1662.
In some articles, the questions on these points are still more precise and stringent. Cosin, Bishop of Durham, asks "Do you not know, or have you not heard, that in his reading, or pretending to read, these Thirty-nine Articles, he (the minister) omitted or skipped over some one or more of them? What article was it, or what part thereof that he left unread?" The same prelate also inquires whether lecturers read prayers in a surplice.[396] Other Bishops satisfied themselves with general questions. Griffith, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Henchman, Bishop of Salisbury, both use these words, "Doth your minister distinctly, reverently, say Divine service upon Sundays and holydays;" "doth he duly observe the orders, rites, and ceremonies prescribed in the said Book of Common Prayer?"[397] Bishop Reynolds asks whether the minister had been freely presented, and legally instituted and inducted? whether he had publicly read the Thirty-nine Articles, and given his assent, and celebrated every office in such form, manner, and habit, as is prescribed? He inquires as to the right and due observance of the sacraments, and the notice of holydays: and, like others of his brethren, inquires respecting the observance of the 5th of November, the 30th of January, and the 29th of May.[398]
Archdeacons also issued articles touching the manner of celebrating Divine service.[399]
Notwithstanding all these precautions, a few ministers continued within the pale of the Establishment without conforming to the Act.
THE BARTHOLOMEW EJECTMENT.
John Chandler held the living of Petto in Essex; although he had only received Presbyterian ordination, he was pronounced by his diocesan, Bishop Reynolds—thus far true to his old faith—to be as good a minister as he could make him; and notwithstanding his only partial use of liturgical worship, he was allowed to retain his incumbency. Mr. Ashurst, of Arlsey—a poor Bedfordshire vicarage—in the diocese of Lincoln, in which Laney succeeded Sanderson in 1663, continued to officiate in the parish church, reading parts of the Common Prayer, and taking for his support whatever his parishioners chose to contribute. Nicholas Billingsley, settled at Blakeney, in the parish of Awre, in the diocese of Gloucester—"lived very peaceably for awhile"—on his impropriation of £50 per annum, by the permission of Bishop Nicholson. We also find in the diocese of Chester, under the successive episcopacy of Hall, Wilkins, and Pearson, that Angier of Denton, continued the occupancy of the parish pulpit, and the enjoyment of parish emoluments, notwithstanding his perseverance in Presbyterian worship. Tilsley, the Presbyterian Vicar of Dean, after losing his vicarage, was, by Wilkins, permitted to resume his ministry as lecturer in his old parish, the new Vicar reading prayers. There were other instances in the same diocese of an evasion of the law. In the diocese of Gloucester, under Nicholson, Henry Stubbs was allowed the poor living of Horsley; and in the diocese of Llandaff, under Lloyd, Richard Hawes was permitted to preach without subscribing. Similar instances of irregularity occurred in different parts of the country. Some clergymen, after being ejected, were allowed to become chaplains in hospitals and prisons, and to officiate occasionally for parochial Incumbents.[400]
1662.
It may be added, that there were clergymen in the Establishment who disapproved of what had been done. Edward Stillingfleet, however he might speak and act afterwards, expressed, at that time, liberal opinions, and acted in a manner consistent with them. He maintained that Christ's design was to ease men of their former burdens, and not to lay on more; that the unity of the Church is an unity of love and affection, and not a bare uniformity of practice or opinion; and that however desirable in a Church the latter might be, as long as there are men of different ranks and sizes in it, it is hardly attainable.[401]
In accordance with these sentiments, Stillingfleet sheltered at his rectory of Sutton, in Bedfordshire, one of the ejected ministers, and took a large house, which he converted into a school for another.