be found, that of a nursing father towards the young and weak of the flock that cannot pace it with their elder brethren, and yet are God's anointed, nay, God's jewels, the apple of His eye, His children, they for whom Christ died, and is now an Intercessor."[95] [Sidenote: THE KING'S RETURN.] [Sidenote: 1660.] There was also an address from the Independent ministers of London and Westminster, in which they referred to the Breda Declaration, indicating how greatly it sustained their hopes. They did not, they said, wish for liberty longer than they deserved it. "And it is our desire," they added, "no longer to sit under the shadow, and to taste the fruit of this your Majesty's royal favour, than we approve ourselves followers of peace with all men, seeking the peace of these kingdoms united under your Majesty's Government, and abiding in our loyalty to your royal person and submission to your laws."[96] An address, sent by the ministers of Lancashire at a later period, shows their desire to wipe out the stigma of disloyalty:-- "Whereas we, or some of us, have been injuriously misrepresented to your Majesty, or some eminent persons about you, and have also been prejudiced and molested, as if we denied your Supremacy, or were disaffected to your Government (which hindered this our application to your Majesty, although prepared, and which otherwise had been much earlier, even with the first), we do, in all humility, and with great earnestness, profess before God and man, that we detest and abhor the very thoughts of such unworthy principles, behaviour, and expression, having always, according to occasion, expressed and declared the contrary."[97] [Sidenote: THE KING'S RETURN.]