The Bishops published a vindication of themselves, denying that they had any share in the recent form of prayer, or that they had any knowledge as to who were the writers. In reference to the attack upon them they said, “Who the author of the libel was they did not know; but whoever he might be, they desired, as the Lord had taught, to return him good for evil, and recommended him to the Divine mercy.” They had all, they went on to declare, actually or virtually, hazarded whatever they possessed in opposing Popery and arbitrary power; and were still ready to sacrifice their very lives in the same noble cause. In conclusion, they lamented the misfortune that they were unable to publish full and particular replies to the many libels which were industriously circulated by enemies, to the injury of their reputation. The authorship of the prayers being denied by the Bishops, it was attributed to Hickes, or to Sherlock, or to Kettlewell; on their behalf a protest was entered against such a suspicion in the Life of the last of these persons; but some sympathy with the New Liturgy itself is betrayed by the writer, when, without any condemnatory or qualifying remark, he calls it “as solemn and expressive as any could well be;” nor does he hint at its being the work of Roman Catholics—an origin which, by some writers, has been suggested without sufficient reason.[189]
CHAPTER VI.
On the 1st of July, 1690, the memorable Battle of the Boyne was fought and won by William III. He received a slight wound; and that slight wound created an unexampled sensation throughout England and the cities and courts of Europe. A letter conveying the intelligence reached the Queen at Whitehall just as she was going to chapel; and, to use her own expression, it frightened her out of her wits. But out of her senses with trouble one day, she was out of her senses with joy the next, to find the injury turned out to be very slight.[190] Paris, at first frantic with exultation on hearing of the supposed death of the great enemy of France, sunk into rageful disappointment to find that he was still alive, and ready to fight further battles in support of Protestantism. Strange as it may appear—but the strange combinations of European parties and politics at that time will account for it—the tidings of the wound brought no joy to Rome, any more than to Austria.[191] Both were reassured by a true report of the fate of William. “No mortal man,” said Tillotson, “ever had his shoulder so kindly kissed by a cannon bullet;” a felicitous tune of expression, which even South, with all his prejudice against Tillotson, could not fail to admire.[192]
1690.
Whilst the battle was raging on the banks of the Boyne, a sea fight occurred off the Sussex coast; an English Bishop, in sympathy with his Royal master, was performing his sacred functions in the vicinity of the latter of these conflicts; and an extract from his Diary in reference to it is worth transcribing:—
“Thirtieth of June, being Monday, I began my visitation at Arundel; and went the next day to Lewes, where I visited on Wednesday; and on Thursday went towards Hastings, and heard by the way that the French were burning that town. But we resolved to go on, being invited to lie at Sir Nicholas Pelham’s, whose house was not many miles from it. He was gone thither with other country gentlemen; the French having attempted to burn some ships that were run on ground there. He sent us word the town was safe, but he could not come home that night. At six in the morning he came, and said there was no danger, but the town was in such confusion that it would be to no purpose to go thither. For the churches were full of soldiers, who lay there all night, and the streets full of country people, and all the women frighted away and fled, so that there were none left to dress any victuals. He invited us therefore to stay with him, and entertained us most kindly. But my Chancellor, Dr. Briggs, all on a sudden started up, and would go to Hastings, and about noon word was brought us some of the Clergy were there; which made me condemn myself for not going with him, though I followed the best advice I could get. And afterward it appeared to be the best; for though some of the clergy appeared, there was no place wherein to visit them; and besides it might have proved dangerous: for two men were killed with a cannon bullet in the very next house to that where my Chancellor sat; which made him run away in haste before he had done his business, and (as I remember) left some of his books behind him.”[193]
SHERLOCK.
The Battle of the Boyne led to an important clerical conversion. William Sherlock, Master of the Temple, had distinguished himself in the reign of James II., not only by his zeal in contending against Popery, but also by his decision in maintaining the principle of non-resistance. He strongly disapproved of the turn which affairs took at the Revolution, and advocated negotiations with the exiled Monarch, in reference to his being restored upon terms which would preserve constitutional liberty. The accession of the Prince and Princess of Orange inspired indignation, and the new oaths were by him unhesitatingly declined. He threw in his lot with the Nonjurors, who regarded his talents with respect and his character with admiration; and they esteemed the support of a man so popular as a tower of strength. After losing the Mastership of the Temple, he retired into private life, and, pensive amidst misfortunes, wrote and published his celebrated treatise on Death. Still he deprecated schism; disapproved of the establishment of any Episcopal sect; advised those who could conscientiously remain, not to forsake their parish churches; and even officiated himself at St. Dunstan’s, actually reading the prayers for William and Mary. When the Battle of the Boyne decided the fate of the exile, and secured peace for the occupants of the throne, Sherlock looked at things in another light, became reconciled to the revolutionary settlement, and took the oaths which he had before refused. As a consequence, he returned to the Mastership of the Temple, and also received the Deanery of St. Paul’s, vacated by Tillotson’s elevation to Canterbury. So prominent a man on the nonjuring side, could not pass through such a conversion without giving some reasons for it; accordingly he wrote a book, which he entitled, The Case of the Allegiance due to Sovereign Powers stated and resolved according to Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England.
1690.
SHERLOCK.