Chap. I. the HISTORY ofthe PURITANS. 459 " Wherefore to reform thefe abufes we made two good laws; one to KingJamesI. abridge the force of the ecclefiaftical commifíion in many points; rbro. " the other to abrogate and take away the power of ecclefiaftical per " fons to adminifter the oath ex eificio, being a very hateful thing and " unlawful. " And forafrnuch as among the canons lately made by the clergy " of England in convocation, it was thought that fome of their canons " did extend to charge the bodies, lands, and goods of the fubjeäs of " this realm, farther than was lawful and meet, we therefore made a " good law to make void fuch canons, unlefs the fame canons were con- " firmed by parliament. " And as we had care of the church, fo likewife of the commonwealth; Agate " and therefore after fearching the records of the %wer, and after hearing grievances in " the opinion of lawyers, we found it clear, that impofitions laid upon the/late. " merchandize or other goods of the fubjeót, by the king without con- " Pent of parliament, was not lawful ; and therefore we paffed a bill, de- " claring that no impofstion laid upon goods is lawful without content of " parliament. " -But God has not permitted thefe, and fundry other good laws to " take effeEt or pats into ftatutes, though we earneftly defnred them ; if " they had, both the king and his fubjeéts would have been more happy than ever; what wouldwe not then have given to fupply the king's wants? " But as things now ftand, and without reformation of the aforementioned " grievances, we cannot give much, becaufe we have no certainty of that which (hall remain to us after our gift." To put a flop to fuch dangerous fpeeches, the king fummoned both Kings fpeecb honks to Whitehall, and told them, " that he did not intend to govern to them, " by the abfolute power of a king, though he knew the power of kings Rapin, " was like the divine power; for (fays his majef}y) as God can create P. 322' " and deftroy, make and unmake at his pleafure, fo kings can give life " and death, judge all and be judged by none ; they can exalt and abate, " and like men at chef, make a pawn take a b fop or a knight." After this he tells the houfes, " that as it was blafphemy to difpute what " God might do, fo it was leditiön in fubjef s to difpute what a king " might do in the height of his power. He commanded them therefore " not to meddle with the main points of government, which would " be to leffen his CRAFT, who had been thirty years at his trade " in Scotland, and ferved an apprenticefhip of feven years in Eng- " land." The parliament not terrified with this high language, went on fteadilysunärypeli- in afferting their rights; May 24th. twenty of the lower houle prefeno- tiens about ed a remonjirance, in which they declare, " That whereas they hadgr1evaxus. N n n 2 " firfk
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