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96 Ttu Pfoncohforthist. No. Vlf•
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Nonconformist. No. Vii. An Inquiry I...
contend that the General Baptists at least have given greater scope to free inquiry , have better understood and more generally acted upon the avowed right of every man to judge for himself , than any other denomination .
In assuming this as a truth , I tru ^ t I am borne out by the fact , that , in this denomination there has been a greater variety of opinion than in any other . Would the limits of my paper
permit , I should endeavour to confirm the truth of this assumption by an appeal to numeroiis and incontestable evidences . It is , however , perhaps unnecessary ; for that which L have mentioned to their honour , has
been brought , by bigots of all parties , against them as a proof that their creed is founded in error , and that they are themselves wholly indifferent to the truth as it is in Jesus . The Baptists appear to have shared very largely in all the persecutions which have been endured for
conscience' sake in most parts of Europe . Tlieir sufferings in Great Britain alone , would occupy a sufficient length for my whole paper , were I to attempt their enumeration . I must , therefore , content myself with a brief notice of them .
The proto-martyr of the English nation ( William Sawtre ) is thought by some to have been a Baptist , because the Lollards , Who lived in the diocese of Norwich , where this man
first received and professed his notions , were ( says Crosby ) generally of that opinion . " He was burnt in London in the year 1400 , the 2 nd of Henry IV ,, who granted a law to the clergy for the purpose of burning Jheretics . *
Passing over the intermediate reigns , it appears that many who suffered during the reign of Henry VIII . fell victims to their denial of Paedobaptism . This may at least be inferred
from many having been called on to abjure , among- other heresies , their denial of its efficacy ; and from the articles relating to that subject , agreed on in the Convocation which sat in
June 1536 . Among these articles one item is , That it is offered unto all men , as well infants as such as have the use of reason , that by baptistn they shall have the remission of Hi ** , of & ng . Bftptisto , I . ' £ « % !> .
The Nonconformist. No. Vii. An Inquiry I...
slits , and the grace and fevqttfof Godj according : to the saying ot St . John , * Qui credidetit et baptizatus fU ^ rit salvus erit / " But here thfe obstinate heretics , it seems , very naturally thought , 4 hat qui crediderit could have nothing to do with infants : and
because they Were so heretical and blasphemous as to deny that infants could be qualified , by believing , for baptism , it was judged to be for the honour of Almighty God , and holy mother Church , to convince them of
their impiety by burning them to death ! Tt appears that not less than twentysix Baptists were burnt during thi # reign 5 but whether they suffered solely for denying infant-baptism is
uncertain . The probability , however , is , that their opinions were all regarded as damnable heresies , and that any one of them would have been thought sufficient to entitle them to the stake . From an Act of Grace
passed in 1538 , the Anabaptists were exeepted . In the reign of Edward VI , the only persons who were burnt were two Baptists , Joan Bocher and George Van Pare . Of the extraordinary heroism of Joan of Kent , Burnet * gives a most interesting account . No
horrors could affright her , no persuasions move her , no sufferings abate the constancy of her mind . Van Pare is described by Burnet as " being accused for saying , that God the Father was only God , and that Christ was not very God ; he was dealt Vvith long to abjure , but would not . So , ou the 6 th of ApriJ , 1551 , he was condemned in the same manner that Joan of Kent was ,
and on the 25 th of April was burnt in Smithfield . He suffered with great coustancy of mind , and kissed the stake and faggots that were to burn him . " f The death of this most devout man
was very naturally brought forward in the succeeding reign , as a proof that the Protestants considered heretical pravity a sufficient justification for putting men to death , hoiy ^ jer virtuous or pious they might'tie ui their lives . The following remark of one of the Lords of Queen Mary ' s couiiciJ , * Hi * t . of itef . tl . Pt . ii . pp ^ lttL & a . f Ibid . B . I . p . lft > . r
96 Ttu Pfoncohforthist. No. Vlf•
96 Ttu Pfoncohforthist . No . Vlf
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 22, 1819, page 96, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_22021819/page/28/
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