Failure of the Presbyterian Experiment of the 1640’s and 1650’s

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Failure of the Presbyterian Experiment of the 1640’s and 1650’s

‘The years 1640-60 witnessed the most complete and drastic revolution

which the Church of England has ever undergone’[1].

With the ending of the civil war, institutions of State collapsed with

leading figures put on trial and executed. The 1640’s was a time of

immense political upheaval and saw the emergence of a myriad of

independent or semi- independent sects. The Presbyterian movement

gained its strength from a union between the laity and the church of

those who believed that Presbyterian Puritanism was the only way to

guarantee religious stability. With the price of War having been

exacted in human suffering, the Presbyterians, with the backing of the

Government, were intent that peace should prevail under Presbyterian

values. However, although around seventy classes of Presbyterian

churches had been initially formed, by the 1650’s only a few remained

active. This essay looks to explain what factors contributed to this

demise.

There are two salient arguments advocated by scholars for this.

Firstly the existing and deep rooted allegiance of many lay people to

the Church of England and secondly with diversity of belief allowed to

flourish; there was a loss of national identity therefore engendering

no national loyalty to the Presbyterian cause. So were the

Presbyterians ‘undone by an unlimited Christian liberty’[2]? Or did

the strength of the Anglican Church win through? What seems certain

is that by the mid 1650’s those that had welcomed revolution were

‘appalled by the Pandora’s box which they had unwittingly opened’[3]

and were socially, politically ...

... middle of paper ...

... The Godly Nation’’ in John Morrill

(ed) Oliver Cromwell and The English Revolution. pg

[6] J.F McGregor. ‘’The Baptists: Font of all Heresy’’ in J.F McGregor

and B.Reay (ed) Radical Religion in the English Revolution. Pg 24-27

[7] M,Goldie. Pg 295

[8] B.Capp. ‘’The Fifth Monarchists and popular millenarianism’’ in

J.F McGregor and B.Reay (ed) Radical Religion in the English

Revolution. Pg 165.

[9] B.Reay. ‘’Quakerism and society’’ in Radical Religion in the

English Revolution. Pg 164

[10] B.Reay ‘Radicalism and Religion in the English Revolution: an

Introduction’ in Radical Religion in the English Revolution. Pg 9.

[11] J.Morrill ‘The Church in England 1642-9’ in Reaching to the

English Civil War 1642-1649. Pg 90

[12] M.Goldie. Pg 295

[13] Morrill. The impact of the English Civil War. Pg 66

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