The Restoration, in IGGO, placed Charles II on the throne of his ancestors, and led to the restitution of the old system of Church government and worship. Attempts were made, indeed, by a comparatively small but yet noisy party, to prevent the reintroduction of the episcopal system in its integrity ; but the great body of the laity being stronglj- exercised against this attempt, it was at once defeated. One of the first proceedings of the restored Parliament was to pass an act for the conforming and restoring of ministers (12 Car. II, c. 17), which enacted that "every minister of the Church of England who had been ejected by the authority of the rebellion Parliament should be restored to his benefice by Nov. 25, IGGO; provided he had not justified the king's murder or declared against infant baptism." Under this act, many of the non-episcopal ministers had to retire from the livings into which they had been instated, that the old iiersccuted, poverty-stricken cler- gy, who had been turned out of them fifteen or sixteen years before, might be restoreil to tlicir homes and their flocks. Some even of those who had been episcopally or- dained had also to retire ; and thus Richard Baxter had to give way for the return of the old and rightful vicar of Kidderminster, whose place he had not unworthily held for half a generation. Put half a generation of exile, war, persecution, and hardship had not left many of the old clergy to return to their parishes, and moat of these were left occupied I)y non-episcopal incumbents until the Act of Uniformity came into force. This act was passed Aug. 2-i, 1GG2, and by it all who refused to observe the rites, as well as to subscribe to the doctrines of the Church of England, were excluded from its com-
munion, and in conseipience exposed to manj' disad- vantages and to cruel suiferings. "This act of Parlia- ment," says Blunt, who seeks to defend the Anglican side, "was no novelty, being the fourth Act of Uniform- ity which had been passed since the Reformation, and having its parallel in several ' ordinances' of the Parlia- ment which were passed during the rebellion. It is, moreover, absolutely necessary that, if the Church sys- tem w.'is to be restored, some enactment shoidd be made enforcing the first principle of the system — that of ejiis- copal ordination. But it was under the consideration of Parliament (especially of the House of Lords, -which received a formal request to hasten it from the House of Commons) for several months; and it was so con- structed as to deal considerateh- with the non-ejjiscopal incumbents, as well as to deal justly with the principles of the Church. The former were not, therefore, 'eject- ed,' as has been so often represented; but opportunity was given to them of retaining the benefices which they held without any difficulty if they were willing to con- form to those principles which had always been main- tained, and which could not be given up, respecting episcopal ordination, the use of the Prayer-book, and de- cent loyalty to the crown. The conditions thus im- posed were stated as follows in the Act of Uniformity: Everj' parson, vicar, or other minister whatsoever, who now hath and enjoyeth any ecclesiastical b*nefice or promotion within this realm of England, . . . shall openly and publicly before the congregation there as- sembled declare his unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all things in said book contained and prescribed, in these words, and no other: 'I, A B, do here declare my unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in and by the book entitled The Book of Common Prayer,' etc. Every such incum- bent, or any one to be admitted to an incumbency there- after, was required to subscribe the following declara- tion :
'I, A B, do declare that it is not lawful, on any ])re- tence whatsoever, to take arms against the king: and that I do abhor that traitorous position of taking arms by his authority against his person or against those who are commissioned by him : and that I will conform to the lit- urgy of the Church of England as it is now by law estab- lished. And I do declare that I do hold there lies no ob- ligation upon nie, or on any other person, from the oath commonly called "The Solemn League and Covenant," to endeavor any change or alteration ^of government, either in Church or State ; and that the same was in itself an un- lawful oath, and imposed upon the subjects of this realm against the known laws and liberties of this kingdom.'
It was also provided that ' no person who is now in- cumbent and in possession of any ])arsonage, viearage, or benefice, and who is not already in holy orders by episcopal ordination, or shall not before the feast of St. Bartholomew be ordained priest or deacon, according to the form of episcopal ordination, shall have, hold, or en- joy the said i)arsonage, vicarage, benefice, with cure or other ecclesiastical promotion, within this kingdom of England or the dominion of Wales; but shall be utterly disabled and ipso facto deprived of the same ; and all his ecclesiastical promotions shall be void, as if he was naturally dead.' The Act of Uniform! t_v, therefore, to secure the integrity of the Church system, on the one hand, and to secure the vested interests acquired by long possession on the part of the non-episcopal incumbents on the other, offered to the eight or nine thousand of the latter who still remained, that, if they would be or- dained, accept the Prayer-book, and renounce their en- gagement to destroj' episcopal government, or to bear arms against the crown, the right to retain their bene- fices. The great majoritj' accepted the terms tliat were thus offered, so legalizing their position, and qualifying themselves to carry out the system of the Church of Eng- land according to its long-established principles. The Nonconformists who did not accept these liberal terms of- fered by Parliament have been paraded before the world for two centuries as amounting in number to 2000. Con- temporary writers of authority, as, for example, bishop