CHAPTER IV.
In the laws respecting oaths at the period of the Revolution, certain changes took place, which from their religions aspect demand our notice.
The new Oath of Allegiance prescribed by the Declaration of Rights differed from the old Oaths of Allegiance imposed by statute law. To make this change perfectly constitutional, and to secure entire uniformity in the expression of loyal obedience, it was necessary to pass an Act abolishing ancient forms, and determining the circumstances under which a new one should be enforced. Leave having been granted in the House of Commons upon the 25th of February to bring in such a measure, upon the 16th of March the Solicitor-General reported amendments made in the Bill, and upon the 18th of the same month the Bill passed the House. Being sent up to the Lords, it was read by them a second time only, attention becoming absorbed by another Bill for the same purpose, originating in their own House, and on the 25th sent down to the Commons, by whom it was immediately read, and committed on the 28th. The Journals of the two Houses for the month of April abound in notices of debates, amendments, protests, reports, and conferences in reference to this question. Its religious bearings were twofold.
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
1689.
The Bill first provided that the new oaths should be taken by all persons holding office in the Church of England and the two Universities. No one could sit on the Prelates’ bench, or perform the duties of a Diocesan; no one could enjoy a benefice, or minister in a parish church; no one could be the head of a House, or possess a fellowship at Oxford or Cambridge, who did not “sincerely promise and swear to bear true allegiance to their Majesties King William and Queen Mary.” Looking at the baronial and legislative character of Bishops; at the dependence of many Ecclesiastical preferments on the Crown; at the national character of the Universities; and at the relation of the whole body of the Established Clergy to the Government, there appears the same reason for enacting a declaration of loyalty from them as from officers in the army and navy. To have excepted the Church from the obligations of the oath, would have been to make an invidious distinction between classes of the community bound by manifold political ties, and it would have been liable to the interpretation that the Government, conscious of weakness, felt afraid of the Clergy. Besides, if there be any binding form in oaths—if they afford any security at all for the stability of a throne, they certainly needed, in a pre-eminent degree at that time, to be enforced upon all Ecclesiastical persons, when so many of them were known to be disaffected to the reigning Sovereigns. The difficulty expressed by disaffected Clergymen in reference to the new oaths rested mainly on two grounds. Those of them who had already sworn allegiance to King James could not reconcile it with their consciences to put aside those vows, and to adopt opposite ones. In this respect, however, their case was no worse than that of civilians and military men, though no appeals for their relief were ever urged. An officer of the Customs, or the captain of a regiment, might very well feel the same scruples as troubled the Rector of a parish, or the Dean of a cathedral; and if exceptions of this sort were once begun, where were they to end? What could not at the time fail to be noticed, and now must strike every reader, is, that the men who showed so much sensitiveness with respect to their former oaths, were, many of them, the very same persons, and all of them belonged to the same class, as those who had treated with contempt or indifference like difficulties on the part of Presbyterians at the time of the Restoration. Yet what was required now cannot be made to appear so harsh as what had been required before. An Episcopalian Clergyman had only to promise allegiance to the persons who occupied the throne, without expressing any abstract opinion on the subject; whereas, a Presbyterian Clergyman had not only been required to swear allegiance to Charles II., which he was willing to do, but had been also required to swear that his previous oath was unlawful; and to declare, moreover, that the doctrine of resisting a despotic king is a position to be held in abhorrence. An express denunciation of former oaths had been required at the Restoration; only a practical relinquishment of former oaths was required at the Revolution. The law of 1662 had told the Presbyterian he must denounce the doctrine of resistance—the law of 1689 did not tell the Episcopalian he must denounce the doctrine of the Divine right of Kings. At the earlier era a political dogma had been imposed as a requisite for clerical office; at the later era no political dogma was imposed at all. Conscience is sacred; yet whilst I give credit to Clergymen who scrupled to swear allegiance to the new dynasty, I cannot discover the reasonableness of their scruples. If any of them did not hold the Divine right of Kings, it is hard to discern any plausible ground for refusing to transfer allegiance according to the terms of the new oath; if they did hold the Divine right of Kings—and therefore preferred a Regency to a change in the succession, as was the case with Sancroft—still it appears that they might, consistently with their abstract principle, have sworn to obey a de facto potentate. At any rate, their difficulties were less than the difficulties of their Nonconforming brethren seven-and-twenty years before. Then High Churchmen treated mountains as molehills,—now they magnified molehills into mountains.
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
The second source of clerical resistance is found in the sacredness of clerical character, and the indelibility of clerical orders. Adherence to the supposed rights of the King in exile rarely existed, except in the case of High Churchmen. A belief of the Divine rights of princes entwined itself round a belief in the Divine right of priests. A notion that Monarchs should be independent of Parliaments, associated itself with a notion that Ministers of religion should be independent of human law.
1689.
Sovereigns could not be made and unmade by subjects, neither could Clergymen be made or unmade by States, therefore such a law as that now enacted became, in a spiritual point of view, futile, impertinent, even impious. A strange confusion of truth and error obtained throughout this reasoning of the Nonjurors. No doubt the Church, as a Divine community, is independent of human governments. The pastors and teachers are not the creatures of the Civil power, they are in the hands of Him who walks amidst the golden candlesticks. Of spiritual office and character the Civil power is not competent to denude any servant of Christ. But when chief Ministers of the Church are amongst chief officers of State, when Bishops are Peers, and Clergymen have legally-vested rights, the case is different. Church temporalities are from first to last the creations of secular government; and the authority which gives can take away. Parliament had no business to alter the religious position of Ministers, but it had a right to impose conditions, for its own safety, upon those who added to the character of Ministers that of political legislators and officers of a nationally-endowed Church. Erastianism had been predominant under Charles II. It had lingered under James II. It was to be revived and to be manifested, in some respects more distinctly than ever, under William III.; but, at the Revolution, many who had been Erastian enough through the previous quarter of a century, began to be restless and to sigh for emancipation. Circumstances made them voluntaries in practice, although circumstances did not make them voluntaries in principle. As time rolled on, the doctrine of the Church’s independence came more distinctly within view, notwithstanding their blindness to its consequences; and the assertion of that independency increased in earnestness after the rupture, of which I shall have much to say.
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
A further religious complication of the measure under review arose in connection with its first appearance in the House of Commons, and was renewed in the course of its progress through the House of Lords. It requires attention. Upon the 25th of February, the day when leave was given to bring in the Bill for changing the oath, leave was also given to bring in a Bill for repealing the Corporation Act. The Corporation Act, the reader will remember, enjoined the repudiation of the doctrine of resistance, the renunciation of the Solemn League and Covenant, and the receiving of the Lord’s Supper, as a qualification for municipal office. It had been a blow aimed at Nonconformists; now that the justice of affording them some relief was acknowledged by the Whig party, it seemed only consistent that this statute should be extinguished. In a debate which arose at the time when the two Bills originated, one member maintained that the Corporation Act “had as much intrinsic iniquity as any Act whatsoever,” and that it profaned the Sacrament; another—who said he had been educated for the Church, and would live and die in it—advocated the repeal of the Act; but a third contended for the continuance of conformity as essential to the holding of a public trust, and proposed that the oath of non-resistance, instead of being taken away, should be explained. All this ended in nothing. Soon after the Bill was brought in, it was, through party complications, set aside on a question of adjournment;[117] and the inconsistency arose of a Government, plainly based upon Revolution, and therefore upon resistance, being left to enforce a principle destructive of its own authority; the inconsistency, moreover, was associated with injustice and ingratitude towards a party zealous in its support. High Church Tories of course wished to preserve the Corporation Act, and contributed to its preservation; Low Church Whigs, though willing to relieve Nonconformists, still wished to keep Nonconformity in check, and manifested no zeal for the removal of an engine of intolerance, which lasted down even to our own times.
1689.
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
Efforts in favour of Nonconformists having thus failed in the Lower House, like movements were uselessly made in the Upper. The King, in a speech delivered on the 16th of March, emphatically recommended Parliament to provide against Papists, so as to “leave room for the admission of all Protestants that are willing and able to serve.”[118] In these words he showed his desire for the alteration of the Test Act. The Test Act had been passed to exclude Papists from holding civil office; and, zealous for the accomplishment of that end, Nonconformists had supported it at the sacrifice of their own interests. There were members in the House of Lords prepared to carry out the King’s wishes. They desired to render all Protestant citizens eligible to serve the State; during the progress of the Allegiance Bill, they supported the introduction of a clause for abolishing the sacramental test. But the Tory Lords were too numerous to allow of its being passed; and some Whig Peers, including the puritan Lord Wharton, recorded a protest against the rejection of the clause. They protested for these reasons—Because a hearty alliance amongst Protestants was a greater security than any test: because the obligation to receive the Sacrament operated against Protestants rather than Papists: because it prevented a thorough Protestant union: and because, what was not required of members of Parliament, ought not to be required of candidates for office. Not discouraged by defeat, one of the Lords proposed another clause, the object of which was to render the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in a Nonconformist place of worship legally equivalent to its celebration in a parish church. This, like the former attempt, failed; and again we find a protest recorded in the Journals, Lord Wharton being again among the protesters. In this protest they amplify what they had said before, and introduce this additional reason—that His Majesty had expressed an earnest desire for the liberty of all his Protestant subjects, and that divers Bishops had professed the same. The majority of the Lords, in the rejection of clauses for the partial repeal of the Test Act, proceeded on the same line with the majority of the Commons, in getting rid of the repeal of the Corporation Act.[119] But another wish rose in the King’s mind, which received support from a majority in the Upper House. It is very well known that he desired to treat the Clergy in general with great lenience, and to make as much allowance as possible for nonjuring scruples. By conceding so much to the High Church party, he aimed at reconciling them to those concessions which, on the other side, he longed to see granted to Nonconformists. He could not secure the latter concessions, but he easily secured the former. The policy of the Lords, both Whig and Tory, both Low Church and High Church, was to discountenance Nonconformity, and to maintain the Episcopalian Establishment; the policy of the High Church Peers was to support those Clergymen with whom they sympathized in Ecclesiastical views, and to relieve them from the pressure of the new oaths; and the policy of the Whig Low Church Peers was to conciliate the same party as much as possible. Even Burnet, just exalted to the Bench, took part in a debate before his consecration, advocating a mild arrangement of the matter in reference to his scrupulous brethren.[120] It followed that the Bill left the Lords with a provision allowing every beneficed divine to continue in his benefice without taking the oath, unless the Government saw reason for putting his loyalty to the test. Upon this point the temper of the Lower House differed from that of the Upper. They inserted in the Bill a clause rendering it absolutely incumbent on every one holding preferment to take the oath by the 1st of August, 1689, under pain of immediate suspension—by the end of six months afterwards, upon pain of final deprivation.[121] With that claim embodied in it, the Bill went back to the Lords. They fought for their own gentler method. Conferences were held between the Houses: compromises were suggested: reports were made: debates were renewed; but the Lords could not stand against the Commons, and the stringent method insisted upon by the latter became the law of the land.
1689.
The Whig majority in the House of Commons were as zealous as the Tory majority in the House of Lords in maintaining the Church of England, but they were utterly averse to the secular and ecclesiastical politics of that party, which the project of William, supported by the Peers, sought to win over by conciliation. They could not forget the support that party had rendered to the Stuart despotism, their opposition to the Exclusion Bill, their intolerant despotism, and their steady opposition to the Whig Commons. They could not favour High Church views, they had no notion of the Church being independent of the State. If the Clergy received honours and emoluments from the Civil power, then to the Civil power they must, like other subjects, yield obedience. The spirit of the House was Erastian; and no doubt passion mingled with principle—resentment with the maintenance of supremacy.
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
The Oaths of Allegiance had at an early period been readily taken by the Commons, only two of them refusing to swear. In the other House a vast majority of the lay and spiritual Lords had complied with the law, but certain Bishops had been incapacitated, or were reluctant in compliance; others altogether refused to submit to authority. In the Journal of the Lords for the 18th of March, amongst notices of absence, we find the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield described as “ill of the strangury and the stone;” the Bishop of Worcester as “weak in body,” and very aged; and the Bishop of St. David’s as writing a letter of excuse, not at all satisfactory. This last Prelate, who had for some time been mistrusted by his brethren, consulted Sir John Reresby, who told him to fall back on his own conscience. The next day the Bishop took the oath.[122] But the Primate Sancroft, Lake of Chichester, Turner of Ely, Lloyd of Norwich, Ken of Bath and Wells, Frampton of Gloucester, White of Peterborough, and Thomas of Worcester, steadily refused, and came forward as vanguard to that body of which we shall have more to say hereafter.
The oath was taken by the Clergy in various ways. Some, who objected to its being imposed, felt they could adopt it conscientiously. Some questioned the lawfulness of it, and did not blame the Nonjurors, but themselves took the benefit of the doubt. Some swore with a certain reserve, expressing the sense in which they explained the obligation with “an implicit relaxation” of the meaning of the words. Others, at a loss to determine the point, yielded to the opinions of lawyers and divines.[123]
1689.
The Coronation Oath came under consideration at the same time as the Oath of Allegiance, and, like it, occasioned great discussion. The oath pledged the Sovereign to preserve the Church “as it is now established by law;” and the Commons were thereby led to inquire into the exact meaning of the words, whether they affected in any way the question of introducing changes, such as many most earnestly desired. Some, who longed for an alteration in the formularies, were anxious that, instead of the words “Church as it is now established by law,” should be the words, “Church as it is, or shall be, established by law,” thus expressly providing for new arrangements. It was contended that the Church doors ought to be made wider, that it might be easily done, and that in anticipation of this, the proposed alteration in the oath should be accomplished. Before—some argued—it did not much matter how the Coronation Oath ran, but it did now that a King occupied the throne, who might say, “I do not understand what is meant by law.” They urged no wish for any change in doctrines, but only for change in ceremonies, and they felt unwilling that the Coronation Oath should preclude the latter. Moreover, they desired to prevent any taunt from foreign Protestants of the following kind—“Your Parliament has limited you to a Church unalterable, and will let in nobody.” Some of those who objected to the additional words replied, that their omission would not be any bar to reform; that Parliament had power to alter laws; that, consistently with the maintenance of Protestant doctrine, there might be the relaxation of certain forms; that essentials being preserved, non-essentials could be removed; and that tender consciences could be brought in at a door without pulling down the rafters to let them through the roof. Though a rider to the effect, that no clause in the Act should prevent the Sovereign from giving assent to a Bill for Church Reform was not formally adopted, yet it was at length clearly understood that the oath did not fetter the Sovereign in any act of legislative concurrence, but only bound him in his executive capacity; the original words therefore were sanctioned by a majority of 188 against 149.[124]
CORONATION.
The Coronation, for which this oath prepared, took place on the 11th of April, when both political parties in unequal proportions participated in the solemnities. Tory and Jacobite Lords, who had voted for a Regency, increased the magnificence—one carrying the crown of the King, another the crown of the Queen, and a third the sword of Justice; whilst a fourth rode up the middle of Westminster Hall, as champion for William and Mary against all comers. Noble damsels of both classes appeared in large numbers and dazzling splendour to swell the retinue, or to watch the movements of the Regnant Queen; and amongst them walked the pretty little Lady Henrietta, daughter of the Earl of Rochester, who had persistently opposed the idea that the throne was vacated by the departure of James. The nonjuring Prelates would take no part in the ceremonies; the absence of the Primate was a serious circumstance, but, by a clause in the Coronation Act, the King had authority to chose some other Bishop for the principal ceremony of the day. Accordingly he chose Compton, Bishop of London, to place the crown upon his head. This Low Churchman and staunch Revolutionist was accompanied by Prelates of different characters: Lloyd of St. Asaph, one of the seven who had been sent to the Tower, walked on the one hand, holding the paten; Sprat of Rochester, who had been a member of the High Commission, walked on the other, carrying the chalice; and Burnet of Salisbury ascended the pulpit to deliver a sermon, of which the peroration, imploring the blessing of Heaven on the King and Queen in this life, and the bestowment upon them in the life to come of crowns more enduring than those on the altar, excited a hum of applause from the Commons, who were seated behind it. For the first time the Coronation occurred neither on a Sunday nor a holiday; and for the first time really in accordance with a precedent set at Cromwell’s installation, a Bible was presented to the Sovereigns as “the most valuable thing that this world contains;” and it would appear that the identical volume still exists, for one of the treasures of the Royal Library at the Hague is a Bible, inscribed with these words: “This Book was given the King and I at our Coronation. Marie R.” The event was celebrated in the provinces; garlands adorned with oranges were carried about the streets of country towns, amidst the beating of drums, the pealing of bells, and the huzzas of the people, followed at night by the blazing of bonfires.[125]
1689.
As the great Revolution under William I. was perfected by the Coronation at Westminster on Christmas-day, 1066, so the great Revolution under William III. was perfected by the Coronation in the same place on the 11th of April, 1689. In both cases certain religious rites were necessary to the completeness of the new Monarch’s inauguration, but in both cases they were celebrated only as a solemn ratification of a choice made by the national voice. It is curious to notice, that in addition to the coincidence of names in the case of the authors of the two most momentous revolutionary successions to the English crown, there is a further coincidence: each arrived on the southern shores of England as an invader, and then became the choice of the people; and neither of them rested on the right of conquest as the basis of power.
COMPREHENSION.
At the time when the Allegiance and Coronation Oaths were under discussion, two other important subjects, immediately connected with Ecclesiastical History, occupied Parliamentary attention. The one was the widening of admission into the Church, the other was the concession to Dissenters of liberty to worship according to conviction: both measures had been repeatedly taken up and repeatedly laid down during the reign of Charles II.
The steps in reference to Comprehension may be conveniently considered first.
The Primate Sancroft, it is alleged,[126] looked favourably in that direction, amidst the excitement to liberal feeling, which sprung up on the eve of the Revolution: certainly at the beginning of the year 1689, Lloyd, the Bishop of St. Asaph, Tillotson, Dean of Canterbury, Sharp, Dean of Norwich, and Dr. Tenison, met at the house of Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Paul’s, as we are informed by Patrick, Prebendary of Westminster—who was present on the occasion—to consult about such concessions as might bring in Dissenters to communion, “for which,” Patrick says, “the Bishop of St. Asaph told us, he had the Archbishop of Canterbury’s leave. We agreed that a Bill should be prepared, to be offered by the Bishops, and we drew up the matter of it in ten or eleven heads.”[127] Coincident with the time when such proposals were sufficiently matured to be laid before Parliament, but not coincident with the particular purpose and method which these and other Divines had in view, was the publication of a draft, by some irresponsible person, for the universal accommodation of Dissenters, and the bringing of all parties into communion with the Established Church. This scheme, which bore the title of an amicable reconciliation, soon dropped into the limbo of quixotic plans, but it made some noise at the time, and is sufficiently curious to be worth a few words.
1689.
Amidst existing religious differences the principle is laid down that as there is one Catholic Church under Christ, so there must be many local Churches framed after some type of political organization. The Church of England is of the latter kind, placed under the government of King and Bishops. This Church requires a change. It wants comprehensiveness. Now, a distinction exists between tolerable and intolerable religions. Intolerable religions are set aside, but all tolerable religions, it is affirmed, ought not only to be legalized, but incorporated in the Establishment. Bishops should be King’s officers, to act circa sacra; and those now called Dissenters should be eligible for such an office, with power to supervise all parties, in order to the keeping of them in harmony with their own principles, so as not to disturb the peace of others.[128] This scheme included a provision that Ecclesiastical laws should be enacted by a Convocation, including non-episcopal members, or by the two Houses of Parliament.
A Bill “for uniting their Majesties’ Protestant subjects” was introduced in the House of Lords by the Earl of Nottingham on the 11th of March, and that day received its first reading. Upon the 14th it was read a second time and committed; and at the same sitting there was introduced by the same nobleman, and entrusted to the same Committee, another Bill, entitled “An Act for exempting their Majesties’ Protestant subjects, dissenting from the Church of England, from the penalties of certain laws.” Two measures, intimately connected with each other, and embodying opinions and wishes long cherished, were thus launched side by side, destined to meet different fates. Debated by the Lords with considerable sharpness, the Bill for uniting Protestants was narrowly watched by people outside, of different sentiments; and when no regular system existed for reporting speeches, fragments of senatorial oratory were casually picked up and preserved from oblivion by diarists and others; a person who looked at the subject from a dissenting point of view thus recorded what he learnt:
COMPREHENSION.
The Bill was thought by some not “large enough to comprehend the sober sort of Dissenters, for it did not grant to them some of the great points they had always and still did insist upon; and if it were thought the true interest of the Church and State to comprehend them, they must enlarge that Bill.”
The Bishop of Lincoln considered ordination by Presbyters to be good and sufficient, and in order to the taking of them in, it was not necessary there should be the imposition of Episcopal hands.
The Marquis of Winchester, fervent for Comprehension, as conducive to the interest of the Church, was unconcerned for the Bill of Indulgence, since “that would but nourish Church snakes and vipers in the bosom of the Church.”[129]
1689.
Early in the month of April we find the Lords busy with the Comprehension Bill. Upon the 4th, they were engaged upon the question, “Whether to agree with the Committee in leaving out the clause about the indifferency of the posture at the receiving the Sacrament?” The votes being equal, the Journal records, “Then, according to the ancient rule in the like case, semper præsumitur pro negante,” that is to say, the question as to leaving out the clause was decided in the negative, and therefore the clause remained. “There was a proviso likewise in the Bill for dispensing with kneeling at the Sacrament and being baptized with the sign of the cross, to such as, after conference on those heads, should solemnly protest they were not satisfied as to the lawfulness of them. That concerning kneeling occasioned a vehement debate; for the posture being the chief exception that the Dissenters had, the giving up this was thought to be the opening a way for them to come into employments. Yet it was carried in the House of Lords, and I declared myself zealous for it. For since it was acknowledged that the posture was not essential in itself, and that scruples, how ill grounded soever, were raised upon it, it seemed reasonable to leave the matter as indifferent in its practice, as it was in its nature.”[130]
COMPREHENSION.
On the next day another debate rose on an important point. It was proposed that a Commission should be appointed, including laymen as well as clergymen, to prepare some plan for healing divisions, correcting errors, and supplying defects in the constitution of the Church. Burnet, adopting the questionable policy of striving to please opponents, and bring them to adopt a comprehensive scheme by humouring their prejudice—a policy of which he afterwards repented—argued against the proposed Commission, and upon the question being put, strangely enough, there was again an equality of votes. The same rule as before was followed, and a negative being put on the proposition, the Marquis of Winchester and the Lords Mordaunt and Lovelace entered their protest against it as contrary to the constitution, inconsistent with Protestantism, inexpedient as to the end proposed, likely to create jealousies, to raise objections, and to countenance the dangerous position that the laity were not a part of the Church. The Earl of Stamford added a distinct protest, on the further ground, that to refuse laymen a place in such a Commission was opposed to statutes of Parliament in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., which empowered a mixed Commission to revise the Canon law.
The Comprehension Bill, with these modifications, passed the House of Lords on the 8th of April, and was sent down to the House of Commons.[131]
Strange again—the fact has been overlooked by our principal modern historians—before the Lords’ Bill reached the Commons, the Commons were engaged upon a Comprehension Bill of their own, and upon a Toleration Bill likewise. The day which saw the Lords reading the former of these for the third time, saw the Commons also reading a similar one of their own for the first time, and granting leave to bring in another Bill, as the phrase went, for “easing of Protestant Dissenters.”
1689.
But the party in the Commons earnest for Comprehension, had to row against wind and tide. One member desired the new Bill might be adjourned for a fortnight; another wished to put it off till Domesday. Old Colonel Birch impugned the motives of those who opposed the measure by mentioning the names of two members in the last Long Parliament, who had objected to a similar proposal, and who proved afterwards to be Papists in disguise.[132]
Whilst the two Bills for Comprehension lay upon the Commons’ table, the Commons concurred with the House of Lords in an address expressing gratitude for His Majesty’s repeated assurances to maintain the Church of England, and praying that he would continue his care for the preservation of the same; and that, according to ancient practice, he would issue writs as soon as convenient for calling a Convocation of the Clergy, to be advised with in Ecclesiastical matters. “It is our intention,” they add, “forthwith to proceed to the consideration of giving ease to Protestant Dissenters.”[133] The reference here is to what is called the Toleration Bill.
COMPREHENSION.
By the Parliamentary address to the King, requesting him to summon Convocation for advice in Ecclesiastical matters, the Lords and Commons foreclosed the possibility of doing any more at present in reference to Comprehension. The two Bills on the subject were shelved, and debates on the point dropped in both Houses.[134]
At whose door lay the responsibility of defeating this particular attempt at the solution of a long-agitated question? The responsibility must be divided. It is difficult to get at a thorough knowledge of the views and aims of different parties interested in the subject. The spirit of intrigue, a habit of insincerity, and an employment of double-dealing, which cast such thick clouds around what was in many respects a “glorious Revolution,” influenced the minds of those who took part in the proceedings. Credit may be given to such men as Compton, Burnet, and others, for an honest intention to promote union; but I am at a loss to understand the Earl of Nottingham,[135] who introduced the Bill to the Lords, and who, being a High Churchman, must, one would suppose, have been inimical to at least some of its provisions. Still more difficult is it to understand the conduct of certain nonjuring Bishops, who, before they withdrew from the House, moved in favour of a comprehension, as well as the connivance of Sancroft, in allowing his name to be mentioned in connection with it. Reresby says some of the Prelates who supported the Bill did so more from fear than inclination;[136] and Burnet declares, “those who had moved for this Bill, and afterwards brought it into the House, acted a very disingenuous part; for while they studied to recommend themselves by this show of moderation, they set on their friends to oppose it; and such as were very sincerely and cordially for it, were represented as the enemies of the Church, who intended to subvert it.”[137]
1689.
As to the Nonjurors, it was believed at the time that they would not have been dissatisfied if any innovation upon forms, or any encroachment on clerical authority, had furnished a pretext for dividing the Church. But this belief was indignantly denounced afterwards as utterly false by one of the Nonjurors.[138] The whole atmosphere seems to have been laden with duplicity; and when the measure came down to the Lower House, with the apparent sanction of the Upper, there is reason to believe that if not the parents, yet the nurses and sponsors of the Bill had no objection to have the child perish in its cradle. Some, charged with this kind of infidelity, excused themselves on the ground of what they called the manifest partiality shown by certain of the Court Lords to the Dissenters.[139]
COMPREHENSION.
The objections offered by some of the Lords related to the details, not to the principle of the Bill, and no formal opposition seems to have been made to it by the Commons. They had appeared at first friendly enough to the general measure, and when they abandoned it, they did so under cover of desiring a meeting of Convocation, which might efficiently deal with the subject. The hapless infant died, not from violence, but neglect; not through blows dealt by an open enemy, but from want of nursing on the part of those pledged to cherish it.
The treachery, or apathy, of the Commons can be accounted for when we remember the character of the House and the circumstances of the times: as we have seen, but few Nonconformists—not more than twenty or thirty Presbyterians—could be counted among the members. The vast majority were Churchmen—some, Tory Churchmen, looking with a sinister eye upon the whole affair; some, Whig Churchmen, liberal in a limited degree, but opposed to the principle of Dissent: they cared much more for the Episcopalian Establishment than for what was called the Protestant Religion; they had little or no sympathy with the religious sentiments of the Nonconformists; they were unable to enter into their scruples; they were afraid that concession might endanger their own community; and they looked with apprehension upon the nonjuring movement. Much mischief was foreboded from that quarter, should such alterations be made as would countenance the idea that the Establishment under William and Mary was giving up its Episcopalian distinctions. Such an idea would strengthen the counter schism; for the Nonjurors might be expected to make capital out of the circumstance, and claim no small honour for maintaining Episcopalianism in its integrity. Another circumstance doubtless contributed to the turn affairs took in the Lower House.
1689.
COMPREHENSION.
Dissenters were not of one mind. Philip Henry earnestly desired Comprehension, “for never,” says his son, “was any more averse to that which looked like a separation than he was, if he could possibly have helped it—salvâ conscientiâ. His prayers were constant, and his endeavours, as he had opportunity, that there might be some healing methods found out and agreed upon.”[140] It would also have delighted Richard Baxter in his last days to see the door opened as wide as he had long before desired it should be. Bates would have been much pleased. The same may be said of Howe. But many were of a different mind.[141] The Nonconformist advocates of Comprehension belonged chiefly to the Presbyterian Church. Almost all Independents and Baptists felt it impossible for any alterations to be made such as could allow of their becoming parochial incumbents. More than a few had long been voluntaries, numbers were beginning to look in a direction opposite to that of an Establishment.[142] Selfishness has been assigned as a motive. “Some few pastors of wealthy congregations might be tempted to desire a continuance of the distance between Dissenters and Churchmen.” Yet Churchmen entertained “more charitable thoughts of sincere Dissenters.” The balance of temporal advantages certainly inclined on the side of a nationally-endowed Church, rich in tithes and other revenues, richer still in rank and prestige. However, it is unfair to suppose that, except in very rare instances indeed, an eye to income retained men in Nonconformist positions. Beyond all doubt, had Dissenting ministers been generally zealous in supporting the measure, they would have been charged by their neighbours with looking after the loaves and fishes. Where, however, no love of this world influenced the decision, the decision might be influenced by prejudice and suspicion; for persons must have been more or less than human, who, after such treatment as they had received for thirty years, could be free from all passionate emotion in estimating the conduct of those who had been either bitter persecutors or unconcerned witnesses of wrong. The motives of Churchmen at the Revolution would not always be fairly weighed by Dissenters. Suspicion, where it could not be justified, may still be condoned, looking at the antecedents of the case; and where there was not sufficient ground for imputing dishonourable motives to Churchmen, there might be enough to lead Nonconformists to suspect, that no warm welcome would be afforded them within the Establishment, even should the iron gates unfold. When reports of Comprehension were rife at an earlier period, an old story had been told to this effect: Sancho the Third, King of Spain, put aside his brother’s children that he might ascend the throne. A lady who was the representative and heir of the dispossessed line of Princes married the Duke of Medina Celi, who assumed the rights of his wife. He and his descendants accordingly presented a petition to the Sovereign that he would restore the crown—a petition to which he gave the reply, “No es lugar,” “There is no room.” This story had been applied by Presbyterians to the abeyance in which their claims to Church readmission had been held for more than a quarter of a century. “So our just liberty is talked of,” says Newcome, of Manchester, “by fits in course; and in course doft off with No es lugar, There is no room.”[143] It was thought the story remained as applicable after the Revolution as before.
1689.
COMPREHENSION.
This fact should be remembered. Comprehension became to all parties more and more difficult, and to some parties less and less desirable, as time rolled on. However hard it might be to effect a reconciliation, looking at the temper of Churchmen in 1662, it became harder in 1689, looking at the position of Dissenters. They had increased in numbers, had formed themselves into distinct Churches, had obtained their own ordained ministers, and had begun to create an ecclesiastical history, and to cherish in their separate capacity something of an esprit de corps. The opportunity of reclaiming the wanderers, once possessed by the Church party, had slipped away beyond recall. Overtures, which would have been eagerly grasped before, were coldly looked at now.[144]
The history of the measures for easing or indulging Dissenters presents a marked contrast to the history of the measure for uniting them to the Establishment. The Bill ordered on the 8th of April by the House of Commons to be drawn up for the former purpose, was read on the 15th. The Bill from the Lords’ House, where it had smoothly passed, was received on the 18th, and first read on the 20th of the same month. Both Bills were committed on the 15th of May. What little of the debate has been preserved shows it to have been brief, desultory, and superficial—not dealing with any great principles, but only discussing details, with an outburst now and then of ill-temper. One speaker would not give indulgence to Quakers, because they would not take an oath. Another identified them with Penn, and looked upon them as Papists in disguise. Yet all the speakers supported more or less the principle of the Bill, although some were of opinion that it should be adopted as an experiment for seven years.[145] It speedily passed without any such limitation, and received the Royal assent on the 24th of May.[146]
1689.
TOLERATION.
The cause of this great and successful measure lay in a deeper region than that of political intrigue and party faction. Powerful and telling arguments had long been pressed upon the abettors of intolerance; and the impiety, the injustice, the absurdity, and the uselessness of attempting to coerce the conscience, had been demonstrated hundreds of times on grounds of Religion, Reason, and History. No class of writers had performed this important service so fully as certain Baptists and Independents, whom we have had occasion to notice. They had contended against intolerant laws, not in the spirit of indifference, not because religion was to them a matter of trivial or secondary importance, but because it was to them all in all, and they shuddered to see its name tainted by an alliance with despotic principles. Although their pleas and appeals did not perhaps to any appreciable extent directly affect public opinion, yet they secretly leavened the minds of religious people, and prepared for the coming change.
The doctrine of Toleration has of late been described as the offspring of scepticism. What kind of scepticism? If it mean scepticism or unbelief as to the obligation to punish men for opinions, or as to the moral criminality of errors purely intellectual, or as to the wisdom of vesting political power in ecclesiastical persons, to say that this lies at the basis of Toleration is simply to repeat an identical proposition. But if it mean doubt or disbelief as to religion in general, or Christianity in particular, then to say Toleration arose from that cause in this country is simply untrue. Herbert and Hobbes, according to such a theory, ought to have been the apostles of freedom; but they were not. Baptists, Independents, and Quakers, according to such a theory, ought not to have been the apostles of freedom; yet they were. The same thing may be said of Jeremy Taylor and John Locke. Whilst, however, the chief advocates of Toleration were religious men, it is not to be denied that the measure when carried was the work of the State rather than of the Church. The Liberal Bishops supported it; but the great body of Churchmen were averse to its provisions. With regard to a number of the clergy and the laity, the State came forward as a constable to keep the peace between them and their Nonconformist fellow-citizens, whose rights they had violated.
1689.
Books and pamphlets were not the only nor the main agencies which brought about the Religious Revolution of 1689. It is remarkable, that the first of Locke’s famous letters on Toleration was printed in Holland, in the Latin language, in the year 1689, and was not translated into English and circulated in this country time enough to assist in the passing of the Toleration Bill. It threw into form, and it made plain to the common sense of humanity, those sentiments which were almost universal amongst the Dutch, and were beginning to be common amongst the English. It rather justified what was being done at the time by the Legislature, than prompted or supported the Legislature in its career. It formulated the reasons of a conclusion at the moment practically reached; it expounded principles just being embodied in an Act of Parliament.
TOLERATION.
John Locke brought out the philosophy of Toleration. Toleration had become the genius of his character. Men whose minds have many sides, and who, from large human sympathies, tolerate those who differ from them, are made what they are by wide intercourse with the world. Born of Puritan parents, educated at Oxford under Dr. Owen, attached to the preaching of Whitecote, intimate with Cudworth’s family, connected with Lord Shaftesbury, friendly with Le Clerc, Limborch, and other Divines of the Remonstrant school, Locke caught and, in the advocacy of Toleration, reflected influences emanating from diversified sources. Reduced to a simple formula, the basis of his scheme was this: The State and the Church are essentially distinct. The Law recognized a Jewish commonwealth; the Gospel recognizes no Christian commonwealth. He repudiated all connection between the State and the Church; but he did not repudiate all connection between the State and Religion, for he excluded Atheists from Toleration. He also excluded Papists, not however on religious, but on political grounds.
Locke’s principle, followed out, would have made him a Dissenter; and it is a fact that he wrote a defence of Nonconformity, which he never published. Though nominally in communion with the Establishment to the day of his death, he generally attended the ministry of a lay preacher.[147]
1689.
A paper by John Howe—in which he stated the case of Protestant Dissenters—came nearest, in point of time, to the position of a manifesto in advance, clearing ground for the new law. His paper was drawn up in the beginning of 1689, yet it may be doubted whether it had any wide influence in consummating the change.
Amongst the immediate causes of the Bill being passed must be numbered old promises made to Dissenters by men in power, again and again; the pledges of political parties of all sorts, Whigs and Tories, Low Churchmen and High Churchmen, given amidst struggles against Popery in the preceding summer, all originating in religious impulses; and especially the influences of William, who honestly advocated liberty on a wide scale. Beyond this, and more effectual still, there existed a state of public feeling which, although most reasonable, had not been produced by reasoning and, though it could be victoriously defended by argument, had not really been reached by logical formulas. It is only one of a number of instances in which a change comes over the legislative enactments of a nation through a change wrought in the minds of rulers, wrought also in the minds of a people,—the Zeit-Geist, or spirit of the age,—produced by the discipline of circumstances, and by sympathetic impulses, in which pious men recognize the finger of Providence. What the Earl of Nottingham said in defence of his measure when he laid his Bill upon the table, I do not know; but I apprehend that, as a High Churchman he must have found it difficult to show how his advocacy could be reconciled with his antecedents. He might have been unable to explain how, by reasoning, he had passed from his former to his present position. He and others might be fairly charged with inconsistency; a suspicion of it might even now and then cross their own minds. But, like all mankind, they were the subjects of influences more powerful than syllogisms, they bent beneath a force mightier than logic. Sophistical theories ingeniously spun, fondly watched, and for a time vigilantly guarded, get blown to the winds by the breath of inexorable facts, and of the spirit which throbs at the heart of them. False systems and ideas are found to be impracticable; as such they are given up by everybody. It is of no use to preserve them; they must be thrown away. So with the doctrine of religious intolerance. Englishmen could endure it in its old form no longer. A new spirit had taken possession of the age, and ancient restrictions must at last be sacrificed. But for such facts, men like Leonard Busher and John Goodwin might have gone on arguing for ever in vain.
TOLERATION.
1689.
In estimating the worth of what was done at this period, it betrays a narrow philosophy to harp upon the word “Toleration” as being an offensive term, and to ask, Has any man a right to talk of tolerating another man in the worship which his conscience bids him render to the infinitely glorious Creator? It is a curious fact that the word was not used in the Bill from beginning to end. It is entitled, “An Act for exempting their Majesties’ Protestant subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the penalties of certain laws.” Why dwell upon what the measure was popularly called—the question is, What did it accomplish? Its provisions confessedly are imperfect. Restrictions inconsistent with its principle were left, reminding us, how much more, certain feelings connected with certain events have to do with producing them than any abstract conceptions whatever. But the Act did this, it afforded to all Protestants, with few exceptions, a legal protection in carrying out their systems of doctrine, worship, and discipline. It not only granted, but it guarded liberty of conscience. It threw the shield of law over every religious assembly within open doors. To interrupt the Independent, the Baptist, the Quaker, in the service of God, became a criminal offence. The amount of relief thus afforded can be appreciated only by those who are familiar with the harassing persecutions of the preceding reigns. By shielding Dissent, the law, though of course not endowing it, might be said, in a certain sense, to establish it. It placed Dissent upon a legal footing, and protected it side by side with the Endowed Church. It confined national emoluments to Episcopalians; but it secured as much religious freedom to other denominations as to them. Nay, it secured more—a consequence necessarily resulting from the difference in relation to the State, between voluntary Churches and one nationally endowed. By the change which the Act effected in the legal position of Nonconformity, it produced a relative change in the legal position of the Establishment. From the moment that William gave his assent to the Act, that Church ceased to be national in the sense in which it had been so before. The theory of its constitution underwent a revolution. It could no longer assume the attitude it had done, could no longer claim all Englishmen, as by sovereign right, worshippers within its pale; it gave legalized scope for differences of action,—for their growth, and advancement, and for the increase of their supporters in point of numbers, character, and influence.
TOLERATION.
The restrictions of the Act pressed upon two classes of religionists. It distinctly provided that the law should not be construed as giving any ease, benefit, or advantage to any Papist, or Popish recusant, whatever. It therefore left in full operation the old laws pointed at the adherents of Rome,—laws with which James had dispensed, laws which, with most mistaken views, at that period almost all Protestants maintained. But not satisfied with a prohibition of Roman worship, the Government caused to be issued Royal proclamations requiring all reputed Papists to depart out of London and Westminster, and confining all Popish recusants within five miles of their respective dwellings.[148] In connexion with this fact it should be noticed, that in the month of July, the Royal assent was given to an Act which vested in the two Universities, the presentations of benefices belonging to Papists.
The other class of persons to whom liberty of worship was refused, consisted of such as denied, in preaching or writing, the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity declared in the Articles of the Church of England,—a stipulation which indicated zeal for orthodoxy on the part of a large majority of the House, and which ought to be noted amidst the strong rationalistic tendencies of the age. Zeal of this kind we shall find manifesting itself again and again during William’s reign.
1689.
Special provision was made for the relief of Quakers. Instead of being required to take any oath, they were allowed to make a declaration, first, in common with others, of their abhorrence of Papal supremacy, and next, of their orthodoxy. The latter declaration ran in these words: “I, A. B., profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His eternal Son, the true God, and in the Holy Spirit, one God blessed for evermore; and do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.” It would appear that this declaration was altered from the original one to satisfy the Quakers, who, represented by four of their number during the passing of the Bill, objected to the expression “coequal with the Father and the Son” as applied to the Holy Spirit, and to another expression, “the revealed will and word of God” as applied to the Scriptures. These expressions were accordingly struck out. A Quaker historian observes, “That as a profession of faith is required of this Society only, it evinces the truth of the conjecture, that this profession of faith was started with a view to exclude the people called Quakers from a participation in the benefits of the Act.” If the remark be true in reference to the original form of the declaration—but of this I find no proof—it certainly is not true of the revised declaration, which received the sanction of Friends, before it was introduced into the Bill, and was affirmed by them after it became law.[149]
Comprehension fared differently from Toleration; but Tillotson would not let the former drop. Nobody was more sincere and earnest about it, and the view he took of the grounds on which Christians of different opinions might be brought together, appears from a paper copied into his commonplace book under the title of “Concessions, which will probably be made by the Church of England for the union of Protestants, which I sent to the Earl of Portland by Dr. Stillingfleet, September 13, 1689.
“I. That the ceremonies injoined or recommended in the Liturgy or Canons be left indifferent.
COMPREHENSION.
“II. That the Liturgy be carefully reviewed, and such alterations and changes therein made, as may supply the defects, and remove, as much as is possible, all ground of exception to any part of it, by leaving out the Apocryphal lessons, and correcting the translation of the psalms, used in the public service, where there is need of it; and in many other particulars.
“III. That instead of all former declarations and subscriptions to be made by ministers, it shall be sufficient for them that are admitted to the exercise of their ministry in the Church of England, to subscribe one general declaration and promise to this purpose, viz., that we do submit to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Church of England, as it shall be established by law, and promise to teach and practice accordingly.
“IV. That a new body of Ecclesiastical Canons be made, particularly with a regard to a more effectual provision for the reformation of manners both in ministers and people.
“V. That there be an effectual regulation of Ecclesiastical Courts, to remedy the great abuses and inconveniences, which by degrees, and length of time, have crept into them; and particularly, that the power of excommunication be taken out of the hands of lay officers, and placed in the Bishop, and not to be exercised for trivial matters, but upon great and weighty occasions.
“VI. That for the future those who have been ordained in any of the foreign Reformed Churches, be not required to be re-ordained here, to render them capable of preferment in this Church.
1689.
“VII. That for the future none be capable of any ecclesiastical benefice or preferment in the Church of England, that shall be ordained in England otherwise than by Bishops; and that those who have been ordained only by Presbyters shall not be compelled to renounce their former ordination. But because many have, and do still doubt of the validity of such ordination, where episcopal ordination may be had, and is by law required, it shall be sufficient for such persons to receive ordination from a Bishop in this or the like form: If thou art not already ordained, I ordain thee, &c., as in case a doubt be made of any one’s baptism, it is appointed by the Liturgy that he be baptized in this form, If thou art not baptized, I baptize thee, &c.”[150]
COMPREHENSION.
Burnet, as I have noticed, thought at the end of April that to entrust Convocation with the business of Comprehension would be its ruin; Tillotson at the same time considered that ecclesiastical affairs ought to be submitted to Synodical authority, lest a handle should be offered for objecting that, as in the case of the Reformation, the change was accomplished by the State rather than the Church. The Dean, however, considered it expedient that, in the first instance, a Commission should be issued for a number of Divines, of diverse opinions, to digest a scheme for “establishing a durable peace.”[151] His object was good, his motives were amiable, but his method was unwise; for what chance would there be that Commissioners, in case of coming to an agreement, could induce Convocation to adopt their views? It was to renew Archbishop Williams’ Committee in 1641; it was to repeat the inconsistency of the Savoy Conference. It is true the relation between Tillotson’s Committee and the Convocation was more definite than that between the two bodies in a former instance, still it was of an abnormal kind, and open to objections from ecclesiastical lawyers. Though Burnet had in April predicted the failure of the scheme, he in the course of the summer fell in with it, and the King, influenced by the Dean’s persuasion and by Burnet’s concurrence, issued, on the 13th of September, an instrument for bringing together ten Bishops and twenty Divines to confer upon this matter. The Commissioners on the 3rd of October met in the Jerusalem Chamber—that old theological battle-field, that famous arena of ecclesiastical warfare. Proceedings opened at 9 o’clock; there were 17 of the 30 Commissioners present.[152] After listening to the Commission, they discussed the question, whether the Apocrypha ought to be publicly read in Church. Beveridge, the Archdeacon of Colchester, contended, that dropping the old custom would give great offence to the people; and he was supported by Dr. Jane, Professor of Divinity at Oxford, who had a hand in drawing up the famous University decree in 1683, against seditious books and damnable doctrines. Jane recommended, that if not the whole Apocrypha, yet some of its most useful portions should be retained; on the other hand, it was urged that not only were particular parts objectionable, but all the books were deficient in authority, and to take lessons from them was to countenance the baseless pretensions of the Church of Rome. Meggot, Dean of Winchester, wished the Commissioners to defer their decision until a larger number should meet; to which it was replied that, inasmuch as a decision would not be binding, but would be referred to Convocation, they might as well vote at once; upon which the Commissioners decided against the use of Apocryphal lessons.
1689.
The Prayer-Book version of the Psalms next came under review, when Kidder, then one of the London clergy, and regarded as an authority on the subject, was appealed to by the Bishops present, and gave his opinion, that the author of the first half of the version, growing weary of his patchwork, translated the second portion afresh, greatly to the improvement of the whole, although the entire translation differed from the Septuagint, as well as from the original Hebrew. Nothing was determined, and the meeting broke up about 12 o’clock.
At the next sitting (October the 16th), a serious discussion arose as to the authority of the Commission itself. Sprat, Bishop of Rochester—then, as Dean of Westminster, living next door to the Jerusalem Chamber—had been an active member of James’ High Commission, and now, inconsistently enough, objected to the Low Commission appointed by William; yet this was as constitutional as the former had been the reverse, for this amounted to no more than a committee of advice, whereas that claimed judicial prerogatives. Sprat either overlooked or pretended not to see the distinction, and talked of the danger of incurring a premunire by venturing to proceed with business. He said a burnt child dreads the fire, and as he had been deceived with regard to the other Commission, though some of the Judges were in its favour, he should not be satisfied with the Commission under which they were now brought together, unless the whole Judicial bench sanctioned its appointment. After quibbles about the altered official position of some Commissioners, and the small number left at the close of the last meeting, he urged the inconsistency of touching formularies to which they had given their assent and consent; the impropriety of forestalling Convocational debates; and the probability of provoking Parliament by usurping its functions. Sprat found a supporter in Jane—“a double-faced Janus,” as people called him, for, after being a staunch supporter of non-resistance, he had conveyed to the Prince of Orange the offer of the University to coin its plate in the Deliverer’s service; and next, disappointed of a mitre, had on that account (so said his enemies) abandoned liberal opinions, and gone over to the camp of Toryism, where he found a more congenial atmosphere and a more agreeable home.
COMPREHENSION.
1689.
Another of Sprat’s allies was Dr. Aldrich,[153] Dean of Christchurch, a man of much higher character than Jane, architect of the Peckwater Quadrangle, munificent in his patronage and gifts, a master of logic, a proficient in music, and generous and genial in his hospitality. But Patrick, the new Bishop of Chichester, came to the rescue, dwelling upon the difference between the two Commissions, and urging the high legal sanction of their present operations. Compton, Bishop of London—still zealous on the liberal side—told his brethren that what they were doing had received the sanction of the Lords; that if they did not execute their trust, it would be taken out of the hands of the Clergy altogether; and that discharging their duty now would facilitate the business of Convocation, in the same way as Committees helped on the work of Parliament. Already it appeared that the reverend and right reverend Commissioners were sitting on barrels of gunpowder; presently the first explosion occurred, when Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, one of the most zealous advocates of Comprehension, hastily rose to move that those who were not satisfied with the Commission were at liberty to withdraw. This offended Sprat, Aldrich, and Jane; the last rose in a pet to leave the room, but was persuaded to remain, and it was prudently advised “that all things that happened at that time might be kept secret.” The stormy discussion lasted beyond noon, when the Bishops of London and Worcester and several others retired to the hospitable table of Dr. Patrick in the neighbouring cloister, and then went over several amendments to be made in the Liturgy. Two days afterwards, on the 18th, the Commissioners entered upon the consideration of ceremonies distasteful to Dissenters. Aldrich and Jane left soon after the debate commenced, and those who remained came to the conclusion that, as for receiving the Sacrament, “it should be in some posture of reverence, and in some convenient pew or place in the church, so that none but those that kneeled should come up to the rails or table, and that the persons scrupling, should some week-day before come to the minister, and declare that they could not kneel with a good conscience. This was agreed to, and drawn up. Only the Bishop of Winchester moved that the names of such persons might be written down, but that was not approved, and after all he dissented from the whole.”[154]
At the next meeting they took up the question of godfathers, Beveridge contending for the retention of them as being agreeable to ancient practice; some, on the other hand, declared that the custom often became a mere matter of interest, and even went so far as to assert, “that it was hard to find an instance of a child baptized before St. Cyprian’s time.”
COMPREHENSION.
The calendar underwent revision, and several Saints’ days were struck out of the list. Respecting the Athanasian Creed, much was said. Its use, its theological meaning, especially its damnatory clauses, had become in an age of rational inquiry, religious toleration, and latitudinarian sentiment, momentous moot-points. The atmosphere of theological thought existing at the time, indicated by the controversies on the Trinity, to be hereafter described, could not but fix attention on a formulary, which, viewed either as a creed or as a hymn, not only embodies definite opinion on the most abstruse of mysteries, but declares that those who do not keep it whole and undefiled must “without doubt perish everlastingly.” Burnet and Tillotson were willing to drop the so-called creed out of the service altogether; so was Fowler—the first of these Divines urging that the Church of England received the four first General Councils; that the Ephesian Council condemns all new symbols; that the Athanasian Creed is not very ancient; and that it condemns the Greek Church, which, said the Bishop, “we defend.” The utmost amount of change finally recommended as to this formula was its less frequent use and an explanation of its damnatory clauses. Its repetition was to be discontinued on the Epiphany, and the Feasts of St. Matthias, St. John the Baptist, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon and St. Jude, and St. Andrew; but its use on All Saints’ Day was recommended. The word sung was struck out of the rubric, leaving the creed to be said; and the following came at the end:—“The Articles of which (creed) ought to be received and believed as being agreeable to the Holy Scriptures. And the condemning clauses are to be understood as relating only to those who obstinately deny the substance of the Christian faith [according to the 18th Article of this Church].” These last words were afterwards cancelled.[155]
1689.
The subject of Ordination occupied the members through four successive meetings.[156] Questions were discussed—first in reference to those who had been Ministers of other communions; secondly, with regard to new candidates; and thirdly, as to the ceremony of conferring orders. The Bishop of Salisbury took a prominent part in this debate, on the first of these points, contending—that there was room to challenge the orders of the Romanists, “because that they ordained without imposition of hands,” and without the words, “whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted,” and mixed up the matter with the theory of intention—that the Church of England had allowed the orders of Foreign Churches in the case of Du Moulin, Prebendary of Canterbury—that Presbyterians had been consecrated Bishops of the Scotch Church without being first ordained as Priests; James I. stiffly insisting upon it, being present at their consecration in Westminster Abbey; Bishop Andrewes, after having opposed it, also yielding assent to the service. As to Dissenters, Burnet strove to apply to their case the allowed validity of Donatist ordination in the early Church, on the ground of necessity for the healing of schism. But it was on the Conservative side objected, that Romanist orders were owned by the Anglican Church, the Bishop of London admitting that no question arose about the validity of Roman Catholic orders, but only about the sufficiency of evidence as to their being properly conferred. Beveridge, in this debate as in others, distinguished himself by maintaining Anglican views, and showed that if cheats were put upon the Church by Romanists, so they might be by the Reformed; yet he admitted, in reference to the case of Du Moulin, that regular Episcopal ordination is not necessary, where no cure of souls is involved; upon which the Dean of Canterbury affirmed that he had heard even of laymen having been made Prebendaries. Beveridge met the case of the Donatists by pointing out that they were Episcopalians, and therefore in point of orders did not present any resemblance to Nonconformists.
COMPREHENSION.
Two passages in the report of the proceedings are well worthy of attention.
“It was sometimes queried, What good would this do as to the Dissenters? It was answered by Dr. Still:[157] We sat there to make such alterations as were fit, which would be fit to make were there no Dissenters, and which would be for the improvement of the service.”
“It was said, I think by Dr. F., that some of the Nonconformists desired to be heard. It was replied by Dr. Still: That was not to be allowed, because doubtless they had no more to say by word of mouth than they had in their writings; and, that they might do them justice, there were several of their books laid before the Committee, that they might consult if there be occasion.”
1689.
In answer to the suggestion of the old compromise of a hypothetical reference to the invalidity of any former ordination, Beveridge remarked that it looked like equivocation on the part both of ordainer and ordained; the first believing the second not ordained before, contrary to the belief of the second, who did not doubt his former orders. Burnet replied, there could be no ground for this objection, if a statement were annexed to the effect that each reserved his own opinion. Dr. Grove suggested that the former rite might be esteemed, not as wholly invalid, but as merely imperfect, and that the Bishop’s laying on of hands would complete what had been previously commenced. “But to this the Dean of St. Paul’s (Stillingfleet) replied, that in this point we were to respect two things—first, the preservation of the Church’s principle about the necessity of Episcopal ordination, when it might be had; and secondly, the case of the Dissenters,” in reference to whom he relates, or supposes, a most extraordinary and indeed unintelligible story, “that it was much like the marrying of the man, and the woman refusing; but after a term of years she consenting to go on, the woman was then married alone, without beginning again with the man.” What that means I leave the reader to find out. The study of the whole Report is dreary work.
Yet Tillotson, rich in common sense, must have been amused with these debates. He simply asked why might not the Church of England admit other orders, as it had been proposed its own should be admitted by the Church of Rome, when Queen Mary wrote to Gardiner, saying, “Quod illis deerat, supplebit Episcopus.” The Bishop’s supplement was alone sufficient for the potestas sacrificandi, without any invalidation of what had been previously accomplished. At last the Commissioners resolved upon adopting the hypothetical scheme—Beveridge and Scot alone dissenting from that conclusion.
COMPREHENSION.
The subject of exercising care relative to candidates occasioned no controversy; it was proposed that a month before ordination, testimonials should be sent to the Bishop; and that candidates should be tested by being required to compose some short discourse in writing “upon some point or article.” Burnet, not much to the satisfaction of some of his brethren, who eschewed all ecclesiastical precedents taken from the north of the Tweed, reported the Scotch method of requiring the composition of a doctrinal and practical discourse, and the examination of the candidate in the original Scriptures and in sacred chronology.
In the Ordination Service the use of the words “receive the Holy Ghost” gave rise to much discussion, as a command to receive involves the possession on the speaker’s part of a power to bestow; and Burnet contended that such a use could not be traced back above 400 years, it having been introduced in the Middle Ages for the purpose of exalting the priesthood. The form was originally, that of a humble prayer, not of an absolute bestowment. Thus it appeared in the Apostolical Constitutions, in the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite, and in the Canons of the Councils of Carthage—the alteration being the fruit of Hildebrand’s time. The Bishop of St. Asaph and Dr. Scot, however, vindicated the Church of England in her employment of the Saviour’s words, and asserted that if they be not retained, “there is no form of ordination authoritatively,”—a very unfortunate ground of defence, for, as it was justly said, if so, then, the words not being used in the absolute form until within the previous four centuries, no valid ordinations had previously taken place. Tillotson selected a quotation from St. Augustine,[158] proving Christ to be God, because He bestowed the Holy Ghost; thus suggesting the argument that the Church could not authoritatively confer the celestial gift, but only pray that it might be conferred by the Divine Being. The rest of the time was spent in revising the Daily Prayer, the Communion and Confirmation Services, the Catechism, and other formularies, and in preparing new Collects.
1689.
The second paragraph of the general rubric at the beginning of the order for Morning and Evening Prayer was struck out, and the following passage was inserted instead:—“Whereas the surplice is appointed to be used by all ministers in performing divine offices, it is hereby declared, that it is continued only as being an ancient and decent habit. But yet, if any minister shall come and declare to his Bishop that he cannot satisfy his conscience in the use of the surplice in divine service, in that case the Bishop shall dispense with his not using it, and if he shall see cause for it, he shall appoint a curate to officiate in a surplice.” The new paragraph was afterwards scored down the side, the following memorandum being appended:—“This rubric was suggested but not agreed to, but left to further consideration.” Another memorandum followed in these words, “A Canon to specify the vestments.”
Numerous verbal alterations were introduced into the Litany,—“sudden death” being altered into “dying suddenly and unprepared;” and new versicles and responses were inserted, “From all infidelity and error, from all impiety and profaneness, from all superstition and idolatry,—Good Lord deliver us.” With the Litany it was proposed to connect the rehearsal of the Ten Commandments, and the response, “Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.”
COMPREHENSION.
To the Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several occasions were added two new forms: one a prayer to be said before receiving the Communion, another a prayer for any time of calamity. Forty-two new Collects were composed; and in the administration of the Lord’s Supper, after the Ten Commandments, came the insertion of the Beatitudes, with this petition after each of them, “Lord, have mercy upon us, and make us partakers of this blessing.” Here, and throughout the whole Prayer-Book, for the title priest is substituted that of minister. In the office for Baptism of Infants, the presentation of children for that purpose by godfathers and godmothers is acknowledged as an ancient custom to be continued; it is added, that if any person comes to the Minister, and tells him he cannot conveniently procure godfathers and godmothers for his child, and that he desires the child may be baptized upon the engagement of the parent or parents only, in that case the Minister, after discourse with him, if he persists, shall be obliged to baptize such child, or children, upon the suretiship of the parent, or parents, or some other near relation or friends. If any Minister objected at his institution to use the sign of the cross, the Bishop might dispense with that particular, and name a Curate to act for him. In reference to the doctrine of Regeneration, the form of Baptism remained the same as before.
Large additions were made to the Catechism and to the Confirmation Service, the prayers after the last answer being considerably modified; and a new prayer and exhortation prepared for the confirmed, who were required to stay and listen to it.
1689.
The “Solemnization of Matrimony,” with several verbal changes, remains substantially unaltered; but in “the Order for the Visitation of the Sick,” together with fresh interrogatories, there is this important change in the words of absolution: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to His Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him, of His great mercy, forgive thee thine offences; and upon thy true faith and repentance, by His authority committed to me, I pronounce thee absolved from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
In the Burial Service the word “dear” before the word “brother” is struck out; so are the words “as our hope is this our brother doth.” “Through any temptations” is substituted in place of the expression “for any pains of death;” and the last prayer but one is so altered that the latter portion becomes quite different. It runs thus: “We give Thee hearty thanks for that it hath pleased Thee to instruct us in this heavenly knowledge, beseeching Thee so to affect our hearts therewith, that seeing we believe such a happy estate hereafter, we may live here in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God; that being then found of Thee in peace without spot and blameless, we may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
COMPREHENSION.
No one who takes the trouble to read through the report of these tedious proceedings but must be astonished at the extent of the proposed alterations. They prove that some of the Episcopalian Divines who took part in the revision of 1689 must have been a very different class of men from the Episcopalian Divines who took part in the revision of 1662. Calamy became acquainted with the alterations, and said he thought if the scheme had been carried out, it would “have brought in two-thirds of the Dissenters.”[159] No doubt a considerable number might have been satisfied, but I consider Calamy to have been too sanguine in his expectation; his expectation resting mainly on what he knew of Presbyterians, who were much more disposed to return to the Establishment than were brethren of other denominations. But in addition to circumstances already mentioned unfavourable to Comprehension, the triumph of Presbyterianism in Scotland, which involved the abolition of Prelacy in that country, produced in Prelatists a great deal of bad feeling, and stood in the way of the present attempt; this obstacle was greatly increased by Nonconformist attacks at the time upon the use of Liturgies, and by a constantly augmenting number of Nonconformist ordinations. Besides, although extensive alterations came under discussion, very few Episcopalians were disposed to go to such lengths as were proposed; some who were active in the affair were also cautious, and an immense majority outside the Committee utterly disliked the whole business, and were opposed to any alteration whatever in the formularies.[160]
The changes proposed did not touch any articles of faith, and therefore exhibit the English Latitudinarian party in a very different position from that of the foreign Latitudinarians, who threw down all the barriers of orthodoxy, and opened the doors of the Church to Unitarians. D’Huisseau, a distinguished professor and pastor at Saumur, proposed the reunion of Christendom on the broadest doctrinal basis, and received support from several Calvinistic Divines of considerable note. The English Episcopalians, who moved in the matter as just described, rather resembled Jurieu, an eminent French theologian, ordained by an Anglican Bishop, yet officiating as a Presbyterian clergyman in France and in Holland. He advocated Comprehension on an orthodox basis, and treated Church organization and forms of worship as of minor importance.
1689.
The sittings of the Commission ended on November the 18th. Convocation had assembled on the 6th of the same month.
The labour of the Commissioners was labour in vain. It came to nothing. All that remains of it is a royal octavo pamphlet in blue paper covers, published some years ago by order of the House of Commons.
History records many a lost opportunity, which students of the past, looking at events, each from his own point of view, must needs lament. To the Catholic—the old Catholic of the Döllinger type—the Reformation appears a lost opportunity for removing abuses and uniting European Christendom. It comes before him as a crisis, which, if the Catholic party had been wise, they would have used for the purpose of purifying the Church and conciliating opponents, and so retaining them within the same fold. By the Puritan, freeing himself from party bias, I should think, the era of the Long Parliament and the Commonwealth must be regarded as a lost opportunity for treating Episcopalians (their inveterate persecutors) in the spirit of Christian justice and charity, by granting admirers of the Prayer-Book a freedom of worship which admirers of the Prayer-Book had never granted to the Puritans; thus returning good for evil, and so reading with emphasis a priceless lesson to the whole world. In like manner, surely, the liberal Churchman of the present day, whatever he may think of Tillotson’s Commission, must mourn over the Revolution as a lost opportunity for enlarging the boundaries of her communion, of recovering Dissenters—not to the extent Calamy supposed, yet in considerable numbers—and of removing from the Church of England many incumbrances, which have ever since been points of attack and sources of weakness.
CONVOCATION.
Much excitement had been manifested during the clerical elections in the year 1661, but there was far greater excitement during the election of 1689. Canvassing for members of Parliament was an old custom, but canvassing for members of Convocation was a new one, and at the time it was noticed as a sign of party spirit then so rife. The fact is remarkable, that whilst the official members of the Lower House included many distinguished men, nobody of any mark was elected, except Dr. John Mill, the eminent Greek scholar, who edited a new version of the text of the New Testament.[161] By far the majority was composed of persons who had long been Tories in politics, and now showed themselves to be High Churchmen in religion; but the Upper House,—thinned, by refusal to attend, of those nonjuring Prelates who still survived, two of them having died,—contained decidedly liberal politicians and divines in the persons of Compton, Lloyd, Burnet, and Patrick, the last of whom had in September been raised to the Bishopric of Chichester. These Bishops took the lead in the proceedings of that assembly, and imparted to them a liberal spirit. The difference between the temper of the two Houses soon appeared.
Convocation had formerly met first at St. Paul’s, and afterwards at Westminster. Now that the new Cathedral of London, though nearly completed, had not been consecrated, Convocation assembled at once within the walls of Henry VII.’s Chapel, when a Latin sermon was preached by Beveridge.
1689.
As soon as the Lower House proceeded to business, the choice of a Prolocutor was the first step. On the 21st of November, Sharp—who had in the Deanery of Canterbury succeeded Tillotson, now made Dean of St. Paul’s—proposed as Prolocutor his distinguished predecessor, who was a friend of the King, a favourite at Court, a man of prudence and moderation, and a promoter of the scheme of Comprehension. But Tillotson was rejected by two to one in favour of Jane. Nobody could mistake the significancy of the choice. It would appear that personal feeling had some influence in it. The Earls of Clarendon and Rochester are accused of having intrigued against Tillotson from resentment towards his patrons, the King and Queen—the latter of them, although their near relative, not having raised them to any high employments in the State. Moreover, it had become known, that Tillotson was intended by William to be Sancroft’s successor, as soon as Sancroft’s deposition could be legally accomplished. This circumstance stung the mind of Compton, who, on account of his former relation to the Queen as her tutor, and the signal service he had rendered at the Revolution, not to mention his noble rank, considered he had a claim superior to that of the Dean. Unworthy motives are often attributed to men upon insufficient grounds, and I am unable to discover the reasons for Tillotson’s unfavourable opinion of Compton; but as Tillotson was not likely to have adopted suspicions without reason, it is probable that Compton had something to do with the rejection of Tillotson as a candidate for the Prolocutorship. Knowing what human nature is, one does not wonder that Compton was annoyed at Tillotson being preferred to him; yet it should be remembered that if Compton was mortified by the Royal preference for Tillotson, it did not at present induce him to abandon the Liberal party. When Jane the Prolocutor was presented to Compton as President of the Upper Chamber, in the room of the absent Primate, he finished a speech upon the perfection of the Church, and the mischief of any change in it, with the words, “Nolumus leges Angliæ mutari,” in allusion, it is inferred, to Compton’s having adopted that motto for the colours of his regiment, when he had played the part of a colonel. The Bishop, in his answer, indicated his adherence to the opinions and measures he had before proposed, by saying to the Clergy, that “they ought to endeavour a temper in those things that are not essential in religion, thereby to open the door of salvation to a multitude of straying Christians; that it must needs be their duty to show the same indulgence and charity to the Dissenters under King William, which some of the Bishops and Clergy had promised to them in their addresses to King James.”[162]
CONVOCATION.
After the Royal Commission—a commission which spoke of rites and ceremonies as “indifferent and alterable”—authorizing the Convocation to proceed to business had been read, and after the delivery of a Royal message full of gracious expressions, conveyed by the Earl of Nottingham, the Bishops prepared an address. In this address they thanked His Majesty for the zeal he had shown “for the Protestant religion in general, and the Church of England in particular.”[163] To these words a strong objection was taken by the Lower House. First, they claimed a right to present an address of their own, which being disallowed, they claimed a right to offer amendments. They wished the address to be confined to what concerned the Church of England, and no mention to be made of the Protestant religion in general. An amendment being carried to that effect, there followed a conference between the two Houses—Burnet representing the Upper, Jane the Lower. The Lower House desired the words “Established Church” to be employed, which led to a dispute between the Bishop and the Prolocutor. The Bishop argued, that the Church of England as established was only distinguished from other Churches by its hierarchy and revenues, and that if Popery were restored there would still be an Established Church of England. The Prolocutor replied, that the Church was distinguished by its Articles, Liturgy, and Homilies.
1689.
The discussion between these two Divines resembled that between the two knights who could not agree about the device on a shield, because the first looked at it on one side and the second on the other. The fact is, that the disputants were thinking of different things. Burnet was thinking only of the circumstance of an Establishment—of that which is a mere incident to any Church connected with the State; so considering the question, no doubt he was right. Jane, on the other hand, was thinking of the Church itself, and not the establishment of it. Consequently he was wrong in saying what he did of the Church as established, though he would have been right had Burnet used the disputed words in the sense in which Jane was employing them. The logomachy terminated in a compromise; and the two Houses concurred in thanking William for the zeal he had expressed concerning the honour, peace, advantage, and establishment of the English Church, whereby they doubted not the interest of the Protestant religion, which in all other Protestant Churches was dear to them, would be the better secured.
CONVOCATION.
The King, in reply, assured the Bishops, that they might depend on his former promises, and he gave a new assurance that he would improve all occasions and opportunities for serving the Church of England. There also occurred in this Convocation, debates about proxies, complaints respecting the custody of Convocation records, and charges brought against the publication of books on the Athanasian Creed, contrary to the Canons. We are informed that a reverend person made a useless speech on behalf of the Bishops under suspension, wishing that something could be done to qualify them for sitting in Convocation without endangering the constitution of the Assembly; and Burnet tells us that the majority in Convocation refused to consider any compromise with the Dissenters, one argument being that it was derogatory to the Church to make overtures to them until they expressed a desire for reconciliation, and either offered proposals themselves, or showed a willingness to consider proposals made by others.[164]
Committee meetings were held in Dr. Busby’s chamber, and in Dr. Tenison’s library there was an inspection of old books belonging to Convocation, but nothing important was effected in any way. Convocation adjourned on the 16th of December through successive prorogations, and remained inoperative for ten years.