Chap. Ill. 7he HIS T 0 R Y of the PuRITANS. The protector did not commiffion Blake to a!Tault thejpanijh coafis in Oliver h b h Protellor. the Mediterranean, becaufe t ere was no open rupture etween t e two nations in Europe; btJt the Weft Indies not bei 1 ng includfied in the treaty, ~. he thought himfelf at liberty in t~ofe parts; w ich ~cca 101:e~ a declara-- tion of war, on the part of Spam, with all the englijhdommwns ; upon whieh Blake was ordered to cruife upon the Jpanijh coafts, and to wait for the return of the plate fleet, of which he gave a very good account the nex t fummer. To fupport thefe additional expences, tne protector by advice of his council, raifed fame extraordinary taxes before the parliament met, which he knew to be illegal, and did not pretend to jufl:ify on any other foot than the abjolute mce!Ji'ty if the public Jafety ; the dijlrat1ed condition if the nation; that it was impra!Jicable in the pr'!ftnt junClure to call a par– liament, or to proceed in the ordinary courje if law; and that in extraordi– nary cafts, wherein all ~vas at flake, jome extraordinary methods were al– lowable. How far this reafoning will excufe the protector, or vindicate his conduct, mull: be left with the reader. But 'tis agreed on all hands,. that in things that did not affeCt the very being of his government he never interpofed, but let the laws have their free courfe. He had a zeal for trade and commerce beyond all his predeceiTors, and appointed a fianding committee of merchants for advancing it, which met for· the fir(l: time in the painted chamber Nov. 27, 1:655, and.continued to• his death. The provincia-l aiTembly of Lo11don finding their attempts to efl:abliili Proceedings< their diji:ipline ineffeCtual, employed themfelves this year in promoting the of the pro– religious education of youth; for which purpofe they publifi1ed an ex- vincial af:– bortation to catechifing; with.the following_direCtions for the more orderlyfemb,Y. carrying it on. - 1. " That the minifl:ers on fame Lord's day prove in their fermons, the· " neceffity and ufefulnefs of fuch a work, and exhort all parents, and " mafters of families, to prepare their children and fervants for it, by ea-– '·' techifing them at home, that they may more readily make their an– '·' fwers in public. 2. '' That the catechifm to be ufed be the le.!Jer catechifm ·of the '' affembly of divines. This catechifm excelling all others in this– ~· r~fp~ct, that ev.ery anfwer is a perfeCt propofition without the quef– " tiOll. 3· "That the perfons to be catechifed be children·and fervants that'; " have not been.admitted to the Lords fupper by the elderlhip. ' 4· ·~That::
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