were against his conscience, he remonstrated as a Christian patriot, and offered a resignation of his office, in which he could not fulfil the duties required of him by the crown without offending his God. The question of whether he was right in his judgment is totally indifferent; but a monarch with half the sense which Elizabeth possessed, had she not been hurried away by her passions, would have treated him in a very different manner, even though she supposed him to be in the wrong: she might have accepted his resignation, and behaved towards him with more personal kindness. But as it was, the ill consequences of this affair were very apparent : discipline was neglected *, and the puritan party so far prevailed, as to introduce many clergymen of their own opinions into ecclesiastical situations, notwithstanding the seeming triumph of the other side: and the parliament of 1581 presented a petition in favour of ecclesiastical reform, the general tendency of which was apparently to abridge the power of the bishops † by making the concurrence of the dean and chapter, or six preachers, necessary for certain episcopal acts, such as ordaining, commuting penance, &c. Most of the articles of this petition which regard residence and pluralities have been since wholly or partially adopted, excepting indeed the fifth and sixth—that no dignitary of the church should hold more than one living together with his cathedral preferment; and that no more than

* Strype's Whitgift, i. 226.

+ Ibid. iii. 47. [No. 3.]

the only remedy for Brownists*, who denied the queen's supremacy in any but civil matters. He, therefore, who could raise a scruple in the mind of an individual as to the legitimacy of a ceremony, raised a spirit of insubordination in the breast in which it was implanted; and among the various opinions which prevailed, and the elements of discord which were thus diffused throughout the kingdom, it was the public danger alone which kept the nation united. Sermons tended to foster these sentiments of free investigation, and Elizabeth, who clearly saw their tendency, instead of trying to direct them to useful objects, and to disseminate real Christianity, endeavoured to curtail the frequency of them, if not to suppress them altogether. Now had the laws against nonconformity been made much more easy with regard to those who were already in orders, and possessed of preferment; had the better sort of nonconformists been treated with lenity, and the government shut its eyes to their failings; had all interrogatories ex officio mero been disused, which served but to embody the nonconformists; had every means been exerted to instruct the rising generation, and to convince them practically that the dress was an indifferent point, (f many of the nonconformists were at first weak brethren, and were often rendered turbulent merely by severity ;) had strictness of subscription been required from all who took possession of benefices,

* Strype's Annals, v. 269.

and the same sort of laxity allowed, which now prevails with regard to dress ; had the government and the bishops exerted their first energies in reforming undoubted abuses, it is probable that nonconformity would not have been so closely connected with revolutionary principles and the assertion of civil rights; and that in the subsequent struggle, the church might have helped to support the throne, instead of proving the readiest point through which the sovereign could be attacked. As it was, Elizabeth supported the church by her energy and talents, and circumstances enabled her to triumph over the rising spirit of freedom in the country; but in the hands of James and Charles, the abuses real and imaginary, which existed in the church, contributed greatly to overthrow the monarchy.

CHAPTER X.

FROM WHITGIFT'S APPOINTMENT, 1583, TO THE END

OF THE REIGN. 450. Whitgift, archbishop, requires subscription to the “ Three

“ Articles.” 451. Treatment of the puritans; opposition to the bishops. 452. Objects of the puritans. 453. Law framed against the queen of Scots. 454. Hooker and Travers. 455. Death of Mary queen of Scots. 456. Attempts at innovation ; convocation. 457. Armada; conduct of the Roman catholics. 458. Conduct of the puritans. 459. Treatment of them. 460. Question of episcopacy. 461. Treatment of the libellers. 462. Roman catholics. 463. 464. Origin of the Lambeth Articles. 465. Greater peace in the church. 466. Change of opinion in certain puritans. 467. Character of Elizabeth. 468. Her treatment of the puritans and Roman catholics. 469. Religious, but arbitrary. 470. Death

of Elizabeth. 471. State of the church. §. 450. The selection of Whitgift for the metropolitan see was judicious, considering the line of policy with regard to church matters which Elizabeth had determined to adopt. The question was now, whether force should compel the clergy to be all of one mind about indifferent matters; and the present archbishop was a fit instrument to decide it according to the wishes of the queen.

* He began his administration by examining how the regulations affecting recusancy and nonconformity were observed, and addressed a circular letter to his brethren the bishops, directing them to take

* Strype's Whitgift, i. 227, &c.