the penalties which the law decreed against the excommunicate, so that the necessity of proceeding to the last sentence was thus obviated. There was also a form drawn up for Terriers of glebe lands, a draft of canons for matrimonial licenses, a form for admitting converts from the Church of Rome, and an exhortation to be read in church previously to the sentence of excommunication being read.1 § 18. But now again the useful labours of the Synod were interrupted by a question of heresy. Dr. Samuel Clarke had been chaplain to Moore, Bishop of Norwich, and two years consecutively Boyle lecturer. He was promoted to the rectory of St. James', Westminster, and a royal chaplaincy, and had distinguished himself in the literary world by writing against Henry Dodwell. Unfortunately, he was led into treating upon the deep and mysterious subject of the Holy Trinity, and in attempting to bring this doctrine down to the level of the human understanding, he fell into manifest Arianism. Convocation, properly jealous of any undue handling of such high mysteries, proceeded to the examination of Mr. Clarke's statements. The writer, who, at this time at any rate, did not desire to contradict the teaching of the Church, sent a paper of submission to the Synod, and thus escaped a sentence of condemnation which otherwise would have certainly been passed against him. Thus the sessions of Convocation were consumed, and before it could meet again a great calamity had fallen upon it, and upon the Church of England generally, by the death of the queen (August 1, 1714). § 19. Queen Anne had ever been a faithful supporter of the Church, not merely upon political grounds, but because, like her grandfather, Charles I., she loved and venerated it. She had shown herself desirous to promote men eminent in their profession, and was ready to suffer political inconvenience rather than forego this just exercise of her prerogative. She had selected a true son of the Church for her religious adviser, and she ever displayed a devout and fitting regard for his admonitions.2 She had proved her liberality to the Church in a more effective manner than some of her predecessors; and while Queen Elizabeth had robbed the clergy, Queer Anne had substantially aided them. Whatever fancies might for a time perplex them, Churchmen were in their hearts persuaded that the queen was truly with the Church in which she had been baptized and educated, and that she would never consent to any injustice being done to it. And when men thought of the successor destined to be advanced to the throne of England in her place, and considered how different were his antecedents, and how little in 1 Wilkins' Concilia, iv. 656-666. 2 Life of Archbishop Sharp, i. 317 common with the Church of England there was in his views, they were disposed to regret the good queen the more. That fervour and earnestness in the worship and observances of the Church which, encouraged by the example of the queen, was so marked a feature of the days of Queen Anne, could hardly be expected to continue in vigour under a German prince of Latitudinarian views and immoral habits of life. On the other hand, the son of James was a disciple of the Jesuits, and committed to the worst principles of absolutism and tyranny. Great was the calamity, therefore, which now befel the Church of England. The Churchmen who now take a prominent place are for the most part of the shallow Latitudinarian school. The real Churchmen recede into obscurity, and leave the field open to the wranglers, the sceptics, and the politicians. $20. The accession to the throne of England of a sovereign alien in birth, in language, and in religion, was certainly calculated to alarm the zealous members of the Church of England. The Jacobites endeavoured, naturally, to stimulate this alarm. "His Majesty," wrote a clever pamphleteer, "to qualify himself for the Crown, having been pleased to depart from his own religion, and to embrace one so different from it in many (and those essential) respects, it is no remote thought to apprehend that he may consent to an alteration of ours for a valuable consideration to himself." 1 To repress, if possible, the clerical alarmists, Directions were issued, bidding the clergy not to meddle in their sermons with affairs of State; but, on the other hand, Convocation was allowed to meet, and Letters of Business were sent to it, to enable it to continue the regulation of the subjects which had been submitted to it during the last reign. The Lower House now displayed a calm and practical temper very different from that which had animated it under Binks and Atterbury. On some of the subjects sent to it for consideration agreement had been arrived at, on the others there was a fair prospect of accord; and when, on the death of Archbishop Tenison (December 24, 1715), William Wake, Bishop of Lincoln, a learned and moderate Churchman, was appointed to the primacy, fair prospects seemed to lie before the Church. § 21. This aspect of affairs was soon entirely changed by the intemperate utterances of one man, than whom none perhaps ever inflicted a more serious injury on the Church of England. Benjamin Hoadly, already mentioned as a controversialist, was in 1715 promoted to the See of Bangor. Soon after his promotion his attention was attracted to some papers of Dr. Hickes, late Nonjuring bishop, 1 English Advice to the Freeholaers of England, Somers' Tracts, xiii. 533 (Bishop Atterbury). 2 Wilkins' Concilia, iv. 666. which had been seized and made public. In these the Church of England was accused of schism. In answer to this Hoadly wrote a treatise,' in which he denied the necessity of being in communion with any visible Church whatsoever, and asserted that sincerity is the only necessary requirement of a Christian profession. He followed up these startling views in a sermon preached before the king (March 17, 1717), in which he impugned the notion of the existence of any visible Church, and scoffed at the maintenance of tests of orthodoxy, and the claims of ecclesiastical government. § 22. The Convocation of Canterbury immediately proceeded to consider and animadvert on these audacious views. A committee of the Lower House met May 3, 1717, and in a week had agreed on their report to the Upper House. It was to the effect that the doctrines preached by the Bishop of Bangor had a tendency to subvert all government and discipline in the Church of Christ, as well as to impeach the royal supremacy. This report was read in the Lower House May 10, and ordered, nemine contradicente, to be presented to the bishops. § 23. Upon this the king's ministers, probably not fully understanding the question, but regarding Hoadly as representing the Whig interest, and the Convocation as the representative of Tory views, ordered the prorogation of Convocation. It was prorogued to the 23d November following, and never again suffered to meet for the despatch of business, until quite modern times. To this gross outrage on the Church of England most of the mischiefs and scandals which impeded her progress during the eighteenth century are distinctly to be traced. The Church, denied the power of expressing her wants and grievances, and of that assertion of herself in her corporate capacity which the constitution had provided for her, was assaulted at their will by unscrupulous ministers of the Crown, and feebly defended by Latitudinarian bishops in an uncongenial assembly. Her ministers might now give utterance to the most heretical, and even blasphemous teaching, without fear of censure, and there remained no agency for altering and adjusting her system to meet the varying requirements and opportunities of the times. With the abeyance of the corporate action of the Church of England a history of her progress naturally terminates, but there is subjoined a general sketch of religious matters during the remainder of the century, in order to indicate the sources from whence the renewed life and vigour of the Church in the nineteenth century have taken their origin. 1 A Preservative against the Principles and Practices of the Nonjurors in Church and State. 2 Hoadly's Works, i. 392-3-5. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE CLERGY IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ANNE. The incomes of the clergy had not as yet much advanced since the Restoration. There were at least ten bishoprics whose revenues did not average more than £600 a year. There were a great number of livings ranging from £60 down to £20. A reading curate received as ordinary salary in town churches £20; a chaplain might expect £30 and rails; a lecturer or preaching curate in a town church, £60. Country curates seldom exceeded £20, £25, or £30 per annum.-Swift's Works, Bishop of Lincoln's Charge, 1697. The recognised social position of the clergyman and his family was about that of the tradesman. He made no attempt to keep up the status of a gentleman. "The vicar," writes Dean Swift, "will probably receive presents now and then from his parishioners, and perhaps from his squire, who, although he may be apt sometimes to treat his parson a little superciliously, may probably be softened by a little humble demeanour. The vicar is likewise generally sure to find on his admittance to the living a convenient house and barn in repair, with a garden and a field or two to graze a few cows and one horse for himself and his wife. He has probably a market very near him, perhaps in his own village. No entertainment is expected by his visitor beyond a pot of ale and a piece of cheese. His wife is little better than Goody in her birth, education, or dress; and as to himself, we must let his parentage alone. If he be the son of a farmer it is very sufficient, and his sister may very decently be chambermaid to the squire's wife. He goes about on working days in a grazier's coat, and will not scruple to assist his workmen in harvest times. His daughters shall go to service or be sent apprentice to the sempstress in the next town, and his sons are put to honest trades."-Swift, Essay on the Fates of Clergymen. CHAPTER XL. RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS DURING REMAINDER OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 1717-1801. THE first effect of the silencing of Convocation was to stimulate what was called the Bangorian Controversy. In this war of pamphlets the principles put forth by Hoadly were attacked and defended, often with excessive virulence and scurrility. The chief writers on the Church side were Dr. Thomas Sherlock, afterwards Bishop of London, and Mr. William Law, a nonjuror, the author of devotional works still extensively known and read. The number of publications in the Bangorian Controversy amounted to several hundreds. "Probably," says Mr. Lathbury, "few persons have ever seen them all." It is probable that Hoadly's sermon against Tests was intended to prepare the way for the passing of the bill for "strengthening the Protestant interest," brought into the House of Lords, December 13, 1718. This Act proposed to repeal the Act against Occasional Conformity and the Schism Act, and also certain clauses in the Test and Corporation Acts. So strong an opposition was offered to this latter part of it that, after being carried in the Lords, it was withdrawn, and the bill, as passed, merely repealed the two former Acts. In another measure before the House of Lords (January 1722) the animus of the Government against the Church further appeared. This was the Quakers' Affirmation Bill, against which a petition of the London clergy having been offered, was voted a libel and ordered not to be received. The condemnation of Bishop Atterbury by Act of Parliament for alleged correspondence with the Stuarts (March 1723), and his banishment for life, plainly indicated that High Church and Jacobite views among the clergy were not without danger. The favour and patronage zealously lavished upon the clergy of liberal views in religion stimulated the growth of Latitudinarianism of the extremest type. "Writers of high name and reputation were found to incline towards that laxity of principle which, scarcely acknowledging the obligation of contending even for the most essential and fundamental arti1 Hist. of Convocation, 461. 2 Parl. Hist. vii. 938. |