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vested in her by this act , materially checked the freedom of discussion , but at the same time caused Nonconformity to assume a more settled and decided character . It is with
reference to this period that Mr . Geo , Cranmer , in his Letter to Hooker , prefixed to the Ecclesiastical Polity , says , " It may be remembered , that at first the greatest part of the learned in the land were either eagerly affected or favourably inclined that way . The books then written for the most
part savoured of the disciplinary style : it sounded every where in pulpits , and in common phrase of men ' s speech : the contrary part began to fear they had taken a wrong course / ' So far
were the Puritans ( as the Nonconformists were reproachfully termed ) from taking their rise amongst the ignorant and enthusiastic , as many are ready to believe , it is abundantly evident that the first statesmen * of that
day countenanced the efforts of the most learned and estimable divines , towards effecting a further Reformation . The University of Cambridge appears to have become a nursery of Puritanism ; the fellows and scholars of St . John ' s College , to the number
of nearly three hundred , threw away their supplices with one consent , and many in other colleges followed their example * The heads of colleges f remonstrated with the Chancellor , who was urged on by the jealousy of Archbishop Parker , upon the injurious effects which an imposition of Conformity must produce , not only to the
* Amongst the more celebrated favourers of the Puritans , such as the Earls of Leicester and Huntingdon , the great Lord Burleigh , Sir Francis Walsinghana and Sir Francis Knollys , we ought not to © mit honourable mention of Attorney James TVforrice , an able and learned barrister , and a man of great piety , who was both , in and out of Parliament a most
zealous defender of the right * and liberties of his fellow-subjects . —Strype * s WMtgift pp . 387 , 388 . f Amongst the subscribers to this Letter was Dr . John Whitgift , afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury , and a zealous persecutor of his former friends . Thus , in most cases , the more celebrated Conformists had to answer for an abandonment of their earlier principles , under ehrcumstance * loo fttronglj- indicating the motives of their conversion .
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preaching of the gospel , but also to good learning . The Archbishop and his coadjutors , nevertheless , proceeded rigidly to exact Conformity , and the consequence of these proceedings was , the deprivation of the most able of
the clergy , and the shutting up of their churches , or the substitution of other ministers , whose ignorance and incapacity were only equalled by the laxity of their manners . The venerable Miles Coverdale , ( the joint translator and publisher , with Thick ! ,
of the first entire English Bible , ) Dr . Sampson , Dean of Christ Church , Oxford , and Dr . Humphrey , President of Magdalen College , and Dr . Turner , Dean of Wells , were among the early sufferers under these anti-protestaut measures . It would , indeed , be almost
endless to repeat even the names of those divines of creditable talents and learning , who , in a greater or loss degree , entered their protest against them : but the name of Cartwriaht is
so closely connected with the early history and literary reputation of the Puritans , of whom he has been sortie * times styled the Father , as to recommend some passage * of his Biography to more particular notice . *
Thomas Cartwright was born about the year 1535 , and educated in St . John ' s College , Cambridge , and soon after Queen Elizabeth ' s accession was made a Fellow of that house , and
subsequently one of the eight senior Fellows of Trinity College . In the year 1564 , when Queen Elizabeth visited the University , Mr . Cavtwright was selected as one of the learned
disputants for her Majesty's entertainment , and , according to some accounts , discovered such extraordinary abilities as to give the greatest satisfaction to the Queen and other
auditors : but Dr . Nichols remarks , that Dr , Preston , Cartwright ' s opponent , " by the sweetness of his voice , and the modesty of his behaviour , did extraordinarily please the Queen ; while the other , by his natural
haugb-* I have extracted these particulars of his life principally from Peirce ' s Vindication of Dissenters , and Brook ' s Lives of the Puritans , in 3 vois ., a publication uot much known , but which has collected together much interesting * matter relative to the history of Nonconformity prior to the Hejitoration .
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Cause ofsNonconfbrmity , as connected with Literature . 271
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1819, page 27, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1768/page/27/
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