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Untitled Article
restraint . Such was " thejqtfeen ' s gentleness , as Burnet expresses rt ( ii ; 367 ) . He adds , " all this
< I proceed to the case of the Papists now persecuted for the profession of their ' religion . The
might have been expected from such a queen , and such bishops " as " the reformed divines , " who * had learned in the gospel not to render evil for evil . " Yet in this age of inquiry into those facts which historians have
history of this religious perseciu tion , undoubtedly severe , is so blended with well-supported accusations of crimes against the state , committed by individuals of the Romish communion , that it is
cither blazoned or disguised , as suited the purpose or party for which they wrote , the character of even such a queen has been freely discussed . Nor are there wanting many who ^ , gree with a
modern female ^ historian , respecting Elizabeth , that ' * her good fortune is in nothing more conspicuous than in the unmerited fame it has to this day preserved to her , " ( Macaulay , i . 2 ) .. As to the subject in question , it will no
longer be denied that many suffered under the government of Elizabeth , as the victims of religious intolerance * The degree and extent of such sufferings are still disputed , nor probably can their amount be now determined with
any exactness . Among those who were united by pains > and penalties , inflicted under the joint authority of law and prerogative , there were great disagreements . The Papist
revolted at the first step of that Reformation which the Puritan considered , as to rites and ceremonies , as resting far short of gospel simplicity . Yet both would have cordially assisted the Established Church to exterminate
that small number of Christians . who bad discovered , or at least suspected ; that the Creeds of both Papists and Pr 6 testants contained gross corruptions of the faith once delivered to the saints .
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not easy to make the separation . Papal historians have too often ranked among martyrs to their religion those who suffered for aU tempts against the civil government , which , however excited by religious zeal , made them justly liable to the penal consequences
of political delinquency . Protestant writers , on the other hand , with an obvious design , have enlarged on the papal persecution under Mary , while they have left
their readers almost ignorant of any thing like a persecution of Papists by her Protestant successor . So just is the remark of Camden , that ^* persons whose
minds differ in religion , do too much obscure the light of honesty and truth on both sides . " According to that annalist , An . 1559 , ( where he professes to follow Roman Catholic writers ) the
clergy , at the accession of Elizabeth , including the various dignitaries , were about 94 * 00 . Of these all , except 189 , conformed to the new religion established by the queen and parliament . There
must still have been great numbers among the people attached to the Romish ritual- Ye * pf these , ac cording to Rapin , there were not
wanting those who witnessed tne accession of Elizabeth with goodwill , though they expected the refor med church to be Jin mediate ? } y re-establishec } . Th W # oii *» having remarked that among th »
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7 ? $ e Sketch 0 f English Zfrote&ant Ptr&ecutibm ^ Letter VIII .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1813, page 732, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2434/page/40/
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