P A R T A. ReverendMr, Richard Baxter. 6?, Some Epifcopal Divines that were not fo fcrupulous it teems as we , did write for it ( privateManufcripts which I havefeen) and plead the irrefrftability of the Impofers, and they found ftarting holes in the Terms, viz. That by the Common. wealth they will mean the prefent Commonwealth in genre, and by [ E(tablijhed] they willmean only defano, and not de jam, and by [ without, á Xing, &c. ] they mean not guatenus but Etfi ; and that only de fano pro iemporé ; g. d. 1 will be true to the Government of England, though at the prefent the King and Houfe of Lords are put out of the Exercife of their power]. Thefe were the Expoiltions of many Epifcopal Men, and others that took it : But I endeavoured to evince, that this is meer jugling and jetting with Matters toogreat to be jelled with And that-as they might eafily knowthat the Impofers had another fenfe, fo as eafily might they know that the words in 'their own obvious ufual fenfe among men, mutt be taken as the Promifeor Engagement of a Subjn5k as fuch to a Form ofGovern ment now pretended to be eftablithed : And that the Subjes s Allegiance or Fideli- ty to his Rulers canbe acknowledged and given in no plainer words : And that by bolt Interpretations and Stretchings of Confcience, any TreafonableOath or Pro- mite may be taken, andno Bonds of Society can fignifie much with fuch Inter= prefers. 4 our. England and Ireland being thus Conquered by Cromwell, (by deluding well-, meaning Men into his Service, and covering his Ambition with the Lord Fairfax'S Generallhip); the Parliament being imprifoned and call out , the King cut off; and the Rumpeltablifhed as a new Commonwealth , ( thofe great and folidMen; Rini, Hampden, &2. being long before dead and ridout of his way, who elfe had been like to have prevailed againft the Plots of Panein the Parliament) you would think there were nothing now ftanding in his way, to hinder him from laying hands upon the Crown. But four Impediments yet flood before him: a. The nu- merousCavaliers ( or Royalifts ) ready for new Enterprizesagainft him. z. The Soots, who refolved to flick to the Covenant and the King. ;. The Army, which muft be untaught all the Principles which he is now permitting them to learn : (For thofe Principles which muff bring him tothe Crown, are the worth in the World for him when once he is there). 4. The MiniftersofEngland and Scotland, and all the fober Peoplewho regarded them. The firft of thefe he molt eafily ( thoughnot withoùt ftrugling) overcame, ma= king his advantage by all their Enterprizes. The fecond put him harder to it, but he overcamethem at tali-. The third provedyet a greaterdifficulty, but he feem- ed abfolutely to overcome it, yet leaving í}ill tome .Life in the root.. The, fourth (trove againft him more calmly and prudently, with invincible Weapons, and though they were quiet, were never overcome ; but at laft revived the fpark of Life which was left in the third, and thereby gave a Refurreetion to the firft and, fecond, and fo recovered all at laic; not to the Bate of their own Ineerefl, or to thatCondition ofChurch Affairs which they defired, but to that Civil State of Royal Government towhich they were engaged, and from which the Nation feem ed to have fallen. Thefe are the true Contentsofthe followingparts that wereaeted in thefeLandre TheRump I might mention as another of his Impediments, but as theynow were doing his work, fo I conjoyn the Relicts of themwhich then dilturbed him, with the Army who were the ftrength by which they did it. § ?oz. The King beingdead,his Son was by right immediatelyKing, (and front that timehe dateth his Reign.) The Scots fend Meffengers tohim to come over to them and take the Crown : But they treat with him firft for his taking of the Co- venant; and renouncing the Wars, and the Blood that was fhed in them by his Fa- thers Party. By which I perceive that the Scots underfoot the Claufe in the Co- venant of [ Defending the King's Perron asd Authority in the Defence of the true Religion and the Liberties of the Kingdom] otherwife than we did : For as they extended the word [ true Religion] further than we did ( including the Form of Church Go-. vernment in Scotland) fo they feem to underhand it Con'uníiione infeparabili; and to preter'theDefence of Religion before the Defence of)the. King: whereas we underitood'st Conjunction¢ (eperabili; and though in meet eftimation wepreferred Res ligion before King or Kingdom,yet in regard of the Duty of Defence, we thought the King mutt be reflored and defended, though ( legally) he would have brought in worfe than Prelacy : Though we did not think that he might do it illegally; and therefore that he could not govern Arbitrarily , nor take away the Peoples fore-prized Propriety or Liberty, nor change the Form of the Goverment Of thii Commonwealth. 7R,ß
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