those rights within the most contracted limits. Those styled in the proclamation the moderate presbyterians were allowed to meet in their private houses only; and it was declared to be his royal pleasure that field conventicles should be prosecuted according to the utmost rigor of the law whereas the catholics were released altogether from the operation of statutes made in the reigns of king James I. and Mary queen of Scots, of blessed and pious memory, without the lawful consent of the sovereign:" and they are pronounced to be as free in all respects as the protestant subjects of the king, not only to exercise their religion, but to enjoy all offices and benefices. So that popery was in effect established by virtue of this proclamation as the religion of the state; though the king thought fit, in conclusion, to declare" that it was not his intention to use force or invincible necessity against any man on account of his religious persuasion." The privy council of Scotland returned their thanks for this proclamation, as for some signal favor conferred upon the kingdom.* In Ireland, the earl of Clarendon Affairs of was removed from the office of lord lieutenant, * The English declaration, published at the same time, contained indeed loose and vague promises of protection and support to the Anglican church: but Dr. Cartwright, dean of Rippon, in a sermon preached by him at this crisis, took occasion to observe, "that the king's promises were free dona Ireland. and the earl of Tyrconnel nominated as his successor; a most bigoted papist, and a man of such savage ferocity, that even the moderate catholics in England expressed great apprehension and uneasiness at this appointment. And lord Bellasis, who succeeded the earl of Rochester in the treasury, did not hesitate to affirm with an oath "that Tyrconnel was fool and madman enough to ruin ten kingdoms." This man had, without deigning to seek any colorable pretext, cashiered all the protestant officers in the Irish army, and had put the catholics in entire possession of all the offices of government. He was preparing measures to pack a parliament, which should repeal the act of settlement, and empower the king to restore all the lands of Ireland to his catholic subjects. Rice, chief baron of the exchequer, in menacing terms declared "that he would drive a coach and six horses through the act of settlement:" and Fitton, a wretch convicted of the crime of forgery, and raised from a gaol to the dignity of chancellor of Ireland, and who was the principal adviser of Tyrconnel, as well as the chief instrument of his tyranny, scrupled not publicly to affirm tives, and ought not to be too strictly examined or urged, and that they must leave his majesty to explain his own meaning in them." The king was so delighted with this gloss, that he rewarded the author with the bishopric of Chester. Echard, vol. iii. p. 797. from the bench, "that the protestants were all rogues, and that there was not one in forty thousand of them who was not a traitor and a villain." Affairs also in England began every day to wear a more serious and alarming aspect, and seemed manifestly hastening to a crisis. of Ecclesi Commis sion. By virtue of the royal supremacy, a new ec- New Court clesiastical court was established in direct oppo- astica! sition to the act of 1640, by which the former court of high commission had been abolished, and which expressly prohibited its revival in any form. This court, consisting of the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Durham and Rochester (Crew and Sprat), the lord chancellor Jeffries, the lord treasurer Rochester, and the lord chief justice Herbert, was empowered to proceed discretionally in a summary way in all ecclesiastical matters, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. And they did not long wait for an opportunity of exercising their authority. Dr. Sharpe, rector of a parish in the diocese of London, and a very popular preacher of those times, ventured, in direct opposition to the royal injunction expressly prohibiting all controversial topics in the pulpit, to expose and confute the errors and absurdities of popery without reserve, in a sermon preached by him in his own parish church; and took occasion to speak in contemptuous language of those who were weak enough to embrace a re ligion supported by arguments so futile and frivolous. This was immediately reported at court, and represented as a personal reflection upon the king; and the earl of Sunderland sent an order to the bishop of London in the king's name, requiring him to suspend Sharpe immediately, and then to examine judicially into the truth of the allegation against him. The bishop replied, that he had no power to proceed in such a summary way; but if an examination were regularly brought into his court, he would inflict such censure as could be Bishop of warranted by ecclesiastical law. In consequence suspended. of this refusal the bishop himself was cited before the commissioners, and suspended for contumacy and disobedience to the king's authority; and Jeffries, for his eminent services recently promoted. to the great scal, treated this prelate with a rudeness and insolence which inflamed the minds of the public still more than the sentence itself. Even the princess of Orange, for presuming to intercede with the king in behalf of the bishop, who had long stood high in her esteem and favor, was severely reprimanded for interfering in affairs with which she had no concern. London 1687. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge ejected from his office. As if the king had formed a determination to involve himself every day in some new difficulty, a royal mandate was sent to the university of Cambridge, requiring the degree of master of arts to be conferred on Father Francis, a Benedictine monk. The university, plainly perceiving that by a compliance with this mandate a door would be opened for the admission of papists, who would soon become a majority of the senate, peremptorily refused to obey the king's order; and the vice-chancellor was summoned before the ecclesiastical commissioners to answer this contempt, and by sentence of the court was ejected from his office. The king also chose this opportunity to engage in a quarrel of a still more serious nature with the university of Oxford. That learned body had a few years before passed a solemn decree in full convocation, approving and confirming the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance in the most explicit terms. The time was now arrived to demonstrate the difference between the theory and practice of these absurd principles. The president of Magdalen President college, one of the richest foundations in the uni- of Magdalen College versity, dying at this juncture, a mandate was sent expelled. in favour of one Farmer, a papist, and a man in other respects by the statutes of the college ineligible to the office. The fellows of the college made submissive applications to the king to recall his mandate. But the king not deigning to notice them, they unanimously chose Dr. Hough, a man eminent both for virtue and ability, and who afterwards filled with distinguished reputation the see of Worcester. The new president and and Fellows |