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to the House of Commons.
87

happy Race; Why should so Pious and so Good a King be exposed to this Trouble and Hazard? Besides, that Kings so diverted can never do any great Matter abroad.

But while these Men have thus bent their Wits against the Laws of their Country; whether they have neglected their own Pro­vince, and what Tares are grown up in the Field which they should have tilled, I leave it to a se­cond Consideration: not but that Religion ought to be the first thing in our Purposes and Desires: but that which is first in Dignity, is not always to precede in order of time. For Well-Being supposes a Being; and the first Impediment, which Men naturally endeavour to remove, is the want of those things, without which they cannot subsist. God first assigned unto Adam Maintenance of Life, and gave him a Title to the rest of the Creatures, before he appointed a Law to observe. And let me tell you, if our Adversaries have any such design, as there is nothing more easie, than to impose Religion on a People deprived of their Liberties; so there is nothing more hard than to do the same upon Freemen.

And therefore (Mr. Speaker) I conclude with this Motion, that there may be an Order present­ly made, that the first thing this House will con­sider of, shall be the restoring this Nation in ge-neral

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