were confirm'd by King James, tho' never brought to a Parliament, nor confirm'd by them. Here Subfcription to the Three Articles was enjoyn'd by Can. 36. Bowing at the Name of Jefus by Can. 18. and a multitude of other things by other Canons. Upon this there was a Petition prefented to his Majesty by more than a Thousand Ministers from all parts of the Nation,. the Sum of which was to be eas'd and deliver'd from the Burden of Humane Rites and Ceremonies, and the Tyrannical effects of them, which you may read at large in Dr. Fuller's Church-Hiftory." How Lib. 10. p. 22. "bis Majefty refented this Petition is variously reported, (says Fuller) but fure it is, it ran the Gantlop thro' all the Prelatical Party, every one giving it a lafh with their Pens, more with their Tongues, and the Dumb Minifters, as they termit, "found their Speech most vocal against it. Several of the Petitioners were Sufpended, Deprived, Imprifoned. And a great Division arose, which held during Archbishop Bancroft's time, who fucceeded Whitegift; but his Succeffor Bishop Abbot was much calmer. These were the Steps that the English Clergy made with that Scotch Prince, whofe vertues were too fenfibly fignalliz'd to be yet forgotten. After James fucceeded Charles the First in the Throne, and after Abbot fucceeded Laud in the Archiepifcopal See, who made a new Addition of Impofitions, as Saying Second Service at the Table; Setting that at the East end of the Church Altarwife, Commanding the Communion-Table to be rail'd in, and all the People to come up thither and to receive the Communion Kneeling; Bowing at the name of Jefus, forbidding Lectures and Afternoon Sermons, Preffing the Book of Sports on the Lord's-Day, and many other things of this kind. What the lamentable Effects of these things were, and what Disturbances Bishop Wren made in Suffolk, and others in other Dioceffes, What What numbers of the best Preachers were again Sufpended and Depriv'd, is yet fresh in the Memories of many now alive; and what work the Convocation Oath of Et Cetera, in 164C. made, and would further have made, had not a Parliament fpoil'd that Defign. Such hath all along been the Decent and Orderly fruits of your Ceremonies and Impofitions in thefe Kingdoms. But how little your Intereft gain'd by it, appear'd to all the World in 1641, when the Parliament began to break the Bonds of thefe Oppreffors. For they faw, they had not only loft their best Preachers, but many of their beft Subjects were remov'd into other Countries, the Trade and Strength of the Nation decay'd, and carried abroad, which was a Publick and irreparable Lofs: The People in many Places become Ignorant and Brutish, for want of better Preaching, and Popery, returning like a Flood upon them; Popish Doctrines publifhed, and Colledges fixed for Romish Priefts and Nuns: Wherefore they thought it now high time to put an end to these Practices, which had caus'd all these Disorders, and to rescue the King out of the hands of thofe Counsellors, that had to fatally milled him. Hereupon the King, inftigated by Popish and Prelatical Counfels, took up Arms against his Parliament, in hope to fettle himfelf in an Arbitrary Power, but Heaven was pleas'd to break these Measures, and to take them in their own Snares. It belongs not to me, but to another Profeffion of Men, to determine the Juftice or Injustice of these Wars, but rather to lament the Mifmanagement of the Victory, which is to be attributed efpe cially to the fame fort of Inftruments, who first set the King against his Parliament, in hope to have fucceeded that way. And for the Vindication of the Presbyterians in this matter against those Calumnies wherewith they have been charg'd, I fhall referr referr you to Rushworth's Collections, the Supplement to Baker's Chronicle, and to the Ros and Journals of that Parliament, and the Vindication of the Minifters, printed 1648, by T.Underbil, and Subfcrib'd by Fifty Eight of the most Eminent Minifters of that time, which is too large here to tranfcribe. But now on the Restauration of King Charles the Second, in 1660, every one was ready to promife himself a Deliverance from the Evils, under which the whole Nation had fo long been groaning, both from his Majefties Declaration at Scoon, at his first Coronation in Scotland, and at Bredab, and in England too, on his firft Arrival here, which I might tranfcribe at large, but these things being fo well known to all that have made Obfervation of the Times, I fhall fpare that Labour. But instead of what was pretended and promifed, we had the Yoke made yet much heavier, only all the Old. Subfcriptions requir'd, but feveral New Devices of Reordination, and Abjuration, to the Ejecting of more than Two Thousand Minifters at once of fuch as were call'd Presbyterians, befides the vaft number of all other forts of Diffenters, and expofing them to all the Penal Laws that had been formerly made against any Diffenters Proteftant or Popish, with an Addition of New ones. This was fuch a Blow as made all the Nations around us to ftare, and Rome to clap her hands, and laugh at us. Now, they thought the Sampfon was bound, with whom the Philiftines defign'd to make themselves Sport, and bound indeed with New Cords, which had never been before occupied: For the Old Non-conformists, tho' depriv'd of their Benefices, yet were not forbidden to Preach, where-ever they could find opportunity, and few would deny them their Pulpits, efpecially if they were not too popular: And this took off the Occafion of fetting up Separate Con 2 (b) gre gregations in thofe days; but now we must be driven out of the Church, fo as none of our Fathers were dealt with: And therefore were under a neceffity either Sacrilegiously to defert our Miniftry, and leave the People who were diffatisfy'd with thefe Impofitions, either to act with doubting Confciences in Complying, or to perish under those wretched Guides, that were in many Places fet over them, or else to run headlong after the Baptifts and Quakers, as very many were too forward to do; or, to keep them in fome measure of Confiftency, we muft exercise our own Minifterical Office among them in Separate Congregations: Which for these Reafons we did, and thought it our bounden Duty fo to do, tho' we ran the hazard of fo many Penal Laws as were made against us, and fo feverely executed on us; and when you your felf, Sir, (if the Teftimony of your Neighbours be true) could in the heat of your Z1, animate fome of the most violent Executioners of this wrath against us, and encourage them to the Spoil, by telling them, That God would blefs em the better; yet thefe things we patiently endur'd, without Mutinies, or any appearance of Rebellion. * And when it pleas'd the King to pluck us out of the Jaws of thofe that were worrying us, by fufpending the Penal-Laws against us, this anger'd many of you, not fo much that it was done by an Unlimitted Difpencing Power, which was then fo dangeroully and illegally challenged, (for that was agreeable enough to the Doctrine of Abfolute Soveraignty, Paffive Obedience, and Non-refiftance, which your Pulpits almost every where founded of) but because it gave fome check to the rage of the Perfecuting Spirit. But that a little Refpite in the midst of these burning Fits of Perfecution fhould be very acceptable to the Perfecuted, I hope you will not find in your heart to wonder at, by what hand foever the Relief comes, and whatever the more remote Designs of it were, wherein they were not at all concern'd as Contrivers or Abettors; fhelter is good in a Storm, tho' but under a Bramble. For this, Publick Thanks were given, not only to God, to whom indeed it was due, but to Man too, who was the more immediate Inftrument of it, by feveral, who Subfcrib'd fuch Addreffes. But for my own part, tho' Eafe and Liberty was good, and never fweeter than at fuch a time, and which, fimply confider'd, was a juft occafion of returning Thanks to God, yet as for any Addreffes of this kind to Man, the other End of whose Design in it was fo vifible and palpable, I never fet any Hand of mine to, but declar'd against it, as far as I was concern'd fo to do. But indeed when we had our Liberty in a Parliamentary way, I thought it better deferv'd thanks, and the rather, for that it was fo hardly obtain'd from fuch as were our Enemies. To conclude, When the Bishops and their Party began to fee Themselves, with the whole Proteftant Intereft, both at Home and Abroad, on the brink of Ruin, and that they were like to be undone by Him, whom they had fo lately fet upon the Throne, how earneftly did they follicite the Most Illuftrious and Warlike Prince of Orange, to arife for Their and Our Deliverance? And in their Petition declar'd, They would not be wanting in due tenderness to Diffenters. And at his landing here, all the Dif courfe was of Union and Comprehenfion; infomuch that a Reverend Prelate told a Diffenting Minifter, He need never to fear Perfecutions from the Church of England again, adding, If any fuch thing hould ever happen, let me be accounted a falfe Prophet. Accordingly, when the Prince was come in, and the Fears over, and the Crown fet on his Head, an Adt was pafs'd by the King and Parliament for the Toleration of Diffenters, and the Se (b2) curing |