Troubles in New England
Religion in America
The English Civil War
Bishops War, 1639
– Charles
must call Parliament
– Bishops
abolished 1641; Archbishop Laud executed, 1645
1642-49, civil war, Charles vs. Parliament
– Oliver
Cromwell wins; Charles executed
Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1643-1653
– Westminster
Confession of Faith
Congregationalists and Presbyterians split
– Toleration
results in proliferation of sects
– Baptists, Quakers,
Ranters, Levellers, 5th Monarchy Men
– Criticism
of intolerant Massachusetts Bay Colony
– Puritans exile,
imprison, and execute Quakers, 1559-1661
The Restoration
Cromwell dies, 1658
Charles II, 1660
– Secret
Catholic
– Return
of the bishops
Puritans, Calvinists, sectarians suppressed
Crisis in New England
Crisis of purpose
– Ignored
by Cromwell, now cut off by Restoration
– New purpose:
Puritans as Gods instruments in America
Sacramental crisis
– Infant
baptism (Gen. 17); conversion assumed
– By 1645, clearly
many baptized not converting
– 1662
Synod: the Half-Way Covenant
– Controversial:
unbiblical
Declining fervor, devotion; rising greed, dissension
The Glorious Revolution
Charles II revokes charter, 1684
James II, 1685, openly Catholic
– Dominion
of New England
– Governor Edmund
Andros, 1686
William III lands in England, 1688-1689
– Spontaneous
revolt: Andros jailed
– Act
of Toleration, 1689
– New
secular charter, 1691
Puritan world crumbling
– Witchcraft
hysteria, Salem, 1692