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conduct of men is happily much less influenced by mere speculative opinions in matters of faith , than opposing sects are ever inclined to allow . - We most especially recommend the following remarks to the dispassionate attention of Dr . Southey : " Tolerance in religion , it is well known , so unanimously admitted , at least verbally , even by theologians in the present day , was scarcely considered as practicable , much less as a matter of right , during the period of the Reformation . The difference in this respect between the Catholics and Protestants was only in degree , and in degree there was much less difference than we are
prone to believe . Persecution is the deadly original sin of the Reformed churches , that which cools every honest man ' s zeal for their cause , in proportion as his reading becomes more extensive . The Lutheran princes and cities in Germany constantly refused to tolerate the use of the mass as an idolatrous service ; and this name of idolatry , though adopted in retaliation for that of heresy , answered the same end as the other , of exciting animosity and imcharitableness . The Roman worship was equally proscribed in England . Many persons were sent to prison for hearing mass and similar offences . The Princess Mary supplicated in vain to have the exercise of her own religion at home , and Charles V . several times interceded in her behalf ; but
though Cranmer and v Latimer , as well as the Council , would have consented to this indulgence , the young king , whose education had unhappily infused a good deal of bigotry into his mind , could not be prevailed upon to connive at such idolatry . Yet in one memorable instance he had shewn a milder spirit , struggling against Cranmer to save a fanatical woman from the punishment of heresy . This is a stain upon Cranmer ' s memory which nothing but his own death could have lightened . In men hardly escaped from a similar peril ,
in men who had nothing to plead but the right of private judgment , in men who had defied the prescriptive authority of past ages , and of established power , the crime of persecution assumes a far deeper hue , and is capable of far less extenuation , than iu a Jtoman inquisitor . Thus the death of Servetus has weighed down the name and memory of Calvin . And though Cranmer was incapable of the rancorous malignity of the Genevan Lawgiver , yet I regret to say , that there is a peculiar circumstance of aggravation in his pursuing to death this woman , Joan Boucher , and a Dutchman that had been
convicted of Arianism . It is said , that he had been accessary , in the preceding reign , to the condemnation of Lambert , and perhaps some others , for opinions concerning the Lord ' s Supper which he had himself afterwards embraced . Such an evidence of the fallibility of human judgment , such an example that persecutions for heresy , how conscientiously soever managed , are liable to end in shedding the blood ot those who maintain truth , should have taught him , above all men , a scrupulous repugnance to carry into effect those sanguinary laws . Compared with these executions for heresy , the imprisonment and deprivation
of Gardiner and Bonner appear but measures of ordinary severity towards political adversaries , under the pretext of religion ; yet are they wholly unjustifiable , especially in the former instance : and if the subsequent retaliation of those bad men was beyond all proportion excessive , we should remember , that such is the natural consequence of tyrannical aggressions . " We shall consider the topics discussed in Mr . Hallam's second volume on a future occasion .
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Art . II . —The History of Ireland . By John O'DriscoL 2 Vols . London , 1827 . Longman and Co . When we consider the qualifications necessary for a good historian , and how seldom they are met with , we shall not be surprised that a country so
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Review . —CPDriscoVs History of Ireland . 1 / 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1828, page 173, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2558/page/29/
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