3G LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SANCROFT. 



Of the particular reasons which induced 

 Archbishop Bancroft to concur in this measure, 

 further than the strong general feeling which 

 he ever entertained and expressed, of the ille- 

 gality of his deprivation, it is impossible to 

 speak, because they are not recorded. The 

 transaction took place, it should be remem- 

 bered, at a time when his spirits were broken 

 by ill health and the events which had befallen 

 him; and when the influence of others was 

 likely to impel him to the adoption of measures 

 which his own sounder judgment would not 

 have approved. That judgment would, no 

 doubt, have otherwise taught him to reflect, 

 that it is no light matter to cause, in any case, 

 a schism in the church of Christ; that the 

 grounds of such a proceeding ought to be 

 most seriously weighed, before they are acted 

 upon ; that, as the evils which result from it 

 are certain, there ought to be a clear conviction 

 that they cannot conscientiously be avoided, 

 and that they are overbalanced by contrary 

 good. It would have suggested to him that, 

 in the present instance, there could be no sufli- 

 cient reason, for establishing a permanent 

 schism, as there was no difference of doctrine 

 or discipline* concerned, no alleged doubt as to 



* Soon after the Revolution, alterations in the liturgy were 

 proposed, with the view of satisfying the scruples of dis- 



