ties of the Kingdom, the case was altered. I looked upon the Communion as one of the most sacred mysteries of our holy religion, one which it was unlawful to approach with any other view than to receive thereby the benefits of the sacrifice of the death of Christ. When I saw it imposed upon me to gain pecuniary advantages, I doubted very much whether any spiritual benefit could be derived from a communion received for the express purpose of procuring a pension. It seemed to me a very papistical sort of proceeding, much like what I had seen in France, "Come to mass and you shall be exempted from dragoons."
I had hitherto found nothing whatever to offend me in the service of the Church of England. I then studied it very carefully, and I heartily embraced all its doctrines as set forth in the thirty-nine articles; but the Church Government, especially the point so much insisted upon of Episcopacy by divine right, seemed to me to bear too strong a resemblance to Popery.
I might have gotten over these objections, perhaps, if I had not learnt their cruel persecution of their brother Protestants, the Calvinists, only for differing on the subject of Episcopacy,[1] and some ceremonies which were, in themselves, of no great importance. I found that the poor Presbyterians had been imprisoned, fined, and deprived of their employments, because they would not consent to receive Episcopal ordination, in conformity with the laws passed in the reign of Charles II., and furthermore, I was told by the Presbyterians, that the unfortunate people who had been executed after the Duke
- ↑ It is not surprising that a foreigner should confound the conscientious members of the Church of England with the disguised Papists who were so numerous in the days of Charles II. and James II., by whom the Calvinists were persecuted.
