Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/177

 head of his army. He set at nought laws previously passed against the Roman Catholics. In his palace of S. James' a gorgeous Chapel was opened for him to worship in, with every Roman Catholic adornment. Monks of several Orders crowded to London, and boldly walked about the streets in the religious dress peculiar to their Order. James tried his best to put the Universities under Roman Catholic control. At Cambridge he ordered that a Benedictine monk should be given the M.A. Degree without the necessary qualifications. At Oxford the Master of University College acknowledged that he was a Papist, and James ordered that he, as the law directed, should not be for that reason deprived of his post. James did his best to appoint Farmer, a Roman Catholic, to the headship of Magdalen College, but the Fellows would not allow it. He also arbitrarily appointed seven Commissioners to govern the Church, with a similar object in view, but the nation was against him, and, as a result of this policy of his, he was forced to abdicate the throne.

Another change awaited the Church when William and Mary came to England. There was no fear then of the Church becoming Papist. William was brought up on the Continent under the teaching of the Reformers, and he had no love for episcopacy. During his reign, then, the Church lost much of the power it had gained in the time of Charles II. Bishops were appointed to govern it who had sympathies with William's tone of mind. The great cry in William's time was toleration in religious faith and profession. Bishops were allowed to hold Sees who, as far as teaching and doctrine were concerned, were not really