CHAPTER XXV.

Ken, and other Bishops, refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance
to William and Mary. Act of Parliament for their fufpen-
fion and deprival. Question of Paffive Obedience. Ken's
confiftent Conduct. The Non-juring Bishops publish a Vin-
dication of themselves.

HE life of Ken, if not unchequered, had
hitherto been one of continued and ad-
vancing usefulness in the feveral offices
of the Church: the world fmiled upon

"not

him, honoured his piety, admired his eloquence, loved
him for his charities. Henceforward his character is to
be viewed under a new afpect. He was misunderstood,
mifrepresented, forced into retirement and poverty:
fuffering deprivation" (to use his own words)
only of honour, but of income; fufficiently ridiculed,
and exposed to the world as a man of no confcience,
particulars out of which may be framed an idea very
deplorable."* Still, the inner man was unchanged-
in every act we find the same fimplicity, blending with
an undaunted firmness that could not yield up of prin-
ciple one span's breadth.

His future path was to be more difficult, because every step was befet with entangled questions of perfonal confiftency, which to a fenfitive mind are deeply

*Hawkins's Life of Ken, p. 35.

anxious; more refponfible, because it tended to feparate him from the great body of the English Church, which he fo much loved, as the ordained inftrument and channel of the true worship of God. Having joined in the last struggle in the House of Lords to maintain the rights of the King, he was foon called to decide a point, on which would depend the whole tenor of his after life. At his confecration he had fworn, as in the prefence of God, that James was the rightful King, and that he would bear true faith to him, and his heirs a pledge impofed by Parliament. The fame power now required him to forego this oath, and to fwear, with equal folemnity, that he would hold allegiance to William and Mary, who had thrust James from his throne. This, if oaths have any meaning, was fufficient to raise serious fcruples of confcience.

He found himself in a strait between oppofing difficulties. No doubt the late King had violated his coronation oath, that he would maintain unimpaired the Church of England,-to Ken the most facred of all things upon earth. On the faith of that oath he, and all the Clergy, had fworn allegiance to him. Had not James broken this mutual compact? Ken himself had joined in thanks to the Prince, as the inftrument of their deliverance from Popery: the eftates of the realm had declared the crown to be forfeited by the one, and their decree had already placed the other in poffeffion. Could he fet up his own fenfe of their respective rights, against the voice of the nation, making himself judge on the difficult points of cafuiftry, involved in the claims of a King de facto, and a King de jure, with the other political questions that followed

:

in their train? Again, the refufal of the new oath would involve him in an unequal conteft with the temporal power, separate him from his flock,—deprive him of all influence in preferving true doctrine throughout his extenfive diocefe. It would, perhaps, expofe him to perfecution and imprisonment, certainly reduce him to poverty-above all, lead to a fchifm in the Church. Here were his love of peace, the law of obedience, long cherished friendships, his own personal safety and interests, and especially the cause of unity,— prompting him to submit. These, in their several degree, had induced the majority of the Bishops, and the great mass of the Clergy to yield acquiefcence.

One fimple fact, however, to his mind, outweighed them all. If he should forfeit his oath of fidelity to James, by transferring an allegiance, which he confcientiously believed to be irrevocable, he would peril his own foul. His plighted faith was not his own to barter away at any price; the awful words "fo help me God," fealed on the holy Evangelists, were regiftered in heaven, beyond the difpenfing power of man. All, therefore, was as duft in the balance against the folemn fenfe of his duty, and of his account hereafter to be rendered. No interefts could fwerve him-no terrors shake him-no perfuafions feduce him to do evil that good might come. There was a moral compulfion that bound him indiffolubly. Archbishop Sancroft, and feven other Bishops adopted the fame

views.

Innumerable were the pamphlets, fermons, and books of controversy that iffued from the press, to prove the legal obligation to take the new oath; and many were

the arguments, refervations, limits, and justifying pleas before magistrates, under which the Clergy in general were permitted, and even perfuaded fo to do. The greater number took the oath, on the ground that James had vacated, and forfeited the throne; many confidered that by human and divine law allegiance was due to a King in actual poffeffion; fome were brought to acquiefce on the lower ground of living peaceably and quietly; others confidered it as a temporary oath, fubject to recall if ever James fhould recover his kingdom. All this the Non-jurors thought to be indefenfible: it was contrary to their sense of plain dealing, and they were content to fuffer for the truth. It might be hard to make the world believe they acted only from religious motives: that was but of fecondary importance; they resolved at all hazards to witness a good confeffion of what they thought right.

As the great bulk of the nation in numbers, influence, and wealth were willing to complete the work of the Revolution by taking the oaths, it might be thought a very little matter to the Government whether the reft concurred, or not: but the fact was otherwise. All ranks of people felt a generous fympathy in the fate of the Bishops, who had fo manfully withstood the late King's illegal acts. Parliament had recognized the value of their stedfaftnefs by an unanimous vote of thanks.* It was felt that in their resistance to Popery they had acted as true Englishmen, heartily devoted to their country.

Gutch's Coll. Curiofa, vol. i. p. 46.

Their inflexible adherence, in the former reign, to the faith they profeffed would have rendered them illuftrious in any age: for what stronger teftimony could men bear to the truth than to fuffer imprisonment, as they had done, and incur the danger of deprival, if not a worse fate, under a tyrant, backed by corrupt judges, and an irrefiftible military power? Their prefent fcruples were known to be founded on a fense of duty, to which, as before, they were now again refolved to facrifice their dearest interefts. It was impoffible not to admire fuch an example of fortitude, however men might differ as to the neceffity for it. They were bright ornaments of the Church: and the Church of England is dear to Englishmen;-and ever will be, whatever their rulers, or fectarians, or feceders, may think: it wants only occafions, which may bring her into danger, to prove this. She may yet have to sustain the assaults of an Erastian power, that would fain fubject her to a Parliamentary rule; but she bears a charmed life; for fhe is founded upon a rock,-and that Rock is Chrift.

William, too, remembered the courageous endurance of these Bishops at the critical moment, when they were most conducive to the fuccefs of his own projects. Their prefent conduct, though adverse to his views, commanded his refpect. We have several examples of his forbearance and magnanimity, in forgiving acts of treachery, even where he might have looked for a faithful attachment: he was not likely to be wanting in the fame spirit towards men, who openly refused to serve him from a regard to conscience. Above all, it was his intereft to conciliate every class: he knew the