this
curtailment, might well have raised scruples in the mind of a man who
sincerely believed the Church of England to be a heretical society,
within the pale of which salvation was not to be found. The King made
an oblation on the altar. He appeared to join in the petitions of the
Litany which was chaunted by the Bishops. He received from those false
prophets the unction typical of a divine influence, and knelt with the
semblance of devotion, while they called down upon him that Holy Spirit
of which they were, in his estimation, the malignant and obdurate foes.
Such are the inconsistencies of human nature that this man, who, from a
fanatical zeal for his religion, threw away three kingdoms, yet chose to
commit what was little short of an act of apostasy, rather than forego
the childish pleasure of being invested with the gewgaws symbolical of
kingly power. [254]

Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely, preached. He was one of those writers
who still affected the obsolete style of Archbishop Williams and Bishop
Andrews. The sermon was made up of quaint conceits, such as seventy
years earlier might have been admired, but such as moved the scorn of a
generation accustomed to the purer eloquence of Sprat, of South, and of
Tillotson. King Solomon was King James. Adonijah was Monmouth. Joab was
a Rye House conspirator; Shimei, a Whig libeller; Abiathar, an honest
but misguided old Cavalier. One phrase in the Book of Chronicles was
construed to mean that the King was above the Parliament; and another
was cited to prove that he alone ought to command the militia. Towards
the close of the discourse the orator very timidly alluded to the new
and embarrassing position in which the Church stood with reference to
the sovereign, and reminded his hearers that the Emperor Constantius
Chlorus, though not himself a Christian, had held in honour those
Christians who remained true to their religion, and had treated with
scorn those who sought to earn his favour by apostasy. The service in
the Abbey was followed by a stately banquet in the Hall, the banquet by
brilliant fireworks, and the fireworks by much bad poetry. [255]

This may be fixed upon as the moment at which the enthusiasm of the
Tory party reached the zenith. Ever since the accession of the new King,
addresses had been pouring in which expressed profound veneration for
his person and office, and bitter detestation of the vanquished Whigs.
The magistrates of Middlesex thanked God for