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OF THE

PURITAN S,

OR

PROTESTANT NON-CONFORMISTS,

FROM THE

REFORMATION

TO THE

DEATH OF QUEEN ELIZABETH:

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF

THEIR PRINCIPLES; THEIR ATTEMPTS FOR A FURTHER REFORMATION
IN THE CHURCH; THEIR SUFFERINGS; AND THE LIVES AND
CHARACTERS OF THEIR MOST CONSIDERABLE DIVINES.

IN FIVE VOLUMES.

BY DANIEL NEAL, M. A.

A NEW EDITION,

REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ENLARGed,

BY JOSHUA TOULMIN, D. D.

TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED,

SOME MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE AUTHOR.

VOL. I.

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they
are written for our admonition.....1 Cor. x. 11.

PUBLISHED

BY CHARLES EWER, PORTSMOUTH, N. H. AND WM. B. ALLEN & CO.

NEWBURYPORT, MS.
1816.

Wm. B. Allen & Co. Printers.

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HE design of the following work is to preserve the memory of those

good men among the prefer

ments in the church, for attempting a further reformation of its discipline and ceremonies; and to account for the rise and progress of that separation from the national establishment which subsists to this day.

To set this in a proper light it was necessary to look back upon the sad state of religion before the Reformation, and to consider the motives that induced King Henry VIII. to break with the pope, and to declare the Church of England an independent body, of which himself, under Christ, was the supreme head upon earth. This was a bold attempt, at a time when all the powers of the earth were against him; and could not have succeeded without an over-ruling direction of Divine Providence. But as for any real amendment of the doctrines, or superstitions of popery, any further than was necessary to secure his own supremacy, and those vast revenues of the church which he had grasped into his hands, whatever his majesty might design, he had not the honor to accomplish.

The reformation made a quick progress in the short reign of King Edward VI. who had been educated under protestant tutors, and was himself a prodigious genius for his age; he settled the doctrines of the church, and intended a reformation of its government and laws; but his noble designs were obstructed by some temporizing bishops, who, having complied with the impositions of King Henry VIII. were willing to bring others under the same yoke; and to keep up an alliance with the church of Rome, lest they should lose the uninterrupted succession of their characters from the apostles. The controversy that gave rise to the SEPARATION began in this reign, on occasion of bishop Hooper's refusing to be consecrated in the popish habits: This may seem an unreasonable scruple in the opinion of some people, but was certainly an affair of great consequence to the reformation, when the habits were the known badges of popery; and when the administrations of the priests were thought to receive their validity from the consecrated vestments, as I am afraid many both of the clergy and common people are too inclinable to apprehend at this day. Had the reformers fixed upon other decent garments, as badges of the episcopal or priestly office, which had no relation to the superstitions of popery, this controversy had been prevented. But the same regard to the old religion was had in revising the liturgy, and translating it into the English language; the reformers, instead of framing a new one in the language of holy seripture, had recourse to the offices of the church of Rome, leaving out such prayers and passages as were offensive, aud adding certain responses to en

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