the Law gives Power to the King to dispense therewith And in like Cases or upon other Considerations equal he may dispense license pardon c. yea althô these Lawes have been passed by His Majesty's royal assent formerly and what is more a Clause inserted in the Act that the King's Licence in this or that case shall be void Yet it will be no BARR to such Prerogatives as are originally and inseparably inherent in his royal Person but he may give Licence with a NON OBSTANTE thereunto A learned Sergeant in his NO MOTECHNIA hath these words The King by a Clause of NON OBSTANTE may dispence with a Statute Law if he recite the Statute though the Statute say such Dispensation shall be merely void And he may licence things forbidden as to Coin money which is made by the Statute Capital and was before unlawful for that is but malum Prohibitum but malum in se as to leave a Nuisance in the High way c. he cannot license to do but when it is done he may pardon it but where the Statute saith his Licence shall be void which the Civilians call clausula derogative there it must have a Clause of NON OBSTANTE i.e. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY STATVTE and else it is not good And saith the same Author he may in respect of his Supreme Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction exempt some from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary and dispense with others in things which the Ecclesiastical Law Prohibits upon the same ground that they are not mala in se but prohibita I hold clear saith Judge Hobart That thô the Statute saith that all Dispensations c. shall be granted in manner and form following that yet the King is not thereby restrained but his Power remaineth full and perfect as before and he may still grant them as King. The King may remitt the Penalty and Punishment thô not dispense where what is forbidden by Law is malum in se saith that Sergeant in his forementioned Discourse much more then where what is forbidden is but malum Prohibitum The Statute indeed of 1 Ed. 2. cap. 7. Enacts that no letter shall proceed from the King to discharge an excommunicated Person but where the King's Liberty is prejudiced but as this Statute it self proves the late and former practice so it takes it not away since the King's liberty of discharging such Persons used before is preserved by the same Statute CHAP. II. Of the Prerogative and Regal Power in relation to Ecclesiastical Lawes and Matters of Religion 1. REligion in the moral part thereof namely the Precepts and Commandments of God the institutions and Ordinances of Christ these are not subject to any humane Wisdom or Power The Apostles that were of higher authority in these Affairs than any on earth went no further then as 1 Cor. 11.23 What I have received of the Lord that I deliver unto you To make Lawes in Spiritual Matters that are such by the Light of Nature that men may be moved to do and act according to this Light in duty and our Civil concerns we yield unto the Magistrate who is custos utriusque tabulae 2. There are matters of Circumstance also these and the like are made by our Lawes to depend upon the power and ordering of the Prince This distinction you have laid down as Law by Judge Hobart These are his words Though it be jure divino that Christian People be provided of Christian offices and duties as of Teaching Administration of Sacraments and the like and of Pastors for that purpose and therefore to debar them wholy of it were expresly against the Law of God Yet the distinction of Parishes and the form of furnishing every Parish Church with its proper Curate Rector or Pastor by the way of Presentation Institution c. as it is used diversly in divers Churches and the state or title which he hath or is to have in his Church and Benefice is not a positive Law of God in point of Circumstance And we know well that the Primitive Church in its greatest Purity was but voluntary Congregations of Believers submitting themselves to the Apostles and after to other Pastors to whom they did minister of their Temporals as God did move them Government is a beam of Divine Power and therefore he proceeds saying if a People refuse all Government it were against the Law of God but if a popular State will receive a Monarchy it stands well with the Law of God. In the Case of Glover and Colt against the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield pag. 149. From all this the Judge seems to confirm his distinction by way of Comparison thus As in humane affairs Government in the general and essentials of it that one man be subject to another in an orderly way is necessary and jure divino and not in man's liberty and dispose Yet for the modes and forms of Government and like Circumstances it is left to the choice and wisdom of Men and the Conduct thereof So in Matters of Religion which are not jure divino our Law judgeth the Magistrate hath the ordering thereof in each Nation according to the manners and temper of the People which is various And in particular the disposing of Pastors and People for the more convenient and orderly Service and Worship of God to be only jure humano and may be otherwise and was so in the Primitive Church in her greatest Purity Pastors and People were not then as now engaged by this relation one to another in this Parochial bond or tye but enjoyed a Christian liberty voluntarily to dispose of themselves under such and such a ministry as they should make choice of to themselves The Church is said in that state to be in greatest Purity 1. The Congregational way therefore is not a way in this learned Judge's opinion of disorder and confusion as is so frequently suggested 2. And that it is in the power of Supreme Majesty to dispense with a Parishioner as well as with a Pastor or Rector to be a non-resident and take another Rectory the division of Parishes being jure humano What those things and Matters of Religion are in the judgment of our State that come under the manage of humane Wisdom and Power is well expressed in Queen Elizabeth's Advertisement These Orders and Rules have been meet and convenient to be used and followed yet not prescribing these Rules as Laws equivalent with the eternal Word of God and of necessity to bind the Consciences of our Subjects in the nature of them considered in themselves or as they should add any efficacy or more holiness to the virtue of publick Prayers and to the Sacraments but as temporal Orders meerly Ecclesiastical without any vain Superstition or as Rules in some part of discipline concerning decency distinction and order for the time And in the Articles of 1562 It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly alike for at all times
they have been diverse and may be changed according to the diversity of Countrys and Mens manners So that nothing be ordained against God's Word It is granted that even these Ecclesiastical Lawes ought to be conformable to the Word of God and to these general Rules laid down in the Scripture for ordering the Worship and Service of God in the Churches as let all things be done decently and to edification Give no offence to Jew or Gentile and the like but not to be mens mere inventions That distinction which some would make of things against or contrary and what is according to the Word of God as they apply the one to matters of Faith the other to matters of Order is a distinction without a difference there is more wit than truth in that interpretation of Christ's words He that is not with me is against me and in another place He that is not against me is with me applying one to matters of Faith the other to matters of Order There is no such distinction to be made but Rites Ceremonies and matters of Order ought to be according to God's Word as well as matters of Faith. Magistrates are to judge circa res Ecclesiasticas de iis si fidei sint dogmata vel ritus Ceremeniae earumque veritatem equitatem juxta verbi divini normam Mocket de Pol. Eccl. Anglicanae cap. 30. And the Power of the King stands not in forming new Articles of Faith or formes of Religion and such as were Jeroboam's Calves but in defending and propagating that Faith and Religion of which God in the Scripture is the undoubted Author faith Mason of Bishops cap. 5. It is evident those holy men our first Reformers made no such distinction but that all should be done according to God's Word laying before them these general Rules in Scripture even in retaining that which hath been so offensive for of the retaining Ceremonies there is this account given by them viz. because they appertain to Edification whereunto all things done in the Church as the Apostle teacheth ought to be referred And our Liturgy saith thus There is nothing to be read but the very pure Word of God and the Holy Scriptures or that which is evidently grounded upon the same Preface to the Common-Prayer God be thanked saith good King Edw. 6. we know both by his word what is fit to be reformed and have amended c. The Bishop of Rome and his Jurisdiction is taken away and abolished because is had no ground or establishment in the Lawes of God. Injunct Ed. 6. So Pil grimages Offerings Beads Images are done away being works devised by man fancy and beside Scripture It is convenient thus distinctly to have insisted upon what we term Religion or Matters Ecclesiastical according to that sense in which the Civil Magistrate assumes to himself the ordering hereof and what influence and authority the Scriptures have or ought to have in these Rites of the Church and matters of Orders as well as matters of Faith. For hereby it appears whence it is mens Consciences are more concerned in these Lawes than in other municipal Lawes of the Nation and their not being free to submit to these Ecclesiastical Lawes when not formed according to God's Word is no evidence of that Seditious spirit that kicks against all Lawes 2. There is a necessity and that of much greater importance Provision be made of Dispensations c. as occasion shall be of Lawes Ecclesiastical than Civil In Matters of Religion and the Service of God 1. Multitudes there are of loose and prophane Persons and in respect to such neither are the Lawes in themselves nor in the execution of them severe enough 2. Against POPISH Recusants the Lawes have been severe enough yet in the Execution great Moderation 3. There are those and blessed be God great numbers who are not only Orthodox in Faith but of unblameable life in the greater things of the Law and Gospel These have faln under most fevere Lawes and of late with greatest severity put in execution and would be utterly ruined if there be no means of relaxation It is in the behalf of these I argue this Necessity of Indulgence and from these and the like Considerations 1. There is a greater proneness in conscientious men to scruple and to be doubtful in their obedience to the Ecclesiastical than to the Civil Lawes of a Nation as before 2. The great difficulty in forming Lawes wherein mens Consciences are immediately concerned so as not to dissatisfie some if not many 3. If those Lawes be not according to Scripture in the apprehensions of those that are to obey whatever they are in themselves it 's our Sin if we obey it 's not so in Civil commands 4. It is not of so ill consequence for us to yield obedience to a Civil as to an Ecclesiastical Law if ill constituted by the State. 5. From what is found in a manner peculiar in these our Ecclesiastical Lawes and the administration of them many ways prejudicial to the subject there is a necessity some such provision be found on our behalf of this kind 1. The real doubts and scruples about our obedience in these Ecclesiastical Matters cannot but be more and greater than in other Lawes A man of the greatest knowledge in these things knoweth but in part and the most men have but a parcel in this part It is true the Principles and the greater matters of Religion are in great perspicuity laid down in Scripture which gives knowledge to the Simple but these matters of Circumstance and external order we have for the most part in the generals only and hints from Examples and Customs of the Apostolical Churches in the interpre terpretation whereof the most learned find difficulties and are divided Now the want of Knowledge is the ground of scruple and doubts in our practice 1 C. 8.7 For the working of Conscience is from the ultimate resolution of the practical understanding and hence it is that the same Practice may be not only scrupled but a Sin to one man that is not to another upon the account of different apprehensions There may notwithstanding be integrity and sincerity in both and therefore they are tenderly to be dealt with as the Apostle requires which you read in Rom. 14. 2. A great difficulty there is to form Ecclesiastical Lawes they being to be the same where uniformity is much stood upon for a whole Nation so as not to leave grounds of dissatisfaction to many mens apprehensions being various thorough the degrees of Light in so much as that may be Sin to one man which is a liberty to another of a greater degree of light A little is next to nothing and what is indifferent is nearest in likeness to moral Good or Evil. Hence so frequent mistakings And as it is with particular Persons so may it be with a Society or Company of men one true Church in these things differing from another and
limiting or enlarging the exercise of their Power in these Matters Ecclesiastical but rather recognizing and confirming what hath been ordered by them as in 5 Eliz. and in Car. 2. in the Act of Vniformity and many other instances might be tendered CHAP. IV. Of Objections against this Power and the exerting thereof with Answer thereunto THere are Reasonings possibly tending another way the Objections obvious I shall now mention having diverse material Considerations pertinent to a more full and clear stating this Case which might have been produced in the body of this Discourse but are reserved rather to this place partly because we find this vulgar way of DIALOGVE lets in Knowledge with less difficulty and what is required by way of a Question engageth him that proposeth with greater attention to observe what is said in the Answer Quest If such a Power be in the King may it not be thence inferred that be hath Power over the Consciences of Men Answ 1 There is nothing in this Power or the execution of it but only taking off Restraints as to the outward Duties which the Law requireth and the pressing such things upon it as are contrary to its light and dictates And the Power which Protects Conscience in its external actions and takes off all fear and Impositions from it is so far from being a Power over the Consciences of men that it is a necessary requisite for acting of its own Power in obedience unto God. Neither 2. doth it follow that if the King may suspend the Execution of Ecclesiastical Lawes that in the like cases he may make such Lawes for the Suspension of Lawes belongs to the executive but the making of them to the Legislative Power which are distinct and in the making of Lawes with Penalties annexed the Liberties Estates and Lives of the Subject are concerned but in the suspension of those Lawes no man is damaged in what is secured to him Quest If such a Prerogative be in the King what need Ecclesiastical Lawes be transacted and established by Parliament Answ 1 That if His Majesty is pleased in these Affairs at any time to take in the Advice and Assent of his Lords and Commons in Parliament it doth not alwayes evidence His Majesty's Power as insufficient of it self for such actings Such a favour may proceed from a Condescention upon the account of a more popular Acceptance that our hands may be fastened more firmly in obedience to those Lawes and Commands in the forming whereof they have been assistant Take it answered in His Majesty's own words Declar. of 26. Dec. 1662. to concur with us in making some such Act as may enable us to exercise with a more universal satisfaction that Power of DISPENSING which we conceive to be INHERENT in us or as also it is by the above-named Learned Judge Hobart expressed These Statutes and the like were made saith he to put things in ordinary form and to ease the Sovereign of labour but not to derogate from his Power Answ 2 Powers sufficient in themselves may joyn and in such conjunction remain entire as Powers Cumulative and not Privative as is evident from what is said in the Statute of 31º H. 8. cap. 10. The King 's most Excellent Majesty tho it appertained to his Prerogative Royal to give Honour as shall seem to his Wisdom he is nevertheless pleased and contented for an Order to be had c. by this High Court of Parliament that it shall be enacted by the Authority of the same self-distinct from that capacity wherein he stands in conjunction with his Subjects as their Head in that respect being in a higher Region above and in a greater distance from those Interests upon the account whereof his Subjects are many times divided and Publick Edicts become formed according to the prevalency of a greater Party to the prejudice of others which are his Loyal Subjects Also by Wisdom and Prudence there is a ballance by which the Tranquillity of a Nation is happily preserved and one Party not over-born by the other having this Power to Mitigate and Dispense as hath been discoursed with what in his Wisdom with Advice of his Council shall seem equal Quest 3 But hath not the King's Prerogative been limitted in our Lawes are there not some things which he cannot dispense with no not with a non obstante Answ I grant it and in several Cases 1. He may by special words in the Statute bind up himself from making any use of his Prerogative 2. In what is malum in se in respect of Impiety or Vnrighteousness 3. When such Dispensations are destructive to the great ends of a Common-wealth common Justice the Proprieties of men c. 1. To the first His Majesty or any of his Predecessors hath not at any time in any Statute or Law that concerns these Ecclesiastical Matters by any such special words bound up himself but rather the contrary as in those two Acts wherein more especially our affair lyeth that of Vniformity where that Dispensation with that Statute granted to Strangers by sole Prerogative-Authority is justify'd In the Act. 22º Car. 2. by the Proviso there inserted the Parliament seems to induce His Majesty's assent in the recognizing his Prerogative so expresly in that Act as if they spoke thus Tho this Act be very severe yet if it be found prejudicial or not to attain the end for which we judge such severity to be requisite It is an Ecclesiastical Affair and your Majesty may when you please disperse or exempt Persons from it for we intend not to abridge your Royal Prerogative 2. There is nothing transacted in these Affairs by the Civil Magistrate and as depending on his Authority but such Matters as in the sense of our Law are things materially indifferent and therefore not mala in se they do not bind the Conscience of the Subject in the nature of them considered in themselves Queen Eliz. Advertisements 1569. Preface The keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it self is but a small thing yet the wilful and contemptuous transgression and breaking a Common Order c. of Ceremonies why some are c. So that these Precepts concerning Ecclesiastical Matters oblige not in their own Nature as what is either bonum or malum but as Prohibited or Commanded 3. Civil Rights and Claims and Temporal things only are the immediate and intrinsick concern and interest of all Commonwealths Dominium non fundatur in gratiâ If the just Claim of a Prince may not be interrupted upon the account he is of this or that Religion and Perswasion nor may a Subject be justly Banished Imprisoned Confiscated or ruined upon the meer account of Religion or because his Conscience is not cast into the same mould with the Prince or present Establishment It is Popery to deny Allegiance to Prince or Protection to a Subject upon the account of any such difference Quest Religion and the Worship of God being the great Concern of a Nation
done yet in what His Majesty had promised in way of relief to tender Consciences Hereupon not only multitudes of faithful Preachers of the Gospel in several Shires in this Kingdom were put from their Imployment but also the Minds of men are much disturbed and filled with hard Thoughts and Jealousies upon this account Insomuch as His Majesty was enforced to Publish that Declaration of Dec. 26. In which he expresseth the surmises of the People occasioned by this Severity thus That having made use of such solemn Promises from Breda and in several Declarations since of Ease and Liberty to tender Consciences instead of performing any part of them we have added straiter Fetters than ever and new rocks of Scandal to the scrupulous by the Act of Uniformity To this surmise and jealousie His Majesty condescends to make a reply thus As concerning the non-performance of our Promise we remember well the very words of those from Breda c. and the Confirmation we have had of them since upon several occasions in Parliament and as all these things are still fresh in our memory so are we still firm in the resolution of Performing them to the full But it must not be wondered at since that Parliament to which those Promises were made in relation to an Act never thought fit to offer us any to that purpose The House of Commons took his Declaration into Consideration and represented to His Majesty divers Objections against it and laid it aside so that nothing was effected thereby to His Majesty's purpose the Parliament being otherwise minded And certainly it is not only their Liberty but Duty to proceed in reforming Abuses by such means as are in their Perswasion most suitable and likely to be effectual otherwise they would not be faithful in their trust So now greater Severities against Nonconformists are provided in several Acts upon occasion As the Act against Private Meetings 16 Car. 2. The expelling Ministers five Miles from Burrough Towns 17 Car. 2. Especially that Act of 22 Car. 2. intituled An Act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles and all very high and heavy in the Penalties expressed both upon Ministers and People His Majesty notwithstanding condescended to give his Royal Assent to that Bill It being judg'd this Severity was taken up by them from good intentions and as the likeliest means of Peace and Union as also if it proved not to be so that they might yet be more fully convinced of the insufficiency of such a way having had hitherto for some years experience how little effectual it hath proved Yet this Bill containing nothing for Substance but what was proper to his Ecclesiastical Power being an ordering the Externals of the Church and nothing of immediate concern in Civil Affairs in the whole Act and His Majesty having intentions to take the other course if this of Severity effected not what was aimed at a Proviso is inserted in the Act in these words Provided also that neither this Act nor any thing contained therein shall extend to invalidate or avoid His Majesty's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs but that His Majesty his Heirs and Successors may from time to time and at all times hereafter exercise and enjoy all Power and Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs as fully and amply as himself or any of his Predecessors have or might have done the same any thing in that Act c. notwithstanding As this Act of 22 Car. 2. was very strict and severe in it self so the execution of it was with much violence and rigour in most parts of the Nation there being Provision made in it that such as even loose and indigent Persons may intrude themselves in the promoting thereof with encouragements not only of their lusts satisfied in persecuting those they so much hate but their Necessities supplied from large rewards for the same having Power given to inform against Justices Mayors Constables and such who are intrusted with the Execution hereof who are under great Fines and Penalties for omissions limited in this Act and the Informer to have a moiety hereof himself insomuch that by the rigorous execution of it Thousands of His Majesty's good Subjects were utterly ruined Persons industrious and diligent in their Callings driven from their Habitations their Houses broken open their Goods imbezziled the Materials of their Trade the Tools they wrought with and the Beds they lay on seized and our Trade every where decayed Rents of Lands falling Poverty coming on like an armed Man Persons haled from these Meetings for the Worship of God through the open Streets to Prisons being of the same Faith with us and so peaceable and unblameable in their Conversation as that nothing could be objected against them but in the Matters of their God nor for any thing upon that account but their endeavouring to practise as those reformed Churches we our selves own as such and hold a brotherly Communion with as the true Churches of Christ. The Nation generally being thus distracted and distressed those in Power going on still to make Lawes to afflict and punish and others ingaged quietly to suffer whatsoever they should be exposed to for their Consciences Matters being at this pass there was apparent Necessity that some remedy in the case should be seriously and speedily applyed His Majesty considering they are all his Subjects and how much by such Severity the Interest of his Sovereignty is narrowed so great a number of his People rendered unworthy of his Countenance and Protection and upon no other account or crime but their being of different Perswasion in some Externals of Religion Persons otherwise wise for Industry Faithfulness and Loyalty every way qualified to dâ—… His Majesty and their Country as good Service as any others of His Majesty's Subjects whatever His Majesty also did call to Mind that Prudent caution which his Royal Father left him in these words Take heed saith he that outward Circumstances and Formalities in Religion devour not all or the best incouragements of Learning and Industry but with an equal Eye and impartial Hand distribute Favours and Rewards to all Men as you find them for their real goodness both in Ability and Fidelity worthy and capable of them This will be sure to gain you the hearts of the best and most too It was likewise impossible for His Majesty to imagine that so ma-many thousand in his observation who have suffered so grievous things with such humble submission should daily thus expose themselves and Families to ruine upon no other or better Principles than a Spirit of obstinacy and stubbornness Great Sufferings and by great Multitudes yet no Tumults no resisting whereas in the beginning of the Reformation what Armies in the North and in the West upon this account by those of another Perswasion were raised altho yet they had suffered but little His Majesty as was said as a Common Father beareth Affection to all his Subjects but who of them deserves it and who not can nover
Separate and Absent themselves from the Parish Assemblies and to gather themselves into distinct particular Churches or Congregations to choose and ordain their own Ministers also to establish such a Church-Government or Discipline and Form of Worship and Divine Service as they amongst themselves judged to be most conformable to the Scriptures Established by His Majesty's Patent as a Corporation within it self and independent upon any Superiour Jurisd ction Spiritual but His Majesty all Bishops Mayors Sheriffs c. to protect them and suffer them quietly to enjoy and exercise these Liberties with a NON OBSTANTE 3. The Grounds and Considerations upon which such Liberty and Exemptions were granted were these 1. The Care of Religion that ought to be in all Christian Princes and to be shewed forth especially in the relief and encouragement of those that are of the same Religion in their Sufferings for Conscience of their Duty towards God. 2. Persons of the same Religion with us and Sacraments administred by them according to the Word of God and Practice of the Apostles ought to be tolerated in their way of Worshipping of God tho they differ from us in Ceremonies and Discipline 3. The Kindness we found in other Protestant Countries when we were forced to leave our Native Soil for preserving our Consciences 4. There were also great Advantages in Matters of Trade from their Skill-and Industry to the great benefit of this Nation and prejudice of their own Lord Herbert Hist H. 8. The Premises considered we further say 1. His Majesty's Protestant Subjects to whom the gracious Indulgence is extended are generally of the same Religion with others of his Subjects and the present Establishment in respect to Matters of Faith and Worship in external Forms and Ceremonies they are not more differing from the Church of England then those Congregations to whom the same Indulgence hath been granted by His Majesty and his Predecessors and is still enjoyed And when these Strangers had removed their Families and come among us had not this gracious Indulgence been granted and continued to them their Consciences would have engaged them to depart hence and seek Habitations where the like Liberty might be obtained And this also is our Condition Many Hundreds of His Majesty's Subjects with their Families have left their Native Country and disposed themselves into other Parts of the World upon the same account 2. If it be so grateful a Charity and deserving so solemn an Acknowledgment the kind Entertainment our Subjects have found in other Parts when not suffered to live in their own Land upon the account of Conscience doubtless it 's a greater Charity to be so indulgent to our own as not by Severity to enforce them for Conscience to become Strangers in other Countries And for Matters of Trade the Advantages have been great by encouraging those Strangers But the Disadvantages in the same kind far greater from Severity by which Native Subjects have been so greatly discouraged and not only those hands hang down that were most industrious in upholding the Staple Trade of the Nation but by reason Artificers removed into other Parts for their Consciences the mysteries of our chiefest Manufactures have been made common and others therein equalled if not exceeded us A great sense hereof His Majesty hath expressed in his Gracious Declaration Obj. It is said these be Strangers Objects of Charity being driven out of their own Country understood not our Language they were educated and accustomed to other Forms of Discipline and Worship in the exercise whereof their Consciences had of a long time testified to them Answ 1 It 's true the first grant of this Liberty was to such but in process of time these Churches were increased and spread into divers Parts of the Nation and this Grant being confirmed by Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the First English born and born Subjects of this Realm they had fully the same Liberty granted them as formerly insomuch as the Persons now enjoying these Priviledges are his Majesty's Native Subjects 2. The greatest number of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects that have benefit by this present Indulgence have since they had understanding been trained up in and acquainted with no other Forms of Discipline and Worship then what was found among us at His Majesty's return the other formerly established having been for many years totally disused King James himself being educated under other Forms when he came into England scrupled many things in our Liturgy and Rubricks Conf. at Hampton-Court Finally it is more then a Century of years wherein these Dutch and French Churches have enjoyed this Indulgence and there hath been much quiet and peace among themselves following their Callings without Disturbance neighbourly and friendly converse with those that are of different Perswasion in Matters of Religion no troublesome Disputings or Reasonings about the same no Judging or Despising others Experience we have found hereof beyond denial in London Norwich Canterbury c. where diversity of Practices in the Forms of Religion and Worship are constantly held forth in the view of all men for so many years And why should not we expect the like peaceable and inoffensive converse mutually between those that enjoy now the like Liberty from this Gracious Declaration and others of our Brethren whose practice is otherwise And the Lord who hath put this in the King's heart put it also in the hearts of our Senatours to be like minded with him And as His Majesty hath condescended to them in their way for the space of these Twelve years as he tells them so it is to be desired that they if it may stand with their great Prudence would concurr with him but half so long in the way himself hath chosen for the Peace and Vnion of his Subjects in Matters of Religious Worship or at least until there be the like evident Experiments of the ineffectualness of it THE END