hurch of England people; Controversy with the Ranters, who
believed Christ to be a myth; Controversy with the Quakers who, at
their outset, disbelieved in his Divinity and in the inspiration of
the Scriptures. Envy at his rapidly acquired reputation brought him
baser enemies. He was called a witch, a Jesuit, a highwayman. It was
reported that he had 'his misses,' that he had two wives, &c. 'My foes
have missed their mark in this,' he said with honest warmth: 'I am not
the man. If all the fornicators and adulterers in England were hanged
by the neck, John Bunyan, the object of their envy, would be still
alive and well. I know not whether there be such a thing as a woman
breathing under the cope of the whole heavens but by their apparel,
their children, or common fame, except my wife.'

But a more serious trial was now before him. Cromwell passed away. The
Protectorate came to an end. England decided that it had had enough of
Puritans and republicans, and would give the Stuarts and the
Established Church another trial. A necessary consequence was the
revival of the Act of Uniformity. The Independents were not meek like
the Baptists, using no weapons to oppose what they disapproved but
passive resistance. The same motives which had determined the original
constitution of a Church combining the characters of Protestant and
Catholic, instead of leaving religion free, were even more powerful at
the Restoration than they had been at the accession of Elizabeth.
Before toleration is possible, men must have learnt to tolerate
toleration itself; and in times of violent convictions, toleration is
looked on as indifference, and indifference as Atheism in disguise.
Catholics and Protestants, Churchmen and Dissenters, regarded one
another as enemies of God and the State, with whom no peace was
possible. Toleration had been tried by the Valois princes in France.
Church and chapel had been the rendezvous of armed fanatics. The
preachers blew the war-trumpet, and every town and village had been
the scene of furious conflicts, which culminated in the Massacre of
St. Bartholomew. The same result would have followed in England if the
same experiment had been ventured. The different communities were
forbidden to have their separate places of worship, and services were
contrived which moderate men of all sorts could use and interpret
after their own convictions. The instrument required to be delicately
handled. It succeeded tolerably as long