The Role of Government (and a little more historiography)

Perhaps without intending to, Gardiner (on page 33) proposes a role of government that certainly was not contemplated in the first Elizabeth's reign, and was scarcely supposed in Gardiner's own time:

If the liberty which the Commons required for the clergy had been granted, it would have been necessary to devise new guarantees, in order that the incumbent of a parish should not abuse his position by performing the duties of his office in such a manner as to offend his parishioners. In proportion as the checks imposed by the government were diminished, it would have been necessary to devise fresh checks, to proceed from the congregation, whilst the Government retained in its hands that general supervision which would effectually hinder the oppression of individuals by a minister supported by a majority of his parishioners.

In other words, the government's role, in addition to enabling local control, was to make sure that the local majority did not oppress the local minority.

Despite Gardiner's claim that he does not judge the past by the conditions of the present, I think he is clearly guilty of that here. Certainly the 17th century would have been a happier time if Elizabeth's government had adopted such an enlightened approach. But as Gardiner himself admits, it could not even have been considered. A fundamental feature of the landscape we will be visiting was that almost everyone (Francis Bacon being a notable exception) believed the uniformity was the essential quality that led to peace, prosperity and true religion. The oppression of a dissenting minority was a moral imperative.

One of the terrain-altering circumstances that we will encounter on our tour is that the minority occasionally will become a sufficient majority, and the same principles which supported Elizabeth's successful suppression of dissent will be used to promote the suppressed views themselves.

Page 33 is worth re-reading.