Page:History of the Nonjurors.djvu/527

 The second cause was not less operative in producing a neglect of some of the Rubrics, namely, the practices of the Nonjurors. That the Nonjurors were conscientious and scrupulous men is evident from the fact, that a regard to an oath led them to sacrifice station, influence, and worldly substance. The same feeling respecting oaths and pledges influenced them in all their actions. They had taken an oath to King James, and they could not violate it. They had also pledged themselves to strict conformity, and they could not break their pledge. Consequently, all the injunctions of the Church were strictly observed by these conscientious and upright men. Such conduct, therefore, on the part of the Nonjurors, was calculated to make the Latitudinarian section of the Clergy still more averse to strict conformity. Many of the Bishops, during several years, were indifferent about conformity: and as the Nonjurors were exceedingly particular in such matters, some of the Prelates did not scruple to let certain practices enjoined by the Church fall into comparative neglect. At a later period, when the