The altered and improved tone of Sancroft on the subject of Nonconformity just after the trial of the seven will be noticed in its proper place;[215] but certainly the language which the seven now employed looked too much as if introduced to serve a purpose. Their expressed objection to the Royal proceedings as unconstitutional, and as fraught with perilous consequences to the liberties of the country, and their implied maintenance of the authority of Parliament as the conservator of national freedom deserve, however, an Englishman’s gratitude; although here again, it is provoking to remember, that the current teaching of the High Church school, to which some of the prelates belonged, had been such as to exalt the power of Kings far above the power of Parliaments. The ostensible ground of defence, that the Declaration and the order were unconstitutional, gave the Bishops the appearance of being confessors in the cause of civil liberty, but this is a view of their character entirely contradicted by their previous career. The real ground of their conduct, no doubt, is to be discovered in their alarm at the King’s patronage of Roman Catholicism, in their persuasion that the Indulgence, which they were commanded to publish, had been contrived for that end, and in their conviction, that by active compliance with the Royal mandate at this crisis, they would be betraying the Church of England, and degrading their own character. [Sidenote: THE SEVEN BISHOPS.] The seven Bishops just described or mentioned, signed the petition. On the evening of the day on which they performed that momentous act, six of them crossed the water, to seek an interview with the King,--the Archbishop not accompanying them, because he had been forbidden access to Court. The prelates were admitted after ten o’clock to the Royal bedchamber, and then into the King’s closet,[216] where the Bishop of St. Asaph, dropping on his knees, presented the petition. The King exclaimed, “This is my Lord of Canterbury’s own hand.” “Yes, Sir,” said the Bishops, “it is his own hand.” “What,” cried His Majesty, in a furious tone, “the Church of England against my dispensing power? The Church of England! They that always preached it.” The prelates told him they never preached any such thing, but only obedience and suffering when they could not obey.[217] “This,” added James, as he folded up the paper, “is a great surprise to me; here are strange words--I did not expect this from you. This is a standard of rebellion.” The Bishops rejoined--“That they had adventured their lives for His Majesty, and would lose the last drop of their blood rather than lift up a finger against him.” The King repeated, “I tell you this is a standard of rebellion; I never saw such an address.” The Bishop of Bristol burst into an exclamation, “Rebellion, Sir! I beseech your Majesty, do not say so hard a thing of us. For God’s sake do not believe we are, or can be guilty of a rebellion.