He was in favour of the widest toleration, but had scruples about manhood suffrage, and feared extreme democracy. He had doubts about the execution of the King, but appears to have held it necessary that he should be put to trial, and approved of the establishment of the republic. His own religious views inclined towards those of the Fifth-monarchy men.Clarke Papers Vol.
|
|
Fleming had scruples about presbyterian forms, and classed himself as an independent. At his ordination, conducted by Samuel Chandler, D.D., Jeremiah Hunt, D.D., a learned independent, and others, he refused to submit to the imposition of hands, His confession of faith was unique. He would only say that he believed the New Testament contained 'a revelation worthy of God to give and of man to receive;' and this he promised to teach in the sense in which he should 'from time to time' understand it. It was soon rumoured that Fleming was a Socinian.
|
|
In 1734, Boyd was an unsuccessful candidate for the clerkship of the general synod. His zeal for the faith was again shown in 1739, when he took the lead against Richard Aprichard, a probationer of the Armagh presbytery (who had scruples about some points of the Confession, and ultimately withdrew from the synod's jurisdiction). He was one of ten clergymen appointed by the synod at Magherafelt on 16 June 1747 to draw up a "serious warning" to be read from the pulpit against dangerous errors "creeping into our bounds". These "errors" referred to original sin, the "satisfaction of Christ", the Trinity and scriptural authority.
|
|
A year later on December 25, 1621, Governor William Bradford led a work detail into the forest and discovered some recent arrivals among the crew had scruples about working on the day. Bradford noted in his history of the colony, Of Plymouth Plantation: > On the day called Christmas Day, the Governor called [the settlers] out to > work as was usual. However, the most of this new company excused themselves > and said it went against their consciences to work on that day. So the > Governor told them that if they made it [a] matter of conscience, he would > spare them till they were better informed; so he led away the rest and left > them.
|
|
The king confirmed the verdict of guilty which the jury found, and Balmerino was in March 1609 sentenced to be beheaded, quartered, and demeaned as a traitor. The sentence, however, was not carried out, due to the intercession of Anne of Denmark at the instance of Jean Drummond, her lady in waiting and Balmerino's relative.Anna Whitelock, 'Reconsidering the Political Role of Anna of Denmark', Helen Matheson-Pollock, Joanne Paul, Catherine Fletcher, Queenship and Counsel in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), p. 241. According to a second account of Balmerino, James was not averse to correspondence with Pope Clement, but had scruples about addressing him by his apostolical titles, which were therefore afterwards prefixed by Balmerino to the letter which James, who was aware of its contents, had signed without hesitation.
|
|