PURITANS’ PROGRESS

A 350th Anniversary Commemoration of the Norwich & Norfolk Ministers Ejected
from their Churches by the Act of Uniformity, 1662. 

Dr Alan C. Clifford

"Remember those ... who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct - Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and for ever."      (Hebrews 13: 7-8)

"Without the preaching of the Word, we can never have faith...Whosoever doth not believe is damned, and none can believe without a preacher. If then we will have the people of the Lord to be saved, let them have preachers...bestow your labour, cost and travel to get them. Ride for them, run for them, stretch your purses to maintain them. We shall begin to be rich in the Lord Jesus."
                                                                   John More (c.1545-92)  St Andrews, Norwich


INTRODUCTION (1)
The National background:

THOMAS CARTWRIGHT - The Father of Puritanism

WHAT WAS PURITANISM?
We begin by reminding ourselves that Puritanism was a religious movement in the Church of
England. It demanded a more thorough application of New Testament principles to the
problems posed by the semi-reformed Anglican Church. The Puritans argued that partial
reformation had taken place in England. The Bible had relevance for the Church’s worship
and government as well as her doctrine. Failure to apply biblical teaching was a failure to
recognise the extent of biblical authority and the sovereign rule of the Lord Jesus Christ in
His Church. Elements of puritan thinking were seen in the teaching of John Wycliffe (1324-
84), William Tyndale (martyred 1536) and John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester (martyred 1555).
However, the real father of English Puritanism was Thomas Cartwright. His life and labours
relate to matters which are still of vital importance for Christians today.

EARLY LIFE AND CONVERSION
Thomas Cartwright was born about 1535 in Hertfordshire, possibly at Royston. His family
and religious origins are shrouded in obscurity. He entered Clare Hall, Cambridge in 1547,
the year of the accession of King Edward VI. In November 1550, Cartwright became a scholar
at St John’s College. In the following year, Thomas Lever was appointed as the new master of
the college. This man was a decided Protestant and a powerful preacher. When Mary became
queen in 1553, Lever and twenty-four fellows resigned rather than compromise their faith.
Cartwright himself did not leave at this time. Very probably because he was not truly
converted to Christ. However, he did leave in 1556, a fact which probably dates his
conversion a little earlier.

After the accession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558, Cartwright was restored to the college by Dr
James Pilkington, the new master, in 1562. The new religious settlement found Cartwright
and many others disappointed. The Queen seemed content to leave matters as they had been
under Edward VI. The Reformation was not carried through according to Scriptural
principles.

ELOQUENT PREACHER
In 1562, Cartwright became a fellow of Trinity College. He was now known as an eloquent
preacher, an able scholar and a brilliant debater. When Queen Elizabeth visited the university
in 1564, a debate was held in her presence. Cartwright was chosen to oppose the motion ‘Is
monarchy the best form of government; is the frequent change of laws dangerous?’ The
Queen was not pleased to hear Cartwright argue that the sovereignty of God did not need the
support of earthly monarchs! In those days, such arguments were dangerous.

The return of the Marian exiles (those who had fled to Geneva and Frankfurt during the reign
of Mary Tudor) occasioned discussion about the ‘ha1f-way-house’ of the English Reformation.

As a result of three sermons preached by Cartwright in the college chapel, the scholars and
fellows of St John’s and Trinity - over 300 of them - appeared at the service without their
surplices. Exchanging the chapel missals and breviaries for their Genevan Psalters and
Service-books, they also pulled down the altar in the chapel. Other matters to do with worship
and the entire structure of the established Church of England began to be freely and openly
questioned.

SEVERELY CENSURED
In this highly charged atmosphere, Cartwright left Cambridge to become chaplain to the
Archbishop of Armagh. The two men shared the same views. Cartwright returned to
Cambridge in 1567 and, two years later, he was appointed as Lady Margaret Professor of
Divinity. He began to denounce the constitution and hierarchy of the Church of England. His
lectures on the Acts of the Apostles were widely influential. Many of the student hearers were
to become eminent puritan pastors in years to come. Cartwright’s sermons were opposed by
John Whitgift, later Archbishop of Canterbury. Cartwright was by far the superior preacher,
and St Mary’s Church was regularly filled when he was preaching. The sexton even removed
the windows for the benefit of the ‘overflow’ congregation.

Cartwright was severely censured by those in authority, including Grindal, Archbishop of
York. In a letter to Lord Burghley, the Chancellor of the University, the otherwise puritansympathiser
Grindal complained that “the youth of the university, who are at this time very
toward in learning, frequent his lectures in great numbers, and therefore are in danger of
being poisoned by him with love of contention and liking of novelties, and so becoming
hereafter not only unprofitable, but also hurtful to the church.”

FAITHFULNESS
Cartwright’s faithfulness to Scripture and undoubted courage even cost him his DD, his
candidature being vetoed by Dr May, the Vice-Chancellor of the University. A prohibition was
also placed on the issues under discussion. Cartwright has been accused of abusing his
position. Ought he not to have shown more loyalty to the Reformed Church of England? The
same charge was levelled at Luther regarding the Church of Rome. No, there was nothing
‘unethical’ in showing greater loyalty to God’s Word than to human authorities. Friends
accordingly defended Cartwright’s exposition of the Scriptures, denying also any justice in the
charge that he was encouraging sedition. Appealing to Lord Burghley, a letter signed by
eighteen leading academics gives us a very full picture of Cartwright’s personal and
professional character:

We know that his religion is sincere and free from blemish: for he has not only
emerged from the vast ocean of papistical heresies, and cleansed himself with
the purest waters of the Christian religion, but, as at a rock, he strikes at those
futile and trifling opinions which are daily disseminated. He adheres to the Holy
Scriptures, the most certain rule of faith and practice. We know that he has not
passed these limits. He is well skilled both in the Latin and Greek languages,...
He has also added that of the Hebrew tongue... He is esteemed by foreigners,
whose state of exile is rendered less painful by the sweetness of his disposition
and learning, and who do not hesitate to compare him to those whose fame is so
illustriously spread among the foreign nations. Though we who beg this from you
are but few, yet we ask it in the name of many: for there is scarcely any man
who does not admire and love him, and who does not think that he ought by all
means to be defended. If therefore, you wish well to the University, you cannot
do anything more useful, gratifying, or acceptable, than to preserve Cartwright to
her.

THE SIX PROPOSITIONS
However, in 1570, Cartwright was deprived of his professorship. In 1571, the year the sworn
enemy of the Puritans Dr Whitgift was appointed as Vice-Chancellor, he also lost his
fellowship. These events were the result of Cartwright’s outspoken opposition to the Church of
England, summed up in the famous six propositions. In essence, these were:

1. Archbishops and archdeacons should be abolished.

2. The church’s officers should be modelled on the New Testament.

3. Every church should he governed by its own minister and elders.

4. Ministers should be responsible for one church, not many.

5. No man should solicit for a church appointment.

6. Church officers should be chosen by the church, not the state.

After the university regulations were changed to prevent men of Cartwright’s outlook being
appointed, Cartwright himself left Cambridge for Geneva where Theodore Beza had succeeded
John Calvin as the Reformation leader. Beza had the highest regard for Cartwright’s abilities
and godliness, declaring to one of his English correspondents, “Here is now with us your
countryman, Thomas Cartwright, than whom, I think the sun doth not see a more learned
man.” Friends in England regretted his absence, and Cartwright was encouraged to return to
England in 1572.

WISE ADVISER
His advice was sought concerning negotiations with Catherine de Medici over Queen
Elizabeth’s possible marriage to the Duke of Anjou. Cartwright’s opinion was clear and
uncompromising: “I am fully persuaded that it is directly forbidden in Scripture that any who
profess religion according to the Word of God should marry with those who profess religion
after the manner of the Church of Rome.” This was far from mere academic advice since 1572
was the year of that crescendo of suffering for the Huguenots in France - the St Bartholomew
Massacre of 24 August. However, while Queen Elizabeth deplored such an atrocity abroad,
she was involved in rigorous suppression of the Puritans at home.

THE PURITAN CASE
In the same year, two London clergymen, John Field and Thomas Wilcox, published their
famous Admonition to Parliament, urging the kind of Presbyterianism Cartwright had
advocated. These good men were sent to Newgate. Cartwright visited the men in prison, and
he supported them by writing A Second Admonition to Parliament. Highlighting the heart of the
Puritan case, Cartwright asked, “What, I pray, have they done amiss? They have published
that the ministry of [the Church of] England is out of square.”

Recalling Bishop Cox of Ely’s view that the English Church should have an ‘English face’,
Cartwright complained that more regard was being paid to the Queen’s injunctions and the
Bishops’ canons than the Bible, or rather “the Bible must have no further scope than by these
it is assigned.” Her Majesty preferred liturgy-parroting priests to Gospel preachers: three or
four per county were quite enough! Cartwright continued, “Is this to profess God’s Word? Is
this a reformation? We say the Word of God is above the church; then surely it is above the
English Church, and above all the books now rehearsed. If it be so, why are they not
overruled by it, and not it by them?”

INTIMIDATED
Outraged by such audacity, the authorities issued a warrant for Cartwright’s arrest in June
1573. How extraordinary was Elizabethan ‘political correctness’. While the Queen welcomed
the Huguenot refugees to England (doubtless for the economic benefits these industrious
people brought), ‘Huguenot cousin’ Cartwright and his friends were proceeded against!
Thoroughly intimidated by this experience, he escaped to the continent, first to Heidelberg
and then to Antwerp where he became minister to an English congregation. In 1576,
Cartwright visited the Channel Islands to assist the Huguenot churches in their organisation.
In all this toil and travel, he even found time to marry the sister of a friend, a godly woman
who was to comfort and encourage him to the end. Since the climate in Antwerp adversely
affected his health, Cartwright secretly returned to England in 1585 contrary to the Queen’s
wishes. Though arrested and sent to the Fleet prison by the Bishop of London, he was
released on the Queen’s instructions.

ROMAN CATHOLIC BIBLE
After 1577, Cartwright - who rarely enjoyed good health - had declined to publish anything
that might be ‘offensive to her majesty or the state’. However, when the Roman Catholic
Rheims version of the New Testament was published in 1582, many were alarmed at the anti-
Reformation propaganda of its contents. After approaching Theodore Beza for advice, the
Queen and her ministers - following the Genevan reformer’s glowing recommendation -
reluctantly commissioned Thomas Cartwright to undertake a refutation. By 1586, he had
reached Revelation 15 in a critical analysis of the Roman Bible. However, since Roman
Catholic and Anglican errors were unavoidably exposed, Archbishop Whitgift then forbad
Cartwright to proceed with his work. This prevented the publication of A Confutation of the
Rhemists Translation (1618) until after the author’s death. One is tempted to say that the
Anglican establishment succeeded in curbing the Puritans - albeit temporarily - whereas the
mighty Spanish Armada of 1588 failed to conquer Protestant Britain.

A PURITAN CRANMER
Many of Cartwright’s puritan brethren were dismayed that he should yield to the
Archbishop’s order so readily. Dr Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter accused him of cowardice.
However, other factors besides his health explain his compliant attitude. Between them, the
Queen and her Archbishop were a pretty formidable duo! Had it not been for them,
‘Cartwright’s influence on the Church of England might have been decisive’ wrote Dr Leland
Carson. Unlike the Welsh separatist John Penry who, martyred in 1593, left a wife and four
little girls, Cartwright’s life ended relatively quietly. ‘He was a puritan Cranmer,’ concludes Dr
Carson, ‘with much of Cranmer’s learning and of Cranmer’s shrinking from hardship, and it
was not given him to redeem the past by sharing Cranmer’s fate, i.e. martyrdom.’
Cartwright’s latter years were spent in Warwick. He was appointed master of a hospital
founded there by the Earl of Leicester. However, he frequently preached in the town and
neighbourhood. It is said that he was the first to introduce extemporary praying in public
worship, an important development which took place at this time. Thus the Book of Common
Prayer was often set aside. But there were limits to Cartwright’s Puritanism. Believing in
gradual reformation and avoiding extremism, he never agreed with separatism.

INWARD STRUGGLE
Whether or not Dr Carson’s verdict is fair, perhaps Cartwright’s remarks on Peter’s fall are
evidence of an inward soul-struggle:

What shall I say of Peter, Christ’s Apostle? Had not he a sure knowledge of
Christ, endued with the Holy Ghost and grace from above? And yet after this, he
had such a fall, [and] he did most cowardly and shamefully forsake and deny

Christ, not without blasphemy. But he went forth and wept bitterly, ... and by
faith he returned again unto Christ, knowing His mercy to be infinite and
without measure; Christ appeared unto him (to his great comfort) after He rose
again from death to life. ... And then Peter became a strong Champion, setting
forth Christ to be the only Saviour of the whole world, preaching and openly
confessing Him before all men, without any fear.

Certainly, Cartwright’s courage returned in measure in his last decade or so. Indeed, his
sympathy with puritan activities in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire in 1590 brought him
into further conflict with the authorities. He was again committed to the Fleet prison. He
appeared before the Court of the Star Chamber in 1591 which Lord Burghley likened to the
Spanish Inquisition! Through his efforts and the good offices of King James VI of Scotland
(our future James I), Lord Burghley was successful in obtaining Cartwright’s release.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH
Shortly after his release, Cartwright visited Cambridge once more where he preached to large
congregations. In 1595 he again visited the Channel Islands, accompanying Lord Zouch, the
new governor of Guernsey. In 1598, Cartwright returned to Warwick, where his last years
were spent in comfort and peace. Cartwright preached his last sermon on Christmas Day,
1603 from the text ‘Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it’ (Eccl. 12: 7). Two days later, after spending two hours on his
knees in the morning while in great pain, he told his wife that “he found wonderful and
unutterable joy and comfort, God gave him a glimpse of heaven before he came to it.” And so,
this faithful if fearful champion of the Lord died on 27 December 1603. He lived to see an
increasingly popular acceptance of principles which he had striven so manfully to proclaim.
Parliament abolished the Church of England in 1642. By the time of the Civil War and the
Westminster Assembly (1643-9), fragmentation and intolerance among the Puritans sowed
the seeds of confusion and failure. After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, Oliver
Cromwell’s Protectorate saw civil and religious progress. However, with the ‘backlash’ of the
Restoration in 1660 came the demise of Puritanism. Charles II’s infamous Act of Uniformity of
1662 drove about 2000 Puritan ministers into a religious and social wilderness. Cruel
persecution only ended with William and Mary’s Toleration Act of 1689. The effects of 1662
and a fragmented Nonconformity are sadly still with us. Had the English Puritans followed
some of the more moderate features of the French and Dutch Reformed Churches,
Cartwright’s pioneering labours might have had happier consequences.

CHRIST-EXALTING LEGACY
That said, what do we conclude from the life and labours of Thomas Cartwright?

1. He was a man of solid Scriptural principle. He saw more clearly than most the implications
of the authority of the Bible.

2. He feared separatism and sectarianism. He rejected the arguments of Robert Browne’s A
Treatise on Reformation without Tarrying for Any. Whilst his warnings about endless
fragmentation still have relevance, he was a man of his time in believing in a state church. He
was also authoritarian and inclined to intolerance.

3. His version of Presbyterian church government avoided the hierarchical idea. He sought to
balance the independency of the local congregation with the need for a wider, visible unity.

4. He teaches us to take seriously the Lordship of Christ in His Church, expressed through
the authority of the Scriptures in the energy of the Holy Spirit. This is surely his foundational
legacy.

5. He also exemplified the three purities of Puritanism - purity of doctrine, purity of worship
and purity of life. Whatever difficulties might attend Cartwright’s legacy, the Christian Faith
cannot survive if these primary purities are ever forgotten.

6. He inspired a nationwide puritan vision. Cities and towns across England felt the godly
influence emanating from Calvin’s Geneva via Cartwright’s Cambridge. Norwich is a typical
example, where John More and other puritan brethren declared the Gospel so effectively.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Edmund Calamy, An Account of the Ministers, Lecturers, Masters and Fellows of Colleges and
Schoolmasters, who were Ejected or Silenced after the Restoration in 1660. By or before, the Act
for Uniformity. Design’d for the preserving to Posterity, the Memory of their Names, Characters,
Writings and Sufferings (London, 1713)
Benjamin Brook. The Lives of the Puritans, 3 vols (London, 1813)
Daniel Neal, The History of the Puritans, 5 vols (London, 1822)
A. H. Drysdale, History of the Presbyterians in England (London, 1889)
M. M. Knappen, Tudor Puritanism: A Chapter in the History of Idealism (Chicago, Phoenix ed.,
1965)
C. G. Bolam, Jeremy Goring, H. L. Short, Roger Thomas, The English Presbyterians: From
Elizabethan Puritanism to Modern Unitarianism (London, 1968)
H. C. Porter (ed), Puritanism in Tudor England (London, 1970)
Patrick Collinson, The Elizabethan Puritan Movement (Oxford, 1991)
Muriel McClendon, The Quiet Reformation: Magistrates and the Emergence of Protestantism in
Tudor Norwich (Stanford, 1999)
Patrick Collinson, John Craig, Brett Usher (eds), Conferences and Combination Lectures in the
Elizabethan Church, 1582-1590 (Woodbridge, 2003)
Matthew Reynolds, Godly Reformers and their Opponents in Early Modern England: Religion in
Norwich c.1560-1643 (Woodbridge, 2005)

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