I fhall conclude with this, which I cannot fay too often, nor you too often, where you go, that next to the Miraculous Bleffing of God Almighty, and indeed, as an immediate Effect of that Bleffing, I do impute the good Difpofition and Security we are all in, to the happy Act of Indempnity and Oblivion, that is the Principal Corner-ftone which supports this Excellent Building, that creates Kindnefs in us to each other; and Confidence is our Joint and Common Security. You may be fure I will not only obferve it Religioufly and Inviolably my felf, but alfo exact the Obfervation of it from others: And if any Perfon fhould ever have the Boldness to attempt to perfwade me to the contrary, he will find fuch an Acceptation from me as he would have, who fhould perfwad me to burn Magna Charta, Cancel al the Old Laws, and to erect a New Government after my own Invention and Appetite,

There are many other Particulars which I will not truft my own Memory with, but will require the Chancellors to say the reft to you.

The

The Earl of CLARENDON'S Speech to the Parliament in 1661, wherein he reflects on the Tyranny, Confufion, and Disorders of the late Rebellion; and propofes a Match betwixt the King and Infanta of Portugal.

My Lords, and you the Knights, Citizens, and Burgeffes of the House of Commons.

T

HE King hath called you hither by his Writ, to affift him with your Information and Advice in the greateft and weightieft Af fairs of the Kingdom: By his Writ, which is the only good and lawful Way to the Meeting of a Parliament; and the pursuing that Writ, the remembring how and why they came together, is the only Way A a

to

to bring a happy End to Parliaments; there was no fuch Writ as this, no fuch Prefence as this in the Year 1649, when this unhappy Kingdom was dishonoured and exposed to the Mirth and Reproach of their Neighbours in the Government of a Commonwealth; there was no fuch Writ as this, no fuch Prefence as this, in December 1653, when that InfantCommonwealth, when the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging, were delivered up into the Bloody and Merciless Hands of a devouring Protector, and facrificed to his Luft and Appetite: There was no fuch Writ as this, no fuch Prefence as this in the Year 1656, when that Protector was more folemnly invested and inftalled, and the Liberty of the Three Nations fubmitted to his Abfolute Tyranny by the humble Petition and Advice. When People came together by fuch exorbitant Means, it is no wonder that their Confultations and Conclufions were fo difproportioned from any Rules of Juftice or Sobriety. God be thank'd, that he hath referv'd us to this Day, a Day that many Good Men have died praying for, that after all thofe Prodigies in Church and State, we have lived to fee the King at the Opening of the Parliament. That we have lived to fee our King Anointed and Crowned by the Hands of an Archbishop, as his Predeceffors have been; and that we are come hither this Day in Obedience to his Writ.

The

The King tells you he hath caufed a Bill or two to be prepared for the Confirmation of all that was Enacted in the last Parliament, and commends the Difpatch of those to you with fome Earneftnefs. The Truth is, it is a great part of the Bufinefs of this Parliament to celebrate the Memory of the laft, by confirming or re-enacting all that was done by that Parliament; which tho' it was not called by the King's Writ, may be reafonably. thought to have been called by God himself upon the Supplication and Prayer of the King and the whole Nation, as the only Means to reftore the Nation to its Happiness, to its Self, to its Honour, and even to its Innocence. How glad the King was of it appears by what he writ to them from Breda, when he referred more to them than ever was referred to Parliament: He referred in truth (upon the Matter) all that concerned himself, and that concerned Religion, all that concerned the Peace and Happiness of the Kingdom to them: And to their Honour be it fpoken, and to their Honour be it ever remembred, That the King, Religion, and the Kingdom, have no reafon to be forry that fo much was intrufted to them; nor they to be ashamed of the Dif charge of their Truft. It would have been a very unfeasonable Scruple in any Man, who would have refused to bear his Part in the excellent Transactions of that Parliament, because he was not called thither by the King's A a 2

Writ;

Writ and it would be a more unreasonable ; Scruple now, in any Man, after we have all received the Fruit and Benefit of their Counfels and Conclufions, when in truth we owe our orderly and regular meeting at this time to their extraordinary meeting then, to their Wisdom in laying hold upon the King's Promife, and to the King's Juftice in performing all he promised, and to the Kingdom's Submission and Acquiefcence in thofe Promifes. I fay it would be very unfeasonable and unreasonable now to endeavour to fhake that Foundation, which, if you will take the King's Judgment, fupports the whole Fabrick of our Peace and Security. He tells you what he shall think of any who goes about to undermine that Foundation; which is a Zeal no Prince could be tranfported with but himfelf, it might have seemed enough for a King who had received fo many Injuries fo hardly to be forgotten, undergone fo many Loffes fo impoffible to be repair'd, to have been willing to confirm and to re-enact the Act of Oblivion and Indempnity, when you fhould prefent it to him; but to prepare fuch an Act for you, to conjure you by all that is Precious, by your Friendship to him, to difpatch thofe Acts with Expedition, is such a Piece of Fatherly Tenderness and Piety, as could proceed from no Heart, but fuch a one, in which God hath treasured up a Stock of Mercy, and Juftice, and Wisdom, to Redeem a Nation. And truly, my Lords and

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