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Nonconformity

Nonconformity as a definite ecclesiastical movement in English history may be said to have had its origin in Elizabeth's reign. But regarded as a spiritual force appearing now and again and here and there in the nation, it may be traced back to a much earlier time. All who protested against the prevailing ecclesiastical assumptions of the clergy, and who dared to think and act for themselves in matters spiritual, may be regarded as Nonconformists, and were called to suffer for their faith.

From 1401, when the statute for burning heretics came into force, to 1534, the date of the renunciation of Papal supremacy, no fewer than in persons were burnt at the stake; and from 1534 to 1558, the year Queen Mary died, 337 more were added to the roll of the protestant martyrs. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth it was hoped that a better day had dawned for those men of Puritan sort who desired to see the Reformation carried still further. But, while breaking with the Papacy as completely as did her father before her, the queen was not prepared to yield to what she regarded as their extreme views in the matter of religious ceremonial. She cared for order, pomp, and appearance in the worship of the Church as in other things, and her princely power combined with her indomitable will made her supreme in ecclesiastical affairs. Several of the bishops and divines in the early years of her reign had been in close friendship with the continental Reformers and were prepared to go far in the Puritan direction. But the queen would not hear of it. Bishop Jewell writing to his friend Bullinger at Zurich in 1566 said : "I wish that all, even the slightest vestiges of Popery might be removed from our Church, and above all from our minds. But the queen at this time is unable to endure the least alteration in matters of religion." Thus began that conflict between the individual conscience and the power of the state church which has continued down to our own time.

The rupture between Elizabeth and the Puritan party first took open shape on the promulgation of the orders known as "Advertisements," which, in 1566, specified the minimum of ceremonial the State was prepared to tolerate in the services of the Church. Uniformity was to begin to be enforced at a given date, and deprivation of benefice was to follow in the case of the clergy after three months' refusal of compliance.

The two sides thus haying joined issue the Puritan party became divided, taking different directions. Many of the ministers conformed using only such ceremonial as they were compelled, submitting to many things they did no| approve in the hope of a better time when a simpler and, as they believed, a more scriptural system, might come to prevail. Others, again, while remaining in the Church, sought to bring about a radical change in the direction of Presbyterianism, the discipline of which was elaborately organized both in London and the Midlands, and a literature created which assailed with more and more of vehemence the existing establishment.

The penal laws against Nonconformity, severe before, were made still more severe by the Conventicle Act of 1593, which provided that all persons above 16 years of age being present at unlawful conventicles, should, on conviction, be committed to prison, there to remain without bail or mainprise until they made open submission and declaration of conformity at some church or chapel, or usual place of common prayer. The offender who refused to make such public submission within three months of conviction should be compelled "to abjure this realm of England, and all other the Queen's Majesty's dominions forever."

With the death of Elizabeth and the accession of James I the hopes of the Puritan party once more revived. But again their hopes were destined to disappointment. At the Hampton Court Conference, the King spoke contemptuously of Presbyterianism and declared he would either make these church reformers conform themselves or he would harry them out of the land. The immediate result was that some 300 ministers were ejected from their livings. The Nonconformists who had fled to Holland in search of liberty of worship after the Conventicle Act of IS93 were reinforced from time to time by the arrival of others of like mind.

Especially memorable among these were the members of the little church at Scrooby in Nottinghamshire, who, under the leadership of William Brcwster and John Robinson, fled to Amsterdam in 1608, and subsequently settled in Leyden. This was the church from which, in 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers of New England crossed the Atlantic as the founders of Plymouth Colony.

While the two opposing forces of Catholic tradition and Puritan earnestness were thus contending within the arena of church life, the two opposing forces of absolutism and the desire for popular government were at the same time at war within the political sphere. The men who contended for the divine right of bishops maintained also the theory of absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings. The leaders of the Church made the serious mistake of allying its interests with the side hostile to the constitutional liberties of the nation. With a high-spirited people such a course could only have one issue - that of disaster and overthrow. The attempt to base the Church on the subversion of freedom ended in civil war and the temporary overthrow of the very institutions the advocates of absolute government sought to maintain.

With the restoration of the monarchy there came back also the episcopal system of government in the Church. In 1662 the Act of Uniformity cast out 2,000 of the ministers as being unable to give unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in the Book: of Common Prayer. From that hour Nonconformity took definite and permanent shape in English national life. It defied all attempts to crush it out of existence. The Conventicle Acts of 1664 and 1670 sent thousands of godly people to prison where many of them died in the pestilential jails of the time. Others were ruined by heavy fines and the spoiling of their goods, but the more Nonconformity was oppressed the more it grew, and at length by the Declaration of Indulgence of 1672 the government was compelled to admit that no fruit had been gained by these forceful courses.

When William of Orange landed at Torbay. 5 Nov. 1688, the hour of deliverance had struck. The Revolution of 1688 was followed by the Toleration Act of 1689 which repealed the Penat Acts and permitted Nonconformists to erect their own places of worship which were registered, and so placed under the protection of the State.

The political history of Nonconformity in the 18th century is largely concerned with the endeavor to set aside certain disabilities to which its adherents were still subjected, the Toleration Act notwithstanding. The Corporation Act of 1661 provided that no person could be elected as mayor, alderman, recorder, bailiff, town clerk, or commoncouncilman who had not previously taken the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of Enf»land. The Test Act of 1673, though aimed mainly at the Roman Catholics, by widening the scope of the Corporation Act told heavily also against Protestant Nonconformists.

In 1812 the Quakers' Oaths, the Conventicle and Five-Mile Acts, which till then had remained on the statute book, were repealed, and the Free Churches were placed, in respect to legal protection from disturbance during times of public worship, on an equality with the Established Church. The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828 was followed by. the great Reform Bill of 1832 which did much to introduce the rule of the middle class in English society. The result was a large accession to the strength of Nonconformity, both political and social. Their influence entered more fully into the stream of the national life. They were found taking active part in Parliament and in municipal councils, the national universities were thrown open to them in 1871.