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NIHIL OPINIONIS GRATIA OMNIA CONSCIENTIÆ FACIAM.

NOT TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF ONE
WHOSE WORKS WILL BE HIS MOST ENDURING MEMORIAL,
BUT THAT THERE MAY NOT BE WANTING

A PUBLIC TESTIMONY TO HIS MEMORY IN THE DIOCESE
WHICH DERIVES HONOUR FROM HIS SUPERINTENDENCE,
THIS TABLET IS INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME

OF JEREMY TAYLOR, D.D.
WHO ON THE RESTORATION IN M.DC.LX.
OF THE BRITISH CHURCH AND MONARCHY,
IN THE FALL OF WHICH HE HAD PARTAKEN,
HAVING BEEN PROMOTED TO THE BISHOPRICK
OF DOWN AND CONNOR,

AND HAVING PRESIDED FOR SEVEN YEARS IN THAT SEE,
AS ALSO OVER THE ADJOINING DIOCESE OF DROMORE,
WHICH WAS SOON AFTER INTRUSTED TO HIS CARE,
"ON ACCOUNT OF HIS VIRTUE, WISDOM, AND INDUSTRY ;"
DIED AT LISBURN, AUG. 13, M.DC.LXVII.,

IN THE 55TH YEAR OF HIS AGE:

LEAVING BEHIND HIM A RENOWN,

SECOND TO THAT OF NONE OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS SONS
WHOM THE ANGLICAN CHURCH

RICH IN WORTHIES HATH BROUGHT FORTH.

AS A BISHOP DISTINGUISHED

FOR MUNIFICENCE AND VIGILANCE TRULY EPISCOPAL,
AS A THEOLOGIAN, FOR PIETY THE MOST ARDENT,
LEARNING THE MOST EXTENSIVE AND ELOQUENCE INIMITABLE;
IN HIS WRITINGS A PERSUASIVE GUIDE,

TO EARNESTNESS OF DEVOTION, UPRIGHTNESS OF PRACTICE,
AND CHRISTIAN FORBEARANCE AND TOLERATION :

A POWERFUL ASSERTOR OF EPISCOPAL GOVERNMENT,
AND LITURGICAL WORSHIP,

AND AN ABLE EXPOSER OF THE ERRORS

OF THE ROMISH CHURCH;

IN HIS MANNERS A PATTERN OF HIS OWN RULES
OF HOLY LIVING AND HOLY DYING,

AND A FOLLOWER OF THE GREAT EXEMPLAR OF SANCTITY,

AS PORTRAYED BY HIM IN THE PERSON

OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

READER, THOUGH IT FALL NOT TO THY LOT

TO ATTAIN THE INTELLECTUAL EXCELLENCE
OF THIS MASTER IN ISRAEL,

THOU MAYEST RIVAL HIM IN THAT

WHICH WAS THE HIGHEST SCOPE EVEN OF HIS AMBITION,
AN HONEST CONSCIENCE AND A CHRISTIAN LIFE.

THIS TABLET WAS INSCRIBED
BY THE BISHOP AND CLERGY OF
DOWN AND CONNOR,
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD,

M.DCCC.XX VII.

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Accession of the King. Earl of Clarendon Lord Lieutenant.
Army new-modelled. Papists in Civil Offices. Earl of
Tyrconnel Lord Deputy. Changes in favour of Popery,
Oppression of the Clergy. Vacant Bishopricks not filled.
Clergy encouraged to Apostatize. King's Declaration of
Liberty of Conscience. Dispensing power attempted.
Sufferings of Protestants. Expulsion of Bishops and
Clergy. Dublin Clergy.

Unhappiness of

the reign of

King James II.

THE day, which witnessed the accession of King James the Second to the throne, was one of melancholy foreboding to the Churches of England and Ireland; and the announcement of the event, which, on its being notified in Dublin, was, by order of the Duke of Ormonde, immediately proclaimed with the usual solemnity, was received with as much sorrow of heart and dejection of countenance, on the part of the members of the Irish Church, as if they at that time foresaw, what was no doubt in the apprehensions and fears of many, the calamities and unhappiness of the ensuing reign. But God is merciful: Its duration. and, if He suffered a sanguinary Mary, or an arbitrary and bigoted James, to afflict his Church, He limited the dominion of each to a period of brief duration. The reign, on which we are now entering, though

King's accession.
Feb. 6, 1685.

Earl of Claren

don, Lord

Lieutenant.

abundant in affliction to the Church of Ireland more especially, whilst it lasted, was confined to three years and ten months in England, and legally in Ireland likewise: but unhappily extended in the latter country to about five years and five months.

King James ascended the throne on the 6th of February, 1685. The withdrawal of the Duke of Ormonde from the Lord Lieutenantcy of Ireland soon followed in regular course: whereupon the Lord Primate and the Earl of Granard became nominally the lords justices. But the powers of the government were in reality, not in their hands, but in those of Colonel Talbot, afterwards Earl of Tyrconnel, a Papist, who was lieutenant-general of the army. And by his authority, not only the English militia were deprived of their arms, but the English in the army began also to be dismissed, under pretence of their being either Oliverians, or their descendants.

But the hopes of the members of the Church were, not long after, revived by the appointment of a new Lord Lieutenant in the person of Henry, earl of Clarendon and they were withal encouraged by reflecting on the king's repeated promises of preserving the Church, and governing by the laws of the land, and by the sacred and solemn obligation, which he had incurred, of the Coronation Oath. A report, indeed, was industriously circulated by the Papists, that the new Viceroy was of their communion. But this error, whether voluntary or accidental, was soon corrected: and all men were convinced, that, if the Lord Lieutenant did not succeed in supporting the English interest, and the welfare of the Church, the failure would be attributable to the defect, not of inclination, but of power.

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