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schismatics and heretics , the same persecuting cruelties which they themselves afterwards * in many instances , endured at the hands of their Popish adversaries . Had it been imagined at the period of the Reformation that such a measure could be construed into a recognition of the principle , that the religious opinions of every individual are solely under his own dominion and cognizance , there is little doubt that tne contemplated change would have been viewed with terror and abhorrence , and that the Churchmen who so
zealously promoted its progress , would decidedly have preferred the servitude of Rome to a freedom so dangerous to their dearest prejudices and interests . But views like these cannot be expected from a member of that Church which was erected by the hands of the English Reformers . To Mr . Soames the Reformation is a work which left nothing to be desired , and which placed upon a sure basis the interests of rational religion . In transferring to the native Sovereign the supremacy in spiritual matters , that important power
became re-vested in its original depository , and all that remained to be done was to guard it from resumption by the Roman Pontiff . The persons engaged in effecting this change are of course regarded by Mr . Soames as men who laboured wisely and well in their great calling , and whose characters are to be held up to the love and veneration of posterity . The Catholics and their proceedings are , on the other hand , regarded by him with a jealous and an evil eye ; and though the two parties at this period differed very slightly
indeed , either in principle or in practice , a most partial measure of praise and censure is dealt out to them . When Cranmer presides at the trial of a wretched Sacramentary , and condemns him to the flames , an excuse is found for the Reformed Prelate , in the plea that he was merely the instrument of the law ; but when the persecutions of a Popish Bishop are detailed , we find
no industrious collection of extenuating circumstances . Even the cruel policy of Henry meets with but a small portion of that reprobation which would have been , without doubt , bestowed upon it , had he committed his atrocities in endeavouring to force Catholicism upon his subjects ; and when Mr . Soames no longer can venture to withhold his censures , the cruelties and
persecutions of the king are attributed to the instigation of the Catholics , The ecclesiastical hatred descends also on the children ' s children ; the fight is still for the goodly birthright won from the Papal Antichrist : and if the , crime or folly of the Popish zealot of other days is blazoned forth , it is to point the popular venom against his ill-fated descendant . In preferring these charges against Mr . Soames , we do not mean to impute to him an intention to misrepresent or to mislead . To expect that a faithful son of the triumphant Church should produce a just and impartial
narrative of the Reformation of his own Church , and the fight by which shq won what he means to k ^ ep , is almost as reasonable asi to look for a correct history of the Catholic hierarchy from the college of Cardinals . But , unfor ^ tunatel y * the evil and mischief of this false colouring are not materially diminished by the honesty of the historian whose hand lays it on . That Mrt Soames has , with an unsparing hand , mad $ use of these false colours in th § picture which he has drawn of the Reformation , we shall soon proceed to shew , although the full effect of his misrepresentations cannot be properly appreciated without a perusal of the whole texture of his work .
The partial feelings of our Churchmen are ; in nothing more evident than in their estimation of the character of Henry VIIL , whom they regard as the , champion of the Reformation . Had that Prince been indeed actuated by the true spirit of religious freedom and reformation , in his opposition to the tyrannical dominion of the Roman See , he might have attracted son *? portion
Untitled Article
Review . —English Reformation ^ 275
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 275, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/43/
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