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effect of the measure " is a proof of the wisdom of the monarch and his advisers . " The next act of promise was the commencement of the ill-judged and unjustifiable attempt ( matured in the following reign of Charles 1 . ) to thrust upon the Scotch that ecclesiastical constitution which the non-descript alliance of state policy and reforming zeal had imposed upon the English Church . Laud , as usual , was to be found foremost in the enterprize , and
pressing Jatnes not to rest satisfied with half measures , but to try and enforce a perfect conformity with the Anglican system . Our biographer tells us that this " was hardly prudent ; " still , in the same breath , laments that as the malcontents " had advanced no arguments but what had been refuted , and as they made conscience the excuse for their extravagant conduct in religion , " and were likely to do the same in politics , the king did not " exercise coercion , " and «« establish the Episcopal Church in Scotland
on its rightful basis at once ; " the rightful basis of a people ' s disgust and hatred . It may be remarked , that Mr . Lawson more than once manifests peculiar sensitiveness on the subject of the Scotch Episcopal Church , so shorn of its honours . We may be mistaken , but if we may judge by his tone on the subject of the want of tithes , Presbyterian discipline , &c , he forms one of the unfortunate church , whose English sister , though sensitive
enough on the subject of the endowed branch of the family in Ireland , treats her with much neglect and indifference . Next in order of time , we come to the miserable intrigue by which this malicious priest sought to bring sorrow and contumely on the head of poor Abbot by refusing consecration at his hands , on account of an accidental homicide , which any heart , possessed of a spark of kindly feeling , would have assisted to bury in oblivion . His biographer ' s confession is , that the
pretended scruple was " utterly groundless . " The consistent commentary which he as usual adds , is , that Laud ' s conduct in acting upon it was " highly meritorious . " The same meddling spirit dictated the famous oath , administered to all Oxford in 1622 , disavowing any justification for resistance to tyranny , and binding the takers never to entertain such notions , but for ever to maintain the contrary- The scheme , we are told , to be sure , was " not altogether praiseworth y * though still it forms the subject of panegyric ; imposed , as it was , with so much consistency , when the king had been sending aid to the French Hugonots against their lawful sovereign . in
Ludicrous as it i ^ Mr . Lawson ' s eye , that laymen should in those days have sat as " theological doctors , " the clergy seem to be in his opinion well calculated for administering state affairs , for " kings shall be nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers to the church ; " a prophecy which would rather seem to . point to laymen ' s superintendence of spiritual affairs than the reverse . " The wisdom" of Laud ' s " political notions , " we have been early told , " was indisputable ; " and we have already observed some proofs of that proposition . We soon after find him busy in his "
Instructions" to the clergy * and through them to the people , to submit to illegal taxation . Our author begins , as usual , with art admission that " it is perhaps a difficult matter to justify these instructions . They afford a dangerous precedent , which , were it followed , would be attended with the worst consequences . " What follows this marked condemnation of the act of prostituting the influences of religion to the purposes of tyranny ? "Not that Laud , as the author or writer , is to blame ; because he only acted as a faithful servant to the king" 1 A good practical commentary on the utility
Untitled Article
Life wd Times of Archbishop Laud . 375
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 375, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/7/
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