safeguard of English liberty. Taken in connection with Magna Carta
and the Petition of Right, it forms, according to Lord Chatham, *the
Bible of English liberty* (S497).

But Parliament had not yet finished the work of reform it had taken in
hand. The executive strength of every government depends on its
control of two powers,--the purse and the sword. Parliament had, as
we have seen, got a tight grasp on the first, for the Commons, and the
Commons alone, could levy taxes; but within certain very wide limits
the personal expenditure of the sovereign still practically remained
unchecked. Parliament now, 1689, took the decisive step of voting by
the Revenue Act (1) a specific sum for the maintenance of the Crown;
and (2) of voting this supply, not for the life of the sovereign, as
had been the custom, but for four years (S498). A little later this
supply was fixed for a signle year only. This action gave to the
Commons final and complete control of the purse (SS498, 588).

Next, Parliament passed the Mutiny Act (1689) (S496), which granted
the King power to enforce martial law--in other words, to maintain a
standing army--for one year at a time, and no longer, save by renewal
of the law. This act gave Parliament complete control of the sword,
and thus finished the great work; for without the annual meeting and
the annual vote of that body, an English sovereign would at the end of
a twelvemonth stand penniless and helpless.

26. Reforms in the Courts; the Toleration Act; the Press made Free.

The same year (1689) Parliament effected great and sorely needed
reforms in the administration of justice (S492).

Next, Parliament passed the Toleration Act, 1689 (S496). This measure
granted liberty of worship to all Protestant Dissenters except those
who denied the doctrine of the Trinity.[1] The Toleration Act,
however, did not abolish the Corporation Act or the Test Act[2]
(SS472, 477), and it granted no religious freedom to Catholics.[3]
Still, the Toleration Act was a step forward, and it prepared the way
for that absolute liberty of worship and of religious belief which now
exists in England.

[1] Freedom of worship was granted to Unitarians in 1812.
[2] The Act of Indemnity of 1727, and passed from year to year,
suspended the penalties of the Test and the Corporation Acts; they
were both repealed in 1828.
[3] Later, the fear that James II might be invited to return led to
the enactment of very severe laws agais