An account of all the proceedings of the commissioners of both persuasions appointedAn accompt of all the proceedings of the commissioners of both persvvasions appointed

1. AS we hope it is no matter of offence to acknowledge his Majesties gracious condescension;¹ so when his Majesty by his Declaration hath granted us some liberty as to the use of the Liturgy before the alteration, and hath by his Commission engaged us in a Consultation for the alteration of it; we conceive our Brethren (nor the world, to whose observation they appeal) had no warrant to censure us as unthankful to his Majesty, because of our present forbearance to use it, or part of it, before the intended alteration; at least ⟨p. 3⟩till they had heard us speak for our selves, and render an account of the reasons of our forbearance, and they had gone before us more exemplarily in their own obedience to his Majesties Declaration. As to our own Consciences, if we thought not the Common-Prayer-Book to be guilty of the general and particular faults which we have laid open to you, we durst not have found fault with it: and while we took it to be a defective, disorderly and inconvenient mode of Worship, it would be our sin to use it of choice, while we may prefer a more convenient way, what ever we ought to do in case of necessity, when we must worship God inconveniently, or not at all. And as to our people, for whose edification and not destruction we have our power or offices, we have taken that course, as far as we are able to understand, which most probably tended to their good, and to prevent their hurt and separation from the Church: and consequently, that course which did most conduce to his Majesties ends, and to his real service, and the Churches peace: none of which would be promoted by our obtruding that upon our people, which we know them unable to digest, or by our hasty offending them with the use of that, which we are forced to blame, and are endeavouring to correct and alter. And we see not how it can be justly intimated that we use no part of it, when we use the Lords Prayer, the Creed, the Commandments, the Psalms, the Chapters, and some other parts; and how much more you expect we should have used, that we might have escaped this brand of Ingratitude, we know not. But we know that Charity suffereth long, and thinketh no evil, (1 Cor. 13 4, 5.) and that we have not attempted to obtrude any mode of Worship on our Brethren, but desired the liberty to use things of that nature as may conduce to the benefit of our Flocks: