dealt so cruelly by the Nonconformists should be banished by his own friends, while the others, whom he had persecuted, were most moderate in his case, and many of them for him. It was a great ease that befel good men by his fall (says he), for his way was to decoy men into conspiracies, or pretended plots, and upon those rumours innocent people were laid in prison, so that no man knew when he was safe; whereas since his time, though the laws have been made more severe, yet men are more safe."* His lordship was undoubtedly a person of very considerable abilities, which have been sufficiently celebrated by his admirers, but I have not been able to discover any great or generous exploits for the service of the public; and how far his conduct with regard to the Nonconformists was consistent with humanity, religion, or honour, must be left with the reader. CHAP. VIII. FROM THE BANISHMENT OF THE EARL OF CLARENDON TO THE KING'S DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE IN THE YEAR 1672. 1667. UPON the fall of the earl of Clarendon, the discourse of a toleration began to revive: the king in his speech to his parliament, Febuary 10, has this passage: "One thing more I hold myself obliged to recommend to you at this present, that is, that you would seriously think of some course to beget a better union and composure in the minds of my Protestant subjects in matters of religion, whereby they may be induced not only to submit quietly to the government, but also cheerfully give their assistance to the support of it.”+ Sundry pamphlets were published upon this head; and the duke of Buckingham being now prime-minister, the Nonconformists about London were connived at, and people went openly and boldly to their meetings, But the house of commons, who were yet influenced by * Baxter, part 3. p. 20, 21. + Calamy's Abridgment, vol. 1. p. 316. the pernicious maxims of the late chancellor, petitioned the king to issue out his proclamation, for enforcing the laws against conventicles, and for preserving the peace of the kingdom, against unlawful assemblies of Papists and Nonconformists. Accordingly, his majesty issued out his proclamation, that" upon consideration of the late petition, and upon information that divers persons in several parts of the realm (abusing his clemency, even while it was under consideration to find out a way for the better union of his Protestant subjects), have of late frequently and openly, in great numbers, and to the great disturbance of the peace, held unlawful assemblies and conventicles, his majesty declares, that he will not suffer such notorious contempt of the laws to go unpunished, but requires, charges, and commands, all officers to be circumspect and vigilant in their several jurisdictions, to enforce and put the laws in execution against unlawful conventicles, commanding them to take particular care to preserve the peace." The sufferings of the dissenters began to excite compassion in the minds of the people, insomuch that their numbers visibly increased, partly through the indulgence of the court, and the want of churches since the fire of London, and partly through the poverty of the common people, who having little to lose, ventured to go publicly to meetings in defiance of the laws. The indolence of the established clergy, and the diligence of the Nonconformist ministers, contributed very much to the increase of Nonconformists. Bishop Burnet says, "The king was highly offended at the behaviour of most of the bishops; archbishop Sheldon and Morley, who kept close by lord Clarendon, the great patron of persecuting power, lost the king's favour; the former never recovered it, and the latter was sent from court into his diocess. When complaint was made of some disorders and conventicles, the king said the clergy were chiefly to blame, for if they had lived well, and gone about their parishes, and taken pains to convince the Nonconformists, the nation might have been well settled, but they thought of nothing but to get good benefices, and keep a good table." In another conversation with the bishop, about the ill state of the church,+ his majesty said, "If the clergy had done their parts, it had been easy to run down the Nonconform+ Page 380. * Vol. 1. p. 371.379. ists, but they will do nothing (says the king), and will have me do every thing; and most of them do worse than if they did nothing. I have a very honest chaplain (says he), to whom I have given a living in Suffolk, but he is a very great blockhead, and yet has brought all his parish to church; I cannot imagine what he could say to them, for he is a very silly fellow; but he has been about from house to house, and I suppose his nonsense has suited their nonsense; and in reward of his diligence I have given him a bishoprick in Ireland." About this time Ralph Wallis, a cobbler of Gloucester, published an account of a great number of scandalous Conformist ministers, and enumerated their scandals, to the great displeasure of the clergy; and I fear, says Mr. Baxter,* to the temptation of many Nonconformists, who might be glad of any thing to humble the Prelatists. The learned Dr. Lazarus Seaman, the ejected minister of Allhallows, Bread-street, died this year, of whom we have given some account among the Cambridge professors; he was educated in Emanuel-college, and by his indefatigable industry rose to high reputation in the learned world for his exact acquaintance with the oriental languages; he was an able divine, an active member of the assembly at Westminster, and was taken notice of by king Charles I. at the treaty of the Isle of Wight, for his singular abilities in the debates about church-government.† He was also master of Peter-house, Cambridge, but lost all at the Restoration ; he underwent strong pains with admirable patience, and at length died in peace in the month of September 1667.+ Mr. George Hughes, B. D. the ejected minister of Plymouth, born in Southwark,§ and educated in Corpus-Christi college, in Cambridge. He was called to a lecture in London, but was silenced for nonconformity by archbishop Laud. After some time he went to Tavistock, and last of all settled at Plymouth, having institution and induction from Dr. Brownrigge, bishop of Exeter, in the year 1644. Here he continued till the year 1662, whence he was ejected a week before the act of uniformity took place. He was afterward *Life, part 3. p. 23. + Calamy, vol. 2. p. 17; and Palmer's Nonconformists' Memorial, vol. 2. p. 76. He left a very valuable library, which yielded 700l. and was the first sold by anction in England.-ED. In 1603, when his mother, who had never child before, though she was now married to her fourth husband, was fifty-two years of age. She lived to her ninetysixth year.-ED. imprisoned in St. Nicholas island, where he contracted an incurable scurvy and dropsy, which at length put an end to his life. He was well read in the fathers, an acute dispu tant, a most faithful pastor to a large flock under his care, and a most holy, pious, and exemplary Christian. He had the greatest interest and influence of any minister in the west country, and refused a rich bishoprick at the Restora tion. He was both charitable and hospitable when it was in his power, and died at length in a most heavenly manner, in the month of July 1667, and in the sixty-fourth year of his age. The reverend Mr. John Howe, his son-in-law, composed a Latin epitaph for him, which is inscribed on his tomb.* The kingdom was at this time full of factions and discontents, arising from the late calamities of fire and plague, as well as the burden of the Dutch war; trade was at a stand, and great numbers of his majesty's subjects were both dispirited and impoverished by the penal laws; but that which struck all considerate men with a panic, was the danger of the Protestant interest, and the liberties of Europe, from the formidable progress of the French armies, which this very summer overrun the Spanish Flanders, and took the strong towns of Charleroy, Bergue, Aeth, Douay, Tournay, Audenard, Lisle, Courtray, Furnes, &c. which, with their dependencies, were yielded in full sovereignty to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The English court seemed unconcerned at the French conquests, till they were awakened by the clamours of the whole nation; upon this sir William Temple was sent into Holland, who in a few weeks concluded a triple alliance between England, Holland, and Sweden, which strengthened the Protestant interest while it subsisted; but the French mistresses and money could dissolve the strongest bonds. In this critical situation of affairs abroad, some attempts were made to quiet the minds of his majesty's Protestant subjects at home, for men began to think it high time for Protestants to put a stop to the pulling down their neighbours' houses, when the common enemy was threatening the destruction of them all; therefore lord-keeper Bridgman, lord-chief-justice Hales, bishop Wilkins, Reynolds, Dr. Burton, Tillotson, Stillingfleet, and others, set on foot a * Calamy, vol. 2. p. 222; or, Palmer's Nonconformists' Memorial, vol. 1. p. 387. comprehension of such as could be brought into the church by some abatements, and a toleration for the rest. But the project was blasted by the court-bishops, and lord Clarendon's friends, who took the alarm, and raised a mighty outcry of the danger of the church.* Nobody (say they) knows where the demands of the Presbyterians will end; the cause of the hierarchy will be given up, if any of those points are yielded which have been so much contested; besides, it is unworthy of the church to court or even treat with her enemies, when there is so little reason to apprehend that we should gain any considerable numbers thereby. But to this it was replied, that the prodigious increase of Popery and infidelity was a loud call of Providence, to attempt every thing that could be done without sin for healing our divisions. That though the Nonconformists could not legally meet together to bring in their concessions in the name of the body, it was well enough known what they scrupled, and what would bring most of them into the church. That a compliance in some lesser matters of indifference would be no reproach, but an honour to the church, how superior soever she might be in argument or power.† The proposals were drawn up by bishop Wilkins and Dr. Burton, and communicated by the lord-keeper to Dr. Bates, Manton, and Baxter, and by them to their brethren, under the following particulars: 1. That such ministers who in the late times had been ordained only by presbyters, should have the imposition of the hands of a bishop, with this form of words: "Take thou authority to preach the word of God, and administer the sacraments in any congregation of the church of England, when thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto. 2. That instead of all former subscriptions, after the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, they subscribe the following declaration: I A. B. do hereby profess and declare, that I approve the doctrine, worship, and government, established in the church of England, as containing all things necessary to salvation; and that I will not endeavour by myself or any other, directly or indirectly, to bring in any doctrine contrary to that which is so established. And I do hereby promise, that I will continue in the communion of * Burnet, vol. 1. p. 380, &c. |