III. 1558-1603. will sometimes lead to the secrecies of treason. CHAP. Hence the Protestant power of this kingdom, after more than twenty years of ascendancy, continued to be assailed by the artifices of Rome and Spain, who never failed to discover instruments suited to enacted. their purpose among the English priests. There was scarcely a province without its emissaries of this class-men, who, with their zeal to strengthen the wavering faith of their disciples, scrupled not to mix more dangerous speculations.* In the Severer laws parliament of 1581, it was, therefore, considered proper to enact, that all persons absenting themselves from church, unless known to observe the English service at home, should pay twenty pounds a month; and it was afterwards determined, that in default of such payment, the royal officers might seize upon all the goods of the delinquent, and twothirds of his lands. Now it was that men began Punishment † 23 Eliz. c. 1. 29 Eliz. c. 6. Sir Walter Mildmay, chancellor of the exchequer, introduced the first of these statutes by some remarks, which show the judgment formed by the commons at this time, respecting the political and the religious state of Europe. "That our most gracious Queen did, at her first entry, loosen us from the yoke of Rome, and did restore unto this realm the most pure and holy religion of the gospel, which for a time was overshadowed with popery, is known of all the world, and felt of us to our singular comfort. But from hence, as from the root, hath sprung that implacable malice of the pope, and his confederates against her, whereby they have, and do seek, not only to trouble, but, if they could, to bring the realm again into thraldom, the rather for that they hold this as a firm and settled opinion, that England is the only settled monarchy that doth most maintain and countenance religion, being the chief sanctuary for the afflicted members of the church, that fly thither from the tyranny of Rome; as men being in danger of shipwreck do, from a raging and tempestuous sea, to a calm and quiet haven." But concerning the pope, viewed as a political antagonist, it is remarked, that "of himself, at this present, he is far unable to make war upon any prince of that estate which her majesty is of, having lost, as you know, many years, by the preaching of the gospel, those infinite revenues, which he was wont to have out of England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and others-and now out of France and the Low of death inflicted. 1558-1603, CHAP. to suffer death on account of their religion, or upon III. charges of treason which were but imperfectly made out. The accused who was prepared to deny the deposing power assumed by the pope's bull, might probably have saved his life at any period of this reign; but, about 1580, several priests who sought to evade this confession suffered death as traitors; and assuredly such men were dangerous subjects, if subjects they might be called. It came in consequence to be understood among Catholics, that this doctrine was not meant to be imperative any longer than it might be acted upon with advantage to the church. But this reservation, if it conferred tranquillity on certain pliant consciences, served to widen the distance between the whole party and the government.* Use of torture. The use of torture, as a means of extorting evidence, was not unfrequently resorted to in such cases. This practice, so contrary to the laws of lity. The England, excited much scandal in this and in other cited by it. countries. Nor did the apologies issued by the Its illega scandal ex ministers of Elizabeth in their own defence materially assist their pretensions to justice and humanity. To provide against the desperate feeling which was thus produced, an act was passed in Banishment 1584, requiring that every Jesuit, and every priest, and Jesuits, should quit the kingdom within forty days, on pain of being called to suffer as a traitor; and any of priests Countries."-Parl. Hist. p. 814. The pontiff is at the same time described as a formidable opponent, on account of the influence which superstition had given him over the mind and the means of others. *Hallam, I. 156-159. Somers's Tracts, I. 189, 209. The puritans, amid all their hatred of popery, frequently protested against this method of opposing it. They were not willing that the securities of their civil freedom should be sacrificed, even for such a cause. III. Queen's life. person concealing the existence of such offenders CHA P. within the realm, became liable to fines, and to im- 1558-1603. prisonment during the royal pleasure.* Plots to assassinate the Queen formed the next stage in Peril of the this bitter controversy, and measures were as resolutely adopted by private persons, and in parliament, with a view to destroy all hope in the partisans of Mary as to her accession, should such a deed be perpetrated.+ of Catholic party subsequent to the Scottish But the death of the Queen of Scots, a few years State of the later, was an event which nothing but a sense weakness would have allowed the Catholics of the death of either kingdom to witness in silence and inaction; Queen. and the fate of the Spanish Armada rendered the prospect of their return to power still more improbable. During the reign of Elizabeth, and chiefly during the latter half of it, nearly two hundred Catholics suffered death. The Protestant writers of that age repeatedly affirmed, that no one of these persons suffered on account of his religion. It is certain, however, that a very small number of these sufferers were chargeable with those overt acts of treason, of which the law is generally understood to take cognizance. It is, on the other hand, highly probable, that most of them might have obtained pardon, had they been prepared distinctly to abandon the deposing power of their chief. Parl. Hist. p. 822. It was provided also by this statute, "That he who should send his children, or any others, to seminaries and colleges of the popish profession, should be fined one hundred pounds; and that those who were so sent thither, should not succeed as heirs, nor enjoy any estates which should any way fall to them; the like for all such as should not return home from the said seminaries within a year, unless they did conform themselves to the church of England." + Ibid. p. 823. Butler's English Catholics, I. 178. Hallam, I. 176. 1558-1603. CHAP. But this perilous dogma now became the pressing III. question with the Catholic, as the tenet of transubstantiation had been, in the last reign, with the Protestant. To call men traitors merely for holding an opinion which might some day lead them into treason, and to punish them not so much for what they are, as for what they are likely to become, may have been sufficiently unjust and impolitic. But the sufferers had little right to complain if they were parties to those measures which had visited an incapacity to receive the crudities of transubstantiation with fine and imprisonments and even death at the stake. Men who would have mere opinion to be a matter of penal regulation, should remember that this sword has two edges, and that it may some day fall upon themselves as keenly as upon their adversaries. The year preceding the accession of James, a proclamation was issued which promised a toleration to such priests as were prepared to swear allegiance to the Queen. There were those who availed themselves of this privilege, to the great displeasure of many among their brethren, and especially of the Jesuits.* But the English Catholics, at this time, had greatly diminished. It is scarcely questionable that they had long since ceased to be the majority. Hence, in prospect of a new sovereign, their expectations dwindled from the notions of supreme power to a mere toleration of their worship. Even in this, also, they were to be disappointed, and in their disappointment were to find themselves without remedy. * Sir John Harrington attributes this politic measure to the ingenuity of Bancroft. It certainly produced divisions and asperities, which greatly weakened the catholic body.-Nugæ Antiquæ. CHAP. IV. ON THE ORIGIN OF PURITANISM. TENDENCY OF THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT-IMPERFECTLY UNDER- IV. 1500-1558. the right of private judgment. understood AN innocent and a necessary consequence of CHAP. admitting the right of private judgment, and the sufficiency of the christian Scriptures as a rule of Tendency of faith and duty, was a difference of opinion as to the degree in which the scriptural standard had been deserted by the Romish church. Obvious, however, as this consequence may now appear, it rarely presented itself to the notice of the reformers without exciting astonishment and displeasure. It was, perhaps, necessary to the zeal with which they Imperfectly were to advocate their favourite doctrines, that by the Re they should not be at once aware of results which, however natural and harmless, were so directly opposed to that notion of religious uniformity with which the most enlightened among them were hitherto enamoured. It did not belong to their age to reason justly on the difference which marks the very structure of the human mind; or on the still greater diversities of perception and feeling which must arise from external circumstances, as well as from the peculiarities of individual temperament. formers. |