ifferent
parties. Thus the pure-monarchy party saw many evils in the laws of
England and in the administration of affairs, and sought reform, but
without yielding anything of the high conception of the absolute power
of the king. They believed that the ancient laws and precedents of
England were a check upon monarchy sufficient to reform all abuses of
power that might arise. They acknowledged the divine right of kings
and thought that royalty possessed a superior power, but they held that
it was obliged, for its own preservation and the proper government of
the realm, to confine its activity within certain limits. Two other
parties, the one political and the other religious, went hand in hand,
both for revolution. The former denied the absolute sovereignty of the
king and sought a great change in the form, the spirit, and the
structure of government. They held that the ultimate power of control
should rest in the House of Commons as the representative of the
people. The latter party sought the same process within the church.
They held that it should be controlled by assemblages of the people,
maintained that decentralization should take place and the constitution
of the church be changed as well as its form of administration. It is
easy to see that the leaders of either of these parties were also
leaders of the other. A fourth party sought to repudiate the
constitution, as radically wrong, and to build up an entirely new
political system. It disregarded the past life of England and
repudiated all precedents, desiring to build up a new government
founded upon abstract theories of right and justice.

The course of history under these four parties is plain. Each one,
struggling for power, tried to manage the government {396} upon its
particular theory, and signally failed. The struggle in the House of
Commons, had it not finally brought about such great consequences,
would be disgusting and discouraging in the extreme. The struggle in
England for liberty of conscience and for government of the people
through Parliament went on through turmoil and disgrace for two
centuries. It was king against the people, Catholic against
Protestant, and, within the latter group, Anglican, Presbyterian, and
independent, each against one another. All sorts of unjust and inhuman
practices were indulged in. It would seem that the spirit of Magna
Charta and of the Christian religion was constantly outraged.

When Henry VIII,