an active warfare against the Church of Rome, the Dissenters flattered and thus deceived his Majesty, by leading him to suppose, that his measures respecting the Indulgence were really approved by the people. They contributed nothing whatever towards the support of the great cause which was then in jeopardy.[1]
A review of the conduct of Dissenters at this time may be permitted in the present volume, especially as, subsequent to the Revolution, they were the loudest in their complaints of the inconsistency of the Nonjurors. The works published by the Clergy against the Church of Rome will ever remain as a monument of their piety, their zeal, and their learning: but the voice of the Dissenters was not raised in favour of that cause, for which, afterwards, they professed so strong an attachment.
In the year 1687 King James issued his Declaration of Indulgence. His object was to favour the Church of Rome through the means of the Dissenters. The Declaration was repeated in 1688, with this addition, that the Bishops were commanded to forward it to their clergy, and to see that it was
- ↑ It would occupy too much space to enter upon all the acts of King James, which evidenced his intention of reestablishing the Church of Rome in this country: but I cannot refrain from alluding to his republication of the little Book of Offices, which, during the reigns of James I and Charles I, had been used by the Missionary Priests in the exercise of their functions in England. The following is the Title of the Book as published by King James: "Ordo Baptizandi aliaque Sacramenta Administrandi et Officia quædam Ecclesiastica rite peragendi ex Rituali Romano Jussu Pauli Quinti Edita extractus. Pro Anglia, Hibernia, et Scotia, Permissu Superiorum. Londini Typis Hen. Hills, Regiæ Majestati, Pro Familia et Sacello Typographi. m.d.c.lxxxvi."
