Independents

Independents, a Christian body, identical with the present Congregationalists, which grew up in England during the reign of Elizabeth. They differed from Episcopalians in having no gradation of ministry or succession of orders, and from Presbyterians in having no gradation of courts or assemblies exercising any authoritative or judicial functions. Ecclesiastical government in any form was by them entirely rejected, and each congregation became an independent and separate body of worshippers, which looked for guidance to the Almighty alone. Regarding the Bible as the sole standard of faith and doctrine, and holding that the individual believer is competent to interpret it for himself, they were indifferent to the voice of antiquity, the decisions of councils, and the tradition of the Church. Their doctrinal views were consequently somewhat vague, but in the main they agreed with those of other Puritans. The religious principles of the Independents were first set forth in a series of tracts, published chiefly between 1571 and 1581, by Robert Browne, a clergyman and graduate of Cambridge. Although Browne himself subsequently conformed, his views were adopted by a large number of persons, especially in the eastern counties, who became known as Brownists. Several congregations were formed in London and elsewhere, but religious dissent was still regarded as a crime against the State. The Independents were driven to worship in secret; when discovered they were thrown into prison, and five of their leaders, including Henry Barrowe, a barrister of Gray's Inn, were put to death. A large number were banished, and the year of Barrowe's execution (1593) was marked also by the settlement of many exiled Brownists in Holland. After the arrival of John Robinson in 1608, who was followed two years later by Henry Jacob, a .church was formed at Leyden, which has been called the "parent of Independency alike in England and America;" and this is literally true, for in 1616 Jacob returned to England and made use of his experience in organisation to found the first regularly-constituted English Independent church, whilst the band of Pilgrim Fathers which sailed to New England in the Mayflower (1620) was composed of members of the Leyden congregation. It is computed that within the next twenty years the original settlers were joined by 25-,000 new emigrants from England, and the success of the American colony gave a powerful stimulus to the system at home, notwithstanding the repressive measures of Laud. Up to the period of the Civil War, however, it had gained no great hold over the people at large, and the outbreak of hostilities, in so far as it resulted from religious causes, was due less to the Independents than to the Presbyterians, a party as firmly opposed to the principles of toleration which the Independents advocated as the Episcopalians themselves. But with the ascendency of Cromwell and the victories of the New Model the influence of Independency extended, and it finally took the place of Presbyterianism as the religious basis of the revolution. During the period of the Commonwealth the Independents showed that their attachment to their peculiar system was not so great as to prevent them from adapting themselves to existing ecclesiastical arrangements. Many of them accepted benefices and received titles, though at the same time there was an attempt to create a special Independent Church side by side with the parochial organisation. In 1658 a synod of Independent Churches was held in London, which drew up the Savoy Declaration, following in doctrine the Westminster Confession, but adding their peculiar theory of Church government. The restoration of Charles II. was followed by a series of Acts depriving Nonconformists of all religious privileges, but these were to some extent regained by the Toleration Act of 1689. Since then the various civil and religious disabilities of Independents and other Dissenters have been gradually removed. The Congregationalists are now united in a "Congregational Union of England" with subordinate "County Unions."