original principles when the need for organisation was no longer pressing.
The restoration of Charles II. was due to the combination of Anglicans and Presbyterians against the Independents. Puritanism, in the days of its ascendency, had not commended itself to the heart of the English people. The leaders of the old puritan clergy had joined the Presbyterians and regarded the Independents with suspicion, while they hoped for comprehension within the re-established State Church. In that expectation they were disappointed; and we may regret that wise statesmanship did not devise a means of temporary compromise. But on the broad ground of principle their disappointment was inevitable, for the puritan party had unfortunately deserted its old ground and had adopted the Presbyterian system. Other differences might have been arranged, but the recognition of episcopacy was essential. When this was refused, reconciliation became impossible. The Church, deprived of its most spiritual element, suffered a loss from which it did not for long recover. Puritanism sank into dissent, and was concerned mainly with maintaining its own existence. The State pursued the old road of attempting to establish uniformity by coercion, till weariness and failure led to some measure of toleration which grew into religious liberty.
This historical sketch may serve to show the conditions which produced Congregationalism and which stamped their mark, the great characteristic of the congregational system. The aim of that system is freedom; to obtain freedom it sacrifices even the idea
