subjects, that aimed at nothing less than the death of their Sovereign, and the destruction of the government, employed it as a mask to hide their deformity, "then the true and genuine Independents renounced this title, and substituted another less odious in its place, calling themselves Congregational Brethren, and their religious assemblies Congregational Churches;"* names perhaps more appropriate, and by these they are still frequently known.

Their brethren in America also,with some exceptions, now disclaim the word Independent as applicable to them, and claim a sisterly relation to each other. The ministers of the Congregational Order are there generally associated for the purposes of licensing candidates for the ministry, and friendly intercourse and improvement.

RISE, PROGRESS, &c.-The sect of the Independents was originally formed in Holland, about the year 1610, but their distinguishing doctrine seems to have been previously maintained by the Brown

* Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. v. p. 405. Note. Robinson, the founder of the sect, makes express use of the term Independent in explaining his doctrine relating to Ecclesiastical Government;-" Cœtum quemlibet particularem esse totam, integram, et perfectam ecclesiam ex suis partibus constantem, immediatè et Independenter (quoad alias ecclesias) sub ipso Christo."-Apologia, cap. 5. p. 22. Dr. Mosheim supposes it may possibly have been from this passage that the title of Independents was originally derived.

ists;* with whom, in consequence, they have been improperly confounded. Its founder was a Mr. John Robinson of Norfolk; "a man who had much of the solemn piety of the times, and was master of a congregation of Brownists that had settled at Leyden. This well-meaning man, perceiving the defects that reigned in the discipline of Brown, and in the spirit and temper of his followers, employed his zeal and diligence in correcting them, and in modelling anew the society, in such a manner as to render it less odious to his adversaries, and less liable to the just censure of those true Christians,

*The Brownists were the followers of Robert Brown, a native of Rutlandshire, who was educated at Cambridge, but became a Non-Conformist about A. D. 1580; and after officiating for some time to a congregation of Dissenters at Norwich, went over to Holland and settled at Middleburgh in Zealand, where he and his followers obtained leave of the States to form a Church according to their own model.

He openly inveighed against the discipline and ceremonies of the Church; yet, on his re urn to England, he was promoted to a living in Northamptonshire; but being of violent passions, he was committed to Northampton jail for an assault at the age of 80, where he died in 1630, after boasting that he had been committed to 32 prisons, in some of which he could not see his hand at noon-day!

Notwithstanding the severe persecutions to which his followers were exposed, they are said to have amounted in England, in 1592, to no less than 20,000; and the sect flourished there and in Holland about 100 years. Mr. Ainsworth, the author of the learned Commentary on the Pentateuch, who was pastor of a congregation at Amsterdam, was one of its most distinguished members.

who looked upon charity as the end of the commandment.

The Independents, accordingly, were much more commendable than the Brownists in two respects.

They surpassed them both in the moderation of their sentiments, and the order of their discipline."*

A Mr. Henry Jacobs, who had fled to Holland in consequence of Archbishop Bancroft's active exertions against the Puritans, meeting with Mr. Robinson in that country, embraced his sentiments respecting church discipline; and, returning to England, established the first Independent or Congregational Church there in 1616.

Independency, however, "made at first but a very small progress in England; it worked its way slowly, and in a clandestine manner; and its members concealed their principles from public view, to avoid the penal laws that had been enacted against Non-Conformists. But during the reign of Charles I., when, amidst the shocks of civil and religious discords, the authority of the Bishops and the cause of Episcopacy began to decline, and more particularly about the year 1640, the Independents grew more courageous, and came forth,

* Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. v. p. 405, 6. edit. 1806. Dr. M. remarks, p. 399, Note, that the origin of the Independents may be found in Hornbeck's Summa Controversiarum, lib. x. p. 775.

with an air of resolution and confidence, to public view. After this period, their affairs took a prosperous turn; and in a little time, they became so considerable, both by their numbers, and by the reputation they acquired, that they vied in point of pre-eminence and credit, not only with the Bishops, but also with the Presbyterians, though at this time in the very zenith of their power. This rapid progress of the Independents was, no doubt, owing to a variety of causes; among which justice obliges us to reckon the learning of their teachers, and the regularity and sanctity of their manners. During the administration of Cromwell, whose peculiar protection and patronage they enjoyed on more than one account, their credit arose to the greatest height, and their influence and reputation were universal; but after the restoration of Charles II., their cause declined, and they fell back gradually into their primitive obscurity. The sect, indeed, still subsisted; but in such a state of dejection and weakness, as engaged them, in the year 1691, under the reign of King William, to enter into an association with the Presbyterians residing in and about London, under certain heads of agreement, that tended to the maintenance of their respective institutions."*

* Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. v. p. 406, 7.

In some of these articles, which are nine in number, both parties seem to depart from the primitive principles of their respective institutions.

They may be seen in the 2d vol. of Whiston's Memoirs of his Life and Writings; and the substance of them in Mosheim, as above, p. 408, 9.

Independency was introduced into America from England about 1620 by Mr. Jacobs, who died in Virginia in 1624; or, according to Dr. Mosheim, by several English families of this sect that had been settled in Holland, who laid the foundation of a new settlement, afterwards called New Plymouth; -and, by successive Puritan emigrants in 1629, and 1633. These "English Independents, who retired to America on account of their dissention from the established religion of their country, claimed the honour of carrying thither the first rays of divine truth, and of beginning a work that has been since continued with such pious zeal and such abundant fruit; and, indeed, this claim is founded in justice."*

An attempt was also made by one Morel,† in the 16th century, to introduce the doctrine of this denomination into France; but it was condemned at the Synod of Rochelle, where Beza presided; and again in a Synod at the same place in 1644. So that Independency may be said to be peculiar to Great Britain, Ireland, North America, and the Batavian Republic.

* Dr. Mosheim, who remarks, that the Puritans, Mayhew, Sheppard, and Elliot, made an eminent figure among the emigrants of 1633, particularly the last, who, by his zeal, dexterity, and indefatigable industry in converting the natives, merited, after his death, the honourable title of the Apostle of the Indians.-Eccles, Hist. vol. v. p. 46, &c.

† I have not as yet been able to learn, whether Morel