great Power and Trust in so few hands was look'd upon as a great Obligation to those Lords and a great Security to that King so long as their Interests stood united in their new Conquest yet in the next Age when the heat of that Action was over their Interests divided and the Obligation forgotten it proved to the succeeding Kings so great a Curb and Restraint to Sovereignty that nothing fell more intimately into their Care than how to retrench as much as they durst the Power of that Nobility which they began to suspect and was like in time to mate even Monarchy it self Though others foresaw the mischief in time yet none attempted the Remedy untill King John who no sooner began to reign in his own Right for by the way he practis'd a little in his Brother's time and by that Experience found Mat. Paris his Words true of the Barons viz. Quot Domini tot Tyranni But he bethought himself to frame his Counsel of such a Constitution as he might have Credit and Influence upon it To be short he was the first that durst restrain the tumultuary access of the Barons to Council he was the first that would admit of none but such as he should summon and would summon none but such as he thought fitting and besides he would send out Summons to several of the Commons or lesser Tenants mixing them with the Nobles and engaging them thereby to his Interest and whereas before the Council consisted of the Nobility and Clergy he erected a third Estate a Body of the Commons or lesser Tenants which might in some measure equal the rest and be faithful to him All which appears in the Clause Rolls and Patent Rolls of the sixth Year of this King and in vain before that time shall any Man seek either for Summons or Advice of the Commons in any of these great Councils King John having put this Cheque upon the Councils considers next how to ballance the unequal power of the unruly Barons and first he tampers with the Bishops and Clergy sain he would have drawn them into his Party at least to his Dependency but that Tryal cost him dear In the next place therefore that he might create new Dependances and new Strength to himself he becomes a great Patron and Founder or at least Benefactor to many considerable Corporations as Newcastle Yarmouth Lynn and others insomuch that he is taken notice of by Speed and other of our Chroniclers and stiled particularly the Patron of Corporations Thus you see not only when but for what Reason the Institution of the House of Commons was first thought upon and indeed according to their old or first Constitution their Attendance in Parliament or as we say their serving in Parliament was look'd upon rather as an easier Service due to the King than otherwise as a Priviledge granted to the People as may be seen not only in the Case of the Burgesses of St. Albans in temp Ed. 2. recited by the Worthy Dr. Brady against Petit but also by many other good Authorities too long for this place But begging your Pardon for this long Story I now proceed to the second Parenthesis in which he makes no Scruple to accuse his present Majejesty and his late Sacred Father of breaking the Law in adjourning proroguing and dissolving Parliaments Indeed Cousin I know nothing that reflects more truly upon the Constitution of our Government than that it suffers such pestilent seditious Men as our Author seems to be to live under it For nothing sure is more evident in the whole or any part of the Law whether Statute common or customary than that the Kings of England ever since the first Parliament that ever was call'd have had and exercis'd the same Power in adjourning proroguing and dissolving them as his present Majesty or his Father of Blessed Memory ever did And that you may have Plato's own Authority against himself I must anticipate so much of his Discourse as to inform you That in p. 105. you will find these very Words That which is undoubtedly the King 's Right or Prerogative is to Call and Dissolve Parliaments Nay more so great was the Authority and Prerogative of our Kings over the House of Commons according to their old Constitution That they have in their Writs of Summons named and appointed the particular Persons all over England who were to be returned to their Parliaments sometimes have order'd that only one Knight for the Shire and one Burgess for a Corporation should be sent to their Parliaments and those also named to the Sheriffs and sometimes more as may be seen by the very Writs of Edw. 2. and Edw. 3. fully recited by the aforesaid Dr. Brady from p. 243. to p. 252. Besides Sir what is more reasonable and equitable than that our Kings should enjoy the Power of Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving that their Council or Parliament when and as often as they please since our Kings alone in Exclusion to all other mortal Power in England whatsoever enjoy â—olely the Prerogative of Calling or Assembling these their Parliaments when and where they alone shall think convenient Mer. I confess we generally say That it is a great Weakness in a cunning Man to raise a Spirit which afterwards he cannot lay and that in such case the Spirit tears him in pieces first who rais'd him And I think we have had the Misfortune to see somewhat very tragical of this kind in the beginning of our late Troubles if it were not possibly the great Cause of his late Majesty's fatal Catastrophe But truly excepting that case I never heard the King's Authority in proroguing or dissolving Parliaments question'd before Trav. Well Sir go forward to the twenty fifth Page for all between is nothing but quacking and ridiculous Complements or Matter as little worth our notice Mer. He tells us there that it remains undiscovered how the first Regulation of Mankind began that Necessity made the first Government that every Man by the Law of Nature had like Beasts in a Pasture Right to every thing That every Individual if he were stronger might seise whatever any other had possessed himself of before Trav. Hold a little Sir that we may not have too much Work upon our Hands at once I think he said before at Page 22. That he would not take upon him so much as to conjecture how and when Government began in the World c. This Cousin I cannot pass by because it seems to be the only piece of Modesty which I observe in his whole Treatise And I should commend him for it much but that I have great reason to suspect that he pretends Ignorance only to cover his Knavery and thereby leave room to introduce several other most false and pernicious Principles which we shall endeavour to refute First therefore I shall take the Liberty not only to conjecture but to tell him plainly when and where Covernment began and how also it continued
we must believe that there ever hath been such and ever will whilst Men have different Judgments that is to say if we mean those as in all Charity we ought to do who following their Opinions give sometimes Counsel which in truth may be prejudicial rather than advantageous for us witness our Author himself whom supposing to be as in great Charity we may an honest Man hath yet given Counsel even undesir'd and unauthoriz'd more pernicious to our Government and Happiness than the worst of our evil Counsellors could ever have invented As to the Pensioner Parliament I must confess till of late days I never knew it was a Crime for a Parliament Man to hold an Imployment from the King nor a fault in the King to endeavour to â—oâ—â—en the Rancor of a virulent Member any more than in an indulgent Father to hire by fair Words and Promises a froward and perverse natur'd Child to live peaceably and decently in the Family amongst the rest of his Brethren since the Design both of the Pater Patrioe and Pater Familias is no other than to procure to himself and Family a quiet and happy Life For the Judges and Divines if their great Worth and Learning and most exemplary Lives did not speak plainly and loud enough in their Behalf they would not want better Pens than minâ— to defend their Cause But I think their Sphere is much above the noise much more the danger of this barking Mongrel When â—e nam'd the busie and designing Papist I was in great hopes that he would have added the Presbyterians too and then we might have come betimes to the Cause of our Misfortunes But since he has thought fit to leave them out I shall also let them alone till occasion requires For his French Councels I know them no more than himself does and in my Opinion had our Author had any Wit in his Anger he might have forborn in this place to have revil'd the Divines and Judges of our Land the King's Council and Parliament it self that is to say all that we hold under the King sacred and religious amongst us especially since he tells us immediately that these are not the Causes of our Misfortunes the finding which out is I think one main Design of his Politick Search Mer. Very well Sir The next thing is We have plaid handy dandy with Parliaments and especially the House of Commons the only Part which is now left entire of the old Constitution by adjourning proroguing and dissolving them contrary to the true meaning of the Law Trav. That 's enough I have only to remark his two Parenthesises In the first he tells us That the House of Commons is the only part that is now left entire of the old Constitution Pray Cousin Have you heard what is become of the House of Peers or Do you know how it comes to be less entire than ever it was I am perswaded you cannot tell me Mer. I imagine his Meaning may be that their Estates are not so great as formerly they have been or that the House of Commons depended more upon them formerly than now they do Trav. For the first it is false there being as great Estates now in the House of Lords as generally ever there were And for the dependance of the Commons upon the Lords that is to say wearing their blew Coats making up their Lords-train waiting upon them to the House of Lords and making a Laâ—e for them to enter and such like as he tells us pag. 135. Let him endeavour to reduce the House of Commons to this old Constitution if he can and he will soon see how far the Commoners will think themselves oblig'd to him for it If not why does he talk of an old Constitution But Sir with his good leave and the Commoners too I take the House of Commons to be the latest Addition to that Assembly which altogether we call a Parliament I do not remember to have heard any News of a House of Commons as it is now understood untill several Years after the Norman Conquest that is untill the end of the Reign of Henry the Third at soonest But though some contend for the eighteenth of Henry the First But the House of Lords hath subsisted and been a Court of Judicature even before the Roman Conquest 1700 Years ago Witness amongst many other Passages the Dispute between King Cassibelaunus and Androgeus Duke of the Trinovantes Whose Son or Nephew having slain the Son of the King Cassibelaunus commanded the Duke to surrender him in order to his Tryal that he might suffer such Punishment as the Noblemen or Lords of the Kingdom should judge most â—it Commotus Rex Androgeo mandavit â—t nepoleâ— suum sibi redderet paratum â—alem sententiam subire qualem Proceres regni judicarent So we read of Vortegern the British King Vortegernus excitatus perstrepentium vocibus super statu publico in medium consulit Sententias Magnatum So of the Malm. l. 1. Saxon Ethelwulphus Cum concilio Episcoporum ac Principum concilium salubre ac remedium uniforme f. 22. affirmavi c. So Edmundus Rex Anglorum â—â—m concilio consensu Optimatum meorum c. Besides many hundred of such Instances proving the Existence of a Court of Lords from the Conquest of Will the First untill the end of Hen. the Third are to be found in Eadmerus and other good Authors But it being none of my business to defend in this place the Prerogatives of the House oâ— Lords I shall not offer any thing further concerning them But since our Author troubles himself so much about the old Constitution of the House of Commons and detracting from the House of Lords calls the Lower House the only entire part of the old Parliaments I shall beg leave to mind you what was the Cause and Design of their first Institution as I find it in the best Histories of those Ages and by that you will easily perceive their Antiquity as also which was the eldest Constitution William the Conquerour P. 57. 154. 211. called by Eadmerus and others William the Great having master'd the Power and the Fortune of the English Nation what he retain'd not in Providence as the Demesnes of the Crown or reserv'd not in Piety for the Maintenance of the Church the rest of his Kingdom he divided amongst such of his principal Lords as sailed hither with him in the Barque of his Adventures giving to some whole Countries to others considerable parts of it so as in the County of Norfolk for instance there were not above threescore Chief Lords or Owners and half of them not very considerable as appears by Doomsday And as the Estate so the Council of the Kingdom was entrusted into few Hands none being employed in the publick Councils but only these great Lords and Peers who were Conciliarii nati born to that priviledge and came thither without Leave and without Summons And although at first this
at that time saying c. Here you see the authority proceeding wholly from himself and for its extent you read immediately after that Moses reserves all appeals to himself which is the undoubted mark of Supreme Authority And the cause which is too hard for you bring it unto me and I will hear it And so you see in the forementioned cases of David Jehosaphat Zedekiah and others that the practice was conformable to the institution where the Kings of Judah exercised their Soveraign power even in those cases which belonged most particularly to the knowledge of the Sanhedrim This Brutus confesses in express words who contradicts himself as such false men do in most that he says Propterea boni Reges quales David Jehosaphat caeteri quia omnibus jus dicere ipsi non potuissent etsi in gravioribus causis ut è Samuele apparet supremum sibi judicium recipiebant nil prius vel antiquius habuerunt quam ut Judices bonos peritos ubique locorum constituerent q. 3. p. 89. Of these Judges the greater Court was call'd Sanhedrim Gedola the Supreme Senate the lesser Sanhedrim Ketanna the lesser and inferiour Court The lesser was again subdivided and out of these were Judges distributed into most of the Cities for the ease of the people From them appeal might be made to the Court or Sanhedrim Gedola which always was at Jerusalem and who had many priviledges above the others possibly not much unlike our House of Lords at this day Now Cousin if I understand Latin and English I think the case is plain that the Hebrew Kings notwithstanding the Sanhedrim had the sole Soveraign right of power But I refer all to your better Judgment Mer. I have nothing to reply against Scripture arguments especially when they are so clear as these seem to be I am only afraid that this great trouble which I have given you hath taken away the pleasure you might have had in viewing our Country and talking of some other more diverting subject But presuming still upon your goodness I must desire that you would compleat the Reformation which you have more than begun in me and by giving me some account of the Gothick Government which it seems hath prevail'd in a great part of Europe you may make me capable of defending the doctrine and the good constitution of our Government against all hot-brain'd and ambitious innovators Trav. Sir I have no greater pleasure than in obeying your commands nor have I lost thereby the advantage of this fine evening The Goths therefore if we may believe Jordanes who was himself of that race and whom Procopius writing only of the latter Goths no where contradicts broke out of the Island Scanzia or Scandinavia and with all their substance men women and children advanc d south-east And after several Skirmishes and Victories by the way they at last sat down about the palus Moeotis Here they inhabited many years and following the warmth of the Sun spread Eastwards towards the South of Scythia and the lower Asia Their Government all this while which lasted many hundred of years was an absolute Monarchy and the Tenth part of the lands were generally appropriated to the support of their Prince who descended from father to son as at this day amongst us and in Ottofrising you have a long catalogue of their names and an account of their memorable actions But in process of time those Northern people propagating very much under a warmer climate than their own a great detachment past over into Europe whence came the distinction of the Visigoths and Ostrogoths which is as much as to say the Southern and the Western Goths The latter spread themselves over Germany and France and erected several Kingdoms Their Government was Arbitrary enough and somewhat more than that of the Germans Paulo jam addictius regnantur quam caeterae Germanorum gentes saith Tacitus de moribus Germ. Yet we find the Germans themselves under a Kingly Government the lands divided and yet neither their Noblemen nor people had any other share in the Government than by way of Council or a subordinate authority for the Administration of Justice whch is much different from a right of Power or Command Agri pro numero cultorum ab universis per vices occupantur quos mox inter se secundum dignitatem partiuntur These were like great Farms which they chose according as the situation pleas'd them Colunt discreti ac diversi ut fons ut nemus ut campus placuit Their Councils were compos'd of the Commoners and of the Nobility but were distinct and the Noblemen had the greatest interest De minoribus rebus Principes consultant de majoribus omnes Ita tamen ut ea quoque quorum penes plebem arbitrium est apud Principes pertractentur But in all these elder Governments we must consider their circumstances which were confus'd and much different from those which are at this day established generally all the world over The people were more barbarous than now they are unsetled and much addicted to wars Whence they appear'd more like the children of Israel in the Wilderness than the people of God in Jerusalem And I cannot think that their polities though they make little against us ought to be propos'd by any sober man as examples for our imitation We come now to the Ostrogoths as nearer to our time and purpose A great body then of these passing the Danube possessed themselves of Hungary or Pannonia and some of Thrace where they inhabited sorty eight years In Hungary they had their Kings and paid them too such an awful obedience that they esteemed it the greatest impiety so much as to whisper any thing that detracted from their honour Solummodo susurris lacerare nefas ducunt And if by chance any of the Noblemen should have offended their King though in never so small a matter and even unjustly accus'd yet the poorest Scullion belonging to and sent by the King had a power though alone to seize that Nobleman encompassed and guarded by all his friends and adherents And thus without Messenger or Serjeant both imprisoneth or otherwise punisheth the unhappy offender according to the Order of the Prince whose Will passeth amongst all for an unquestionable Law Quod si aliquis ex comitum ordine regem vel in modico offenderit quando etiam iniustè infamatus fuerit quilibet infimae conditionis lixa a Rege missus Comitem licet satelliâ—ibus suis stipatum solus comprehendit c. Sola Principis voluntas apud omnes pro ratione habetur Ottofris de reb gest Fred. primi lib. 1. ca. 31. Now if Plato Redivivus will needs produce ancient customs among the Goths and impose them without any farther consideration upon us I hope he will give me leave also to offer the example of these Loyal Ostrogoths which I am sure if duly followed would prove a better cure for us whatever our disease be than
did not expect and hesitating much without giving any satisfactory account of what was demanded he was cast into chains and punish'd according to the hainousness of the offence Mer. And may all the Manlii amongst us be alike confounded Next Sir I cannot approve of the liberty men take of publishing their private sentiments which are generally grounded upon nothing but conjecture and Enthusiastical follies Trav. Certainly nothing would conduce more to our quiet than that the liberty of the press should be restrain'd But since it is not our business to look into those liberties which we enjoy so much as into those which we want let us leave the consideration of these and many other such things to our prudent Governours I shall only note this one thing by the way that since the Act of Habeas Corpus I think I may confidently affirm that even at this time when there is so much danger of a pretended slavery the Subjects of England enjoy a greater liberty than was known to any of our Ancestors before us Pray therefore proceed to the second consideration which is our properties Mer. That is wholly unnecessary for all the world knows that whatsoever we possess is so secured by the Laws of the Land that the King himself doth not pretend in prejudice of those Laws which indeed are his own Laws to touch the least Chattel that belongs to us nor can any Tax be impos'd but such as shall be granted by Act of Parliament which is the very Government that our Author so much approves And in a word Plato himself has clear'd this point telling us p. 127 That the people by the fundamental Laws that is by the constitution of the Government of England have entire freedom in their lives properties and their persons neither of which can in the least suffer but according to the Laws And to prevent any oppression that might happen in the execution of these good Laws which are our Birthright all Trials must be by twelve men of our equals and in the next page lest the King 's Soveraign authority might be urg'd as a stop to the execution of those Laws he tells us That neither the King nor any by authority from him hath any the least power or jurisdiction over any English man but what the Law gives him And if any person shall be so wicked as to do any injustice to the life liberty or estate of any Englishman by any private command of the Prince the person aggriev'd or his next of kin if he be Assassinated shall have the same remedy against the offender as he ought to have had by the good Laws of the Land if there had been no such command given Now dear Cousin in the name of sense and reason where can be the fault and distemper of our Government as it relates to the ease and priviledge of the Subject if this be the constitution of it as at least our Author himself affirms Trav. Faith Sir I could never find it out nor any man else that ever I could meet withal And what is still stranger our great Platonick Physician hath not vouchsafed to give us any one particular instance in what part our disease lyes notwithstanding he alarms us with dismal news of being dead men and that without such a strange turn of Government as his pregnant Noddle hath found out we are ruin'd for ever 'T is true he tells us that the property being in the hand of the Commoners the Government must necessarily be there also and for which the Commoners are tugging and contending very justly and very honourably which makes every Parliament seem a present state of war Mer. But Sir if it be true that we enjoy all those benefits and blessings before mentioned that the Government it self secures these properties inviolably to us which we know to be most certain without the testimony of Plato or any man else what then does this tugging concern us or what relation has it to our happiness which is already as great as we can wish it to be Must the enjoyment of our properties put us into a state of war Must our health become our disease and our fatness only make us kick against our masters what can this contention for Government signifie more than ambition and what could their success produce less than Tyranny should the House of Commons become our masters what could they bestow upon us more than we already enjoy except danger and trouble And what can our present Government take from us except the fears of those fatal consequences which such a popular innovation would induce Let then the property be where it will and if we possess it securely we are the happier for it Trav. Your reasons are too plain and strong to be resisted I shall quit therefore this point and inform you how our Author seems in many places to insinuate that the want of frequent and annual Parliaments is the cause of our distemper and that calling a Parliament every year might prove a pretty cure according to a certain Act in the time of Edward the first and that then instead of hopping upon one leg we might go limping on upon three Mer. Faith Cousin you are now gotten out of my reach and you must answer this your self I can only proceed according to my former rule which is that if we be as happy as we can be a Parliament cannot make us more Trav. That answer is I think sufficient to satisfie any reasonable man However we will speak somewhat more particularly concerning this matter as we find it recorded in History Our Author informs us in p. 110. That by our Constitution the Government was undeniably to be divided between the King and his Subjects which by the way is undeniably and notoriously false for according to our ancent Constitution as well under the Saxon as our Norman Kings the Government or the right of Power was originally and solely in our Kings And that divers of the great men speaking with that excellent Prince King Edward the first about it called a Parliament and consented to a Declaration of the Kingdoms right in that point So there passed a Law in that Parliament that one should be held every year and oftner if need be The same he confirms in p. 159. and in other places Now Sir if after these fine Speeches by those great men whom undoubtedly our Author could have named to this excellent Prince it should happen at last that there was no such Act during the Reign of Edward the first what would you think of our Author Merch. In troth Sir it would not alter my opinion for I already believe him to be an impudent magisterial Impostor Trav. I fear indeed he will prove so for except he hath found in his politick search some loose paper that never yet came into our Statute books we must conclude that he is grossly mistaken For the first Act that is extant of that kind was in the
Fourth of Edward the Third and the words of it are these It is accorded that a Parliament shall be holden every year once and more often if need be Now Sir you must observe that this Act was made whilst the King was but Nineteen years of age and both himself and Kingdom under the care of Twelve Governours His Mother Queen Isabel and Roger Mortimer very powerful the Governours of the Pupil King divided amongst themselves and many other pressing affairs of the Nation oblig'd most people to propose that expedient of frequent Parliaments as the most probable means to secure the peace and prosperity of the Kingdom at least until the King should come of riper years and thereby many differences be reconciled After this in the Thirty sixth year of his Reign he called a Parliament and wanting money as generally he did the Parliament would grant nothing until an Act passed for maintenance of former Articles and Statutes there expressed And that for redress of divers mischiefs and grievances which daily happen a Parliament shall be holden every year as another time was ordained by Statute These are the two Statutes intended by our Author when he tells us that the Statute of Edward the first was confirmed by that glorious Prince Edward the third Whereas in truth they were both made by the same King and both in a great measure revoked in his own time Having declared after the making this last Act that he yielded to it only to serve his own turn This Sir is the matter of Fact upon which our Author builds his great pretensions to the old constitutions of Annual Parliaments The first Act was made whilst the King was very young the second when he wanted money and had Twenty six shillings and eight pence granted him upon every sack of wool transported for three years And both first and second Acts were broken by several intermissions before he died Besides we must make this remark that a Parliament seldom met without giving the King some money which might encourage those Kings to assemble them oftner than lately they have done But the truth is Annual Parliaments were lookt upon as so great a grievance to the Nation that we find that about the Tenth year of Richard the Second his Successor it was thought a great Prerogative in the King that he might call a Parliament once a year And both Houses appointed the Duke of Glocester and Thomas Arundell Bishop of Ely to acquaint the King that by an old Statute the King once a year might lawfully summon his Court of Parliament for reformation of corruptions and enormities within the Realm And if we consider with our selves we shall find that if yearly Parliaments were imposed upon us they would become grievances equally insupportable as to have no Parliaments at all For if the Knights Citizens and Burgesses be chosen out of the Countrey Gentlemen and Merchants inhabiting those Countries where they are elected as sure they ought to be what inconvenience if not ruin must it bring upon their affairs when they shall be forced to run every year a hundred or two hundred Miles from their particular domestick affairs to serve in a formal Parliament in which it may be the greatest business will be to make business for the next Indeed for idle persons who live about Town and have nothing to do but to scrible knavish politicks to the disturbance of honest men such a constitution might do well enough if they could get to be chosen members But we find from experience and History that in those days when Ambition and Faction were not so much in vogue as at present men were so far from making parties to get into the Parliament that many Commoners and Lords too have petitioned and been excused their attendance The King 's Queen's and Prince's Servants have stood upon their priviledge of exemption So James Barner was discharged by the King's command Quia erat de retinentia Regis 7. R. 2 and the Lord de Vessey in Edward the Fourths time obtained Licence not to serve in Parliament during his life Rex concessit Henrico Bromflet Dom. de Vessey quod ipse durante vita sit exoneratus de veniendo ad Parl. Besides the very Writ of Summons shews that in the original institution and design of Parliaments a frequent meeting could not be necessary For they were only to treat concilium impendere de magnis arduis negotiis Now God help us if every year should produce such magna ardua negotia such difficult and weighty affairs that the King with his Judges and â—rivy Council could not determine them without assembling his great Council the Parliament I confess in our Authors Chimerical model I am perswaded our circumstances would be bad enough but I thank God we are not gotten there yet Thus you see Sir that this grievance in not having annual Parliaments is become no grievance at all Mer. I begin Cousin to lose all manner of respect for this mistaken Mountebank For I perceive notwithstanding his great words and pretences all is but wind emptinâ—ss and cheat Having therefore fully satisfieâ— me concerning our liberties properties and Parliaments pray forget not to say somewhat of our Religion Trav. Sir I shall not presume to meddle with the Doctrinal part of any Religion that being none of my Province Nor shall I say much concerning the Ceremonial part or discipline of our own that is to say the Church of England It is sufficient to mind you that both the Doctrine and Discipline in Church Government have been established and confirm'd by several Acts of Parliament and Statutes Which Parliaments being the most Soveraign power that our Author himself pretends to set up amongst us we ought all to acquiesce in and be concluded by what they have done until an equal authority shall repeal those Acts or otherwise determine concerning us Mer. There is no objection can be made against this answer But Sir since the difference in our Religion seems manifestly to occasion most of our troubles why may not the King by his own authority dispence with the penal part of these Laws or grant a toleration especially to Protestant Dissenters or encourage an Act of Parliament for uniting them into the Church of England or else why might not the same Church release some part of the rigour of the Discipline and Ceremony since 't is agreed on all hands that the observance or non-observance of them are not points necessary or absolutely conducing to Salvation Trav. Cousin I shall answer you all these questions as plain as I can And first I shall never believe that true and unfeigned Religion especially amongst men where the Doctrine agrees is ever the real cause of any troubles disturbance or disobedience to lawful authority such as is that which produces an Act of Parliament even in our Authors sence being so contrary to the Doctrine and Principles of Christian Religion that I may confidently affirm where