was a theological tract submitted by five

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

preachers to the

English Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

on 3 January 1644 as a part of the debates taking place during the

Westminster Assembly The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and the Assembly's work was adopte ...

. ''An Apologeticall Narration'' was written by

Thomas Goodwin Thomas Goodwin (Rollesby, Norfolk, 5 October 160023 February 1680), known as "the Elder", was an English Puritan theologian and preacher, and an important leader of religious Independents. He served as chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and was impo ...

Philip Nye Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

Sidrach Simpson Sidrach Simpson (c.1600-1655) was an English Independent minister, one of the leaders of the Independent faction in the Westminster Assembly. Life Sidrach Simpson came from Lincolnshire. He was educated as a sizar at Emmanuel College and Queens ...

Jeremiah Burroughs Jeremiah Burroughs (sometimes Burroughes; 1599 – London, 13 November, 1646) was an English Congregationalist and a well-known Puritan preacher. Biography Burroughs studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was graduated M.A. in 1624, b ...

, and

William Bridge William Bridge (c. 1600 – 1670) was a leading English Independent minister, preacher, and religious and political writer. Life A native of Cambridgeshire, the Rev. William Bridge was probably born in or around the year 1600. He studied at Emma ...

, sometimes referred to collectively as the "Five Dissenting Brethren." The five authors had all been exiled in

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

in the 1630s and had links to the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

churches. The pamphlet can be seen as a manifesto of

congregationalism Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articul ...

, under which churches would be independently organised, although maintaining fraternal links. The two biggest evils for these Congregationalists (or Independents) were sectarianism and intolerance (although there were some limits to tolerance). But while arguing for some measure of congregationalist independence, the pamphlet also aimed to reassure the

presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

majority that the gathering of independent churches would not create ecclesiastical disorder. Thus, the authors maintained, it was not necessary to secure uniformity in the new constitution of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. This conciliatory tone accounts for the harsh judgements on the separatists and the

Brownists The Brownists were a group of English Dissenters or early Separatists from the Church of England. They were named after Robert Browne, who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England, in the 1550s. A majority of the Separatists aboard the ' ...

. Despite the book deliberately seeking a moderate, indeed "apologeticall," tone, it launched an enormous amount of printed debate that definitively split the godly community into the presbyterian and independent factions. This included a rebuttal by

Adam Steuart Adam Steuart (Stuart, Stewart) (1591–1654) was a Scottish philosopher and controversialist. Life He became professor at the Academy of Saumur in 1617. Andrew Pyle (editor), ''Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century British Philosophers'' (2000), art ...

, published in February. English historian Veronica Wedgwood argues that submitting the tract directly to Parliament, rather than the Westminster Assembly, was an effective way of bringing the authors' point of view to a wider public without exposing it to contest in the Assembly, where it would have faced being out-argued and they themselves would have been outnumbered.

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