04-‘A Threefold Cord'

In the early 1580s, after twenty-five years on the throne,
Elizabeth still dominated the Church of England. 1 She was not its
Supreme Governor in name only! Insisting on uniformity at every
turn, she detested the Puritans, while hating the Anabaptists along
with the new-fangled Separatists who were now beginning to
form churches. The authorities had clamped down upon the
Puritans, largely beating them into a grudging and sullen
submission by this time, although the measures against them
remained in force. Archbishop Whitgift compelled every minister
of the State Church to subscribe to the Royal Supremacy in all
matters, to pledge unqualified assent to the Thirty-Nine Articles,
and to use only the Book of Common Prayer in worship. In 1584,
a list of twenty-four questions on disputed points was presented
to every Church of England minister, to be answered on oath.