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Untitled Article
the pope in England , could scarcely T > e called a Protestant . Nor bad he the excuse , poor as it is , of beingan honest , but misguided ,, persecutor . Whom he would * he slew ;
and whom he would , he kept alive ; rather-as unbridled passions or a sanguinary policy directed ^ than as guided by an erroneous , reljgi , ous principle . His character is thus well drawn by Raleigh , in the Preface to his History of the
World . il If all the pictures and patterns of a merciless prince were lost in th * world , they might all again be painted to the life , out of the story of this king . For how many servants did he advance in haste ,
but for what virtue , no man could suspect , and , with the change of his fancy , ruin again , no man Knowing , for what offence ? To fyow many others , of more des-ert ^ gaye be abundant flowers , from wlience
to gather hoqey , and , in the chm ! of harvest , burnt them in the hive ? Hqw rnany wives did he cut off , and cast ^ pff & $ h * fency and affectipn ch $ . i } ged ? Hojv mar > y princes of the bloufi , whereof aorne of them , for ag ? could hardly , crawl towards the block , w | th a world of
others . of all degrees , of whom ojuir common ^ hrpqicles have kept the apcouut , { Hd he ; execute ? Yea , in his ( very ^ death . bed , and , when h ^ e y ^ s at the point to have given bis account to God , for the
abundance of blood already spilt , he imprisoned the Duke of Norfolk , tike father , and executed the $ arl of J ^ utrey , . tfie spa ; the one whose he kne not how
des ^ rviogs w to vajjle ^ having never omittetf any jftfrpg- tfyat , concerned his own honour and the king ' s service ; the otl ^ er ijever haying committed any thing worthy of his least displea-
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sure : the one exceeding valiant and advised ; the other nq less valiant than learned , and of excelleiit hope /* That such a ' * merciless prince *' should have prepared the way , for the progress , now we trust
accelerating , of Christian truth and cha * rity , through this nation , must always be reckoned among the extraordinary works of Providence—From seeming evil , still educing good .
Thus , as it is well expressed , in the inscription on a column at Ampthill , where Henry ' s first injured Queen resided ,
From Catharirie ' s wrongs ^ a nation ' s - bliss ! was spread ; And LutherVlight , from Henry ' * lawless-bed . Yet " Luther ' s light , V or rather the light of scripture , was pern | itted to he enjoyed , only through lattices of a s ^ ize , and . quality prescribed by the Civil power . . The
Bible was regarded as a boon , graciously bestowed , by . the crown . From such premises * Uie
conclusion was obvious , tb » t fgi ; the use of , this boon , aii account should be rendered to th £ royal donor . Thus cam / e in timt \ &pe € ; ious pretender ^ a . Magistrate affectihg the cure of souls ; till perseqUtion , with her furies , like MiLtpn ' s Sin and Death * in the train of Satan , FoHowicmt his track , such was the will
t ... of heay . cn , , , , . .,.. : / ^ n .. Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way . This enormity , is adroitly
cyomprpssed by Blackstone , jjato a short plausible sentence : Christianity is . part of the laws of jZngfand ( B » . iv ^ ch . 4 . ) Tbe learned cpmmentator knew ^ though it did npt suit him to iadrpit , that , let C ^ ristian or anti-chnstiiui &ith , b 6 enacted ip aq ^; country , while *• liaany men hay ^ man y mittds / ' pewfeci * -
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40 ' Sketch o English Protestant Persecution . — Letter I
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1812, page 40, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1744/page/40/
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