Chapter 16—The Pilgrim Fathers
The English reformers, while renouncing the doctrines of Roman-
ism, had retained many of its forms. Thus though the authority and the
creed of Rome were rejected, not a few of her customs and ceremonies
were incorporated into the worship of the Church of England. It was
claimed that these things were not matters of conscience; that though
they were not commanded in Scripture, and hence were non-essential,
yet not being forbidden, they were not intrinsically evil. Their obser-
vance tended to narrow the gulf which separated the reformed churches
from Rome, and it was urged that they would promote the acceptance
of the Protestant faith by Romanists.
To the conservative and compromising, these arguments seemed
conclusive. But there was another class that did not so judge. The
fact that these customs tended to bridge the chasm between Rome
and the Reformation, was in their view a conclusive argument against
retaining them. They looked upon them as badges of the slavery from
which they had been delivered, and to which they had no disposition
to return. They reasoned that God has in his Word established the
regulations governing his worship, and that men are not at liberty to
add to these or to detract from them. The very beginning of the great
apostasy was in seeking to supplement the authority of God by that
of the church. Rome began by enjoining what God had not forbidden,
and she ended by forbidding what he had explicitly enjoined.
Many earnestly desired to return to the purity and simplicity which
characterized the primitive church. They regarded many of the estab-
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lished customs of the English church as monuments of idolatry, and
they could not in conscience unite in her worship. But the church,
being supported by the civil authority, would permit no dissent from
her forms. Attendance upon her service was required by law, and
unauthorized assemblies for religious worship were prohibited, under
penalty of imprisonment, exile, and death.
At the opening of the seventeenth century the monarch who had
just ascended the throne of England declared his determination to
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