Here for the present I lay down my pen. I have endeavoured in preceding volumes to tell the story of ecclesiastical change, theological development, and religious life, amidst political scenes and incidents, of which that story was partly the cause and partly the effect. It is impossible to understand such an inner circle of thought, experience, and conduct, without an examination of national events occurring outside, nor can the state of one religious section be fully understood apart from its bearing on other communities: therefore I have interwoven the threads of their respective destinies, and of their mutual relations and antagonisms. The series of struggles portrayed present something of an Epic interest; for during the Civil Wars there was strife for _Ascendency_, which ended in the triumph of Puritanism, and in the treatment of Anglicans, somewhat after a wretched fashion which had been set in former days. After the Restoration, the resentment of Anglicans came once more into play, and severe persecutions followed; yet efforts at _Comprehension_ were made by healing spirits on both sides without effect. At the Revolution, as I have largely shown, experiments with a view to reunion were attempted with no better result, but a great and most beneficial change was accomplished by the legalising of freedom in religious thought and ecclesiastical action. The shield of the constitution was extended over previously persecuted Englishmen, and the age of _Toleration_, as it is termed, then began. Local interferences with the liberty of worship continued to occur, but they were contrary to law. The steps by which this consummation was accomplished I have somewhat minutely traced, and the earlier causes of the Revolution I have endeavoured to explore. The reign of William III. was the beginning of a new era in English History, and its ecclesiastical consequences can be ascertained only through a careful study of the great religious movements of the eighteenth century. Whether I shall ever be able to pursue my investigations into that interesting subject depends on circumstances, which I must leave in the hands of Him whom in all the labours of my life I desire to serve. APPENDIX. I.--P. 107. The following is a copy of the Bill after certain omissions and additions had been made, and the subjoined paper will give an idea of the extent of the latter:-- _A Bill for uniting their Majesties’ Protestant Subjects. First reading, March 11, 1688; second reading, March 14, 1688._