Page:A History of Horncastle from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.djvu/98

Rh examination, he had been pronounced qualified for the work. The Independents differ chiefly from other religious societies, in that they reject all creeds of fallible man, their test of orthodoxy being a declaration that they accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and adhere to the scriptures as the sole standard of faith and practice.

In 1616 a number of the society again returned to England under the leadership of Henry Jacobs, who had served under Robinson, and once more established a meeting house in London; while others, in charge of a Mr. Brewster, who had been a lay Elder, also under Robinson, went out, in 1620, to North America, in the good ship Mayflower, and another vessel, and founded a colony at Massachusetts.

Although, as has been already stated, under the influence of Robinson sectarian bitterness was much modified, yet throughout the reigns of James I.



and Charles I., the Independents were in frequent conflict with the Presbyterians; nor was there only sectarian strife, for both parties had numerous supporters in Parliament, as well as partizans in the army. Preaching Generals and praying Captains abounded; but Cromwell favoured the Independents, as against Presbyterians, and this gradually paved the way for toleration.

At the "Savoy Conference" in London (so called because held at the palace of that name), in 1658, the Independents published an epitome of their faith, and henceforth, with occasional interruptions, they held on their way; although it was not till 1831 that the "Congregational Union of England and Wales" was finally and fully constituted. They again published, in 1833, a more definite "Declaration of Faith, Order, and Discipline," which continues still to be the charter of the community.