But the religious problem was more dangerous than any other, for
England itself was divided in its faith. In the north, many noble
families stood by the Catholic faith, and hoped to see the Pope's
authority fully and permanently restored (S352). In the towns of the
southeast, a majority favored the Church of England as it had been
organized under the Protestant influence of Edward VI (S362).[1]
[1] See Goldwin Smith's "England."
Within these two great parties there were two more, who made up in
zeal and determination what they lacked in numbers. One was the
Jesuits; the other, the Puritans. The Jesuits were a new Roman
Catholic order (1540), banded together by a solemn oath to restore the
complete power of the Church and to extend it throughout the world.
Openly or secretly their agents penetrated every country, and their
opponents declared that they hesitated at nothing to gain their ends.
The Puritans were the extreme Protestants who, like John Calvin of
Geneva and John Knox of Edinburgh, were bent on cleansing or
"purifying" the reformed faith from every vestige of Catholicism.
Many of them were what the rack and the stake had naturally made
them,--hard, fearless, narrow, bitter.
In Scotland the Puritans had got possession of the government, while
in England they were steadily gaining ground. They were ready to
recognize the Queen as head of the Church of England, they even wished
that all persons should be compelled to worship as the government
prescribed, but they protested against what they considered the
halfway form of Church which Elizabeth and the bishops seemed inclined
to maintain.