Prezbiterijanci v Behemothu

The Presbyterians, according to Thomas Hobbes in Behemoth, were one of the principal corrupters of the people; and the corruption of the people was a cause of the English Civil War. In fact, it was not the Presbyterians who were a cause of the Civil War, but certain puritan ministers, notably some closely connected with members of Parliament. The puritan ministers opposed the Laudian church and the concept of jure divino episcopacy but many would have accepted a form of episcopacy. Sermons by puritan ministers, often coordinated with MPs, contributed to the political instability of 1640 and after. The religious Presbyterians, who had been puritans, did emerged after fighting had broken out between royalist and parliamentary forces and after the opening of the Westminster Assembly of Divines in 1643.Hobbes je v Behemothu prezbiterijance postavil na sam vrh med tistimi, ki so skvarili ljudstvo, v čemer je videl enega od vzrokov angleške državljanske vojne. Dejansko eni od povzročiteljev državljanske vojne niso bili prezbiterijanci, temveč določeni puri-tanski duhovniki, zlasti nekateri, ki so bili tesno povezani s člani parlamenta. Puri-tanski duhovniki so nasprotovali laudovski cerkvi in škofovstvu jure divino, a mnogi med njimi so bili pripravljeni sprejeti kakšno drugo obliko episkopata. Puritanske pridige, pogosto koordinirane s člani parlamenta, so prispevale k politični nestabilnosti leta 1640 in pozneje. Verski prezbiterijanci, ki so pred tem bili puritanci, so se pojavili, ko je izbruhnil spopad med kraljevimi in parlamentarnimi silami in ko je 1643 začela z delom westminstrska sinoda