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. James I 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. Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry In 1618, on John Overall's translation to Norwich, Morton became Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, on the recommendation of Lancelot Andrewes. With the bishopric he held the living of Clifton Camville in commendam. In 1621, he served on the commission for granting a dispensation to George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, for the casual homicide of a keeper in Bramshill Park. In February 1626, he took a leading part in the York House Conference on Richard Montagu's incriminated books. With John Preston, Morton did his best to impugn the statements contained in them on predestination and freewill. Bishop of Durham In June 1632, Morton became Bishop of Durham, which he held by canonical right until his death in 1659, although parliament claimed to deprive him of it in 1647. Complaints were later made against him to the House of Commons by his prebendary, Peter Smart. He showed forbearance in claiming the rights of the palatinate, was liberal in almsgiving, and maintained poor scholars at the universities. On his journey to Scotland in 1633, Charles I and his suite were received by Morton in princely style; six years later, in May 1639, he again entertained Charles at the beginning of the First Bishops' War. The next year, in the month of August, the