After the restoration of Charles II. prelacy was restored with all its popish ceremonials. On May 19, 1662, the following act was passed: "That all who had not received episcopal ordination should be re-ordained by bishops. That every minister should, on or before the 24th of August following, declare his unfeigned assent and consent to everything contained in the Book of Common Prayer, on pain of being deprived of his benefice," etc. "The dreaded day arrived. Great anxiety was felt as to whether the Reformation was to stand or fall in England. But the grace of God triumphed, and the enemy was defeated. Two thousand ministers, rather than submit to the act of uniformity, surrendered their livings, and left their parsonages. Thus were the most faithful and able ministers of the church of England cast out, ignominiously reduced to great poverty, and provoked by spiteful usage."-Burnet.
Charles II. died in 1685, and his brother, the Duke of York, ascended the throne as James II. Although suspected of being a papist, he was allowed to take possession of the crown in peace and quietness. But his true character and intentions soon appeared. Being surrounded with Jesuits as his advisers, edict followed edict, the tendency of which was the overthrow of the laws and institutions of the realm, and to restore popery in all its power and completeness. One of these edicts, which was ordered to be read during divine service in all the churches, hastened the final struggle. Several of the bishops, and a vast number of the clergy refused to read it. Seven bishops were summoned before the ecclesiastical commission, and sent to the Tower by the notorious Judge Jeffreys. But the heart of the nation was too soundly Protestant to submit long to such tyranny. The bishops were tried at Westminster, and acquitted. The hall rang with shouts of joy, and the crowd rushing to the streets, crying, "Not guilty! Not guilty!" All London soon caught the flying joy; but James, agitated and troubled, heard in these sounds the mutterings of the coming storm.
The disgraceful conduct of Charles and James, and the atrocious cruelties of Jeffreys in England, and of Claverhouse in Scotland, most thoroughly convinced all parties that, if the slightest vestige of liberty was to be preserved, decisive measures must be adopted. A majority of the nobility favored the intervention of William, Prince of Orange, son-in-law to James, and the next heir to the throne. Invitations were sent to the Hague, messengers were despatched, all entreating him to come over and mediate between the king and his subjects, and if necessary, to employ more stringest measures. Having duly considered the various aspects of this great enterprize, and prepared for it, he sailed under the English banner, with the motto, "For the Protestant Religion and Liberties of England," and landed at Brixham, in Torbay, on the 5th of November, 1688. In the meantime James fled, being fully aware of the universal feeling of disaffection existing amongst his subjects. He scarcely made any show of opposition.