His Grace the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's ADDRESS, to his MAJESTY, For the Suppression of Monasteries, Fryeries, Nunneries, and other Popish Semina­ries, or allowing any General TOLLERATION to the Roman Catholicks of ENGLAND.

May it please your Majesty,

I Have been too long silent, and am afraid by my Silence I have neglect­ed the duty of the place it hath plea­sed God to call me unto, and your Ma­jesty to place me in: But now, I humbly crave leave, I may discharge my Con­science towards God, and my duty to your Majesty; and therefore, I beseech you freely to give me leave to deliver my self, and then let your Majesty do with me what you please. Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion, I beseech you take it into your Con­sideration what your Act is, what the Conse­quence may be. By your Act you labour to set up the most Damnable and Heretical Do­ctrine of the Church of Rome, the Whore of Babylon: How hateful it will be to God, and grievous to your good Subjects, the Pro­fessors of the Gospel, That your Majesty who hath often disputed, and learnedly writ­ten against those Heresies, should now shew your self a Patron of those wicked Doctrines which your Pen hath told the World, and your Conscience tells your Self, are Superstitious, Idolatrous, and Detestable. And hereunto I add what you have done in sending the Prince into Spain without consent of your Council, the Privity and Approbation of your People: And although you have a Charge and Inte­rest in the Prince, as Son of your Flesh; yet have the People a greater, as Son of the Kingdom, upon whom next after your Majesty are their Eyes fixed, and wellfare depends; and so tenderly is his going apprehended, as (believe it) however his return may be safe; yet the drawers of him into this Action, so danger­ous to himself, so desperate to the Kingdom, will not pass away unquestioned, unpunished. Besides, this Toleration which you set up by your Proclamation. cannot, be done without a Parliament, unless your Majesty will let your Subjects see that you will take unto your self ability to throw down the Laws of your Land at your pleasure. What dread con­sequence these things may draw afterward, I beseech your Majesty to consider, and above all, lest by this Toleration and discounte­nancing of the true Profession of the Gospel, wherewith God hath blessed us, and this Kingdom hath so long flourished under it, your Majesty do not draw upon this King­dom in general, and your self in particular, Gods heavy wrath and indignation.

Thus in discharge of my duty towards God, to your Majesty and the place of my calling, I have taken humble leave to deliver my Conscience. Now Sir, do what you please with me.

FINIS.

Collect. V. I.

Printed in the Year, 1689.

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.