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HIST b R Y

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BY J. B. S. CARWITHEN, B.D.
OF ST. MARY HALL, OXFORD; BAMPTON LECTURER FOR 1809; AND
LATE VICAR OF SANDHURST, BERKS.

PART THE SECOND.
TO THE REVOLUTION.

 " That posterity may know we have not loosely, thi-ough silence,
permitted things to pass away as in a dream, there shall be for- men's in-
foiination extant thus much conceming the state of the church of God
established amongst us." — Hooker.

VOL. III.

PUBLISHED BY PARKER, OXFORD ; BALDWIN AND
CRADOCK, LONDON.
1833.

OXFORD,
PRINTED BY S-. COLLINGWOOD.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

This concluding volume of the History of the
Church of England was completed by Mr. Car-
withen, and the MS. at the tirae of his death was
left in -such a state of readiness for the press as
to require verbal alterations only. It is believed
that all who are desirous of obtaining a compen
dious view of facts relating to our Church His
tory,, will find in this the san:>e faithfulness of
description and sound judgment as characterized
thie two former volumes.

W. R. Browell.

Pembroke College,
Oxford.

CONTENTS

VOL. III.

CHAPTER I.
View of Political and Religious Opinions at the time of the
Restoration. — Hobbes of Malmsbury. — Latitudinarian Di
vines. — Cudworth, Wilkins, and Moore. — Characters of
Tillotson, Barrow, and Stillingfleet . . Page 1
CHAPTER II.
Religious Creed of Charles II. — His Conduct towards the
Presbyterians. — Judicious Counsels of Hyde. — Restoration
of the Chapters. — Consecration of Bishops. — The Church
resumes her Property and Jurisdiction . . 13
CHAPTER III.
The Presbyterians solicit an adjustment of their differences
with the church. — They deliver in an address, with a
statement of their exceptions. — Answer of the Bishops. —
Charles's Declaration. — Bill founded on it rejected by Par
liament. — Savoy Conference. — Notice of the Episcopalian
and Presbyterian Commissionei\s .... 20
CHAPTER IV.
New Parliament assembles. — Convocation held in the Pro
vince of Canterbury with Proxies from that of York. —
Final Review of the Church Liturgy. — Alterations intro
duced and authorized by Act of Parliament. — Corporation
Act. — Act of Uniformity. — Dispossession of Presbyterians. 57

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.
Episcopacy restored in Scotland. — Sharp, Archbishop of St.
Andrew's. — Resistance of the Presbyterians. — Abjuration
ofthe Covenant prescribed. — Ministers ejected. — The Pro
testant Episcopal Establishment again introduced into Ire
land. — Duke of Ormond. — Bramhall. — ^Jeremy Taylor. Page 83
CHAPTER VI.
Proposed Suspension of Penal Laws against Nonconformists
objected to by the House of Commons. — Act passed for
the Suppression of Conventicles. — Taxation ofthe Church.
— Convocation of the Clergy deprived of its power. — Five-
mile Act. — Fire of London. — Fall and Banishment of Cla
rendon . . . . . . . . 100
CHAPTER VII.
Attempts of Charles to reinstate the Roman Catholics. — Pro
posals for comprehending the Nonconformists within the
Church. — Opposition of Parliament. — Further Severities
enacted against Dissenters. — The Cabal. — Declaration of
Indulgence . . . . . . . 128
CHAPTER VIII.
Continued efforts of Charles to acquire arbitrary Power. —
Conduct of Shaftesbury. — Origin of the Test Act. — Pro
jected Marriage of the Duke of York vidth the Princess of
Modena. — Change of Ministry. — Successful Measures of
the Earl of Danby. — Death of Sheldon. — His Character. 148
CHAPTER IX.
Oates's Plot. — Test Act for Members of Parliament and
others. — Earl of Danby impeached. — Question respecting
the Right of Bishops to vote during Trials for High Trea
son. — Petition for assembling Parhament. — Whigs and
Tories. — Sketch of Gilbert Burnet . . 175

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.
Unpopularity of the Church. — The most eminent Protestant
Divines of other Countries consulted by Compton. — The
Bill of Exclusion again brought forward and rejected by
the Lords. — Merits of this Bill. — Proposed Comprehension
of Nonconformists. — ^The king suddenly prorogues Parlia
ment. — Convenes it again at Oxford. — Charles dissolves his
last Parliament, and publishes an explanatory Declaration. Page -201
CHAPTER XI.
Shaftesbury retires to Amsterdam, and dies there. — The
Rye-house Plot. — Lord William Russel. — Algernon Sid
ney. — The Oxford Decree. — Deprivation of Locke. — Lon
don Cases against Dissenters. — Death and Character of
Charles the Second  221
CHAPTER XII.
James II. succeeds to the Throne. — New Parliament called.
— Landing of the Duke of Monmouth. — Insurrection in
Scotland, headed by Argyle. — Cruelty of Jefferies. — Edict
of Nantz. — Debates in Parhament on the Tests and Elec
tion of its Members. — The King prorogues Parliament. 244
CHAPTER XIII.
Dispensation of Tests by the King. — Conduct of the Judges.
— The Clergy prohibited from preaching against Popery. —
Ecclesiastical Commission. — Bishop of London suspended.
— Bishops Cartwright and Parker. — Declaration for general
Liberty of Conscience. — Laudable Behaviour of the Dis
senting Teachers ...... 266
CHAPTER XIV.
Attack upon the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. —
Visitation of the Ecclesiastical Commission to the latter. —

viii CONTENTS.
Wise and firm conduct of Dr. Hough, President of Mag
dalen College. — Arrival of the Pope's Nuncio. — James
caresses the Dissenters. — Letter of the King to the Princess
of Orange. — Fagel's Letter printed. — Pregnancy of the
Queen  Page 295
CHAPTER XV.
Declaration of the King ordered to be read in Churches
throughout the Kingdom. — Petition to the Throne by the
Bishops and Clergy. — Majority of the Clergy refuse to read
the Dispensation. — The Archbishop of Canterbury and six
suffragan Bishops cited before the Privy Council, and sent
to the Tower. — And subsequently, when put on their trial
for Libel, are acquitted . . . . . 318
CHAPTER XVI.
Advice of the Bishops to the Clergy. — Invitation to the Prince
of Orange. — He has recourse to the Bishops. — Declaration
ofthe Prince privately circulated in England. -^His Arrival
at Torbay. — Conference between the Royal Commissioners
and the Deputies ofthe Prince . . . 345
CHAPTER XVII.
Convention of former Members of Parliament. — Scotland de
clares in favour of the Prince. — Vote of thanks to the
Clergy from the House of Commons. — Throne declared
vacant. — Crown offered by both Houses of Parliament to
William and Mary. — Bill of Rights.-;— Acts of Comprehen
sion and Toleration ..... 372

HISTORY

CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I.

View of Political and Religious Opinions at the time of the
Restoration. — Hobbes of Malmsbury. — Latitudinarian Di
vines. — Cudworth, Wilkins, and More. — Characters of
Tillotson, Barrow, and Stillingfleet.
In approaching a period of such importance in a. d.
English history, as that ofthe Restoration, some 
preparatory observations will naturally occur. A
preliminary and general view of the state of poli
tical and religious opinion at this period is neces
sary to comprehend the occurrences which are
now to be detailed.
The reign of Charles the Second, considered in \
a political light, has been justly characterized as
the era of good laws and bad government. Hence
may be dated not only the re-establishment of the /
church and monarchy, but at this time was laid
the foundation of English liberty. But although -^
in this reign the constitution attained a high
degree of theoretical excellence, an excellence
magnified by some writers into perfection *; yet a
* Blackstone, Com. b. 4. c. 33.
VOL. III. B

2 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, corrupt and wicked administration of the laws
 '¦  rendered this a period of the greatest practical
tyranny. Those laws which in their natural
tendency established "the true balance between
liberty and prerogative," were not the result of
deliberative wisdom, but were effected either by a
concurrence of happy circumstances, or by a sin
gular collision of factious parties.
Of no reign is the secret history more worthy
of attention, or so necessary to be studied in order
to unravel its changeable and contradictory policy.
Without such a previous study, it must be inex
plicable that one papist should have been instru
mental in abolishing the practice of burning for
heresy, and that another should have zealously
defended the exclusion of members of the church
of Rome from political power. It must be inex
plicable, that toleration should have been opposed
by those who were suffering under the severity of
the ecclesiastical laws, and that the persecuted
should have invited persecution.
With regard to the civil polity of England, the
reign of the second Charles presents the anomaly
of good laws and bad government ; with regard
to religion, it presents the anomaly of great cor
ruption of morals, joined with extraordinary ad
vances in theological knowledge. This reign has
often been styled the golden age of the English
church ; but the epithet will not justify the infer
ence, that it was an age in which any religious
man of any sect could wish to have lived. But
still it implies that to the church the nation was
indebted for a countervailing power against the
systematic attack of infidelity, the open preva-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 3
lence of fanaticism, and the secret advances of a. d.
popery. 
Wherever fanaticism abounds, there will be
always a proportionable degree of infidelity, and
it is not surprising that the extravagancies of the
different religious sects in the time of Cromwell
should have induced in many sober men a dis
belief of revelation. Never did blasphemy and
profaneness arrive at such an alarming height,
and there was a retrogression in civilization and
sound knowledge of at least a century.
In one thing, and in one thing only, the con
tending sectaries of Cromwell's days agreed, in
their outward hostility to popery ; yet while they
were apparently united in demolishing the papal
system, there was nothing on which they could
concur in substituting in its place. Converts
from popery were made at the expense of Chris
tianity, and other proselytes were made to a
pompous and imperious church abroad, instead of
a pious and afflicted one at home *. It is un
deniable, that the evils of these times were aggra
vated by the machinations of Romish incendiaries,
under the disguise of fanatics and agitators f .
Amid this lamentable decay of sound religion,
it is not surprising that many sought refuge in
atheism, and commenced a systematic attack on
the Christian religion. The band of atheists and
infidels was led on by Hobbes, a man of deep
thought, of great erudition, and of consummate
knowledge of human nature. This singular man,
who had followed the second Charles into exile,
* Fell's Life of Hammond.
t Foxes and Firebrands, part 2, p. 101, edit. 1682.
B 2

HISTORY OF THE

CHAP, was so disgusted with the morals, or dissatisfied

¦ with the policy of the British royalists, that he
returned to England under the protectorate of
Cromwell. He had at first applied himself to the
study of mathematics, but his eccentric and para
doxical spirit, abandoning demonstration, was
congenially employed in vending falsehoods in
morals. His celebrated work, "the Leviathan,"
was at first written in favour of absolute mo
narchy, but was afterwards modelled to suit the
Ob. views of the republican party. Hobbes therefore
^679*' cannot be classed among those who have been
at. 92. distinguished for love of royalty and hatred of
revelation ; since his real sentiments were repub
lican. Though an enemy to every modification
of Christianity, yet his philosophy had a resem
blance to the popular errors of the religionists of
the times. His grand maxim, that all men acted
under an absolute necessity, received countenance
from the Calvinistic doctrine of absolute decrees.
His maxim, that all government is founded on
conquest, and that force is the principle of obe
dience, was sanctioned by the doctrine, that suc
cess in war is a demonstration of divine inter
position. And his maxim, that interest or fear
were the springs of human action, and that the
foundation of morality was private advantage, or
general expediency, was in accordance with the
unsound views of practical Christianity inculcated
in the discourses of the most popular teachers
among the independents.
The boldness, rather than the novelty of these
opinions, recommended by a style remarkable for
purity and strength, recommended also by the

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 5
irreproachable character and philosophic life of a.d.
their author, could not fail of gaining many con- 
verts and more admirers. Men of profligate and
of sober habits were equally disposed to adopt the
paradoxes of Hobbes, rather than follow the
reveries of~ teachers pretending to supernatural
illumination. 
It was impossible that his sophistry could be
opposed by the sectaries of his time; but the
honour was reserved for a class of divines, called
or miscalled latitudinarian. They loved the con
stitution of the English church, and its liturgy,
though they did not think it unlawful to live
under another form of ecclesiastical government*.
Their object was the assertion and defence of the
principles of religion in a philosophical method.
They belonged chiefly to the university of Cam
bridge ; and the three leading theologians, who
may be ranked under this class, were Cudworth,
Wilkins, and More.
Cudworth, who surpassed all his conterapo- Ob.
' ^ . June 26,
raries in metaphysics, was also conversant with less.
the Oriental languages f , and was an exact critic
in Greek and Latin. He was a good antiquary
and mathematician. He had the courage, as well
as the ability, to stem the torrent of atheism and
immorality, and his Intellectual System will re
main as a monument both of the strength of his
reasoning and the variety of his learning. Ob.
Of Wilkins it has been said, that he was born i*'672. '

* Burnet's Hist, of his own Times, vol. i. b. 2.
t He was professor of Hebrew in the university of Cam
bridge.

6 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, for the improvement of every kind of knowledge
— - — to which he applied himself. In natural philoso
phy he made considerable discoveries, and it is
well known that he was principally concerned in
the formation of the Royal Society. His treatises
on prayer and preaching, and on the principles
and duties of natural religion, claim for him a
high rank in the school of philosophical divines.
Ob. Henry More, whose works have now fallen
iV87,' into neglect, was esteemed one of the greatest
'**-^^- divines and philosophers of his age. He was
enthusiastically devoted to the Platonic philoso
phy, and his writings shew how happy a vision
ary their author was. His antagonist Hobbes
was one of his greatest admirers, and was re
ported to have uttered the following panegyric:
" If my own philosophy be not true, I know none
which I would sooner adopt than that of More."
Following in the same path, yet at a long dis
tance, were Worthington and Whichcote. Wor
thington was a man of great humility and prac
tical devotion, qualities exemplified in his treatise
on Self-resignation to the Divine Will. Which
cote, who was employed in superintending the
studies of academic youth, recommended a dili
gent perusal of the ancient philosophers, parti
cularly the works of Plato, Tully, and Plotinus.
These he esteemed the best preparation for the
Christian religion, which he considered as a doc
trine sent from God, to elevate and humanize
Ob. 1683. man. The moral improvements of his mind, a
godlike temper and disposition, he chiefly valued
and aspired after ; that universal charity and
goodness which he constantly practised as well as

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 7
preached *. His Sermons, which are the only a. d.
part of his works extant, are not recommended 
by any graces of style, are too scholastic to be
generally admired, and have an uncouthness of
phrase not acceptable even to scholars. The
encomium passed on him by Shaftesbury, is more
discriminating and spirited than the eulogy of
Tillotson. From this nobleman it must be high
praise to have it said, that if any religion, ancient
or modern, besides the Christian, had produced
such a divine teacher, the infidels of modern times
would have admired and reverenced him f .
In this latitudinarian school was educated Til
lotson. Educated among the puritans, he was
intimately acquainted with their character, an ac
quaintance which he used to gain thera over to
the church of England. Of his puritanical edu
cation no other traces were visible than strictness
of life, and tenderness for nonconformity. Of many
of those great divines who have been already
mentioned, he was the pupil, the admirer, or the
biographer. His own merits will entitle him to
no inconsiderable rank in that branch of theology
which he cultivated. His works bear the charac
ter of their author, simple, rational, equable, but
eloquent; and if he rise not to the height of
Taylor or Barrow, he is free from their defects.
If it should be objected that these latitudinarian
divines cannot be fairly claimed by the church of
England, since they complied with all the changes
of the times, since their attachment to its disci
pline was loose ; if it should be objected that
* Tillotson's Funeral Sermon.
f Preface to Whichcote's Sermons.

8 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, they were too strongly imbued with Pagan phi-
 losophy ; if it should be farther objected that they
compromised the peculiar tenets of the gospel,
and were even suspected of Socinianism ; yet none
of these charges will apply to two other divines,
who have gained a greater share of renown in the
contest with atheism and infidelity. These were
Stillingfleet and Barrow.
Both were educated while puritanism was pre
dominant throughout the nation, and while the
latitudinarian divines governed the university of
Cambridge; yet neither puritanical nor latitudi
narian principles had any share in the form
ation of their characters. They rose superior to
both. The name of Barrow, connected as it is with
science as well as theology, unconnected as it
stands with the external history of the church,
requires in this place a survey of the peculiarities
of his character. While some men have emerged
at once from obscurity, and have astonished by
a sudden display of dazzling talents, Barrow was
signally conspicuous from the earliest period of
which biography has preserved any record. His
opinions on religion and government which he
had imbibed from his infancy, were the same to
the close of his life. By birth, by education, by
conviction, he was a royalist and an episcopalian,
and he gloried in being such when royalty and
episcopacy were proscribed. While a student at
the university of Cambridge, he was not solicitous
to dissemble, but was rather eager to avow prin
ciples, which might not only have obstructed his
advancement, but have endangered his safety.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 9
On the restoration of the church and mo- a.d.
narchy, Barrow confidently expected, with greater 
reason than many other sufferers, to receive some
marks of regal favour, and like many other ex
pectants, experienced and lamented his neglect *.
But the transcendent genius of Barrow, com
manded as a debt, what inferior claimants must
have accepted as a boon or as a reward. In
obtaining the professorship of Greek and Geo
metry, he suppressed all competition among his
fellow academicians ; but his highest academical
dignity was the deserved gift of his sovereign,
accompanied by the compliment that it was be
stowed on the best scholar in England. It was
his peculiar happiness to be advanced to the
government of a college, already honoured by
Bacon, and afterwards adorned by Newton and
Bentley. In estimating the character of Barrow, the pre
dominant feature is the strength and compass of
his mind, and the sentiment which these qualities
are calculated to excite, is that of wonder and
admiration f. In the sublime parts of mathe
matical science he has been surpassed by only
one man, and that man was his pupil. Yet even
if his inferiority in this branch should be admitted,
it should be remembered, that if he had not re
linquished his mathematics for theology, and if
his life had been protracted to an equal term,
Barrow might have been Newton's rival. Let it
* Te magis optavit rediturum Carole nemo,
Et nemo sensit te rediisse minus.
f ClK'/jpov jMev ae^u Bavi^cc^u 8e Bappovev, Kai
(piXu TaiXapov. Dr. Parr.

10 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, be remembered also, that in no pursuit to which
 h  Barrow bent his mind, can it be said of him, what
the warmest admirers of Newton must admit, that
he " went out as a common man." That mighty
genius, which could rise to the heights or explore
the depths of abstruse science, could expatiate in
Ob. 1677. the flowery paths of poetry. The fertility of his
imagination was equal to the intenseness and te
nacity of his thought, and he possessed the faculty
of conveying his conceptions in a style clear and
forcible. The same inexhaustible variety of ex
pression which characterized his serious compo
sitions, he carried into the transactions of common
life * ; and his colloquial powers exhibited that
wit which he has so ingeniously described, but of
which, master as he was of language, he would
not hazard a definition. In fine, the protestant,
the Arminian, the episcopalian, may exult that
his own creed is the creed of Barrow.
To the inadequate description of so great a
luminary of the church here given, the character
of Stillingfleet will afford a contrast. In reading
Barrow, such is his originality of thought, that we
forget his acquirements. But his learning was
great, and was scarcely inferior to that of Stilling
fleet. The learning of Stillingfleet was immense,
but it was too ponderous even for the strength of
his mind. In the knowledge of ancient history,
sacred and profane, of law ecclesiastical and civil,
he was consummately skilled, and he apj)lied this
* So copious was it, that no two of the letters which he
wrote to sohcit contributions for the Ubrary of Trinity College
are alike.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 11
knowledge with singular felicity to the numerous A. d.
subjects of controversy which engaged his pen. 
His learning was employed in the defence of the
Christian religion against infidelity, and of the
English church against popery and sectarianism.
His early attachment to the persecuted church
was equally strong with that of Barrow, and as
soon as he was qualified by age he received epi
scopal ordination. His title to the sacred office, to
which he had solemnly devoted himself, was fully
proved by the publication of his Irenicon. The
object of this work, as it was stated by himself,
was to bring those to a compliance with the
church of England, then likely to be re-established,
who stood off on a supposition that Christ had
appointed a presbyterian government, and that
episcopacy consequently was an unlawful usur
pation. Admitting with the episcopalian, but
contending against the presbyterian, he maintained
that Christ and his apostles did not prescribe any
form of ecclesiastical government to be unalterably
observed by all Christians in future ages, but at
the same time demonstrated that there must be a
perpetual standing ministry, and that such a mi
nistry must be of divine institution. The supe
riority which Timothy and Titus exercised over
their respective churches, though it did not prove
the indispensable necessity of episcopal govern
ment, yet it proved the lawfulness, the antiquity,
and the reasonableness of episcopacy. The ground
which Stillingfleet maintained was the same which
Hooker had judiciously occupied in the preceding
century, wheu the church was engaged in a fierce
contest with puritanism, and which Jeremy Taylor

12 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, in this age had again chosen iu his Liberty of Pro-
 '¦ — phesying, when the church was overthrown and
puritanism was triumphant. It must be attributed
to the unanswerable defence of episcopacy which
this treatise exhibits, that it was the occasion of
unmeasured obloquy against its author. It was
objected that his earliest works contradicted his
subsequent declarations, and was a strong censure
of his future conduct. But his apology was so
complete and unanswerable, that it ought to be
recorded as a precedent for future controversialists
when assailed by their own weapons : " I entreat
my adversaries to allow that to me which I heartily
wish to them, that in a period of twenty years,
we may arrive at such maturity of thought as to
see reason to change our opinion of some things,
and, I wish I had not occasion to add, of some
persons*." Such was the state of religion in England on
the return of Charles. The national establish
ment, if it deserved that name, was an intolerant
presbytery ; the national spirit displayed the most
licentious fanaticism ; there prevailed an apparent
antipathy to popery, and a secret tendency to in
fidelity. The advances of infidelity were encou
raged by the papists, and while they depreciated
the writings of the English divines as the pro
ductions of atheists, deists, or Socinians, in their
own controversial publications they affirmed that
Xthere were no certain proofs of the Christian
religion, unless those which are derived from the
4 autho^ty of an infallible church.
* Preface to Unreasonableness of Separation.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 13

CHAPTER IL
Rehgious Creed of Charles II. — His Conduct towards the
Presbyterians. — Judicious Counsels of Hyde. — Restoration
of the Chapters. — Consecration of Bishops. — the Church
resumes her Property and Jurisdiction.
The Restoration of Charles the Second without a. d.
any limitations or conditions, accompanied on his 
part only by a promise of general oblivion of past
injuries, and of general regard to the existing
laws, must have naturally drawn the public at
tention to his pe^onal character. It was justly
concluded that his personal religion was of the
highest moment, since it would determine the
future condition of the English church.
A strong belief prevailed at this tirae, and the
fact was afterwards stated with forcible proofs,
that if the king were not a concealed papist, he
was reconciled to the church of Rome. It was
asserted that this reconciliation took place, when
the Pyrenean treaty was concluded between France
and Spain at Fonterabia. It was the condition,
on which the catholic powers of Europe consented
to promote his restoration.
The fact has been strenuously denied by the
Roman catholic historians*, though from what
motives it is not easy to ascertain, and not safe to
conjecture. But so credible was it, and there
* Dodd's Church History of England, vol. iii. p. 73.

14 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, were so many circumstances of corroboration, that
 —  the king himself, and his friends, were compelled
to contradict it by a laboured denial.
The protestants of Holland suspected this con
version; but Charles addressed a letter to the
pastor of the presbyterian congregation at Rot
terdam, earnestly requesting that the calumny
might be opposed, with solemn assurances of af
fection for the reformed religion*- Moriey was
also employed to write an apologetical letter to the
Dutch minister at the Hague, asserting and
proving the king's steadfastness in the protestant
faith and communion f .
On no religious denomination would the con
version of Charles to the church of Rome have
operated more detrimentally to j^is interests, than
on the presbyterians of England ; and therefore
an extraordinary degree of address was employed
to remove their suspicions. The most eminent
reformed ministers in France, among whom were
Daill^ and Drelincourt, were engaged, to assure
their presbyterian brethren in England that the
adherence of the king to the protestant faith was
sincere and steady, and that although he declined
to attend presbyterian worship at Paris, yet pru
dence and policy were the sole reasons of his
absence ^.
These letters were published and industriously
circulated throughout the kingdom, and they were
confirmed by Charles himself in his letter to the
* Dated at Brussels, Nov. 7, 1658. Kennet's Chronicle.
t Dated June 7, 1659. Kennet's Chron. p. 95. Athen.
Oxon. vol. ii. p. 273.
t Kennet's Chron. pp. 94, 95.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 15
house of commons. " Do you desire," he asked, a. d.
" the advancement of the protestant religion ?  '-
We have by our constant profession and practice
given sufficient testimony to the world, that nei
ther the unkindness of those of the same faith
towards us, nor the civilities and protestations of
those of a contrary profession, could in the least
degree startle us, or make us depart from it."
If it were difficult for Charles to disguise his
attachment to popery, it was impossible to conceal
his hatred of presbyterianism. This hatred was
hereditary ; it was a characteristic of the house of
Stuart. While the injuries and the indignities
which his father sustained from the sect rankled in
his mind, his mother's arts and his own experience
contributed to keep alive his resentment. She was
solicitous that he should be a witness of the intol
erance and the repulsive exterior* of the kirk, and
his expedition into Scotland received her hearty
concurrence. If the presbyterians were deceived
into an idea that the king entertained an affection
for them and their cause, their own infatuation
rather than his insincerity must be the cause.
The pretensions and demands of the Scottish kirk
of protection and establishment on the terms of
the covenant, that is, without any toleration, was
absurd ; and far more reasonable was the propo
sition of their English brethren, that the basis of
the king's restoration should be the concessions
made by his father at the conference in the Isle of
Wight. Whatever were the hopes and expectations of
* Clarendon applies the epithet " squalid."

16 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the different sectaries, they were for a tirae ab-
"• gnrhpfl in the general joy at the return of the
king. Never perhaps was there so great and
sudden a change in the state of society as hap
pened at this period in the English nation. Every
sect and party seemed to share in the universal
triumph, and to claim a degree of merit and favour
for its cooperation in the event. All expected to
enjoy a tranquillity and indulgence which they
had sought in vain under the stern rule of Crom
well. The royalists and episcopalians gave an
unrestrained license to their natural gaiety; the
presbyterians relaxed in their austerity, and trusted
that their late exertions in bringing back the
king would ensure compliance with their demands.
The anabaptists, independents, fifth-monarchy men,
and quakers, if they scarcely ventured to hope
an enlargement of their freedom, yet expected
an entire impunity for their excesses.
The tide of joy which overflowed the nation
brought with it the usual attendants of a state of
prosperity. Infidelity, which had assumed a sober
and severe aspect during the usurpation, in cor
respondence with the stern or demure mien of the
prevailing religionists, now changed its demean
our, and joined in the general profligacy. Popery,
which dared not avow itself, again lifted its head.
A great number of papists came back in the train
of the king ; the queen-mother came from France
with her Romish attendants, both secular and mo
nastic. When she entered Somerset-house, she
had the honesty to declare that she never had
quitted it, but through her own fault ; yet mis
fortune had not taught her even the clfeap virtue

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 17
of discretion. She feared not again to raise the a.d.
public clamour against the religion of Rome. All 
Romish priests who were in confinement were
released by an order of council, and a crowd of
Jesuits were sent over from the college of Douay
as missionaries for propagating the Romish faith.
The duke of York, standing in the responsible
situation of heir presumptive, had no scruple in
professing his adherence to the church of Rome.
If Charles had been left to his unbiassed incli- July.
nation, totally devoid as he was of religious prin
ciple, assailed on one hand by the importunities of
that powerful body the presbyterians, allured on
the other by the blandishments of the papists, it is
impossible to conjecture what line of conduct his
policy or his necessities might have prompted him
to pursue in remodelling an ecclesiastical esta
blishment. But a counsellor was at hand in
Hyde, who knew that the English monarchy
could never be raised on the basis of presby
terianism or popery, and that it could not stand
but on the foundation of a national religion. It
was his salutary advice, that the basis of mo
narchy should be the church of England, as it
subsisted before the late civil war, yet modified so as
to reconcile, if possible, the presbyterians, without
the sacrifice of any essential principle.
Of the former hierarchy nine bishops yet sur
vived, and the difficulty which had occurred during
the king's exile, of filling the vacant sees by a
canonical election, was obviated by an immediate
restoration of the chapters. All the dignities in
the cathedral of Saint Paul were filled; twelve
divines were installed prebendaries of Canterbury ;
VOL. III. c

18 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, and before the expiration ofthe year, the chapters
 ^ — of the other cathedrals were supplied with com

petent members.
Sept. 20. It was not out of decency, it was a tribute to
acknowledged merit, that the amiable Juxon,
though oppressed by the infirmities of age, was
placed at the helm of the church of England.
The day on which he was translated from the see
of London to Canterbury, was a day of rejoicing
tempered by the most touching recollections. His
wisdom, his learning, his apostolical virtues,
pointed him out to the numerous assembly who
were present at the solemn ceremony, as a model
of a primate in the reformed church.
Sept. 22. The province of York was placed under the
^°o^^ government of Accepted Frewen, bishop of Lich
field. He was the son of a puritanical preacher,
and educated in puritanical doctrines, but was
afterwards distinguished for his loyalty. Nothing
is extant of his writing, except a Latin oration on
the death of prince Henry, but he has had the
honour of being the reputed author of the best
practical work ever written, The Whole Duty of
Man*. Bryan Duppa, preceptor of the king, was trans -
Sept. 22. lated from Salisbury to Winchester. His writings
Oct™^ were mostly devotional ; but the liberality of his
temper, and the gracefulness of his deportment,
rendered him fit for his station, and were more
"' Vid. Boswell's Life of Johnson, 9. v. In a MS. in the
Bodleian Library several circumstances are stated, which
strongly inchne me to beheve that Dr. Accepted Frewen,
archbishop of York, was the author of this work. Malone,
vol. ii. A.D. 177.3, note, p. 245. ed. Svo. 1816.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 19
useful than the most profound erudition. So a.d.
highly was he esteemed by his sovereign, that in ^^^"'
his last sickness, the king craved his blessing on
bended knees by his bedside *.
After having advanced those prelates, whose
fidelity or whose merit claimed an immediate ac
knowledgment, it was the next care of Hyde to
reward those divines whose abilities demanded a
seat among the prelacy. In the first class stood
the four favourite chaplains of the late unfortunate
king, Hammond, Sheldon, Sanderson, and Moriey.
Divine Providence had prevented the grateful
intentions of Charles, by calling the excellent
Hammond to Himself. At the commencement of
the year, when circumstances visibly tended to
the restoration of the church and monarchy, he
had been summoned to London to aid the great
work by his counsels. The diocese of Worcester,
in which he had resided during the Usurpation,
was designed for his spiritual charge, and nothing
but the tardiness of Brownrigg and Skinner in
performing his consecration, a tardiness in Brown
rigg supine, and in Skinner sinister, had obstructed
his occupation of the see when it was a post of
danger rather than of preferment. With how
pacific a temper he would have undertaken the
arduous duty of composing jarring sects, his de
votional addresses testify. Yet his principles were
too well founded to be turned by the gale of
popular favour ; he had the meekness as well as
the courage of a man who thought himself right.
He would not have yielded to his antagonists
* Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 176. C 2

20 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, either episcopacy or a liturgy. " Let us call on
—^ — God in the voice of his church," was the admo

nition with which, in his dying hours, he re
pressed the extemporaneous ejaculations of his
April 26. friends. On the day when the parliament met,
which laid the foundation of English liberty, " this
great champion of religion, and pattern of all vir
tue," was taken hence *. His loss could only be
compensated, and that inadequately, by his writ
ings ; they did what their author by the influence
of his personal virtues, and his high station in the
church of God, would have done. They contri
buted to stop the torrent of licentiousness which
overflowed the nation, when even the profession
of seriousness was laughed out of countenance,
under pretence of the hypocrisy of former times f .
Oct. 28. The conspicuous and responsible station of the
see of London was conferred on Sheldon, the
friend of Hammond. His active benevolence, his
dexterity in business, his conciliatory manners,
and his exemplary life, peculiarly fitted him to
preside over the metropolis of the nation, and was
a natural step to his contemplated advancement to
that high office, for which he was said to be born
and bred, the archbishopric of Canterbury.
Oct. 28. The services of Moriey in following the exiled
court, were acknowledged by the see of Worcester,
* Dr. Richard AUestree returning from a visit to his friends
in Shropshire to visit Dr. Hammond, he met at the gate the
body of that great man carrying to his burial. Preface to Dr.
Allestree's Sermons, folio, 1684.
t Whiston's Memoirs of his own Life. He says this of
The Whole Duty of Man, and Hammond's Practical Cate
chism.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 21
while Sanderson, now in his seventy-third year, a.d.
1 1 ¦ ¦ n r^i T 1 1660.
was overcorae by the importunity of Sheldon, 
and reluctantly accepted the extensive diocese of
Lincoln. Four eminent divines of the university of Cam- Oct. 28.
bridge were selected to remove any suspicion of
undue partiality to Oxford. Cosins, dean of Peter- Dec. 2.
borough, master of Peter-house, and prebendary
of Durham, was the first of the clergy who in
curred the penalty of sequestration, and it was
inflicted by a vote of the whole house of comraons.
He was accused by one Smart, a member of the
cathedral of Durham, of introducing superstitious
innovations, and of committing acts of injustice;
but his defence against these accusations was so
complete, that the lords instantly dismissed the
accusation. To a forcible ejectment from all his
preferments, was added the necessity of leaving
his country to preserve his life. In his exile at
Charenton, near Paris, he kept up the service and
discipline of the English church, brought back
many who were gone over to popery, and con
firmed others who were wavering in the protestant
faith. At Peterborough Cathedral he was the
first who read the Common Prayer, when the
king was restored ; and, before the expiration of
the year, his other preferments were vacated by
his elevation to the see of Durham. There his
magnificence and hospitality had means of gratifi
cation, while his profound knowledge of primitive
discipline, and his skill in the fathers of the
church, were shewn in his invaluable works.
Henchman, Lancy, and Stone, were severally pro
moted to the bishoprics of Salisbury, Peterborough,

22 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, and Carlisle, Henchman was critically conver-
"• sant in the ancient fathers and ecclesiastical his
tory. It would be unjust to the generous patronage
of the government, as well as to the merit of the
individual, to pass over the name of Bryan Wal
ton. That great work the Polyglott Bible was
first presented to Cromwell, but its author had no
reward ; he presented it a second time to his
restored sovereign, who preferred him to the see
of Chester. He was received in his episcopal
city with the most extraordinary marks of respect
by the higher ranks of society, and by the accla
mations of the people.
1661. The dubious merit of Gauden obtained for hira
January. ^.^^ bishopHC of Exetcr, but not without solicita
tion ; while Barwick, lest he should appear in his
late efforts to preserve the episcopal succession to
have gratified his own ambition, refused to be
advanced beyond the dignity of a presbyter, and
after a short possession of the deanery of Durham,
was reraoved to that of Saint Paul's.
With the restoration of the hierarchy was con
nected the restitution of ecclesiastical property.
That property consisted of two kinds, the estates
appurtenant to ecclesiastical corporations, whether
sole or aggregate, and the tithes belonging to the
parochial clergy. The first kind had been alien
ated by different ordinances of the coramons, and
appropriated to private persons, though at first
reserved for purposes of public utility. The
second kind had escaped a formal confiscation,
though the comraons had voted that tithes should
be abolished, as soon as another mode of main-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 23
taining the clergy could be agreed upon. Dif- a. d.
ferent plans had been devised, but none had been ^^^'^'
deemed worthy of adoption. The presbyterians
asserted the divine right of tithes, as they asserted
the divine right of their form of ecclesiastical
governiYient ; while the independents and enthusi
asts argued, that both tithes and priesthood were
relics of Judaism, which ought not to exist under
the reign of the saints.
The resumption of this kind of property, there
fore, was not attended with any extraordinary
syraptoras of discontent; but the restitution of
the ecclesiastical estates incurred a considerable
degree of obloquy. The tenants of these estates
were not satisfied with the transfer, and the appli
cation of the wealth thus accruing to the higher
orders of the hierarchy, was a subject of envy
and of censure.
Calumny itself could not fasten any accusation
on the bishops * ; for on the admission that too
large a treasure was given up to their disposal,
and that a portion of the fines might have been
applied to the augmentation of poor benefices, yet
the possessors gave abundant proofs that the dis
cretion with which they were entrusted, was not
committed to unworthy hands. Their conduct
was distinguished by munificence and charity.
Their wealth was expended in repairing churches,
in the foundation of hospitals, in the rederaption
of Christian slaves, and in supplying the want of
a law, by the voluntary augmentation of small
vicarages. Their specific benefactions have been
* Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. i. b. 2.

II.

24 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, clearly enumerated, with the laudable design of
silencing clamour against the bishops, as if they
had received vast sums of public raoney, and con
verted thera to private benefit *.
Those censures which the bishops have escaped,
have been liberally bestowed on the deans and
chapters, yet with little justice. Their liberality
was proportionable to their revenues f , and there
is no foundation for the invidious reraark of one
who should have known better, that the eccle
siastical corporations "generally took more care
of themselves than of the church:]:." As little
reason is there for the insinuation against the
illustrious Clarendon, that his connivance at the
misappropriation of ecclesiastical property was
the result of his partiality to sorae of the existing
bishops, a partiality originating in corrupt mo
tives. With the restitution of ecclesiastical property
was connected the re-establishment of the spiritual
courts, especially in the exercise of their matri
monial and testamentary jurisdiction. During
the usurpation marriages had been solemnized by
a civil magistrate, and matrimony, which in the
church of Rome had been esteemed a sacrament,
was degraded into a secular contract. When the
church of England was restored, marriage was
again to reassume its rank as a religious ordi-
* Chamberlayn's Present State of England, fifth ed. 1671.
t " In one of the best churches, Canterbury, out of all the
clear remainder of the first four years, viz. at the end of the
year 1664, they had no more than, every prebendary, 1000/.
and the dean a double share." Chamberlayn.
^ Burnet's History of his own Times, b. 2.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 25
nance, though not as a sacrament. Yet to secure a. d.
the peace of the kingdom, and the harmony of  L
private families, a law was wisely enacted, that
all marriages solemnized before a magistrate, or
according to any reputed ordinance of parliament,
should be deemed of the same effect and validity,
as if they had been solemnized according to the
rites and ceremonies of the church of England.
The bishops having been restored to their tem
poralities, and the episcopal courts to the exer
cise of their accustomed jurisdiction, the church
may be said to have been restored. There was
no necessity for any legislative declaration to this
purpose, for all the ordinances of the house of
commons, while the functions of royalty were
suspended, were deemed to be of no validity.
The church was restored as it was when the late
king quitted his palace at Whitehall, with the
exception of the exclusion of the bishops from
the upper house, to which the king gave an ex
torted assent. It was the wish of the presby
terians, that the church establishment should be
restored on the basis of the treaty at Newport ;
but the proposition was rejected. Still however
it was thought by all parties worthy of a trial,
and with sanguine hopes of success by raany, to
effect a comprehension of the presbyterians within
the pale ofthe national establishment. The mea
sures taken to promote this end, and their result,
come now to be related.

26 HISTORY OF THE

CHAPTER III.
The Presbyterians solicit an adjustment of their differences
with the church. — They deliver in an address, vnth a state
ment of their exceptions. — Answer of the Bishops. —
Charles's Declaration. — Bill founded on it rejected by
Parliament.- — Savoy Conference. — Notice of the Episco
palian and Presbyterian Commissioners.
CHAP. The head of the presbyterian party was Ed-
 '- — ward, earl of Manchester, a patron of liberty,
without being an enemy to monarchy; who fought
in the parliamentary array, but without personal
hostility to the king. His cordial support of the
Restoration was acknowledged by an appoint
ment to the post of lord chamberlain, and by a
large share of the royal confidence.
June. A short tirae after the king's return, the lead
ing presbyterians were introduced by him to the
king, to solicit the royal interposition respecting
the adjustment of their differences with the church.
They earnestly recommended a religious union,
and entreated that the terms of this union might
be as comprehensive as possible. The king de
clared himself highly gratified by their concilia
tory temper, but informed them, that an agree
ment could not be expected without mutual con
cession, and that any failure should not be imput
able to hira, because he was resolved to leave
no proper methods untried for bringing men of
different sentiments in religion to a good under
standing. To this end he desired that they

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 27
would lay before him their own views and propo- a. d.
sitions concerning ecclesiastical government, be  —
cause if this main question of disagreement could
be reconciled, inferior points might be easily ac-
coraraodated. The answer of the individuals who obtained
this audience was, that they could not presume to
speak the sentiments nor to bind the consent of
their brethren ; but, antecedently to the stateraent
of their own proposals, they required that the
bishops, and their brethren of the church of Eng
land, should deliver the sura and define the extent
of the concessions which could be yielded in their
favour. After a consultation of three weeks, the pres
byterians had agreed on their proposals, which
they offered to the king, joined with an address.
The address contained four preliminary requests :
that serious godliness might be countenanced ;
that a learned and pious minister might be sup
ported in every parish ; that no one might be
admitted to the Lord's table without a personal
recognition of his baptismal vow ; and that effec
tual measures might be adopted for a due ob
servance of the Lord's day.
To this introductory address succeeded their
proposals. They professed to allow the true and
primitive episcopacy or presidency in the church,
as it was balanced with a due commixture of
presbyters. But the English hierarchy, they con
tended, was not framed on the ancient model, and
they pointed out several abuses, which in their
judgment demanded correction. The principal
abuses specified were the extent of the dioceses,

28 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, which were too large for the personal super-
^"' — intendance of an individual ; the appointraent of
lay chancellors, who adrainistered that spiritual
power which properly resides in the presbyters of
the church ; and the assuraption by the bishops of
the sole right of ordination and jurisdiction, un
controlled by a council of presbyters. They also
offered various objections to the liturgy and
established cereraonies; and in conclusion, they
proposed that Usher's scherae of moderate epi
scopacy should be received as the basis of the pro
jected comprehension*.
The discriminating feature of Usher's scheme
of ecclesiastical government consisted in this ;
that it was, throughout all its parts, synodical,
comprehending every kind and gradation, frora a
parochial meeting under the direction of a single
priest, to a national council under the presidence
of a metropolitan. But the presbyterians refined
on Usher's plan, and carried it so far, as to esta
blish a complete independence of the church on
the crown. They proposed that there should be
suffragan as well as diocesan prelates invariably,
and not only in cases of necessity ; that these
suffragans should be elected by the diocesan
synods ; that the clergy should be released from
the oath of canonical obedience ; that the bishops
should possess no discretionary power, but should
govern according to canons and ecclesiastical con
stitutions ; and that all canons should either be
enacted or confirmed by parliament.
Charles received the presbyterian deputation,
* Life of Baxter, part 2, p. 252.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 29
which offered this project, with his accustoraed a. d.
urbanity, and promised to promote a conference. _if!^
He expressed his satisfaction in hearing that they
were not averse to a liturgy, and that they
were willing to ad rait a moderated episcopacy.
The presbyterians now expected a conference with
the bishops ; but Hyde intimated to the bishops,
at a private interview, that it was not their busi
ness to offer concessions, because they were satis
fied with the existing establishment. As the
hierarchy and liturgy were legally settled, they
ought to be the standard of agreement, and that
the concern of the bishops was to answer the
objections of the nonconformists.
Accordingly, instead of the expected conference, July 8.
a written answer to the propositions of the pres
byterian ministers was communicated by the
bishops, in which the objections urged against
the discipline and ritual of the church were con
sidered, and controverted. Taking advantage of
the admission by the presbyterians, that they were
agreed in the substantials of doctrine and wor
ship, the bishops inferred, that partial and par
ticular objections ought not to be obstinately
pressed, to the disturbance of general order and
the peace of the church *. The objection, that
the dioceses were of too large an extent, was ob
viated by the reply, that the duty of a bishop is
not a personal inspection or cure of souls, but a
higher pastoral charge, that of superintending all
the clergy within the diocese, who cannot be too
numerous to be excluded from the personal in-
* Kennet's Chron. p. 200.

30 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, spection of their bishop. Even in this point of
"^' view, if the dioceses were too extensive, or if
bodily infirmity prevented the bishop from per-
forraing his duty, the law allowed suffragans. As
to lay-chancellors and coraraissaries, though a
certain degree of jurisdiction had been formerly
committed to them, because they were supposed
to have more skill in the civil and canon laws
than the clergy ; yet matters of purely spiritual
concernment, such as absolution, excommunica
tion, and ecclesiastical censures, belong exclusively
to the bishop in person, or to some spiritual per
son expressly delegated by him. In regard to
ordination, they denied that the bishops had ever
exercised the sole power, but had always called
to their assistance at least two presbyters, and
this was one of the reasons for which deans and
chapters had been instituted. As to the model
of church governraent proposed by archbishop
Usher, they declined it, as being inconsistent with
his other learned discourses on the origin of epi
scopacy and of metropolitans, as well as derogatory
from the royal supremacy in ecclesiastical causes.
Op the subject of the liturgy it was answered,
that in its present state it was such as the presby
terians professed to esteem ; it was conducive to
edification, and its disuse had been the principal
cause of the late divisions. Its use therefore
could not be enjoined too strictly, especially as sorae
rainisters had adopted the uncanonical practice of
using extemporaneous effusions, or unauthorized
compositions, before and after their sermons.
They did not, however, oppose a review of the
liturgy, if undertaken by persons appointed by

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 31
the royal authority. In the last place, they raain- a.d.
tained that the cereraonies of the church were  ^^^"'
decent and conducive to order, and that alterations
or abolitions would only encourage the unreason
ably discontented to urge farther deraands.
To this answer frora the bishops, the presby
terian ministers sent a warm remonstrance, accom
panied by a defence of their former propositions*;
and at the same tirae an application was offered to
the king, praying that the penal laws against the
nonconformists might be suspended. The king gave
a patient and courteous audience to the applicants,
and they were informed that all the concessions,
which he thought it safe and proper to grant,
should be comprised in a public declaration. It
was intimated that this instrument should be seen
by them previously to its promulgation, and that
they should be allowed to make their exceptions
to any of its parts or provisions which they con
sidered objectionable. A copy of the declaration
was accordingly transraitted to thera by the lord
chancellor, and its purport was explained by the
chancellor hiraself in a speech to the parliaraent f .
The declaration having been perused by the
presbyterian ministers, various exceptions were
made, and several alterations proposed; and in
order that the subject might be discussed fully
and minutely, a day was appointed by the king oct.22.
to hear the reraarks of both parties. A raeeting
between several of the bishops and dignitaries of
the chui'ch, and a select nuraber of presbyterian
divines, took place at the chancellor's house. The
* Kennet's Chron. p. 205. t Ibid. p. 241 .

32 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, king attended, and was accorapanied by the dukes
"^'  of Alberaarle and Orraond, the earls of Man
chester and Anglesea, and lord Hollis. With the
exception of Ormond, these noblemen inclined to
the presbyterian interest.
It was previously settled that the declaration
should be read by the chancellor, that each party
should offer its exceptions, and that the king
should moderate and over-rule the debate. The
discussion turned principally on the high powers
assumed by the bishops, and concerning the vali
dity of presbyterian ordination. When it was
ended, the lord chancellor stated that the king had
been petitioned by the independents and anabap
tists for an indulgence, and that a supplemental
clause was intended to be added to the declaration,
permitting these sectaries to assemble for the pur
poses of public worship, provided they gave no
disturbance to the peace. This clause was sus
pected as conveying a latent desire on the part of
the king to procure a toleration for the papists,
and it was equally unacceptable to the episcopal
and presbyterian parties. Before the meeting
separated, the king settled all the clauses of the
declaration, permitting two referees on each side,
subject to the decision of the earl of Anglesey
and lord Hollis, to suggest any corrections of the
style, though not any alterations in the substance.
Oct. 25. The declaration with these araendments was
issued by the king, as supreme head of the
church. Not a single concession was made with
respect to ecclesiastical government, but a promise
was given that the abuses, complained of by the
presbyterians, should be remedied by the purity

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 33
of its administration. The presbyterians were a.d.
reminded of their admissions, that they were not  '-
hostile to episcopacy or a liturgy, that they dis
approved sacrilege, and the alienation of the reve
nues of the church. The king declared his affec
tion for the church of England, and that his
esteem for it was not lessened by his condescend
ing to dispense with some particular cereraonies.
He promised to encourage the public exercises and
due observance of the Lord's day, and to exclude
insufficient, negligent, and scandalous ministers
from the sacred offices. He would be careful to
prefer none to the episcopal office but "raen of
learning, virtue, and piety," who should be fre
quent preachers. In extensive dioceses he would
appoint a sufficient number of suffragans, and no
bishop should confer ordination, or exercise any
other act of jurisdiction, without the advice and
assistance of presbyters. The preferments of deans
and chapters should be conferred on the most
learned and pious presbyters of the diocese, and
an equal number to those of the chapter should
be annually elected by the clergy, who should
assist in all ordinations, church censures, and
other important acts of spiritual jurisdiction.
Confirmation should be rightly and solemnly per
formed, with the consent and recomraendation of
the minister of the parish ; and he was not to
admit any to the Lord's supper, till they had
made a credible profession of their faith. All
diligence should be used for the reformation and
instruction of scandalous offenders, who should
not be permitted to communicate till they had
testified their repentance. Every rural dean to be
VOL. III. D

34 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, nominated by the bishop as formerly, and as.sisted
 —  by three or four of the clergy elected out of the
deanery, should hold a monthly meeting, to re
ceive complaints from the ministers and church
wardens of the several parishes within the district,
to arbitrate differences, and to rectify abuses.
Matters of high importance were to be presented to
the bishop. No bishop should exercise any arbi
trary power, or impose any thing on his clergy
and people, but according to the law of the land.
The liturgy should be reviewed by an equal nura
ber of divines of both persuasions, who should
make such amendments as were thought necessary.
In the mean time, the clergy were desired not
wholly to lay aside the use of the Coraraon Prayer,
but to read those parts against which they had no
exception ; yet with a promise that none should
be molested for not using it, till it had been re
viewed and effectually reformed. None should be
compelled to receive the sacrament kneeling, nor
to use the cross in baptism, nor to bow at the
name of Jesus, nor to use the surplice, except in
the royal chapel, and in cathedral and collegiate
churches. Subscription, and the oath of canonical
obedience, should not be required at present, in
order to ordination or institution to a benefice, but
only the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. None
should lose their academical degrees, nor be de
prived of any preferment, for not declaring theii*
assent to all the Thirty-nine Articles, provided they
declared their assent to all the doctrinal articles,
and to the sacraraents. The Declaration con
cluded by renewing the promise at Breda, that
no man should be disquieted or called in question

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 35
for differences of opinion in matters of religion, ad.
not prejudicial to the peace of the kingdom.  1
Whosoever were the real devisers of this Decla
ration, and whatever might be the motives which
prompted it, its reception Avas not such as might
have been expected frora its adrairable temper.
The high episcopalians resented it as an infringe
ment on the rights of the church, and an un
warrantable extension of the prerogative over
ecclesiastical and statute law. The rigid presby
terians were discontented, because the Declaration,
by maintaining episcopacy, was directly opposed
to the covenant; and they ventured upon a
second address to the king, in which they re
newed their requests for a greater latitude of
concession *. A small body of presbyterians in
London, among whom was Matthew Poole, the
laborious author of the Synopsis, animated by
gratitude, presented an address of thanks for the
Declaration, but at the same time respectfully
soliciting an extension of its terms. The king,
with his usual felicity of expression, and with all
his gracefulness of raanner, answered ; " I will
endeavour to give you all satisfaction, and to raake
you as happy as rayself |."
The parliament considered the Declaration in a
political, rather than in a religious view, and saw
in it a claim to a dispensing power in the crown,
which might be afterwards extended to the sub
version of civil liberty, and to the introduction of
popery. On this account, rather than from affec
tion to the presbyterians, after both houses had
* Hist, ofthe Nonconformists, p. 14. Ba.xter's Life.
t Kennet's Chron. p. 345.
D 2

36 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, presented an address of thanks to the king for his
"^'  Declaration, the commons appointed a committee

to frame resolutions founded on it, and pass it
Nov. 28. into a law. But on the second reading the bill
was negatived*, one of the secretaries of state
opposing itf. Sir Matthew Hale, who zeal
ously promoted the bill, was taken out of the
house of commons at this very juncture, by being
appointed chief baron of the exchequer. The
king, the courtiers, those who were secretly at
tached to popery, as well as those who were op
posed to despotic power, concurred in procuring
its rejection.
1661. Shortly after the convention parliament was
January, dissolved, an insurrection of violent enthusiasts
was raised in the metropolis. One Venner, a
fifth-monarchy man, was at its head, who thought
it not enough to believe that Christ was to reign
upon earth, and put the saints in possession of a
kingdom, but assumed also that the saints were to
take the kingdom by violence. With this per
suasion he collected sorae of the most furious
of his adherents, and they marched out of their
conventicle in Coleman-street, declaring that they
would subvert the present governraent, and place
king Jesus on his throne. They routed the
trained bands of the city, and a party of the king's
guards ; and after having caused the greatest
consternation, were at last overpowered by num
bers, and their leader was executed.
This insurrection occasioned a proclamation
against meetings of sectaries in great numbers,
* Ayes 157, noes 183. t Kennet's Chron. p. 358.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 37
and at unusual times *. Anabaptists, Quakers, a. d.
and fifth-monarchy men, were forbidden to as

semble under pretence of worshipping God, unless
in some parochial church or chapel, or in private
houses by the persons therein inhabiting. All
meetings in other places were declared to be
riotous and unlawful. It was not till after the
proclamation that the proscribed sectaries thought
it necessary to disown, by separate instruments,
the insurrection of Venner ; and the independents,
though not named, were induced to offer a gra
tuitous disclaimer of his dangerous opinions.
The presbyterians were never accused of par
ticipating in these commotions, and they conse
quently thought it beneath thera to offer any
assurances of their loyalty. They were con
tented with maintaining their opinions in contro
versial writings, which, as soon as they appeared,
were answered by the divines of the church f .
The controversy carried on by the press pre
ceded that public discussion between the epi
scopal and presbyterian divines, which the king
had promised in his Declaration. Soon after the
dissolution of the convention parliament, a com- March 25.
mission was granted to twelve bishops and nine
assistants, on the part of the church of England,
and to the same nuraber of divines on the part of
the presbyterians, empowering them to review the
Book of Common Prayer, comparing it with the
most ancient and purest liturgies ; to take into
consideration the several objections which had
been raised against it ; and to make such reason-
* Kennet's Chron. p. 357-
t Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv. c. 5.

38 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, able and necessary alterations and amendments,
"^' as might be thought expedient for giving satis
faction to tender consciences, and the restoration
of peace and unity. The comraission was to con
tinue in force four raonths, and the result of the
discussions was to be laid before the king. From
the place of its meeting *, it is commonly known
under the name of the Savoy Conference.
In logoraachy, as well as in war, victory will
be decided rather by the skill of the corabatants,
than by the strength of the cause ; and therefore
in the last authorized and regular controversy
between the episcopalians and presbyterians, it is
necessary that the characters of the individuals
engaged in the contention should be exhibited to
the reader.
The twelve prelates selected were, the arch
bishop of York, with the bishops of London,
Durhara, Rochester, Chichester, Salisbury, Wor
cester, Lincoln, Peterborough, Chester, Carlisle,
and Exeter. On the peculiar talents of these
personages it is needless to enlarge on the present
occasion, but one general remark on their prin
ciples should not be omitted. They were not all
of high church notions ; whatever may be thought
of Sheldon or of Moriey, yet Sanderson and Cosins
were known for their moderation; Frewen was
educated in the school of puritanism, and Gouden
was a notorious latitudinarian. The nine assist
ant divines were, Earle, Heylin, Hacket, Barwick,
Gunning, Pearson, Pierce, Sparrow, and Thorn-
dike. Of these, two only, Gunning and Pearson,
* At the bishop of London's lodgings in the Savoy.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 39
require to be distinguished. Gunning was a man a.d.
of great quickness, and of uncommon elocution ;  L
qualities which fitted him for polemical theology.
His reading was vast and various, and it was
assisted by a most retentive memory. Pearson
had applied hiraself to every kind of learning
connected with theology, and was in every branch
a master. His erudition was equally multifarious
and better digested than that of Gunning. His
works are not numerous, but of those two which
are best known, the Exposition of the Creed, and
the Vindication ofthe Ignatian Epistles, the former
is one of the most finished works of theology in
the English language.
Brief has been the notice of the episcopalian
commissioners, but their opponents demand a
minute survey. The first who was ranged on
the presbyterian side, though invested with epi
scopal dignity, was Reynolds. At the coramence-
raent of his career, he was preacher to the society
of Lincoln's Inn, and was chosen a raeraber of the
assembly of divines. By the authority of the
parliamentary visitors he was placed in the dean
ery of Christ Church, Oxford, after the ejectment
pf Fell ; consequently he was a covenanter, and a
rigid presbyterian. When the Engagement was
substituted for the Covenant, Reynolds was in his
turn ejected, and the preferment was bestowed
on the leader and ornaraent of the independents,
John Owen. This Avas the only occasion in his
life in which his interest yielded to conscience,
and of this sacrifice he appears to have bitterly
repented. That he coraplied with every other
change till the restoration is not surprising.

40 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, but that he should have accepted a bishopric
IH
 ^ — when the promotion was refused by all his pres
byterian brethren, reflects strongly on his honesty.
He thought himself warranted by the promises
of the Declaration to accept the offer, but when he
found that the Declaration did not pass into a law,
probity demanded a resignation of his preferment.
He was a man of eloquence and of considerable
attainments, but at the Savoy conference he was
placed in an awkward situation. Sitting among
the bishops, and arguing in favour of the pres
byterians, he could not be heard with respect.
No precedence in rank will justify the historian
in assigning the second place among the presby
terian commissioners to Richard Baxter. By a
writer too fond of antithesis and sententiousness,
Baxter has been described as a man remarkable
for weakness of body and strength of mind ; for
preaching more sermons, engaging in more con
troversies, and writing more books, than any
nonconformist of his age *. His earliest religious
impressions were derived from the perusal of a
work by Parsons the Jesuit, and during many
years he sustained a severe mental conflict, oper
ating on a bodily frame of fragile texture.
Though he possessed not the advantages of an
academical education, yet he received episcopal
ordination f, and passed the early part of his
ministry at Kidderminster, in a laborious and
zealous discharge of his pastoral duties. At the
commencement of the civil war he unhesitatingly
joined the parliamentary array, yet, though he
* Grainger's Biog. Hist. vol. iv.
t From Dr. Thornborough, bishop of Worcester.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 41
was a determined presbyterian, he prevailed a.d.
with his congregation to refuse the covenant. _i!^
His notions of civil government were republican,
and he inveighed with severity against the mili
tary tyranny of Cromwell. On the return of
the king, every fair attempt was made to gain
him to the cause of royalty and episcopacy. He
was appointed a chaplain of the household, and
was called on to preach at court. The bishopric
of Hereford was offered to him, which he honour
ably and consistently refused. The character of
this extraordinary man will be differently repre
sented, according to the point of view in which he
is seen ; whether as a practical or controversial
writer. As a practical writer, he has never been
excelled; he was himself impressed by a deep
sense of religion, and he had the faculty of ex
citing a deep sense of it in others. No greater
proof of his merit can be adduced, than the
respect with which he is mentioned by men of
opposite sentiments, and the oblivion to which
they are eager to consign all his defects. He has
the high praise and the great reward promised
to those " who turn many to righteousness."
As a controversialist, another estimate is to be
formed, and it is in this light unfortunately he
must be here considered. The remark of his
pertinacious and uncandid antagonist is not desti
tute of truth, that he dissented frora those with
whom he most agreed, and that he was at variance
with none more than with himself *. He was not
* Walter Long, B. D. prebendary of Exeter. He has
drawn up the following epitaph on Baxter, which is a good
specimen of the odium theologicum . " Hie jacet Ricardus

42 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, factious, because he could coalesce with no fac-
"^- ti»T, • he was not comparatively dangerous, be
cause he would form no political or religious
union. On this account he incurred persecution
frora alraost every religious sect, as well as from
those who had no religion at all. The distinctive
feature of his character was a cool intrepidity,
which no danger could appal, and a confidence in
his own abilities, which no superiority of station
could abate. He spoke and disputed with ease ;
and he possessed a singular faculty of retiring to
distinctions foreign to the question, and of mis
applying the rules of logic. Thus he embarrassed
his antagonists, and it is doubtful whether he did
not gain a temporary advantage over them, as
much from his infirmity as his art*.
The third place of consideration among the
presbyterian commissioners must be allotted to
Edmund Calamy, a narae which will be ever re
garded by those of his own communion with
veneration, and by every denomination of Chris
tians with esteem. He had all the qualifications
of the leader of a party, since he was at once en-
Baxterus, theologus armfitus, Loiolita Reformatus, heresiarchoe
arianus, schismati eorum antesignanus ; cujus pruritus dispu-
tandi peperit, scriptandi cacoethes nutrivit, praedicandi zelus
intemperatus maturavit Ecclesise scabiem : qui dissentit ab iis
quibuscum consentit maxime, tum sibi cum aliis noncon-
formis, prseteritis, presentibus, et futuris ; regum et episcopo
rum juratus hostis, ipsumque rebellium solemne foedus. Qui
natus erat per septuaginta annos et octoginta libros ad per-
turbandas regni respublicas, et ad bis perdendam Ecclesiam
Anglicanam ; magnis tamen cecidit ausis, Deo gratias.
* Bishop Moriey, in a letter to a friend. Vid. Colher's Ecc.
Hist. vol. ii.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 43
terprising and prudent. He possessed not only a. d.
a popular and practical talent of composition, but  L
his style of preaching was fitted for a refined
auditory. Though he had received episcopal
ordination, and was forraerly chaplain to Felton,
bishop of Ely, yet his dislike of episcopacy and a
liturgy was invincible. As well as Baxter he
was terapted to conform by the offer of a bishop
ric ; but he waited till he saw the event of the
king's Declaration, and whether it would be passed
into a law.
After Baxter and Calamy must be mentioned
Manton, whose industry and learning, whose rao-
deration and activity, have gained universal re
spect. In consequence of the Declaration he was
induced to accept the rectory of Saint Paul,
Covent Garden, and to receive institution from
the bishop of London. He then subscribed
only the doctrinal articles of the church of Eng
land, and took the oaths of allegiance, supremacy,
and canonical obedience. He consented that the
Coraraon Prayer should be read in his church.
Higher preferment was intended for hira, if he
could be brought to an entire conformity. He
was one of the few presbyterian commissioners
who were sincerely desirous of a comprehension *.
He was remarkable for obesity, and possessed its
usual concoraitants, good humour and dulness f .
* Lord Clarendon said to Baxter, "If you were as fat as
Manton, I should not despair of a comprehension."
f He wrote or made one hundred and ninety sermons on
the 119th Psalm, and all of great length; the compulsory
perusal of which, when a youth, inspired Lord Bohngbroke

44 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. Tuckney and Conant, the theological profess-
"^- ors of Cambridge and Oxford dui-ing the usurpa
tion ; Wallis, the Oxford professor of geometry ;
Spurston, Jackson, Case, Clarke, and Newcomen,
complete the list of presbyterian commissioners.
Among the assistants raust be enumerated Light
foot, celebrated for Rabbinical learning. Bates,
and Jacomb, the one being the most polished
presbyterian writer of his age, the other possess
ing gravity, sobriety, and moderation.
Such was the array of combatants on both
sides ; but some of them seldom joined, others
abstained entirely frora the contest. King, bishop
of Chichester, Heylin, Barwick, and Earle, seldom
or never appeared ; Sheldon came rarely. Many
who attended with punctuality did not take part
in the debate ; as Frewen, Laney, Warner, and
Walton, of the bishops ; Hacket and Sparrow of
the episcopal divines. On the part of the presby
terians, Horton never appeared from choice, and
Drake on account of a misnomer in the com
mission. Lightfoot and Tuckney were present
only once or twice.
AprU 15. On the first session of the commissioners, the
archbishop of York being the first named in the
commission, stood up, and observed, that as he
was unacquainted with the business for which
they had met, he referred it to the management
of the bishop of London. This prelate then re
minded the presbyterians, that they, and not the
episcopalians, had proposed this conference. "We,"
with disgust at nonconformity, and perhaps With hatred of
Christianity.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 45
he stated, " are contented with the liturgy in its a. d.
present forra ; it is therefore incurabent on you to  -
make your exceptions, and we will discuss with
you their expediency or necessity." He also pro
posed that these exceptions should be delivered in
writing, together with the additional forms and
alterations which they wished to substitute.
The presbyterians, from what motive it is not
material to determine, expressed a wish that the
conference should be carried on by verbal disputa
tion, rather than by written argument ; but Shel
don adhered to his opinion, and it was ultimately
agreed that they should first bring forward their
exceptions, and then their amendments.
A paper containing their exceptions was ac
cordingly drawn up, and laid before the episcopa
lians. The exceptions were drawn chiefly by
Wallis and Reynolds ; but the task of composing
the new forms which were to be substituted in
the place of the liturgy was confided to Baxter
alone. In making their exceptions, the presby
terians were divided as to the raanner of doing it;
some prudently advising that the most important
objections only should be urged, because if these
points were gained, and a comprehension effected,
minor differences might afterwards be composed.
But the majority, through the influence of Bax
ter, were for extending their desires to the utmost.
He persuaded them that the comraission author
ized and obliged them to offer every thing which
they thought conducive to the peace of the church,
and to insist on every objection, however trivial.
The presbyterians never considered the conclu
sions which their antagonists would draw from

46 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, such a mode of proceeding, that they were a body
^"- of men who would never be satisfied, and that
concession would only give rise to new demands.
Their injudicious conduct in this instance ought
to be imputed to the captiousness of Baxter, and
not to the art of Sheldon *.
The introductory demand of the presbyterians
was expressed in those vague terms which are
highly improper when used in controversy. They
moved that the prayers, and other material parts
of the liturgy, might not be classed with any
thing which was doubtful, or questioned by " wise,
pious, and orthodox persons." They suggested,
that as the liturgy was framed by its first com
pilers in such a raanner as was likely to gain the
papists, by departing as little as possible from the
ancient rituals, so, by the same rule of prudence
and charity, the liturgy ought at this period to be
so modified as might best reconcile it to those
protestants who agreed with it in the substantial
parts of religion.
Descending to particulars, they proposed that
the repetitions and responses of the people, and
the alternate reading of the psalms and hymns,
should be discontinued. It was alleged, that
the practice occasioned a confusion iu the celebra
tion of divine service, and rendered it less intel
ligible ; that the minister ought to be the organ of
the people ; and that, according to the rule of
Scripture, the congregation ought to declare their
* An Account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners
of both Persuasion.s, (Episcopalian and Presbyterian,) ap
pointed by his Sacred Majesty King Charles the Second.
London, printed by authority, 1691.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 47
assent only by saying. Amen. For this reason a. d.
they desired that the litany might be thrown into  '"^^^'
one continuous prayer, to be pronounced by the
minister alone. Next they demanded that nothing
might remain in the liturgy countenancing the
observance of Lent as a religious fast, and that
all saints' days, with their vigils, should be abolish
ed. They required a license to use the gift of
private prayer, and in order to exercise this gift,
a liberty to the minister to omit any part of the
prescribed service, according to his discretion.
They censured the old translation of the Epistles
and Gospels which was still used in the liturgy,
and the use of the apocryphal lessons. They de
manded that the practice of reading any part of
the service at the holy table should be discon
tinued, unless when the coraraunion was ad
rainistered. The word priest they wished to be
changed for that of minister, and Sunday into the
Lord's day. As psalmody was an important
part of public worship, they desired a more cor
rect version of the Psalms in metre than that
which was in coraraon use. They also objected,
that the phraseology of several of the public
offices, which presumes all persons within the
communion of the church to be regenerate, con
verted, and in an actual state of grace, conveyed
a supposition which the utmost charity could not
admit. Finally, they represented the Collects as
not being sufficiently methodical, and as being too
short, and the Catechism and Confession as abounds
ing too much in generalities. In regard of the
ceremonies prescribed by the liturgy, the old ob
jections were renewed against the surplice, the

48 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, cross in baptism, and the posture of kneeling at
III. ,,
 the communion.
At the same time, when the presbyterians
delivered this paper of exceptions, they presented
an entirely new liturgy, composed by Baxter, not
with a design of setting aside entirely that which
was already established, but of giving a liberty to
the clergy of adopting either. It was composed in a
short time, and, like other hasty compositions, was
crude and indigested. It had been examined and
approved by the other presbyterian comraissioners
before it was presented. As such a proceeding
was at variance with the terras of the commission,
which authorized no alterations in the established
ritual which were not absolutely necessary, the
Baxterian, or, as it was termed, the reforraed
liturgy, was instantly, and without exaraination,
rejected*. Not so however with the exceptions. They
were raaturely considered by the episcopal divines,
and answered in a raanner which at the same
time displayed the strength of their cause, and
also their ability in its management.
To the general objection, that the English
liturgy had always given dissatisfaction to many
persons of piety and learning, they gave in sub
stance the following answer : It is no valid argu
ment to say that a great many pious persons have
objected to its use, unless it can be evidently
proved to be unlawful. If the liturgy were altered
according to the demands of the presbyterians,
* Baxter's hturgy is printed at the end of Calamy's Life.
See also " History of Nonconformity," Svo, second edition
1708.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 49
the best members of the church of England would a. d.
have a reasonable cause of disgust. For such an 
alteration would imply that the Book of Common
Prayer was grossly superstitious, and an intoler
able burden on tender consciences." To another
part of the proposal, that the prayers may consist
of hothing doubtful or questioned by "pious,
learned, and orthodox persons," it was replied,
that since no definition is given who those or
thodox persons are, all those must be esteemed
orthodox who have the assurance to call them
selves such. Some who deny the divinity of
Christ will call theraselves orthodox, and yet
there is no reason why a single article of the
creed should be given up for their satisfaction.
Besides, the proposal implies an impossibility.
There never were, and never will be, prayers
composed in such a raanner as will satisfy all
persons who call theraselves " pious, learned, and
orthodox." But if by orthodox be raeant those who
adhere to the Scriptures, and the catholic consent of
antiquity, by these no part of the English liturgy
has been disapproved. It was the wisdora of
the English reformers, in the composition of their
liturgy, not only to gain the papists, but to cora-
pile a form of prayer against which neither the
Romanists nor protestants might justly except.
And therefore, as the Romanists never charged it
with any positive heresies, but only with the
omission of sorae essential doctrines, so it was
never blamed by those who are properly called by
the name of protestants, that is, those of the
Augustan Confession. As for those who have
depreciated the liturgy, and endeavoured to bring
VOL. III. E

50 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, it into popular contempt, their conduct is their
-JH:  own fault and sin, and is no argument for its
alteration merely to gratify their error.
Having thus obviated the general objection,
the particular exceptions of the nonconformists
founded on it received a direct and distinct re
ply. To give a suraraary of these answers would
exceed the limits of the present work, but a few
deserve to be selected on account of their clearness
and force.
In answer to the demand that the responses in
the litany, and the alternate reading of the psalms
by the minister and the people should be abolished,
it was said : " The very reason urged for abolish
ing them proves the propriety of their continu
ance. You would alter these usages because they
do not edify; now we say that these usages
should continue because they do edify. They
edify not by informing the understanding, but by
awakening attention. Our attention is awakened
by mutual exultations, petitions, and holy emula
tions, which of us shall go farthest in our zeal for
the glory of God. For this purpose, alternate
reading, repetitions, and responses, are far more
serviceable than a long and tedious prayer. Nor
is this our opinion only, but the judgment of
former ages, as appears by the practice of the
Jewish and ancient Christian churches. But the
demandants object that the custom clashes with the
Scripture, that the inspired writings declare the
minister to be the organ of the people in the
public service, and that the duty of the people is
only to attend in silence, and signify their assent
by saying, Amen. Now if it be meant, that the

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. ;V;, ;,,, ^Srl
people in the public service v^^wuld; .^nijf'fsal^' ;, 'A., d.
Amen, their own practice is iii opposition to''llie'J_L__
assertion. We mean in singing their psalms,
where the people take as great a part as the
minister. Now if this may be done in the trans
lation of Hopkins, why not in the authorized
version ? If in metre, why not in prose ? If in a
psalm, why not in a litany ?"
The objection to reading the apocryphal lessons,
an objection undoubtedly the strongest of any
adduced on this occasion, was met by the follow
ing reply. " The presbyterians demand an altera
tion upon such grounds as would exclude all ser
mons as well as the Apocrypha. Their argument
is, that the holy Scriptures contain all things
necessary, with reference both to faith and prac
tice. This plea may be retorted on them in the
present case by a dilemma. If the inspired
writings be so comprehensive, to what purpose
are there so raany unnecessary serraons ? Why
have we any thing more than the bare reading of
the Scriptures ? But if notwithstanding the suffi
ciency of the Old and New Testament, sermons
are necessary, there is no reason why the apocry
phal lessons should not be reckoned equally use
ful. For most of them deliver excellent dis
courses of morality, and it is much to be wished
that the sermons of those ministers were not
worse. If they are afraid that these books, by
the respect shewn to them, come to an equal au
thority with the Canon, the church has secured
against such an error by their very appellation,
apocryphal. It is the testimony of the church
which makes this distinction, and to omit all the
E 2

III.

53 HISTORY OF THE
CHAF. apdc'fyphgj'lesscms'as contrary to the usage of the
. church in foririet'ages.
In defence of the practice of reading the com
munion service at the Lord's table, it was an
swered, that such was the practice of the pri
mitive church. "If," says the answer, "we do
not govern ourselves by that golden rule of the
Council of Nice, Let ancient custom be observed,
we shall give offence to sober Christians, by a
causeless departure from catholic usage. The
standing of the priest at the holy table seems an
invitation to the blessed sacrament, and reminds
us that it is the duty of some Christians to cora-
municate every Sunday. And though we happen
to neglect our duty, it is fit the church should
suggest the recollection of it, and not deviate from
her laudable customs."
The answer of the episcopal commissioners
was followed by a reply from the presbyterians,
and they presented at the same tirae a petition for
peace. They besought the bishops to yield to their
amendments, to have compassion on scrupulous
minds, and not to despise their weaker brethren.
They prayed to be released from the subscriptions
and oaths prescribed by the king's Declaration, not
to be subjected to the necessity of reordination,
and not to be compelled to the observance of in
different ceremonies. When the term allowed by
the commission for the continuance of the con
ference had almost expired, the presbyterians re
peated their request of a verbal discussion, on the
subject of the papers exchanged between the oppo
site parties. The request was granted, and three
divines on each side were selected to engage in

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 53
disputation. The bishops chose Pearson, Gun- a.d.
ning, and Sparrow, the presbyterians nominated 
Baxter, Bates, and Jacomb. Through want of
method, frequent interruptions, and personal re
flections, this mode of debate was attended with
no satisfactory result. There was a large audit
ory, consisting principally of younger episcopal
divines, while the presbyterians were accompanied
by only two or three students and laymen, among
whom was Tillotson.
Pearson earned the coramendation of both par
ties, and of the assembly at large. His argument
was managed accurately and calmly. The pres
byterian divines professed a high regard for him,
and believed that if he had been an umpire in
stead of a disputant, his concessions would have
greatly relieved them. Gunning took the lead in
the disputation, for which he was well qualified
by his ready elocution and scholastic habits. If
he did not disappoint his friends, he irritated his
antagonists, and he was accused of employing all
the arts of sophistry in as confident a manner as
if they had been sound reasoning. His respect
for the practice of antiquity, and his adherence to
primitive ceremonies, were construed by his ene
mies into a design of reconciling the church of
England to Rome. Sparrow appears to have
been the least active of the three episcopal dis
putants, and thus to have escaped censure, for his
acquaintance with the ancient rituals and litur
gies was profound. The whole burden of the
disputation on the presbyterian side rested on
Baxter, for Bates and Jacomb held only a second
place in ability or rank among the nonconformists.

54 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. The bishops successively moderated between
"^' the disputants, and sometimes interposed their
remarks. Moriey was the chief speaker ; on the
Quinquarticular controversy he is said to have in
clined to the Calvinists ; but his hostility to their
discipline and forraularies was decided: he was
veheraent and uncorapromising in the conference.
Cosins was inclined to moderate measures, but
was provoked to utter some reflections which were
too pertinent to be forgotten *. Sanderson, accus
toraed to logical disputation, lost his constitutional
patience when he heard the rules of logic vio
lated, and was prompted to say of one of the dis
putants, that he never met with a man of more
pertinacious confidence and less ability f. Hench
man, who was deeply versed in the fathers and in
the history of councils, was strongly opposed to a
comprehension, yet delivered his sentiments with
great temper and moderation. Gauden and Rey
nolds took the part of the presbyterian divines ;
the one spoke often, the other rarely.
To bring the disputation to a speedy issue,
Cosins produced a paper containing an expedient,
proposing that the nonconformists should make a
distinction between such things as they deemed
sinful, and such as they deemed only inexpedient.
The three presbyterian disputants were requested
to deliver their opinion on this point, and they
charged the rubric and liturgy with eight things
which they determined to be absolutely sinful and
contrary to the word of God. These were, I, the
cross in baptism ; 2, the surplice ; 3, kneeling at
* Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv. c. 6.
t Walton's Life of Sanderson.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 55
the Lord's Supper ; 4, calling all baptized persons a. d.
regenerate; 5, adrainistering the communion to  -
the impenitent sick ; 6, the general absolution ;
7, returning thanks in the burial service indis
criminately on all ; 8, deraanding frora preachers
subscription to the Book of Common Prayer, and
the Thirty-nine Articles.
After sorae desultory conversation, it was
agreed that a disputation should take place on the
third point, shaped into the question, whether the
communion should be refused to such as would
not kneel ? Here the presbyterians were at first
the opponents, and rested its sinfulness on the text
in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans ; " Hira that
is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubt
ful disputations." The respondents said that this
precept could not be understood of the cora
raunion. Gunning, having read certain citations
in defence of his interpretation of this text, Cosins,
who acted as moderator, put the question thus :
" All of you who think that the respondent has
proved that the passage of St. Paul is not
applicable to the communion say. Aye." Upon
which there was a general shout among the hear
ers in favour of Gunning.
In their turn the episcopal disputants were the
opponents on the question, whether it was sinful
to make an injunction, refusing the coraraunion
to such as would not receive kneeling? The dis
putation proceeded to a considerable length, but
was at last terminated with abruptness and con
fusion, and severe reflections were bestowed on
the perplexed and intricate ratiocination of Bax-

56 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, ter, who confounded what was clear, rather than
 '. — decided what was doubtful.
At the close of the last day the commissioners,
who had spent so many months in altercation,
and who had differed on every topic of debate,
came to a unanimous conclusion on the terms in
which the result of the conference should be
reported to the king. It was thus expressed :
The welfare of the church, unity and peace, and
his majesty's satisfaction, were ends upon which
they were all agreed ; but as to the means, they
could not come to any harmony *.
* Wilkins's Concil. vol. iv.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 67

CHAPTER IV.
New Parliament assembles. — Convocation held in the Pro
vince of Canterbury with Proxies from that of York. —
Final Review of the Church Liturgy. — Alterations intro
duced and authorized by Act of Parhament. — Corpora
tion Act. — Act of Uniformity. — Dispossession of Pres
byterians. While the Savoy Conference was engaged in A. d.
its fruitless deliberations, the coronation was cele-

April 23.

brated with great splendour. Juxon, though op
pressed by age, was able to place the crown on
the head of his sovereign, but he retired before
the end of the solemnities, and left thera to be
perforraed by Sheldon. The serraon was preached
by Moriey.
The convention parliament having been dis
solved at the close of the last year, a new par- leeo.
liament was chosen, which raet in the ensuing *"' '
spring. In the forraer parliament the strength leei,
of the presbyterian interest in the house of cora- ^^
mons was great, though it has been exaggerated
by their partisans; but in this parliament they
have been forward to acknowledge its diminution.
The cause of this declension they have not scru
pled to assign to the corruptive arts of the court,
and the exertions of the earl of Clarendon.
Soon was it discovered that the temper of the
government was unfriendly to the presbyterians,
and that no distinction was made between other
sectaries and themselves. The speech of Cla-

58 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, rendon, in his coraraents on that delivered by the
_ill_king, recomraended the utraost severity against all
preachers of sedition *, and he probably intended
to include under this description the whole body of
nonconformists. The commons were not less
disposed than the court to adopt the most rigor
ous measures against dissent. A vote was imme
diately passed that all their merabers should re
ceive the sacrament, according to the ritual of the
church of England, within a prescribed time, on
pain of expulsion. In a few days after, they not
only repealed the Solemn League and Covenant, but
ordered it to be erased from the records of all the
courts of law in which it was enrolled, and to be
publicly burnt. To the same mark of ignominy
were consigned all the parliamentary acts passed
during the usurpation. The act, which the late
king had passed through compulsion, excluding
the bishops from the house of lords, was re
pealed f. These legislative measures were speed
ily carried, and an adjournment took place to the
end of the year.
When the new parliament was summoned, the
customary writs for assembling a convocation
were delayed, and it was not determined by the
privy council whether the ecclesiastical legislature
should immediately, if ever, resume its functions.
It was thought that the Savoy Conference, now in
progress, might supersede any synodical meeting.
While the affair was in suspense, Heylin, one of
the Savoy commissioners, addressed a letter to a
chief minister of state, probably to Clarendon.
* Kennet's Chron. pp. 510, 511. f Stat. 13 Car. II. c. 2.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 59
He expressed a hope that a conference between a A. d.
few bishops and a smaller number of divines and  _
the presbyterians was not intended as the repre
sentative assembly of the church of England,
which could not be bound by the acts of a body
so constituted. According to a general opinion
the Savoy Conference was designed to discuss
certain points of the liturgy, for no other purpose
than to prepare matters for a convocation ; and if
this opinion were correct, why might not the
Conference and the Convocation carry on their
proceedings at the same tirae * ?
An application enforced by such reasons was
received with the attention which it merited ; and
sorae tirae after the parliamentary writs had been
issued, the king sent his writs for holding a con- April ii.
vocation in the province of Canterbury. It was
not till the parliaraent closed its short session by
an adjournment, that a writ was directed to the June lo.
province of York, when the convocations of the
two provinces were restored to their lawful func
tions. The convocation of Canterbury before the
adjournment appointed comraittees for composing
forras of prayer on the thirtieth of January and
the twenty-ninth of May, and also a form of
adrainistering baptisra to those of riper years.
On the expiration of the period of adjournment Nov. 20.
the upper houses raet for the first time in their
ancient parliamentary constitution of lords spi
ritual and temporal. Though the proceeding was
irregular, the king came to the house with great
state, and delivered the following speech : " I
* Kennet's Hist, of England, vol. iii. fol. Colher's Eccl.
Hist. vol. ii. b. 9.

60 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, know the visit which I make to you this day is
 '¦ — not of course, yet, if there were no more in it, it
would not be strange, that I come to see what
you and I have so long wished to see, the lords
spiritual and temporal, and the coramons of Eng
land, met together to consult for the safety of the
peace of the church and state, by which par
liaments are restored to their priraitive lustre and
integrity: I do heartily congratulate you on this
day." The archbishop of York and twenty-two
bishops were present, to receive the congratula
tions of their sovereign, and to resume their
places in the great council of the nation*.
A royal letter was immediately addressed to
the convocation, commanding a review of the
Common Prayer Book, and it was required that
all proposed alterations should be submitted to
the king for confirraation. In consequence of the
expedition required by the king, the convocation
of the province of York agreed to make proxies
for the transaction and completion of this business
in the convocation of Canterbury, and bound
themselves to abide by the decision of the united
assembly, under the penalty of forfeiture of chat
tels f .
Fearn:):, the former prolocutor of the lower
house, having been preferred to the bishopric of
Chester during the recess, Barwick, dean of St.
Paul's, was elected by the unanimous suffrage of
* Journals of the Lords.
t Colher's Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. b. 9.
{ Dr. Henry Feme, archdeacon of Leicester, dean of Ely,
and finally bishop of Chester. He died five weeks after he
possessed the see. Wood. Goodwin.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 61
the clergy into that highly honourable office, a.d.
The honour is enhanced by the reflection, that  -
the electors were men of as profound erudition as
ever adorned the church, and that the business
to be accomplished was of an importance rarely
surpassed. The progress of an affair so interesting as the
last review of the liturgy cannot be dismissed
cursorily. Censures have been so abundantly
bestowed on the temper with which it was con
ducted, that their grounds demand a careful de
liberation. When the king's letter, authorizing and com
manding the review, had been read, the business
was entrusted to the care of a committee. For
the satisfaction of the nonconformists and others,
it was thought expedient to state in a preface the
motives and rules by which the convocation was
guided, and the reasons of the alterations and
amendments. This was the composition of San
derson, and with his usual judgment he explains the
general views of the comraittee, as well as the
reasons of the variations frora the former service
books. Sancroft, at this time a delegate from the
convocation of York, was highly useful in rectify
ing the calendar and rubric.
Although no change was made in the ordinary
service of Morning and Evening Prayer, yet
there were several additions in the occasional
prayers and thanksgivings. A Prayer for the
High Court of Parliament was now inserted in
the liturgy, though it is a composition of earlier
date, and was occasionally adopted by public au
thority. The phrase, " our most religious and

IV.

62 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, gracious king," was not now first applied to
- Charles the Second, but had been used with more
propriety for Charles the First*. The last re
view is no otherwise faulty, than in retaining, or
in not omitting, the epithets. Another prayer,
entitled " for all Conditions of Men," was com
posed as well as inserted at this time, and the re
putation of its authorship has been divided between
Sanderson and Gunning f. The " General Thanks
giving" has been attributed without any other
claimant to the pen of Sanderson ^.
Of one change in the celebration of the services
it is necessary to speak, because that change has
tended greatly to obscure their significance and har
mony. It has also tended to strengthen the objec
tion, that the morning service is tediously long, and
clogged with unnecessary repetitions. Before the
last review, the litany was used according to the
intention of the reformers, and the practice of the
primitive church, as a preparation for the Com
munion or the second service. In correspondence
with this intention, it was customary in many
churches to toll a bell while the litany was
reading, to warn the people that the communion
was about to commence. Vestiges of this custom
yet reraain, but, according to the general practice,
* In the office of 1625, is a prayer for the High Court of
Parliament, to be used during their session. It is not mate
rially different from the present form, but it contains some
additional sentences. See Grey's Exam, of Neal's Hist. vol. iv.
p. 310. Note.
t But it was most probably written by Gunning. Bisse's
Beauty of HoUness in the C. P. p. 97. Note.
t Wheatley on the C. P. Appendix to c. iv. §. 6.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 63
the litany is now injudiciously blended with the a.d.
Morning Prayer, and the rubric enjoins that the ^^^^-
litany shall, on the proper days, be read after the
third Collect, instead of the intercessional prayers
in the daily service. It is also to be regretted,
that a suffrage for the high court of parliaraent
was not inserted in the litany, immediately after
that for the privy council or the royal family*.
The Psalms were still to be read on ordinary
days in their monthly course ; but the introits
on Sundays and holydays were, unhappily, not
restored. The translation used is that of Tindal
and Coverdale, edited by Cranmer, and was ad
visedly retained, on account of its harmony, and
the reverence which it had acquired by long use.
The Epistles and Gospels, of which the presby
terians had complained at the Savoy Conference,
were changed for the new translation. The
lessons, according to the former practice, were
sung or chanted in a plain tune, and likewise the
Epistle and Gospel ; but the rubric of king James
enjoining this practice was now omitted, the
simple reading of them being thought preferable.
The apocryphal books were still read, but it was
agreed that they should be read only on Sundays.
In the Communion-office many alterations were
adopted. The Exhortations were amended, and
* This alteration was suggested by bishop Wilkins, when
proposals were made in 1668 for reforming the liturgy. The
suffrage was to be in this form : " That it may please thee to
direct and prosper all the consultations of the high court of
parhament, to the setting forth thy glory, to the good of the
church, and to the safety, honor, and welfare of our sove
reign, and his dominions, or kingdomes.''

64 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the Confession was directed to be read by one of
^^' the ministers. In the prayer of Consecration, the
priest is directed to break the bread, and the
rubric for explaining the reason of kneeling at
the sacrament was restored. The term " regene
ration" was deliberately retained in the office of
Baptism, and the decision of a former convocation
condemning baptism by the laity was confirmed.
The rubric which confined the seasons of public
baptism to Easter and Whitsuntide was omitted,
and its celebration was allowed on any Sunday or
holyday. Another rubric was added, on the
requisite number and qualification of sureties,
affirming the provision of the twenty-ninth canon,
that "no parent is to be admitted to answer as
sponsor for his own child." The rubric in the
office of Confirmation was softened, by admitting
to the communion those who were desirous of
being confirmed, as well as those who had been
confirmed. A few verbal alterations were made
in the Marriage Service. In the office of Visita
tion of the Sick, a parenthesis was added in the
rubric, that the form of Absolution was not to be
used, unless the sick person humbly and heartily
desired it. In the Communion for the Sick, the
minister is not enjoined to administer this sacra
ment to every sick person that shall desire it, but
in such cases only as he shall judge expedient.
In the office for the Burial of the Dead, the
words, "in sure and certain hope of resurrection
to eternal life," were amended by the insertion of
the definite article, intimating, that it is the
general doctrine in which Christians place their
sure and certain hope. To take off from the

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 65
objection of returning thanks to God for the de- a. d.
parture of the deceased person, a rubric was  '_
added, forbidding the use of the office to any that
die unbaptized or excoraraunicate, or any that
have laid violent hands upon themselves.
Besides these alterations, the forms of prayer
composed before the adjournment for the thirtieth
of January and twenty-ninth of May, forms of
prayer to be used at Sea, and an office of Bap
tism to those of riper years, were now added.
The number of alterations and additions has been
estimated at six hundred.
From this stateraent, it is scarcely a digression
to repel the charges which have been brought
against the English liturgy, both by the Roraan-
ists and the dissenters. The forraer have urged,
that the English Reformation was altogether
parliamentary, the work of the civil power ; the
latter have argued, that all the changes, even in
the last review, were made to gratify the papists,
and that "the mystery of popery did eveu then
work *." In answer to the charge of the Roman
ists, it has been said by an acute writer f , that it
would be an equal scandal on the first general
councils to affirm that they had no authority for
what they did, but what they derived from the
civil power. In answer to the charge of the non
conformists it must be observed, that in the last
review not one additional concession is made in
favour of the papists ; and that the reason as
signed for kneeling at the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, which, with equal injustice, they asserted
* The words of Tennison. f Sherlock, or Q. Gibson,
VOL. III. F

66 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, was oraitted by the Elizabethan reformers to con-
^^- ciliate the members of the church of Rome, was

now restored.
The Coraraon Prayer Book occupied the atten
tion of the convocation alraost a month, and it
Dec. 20. was solemnly confirmed by the signatures of the
upper and lower house. It was then sent to the
1662. king and the privy council, and thence transmitted
'to the house of lords, with this message, that the
alterations and amendments had been duly con
sidered by the king ; and that he had approved and
allowed thera by the advice of his privy council.
To this testimony of approbation a recommenda
tion was subjoined, that the house of peers would
enforce its use throughout England and Wales,
under such sanctions or penalties as might be
thought fit*.
The liturgy was carefully revised, and the
alterations were minutely discussed in the house
of lords, and some of the amendraents met with
considerable opposition. But at length the lord
chancellor, by order of the house, delivered a
March 15. vote of thauks to the bishops for their care in the
business, with a request that they would commu
nicate the vote to the lower house of convocation.
The lords immediately transmitted the liturgy to
the comraons.
In the new parliament such members had been
returned as were equally hostile to the presby
terians and papists, and the house of coramons
was prepared not only to give its vote of appro
bation to the liturgy, but to enforce its use. It
* Kennet's Chron. p. 633.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 67
was at this stage ofthe business that the personal a.d.
wishes of the king appeared, and a secret influ

ence was in visible operation. Before the liturgy March i.
was sent down from the house of lords, the king
delivered the following exposition of his senti
ments, with a defence of his conduct : " I hear
that you are zealous for the church, and very
solicitous, and even jealous, that there is not ex
pedition enough used in that affair. I thank you
for it, since, I presume, it proceeds from a good
root of piety and devotion; but I must tell you
that I have the worst task in the world, if
after all the reproaches of being a papist while I
was abroad, I am suspected of being a presby
terian now I am corae home. I know you will
not take it unkindly, if I tell you I ara as zealous
for the church of England as any of you can be,
and ara enough acquainted with the enemies of it
on all sides. I ara as much in love with the
Book of Coraraon Prayer as you can wish, and
have prejudices enough against those who do not
love it, who, I hope, in time will be better in
formed, and change their rainds. And, you may
be confident, I do as much desire to see an uni
formity settled as any of you, and pray trust me
in that affair; I promise you to hasten the
dispatch of it with all convenient speed : you
may rely upon me in it. I have transraitted the
Book of Common Prayer with the amendraents to
the house of lords ; but when we have done all we
can, the well settling that affair will require great
prudence and discretion, and the absence of all
passion and precipitation*." * Rapin's Hist. vol. ii. folio.
F 2

68 HISTORY OF THE 1
CHAP. Frora this address the first undeniable in-
_JIl__ference to be drawn is the decided hostility of the
coraraons to the presbyterians. That hostility
had been shewn in the last session by the Cor
poration Act *, and it was about to be ex
hibited in the Act of Uniformity f .
This famous bill originated in the commons,
and was passed with the greatest expedition and
zeal. They seemed impatient of any delay in its
progress :j:. But in the house of lords there was
a collision of interests. The Romish party was
led by the earl of Bristol, who had forfeited his
office of secretary of state, and his rank of privy
counsellor, by his reconciliation with the church
of Rome. He was a man equally remarkable for
the superiority of his talents, and for want of
judgment in their application §. The presby
terians acknowledged for their leader the earl of
Manchester, a man who differed from the sect in
his love of monarchy, of liberty, and of literature.
The friends of the church relied on the wisdom
of its prelates, and the counsels of Clarendon and
Southampton. With these conflicting interests, the bill, though
supported by the bishops, experienced various ob
structions. The lords professed a high regard for
liberty of conscience, and under this plea proposed
several modifications in the penalties imposed for
* 13 Car. II. Stat. 2. c. I. f Stat. 14 Car. II. c. 4.
i Neal, and other writers who have copied him, have mis
represented the progress of the bill through the house of
coramons. Neal says it was passed by a majority only of
six. Ayes 186, Noes 180.
§ Swift calls him the prototype of Bolingbroke,

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 69
nonconformity. They attempted to insert a salvo A. D.
for their own privileges; they would have ex-  '—
empted from the operation of the bill school
masters, tutors, and all who were entrusted with
the education of youth; they would have included
under its disabilities only those benefices to which
a cure of souls was annexed ; and they added a
proviso, allowing to such rainisters as might be
ejected, a fifth part of the emoluments of their
late benefices. These prepared amendments occa
sioned many conferences between the two houses,
but the commons would abate nothing in their
favour. They would indulge no latitude in the
use of the surplice, nor any of the cereraonies, lest
such an indulgence raight be construed into a
precedent ; lest it raight encourage schisra ; and
lest, after all, it might fail of satisfying those who
pleaded for indulgence. When the Declaration
by the king at Breda was urged by the lords,
the comraons replied, that it was absurd to call a
schisraatical, a tender conscience, and that even
then the king had guarded his proraise of indul
gence by two limitations, the consent of parlia
ment and the peace of the kingdom *.
After a protracted discussion between the two
houses, the comraons gained the victory, the lords
laid aside their objections, and the bill passed the
upper house, though with no great raajority. Mays.
No impediment could be thrown in the way to April 19.
prevent its confirmation by the royal assent.
Here then a question will pertinently occur,
who were the authors and promoters of the Act
* Ralph's Hist, of England, vol. i. Kennet's Chron. p. 677-

70 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, of Uniformity? An answer is supplied from the
^^"  preceding statement. It was the house of com
mons. The bill originated in the representative
branch of the legislature, and was passed into a
law by the resistless force of that body, drawing
after it a cold and feeble majority of the house of
lords, and the customary assent of the crown, in
opposition to the preponderating influence of the
cabinet, and the secret wishes of the king.
Another question naturally follows: against
whom were the enactments of the bill directed ?
To this question it is unfair to give an answer
till a brief account be offered of the conditions
which it imposed.
The terras of conformity were in number
five : 1, reordination in such as had not been
episcopally ordained ; 2, a declaration of assent
and consent to the Book of Common Prayer;
3, an oath of canonical obedience in all things
honest and lawful ; 4, an abjuration of the
Solemn League and Covenant ; 5, a renunciation
of the abstract dogma, that it is lawful to take up
arms against the king under a pretence of defend
ing either his person or the liberties of the sub
ject. These terras were partly religious and
partly political ; the first three falling under the
denoraination of religious, the two last under that
of political conforraity.
The conditions of continuing in the coraraunion
of the established church being of a raixed nature,
such were consequently the motives of those who
could not conform. Of the religious conditions,
reordination and the oath of canonical obedience,
were offensive to a considerable body of the presby-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 71
terian clergy, but a declaration of assent and a. d.
consent to the Book of Coraraon Prayer was-i^
refused by dissenters of all denominations. Of
the two political conditions, a renunciation of the
Solemn League and Covenant had been soleranly
and voluntarily given by the present house of
coraraons, and no body of raen, whether eccle
siastical or civil, could coraplain of injustice by
a demand of a sirailar renunciation. But the
last condition being the conderanation of an ab
stract and general proposition, implied not only
a surrender of a speculative opinion, even if it
were never called into action, but also a stigma
on the conduct of many presbyterians still living,
and many of their progenitors.
An answer is now abundantly supplied to the
question, against whom was the Act of Uni
formity directed ? It was directed against the
presbyterian clergy. It was made for ministerial
conformity alone, and it left the people unable to
coraplain of any new iraposition *- It invaded
the liberties of no other class of dissenters, for
none of these professed or entertained any wish of
comprehension within the church.
A prudent man, if a third question be asked,
whether these terras of conformity were unjust,
will either decline an answer altogether, or defer
it till he has set forth the effects of the Act of
Uniformity, and the mode of its operation.
Between the operation and the enactment of
the law, an interval of three raonths was allowed,
and this interval was employed by the presby-
* Kennet's Chron. p. 742. and Comp. Hist.

72 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, terian clergy in deliberating on their future
^^- course. There were frequent consultations in the
city of London and in other parts of the kingdom
between the presbyterians, for their scruples
about conforraity were not in all equally strong
or equally sincere. Among those who had con
scientious scruples, these scruples differed in kind
and in degree. Sorae were positively resolved
against all corapliance, but greater numbers were
wavering and doubtful, and were inclined to sa
crifice their feelings, rather than quit their situa
tions, and be deprived of the power of doing good.
Many experienced a severe conflict between in
terest and conscience, for on each side the tempta
tion was great. On one side was the prospect of
losing those benefices which afforded a respectable
support; on the other side was the disgrace of
deserting or coraproraising principles for the sake
of teraporal good. But raany external encourage
ments were given to incline the balance on the
side of conscience and nonconformity. It was
reported that the number of dissentients would
be too formidable to permit an execution of the
law, and that an unanimity in resistance must
defeat its operation. Baxter had set an early
example, by seceding from his ministerial labours,
and had thus endeavoured to aniraate his brethren
to a vigorous opposition *. Sorae of the presby
terian leaders in the house of peers are said to
have cherished this spirit ; and even the king
hiraself, according to the representations of the
presbyterian rabbles, was greatly disposed to shew
* Life of Baxter, p. 2. He quitted his station in May.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 73
thera favour, though not from any motive either a.d.
of gratitude or of affection *. ^^^^-
And while this appearance of determined and
united opposition was studiously displayed, the
more indirect methods of solicitation and suppli
cation were not neglected. A petition was pre
sented to the king in person, praying that the
penalties of the act might not be enforced ; and
when he was in some measure moved by the
earnestness of its language, a promise was obtained
frora him that the operation of the law should be
suspended. It was hoped that by this method of
personal application, the interposition of any un
friendly advice would be prevented, and this ex
pectation was confirmed by prevailing with the
king not to summon a council until three days
before the operation of the act was to coraraence.
But in this contrivance the presbyterians were
defeated, and the evil which they had so artfully
laboured to avert, unexpectedly happened. The
promptness and courage of one man disappointed
their machinations, and that man was Sheldon f.
The council being raet, this prelate, though not
suramoned to attend, appeared in his place, and
pleaded for the execution of the law with that
" sharpness of wit and strength of reason," that
he did not so much persuade as coraraand the
assent of the king and the whole council, and
alraost the petitioners themselves. He forcibly
represented that the proposal for suspending the
law came too late, that, in prospective obedience
to it, he had proposed to eject all who would
* Ralph's Hist, of England, vol. i. t Ibid.

74 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, not obey it throughout his diocess, and that he
_il^had been particularly careful to provide a supply
for the vacant pulpits in the metropolis with good
preachers. By this necessary precaution he had
so highly provoked the anger and hatred of the
nonconforming ministers, that if they were not
ejected, he should not henceforward live at the
head, and in the society of brethren, but of im
placable enemies. He had not the boldness to
question the wisdom of a law which had been
enacted with the general approbation of all good
men, and with the consent of parliament, after a
long and minute discussion. And he concluded
by saying, " that if so sacred a law should now be
repealed, the legislature would be exposed to the
sport and scorn of faction ; and the church would
never be free from disorders and divisions, if
factious raen could extort their demands by im
pudence and importunity*."
Arguments like these could not be easily con
troverted, and on the king they operated, if not
to subdue his inclinations, yet to raise Sheldon in
his esteem. The proraise unguardedly given to
the petitioners was violated, and they were left to
the law.
The fatal St. Bartholomew's day, a day which
before had been a day of mourning in the
annals of the church, at last arrived. On the
preceding Sunday the most popular of the pres
byterian ministers in the metropolis preached
their farewell sermons, in which they spared no
language which might inflame their hearers. The
* Ralph's Hist, of England.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 75
loss, which their flocks raust sustain by their de- A. d.
privation, raust be estiraated by their qualifica- ^^!!l
tions for the pastoral care, and these were cer
tainly not omitted in their valedictory discourses.
To appreciate rightly the amount of suffering
by the ejected ministers, it is necessary to ascer
tain the nuraber and the character of the sufferers.
Two thousand is the nuraber which the histo
rians of nonconformity have boasted as martyrs
to an act of parliaraent; and writers, friendly
to nonconforraists, have repeated the statement,
though they have not ventured to defend it*.
That which has been so extravagantly stated,
there is no necessity to refute by an elaborate
exaraination of its probability. One general re
raark will be sufficient, that not all the presby
terians who were ejected, were ejected on St.
Bartholoraew's day^ and by the Act of Unifor-
raity ; and that a distinction should be made
between those who voluntarily quitted their bene
fices, and those who were dispossessed to make
way for the legal owners.
But to ascertain the number of presbyterians
who relinquished, or were deprived of their bene
fices, it has naturally occurred to corapare it with
those episcopal clergy who were ejected by the
presbyterians in the tirae of the rebellion. What
ever objections may have been raised and received
against this method of computation, yet they will
appear to be dictated by spleen or party. The
episcopal sequestered clergy, dispossessed by no
competent authority, ecclesiastical or civil, were
* Especially Burnet.

76 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, entitled to be reinstated when the legal autho-
__1_ rities resumed their functions. It is not right
that those who were dispossessed as intruders
should be placed in the rank of martyrs.
But after this deduction there remains a large
nuraber of voluntary sufferers, the merits of whose
case will be decided as these questions are an
swered. Since episcopacy was now the govern
ment ofthe church of England, was it unjust to
require from her ministers an acknowledgment of
the invalidity of presbyterian ordination, or a
promise of canonical obedience ? Since a liturgy
was the essential and distinctive mark of the
English church frora other protestant coramu-
nities, was it right that her rainisters should be
suffered to contemn it ; or rather was it not right
that they should give a public testimony of their
assent to it, and a promise to conform to it in
their public ministrations ?
From those who contend that the terms of
conformity were, if not unjust, at best rigorous,
it is natural to inquire what concessions would
have satisfied the nonconformists, and whether
such concessions might have been granted with
safety or prudence? Two sayings have been
invidiously attributed to Sheldon, illustrative of
this point. When one of the dissenting ministers
said, " It is lamentable that the door of admis
sion is so strait," he replied, " It is to be la
mented that the door is not straiter." When the
earl of Manchester told the king he was afraid
that the terras were so rigid that many would not
conform, he said, " I am afraid they will." Both
these remarks of Sheldon are given on question-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 77
able authority. The forraer it is highly pro- ^•^¦
bable that he never uttered; the latter harmo- 
nizes with a maxim which he avowed, that it is
better to have dissent out of the church than
schism within it.
Frequently has it been asserted by men of
warm feeling and no reflection, that many of the
pious nonconformists would have been satisfied .
with a few and trivial concessions, and such men
are fond of referring to Baxter. Of all examples
to prove their assertion none could be so unhap
pily adduced, for of all the nonconformists Baxter
was the most unlikely to be satisfied. The terms
of conformity bore less heavily on hira than on
many others. Reordination was not in his case
necessary, for he had been episcopally ordained ;
the Solemn League and Covenant he might have
safely renounced, for he had expressed his dislike
of such a test. The chief objection which ope
rated on his raind was the liturgy, and to this he
would never have conformed. The alternative
then raust be, whether Baxter or the liturgy
should be retained ; and few churchmen would
hesitate to which the preference should be given ;
few could think that the resignation of the liturgy
is a trifling concession.
Regrets and lamentations like these are be
stowed on an improper object ; if their indulgence
be cherished, they may be transferred from the
petulance and vacillation of Baxter to the meek
ness and consistency of Philip Henry. In this
faithful servant of God nonconformity appears
under its fairest form, and the reasons which

78 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, decided hira ought to be briefly set forth, as
 '- — being the most forcible and the most pure of all
that have been advanced for the sufferers. In
him, separation from the church was an act which
had been carefully weighed in the balance of the
sanctuary. The condition of reordination was the strongest
bar to his conformity, and the point on which he
chiefly insisted. He could by no means submit
to be reordained ; so well assured was he of his
call to the ministry, and of his outward desti
nation to it, by the laying on of the hands of
the presbytery, that he dared not perform any act
which would be at least a tacit conderanation of
his former ministrations. In the next place he
was not at all satisfied to declare assent and con
sent to the Book of Coraraon Prayer. The excep
tions offered at the Savoy Conference he thought
to be of great weight ; and he could not give to
the imposition of ceremonies his acquiescence, and
still less his approbation. In church governraent
that which he wished and desired was the scheme
of moderate episcopacy framed by Usher. With
respect to an abjuration of the Solemn League and
Covenant, he had never taken it, and had never
expressed any fondness for it ; yet he could not
think, and therefore could not declare, that it was
in itself an unlawful oath. The sum of his rea
soning appeared to be coraprised in this propo
sition ; that the Act of Uniformity, by imposing
indifferent ceremonies, under the sanctions of a
law, coupled with the obligation of an oath, had
defeated its object ; and if all men had been left

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 79
to their liberty, there would have been much a.d.
more unity, and not much less uniformity*. ^^^^'
These reasons are not so strong as to command
general conviction, aud they are not so weak as
to be dismissed with carelessness. All denomina
tions of Christians must lament that they should
have deprived the English church of so bright an
ornaraent, and will not hesitate to rank his exclu
sion frora the ministry, as one of the evils result
ing from the Act of Uniformity.
Willingly should it be acknowledged that this
case is not solitary, and that raany faithful rainis
ters and dispensers of God's word were precluded
from retaining those situations which they had
filled with profit. Yet these instances of patient
and humble suffering will not be sufficient to
furnish a satisfactory answer to the question,
what was the general character of the ejected
ministers ?
It is an undoubted fact that many, who were
in possession of benefices, had never received any
kind of ordination, and that they had no other mis
sion than their pretended call, and reputed zeal of
the spirit ; others who had received presbyterian
ordination, even if their morals were unirapeached,
were destitute of those attainraents which qua
lified thera for the office of religious instructors.
A comparison of the ejected presbyterians with
the sequestered episcopal clergy, not only in num
bers but in character, has been resented warmly ;
but the comparison, even if it were unfair, is not
unprovoked. While the two thousand sufferers
* Life of P. Henry, by M. Henry.

80 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, on St. Bartholomew's day have been celebrated as
^^' a noble array of martyrs, of which ecclesiastical
history furnishes no parallel ; while the day itself
has been marked as " one of the saddest days to
England since the death of Edward the Sixth;
the character of the episcopal clergy has been
depreciated by audacious falsehood and disin
genuous insinuation.
Without retorting any of these accusations, let
it be observed, in a better spirit, that the most
eminent of the presbyterians in the records of
science and literature ultimately were induced to
embrace the communion of the- church, and that
the names of the ejected ministers are unknown,
except in the memorials of nonconformity. Wil
kins, Ward, and Cudworth, who had acquiesced
in the presbyterian discipline, either through in
terest or principle, hesitated not a moment in
throwing off its yoke. Of those, whose adherence
to the presbyterian cause was sufficiently firm to
make them appear in its defence at the Savoy
Conference, the most distinguished for theologi
cal erudition and for philosophy, were Lightfoot,
Wallis, and Conant, and those three were brought
to conformity. Lightfoot not only retained his
mastership of Catherine-hall, in Cambridge, but
was promoted to a prebend in the church of Ely ;
Wallis continued in his Savilian professorship at
Oxford; and Conant, though ejected from his
academical stations, was preferred in the cathe
drals of Norwich and Worcester *.
* He was archdeacon of Norwdch, and prebendary of
Worcester. He married the daughter of bishop Reynolds.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 81
To corapensate the ejected presbyterians for a.d.
the loss of their benefices, there were many alle-  '"''^'
viations. One of these granted to the seques
tered episcopalians has been magnified as an in
stance of generosity in the ruling powers, and
this was an allowance of the fifth part of the
revenues of the benefice. Such a raeasure of
equity, it is said, was not awarded to the pres
byterians. But the circurastance is forgotten or
suppressed, that a discretionary power was vested
in the king and council, of making an allowance
to those ejected ministers whose circumstances
demanded comraiseration ; and the allowance of
the fifth part of his benefice to the sequestered
episcopalian was also subject to the discretion of
a parliaraentary coramittee. Whether the king
and council, or a comraittee of presbyterians, was
most likely to exercise this discretion with huma
nity and moderation, is a question which it is
more invidious than difficult to resolve.
But the ejected presbyterians found an alle
viation more effectual than any legislative pro
vision could have afforded, in the lenity and
charity of the bishops and governors ofthe church.
Some instances of this disposition are recorded,
some being inscribed only on the perishable tablet
of human meraory, are had " in everlasting re
membrance," though forgotten by raen. They
used every mode of persuasion and argument to
reconcile the nonconformists, and often exposed
themselves to difficulties and legal penalties, to
screen or free them from fines and imprisonraent.
Of Sanderson it has been related, even by a non-
VOL. III. G

IV,

82 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, conformist*, that he patiently heard, and as pati-
- ently obviated the scruples of his weaker brethren,
and candidly acknowledged that the penalties
were more severe than agreed with his wishes or
his judgment. Of Gunning, whose hostility to
all sectaries was active, it is related, that he
proved a kind friend and generous benefactor to
his ejected predecessorf in the theological chair of
Cambridge, by assigning to him a portion of the
revenues of the professorship.
In concluding this chapter, which has insen
sibly deviated from narrative into a vindication
not of the Act of Uniformity but of the church,
one observation of great weight must be repeated,
for the sake of impressing it deeply on the mind
of the reader. The Act of Uniformity eraanated
not from the king, nor from the bishops, nor
from the nobility; but its merits or its defects,
its justice or its rigour, and the pure or sinister
motives from which it originated, are to be im
puted principally to the House of Commons.
* Calamy's Hist, of his own Life, vol. ii. p. 111.
+ Dr. Tuckney.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. S3

CHAPTER V.
Episcopacy restored in Scotland. — Sharp, Archbishop of St.
Andrew's. — Resistance ofthe Presbyterians. — Abjuration of
the Covenant prescribed. — Ministers ejected. — ^The Protes
tant Episcopal Establishment again introduced into Ire
land. — Duke of Ormond. — Bramhall. — Jeremy Taylor.
The establishment of the English church on a. d.
the basis of the Act of Uniformity, is an epoch 
which admits a convenient pause, and a digres
sion to the ecclesiastical history of Scotland and
Ireland. Charles possessed an hereditary hatred of a
Scottish presbytery, and this had been heightened
into personal disgust ; yet either through despair
of success, or indifference to the cause, he em
braced the design of restoring episcopacy in his
native kingdom with visible coldness. The earl
of Clarendon, however, promoted the measure
with his usual ardour and perseverance ; and the
duke of Ormond declared that it would be fruit
less to attempt the reduction of Ireland from
popery to a protestant episcopacy, if presbyte
rianism continued to be the national religion of
Scotland. The earl of Middleton assured the
king that episcopacy was desired by the larger
and more honest portion of the Scottish nation,
and that even the synods, though they dared not
to express their wishes, secretly entertained thein.
On the other hand, the earl of Lauderdale and
his friends assured the king that the national
G 2

84 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, prejudices against episcopacy were inveterate and
—5^— invincible ; that the zeal of its favourers was simu
lated or sinister, the hostility of its opponents
undisguised, and founded on conviction. He knew
that, by attempting its establishment, the king
would lose the affection of the nation, and that
its support must embarrass the government.
When the affair was formally discussed in a
Scottish council at Whitehall, Lauderdale so far
relaxed his opposition as to suggest, not the
abandonment, but the delay of the project, till the
king should be better satisfied concerning the
inclinations of his northern subjects. The result
of the debate was, that a coraraunication was
made to the privy council in Scotland, intimating
the king's intentions of altering the ecclesiastical
state, and demanding their advice.
An answer was soon received, which encou
raged the king to persevere, and the introductory
proceedings of the Scottish parliament confirmed
his resolution. Middleton being the king's com
missioner, opened the session with a speech mag
nifying the blessings of the Restoration, enlarging
on the affection which the king entertained for
January, his aucient and paternal kingdom, and express
ing a hope that the nation would offer a suitable
return by a public recognition of the regal pre
rogatives. The parliaraent, to shew its com
pliance, passed an act declaring that all leagues
made without the king's consent were unlawful ;
and they rescinded all parliamentary acts made
during the late troubles. They also passed an
act empowering the king to settle the constitution
of the church according to his pleasure.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 85
The designs of Middleton were powerfully a.d.
aided by Sharp, a Scottish divine, who had ^^'"'
always been regarded by the presbyterians as the
devoted friend and undaunted champion of their
cause. He undertook a mission to England avow
edly for the purpose of supporting the presby
terian interest with the king, but he was pre
vailed on by Middleton to abandon and betray it.
Taking advantage of the powers granted to the
king by the Scottish parliament, a royal letter by
the advice of Middleton was issued to the Scottish Aug. u.
council, reciting the evils which had attended the
presbyterian form of ecclesiastical government
during the last twenty-three years, and setting
forth its incongruity with a monarchy. It an
nounced a fixed resolution of interposing the regal
authority for restoring the Scottish church to its
ancient government under bishops, and for bring
ing it to a uniformity with the church of Eng
land. When this resolution had been taken, it re
mained to consider the raost prudent raethods of
carrying it into execution. Sheldon, and the
other English bishops of similar principles, had
an aversion to all the Scottish clergy who had
taken the Covenant, and proposed that the epi
scopal clergy, who had been driven out of Scot
land at the commencement of the civil war,
should be sought out and preferred. There re
mained but one of the old bishops in existence,
Sydserfe, bishop of Galloway, and he confidently
expected to be advanced to the Scottish primacy.
But his abilities were mean, and his morality was
exceptionable. Sharp, therefore, was enabled to

86 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, infuse his opinions into the English administra-
^^' tion, and he persuaded Clarendon that a set of
bishops of moderate principles would be accept
able to the Scottish nation. Of these moderate
men he persuaded Clarendon that he was one ;
and he was nominated archbishop of St. Andrew's,
and consequently primate of Scotland. To him
was entrusted, on account of his local know
ledge, the delicate and difficult office of selecting
a sufficient nuraber of divines to supply the vacant
sees. To a raan whose tergiversation must have
rendered him unpopular to the liberal, and odious
to the rigid presbyterians, the execution of such a
task required no small knowledge of human
nature. Sorae reason it was necessary to offer
in defence of his sharaeless desertion of his former
opinions, and he was not unprepared with a
specious apology. He stated, that when he saw
the king fixed on a change, and the probability
that men of violent tempers wer^ likely to be
advanced, he had subraitted to take on hiraself
a post, in which he raight soften, though he could
not avert, the evils of episcopacy.
Such a defence, however plausible, was indig
nantly rejected, and he could not persuade his
brethren of his disinterestedness, or prevail with
the raost respectable of the presbyterians to follow
the exaraple of conversion. Two men were soon
found, for it cannot be said that they were selected,
who were willing to accept the episcopal dignity,
Hamilton and Fairfont, one of whom has been re
presented as weak, and the other as vicious. Yet
there was a third whom the raanagement of Sharp

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 87
forced into a station for which he was disqualified a. d.
by nature, as well as disinclined by disposition  '-
Such were the peculiarities of Leighton that they
deserve a minute survey. His character cannot be
presented in a more attractive view, than as it has
been already drawn by one who knew and ad
mired him, and who, in portraying the friend of
his own early years, has deviated from his wonted
coldness of coraraendation.
The father of Leighton had been guilty of a
sirailar offence, and had incurred a similar punish
ment with Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick * ; and
he was a raan whose fierce and intractable tera-
per renders his sufferings alraost unpitied. His
son Robert had imbibed all the paternal aversion
from the constitution of the English church ; and
an early education in his native country, with a
subsequent residence in France, had strengthened
this hereditary antipathy. When arrived at early
maturity, he settled in Scotland, received presby
terian ordination, and was presented to a benefice
near Edinburgh. But he quickly broke through
the prejudices of his birth and education ; he saw
and lamented the failings of the presbyterians;
he saw their contracted rainds, and their sour
tempers. The Covenant was in itself distasteful
to him, and it was rendered more so frora the
tyranny with which it was iraposed. Thus he
withdrew hiraself gradually frora all concern in
the public business of the Scottish kirk, and lived
in retirement, quietly fulfilling his pastoral duties.
And at last having entered into a correspondence
* He was the author of a tract, entitled, " Zion's Plea
against the Prelates."

88 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, with many of the episcopalian clergy, he aban-
—Zl—doned the presbyterians altogether, and resigned
his cure. The reputation which he had gained
for sanctity and learning in his state of seclusion,
occasioned his advancement to a station of high
responsibility ; the patronage of the raastership of
the college of Edinburgh being vested in the
municipal authorities of the city, he was prevailed
on to accept the office, as being not ecclesiastical,
but purely academical. In this honourable post
he remained ten years, with equal credit and ad
vantage. His style of preaching was peculiarly
impressive, and better adapted to a select audience
of liberal and educated youth, than to a rustic or
a raixed congregation.
Leighton had a brother who bore a striking
reserablance to him as well in personal appearance
as in mental endowments, but was totally unlike
in regard of purity of heart and strictness of
life. He professed himself a papist, but his con
version was for the purpose of advancement at
court, and he became secretary to the duke of
York. Leighton himself, though reserved in his
deportment, was liberal in his sentiments ; he
loved to mingle promiscuously with mankind, and
to see men as they were actuated by the varieties
of religious opinion. Often during his academical
vacations, he came to London, where he vigilantly
observed the habits of the sectaries in Crora-
well's court ; sometimes he extended his migra
tions to Flanders, in order to become acquainted
with the several orders in the church of Rome.
There he conversed with the Jansenists, and there
he found a congeniality of temper. Probably

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 89
their speculative notions of the extent and in- a.d.
fluence of Divine grace inclined him to admire  1
their manners, and he believed that they resembled
the simplicity and purity of the primitive ages
of Christianity.
From Leighton's love of monastic discipline,
from his ascetic habits, and from his celibacy»
his brother fancied that he would not refuse a
Scottish bishopric, and in his promotion he had a
prospect of his own aggrandizement. Under this
impression, Leighton was introduced to lord Au
bigny, who was also a papist, and through this
channel was recommended to the king. He was
represented as not unfriendly to the church of
Rome, and as endowed with qualities both of the
understanding and the heart, which would confer
honour on any communion. Long and severe was
the struggle, but Leighton was at last overcome.
He was nominated to preside over the diocese of
Dunblane, a see of small revenue and jurisdiction
in itself, but rendered considerable by the annexa
tion of the deanery of the royal chapel. Sheldon,
differing widely from Leighton in his opinions on
doctrine and discipline, and equally differing from
hira in manners, was fully sensible of his virtues,
and thought that such a man might confer repu
tation on episcopacy, when introduced among a
people whose prejudices against it were almost
insurmountable. Sydserfe was translated to the
see of Orkney, one of the richest bishoprics in
Scotland, but survived his translation not more
than a year.
When the time appointed for the consecration
of the Scottish bishops approached, the English

90 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, bishops, finding that Sharp and Leighton had not
 !  been episcopally ordained, insisted that before they
could be consecrated bishops they must pass
through the inferior gradations of deacon and
priest. Sharp was more tenacious on this point
than Leighton, and reminded the objectors that
when the Scottish bishops were consecrated by
order of James, their reordination was not re
quired. Leighton without hesitation acquiesced ;
though he did not think presbyterian ordination
invalid, yet he thought that every church had a
power of making its own regulations in matters of
discipline, and, consequently, that the reordination
of a priest ordained in another church, imported
nothing more than an acknowledgment that he
was publicly adopted by the new community.
He did not think that the solemnity implied the
invalidity of any former commission. Thus, as
Leighton had no scruples to satisfy, and as the
scruples of Sharp were soon overcorae, these two
divines were privately adraitted to the orders
of deacon and priest ; and the four prelates,
Sharp, Leighton, Harailton, and Fairfont, were
Dec. 15. consecrated publicly in Westminster-abbey.
While the establishment of episcopacy was yet
in suspense, the Scottish clergy inveighed against
it with great boldness ; and Guthrie, the presby
terian rainister of Stirling, was convicted of trea
son, and suffered death for caluranies in his
sermons against the apostasy of the king. As
June 14. soon as the consecration of the Scottish bishops
had taken place, the presbyteries, which were still
sitting, began to declare openly against episco
pacy, and to prepare protestations against any

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 91
change in the ecclesiastical government. To sUp- a. d.
press opposition, Sharp moved in council that a ^ ^'
proclamation might be issued, prohibiting the
synods from meeting, till the bishops had settled
the mode of proceeding in these assemblies. A
general, yet a conditional obedience was shewn
to this proclamation ; the presbyteries met once
only after its promulgation, and at this meeting
entered a protestation against it as an invasion
of the liberties of the church, and declared
that the obedience shewn to it was only for the
sake of peace, and only temporary.
The four bishops pursued their journey from
London into Scotland together, but Leighton,
unwilling to participate in the triumphant recep
tion with which the nobility and magistracy in
tended to welcome them, came privately into
Edinburgh a few days before the rest of his bre
thren. Their public entry was marked by pomp
and ostentation, which contributed to increase the
general discontent.
Six other bishops were soon consecrated, but
the see of Edinburgh was for a long time kept
vacant, and at length was bestowed on Wishart,
the chaplain of the duke of Montrose. In the
approaching session of parliament the bishops
took their places in the house, in consequence of a
formal invitation frora the other estates of the
kingdom. Leighton did not appear at this time,
nor did he afterwards come, unless the urgent
affairs of the church demanded his presence.
The whole governraent and jurisdiction of the
church was vested in the bishops by decree of
parliaraent, though they were to act with the

92 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, advice and assistance of their clergy ; ecclesiastical
-—I:^ judicatories were to be only auxiliary to the epi
scopal authority. All the bishops, except Sharp,
disclaimed any share in the formation of this act,
and none of them carried their authority to the
extent which it warranted. But its enactment
was a sufficient cause for clamour, and this cla
mour was heightened when the clergy were re
quired to take the oaths of allegiance and supre-
raacy. The oath was not absolutely refused, but
the clergy petitioned that an explanation might
be authoritatively given of the meaning convey
ed by the term supremacy. Leighton, who ap
peared on this occasion in parliament for the first
time, earnestly pressed corapliance with the peti
tion ; but Middleton and Sharp succeeded in car
rying its rejection.
Not satisfied with the oath of allegiance, the
parliaraent prescribed an abjuration of the Cove
nant, an oath which was considered by the presby
terians as little less than open apostasy frora God,
and a renunciation of their baptismal vows. But
the grand raeasure which corapleted the ruin of
the presbyterian interest was the enforceraent of
an act, passed soon after the Restoration, altering
the right of ecclesiastical patronage. During the
Usurpation the appointment to benefices was
elective, and the incumbents were admitted by
the authority of the church session and the lay
elders ; but by this act all incumbents so ad
mitted were declared to be unlawful possessors,
and, unless they consented to take presentations
from the lawful patrons, who were obliged to give
these instruments, their churches were declared

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 93
void. The law was suspended long after the a.d.
time prescribed for corapliance had expired ; but  L
Middleton urged its execution. The conduct of
the presbyterian clergy on this occasion disap
pointed those who had advised, and those who
were friendly to the enforceraent of the law, and
the clergy were deceived in the consequences re
sulting frora a refusal to obey it. Like their
brethren in England, they calculated, that if a
large body were ejected at the sarae tirae, the
governraent would be compelled to reinstate thera,
rather than to leave the parishes without spiritual
pastors. They also apprehended that the bishops
would proceed in the process of ejectment slowly
and singly, according as they were able to provide
successors in the vacant benefices. In both these
expectations they were defeated. Above two hun
dred churches were shut up in one day, in conse
quence of the contumacious disobedience of the
incumbents to the act of patronage, and above two
hundred and fifty other ministers were ejected
for disobedience to episcopal authority.
The deprivation of so raany pastors, whose April.
fidelity in the discharge of their office was exera-
plary, excited a far stronger sensation in Scotland
than was occasioned in England by the operation
of the Act of Uniforraity. The prudent and
steady courage of Sheldon, in pleading for the
execution of the laws, comraanded the respect of
the king, and silenced the objections even of the
nonconformists. The capricious and ungoverned
violence of Sharp, the betrayer and the perse
cutor of the presbyterians, alraost transferred the
hatred of the law against the person of its exe-

94 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, cutor. The successors of the ejected presbyterians
^'  were not endowed with those qualities which
could reconcile the people to the loss of their
former teachers. Many of the episcopal clergy
were deficient in knowledge, relaxed in their
raorals, and negligent in their duties ; and they
were incapable of supporting their pastoral au
thority ; their legal rights they were obliged to
defend by the assistance of the civil power.
Those who were above conterapt or scandal, were
not above hatred.
Such was the inauspicious comraencement of
the restoration of episcopacy in Scotland, a com-
menceraent, the necessary result of the iraprudence
with which the project was formed, and of the
injustice with which it was conducted; a com
mencement which strikingly harmonized with the
sequel. In Ireland, the hierarchy was restored at the
same tirae, but the design was undertaken in a
different spirit, and its accoraplishment was at
tended with different effects. The stern genius of
presbyterianism, exercising its sway over the natu
rally sober temperament of the Scottish people,
had formed a race of men capable of the most
heroic actions, and had inspired a spirit in which
patience and intrepidity were combined. But the
repulsive tenets of Calvinism were entirely re
pugnant to the Hibernian character. Presby
terianism was an exotic which never flourished in
the soil, and could be kept alive only by forced
and artificial culture. If ever it was engrafted on
a native stock, its growth was stunted, and its
fruit was bitter. The frantic and turbulent ac-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 95
tions of an Irish presbyterian, were far more dan- a.d.
gerous than his native superstitions, whether pagan  1
or popish.
The protestant episcopal clergy had been en
tirely swept away, and in their room succeeded a
set of zealous covenanters or furious independents .
These had maintained their ground under the
system of confiscation practised under the military
despotism of Cromwell.
Unpromising as such a posture of affairs ap
peared for the reestablishment of a protestant
episcopacy, and the Book of Common Prayer, the
arduous undertaking was achieved by the wisdom
and firmness of the duke of Ormond. The king,
in his Declaration from Breda, had proraised to
confirm the settlement of Ireland, but a great
debate arose concerning the nature of this settle-
raent. The native Irish, who were papists, had
made a treaty with Ormond, acting in the king's
name, by which they were to enjoy the open
exercise of their religion, to have a free admis
sion into all employments, and a free parlia
ment. But this treaty was violated on the part
of the Irish, and Cromwell had reduced the
country under an absolute subjection. When,
therefore, the articles of this treaty were de
manded to be the basis of the Irish settlement,
the demand was refused by Ormond. It was his
aim that the church of Ireland should be pro
testant, not popish ; episcopal, and not presby
terian. No man who possessed inferior qualifications
to Ormond would have been willing or able to
embark on such a sea of troubles, but Ormond

96 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, was an extraordinary man. He was the most
^' perfect character of his age, an age prolific of
talent. He combined the soldier and the states
man, a union rarely to be found ; and he pos
sessed the generosity of a cavalier undebased by
profligacy. Though a warm friend, he was a
placable eneray, and never wilfully incurred the
enmity of others; his foes were offended by his
virtues. His exploits in defence of monarchy
had been equalled only by his sufferings ; and
his military achievements in Ireland during the
last reign were exceeded only by his civil adminis
tration of this kingdom in the present*.
The dissolute and unprincipled Middleton, in
attempting the subversion of the Scottish kirk,
found a fit auxiliary in the ambition and trea
chery of Sharp. The moral and accomplished
Ormond, selected with his usual discrimination
an ecclesiastic worthy of his friendship in Bram
hall. In the preceding reign Bramhall had been
bishop of Derry, but after being exposed to raany
dangers, he was compelled to leave Ireland. His
safety was at hazard in a foreign land, for he
had exasperated the papists by his superiority in
disputation; and his writings against Hobbes,
and the Manichean doctrine of fatal necessity, had
embroiled hiin with the Calvinists f. The first
step of Orraond, in restoring the Irish church,
was to raise Bramhall to the primacy. The
bishopric of Derry he owed to the friendship of
Strafford, the archbishopric of Armagh to the
* Carte's Life of the duke of Ormond.
t Bp. Taylor's sermon at the funeral of the lord primate.
Works, vol. vi. Svo.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 97
favour of Orraond; and the patronage of two a.d.
men like these will for ever mark the merit of  ^^^^'
Bramhall. Already was he distinguished in meta
physical research ; he now displayed his dexterity
in practical business. On his return to Ireland
he found the revenues of the church miserably
wasted, and procured several acts of parliaraent
to prevent their future alienation ; and he did
more than this, for he regained many lost or
disputed rights. But his attention and his ser
vices were of a higher order than those of a raan
of secular business. Though a decided episco
palian, and of the Arminian school, he was liberal
towards those who differed from him in doctrine
or discipline, and made a distinction between ar
ticles of faith and articles of peace. In his at
tempts to bring the presbyterian clergy to con
formity, he adopted a plan of 'conciliation which
was peculiarly successful. Although he insisted
on the reordination of all who had not been epi
scopally ordained, yet, in their letters of orders
he inserted a softening clause, not annihilating
any former orders of the candidate, nor assert
ing their validity, but only supplying what was
wanted according to the canons of the church of
England. A worthy coadjutor of Bramhall, though of
different talents, was found in Jeremy Taylor.
He united the powers of invention, raeraory, and
judgraent, in a large though not in an equal
measure. His judgment was the weakest of these
mental qualities, and was sometimes borne down
by the resistless force of his imagination ; but his
invention and meraory struggled for the raastery.
VOL. III. H

98 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, His reading was various, or rather universal; but
 '- — it is difficult to say whether his writings are in
debted more to his erudition or to the richness
and vivacity of his fancy. His character has
been beautifully delineated by his friend and suc
cessor, and though sorae of its parts have been
too highly coloured by the hand of partial fond
ness, yet there is one sentence which exceeds not
the soberness of historical portraiture. " He had
devotion enough for a cloister, learning enough
for an university, and wit enough for a college of
virtuosi *."
No divine could plead higher raerit or greater
sufferings with the restored governraent than
Taylor. He had refused all compliance with the
factious and fanatical party in the zenith of its
power ; he had been the object of more than
common suspicion and severity ; while the blarae-
lessness of his life, and the order of his piety,
were acknowledged by all. Yet for the sake of
his personal safety, his friends had sacrificed the
pleasure and instruction of his society, and had
found an asylum for his virtues, though not a
theatre for his talents, in the north-eastern ex
tremity of Ireland. In this obscurity he was
sought out by the sagacious vigilance of Ormond,
and soon after the king's return was nominated
bishop of Down and Connor.
At the comraencement of the succeeding year,
two archbishops and ten bishops, in the nuraber
of which was Taylor, were consecrated in the
cathedral of St. Patrick with great porap and
* Funeral sermon by Geo. Rust, D, D. bishop of Dromore.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 99
loud exultation of the royalists*. Taylor on a.d.
this occasion delivered the sermon, and honour,-  _
as well as preferment, awaited hira. He was
appointed a member of the Irish privy council,
was entrusted with the administration of the
diocese of Droraore, and was elected, by the re-
coraraendation of Ormond, vice-chancellor of the
university of Dublin.
This was a field for all his abilities and all
his industry. In his diocese he was singularly
active, and employed unwearied labour in the
conversion of the presbyterians, and the civiliza
tion of the papists. In his academical dignity he
was equally useful ; he undertook the task of
methodizing and completing the body of statutes
which had been left unfinished by Bedell ; in
arranging a course of lectures and disputations ;
and in defining and confirraing the privileges of
the university. The basis of the distinguished
reputation which Trinity college has maintained
was laid by Taylor f .
Under the guidance of Bramhall and Taylor,
the protestant church of Ireland was reestablished ;
and the parliament of Ireland passed a legal de- May 17.
claration of their high esteem of episcopal govern
ment, and of the Book of Coraraon Prayer accord
ing to the use of the church of England I. Thus
the ancient constitution in church as well as
state was restored in the three kingdoms of the
British empire.
* Kennet's Chron. pp. 440, 441.
t Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormond, vol. ii. p. 208.
J Kennet's Chron. p. 449.
H 2

100 HISTORY OF THE

CHAPTER VI.
Proposed Suspension of Penal Laws against Nonconformists
objected to by the House of Commons. — Act passed for
the Suppression of Conventicles. — ^Taxation of the Church.
— Convocation of the Clergy deprived of its power. — Five-
mile Act. — Fire of London. — Fall and Banishment of
Clarendon.
CHAP. The ascendancy of Clarendon in the councils
 '- — of Charles appears to have been at its height
when the Act of Uniforraity was passed, and from
that period to have sensibly declined. Not more
than four months had elapsed from the time when
it came into operation, when the king evinced an
inclination, if not to suspend its penalties, yet to
relax their severity. This was a policy diame
trically opposite to the advice of Clarendon.
The nonconformists finding that their interest
in the house of coraraons was too weak to pre
vent the enactment, or avert the execution of the
penal laws, contemplated an emigration into Hol
land, the mart of commerce, or into New England,
the refuge of sectarianism. Ostensibly to prevent
this measure from being carried into effect, the
earl of Bristol, and the papists under his influ
ence, laid down a maxira to which they almost
invariably adhered during this and the succeeding
reign. This maxira was no less than a suspension
of all penalties on account of religion, by regal
prerogative, thereby virtually annulling the acts
of the legislature. Through this principle, incul-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 101
cated in the council, and pressed on the king, they a. d.
prosecuted their aira of procuring a general tole- ^^^^'
ration, that the members of the church of Rome
might enjoy the same indulgence which was
granted to other dissenters frora the national
church. Whether frora a love of arbitrary power, or
from an attachment to the church of Rome, this
maxim of suspending the penal laws was grateful
to Charles. His attachment to the Romish church
was no doubt increased by his late marriage with
the Infanta of Portugal, not from his love of his
queen, but from the influence of a catholic alli
ance. The queen-mother held a splendid court
at Somerset-house, and had her emissaries and
friends in the cabinet.
A declaration was issued, purporting to be with Feb. 28.
the advice of the privy council, but in reality
framed without the knowledge of Clarendon or
Sheldon. In this manifesto Charles recited the
words in his Declaration from Breda, respecting
liberty of conscience, and added, that his promise
was still deeply impressed on his memory, and
that he was fixed in his resolution of fulfilling it.
He held forth the hope that, without invading the
privileges of parliament, he might incline the
legislature in the following session to concur in
some provision for the relief of tender consciences,
and of tempering the severity of the laws, so as
to render every religious denomination of his
subjects easy under thera.
In correspondence with the language of the Feb. is.
Declaration, the king, in his speech at the open
ing ofthe parliamentary session, recommended an

102 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, abatement of the penal laws. While he professed
—I^__ himself an enemy to religious intolerance, he was
careful to guard against any inference of his incli
nation to popery. He acknowledged that many
individuals of the Romish faith, who had served
both his father and himself with fidelity, might
justly claim a share in that indulgence which he
would willingly afford to other dissenters ; but it
was not his intention that they should hold any
place under his government. He would not yield
even to the bishops themselves in his zeal for the
protestant religion, and in his approbation of the
Act of Uniforraity; but if the dissenters exhi
bited a peaceable and raodest deraeanour, he could
heartily wish to possess such a power of indulgence,
as that they raight not be found out of the king
dora, or be induced to conspire against its peace.
This was the first open attempt, though it was
made indirectly and timidly, to assert a dispens
ing power in the crown. The king did not
propose a legal toleration, but expressed that he
might have a power of indulgence, which he
might use or recall according to his discretion.
His design was thus understood, and his language
was thus construed by the house of comraons.
They passed a vote of thanks to the king for the
determination expressed by him to maintain the
Act of Uniformity ; but at the same tirae they
voted some declaratory resolutions against grant-
Feb. 27. ing any indulgence to dissenters. An address
was then drawn up and presented*, stating the
* The report of the committee was made to the house hy
sir Heneage Finch, the solicitor-general.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 103
following reasons against the proposed relaxation a. d.
of the Act of Uniformity. 1. That it would esta- -i^^il-
blish schism by a law, and make the censures of
the church of no consideration. 2. That it is
unbecoming the wisdom of parliament to pass a
law in one session for uniforraity, and in another
session to pass a law to frustrate or weaken its
former act, the reasons for its continuance re
maining the same. 3. That it will expose the
king to the restless importunity of every sect,
which shall dissent from the established church.
4. That it will increase sectaries, which will
weaken the protestant profession, and that in time
some prevalent sect may contend for an esta
blishment which will end in popery. 5. That it
is unprecedented, and may take away the raeans
of convicting recusants. 6. That the indulgence
proposed will not tend to the peace, but to the
disturbance of the kingdora, and that the best
way to produce a settled peace is to press vigo
rously the Act of Uniformity.
Not contented with this address, which it might March 3i.
be thought was too plain a manifestation of their
sentiments to be misunderstood, they presented
another, praying the king to put in execution
the laws against the papists. The papists had
two maxims from which they never departed ;
the one, to divide the protestants, the other to
preserve union among themselves. The friends
of the church of England, though not willing to
preserve uniformity at the expense of truth, hear
tily adopted the first maxira in its spirit, and
laboured earnestly to promote division among the
regulars and seculars of the Romish church. A

104 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, proposition was made and supported at this time
— —  by Clarendon and his friends, that none but the

seculars should be tolerated in England, who
should be placed under the superintendance of a
bishop ; and that all the regulars, especially the
Jesuits, should be commanded, under the severest
penalties, to leave the kingdora.
The address against indulgence to the dis
senters being accorapanied by the necessary sub
sidies, drew from the king a gracious reply. He
condescended to explain, and to assure the house
that his views had been raisunderstood ; he far
ther expressed his happiness in having a house of
coramons possessed of so much wisdom and loy
alty. The address for the execution of the penal
laws against the papists, elicited a proclamation
which was little regarded. It neither intimidated
the papists, nor satisfied the protestants. To
increase the alarm of the latter, a charge against
the earl of Clarendon was preferred by the earl of
Bristol in the house of lords, and though the
menaced impeachment was for a time abandoned,
yet the attempt was justly considered as a proof
that Clarendon had declined in the regard of his
master, and that it was a prelude to his ruin. It
was also a decisive evidence of the growing
strength of the Romish party.
July 27. The suramer being far advanced, the parlia
ment and the convocation were prorogued, and
shortly before their prorogation the venerable
June 4. Juxon died. Sheldon had been designated for
the primacy of the church when the advisers of
the king were cordially attached to her interests,
and even at this crisis no competitor for the

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 105
dignity offered himself. After sufficient time had a.d.
elapsed for perfecting the legal instruraents, he. *''^^'

was enthroned archbishop of Canterbury. August ai.
Some of the ejected presbyterians, who were
not so scrupulous as their brethren, resolved to
comply with the laws as far as they conscien
tiously could, and made a distinction between lay
and ministerial conforraity. They attended their
parish churches, before or after the exercise of
their ministrations in private houses, and received
the Communion from the hands of the established
clergy. Here was the rise of occasional conformity,
but it met with little encouragement, and was no
security against the severity of the penal laws.
The king having encouraged his subjects to
expect a general toleration, a design was formed
by some of the nonconformists to draw up a
general petition. The independents went heartily
into the design, but the presbyterians, either
through sullenness or despair, refused concurrence*.
The refusal only stimulated the government to
fresh manifestations of severity against all the
nonconformists ; and sorae conspiracies which were
at this tirae detected, excused, if they did not jus
tify, new penal laws. An act was passed for the •J^''^-
suppression of seditious conventicles f, which not
only confirraed the severe law of Elizabeth, in
flicting banishment, and in case of return, death
on all recusants ; but restricted all meetings of
five or more persons under colour or pretence of
religious exercises, under the sarae penalties.
* Life of Baxter, part ii. p. 430.
t Stat. 16 Car. II. c. 4.

106 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. It is to be lamented that a greater zeal was at
 '¦ — this tirae shewn in punishing nonconformity, than
in providing for the stability of the church. A
plan had been submitted in the preceding session
for the competent endowraent of small benefices,
but the difficulties of carrying it into execution
occasioned its rejection. The convocation which
had reviewed the Book of Common Prayer, was
employed in revising the canons and constitutions
of the church, and in framing articles of episcopal
visitation ; but after sorae progress had been raade,
a prorogation hindered its completion.
An intermission of business by the convocation
was occasioned by an alteration which now took
place in the mode of taxing the clergy. In the
session of the preceding year, the crown having
incurred a large debt, four subsidies were granted
by the parliament*, and the same number were
voted by the convocation! ; an impost which was
as heavy on the clergy as it was light on the
temporality. The subsidies of the laity were so
easily evaded, and were altogether so unpro
ductive, that the administration resolved to aban
don a mode of taxation so unproductive, and in
future to raise supplies by levying au assess
ment f. The subsidies of the clergy, though in
their amount inconsiderable, were insupportably
grievous, as well from its excessive disproportion
to the nature and value of ecclesiastical property,
as from the unequal rate by which this property
* Stat. 15 Car. II. c. 9. f Ibid. c. JO.
t The subsidies were levied on all personals, at 2s. 8d. in
the pound on all the king's subjects, and of 5s. 4rf. in the
pound from all papists, recusants, and aliens.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 107
was estimated. Instead, therefore, of making a a.d.
more equitable rate, or of diminishing the ratio ^!!ll
of taxation, an entire revolution was made in
raising contributions on the church for the supply
of the exigencies of the state. This change was
attended with such important, though unexpected
consequences, that it requires to be set forth before
the reader.
When Christianity was first planted in England,
the church was endowed with large revenues, and
the clergy were exempted in a great measure from
contributing to the wants of the crown, by the
tenure of their lands. In the Saxon reigns they
were charged with pontage*, murage, and expe
dition, till Williara the Conqueror altered the
tenure of the bishops and religious houses, by
placing them under knights' service. Yet as this
alteration did not affect the smaller benefices, the
greater part of the clergy was exempt from public
charges. An exemption so invidious was liable to
be infringed, and various projects were adopted to
oblige spiritual persons to share in the public bur
dens. Sometiraes the popes taxed the church for
the king's use, and soraetiraes, if the necessity
were urgent, the bishops enjoined the clergy to
grant a subsidy by way of benevolence, taking at
the same time the precaution of demanding frora
the crown a security, that the aid voluntarily of
fered should not be construed into a precedent.
Thus the raatter rested till the reign of Ed-
¦¦' This was one of the three public charges from which no
person whatever was exempted, viz. from the charge of ex
pedition to the wars, from building castles, and from building
and repairing bridges. They were called trinoda necessitas.

108 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, ward the First, when that prince devised a plan
 for raising legal contributions from the clergy, by
inducing them to tax theraselves in their own con
vocations. When he issued his custoraary writs,
suraraoning the bishops to parliament, he inserted
in these writs a new clause *, requiring the bishop
to notify the summons to the dean and chapter of
his cathedral church, to the archdeacons, and to all
the clergy of his diocese. Together with this
notice, the bishop was required to cite the prior
or dean, and the archdeacons in person ; to cite
the chapters either cathedral or collegiate, to ap
pear by one proxy ; and to cite the clergy of his
diocese to appear by two proxies. These were to
be present with hira, to do, and to consent to
those acts which were to be ordained by their
coraraon advice and deliberation.
Whether the inferior clergy sat in the sarae
house with the teraporal coraraons ; whether they
appeared in a spiritual as well as a temporal capa
city ; and whether the custom of the spirituality
and temporality meeting in the sarae house, was
continued until the reign of Henry the Sixth, are
questions which it is not necessary to discuss in
this place, only because they will be the subject of
a future discussion. One point is certain, that by
the authority of, and in obedience to, the citation
of their respective diocesans, the clergy sent their
proxies to convocation, and regularly granted sub
sidies to the crown. The proportion which each
individual was required to pay was assessed by
ecclesiastical commissioners, and the amount was
* Called the prsemunientes clause.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 109
levied by a mode of their appointment. In case a. d.
of non-payment, the censures of the church were  '^"^'
applied, and the bishops had prisons to compel
refractory defaulters. It may be reasonably con
cluded, that the bishops were invested with a
power of sequestering the benefices of such incum
bents as refused payment, and such as were other
wise unable to pay.
But at the time of the Reformation, when ec
clesiastical censures had lost much of their effi
cacy and even of their terror, a new raode of cora-
pelling payraent was devised. The subsidies of
the convocation were confirmed by parliament,
and thus payment raight be enforced by teraporal
reraedies, one of which was by distraining ecclesias
tical property.
Since the tirae of Henry the Eighth, the assera-
blies of the clergy had been convened by a double
authority, and for a twofold purpose. In the first
place they raet under the authority of a provin
cial writ from the archbishop generally, in conse
quence of a royal mandate, for the transaction of
ecclesiastical business ; and in the second place,
under the authority, and by virtue of a clause in
the writ of their respective bishops, for the grant
of subsidies to the crown. But as these two writs
were commonly issued at the sarae time, the au
thority by which they met, and the purposes for
which they were convoked, were confounded.
The complete revolution in the church and
monarchy, which took place in the reign of the
first Charles, occasioned the suspension of all ec
clesiastical privileges. The religious teachers who
became possessed of the benefices of the ejected

, 110 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, clergy, either from a conviction of its preference,
^^' or from the affectation of popularity, or because
there were no legally constituted assemblies of
the clergy, were taxed in the same manner as the
laity. When the monarchy was restored, the church,
with its ancient rights and immunities, was re
stored with it, and the clergy exercised their for
mer privilege of granting subsidies in convocation.
Their pressure was heavy, and the inequality of
the rate was a grievance which had been made
one of the subjects of a petition*. Yet no re
quest was offered, and no idea was entertained
that the clergy should relinquish their ancient
custora of taxing themselves.
But the leading men of the hierarchy viewed
the subject differently, and seemed to think that
this power of self-taxation was a burden instead
of a privilege. They were aware that the crown
received larger subsidies, in proportion to their
property, from the clergy, than from any other
class of its subjects! ; that the liberality of the
clergy had encouraged the expectation that they
would contribute more ; and that discontent would
follow if their future subsidies did not exceed a
reasonable proportion !. Since, therefore, the go-
* Petition of the inferior clergy presented in 1662. It con
sisted of six articles. The fourth was ; " That you would be
pleased to consider of some more equal manner of rating sub
sidies upon the clergy, the present measure thereof bearing no
proportion to the rest of his majesty's subjects." Wilkins's
Concilia, vol. iv. p. 580.
t During the recess in 1661 the king received a free gift
from the clergy of 33,743?.
t The valuation of the benefices was according to the Liber

CHURCH OF ENGL.AND. Ill
vernment was about to change its mode of raising a. d.
supplies frora the laity, they thought it expedient— ^^
to wave their ancient right, and to be included in
the raoney bills of the parliament.
Sheldon, with some other prelates, held a pri
vate consultation with the lord chancellor Claren
don and the lord treasurer Southampton, in which
it was agreed, that the privilege should be silently
relinquished rather than formally ceded. There
was no doubt of the passive concurrence of the
clergy, though there might be a doubt of their ex
press assent. Two inducements inevitably pre
cluded iraraediate dissatisfaction ; a present boon
of remitting two of the four subsidies granted in
the preceding session ; and a future proraise, that
the next money bill should contain a clause, saving
the general rights of convocation, and recognising
its power to resume its former privilege. That
the privilege was in existence, and that it was not
supposed to be formally ceded, is evident from the
declaration of the comraons, in a conference be
tween the two houses, which took place a few
years after, concerning the right of the lords to
alter money bills. The conference on the part of
the commons was managed by Finch the attorney-
general, and the right of convocation was stated
in the following terms : " The clergy have a right
Regis of Henry the Eighth. As the tenth of this valuation
was annually paid to the crown, the subsidy was levied on nine
tenths only. It was not levied on the year of admission
when the first-fruits were paid. It was at the rate of 4s. in
the pound. The archbishops and bishops were the colle ctors
and were allowed 6d. in the pound. The amount of one
subsidy was about 20,000/.

112 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, to tax themselves, and it is a part of the privilege
 '¦ — of their estate. Do the upper convocation house
ever alter what the lower house grant, or do the
lords and commons ever abate any part of their
gift? Yet they have power to reject the whole.
But if abatement were made, it would insensibly
go to a I'ising, and deprive the clergy of their
ancient right of taxing themselves." The reply of
the lords, while it opposed the main argument of
the commons, fully admitted that the parliament
had not power to alter the subsidies of convo
cation, and that the parliament only conferred on
thera a legal force*.
It cannot be called an equivalent, or even the
shadow of a corapensation, for this deprivation of
the liberties of the English clergy, that they have
acquired a right tacitly allowed, yet not secured
by any law, of voting at elections for the knights
of the shire, in which their benefices are situated.
If, instead of this right, equally questionable in its
legality as doubtful in its propriety, the clergy
had enjoyed the right of electing sorae of their
body to represent the ecclesiastical state in the
house of comraons ; if, in short, the spiritual and
teraporal coraraons had been reunited as formerly,
the resignation of so important a privilege as that
of taxing themselves might be raore intelligible
and raore defensible. But while every other estate
and class has representatives to state its wants
and to defend its interests, the clergy are not only
not represented, but misrepresented in the house of
coraraons. * Conference between the lords and commons in 1671.
Journals of the Lords, v. 13.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 113
The evil of relinquishing the privilege of grant- a.d.
ing subsidies by' convocation was aggravated by  -
its inevitable and collateral results. The sarae
result took place, as would, and did take place,
either if the temporal comraons yielded their right
of iraposing taxes, or if the crown could coraraand
a wealthy exchequer without their aid. The
legislative body would rarely, if ever, be sura
moned. Convocation, like parliaraent, is not a
court of judicature, or wjienever it has assuraed
the judicial functions, its unfitness to exercise
thera has been clearly shewn. It is a court of
ecclesiastical legislature, but the integrity of its
legislative functions can be preserved only as
those of the parliaraent are preserved, by the
enjoyment of the right of granting .pecuniary
aid to the executive government. The redress of
grievances will be the condition of granting sup
plies. Thus the raeetings of convocation for the
purposes of deliberating on the affairs of the
church, and of raaking regulations for its disci
pline, have been suffered to grow into entire dis
use. The grievances of the church are un
redressed, and the corruptions which unavoidably
attach to all human institutions, unless met by
preventive or remedial interference, have been
permitted to accumulate. Whenever a remedy
has been administered, either through its ineffi-
cacy, or the unskilfulness of its application, it has
frequently aggravated the disease.
One reason for altering the mode of ecclesiasti
cal taxation at this period was the increasing
wants of the state, in consequence of an impolitic
war with Holland. The grounds of hostility
VOL. III. I

114 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, were slight, and its object unpopular. War was
 !  comraenced against a presbyterian and a repub
lican country, and conducted by the duke of
York, a papist. The evils of war were also aug
mented by a domestic calamity of unexampled
magnitude. The kingdom was visited by the
most destructive plague which had ever happened.
It had been preceded by an unusual drought,
which destroyed all food for the cattle, and occa
sioned among thera a fatal contagion. This con
tagion extended at length to the huraan race. It
began in the raetropolis, but spread itself araong
the neighbouring towns and villages, till it had
swept away alraost one hundred thousand of the
population of England.
Under this afflictive visitation of Providence,
the English clergy, with a benevolence and a for
titude above all praise, resolved to remain in their
stations, and to supply the wretched sufferers
with spiritual consolation. Sheldon, the highest
in station, was the most forward in these labours
of love. His activity at this perilous crisis, in
sending circular letters to the bishops of his pro
vince, soliciting pecuniary aid, preserved numbers
who would have perished, and his conduct will
endear his memory to the latest posterity.
To many of the nonconformists the sarae tribute
of praise is due ; but others taking possession of
the vacant pulpits, converted this calamity to the
worst of purposes. They represented the plague
as a just judgment of Heaven on the iniquities of
the nation ; and those iniquities consisted in the
profligacy of the court, and in silencing the pres
byterians. It was also notorious that the presby-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 115
terians, as well as the republicans, actively pro- a.d.
moted the cause of the Dutch in the War now—l^
raging ; and sorae of the latter party suggested
an invasion of England and Scotland.
This conduct was reported to the court, which
had removed first to Salisbury, and then to Ox
ford ; and in a session of parliament which was
held there, it was brought before the legislature.
Clarendon, in his harangue to the house, in
veighed against the whole body of the presby
terians, accusing them of being in confederacy
with foreign eneraies and doraestic traitors. "Their
countenances," he said, "are raore erect and in
solent since the beginning of the war than before ;
they were ready, if any misfortune had befallen
the king's fleet, to have brought the war into our
fields and houses. The horrid murderers of our
late royal master have been received into the
most sacred councils in Holland, and other in
famous persons of our own nation are admitted
to a share in the conduct of their affairs, with
liberal pensions *." Whatever may be thought of
the intemperance of this language, it must be con
cluded, that plots were at this time forming
against the government, and that these plots were
at least encouraged by the presbyterians. But
the evidence of defeated plots is always dis
putable, while the laws which are enacted to pre
vent or punish them are recorded, and these laws
remain when the plots and their authors are sunk
into oblivion. It was not therefore an unprovoked
and gratuitous display of persecution, though it
was a measure of excessive rigour, to introduce a
* Life of Clarendon.
i2

116 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, bill, which, when it had passed through the estates
^^' of parliament, was called the Five Mile Act *.

October. The language which Clarendon had used in
his harangue was echoed in the preamble of this
billf. The ejected presbyterians who had re
fused to subscribe the Act of Uniformity were
accused of preaching in unlawful assemblies, and
of instilling the poisonous principles of schism and
rebellion into the people, to the great danger both
of the church and kingdora. To reraedy this
evil, all nonconforraist ministers were required to
take that oath of non-resistance, which the clergy
had already taken in the Act of Uniformity.
The oath declared it unlawful, " under any pre
tence whatsoever, to take arms against the king,"
either against his person or against those who
were " coramissioned by him." It also contained
a promise not to endeavour to effect " any change
or alteration of government, either in church or
state." All who refused this oath were pro
hibited to corae within five miles of any city, cor
porate town, or borough, or within the sarae dis
tance of any parish wherein they had formerly
officiated. It raust be observed, that this bill was directed
against one class of men only, the nonconformist
ministers, and that the prescribed oath had been
already imposed on all the clergy. Many of the
arguraents used against it were for this reason
irrelevant. In the commons it experienced some
opposition. Vaughan, afterwards chief justice of
* Stat. 17 Car. II. c. 2.
t It is remarkable that Clarendon, in his life, takes no
notice of the Five Mile Act.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 117
the common pleas, moved that the word " legally" a.d.
might be inserted before the words " commissioned  -
by the king." Finch, the attorney general, said,
that the insertion was needless, since, unless the
commission were legal, it was in fact no com
mission ; and to render it legal, it must be issued
for a lawful purpose, to lawful persons, and in a
legal forra.
But in the house of lords, where the strength
of the nonconformists lay, the opposition was
vigorous, though not combined. The support
was also not given by the adrainistration in con
cert, for the lord treasurer, Southarapton, is re
ported to have said that he himself could not take
the oath ; that however strong his attachment to
the church might be, yet as affairs were now
managed, he did not know that he raight not en
deavour to effect an alteration. Earle, bishop of
Salisbury, forraerly sub-preceptor to the king, de
clared his dissent frora the bill, though he was
unable to oppose it in his place, and did not live
to witness its enactraent. On the other hand, the
bill was supported by Clarendon, Sheldon, and
Ward. The last named prelate had been in early
life an ornament of the university of Carabridge,
where he had brought raatheraatical learning into
repute, before it was still farther advanced by
Barrow and Newton. Frora Carabridge he was
ejected for refusing the Covenant ; but subraitting
to take the Engagement, he held the professorship
of astronomy in Oxford. He was afterwards
elected president of Trinity college, but at the
restoration resigned the headship to its rightful

118 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, possessor. In his opinions he was always inclined
to episcopacy and raonarchy, and the return of
Charles was soon followed by the promotion of
Ward to the prelacy. He was an acquisition to
the bishops in parliaraent, for he was not only a
close reasoner but an admirable speaker, and in
the house of lords was equalled only by the earl
of Shaftesbury *.
With such support the bill was carried through
the house of lords, and all abatements and qualifi
cations were rejected. When the bill had passed
into a law, the nonconforming ministers were
reduced to great difficulties. They had no in
clination to take the oath, and they scarcely knew
how to dispose of themselves without obeying the
law. Their friends endeavoured to persuade com
pliance, by explaining and softening its most of
fensive terms. It was refused by Baxter, and by
Philip Henry, one of whom stated his reasons
largely, the other summarily, for* the satisfaction
of their conscience. Bridgman, chief justice of
the common pleas, having explained that the pro
hibition of unlawful endeavours to change the
government was intended, but that this did not
preclude controversy. Bates and about twenty
others took it, to avoid the imputation of sedition.
But the main body of the nonconforming teachers
chose rather to forsake their habitations, their
relatives and friends, than to submit to the oath.
Great numbers were thus buried in obscurity;
others who pertinaciously continued to preach
* Life of Seth Ward, by Dr. W. Pope.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 119
were sent to prison, while a few, terrified by the A. D.
penalties attached to a violation of the law, were  -
brought to a reluctant and insincere conforraity.
While the nation was suffering under the
scourge of war, and scarcely after it had re
covered from the visitation of pestilence, public
calamity was consummated by the fire of London.
At the end of the summer a conflagration broke
out in the midst of the city, and for three days
raged with unabated fury, when on the fourth
day it ceased almost as suddenly and as wonder
fully as it began.
Though it would be unnecessary and irrelevant
to describe the extent of this calamity, yet it is
not either, to state the conflicting opinions on its
cause. Accident has been seldom if ever assigned,
but there has been a general agreement in im
puting it to design. At first it was attributed
to some emissaries from Holland, and a proposal
of this nature Had been intimated to the pension
ary De Witt, by whom it had been indignantly
rejected. Then it was fastened on English re
publicans, in concert with foreign enemies ; and a
confession had been made of such a design by
some who were executed. At length it was
charged on the papists ; and surmise having
ripened into conviction, and conviction being
taken for certainty, the accusation was deliberately
inscribed on the Monument *.
* The line of Pope is so trite that it almost requires an
apology to -quote,
" Like a tall bully hfts its head and lies."
The duke of Buckingham, upon a visit from bishop Sprat,

120 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. There is no stronger reason for charging the
^^'  fire of London on the papists than on the non
conforraists. It was prognosticated by religious
fanatics of all descriptions, and it was represented
as a just judgment of Heaven on a sinful nation.
The reflection of a historian is too apposite and
too candid to be withholden. "After weighing
the circumstances, we can still make no exact de
termination; but to judge on the charitable, and
perhaps probable side, we may say, that the be
ginning of this dreadful fire was the judgment,
and the end of it the mercy of Heaven, for neither
of them seem to have been the effects of human
means and counsels."
The conduct of the duke of York on this awful
occasion, when contrasted with that of the king,
confirmed the suspicions of the citizens, and the
report of his participation in the plot, for the
conflagration of London was disseminated with
great industry. It gained the popular credence
when the duke avowed his religion, and he was
even placed at the head of the conspiracy.
Parliaraent seeraed to have irabibed a consider
able portion of the popular spirit, for they pe
titioned the king to renew his proclamation re
quiring all popish priests and Jesuits to leave the
told him, " I have been thinking of two proper lines for the
Monument : " Here stand I
I know not why."
The bishop suggested the following couplet to be added ;
" But if I fall
Have at you all."
Grey's Examin. of Neal's Hist. v. 4.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 121
kingdom within a month. A comraittee was ap- A. d.
pointed to investigate and to receive evidence _^^
upon the subject. The papists who were charged
with being engaged in the conspiracy fled, except
one Hubert, of whom it is doubtful whether he
was a papist or a Huguenot, but was indubitably
a lunatic. He was apprehended, brought to trial,
and condemned on no other evidence than his
own confession, in which confession he persisted
at his execution.
So fatal had been the issue of the Dutch war,
so extensive had been the ruin induced by the
successive calamities of pestilence and fire, that
the king found it alraost impossible to preserve
public credit, and to supply his own prodigality.
He was advised that sorae degree of popularity
might be regained by conciliating the sectaries,
if not the papists. The late penal laws against
both had driven them to exasperation or de
spair; and these laws were not unjustly attri
buted to the counsels of Clarendon. Charles suf
fered himself to believe that he might acquire some
degree of public favour, though not of esteem, by
removing his faithful minister from the court.
This was the advice of all his favourites, and it
unhappily agreed with his own corrupted feelings.
The earl of Bristol, who was the ostensible leader
of the papists, and the earl of Arlington, who
was secretly a papist, though the public and poli
tical enemy of popery, were united in undermining
the credit of the chancellor. Buckingham di
rected against him the shafts of sarcastic wit,
Ashley assailed him with vituperative eloquence.
These were formidable enemies ; and if these

122 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, had not been sufficient, he would have been the
 victim of female intrigue.
Clarendon was unsuited to the profligacy and
venality of Charles and his court, and Charles
could no longer endure the silent reproofs and the
too magisterial deportment of Clarendon. The
loss of his master's confidence the chancellor had
long felt, but he was unprepared for the commu
nication of his son-in-law the duke of York, that
the king had resolved to take from him the great
seal. He had recently lost the only colleague on
whose fidelity he could rely ; for Southampton
had yielded to a painful disease, and though
Christian fortitude supported him during the trial,
nature was exhausted. He had still more recently
lost the wife who had shared his sorrows and his
joys. Yet he had friends whom the want of royal
favour could not alienate. Sheldon, forgetting his
usual suavity of teraper, and assuming the bold
ness of a Christian teacher, abashed the dissolute
prince, by pointing out the real cause of his ingra
titude to his ancient friend and servant *. When
Burlington and Moriey were advertised of the in
tention of his enemies to venture on a parliament
ary impeachraent, they solicited an interview with
the ex-chancellor. They iraplored hira to repose
a confidence in their attachment, and candidly to
impart to them whether any real matter of accu
sation could be brought against him ; they inti
mated that he best knew if any charge could be
* " Sir, I vidsh you would put away the woman you keep."
Burnet's Hist, of his Own Times.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 123
preferred with truth ; but falsehood was infinite, a. d.
and could not be guessed at. His reply was wor  '-
thy of his character ; that if, either in his foreign
negociations, or in his judicial decisions, any in
stance of corruption could be fairly laid to his
charge, he would be contented to forfeit all pre
tensions to their friendship.
After all the different ordeals through which
the character of Clarendon has been tried, it is
unhurt. Nothing can be said against his probity,
though much may be said against his prudence.
He fell into that raistake which he iraputes to
Laud, of supposing that integrity is a sufficient
safeguard; and he did not bear contradiction with-
that temper which selfish, artful, and designing
men are careful to preserve. Sheldon had saga
city to foresee the effects of his inflexible spirit,
and complained that it had involved himself in
ruin, and the church in danger*.
The same consciousness of honesty guided him
throughout the sequel of his persecution. When
the articles of impeachraent were exhibited against
him, amounting to twenty-three in number, he
desired his second son to acquaint the house of
comraons, that, for the sake of expedition, he
wished the managers to select any single article
which they thought raost capable of proof ; and if
that single article could be substantiated, he would
acknowledge hiraself guilty of all. His enemies,
knowing his strength and their own weakness,
declined to accede to so honourable a proposal.
On the contrary, taking advantage of some late
* Carte's Life ofthe Duke of Ormond, vol.ii. p. 350.

124 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, precedents too disgraceful to be recorded, and far
^^- iTinrR so to be followed, the commons sent up to
the lords a general impeachment of high treason,
without alleging any special matter ; and on this
general charge demanded that the delinquent
should be coraraitted to prison. So flagrant a vio
lation of justice was resented by the lords as it
deserved, especially since they were expected to
be the instruraents of its coraraission. They urged
that a general charge was not sufficient to injure
reputation, and still less was it sufficient to de
prive a man of liberty. But the violence of the
comraons, though repressed by the lords, was fo
mented by the court ; and even the king was sup
posed to have employed his personal solicitations
with some of the peers, and to have requested that
Clarendon might be consigned to custody.
After many debates, conferences, and protesta
tions, the majority of the peers continued unawed
and unmoved. They magnanimously adhered to
their resolution against the committal, and the
comraons accused the lords of a denial of justice.
This difference of opinion between the two houses
would have been increased into an open rupture,
if the king had not resorted to an expedient which
would terminate the whole business. The duke
of York was sent to prevail with Clarendon to
withdraw hiraself from England, with assurances
of protection. It was imprudent in Clarendon to
coraply with this request; it was disgraceful in
the king to make the proposal. Clarendon reluc
tantly yielded, and partly to serve the king, partly
to save his family, partly to prevent enmity be
tween the king and the duke of York, and above

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 125
all, to avoid being the occasion of a breach be- a.d.
tween the two houses of parliaraent, he Was a vo- -

luntary fugitive, and becarae a legal exile. Nov. 27.
When he had reached Calais, he addressed a
letter to the house of lords, containing the raost
soleran asseverations of his innocence, and attri
buting his departure neither to a fear of conse
quences, nor to a consciousness of guilt ; but pro
tested that he withdrew hiraself to avoid the ob
struction of public business, and of occasioning a
breach between the two houses of parliament.
This conduct on the part of Clarendon was fol
lowed by the Consequences which raight be ex
pected. The house of coramons voted his apolo
getical letter to be seditious, and conveying a re
proach on " the king, and the public justice of the
nation." They desired that the lords would order
it to be burnt by the hand of the hangman, and Decemb. 9.
' ° Burnt De-
to this request the lords acceded*. A bill was cember 12.
brought in, banishing him from the English do
minions, under the penalties of treason, either in
case he should return, or in case he should not re
turn, and surrender himself to justice before a
limited tirae. It was also raade treasonable to
hold any correspondence with hira without leave
of the king, and the crown was restrained from
granting a pardon to him, unless with the consent
of parliament.
Still the bill did not pass without much opposi
tion. It was objected that the course of law
against any delinquent who fled from justice was
known, and that it was a manifest violation of
* Journals of the Lords.

126. HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, equity, to make all correspondence with the earl
—111— of Clarendon treasonable, when he himself was
not attainted of treason. The duke of York inter
posed with the king to mitigate the severity of
the bill, or to refuse his assent ; but the king
throughout the whole transaction displayed a ve
hemence, though not an obduracy, foreign to his
natural disposition. The bill not only received
the royal assent, but was hurried on by royal in-
fluenfce. The fall of Clarendon was unlike that of many
other men possessed of high station, but destitute
of inherent greatness and elevation of mind. The
concluding portion of his life, which he passed in
banishment, was perhaps the most useful, and cer
tainly the most happy. He spent his seven last
years at Rouen, among papists and presbyteriansi
against whom he had entertained an aversion,
arising perhaps from reason, but strengthened
into an antipathy as unreasonable as if it had pro
ceeded frora prejudice. That his opinion of po
pery was not changed, his letter to his daughter
on her supposed conversion to the church of
Rome, is an irrefragable proof.
In his retirement, he did not suffer his raind to
prey upon itself, but devoted it with assiduity to
reading and composition. It was there that he
justified his innocence frora the calumnies of fac
tion ; it was there that he proved his claim to the
praiise not penuriously awarded by one who had
no partiality for his opinions ; that he was " the
best of writers, the best of patriots, and the best
of men*." It was there that he finished his im-
* Dr. Warburton.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 127
mortal history, it was there that he composed a. d.
his incomparable Reflections on the Psalms of  L
David*. To attempt the delineation of one who excelled
most historians in his portraiture of eminent men,
is a task from which a prudent writer would
shrink. Let it be sumraarily given in the paternal
maxim, which was indelibly engraven on his
heart ; he never sacrificed the laws and liberties
of his country to the will of a prince.
* Life of Clarendon, vol. iii. Svo. ed.

128 HISTORY OF THE

CHAPTER VIL
Attempts of Charles to reinstate the Roman Catholics. — Pro
posals for comprehending the Nonconformists within the
Church. — Opposition of Parliament. — Further Severities
enacted against Dissenters. — The Cabal. — Declaration of
Indulgence.
chap; From this period in the reign of Charles to its
 -  termination, a melancholy prospect opens to the
view. The king was now enabled to raake a
steady progress towards arbitrary power, till he
became the pensioner of France and the tyrant of
England. The duke of York was soon tempted
to throw off his disguise, and to make a public
avowal of his religion. The court was given up
to the most shameful profligacy, which it sup
ported by an unlimited extravagance.
Yet the advances towards despotism over a na
tion which had overthrown even a constitutional
monarchy, raust have been checked, if the opposi
tion to the court had not been capricious and cor
rupt. It had no other leader who deserved the
name than Ashley, afterwards earl of Shaftesbury,
and " under his contaminating influence" those
who attempted to oppose the oppressive tyranny
of Charles " exposed the cause of liberty to the
most imminent peril*," and themselves to indigna
tion or contempt. •
It was not strange that the ingratitude which
* Hallam's Constit. Hist, vol.ii. pp.300. 301.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 129
Charles had shewn to Clarendon, should vent it- a. d.
self on those whom he could not injure either in ^^^^'
fortune or in reputation. On no class of raen was
it more abundantly bestowed than on those pre
lates who were the friends of the exiled minister.
Sheldon retired from court with visible marks of
displeasure ; Moriey was removed frora the dean
ery of the royal chapel, and departed to his dio
cese. He accused the clergy at the council board
of encouraging dissent by their negligence in the
pastoral care.
Buckinghara at this time held the ostensible
situation of prime minister, and probably advised
that the royal speech at the opening of the ensu
ing parliament should recommend an union of his
protestant subjects. But the house of comraons, Feb. lo.
not participating in this change of opinion, peti
tioned that a proclaraation might be issued, en
forcing the laws against unlawful assemblies of
papists and nonconformists. ,
When the great seal had been taken from Cla
rendon, it was given to sir Orlando Bridgraan,
the chief justice of the common pleas, whose re
putation in the court in which he presided was
deservedly high. But this reputation decreased
when he was removed to the court of chancery.
His moderation degenerated into diffident timidity,
and his patience into irresolution. This disposi
tion probably induced him to unite with sorae
leading men in the church and araong the dissent
ers, to effect a coraprehension.
Wilkins, a narae well known in the philosophi
cal as well as the religious world, was recom
mended by Buckinghara and Bridgman to fill the
VOL. III. K

130 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, see of Chester. The proraotion was without the
^^^' consent, and contrary to the opinion, of Sheldon ;
but when it was effected, he handsomely expressed
his esteem for the new bishop*. To Wilkins,
Bridgman assigned the task of prevailing on his
brethren of the church to accede to a treaty of
union with the nonconformists ; and a man who
had formed an universal language, and who con-
teraplated the possibility of a voyage to the moon,
could not think it above his capacity to engage in
a project, which was not, like the one, vast, nor,
like the other, visionary.
In this undertaking was associated the narae of
sir Matthew Hale, a man on whom to pronounce
an eulogy would be a waste of words. His mode
ration towards those who differed from him was
as large as his confidence in his own matured
opinions was firm. His own example was that of
strict, conformity with the church of England, in
contradistinction to the peculiarities or novelties
of the presbyteriansf. Whatever might be his
tenderness towards nonconforraists, yet the fol
lowing opinion of their Christian prudence is in
existence, though not judicially recorded. He al
lowed that the separatists might be good men,
* Before Wilkins was settled in his bishopric, a certain
person addressed Sheldon, and desired his recommendation
to the new bishop for a piece of preferment in his gift.
" No," rephed Sheldon, " that I can by no means do; it
would be a very unreasonable thing in me to ask a favour
from one whose promotion I opposed." Life of Bishop Ward,
by Dr. Walter Pope.
t He used the liturgy ; he had a pecuhar veneration for
Christmas Day ; he received the communion kneeling.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 131
but they must have narrow souls, who would a. d.
break the peace of the church about such in---!^
considerable matters as the points of difference
were *.
Hale was willing to enlarge the terras of con
forraity, as he could not expect to instil liberality
into the rainds of the nonconforraists, and his pre
dilection for the society of Wilkins engaged hira
with raore alacrity in the association. Tillotson
certainly, and Stillingfleet probably, was. consulted
on the scherae ; and araong the presbyterian rain
isters, Baxter, Bates, and Manton were invited
to a conference. These received certain proposals,
which they were requested to coraraunicate to
their brethren.
The propositions were drawn up under distinct
articles, referring to ecclesiastical discipline and to
the liturgy. Under the first general head ; that
those ministers who had not received episcopal
ordination should receive iraposition of hands
frora a bishop, with a forra of words not invali
dating presbyterian ordination ; that instead of
all other subscriptions, the oaths of allegiance and
supremacy only should be imposed, with a decla
ration subscribed of conforraity to the doctrine,
worship, and discipline of the church of England ;
that the posture of kneeling at the coraraunion,
the cross in baptisra, and bowing at the narae of
Jesus, should be left indifferent, or taken away;
and that if the liturgy and canons were altered
in favour of the dissenters, then every preacher
* Burnet's Life of Sir M. Hale.
K 2

132 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, should declare his assent to them, and promise
 '. — conformity *.
There were several alterations proposed in the
liturgy, but they differed in no material circum
stance from those suggested by the presbyterians
at the Savoy Conference. Baxter demanded far
ther that the subscription might be confined to
the doctrinal articles of the church ; that the
power of bishops, and of the ecclesiastical courts,
might be limited ; and that the baptismal cove
nant might be explicitly avowed by all who came
to the Lord's Supper. But these were at once
rejected, because there was no probability that
they would be admitted by parliament.
Besides these proposals for a comprehension,
others for a toleration were coramunicated by
Baxter to Owen, the Coryphaeus of the inde
pendents, and were in effect these : 1, that such
protestants as could not be included, or would not
accept a coraprehension, raight enjoy the public
exercise of their religion ; 2, that the naraes of
all persons enjoying this liberty raight be regis
tered, with the names of their teachers ; 3, that
every person enjoying this liberty might be ex
empted from performing any public office, on
payment of a fine for its non-performance ; 4, that
such persons should be discharged from all the
penalties iraposed on nonconformity, provided they
paid all public and parochial duties f .
After these terras had been considered, after
'" Life of Baxter. Neal's Hist. vol. iv. c. 8. Burnet's Hist.
of his Own Times, vol. i.
t Life of Baxter, part iii. p. 24, part ii. p. 433.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 133
certain abatements and explanations had been a.d.
offered and accepted, a bill was prepared by sir_i!^
Matthew Hale, to be brought in at the ensuing
session of parliament. But two parties appeared
vigorously against the design ; the one consisted
of zealous clergymen, who thought it below
the dignity of the church to alter the existing
laws for those whom they esteemed schismatics ;
the other consisted of courtiers, who wished to
shelter the papists from the execution of the
laws. They thought, and not without reason,
that a comprehension of the presbyterians would
be followed by a prohibition of the public exer
cise of the Romish religion. No toleration for
popery was a grand presbyterian maxim, and the
penal laws against the presbyterians seemed only
a just retaliation for their own intolerance and
persecution *.
The project of presbyterian comprehension hav
ing been communicated by Wilkins to some of
the moderate bishops, and particularly to Ward,
bishop of Salisbury, seemed to promise success.
But Ward, though the early friend and admirer
of Wilkins, appears to have changed his senti
ments with his elevation. Instead of forwarding
the design, he concerted raeasures to frustrate it.
As soon as the parliament met, notice was taken
that there were rumours out of doors of a bill
to be offered for comprehension and indulgence ;
on which intiraation a resolution was passed
that such a bill should not be introduced into the
house. On the petition of the house, a procla- Feb. is.
* Life of Sir M. Hale, by Burnet. Birch's Life of Til
lotson, pp. 42, 52, 193.

134 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, mation was obtained from the king, enforcing the
 '¦ — laws against the nonconformists, and particularly
the Five Mile Act.
Thus the severity of the house of commons
against the presbyterians, so far from being
abated by the banishment of Clarendon, was in
creased, and the laws were executed with greater
rigour than before. A committee was appointed
to inquire into the behaviour of the nonconforra
ists, and it reported that conventicles and sedi
tious meetings were holden even in the vicinity
of parliaraent, in defiance of the laws, and to the
danger of the peace of the kingdora. The duke
of Albemarle, at the close of life, was employed
to disperse these conventicles by force, and was
rewarded by the thanks of the house for his zeal
in the important service. Baxter was committed
to prison for preaching in his own house, and for
refusing the nonresisting oath ; and though he
was soon liberated on account of an informality in
the comraitraent, yet he found it convenient to
withdraw frora the raetropolis *.
The king professed that all this severity was
contrary to his inclinations, and coramunicated
to some of the nonconforraists his desire that
they would petition hira for relief. An address
was in consequence presented by Manton, Jacorab,
and Bates, and their reception from the king was
gracious, and his promises were flattering, though
insincere. The reasonableness of toleration became at this
time a subject of controversy, and was warmly

* Baxter's Life, part iii. p. 49.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 135
debated without the doors of parliaraent. Many a. d.
books were written to expose the doctrines of the _J^^
presbyterians as leading to antinoraianisra and
licentiousness of raanners. Many tracts of a
lighter cast were written to expose their affected
sanctity of raanners, and their indecent applica
tion of scriptural phrases to the ordinary pur
poses of life. Of the serious attacks, " The
Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a
Nonconformist" ought to be mentioned with due
approbation. Its author was Patrick, afterwards
bishop of Ely, a man of great learning and of an
exemplary life. The tract itself has been de^
preciated by presbyterians, and by the friends of
the presbyterians ; but they may consistently de
preciate a production which they h|jVe been un
able to answer *.
Such was the corruption of the court, that it
encouraged the satires against the presbyterians
and other sectaries, because they tended to bring
all religion into disrepute. The stage was era-
ployed for this unworthy purpose f, on which
not only nonconforraity was ridiculed, but reli
gion was laughed out of countenance. The
history of these tiraes is a deraonstration that
fanaticism is favourable to the growth of infi
delity. * Baxter, Burnet.
t " I remember," says sir M. Hale, " that when Ben
Jonson, in his play of the Alchymist, introduced Anartus
with many of the presbyterian misapplications of scriptural
phrases, the play was detested ; but now the presbyterians are
brought upon the stage, and scripture is quoted with ap
plause."

136 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. In the house of commons the equally unpromis-
^^^" ing, and more unchristian mode of reducing the
^^^'^' nonconformists by persecution, was followed with
April, unwearied perseverance. When the Conventicle
Act had nearly expired, it was revived, with the
addition of sorae clauses of unprecedented cruelty*,
and the court coincided with the commons, frora
a hope of obliging the presbyterians to petition
for a general toleration. A severe pecuniary
mulct was imposed on all persons who were pre
sent at any religious exercise differing from the
liturgy of the church of England, and the fine
was heavier on those who preached at such exer
cises. A single magistrate was authorized to
enter any house or place, in which he had been
informed such a meeting was to be held, and to
disperse the assembly by force. This law has
been stigmatized in no measured, and not in
exaggerated terms, as destroying the bulwark of
English liberty. It punished the innocent for
the guilty, by subjecting the husband to a penalty
for the conduct of his wife, and it protected those
who were able to pay the fines, while it affected
those whose poverty prevented payment. Its
inevitable tendency was to influence magistrates
to partiality, and to sanction public informers.
May 7. Unhappily the persecuting spirit of the com
raons was encouraged by the prelacy. Sheldon,
in a circular letter to the bishops of his province,
exhorted all ecclesiastical judges and officers to
watch with vigilance all who frequented conven
ticles, and to call in the aid of the civil magis-
* Stat. 22 Car. II. c. 5.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 137
trate for their suppression, according to the act a. d.
lately passed. Sheldon, by this letter, testified —^^
his approbation of the law ; Wilkins, while it was
in progress through the house of lords, spoke
against it with great force. When the king desired
him privately to withdraw his opposition, he fear
lessly replied, that he thought the measure incon
sistent with conscience and policy ; and since by
the laws and constitution of England, and by
the king's favour, he had a right to debate and
vote, he was neither afraid nor ashamed to avow
his opinion. It is too evident that this act was
levelled, not against sedition or factious noncon
formity, but against liberty of conscience; and
so effectually was it executed, that for some time
after its enactraent, there was not a conventicle
to be heard of throughout England. Many of
the leading presbyterians in the city of London
were about to remove into Holland.
An act, which is alike repugnant to justice, to
policy, and to humanity, it is impossible to de
fend ; but it was an act of the legislature, not of
the church. Like the other penal laws against
the dissenters, it was framed rather on a civil and
a political, than on a moral and religious account,
and always upon some fresh provocation in reality
or in appearance *. This apology may in some
raeasure exculpate the church, but it is an in
sufficient defence of the act itself.
The nonconforraist ministers invented every
contrivance, and took every precaution in their
power, to keep within the letter of the law. They
* Echard.

138 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, preached frequently to large families with only four
^^^"  adult strangers, and as many under the age of six
teen as chose to attend : they selected those places
in which they might be heard by the inmates of
several adjacent houses. But after all their pre
cautions infinite mischief ensued, families were
impoverished and disunited, friends were divided,
general distrust prevailed araong the members of
the same household, and treachery was encou
raged in servants against their masters.
As far as this period, the king and his par
liament had maintained a tolerable agreement,
on account of the large supplies which had been
granted to feed the profligate extravagance of the
court. In return for these, Charles was willing to
increase the liberties of his people, and even to
diminish his own rights. But having received
assurances of pecuniary aid from France, he re
solved in future to govern by the force of his
prerogative, and if he could not render his par
liament subservient to his wishes, to govern with
out it. His prime ministers and favourites en
couraged this scheme, and this junto is suffi
ciently known under an appellation, which the
initials of their names justified, the Cabal.
The characters of the five who formed the
cabinet have been sufficiently unfolded in the
narrative of some previous transactions in which
they participated ; of the political life of Shaftes
bury, however, a continuous account must be
interesting. He was the soul of the cabal while
it subsisted; when it was defunct, his restless
spirit pervaded other counsels, and presided over
other deliberations. Extraordinary were his ta-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 139
lents, and not less extraordinary their direction, a.d.
His learning was superficial, but his knowledge ^^
of mankind compensated for want of learning.
No raan had so great a command of words, or
had such an irresistible influence over a popular
assembly. He had come into parliaraent before
he was twenty, and was on the side of the king,
yet the bad faith of prince Maurice furnished
him with an excuse to take the side of the par
liaraent. To Crorawell he was of great use in
opposing the enthusiasts of those days, and to
Charles he was the raost dangerous of all coun
sellors. Tergiversation was not only his prac
tice, but his boast, and he valued hiraself on
changing his party at the opportune season.
In religion he was a Deist, but with the not
unfrequent superstition of unbelievers, he had a
confidence in astrology. Placing his political in
consistencies, as far as it is possible, out of sight,
the present undertaking demands a relation of
his devious and unsteady course towards his pro
fessed idol, religious liberty.
When he held a subordinate place in the ad
ministration, his own indifference to religion, and
the partiality of Arlington to the Roman catho
lics, had drawn in Manchester, whose interest
was with the presbyterians, to propose to the
king an indulgence for liberty of conscience.
Without the knowledge of Clarendon or South
ampton, this raeasure was brought forward in
the house of lords, and supported by Shaftesbury
with great sharpness of wit, who spoke " with
a cadence in his words and pronunciation that
drew attention." The grand maxim which he

140 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, here recoramended was, that the Roman catholics,
^"' and all other sectaries, should purchase irarau-

nity frora penal laws by a yearly tax ; which in
the honest indignation of Southampton was de
scribed as a project to get money at the expense
of religion ; and in the bolder language of Cla
rendon, as the impost of religious ship-money*.
Frora this time Shaftesbury took the side of
universal toleration, even of popery, and opposed
no obstacles to the design of Charles of intro
ducing it under the wing of the prerogative, and
of increasing the prerogative, by dispensing with
the laws. To this design the foreign policy of
the court was rendered subservient, for a secret
treaty was concluded with France, and a new war
was declared against Holland.
With that jealousy of prerogative which be
longs to a representative government, the house
of commons penetrated into the king's motives.
They saw that the nonconformists were prose
cuted with the greatest severity, while the penal
laws were relaxed in favour of the papists. They
had liberty of resorting to mass at the houses of
foreign ambassadors, and even their other chapels
were uninvaded. The commons, therefore, deemed
it expedient to represent both the causes and the
remedies of this grievance in an address to the
March 10 king. The causes of the increase of popery were
stated to be, the nuraber of Jesuits, the popish
chapels in all great towns, the public sale of
popish books, the general remissness of magis
trates, the right of popish presentation to bene-
* Life of Clarendon, p. 246.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 141
fices, the education of youth in foreign popish a. d.
seminaries, and the great insolence of the papists ^'^''^'
in Ireland, where prelates, created by the pope,
appeared publicly, and assumed a jurisdiction.
The remedies proposed for the correction of these
abuses were the expulsion of all priests and Jesuits
by proclaraation, except the attendants on foreign
ambassadors, a prohibition against an attendance
on raass, and other exercises of the Roraish reli
gion by any of the king's subjects, a disraission of
all popish recusants frora offices or eraployraents
of trust and authority. It was farther recora-
raended to issue frora the exchequer processes
against all papists convicted of recusancy, and to
send for the pretended priraate of Ireland, and
the titular archbishop of Dublin, to answer the
charges preferred against them.
The king promised to take the address into his
consideration, but expressed a hope that he might
be allowed to distinguish between the recent con
verts to popery, and those who had been educated
in the Romish religion. He complied so far with
the address as to issue a proclamation declaratory
of his adherence to the true religion as it was
established in his kingdoras, and of his resolution
to eraploy the utraost care and zeal in its defence.
But at the close of the parliamentary session the
Cabal openly prosecuted their scheme of making
the king absolute. National faith and public
credit were sacrificed with equal unconcern ; the
one was broken by the seizure of the Dutch fleet
on its return from Smyrna; the other was de
stroyed by shutting up the exchequer, and the
violation of property.

142 HISTORY OF THE

CHAP. Two days after the seizure of the Smyrna

VII

1672.

.fleet, Shaftesbury proposed in council a suspen
sion of all penal laws against the nonconformists,
whether popish recusants or protestant dissenters.
The proposal was received with approbation by
the raajority. It was plausibly argued that the
suspension would operate beneficially, and that
it would be for the service of the church of
England. Indulgence to the dissenters would
strengthen its interests, and forra a bond of union
araong all protestants. By some who were not
solicitous about religion, this measure was ex
claimed against as the assuraption of an illegal
power to suspend and virtually to repeal all the
laws. To such objectors Shaftesbury indignantly
replied that a sirailar power had been exercised
by queen Elizabeth, and even by the present
king with respect to the Act of Navigation. He
laid down the broad position, that a governraent
could not be supposed, whether monarchical or
otherwise, without a standing, supreme, executive
power, fully enabled to raitigate, or wholly to
suspend any penal law, in the intervals of the
legislative power ; and that it would rest with
the legislature on its reassembling, to deliberate
whether the suspension should be continued, or
the operation of the law be renewed *.
March 15. At length the Declaration of Indulgence, after
it had been comraunicated to the French king,
was published. Its language was specious, but
the spirit which lurked beneath it could not be
* Locke. " A Letter from a Person of Quahty to his Friend
in the Country."

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 143
disguised. It began with a review of the con- a.d.
duct of governraent towards the church, since '^^^-
the Restoration, proving that the royal care over
its interests had been incessant, by " the raany
and frequent ways of coercion" for reducing dis
sent, and for composing " differences in matters
of religion." But the experience of twelve years
had shewn that " all these forcible courses" had
been ineffectual, and therefore the king thought
hiraself obliged to make use of that supreme
power in ecclesiastical matters which had been
recognised by several acts of parliament. In the
first place he repeated his resolution and inten
tion to preserve the church of England entire in
its doctrine, discipline, and government ; and that
it be taken as " the basis, rule, and standard of
the general and public worship of God ;" and
that the orthodox clergy should alone receive and
enjoy the revenues of the church ; no person,
though of a different opinion and persuasion,
should be exempted frora the payraent of his
ecclesiastical dues. Farther, it was declared that
no person should be capable of holding any bene
fice or ecclesiastical dignity in the kingdora of
England who was " not exactly conforraable."
But after this reservation of all the rights and
privileges of the church, the royal will and plea
sure was signified, that all manner of penal laws
in ecclesiastical matters against every sort of non
conformists or recusants should be immediately
suspended ; and that there raight be no pretence
for the continuance of any illegal raeetings and
conventicles, the king signified his intention of
allowing a sufficient nuraber of places for the

144 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, use of such as did not conform to the church of
^^^' England. To prevent any disorders and incon-

veniencies arising from this indulgence if not duly
regulated, and to ensure protection to those who
merited it, the place of raeeting and the teacher
of the congregation were to be allowed and ap
proved by the crown. To shew, however, that
this allowance and approbation was not difficult to
be obtained, it was to be extended to all classes of
nonconformists and recusants, except the recusants
of the Roman catholic religion. To these, public
places of worship were in no case to be allowed ;
they were to experience only the coraraon ex
emption from the penal laws, and to enjoy the
exercise of their worship in their private houses.
Variously as this declaration was received, the
extremes of triumph and displeasure were felt
by the papists and the friends of the church*.
These estimated the indulgence as it deserved to
be considered, as preparing the way for the intro
duction of the Romish religion. The bishops
took alarm at the publication of this manifesto
from the court, and Henchman, bishop of London,
exhorted his clergy to preach against popery ra
ther than nonconforming protestants. The king,
irritated by this conduct, complained to Sheldon,
that controversial topics were handled in the pul
pit for the purpose of inflaming the people, and of
alienating them frora himself and his government;
and the archbishop, fearing that he might be
pressed again upon the subject, convened sorae of
* " The conformists displeased, the presbyterians glad, the
independents very glad, the papists triumph." Life of P.
Henry.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 145
the clergy, to consult what answer ought to be re- a. d.
turned to the king, in case he repeated his com-_i!!?L
plaint. Tillotson suggested this reply, that, since
the king hiraself professed the protestant religion,
it would be a thing without precedent, that he
should forbid his clergy to preach in defence of a
religion which they believed, and which hiraself
professed*. What was the teraper of the nonconforraists on
the publication of the Declaration, is a point on
which even their own historians are not agreed ;
the raotives of the government are thus repre
sented by one of their most popular writers :
" The beginning of the Dutch war raade the court
think it necessary to grant an indulgence that
there might be peace at home while there was
war abroad, though much to the dissatisfaction of
those who had a hand in framing all the severe
laws against themf."
Though the duke of York had now avowed
himself a papist, and though the duchess had
been suspected of conversion to the church of
Rome, previously to her death ; yet this Decla- ob.
ration was so far frora alarming or offending the ^^n.
protestant nonconformists, that the presbyterian
ministers of London came to the king in a body,
with Manton at their head, to offer their thanks
and congratulations. Most of the presbyterian
clergy availed themselves of the indulgence, and
took out licenses from the crown for the- exercise
of their religious worship.
To silence the clamours of such as saw the ul-
* Birch's Life of Tillotson. t Baxter's Life.
VOL. III. I'

146 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, terior raotives and consequences of the indulgence,
 '¦ — or to blind the eyes of those who were unwilling
to see them, the crown bestowed pensions on the
principal ministers of the presbyterians, though
not of the independents. Baxter properly and
honourably sent back his pension ; Pool, the author
ofthe Synopsis, was contented to receive it. Owen,
the leader of the independents, resents the accusa
tion as a malicious falsehood ; but his denial only
goes so far as to exculpate hiraself. He does not
venture to affirra, that the dissenters did not re
ceive pensions from governraent to secure their
silence, if not their approbation*.
It raay be true that the high minded dissen
ters rejected the indulgence, and maintained that
they ought to be satisfied with nothing less than
a comprehension. It is certain that the friends
of a limited monarchy reprobated it as an en
croachment on the rights of parliaraent, and an
invasion of the liberties of the people. When
the Declaration was prepared, the lord chancellor
Bridgraan refused to affix the seal to it, as being
contrary to law. His refusal was no obstacle ; he
was disraissed from his station, and the highest
situation in the law was filled by a man who had
not a legal education. How he conducted himself
in this post, where natural sagacity must have
supplied the want of technical skill, raust be told ;
but history will lay down the pen, and join in the
strains of poetry : —

* Grey's Answer to Neal. Patrick's Friendly Debate. Bur
net's Hist, of his Own Times.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 147
" Yet fame deserv'd no enemy can grudge ; A. D.
The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge. '^'
In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abbethdin
With more discerning eyes, or hands more clean ;
Unbrib'd, unsought, the wretched to redress,
Swift of dispatch, and easy of access.
Oh ! had he been content to serve the crown
With virtues only proper to the gown ;
Or had the rankness of the soil been freed
From cockle, that oppressed the noble seed ;
David for him his tuneful harp had strung,
Nor Heaven have wanted one immortal song *."
* Absalom and Achitophel.

L 2

HISTORY OF THE

CHAPTER VIIL
Continued Efforts of Charles to acquire arbitrary Power. —
Conduct of Shaftesbury.— Origin of the Test Act. — Pro
jected Marriage of the Duke of York with the Princess of
Modena. — Change of Ministry. — Successful Measures of
the Earl of Danby. — Death of Sheldon. — His Character.
CHAP. During the interval which elapsed between the
^^^^" public appearance of the Declaration of Indulg-
fe?? ence and the raeeting of parliaraent, an interval
Feb. 4. of a. year, the nonconforraists made use of their
liberty in a manner which merited praise. They
were diligent in exposing the errors of popery.
Long did the king protract the assembling of
his parliament, but his necessities at length com
pelled him to submit his conduct in foreign and
domestic affairs to its judgment. He laid before
the two houses the reasonableness and urgency of
the war in which he was engaged, and having re
comraended the commons to grant the requisite
supplies for enabling hira to continue it, he at
length adverted to the ungrateful topic of his
Declaration of Indulgence. Of this measure he
said that he had already seen the good effects, and
therefore was resolved to abide by it. The lord
chancellor, Shaftesbury, enlarged on the several
heads of the king's speech, and having vindicated
the relaxation of the penal laws against the non
conformists, magnified the king's zeal for the pro
testant religion and the church of England.
Widely different from the opinion or the pro-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 149
fessions of the king and of the chancellor was a. d.
the temper of the house of comraons. Whether ^"^^-
or not they looked to the secret but inevitable
tendency of the raeasure, whether or not they
were more willing than forraerly to abate the
terms of nonconformity, is a question not mate
rial; they almost unanimously agreed that the
Declaration was an infringement of the constitu
tion. They declared against the dispensing power
in the crown, and argued, that, however the king
raay possess such a power in cases of felony, he
had no right to authorize a violation of the laws,
by proraising a pardon antecedent to the corarais
sion of the offence ; and that if the king could thus
inderanify offenders whom he encouraged to break
the laws, parliamentary legislation was nugatory.
An objection was raised on the other side, that a
distinction ought to be raade between penal laws
in ecclesiastical affairs, and other offences ; and
that the royal supremacy gave a peculiar and un
controlled authority in ecclesiastical causes. This
was evident frora the toleration granted solely by
the royal authority to the Jews, and other foreign
churches. But to this argument it was answered,
that, in asserting the royal supremacy in eccle
siastical affairs, the law intended merely to ex
clude all foreign jurisdiction, not to render the
authority of the crown in ecclesiastical matters
despotic. This authority, as it was originally de
fined, so it ought to be afterwards controlled and
regulated by law. The cases of the Jews and of
the foreign congregations were either irrelevant,
or proved the contrary of the argument which
they were cited to prove ; the one being only con-

150 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, nived at, and the other being excepted by a spe-
^™' cial clause from the general penalties of the Act of

Uniformity. After a mature consideration of the subject, the
Feb. 10. comraons passed the following resolution: That
penal statutes in raatters ecclesiastical cannot be
suspended unless by act of parliaraent ; that no
such power had ever been clairaed by any of the
king's predecessors ; and therefore that the late
Declaration of Indulgence was contrary to law,
and tended to subvert the legislative power, which
had been always acknowledged to reside in the
king and his two houses of parliaraent. In pur
suance of this resolution they addressed the king
to recall his Declaration.
Charles did not recede from the step which he
had already taken in his progress towards arbi
trary power without an effort to keep his posi
tion. He answered, that he was concerned to see
his power in ecclesiastical matters questioned, a
power which had been undisputed in the reign of
his predecessors ; that he did not pretend to sus
pend those laws which concerned the rights and
properties of his subjects ; that he never thought
of using this branch of his prerogative otherwise
than for the peace and establishment of the church
Febraary. of England ; and that his only design was to take
off the penalties inflicted by statute on dissenters,
which he believed even the commons would not
wish to be executed according to the rigour of the
law. It has been argued with great force, that if the
raotives of the commons had been friendly to tole
ration; if they had objected to the Declaration,

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 151
not on account of its granting relief to noncon- a. n.
forraists, but raerely on account of its illegality ; ^"^^^
they had now a fair opportunity of legalizing it,
by offering to convert it into an act of parliaraent*.
But they adopted a different course ; they stopped
the supplies, and presented a second address, in
sisting on a full and satisfactory assurance that
this act of the crown should not be construed into
a precedent, an assurance which, after some delay,
was obtained.
Now was the crisis when the king raust either
choose between yielding to the remonstrances of
the commons, dissolving his parliament, or re
sorting to sorae illegal method of raising supplies.
To raise supplies was impossible, for public credit
was destroyed by the late nefarious act of shutting
up the exchequer ; to dissolve the parliaraent was
hazardous, for another might be raore vigilant of
the public expenditure ; nothing reraained but to
satisfy the commons by revoking the Declaration.
Before the decision was finally taken, the court
tried the temper of the house of lords. Clifford
asserted the prerogative, not with any force of
arguraent, but with intemperance of language.
Shaftesbury, to the amazeraent of the whole house,
dissented from his colleague. He said, that, how
ever his opinion raight lean, as that of others did,
to the supreraacy ; however he might once have
thought that this supreraacy warranted the Decla
ration ; yet since such a house of commons, so
conspicuous for its fidelity and affection to the
king, had determined otherwise, he raust subrait
his reasons to so high an authority. The com-
* Gough's Hist, of the Quakers, vol. ii. p. 374.

152 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, mons were the king's great council; they were to
^^"" advise and support him ; they had done both : and

to secure their support it was necessary to follow
their advice.
March 8. However the duplicity or the cowardice of
Shaftesbury might have irritated the king, yet
Arlington was on the sarae side ; and Charles's
necessities pleaded raore strongly than any of his
counsellors. He therefore carae to the house,
and, having pressed the coraraons to dispatch the
raoney bill, he added ; " If there be any scruple
yet remaining with you concerning the suspen
sion of the penal laws, I here faithfully proraise
you, that what has been done in this particular
shall not for the future be drawn into exaraple
and consequence ; and as I daily expect frora you
a bill for my supply, so I assure you I shall as
willingly receive and pass any other you shall
offer me, that may tend to give you satisfaction in
all your just grievances." After saying this, he
called for the Declaration, and broke the seal with
his own hands.
The commons followed up the advantage which
they had gained ; they were now disposed to dis
tinguish between the protestant dissenters and
popish recusants ; to give some relief to the one
without including the other ; especially since the
nonconforraists who sat in the house disclairaed
the dispensing power, even when it was exerted
in their own favour. But the impending danger
of popery absorbed every other concern, and re
conciled every conflicting interest.
Though the laws against popish recusants were
sufficiently severe, yet papists were employed in

CHURCH OF ENGL.\ND. 153
the highest places of trust and profit. Clifford, a.d.
the great financial minister of the kingdom, was a  11
warm and bigoted adherent of the church of
Rome, and the duke of York was at the head of
the navy. The coramons, feeling their strength,
still detained the supplies, and ordered a bill to be
brought in, to limit all places of profit and trust
to those who were in communion with the church
of England. The raode by which this fact was
ascertained gave rise to the title of the Test
Act*.
By this law, all persons holding any office, civil
or railitary, were obliged to take the oaths of alle
giance and supreraacy, and to receive the sacra-
raent of the Lord's Supper according to the usage
of the church of England. In addition to this,
they were required to subscribe a declaration
against transubstantiation. The object of this
bill could not be raistaken, for, while it was di
rectly levelled against the papists, it was only ob
liquely airaed at the presbyterians, who were the
most formidable body of nonconforraists. They
were in the habit of frequenting the churches oc
casionally for the purpose of receiving the Lord's
Supper ; in some churches the standing posture of
the communicant was connived at; and even in
those churches where kneeling was rigidly en
forced, it might be conscientiously complied with,
when accompanied by the authoritative explana
tion of the rubric, that no adoration of the sacred
elements was intended.
During the progress of this bill through the
lower house, the court endeavoured to prevent it
* Stat. 25 Car. II. c. 2.

154 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, by dividing the church and the dissenters ; but in
^"^- this attempt it was frustrated by the manly con
duct of the dissenting merabers. One of the re
presentatives of the city of London*, while the
debates were carrying on concerning the Decla
ration, spoke against it with great warrath, assur
ing the house that the dissenters would rather go
without their desired liberty, than have it in a
way so detriraental to the nation, so destructive
of the liberties of his country, and of the pro
testant interest ; and that in saying this, he spoke
the sentiraents of the whole body of presbyterians.
In the debate on the Test Act, the sarae individual
again interposed, when a proposition was raade
for sorae regard to the interests of protestant dis
senters. He hoped the clause suggested in their
favour would occasion no intemperate heat, and,
since the bill was likely to prove so strong a bar
rier against popery, he moved that it might pass
without any alteration. " When this work is
finished, then," observed the speaker, " we the
dissenters will try if the parliament will not dis
tinguish us frora popish recusants by sorae marks
of their favour ; but we are willing to lie under
the severity of the laws for a time, rather than
clog a more necessary work with our concerns."
Such being the sentiraents of the leading dissen
ters within, if not without parliament, the bill
went through the commons with cheerful unani
mity. It had been the king's practice during some
late sessions, to be present at the debates of the
house of lords, a practice which could not be
* Alderman Love.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 155
legally construed into a breach of privilege, but a. d.
which was clearly repugnant to the spirit of the ^^^^'
constitution. At first his presence operated as a
restraint on the freedora of debate ; but as it be
carae farailiar, it ceased to coraraand respect, and
it encouraged the peers to utter salutary, though
unwelcome truths, in the ear of their sovereign.
While the debates on the Test Act were carrying
on in the house of lords, the king punctually at
tended, to watch the conduct of his ministers.
Of these debates it is to be lamented that no
authentic record exists*, for they were sorae of
the most important which have ever occurred in
the annals of parliaraent. Those scattered parti- March.
culars which have been collected by historians are
too valuable not to be preserved with scrupulous
care, and read with anxious curiosity. All the
courtiers, and all the ministers, with the exception
of the chancellor, maintained it to be an indis
putable prerogative of the king to employ any of
his subjects, of whatever religion they might be.
The chancellor is accused of having been the au
thor of the Test Act, but he was incontrovertibly
its advocate, and an advocate the most formidable
to his opponents. It is however not easily to be
reconciled by posterity, that he should have sup
ported two raeasures so diaraetrically opposite as
the Test Act and the Declaration of Indulgence.
He cannot, at this point of his public life, be consi
dered as the charapion of religious liberty.
Next to the conduct of Shaftesbury, that of the
earl of Bristol was the raost remarkable ou this
* Ralph's Hist, of England, vol. i.

156 HISTORY OF THE
cH.\p. occasion. Although a papist, and at one time
^.yii^L- affecting to be the head of the Romish interest, he
spoke in favour of the bill, and characterized it in
the following terras : " This bill, ray lords, is, in
my opinion, as full of moderation towards catho
lics, as of prudence and security towards the reli
gion of the state. In this bill, notwithstanding
all the alarms of the increase of popery and de
signs of papists, here is no mention of banishing
them from a private and modest exercise of their
religion ; no banishing them to a prescribed dis
tance from court, no putting in exercise penal
laws against thera. All the precautions are re
duced to this one interest, natural to all societies
of raen — that of hindering a sraaller opposite
party frora growing too strong for one that is
greater and raore inconsiderable." And he con
cluded thus handsoraely in giving his assent :
" Upon the whole raatter, however the sentiments
of a catholic of the church of Rome, not of the
court of Rome, raay oblige me upon scruples of
conscience to give my negative to this bill ; yet as
a raeraber of a protestant parliaraent, ray advice
cannot prudentially but go along with the main
scope of it, the present circumstances of time and
affairs considered, and the necessity of composing
the disturbed minds of the people*."
March 25. Thus Supported, the bill could not but pass,
and the royal assent was reluctantly given. Clif
ford resigned the treasurer's staff with sullen in
dignation ; the duke of York surrendered his em-
* Rapin's Hist, of England, vol. ii. b. 23. Echard's Hist.
of England, vol. in.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 157
ployments with tears. Arlington had lost the fa- a. d.
vour of the duke more than of the king; Shaftes  ^^^^"
bury had equally lost the favour of both. But the
hope of his future services in office, or the dread
of his abilities in opposition, induced the king still
to continue him in the chancellorship.
The commons had no sooner passed the bill for March 15.
the test, and sent it up to the house of lords, than
they unanimously resolved to bring in another for
the relief of protestant dissenters. Its substance
was, that the benefit of the relief should be ex
tended to all who would subscribe the doctrinal
articles of the church of England, and take the
oaths of allegiance and supreraacy ; that to all
such, exeraption frora declaring assent and consent
to the Book of Common Prayer should be offered ;
that they should not be subject to any penalties
for meeting for the performance of religious exer
cises, provided that every teacher gave notice of
the place of his meeting, and took the requisite
oaths, and made the requisite subscriptions. But
though the bill was brought in, it either went no
farther than a second reading in the commons*^
or it was dropped in the house of lords f on ac
count of the speedy prorogation. The latter is March 25.
the more probable surmise, for the king was in
haste to terminate a session in which he had been
so signally defeated.
But before the close of the session the coramons
addressed the king, praying that the laws raight
be enforced against papists and Jesuits, which was
* According to Burnet. t According to Echard.

158 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, followed by the customary proclamation, com-
 1_ manding them to depart the realm.
In the interval which elapsed before the next
meeting of parliament, another event happened
which portended the greatest danger to the pro
testant religion. The duke of York, at the con
clusion of the last session, was known to have en
tered into a negotiation for a marriage with the
princess of Modena ; yet there was scarcely time
for an address by parliaraent to prevent so dan
gerous a union. Such an interposition would then
have been seasonable ; but it was deferred till the
interference was too late.
October. One of the first acts of the house of coramons
when parliaraent reasserabled was an expression
of their dissatisfaction at the projected alliance.
The duke was already married by proxy, and the
princess had been conducted by lord Peterborough
as far as Paris, when the coraraons voted an ad
dress to the king, that she should not be per
mitted to land on English ground, unless she re
nounced the church of Rome. Before the address
could be presented, the duke prevailed with the
king to prorogue the parliament for a week, a
measure which was nearly frustrated by the dila
tory acquiescence of Shaftesbury. When the week
of prorogation had expired, the motley and unin
telligible speech from the throne did not prevent
the coramons from resuraing the subject. An ad
dress was voted, to which the king did not con
descend to return an answer. The coraraons, in
censed at this rudeness, again stopped the sup
plies, voted the standing array a grievance, and

CHURCH OF ENGL.^ND. 159
were proceeding to other vigorous resolutions ; a.d.
when the king suddenly sumraoned thera to the ^^^'^'
house of peers, and prorogued thera, after a ses
sion of only nine days.
So justly alarraed were the highest characters
of the nation by the danger which menaced its re
ligion, that the duke of Ormond joined the minis
ters Shaftesbury, Arlington, and Coventry, in re-
coraraending to the king the removal of his bro
ther from the court. Charles listened to their
advice so far as to mention it to the duke, but it
was followed by the dismissal of Shaftesbury.
When once the seals were taken from hira, his
hostility to the court was no longer restrained by
raoderation, or even by decency ; for the violence
of his passions was equalled only by the flexibility
of his policy. The other merabers of the Cabal
were threatened with an impeachment ; Bucking
ham, and even Arlington, to compromise their
own safety, joined the self-called patriots, and
vented their raillery on the king and his bro
ther. The administration of public affairs was now
confided to raore honest, if not to raore able hands.
When Clifford resigned the treasurer's staff, it Created eari
was bestowed on sir Thomas Osborn, afterwards''
earl of Danby, who was to repair an exhausted
treasury, and, which was more difficult, to restore
public credit. The great seal was entrusted to
sir Heneage Finch, afterwards earl of Notting
ham, " a person of the greatest and the most un
corrupted integrity ; a thorough master, and a
zealous defender of the laws and constitution of
his country ; and endued with a pervading spirit

160 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, that enabled him to discover and to pursue the
______ true spirit of justice*."
Finch and Danby from principle, and Lauder
dale frora policy, avowed their attachment to the
church of England. Finch bestowed the ecclesi
astical patronage belonging to his high office on
the most worthy men, and he raade residence on
their benefices a condition of their preferraentf.
Sheldon and Moriey were sent for to court, and
the new ministry settled a scheme with thera, by
which it was proposed to crush all the designs of
popery t-
The raarriage of the heir presumptive with a
princess of the Romish religion not only called
forth the animadversion of the comraons, but in
duced some of the clergy to attempt a second tirae
a coraprehension with the presbyterians. Charles
was at last persuaded to see that the sense of his
council and the voice of his people called on hirti
to support the church, with a strict hand upon the
papists, and a moderate restraint on protestant
dissenters. He commanded his own inclinations,
and issued a declaration to prevent the increase of
popery; while at the sarae time he recalled his
licenses to the nonconforraists, granted in pursu
ance of his Declaration of Indulgence.
Not long before the licenses were recalled, Bax
ter had openly declared from his pulpit that it
was not in opposition to the public churches that
he kept up a meeting, but to provide for the spi-
* Blackstone's Comment, b. 3. c. 4.
t Burnet's Hist, of his Own Time, vol. i. b. 3.
t Ibid.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 161
ritual wants of the people. From this concession A. d.
it was confidently reported that Baxter intended  1
to conform ; and frora his own authority it is
certain that he drew up sorae propositions for a
comprehension, at the request of the earl of
Orrery. It is said that even Moriey and Ward
were not disinclined to relax, if some concessions
were offered by the presbyterians. On receiving
some encouragement from these prelates, Stilling
fleet and Tillotson invited Baxter, Manton, Pool,
and Bates to a conference, for the purpose of
discussing terras of accommodation.
But it was soon found that not a single abate
ment would be made by the presbyterians from
the terms proposed by the Savoy Conference, and
delivered a second time to Wilkins and sir Mat
thew Hale. A release from the oaths of canoni
cal obedience and assent to the liturgy, subscrip
tion to the doctrinal articles only of the church,
and a discretionary corapliance with its cere
monies were laid down as the basis of a compre
hension. It is not surprising that such a scherae
should be rejected by Moriey and Ward, and that
J^illotson, who was less tenacious of ecclesiastical
discipline than either of these prelates, should
decline any farther raediation *. He plainly said
that the scherae of Baxter was not likely to
receive the concurrence of the bishops, nor the
countenance of the king.
Whether it was seen that a sacrifice would be
atterapted of the essential doctrines and the pecu-
* Letter from Tillotson to Baxter, Life in Eccles. Biog.
vol. vi.
VOL. III. M

162 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, liar discipline of the church, in order to effect a
J^2^!L_ comprehension of the presbyterians; or whether
it was supposed, that, by guarding the church
with new securities, popery would be effectually
crushed *, is an alternative which will be adopted
April. as the subject is variously seen ; but with the
approaching session of parliaraent a plan was de
vised, equally disliked by the papists and by the
presbyterians. A bill was brought into the house
of lords, iraposing the nonresisting oath, or the
oath which had been iraposed on the presbyterian
clergy by the Five Mile Act, on all merabers of
parliament, and on all who voted at elections of
merabers, and finally on all who enjoyed any
beneficial office or employraent, ecclesiastical, civil,
or railitary. This bill has been coramonly, but
improperly called the Bishops' Test, for it was
the project of Danby f .
The bill was supported by Finch, and among
the bishops by Moriey and Ward. They argued
that it was necessary to find some criterion of
discrimination between loyalty and sedition ; and
as the late civil war had originated in the preva
lence of bad principles on religipn and govern
ment, it was fit to prevent the recurrence of such
a calamity, by establishing principles which were
sound. The king had granted a full indemnity,
which had been religiously observed ; but there
* "The duke acquainted rae with this scheme. He dis
liked it much. He thought this would raise the church party
too high. He looked on them as intractable in the point of
popery." Burnet, vol. i. b. 3.
t Ralph's Hist, of England. Burnet's Hist, of his Own
Time, vol. i. b. 3.

CflURCH OF ENGLAND. 163
was no reason for leaving the kingdom exposed to a. d.
^the machinations of bad men. Though it was-i^^
not fit to make the parliaraent perpetual, yet it
was a less evil than to incur the hazard of a bad
election, and when a good constitution was in
danger, it was prudent to preserve it by all pre
cautionary methods. No man was compelled to
take the test, but those who were not willing to
give a pledge of their affection to the government
should be contented with its protection without
aiming at any share in its adrainistration.
The bill was opposed by men of different senti
ments in religion, and by men of no religion at all.
By the papists it was disliked, because they fore
saw that this test, if carried, would lead to
another, by which they would be excluded from
parliaraent. By all who were, or who wished to
be thought the friends of civil and religious
liberty, it was still raore warraly reprobated. At
the head of the band of patriots was Shaftesbury,
seconded by Buckinghara, Hollis, and Halifax.
They said of the bill, that no conveyancer could
have drawn up a dissettlement of the whole birth
right of England in raore compendious terms.
There ought to be no tests in elections of repre
sentatives, but the oath of allegiance, and in pub
lic assemblies all tests were contrary to public
liberty. If parliament thought any law incon
venient or detrimental, it was free to propose an
alteration, and no previous liraitation could bind
the legislature. Oaths and tests were not only
mischievous, but they were no security : the
scrupulous might be fettered by thera, but the
generality of raankind would blindly take a test,
M 2

164 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, and as fearlessly break it. The matter of this
^"^" test was objectionable ; to swear that it is unlaw
ful to take arms against the person of the king,
is generally, but not universally, the same as to
deny the unlawfulness of resisting his authority.
There might be instances when the royal person
and the royal power must be separated. An
infant king or a lunatic were exceptions, as was a
king in the hands of his enemies. It was not less
unreasonable to swear, not to attempt any alter
ation in the existing government. Every new
law was an alteration, and it was not easy to de
fine how far the power of raaking alterations
raight be allowed to go, and where it ought to
stop. In the opposition Shaftesbury went beyond the
rest of the patriots in his boldness of illustration,
and in the application of his argument. On no
occasion were his eloquence and acuteness so forc
ibly exerted. He pointed out in strong colours
the absurdity of condemning all resistance upon
any ground whatsoever. It might be proper to
impose this test on those who had military ap
pointments, or on the members of corporations,
because there was still a superior power in parlia
ment to declare the extent of the oath ; but it was
an act of political suicide to impose such an oath
on the legislature. There might be cases, though
he did not mean to say that they were likely to
occur, in which no man could be rash enough to
say that resistance would be unlawful. If a king
wanted to make England a province or a de
pendency on France ; if he endeavoured to en-
slave'his country by calling in the assistance of a

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 165
French or any foreign army ; if he attempted to a.d.
bring it into subjection to the authority of the_l!!^l
pope ; in all these cases no raan would say that it
was unlawful to resist.
Never in the records of parliaraent had any
measure of legislation occasioned such a fierce
and protracted contest. Five days of aniraated
debate preceded its coraraittal ; sixteen or seven
teen raore were consumed in the coramittee, the
sittings being continued till late in the evening, or
even till midnight. It was discussed paragraph
by paragraph, and on each paragraph a question
was raised, and though the court gained every
step, at every step thus hardly gained a protest
was recorded. The bill would have been carried
according to all fair calculation, if the tempestuous
violence of the two houses on a question of privi
lege had not rendered a sudden prorogation of
parliament indispensable. The ministry had not June 9.
sufficient strength to renew the question ; and the
debates in the house of lords having been pub
lished, with a view of inculpating the court and
hierarchy, were ordered to be burnt.
It is certain that the king was friendly, and
that the duke was hostile to the nonresisting
oath, and that the king, to advance his power,
would willingly have assented to it, even though
accompanied with a disclaimer of making any
alteration in the church. The fact is rendered
indisputable, from the proposal of conciliating the
protestant dissenters having been abandoned by
the government, and therefore pressed earnestly
by the opposition. In the next session Bucking- October.
ham, having been changed into a patriot from a

166 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, courtier, moved for leave to bring in a bill of
__!^!!!_ toleration in the following strain: "My lords,
there is a thing called liberty, which, whatsoever
some men raay think, is what the people of Eng
land value most, from which they will never part,
and that which the king in his speech has pro
mised to regard with especial care. This, my
lords, can never be secured without giving an
indulgence to protestant dissenters. It is cer
tainly a very uneasy kind of life to any man who
has either Christian charity, humanity, or good
nature, to see his fellow subjects daily abused,
divested of their birthright, and miserably thrown
out of their possessions, only because they cannot
agree with others in some opinions and niceties of
religion, to which their consciences will not give
them leave to consent, and which, even by the
confession of those who would impose them, are
in no way necessary to salvation."
This speech was entered on the journals of the
coraraons, and the house of lords granted leave to
bring in the bill, but it shared the fate of the non-
resisting oath. It was lost by the sudden proro
gation of the parliaraent, and was never renew
ed, till it was established on a firm basis, and on
it was raised the fabric of the British constitu
tion. At the opening of this session the king laid
before the comraons the great difficulties under
which he laboured from the anticipation of his
revenue, and it was generally thought that his
necessities would oblige hira to resort to other
counsels, if parliaraent refused to grant supplies.
But the money bill was rejected by a small majo-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 167
rity, and the dispute between the two houses on a. d.
the question of privilege was renewed.  -1—
The refusal of the coramons to grant the sup
plies, and their obstinacy on the question of privi
lege, induced sorae of the lords to propose an ad
dress to the king for a dissolution of the parlia
ment. It was said that a parliament of long con
tinuance would be an engine used by the crown
for the destruction of English liberty, or would
oppose the crown factiously in order to gain
popularity. In either case it would be detri
mental to the constitution. To the surprise of
all, the duke of York joined in the address, but
the bench of bishops being opposed to it, the
motion was negatived. A prorogation ensued
for fifteen months, which occasioned a question,
whether so long a prorogation did not araount
to a dissolution.
Despairing of obtaining pecuniary aid from a November.
refractory house of coraraons, Charles resorted to
his ally the king of France. The honest spirit of
Danby could not bend to this disgraceful conduct,
and while his sovereign was privately receiving
French money, he openly inveighed against the
French interest. In spite of the wants of Charles,
and his baseness in supplying thera by such means,
Danby gained that ascendancy in the councils of
England which his integrity demanded, and his
successful adrainistration warranted. It required
all his skill and all his probity to restore the sink
ing credit of the nation, and he effected his object,
not by crouching to France, but by opposing
French influence and principles. Popery and
arbitrary power were evils against which he con-

168 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, stantly declaimed, and which he sincerely laboured
VIII. . \
 to avert.

1676. Supported by Nottingham, who in this critical
time held his high station with general approba
tion, with a fair degree of confidence frora the
king, and without any suspicion of undue compli
ance in the parliaraent, Danby sought to strengthen
the ecclesiastical establishraent by a conscientious
disposal of ecclesiastical patronage. In the height
of his power, a vacancy occurring in the see of
London, he succeeded in promoting to this situa
tion of influence in the church Compton, a brother
of the earl of Northampton. This person, after
Trans. from having received an academical education in Ox-
Oxford, /• 1
Dec. IS. ford, and having raade the tour of Europe, era-
braced a railitary life. But his disposition in
clining hira to a life of peace, he entered into holy
orders at the age of thirty. Such an education
was not likely to furnish hira with any high
degree of theological knowledge, and in fact his
learning was superficial. But his taste was not
despicable, his love of natural history was strong,
and, which was raore to the purpose, his assiduity
in the discharge of his episcopal functions was ex-
eraplary. In his opposition to the nonconforraists
he exhibited great zeal, and perhaps it was "a
zeal without knowledge ;" but he did more than
confute thera by arguraent, he sharaed them by
his indefatigable diligence in his pastoral duties.
He was not less an enemy to popery than to non
conforraity ; he was the patron of converts frora
the church of Rorae among his countrymen, and
of those foreign protestants who sought refuge in
England from its tyranny. The frequent oppor-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 169
tunities of access to the king to which his station a.d.
entitled hira, enabled hira to prefer his complaints  -
of the general insolence of the papists, and the
extraordinary arrogance of Coleman, the duke's
secretary ; and so powerful were his representa
tions, that the king insisted on Coleman's dis
missal. To preserve the protestant succession,
he was solicitous to keep the heirs to the crown
in the profession of the protestant faith ; he
caused the princesses Mary and Anne to be in
structed in Christianity, and administered to thera
the solemn rite of confirraation. If Compton me
rited the eraphatical appellation of the protestant
bishop ; if he possessed uncoraraon spirit and
resolution at a crisis when these qualities were
more useful than profound learning ; let the pa
tron of Compton have his share of the praise ;
let the proraotion of Compton be adduced as an
evidence of the sagacity of Danby, and of his
regard for the protestant religion.
When the parliament once more assembled
after its long prorogation, the question was raised
whether it was not virtually dissolved ? By the
common law or custom of England, a parliaraent
was to be holden " every year," and hence it was
inferred that a parliaraent, which had intermitted
its sittings during the whole of the preceding-
year, was in fact dissolved. Shaftesbury was at
the head of the party which espoused this side of
the question, and which, if his patriotism had
been pure, he would not have agitated. He
must have foreseen that the comraons would be
incensed at this discussion, and that to dispute
their right to be considered as a part of the

170 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, legislature would bind them more firmly to the
^"^' crown, and incite them to undue corapliance with
its raeasures. This question was not long in
being brought to a decision, but a second ori
ginated frora it, whether those peers who had
agitated it were not liable to censure? This
question was in two days decided, but not in the
raanner which Shaftesbury expected ; for, not
withstanding the opposition of Halifax, it was
carried affirmatively, and Shaftesbury, together
with three other peers *, was sent to the Tower.
The debate on the legality of parliament had
the effect in the house of coraraons which had
been anticipated, for they were inflaraed against
Shaftesbury and his adherents. They cheerfully
voted supplies, and, to raeet the exigencies of the
state, renewed some unpopular taxes which were
on the point of expiring. But, with the excep
tion of this too ready compliance in the profuse
expenditure of the crown, the session was highly
popular and highly useful. The protestant cause
was supported, religious liberty was asserted, and
the French interest was opposed by espousing
March 15. the side of Holland. An address was presented
^^' to the king on the growth of popery; a bill was
brought in for the security of the protestant
religion, by educating the children of the royal
family therein ; and the punishment of burning
for heresy was abolished. These acts, the result
of enlarged views, were chiefly the acts of Danby.
An agreement there certainly was between Danby
and the duke of York, but it was such an agree-
¦'* Duke of Buckingham, earl of Salisbury, lord Wharton.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 171
ment as admitted no compromise of the protest- a. d.
ant religion ; it was the ascendancy of a supe  -
rior mind over one which is inferior ; and the
repeal of the sanguinary punishment of heresy,
though supported by the duke of York, belongs
to the lord treasurer, not to the heir presump
tive. To crown the policy of Danby, and to give ¦
perpetual security to the protestant religion by
opposing a bar to the predominating influence of
France, a negotiation was begun, and, contrary
to all expectations, was brought to a successful
issue ; namely, an alliance between the eldest
daughter of the duke of York, and Williara,
prince of Orange. Nothing seemed more im
probable than such an event, especially at such
a tirae, though it was earnestly desired by all
protestants at home and abroad. But, in spite
of the insuperable difficulties which appeared to
prevent such a raeasure, it was accoraplished by
the prudence and perseverance of Danby. The
king was first gained by this sagacious minister ;
he forcibly represented that such a marriage
would be for the interest of the reigning sove
reign, and still raore so for the heir presuraptive.
The people were now possessed with an idea that
the next heir to the crown was a papist, and were
apprehensive of the consequences to their liberties
and religion ; but, if they saw the daughter of
the presuraptive heir raarried to a prince who
was at the head of the protestant interest, their
apprehensions would be quieted. They would
be convinced that his religion was personal, and
not political. The duke of York was at first

172 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, astonished and raortified at the proposal, but the
^"^' -persuasions of the king induced hira to give his

consent, and to give it with seeraing cordiality.
The intelligence was received throughout the
nation with expressions of the most lively joy,
a joy which was heightened by its contrast with
the gloom which pervaded the comparatively few
who adhered to the French interest and to the
religion of the church of Rorae. How import
ant this event was in laying the foundation of
civil and religious liberty, was fully known at
this time. The duke of York well knew its
consequences, and he knew its author, for he
never pardoned Danby.
Nov. 4. A raarriage which diffused such unfeigned sa
tisfaction throughout the nation, was followed
Nov. 9. almost imraediately by a loss which spread gene
ral grief over the church. Full of years and
honour Sheldon died, and for the close of his
life has been reserved a survey of his character
and of his conduct in his exalted station.
Sheldon was early known in acaderaical life,
and joined the literati who assembled at the con
versations of the accoraplished Falkland in the
vicinity of Oxford. In " learning, gravity, and
prudence," he was not inferior to his conterapo-
raries, but he excelled them in a polished urbanity
of manners, arising frora Christian benevolence.
" Pleasant he was, perhaps too pleasant," is the
reraark of a splenetic writer ; but it is difficult to
say how that pleasantry can be excessive which
never violates morality or decorum. The dignity
belonging to his station Sheldon raaintained with
exemplary consistency, and calumny itself has

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 173
never dared to irapeach his Christian purity, a. d.
His deraeanour was as ingratiating as that of—l^lL-
his sovereign, without incurring a similar sus
picion of insincerity ; and he had all the firmness
of Clarendon, unallayed by the cold and repulsive
manners of that lawyer and statesman. His piety
was undoubted, but though he was assiduous at
prayers, he regarded not the practice of divine
worship so much as its use, placing the sura of
religion in a good life. His advice to the youth
of higher quality, who constantly resorted to hira
•by the advice of their parents, was always this :
" Let it be your principal care to becorae honest
raen, and afterwards be as devout and religious
as you please. No piety will be of advantage to
yourselves and to others, unless you are raoral
and honest raen*."
Next to his piety ought to be mentioned his
learning, which the sarae writer who has de
tracted from his other excellences, has allowed
to have been acknowledged "before the wars."
The learning which he was known to possess
before the wars was not likely to be diminished
by the return of peace. It was then also ac
knowledged by all who knew him, and though
it was not of the highest degree, nor of the
largest extent, yet he had sufficient learning to
appreciate and to cherish learned raen. He was
not a profound raetaphysician ; he did not, like
raany of his conteraporaries, engage in opposing
the speculative principles of infidelity ; but if he
* Parker's Hist, of his Own Times. It was a constant
saying of Sheldon, " Do well, and be merry."

174 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, did not confute, he was able to live down many
VIII.
 " Leviathans*." But the name of Sheldon will live in the
grateful recollection of posterity for that virtue
which will continue when "tongues shall cease,
and knowledge shall vanish away." Truly may
his charity deserve the epithet of Christian, for as
in its measure it had no bounds but the extent
of his revenues, so in its objects it had no other
limits than " the household of faith." It was not
only vast, but various ; it was not only practised
in splendid munificence, but in silent and secret
bounty. It was employed, not only in raising the
stately edifices consecrated to learning, but reached
even the pallet of the lazar, and the dungeon of
the captive f.
United to Clarendon by the ties of early friend
ship, and by similarity of principles, the memory
of Sheldon and Hyde is still associated in that
seat of learning which they both adorned, and
which they both loved. To this day those vener
able edifices remain, illustrative of the exalted
characters whose names they bear, of kindred
appropriation, and of rival grandeur. Yet they
stand, and may they long stand, raonuraents of
learning consecrated by religion, and of liberty
guarded by law.
* Echard, in his dedication of his Second Dialogue against
Hobbes. t He expended in public and private benefactions not less
than 63,000?.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 175

CHAPTER IX.
Oates's Plot. — Test Act for Members of Parhament and
others. — Earl of Danby impeached. — Question respecting
the Right of Bishops to vote during Trials for High Trea
son. — Petition for assembling Parliament. — Whigs and
Tories. — Sketch of Gilbert Burnet.
No event was better calculated to develope the a.d.
views ofthe court, and their designs on the pro  '-

testant religion, than the vacancy of the raetro-
politan chair. The selection of Sancroft, in pre
ference to the other bishops, could not but excite
a suspicion that they were not to be trusted, and
the character of the individual who was the ob
ject of proraotion was not such as to allay the
suspicion. Sancroft was raised from the deanery
of St. Paul's to the primacy of all England. To
tally opposite in character to Sheldon, he resem
bled him only in having commenced his progress
towards ecclesiastical dignity in a university.
He had been formerly the master of Emanuel
college in Cambridge, and he was better suited to
a college than a court. His piety, though unde
based by superstition, was that of a recluse; his
learning, though considerable, was that of a ped
agogue. Succeeding to the primacy after Shel
don, he can be corapared only to the retired
Adrian following in the pontificate the raagnifi- January.
cent Leo. His greatest vice was avarice, but
avarice was not strong enough to prevail over his

176 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, integrity. The supposition is neither improbable
^^' rxnr unfair, that he was promoted because he was
not likely to be active, and it was presumed that
a man of so contemplative a teraper would not
counteract the political views of the court. He
was also known to entertain high notions of
royalty, and to inculcate the courtly doctrines of
passive obedience and nonresistance.
No sooner was the nation united by an alliance
with Holland, and a peace concluded at Niraeguen
between the French and the confederated powers,
than the nation was convulsed by a series of plots
both protestant and popish. The first in order
of tirae was the popish plot, represented as a
conspiracy to introduce popery, and to extirpate
the protestant religion. The conspirators were
said to be the pope hiraself, cardinal Howard,
his legate, and the generals of the Jesuits in
Spain and at Rorae. Its object was to assassin
ate the king, and to call the duke of York to the
sovereignty ; but he was to receive the crown as
a gift from the pope, and to hold it as a fief of
the holy see. The evidence by which this plot
was substantiated depended on Titus Oates, a
man who had been successively an anabaptist, a
conformist, and a papist, and at this time was a
conformist again. He had been known to be
guilty of perjury before he engaged in the occu
pation of an evidence, for evidence with him was
in turn a trade.
The whole raetropolis was inflaraed by this dis
covery, and the raurder of sir Edraundbury God
frey, a zealous and active raagistrate, increased the
popular phrensy. This event was deeraed a stronger

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 177
evidence of the reality of the plot, than the dispo- a. d.
sitions of the exceptionable witnesses who vouch- ^^^"'
ed for it; but joined with their testiraony, the
fact was considered incontrovertible. So great
was the alarm, that a considerable nuraber of the
trained bands were drawn out on every night,
watching with as much care as if a general insur
rection was expected before the morning. The
general topics of conversation were designed mas
sacres to be perpetrated by assassins ready for the
purpose, and by recruits from abroad. A sudden
darkness on the Sunday following the raurder of
sir Edraundbury Godfrey was looked upon as
awfully orainous. Young and old participated in
the panic ; not a house was unprovided with arras,
and no one retired to his bed at night, without
the apprehension of being roused frora it by sorae
tragical event *. This feverish state of the pub
lic mind was kept up, not for a few days, but for
many months. The pageantry of mock proces
sions, employed on this occasion, heightened the
aversion to popery, and the resentment against the
supposed conspirators.
The king, whose sagacity was unquestionable,
regarded the plot in the sarae light in which it is
now generally regardedf, as the raanoeuvre of
Shaftesbury. The king naturally said ; " It is
* Calamy's Life.
t Hume says, " There are three sorts of men who are not
to be argued with, but left to their own prejudices ; a Scotch
Jacobite, who beheves in the innocence of Mary ; an Irish
cathohc, who denies the truth of the Irish massacre ; and an
English whig, who believes in Titus Oates's plot." The modern
Enghsh whigs do not believe in it.
VOL. III. N

178 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, not probable that the papists should conspire to
^^'  kill me, for have I not been sufficiently kind to

them?" The answer of Halifax, to whom the
king addressed himself, was smart, but not con
clusive* ; for the silent and gradual advances of
Charles were raore likely to facilitate the designs
of the Roraish church, than the abrupt and hasty
progress of his brother.
It was on the eve of an apjiroaching session
that this plot was contrived, and the teraper in
which the parliament met may be easily ima
gined. Oates made his appearance at the bar of
the house of commons, and the importance which
he had acquired increased his insolence and vanity.
He denounced several peers and comraoners as
the creatures of the pope, and as holding cora-
missions under him which they were to act upon
in the meditated revolution.
A vote was speedily passed by the commons,
that there was conspiracy carried on by popish
recusants against the life of the king and the pro
testant religion. Coleman, the duke of York's
secretary, and five Jesuits, were executed, and
five Roman catholic peers, Stafford, Powis, Arun
del, Petre, and Bellasis were ordered into custody.
A proclamation was issued against papists, and, as
a cliraax, the king was addressed to reraove the
duke pf York frora his councils.
While the exaraination of witnesses on the
popish plot was still going on, and while prepa
rations were making for the trial of the conspi-
Oct. 28. rators, a bill was brought into the house of com-
* " You will only trot, and they want a prince who will
gallop."

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 179
mons, requiring all members of parliament, and A. d.
all such as came into the king's presence, to take a ^^^^'
test against popery, in which not only the doc
trine of transubstantiation, but also the worship
ofthe Virgin Mary, and the invocation of saints,
were renounced, and declared to be idolatrous.
The bill passed through the house of coraraons
without difficulty, but in the house of lords Gun
ning, bishop of Ely, maintained that the church of
Rorae could not be justly charged with idolatry.
He was answered by Barlow, bishop of Lincoln,
and the house of lords, regardless of theological
scruples, passed the bill. Though Gunning had
raised this objection, and had said that he could
not conscientiously take the test, yet when it be
came a law, he took the oath in coraraon with the
rest of the house. An intiraation from the duke
of Norfolk, a Roman catholic, before he submitted
to the operation of the law, recomraending strict
ness and irapartiality in its enforceraent, was re
corded in the journals with approbation*.
The enactraents of the statute f were general,
and consequently were intended to include the
duke of York, or perhaps the law was raade prin
cipally against hira. But he attended in his place
during the debates, and moved a proviso in favour
of himself. He spoke on the occasion with great
earnestness, and with tears. In a tone of abject
supplication unbecoming his birth, he cast himself
on the favour of the house, for the raost iraport-
ant concern which he could have in this world.
* Journals of the Lords, vol. xiii.
+ Stat. 30 Car. II. c. I.
N 2

180 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. He dwelt long on his duty to the king, long on
__i^l_his zeal for the prosperity of the nation; and
solemnly protested, that whatever his religion
might be, it should be only a private raatter be
tween hiraself and his God, and that it should
have no influence on his government. The pro
viso was carried in favour of the duke by two
votes only, and contrary to general expectation it
was carried in his favour by the house of com
mons. Had it been negatived, he must have been
reraoved from the royal councils and presence*.
Yet though the duke had gained this proviso,
so great was the dread of popery, and of its
advancement by his accession to the throne, that
rumours were prevalent of bringing a bill into
parliament for his exclusion. The king thought
it necessary to come to the house in person, and
to give his soleran assurances that he would con
sent to any bills for the security of the protestant
religion, provided they did not impeach the right
of succession, nor the descent of the crown in the
true line, over the rights of any protestant suc
cessor. While Shaftesbury had succeeded in diffusing
throughout the nation a dread of popish machi
nations, and of a popish successor to the crown,
he was carrying on the project of removing Danby
from the councils of his sovereign. The zeal of
this minister for the protestant religion was con
fessed ; his opposition to the influence of France
was notorious; but the patriots of the house of
commons ventured to question both. His agree-
'¦ Sir T. Reresby's Mem. p. 72.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 181
ment with the duke of York was the only proof a. d.
against his being a sincere protestant ; and a  '-
letter written by hira to Montague against his
own conviction, but on the coraraand of the king,
was the evidence of his devotedness to the policy
of France. After a long debate, it was voted by a
considerable raajority, that Danby should be im
peached of high treason. But the house of lords
refused to corarait hira on a charge which even if
true was not treasonable *.
The conduct of the coraraons respecting the
popish plot, and its attack on the character of
Danby, induced the king to resort to his old ex
pedient of a prorogation. Nearly eighteen years
had now passed since the present parliaraent had
been sumraoned, a period only equalled by the
duration of the long parliaraent. This parlia
ment is known in history by a far raore disgrace
ful epithet, for it has been termed the pensionary
parliament. With what justice the title has been
awarded, the preceding narrative can assist the
reader in determining. If pensions were given
by the court to secure a majority of the comraons
in a cooperation with its views, never were pen
sions so uselessly bestowed. Frora its first session,
when it passed the Corporation Act, to its last,
when it passed the act for excluding papists from
parliament, the religious policy of the commons
was diametrically opposite to that of the crown.
Often had the king resisted public addresses
and private advice, offered frora different quarters
* The misrepresentations of Burnet on this subject are too
glaring to be imputed to any other cause than malignity.

182 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, for its dissolution; but its late temper induced
^^- him to listen to the advice of the minister at the
head of his councils, and to pronounce its dissolu
tion. Danby, without any derogation frora his
raerit, raight advise this raeasure, because he saw
in it a chance of getting rid of his irapeachment,
which had been voted by so large a majority of
the comraons. The duke of York seconded the
advice of Danby, because the coraraons had shewn
such hatred of the Roraish religion, and such in
veterate hostility against hiraself.
1679. A new parliament disappointed the expectations
of the king, the duke of York, and the prime
minister. Danby had persuaded the obnoxious
heir of the throne to leave the kingdom ; and
though the advice was not unwise, yet it opened
the way to the pretensions of a rival claimant in
the king's natural son, the duke of Monmouth.
These pretensions, set forward by Shaftesbury for
his own sinister ends, were encouraged by many
from purer motives. In all its supporters this
measure was impolitic, but in Shaftesbury it was
wicked. Monmouth had neither personal excel
lence nor public services which could compensate
for his illegitimacy, and entitle him to supplant
" a princess of known virtue, and attachment to
the protestant religion*."
Vain were the signal services of Danby in the
protestant cause to protect him from parliament
ary censure ; vain was the eloquence of Notting-
hara in raagnifying the public spirit of the king,
who had given up the society of an only brother,
* Hallam's Constit. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 300, 301.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 183
to impede a bill of exclusion. The genius of a.d.
Shaftesbury was in the ascendant, and obscured  —
the lustre of all the other satellites in the political
horizon. To anticipate the effects of an impeachraent
Danby procured a royal pardon, to which the
chancellor honestly refused to affix the great seal,
and therefore the seal was affixed by the king
himself. In the language of Nottingham, the in
strument did not pass through the ordinary
methods of production, but was the iraraediate
effect of the king's power of creation.
Such an exertion of the prerogative in favour
of an unpopular minister only heightened the re
sentment of the commons ; and it occasioned the
discussion of the question, whether the royal
pardon, when pleaded in bar of an impeachment,
was good in law. It was argued on the one
hand, that a pardon antecedent to any impeach
raent was a contradiction, for a pardon presup
posed a conderanation and a judicial sentence of
punishment. If such were now the established
law, corrupt ministers would act with boldness
when they saw that their offences would escape,
not only with irapunity, but without animad
version. On the other hand it was contended
that the power of pardoning was an undisputed
prerogative of the crown ; on this sacred trust
the law had fixed no limitation or restraint,
though its abuse raight require a law for its regu
lation. A raiddle way was proposed, which would
evade the force of the pardon, without any deroga
tion from the prerogative ; and this was the in
troduction of a bill for the banishment of Danby.

184 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. It was passed by the lords, but it was received
-- — '¦ — by the commons with anger, and rejected, and

February

instead of it a bill of attainder was brought in.
1679. At this crisis, in the absence of the duke of
York, and in the plenitude of Monmouth's favour,
the cabinet was changed. Shaftesbury was re
called to power, and constituted president of the
council ; Sunderland, the ambassador to France,
was made secretary of state, and the treasury was
put in commission, at the head of which was
placed the earl of Essex. Nottingham alone re
mained of the forraer cabinet, who might have
been something of a temporizer, but whose com
pliance with the times was not unbounded*.
Scarcely was the new cabinet formed than it
became divided ; Shaftesbury,
Unpieas'd in power, impatient of disgrace,
soon discovered to his colleagues his insatiable
arabition, and the bold design which he had
forraed of elevating the weak but amiable Mon
mouth. Essex, Sunderland, and Halifax united
theraselves against a raan whom despotic rule
alone would content, and who manifested an in
tention of subverting the constitution of England.
The point on which the division in the adminis
tration took place, was concerning the securities
which the king should offer to the nation in the
event of the duke's succession. Essex and Hali
fax proposed such liraitations on his authority as
might disable him from subverting the govern
ment in church or state. Shaftesbury dissented
* Walpole's Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,
vol. ii.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 185
from the proposition altogether, and proposed the a. d.
exclusion of the duke, and calling the next heir to
the throne. This was nothing more than a disin
herison, which the king and the parliaraent were
corapetent to effect, not less than a private indi
vidual in the disposal of an estate. The king
joined the triuravirate, Essex, Halifax, and Sun
derland, in resisting the exclusion. The chancel
lor, in obedience to the coraraands of his sovereign,
subraitted to both houses of parliaraent the pro
posed liraitations, but no expedient of this kind
would satisfy the comraons. A bill of exclusion
was brought in ; it was even read a second tirae,
and coraraitted by a majority of seventy-nine.
The raeasure of exclusion occasioned a division
in the cabinet only ; but the prosecution of Danby
caused a breach between the two houses of parlia
ment. The bill of attainder passed against him
in the comraons was sent up to the lords ; but
when it had gone so far as the third reading, he
surrendered himself, and demanded to be brought
to a trial. But even then, without attempting
any defence on the merits of the case, he pleaded
the royal pardon at the bar of the house of lords ;
and the comraons, having put in their objections
to the legality of the pardon, demanded a trial
and judgraent.
In the progress of the trial, a question of great
interest to the temporal rights of the church was
agitated ; whether the bishops had a right to vote
during the preliminaries of a trial for high trea
son. It was argued in their favour, that though
the bishops did not vote at the final judgment,
yet they were entitled to vote on all previous

186 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, questions. The legality or illegality of a royal
^^' pardon was undoubtedly a preliminary, though, if
the legality of a pardon were admitted, the trial
would not proceed.
The right of the bishops to vote throughout
the prelirainaries was maintained in the house of
lords by Nottingham and Roberts. They con
tended that the bishops constituted one of the
three estates of parliaraent, and that they ought
to have a share in all parliaraentary transactions ;
that as the temporal lords transmitted their
honours and fees to their heirs, so the spiiitual
lords transraitted their dignities to their success
ors. The bishops sat in parliaraent in a double
capacity, both as they were prelates of the church,
and also as they were barons of the realra. In
the tiraes of popery, when the clergy endeavoured
to withdraw theraselves from the jurisdiction of
the king's courts, parliamentary attendance was
deemed, instead of a privilege, a burden, and a
badge of ecclesiastical servitude. But the Nor
man kings would not dispense with this service.
The Constitutions of Clarendon recognised this
obligation ; for they were not intended truly as
restraints on the usurped iraraunities of the clergy,
but also as sanctions on the performances of their
temporal duties. The liberty of withdrawing in
judgments of life and death was an indulgence
conceded to the bishops at their request, their
presence on such occasions being deeraed con
trary to their character and to the canons ; but it
was not granted as a dereliction of any right, but
as a favour. Still they always possessed a right,
and exercised it, of naming a proxy ; and before

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 187
they withdrew, this proxy entered a protest saving a. d.
their right to sit. So that their absence was_J^
either voluntary, or it was a concession in their
favour ; it ought not therefore now to be insisted
on to their prejudice ; it was not to be construed
as a restraint imposed on thera by the king or
the laAv of parliaraent. The words of the Consti
tutions of Clarendon iraplied that the bishops
should sit during the trial until judgraent was
pronounced, and consequently they might vote on
all the prelirainaries.
The opposite side of the question was sup
ported by Shaftesbury, Essex, and Hollis. They
contended, that even if the bishops constituted one
of the three estates of parliament, still they were
not entitled to sit in judgraent on the teraporal
lords as their peers ; since if they were them
selves to be tried for treason or felony, they were
to be tried by a jury of coramoners. Their
honours were not hereditary, and therefore it was
not proper that they should sit in judgment on
those who were ennobled by blood. The differ
ence between a personal and an hereditary peerage
disqualified them from sitting in judgment on
temporal lords, though they constituted a part of
the house in regard of legislation and appeals.
The words of the Constitutions of Clarendon must
relate to the whole trial as one entire proceeding,
though the proceeding might be composed of
many parts and particulars ; and since the final
judgment was often regulated by the prelimi
naries, the right of voting on the latter was equi
valent to a right of voting on the forraer. What
ever might be the occasion which led to the

188 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, enactraent of the Constitutions of Clarendon, yet
^^- it affected not the meaning and the force of these
Constitutions, or the customs derived from them ;
and the custom of parliaraent, which is the law of
parliaraent, has been against the right of bishops
to sit on the trial of a teraporal peer. With
regard to the usual protest entered by the bishops
before they withdrew, it was only in bar to any
proceeding of the lords in other raatters during
their absence.
The matter was argued not only within parlia
ment but out of doors. Stillingfleet on this occa
sion gave a proof of his ability both to throw a
light on any subject and to bring together new
materials on a subject which had been already
discussed. He published a treatise on this ques
tion, which discovered more skill and exactness
than any which had been previously written, and
it tended to bring the matter to an issue. He put
an end to the controversy in the judgment of all
irapartial men, and proved, beyond reasonable
objection, the right of the bishops to vote in the
preliminaries of a trial, both frora the literal
meaning of ancient records, and from the spirit of
the English constitution.
With the opinion of Stillingfleet, and the suf
frage of most impartial judges, the decision of the
house of lords coincided ; but this decision influ
enced the comraons to refuse any farther proceed
ing on the trial, unless the bishops consented to
withdraw. The king had resolved to maintain
the legality of Danby's pardon, and the integrity
of his prerogative in this respect ; and he would
not venture to leave the matter to the decision of

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 189
the temporal lords. " Adhere to rae and my pre- a. d.
rogative," was his language to the bishops, " and _i!!^
I will support you in the hour of danger." Happy
would it have been for himself, happy for his
people, if the prerogative had been always inter
posed in so just a cause.
Often had Charles experienced to his mortifica
tion that the prorogation of parliaraent, to which
he always resorted when difficulties oppressed
hira, tended only to delay, not to repress dis
content. Having therefore prorogued the session, June.
to extricate himself from the bill of exclusion
and the impeachment of Danby, he resolved in
his own mind, and subraitted to his council,
whether, instead of a new session, he should not
have recourse to a new parliament. On this, as
well as on the two main questions, his cabinet
was divided. Essex and Halifax declared in
favour of a dissolution, but Shaftesbury was
strongly opposed to such a step. He truly said
that the crown had never gained any advantage
by parting with a parliament in anger ; that in
all probability the same members would be re
turned in the next election ; and that they would
meet with determined hostility against the king
and his governraent. Charles followed that advice
which was raost accordant with his own inclina
tions ; and the adoption of such advice was fol
lowed by an open rupture between Halifax and
Shaftesbury, and a confirmed disgust in Shaftes
bury towards the king.
A rebellion having burst forth in Scotland,
Monmouth was placed at the head of an army to
suppress it ; and although his conduct was marked

190 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, by prudence and courage, yet it was animadverted
^^' — upon by the friends of the duke of York. Ru-
raours of Monraouth's attempts to ingratiate hira
self with the people, and of Shaftesbury's project
of altering the succession, were not slow in reach
ing the individual whom they were designed to
alarm. In consequence of a real or feigned sick
ness of the king, James was sent for secretly.
He carae in disguise, and the king having been
pronounced out of danger even before his arrival,
the royal coraraand was interposed for his re-
raoval. He acquiesced tardily, and not without
a stipulation, that Monmouth should be removed
frora all military command, and share a similar
punishment of expatriation.
The representations of the party which ad
hered to James had so far iraproved their inter
est with the king, that he was prevailed on to
postpone the raeeting of the new parliament.
The great body of the people was convinced that
the legislature on its meeting would iraraediately
atterapt to regulate the succession, and therefore
the period was anticipated with sanguine hope.
Petitions frora both the city and country, praying
that parliaraent might be called together, were
presented, which the king received with great
displeasure, telling the petitioners that he was the
sole judge of what was proper to be done in this
case. "You would not take it well," he said,
"if I should meddle with your affairs, and I
desire you will not meddle with mine." Mon
mouth, contrary to the king's order, returned to
England, and went through many parts of it,
courting the affections of the populace. Shaftes-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 191
bury, though he still held his office, incited the a.d.
people to petition for a parliament, to secure the ^^^^'
king's person and the protestant religion.
Methods, which cannot be justified, were adopt
ed to repress these petitions ; a proclaraation was
put forth, forbidding all loyal subjects to subscribe
thera ; warrants were issued against some of the
petitioners, and indictments were preferred against
others. But an unexceptionable mode of coun
teracting the addresses for the meeting of a par
liament was also adopted, by presenting counter-
petitions, expressing a detestation and abhorrence
of the late petitioners, and of their seditious
practices, and leaving the time of convoking the
parliament to the sovereign pleasure of the king.
The promoters of addresses for the meeting of
parliament, and the abhorrers of such petitions,
were the rallying point for the two great parties
of the nation ; for those two parties, in which
every nation, under every form of government,
will always be divided. These two parties, the
revolutionary and the conservative, " the preju
dice of the one being in favour of innovation,
that of the other on the side of establishment *,"
at this period assuraed the denomination of Whig
and Tory. Each of these terms is exotic, the
one of Scottish, the other of Irish growth, but,
transplanted into England, they have flourished
with rank luxuriance.
In their religious policy the whigs were what
is called low churchmen ; not, as one of their
enemies wittily says f , because they were so hum-
* Dr. Johnson, Life, vol. iv. f Dr. South.

192 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, ble as to be satisfied with a low station in the
IX.
 '¦ — chm-ch, or to resign its emoluments if in their
possession ; but because they wanted to reduce the
spiritual authority of the church as low as pos
sible. They were loud in their clamours, though
truth compels the abatement, that they were
not strong in their arguments, against popery.
They thought, though they did not always ex
press the sentiment, that the church of England
was not reraoved far enough frora the church of
Rorae, and as " No peace with Rome" was their
watchword, they were strenuous advocates for
the comprehension of all sects under the term of
protestants, in contradistinction to papists. The
clergy of this persuasion, who still remained in
the coraraunion of the church, were known by
the narae of latitudinarian divines. The laity of
this party, coraprising a heterogeneous class, under
which infidelity found shelter, were reraarkable
at this period for their exertions in promoting the
bill of exclusion, with the professed object of its
securing the protestant religion. Hence their ad
versaries charged them with deistical and repub-
li'-an principles.
The tories, or the high churchmen, stood on
the side of the prerogative, and were for advanc
ing the king above the law. So exalted were
their notions of the duty of Christian obedience,
that they placed no bounds to its extent, and
adopted into the vocabulary of Christian theo
logy a Mohararaedan principle, called by the
naraes of passive obedience and nonresistance.
They were opposed to the doctrines of the church
of Rome, and also to its assuraption of infalli-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 193
bility, but they considered nonconformity as great a. d.
an evil as popery. They were not disposed to  -
give the right hand of fellowship to the motley
sects who ranged theraselves under the protestant
banner. They did not scruple to corapel the dis
senters to conformity by penal laws. At this
crisis they were strongly opposed to the exclusion
of the lawful heir, even though he was a papist;
for while they denied the lawfulness of resist
ance in all cases, they considered resistance in the
highest degree sinful in defence of religion.
It would be improper to ora it, for all raen
must admire, the reraark of a statesraan *, whose
life was devoted to one of those great parties, but
whose candor predominated over the narrow views
and contracted feelings of a party spirit. The
great strength of the whigs at this time con
sisted in their being able to brand their adver
saries as favourers of popery ; that of the tories,
as far as their strength depended upon opinion,
and not upon the power of the crown, in their
finding colour to represent the whigs as repub
licans. Moderate raen, and raoderation is truly Chris
tian wisdom, to whichsoever of these sides pre
judice, or interest, or conviction may incline
thera, will not irapute bad raotives to those by
whora they are opposed. "A wise tory and a
wise whig will agree f." The whig will be the
friend of order and of law, for with hira law is
higher than kingly authority; and the constitu
tion of a country being once settled upon some
* Fox's Hist, of James the Second.
t Johnson, Life, vol. iv.
VOL. III. O

194 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, corapact, tacit or expressed, he will consider that
^^- it cannot be unsettled either without the consent
of all the contracting parties, or a violation of the
covenant. He will maintain that, if the people
are taught to think lightly of their engagements
to their governors, they teach their governors an
evil lesson against themselves*. A tory, how
ever attached to prerogative, will be favourable
to liberty ; for power is entrusted with the king,
not for his own benefit, but for the general good.
Though he regards obedience to civil government
as a sacred duty, yet he knows that even the
most sacred duties have their limits. Though he
deprecates the inculcation of that dangerous doc
trine, the right of resistance, yet he refuses not to
acknowledge that, if the abuse of power be enor
mous, " nature will rise up, and, claiming her
original rights, will overturn a corrupt govern
ment." However the whig and the tory raay
differ concerning the origin of civil governraent,
yet they will agree to differ on what is at best
but a theory; and they are convinced by fatal
national experience, that a theory concerning it
may be the cause of fanaticism, as ranch as a
dograa in religion f .
But whatever forbearance raay now subsist
between parties, whora the fatal consequences of
political contention raay have instructed, the reign
of Charles the Second was peculiarly favourable
to the formation of factions, and to the growth
of religious and political animosity. The clergy
* Burke, Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs. Works,
vol. vi. pp.200, 201.
t Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, vol. vi. p. 239.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 195
were exposed at this tirae raore particularly to a.d.
popular fury, and to popular raisrepresentation. ^^^^-
They were traduced as raen who were the blind
worshippers of hereditary raonarchy, and its com
panion, arbitrary power; for which they would
sacrifice even the protestant religion. When the
act which restrained the freedora of the press
had expired, its licentiousness exceeded all bounds.
The dissenters acted with the greatest impru
dence, attacking not only the clergy, but what
could be attacked with less safety, though with
more justice, the king and his court. The clergy
certainly retorted in language too closely resem
bling that of their adversaries, and applied them
selves to expose the seditious writings of the
dissenters. The chief manager of the controversy on the
part of the court was however not a clergyman.
Sir Roger L' Estrange was the sole licenser of the
press while the press was under restrictions, and
his office not only enabled him to stifle the pro
ductions of his opponents, but his pen, which,
however venal, was not the less powerful, was
wielded in defence of the church and monarchy.
He had been the victim of his attachment to the
royal cause in the civil wars ; and his sufferings
had so highly exasperated his temper, that he
made reprisals on the whole body of republicans
and sectaries. In a periodical paper called the
Observator, he denounced the religion of the dis
senters as a medley of folly and enthusiasm ; their
opinions and tempers as turbulent, seditious, and
utterly inconsistent with the peace of the state ;
their reasons for nonconformity as at best fri-
o 2

196 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, volous, and often hypocritical. He possessed co-
' piousness, but not delicacy of language ; violence
of sarcasra, but not strength of reason. But he
is said to have furnished the clergy with mate
rials for their pulpit harangues, which they were
accused of using with equal readiness and indis
cretion. With regard to the part which the clergy acted
in this critical time, when the nation was in equal
danger of arbitrary power or anarchy, one of their
own body, but one not inclined to palliate the
infirmities of high churchmen, has remarked, that
though sorae might be driven into extravagancies
either through provocation or natural warmth
of temper, yet there were raany whose lives and
labours rescued the church from such reproaches.
These attempted to confute their adversaries, and
to bring them back to the church by argument
and persuasion*.
And though an overwhelming majority of the
clergy ranked themselves on the side of monarchy
and prerogative, in opposition to the whigs and
sectaries, yet there was a small but not contempt
ible band, whom whigs and sectarians were at
least contented to exempt frora the charges of
bigotry and persecution. Of this party Tillot
son might be called the nominal head, but a far
more efficient and active adherent was Gilbert
Burnet.
Nat. 1643. This individual was a native of Scotland, and
was educated at the university of Aberdeen.
Contrary to the inclination of his father, he ap-
* Burnet's Hist, of his Own Time, vol. ii.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 197
plied himself to the study of the law ; but his a.d,
own resolution was soon changed, and, as his  --
father had wished, he determined to apply him
self to the profession of the church. He was
admitted a probationer while the presbyterian
was the established religion of Scotland, but re
fused to accept a benefice. Soon after the Scot
tish episcopacy was restored, he made his first i663,
short visit into England, and visited the two uni
versities. At Cambridge he was introduceS to
the society of Cudworth, Pearson, and Henry
More; and at Oxford was honoured by the ci
vilities of Pocock, Fell, and Wallis. In the me
tropolis he resided a short time, and becarae ac
quainted with Wilkins and Tillotson of the low
church, with Patrick and Stillingfleet of the high
church divines.
After having visited the continent, he returned i664,
to his native country, and episcopacy being now i665,
established*, he accepted the benefice of Saltoun, in
the patronage of sir Robert Fletcher. However
lax or liberal might be his notions of episcopal
discipline, yet when he settled at Saltoun he was
the only man in Scotland 'who made use of the
prayers in the English liturgy.
When the Scottish government was put into the lees,
hands of those who were called moderate men,
Burnet was employed in negociating a scherae of
accommodation between the episcopal and pres
byterian parties. At Edinburgh he was intro
duced to the duke of Hamilton, and, through the
recommendation of the rector of the university
•* He was ordained a priest by the bishop of Edinburgh.

1669.

198 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, of Glasgow, was appointed professor of theology
—1 — there. Four Scottish bishoprics becoming vacant

at this tirae, he was offered his choice of them,
but refused them all.
1672. When Lauderdale was sent into Scotland as
the king's commissioner, he cultivated the society
of Burnet. Burnet seems to have coraplied so far
with the court as to write a Vindication of the
Scottish Constitution in Church and State; in
which treatise he raaintained the cause of epi
scopacy, and the illegality of resistance raerely
on account of religion. This was esteeraed a
service of such importance, that he was again
offered a bishopric, but he persisted in his re
fusal. Whatever is known of his early life is known
frora his own account, and the raotives of his
conduct, though liable to a various interpretation,
will be generally taken frora his own favourable
stateraent. But frora the moraent at which he
mixed himself in the political contests of Eng
land, he laid hiraself open to the penetrating vi-
1673. gilance of his eneraies. His second visit to Lon
don was to procure "h license for printing his
Meraoirs of the Dukes of Harailton, and it was
there that the aniraosity between the houses of
Lauderdale and Harailton descended to Burnet,
the retainer of the latter. But he was in favour
at court ; being appointed king's chaplain, he was
often admitted to a conference with the king, and
still more frequently with the duke. He raade
use of the favour shewn by the latter to propose
a conference between Coleraan, the duke's secre
tary, on the side of the Roraish church, and Stil-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 199
lingfleet, joined with hiraself, on the side of pro- a. d.
testantisra. ^679.
When he had published his Harailtonian Me
raoirs, he returned to Edinburgh ; but finding
the enraity between Lauderdale and his patron
increased to an implacable degree, he retired to
his station at Glasgow. But Lauderdale would
not permit him to remain unmolested ; he was I674.
accused of obstructing the measures of govern
raent, and found it necessary to return to London
to defend hiraself. The king received hira coldly,
and ordered his name to be erased frora the list
of chaplains; the duke of York atterapted to
effect a reconciliation between him and Lauder
dale. While enmity subsisted between them,
Burnet thought, or affected to think, that he
could not return to Glasgow without hazarding
his personal safety, and he therefore sought an
establishment in London.
A man whose religious opinions were in direct
hostility to those of the court, and those of a
large proportion of the church ; a raan whose re
ligion was so strongly infused with politics, was
likely to experience ranch opposition, and much
obloquy. But he rashly iraraersed himself in the
vortex of faction, ranging himself under the ban
ners of Halifax and Shaftesbury, and attacking
their adversaries. Nottingham he undermined
by all the arts of depreciation, Danby he pursued
with calumny. Burnet, however, appears to have
been employed, rather than trusted by the whigs.
He was their slave and their dupe ; but he was
either too useful to be disraissed, or too mischiev
ous to be provoked ; and lord Hollis succeeded

200 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, in obtaining for him the preachership at the
 —  Rolls from sir Harbottle Grimstone. The court
would have persuaded Grirastone to disraiss him,
but the ancients of the law persisted in the nomi
nation which he had raade.
In this station his officiousness, though well
intentioned, rendered hira unacceptable to both
the whigs and tories. His conduct with regard
to the exclusion of the duke of York irritated
that prince, while it failed to conciliate a large
portion of the exclusionists. His antipathies were
stronger than his partialities ; and if the test of
a good protestant be a sensitiveness of the ap
proaches of popery, he was certainly entitled to
the praise. Having brought down his life to the
period of the final dismissal of Shaftesbury from
the cabinet, the narae of Burnet is so interwoven
with the events of the succeeding history, that to
pursue his biography would involve repetition.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 201

CHAPTER X.
Unpopularity of the Church. — The most eminent Pro
testant Divines of other Countries consulted by Comp
ton. — ^The Bill of Exclusion again brought forward and
rejected by the Lords. — Merits of this Bill. — Proposed
Comprehension of Nonconformists. — The King suddenly
prorogues Parhament. — Convenes it again at Oxford. —
Charles dissolves his last Parliament, and pubhshes an
explanatory Declaration.
At this time, when the advances of the king A. d.
towards arbitrary power were rapid, the adher  -
ence of the church to the prerogative gave to its
enemies a temporary advantage which they failed
not to improve. The clamour was revived, that
episcopacy was nothing more than a reranant of
papal usurpation, and that the bishops of the
English church were forraing a coalition with
popery. As the presuraptive heir to the crown
was a papist, and as the clergy were generally
anti-exclusionists and in favour of hereditary
right, the accusation derived a colourable ap
pearance. Corapton, bishop of London, saw that no me
thod was better calculated to put nonconformity
to shame, if not to reduce nonconformists to the
coraraunion of the church, than to ascertain the
opinion of the raost eminent foreign protestants
on the points at issue between the church of
England and the nonconformists. For this pur
pose he wrote to Le Moyne, professor of the-

202 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, ology at Leyden, 1' Angle, pastor of the reformed
 ^  church at Charenton, and to Claude, a French

Sept. 5.

divine, who had distinguished himself by writ
ing an answer to Arnaud's Perpetuity of the
Faith. The answers of these divines added
strength to the cause of episcopacy, and were
feebly attacked by the dissenters.
Dated Le Moyne declared himself thus: "What is
there in episcopal government dangerous, or that
raay reasonably give offence to the conscience of
any man ? If such a form of administration be
capable of depriving us of eternal happiness, or
of shutting up the passages of heaven, who could
possibly have attained heaven for the first fifteen
centuries of the Christian church? During all
this time no churches in the world were under any
other form of governraent. If episcopacy were thus
contrary to truth, and destructive of eternal hap
piness, is it iraaginable that God would have be
stowed on it such raarks of open approbation, and
suffered his church to be so tyrannically oppressed
for so raany centuries? For who have all along
governed this spiritual society? Who have been
the merabers of general, provincial, and diocesan
councils? Who are they that have combated
the heresies with which the church has been dis
turbed through every age ? Were not these fa
thers the bishops ? And has it not been the effect
of their prudent conduct, under God, that the
Divine word has made its way against all oppo
sition, and that truth has triumphed over error?
And without tracing the history of the church
frora its beginning, who was it that recovered
England in the last century from the errors

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 203
which overspread it ? Who was it that revived a. d.
belief in so wonderful a raanner? Was not all  1-
this compassed by the ministry, the zeal, and
resolution of the bishops ?" After noticing that
the foreign protestants of Geneva, Switzerland,
Germany, and Holland, entertained a profound
veneration for the English church, he asks;
" How comes it to pass then that the English
themselves should be thus singular in their con
duct, thus unhappy in their belief, as to break
frora it ? Is not this plainly a rupture from all
the churches of antiquity, from all the eastern
churches, from all the protestant churches ; for
they have all entertained a high regard for the
English coraraunion, on the grounds of the purity
both of her doctrine and discipline ? Is it not a
strange degree of assurance to excoraraunicate her
without raercy, and to iraagine themselves the
only persons in England, or indeed in the whole
Christian world, who are predestinated to eternal
happiness, and who maintain those truths which
are necessary to salvation?"
Next in order of tirae, the answer of 1' Angle Dated
was returned, and he laid it down as an axiora
that the church of England is a pure church, and
drew the inference that it is the duty of all the
protestants in England to keep themselves within
her communion. He cited Calvin and Beza in
favour of English episcopacy.
Last of the three came the answer of Claude, Dated
.,.,,. , . 1 . . , Nov. 20.
who applied his advice to the two principal
classes of nonconformists, the presbyterians and
the independents. His judgment on the inde-

204 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, pendents was not much to their credit: "I could
— ^ — wish," he observed, "these persons to consider
that the same reason which makes them insist on
the independence of one congregation upon an
other, will carry them much farther than they
desire, and may be used to break the union of
any particular congregation, and to make every
individual independent of his neighbour. This
principle must of necessity destroy all order, and
expose the heritage of God to the reproach of
its enemies." As for those who called theraselves
presbyterians, though he was persuaded that many
among them were possessed of knowledge, judg
ment, and zeal, yet he wished that they had
evinced more teraper and discriraination in sepa
rating the episcopal order from the persons of
the bishops. Men in public stations were not
only liable to miscarriages, but it might happen
that the most sacred offices might be discharged
by those who were unfit ; and, in this case, both
reason and religion teach that the office, and the
individual who administers it, should not be con
founded. After bestowing some high coraraen-
dations on English bishops of this period, he
desires the presbyterians to consider that there
are defects, and that there may be mismanage-
raent, in the presbyterian, as well as the episcopal
discipline. He concluded by expressing his de
cided opinion, that to set up private meetings,
and to withdraw from the established discipline,
was no better than a forraal schisra, a crime in
its own nature hateful both to God and man, and for
which both those who set it up, and also those

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 205
who encouraged it, must expect to give an ac- a. d.
count at the great day *.  '-
Whatever these foreign divines might write,
whatever assurances and pledges the English
bishops might offer of their attachment to the
protestant faith, contributed in a small degree
to allay the ferment of the tiraes. The dissent
ers represented the bishops as ready to sacrifice
even their religion to a corrupt court, and these
representations were now seconded by the house
of coramons. After every attempt at procras
tination, imperious necessity compelled Charles to
meet that most formidable of all his eneraies, an
English parliament.
Imraediately after the preliminary forras had Oct. 21.
been gone through, the commons passed some
strong resolutions for the maintenance of the
protestant religion, and of the privileges of par
liaraent. The right of the people to petition the
king for the sitting of parliament was strongly
asserted, and those who were styled, or styled
themselves abhorrers, were voted betrayers of the
liberties of their country. Araong the grievances
it was stated, that while the edge of the penal
laws was turned against the dissenters, the pa
pists remained comparatively unharmed. The
inefficacy of the Test Act was also complained of,
because the papists either by dispensations ob
tained from Rome subraitted to the tests, and
thus held the offices of governraent themselves, or
those who held the offices were so favourable to
the popish interest, that popery rather gained
* Stilhngfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation, p. 395
and seq.

x.

206 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, than lost ground by means of the statute which
-had been enacted for its suppression.
But the grand point for which the two parties
reserved their strength, and the display of their
eloquence, was the bill of exclusion, which had
been smothered by a dissolution of the last parlia
raent, after it had been carried in the house of
comraons. This bill the present parliament re
vived, and it was in this session brought in by
lord Russel, a man whose attachment to liberty
was not tramraelled by party. He truly merited
the praise which nothing but the partiality of
friendship and the warmth of gratitude could
have bestowed on Shaftesbury, that " the good of
his country was the point by which his councils
and his actions were steered throughout the whole
course of his life *." Justly may the whigs glory
in the name of Russel.
The bill was seconded by Capel, Montague,
and Winnington ; and Jones, who gained a seat in
the house a few days after its introduction, pro
moted it with great earnestness. The manager
fbr the court was Jenkins, at this tirae secretary
of state ; but his arguments and speeches against
the exclusion were scarcely heard with patience.
He was suspected, though unjustly, of an inclina
tion to popery, and this suspicion was sufficient to
neutralize the most cogent reasoning. It was
moved by the anti-exclusionists that the daughters
of the duke might be naraed in the bill, as being
next in succession, but the motion was nega
tived; and the circumstance infused a jealousy
that it was intended still to leave the succession
' Locke.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 207
undetermined. But such assurances were trans- a.d.
mitted to the prince of Orange, that he openly ex

pressed his desire that the king would satisfy his
parliament ; and the States, in a memorial, pressed
him to consent to the exclusion.
Rapid and irresistible was the progress of Nov. ii.
the bill through the house of comraons ; and the
day on which Russel carried it up in triuraph to
the house of lords, was ever remerabered by hira
with honest joy as the proudest day of his life.
It was never imagined by the raost sanguine ex
clusionists that the measure would be carried in
the upper house, opposed as it was by the king
and the bench of bishops, and supported as it was
by Shaftesbury, whose sinister raotives were too
obvious. But the dread of popery, a dread which
was not groundless, brought the house to a nearer
equality than was supposed *. The course of the
debate was extreraely violent, and carae to an
issue at last rather through weariness than con
viction. " Till nearly raidnight the rage of alter
cation and the lust of superiority kept up the con
test, the king hiraself being present all the tirae,
and the whole house of commons attending, who
had adjourned their own proceedings to indulge
their curiosity in observing the progress and
event of these f." Shaftesbury, as raight be ex
pected, led the whigs, supported not only by
Essex, who had seceded from the adrainistration,
but by Sunderland, who was still in office. On
the side of the anti-exclusionists was Halifax, in
himself a host ; and to his superior eloquence and
* Contents 33. Non Contents 63.
t Ralph's Hist, of England.

208 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, reasoning, as far as these could influence an as-
. sembly already predetermined, must be assigned
the glory of the victory, by the united suffrage of
friends and eneraies. On the one hand, the king,
in acknowledgraent of his services, took him into
his entire confidence, as the man who deserved
best of the reigning family; and on the other
hand, the house of coraraons, adopting the resent
ments of his defeated adversary, Shaftesbury, re
solved to distinguish hira by a raark of their dis
pleasure, in violation, not only of all forras, but of
all decency and justice. A raotion was made and
carried for an address, praying the king to remove
the earl of Halifax frora his presence and councils
for ever *.
A bill which out of fourteen bishops f, who
were present at the debate, could coraraand but
three in its favour, yet which appeared to be for
the security of the protestant religion, cannot be
dismissed without some reflections on the argu
ments adduced in its support and opposition. The
raotives of the principal speakers on either side it
is unnecessary either to defend or impugn ; for
it may be equally allowed that the zeal of Shaftes
bury for the protestant religion, and that of Hali
fax for hereditary monarchy, were simulated. Pri
vate interest or ambition was the master spring
which directed both.
* Ralph's Hist, of England.
+ The bishops present were, the archbishop of Canterbury,
the bishops of London, Durham, Rochester, Ely, Bath and
Wells, Peterborough, Worcester, Oxford, Exeter, St. David's,
Bristol, Llandaff, and St. Asaph. Journals of the Lords. Bur
net says that all the bishops were against the bill.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 209
The merits of the exclusion bill have been a.d.
stated in the following manner, that it was a^!!^
choice of difficulties. Either the prerogatives
of the crown must be curtailed, or the line of suc
cession must be altered. In this dilemraa, which
is the least evil? An inference has been drawn'
that the question, " What are to be the powers
of the crown?" is of greater magnitude than
" Who shall wear it ?*" But it must be remarked,
that all the anti-exclusionists, or the majority of
thera, were not in favour of iraposing liraitations
on the prerogatives of the crown. They opposed
the exclusion altogether, and on the ground that
the religion of the nation could not be endangered
by the personal religion of the heir to the crown
or the reigning raonarch. They had already
received the soleran proraise of the duke of York,
that his private opinions should not guide his
public administration, and especially his patronage
of the church. They confided in this promise,
and thought that if he should violate it, the con
stitution had placed sufficient guards on the power
of the monarch to prevent a subversion of the
church of England.
But between the exclusionists and those anti-
exclusionists who would have imposed limitations
on the authority of the duke of York, the question
does not turn on the choice of evils between a
limitation of the regal prerogatives aud an elec
tive monarchy. Such anti-exclusionists would
not have broken the line of succession. If the
daughters of the duke of York had been naraed
* Fox's Introduction to Hist, of James II.
VOL. III. P

210 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, in the bill of exclusion as the next heirs, and as
x •
 " entitled to succeed on the demise of the crown in
consequence of the disability of their father, it
could not be said that the raonarchy would have
been changed from hereditary to elective. But
the refusal to insert this declaration naturally oc
casioned a suspicion that some latent object was
contemplated, and that Shaftesbury was carrying
on the designs of the faction which would have
raised Monraouth to the throne.
If there were any anti-exclusionists who would
advisedly have left the succession undeterrained,
such were indubitably reduced to the alternative
already stated, and over such the exclusionists
raust have had the advantage in arguraent. They
might fairly contend that the prerogatives of the
crown ought always to be kept within such limits
as are necessary for the liberties and welfare of
the people ; but to bring them lower than this
standard, as it impairs the useful dignity of the
crown, so it injures the commonwealth. The
powers which are taken from the crown must be
transferred to one of the other branches of the
government, and the balances between the legis
lative and executive branches would be deranged.
" It is better therefore to change the manager of
the trust, than to annihilate the subject of it ; and
it never can be conducive to the safety of a state
that the powers of its supreme head should be in
abeyance." After the fate of the exclusion bill had been
decided, the house of commons manifested a dis
position to relieve the nonconformists ; and a com
raittee was appointed, who agreed on terms of

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 211
comprehension. As for those dissenters who a.d.
could not be included within the terms, it was _i^
proposed that they should be relieved by an act
of toleration, on condition of taking the oath of
allegiance and abjuration. Though the bill of
comprehension was offered by some of the mode
rate episcopalians, and though it would have
passed the house of commons with facility, the
friends of the dissenters were not forward to pro
mote it. They calculated, that even if it passed
the coraraons, it would be lost in the house of
lords, and that it would be ungrateful to the
king. They expected that it would share the fate
of the Exclusion Bill.
But the neglect with which the dissenters
treated the bill excited the jealousy of the house ;
and a member observed, that it would be more
convenient to have a law for compelling the dis
senters to yield to the church, than to force the
church to yield to the dissenters. Thus, though
the bill of coraprehension proceeded so far as to be
referred to a coraraittee, yet here it stopped ; and
another was substituted, to exerapt protestants
dissenting from the church of England from the
severe penalties iraposed by the act of Elizabeth.
The statute had lain dorraant for alraost eighty
years, but it was threatened to be revived, and
therefore it was cheerfully repealed by the com
mons. In the house of lords it passed but heavily,
the bishops, it is said, apprehending that the
terror of the law might be a restraint on the
presbyterians. But when it should be offered
in due course for the royal assent, it was missing,
the clerk of the crown having withdrawn it by
P 2

212 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the king's order. The king, it is presumed, had
 —  no inclination to give his assent, and he was
afraid openly to refuse it, and therefore this ille
gal method was adopted of smothering the bill.
All animadversions on this unconstitutional
proceeding were stopped by the termination of
1681. the session ; but on the morning of the proro-
Jan. 10. gation two resolutions of a very extraordinary
nature were passed by the comraons. 1. That
the acts of parliaraent raade in the reigns of queen
Elizabeth and king Jaraes against popish recu
sants ought not to be extended to protestant dis
senters. 2. That the prosecution of protestant
dissenters upon the penal laws is at this time
grievous to the subject, a weakening of the pro
testant interest, an encourageraent to popery, and
dangerous to the peace of the kingdom.
Jan. 7. Before the prorogation, the king, by a message,
comraunicated to the house his refusal to pass
any bill of exclusion, or to alter the succession.
He repeated the assurances which he had pre
viously given of his readiness to concur in any
measure which might be devised by the wisdom
of parliament for the farther security of the pro
testant religion. He was willing that a legal dis
tinction should be drawn between a popish and a
protestant successor, and that the authority of a
popish successor should be limited and circum
scribed. So far he was willing to go, but to
alter the line of succession he never would con
sent. The king having closed the only session of his
fourth parliament in haste and displeasure, deter
mined never to renew his acquaintance with it.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 213
He now saw himself without money, and con- a.d.
sequently without power ; and he could not hope ^^"^'
to extricate himself from his difficulties without
making some concessions on the point of ex
clusion. An expedient offered by sorae of the
moderate whigs was, to vest the regal power in a
protector, and to call the prince of Orange to the
protectorate. It was so far entertained by the
king, that Nottingham gave out that the king
was resolved to offer one expedient, which was
beyond any thing which the parliaraent could
have the confidence to ask. His necessities
obliged him speedily to convene his fifth and last
parliament ; and, apprehensive that the whigs
were encouraged in their resistance to his raea
sures by the city of London, he chose for the
place of its raeeting a city which had shewn its
devotion to royalty, Oxford.
The sarae representatives however were re- March.
elected for London, and on their election received
frora their fellow-citizens an address of thanks
for their unwearied endeavours in the two last
parliaments, to search into the depth of the popish
plot, to preserve the protestant religion, and to
promote the bill of exclusion ; and it concluded
by requesting a continuance of these patriotic
exertions. The representatives of London fear
ing, or pretending to fear violence, were attended
to Oxford by a numerous body of horse, wearing
ribands with the motto, " No popery, no slavery."
Sirailar addresses were presented to the members
of counties, and they were escorted in a similar
manner. Such preparations were not calculated to inspire

214 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the king with hopes of the favourable temper of
 —  his Oxford parliament, but he was compelled to

make the experiment. His opening speech was
not likely to allay the general irritation, for it
contained severe reflections on the conduct of the
last parliaraent. He expressed his forraer deter-
raination of raaintaining the succession of the
crown in the right line ; but, for quieting the
apprehensions of his people, he was willing to put
the adrainistration of the governraent into the
hands of protestants. This proposition was ex
plained by the rainisters in the house of cora
raons to mean, that the regal power should be
vested in a regent during the life of the duke.
He was willing to secure the church by placing
in the hands of that regent the disposal of ecclesi-
March2i. astical patrouagc. These concessions were far
less than would satisfy the comraons ; but they
were highly displeasing to the friends of the duke
of York. They openly declared that the raeasure
of a regency was more ungrateful to them than
the exclusion itself.
The comraons ordered a bill of exclusion to be
brought into the house ; and in the mean tirae
a motion was made to consider the manner in
which the bill in favour of the dissenters was
lost in the last parliament. A member* said
that the bill was of great importance and benefit
to the country, and raight affect the lives of raany
under the reign of a popish successor ; but let
the bill be what it might, the precedent was of
the highest consequence. Though the king had
* Sir William Jones.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 215
a negative on all bills, yet surely the clerk of the a.d.
parliaraent had not. If this way were adopted in  ^
future, of causing bills to be raislaid, it might
hereafter happen that parliament and the nation
raust reraain in ignorance whether bills were
passed or not. If this were suffered, it was vain
for the house to spend its tirae in making laws.
The matter was made the subject of a confer
ence between the two houses ; but the conference
and the Exclusion Bill were soon frustrated in a
way the most unexpected. The behaviour of the
comraons in both these cases was highly offensive
to the king ; and their conduct on the impeach
raent of Fitzharris, for his supposed concern in a
plot, was as strongly resented by the lords. From
the steps which had been already taken, Charles
could not fail to see that it was impossible by any
influence to arrest the course of parliaraentary
legislation. Without any coraraunication of his
resolution even to his rainisters, " suddenly, and
not very decently," he went to the house of lords
in a sedan chair, with the crown between his
feet. Having hastily put on his robes, he called
up the coraraons, and, without any forraality, pro
nounced the dissolution of his last parliament,
after a session of seven days. Ashamed of his
conduct, or afraid to encounter the public indigna
tion, he left Oxford with the greatest expedition, March 28.
and concealed his disappointraent in the retire
ment of Windsor.
The king set forth a declaration on the causes April s.
of his dissolving his last parliament ; and by the
advice of Sancroft it was read in all the churches
throughout England. It contained a recital of all

216 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the concessions which the king had made for the
 '- — security of the protestant religion, as far as was
consistent with the succession of the crown in a
lineal descent, and a large rehearsal of the unsuit
able returns of the coramons for his condescen
sion. "But notwithstanding all this," said the
king, "let not those men who are labouring to
poison our people with republican principles, per
suade any of our subjects that we intend to lay
aside the use of parliaments, for we still declare
that no irregularities in parliaments shall make
us out of love with them ; and we are resolved,
by the blessing of God, to have frequent parlia
ments *."
A declaration containing so much exaggerated
truth and so much actual falsehood provoked
an answer, written with great spirit and judg
ment. It was in its first rude outline the com
position of Algernon Sidney, but it was filled up by
Somers, and was subjected to the final correction
of Jones. Several other anonymous remarks were
made on the declaration, to expose its pretences
and to weaken its influence ; but the violence of
the whigs and republicans turned the current of
opinion into the opposite direction. The grand
juries and the magistrates of the different coun
ties, the corporations of cities and boroughs, the
chartered companies, and even the apprentices,
* It was observed that this declaration was known by Mr.
Barillon, the French ambassador, and by the duchess of
Mazarine, sooner than by the king's council, and that its
Gallicism shewed it to be of French extraction. Life of
Calamy by himself, MS. p. 74. Neal's Hist, of the Puri
tans, vol. iv. p. 468, note.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 217
sent up addresses expressing their joy at the a. d.
assurances in the king's declaration, and dedi  -
eating their lives and fortunes to his service.
Other addresses were offered, declaratory of adher
ence to the lineal succession of the crown, and
condemning the bill of exclusion. Others went
higher, and arraigned the late parliaments of sedi
tion and treason. Sorae reflected on the noncon
forraists, and thanked the king for not repealing
the act of Elizabeth against thera, and prayed
that it raight be strictly enforced. The clergy
of London presented an address of thanks to the
king for not agreeing to the exclusion which Til
lotson refused to sign *. Burnet says of hiraself,
that he withdrew frora politics, and devoted him
self to algebra and chemistry, and, which was
better, to his theological studies and pastoral care.
One of the most acceptable addresses came from
the university of Carabridge, and was presented
to the king by the vice-chancellor in person. It
contained the following professions : " We be
lieve and raaintain that our kings derive not their
power from the people but frora God ; that it
belongs not to subjects either to create or censure,
but to honour and obey their sovereign, who
coraes to be so by a fundaraental, hereditary right
of succession, which no religion, no law, no fault
or forfeiture can alter or dirainish ; nor will we
abate of our well-instructed zeal for the church of
England as by law established. Thus we have
learned our own, and thus we teach others their
duty to God and the king." Charles discovered an
* Life of Tillotson, Ecc. Biog. vol. vi.

218 HISTORY OF THB
CHAP, unusual satisfaction on receiving this address, and
in returning his acknowledgraents said that no
other church in the world taught and practised
loyalty so conscientiously as the church of Eng
land. It was now visible that the king was entirely
devoted to the interest of the duke of York,
and that his constitutional indolence prompted
him to resign to the heir a large portion of the
business belonging to the reigning monarch. The
duke being now assured that he was secure in
England, applied himself to gain the reputation
of a good governor araong the Scottish nation, for
it was among them that Monmouth had acquired
popularity. The high episcopalian party there
had lost much of its strength by the murder of
Sharp, and much of its reputation by the resigna
tion of Leighton. Lauderdale still possessed the
ascendancy ; and though the duke of York found
it necessary to act in cooperation with this minis
ter, yet he moderated the violence of the tories.
He found it necessary to gain the affections of the
people by offering no offence to their religious
opinions from an obtrusion of his own, and he
pursued his design with diligence and success.
He advised the bishops to act with temper and
discretion, to connive at conventicles in private
houses, as such a connivance would put an end to
all fanatical raeetings in the fields. In raatters of
justice he shewed strict irapartiality ; and he en
couraged useful projects for the advanceraent of
trade. He was advised to hold a parliaraent at
Edinburgh, and to preside in it as the king's
coraraissioner. In this session, after an act had

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 219
passed for the maintenance of the succession, a a. d.
1681.
test was enacted for the security of the esta 
blished religion and government. This Engage
ment to support and defend both was to be taken
by all persons holding offices in the church, the
state, and the army ; all endeavours to effect an
alteration were solemnly renounced, and the doc
trine of nonresistance was strongly asserted. Such
as refused the Engagement were declared incapa
ble of any public trust, and were farther to incur
the penalty of confiscation of property *.
Notwithstanding the heavy penalties of this
statute, the test was generally refused by the
Scottish bishops and clergy till an explanation
was given of its most offensive parts, and the
rights of the church were distinctly guaranteed.
One part of the Engagement required an ad
herence to a confession of faith ratified by the
Scottish parliaraent more than a century before ;
a document becorae obsolete, but by an act of
connection it was explained, that the test was not
obligatory to an agreeraent in every clause of that
confession, but only to its general iraport. It
was intended to raaintain generally the true pro
testant religion founded on the word of God, in
opposition to popery and fanaticisra. Another
explanation of the test was, that it raade no en
croachment on the spiritual power of the church ;
and a third, that it was no prejudice to episcopal
governraent. These explanations, raade by the
authority of the council, were approved by the
king on the advice of the duke ; and the inde-
* Car. II. Pari. 3. c. 6.

220 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, pendence of the Scottish church in all spiritual
 raatters was confirraed.
The Scottish parliaraent was dissolved soon
after the enactraent of the test, and the duke was
recalled to England. So satisfactorily had been,
his conduct with respect to the Scottish church,
that seven of its bishops addressed a letter to the
archbishop of Canterbury in praise of his adrai
nistration. Whatever insinuations raay have been
raised that this letter was the effect of solicita
tion, or contained the language of flattery, yet
many circumstances strengthen the presumption
that it was both spontaneous and also sincere.
The acknowledged prudence of the duke's conduct
prompted the king to urge his brother to follow
his own example, to renounce at least the open
profession of the church of Rorae ; to shew that
he would do voluntarily what he had refused to
do by corapulsion, to do frora conviction what he
had refused to do frora fear, and to return to the
coraraunion of the church of England. To this
proposition he did not accede ; but his declining
to accede was no diminution of his popularity.
It only served to give credit to his public declara
tion, that his personal religion should have no
influence on his government.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 221

CHAPTER XI.
Shaftesbury retires to Amsterdam, and dies there.— The
Rye-house Plot. — Lord William Russel.— Algernon Sid
ney. — The Oxford Decree. — Deprivation of Locke. — Lon
don Cases against Dissenters. — Death and Character of
Charles the Second.
The concluding years of this reign present a a.d.
prospect to which the historian of the church _^^^
would, if it were possible, close his eyes. To
relieve the languor of the reader, the highest
exertion of historical art is required ; but the
writer finds little to call forth the powers of his
mind. Yet historical writing resembles a jour
ney, every excursion from the prescribed track,
however delightful, compels a return to it, which
is rendered more irksome from contrast and frora
the ruggedness of the road.
The church of England had now degenerated
frora its high estimation ; for ecclesiastical pro
motions under a profligate raonarch, advised by a
popish successor, were generally bestowed with
out regard to ability or character. We see Crew,
vain and arabitious, unsteady and insincere, with
out any recommendation but that of high birth,
seated in the richest see of England. We see
Sprat, a man whose florid irapotence of style
is an index of the hollowness and flexibility of his
principles, ascending the episcopal bench for tak
ing up his pen at the command of the duke of
York, and lending himself to the composition of

222 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, a historical roraance, which he was afterwards
 —  obliged to palliate, and which he would have
consigned to oblivion. One exception occurs,
the raore gratifying because it is solitary, in
the devotional and araiable Kenn. His honest
sincerity in reproving vice was no impediment
to his proraotion, but Charles was inspired with
a respect for his probity and purity. The two
most distinguished theologians, and who may be
styled the leaders of the two great parties, were
Stillingfleet and Tillotson. In better tiraes both
would have been raised to the prelacy in pre
ference to the herd of corapetitors, but this op
position to popery detracted from the high prin
ciples of Stillingfleet, and, " like a dead fly, marred
the savour ofthe ointment*."
The duke of York on his return frora Scot
land was received with cordial affection, and he
ever afterwards retained his place near the royal
person. Taking advantage of the loyal addresses
which had been poured in after the late dissolu
tion, Charles resolved to free hiraself from all fu
ture annoyance by parliaments. The cities and
boroughs, which had offered such extravagant
professions, were now called on to demonstrate
their sincerity by a surrender of their old chart
ers, and by accepting new ones, on such terms
as the court thought fit.
It was not without a struggle that the city of
London gave up its municipal independence ; and
the contest between the court and the city, re
specting the election of sheriffs, inspired Shaftes
bury with hopes that an organized resistance
* Joseph Mede of himself

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 223
might be interposed. He had already been in- a.d.
dieted for treasonable practices, and had escaped  -
by the uprightness of a city jury ; in return, he
had presented the duke of York in the king's
bench as a popish recusant. Now he no longer
disguised his determination to subvert the go
vernment ; but finding hiraself feebly seconded,
and fearing its resentment, he left England never
to return : he had scarcely settled at Amsterdam,
and received the honours paid him by a republic,
when he died.
The chief opponents of arbitrary power were
republicans without religion, or presbyterians ;
those who had no religion, and who joined no
dissenting coraraunion, were beyond the reach of
the penal laws, but these were now attempted to
be revived against all who were obnoxious to
their severity. To violate the independence of
the civil elections, and to disqualify the dissenters
from voting, the bishop and clergy of London were
urged to prosecute thera in the ecclesiastical courts
under the statute of Elizabeth, and to bring on
them all the disabilities consequent upon excom
munication. But both the bishop and the clergy
declined to be the instruments of the vindictive
intolerance of the court, and their reraissness was
not forgotten on a future day.
The cruel and despotic raeasures of the court
served rather to excite, than to subdue the spirit
of English liberty. There was a band of patriots
who had resolved to sacrifice their lives in its
defence, and there was a junto of pseudo-patriots
who sought safety in flight. At the head of the
pretenders to patriotism must be placed Shaftes-

224 HISTORY OF THE

CHAP, bury ; the leader of the true patriots was William

XI.

lord Russel. "Patriotism is perhaps the most
frail, as it is the raost suspected of all human
virtues ;" but the patriotism of Russel has passed
through the ordeal of party, and has been pro
nounced sterling. The cause for which he suf
fered he not only did not deny, but it was his glory.
Civil and religious liberty were the objects for
which he contended, and he avowed, that in defence
of these blessings resistance was not only justifi
able, but praiseworthy. Attached to the protest
ant religion, and to the purest form of it, the church
of England, it was his dying wish that protestants
would unite against the common enemy, the church
of Rome; and as the foundation of peace among
protestants, he recommended churchmen to be
less strict, and dissenters to be less scrupulous.
On the evidence by which the Rye-house plot is
proved, the verdict of posterity has been doubt
ful ; but the evidence by which Russel was con
demned for participating in it has been univer
sally acknowledged to be suborned and improba
ble. To prepare him for that death which he
regarded as a martyrdora, he was visited by Til
lotson and Burnet. Though he constantly denied
any knowledge of the plot for which he suffered,
yet he raaintained the abstract proposition, that
resistance to a tyrannical government is not con
trary to scripture. The two divines combated
July 20. this propo-sition ; and Tillotson offered his de
liberate thoughts to the dying patriot concerning
the lawfulness of resistance. He denounced it as
contrary to the Christian religion, as contrary to
the laws of England, and as contrary to the doc-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 225
trine of all protestant churches. Russel had a.d.
asserted that a governraent liraited by law is only  -
a name, if the subject may not maintain those
limitations by force; and to wait till there was
an entire subversion of the constitution, would
be to wait till resistance was useless.
It is indeed curious to see these two whig or
low church divines defending the doctrine of
passive obedience ; and their subsequent conduct
seems at variance with their recorded sentiments.
Both of thera were accused of apostasy, a charge
which Tillotson suffered to die in silence, but
Burnet, by his attempt to remove it, has only
made "confusion worse confounded." Tillotson,
whose amiable temper disarmed the rancour of
his political opponents, escaped without censure
from the delicate office of receiving the dying
confession of Russel ; Burnet, who was sus
pected of having composed the patriot's last
speech, found it convenient to leave England.
Of Algernon Sidney the patriotism was more
ardent than that of Russel, but it was less pure.
Russel was not the enemy of monarchy, but only
of despotism ; Sidney was a stern republican.
A Christian by profession, he never as yet had
communicated with any church, though during his
imprisonment he availed himself of the spiritual
consolation of sorae independent preachers, to
whom he expressed a remorse for his past sins,
and' a confidence in the mercies of God. He so
far disapproved hereditary succession, as to assert
that a king with a doubtful title is likely to go
vern better than a king whose title is undisputed.
Primogeniture, he maintained, conferred no right
VOL. III. Q

226 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, to govern ; and since God did not now by any
 : — declaration of his will, as he did of old, designate
any particular persons for princes, they could
have no other title than that which was derived
frora compact. This alone constituted the dif
ference between a lawful prince and a usurper,
for if possession were a donation from God, then
every prosperous usurper had a good right. The
people being the source of all sovereignty, princes
derived^their power frora the people, subject to
restrictions and limitations ; and they were liable
to the justice of the people, if they abused their
trust to the prejudice of their subjects, and in
violation of the established laws.
That Sidney should have suffered death for
having coraraitted these speculations to writing,
in an answer to sir Robert Filraer's Book of the
Patriarchs, is an assertion not accurate. He was
conderaned, however illegally, for conspiring the
death of the king. His treatise, even if it had
been legally proved to be written by hiraself, was
not published, and it should never have been
brought forward in evidence of any overt act. If
his treatise had been published, its errors might
have been counteracted in a more effectual man
ner than by investing its author with the crown
of martyrdora.
It cannot therefore excite surprise, and far less
censure, that the opinions of Sidney, at the head
of the infidels, and of sorae other religionists,
should receive an authoritative conderanation in
a place of education, and that they should be
prohibited as destructive of monarchy, and tend
ing to infidelity. These opinions were Indus-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 227
triously disserainated, and eagerly received ; and a. d.
to check their progress the university of Oxford '^^^'
passed its faraous, or, as sorae call it, its infaraous July 21.
decree, against certain pernicious books and doc
trines. Loud and undistinguishing as the clam
our had been against this document, which has
perhaps never been read by those who have
clamoured most loudly, it is only fair that the
occasion of its promulgation should be known,
and its contents be calraly stated. More to the
purpose of its justification than an elaborate de
fence is a " plain tale."
On whatever grounds the evidence to prove the
reality of the Rye-house plot may be rejected in
the present tiraes, yet it was once generally
credited. A tory who believes in the Rye-house
plot, like a whig who believes in the plot of
Oates, may be, in the language of an historian,
one who is not to be reasoned against ; but it is
certain that there have been tories and whigs
who have believed respectively in each. One
thing however is indisputable, that plots against
the person of the king, whether real or pretended,
whether weakly or warily fabricated, were pub
licly defended as justifiable and praiseworthy.
They owed their "rise and growth" to certain
doctrines which the decree styles impious. By
the more moderate* of those who thought resist
ance lawful, it was generally agreed, that the
abuses of the existing governraent had not reach
ed that degree of enorraity at which resistance
could be justified. It cannot therefore be a mat-
* Burnet, passim.
Q 2

XI

228 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, ter deserving censure, that those who conscien-
-tiously believed all resistance to be unlawful, should
have asserted at this time a condemnation of it
in the strongest terms.
Such was the occasion of the decree ; its con
tents next corae under notice. The preamble is
an address to the king, of which, like other ad
dresses, the language will not bear the test of cri
ticism, and the sentiraents far exceed the bounds
of sober truth. Indeed, the most objectionable
circurastance of the document is, the presentation
of it to the king, and the introductory address.
Dismissing the preamble, the substance of the
decree consists of twenty-seven propositions, se
lected from different books published in the Eng
lish and Latin tongue. Of these propositions it
is first affirmed, that they are repugnant to the
holy Scriptures, decrees of councils, writings of
the Fathers, the faith and profession of the pri
mitive church, and also destructive of kingly go
vernment, the safety of his majesty's person, the
public peace, the laws of nature, and the bonds of
human society. The obnoxious propositions are
selected from the writings of Buchanan, Bel
larmine, Baxter, Milton, Hobbes, and others of
inferior notoriety.
It is not too much to say, that twenty, out of
these twenty-seven propositions, are not described
in worse terras than they deserve, as being con
trary to reason, and subversive of social order.
That " dominion is founded on grace *," a favour
ite maxim of the puritans ; that " all oaths are
* Propos. 18.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 229
unlawful *," a maxim not less cherished by the a. d.
Quakers; that "the king's supremacy in eccle-_l!^
siastical affairs, asserted by the church of Eng
land, is popish and antichristian f," a capital
dogma of the presbyterians ; that " the powers
of this world are an usurpation upon the pre
rogative of Jesus Christ:}^," the fundaraental tenet
of the fifth-raonarchy raen ; such propositions as
these, few sound raembers of the national church,
few raen of sound reason, would hesitate to con
demn. Not more defensible are the paradoxes
of Hobbes, that " a state of nature is a state of
war^;" that " success in an enterprise is a proof of
its justice^;" and that "as an oath superadds no
obligation to a fact, so a fact obliges no farther
than it is credited ; consequently, if a prince gives
any indication that he does not believe the pro
mises of allegiance made by his subjects, they are
thereby freed from their subjection ||." In the
same class must be ranked another proposition,
that " an oath obliges not in the sense of the
iraposer, but of the taker**."
There are other propositions, which, though
not theoretically false, are practically mischiev
ous, and which, as they are fairly disputable,
ought not to be generally inculcated ; for they
are controverted both by whigs and tories. The
first and second propositions, that "all civil au
thority is derived originally from the people," and
" that there is a mutual corapact, tacit or express,
between a prince and his subjects ;" however
* Propos. 16. t Propos. 20. i Propos. 19.
§ Propos. II. IT Propos. 10. || Propos. 12.
** Propos. 17-

230 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, they raay be recoramended by the authority of
^^ Sidney and Locke, are attended with difficulties
which must prevent their reception as acknow
ledged truths. Another proposition, that "the
sovereignty of England is in the three estates,
king, lords, and commons ;" that " the king has but
a co-ordinate power, and may be overruled by the
other two * ;" is inaccurate in its terms. Though
the lords and coraraons have a share in the legis
lative branch of the constitution, yet they cannot
be said to have a co-ordinate power, or an equal
share in the sovereignty. In the executive part
of the constitution, which is, strictly speaking,
the governraent, and which is of constant exer
cise and application, the lords and coramons have
no share. The commons have one third only of
the legislature, and of the governraent no share
at all f. The constitution has settled two por
tions, the lords and coraraons, against one, as to
the legislative part ; " and in the whole of the
judicature, the whole of the federal capacity of
the executive, the prudential, and financial ad
ministration in one alone :|:." It is the union of
the legislative, executive, and judicial powers,
which constitute " the sovereignty."
Though all the propositions condemned are
disputable, and though raost are raanifestly un
sound, yet the Oxford decree contains nothing
affirmative. It does not follow, that if these
propositions be false, the converse is true; for
to deny one extreme, is to hold the other extreme,
or a middle proposition between the two.
* Propos. 4. t Burke, Works, vol. x. p. 94.
t Ibid. p. 96.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 231
It has been already said, that the offensive a.d.
propositions were generally selected frora the  -
writings of infidels or sectarians ; but there were
two contained in a treatise, entitled, the Pro
testant Reconciler. They are stated thus: "It
is not lawful for superiors to irapose any thing
in the service of God which is not antecedently
necessary * ;" and " the duty of not offending a
weak brother is inconsistent with all huraan au
thority of raaking laws concerning indifferent
things*." These propositions, which had been
long since demolished by Hooker, were revived
in the Protestant Reconciler, whose author was
Whitby, now more honourably known by his Com
mentary on the New Testament. Whitby was at
this tirae precentor of the cathedral of Salisbury,
and chaplain to the bishop of the diocese ; and
the publication of such a treatise, by a man in
these responsible situations, aggravated the of
fence. His treatise completed the holocaust which
was offered in the quadrangle of the Schools at
Oxford ; it was disgracefully associated with the
works of Hobbes, Baxter, Milton, and Godwin.
Its author was obliged by his diocesan, Seth
Ward, to make a public retractation of it; and,
in order to reraove the prejudices excited against Oct. 9.
hira, he wrote a second part of the Protestant
Reconciler, earnestly persuading the dissenting
laity to join in full coraraunion with the church
of England, and answering all the objections of
the nonconformists against the lawfulness of sub
mission to the rites and cereraonies of that church f.
* Propos. 21 . t Birch's Life of Tillotson, pp. 1 03—105.

232 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. There is no reason to doubt that this retractation
^^' m the part of "Whitby was sincere; but his in
sincerity would only take from his personal in
tegrity, and could not add strength to the argu
ments of the Protestant Reconciler.
Having thus distinctly unfolded the substance
of the Oxford decree, it only remains to mention
the author. It was drawn up by Jane*, the
regius professor of divinity, and dean of Glou
cester, evincing that the propositions condemned
were to be considered as theological, rather than
July 24. political dogmata. It was presented to the king
with great solemnity, and was received by him
with high expressions of satisfaction. For its
perpetual preservation, it was ordered to be en
tered in the registry of convocation ; and farther,
in order to counteract the dissemination of the
opinions which the decree conderaned, all tutors
and others who were concerned in the education
of youth, were coraraanded to teach that most
necessary doctrine, which is the badge and cha
racter of the church of England, the duty " of
subraitting to every ordinance of raan for the
Lord's sake ;" a subraission which is to be clear,
absolute, and without any exception of any class
or order of men.
From this impartial statement it is impos
sible to avoid drawing the conclusion, that the
Oxford decree has been grossly misrepresented.
* In consequence of Dr. Jane's agreement in the Revo
lution, and his taking the oaths to king William, this distich
was made on him :
Cum fronti sit nulla fides, ut carmina dicunt.
Cur tibi bifronti, Jane, sit uUa fides ?— Kennet.

CHURCH OF ENGL.AND. 233
It is neither slavish, nor is it extravagant; and a a. d.
memorialist, who has called it a wild decree, has ^^°^'
been guilty of far greater inconsistencies in his
political life and writings. Whatever raay be
its errors, it is not to be considered as an au
thorized formulary of the church of England.
But, in truth, it is capable of a satisfactory vin
dication ; and if the university of Oxford has
been exonerated from any portion of censure in
the preceding pages, the task has not been un
profitable or ungrateful.
There is another charge which, although it
concern only an individual, yet the high cha
racter of that individual has conferred on it a
more than common importance and interest. The
deprivation of Locke has been represented as an
action which reflects equal disgrace on the kingj
on the university, and, as it is intimately con
nected with the university, on the church.
In this act some have found the most disgust
ing and hateful proof of the tyrannical govern
ment of Charles, which, not contented with the
oppression of the wealthy and the powerful, could
basely persecute the peaceful student and the
retired philosopher*. Such has Locke been de
scribed at the time when Sunderland, by an act
of arbitrary, if not of illegal power, issued a
mandate for his summary ejectment frora his
studentship at Christ Church.
To detract from the merit of a personage who
has acquired a reputation greater than wealth or
titles can bestow, is an employment in which no
* Fox's Hist, of James the Second.

234 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, honest man, no Christian, would engage. What-
 '¦ — ever might be Locke's doctrinal views, his belief
in religion was fervent and sincere ; no one can
doubt either of these qualities, who remembers
his testiraony to the divine authority of the
Bible : " It has God for its author, salvation for
its end, and truth, without any mixture of error,
for its matter."
But in estimating the character of Locke,
justice demands not only that his life should
be separated from his writings, but that a dis
tinction should be made between his philosophical
and political life. To say, as it has been said,
that he was at this tirae unknown to the world,
may be true in his philosophical character, but in
that alone. Known he sufficiently was, though
not advantageously, as the confidential adherent
of Shaftesbury; as having served under this cor
rupt minister when in office ; as having assisted
hira in his political tracts ; as having defended
hira when he was transforraed into a demagogue;
and as having followed his fortunes when he
sought a pusillanimous flight. Unfortunate it
raust undoubtedly be considered for the fame of
Locke, that his political life is so intimately con
nected with that of Shaftesbury. It is a con
nexion which his warmest friends have found
inexplicable, which cannot be vindicated without
supposing in him at the time an absence of or
dinary sagacity. If Shaftesbury were stained by
political perfidy, it is impossible to hold up Locke
as a model of elevated patriotism, as the champion
of liberality, as the principled adversary of super
stition and tyranny. Shaftesbury was the object

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 235
of his political homage, and, to demolish the a.d.
reputation of the statesman, is to impeach the  L
honesty or the penetration of the philosopher ;
for the iconoclast will always put to shame the
idolater. When Locke was ejected frora his studentship,
Shaftesbury had been dead more than a year ;
but the machinations of the party which he di
rected were not impeded by the loss of their
chief. They still contemplated not only the ex
clusion of the duke of York, but they encouraged
the aspiring views of Monmouth. It has been
asserted peremptorily that Locke had no par
ticipation in the designs of Monmouth, but it is
far easier to assert that he was not implicated in
these designs, than to prove that he was. Locke
was suspected to be the author of some pam
phlets which were afterwards ascertained to be the
production of another ; but the abilities of Locke,
and his political connexions, fastened the sus
picion on him with great probability. The con
duct of the government, therefore, in removing
him frora a situation, over which the crown was
supposed to possess an absolute control, raight
be oppressive, and might be despotic, but it was
not unprovoked. The punishment exceeded the
provocation ; but if the most wanton and cruel
act of tyranny in this reign were selected, no raan
would fix on the ejectment of Locke.
The degree of censure being thus awarded to
the king and the governraent, the conduct of the
university of Oxford next falls under considera
tion. It has been undeniably shewn that the
university had no share in the transaction ; that

236 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, even the college of Christ Church is not impli-
-^  cated in it ; and that whatever disgrace is at
tached to it, must rest principally, if not wholly,
on Fell, the dean. On the character of Fell, thus
unfavourably presented to notice, it is fit to be
stow some attention. He was the son and suc
cessor of Samuel Fell, who in the late reign so
nobly resisted the usurped authority of the par
liamentary visitors over the university. In the
college, over which the father so worthily pre
sided, the younger Fell was a student, and suf
fered a similar ejectment by the visitors. Com
pelled to leave Oxford, he sought a retirement
which was at least safe, and, like other persecuted
royalists, observed the formularies, and continued
in the coraraunion of the church of England. On
the restoration he was installed a canon, and
on the death of his father was advanced to the
deanery of Christ Church. His excellent govern
ment of the college over which he was placed,
raised its reputation for discipline to a higher de
gree than it had ever previously attained ; and it
is well known that sorae of the most distinguished
personages in the kingdom were trained under
his inspection. After filling the deanery of Christ
Church for a long period, his signal worth point
ed him out as the most proper person to preside
over the diocese of Oxford, and he was bishop
and dean of the same cathedral. If his munifi
cence may be seen in every part of his college, it
may also be traced throughout almost every part
of his diocese. But Fell is not only to be re
garded with veneration as an ecclesiastical and
academical governor; as a scholar he sustains a

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 237
high place. Sorae of his writings are a proof of a. d.
the depth of his learning, others of the elegance  -
of his taste ; while his critical and editorial la
bours attest the greatness of his industry. In his
life of the excellent Hararaond he has shewn
how future biographers raight do justice to his
own*. Against such a man, whom even Burnet- has
eulogized for his exemplary life and his diffusive
benevolence, any charge affecting his moral cha
racter should not be hastily entertained. The
reputation of Fell is not less dear to an acade
mician, however it may be to a philosopher, than
that of Locke. The letter to Sunderland, which
it has been the fashion to decry, may be staraped
with the " brand of servility," but not of " trea
chery f ;" and it by no means proves the inoffen
sive deportment of Locke, or his innocence of all
factious design against the government. Fell
does not assert his disbelief that Locke was not
disaffected, but that he was such a master of ta
citurnity and passion that neither his views could
be unravelled, nor the designs of his patron. The
behaviour of Locke at this period was that of a
fugitive from his native country, and of a de
serter from his duty in the university; and the
motive of such a retreat may no doubt be ca
pable of a different interpretation ; it may be
explained as a consciousness of guilt, or a con
viction that innocence would be unavailing to
screen him from punishment.
Under these circumstances Fell suggested a
* Grainger. + Oxford and Locke, by lord Grenville.

238 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, plan which, if it had been adopted, would at once
.have obviated the charge of persecution. He

proposed to issue a mandate to Locke, enjoining
his return to the college of which he was a de
pendent member, for to all merabers on the found
ation nonresidence is a matter of favour, not of
right, and it is generally enjoined by an express
dispensation revocable at the will of the governor
of the college. The statement of Fell is perfectly
fair : " If he coraes not back, he will be liable to
expulsion for conturaacy; and if he does, he will
be answerable for that which he shall be found
to have done amiss." Sunderland thought that
Nov. 14. this raode of proceeding was too dilatory ; a royal
mandate was transmitted for the iraraediate eject
ment of Locke, to which Fell, in those days when
the rights of visitors were not defined as at pre
sent, thought hiraself bound to subrait.
It is also acknowledged by a biographer of
Locke, that the conduct of Fell on this occasion
was attributable to good and kindly raotives ; an
acknowledgment not derived from the impressions
of Locke's native candour, but from Fell's wonted
benevolence. On the whole, it is impossible to regard Locke
as a retired philosopher, but as the busy agent of
an ambitious deraagogue, and he was equally
mistaken in extolling the patriotism of Shaftes
bury as in praising the poetry of Blackmore.
Excepting the decree of the university of Ox
ford, and the ejectment of Locke, the church re
quires no vindication for any severities exercised
against such presbyterians or republicans as were
supposed to be implicated in the Rye-house plot:

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 239
they were the acts of the civil government only. a. d.
The divines of the church were raore suitably  1
employed in publishing the London Cases against
the dissenters. They were twenty-three in num
ber, and have since been abridged. Attacked
these Cases have been ; answered they could
not be.
Allowing the despotic and oppressive govern
ment of Charles in its full extent, it ought not to
be charged on the church of England. The ad
vances to arbitrary power were made in order to
prepare the way for the introduction of popery,
to which the church, when the struggle came on,
was strongly opposed. If some divines insisted
on the spurious doctrines of passive obedience and
nonresistance, instead of the scriptural doctrine of
obedience to civil governraent, they raight find a
palliation in those wild theories of republicans
which loosened the foundations of all society.
When the king had raade way for a popish
successor by introducing an absolute monarchy,
he began to find that he was neglected. The
levees of his brother were crowded, his own were
deserted. When he held the reins of govern
ment, his invasions of the liberties of his people
were for the purpose of supplying his prodigality,
or at least the introduction of popery was with
him a subordinate consideration. So great was
his sagacity when he chose to exert it, that he
clearly saw the contrariety of the church of Rome
to the civil constitution of England ; he saw that
he might enjoy arbitrary power, if his people
could possess freedom in religious worship; but
that if he lent his support to the establishment of

240 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, popery, the nation would be driven to resistance,
 '- — and raight limit the regal prerogative.
Mortified at the insignificance into which he
had fallen through his devotion to pleasure, he
was heard to say, that if he survived another
month, he would find a way to make hiraself
easy for the remainder of his life. This speech
was variously interpreted, but it was generally
understood to imply that he would emancipate
hiraself frora the thraldom of the duke of York.
Death however intervened, and disclosed a scene
which exhibited his own religious insincerity, as
well as the religious bigotry of his successor.
When the sickness which oppressed the king
was pronounced to be mortal, the prelates of the
church were summoned to bestow the last consola
tions of religion on one who appeared to have lived
unaffected either by its hopes or fears. Compton
began an address, exhorting him to prepare him
self for the issue of his sickness, whatever it
might be ; but to this address the king was silent.
Sancroft followed, with a weighty application to
his conscience, reminding hira that he was about
to appear before that Being who " is no respecter
of persons ;" but to this address the king answered
not a word. Kenn made a third effort to awaken
his conscience ; but though this prelate spoke with
.the fervour of an inspired apostle, he evinced the
same insensibility*.
On the day immediately preceding his death,
the duchess of Portsmouth thought it necessary
to make that provision for his spiritual welfare
* Burnet's Hist, of his Own Times, vol. ii. p. 281.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 241
which the church of Rome afforded. " Go to the a. d.
duke of York," she said to Barillon, "and tell him '''^^"
that I have conjured you to warn him to think of
what can be done to save the king's soul *." A
Romish priest called Huddleston, who had been
instrumental in saving the life of Charles after
the battle of Worcester, and who for that service
had been specially exempted from all the penal
laws against the papists, was brought to the
palace. The company in the royal bed-charaber
were comraanded to withdraw, and the last sacra
raents of the Romish church were administered.
When the ceremonies were concluded, the cora
pany was suffered to reenter ; and the king sup
ported hiraself through the agonies of death in a
raanner which surprised all who knew his life.
The bishops who were present again resumed
their prayers and exhortations ; and Kenn, who
possessed a large degree of favour with Charles,
spoke with a great elevation of thought and ex
pression. He pronounced many short ejaculations
and prayers, which deeply affected all who were
present except the dying king, who heard them
with insensibility. He earnestly pressed the king to
receive the sacrament, and to make a declaration
of adherence to the communion of the English
church. This the king declined, but to the ques
tion injudiciously proposed by Kenn, whether
he desired a forraal absolution of his sins, accord
ing to the forra prescribed in the visitation of the
sick, he signified assent. The absolution was
pronounced, though he had expressed no con-
* Fox's Hist, of James II. Introduction.
VOL. III. K

242 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, trition for his past life, and no purposes of amend-
 '¦ — ment. His only concern appeared to be for the
succession of his brother ; he expressed no tender
ness for his queen, no solicitude for his subjects ;
but was satisfied with commending his mistresses
and illegitimate children to the bounty of his
brother. This was the end of the accomplished Charles
the Second, of whom, since it has been remarked
that " he never said a foolish thing," many smart
and sententious things have been related. He
was an instance of the various revolutions in for
tune to which raan is liable ; but he was incapa
ble of learning wisdora or virtue frora these wise
dispensations of Providence. In adversity he was
callous, and by prosperity his heart was not
softened. His natural affability and good huraour
were debased by selfishness and cruelty ; and
towards his friends he was guilty, not of neglect
only, but of black ingratitude. His love of plea
sure predorainated over all his other qualities,
and was the source whence raany of his bad qua
lities originated. This habitual voluptuousness
affected not only his personal character, but his
public governraent. He was so abandoned to
sensual pleasures, that he could scarcely prevail
on himself to suspend thera for an hour, in order
to apply hiraself to the affairs of the state ; yet
whenever he did violence to himself, and applied
his raind to politics, his judgraent was so clear,
his penetration was so lively, and his corapre
hension so extensive, that he could dispatch more
business in a single day than his ministers in
general could in many.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 243
His love of power is truly said to have been a. d.
more unmixed with the love of glory than that  L
of any other man whom history has recorded*;
and he could not only be a tyrant but a slave.
His base subserviency to the court of France, in
order to support his profligate extravagance, is
rendered more detestable when viewed in con
nexion with the obligations which he owed to his
people, and the attachment which they continued
to raanifest towards hira, in spite of his follies,
and even of his criraes. But even the arbitrary
notions which he entertained are raore pardonable
than his pretended zeal for the protestant re
ligion, when he was internally a disbeliever in
revelation, and externally in coraraunion with
the church of Rorae. Yet his insincerity or his
indifference in religion enabled hira to establish a
despotic power, which his successor wanting to
continue, lost his crown, because he was sincere,
and because he was zealous.
* Fox's Hist, of James II.

U 2

244 HISTORY OF THE

CHAPTER XII.
James II. succeeds to the Throne. — New Parliament called.
— Landing of the Duke of Monmouth. — Insurrection in
Scotland, headed by Argyle. — Cruelty of Jefferies. — Edict
of Nantz. — Debates in Parliament on the Tests and Elec
tion of its Members. — The King prorogues Parhament.
CHAP. That the death of the late king was lamented
^^' with sincerity has been generally acknowledged ;
February. ^^^ .^ ^^^ English Were in tears, it was raore to
lament the succession than the funeral *. But so
far frora a pensive sadness being visible in most
countenances, the acclamations in favour of the
new king were general.
As soon as the privy council had returned frora
proclairaing the duke of York by the title of
Jaraes the Second, he delivered a speech, which
was afterwards printed and dispersed. It com
menced with an expostulation for the unfavour
able opinion which had been entertained of him ;
but he gave his solemn assurances of maintaining
the government in church and state as it was
established by law. He informed his people that
he knew the principles of the church of England
were favourable to monarchy, and that its mera
bers had proved theraselves to be good and loyal
subjects ; therefore he would support the church.
He never would depart frora any branch of his
* Dr. Greg. Sharpe.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 245
prerogative ; but at the sarae tirae he would never a. d.
invade the liberty and property of his subjects. ^^^^'
This speech was received with greater confi
dence than it deserved, and the proraises of the
king called forth a nuraber of congratulatory ad
dresses. The two universities offered the warra-
est assurances of unshaken loyalty and unlimited
obedience : the pulpits resounded with thanks
givings and congratulations. The coraraon phrase
was, " We have now the word of a king, and a
word never yet broken." Sharpe, a London di
vine of great learning and integrity, and of sound
protestant principles, qualities which subsequent
events proved, incautiously raagnified the speech
of the king as a far better security for the main
tenance of the established religion than the laws
could give. He is said to have uttered the fol
lowing sentence ; " As to our religion we have
now the word of a king, which, with reverence
be it spoken, is as sacred as my text." This bold
flight, bordering upon profaneness, was not un
noticed at the tirae; but it was forcibly called to
remembrance afterwards, since the person who
uttered it was the first of the clergy who fell
under the king's displeasure, and felt the weight
of arbitrary power.
Scarcely had the address been circulated, than
James made public the hypocrisy of the late king
with regard to religion, by avowing his recon
ciliation to the church of Rome. It was a fact
which had been generally suspected, but which
none but the Romanists would dare to proclaira.
On the first Sunday after his accession James

246 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, publicly went to mass, and obliged Huddleston to
•^""  declare that the late king had died a catholic.
Not contented with this declaration, he published
two papers, said to be found in the strong box of
his brother, and written in his own hand, to
gether with another paper of the first duchess of
York. These papers contained a defence of the
Romish faith, and arguraents by which these two
illustrious personages were converted ; and being
industriously dispersed through the nation, were
instrumental in gaining many proselytes to the
church of Rome.
On this occasion Stillingfleet, with an inde
pendence of raind which cannot be praised too
highly, came forward to detect the invalidity or
spuriousness of these papers, and to confute their
arguraents. The task was executed with his
usual acuteness and force, and yet with all due
respect to the august naraes which these papers
bore. He urged in apology for his boldness, that
if the papers in question had not been so pub
licly disseminated, regard to the names of the late
king, and of the first consort of the reigning mo
narch, would have prevented him from giving
any reply. But since they might fall into hands,
by which they might be spread so as to do farther
raischief, he thought it not unbecoming his duty
to God and the king to throw a clearer light on
the representations which they contained. It
could be no reflection on the authority of a prince,
for a private subject to examine a piece of coin
as to its just value, though it was stamped with
the royal image and superscription. In mat-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 247
ters which concern faith and salvation, we raust a. d.
"prove all things, and hold fast that which is_^^
good *."
This private act of James was far from being
consistent with his proraise of supporting the
established religion, but it was an indication of
his real designs. His proraise of not infringing
on the liberties of his subjects was equally disre
garded, for he issued a proclaraation, enforcing
the duties of tonnage and poundage, though the
act of parliament granting thera expired on the
death ofthe late king. In a letter to the Scottish March.
parliaraent he said, " I am resolved to maintain
my power in the greatest lustre, that I may be
able to defend your religion against fanatics."
Before the king had been seated on his throne
two raonths, he discovered his personal resent
ment against the eneraies of his religion, and of
his succession to the crown. Oates was taken
out of prison, tried, convicted, and punished, for
his forraer perjuries. Dangerfield, who had been
engaged in another plot, was indicted for a libel,
and heavily fined. The exclusionists were made
to feel the raarks of his displeasure ; the exclusion
was the criterion by which he estiraated the merits
of his rainisters ; for Halifax attempting to find
excuses for some parts of his late conduct, the
king diverted the conversation, and said that he
remembered nothing of the past except the be
haviour of Halifax in the affair of the exclusion.
In one thing alone James appeared to reverse
the policy of his predecessor, and to comply with
the inclinations of his people. He seemed no
* Stilhngfleet's Works, fol. vol. vi.

248 HISTORY OF THE

CHAP, longer to be governed by the counsels of France,
and to have thrown off the French yoke. He

XII

also publicly announced his intention of living on
terras of the raost confidential amity with the
prince of Orange ; and the prince, to shew his
reciprocal wish of cultivating the friendship of
the father of his wife, dismissed Monmouth from
his court. The friends of James had now some
reason to say that England was governed by a
martial prince who loved glory, and who would
emancipate himself frora foreign subjection. They
could say, " We shall now have a reign of action
and business, and not, like the last, a reign of
luxury and sloth."
April 23. The coronation was fixed on the sarae day
which the late king had chosen for a similar cele
bration, St. George's day. In spite of some oc
currences which were interpreted as inauspicious,
the ceremony was more than usually splendid
and imposing. Sancroft, by virtue of his rank,
officiated ; Turner, bishop of Ely, by appointment
preached the sermon. The prelate referred to the
history of Constantius Chlorus, in which he pro
posed fidelity in religion as the test of loyalty to
a prince, and reckoned that those would be most
true to him who were true to their God. Both
the king and queen complied with all the pro
testant forras, with the exception of the sacra
ment, which is always a part of the solemnity.
He took the usual oath, though he must have
forraed a deliberate resolution not to keep it, or
raust have understood it with some mental re
servations. A pariiament had been previously summoned.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 249
after an interval of four years. It has been said, a. d.
that all the arts of corruption were used to secure  1

the return of such merabers as would cooperate
in the king's views. The king hiraself said that
not raore than forty members were returned other
wise than he wished *. But it has been said, on
the other hand, that there never was a house of
comraons raore able and more industrious to pre
serve the happiness of the king, the safety of the
nation, and the security of the established re
ligion f . They were loyal in their principles to
the crown, and zealous in their affections to the
church \. Both these statements may be correct,
for they are not contradictory. Tyranny is often
defeated by its own instruments.
The parliaraent on its first raeeting realized May 22.
the raost sanguine expectations of the king. In
his opening speech he repealed his declaration to
the privy council, that he would maintain the
government in church and state as it was esta
blished by law ; but he plainly intimated that he
would not depend upon the precarious aids of a
parliaraent for the support of his regal dignity ;
and to incline hira to meet them often, they must
use hira well^. The comraons, relying on his
assurances and proraises, in about two hours voted
him such an iraraense revenue for his life, as
enabled hira to raaintain a powerful fleet and
array without any farther supply. This iraprovi- May 27.
dent vote was followed by an address, praying
" Burnet's Hist, of his Own Times, b. iv.
t Echard's Hist, of England, vol. iii. p. 744.
J Carte's Hist, of James, duke of Orraond, vol. ii. p. 544.
§ Gazette, No. 2036.

250 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the king to issue a pi'oclaraation for putting in
"^'^"  execution the penal laws against dissenters from

the church of England.
The revival of the severities against the non
conformists was doubtless in consequence of the
suggestion of the king himself. He adopted the
policy of the early part of the last reign, to oblige
the dissenters by rigorous measures to agree to a
general toleration, which might include the pa
pists. All raeeting houses of protestant dissent
ers were iraraediately shut up, and their private
conventicles were suppressed. Their teachers
could not appear in public unless under a dis
guise, and sorae of the most obnoxious were
coraraitted to prison. Among the first who ex
perienced the resentment of governraent, even be
fore the raeeting of parliaraent, was Baxter. In his
paraphrase on the New Testaraent there were ex
ceptionable passages, reflecting on the order of
diocesan bishops, and raaintaining the lawfulness
May 30 of resistance. For these he was coraraitted to
prison, and brought to trial before Jefferies ; the
jury pronounced hira guilty, and he was sentenced
to pay a heavy fine *, and to remain in prison till
it was paid.
The parliament would have proceeded in im
posing new restraints on the liberties of the
people, and had made some progress in framing a
new act against treasons, when the landing of the
duke of Monraouth brought the session to a con
clusion. There was a considerable number of
English fugitives in Holland at this time, both
* Five hundred marks.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 251
from political and religious motives, and James a.d.
had sufficient influence with the prince of Orange ^^^^"
to procure their dismissal from his court, if not
their banishment from his dominions. This act,
rather forced on William than the result of his
own choice, precipitated the counsels of the male-
contents, and they urged Monraouth preraaturely
to atterapt an invasion of England. Argyle, with
equal rashness, ventured on an incursion into
Scotland, iraagining that the whole body of Scot
tish presbyterians was ripe for revolt.
Monmouth had no sooner landed in Dorset- June ii.
shire than the intelligence was communicated to
London, and upon the general report of the event,
an act of attainder against hira passed both houses
in the sarae day. A slight opposition was raised
by the earl of Anglesea, because the evidence,
being founded only on report, did not seera to jus
tify so severe a measure.
Although neither the dissenters, in general nor
the presbyterians in particular, sent any invita
tion to Monmouth, nor openly espoused his pre
tensions, yet the far greater nuraber of his adhe
rents were disaffected as well to the church as
to the raonarchy. There were few if any so cre
dulous as to be persuaded that the late king had
been privately raarried to his mother, and that he
was the lawful heir of the crown. The greater
part who favoured hira professed a hope that he
raight be the instruraent of delivering thera from
popery and arbitrary power, but secretly expected
to establish through him a republican forra of
governraent, with a correspondent, or without
any, national religion.

252 HISTORY OF THE
c«AP. With whatever lofty qualities party spirit
 '- — might have invested Monmouth, yet, when they
were brought to the test, his abilities as well as
his raprals were proved to be of the lowest order.
His manifesto, tedious and ill written, was not his
own composition, but it comprised the grounds
and the grievances of his imprudent expedition.
There were too raany real causes of coraplaint
against James, to need the addition of charges at
once improbable and malicious. Monraouth's de
claration basely asserted that the present usurper
was the author of all the criraes and calamities of
the last reign. It charged him with contriving
the conflagration of London, with instigating a
confederacy with France, and a war against Hol
land ; with fomenting the popish plot, and en
couraging the raurder of sir Edraondbury God
frey to stifle it ; with forging treason against pro
testants, and suborning witnesses to prove it ;
with hiring assassins to murder the earl of Essex;
with advising and procuring the prorogation and
dissolution of parliaments in order to prevent in
quiry into his criraes, and to escape the justice of
the nation ; and to crown all, with having poison
ed the late king, his brother.
These accusations, either manifestly false or
having a slender presumption of truth, invalidated
those substantial allegations of misgovernraent
which could be proved against the king, and
which were too palpable. The raanifesto enu
merated among the reasons of his disability, that
his religion prevented hira frora inheriting the
crown, and that three successive houses of parlia
raent had voted his exclusion. It farther accused

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 253
him of invading the properties of the nation by a. d.
collecting the customs and excise in violation of  ^^^^'
the laws ; of taking away the chartered rights of
corporations, and of using all the arts of cor
ruption to influence elections ; and for advancing
those men to the bench who were a scandal to the
bar, and for appointing those men to declare the
laws who were accused and branded in parlia
ment for perverting them. Recourse was there
fore had to arras ; a promise was given to repeal
all the penal laws against dissenters, and for their
enjoyment of equal liberty with other protestants ;
and a resolution was expressed of raaintaining the
just rights of parliament and the freedom of elec
tions. The legitimacy of Monmouth was asserted,
though he did not insist on his title, but left the
determination of the question to the justice and
authority of a parliaraent legally chosen.
It is a fact too notorious to want farther proof,
that both the English and Scottish invasions were
contrived and conducted with a want of skill
which could be equalled only by the inability of
the opposition. Both Argyle and Monmouth
were defeated and taken. The former in a pro
clamation had justified his resistance, and had
proved, that by the law of Scotland Jaraes was
incapacitated frora wearing the crown. When
his sraall array was defeated, and he was hiraself
a prisoner, his raagnaniraity and courage were
strikingly contrasted with his raeekness and pa
tience. "Anger could not exasperate, nor fear
appal him ; and let him be weighed never so
scrupulously, and in the nicest scales, he will not
be found in a single instance wanting in the

254 HISTORY OF THE

CHAP, charity of a Christian, firraness of a patriot, and
-the integrity of a man of honour*." He did

XII

not undergo the formality of a trial, but was
June 30. beheaded in pursuance of a former illegal sen
tence. One of the merabers of the Scottish coun
cil beheld him enjoying a tranquil slumber within
two hours of the time fixed for his execution, and,
struck with the sight, retired with the utmost
precipitation to give vent to his feelings. The
speech of the heroic nobleman to the spectators
was in the tone of Christian resignation and hu
mility, and his last words were, " Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit."
The adherence, or rather the connexion of
Argyle, is the only circumstance which throws
a faint lustre over the cause of Monmouth ; for
his own death was such as to reflect disgrace on
himself and his cause. When he was defeated
and brought a captive to London, his abject sub
mission belied his former reputation for courage,
or it proved that his courage was purely ani
mal, and not like that of Argyle, purified and
strengthened by religion. With all his vaunted
zeal against popery, it is said that he offered to
embrace it, if he could save his life. The mean
triumph of the king was equal to the pusil
lanimous submission of Monmouth, for the king
was present at his examination.
Turner and Kenn adrainistered the last conso
lations of religion to the unfortunate Monmouth
by the king's appointment, and Tennison attended
him by his own request. The two bishops la-
* Fox's Hist, of James the Second.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 255
boured with well-intentioned, but untimely zeal, a. d.
to convince the culprit that if he were, according  —
to his own profession, a member of the church of
England, he ought to acknowledge the sin of
resistance ; and they strongly urged hira not to
be satisfied with a general repentance, but to
confess the sinfulness of his late enterprise. On
this point they pressed hira with a degree of ira-
portunity which has excited emotions and ex
pressions of anger and astonishment*. But with
the exception of useless pertinacity and officious
ness, the conduct of Kenn and Turner towards
Monmouth is not raore censurable than that of
Tillotson and Burnet towards Russel.
No persuasions could induce Monraouth to ac
knowledge the sinfulness of his late expedition,
though he expressed his sorrow for the blood
which had been shed, and though he confessed
the falsehood of the fact which he had pro
pagated of the marriage of the late king with his
mother. Still the bishops continued to press on
hira a sense of the sin of rebellion, until he
becarae so uneasy that he desired them to desist.
Tennison appears to have performed his solemn
office with more satisfaction to Monmouth, and
with less censure from the assembled multitude,
than the two bishops. Without reserve, though
without harshness, he laid before the sufferer
the dissolute course of his past life ; and having
said all which he thought necessary, he left all
those points on which he saw that he could not
produce conviction to the conscience of the con-
* Fox's Hist, of James the Second.

XII.

256 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, demned penitent, and turned the attention of the
_ dying Monraouth to subjects raost suitable to his
awful condition.
Thus far Jaraes had gone on with success.
He had holden a session of parliament, which had
settled on him an ample revenue ; and by sup
pressing a rebellion he had broken the strength
of his enemies. His power was now so firmly esta
blished, that no ordinary misgovernraent could
have shaken its stability. But his own enthu
siastic teraper, always unduly elated on success,
joined with the counsels of his pi'iests, corabined
to deprive him of the advantages which he had
gained. The army which had defeated the un
disciplined force of Monraouth, was kept for some
time on the scene of its easy victory, and lived
with all the licentiousness of troopers stationed
in a hostile country. Jefferies was sent on the
western circuit to try those who had been taken
prisoners, and his cruelty exceeded any thing
which had been ever witnessed in a civilized
country. These excesses were iraputed to the
king himself; for he spoke of them to his court
iers in a style unworthy of a raan of coraraon
humanity, and infinitely more unbecoming the
dignified clemency of a prince. When Jefferies
returned frora the bloody circuit, which the king
with a disgusting jocularity called a carapaign,
this infaraous judge was iraraediately raised to
the peerage, and soon afterwards appointed lord
chancellor. Such wanton cruelties alienated the great body
of the nation, and especially those whom James had
found to be his best friends, the tories, and the

1685.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 257
clergy of the church of England. The king had a. d.
raised several new regiments, and had granted
coraraissions in thera to papists. This infringe-
raent of the laws had been overlooked in the tirae
of danger from a civil war, for the laws had allowed
a teraporary eraployment of papists in tiraes of
emergency. But when the tirae had arrived for
disbanding the array, the king and his courtiers
began to declaim against the tests. The tests
were contrived, it was said, frora raotives of per
sonal hostility to the present king ; the one to
remove him from the admiralty, and the other to
prepare the way for his exclusion. To insist on
the observance or continuance of these laws was
an insult to the sovereign, and James himself
declared that he should look on all those who
would not consent to their repeal in the ensuing
session of parliament as his enemies.
On the side of the king were ranged not only
the papists, but the friends of absolute monarchy
and regal prerogative. They argued, with plau
sibility, that to deny the services of any subject
to his king, was an invasion of the regal power;
that to demand from any peer other tests than
the oath of allegiance, was a derogation frora the
honour of an hereditary nobility. Considering
also the avowed religious faith of the king, it was
an accuraulation of insult on injury that he should
be corapelled to eraploy such persons only as would
be contented to swear that his religion was su
perstitious and idolatrous. But the raajority,
the enlightened majority, saw, that if the tests
were not maintained, no civil or military office
would be given but to papists, or to men who
VOL. III. s

258 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, were indifferent to all religion. As long as the
_^^!L_king was a sincere protestant, and a true Chris
tian, the tests were of less value ; but when the
king had openly renounced the established re
ligion of the nation, the tests were the only bar
riers to secure the church and the state against
popery. It was also said, that the existence of
these laws had quieted the minds of the people, and
had united them against the bill of exclusion ;
but if there had been no tests, they would have
united with the whigs and dissenters in shutting
out the present king from the throne.
No class of society was more decidedly opposed
to any dispensation or abolition of the tests than
the array, and great disaffection was caused araong
the military by the intrusion of papists. It was
seen that the king would so model the array,
that it raight becorae an engine of despotism.
The marquess of Halifax moved in council, that
an order should be given to examine whether all
the officers in coraraission had taken the tests or
not, but as no one of the council had firmness
enough to second him, the motion fell to the
ground. Converts to popery were at this tirae raulti-
plied, and the conversions were too evidently
interested to escape suspicion. The earl of Perth,
and his brother, the earl of Melfort, avowed that
their conversion was occasioned by the two papers
found in the late king's strong box. Dryden, the
poet laureate, who had long eraployed his pen in
favour of the papists, erabraced their religion.
The Roraish priests soon brought his talents into
action ; they engaged him to defend the contro-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 259
versial papers found in the strong box, and, which a. d.
was a raore difficult task, to defend thera against ^^^^-
Stillingfleet*. But having felt his own inferiority
in theological controversy, he was desirous of
bringing poetry to aid his arguraents; and he
thought to become an efficacious defender of his
new profession by publishing the Hind and Pan
ther, in which the church of Rome, figured by a
milk-white hind, defends her tenets against the
church of England, represented by a panther, a
beast beautiful yet spotted f.
The king having declared that he would be
served by none except those who would vote for
the repeal of the tests, called for the marquess of
Halifax, and inquired what were his intentions ?
Halifax frankly answered that he never could
vote for their repeal, for he considered the raain-
tenance of these laws essential even to the king's
interest. The king told this able rainister, that
though his conduct with respect to the exclusion
could never be forgotten, yet, as unanimity in the
cabinet was necessary, he must be dismissed.
The office of president of the council, from which
Halifax was so disgracefully reraoved, was trans
ferred to Sunderland, a raan as unprincipled as
Shaftesbury, though not possessed of equal ability.
Sunderland was at this tirae the raillstone of the
whigs, and has always been the sturablingblock
of whiggish historians 1^.
Ireland was so raodelled as to be a nursery for
* Johnson's Life of Dryden. t Ibid.
X "What shall I do with the character of Sunderland ?"
said Smith to Addison, on being asked to write a History of
the Revolution. Johnson's Life of Smith. S 2

260 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, a popish array, which was in due tirae to subdue
^"- the liberties of England. The duke of Ormond
was reraoved from the viceroyship, and the earl
of Clarendon, an unworthy son of the illustrious
Hyde, was appointed lord lieutenant. The army
was placed under the coraraand of Tyrconnel, a
bigoted papist; and sir Charles Porter, a man
of ready wit, but of great poverty, was appointed
lord chancellor of Ireland.
The protestant cause thus oppressed in Eng
land, vi^as equally declining abroad; for this year
is meraorable on account of the revocation of the
October, edict of Nautz. Conversions to popery had ex
ceedingly raultiplied, not so much from motives
of interest, as from the arguments of Bossuet,
bishop of Meaux. Long had the crisis been ex
pected, but it had been hitherto retarded by the
prudence of Rouvigny, the ecclesiastical deputy-
general. Whatever might have been the ira
prudence of the protestants, yet the severities ex
ercised towards thera cannot be justified. Thou
sands sought refuge on the English shores, and
described the persecuting spirit of popery in the
most appalling language.
James had enlisted hiraself under the Jesuits,
and was on this account as unfriendly to the se
culars of the Roraish church as he was to the
protestants. He did not hesitate to call this per
secution both unchristian and impolitic, but he
laboured to exculpate the Jesuits from having
any share in the transaction. He exonerated the
king's confessor, and laid the blame on the royal
mistress. He frequently spoke of this act of na
tional cruelty with a vehemence which excited

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 261
suspicions of his sincerity. He did more, by which a.d.
these suspicions raight have been quieted ; he or- '^"^"
dered a brief for a charitable collection through
out the kingdom ; he permitted the refugees to
becorae denizens without fees, and granted them
many iraraunities.
It was generally agreed that the revocation of
the edict of Nantz tended to awaken the vigilance
of the English nation, to exasperate their oppo
sition to popery, and to increase their fears of the
king's designs. In the next session of parliaraent
the teraper of the people was displayed in a raan
ner which should have instructed James that his
policy, if followed, raust end in his own ruin.
When parliament was opened, the king, in his Nov. 9.
speech, congratulated the two houses on the sup
pression of the late rebellion, in which it ap
peared how weak and insignificant a militia was,
and consequently how necessary a standing army
must be for the preservation of tranquillity. The
standing array, thei'efore, he had determined to
continue ; " and let no man," he added, " take
exceptions that there are some officers in the army
not- qualified according to the late te.sts, for they
are raost of thera well known to rae on account
of their loyalty. And to deal plainly with you,
after having had the benefit of their services in time
of need and danger, I will neither expose them
to disgrace, nor myself to the want of them, if
there should be another rebellion to raake them
necessary*." His expressions of cultivating the good-will of
* Gazette, No. 2085.

262 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, his parliaraent, and of adhering to his original
^^^'  professions, could not render his speech accept
able. Two points were disclosed without re
serve, the maintenance of a standing army, and a
violation of the tests.
The debates which followed the king's speech
in the house of coraraons were highly important.
In order to disband the standing army, a project
was offered for rendering the militia more effect
ive ; but it was shewn that so much discontent
yet reraained in the nation, that it was necessary
to repress it by a strong force. The rainisters of
the cx'own, in their turn, proposed that a subsidy
should be granted for the purpose of indem
nifying the king on account of the expenses
incurred in the late rebellion ; but the proposi
tion, though not absolutely rejected, was met by
a dilatory excuse. It was objected by many,
that the grant of supplies was the only cause for
calling a parliament, and that the vote of a sub
sidy was often the first and last vote of a session.
The courtiers suggested, that even if the king's
raeasures were opposed, the opposition would be
conducted with more decency after the subsidy
had been granted ; but that the liberality of par
liament would probably dispose the king to ac
cede to its views, and not to press farther the
repeal of the tests. This suggestion was not
without its effect ; yet, notwithstanding the in
fluence of the court, and the credulity of the
country party, it was carried by one vote, that
the king's speech should be taken into considera
tion before the house went upon the business of
the supply.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 263
Such being the order of proceeding, the house a. d.
took into consideration the policy of the tests,  -
their recent violations, and the king's speech, in
which these violations were avowed and defended.
On the one side, the arguments were clear and
full ; on the other side, there was no attempt at
arguraent, but insinuations were frequently ex
pressed about the danger of offending the king,
and of provoking a quarrel between hira and his
parliaraent. No influence could prevent an al
raost unaniraous resolution of the house to ad
dress the king that he would maintain the laws,
and particularly the tests, at the same tirae of
fering an indemnity to such as had broken the
law. Nothing could exceed the resentment of the
king, and the vehemence with which he expressed
it, when the address was presented. He accused
some of the members with a concerted design of
disturbing the harmony which subsisted between
himself and his parliaraent, a course which would
be highly prejudicial to the public interest. He
had declared his intentions so explicitly with re
gard to the tests, that he had hoped the subject
would not have been discussed in the house.
Yet still he professed his resolution of keeping
all his proraises. An answer like this raised the
fermentation in the house to the utmost height,
and though the intemperate expressions of one of
their merabers* was punished by his being sent
to the Tower, yet the coraraons steadily resolved
not only to insist on compliance with their ad-
* One Cook.

264 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, dress, but to proceed to a consideration of the
VTT
.  !  undue raethods by which raerabers of parliaraent
had been returned, and of the late infringement
of chartered rights. It was said that the free
dora of elections had been invaded, and for the
invasion the nation expected, and had a right to
deraand justice. If the house had been allowed
tirae to proceed, a great number of the elections
would have been declared void ; but the king
perceived that a longer continuance of the session
must involve an open rupture with at least one
branch of the legislature, and therefore he ter
minated it by a prorogation.
Nov. 20. In the house of lords, though the expressions of
displeasure were not so annoying as the delay
of the supplies by the comraons, yet they were
not less decisive. It was at first debated whe
ther any address of thanks should be offered for
the speech frora the throne, but it was pressed
by the adrainistration as a customary mark of
respect. The earl of Devonshire sarcastically
said that he should vote for the address, because
the king had spoken out so plainly, and warned
them of what they might expect. The address
of thanks was at length carried; but when it
was moved by the bishop of London to appoint
a day for taking the speech into consideration*,
Jefferies, who was now lord chancellor, and
speaker of the house of lords, affected the sarae
despotic power, and atterapted to shew the sarae
overbearing manner, as he had exercised in a
court of justice. When some animadversions
were made on the speech, he bluntly said, that
* Hume, vol. viii. c. 70.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 265
by returning a vote of thanks they were pre- a.d.
eluded frora censuring any part of it. This in  '-
Solent interruption was received with indigna
tion, and it was no irapediraent to a long and
interesting debate on the civil and religious po
licy which the king was determined to pursue.
The marquess of Halifax, the earl of Notting
ham, and lord Mordaunt, were the principal
speakers araong the teraporal lords, and the bi
shop of London spoke several tiraes. He took
occasion to observe, that he not only spoke his
own sentiments, but those of the episcopal bench.
The opponents of the king's administration ar
gued, that the tests were now the only remain
ing security for the protestant religion ; that if
these barriers were broken down, the subversion
of the church must inevitably follow ; and that if
the king, by his sole authority, might super
sede laws like these, fortified by so many sanc
tions, especially that of disability, it was in vain
to think of law any more. Jefferies began to
interfere in the debate, but he received a casti
gation which reduced him to silence and to con
terapt. He endured as great a raortification as
could be suffered by a raan who had lost all sense
of disgrace.
After the end of this short session, Jaraes
never again called in the aid of a parliament.
Two years longer it continued in existence, not
without an expectation that it might be brought
to a compliance with the king's measures, till
wearied and disappointed by his endeavours to
win over its leading individuals, he pronounced
its dissolution, and never called another.

266 HISTORY OF THE

Xlll.

CHAPTER XIII.
Dispensation of Tests by the King. — Conduct of the Judges.
— The Clergy prohibited from preaching against Popery. —
Ecclesiastical Commission. — Bishop of London suspended.
— Bishops Cartwright and Parker. — Declaration for general
Liberty of Conscience. — Laudable Behaviour of the dis
senting Teachers.
CHAP. Hopeless of the concurrence, and impatient
-of the restraint of his parliament, James rashly
followed the only path which led to his object.
As he could not alter or repeal the tests with the
consent of the legislature, he resolved to suspend
them by virtue of his prerogative.
It was now that the question of the dispensing
power was argued in conversation, in print, and
at the bar. In favour of the prerogative it was
urged, that the governraent of England rests en
tirely with the king, that the crown is an irape-
rial crown, the meaning of which is, that it is
an absolute monarchy. All penal laws were a
part of the powers vested in the crown. By
virtue of his executive power the king might and
always did administer these laws, but they were
no restraints on the kingly authority. The king
could pardon all offences against the laws, and
forgive the penalties annexed; and why could he
not as well dispense with them ? He could par
don felony and treason, moral offences, and such
as are destructive of society ; why should he not

CHURCH OF ENGL.AND. 267
pardon the violation of a religious test of ques- ^¦^^
tionable utility and of doubtful obligation ? To  ^
decline a test was not a positive offence, but only
a sin of oraission.
The fallacy of this reasoning lies in not raak
ing a distinction between a pardoning and a dis
pensing power, since they are widely different *.
A pardon is remedial, a dispensation is prevent
ive ; a pardon is a remission of punishment, a
dispensation is a guarantee of impunity. If a
king were really to assume a prerogative of dis
pensing in cases of felony and treason, the absur
dity of confounding a dispensing and pardoning
power would be palpable. But if James had not
assumed a power of dispensing with the tests, but
only of remitting the penalties after a violation of
the law, it would have been an unwarrantable
extension of his prerogative. One of the penalties
annexed to the test laws was an incapacity, which
by a maxira of law cannot be restored by a par
don. A fine was also iraposed by the statute on
offenders, not belonging to the king but to the
informers ; so that the king could not pardon the
offence without depriving the informer of his fine.
The king cannot discharge the debts of his sub
jects by a dispensing power or a power of pardon,
and neither can extend to the property of his
subjects. Jaraes however was not to be convinced by
arguraent, and he was determined to overrule
* "What is a court of equity, I pray thee, but a court of
dispensations?" — Observator. If sir Roger L'Estrange had
any other than a man of straw for his respondent, he must
have been confounded by the answer.

268 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, those laws which he could not induce the parlia-
^^'^' ment to abrogate. It was not long before an oc

casion presented itself, by which the question of a
dispensing power was brought to an issue. Sir
Edward Hales, a gentleman of good extraction,
and recently a professed convert to popery, was
collusively brought to a trial, on the inforraation
of his servant, for holding an eraployment with
out having taken the tests. Before the trial took
place, the judges were canvassed for their opinions
on the legality of the dispensing power, and most
of those opposed to it were disraissed*. The
judicial appointments having been modelled ac-
June. cording to the wishes of the court, the trial was
permitted to take place. The prosecution was
conducted, as well as the defence, with an in
decent coldness, which did not throw the most
flimsy disguise over the real nature of the suit.
A verdict was given in favour of the defendant,
grounded on the king's dispensing power. Her
bert, who had succeeded Jefferies in the high
office of chief justice, delivered it as law, that
the governraent of England resided entirely in
the king. The king had an undisputed right of
pardoning all offences, even the highest crimes,
and of remitting the penalties annexed to them,
and a power of pardon was certainly greater than
a power of dispensation. Acts of parliament had
been frequently superseded, judges had been di
rected to inquire after certain acts of parliament
no more if they were found to be impracticable or
* Lord C. J. Jones, one of the displaced judges, was told
by the king that his judges must be of one mind. Reresby's
Memoii s

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 209
highly inconvenient ; and even the judges, though a.d.
they could not repeal a law, were competent to  -
suspend its execution.
All who expected to continue in place, or who
sought preferment, by a sacrifice of honour or
consistency, eraployed their abilities in defence of
the raaxim that the king can dispense with the
laws. But the opinion of private individuals, or
of unprofessional statesmen, not being thought
sufficient, it was resolved to procure a soleran and
forraal deterraination of the judges. All except
one subscribed the following propositions. 1 . That
the laws of England are the king's laws. 2. That
it is an inseparable branch of the prerogative of
the kings of England, as of all other sovereign
princes, to dispense with the penal laws in parti
cular cases, and on particular occasions. 3. That
of those reasons, and of that necessity, the king
is the sole judge. 4. That this is not a trust now
invested in, or granted to the present king, but is
the ancient reranant of the sovereign power of the
kings of England, which was never taken from
them, and never can be. Thus were the laws at
once surrendered, by those who ought to have
been their faithful administrators and intrepid
defenders. The parliaraent being virtually defunct, the
laws being betrayed by their guardians, the pro
testant cause in England now rested with the
clergy of the church of England. Their eyes
were now opened, and they began to preach
against popery, hoping to prevent the defection of
their flocks, or to bring back such as had been
seduced. Jaraes was no sooner informed of this

270 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, circumstance, than, by the advice of his priests,
 L_he sent circular letters to the bishops, with an
order prohibiting the clergy from preaching on
the controverted points of religion. But when
their addresses frora the pulpit were forbidden,
the most learned and the most zealous of the
English divines agreed to engage the Romanists
with their own weapons. The papists knowing
the popularity which the treatise of Bossuet had
acquired, and the services which it had rendered
to the church of Rome, followed the sarae method
in England, though with infinitely inferior abili
ties, and with inferior success. They published
in quick succession several tracts, entitled, " Pa
pists represented and misrepresented," glossing
over the corruptions of the church of Rome. The
divines of the English church published a number
of sraall tracts in a sirailar form in defence of the
protestant faith. Scarcely a week elapsed in
which some seasonable tract against popery was
not dispersed ; and since they have been collected,
they forra a valuable accession to the theology of
the nation and of the protestant church *. The
chief writers were Stillingfleet, Patrick, Tillot
son, and Atterbury. Never was a bad cause more
weakly defended than by the papists at this crisis,
and the victory of the protestants required not
the abilities engaged in the contest to procure an
easy triumph over such contemptible antagonists.
Even the least bigoted and bitter of the non
conforraists could refuse to allow the sole glory of
* A collection of these tracts was published under the
direction of bishop Gibson, in three volumes, folio. Birch's
Life of Tillotson.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 271
standing forward in the hour of peril to corabat a.d.
popery backed by regal power, to the clergy of  1
the national church. But the adraission has been
accorapanied by an invidious deduction from their
merit, that they coldly received or contemptuously
rejected the aid of the dissenters. The licensers
of the press have been accused of refusing per
mission to the tracts of the dissenting ministers
against popery. Such a serious charge has been
amply and satisfactorily refuted by the express
testimonies of raany of the individuals iraplicated
in it *, and by the general character of the others ;
and above all, it has been corapletely disproved
by the adraissions of the dissenters theraselves.
They have said, in apology for their reraissness,
that churchmen were more nearly concerned, the
nonconformists having nothing to lose, whereas
the eraoluraents of the church were in danger.
They also have alleged, that the dissenters kept
a neutral ground, neither ranging theraselves on
the side of popery and the prerogative, nor ap
pearing against the reraoval of the tests which
concerned themselves. On the one hand they
were unwilling to provoke the king, on the other
hand they feared to provoke the clergy, lest a
combination against them should take place be
tween the court and the church. They therefore
prudently resolved to leave the popish contro-
* Dr. Z. Grey has quoted Letters from Doctors Isham, Al
ston, Baddely, and Mr. Newham, declaring that they never
refused to license a book against popery, because it was
written by a dissenter. One tract from Mr. Hanmer, a dis
senter, had the Imprimatur of Dr. Jane. Grey's Examin. of
Neal, vol. ii. p. 342.

272 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, versy in the hands of those who were most inter-
XTTT
 ^  ested in repelling its advances.
The conduct of the clergy, noble and inde
pendent as it was, occasioned the beginning of an
irreconcilable rupture between the king and the
church of England. He was induced to conciliate
a body of raen, and to use them as auxiliaries,
whom it had been hitherto his aim to persecute
and destroy. He made overtures to the dissent
ers, and attempted the introduction of popery
under the mask of universal toleration. The
domineering cruelty of the English church was
now the common topic of his conversation ; he
reproached it for its severities against the dis
senters ; and he asserted, with unblushing effron
tery, that a universal and. unrestricted toleration
had always been the object of his wishes, and
would have been the rule of his government, if
he had not been restrained by some leading ecde-
' siastics. Yet before he resorted to this mode of
caressing the dissenters and of criminating the
church, he had twice offered to raake a sacrifice
of all the nonconformists, and to give them up to
the rigour of the penal laws, if the church would
shew some favour to the papists *. Failing in his
atterapt, he entertained hopes that the noncon
forraists would be more tractable; and without any
apparent reason they were taken into favour, and
the benefit of the dispensing power was extended
to thera. Herbert in the summer of this year
went the western circuit, on the scene where
Jefferies had exercised his cruelties, and he was
* Calamy's Hist, of his Own Life, vol. i.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 273
remarkable for his gracious deportment to sepa- a. d.
ratists of all denominations. Their former suffer- __!^^
ings were commiserated, and the presumed au
thors of these sufferings were censured ; every
alleviation of their supposed hardships was anti
cipated ; their ministers were encouraged to esta
blish conventicles, with an intimation that no dis
turbance should be offered to their religious meet
ings. An office for dispensations was established,
where all applicants, on payment of a small fine *,
might obtain a regular license for themselves and
their families, to attend any religious meeting
without fear of ecclesiastical censures or temporal
penalties f.
And in order that their feelings of gratitude
towards the king raight not be unmixed with sensa
tions of resentment against the clergy, comraission
ers were appointed throughout England to in
quire what raoney had been raised by inforraations
against the nonconforraists. These coraraissioners
had powers to inquire what prosecutions had been
instituted for recusancy, the naraes of the inform
ers who had been paid fines, or procured thera by
distraining ; and these naraes were to be returned
into the exchequer. The informers, if living,
were obliged to appear before the comraissioners,
and if dead, their representatives were obliged to
appear in their behalf. An inquiry was to be
instituted into all the vexatious suits instituted in
the ecclesiastical courts, and the amount of the
compositions which the nonconformists had been
* Fifty shillings. Neal'.? Hist, ofthe Puritans, vol. v. p. 10.
t Burnet's Hist, of his Own Times, vol. ii. b. 4.
VOL. III. T

274 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, obliged to pay to redeera themselves frora farther
"^"^' molestation. It was expected that this exposure
would have animated the dissenters to retaliate
on the clergy, but they forebore to avail them
selves of so tempting an opportunity. They could
not but discern the motives which had called forth
this sudden appearance of favour from the king,
and though they took advantage of the indul
gence to establish their conventicles, yet they re
sumed their meetings without any mark of thank
fulness to the king, or of vindictiveness to the
church. To complete the humiliation of the clergy, and
to establish the supremacy of a popish king over
a protestant church, Jaraes, by the advice of the
lord chancellor Jefferies, erected a court of eccle
siastical coraraission. Though the statute which
had abolished the high coraraission court had dis
tinctly provided that no tribunal of a similar kind
should again be established, yet, in conterapt of
this statute, a court was now forraed, with plenary
authority, and by a suraraary process to take
cognizance of all ecclesiastical matters, without
being limited by any rules of canon or civil law.
This extension of the supremacy was made by a
king whose religion taught him that any regal
supremacy in the church of Christ was heretical ;
but probably his priests overcame his scruples, if
any arose, by suggesting that the ecclesiastical
state of England was not the church of Christ.
The persons to whom this formidable authority
was entrusted, and who composed the supreme
court, which was described as nothing more than
a standing court of delegates, were in num-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 275
ber six. There were three ecclesiastics, the arch- a.d.
bishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Durham and  -
of Rochester ; and three laics, the lord chancellor,
the lord treasurer, and the chief justice of the
king's bench. There was a semblance of pro
priety in the official selection of the lay com
missioners, but, with the exception of the pri
mate, the ecclesiastical comraissioners were se
lected for a reason disgraceful to themselves,
namely, for their supposed flexibility.
The archbishop of Canterbury cannot be deera
ed, by his warmest admirers, to have acted on this
occasion with that firraness which his character
and station demanded. Fully convinced of the
illegality of the court, aware that his narae was
inserted in the coraraission, he ought to have in
sisted on its erasure. But he contented himself
with signifying his disapprobation of the pre
tended court, by absenting himself from it ; and
his absence was capable of a doubtful interpreta
tion, some ascribing it to timidity, and others to
conscience. The second prelate named i^i the coraraission
was Nathaniel Crewe, bishop of Durhara, whose
questionable integrity and inferior abilities are
not redeeraed by his ostentatious patronage of
learning, and even by his raunificence to the uni
versity of Oxford. He was the only prelate of
noble birth who had been proraoted since the
Restoration, and he considered an admission into
the house of peers as the most valuable append
age to his sacred office. Of all the bishops he
was the least scrupulous, and the most obsequious
to the measures of the court. He has been
T 2

276 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, styled the grand inquisitor of the ecclesiastical
___!_ commission, and he expressed the highest satis
faction at his appointment, because his name was
likely to be recorded in history.
The bishop of Rochester, Sprat, was not, like
the former prelate, of high extraction, his father
being a retired clergyman ; he was not, like
Crewe, of inferior abilities and attainments, for
he was a poet of " mediocrity," and a prose writer
of estimation. But he resembled Crewe in the
ductility of his principles, though he had sufficient
ingenuity to extenuate his tergiversation. In the
time of the Usurpation he was a fellow of Wad-
ham College, Oxford, when Wilkins was its
head, and lamented the death of Cromwell in an
elegy reraarkable for nothing but the extrava
gance of its praise. After the Restoration he
entered into the church, and, by the recoraraend-
ation of Cowley, was appointed first chaplain to
Villiers, duke of Buckingham, and then chaplain
to the king. As he was the favourite of Wilkins,
he was engaged in those philosophical conferences
which in tirae produced the Royal Society, and
after its incorporation undertook to write its his
tory. Though his venal muse had described
Cromwell as a finished hero, yet, on the change
of affairs, he adhered so firmly to the family of
the Stuarts, that he established a claim on its
gratitude. He was too intimate with James for
a staunch protestant, and his History of the Rye-
house Plot was remunerated by his advancement
to the see of Rochester, which he held with the
deanery of Westrainster. His appointment to a
seat among the ecclesiastical coraraissioners was

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 277
not to him, as to Crewe, a matter of exultation ; a. d.
he even professed himself unable to justify bis '^""'
acceptance of the office. According to his own
statement, his narae was inserted in the corarais
sion without his knowledge, and though the le
gality of the court had been confirmed by the
opinion of the crown lawyers, yet so contrary
was its establishraent to his own judgraent, that
he consented to act in it with the intention of
doing as ranch good as he was able, and of hin
dering as ranch evil as he possibly could*.
On the character of two out of the three lay-
commissioners, Jefferies and Herbert, it is need
less in this place to enlarge ; but the third cannot
pass without a coraraent. The lord treasurer at
this tirae was the earl of Rochester, the second
son of the first earl of Clarendon, and conse
quently connected with Jaraes by the marriage
of hi^ sistei-. In the last reign he was advanced
to a seat in the treasury, then in commission, and,
in conjunction with Sunderland and Godolphin,had
the management of the state. He appeared araong
the foreraost of the anti-exclusionists, and, in conse
quence of an address frora the house of coraraons, he
was removed frora office, and elevated to the peer-Creat.i68i.
age. In the last year of the reign of Charles the
Second he was again recalled to the adrainistration
as president of the council, and on the accession
of James was appointed lord high treasurer. He
inherited the affection of his father for the church
of England, though he was not possessed of equal
capacity to defend its rights. On no one did the
* Sprat's Letter to the Earl of Dorset.

278 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, king practise with greater address to procure at least
 '. — a nominal conversion to popery, than on the earl
of Rochester. But to his honour, he decidedly re
fused corapliance, though loss of favour and office
was the consequence. His acceptance of a seat
in the ecclesiastical comraission was in sincerity
from the motive which Sprat avowed, to prevent
the admission of some other person who might
effect greater raischief.
Jefferies was constituted the president of this
court, and his presence was necessary to the trans
action of any business. It was in fact the court
of Jefferies, and, as keeper of the king's conscience,
though he had no conscience of his own, he in
stituted this illegal tribunal to complete the sub
version of the church. He had failed in moulding
the house of lords to the will of an arbitrary
prince, but in this new court his own will was to
be the rule of law, equity, and religion *.
It was some tirae after its institution before any
raatter was brought under its cognisance, but the
first person who felt its severity was the bishop
of London. Sharp, the rector of the parish of
St. Giles, a man of exemplary character, and one
of the raost popular preachers in the raetropolis,
as he was descending frora his pulpit, received a
written challenge to dispute on some points of
controversy handled in his sermons. The paper
was anonymous, and therefore, as he could not
answer it in any other manner, he preached an
other sermon in vindication of what he had before
* In the commission the earl of Sunderland is named
as president of the council, but Burnet does not mention
him.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 279
asserted ; and after he had confuted the obiections a. d.
raised against his doctrine, concluded by shewing 
the unreasonableness of deserting the protestant
faith on such light and insufficient grounds as are
coraraonly taken. The substance of this sermon,
with many exaggerations, was reported at court,
and represented as a conterapt on the religion of Dated
, . .,,,.. , ... , June 14.
the king. Without any inquiry into the accu
racy of the inforraation, and without any com
munication with the person accused, Sunderland Deiiiered
-transraitted to the bishop of London a letter con
taining a mandate from the king, requiring the
suspension of Sharp, until he had given satis
faction for the offence which he had committed.
Without taking a long time for deliberation,
the bishop in respectful language answered, that
it was impossible for him to comply with the
king's command. In the capacity in which he
must execute it, he must act as a judge, and no
judge passes a sentence of conderanation, or inflicts
a censure, without hearing the party. Yet hav
ing sent to the person accused, he found him ready
to give all satisfaction to the king, and therefore
sent back the answer by the hands of the person
who had unintentionally given offence.
Sharp went to Windsor with the bishop's an
swer, and with a petition from himself, denying
the charge of faction ; and, to shew his subrais
sion, had abstained from the public exercise of
his function since notice had been received by
him of the king's displeasure. He offered to
shew the notes of his sermon, and tq swear that
he had used no expressions in delivering it which
were not contained in the notes. But he was

280 HISTORY OP THE
CHAP, refused admission, and yet escaped without any
 ^farther molestation. The whole weight of the

king's resentment fell on the bishop of London,
and it was resolved to proceed against him in the
new ecclesiastical court for a contempt.
August. This prelate being the first who was summoned
before so questionable a judicature, was not pre
pared with any defence. When asked by Jef
feries his reason for not suspending Sharp, the
bishop replied, that his legal advisers had said
that it was impossible; but as he was not pro
vided with a forraal defence, he requested a copy
of the coraraission, by authority of which the
court sat, and a copy of the charge laid against
hira. A copy of the commission was refused, for
Jefferies said that it might be seen in any coffee
house in London: a copy of the charge could
not be granted, for proceedings in courts of this
kind were not by libel and articles, but by verbal
examination. A delay of a week was granted for
the bishop to adjust his defence, a term which,
on his next appearance, was extended to an ad
ditional fortnight.
Au^rust 28. On the day appointed for the hearing, the bi
shop appeared, attended by his counsel, and ac
companied by raany persons of the highest qua
lity. He said that this was a court directly con
trary to the statute law, and he was advised
through his counsel to plead its illegality. For
hiraself he said; "I am a bishop ofthe church of
England, ^nd by all the law in the Christian
church in all ages, and by the particular law of
this land, I am, in case of offence, to be tried by

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 281
my metropolitan and suffragans." His defence a.d.
consisted of two parts ; the first being an excep  '-
tion to the authority of the court, the second a
denial of the charge. On the first point he ex
pressed himself with a diffidence and gentleness
which has been blamed ; but on the second he
insisted with great force. He contended that he
had obeyed the coraraands of the king as far as
he legally could ; that he had virtually, if not
judicially, suspended Sharp, but that it was im
possible for him to pronounce an ecclesiastical
censure without a regular process. He offered
the petition of Sharp, which the king had refused
to accept, to be read in the court, but it was
rejected. It is evident that the arguments of the bishop
were unanswerable, because no answer was at
tempted*, and because they produced a suitable
impression on those commissioners who were not
impenetrable to conviction. On Rochester and
Herbert they had due effect; but on the fero
cious Jefferies, and the fawning Crewe, argu
ment was unavailing. They had the effrontery
to propose that the bishop should be suspended
during the king's pleasure ; but as this proposition
was overruled by the majority of the corarais
sioners, no sentence could be pronounced.
But the king was resolved to carry his point,
and to secure one of the coraraissioners in order to
forra a raajority. The disgraceful preference was

* Dr. Pinfold, the king's advocate, stood by the chan
cellor taking notes, but when it was expected that he should
make a reply, he said nothing. State Trials, vol. xi.

282 HISTORY OF THE

CHAP, shewn to Rochester, and he was plainly told that

XIII

he must concur in the sentence of suspension, or
quit his office. The integrity of Rochester yield
ed to this menace ; he appeared with the rest of
the comraissioners after a few days, and an instru-
sept. 6. ment was read, inhibiting the bishop from exer
cising his episcopal functions during the king's
pleasure *.
Of a victory thus hardly and ignominiously
gained, the triumph could not be great. The
suspension of the bishop could not affect his
temporalities, for the lawyers had long since de
cided that ecclesiastical benefices partook of the
nature of freeholds. His spiritual authority no
human law, and no huraan violence, could touch,
and his clergy were more obedient to the secret
intimations of his pleasure now, than they had
been when his authority was unfettered. Inter
cessions the most earnest were sent from the
princess of Orange for his restitution ; and the
bishop hiraself, though without any acknowledg
ment of fault, sent a respectful petition of the
same purport. The king, though dissatisfied with
his partial victory, was unwilling to retract, and
afraid to pursue it ; and though the bishop re
mained two years under suspension, no farther
process was instituted against him. To evince
more plainly that Compton was the sole object
of resentment. Sharp, though judicially superseded
* The instrument of suspension was not signed by any of
the commissioners. Crewe and Sprat, two of the com-
mis.sioners, with White, bishop of Peterborough, were ap
pointed to exercise the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the dio
cese of London.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 283
by the pretended court, was soon permitted to a. d.
return to the exercise of his function *.  L
To suspend the functions of the two houses of
legislature, because they refused to alter or mo
dify the penal laws ; to assume an arbitrary con
trol over those laws, by dispensing with their
penalties ; to maintain a standing array for the
purpose of awing discontent, and silencing the
just coraplaints of an injured people ; to erect a
new ecclesiastical court, which avowed its inde
pendence of all legal forms, precedents, and enact
ments, were the steps which the infatuated James
had unresistingly advanced, towards the object of
his hopes and wishes, towards the subversion of
the constitution and the liberties of England.
Farther he had little occasion ostensibly to go,
for now it only required the natural operation of
the instruments eraployed by him to effect the
complete destruction of the civil and ecclesiastical
polity. The patronage of the church was an engine too
powerful not to be used in this work of demolition,
and it was accordingly bestowed on men whose
timidity or tergiversation would oppose no ob
stacle to the measures of the king. The larger
and richer bishoprics, as they becarae vacant, he
intended to reserve till he could fill thera with
papists ; and the archbishopric of York, which at
this tirae was vacated by the death of Dolben, he
resolved to keep open, with a view of raising to
it father Petre, his own confessor and a Jesuit.
* Bishop Kennet says that he himself obtained this resto
ration of Sharp through the intervention of Mr. Pepys, Com
plete Hist, vol. ii. p. 483.

284 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. This promotion was an infraction ofthe discipline
XIII
 ^ of the church of Rorae, which excludes the Jesu
itical order frora episcopal proraotion.
Such was his intention in regard to the more
lucrative sees ; and as to the others he resolved
to fill them with men who would either betray
the church or bring it into contempt. The death
of two eminent divines, Pearson and Fell, pre
sented an opportunity of fulfilling his intention,
and he found, or thought he had found, two raen
with the qualifications useful for his purpose in
Cartwright and Parker.
Cartwright during the Usurpation had been a
forward and popular preacher araong the inde
pendents, but as it was his ruling maxim to con
form with the dominant party, he was a devoted
royalist and episcopalian at the Restoration. In
the last reign he had been one of the king's chap
lains, and was successively a prebendary of St.
Paul's and of Durhara. In the present reign he
enlisted himself on the side of the prerogative,
boldly asserting in one of his serraons that the
promises of the king to his parliament were not
binding. Law, he said, was only a method of
government which kings might adopt or not as
they pleased ; their authority was derived frora
God, being absolute and above all law, and they
might exert this authority as often as they foiind
it conducive to the public good. His moral was
not of a higher cast than his political character,
and in his religious creed he was neither pro
testant nor papist*. It would have been no
* Richardson, in his edition of Godwin de Prsesulibus, says
that Cartwright publicly professed the fiiith of the church of

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 285
aggravation of his vices, and rather a palliation of a. d.
the conduct of James, if Cartwright had been a  -
sincere convert to the church of Rorae.
The selection of Cartwright to succeed Pearson
in the see of Chester it is irapossible to regard
with any other feelings than those of unraixed
indignation /but the appointraent of Parker to"
the see of Oxford raises mingled sentiments in
those who are conversant with his previous life.
Once this preferment would have been hailed, if
not with unraixed pleasure, j^t with no small
portion of respect ; it would have been considered
as scarcely" an adequate reward: it was now
deemed a paltry bribe. The life of this individual
furnishes a ihbral too useful not to be insisted on.
If there be any one whose neglected merit or
whose repulsed assurance in the disposal of pre
ferment shall have excited discontent, and pi'orapt-
ed to gain the favour of the powerful by undue
corapliance and by a sacrifice of conscience, let
hira be admonished by the example of Samuel
Parker. The eneraies of this individual have been studi
ous to conceal, and his friends have been willing
to forget, what he once was, and the height frora
which he fell ; though the one might have found
in it an aggravation of their exultation, and the
other a mitigation of their resentment. He was
descended frora puritanical parents, and was edu
cated at Oxford, when that university was a
school of puritanism. He was coraraitted to the
Rome ; Wood affirms the contrary in the Athen. Oxon. Some
of Cartwright's sermons are in print.

286 HISTORY OF THE

CHAP, care of a presbyterian tutor, and belonged to " the
'^"^' . straitest sect" of these puritanical disciplinarians *

But it was observed, that though he made au
outward show and profession of a mortified and
abstemious life, his disposition was more liberal,
and his talents more attractive, than generally
falls to the lot of sectaries. It was without sur
prise or anger, except from those whom he had
deserted, that the Restoration occasioned a change
in the habits and opinions of Parker. He left
Wadham College, and entered himself at Trinity,
where he was patronised by its president, Ralph
Betharst. To this excellent man he acknow
ledged himself indebted for many benefits, and for
none more important than for emancipating him
frora the prejudices of his education. Pursuing
a course of useful study, he published a treatise
1665. on natural theology f, which he dedicated to
Sheldon ; and so great was its merit, that the pri
mate honoured him, not only by patronage, but
1670. friendship. He was first chaplain to the arch-
1672! bishop, then archdeacon, and finally prebendary
of Canterbury. In these responsible situations
he conducted himself with ability, though not with
prudence. His theological studies were not neg
lected, for he gave to the world a treatise contain
ing a demonstration of the divine authority of
the law of nature and the Christian religion |.
But he was, to his misfortune, better known as a
* A sect called gruellers, from their diet, which was of
poor broth.
t Tentamina.
X This work is commended by Dr. Lardner in his Jewish
and Heathen Testimonies.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 287
controversialist, and as a spirited yet acrimo- a. d.
nious opponent of the nonconformists. His style '^^^"
was lively and forcible, his learning exact and
copious. The violence of his attacks provoked
the famous Andrew Marvel to answer him, but it
is in the opinion of whigs only that Marvel was
superior to Parker even in wit, in learning com
parison would be ridiculous. At this period of
his life, such was his zeal for the church of Eng
land, that he sent a written address to Jaraes
while duke of York, penned with his usual energy
of diction, persuading hira to renounce the church
of Rome. He gave due praise to James for the
sincerity of his adherence to the Roraish faith in
opposition to his secular interest, but he laboured
to remove those prejudices which the duke un
happily entertained against the English church.
" If," he says, " by a true and sincere account of
things, I can bring your conscience over to the
church of England, though I shall not bring your
conscience to your interest, yet I shall make them
raeet ; for if that were satisfied, it is obvious
on which side the advantage lies *."
Unhappily for both, the conscience of Jaraes
was opposed to the interest of Parker, and Parker
submitted to bring his interest to his conscience.
Whether his struggles were severe, or whether
his acquiescence was sudden; whether he was
wrought upon by tempting offers, or whether he
voluntarily presented hiraself to Jaraes; is not
* Letter sent by Sir Leoline Jenkyns to the late King
James, to bring him over to the Communion of the Church
of England. The tract is in the Bodleian Library. Pamphl.
Godwin, 13.

288 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, recorded. His lamentable defection from the faith
XIII
 '.  which he formerly defended was sufficiently noto
rious, by his acceptance of the bishopric of Ox
ford. It was known to be the price of his
treachery, for which he sacrificed reputation and
peace of conscience. His change of opinion was
immediately proclaimed by himself, for he pub
lished a tract containing reasons for abrogating
the test imposed on all merabers of parliament.
It was not without ingenuity ; and his two rea
sons, that the test diminishes or rather takes away
the natural rights of the peerage, and that its
origin is ignoble, being brought forth to give re
putation to the perjuries of Oates, are strongly
argued. He calls the test the Oatesian sacra
ment. But when he comes to defend the doc
trine of transubstantiation, and to clear it from
the charge of idolatry, he shews that " zeal with
out knowledge," which is often found in a neo
phyte, and always in an apostate *.
The introduction of two such men into the
prelacy for such a purpose excited considerable
apprehensions among the clergy, who in the gene
ral faithlessness continued faithful. Articles im
peaching the doctrines and the morals of the two
bishops elect were brought to the archbishop of
Canterbury, which the primate was requested to
offer to the king in council, accompanied by his
* He ends the tract in the following curious style. " Thus
begging allowance for human infirmities, lesser errors, and
mistakes, which in so much variety of argument and citation
will escape the greatest care, I have declared my present
judgment of this unhappy law, as I will answer for my in
tegrity to God and the world.;'

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 289
own petition that the consecration might be de- a. d.
layed. Sancroft promised that he would pause — '^"^'
till he had examined 'the truth of the articles, but
seeing the danger to which he was liable, he
quieted his own scruples, and without remon
strance obeyed the royal mandate of consecra
tion. Affairs were now ripe for the execution of 1687.
another project which the king had long contem
plated, of issuing a declaration for a general liberty
of conscience. It was first sent into Scotland, Febmary.
and by virtue of his regal prerogative, which the
preamble asserted to be absolute, the king re
pealed all the severe laws enacted in his grand
father's reign during his minority. He removed
all the disabilities imposed on his Roman catholic
subjects, and made them capable of all employ
ments and benefices ; he mitigated the laws made
against the moderate presbyterians, and promised
never to force the consciences of his subjects ; he
repealed all former laws iraposing tests on those
who were adraitted to eraployraents, and in their
stead substituted a declaration against rebellion,
and a proraise to maintain against all impugners
the absolute power of the raonarch.
So ambiguously was the first declaration ex
pressed, that another was sent less liable to objec
tion, in which full liberty was granted to all pres
byterians to establish conventicles on their own
principles. For this declaration addresses were
presented full of acknowledgraents ; but to the
request of concurring in the repeal of all the
penal laws, the answer was returned only in vague
and general terras.
VOL. III. u

290 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. This step prepared the way for the publication
•^"^' of a similar declaration in England. The king

April 4. first called a council, in which he announced his
intention, and then put it into execution : this
stated that nothing was more earnestly desired
by the king than the welfare of the people, and
that nothing would more conduce to their happi
ness than the free exercise of their religion : he
could wish that the people of his dominions were
all members of the catholic church, yet it had
- long been his opinion that conscience ought not
to be constrained. To force conformity in religion
is contrary to the interest of government, since it
destroys trade, depopulates countries, and dis
courages strangers. The king was more strongly
confirmed in his opinion frora the experience of
the last four reigns. Kings, aided by their parlia-
raents, had endeavoured to establish an uniformity,
but their efforts had been frustrated. The horrid
rebellion in the tirae of his father had shewn that
the restraints on the dissenters had been highly
prejudicial to the public good. His assurances
were reiterated of securing to the church of Eng
land all its rights and iraraunities, but that he
might not be deprived of the services of any class
of his subjects, all recusants were to be protected
in their religion, and the oaths of supreraacy and
allegiance, and the several oaths and declarations
required in the last reign, should be dispensed
with in all who were admitted to any employ
raent. To prevent any abuses which might arise
frora this unrestrained license, and any violation
of the peace and security of governraent, a caution
was added, that no doctrine tending to alienate

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 291
his subjects from their prince should be tolerated, a. d.
and that all assemblies for divine worship must__L_l
be peaceable and public. Though he had issued
this declaration by his own authority, yet he
doubted not the concurrence of his two houses of
parliament, when he should think it convenient
for them to meet.
If such a declaration were variously received,
and in some instances with sincere or adulatory
expressions of thanks, it was precisely what raust
have been expected from the state of religious
opinion, and from the general loyalty of the
nation. The dissenters were divided at this time
into four bodies, the presbyterians, the independ
ents, the anabaptists, and the quakers. The two
former sects had not any visible distinction in
their mode of worship, they differed ostensibly on
discipline ; and as they constituted, when taken
together, not more than a fourth part of the dis
senting interest, it was usual to confound them,
or to consider thera but as one body. In their
political sentiraents however they differed widely.
The presbyterians, although not without some
striking exceptions, were favourable to a liraited
monarchy, while the independents universally
were republicans. Both were hostile to the high
prerogative which the king assuraed, and espe
cially to a legal supreraacy in raatters of religion.
They were not inclined to admit the papists to a
full toleration, and were therefore averse to a re
moval of the tests. The anabaptists professed
universal charity, and as their enthusiasm had
separated them by a great distance from the
church of England, so nothing but an universal and
u 2

292 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, indiscriminate toleration could render them capa-
-JE!i_ble of favour or employraent. The quakers, in
spite of their uncouth and absurd habits, and
their affected conterapt of all honours and dis
tinctions, were admitted to a free access to the
court, and were laughed at and caressed.
With these four classes of dissenters, it was
suggested that the king designed to settle the
religious differences which had so long distracted
the nation, and to enact a perpetual and pacific
law, accompanied with extraordinary solemnities.
This law was to be styled the Magna Charta
of religious freedom.
There were meetings of the leaders of all these
different sects ; and it is not a matter of wonder,
far less of censure, that some ofthe most sanguine
among each should have returned thanks for an
event which they imagined to be the dawn of a
millennium. Their strains of gratulation were
fulsome, and those who had hitherto reproached
the church with servility and adulation exceeded
it in both these qualities. The presbyterians, for
getting their stern reserve, broke forth into the
most rapturous expressions of joy for the " ful
ness and freeness" of the royal grace, and com
pared the declaration to that angelical song, which
brought into the world the Prince of Peace. The
independents, looking forward to an ulterior de
liverance frora kingly power, frora ecclesiastical
discipline, and all liturgical forms, promised that
they would labour with a constant emulation to
be the most forward and faithful in their allegi
ance to the king's person and power. The ana
baptists, seated on the Pisgah of expectation, and

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 293
contemplating the approaching reign of Christ a.d.
upon earth, joined in the chorus of exultation for_^^!Il
a blessing of which none could complain but such
as made gain of pretended godliness. Even the
quakers, of sluggish feeling and cautious phrase
ology, though not the foremost in the train, pro
fessed themselves not the least sensible of the
great favours granted and promised, and spoke
their joy that a king of England, from his royal
seat, should assert that conscience ought not to
be restrained in matters of religion *.
Some of the addresses being penned under the
direction of the court, went beyond the effusions
of joy and unalloyed gratitude; for they contained
severe reflections on the cruelty of the clergy and
the persecuting spirit of the church. Excess of
pleasure could not wai-rant this resentment, it
aggravated the offence ; and though it was har
boured by the more inconsiderate of the dissent
ers, and cherished by the king, yet the more saga
cious among them, however grateful for their
liberty, were fearful of the issue -f-. At a general
meeting of the dissenting teachers, when their
proceedings were watched with so much anxiety
that two messengers waited to carry back the
result, one of the ministers:!^ stood up and de
livered his opinion against the dispensing power,
* Dr. Z. Grey, in the fourth volume of his Examination of
Neal, has given at large eight different addresses from diffe
rent denominations of dissenters, and has referred to seventy
more in the same strain.
t Marquis of Halifax, in a tract pubhshed by him at this
time. I Mr. Howe's Life, p. 234.

294 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, and against every indulgence which might enable
^™ tbp papists to subvert the protestant religion.
Another * more candidly said that he apprehend
ed their late sufferings had been occasioned raore
by their firm adherence to the constitution and
to civil liberty, than for their disagreement with
the church ; and therefore, if the king expected
them to give up the constitution, and yield to his
dispensing power, he, for his own part, preferred
to lose his liberty, and to return to his former
bondage. At the conclusion of the raeeting the
raotion for an address of thanks was negatived,
and the agents for the court departed in disap
pointraent. There was at the sarae tirae a meet
ing of the city clergy, waiting the event of these
deliberations, and they were greatly encouraged
by the bold and patriotic determination of the
dissenting ministers.
Such however was the general satisfaction,
whether apparent or real, that it encouraged the
king to persevere in his design of levelling the
ecclesiastical establishment to the ground, if he
could not fill it with papists. The latter alter
native he preferred, and continued to make the
most desperate efforts to accomplish it ; if he
failed, it still remained to gratify the dissenters,
by reducing the church and themselves to an
equality. * Dr. Daniel Williams. See Life prefixed to his Sermons.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 295

CHAPTER XIV.
Attack upon the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. —
Visitation of the Ecclesiastical Commission to the latter. —
Wise and firm conduct of Dr. Hough, President of Mag
dalen College. — Arrival of the Pope's Nuncio. — James
caresses the Dissenters. — Letter of the King to the Princess
of Orange. — Fagel's Letter printed. — Pregnancy of the
Queen. The attack on the episcopal authority, and the a.d.
degradation of the episcopal order by an abuse of  1
ecclesiastical patronage, was succeeded by an in
vasion of the privileges of the universities. One
of the leading maxims of the Jesuits was to en
gross the education of youth, and they imagined
that by gaining an establishraent at Carabridge
and Oxford, their reputation in teaching youth
would supersede all other acaderaical institu
tions. It was proposed by sorae of the more
cautious, that the king should endow a new foun
dation in both universities ; but Jaraes thought it
a raore compendious and less expensive way to
model the foundations already established. They
were not the establishments of national contri
bution, but the creatures of private charity. Most
of them were founded when England was a mem
ber of the church of Rome, and their statutes had
a reference to the Roraish ritual. To reinstate
the Romish discipline, was, in the estimation of
James, to restore the colleges to the situation

296 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, which their founders designed; and if Wykeham
^^^' or Wainfleet could revisit the scenes of their mu
nificence, they would be gratified by seeing monks
in the cloisters of New College and Magdalen.
Carabridge underwent the first assault, or ra
ther the first trial, for it was on a point where
opposition was least to be expected. The king
Feb. 9. sent his letter or raandate, coramanding the uni
versity to admit Alban Francis, a Benedictine
monk, to the degree of master of arts, without
adrainistering to hira any of the custoraary oaths.
Mandates of this kind had been generally obeyed,
if an adraission to only an honorary degree was
required ; and when foreign princes or arabas-
sadors, of whatever religion they might be, vi
sited the universities, they generally received this
mark of distinction. The secretary of the empe
ror of Morocco, who was a Mohammedan, was
complimented by a degree. But there was a
wide distinction between honorary degrees con
ferred on strangers, and degrees accompanied by
privileges. Foreseeing that if this degree were granted it
would lead the way to others, the university with
great unanimity, and with a firraness which was
unexpected, declined to obey the raandate. The
vice-chancellor* delayed to suraraon a congrega
tion twelve days after the receipt of the letter,
and the senate made use of this delay to procure
legal advice. It is customary that all graces for
degrees mUst first be proposed to a coramittee
called the headf, which consists of six persons,
* Dr. Peachell, master of Magdalen College. f Or caput.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 297
any one of whom has an arbitrary power of hin- a.d.
dering the introduction of any grace into the  '-
senate. One of these members was a declared
Roman catholic, and it was presumed that he
would prohibit all farther proceedings, and not
suffer the royal candidate for a degree to be re
jected by the suffrage of the house.
This consideration induced the university to
depart from its ordinary course, which was to
testify the concurrence of the senate with the
vice-chancellor without the forraality of a suf
frage, and their advice that he would delay the
adraission of Francis until the king had been
petitioned to revoke his mandate. The vice-
chancellor first requested the duke of Albemarle,
who was chancellor of the university, to intercede
personally with the king; but his intercession
being tried without effect, instead of a general
petition, it was deemed raore respectful to express
their sentiments by two representatives of the
two houses of regents and nonregents. The
sense of the two houses was, that the admission
of Francis without taking the oaths was illegal
and unsafe. The candidate was sent to, to ask
his compliance, but he refused, insisting on the
king's dispensation.
Francis returned with expedition to Whitehall,
and a second mandate in more peremptory terras
was transmitted. In consequence, a representa
tion was drawn up and presented to the king,
submitting the reasons which guided the univer
sity in disobeying the mandate, and deprecating
the royal anger. The representation was offered

298 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, by the delegates of the university to the secretary
^^^' of state ; and an answer was given, indicative of
the king's resentment, and of his resolution to
institute farther proceedings against the univer
sity.
1687. A suraraons frora the ecclesiastical commis
sioners was sent to Carabridge, requiring the at
tendance of the vice-chancellor, and deputies from
the- senate*, to answer for a contempt. The in
tegrity of the chief raagistrate of the university
was greater than his presence of mind, and of all
the deputation he was the least qualified to sup
port the academical dignity and privileges. On
his first appearance, he was treated by Jefferies,
not with his wonted ferocity, but with a con
temptuous pity. He pleaded for longer tirae,
which was allowed ; he gave at the second ap
pearance a written defence, which Jefferies called
on hira to explain, and he shewed considerable
erabarrassraent. The case was so strong in favour of the uni
versity, that the awkward deportment of the
vice-chancellor could not injure it. The storm
May 17. fell entirely upon him ; he was sentenced to be
reraoved frora the office of vice-chancellor, and
frora the headship of his college ; and the reve
nues of his headship were to be given for the
benefit of the society over which he presided.
May 12. The deputies were coraraanded to attend on a
subsequent day, when they were repriraanded for
their disobedience, and disraissed without punish-
* One of the deputies was Newton, at this time Lucasian
professor of mathematics.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 299
ment*. Another vice-chancellor f was elected, ad.
better able to sustain his office ; and in his inaug- ^^^'^'
ural speech he promised that neither the rights of
the church nor the rights of the university should
suffer through his means. The court thought it
imprudent to try his firraness, and to persevere in
its attempt of obtaining a degree for the Bene
dictine monk ; and thus the university preserved
its chartered privileges in their integrity.
The atterapt on the university of Cambridge
was defeated in a manner which ought to have
checked the king in his prosecution of a far raore
glaring act of injustice towards the university of
Oxford. Already he had conferred the most im
portant academical station, the deanery of Christ
Church, of which he had the indisputable patron
age, on one Massey, who had no other quality to
recoraraend hira but proselytism to the church of
Rome. Not long after this atrocious appoint
ment, the president of Magdalen college died, and
the Jesuits could not resist the tempting oppor
tunity of getting this rich foundation into their
own power.
The presidency of this college, by its local sta
tutes, confirmed by royal charter, was in the elec
tion of the fellows, and the election was completed
by the confirraation of the visitor, the bishop of
Winchester. According to statute, the vice-pre
sident :j:, on this occasion, affixed a citation on the March 3i.
door of the chapel, signifying the vacancy, the
time, and the place of election. Two days before AprU 13.
* " Go, and sin no more," said Jefferies.
t Dr. Balderson, master of Emmanuel College.
J Dr. Aid worth.

300 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the time appointed, Robert Charnock*, a fellow
 :  of the college, delivered to the vice-president and
^^"^"" other fellows letters mandatory from the king,
requiring them to elect for their president An
thony Farmer, a raeraber of the college, but not
on the foundation. The vice-president having
comraunicated the letter, and demanded an opin
ion on the propriety of compliance, it was unan
imously agreed to defer the election till the latest
day prescribed by the statutes, and especially as
a petition or remonstrance had been sent to the
king, stating that the person recommended was
not eligible by the statutes of the college.
An answer frora the king through the president
of the council was coraraunicated, merely saying
that he expected to be obeyed. The answer was
read, and the question was proposed, whether
they would proceed to the election : it was unan
imously voted in the affirmative. It was also de
manded, whether before the election a second ad-
Aprii 15. dress should be raade to the king ; but, with the
exception of four, one of whom was the vice-
president, they declared for proceeding to the
election imraediately. This being the sense of
the majority, the election proceeded with the ac
customed solemnity of receiving the sacrament,
and it was decided in favour of John Hough, a
bachelor in divinity, and one of the senior fellows.
On the following day the president elect was
presented to the bishop of Winchester f, and the
election was confirmed by the visitor.
* He was afterwards executed for being concerned in the
assassination plot against king William.
t Peter Mews.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 301
To appease the royal dispteasure, the college a.d.
followed the exaraple of the university of Cam  -
bridge, by soliciting the duke of Ormond, the
chancellor of the university, to interpose his me
diation. The bishop of Winchester, either spon
taneously, or on a similar request, stated to the
president of the council the circumstances of the
case, the ineligibility of the candidate recom
raended by the king, and the general loyalty of
the college. These representations had no weight ;
that engine of arbitrary power, the ecclesiastical
commission, was set in motion, and the vice-pre
sident and fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford,
were cited to appear before it, for disobedience to
the royal mandate.
An answer to the citation was presented by a
deputation of the fellows, in which they stated
that their college was a body corporate, governed
by local statutes, granted and confirmed by a
royal charter ; that the fellows are under the
obligation of an oath to observe these statutes ;
that, according to their enactments, the fellows are
bound to elect for their president one who is, or
has been, one of their own body, or a fellow of
New College ; that Anthony Farraer possessed
neither of these qualifications ; and that they
could not comply with the king's letter " without
the violation of their oaths, and hazard of their
legal interest and property."
The answer was signed by five only of the
deputed fellows; the sixth* denied the legality of
* Dr. Fairfax, afterwards dean of Norwich.

302 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the court, to the ffreat raortification of Jefferies.
XIV. ' ^

-But, in addition to this statement, on their second
June 22. appearaucc before the commissioners, the fellows
offered especial reasons why they could not admit
the candidate recommended by the king. In the
statute concerning the election of a president, his
character is thus described ; that he raust be a
raan of good reputation and good life, and cir-
curaspect both in spiritual and temporal affairs.
In these requisites Farmer was notoriously defi
cient ; it was difficult to say whether his profli
gacy or his turbulence were greater. Irrefrag
able proofs of his immorality were offered in sup
port of the allegations.
It was nugatory to offer the strongest argu
ments to a court so prejudiced. The president,
the vice-president, and Fairfax, who had excepted
June 22. agaiust the jurisdiction of the court, were de
prived. But one result arose frora the firraness of
the college, that Farraer was withdrawn. Jaraes
had fixed on another object for this preferment,
Parker, the bishop of Oxford.
July 18. After having issued an inhibition to the college
against the election or adraission of any persons
into any place or office on the foundation, a raan-
August 14. date was directed to the fellows, to admit the
bishop of Oxford into the presidentship, notwith
standing any statute or custom to the contrary,
with which the king thereby dispensed. Sunder
land addressed a letter to the senior fellow*, re
quiring an iraraediate compliance with the king's
* Dr. Pudsey.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 303
commands; and Parker hiraself signified to the a.d. 1 flQ7
sarae person his inability to be installed in per-  L

son, and therefore norainated as his proxy the
second fellow in seniority, or one of his own
chaplains. The answer of the college to this second raan
date was, that the place of president was already
full. Instead of any citation from the ecclesias
tical coraraissioners, the king thought it prefer
able to try personal interference. He was on a
progress this summer through many parts of
England, in which he courted the dissenters, and
discountenanced the church of England. Taking
Oxford in his way, he comraanded the fellows of Sept. 2.
Magdalen college to attend hira at Christ Church.
In language not suited to the dignity of a rao
narch, he told thera that he was king, and would be
obeyed : coraraanded them imraediately to return
and choose the bishop of Oxford their presi
dent, or they should feel the weight of his hand.
" Is this," he asked, " your church of England
loyalty ?''
Return to the college they did, but not to
comply ; they unanimously subraitted to the king
this answer, that they were sorry to have in
curred his displeasure, but that they could not
proceed to a new choice without actual comrais
sion of perjury, and therefore they hoped he would
excuse them.
Indirect threats were coraraunicated to sorae
of the fellows, with a view of intiraidating thera,
and inducing corapliance, but public spirit pre
vailed over every consideration of personal in
terest or safety. " A single college of honest

304 HISTORY OF THE

CHAP, and resolute men, carried more force than an

XIV.

.army*"

The last resort of James, the court of eccle
siastical coraraission, was eraployed ; but, instead
of a citation to Whitehall, certain of the com.
missioners proceeded to Oxford, and instituted a
Oct. 21. visitation of Magdalen college. The comrais
sioners, on this occasion, were Cartwright, bishop
of Chester, lord chief justice Wright, and baron
Jenner. Cartwright was the president.
The different raerabers of the college, even
those who had been deprived, were cited, and
Hough, with Aldworth, obeyed the citation. Fair
fax, though still in Oxford, refused to attend ; for
it was an absurd contradiction in a court to cite
an individual whora its pretended authority had
suspended frora his fellowship.
The proceedings were opened by a speech f
from the bishop of Chester, in which he declaim
ed, in terras of severity, against disloyalty and
disobedience. He urged, that the church of Eng
land taught an unconditional and unliraited obe
dience ; he spoke of the king's proraise to main
tain the established religion, though it could not
but be expected that he would give all possible
encouragement to those of his own faith. He
said farther, that Magdalen college, as well as all
other corporations, were creatures of the crown,
and that it was insolence in their local statutes
to spurn against their maker. The irregularities
of the college had brought on it this visitation,
the consequences of which might be prejudicial
* Powell's Disc. Disc. 17- * t It is in print.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 305
to the church and the university. Yet, however a. d.
they might escape in this world, these sins of_l^
disloyalty and disobedience were to be accounted
for, above all other sins, in the next. He exhorted
them by the bowels of Christ to lay these consi
derations to heart ; the eyes of the world were
upon thera, and they should be careful lest their
practices raight influence their deluded adrairers.
The court was then adjourned for several hours,
and, after the naraes of the subordinate members
had been called over, the legal president of the
college, doctor Hough, interposed. Never was a
raan who exemplified firraness without unneces
sary obstinacy, and suavity without undue con
cession, better than Hough. No man in the uni
versity, no man in the church, could have gone
through the trial with greater propriety, or with
equal coraraendation. He calraly said, that the
space between the citation and the day of appear
ance was too short to adrait of advising with
counsel ; he therefore desired a copy of the cora
raission, and time to consider it. After the com
missioners had offered to read it, an offer which
was declined, a copy was denied.
To the question, whether he would submit to
the visitation, his answer, twice repeated, was :
" My lords, I do declare here, in the name of
myself and the greater part of the fellows, that
we subrait to the visitation as far as it is con
sistent with the laws of the land and the statutes
of the college, and no farther. I desire that this
answer raay be recorded."
On being farther pressed, he said ; " I find that
your coraraission gives you authority to change
VOL. III. X

306 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, and alter the statutes, or to make new, as you
^^^' think fit. Now, ray lords, we have an oath not
only to observe these statutes," laying his hand
on the book, " but to admit of no new ones, or
alterations in these. This must be ray behaviour
here ; I raust adrait of no alteration from it, and,
by the grace of God, never will."
If he were not aware of the objection, he was
not unprepared for it. " Do you observe all the
statutes ? You have a statute for reading mass ;
why do you not read mass ?" His answer was
prompt : " The matter of that statute is now
unlawful ; it is abrogated by the laws of the
land. The Act of Uniformity obliges us to use
the liturgy of the church of England." He far
ther objected, that the ecclesiastical coraraissioners
had dispossessed him of his freehold without being
sumraoned or heard. When it was attempted to
establish a precedent of a royal interference in the
election of a president, he said, " I am the twen
tieth president since the foundation, and only four
of that nuraber have been recomraended by the
kings and queens of England, and they were
every way qualified for the office."
Fairfax, who had refused at first to appear, on
a second suraraons obeyed the citation, and the
pithy sententiousness of his replies was strikingly
contrasted with the calra dignity of the president.
He peremptorily refused to submit to the autho
rity of the bishop of Oxford. A similar ques
tion was put to all the fellows in order, and, with
the exception of Charnock, all declined, only that
Pudsey and Smith answered doubtfully.
The coraraissioners returned to London before

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 307
the final promulgation of the sentence, and, on a.d.
the last session, the bishop of Chester ended the

proceedings as he had commenced them, with an
oration. He said that Magdalen college had been
notorious for its contentious spirit. " You have,"
he said, " encouraged quarrels among yourselves,
quarrels between yourselves and the president,
quarrels at length between yourselves and visitor.
By these steps, by quarrelling with the presi
dent and visitor, you have at last advanced to the
highest pitch of insolence, to quarrel with your
prince." Having grossly misrepresented the conduct of
the society throughout the whole transaction,
particularly the conduct of the president in pro
testing against his deprivation, a form of sub
mission was tendered to all the fellows in succes
sion, which they all refused, except Charnock and
Smith. All the recusants were called in, and
expelled for conterapt ; their names were erased
from the books, and they were adjudged incapable
of any ecclesiastical benefice or proraotion. Char
nock was appointed vice-president. The bishop of
Oxford was forcibly adraitted to the lodgings of the
president, and the fellowships were soon filled by
papists. Parker survived this event only a few
raonths, and, by the authority of the king, Gif-Ob. March
fard, a popish bishop, was appointed his suc
cessor. Having related the invasions which Jaraes made
on the church and the universities, it remains to
notice his simultaneous efforts to bring his king
doms under the subjection of the see of Rorae.
For more than a year preceding he had carried
X 2

308 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, on a secret correspondence with the Vatican, and,
_J^^Xl_in defiance of the law which made it treason, he
now resolved to send an accredited ambassador to
the pope. The earl of Castlemain was fixed on
to undertake this dangerous mission, for the avow
ed purpose of reconciling the three kingdoms of
England, Ireland, and Scotland to the holy see,
from which they had heretically departed. Castle
main, if not a Jesuit, was in the interest of the
Jesuits, and the reigning pontiff was an enemy of
the Jesuitical order. After several audiences, in
which the pope testified a raarked indifference,
Castlemain left Rorae without effecting the object
of his raission. ^
In return, the pope sent his nuncio, the cardinal
Dada, to England, and just before the king cora-
menced his progress in which the interview with
the fellows of Magdalen college took place, he
gave the papal representative a public reception
at Windsor. The duke of Somerset being the
lord of the bedchamber in waiting, had taken a
legal opinion, that he could not perform the duty
expected from hira on this occasion without ha
zard. He therefore coraraunicated his scruples to
the king, and declined attendance. Jaraes asked
hira if he did not know that the king is above
all law. Soraerset replied, " You, sire, raay be
above the laws, but I am not." For this answer,
Soraerset was disraissed frora all his eraploy
raents *.
In his progress the king was generally received
with a raarked coldness, and in many places the
principal inhabitants absented themselves under
* Echard's Hist, of England.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 309
frivolous pretences. Those who paid the accus- a. d.
toraed raarks of homage seemed as if they were ^^^'^'
drawn into his presence by constraint. The king
endeavoured to gain popularity by conversing
familiarly with all classes of his people, and ca
ressed those whom he formerly considered, and
with reason, as his enemies. Liberty of con
science was his favourite topic, and he adduced
Holland as an instance of the blessings attendant
on a universal toleration.
On his return to the metropolis, he continued November.
his overtures to the dissenters, and admitted them
to all offices of profit and trust. He sent to the
new lord mayor, who was a nonconforraist, an
intiraation that the chief raagistrate raight use
whatever forra of worship he thought fit in the
chapel of Guildhall ; but Jaraes was surprised to
find that the corporation of London took the
tests, and that the lord mayor frequently attended
church, where he behaved with decency at least,
if not with devotion.
While the king made these hypocritical ad
vances to the dissenters, the moderate churchmen
were solicitous to promote a union, and to esta
blish a cooperation among all protestants, as being
the only way to effect their joint security. Frora
tirae to tirae pamphlets were published, acknow
ledging that the separation between the church
men and dissenters had continued too long, and
dissuading the latter from placing any confidence
in their new and pretended friends. A powerful
appeal from the marquess of Halifax *, published
* A Letter to a Dissenter on occasion of his Majesty's
late Declaration of Indulgence.

310 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, with the approbation of the most eminent digni-
_f^!l_taries of the church, was dispersed, and its tone
of moderation and candour coraraanded universal
respect and attention. He earnestly desired the
nonconformists to consider the reasons why the
proffered friendship of the Romanists should be
regarded with distrust. " The church of Rome,"
he argued, " not only dislikes your liberty, but by
its principles cannot allow it ; nay it would be a
habit of sin, which requires absolution. The other
day you were sons of Belail, now, you are angels
of light. Popery is now the friend of liberty, and
the known enemy of persecution. We have been
under shamefulraistakes if this can be true or last
ing." Twenty thousand copies of this seasonable
address were dispersed throughout the city and
country, and the arguments produced a corre
spondent effect. The raore respectable portion
of the nonconformists entered into no alliance
with the Romanists ; they silently accepted the
proffered indulgence of the king.
The opposition which James had experienced
from every description of his subjects, except that
particular class for which he had already sacri
ficed so much, and for which he was still willing
to hazard more, heightened his resentraent, and
excited hira to the most desperate measures. He
avowed that he must make all possible haste to
convert the nation during his life, and that he
had resolved either to succeed, or to die a mar
tyr in the atterapt. It was a heavy load on his
conscience that the presuraptive heir to the crown
was a heretic, and the reflection not only gave an
additional impulse to his zeal in establishing his

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 311
own faith in England, but it stimulated him to a. d.
bring over his daughter, the princess of Orange,  '-
to his own religious sentiraents. A protestant
successor was still the hope of the protestant
cause, and it was the terror of the papists.
Actuated by these views, Jaraes undertook to
convert the princess, or at least to obtain her
agreeraent in the propriety of repealing the penal
laws. He therefore addressed an elaborate epistle
to her, reciting the grounds of his own conver
sion. The first thing he professed which raised
scruples in his raind was, the great devotion which
he had observed araong catholics, and the helps
which they had to excite it. He saw that they
exceeded the protestants in acts of charity, even
those who had retired from the world, and de
voted themselves to a religious life. He could
see nothing in those reigns which followed the
grand schism, which could induce him to believe
that it was the work of God. The history of
those reigns he had carefully studied, and the
Narrative of Heylyn, with the Preface of Hooker's
Ecclesiastical Polity, had strengthened his con
viction. He was assured that Christ had left an
infallibility to his church, which infallibility the
apostles acknowledged to reside in St. Peter. It
was the authority of the church which decided
the canon of Scripture, and certainly the church
was the only scriptural interpreter. Wherever
infallibility resided, there must indisputably be
an apostolical succession : now the church of
Rome alone pretended to this infallibility, and
those who threw off her authority opened a door
to atheism, to infidelity, and to scepticism. It

312 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, was plain that the church of England did not
-i^^Xl_ pretend to infallibility, though she acted as if
-.she did; for ever since she had separated from
Rome, she had persecuted all who differed from
her beyond any other church. Yet he could see
no reason why others should not separate from
her, since she had herself separated from the
church of Rome. These were some of his argu
ments, and these, together with the papers of his
brother, the late king, and of her mother, the
duchess of York, might serve, if not to justify the
catholic religion, yet at least to create a favour
able opinion of it.
This epistle was answered by the princess with
expressions not only of respect, but of affection.
No difference in religion, she said, could hinder
her frora desiring both his blessing and his prayers,
however far she might be distant from him. Yet
she trusted that he would not construe it into a
raark of disrespect, if she delivered her thoughts
with freedora on the subject of his letter. She
was far from adhering to a religion in which she
had been educated merely from a point of honour;
her adherence was on better grounds. Those who
had instructed her in the protestant faith, had
freely laid before her all which could be said in
defence of the church of Rome, that she might be
enabled to decide between both with irapartiality.
Though she had left her native country when
young, yet she had not left either the desire
of being well inforraed, or the raeans of acquiring
inforraation. She then distinctly examined the
arguraents which her father had adduced, and so
ably answered thera, that he could not forbear

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 313
from expressing his admiration and surprise at a. d.
the progress which she had raade in her religious  —
inquiries. James did not confine his attempts at conver
sion to the princess Mary, he applied to the
prince of Orange also, and employed Steward, a
Scottish lawyer, to address pensionary Fagel on
the subject. The pensionary for a long time
treated the letters with neglect ; but a report
having been industriously propagated that the
silence of the prince amounted to a tacit consent,
they were laid before him. Williara commis
sioned Fagel to return such an answer as might
leave his sentiraents no longer a raatter of doubt,
and he was induced to take so decisive a step even
on political considerations. He wished to esta
blish an interest in sorae Roman catholic courts,
which were inclined to unite with hira in depres
sing the power of France, but who had been pos
sessed by a notion that he intended the ruin and
extirpation of all the catholics in Great Britain.
While such an impression existed, it was neces
sary to disclaim both for himself, and also for the
princess, all persecuting or intolerant views. It
was their opinion, that no Christian ought to be
persecuted on account of conscience, or because he
difters frora the established religion, and there
fore they agreed that the papists in Ireland and
Scotland should have the same free exercise of
their religion as they enjoyed in Holland. With
respect to protestant dissenters, they heartily ap
proved of their possessing an entire freedora frora
all molestation. This degree of toleration they
not only approved, but were ready to give a

314 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, pledge that they would protect and defend. If
^^^' the king desired their concurrence in abrogating
the penal laws, they were ready to give it, pro
vided the laws were continued in force which
excluded Roraan catholics frora sitting in either
house of parliament, and from all offices, eccle
siastical, civil, and military. But they could not
consent to the repeal of laws which tended to the
security of the protestant faith. Of this nature
were the tests, which imported nothing more than
an exclusion from public eraployraents, an exclu
sion which could not be a real injury to the papists
themselves. If the numbers of the papists were
so inconsiderable as to prevent any danger from
the repeal of the tests, then it was not reasonable
to make stich a material change in the constitu
tion for the sake of a few ; and if those few would
do their party so ranch injury, as not to be con
tented with the repeal of these, unless they could
enjoy places of trust and emolument, their ara
bition only was to be blaraed *.
This letter, replete with sound argument and
political sagacity, was carried by Steward to James,
and was read in the cabinet council. Still re
ports were current that the prince and princess of
Orange were not indisposed to cooperate' with
the king, and their admission in regard to the
penal laws, gave corroboration to these reports.
To suppress them entirely, and to justify hiraself
to England and to Europe, the Prince coraraanded
that the letter of Fagel should, be printed. It was
in consequence distributed in all parts of Great
* "VVelwood's Memoirs.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 315
Britain, and was received with general satisfac- a. d.
tion. The raembers of the church were confirm  -

ed in their opinion, that the tests should be still
continued ; and the catholic laity seemed to be so
well contented with their continuance, that they
complained of their own aspiring priests and am
bitious courtiers, who, to gratify their private
ambition and interest, brought on their religion
public hatred. But the publication of this docu
ment highly incensed the king and the Jesuits,
and their resentment broke forth in the raost un
guarded language. The anger of Jaraes was
shewn even to the foreign rainisters who re
sided at his court. The letter was at first styled
a forgery, but its authenticity being fully esta
blished, it was spoken of with indignation.
Although the resentment of Jaraes was never
appeased, yet his anxiety for the conversion of
the prince and princess of Orange soon abated ;
for a proclaraation in the Gazette announced that
it had pleased Alraighty God to grant the king
apparent hopes and good assurance of having is
sue by his royal consort the queen *. The Intel- 1688.
ligence filled the protestants of England with dis
may; but the conception was regarded by the
Jesuits as miraculous, and as the return to a vow
which the queen had made to our lady of Lo-
retto. Public thanksgivings were comraanded to
be read in the churches, and a form to be used
by the church of England was composed by the'
bishops of Durham, Rochester, and Peterborough.
On a question of such difficulty and delicacy as
* Gazette, No. 2306.

316 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the legitiraacy of the heir of the Stuart family,
^^^' a question, which was once eagerly debated, but
which has now lost its intei-est, it is needless to
say much. Those who have examined the sub
ject with the greatest care have still left it in
uncertainty. On the side of those who contend
in favour of the legitiraacy, the weakest part of
their cause is the raysterious raanner in which the
Avhole affair was conducted ; for, if an iraposture
had been intended, it would have been managed
exactly in the sarae raanner. The flirasy excuse
offered by the queen, that she owed no satisfac
tion to those who suspected her capable of an
imposition, was the excuse which a person guilty
of an imposture would naturally offer. On the
other side, the weak part of the cause is, that
those who dispute the legitiraacy have been driven
to take the alternative of two hypotheses ; one,
that the conception was supposititious, and nothing
raore than the last desperate effort of the papists
to perpetuate their faith ; the other, that there
was an actual pregnancy and parturition, but that
a female child, of which the queen was delivered,
was exchanged for a male. One of these hypo
theses must be, both raay be false.
Whatever opinion may have been since enter
tained of the whole transaction, yet the reality of
the conception could not at this time be reasonably
questioned, even by the raost decided eneraies of
the king ; and its general credit induced his Je
suitical advisers to hasten the crisis when the in
fatuated king and all his second faraily, whether
legitimate or spurious, were precluded from inherit
ing the crown of Great Britain. Petre, the royal

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 317
confessor, was ostensibly a privy counsellor, and a. d.
actually the prirae minister ; and the remark of a  -
Spanish arabassador was verified in England, that
the affairs of a nation governed by the king's con
fessor must tend to disgrace and ruin.

318 HISTORY OF THE

Api-il 27.

CHAPTER XV.
Declaration of the King ordered to be read in Churches
throughout the Kingdom.— Petition to the Throne by the
Bishops and Clergy. — Majority ofthe Clergy refuse to read
the Dispensation. — The Archbishop of Canterbury and six
suffragan Bishops cited before the Privy Council, and sent
to the Tower. — And subsequently, when put on their trial
for Libel, are acquitted.
CHAP. A PRESUMPTION raay be reasonably enter-
XV -tained, that the prospect of a popish successor,
emboldened the king, instead of fulfilling his pro
mise of calling a new parliament, to publish his
second declaration for liberty of conscience. It
was a republication of the first, with the addition
of some preliminary and supplemental raatter.
This was expressed in a decided tone, and in
terms highly favourable to the papists. He ad
duced the numerous addresses of congratulation
presented in return for his former declaration
by all classes of his subjects, as a proof that his
policy was wise and benevolent. He expressed a
confident persuasion that his next parliaraent
would cooperate with hira in establishing liberty
of conscience, on such a firra foundation that all
his people raight be secured in the free exercise of
their religion. Oaths and tests, he said, had been
unhappily contrived by sorae governments, but
could never be a support to any : they impeded
the advancement of many deserving men to offices

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 319
and employments which ought to be the rewards a. d.
of diligence, fidelity, and merit. The liberal _i!!!i
policy which he had adopted, must not only ob
tain the approbation of all good Christians, but of
all who were concerned for the wealth and power
of the nation, though it raight be a prejudice to
sorae neighbouring nations which were envious
of the advantages enjoyed by England. Had
James been equally indifferent to all forras of
religion, the topics of his address would not have
been injudiciously chosen ; they would have been
popular from an infidel, but not from a bigot.
The declaration was published in the usual
manner, and comraanded to be read in the tirae
of divine service in all the churches of England,
under the penalty of a prosecution in the court of
ecclesiastical coraraission*. For iraposing this
unwelcome office on the clergy, there was un
fortunately a precedent of a too recent date, for
Sancroft had himself proposed in council that the
clergy should read in their churches a declaration
of the late king, containing his reasons for dis
solving the Oxford parliaraent. The priraate was
doubtless sensible of his raisconduct in that in
stance, and was eager to atone for it. He had
watched the late measures of the king with
anxiety, but had found no opportunity of coun
teracting them. Access to the royal person had
been forbidden, and two years had elapsed since
he was within the verge of the court. Declining-
health had confined him to Lambeth, studious
habits had indisposed him to business, and he had
* Gazette, No. 2374.

320 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, incurred the unjust suspicion of talking against
^^- popery and acting for it. With a vigorous effort
he roused himself from his habitual inactivity,
and forgetful of the infirmities of age, shewed its
prudence. Few of the bishops were in London, and three
of those, Cartwright, Watson, and Crew, with the
addition of Sprat, had declined from the pro
testant cause. Sancroft speedily transmitted a
friendly monition to his brethren in the distant
dioceses, requiring their attendance on urgent
business relating to the church. Several raeet
ings had taken place among the clergy of the
metropolis, in which the business was fully and
dispassionately discussed. On the one hand it
was argued, that if the clergy refused corapliance,
the king would no doubt execute his threat of
prosecuting them, and it did not seem reasonable
to venture so great a hazard on so trivial a point.
To read the declaration did not imply an appro
bation of its substance ; it was not their act, but
the act of the king. Therefore it was proposed,
that some public notification should be raade, cer
tifying that the publication of the declaration by
the clergy was raerely an act of obedience, not of
assent. But on the other hand it was said, that
the requisition was intended to render the clergy
odious and contemptible to the whole nation. If
their compliance were carried thus far, that of the
nobility and gentry raight be carried farther, and
the church might, without a struggle, fall a sacri
fice to the court. If they read the declaration,
even with a reservation that they did not intend
assent, then they would be bound to read every

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 321
document which the king might think it fit to a.d.
promulge : they might be i-equired hereafter to  -
read declarations in favour of all the tenets of
popery. For this reason it appeared necessary to
fix a rule, that the publication of any document
by the clergy during the time of divine service
did iraport their consent. The point at this tirae
in debate was not whether a toleration were law^
ful and expedient, but whether the dispensing
power assuraed by the king were founded on law.
Such a power necessarily tended to the intro
duction of despotism, and, when exerted as it now
was, to the introduction of the grossest religious
errors. If the king pleased, paganism itself might
be publicly professed. As to any danger which
the clergy raight incur by refusing corapliance, it
was evident that the king designed the ruin of
the church, and to render her clergy the passive
instruraents of her subversion. It was therefore
incurabent on them to prepare themselves for the
hour of danger, and not to defer it by a pusillani-
raous conduct, which would draw on thera the
regret of their friends and the scorn of their ene
raies. These reasons prevailed, and they resolved not
to read the declaration. They saw the iraport-
ance of unaniraity, and that nothing would be
raore gratifying to their enemies than a diversity
of opinion even as to the forra of proceeding. If
any considerable portion of the clergy could "^be
induced to subrait, then the king raight still pre
tend a parental care for the church of England,
and destroy one half of her members through the
instrumentality of the other. But if all who
V()I>. III. Y

322 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, were eminent in station, remarkable for loyalty,
 '.  and conspicuous for talent, should unhesitatingly

refuse, then a few contemptible individuals, who
might basely yield, would add credit and strength
to the conduct of the enlightened majority. The
court depended on the compliance of this raajor
ity, that a stronger pretext raight be found for
prosecuting the refractory.
The few treacherous prelates who were in
league with the court, and were engaged in be
traying the church, had persuaded themselves
that such would be the event, and they had suc
ceeded in possessing the king with a sirailar ex
pectation. But the correspondence between the
sound part of the clergy was managed with such
secrecy, that the court had no reason to appre
hend that their conduct was the effect of concert
and agreeraent. Cartwright and Watson sorae
tiraes obtruded themselves at Lambeth ; but while
they were present, all confidential intercourse be
tween the faithful prelates was suspended *.
May 18. After many deliberations, a petition was formed
at Lambeth, by the archbishop of Canterbury,
and six suffragan bishops, St. Asaph, Ely, Chi
chester, Bath and Wells, Peterborough, and Bris
tol. It was signed by these prelates in the pre
sence, and with the consent of Tillotson dean of
Canterbury, Stillingfleet dean of St. Paul's, Pa
trick dean of Peterborough, Tennison vicar of
St. Martin's, Grove rector of St. Andrew's, and
Sherlock master of the Temple. In the evening
of the sarae day all the subscribers, except the
* Diary of Henry earl of Clarendon.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 323
archbishop, went to Whitehall for the purpose of a.d.
delivering it to the king. The bishop of St.— 1^
Asaph, in the name of his brethren, first applied
to the earl of Middleton, secretary of state, but
that nobleman was confined to his chamber by
sickness. The president of the council, Sunder
land, was next waited on by the same bishop, with
a request that they might be allowed to present a
petition to the king, and at the same time offered
it to Sunderland for his perusal. Sunderland re
fused to read it, but acquainted the king with
their desire, and the six bishops were introduced
into the royal closet. The bishop of St. Asaph
on his knees, as the rest were, delivered the
petition. The king received the petitioners and the peti
tion graciously, but having read it he was startled.
Surprise soon gave way to anger. " I have heard
of this before," he said, " but did not believe it ;
I did not expect this from the church of Eng
land, at least from some of you. If I change ray
mind, you shall hear from rae; if not, I expect that
my coraraands shall be obeyed."
The petition which occasioned this perturbation
in James was respectful yet decisive. They as
sured the king that their averseness from reading
his declaration proceeded neither frora a want of
duty towards hiraself, nor yet frora a want of due
tenderness towards the dissenters. Towards these
they were willing to corae to such a teraper as
might be determined by a parliaraent and a con
vocation. But their reluctance proceeded frora this,
among other considerations, that the declaration
was founded on a dispensing power, which had
Y 2

324 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, often been declared illegal in parliament, and also
^^- it was a raatter of such raoraent and consequence
both to the church and state, that they could not
in prudence, honour, or conscience, make thera
selves parties to the distribution of it throughout
the nation.
With due humility the bishops defended the
matter of the petition, and with solemn assevera
tions vindicated themselves from the charge of
rebellion. The king was not to be appeased, and
he dismissed them by saying that he was their
king, and they should be made to feel what it
was to disobey him. The bishops who brought
the address said, " The will of God be done."
They returned frora the king's presence with
serenity, rejoicing that they had now gone too far
to retract.
Though only six prelates attended the sura
raons of the archbishop in person, yet eighteen
other bishops either sent their direct approbation
of the petition *, or testified it by declining to
distribute the declaration among their clergy.
Of the eight remaining dioceses York and Oxford
were vacant, and six bishops carried their obse
quiousness so far as to read the declaration.
Cartwright went beyond this, for he promoted an
address frora his clergy in the most fulsome lan
guage, thanking the king for his promise to main-
* On two copies of the petition, one of which is in the
archbishop's own hand, are the following inscriptions :
" Approbo. H. London, May 23, 1688; May 23, W. Nor
wich; May 21, 88, R. Gloucester; May 26, Seth Sa
rum ; P. Winchester ; T. Exon, May 29."
Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 325
tain the church of England. Two of these as- a.d.
senting prelates who permitted the declaration to  1
be read, though without giving a full approbation
to it, deserve to be distinguished from their less
scrupulous brethren.
The first of these was Barlow, bishop of Lin
coln, whora nature and industry corabined to
make a scholar, and who, by following the bent
of nature, was perhaps as complete a master of
the learned languages as any man of his age *.
In doctrine he was a Calvinist, and, like raany
other Calvinists, his opposition to the church of
Rorae was decided and warm, when there was no
danger to be apprehended. But as soon as Jaraes
ascended the throne, and the peril became irarai-
nent, he seemed to relax in his hostility. In
former days he had argued against Gunning in
the house of lords, that the church of Rorae was
idolatrous, and he was then a strenuous defender
of the test. But now he seeraed to think that the
church of Rorae, so far frora being idolatrous, was
innocuous, and that the tests raight be safely re
pealed. Not only did he offer an address of
thanks to the king for the declaration, but he is
said to have written reasons for permitting it to
be read in his diocese. But his laxity of prin
ciple, unlike many tergiversators, was unaccom
panied by violence towards such as were more
stubborn than hiraself. To one of his clergy who
* The earl of Anglesea in his Memoirs says, I never think
of this bishop, and his incomparable knowledge both in theo
logy and ecclesiastical law, without applying to him in my
thoughts the character which Cicero gives of Crassus : " Non
unus e multis, sed unus inter omnes prope singularis."

326 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, consulted him on the propriety of corapliance, he
_^Il_ candidly answered, that it raust be left to the pru
dence and conscience of the individual *. His
great talent was casuistry, a talent which not
only reconciles seeming contradictions, but digests
such as are palpable.
The other prelate was Sprat, whose character
is sufficiently developed. He permitted the de
claration to be read at Westminster abbey, where
he was dean, but farther than this he would not
go. When he found that the authority of the
ecclesiastical commissioners was to be exercised
against those of the clergy who refused obedi
ence, he wrote to his colleagues a formal pro
fession of his unwillingness to retain the office,
and withdrew himself frora all farther responsi
bility and participation in their future proceed
ings. So strongly were his colleagues affected by
the soleranity of his expressions, that they ad
journed for six months, and before that period
the king dissolved the court.
Animated by the example which the seven
bishops had exhibited, the greater part of the
clergy refused to read the declaration. Not more
than seven in the city of London obeyed f, and
not above two hundred throughout England. Of
this sraall number sorae read it on the first Sunday
appointed, but oraitted to read it on the second :
others declared in their serraons that though they
obeyed the order, yet they did not approve the
* Grey's Examination of Neal, vol. iv.
t " Neither Stillingfleet nor Tillotson were at their churches,
but as I am told went yesterday to their country houses. So
overwise are some sort of men. May 20, Sunday." Earl
of Clarendon's Diary.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 327
document ; and one, raore pleasantly than gravely, a. d.
inforraed his congregation that if he were obliged  '-
to read, they were not obliged to hear it, and he
waited their departure before he commenced.
Without this friendly intiraation, the people in
many places testified their disapprobation by
leaving the church.
The king perhaps waited this issue before he
decided in what raanner he should deal with the
petitioning prelates. Different raethods of seve
rity were spoken of, but for some days the raatter
reraained in suspense. At length the archbishop
received a suraraons to attend the privy council
on a day therein specified, to answer to such raat-May27.
ters of misderaeanour as raight be objected against
him. The six bishops were served with a like
notice. It seems that as the bishops were going to the
council, they were advised to reraeraber, that no
man is obliged to accuse himself, and that they
were not bound to acknowledge the petition, un
less they received an assurance that no advantage
should be taken of their acknowledgraent. On
the appointed day the king carae to the council,
and the bishops were introduced. The lord chan
cellor taking a paper frora the table, and shewing
it to the archbishop, asked, if it were written and
signed by hiraself and by the other prelates whose
names were there subscribed? The archbishop
received the paper from the lord chancellor, and
addressing hiraself to the king, said ; " Sir, I am
called here as a criminal, which I never was before
in my life, and little thought I ever should be,
especially before your majesty. But since it is my

XV.

328 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, unhappiness to be so at this time, I hope you will
_ not be offended that I ara cautious of answering
questions. No man is obliged to answer questions
that raay tend to the accusing himself." The king
called this chicanery, but the archbishop insisted
that there could be no other end of the question
but to draw such an answer frora hira as might
afford ground for an accusation. The bishop of
St. Asaph said, " In all Christian churches, the di
vines agree in this, that no man in our circum
stances is obliged to answer such a question." The
king pressing for an answer with some irapatience,
the archbishop said ; " Sir, though we are not ob
liged to answer this question, yet if you lay your
coraraands upon us, we shall answer it, trusting in
your generosity and justice that we shall not suf
fer for our obedience." The king replied, " No, I
will not coraraand you ;" but the lord chancellor
here interposed and said, " Withdraw."
It is certain that there was a great diversity of
opinion, whether the affair should not be termi
nated. The king continued in suspense many
days after the presentation of the petition, and
many consultations took place between himself
and men of different persuasions*. The raore
* " It was a comical sight, to see Mr. Lob the presbyte
rian, (independent, I think it should be,) and father Peter
the Jesuit, caballing and contriving together, as great inti-
mados as if they had been of the same society: to see Penn
the quaker, and Brent, Alsop, Nevil, and Payne, settling and
securing liberty of conscience ; and father Warner as obhging
to them as can be. But whatever professions of love and sin
cerity were made to the nonconformists by the Jesuits, the
king's confessor looked on all the dissenters together as the

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 329
raoderate of the Roman catholic nobility had a.d.
advised that the affair should be passed over in ^^"^^
silence ; and at this stage of the business a fair
opportunity presented itself of finishing it, by
casting a slur on the bishops, and pretending
that they denied their own handwriting. But
those violent councils, which urged the king to
chastise the stubborn boldness of the protestant
champions, were too accordant with his own
teraper. The bishops were called in a second tirae ;
then the lord chancellor said, " His majesty has
required rae to deraand an answer to this ques
tion ; Are these your hands which are set to this
petition ?" The king also hiraself said ; " I cora
raand you to answer this question." Then the
archbishop took the petition, and, having read it
over, said, " I own this petition, and that this is
ray hand." The chancellor asked the same ques
tion of the other bishops, and they all acknow
ledged their hands, and that they delivered the
petition. A second tirae they were coraraanded to with
draw, and on their third appearance, the chancel
lor said ; " It is the king's pleasure to have you
proceeded against for this petition, but it shall be
with all fairness in Westrainster-hall. There will
be an inforraation against you, which you are to
answer, and in order to that, you are to enter
into a recognisance." To this deraand the arch
bishop replied ; "Without a recognisance we shall
be ready to appear, and answer, whenever we are
worst and vilest of men.'' Dr. Gee, from Kennet's Comp.
Hist. vol. iii. p. 510.

330 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, called." One of the bishops said, "Lord Lovelace
_J^Xl_had been called before the council to answer a cora
plaint, and he was allowed to answer it in West
minster-hall without entering into any recogni
sance : we hope to be allowed .to answer in like
manner." The chancellor said, that this deviation
was a matter of favour to the bishops, and the
king added, "I intend this as a favour to you, and
I would not have you refuse it." The bishop of
St. Asaph said ; " Whatever favour your majesty
vouchsafes to offer to any person, you are pleased
to leave it to him whether or not he will accept
it ; and you do not expect that he should accept it
to his own prejudice. We conceive that to enter
into these recognisances would be prejudicial to
us, and therefore we hope that you will not be of
fended with us for declining to do so." The bi
shops also insisted that there ought to be some
special matter against them on oath to justify their
entering into recognisances, not considering that
their own acknowledgraent of the petition was
equivalent to a special allegation on oath. With
more effect they insisted, that there was no prece
dent that any member of the house of peers should
be bound in recognisance of misderaeanour. The
lord chancellor said that there were precedents ;
but being challenged to produce one, he was silent.
The bishops desired to be proceeded against in the
coraraon way; but that was not allowed; and a
third tirae they were coraraanded to withdraw.
Being called in a fourth time, they were asked
whether they had considered the matter better,
and whether they would accept the king's favour ?
The archbishop answered ; "We have had the ad-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 331
vice of the best counsel, and they have warned us a. d.
not to enter into recognisances, and therefore we ^^""-
desire that they may not be required of us ; we
are ready to appear to answer to any charge,
whenever we are called." The king appeared to
be displeased, saying ; " You will believe others
before you will believe me."
They were commanded to withdraw a fourth
time, and the earl of Berkeley carae frora the coun
cil room to the bishops, and endeavoured to per
suade the archbishop to a corapliance, but finding
hira unraoveable, he tried his persuasions on the
other bishops. Finding thera all agreed, he left
them, and they were called into the council cham
ber for the last time. The king had vanished,
Jefferies was in the chair, and a warrant of com
mitment, signed by fourteen privy counsellors, was
raade out. They were ordered to be sent to the
Tower. To prevent any tumult, it was resolved to send
the bishops to the Tower by water ; but as the
barges which conveyed them passed, the banks of
the river were crowded with the people, who on
bended knees implored their blessing, and with
loud shouts expressed both a solicitude for their
preservation, and applause for their courage. The
bishops presented an aspect of serene cheerfulness
unmixed with exaltation ; they exhorted the multi
tudes to a peaceable and loyal deportment; and as
to themselves, they had a confidence in the purity
of their intentions and the justice of their cause.
When they were in custody, they were visited
by all ranks, and by raen of alraost all religious
persuasions. Ten nonconforraist ministers visited

332 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, them, offering the thanks and sympathy of all
" true protestants, for the Christian heroism which

they had displayed. When these nonconforraists
were repriraanded by the king for their conduct,
their reply was, that they could not but adhere to
the bishops as raen constant and firm in the pro
testant faith. The lieutenant of the Tower was
sir Edward Hales, a papist, but the officers and
soldiers on guard drank the health of the bishops,
to his no small mortification ; and when an order
was sent to the captain of the guard, that the prac
tice should be discontinued, the still more mortify
ing reply was given, that while the bishops were in
custody the soldiers would drink no other health.
The bishop of London, being under suspension,
could not share in the honour which his brethren
had so justly gained ; but they had the benefit of
his advice and activity. It was by his suggestion,
that if the king should be so badly advised as to
persevere, and they should be brought into West
rainster-hall to plead to an inforraation, their
friends among the nobility should be solicited to
offer themselves as bail. Fatally for himself, the
king listened to his advisers, and did persevere,
though the birth of a prince and heir, while the
June 10. bishops Were under confinement, presented a fa
vourable occasion for granting their liberation and
pardon, with honour to himself, and with the
highest gratification to the whole nation. But he
had entertained a prepossession against the yield
ing temper which had proved so dangerous to his
brother and fatal to his father ; and he was de
termined to avoid their errors, though his own
might be as great.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 333
On the first day of terra, the attorney general a. d.
moved for a writ comraanding the lieutenant of _J^!^
the Tower to bring the archbishop and the six ¦^"'"^ *^"
bishops to the court of king's bench, in order to
plead to an information for a seditious libel, pub
lished by thera against the king and his govern
raent. The writ was iraraediately obeyed, and
the passage of the bishops frora the Tower to
Westminster-hall was marked by circumstances
of peculiar interest. Greater demonstrations of
respect and gratitude were displayed by the peo
ple now than on their coraraittal. They were ac
corapanied by thirty of the nobility, and each of
the bishops was provided with three of these
noble sureties to answer as his bail.
The bishops being placed at the bar, their
counsel offered to shew that the comraitraent was
originally illegal ; and it was not without a long
altercation that, before the inforraation was read,
they could be allowed to state the reasons of its
illegality. They argued, that there were two ob
jections : first, that the persons coraraissioned had
not power to corarait ; secondly, that the bishops
ought not to have been iraprisoned on account of
the fact for which they were coraraitted. On the
first objection the court appears to have forraed
an opinion in favour of the validity of the cora-
mitraent ; on the second, although one of the
judges pressed for time, yet it seemed to consider
the misdemeanour alleged such as warranted a
comraitraent. The inforraation having been read, the attorney
general moved that the bishops might be called
on to plead to it, but the counsel for the bishops

334 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, interposed, and begged an imparlance till the next
 ^^ term. They knew nothing of the inforraation till
it was read in court, the comraitraent being only
generally for a libel. Though one of the judges
thought the deraand of the defendants reasonable,
yet the practice of the court was not in their
favour, and the court decided that they should
plead iraraediately.
The defendants being required to plead, the
archbishop of Canterbury tendered the plea of
hiraself and of the other bishops. It pleaded the
privilege of the bishops as peers and lords of par
liament, and that as such they were not compelled
to answer instantly for the misderaeanour, and
that time might be given to imparl. As the ques
tion had already been argued, and decided against
the defendants, the plea was rejected. The de
fendants having then pleaded "Not guilty," the
attorney general prayed that issue might be joined
on the behalf of the king, the day of trial was
fixed, and the bishops were bailed, with the con
sent of the king's counsel, on their own recogni
sances. When the bishops returned from the hall, the
acclamations were redoubled. The streets re
sounded with shouts during the whole day, and
were illuminated at night. It was the general
opinion that the event of the approaching trial
would determine the fate of the constitution and
the liberties of England.
The interval between the day of pleading and
the day of trial was employed by the counsel on
both sides in preparation. The judges of the
court of king's bench at this time were raen sup-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 335
posed to be the fast friends of the prerogative, a. d.
and of that part of it which had been lately so ^^^^'
much contested, the dispensing power. Her
bert, at his own request, had been lately reraoved
frora the king's bench into the coraraon pleas,
and sir Robert Wright succeeded hira in the
important post of lord chief justice of England.
His elocution was fluent, his raanners not unpre
possessing, but his knowledge of law was small,
and his moral character was debased by profligacy
and prodigality. In one ofthe other judges, Ally-
bone, Wright had a coadjutor well suited to hira,
for AUybone was a tool of the court, of more le
gal knowledge than the chief justice, but of less
suavity. HoUoway and Powell, the remaining
judges, will be best estimated by their conduct on
the trial.
Such was the court before which the bishops
were to be tried ; the two principal crown law
yers, the attorney and solicitor general, were
Powis and Williaras. Powis raanaged the part
which he had to perform with fairness, and with
as much civility towards the defendants as he
dared to assume. Williams, who had been ap
pointed solicitor general imraediately before the
trial, was an instruraent exactly fitted to serve an
arbitrary and a bigoted prince. He had been a
barrister of the Temple, and also a member of
parliament, but, being a high Roman catholic, had
been expelled the house.
The counsel for the bishops equalled in number
their venerable clients, and they coraprised the
established reputation and the rising talent of the
bar. They had for their leader Pemberton, who

336 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, had been formerly chief justice, and who was said
^^'  in that capacity to have made, rather than de
clared law. But he was a better practitioner than
a judge, and his experience rendered him a safe
guide in the precedents and practice of the court.
Next was sir Creswell Leving, who had once been
a justice ofthe court of common pleas, and the third
was sir Robert Sawyer, the late attorney general.
Sawyer was one of the raost able of his contem
poraries, formed in the school of sir Matthew
Hale, under whom he practised, and whom he
took as his model. Like his master, he was a
man of general learning, and, like him, possessed
a courageous integrity, which no allurement could
corrupt, and no danger could intimidate. He had
been appointed attorney general in the conclusion
of the last reign, and had continued in his office
till the preceding year of the present, when he
was displaced, because he would not acknowledge
the dispensing power, and because he would not
consent to mould the laws according to the will of
Jaraes. His stern and uncorapromising deport
ment * was strikingly contrasted with the gentle
ness of Pemberton. PoUexfen and Treby fill a
conspicuous niche araong the lawyers of these
times. Finch, descended from a faraily well known
in the juridical history of England, had been re
moved from office, like Sawyer, by Jaraes, to raake
way for Powis, "who was willing and ready to
do what the other refused f ." Last carae Sura-
mers, whose youth was thought by some an ob-
* He was censured for his harsh treatment of lord Russel ;
Pemberton treated that nobleman with great gentleness.
t Reresby's Memoirs.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 337
jection to his present appointment, but he was re- a. d.
commended by the sage PoUexfen, notwithstand- ^^^^'

ing, or rather on account of his youth. This was
his entrance on his splendid professional career,
and on this occasion he gave an earnest of his fu
ture greatness, both as a lawyer and a statesman.
The few observations which he had the opportu
nity of submitting to the court as a junior coun
sel, were heard with marked deference*.
When the day came, on which this momentous June 29.
trial was to take place, the multitudes asserabled
in Westrainster-hall and its avenues exceeded all
reraembrance and expectation. The bishops on
their passage were again greeted with the warra-
est deraonstrations of respect. The prelirainaries
being finished, and the proceedings briefly opened
by Wright, one of the counsel for the crown, the
attorney general followed at large, who stated the
case without aggravation ; and having performed
this task, he interposed but rarely throughout the
remainder of the trial. The active part of the
manageraent for the crown was undertaken by the
solicitor general ; and he neglected to avail hiraself
of an advantage which he possessed over Peraber-
ton and Finch, by reflecting on their own pro
ceedings while they were the legal advisers of
the king, and by quoting their precedents against
themselves. Two points were to be raade out, in order to
convict the bishops of the offence charged against
them ; first, it was necessary to prove, that the
* Granger says, he displayed on this trial an eloquence
worthy of Athens or Rome. No specimens of this eloquence
are recorded in the account of the trial.
VOL. III. ^

XV.

338 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, petition, on which the information was founded,
was really written, presented, and published by
the defendants ; secondly, that the petition itself
was a libel.
The proofs of the handwriting of the bishops
were defective, and were entirely insufficient with
out having recourse to the confession which had
been extorted frora them at the council board, a
mode of proof highly dishonourable, since it ira
plied, as some affirm, a violation of the king's pro-
raise, and, as all acknowledged, an abuse of the
confidence which the bishops reposed on his gene
rosity and justice. The presentation of the peti
tion by the bishops was proved by Sunderland,
but he could not prove that it was the identical
petition on which the inforraation was laid, be
cause he refused to read it. The publication of
the petition in the county of Middlesex, as charged
in the inforraation, could not be established, which
of itself was a fatal error ; and the publication of
it in any country could not be proved, though that
point alone iraplied any culpability in the defend
ants. The petition before the court was in the
handwriting of the archbishop, and the draught
of the petition he had retained in his own posses
sion. The publication, if there were any, raust
have been made by those persons to whom the
king had shewed the original. In fact the peti
tion had been printed by the king's authority, with
a sat rical paraphrase, stating that though the bi
shops had forraerly exercised raany cruelties on
the dissenters, they now proraised to conciliate ;
and though they had originally endeavoured to
advance the prerogative above all law, when it

CHURCH OF ENGL.AND. 339
was turned against the dissenters, yet they now a. d.
opposed the dispensing power, when used with a  1.
benevolent intention, and for the general good.
The second point, whether the petition was a
libel, was argued very elaborately and at great
length. It was contended in favour of the bishops,
that, having received an order, to which they found
it irapossible to render a conscientious obedience
as bishops and as subjects, they humbly submitted
to the king their reasons for noncompliance. All
subjects, it was said, had a right to petition the
king ; bishops, as members of the great council of
the nation, had a raore than ordinary right ; and
as pastors of a church over which the king was
the suprerae head, their right was of a sacred and
inviolable nature. The petition did not meddle
with any matter of state, but referred to an eccle
siastical raatter to be executed by the clergy ; so
that the bishops did not concern theraselves with
affairs which did not belong to thera, but with a
matter which was confessedly within their sphere
and jurisdiction. The reasons assigned by the bi
shops for not complying with the king's coraraand
were two ; first, because a power to dispense with
the laws had been declared illegal by parliaraent ;
secondly, because the thing required was of great
raoraent, and would involve serious consequences.
As the inforraation charged the defendants with
dirainishing the king's prerogative and regal power,
it was necessary to shew, on behalf of the bishops,
that the dispensing power was not a branch of the
prerogative. The lord chief justice was inclined
to stop the counsel for the bishops at the cora-
mencement of their arguraent against this power,
z 2

340 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, but Powell declared that they ought to be permitted
XV. , ..
 to argue it.
The question was argued conclusively by Saw
yer first, and then by the junior counsel. It was
laid down as the basis of the EngUsh constitution,
that the whole legislative power is in the king,
lords, and commons. A power to abrogate laws,
is as much a part of the legislature, as a power to
raake laws ; and a power to lay laws asleep, and
to suspend laws, is equal to a power of abrogating
them. To abrogate at once, or to abrogate from
time to tirae, is the sarae thing, and both are
equally parts of the legislature. These arguraents
against the dispensing power were feebly repelled
by the king's counsel. They contended that the
votes of one or both houses of parliaraent were
not laws till ratified by the king's consent ; and
therefore inferred that the king alone might sus
pend them by withdrawing that assent. They
dwelt much on the sacred nature of kingly power.
With respect to the matter of the petition, they
argued that a paper might be true in fact, and yet
be libellous : they also contended that the bishops
had no right to petition except in parliament. A
question being asked of the solicitor general, how
the bishops should have acted in the present case,
since the parliaraent was not sitting, and there
was not a prospect of its asserabling speedily, he
rashly answered, " They should have acquiesced."
The answer was heard with loud raarks of disap
probation frora the assembled raultitude.
More than ten hours were consumed in the
pleadings, and in summing up the evidence. The
chief justice, to whom alone belonged the duty of

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 341
sumraing up, was favourable to the bishops on the a. d.
first point, that of the presentation and publication  L
of the petition, for on both he thought the evidence
defective. On the second point the chief justice, in
conjunction with AUybone, thought that the peti
tion was libellous. HoUoway said, that to consti
tute a libel, there raust be an evil intention, which
could not be iraputed to these defendants. " I
cannot," he concluded, " think it is a libel." Powell
spoke more largely. It was necessary to consider
what there was in the petition seditious. The de
fendants said that the declaration which they were
coraraanded to publish was illegal, and its illegal
ity consisted in clairaing a dispensing power for
the crown. If there be no such dispensing power
in the king, then the declaration is illegal. " I can
see no difference," he observed, " between the
king's power to dispense with ecclesiastical laws,
and his power to dispense with any other laws
whatsoever. If this be once allowed, there will
be no need of parliaraent, all the legislature will
be in the king; which is a thing worth considering:
and," addressing hiraself to the jury, " I leave the
issue to God and your own consciences."
The jury retired in the early part of the even
ing, and reraained in deliberation during the
whole night. When they were corae to an agree
raent, it was thought the raore soleran and the
raore safe way, not to give a private verdict, but
to reraain in the room where they were confined
till the court sat. The morning came, and Jaraes
still encouraged a hope that the bishops would be
found guilty. Before the verdict was known, he

342 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, went to the camp at Hounslow, for the mutinous
^^- temper of the army required his presence.
As soon as the court sat, and the bishops ap
peared, the verdict of acquittal was pronounced by
sir Roger Langley, the foreraan of the jury. The
joyful acclamation of " Not guilty!" first resounded
through the court in defiance of the solicitor gene
ral. It then reverberated through the avenues of
Westminster-haU, and so loud were the shouts,
that they seeraed to be reechoed from the city.
With great celerity the intelligence reached the
camp at Hounslow; and though the feeUngs ofthe
array were somewhat restrained by the presence
of the king, yet he was no sooner gone out of the
camp, than a triuraphant burst of joy invaded his
ears. On inquiring the cause of so unusual a de
monstration of satisfaction in a military body, he
was answered, it was for nothing else than the
acquittal of the bishops. " Call you that nothing?"
he replied; "but it shall be so much the worse for
them." No repulse seeraed to affect the king more
than this, and throughout the whole day the per
turbation of his mind was visible in his counte
nance and gestures.
The bishops were congratulated on their escape
in the warmest terms of admiration at their forti
tude and their huraility. They were ranked
among the primitive confessors ; they were com
pared to the seven golden candlesticks, and to the
seven stars in Christ's right hand. They were
hailed as the guardians of the laws, liberties, and
religion of their country.
Two reraarkable circumstances have been no-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 343
ticed with respect to this trial. The first, that a.d.
the king saw the illegaUty of his assumed prero-_l!!!l
gative exposed in one of the raost solemn causes,
by sorae of the greatest lawyers, and before one of
the largest auditories ever asserabled. The second,
that they who had contributed to enslave their
country by false notions of law, now changed their
opinion ; and others, who through two successive
parliaraents had stood up for the liberties of their
country at the expense of their own sufferings,
now endeavoured to stretch the prerogative beyond
its just limits, as they had before opposed it. So
hard is it for raankind to be at all tiraes con
sistent *.
Not softened by his ignominious defeat, but
fatally impelled to his ruin, James pursued those
violent measures which had already overwhelmed
him with mortification. The two judges, whose
uprightness merited the thanks of the sovereign of
a free people, were disraissed ; and he resolved to
prosecute the bishops before the court of ecclesias
tical coraraission. But the coraraissioners had
more wisdom than the king ; they knew that the
result of the late trial would embolden the bishops
to deny the legality of the court. They however
performed one act ; for they trusted that the dio
cesan chancellors and the parochial clergy might
be induced to submit. Citations were therefore
issued, requiring the chancellors and archdeacons
to transmit a list of all the clergy within their re
spective jurisdictions, distinguishing those who
had obeyed and those who had not obeyed the
order of council. But the inferior ecclesiastical
* Welwood's Memoirs.

344 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, dignitaries participated in the sentiments of the
 '. — bishops. Sorae plainly refused to obey the order,
and others excused themselves in milder terms.
This was the expiring act of the ecclesiastical
coraraission, for it was at this tirae that the bishop
of Rochester withdrew hiraself, protesting that he
would rather suffer with his brethren than concur
in raaking them suffer.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 345

CHAPTER XVI.
Advice of the Bishops to the Clergy. — Invitation to the
Prince of Orange. — He has recourse to the Bishops. 
Declaration of the Prince privately circulated in England.
— His Arrival at Torbay. — Conference between the Royal
Commissioners and the Deputies of the Prince.
While the king was untaught by his recent a. d.
mortifications, the bishops manifested no indecent __1^^
exultation at the victory which they had so nobly
achieved. They took no advantage of their popu
larity to annoy or insult hira who was still their
sovereign and the supreme head of the church ;
and although he had alienated their affection, yet
they cheerfully rendered to hira the tribute of
duty. Not long after their acquittal, a docuraent July is.
was framed by the bishops assembled at Lambeth,
containing directions for the clergy at this peril
ous crisis. One of the articles displays a rational
loyalty towards the king, and a manly concilia
tion towards the dissenters. The clergy were en
joined to teach, that the king's power being within
his dorainions the highest under God, the people
were bound to shew obedience in all things law
ful, and patient subraission in others, promoting
as far as possible the general peace and quiet of
the world. They were not less strictly enjoined
to walk in wisdora towards those who were not of
their coraraunion, cultivating a good correspond
ence with thera, and labouring to irapress on their

346 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, minds, that the bishops of the English church
 '. — were the sincere and irreconcilable enemies ofthe
errors, superstitions, and idolatries of the church
of Rorae. This was the language of the church,
not, as it has been untruly said, in the hour of
distress, but in the hour of triumph, when in
reality she was most secure; for never was a tirae
when she possessed so large a share of public con
fidence and popular affection. Those who were
once her most inveterate enemies, the Scottish
presbyterians*, returned their thanks and grati
tude, and were constrained to acknowledge that
the church of England was the most impregnable
barrier against popery.
Towards the church the spirit of the king was
not meliorated ; it had been vindictive, and, de
feated in its revenge, it was still spiteful. He
still injured it in the way which was still open to
him, by his abuse of ecclesiastical patronage. The
see of Oxford having been for some months va
cant by the death of Parker, he promoted one
Hall, a man too obscure to be infamous, and
whose merit consisted in being one araong the
seven London clergy who read the declaration.
The advanceraent of such a raan could be intended
only as an insult to the university of Oxford, and
Oct.T' ^ conterapt of the church of Englandf . Sancroft
is not to be blamed for yielding to the royal man
date, for he had already escaped with difficulty for
petitioning the king in a matter which was mani
festly illegal.
Great were the grievances of the church, but
* Letter from sir Geo. Mackenzie to archbishop Sancroft.
t Kennet, Comp. Hist. V. 3. Godwin de Prsesuhbus.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 347
her resentments were light in comparison with a. d.
those felt by the other classes of the nation. The _^^
trial and acquittal of the bishops had inspired men
of different political and religious opinions with a
determination to resist. The whigs, according to
their old principles, which had led them to at
tempt the exclusion of Jaraes, readily agreed to
depose hira ; since he had made it evident that
he intended to subvert the constitution of his
country. The tories, finding their past services
forgotten, and themselves charged with cruelty
and rebellion, agreed so far with the whigs as to
pronounce James incapable of government, being
under the guidance of " sorae unhappy principles
opposite to the reUgion and interest of his people*."
The nonconforraists, dreading popery as destruc
tive of every thing which they held dear and sa
cred, were glad to throw off the yoke of a prince
whose teraporary indulgence towards thera could
not disguise his real designs.
Holland had long been the refuge of such as
had left England on account of the oppression of
the governraent, or their own factious teraper. It
was the resort of English republicans and secta
rians. Burnet, whose attachment to episcopacy
was cold, had been for sorae time a resident at
the Hague, and had ingratiated hiraself into the
confidence of the prince and princess of Orange.
Ferguson, a creature of Shaftesbury, but whose
pen was prostituted for different parties, was re
tained in their service, though not adraitted to
their confidence f.
* Archbishop Sancroft.
t See Athen. Oxon. 2 Coll. p. 743.

348 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. The perilous state of England induced many
 '. — others whose character was untainted, and whose

loyalty had been ardent, to form a union with
some of these raalecontents and refugees. The
prince of Orange appeared to a large portion of
the people of England as a proper assertor of
their rights and liberties. Supposing the infant
prince to be legitimate, still the princess Mary
was very near in the line of succession. And it
was argued by the friends of hereditary raonarchy,
that whoever has the contingent reversion of an
estate, has a right to hinder the possessor from
injuring or destroying it.
Admiral Russel is said to be the first* who
came to the Hague, under the pretence of visiting
a relative, but for the real purpose of laying be
fore the prince of Orange the lamentable state of
the nation. He had been coraraissioned by raany
persons of great power and influence to invite the
prince to undertake an expedition. The prince
received the overture favourably, and little per
suasion was necessary to prevail with the states
to assist the English protestants. A difficulty,
however, of an alraost insurmountable nature pre
sented itself in conducting the preparations for
such an undertaking with the requisite secrecy.
But the states made use of the disturbances con
cerning the election of an archbishop of Cologn,
as a pretext for raising an army to defend their
own borders ; and the prince, in whom was vested
the government of the states, under the sarae pre
text prepared hiraself for his intended expedition
to England. * Burnet, Hist, of his Own Times, vol. ii. book 4.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 349
These extraordinary moveraents, and their real a. d.
design, did not escape the vigilance of the French _i!!!l
arabassador, and he gave tiraely notice of the ar-
raaraent to his master. The autocrat of France,
and the arbiter of Europe, gave an immediate in
tiraation to Jaraes of the danger which awaited
hira. At first he treated the coraraunication with
neglect ; but Louis, to shew that it was no ground
less alarra, and to evince his own friendly dis
position, offered to send a railitary force, for the
protection of the king of England. This offer,
through the advice of Sunderland, was rejected ;
for the rainister represented that the discontent of
the protestants of England would be inflamed by
the introduction of French papists into the coun
try. Yet this discontent was equally inflaraed by
the introduction at this tirae of several regiraents
of Irish papists, for there was a general appre
hension of a second Irish raassacre.
The other rainisters of the crown, raore honest
than Sunderland, advised the king to place no
confidence in a railitary force, but to endeavour to
regain the affection of his subjects ; and in cora
pliance with their advice, he issued a proclamation Sept. 23.
for calling a new parliament*. In this manifesto
he avowed his purpose of establishing a legal to
leration, which should be as comprehensive as
possible, but of preserving inviolably to the church
of England the several acts for her security, as
far as might be consistent with such a toleration.
To give a farther security to his protestant sub
jects, he was contented that the Roman catholics
* Gazette, No. 2384.

350 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, should continue incapable of sitting in the house
^^^- of comraons, that the legislature might stiU con
tinue in the hands of protestants.
Sept. 25. Two days after the date of the proclamation,
the king was fuUy assured, by dispatches from
the marquess of Alberaarle at the Hague *, that
the projected invasion of England had been openly
acknowledged by the pensionary Fagel. At this
inteUigence, the king for a time turned pale, and
was speechless. With distracted eyes he looked
around him for assistance, or at least for con
solation; but he was incapable of forming any
settled resolution. At last he determined to post
pone the meeting of parliaraent, and to apply in
the hour of distress to those bishops whora he had
pursued with vindictive tyranny. He sent for the
archbishop of Canterbury, and the other bishops
who reraained in London, for he thought that his
first step raust be a reconciliation with the church
of England.
Oct. 3. The archbishop, attended by a few other bishops,
waited on the king, on a day which had been pre
viously fixed, and read an address, which he af
terwards presented. The advice offered by the
bishops was coraprehended under ten articles ; that
the governraent of the several counties should be
placed in the hands of protestants ; that the eccle
siastical coraraission should be annulled ; that no
unqualified person should be promoted to an ec
clesiastical office, and particularly that the presi
dent and fellows of Magdalen college in Oxford
should be restored ; that all licenses to popish
* Gazette, No. 2386.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 351
schoolmasters should be revoked ; that the dis- a. d.
pensing power claimed by the king should be ar- ^^^""
gued and settled in parliament ; that the popish
vicars apostolical should be inhibited ; that the
vacant bishoprics and other ecclesiastical promo
tions, particularly the see of York, should be pro
perly filled ; that the ancient charters of corpora
tions should be restored; that writs should be
issued with all convenient speed for calling " a
free and regular parliaraent, in which the church
of England raight be secured according to the acts
of uniforraity, provision might be raade for a due
liberty of conscience ;" and " a mutual confidence
and good understanding" might be established be
tween the king and his people. The tenth article
ought not in justice to be abridged, but given as
it stands in the address : " Above all, that your
majesty will be graciously pleased to permit your
bishops to offer you such motives and arguments
as, we trust, raay by God's grace be effectual to
persuade your raajesty to return to the church of
England, into whose raost catholic faith you were
baptized, and in which you were educated, and to
which it is our daily earnest prayer to God that
you raay be united*."
These counsels, salutary as they were, and con
veyed in language the raost respectful, if they had
been offered at another tirae, would have excited
the indignation of Jaraes ; but his irapending
danger obliged hira to return his thanks to the
bishops, and to proraise that he would follow their
* Signed W. Cant. H. London, P. Winchester, W. Asaph,
Fran. Ely, Jo. Cicestr., Thos. Roffen., Thos. Bath and Wells,
T. Peterborough.

352 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, advice. A reluctant and imperfect retractation
_J^_ of his illegal and oppressive acts was begun. The
suspension of the bishop of London was taken off,
and the court of ecclesiastical commission was dis
solved ; the charter of the city of London was re
stored by Jefferies himself, accompanied by ex
pressions of the most abject servility ; and the
bishop of Winchester was ordered to settle Mag
dalen college properly and statutably. The advice
of immediately calling a parliament was neg
lected. Before the prince of Orange embarked on his
expedition, prudence dictated that his reasons for
so extraordinary a step should be set forth in a
Dated public declaration. A great many draughts of a
'^'' '**¦ suitable manifesto had been sent from England,
but as among so great a nuraber it was difficult
to raake a selection, they were all delivered to the
pensionary Fagel for his critical inspection ; and
with their aid he finished a coraposition, which
was not unaptly described by the bishops, as
" raore like a lawyer's brief than a princely decla
ration." Burnet prevailed with the pensionary to
abridge it, but did not venture to suggest any
alterations. If he had done so, he might not have
improved it, for the spleen of the Scottish divine
would have been equally "unprincely" with the
phlegm of the Dutch jurist.
The declaration of Williara, though not framed
so as to excite patriotic ardour, was not calculated
to inflame monarchical prejudices. It contained a
long recital of the late violations of the laws of
England, in regard to religion, the executive go
vernment, and the adrainistration of justice ; and

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. .353
it set forth the reraedies which had been ineffect- a. d.
ually proposed for the correction of these abuses. ^"'^"'
Petitions frora the greatest personages, offered in
the most submissive and private raanner, had been
treated not only with neglect, but visited with
punishment. Endeavours had been made to
choose a parliament by corrupt raethods, to pre-
engage and bias both the votes of the electors, and
also of the merabers returned. Even the writs
were now directed to unlawful officers, who were
legally disabled from executing them, so that no
regular and lawful parliament could be assembled.
In conclusion, the reasons for suspecting the
queen's pretended delivery were set forth in ge
neral terms, and the strong presumptions against
the legitimacy of the prince of Wales. Upon
these grounds the prince, seeing there was no
other hope of success, and sensible of the irarai-
nent ruin of the protestant religion, had been earn
estly invited by raen of all ranks, and particu
larly by many of the peers spiritual and temporal.
In consequence of this invitation he had resolved
to go over into England, and to provide proper
and effectual remedies for such growing evils, in a
parliaraent which should be lawfully chosen, and
sit in full freedora according to the ancient custom
and constitution of England. In particular, he
promised that he would preserve the church and
the established religion ; that he would endeavour
to unite all such as dissented frora it by the best
raeans that could be devised ; that he would suffer
all peaceable nonconforraists to enjoy a freedora of
religious worship. The inquiry into the legiti
raacy of the prince of Wales he referred to a par-
VOL. III. -^ ^

354 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, liament, and on the behalf of his consent the prin-
^^^' cess Mary would wiUingly acquiesce in its deci
sion. Copies of this declaration were immediately
dispersed in England by private hands, and they
were not long in reaching the king. On reading
it he exclaimed, "We shaU now see what the
church of England will do !" There was one pas
sage which excited not only his indignation but
his surprise; for invitations to the prince were
said to come frora many of the peers spiritual and
temporal. Among the temporal peers he could
not reasonably wonder to find some whom disap
pointed ambition, or, which was more painful, just
provocation, had seduced from their allegiance.
But he was slow to believe that the spiritual peers
would engage in an attempt amounting in his esti
mation to an act of unnatural rebellion. He had
relied on their professions of loyalty even after
the injuries which they had received, and he
thought to intimidate them into obedience, or to
convince them of the perfidy of their conduct if
they joined the enemy of their lawful sovereign.
Oct. 16. -^ second time the king sent for the archbishop
of Canterbury, and after sorae introductory con
versation he carae to the business which pressed
heavily on his mind. He said that he had re
ceived undoubted intelligence of the design of the
prince of Orange to invade England, and it would
be much for his service if the bishops would meet
together, and draw up a paper expressive of their
abhorrence of the attempt. The archbishop said
that raost of the bishops had returned to their
respective dioceses, and having asked permission

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 355
to speak his sentiraents freely, he professed his a. d.
disbeUef of any such design. ^^^^'

A short time elapsed after this interview with Oct. 31.
the primate, when the king sent for the bishop of
London. On the next day this prelate waited on Nov. 1.
the king, and he was informed that the declara
tion of the prince of Orange stated that the lords
spiritual had joined the teraporal lords in an in
vitation. The bishop answered soraewhat equi
vocally ; " I am confident that my brethren will
answer in the negative as well as rayself." The
king next said that he thought it requisite for the
bishops to raake a public declaration of their in
nocence in this raatter, and of their abhorrence of
the atterapt. The bishop having said that such
a proposal required consideration ; " Every one,"
observed the king, " is to answer for hiraself; but
I will send for the archbishop of Canterbury, who
shall call you all together*."
The king fulfilled his intention iraraediately ;
for on the sarae day the archbishop received his Nov. 1.
third suraraons to attend at Whitehall. On the
following day he obeyed it, and found the bishops Nov. 2.
of London, Durhara, Chester, and Saint David's
already with the king. They were all called into
the royal closet ; and having adverted to the de
claration of the prince of Orange, " There is a
passage in it," he said to the bishops, " which
concerns you," pointing to the place in which the
spiritual peers were raentioned. He was pleased
to add, that he did not believe the accusation, but
that he thought it proper to acquaint thera with
* Letter from the bishop of London to the archbishop of
Canterbury. A a 2

356 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. it. The archbishop having thanked the king for
^^^' his good opinion so frankly and graciously ex
pressed, spoke to this effect ; " I owe to your ma
jesty a natural allegiance, having been born in this
kingdom ; I have confirmed this tie by taking the
oaths of allegiance and supreraacy, and can have
at once but one king. Never, sir, as you well
know, have I worshipped the rising sun, or made
court to any but ray king ; to hira I offer homage
as often as he is pleased to receive it. As to this
particular charge, and my personal concern in it,
I aver it to be utterly false, having been so far
from inviting the prince, that I never made any
application to him." The bishop of London said
that he had given his answer on the preceding
day, and the three other bishops denied the
charge*. The king repeating his belief of their innocence,
nevertheless required a denial of the charge under
their own hands, " because," he said, " it will be
for my service." And at length he plainly inti
mated that it would be useful to him if they would
draw up a paper expressing their abhorrence of
the prince's design. If they would meet and agree
on such a paper, they might transmit it to him.
No answer was given to this proposal, and the
bishops were dismissed.
* The fact that the bishops joined in an invitation to the
prince of Orange has been a matter of controversy. The
bishop of London is the only prelate on whom the charge
can fasten with probabihty. In the Appendix to the third
volume of Echard's History of England wiU be found letters
between Lloyd and Trelawney, two ofthe seven bishops, and
a letter from bishop Trelawney to Echard.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 357
A meeting took place between those bishops a.d.
who were firra in the protestant cause, and it was ^^^^'
resolved that they should be unaniraous in their
answers ; and having agreed on their future course,
they sent an intimation to the king, and humbly
requested an audience. At this last interview there Nov. 6.
were present the archbishop of Canterbury, with
the bishops of London, Peterborough, and Ro
chester. They found the bishop of Saint David's
at the palace, but they required that he should
not be present. Being admitted, the archbishop
commenced thus : " Sir, we have done all which
can be expected from us in this business ; since
you have declared your own conviction of our in
nocency, we regard not the censures of others."
" My lords," the king replied, " I am abundantly
satisfied with you all as to that matter ; but where
is the paper I desired you to draw up and bring
to me ?" " Sir," the archbishop said, " we have
brought no paper, nor, with subraission, do we
think it necessary or proper for us to do so. Since
your majesty is pleased to say that you think us
guiltless, we despise what all the world besides
shall say. Let others distrust as they will, we
regard it not ; we rely on the testimony of our
own conscience and on your favourable opinion."
The king was not satisfied with this raanner of
declining his request, and repeated it with some
impatience. Sancroft here ventured to remind
the king how severely the bishops had been re
cently treated for meddling in affairs of state ; that
for presenting a petition of the most innocent mat
ter, and in the most respectful raanner, they had
been subjected to a violent persecution ; that even

XVI.

358 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, after their acquittal by a jury, they were exhibited
- by the judges in their circuits as seditious libel
lers*; and that, not contented with maUgning in
dividuals, they had presumed to revile the whole
church of England as a cruel and bloody church.
Stung by so just a reproof, the king tauntingly
said ; " I believe that sorae of the lords temporal
have been with you, and made you change your
minds." The bishops protested that it had not
been so, and they further said ; " The lords tem
poral are equally concerned in the accusation with
ourselves; we pray therefore that they raay be
caUed together and joined with us in consulting
about the protestation which is required of us
alone." The king persisting, the bishops con
tinued : " We beseech your majesty that we raay
not be divided frora the temporal peers, that at
least a select number may be appointed to consult
with us. The chief place for us to serve your
majesty effectually is in a parliament ; and when
you shall be pleased to call one, to compose the
distractions of these kingdoras, you will there find,
that as we have always shewn our personal affec
tions to your raajesty, so the true interest of the
church of England is inseparable from the true
interest of the crown." The final reply of the
bishops to the request of the king was this : " As
bishops, we assist your majesty by our prayers ;
as peers, we entreat permission to serve you in
conjunction with other peers, either by a speedy
* Baron R. attacked them in another manner, and endea
voured to expose them as ridiculous, alleging that they did
not write true English, and that they should be chastised by
Dr. Busby for false grammar.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 359
calling together the whole parliament, or by as- a.d.
sembling with us as raany teraporal peers as can  ^^^^'
be conveniently summoned." The wise advice
was not followed, and the bishops were dismissed
from the presence of the king, to see his " face
no more."
Disappointed in his confidence on the church,
and perceiving that his only reliance must be
placed on his array and his fleet, he used all iraa
ginable diligence to strengthen his railitary forces.
The railitia were ordered to be in readiness at the
shortest notice; and a proclaraation was issued,
commanding all horses and cattle to be removed
from the sea-coast. These orders were not exe
cuted ; for on the already meraorable day, which Nov. 5.
preceded the last interview between the king and
the bishops, the prince of Orange had landed with
out opposition on the coast of England.
The prince was a Calvinist, but he proraised
Burnet that he would never set up as the standard
of orthodoxy, " the Calvinistical notions of the de
crees of God." He was also unfriendly to some
of the ceremonies of the English church, such as
the surplice, the cross in baptism, and genuflexion
at the altar ; and for these, Burnet hiraself enter
tained no great affection. But when Williara, by
a strange combination of happy circumstances,
landed in safety on the western shores of Eng
land, he could not forbear to ask his theological
counsellor " whether he would not now believe
predestination." Burnet discreetly answered that
he would never forget the providence of God so
signally manifested on this occasion. The di
rection of the winds and seasons, which appeared

360 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, to change as the affairs of the prince required, in-
^^^' spired the prosaic mind of Burnet ; and, though
he did not address the prince in the lines of Clau-
dian, yet they were suggested to hiraself:
O nimium dilecte Deo, cui militat aether,
Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti.
The day on which he landed was thought auspi
cious ; it was already known in the annals "of
England, on account of a signal deliverance from
the machinations of popish conspirators ; it was
now to be also remembered as the era of deliver
ance from the thraldom of a popish king.
An array of about fourteen thousand men, con
sisting of foreigners, had escaped the vigilance of
the English fleet which was at sea with orders to
intercept and destroy it ; but so small a force, if
it had escaped this raode of exterraination, could
have been of no use, unless the expedition of the
prince had been approved by the great body of
the English nation. The place of his debarkation
was Torbay ; but he hastened to Exeter, the me
tropolis of the west. Than this city, none had
been more celebrated for its attachment to mo
narchy and to the church of England.
The western counties, dispirited by the dread
ful fate which had awaited the followers of Mon
mouth, were slow in joining or approving an en
terprise which promised a sirailar terraination.
The ecclesiastical, as well as the municipal author
ities of Exeter, testified fear, if not aversion. Its
bishop was Lamplugh, who, according to Wood,
had " sat in the see many years with due com
mendation." As soon as the prince had landed.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 361
he exhorted the gentry and clergy of his diocese a. d.
in a public address to adhere to their lawful so- ^^^^'
vereign. On the approach of the prince to the
city, he fled with all precipitation to London.
Timidity, and distrust of William's success, im
pelled hira to both those steps ; for he entertained
a strong disapprobation of the government of
Jaraes, and had cordially approved the conduct of
the petitioning bishops. James was abundantly
satisfied with his present adherence, though that
was accompanied by flight, and rewarded hira with
the so long vacant archbishopric of York.
The sudden departure of the bishop, and also
of the dean, encouraged Burnet to take possession
of the cathedral on the following Sunday. In a
long discourse he endeavoured to convince the
audience, that, in the whole progress of the un
dertaking, God had shewn hiraself to be on the
side of the prince, and had chosen to begin the
deliverance of England on the sarae day that it
had been forraerly devoted to ruin and destruction.
The discourse produced an irapression rather un-
proraising, and another expedient was tried on
the following day, by requiring all the canons and
choristers to assist at a soleran Te Deum for the
happy voyage and safe landing of the prince. But
neither had this expedient a happy effect, for the
canons refused to appear ; and although the cho
risters so far coraplied as to assist in the celebra
tion of the service, yet no sooner had Burnet
begun to read the declaration of the prince than
they all withdrew. Burnet, notwithstanding the
repulse, persevered ; and when he came to its

362 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, close, he exclaimed, " God save the prince of
-J^Ii_ Orange !" without any mention of the king.
While Burnet tried the temper of the church,
Ferguson, who was also in the train of the prince,
undertook a more hopeful office, that of bringing
over the dissenters. But he experienced a more
discouraging reception ; for Burnet obtained peace
able possession of the cathedral, but Ferguson was
under the necessity of entering a conventicle by
force *.
While the prince reraained at Exeter, the people
joined him in great numbers ; but knowing the
affection of the king's army to his expedition, he
did not train or even embody his followers. An
engagement to adhere to the prince was drawn
up by Burnet, containing a promise to pursue the
ends of the declaration, and to revenge any at
tempt on the prince's person. It was signed by
all who carae to hira ; and having gained this
point, he resolved to proceed, having placed the
city and the county of Devon under the govern
ment of Seiraour, the recorder of Exeter.
Leaving the prince on his raarch, it is tirae to
follow the motions of the unhappy king. When
the intelligence of William's successful enterprise
was received in London, the city was filled with
confusion. The populace asserabled in a tumul
tuous manner, demolished the raass-houses, and
burnt the raaterials in the streets. Petre, with
the swarras of priests and Jesuits which had ho
vered round the court, disappeared ; and those
* Ralph's Hist, of England.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 363
who had faltered in their attachraent to the pro- a. d.
testant cause, absconded.  L

At this crisis, it was still reported that the
king had resolved against calling a parliaraent ;
and as this resolution filled with concern those
who were anxious for an accoramodation, a
meeting of several spiritual and temporal lords
took place at the deanery-house in Westrain
ster. It consisted of the archbishop of Can
terbury and the new archbishop of York, the
bishops of St. Asaph, Ely, Rochester, Peterbo
rough, and Oxford, araong the spiritual lords. Of
the teraporal lords, there were the dukes of Nor
folk, Grafton, and Orraond, the marquis of Hali
fax, the earls of Oxford, Dorset, Anglesea, Not
tingham, Clare, Clarendon, Burlington and Ro
chester, the viscount Newport, and the barons
Chandos, Paget, Carberry, and Ossulston. It was
unanimously agreed to petition the king to call a
parliament ; but a clause being proposed that the
peers who had already joined the prince of Orange
might sit in it, the proposition was rejected by a
considerable raajority. The fate of this proposi
tion deterrained the duke of Norfolk, the raai-quis
of Halifax, the earis of Oxford and Nottinghara,
and baron Carberry, to secede.
The petition was presented on the day when
the king had prepared to go to Salisbury, and
thence to place hiraself at the head of his array.
Before he left the capital, he suramoned such of- Nov. 17.
ficers to attend hira as were about the court ; and
to shew, however late, his respect for the religious
opinions of his attendants, he took Chetwood, a
protestant clergyraan, in his train. Finding that

364 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, the popish priests had already taken possession of
^^^" the episcopal chapel at Salisbury, Chetwood had

the courage to apply for leave to reraove thera, or
to withdraw hiraself. The forraer alternative was
granted, the priests were reraoved, and the chapel
was resigned to the protestant. Though the king
was not an occasional conforraist, yet his officers
crowded the chapel, and treated the chaplain with
the raost respectful attention. This treatraent, it
must be supposed, was not an agreeable sight to
the king ; and in order to free himself from so
popular a man in a handsome manner, he trans
lated Trelawney to the vacant see of Exeter, and
nominated Chetwood to the bishopric of Bristol.
But this intention never took effect, for the sove
reignty of James approached its close *.
The stay which Jaraes made at Salisbury was
short. The royal army, which had advanced to
wards the prince, gradually joined his standard ;
first lord Cornbury and colonel Langston, and
secondly the duke of Grafton and lord Churchill,
were among the seceders. The spirit of the king
sunk, and he returned to London almost in de
spair.
Nov. 22. Meanwhile the prince was pursuing his march.
At Crewkerne, Finch, son of the earl of Winchel-
sea, and warden of All Souls' college in Oxford,
was sent by some influential merabers of the uni
versity to invite him thither. He had designed
to accept the invitation, but the perturbed state
of the metropolis demanded his immediate pre
sence. He therefore contented himself with re-
* Ralph's Hist, of England.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 365
turning his thanks, and with transraitting the a.d.
association* to the university by the hands of the_^^
acaderaical delegates.
In the midst of the ferment by which London
was agitated, an unknown person ventured to
publish a declaration in the name of the prince.
It was penned with great spirit, and produced a
correspondent sensation. It set forth the despe
rate designs of the papists, and the extreme dan
ger in which the nation was placed by their raa-
chinations. It required all good subjects to dis
possess such papists as were in eraployraent, to
secure all garrisons and fortified places, and to see
that the laws were duly executed. So universally
was the declaration believed to be genuine, that it
was carried to the lord mayor, with a requisition
to put it in execution.
The consternation of the king was now so great,
that he knew not what resolution to forra, or whora
to trust. He was forsaken by those who had raade
the warraest professions of fidelity, and as a con-
suraraation of his raisery, his daughter the prin
cess Anne withdrew herself frora the palace under
the protection of the bishop of London. She ac
companied that prelate to Nottingham, where a
small troop was embodied for her defence, of
which the bishop too readily accepted the cora
raand. " Good God ! even ray own children have
forsaken me !" was the agonizing exclaraation of
the unhappy Jaraes.
Driven to the utraost perplexity, and scarcely
* This was an agreement signed and entered into by many
persons in the west of England to support the cause of the
prince. See Burnet's Hist, of his Own Times.

366 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, able to distinguish between his friends and foes,
_i^X^ between those who were able and those who had
no power to assist him, he was inclined to place
his person in the hands of the injured bishops ot
the English church*. The bishops returned the
only answer to this request which they could pru
dently give : that they could not receive him either
privately or publicly, for in either case they would
be responsible for his safety ; they were not in a
situation to secure hira against the arabition of the
prince of Orange, who was resolved to accomplish
his designs, and who was surrounded with so raany
troops to support himf.
As his last resource, he sent for all the peers
who reraained of the protestants ; and they advised
hira to call a raeeting of the nobility with the
privy counsellors. The opinion of the meeting
was unanimous, that coraraissioners should be de
puted to treat with the prince. However repug
nant such a proposal might be to the feelings of
James, yet the desperate state of his affairs cora
pelled him to accede. The behaviour of the nobles
to their sovereign in the hour of his distress was
generous ; it was frank, but not rude. One ex
ception there was in the earl of Clarendon ; for
after having uttered the raost insolent and cutting
reflections, he deserted to the prince.
The marquis of Halifax, the earl of Notting
ham, and lord Godolphin, were the commissioners
on behalf of the king, and the renegado Claren
don, with the earls of Shrewsbury and Bristol,
* He mentioned the archbishop of Canterbury, or the bi
shop of Winchester. Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. iv.
t Ralph's History of England.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 367
were selected by the prince to conduct the neso- a. d.
• 4.- mr, •.¦ , 1G88.
ciations. i he propositions agreed on were to the 
following effect*: that a parUament should be
forthwith called ; that no person should continue
in any public eraployment who was legally dis
qualified ; that the fleet and all the fortified places
in the kingdom should be placed under the com
mand of protestants ; that a certain portion of the
revenue should be appropriated to the payment of
the troops of the prince ; that during the sitting
of parliament both armies should remain at the
distance of twenty miles frora London, but that
the prince might come there, attended by the same
number of guards as the king kept about his per
son. These propositions appeared so reasonable
to the commissioners for the king, that they trans
mitted them to London before their own return.
Though James waited to I'eceive the proposi
tions, and though he expressed his satisfaction at
the conditions of the proposed settlement, as being
more favourable than he could have expected ; yet
a previous determination had been formed to frus
trate any negociation by a flight. The queen and
her infant were sent away to France, and James
having waited for the answer of the coraraission
ers, resolved to follow. Accorapanied by sir Ed
ward Hales, and in the disguise of a servant, he
went on board a fishing boat, and sailed down the Dec. ii.
Tharaes, having ordered the writs for the new
parliaraent to be burned before his departure, and
having thrown the great seal into the river dur
ing his voyage. He proceeded as far as Fever-
* The place of treaty was Hungerford in Berkshire.

368 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, sham, when he was seized by an officer of the re-
-J^ZZl_ venue*, ignorant of his rank, though acquainted
with the person and the religion of his companion.
That after so pusillanimous a desertion of his
people, he could be persuaded to return with a
degree of alacrity, is not a greater instance of
inconstancy, than the compassionate satisfaction
with which his people greeted his return. When
it was discovered that he had departed, the lord
mayor had called a meeting of the peers and privy
counsellors, which araong others was attended by
the archbishop of Canterbury. It was there agreed
to send an invitation to the prince, desiring hira
to take the governraent into his own hands, till a
parliaraent had completed a final settlement of the
nation. The invitation was sent by the earl of
Pembroke, viscount Weymouth, the bishop of Ely,
and lord Culpepper.
When the prince was inforraed of the king's
desertion, some of his friends urged a speedy ad
vance to London, but the proposal was overruled.
When he had reached Windsor, he was surprised
by the intelligence of the king's capture, and of
his return to his palace. He came back, not as a
fugitive, nor as a prisoner, but accompanied by the
earl of Feversham, the commander of his army.
Reinstated in his palace, surrounded by his guards,
and flattered by his priests, he began to assume
Dec. 16. courage. But a council which he caUed on the
evening of his return was attended only by the
* The name of the custom-house officer was Hunt. He
died at Feversham so long after this event as July 24, 1752.
Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1752, p. 337.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 369
earls of Berkeley and Craven*; and sober reflec- a. d.
tion, if not wise counsel, convinced him that he_i^
must agree on some terms, and that if he conti
nued to govern, he must govern under limitations
to his authority. The earl of Feversham was
therefore sent to Windsor, desiring the prince to
corae to the palace at St. Jaraes's, and to consult
on the final settlement of the nation.
Such a message from the king, after an invita
tion from the privy council to take on hiraself the
government of the kingdom, could not be accept
able to the prince. It tended to disarrange his
plans, and new counsels were necessary. The
general opinion of the nobility who had repaired
to Windsor was against the longer residence of
the king at Whitehall. Neither the prince, nor
the metropolis, nor the king himself could be safe,
if the two courts continued so near each other. It
was thought expedient to insist on the desertion
of the king, and on the consequent invitation of
the privy council, as sufficient grounds for a de
parture from the treaty agreed on by the corarais
sioners, and the earl of Fevershara, having brought
a message without a passport, was put under ar
rest. Widely different were the opinions on the pro
per way of disposing of the person of the king. It
was proposed by sorae, that he should be kept a
prisoner, at least till the governraent was settled ;
it was suggested by others, that he should not be
kept in confineraent within his own kingdora,
but that he should be sent to Breda. The prince
* Ralph's History of England.
VOL. III. B b

370 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, declined to adopt either of these counsels. He
 '- — could not consent to treat the father of his wife

with personal disrespect, and he knew that any
harsh measures towards him would turn the tide
of popularity in favour of a sovereign in distress.
Yet the propriety of removing the king from the
capital was evident, and that he should be attended
by a guard, not for the purpose of restraint, but of
protection. It was at last agreed that the marquis of Hali
fax, with the earls of Delaraere and Shrewsbury,
should in the first place order the English guards
to be drawn off frora the precincts of the court,
and that the Dutch guards under the coraraand of
the count of Solras should take possession of the
posts which the English guards had vacated. This
order was obeyed without resistance, but not with
out dissatisfaction, and the arrangement was not
corapleted till midnight. A message frora the three
peers was then delivered to the king by the earl
of Middleton after he had retired to rest, stating
that the urgency of public affairs required his
iraraediate departure. They mentioned a palace
at Ham as a desirable place for his retreat ; but
the king having named Rochester, the proposal
Dec. 18. was cheerfully accepted. On the following raorn-
ing he left his palace and his capital for ever.
A guard attended hira which left hira at full li
berty, and treated hira with due respect. He con
tinued at Rochester a week, and those who were
interested for his welfare exhorted him to remain.
But his own inclinations prevailed over the impor
tunities of his real friends ; and he took the step
which the prince had anticipated. He gave secret

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 371
orders that a vessel should be prepared, in which a.d.
he embarked for France : on his table he left a  -

paper, declaring, that though he was about to avail
himself of foreign aid, to restore hira to his throne,
yet he would not use it to overthrow either the
religion or the laws of his country. Dec. 23.

B b 2

372 HISTORY OF THE

CHAPTER XVII.
Convention of former Members of Parliament. — Scotland de
clares in Favour of the Prince. — Vote of Thanks to the
Clergy from the House of Commons. — Throne declared
vacant. — Crown offered by both Houses of Parhament to
WiUiam and Mary.— -Bill of Rights.— Acts of Comprehen
sion and Toleration.
CHAP. On the sarae day on which James left the me-
^^^^- tropolis, the prince entered it. There was nothing
Dec. 18. imposing in the spectacle; enthusiasra was checked
by the inclemency of the weather, and by the re
pulsive manners of William. The transactions of
the preceding night were not calculated to conci
liate the people of England. To awaken the king
out of sleep, and to command him to quit his own
palace, when he had agreed on terras of submission,
were acts indicative of the ambitious views of him
whom they had fancied their deliverer. Even the
Dutch guards, however orderly their deportment,
were offensive to the feelings of the English, for
they implied a conquest rather than a deliverance.
All the authorities, ecclesiastical and civil, soon
carae to welcorae the prince, and were generally
received with courtesy, though not with cordiality.
Dec. 21. On the day after his arrival sorae of the bishops
waited on hira, but the archbishop of Canterbury
came not. The clergy of London followed, and
the bishop of London appeared at the head of a
number of dissenting ministers, whom he intro-

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 373
duced as men equally zealous with the clergy of a. d.
the established church in their opposition to po-_J^f^
pery. They joined in their congratulation on the
success of the late enterprise.
After the complimentary addresses had been of
fered, the next step was to consult on the settle
ment of the government. Little did those know
of the prince of Orange, who had iraagined that
he undertook his enterprise with any other view
than to possess hiraself of the throne of England.
Some lawyers suggested, that, after the example of
Henry the Seventh, he should at once declare him
self king ; but so decisive a step would have been
directly opposite to the tenor of his own declara
tion. The settlement of the nation had been there
distinctly referred to a free parliaraent. It would
have been a manifest violation of his word, if, in
stead of attending the deliberations of a parUament,
he had prematurely seized the crown.
These reasons weighed with the prince, and he
published an order* desiring all comraoners who Dec. 21.
had served in any order of the last three parlia
ments, all the peers, and also the lord mayor and
aldermen of London, with fifty of the common
council, to meet him at St. James's palace. This
assembly desired alraost unanimously that the
prince would take on hiraself the present adrainis
tration of the government, but they not so unani
mously agreed to a second proposition, that he
should send missive letters instead of the custom
ary writs for caUing a parliament. The earl of
Nottingham objected, that such a convention of
the estates of parliaraent could not be legal unless
* Gazette, No. 2414.

374 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, they were summoned by the king's writ. His ob-
 Ejection was but feebly supported by the rest of
the assembly, before it was known that the king
had a second time left his kingdom ; but as soon
as this circurastance was known, even Nottingham
hiraself rejoiced that his raotion was not carried.
The necessary letters were iraraediately issued to
the sheriffs of the different counties.
Before the convention could possibly assemble,
it was thought expedient to settle the English
army and the affairs of Ireland. Those regiraents
which consisted of papists were disbanded, and a
loan was raised by the voluntary contributions of
the friends of the prince, both for paying the dis
banded troops and the Dutch and English forces.
The affairs of Ireland were in too disturbed a
state to permit a speedy adjustment or present at
tention, and, as no tirae could be devoted to their
settlement, a hasty treaty was entered into with
Tyrconnel. Scotland, as soon as the news of the king's de
sertion was received, declared in favour of the
prince. The bishops had willingly signed an ab
horrence of his enterprise, but their sentiments were
not accordant with the great part of the Scottish
nation. They hated popery, and even episcopacy,
raore than they loved the faraily of the Stuarts.
When the prince came to London, the duke of Ha
railton called a meeting of the Scottish nobility
and quality then in the English raetropolis, and
there offered an address to the prince alraost in the
same terras in which the EngUsh address was
conceived. Whatever predilections the prince raight have

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 375
entertained in favour of the presbyterian worship a. d.
and discipline, yet on his arrival in England he  '¦ —
practised conformity to its church. He attended
the chapel in the palace on the Sunday after Dec. 30.
Christmas-day, when Burnet read the service, the
bishop of St. Asaph preached, and the sacrament
was administered by the bishop of London. The 1689.
dissenters were received kindly, and promised pro
tection, but not the removal of the present laws.
The meeting of the convention approached, and
the different parties were engaged in forming their
schemes and strengthening their interest. The
elections, it is truly said, were not controlled or
influenced by the prince ; he kept himself in a
state of retirement and reserve, and lived like a
stranger and a visitor. Three parties seeraed to
have been forraed : the first was in favour of re
calling James, and treating with hira for such se
curities as raight place their reUgion and laws be
yond the invasion of an arbitrary sovereign ; the
second was in favour of a regency to be vested in
the prince of Orange, since Jaraes by his bad ad
rainistration had rendered hiraself unfit to be en
trusted with regal power ; the third was for depos
ing Jaraes, and placing the prince of Orange on
the throne. But the party which at first declared
for restoring Jaraes, finding its weakness, joined
the party which was in favour of a regency. Such
is the representation of a whig*; a tory f has de
scribed the state of parties with little variation,
but with more nicety. He specifies in the house
* Burnet, Hist, of his Own Times, vol. ii. book 4.
t Sheffield, duke of Buckingham, in a fragment, being an
account of the Revolution. Works, vol. ii.

3/6 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, of lords three parties : that of the high church in-
 !_ clined to the two princesses ; those we now call

whigs, assured of good employments under the
prince ; and a third, very much the smallest,
inclined to the unfortunate king, some out of con
science, but more out of despair of favour from
the prince.
Jan. 22. Whcu the conveutiou opened, the business of
settling the governraent coraraenced in the house
of commons, and with little opposition they sent
up to the lords the following vote : " That the
king, by having broken the original contract, and
by having withdrawn himself out of the kingdom,
had abdicated the government, and so the throne
was become vacant."
Little else of moment in ecclesiastical history
occurs in the separate deliberations of the com
mons, unless it be a unanimous vote of thanks to
the clergy of the church of England, who had
preached and written against popery ; and had
refused to read in their churches the king's de
claration for toleration, in opposition to the pre
tended dispensing power ; and had also withstood
the illegal ecclesiastical comraission*.
The reply f to this vote from the two archbi
shops was cautious, and they did not commit
themselves by it to any course of proceeding in
* Ordered, That Mr. Leveson Gower and Mr. auditor Done
do attend the two archbishops with the said resolve, to the
end their graces may communicate the same to the clergy of
their respective provinces. Paul Joddrel. O. D. E. Dies Ven.
imo. die Feb"i 1688-9.
t Ralph, in his History, erroneously says that Sancroft made
no reply.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 377
the pending deliberations. A verbal answer of a. d.
thanks was given to the two merabers of the com

mons who waited on the two primates with the
vote, and on the following day a written answer Feb. 2.
was coraraunicated. They gave their assurances
as far as their observation could reach, that the
bishops and clergy of England were uninoveably
fixed^ in the protestant religion, and absolutely ir
reconcilable to both popery and arbitrary power.
They hurably recoraraended to the house of cora
mons the care of suppressing in the raost effectual
manner all popish doctrines and practices ; in
which recommendation they had the hearty con
currence of all the clergy.
The attendance in the house of lords was ex
treraely full, and the marquis of Halifax was chosen
its speaker. Sixteen bishops appeared on the
first day*, but the archbishop of Canterbury was
not among the nuraber. His absence has been
justly censured, for a decisive part was reasonably
expected from him ; but he had relapsed into his
constitutional inactivity.
On each clause of the vote of the comraons there
were long debates in the house of lords, and seve
ral conferences between the two houses. The first
clause gave rise to an abstract question, " Whether
there was an original contract between a king
and his people,- and whether there was such a con
tract between the king and people of England?" It
was denied by sorae that there was any such thing
* " Przesentes : Arch. Ebor., Episc. London, Winton, Ely,
Llandafph, Lyncolne, St. Asaph, Gloster, Rochester, Bath and
Wells, Norwich, Peterborough, Bristol, Chichester, St.David's,
Oxon." Journals of the lords.

378 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, as an original contract, and inquired where it
J^I!!_ could be found? To this question it was an
swered, that a contract was iraplied in a legal
governraent, though it might not be express or
patent. Many traces existed of a contract be
tween the kings and the people of England. By
this contract, the kings were bound to defend their
people, and to govern them according to law ; and
in return, the people were bound to obey and serve
the king. The proof of a contract appeared in all
the forms of a coronation which were still observed.
The consent of the people was asked and given be
fore the commenceraent of the soleranity, and it
was accorapanied by an oath on the part of the
king, that he would govern with justice, and ac
cording to the institutions of the realm. It was
true that a coronation was now considered rather
as a solemn installation, than an act from which
the king derived his authority, yet these forms
pointed out in the clearest raanner the origin and
the nature of kingly power. Many instances were
brought in support of this theory frora the British
and Saxon annals. It was urged that William
the Conqueror was acknowledged on his giving a
promise to keep the laws of Edward the Confessor.
Edward the Second and Richard the Second were
deposed for breaking these laws ; and these deposi
tions were never reversed, nor was the right of de
position ever I'enounced.
Whatever difference of opinion there might be
on the question of the original contract, there was
not much on the question, whether it had been
violated by James. He had subverted the whole
constitution : he had entered into an open treaty

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 379
with the court of Rorae : he had shaken the whole a.d.
settlement of Ireland, for he had reduced that-^^
island, and all the protestants in it, to a complete
subjugation under the papists : he had assuraed a
dispensing power, which not only took away the
force of those laws to which he applied it, but by
the precedent which it set, and the consequences
which followed, involved all laws whatsoever. By
establishing an illegal court of ecclesiastical com
mission, he had invaded the liberties of the church,
and subjected the clergy to his own arbitrary
power: and to complete his misgovernraent, he
had left his people, and solicited the aid of a fo
reign power to restore him, rather than reraain,
and await the deterraination of a free parliaraent.
But though it was undeniable that James had
withdrawn himself frora the kingdom, yet it was
doubted whether this amounted to an abdication.
An abdication is a forraal and voluntary resigna
tion, but James, so far frora relinquishing his
right, had declared his determination of maintain
ing it by force of arms. The substitution of the
word deserted by the lords was therefore a pro
per correction, and not a hypercritical cavil.
Whether the crown was vacant, was fiercely
contested ; and in a conference between the two
houses on this point. Sprat, bishop of Rochester,
spoke manfully in support of his old master.
But if the point was carried that the crown
was vacant, or at least that there was not an
actual king, the grand question arose how the
vacancy or the defect was to be supplied. Agaiust
the doctrine that the throne was vacant, it was
urged, that the king never dies, but that with the

380 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, last breath of a dying king the regal authority
3^^^' passes to the next heir. In the oath of allegiance,
the oath is not made to the king personally only,
but to his heirs and successors.
At last it having been determined that the
crown was vacant, how was the vacancy to be
supplied ? This must be done either by a regency
or by appointing a new king. The arguments in
favour of a regency were, that it would secure the
honour of the church of England and the sacred
ness of the crown. It was said, that if a nation,
even for a just cause, raight depose its king, pre
texts would never be wanting. The title to the
crown must become precarious, and the people
would be the judges of their sovereign. This
raust end in an elective monarchy, or in a repub
lic. Both the history and also the laws of Eng
land might be adduced to shew that the person
and the authority of a king were sacred. In the
case of the nonage or the incapacity of a sove
reign, the law had provided the remedy of a re
gency, and therefore if a prince were guilty of
such misconduct as to render hira unfit to hold
the reins of governraent, the two houses of par
liaraent raight, by parity of reason, adopt the same
expedient. It was not denied that there were
some weighty objections against a regency, but
it was impossible to propose any remedy which
would not be liable to some objections. But the
expedient would satisfy the larger and the raost
valuable part of the nation. Other expedients
would gratify only the dissenters and infidels, who
expected to see a subversion of the ecclesiastical
establishraent and of the monarchy. The earls

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 381
of Clarendon, Rochester, and Nottingham, led the a. d.
party which favoured the regency, in which they_J:!^
were joined by all the episcopal bench, except
Compton and Trelawney.
On the other side, the marquis of Halifax was
the leader. This party argued, that the proposi
tion of a regent was more derogatory frora the
rights and dignity of monarchy than the proposi
tion of a new king. It was in effect to set up
two kings, or rather to divide the kingship ; for
the title was to continue in one, while the author
ity was to be vested in another. Not all the per
sons who espoused either of these two grand par
ties were actuated by the same motives, for sorae
of the advocates for a regency had a secret wish
of restoring Jaraes under this disguise. The
hopes of the excluded king would have been en
couraged, and he would have seized the first op
portunity of reinstating hiraself in the authority
of which he had been deprived. A triumphant
and unconditional restoration would in a short
time have been the result. Some who voted in
favour of a new king found a favourable oppor
tunity of weakening hereditary right, and the
power of the crown.
The two parties, when they had occasion to di
vide, came nearly to an equality. The question,
whether there was an original contract between
the king and his people, was carried in the affirra-
ative only by six*; and the question, whether to
fill the throne by a regent or by a new king, was
carried in favour of the latter only by twof.
* 53. 47. t 51. 49.

382 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. These preliminaries having been adjusted, it
 !_ remained to dispose of the question, who should
fill the vacant throne. It was barely suggested
that an inquiry should be made into the legiti
macy of the infant son of James, but the motion
was rejected with indignation. The marquis of
Halifax had been slow in espousing the interests
of the prince of Orange, but he now endeavoured
to atone for his past tardiness. He therefore
moved, that the crown should be given to the
prince, and should be settled on the two prin
cesses, the daughters of Jaraes, after him. No
one seconded this motion but lord Culpepper, a
vicious and corrupt man ; but a considerable num
ber entertained and supported a counter proposi
tion, that the princess of Orange might be placed
upon the throne, and that it might be left to her
to confer such a portion of power and dignity
on the prince as she might approve in her discre
tion. While these questions were agitated, the prince
remained at the palace of St. James, in his
usual state of seclusion and reserve, and access
to him was not easy. But at length he broke
through his reserve, and disclosed his wishes. He
said, that he had corae over, being invited, and
that he had come to save the nation. He had
been hitherto silent, having first brought together
a free representative assembly. He had resolved
not to say or do any thing which might prevent
freedom of deliberation and debate, neither to
court nor to intiraidate any one. He had de
clined to communicate his thoughts ; but the time
was now come when a necessity of preserving

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 383
silence no longer continued. He now distinctly a.d.
explained himself to the marquis of Halifax and -^^
to the earls of Nottingham and Danby. If the
convention carae to a resolution that the govern
ment should be placed in the hands of a regent,
he could say nothing against such a determina
tion; but he thought it proper to say that he
would not be the regent. So that they raust look
out for some other person to fill the office. Others
he found were for placing the princess of Orange
on the throne, and for permitting him to reign by
her courtesy. No man could entertain a higher
opinion of the princess than he had reason to do ;
but he protested against being raade the gentle
man usher of his own wife. He did not think it
reasonable that he should be called on to take any
share in the administration of public affairs, un
less the crown was vested in himself, and that
during the term of his natural life. Many cogent
arguments he used, but he resorted to one which
was rather extraordinary ; he gravely endeavoured
to persuade his friends, that he would leave them
to settle the governraent without hira, and that
he would return to Holland with his array. For
a long time he opposed the proposition that the
princess should be joined with him in the sove
reignty. But he soon found that by insisting on
this he would disgust his best friends, and frus
trate his own views.
The proposition which at length was carried,
was for a conjunctive sovereignty to be vested in
the prince and princess of Orange, and that, after
the death of both without any issue by the
princess, the crown should descend to the princess

384 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. Anne. The disclosure of the prince's intentions
^^" contributed not a little to bring the differences of
the convention to a termination. But some points
of form, though not of substance, were still to be
arranged. It was at first contemplated by the
republican party, that James should be deposed by
a forraal sentence, and, in consequence of this depo
sition, the crown should be bestowed on the prince
and princess of Orange as the gift of the people.
But this proposition was overruled, and another
plan adopted, congenial to a limited monarchy.
The princess of Orange had been detained in
Holland either by the severity of the winter, or
by the manoeuvres of the prince, and she did not
arrive in England till the convention had cora
pleted the settleraent of the kingdora. It had
been reported that she was dissatisfied with the
settlement ; but this suspicion was removed by the
manner in which she received the congratulations
of the people. Had she appeared before this
crisis, her captivating manners would have in
fluenced the proceedings of the convention in her
favour ; for, although the sovereignty was con
junctive, the sole administration of the govern
ment rested in the prince.
Two preliminaries were settled by the conven
tion, which were ratified when the convention was
turned into a parliament ; the one, concerning the
oaths which were to be taken by the sovereigns of
England at their coronation ; the other, concern
ing the oaths of allegiance which the subjects
were to take to their sovereigns. According to
the amended forra of the coronation oath*, the
* St. 1 WiUiam and Mary, cap. 6,

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 385
sovereign promised on the Gospels to govern ac- a. d.
cording to law; to execute justice with mercy ;_1^
and to maintain the laws of God, the true profes
sion of the Gospel, and protestant reformed reli
gion established by law ; and, in order to the last,
to preserve to the bishops and clergy of the realm,
and to the churches coraraitted to their charge, all
such rights and privileges as by law appertain to
thera. The oaths of the subject were also araend-
ed ; for, instead of the oaths of allegiance and
supremacy, recognising the hereditary right of
the monarch, a general promise of fidelity and
allegiance to the king was substituted*.
All the prelirainary arrangements being com
pleted, the two houses soleranly offered the crown Feb. is.
of England and the royal dignity to the prince
and princess of Orange, under the title of Wil
liam and Mary. But, at the sarae tirae, the
lords and coraraons, lawfully, freely, and fully re
presenting all the estates of England, presented to
their sovereigns the Bill of Rights. This was
a new Magna Charta, or a solemn reestablish
ment of the liberties of the English people, and of
the ancient laws and statutes of England. This
was also ratified by parliaraent f, but here is
the place for unfolding its principles and pro
visions. It was necessary that a Declaration of Rights
should be preceded by a recapitulation of griev
ances ; and the biU enumerates the late infringe
ments on the constitution. The end which the
late king James the Second, by the advice of evil
* Stat. 1 Wilham and Mary, c. 8.
t Stat. I Wilham and Mary, 2 sess. c. 2.
VOL. III. C C

386 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, counsellors designed, was the extirpation of the
 1- protestant religion, and of the laAvs and liberties
of the kingdom. The raeans by which he pur
sued this end were, by the assuraption of a dis
pensing power over the laws ; by the iraprison-
ment of prelates for exercising the right of peti
tion ; the erection of an illegal court of ecclesias
tical coraraission ; levying money under pretence
of prerogative; the maintenance of a standing
army in tirae of peace; disarraing protestants
and illegally arming papists ; by violating the
freedom of elections ; prosecutions in the court of
king's bench for matters and causes cognizable
only in parliament ; by obtaining corrupt and un
qualified persons to serve on juries ; requiring ex
cessive bail in criminal cases ; iraposing excessive
fines and cruel punishraents ; and by granting
fines and forfeitures before any conviction or
judgraent against the persons on whom they were
levied. These grievances were declared to be contrary
to the known laws, and statutes, and freedora of
the realm; wherefore the lords spiritual and tem
poral, asserabled in a full and free representation
of the nation, did in this case, according to the
practice of their ancestors, vindicate and assert
their ancient rights and Uberties. For this pur
pose, they declared, 1. That the pretended power
of suspending laws is illegal. 2. As is the dispens
ing with laws. 3. That the court of ecclesiastical
comraission is illegal. 4. The sarae as to levying
money without the consent of pariiament. 5. That
it is the right of the subject to petition the king.
6. That to keep a standing army in the time of

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 387
peace, without the consent of parliament, is illegal. a.d.
7. That protestant subjects raay have arras for_!f^
their defence suitable to their condition. 8. That
the election of raerabers of parliament ought to be
free. 9. That freedom of speech, and debates or
proceedings in parliament, ought not be impeached
or questioned in any court out of parUament.
10. That excessive bail ought not to be required.
11. That jurors ought to be duly impanelled,
and returned. 12. That all grants and promises
of fines or forfeitures before conviction are illegal.
And, 13. That for redress of all grievances, and
for amending, strengthening, and preserving the
laws, parliaments ought to be held frequently.
These were the conditions on which the crown
was accepted by Williara and Mary ; and the
next step was to turn the convention into a par
liaraent, according to the precedent set at the
restoration. This was opposed by the tories, who
moved that the convention should be dissolved,
and a new parUament suramoned ; but the ur
gency of affairs in Ireland rendered delay hazard
ous. The whigs therefore in this instance pre
vailed, and a bill passed for the purpose; a' day
was fixed for the call of both houses, and for re
quiring the raerabers to take the oaths.
Eight bishops, sorae of whora had taken part
in the proceedings of the convention, Sancroft,
archbishop of Canterbury, Turner of Ely, Lake
of Chichester, Kenn of Bath and Wells, White of
Peterborough, Thoraas of Worcester, Lloyd of
Norwich, and Frampton of Gloucester, refused
the oaths. Crewe of Durham had for sorae months
absconded, but he appeared in his place, ^o concur
c c 2

388 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, in the new settleraent and to take the oaths. Bar-
^'^"- low and Sprat, who had temporized throughout
their whole lives, temporized now; but Cartwright,
who had gone too far with Jaraes to recede, fol
lowed him in his abdication.
The seceding bishops, in order that their last
act raight be an act of conciliation, before they
withdrew, moved that two bills might be brought
in, one of toleration and the other of compre
hension. The views of WilUam with regard to
the church were evinced by the first promotion
which he made in it. Not raany days after his
acceptance of the crown, he conferred on Burnet
the bishopric of Salisbury, and this prelate imme
diately coraraenced in the house of lords his poli
tical career.
In consequence of the refusal to take the oaths
by so raany bishops, a bill was brought into par
liament, requiring all persons to take them within
a prescribed tirae under severe penalties. The
clergy who refused or neglected to take them
were to incur the punishment of suspension for
six months, and if at the expiration of that period
they persisted in their refusal, deprivation of their
benefices was to follow. This bill was promoted
with great eagerness by those who were hostile to
the church and to the new settlement, for it was
supposed that a large proportion of the clergy
would refuse to take the oaths. In the house of
lords it was proposed, that, instead of a clause
absolutely requiring the oaths to be taken, the
king should have a discretionary power of tender
ing them, and then the refusal might be punished
by deprivation. It was said that the clergy

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 389
soleranly owned their allegiance in the sight of a.d.
God, and in the face of the people, and that no ^^"^'
oaths could bind more solemnly than these re
ligious engagements. It was also said, that in the
many changes of government which had taken
place, oaths had not proved so effectual a security
as was imagined. On the other hand it was said
that no man ought to hold an office who would
not give a security to governraent for his alle
giance, especially as the oath was now expressed
in such general terras. The expedient proposed
of leaving to the king a discretionary power of
enforcing the oaths was an invidious discretion.
Burnet says of himself that he supported the
clause leaving a discretionary power to the king,
but it was rejected. The day prescribed was at
the distance of sorae raonths, that the clergy might
have time to satisfy their conscientious scruples.
The views and intentions of the king on this
point were clearly explained in his speech to par
liaraent on coraing to give the royal assent to
sorae bills. " I hope you are sensible there is a
necessity of sorae law to settle the oaths to be
taken by all persons to be adraitted to such
places. I recoraraend it to your care to make a
speedy provision for it ; and as I doubt not that
you will sufficiently provide against all papists, so
I hope you will leave room for the adraission of
all protestants who are able and willing to serve.
This conjunction in my service will tend to the
better uniting you among yourselves, and the
strengthening you against your coraraon eneraies."
From this speech it appears that the king was
disposed to take off the tests from the protestant

390 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, dissenters, but not in the manner which a small
..  L. party in the house of comraons intended. A com
promise was attempted, excusing the clergy from
taking the oaths, on condition that the dissenters
might be excused from receiving the sacrament
according to the forras of the church of England.
If the king really intended this, which is far from
clear, he gave some reason for the opinion enter
tained of him that he was hostile to the church.
Accordingly, when a bill of coraprehension was
brought into the house of lords, this clause was
proposed, but it was rejected by a considerable
majority. It was supported by Burnet, but it
was opposed by the other bishops. A protest
was entered by some of the dissentient peers *, on
the ground that the obligation to receive the
sacrament is a test against papists rather than
nonconformists, and that a stronger security ought
not to be demanded frora such as were adraitted
into civil or railitary offices than frora raerabers of
parliament. To qualify the test it was next pro
posed, that it should be sufficient to receive the
sacrament in any protestant congregation as well
as in a church ; but this proposition was rejected,
though it occasioned another protest f, because
the mysteries of religion are of divine original,
and of a nature so wholly distinct frora the secular
affairs of public society, that they cannot be ap
pUed to those ends ; and therefore the church, by
* The earls of Stamford and Chesterfield, lords Lovelace,
Delamere, North and Grey, Wharton and Vaughan. Collec
tion of Protests, pp. 62, 63.
t Lords Oxford, Lovelace, Wharton, Mordaunt, Mon
tague, and Paget. Collect, of Protests, pp. 64, 65.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 391
the law of the Gospel as well as common pru- a.d.
dence, ought to take care not to offend either _^!!!l
tender consciences within itself, or give offence to
those without, by mixing sacred mysteries with
secular interests.
A third proposition was made in a coraraittee
of the house of lords to dispense with kneeling at
the sacraraent, and with the cross at baptism.
That concerning kneeling occasioned a veheraent
debate, but when the question was put, the votes
were equal, and thus the clause was negatived.
When the bill of comprehension was sent down
to the house of comraons it was ordered to lie on
the table, but instead of proceeding in it they raade
an address to the king for suraraoning a convoca
tion accoi'ding to custora to attend on the session
of parliament. The commons thought that the
cross in baptisra and kneeling at the sacraraent
were questions foreign to their business, and that
they were matters of ecclesiastical cognizance.
The act of toleration * had an easy passage
through both houses, though it was proposed that
it should be only temporary, in order that there
might be some restraint on the dissenters, and
that by their peaceable demeanour they might de
serve its reenactraent, when the terra had expired.
But as there was a general inclination to pass the
bill, an inclination which might not continue, it
was resolved to make it not a teraporary but a
perpetual act. It repealed the most rigorous of
the penal laws enacted by Elizabeth and James
the First against protestant dissenters as well as
* Stat. I Wilham and Mary, c. 16.

392 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP, popish recusants; but it left untouched the act of
 '— uniforraity and the corporation and test acts. It
remitted the penalties of the law to all protestant
dissenters, provided they took the oaths of alle
giance and supreraacy, and subscribed the declara
tion against transubstantiation. There was a
provision in favour of the quakers, who were per
mitted to make a solemn declaration instead of
taking the oaths ; but there was an exception from
the benefit of the act of all who denied the doctrine
of the Trinity as set forth in the Articles of the
Church of England.
On this basis the superstructure of religious li
berty has been raised. It comprehends two bene
fits which cannot be separated, a national church
and a toleration. " An establishraent without
a toleration is unjust, a toleration without an esta
blishraent is unintelligible *." The law did not sa
tisfy the expectations of such as thought that
what religion and religious men wanted was equal
and irapartial religious liberty f, for then tolera
tion raust be erased from the vocabulary. But the
law satisfied humble Christians and unprejudiced
inquirers after truth. It restrained the civil ma
gistrate from persecution, and left to the church
its privileges. On such a basis toleration may be
* Balguy, Charge V.
t " Tolerantiam apud nos jam tandem lege stabilitam, te
ante hsec audiisse nullus dubito. Non ea forsan latitudine, qua
tu et tui similis veri, et sine ambitione vel invidia. Christiani
optarent. Sed aliquid esse prodire tenus. His initiis jactu
spero sunt libertatis et pacis fundamenta, quibus stabilienda
olim erat Christi ecclesia." Locke to Limborch, Works, vol.
iv. p. 406.

CHURCH OF E^L'iW.'^'^'^'^'P^'^y"
safely extended to its utHiDst Jijuits.- ^J|be civil a.d.
magistrate raay tolerate all- «Hdl**piiBdiisras^''i^re  -
tolerable, or all such as do not disturb the peace
of society.
The act of toleration raay be considered as an
act of grace attendant on the coronation of the
conjunctive sovereigns. This was perforraed with
due solemnity, and with general, though not un
mixed satisfaction. Sancroft declined to officiate,
and the ceremony was performed by Compton bi-Afrii ii.
shop of London, the archbishop of York being also
present. Burnet preached the serraon with raore
than usual animation, calling on his numerous au
ditory to join him in exclaiming, Long live
King William and Queen Mary !

THE END.

VOL. III. "" "^

3 9002 '

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