Part III. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. .5 3 Church ; fo that if onebe riotous, both mull be fo. And I perform no Exercife at all contrary to the Doftrine or the Pra&ice of the Church ; but when the Curate readethonly in the Evening, and loth notPreach or Catechize, when he hathdone one part, I do the other which he onaitteth. 2. The Oath cannot he impofed on me, bccaufe I am none ofthe three forts of Offenders there mentioned: The firft fort in the Attare fuch as have riot Subf ri- bed, Declared, and Conformed, according to the Aft of Uniformity, and other Alts, I am none of them, becaufe the.Laws require it not of nie (being, as afore- faid, in no Church Promotion on May 1. 1662.) The fecond fort, arc other Per, fops not Ordained according to the Order of the Church, but I ant fo Ordained. The third fort is School-Teachers, which is not my Cafe (though I have alfa a Li- cenfe to Teach School.) And that thetwo Defcriptions of the Conventicles in the Preamble, are to he the Expofitions of the following prohibitous Partsof the Aft, is plain by theanfwerahle diftinEìion of them. And alto, r. Becaufe the very Title and plain defign of this Aft, is only to reltrainNonconformifts. 2. Becaufe the exprefs end and buinefs of it, is to preferve People from Seditious and Poifonols Doctrine. But the Clergy which are not Nonconformills, are not to be fiippofed to be defamed, or fufpe?edby the Laws, of Preaching poifonousfeditious Doctrine, nor can it be imagined, that they mean to drive them five Miles from all their Pari- flies in England, if they Ihould once be at a private Meeting, or put the ço 1. Fine on them, if they preach one Sermon after fach Meeting, to their Rdifhcs, before they have taken the Oath, though noMan offerjt them, which would follow ifit men-, ded to them. And f am exempted from the Sufpicion ofthat Preaching. s. Bybeing chofen and Sworn His Majelty's Chaplain in ordinary; and Preaching before Him, and Publilhing my Sermons by His Special Commands, and never fined aecufed of ill Doftrine, but the Iharpeft Debateswritten againft Nonconformifts, do quarrel with them, for:quarrelling with my Doftrine. 2. Some think the words [have kept] in the Aft, refet to the timepan before the Aft ; and then'tìs nothing to me. 3. Should I not havebeen Convift in myprefenceof fame one unlawful Conventi- cle,; and of not departing after five Miles from the place: for how lhould I be bound to forfake my Dwelling, as an Offender, before I knew of myOffence? Laftly, I told the Juftices, That I did not refufe the Oath, but profelied, that I underftood it not, and deSred time to learn to underiand it, if I could ; which they denyed me; and would neither tell me whowere my Accufers, or Witneffes, nor fliers me the Words of the Accufation or Depofitions, nor Puffer any Perfon but us three (themfelves and me) to be at all prefent, or to hear any thing that was faid by them or me. And though I (hall never take Oaths which I cannot pof- fibly underftand, nor in a Senfe which is contraryto the plain importance of the Words, till they are fo expounded, nor Ihall ever number deliberate Lying," or Perjury, with things indifferent ; yet I fo far defie any Accnfer, who will gtseltion my Loyalty, that (as I have taken the Oaths ofSupremacy and of Allegiance, and a fpecial Oath of Fidelity, when I was Sworn (I know not why) as His Majefty's Servant, fo) I am ready to give a much fuller fignificationof myLoyalty than that Oath, if I had taken it, would he : And to own all that is faid, for the Power of Icings, and of the Subjeft's Obecfielice and Non-refiftance, by any (or all ) the Councils and Confefliions of any Chriftian Churches upon Earth,. whether Greeks or Romans, Reformed, Epifcopal, Presbyterian, or any that are fit to be owned as Chri- ftians (that eher came to mynotice) betides what is contained in the Laws of our own Land. And if this will not ferve, I Ball patielttly wait in my Appeal, to the Un-erring Univerfil Judgment. § 123. a. [In other manner than is allotted by the Liturgÿ or Praltic: or the Church ofEngland It which Conventicle, Meeting, or Affembly, there [Paull be Five Perfoni, or more, Affembled over and above tbmfe of the Moufbold. Ref. 1. To Preach or Teach in a Houfe not'Confecrated for a Temple, is not contrary to the Liturgy and Prattire of the ChurchofEngland. 43g-
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