NONJURORS
169
NONJURORS
representative of the Church in the dioceses and parishes committed to them, so it went far to justify Tillotson aiul the rest of the intruders in assuming themselves to be rightfully possessed of posts which had thus been suf- fered to lapse into their hands. Even so far the Non- jurors cannot be altogether exonerated from a share in the confusion— very nearly approaching, if not actually amounting to schism — which was caused in the six dioceses and four hundred parishes, where they were thus provided each with two pastors. ]\Iacaulay adds : "Most of them passed their lives in running about from one Tory coifee-house to another, abusing the Dutch, hearing and spreading reports that within a month his majesty would certainly be on English ground, and wondering who would have Salisbury when Burnet was hanged. During the session of Parliament the lobbies and the Court of Requests were crowded with deprived persons, asking who was up, and what the numbers were on the last division. Many of the ejected divines became domesticated as chaplains, tu- tors, and spiritual directors in the houses of opulent Jac- obites. Not one in fifty therefore of those laymen who disapproved of the revolution thought himself bound to quit his pew in the old church, where the old liturgy was still read, and where the old vestments were still worn, and to follow the ejected priest to a conventicle — a conventicle, too, which was not protected by the Tol- eration Act. Thus the new sect was a set of preachers without hearers; and such preachers could not make a livelihood by preaching. In London, indeed, and in some other large towns, those vehement Jacobites v/hom nothing would satisfy but to hear king James and the prince of Wales prayed for by name, were sufficiently numerous to make up a few small congregations, which met secretly and under constant fear of the constables, in rooms so mean that the meeting-houses of the Puri- tan dissenters might by comparison be called palaces."
'• The first step whiclr had been taken towards placing the nonjuring clergy in a schismatical position was an imprudent act committed by Bancroft himself by dele- gating to Lloyd, the ejected bishop of Norwich, that archiepiscopal jurisdiction which he declined to exercise personally. This was done by an instrument dated Feb. 9, 1G91-2, when he had allowed his authority to lie dormant eighteen months ; during half of wliich time Tillotson had been consecrating suffragans for the prov- ince, and ordaining and confirming within the diocese of Canterburj-, while Sancroft himself had been living the life of a hermit on a small property which he pos- sessed at Fresingfield. Under the authority thus dele- gated to him, Lloyd shortly after took steps for conse- crating two bishops; and the consent of the exiled king having been obtained, Hickes, the deprived dean of Worcester, was consecrated suffragaji bishop of Thet- ford, and Wagstaffe suffragan bishop of Ipswich, on Feb. 24, 1G93-4, the consecrating bishops being those who had previously occupied the sees of Norwich, Ely, and Peterborough. The consecration took place se- cretly in a private house, but was witnessed by the earl of Clarendon ; it was known to very few persons, and those in confidence, until the latter part of the year 1710, when, all the deprived bishops but Ken being dead, and he having resigned his see, a discussion arose among the Nonjurors as to the continuance of their sep- aration. Upon the death of Ken— tliat saintlv bishop departing to his rest on March 19,1710 or 1711— many of the Nonj urors, among whom were Nelson, the well-kno^vn author of Fusts and Festivals, and the learned Henry Dodwell, began again to frequent their parish churches, and gave up all formal connection with the separated party. But another section, led Ijy Ilickes, determined to perpetuate the secession, and for that purpose to con- tinue the succession of bishops. Hickes and Wagstaffe had Ijeen consecrated only as suffragan bishops to bishop Lloyd, and had therefore no authority after his death in 1710. Wagstaffe himself died in 1712, and Hickes be- ing thus left as the sole episcopal representative of the
Nonjurors, and being then seventy-one years old, called in the assistance of two Scottish bishops, Campbell and Gadderar, and on Ascension-day, in 1713, these three consecrated Jeremiah Collier, Samuel Howes, and Na- thaniel Spinckes — Scotland thus once more contributing an element of schism to England. Hickes died in 1715, and Collier becoming the leader of the now formally constituted sect, Henry Gandy and Thomas Brett were consecrated by him and the other two schismatical bishops on Jan. 25, 1716. In the following year began the dispute among the Nonjurors respecting the 'usa- ges.' Collier wrote a tract entitled Reasons for restor- ing some Prayers and Directions as they stand in the Communion Service of the first Enylish Reformed Lit- urgy, etc. In this he advocated the reintroduction into the Communion Service of the mixed cup, of the in- vocation of the Hoi}' Ghost, of the Prayer of Oblation, and of prayers for the departed, these always having been used bv Hickes, who celebrated them with tlie Communion Office of Edward VI, first book, and by Col- lier himself, while Brett and the Scottish bishop Camp- bell strongly supported the practice. A division thus sprang up in the now small body of Nonjurors, Spinckes and Gandy leading one party, which wished to retain the use of the last book of Common Praj-er; Collier and Brett leading another section, which used the first book : the former party being called ' Nonusagers,' and the latter ' Usagers.' The two parties remained separate, each consecrating several bishops, from the year 1718 to 1733, when a reconciliation took place, though some still continued to be ' Usagers' and others ' Non- usagers.' The sect lingered on during the whole of the 18th century, but witli continually diminishing num- bers, and with continuall.v increasing divisions. Few priests seem to have been ordained among its members, but the consecration of bishops was kept up at last in a very irregular and reckless manner until nearly the close of the century. Among them were men of great learning, whose worlds have been of high value to the Church, especially Hickes and Dodwell as theologians, Collier and Carte as historical writers, Brett as a high authority in liturgical theology, Kettlewefi, Nelson, and Law as devotional writers, wliose influence deeply af- fected the religion of the Church for a century and a half. The Nonjurors appear to have always held their services in private houses, and many of their clergy practiced medicine or followed some trade. Gordon, the last of their regular bishops, died in 1779; Cart- wright, one of the last of the irregular section, practiced as a surgeon at Shrewsbury, and was reconciled to the Church at the abbey there in 1799. Boothe, the last of all their bishops, died in Ireland in 1805, but some small congregations of Nonjurors are said to have ex- isted some years later. Many of the last of the Non- jurors, however, attended their parish churches, only reserving to their consciences the privilege of using Prayer-books which had been printed before the Revo- lution" (Blunt, Diet. ofTheol. p. 515),