LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SANCROFT. 81 



vinced than he was, of the fixed and gloomy 

 bigotry of James, of the general insincerity of his 

 character, of his fixed design to estabhsh Popery 

 in the kingdom, and of the impossibility of re- 

 lying on his promises and assertions. Thus he 

 must have felt, as strongly as any one could do, 

 the evils connected with retaining that monarch 

 on the throne ; but still, from the feeling that 

 his right to that throne was indefeasible, he 

 would not consent to his exclusion. With this 

 impression on his mind, to transfer his allegi- 

 ance to another, was to involve himself in the 

 guilt of perjury ; and he shrunk from so doing, 

 w^ith the feeling natural to a religious and up- 

 right mind. *' He chose rather," says Mr. Nel- 

 son, " to be deprived of all his honours and reve- 

 nues than to violate his conscience, or stain the 

 purity of those principles which he had uni- 

 formly defended," 



The great point which has been urged against 

 him, and which strikes every one at first sight 

 in considering the course which he pursued, is 

 the seeming want of consistency in first pro- 

 moting the measures in opposition to James, 

 which led to the Revolution, and then disap- 

 proving the result. On this subject, some dis^ 

 cussion has already taken place.* The real ob- 



■^ See Chapter X. 

 VOL. II. G 



