Misconceptions as to the true meaning of Puri-
. tanism. — There is no error which is more widespread
•' thaiTthat Puritanism is bound up^with certain theories /
and doctrines, such as those put forth by Cartwright.
Canon Curteis speaks of the Puritan delusion that the
Scriptures are the soU organ of the Holy Ghost, and says
that this, and the Calvinistic system in general, " belong
to the very essence of Puritanism." ^ " For whereas God
hath left sundry kinds of laws unto men, and by all these
laws the actions of men are in some sort directed, they
[Cartwright and his disciples] held that one only law, the
Scripture, must be the rule to direct in all things, even
so far as to the taking up of a rush or straw." ^

1 Curteis' Bampton Lecture, p. 271.
2 Hooker's Ecclesistical Polity, book ii. chap. ii.
