He was received
with open arms by that party, who stood in need of so able a leader; and
no questions were asked with regard to his late apostasy. The various
factions into which the nation had been divided, and the many sudden
revolutions to which the public had been exposed, had tended much to
debauch the minds of men, and to destroy the sense of honor and decorum
in their public conduct.
But the parliament, though satisfied with the king's compliance, had
not lost all those apprehensions to which the measures of the court had
given so much foundation. A law passed for imposing a test on all who
should enjoy any public office. Besides taking the oaths of allegiance
and supremacy, and receiving the sacrament in the established
church, they were obliged to abjure all belief in the doctrine of
transubstantiation. As the dissenters had seconded the efforts of
the commons against the king's declaration of indulgence, and seemed
resolute to accept of no toleration in an illegal manner, they had
acquired great favor with the parliament; and a project was adopted to
unite the whole Protestant interest against the common enemy, who now
began to appear formidable. A bill passed the commons for the ease and
relief of the Protestant nonconformists; but met with some difficulties,
at least delays, in the house of peers.
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