that though he was about to search for foreign aid, he would never use it in overthrowing the laws or the established religion of his country. Whether this declaration were sincere, or not, his short reign affords a warning, how dangerous it is to permit a prince infected with Popish superstitions, to sway the English sceptre.

James had been early accustomed to the despotism of naval command; and it was probably this arbitrary dominion which inspired him with so sovereign a contempt for the opinions and the religious feelings of his subjects.

Nothing could exceed the infatuation of this inflexible bigot: the Catholics, whom he sought to establish, were not one hundredth part of the people; and the Dissenters, whom he courted, scarcely a twentieth.

The throne was now declared, in a convention of the English people, to be abdicated; and the Prince of Orange, with his wife Mary, were raised to the vacant seat. This event constitutes the glorious era of the Revolution; when the civil and ecclesiastical constitutions of these realms were both placed on a better and more liberal foundation.

XII. By a solitary Act of Parliament, relating to spiritual matters, passed during the sovereignty of James, it was appointed that each brother and sister should inherit equally, when a brother died intestate without wife or child.

XIII. HUMPHREY PRIDEAUX is the only English divine deserving of particular notice, under this brief reign. We pass by, however, his works in miscellaneous learning: The Life of Mahomet, The History of Appropriations, and The Right of Tythes, are now only occasionally referred to: but his opus maximum, The Connections of the Old and New Testaments with History, Jewish and profane, is a valuable and standard production, well deserving a place in the library of every clergyman.

XIV. All the ecclesiastical supremacy enjoyed by the Pope, was conceived to have devolved by the Reformation on the King: and though the last parliament of Charles the First, by preventing the sovereign, or convocation, from making canons without consent of the Legislature, had somewhat abridged this power, it was still formidably great. The suspending privilege, in regard to the Test, was yet maintained by the best lawyers. Whatever judgment may be passed on the Dissenters as a political body, the praise must not be withheld from them of having been, generally, sound in doctrine, severe in morals, constant in suffering, careful in the education of their children, and anxious for preserving an able and zealous body of ministers.

CHAPTER XV.

THE REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

Contents.

I. Battle of the Boyne, and Reduction of the Irish Catholics.-II. State of Parties: Passive Obedience and Non-resistance.--III. Temper of the Bishops and Clergy in taking the Oath of Allegiance.-IV. Nonjurors : New Bishops: Tillotson, Primate: High and Low Church.-V. Bill of Comprehension and Synod for altering the Liturgy, both rendered abortive.-VI. Toleration Act.-VII. Arguments respecting Nonresistance.-VIII. Character of Tillotson: Tennison, Primate. IX. Trial of Bishop Watson for Simony. -X. Burnet assailed by the Tories.-XI. Deaths of James II. and William.-XII. Acts of Parliament. -XIII. Learned Divines.-XIV. Miscellaneous Matters: Society for propagating Christianity in foreign Parts.

1689. I. In the French war which followed the Revolution, Louis XIV. supplied James, the British ex-king, with a fleet for the invasion of Ireland. The people of that Catholic island received him with submission, excepting only the city of Londonderry; but William defeated the disturber of his reign on the banks of the Boyne, and compelled him to withdraw a se

cond time to France. At the same juncture, the defeat of his friends at Killicrankie, conspired towards the total ruin of his cause. Soon after, the Irish rebels were entirely reduced: and by the treaty of Limerick, the Catholics were restored to the same rights and privileges as they had enjoyed under Charles II.; while 14,000 of the determined adherents to the cause of James were permitted to transport themselves to the Continent.

H. An abhorrence of republican principles had conducted many among the Bishops, and others of the High Church party, to the wild and extravagant doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance, which, if received, would afford free encouragement to every tyrannical monarch to trample in security on the liberties of a people. Through adherence to these principles, and to the pride of consistency, only two prelates, Compton and Trelawney, united in the vote declaratory of James's abdication. Such, however, is the disposition of man to acquiesce in measures once established, that in the Convention Parliament, which met in January 1689, the Episcopal Bench appeared tolerably full, eight only having absented themselves.

III. To accommodate the tender consciences of the High Church party, the terms of the oath

of fealty were changed, from "true and lawful king,” into “bearing true faith and allegiance:" but even in taking the oath thus softened, it was found that many of their body made protestations of allegiance to the Prince of Orange, only as present possessor of the throne; still regarding the expatriated monarch as the rightful owner. Thus certain ecclesiastics retained their benefices by making a nice distinction between submission and allegiance, between a king de jure and de facto: a mental reservation dictated by base interest; the subtlety of a loose conscience, which, if once admitted to be right, would lead to the disregard or destroy the obligation of any oath however solemn.

IV. More highly to be commended were those prelates, who, in suffering the sentence of deposition, however mistaken may have been their principle, afforded at least a proof of their sincerity. These were Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, with seven Bishops of his province: namely; Lloyd of Norwich, Frampton of Gloucester, Thomas of Worcester, Turner of Ely, Kenn of Bath and Wells, Lake of Chichester, and White of Peterborough. It is to be observed, that the last four had, in the late reign, been sent to the Tower; men to be respected even in their errors, since not even a

* Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. i. p. 6-11.