The operation of the Act, the petition of ministers, and the discussions in Council, were soon the topic of newspapers, and the talk of the country; and great credit was given for the "care and prudence of the most worthy diocesan" of London, in filling up the numerous vacancies. It was reported, that at Northampton, "all except two or three" conformed; that at Gloucester, there was "scarcely a man" who did not subscribe; and that at Newport, an instance occurred of a building erected by Nonconformists being seized and appropriated for Episcopal worship. We find it also stated that in the City of Chester, Nonconformists preached on the 24th of August, though cautioned against it by the Bishop; and that the following Sunday they being displaced, and other ministers being appointed, the Presbyterians still came to the parish service; and that in Northumberland, there were "only three disaffected ministers, Scotchmen, who quietly left their livings, and crossed the Tweed." The High Church party believed the Act to be popular, and Nonconformity to be an insignificant affair—a mere puff of smoke, which a moment's wind would blow away. Episcopal visitations created much enthusiasm. All the gentry went out to meet the Bishop of Exeter, with one thousand horse, and foot without number, and many coaches; City music sounded from the top of Guildhall, and the Bishop drove up to the Deanery amidst volleys of shot. At Chippenham, like honours saluted the Bishop of Salisbury.[386] Rumours of another kind floated in other quarters. William Hook, an Independent, who had been ejected from the Savoy, informed an American correspondent, that after the Act of Uniformity, there were few communicants at the churches, "only ten, twenty, or forty, where there were 20,000 persons more than sixteen years old; and on festival days only the parsons and three or four at their devotions."[387] It is not to be supposed that Hook, any more than his contemporaries in newspapers, gave himself much trouble in sifting evidence, still probably there is truth in what he says. Beyond idle rumours certain facts are established. For example, St. Mary's Church, at Taunton, was closed for several weeks successively; and although we find that afterwards public services were held at rare intervals, the parish had no resident minister for the next nine months.[388]
THE BARTHOLOMEW EJECTMENT.
The law bound every clergyman to subscribe in the presence of his Archbishop or Ordinary, and it may be mentioned in illustration, that the Canons of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, subscribed before the Dean, he being the Ordinary of the place; some of them, in majorem cautionem, subscribed also before the Archbishop of Canterbury, yet was it with this proviso—saving the rights and privileges of this free chapel.[389]
Some clergymen, who ultimately subscribed, did so with hesitation. Sir Thomas Browne, in his tour through Derbyshire, met with a friend who, the day before he saw him, which was in the month of September, "had most manfully led up a train of above twenty parsons, and though they thought themselves to be great Presbyterians, yet they followed" this leader to Chesterfield, and by subscribing there "kept themselves in their livings despite of their own teeth."[390] Some lingered awhile on neutral ground; others went back to the Establishment. A large number of cases of this kind may be found in Calamy's Account and Palmer's Nonconformist Memorial.[391] Men of character and worth, belonging to the Puritan party, overcame their scruples by putting a general interpretation on a precise declaration, and by pondering the thought that a superior social influence for good would attend their remaining as shepherds within the Episcopalian sheep-fold.
1662.
Lightfoot, Wallis, and Horton, who had been Presbyterian Commissioners at the Savoy, became Conformists. Dr. Fogg, of Chester, joined them at the end of five years; Dr. Conant at the end of seven.
Gurnal, the devout author of the Christian Armour, belongs to the same class. All such men had to pay the penalty of separating from old friends.[392] They suffered abuse; being taunted with the use of "Episcopal eye-salve," and for bowing down to "the whore of Babylon." All sorts of stories were buzzed abroad to their discredit; it is related as a Divine judgment that a Conformist crossing a bridge on his way to the place where he meant to subscribe, was thrown from his horse and killed. The tale appears in connection with an account of a clergyman, who, after expressing himself in a sermon bitterly against the Presbyterians, dreamed that he should die at a certain time, and, in accordance with this warning, was found dead in his bed.[393] Cases also occurred in which clergymen at first conformed to the Act, and afterwards became Dissenters.[394]
THE BARTHOLOMEW EJECTMENT.
Soon after the Act had been passed, the Bishops issued articles of inquiry and visitation, very much of the same comprehensive, minute, and sifting description, as those which had been issued before the Civil Wars. In these articles, distinct reference is made to the conformity required by the new law. The text of the articles for the dioceses of Bath and Wells, Chichester, Exeter, Hereford, Lincoln, Llandaff, Oxford, Peterborough, and St. David's is, with slight exception, the same as that for the diocese of Winchester, of which Morley was Bishop; and, under the third title, Concerning Ministers, it is asked, whether they had been legally instituted and inducted; and had, within two months after induction, on some Sunday or holyday, publicly, in the time of Divine service, read the Thirty-nine Articles and declared assent to them; also, whether in the daily Morning and Evening service, Administration of the Holy Sacraments, Celebration of Marriage, Churching of Women, Visitation of the Sick, Burial of the Dead, and pronouncing God's Commination against impenitent sinners, they used the words prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer, without any addition, omission, or alteration of the same? Also whether they wore the surplice, and such scholastical habit as was suitable to their degree, and observed holydays, fasts, embers, and the yearly perambulations in Rogation weeks? Also whether any person had preached in the parish as a lecturer, and if so, whether he had obtained a license from the Bishop, and had read the appointed prayers, and was in all respects conformable to the laws of the Church?[395]