Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/124

 on the government of the Church of England. A set of canons was drawn up for the Church's benefit. It led to the authorized version of the Scriptures, from which we now read the Gospel in our Churches, and which is dedicated to King James. It was decided that the greater part of the Apocrypha should not be read in Churches. But the Prayer Book was not changed. A form of thanksgiving was added to the Litany, and an addition concerning the Sacraments made to the Catechism. The Puritans were greatly disappointed at the result of the Conference. They left it with more embittered feelings than they entered it, and from that time their hostility to the Church increased. When the canons before alluded to were finally published, the Puritans raised a public cry against them. The canons were drawn up to enforce conformity and to oppose their views. As a result of these canons becoming law, the Puritans say that three hundred more clergy left the Church of England to join them, but we cannot trace more than one-sixth of that number.

During the twenty years of King James' reign the Puritans very much increased in numbers. One of the reasons why they became such a power in the land was that they were foremost in undertaking the people's grievances against the arbitrary government of the king. They took a definite stand in politics, and in this many Churchmen were at one with them. But the Puritan movement to a great extent was a political movement; and, unfortunately, the Church at that time was looked upon as being identified with the cause of the king, whether it was good or bad; and the Puritans were looked upon as the exponents of righteousness and freedom,