English Puritan Emergence of Puritan It started during

English Puritan

Emergence of Puritan • It started during the reign of Mary Tudor as she persecuted the Protestant. They fled to Europe continent. In Frankfurt, these exiles was divided into two, those who still believed the common Book of Prayer and the radicals. The last group went to Geneva where the need of further reformation was welcome in this city. They accepted the idea of Protestantism and especially Calvin idea. When Elizabeth reigned in England they were back to their homeland.

The Puritans • They tried to purify the church of England. They called themselves as “godly” but their opponents called them as “puritan. ” After sometimes, it was a popular name for this group. 3

Elizabeth and the Puritan • Elizabeth had to face the rising power of the Puritans, who asked her to change the Episcopal form of state church into a Presbyterian form of state church. It means that church government should not be based on political government control, but under a Presbytery of bishops and/or elders chosen by the church and having only spiritual functions. 4

Characteristic of the Puritans— 1 • 1. Contended that too many “rags of popery” were still in the Anglican Church. • 2. Insisted on Bible as the only infallible rule of faith and life. • 3. Wanted to “purify” the Anglican Church in accordance with the Bible (Puritan). • 4. Objected to careless observance of Sabbath (Sunday). • 5. Objected to the continued use in the liturgy ritual and vestments that seemed popish to them.

Characteristic of the Puritans— 2 • 6. Condemned extreme fashions in dress, lack of conscience for sin. • 7. Opposed the use of saint’s days, clerical absolution, the sign of the Cross, the custom of having godparents in baptism, kneeling for Communion, and the use of the surplice by the minister. • 8. Followed William Ames’ (1576 -1633) and William Perkins’ (1538 -1602) interpretations of Calvin. Cambridge became the center for the Puritans.

Characteristic of the Puritans— 3 • 9. Witnessed to God’s sovereignty in Christ’s loving redemption under the new covenant, urged meditation on the authoritative, inspired Bible, emphasized life’s transitoriness, insisted on the need of constant reformation, and promoted a theology intended to soften the heart and enlighten the conscience.

Tension between the Queen and Puritans • Many lawyers, merchants, and wealthy people became Puritans. • In 1593 Elizabeth put forth an act against the Puritans. It gave the authority to imprison the Puritans if they did not attend the Anglican Church.

Presbyterian and Congregationalism • It is important to remember that the Puritans were not dissenters but a party in the Anglican Church who wanted a Presbyterian (in the case of Cartwright and his followers) or a Congregational (in the case of Henry Jacob and his followers) state church.

Independents and Separatists • Congregational was known as Independents. • The Independents must be distinguished from the Separatists, who wanted separation of church and state and congregational government of the church.

Similarities between Congregationalism and Separatism • 1. Both groups continued to grow in strength in spite of opposition from the ruler and to give useful criticism to the Church of England. • 2. Both condemned extreme fashion of dress, laxity in keeping Sabbath (Sunday), and the lack of consciousness of sin.

Puritan, Nonconformist, and Denominationalism • The Puritan movement was the root of English nonconformist sects and New England Congregationalism. • The principle of denominationalism, which was to supersede the state church of the Reformation, began with Puritans.

Thomas Cartwright and Presbyterianism— 1 • The emergence of Thomas Cartwright (1535 -1603) as professor of theology at Cambridge in 1570 shifted the emphasis in the Puritan efforts from reform of liturgy to reform in theology and church government. • Cartwright’s followers adopted a Calvinistic theology that would make the Thirty-nine Articles even more Calvinistic. • In his lecture, Cartwright opposed government by bishop. The government of the church should be in control of a presbytery of bishops or elders who had only spiritual functions. This system was essentially the Calvinistic system of church government by elders who were elected by the congregation.

Thomas Cartwright and Presbyterianism— 2 • Later Cartwright translated Walter Travers’ Ecclesiastical Discipline which advocated the setting up of a presbytery in every diocese of the church. • Cartwright laid the foundation of the English Presbyterianism that was so influential between 1643 and 1648. The first Presbyterian Church was established in 1572. Presbyterianism in modern England owes its existence to Cartwright’s initial work

Henry Jacob and Congregationalism— 1 • A number of Puritans who did not follow the Presbyterian pattern of Cartwright adopted the ideas of Henry Jacob (1563 -1624). • 1. Jacob may be considered the founder of the Independents or Puritan Congregationalists. • 2. The Independents were not the separatists such as Robert Browne and his followers. • 3. Jacob was imprisoned for his view that each congregation was to be left free in the state church to choose its own pastor, determine its policies, and manage its own affairs.

Henry Jacob and Congregationalism— 2 • 4. About 1606 Jacob migrated to Holland became the minister of Englishmen in Middleburg. • 5. Jacob returned to England in 1616 and became the pastor of a congregation of Independents in Southwark, London, from 1616 to 1622. • 6. Independent or Congregational Puritanism in England grew slowly, but under Oliver Cromwell it became more powerful than Presbyterianism. Cromwell and Milton were Independents.

Henry Jacob and Congregationalism— 3 • 7. In 1658 at Savoy in London, Congregationalist followers of Jacob and Separatist congregations formulated a Calvinistic creed known as the Savoy Declaration. • 8. English Congregationalism is a lineal descendant of this Puritan Congregationalism rather than that of the Separatist Congregationalism of Robert Browne.

Separatist Puritan • The major point of difference between the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Independent Puritans and the Separatist Puritans was the idea of the church covenant. The Separatist Puritans wanted to have the church covenant which bound them to Christ and one another apart from a state church.

The first two groups of Separatists • The earliest group of Separatists was organized by Richard Fitz about 1567. • Robert Brown, who graduated from Cambridge in 1572, also gathered a group under a church covenant in 1580 or 1581. From there he was forced to flee with his congregation to Holland, where he wrote three treatises which elaborated the principles of Separatist Congregationalism.

Third group of Separatists— 1 • A third Separatist group of Congregationalists appeared in Gainsborough and Scrooby in 1606. • Because of persecution the Gainsborough group migrated to Amsterdam in 1606 or 1607 under the leadership of John Smyth (1565 -1612). There they came under the influence of the Mennonites. Smith baptized Thomas Helwys and John Murton. Thomas Helwys, John Murton, and their followers returned to England about 1611 or 1612 and organized the first English Baptist Church. It means that the first English Baptist Church emerged from the Separatist Congregationalist group.

Third group of Separatists— 2 • The stronger Calvinistic Baptists originated from Henry Jacob’s congregation in London in 1633 and 1638. The antecedents of the American Baptist movement are to be found in this group. • The Scrooby group was led by John Robinson, and finally settled in Leyden, Holland, in 1608. William Bradford (1590 -1657), of later fame in Plymouth, became a member of this group. It was members of this group who finally migrated to America in 1620 in the Mayflower.

Puritans and James I of England • When James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, the Puritans hoped that this Calvinistic king would set up a Presbyterian government in the Anglican Church. But James became angry, refused and said that he would “harry them out of the kingdom” if they would not conform. • King James gave permission for a new English translation of the Scriptures known as the King James Version. The Translation was completed in 1611.

Issues between Puritans and James I • The issues between James and the Puritans included more than the religious disagreement over Presbyterian or Episcopal forms of government for the state church. – 1. The judicial issue – The struggle between the legal, common-law courts of England the extra-legal court system that the Tudors had set up to give them complete control of their subjects. – 2. Another issue concerning the question as to whether monarch or Parliament was sovereign – Was the king the divinely appointed sovereign responsible only to God, or was he appointed by the consent of the people in Parliament? – 3. Economic issue – Whether the king could levy taxes or whether that was the exclusive prerogative of Parliament.

Puritan and Charles I • Since Charles I, who was pro-Catholic, many Puritans (at least twenty thousand) left England migrated to America between 1628 and 1640. • Charles’ appointment of William Laud (1573 -1645), a man of small statue and narrow mind, as the archbishop of Canterbury created a strong opposition from the Puritans. – Laud was an Arminian, and appointed Arminians to the best church positions. – Laud forced a new Book of Common Prayer on the Church of Scotland in 1637 and provoked the struggle between the Puritans and their rulers.

The Scots and Laud • The Scots rebelled against Laud’s attempt to change their liturgy, polity, and faith in order to promote religious uniformity in the two lands (England Scotland).

Scotland vs England • In 1638 the Scottish people signed a national covenant to defend Presbyterianism and invaded England. Charles tried to repel the invaders but finally had to buy them off. • The Scots marched into England a second time. To get more money, Charles called a Parliament in 1640, which was known as the Long Parliament because it continued until 1660.

Initial works of long Parliament A Roundhead by John Pettie • The Long Parliament (1) imprisoned or executed Charles’ advisers; (2) abolished all the illegal courts; (3) took control of finance in the state; but (4) could not reach an agreement on the subject of religion. (Moderates, who wanted to retain episcopacy, were known as the Royalists or Cavaliers, and the Puritan country gentry and merchants, who desired Presbyterian or Congregational polity and doctrine, were known as Puritans or Roundheads). Ringlet hair

English Civil Wars • In 1642 the Royalists withdrew from Parliament after Charles tried to arrest five members of the House of Commons for treason. So Civil War, which was to last until 1646, began (first civil war 1642 -1646). • After a short second civil war in 1648 (second civil war 1648 -1649), Charles was executed in 1649. Under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell (1599 -1658), the Puritans (Presbyterian government) controlled England until 1660.

The Work of Long Parliament (1643 -1647) • The Parliament, in the meantime (1) abolished episcopacy in 1643; (2) commissioned the Westminster Assembly, composed of 151 English Puritans; (3) accepted the Solemn League and Covenant of 1638; (4) added eight Scottish Presbyterians to advise on the creed of the national church; (5) the Directory of Worship along Presbyterian lines was completed in 1644, which was accepted by both the Scottish and England Parliament; (6) the Longer and Shorter Catechisms were also completed by 1647; and (7) the real work of the Westminster Assembly of divines was completed.

Long Parliament in 1660 • After Cromwell’s death in 1660, the Long Parliament (1) voted itself out of existence; (2) tired of the strict way of life of the Puritans, recalled Charles II to become their ruler; (3) adopted Episcopacy again; (4) forbade the meetings of Puritans (about 2000 Calvinistic clergymen were driven from their churches, and Puritanism became a part of the nonconformist tradition of England); (5) its most distinguished writers were John Milton (1608 -1674) –Paradise Lost, and John Bunyan (1628 -1688) – Pilgrim’s Progress; and (6) James II persecuted the Scottish Presbyterians in a “killing time” until he was driven from England in the Glorious Revolution of 1689.