OUR Inclination to embrace all Opportunities to express Our constant Care of, and affection to Our Ancient Kingdom, hath moved Us to Call You together at this time, to Advise with Us what may truly conduce to the Security and Interest thereof: And as We have ever judged Our Own and the Interests of Our Subjects to be unseparable, and such as would divide them, to be in their Hearts Enemies to Both; (Experi­ence having sufficiently evinced, that all Invasions upon, or Di­minutions of, the Rights and Prerogatives of Our Crown, prove fatal, and destructive to the Security and Property of Our People, which can only thereby be protected) so are they then best ma­naged and secured, when provided for by Unanimous Counsels and Joint Resolutions. And as it is one of Our greatest Satis­factions that We have been always careful of that Our Ancient Kingdom, with a Tenderness suitable to Our great Interest in it; so when We remember the firm and dutiful Constancy which it hath always paid to the Royal Line and Family; and that now it is your Interest as well as Duty to adhere unto it with Un­shaken Loyalty as much as ever; We cannot doubt of your Ready and Zealous Compliance at this time, with what shall be Proposed as fit for Our Service; which can never be divided from the Happiness of Our People.

And since some (corrupted with the Rebellious Principles of the Last Age, or the Blind Zeal of this) have at first raised Schisms and Separation in the Church, and afterwards frequent Rebellions against Us; We cannot but expect from your Pru­dent Consultations, effectual and adequate Remedies for curing these Violent Distempers at present, and preventing them for the future: And that you will not despise or connive at the smallest [Page 4]Appearances of these Wicked and Seditious Principles, which (bow plausibly soever they may be disguised under the old Pre­tences and fallacious Masks of Liberty and Religion, which are ever least minded by the most Clamorous Pretenders to them) yet in the Issue lead to such Monstrous Effects, and Rebellious Extravagances, as necessarily tend to the Dissolution of all Go­vernment [...]nd Order: And of which you cannot chuse but be deeply sensible.

This being once effectually done, We may reasonably hope that Our Government in Church and State, as by Law presently Established, shall receive its due Reverence and Obedience, and that all Our good Subjects shall be preserved in Peace, T [...]anqui­lity and Happiness. For promoting these Great Ends, so ne­cessary to the securing the Protestant Religion, Our Authority and Government, and the Common Interest of Our People, by your Joint Advice, who are so much concerned; and for Enact­ing of such laws as Experience hath discovered to be wanting for distribution of Justice in several Cases, which have emerged since Our last Parliament, We have called This; and as an Emi­nent Expression of Our Favour to You, have named Our most Dear and most Entirely Beloved Brother JAMES Duke of Albany and York, &c. to be Our Commissioner therein, whom We have found so Affectionate to You, and to whom You have te­stified so much Duty during His long stay amongst You, which have enabled Him so well to understand the Affairs and Interest of that Our Ancient Kingdom. And since His Interest is so un­separable from Ours, We shall not doubt of Your Ready and Chearful Concurrence to render His Endeavours amongst You successful for securing Our Government, and your own Peace and Happiness. By doing whereof you will answer the entire Con­sidence We have in your Prudence and Loyalty; and so We bid you heartily Farewel.

THe manifold sad Experiences of the fatal Mischiefs and Calamities which attend Rebellions, must needs in due proportion, dispose all Your Majesties Subjects to higher mea­sures of Loyalty, more particularly Us in this Your Ancient Kingdom; being sensible that as we have a more special interest in Your Majesties Sacred Person and Family, so must we inevi­tably share the more deeply in all the Inconveniencies which may disturb or subvert Your Royal Government: And therefore as [Page 7]by our Allegiance we own it our Duty to be Obedient and Loyal to Your Majesty, and your Lawful Heirs and Successors, so Your Majesties extraordinary Kindness to such as have continued in their Duty, and Your wonderful Clemency (by Your repeated Indemnities) to such as have fallen from it, cannot but kindle in us strong and ardent desires to serve Your Majesty with all the Courage and Alacrity of which we are capable, and to let Your other Kingdoms and all the World see, that we esteem our Lives and Fortunes to be best employed in maintaining of the just Rights and Prerogatives of your Majesties Crown and Monar­chy; the Native Succession whereof cannot be invaded without the utter Subversion of the Fundamental Laws of this your Ma­jesties Ancient Kingdom: And this our Loyalty we esteem our alone Security to avoid those Confusions and that Slavery which distracted and ruined us in the last Age, and seemeth to threa­ten us so apparently in this.

SIR,
Though some Rebellious and deluded People have disturbed your Majesties Government here, yet their Principles are so ex­travagant, and so few Persons of any Note or Quality are en­gaged with them, that we may justly hope their Crimes cannot be imputed to this Kingdom, whose Representatives in this your Majesties Parliament will, no less for their Vindication as to what is past, than for their own Security for the time coming, che [...] ­fully provide suitable and sufficient Remedies; all of us being very sensible that those Distractions and Disorders would in the issue tend to the Dissolution, not only of your Majesties Govern­ment in Church and State, as the same is by Law Established, but even of all Humane Society.

It is a great satisfaction to us, to find Your Majesty so concer­ned for the Protestant Religion, not only in your Gracious Let­ter to us, but in the whole Conduct of your Royal Govern­ment; and we shall with all Christian Care and Duty, endea­vour to confirm it, so as it may become a solid and pious Sup­port to your Royal Family and Monarchy, and a sure Fence in this disturbed and divided Church, against all the Usurpations and Disorders of Popery and Phanatischim; that so for the fu­ture the pretence of its Insecurity may not be made (as former­ly) an Engine for carrying on disloyal Designs and Practices

We offer our most humble and hearty Thanks to Your most Sacred Majesty for calling us together at this time, to consult joyntly the Interests of your Majesties Government, and of your [Page 8]Subjects in this your Ancient Kingdom, which we trust shall ne­ver be divided: And therefore as the Prerogatives and just Rights of the Monarchy, are absolutely necessary for the defence of our Properties and Liberties, so in pursuance of our own In­terest, and for further clearing of our Duty and Allegiance by positive Laws, we shall not fail to declare our humble and hear­ty Acknowledgments of the just Rights and Prerogatives of your Imperial Crown in its Just, Native and Lineal Course of Descent, and to secure the just Rights and Liberties of your Subjects, so as may fully demonstrate our unalterable Resolutions never to depart from our Duty to your Royal Family, and your Lawful Heirs and Successors, to whom we are tied by so many sacred Obligations

We do also with all humble gratitude acknowledg, the Grace and Honour done to this Kingdom, in naming Your Royal Brother to be your Majesties High Commissioner in this present Parlia­ment; and indeed the beholding a Son of our Ancient Mo­narchs (under whom we and our Ancestors have been so long and happily Governed) in this Character, doth vigorously awa­ken in us the remembrance of our native Kindness and Obliga­tion, as his just Temper and steady Equality in all our Concerns, cannot but extinguish in us all fears and jealousies of Severity or Partiality, his Interest being inseperable from your Majesties, and he being well acquainted with all our Concerns, and so affectio­nate to and careful of them, your Majesty may justly expect from a Parliament under the Conduct of such a Commissioner, all that can be judged necessary for the Honour and Support of your Royal Government and Authority, and for securing the just Rights and Liberties of your Subjects; and that, with all the Loyalty, Readiness, and Sincerity which can be expressed by Us.