During the Commonwealth, there was substituted, in place of the Common Prayer, A directory for the Public worship of God, and the uniformity which was enjoined in it was like that of the Presbyterians and Dissenters of the present day. The people had assembled, and been exhorted to reverence and humility, and joined the preacher in prayer. He then read portions of Scripture, with or without an exposition, as he judged it necessary, but not so as to render the service tedious. After singing a psalm, the minister prayed, leading the people to mourn under a sense of sin, and to hunger and thirst after the grace of God, in Jesus Christ; an outline or abstract is given of the subject of public prayer, and similar instructions are given as to the sermon or paraphrase.
Immediately after the
sermon, prayer was again offered up, and after the outline that is given of
this devotional exercise, it is noted, 'And because the prayer which Christ
taught his disciples, is not only a pattern of prayer but itself a most
comprehensive prayer, we recommend it also to be used in the prayers of the
Church.' This being ended, a psalm was sung, and the minister dismissed the
congregation with a solemn blessing.[53] Some of the clergy continued the use
of prayers, contained in the liturgy, reciting, instead of reading them—a
course that was not objected to. This was the form of service which struck
Bunyan with such awe and reverence, leaving a very solemn impression upon his
mind, which the old form of common prayer had never produced.
Bunyan was fond of athletic sports, bell-ringing, and dancing; and in these he had indulged, so far as his worldly calling allowed. Charles I, whether to promote Popery—to divert his subjects from political grievances—or to punish the Puritans, had endeavored to drown their serious thoughts in a vortex of dissipation, by re-publishing the Book of Sports, to be used on Sundays. That 'after Divine service our good people be not disturbed, let, or discouraged from dancing, either men or women; archery, leaping, vaulting, or any other such harmless recreations; May games, Whitsun-ales, Morris dances, Maypoles, and other sports.' But this was not all, for every 'Puritan and Precisian was to be constrained to conformity with these sports, or to leave their country.' The same severe penalty was enforced upon every clergyman who refused to read from his pulpit the Book of Sports and to persuade the people thus to desecrate the Lord's-day.
'Many hundred godly ministers were suspended from their ministry, sequestered, driven from their livings, excommunicated, prosecuted in the high commission court, and forced to leave the kingdom for not publishing this declaration.' A little gleam of heavenly light falls upon those dark and gloomy times, from the melancholy fact that nearly eight hundred conscientious clergymen were thus wickedly persecuted. This was one of the works of Laud, who out-bannered Bonner himself in his dreadful career of cruelty while making havoc on the church of Christ. Even transportation for refusing obedience to such diabolical laws was not the greatest penalty; in some cases, it was followed by the death of the offender. The punishments inflicted for nonconformity were accompanied by the most refined and barbarous cruelties. Still many of the learned bowed their necks to this yoke with abject servility: thus, Robert Powell, speaking of the Book of Sports, says, 'Needless is it to argue or dispute for that which authority hath commanded, and most insufferable insolence to speak or write against it.'
These Sunday sports, published by
Charles I, in 1633, had doubtless aided in fostering Bunyan's bad conduct in
his youthful days. In 1644, when The Book of Common Prayer was abolished, an
Act was passed for the better observance of the Lord's-day; all persons were
prohibited on that day to use any wrestling, shooting, bowing, ringing of
bells for pastime, masques, wakes, church-ales, dancing, game, sports or
pastime whatever; and that 'the Book of Sports shall be seized, and publicly
burnt.' During the civil war this Act does not appear to have been strictly
enforced; for, four years after it was passed, we find Bunyan and his dissolute
companions worshipping the priest, clerk, and vestments on a Sunday morning,
and assembling for their Sabbath-breaking sports in the afternoon. It was upon
one of these occasions that a most extraordinary impression was fixed upon the
spirit of Bunyan. A remarkable scene took place, worthy of the pencil of the most
eminent artist. This event cannot be better described than in his own words:—
'One day, amongst all
the sermons our parson made, his subject was, to treat of the Sabbath-day, and
of the evil of breaking that, either with labour, sports, or otherwise; now I
was, notwithstanding my religion, one that took much delight in all manner of
vice, and especially that was the day that I did solace myself therewith;
wherefore I fell in my conscience under his sermons, thinking and believing
that he made that sermon on purpose to show me my evil doing. And at that time
I felt what guilt was, though never before, that I can remember; but then I
was, for the present, greatly loaden therewith, and so went home, when the
sermon was ended, with a great burthen upon my spirit.
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