It was resolved that the scourging which he had undergone was cruel, and that his degradation was of no legal effect.

The latter proposition admitted of no dispute: for he had been degraded by the prelates who had been appointed to govern the diocese of London during Compton's suspension.

Compton had been suspended by a decree of the High Commission, and the decrees of the High Commission were universally acknowledged to be nullities.
Johnson had therefore been stripped of his robe by persons who had no jurisdiction over him.

The Commons requested the king to compensate the sufferer by some ecclesiastical preferment, [385] William, however, found that he could not, without great inconvenience, grant this request.

For Johnson, though brave, honest and religious, had always been rash, mutinous and quarrelsome; and, since he had endured for his opinions a martyrdom more terrible than death, the infirmities of his temper and understanding had increased to such a degree that he was as disagreeable to Low Churchmen as to High Churchmen.