his conscience while reciting the
authorized Trinitarian expressions, though in substance his opinions
were no less heretical than those for which men had suffered under the
law.

A contemporary case of such suffering was that of _Thomas Emlyn_
(1663-1711), an Irish clergyman who was sentenced at Dublin in 1703 to
imprisonment which lasted for two years. This gross treatment, excited
keen criticism at home and in the American colonies, whither our
attention must soon turn. Emlyn was the first minister to call himself a
'Unitarian,' but under the pressure of the times, and in accordance with
the spirit of Clarke and the other Arianizing clergy, he found it
expedient to declare himself a 'true Scriptural Trinitarian.'

V. THE OLD DISSENT

It is estimated that about a thousand Meeting Houses were erected by
Dissenters in the twenty years following the passing of the Toleration
Act. After the death of Queen Anne others were built, but in no great
numbers. The prevailing impression of the state of religion in England
during the first half of the eighteenth century is a gloomy one.
Formalism and apparently an insincere repetition of the doctrinal
phrases imposed by the law was but too evident in the State Church.
Dissent had its bright features, but these grew dim as years went on. It
must be admitted that the odds were heavy against that party. Without
conforming no one could be appointed to public office, and the
'occasional conformity' of sharing the communion service at an
established church now and again in order to qualify was at length
forbidden by the Act of 1711. The sons of the Dissenting gentry and
manufacturers were excluded from the universities, and though a shift
was made by 'Academies' here and there, the excellence of the education
they might impart could not compensate for the deprivation of the social
advantages of Oxford and Cambridge. By an Act of 1714 schools for more
than a rudimentary education were forbidden to be taught by Dissenters.
Thus, we are not surprised to hear, considerable defection went on, and
early in the century congregations began to dwindle. As it proceeded
some became very small indeed, and many died out altogether.

The trusts upon which the Meeting Houses were founded were frequently
free from any close definitions of the doctrines supposed to be held by
the congregation. Much discussion arose in later years as to the purport
of this freedom; perhaps there was some expectatio