PA at II. ReverendMr. Richard Baxter. X77 if no Content were allowed Minitters in any part of the Government of their Flocks, and fo they should be only Teachers without any Participation and the ruling of the People, whofe Rettors they arecalled. And when 1 perceived Tome Offence at what I faid, I told them that wehad not the Judgments of Menat our command : We could not in reafon fuppofe that our Conceflions, or an) thing we could do, would change the Judgments of any great Numbers ; and therefore we mutt confider what will unite us in cafe their Judgments be not changed, dr elfe welabour to no purpofe. § ro9. But Bishop Morley told them how great our Power was, and what we might do if we were willing; and he told the King that no Man had written ,better of there Matters than I had done, and there my five Difputations of Church-Government, 6c. lay ready tobe produced ; and all was to intimate, as if I now contradiâted what I had there written. I told him; that I had hest rea. fon to know what I had written, and that I am Rill of the fame mind, and Rand to it all, and donot fpeak any thing againft it. A' great many words there werd about Prelacy and Re-ordination ; Dr. Gunning and BithopMorley fpéaking aimoft all on one fide ( and Dr. Hincbman and Dr. Cofens fometimes) :. and Mr. Galway and my felf moil on the other fide: But I think neither Party dóth value the ram- bling Difcourfes of that Day, fo much, as to think them worthy the recording; Mr.Calamy anfwered Dr.Gurming from Scripture very well againft theDivine Right of Prelacy as a diftintt Order. And when Dr. Gunning told them, that Dr. Rasa- wand had faid enough againft the Presbyterains Caufe and Ordination, and was yet unanfwered : I thought itmeet to tell him, that I had anfwered the Spbflancc of his Arguments, and fàid enough moreover againft the Diocefan Frame of Go- vernment, and to prove the validityof the Englilh Presbyters Ordination, which indeedwas unanfwered, though I was very defirous to have feen anAnfwer to it whichI faid becaufe they had got the Book by them, and becaufe I thought the unreafonablenefs of their dealing might be evinced, who force fo many hundreds to be Reordained, and will not anyof them anfwer one Book which is written to prove the validity ofthat Ordination which theywould have nullified, though I provoked them purpofely in filcha Pretence. § r uo. The moft ofthe time being fpenc thus in fpeaking toParticulars of the Declaration as it was read, when we came to the end, theLord Chancellour drew out another Paper, and told us that the King had been petitioned alto by the In- dependants and Anabaptifts, and though he knew not what to think of it him- fell, and did not very well like it ; yet fomething he had drawn up which hd would read to us, and deflreus alto to give our Advice about it. Thereupon he read, as an Addition to the Declaration, That [ others alfa be permitted to meet for Religious Worfbip, fo be it, they do it not to the dsfturbance If the Peace: and that no Nice of Peace or Officer difturb them]. Whenhe had read it, he again defiredthem all to think on it, and give their Advice : But all were filent. The Presbyterians all perceived, asfoon as theyheard it, that it would fecure the Liberty ofthePa- pifts : and ° one of themwhifpered me in the Ear, and intreated me to fay no- Dr.vallio: thing, for it was an odious BuflneB, but let the Bishops fpeak to ir. But the Bi- limpswould not fpeak aword, nor any one of the Presbyterians neither, and fo we were like to have ended in that Silence. I knew if we contented to it , it would be charged on us, that we fpake for a Toleration of Papifis andSalaries : ( But yet it might have lengthenedout our own). And if we fpake againft it, all Setts and Parties would be fet againft us, as the Gaffers of their Sufferings, and as a partial People that would have Liberty out felves, but would have noothers have it with us. At 'aft, teeing theSilence continue, I thought ourverySilence Would be chargedon us a Content if it, went on, and therefore I only Paid this, That [ this Reverend BrotherDr. Gunning even now ffieakin aegairift Sects, bad named the Papifts and the Soeinians : For our parts wedefared not favour to our foti: alone , and rí- goroueo Severity we defired againft none ! As we humbly thanked bra Majefty for bio Indul- gence to our felves, fo we diftinguJh the tolerable Partiel fax the intolerable: For the former, we humbly crave jug lenity andfavour ; but for the latter, fucks as the two forts named before by that Reverend Brother, for our parts wecannot make their Toleration our refuel) : To which his Majelly faid, That there were Laws enough dgainft the Pa- Pitts; and I replyed, That we underftcod the Dueftion to be, Whether th'ofe Laws fholild be executed on them, or not. And fo his Majefly brake up the Meeting of that Day. § usr. Before the Meetingwas diffolved, his Majefy had all along told what he would have Rand in theDeclaration, and he named four Divines to determine of
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