of another. In the House of
Commons they could command the aid of several among the master spirits
of the age,--of Cromwell, Selden, St. John, Vane, and Whitelock; in the
capital some of the most wealthy citizens professed themselves their
disciples, and in the army their power rapidly increased by the daily
accession of the most godly and fanatic of the soldiers. The very nature
of the contest between the king and the parliament was calculated to
predispose the mind in favour of their principles. It taught men to
distrust the claims of authority, to exercise their own judgment on matters
of the highest interest, and to spurn the fetters of intellectual as well
as of political thraldom. In a short time the Independents were joined by
the Antinomians, Anabaptists, Millenarians, Erastians, and the members
of many ephemeral sects, whose very names are now forgotten. All had one
common interest; freedom of conscience formed the chain which bound them
together.[1]

In the assembly each party watched with jealousy, and opposed with warmth,
the proceedings of the other. On a few questions they proved unanimous. The
appointment of days of humiliation and prayer, the suppression of public
and scandalous sins, the prohibition of copes and surplices, the removal
of organs from the churches, and the mutilation or demolition of monuments
deemed superstitious or idolatrous, were matters equally congenial to their
feelings, and equally gratifying to their zeal or fanaticism.[2] But when
they

[Footnote 1: Baillie, 398, 408; ii. 3, 19, 43. Whitelock, 169, 170.]

[Footnote 2: Journals, 1643, July 5; 1644, Jan. 16, 29, May 9. Journals of
Lords, vi. 200, 507, 546. Baillie, i. 421, 422, 471. Rush. v. 358, 749.]

came to the more important subject of church government, the opposition
between them grew fierce and obstinate; and day after day, week after week,
was consumed in unavailing debates. The kirk of Scotland remonstrated, the
House of Commons admonished in vain. For more than a year the perseverance
of the Independents held in check the ardour and influence of their more
numerous adversaries. Overpowered at last by open force, they had recourse
to stratagem; and, to distract the attention of the Presbyterians, tendered
to the assembly a plea for indulgence to tender consciences; while their
associate, Cromwell, obtained from the lower house an order that the same
subject should be referred to a committee formed of lords and commone