Immanuel Bourne: A Defence of the Ministerial Order

Abstract

The interregnum period in England saw the polarisation of thought concerning the nature of the ministry and its relevance to salvation. Almost twenty years ago James Fulton Maclear classified the anti-clericalism which matured during these years in three ways: anti-clericalism based on mounting class consciousness and bitter resentment against the pretensions of the clergy; anti-clericalism rooted in political antagonism; and the anti-clericalism to be discerned in the thought of men such as William Walwyn, which was moralistic, anti-theological and indifferent to ecclesiastical problems. Most historians have discussed the issue of a settled ministry with reference to the writings of the leading controversialists—Milton, Walwyn, Lilburn, Winstanley, Fox, and Jubbes. The position assumed by the Presbyterian ministers themselves has received rather less attention—theirs was essentially a defensive standpoint and consequendy less colourful. Yet, for many reasons, there is a real need for an examination of the development of clerical professional exclusiveness prior to the Civil War and for an analysis of the reaction of the settled ministry to subsequent attacks upon their position.