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PURITAN SEPARATISM
by Randall Hillebrand
. Puritanism was initially a movement starting within the Church of
England under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The objective of
Puritanism was to completely regenerate the English Church with
Calvinistic reform.
. The duration of Puritan history in England was from 1559 to 1660,
with 1620 being the year that Puritans left England for America. From
1559 to 1593, the governing class of England became protestant. The
House of Commons then raised up a Protestant National Church which
Elizabeth decided would keep the Catholic distinctive of ruling
bishops.
This upset many that had already felt that the Church of
England had preserved too many of the relics of the Catholic Church.
Total reform and absolution from the Catholic Church was called for by
this group who wanted the Word of God to be the standard by which the
church would be run. This radical group became known as the Puritans
-- ones who wanted to purify the church of all ceremonies, vestments
and customs that were inherited from the medieval church.
. Within the Puritan camp were many different views on how the
church should be purified. Out of these many views there were two
main divisions, the Separatists and the Nonseparatists.
Separatists, a very small group of Puritans from around the latter
part of Elizabeth's reign, were Christians that wanted a thorough
reform in the church. When this group finally came to the conclusion
that the Church of England was beyond purification, they separated
themselves from the church and formed a number of small churches.
They then elected pastors and elders which would govern these newly-
formed assemblies. The Separatists were a threat to the established
church, though small in number, because they started to consistently
draw new converts. Because of this the Church of England started to
persecute them which was one of the reasons they left for America.
. The other division within the Puritan camp, the Nonseparatists,
had a different philosophy by which to purify the established church.
This group was more patient while waiting for reform. During this
time of persecution of the Separatists under Elizabeth and James I,
the Nonseparatists found freedom to carry out reform within the
church. This was due to the fact that they did it in an agreed upon
and organizational type format, which was accepted by both Elizabeth
and James.
. When pressure was applied to them, they would use the common-law
courts to defend their rights. They also did not condemn the
established church as a false church, although they did acknowledge
its many problems and corruptions. This view was expressed well by a
Nonseparatist named Francis Higginson who is reported to have said on
board a ship leaving the shores of England for America:
. "We will not say as the Separatists are wont to say at their
leaving England, 'Farewell Babylon, Farewell Rome'; but we will say,
'Farewell dear England, Farewell the Church of God in England and all
the Christian friends there.' We do not go to New England as
Separatists from the Church of England, though we cannot but separate
from the corruption in it."
(From Religion in America by Winthrop S. Hudson.)