Page:History of the Nonjurors.djvu/376

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358
History of the Nonjurors.

British Nonjurors: but likewise the indiscretion of the Patriarch of Jerusalem in writing to Wake then Archbishop of Canterbury, and sending copies of proposals to him, &c. quite knocked that scheme in the head. Wake behaved with great prudence and discretion in the case, not exposing the papers nor suffering them to be ridiculed.

"I have frequently heard that the late Right Reverend Dr. Thomas Rattray, of Craighall, having been in London in 1716, assisted Mr. Spinkes in translating into Greek the proposals from the Nonjurors to the Oriental Church."

Thus the MS. account of the correspondence closes. My object was to exhibit the views, and feelings of the Nonjurors, which is fully attained by the plan, which I have adopted. The answers sent by the Patriarchs do not bear on the History of the Nonjurors: but merely contain the opinions of the Oriental Church, the nature of which will be gathered from the replies of the English Nonjuring Bishops. While, therefore, I have omitted the greater part of the documents from the East, alluding to them only for the purpose of elucidation, I have submitted the whole of the correspondence on the part of the Nonjurors, because I feel convinced, that anything from them, not generally known, must be received with favour by the public.

The pamphlet to which Brett alludes is a curious document. The writer of the preface zealously espoused the cause of Arsenius, as a few extracts will testify. "The following papers set forth the deplorable circumstances of the Greek Church of Alexandria, venerable for a most ancient and uninterrupted succession of Bishops from the Apostles, who have handed down the Christian faith, doctrine and discipline as pure as any other part of the Christian