reordination, acquire all the privileges | and wine could be no memorials of reof a priest of the Established Church. demption or vehicles of grace if not He must, however, be admitted to his received on bended knee. Why, these new functions by the imposition of the persons asked, was the docile and affechands of a bishop, who was to pro- tionate son of the Church to be disnounce the following form of words: gusted by seeing the irreverent practices "Take thou authority to preach the of a conventicle introduced into her word of God, and administer the sa- majestic choirs? Why should his feelcraments, and to perform all other ings, his prejudices, if prejudices they ministerial offices in the Church of were, be less considered than the whims England." The person thus admitted of schismatics? If, as Burnet and men was to be capable of holding any rec-like Burnet were never weary of repeattory or vicarage in the kingdom.

ing, indulgence was due to a weak brother, was it less due to the brother whose weakness consisted in the excess of his love for an ancient, a decent, a beautiful ritual, associated in his ima gination from childhood with all that is most sublime and endearing, than to him whose morose and litigious mind was always devising frivolous objections to innocent and salutary usages? But,

Then followed clauses providing that a clergyman might, except in a few churches of peculiar dignity, wear the surplice or not as he thought fit, that the sign of the cross might be omitted in baptism, that children might be christened, if such were the wish of their parents, without godfathers or godmothers, and that persons who had a scruple about receiving the Eucharist | in truth, the scrupulosity of the Puritan kneeling might receive it sitting.

The concluding clause was drawn in the form of a petition. It was proposed that the two Houses should request the King and Queen to issue a commission empowering thirty divines of the Established Church to revise the liturgy, the canons, and the constitution of the ecclesiastical courts, and to recommend such alterations as might on inquiry appear to be desirable.

was not that sort of scrupulosity which the Apostle had commanded believers to respect. It sprang, not from morbid tenderness of conscience, but from censoriousness and spiritual pride; and none who had studied the New Testament could have failed to observe that, while we are charged carefully to avoid whatever may give scandal to the feeble, we are taught by divine precept and example to make no concession to the The bill went smoothly through the supercilious and uncharitable Pharisee. first stages. Compton, who, since San-Was every thing which was not of the croft had shut himself up at Lambeth, was virtually Primate, supported Nottingham with ardour.* In the committee, however, it appeared that there was a strong body of churchmen, who were as obstinately determined not to give up a single word or form as if they had thought that prayers were no prayers if read without the surplice, that a babe could be no Christian if not marked with the cross, that bread

* Among the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library is a very curious letter from Compton to Sancroft, about the Toleration Bill and the Comprehension Bill. "These," says Compton, "are two great works in which the being of our Church is concerned and I hope you will send to the House for copies. For though we are under a conquest, God has given us favour in the eyes of our rulers; and we may keep our Church if we will." Sancroft seems to have returned no answer,

essence of religion to be given up as soon as it became unpleasing to a knot of zealots whose heads had been turned by conceit and the love of novelty? Painted glass, music, holidays, fast days, were not of the essence of religion. Were the windows of King's College chapel to be broken at the demand of one set of fanatics? Was the organ of Exeter to be silenced to please another? Were all the village bells to be mute because Tribulation Wholesome and Deacon Ananias thought them profane? Was Christmas no longer to be a day of rejoicing? Was Passion week no longer to be a season of humiliation? These changes, it is true, were not yet proposed. But if, -so the High Churchmen reasoned, -we once admit that what is harmless

and edifying is to be given up because | relieved the clergy from the necessity it offends some narrow understandings of subscribing the Articles, and of deand some gloomy tempers, where are claring the doctrine contained in the we to stop? And is it not probable Homilies to be sound. Nay, the Declathat, by thus attempting to heal one ration, which, in the original draught, schism, we may cause another? All was substituted for the Articles, was those things which the Puritans regard much softened down on the report. As as the blemishes of the Church are by the clause finally stood, the ministers a large part of the population reckoned of the Church were required, not to among her attractions. May she not, profess that they approved of her docin ceasing to give scandal to a few sour trine, but merely to acknowledge, what precisians, cease also to influence the probably few Baptists, Quakers, or hearts of many who now delight in her Unitarians would deny, that her docordinances? Is it not to be appre-trine contained all things necessary to hended that, for every proselyte whom salvation. Had the bill become law, she allures from the meeting house, ten the only people in the kingdom who of her old disciples may turn away would have been under the necessity of from her maimed rights and dismantled signing the Articles would have been temples, and that these new separatists the dissenting preachers.* may either form themselves into a sect far more formidable than the sect which we are now seeking to conciliate, or may, in the violence of their disgust at a cold and ignoble worship, be tempted to join in the solemn and gorgeous idolatry of Rome?

The easy manner in which the zealous friends of the Church gave up her confession of faith presents a striking contrast to the spirit with which they struggled for her polity and her ritual. The clause which admitted Presbyterian Iministers to hold benefices without It is remarkable that those who held episcopal ordination was rejected. The this language were by no means dis- clause which permitted scrupulous perposed to contend for the doctrinal sons to communicate sitting very narArticles of the Church. The truth is rowly escaped the same fate. In the that, from the time of James the First, Committee it was struck out, and, on that great party which has been pecu- the report, was with great difficulty liarly zealous for the Anglican polity restored. The majority of peers in and the Anglican ritual has always the House was against the proposed leaned strongly towards Arminianism, indulgence, and the scale was but just and has therefore never been much turned by the proxies. attached to a confession of faith framed

But by this time it began to appear by reformers who, on questions of meta- that the bill which the High Churchphysical divinity, generally agreed with men were so keenly assailing was Calvin. One of the characteristic menaced by dangers from a very difmarks of that party is the disposition ferent quarter. The same considerawhich it has always shown to appeal, tions which had induced Nottingham on points of dogmatic theology, rather to support a comprehension made to the Liturgy, which was derived from comprehension an object of dread and Rome, than to the Articles and Homi- aversion to a large body of dissenters. lies, which were derived from Geneva. The truth is that the time for such a The Calvinistic members of the Church, scheme had gone by. If, a hundred on the other hand, have always main-years earlier, when the division in the tained that her deliberate judgment on such points is much more likely to be found in an Article or a Homily than in an ejaculation of penitence or a hymn of thanksgiving. It does not appear that, in the debates on the Comprehension Bill, a single High Churchman raised his voice against the clause which

Protestant body was recent, Elizabeth had been so wise as to abstain from requiring the observance of a few forms which a large part of her subjects con

* The distaste of the High Churchman for

the Articles is the subject of a curious pam

phlet published in 1689, and entitled a Dialogue between Timothy and Titus.

sidered as Popish, she might perhaps | than the Independent, and the Quaker have averted those fearful calamities even more irreclaimable than the which, forty years after her death, Baptist. Concessions, therefore, which afflicted the Church. But the general would once have extinguished noncontendency of schism is to widen. Had formity, would not now satisfy even Leo the Tenth, when the exactions one half of the nonconformists; and it and impostures of the Pardoners first was the obvious interest of every nonroused the indignation of Saxony, conformist whom no concession would corrected those evil practices with a satisfy that none of his brethren should vigorous hand, it is not improbable be satisfied. The more liberal the that Luther would have died in the terms of comprehension, the greater bosom of the Church of Rome. But was the alarm of every separatist who the opportunity was suffered to escape; knew that he could, in no case, be and, when, a few years later, the comprehended. There was but slender Vatican would gladly have purchased hope that the dissenters, unbroken peace by yielding the original subject and acting as one man, would be able of quarrel, the original subject of to obtain from the legislature full quarrel was almost forgotten. The admission to civil privileges; and all inquiring spirit which had been roused by a single abuse had discovered or imagined a thousand controversies engendered controversies: every attempt that was made to accommodate one dispute ended by producing another; and at length a General Council, which, during the earlier stages of the distemper, had been supposed to be an infallible remedy, made the case utterly hopeless. In this respect, as in many others, the history of Puritanism in England bears a close analogy to the history of Protestantism in Europe. The Parliament of 1689 could no more put an end to nonconformity by tolerating a garb or a posture than the Doctors of Trent could have reconciled the Teutonic nations to the Papacy by regulating the sale of indulgences. In the sixteenth century Quakerism was strengthened by a large reinforcement, unknown; and there was not in the whole realm a single congregation of Independents or Baptists. At the time of the Revolution, the Independents, Baptists, and Quakers were probably a majority of the dissenting body; and these sects could not be gained over on any terms which the lowest of Low Churchmen would have been willing to offer. The Independent held that a national Church, governed by any central authority whatever, Pope, Pa- Declaration of Indulgence had ap triarch, King, Bishop, or Synod, was an unscriptural institution, and that every congregation of believers was, under Christ, a sovereign society. The Baptist was even more irreclaimable

hope of obtaining such admission must be relinquished if Nottingham should, by the help of some wellmeaning but shortsighted friends of religious liberty, be enabled to accomplish his design. If his bill passed, there would doubtless be a considerable defection from the dissenting body; and every defection must be severely felt by a class already outnumbered, depressed, and struggling against powerful enemies. Every proselyte too must be reckoned twice over, as a loss to the party which was even now too weak, and as a gain to the party which was even now too strong. The Church was but too well able to hold her own against all the sects in the kingdom: and, if those sects were to be thinned by a large desertion, and the Church

it was plain that all chance of obtaining any relaxation of the Test Act would be at an end; and it was but too probable that the Toleration Act might not long remain unrepealed.

Even those Presbyterian ministers whose scruples the Comprehension Bill was especially intended to remove were by no means unanimous in wishing it to pass. The ablest and most eloquent preachers among them had, since the

peared, been very agreeably settled in the capital and in other large towns, and were now about to enjoy, under the sure guarantee of an Act of Parlia ment, that toleration which, under the

*

There was consequently a division in the Whig party. One section of that party was for relieving the dissenters from the Test Act, and giving up the Comprehension Bill. Another section was for pushing forward the Comprehension Bill, and postponing to a more convenient time the consideration of the Test Act. The effect of this division among the friends of religious liberty was that the High Churchmen, though a minority in the House of Commons and not a majority in the House of Lords, were able to oppose with success both the reforms which they dreaded. The Comprehension Bill was not passed; and the Test Act was not repealed.

Just at the moment when the question of the Test and the question of the Comprehension became complicated together in a manner which might well perplex an enlightened and honest politician, both questions became compli

Declaration of Indulgence, had been | Anglican Church, the authority and illicit and precarious. The situation dignity which he had hitherto enjoyed. of these men was such as the great He would always, by a large portion majority of the divines of the Es- of the members of that Church, be tablished Church might well envy. regarded as a deserter. He might Few indeed of the parochial clergy therefore, on the whole, very naturally were so abundantly supplied with wish to be left where he was. comforts as the favourite orator of a great assembly of nonconformists in the City. The voluntary contributions of his wealthy hearers, Aldermen and Deputies, West India merchants and Turkey merchants, Wardens of the Company of Fishmongers and Wardens of the Company of Goldsmiths, enabled him to become a landowner or a mortgagee. The best broadcloth from Blackwell Hall, and the best poultry from Leadenhall Market, were frequently left at his door. His influence over his flock was immense. Scarcely any member of a congregation of separatists entered into a partnership, married a daughter, put a son out as apprentice, or gave his vote at an election, without consulting his spiritual guide. On all political and literary questions the minister was the oracle of his own circle. It was popularly remarked, during many years, that an eminent dissenting minister had only to determine whether he would make his son an attorney or a physician; for that the attorney was sure to have clients and the physician to have patients. While a waiting woman was generally considered as a help meet for a chaplain in holy orders of the Established Church, the widows and daughters of opulent citizens were supposed to belong in a peculiar manner to nonconformist pastors. One of the great Presbyterian Rabbies, therefore, might well doubt whether, in a worldly view, he should be a gainer by a comprehension. He might indeed hold a rectory or a vicarage, when he could get one. But in the meantime he would be destitute: his meeting house would be closed: his congregation would be dispersed among the parish churches: if a benefice were bestowed on him, it would probably be a very slender compensation for the income which he had lost. Nor could he hope to have, as a minister of the

VOL. II.

of the Presbyterian divines of that time, that *Tom Brown says, in his scurrilous way, their preaching" brings in money, and money buys land; and land is an amusement they If it were not for the quarterly contributions, all desire, in spite of their hypocritical cant. there would be no longer schism or separation." He asks how it can be imagined that, while "they are maintained like gentlemen by the breach, they will ever preach up healing doctrines?"-Brown's Amusements, Serious and Comical. Some curious instances of the influence exercised by the chief dissenting ministers may be found in Hawkins's Life of Johnson. In the Journal of the retired citizen (Spectator, 317.) Addison has indulged in The Mr. Nisby whose opinions about the some exquisite pleasantry on this subject.

peace, the Grand Vizier, and laced coffee, are

quoted with so much respect, and who is so well regaled with marrow bones, ox cheek, Nesbit, a highly popular preacher, who, about and a bottle of Brooks and Hellier, was John the time of the Revolution, became pastor of dissenting congregation in Hare Court, AlAntiquities of Dissenting Churches and Meetdersgate Street. In Wilson's History and ing Houses in London, Westminster, and Southwark, will be found several instances of nonconformist preachers who, about this time,

a

made handsome fortunes, generally, it should

seem, by marriage.

τ

cated with a third question of grave importance.

The bill for settling the

allegiance and supre

The ancient oaths of allegiance and supremacy contained some expressions which had always oaths of been disliked by the Whigs, and other expressions which macy. Tories, honestly attached to the new settlement, thought inapplicable to princes who had not the hereditary right. The Convention had therefore, while the throne was still vacant, framed those oaths of allegiance and supremacy by which we still testify our loyalty to our Sovereign. By the Act which turned the Convention into a Parliament, the members of both Houses were required to take the new oaths. As to other persons in public trust, it was hard to say how the law stood. One form of words was enjoined by statutes, regularly passed, and not yet regularly abrogated. A different form was enjoined by the Declaration of Right, an instrument which was indeed revolutionary and irregular, but which might well be thought equal in authority to any statute. The practice was in as much confusion as the law. It was therefore felt to be necessary that the legislature should, without delay, pass an Act abolishing the old oaths, and determining when and by whom the new oaths should be taken.

powerful, a sacred profession to make, under the most solemn sanction of religion, a declaration which might be plausibly represented as a formal recantation of all that they had been writing and preaching during many years. The Primate and some of the most eminent Bishops had already absented themselves from Parliament, and would doubtless relinquish their palaces and revenues, rather than acknowledge the new Sovereigns. The example of these great prelates might perhaps be followed by a multitude of divines of humbler rank, by hundreds of canons, prebendaries, and fellows of colleges, by thousands of parish priests. To such an event no Tory, however clear his own conviction that he might lawfully swear allegiance to the King who was in possession, could look forward without the most painful emotions of compassion for the sufferers and of anxiety for the Church.

There were some persons who went so far as to deny that the Parliament was competent to pass a law requiring a Bishop to swear on pain of deprivation. No earthly power, they said, could break the tie which bound the successor of the apostles to his diocese. What God had joined no man could sunder. Kings and senates might scrawl words on parchment or impress figures on The bill which settled this important wax; but those words and figures could question originated in the Upper House. no more change the course of the spiriAs to most of the provisions there was tual than the course of the physical little room for dispute. It was unani- world. As the Author of the universe mously agreed that no person should, had appointed a certain order, accordat any future time, be admitted to any ing to which it was His pleasure to office, civil, military, ecclesiastical, or send winter and summer, seedtime and academical, without taking the oaths to harvest, so He had appointed a certain William and Mary. It was also unani- order, according to which He communimously agreed that every person who cated His grace to His Catholic Church; already held any civil or military office and the latter order was, like the former, should be ejected from it, unless he independent of the powers and princitook the oaths on or before the first of palities of the world. A legislature August 1689. But the strongest pas-might alter the names of the months, sions of both parties were excited by the question whether persons who already possessed ecclesiastical or academical offices should be required to swear fealty to the King and Queen on pain of deprivation. None could say what might be the effect of a law enjoining all the members of a great, a

might call June December, and December June; but, in spite of the legislature, the snow would fall when the sun was in Capricorn, and the flowers would bloom when he was in Cancer. And so the legislature might enact that Ferguson or Muggleton should live in the palace at Lambeth, should sit on the