510 The HI ST 0 RY of the PuRITANS. VoL. II.. Oliver had no other righteoufnefs but that of Chrift to be jujli/ied by· which is. Pratetior. ce t · 1 tl o d .n • f 1 1u.n. · ;n. « 1 ' l6s8. r am Y 1.., Ol.L:lne o t 1e rr £!(•mm~;. er auemb y. What does Mr•. ~ ~axter.reply to thiS? Why nothm.g, but adds very uncharitably, '' that " the mdependent. confeffions are hke fuch o1ths as fpeakone thing and. Danger of the hierar– shy, mean another; to much could two men, [Dr. Owen and Guodwia] do . " with many honcft tractable yOLwg men, who had more z~al for fe– " parating ihiB:nefs than judgment to underftJnd the word of God, the " mterefl: of the churches and of themfelves." And yet there were in that affembly many divines of as gre1t age and learning as himfelf ; their. defign was 110t to undervalue the Wejlmin!fer confefiion, but rather to. anfwer the defires of that affembly, by publi!hing to the world fuc h a. declaration of their faith and difciplinc: as they h1d demanded. And the confdfton was fo far from raiGng any new divifions, that Mr. Philip Hmry, obferves upon the death of Crom·well, that there was a great change i11 the ~empers of good people throughout the nation, aud a mighty ten– dency to peace and unity, as if they were by confent weary of their long. cla!hings. However, the independents lo(l; their bell: friend in the protec– tor, who was not only their p:ltron upon the principle of liberty, but a; balance to the prefhyterian pretences to ecclefiafl:ical power. The hierarchy of the church of England was now at a very low ebti;. and in danger of being lofl: beyond recovery; for if the biihops who · were now very antient, had all died off, before others had been conLcrated,. the line of fucceilion mull: have £Liled; for the· church of Rome was fo.. far fromfupporting it, that they publi!hed a treatife this year, of the na– ture of the cathoiic faith, andqfbereJY; in which they endeavour to in– validate the englijh ordinations, and revived the. fl:ory of the·nags-head club.; for the truth.o.f which they· appealed to Dr. Moreton, the antient bi!hop of Durham, who in a folemn fpeech made in full parliament (fay they) declared in exprefs words, that our firfl: bi!hops after the re~ fo1 mat ion had been confecrated in a tavern; and that this was fo fac from being doubted, that it was a faCt mofl: notorious to all the worlcl; aclding, that the refl: of the bi!hops prefent rather approved, than in the leafl: oppofed what he had faid. The bi(hop, then in the ninety fourth ·year of his age, being advifed of this-calumny, fent for a public notary from London, and in the prefence of proper witneifcs, made a folemn protefl:ation of the fallhood of this ftory, and figned it in due form July 17, 1658. He then fent his chaplain, .Dr. Barwick, to .all the lords fpiritual and temporal then alive, who had fat in that parhament, de– firing, that if they believed him undefervedly afperfed, they would attet1: 1t by fubfcribing their names; . which was done by fix bi!hops, and fou:~ teen temporal lords, and by the feveral clerks and regifters of the houle.' The biiliop died (oon after, but his protefl:atioa with the proofs, was al:- terwards .
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