Canons require that all Usurp'd and Foreign Jurisdiction is for most Just Causes taken away and abolish'd in this Realm and no manner of Obedience or Subjection due to the same or to any that pretend to act by virtue of it but that the King's Power being in his Dominions highest under God they upon all Occasions perswade the People to Loyalty and Obedience to his Majesty in all things Lawful and to patient Submission in the rest promoting as far as in them lies the publick Peace and Quiet of the World. VIII That they maintain fair Correspondence full of the kindest Respects of all sorts with the Gentry and Persons of Quality in their Neighbourhood as being deeply sensible what reasonable Assistance and Countenance this poor Church hath received from them in her Necessities IX That they often exhort all those of our Communion to continue stedfast to the end in their most Holy Faith and constant to their Profession and to that end to take heed of all Seducers and especially of Popish Emissaries who are now in great numbers gone forth amongst them and more busie and active than ever And that they take all occasions to convince our own Flock that 't is not enough for them to be Members of an Excellent Church rightly and duly Reformed both in Faith and Worship unless they also do reform and amend their own Lives and so order their Conversation in all things as becomes the Gospel of Christ X. And forasmuch as those Romish Emissaries like the Old Serpent Insidiantur Calcaneo are wont to be most busie and troublesome to our People at the end of their Lives labouring to unsettle and perplex them in time of Sickness and at the hour of Death that therefore all who have the Cure of Souls be more especially vigilant over them at that dangerous Season that they stay not till they be sent for but enquire out the Sick in their respective Parishes and visit them frequently that they examine them particularly concerning the state of their Souls and instruct them in their Duties and settle them in their Doubts and comfort them in their Sorrows and Sufferings and pray often with them and for them and by all the Methods which our Church prescribes prepare them for the due and worthy receiving of the Holy Eucharist the Pledg of their happy Resurrection thus with their utmost diligence watching over every Sheep within their Fold especially in that critical Moment lest those Evening Wolves devour them XI That they also walk in Wisdom towards those that are not of Our Communion and if there be in their Parishes any such that they neglect not frequently to confer with them in the Spirit of Meekness seeking by all good Ways and Means to gain and win them over to our Communion More especially that they have a very tender regard to our Brethren the Protestant Dissenters that upon occasion offered they visit them at their Houses and receive them kindly at their own and treat them fairly where-ever they meet them discoursing calmly and civilly with them perswading them if it may be to a full Compliance with our Church or at least that whereto we have already attained we may all walk by the same Rule and mind the same thing And in order hereunto that they take all opportunities of assuring and convincing them that the Bishops of this Church are really and sincerely irreconcileable Enemies to the Errors Superstitions Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Church of Rome and that the very unkind Jealousies which some have had of us to the contrary were altogether groundless And in the last place that they warmly and most affectionately exhort them to join with us in daily fervent Prayer to the God of Peace for an Universal Blessed Uuion of all Reformed Churches both at Home and Abroad against our common Enemies and that all they who do confess the Holy Name of our dear Lord and do agree in the Truth of his Holy Word may also meet in one Holy Communion and live in perfect Unity and Godly Love. An Account of the late PROPOSALS of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with some other Bishops to his Majesty In a LETTER to M. B. Esq SIR I Am much surprized at the ill Constructions some People make of the Actions of those Bishops who have lately waited upon the King especially considering that most of them are the very Men who not many Months ago appeared so publickly and so courageously even to the hazard of all the Interests they had in this World in defence of our Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Land. In order to the removing all groundless Jealousies and unreasonable Surmises in an Affair of so great Consequence which our Popish Enemies will I am sure be very ready to foment and keep up I have here sent you the Heads of those Matters which were proposed by them to the King. They waited upon him not as a Party separate either from the Nobility or Gentry whom they could I believe have wished his Majesty would rather have called for at this Juncture or from the rest of the Bishops or Clergy of England but as Persons whom the King was pleased upon Reasons known only to his Royal Breast to command to attend upon him The Heads which I send you are not taken from any Copy of the Paper which my Lords the Bishops presented to the King. I understand that all their Lordships have been extreamly careful to prevent the publishing of any Copies and that they still refuse to communicate any tho they now lie under no Obligations to the contrary However I do assure you with all faithfulness that these Heads which I am now sending you are true Contents obtained by another Method which in prudence you will imagine not sit for me to disclose You have already been told from me that every one of these Bishops were sent for up out of their Diocesses by Expresses from his Majesty whom they first waited on in a Body on Friday the 28th of September I cannot upon the strictest inquiry find that any thing passed betwixt the King and them at that first attendance upon him besides general Expressions of Favour and Protection from his Majesty and general returns of Duty and Loyalty from the Bishops This was matter of Admiration to us all here who could not believe but that the King had other Intentions of a nearer and more particular Concern when he first resolved to send so far for some of these Bishops but these Alterations in Councils are Things not fit for you or I to meddle with Hower my Lords the Bishops were not satisfied herewith concluding as I suppose that his Majesty would not have sent for them so far if he had not intended to have advised with them in this Juncture and to give them the liberty of offering him such Counsels as they thought necessary at this time And therefore when his Grace my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury waited on the King
alone the first time on Sunday morning Sept. 30. being indisposed when the other Bishops attended on Friday their Lordships did by my Lord of Canterbury intimate their Thoughts about that Affair and their readiness to the King who was pleased not only to permit them to give him the best and most particular Advices but to encourage them to do it with all the freedom that was necessary for the present occasion Upon this Royal Invitation their Lordships assembled together the next day at my Lord of Canterbury's Palace and prepared upon the most mature deliberation such Matters as they judged necessary for his Majesty's Knowledge and Consideration And on the Wednesday after waited on the King in a Body when his Grace in his own and in the name of the rest of the Bishops then present did in a most excellent Speech represent to his Majesty such things as were thought by them absolutely necessary to the Settlement of the Nation amidst the present Distractions and to the publick Interest of Church and State. I am assured that his Grace delivered himself upon this Critical Occasion as with all dutifulness to his Majesty so with all the readiness and the courage that did become such an Apostolical Arch-Bishop as God hath blest our Church of England with at this Time. You must not expect here his excellent Words but an Abridgment of them according to my Talent in a meaner Stile I. First the Bishops thought fit to represent in general to his Majesty That it was necessary for Him to restore all things to the state in which He found them when He came to the Crown by committing all Offices and Places of Trust in the Government to such of the Nobility and Gentry as were qualified for them according to the Laws of this Kingdom and by Redressing and Removing such Grievances as were generally complain'd of II. Particularly That his Majesty would Dissolve the Ecclesiastical Commission and promise to His People never to Erect any such Court for the future III. That He would not only put an effectual stop to the issuing forth of any Dispensations but would Call in and Cancel all those which had since his coming to the Crown been obtained from Him. IV. That he would Restore the Vniversities to their Legal State and to their Statutes and Customs and would particularly Restore the Master of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge to the Profits of his Mastership which he had been so long Deprived of by an Illegal Suspension and the Ejected President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford to their Properties in that Colledge And that He would not permit any Persons to enjoy any of the Preferments in either Vniversity but such as are qualisied by the Statutes of the Vniversities the particular Statutes of their several Foundations and the Laws of the Land. V. That He would suppress the Jesuits Schools opened in this City or elsewhere and grant no more Licenses for such Schools as are apparently against the Laws of this Nation and His Majesty's True Interest VI. That He would send Inhibitions after those Four Romish Bishops who under the Title of Apostolick Vicars did presume to Exercise within this Kingdom such Jurisdictions as are by the Laws of the Land Invested in the Bishops of the Church of England and ought not to be Violated or Attempted by them VII That He would suffer no more Quo Warranto's to be issued out against any Corporations but would restore to those Corporations which had been already disturbed their ancient Charters Priviledges Grants and Immunities and Condemn all those late Illegal Regulations of Corporations by putting them into their late Flourishing Condition and Legal Establishment VIII That He would fill up all the Vacant Bishopricks in England and Ireland with Persons duly qualified according to the Laws and would especially take into His Consideration the See of York whose want of an Archbishop is very prejudicial to that whole Province IX That He would Act. no more upon a Dispensing Power nor insist upon it but permit that Affair at the first Session of a Parliament to be fairly Stated and Debated and Settled by Act of Parliament X. That upon the Restoration of Corporations to their Ancient Charters and Burroughs to their Prescriptive Rights He would Order Writs to be issued out for a fair and free Parliament and suffer it to Sit to Redress all Grievances to Settle Matters in Church and State upon just and solid Foundations and to Establish a due Liberty of Conscience XI Lastly and above all That His Majesty would permit some of His Bishops to lay such Motives and Arguments before him as might by the Blessing of GOD bring back His Majesty unto the Communion of Our Holy Church of England into whose Catholick Faith He had been Baptized in which He had been Educated and to which it was their earnest and daily Prayer to Almighty GOD that His Majesty might be Reunited All these Counsels were concluded with a Prayer to GOD in whose Hands the Hearts of Kings are for a good Effect upon them especially the last about bringing the King back to the Protestant Religion And now Sir I cannot but ask you What grounds there are for any Mens Jealousies of the Bishops Proceedings Pray shew this Letter to all your Friends that some may lay down their Fears and others may have this Antidote against taking any up I do assure you and I am certain I have the best grounds in the World for my assurance That the Bishops will never stir one lot from their PETITION but that they will whenever that happy Opportunity shall offer itself let the Protestant Dissenters find that they will be better than their Word given in their Famous PETITION In the mean time let You and I Commend the Prudence of these Excellent Bishops Admire their Courage and Celâ—brate their just Praises and never forget to offer up most fervent Thanks to GOD for his Adorning the Church of England at this Juncture with such Eminent Apostolical Bishops I am with all Respect Yours N. N. The PETITION of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament Together with his Majesty's Gracious Answer to their Lordships To the KING 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Whose Names are Subscribed May it please your Majesty WE your Majesty's most Loyal Subjects in a deep Sense of the Miseries of a War now breaking forth in the Bowels of this your Kingdom and of the Danger to which your Majesty's Sacred Person is thereby like to be Exposed and also of the Distractions of your People by reason of their present Grievances do think our selves bound in Conscience of the Duty we owe to God and our Holy Religion to your Majesty and our Country most humbly to offer to your Majesty That in our Opinion the only visible Way to preserve your Majesty and this your Kingdom would be the Calling of a Parliament Regular and
Free in all its Circumstances We therefore do most earnestly beseech your Majesty That you would be graciously pleased with all speed to Call such a Parliament wherein we shall be most ready to promote such Counsels and Resolutions of Peace and Settlement in Church and State as may conduce to your Majesty's Honour and Safety and to the quieting the Minds of your People We do likelise humbly beseech your Majesty in the mean time to use such means for the preventing the Effusion of Christian Blood as to your Majesty shall seem most meet And Your Petitioners shall ever pray c. W. Cant. Grafton Ormond Dorset Clare Clarendon Burlington Anglesey Rochester Newport Nom. Ebor. W. Asaph Fran. Ely. Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriburg Tho. Oxon. Paget Chandois Osulston Presented by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Arch-Bishop of York Elect the Bishop of Ely and the Bishop of Rochester the 17th of November 1688. His Majesty's most Gracious Answer My LORDS WHAT You ask of Me I most passionately desire And I promise You upon the Faith of a King That I will have a Parliament and such an One as You ask for as soon as ever the Prince of Orange has quitted this Realm For How is it possible a Parliament should be Free in all its Circumstances as You Petition for whil'st an Enemy is in the Kingdom and can make a Return of near an Hundred Voices The Lords Petition with the King's Answer may be printed Novemb. 20. 1688. A Modest Vindication of the Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament THIS Defence is grounded upon three Fundamental Principles I. The Right of Petitioning II. The Necessity III. The Duty I. It is the undoubted Right of the Subjects to Petition being founded upon an Act of Parliament and the highest Reason in the World for that is a very monstrous Government where the People must not approach their King and acquaint him with their Grievances The People have the greatest Property in the Land and therefore the most concern'd when a Foreign Enemy is upon it their Welfare is the Supream Law and yet they must not desire to meet in order to consult their own Preservation The Jesuits the sworn Enemies to the English Nation will take care of us and our Posterity therefore why should we trouble our selves at this Juncture They can levy Mony with a Proclamation they can dispense with all Laws and what should we do with a Parliament when the whole Statute-Book serves for no other End but to wipe the Tails of these Reverend Satyrs who fly into their Dens and Thickets at the very sound of a House of Commons II. The Necessity and that an indispensible one The Government turn'd Topsy-Turvy no Law no Rule all in a state of War all Treaties broken all Obligations ceas'd and yet the People must not come together to know why or wherefore they Fight or how they may avoid destroying one another they must hack and cut one another to pieces blindfold and to no other End but to save the Jesuits and the Knaves and to ruin themselves But the most Reverend Bishops are told that they shall have a Free Parliament as soon as ever the Prince of Orange has quitted this Realm that is such a Free Parliament as they were like to have had before the Prince came hither shufft'd cut and pack'd by Mr. Brent and his Missionaries or perhaps ten times worse or rather none at all for the Church of Rome is grown such an infamous Bankrupt that no Body will trust her further than they can command her She may be compar'd to the Tyger which fawns sneaks and lurks as long as the Hunter is arm'd with his Spear and his Gun but when once the Weapons are laid down the Beast flies upon the unwary Forester tears and devours him III. The Duty For what better Office could those pious Prelats and Patriots of their Country do for the Publick-Good than to make all People Friends to save the Lives of many Thousands and to heal all our Wounds and Sores which they of the Roman Faith have inslicted upon a People too kind and good natur'd for such ravenous Monsters who go about seeking whom they may devour France Ireland Hungary and the Valleys of Piedmont are still reeking with the Blood of their poor innocent Preys and ecchoing with the Lamentations of a People ruin'd by trusting these Crocodiles too much and if God in his infinite Mercy had not watch'd over these Kingdoms and sent a Gabriel to guard them they had certainly fallen a Victim to the intollerable Pride the lawless Fury and untractable Barbariety of a sort of Animals call'd Catholicks subtile and treacherous by Custom and Discipline not to be chain'd by any Law either of God or Man and therefore every Body knows how far we may rely upon them when the Arch-Angel leaves us Exeter Nov. 21. 1688. Extract of the States General their Resolution Thursday 28th October 1688. UPon mature Deliberation it is found fit and resolved that notice be given to all their Ministers abroad of all the Reasons which induce their H. and M. to assist the Prince of Orange going over to England in Person with Ships and Forces with Orders to the said Ministers to make use thereof in the several Courts where they reside as they shall think most convenient and that it be also writ to the said Ministers that it is known to all the World that the English Nation hath a good while very much murmured and complained that the King no doubt with the Evil Counsel and Inducement of his Ministers had gained upon their Fundamental Laws and laboured through the violation thereof and by the bringing in the Roman Catholick Religion to oppress their Liberty and to ruine the Protestant Religion and to bring all under an Arbitrary Government That as this inverted and unjust Conduct was carried on more and more and the Apprehensions thereupon were still greater and that thereby such Diffidence and Aversion was stirred up against the King that nothing was to be expected in that Kingdom but general Disorder and Confusion His Highness the Prince of Orange upon the manifold Representations and the reiterated and earnest Desire which was made to His Highness by several Lords and other Persons of great Consideration in that Kingdom as also upon the account that Her Royal Highness and His Highness Himself are so highly concerned in the Welfare of that Kingdom could not well endure that through Strife and Disunion they should run the danger however it went of being excluded from the Crown held himself obliged to watch over the Welfare of that Kingdom and to take care thereof and also had the thoughts of assisting the Nation and giving them a helping-hand upon so many just and good Grounds against the Government that oppressed them in all manner of ways that lay in his Highness's Power for that His Highness was perswaded that the Welfare of this
K. prevails farewel Liberty of Conscience which has hitherto been allowed not for the sake of the Protestants but in order to settle Popery You may see what to expect if he get the better and he hath lately given you of this Town a taste of the Method whereby he will maintain his Army And you may see of what sort of people he intends his Army to consist and if you have not a mind to serve such Masters then stand not by and see your Country-men perish when they are endeavouring to defend you I promise this on my Word and Honour to every Tenant that goes along with me That if he fall I will make his Lease as good to his Family as it was when he went from home The thing then which I desire and your Country does expect from you is this That every Man that hath a tollerable Horse or can procure one will meet me on Boden-Downs to morrow where I Rendezvouze But if any of you is rendred unable by reason of Age or any other just Excuse then that he would mount a fitter person and put five pounds in his pocket Those that have not nor cannot procure Horse let them stay at home and assist with their purses and send it to me with a particular of every Mans Contribution I impose on no Man but let him lay his Hand on his Heart and consider what he is willing to give to recover his Religion and Liberty and to such I promise and to all that go along with me that if we prevail I will be as industrious to have him recompensed for his Charge and Hazard as I will be to seek it for my self This Advice I give to all that stay behind That when you hear the Papists have committed any Out-rage or any Rising that you will get together for it is better to meet your danger than expect it I have no more to say but that I am willing to lose my Life in the Cause if God see it good for I was never unwilling to die for my Religion and Country Prince GEORGE'S LETTER TO THE KING SIR WITH a Heart full of Grief am I forced to Write that prudence will not permit me to say to your Face And may I e'er find Credit with your Majesty and protection from Heaven as what I now do is free from Passion Vanity or Design with which Actions of this Nature are too often accompanied I am not ignorant of the frequent Mischiefs wrought in the World by factious pretences of Religion but were not Religion the most justifiable Cause it would not be made the most specious pretence And your Majesty has always shewn too uninterested a Sense of Religion to doubt the just Effects of it in one whose Practices have I hope never given the World cause to censure his real conviction of it or his backwardness to perform what his Honour and Conscience prompt him to How then can I longer disguise my just Concern for that Religion in which I have been so happily Educated which my Judgment throughly convinces me to be best and for the Support of which I am so highly interested in my Native Country And is not England now by the most endearing Tie become so Whilst the restless Spirits of the Enemies of the REFORMED RELIGION back'd by the cruel Zeal and prevailing power of France justly alarm and unite all the Protestant Princes of Christendom and engage them in so vast an Expence for the support of it can I act so degenerous and mean a part as to deny my Concurrence to such worthy Endeavours for disabusing of your Majesty by the Reinforcement of those Laws and Establishment of that Government on which alone depends the well-being of your Majesty and of the PROTEST ANT RELIGION in Europe This Sir is that irresistable and only Cause that cou'd come in Competition with my Duty and Obligations to your Majesty and be able to tear me from You whilst the same Affectionate Desire of serving You continues in me Could I secure your Person by the Hazard of my Life I should think it could not be better Employed And wou'd to God these Your distracted Kingdoms might yet receive that satisfactory Compliance from your Majesty in all their justifiable pretensions as might upon the only sure Foundation that of the Love and Interest of your Subjects establish your Government and as strongly Unite the Hearts of all your Subjects to You as is that of SIR Your Majesty's most Humble and most Obedient Son and Servant The Lord CHURCHIL's LETTER to the KING SIR SInce men are seldom suspected of Sincerity when they act contrary to their Interests and though my dutiful Behaviour to your Majesty in the worst of Times for which I acknowledge my poor Services much over-paid may not be sufficient to incline You to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions yet I hope the great Advantage I enjoy under Your Majesty which I can never expect in any other Change of Government may reasonably convince Your Majesty and the World that I am acted by a higher Principle when I offer that violence to my inclination and interest as to desert Your Majesty at a time when your Affairs seem to challenge the strictest Obedience from all your Subjects much more from one who lies under the greatest personal Obligations imaginable to Your Majesty This Sir could proceed from nothing but the inviolable Dictates of my CONSCIENCE and a necessary concern for my RELIGION which no good man can oppose and with which I am instructed nothing ought to come in Competition Heaven knows with what partiality my dutiful Opinion of Your Majesty hath hitherto represented those unhappy Designs which inconsiderate and self-interested men have framed against Your Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion But as I can no longer joyn with such to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect so will I always with the hazard of my Life and Fortune so much Your Majesty's due endeavour to preserve Your Royal person and Lawful Rights with all the tender Concern and dutiful Respect that becomes SIR Your Majesty's most Dutiful and most Obliged Subject and Servant The Princess ANNE of Denmark's LETTER to the QVEEN MADAM I Beg your pardon if I am so deeply affected with the surprising News of the Princes being gone as not to be able to see You but to leave this Paper to Express my humble Duty to the King and your Self and to let You know that I am gone to absent my self to avoid the King's displeasure which I am not able to bear either against the Prince or my Self And I shall stay at so great a distance as not to return before I hear the happy News of a Reconcilement And as I am confident the Prince did not leave the King with any other design than to use all possible means for His preservation so I hope You will do me the Justice to believe that I am uncapable of following Him
A Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. 1. The Humble Petition of Seven Bishops to his Majesty 2. Articles recommended by the Archbishop of Canterbury to all the Bishops and Clergy within his Jurisdiction 3. Proposals of the Arch-Bishop with some orher Bishops to his Majesty 4. Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for Calling a Free Parliament With his Majesty's gracious Answer 5. Vindication of the aforesaid Petition 6. Extract of the States General their Resolution 7. The Prince of Orange his Letter to the English Army 8. Account of a Design to poison the Prince of Orange before he came out of Holland 9. A Relation of a strange Meteor representing a Crown of Light seen in the Air near the City of Orange 10. Lord Delamere's Speech to his Tenants 11. The Prince of Denmark's Letter to the King. 12. The Lord Churchil's Letter to the King. 13. Princess Anne's Letter to the Queen 14. A Memorial of the Protestants of England to the Prince and Princess of Orange 15. Prince of Orange his Declaration of Novemb. 28. 1688. from Sherborn-Castle The Third Edition Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be sold by Richard Janeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row 1689. To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and divers of the Suffragan Bishops of that Province now present with him in behalf of themselves and others of their absent Brethren and of the Clergy of their respective Diocesses Humbly sheweth THAT the great averseness they find in themselves to the distributing and publishing in all their Churches your Majesty's late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience proceeds neither from any want of Duty and Obedience to your Majesty our Holy Mother the Church of England being both in her Principles and in her constant Practice unquestionably Loyal and having to her great Honour been more than once publickly acknowledg'd to be so by your Gracious Majesty Nor yet from any want of due tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they are willing to come to such a Temper as shall be thought sit when that Matter shall be considered and settled in Parliament and Convocation But among many other Considerations from this especially because that Declaration is founded upon such a Dispensing Power as has been often declared Illegal in Parliament and particularly in the Years 1662 and 1672 and in the beginning of your Majesty's Reign and is a matter of so great Moment and Consequence to the whole Nation both in Church and State that your Petitioners cannot in Prudence Honour or Conscience so far make themselves Parties to it as the distribution of it all over the Nation and the solemn publication of it once and again even in God's House and in the Time of his Divine Service must amount to in common and reasonable Construction Your Petitioners therefore most humbly and earnestly beseech your Majesty that you will be graciously pleased not to insist upon their distributing and reading your Majesty's said Declaration And Your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray Will. Cant. Will. Asaph Fr. Ely. Jo. Cicestr Tho. Bathon Wellen. Tho. Peterburgen Jonath Bristol His Majesties Answer was to this effect I Have heard of this before but did not believe it I did not expect this from the Church of England especially from some of you If I change my Mind you shall hear from me if not I expect my Command shall be obeyed THE ARTICLES Recommended by the ARCH-BISHOP of CANTERBVRY To all the Bishops within his Metropolitan Jurisdiction the 16th of July 1688. SIR YEsterday the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury delivered the Articles which I send you inclosed to those Bishops who are at present in this place and ordered Copies of them to be likewise sent in his Name to the absent Bishops By the Contents of them you will see that the Storm in which he is does not frighten him from doing his Duty but rather awakens him to do it with so much the more vigour and indeed the Zeal that he expresses in these Articles both against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome on the one hand and the unhappy Differences that are among Protestants on the other are such Apostolical Things that all good Men rejoice to see so great a Prelate at the Head of our Church who in this Critical Time has had the Courage to do his Duty in so signal a manner I am Sir Yours London July 27. 1688. Some Heads of Things to be more fully insisted upon by the Bishops in their Addresses to the Clergy and People of their respective Diocesses I. THat the Clergy often read over the Forms of their Ordination and seriously consider what Solemn Vows and Professions they made therein to God and his Church together with the several Oaths and Subscriptions they have taken and made upon divers occasions II. That in Compliance with those and other Obligations they be active and zealous in all the Parts and Instances of their Duty and especially strict and exact in all holy Conversation that so they may become Examples to the Flock III. To this end that they be constantly Resident upon their Cures in their incumbent Houses and keep sober Hospitality there according to their Ability IV. That they diligently Catechise the Children and Youth of their Parishes as the Rubrick of the Common-Prayer-Book and the 59th Canon enjoyn and so prepare them to be brought in due time to Confirmation when there shall be Opportunity and that they also at the same time expound the Grounds of Religion and the common Christianity in the Method of the Catechism for the Instruction and Benefit of the whole Parish teaching them what they are to believe and what to do and what to pray for and particularly often and earnestly inculcating upon the Importance and Obligation of their Baptismal Vows V. That they perform the daily Office publickly with all Decency Affection and Gravity in all Market and other Great Towns and even in Villages and less populous Places bring People to publick Prayers as frequently as may be especially on such Days and at such Times as the Rubrick and Caâ—â—ns appointed on Holy Days and their Eves on Ember and Rogation Days on Wednesdays and Fridays in each Week and especially in Advent and Lent. VI. That they use their utmost Endeavour both in their Sermons and by private Applications to prevail with such of their Flock as are of competent Age to receive frequently the Holy Communion and to this end that they administer it in the greater Towns once in every Month and even in the lesser too if Communicants may be procured or how-ever as often as they may and that they take all due Care both by Preaching and otherwise to prepare all for the worthy receiving of it VII That in their Sermons they teach and inform their People four times a Year at the least as what the