CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST GENERATION OF NONJURORS.

'HE first of March, 1689, was the day appointed for

THE

taking the oaths to William and Mary. When that day arrived Sancroft and several Bishops absented themselves from the House of Lords, and only eight spiritual Peers took the oathsa. An act of Parliament was consequently passed rendering the oaths compulsory, not only on all who should afterwards. hold, but on all who already held, any public office. The question was warmly debated in the House of Lords, Whether those who had already held Ecclesiastical offices could be required to take the new oath under pain of deprivation? It was contended that

These were the Archbishop of York (Lamplugh), the Bishops of London (Compton), Lincoln (Barlow), Bristol (Trelawney), Winchester (Mew), Rochester (Spratt), Llandaff (Beaw) and St. Asaph (Lloyd), and their example was soon followed by the Bishops of Carlisle (Smith), and St. David's (Watson).— Kennet's Comp. Hist., iii. 552.

b Evelyn writes, March 29, 1689: "The Archbishop and four other Bishops refusing to come to Parliament, it was deliberated whether they should incur Præmunire; but it was thought fit to let this fall and be connived at for fear of the people, to whom these Prelates were very dear for the opposition they had given to Popery."

Parliament had not the power to sever the tie which bound the successors of the Apostles to their Sees; "What God had joined together, man could not put asunder." It was, however, eventually determined that all ecclesiastical persons must take the oaths by August in that year, under penalty of six months' suspension, to be followed, if the oaths were not taken by the First of February, by deprivation a.

A few weeks before the first of February, 1690 (the day fixed for the deprivation of those who refused to take the oaths), arrived, a supposed plot against the Government was discovered, in which Lord Preston, Mr. Ashton, and several others were implicated, and two letters in the handwriting of Turner, Bishop of Ely (one of the seven Bishops who were committed to the Tower), were found addressed. to Lord Preston e. In these letters the writer spoke of "the sentiment of my elder brother" and "the rest of the family," and Burnet, who could spy out an

Macaulay's Hist. of England, iii. 100.

d The oath, however, was altered; it was not to be taken to "the rightful and lawful king,” but “I, A. B., do solemnly promise to bear true allegiance to their Majesties, King William and Queen Mary." From this says Burnet, O. T., ii. 579, began the notion of a king "de facto but not de jure."

e

"There was a pretended discovery of a pretended plot of the Jacobites or Nonjurors, whereupon some of them were imprisoned, and Dr. Turner being suspected to be in the same pretended plot" withdrew and absconded.-Wood's Athenæ Oxon.

opponent through a stone wall, makes out to his own satisfaction that the writer must needs be Turner, Bishop of Ely, the "elder brother" Sancroft, and "the rest of the family" the other Nonjuring Prelates. The charge, whether founded or unfounded, was the very thing needed to inflame the public mind, and to deprive Sancroft and the other Bishops of the sympathy which their courage and sufferings had obtained for them. Burnet tells us that this discovery determined the King to fill up the Sees of the Nonjurors at once, "which perhaps, but for that event, might have been hung up for another year."

When the first of February arrived, three of the Bishops who had not taken the oaths were dead, viz.. Thomas of Worcester, Cartwright of Chester, and Lake of Chichester. Six Prelates, viz. Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Turner of Ely, Frampton of Gloucester, Lloyd of Norwich, and White of Peterborough, together with about four hundred of the Clergy, refused to take the oaths and were deprived'.

Of the seven Bishops committed to the Tower by James, all except Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Sir Jonathan Trelawney, translated to the See of Exeter, were amongst the Nonjuring Bishops. It was

A fairly full list of the Nonjuring clergy will be found in the Life of Kettlewell, App. VI.

Thomas, Bishop of Worcester, and Lake, Bishop of Chichester, had, as we have seen, died before the day of depriva

consequently said of these two Bishops that whereas the other five were fine gold, these two were only Prince's metal". They, however, soon got their reward under William. Lloyd was appointed Almoner to the King (a somewhat sinecure appointment in William's reign it was said to be); in 1692 he was translated to Lichfield and Coventry, and in 1709 to Worcester i.

Sir Jonathan Trelawney, a Cornish Baronet (although at a later period he seems to have amended his ways, and is known as the patron and friend of Atterbury), was not at one time a very creditable Bishop. He had an inveterate habit of swearing, which he excused on the ground that he did not swear as a Bishop, but as a Baronet. A letter of his to the Lord Chancellor Rochester is extant, which does him little credit; it was in these words: "My Lord,' Give me leave to throw myself at your Lordship's feet, humbly imploring your patronage if not for the Bishopric of Peterborough, at least for Chichester, if the Bishop of Exeter cannot be prevailed upon to accept that now vacant See. . . . If Peterborough and Chichester shall both be refused me, I shall not deny Bristol. But

tion, but their places were taken by two other Nonjurors, Lloyd, Bishop of Norwich, and Frampton, Bishop of Gloucester.

In allusion to the Mint which was at that time kept in the Tower.

i Lloyd died in 1717, aged 90. He was early in Queen Anne's reign deprived of the office of Almoner, on a charge of a breach of Privilege brought against him by Sir John Pakington, M.P.

I hope the King (James) will have some tender compassion on his slave. J. Trelawney." The slave got neither Peterborough nor Chichester, but only Bristol3, and he never forgave James; we may question whether it was not enmity to the King rather than zeal for the Church which prompted him in his opposition and sent him to the Tower *.

Of the early Nonjurors (for we shall have to speak afterwards of a later generation') the most conspicuous amongst the Prelates were Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells; whilst amongst the Second Order of the Clergy we must notice the following :-William Sherlock (1641-1707), Master of the Temple "; Charles Leslie (1650-1722), Chancellor of the Diocese of Clogher "; George Hickes (1642—1715), Dean of Worcester; John Kettlewell (1653—1695), Vicar

m

The See of Bristol was then, and till quite recent times, worth only £700 yearly.

* In 1689 he was translated to the coveted See of Exeter, and in 1707 (under Queen Anne) to Winchester.

1 See chapter headed "The Nonjuring Schism."

m He afterwards took the oaths and was made Dean of St. Paul's.

n Of whom Dr. Johnson said, he was the only Nonjuror who could reason. Being obliged to leave the kingdom in 1713, he retired to the Pretender's Court, but died in his own country in 1722.

• Afterwards a Nonjuring Bishop; brother of a Nonconformist Minister, who was executed for the part he took in Monmouth's Rebellion.