The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol. I., Part E.: From Charles I. to Cromwell
David Hume · en
In the summer of 1643, while the negotiations were carried on with
Scotland, the parliament had summoned an assembly at Westminster,
consisting of one hundred and twenty-one divines and thirty laymen,
celebrated in their party for piety and learning. By their advice,
alterations were made in the thirty-nine articles, or in the
metaphysical doctrines of the church; and what was of greater
importance, the liturgy was entirely abolished, and in its stead a new
directory for worship was established; by which, suitably to the spirit
of the Puritans, the utmost liberty both in praying and preaching was
indulged to the public teachers. By the solemn league and covenant,
episcopacy was abjured, as destructive of all true piety; and a national
engagement, attended with every circumstance that could render a promise
sacred and obligatory, was entered into with the Scots, never to
suffer its readmission. All these measures showed little spirit of
accommodation in the parliament; and the king's commissioners were not
surprised to find the establishment of presbytery and the directory
positively demanded, together with the subscription of the covenant,
both by the king and kingdom.[**]
* Whitlocke, p. 121. Dugdale, p. 758.
** Such love of contradiction prevailed in the parliament,
that they had converted Christmas, which with the churchmen
was a great festival, into a solemn fast and humiliation;
"in order," as they said, "that it might call to remembrance
our sins and the sins of our forefathers, who, pretending to
celebrate the memory of Christ, have turned this feast into
an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal
and sensual delights." Rush. vol. vi. p. 817. It is
remarkable, that as the parliament abolished all holydays,
and severely prohibited all amusement on the Sabbath; and
even burned, by the hands of the hangman, the king's Book of
Sports; the nation found that there was no time left for
relaxation or diversion. Upon application, therefore, of the
servants and apprentices, the parliament appointed the
second Tuesday of every month for play and recreation. Rush.
vol. vii. p. 460. Whitlocke, p. 247. But these institutions
they found great difficulty to execute: and the people were
resolved to be merry when they themselves pleased, not when
the parliament should prescribe it to them. The keeping of
Christmas holydays was long a great mark of malignancy, and
very severely censured by the commons. Whitlocke, p. 286.
Even minced pies, which custom had made a Christmas dish
among the churchmen, was regarded, during that season, as a
profane and superstitious viand by the sectaries; though at
other times it agreed very well with their stomachs. In the
parliamentary ordinance, too, for the observance of the
Sabbath, they inserted a clause for the taking down of