Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/132

 religion differing from their own. They hated the Church of England beyond everything. Cromwell is spoken of as being a tolerant man. It is true that he could hold out the right hand of fellowship to Anabaptists, and even provide a pension in those days for an Unitarian, but for prelacy he had no moderation, no toleration. We should remind ourselves of this side of the Puritan movement, for it is the cry to-day of the followers and representatives of the Puritans that it is the Church of England which is intolerant and bitter against all those who differ from it. But as a matter of fact the Church's intolerance is not one-hundredth part as bitter as that of dissent towards us. Please do not think I am speaking rashly in pointing out this side of Puritanism. Be sure of this from other writers' testimony. Mr. Southey, in his history of the Church, says of Puritans: "The tyrannical disposition of these people, who demanded to be set free from all restraint themselves, was even more intolerable than their presumption. As far as was in their power they separated themselves from the members of the Church, and refused to hold any communion with them. Instances occurred, where they were strong enough, of their thrusting the clergy out of their own Churches if they wore the surplice, and taking away the bread from the Communion Table because it was in the wafer form. Some fanatics spit in the face of their old acquaintance to testify their utter abhorrence of conformity." And again: "The Puritan clergy, to whom every vestige of Catholicism was an abomination, had succeeded to the intolerance of the Catholic priesthood, to their assumed infallibility, and