nd that system as far as
possible. He made the most of all the ceremonies of worship, and
introduced others, which were, indeed, not exactly new, but rather
ancient ones revived. He did this conscientiously, no doubt, thinking
that these forms of devotion were adapted to impress the soul of the
worshiper, and lead him to feel, in his heart, the reverence which his
outward action expressed. Many of the people, however, bitterly
opposed these things. They considered it a return to popery. The more
that Laud, and those who acted with him, attempted to magnify the
rites and the powers of the Church, the more these persons began to
abhor every thing of the kind. They wanted Christianity itself, _in
its purity_, uncontaminated, as they said, by these popish and
idolatrous forms. They were called _Puritans_.

There were a great many things which seem to us at the present day of
very little consequence, which were then the subjects of endless
disputes and of the most bitter animosity. For instance, one point was
whether the place where the communion was to be administered should be
called the communion table or the altar; and in what part of the
church it should stand; and whether the person officiating should be
called a priest or a clergyman; and whether he should wear one kind of
dress or another. Great importance was attached to these things; but
it was not on their own account, but on account of their bearing on
the question whether the Lord's Supper was to be considered only a
ceremony commemorative of Christ's death, or whether it was, whenever
celebrated by a regularly authorized priest, _a real renewal_ of the
sacrifice of Christ, as the Catholics maintained. Calling the
communion table an altar, and the officiating minister a priest, and
clothing him in a sacerdotal garb, countenanced the idea of a renewal
of the sacrifice of Christ. Laud and his co-adjutors urged the adoption
of all these and similar usages. The Puritans detested them, because
they detested and abhorred the doctrine which they seemed to imply.

Another great topic of controversy was the subject of amusements. It
is a very singular circumstance, that in those branches of the
Christian Church where rites and forms are most insisted upon, the
greatest latitude is allowed in respect to the gayeties and amusements
of social life. Catholic Paris is filled with theaters and dancing,
and the Sabbath is a holiday. In London, on the other hand, the number
of