1he HIS T 0 RY oj t!Je PuRIT ANs. VoL. Il' C King moll bitter raillery and invectives againll the: routed preibyterians; they harles II. d h .c:a.· r. 1 d · d h · · 662 encourage t e enac..mg 1evere aws, an carne t em mto executwn as ~ l~ng as their fuperiors. ~ou ld ~ermit, without any regar.d to mercy or ment, but took comparatively little or no care, by their doctrine or ex– ample, of the morals of the people, which were tbamefully negleCted throughout the nation. The clergy of this charaCler were by far the more numerous for twenty years after the rel1oration ; the tide of church preferments running in this ch~nnel, and their doctrines being the mofl: fatbionable. And l<w church. Remarks. Bijhop Bur– net's re– mar/is, The country clergy were of a quite different fpirit; they were determined protefiants and true churchmen, but more difpofed to a coalition with proteftant diifenters than with papifts: Among thefe may be reckoned the <Iillotfons, Stillingjleets, Wbichcots, Wilkins, Cudworths, . &c. men of the firft rank for learning, fobriety, and virtue; they were the moll: eminent preachers of the age, whofe fermons and writings did honour to the church of E11gland, and fupported its character in the worfl: of times. They lamented the corruptions and vices of the people, and fiood in the gap againft an inundation of popery and tyranny; cut their numbers were fmall, becaufe the road to preferment lay another way : And when the high church clergy had betrayed the liberties of their country, and the caufe of the proteftant religion into the hands of the papifts, thefe appeared boldly in their defence, difarmed their adverfaries, and faved the nation. When therefore we fpeak of the furious proceed ings of the bifl10ps and clergy, it mufi not be underfiood of the whole body, but only of tho(e who were tools of a corrupt court and minifl:ry, and who out of ignorance, or other private and perfonal motives, went blindfold into all their defiruc– tive meafures. Bitbop Burnet, in his book againft the author of parliamentum pacb'i– cum, has the following remarkable pafiage: " It is well k(lown, that " thofe who were fecretly papifts, and difguifed their religion, as the " king himfelf did, animated the chief men of the church to carry the " points of uniformity as high as poffible --That there might be many '' non-conformifis, and great occafion for a toleration, under which po– " pery might creep in ; for if the king's declaration from Breda bad took " place, of two thoufand minifters that were turned out, above feventeen " hundred had fiaid in; but the practices of the papifl:s had too great an " influence on the church-men, whofe fpirits were too much fowered by " their ill ufage during the war; nor were they without fuccefs on the " diifenters, who were (ecretly encouraged to fiand out, and were told, '' that the king's temper and principles, and the co'?fideration of trade, would " certainly procure them a toleration. Thus tpey tampered with both pa~ties;
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=