dependence from the Profeffion of the Common Law; and I am perfwaded, the Stewardships to Bishops, and of the Lands of the Church, which were to be managed by the Rules of the Common Law, were not much inferior in Profit to all the Chancellorships in England. And then, if where the Policy may confift with Juftice, it is no ill measure in making Friendships, to look into, and compare, the Power of doing Hurt, or doing Good; it is apparent, that the Civil Law in this Kingdom, had not, in the least degree, the ability to Help, or to Hurt the Church, in any exigency, as the Common Law had: Whofe Profeffors had always, by their Interests, Experience, and Reputation, fo great an Influence upon the Civil State, upon Court and Country, that they were notable Friends or Enemies. And the dependence of the Church, as to their inheritance, and Eftates (except their minute Tythes) was entirely upon the Law; being only determinable by thofe Rules, by which They have feldom receiv'd eminent Injustice. And truly, I have never yet spoken with one Clergy-man, who hath had the experience of both litigations, that hath not ingenuously confefs'd "He had ra<< ther, in the respect of his trouble, charge, and fatisfaction "to his understanding, have Three Suits depending in Weftminster-Hall, than one in the Arches, or any Ecclefiaftical « Court. THE Particulars above mention'd, were, I confefs, to Vulgar minds, great Provocations and Temptations to Revenge: and therefore, I do not at all wonder, that, in the great herd of the Common Lawyers, many Pragmatical fpirits, whofe thoughts and obfervations have been contracted to the nar row limits of the few Books of that Profeffion; or within the narrower Circle of the Bar Oratory: fhould go along with the Stream, in the Womanifh art of Inveighing against Perfons, when they fhould be Reforming Things: and that fome, by degrees, having found the Benefit of being of that Opinion (for we all remember, when Papift and Puritan Lawyers got more Money than their Neighbours, for the Private Opinions they were of; not what they deliver❜d in Publick) grew at laft, to have Fits of Confcience in earnest; and to believe, that a Parity in the Church was neceffary to Religion; and not like to produce a Parity in the State: of which Doctrine if they had been then fufpected, they would quickly have been afhamed of fuch Divinity. BUT, that Learned and Unbiafs'd (I mean Unprovoked) men, in that Science of our Law, who knew the Frame and Conftitution of the Kingdom, and that the Bifhops were no less the Representative Body of the Clergy, than the House of Commons was of the People; and confequently, that the depriving depriving Them of voice in Parliament, was a Violence, and removing Landmarks, and not a Shaking (which might Settle again) but Diffolving Foundations; which muft leave the Building unfafe for habitation: That Such men, who knew the Ecclefiaftical and Civil State, was fo wrought and interwoven together, and, in truth, fo incorporated in each other, that the one could not long continue in Prosperity without the other; and that the Profeffors of the Law were never at fo great a height, as even in this Time that They fo unjuftily envied the greatnefs of the Church: and laftly, That They, who might well know, that the great and unweildly Body of the Clergy, confifting of fuch different tempers, humours, inclinations and abilities; and which inevitably will have fo ftrong an Influence upon the nature and affections of the People; could never be Regulated and Govern'd by any Magiftrates but of themselves; nor by any Rules, but of fuch Power as the Bishops exercised; Whom (befides all arguments of Piety, and fubmiffion to Antiquity) the experience of the Bleffed Times fince the Reformation, not to be pa rallel'd in any Nation under Heaven, declared to be the most Happy Managers of that Power, whatfoever rankness and excrefcence might have proceeded from fome Branches: I fay, that these Knowing and Difcerning men (for Such I must confess there have been) fhould believe it poffible for Them to flourish; or that the Law it felf would have the fame respect and Veneration from the People, when the well disposed Fabrick of the Church fhould be rent asunder (which, without Their activity and skill in Confusion, could never have been compass'd) hath been to me an Inftance of the Divine Anger against the Pride of Both, in fuffering them to be the Fatal Engines of Breaking one another: whereas Neither could have been opprefs'd by any other Strength or Power but Their own. AND I cannot but fay, to the Profeffors of that great and admirable mystery, the Common Law (upon which, no man looks with more affection, reverence, and fubmiffion) Who feem Now, by the Fury and Iniquity of the Time, to stand upon the ground they have won, and to be Masters of the Field; and, it may be, Wear fome of the Trophies and Spoils They have ravifh'd from the Oppress'd; that They have yet but tharpen'd Weapons for other to wound them; and that Their Own Arguments and Eloquence, may be, one time or other, applied to Their Own Destruction. And therefore, if they have either Piety, to repent and redeem the ill that they have wrought; or Policy, to preferve their own condition from Contempt; and Themselves from being Slaves to the most abject of the People; They will at length wind up the Church and the Law into one and the fame Intereft; and, by a firm and fteady purfuit, endeavour to fix Both on the fame Foundation, from whence they have been so violently disturb'd. By this time the King was as weary of Scotland, as he had been impatient to go thither; finding all things propofed to him, as to a vanquifh'd Perfon, without confideration of his Honour, or his Intereft; and having not one Counsellor about him, but the Duke of Lenox (who from the beginning carried himself by the most exact rules of Honour, Gratitude, and Fidelity to him) and very few followers, who had either affection to his Perfon, or respect to his Honour. THAT which fhould have been an Act of Oblivion, was made a Defence and Juftification of whatsoever They had done: Their firft Tumults, and erecting their Tables, in Oppofition to, and at last Suppreffing, both Courts of Justice and Seffion; and the Acts and Orders of thofe Tables; declared to be "The effects of their Duty to his Majefty; and ac"cording to the Law of the Land: And fo all Thofe, who, according to their Allegiance, had opposed and refifted them on the behalf of his Majefty, and were qualified by his Ma jefty's Commiffions, were adjudg'd Criminal; and the only perfons Excepted from Pardon, and Exempted from the Benefit of that Oblivion. THE Seditious Acts of that Affembly, which had Expell'à all Bishops, and the Canonical Clergy, from being Members of that Affembly; and affirm'd Themfelves to have a Power, to inflict the Cenfures of the Church upon his Majesty him"felf; were declared "To be Lawful, and according to the "Conftitution of the Kingdom; and the Government of the "Church by Arch-Bishops and Bishops, declared to be against "the Word of God; and They condemn'd, as Enemies to "the Propagation of the true reform'd Proteftant Religion; " and therefore to be utterly Abolifh'd; and Their Lands given to the King, his Heirs and Succeffors. IN confideration of the Kings neceffary Abfence from that his Native Kingdom, it was thought fit, "That the Full and "Abfolute Government thereof, fhould be committed to the "Lords of the Secret Council; who were likewife made "Confervators of the Peace of the two Kingdoms, during the "intervals of Parliaments; and thofe Lords, and Confervators, "Were then, and ftill, to be named by Parliament; "which was once in three years to affemble upon a day cer"tain, without any Summons from the King, if he neglect"ed to publifh fuch Summons; and, upon the fame reason, "all great Officers, as Chancellor, Treasurer, Secretary, and "the reft, nominated by Parliament; and in the interval "by |