esteem. If James had conversed upon these subjects with Sancroft, and such men as Sancroft, instead of the Jesuits with whom he was surrounded, happy might it have been for himself, and his family, and his kingdoms. Upon the important question of settling the Government, which now ensued, the great body of the Clergy agreed in opinion with the Primate that the best course was to declare the King incapable of the Government, and to appoint the Prince of Orange Custos Regni, to carry it on in the King's right and name. "The political capacity or authority of the King," thus Sancroft reasoned, "are perfect and cannot fail; but his person being human and mortal, and not otherwise privileged than the rest of mankind, is subject to all the defects and failings of it. He may therefore be incapable of directing the government either by absence, by infancy, by lunacy, deliracy, or apathy, whether by nature or casual infirmity; or lastly, by some invincible prejudices of mind, contracted and fixed by education and habit, with unalterable resolutions superinduced, in matters wholly inconsistent and incompatible with the laws, religion, peace, and true policy of the Kingdom." The Archbishop saw that James had placed himself in this predicament, and thinking that the appointment of a Regent upon these grounds was the only just course, he believed it therefore to be the only wise one. "For it is a great truth," said he, "that the mind and opinion of every individual person is an ingredient into the happiness or ruin of a government, though it be not discerned till it comes to the eruption of a general discontent. Things just and good and grateful should be done without expectation of immediate payment for so doing, but in the course and felicity of proceedings wherein there will certainly, though insensibly, be a full return. For all things in which the public is concerned, tend constantly, though slowly, and at last violently, to the justice of them: and if a vis impressa happens, and carries them (as for the most part it doth) beyond or beside what is just, yet that secret vigour and influence of particular and private men's inclinations, brings them back again to the true perpendicular. And whoever he is that hath to do in the public, and slights these considerations, preferring some political scheme before them, shall find his hypothesis full of flattery at the first, of trouble in the proceeding, and of confusion in the last." Thus excellently did this wise and upright man reason; but he soon found that in a time of political troubles, good men find it easier to suffer than to act. The fear of doing wrong produced in him a vacillation, or at least a timidity of mind which rendered him incapable of taking a decided part; and when the question was debated in the House of Lords, whether a Regent should be appointed, or the throne filled up as being vacant, Sancroft was not present at the debate. His presence might not improbably have turned the scale, for it was carried against a regency but by a majority of two. Only two Bishops voted for filling up the throne, nine against it; and when the oath of allegiance to William and Mary was to be taken nine Prelates refused to take it. Among those who thus chose to incur the penalty of deprivation rather than transfer that allegiance, which they believed to be indefeasible, were Sancroft, Ken, Turner, Lake, and White, five of those seven to whose magnanimous resistance the nation was mainly indebted for its deliverance from an arbitrary government, and a persecuting religion. About four hundred of the Clergy followed their example. The great body, agreeing with them and with the national voice as pronounced in Parliament, that Popery is inconsistent with the English constitution, admitted the justice and necessity of the law by which all Papists were for ever excluded from the succession to the crown. That the Nonjurors judged erroneously must be admitted; but never were any men who acted upon an erroneous opinion. more entitled to respect. Ferocious libels were published against them, wherein hints were given that the people would do well in De-Witting them, a bloody' word derived from an accursed deed, at that time fresh in remembrance. The Government however treated them with tenderness, and long put off the deprivation which it was at length compelled to pronounce: but it is not to its honour that it reserved no provision for the sequestered Clergy, considering their offence consisted only in adhering to the principle without which no Government can be secure ; The word is used also in the Lockhart Papers (vol. ii. p. 162): “Had he himself been in town, they had certainly De-Witted him." and that although an act was passed allowing the King to continue to any twelve of these persons, a third of their former revenue, this bounty was not exercised in a single instance ; . . . this can only be excused by supposing there may have been a well-founded apprehension that the allowance would have been refused if offered. If a few individuals were engaged in correspondence with the exiled family, the greater number gave no offence to the Government, nor excited any jealousy, but contented themselves with practising the non-resistance which they taught. As their opinions were not connected with any political or religious enthusiasm, there was nothing to perpetuate them, and the Nonjurors died away long before the House of Stuart was extinct. From the time of the Revolution the Church of England has partaken of the stability and security of the State. Here therefore I terminate this compendious, but faithful, view of its rise, progress, and political struggles. It has rescued us, first from heathenism, then from papal idolatry and superstition; it has saved us from temporal as well as spiritual despotism. We owe to it our moral and intellectual character as a nation; much of our private happiness, much of our public strength. Whatever should weaken it, would in the same degree injure the common weal; whatever should overthrow it, would in sure and immediate consequence bring down the goodly fabric of that Constitution, whereof it is a constituent and necessary part. If the friends of the Constitution understand this as clearly as its enemies, and act upon it as consistently and as actively, then will the Church and State be safe, and with them the liberty and the prosperity of our country. THE END. INDEX. A. ABBEYS, their lands seized, 289. Lavish Abbott, archbishop, favours the Puri- Acton, Sir Roger, burnt for treason and heresy, reign of Henry V., 214. Alban, St., his history and martyr- Alban's, St., great council at, 151. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherburn, 50. Tours, 85. His reply to Henry of Alfred the Great enforces baptism, 44. Alfred the Great-continued. ib. Made a cardinal, ib. He is founder Altar, a communion table supersedes Alva, the duke of, 382. Anabaptists, German and Dutch, exe- Angles or Saxons, slaves exported from Anne, queen of Richard II., protects Anselm, his rise to ecclesiastical power bishop of Canterbury, 76. Requires Aquinas, Thomas, 200. Arians and Socinians, 297, 324, 386, 410. Opinions of Arminius, 411, 477. Articles of the Church, the, 99. Aske, Robert, heads a formidable in- Askew, Anne, repudiated by Kyme, Assembly of Divines, of the Puritans, Audley, the chancellor, Sir Thomas, Augustine, his mission to England, 15. Austria, the duke, seizes on Richard B. See MARTYRS. Bacon, Sir Nicholas, lord-keeper, 367. Bainham, James, martyrdom of, 231. Bale, regretted the devastation of the Baliol, Joceline de, excommunicated for his share in the Constitutions of Bancroft, bishop of London, 399. Made Baptism, the sacrament of, necessary to Bardic and Druidical doctrines, 3. Bari, council of, 77. Barons of England, distrusted by John, Barnes, Sir George, Mayor of London, Barnes, Robert, prior of the Augus- tines at Canterbury, 237. Accused Bartholomew, St., massacre of, 376. He Secures the favour of Louis of |