they were ready to stand engaged for their peaceable conduct.[1]
Many persons were anxious for an Act of Parliament to relieve the Bishops from the Oath, provided they would undertake to perform the duties of their office: but the Prelates would make no other promise, than that they would live quietly. Whether the King and the Ministers ever seriously contemplated such a thing, it is not possible to determine: but it is a matter of deep regret, that such a course was not pursued. There might have been some difficulty respecting the public services, as the Bishops, who could not take the Oath, might not have joined in prayer for King William: but a little forbearance on the part of the government would probably have led to a favourable issue. The pledge of the Bishops to live quietly would have been scrupulously observed: and had the Oath been dispensed with, I am inclined to believe, that the question respecting the prayers would have been so managed, that the schism would have been prevented. At all events, the experiment merited a trial. It would have been a gratification to all sound Churchmen to have seen Sancroft, and Ken, and their companions, remaining in possession of their Sees, and exercising their jurisdiction in the Church.
But there were other parties, who hurried on the government to strong and decided measures against the Nonjurors. The Presbyterians in Scotland, and the Dissenters in England, insinuated that William's throne would have been endangered by their plots: though these excellent men never plotted against the government even after deprivation. Assuredly they
- ↑ Bowles's Life of Ken, ii. 194—96.
