5 Zachary Crofton, the Restoration Church of England, and the dilemmas of partial conformity, 1662–65
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Elliot Vernon
Abstract
This chapter addresses one of the most pressing dilemmas for the godly after the re-establishment of the Book of Common Prayer at the Restoration: the question of the proper approach to take to the parochial worship of the Restoration Church. The chapter uses a little noticed 1662–63 printed debate initiated by the ejected presbyterian Zachary Crofton, as well as government intelligence reports of presbyterian ‘conventicles’ contained in the State Papers. The debate concerned the extent to which both godly laity and recently ejected ministers were obliged to attend and conform to parish services in the Church of England. The chapter therefore addresses the issues of conformity, nonconformity, and partial conformity among those who had, in the previous two decades, been committed to a national church but who found themselves disaffected with the Restoration settlement. Drawing on recent work by scholars such as Michael Winship, Mark Goldie, Ann Hughes, and Neil Keeble, the chapter will seek to complicate the historiographical picture of presbyterian nonconformists developing a potentially ‘separatist’ position late in the 1660s and early 1670s. Some presbyterians developed principles of partial conformity and even ‘situational separatism’ almost immediately after the ‘Great Ejection’ of August 1662. The result of such partial conformity was an internal debate which questioned the boundaries and legitimacy of such partial conformity. This debate drew on potentially contradictory sources such as the pre-Civil War traditions of nonconformity and anti-separatism, the casuistry surrounding the Solemn League and Covenant and the presbyterian ecclesiology developed during the 1640s and 1650s.
Abstract
This chapter addresses one of the most pressing dilemmas for the godly after the re-establishment of the Book of Common Prayer at the Restoration: the question of the proper approach to take to the parochial worship of the Restoration Church. The chapter uses a little noticed 1662–63 printed debate initiated by the ejected presbyterian Zachary Crofton, as well as government intelligence reports of presbyterian ‘conventicles’ contained in the State Papers. The debate concerned the extent to which both godly laity and recently ejected ministers were obliged to attend and conform to parish services in the Church of England. The chapter therefore addresses the issues of conformity, nonconformity, and partial conformity among those who had, in the previous two decades, been committed to a national church but who found themselves disaffected with the Restoration settlement. Drawing on recent work by scholars such as Michael Winship, Mark Goldie, Ann Hughes, and Neil Keeble, the chapter will seek to complicate the historiographical picture of presbyterian nonconformists developing a potentially ‘separatist’ position late in the 1660s and early 1670s. Some presbyterians developed principles of partial conformity and even ‘situational separatism’ almost immediately after the ‘Great Ejection’ of August 1662. The result of such partial conformity was an internal debate which questioned the boundaries and legitimacy of such partial conformity. This debate drew on potentially contradictory sources such as the pre-Civil War traditions of nonconformity and anti-separatism, the casuistry surrounding the Solemn League and Covenant and the presbyterian ecclesiology developed during the 1640s and 1650s.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- List of abbreviations x
- Introduction 1
- I Ecclesio-political and liturgical contests 19
- 1 Contests, contexts, and the boundaries of conformity in early modern England 21
- 2 Protestant jurisdictionalism and the nature of Elizabethan puritan nonconformity 44
- 3 Cathedrals, the Reformed, and the Elizabethan Church 71
- 4 Sir Francis Hastings, Jacobean nonconformity, and the House of Commons, 1604–10 97
- 5 Zachary Crofton, the Restoration Church of England, and the dilemmas of partial conformity, 1662–65 117
- II Reformed conformist theology and ecclesiology 139
- 6 Justifying faith and faith as a virtue in the theology of Richard Hooker 141
- 7 The best religion? The revived ambitions of the Reformed conformist establishment, 1637–40 157
- 8 The Reformed conformist tradition, 1640–62 179
- 9 Edward Reynolds and the making of a presbyterian bishop 199
- 10 The Reformed theology of Thomas Hobbes 222
- 11 Reformed orthodoxy as conformity in the post-Restoration Church of England 245
- Afterword 263
- Index 271
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- List of abbreviations x
- Introduction 1
- I Ecclesio-political and liturgical contests 19
- 1 Contests, contexts, and the boundaries of conformity in early modern England 21
- 2 Protestant jurisdictionalism and the nature of Elizabethan puritan nonconformity 44
- 3 Cathedrals, the Reformed, and the Elizabethan Church 71
- 4 Sir Francis Hastings, Jacobean nonconformity, and the House of Commons, 1604–10 97
- 5 Zachary Crofton, the Restoration Church of England, and the dilemmas of partial conformity, 1662–65 117
- II Reformed conformist theology and ecclesiology 139
- 6 Justifying faith and faith as a virtue in the theology of Richard Hooker 141
- 7 The best religion? The revived ambitions of the Reformed conformist establishment, 1637–40 157
- 8 The Reformed conformist tradition, 1640–62 179
- 9 Edward Reynolds and the making of a presbyterian bishop 199
- 10 The Reformed theology of Thomas Hobbes 222
- 11 Reformed orthodoxy as conformity in the post-Restoration Church of England 245
- Afterword 263
- Index 271
