time at Copthall as much as my Lord of London's and my Memory could Serve us to do it But one thing farther I must observe as very Remarkable in this Affair that if the exact time of this our Address to King Iames at Whitehall shall be compar'd with the Day of the Prince of Orange his present Majesties setting forth his First Declaration in Holland they will both be found to bear very near the same Date For our Address here was form'd at Lambeth on Monday October the First and should have been deliver'd on Tuesday the Second and was actually presented on Wednesday the Third And that Declaration was Sign'd there on the Tenth of October which considering the Two Styles makes little or no Difference And if I might presume to compare Small Things with Great in the Matter of them as well as in the Date I would venture to say that most of the very same Grievances which his Highness insisted on in his Declaration except One or Two that were too high for us Subjects to meddle with were so early represented by us to the King in that Petition as Things necessary to be speedily Redress'd And My Lord I cannot but add that this we did in a time when the King thought of nothing less than Victory when in all Humane probability he was the strongest both by Sea and Land when as yet there was no appearance of such a Prodigious Alienation of his Subjects Affections when at least his Army was thought to be still firm to him when the very Winds and Seas seem'd hitherto as much on his Side as they all afterwards turn'd against him After that My Lord as I remember the next Solemn time of our Waiting on King Iames the Second was occasion'd by the Interception of the Prince of Orange's Declaration here in London some short time before his Highness's Landing For upon Reading that Expression in it That the Prince was most earnestly Invited hither by divers Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and Others of all Ranks the King forthwith sent for some of the Bishops who were nearest at hand and required us to Justifie our Selves to the World as to our Part in that Invitation To this end His Majesty fixed a Short Day whereon He obliged us to present him a Paper under our Hands signifying our Abhorrence of the Prince of Orange's intended Invasion My Lord the Day came and great Throngs there were at Court expecting the Issue of that Conference We saw both the Friends and Enemies of the Church of England equally impatient to know what we would do in that difficult Moment The King himself had affirm'd to us He thought his good Success exceedingly depended upon our Ready Compliance with his Command of Abhorring A Declaration was then in the Press against the Prince of Orange the present King and was only stopp'd for our Paper of Abhorrence to be inserted into it And there happen'd to be but Four of our Number my Lord of Canterbury my Lord of London my Lord of Peterborough and my Self who were present upon the Place to endure that terrible Brunt In short as soon as we were come into the King's Presence His Majesty with great Earnestness called for our Paper We with all Submission intreated to be Excused from writing any thing of that Nature and from making a particular Defence to a general Accusation left we should give the First Precedent of that kind against the Privilege of Peers Besides that our Profession being to promote Peace VVe thought it belong'd not to us to declare VVar especially against a Prince so nearly Ally'd to the Crown But the King still more Insisted Argued and Expostulated with us insomuch that if ever in all my Life I saw him more than ordinary vehement in Speech and transported in his Expressions it was at that time However we still made good our humble Refusal in as dutiful Terms as 't was possible Among many Arguments urging chiefly That as we were joyn'd with our Brethren the other Lords Spiritual and with the Lords Temporal and with the Gentry of England in the Accusation so we beseech'd him we might not be separated from them in our Justification Concluding all with an earnest Request to His Majesty that He would be pleased to Condescend to the Calling a Free Parliament Wherein only he could rightly understand what was the General Sense and True Interest of the whole Kingdom At last when neither the King would bearken to our Zealous Motion for a Parliament nor we could be prevailed on to Subscribe an Abhorrence of the Prince of Orange's Design His Majesty parted from us with Indignation And thereupon the Jesuited Party at Court were so violently enraged against us that as we were credibly informed one of the Chief advised in a heat we should all be Imprisoned and the Truth should be extorted from us by Violence I told your Lordship the Conclusion of that our Serious Deâ—â—â—â— with the King was on our Side 〈◊〉 begging him to call a Free Parâ—â—â—ment The truth is a Free Parâ—â—â—ment was the main Point and tâ— last Result of all our Requests to His Majesty from the First Day of his admitting us to give him our honest Advice till the time of his leaving the Kingdom I need not put your Lordship in mind of the Petition we presented him to the same purpose which was Signed by divers of the Spiritual and Temporal Lords and among others by your Self and was afterwards Seconded from several Parts of the Nation especially by the Noblemen and Gentlemen Assembled at York and by the Fleet under the Command of my Lord Dartmouth and by the Lord Bishop and the Clergy and the Citizens of Bristol As it had been also soon followed by the rest of the Kingdom had there been time enough for the doing of it But having mentioned that Petition for a Free aud Regular Parliament I hope it will not be thought Presumption in me if I suggest I had the Honour to have it Considered Agreed on and Sign'd at my house at Westminster And that I was one of the Four Bishops the Two Archbishops and my Lord of Ely being the other Three who ventured to deliver it to the King after we heard he had protested he would take it highly Ill of any Man that should offer him a thing of that Nature Nevertheless we did it and thought our selves bound in Duty to God and Man so to do Your Lordship perceives all that I have said on this last Subject concerns only some few Particulars that pass'd in Three or Four Conferences between King Iames the Second and some of the Bishops who happen'd then to be within Call. Thô we had afterwards the Concurrence of our Absent Brethren And we may now appeal to all the World whether we did not Demean our Selves in those hazardous Occasions with that Zeal against Popery and for the Legal Establishment both in Church and State as became the Station
we hold in Both. If your Lordship's Leisure would permit me to look farther back and to recount what was Written Acted or Suffered by the Members of the Church of England in general during that Reign 't were easie to recollect so many Memorable Instances of unshaken Truth and Courage in the Nobility Gentry Clergy and Commonalty of our Communion in maintaining our Religion against Rome and our Laws against unlimited Power as might well furnish sufficient Materials for an ample Relation I know it was formerly a popular Objection of divers misguided Dissenters from the Church of England that our Principles were too Monarchical and that we carried the Doctrine of Obedience farther than might be consistent with the safety of a Protestant Church or the Privileges of a free-born People But it is now to be hoped that the strongest Argument of all others which is Experience from undoubted Matter of Fact has put this Objection for ever out of Countenance Since it is undeniable that during that whole time when our Civil and Spiritual Liberties were in so much Danger the greatest and most considerable stop that was here put to the Arts of Rome and Intrigues of France was Put by the steddy Resolution of the true Sons of the Church of England I pretend not to upbraid any Party or Sect among us for any undue Compliance in that Time. But this I will Assert that generally Speaking the whole Body of the Church of England both Laity and Clergy did not Comply Nay it were Infinite to reckon up the Examples we then saw every Day of Men of all Conditions from the highest to the lowest All Members of the Church of England who preferred the saving of the Establisht Government in Church and State before any Temptations of private Profit or Interest Not to say any thing more of the Learned and Unanswerable Writings of that time against Popery For in that Merit I suppose none of any other Persuation will enter into any Competition with the Orthodox Clergy But I now only Speak of those many Honourable Self-Denials which the Church of England-Men then Practised for the Sake of the true English Liberty and Reformation What Officers and Commanders were there almost in the whole Army besides the Sons of the Church of England who chose to be Discarded from those very Troops and Regiments which their own Interest and Money had raised rather than contribute to take away the great Fences of our Liberty and Religion What Officers in the Courts of Justice and in the several Branches of the Revenue What Members of Boroughs Corporations and Cities in Comparison of those of the Church of England endured the loss of their Places of Trust and Profit for not Consenting to Abolish the Tests and Penal Laws against Papists What eminent Nobility and Gentry in all Counties submitted chearfully to be flighted and deprived of all Authority and Power among their Neighbours in Peace or War Were they not generally and almost to a Man of the Church of England Was not a considerable Part of the Court it self turn'd out Did not divers Persons of the highest Titles and Dignities there endure to lose their Princes Favour upon this very Account Did we not see the most Advantageous and most Honorable Offices the very White Staves and the greatest of them not valued but easily parted with when Religion came in Question 's I need not go on to recite more particularly all these Things especially to your Lordship who were your Self one of the Noble Sufferers in the same Cause 'T will be sufficient to affirm once for all that the main Body of those who made so brave a Stand were all of the Church of England and the Principles on which they stood were all Church of England Principles My Lord it was by these Persons and these Principles that â—opery was stopt in its full Career by these it was then hindred from Conquering and put into a Condition to be shortly after Conquer'd it self in this Nation After having troubled your Lordship so long with my own Private Cause and having said something too in the behalf of what is much more dear to me the Public pray let me conclude with that which in this Juncture of Affairs may be counted well high another Public Cause Let me Present you with my Humbly well-meaning Opinion what Moderation is to be shewn towards those who happen'd to be employed in the late Times My Lord 't would be great Presumption in me having been my self too far engaged to offer at an Apology for other Persons concern'd then either with me in the Commission or in any other Public Business particularly for some of your Lordships Acquaintance whose Cause may be more Defensible than mine and I am sure their Abilities to defend it are much greater Only in general I will take the freedom to say That I make no Question but divers Good Men who were then in Imployments did in Prudence submit to some things in Order to hinder Worse I doubt not but many Acted then not to Increase but to Mitigate the Violence of those Times Some were in such Stations which perhaps 't was well done of them not suddenly to Desert lest worse Men should come in to do that which they design'd to prevent I believe some being as it were in the middle of the Stream when the Tide turn'd so Violently against our Establisht Church and Laws were driven down lower than they expected before they could resist the Current or get to Shore Wherefore considering all Circumstances 't was well so many mistook not the true Interest of the Nation 'T was happy so many preserv'd their Integrity so many had the honest Hardiness to stand unmoved by the Importunity of their King whom they were bred up to Honor and in all things else to Obey And in common Sense of human Frailty are not many Infirmities at such a time as that to be overlook'd now by wise and good Men Do not many false Steps so made deserve to be pitied May it not be thought some kind of Merit or some degree of Innocence at least not to have made more in such a slippery Ground as we then trod on If my Lord every Failure of that Time should be esteemed a Criminal Compliance every Compliance should be judg'd unpardonable VVho then that remain'd under the Government can be counted Innocent VVho shall be able justly to throw the first Stone VVhat Place will be then left for the Offender's Hope or for a Prince's Forgiveness the Noblest and most Divine Part of Power My Lord the constant Experience of all wise Times has shewed that all Civil Dissentions and Quarrels are best ended by the largest Acts of Indemnity and Oblivion In England especially where Good Nature is soon apt to have Compassion upon the Afflicted Here perhaps scarce any thing can be more dangerous to the Party that is uppermost than to put English-men upon pitying those that suffer under it And certainly this Revolution if ever any should be Mild in the Event since it was Bloodless in the whole Course of it in a time when there was most danger of Effusion of Blood. I will say no more my Lord but this that after great and unexpected Changes That hath been always found the firmest Settlement of any State or Government where the Prevailing Party hath look'd but very little backward and very much forward where Private Animosity and Revenge have wisely given way to the greater Benefits of Public Pardon and Indulgence Perhaps towards the Beginning of great Reformations a VVarm impetuous Spirit may have its use but to Compose Things after sudden Commotions to Calm Men's Minds for the future to Settle Affairs in a secure and lasting Peace most certainly a Gentle Generous Charitable Temper is the best And to say all in one word Such a Temper as is your Lordships MY LORD I am Your Lordship's Most Faithful Humble and Obedient Servant Tho. Roffen Westminster Mar. 26. 1689. FINIS The Bishop of Bath and Wells
I have now given your Lordship any satisfaction touching my fair Dealing in My Part of that Book I doubt not but what follows will give you more when I shall assure you of my having refused to Write a Continuation of the same History For my Lord it was some time after the Duke of Monmouth's Overthrow and Execution that King Iames the Second required me to undertake such another Task and presently to set about a Second Part. To that purpose His Majesty gave me a sight of multitudes of Original Letters and Papers together with the Confessions of several Persons then taken in England and Scotland who did indeed seem all to outvy one another who should reveal most both of Men and Things relating to the old Conspiracy as well as to the Duke of Monmouth's and the Earl of Argyle's Invasion But finding the Innocence of divers Persons of Worth and Honour touched in those Papers and by that time beginning vehemently to suspect things were running apace towards the endangering of our Laws and Religion I must say I never could be induced by all his Majesties reiterated Commands to go on with that Work. Instead of that tho' I had all the Materials for such a Narrative within my Power for above three Years and might easily have finished it in a Month or Six Weeks space yet I chose rather to Suppress and Silence as much as I could all that New Evidence which if openly produced would have blemished the Reputation of some Honourable Persons Give me leave My Lord only to add That I am confident there are several Original Papers still in being which would be more than enough to convince all impartial Men how Moderate and Tender I was in that Cause Next My Lord having mentioned my being concerned in the Commission for the Diocese of London in that I had the good Fortune to be join'd with an excellent Person my Lord Bishop of Peterborough And we can both truly say that as we enter'd into that Commission with my Lord of London's Good Will so we acted nothing in it without the greatest Respect to his Interest It is well known we continued all his Officers in the full Profits and Privileges of their Places We faithfully maintained the Rights of his Bishoprick and once in the Kings own Presence against his Majesties express Inclinations in a Business of no less Concernment than my Lord Mayor's Chapel We never Invaded any of my Lord Bishops Preserments that fell void in that Interval We dipos'd of none but according to his own Directions We used his Clergy with the same affectionate Care and Brotherly Love as He himself had done Who was on that Account as Dear to them as any Bishop in Christendom was to his Diocese And we Appeal to them whether we might not rather expect their Kindness and Thanks than suspect their Ill-will for all our Transactions with them Nor can this be thought a vain Boast to any Man who shall seriously reflect on the terrible Aspect of Things from Court upon the London-Clergy during the whole time of our exercising that Jurisdiction The Remembrance whereof makes me not doubt to affirm that if my Lord Bishop of Peterborough and I had not then stood in the Gap but some other Persons who were prepared to be thrust in upon our leaving that Commission had got it absolutely into their Power 't is possible the most Learned and Pious Clergy in the World had been somewhat otherwise imployed than they were and had been too much taken up in defending themselves from the violent Persecutions of the Popish Party to have leisure to confute and triumph over the Popish Cause as they entirely did in their admirable Writings to the Glory and Establishment of the Church of England My Lord to the truth of what I have here said concerning the Commission of London I have the Bishop of Peterborough ready to attest I should indeed be glad I could claim as just a share in another of his Lordships Meritorious Services to the Public as I may do in this But in that I cannot for 't is Evident the Seven Bishops whereof he was One had such an opportunity put into their Hands by God's Providence for the overthrow of Popery and Arbitrary Power by Their Sufferings for delivering their Sense of King Iames the Second's Declaration as 't is likely never any of the Episcopal Order had before and 't is to be hop'd will never have again This however I will say I had certainly added my self to their Number if I had then understood the Question as well as I did afterwards upon their Tryal where I was present in order to be a Witness in their behalf at the same time your Lordship and many other Noble Lords were there to give Countenance to so Good a Cause There it was My Lord that I was first convinced of the false Foundations and mischievous Consequences of such a Dispensing Power as that on which the Declaration was grounded So that I have ever since been perswaded that from that Petition of those Bishops so defended by the invincible Arguments of their Learned Council on that Day and so justified by the honest Verdict of their Undaunted Jury on the next Day from thence I say we may date the first great successful step that was made towards the rescuing of our Laws and Religion For my Part I must own I was so fully satisfied by the excellent â—leadings of those great Lawyers at that Tryal that I confess I never had till then so clear a Notion what unalterable Bounds the Law has fix'd between the Just Prerogatives of the Crown and the Legal Rights of the Subject And therefore from that very Day I hasten'd to make what Reparations I could for the Errors occasion'd by my former Ignorance and to act for the future what I always intended as became a true English Man. Nor was it long after that I met with a Signal Opportunity to put this my Purpose in practice For perceiving the Rage of the Popish Party against the Church of England was rather heightned than abated by my Lords the Bishops being acquitted and fearing the Ecclesiastical Commission was next to be Employed to wreak the Papists Revenge on the Orthodox Clergy when Westminster-Hall could not do it I presently resolv'd to Desert that Commission from whence I had often before Laboured and Intreated in vain to be fairly Dismiss'd And immediately I sent the Commissioners the following Letter whereof Your Lordship may remember I then presented you with a Copy as knowing how much You would be pleased with my other Friends at my forsaking that Board upon any Terms To the Right Honourable My LORDS His Majesties Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs c. MY LORDS I Most humbly intreat your Lordships favourable Interpretation of what I now write That since your Lordships are resolved to proceed against those who have not comply'd with the King's Commands in Reading His Declaration it is absolutely
impossible for me to serve His Majesty any longer in this Commission I beg leave to tell your Lordships that thô I my self did submit in that particular yet I will never be any ways instrumental in Punishing those my Brethren who did not For as I call God to witness That what I did was merely upon a Principle of Conscience so I am fully satisfied that their Forbearance was upon the same Principle I have no reason to think otherwise of the whole Body of our Clergy who upon all occasions have signaliz'd their Loyalty to the Crown and their Zealous Affections to His Present Majesty's Person in the worst of Times Now my Lords the Safety of the whole Church of England seeming to be exceedingly concern'd in this Prosecution I must declare That I cannot with a safe Conscience Sit as Iudge in this Cause upon so many Pious and Excellent Men With whom if it be God's Will it rather becomes me to suffer than to be in the lest Accessary to their Suffering I therefore earnestly request Your Lordships to intercede with the King that I may be graciously dismiss'd any farther Attendance at Your Board and to Assure His Majesty That I am still ready to Sacrifice whatever I have to His Service but my Conscience and Religion MY LORDS I am Your Lordships Most Faithful Humble and Obedient Servant Tho. Roffen Bromley Aug. 15. 1688. Your Lordship seeing what I have said in this Letter concerning my Submitting in that business of the Declaration upon a Principle of Conscience as I then thought You may expect my Reason for doing so I must frankly confess I had then a Doubt in my Mind arising from a Rubrick in the Common-Prayer which is as much as any other a Law of the Land whether a Bishop could lawfully deny the Reading of whatever the King should Ordain to be Read in Churches And 't was merely upon that Mistaken Scruple of Conscience I was induced not to Oppose that Command of the King in Council I say not to Oppose it Farther than that I still say I went not in that Business For it is most true That the Orders of Council for Publishing that Declaration in Churches were dispersed through the Places of my Jurisdiction immediately from the Kings Printing-house without my Injunction or so much as my Knowledge And after they were sent abroad thô I did not 't is true Revoke them as not being then well determined in the Case yet I no where insisted to have them obeyed Nay both in my own Diocese of Rochester and in that of London where I had then very unwillingly some Inspection there is no one Clergy-man can upbraid me for Urging any Man to Read or Reproving any for not Reading the Declaration If it shall be objected that I permitted it to be Read in Westminster-Abby I desire it may be also consider'd what dreadful Apprehensions this Royal Church and School were then under from our Neighbours the Jesuits at Court who lay in wait to take any Advantage whereby they might stir up the King to Ruin us Besides that a Quo-Warranto was then actually Issued out against us and we were every Day threatned that as we were the nearest so we should fall the first Prey into the Hands of the Popish Priests But to go on I need not Remind your Lordship what Wrath and Indignation this Letter to the Commissioners produced against me from the Jesuited Party at Court For which yet I esteemed my self abundantly Recompensed by the Peace it gave me in my own Mind and I hope I may say by the good Will it Revived towards me in the Hearts of Good Men especially of my Lord Archbishop and the other persecuted Bishops with whom I ever after acted in perfect Conjunction for the Public Good. That My Lord is the last particular whereof I promised to give your Lordship and Account And I come to it more chearfully than I did to the rest because this is the only matter of all I undertook to Speak of wherein I am not Conscious to my self that I need any Excuse It was therefore some time after the Tryal of the Seven Bishops and after my leaving the Commission when upon the Kings sudden return from Windsor and the first Alarm given of the Preparations in Holland my Lord of Canterbury and some of his Suffragan Bishops whereof I had the Honour to be One were sent for by express Letters dated September the 24th to attend his Majesty at Whitehall Accordingly all of us that were in Town except my Lord Archbishop who was then very ill waited on the King the Friday following being the Day appointed But little or nothing passing betwixt his Majesty and us at our first Attendance beyond general Expressions of his Favour and our Duty we intreated my Lord of Canterbury to procure for us a Second and more particular Audience wherein we might all deliver our plain and sincere Sense of Things as we saw the dangerous Condition of the Church and State then required from Men of our Character And on the Sunday after my Lord Archbishop obtain'd of the King that we should be admitted to a full Liberty of Speech with him the next Tuesday Morning All Monday we spent at Lambeth in preparing the Humble Advice we thought fit to offer the next Day But the King being otherwise accidentally diverted on Tuesday Morning our Attendance on him was put off till Wednesday Whereas had we been admitted to his Majesty that Tuesday we could not have failed of getting some Credit to our selves and to the Church for having Requested him to Restore the Charter of London among other Charters For from the very beginning of our Consultations we had fixed upon that to be One of our Principal Petitions Whereof his Majesty perhaps having had some private Intimation thought so more for his Service to prevent us by making it an Act of his own Grace This is certain that very Tuesday in the Evening he first declared publicly in the Council to divers eminent Citizens his purpose to restore the City Charter So that when we came the next Day we found nothing left for us to do towards that great Affair but only to turn our intended Request into Thanks as we did However on Wednesday Morning we had our Second Audience when my Lord of Canterbury deliver'd our Free and Honest Advice with such a becoming Meekness Gravity and Courage as indeed was Admirable Now because there has been hitherto only an imperfect Relation Printed of what passed at that Meeting I think it may not be unacceptable to the Public to give here an exact Account of our whole Proceedings with the King in that Affair as it was drawn up by my Lord Archbishop himself And it had been Happy if all Addresses to his Majesty had been alike Faithful to the King 's and the Kingdom 's Interest For his Grace the L d Archbishop of Canterbury MY LORD THE King thinking it requisite to speak
with Your Grace and several others of the Bishops who are within a convenient distance of this place His Majesty commands me to acquaint you that he would have you attend him upon Friday next at Ten in the Morning MY LORD I am Your most Faithful c. Sunderland P. Whitehall Sep. 24. 1688. Letters to the same purpose and of the same Date or about that time were sent to the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells Peterborough and Bristol all which but London and Bristol came to Town and all but the Archbishop waited on the King at the time appointed The next day the Bishop of Winchester went out of Town and the day after that the Archbishop waited upon the King alone and by His Appointment on Wednesday Octob. 3. all who remained in Town went together to His Majesty to whom in the Name of the rest the Archbishop spake as followeth May it please Your Sacred Majesty WHen I had lately the Honour to wait upon you you were pleased briefly to acquaint me with what had pass'd two days before between Your Majesty and these my Reverend Brethren By which and by the Account which they themselves gave me I perceived that in truth there pass'd nothing but in very general Terms and Expressions of Your Majesty's Gracious and Favourable Inclinations to the Church of England and of our Reciprocal Duty and Loyalty to Your Majesty Both which were sufficiently understood and declared before and as one of my Brethren then told you would have been in the same State if the Bishops had not stirr'd one foot out of their Dioceses Sir I found it griev'd my Lords the Bishops to have come so far and to have done so little and I am assured they came then prepared to have given Your Majesty some more particular Instances of their Duty and Zeal for your Service had they not apprehended from some Words which fell from your Majesty that you were not then at leisure to receive them It was for this reason that I then besought your Majesty to Command us once more to Attend you All together which your Majesty was pleased Graciously to Allow and Encourage We are therefore here now before you with all Humility to beg your Permission that we may suggest to your Majesty such Advices as we think proper at this Season and conducing to your Service and so leave them to your Princely Consideration Which the King being pleased graciously to permit the Archbishop proceeded as followeth Our First humble Advice is I. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to put the Management of your Government in the several Counties into the Hands of such of the Nobility and Gentry there as are legally qualified for it II. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to Annul your Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs and that no such Court as that Commission sets up may be Erected for the future III. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased That no Dispensation may be granted or continued by Virtue whereof any person not duly Qualified by Law hath been or may be put into any Place Office or Preferment in Church or State or in the Universities or continued in the same especially such as have Cure of Souls annext to them And in particular that you will be graciously pleased to restore the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford IV. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to set aside all Licenses or Faculties already granted by which any Persons of the Romish Communion may pretend to be enabled to teach Public Schools and that no such be granted for the future V. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to desist from the Exercise of such a Dispensing Power as hath of late been used and to permit that Point to be freely and calmly Debated and Argued and finally setled in Parliament VI. That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to inhibit the Four Foreign Bishops who style themselves Vicars Apostolical from farther Invading the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction which is by Law vested in the Bishops of this Church VII That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to fill the Vacant Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Promotions within your Gift both in England and Ireland with Men of Learning and Piety And in particular which I must own to be my peculiar Boldness for 't is done without the privity of my Brethren That you will be graciously pleased forthwith to fill the Archiepiscopal Chair of York which hath so long stood Empty and upon which a whole Province depends with some very Worthy Person For which pardon me Sir if I am bold to say you have here now before you a very fair Choice VIII That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to supersede all farther Prosecution of Quo Warranto's against Corporations and to Restore to them their Ancient Charters Privileges and Franchises as we hear God hath put it into Your Majesties Heart to do for the City of London which we intended to have made otherwise one of our Principal Requests IX That if it so please Your Majesty Writs may be issued out with convenient speed for the Calling of a Free and Regular Parliament in which the Church of England may be Secured according to the Acts of Uniformity Provision may be made for a due Liberty of Conscience and for securing the Liberties and Properties of all Your Subjects and a mutual Confidence and good Understanding may be Established between Your Majesty and all Your People X. Above all that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to permit Your Bishops to offer you such Motives and Arguments as we trust may by God's Grace be Effectual to persuade Your Majesty to return to the Communion of the Church of England into whose most Holy Catholick Faith you were Baptized and in which you were Educated and to which it is our daily earnest Prayer to God that you may be Re-united These Sir are the Humble Advices which out of Conscience of the Duty we owe to God to Your Majesty and to our Country we think fit at this time to offer to Your Majesty as suitable to the Present State of your Affairs and most conducing to your Service and so to leave them to your Princely Consideration And we heartily beseech Almighty God in whose Hand the Hearts of all Kings are so to Dispose and Govern Yours that in all your Thoughts Words and Works you may ever seek his Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to your Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness to Your Own both Temporal and Eternal Happiness Amen We do heartily Concur H. London P. Winchester W. Asaph W. Cant. Fran. Ely. Io. Cicestr Tho. Roffen Tho. Bath and Wells Tho. Petriburg It is for others Information not for yours My Lord that I have been so Punctual and Minute in the Circumstances of this Business wherewith your Lordship was fully made acquainted just after the very