Lawful for Subjects to make a Covenant and Combination Without the King and to enter into a Bond of Mutual Defence Against the King and all Persons whatsoever tho' against several Acts of Parliament Tenthly It is Lawful for themselves sitting in an Assembly to Indict a New Assembly without the King's Consent Eleventhly If Subjects be convented before the King and Council for any Misdemeanour they may Appeal from the King and Council to the next General Assembly and Parliament if they think either the Glory of God or the Good of the Church concern'd in the Matter in Question Twelfthly They do not desire the King to Indict a General Assembly as needing his Authority but rather for his Honour and for the Countenance of their Proceedings Alledging that if the Prince shall omit to do his Duty the People from whom he had his Power Originally may Resume it Thirteenthly If the King's Voice shall be deny'd to any thing tho' never so Vnjust and Illegal that shall be carry'd by the Major part of the Assembly his Majesty is bound Jure Divino to enforce Obedience to to those Acts and the Counsellors or Iudges refusing to Execute shall be Excommunicate and depriv'd of their Places and Estates Fourteenthly An Assembly may Abrogate Acts of Parliament and discharge the Subject from Obeying them if they any way reflect upon the Business of the Church Fifteenthly The Protestation of the Subjects against Laws Establish'd either before the Iudges of the People or the People themselves who are born to be Iudg'd doth void all Obedience to those Laws without ever bringing of them to be discuss'd before a Competent Iudge Sixteenthly The Major part of the People may do any thing they say which they Themselves conceive Conducing to the Glory of God and the Good of the Church any Laws to the Contrary notwithstanding These Positions you will find in his Majesties Large Declaration concerning the Tumults in Scotland pag. 407. et Deinceps We shall now see how the Counterpart of this Confederacy behav'd it self in England And shew you the Doctrine and Principles of the Faction in the very Infancy of the Rebellion as appears out of their own Acts. See Husband 's Exact Collections Printed in London 1643. The Positions of the English-Covenanters and First In Case of the King's Authority AFter that the Faction had Extorted from his Late Majesty such Concessions as never any Prince granted before Himself And when they had Defam'd his Government and his Person and Poyson'd his People with Contemptuous and Scandalous Libels Upon March 2. 1641. They began to Vnmask and to discover to the World that their Design was not to Reform but to Govern and upon Pretence of Fearing an Invasion from Abroad took the Power of the Militia into their Own Hands at Home Resolving upon the Question p. 96. That the Kingdom be forthwith put into a Posture of Defence by the Authority of Both Houses This Vote was seconded by Another of March 15. pag. 112. That in Case of Extreme Danger and of his Majesties Refusal to give them the Power of the Militia the Ordinance agreed on by Both Houses for the Militia doth Oblige the People and ought to be Obey'd by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom His Majesty insisting upon the Illegality of This Proceeding Both Houses pass'd this following Vote March 16. That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament which is the Supreme Court of Iudicature in the Kingdom shall Declare what the Law of the Land is to have This not only Question'd and Controverted but Contradicted and a Command that it should not be Obey'd is a High Breach of the Privilege of Parliament pag. 114. Finding themselves Pinch'd upon this Point they fly to a Distinction betwixt the Letter and the Equity of all Laws pag. 150. There is say they in Laws an Equitable and a Literal Sense His Majesty is Entrusted by Law with the Militia but 't is for the Good and Preservation of the Republique against Foreign Invasions or Domestique Rebellions not that the Parliament would by Law Entrust the King with the Malitia against Themselves or the Common-wealth that Entrusts Them to provide for their Weal not for their Woe So that upon Certain Appèarance or Grounded Suspicion that the Letter of the Law shall be emprov'd against the Equity of it the Commander going against its Equity discharges the Commanded from Obedience to the Letter The Pretence of Defending the Government is now Advanc'd to the Reforming of it Apr. 9. 1642. The Lords and Commons do Declare That they intend a Due and Necessary Reformation of the Government and Liturgy of the Church pag. 135. Having already by Violence Encroach'd upon the Militia as against a Foreign Power the First Considerable Use that they make of it is to Employ it against his Majesties Authority and Person Before Hull and Pass'd Two Votes Apr. 28. in Justification of the Action Resolved c. That his Majesties declaring of Sir John Hotham Traytour being a Member of the House of Commons is a High Breach of the Privilege of Parliament And That without Process of Law it is against the Liberty of the Subject and against the Law of the Land Nay they Vote it May 17. To be against the Law of the Land and the Liberty of the Subject his Majesties Commanding of Skippon to attend him at York and The very Removing of the Term to York from Westminster sitting the Parliament they Vote to be Illegal and Order the Lord Keeper notwithstanding his Majesties Command not to Issue out any Writs or Seal any Proclamation for that Adjournment May 20. They Order also the Putting of all the Magazines in England and Wales into the Hands of Persons well Affected to the Parliament pag. 194. They find themselves now in Condition to Threaten the King and the Kingdom with Open War And pass upon the Question these Three following Votes First That it appears That the King Seduc'd by Wicked Counsel intends to make War against the Parliament who in all their Consultations and Actions have propos'd no other End unto themselves but the Care of his Kingdoms and the Performance of all Duty and Loyalty to his Person Secondly That whensoever the King maketh War upon the Parliament it is a Breach of the Trust reposed in Him by his People Contrary to his Oath and tending to the Dissolution of his Government Thirdly That whosoever shall Serve or Assist him in such Wars are Traytors by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom c. And Persuant to these Votes Iuly 12. they Resolve That an Army shall be forthwith Rais'd for the Safety of the King's Person Defence of Both Houses of Parliament and of Those who have Obey'd their Orders and Commands and preserving of the True Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom pag. 457. All these Votes and Declarations they cause with all Solemnity to be Printed and Publish'd but at the same time his Majesties Proclamations and
Declarations are said to be Contrary to Law pag. 449. And all Officers are forbidden any way to Publish or to Proclaim the same The King's Commissions of Array are Declar'd July 20. to be against Law the Liberty and Property of the Subject And the Actors in it to be Esteem'd Disturbers of the Peace of the Kingdom pag. 478. And again pag. 576. All such Persons as shall upon any Pretence whatsoever Assist his Majesty in this War with Horse Arms Plate or Monies are declar'd Traytors to his Majesty the Parlialiament and the Kingdom and to be brought to condign Punishment The Poyson of their Artificial Delusions you will find Maliciously enough Defus'd in their Remonstrance of May the 26. 1642. pag. 263. And the Doctrine of That Declaration summ'd up with great Exactness in his Majesties Answer to it contracting the Venome of it into These Six Positions First That they have an Absolute Power of Declaring the Law And that whatsoever ever they declare to be so ought not to be question'd either by King or People so that all the Right and Safety of the Prince and Subject depends upon their Pleasure Secondly That no Presidents can be Limits to Bound their Proceedings which If so The Government of the Turk Himself is not so Arbitrary Thirdly That a Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein the King or Subject hath a Right for the Publique Good speaking all this While of the Remnant of the Two Houses That they without the King are This Parliament and Iudge of This Publique Good and that the King's Consent is not Necessary So that the Life and Liberty of the Subject and all the Good Laws made for their Security may be dispos'd of and Repeal'd by the Major Part of Both Houses at any time present and by any Wayes and Means Procured so to be and his Majesty has no Power to Protect them Fourthly That a Member of either House ought not to be troubled or meddled with for Treason Felony or any Other Crime without the Cause first brought before Them that they may judge of the Fact and their Leave obtained to Proceed Fifthly That the Sovereign Power resides in Both Houses of Parliament The King has no Negative Voice and becomes Subject to their Commands Lastly That the Levying of Forces against the Personal Commands of the King tho' accompany'd with his Presence is not Levying War against the King But to Levy War against his Laws and Authority which they have Power to Declare and Signifie is Levying War against the King And that Treason cannot be Committed against his Person otherwise than as he is Entrusted with the Kingdom and Discharging that Trust and that they have a Power to judge whether he discharges it or no. And to justifie their Usurpations they do maintain pag. 270. That the Kings of This Realm are Oblig'd to pass all such Bills as are Offer'd unto them by Both Houses of Parliament It would be superfluous to tell you of their Proclaiming Fasts and Assuming to themselves other Rights of Sovereignty under the specious Pretence of a Parliament But to shew you that it was All an Imposture If the King will not Agree the Two Houses they say may Act without him If the Two Houses Differ the Sovereignty rests in the House of Commons As in the Case of a Bill they sent up to the Lords for Directing a Protestation which they had Fram'd to be generally taken throughout England This Bill the Lords Rejected Whereupon the Commons pass'd this Vote That That House did conceive that the Protestation made by them is fit to be taken by every Person that is well Affected in Religion and to the Good of the Common-Wealth and therefore doth declare That what Person soever shall not take the Protestation is Vnfit to bear Office in the Church or Common-Wealth And so they order'd the Knights Citizens and Burgesses to send down to the several Places for which they serv'd Copies of that Vote of the House concerning the Protestation and that the Vote should be Printed They began with a Contempt of the Lords they Lay'd them quite Aside at last and in the Conclusion they Themselves were upon their Own Arguments Confounded by the Rabble You see the Dominion these People Challenge over their Master and it cannot be expected that they should give any better Quarter to their Fellow Subjects But it is Their Way of making Kings Glorious and Patronizing the Liberty of the People The Positions of the English-Covenanters as to the Liberty and Propriety of the Subject IN May 1641. they enter'd upon their Design with the Protestation above-mention'd in these Words I A. B. do in the Presence of Almighty God Promise Vow and Protest to Maintain and Defend as far as Lawfully I may with my Life Power and Estate the true Reformed Protestant Religion express'd in the Doctrine of the Church of England against all Popery and Popish Innovations within this Realm contrary to the same Doctrine and according to the Duty of my Allegiance to his Majesties Royal Person Honour and Estate as also the Power and Privileges of Parliament the Lawful Rights and Liberties of the Subjects c. Here was First an Vsurpation in the Imposing of it and Secondly an Abominable Fraud in the Construction of it The Matter of it was so Plausible that it went down without much Enquiring into the Authority of it but upon the Commons declaring that the Doctrine of the Church of England had no Regard to the Maintaining of the Descipline and Government of it And Afterward that the Sovereignty was Virtually in the Two Houses and that by This Protestation they were Oblig'd to serve That Interest Mens Eyes came then to be Open'd and they saw their Errour For they were call'd upon according to their Solemn Vow and Protestation to Subscribe for Money and Plate pag. 340. and to Maintain Horse Horse-men and Arms for the Defence of the King and Both Houses of Parliament In York shire there was a Neutrality Propounded by some Persons of Eminent Condition in the County but the Lords and Commons Declar'd against it pag. 629. as a Contradiction to the Tye of their General Protestation And it went so high that they past a Vote Oct. 15. 42. That such Persons as shall not Contribute to the Charge of the Common-wealth in This Time of Imminent Necessity shall be held fit to be Disarm'd And the same day they Voted the Sequestring of Church-Lands Delinquents Estates and Revenues of the Crown They Order'd Victuals and other Necessaries for the Army to be taken up upon Publique Faith Nov. 29. 42. pag. 763. and where any thing was Refused to Force it And likewise they appointed a Committee of Six Citizens of London or any Four of them for the Assessing all such to the twenti'th Part of their Estates as had not contributed upon the Propositions of raising Money Plate Horse c. in Proportion to their Abilities The said Assessment to be
as God has Condemn'd of what Estate Condition or Degree soever It is not Birth-Right only nor Nearness of Bloud that maketh a King Lawfully to Reign over a People professing Christ Jesus but Princes for Iust Causes may be Depos'd Kings Princes and Governours have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again Thus far Knox Now for Buchanan The People says he have the same Power over the King which He has over any One Man They are Better than the King and of Greater Authority and may bestow the Crown at Pleasure The making of Laws belongs to Them They may Arraign their Prince The Ministers may Excommunicate him and He that by Excommunication is cast into Hell is not worthy to Enjoy any Life upon Earth It were Good says he that Rewards were appointed by the People for such as should Kill Tyrants as there are for those that Kill Wolves or Bears or take their Whelps The Seizing and Emprisoning of King Iames in Aug. 1582. being Adjudg'd Treason by the Three Estates in Decemb. 18. 1583. and some of the Criminals Executed an Assembly of Ministers and Elders at Edinburgh in 1585. did not only Authorize and Avow the Action but also ordain'd all people to be Excommunicated that would not Subscribe to their Judgment And Andrew Melvil being Cited to Answer for Treason deliver'd in a Sermon declin'd the King's Authority Affirming that what was spoken in the Pulpit ought first to be try'd by the Presbytery and that neither King nor Council might in the first Instance meddle therewith although the Speech were Treasonable Upon King Iames his Coming to the Crown of England he order'd the Proroguing of the Assembly at Aberdeen which was to have met in 1604. to a longer day But thirteen or fourteen of them for all this met formally at the day appointed The Lords of Council discharg'd their Meeting Whereupon they Protested That in Conscience and in Duty to Almighty God they were bound to preserve the Churches Right and neither Could nor Would give way to that Power the King had Sacrilegiously Vsurp'd over it Hereupon they were Convented and Appeal'd from the King's Council to the next General Assembly I had almost forgotten the Determination of Wilcock and Knox who Positively gave their Judgments That it was Lawful to Depose the Queen Regent Whereupon she was solemnly Process'd Sentenc'd and Depriv'd The Positions of the Presbyterians under Queen Elizabeth THe Church sayes Cartwright wherein any Magistrate King or Emperour is a Member is Divided into some that are to Govern as Pastors Doctors and Elders and into such as are to Obey as Magistrates of all sorts and the People The Admonitour holds it fit That he and his Companions may be deliver'd by Act of Parliament from the Authority of the Civil Magistrates As Iustices and Others from their Indictings and Finings Every Fault says Cartwright that tendeth either to the Hurt of a Man's Neighbour or to the Hindrance of the Glory of God is to be Examin'd and Dealt in by the Order of the Holy Church Nay the very Suspicion of Avarice Pride Superfluities in Meat or Clothing falls under their Lash All men says Goodman are bound to see the Laws of God kept and to Suppress and Resist Idolatry by Force Nor is it sufficient for Subjects not to Obey the Wicked Commands of Princes but they must Resist them and Deliver the Children of God out of the hands of their Enemies as we would deliver a Sheep that is in danger to be devour'd by a Wolf If the Magistrate shall refuse to put Mass-Mongers and false Preachers to Death the People in seeing it perform'd shew that Zeal of God which was commended in Phineas Subjects do promise Obedidience that the Magistrate might Help them which if he does not they are discharg'd of their Obedience If Magistrates without Fear transgress God's Laws themselves and Command others to do the like they are no more to be taken for Migistrates but to be Examin'd Accus'd Condemn'd and Punish'd as Private Transgressors Evil Princes ought by the Law of God to be Depos'd and Inferiour Magistrates ought chiefly to do it And now hear Gilby to the same Tune Kings Princes and Governours have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again as men may revoke their Proxyes and Letters of Atturney It is Lawful sayes he to kill wicked Kings and Tyrants the Subjects did kill the Queen's Highness Athalia Jehu kill'd the Queens Majesty Jesabel Elias being no Magistrate kill'd the Queen's Majesty's Chaplains Baal's Priests These Examples are left for our Instruction where Iustice is not Executed the State is most Corrupt If neither the Inferiour Magistrates says he nor the greatest part of the People will do their Offices in Punishing Deposing or Killing of Princes then the Ministers must Excommunicate such a King It would be Endless to follow these Instances as far as they would carry me so that I 'le back now again into Scotland and you will find them much of the same Opinion under Charles I. as they had been under his Royal Father The Positions of the Kirk under the Late King IN their Protestation of September 22. 1638. against the King's Declaration they say First That what Subjects do of their own heads is much better than what they do in Obedience to Authority the One Savouring of Constraint but the Other being Voluntary and Chearful Obedience Secondly That the Parliaments Power does no more reach to the Placing of Officers Originally in the Church than the Church has Power to make States-men in the Common-wealth Thirdly The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church but only Ratifie what the Church Decrees And after it has Ratify'd it yet if the Assembly of the Church shall Prohibit it and Repeal that Decree of the Church all the Subjects are discharg'd from yielding Obedience to the Act of Parliament Fourthly The Assembly has Power to discharge all Subscriptions to the Confession of Faith commanded to be Subscrib'd by his Majesty and as it is Interpreted by Him or his Commissioner Fifthly The Assembly without the King is the Church and the only Iudge Competent fit to Interpret and Explain all Doubts arising upon the Confession of Faith Commanded by his Majesty Sixthly Tho' the Law be Interpreted yet if the Intepretation be dislik'd by Most of the Kingdom the Body of the Kingdom for whose Good the Law was made may crave the lawful Redress of Grievances sustained by that Law Take Notice here that they had already Actually trangress'd the Law without staying for Leave and Justifi'd the Doing of it Seaventhly The Assembly is Independent either from King or Parliament in Matters Ecclesiastical Eighthly That the King is to Receive all the Determinations of an Assembly as a Son of the Church tho' they be not matters of Faith but only of Government and concluded by Acts of Parliament Ninthly It is
she would have a Mass in Private But the Preachers decrying that Toleration in their Pulpits produced a Dangerous Tumult against the Freedom of her own Chappel After several Riots and Open Rebellions which were still promoted and seconded by the Presbytery In Iuly 1564. the Queen was Marri'd to the Lord Darnly And Iune 19. 1566. brought to bed of a Son afterward Iames VI. in the Castle of Edinburgh In 1567. they sent the Queen Prisoner to Lochlevin and pass'd an Act of Assembly for the Securing and Disposing of the Person of the Infant-Prince with Direction to move the Queen to a Resignation of her Government and the Appointing of a Regent during his Minority which by Force and Menaces her Majesty was compell'd to do and her Renunciation and Commission Publish'd at the Market-Cross at Edinburgh the Prince being Crown'd and Anointed King in the Church of Striveling the Third day after the Publication being Iuly 29. On the 20th of August the Earl of Murray was Elected Regent King Iames being as yet but Thirteen Months old At the Beginning of the Spring in 1568. the Queen made her Escape and was convey'd to Hamilton where several Lords meeting in Council her Resignation was declar'd Void as Extorted by Fear and Proclamation issu'd against the Rebels that had Usurped her Authority The Dispute in short was brought to a Battle May 13. the Queens Army Defeated and She her self fled into England for Protection where the Faction never left the Persute of her till they brought her to the Scaffold But here you 'l say there was a Foreign Interest and Popery in the Case If That were All how came it that they handled the Young King at as Course a rate every jot as they had treated his Mother tho' their Natural Prince and afterward the Celebrated Champion of the Protestant Cause The Government of Scotland had been Administer'd by Four Regents when upon the Earl of Morton's desire to be Discharg'd of his Regency the King not twelve years old as yet accepted of it and his Acceptation thereof was Proclaim'd at Edinburgh March 12. 1577. where the Regent himself was Assisting As an Earnest of the Respect they bare to his Majesties Authority Andrew Melvil presented a Form of Church Government to the Parliament at Striveling in 1578. which they referr'd to certain Commissioners who agreed to such General Heads as did not touch the Authority of the King nor prejudg the Liberty of the State But this did not content Them so that they resolv'd to put their Conclusions in Practice the next Assembly without staying for a Ratification Spotswood's Hist. Fol. 302. In Glasgow the next Spring the Ministers put the Magistrates of the City upon Demolishing the Cathedral but the Tradesmen Interpos'd and Defended it In 1582. Montgomery was Process'd for Preaching at Glasgow The King by his Warrant commanded the Assembly to desist which the Moderatour peremptorily refus'd and thereupon the Officer pull'd him from his Seat and Clap'd him up in the Tolbuyth for which they Decreed him to be Excommunicate tho' the King himself earnestly perswaded them to the Contrary After this Contempt of the Kings Authority they made a Violent Seizure of his Person and carri'd him Prisoner to the Castle of Ruthen where they kept him Close Nine Months forcing him by a Writing under his hand to command the Duke of Lenox to Depart the Kingdom and Imposing upon him what Servants they pleas'd under pretence of Zeal to Religion and Care of his Person They did also Petition the next General Assembly at Edinburgh to give their sence of the Action Who made themselves Judges and did so highly approve of it that they appointed all Ministers to recommend the Actors of it as good Christians and Patriots pretending that there was no other way to preserve their Religion and Freedoms And yet this Duke dy'd soon after in France of the Reformed Communion For the Countenance of this Proceeding they force the King being but Seventeen years of Age to emit a Proclamation commanding all those that had Levy'd any Forces upon Pretence of his Restraint to Disband within Six hours upon Pain of Death and Declaring that he was at Liberty and had only his Friends about him In the Summer following under Colour of Viewing the Castle of St. Andrews It was contriv'd that the Gates should be shut upon his Followers and so he deliver'd himself from his Guard It would be but the same thing over again to Enumerate the Repeated Usurpations of their Government and the Contumacy of their Ministers their Rebellious Practises at Striveling Glasgow c. and that Horrid Outrage against the Octavians in Edinburgh Decemb. 17. 1596. When the King appoints a Feast they Indict a Fast the Council Orders the Ministers of Edinburgh to give Thanks for his Majesties Deliverance from Gowry's Conspiracy Their Answer was That they were not acquainted with the Business And when it was urg'd that they were only to affect the People with the Sence of his Majesties having scap'd a great Danger they Reply'd That nothing should be Vtter'd in the Pulpit but That whereof the Truth was known Nay they would not so much as pray for the Kings Mother when her Death was Resolv'd upon tho' the very Form was prescrib'd in the most Innocent Terms Imaginable viz. That it might please God to Illuminate her with the Light of his Truth and save her from the apparent Danger wherein she was cast And This would have been the Issue too of the English Project under Queen Elizabeth as appears by the Insolence of their Demands and the Virulence of their Writings if the Conspiracy had not been nipp'd in the Bud. The Scottish Insurrection in 1637. was only their Old Method Reviv'd Of which in a few Words Out of the Kings Declaration upon That Subject Upon occasion of a Seditious Uproar at Edinburgh Octob. 18. 1637. his Late Majesty order'd the Discharge of all such Meetings upon Pain of Death And his Proclamation being Publish'd at Sterling Lithgow and Edinburgh was encounter'd with a Protestation against it at the same Times and Places and with the same Solemnity as if they had been Both by the same Authority Immediately upon this Affront the Protestors erect Publique Tables of Council for Ordering the Affairs of the Kingdom without the Consent of the King and in Contempt of his Majesty and Council At These Tables having First agreed upon their Covenant they conclude upon Certain Propositions of Instruction to the Party No Answer must be made to State-Questions without Advice All Proclamations to be Protected against and to take nothing for Satisfaction Less than their Whole Demand This way of Anti-Protesting they made use of from first to last Upon his Majesties Proclamation for Dissolving the Assembly at Glasgow 1638. they did not only Protest and Refuse to Depart but Cited the Kings Council that Sign'd the Proclamation to appear before the King and Parliament In This their