Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

William Whittingham, and Thomas Sampson.
These things are not doctrines, it was argued by
those who contended for ceremonies and
vestments; they are but forms, they are matters of
indifference. If they be indifferent and not vital, it
was replied, why force them upon us to the
wounding of our con sciences, and at the risk of
rending the Church of God? The charge of
fanaticism was directed against the one side: that of
intolerance was retorted upon the other. The aim of
the Puritans, beyond doubt, was to perfect the
Reformation which Cranmer had left incomplete.
The more eminent of Elizabeth's ministers of
State were substantially with the Puritan party.
Lord Burghley, Sir Francis Walsingham, the Earl
of Bedford, Sir Francis Knollyes, were friendly to a
yet greater reform in the Church of England, and
disapproved of the rigor with which the Puritans
were treated. The main difficulty lay with the
queen. One of her leading aims was the
reconcilement of English Papists, and hence her
dread of a complete dis-severance of the Church of
England from that of Rome. She loved splendor in
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