_This Court having considered of the proposals presented to this Court by several of the inhabitants of the County of Middlesex_; Do Declare and Order, That no man whosoever, shall be admitted to the Freedome of this Body Politick, but such as are members of some Church of Christ and in full Communion, which they declare to be the true intent of the ancient Law, _page the eighth of the second Book_, Anno. 1631. [1660.] This was construed as being directed against the members of the Church of England, and was largely responsible for the strained relations with his Majesty’s Commission in 1665. It was repealed before the 1672 Revision of the Laws. For causes already mentioned the publication of the first Code of Laws, in 1648, was unnoticed in England; but it was very different with the publication of the second Code, in 1660. When it appeared its provisions were subjected to critical scrutiny by enemies of the Puritan Commonwealth, and the worst possible constructions placed upon them. In particular, the loyalty of the framers, who took an Oath of Fidelity to their Government, and none to the King, was questioned; and the provisions for the admission of freemen which, practically, prohibited members of the Church of England. By letter, his Majesty ordered a redress of these grievances, and appointed a Commission who proceeded, in a partisan manner, to execute their powers. In 1665, the Commissioners presented to the General Court a list of twenty-six changes which they desired to have made in the Code of 1660. The principal ones were the substitution of an acknowledgment of the royal authority for all expressions of the supremacy of the Commonwealth; a recognition of the Church of England; and a repeal of the long-standing limitation of citizenship to church members. To one or two of their points the General Court gave consent. A comparison with the Code of 1672, shows that while the recognition of his majesty’s supremacy was allowed, in a score of instances the powers of the government under their Charter were asserted. The right of strangers to become citizens was nominally conceded, but on conditions which afforded only a minimum of relief to members of the Church of England. On the 3 August, 1664 it was Ordered by the General Court: