198 or Honour of the King : Far be it from us to think fo ill of them. I mutt profefs to you that I donot think half fo ill of well-or- der'd Monafteries of Men or Women, as I doof our large Di- ocelles, or our Lay-Excommunicators, according to the Canons. And yet even in the Times of Popery, the Nation was not Sworn never to endeavour any alterationof Monalteries. Ifyouwould have all Corporations, Soldiers; Veftries, Mini. fiers fworn never to endeavour to cure the Sick, to relieve the Poor, to feek more Wealth, to reform all Play-houfes, Ale- houfes and Taverns, to Catechize their Families, 6-c. I would not join withyou. National Oaths andCovenants are Mattersof great moment : We have deeply fuffered by rafhnefs in fuch already : And fhould any of them prove falfe and wicked, and the Nation be fligmatized with Perjury, you might more fadly write, Lord have Mercy on us, on the Land, than on the Doors where the molt dreadful Plague prevaileth. CHAP. LIV. POINT XI. Of Swearing an Abhorrence of taking Arms againfi any Commir- fionated by the K 1 NG. . I. Prliis alfo I have laid enough of in the Cafe of the XI. Minifters, and told you that we are far from fcru- pling it in Difloyalty ; but in Loyalty,only, I. Left the Keepers of the Seals may by Commiflions depofe the King,or deliver up the Kingdom to whom they pleafe. 2. Becaufe the Authority of a Commiffion, as above, and againft the King's own Law, is not a matter that Lawyers and Judges themfelves are agreed of, and therefore unfit for the unskilful Vulgar to determine by their Oath. L. The end is but to fecure your Loyalty. M. The End is one thing, and the Means another : We are ready to give better fecurity of our Loyalty than this, which I before intimated to you. Do you think in your Confcience that all the Souldiers in En, ;land, and all the Corporation-Officers, and entrufted Perlons, and all the Veftry-rnen, and all the Minifters are fo well skill'd in
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