On the accession of the illustrious house of Stuart, the puritans formed the most unbounded expectations of relief and support from the new king, who was known to be of a gentle and mild disposition. They met James on his progress to London, and presented the millenary petition. It was so called from its being said to have been signed by one thousand persons: but in fact there were no more than eight hundred names affixed to it. In this petition, they embodied all their former grievances, with many new objections to the Liturgy, and the whole doctrine and discipline of the established church. Their petition gave great offence to the two universities. They resented the attempt of the puritans to forestall the opinions of the sovereign, and prejudice him against the indigenous church, of which he was become the civil governor. They passed resolutions accordingly, depriving such of the puritan clergy as held university degrees, of their honorary titles. The petitioners, however, gained nothing by this petition. James was a mild and tolerant monarch, and, willing to show his moderation, issued a proclamation" touching a meeting for the hearing, and for the determining things pretended to be amiss in the church.” This meeting or conference took place at Hampton Court, the 14th, 16th, and 18th January, 1604. Reynolds, a man of good sense and learning, with four other divines, attended on the side of the puritans. All the bishops attended on the other side. This conference, as might be expected, ended unsatisfactorily to all parties, and its conclusions were rejected by the puritans. Neither party had any very clear notions of what is now called toleration. The puritans would yield nothing, but claimed every thing. They claimed especially to be exempted from the use of habits and ceremonies. With this the king would not comply. The conference was followed by a proclamation from the crown, for enforcing conformity. And fierce debates ensued among those puritans themselves, who still nominally adhered to the church, and enjoyed livings, whether they should continue in it or entirely separate from it. An act of parliament was framed, to which James gave his consent, that no recusant, in not repairing to church, being convicted thereof, shall enjoy any public office, or shall practise law or physic, or be executor, administrator, or guardian. And if any person shall send their children over seas for education, they shall forfeit £100, such child be disabled to inherit or take any benefit by gift, conveyance, or devise."

66

The above regards all protestant dissenters in general, but there are certain other statutes which concern their teachers only. No one can take upon himself to teach or preach, without taking the oath of allegiance, and the declaration against transubstantiation. And if any person shall

* 3 James I.

take upon him to preach, or teach in any meeting in other manner than according to the practice of the church of England, he shall be liable to a penalty of £20.* No person shall presume to consecrate and administer the sacrament before he be ordained priest according to the form and manner of the church of England.+ Besides these general laws, there are two statutes which affect quakers in particular. If any person shall refuse to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy duly tendered, he shall incur a premunire. And if any person shall maintain that the taking of an oath is unlawful, and shall refuse an oath duly tendered, he shall incur a penalty of £5 for the first offence, £10 for the second, and be transported for the third. But by the act of toleration, they shall not incur any of these penalties, on their qualifying in the same manner as other dissenters, except that, instead of the oaths at sessions, they make and subscribe a declaration of fidelity, and subscribe a profession of their Christian belief. The Baptists are exempted from signing the 27th article of religion, relating to infant baptism, in order to conciliate their scruples on that head; in other respects they qualify the same as all other dissenting teachers.

Besides exemption from penalties, dissenters are, by the act of toleration, entitled to certain privileges. They shall not be prosecuted in any ecclesiastical court, for, or by reason of their not conforming to the church of England. But this does not exempt them from paying tithes, or other parochial duties, or any duties to the church or minister, nor from any prosecution for the same. If any dissenter, on being appointed to the office of high constable, petit constable, churchwarden, overseer of the poor, or any other parochial or ward office, should scruple to execute these offices on account of the oaths, he may execute them by deputy, provided that he takes the oaths, and is otherwise approved of. Every minister, preacher, or teacher who has taken the oaths, and subscribed the declaration against popery, is exempted from serving upon a jury, or the office of a churchwarden or overseer of the poor, or any other parochial or ward office. But the act does not extend to quaker preachers, or teachers, for they are neither in "holy orders, nor pretended holy orders."

The laws enacted during the reign of queen Elizabeth were very severe; they are now however mitigated by the act of toleration. But the necessity of supporting an established religion, whose tenets are friendly to the constitution of the state, has been felt in every period of British history. In 1643, an ordinance |! of the long parliament enjoined that the

† 14 Char. II.

* 22 Char. II. 5 Elizabeth. § 13 and 14 Char. II. The decrees of the parliament, during all the period which it possessed the supreme power, were called ORDINANCES, being enacted and enforced by the authority of the commons alone; in contradistinction to an ACT OF PARLIAMENT, which is enacted by the king, with the advice of the three estates of parliament; the lords spiritual and temporal, and the

commons.

Solemn League and Covenant should be taken throughout England and Wales. This covenant binds to the extirpation of episcopacy. Those who refused to take the covenant were disabled by other ordinances from being of the common council, from filling any office of trust in the city of London, and from practising in any of the courts of law. On the 10th June, 1643, the archbishop of Canterbury was suspended, his temporalities sequestered, and afterwards he was himself put to death. The Directory was ordered to be used in place of the Book of Common Prayer, and severe penalties were imposed on those who used the latter, even in private. The bishops were abolished, and their lands settled in trustees and sold. Classical presbyteries, and congregational elderships, were established in their place. These again very soon sank before the rising star of the independents, supported by the favour of Oliver Cromwell.

By the above mentioned acts, and also the Act of Uniformity, all dissenters were liable to certain penalties, from which, however, the toleration act has happily relieved them. This act was confirmed by the 10th of queen Anne. The toleration act exempts all dissenters from all penal laws relating to religion. But the members of the church of Rome, as well as those who denied the Holy Trinity, were excepted. All other denominations were freely at liberty to act as their consciences directed them in the matter of religious worship. The act itself is as follows:

I. Forasmuch as some ease to scrupulous consciences in the exercise of religion, may an effectual means to unite their majesty's protestant subjects in interest and affection. II. That none of the acts below,* shall be construed to extend to any persons dissenting from the church of England, that shall take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and shall make and subscribe the declaration against popery, which oaths and declaration the justices of the peace, at the general sessions of the peace, are hereby required to tender and administer. No one shall give or pay above the sum of sixpence, nor that more than once, for his or their entry, and for making and subscribing the said oaths and declaration, nor above a further sum of sixpence for a certificate. III. All persons prosecuted or convicted under the former statutes are hereby discharged. IV. Every person taking the oaths and making the declarations, shall be free from all pains, penalties, and forfeitures enacted by 35 Eliz c. 1. and 22 Char. II. c. 1, and from all prosecution in any ecclesiastical court. V. Provided that, if any assembly of persons dissenting from the church of England shall be held with the doors locked, barred, or bolted, during any time of the meeting, every person attending such meeting shall be liable to all the pains and penalties as before. VI. Nothing in this act shall exempt any person from paying tithes or other parochial duties, or any other duties to the church or minister, nor from any prosecution for the same. VII. Every dissenter chosen to any office, and scrupling to take the oaths, shall be allowed to serve by deputy, provided the deputy takes the oaths. VIII. No dissenter in holy orders, or pretended holy orders, nor any preacher or teacher of any congregation of dissenting protestants, that shall take the oaths and make the declaration, and shall also declare his approbation of and subscribe the Articles of Religion, except the 34th, 35th, and 36th, and these words of the 20th article," the church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies, and authority in controver sies of faith," shall be liable to any pains or penalties. IX. Provides that those taking the

23 Eliz. c. 1. 29 Eliz. c. 6. 1 Eliz, c. 2. 3 Jam. I. c. 4. 3 Jam. I. c. 5. 25 Char. II. c. 2. 30 Char, II. c. 1.

oaths, &c., shall be recorded, and shall not preach with locked doors, &c. X. Makes an exception in favour of Baptist teachers or preachers from signing a part of the 27th article touching infant baptism. XI. Persons in holy orders or pretended holy orders complying as above, are exempted from serving on any jury, and from being chosen or appointed to bear the offices of church warden, overseer of the poor, or any other parochial or ward office, or other office in any hundred or shire, city, town, parish, division, or wapontake. XII. Justices of the peace may tender the oaths to any dissenter, and may commit him on refusal, without bail or mainprize. XIII. Every person shall make and subscribe the aforesaid, and also this declaration of fidelity :-I, A. B., do sincerely promise and solemnly declare before God and the world, that I will be true and faithful to king William and queen Mary; and I do solemnly profess and declare, that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and renounce, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position," that princes excommunicated or deprived by the pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have, any power, jurisdiction, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual within this realm." And shall subscribe a profession of their Christian belief in these words:" I, A. B., profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ his eternal Son, the true God, and in the Holy Spirit, one God blessed for evermore; and do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration :" which declaration and subscription shall be recorded at the quarter sessions, which shall exempt the parties from pains and penalties against popish recusants or protestant nonconformists... XIV. If any person refuse to take the oaths, &c., he shall not be admitted to make and subscribe the declarations, either before or after conviction of popish recusancy, unless he can within thirty-one days produce two sufficient protestant witnesses, to testify upon oath that they believe him to be a protestant dissenter. XV. That until such certificates are produced, the justice of the peace is required to take a recognisance with. two sureties in the sum of fifty pounds, to be levied on his goods and chattels, &c., failing which to be committed to prison till he produce such certificates and witnesses. XVI. All the laws made and provided for the frequenting of divine service on the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, shall be still in force, and executed against all persons that offend against the said laws, except such person come to some congregation or assembly of religious worship allowed or permitted by this act. XVII. Neither this act, nor any clause, article, or thing therein contained, shall extend, or be construed to extend to give any ease, benefit, or advantage to any papist or popish recusant whatsoever, or any person who shall deny in his preaching or writing the doctrine of the blessed Trinity. XVIII. If any person at any time shall willingly and of purpose, mali

b ciously or contemptuously, come into any cathedral or parish church, chapel, or other congregation permitted by this act, and disquiet or disturb the same, or misuse any teacher or preacher, such person shall find two sureties to be bound by recognisance in fifty pounds; and upon conviction shall suffer the pain and penalty of twenty pounds. XIX. No congregation or assembly for religious worship shall be permitted, until the place be certified to the bishop of the diocese, or to the archdeacon, or to the justices of the peace at the general quarter sessions, in which such meeting shall be held and registered in the said bishop's or archdeacon's court, or quarter sessions, for which he shall pay sixpence.*

It was believed for many years that the toleration act only suspended the penalties, but did not take away the crime of nonconformity. It was supposed that a dissenter could be fined for refusing to serve a civil office, and at the same time incur all the penalties of the test and corporation acts, if he took upon him any such office, without taking the sacrament according to the forin and custom of the church of England. About the

* I William and Mary, c. 18.

year 1762 Allan Evans, Esquire, being chosen sheriff of London, refused to execute the office, upon the grounds of his being a dissenter, and of his not being able conscientiously to take the sacrament. For this he was prosecuted by the city of London, who brought the cause before the house of lords, by appeal from the commissioners' delegates, who had given judgment for the defendant. The house ordered the question to be proposed for the opinion of the judges; "how far the defendant might, in the present case, be allowed to plead his disability in bar of action." All the judges, except the baron Perrot, were of opinion, "that the corporation act expressly rendered the dissenters ineligible and incapable of serving, and that the toleration act amounted to much more than a mere exemption from the penalties of certain laws, by freeing the dissenters from all obligation to take the sacrament at church, abolishing the crime as well as the penalty of non-conformity, allowing and protecting the dissenting worship; and therefore that the defendant may plead this disability in bar of the present action." The whole of the judges' arguments were summed up by the learned lord Mansfield, and upon this ground the house of lords affirmed the judgment of the commissioners' delegates.

Ever since the toleration act was passed, it has been the invariable practice of our kings, in their speeches to their parliaments upon their accession to the throne, after declaring their affection for the church of England, and resolution to support it, to add, that they will maintain the toleration inviolable.

A protestant dissenter might sit in either house of parliament, being duly qualified, and taking the oaths. Roman Catholics did not enjoy altogether the same privileges as other dissenters. They could not sit in either house of parliament, the declaration against transubstantiation proving an effectual barrier. But all the severe restrictions to which they were formerly exposed, were removed by what may be called their toleration act. It placed them under the same protection as protestant dissenters, whilst it left them equally under the disabilities of the corporation and test acts. In the reign of George IV. an act was passed, abrogating the test and corporation laws. By a subsequent act, the act of 30 Char. II., against transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass was repealed, and every office under the crown laid open to all irrespectively, except that Roman Catholics are disabled from being lord chancellor of England or Ireland, or lord lieutenant of the latter kingdom.*

The dissenters are now a numerous and very respectable body, the greatest proportion of whom are methodists of the Wesleyan and Whitfield connexion, although there are many other denominations, deriving their

* 31 Geo. III., which see p. 327.