Abstract

This article considers the nature and development of episcopalian identities and attitudes during the mid-seventeenth century by examining the case of Alexander Griffith. Griffith has been known to historians as an unbending ‘Anglican’, an exemplar of obdurate royalism and a man who was in the vanguard of resistance to the puritan experiments in Wales during the 1640s and 1650s. However, the discovery of Griffith’s sermon book in the Folger Shakespeare Library throws a different light on the nature of his career and the development of his opinions. Griffith’s sermons reveal that he made accommodations with local Presbyterians in the 1640s and even helped head-up their campaign to introduce the Directory for Public Worship into Wales and the Marches. The sermon book provides the opportunity for a new and more nuanced reading of the numerous tracts he published against the Commission for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales during the 1650s. The article argues that both his sermons and published works reveal Griffith as an implacable opponent of radical separatists, but that he was willing to accommodate with and adapt to moderate parliamentarian regimes. His position shifted at the Restoration when he articulated his conviction in two high profile assize sermons that the Act of Uniformity provided the best defence against the spectre of radical religion and political dissolution. This article reveals that Griffith was a more important figure than has generally been acknowledged and that his religious and political positions were more complex than previous studies have allowed.

中文翻译：

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1643-63年，威尔士进行曲中的宣讲和政治活动：亚历山大·格里菲斯（Alexander Griffith）*

摘要

本文通过考察亚历山大·格里菲斯（Alexander Griffith）案，考察了主教身份和态度在17世纪中叶的性质和发展。格里菲斯（Griffith）在历史学家中被称为“顽强的英国人”，是顽固的保皇主义的典范，是一个在1640年代和1650年代抵制威尔士清教徒实验的先锋队。但是，格里菲斯（Griffith）的讲道书在佛格莎士比亚图书馆中的发现，对他的职业性质和见解产生了不同的启示。格里菲斯（Griffith）的讲道显示，他在1640年代与当地的长老会同住，甚至还协助他们领导竞选活动，介绍《公众敬拜目录》进入威尔士和游行。讲道书为他在1650年代反对威尔士福音传播委员会出版的众多著作提供了新的，更细致入微的机会。文章认为，他的讲道和已发表的著作都表明格里菲斯是激进分裂主义者的坚定反对者，但他愿意接受和适应温和的议会制。当他在两次备受瞩目的讲道中表达了自己的信念时，他的立场在恢复时期发生了变化，即《统一法案》为抵御激进宗教和政治解散的幽灵提供了最佳辩护。