name of Dr. Bray. Whilst engaged in the work of providing Libraries for the Colonies, he learnt to feel of what great advantage Parochial and other Libraries would also be for the Clergy of England and Wales. His plan, in which he received the hearty co-operation of Dr. Wilson, of Sodor and Mank, seems to have been to revive the ancient office of Rural Deans with the jurisdiction pertaining to their several Deaneries, and he designed those Libraries for the use of the Parochial Clergy belonging to each Deanery, and as places where the Clergy of the Deanery might meet together for instruction and for conference. In 1709 an Act of Parliament was passed for the preservation of these Libraries, and a body of Trustees was formed under the title of the "Associates of Dr. Bray;" and so indefatigable was his zeal, that before his death he had the satisfaction of seeing no fewer than sixty-seven Parochial Libraries established for the local Clergy, and eightythree Libraries in central localities for loan amongst the neighbouring Clergy. In addition to these, more than fifty Libraries were sent out to North America, the West Indies, and to a factory in Bengal, and to Cape Corso Castle on the African Coast!.

k "By ye encouragement and assistance of my worthy Friend Dr. Tho. Bray, I began this year a foundation of Par. Libr. in this Diocese, wch by the good blessing of God upon His servant, I have been improving ever since with books both practical and devotional."-Keble's Life of Bp. Wilson.

1 Secretan's Life of Nelson, p. 140.

One of the original objects of the S.P.C.K. was the establishment of charity-schools, and at its first meeting the question of erecting schools for the poor in and about London was taken into consideration. In this manner charity-schools were established entirely by the Church and for the Church. The standard of education for boys was, in those early days of elementary education, confined to Reading, Writing, and the grounds of Arithmetic, such studies as might fit them for service or apprenticeship; whilst for girls it was thought sufficient if they were taught to read, to knit, to sew, and to make their own clothes. The schoolmaster was required to be "one that frequents the Holy Communion, and who is approved by the minister before he is licensed by the Ordinary." He was to instruct the children in, and to explain the principles of, the Christian Religion as laid down in the Church Catechism, and was afterwards to inform them more largely of their duty by the help of the "Whole Duty of Man." He was to be diligent to correct the beginnings of vice, more especially lying, swearing, taking God's name in vain, and profaning the Lord's Day. He was to teach them to pray at home in the morning and at night, to say grace before and after meals, to take the children every Lord's Day and on Holydays to church, and to teach them to behave reverently there; whilst means were taken that the children should not be lost sight of when they went out into the world.

So rapidly did these charity-schools, commencing with such humble endeavours, increase, that when the first Assembly, which is now held annually at St. Paul's, took place in 1704 in St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, as many as fifty-four schools, numbering 2,131 children, had been founded, whilst by 1712 one hundred and seventeen schools were set up in London and Westminster, comprising 5,000 children; more than 4,000 children were clothed as well as fed, and 2,000 were placed as apprentices, whilst in the same period more than 500 schools were established in England and Wales; and the work extended to the Colonies.

As one sign of life in the Church during William's reign, we may mention the foundation of the Boyle Lectures. The Hon. Robert Boyle, seventh son of the first Earl of Cork, dying on December 30, 1691, bequeathed by his will £50 a year for a course of eight Lectures, to be preached annually by "some divine or preaching Minister," in defence of the Christian Religion against Atheists, Deists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahomedans ". Burnet tells us that Mr. Boyle "was a very devout Christian, humble and modest almost to a fault, of a most spotless and exemplary life in all respects." Burnet also preached his funeral sermon, in which he said he had been

m Of these Lectures the Deist Collins remarked, "Nobody doubted the existence of a Deity till the Boyle Lectures endeavoured to prove it." ■ O. T., iii. 270.

in the habit of devoting no less than a thousand pounds every year to works of charity, and especially to the propagation of Christianity, and this work he wished to be continued after his death.

It is difficult to exaggerate the perils to which the Church was exposed during the reign of William III.; but weakened though it was by the secessions of some of its ablest Bishops, and hampered by the action of the government which appointed to the vacant Sees men of Latitudinarian principles, who were indifferent to its doctrines and discipline, the Church if it did not advance, certainly did not go backwards. Doubtless William bore no goodwill to a Church so different from that to which he had been accustomed when in his own country; but his religion was political, and founded on his own interest rather than on conviction; he felt that the Church was strong in the affections of the Nation, and he allowed Convocation to meet, and as long as the State allowed the Church her Convocation (that is to say, allowed the Church the same rights which it accords to Dissenters), the Church was able to maintain its own alike against foes and, still worse, treacherous allies.

We must now notice the last events affecting the Church in King William's reign. In the Declaration which he published before he came to England he had promised to extend to all his subjects freedom from persecution, "to cover and secure all those who

would live peaceably under the government from all persecutions on account of their religion." After the peace of Ryswick in 1697, a great swarm of Roman Catholic Priests, who had fled from the country at the Revolution, returned to England, and were living peaceably and unmolested by the government; exaggerated stories were spread concerning them, and on account of the toleration afforded them, the absurd rumour got abroad that the King was a Papist in disguise. On no other apparent ground a most. cruel Act of Parliament was passed against the Roman Catholics in 1700: banishing Roman Catholic Priests from England, and offering a reward of £100 to such persons who should discover and convict a Roman Catholic Priest in the performance of his duties. It enacted that all, even suspected, Roman Catholics who should inherit an estate before eighteen years of age should, on attaining that age, take the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test, in default of which they were incapable of purchasing, inheriting, or holding any estate; and their estates were to devolve upon their next of kin being Protestants. They were even prohibited from sending their children abroad to be educated in their own faith. The Bill fortunately was drafted in such vague terms as to render it difficult of enforcement, so that the Law became little more than a dead letter ".

But in 1706, and again in 1711, Proclamations were published for enforcing the Penal Laws against them. Again, after