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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Divinity Studies: Number One; The Contest for Liberty of Conscience in England A mighty and prolonged contest for religious liberty is one of the marked characteristics of modern history. From it has resulted the most important attainment of recent centuries. In this treatise I purpose to study so much of this contest as belongs to England. The minds of men have ever been in a state of doubt and uncertainty concerning this phase of the general Reformation movement. It would almost seem that in some conspicuous instances historians have been led to their conclusions concerning it by denominational pride, rather than by evidence. There is much conflict of statement. John M. Baxter, in his "Church History of England," has stated that Whatsoever merit Independency may claim for advocating the rights of conscience, it is certain that the first clear and argumentative assertion of those rights proceeded from the pen of a suffering churchman, sequestered for no greater offense than that of loyalty, Jeremy Taylor (p. 607). Henry Martin Dexter, the author of "Congregationalism as Seen in its Literature," declares: Robert Browne, I must think, is entitled to the proud preeminence of having been the first writer clearly to state and defend in the English tongue the true-and now accepted-doctrine of the relation of the magistrate to the Church (p. 101). Robert Browne, the founder of the sect known as "Brownists," was also the father of Independency, using the word in its narrower sense. Thus the leading historian of the Congregationalists claims for his denomination the glory of having begun the contest for religious liberty. David Masson, in his "Life and Times of Milton," makes a still different statement: Not to the Church of England, however, nor to English Puritanism at large, does the honour of the first perception of the full principle of Liberty of Conscience, and its assertion in English, belong. That honor has to be assigned, I believe, to the Independents generally, and the Baptists in particular. (Vol. III, p. 987.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

An analysis of America's commitment to religious liberty uses political history, philosophical ideas, and key constitutional cases to discuss its basis in six principles: equality, respect for conscience, liberty, accommodation of minorities, nonestablishment, and separation of church and state.