Henry availed himself of the licence procured by his friends, and made Broad Oak a Presbyterian preaching-place, while he further took advantage of the opportunity afforded for ministering in adjacent counties. At the Revolution in 1688, Philip Henry got the benefit of its liberty and toleration, and was more abundant in labours than ever, and greatly revered and looked up to by all his brethren. He died on midsummer day, 1696, aged nearly sixty-five. The Decline of the Presbyterians in England (Continued). TOLERATION AND MEETING-HOUSE BUILDING PERIOD. I.-TOLERATION OR COMPREHENSION? II. THE CELEBRATED" ENQUIRY," 1691. III. EARLY PRESBYTERIAN MEETING-HOUSES AND THEIR TRUSTS. V. THE PRESBYTERIANS AND INDEPENDENTS IN THEIR "HAPPY VI. FIRST, OR NEO-NOMIAN, CONTROVERSY: DR. DANIEL WILLIAMS AND THE RUPTURE OF THE LONDON UNION. VII-MATTHEW HENRY, AND HIS PRESBYTERIAL POSITION. The Decline of the Presbyterians in England (Continued). TOLERATION AND MEETING-HOUSE BUILDING PERIOD. I. TOLERATION OR COMPREHENSION? A NEW era opened upon the Presbyterians of Great Britain and Ireland when WILLIAM OF ORANGE landed on the shores of England, 5 November, 1688. Son as he was of Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I., he became yet more closely allied to the reigning family of this country by marrying, in 1678, in his 29th year, his own cousin, Princess MARY, eldest daughter of James and niece of Charles II., and consequently next to the Crown after her father. The marriage turned out one of real affection, though originally arranged by the clever diplomatist, Sir William Temple, on political grounds, to meet an awkward and embarrassing crisis in Charles the Second's shifty policy. It gave William his right to interfere in the affairs of this country; while his long-continued struggle as the champion of European Protestantism against its arch-foe, Louis XIV., made him nothing loath to seize the opportunity of his father-in-law's wretched misgovernment, for achieving his bold and revolutionary venture. The inscription on his ship's flag, "I will maintain the liberties of England and the Protestant religion," was a happy adaptation of his own ancestral motto. Before the expedition sailed, the Prince had promised to endeavour a reconciliation between the Church of England and Protestant Dissenters. He gave at the same time a distinct assurance that his Presbyterian education had not prejudiced him against Episcopal government, while no less distinctly declaring that all loyal Dissenters should be free from religious persecution, and should enjoy, under his sway, full protection in their worship. William was a staunch Calvinist, "possessed" (says his friend and ardent supporter, the Arminian Burnet) "with the belief of absolute decrees, because he did not see how the belief of Providence could be maintained upon any other supposition." On a mind like his, the predestinarian doctrine lent only vigour and dignity to his heroic self-devotion to a great cause. Many remarkable coincidences in his own career confirmed him in his belief; and these were renewed in his later experiences. What came to be called "the Protestant east wind," that wafted the "deliverer" to our shores, had set in not less surprisingly than opportunely. The year, moreover, was the centenary of the Spanish Armada (1588), while the 5th of November, on which he had landed, was the anniversary day of the gunpowder plot discovery, 1605, which had been celebrated for fifty-three years as a memorable deliverance for England. "Will you not believe in predestination now?" said he to Burnet, who however gave the strictly non-committal reply, "I will never forget that providence of God which has so signally appeared on this occasion." Long afterwards he wrote in the Memoirs of his Own Time, "We saw many and unthought-of characters of a favourable providence of God watching over us." It would seem that the first religious services after landing were conducted in Presbyterian fashion by the Prince's great friend and adviser, William Carstares, "Scotsman and Presbyterian as he was," who had soon to play so influential a part in restoring the Presbyterianism of Scotland, and settling it as the National Established Church in that part of the realm. William had been brought up a Presbyterian, and had decided preferences for its more simple worship; but he could readily conform to such Episcopacy as would leave him free to be what he was, first and foremost, above all things, a zealous and hearty PROTESTANT. Vigorously opposed to the surplice, the altar, the cross in baptism, and similar doubtful usages, he was never on cordial terms with those High Church English divines who were sent over in succession as chaplains to his wife, and he could never take up with their ways; and even |