USA > Maryland > A sketch of the history of Maryland during the three first years after its settlement : to which is prefixed, a copious introduction > Part 13
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1551.
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SECT. he was in great danger of perishing during his im- VIII. prisonment, for want of the common necessaries of 1553. life. Being called upon to make his defence, he did it with so much freedom and learning, that Cal- vin could oppose him with nothing but the secular power, which condemned him to be burnt alive. Servetus suffered this sentence without retracting his opinion, to the indelible infamy of all those who were concerned in it. As an explanatory supple- ment to the sentence against Servetus, may be ad- ded that which was given in, about two years after- 1555. wards, against Philibert Bertellier, who was a native of Geneva, and register there of one of the inferior
. courts of justice. He was first excommunicated by Calvin's consistory, and then a criminal sentence against him by the syndics and council, was pub- licly given and pronounced, accompanied with sound of trumpet : " That the said Philibert, for the horrid and detestable crimes of conspiracy against the holy institution and Christian reformation, and against this city, and the public good and tranquil- lity thereof, be condemned to be bound and brought to the place of execution, there to have his head cut off, his body to be quartered, and his members to be set up in the four most eminent places round about this city, for an example to others, who shall com- mit such crimes." But having secretly fled out of the city, he was so fortunate as to escape the terri- ble punishment that awaited him. As Calvin, un- questionably, had the civil as well as the ecclesiasti- cal power of Geneva under his direction, to him, principally, may be attributed these dreadful perse- . cutions. A little while before the death of this
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arch persecutor, two citizens were put to death for adultery : nor did these bloody deeds cease with his breath ; his successors in his consistory, appear to have carefully copied his intolerant practices. A poor miserable maniac, in the succeeding century, professing himself a Jew, and perhaps, as his reli- gion dictates, speaking contemptuously of Christ, was strangled and burnt. In short, the rack and the faggot became familiar modes of punishment, as well for heresy as for treason, with the citizens and syndics of this petty republic .*
Amidst all this religious uproar throughout the 1531. continent of Europe, it was not to be expected that Its intro- England would remain quiet ; especially as there into Eng. duction still subsisted in that kingdom considerable remains land. of the Wickliffites, commonly called Lollards, whose principles resembled those of Luther. But Henry VIII, among the most arbitrary tyrants that ever sat upon a throne, was at first more unusually stre- nuous against the reformation than any other mon- arch in Europe. He not only used his power to suppress its entrance into England, but turned au- thor, and wrote a book against Luther and his doc- trines, for which he received from Pope Leo the glorious title of Defender of the Faith. But what the fantastic zeal of the Lollards and the Lutherans could not effect, was soon produced by the youth, beauty, and charms of the accomplished Anne Bo- leyn. Finding that her virtue and modesty, pre-
· See Robertson's Hist. of Charles V. b. 11. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 37, p. 292, 300. Boyle's Hist. and Crit. Dict. artic. Calvin, Bolsec, Bertellier. And note (M,) at the end of this volume.
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SECT. vented all hopes of gratifying his passion for her in VIII. any other manner than by marriage, Henry formed
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the resolution of being divorced from his then wife,; Catherine of Arragon. Some scruples, which had been before that time, suggested about the propri- ety of marrying a brother's wife, as Catherine had been, afforded some plausible grounds for him to go upon. But as Pope Clement, who had succeed- ed Leo, was entirely under the awe and influence of the emperor Charles V, who opposed the divorce, on account of the honour and interests of queen Catherine, who was his aunt, Henry found more difficulty than he expected, in obtaining the formal consent of the holy pontiff to annul his marriage. His passions, always violent, not admitting of such delay, rather than wait such slow proceedings in un- tying the knot, he chose to cut it, by throwing off at once, all subjugation to the papal power. He . caused his own clergy to try the validity of the marriage, and to annul it as unlawful, while at the same time, if not prior to it, he married Anne Bo- leyn. Mean-while, the Lutheran doctrines had, as it were, stole into his dominions, and had gradually disposed his parliament and his subjects, so far to join in the reformation as to renounce all submis- sion to the power and authority of the see of Rome. With this disposition of the nation, Henry in some measure coincided, and connived at the introduc- tion of the reformation into England. But, as the reformers on the continent had exhibited many symptoms of a republican spirit, especially in the furious insurrections of the Anabaptists in Germany, · there was little probability, that so absolute a king
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would ever give favour or countenance to any doc- trine, which lay under the imputation of encourag- ing sedition. Besides, this political jealousy having gained much honour, as he thought, in his polemi- cal writings against Luther, and elated with the most lofty opinion of his own erudition, he received with impatience, mixed with contempt, any contra- diction to his own religious sentiments. He seem- ed, therefore, to play together the two factions of Protestants and Catholics so as to suit his own pur- poses. The consequence was, that during his reign, few innovations on the doctrines of the ancient Ca- tholic religion were allowed by him, except the re- nunciation of all papal authority in England, the dissolution of the monasteries and nunneries, and some little alteration in the mass-book .*
On the death of Henry, his crown descended to his son Edward VI, who was then a minor of about nine years old. As he was incapable at that age of exercising the powers of royalty, his father had en- deavoured to provide for that incapacity by appoint- ing persons to administer the affairs of the govern- ment until his arrival at age. But the relations of Edward, by his mother's side, particularly Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, his uncle, contrived to set that appointment aside, and to have the ward- ship of young Edward, as well as the administra- tion of the government vested solely in him as lord protector. The duke was a zealous reformer, and consequently was careful that no other religious principles should be instilled into his nephew's mind,
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. Hume's Hist. of England, chap. 29, 30, 31, 32.
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SECT. VIII. than those which he himself approved. The young king, therefore, as he grew up, manifested much 1547. zeal for the reformation. As the majority of men in most countries are apt to adopt those religious opinions to which preferment and profit are annexed, those early inclinations of young Edward had a pow- erful effect in converting the bulk of the nation to the modern heresies, especially among the courtiers, who with every probability, had not fairly calculated upon a total abolition of the ancient religion. The
protector, therefore, aided by the zeal of young Edward, who, it is said, exhibited an uncommon understanding for so young a man, found but little difficulty in effecting his design of establishing a hierarchy in England, which should partake, in a moderate degree, of the doctrines of the reformers in the rest of Europe. In these schemes he usually had recourse to the counsels of Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, who being a man of moderation and prudence, was averse to all violent changes, and advocated the mode of bringing over the people by insensible innovations, to that system of doctrines and discipline which he deemed the most pure and perfect. It is a feature of the reformation easily traced throughout its history, that whenever it pre- vailed over the opposition of the civil authority, it raged, like a torrent, disregarding any bounds. Such reformers, to show their detestation of the numerous and burthensome superstitions with which the Romish church was loaded, proscribed all rites, ceremonies, pomp, order, and exterior observances, as impediments to their spiritual contemplations, and obstructions to their immediate converse with
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heaven. But where it was introduced by the rulers of the government, as in England, the transition was more gradual; much of the ancient religion was still preserved; and a reasonable degree of sub- ordination was retained in discipline, as well as some pomp, order, and ceremony in public worship. · With this spirit, the English reformers proceeded ; and by the aid of acts of parliament, during the short reign of Edward, completely established that hierarchy, denominated the Church of England, nearly in the same doctrines and form of worship in which it exists at this day.
But, unfortunately for the English reformers, the life of Edward was but of short duration : he died in the year 1553, in the sixteenth year of his age. The crown descended to his sister Mary, who, not- withstanding all the earnest importunities of her brother, as well as of the reformed bishops, had still persisted in adhering to the ancient religion, Being educated by her mother Catherine of Arra- gon, she had imbibed the strongest attachment to the catholic communion, and the highest aversion to the new tenets. Naturally of a sour and obstinate temper, she was well fitted in mind to become a bigot; and her extreme ignorance rendered her ut- terly incapable of doubt in her own belief, or of in- dulgence to the opinion of others. It was not long, therefore, before she discovered her intentions of not only abolishing the newly established religion, but- of persecuting its professors. The good old chris- tian principle of " compelling men to come in, that
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SECT. VIII. the house may be filled,"* not a little recommended by Luther in Germany, t and ardently adopted and 1553. enforced by Calvin in Geneva, was now as zealously revived in England by Mary. She disliked the tedi- ous mode of punishing heretics by prescribing to them oaths and declarations of belief, and depriving them in that manner of all political as well as reli- gious liberty, as modern protestants do in another quarter of the world, than either Europe, Asia, or Africa. She took the shorter method of roasting them alive; by which means the faithful got rid of them at once. The beneficial effects of this mode of Christian compulsion were soon perceived, in a general return of the English nation to the good old way of thinking in religious matters; except indeed a few, who made their escape into Germa- ny, Switzerland, and Geneva, and whom we shall presently see returning again from their foreign tra- vels, much improved in their religious opinions, according to their own estimation.į
f558.
The triumph of the Catholics, and the sufferings of the reformers in England, were not however des-
* See the parable of the great supper, Luke xiv, 23.
t Luther allowed of persecution, as far as banishment ; but Calvin thought it lawful to put heretics to death. Tindal's Cont. of Rapin's Hist. Vol. 15, p. 274. See also an account of Luther's persecution of his friend Carlostadt; Roscoe's Pontificate of Leo X, ch. 19.
# Leave was given to the celebrated Peter Martyr, and other reformers, who were foreigners, to quit the kingdom. Under this leave, many English, to the amount of a thou- sand, it is said, under pretence of being foreigners, withdrew from England. Rapin's Hist. of England, (Tindal's edit.) · Vol. 7, p. 117, and Vol. 15, p. 276.
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tined to be long. The cruel reign of Mary was SF.CT. short, and as she died without issue, her crown de- VIII. scended to her sister Elizabeth, whose mother be- 1558: ing of the reformed religion, she herself adopted it with ardent zeal, as Mary had that of the Catholic. In this singular series of events the English nation had to turn round again, and to try, if the heretical coat, which Mary had lately obliged them to put off, would still fit them, and once more become fashion-
able among them. Elizabeth found little difficulty in making this reconversion of the nation. Although the Catholics had in the preceding reign, by the bigotry of Mary, obtained the reins of power com- pletely into their own hands, and had apparently re- duced the nation back to the communion of the Ca- tholic church, yet it seems to be clearly establish- ed by the concurrent events of the times, that a majority of the people were attached to the reformed religion. The queen proceeded cautiously and gradually in the alteration, and, like her predeces- sor, availed herself of the authority of a parliament chosen to her own mind for that purpose. By their sanction the obnoxious statutes of the former reign were repealed, and such re-enacted as were necessa- ry to place the reformed Church of England nearly, if not precisely, in the same situation as her brother Edward had left it, and as we now see it. Prior to the session of parliament, however, and soon after her accession to the throne, she had deemed it re- quisite to discover such symptoms of her intentions, as might give encouragement to the protestants, so much depressed by the late violent persecutions. She therefore recalled all the exiles who had fled out
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SECT. VIII. of the kindom, as before-mentioned, and ordered all persons confined in prison on account of religion to be immediately discharged. As it is natural for those, who have been persecuted for their zeal in any particular object, to feel a more inveterate ani- mosity to the usages and practices of those from whom they receive the persecution than they would otherwise have done, had their zeal been left to it- self to spend its first fury, so the most zealous re- formers in England, after Mary's reign, became more anxious to push the reformation to a much greater excess than it had been carried to in the reign of Edward. The English exiles also, especially those who had resided at Geneva, came back to Eng- land, full fraught with all the splenetic inveteracy of John Calvin, against the superstitions of the church of Rome. Added to this also, the reformation had commenced in Scotland, shortly after the accession of Elizabeth, under the patronage of John Knox, who had just then arrived from Geneva, where he had passed some years in banishment, and where he had imbibed from his commerce with Calvin the highest fanaticism of the Calvinistic sect, augment- ed by the native ferocity of his own character. The contagion of that spirit, which dictated the outrages committed by Knox and his followers, in that neighbouring kingdom, could not be prevented from spreading itself also into England. The English exiles, thus impressed with Calvinistic principles, were not a little disappointed, on their return, in finding, that the reformed Church of England, as settled by Elizabeth, still retained so much of what they denominated the abominable idolatry of the .
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Catholics. Being regarded with general veneration on account of their zeal and past sufferings, they were emboldened to insist, that the reformation should be established on that model which they deemed most pure and perfect. The restraints of the priest, the sign of the cross in baptism, the use of the ring in marriage, with several other rites which long usage had accustomed the people to view with reverence, were deemed by the moderate English reformers, inoffensive observances, which they were willing to retain ; but the fanatics rejected them with horror, as " badges of idolatry and the -. dregs of the Romish beast." Elizabeth herself, however, so far from being willing to strip the church of the few ornaments and ceremonies which remained in it, and which at least served, in a very innocent manner, to amuse, allure, and engage the attention of the vulgar, was rather inclined to bring the public worship still nearer to the Romish ritual. The consequence was, that a schism took place among the reformers in England ; and the zealots, who were for carrying the reformation to the great- est extent, were, on account of their pretending to a superior purity of worship and discipline, deno- minated Puritans .*
These Puritans, however, were far from being
1550. united among themselves, as to a uniformity of Divisions principles. The more sober and learned among Puritans. them, inclined to that form of ecclesiastical policy,
· Hume's Hist. ch. 40, who cites Camden, as fixing upon the year 1568, for the period when the Puritans began to make themselves considerable in England,
among the
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SECT. VIII. which is known by the name of Presbyterian : but, such as were more thoroughly possessed with the 1580. spirit of innovation, reprobated the authority which the Presbyterian system vests in various judicato- ries, descending from one to another in regular sub- ordination, as inconsistent with Christian liberty. Of this latter sort of Puritans, one Robert Brown, a popular declaimer in high estimation, modelled a distinct sect, which, from him took the name of Brownists .* IIe taught, that the Church of Eng- land was corrupt and anti-christian, its ministers not lawfully ordained, its ordinances and sacraments in- valid, and therefore he prohibited his people to hold communion with it in any religious function. He . maintained, that a society of Christians, uniting to- gether to worship God, constituted a church, pos- sessed of complete jurisdiction in the conduct of its own affairs, independent of any other society, and unaccountable to any superior ; that the priesthood was neither a distinct order in the church, nor con- ferred an indelible character ; but that every man qualified to teach, might be set apart for that office by the election of the brethren, and by imposition of their hands ; in like manner, by their authority, he might be discharged from that function, and re- duced to the rank of a private christian ; that every person, when admitted a member of the church, ought to make a public confession of his faith, and to give evidence of his being in a state of favour
" He was a man, it seems, of a good education, being brought up at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Tindal's Cont. of Rapin's Hist: Vol. 15, p. 278.
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with God ; and that all the affairs of a church were SECT. to be regulated by the decision of the majority of VIII. its members .* As the tenets of this new sect wore 1592. a threatening aspect, not only to the established re- ligion, but to the government itself, it began to be deemed necessary, that some more effectual checks than they had hitherto experienced, should be given to their progress. Some peculiar acts of sedition, blended with an extraordinary religious fanaticism, occurring about this time in the city of London, seem to have accelerated the interposition of the legislature. To this cause, among others, is attribu- ted the statute of the 35 Eliz. ch. 1, made towards the latter end of her reign ; } by which it was enact- 1593. ed, " If any person, refusing to repair to the esta- blished church," (as was required by preceding sta- tutes, viz. 1 Eliz. ch. 2, 23 Eliz. ch. 1, 29 Eliz. ch. 6,) " shall, by printing or writing, advisedly or purposely, practice, or go about to move or per- suade any one to deny, withstand, and impugn her majesty's power and authority, in cases ecclesiasti- cal, united and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm ; or to that end or purpose, shall advi- sedly and maliciously, move or persuade any other person whatsoever, to forbear or abstain from com- ing to church, according to her majesty's laws and statutes aforesaid ; or to come to, or to be present at any unlawful assemblies, conventicles, or meetings, under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion ; .or if any person, so refusing to repair to some estab-
* Robertson's Ilist. of America, b. x.
t See note (N.) at the end of this volume.
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SECT. lished Church, as aforesaid, shall, either of himself or VIII. by the persuasion of any other, willingly join, or be 1593. present at any such conventicles, under pretence of religion, aforesaid ; every such person, so offending, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be im- prisoned, without bail or mainprise, until they shall conform, and make such open submission and de- claration of their said conformity, as hereafter in this act is declared and appointed." " Every such person, so not conforming himself, shall abjure and depart the realm ; and in case of refusing to abjure, or of not departing after abjuration, or of returning without license, he shall be guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy."
This blow, as was intended, affected both the Puritans and the Catholics ; but was, without doubt, more particularly pointed at the former. As Eli- zabeth, on her accession to the throne, was indebt- ed to the English reformers for her support against the formidable opposition which she experienced from the Catholics, her principal attention had been hitherto directed to guard against the dangers of Popery. But the variety of seditious acts, which were now exhibited by those fanatics, who were for pushing the reformation to its utmost extent, gave her just cause to apprehend, that her sovereignty was in equal danger from Puritanism. The num- ber also of these Puritans, had now increased so much, as in itself to be a sufficient cause of alarm to those who professed the established church. If we are to credit an assertion, said to have been made by Sir Walter Raleigh, in the house of com- mons, in the year 1592, (but one year prior to the
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making this statute of 35 Eliz.) the Brownists, as they were then called, amounted to no less than twenty thousand, divided into several congregations in Norfolk, Essex, and about London .* As it was evident also, that nothing would content them, but a total abolition of the established religion, called the Church of England, not even -indeed an unli- mited indulgence in the exercise of their own, it was not to be wondered, that Elizabeth and her clergy should consider themselves as contending for their existence, and that these enemies of their power should feel the full force of their resentment. The persecution, if it may be so called, which these sectaries experienced, during the few remaining years of Elizabeth's reign, seems, therefore, to have been the necessary result of such a state of things.
`. On the accession of James to the throne of Eng- 1603. land, both the Papists and the Puritans had con- State of ceived high hopes of some happy change, each in parties in religious their own favour. The Papists could not believe, on the ac. England, that a prince, who had never expressed any hatred to them, should suddenly alter his mind, and choose to tread in the steps of Elizabeth. The Puritans imagined, that James, having been educated in their religion, that is, the Presbyterian, and professed it all his life, till his arrival in England, would be pro -. pitious to them. They expected, that he would at least abate the rigour of the laws against them, if not reform many of the faults they had found in the Church of England. Both were deceived, but the last much more than the first. Of the Catholics,
cession of James I.
* See Tindal's Cont. of Rapin's Hist. Vol. 15, p. 278.
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SECT. James disliked only the Jesuits, and such as were VIII. too servilely attached to the court of Rome and the 1603. prerogative of the pope. But to the Puritans in ge- neral, he conceived a most violent hatred, especially as he thought that he discerned in them a strong, inclination towards republicanism. As they were usually very familiar with their Maker, in their prayers to him, he was naturally induced to sup- pose, that they would take still greater liberties with him as their earthly sovereign. They both, how- ever, presented their petitions to him. To the Ca- tholics he answered, that he thought himself obliged to support what he found established in the king- dom. To the Puritans, he granted a pretended op- portunity of justifying their principles before him, by appointing a conference to be held in his pre- sence, of which he himself was to be moderator, between some of their principal ministers and eld- ers* and some bishops and divines of the establish- ed church. The victory, as was to have been expected, being adjudged by him to the latter, the consequence was, that he ordered, by proclamation, the laws against non-conformists to be put in strict execution.
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