44 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. Greenwood, were acts of flagrant injustice and cruelty, and will stand as monuments of disgrace to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as durable as time.* Upon this part of our English history, the judicious Rapin observes, " That the queen hearkened to the sug- gestions of the clergy, who represented the puritans as seditious persons; who rebelled against the laws, and, by their disobedience, shook the foundations of the government. This is not the only time, nor is England the only state, where disobedience in point of religion, has been con- founded with rebellion against the sovereign. There is scarcely a christian state, where the prevailing sect will suffer the least division, or the least swerving from the established opinions ; no, not even in private. Shall I venture to say, it is the clergy chiefly who support this strange principle of non-toleration, so little agreeable to christian charity ? The severity of which, fromthis time, began to be exercised upon the nonconformists in England, produced terrible effects in the following reigns, and occa- sioned troubles and factions which remain to this day."+ Mr. Greenwood published " A Briefe Refutation of Mr. George Gifford ;" and " An Answer to George Gifford's pretended DefenceofRead-Prayers andDevised Liturgies;" in the titles of which, he calls himself " Christ's poor afflicted Prisoner in the Fleet, for the Truth of the Gospel." WILLIAM SMYTH was born about the year 1563, and educated, most probably, in the university of Cambridge. On his entrance upon the sacred function, he was or- dained by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and licensed to preach by the Bishop of Sarum, when he became minister at Bradford in Wiltshire. Having con- tinned in this situation for some time, he went to London, attended the private assemblies of the Brownists' congrega- tion, and probably became a zealous and active memberof the church; for which he was cast into prison, where he remained a long time. During his confinement, he was frequently carried before the inquisitors of the high corn- mission and the star-chamber, and after examination, with a view to make him confess and accuse himself and his brethren, he was sent back to prison. On one of these Biog. Britan. vol. ii. p. 621, Edit. 1778. Rapin's Bist. of Eng. vol, ii. p, 141.
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