punishment as the law should direct, to preach a sermon which should be a satisfactory account of his opinions on the following points. He was to prove—
1. That all persons rebelling against their sovereign thereby incurred damnation.
2. Therefore, that the English rebels, specially those of Cornwall and Devonshire, 'were incurring damnation ever to be in the burning fire of hell with Lucifer, the father and first author of disobedience—what masses or holy water soever they went about to pretend.'
3. That 'Korah, Dathan, and Abiram pretended religion, and were swallowed up quick in hell'—that Saul was rejected for saving the sheep from sacrifice—that disobedience and rebellion, under any plea whatsoever, were hateful to God.
4. That vital religion consisted only in prayer to God—that rites, forms, and ceremonies were but the dress, or outward costume, which the magistrate might change at his pleasure that if any man, therefore, persisted any longer in using the Latin service, his devotion was made valueless by the disobedience involved in the practice.[1]
The outward and silent submission of the subject to usages of which he disapproves may, under certain circumstances, be legitimately demanded; his allegiance to his sovereign and country is the only question on which he may be required to declare his private opinion. The Bishop of London was invited to teach what he was known not to believe. If he complied, his character was
- ↑ Orders of the Crown to Bonner, Bishop of London: MS. Domestic, Edward VI. vol. viii.
