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.