Thomas Morton (bishop) - Bishop of Chester

Bishop of Chester

Morton's see was large: Cheshire and Lancashire, the north-western portion of Yorkshire, and large parts of Cumberland and Westmoreland. Lancashire had a Catholic majority and Calvinist minority. Two significant works came out of this period, in which Morton had to deal with local issues outside the grander scope of the allegiance oath controversy to which he had devoted his efforts.

Nicholas Byfield preached in Chester to a congregation including John Bruen. Morton tried to reason with his Puritanical clergy. His tenure as bishop coincided with a watershed moment in opinion, namely a changed view of the relative threat of Catholicism and Protestant nonconformity.

Sabbatarianism was at issue, with an attempt by the magistrates to suppress the diversions customary on Sunday afternoons. King James asked advice from Morton, who recommended

• that nothing should be permitted which might disturb the worshipers when engaged in divine service; that it should be left to each man's conscience whether he should take part in the accustomed sports when service was over; that all parishioners were to attend their own parish church; and
• those who refused to do so were to be debarred from engaging in the subsequent diversions.

James based the substance of his subsequent declaration on these points; but his publication of the Book of Sports in the following year led to new disturbances. Morton's own dealings with nonconformist clergy were marked by moderation.