THere is nothing in all the Ages of Christi­anity, hath done more Mischief to the Church of God than violent Prejudices and Passionate Resolutions to adhere to those Prejudices, tho' never so hastily and ground­lessly taken up either against Things or Persons; for through the influence of these, Men have been deaf to all Argument and Reason, to all wise and [Page 2] cool Thoughts and Discourses, and you can as well almost remove a Mountain, as stir these Men from their fixed and determined Opinions and Per­swasions so hastily taken up.

It is no doubt, but this is the main Reason, of so many Mens (otherwise Men of Consideration in the World, both for Learning and other Qua­lities) standing out and declaring against the late Revolution, and whispering, nay, the more is the pity, publickly abusing the Government, as it is in the Hands of their present Majesties, (whom God grant long to live, and to succeed in all their Just and Pious Undertakings,) and impeaching all those Conscientious Persons, that having taken the easie Oaths imposed by Authority upon them, as Men that have forsaken the Principles of the Church of England, and turned their backs upon their for­mer Obligations to the late King James: and with­all, in gratification of these Principles of Prejudice, are now full of nothing but Rage and Fury, which they vent by all manner of unseemly Words and Speeches upon their Majesties late Nomination of those worthy Men to fill up the Sees of the Bi­shopricks, vacant by their Predecessors denying to take the Oaths enjoyned them by the Supreme Power of the Kingdom. Alas! you cannot come into the Company of some sort of Men, but your Ears are filled and dinned with nothing but the Church! the Church! Oh the Church is utterly destroyed, put into the hands of false Loons, who will betray her Rites, break down her Fences, set up Presbytery, or else countenance Anarchy and Confusion, and give up the Order of Bishops, to­gether [Page 3] with the grave and solemn, and therefore necessary way of publick Worshipping of God by a stated Liturgy: and that is not all, but they must be cryed down too, as Men of no Honour nor Conscience, in taking the Places of Men so good and deserving. And what particular brands of In­famy and Reproach are fixed upon the Reverend, Learned and Pious Dean of St. Pauls, whom their Majesties have Nominated to the See of Canterbu­ry; things, which as he is altogether unworthy of, so thanks be to God, he is a Man of that Christi­an Courage, and of that great Prudence, that he knows how to do his Duty to God, and to their Majesties Persons and Government, without being ruffled or discomposed by such unmannerly and base Reflections, which have no Original, but from the corrupt and disingenuous, malicious and re­vengeful minds of those who have been all along Enemies to him, because he hath been a steady Friend to Truth and Christian Moderation, and hath lived bewailing, but no wayes countenancing or encouraging those Passions of all Sides and Par­ties, which have been the Bane of Religion it self, as well as of the Safety and Honour of the Church of England.

And therefore because the Clamour is so great, and runs so high, and the effects of it may be of so very destructive Consequence to their Majesties Government, both in Church and State, I will en­deavour to do Right to those Reverend Persons, who have so greatly Merited by their learned Pens and Pious Lives, as well as to their Majesties Wis­dom at this time, in pitching upon Men to succeed [Page 4] those who have voluntarily quitted their Stations in the Church, and I do not doubt but to make it plain, that the Church of England is so far from being in danger of ruine by these worthy Men, that she will gather strength more and more, and look with a more acceptable Countenance amongst the general part of the Nation; yea, even Dissenters themselves, who are but tolerably wise and thoughtfull.

It is very well known to those, who have been impartial Readers of the History of the Church, since the Reformation, by what means she hath lost ground, and upon what score the Non-conformists grew up in Interest against her. To pass by the Reign of King Edward the sixth, because it was a Reign of great Factions amongst Men of different Interests, and who too many of them rather sought to serve themselves of the Re­formation, than to serve the Reformation it self, we will begin with Queen Elizabeth's coming to the Crown, who though she was certainly always a Protestant, after she came to some Years of discerning in her Inclination, yet was forced to comply when Popery was upermost, so as to keep her self out of danger: For without doubt, had she professed her self an open Enemy to Popery, and used any other Publick Devotions than what were then in fashion, and established by Law, she had fallen a Sacrifice to the Biggottry of her Sister, and to Gardiner's Rage and Revenge; but however when she came to the Crown her self, she present­ly after a very little Temporizing, which we ought to believe Necessity of State was the only Reason of, she fell to reforming the Church, and it may be [Page 5] advanced a Number of as good Men to the Vacant Bishopricks, both for Learning and Piety, as any of her four Successors have done since. And here was the first false step by which the Church hath rather lost than got ground ever since; for though she preferred Men of so great Worth, Men of such signal Holiness, and who upon the account of ei­ther their Banishment or other Sufferings in Queen Mary's dayes were very acceptabe to all the Men of the Kingdom, who were then Protestants, and who by vertue of their exemplary Conversations, were very well fitted to stop the Mouths of gain sayers, and by degrees to win over the Papists, especially those who were only so by the strength of their Education; yet at the same time she would not suffer these Men, though of her own raising, to influence her into any little Alterations or Chan­ges, which might at that time have settled the Church upon a larger bottom, and prevented that after Schism which was made by some Men, who by their Travels in Germany and another place had sucked in some very narrow stingy Principles, which by a little Condescention they certainly had been shamed out of, or else put out of Capacity of de­luding the common People, as they afterwards did, to the great detriment of the Church. She had been brought up in the pompous, gawdy way of Popish Worship, and therefore notwithstanding all the modest Applications of her Pious Bishops, who valued substantial Religion above all other things, she continued her Zeal for Ceremonies, and support­ed and maintained them all her Reign; which thô she might lawfully do, and there was no moral [Page 6] Evil in them, as hath been sufficiently made out by many learned Pens ever since; yet some wise Men think, that an Abatement of one or two Ceremo­nies, and changeing four or five Phrases in the Com­mon-Prayer-Book, would have enlarged the Church­es Pale, and prevented all the Puritans designs a­gainst her; for to give those early Malecontents their just due, and I am not afraid to speak it, they never got into the good Opinion and Affection of the People by any strength of Argument, by any real and solid Proofs of Scripture, but by popular Harangues, and odious Names fixt upon the Ce­remonies and the Common-Prayer-Book, and they wrought more upon the unthinking and yet zea­lously-inclin'd Vulgar, by calling a thing a Rag of Rome, a Mark of the Beast, and an Antichristian Usage, than ever they did by rational and well-weighed Exceptions to any thing enjoyned by the Laws of the Land; all which Occasions of Mischief had been prevented, as very wise Men think, if the Bishops at that time could have had their Will of the Queen, and got her to Condescend to those Abatements in which they thought the Church so little concerned as to her Being or Well-being, that they did believe they could thereby stifle the Facti­on, and have left them to be the Heads of an in­considerable Party, which would quickly have dwindled into nothing. But however, Queen Eli­zabeth kept to her Point resolvedly, and by her pru­dent and unwavering Government kept the Party down for forty four Years together; upon whose Death, and King James the first's just Accession to the Crown, the Party hoping some advantage from [Page 7] his Education under Buchanan, a Friend of theirs, Petitioned for Relief, and he to settle the Minds of his Subjects commands a Conference at Hamp­ton Court, where certainly had there not been too stiff an adherence to some few things, which might without danger have been altered, had not the Bi­shops then, (though very good Men, yet not able to foresee the effects of these Mens Preten­ces, upon the Common People in future times, and trusting to the Zeal of the then King to stand by and assist them,) I say, had not the Bishops then had such an Ascendant throughout the whole Con­ference over the King, which he was well pleased withall, having by the contrary Party in Scotland been so roughly handled all his time; I say, cer­tainly that Conference had terminated in a great advantage to the Church of England; for the Pu­ritan Party was not so numerous, nor consequent­ly strong, as afterwards; nor yet their Dissatisfa­ctions so great as they have been since, a very little and easie Condescention had spoiled the Market of the Designing men, both Gentry and Ministers too, and we had not heard of, nor felt those Miseries in the Nation, that God knows both our Ancestors and we have done ever since: And so this Oppor­tunity was lost, and the Party grew stronger and stronger all King James his time, and talked as loud as they durst against Will-worship and beggerly Elements, as they were pleased to call our Prayers and Ceremonies, by which they continued to cap­tivate abundance of easie People, and to insinuate a Belief into them that they only Worshipped God and Administred Ordinances according to the Pattern [Page 8] in the Mount, as they Phrased it; and that which gave them a great advantage over and above their Pretences to a more Pure way of Worship, was the Spanish Match, and upon the Failure of that the French Marriage: for then they easily made the cre­dulous World believe that nothing but Popery was at the door, and that it was impossible, when a Papist lay in a King's Bosom, but that he must be influenced by her Charms to Favour her Religion as well as to Love her Person: and the truth of it is, this was too great an advantage to be put into a restless and designing Party's Hand, and they made use of it accordingly; for by this means they got a great Pow­er in most of the Counties and Corporations of England, whereby were returned a major part of Men affected to them to the House of Commons, and what the Effects of their Counsels were, and what Spirits they shewed, I had rather any one shou'd tell than my self; for though I do believe many of them meant very well, yet by the sequel we find others made a noise in the House, and found fault, on purpose to be bought off by the Court, and put into Posts of Honour and Profit together, and then we find how quickly their Opinion of State Affairs altered; for that which was before the great­est Grievance, was now necessary for the Preserva­tion of the Government. Now at the same time, while the Puritans thus enlarged their Interest throughout the Kingdom, the Bishops on the other side carryed things with a very high Hand, having the Countenance of King and Laws, and used some Men very roughly, yea and those many of them too who were the Peoples Darlings, and made [Page 9] the greater Darlings too by reason of their harsh usage of them; so that there was nothing in the Nation but endeavours by Fines and Punishments, Corporal as well as Pecuniary, to suppress the Par­ty on the one side, and Cabals and Clubs of ma­ny of the Nobility, Gentry, and discontented Cler­gy, to pluck the Plumes of the Hierarchy, and to weaken the Bishops Power, together with the Ex­orbitancies, as they thought them, of their Ec­clesiastical Courts on the other side: And the truth of it is, the Book of Sports, together with some other, I fancy (though I am tender of judging) unnecessary Innovations, which Bishop Laud (thô otherwayes a very good Man) countenanced, and the Zeal for which he rewarded with the best Pre­ferments of the Nation, these gave a very great Advantage to the Puritan-Party to get into the Hearts and Affections of many well and religiously inclined People throughout the Nation; and to give them their due, they were not wanting to make use of it accordingly; and therefore when King Charles the first, through his pressing Necessi­ties called a Parliament, the People being allarm'd at the new Supra-conformity, all those things brought into the Church, which they were made to believe were introductions to Popery, nay, Popery it self, they generally pitched upon such Men to represent them as would look into these things, and provide such remedies for them as were thought at that time necessary; which Parliament at its first sitting down, certainly had abundance of great Patriots of their Countrey, passionate Lovers of their King, and true Admirers of the Church in its essential [Page 10] Constitution, such as my Lord Falkland, &c. and designed none of those things which afterwards through the craft and subtilty of too many of their Fellow-Members were brought to pass.

And here now another Opportunity was put in­to the Church-mens hands to save the Church, and to have prevented that Bloody War, the miserable Effects of which we feel to this very day; and cer­tainly had there been any good Temper, and heark­ning to the Commands of a true Christian Spirit, at this time our breaches had been healed, and our Church had been like a compacted City, at Unity with it self, and all those Notorious Schisms and Di­visions, together with all those filthy Opinions and Doctrines of Devils, which like a violent Innun­dation broke in upon the Church, had certainly been prevented: But alas, we then did not, or would not know the things that belonged to our Peace. And here I must change the Tables, and charge another sort of Men with one of the greatest Mistakes, if not one of the greatest Crimes imaginable, and plainly show that when Men, tho' pretending the greatest Conscience, fancy themselves furnished with power to back them, even they are as ready to sacrifice the publick good and Peace of Church and State to their own private Passions, to their own Lust and Revenge, as those they formerly complained of as their greatest Oppressors.

For we find that when Archbishop Williams, Bi­shop Morton of Durham, and other very learned, pious and moderate Divines, were appointed to meet at Jerusalem-Chamber in the Deans House at Westminster, with Mr. Calamy, Dr. Seaman, and others [Page 11] who pretended dissatisfaction at some parts of the Churches Constitution, those Bishops and learned Men, made such Offers, drew up such Terms of Ac­commodation, and made such Condescentions, that all wise Men expected nothing but an happy Union. There was nothing that I can meet withall, that the other Party objected against, and made matter of scruple or uneasiness to the Party called Puritans, but they were ready to part withall, tho' they had before defended them so well; Bishop Morton parti­cularly, as any one knows that hath read his de­fence of the three innocent Ceremonies; for by the by, you must know, that Party was not run so far as now, as to write Books against Diocesan Episco­pacy and stated Liturgies. Now if any Man ask me where things stuck at this seeming happy jun­cture, and what hindered such a blessed Accord, as without all doubt would have made the Kingdom instead of a Field of Blood, a Garden of Eden, a Pa­radise of God? Why truly I must deal plainly, for I put out these Papers with a resolution to spare nor flatter any Party of Men, the Fault now lay at the Puritans door, and they who had Complained of Se­verity and Persecution, and called the Bishops, both in their Pulpits and private Conversation, by worse Names, all things truly considered, than they did deserve, only for exacting Conformity to the Laws of the Church, and which they had subscribed with their own Hands to observe; why now when they saw their Party uppermost, and too great a Number, God knows, of the House of Commons to side with them, they left these great and good Men in the lurch, turned their backs upon their Persons as well [Page 12] as upon all those moderate and healing Proposals they had made; and when Sir Arthur Hazzlerigg had the Confidence as well as the dishonesty to bring in a Bill for taking away Deans and Chapters Lands, that is, in plain English, robbing them of what they had as good a riht to legally, as he had to his Estate; they, I mean Mr. Calamy and the rest, thought them­selves so secure of the Power of the Nation, that nothing would serve their turn but Root and Branch, (a spirit too much amongst their Successors in Prin­ciples at this very day) and both Episcopacy and Liturgy, all must be sacrificed and given up to the Designs and Pretences of a prevailing Party, who, God knows, thereby involved three Kingdoms in Blood and Ruine, and have thereby entailed a spirit of Antipathy amongst Neighbouring Families in all parts of the Nation ever since: for had this hope­ful Meeting at Jerusalem-Chamber obtained its de­sired effect, which I am sure, if I know any thing in History, the Conformable Clergy were very for­ward to promote, the War, the dismal War had been prevented, and all the wofull Effects of it too: For the designing Lords and Gentlemen, who had a mind to engross the Power and Riches of the Na­tion into their Hands, to rule both King and Peo­ple, could never have raised Men to have fought their Battels, if they had not wheedled and seduced the more easie, Gentlemen and the Common Peo­ple, by Pretences that the Cause of God and Jesus Christ lay at stake, and that if they did not come in to help the Lord against the Mighty, Popish Ty­ranny would over-run them in a Moment, and the pure Ordinances of Christ would be mixt and blend­ed [Page 13] with humane Inventions and superstitious Ob­servations.

And thus we lost, through the Pride and Folly of some Men, (I scarce ever think of it without hor­rour and trouble of mind) one of the best Oppor­tunities that was ever put into Mens hands, to have set things right in the Church, and to have united almost all the Kingdom in one way of Worship, which would have been such a Blessing, as is beyond my poor Rhetorick to express.

And what followed after, let those who have a mind to be informed, read the History of the Civil Wars, for I take no pleasure to write it; only thus much I will say, that it ended in the Murder of one of the best Princes that ever sat upon a Throne: A Prince whom nothing but black Malice and devilish Revenge dare venture to blot and defame, and whose bright and excellent Virtues do so upbraid his Murderers, and those who are so ready to abet them, that by Lyes and Forgeries they are always endeavouring to lessen, or else flatly to deny them: A Prince, whose Name and Memory ought to be, as no doubt it will, precious to all impartial and unprejudiced Men who have any sense of Truth, Ho­nour or Religion.

And this I speak, the rather because I find abun­dance of New Royalists, who would make the World believe they are the only Friends to King William and Queen Mary, (or as they Phrase it, to the pre­sent Government) and yet at the same time heap all the Calumnies and Reproaches upon their glori­ous Grandfather they can, and applaud and vindi­cate that villanous High Court of Justice which [Page 14] brought him to such an untimely end; and at this time some of them have reprinted, to give an un­doubted Testimony to his Royal Grand children of their Dutifulness and Loyalty, that false and scan­dalous Answer of Milton to his Unparallel'd Book, with a vile insinuation as if it was not his own: But these Men, notwithstanding all their Pretences of Loyalty, must give me leave to tell them, there is a Snake in the Grass, and that we know them bet­ter than to believe they purpose any Duty to their present Majesties, than as it serves their turns, and helps forward those Designs which a Man of half an Eye may see into, especially if he hath but read over the History of the late War.

Well, things being at this pass in the Nation, for want of an early accommodation, when the Parlia­ment sat down in Forty, all things running into no­thing but disorder and confusion, all sorts of Parties striving to get uppermost; the Nation wearied with their various Changes, and hankering after their old Constitution of Church and State, by the help of a great General, invited their Natural Prince, after twelve Years Banishment, home again; and having been tossed and tumbled up and down by cross Winds, longed for a Calm, which they found could not be obtained, but by a return to their Duties to their lawfull Sovereign, and building upon their old Foun­dations. And now every Mans Heart was easie, unless it were some particular deep-dyed Criminals, whom the Justice of the Nation, for its own Honour sake must needs overtake; I say, every Mans Heart almost was easie, and the two great differing Parties of the Kingdom seem to be inclinable to a Conjunction of [Page 15] Interest, and nothing was talked of but a Compre­hension, founded in such Abatements as would bring in all the wise and sober Men of the Kingdom into one way of Worship and Communion; and in pur­suance of this a Commission was issued out, and some of both Parties met, and many Debates they had, but alas, after all, the old spirit, which hath defeated the best and most profitable Designs in the World, I mean the spirit of Revenge and Retaliati­on, sprung up with all fierceness and cruelty, and the Sufferers were not mortified enough to forgive thole who had been the occasion of their Miseries, and therefore instead of bringing them into the same Body with themselves, and thereby strengthning the Interest of the Church, they made harder Terms of Communion than there were before the War, and imposed a New Declaration to be subscribed and read afterwards in publick Churches, which nei­ther the Pride of some nor the Tenderness of others would or could submit to.

And here again we lost as fair an Oppertunity of Union as could be desired, and what have been the effects of it, there is no Man that converses with Books or himself, must or can be ignorant of; there were some hundreds of Men that afterwards became the Heads of discontented Parties, and those consi­derable for Wealth and Numbers, who would cer­tainly have staid in the Church upon some very few Abatements, and have served God and the Necessi­ties of the Souls of the People very faithfully, but are now so imbittered, that it is not an easie thing to bring them back, and to reconcile them to any Terms of Union whatsoever. Good God! that a [Page 16] Nation should be so blinded, as thus at all times to consult their own Passions against the common good of Christianity, as well as the Safety and Ho­nour of the best Constituted Church in the World. What hand the Papists had in keeping up these Di­visions, and what advantage they have made of them ever since, is apparent to any Man of but ve­ry mean Observation of things. We were by this means within a very little of utter ruine, both of our Church and State, and the late King James to carry on his Designs against the Protestant Reli­gion, sweetned these sort of Men, took them into his Bosom, and gave them such verbal Assurances of a Magna Charta for Liberty of Conscience, that (how­ever they talk against him now) they then slavish­ly lay at his Feet with fulsome Addresses of Thanks, and with Promises of Lifes and Fortunes to stand by him, by whose help and assistance, had not our present Gracious and Noble King stept in to our rescue, the Church of England had certainly been born down by those two Parties of Papists and Dis­senters, and sacrificed to the rage and cruel resent­ments of them both; though by the way, I am sure it is no part of the goodness, or that singular Piety (they pretend to) of too many of our Dissenters, (for all were not guilty) to run so violently, and against all reason and common experience, into such an Interest as was never true to any Promises or Oaths that crossed and thwarted their own Ambiti­on and secular Designs.

Well, the then Prince of Orange coming over as a Sovereign Prince, to vindicate the Hereditary Rights of his Noble Lady, as well as his own, and suc­ceeding; [Page 17] and the States of the Realm Recognizing and Declaring him and his Princess King and Queen of England, which by the way I verily believe, was the only way, (things being in such a Posture as they were) to settle the Nation, notwithstanding all the talk of a Regency, or any other Expedient. Pray now upon this great Change of Affairs, was there no steps made by both Parties to an Accom­modation? surely now, if ever Mens Eyes might be opened, in order to see the Cause of their former Mi­series, and to provide Remedies against them for the future; yea, to give a great many good Men their due, and in particular our excellent King and Queen, they with abundance of other Men shewed their In­clination to bring the Nation to a due Temper; a thing we all know our Reverend Bishops in the day of their Afflictions and Fears promised; and in order to this, a Commission was issued out by the King, in which were named a great many extraordinary Persons both for Religion and Learning, and who (for the greatest part of them, as I am well assured) had with great Harmony and Agreement prepared things for the Convocation, which the wise and well dis­posed part of the Nation did not doubt would have had a very good effect, to bring in many of the Cler­gy; and I am very well satisfyed great Numbers of the Laity too into our Communion, and by that means would have weakened the hands of Division, and much laid that scurvy Spirit which hath been so mischievous to so many of the Churches of Christ ever since the Apostles dayes.

What was done upon this, I will rather with grief of mind pass over in silence, than bring fresh upon [Page 18] the Stage, because it will tend to nothing but exaspe­ration.

And therefore seeing all these Opportunities have been so lost, which I have named, truly I know no way to keep the Church in a state of Life, to pre­serve her from the rough and barbarous hands of her resolved and stubborn Enemies, than to put such Men into Places of Trust and Command, of Autho­rity and Power, whose Religion as well as Learn­ing, whose Christian Spirits as well as great Under­standings may endear the Church to the People, and make them see that a Man may be a true and zea­lous Member of the Church of England, and yet be a Pious and a good Man; a thing which the Dissen­ters, too many of them, God knows, (the more is their ignorance or their impudence) have endea­voured to perswade the People against, as if no Man could be a Child of God, and in a State of Regene­ration, that thinks honourably of a Bishop, or serves God (as he ought to do, if he would serve him wise­ly) by well digested Forms of Prayer. And were such Pious and Holy Men in most of the Places of the Church, of low as well as high degree, I am very certain that Separation would lose ground every day, and our Posterity would not be leavened with such sowr and narrow Principles, as we have cause to fear they will be, if Fanaticism does not lose its reputation more than it hath done a few Years last past. And to this end I dare say it is, that our excellent King and Queen have Chosen and Nomi­nated such Persons to the several Vacant Sees. I am no Flatterer, but speak what I know from Per­sonal Acquaintance, that they are Men of Prudence [Page 19] and Learning, of Integrity and Honour, who high­ly value, and also live up to that which we call de­servedly, Substantial Religion, and yet at the same time know how to defend, and encourage the ho­nest Observation of the legal and established Rites of the Church, and who by Vertue of these good Qualities will, and cannot but promote the true In­terest of the Church, both by being Examples of, and also by zealous recommending Holy Living to all under their Charge and Care.

And notwithstanding all the Clamours against the present Arch-Bishop of Canterbury; notwith­standing all those false as well as vile Reproaches they have attempted to fasten upon him, which can proceed from no other than a Diabolical Spi­rit, I do not doubt but he will prove one of the greatest Blessings to the Church this Age hath pro­duced; for it is such a Temper as he hath always manifested throughout his whole Life and Conver­sation that must heal our Breaches, and restore us Paths to dwell quietly and safely in; and they who accuse him for not being a true Church-man, I must tell them, have framed false Notions and Idea's of the Church, and have made it a little Fold, fit to hold none but a Company of hot-headed and violent spirited Men: A Notion, which at this time of the day ought to be laid aside, and with­out doing of which the Church England will be but a small Party of Men, and lose every day her Strength and her Reputation, and at last will be devoured by those greedy Cormorants that long for her Lands and Possessions again; and those Men that have the Confidence as well as Silly­ness, [Page 20] to call no Men true Church men but such as are stretched out to just such a length, must excuse me if I tell them, that under pretence of Friendship and Love to her, they smite her through the fifth Rib, and throw out of her Communion the best and most pious Members she can and ought to glory in.

I know I shall anger abundance of Men, by these just, though too short Characters I have given of these Worthy and Reverend Persons; and some may think that it looks like a design, to lessen the deserved value of those, who have forsaken their Bishopricks, because they could not take the Oaths; but I must begg their Pardon, I am, I thank God for it, a Person of more Man­ners and Justice, as well as of more Candour and Temper, than rudely to fly in the Face of, or by any voluntary Act to disparage those, whom all observing Men must needs acknowledge to have merited highly at the Nations hands. I thank God I never think of some of these great Mens stout Defence of the Nations Religion and Laws, by Petitioning King James against reading the De­claration, by an undaunted Appearance at the Council Table, and going in that unconcerned manner to the Tower, with the Spirits of Noble and Brave Patriots and Heroes, by standing a Try­al at Westminster-Hall: Further, I never reflect upon that Noble, and almost unparallel'd Act of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Sandcroft, with others of his Brethren, Addressing to King James, and telling him to his Face, though with all mo­desty and becomingness, yet with more than a [Page 21] Roman Courage, all those Faults of his, where­by he had violated the Laws, and incensed his Subjects against him, with an humble desire to rectifie those Errors of his Government for the time to come: I say, I never think of these things with­out thoughts of great honour and admiration; and I heartily wish for the Churches sake and their own, they could have complyed with what was required at theirs and all other Mens hands who were in pub­lick Places; but since they cannot, God forbid but they should have a share in our Charity as well as others, and that they should be no more severely re­flected upon than others, whose Consciences and Principles are so widely different from the established Church. And those Men (we know what stamp they are of, and what they design) who thô they lay at King James's Feet with Lives and Fortunes, even at that very time when these great Men suffer­ed for their Religion and Laws, and ventured their all; I say those Men (God knows there are too ma­ny of them) who now when they hear these Mens Names, cry, Hang, Damn, Sink them, (Saint like terms indeed) and Drink Healths of Confusion to them, I must begg their Pardon if I tell them, they are so far from understanding the Commands of Chri­stianity, that they are strangers to the Laws of Na­ture, such as the very Heathens think themselves obli­ged by, and reproach themselves, if they do not in some sort live up to.

One thing more, and I have done, if any Man shall think and suggest to others the Commendation I have given these Learned Men, reflects upon those Eminent Persons who were in Episcopal Chairs be­fore, [Page 22] I must crave leave to tell them, I scorn the thoughts of it, for there were some of those as great and good Men as we can desire to fill a See for the Churches Honour, and the Comfort and Satisfacti­on of those, both Clergy and Laity, who are Mem­bers of her Communion; amongst whom, I must tell the World, I mean our own Honourable and Right Reverend Diocesan, whose Name and Vertues will find a room in future Annals and Records, when the Memory of his implacable Enemies on both sides will perish.

And now therefore for a Conclusion, let us Bless God for such a King and Queen, who make it their Business to Consult and Study the Nations good, by promoting worthy Men themselves, and countenan­cing all those Worthy Persons, whom they found fix­ed in the upper Preferments of the Church, before they came to the Throne. May they Prosper in all their just and righteous Undertakings: May they live long to Reign over, and to preserve us against all the Designs of Priests and Jesuites, and all other wicked Men, who either Envy, or are ready to Plot the ruine of the Nations Happiness and present Set­tlement; and may God cover our great Kings Head in the Day of Battel, give him Victory over all his Enemies, and bring him home again with Triumph to an Obedient and Rejoycing People; to which I do not doubt but all good Men, who love their Religion and their Laws, will say Amen.