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Ecclesiology, Piety, and Presbyterian and Independent Polemics During the Early Years of the English Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2015

Youngkwon Chung
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Abstract

Religious controversy swept across England during the revolutionary decades of the 1640s and 1650s. Historians have studied the attendant ecclesiological debates meticulously. The piety as practiced by the puritans has also been carefully examined. Yet generally, these two subjects of ecclesiology and piety have been kept as separate compartments of analysis. The plethora of tracts that rolled off the press during the initial years of the 1640s, nevertheless, shows that many contemporary polemicists were keen to tie the two themes together. The Presbyterian and Independent polemicists were no exception. As this article seeks to demonstrate, a common feature of their publications was the belief that their preferred ecclesiastical polity best served the purpose of promoting individual piety and creating a godly society. Thus the Presbyterian and Independent conflict waged not only over issues of ecclesiology proper such as categories of church offices and of governing councils or composition of church membership to which historians have directed their attention hitherto, but also over questions of how ecclesiology affected piety. Such conflict was a reflection of the commitment of Presbyterians and Independents to their respective vision of reformation for the country. More broadly, this article shows a facet of religious controversy that ultimately led to the disintegration of the godly community and weakened the base of support for the Commonwealth and the Protectorate.

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Articles
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Church History , Volume 84 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 345 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 2015 

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References

1 Edwards, Thomas, Reasons against the Independant Government of particular Congregations (London, 1641)Google Scholar, epistle dedicatory.

2 Drysdale, A. H., History of the Presbyterians in England: Their Rise, Decline, and Revival (London: Publication Committee of the Presbyterian Church of England, 1889), 264–331Google Scholar. For a background to the pamphlet controversy, see Woolrych, Austin, Britain in Revolution 1625–1660 (New York: Oxford University, 2002), 155–233CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Holmes, Clive, Why Was Charles I Executed? (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2006), 1–69Google Scholar; Braddick, Michael, God's Fury, England's Fire: A New History of the English Civil Wars (London: Allen Lane, 2009), 113–238Google Scholar.

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6 Goodwin et al., Apologeticall Narration, 9.

7 Anon., Syons Prerogative Royal (London, 1641)Google Scholar, 6, 7. This tract affirmed the typical Congregational view that civil magistrates retained jurisdictional authority over individual churches.

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9 Burton, Henry, Christ on His Throne (London, 1640)Google Scholar; Burton, Henry, The Protestation Protested (London, 1641)Google Scholar. Marshall, Stephen et al. , An Answer to a Book Entituled An Humble Remonstrance (London, 1641)Google Scholar; Marshall, Stephen et al. , A Vindication of the Answer (London, 1641)Google Scholar.

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12 Goodwin et al., Apologeticall Narration, 3.

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17 For instance, Shaw's discussion of such texts as the Directory for Public Worship, Confession of Faith, and Larger and Shorter Catechisms was concerned more with the process of its formulation and conflict among interested parties rather than the nature of piety it outlined. Shaw, William, A History of the English Church during the Civil Wars and under the Interregnum 1640–1660, 2 vols. (London: Longmans, Green Co., 1900) iiGoogle Scholar, 338–384. Also see Drysdale, History of the Presbyterians, 264–331.

18 For example, see Spurr, John, English Puritanism 1603–1689 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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35 Anon., Appeale to Every Impartiall, Judicious, and Godly Reader, 10. The presence of the monarch or a royal commissioner was also a feature of the national synod. See anon., Beauty of Godly Government, 10.

36 Deacons attended the meetings of a consistory, but this was only to make factual report of their activity rather than to voice their opinion.

37 Anon., Ecclesiasticall Discipline of Reformed Churches, 30; Anon., Beauty of Godly Government, 10, 11.

38 Henderson, Government and Order of the Church, 59.

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57 Cotton, John, The True Constitution of a particular Visible Church, Proved by Scripture (London, 1642), 10Google Scholar.

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62 Burton, Protestation Protested, sig. C2.

63 Cotton, True Constitution, 10.

64 Ibid., 13.

65 Goodwin et al., Apologeticall Narration, 6, 7, 11.

66 Geree, John, Vindiciae Voti (London, 1641)Google Scholar, sig. E2; Kenneth Gibson, “John Geree” ODNB online.

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70 Ibid., sig. C.

71 Goodwin et al., Apologeticall Narration, 8.

72 Haller, Liberty and Reformation, 113, 114; Woolrych, Britain in Revolution, 297.

73 Henderson, Government and Order of the Church, 18.

74 Anon., Ecclesiastical Discipline of Reformed Churches, 4.

75 Marshall et al. An Answer, 24, 91.

76 John 21:15–17 and I Peter 5:1–4, English Standard Version.

77 Henderson, Government and Order of the Church, 17. Also see Milton, Of Reformation, 51.

78 Anon., Orders for Ecclesiastical Discipline, 24, 25.

79 Anon., Ecclesiastical Discipline of the Reformed Churches, 6.

80 Paul, Assembly of the Lord, 158–163.

81 Anon., Orders for Ecclesiasticall Discipline, 6.

82 Henderson, Government and Order of the Church, 28–30.

83 Ibid.

84 Ibid.

85 Anon., Orders for Ecclesiasticall Discipline, 6.

86 Cotton, John, The Doctrine of the Church, to Which Is Committed the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven (London, 1642), 2Google Scholar.

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89 Quoted in Paul, Assembly of the Lord, 160.

90 Cotton, Doctrine of the Church, 2.

91 Abbott, William, “Ruling Eldership in Civil War England, the Scottish Kirk, and Early New England: A Comparative Study of Secular and Spiritual Aspects,” Church History 75, no. 1 (March 2006): 38CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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98 Anon., Ecclesiastical Discipline of Reformed Churches, 14.

99 Anon., Forme of Prayers, 8.

100 Also see Abbott, “Ruling Eldership.”

101 Goodwin et al., Apologeticall Narration, 8. Also see Paul, Assembly of the Lord, 142.

102 Anon., Presbyteriall Government Examined, 1.

103 Cotton, Doctrine of the Church, 3.

104 Anon., Presbyteriall Government Examined, 1, 4.

105 Cotton, Doctrine of the Church, 4; Paul, Assembly of the Lord, 172, 173, 201. Also see Van Dixhoorn, Chad, The Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly 1643–1652, 5 vols. (New York: Oxford University, 2012) iiGoogle Scholar, 12.

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109 Acts 6:1–7, ESV.

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