The Primitive Church Revived

Abstract

Abstract Recent scholarship has highlighted the religious dimensions of political argument in William III’s England. This article adds to this trend through a political analysis of pieces on the Apostolic Age that were written, re-printed, or cited, in the reign of William III. The Age was manipulated to legitimise the Williamite settlement in two ways. First, the early Christians’ ecclesiastical structures and practices were compared favourably to the contemporary Church of England, and unfavourably with Roman Catholic regimes. This contrast bolstered the bipolar confessional divide that underpinned William III’s claim to the English throne. Second, the supposed pan-national spiritual sympathy of the early Christians was regarded as a template for contemporary European Protestants, who were worthy of the protection that formed the bedrock of William III’s foreign policy.