1555.

instance of contumacy they were indicted in the king's CHAP. bench after the dissolution of Parliament: six of them XXXVI. submitted 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 subsequent claims of the House of Commons, and indeed, by the true principles of free government, this attempt of the queen's ministers must be regarded as a breach of privilege; but it gave little umbrage at the time, and was never called in question by any House of Commons. which afterwards sat during this reign. The Count of Noailles, the French ambassador, says that the queen threw several members into prison for their freedom of speech *.

x Vol. v. p. 296.

CHAP.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

REASONS FOR AND AGAINST TOLERATION.- PERSECUTIONS.-A PARLIAMENT. THE
QUEEN'S EXTORTIONS. THE EMPEROR RESIGNS HIS CROWN. EXECUTION OF
CRANMER.-WAR WITH FRANCE.-BATTLE OF ST. QUINTIN.--CALAIS TAKEN BY
THE FRENCH.-AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND.-MARRIAGE OF THE DAUPHIN AND THE
QUEEN OF SCOTS.-A PARLIAMENT.-DEATH OF THE QUEEN.

THE Success which Gardiner, from his cautious and prudent XXXVII. conduct, had met with in governing the Parliament, and 1555. engaging them to concur both in the Spanish match and in the re-establishment of the ancient religion, two points to which, it was believed, they bore an extreme aversion, had so raised his character for wisdom and policy, that his opinion was received as an oracle in the council; and his authority, as it was always great in his own party, no longer suffered any opposition or control. Cardinal Pole himself, though more beloved on account of his virtue and candour, and though superior in birth and station, had not equal weight in public deliberations; and while his learning, piety, and humanity, were extremely respected, he was represented more as a good man than a great minister. A very important question was frequently debated before the queen and council by these two ecclesiastics whether the laws lately revived against heretics should be put in execution, or should only be employed to restrain by terror the bold attempts of these zealots? Pole was very sincere in his religious principles; and though his moderation had made him be suspected at Rome of a tendency towards Lutheranism, he was seriously persuaded of the Catholic doctrines, and thought that no consideration of human policy ought ever to come in competition with such important interests. Gardiner, on the contrary, had always made his religion subservient to his schemes of safety or advancement; and by his unlimited complaisance to Henry, he had shown that had he not been pushed to extremity under the late minority, he was sufficiently disposed to make a sacrifice of his principles to the established theology. This was

1555.

the well-known character of these two great counsellors; CHAP. yet such is the prevalence of temper above system, that XXXVII. the benevolent disposition of Pole led him to advise a toleration of the heretical tenets which he highly blamed; while the severe manners of Gardiner inclined him to support by persecution that religion which, at the bottom, he regarded with great indifference". This circumstance of public conduct was of the highest importance; and from being the object of deliberation in the council, it soon became the subject of discourse throughout the nation. We shall relate, in a few words, the topics by which each side supported, or might have supported, their scheme of policy; and shall display the opposite reasons which have been employed with regard to an argument that ever has been, and ever will be, so much canvassed.

for and

The practice of persecution, said the defenders of Reasons Pole's opinion, is the scandal of all religion; and the against theological animosity so fierce and violent, far from being toleration. an argument of men's conviction in their opposite sects, is a certain proof that they have never reached any serious persuasion with regard to these remote and sublime subjects. Even those who are the most impatient of contradiction in other controversies, are mild and moderate in comparison of polemical divines; and wherever a man's knowledge and experience give him a perfect assurance in his own opinion, he regards with contempt, rather than anger, the opposition 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 opposite persuasion, or even doubts, of other men; and vent on their antagonists that impatience which is the natural result of so disagreeable a state of the understanding. They then easily embrace any pretence for representing opponents as impious and profane; and if they can also find a colour for connecting this violence with the interests of civil government, they can no longer be restrained from giving uncontrolled scope to vengeance and resentment. But surely, never enterprise was more unfortunate than that of founding persecution upon policy, or endeavouring, for the sake of peace, to settle an entire uniformity of

a Heylin, p. 47.

CHAP. opinion in questions, which of all others are least sub-
XXXVII. jected to the criterion of human reason.
The universal
1555. and uncontradicted prevalence of one opinion in religious

subjects can be owing at first to the stupid ignorance
alone and barbarism of the people, who never indulge
themselves in any speculation or inquiry; and there is
no expedient for maintaining that uniformity, so fondly
sought after, but by banishing for ever all curiosity and
all improvement in science and cultivation. It may not,
indeed, appear difficult to check, by a steady severity, the
first beginnings of controversy; but besides that this
policy exposes for ever the people to all the abject ter-
rors of superstition, and the magistrate to the endless en-
croachments of ecclesiastics, it also renders men so deli-
cate, that they can never endure to hear of opposition;
and they will some time pay dearly for that false tran-
quillity in which they have been so long indulged. As
healthful bodies are ruined by too nice a regimen, and
are thereby rendered incapable of bearing the unavoid-
able incidents of human life; a people who never were
allowed to imagine that their principles could be con-
tested, fly out into the most outrageous violence when any
event (and such events are common) produces a faction
among their clergy, and gives rise to any differences in
tenet or opinion. But whatever may be said in favour
of suppressing, by persecution, the first beginnings of
heresy, no solid argument can be alleged for extending
severity towards multitudes, or endeavouring, by capital
punishments, to extirpate an opinion which has diffused
itself among men of every rank and station. Besides
the extreme barbarity of such an attempt, it commonly
proves ineffectual to the purpose intended; and serves
only to make men more obstinate in their persuasion,
and to increase the number of their proselytes. The
melancholy with which the fear of death, torture, and
persecution, inspires the sectaries, is the proper disposi-
tion for fostering religious zeal: the prospect of eternal
rewards, when brought near, overpowers the dread of
temporal punishments: the glory of martyrdom stimu-
lates all the more furious zealots, especially the leaders
and preachers. Where a violent animosity is excited by
oppression, men naturally pass from hating the persons

XXXVII.

1555.

of their tyrants, to a more violent abhorrence of their CHAP. doctrines and the spectators, moved with pity towards the supposed martyrs, are easily seduced to embrace those principles which can inspire men with a constancy that appears almost supernatural. Open the door to toleration, mutual hatred relaxes among the sectaries; their attachment to their particular modes of religion decays; the common occupations and pleasures of life succeed to the acrimony of disputation, and the same man who, in other circumstances, would have braved flames and tortures, is induced to change his sect from the smallest prospect of favour and advancement, or even from the frivolous hope 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 ancient religion of the state, is imported from foreign countries, and may easily, at one blow, be eradicated, without leaving the seeds of future innovation. But as this exception would imply some apology for the ancient pagan persecutions, or for the extirpation of Christianity in China and Japan; it ought surely, on account of this detested consequence, to be rather buried in eternal silence and oblivion.

Though these arguments appear entirely satisfactory, yet such is the subtlety of human wit, that Gardiner and the other enemies to toleration were not reduced to silence; and they still found topics on which to maintain the controversy. The doctrine, said they, of liberty of conscience is founded on the most flagrant impiety, and supposes such an indifference among all religions, such an obscurity in theological doctrines, 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 surely 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 permission for the vending of poison, under the shape of food, to all his subjects. Persecution may, indeed, seem better calculated to make hypocrites than converts; but experience teaches us, that the habits of hypocrisy often turn into reality; and the

VOL. III.

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