The Beginners of a Nation: A History of the Source and Rise of the Earliest English Settlements in America, with Special Reference to the Life and Character of the PeopleEggleston, Edward
History
The Beginners of a Nation: A History of the Source and Rise of the Earliest English Settlements in America, with Special Reference to the Life and Character of the People
Eggleston, Edward
United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
In the contentions of the English at Frankfort, resulting now in the
exiling from the city of one beaten minority and now in the departure
of another, and in the driving away of one leading disputant after
another, there appeared at length the features of the two great
parties of English Protestantism face to face for the first time. One
of these parties tried to hold all of antique ritual that the
Protestant conscience could be made to bear, insisted upon the
superior authority of the clergy, and sought to disturb as little as
possible the ancient order of the English church. On the other hand,
in the rapid changes produced by the Frankfort contentions, the
tendency of the ultra wing of the Protestants to the notion of a local
and independent church and to a democratic church government was
already apparent. Even the peculiarity of two ministers presiding over
one church, which was cherished later in New England, appeared among
the English at Frankfort and Geneva at this time.
[Sidenote: A purified ritual.]
[Sidenote: Note 4.]
While attempting to mediate between the parties at Frankfort, Calvin
expressed his preference for a ritual of greater purity than that
established by the English Prayer Book of King Edward's time. Extreme
Protestants rallied round this ideal of a liturgy purified of human
tradition. It was some years later, after the Frankfort church had
been dissolved and the exiles had returned to England, that this party
came to be known by the name of Puritan--that is, a party not so much
bent on purity of conduct as on purifying Protestant worship from
mediæval forms.
[Sidenote: Return of the exilies, 1558.]
After the death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth the English
Protestants returned to their own country. The two great parties that
were to divide the English church had already begun to crystallize.
Those who had settled at Strasburg and Zurich came back hoping to
re-establish the Anglican Church on the conservative basis of the
Prayer Book of Edward VI. Those who returned from Basel and Geneva had
caught the spirit of the Calvinistic churches, and wished to push the
reformation to a more logical extreme; while the Frankfort church, or
what remained of it, had been storm-driven well-nigh to a theory of
congregational independence in church government.
[Sidenote: Results.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account