8 S 2 A Review of the principal facrlr ohje fed to the And yet nineteen in twenty of them complied with the times. Mr. Strype (peaking of the fubfcription impofed upon all that had ecclefiafti- L. Parker, cal preferments in the church, writes, that " th?re were many TEMPO- p. 77. " RIZING PRIESTS among them, who had complied with all the " changes of the forgoing reigns, Tome prevailed on others to fubfcribe " for them, and the word VOLENS in feveral places is written, as ifit " was NOLENS fubfcrtpft." Strype's The fame hiftorian adds, that " the bithops were forced to allow ma- ny that had beenpopifhpriefts, but now complied with the prefent proceed- ings, to officiate in churches." " Indeed a great fort of thefe were " ° men of little confciences (lays he), and though they outwardly corn- " plied with the prefent ecelefiaftical orders, and read the common- " prayer, and fubfcribed to the doctrine now profeffed, yet inwardly they " favoured popery, and as much as they durfl, would encourage their " parifhioners to do the fame." In the year 1569. Mr. Strype quotes the following paffage out of a Annpe's trae, which he fufpe&s to be written by fecretary Cecil, " popi/h priefts p, 602. " fill enjoy thegreat ecclefiaftical livings without recantation or penance, yea, and in frmoniacal heaps ; cathedral churches Ore fluffed with " them as dens of thieves; the very fpies and promoters of queen MA- " RV's time, without change of their opinions, are cherifhed, and mark " men againft another day.". Mr. N. could produce a number of tefli- monies of this kind throughout the greatefl part of this reign, were not the talk too difagreeable; he will therefore only obferve further, that this writer himfelfadmits, " molt of the inferior beneficed clergy kept their " places, and that there were only one hundred parochial clergy difplaced, " out of nine thoufand four hundred parochial benefices." What then moil the reft be ? thefe are therefore no inventions of Mr. N. but fad and lamentable matters of fad. The populace were inflamed on both fides, and from rude language fometimes came to blows. All the dif- guifed papi/ls pleaded ftrenuoufly for the old habits and ceremonies, wbile the more fcrupulous minifters did not wear them contlantly in their miniftrations, nor when they walked the ftreets. This being a mark of diftinftion, gave occafion to the infolence of the populace, which Mr. N. has never commended, and acknowledges ought to be condemned in all partieswhatfoever. Rude Ian- The remainder of this chapter is a colleétion of harfh and unbecom- guage of the ing expreßions of the puritan preachers againft the habits, and the con- puritans een- fared. clergy ; as calling thempapifts in (Waft, idle drones, dumb dogs, i,..r6g. popelings, miffing priefts, petty antichrofts, which this writer eonfeffes Mr. N. has not concealed, and therefore is no objeftion tohis hiftory. The proteflant diffenters have been forced to fubmit to as bad language from
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=