a catalogue, lord bishop, suffragan, dean, archdeacon, &c. they add, "All which, together with their offices, as they are strange and unheard of in Christ's church; nay plainly in God's word for bidden, so are they utterly, with speed, out of the same to be removed." Ib. p. 4. "You [the parliament] must displace those ignorant and unable ministers already placed, and in their rooms appoint such as both can and will, by God's assistance, feed the flock." Ib. p. 5. "To redress these, your wisdoms have to remove, as before, ignorant ministers; to enjoin deacons and midwives not to meddle in minister's matters; if they do, to see them SHARPLY PUNISHED.' ." Ib. p. 7. Deacons are classed with midwives; and sharp punishments are required to be inflicted on them for officiating as ministers, when deacons had been considered, from time immemorial, one order of ministers in the Christian church, and as such were solemnly ordained in the church of England! Again, in the same admonition, "You may not do as heretofore you have done, patch and piece; nay, rather go backward, and never labour or contend to perfection. God has by us revealed unto you, at this present, the sincerity and simplicity of his gospel; not that you should, either wilfully withstand, or ungraciously tread the same under your feet; for God doth not disclose his will to any such end; but that you should yet now at the length, with all your main and might, endeavour that Christ, whose easy yoke and light burthen we have of long time cast off from us, might rule and reign in his church." This easy yoke and light burthen was the Geneva platform of church discipline. In the second admonition, written by Cartwright, in the name of the whole body of the puritans, the parliament were told, "That the state did not shew itself upright, allege the parlia ment what it will; that all honest men should find lack of equity, and all good consciences condemn that court; that it should be easier for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for such a parliament; that there is no other thing to be looked for than some speedy vengeance to light upon the whole land, let the politick Machiavils of England provide as well as they con, though God do his worst; and finally, that if they of that assembly would not follow the advice of the first admonition, they [the puritans] would infallibly be their own carvers in it; the church being bound to keep God's order, and nothing to be called God's order but their present platform." What would a legislature, at the present day, think of being thus admonished by a number of private citizens, and they clergymen ! In another piece, entitled “ a supplication to the high court of parliament," we find these words: "Unless without delay, you labour to cleanse the church of all lord bishops, dumb ministers, non-residents, archdeacons, commissaries, and all other Romish officers and offices, there tolerated, and so tolerated, as by the consent and authority of the parliament they are maintained; that you are, both in this life and the life to come, likely to be subject unto the untolerable mass of God's wrath, the execution whereof is not unlikely to fall upon you and your houses, unless you prevent the fierceness of the Lord's indignation." Supplic. p. 18. So again, p. 19. "Shall you of the high court of parliament be dispensed with, being guilty (except you labour to remove the dumb ministry, non-residents, with the usurped and anti-Christian seats of lord bishops, &c.) of tolerating and establishing greater sins, &c.—not to be tolerated by your authority, unless think that you may tolerate sin by your laws; nor yet once to be spoken for or countenanced, unless you would plead for Baal." This extract clearly shows, that their design was, to erect their system upon the ruins of that which then existed; to make the Genevan platform the establishment, removing you the bishops and all the clergy who were not of their own party, and refusing toleration to episcopalians, however conscientious they might be, because it would be unlawful to tolerate sin. Similar language was used in addresses to the queen. In a petition, said to be from the commonalty, occur the following expressions: "And to conceal nothing from your majesty, we are greatly moved at the hearing of the sermons of the godly preachers; for they plainly say, that if the Lord his matters [i. e. the Geneva platform] be not regarded, but still cast aside, and temporal security sought for only by the wisdom of man, that then there is a heavy judgment provided by the Lord, and a black cloud hanging in the air, for that he will not be continually rejected," &c. This was written at a time when the kingdom was threatened with an invasion; and that the queen might be looked upon as the cause of the calamities of the nation, because she would not comply with the demands of the party, they add, "God hath many times, and by divers means, heretofore knocked, not only by his gracious blessings and sundry petitions, but also by his fearful threatenings. For undoubtedly as often as the Lord hath shaken his iron rod at your grace, by the sons of Belial, the papists, so many times hath he shewed himself offended and displeased, for that you have not as yet given unto him the honour of his temple, and the glory of his sanctuary. Wherefore, most gracious sovereign, let him not have the occasion to shake his rod any " &c. As to themselves they say, that God had withdrawn his judgments upon their account, "having respect to his name, and to the prayers of his little flock." At the same time, their injunction to the queen is, "Make an entire and simple confession of your sins. If, after this humble confession of sins, with a full resolution to remove them, and, first of all, this dumb minis. try, which is the foulest of all, you shall also offer to the Lord in his temple the more, sacrifice of a holy, learned ministry, that he may smell a savour of rest; then, undoubtedly, he will be appeased towards this land." The foulest of all the queen's sins was the dumb ministry, i. e. the bishops and conforming clergy: and when she had confessed and removed this sin, and offered to the Lord in his temple the sacrifice of a holy, learned ministry, i. e. established the puritan ministers, as rulers of the church, then the Lord would smell a savour of rest, as he did when Noah offered a sacrifice after the deluge, and his anger would be appeased. The same spirit and temper were displayed in the famous libels, under the signature of Martin Mar-prelate, which, it has been already observed, were written by some of the leading puritans. Take the following address to all the clergy, part ii. My desire is, to have the matter tryed, whether your places ought to be tolerated in any Christian commonwealth? I say they ought not.” Thus again: "This 66 learned discourse is a book* allowed by ALL the puritan preachers in the land who would have all the remnants and relicts of antichrist banished out of the church, and not so much as a lord bishop, (no, not his grace himself,) dumb minister, (no, not dumb John of London himself,) non-resident, arch-deacon, abby-lubber, or any such loyterer, tole rated in our ministry." Will any one say, after reading these extracts from the authentick and official documents of the puritans, that their object was to obtain a toleration for themselves, or to practise toleration towards others? Will any one say, that theirs was a quiet and peaceable religion, or that they had any idea of what is now meant by the term religious liberty? *A treatise, by the puritans, entitled "A learned discourse of ecclesiastical government," which was answered by Dr. Bridges, dean of Sarum, and afterwards bishop of Oxford, in his "Defence of the government established in the church of England, for ecclesiastical matters." 4to. 1587. Or will any candid man affirm, that the blame of those unhappy dissentions and severities, is to rest entirely upon the episcopal part of the church of England? We are apt to judge of the actions of past times, by the prevailing opinions of the present; but this inevitably leads to wrong conclusions. Schism has now become so common, that it is scarcely regarded as a crime. The smallest and most trifling diversities of sentiment are now thought sufficient to warrant the separation of Christians into different communions. In short, the question to what religious society men are to belong, is now most generally decided by accidental circumstances, by taste or fancy, and sometimes by political views, and other motives of worldly interest. It was not so then. The only thing which was then considered as justifying separation was the requisition of sinful terms of communion. In this principle all Christians were agreed. When, therefore, queen Elizabeth came to the throne, and the church of England was to be settled in a permanent form, and its rules made the law of the land, not a single individual in the nation had any idea of a separation into different communions. For ten years after her accession, the papists continued to attend the parish churches, and receive the communion from the parish clergy. Nor was it till the pope had issued his bull of excommunication against Elizabeth, in 1568, that they withdrew and formed separate assemblies. In settling the church, therefore, it was the object of the queen, and of the wise statesmen by whom her councils were chiefly directed, to conduct all the details of the ecclesiastical establishment in such a manner as might harmonize the discordant materials of which her king dom was composed. If all who had renounced the errours of the church of Rome had united in effecting this great object, it was probable, as far as human perspicacity could judge, that, after a few years had given strength to the requisitions of government, and animosities had been suffered to subside and soften, the whole nation would have been united in one communion. But this goodly design was marred by the opposition of the small but active party who, while in exile, had become attached to the Genevan system of discipline.* They in fact made a diversion in favour of popery. They established their presbyteries two years before the papists separated. And it is a well established fact, that their proceedings were a cause of great rejoicing at Rome; that they encouraged the popish party to greater exertions; and that they were fomented by emissaries, sent expressly, with a license from the pope, to assume the character of puritan teachers Political motives, too, were as strong as religious, for the preservation of unity. The popish party were still strong. Many of the most powerful and wealthy, among the nobility and gentry, were still wedded to the faith, and ceremonies, and external splendour, of the Romish ritual. Great numbers of the bishops and clergy still remained, who, though deprived and overawed by the strong hand of government, would have been ready to take advantage of another revolution, as they did in the days of Mary. The most powerful governments of Europe, Spain, France, and Austria, were subject to the influence of the pope, and ready to invade England, whenever a favourable opportunity should be presented. Unity, therefore, being required by the strongest motives which could operate on the human mind, and being the sole object of all parties in the state, the question between the government that the English exiles at Geneva, who *It is computed, by bishop Maddox, were the germ of the puritans, did not amount, ministers and people, to more than one hundred. And of these ministers, several, though they preferred the Geneva model, yet could, and actually did, comply with the established form, and were beneficed in the church. and the puritans was reduced to a sin gle alternative Either the puritans were to be put into power, and the Genevan system established by law; or else the existing establishment must be supported, and the puritans required to conform to it. If the first part of the alternative had been adopted, what would have been the consequence? Episcopacy would have been proscribed; Calvinism would have been made the law of the land; the great majority of the clergy would have been expelled, or forced to compliance from unworthy motives; the great body of the nation would have been made to yield to the humours of a few; the papists would have been strengthened by the co-operation of the Lutherans and EpiscopaJians; the foreign potentates would have received a powerful support in their projected invasion; and the government might have been overturned, and popery again established. On the other hand, the reformation of the church of England, as it had been established by king Edward, was held in great esteem abroad; was looked upon by the most temperate protestants, as a happy medium between the Calvinists and Lutherans; had been settled upon very mature advice and consideration; had not only been twice before confirmed by parliament, but had also been universally complied with. This gave the queen a great advantage when the popish bishops advised her "not to be led astray and persuaded to embrace schisms and heresies, in lieu of the catholick faith," for she justly replied, that she should embrace what they themselves had formerly complied with; and then asked who were the schismaticks and hereticks? When the emperor and the popish princes warmly interposed for the popish bishops and clergy, she was able to return for answer, that they opposed the laws and peace of the realm, by wilfully rejecting what many of them had publickly owned and declared in their sermons, during the reign of Edward. It was of great consequence to the queen to be able to give so good a reason, when she refused a favour importunately asked by such formidable powers. All these advantages would have been lost, if the Genevan system had been adopted, after the lapse of a few years. It would have justly exposed the English reformation to the charge of instability; would have destroyed the respect of foreign nations, and rendered the queen contemptible even in the eyes of her own subjects. The question, therefore, which presented itself, even in a political point of view, to the then existing government, was not whether there was to be any establishment at all, for on this point puritans and papists did not differ from the reigning authority; but whether king Edward's reformation, as reestablished by queen Elizabeth, was more proper and comprehensive than the Geneva platform? Was it better accommodated to take in the generality of the nation, and unite protestants? If so, the exclusion of those who were unalterably attached to another form, was an effect that necessarily followed the establishment of the better plan. Whether the government were guilty of excessive rigour in the prosecution of their design, is a question which is not to be determined in the abstract, but must be viewed in connexion with the temper and the principles of the times, and the peculiar dangers to which the government of England was exposed. Boston, January 5, 1822. J. PRAYER FOR WINTER. TRANSLATED FROM ERASMUS. O GOD, most wise, Maker and Governour of the universe, obeying whose commands the world is changed by set seasons, and through them ever revolves-behold, winter, as if the old age and death of the year is come; whose gloom and inclemency, that we may the more lightly bear them, the grateful spring is made quickly to succeed. So, after the manner of the year, this our corporeal man flourisheth in infancy, glows in youth, matureth in a riper age; as time glides on, declineth and expires. But the horrours of death are stilled by the hope of a resurrection, which hath been made most sure to us, through the promise of thy Son, who is truth eternal, and who can no more be deceived, or deceive, than cease to be thy Son. Through him, our spiritual man knoweth not old age nor death; but by his continual grace, buds in innocence, advanceth in piety, beareth fruit and disseminates to others, what it hath received from him; and the more the vigour of the body declineth, so much the more doth the spirit flourish. We pray, that those things, which thou hast seen fit to grant by thine only Son, thou wouldst deign to fositer and to increase, through him, who liveth with thee, and reigneth for ever. Amen. Angel immortal, yet had heard them never: Sole on thy throne of might: Refulgent pow'r, *The tutelar genius of Sion or Jerusalem. † The heavens. |