DOCUMENTS

RELATING TO THE

Settlement of the Church of England

BY THE

ACT OF UNIFORMITY OF 1662.

I.

Declaration of King Charles II from Breda.-Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, bk. xvi, §§ 193-7, Oxford, 1849, vol. vi, pp. 232-4.

Charles R.

HARLES, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. To all our loving subjects of what degree or quality soever, greeting. If the general distraction and confusion which is spread over the whole kingdom doth not awaken all men to a desire and longing that those wounds which have so many years together been kept bleeding may be bound up, all we can say will be to no purpose. However, after this long silence, we have thought it our duty to declare how much we desire to contribute thereunto; and that, as we can never give over the hope in good time to obtain the possession of that right which God and nature hath made our due, so we do make it our daily suit to the divine Providence, that he will, in compassion to us and our subjects, after so long misery and sufferings, remit, and put us into a quiet and peaccable possession of

B

that our right, with as little blood and damage to our people as is possible: nor do we desire more to enjoy what is ours, than that all our subjects may enjoy what by law is theirs, by a full and entire administration of justice throughout the land, and by extending our mercy where it is wanted and deserved.

And to the end that the fear of punishment may not engage any conscious to themselves of what is past to a perseverance in guilt for the future, by opposing the quiet and happiness of their country in the restoration both of king, peers, and people to their just, ancient, and fundamental rights, we do by these presents declare, that we do grant a free and general pardon, which we are ready upon demand, to pass under our great seal of England, to all our subjects, of what degree or quality soever, who within forty days after the publishing hereof shall lay hold upon this our grace and favour, and shall by any public act declare their doing so, and that they return to the loyalty and obedience of good subjects; excepting only such persons as shall hereafter be excepted by parliament. Those only excepted, let all our subjects, how faulty soever, rely upon the word of a king, solemnly given by this present Declaration, that no crime. whatsoever committed against us or our royal father, before the publication of this, shall ever rise in judgment, or be brought in question, against any of them, to the least endamagement of them, either in their lives, liberties, or estates, or (as far forth as lies in our power) so much as to the prejudice of their reputations, by any reproach, or term of distinction from the rest of our best subjects; we desiring and ordaining, that henceforward all notes of discord, separation, and difference of parties, be utterly abolished among all our subjects; whom we invite and conjure to a perfect union among themselves, under our protection, for the resettlement of our just rights and theirs, in a free parliament; by which, upon the word of a king, we will be advised.

And because the passion and uncharitableness of the times

have produced several opinions in religion, by which men are engaged in parties and animosities against each other; which, when they shall hereafter unite in a freedom of conversation, will be composed, or better understood; we do declare a liberty to tender consciences; and that no man shall be disquieted, or called in question, for differences of opinion in matters of religion which do not disturb the peace of the kingdom; and that we shall be ready to consent to such an act of parliament, as, upon mature deliberation, shall be offered to us, for the full granting that indulgence.

And because in the continued distractions of so many years, and so many and great revolutions, many grants and purchases of estates have been made to and by many officers, soldiers, and others, who are now possessed of the same, and who may be liable to actions at law, upon several titles; we are likewise willing that all such differences, and all things relating to such grants, sales, and purchases, shall be determined in parliament; which can best provide for the just satisfaction of all men who are concerned.

And we do farther declare, that we will be ready to consent to any act or acts of parliament to the purposes aforesaid, and for the full satisfaction of all arrears due to the officers and soldiers of the army under the command of General Monk; and that they shall be received into our service upon as good pay and conditions as they now enjoy.

Given under our sign manual, and privy signet, at our court at Breda, the 4th day of April, 1660, in the twelfth year of our reign.

II.

Interview of the Presbyterian Ministers with King Charles II at Breda.-Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, bk. xvi, §§ 242-4, Oxford, 1849, vol. vi, pp. 261—3.

WITH these committees from the parliament and from the city, there came a company of clergymen, to the number of eight or ten, who would not be looked upon as chaplains to the rest, but being the popular preachers of the city, (Reynolds, Calamy, Case, Manton, and others, were the most eminent of the Presbyterians, and) desired to be thought to represent that party. They [entreated] to be admitted all together to have a formal audience from his majesty, where they were tedious enough in presenting their duties, and magnifying the affections of themselves and their friends, who, they said, had always, according to the obligation of their covenant, wished his majesty very well, and had lately, upon the opportunity that God had put into their hands, informed the people of their duty; which they presumed his majesty had heard had proved effectual, and been of great use to him. They thanked God for his constancy to the protestant religion, and professed that they were no enemies to moderate episcopacy, only desired that such things might not be pressed upon them in God's worship which, in their judgment who used them, were acknowledged to be matters indifferent, and by others were held unlawful.

The king spake very kindly to them, and said [that] he had heard of their good behaviour towards him, and that he had no purpose to impose hard conditions upon them with reference to their conscience; they well knew that he had referred the settling all differences of that nature to the wisdom of the parliament, which best knew what indulgence and toleration was necessary for the peace and the quiet of the kingdom. But his majesty could not be so rid of them; but they desired several private audiences of him; which he never

denied; wherein they told him, that the Book of Common Prayer had been long discontinued in England, and the people having been disused to it, and many of them having never heard it in their lives, it would be much wondered at, if his majesty should, at his first landing in the kingdom, revive the use of it in his own chapel, whither all persons would resort; and therefore they besought him that he would not use it so entirely and formally, and have some parts only of it read, with mixture of other good prayers, which his chaplains might use.

The king told them with some warmth, that whilst he gave them liberty, he would not have his own taken from him; that he had always used that form of service, which he thought the best in the world, and [had never discontinued it] in places where it was more disliked than he hoped it was by them; that when he came into England, he would not much inquire how it was used in other churches, though he doubted not he should find it used in many; but he was sure he would have no other used in his own chapel. Then they besought him with more importunity, that the use of the surplice might be discontinued by his chaplains, because the sight of it would give great offence and scandal to the people. They found the king as inexorable in that point as in the other; [he] told them plainly, that he would not be restrained himself, when he gave others so much liberty; that it had been always held a decent habit in the church, constantly practised in England till these late ill times; that it had been still retained by him; and though he was bound for the present to tolerate much disorder and undecency in the exercise of God's worship, he would never in the least degree discountenance the good old order of the church in which he had been bred by his own practice. Though they were very much unsatisfied with him, whom they thought to have found more flexible, yet they ceased further troubling him, in hope and presumption that they should find their importunity in England more effectual.