THE

PURITANS
THEIR
HISTORY
AND
HEROICS

STEVEN J. LAWSON
STEVEN J. LAWSON is President and founder of OnePassion Ministries,
a ministry designed to equip biblical expositors to bring about a
new reformation in the church. Dr. Lawson hosts The Institute for
Expository Preaching in cities around the world. Dr. Lawson is also a
Teaching Fellow for Ligonier Ministries, where he serves on its board.
Moreover, he is Professor of Preaching and Dean of the the Doctor of
Ministry program at The Master’s Seminary, where he also serves on its
board. Dr. Lawson has written 28 books including: John Knox: Fearless
Faith, and his lastest, The Moment of Truth, published by Reformation
Trust. Further, Dr. Lawson serves as the Executive Editor for Expositor
Magazine published by OnePassion Ministries.
 THE PURITANS:
THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

STEVEN J. LAWSON
The Puritans: Their History and Heroics
Steven J. Lawson

Originally published in Expositor Magazine, Issue 9, January/February 2016

Design and Layout by Dustin W. Benge

© 2018 OnePassion Ministries

PO Box 601649, Dallas, TX 75360
Email: contact@onepassionministries.org | 214-269-1819
onepassionministries.org
 CONTENTS

THE PURITAN ERA 6

BIBLES AND KINGS 13

THE COMMONWEALTH 22

KILLING TIME 33
JOHN KNOX ( C. 1513 – NOVEMBER 24, 1572)
 1
THE PURITAN ERA

F
ew generations ever assembled on the stage of human history have
been more devoted to living for the glory of God than the Puritans
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. J. I. Packer has labeled
these titans of church history, “the California Redwoods in the for-
est of Christianity.” Deeply rooted and grounded in the Scripture, J.
C. Ryle asserted that in power as preachers, expositors, and writers, “the Puri-
tans in their day were second to none.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones boldly maintained
that “all that is good in evangelicalism finds its roots in Puritanism.” With me-
ticulous discipline, the Puritans took the robust theology of the Reformers and
were resolved to live it out in every area of their Christian lives.
Strictly speaking, the Puritans were devout men and women within the
Church of England at this time who sought to purify its doctrine and worship.
More broadly speaking, it can be argued that the Puritan spirit also animated
those Nonconformists outside the national English church who embraced the
same core beliefs and implemented them with the same fervor, and this brief
history assumes something of that breadth and continuity. Such believers were
first given the nickname “Puritan” in the early 1560s as a term of derision due
to their efforts to conform the national church in England to the standard

7
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

of Scripture - to purify it in faith and practice. Sound in doctrine and strong

in their devotion, the Puritans distinguished themselves by their unwavering
loyalty to the supreme authority of God’s Word. They insisted that the beliefs
and practices of the Anglican Church must yield to the higher sovereignty of
biblical truth. As they followed in the footsteps of the Reformers, the Puritans
became the new champions of sola Scriptura—Scripture alone.

JOHN KNOX: THE FIRST PURITAN?

According to Martyn Lloyd-Jones, it is possible to see the Puritan era begin-
ning with the noted Reformer, John Knox. In September 1552, this fiery Scot
became a royal chaplain to King Edward VI and was charged with traveling
throughout England to preach the word and spread the Protestant faith. By
this commission, he frequently preached before the King at such notable plac-
es as Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, St. James’s Palace, and Westminster
Abbey. Lloyd-Jones notes that this assignment positioned Knox “right in the
centre of affairs in England.” Knox used this strategic placement to challenge
the prescribed public worship within the Church of England, which he be-
lieved retained elements of Catholic influence. Knox believed that under the
previous king, Henry VIII, the national church had not gone far enough in its
separation from Rome.
One typical area of concern had to do with kneeling at communion as pre-
scribed in the edition of The Book of Common Prayer issued in 1549. The
Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, insisted that when taking com-
munion, one should kneel before the bread and wine. Knox vehemently de-
nounced this practice as resembling Catholicism and failing “to conform to
Christ.” This clash with Knox forced Cranmer to produce a Second Book of
Common Prayer (1552) with an addition known as the Black Rubric which
clarified that kneeling was not an act of worship toward the elements. William
Blaikie writes that this bold attempt to purify the practices of the Church of
England entitles Knox to be considered the “founder of Puritanism.”

REIGNS OF TERROR AND TOLERANCE

Tragic to the initial Puritan cause was the early death of King Edward VI in

8
EDWARD VI (OCTOBER 12, 1537 – JULY 6, 1553)

9
 STEVEN J. LAWSON

KNOX BELIEVED THAT UNDER

THE PREVIOUS KING, HENRY VIII,
THE NATIONAL CHURCH HAD
NOT GONE FAR ENOUGH
IN ITS SEPARATION
FROM ROME.

1553. This Protestant monarch died while yet a teenager. He was succeeded to
the throne by his half-sister, Mary I, the only child of Henry VIII and his first
wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive to adulthood. A staunch Catholic, Mary
I sought to reverse the advances of her Reform-minded predecessor. Known as
‘Bloody Mary,’ she launched a reign of terror in which she burned at the stake
some 288 believers with Puritan-like convictions. Under her intense persecu-
tion, many Protestants were driven out of England to find safety on the European
continent. Numbers of exiles fled to Geneva, where they attended the English-
speaking church pastored by John Knox. In this Swiss city of refuge, these Prot-
estant Englishmen learned a distinctly God-centered Christianity where John
Calvin was teaching the Scripture-regulated simplicity of Reformed worship.
Mary I died in 1558 and was replaced by her half sister, Elizabeth I. With a
new queen on the throne, the Marian exiles returned to England and brought
with them their hopes of continuing the changes that had began under Edward
VI. These Protestant pastors, theologians, and laymen attempted to bring the
Church of England into further conformity to Scripture. They diligently sought
a more comprehensive reformation of church government and worship than had
been previously implemented. In the early years of her reign, the English Puritan
movement took a more visible form, though not completely so. Elizabeth I effec-
tively established the Church of England as merely a compromise between Ro-
man Catholicism and Protestantism. Her Acts of Uniformity in 1659-1662 left
the church only “half reformed.” Though sympathetic to Protestants, she refused
to drop all Rome-like practices of worship in the Church of England.

10
 HENRY VIII (JUNE 28, 1491 – JANUARY 28, 1547)

MARY I (FEBRUARY 18, 1516 – NOVEMBER 17, 1558)

11
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

KING JAMES I CROWNED

During this time, Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicated the throne of Scotland after
suffering multiple confrontations with Knox in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh.
Succeeding her to the throne was her infant son, James VI, who was crowned
King of Scotland in 1567 at age thirteen months. The royal ceremony occurred
at Stirling, Scotland, where Knox preached the service. Four different regents
governed Scotland until King James came of age and took full control of the
Scottish government in 1583.
In 1603, Elizabeth I died childless, ending the Tudor dynasty over England
and Ireland. Her senior advisor, Robert Cecil, made successful arrangements
for James VI of Scotland—the great-great grandson of Henry VII—to succeed
her to the throne. At age thirty-seven, James VI of Scotland became James I
over Scotland, England, and Ireland, the first monarch to reign over all three
realms. Upon his ascension, the Puritans believed that James I, raised as a Cal-
vinist, would bring the cause of the Reformation to a fuller realization in Eng-
land. In 1603, the Puritan leaders met with the new king at Hampton Court
Palace to present their requests in The Millenary Petition. This document is
said to have contained the signatures of 1000 Puritan ministers and called for
yet further reform in the church. But they were soon disappointed.

12
JAMES VI AND I (JUNE 19, 1566 – MARCH 27, 1625)

13
 2
BIBLES AND KINGS

T
he advisors around James I counseled him to counter the teach-
ing of the Geneva Bible with its marginal notes that - among other
things considered objectionable - called for greater allegiance to
God than to earthly kings. The solution was that James I launched
his own Bible project, often called the Authorized Version—later
known as the King James Version. Begun in 1604, the translation work was
accomplished by forty-seven scholars, all members of the Church of England,
and was completed in 1611. This new English translation was produced from
the original languages of the Bible, Hebrew and Greek, and included the Apoc-
rypha. The purpose was to replace the Geneva Bible with its Protestant study
notes that were contradicting the teaching of the Church of England.
Seeking to expand his influence, James I attempted to impose the worship
liturgy of the Church of England upon the Church of Scotland. The Five Arti-
cles of Perth were decreed in 1618, and required kneeling at the Lord’s Supper
as it was made compulsory in England. Further, it mandated private commu-
nion for the sick, infant baptism not later than one Sabbath after birth, epis-
copal confirmation, and the observance of holy days such as Christmas and
Easter. These five articles were met with vigorous resistance by the Scots who

14
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

MANY PURITANS WERE

GROWING RESTLESS IN THEIR
EFFORTS TO REFORM THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

held strong views on these matters. Nevertheless, the articles were reluctantly
accepted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1618.
Many Puritans were growing restless in their efforts to reform the Church
of England. A number chose to remove themselves from national English
Church, and these Separatists journeyed to other lands in search of religious
freedom. This included the Pilgrims, who first traveled to the Netherlands
and then sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to America in 1620 to establish
Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, in 1630, a larger group of 13,000 Puri-
tans, led by John Robinson, immigrated to New England. These displaced
sojourners had freedom for the first time to build churches and worship God
without government interference. It should be noted that many were not
necessarily in favor of a more absolute toleration, but rather the freedom to
worship God in accordance with their own conscience, which itself some-
times led to the persecution of others. A host of noted Puritan preachers
migrated from England to the New World, including John Cotton, Thomas
Hooker, and Thomas Shepard.

SUCCEEDED BY CHARLES I
King James I died in 1625 and was succeeded by his second son, Charles I.
This new monarch believed in the divine right of the king and immediately
distanced himself from Parliament by levying taxes without its consent. He
further angered the Puritans by marrying a devout Catholic, Henrietta Ma-
ria. Charles I then appointed William Laud to be Bishop of London in 1628,
who imposed stricter policies in the public worship of the Church of Eng-
land. Laud was made Archbishop of Canterbury over the other bishops of
the Church of England in 1633. Believing the Calvinistic convictions of the

15
CHARLES I (NOVEMBER 19, 1600 – JANUARY 30, 1649)

16
 STEVEN J. LAWSON

Puritan movement to be a threat, Laud introduced more Catholic-like forms

of worship to the national Church. He also tried to force this same liturgy
and its Arminian theology upon the Church of Scotland.
When the new Anglican rituals were imposed upon the Scots, a market-
trader named Jenny Geddes started a riot in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.
When the head minister, James Hannay, was publicly reading the Anglican
Book of Common Prayer, she picked up a stool in the sanctuary and threw
it at him. This defiant action provoked a public display of outrage against
this imposition by Charles I upon the Scottish people. Strongly Calvinistic,
the Church of Scotland refused to worship in the manner required by King
Charles I.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL COVENANT

This Scottish resistance led to the signing of the National Covenant by a large
gathering at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, on February 28, 1638. Copies of the
document were sent out to the other cities of Scotland that were subsequently
signed. Those who signed the National Covenant were known as Covenanters,
who pledged to reject all human innovations in worship. This document assert-
ed that the only head of the Church of Scotland was not the king of England but
rather Jesus Christ. Moreover, this agreement rejected the “superstitions and pa-
pist rites” in the Book of Common Prayer and maintained they would worship
exclusively as Scripture teaches. The Scottish Parliament later subscribed to the
Covenant in 1640, making the law of the land.
King Charles I did not take this defiance lightly. This determined monarch
responded by marching to the Scottish border with 20,000 soldiers in 1639 to
suppress this rebellion. The Covenanters raised an army of 12,000 men to resist
the king’s threatening advance, resulting in the conflicts known as the Bishops’
Wars. These military confrontations were so named because Charles I demand-
ed an episcopal system of church government by which his archbishop would
appoint bishops and they, in turn, would place ministers over the churches.
However, Scotland affirmed a Presbyterian system of church government with
local elders and presbyteries over the churches. In essence, the Bishops’ Wars
were fought over the right of the king to dictate the church government and pub-
lic worship of the Church of Scotland. Fighting broke out in the streets of Edin-
burgh and other Scottish cities between the Covenanters and Scottish royalists.

17
THE SIGNING OF THE NATIONAL COVENANT IN
GREYFRIARS KIRKYARD, EDINBURGH
(FEBRUARY 28,. 1638)

18
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

Meeting strong Scottish fighting, Charles I accepted their truce offer, though
the settlement proved to be short lived. A second Bishops’ War followed in
1640 in which the invading Scots army soundly defeated the English forces of
Charles I. The king agreed to pay the Scot’s war expenses and not to impose his
Anglican worship upon the Scottish church.

TROUBLE FOR THE KING

On April 13, 1640, the impoverished monarch recalled Parliament in order to
raise money to finance his losing military struggles in the Bishops’ Wars. But
rather than discuss imposing taxes to fund the king’s failed quest for power,
Parliament instead addressed their grievances with the Crown. In the face of
their opposition, Charles I countered by dissolving Parliament with its many
Puritan members on May 5, 1640. This governing body sat for only three
weeks and was labeled the Short Parliament. On November 3, 1640, the king
convened another Parliament for the purpose of paying his royal bills. This
new Parliament sat from 1640 to 1648. It is known as the Long Parliament.
They resolutely voted that they could not be dissolved except by their own de-
termination. This emboldened stance provoked a prolonged warfare between
the King and Parliament known as the English Civil Wars.
The English Civil Wars were a succession of extended conflicts concern-
ing how the government of England and, therefore, the church would be run.
When Parliament faced the threat of the Irish Catholic troops making an al-
liance to fight with Charles I, an agreement was reached between the English
Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters in 1643 known as the Solemn League
and Covenant. The Scottish Presbyterians promised their military support to
Parliament against Ireland provided that the Scottish system of church govern-
ment and worship would be adopted by Parliament. Under this forged alli-
ance, the Scottish army captured Charles I in 1645, who, in turn, handed him
over to the English Parliament.

THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY MEETS

Keeping the terms of the Solemn League and Covenant, the Long Parliament—
which was strongly Puritan—called for a council of Reformed theologians

19
THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES WAS
A COUNCIL OF THEOLOGIANS AND MEMBERS
OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT APPOINTED TO
RESTRUCTURE THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
WHICH MET FROM 1643 TO 1653

20
 STEVEN J. LAWSON

and their own members to meet in London to write documents to reform the
Church of England from the policies of Charles I and Archbishop Laud. The
intended purpose was to establish unity among the national churches of Eng-
land, Scotland, and Ireland in their beliefs, worship, and polity. From 1643
to 1649, over one hundred Puritan leaders met in the Westminster Assem-
bly, comprised mostly of English Presbyterians, also joined by Episcopalians,
Congregationalists (also called Independents or known as the “dissenting
brethren”), Erastians, and Scots Commissioners. This group of “divines” wrote
five important documents to guide the church in its doctrine, worship, and
practice. These standards were the Directory for Public Worship (1644), The
Form of Presbyterian Church Government (1645), The Westminster Confes-
sion of Faith (1647), The Larger Catechism (1647), and The Shorter Catechism
(1647). Each document was decidedly Calvinistic, and the form of church gov-
ernment was Presbyterian.
When these standards were completed, the Church of Scotland immedi-
ately approved them in 1647. The next year, these Reformed statements of
faith were adopted by Congregationalists in New England. In 1658, the Eng-
lish Congregationalists subscribed to The Savoy Declaration, an adaptation of
the Westminster Confession with only slight changes made regarding church
government. Later, many Particular Baptist congregations adopted The Baptist
Confession of Faith of 1677/1689. This document deliberately demonstrated
the common theological orthodoxy between these churches and the Presbyte-
rians and Congregationalists, with particular adaptations made in such areas
as church government and the ordinances. However, the Westminster Confes-
sion was never adopted in the Church of England.
During the Westminster Assembly, one of its Scottish members, Samuel
Rutherford, wrote a landmark book, Lex Rex, in 1644. The title means ‘the Law
the King,’ or the Law is King. Rutherford advocated that rather than the king
being the law, the law, instead, is king. This work defends the rule of law in the
nation and the right to engage in pre-emptive and defensive wars for the pro-
tection of innocent lives. This political treatise argued for limited government,
constitutionalism, and restricted rights of the king. That same year, Parliament
arrested Archbishop Laud, tried him for treason, and beheaded him on Janu-
ary 10, 1645.

21
THE ENGLISH CIVIL WARS

22
 3
THE COMMONWEALTH

I
n February 1648, the Second English Civil War broke out between King
Charles I and the Parliamentarians. Once again, this involved more mil-
itary conflicts between these two warring factions. Oliver Cromwell, a
staunch man of Puritan conviction, was empowered to marshal the mili-
tary forces of his New Model Army to capture England for the Parlia-
mentarians. These soldiers first defeated a Royalist uprising in south Wales
and then marched to confront a pro-Royalist faction from Scotland that had
invaded England. Cromwell won a decisive victory at the Battle of Preston on
August 17-19, 1648 against a Scottish army twice his size. A strong believer in
divine sovereignty, Cromwell was confident that God was with him to defeat
those who opposed the causes of the Lord. This triumph concluded this sec-
ond phase of the English Civil Wars.
In January 1649, Charles I was put on trial by the Rump Parliament, the
remaining remnant of the Long Parliament that had survived its purging by
Colonel Thomas Pride. The king was found guilty of high treason as a “tyrant,
traitor, murderer, and public enemy” for prolonging the civil war. Charles I
was publicly executed by decapitation in front of Whitehall London on Janu-
ary 30. The next day, John Owen preached before Parliament. Though he did

23
JOHN OWEN (1616 – AUGUST 24, 1683)

24
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

not mention explicitly the sober event of the previous day, the sermon is en-
tirely of the moment. This noted Puritan theologian called for national humili-
ation in the face of such political upheaval.

THE COMMONWEALTH ESTABLISHED

Rather than crown a new king, Parliament abolished the monarchy and de-
clared the United Kingdom to be a Commonwealth. The Rump Parliament
assumed executive and legislative powers, with Cromwell remaining as one
of its members. The Royalist forces regrouped in Ireland and signed a treaty
with the Irish Catholics to resist the English Parliament. In March 1649, the
Rump Parliament chose Cromwell to lead a military campaign against the
Irish that lasted nine months. In 1650, the Puritan leader was victorious
against the opposition that supported a monarchy in Ireland. When pro-
Royalist forces in Scotland proclaimed Charles II, the son of Charles I, to
be their king, Cromwell advanced north to invade Scotland, where at the
Battle of Dunbar, his army killed 4,000 Scottish soldiers, took 10,000 pris-
oners and captured Edinburgh. At the Battle of Worcester, on September 3,
1651, Cromwell’s forces defeated the last major Royalist army in Scotland. In
light of these triumphs, Charles II, the previous heir to the throne, fled into
exile in France.
Upon Cromwell’s return to England, he urged the Rump Parliament to
set dates for new elections and to unite the three kingdoms—England, Scot-
land, and Ireland—under one governance. Cromwell became Chancellor of
Oxford University in 1651 and appointed Owen Dean of Christ Church, Ox-
ford, and then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1652. Owen
served for the next eight years and cast a strong Puritan influence over the
institution. Cromwell, a Congregationalist, sought a broader, more tolerant
national church that was sympathetic to Puritan ideals. He also demanded
the Rump Parliament select a forty member governing body from its mem-
bers and the military officers. When Parliament refused, Cromwell swiftly
dissolved them on April 20, 1653, saying “You have sat too long for any good
you have been doing lately…Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In
the name of God, go!”

25
OLIVER CROMWELL (APRIL 25, 1599 – SEPTEMBER 3, 1658)

26
 STEVEN J. LAWSON

RATHER THAN CROWN A NEW

KING, PARLIAMENT ABOLISHED
THE MONARCHY AND DECLARED
THE UNITED KINGDOM TO BE A
COMMONWEALTH.

CROMWELL, LORD PROTECTOR

In this political struggle, England realized it needed a strong, central leader.
In 1653, an interim Parliament—the Barebones Parliament—made Crom-
well Lord Protector over the Commonwealth. This gave him the power
to call and dissolve Parliament with the support of the council of State.
As a Nonconformist, Cromwell sought to uphold the liberty of conscience
in matters of worship and to promote personal godliness in the land. He
encouraged Jews to come to England in order to hear the gospel and be
converted. Their salvation, he believed, would hasten the return of Christ.
So effective was Cromwell as a leader that Parliament offered the crown
to him in 1657. Puritan aspirations were at their zenith. When Cromwell
sought counsel, several advisors, including the formidable Owen, urged
him not to accept. Eventually, Cromwell declined the offer of the crown
and continued as Lord Protector. Yet for all his leadership abilities, Crom-
well could not establish a politically or religiously united and stable state.
The many forces in the three kingdoms were too complex for such a solu-
tion. In 1658, Cromwell contracted malarial fever and died at age fifty-nine
at Whitehall on September 3, 1658. Though a controversial figure, he was
buried at Westminster Abbey.
Cromwell was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard, who
lacked the decisive leadership abilities of his father. The English governor
of Scotland, George Monck, sensed weakness and led an army to march on
London, whereby Richard lost his office after only nine months. Monck re-
stored the Long Parliament and made the necessary constitutional changes
so that Charles II could return to England and rule in a restored monarchy.
Cromwell’s son fled abroad and lived in obscurity for the rest of his life. By

27
CHARLES II (MAY 29, 1630 – FEBRUARY 6, 1685)

28
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

this setback, the Puritan hope suffered a devastating blow.

THE MONARCHY RESTORED

In 1660, the monarchy was restored, and Charles II was retrieved from France
to be made king over the United Kingdom. After initial conciliatory overtures
to the Puritans, he was pressured by Loyalists to restore a more Catholic-like
worship conformed to the Church of England. With the support of Parlia-
ment, several laws were put in place that were aimed at reversing the Puritan
advances. Foremost among this legislation was the Clarendon Code, a series
of four acts of Parliament intended to enforce religious conformity within the
Church of England. These acts were the Corporation Act, the Act of Unifor-
mity, the Conventicle Act, and the Five Mile Act. Other penal acts would also
be established at this time.
Anti-Puritan feelings were now running high. On January 30, 1661, Crom-
well’s body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and his disinterred body
was hanged in chains and then thrown into a pit. His skull was severed and
mounted on a pole outside Westminster Hall, publicly displayed for the next
twenty-four years. Many pastors and preachers of essentially Puritan convic-
tions and sympathies, both within and without the national church, would be
subjected to persecution and imprisonment, including such renowned figures
as John Bunyan and Richard Baxter.

THE SEDITION AND CORPORATION ACTS

First to be issued was the Sedition Act in 1661, which identified new acts of
high treason against England. This legislation made seditious any attempt to
deprive the king of his crown or to levy war against him. Further, it declared
treasonous any incitement to a foreign army to invade England or other coun-
tries belonging to the king. Anyone who called the king a heretic or papist or
who incited hatred against the king was regarded treasonous and disqualified
from all public office. This act also declared the Solemn League and Covenant
to be null and void.
Another anti-Puritan piece of legislation known as the Corporation Act
was soon passed by Parliament in 1661. This act basically restricted public of-
fices in England to those attached to the Church of England. No citizen could

29
 STEVEN J. LAWSON

be elected to a civil or public office unless he had received the Lord’s Supper
in the Church of England within the last twelve months. Moreover, all public
officials must reject the Solemn League and Covenant. This legislation was
intentionally aimed at excluding Nonconformists from holding civil or mili-
tary office in English society. In addition, this act excluded all Nonconformists
from being awarded degrees from the two English universities, Cambridge
and Oxford.

THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY

The following year, in 1662, yet another law was enacted by Parliament that
mandated public prayers, the sacraments, and other rites be made in strict
conformity with the Book of Common Prayer. Adherence was necessary to
hold public office or to be lawfully ordained into the ministry. Puritan min-
isters were required to abandon their previous ordination and be re-ordained
under this new regulation. If Protestant ministers were to be re-ordained in
the Church of England, they must swear allegiance to the stipulations of the
Book of Common Prayer. Any minister who refused to conform to these regu-
lations by August 24, 1662, would be ejected from the Church of England.
As a result of this and other strictures, over 2,000 pastors—one fifth of all
the clergy—were expelled from their pulpits. Many men of Puritan stamp re-
fused to take the oath, and as a result, on this dreadful day, a vast number of
godly ministers were turned out of the national church. The date was chosen to
deprive them of their livings in such a way as to maximize their hardships. This
specific date was also St. Bartholomew’s Day, the date in 1572 on which thou-
sands of Huguenots had been massacred by the Catholic-led government of
France; it became known among Dissenters - those who would and could not
conform and so now outside the Church of England - as Black Bartholomew’s
Day. Known as the Great Ejection, J. C. Ryle said that this event inflicted an
“injury to the cause of true religion in England which will probably never be
repaired.”

CONVENTICLE AND FIVE MILE ACTS

A subsequent act of Parliament, passed in 1664, was known as the Conventicle

30
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

Act. This law banned any church not officially licensed by the Crown from
conducting a “conventicle,” from a Latin word meaning ‘a little meeting place.’
This restrictive act prohibited any religious assembly of more than five people
who were not members of the same household. All religious assemblies out-
side the auspices of Church of England were strictly forbidden. The purpose
was to suppress Puritans and their spiritual kin from gathering together for the
preaching of the word and worshiping God as their beliefs directed them. It
should be noted that, from this point, most Puritans were outside the Church
of England and so no longer Puritans in the strictest sense. However, such
believers remained motivated by the same desire for glory to God through
obedience to his revealed will, and it is to this spirit that I refer in using the
word ‘Puritan.’
The following year, in 1665, another act known as the Five Mile Act was
passed. This law forbade Nonconformist clergymen from coming within five
miles of an incorporated town or city large enough to have representation in
Parliament. This legislation also restricted Puritan ministers from coming
within five miles of their former church from which they had been expelled.
Moreover, Nonconformist minsters were forbidden from teaching in any
school. In addition, Nonconformists were required to take an oath not to take
arms against the king. They also could not attempt to change the government
or church polity. Consequently, many Nonconformists of the London area
were forced to be buried outside the city limits as a sign of reproach. One such
burial place was Bunhill Fields outside of London, where Dissenters of this
and later years were buried - men such as John Bunyan, John Owen, Thomas
Goodwin, Isaac Watts, John Gill and more.

GREAT PLAGUE, GREAT FIRE

By the heavy hand of providence, two national disasters swiftly struck London
with deadly force. The first to hit was the Great Plague of 1665-1666. This
fatal pestilence brought the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to Eng-
land. The lethal disease killed an estimated 100,000 people, nearly one-fourth
of London’s population. The infestation was spread by rats due to the dismal
sanitation conditions. The cobbled stones of the city were covered with animal
dung. Rubbish was thrown from the houses. Human and animal sewage was

31
THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON

32
 STEVEN J. LAWSON

everywhere. Flies filled the air. The foul stench was suffocating London. The
effects of the plague were everywhere.
Soon thereafter, a major fire broke out known as the Great Fire of London.
This blazing inferno swept through the central parts of the already ravaged
city from September 2 to September 5, 1666. The fire started at a bakery and
spread rapidly across the devastated city. A strong wind fanned the flames into
a firestorm, leaving devastation in its path. Included in the destruction was the
Royal Palace of Whitehall, where Charles II lived. The aristocratic district of
Westminster was also ignited. Most of the suburban slums were consumed. In
all, the Great Fire consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, 44 halls, the
Royal Exchange, the Custom House, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and more. As many
as 200,000 people were dispersed from their living quarters.

SECOND CONVENTICLE AND TEST ACTS

In 1670, the Second Conventicle Act was passed by Parliament. The purpose
was to further “prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles.” This oppressive
act was meant to restrict Nonconformist worship by imposing a fine on any
person attending a religious assembly other than the Church of England. This
constraining law was intended to coerce people to attend the services of the
national church and hinder any underground Puritan movement. Further,
any person who allowed his house to be used as a meetinghouse for a reli-
gious assembly would be fined. The Cavalier Parliament required all persons
holding any public office to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance to the
Crown. Likewise, this act required all public officials to take communion in
the Church of England.

33
 4
KILLING TIME

I
n 1680, Scotland entered another period of severe conflict between the
Covenanter movement and Charles II and later James VII. Richard Cam-
eron, the leader of the militant Covenanters, rode into Sanquhar, Scot-
land and the Sanquhar Declaration was read in the public square. This
announcement declared that the people of Scotland would no longer ac-
cept the authority of Charles II over them because he would not recognize
their religion. The Declaration renounced all Scottish allegiance to the Stuart
monarchy and opposed the royal succession of his Roman Catholic brother,
James, to the throne. This reading was, in reality, a declaration of war by the
Covenanters of Scotland against the throne of England. Cameron traveled
throughout southwest Scotland, preaching before growing crowds.
Charles II attempted to stop this movement. A prolonged season of conflict
followed, further setting the English forces of Charles II against the Scottish
people. Thousands of Scottish Covenanters were persecuted and hundreds
martyred by the English for holding fast to Cameron’s ideas. On February 8,
1685, Charles II died at Whitehall Palace after suffering an epileptic fit. On his
deathbed, he was received into the Catholic Church. This bloody season of
warfare would continue under the next king, James II, until 1688.

34
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

JAMES II CROWNED
Charles II was succeeded to the throne by his brother, James II, the second sur-
viving son of Charles I. This new monarch was immediately suspected by the
Puritan faithful as being like his father and brother, that is, being pro-French,
pro-Catholic, and believing in an absolute monarchy. James II continued in
the footsteps of his brother in the relentless persecution of the Presbyterian
Covenanters in Scotland. Moreover, he produced a son, who would be, doubt-
lessly, a Catholic heir to the British throne. A difficult future seemed inevitable
for what remained of the Puritan remnant.
This sobering reality gripped the Protestants. They believed their only hope
was to summon the son-in-law and nephew of James II, William of Orange in
the Netherlands—married to Mary Stuart, the daughter of James II—to come
to their defense. They urged William to lead an invasion of the United King-
dom of England, Scotland, and Ireland and secure it from a prolonged Catho-
lic reign. William answered the plea for help by sailing across the North Sea
and English Channel with a large Dutch fleet and army. He landed in south-
west England at Torbay and asserted, “The liberties of England and the Prot-
estant religion, I will maintain.” After this successful intrusion into England,
William sailed to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he secured a great victory
for Protestant cause.
This invasion of England became known as the Glorious Revolution, or the
Bloodless Revolution because it was accomplished without military opposition.
The defense of James II collapsed quickly due to his lack of resolve to resist the
aggressive advance of William of Orange. The defeated king fled England for
the safety of France. James II was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign
over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This triumph marked a
conclusion to many long years of suffering for the Nonconformists in England
and Scottish Presbyterians. Many had lived in hope of it, but had not lived to
see and enjoy it.

THE ACT OF TOLERATION

With William and Mary upon the throne, two committed Protestants were
joint monarchs of the United Kingdom. The enthronement of these co-sov-
ereigns led to the passing of the Toleration Act by the Parliament of England

35
JAMES II AND VII (OCTOBER 14, 1633 – SEPTEMBER 16, 1701)

36
 STEVEN J. LAWSON

in 1689. This law provided a new measure of freedom of worship for Noncon-
formists in Great Britain. The Dissenters were now allowed to obtain licenses
for their meeting places in order to gather for public worship. Moreover, they
could lawfully have their own teachers and preachers, who would feed them
Reformed instruction in the word.
In some ways, the Act of Toleration marked the conclusion of what we
might call the Puritan era. What had begun as an attempt to purify the doc-
trine and worship of the Church of England in the middle of the sixteenth
century, giving rise to a movement or number of movements within and with-
out the national church seeking freedom to worship according to the Word
of God as it bound the conscience of his servants, was brought to conclusion
with the passing of the Act of Toleration at the end of the seventeenth century.
This new legislation ushered in religious toleration for Protestant Dissenters
not previously enjoyed. The Act of Toleration protected the Nonconformists
from the force of the repressive legislation of previous monarchs, granting a
much sought after measure of liberty to worship God according to conscience
than those before them could have imagined. At the same time, we should not
imagine that Dissenters were considered as equal citizens. The Act of Tolera-
tion did not remove the previous Acts from the statute books - it merely sus-
pended many of their strictures.
The strength and force of Puritanism was now waning. Many of the in-
fluential leaders and key players of Puritanism and Nonconformity had died
before the Act of Toleration was passed. Thomas Goodwin went to glory in
1680, John Owen in 1683, and John Bunyan in 1688. A new generation of pas-
tors and believers was coming on to the scene and new battle lines were being
drawn. The Adversary of men’s souls attacked the church of Christ by other
means - force having in many respects failed, spiritual fraud crept in at many
points. In the absence of persecution, some seemed to lose their spiritual ur-
gency and clarity. In the years to come, some drifted away from the truths for
which the previous generations had been willing to shed blood, perhaps fear-
ful of a return to those days or in other cases characterized by a very different
spirit. At the same time, there were good and godly Christians who continued
to stand firm as new challenges arose.
However, the prayers of the Puritans have not gone unanswered. Through suc-
cessive generations, Christians around the globe have held the same principles,

37
 THE PURITANS: THEIR HISTORY AND HEROICS

THE RECOVERY OF A
GENUINELY AND SPIRITUALLY
PURITAN DOCTRINE AND
DEVOTION HAS LED TO MUCH
BLESSING IN MANY PLACES.

embraced the same precepts, and followed the same patterns. The Puritan in-
fluence can be traced in countless movements of faithfulness and fruitfulness,
spurring on reformation, renewal and revival in various groups and in differ-
ent denominations. The recovery of a genuinely and spiritually Puritan doc-
trine and devotion has led to much blessing in many places. Even where the
Puritan name and history is not known, the same spirit of obedience to God’s
Word in the face of persecutions and deceptions continues to animate faithful
men and women in God’s kingdom. In many instances, the Puritans and their
immediate successors go on providing an example to encourage and stir those
who hold the same basic convictions and who entertain the same desires.
The Puritans were not perfect. Neither were or are their successors. We do
them no honour by pretending otherwise. They did not get everything right,
nor were they the monolithic movement that we too often imagine. Neverthe-
less, their root concern for a careful, Spirit-empowered, whole-souled obedi-
ence flowing from ardent love to God in Christ provides an enduring model
of biblical Christianity that we cannot afford to ignore. If that was the Puritan
spirit, it remains one that we can and should cultivate, to the glory of God and
for the good of the church.

38
 OnePassion Ministries is the teaching and
preaching ministry of Dr. Steven J. Lawson.

OnePassion exists to ignite a supreme passion

for God and His glory in all people throughout
the world. As our name indicates, the strategic
goal of this ministry is to enflame hearts with an
all-consuming desire for Jesus Christ and His
gospel. Our primary aim for believers from every
walk of life is that they be revived and emboldened
to live exclusively for the greatness of God. This
intentional focus is to impart the knowledge
of the truth by equipping pastors and church
leaders, maturing lay people, and launching a new
reformation in the church today.

ON EPASSIONM INISTRIES. O RG