Ending 'the late unhappy confusions': St. Bartholomew's Day 1662 and the Solemn League and Covenant
The requirement of the 1662 Act of Uniformity that clergy openly rejected the Solemn League and Covenant as "an unlawfull Oath", contrary to the "Lawes and Liberties" of the realm, was - despite now being usually overlooked by many Anglican commentators - a crucial provision of the Act. The Solemn League and Covenant had its roots in the 1638 National Covenant in Scotland, in which those opposing Charles I's reforms of the Scottish Church - reforms standing in continuity with the policies of James VI/I - pledged to defend "God’s true religion within the Kirk" and to "abhor and detest all contrary religion and doctrine". It was, in other words, the beginning of a religious war, the so-called Bishops' Wars. In events which would soon be replicated in England, clergy faithful to the episcopal order were deposed, the Scottish episcopacy abolished, and the use of the Church of Scotland's Prayer Book prohibited.
Little wonder that the Life of James Sharp, appointed Archbishop of Edinburgh at the Restoration, describes the National Covenant as "that Fore-runner of many Woes", leading to "Sedition, Schism, Faction and Rebellion to break out upon Church and State". Clarendon's History of the Rebellion similarly described how the National Covenant proclaimed "bitter Invectives against the Bishops, and the whole Government of the Church", and would "kindle the same Flame" in England as in Scotland.
The 1643 Solemn League and Covenant, signed by leaders of the Parliamentarian party in England and representatives of the Scottish Covenanters, repeated the commitments of the National Covenant, expanding them to the Kingdoms of England and Ireland:
That we shall sincerely, really, and constantly, through the grace of GOD, endeavor, in our several places and callings, the preservation of the reformed religion in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, against our common enemies; the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, according to the Word of GOD, and the example of the best reformed Churches; and shall endeavour to bring the Churches of GOD in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, Confession of Faith, Form of Church Government, Directory for Worship and Catechising ...
That we shall, in like manner, without respect of persons, endeavour the extirpation of Popery, Prelacy (that is, Church government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and commissioners, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depending on that hierarchy) ...
It was a pledge to overthrow, by force, the Elizabethan Settlement in the Churches of England and Ireland, and impose the discipline of the Scottish Church, now that the Covenanters had overthrown the Scottish episcopacy and prohibited the Scottish Prayer Book. The Royal Supremacy, the episcopal order maintained at the Reformation, the rights and liberties of Convocation: these were swept aside in the violent determination to impose a new order on the Churches of the Three Kingdoms. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion captured the spirit of crusading Enthusiasm provoked by the Covenant:
They were now both equally inspired with the Scotch dialect and spirit; talked how clearly the light of the gospel shined amongst them; that they placed not their confidence in their own counsels and strength; but their confidence was in God Almighty, the Lord of Hosts, who would not leave nor forsake his people. It was his own truth and cause, which they maintained against the heresy, superstition, and tyranny of Antichrist: the glory of his own name, the exaltation of the kingdom of his Son, and the preservation of his church, was their aim, and the end which they had before their eyes ... Upon these and the like grounds and considerations, being confident that this war, wherein both nations were so firmly united and deeply engaged, was of God, they resolve with courage and constancy to the end to do their part; and the Lord, who had stirred up their spirits, displayed his banner before them.
For Bramhall, this "impious, rebellious" oath contradicted the Oath of Supremacy, taken by all clergy in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland at their ordination and a cornerstone of the Elizabethan Settlement:
But such is the Covenant, a subsequent oath, inconsistent with, and destructive to a precedent oath, that is the oath of Supremacy, which all the Church-men throughout the Kingdome ... have taken. The former oath acknowledgeth the King to be the onely supreame head ... and Governour of the Church of England, The second oath or covenant, to set up the Presbyterian Gouernment as it is in Scotland, denieth all this virtually, maks it a politicall papacy, acknowledgeth no governors but onely the Presbyters.
Setting aside legitimate oaths; rejecting the role of the magistrate in matters ecclesiastical; overturning the peace of the realm; unleashing religious war. Writing in the immediate aftermath of the Restoration, Bramhall voiced the horror with which the Covenant had come to be regarded:
Ye break down the banks of Order, and make way for an inundation of bloud and confusion in all Countreys.
In light of this, we can understand a 1663 sermon preached twice - in the University of Cambridge and in St. Paul's, London - by the former Puritan, then conforming, Richard Lee. In 1643, the Puritan Lee was, according to a history, "very energetic in inducing those who came within the sphere of his influence to take the Solemn League and Covenant". Conforming in 1660 (amongst 57 ministers appointed by Cromwell's Triers in Hertfordshire who conformed), Lee in 1663 made public his repentance for his "injustice, ingratitude and perjury" in having taken the Covenant:
That the Solemn League, and Covenant, which I have taken, was, and could not be other than sinfully taken by me, or any other; and continues so to all that have taken it, to be sin to them, until they have renounced it. And therefore cannot but condemn my own, or any other of my brethrens repentance, whilest we would seem to repent of other our offences against God, our Sovereign, and this Church, but hold fast & defend stil that Covenant, which was and (as it is to be feared) is still secretly meant as a common band of confederacy, and iniquity. And therefore do by these admonish all that are involved in this guilt with my self, no longer to add impenitency unto their sin, upon pretence of conscience for that which ought to be renounced (as we tender our own and others souls safety) for conscience sake.
Some might regard Lee's words - as did his former confederates - as "an act of abject self-humiliation" in order to purchase favour within the Restoration Church. Such cynicism, however, fails to recognise how "the late unhappy confusions" were a national trauma to be looked upon, as the prayers appointed for 30th January stated, "with horror and astonishment". Mindful of the significant role of the Solemn League and Covenant in the civil wars that grievously tore the peace of the Three Kingdoms, it is hardly surprising that Lee - who had so enthusiastically advocated for the Covenant in the 1640s - now looked back with penitent shame and expressed this publicly from the pulpit.
In requiring that all clergy reject and refute the Solemn League and Covenant, the Act of Uniformity was, therefore, establishing a basis for religious and civil peace. The Covenant had overturned oaths and allegiance; torn down the Crown, bishops and Convocation, Parliament itself; wrecked the ancient Constitution in Church and State; and launched a bloody religious war. Rejecting and refuting it was fundamental to bringing an end to "the late unhappy confusions".
Also significant to this was rejecting and refuting the Solemn League and Covenant's claim that the Churches of England, Ireland, and Scotland were to be conformed to "the example of the best reformed Churches". This was precisely the claim which had inspired the agitation disturbing the peace of these Churches over decades.
In robustly rejecting the Solemn League and Covenant, the Act of Uniformity gave voice to a renewed confidence in the order, rites, ceremonies, and divines of Church of England. As Clarendon had declared at the conclusion of the 1660 Convention Parliament, it was "the best-reformed church in the Christian world". This was echoed in Taylor's sermon at Bramhall's funeral, "the best Reformed Church in the world". The former Puritan Richard Lee also gave quite moving expression to this in the dedication to his sermon:
To the Church of England (my Indulgent Mother) the best Reformed Protestant Church in the World, in whose Bosome I desire to live and die a Penitent, and Regular Son.
Rejoicing in the "best Reformed Church" - its episcopal order, Prayer Book, and learned divines - "the late unhappy confusions" were ended. The Solemn League and Covenant's attempt to violently reorder the Churches of England and Ireland had miserably failed. The peaceable order of episcopacy and Prayer Book was restored, the Solemn League and Covenant thankfully rejected and its baleful influence banished from the life of these Churches.
My eyes are almost grown old with seeing the horrid mischiefs which came from Rebellion and Disobedience; and I would willingly now be blessed with observation of Peace and Righteousness, Plenty and Religion, which do already, and I hope shall for ever, attend upon Obedience to the best King and the best Church in the world.
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After a short break for the late Summer Bank Holiday weekend, laudable Practice will return on 29th August.
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