64

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

vir.

1687 .

ThePrinceand Prin-cess ofOrangehostile t(thcDcclaration ofIndul-gence.

possessed over their brethren. On the other hand, thesectaries found themselves attracted by a strong religioussympathy towards those prelates and priests of the Churchof England who, in spite of royal mandates, of threats, andof promises, were waging vigorous war with the Churchof Rome. The Anglican body and the Puritan body, so longseparated by a mortal enmity, were daily drawing nearer toeach other, and every step which they made towards unionincreased the influence of him who was their common head.William was in all things fitted to be a mediator between thesetwo great sections of the English nation. He could not besaid to be a member of either. Yet neither, when in areasonable mood, could refuse to regard him as a friend. Hissystem of theology agreed with that of the Puritans. At thesame time, he regarded episcopacy, not indeed as a divineinstitution, but as a perfectly lawful and an eminently usefulform of church government. Questions respecting postures,robes, festivals and liturgies, he considered as of no vitalimportance. A simple worship, such as that to which he hadbeen early accustomed, would have been most to his personaltaste. But he was prepared to conform to any ritual whichmight be acceptable to the nation, and insisted only that heshould not be required to persecute his brother Protestantswhose consciences did not permit them to follow his example.Two years earlier he would have been pronounced by nu-merous bigots on both sides a mere Laodicean, neither coldnor hot, and fit only to be spewed out. But the zeal whichhad inflamed Churchmen against Dissenters and Dissentersagainst Churchmen had been so tempered by common ad-versity and danger that the lukewarmness which had oncebeen imputed to him as a crime was now reckoned among hischief virtues.

All men were anxious to know what he thought of the De-■ claration of Indulgence. For a time hopes were entertainedat Whitehall that his known respect for the rights of con-’ science would at least prevent him from publicly expressingdisapprobation of a policy which had a specious show of libe-rality. Penn sent copious disquisitions to the Hague, and