Subjects of whatsoever degree in case of Delinquency it might be thought that a part of the supream power doth reside in them though they have not the honorary Title And this part of the supream power is indeed capable of doing wrong yet how it might be guilty of Rebellion is more difficult to conceive In this high and tender point it belongs not to me to determine And as touching the much debated point of resisting the higher powers without passing any judgement in the great Case of England I shall only make rehearsal of the words of Grotius a man of Renown and known to be neither Anti-monarchical nor Anti-prelatical which are found in his Book de jure belli pacis by himself dedicated to the French King Si Rex partem habeat summi Imperii partem alteram populus aut Senatus Regiin partem non suam involanti vis just a opponi poterit quia eatenus imperium non habet Quod locum habere censeo etiamsi dictum sit belli potestatem penes Regem fore Id enim de bellâ— externo intelligendum est cum alioqui quisquis imperii summi partem habeat non possit non jus habere eam partem tuendi lib. 1. c. 4. s. 13. With reverence to Soveraign Majesty I crave leave to speak this word of truth and soberness In a knowing age flattery doth not really exalt or secure the Royal Prerogative the Authority of Parliaments being depressed and undervalued is the more searched into and urged Concerning the utmost bounds and limits of Royal Prerogative and Parliamentary Power the Law in deep wisedom chuseth to keep silence for it always supposeth union not division between King and Parliament Wherefore the overstraining on either hand let all men forbear His Majesties wisedom and goodness and his peoples obedience and loyalty in all ways of mutual satisfaction will best secure His Prerogative and their Liberty Moreover as to the point of Loyalty now in question the subversion of the Fundamental Government of this Kingdome could not be effected till those Members of Parliament that were Presbyterian were many of them imprisoned others forcibly secluded by the violence of the Army and the rest thereupon withdrew from the House of Commons For they had voted the Kings Concessions a ground sufficient for the Houses to proceeed to settle the Nation and were willing to cast whatsoever they contended for upon a legal security In those times the Presbyterian Ministers of London in their publick vindication thus declare themselves We profess before God Angels and Men that we verily believe that that which is so much feared to be now in agitation the taking away of the life of the King in this present way of Tryal is not only not agreeable to the Word of God the Principles of the Protestant Religion never yet stained with the least drop of the blood of a King or the Fundamental Constitution and Government of this Kingdom but contrary to them as also to the Oath of Allegiance the Protestation of May 5. 1641. and the Solemn League and Covenant from all which or any of which Engagements we know not any Power on earth able to absolve us or others And in conclusion they warn and exhort men to pray for the King that God would restrain the violence of men that they may not dare to draw upon themselves and the Kingdome the blood of their Soveraign Let prudent men weigh things in the ballance of Reason Is there any thing in the nature of Prelacy that frames the mind to obedience and loyalty or is there any thing in the nature of Presbytery that inclines to rebellion and disobedience If Loyalty be the innate disposition of Prelacy how comes it to pass that in ancient times and for a series of many ages the Kings of England have had such tedious conflicts with Prelates in their Dominions If Presbytery and Rebellion be connatural how comes it to pass that those States or Kingdomes where it hath been established or tolerated have for any time been free from broyls and commotions or that Presbyterians have never disclaimed or abandoned their lawful Prince that they have never ceased to sollicite and supplicate his regards and favour even when their power hath been at the highest and his sunk lowest yea that they have suffered themselves rather to be trodden under foot then to comply with men of violence in changing the Government Let us further examine are the persons that adhere to Prelacy more conscientious in duty to God and man then those that affect Presbytery Are the former only sober just and godly and the latter vicious unrighteous prophane Certainly if it hath been the lot of the one for a time to comply more with Kings then the other hath done it ariseth not from any peculiar innate disposition of the one or the other but somthing extrinsecal and accidental and what that may be let prudent men make their own observations Section XV. Their principles whose cause is now pleaded if faithfully received and kept will make good men and good Christians and therefore cannot but make good subjects When men have learned to fear God they will honour the King indeed and none are more observant of righteous Laws then they that are most a law to themselves yea their pattern and practice will be a law to many others and consequently a main help to civil Government in a Christian Nation Whosoever they be that teach blind obedience Presbyterians teach faith and holiness as also obedience active in all lawful things and passive in things unlawful injoyned by the higher power In the late distracted times the publick State was out of frame always ready to fall asunder the minds of people were unquiet and unsetled those that held the power could never gain half that awful regard and reverence which was given to Kings Nobles and men of Authority in former times Nevertheless prophaness intemperance revellings out-rages and filthy lewdness were not at any time in the memory of the present age held under more restraint Surely some special reason may be rendred why in such want of publick Order there should not be a greater disorder in mens lives and manners then at other times which I conceive is manifest to wit that by means of a practical Ministery more thick set throughout the Nation knowledge and restraining grace did more abound and the orderly walking of religious persons did keep others more within compass and withal strictness of life was not openly derided under the name of Puritanism Those places where Presbyterian Ministers had the greatest influence were evidently the most reformed and civiliz'd for which cause they were so much hated by men of loose principles and dissolute lives Whereupon we affirm boldly That those for whom we plead must needs be good Subjects to a Christian King and good members of a Christian Common-wealth Section XVI Neither are they wandring Stars a people given to change fit to overturn
the degenerate and corrupt times We see the greatest Kings and Monarchs have their Councels There is no Temporal Councel in England of the higher sort where the Authority doth rest in one person Again he saith Bishops have their infirmities and have no exception from that general malediction which is pronounced against all men living Vaesoli c. Nay we see the first warrant in spiritual causes is directed to a number Dic Ecclesiae which is not so in temporal matters Again we see that the Bishop of Rome fas est ab hoste doceri and no question in that Church the first Institutions are excellent performeth all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as in Consistory and whereof consisteth this Consistory but of the Parish Priests of Rome which term themselves Cardinals à Cardinibus Mundi because the Bishop thereof pretendeth to be universal over the whole world Touching the second point the deputation of their Authority he saith the Bishop exerciseth his Jurisdiction by his Chancellor and Commissary official c. We see in all Laws in the world offices of confidence and skill cannot be put over nor exercised by Deputy except it be especially contained in the Original Grant and then it becomes dutiful There was never any Judge that made a Deputy The Bishop is a Judge and of an high nature whence cometh it that he should depute considering all trust and confidence is personal and inherent and cannot or ought not to be transposed Surely in this again ab initio non fuit ita But it is probable that Bishops when they gave themselves too much to the glory of the world and became Grandees in Kingdomes and great Councellors to Princes then did they deleague their proper Jurisdiction as things of too inferiour a nature for their greatness and then after the similitude of Kings and Count Palatines they would have their Chancellours and Judges This and much more hath that great Scholar Lawyer and States-man observed in that excellent discourse Yea our late Soveraign in his discourse touching the differences between himself and the two Houses in point of Church-Government declares in these words that he is not against the managing of the Episcopal presidency in one man by the joynt counsel and consent of many Presbyters but that he had offered to restore it as a fit means to avoid those errours and corruptions and partialities which are incident to any one man also to avoid Tyranny which becomes no Christians least of all Church-men besides it will be a means to take away that odium and burden of affairs which may lye too heavy on one mans shoulders as he thought it did formerly on the Bishops here Section XXXVIII By the desired reduction of Prelacy to the coalition of Episcopacy and Presbytery in a due temperament His Majesty will be so far from giving up or weakning that power and influence which in right and reason he ought to have over Church and State that he will thereby gain a surer and a larger interest Bishops lessened in power and encreased in number and resident in the Churches and duly dispencing the Word and Sacraments are not like to alienate the King from Parliaments nor Parliaments and people from the King but will become more popular and able to fix the hearts of the people to obedience and loyalty And this popularity of Bishops and Presbyters being alone without potency is no rational ground of distrust or jealousie to the King For their influence upon others will not be from greatness of power and command but from venerable esteem and reputation and that stands upon their prudent pious and peaceable behaviour Besides his Majesty can easily keep them in such dependence on himself as that he shall not hold this interest at their courtesie Do any suggest the Presbyterians may grow upon him Surely there are and will be enough to balance them Certainly they have seen so little good of changes that a reasonable condition with security will be acceptable to them Undoubtedly the union of both parties by an equal accommodation is the interest of Prince and people the strength and stability of King and Kingdom Let neither side lay hold on present mutable advantages to press them too far but let all consider what will stand with lasting tranquillity And above all let his Majesties wisdom who hath the high concernment of three Kingdoms for himself and his Heirs for ever lay a good and solid foundation for the time to come Section XXXIX Finally this accomodation is the interest of Jesus Christ the Redeemer and Head of the Church in as much as it takes in and secures thousands of godly able Orthodox Ministers thousands and ten thousands of godly peaceable Christians who otherwise might be rejected and oppressed And it may well be acceptable to the whole Christian world because it bears conformity to the whole State of Christendom to the forreign reformed Churches in Presbytery to the rest of the Churches in Episcopacy and to the ancient Church next to the Primitive times in the orderly conjunction of Episcopacy and Presbytery FINIS THE Second Part OF THE Interest of England In the Matter of Religion Unfolded in a Deliberative Discourse PROVING That it is not agreeable to sound Reason to prefer the Contracted and Dividing Interest of one Party before the general Interest of Protestantism and of the whole Kingdom of England in which the Episcopal and Presbyterian Parties may be happily United Written by J. Corbet Rector of Bramshot The second Impression Corrected and amended LONDON Printed for George Thomason and are to be sold at the Rose and Crown in St Pauls Church-yard 1661. I Intreat the Reader to take notice That in these Discourses I do not mention parties to maintain Division but to procure Vnion That necessity compels me to use those names of difference which I heartily wish might be no more remembred But whilst disagreeing Parties last names of difference cannot cease and to forbear their use is to little purpose My business is to take things as I find them and to state the Case between the Dissenters and to shew how far they agree and how little they differ for this end That Parties both Name and Thing might cease for ever Moreover as I use not the name of Presbyterian in the way of glorying so I use not the name of Prelate or Prelatist in way of reproach but meerly for distinction sake and I have warrant for it from the friends of Prelacy with whom it is not unusual to mention the name of Prelate in an honourable Sence The Second Part of the Interest of England in the Matter of Religion THe former Treatise of the Interest of England in the Matter of Religion makes known the way of peace in the reconciling of those two grand Parties the Episcopal and Presbyterian which if made one would take in and carry along the strength of almost the whole Nation The whole structure thereof rests upon these Positions as
THE INTEREST OF ENGLAND In the Matter of Religion The First and Second Parts Unfolded in the SOLVTION Of Three QVESTIONS The Second Impression Written by John Corbet LONDON Printed for George Thomason and are to be sold at the Rose and Crown in St Pauls Church-yard 1661. The Preface THe Indeavours of Pacification between the Subjects of the Prince of Peace and the Children of the God of Peace may be well taken from one who hath obtained mercy to be an Embassadour of Peace in the Ministry of Reconciliation Likewise it may well become any sincere Protestant Loyal Subject and true Lover of dear England to study and bring forth whatsoever hath a tendency to Reconcile those Parties in whom both the King and the Kingdom and the Protestant Cause are so highly concerned I am therefore encouraged upon this confidence That the offer of a willing mind in this service is acceptable to God and good men The Peace here propounded is the Friend and Sister of Truth It offers not to inthrall or burden Consciences of either Perswasion By allowing some diversity of Opinion it takes away the difference of Parties and permits the Points of Difference to be matters of Speculation but not of Practice As to give an instance Some of the Episcopal way hold that a Bishop differs from a Presbyter in regard of Order that he is ordained ad speciale Ministerium Others of the same way do hold That they differ not in Order but Degree The Presbyterians believe they are the same in regard of Order yet that a difference in Degree may be admitted and so they accept of a President-Bishop Nevertheless all the Episcopal Divines do judg it ordinarily necessary that a Presbyter be ordained by a Bishop in conjunction with Presbyters and none of them as far as I understand do judge it unlawful that Acts of Church-Discipline and Government be administred by a Bishop in the like conjunction And consequently the persons of these several Perswasions need not divide but may easily be made one in practice by the regular consociation of Episcopacy and Presbytery The Peace here pursued was earnestly expected and promised in the late great Revolution Christian Charity common Honesty yea Necessity pleads for this Peace They who now contemn it if there be any such may come to know the want of it as well as others Let them who have gotten the advantage rejoyce with trembling for who knows what he is doing and where is the end of his working whose judgments are unsearchable and whose ways are past finding out The most subtile Politician whose Writings are not held to savour much of Religion hath this Religious Observation If we consider the course of humane Affairs we shall many times see things come to pass and chances happen for the preventing of which the heavens altogether would not that any order should be taken Mach. And for example he alleadgeth the great miscarriages of the Roman Common-wealth in the War with the French insomuch that they did nothing like to themselves nor worthy of the Roman Discipline either for equity or industry or courage or foresight even until they were brought to the brink of utter ruine Certainly if the voice of Peace cannot be heard in this remarkable time when it calls and cries unto us by so manifold pressing engagements it is of the Lord who hath not given an ear to hear nor an heart to consider I am far from presuming upon the force of my own reasoning in this matter it is the subject it self that is my confidence and my heart is in it Let the God of Heaven inspire and prosper the King in His Gracious Inclinations to the work of Peace that all who fear Gods Name may see that in Him the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon them with healing in his wings Let the Interest of the Protestant Religion and the Kingdom of England prevail with a Protestant English Parliament Let all Ecclesiastical persons being the servants of Christ by special Office cease from seeking their own things and let them seek the things which are Jesus Christs Be it far from any of them to smite their fellow-servants whilest they are doing their Masters work If there be any consolation in Christ any comfort of Love any fellowship of the Spirit any bowels and mercies let all good Christians in their several places promote the Peace of Christs Kingdom and Family by all the ways of equal and reasonable Condescention and Forbearance Lastly Let the Candid Reader accept this Labour of Love and not undervalue the weight and worth of the Cause for the defects of these Discourses J. C. I. Q. Whether the Presbyterian Party should in Justice or Reason of State be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouraged II. Q. Whether the Presbyterian Party may be Protected and Incouraged and the Episcopal not Deserted nor Disobliged III. Q. Whether the Vpholding of both Parties by a just and equal Accommodation be not in it self more desirable and more agreeable to the State of England than the absolute Exalting of the one Party and the total Subversion of the other The Interest of England in the Matter of Religion unfolded in the Solution of three Questions Section I. THe Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland legally united in one King but by violence subjected to one Usurped Power of different Forms successively were for divers late years reeling to and fro like a drunken man and driven hither and thither like a Ship in a troubled Sea The ancient Fundamental Constitution being overturned those who took to themselves the Government had gotten a plenary possession of all the strength by Sea and Land detected all Conspiracies quashed all Insurrections and by Policy Industry and wonderfull Success became formidable at home and abroad The people sorely bruised by a tedious civil War were glad of some present ease and generally desired nothing more then to lie down in rest and peace Likewise the more considerate part of men though little satisfied in the present state yet fearing other extreams were nothing forward to endeavour a totall change but thought it most adviseable to take things as they were and to bring them if it were possible to some reasonable temper and consistence Notwithstanding these advantages the Powers then in Being could never settle in a fixed stable posture and those who took the first Turn namely that Fragment of the Commons House could by no means advance or get ground in any degree towards it For besides the general hatred of their Usurpation and Selfish Practices their Republican Form and their Designs touching Religion were wholly aliene from the disposition of these Nations He who put them down from their Seats and exalted himself in their room reducing the Government to a single Person and a Parliament set up an Image of the ancient Form unto which the greater number were not unwilling to bow down not out of good will to the Person but for the Forms sake
the first place let us rightly understand the meaning of this prejudice Is it because this Discipline doth censure scandalous disorders and enquire into the state of the flock as watching over their souls This is its high commendation in the sight of God and good men Doth Episcopacy care for none of these things Surely a Bishop is an Overseer to exercise the Office of a Bishop is to take the oversight of the Church and those that are over us in the Lord watch for our souls as those that must give an account thereof Howbeit Presbytery is not more severe in censuring the breach of Gods Commandments then the Hierarchy in censuring the breach of their own constitutions Or is the offence taken upon pretence that Presbyterians affect and arrogate an arbitrary power would rule by faction and exercise a rigout to the stirring up of animosities and unquiet humours Since the friends of Prelacy are loudest in this crimination I crave leave to use this mild retortion Is there no appearance of domination in Prelacy Was nothing like unto it objected to the dignified Clergy If you say those invectives and clamours were false and scandalous then let reason and charity be permitted to make some Apologie for the other discipline which the Nation hath hitherto never experienced in any measure of national uniformity and settlement But there are remedies at hand to prevent the abuse of any Government that is of it self lawful and laudable Certainly the wisedom of the King and Parliament with the advice of grave Divines may prescribe sure and certain rules of discipline Moreover to cut off all occasion and prevent all appearance of domineering all political coercive jurisdiction in matter of Religion may be with-held if need require from Ecclesiastical persons and that meer spiritual power alone which is 〈◊〉 to their office may be left to their management which is in the Name of Christ and by Authority from him to admonish the untuly and if they continue obstinate by the same Authority to declare them unworthy of Church-Communion and Christian Society and to require the Lords people to have no fellowship with them that they may be afflicted and humbled And because spiritual censures appertaining only to the Conseience may be too little regarded when no temporal dammage is annexed to them there may be a collateral civil power always present in Ecclesiastical Meetings to take cognizance of all Causes therein debated and adjudged in order to temporal penalties Vpon the whole matter aforegoing we firmly build this position That the Presbyterian Party ought not in Justice or Reason of State to be rejected and depressed but ought to be protected and encouraged Nevertheless there being a seeming complication in this business and an other ample party appearing in competition a difficultie remains and the matter falls into a further deliberation And thereupon we are fallen upon the second main Enquiry II Qu. Whether the Presbyterian Party may be protected and encouraged and the Episcopal not deserted nor disobliged Section XIX The grand Expedient in this difficulty is a well grounded Accomodation producing an intire and firm union That the Accommodation may be true and solid not loose and hollow it must be such as will content and satisfie for continuance and that it may be such the tearms thereof must not be repugnant to the conscientious principles of either party Otherwise whatsoever it be it is but a botch and will never hold Wherefore we now examine whether those principles are such as set the parties at an irreconcileable distance or else make the proposed union possible and hopeful As touching holy Doctrine they both receive the nine and thirty Articles of the Church of England unless that one side may demurr upon one or two passages respecting the Form of Ecclesiastical Government and Ceremonies being the matters now in question and remote from the foundation And in very deed the Doctrine of the English Bishops in general that lived in the elder times of Protestantism as Jewel Pilkington Babington and of the latter Bishops their Followers as Abbot Carleton Morton Usher Hall Davenant is intirely imbraced by the Presbyterians when as many of the latter Prelatists departed from it in the great point of Predestination Redemption Free-will effectual Grace Perseverance and Assurance of Salvation and termed it Puritan Doctrine Whereupon I conclude that those Prelatists of this Age who are the genuine Off-spring of the old Episcopal Divines will not divide from Presbyterians upon the account of Doctrine and that the other sort need not divide from them any more then from the rest that are of the Episcopal Perswasion But in the Form of Church Government the breach is much wider and the Reconciliation seems more difficult Indeed the Dominion of Prelacy and the exact Presbyterian parity are opposite Extreams Nevertheless a regulated Episcopacy and Presbytery may be found so far from mutual opposition and inconsistency that they may close together in a sweet Harmony The Scripture Bishop and the Evangelical Pastor is one and the same Officer The Primitive Ecclesiastical Episcopacy was not reputed by the Antients a different Order of Ministery The Bishop was only a Presbyter in a higher degree the President of the Presbytery and ruled in consociation with all the Presbyters The better part of the Scool-men place the difference only in degree not in order Of the same judgement were the old Episcopal Divines in England and even in the last times Morton Hall and Usher Whereupon they held the Forreign Protestant Churches that had no Prelaies to be true Churches and their Pastors true Ministers of Christ. And this is very remarkable in the most rigid Prelatists of their times when upon the new erecting of Prelacy in Scotland certain Scottish Bishops were to be consecrated here in England Bishop Andrews moved this question whether they ought not first to be ordained Presbyters as having received no Ordination from a Bishop Arch-Bishop Bancroft being there present maintained there was no necessity of Re-ordination for where a Bishop cannot be had Ordination given by Presbyters must be esteemed lawful This Solution being applauded by the other Bishops Doctor Andrews acquiesced On the other side an absolute equality among Ministers is not essential to Presbytery but a prudential priority according to the Churches occasions and consequently a stated Presidency may be admitted For the main principle of Presbytery is this That every Minister is truly a Pastor and that pastoral Authority includes both teaching and ruling for which cause the Presbyters may not yield up themselves as the Bishops meer Curates or Subjects For that would nullifie their Pastoral Office as to one part thereof which is as essential to it as the other in regard whereof the Presbyters are in Scripture called Bishops or Overseers and are charged to take the oversight of the Flock But this is no way violated by admitting a stated Moderator or president Bishop As concerning Worship or Divine Service
lesser differences Section XXXIV Furthermore a great prejudice is taken up against Bishops ruling in consoâ—iation with Presbyters and against Classical or Presbyterian meetings as inclining to Faction and likely to produce alterations which evils are supposed to follow tbe distributing of the power among many Whereupon the Government of a single Person or a Bishop having sole Jurisdictson is apprehended to be the surest means of keeping Church affairs in a fixed state This prejudice having a great shew of truth we must stoop to pry into it more narrowly And first we have this political maxime to direct us in this inquiry that the condition of the people to be governed is the best rule of discerning the aptest form of Government And according to this principle we resolve that absolute Prelacy is the only Government to hold a people that content themselves with a customary service and the Religion of their Country and of their fore-fathers whatsoever it be All Discourses Debates Disputations and all occasions of contest touching Religion and particularly that exercise which is called prophesying must be avoided But this Government is not so agreeable to a people that are given to search the Scriptures and try Doctrines In England where the inferior Clergy or Parochial Ministery is not rude and ignorant but in a great part learned and conscientious where the common people in a great part try all things that they may hold fast that which is good the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction cannot conveniently reside in a Prelate alone governing by severe Canons and denouncing excommunication against all those that express any dissent from any particulars of the received Forms of Worship and Discipline For among such a people this is a likelier way to beget some great distemper then to keep all in quietness and deep silence But a form of Government more free by distributing the power among many and regular meetings for free debates with in certain limits will be much more peaceable and succesful It is here acknowledged that in such an order of things dissentions may arise and cause some interruptions Nevertheless no great inconvenience but sometimes much advantage may follow The stirrings of warm contests may be unadvisedly condemned For as Thunder purgeth the Air so these stirrings may purge the Church from Corruptions ingendering in it Let the frame and order of things be so established that both parties may be made hopeless concerning factious attempts of promoting this or that extream that the contests may not be on the one side for Dominion nor on the other side for inordinate liberty but on both sides for Truths due freedom and then they will end in peace If great mistakes should arise in such meetings and seem for a while to pass currently there may be found some persons of that wisedome integrity and reputation as to be able to shew the fallacy and to convince those of both sides that intend uprightly In which case if they perceive an evil spirit on work and an evil design hatching among some they will turn away with indignation from the contrivers of such mischief Wherfore let the frame of Ecclesiastical politie lean neither towards Tyranny nor Anarchy but be set upright for just liberty Let good orders be kept and priviledges not violated and the greater number of those who mean honestly will not be led into the snare of faction And selfish ambitious pragmatick spirits that trouble them will easily be detected and abandoned Section XXXV Unto this reasoning let the authority of an Eminent pacifique Bishop be superadded concerning the way of order and stability in the conjunction of Episcopacy and Presbytery Bishop Hall in his Discourse Intituled A modest offer of some meet considerations to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster commends the method of the Church of Scotland for prevention of Errour and Heresie by a gradual proceeding from the parochial meeting to the Presbytery from thence to the provincial Synod and from thence to the general Assembly for determining any controversie saying Thus bears the face of a very fair and laudable course and such as deserves the approbation of all the well-willers to that Discipline But let me add That either we have or may have in this very state of things with some small variation in effect the very same Government with us Instead of Presbyteries consisting of several Pastors we have our combinations of Ministers in our several Deanries over whom the rural Dean is chosen every year by the Minsters of that Division as their Moderator This Deanry or Presbytery may be enjoyned to meet every moneth or oftner in some City or Town next to them and there they may have their exercise of Prophecying as I have known it practised in some parts of this Kingdom as it is earnestly wished and recommended by that Excellently Learned Lord Verulam in his prudent Considerations where if any Question fail of determination it may be referred gradually from the lesser to the greater Assemblies till it be brought to a National Synod In the same discourse the said Bishop commends one constant prudent vigilant Overseer superadded to a Grave Judicious Presbytery without concurrence of which Presbytery the Bishop or Overseer should not take upon him to inflict Excommunication or any other important Censure Having discovered certain general Impediments I proceed to Argue upon the particular Concernments of the King of the Nobility and Gentry and of the Episcopal Clergy Section XXXVI His Majesties Concernment in this grand Affair transcends the particular concernments of all others whether Parties or Persons and that beyond all comparison Others may advance themselves and Families by the present occasions and give over in time when they have builded their own houses Many and perhaps the most if changes come may retreat and serve the Times for their own security but the King never descends from the Stage of publick Action and can never cease to be interessed in His people Others having much to get and little to lose may make themselves by present advantages but the King hath little to get but much to secure and not the present occasional and mutable advantage put perpetual stability is His Inrerest His Majesty hath worthily gained the Reputation of a Wise and Gracious Prince of an excellent spirit and temper for these times And truly a Prince as wise as Solomon hath no Wisedom to spare from the weight of these businesses Let the God of the spirits of all flesh and the Father of Lights continually give to His Majesty a large heart and comprehensive Understanding that may see far and near and fetch within its compass all circumstances consequents and moments that are requisite to the forming of a perfect judgment concerning these great Affairs Section XXXVII After so long a War between King and Parliament and after all the changes in Government the King being at length restored to His full Power and Greatness and the people being satiated with Civil Warres tumults and