A REMONSTRANCE AND DECLARATION OF THE Generall Assembly OF THE Church of Scotland CONCERNING Present and Imminent Dangers and concerning Duties relating thereto EDINBVRGH Printed by Evan Tyler Printer to the Kings most excellent Majesty 1649. And Re-printed at London for Robert Bostock dwelling at the sign of the Kings-head in Pauls Church-yard 1649. Edinburgh 27. July 1649. Sess 27. A seasonable and necessary Warning and Declaration concerning Present and Imminent Dangers and concerning Duties relating thereto from the General Assembly of this Kirk unto all the Members thereof THe Lord who chooses Jerusalem in a furnace of Affliction hath been pleased since the beginning of the work of Reformation in this Land to exercise his People with many tryals All that desired to keep a good conscience were not long ago under many heavy and sad pressures from the insolency and oppression of a prevailing party of dis-affected and Malignant men who under a pretext of bringing the King to a condition of Honor Freedom and Safety did carry on an unlawful Engagement against the Kingdom of England and if the Lord had not been merciful unto his People they were like either to have been banished out of the Land or to have bin kept in a perpetual bondage in their consciences persons and estates But he whose Messengers those men had mocked and whose Word they had despised did bring them down suddenly in a day and restored liberty and peace unto his people a mercy and deliverance which as it ought to be remembred with thankfulness and praise so may it engage our hearts not to faint in troubles and straits that do yet abide us but to trust in the name of the Lord who both can and will deliver us still out of all our afflictions Albeit we do now enjoy many rich and precious blessings wherein we have reason to be comforted and to rejoyce yet it were to shut our eyes if we should not see our selvs involved in threatned with many and great dangers at home and from abroad It is matter of exceeding great sorrow to think upon the ignorance and profanity the impenitency and security that abounds still in the Land notwithstanding all the gracious dispensation of the Gospel and means of grace in such purity and plenty that none of the Nations round about us can boast of the like and of all the long-suffering patience of the Lord and of all his sharp rods wherewith he hath afflicted us from year to year and of all the mercies and deliverances wherewith he hath visited us and of our late solemn confession of sins andengagement unto duties sealed with the renewing of the Covenant and the Oath of God Which some men have so far already forgotten as to return with the dog to the vomit and with the sow to the puddle and many signs of inconstancy and levity do appear among all sorts and ranks of persons who seem to want nothing but a suitable tentation to draw them away from their stedfastness Our Army is not yet sufficiently purged but there be still in it Malignant and scandalous men whose fidelity and constancy as it is much to be doubted so is the wrath of the Lord to be feared upon their proceedings and undertakings without a speedy and effectual remedy That prevailing party of Sectaries in England who have broken the Covenant and despised the Oath of God corrupted the Truth subverted the sundamental Government by King and Parliament and taken away the Kings life look upon us with an evill eye as upon those who stand in the way of their monstrous and new-fangled devices in Religion and Government and though there were no cause to fear any thing from that party but the Gangrene and infection of those many damnable and abominable errors which have taken hold on them yet our vicinity unto and dayly commerce with that Nation may justly make us afraid that the Lord may give up many in this Land unto a spirit of delusion to beleeve lyes because they have not received the love of the Truth Neither is the Malignant party so far broken and brought low as that they have abandoned all hopes of carrying on their former designs against the Covenant and work of Reformation beside many of them in this Kingdom who are as Foxes tyed in chains keeping their evil nature and waiting an opportunity to break their cords and again to prey upon the Lords people There be standing Armies in Ireland under the command of the Marquess of Ormond the Lord Inchiqueen the Lord of Airds and George Munroe who forgetting all the horrible cruelty that was exercised by the Irish Rebels upon many thousands of the English and Scottish Nations in that Land have entred into a Peace and Association with them that they may the more easily carry on the old designs of the Popish Prelatical and Malignant party and the Lord of Airds and George Monroe have by treachery and oppression brought the Province of Vlster and Garisons therein under their power and command and have redacted our Country-men and such as adhere unto the Covenant and cause of God in that Province unto many miseries and straits and are like to banish the Ministers of the Gospel and to overturn these fair beginnings of the work of God which were unto many a branch of hope that the Lord meant to make Ireland a pleasant Land But which is more grievous unto us then all these our King Notwithstanding of the Lords hand against his Fathers opposition to the work of God and of the many sad and doleful consequences that followed thereupon in reference to Religion and his Subjects and Person and Government doth hearken unto the counsels of these who were Authors of these miseries unto his Royal Father and to his Kingdoms by which it hath come to pass that his Majesty hath hitherto refused to grant the just and necessary desires of this Kirk and Kingdom which were tendred unto him from the Commissioners of both for securing of Religion the Liberties of the Subject his Majesties Government and the Peace of the Kingdom And it is much to be feared that those wicked Counsellors may so far prevail upon him in his tender years as to engage him in a war for overturning if it be possible of the work of God and bearing down all those in the three Kingdoms that adhere thereto which if he shall do cannot but bring great wrath from the Lord upon himself and his throne and must be the cause of many new and great miseries and calamities to these lands It concerns a Nation thus sinful and loaden with iniquity and involved in so many difficulties and dangers by timous repentance and unfained humiliation to draw neer to God and to wrestle with him in Prayer and supplication that our sin may be pardoned and our iniquity done away and that he would establish the Land in the love of the Truth and inable every one in their station to do their duty boldly
and without fear and in a humble dependance upon the Lord in whom alone is the salvation of his people every man ought with all faithfulness and diligence to make use of all these meanes that are approved and allowed of God for preserving and carrying on of his work and for securing and guarding the Land against all enemies whatsoever both upon the right hand and upon the left The Spirit of errour and delusion in our Neighbour-Land in the policy of Satan hath vailed it selfe in many under the mask of holiness and is in the righteous and wise dispensation of God armed with power and attended with successe Therefore all the Inhabitants of this Land would labour for more knowledge and more love of the truth without which they may easily be deceived and led into tentation and would learn to distinguish betwixt the shew and power of godliness We know that there be many in England who be truly godly and mourn with us for all the errors and abominations that are in that land but it is without controversie that that Spirit which hath acted in the Courses and Counsels of these who hath retarded and obstructed the work of God despised the Covenant forced the Parliament murthered the King changed the civil Government and established so vast a tolleration in Religion cannot be the Spirit of Righteousness and Holiness because it teaches not men to live godly and righteously but draws them aâ—ide into error and makes them to bring forth the bitter fruits of inipiety and imquity and therefore ought to be avoided and not only are such of our Nation as travel in our Neighbour-land to take heed unto themselves that they receive not infection from such as are leavened with Errour but these also who live at home especially in those places where Sectaries upon pretext of merchandise and other civil imployments ordinarily traffique and converse Neither needs any man to be affraid of the power and successe of that party they who have gadded about so much to change their way shall ere long be ashamed the Lord hath rejected their confidences and they shall not prosper in them How far they may proceed in their Resolutions and Actings against this Kingdom is in the hand of the most high if the Lord shall suffer that party to invade this Land it may be the comfort and incouragement of all the Inhabitants thereof that not only hath that unlawfull engagement against the Kingdom of England been declared against and condemned both by Kirk and State but also that these men can pretend no quarrel against us unlesse it be that we have adhered unto the Solemn Leagne and Covenant from which they have so foully revolted and backslidden and that we have born testimony against Tolleration and their proceedings in reference to Religion and Government and the taking away of the Kings life and therefore we trust that in such a case none will be so far deficient in their duty as not to defend themselves against such injust violence and in the strength of the Lord to adhere unto their former principles with much boldness of spirit and willingness of heart in this certainly we shall have a good conscience and the Lord shall be with us We are not so to have the one of our eyes upon the Sectaries as not to hold the other upon the Malignants they being an enemy more numerous and no less subtile and powerful nor the other and at this time more dangerous unto us not only because experience hath proven that there is a greater aptitude and inclination in these of our Land to comply with Malignants then Sectaries that they carry on their wicked designs under a pretext of being for the King but also because there be many of them in our own bowels and for that they do pretend to be for maintenance of the Kings Person and Authority and which is the matter of our grief because the King owns their principles and ways which if it be not taken heed unto may prove a great snare and dangerous tentation to many to side with them against the Lords people and his cause The constant tenor of the carriage of these in this Land who stand for the cause of God are undenyable arguments of their affection to Monarchy and to that Royal Family and Line which hath sweyed the Scepter of this Kingdom for many hundreds of yeers past albeit his Majesty who lately reigned refused to harken to their just desires yet did they with much patience and moderation of mind supplicate and solicite his Majesty for satisfaction in these things that conceres Religion and the Covenant and were still willing that upon satisfaction given he should be admitted to the exercise of his Royal Power and whatsoever envy and malice objects to the contrary were careful to get assurance concerning the safety of his Majesties Person when they brought their Army out of England and when notwithstanding of that assurance the prevailing party of Sectaries were acting his life did to the utmost of their power endevor by their Commissioners that there might have been no such proceeding and when their desires and endevors were not successful did protest and bear testimony against the same And as both Kirk and State had testified their tender respect to his Majesty who now reigns by their Letters written to him whilst his Father was yet living so no sooner did the Parliament hear of his Fathers death but they did with all solemnity proclaim him King of these Kingdoms and after they had acquainted his Majesty by Messages with their proceedings herein Commissioners were sent both from State and Kirk instructed with power and commission to expresse the Affection of this Kingdom to Monarchy and his Majesties Person and Government together with their desires concerning the security of Religion and the Pence of those Kingdoms And albeit the desires of both which are now published to the world with his Majesties Answers thereto are such as are most just and necessary yet the Counsels of the Malignant party had so great influence upon his Majesty that his Answers are not only not satisfactory but short of that which was many times granted by his Royal Father and cannot be acquiesced unto unless we would abandon the League and Covenant and betray Religion and the cause of God We hold it the duty of all who live in this Land to wrestle with God in the behalf of the King that he may be recovered out of the snare of evil Counsel and brought to give satisfaction to the publick desires of Kirk and State and in their places and stations to use all endevors with himself and others for that effect and to be willing upon satisfaction given to admit him to the exercise of his power and cheerfully to obey him in all things according to the Will of God and the Laws of the Kingdom and to do every thing that tends to the preservation of his Majesties Person and just greatness
and Authority in the defence and preservation of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms But if his Majesty or any having or pretending power and commission from him shall invade this Kingdom upon pretext of establishing him in the exercise of his Royal Power as it will be an high provocatâ—on against God to be accessory or assisting thereto so wâ—ll it be a necessary duty to resist and oppose the same We know that many are so forgetful of the Oaâ—h of God and ignorant and careless of the Interest of Jesus Christ and the Gospel and doth so little tender that which concerns his Kingdom and the Priviledges thereof and doth so much dote upon absolute and Arbitrary Government for gaining their own ends and so much malign the Instruments of the work of Reformation that they would admit his Majesty to the exercise of his Royal Power upon any terms whatsoever though with never so much prejudice to Religion and the Liberties of these Kingdoms would think it quarrel enough to make War upon all those who for conscience sake cannot condescend thereto but we desire all these who fear the Lord and mind to keep their Covenant impartially to consider these things which follows First That as Magistrates and their power is ordained of GOD so are they in the exercise thereof not to walk according to their own will but according to the Law of Equity and Righteousness as being the Ministers of of God for the safety of his People Therefore a boundlesse and illimited power is to be acknowledged in no King nor Magistrate neither is our King to be admitted to the exercise of his power as long as he refuses to walk in the Administration of the same according to this rule and the established Laws of the kingdom that his Subjects may live under him a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty 2. There is a mutuall obligation and stipulation betwixt the King and his People as both of them are tyed to God so each of them are tyed one to another for the performance of mutuall and reciprocal duties according to this it is statute and ordained in the eighth Act of the first Parliament of King James the sixth That all Kings Princes or Magistrates whatsomever holding their place which hereafter shall happen in any time to Reign and bear rule over this Realm at the time of their Coronation and receit of their Princely Authority make their faithfull promise by Oath in the presence of the eternall God that during the whole course of their lives they shall serve the eternal God to the utmost of their power according as he hath required in his most holy Word contained in the old new Testament and according to the same Word shall maintain the true Religion of Christ Iesus the preaching of his most holy Word and due and right Administration of his Sacraments now received and preached within this Realm and shall abolish and gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same and shall rule the people committed to their charge according to the will and command of God revealed in his Word and according to the lovable Laws and constitutions received within this Realm and shall procure to the utmost of their power to the Kirk of God and whole Christian People true and perfect peace in all time coming and that Justice and Equity be kept to all creatures without exception which Oath was sworn first by King Iames the 6 and afterwards by King Charles at his coronation and is inserted in our National Covenant which was approven by the King who lately reigned As long therefore as his Majesty who now reigns refuses to hearken to the just and necessary desires of State and Kirk propounded to his Majesty for the security of Religion and safety of his People and to engage and oblige himself for the performance of his duty to his people It is consonant to Scripture and Reason and the Laws of the kingdom that they should refuse to admit him to the exercise of his Government untill he give satisfaction in these things 3. In the League and Covenant which hath been so solemnly sworn and renewed by this kingdom the duty of defending and preserving the Kings Majesties Person and Authority is joyned with and subordinate unto the duty of preserving and defending the true Religion and Liberties of the kingdoms And therefore his Majesty standing in opposition to the just and necessary publick desires concerning Religion and Liberties it were a manifest breach of covenant and a preferring of the Kings interest to the interest of Jesus Christ to bring him to the exercise of his Royall power which he walking in a contrary way and being compassed about with Malignant counsels cannot but imploy unto the prejudice and ruin of both 4. Was not an arbitrary Government and unlimited power the fountain of most of all the corruptions both in Kirk and State And was it not for restraint of this and for their own just defence against Tyranny and unjust Violence which ordinarily is the fruit and effect of such a power that the Lords people did joyn in covenant and have been at the expence of so much blood pains and treasure these yeers past And if his Majesty should be admitted to the exercise of his Government before satisfaction given were it not to put in his hand that arbitrary power which we have upon just and necessary grounds been so long withstanding and so to abandon our former principles and betray out Cause 5. The King being averse from the work of Reformation and the Instruments thereof and compassed about with Malignant and disaffected men whom he hearkens unto as his most faithfull Counsellers and looks upon as his best and most Loyall Subjects We leave to all indifferent men to judge whether his Majesty being admitted to the exercise of his power before satisfaction given would not by such counsels endeavour an overturning of the things which God hath wrought amongst us and labour to draw publick administrations concerning Religion and the Liberties of the Subject unto that course and channel in which they did run under Prelacy and before the work of Reformation Which we have the more cause to fear because his Royall Father did so often declare that he conceived himself bound to imploy all the power that God should put in his hands to the utmost for these ends and that he adheres as yet to his Fathers principles and walks in his way and hath made a peace with the Irish Rebels by which is granted unto them the full liberty of Popery 6. It is no strange nor new thing for Kingdoms to preserve Religion and themselves from ruine by putting restraint upon the exercise of the power and Government of those who have refused to grant those things that were necessary for the good of Religion and the Peoples safety there have been many Precedents of it in this and other Nations of old and of late
those Laws timously upon these that oppresse them that they may find real redresse of their just grievances and complaints and be encouraged to bear those burthens which cannot be avoided As the Parliament have begun so we hope they will continue to purge out all these from trust that are not of known integrity and affection to the cause of God and of a blameless and Christian conversation and that they and the Officers of the Army in their respective places will seriously minde and speedily and resolutely goe about the removing from the Army all malignant and scandalous persons and also the removing of Sectaries when any shall be found therein that they may give reall evidence that they did not deal deceitfully with God in the day that they engaged themselves thereto Albeit we hope and pray that those who bear charge in our Army will from the remembrance of the Lords goodness to them and the honour that he hath put upon them endevour to carry themselves faithfully and straightly yet it cannot be unseasonable to warm them to â—â—ke heed of tentations and to beware of snares that they be not drawn to indifferency or neutrality in the cause of God much lesse into connivance at or compliance with the courses and designes of malignants or Sectaries but to stick closely by the same and to be zealous against all the enemies and adversaries thereof and it concerns Souldiers to be content with their wages and to doe violence to no man but as they are called unto the defence of the cause and people of God so to behave themselves in such a blameless and Christian a way that their carriage may be a testimony to his cause and a comfort to his people so shall our Armies prosper and the Lord shall goe out with them But most of all it concerns the Ministers of the Gospel whom God hath called to give warning to his people to look to their duty It is undeniably true that may of the evils wherewith this Kirk and Kingdom hath been afflicted in our age have come to passe because of the negligence of some and corruptions of others of the Ministry whilst some fell asleep and were careless and others were covetous and ambitious the evil man brought in Prelacy and the Ceremonies and hah facre promoted the Service Book and the Book of Cannon and the course of backsliding and revolting was carried on untill it pleased God to stirre up the spirits of these few who had stood in the gap to oppose and resist the same and to begin the work of Reformation in the Land since which time the silence of some Ministers and complyance of others hath had great influence up on the backsliding of many amongst the people who upon the discovery of the evill of their way complain that they got not warning or that if they were warned by some others held their peace or did justifie them in the course of their back-sliding We can look upon such Ministers no otherwise then upon those that are guilty of the blood of the Lords people and with whom the Lord will reckon for all the breach of Covenant and defection that hath been in the Land The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts but such have departed out of the way and have caused many to stumble at the Law therefore hath the Lord made them contemptible and base before all the people according as they have not kept his wayes but have been partial in his Law because they have lost their savour he hath cast out many of them as unsavoury salt but such as have been faithfull as he hath preserved them from the violence and fury of men so hath he verified his word in their mouths both against his enemies and concerning his people and his work and makes them see though not all their desires concerning the Gospel and the work of God in the Land yet very much of the fruit of their labour by preserving the doctrine and all the Ordinances of Jesus Christ in their parity and adding in some measure thereto the power and life thereof We do therefore charge all the Ministers of the Land before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom as in every thing to be ensamples of a good conversation and to walk without offence that the Ministry be not blamed so to take heed unto the Flock over which the holy Ghost hath 〈◊〉 them ever-seers to declare unto them all the counsell of God and to give them timous warning concerning every danger and duty and to hold forth unto them the solid grounds of reall comforlation by which they may be encouraged and comforted in all their tryals and afflictions that they may be free of the blood of all men and have this as a ground of rejoycing even the testimony of their consciences that in simplicity and godly pureness not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God they have had their conversation in the world and have exhorted and comforted and charged every one committed unto them as a Father doth his children especially Ministers ought to be carefull to be much in discovering the temptations and pressing the duties of the times that those who are under their charge may know what to avoyd and what to imbrace and pursue If all the Watchmen in the Land shall give warning and blow the Trumpet at once it shall not be easie for enemies to prey upon the people of God We know no cause why any whom God hath called to preach the Gospel should be affraid to speak boldly in the Name of the Lord since God hath given so manifest a testimony of hiâ— care and protection in preserving them these yeers past who have striven to be faithfull to him who hath called them from all the fury and malice of the haters of the work of God and of the Kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ who hath promised to be with his servants unto the end of the world Albeit the Land be involved in many difficulties and compassed about with great and imminent dangers yet there is hope and ground of consolation concerning this thing the Lord is in the midst of us and we are called by his name our ears hear the joyfull sound of the Gospel and our eyes see our Teachers We behold the arm of the Lord stretched out daily in working salvation for his people and answering their desires upon their enemies by terrible things in righteousness although we be but few in number yet the Lord of Hosts is with us and 〈◊〉 the power of his strength we shall be able to prevail although our Land be filled with sin yet we have not been forsaken of the Lord our God but he hath always had compassion upon us and delivered us in all our distresse although some of understanding fall it is but to try and to purge and to make white even to the end because it is yet for a time appointed although many cleave to us by flatteries yet there be a remnant who keep their integrity and the Lord shall do good to these that be good but such as turn aside to crooked ways shall be led forth with the workers of iniquity The Lords people in England and Ireland who adhere to the Cause and Covenant may be perplexed but shall not despair they may be persecuted but shall not be forsaken they may be cast down but shall not be destroyed and although uniformity and the work of Reformation in these lands seem not only to be retarded but almost pluckt up by the roots and the foundations thereof razed yet the seed which the Lord hath sown there shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this A. Ker. FINIS