1555. the parliament, but finding themselves unable to prevent CHA P. them, made a feceffion, in order to fhew their disappro- XXXVI. bation, and refused any longer to attend the house. For this inftance of contumacy they were indicted in the King's-bench after the diffolution of the parliament: Six of them fubmitted to the mercy of the court, and paid their fines: The rest traversed; and the queen died before the affair was brought to an issue. Judging of the matter by the fubfequent pretenfions of the house of commons, and, indeed, by the true principles of free government, this attempt of the queen's minifters must be regarded as a breach of privilege; but it gave little umbrage at that time, and was never called in question by any future house of commons, which fat during this reign P. • Coke's Institutes, part iv. p. 17. Strype's Memor. vol. iii. p. 165. The Count of Noailles, the French ambaffador, fays, vol. v. p. 246, that the queen threw feveral members into prifon for their freedom of speech. CHAP. С НА Р. Reafons for and against toleration A parliament.The queen's extortions.The em XXXVII. Perfecutions. peror refigns his crown. Execution of Cranmer. War with France. Battle of St. Quintin. Calais -Mar taken by the French. Affairs of Scotland. riage of the Dauphin and the queen of Scots.A parliament. Death of the queen. THE CHAP. THE fuccefs, which Gardiner, from his cautious XXXVII. and prudent condu&, had met with in governing the parliament, and engaging them to concur both in the 1555. Spanith match, and in the re-establishment of the antient religion, two points, to which, it was believed, they bore an extreme averfion, had fo raifed his character for wifdom and policy, that his opinion was received as an oracle in the queen's councils; and his authority, as it was always great in his own party, no longer fuffered any oppofition or controul. Cardinal Pole himself, though more beloved on account of his virtue and candour, and tho' fuperior in birth and station, had not equal weight in public deliberations; and while his learning, piety, and humanity were extremely refpected, he was represented more as a good man than a great minifter. A very important question was frequently debated, before the queen and council, by thefe two ecclefiaftics; whether the laws lately revived against heretics fhould be put in execution, or fhould only be employed to reftrain, by terror, the bold attempts of these zealots. Pole was very fincere in his religious principles; and though his moderation had made him be suspected at Rome of a tendency towards Lutheranifm, he was feriously perfuaded of the catholic doctrines, and thought that no confideration of human policy ought ever come in competition with fuch important interefts. Gardiner, on the contrary, had always made his religion fubfervient to his fchemes of fafety or advancement; and by his unlimited complaifance to Henry, he had fhewn, that, had he not been pushed to extremity under the late minority, he was fufficiently difposed to make a facrifice of his principles to the established theology. This was the well-known character of thefe 1555. thefe two great counsellors; yet fuch is the prevalence CHA P. of temper above fyftem, that the benevolent difpofition XXXVII. of Pole led him to advise a toleration of the heretical tenets, which he highly blamed; while the fevere manners of Gardiner inclined him to fupport, by perfecution, that religion, which, at the bottom, he regarded with great indifference. This circumftance of public conduct was of the highest importance; and from being the object of deliberation in the council, it foon became the fubje&t of difcourfe throughout the nation. We shall reprefent, in a few words, the topics, by which each fide fupported, or might have fupported, their fcheme of policy; and fhall difplay the oppofite reasors, which have been employed, with regard to an argument that ever has been, and ever will be fo much canvaffed. THE practice of perfecution, faid the defenders of Renfons Pole's opinion, is the fcandal of all religion; and the the- for and ological animofity, fo fierce and violent, far from being against an argument of men's conviction in their oppofite tenets, toleration. is a certain proof, that they have never reached any serious perfuafion with regard to these remote and fublime fubjects. Even thofe, who are the most impatient of contradiction in other controverfies, are mild and moderate in comparison of polemical divines; and wherever a man's knowledge and experience give him a perfect assurance of his own opinion, he regards with contempt, rather than anger, the oppofition and mistakes of others. But while men zealously maintain what they neither clearly comprehend, nor entirely believe, they are shaken in their imagined faith, by the oppofite perfuafion, or even doubts of other men; and vent on their antagonists that impatience, which is the natural refult of fo difagreeable a state of the understanding. They then embrace eafily any pretence for reprefenting opponents as impious and prophane; and if they can alfo find a colour for connecting this violence with the interefts of civil government, they can no longer be restrained from giving uncontrouled scope to vengeance and refentment. furely never enterprize was more unfortunate than that of founding perfecution upon policy, or endeavouring, for the fake of peace, to fettle an entire uniformity of opinion, in queftions which, of all others, are leaft fubjected to the criterion of human reafon. The univerfal ▲ Heylin, p. 47. But and 1555 As CHA P. and uncontradicted prevalence of one opinion in religious XXXVII. fubjects, can only be owing at firft to the stupid ignorance and barbariím of the people, who never indulge themselves in any fpeculation or enquiry; and there is no other expedient for maintaining that uniformity, fo fondly fought after, but by banishing for ever all curiofity and all improvement in fcience and cultivation. It may not, indeed, appear difficult to check, by a steady severity, the first beginnings of controverfy: bat befides that this policy expofes for ever the people to all the abject terrors of fuperftition, and the magiftrate to the endless encroachments of ecclefiaftics, it alfo renders men fo delicate, that they can never endure to hear of oppofition; and they will fome time pay dearly for that falle tranquillity, in which they have been fo long indulged. healthful bodies are ruined by too nice a regimen, and are thereby rendered incapable of bearing the unavoidable incidents of human life; a people who never were allowed to imagine, that their principles could be contefted, fly out into the most outrageous violence when any event (and fuch events are common) produces a faction among their clergy, and gives rife to any difference in tenet or opinion. But whatever may be faid in favour of fupresfing, by perfecution, the first beginnings of herefy, no folid argument can be alledged for extending feverity towards multitudes, or endeavouring, by capital punishments, to extirpate an opinion, which has diffufed itfelf through men of every rank and ftation. Befides the extreme barbarity of fuch an attempt, it proves commonly ineffectual to the purpofe intended; and ferves only to make men more obftinate in their persuasion, and to encreate the number of their profelytes. The melancholy, with which the fear of death, torture, and perfecution infpires the fetaries, is the proper difpofition for foftering religious zeal: The profpect of eternal rewards, when brought near, overpowers the dread of, temporary punifhment: The glory of martyrdom ftimulates all the more furious zealots, especially the leaders and preachers. Where a violent animofity is excited by oppreffion, men pafs naturally, from hating the perfons of their tyrants, to a more violent abhorrence of their doctrines: And the fpectators, moved with phy towards the fuppofed martyrs, are naturally feduced to embrace thofe principles, which can infpile men with a constancy that appears al moft moft fupernatural. Open the door to toleration, the CHA P. mutual hatred relaxes among the fe&taries: their attach- XXXVII. ment to their particular religion decays; the common occupations and pleasures of life fucceed to the acrimony of 1555difputation; and the fame man, who, in other circumftances, would have braved flames and tortures, is engaged to change his religion from the smallest prospect of favour and advancement, or even from the frivolous hopes of becoming more fashionable in his principles. If any exception can be admitted to this maxim of toleration, it will only be where a theology altogether new, nowise connected with the antient religion of the ftate, is imported from foreign countries, and may eafily, at one blow, be eradicated, without leaving the feeds of future innovations. But as this inftance would involve fome apology for the antient pagan perfecutions, or for the extirpation of Christianity in China and Japan; it ought furely, on account of this detefted confequence, to be rather buried in eternal filence and oblivion. THOUGH these arguments appear entirely fatisfa&tory, yet fuch is the fubtilty of human wit, that Gardiner, and the other enemies to toleration, were not reduced to filence; and they ftill found topics on which to support the controverfy. The doctrine, faid they, of liberty of confcience is founded on the moft flagrant impiety, and fuppofes fuch an indifference among all religions, fuch an obfcurity in theological do&trines, as to render the church and magistrate incapable of distinguishing, with certainty, the dictates of Heaven from the mere fictions of human imagination. If the Divinity reveals principles to mankind, he will furely give a criterion by which they may be ascertained; and a prince, who knowingly allows these principles to be perverted or adulterated, is infinitely more criminal than if he gave permiffion for the vending of poifon, under the fhape of bread, to all his fubjects. Perfecution may, indeed, seem better calculated to make hypocrites than converts; but experience teaches us, that the habits of hypocrify often turn into reality; and the children at least, ignorant of their parents' diffimulation, may happily be educated in more orthodox tenets. abfurd, in oppofition to confiderations of fuch unspeakable importance, to plead the temporal and frivolous interefts of civil fociety; and if matters be thoroughly examined, even that topie will not appear so certain and It is univerfal |