The Acts of Uniformity Their Scope and Effect

Excerpt

The Acts of Uniformity are incidents in a great movement.  They are far from being the most important of its incidents.  Their importance has perhaps been exaggerated, and their purport is commonly misunderstood.  My object is to place them in their true relation to other incidents.  It is useless to study them apart; they cannot be understood except as details of a connected history.  I shall confine myself, however, to a narrow, question:  assuming the general history, I shall ask how the several Acts of Uniformity come into it, with what purpose and with what ultimate effect.  To study immediate effects would be to engage in too wide an inquiry.