36 INTRODUCTORY. 



undoubtedly contrary to that which was adopted at the 

 Reformation, that their order has something mysterious and 

 abiding in it l . 



Henceforward, and till the development of Latitudinarian 

 principles, soon after the accession of the House of Hanover, 

 ecclesiastical questions are as hotly discussed as political 

 controversies. The tenets of the restored Church are entwined 

 with the principles of the restored monarchy, and the 

 unqualified obedience of the layman was claimed by the 

 Church as emphatically as the unqualified obedience of all 

 subjects was claimed by the Crown. It is true that the Court 

 did a great deal to shock the feeling to which churchmen and 

 statesmen appealed, that the debates on the Exclusion Bill led 

 to a suspension of the constitution, and that, almost out of a 

 clear sky, came that tremendous storm which swept James and 

 the Roman Catholic element of his family suddenly and 

 permanently from the throne. But the effort was almost 

 instantly followed by reaction. The expulsion of James was 

 a national effort. It was necessary that some concessions 

 should be made to the dissenters, who had withstood the 

 temptation of the Indulgence, and rallied to the Church against 

 what was believed to be a common danger. But when the 

 danger was over, the intolerance of the clerical party revived. 

 Fortunately, the schism of the nonjurors, which soon became 

 ridiculous, weakened the position of Anglican exclusiveness. 

 But the Act for preventing the growth of schism and the 

 Occasional Conformity Act are illustrations of how bitter the 

 clerical temper was, and how active was its propaganda. 



Owing to these causes, the guiding principle which the 

 founders and defenders of the English Revolution adopted was, 

 that while forms of government may be retained without change 

 and with great advantage, though King, Lords, and Commons 

 and an Established Church, with a constitution entirely 

 dependent on precedents for its continuity and its authority, 



1 The best place from which my reader can get a clear idea as to what the theory 

 of the ecclesiastical status was, before the Restoration, is in Selden's Table Talk. 





