to the king, and you may with ease effect all these and much more, which your great wisdoms will suggest to you. A little time will serve to make many excellent laws, and to give you the honour to be the repairers of all our breaches; so as that time be wholly employed upon the public, and not taken up by such considerations as are less meritorious. If, therefore, there be any with out doors that labour to disunite your counsels, or to render them ineffectual, if they can hope that the occasions for this may arise from some differences within yourselves, or hope by those differences to disguise their own disaffections to your good proceedings, 'tis in your power to defeat those hopes, to pull off this disguise, and to secure a happy conclusion of this meeting by studying to preserve a good correspondence, and by a careful avoiding all such questions as are apt to engender strife. And if ever there was a time when the gravity of the council, the wisdom and good temper of a parliament, were necessary to support that government which only can support these assemblies, certainly this is the hour. You see with what zeal the king hath recommended to you a good agreement between yourselves, and that he doth it with all the care and compassion, all the earnestness and importunity fit for so great a prince to express; who would be very sorry that any such misfortune as your disagreement should either deprive him of your advice and assistance, or his people of those good laws which he is ready to grant you. There is no other way our enemies can think of by which 'tis possible for this session to miscarry, for fears and jealousies cannot enter here; calumnies and slanders will find no place amongst wise and good men. They that use these arts abroad, will quickly be discredited when the world shall see the generous effects of your confidence. Men will despair of attempting any disturbance in the state, when they see every step that tends that way, serves only to give you fresh occasions to testify your loyalty and your zeal. You have all the reason in the world to make men sec

this, for you have the same monarchy to assert, the same church to defend, the same interests of nobility and gentry to maintain, the same excellent king to contend for, and the same enemies to contend against.

And now, my lords and gentlemen, since the whole session of parliament is, in the judgment and construction of our law, but as one day, let us endeavour that the morning of it, the first entrance upon it, may be with such fair and auspicious circumstances as may give the whole kingdom an assurance of a bright and chearful day. Let no ill humours gather into clouds to darken or obscure it, for this day is a critical day, and more depends upon that judgment of our affairs which will be made by it, than can easily be imagined. It imports us, therefore, to take care that no part of this time be lost; let every precious minute of this day be spent in receiving such acts of grace and goodness as are ready to flow from the king, and in making such retributions for them as may become the grateful hearts of the best of subjects to the best of kings. So shall this day become a day of disappointment and discomfort to our enemies, but to us and all good men a glorious day, a day of triumph and deliverance, a memorable and joyful day to this present, and to all future generations.

Another, by the same.

My Lords, &c.

By the most gracious pleasure of the king, you are here again assembled to hold another session of this parliament, wherein the king expects your advice and your assistance; your advice in matters of the highest deliberation, your assistance in matters of extreme and pressing difficulty. Your deliberations will chiefly be exercised about those things which belong to your peace, the peace of the church, and the peace of the state; two considerations of so close a connexion bs

tween themselves, that in the very original writ of summons, by virtue of which you still sit here, they are jointly recommended to your counsel and care. The peace of the church is harder to preserve than the peace of the state; for they who desire innovations in the state, most commonly begin the attempt upon the church. And by this means it comes to pass that the peace of the church is so often disturbed; not only by those poor mistaken souls, who deserve to be pitied, but by malicious and designing men, who deserve to be punished. And while things continue in this estate, it cannot be avoided, but that the laws which are necessary to restrain the malicious, must and will sometimes disquiet and wound those that are weak. What remedies are fit for this disease; whether the fault be in the laws, or the men; in the men that should obey or in the men that should execute; whether the cure be a work of time and patience, or of zeal and diligence; or whether any new expedient can be found to secure the ship from that storm which the swelling of two contrary tides seems to threaten, is wholly left to your advice. The king hath called you for that end, and doubts not but your councils will be such as shall tend to safety and to establishment.

The peace of the state requires as much of your care and vigilance too; our peace at home and our peace abroad. As for that abroad, we are at this time, blessed be God for his mercy to us, and the king for his care of us, in perfect peace with all the nations upon earth; such a peace as makes us the envy of the christian world, and hath enabled us to do ourselves right against the infidels. Such a peace as brings with it all the fruits of peace, and deserves not only our prayers for the continuance of it, but our best and most watchful care that nothing may be done on our part to give it an interruption. But then we must consider again, that our peace abroad will not subsist any longer than while we maintain our peace at home; for without this, no kingdom can be able to act in its full strength; and without that,

the friendship and enmity of any nation ceases to be considerable to its neighbours. Now 'tis a great and dangerous mistake in those who think the peace at home is well enough preserved so long as the sword is not drawn; whereas, in truth, nothing deserves the name of peace but unity; such an unity as flows from an unshaken trust and confidence between the king and his people, from a due reverence and obedience to the laws and to his government; from a religious and awful care, not to remove the ancient land-marks, nor to disturb those constitutions which time and the public convenience have settled; from a zeal to preserve the whole frame and order of the government upon the old foundations, and from a perfect detestation and abhorrence of all such as are given to change: whatever falls short of this, falls short of peace too. If, therefore, there be any endeavours to renew, nay, if there be not all possible endeavours to extinguish the memory of all former provocations and offences, and the occasions of the like for the future, if there be such divisions as beget great thoughts of heart, shall we call this peace, because it is not war, or because men do not yet take the field? As well we may call it health when there is a dangerous fermentation in the blood and spirits, because the patient hath not yet taken his bed.

[Then laying open the difficulties with relation to the weakness of the fleet and the king's particular debts, he proceeded thus:]

One difficulty more there is, without which all the rest were none; and that is, the strange diffidence and distrust which, like a general infection, begins to spread itself through all the corners of the land. Much of this rises from the artifice of ill men, who would create and nourish all the suspicions they can devise; but the cure of it lies perfectly in your hands; for all will presently vanish as soon as men shall see your acquiescence, and the fruits of it, in a chearful concurrence with his majesty to all these good and public ends which he hath now so

earnestly recommended to you. It would be somewhat strange, and without all example in story, that a nation should be twice ruined, twice undone, by the self-same ways and means, the same fears and jealousies. Will any man that but gives himself leave to think, refuse to enjoy and take comfort in the blessings that are present, only for fear of future changes and alterations? Surely it is enough for any kingdom, and more than most kingdoms of the world can boast of, to have their affairs brought into such condition, that they may, in all human probability, and unless by their own default, continue a long time safe and happy. Future contingencies are not capable of any certain prospect. A security beyond that of human probability, no nation ever did or ever shall attain to. If a kingdom be guarded by nature against all dangers from without, and then will rely too much upon what nature hath done for them: if a kingdom be warned and cautioned against all dangers from within, by former experiences, and then will either forget, or make no use of those experiences: if a kingdom be powerful in shipping and navigation, and then see their neighbours endeavouring to overpower them that way, without being solicitous to augment and reinforce their own naval strength: if a kingdom be happy in the frequent assemblies of their great councils, where all that is grievous may be redressed, and all that is wanting may be enacted, and then will render those councils useless and impracticable, by continuing endless distractions; who can wonder if their affairs should begin to be less prosperous, when otherwise, humanly speaking, and in all common probability, their condition would have been out of the reach of fortune and their security in a manner impregnable.

My lords and gentlemen, if the presaging malice of our enemies should portend any such fate as this to befall us, the wisdom and magnanimity of this great council will quickly be too hard for all their auguries; the honour and loyalty of this august and venerable as