's health." Tyndale, Pref. to Obedience of a Christian
Man. Works, i. 165.

t Strype's Cranmer, pp. 254-257.
6*

106 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

by Cranmer for the guidance of the popular mind, and to
preserve it from the heresies and "naughty doctrine" taught
by false and j)rivy preachers. Could their doctrine be more
heretical or " naughty" than the following ? — " That if it had
happened to us to be born of heathen parents, and to die Avith-
out baptism, we should be damned everlastingly ;" that the
second birth is by the water of baptism, in which our sins are
forgiven, and the Holy Ghost poured into us ; that there are
three holy seals or sacraments by which God's ministers do
work, baptism, absolution, and the Lord's supper ; that baptism
makes us partakers of the remission of sins, of the Holy Ghost,
and of the " whole righteousness of Christ ;" and that when the
minister absolves, we ought to believe that our sins are truly
forgiven.'^' Was Cranmer indeed fitted to be the infallible
instructor of the people, in pure doctrine, freed from the inven-
tions of men ?

At all events he will act as if it were so. For the next year
(1547) becomes memorable for the establishment of a protestant
inquisition, under the primate's especial direction, and by which
two persons at least were doomed to a fiery purgation. This
tribunal continued in active operation through the remainder of
the reign. Upon the pretext that many strangers from abroad
had appeared in the country, and were making many proselytes,
a commission was issued on the 12th of April, granting the
amplest powers to inquire after heretical pravity.f The inquisi-
tors| were Cranmer, the bishops of Ely, Worcester, Chichester,
Lincoln, and Rochester, with some of the king's counsellors ; his
two secretaries, with Cox, Latymer, Hales, and others. We
must give the opening portion of this document, as it will mark
distinctly the connection of the dogma of royal supremacy in

* Cranmer's Catechism, pp. 51, 182, 183, 186-189, 197, 202. Oxford
edition.

t Crosby, i. 47.

X Cognitores, inquisitores, judices, et commissarios nostros, &,c.
Rvmer's Fccdera, Tom. vi. pars iii. ed. Hagse, 1741 .

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 10*7

things of God, with its natural consequence — persecution.
"Although to all kings it belongeth to preserve intact the
Christian faith and church, by their royal authority, to us
especially it appertains, atIio are called by a certain title
Defender of the Faith, that we take care that the noxious
weeds of heresy, and the blemish of evil doctrine, should not be
privately sown among oiu- people." The baptists are the
peculiar objects of its provisions. They are said to have
instilled into the ears of the king's subjects, and into the minds
of his " ignorant" people, their wicked opinions, their impious
and impui-e dogmas. Therefore must they be extirpated and
repressed. The commissioners are then directed to inquire in
every way for them, to examine witnesses upon oath, to proceed
with secrecy, and even without the forms of justice."^ Salutary
penances should be imposed on the penitent, who might then
be absolved, and re-admitted to the church. But the obstinate
must be ejected from the congregation of the faithful, and
exterminated. If the atrocity of their deeds demands it, they
must be delivered to the secular power. Prisons and chains
might be freely employed at the discretion of the tribunal.

Joan Boucher, whose case now comes before us, must have
been at this time in the hands of her foes ; for on the 30th of
April, eighteen days only after the issue of the commission, she
was arraigned for the crime of heresy before this protestant
inquisition, and her sentence formally pronounced. From
Cranmer's own archiepiscopal Register we learn, that he himself
sat as principal judge on the occasion, assisted by Sir Thomas
Smith, W. Cooke, dean of arches, Hugh Latymer, and Dr.
Lyell, as the king's " proctors, inquisitors, judges, and com-
missaries."f

Joan Boucher had been an active distributor of the proscribed
translation of the New Testament by Tyndale. The court of

* Ac sine strepitu, et figura judicii. Rymer, Foed. Tom. vi. pars iJi.
t Wilkins, Concilia, iv. 42.

108 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Henry was the scene of her zealous labors, where she oft
introduced the sacred volumes unsuspected, tying the precious
books by strmgs to her apparel.'^ Although ready in the
scriptures, she could not read them ; no uncommon defect in
that day, even in people of rank. Much of her time was
occupied in visiting the prisons, wherein were incarcerated her
companions in tribulation, whom it was her wont perpetually
and bountifully to assist.f

But there was one error Avhich was sufficient to expose her to
the poisonous breath of calumny, and to the burning flame.
For this she now appears before the inquisitors, " in the chapel
of the blessed Mary in St. Paul's." The examinations are long,
the judges learned, and apparently desirous to save her from
the stake. She cannot, she will not be convinced that she
holds any heresy derogatory to the truth. Neither entreaties
nor threats move her. A good conscience emboldens her. At
last she utters language grievous to hear, but which smites the
consciences of her judges with its telling truth. " It is a goodly
matter to consider your ignorance. It is not long ago since
you burned Anne Askew for a piece of bread, and yet you came
yourselves soon after to believe and profess the same doctrine
for which you burned her. And now forsooth you will needs
burn me for a piece of flesh, and in the end you will come to
believe this also, when you have read the scriptures, and
understood them."|

With the " fear of God before his eyes," and with invocation
of the name of Christ, the " reverend father in Christ, Thomas,
archbishop of Canterbury," with the full approbation of his
colleagues, now proceeds to pronounce her doom. The sentence
contains her crime and its punishment. " You believe that the
word was made flesh in the \Tirgin's belly, but that Christ took

* Strype's Memor. II. i. 335.

t Fox Johan. Rerum in Ecclesia Gestarum. Basil, fol. 202.

t Strype, Mem. II. i. 335.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 109

tiesh of the virgin 3-ou believe not ; because the flesh of the
virgin being the outward man, sinfully gotten, and born in sin,
but the word bv the consent 'of the inward man of the yirgin
was made flesh. This dogma, with obstinate, obdurate, and
pertinacious mind, you affiiTn, and not without much haughtiness
of mien. With wondei-fiil blindness of heart, to this you hold ;
therefore, for yom- demerits, obstinacy, and contumacy, ag-
gravated by a wicked and damnable pertinacity, being also
unwilling to return to the unity of the church, you are adjudged
a heretic, to be handed to the secular pow"er, to suffer in due
coui-se of law," and finally the ban of the gTeat excommunication
is upon you." The inquisitors complete the labors of the day,
by announcing to the youthful sovereign, through their presi-
dent, that they had decreed her separation from the Lord's
flock as a diseased sheep. " And since," say they, " our holy
mother, the church, hath naught else that she can do on this
behalf, we leave the said heretic to your royal highness, and to
the secidar arm, to suffer her deserved punishment.""^

Considerable delay, however, occurred before the execution
of the sentence. We may give the reformers credit for an
earnest desire to lead Joan Boucher to more connect \iews, but
must not withhold an expression of just abhorrence at the
bloody deed, and at the hateful principle on which they acted.
They had adopted an unsound basis for their reformation, and
its necessary result was oppression of conscience ; the exercise
of freedom of thought and judgment upon scripture truth was
impossible. Ridley of London, and Goodrich of Ely, were
especially active in their endeavoi-s to reclaim her ; to whom
must be added, Cramner, Latymer, Lever, Whitehead, and
Hutchinson.f

A year within three days was passed in these unavailing
efforts. Her constancy remained unshaken. On the 2Yth of

* Wilkins, Concilia, iv. 42, 43.

t Hutchinson's Works, Biog. Notice, p. iii. Parker Society edit.

110 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

April, the council issued their warrant to the lord chancellor to
make out a writ for her execution ; and Cranmer is said by
Fox to have been most urgent with the young king to affix the
sign manual to the cruel document. The youthful king hesi-
tated. Cranmer argued from the law of Moses, by which
blasphemers were to be stoned to death ; this woman was guilty
of an impiety in the sight of God, which a prince, as God's
deputy, ought to punish. With tears, but unconvinced, the
royal signature was appended.^ Rogers, the proto-martyr of
Mary's reign, also thought that she ought to be put to death,
and when urged with the cruelty of the deed, rephed, " that
burning alive was no cruel death, but easy enough."f He was
soon called, in the reign of Mary, to test the truth of his own
remark.

The bishops had, however, resolved that she shoiild die, and
on the 2nd of May, 1550, she appeared at the stake in Smith-
field. Here further efforts were made to shake her confidence.
To bishop Scory was allotted the duty of preaching to the suf-
ferer, and to the people, on the occasion. " He tried to convert
her ; she scofied, and said he lied like a rogue, and bade him,
' Go read the scriptures.' "J It was doubtless an indignant
rejection of the shameful misrepresentations which in that hour
of trial were made of her faith. She clave to those words of
truth which were her joy and strength, in the moments of her

* We do not attribute much importance to the attempt to vindicate
Cranmer at the expense of Fox's veracity ; since if he were not guihy of
urging the king to sign the warrant of execution, nor present at the
council when the issue of it was determined upon, he had mercilessly con-
demned her to death, and acted throughout as the chief inquisitor. Fox
had too many reasons to withhold the statement were it not true, and it
can add but little to Cranmer's guilt, that at his persuasion Edward com-
mitted her to the flames. See Hutchinson's Works, Biog. Notice,
pp. 4, 5.

t Pierce's Vindication, p. 34.

t Strype, Memor. 11. i. 335.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. Ill

dying agony. She loved and adored the holy and immaculate
Lamb of God.

We must look for the lise of the opinion attributed to this
Christian female to the gi'oss Mariolatry of the Romish church.
For more than two hundred years the pulpits of Christendom
had resounded with the conflicting asseverations of the followers
of St. Dominic and St. Francis, the one maintaining, the other
denying, the immaculate pm-ity and sinlessness of the mother of
God.'* The grossest indecencies were uttered in their intemperate
harangues, and nature's secrets laid open by vulgar hands to the
vulgar gaze. Thv^ a subject ^vl•apt in profound mystery was
forced upon thoughtful minds, and it became heresy to doubt
the common and gainful sentiment of the holy virgin's untainted
nature. Fox would seem to refer to this when speaking of
Boucher ; he says, " that she and others appeared to differ
somewhat from the catholics ;"f and he then instances her views
on this subject, as the alone feature that marred her Christian
excellence. At a much later period, in 1620, a baptist distinctly
avers that it was in order to advance the high estimation in
which Rome holds the ^^rgin, that the council of Trent declared
her to be exempt from all sin.J Were it not so, it was argued,
how was it possible for Jesus Christ to esxiape all contamination ?
Can a clean thing come out of an unclean ? So then must it
be that the mother and the son were alike sinless and undefiled.
It is easy to conceive that a simple mind, in rebutting this view
of the virgin's purity, might fall into a mode of stating the
mystery of the incarnation somewhat divergent from the truth,

* "And of what text the grave (grey ?) friar proveth that our lady was
without original sin, of the t-:ame shall the black friar prove that she was
conceived in original sin." Tyndale's Obedience of a Christian Man,
Preface' Works, i. 195.

t A catholieis nonnihil dis?entire videbantur. Rerum in Eccles.
Gest. fol. 202.

I A description of what Gud, Sec, p. 121 , "

112 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

if indeed tlie subject be susceptible of accurate statement at
all.*

But it is by no means clear tbat Boucher held a sentiment
every way so objectionable, as lier persecutors would seem to
affirm. It was certainly stated by herself in a form, if not per-
fectly intelligible, yet wanting in those oflfensive features which
are generally put prominently forth as her peculiar demerit.
" When I," says Mr. Roger Hutchinson, " and my well-beloved
friend, Thomas Lever, and others, alleged this text against her
opinions, Semen mulieris conteret caput serpentis, The seed of
the woman shall grind^ or hreah, the serpenfs head; she
answered, ' I deny not that Christ is Mary's seed, or the
woman's seed, nor I deny him not to be a man ; but Mary had
two seeds, one seed of her faith, and another seed of her flesh,
and in her body. There is a natural and a corporal seed, and
there is a spiritual and an heavenly seed, as we may gather of
St. John, where he saith. The seed of God i-emaineth in him,
and he cannot sin. And Christ is her seed, but he is become
man of the seed of her faith and behef, of spiritual seed, not of
natural seed ; for her seed and flesh was sinful, as the flesh and
seed of others.' "f Had she been as "ready" in the fathers as

* St. Anselm taught in the eleventh century, Omnes in peccatis mor-
tuos, demta solummodo matre Dei. He further says, Quemadmodum
Deus ea substantia genuit eum, per quem cunctis originem dedit ; ita beata
virgo Maria de sua carne mundissima peperit ilium. Magdeburg. Cen-
turiatores, Cent. xi. torn. iii. 335, 34. The unspotted conception of the
mother of Jesus, was taught in the twelfth century in France ; Duns
Scotus adhered to this opinion, and with him his followers, the Francis-
cans, and since that time, the Jesuits. It was opposed by Aquinas and
the Dominicani, and led to a violent dispute in the church of Rome from
the 15lh to the 17th centuries. Knapp's Lectures on Christian Theol.
p. 255. Ward's edit. Still Aquinas taught as follows: Beata virgo, in
sui sanctificatioiie, fait ab originali peccato purgata ; in filii sui eoncep-
tion'e, totaliter a fomite mundata ; in sui vero assumptione, ab omni
miseria liberata. Magd. Centur. Cent. xiii. p. 117, torn. iii.

t Works, p. 145.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 113

in the scriptures, she might have added to her acute reply, and
to the farther perplexity of her visitors, that Augustine also
saith, " It behoved him to be born of a vu-gin, whom his
mother's faith, and not natm-al deshe, had conceived."* At all
events, Cranmer and his fellow-inquisitors, had no such special
exemption from eiTor on this point, as to entitle them to pro-
ceed as if uifallibihty was in then* possession, and to attempt
the exercise of a power over the body and the soul, to commit
the one and the other to the blazing stake and to the flames of
hell.

It would seem that a deshe to intimidate a body daily
increasing in numbers, hastened the end of this servant of God.
More rugged methods than were agreeable to the principles of
th-e gospel were determined upon.f The parhament which
rose in February, especiaUy exempted the baptists fi-om the
pardon granted to such as had been concerned in the late rebel-
hon. Many were in prison. Their opinions on baptism, on
oaths, and on magistracy, were declared inconsistent with the w^ell-
being of a Christian commonwealth.^ Eidley, in the visitation
of his diocese, received particular directions to inquire after the
baptists. Their assembhes were to be sought out, and a report
made, whether they separated fi'om the rest of their fellow-
paiishionei-s for the private use of doctrine, and the administra-
tion of the sacraments.§

Complaints of the existence of some such congregations were
made to the council from the counties of Essex and Kent.
Secret assemblies were discovered at Brocking and Feversham,
and in divers other towns and villages. These congregations
were supported by the contributions of theii- members, mutual

* De virgine nasci oportebat, quern fides matris, non libido, conceperat.
Enchirid. ad Laurent, cap. xxxiv. p. 193. Tauchnitz edit.
t Strype, Memor. II. i. 335.
t Strype, Memor. II. i. 291.
§ Cardwell's Doc. Annals, i. 79.

114 STRUG (ILES AND TRIUMPHS

instruction was practised, and fellowship in the gospel regularly
maintained. Four of their teachers, with a considerable num-
ber of the people, were accordingly seized. About sixty persons
were met in a house at Brocldng, when the sheriff interrupted
theu' assembly. On appearing before the council, they confess-
ed the j)urpose of their meeting to be " to talk of the scriptures,"
and that they had not gone to communion for two years.
They were judged by their examiners to hold many evil opinions,
and to be guilty of several superstitious and erroneous practices,
and therefore worthy of great punishment. Some were at once
committed to prison, and others bound in recognizances to the
king in forty pounds each man, to appear when called upon.*
For a while they were at liberty, but were soon brought into
the ecclesiastical court, and examined on no less than forty-six
articles. These articles related for the most part to the doc-
trines of original sin and predestination, which the baptists were
supposed to deny. Their opinions on the former gained them
the name of Pelagians.

Mr. Humphrey Middleton was the most eminent of the minis-
ters thus summoned for conscience' sake before the ecclesiastical
tribunal. He appears to have remained in prison, by the
authority of Cranmer, until the last year of Edward's reign.
To that prelate he is reported to have said, after his condemna-
tion,— " Well, reverend sir, pass what sentence you think
fit upon us, but that you may not say you were not forewarned,
I testify that your own turn will be next." His release from
prison took place at the king's death, but was of short duration ;
for in the reign of Mary he was again the victim of intolerance,
and with some others found in Smithfield a pathway of fire to
heaven.f

Mr. Henry Hart was another of the teachers of this interest-
ing community, and suffered with it the vicissitudes and

* Strype's Cranmer, p. 335.

t Pierce's Vindication, p. 35. Fox, Acts and Mon., p. 1 519, edit. 1610.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 115

dangers of persecution. In the next reign he was also
imprisoned for heresy, when he made himself conspicuous, not
only for his rejection of the predestinarian views of some of the
martyrs, but also for the active controversy he maintained with
them. We know not whether he too suffered at the stake.
Greatly is it to be regi-etted that so httle is known of a church,
considerable for its numbers, yielding its proportion of confessors
and martp-s to the Roman beast, and which, we are told, was
the first that made a separation from the church of England,
hanng gathered congregations of their own.^

Bold misrepresentations by professed ministers of peace,
exciting the rulers of the land to an exterminating warfare
against the baptists, were not wanting. " Ye are placed in
authority," writes John Veron to Sir John Gates, "for this our
county of Essex, in the which, many of these hbertines
and anabaptists are running in, 'hoker moker,' among the
simple and ignorant people, to impel and move them to tumult
and insurrection against the magistrates and rulers of this
realm. "WTiom I trust if ye once know them, ye will soon
weed out of this county, to the great good and quiet of the
king's subjects of the same county and shire."f It was their
crime, that, sitting upon then- ale-benches, wheresoever they
dare utter then* poison, they taught the wi'ong of the attempt
to unite things civil and di\ine. Men who held that magistracy
was a civil ordinance of God, and to be obeyed in all civil
affaii-s, were guilty of contention, sedition, and ti-eason, when
resisting its entrance into the church of God, seeing "it is
neither profitable nor yet necessary to a Christian common-
weal." " Which," continues Veron, " would God it were

» Strype, Memor. II. i. 369.

t A moste necessary and frutefull Dialogue between y^ seditious
Libertia or rebel Anabaptist, and the true obedient Christian, &.c. Trans-
lated out of Latin into English, by Jho'» Veron Senonys. Imprinted at
Worcester, anno 1551.

116 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

diligently weeded out by the magistrates and rulers, that these
most pestiferous anabaptists and libertines, might once both feel
and know, that they do not bear the sword dehvered unto them
of God in vain."*

The commission of 1549 was renewed, with a few changes
in the commissioners, on the 18th of January, 1551, Cranmer
still holding the place of chief-inquisitor. Under its provisions
George van Pare surrendered his hfe at the stake. He was
charged with a denial of the deity of our Lord, " that Christ
is not very God." On the 6th of April, he passed through the
same forms of trial as Boucher, and was in like manner con-
demned. On the 25th, he also was burnt in Smithfield. He
was a man of exemplary life, passing much time in acts of
devotion. He suffered with great constancy of mind, embracing
the fagots and the stake that were about to consume him.f

These acts are an indelible blot on the memory of Cranmer,
and have been referred to by the Romanists as a palhation of
the enormities of the following reign. But it is said in reply,
that no catholic suffered for rehgious opinions during the rule
of the youthful and gentle Edward. It was a time of peaceful
progress, when men might worship God as truth and scripture
required. This however, if true, cannot excuse the persecutions
that did occur, of which ample proof has been given ; nor in the
least exonerate Cranmer from the guilt of being their active and
constant promoter. Other reasons, however, than the pacific
disposition of the king, or the supposed unwiUingness of
Cranmer to resort to these cruel methods of propagating his
faith, existed to render a catholic persecution at once impracti-
cable and dangerous. No credit is due either to Edward or his
council for their forbearance. It was a constrained lenity, and
owed nothing of its propriety and worth to the generous or

* Grindal also appears as a persecutor of the Essex baptists. Ridley's
Works, p. 331. Parker Society.

t Doc. Annals, i, 91. Wilkins, iv. 43. Neal, i. 42.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 117

noble temper of the king's ad\isers ; their principles were
opposed to the existence of any faith but such a one as coincided
-vYith their own. The cathohc party was too strong and too
large to permit them to venture on the impolitic course of
coercion. Eeformed opinions had as yet but little hold upon
that portion of the community in whose hands lay the wealth
and power of the country. Romish practices were in many
places used side by side with the new " laudable ceremonies."
The nation did not feel itself reformed, and the leaders of the
movement saw the impossibility of any other than a gi-adual
submission to theu' imposed formularies of faith. Still there
was no intention to bear the presence of Romanism beyond a
certain point. If it ceased to be passive, it was at once met
TVTith stern threatening and reproof. Gardiner for his remon-
strances was thrown into piison, and Bonner for his noncon-
formity deprived.

The insm-rections in Devonshire and Norfolk, which had
chiefly in ^iew the re-estabhshment of the old rehgion, were
put down with much loss of hfe and great severity ; and a long
and elaborate document, from the pen of Cranmer, was issued
in reply to their articles, to justify the innovations that had been
introduced. The omnipotence of the state in spiritual as in ci\ii
affairs, was the fertile parent of these sanguinary deeds, and
Cranmer wielded it to that end, without shuddering or fear.

The same relentless rigor followed the baptists to' the end.
Towards the close of the last year of Edward's reign, the arch-
bishop was again in motion to examine a number of persons
who were said to have lately appeared in Kent. Of his
I researches we know nothing. We cannot suppose that the
I example of then- probable friend and companion, Joan Boucher,
I in any way repressed their zeal for the truth, or hindered its
, successfril propagation.* It was not unnecessary that their
i testimony should be heard, since in the hturgy, now put forth,

* Strype, Mem. II. ii. 19, 209.

118 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

it was declared that he who refuseth the traditions of the church,
hurteth the authority of the civil magistrate.* Against this
pernicious principle the baptists nobly protested, and claimed
for the church of God that liberty to receive laws from Christ
alone which is its inalienable right.

The articles of religion, issued just previous to the king's
death, are said to have been " principally designed to vindicate
the English reformation from that slur and disgrace which the
anabaptists' tenets had brought upon the reformation."! They
could, therefore, have been neither few nor unimportant, to have
merited this deference to their sentiments in the fundamental
documents of the English church.

* King Edward's Liturgies, p. 535.

+ Lewis, Brief Hist, of the EngHsh Anabaptists, p. 54.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 119

SECTION IV.

MARY.

The reformed doctrines liad not obtained such a predomi-
nance in the popular mind as to render long doubtful the
succession of Mary to the crown. A nation's opinions cannot
be changed in a few short years, much less its rehgious life.
The protestant council of the late king failed therefore in their
illegal attempt to place the amiable, but unfortunate. Lady Jane
Grey upon the throne, and Mary, without bloodshed, entered
upon the exercise of her regal functions.

Her fears had, however, forced from her the promise of per-
mitting hberty of conscience. She assured the men of Suffolk,
that there should be no alteration in the established worship.
To the lord mayor and aldermen of London, on her arrival at
the Tower, she declared, that while her own conscience was
stayed in mattei-s of religion, she meant not to compel or strain
her people's consciences.* But on the 18th of August, by pro-
clamation, it was announced, that although she observed, and
would maintain, the religion of her infancy, and be glad if it
were received by her subjects, yet she did not intend to compel
them to embrace it, " till pubhc order should be taken in it by
common consent."f This proclamation was an advance upon
her earlier promises, and darkly intimated the coming severities.
She could, however, appeal to her brother's example, as a prece-

* Neal, i. 59. Price, Hist, of Nonconf. i. 99.
t Tierney's Dodd. ii. 57.

120 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

dent for the sttspension of all public preaching and scriptural
exposition, which she proceeded to command : she therein only
imitated the applauded pohcy of the reformers themselves.
The first act of Mary's regal supremacy, -was merely the
exercise of a sovereignty over conscience, which they recog-
nized, and had often employed.*

All the deprived catholic bishops, Gardiner, Bonner, Tunstall,
Day, and Heath, were restored to their sees. Six other bishops,
who had professed themselves protestants in the reign of
Edward, conformed to the new order of things. The rest were
deprived, either for being married, or for preaching doctrines
unpleasing to the ruling party.f The catholics hastened to
enjoy the public exercise of their worship. The mass was again
restored, images and altars set up, the Latin service revived,
and sermons, which irritated more than they convinced, were
preached in maintenance of the old ceremonies.J The fii'st
session of parliament was opened with a high mass in Latin on
the 5th of October, and it immediately proceeded to reverse
the laws which obstructed the full establishment of popery.

Convocation went hand in hand with the houses of parha-
ment. But few protestants were to be found in that assembly ;
only five, of whom archdeacon Philpot was the chief, appeared
to defend the innovations of Edward, or to plead for their
continuance. Great numbers of the more eminent of the
reformers had withdrawn to various places abroad. From thi-ee
to eight hundred are reckoned to have thus expatriated them-
selves fi'om their native land.§

The change did not much affect the common people. They
were ignorant and vicious; corruption of manners prevailed
throughout the nation ; the spreading light of the gospel had
not penetrated the masses of society, nor wrought in them a
purer morality. Unmoved by religious considerations, they

* Collier, vi. 12. t Dodd, ii. 57.

t Fuller, ii. 382, 383. § Ibid. pp. 56, 58. Collier, vi. 19.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 121

had rejoiced only in the removal of the restraints and exactions
to Ts-hich, under the dominion of Rome, they had been subject.*
The transference from one faith to another, was to them an easy
matter ; neither class of religionists demanded the obedience of
the heart ; papist and protestant were both content with an
outward observance of their respective rites. The upper classes
had acquiesced in, nay coveted, the revolutions of former reigns,
for they had brought to them an mcrease of wealth. Tliis was
the only obstacle to an immediate reconciliation with Rome ;
the spohatoi*s of abbeys and monasteries feared a resumption of
church property, an enforced restitution of their sacrilegious
spoil. The houses of pai'hament therefore hesitated to acknow-
ledge the supremacy of the pope, and it was not until Cardinal
Pole, in the following year, by permission of the pope, sur-
rendered this point, and gave secm*e possession to the holdei's of
church lands, that the queen was allowed to lay down the title
of supreme head of the chm'ch of England, although she
regarded it as profane.f

It was on the 30th of JS'ovember, 1554, St. Andrew's day,
that the re-union of the nation to Rome was solemnly recog-
nised, and its reconciliation effected. Cardinal Pole then
appeared in parhament. His credentials, the briefe and bulls
which authoiized him, were read before the assembled Lords
and Commons. He sought by moving words to con&m their
resolution, to awaken repentance. England was a prodigal son,
he said, who ha\dng wasted his spiritual substance, and des-
troyed all his ancestral monuments of piety, now returned to his
father's hoi^e, to the centre of unity, the see of Rome. If
heaven rejoiced over one repenting sinner, how much greater
must be the angehc raptures, when a whole kingdom lay
prostrate in theh sight I Both houses knelt before the repre-
sentative of the \'icar of Christ ; they besought God for mercy
to themselves, and to the kingdom, by the hands of his servant ;

• Strype's Cranmer, p. 447. Short, p. 192. t Dodd, ii. 65.

6

122 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

and, in the plenitude of his apostolic jurisdiction, the cardinal
uttered the following absolution : — " Our Lord Jesus Christ,
which with his most precious blood hath redeemed and washed
us from all our sins and iniquities, that he might purchase unto
himself a glorious spouse, without spot or wrinkle, and whom
the Father hath appointed Head over all his church, he, by his
mercy, absolve you : and we, by apostoHc authority, given unto
us by the most holy lord, Pope Julius III., his \dcegerent in earth,
do absolve and deliver you, and every one of you, with the
whole realms and dominions thereof, from all heresy and schism,
and from all and every judgment, censures, and pains, for that
cause incurred ; and also, we do restore you again unto the
unity of our mother, the holy church, as in our letters more
plainly it shall appear, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Both the houses of parhament
answered aloud, "Amen! Amen!" Tears filled every eye;
many embraced each other in the gladness of their joy.
Ambassadors were despatched to Rome to tender the obedience
of the nation, and a jubilee over the w^hole church was
proclaimed.^*

It still remained to abrogate certain other laws relating to
the supremacy. So soon as the houses of parliament were
assured of the inviolabihty of the abbey and church lands, the
acts passed since the twentieth year of Henry the Eighth, the
year of schism, were summarily repealed. On that condition
alone would they acknowledge the supreme jurisdiction of the
Roman pontiff. Self-interest reigned paramount, and avarice again
decided ^the national creed. Consideration must be shown to-
wards the powerful and wealthy spoliatore of the church's goods ;
but none to those tender and scrupulous consciences whose wealth
lay in the possession of the truth. The laws against heretics were
revived, the enormities of Lollardy were to be suppressed, and
heretical preachei-s arrested. When deHvered into the sheriffs'

• Dodd. ii. 62, 63.

1

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 123

hands by their inquisitoi-s, they were " then, on a high place,
before the people, to be biu-nt."*

Thus the way was prepared for the exercise of those san-
guinary cruelties which have rendered infamous the reign of
Maiy ; so gi-eat and numerous as to eclipse the feebler, but not
less execrable severities of the parties who suffered them.
" The system which had slowly grown out of the ignorance and
supei'stition of mankind, was restored to its forfeited supremacy ;
and afforded another opportunity of developing its character,
and of pro\'ing, more completely than ever it had yet done, its
incompatibihty with freedom of thought and the wide extension
of knowledge."!

The feast of reconcihation being passed wdth joj^ul thanks-
giAdngs (Jan. 25th), the machinery of persecution was at once set
in motion. On the 28th the cardinal issued a commission to
search and examine all preachers of heresy, and commit them
to prison. Commissionei"s and inquisitors went thi-ough the
realm, and great numbei's, from the counties of Kent, Essex,
Norfolk, and Suffolk, were apprehended, sent to London, and
immured in its pestilential dungeons, to await the fiery trial.J

The restored church of Rome proclaimed at the earhest
moment her sanguinary pm-poses, and, without delay, sought
by teiTor to repress rebeUion against its spiritual authority.
She chose for her gi'ound of procedure a dogma repulsive to
common sense, and therefore the better calculated to test the
blind obedience she required. A simpler course could not have
been selected to bring to the trial a man's faith in the word of
God, or in the dicta of the church. Gardiner took the lead in
this warfare upon conscience, and on the 28th of January, in
the church of St. Mary Oveiies, in Southwark, summoned the
first of the martji-s before him. Rogere and Bradford, bishop

* Statutes at Large, 1 and 2 Phil, and Mariee, c. vi. and viii.

t Price,!. 107.

t Fox, iii. 18. edit. 1641.

124 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Hooper and Dr. Taylor, appeared; they were examined,
excommunicated, and remanded to prison.* On the 4th of
February, Rogers was led to the stake, and breathed his last
triumphantly amid the suffocating flames, Bradford was
respited to the month of July. Hooper laid down his hfe with
great firmness and joy, five days after Rogers. And, on the
same day, Taylor passed through the consuming flame at
Hadley in Suffolk."!

These sanguinary measures had not been adopted without
considerable discussion among the councillors of the queen.
On the side of lenity, it is said, were the queen, king Phihp,
and cardinal Pole ; Gardiner and Bonner led the opposite party.
Many things had occurred to irritate the ruHng ecclesiastics.
Actions at once indefensible and impoHtic proceeded from the
reformers. They had even gone so far as to justify treason, and
had looked with favor on Wyatt's insurrection. The queen's
preacher was shot at in the pulpit at St. Paul's Cross ; her
chaplains mobbed, and pelted with stones. The ecclesiastical
tonsure was made a mockery, a dog's head being shaved in
contempt ; and a cat with a wafer in her paws was hung upon
a gallows at Cheapside, to ridicule the sacrament. One parson
Rose publicly prayed, " that God would either tm-n the queen's
heart, or shorten her days."J

Timely severities might also complete the work of re-union,
so auspiciously begun ; cruelty to the few might strike terror in
the many, and fix their wavering faith. Thei'e was much to
countenance this idea. The leading reformers had fled, except-
ing only a very small number, whose death at Oxford and
elsewhere was sufficient to mark the equity and sternness of
the resolve. The professed adherents of the reformation were
but a httle band, and confined to a few localities. It would

* CollieF, vi. 105.

t Macintosh, Mary, p. 290. Collier, vi. 107.

t Collier, vi. 82, 93, 104. Dodd, ii. 97.

OF RELIGIOUS LIKEKTY. 125

seem no difficult nor tedious employ, to extirpate a heresy
whose roots had not yet struck deeply into the popular soil.
It was, moreover, perfectly consonant with the maxims of a
church, out of which there is no salvation, and had for centuries
been sanctioned by success. Such or similar reasons weighed
with the queen, when, on the intimation of her council that
they had determined to resort to persecution, she rephed,
" Touching the punishment of heretics we thinketh it ought to
be done without rashness, not leaving in the meanwhile to do
justice to such, as, by learning, would seem to deceive the
simple : and the rest so to be used, that the people might well
perceive them not to be condemned without just occasion,
whereby they shall both imderstand the truth, and beware to
do the like. And especially within London, I would wish none
to be burnt, without some of the council's presence, and both
there and every where good sermons at the same."*

.The fii-st example awakened general disgust, which was so
far effectual as to call forth the day following the death of
Rogei's, a disclaimer, on the part of the court, of any participa-
tion in the horrid transaction, by one Alphonso di Castro, a
Spanish friar. He inveighed against the bishops for bm-ning
men, saying plainly that scriptm-e taught them not to burn
any for conscience ; but on the contrary, that they should be
permitted to hve, in hopes of their conversion.f The spirit of
intolerance seemed for a moment abashed, but was not
quenched. The sermon was plainly a stratagem, to remove the
odium from the queen, and especially from PhiHp, who was
extremely anxious to ingratiate himself vdth the people. In a
few weeks the fires were again lighted up. The persecution
continued until the end of the reign, when two hundred and
seventy persons had perished in the flames of martyi'dom.

The ravages of the persecutors were confined to a few
districts of the country. At least two hundi*ed were victims of

» Collier, vi. 85. t Fox, iii. 139.

126 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

the dark-minded and bloody Bonner. The northern dioceses
were free fi'om the fiery scourge, as were also some of the
western. By far the largest number of martyi's was drawn
from the dioceses of Canterbury, London, N'orwich, Rochester,
and Chichester. They were the foci of the reformed move-
ment ; from those places the sufferers of former times had come,
and there it was that gospel-light penetrated farthest into the
middle and lower ranks of society. The humblest conditions
of life yielded a much more than proportionate number ; "an
instance of the power of conscience to elevate the lowest of
human beings above themselves, and is a proof of the cold-
blooded cruelty of the persecutors, who, in order to spread
terror through every class, laboriously dug up victims from the
darkest corners of society, whose errors might have hoped for
indulgence fi'om any passion less merciless than bigotry."*

* Fuller, ii. Macintosh, Mary, ch. xv.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 121

SECTION y.

THE BAPTISTS.

By the aid of the histonan Strype, we discover that not a
few baptists were entangled in the meshes of the sanguinary
foe. His information was chiefly gleaned from the papers of
the English martyrologist, and it is much to be regretted that
from a deshe to please the ruhng party, or a repugnance to
acknowledge the merit of those who came not up to his standard
of orthodoxy, Mr. Fox has either omitted altogether any refer-
ence to their suffering's, or when he has mentioned them, has
suppressed those particulars which would enable us to identify
them as belonging to this obnoxious sect. It will be remem-
bered, that in the previous reign, a congi*egation of baptists had
been discovered, assembhng as they might find convenient, at
various place in the counties of Kent and Essex, but especially
at Fevei-sham and Bocking. Many of its members were then
immured in prison, with their two pastoi-s, Mr. Henry Hart and
Mr. Humphrey ^Middleton, but were probably released on the
death of Edward. In 1554, those two preachers were again
incarcerated, with two other ministei-s of the same people.*

On the 12th of July, 1555, Mr. Middleton was burnt at
Canterbuiy, with three others. His examinations were on the
usual test-doctrine, transubstantiation. He averred that there was
no real presence in the mass, that both the sacred emblems
ought to be administered to the communicants, and in the

» Strype's Cranmer, p. 502.

128 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

English tongue. It was with difficulty that he was brought to
answer the questions of his examiners, but he assured them, that
he believed in his own God, saying, " My living God, and no
dead God." Bound to two stakes, he and his fellow-sufferers
passed into the presence of the Lamb from amid the devouring
flame. Like true soldiers of Jesus Christ, they gave a constant
testimony to the truth of his holy gospel.'^

Mr. Hart, with many others, was imprisoned in the King's
Bench, where also were confined several, who, under the name
of gospellers, adhered to the religion established by Edward the
Sixth. Among these prisoners of Jesus Christ arose consider-
able contention and strife. The eternal predestination of the
elect, and the ability of man to keep God's commandments,
were the topics which excited their unseemly divisions. The
baptists were distinguished by the epithets of free-willers and
Pelagians. The martyr Bradford entered deeply into the sub-
ject with them, and more especially with Hart. The latter
wi'ote a piece in defence of his sentiments, to which Bradford
replied ; in a letter to Cranmer, Eidley, and Latymer, at
Oxford, he communicates his fears, and sends them both Hart's
book and his own. He conceives that these men confounded
the effects of salvation with its cause ; on the matter of free-
will he deems them plain papists, yea Pelagians. They also
utterly contemned all learning. Their holy life, for " they
were men of strict and holy lives," commended them to the
world, and rendered their sentiments the more dangerous. To
his letter were appended the names of Bishop Ferrar, Taylor,
and Philpot. Some yielded to his persuasions ; to the rest he
showed uniform kindness, alleviating the distress of their
imprisonment, from funds confided to his care ; for " that he
was persuaded of them, that they feared the Lord, and there-
fore he loved them." Others dealt not so gently with their
erring brethren. Archdeacon Philpot was among their oppo-

* Fox, iii. 363, 373, 377.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 129.

nents. In a letter to John Careless, he calls them scliismatics,
arrogant and self-willed, Wind scatterers, contentious babblers,
perverse and intractable/'^

In a long letter to a friend in Newgate, Philpot endeavored
to estabhsh the truth of infant baptism. Infants, he says, were
included in the command of our Lord, Go ye into all nations^
&c. ; but especially had they the same covenant-right enjoyed
by the posterity of Abraham. Endently feeling these groimds
somewhat unstable, he earnestly exhorts his correspondent " to
submit to the judgment of the church, for the better under-
standing the articles of our faith, and of the doubtful sentences
of scriptm-e. Therefore," he continues, " let us believe as they
have taught us of the scripture, and be at peace with them,
according as the true cathohc church is at this day."f To such
a sm-render of imderstanding and conscience, the baptists were
and ever have been opposed, inasmuch as they conceive that the
marks of infalhbihty have never yet been discovered, engraven
by di^^ne skill, either on the " holy Roman church," or on that
constituted by the legislative enactments of King Edward and
his successors on the British throne.

Singular, too, is the harmony of sentiment existing between
our reformer and his cruel persecutor, Bonner, who this same
year (1555) put forth his book of homihes. Their arrows are
drawn from the same quiver, and winged on earth, not in
heaven. Thus in the homily on the authority of the church, in
almost the same lang-uage, doth this blood-stained hero of
Rome's infalhbihty proceed to say : "I exhort and beseech all
you, good Chiistian people, that in all doubts, opinions, and
controversies, ye would resort to the holy church, and there
learn what the same cathohc church hath beheved and taught,
from time to time, concerning doubts or controversies." And
in the exposition of the sacrament of baptism, he gives especial
warning against the error of the baptists ; for, says he, " certain

* Strype's Cranmer, o02, 503, 907. t Fox, iii. pp. 606, 607.

.130 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

heresies have risen up and sprung in our days, against the
christening of infants ;" which elsewhere he teaches, that " the
most wholesome authority of the chm*ch doth command."*

While, then, our reformers endeavored to reduce the cathohc
chm'ch to the standard of scripture, appealing to its doctrines
and honoring to some extent its commands ; yet were they not
free from a papal dread of too much light. They feared the
perfect communication of the word of God to the laity, and
dreaded the action of free minds on its contents. "To the
unlearned and laity," says Roger Hutchinson, in 1552, "the
pubhshing them without interpretation is a like matter as if a
man would give to young children whole nuts ; which, when
they have tumbled long up and down in their mouths, and
licked the hard shell, being not able to come to their sweetness,
at last they spit out, and cast away both the shell and the
kernel. The eternal God, to help the infirmity of man's capa-
city and understanding herein, hath ordained two honorable and
most necessary offices in his church : the office of preaching,
and the office of reading and interpreting." To these must the
humble man resort ; so great is the hardness and difficulty of
holy wi'it, that without a teacher none can wade through it.f

Great therefore was the dismay of Eidley and others, when,
as he says, these imprisoned baptists rejected an open, that is,
an established ministry, as not necessary ; when the sacraments
were regai'ded as only " badges and tokens of Christian men's
profession:" or, as Ridley puts it, they made no difference
between the Lord's table and their own ; yet more amazed was
he, that they refused to attend the ministry, or submit to any
Christian rite from the hands of any clergyman, however pure
his succession, who was not known as a man of God by his
holy life, and the fruits of piety. In such cases of schismatic

* A profitable and necessarye doctrine, with certain homelyes adioyned
thervnto, set forth by Edmunde, Byshope of London, &c., mdlv.
t Works, pp. 91, 94. Parkor Society's edit.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 131

folly, Ridley counselled a resort to coercion. Since con\'iction
could not be produced by pei-suasion, force must be applied.
To quote the more gentle Hutchinson ; " If there be any sus-
pected to be an anabaptist, I would to God well-learned
preachei-s were authorized to compel and call such to render
account of their faith — if it were found anabaptistical, that the
preacher enter into disputation with him, and openly comdct
him by the scriptures and elder fathers ; and if he remain
obstinate, the same preacher to excommunicate him ; and then
to meddle no further with him, but give knowledge thereof to
the temporal magistrate, which, for civil consideration, may
punish him with imprisonment, death, or otherwise."*^ Hence
the opprobrious epithets, the passionate language, the bitter
invective, which marked the controversies of these fellow-
sufferers for the truth.

Not the least among the opponents of the baptists was Mr.
John Careless, an eminent martyr, and their fellow-prisoner in
the King's Bench. He had much conference with them, but
failed, to his great grief, in convincing them. In 1556, Careless
wrote a confession of his faith, especially favoring absolute
predestination against free-will. It was generally concurred in
by the protestant prisoners in Newgate and the King's Bench,
where he lay. A copy fell into Mr. Hart's hands, and on the
back of it he wrote his sentiments. His colleague Mr. Cham-
berlain also wi'ote against it. Strype mentions only one article
of this document, from which may be inferred the opposing
sentiment of the baptists. " That the second book of Common
Prayer, set forth in king Edward's days, was good and godly ;
but that the church of Chiist hath authority to enlarge and
diminish things in the same book, so far forth as it is agreeable
to scripture." This reply of Hart fall into the hands of the
cathohc party, and gave rise to scoffs at the divisions and

« Works, p. 201. Ridley's Works, pp. 9, 264, 121, 129, 141, 142.
Strype, Memor. III. ii. 454.

132 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

various opinions of the professors of the gospel. It ended in
the disownment of the baptists by the gospellers, and a breach
of all intercourse and unity between them.*

The friends of the prisoners sought to comfort and cheer
them by letters. One of these is preserved. Strype thinks the
writer was Mr. Hart ; but it is evidently wi'itten from the
country to those in London who were suffering for the truth ;
.ind, as Mr. Hart was one of them, it must have come from some
other person. The writer prays that his imprisoned friends may
be endued with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. He
urges them to walk as the children of the light, and to be
fruitful in all good works ; to have no fellowship with unright-
eousness, to walk circumspectly, to " use well the time, for it
is a miserable time, yea, and such a time that if it were possi-
ble, the very chosen and elect should be brought into errors ;"
therefore, they must watch, search diligently the scriptures, and
take gladly the yoke of Christ upon them. The writer then
proceeds to argue from the precepts given by Christ to keep his
commandments, and to love God with all the heart, soul, mind,
and strength, that we are able to observe them ; that God has
given us understanding and reason for the purpose ; and that
hfe and death are set before men freely to choose. He con-
cludes : " Wherefore, dearly beloved, let us look earnestly to
the commandments of the Lord, and let us go about to keep
them, before we say that we be not able to keep them. Let us
not play the slothful servants, but let us be willing to go about
to do them, and then no doubt God shall assist and strengthen
us, that we shall bring them to conclusion. And always, dearly
beloved, have the fear of the Lord before your eyes, for whoso

feareth the Lord walketh in the right path, and at the last

God shall reward every man according to his deeds."f

How these followers of Jesus fared after this period, we have

* Strype's Cranmer, p. 505.

t Strype, Memor. III. ii. 321—329.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 133

no means of ascertaining. The last mention of their perse-
cutions in this reign, is that of the sudden recall of certain
inquisitors, who in the year 1558 visited Essex, and especially
the district around Colchester, for the purpose of feeding the
languishing flames of the martyr's pile, with fresh living fuel.
With regret the commissioners obeyed the Council's commands.
" Would to God," they write, " the honorable Council saw the
face of Essex as we do see ; we have such obstinate heretics,
anabaptists, and other unruly persons here, as never was heard
of. .... If we should give it off in the midst, w^e should set the
country in such a roar, that my estimation, and the residue of
the commissioners, shall be for ever lost."*

The country began to gi'oan over the ashes of the dead, and
to regard with horror the cruelties of bigotry and Rome. On
the l7th of November Mary died, and this darkest period of
our national annals, and of the reformed faith in this land,
yielded to a brighter day.

* Strype, Memor. III. ii. 125, 126.

134 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

SECTION VI.

ELIZABETH.

The reign of Elizabeth was an era of conflict. Light
struggled with darkness, and by the hands of its professed
friends was shut up in the dark lanthorn of a state-estabhsh-
ment. The world became enthroned in the church, and
pohtical considerations were of more importance than the laws
of the King of kings. "Every moral principle was set at
nought,- and every crooked path of state-expediency was
trodden." * The law of the Lord, that perfect law, might be
obeyed only so far as it was transcribed into the statute-book
of the realm.

Immediately upon her accession (Nov. iTth, 1558), the queen
gave an earnest of the course she intended to pursue. Cecil's
advice for reformation was accepted. Protestants were intro-
duced into the council, and cathohcs excluded from it. On
Sunday, the 20th, she listened to the gospel from the lips of
Dr. Bill ; but imprisoned Christopherson, " the brawling bishop
of Chichester," who, on the following Sunday, with great
vehemence and freedom, refuted the reformers' doctrine as the
" invention of new men and heretics !" f She at once assumed
the controverted authority of the state in religious matters, by
issuing a proclamation forbidding all preaching and exposition

* Ruber's English Universities, i. 294.

t Macintosh, Hist, of Eng. Eliz. ch. xvi. Zurich Letters, i. 4, 6.
Parker Society.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 135

of holy scripture, till the decision of parliament should be known.
The people might, however, read — only read — the epistles, the
gospels, and the commandments, in English ; and were besides
allowed to pray in the language of the Lord's prayer, the litany,
and the creed. For a while, masses, and all the abominations
of popery, were sanctioned, the rubric of the missals and
bre\T[aries followed, and the zeal of the reformers repressed.
But their private meetings were connived at, while the parish
chm-ches were closed against them. *

With great gladness the exiles returned from their places of
sojourn abroad, full of hope and expectation. "The most
merciful God," says one of them, " has \dsited our affliction, and
wrought out the redemption of his people." f Halcyon days
were come ; the lointer ivas past, the rain was over and gone.
Martyr-blood had fertilized the soil, and now flowers bright
with the beauty of holiness would appear. A new star had
arisen to lead the Lord's people, and to shed beams of grace
upon the church of the hving God. J Visions of happiness too
early destroyed by the stern realities of the strife awaiting the
wearied pilgrims ! Within two months of the queen's accession,
Jewel wrote the ominous words, " I only wish that our party
may not act with too much worldly prudence and pohcy in the
cause of God." §

"AYorldly prudence and policy," did, however, fi'om this
time, control the ecclesiastical movements of the hierarchy and
the state ; rehgion was made to worship at their shrine. The
queen became v/onderfully afraid of innovations. " She is,

* Documentary Annals, i. 176. Collier, vi. 200. Zurich Lett. ii. 29.

t Sir Ant. Cook to Bullinger. Zurich Lett. ii. 1.

X " God, whose property is to thow his mercies, then greatest when
they are nearest, to be utterly despaired of, cau?ed in the depth of
discomfort and darkness a most glorious star to arise, and on her head
settled the crown." — Hooker, book iv. sect. 14. Hanbury's edit.
vol. i. p. 327.

§ Jewel to Martyr, Zurich Lett. i. 8, 10,

186 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

however, prudently, and firmly, and piously, following up ter
purpose, thougli somewhat more slowly than we could wish." *
The purer-minded reformers were shocked to see the crucifix
still erect in the queen's chapel, and much more, when, hahited
in the golden vestments of the papacy, with candles lighted
before the image, three of the new bishops ministered at the
table of the Lord, as priest, deacon, and subdeacon, "without
any sermon." " What hope," exclaims the pious Sampson, " is
there of any good, when our party are disposed to look for
religion in these dumb remnants of idolatry, and not fi'om the
preaching of the lively word of God." f Many longed impa-
tiently for further and more active progress in the establishment
of the gospel. They chided the wariness, the defiberation, the
prudence of the royal counsels, " as if," says Jewel, " God
himself could scarce retain his authority without our ordinances
and precautions ; so that it is idly and scurrilously said, that as
heretofore Christ was cast out by his enemies, so he is now kept
out by his friends." I The people were disgusted with the
insolence and cruelty of the papists ; many called them butchers
to their face. They thirsted for the gospel exceedingly ; the
consuming fire of the martyr-pile had well nigh burnt up every
green herb, and by its scorching power rendered arid many a
spot once fertilized by evangehc truth ; but the waters of life
were not yet to irrigate the parched ground. The sanction of
law was necessary te let loose the pent-up floods of the ever-
lasting springs.§

But will the law, or the lawgivers, grant liberty to the fi'ee
utterance of God's truth ? Are the sighings of the people to be
heard ? Will the breeze now rustling in the forest tops bring
the refreshing rain, the fertilizing shower of heavenly doctrine,

» Jewel to Martyr, Mar. 20, 1559. Zurich Lett. i. 11.
t Sampson to Martyr. Zurich Lett. i. 63.
t Jewel to Martyr, Apr. 14, 1559. Zurich Lett, i 17.
§ lb. i. 31, 18.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 137

flooding the land \\itli life and peace ? Let us see. Ten days
after the queen's coronation, the Lords and Commons, her fii-st
parhament, assembled. She appeared amongst them. By the
mouth of the lord keeper, Su' Nicholas Bacon, she intimated her
desire to unite her ^Deople in one uniform order of religion.
The history of all ages, he said, instructed them to submit to
exemplaiy pimishment all undue worehip and superstition,
especially atheism and immorahty. Good king Hezekiah, and
noble queen Esther, were eminent examples of zeal to discharge
error, and to reform what was amiss. These her majesty would
emulate, and strive thus to recommend herself to the approbation
of almighty God. ^^

By the fet act of the ■ session, all jurisdiction over the state
ecclesiastical was restored to the crown. With the title of
Supreme Governor, the queen was invested with supreme
power over the church. The whole compass of church disciphne
was transfeiTed to her. At her bidding, the court of high
commission, in part clerical and in part lay, might proceed to
reform every abuse, to judge error, to pronounce the doom of
heresy, and to punish all schisms, contempts, and offences, as
they might think fit. Heresy was defined to be any departm-e
from the canonical scriptures, or from the faith established by
the fii'st four general councils ; also, any dogma, which, at any
futm-e time, should be adjudged heresy by the parhament of the
realm, with the assent of the clergy in convocation. This
profane assumption of dominion over conscience was fruiher
enlarged by a provision, that none should dare to adjudge the
order or detennination of any rehgious matter, made by
authority of parhament, to be an error, heresy, schism, or
schismatical opinion.f

On this broad foundation of infalhbihty, the Houses laid their
second act, to pro\ide for the uniformity of common prayer and

* Collier, vi. 204.

t Statutes at Large, 1 Eliz. c. i. vol. vi. p. 107.

188 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

service in the cliiircli, and administration of the sacraments.
They adopted the second service book of Edward the Sixth,
with some changes to make it more palatable to the cathohcs.
" This holy little book," was> now restored to the church of
England. " We embraced that book," continues the zealous
bishop of Ely, " with open arms, and not without thanks to
God, who had preserved to us such a treasure, and restored it
to us in safety."* Like the first statute, this, with its pre-
scribed liturgy, was guarded by penalties. After the ensuing
feast of John the Baptist, all the inhabitants of the realm were
diligently and faithfully, on Sundays and feast days, to appear
at theii- parish church, there to join in common prayer ; twelve
pence was the fine for absence. But if any should be so wicked
as to defame " this holy little book," or use in pubhc any other
prayers to the God of heaven, or refuse to use any rite, cere-
mony, matins, evensong, or administration of the sacraments,
ordained therein : then shall such person be imprisoned for half
a year, and deprived of all his emoluments.

The passing of these acts was strenuously resisted by the
cathohcs in the upper house; but in vain. Nor were the
milder and more pious of the reformers pleased with many of
the rites and forms imposed by the act of uniformity, and in
the book of Common Prayer. Both parties objected on the
gi'ound of their religious opinions ; but no one saw how unholy
and unscriptural were these legislative measures, nor how much
they set at nought the rights of conscience. And when at
midsummer (1559), the liturgy was introduced, and the oath
of supremacy administered, only eighty rectors, with one
hundred and seven dignitaries of the church, in all one hun-
dred and eighty-seven, from among more than nine thousand
clergymen, were found to refuse comphance. A memorable

« Cox to Gualter, Feb. 12, 1571. Zurich Lett.,i. 235. It was this
very bishop that stirred up " the troubles at Frankfort" about the prayer-
book. — PhcEnix, ii. 72.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 139

exhibition of the power of self-interest, and of the Httle truth-
fuhiess and religion then existing among the rehgions guides of
the people.^

The soiu'ce of these errors in legislation, may be discovered
in the ^-iews of the reformers on the nature of the church. In
their conference with the cathohcs, while the measures were
under the consideration of parhament, the protestants laid
down the following proposition for debate. " Every particular
chm-ch hath authority to institute, change, and abrogate cere-
monies and rites in the church, so that it be to edify ;" and
they thus define the term, " every particular chm-ch :" — " We
understand every particular kingdom, province, or region, which
by order make one Christian society, or body, according to
the distinction of countries, and orders of the same."f The
church of Christ is thus made co-extensive with the provinces,
nations, and kingdoms of the world. From its fold none are
excluded, however profane. Because girt about by the same
natural boundaries, the godly and the ungodly are united into
one ecclesiastical community, and the natural laws which
govern eveiy social state, must, of necessity, become the rule
and standard of the supernatural. The church ceases to be the
fellowship of the saints ; the saying of our Lord, My kingdom
is not of this world, is reversed. Necessai-ily different laws
than those he has instituted, must be made to govern such a
mixed assemblage, since his divine legislation has respect to a
community, constituted by repentance towards God, and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The terms of communion must be

* Cardwell's Hist, of Conferences on Book of Common Prayer, p. 35.
Statutes at Large, 1 Elizabeth, c. 2.

t Cardwell's Hist, of Conferences, &c., p. 72. " For if the common-
wealth be Christian, if the people which are of it do publicly embrace the
true religion, this very thing doth make it the church, as hath been
shewed." — Hooker's Works, iii. 324, Hanbury's edit.

140 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

altered, and hirth of blood, of the will of the fleshy and the will
of man, may suffice to make a son of God.^

"With great consistency tlie protestant divines proceed to say,
that the ceremonies and rites of the church, " may by God's
word, by general councils, and by particular provinces, regions,
and societies of Christians, according to the state of the times,
be instituted and ordained, changed and removed, upon such
just grounds, causes, and considerations, as the state of the
times, places, people, and other circumstances shall require ; so
that it be done to edify God's people."f In other words, a
poHtical state, a general council, and God's word, are of equal
and co-ordinate authority in the church of God, that is, in a
province or national society of Christians ; and in questions of
ecclesiastical pohty, the superiority of dominion is with the
magistrate, or political chief of the nation, who is also the
" supreme governor" of the church. Thus, " things of then*
own nature indifferent," may be lawfully imposed on the
consciences of men, and the godly be compelled to submit to
an authority in the church, unrecognised in the oracles of truth.
The rule laid down with so much apparent exphcitness, that
such things only may be enjoined as are edifying to God's
people, it is self-evident, is worthless. The queen, the deposi-
tary of the nation's power, the exponent of the nation's will,
which be it remembered is the church, is edified when on
bended knee she offers prayer at a gilded shrine, with her eye
glancing upon a cross, the emblem of man's redemption. But
her bishops are scandalized at the sight. This " scenic appara-
tus of divine worship" offends them. ".As if," says Jewel, " the
Christian religion could not exist without something tawdry."^
But who then shall decide ? The word of God ? The bishops,
its professed expounders ? Whose edification shall be the rule

* See the order of" Infant Baptism, in the Book of Common Prayer.

t Cardwell, Hist of Conf., p. 72.

X To Martyr in 1599. Zurich Lett., i. 23.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 141

of judgment ? It is the queen, and the parhament of the
nation, and not the statute-book of Chiist, which- shall decide.
And fui'ther, it shall be sedition, treason to the magistrate, to
ventm-e to disobey, or even to call in question then* decisions.
"For the queen, a most discreet and excellent woman, most
manfully and courageously declared, that she would not allow
any of her subjects to dissent from this rehgion with impunity."*

It is ob\TLOUs that on such principles the church would be
sacrificed to the world ; that a reformation thus estabhshed
would be adverse to the claims of Jesus, as King in Zion ; and
that a foundation would be laid for perpetual strife and division ;
for minds, in which the supremacy of God's word is acknow-
ledged, must, sooner or later, rise in rebeUion against the
supremacy of the thi-one, the imposing power, and endeavor to
break through the " braided trammels," woven to keep them
in bondage to the elements of the world. Such was the case :
and to that strife we have now to direct om* attention.

Stringent as were the above laws, and of imperative obhgation
on the subjects of the queen, a considerable latitude of practice
was enjoyed duiing the first five years of her reign. Cathohcs
saw no such great change in external ordinances, as to feel their
absence from the paiish chm'ches a matter of religious necessity.
The preachei-s of the gospel were comparatively few ; hardly one
in a hundred of the clergy was able or willing to preach.
Many parishes were without a clergyman, and some dioceses
Tvithout a bishop. Much fr-eedom was thus enjoyed by those
who had at heart the dissemination of divine truth ; and by
commendatory lettei*s fr*om the queen or one of the bishops,

* Jewel to Martyr, May 20, 1560. Zurich Lett., i. 79. Saith Arch-
bishop Sandys a few years later, as the beams of royal favor fell upon
him, " Our Deborah hath mightily repressed the rebel Jabin ; our Judith
hath beheaded Holophernes, the sworn enemy of Christianity ; our
Hester hath hanged up that Haman which sought to bring us and our
children into miserable servitude." — Sermons, &c., by Sandys, Arch-
bishop of York, p. 81. Parker Society.

142 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

some few eminent men were permitted to preacli throughout
the country.'^ Great diversities Hkewise existed among the
officiating clergy ; some more than others adhering to the
rubric, some altogether passing it by. So, according to secretary
Cecil, some said the service and prayers in the chancel, others
in the body of the church ; some officiated in a seat, others in
a pulpit ; some in a surplice, others without ; some baptized in
a font, others in a bason ; some signed with a cross, by others
it was omitted ; some of the clergy wore square caps, some
round ones, and some hats.f Some, like Bishop Jewel, thought
the habits theatrical, employed because of the ignorance of the
priests, who being found no better than logs of wood,
without talent, learning, or morality, were commended to
the people " by that comical dress."| Others, with the pious
Sampson, called them " the relics of the Amorites," a popish
invention, to be abominated by all godly people.§

Such disorders were intolerable. They broke the uniformity
so earnestly desired. This variety in practice, this disagreement
in rehgion — as if religion consisted in these ceremonial observ-
ances and vestures — and this disregard of the establishment,
disturbed the public harmony, and dissevered the government.
So the queen thought, and thus she wrote to the archbishop of
Canterbury, chiding him and his fellow-bishops for their remiss-
ness, and commanding them to exercise their authority with
more vigilance and vigor. She was resolved, she said, to bring
her subjects to conformity ; peevishness and clamor she would
not suffer to be indulged ; nor should any man's obstinacy
shelter him from punishment.] The bishops were roused to
exertion. They soon (1564) issued certain disciphnary laws, to

* Lever to Bullinger, July 10, 1660. Zur. Lett. i. 85.
t Collier, vi. 394.

t Jewel to Martyr, Nov. 5, 1559. Zur. Lett. i. 52.
§ Sampson to Martyr, Jan. 6, 1560. Ibid. i. 64, 158.
I) Collier, vi. 395.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 143

which the clergy were compelled to subscribe. The shapes and
fashions of ecclesiastical dress were their chief subject. Side-
gowns A\ith sleeves, straight at the hand, without any cuffs or
falling capes, tippets of white sarcenet, silk hoods, caps, copes,
comely surpHces with sleeves, were among the weightier matters
that engaged the earnest attention and solemn consultations of
the reverend bench, for the " advauncement of God's glory, and
to the estabhshmente of Christe's pure religion." That none
might avoid the imposition, all licenses to preach were with-
di-awn from the ensuing March, and not renewed until the
clergy should append their signatm-es to all things therein
prescribed."^

A strong and early disincHnation to wear the habits had been
shown by Dr. Thomas Sampson, dean of Christchurch, and Dr.
Lawrence Humphreys, Regius Professor of Di^-inity, and Presi-
dent of Magdalen College, Oxford. The unseemliness of these
superstitious dresses was from the first a matter of complaint
with the pious Sampson. From Strasburg, on his way home,
he expressed to Peter Martyr his dishke. " I think it," says he,
" scarcely endurable, even if we are to act in all things accord-
ing to the law of expediency."! The other exiles sympathized
in his objections, and fruitlessly endeavored to set the obnoxious
garments aside.J The popish attachments of the queen to cru-
cifixes and images, to silk hoods and surplices, even led Jewel to
contemplate the necessity of abandoning his bishopric.§ Never-
theless, after the publication of the queen^s injunctions (1559),
by which "some ornaments, such as the mass-priests formerly"
used, were presci-ibed, gTeat numbers of the clergy, who had
put them off, resumed them. They wore them, they said, for
the sake of obedience. " They are but few of us," writes Lever

» Doc. Annals, i. 287. Collier, vi. 400.

t Zurich Letters, i. 1,

i Strype, Annals I. i. 263.

§ Jewel to Martyr, Feb. 9, 1560. Zur. Lett. i. 68.

144 STRUGGLES AND TKIUMPHS

to his friend Bullinger, " who hold such garments in the same
abhorrence as the soldier, mentioned by Tertulhan, did the
crown."* Thus the ears and eyes of the multitude were fasci-
nated, and they could scarcely believe but that the popish doc-
trine was retained, or would shortly be restored.f

But the latitude hitherto enjoyed, by the connivance of the
prelates, was now to cease. The pubhcation of the advertise-
ments, the disciphnary laws above-mentioned, was immediately
followed by resolute efforts to enforce them. Deprivation was
the penalty of non-compliance. In the month of March (1564),
Sampson and Humphreys, with four London ministers, were
cited before the queen's commissioners. All the six declined
conformity ; they could not be prevailed upon, although sub-
mission was sanctioned by several of the foreign reformers, who
had gained their esteem and affection in the yeai*s of exile.
Every indulgence was denied them. Conformity or deprivation
was the alternative absolutely placed before them.J On the
24th of March, the same choice was proposed to the whole
metropolitan clergy. A conforming priest, clothed in the
obnoxious vestures, was placed before them. " My masters,"
said the bishop's chancellor, " the council's pleasure is, that ye
strictly keep unity of apparel, like to this man. In the church,
ye must wear a surplice ; the rubrics in the book of Common
Prayer, the queen's majesty's injunctions, and the articles, ye
must inviolably observe. Ye that will subscribe, write volo ;
ye that will not, write nolo. Be brief; no words." Efforts to
speak were abruptly stopped : " Peace, peace ; Apparitor, call
the churches." Thirty, out of one hundred and forty, preferred
immediate sequestration ; and with few exceptions, were deprived
at the end of three months allowed them for reflection. The

* Tertullianus de Corona, c. i.

t July 10, 15G0. Zur. Lett. i. 84.

t Soames's Elizabeth. Rel. History, pp. 45, 46.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 145

papists among them went abroad. The rest welcomed poverty,
rather than pollute their consciences with an unholy comphance.*
It would lead us beyond our purpose to detail the varying
aspects and events of this conflict. The matter in question
appeared trifling ; but it was pregnant with the most important
consequences. The whole question of church authority, and of
human intervention in divine things, was stirred ; and the
refusal to wear a surplice, a square cap, a gown of pecuhar
fashion, involving as it did the duty of obedience to the ruhng
power, could be justified only by an appeal to the paramount
law, that Christ atone is king in his church. The resulting
exclusion of the secular magistrate, either as legislator or admi-
nistrator, from the sacred fold, was not however perceived ; and
when set before the protestant mind by the baptists, was deemed
■\-isionary and impracticable ; nay, seditious and subvereive of all
authority whatsoever. Yet, here and there, in the examinations
and writings of the nonconformists, may be found glimpses of
the fundamental objection to these impositions ; they exalted the
supremacy of the scriptures, and confidently appealed to its
decisions, but threw open the flank of an otherwise impregnable
position, by one mistaken conclusion. They were fatally incon-
sistent in recognising any human authority, or royal supremacy,
in the church of Christ, while they objected to consequences
inevitably flowing from its exercise. The bible and the statute-
book cannot possess a co-ordinate jurisdiction ; one must reign
supreme. The puritans, therefore, erred in admitting a foreign
authority into the kingdom of the Most High — that of men.

The chief arguments employed against the habits were two.
1. That all things in the church ought to edify. 2. That the
queen had no right to impose anything besides scripture, or
contrary to it. The apparel in question had been abused to
idolatrous purposes ; it was offensive from its associations, and
therefore unedifying to the children of God. Neither could the

* Soames, pp. 47, 48.
1

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

scriptures of truth, nor the elder fathers, be brought to sanction
such a dress, for the ministry of the new dispensation. Christ
had purchased a hberty for his people which ought to be
maintained, and royal interference must be confined to the
enforcement of his instructions.* This latter admission of the
nonconformists breached their munition of rock.

And now the godly mourned. Schism began to rend the
church ; the fair prospect was overspread with clouds. In vain
they awaited the guidance of the Divine Spirit ; for the queen,
who held the helm, directed the bark " according to her
pleasure." Under her charge it was drifting fast towards the
sands of a shifting, worldly policy ; and ere long some would be
compelled to abandon a vessel whose pilot, neither truth nor
zeal, piety nor importunity, could persuade to tm*n the " sails to
another quarter."f

» Neal, i. 141—143, note.

t See Horn's Letter to Bullinger, August 8, 1571. Zurich Letters,
ii. 248.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 147

SECTION VII.

THE PURITANS.

Symptoms of furtlier movement soon began to appear ; and
many other matter to be called in question, besides caps and
copes. As scripture did not authorise their use, so were there
some other things not found \sTitten therein, but to which the
rulers of the church most pertinaciously adhered. Were
archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, rectors, vicars, curates,
commissaries, &c., necessary parts of the sacred edifice, whose
builder and maJcer is God ? From whom was derived the
royal title of supreme governor of the chm-ch of England ? Was
there not another Head, whose claim was infinitely more
legitimate, but disallowed by English parliaments and queen's
councils ? "WTio imparted the right of limiting the prayers of
the faithful to the book of Common Prayer ? Were there no
"absm-dities and silly superfluities" in it? Was it not
composed " after the model, and in the manner of the papists ?"
Whence came the commissaiy's power of excommunication, and
the absolution of the excommunicated in private, " without any
trouble, and for a sum of money?" Were episcopal com*ts,
courts of arches and audience, and courts of faculties, granting
Hcenses for non-residence, pluralities, dispensations, (fee, scriptu-
ral additions to the courts of the Lord's house ? Part-singing
in churches, organs, tolling bells at funerals, and on vigils of
saints, bowing at the name of Jesus, baptism at private houses
and by women, the sign of the cross, the sponsorial responses

148 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

of the infant, — were these, and other such things, becoming the
simphcity, and according to the precepts, of the gospel ? And
last, but not least, was it not an unheard-of assumption, that
" the queen's majesty, with the advice of the archbishop of
Canterbury, may order, change, and remove anything in the
church at her pleasure ?"'^

Yet these truly unscriptural laws and institutions were
rigorously enforced, and the queen's known determination
destroyed the hope of any relaxation. The hardships and
deprivations of many godly uncompliant men, induced many,
in the year 1566, to separate from the estabhshed worship.
Despite the meanness of their condition, and the perils that
surrounded them, they " stood to the truth of God's word ;" and
sometimes in private houses, sometimes in the fields, and
occasionally even in ships, they held their meetings and
administered the sacraments. They also ordained them minis-
ters and deacons, and exercised discipline upon such as- walked
not according to godliness, f In this separation, they had not
the sympathy of all who agreed with them as to the objection-
able nature of the established worship. Many still clung to the
vain hope of a purer ritual. They thought the evils of separa-
tion greater than submission to episcopal and royal commands.
The church's standards of doctrine were pure, from her pulpits
many proclaimed the way of salvation, and the points of
agreement were more than those of difference. Thus did such
men as Fox, Sampson, and Humphreys argue, and cleave to a
community, which had been sanctified in their affections by the
blood of many saints.J

The separatists, however, became more bold. In the follow-
ing year they ventured to assemble at Plumber's Hall, in

* The Church of England as described by Perceval Wilburn. Zurich
Letters, ii. 358.

t Grindal to Bullinger, June 11, 1568. Zur. Lett. i. 201.
i Price, i. 198.

OF RELTGIOrS LIBERTY. 149

London. Being discovered, the slieritTs broke up tlieir meeting
and took tlie greater part into custody. The day after, they
were brought before bishop Grindal, who charged them with
their separation as a crime, and that thereby they condemned
the well-refonned church of England, for which martyi-s had
shed their blood. Why had they separated ? Were not the
ceremonies indifferent, and imder the prince's power to command
for the sake of order ? " So long," said John Smith, one of the
company, " as we might have the word freely preached, and the
sacraments administered mthout the use of idolatrous gear, we
never assembled in private houses. But when all our preachers
who could not subscribe to your apparel and your laws, were
displaced, so that we could not hear any of them in the church
for the space of seven or eight weeks, excepting father Cover-
dale, who at leng-th durst not make known to us where he
preached ; and then we were troubled in your com*ts fi'om day
to day, for not coming to om* parish churches ; we considered
among ourselves what we should do." Being thus driven from
the Anghcan pale, they formed a congregation after the example
of one in Queen Mary's days, using in their worship a book
formerly approved by Calvin. Their further objections embraced
the hierarchy of the church. They asserted that the kingly
authority of Jesus Christ was sacrificed to popish canons and
the prince's will. By that " prince's will, they too were
saciificed " to the phantom of uniformity : they were cast into
piison. It was the beginning of sorrows. Severities multiphed.
The prisons of London were soon filled with a numerous band
of men, to whom a good conscience was of more value than the
wealth and preferments of the state church. *

An able and learned expositor of the advancing sentiments
of the nonconformists, now appeared in the person of Mr.
Thomas Cartwi'ight. He availed himself of his pubHc position
as di\inity lecturer at Cambridge, to proclaim the necessity of

* Parte of a Register, 23—37. Grindal's Remains, p. 369.

150 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

further reformation, and of a return to the practice of apostolic
men. He asserted that a divine model of church polity was
prepared in scripture, to which every ecclesiastical arrangement
should conform. The titles and offices of archbishops and
archdeacons were not there ; they must be suppressed. The
names of bishops, too, must be rejected, since the office no
longer resembled the apostolic institute. Character and ability
to exercise the functions of a teacher and pastor, must be
peremptorily required of all who aspired to be ministers of the
church. In many other particulars the Anglican forms needed
amendment, and ought to be reduced to the primitive pattern :
then only could the church of England be regarded as a church
of Christ.'* These were dangerous doctrines, subversive of the
very being of the estabhshment. Their defender was suspended
from his office, expelled the university, and for a time compelled
to reside abroad.

Meanwhile the sufferings of the non-compliant ministers
increased ; they were every where harassed by examinations,
suspensions, deprivations, and imprisonments. Subscription
was strictly insisted on. The house of commons was haughtily
commanded not to interfere with the queen's prerogative in
ecclesiastical affairs ; and the aged but energetic proposer of
further reformation, was forbidden to enter the house during her
pleasure. " The world," it was said, " cannot bear two suns,
much less can the kingdom endure two queens, or two
rehgions.f

These rigorous proceedings were not, and could not be
regarded as arising from a jealous watchfulness over the interests
of Christ's kingdom. "How the most part of the bishops,"
writes one of the deprived ministers, " by wealth, honors, and
dignity, are blinded, the present storms and tempests, where-

* Collier, vi. 485. Neal, i. 173.

t Neal, i. 185. Soames, p. 147. Pilkington to Bullinger, July 15,
1570. Zur. Lett. i. 222.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 161

with God's people are tossed, do sufficiently declare." Tliey
could not be sincerely anxious to cast out " the rags and dregs"
of popery, while they stretched to the uttermost their authority
to keep them ; for they who would not use them, were forbidden
to preach, deprived, and imprisoned. Thousands of unworthy
men were permitted to exercise their ministry, and to enjoy
hvings ; while fit and competent men were thrust out, because
unwilling to wear the pope's livery. Immorality, the saying of
mass for many years, gaming, and drunkenness, were no bar to
promotion, if only such persons would obey the episcopal
injunctions. Disobedience to the unscriptural regulations of the
prince, was visited with the severest penalties by these pretended
shepherds, but no notice taken of disobedience to God.*

At length, in 15'72, the controversy assumed a form more
menacing to the stabihty of the chm'ch than it had yet done.
Though of much influence in the house of commons, the puritan
party failed to obtain any relief. Or, as the spirited Wentworth
afterwards said, " God would not vouchsafe that his Holy Spirit
should all that session descend upon our bishops, so that in that
session nothing was done to the advancement of his glory."f
Immediately after the prorogation, the famous Admonition to
Parliament appeared. The effect of it was great and immediate,
and threw consternation into the intrenchments of the church.
Such bold language had not been heard before ; the mitre was
challenged to a fall. It commences with a reference to the cita-
tions and deprivations of " many ministers of God's holy word
and sacraments," by her majesty's high commissioners, and
prays the interference of the house. It then details with much
energy and shai-pness, it may be said irritation, the many griev-
ances under which those desirous of reformation suffered. The
prayer-book, they said, was picked and culled out of that popish
dunghill, the portuise and mass-book ; the homilies were too

* A Comfortable Epistle, &c. Parte of a Register, pp. 2 — 9.
t Speech in 1575. Parliamentary History, iv. 195.

162 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

homely to be set in tlie place of scripture ; the title of priests
was a denial of Christ's having come, or a memorial of the
popish priesthood ; the rites employed in infant baptism were
childish and superstitious toys ; confirmation was popish and
peevish ; the churching of women smelt of Jewish pm-ifications ;
the psalms were tossed like tennis balls, so confused was their
order ; divine service was often profanely hurried, that the
minister might go to his second church, and the people to their
games, dancing, bull-baiting, and above all, to the interludes ;
the whole hierarchy, from the archbishop of Canterbury to the
meanest sexton, was opposed to the word of God-; a true
ministry and regiment of the church were entirely wanting. To
the articles, however, they were wilhng to subscribe. They con-
clude with a prayer, " that the reign of antichrist may be turned
out headlong from amongst us, and Christ our Lord may reign
over us by his word."*

The authors of this bold appeal to the nation's represent-
atives, and of these sweeping accusations against the church,
were Mr. John Field and Mr. Thomas Willcocks, two puritan
clergymen of celebrity. Both were immediately imjDrisoned in
Newgate. The archbishop's intolerance had, at length, led men
to question the authority that oppressed them, and a rival polity
now stood forth to claim the affections, and to an-est the judg-
ment of the godly. Henceforth the conflict was not for mere
concessions, nor for the removal of offensive apparel from the
services of the church ; the very existence of the hierarchy was
threatened, and a new aspirant to dominion over conscience
appeared, when presbytery stood forth in array before the
entrenched hosts of established episcopacy.

Mr. Cai'twright returned about this time from exile, and sup-
ported the first by a Second Admonition. In this he lays down
the new " platform " of church disciphne, taking the Genevan

* An Admonition to Parliament, 12mo. It has neither name, place,
nor date.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 153

presb}i;erial goYernment for Ms model. He endeavoi's to
strengthen his positions by an appeal to scripture, on \^'hich all
chui-ch pohty as ^ell as doctrine depends. But to give his
system stability, he enunciates the following important senti-
ment. " The ci^^l magistrate, the nui-se and foster-father of the
church, shall do well to provide some sharp punishment for
those that contemn this censure and disciphne of the church,
for no doubt it is in the degree of blasphemy, of a heathen, our
Sa^iour says, that renounceth God and Christ."* Near the
close, in an appeal to the queen, he further urges the point.
" We beseech her majesty to have the hearing of this matter
of God's, and to take the defence of it upon her ; and to fortify
it by law, that it may be received by common order throughout
her dominions. For though the orders be, and ought to be,
drawn out of the book of God, yet it is her majesty, that by her
princely authority, should see eveiy of these things put in
practice, and punish those that neglect them, making laws
therefore ; for the church may keep these orders, but never in
peace, except the comfortable and blessed assistance of the states
and governors hnk in to see them accepted in their coimtries
and used."f Such was the foundation laid by tliis gTeat puritan
di^^ne, and we look in vain through his writmgs to find any
higher views of human freedom in the church of God.

This pubhcation of Mr. CartwTight, was followed in a few
weeks by Dr. Whitgift's Answer to the first Admonition ; at

* A Second Admonition, &c.,p. 49.

t Ibid. p. 60. " But," saith archbishop Sandys, " our skilful house-
holder, our wise governor, hath planted in this our vineyard neither
thorns nor thistles, but the true vine — Christ. This vine hath been
diligently watered with the dew of God's truth sincerely preached, —
with his sacraments reverently administered, according to his will ; it
hath been under-propped with the continuance of authority, and defence
of zealous Christian magistrates. . ... No flock better fed ; no people
more instructed ; no vineyard in the world more beautiful or goodly to
behold." — Sermons, p. 59. Parker Society edition.

154 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

the close of whicli he briefly refers to the second. In his
introduction, Whitgift endeavors, at some length, to fix on
the monitors the charge of Anabaptistry ; in that they con-
sidered not the authority due to the magistrate in ecclesiastical
matters, nor the inapplicability of scripture rules to the varying
circumstances of time and place.* Cartwright, in his reply,
pubHshed in the following year, disclaimed this identity. He
fully admitted the magistrate's authority, and acknowledged its
lawfulness ; but maintained that it was limited in its exercise by
the scriptures. Truth might andr ought to be established and
held by the ci\T.l power ; but not a hierarchy and a discipline
having no foundation therein. Two other large volumes
followed these, one on either side ; but it were too long to enter
upon the numerous subjects of discussion embraced by them.
It will suffice, if we mark the agreement or difference of opinion
of the disputants, on one or two of the main features of the
strife.

The controversy turned upon two important points — church
polity and church authority ; or the sufficiency of scripture as a
rule for ecclesiastical discipline, and the nature and extent of
the magistrates' authority in or over the church. On the first
topic they were at irreconcilable variance. Whitgift would
grant scripture to be the only rule for doctrine, but for the rest,
the church hath power to decree rites and ceremonies. On
the general question, the arguments of Cartwright were
conclusive and triumphant ; but he had to encounter gi'eat
difficulties in estabhshing his synodal and consistorial disciphne,
as the order of the New Testament. With his opponent, the
learned puritan was compelled to resort to patristical authority,
for proofs of some of his positions ; and not a little ingenuity
does he display in order to evade the force of the intractable
passages quoted against him. If the testimony of the fathei-s
had sufficed to prove episcopacy to be the divine polity of the

*An Answere to a certen Libel, &c. p. i. 4to. 1572.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 155

church, then did Whitgift gain the advantage ; on scriptural
grounds he was overthrown by the learned puritan. The
episcopahan could, however, solace himself with the discomfituro
which the presbytery, the holy discipline of his antagonist, met
with at his hands.

On the second topic, the authority of the prince, Whitgift
justified the appellation of head of the church, given to the
reigning sovereign ; and boldly asserted, not only that it was
his duty to enforce obedience to the doctrines and commands
of God's word, but to arrange, and even invent, new ceremonies
in the church, for order and decency.* Cartwright admitted
the duty of the magistrate to enforce doctrine, but rejected the
title of head, as clashing with the only headship of Christ ; and
Umited his authority to the imposition of that polity which was
revealed in scripture. Christ, he said, was the only King and
Head in his church, and had committed to pastors and
teachers, the exercise of disciphne according to his word ; it was
spiritual in its origin and object, and must be administered by
spiritual men, lawfully called and ordained thereto. But it was
incumbent on the magistrate to establish, within his jurisdiction,
this true and godly disciphne, and to aid, with his ci^'il power,
the presbytery in enforcing it. Whitgift was not slow to
perceive, that this was a return to the papal doctrine of the
church's independence of the state : while at the same time it
made the civil power subservient to it. " It bringeth in a new
popedom and tyranny into the church," said he.

But Cartwright's views of the power of the magistrate did
not stop here. He asserted, that the judicial laws of Moses,

* Thirty years later it was asserted, in a book dedicated to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, " Our church hath this day power to have instituted
the baptism of infants, although it had not been used in former ages.
And consequently, that it hath power, a fortiori, to set down orders and
laws for the apparel of ministers," &c. ! — The Regiment of the Church,
as it is agreeable with Scriptures, 6lc. By Thomas Bell, London, 1606.
4to. p. 184.

156 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

whicli were "merely politic and mthoiit all mixture of cere

monies, must i-emain ; forasmuch as there is in those

laws a constant and everlasting equity ;" therefore, in making
political laws, Christian magistrates ought to propound those
laws unto themselves, and in the hght of their equity, frame
them.* Hence he concluded that contemners of the word
ought to be put to death ; since, " he that despiseth the word
of God, despiseth God himself." For, " if it be meet to main-
tain the life of man, by the punishment of death, how should
the honor of God, which is more precious than all men's lives,
be with smaller punishment estabhshed." And he goes on to
assert, that the immoralities, perjuries, and murders, which
abounded in the land, owed their prevalence to the " want of
sharp and severe punishment, especially against idolaters,
blasphemers, contemners of true religion, and of the service of
God."t

The disputants were agreed upon two principles which were
fundamental in the controversy ; their differences arose in the
application of them. Both believed, 1. That the church should
be a national church, and not a mere congregation of believers ;
2. That a divine obligation lay upon the magistrate to main-
tain, vi et arinis, the true religion — that is, Christianity. They
divided on the question, which of the two competing theories,
episcopacy or presbytery, ought to be the favored polity. The
puritan would have the point determined by scripture only, the
episcopalian by scripture and the fathers. It was a mere
question of polity ; in doctrinal sentiment they were agreed.

* Second Replie, p. 97, edit. 1575.

t Ibid. pp. 68, 117. Hallam remarks, after quoting a somewhat
similar passage to the above, " It is difficult to believe that I am
transcribing the words of a protestant writer ; so much does this passage
call to mind those tones of infatuated arrogance which had been heard
from the lips of Gregory VII., and of those who trod in his footsteps."
—Const. Hist. i. 254. See also Short, p. 182.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 157

The thirty-nine articles were to each party the law of belief,
and were willingly subscribed by both. Whether, therefore,
the prince became the head of the church, or merely the
executor of its decrees, the result must be the same — oppres-
sion of conscience, and the persecution of the dissentient. And
at this distance of time, looking at the state of the nation, sunk
in ignorance and vice, and at the historical results of the one
polity, and the probable effects of the other, apart from any
scriptural authority that either might show, we are inclined to
think, that the episcopal, under all circumstances, was the
preferable pohty of the two. The sterner features of the
presbyterian discipline, its provisions for a close and systematic
inquiry into the social life of the communit}^, and that inquisi-
tion brought to bear upon an ill-instructed and immoral people,
w^ould have led to more suffering, and wider-spread persecution,
than that which befell the earnest, and generally pious,
upholders of the "holy discipline." Even while themselves
endm-ing the many hardships entailed by a conscientious
adherence to their views, they often urged most strenuously
upon the ruling powers, the proscription, expatriation, and
punishment of the cathohcs. " It was good policy," said one,
" to root out the sprigs of popery." All history showed how
necessary it was, " when thou hast subdued thy capital enemy,
or banished him, to root out all his friends."^ The example
of Cahdn and Servetus would doubtless have had its counter-
part under a presbyterian rule.

The boldness and extent of the change advocated in the
Admonitions, and in Cartwright's rephes, awakened the fears
ynd the anger of the queen and hierarchy. In the month of
Tune (1573), a condemnatory proclamation was published. All
who possessed copies of these books were ordered to bring them
in for destruction. Before the close of the year, another mani-

* An Humble Motion to the Lords of the Council, p. 54, ed. 1599.

168 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

festo was issued, denouncing these despisers of the order settled
in the church, and of the common prayer ; " wherein is nothing
contained but the scripture of God, and that which is consonant
unto it." The bishops were directed to enforce yet more strictly
the Act of Uniformity. But although these writings were in
wide circulation, thirty-four copies only, which lay in the hands
of a bookseller, w^ere brought in.*

It is unnecessary to trace the progress of events to the period
of the queen's death. One uniform course of repression and
punishment of the puritans was adopted. Many hundreds of
pious and holy men were excluded from the ministry, deprived
of their property, and often of life, through long and painful
imprisonments. With growing severities the bitterness of both
parties increased, and innumerable violent publications added
fuel to the flame. The Marprelate tracts stood prominently
forth, as incentives to greater rigor, and were doubtless injurious
to the cause they w^ere intended to serve. A new feature was
introduced into the controversy, when, for the first time, it was
asserted by Bancroft, in a sermon at St. Paul's cross, in 1589,
that episcopacy was a divine ordinance ; that the bishops had
a supremacy over the clergy by divine right, " and were
empowered, by virtue of their commission from heaven, to
superintend and regulate their proceedings."! This new
element of strife was vigorously assailed ; but no refutation of
such extravagant claims, removed, in the least, the oppressive
burdens under which the consciences of the puritans groaned.
The reign of Ehzabeth closed, without any advance in the refor-
mation so earnestly desired, so boldly attempted, and so
courageously maintained.

* Doc. Annals, i. 384. Neal, i, 195.
t Price, i. 376.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 159

SECTION YIII.

THE BROWNISTS.

More correct ^^ews of tlie nature of the cliurcli of Christ,
were slowly ^viiming their way through the contentions of the
two great parties dividing the nation, and struggling for mas-
tery. It is not known whence Robert Browne acquired those
opinions, which, about the year 1580, he began to propagate in
the counties of N'orfolk and Suffolk. He had, some yeara
before, made himself obnoxious by his bold invectives against
the established order, and, with several other puritans, was
cited, in 1571, before archbishop Whitgift. His high connexions
for a time protected him. But he now began to preach and
disseminate opinions, which were alike destructive of episcopacy
and presbytery, and of a national church under either form.

He said, that " The church planted and gathered, is a com-
pany, or number, of Christians and believers, which by a willing
covenant made with their God, are. under the government of

God and Christ, and keep his laws in one holy communion

The kingdom of Christ is his oifice of govei-nment, whereby he
useth the obedience of his people to keep his laws and com-
mandments, to their salvation and welfare The kingdom

of antichrist is his government confirmed by the civil mag-istrate,
whereby he abuseth the obedience of the people to keep his e\il
laws and customs, to their own damnation Civil magis-
trates, are persons authorized of God, and received by the
consent or choice of the people, whether officers or subjects, or

160 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

by birth and succession also, to make and execute laws by
public agreement; to rule the commonwealth in all outward
justice ; and to maintain the right, welfare, and honor thereof,
with outward power, bodily punishments, and civil forcing of
men.'"^

Thus Browne would have the church composed of true
Christians only, excluding therefrom all human law. He
inveighed strongly against the puritans for their pusillanimity
and sin, in awaiting a reformation by the magistrate. It was
a duty that they owed to God, to separate from the antichristian
community to which they clung, and to set up at once the
building and kingdom of the Lord. Such sentiments soon
brought upon him prelatical wrath, and he was compelled to fly.
At Middleburg, in Zealand, he, with many of his adherents,
found a refuge. Differences of opinion soon arose among them,
and the greater part united with the baptists, who, under the
protection of the Prince of Orange, there formed a flourishing
community-!

While at Middleburg, Browne printed a work of some impor-
tance, and which was very widely circulated in his native land.
Some extracts have been already given. Other portions of it
were especially directed against the wickedness of certain
preachers, who would not amend, " until the magistrate reform
and compel them." He thus remarks on the magistrate's
authority : " For the magistrate, how far by their authority, or
without it, the church must be builded and refoi*mation made,
and whether any open wickedness must be tolerated in the church
because of them, let this be our answer — for chiefly on this point
they have wrought us great trouble, and dismayed many weak-
lings fi-om embracing the truth ; — we say, therefore, and often
have taught, concerning our sovereign, queen Elizabeth, that

* Hanbury's Hist. Memorials of Independents, i, 18, 21.
t Hoornbeck, J. Summa Controvers. p. 739, ed. 1676. Brandt's Hist.
ofRef. i. .343,443.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 161

neither the pope, nor other popehng, is to have any authority over
her, or over the church of God, and that the church of Rome
is antichrist, whose kingdom ought utterly to be taken away.
Again, we say, that her authority is cinl, and that powder she
hath as highest under God within her dominions, and that over
all pei-sons and causes. By that, she may put to death all that
deserve it by law, either of the church or commonwealth, and
none may resist her, or the magistrate under her, by force or
wicked speeches, when they execute the law."

IS'ot untruly does he represent the puritans, as depending
more upon secular power, than upon the spiritual weapons of
the word of God. " You will be dehvered from the yoke of
antichrist, by bow, and by sword, and by battle, by horse and
horsemen, that is, by ci^al power and pomp of magistrates ; by
their proclamations and parliaments ; and the kingdom of God
must come with observation, that men may say, ' Lo ! the
parHament ;' or, ' lo ! the bishop's decrees;' but the kingdom

of God should be within you Ye set aloft man's authority

above God's, and the preacher must hang on his sleeve for the
discharge of his calhng." Browne regarded the church, and its
edification, as of more importance than earthly kingdoms ; and
by these enhghtened sentiments did much to overthrow the
prevalent notions of magisterial duty, and to purify the church
from pohtical intrusion.

Yet Browne was not wholly free from error on this point.
There were some cases, in which he considered secular inter-
ference to be both necessary and scriptural. Thus he speaks,
" Neither dm-st Moses, nor any of the good kings of Judah, force
the people, by law or by power, to receive the church govern-
ment ; but after they received it, if then they fell away, and
sought not the Lord, they might put them to death." Again
he says, " If the magistrate be of their flocks, why should they
taiTy for them ? Unless they will have the sheep force the
shepherd unto his duty. Indeed the magistrate may force him^

162 8TRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

but it is his shame to tarry till he he forced^ Yet elsewhere
he asserts, that to compel to religion, to plant churches by
power, and to force a submission to ecclesiastical government,
by laws and penalties, belong not to the magistrate, neither yet
to the church. " For it is the conscience, and not the power
of man, that will drive us to seek the Lord's kingdom."*

While, then, he claimed for the church a perfect independence
of the civil power, he yet allowed the magistrate a coercive
authority in cases of acknowledged duty. In this opinion hi? ,
successors followed him, as wall presently appear. It may be
doubted, whether Browne was ever sincere in his separation
from the church, since, on his return to his native country, he
renounced what he had taught, conformed, and enjoyed for
many years a living in Northamptonshire. His moral obliqui-
ties finally brought him to a gaol, where he died. Several of
his followers, who were very active in dispersing his books,
were imprisoned, and two of them were put to death, f

Between the years 1580 and 1593, the Brownists multiplied
greatly ; so much so, that Sir Walter Raleigh stated in the
House of Commons, perhaps somewhat at random, that there
were not less than twenty thousand of them. They were
divided into several congregations in Norfolk, Essex, and London.
Mr. Henry Barrow and Mr. John Greenwood were at this time
two of theii' most eminent ministers. In 1586, they were
summoned before archbishop Whitgift. For a time released on
bond, they continued their zealous labors, and were again

* The treatise is not paged. Its full title is, "A Booke which sheweth
the life and manners of all true Christians, and howe unlike they are to
Turkes, and Papistes, and Heathen folke, &c. Also there goeth a treatise
before of Reformation without tarrying for anie, and of the wickednesse
of those Preachers which will not reforme themselves, and their charge,
because they will tarrie till the Magistrate commaunde and compell
them. By me Robert Browne. Middleburgh, 1582."

t Neal, i. 248.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 168

committed to the Fleet in 1588. After suffering mucli injustice
and cruelty, during five years confinement in gaol, they were
executed at Tyburn, in the year 1593. About six weeks after,
Mr. John Penry, for the same crime, forfeited his life upon the
scaffold.* The fidehty and loyalty to the queen of these
sufferers for conscience' cause are beyond all question ; their
ignominious deaths were a sacrifice to the unholy zeal of
prelates, whom worldly pohcy and power had bhnded to the
true nature of the kingdom of Christ. The bishops cemented
the stones of then- building with the blood of better men.

Their fellow-sufferers were for a long time vexed, and
grievously afflicted, by every species of persecution. After
enduring long impiisonments, with gi'eat fortitude, they were
banished to other lands, and under the pastoral care of Mr.
Francis Johnson and Mr. Henry Ainsworth, a church of these
exiles was formed, and continued to exist for many yeai*s, at
Amsterdam, in Holland. They were far in advance of their
contemporaries, and were called to endure obloquy, hatred, and
death — the common lot of those benefactors of the human race,
who have been the fii*st to utter truths of eternal value. It
would seem, as if by some immutable law in the moral
government of the universe, such men must not only lay the basis
of a new era of human progress, but expiate with their blood
the crimes and misdeeds of the e\dl principles they destroy.

The Brownists, or Barrowists, as they were likewise called,
regarded the church of England in the same light as the
puritans, from whom they sprmig. Separation was the
legitimate conclusion of their teaching : but fi-om it they timidly
shrunk. Both puritan and Brownist held, that the church of
England had been constituted, for the most part, of papists, who
had revolted from their profession in king Edward's days, and
after another change, shed much blood of many Christian
martyi-s in queen Mary's. " This people, yet standing in this
* Neal, i. 347. Hanbury, i. 34.

164 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

fearful sinful estate, in idolatry, blindness, superstition, and all
manner of wickedness, without any professed repentance, were,
by force and authority of law only, compelled and together
received into the bosom and body of the church." None were
excluded, were they never so profane ; atheists, adulterers,
thieves, &c., were of one fellowship, one body, one church.
The same popish prelacy and clergy were set over them,
persecuting " to death all that dare but once mutter against
their unlawful proceedings." Parsons, priests, vicars, curates,
were sworn to canonical obedience, to read the service book and
bishops' decrees. In a word, the whole clergy were in servitude
to the lordly prelates. Now the statute-book of the kingdom
of God commanded none, and condemned much, of these things.
But the puritan ministers, the Brownists went on to say, were
weary with the troubles that came upon them. They gave
place to prelatic tyranny, and were content to conform. " Keep-
ing now silence, yea, going back, bearing and bolstering the
things which heretofore by word and wiiting they stood against,
so long as there was any hope that the queen and council would
have hearkened unto them, and put these adversary prelates out
of the church." But it was incumbent upon the true child of
God to separate from a church set up after the pattern and
mould of the apostasy of Eome, and his duty, without longer
delay, to walk in all the ordinances and commandments of the
Lord. *

As true Christian men, the Brownists therefore separated
from communion with the church of England, pushing yet
further their views of the church of Christ. Their ideas of the
spiritual and eclectic character of the kingdom of God, placed
them in opposition to both episcopahans and puritans. " The
true planted and rightly established church of Christ, is a
company of faithful people, separated from the unbelievers and

* Preface to Confession of Faith printed in 1596. H. Ainsworth's
Defence of Brownists, pp. 8 — 12. edition 1604.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 165

heathens of the land : gathered in the name of Christ, whom
they truly woi-ship, and readily obey; — joined together as
membere of one body ; ordered and governed by such officers
and laws, as Christ in his last will and testament, hath there-
unto ordained." On the contrary, the parish assembhes trans-
gressed this rule in every point, and were governed by the laws
and ordinances of such officers as the pope left, " standing in
bondage to the Komish courts and canons, ha^dng no power to
execute the Lord's judgments, or to redress the least sin or
trangression amongst themselves.'"^ Of this separated commu-
nity, Barrow further wi'ites, " There may be none admitted into
the church of Chi'ist, but such as enter by a pubhc profession
of true faith ; none remain there, but such as bring forth the
fruits of faith."f It was one amongst the many forged excuses
of the prelates, "that where a Christian prince is, which
maintaineth the gospel, and the whole land, not resisting this
commandment, reverenceth the word and sacraments, there the
whole multitude of such a land, or state, are without doubt to
be esteemed and judged a true church."J This, in Barrow's
estimation, was a sacrilegious profanation of the things of God —
a poisoning of all Chiistian communion and fellowship.

Did the Brownists then deny the power of the magistrate ?
Were they one in opinion with the anabaptists ? Nay. " The
prince," says Barrow, " is to govern, oversee, and provide the
commonwealth, administering and dispensing, gatheiing and
dispersing, the creatures and the wealth thereof, as a father and
a steward : yet still with this interim, as the steward and
servant of God, according to their Master's will, as they that
shall account." " Life and goods were at his command, only in
di^-ine things must he not command nor be obeyed ; even the
command to fast in Lent was unjust, contrary to the bountiful

* Conferences of Barrowe and Greenwood, p. 67. edit. 1590.
t A Brief Discovery of the False Church, p. 8. edit. 1590.
X Ibid. p. 13.

166 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

liberality of God, and to his honor and praise. It were, more-
over, contrary to the liberty and freedom God hath given ns in

Christ Pohcy must take, and not give, laws to religion."*

The advance was great on the politico-religious theories which
had gone before. One principle, far-reaching in its results, and
lying at the foundation of every question concerning the relations
of the church to the state, was clearly enunciated and main-
tained— that the church, the true community of behevers, is
solely dependent on the laws of the one Lawgiver, Christ Jesus.
Complete in itself, the church is able to execute all the functions
for which it is formed. But here the Brownists stopped. These
despised but honored men, were not able to advance the final
step, and demand that perfect freedom of conscience, which is
the corollary to the proposition they demonstrated. Thus Mr.
Greenwood, in the conference with Cooper, says, " The magis-
trate ought to compel the infidels to hear the doctrine of the
church, and also with the approbation of the church, to send
forth meet men, with gifts and gi'aces, to instruct the infidels."f
Mr. Barrow gives the magistrate a yet greater power : " The
prince hath the book of God committed unto him, with charge

to see it duly executed, by every one in his calling That

the prince also is charged, and of duty ought, to see the minis-
ters of the church do their duty, and teach the law of God
dihgently and sincerely, we read, Deut. xvii. 1 Chron. xxviii.
2 Chron. xxix. and xxx. and xxxv. This did Jehoshaphat, and
no other thing."J; But he marks the limit of the prince's power,
and the distinction between his sentiments and those of his
opponents, in the following manner : " It will not sufiice to con-
fess, that God hath made the civil magistrate the keeper of the
book of the law, to see both the tables thereof observed by all
persons, both in the church and commonwealth ; and so hath

* Barrow's Brief Discovery, &c., pp. 91, 92.

t Conferences, p. 59.

t Brief Discovery, &c. pp. 253, 257.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 167

pouer over both churcli and commonwealth : but they must
have this indefinite proposition gTanted them, ' That a prince
hath power to make laws for the church.' .... A godly prince
is bound to God's law ; made the keeper thereof, not the con-
ti'oller ; the servant, not the Lord. God hath in that book
made most perfect and necessary laws, both for church and
commonwealth ; he requireth of the king and magistrate to see
these laws executed, and not to make new." By new laws is
to be undei-stood "traditions, ordinances, customs, (fee, which
are not prescribed in Christ's testament."*

The following passage, penned by Mr. Francis Johnson, will
show how the Brownists attempted to reconcile these views with
the contradictory sentiment, that God only can persuade the
conscience : — " We condemn not," he says, " reformation com-
manded and compelled by the magistrate, but do unfeignedly
desire that God would put into the heart of her majesty, and
all other princes within their dominions, to command and com-
pel a reformation, according to the word of the Lord ; as it is
expressly noted that Hezekiah, and other good kings of Judah

did Where, note -vvithal, that it is the work of God only,

to add to his church such as he will save. And, therefore, that
it is not in the power of princes, or any man whatsoever, to
pei"suade the conscience, and make membei-s of the church, but
this must be left to God alone, who only can do it. Acts ii. 47.
Princes may and ought, within their dominions, to abohsh all
false worship, and all false ministries whatsoever ; and to esta-
bhsh the true worship and ministry appointed by God in his
word ; commanding and compeUing their subjects to come unto,
and practise no other but this. Yet they must leave it unto
God to persuade the conscience, and to add to his chm-ch from
time to time such as shall be saved. "f

It is obvious, that this is persecution, under the garb of

* Brief Discovery, &c. pp. 218, 219.

t An Answer to Maister H. Jacob, &.C., pp. 198, 199, ed. 1600.

168 STRUGGLES AMD I'RlUMJt'HS

honoring and doing service to God ; and tliat while the
Brownists held truly, that the church ought to be free fr'om
secular legislation, and that the conscience was God's seat, they
most inconsistently dehvered to the magistrate a rule of action,
which must interfere with the one, and trample upon the con-
victions of the other.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 169

SECTIOiN IX.

THE BAPTISTS.

It has been already seen, that the claim, for the church and
for the conscience, of freedom from all human control, was a
distinguishing and characteristic trait of the baptists in former
reigns. The di%4ne saying, " Faith is the gift of God,"
moved, animated, strengthened them. Its practical assertion
brought them into collision with every form of human invention
in the worship of God. Faith, God's gift, must not be subjected
to man's de\ice, nor enchained by the legislative enactments of
parhaments or kings. To worship God aright, the highest
function of humanity, the sphit must be free ; true worship can
come only h'om a willing heart. For this the baptists bore
cheeifully, cruel mochings, and scourgings ; yea, moreover, bonds
and imprisonments, and death. The reign of Elizabeth saw no
change in their faith, no amehoration of their sorrows. ISTo
brighter day dawned for them : the " bright Occidental Star,"*
whose rising exiles and Marian death-expecting prisoners hailed,
was to them a scorching, meteoric flame.

In the view of the gTeat polemic of that age, Richard Hooker,
it was " a loose and licentious opinion, which the anabaptists "
had embraced. They held that " a Christian man's hberty is
lost, and the soul which Christ hath redeemed unto himself,
injuriously drawn into servitude under the yoke of human
power, if any law be now imposed besides the gospel of Christ,

* Translators' Dedication of the Authorized Version of the Bible.
8

170 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

in obedience whereunto tlie Spirit of God, and not the constraint
of men, is to lead ns ; according to tliat of the blessed apostle,
Such as are led hy the Spirit of God^ they are the sons of God,
and not such as live in thraldom ■ to men. Their judgment is,
therefore, that the church of Christ should admit of no law-
makers but the evangelists, no courts but presbyteries, no
punishments but ecclesiastical censures."* His witness is true.
Grand as were the conceptions of the " judicious Hooker," this
idea of the Christian man's liberty exceeded them. The " door
was too low, or he too stout to enter ;'' for not unfrequently, in
the divine purposes of the Father, has it come to pass, " that
poor shepherds which are accustomed to stables, have been
found meet to have Christ revealed unto them." The vjise and
the prudent oftener find Herod's hall a " more meet place," than
" Christ's stable."f He has, nevertheless, echoed, in his own
beautiful way, the language of some "poor shepherd," who in
his lowliness found and prized the truth, to whom the babe of
Bethlehem was more attractive than the pomp and ghtter of
courts.

Early in the reign of Elizabeth, did the baptists utter their
protest, against the abhorrent spirit of persecution displayed
by the reformers. Their words are embalmed for us in the
pages of a bitter foe. The ireful spirit of the Scotch reformer
had been chafed by their opinions on predestination ; so that in
the year 1560, he poured forth upon them an objurgatory
stream of indignant reproach. It was, " An AnsAver to a great
number of blasphemous cavillations written by an Anabaptist,
and Adversarie of God's eternal Predestination ; and confuted
by John Knox."| With much fairness he has given, in
separate paragraphs, the whole of the obnoxious production,

* Hooker', Eccles. Pol. book viii. sect. 9. vol. hi. 328. Hanbury's
edit. Keble considers this to be a part of a Sermon on Civil Obedience,
t So the baptist to John Knox, in a work to be presently cited,
t The edition before us is the third, of 1591.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. l7l

appending to each its confutation. The immediate subject of
the controversy must be passed over, not without some wonder
at the large vocabulary of invective employed by the vigorous
reformer. The passages following attract our attention ; and,
because the rulers and polemics of that day, proscribed, de-
molished, and misrepresented most dihgently, the writings and
opinions of this abhorred sect, so as to leave but rare specimens
of their productions, it must be allowed the baptist on this
occasion to speak for himself, although at some length ; it is a
voice from the deep darkness of oblivion. He addresses such
men as Calnn and Beza, and Knox, the chiefest in this land of
Calvin's disciples : —

" Your chief ApoUos be persecutors, on whom the blood of
Servetus crieth a vengeance, so doth the blood of others more
whom I could name. But forasmuch as God hath partly
already revenged their blood, and served some of their pei-se-
cutore with the same measure wherewith they measured to
others, I will make no mention of them at this time. And to
declare then* wickedness not to have proceeded of ignorance and
human infirmity, but of indured malice, they have for a
perpetual memory of their cruelty, set forth books, affirming it
to be lawful to persecute and put to death such as dissent fi-om
others in controversies of religion, whom they call blasphemers
of God. Notwithstanding, afore they came to authority, they
were of another judgment, and did both say and write, that no
man ought to be persecuted for his conscience' sake ; but now
they are not only become persecutors, but also they have
given, as far as lieth in them, the sword into the hand of
bloody tyrants. Be these, I pray you, the sheep whom Chiist
sent forth in the midst of wolves ? Can the sheep persecute the
wolf ? Doth Abel kill Cain ? Doth David, though he might,
kill Saul ? Shortly, doth he which is born of the Spirit kill
him which is born after the flesh ?

"Mark, how ye be fallen into most abominable tyranny,

172 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

and yet ye see it not. Thus I am constrained of conscience to
write. That if it shall please God to awake you out of your
dream, that ye may perceive how one error hath drowned you
in more error, and hath brought you to a sleeping secuiity,
that when ye walk, even after the lusts, thirsting after blood,
and persecuting poor men for their conscience' sake, ye be
blinded, and see not yourselves ; but say, tush ! we be
predestinate, whatsoever we do we are certain we cannot fall
out of God's favor. Awake, therefore, and look what danger
ye be in, and how by your poisoned doctrine ye infect the
people of God, and draw them to a secure, idle, and careless
Hfe."

And what saith Knox to this : " You dissembling hypocrites
cannot abide that the sword of God's vengeance shall strike the
murderer, the blasphemer, and such others as God commandeth
by his word to die ; not so, by your judgments ; he must hve,
and may repent." The reformer then infers that Joan Boucher
was meant, as one of those whose blood cried for vengeance ; and
truly, the reformers' consciences might well be stricken with
fear, when that dark deed rose to their remembrance. Our
Knox seems somewhat aghast as he appeals to " all that fear
God," against the judgment of the baptist upon those most
valiant soldiers, Granmer, Latimer, Ridley, Rogers, Bradford,
and others, most of whom took part in the condemnation of
that Christian woman. Yet, "upon whom — that is Cranmer
and his fellow-inquisitors — 0 blasphemous mouth, thou sayest,
God hath taken vengeance, which is an horrible blasphemy in
the ears of all the godly !"

But has the reformer no good strong arguments to withstand
the claims of conscience ? Cannot the volume of holy truth
supply some inexpugnable reasons for withholding its liberty ?
With no such ineffectual weapons will he meet his man.
Argument with a blasphemer ? No. " I will not now so much
labor to confute by my pen, as [because] that my full purpose

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 173

is to lay the same to thy charge, if I shall apprehend thee in
any commonwealth where justice against blasphemers may be
ministered, as God's word requireth. And hereof I give thee
warning, lest that after thou shalt complain that under the
cloak of friendship I have deceived thee. Thy manifest de-
fection from God, and this thy open blasphemy .... have so
broken and dissolved all famiharity which hath been betwixt us,
that although thou wert my natural brother, I durst not
conceal thine iniquity in this case."* Lei the baptist and
quondam fi-iend of John Knox beware ! He may find a
Geneva in Scotland, or perhaps in England, if he wait awhile.

But the reformer after all feels constrained to attempt some
sort of reply. He endeavors fii'st to prejudice his opponent's
cause, by insinuating that he sympathized in the anti-trinitarian
views of Servetus, although Knox knew to the contrary, since
they were agreed on the unlawfulness of baptizing childi'en, on
the preaching of the gospel, and the administration of the
Lord's Supper. He then confesses that books have been
written by both parties, "that lawful it is not, to the civil
magistrate, to use the sword against heretics ;" but which that
godly learned man, Theodore Beza, had answered.f He avers
that Servetus and Joan of Kent were justly bm-nt, since God
allowed the idolaters of the golden calf to be slain by the sons

* An Answer, &c. pp. 189-204,

t Beza wrote his Treatise, De Haereticis a Civili Magistratu puniendis,
in 1553, in defence of the execution of Servetus, and to establish the right
of the civil power to punish heresy. In the year 1601, it was translated
into Dutch, for the purpose of exciting the magistrates of Friesland to
persecute the baptists. Its editors say, that persecution is the means of
restoring the dominion over conscience to God, " seeing it is only an
attempt to execute the divine commands by divine methods I" Brandt,
Hist, of Ref , ii. 8. Referring to Servetus, Beza says, " Quum igitur in
carcerem conjectus esset, ecce statim quidam SatancB emissarii clamitare
coeperunt iniquissimum esse." — Tract. Theol. Theodori Bezae, vol. i. p.
83, ed. 1582.

174 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

of Levi, at Moses' command. If, however, the baptist should
infer, which he doubtless did, that since Abel, Isaac, and David,
slew not Cain, nor Ishmael, nor Saul, it is not lawful " for any
of God's elect to kill any man for his conscience' sake ;" then
" I answer," says Knox, " that if under the name of conscience,
ye include whatsoever seemeth good in your own eyes, then ye
affirm a great absurdity," which very thing the baptist did not
affii'm. But, " you say, that external crimes have no affinity
•with matters of religion, for the conscience of every man is not
alike persuaded in the service and honoring of God, neither yet
in such controversies as God's word hath not plainly decided.
But, I ask, if that be a just excuse why pernicious errors shall
be obstinately defended, either yet that God's established
religion shall be contemptuously despised ?"*

So then, under the plea of some possibility of pernicious
error, conscience must be trampled under foot ; and its utter-
ances, should they be found, or imagined, to be dissenting fi'om
an established religion, assumed to be of God, treated as
blasphemy, and as the vilest of crimes. Infinitely more pernicious
have been the domination over conscience, and the repression
of its liberty, enforced by men claiming the authority of the
Highest for their deeds of blood, than the multitude of erroi's
they have sought to destroy. This hateful tyranny, disguised
in pretensions to sanctity and truth, hath shed the blood of
myriads of earth's noblest men, and of heaven's most worthy
inhabitants. One more manifestation of thy wolfish spirit,
0 Knox ! thy fearful imprecations, upon these poor peeled and
scattered sheep, and we leave thee. " Your privy assemblies,
and all those that in despite of Christ's blessed ordinance do
frequent the same, are accursed of God !" f The maledictions
of persecutors are a rich inheritance to the persecuted followers
of the Lamb.

The " privy assembhes " of the baptists, and the attendance

* An Answer, &c. pp. 209-11. t Ibid.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. lYS

at them, must have been somewhat numerous in the early
yeai*s of Elizabeth's reign. " We found," says Jewel, writing
to Martyr, " a large and inauspicious crop of Arians, anabaptists,
and other pests, which I know not how, but as mushrooms
spring up in the night and in darkness, so these sprung up in
that darkness and unhappy night of the Marian times."* The
measures adopted to root out this pestiferous " crop," accorded
with the nature of a national church. They were denounced
from the pulpit, the press sent forth its black load of falsehood
and calumny, but was closed to every reply, and public law laid
its ban upon them. St. Paul's Cross, where Latimer and
Ridley, Bourn and Bonner, had each in turn, during the
rapidly shifting scenes of that period, proclaimed the ruler's and
the nation's faith, protestant or papal as it might be, became a
place of attack upon them. In the beginning of the reign,
John Veron had been chosen pubhc divinity lecturer at St.
Paul's. On that renowned spot, this bold and popular preacher
inveighed against the baptists, "who molest and trouble the
godly quietness and peace of the church." f Their detestable
heresies, as well as those of papists, were his not unfrequent
theme. Free-will and predestination were the favorite topics
handled in these discourses, which he afterwards committed to
the press, to stay the "swynyshe gruntinge — the vain and
blasphemous objections that the Epicures and anabaptists of our
time can make." But while maintaining the scriptural truth,
"that God hath from the beginning ordained and appointed
some to be fellow-heirs with his Son Jesus Christ," he recoiled

» Zurich. Lett. i. 92.

t An Apology and Defence of the doctrine of Predestination, by John
Veron, fol. 40, printed about 1560. Veron was a native of Sens, in
France, but came to England, where he taught succeFsfully in many
places the Latin language. By Ridley he was collated to the living of
St. Alphage in London, in 1.552, and immediately on Elizabeth's
accession, obtained a prebend in St. Paul's. To this was shortly added
the readership of theology. Tanner, Bib. Scrip, p. 732, ed. 1748.

176 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

not from the fearful statement " that some again are appointed
(from the beginning) to be everlastingly damned."* Strange
inconsistency, that men holding such opinions should endeavor
to coerce the consciences of others. Is it by fiery trials, or by
lingering imprisonments, that the elect of God are to be brought
to faith ? Will the sight of the stake, the clanking of chains, or
the severities of unrequited labor, change the immutable decrees
of heaven? Did they doubt the execution of the doom,
pronounced from eternity, which they said was the portion of
these " accursed " heretics, that they hastened its approach by
putting them to death ? Why not bide the time of the full
developement of the unchanging purposes of God, rather than
strive, by such unhallowed means, to accomplish what, for
aught they knew, was predetermined should not be done, and
by their cruelty rendered impossible, the conversion of these
erring souls ? Were they the executioners of eternal doom, as
well as the heralds of grace ?

The archbishops and bishops dealt with the consciences of
men, as if they thought them convertible by other means than
God's word, when, in 1559, they directed "that incorrigible
Arians, Pelagians, or free-will men, be sent into some one
castle in North Wales, or Wallingford, and there to live of their
own labor and exercise, and none other be suffered to report
unto them but their keepers, until they be found to repent their
errors." f This was not intended to be an unmeaning threat.
Parkiiurst, the bishop of Norwich, who had most reluctantly
yielded to the imposition of the habits, was warmly upbraided
with remissness and want of activity in removing the baptists
from his diocese, although he labored by preaching to destroy
the impression their doctrines had made. J Many foreigners,

* A Fruteful Treatise on Predestination. Dedicated to qiieen Eliza-
beth. Imprinted by John Tisdale, no date,
t Doc. Annals, i. 205.
t Strype's Parker, I. i. 214.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. iVlT

especially Dutch, had taken refuge in that part of the country,
from the fanatical and bloody decrees of Phihp of Spain. Kot
a few of them were baptists, who Avith some success propagated
their opinions among the native population. Under the
" halcyon " reign of Ehzabeth, they expected to find in
England a peaceful shelter, from the frightful storm of persecu-
tion, that elsewhere beat upon them. There was none. " The
queen, by a proclamation, ordered these heretics, both aliens and
natural-born English, to depart the kingdom within one-and-
twenty days."* Imprisonment and forfeiture of all their
property, were the penalties of a longer sojourn. Many, how-
ever, evaded the command, screening themselves in various
ways from the severities inflicted by the royal injunctions. The
good bishop Jewel hoped, indeed, that it was the fact that they
had retreated before " the hght of purer doctrine," for, he says,
they were " nowhere to be found ; or at least, if anywhere, they
are now no longer troublesome to our churches." f But it
was not the " hght of purer doctrine," that had driven them
into the gloom of the forest glade to worship thefr God, " hke
owls at the sight of the sun ;" it was regal usurped might, and
episcopal tyi-anny.

Success still lingered behind the efforts of the queen and her
obsequious bishops, when, in 1567, articles of inquiry were
issued to the metropolitan, having especial respect to the state
of the diocese of Nor^rich, where Parkhurst, its bishop, still
" ^vinked at schismatics and anabaptists." In addition to the
usual inquiries to be made concerning the mode of performing
di\'ine service, the state of the gi-ammar schools, and the due
performance of their respective ministries, by the various
frmctionaries of the church, particular inquisition was ordered,
as to whether any taught or said, that children being infants
ought not to be baptized, that post-baptismal sins were not

* Collier, vi. 332.

t To Martyr, Nov. 6, 1660. Zur. Lett. i. 92.

8*

178 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

remissible by penance, that it was not lawful to swear, that
civil magistrates may not punish certain crimes with death, or
that it was lawful for any man, without the appointment and
caUing of the magistrate, to take upon him any ministry in
Christ's church. * These, in the royal estimation, were most
dangerous opinions, demanding every exertion to repress them.

For the third time, a special visitation was ordered in the
following year, in every parish throughout the realm, wherever
there was any confluence of strangers, to discover the teachers
of such evil doctrines. Great numbers of Dutch people, under
which designation were included both Germans and Flemings,
were daily repairing to this country for a refuge from the san-
guinary cruelties of the duke of Alva. Among them, it was
feared were some infested with poisonous errors, " contrary to the
faith of Christ's church, as anabaptists, and such other sectaries."
Their mode of Hfe, the length of their residence in the realm,
the cause of their resort hither, and to what churches they went
for worship, were to be carefully noted and registered. The
suspected, and the unconformable to the estabhshed order, were
to be speedily brought to trial, and if not reconciled by " chari-
table teaching," to depart in twenty days on pain of severe
punishment. "This provision," says Colher, "was no more
than necessary ; for the Dutch anabaptists held private conven-
ticles in London, and perverted a gi-eat many."f

It is most probable, that a congregation discovered in the isle
of Ely, in the year 15 7 3, consisted of some of these converts.
They refused oaths, condemned capital punishments, exercised
a Christian hberty in the preaching and' exposition of scripture,
and some were supposed to maintain an inequahty of persons
in the godhead ; this latter is very doubtful. Their meetings
were private ; closed to all but such as agreed with them in
sentiment.]; It gives us but httle concern that many charges

» Doc. Annals, i. 306. t Collier, vi. 462. Doc. Ann&ls, i. 309.
X Strype's Parker, II. 287.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 179

of immorality are made against them. It has ever been the
custom of the enemies of true godliness thus to vihfy its pro-
fessors. Were these charges admissible, we should be compelled
to beUe^•e that an earnest heed to the* word of God, which it
was made a crime in these people to have shown, was productive
of results the opposite to those which experience daily justifies.
Light and darkness cannot long intermingle in the human heart,
without one or the other gaining the mastery. The fear of
the Lord is clean ; sin must flee before the pure, eye-enlight-
ening commandments of God.

The very partial success of these repressive measures, seems
to have led to that dark catastrophe, to which in the progress
of events we are now brought ; the burning alive of two Flemish
baptists in Smithfield, an oblation of blood to the demon of
protestant intolerance. Lingering imprisonments, fines, and
banishment, had not been found efiectual ; the fires of Smith-
field might perhaps scare the pertinacious errorist, and by their
burning radiance neutralize the glimmerings of the true light,
which here and there feebly shone. The zeal of puritans, too,
might be allayed, by this evidence of the inexorable purpose of
the queen, to permit no dissentients from the national creed
•within her dominions.

It was on Easter-day, April 3, 1575, that a congregation of
Flemish baptists, numbering some thirty persons, men and
women, assembled in a private house in the suburbs of London,
just without Aldgate Bars.* The slaughterings and devasta-
tions of the Duke of Alva, in the Low Countries, had caused
severe distress, and loss of trade. Urged by the desire of
obtaining a hvehhood for their wives and children, and liberty
to worship God in the simplicity of faith and love, these exiles
had left Flanders for England. Outcasts and strangers, they
sought a heavenly citizenship, and in their sojourn met to com-
fort each other, and to unite their prayers at the throne of

* Holinshed'9 Chron. iv. 326, ed. 1808.

■180 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

grace. Their meeting was espied by the neighbors, although
conducted with secresy. While commending each other to
God, their devotions were suddenly interrupted by the entrance
of a constable, who, addressing them as devils, demanded
which was their teacher. Seven-and-twenty names were put
down at his command, and taking their promise to remain, he
proceeded with a few to the magistrate. He shortly returned,
and with opprobrious and cruel words drove the rest before him
to the gaol. Two escaped on the way ; the rest were " led as
sheep to the slaughter." On the third day they were released,
heavy bail being tak^n for their appearance, whenever and
wherever it should please the authorities to determine.^

Information of the capture was conveyed to the queen's
council ; and at the suggestion, apparently, of archbishop
Parker, a commission was issued on the 27th of April, to
Sandys, the bishop of London, assisted by several civilians and
judges, " to confer with the accused, and to proceed judicially,
if the case so required."! But a few days elapsed before the
summonses to appear were issued, and these poor people stood
criminally arraigned, for worshipping God according to their

* Where not otherwise stated, the narrative in the text is derived from
three relations preserved in the Dutch Marty rology. The first is that of
the martyrologist. The second is by Gerrit van Byler, one of the
prisoners. ^ The third by one James de Somer, a member of the Dutch
church in London, contained in a letter to his mother, residing at Ghent,
in Flanders ; he writes as an eye-witness of the facts he relates. The
title of the work is. The Bloody Theatre, or Mirror of Baptists Martyrs.
By Thielem J. van Braght. Amsterdam, two volumes, folio, 1685.
The first volume is a history of the church from the first to the fifteenth
centuries. The second, and by far the largest of the two, is devoted to
the martyrdoms of baptists during the sixteenth century. The account
now laid before the reader may be regarded as a fair example of the
many deeply interesting narratives it contains. Both volumes are adorned
by a large number of beautifully executed and spirited etchings.

t Soames, Eliz. His. p. 213. Macintosh, Eliz. ch. xviii. p. 375.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 181

convictions. The court assembled in the consistory of St. Paul's ;
for it was a case of heresy. Besides the commissioners, certain
members of the Dutch congregation were present as interpreters,
a French preacher, and two aldermen. The prisoners first laid
before the court a confession of their faith. The bishop was not
satisfied. He produced four articles, requiring then' subscrip-
tion ; if obstinate in their refusal, they should be burnt alive.
Such were the instructions he had received.

" They proposed to us four questions," says one of the
prisoners, " telling us to say yea, or nay : —

" 1. Whether Christ had not taken his flesh and blood of
the Virgin Mary ?

" We answered : He is the son of the living God.

" 2. Ought not httle children to be baptized ?

" We answered : JSTot so ; we find it not written in holy
scriptm-e.

" 3. May a Christian serve the office of a magistrate 'i*

" We answered, That it did not obhge our consciences ; but,
as we read, we esteemed it an ordinance of God.

" 4. Whether a Christian, if needs be, may not swear ?

" We answered. That it also obhged not our consciences ;
for Christ has said, in Matthew, Let your words he yea^ yea y
jiay^ nay. Then we were silent.

" But the bishop said, that our misdeeds therein were so
gTeat, that we could not enjoy the favor of God. O Lord !
avenge it not. He then said to us all, that we should be
imprisoned in the Marshalsea."

Many threats were uttered during the examination ; they
were vexed with subtle questions, and urged to recant on peril
of a cruel death. That they might expect no favour, the
bishop sternly informed them of the firm determination of the
queen and her council to compel all strangers to sign a renun-

* Our author understands the office of a criminal magistrate to be
meant here.

182

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

ciation of these articles. The conforming might remain in the
land, and be free from taxes ; but the micomj)hant should die a
frightful death. The prisoners were unmoved, and were con-
veyed to the Marshalsea for the testimony of Christ. One
young brother, tlie first questioned, was sent into solitary con-
finement at Westminster, for his bold attestation to the truth.

And now severe trials and temptations beset them. Private
friendships, the arguments of learned men, and the dark back-
gi'ound of a fearful death, combined to shake their constancy.
" Master Joris came to us and said. If we would join the church,
that is, the Dutch church, our chains should be struck off, and
our bonds loosed. The bishop, he said, had given him com-
mand so to do. But we remained stedfast to the truth of
Jesus Christ. He is indeed our Captain, and no other ; yea, in
Him is all our trust. My dear brethren, and sweet sisters, let
us bravely persevere until we conquer. The Lord will then
give us to drink of the new wine. O Lord, strengthen our
faith. As we have received the Lord Jesus Christ, let us go
forward courageously, trusting in Him."

Five, however, yielded to the solicitations of the Netherland
preachers, quailing at the fearful prospect set before them.
They consented to forego theii* convictions, and subscribe the
articles. Notwithstanding the bishop's promise, that subscrip-
tion should release them from all pains and penalties, they were
brought to St. Paul's Cross on the 25th of May, to make a
pubhc recantation. Taken in their toils, these recovered sheep
were not gently lifted on the shepherds' shoulders, and brought
home with joyful shouts, as Christ teaches us the good pastor
will do ; but before many thousands of people, in the church-
yard of St. Paul's, they were set for a gazing stock, a fagot
bound on each one's shoulder, as a sign that they were worthy
of the fire. At the close of the bishop's sermon, their prescribed
recantation was read. They declared themselves to have been
seduced by the spirit of error, and that their renounced opinion*

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, 183

were damnable and detestable heresies ; but that the whole
doctrine and rehgion established in England, as also that
received and practised by the Dutch congregation in London,
was sound, true, and according to the word of God. It was
afterwards repeated in the Dutch church, to which they promised
to unite ; and bail taken for the performance of the vow.*

Two several times were the rest taken before their inquisitors,
and for three weeks endured rigorous imprisonment, the sore
chafing of iron fetters, with mingled entreaties and threats, to
induce them to a renunciation of their faith. On the 11th May,
a further commission was issued, to proceed to their condemna-
tion. On Whitsun-eve, the 21st, ten women and one man were
formally condemned to the fii'e, one female shrank from the
trial.f A few days after the public penance at St. Paul's, the
remainder were again jbrought up to the bishop's court, the
place of Bonner's savage cruelties in queen Mary's time. Day
was just dawning when, bound two and two, they entered the
place of doom. " We remember the word of the Lord," says
Gerrit van Byler, " When they shall lead you before lords and
princes^ fear not what you shall say, for in that hour it shall
be given you. So we trusted in the Lord^. The questions were
again proposed, and subscription demanded ; but we said,
That we would cleave to the word of the Lord.''

In the plenitude of royal authority — dare any one call it
apostolical ? — delegated to him, the bishop sentenced them to
excision from the church of Christ, and to death ; and formally
delivered them to the secular arm for punishment.

Fourteen women and a youth, bound together, were led

* Holinshed, iv. 326,327.

t There is much difficulty in leeonciling the accounts of the English
chroniclers, especially as to the numbers tried and punished. It is very
likely that some others had been discovered, and that they were brought
before the same commissioners, whose powers were enlarged for the
purpose.

184 STRUGGLES AND TfllUMPHS

away to Newgate ; the remaining five were kept in the bishop^s
custody. And now for five or six days they suffered great
anxiety and temptation. Oft threatened with a cruel and fiery
death, they feared from day to day, the hour of their offering
up was at hand. They were severely treated, and compelled to
hear the blasphemies of the vilest criminals. Ten days thus
passed, when on the eve of the first of June, about teii o'clock,
the gaoler, with his officers, entered their place of confinement,
noted down their goods, and bid them prepare to die on the
morrow. Seeing that their courage, and faith in God, remained
unshaken, he then announced to them, that the queen, in her
clemency, had commanded a milder penalty — ^banishment."^'

In the morning, surrounded by halberdiers, they were led by
the sheriffs to the water-side, and put on board a ship at St.
Catherine's. The youth followed, tied to a cart's tail, and was
whipped to the place of embarkation.f Thus the ties of nature
were severed : some of the poor exiles had to mourn in anguish
over husbands and fathers, left in the hands of their persecutors,
for whom yet more cruel severities were reserved.

The next day, June 2nd, the five men,| who remained of this
company, were again led bound into the consistory. The ter-
rors of the stake were vividly set before them ; their only escape,
subscription to the articles. They were lu-ged, they were
threatened ; it was unavaihng. " It is a small matter thus to
die," said Jan Peters, with a courageous mind. The bishop

* In a sermon preached at the Spittle in London, probably about this
time, Sandys remarked : — " Such as are of no religion, of no church,
godless and faithless people, some papists, some anabaptists ; — these are
to be expelled and cast out of the country, lest for their wickedness God
plague the whole realm." Sermons, p. 266.

•}• Some hints it appears were given to the captain of the vessel, that if
the banished ones did not reach the land of their fathers in safety, he need
not fear any inquiry. He was, however,proof against the base instigation

J It is manifest that Strype is mistaken in supposing that these were
the five who had previously recanted. Strype's Annals, IL i. 564.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 185

sharply inquired, " ^Tiat does he say ?" Peters rephed. The
bishop Hstened with some moderation, and then stoutly said,
" We must shave such heretics, and cut them off as an evil
thing from the chm-ch."* Said Hendi'ik Terwoort, " How
canst thou cut us off from your church, since we are not of it ?"
The bishop, " It was all the same ; there were none in England
who were not members of the chm'ch of God." And now were
these fi'iends of Christ unjustly condemned, and led away to
Newgate to await the day of death.

Here they were strongly secured, heavily ironed, and thrown
into a deep and noisome den, swarming with foul and disgusting
vermin. " Then we thought om-selves," says Byler, " within
one or two days of the end, after which we earnestly longed, for
the prison was giievous ; but it was not yet the Lord's vnH.
After eight days, one of om- brethi-en was released by death,
trusting in God ; his dying testimony filled us with joy." Even
the society of thieves and malefactors was deemed too pure for
them, both the bishop and a preacher saying, that care must be
taken, lest the criminals should be corrupted by the association.
Great indeed must have been the horror their opinions had
inspired, when' an English preacher, occasionally v-isiting their
dungeon, would lay his hands upon them, and falhng upon his
knees, ciy aloud, " Sirs, be ye converted ;" and then, exorcising
the de\"il "svithin them, exclaim, " Hence, depart, thou evil fiend !"

But exertions of another kind were not wanting on their
behalf. Strenuous efforts were made to bring their case before
the queen. An earnest supplication, and a confession of their

* A few years later, when archbishop of York, Sandys, in a pastoral
letter, said : — Those who are stubborn and inveterate foes are to be
bruised with a rod of iron, at least to be restrained that their leprosy
infect not the sound ; nets must be spread by which the papal stragglers,
the firebrands of sedition, and pests of the church, may be snared and
fall." The bishop was at least impartial in his zeal for the church's
purity. Sandys' Sermons, p. 441.

186 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

faith on the four articles, were prepared ; but the attempt
present them to her was met with a stern and passionate rebuke
to the ladies of her court, who ventured to intrude on the royal
prerogative. Reports of the most unjust kind were rumored
about ; that they disowned God and Christ, and rejected all
government and authority of magistrates.* Her majesty was
not free from these impressions, and they were sedulously
fostered in her mind, by parties thirsting for innocent blood.
The bishop was next applied to. A nobleman, Lord de Bodley,
undertook to plead their cause, and, if possible, move his com-,
passion. A simple confession of their faith was laid before him.
But bishop Sandys refused to interfere. He even demanded
their assent to the doctrine, that a Christian magistrate may
rightly punish the obstinate heretic with the sword.f

A month's reprieve was, however, granted them, at the
earnest suit of the venerable martyrologist, John Fox. His
pious admiration of the Marian martyrs was shocked, at the
thought, that the scene of their triumphs would be defiled with
the blood of these fanatic and miserable wretches. To roast
alive was more accordant to papal practices, he said, than to the
custom of the gospellers. He therefore urged upon her majesty
the adoption of some other mode of punishment. Might not

* " Barbarous and wicked is the opinion of the anabaptists, which con-
demn all superiority, authority, and government in the church. For what
is this else, but utterly to expel, both out of church and commonwealth,
all godliness, all peace, all honesty?" Sandys' Sermons, .p. 85.
Preached at York.

t This was no hasty opinion of the bishop ; for thus he instructs the
parliament at an early period of the reign :— " Such as teach, but leach
not the good and right way ; such as are open and public maintainers of
errors and heresy ; such in the judgment of God, are thought unworthy

to live I have no cruel heart : blood be far from me : I mind

nothing less. Yet needs must it be granted that the maintainers and
teachers of errors and heresy, are to be repressed in every Christian com-
monwealth !'* Sandys' Sermons, p. 40.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 18*7

close imprisonment, or bonds, or perpetual banishment, or
burning of the hand, or scourging, or even slavery, suffice ?
Any or all of these would be preferable to death by fire. But
not one word does her " Father Fox " breathe of tenderness for
the rights of conscience. He also addressed the victims. He
laboured to persuade them to acknowledge their error, and
bow to the voice of scriptm-e ; to cease " to cultivate certain
fanatic conceptions, nay, rather deceptions," of their own
minds ; " for it is sufficiently apparent, that for long you have
disturbed the church by your great scandal and offi^nce." To
the lord chief justice Monson, one of their judges, he sent a
copy of his lettere to the queen and council, further reprobating
the punishment of death, and advocating a milder punishment.*
The sufferers highly estimated his kindly interference ; but
while they thanked him for his condescension, they endeavoured
to change his unfavourable opinion.j-

The month expired, without any alteration in the resolution
of these servants of God, or in their fidelity to the truths they
had received. Early in the month of July, it was intimated to
two of them, that they must die. Incarcerated in separate cells,
they were not permitted to enjoy each other's society, and words
of love. On the 15th, the queen signed, at Gorhambury, the
warrant and writ for the execution to proceed.^ Jan Peters
and Hendrik Terwoort, were the two selected.

* Prebendary Townsend's Life of Fox, in vol. i. of the 8vo. edit, of
Acts and Mon. p. 198.

t Fox's letter to the queen has been several times printed ; as by
Fuller in his Church History, ii. 507. Crosby has given a translation of
it. Hist, of Eng. Baptists, i. 80. Fox's letters to the lord chief justice
and to the council, still exist among the Harleian MSS. in the British
Museum, and have never yet, we believe, been printed. The excellent
and interesting answer of the prisoners to Fox, we have placed in the
Addenda, Note A. Also their supplication to the queen, and confession
of faith.

t Doc. Annals, i. 360. Prebendary Townsend says, " I have

188 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Jan Peters* was an aged man, and poor, with nine children.
His fii-st wife, some years before, had been burnt for her rehgion,
at Ghent, in Flanders ; and his then wife had lost her first hus-
band by martyrdom for the truth. They had fled to England,
hoping there to worship without danger. His circumstances
were laid before the bishop, and he had earnestly entreated
permission to leave the country with his wife and children ; but
the bishop was inexorable.

Hendrik Terwoort was a man of good estate, five or six-and-
twenty years of age, and a goldsmith by trade. He had been
married about eight or ten weeks before his imprisonment.
But neither domestic affection, nor the solicitations of his friends,
nor the dread of death, weakened his resolution.

On Sunday, the lYth, tidings were brought them, that within
three days they would be burnt, unless they desired delay. To
this Terwoort replied, " Since this your design must come to
pass, so we wish you to speed the more quickly with the matter,
for we would indeed rather die than live, to be released from
this frightful den." He, however, asked till Friday. "We again
quote the affecting naiTative of their companion in tribulation.
" Upon Tuesday, a stake was set up in Smithfield, but the exe-
cution was not that day. On Wednesday, many people were
gathered together to witness the death of our two friends, but it
was again deferred. This was done to terrify, and draw our
friends and us from the faith. But on Friday, our two friends,
Hendrik Terwoort and Jan Peters, being brought out from their
prison, were led to the sacrifice. As they went forth, Jan

examined the writ by virtue of which they were burnt : and am sorry to
say that it is worded as the old writs for burning the episcopal and other
protestants in the reign of Mary." Life of Fox, p. 199, vol, i. 8vo. edit.
of Acts and Mon.

* By the chronicler, Stow, he is called John Wielmacker, but in the
warrant for execution John Peters, as in the Dutch narratives. Perhaps
the former indicates his trade, that of a wheelwright. Van Braght does
not mention his occupation.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 189

Peters said, * The holy prophets, and also Christ, our Saviour,
have gone this way before us, even from the beginning, from
Abel until now.' "

It was early morning when they reached the scene of their
triumph. They were fastened to one stake, neither strang-
ling, nor gunpowder being used to diminish their torture. As
defenceless sheep of Christ, following the footsteps of their
master, resolutely, for the name of Christ, they went to die.
An English preacher was present, to embitter, if possible, by
his cruel mockings, the closing moments of their martyr-life,
and martyr-death. Before all the people he exclaimed,
** These men believe not on God." Saith Jan Peters, " We
believe in one God, our heavenly Father Almighty, and in
Jesus Christ his Son." While standing bound at the stake,
the articles were again, for the last time, presented to them,
and pardon promised on subscription. Peters again spake,
** You have labored hard to drive us to you, but now, when
placed at the stake, it is labor in vain." One of the preachers
attempted an excuse : " That all such matters were deter-
mined by the council, and that it was the queen's intention
they should die." But, said Peters, "You are the teachers
of the queen, whom it behooves you to instruct better,
therefore shall our blood be required at your hands."

And now with courage they entered on the conflict, and
fought through the trial, in the midst of the burning flame ;
an oblation to the Lord, which they living off'ered unto him.
Accepting not of deliverance, for the truth's sake, they counted
not their lives dear unto them, that they might finish their
course with joy.

" For what were thy terrors, 0 Death ? ' [

And where was thy triumph, O Grave ?
"When the vest of pure white, and the conquering wreath
Were the prize of the scorner and slave \" — Dale.

We are saved comment on this painful scene. All writers,

IQO STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

of every party, are agreed in condemnatioii of its folly and
criminality. " How utterly absurd and unchristian," saith
our Dutch martyrologist, "do all such cruel proceedings, and
sentences as are here seen, appear, when contrasted with the
Christian faith. The Christian host is described as sheep and
lambs, sent forth among cruel and devouring wolves : Who
will be able with a good conscience to believe, that these
English preachers were the true sheep of Christ, since in this
matter they brought forth so notably the fruit of wolves ?"*

But although none defend the deed, some defame the suf-
ferers to lessen its enormity. They were actuated, it is said,
by a spirit of insubordination, and their principles were of a
disorganizing tendency ; the overthrow of church and com-
monwealth must have followed their prevalence, and it was
incumbent on the ruling authority to crush the germ of sedi-
tion and rebellion in its earliest form. And so it has been
ever said of the members of the spiritual kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ ; and without question, while oppression
reigns supreme, while injustice ravages the homes and pos-
sessions of a people, while the honor of God and the rights
of conscience are trampled* under foot, — the gospel of eter-
nal verity, the word of the God of equity, and the pure un-
worldly doctrine of Christ, must overturn, overturn, until He
shall reign, whose is the right. But when under the garb of
religion, when in the name of holy truth, when with the
words of heaven upon their lips, men go forth to slay the in-
nocent, to destroy the lowly disciple of Jesus, to forbid the
word of the living God to echo in the soul the voice of the
Eternal, and to stifle the gro'anings of the human spirit under

* The other two sufferers were for a long time kept in prison. The
last we hear of them is, that attempting to escape, by filing the bars of
their dungeon window, they were discovered, and heavily ironed.
James de Somer, in conjunction with a friend, made several ineflfectual
eSortB to obtain their release.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 191

its bond-chnin of sin and woe, sighing for liberty to serve its
God, and, as the free angels of his presence, to obey His will
— then human guilt has reached its highest mark, and dis-
played the most intensely aflfecting feature of the ruin which
has befallen our race. It is an efibit to crush the only means
of man's restoration, to quench the spark of reviving life
amid the aoonizins^ death-throes of the human soul.

But what was the crime of which these victims of intoler-
ance so dreadful were guilty? Did they aim at the queen's
life ? Did they assemble to plot the ruin of the state which
sheltered them ? Did they league with any whose glor]^ is
in their shame, to assassinate, to rob, to violate the rights of
their neighbor? Let us hear them speak from their abyss
of sorrow, " We, poor and despised strangers, who are in
persecution for the testimony of Jesus Christ, entreat from
God for all men, of every race and degree, that the Lord
may grant perpetual peace and every happiness, and that we
may live among them in peace and godliness, to the praise
and glory of the Lord. Our fatherland, our friendships, our
property, have we been compelled to forsake, through great
tyranny, and as lambs before wolves, have fled, only for the
pure evangelic truth of Christ, and not for uproars and sedi-
tions, as we are accused We know that we follow

no strange gods, neither have we an heretical faith, contrary
to the word of Christ. But we believe in one God, the
Father Almighty, Creator of the heavens and the earth ; in
one Jesus Christ, his only beloved Son ; who was conceived
of the Holy Ghost, born of the undefiled Virgin Mary, suf-
fered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was
buried. On the third day he arose from the dead, ascended
to heaven, and is sitting at the right hand of God, the Father
Almighty ; from thence he will come again to judge the
quick and the dead. We believe in the Holy Ghost. We be-
lieve that Jesus Christ is true God and man. . . . We do

192 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

not boast ourselves to be free from sin, but confess that every
moment we are sinners before God. But we must abstain
from wilful sins, if we would be saved ; viz., from adultery, i
fornication, witchcraft, sedition, bloodshed, cursing, and steal-
ing .. . hatred and envy. They who do such things shall
not possess the kingdom of God." Here we leave this noble
evangelic confession of the martyr, Hendrik Terwoort. He
hath fairly^ won the martyr's crown. Although despised,
trampled upon, and his name held accursed among men, his
is the palm-branch of victory, and the white robe, washed
and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

Not less nobly does he plead the rights of conscience.
" Observe well the command of God : Thou shalt love the
stranger as thyself. Should he then who is in misery, and
dwelling in a strange land, be driven thence with his com-
panions, to their great damage? Of this Christ speaks,
Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so
to them : for this is the law and the prophets. Oh ! that they
would deal with us according to natural reasonableness, and
evangelic truth, of which onr persecutors so highly boast.
For Christ and his disciples persecuted no one ; but, on the
contrary, Jesus hath thus taught. Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, ^c. This doctrine Christ left behind
with his apostles, as they testify. Thus Paul, Unto this pres-
ent hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buf-
feted, and have no certain dwelling-place ; and labor, working
with our own hands : being reviled, we bless ; being persecuted^
we suffer it. From all this it is clear, that those who have the
one true gospel doctrine and faith will persecute no one, but
will themselves be persecuted."*

* Besides the narratives, the supphcation to the queen, and the reply
to Fox, already referred to, the martyrologist has preserved a writing
or letter, of considerable length, by Terwoort, from which the two
passages above are extracts ; and also a confession of faith, embracing

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 193

The reader is now able to judge of the truth of the innu-
merable crimes laid to the charge of these the Lord's afflicted
o^es, tlie baptists of that age. Thus runs the accusation of
the celebrated Whitgift : They give honor and reverence to
none in authority; — they seek the overthrow of common-
wealths and states of government ; — they are full of pride and
contempt ; — their whole intent is schismatic, and to be free
from all laws, to live as they list ; — they feign an austerity of
life and manners, and are great hypocrites, &;c. But the
same high authority, the future archbishop of Canterbury,
adds these following particulars as aggravations of their guilt :
— In all their doings they pretend the glory of God, the edify-
ing of the church, and the purity of the gospel ; — when pun-
islied for their errors, they greatly complain, that nothing is
used but violence : that the truth is oppressed, innocent and
godly men, who would have all things reformed according to
the word of God, cannot be heard nor have liberty to speak,
and that their mouths are stopped, not by God's word, but by
the authority of the magistrate ; — they assert, that the civil
magistrate has no authority in ecclesiastical matters, and
ought not to meddle in causes of religion and faith, and that
no man ought to be compelled to faith and religion ; — and
lastly, they complain much of persecution, and brag that they
defend their cause, not with words only, but by the shedding
of their blood. ^

These were the high crimes and misdemeanors of which
the baptists were accused. They need neither counsel nor
apologist. The indictment is at the same time their accusa-

the most important doctrines of holy writ ; this latter is deposited in
the Addenda to this vohime, as it will serve to show the general or-
thodoxy of the baptists at that period. Note A. See Het Bloedig
Toonel. Deel ii. pp. 694 — 712. [Broadmead Records, Add. p. 503.]

* An Answere to a certen Libel, <tc. by John Whitgift, D. of Divini-
tie, pp. 3-5. ed. 1572.

9

194 STRUGGLES AND TRIUBIPHS

tion, and their acquittal. Their deeds were noble ; their sen-
timents just. Their affliction and triumphant deaths, reflect
glory on the holy truths of humanity's Great Martyr, in
whose footsteps of blood they trod ; but shame upon the
men, who, with loud professions of fidelity to Him, slew the
servants he had sent.

We have perhaps lingered too long over these events, but
justice, oft somewhat tardy in her pace, seemed to demand
that the sufferers should at last be heard in defence, after
nearly three centuries of defamation and obloquy ; and that
the meagre and hostile accounts of our historians be corrected
by authentic narrations, preserved in a foreign tongue, and now
for the first time presented to the English reader.*

From this time until the reign of James, the notices of the
baptists in our writers and annalists, are but few and indis-
tinct. Although " they were rife in many places of the land,"
as we are told by Mr. Cartwright in 15 75,1 the severities
they endured doubtless caused many to emigrate, and the rest
to hide in dens and caves of the earth. Yet on the literature
of the time, their name was ever floating as a term of re-
proach. Their principles were thrown from disputant to
disputant, evidently felt though not seen, to be the only jus-
tifiable basis of the changes made or urged by the conflicting
parties. Their views formed the ultimate idea of the great
movement of the reformation, although eschewed by every
other party, as subversive of that union of things sacred and
secular, to which both reformers and puritans clung with a

* A translation of the deeply affecting narratives of Van Braght has
been often desired, both in England and America ; it is hoped that the
Hanserd KnoUys Society may be able to effect this important object,
[A translation of this work is now, {Nov. 1850) in course of preparation,
by the Hanserd Knollys Society, and will soon be published. — American
Mitor.]

f Second Replie. Epist. ed. 1575.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 195

blind pertinacity. It was anabaptistical, to hold that the
church ought to be constituted of believers only ; — to sepa-
rate from the national church because of its many unscriptu-
ral practices, unauthorized constitutions, and the impiety of
the majority of its members ; — to demand that the minister
of the word should be a believer of the truths he preached,
and a practiser of the piety he inculcated : — to give to the
whole community of the faithful the power of electing their
pastor, of binding and loosing, of discipline and instruction,
and to call such as were gifted by divine grace, whether
learned or unlearned, to the teacher's office ;-— and lastly, to
exclude the magistrate from the exercise of any civil power
in the church.*

We may adopt the language of Bishop Saunderson on this
subject: — "The Reverend Archbishop Whitgift, and the
learned Hooker, men of great judgment, and famous in their
times, did long since foresee and declare their fear, that if
puritanism should prevail among us, it would soon draw in
anabaptism after it. This Cartwright and the disciplinarians
denied, and were offended at. But these good men judged
right ; they considered, only as prudent men, that anabap-
tism had its rise from the same principle the puritans held,
and its growth from the same course they took, together with
the natural tendency of their principles and practices towards
it ; especially that One Principle, as it was by them mis-
understood ; that the scripture was adequata agendorum regu-
la, so as nothing might lawfully be done, without express
warrant, either from some command or example therein con-
tained ; which clue, if followed as far as it would go, would

* See A G-odly Treatise, wherein are examined and confuted many
execrable fancies, given out and holden partly by Henry Barrowe and
John Greenwood : partly by other of the anabaptistical order. Written
by Robert Some, Doctor of Divinity, 4to. London, 1589.

196 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

certainly in time carry them as far as the anabaptists had
then gone."*

Thus it was that Whitgift, in his controversy with Cart-
wright, drew a full length portrait of these men, as the ori-
ginal picture of the " holy discipline ;" but marred by the
superfluous touches of the puritans. He likewise appeared as
the antagonist of the baptists in a sermon at St. Paul's in
1583. "I" Hence the universal execration which attended them,
and the solemn asseveration of the puritan justices of Nor-
folk, " We allow not of the anabaptists, nor of their commu-^
nity ; we allow not of the Brownists, the overthrowers both
of church and commonwealth ; we abhor all these, and we
punish them. "J Every man's hand was against them.

Still they lingered in various places, nor could all the
diligence of their foes wholly extirpate them. " I would,"
says the author of the Defence of the Ecclesiastical Disciphne,
in 1588, "I would we could say for our church, that there
are none of the family, no recusants, yea, no anabaptists, nor
libertines, amongst us."§ A congregation was discovered in
1686, of which one Glover was the minister, which appears
to have been formed from this persecuted sect. He was im-
prisoned by the order of Whitgift, but released through the
interference of Lord Burghley.|| Two years after, (1588,)
some further discoveries were made of several conventicles of
" wicked sects and opinions." In the summer time they met
in the fields. Seated on a bank, they read, and listened to
exhortations, from the word of God, by some of their number.
In the winter they assembled in a house at the early hour of
five ; the day was passed in prayer and scripture exposition.
They dined together, then collected money to pay for their
food, carrying the surplus to any of their brethren who were

* Quoted in Early Hist, of Rhode Island, p. 112, Boston, 1848.
f Strype's Whitgift, i. 264. X Pa^^e of a Register, p. 129.

§ P. 183. II Strype's Annals, III. i. 634.

OF RKLTOTOrS LIBERTY. 197

in bonds for the testimony of a good conscience. They used
no form of prayer, not even the Lord's prayer; their devo-
tions were extemporaneous. " The use of stinted prayer, or
said service, is but babbhng in the Lord's sight," they said,
"and hath neither promise of blessing, nor edification."
They regarded Christ as the supreme governor of the church;
the queen had neither authority to appoint ministers, nor to
frame any ecclesiastical government for it. A private man,
being a brother, might preach, and *' beget faith;" but every
man in his own calling was to preach the gospel. It was
unlawful to attend the public prayer and preaching, because
the clergy taught, " that the state of the realm of England is
the time church ;" this they denied ; the preachers were false
preachers, who proclaimed not the glad tidings of the gospel.
They were under no obhgation to wait for the magistrate to
reform the church ; whenever stones were ready, they ought
to go forward with the building, as the apostles did; but the
preachers made Christ attend upon princes, and be sub-
ject to their laws and government. They held it unlawful to
baptize children. They refused the salutary water to a child,
twelve years of age, who tearfully sought to repair its pa-
rents' neglect ; and, when the child was publicly baptized at
the command of the Chamber of London, the mother fled for
fear of punishment.*

Thus the leaven of the true doctrine slowly and secretly
spread. Many also of the Brownists, on emigration, became
baptists. Thus Mr. Johnson, writing in 1606, says, "About
thirteen years since, this church, through persecution in
England, was driven to come into these countries [Low
Countries.] A while after they were come hither, divers of
them fell into the errors of the anabaptists, which are too
common in these countries, and so persisting, were excommu-

* Strype's Annals, III. ii. 102—106.

198 sikuCtGles and thifmphs

nicated by the rest."* And it will be remembered, that
a few years earlier, the congregation formed by Mr. Browne
at Middleburg, lost many of its members from the sanie
cause.

From a very singular book, written by one John Payne,
at Harlaem, in 1597, it appears that there were considerable
numbers of baptized believers in this country. He makes
especial mention of a prisoner in Norwich gaol, Maydstone by
name, incarcerated and threatened with death for professing
baptist sentiments. He addresses his loving brethren, the
merchants who frequent the Royal Exchange, to quicken
them with a godly emulation, ere the axe be laid to the root
of the tree. He is most anxious, however, to give the various
classes of his fellow-countrymen warning to avoid *'new
English anabaptists." "I wish you beware of the dangerous
opinions of such English anabaptists bred here, as whose
parsons, in part with more store of their letters, doth creep
and spread among you in city and country." Having heard
of the proposed execution of Maydstone, he urges his wish
that the prisoner should not be put to death, but banished :
"by reason, our noble prince, judges, nor state, should not
be so reputed of, with such hard terms, by anabaptists and
others, as I am loath here to express ; and (I am) already
grieved to hear, what I hear, by occasion of report, that one
of this English company is shortly like to die, being prisoner
at Norwich." He then appeals to the "prisoner at Nor-
wich ;" hopes some loving brother will signify to him, that
'' his suddenly stepping from his spiritual mother to a new
stepdame, rejecting the sweet food of the one, and hcking up
the poison of the other, that therefore his suffering is as com-
fortless as it is rash and perilous." The usual topics of re-
proach are then introduced, and, as was likewise usual, the

* An Inquirie and Answer of Thomas White, &c. p. 63, ed. 1606.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 199

sufferer's opinions misstated, distorted, and defamed.* It is
unnecessary to quote, since the reader is by this time familiar
with them, and can estimate the little confidence to be placed
in the accusations of a prejudiced opponent.

We here close our notes from the fragmentary history of a
people, who, among the mighty movements of the sixteenth
century, held a subordinate, but by no means unimportant
place. The history of their embodiment into churches, hav-
ing historical records of their own and an abiding-place in
this land, belongs rather to the notices which will accompany
the earliest remaining writings of their pastors, Mr. John
Smyth and Mr. Thomas Helwys.

It has been seen that their idea, the true archetypal idea,
of the church, was" the grand cause of the separation of the
baptists, as individuals and communities, from all the various
forms of ecclesiastical arrangement adopted by the reformers
and their successors. There could be no harmony between
the parties ; they were antagonistic from the first. Hence
the baptists cannot be regarded as owing their origin to a
secession from the protestant churches ; they occupied an
independent and original position, one which unquestionably
involved sufferings and loss from its unworldliness, and mani-
fest contrariety to the political tendencies and alliances of the
reform movement. Let it be granted as a truth of divine
origin and power, that a visible church of Christ ought to
comprise none but such as are believers in his doctrine, under
the influence of his Spirit, and subject to him as Head over
all things to his church ; then it follows, that the mixed as-
semblages of a national church, under the headship of worldly
princes, cannot be the true churches of Christ ; and also, that
the exercise of secular po\fer by the magistrate, either as the

* Royall Exchange : To suche worshipfuU Citezins, Marchants, Gen-
tlemen, and other occupiers of the contrey as resorte thervnto. — At
Harlem, printed with Gyles Romaen, pp. 21, 23, 45. 4to. 1597.

200 STRrOGLRS AND TRIUMPHS

imposer or executor of the church's law, is an invasion of the
rights of the flock of Jesus, a breach of the statutes of the
only Lawgiver, and a denial of his all-sufficient authority.
Then also, the conscience must be free to follow the instruc-
tions of the Heavenly Monitor, and none, not even idolaters,
blasphemers, nor papists, be driven to the sacred temple by
threats or violence, since faith is the gift of God, not pro-
ducible by human powder ; nay, less likely to be produced,
when physical force is resorted to. Then too, lastly, the
unconscious babe must be denied admittance to the church,
since both reason and scripture refuse to recognize the unin-
telligent infant as possessed of that faith, which can only
follow hearing the word of God, being also unable to declare
a hearty, free, and willing acceptance of the salvation it
proclaims.

It would be an interesting inquiry, did time and occasion
permit, how far this instinct of liberty influenced the doctri-
nal peculiarities of the baptists, and led to the maintenance
of a dogma, so often the theme of reproach against them, the
freedom of the will against the absolute predestination of the
reformed. Liberty of conscience, and the free action of the
will, are evidently nearly allied ; and perhaps influenced, by
some of those intangible and mental sympathies which often
affect opinion, or by the antagonist position in which they
found themselves on the other points to those who persecuted
them, they were probably led to adopt a mode of stating this
"vexed question" somewhat distant from the true mean.

We have, however, discovered, the real cause of the unani-
mous hostility these despised people encountered. Papist
and protestant, puritan and Brownist, with one consent, laid
aside their diff'erences, to condemn and punish a sect, a
heresy, an opinion, which threw prostrate their favorite
church, their politico-ecclesiastical power, their extravagant
assumptions, and their unscriptural theories. The papist

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 201

abhorred them : for, if this heresy prevailed, a church hoary
•with age, laden with the spoils of many lands, rich in the
merchandise of souls, must be utterly broken and destroyed.
The protestants hated them : for their cherished headship,
their worldly alliances, the pomps and circumstances of a
state religion, must be debased before the kingly crown of
Jesus. The puritans defamed them : for baptist sentiments
were too liberal and free for those who sought a papal
authority over conscience, and desired the sword of the higher
powers to enforce their "holy discipline" on an unconverted
people. The Brownist avoided them : for their principle of
liberty was too broad, and to this they added the crime of
rejecting the " Lord's little ones" from the fold.

Thus the baptists became the first and only propounders
of "absolute liberty, just and true liberty, equal and im-
partial liberty."* For this they suffered and died. They
proclaimed it by their deeds, they propagated it in their
writings. In almost every country of Europe, amid tempests
of wrath, stirred up by their faith, and their manly adher-
ence to the truth, they were the indefatigable, consistent
primal apostles of liberty in this latter age. We honor them.
We reverence them. And humble though they be, we wel-
come the republication of the first English writings which
sounded the note of freedom for conscience as man's birth-
right, in this land of the free ; they are sanctified by holy
tears and the martyr's blood. f

* Locke on Toleration, p. 31, 4to, ed,

\ See Tracts on Liberty of Conscience, published by the Hanserd
Knollys Society. 8vo. 1846.

9*

202 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

SECTION X,

THE IITDEPEN"DE]^TS.

A BRIEF notice will suffice to dispose of a recent effort to
deprive the baptists of the honor which is their due, and to
claim for others the commendations which is their historic
right. "We shall not hesitate," says Mr. Hanbury, "to
attribute to Jacob's pen, what constitutes the boast and glory
of our denomination as independents, the very first compo-
sition ever addressed to authority, restricted to the particu-
larly interesting object expressed in its title in these terms :
— ' An humble supplication for toleration and Liberty to
enjoy and observe the ordinances of Jesus Christ, in the
administration of his churches, in lieu of human consti-
tutions.' "*

The "restricted" claim made in this supplication would
not have required our attention, had the historian of the in-
dependents been content therewith ; but as in the face of
every accessible historical fact he has questioned the "equity
of the claim" asserted, among others, by Dr. Price, in his
History of ]S'onconformily,-|- that the baptists " must be re-
garded as the first expounders, and most enlightened advo-
cates of the best inheritance of man" — liberty of conscience;
it becomes necessary to vindicate their equitable right and
pre-eminence.

* Memorials relating to the Independents, i. 225. f Vol, i. 522.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 203

We propose, therefore, to establish the three following
points: — 1. That the petition in question did not emanate
from the independents. 2. That its contents do not entitle
it to the honorable position assigned it. 3. That the inde-
pendents, to a much later period, were not the advocates of
an absolute, true, and impartial liberty.

1. From whom did the petition for toleration emanate?
On the accession of James L to the crown of this country,
the Puritans made, as is well known, several attempts to
obtain a new settlement of ecclesiastical affairs. The ill suc-
cess of the Hampton Court conference forever crushed their
hopes of further reformation, and was followed by the imme-
diate deprivation of some hundreds of godly men. Among
these was Mr. Henry Jacob. He became the most active of
those ministers, who were designated by Mr. Bradshawe,
another of them, *' the rigidest sort of them that are called
Puritans."^'

But that Mr. Jacob was not the author of the petition, is
evident from his own words. For thus he speaks of its
author : " That faithful man of God, whosoever he was, that
made that petition to the king's majesty for a toleration of
our way and profession, with peace and quietness in Eng-
land."f Still, in its prayer and statements he heartily con-
curred, and frequently referred to it with approbation. The
petition is signed by " Your majesty's most loyal, faithful,
and obedient subjects, some of the late silenced and deprived
ministers.''^ If then Mr. Jacob was one of the subscribers,
which he probably was, he and the petitioners were Puritans,
and not Brownists nor independents.

In perfect accordance with this fact, which appears on the

* English Puritanism, containing the main opinions of, <fec., printed
1605.

f An Attestation, <fec., p. 137. 1613.

X P. 48, edit. 1609. See also Hanbury, i. 227.

204 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

face of the petition, the authorship is ascribed to the Puritans
by the writer of the Supplication to king James in 1620.*
We find, moreover, at the period when Mr. Jaocb was at
Leyden, in Holland, that although he enjoyed the friendship
of Mr. Robinson, who is with justice regarded as the parent
of modern independency, yet, as an elder, he governed a
separatist church, " which began before Mr. Robinson, and
continued after him," and which, without doubt, was a pres-
byterian church.f Certain it is, that in 1613, four years after
the date of the petition in question, Mr. Jacob held to a pres-
byterian and synodal association of churches, " differing," he
says, " not one hair from Calvin and- Beza, touching the
substance of this matter.":j: And when forming his congre-
gation in London, in 1616, he consulted not with the separa-
tists, nor with the Brownists, nor with the Independents, but
with certain deprived and learned puritans, who expressed
their approbation of his design. §

Other circumstances seem to lead to the conclusion, that
the church established by Jacob was not an independent
church. From a letter, dated April 5, 1624, about the time
of Jacob's departure for Virginia, addressed by Mr. Robinson
to some other church in London, we learn that it was ques-
tioned whether Jacob's church was a true church, and to
be recognized as such. Mr. Robinson replies in the affirma-
tive, but somewhat doubtingly; which hesitation could not
have existed had it been in communion, or governed on the
same principles, with his own church. ||

* "The Puritans in their supplication, printed anno 1609. Much

they write for toleration," Tracts on Liberty of Conscience, pp. 222,
223.

f Cotton's Way of Congregational Churches, p. 14, edit. 1648. Ste-
ven's Hist, of Scot. Ch. at Rotterdam, p. 310.

X An Attestation, (fee. pp. 13, 97. § N"eal. i. 462,

II Treatise on the Lawfulness of hearing ministers of the Church of
England, Printed 1634 ; at the end.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 205

It is to be further observed, that when, in 1633, Mr.
Spilsbury seceded from Jacob's church, it being then under
the pastoral care of Mr. Lathorpe, it was ranked as an inde-
pendent church, as it continued to be for some time after,
until, during the pastorate of Mr. Henry Jessey, it became
a baptist community. Now we are informed by Mr. Kiffin,
that Mr. Spilsbury 's secession was owing not merely to a
change of views on the subject of baptism, but "that the
congregation kept not to their first principles of separation."
Thus, before it became an independent church, it held certain
"principles of separation," which could have been none other
than those of the more rigid puritans, to whom Mr. Jacob,
about 1609, belonged.*

It is, however, clear, that the petition for toleration is a
puritan production, and that if Mr. Jacob united in its prayer,
as he certainly concurred in its sentiments, it was not as
an independent, but as a puritan. Whatever cause there
may be for glorying in this matter, the " glory" and the
" boast" must evidently belong to that party.

2. But do the contents of the petition bear out the pre-
eminence assigned to it ? It is admitted by Mr. Hanbury,
" that Mr. Jacob did not on his side dissert upon, or argue
for religious liberty, in the entire breadth of it."f Where,
then, is the basis of Mr. Hanbury 's claim, since the baptists
DID "dissert upon, and argue for religious liberty" in its
fullest extent, as the " Tracts on Liberty of Conscience"
clearly show. Can a prayer for a restricted toleration be set
by the side of a demand for entire liberty of conscience, as
of equal worth ? Yet such was the toleration in question ;
for thus it prays : — " First, the liberty of enjoying and prac-
tising the holy ordinances enacted and left by the Lord, for
the perpetual direction and guiding of his churches. Sec-

* Wilson, i. 41. Crosby, i. 148. f Hanbury, i. 225, note.

206 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

ondly, an entire exemption from the jurisdiction of the said
prelates and their officers. And lastly, the happiness to live
under the command and charge of any of your subordinate
civil magistrates, and so to be for our actions and carriage in
the ministry accountable unto them."*

Again : " We acknowledge no other power and authority
for the overseeing, ruling, and censuring of particular
churches, how many soever in number, in the case of their
misgovernment, than that which is originally invested in your
royal person, and from it derived to such of your laity as
you shall judge worthy to be deputed to the execution of
the same under you. So as the favor humbly solicited by
us is, that whereas our Lord Jesus hath given to each par-
ticular church this right and privilege, viz., to elect, ordain,
and deprive her own ministers, and to exercise all other parts
of lawful ecclesiastical jurisdiction under him, your majesty
would be pleased to take order, as well that each particular
church that shall be allowed to partake in the benefit of the
said toleration, may have, enjoy, and put in execution and
practise, this her said right and privilege, as that some your
subaltern civil officers may be appointed by you to demand
and receive of each church a due and just account of their
proceedings."!

Having thus provided for secular interference with the
church's affairs, the petitioners proceed to limit to themselves
the toleration desired. ** We do humbly beseech your maj-
esty not to think, that by our suit for the said toleration, we
make an overture and way for toleration unto papists, our
suit being of a different nature from theirs, and the induce-
ments thereof such, as cannot conclude aught in favor of
them, whose head is antichrist, whose worship is idolatry,
whose doctrine is heresy, and a profession directly con-

* An Humble Supplication, &c., p. 8. Hanbury, i, 225,
f Ibid. pp. 13, 14. Hanbury, i. 226.

OF KEUGIOrS LIBERTY. 20?

trary to the lawful state and government of free countries
and kingdoms."*

For such a " restricted" toleration the papists had peti-
tioned the sovereign at an earlier period. The language of
the puritans is but the counterpart of the following, which
issued five years before from these excepted religionists.

" We think," say the catholics, " that the permission of the
liberty we entreat, is, neither in reason of state, a thing
hurtful, nor by the doctrine of protestants unlawful.- — But
the puritan, as he increaseth daily above the protestant in
number, so is he of a more presuming, imperious, and hotter
disposition and zeal, ever strongly burning in desire to re-
duce all things to the form of his own idea, or imagination
conceived, and therefore, by discourse or reason, not unlike
to attempt the overthrow of the protestant, and bring the
kingdom, especially the ecclesiastical state, to a parity, or
popular government, if the catholic were once extinguished;
and to extinguish him no mean more potent, than to forbid
and punish the exercise of his religion. "f A singular and
pre-eminent toleration truly, which would involve an ex-
terminating and internecine war between papist and puritan !

Mr. Jacob has, however, left us no room to doubt the
nature of the toleration, he and his brother puritans so
earnestly pressed. Thus, in 1606, he writes it down as a
proposition they were willing to maintain, against the pre-
lates ; that " civil mao-jstrates ougfht to be the overseers of
provinces and dioceses, and of the several churches therein.
And it is their office, and duty, enjoined them by God, to
take knowledge of, to punish and redress, all misgoverning or
ill -teaching of any church, or church officer." J Again, in the

* Ibid. p. 20. PlanLuiy, ibid.

f A Supplication to the King, &c. pp. 4, 9. 4to. 1604.
X A Christian and Modest Offer of a Conference, (fee. pp. 2, 3. 4to.
1606.

208 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

year 1613, when he is supposed by Mr. Hanbury to have
joined the Independents, he writes, " Though we affirm that
the church government is independent, and immediately
derived from Christ, yet we affirm also, that the civil magis-
trate is even therein supreme governor civilly. And though
nothing may be imposed on the Christian people of a con-
gregation, against their wills, by any spiritual authority — for
so only we intend — yet we affirm withal, that the civil magis-
trate may impose on them spiritual matters, by civil power ;
yea, whether they like or dislike, if he see it good. This we
all gladly acknowledge." And he refers to the petition in
question for proof. "^

Elsewhere Mr. Jacob says, " We grant that civil magistrates
may, and sometimes ought, to impose good things on a true
church, against their wills, if they stiffl}'- err, as sometimes
they may."j" And in his latest production, when engaged, in
the year 1616, in forming his church in London, he makes
use of the following language, in the Confession of Faith he
then put forth to clear the ** said Christians from the slander
of schism, and undutifulness to the magistrate." "We believe
that we, and all true visible churches, ought to be overseen,
and kept in good and peace, and ought to be governed,
(under Christ) both supremely and also subordinately by
the civil magistrate ; yea, in causes of religion when need
is. By which rightful power of his, he ought to cherish
and prefer the godly and religious, and to punish as truth
and right shall require, the untractable and unreasonable.
Howbeit, yet always but civilly. And- therefore we from
our heart, most humbly do desire that our gracious sov-
ereign king would himself as far as he seeth good, and
further by some substituted civil magistrate under him, in

* An Attestation of many learned, &c., pp. 115 — 117.
f An Attestation, Ac, p. 316, edit. 1618.

OF RELIGIOTTS LIBERTY. 209

clemency take this special oversight and government of us,
to whose ordering and protection we most humbly commit
ourselves."* To this confession is added another supplica-
tion for toleration, which he humbly prays his majesty to ap-
point some civil magistrate, ** qualified with wisdom, learning,
and virtue, to be overseer for their more peaceable, orderly,
and dutiful carriage, both in our worshipping God, and in all
other our affairs, "f

The admission then of Mr. Hanbury, so fatal to his claim,
that Mr. Jacob did not " dissert upon, nor argue for religious
liberty, in the entire breadth of it," is established by unde-
niable evidence ; and we are now entitled to ask. Is the clear,
explicit, and broad statement of the doctrine of religious
liberty, in the treatises published in the years 1614 and 1615
by the baptists, to be regarded as of less value than the
meagre and individual desire of toleration which this petition,
and these extracts from the writings of its supposed author,
exhibit ? A toleration founded on the narrowest basis ; to
be enjoyed only by the body that sought it ; and, at the same
time, allowing, nay, asking for a compulsory and forced inter-
ference with its religious rights and duties, and those of others
also ? Can this be " the glory and boast" of the *' inde-
pendent denomination," for which Mr. Hanbury thinks it so
" commendable to strive for the pre-eminence ?" The baptists
may relinquish such a glory ; while they hold in equity, that

* Anno Domini, 1616. A Confession and Protestation, &c. not paged.
Hanbury, i. 301.

f A Confession, (fee. Hanbury, i. 306. The petition of 1609 is also
referred to approvingly in this Supplication, and in other places of the
Confession. Jacob's words are, " Beseeching you, as in effect they for-
merly did, so now again, to give unto them this favor, that peaceably
and quietly they may worship God," <fec. And in the margin reference
is made thus: — "Anno 1609. An Humble Supplication." Jacob thus
again, in 1616, identifies himself with the puritans.

210 STRUGGLES AND TKITJMPIIS

perfect liberty of conscience, to be enjoyed by all men, ex-
celletb in glory ; and for this they strive.

3. But lastly, we have to show, that the independents to
a yet later period were not the advocates of an absolute, full,
and impartial liberty. If Mr. Jacob was a puritan, then are
they deprived of the honor in question ; or if an independent,
the evidence fails to substantiate the claim. It now remains
to examine one other witness, of whose relation to that body
there can be no doubt, and whose name would be an honor
and a praise to any community who could call him theirs.
Mr. John Robinson had been a puritan. He separated on
holy principles from a church, which he thought to be anti-
christian, and in exile nobly endured and labored for the
cause of God. He was the spiritual parent of many, who,
in future years, were to be called the pilgrim fathers ; whose
deeds form the earlier annals of a mighty people. But
while on many points he arrived at juster and truer views
than the puritans : on their doctrine of coercion in matters
of religion he made little or no advance. In the year 1610,
in the earliest of his productions, he thus explicitly asserts
its propriety — "That godly magistrates are by compulsion
to repress public and notable idolatry, as also to provide that
the truth of God, in his ordinance, be taught and published
in their dominions, I make no doubt ; it may be also, it is not
unlawful for them by some penalty or other, to provoke their
subjects universally unto hearing for their instruction and con-
version ; yea, to grant they may inflict the same upon them,
if, after due teaching, they offer not themselves unto the
church." And again, he says, "That religious actions may
be punished civilly by the magistrate, which is the preserver
of both tables, and so to punish all breaches of both, espe-
cially such as draw with them the violation of the positive
laws of kingdoms, or disturbances of common peace."*

* Justification of Separation, pp. 242, 243, 153, edit, 1639.

OF HKLTGTOUS LIBERTY, 211

It was in tJie year succeeding this publication of Mr. Robin-
son, 1611, that the baptists issued a "Confession of Faith,
with certain conclusions," in which they assert, ''that the
magistrate is not to meddle with religion, or matters of con-
science, nor compel men to this or that form of religion,
because Christ is the King and Lawgiver of the church and
conscience." This assertion was questioned by Robinson, and
in 1614 he published a work in which it was denied. The
baptists were not slow to answer, and in the next year replied
to his objections, endeavoring to prove, " that no man ought
to be persecuted for his religion." For this piece, and the
sentiments of Mr. Robinson, we must refer to the volume
lately published.*

These views of Mr. Robinson were not accidental, they con-
stituted a part of his religious behef. Hence in nearly all
his works, from the first in 1610 to the last in 1625, we find
the same sentiments maintained.

In his Observations, Divine and Moral, he says, " Men
are for the most part minded for or against Toleration of
Diversity of Religions, according to the conformity which they
themselves hold, or hold not, with the country or kingdom
where they hve. Protestants, living in the country of papists,
commonly plead for toleration of religion ; so do papists that
live where protestants bear sway ; though few of either,
especially the clergy, as they are called, would have the other
tolerated where the world goes on their side." He then re-
marks on the sentiments of the fathers on this point, and says
that the saying of " the wise king of Poland seemeth approv-
able, that it is ' one of three things which God hath kept in
his own hands, to urge the conscience this way,' and to cause
a man to profess a rehgion by working it first in his heart. "f

* Tracts on Liberty of Conscience, pp. 85 — 180.
f See Tracts, &c. p. 216.

212 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

He next reviews two or three objections, and comes "Lastly,
to that of the father, * that many who at first serve God by
compulsion, come after to serve him freely and willingly.' I
answer," he says, " that neither good intents, nor events,
which are casual, can justify unreasonable violence ; and,
withal, that by this course of compulsion many become athe-
ists, hypocrites, and familists, and being at first constrained to
practise against conscience, lose all conscience afterwards.
.... Yet, do I not deny all compulsion to the hearing of
God's word, as the means to work religion, and common to
all of all sorts, good and bad ; much less excuse civil disobe-
dience, palliated with religious shows and pretences ; or con-
demn convenient restraint of public idolatry ; so as this rule
of reason holds its place, viz., that ' the bond between magis-
trate and subject is essentially civil,' but religious accidentally
only, though eminently."*

Our last quotation shall be taken from his most important
work ; — a work issued as a formal, and therefore carefully
digested statement of his belief on all points of faith and
godliness. It is ** A just and necessary Apology of certain
Christians, no less contumeliously than commonly called
Brownists or Barrowists." It was first pubhshed in Latin,
in 1619, and afterwards translated by himself, and printed in
1625. The latter edition is before us. In the chapter on
civil magistracy he thus writes — " We believe the very same,
touching the civil magistrate, with the Belgic reformed
churches, and willingly subscribe to their confession ; and the
more, because what is by many restrained to the Christian
magistrate, they extend indefinitely and absolutely to the
magistrate whomsoever." In commenting on this enlarged
duty of the magistrate, and which we will presently produce,

* Observations Divine and Moral, Ac, pp. 49 — 51, edit. 1625. Han-
bury, i. 436.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 213

he says, " The magistrate, though a heathen, hath power, as
the minister of God for the good of his subjects, to command
and procure in and by good and lawful manner and means,
whatsoever appertains either to their natural or spiritual life,
so the same be not contrary to God's word : upon which word
of God, if it beat, God forbid, that the Christian magistrate
should take liberty to use, or rather abuse his authority for
the same."* That is to say, the magistrate, whether Chris-
tian or heathen, has a natural and unchangeable right neither
diminished nor increased by his profession of Christianity, to
command the truth, that is of course such truth as Mr. Rob-
inson may approve, but no other. And inasmuch as many
persons may not be able to receive that truth, then must
they abide the infliction of some undefined penalty for their
unbelief.

We now turn to the Belgic confession for the full and
authentic expression of Mr. Robinson's creed upon this point.
The reader will be then fully prepared to appreciate the
*' equity of the claim" made by the advocate of the indepen-
dents. After confessing the divine institution of magistrates,
to punish the wicked and defend the good, it thus proceeds —
" Moreover it is their duty, not only to be careful to preserve
the civil government, but also to endeavor that the ministry
may be preserved, that all idolatry and counterfeit worship of
God, may be clean abolished, that the kingdom of antichrist
may be overthrown, and that the kingdom of Christ may be
enlarged. To conclude, it is their duty to bring to pass, that
the holy word of the gospel may be preached everywhere,
that all men may serve and worship God purely and freely,
according to the prescript rule of his word." And they
finish with the following damnatory clause : — " Wherefore
we condemn the anabaptists, and all those troublesome spirits,

* Ch. xi. pp. 56, 57. Hanbury, i. 384. The last part of this passage
is omitted by Mr. Hanbury.

214 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

wlio do reject higher powers and magistrates, overthrow all
laws and judgments, make all goods common, and to con-
clude, do abolish and confound all those orders and de-
grees which God hath appointed among men for honesty's
sake."=5^

It is then most conclusively shown, that the petition of
1609 fails to sustain the assertion of Mr. Hanbury, being pu-
ritan in its origin, and unworthy of the commendation be-
stowed upon it ; and that the independents, as such, in the
person of their founder, did not understand, up to the period
of his death in 1626, the rights of conscience.

We may here close our defence of the claim of '* priority
boasted of by some modern baptists ;" a claim, however,
advanced and established, not in the spirit of boasting, but
on the ground of truth and historic fact. Our forefathers
asserted the inalienable right of all men, Jew and Gentile,
papist and puritan, infidel and believer, to serve God, to obey
the statutes of the Lord Jesus in his sanctuary, and to act as
each one's conscience might dictate ; they desired not to be
tolerated, but to be free. Evidence can be adduced that the
Independents reached not this high ground of truth and
liberty until a much later period ; and that even in the times
of the Commonwealth, while many were favorable to a
toleration, they refused to allow an unrestricted liberty in
matters of faith. Enough is, however, presented to show the
fallacy of the claim made by Mr. Hanbury, and the injustice
of withholding from the authors of the tracts above-men-
tioned, the pre-eminent honor of having issued ** the very
first composition ever addressed to authority," not re-
stricted to toleration, but demanding an absolute, full, and
impartial liberty.

The baptists stood alone, amidst all their contemporaries,

* An Harmony of the Confessions, Ac, p. 588, edit. 1586. Hall'
Harmony of the Confessions, p. 483, edit. 1842.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 215

for liberal and enlightened views. Calumny, contumely, re-
proach, and persecution, failed to turn thein from their high
and holy calling. Freedom to worship God, as each for him-
self thought right, even when others might think it heresy,
they nobly struggled for to the end. They were the first to
pioneer the wa}^ through the forests of human superstitions,
the morasses of human inventions, and the barriers of human
usurpations. A forlorn hope, they assailed the huge forti-ess
of human tyranny. But God loas their refuge and their
strength. They made the costly outlay for that inheritance
whose rich and pleasant fruit we daily gather. On their be-
half, on our own behalf, that the stigma of ingratitude may
not attach to us, nor those worthy ones be deprived of their
honorable and blood-bought renown, we most emphatically,
re-assert their claim, and adopt, with an assured confidence in
its truth, the admirable language of Dr. Price — " It belonged
to the members of a calumniated and despised sect, few in
number and poor in circumstances, to bring forth to public
view, in their simplicity and omnipotence, those immortal
principles which are now universally recognized as of divine
authority and universal obligation. Other writers of more
distinguished name succeeded, and robbed them of their
honor; but their title is so good, and the amount of service
they performed on behalf of the common interests of hu-
manity is so incalculable, that an impartial posterity must as-
sign to them their due meed of praise."*

* History of Nonconformity, i. 522, 523.

216 STRUGGLES AND TRIUIVIPHS

SECTION XL

THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND.
[From the " Biographical Introduction" to the Bloody Tenent.*]

It was on the 1st day of December, in the year 1630, that
Mr. Roger WiUiams, with his wife, embarked at Bristol for
America, in the ship Lyon, Captain William Pierce.

Two years and a half before, a number of eminent and
enthusiastic men had gone forth, animated by religious prin-
ciples and purposes, to seek a home and a refuge from perse-
cution, on the wild and untenanted shores of Massachusetts
Bay. Charles I. had announced his design of ruhng the
English people by arbitrary power, only a few days before a
patent for the Company of Massachusetts Bay passed the
seals. f No provision was made in this document for the
exercise of religious Uberty. The emigrants were puritans,
and although they had suffered long for conscience' sake, on
this subject their views were as contracted as those of their
brethren who in Elizabeth's reign sought the overthrow of
England's hierarchy.| The patent secured to them, however, '
to a great extent, a legislative independence of the mother
country ; but they soon employed that power to persecute
differing consciences.

The emigrants landed at Salera at the end of June, 1629.

* Hanserd Knollys Society's Edition.

f Bancroft's Hist, of U. S. i. 342. Knowles' Life of R. Williams, p. 31.

X See Broadniead Records, In trod. p. xxii.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 217

A few mud hovels alone marked the place of their future
abode. On then- passage they arranged the order of their
government, and bound themselves by solemn covenant to
each other and the Lord. As rehgion was the cause of their
abandonment of their native land, so was its establishment
their first care. At their request a few of the settlers at
Plymouth, where in 1620 a colony had been established by
the members of Mr. John Robinson's church, came over to
assist and advise on the arrangement of their church polity.
After several conferences, the order determined on was the
congregational, and measures were immediately taken for the
choice of elders and deacons. A day of fasting and prayer
was appointed, and thirty persons covenanted together to walk
in the ways of God. Mr. Skelton was chosen pastor, Mr.
Higginson teacher, both puritan clergymen of celebrity, and
Mr. Houghton ruling elder. They agi-eed with the church at
Plymouth, *'That the children of the faithful are church
members with their parents, and that their baptism is a seal
of their being so."*

The church was thus self-constituted. It owned no alle-
giance to bishop, priest, or king. It recognized but one
authority — the King of saints : but one rule — the word of
God. The new system did not, however, meet with the
approbation of all this little company. Some still fondly
clung to the episcopacy of their native land, and to the more
imposing rites of their mother church. The main body of
the emigrants did not altogether refuse to have communion
with the church which had so unnaturally driven them away ;
but, as they said, they separated from her corruptions,
and rejected the human inventions in worship which they
discovered in her fold. Not so all. Liberty of worship they
desired indeed, but not a new form of polity. Two brothers,

* IS'eal's Hi?t. of N. England, i. 141, 144. Baillie's Dissuasive, p. 66.
Mather's Magnaha, i. 19.

10

218 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

John and Samuel Browne, the one a lawyer, the other a
merchant, were the leaders of this little band. They wished
the continuance of the Common Prayer, of the ceremonies
usually observed in the administration of baptism and the
Lord's Supper, and a wider door for the entrance of mem-
bers into a church state. Dissatisfied with the new order of
things, they set up a separate assembly. This was a mutiny
against the state, as well as against the church ; and proving
incorrigible, the brothers were sent home in "the Lyon's
Whelp."*

In the year 1630, a large addition was made to the pilgrim
band, on the arrival of Governor Winthrop. Not less than
1500 persons accompanied him, to escape the bigotry and
persecuting spirit of Laud. Several new settlements were
formed, and the seat of the colonial government was fixed at
Boston. Though sincere in their attachment to true religion,
and desirous of practising its duties unmolested by episcopal
tyranny, they thought not of toleration for others. No such
idea had dawned upon them. They were prepared to prac-
tise over other consciences the like tyranny to that from which
they had fled.

With nobler views than these did Mr. Williams disembark
at Boston, after a very tempestuous voyage, on the 5th of
February, in the year 1631. The infant colony had suffered
very much during the winter from the severity of the weather,
and the scarcity of provisions. The arrival of the Lyon was
welcomed with gratitude, as the friendly interposition of the
hand of God.f

Roger Williams was at this time little more than thirty
years of age — "a young minister, godly and zealous, having
precious gifts.":}: Tradition tells us, that he was born in

* Neal, i. 144. Bancroft, i. 850. Cotton Mather's Magnalia, book L
p. 19. Backus' Hist, of Baptists in New England, i, 45.
f Knowles, p. 37. t Bancroft, i. 367.

OF RELIGIOtTS LIBERTY. 219

Wales : that he was in some way related to Cromwell : that
his parents were in humble life : and that he owed his educa-
tion to Sir Edward Coke, who, accidentally observing his at-
tention at public worship, and ascertaining the accuracy of
the notes he took of the sermon, sent him to the University
of Oxford. All this may or may not be true ; but it is evi-
dent that his education was liberal, and that he had a good
acquaintance with the classics and the original languages of the
scriptures.

He himself informs us, that in his early years his heart was
imbued with spiritual life. "From my childhood, the Father
of lights and mercies touched my soul with a love to himself,
to his only begotten, the true Lord Jesus, to his holy scrip-
tures."* At this time he must have been about twelve years
old. His first studies were directed to the law, probably at
the suggestion of his patron. He became early attached to
those democratic principles which are so ably stated in the
"Bloudy Tenent," and to those rights of liberty which
found so able a defender in the aged Coke. Subsequently,
however, he turned his attention to theology, and assumed
the charge of a parish. It was during this period that he
became acquainted with the leading emigrants to America;
and he appears to have been the most decided amongst them
in their opposition to the liturgy, ceremonies, and hierarchy
of the English church. f It is probable that it was upon the
subject of the grievances they endured, he had the interview

* Knowles, p. 23, 391. Backus, i. 508.

f " Master Cotton may caU to mind that the discusser [Williams] , riding
with himself and one other of precious memory, Master Hooker, to and
from Sempringham, presented his arguments from scripture, why he
durst not join with them in their use of Common Prayer." Bloody
Tenent more Bloody, p. 12. See also Bloody Tenent [wherever refer-
ence is made to this work in these pages, it is to the edition of the Han-
serd KnoUys Society], pp. 43 and 3*74. Baillie's Dissuasive, p. 65.

220 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

with King James of which he speaks in a letter written late
in life.*

It was a notable year, both in Old and in New England,
in which Williams sought a refuge for conscience amid the
wilds of America. Autocratic rule was decided upon by the
infatuated Charles, and the utterance of the most arbitrary
principles from the pulpits of the court clergy was encour-
aged. Doctrines subversive of popular rights were taught,
and the sermons containing them published at the king's
special command. Laud assumed a similar authority in
ecclesiastical affairs. With unscrupulous zeal and severity
he sought to extirpate puritanism from the church. The
Calvinistic interpretation of the articles was condemned, and
Bishop Davenant was rebuked for a sermon which he preached
upon the lYth. The puritans were to a man Calvinists, the
Laudean party were Arminians. And as if to give the
former practical proof of the lengths to which Laud was
prepared to go, and to shut them up either to silence or to
voluntary banishment, Leighton, for his "Plea against Pre-
lacy," was this year committed to prison for life, iSned
£10,000, degraded from his ministry, whipped, pilloried, his
ears cut off, his nose slit, and his face branded with a hot
iron. From this tyranny over thought and conscience Wil-
hams fled, only to bear his testimony against similar outrages
upon conscience and human rights in the New World — to find
the same principles in active operation among the very men
who hke him had suffered, and who like him sought relief on
that distant shore.

No sooner had Mr. Williams landed at Boston, than we
find him declaring his opinion, that "the magistrate might
not punish a breach of the sabbath, nor any other offence, as

* In his letter to Major Mason, he refers to " King James, whom I
have spoke with." Knowles, p. 31.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 221

it was a breach of the first table."* Moreover, so impure
did he deem the communion of the church of England, that
he hesitated to hold communion with any church that con-
tinued in any manner favorable to it. This was, however,
the case with the church at Boston. It refused to regard
the hierarchy and parishional assemblies of the English church
as portions of the abominations of anti-christ. It permitted
its members^ when in England, to commune with it, in hearing
the word and in the private administration of the sacraments.f
Thus while separating from its corruptions, the emigrants
clave to it with a fond pertinacity. This was displeasing to
the free soul of Williams. He refused to join the congrega-
tion at Boston. It would have been a weak and sinful com-
pliance with evil. He could not regard the cruelties and
severities, and oppression, exercised by the church of Eng-
land, with any feelings but those of indignation. That could
not be the true church of Christ on whose skirts was found
sprinkled the blood of saints and martyrs. He therefore
gladly accepted the invitation of the church at Salem, and a
few weeks after his arrival he left Boston to enter upon the
pastorate there.

But on the very same day on which he commenced his
ministry at Salem (April 12), the General Court of the
Colony expressed its disapprobation of the step, and required
the church to forbear any further proceeding. This was an
arbitrary and unjust interference with the rights of the Salem
church. As a congregational and independent community, it
had a perfect right to select Mr.Williams for its pastor. The
choice of its ministry is one of the church's most sacred priv-
ileges, to be exercised only in subordination to the laws and
to the will of its great Head. This right the General Court

* Such is Governor "Winthrop's tes?timony. Knowles, p. 46.
f Weld's Answer to W. R. p. 10. 4to. 1644.

222 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

most flagrantly violated, and thus laid the foundation for that
course of resistance which eventually led to the banishment
Qf Mr. Williams *

To the civil government of the colony Mr. Williams was
prepared to give all due submission. Very soon after his
arrival, he entered his name upon the list of those who
desired to be made freemen, and on the 12th of May took the
customary oaths. Yet as if to bring into conflict at the
earliest moment, and to excite the expression of those gener-
ous sentiments on religious and civil liberty which animated
the soul of Mr. Williams, on that very day the court " ordered
and agreed, that for the time to come, no man shall be ad-
mitted to the freedom of this body politic, but such as are
members of some of the churches within the limits of the
same." Thus a theocracy was established. The government
belonged to the saints. They alone could rule in the com-
monwealth, or be capable of the exercise of civil rights.
" Not only was the door of calling to magistracy shut against
natural and unregenerate men, though excellently fitted for
civil offices, but also against the best and ablest servants of
God, except they be entered into church estate."f This was
to follow, according to Williams' idea, " Moses' church con-
stitution," "to pluck up the roots and foundations of all
common society in the world, to turn the garden and para-
dise of the church and saints into the field of the civil state

* Backus, i. 54, 57.

f See Bloody Tenent, pp. 287, 247, 358. Knowles, pp. 45, 49. Backus,
i. 49. Bancroft, i. 360, At Taunton, the minister, Mr. Streete, " publicly
and earnestly persuaded his church members to give land to none but such
as might be fit for church members : yea, not to receive such English
into the town." Bloody Tenent more Bloody, p. 283. By a subsequent
law no church could be constituted without the sanction of the magis-
trates : and the members of any church formed without it, were de-
prived of the franchise. Backus, i. 77.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 223

of the world, and to reduce the world to the first chaos or
confusion."*

As peace could not be enjoyed at Salem, before the end of
the summer Mr. Williams withdrew to Plymouth ; " where,"
says Governor Bradford, " he was freely entertained, accord-
ing to our poor ability, and exercised his gifts among us ;
and after some time was admitted a member of the church,
and his teaching well appro ved."f Two years he labored
in the ministry of the word among the pilgrim fathers ; but
it would seem not without proclaiming those principles of
freedom which had already made him an object of jealousy.
For on requesting his dismissal thence to Salem, in the
autumn of 1635, we find the elder, Mr. Brewster, persuading
the church at Plymouth to relinquish communion with him,
lest he should "run the same course of rigid separation and
anabaptistry which Mr. John Smith, the se -baptist, at
Amsterdam, had done."J It was during his residence at
Plymouth that he acquired that knowledge of the Indian
language, and that acquaintance with the chiefs of the Nar-
ragansetts, which became so serviceable to him in his ban-
ishment.

His acceptance of their invitation afi'orded sincere and great
pleasure to the church at Salem. His former ministry amongst
them had resulted in a warm attachment, and not a few left
Plymouth to place themselves under his spiritual care. Two

* "Mr. Cotton effectually recommended, that none should be elected
nor electors therein, except such as were visible subjects of our Lord
Jesus Christ, personally confederated in our churches." Mather's Mag-
nalia, b. iii. p. 21.

f Backus, i. 54. Knowles, p. 50.

X Kno-wles, p. 53. Mr. Cotton, in his Answer to Roger Williams,
tells us that " elder Brewster warned the whole chm-ch of the danger of
his spirit, which moved the better part of the church to be glad of his
removal from them into the Bay." Cotton's Answer, p. 4.

224 Sl'RUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

or three weeks only could have passed after his return, when,
on the 3d of September, Mr. Cotton, his destined antagonist
in the strife on Uberty of conscience, landed at Boston, in
company with Mr. Hooker, and Mr. Stone ; which " glorious
triumvirate coming together, made the poor people in the
wilderness to say, That the God of heaven had supplied them
with what would in some sort answer their three great neces-
sities : Cotton for their clothing. Hooker for their fishing, and
Sto7ie for their building."*

John Cotton was the son of a puritan lawyer. Educated
at Cambridge, he had acquired a large amount of learning ;
and by his study of the schoolmen sharpened the natural
acuteness and subtilty of his mind. In theology he was a
thorough Calvinist, and adopted in all their extent the theo-
cratic principles of the great Genevan reformer. On his ar-
rival in New England, he was immediately called upon to
advise and arrange the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the
colony. By his personal influence the churches were settled
in a regular and permanent form, and their laws of discipline
were finally determined by the platform adopted at Cam-
bridge in 1648. The civil laws were adjusted to the pohty
of the church, and while nominally distinct, they supported
and assisted each other. f

Matter for complaint was soon discovered against Mr. Wil-
liams. At Plymouth he had already urged objections relative

* Mather's Magnalia, iii. 20. Cotton's Way of Cong. Churches, pp.
16, 80.

f Knowles, pp. 42, 43. " It was requested of Mr. Cotton " says his de-
scendant Cotton Mather, "that he would from the laws wherewith God
governed his ancient people, form an abstract of such as were of a
moral and lasting equity ; which he performed as acceptably as judi-
ciously. ... He propounded unto them, an endeavor after a theocracy,
as near as might be to that which was the glory of Israel, the peculiar
people." Magnalia, iii. 20. Backus, i. 19.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTT. 225

to tlie royal patent, under which the colonists held their
lands. A manuscript treatise concerning it now became the
subject of consideration by the General Court. In this work,
Mr. Williams appears to have questioned the King's right to
grant the possession of lands which did not belong to him,
but to the natives who hunted over them. Equity required
that they should be fairly purchased of the Indian possessors.
Mr. Williams was "convented" before the Court. Subse-
quently, he gave satisfaction to his judges of his ** intentions
and loyalty," and the matter was passed by. It will be seen,
however, that this accusation was revived, and declared to be
one of the causes of his banishment.*

For a few months, durinsr the sickness of Mr. Skelton, Mr.
Williams continued his ministry without interruption, and
with great acceptance. On the 2d of August, 1634, Mr.
Skelton died, and the Salem church shortly thereafter chose
him to be their settled teacher. To this the magistrates and
ministers objected. His principles were obnoxious to them.
They sent a request to the church, that they would not ordain
him. But in the exercise of their undoubted right the church
persisted, and Mr. Williams was regularly inducted to the
office of teacher.!

Occasion was soon found to punish the church and its re-
fractory minister. On November the lYth, he was summoned
to appear before the Court, for again teaching publicly
"against the king's patent, and our great sin in claiming
right thereby to this country : and for terming the churches
of England antichristian." A new accusation was made on
the 30th of the following April, 1635. He had taught pub-
licly, it was said, *' that a magistrate ought not to tender an

* Knowlea, p. 57, 61. Master John Cotton's Answer to Master Roger
"Williams, p. 4.

f Cotton's Answer, p. 4. Knowles, p. 61. .Mather, vii. 7. Backus,
L 57.

10*

226 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

oath to an unregenerate man, for that we thereby have com=
munion with a wicked man in the worship of God, and cause
him to take the name of God in vain. He was heard before
all the ministers, and very clearly confuted."* In the month
of July he was again summoned to Boston, and some other
dangerous opinions were now laid to his charge. He was ac-
cused of maintaining: — That the magistrate ought not to
punish the breach of the first table, otherwise than in such
cases as did disturb the civil peace : — That a man ought not
to pray with the unregenerate, though wife or child — That a
man ought not to give thanks after the sacrament, nor after
meat. But the aggravation of his offences was that, notwith-
standing these crimes were charged upon him, the church at
Salem, in spite of the magisterial admonitions, and the exhor-
tations of the pastors, had called him to the office of teacher.
To mark their sense of this recusancy, the Salem people
were refused, three days after, the possession of a piece of
land for which they had applied, and to which they had a
just claim.f

This flaOTant wrong; induced Mr. Williams and his church
to write admonitory letters to the churches of which these
magistrates were members, requesting them to admonish the
magistrates of the criminality of their conduct, it being a
*' breach of the rule of justice." The letters were thus
addressed because the members of the churches were the
only freemen, and the only parties interested in the civil
government of the colony. They were without effect. His
own people began to waver under the. pressure of ministerial
power and influence. Mr. Williams's health too gave way,
" by his excessive labors, preaching thrice a week, by labors
night and day in the field ; and by travels night and day to
go and come from the Court." Even his wife added to his

* Knowles, p. 66.

f So Winthrop. Knowles, pp. 68—10. Backus, i. 61, 68.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 227

affliction by her reproaches, ** till at length he drew her to
partake with him in the error of his way." He now declared
his intention to withdraw communion from all the churches
in the Bay, and from Salem also if they would not separate
with him. His friend Endicot was imprisoned for justifying
the letter of admonition, and Mr. Sharpe was summoned to
appear to answer for the same. In October he was called
before the court for the last time. All the ministers were
present. They had already decided " that any one was
worthy of banishment who should obstinately assert, that the
civil magistrate might not intermeddle even to stop a church
from apostacy and heresy."'- His letters were read, which
he justified ; he maintained all his opinions. After a dispu-
tation with Mr. Hooker, who could not " reduce him from
any of his errors," he was sentenced to banishment in six
weeks, all the ministers, save one, approving of the deed.f

Before proceeding to detail the subsequent events of his
history, it will be necessary to make a few remarks on the
topics of accusation which were bought against Mr. Williams.

The causes of his banishment are given by Mr. Williams in
his examination of Mr. Cotton's letter, and with his account
agrees Governor Winthrop's testimony cited above. Mr.
Cotton, however, does not concur in this statement : the two

« Bancroft, i. 373.

f Knowles, pp. 71, 72. The sentence was as follows : — " Whereas Mr.
Roger "Williams, one of the elders of the church of Salem, hath broached
and divulged divers new and dangerous opinions, against the authority
of magistrates ; as also writ letters of defamation, both of the magis-
trates and the churches here, and that before any conviction, and yet
maintaineth the same without any retractation ; it is therefore ordered
that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within
six weeks, now next ensuing, which, if he neglect to perform, it shall be
lawful for the governor and two of the magistrates to send him to some
place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without license
from the Court." Backus, i. 69, 70.

228

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

last causes he denies, giving as his reason, *' that many are
known to hold both those opinions, and are yet tolerated not
only to live in the commonwealth, but also in the fellowship
of the churches." The other two points, he likewise asserts,
were held by some, who yet were permitted to enjoy both
civil and church liberties.* What then were the grounds of
this harsh proceeding according to Mr. Cotton ? They were
as follows : — "Two things there were, which to my best ob-
servation, and remembrance, caused the sentence of his
banishment: and two other fell in that hastened it. 1. His

violent and tumultuous carriage against the patent

2. The magistrates, and other members of the general Court
upon intelligence of some episcopal and malignant practices
against the country, they made an order of Court to take
trial of the fidelity of the people, not by imposing upon them,
but by offering to them an oath of fidelity. This oath when
it came abroad, he vehemently withstood it, and dissuaded
sundry from it, partly because it was, as he said, Christ's pre-
rogative to have his office established by oath : partly be-
cause an oath was a part of God's worship, and God's wor-
ship was not to be put upon carnal persons, as he conceived
many of the people to be." The two concurring causes
were:— ^1. That notwithstanding his "heady and turbulent
spirit," which induced the magistrates to advise the church at
Salem not to call him to the office of teacher, yet the major
part of the church made choice of him. And when for this
the Court refused Salem the parcel of land, Mr. Wilhams
stirred up the church to unite with him in letters of admoni-
tion to the churches " whereof those magistrates were mem-
bers, to admonish them of their open transgression of the rule
of justice." 2. That when by letters from the ministers
the Salem church was inclined to abandon their teacher, Mr.
Williams renounced communion with Salem and all the

* Cotton's Answer, p. 26.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 229

churches in the Bay, refused to resort to public worship, and
preached to " sundry who began to resort to his family," on
the Lord's day.*

On examination, it is evident that the two statements do
not materially differ. Mr. Williams held the patents to be
sinful " wherein Christian kings, so called, are invested with
right by virtue of their Christianity, to take and give away
the lands and countries of other men,"f It were easy to
represent opposition to the patent of New England as over-
throwing the foundation on which colonial laws were framed,
and as a denial of the power claimed by the ministers and
the General Court " to erect such a government of the
church as is most agreeable to the word." Such was Mr.
Cotton's view, and which he succeeded in impressing on the
minds of the magistrates. Mr. "Williams may perhaps have
acquired somewhat of his jealousy concerning these patents
from the instructions of Sir Edward Coke, who so nobly
withstood the indiscriminate granting of monopolies in the
parliament of his native land. J There can be no question
that Williams was substantially right. His own practice,
when subsequently laying the basis for the state of Rhode
Island, evinces the equity, uprightness, and generosity of his
motives. Perhaps too his views upon the origin of all gov-
ernmental power may have had some influence in producing
his opposition. He held that the sovereignty lay in the hands
of the people. K'o patent or royal rights could therefore be
alleged as against the popular will. That must make rulers,
confirm the laws, and control the acts of the executive. Be-
fore it patents, privileges, and monopolies, the exclusive rights
of a few, must sink away.

Moreover, it is clear, from Cotton's own statement, that
this question of the patent involved that of religious liberty.

* Cotton's Answer, pp. 27 — 30.

f Bloody Tenent more Bloody, p. 276. ;}: Bancroft, i. 327.

230 STRUaGLES AND TRIUMPHS

The colony claimed under it the right of erecting a church,
of framing an ecclesiastical polity: and it exercised it. Eccle-
siastical laws were made every whit as stringent as the canons
of the establishment of the mother country. Already we have
seen that church members alone could be freemen. Every
adult person was compelled to be present at public congrega-
tional worship, and to support both ministr}'- and church with
payment of dues enforced by magisterial power.* " Three
months was, by the law, the time of patience to the excom-
municate, before the secular power was to deal with him :"
then the obstinate person might be fined, imprisoned, or
banished. Several persons were banished for noncompliance
with the state religion. f In 1644, a law was promulgated
against the baptists, by which " it is ordered and agreed,
that if any person or persons, within this jurisdiction, shall
either openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of infants,"
or seduce others, or leave the congregation during the ad-
ministration of the rite, they " shall be sentenced to banish-
ment." The same year we accordingly find that a poor man
was tied up and whipped for refusing to have his child
sprinkled.:]: Heresy, blasphemy, and some other the like

* Mr. Cotton pleads that anabaptists and others were not compelled
against conscience ; nor were they punished for conscience' sake ; but
for sinning against conscience. Tenent Washed, pp. 165, 189. Backus, i. 98.

f See Bloody Tenent pp. 186, 381 ; Bloody Tenent more Bloody, p.
122. By the law of September 6, 1638, the time was extended to six
months. Backus, i. 45, 98 ; Bancroft, i. 349.

X " The Lady Moody, a wise and amiable religious woman, being
taken with the error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt withal
by many of the elders and others, and admonished by the church at
Salem." To avoid more trouble, she went amongst the Dutch ; but was
excommunicated. In 1651, the Rev. J. Clarke and Mr. 0. Holmes, of
Rhode Island, for visiting a sick baptist brother in Massachusetts, were
arrested, fined, imprisoned, and whipped. At an earlier period, they
had been compelled to leave Plymouth for their opinions. Mr. Cotton
approved of this. Backus, i. 146, 207, 225.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 231

crimes, exposed the culprit to expatriation. It was against
this course that Mr. Williams afterwards wrote his " Bloudy
Tenent;" and through the "sad evil" "of the civil magis-
trates dealing in matters of conscience and religion, as also of
persecuting and hunting any for any matter merely spiritual
and religious," which he opposed, was he banished.''^

The question of the patent could not therefore be discussed
in the General Court without involving a discussion upon re-
ligious liberty. Mr. Cotton has chosen to make most promi-
nent, in his articles of accusation, the question of the origin
of the patent ; the magistrate, whose statement is adduced
by Mr. Williams, places in the forefront that of the magis-
trate's power over conscience. As the matter stood, these
two subjects were aUied. To doubt the one was to doubt
the other. But Mr. Williams was decided as to the iniquity
of both.

On the subject of the denial of the oath of fidelity, it is
evident, from Mr. Cotton's statement, that the oath owed its
origin to intolerance. Episcopacy should have no place under
congregational rule, no more than independency could be
suffered to exist under the domination of the English
hierarchy. But Mr. Williams appears to have objected to
the oath chiefly on other grounds : it was allowed by all
parties that oath-taking was a religious act. If so, it was
concluded by Mr. Williams, in entire consistency with his
other views, that, 1, It ought not to be forced on any, so far
as it was religious ; nor, 2, could an unregenerate man take
part in what was thought to be an act of religious worship.
Whether an oath be a religious act, we shall not discuss ; but
on the admitted principles of the parties engaged in this strife,
Mr. Williams's argument seems to us irrefragable.

On the concurring causes referred to by Mr. Cotton, it will
be unnecessary to make extended comment. Mr. Cotton and

* Williams's Letter to Endicot. Bloody Tenent more Bloody, p. 305.

232 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS |

Mr. Williams were representatives of the two great bodies of
dissentients from the law-established church of England. One
party deemed it to be an anti-christian church, its rites to be
avoided, its ministry forsaken, its communion abjured : these
were the separatists, or true Nonconformists, to whom Mr.
"Williams belonged.* The other party, although declaiming
against the supposed corruptions of the church, loved its
stately service, its governmental patronage, its common
prayer, and its parishional assemblies :f these were the pu-
ritans who, in New England, became Independents, or Con-
gregationalistsj- — in Old England, during the Commonwealth,
chiefly Presbyterians, and some Independents : to these Mr.
Cotton belonged.

Mr. Wilhams thought it his dutj^ to renounce all connec-
tion with the oppressor of the Lord's people, and also with
those who still held communion with her.§ Let us not deem
him too rigid in these principles of separation. There can
be no fellowship between Christ and Belial. And if, as was
indeed the case, the Anglican church too largely exhibited
those principles which were subversive of man's inalienable
rights, exercised a tyrannous and intolerable sway over the
bodies and consciences of the people, and drove from her
fold, as outcasts, many of her best and holiest children, — it is

* *' Whilst he lived at Salem, he neither admitted, nor permitted any
church members but such as rejected all communion with the parish as-
semblies, so much as in hearing the word amongst them." Cotton's
Answer, p. 64. See p. 397 of the Bloody Tenent.

f " The substance of the true estate of churches abideth in their con-
gregational assemblies." Cotton's Answer, p. 109. Cotton refers here
to the parish congregations.

X Mather's Magnalia, i. 21.

§ Cotton charges Williams with attempting to draw away the Salem
church from holding communion with all the churches of the Bay, " be-
cause we tolerated our members to hear the word in the parishes of
England." Tenent Washed, p. 166.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 233

no wonder that they should in return regard her touch as
polluting, her ecclesiastical frame as the work of anti-christ.
The Congregationalists introduced her spirit and practice
into the legislation of the JSTew World, and it behooved every
lover of true liberty to stand aloof and separate from the
evil. This did Mr. Williams. He was right in regarding
the relation of the Congregational polity to the civil state in
New England as imjylicitly a national church state, although
that relation was denied to be explicitly national by Mr.
Cotton and his brethren. " I affirm," said WilHams, " that
that church estate, that religion and worship which is com-
manded, or permitted to be hut one in a country, natioi^ or
province, that church is not in the nature of the particular
churches of Christ, but in the nature of a national or state
church."*

To this controversy we are indebted for Mr. Williams's book
entitled "Mr. Cotton's Letter, Examined and Answered."
While wanderino- amonor the uncivilized tribes of Indians, Mr.
Cotton's letter came into Mr. Williams's hands. f It seems
to have been a part of a somewhat extended correspondence
between them, and to have originated in Mr. Cotton's two-
fold desire to correct the aberrations, as he deemed them, of
his old friend, and to shield himself from the charge of being
not only an accessory, but to some degree the instigator of
the sentence of banishment decreed against him. His de-
fence of himself is unworthy of his candor, and betrays, by
its subtle distinctions and passionate language, by his cruel
insinuations and ready seizure of the most trifling inaccura-
cies, a mind ill at ease and painfully conscious that he had
dealt both unjustly and unkindly with his former companion

* See Bloody Tenent p. 246. Bloody Tenent more Bloody, p. 230.

f It must have reached Williams after his settlement at Providence.
Cotton, in 164*7, says he wrote it about " half a score years ago," which
would give the date of 1637.

234 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

in tribulation. By some means, but without his knowledge,
Mr. Cotton's letter got into print, to him most "unwelcome;"
and while in England, in 1644, Mr. Williams printed his reply.
It will be seen that Mr. Williams has given the whole of it :
and with scrupulous fidelity, adding thereto his remarks and
reasonings. Mr. Cotton, however, did not hesitate to aver
the righteousness of the persecution and banishment which
Williams endured.*

In the Colonial Records, the date of Mr. Williams's sen-
tence is November 3, (1635). He immediately withdrew
from all church communion with the authors of his suflfer-
ings. A few attached friends assembled around him, and
preparations were made for departure.^ It would seem tliat
he had, for some time, contemplated the formation of a set-
tlement where liberty, both civil and religious, should be en-
joyed. This reached the ears of his adversaries. His
Lord's day addresses were attractive to many, and withdrew
them from the congregations of the dominant sect. Pro-
voked at " the increase of concourse of people to him on the
Lord's day in private," and fearing the further extension of
principles so subversive of their state-church proceedings*
they resolved on Mr. Williams's immediate deportation.
Two or three months had to elapse, of the additional time
granted for his departure, before their sentence could take
effect. Delay was dangerous : therefore the Court met at
Boston on the 11th of January, 1636, and resolved that he
should immediately be shipped for England, in a vessel then
riding at anchor in the bay. A warrant was despatched

* See Examination and Answer, p. 3'7'7. Cotton's Answer, p. 8, 9,
13, 36-39. " I did never intend to say that I did not consent to the
justice of the sentence when it was passed."

f Cotton says, " Some of his friends went to the place appointed by
himself beforehand, to make provision of housing and other necessaries
against his coming." Answer, p. 8. This, however, is very doubtful.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 235

summoning him to Boston. He returned answer tliat his
life was in hazard ; and came not. A pinnace was sent to
fetch him ; *' but when they came to his house, they found
he had been gone three days before, but whither they could
not learn."*

His wife and two children, the youngest less than three
months old, were left behind. By a mortgage on his prop-
erty at Salem he had raised money to supply his wants.
He then plunged into the im trodden wilds ; being *' denied
the common air to breathe in, and a civil cohabitation upon
the same common earth ; yea, and also without mercy and
human compassion, exposed to winter miseries in a howling-
wilderness. "■["

After fourteen weeks' exposure to frost and snow, "not
knowing what bread or bed did mean," he ari'ived at See-
konk,:t on the east bank of Pawtucket river. Here be began
to build and plant. In the following expressive lines he seems
to refer to the kind support afforded him by the Indians : —

" God's providence is rich to his,
Let none distrustful be ;
In wilderness, in great distress,
These ravens have fed me."§

Their hospitality he requited throughout his long life by
acts of benevolence, and by unceasing efforts to benefit and
befriend them. He taught them Christianity ; and was the
first of the American pilgrims to convey to these savage tribes
the message of salvation.

* See Examination and Answer p. S88. Knowles, p. 13. Backus, i.
70. Gov. Winthrop had privately advised him to leave the colony. The
friendship of this eminent man was of frequent service to our exile. Cot-
ton declares that the officer who served the warrant saw " no sign of sick-
ness upon him." Answer, p. 57. This he might not choose to see.

f See Examination and Answer, p. 370, Knowles, p. 395.

X Now called Rehoboth.

I Quoted from his " Key," &c. by Knowles. 101.

236 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

Before his crops were ripe for harvest, he received intima-
tion from the governor of Plymouth, that he had ** fallen into .
the edge of their bounds," and as they were loath to offend
the people of the Bay, he was requested to remove beyond
their jurisdiction. With five companions he embarked in his
canoe, descending the river, till arriving at a little cove on the
opposite side, they were hailed by the Indians with the cry
of " What cheer V'^ Cheered with this friendly salutation
they went ashore. Again embarking, they reached a spot at
the mouth of the Mohassuck river, where they landed, near to
a spring — remaining to this day as an emblem of those vital
blessings which flow to society from true liberty. That spot is
"holy ground," where sprung up the first civil polity in the
world permitting freedom to the human soul in things of
God. There Roger Williams founded the town of Prov-
idence. It was, and has ever been, the "refuge of distressed
consciences." Persecution has never sullied its annals.
Freedom to worship God was the desire of its founder — for
himself and for all, and he nobly endured till it was accom-
phshed.

On reaching Providence, the first object of Mr. Williams
would be to obtain possession of some land. This he ac-
quired from the Narragansett Indians, the owners of the soil
surrounding the bay into which he had steered his course.
By a deed dated the 24th March, 1638, certain lands and
meadows were made over to him by the Indian chiefs which
he had purchased of them two years before, that is, at the
time of his settlement amongst them. He shortly after recon-
veyed these lands to his companions. In a deed dated 1661,
he says, " I desired it might be for a shelter for persons dis-
tressed for conscience. I then considering the condition of
divers of my distressed countrymen, I communicated my said
purchase unto my loving friends [whom he names], who then

* The land at this spot still bears the designation of " What Cheer ?"

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 237

desired to take shelter here with me."* This worthy con-
ception of his noble mind was realized, and he lived to see a
settled community formed wherein liberty of conscience was a
primary and fundamental law. Thirty-five years afterward he
could say, " Here, all over this colony, a great number of
weak and distressed souls, scattered, are flying hither from
Old and New England, the Most High and Only Wise hath,
in his infinite wisdom, provided this country and this corner
as a shelter for the poor and persecuted, according to their
several persuasions. "f

The year 1638 witnessed the settlement of Rhode Island,
from which the state subsequently took its name, by some
other parties, driven from Massachusetts by the persecution
of the ruling clerical power. So great was the hatred or the
envy felt towards the new colony, that Massachusetts framed
a law prohibiting the inhabitants of Providence from coming
within its bounds.:]: This was a cruel law, for thus trading
was hindered with the English vessels frequenting Boston,
from whence came the chief supplies of foreign goods. So
great was the scarcity of paper from this cause among the
Rhode Islanders, that " the first of their writings that are to
be found, appear on small scraps of paper, wrote as thick,
and crowded as close as possible." " God knows," says
Williams, " that many thousand pounds cannot repay the
very temporary losses I have sustained," by being debarred
from Boston. §

In March, 1639, Mr. Williams became a baptist, together
with several more of his companions in exile. As none in the
colony had been baptized, a Mr. Holliman was selected to
baptize Mr. Williams, who then baptized Mr. Holliman and ten

* Knowles, p. 103, 112. Backus, i. 90, 94.
f Letter to Mason. Knowles, p. 398.
:j: Backus, i. 95, 115. Knowles, p. 148.
§ Knowles, p. 149, 896.

238 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

others. Thus was founded the first baptist church in Amer-
ica.=^ On the first of the following July, Mr. Williams and
his wife, with eight others, were excommunicated by the
church at Salem, then under the pastoral care of the cele-
brated Hugh Peters. Thus was destroyed the last link which
bound these exiles to the congregational churches of New
England, where infant baptism and persecution abode, as in
other churches, in sisterly embrace together.^

Mr. Williams appears to have remained pastor of the newly
formed church but a few months. For, while retaining all
his original sentiments upon the doctrines of God's word, and
the ordinances of the church, he conceived a true ministry
must derive its authority from direct apostolic succession or
endowment : that, therefore, without such a commission he
had no authority to assume the office of pastor, or be a
teacher in the house of God, or proclaim to the impenitent
the saving mercies of redemption. It is, however, by no
means clear that he regarded the latter as wrong, for we find
him in after days desiring to print several discourses which he
had delivered amongst the Indians.^ He seems rather to
have conceived that the church of Christ had so fallen into
apostacy, as to have lost both its right form and the due ad-
ministration of the ordinances, which could only be restored
by some new apostolic, or specially commissioned messenger
from above. Various passages in his writings will be met
with which favor this view :§ the following is from his "Hire-
ling Ministry:" "In the poor small span of my life, I de-

Knowles, p. 165. Benedict, p. 441. Backus, i. 105.

f Backus, i. 10*7. Knowles, p, llQ. Hanbury, iii. 511.

X Backus, i. 107, 108. Knowles, p. llO.

§ Cotton says, he fell " from all ordinances of Christ dispensed in any
church way, till God shall stir up himself, or some new apostles, to re-
cover and restore all ordinances, and churches of Christ out of the ruins
of antichristian apostacy." Cotton's Answer, p. 2. The insinuation in
this passage is both unjust and untrue.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 239

sired to have been a diligent and constant observer, and have
been myself many ways engaged, in city, in country, in court,
in schools, in universities, in churches, in Old and New Eng-
land, and yet cannot, in the holy presence of God, bring in
the result of a satisfying discovery, that either the begetting
ministry of the apostles or messengers to the nations, or the
feeding or nourishing ministry of pastors and teachers, ac-
cording to the first institution of the Lord Jesus, are yet re-
stored and extant."* From this passage it would seem that
his objections were rather owing to the imperfection of the
church in its revived condition, than to the want of a right
succession in the ministry. These imperfections could be re«
moved by a new apostoHc ministry alone. He therefore was
opposed to " the oflBce of any ministry, but such as the Lord
Jesus appointeth." Perhaps in the following assertion of
Mr. Cotton we have the true expression of Mr. WiUiams's
views. He conceived "that the apostacy of anti-christ hath
so far corrupted all, that there can be no recovery out of that
apostacy till Christ shall send forth new apostles to plant
churches anew."f

The constantly increasing number of settlers in the new
colony rendered a form of civil government necessary. A
model was drawn up, of which the essential principles were
democratic. The power was invested in the freemen, orderly
assembled, or a major part of them. 'None were to be ac-
counted dehnquents for doctrine, " provided it be not directly
repugnant to the government or laws established." And a
few months later this was further confirmed by a special act,
"that that law concerning liberty of conscience in point of
doctrine, be perpetuated." Thus liberty of conscience was
the basis of the legislation of the colony of Rhode Island,

* Knowles, p. 1*72. Callender's Historical Discourse, by Dr. R
Elton, p. 101.

f Cotton's Answer, p. 9.

240 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

and its annals have remained to this day unsulHed by the
blot of persecution.'* But many were the examples of an
opposite course occurring in the neighboring colony of
Boston. Not satisfied with having driven Williams and many
more from their borders b^ their oppressive measures against
conscience, the General Court laid claim to jurisdiction over
the young and rapidly increasing settlements of the sons of
liberty. This, concurring with other causes, led the inhabi-
tants of Rhode Island and Providence to request Mr. Williams
to take passage to England, and, if possible, obtain a
charter defining their rights, and giving them independent
authority, freed from the intrusive interference of the Massa-
chusetts Bay.

In the month of June, 1643, Mr. Williams set sail from
New York for England, for he was not permitted to enter the
territories of Massachusetts, and to ship from the more con-
venient port of Boston, although his services in allaying
Indian ferocity, and preventing by his influence the attacks
of the native tribes upon their settlements, were of the high-
est value and of the most important kind.f

At the time of his arrival in England, the country was
involved in the horrors of civil war. By an ordinance dated
Nov. 3, 1643, the affairs of the colonies were intrusted to a
board of commissioners, of which Lord Warwick was the
head. Aided by the influence of his friend, Sir Henry Vans,
Mr. Williams quickly obtained the charter he sought, dated
March 14, 1644, giving to the " Providence Plantations in the

* Knowles, p. 181, Callender, p. 159. Backus, i. 112. Bancroft, i.
380. The attachment of the Rhode Islanders to this great principle re-
ceives a curious illustration in the case of one Joshua Verin, who was
deprived for a time of his franchise for refusing to his wife Uberty of
conscience, in not permitting her to go to Mr. "Williams's meeting as
often as requisite. Backus, i. 95.

f Backus, i. 147.

OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 241

Narragansett Bay," full power to rule themselves, by any
form of government they preferred.*

With this charter Mr. Williams, in the summer of the
same year, returned to New England, and landed at Boston,
Sept. I7th, emboldened to tread this forbidden ground by a
commendatory letter to the Governor and Assistants of the
Bay, from several noblemen and members of parliament. The
first elections under this charter were held at Portsmouth in
May, 1641, when the General Assembly then constituted,
proceeded to frame a code of laws, and to commence the
structure of their civil government. It was declared in the
act then passed, " that the form of government established in
Providence Plantations is democratical, that is to say, a
government held by the free and voluntary consent of all, or
the greater part of the free inhabitants." The conclusion of
this Magna Charta of Rhode Island is in these memorable
words : " These are the laws that concern all men, and these
are the penalties for the transgression thereof, which, by com-
mon consent, are ratified and established throughout the
whole colony. And otherwise than thus, what is herein for-
bidden, all men may walk as their consciences persuade them,
every one in the name of his God. And let the saints of
THE Most High walk in this colony without molesta-
tion, in the name of Jehovah their God, forever and
EVER."f Mr. Roger Williams was chosen assistant, and in
subsequent years governor. Thus under the auspices of this
noble-minded man was sown the germ of modern democratic
institutions, combining therewith the yet more precious seed
of religious liberty.

We here trace no further the history of Roger Williams in
relation to the state of which he was the honored founder.
To the period at which we have arrived, their story is indis-

* Backus, i. 148. Knowles, p. 198.
f Elton, in notes to Callender, p. 230. Knowles, p. 208.
11

242 STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

solubly allied together. Others, imbued with his principles,
henceforth took part in working out the great and then un-
solved problem — how liberty, civil and religious, could exist
in harmony with dutiful obedience to the rightful laws. Pos-
terity is witness to the result. The great communities of the
Old World are daily approximating to that example, and re-
cognizing the truth and power of those principles which throw
around the name of Roger Williams a halo of imperishable
glory and renown.

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