entred into the ends in order towhich, what are the Contents of it,& how perpetual & indifpenfible they have all along declared the Obligation of it to be, what Effects it hath had already, & at any time may have upon the King, the Church, the Nation, and in an efpecial manner, upon the Old Cavaliers. And then as to Toleration, I have fhewed the Inconveniencies to be innumerable and unavoidable which it may at any time bring upon either of them; there is no Imposture which at this door ftanding alwayes open, may not enter into the Church: No Danger which by a dexterous management of fuch an unbounded Licence,may not have a very fair & easie paffage made for it into the State. And as for any mixture of these two Contrivances, it will be fo long before the Bounds and Limits can be agreed upon to be fet between them; so many things are to be confidered of, before thefe two can with any fatisfaction to either be fuited to one another, that an Enquiry may I fuppofe be fafely put off until a time of greater Leifure. The End.

A Poftfcript to the Reader.

W

Hen I had put an End, as I thought to your Trouble (Good Reader) and my own, there came to my hands a new Pamphlet,entituled, Certain Confiderations tending to promote Peace and good Will amongst Proteftants, very useful for the prefent times: The Design of which is to promote the forementioned Comprehenfion, which the Author doth endeavour to put a very good colour upon by laying down feveral Propofitions; the Third of which is this, That the late Civil Wars in England were not begun for the Extirpation of Epifcopacy and Liturgy, or to fettle the Presbyterian Government here, but merely for Civil Rights, as he adds afterwards. Now if this Gentleman only means, that the Grandees of the Party had in their Hearts no manner of zeal for or against any Form of Religion, any farther than

as their other Ends and Designs were carried on by it, I fhall readily grant it him; nay, I fhall fay this farther, That, befides Religion, the Civil Rights of the Nation were but plaufible Colours, by which the Leading Men of that Party did fet off their other Ends; fuch as Revenge, Humour, Difcontent, Covetoufnels and Ambition. And this they were told publickly by one whom they knew to be able to make it good, in the excellent Declaration of Aug. 12. 1642. Themselves know what Overtures have been made by them, and with what Importunity for Offices and Preferments, what great Services should have been done for us, and what other undertakings were (even to the faving the Life of the Earl of Strafford) if we would confer fuch Offices upon them. But that Religion was the thing which they did make shew of, and by which they drew abundance of well-meaning but deluded People to their as fiftance, is fo plain, and known fo publickly, that it is no little wonder, that any fhould offer to outface the bba Nation

Nation in fo notorious a Cafe. Did not every Prefs and every Pulpit declare against Episcopacy, Liturgy and Ceremonies? Did not the Lords and Commons, by their Votes of March 12. 1642. refolve upon the Question, That an Army be forthwith raised for the Safety of the Kings Perfon, &c. and PRESERVING THE TRUE RELIGION? &c. Did they not in Jrly following put forth a Delaration concerning the miferable Distractions and Grievances this Kingdom now lieth in, by means of JESUITICAL and wicked Coufellours now about his Majefty? wherein they tell us over and over again of the Proteftant Religion, a great Change of Religion; That they fhould be for ever earneft to prevent a Civil War and thofe miferable Effects which it must needs produce, if they may be avoided without the Alteration of RELIGION, &c. And in their Refolutions to live and die with the Earl of Effex, they tell us, That their Army was raised, for the MAINTENANCE of the TRUE PROTESTANT RELIGION.

The Plate

Wedding

Wedding-rings, Thimbles and Bodkins had never been brought in, if it had not been that the Caufe was fo often called, the Caufe of God. Let any man read the Remonftrances and Declarations of the Two Houses, and then fee whether Religion was not one of those things which they all along declared their Zeal for; and accordingly in all the Parliaments Quarters, the poor Surplice, the Organs and the Common Prayer-book were the first Objects of all their Fury. But because this prefent Defign of Comprehenfion is particularly intended to gratifie fome Clergy-men, let us enquire under what name they recommended the War unto the People: Was it not under the name of Gods Caufe; the fetting Christ on his Throne; fighting the Lords Battels? There is a Collection of their Sermons Printed, which will not fuffer any Man to doubt of this; out of which there is enough gathered to this purpofe in Evangelium Armatum. And This Mr. Baxter hath in a late Book confelled as to himfelf: When the Wars

began