Cliap. nr. 7/;e HI s T 0 R y of the PuRITANS~ 493 had been fet afide, there was hardly a man in the houfe who would Oliver have ventured to vote for the king; an abfolute commonwealth could Pro~dtor. not have been fupported, and therefore anarchy would inevitably have ~ enfued. This being the lal1: fettlement of government in the protector's time, Remarks. the reader will obferve, that the four fundamental articles already men. tioned, (viz.) (r..) That the government be in a fingle perfon and a par– liament. (z.) That parliaments be not perpetual. (3·) The militia. And (4.) Liberty of confcience in matters of religion ; were not fuffered to be examined or altered, but were fuppofed as the bafis upon which the new government was founded. That though 0LIVER's title to the– government had the fanetion and confirmation of the prefent parliament, it was derived originally from the choice of the council of qfficers, ahd was never fuffered to be debated in the houfe afterwards -- That the humble petition and advice approaches nearer the old legal con!l:itution, by ap- – pointing two houfes of parliament, and would mofi likely, in time, have· been converted into it -- That the regulations it makes in the confii- - tution are for the mofi part reafonable - That the preiliyterians were ilill left in poffeffion of all the ecclefiaftical revenues of the kingdom, tho' an open and free liberty was granted to all chriflians, except papi!l:s and prelatiils, who were excluded for reafons of fiate; and the penal laws · made againfl: the latter were dropt, by the parliament's not confirming them•. Remarkable are the words of the lord commi!l.loner Fiennes, at the opening of the fecond feflion of this parliament, in which he " warns the· " houfes of the rock-on which many had fplit, which was a fpirit of im- " pofing upon men's confciences iti things wherein God leaves them a '" latitude, and would have them free. The prdates and their adherents; . " nay, and their mail:er and fupporter, with all his pofierity, have fplit " upon it. The bloody rebels in Ireland, who would endure no religion . " but th~ir own, have fplit upon it; and we doubt not but the prince of " thofe fatanical fpirits will in due time fplit upon it, and be brought to '' the ground with his bloody inquifition. But as God is no refpecter of " perfons, fo he is no refpeCter of forms, but in what form foever the "jpirit qf impojition appears, he would tefiify againfl: it. lf men, tho' · " otherwife good, will turn ceremony into fubftance, and make the kinP'- " dam of Chriil: confifl: in circumfl:ances, iri difcipline and in forms; a;;'d " if. they carry their animofities to fuch an height, that if one fays Sib- " boletb infiead of Shibbo!eth, it {hall be accounted ground enough to cut " his throat: If they !'hall account fuch devils, or the feed of the fer- " pent, that are not within fuch a circle or of fuch an opinion, in vain · '' do they· prote~.againfi the perfecution of God's people, when they " make the defimt10n of God's people fo narrow, .that their perfecution is as ,
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