CHAPTER I APPARENT DEFEAT OF PURITANISM ACCESSION OF JAMES-THE MILLENARY PETITION-PROCLAMATION AGAINST PETITIONS-" SUPPLICATION OF THE EXILES IN HOLLAND AND THEIR BRETHREN IN ENGLAND-THEIR STATEMENT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL POSITION-RECEPTION OF THE "SUPPLICATION "-CONFERENCE OF PURITANS AND ANGLICANS AT HAMPTON COURT-THE KING'S BEHAVIOUR-RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCEBANCROFT APPOINTED ARCHBISHOP-PROTEST OF PARLIAMENT AGAINST UNDUE Rigour-CANONS OF 1604 CREATE NEW Offences -POWER OF THE CROWN TO REGULATE THE CLERGY CONFIRMED BY THE JUDGES-PURITANS AND SEPARATISTS DRIVEN ABROAD BY INCREASED SEVERITY-VIGOUR OF PURITANISM ABATINGCATHOLIC REVIVAL IN THE CHURCH. LIZABETH died on March 24, 1602-3, and James was at once proclaimed as her successor. Whitgift sent the Dean of Canterbury as soon as the Queen was dead to assure him of the loyal support of the bishops and to implore his favour for the Church. I On his way to London in April, the Puritans met him with what was called the Millenary Petition. The promoters--as shown by the text of the petition-intended to get it signed by a thousand ministers; but they were probably obliged to present it before they had completed their canvass; there were about eight hundred signatures, which were obtained from twenty-five counties.1 Nothing could have have been more moderate than the requests of the petitioners. They asked for the relaxation of the laws enforcing those 1 The number of signatories is given by Fuller, v. 265, as 750, on the authority of Samuel Clarke's Life of Hildersham (at the end of his General Martyrologie [1651], 377). Neal, ii. 4-6, says not more than 800." ceremonies to which the least violent of the Puritans had always objected. They asked that more care might be taken to prevent the entrance of men into the ministry who had neither learning nor piety, and who could not preach. They prayed the King not to suffer Popish doctrines to be taught in the pulpits of a Protestant Church. They suggested some reforms in the ecclesiastical courts, and a more equitable and efficient administration of the revenues of the Church. They declared explicitly that they were not favourable to what they called "a popular parity in the Church"; by which they meant that they did not ask for the abolition of bishops and the establishment of a Presbyterian polity. Other memorials poured in upon the King supporting the general prayer of the Millenary Petition; among the rest, one from the justices of the peace of the county of Lancaster, who bore a strong testimony to the worth of the Puritan clergy. The agitation alarmed the King. In October, 1603, he issued a proclamation in which he said : "Hereafter, if any shall either by gathering the subscriptions of multitudes to supplications, . . . by contemptuous behaviour, . . . by open invectives and indecent speeches either in the pulpit or otherwise, or by disobedience to the processes proceeding from their jurisdiction, give us cause to think, that he hath a more unquiet spirit, than becometh any private person to have toward public authority, we will make it appear by their chastisement, how far such a manner of proceeding is displeasing to us. . . . We admonish all men hereby to take warning, as they will answer the contrary at their peril." II The Congregational exiles in Amsterdam sent over a deputation-including probably Francis Johnson and Henry Ainsworth-praying that they might be allowed to live in peace in their native land without being urged to “the use or approbation of any remnants of popery and human traditions." They also presented a "Supplication" to James, in which they set out the "heads of differences" between 2 For the petition itself, see Fuller, v. 305-309, and Neal, 1.c. • Dexter, 306, note 48. 66 themselves and the English Establishment. In this “ Supplication" they were joined by their brethren who were still enduring "grievous persecution' in England. The document recites in fourteen paragraphs the chief positions for which the early Congregationalists contended. It affirms: 1. That the Church is a divinely constituted Society, and that the will of its Founder determines its polity. In opposition to Whitgift and others who maintained that Christ has given to the Church no definite constitution, and that, therefore, the civil magistrate or the Church itself may vary the organisation of the Church at pleasure, the petitioners assert "That Christ the Lord hath by his last Testament given to his Church, and set therein, sufficient ordinary Offices, with the manner of calling or Entrance, Works, and Maintenance, for the administration of his holy things, and for the sufficient ordinary instruction guidance and service of his Church, to the end of the world." 2. That every separate society or congregation is absolutely independent and possesses all the powers which Christ has conferred on His Church. 3. That the Christian Church should consist only of Christians "joined together by voluntary profession of the faith of Christ in the fellowship of the Gospel." 4. "That discreet, faithful, and able men (though not yet in office of ministry) may be appointed to preach the Gospel"; and their converts may organise themselves into Churches without the intervention or aid of Bishop or Presbyter. Churches may be founded by laymen. 5. That a Christian Society so organised has power to appoint its own officers-" Pastors, Teachers, Elders, Deacons, and Helpers." 66 6. That Christian ministers should not-as ministershold civil offices, nor be burdened with the execution of civil affairs, as the celebration of marriage, burying the dead, which things belong as well to those without as within the Church." 7. That the ministers of the Church should be supported by the free contributions of their people : "That the due maintenance of the Officers aforesaid, should be of the free and voluntary contribution of the Church, that according to Christ's ordinance, they which preach the Gospel may live of the Gospel and not by Popish Lordships and Livings, or Jewish tithes and Offerings. And that, therefore, the Lands and other like revenues of the Prelates and Clergy yet remaining (being still also baits to allure the Jesuits and Seminaries into the Land, and incitements unto them to plot and prosecute their wonted evil courses, in hope to enjoy them in time to come) may now by your Highness be taken away, and converted to better use, as those of the Abbeys and Nunneries have been heretofore by your Majesty's worthy predecessors, to the honour of God and great good of the Realm." 8. That no Church should be so large that its members cannot meet together for worship and discipline. The power of discipline lies in the Christian people as well as in the church officers. 9. That the Church should not be governed by Popish Canons or by any "human inventions," but by the laws of Christ recorded in the New Testament. Apocryphal Scriptures should not be used in the Church. And the Lord should be worshipped and called upon in spirit and truth, according to that form of prayer given by the Lord Jesus, Matt vi., and after the Liturgy of his own Testament, not by any other framed or imposed by men, much less by one translated from the Popish Liturgy, as the Book of Common Prayer, etc." IO. That the sacraments, being seals of God's Covenant, ought to be administered only to the faithful, and Baptism to their seed or those under their government." Both Sacraments should be separated from " Popish " and " other abuse." II. That all Holy Days except the Lord's Day should be abolished. No ceremonies not imposed in Holy Scripture should be imposed by human authority. What God has left free, none ought to bind. 12. That all monuments of idolatry such as Popish vestments, "all Temples, Altars, Chapels, and other places dedicated heretofore by the Heathens or Antichristians to their false worship, ought by lawful authority to be rased and abolished." 13. That Popish degrees in Theology, compulsory celibacy in Colleges," abuse of the study of profane heathen writers,” The "Seminary" priests. and other like corruptions in Schools and Academies should be discontinued. 14. "Finally, that all Churches and people (without exception) are bound in Religion only to receive and submit unto that Constitution, Ministry, Worship and Order, which Christ as Lord and King hath appointed unto His Church : and not to any other devised by Man whatsoever." 6 66 The men who submitted to James this bold scheme could have had no hope that he would accept it. For some weeks their Supplication" received no answer, and then “an honourable personage suggested that they should state as briefly as possible what they wanted, and offered to place their requests before the King. They replied, (1) That they wished to be allowed to live in England, as the French and Dutch Churches were allowed to live there, organising their Churches, and worshipping God according to their own conception of the will of Christ. (2) That they were loyal subjects, and were content to leave to his Majesty the redress of the abuses of which they had complained. (3) That they were willing to discuss, either in writing or in a Conference, with any persons that his Majesty might appoint, the fourteen propositions in which they had declared their differences from the English Church. What answer James gave to this appeal is unknown. III In the Millenary Petition the moderate Puritans had declared their readiness to explain their wishes more fully, either by writing or "by conference among the learned." The King determined to comply with this suggestion, and in the Proclamation which discouraged petitioning he announced his intention of calling an Assembly to consider whether there was anything in the settlement of the Church which “might deserve a review and amendment." 8 This was quite in James's manner; and it was in harmony with the constitution and traditions of the Establishment. • Contained in An Apologie or Defence of such True Christians as are commonly (but unjustly) called Brownists. (1604), 36-38. The fourteen propositions are argued in detail, with evidence from Scripture, 41-81. 7 Ibid., 82. 8 See above, p. 178. |