Author: Henry Broxap

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-02

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781330567135

Excerpt from A Biography of Thomas Deacon, the Manchester Non-Juror The subject of the Non-jurors, their principles, their writings, and their complete disappearance as a separate ecclesiastical organisation will probably be regarded by the great majority of people as of little more than antiquarian interest. The point of view from which the movement may be regarded will indeed vary in accordance with the prepossessions under the influences of which we approach the consideration of the subject. We may approve the sentiments of Dr. Johnson who, Tory as he was, had no kind things to say of the non-jurors, and indeed, "never knew a non-juror who could reason." We may possibly sympathize with Macaulay in his statement that "the non-jurors sacrificed both liberty and order to a superstition as stupid and degrading as the Egyptian worship of cats and onions." And if the unusual conjunction in the literary firmament of the two Whig and Tory luminaries leaves any possibility of further choice we may perhaps adopt the standpoint of Professor J. E. B. Mayor in his introduction to "The Life of Ambrose Bonwicke." 'Perhaps the time has come when we may venture without offence or loss of intellectual caste to challenge the vulgar verdict upon the non-jurors, and at least call on their censors to name any English sect so eminent, in proportion to its numbers, alike for solid learning and for public as well as private virtues.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.