Note 635 — Chapter XXIII
Reading edition
Neal, iii. 365. The following is an extract from the Petition:—"That an ordinance be made for the exemplary punishment of heretics and schismatics, and that all godly and orthodox ministers may have a competent maintenance, many pulpits being vacant of a settled minister for want of it; and here (say they) we would lay the stress of our desires, and the urgency of our affections." They complain further of the "undue practices of Country Committees, of the threatening power of the army, and of some breaches in the Constitution, all of which they desire may be redressed, and that his Majesty's royal person and authority may be preserved and defended, together with the liberties of the kingdom, according to the Covenant."