The Battle of the Boyne led to an important clerical conversion. William Sherlock, Master of the Temple, had distinguished himself in the reign of James II., not only by his zeal in contending against Popery, but also by his decision in maintaining the principle of non-resistance. He strongly disapproved of the turn which affairs took at the Revolution, and advocated negotiations with the exiled Monarch, in reference to his being restored upon terms which would preserve constitutional liberty. The accession of the Prince and Princess of Orange inspired indignation, and the new oaths were by him unhesitatingly declined. He threw in his lot with the Nonjurors, who regarded his talents with respect and his character with admiration; and they esteemed the support of a man so popular as a tower of strength. After losing the Mastership of the Temple, he retired into private life, and, pensive amidst misfortunes, wrote and published his celebrated treatise on Death. Still he deprecated schism; disapproved of the establishment of any Episcopal sect; advised those who could conscientiously remain, not to forsake their parish churches; and even officiated himself at St. Dunstan’s, actually reading the prayers for William and Mary. When the Battle of the Boyne decided the fate of the exile, and secured peace for the occupants of the throne, Sherlock looked at things in another light, became reconciled to the revolutionary settlement, and took the oaths which he had before refused. As a consequence, he returned to the Mastership of the Temple, and also received the Deanery of St. Paul’s, vacated by Tillotson’s elevation to Canterbury. So prominent a man on the nonjuring side, could not pass through such a conversion without giving some reasons for it; accordingly he wrote a book, which he entitled, _The Case of the Allegiance due to Sovereign Powers stated and resolved according to Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England_. [Sidenote: 1690.] [Sidenote: SHERLOCK.]