... did they prize
Their new-born Church!... 1822.
... do they prize
Their new-born Church!... 1827.
[221] 1827.
... might ... 1822.
[222] 1827.
In polity and discipline they sought 1822.
XLI
DISTRACTIONS
Men, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy
Their forefathers; lo! sects are formed, and split
With morbid restlessness;[223]—the ecstatic fit
Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply,
The Saints must govern is their common cry; 5
And so they labour, deeming Holy Writ
Disgraced by aught that seems content to sit
Beneath the roof of settled Modesty.
The Romanist exults; fresh hope he draws
From the confusion, craftily incites 10
The overweening, personates the mad—[224]
To heap disgust upon the worthier Cause:
Totters the Throne;[225] the new-born Church[226] is sad
For every wave against her peace unites.
FOOTNOTES:
[223] The first nonconforming sect in England originated in 1556. It broke off from the Church, on a question of vestments. The chief divisions of English Nonconformity in the latter half of the sixteenth century were (1) the Brunists, or Barronists. The disciples of Brun quarrelled and divided amongst themselves. (2) The Familists, an offshoot of the Dutch Anabaptists, a mystic sect which quarrelled with the Puritans. (3) The Anabaptists, who were not only religious sectaries, but who differed with the Church on sundry social and civil matters. "They denied the sanctity of an oath, the binding power of laws, the right of the magistrate to punish, and the rights of property." (Perry's History of the English Church, p. 315.) See also Hooker's Preface to his Ecclesiastical Polity, c. viii. 6-12; and the "Life of Sir Matthew Hale," Eccl. Biog. iv. 533, on the "indigested enthusiastical scheme called The Kingdom of Christ, or of his Saints."—Ed.