Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/640

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628 CHURCH OF ENGLAND the churches, where they were accessible at all times. The details of this great change, and the growth and change of opinion among the people, appear in the lives of Sir Thomas More, Wolsey, Fisher, Thomas Cromwell, Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, and in the " Bishop's Book, or the Godly and Pious Institutions of a Christian Man" (repuhlished in 1543 and called the "King's Book," because issued by royal au- thority), and the " Book of Articles, devised by the King's Highness Majestie to stablyshe Christen Unitie." The "Forty-two Articles" (afterward the " Thirty-nine Articles "), drawn up under Edward, summarize the views of the church of England in regard to her position, and her refusal to submit to the corruptions and as- sumptions of Rome. On the death of Edward VI. Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. and Catha- rine of Aragon, Henry's first wife, ascended the throne. She was a devout adherent of the papal authority, and set herself to secure its recogni- tion in England. To prepare the way for the realization of her object, an important change was made in the position of the bishops. Some were declared to be no bishops, because they were married men ; some were deprived of their sees because they had been appointed to them only during the good pleasure of the king. Five were condemned and burned at the stake, among the 280 martyrs who perished during this reign. Thus under Mary's rule the state again became Roman Catholic ; but in about five years she died, and was succeeded by Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn, who brought back the reformed faith and usages. The "Act of Uniformity," passed in the first year of her reign, restored the " Book of Com- mon Prayer." All the bishops except one, Kitchin of Llandaff, refused to take the oath of uniformity, and were ejected from their sees to the number of 14 ; the 11 remaining sees were vacant by death. Their places were filled, though with some difficulty ; but of the 9,400 beneficed clergy fewer than 200 gave up their livings. In 1563 the XXXIX articles were finally reviewed and subscribed. There was a continual struggle between the Calvinistic Puritans and the more conservative church- men. Toward the close of the reign of Eliza- beth her favorite archbishop, Whitgift, drew up, in concert with the bishop of London and other theologians, the instrument known as the "Lambeth Articles," which is strongly Calvin- istic. On the other hand, the Hampton Court conference, January, 1604, although formally an attempt to satisfy the Puritans, in fact decided every important point against them. In the reign of Charles I. the ecclesiastical administra- tion was principally directed by Archbishop Laud, whose opposition to the Puritans was manifested in the persecutions of the high com- mission. These oppressions, added to the civil oppressions of the star chamber, resulted in the overthrow and death of King Charles, and from 1653 to 1660 the church of England was practically suspended. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 came the restoration of the church. The popular reaction against Puritanism was complete. The Savoy confer- ence in 1661 failed to effect any reconciliation, and the act of uniformity in 1662 resulted in the ejection of 2,000 nonconformist or Presby- terian ministers from their livings. In 1687 James II., who was a Roman Catholic, issued the "Declaration of Indulgence," which pro- fessed to permit liberty of conscience to all his subjects, but was really in the interests of the Roman Catholics only. Of the 25 bishops, 18 refused to publish the declaration in their dio- ceses. Seven of them drew up a remonstrance to the king, and were summoned before the privy council and thrown into the tower. Their trial, which resulted in their acquittal, was one of the leading causes of the revolution of 1688, although on the accession of William of Orange eight of the bishops and about 400 of the clergy refused to swear allegiance to him, and became known as the "nonjurors." In the first year of the reign of William and Mary the "Toleration Act" was passed, and dissent ceased to be illegal. The violent dis- cussions of the doctrines put forth by Bishop Hoadley in the lower house of convocation, in 1717, led to the dissolution of the convocation and the restriction of its jurisdiction. The pe- riod of strife was followed by a period of dul- ness and indifference, which gave occasion to the Wesleyan or Methodist movement, and the rise of the evangelical schools of Newton, Top- lady, and Simeon; and this in turn led in 1833 to the publication of the " Oxford Tracts," and that effort to revive the principles and practices of the mediaeval church which has been char- acterized as " Puseyism." These controversies have resulted within the church in the forma- tion of three well recognized schools, known under the designations of high church, low church, and broad church. The high church- men regard the apostolical succession, in the three orders of the ministry, as of divine au- thority and obligation, and the sacraments as channels of grace. With the extreme low churchmen episcopacy is rather an expedient than a necessary form of church government, while they sympathize with the general doc- trinal views of the evangelicals of continental Europe. The broad churchmen are unwilling to be called a party, but stand in some degree antagonistic to both the high and low church parties, and embrace within their ranks some of the most gifted and intellectual men of the church, including a number of the extreme ra- tionalists, and are more tolerant of difference of dogmatic belief. More recently the church has given much of its strength to works of benevolence and to the evangelization of the masses; while there has been great variety both of doctrinal opinion and of liturgical ob- servance. Under Charles I. an unsuccessful effort was made to extend the church of Eng- land over Scotland. The act of union, which went into effect Jan. 1, 1801, united the