But
religious it was made to appear. The English gentleman who wished to
remain loyal, without forfeiting his faith, was taught to see that a
sovereign under the Papal curse had no longer a claim on his allegiance.
If he disobeyed the Pope, he had ceased to be a member of the Church of
Christ. The Papal party grew in coherence, while, opposed to them as
their purpose came in view, the Protestants, who at first had been
inclined to Lutheranism, adopted the deeper and sterner creed of Calvin
and Geneva. The memories of the Marian cruelties revived again. They saw
themselves threatened with a return to stake and fagot. They closed
their ranks and resolved to die rather than submit again to Antichrist.
They might be inferior in numbers. A _plebiscite_ in England at that
moment would have sent Burghley and Walsingham to the scaffold. But the
Lord could save by few as well as by many. Judah had but two tribes out
of the twelve, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the
words of Israel.
One great mistake had been made by Parsons. He could not estimate what
he could not understand. He admitted that the inhabitants of the towns
were mainly heretic--London, Bristol, Plymouth, and the rest--but he
despised them as merchants, craftsmen, mean persons who had no heart to
fight in them.
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