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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82540	The answer of the Parliament of England, to a paper, entituled, a declaration by the Kings Majesty, to his subjects of the kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland. Printed at Edinburgh, 1650. Whereunto is annexed, copies of four letters to the King of Scotland, which were found in the Lord Loudouns cabinet. Die Veneris, 20 Septem. 1650. Ordered by the Parliament, that this answer and letters be forthwith printed and published. Hen: Scobell, Cleric. Parliamenti.	England and Wales. Parliament.; Loudoun, John Campbell, Earl of, 1598-1663.	1650 (1650)	Wing E1227; Thomason E613_2; ESTC R206510	21,416	40

THE ANSWER OF THE Parliament of England TO A PAPER Entituled A Declaration by the Kings Majesty To His Subjects of the Kingdoms of Scotland England and Ireland Printed at Edinburgh 1650. Whereunto is annexed COPIES of Four LETTERS To the King of SCOTLAND Which were found in the Lord Loudouns Cabinet Die Veneris 20 Septem 1650. ORdered by the Parliament That this Answer and Letters be forthwith printed and published Hen Scobell Cleric Parliamenti London Printed by Edward Husband and John Field Printers to the Parliament of England 1650. IT is well known unto the World what maner of Contest the Parliament of England hath had these years last passed in their own Defence to preserve themselves from the almost Establish'd Tyranny which through a long tract of Time had been obtruding it self as well over the Consciences as the Laws and Civil Liberties of the People in England Ireland and Scotland Designing and Practising the Extremity of all Evils upon these Nations rather then to suffer it self to be stopped in its course or disappointed of its end Else what signified the first Troubles raised in Scotland by the late King and that failing then the cherishing upholding and continuing to the last the Horrid and Bloody Rebellion in Ireland by the same hand and after all the bringing of an Unnatural War into the Bowels of this Nation managed and improved to the utmost by him and the Popish Prelatical and Prophane Party adhering to him therein Which Evils have been writ out in such deep Characters of Blood been attended with such Consumption of Treasure and almost Devastation of several Countries in the three Nations that they will not suddenly be worn out of the Peoples Sense much less of their Memory Yet even during these first Troubles the Designers were not ashamed to appear bare-faced in their open and avowed Principles of Opposition and Hatred against the Cause of God the Work of Reformation Priviledges of Parliament and Peoples Liberties having for that purpose incorporated themselves in Interest with all the known and implacable Enemies of the same as The Popish Party abroad and Prelatical and Malignant Party at home But now when by the unspeakable Blessing of God unto this Nation Tyranny hath received its Mortal Wound not onely by being Beaten out of the Field in all that have fought for it but by the Remarkable Justice that hath been done upon the Prime Instrument in the late Kings Execution and in consequence thereof the Government of this Nation Restored to a Commonwealth and Fee-State and the Supreme Authority Establish'd in this and Successive Parliaments or Representatives of the People without King or House of Lords as the best Means and strongest Bulwark under the Divine Protection to preserve the Peoples Liberties against the like Attempts and Invasions for time to come and so deprived of all Hopes of its ever taking Root again in this Commonwealth and being like also if this Commonwealth continue to lose ground in Scotland and other Nations where the People are made meer Slaves and Vassals to the Will of their Prince and his Lordly Instruments in Church and State It hath seemed good to Charls Stuart the Declared King of Scotland and to the prevailing Party in State and Kirk there to dress up this old and Malignant Cause in a more plausible and Religious Garb then that with which it was put forth before and to take it out of or rather for a time suspend its Exercise in the hands of the Popish Prelatical and Malignant Party who begin also to see they can keep it up no longer but it will certainly breathe out its last Gasp if it be not shifted and by some Change of Instruments recover a Reputation amongst good men And therefore a room and place is made by common Consent amongst them to receive and hide the Interest of Tyranny and of Opposition to all Christian as well as Civil Liberty within the verges of the Solemn League and Covenant The Signing of which Covenant and the emitting of a Declaration by the eldest Son of the late King expressing in words a superficial Repentance for what there is no probability for him at the present to put in practice and promising in effect for the future to Tyrannize and Enslave men chiefly by the Advice of the Kirk and as shall tend to uphold their Power and Clergy-Interest in the first place before his own An Homage which the Pope indeed hath claimed from Earthly Princes as that which is due to him as he pretends himself Gods Vicar on Earth This is now accounted full Satisfaction as to what is to be done on his part and whereupon they would make the World believe the state of the Cause is altered even to that degree as that their New King is now no longer upon his Old Principles but is come over to those upon which they have fought against his Father for these Twelve years past The Deceit and Evil of all which will appear when we shall come to take in pieces the said Declaration and thereby Unmask as we have promised the gross Hypocrisie of the Contrivers thereof and the Wicked Design that is couched and contained therein under pretence of The Name and Cause of God The Work of Reformation The Power and Freedoms of Parliaments in England according to their Ancient Form except onely a perpetual subjecting and subordinating of their Laws Councels and Advices to the Clergy who have a promise That their Councels shall be heard before any other whatsoever and other plausible Inducements to possess himself of the Crown of England And having obtained that Power with the Destruction of all the Faithful and truly godly Party that have declared themselves for this present Government He may then be more absolute in Tyranny then ever Prince in England was and derive the same in Succession to his Posterity upon the score of Conquest acquired to him by the help of the Scots whose good-will to England for the Cause of God as they would have us believe hath been and still is such as to hold it fit to impose upon us the Yoke of their Usurpations both in Church and State and have not scrupled to attempt the attaining of the same either by Subtilty of by Force By both which Means they never thought themselves in so fair a way unto their End as now they have cast themselves into by their late Agreement with their New King and this Declaration they have made him put forth which we shall Answer in the distinct Paragraphs of it in order as they lie §. 1. HIs Majesty taking in consideration that merciful Dispensation of Divine Providence by which he hath been recovered out of the snare of Evil Councel and having attained so full perswasion and confidence of the Loyalty of his People in Scotland with whom he hath too long stood at a distance and of the Righteousness of their Cause as to joyn in one Covenant with them and to cast

there is a Regress left unto them in maner above express'd ANSWER IT is somewhat early days for him who by reason of his education and age and the Councel and Company hitherto about him could not be much furthered into the sight of the Justice and Equity of what is contained in the Covenants mentioned presently that is to say in the space of almost four and twenty hours to grow up into the full perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of those Covenants and to be able to declare That he hath not sworn nor subscribed them upon any sinister intention and crooked Design for attaining his own ends and with so fix'd a Resolution to persist therein really constantly and sincerely all the days of his life when as the Commissioners of the General Assembly in their Declaration dated the thirteenth of August do say That there may be just Grounds of stumbling from his refusing to emit this Declaration and do tell him in so many words that They will not own him nor his Interest otherwise then with a subordination to God and in so far as he owns and prosecutes the Cause of God and disclaims his and his Fathers opposition to the Work of God and to the Govenant and all the Enemies thereof And notwithstanding all he still persists in his Refufal withdrawing to Dunfermlyn whether the Marquess of Argyle and Earl of Lothian are sent after to press him to Subscribe and in the mean time overtures are made under-hand to our Army as if things might yet be made up in a fair way and their King and they were not likely to agree And on the fifteenth of August a Remonstrance and Supplication of the Officers of the Scots Army by way seconding the foresaid Declaration of the Committee of Estates and Commissioners of the General Assembly was presented to and approved of by the Committee of Estates And on the sixteenth of the said August the Declaration so earnestly pressed upon him or rather forcibly extorted from him is subscribed and emited by him And now in a moment what a blessed and hopeful change is wrought upon this yong King how hearty is he become to the Cause of God and the work of Reformation and how readily doth he swallow down these bitter Pills which are prepared for and urged upon him as necessary to effect that desperate cure under which his Affairs lie But who sees not the gross Hypocrisie of this whole Transaction and the sandy and rotten foundation of all the Resolutions flowing hereupon as first He that on the fifteenth of August hugg'd all his Malignant and Popish Party in his bosom and lodged them in the secret Reserves of his favor and love as his best Friends can now on the sixteenth the day following from a fulness of perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of the Covenant renounce and discard them in the sight of God and the world and vow never to have any more to do with them as old Sinners unless they by his example turn to be as good Converts as himself and be able to personate and act the same part and so by vertue of the very Covenant it self eat out and undermine those who conscientiously and honestly intend the ends of it The sad experience whereof was as well seen in the managing the whole business of Duke Hamiltons Invasion as in many of the then Members in both Houses who never shewed more zeal for the Covenant then when they found that thereby they could suppress and beat down the truly godly and honest Party as Sectaries and Enemies to Monarchical Government and buoy up the sinking and lost Reputations of the most engaged Royalists and rotten hearted Apostates under peetence that they were turned Friends to the work of Reformation and for upholding the Church Interest And if in this sense the Scots King will have no Enemies but the Enemies of the Covenant nor no Friends but the Friends of the Covenant he makes but little change for he hath the same Friends and Enemies that he had before with this onely difference That by his and his Parties becoming in appearance friends to the Covenant for a while they have the opportunity at the last to make use of this Engine better to undermine and oppose the true ends of the Covenant then by a flat opposition to it and to obtain a Crown what Dissimulation is not thought lawful by Politicians though a larger measure then what is held forth in this Declaration cannot easily be instanced in And which therefore we doubt not but God who is the Searcher of the Hearts and Tryer of the Reyns will proceed further to discover in the face of the Sun and more severely judge in this new King of Scots and his House then if he had dealt plainly with God and Man and held himself forth in his own colours The little time which he hath been upon the Stage having sufficiently laid him open what he is A true Inheritor of his Fathers Principles and Counsels wherein he may be traced all along and even in this last Action wherein he hath trod in the steps of his Father as well as other his Predecessors who when ever they found themselves in Scotland beset with the power of the Kirk and State did subscribe and emit whatever was pressed upon them though they resolved to break all that ever was so done by them upon the first occasion And as a second Deduction from his full perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of the Covenants He Declares his conviction in conscience of the exceeding great Sinfulness and Unlawfulness of that Treaty and Peace made with the Bloody Irish Rebels and of allowing to them the liberty of the Popish Religion and that he is resolved for time to come rather to choose Affliction then Sin It seems very much to be doubted if the Irish Bishop of Clogher armed with a Commission from Ormond Charls Stuart's pretended Lieutenant of Ireland had with his Army of Irish Popish Rebels founded upon a pure Popish Accompt succeeded and prevailed against our Army in Ulster under Sir Charls Coot Whether then that which is now confessed and resolved against as Sinful and Unlawful would have been so acknowledged or thought wisdom perhaps so to have been by the Kirk of Scotland it self considering that the said Bishop offered very fair Quarter to all of the Scots Nation that were for Monarchical Government and the Scots Clergy in those parts had about the same time stirr'd up the people in our Quarters to Mutiny and Rebellion insomuch that Sir Charls Coot was necessitated to secure their persons as if they had done it on purpose to prepare the way to usher in the Infal upon our Quarters to destroy our Forces by that Irish Army who pitched their Opposition chiefly against such as they call'd Sectaries being indeed such as declared for the Parliament of

himself and his Interests wholly upon God and in all matters Civil to follow the Advice of his Parliament and such as shall be intrusted by them and in all matters Ecclesiastick the Advice of the General Assembly and their Commissioners and being sensible of his duty to God and desirous to approve himself to the consciences of all his good Subjects and to stop the mouthes of his and their Enemies and Traducers doth in reference to his former Deportments and as to his Resolutions for the future Declare as follows ANSVVER THe Dispensations of Divine Providence are indeed merciful by which Princes or Governors are at any time really recovered out of the snare of evil Counsel yet when this is done by the violence of an absolute Necessity 't is seldom real or lasting and then the Mercy in it is but little to the People who will taste the bitter fruit of such dissimulations when it is too late It seems that the King of Scotland can now profess to the world he hath been in the snare of evil Counsel whilest he entertained any doubts or diffidence of the loyalty of his People of Scotland and stood at a distance from them and their Cause and was unconvinced of the righteousness of it and did not joyn in one Covenant with them nor cast himself and his Interests wholly upon God and in all matters Civil follow the advice of his Parliament and in all matters Ecclesiastick the General Assembly or the Commissioners thereof We do not deny but his former Counsels as well as himself have suffered a great change through the merciful Dispensation of Divine Providence to this Commonwealth prospering so wonderfully our Armies in Ireland as to exclude him and his Interest in a great measure from thence and preserving this Nation in Peace within it self to prevent any footing to be given to him here whereby he was reduced to the course he hath now taken to say what the Parliament and Kirk of Scotland shall put into his mouth and tell him is fit for him and his Affairs to declare or else to lose all And if Scotland do esteem it so great a mercy to have him reduced to this pure necessity of casting himself into their Arms We know to whom under God they owe the Obligation a Blessing which we confess we do not envy them and which were we secured never to be partaker of with them or by their means we should not hinder them from the free and full enjoyment of Having by fad experience found what it is to have a King though never so well beset in appearance with good men about him or to trust to his Repentances and Promises Oaths or Declarations how fair soever in shew and how strong soever laid down in words As to the Evil of the Counsel out of which its said He is recovered by this change We say That if the future Resolutions mentioned in this Declaration be the evidences whereby we are to judge of the goodness of the new Counsel we cannot but take notice That they do onely vary the means but not the end which still is evil to wit The enslaving the three Nations and do change the Instruments but not the Cause as is before and shall further be made evident and therefore we must be excused if we judge that their yong King is yet in as great a snare of evil Counsel as ever and thereupon endeavor what in us lies to keep this Nation from falling under the bad effects thereof §. 2. THough his Majesty as a dutiful Son be obliged to honor the memory of his Royal Father and have in estimation the person of his Mother yet doth he desire to be deeply humbled and afflicted in Spirit before God because of his Fathers hearkning to and following evil Counsels and his opposition to the work of Reformation and to the Solemn League and Covenant by which so much of the blood of the Lords People hath been shed in these Kingdoms and for the Idolatry of his Mother the Toleration whereof in the Kings House as it was matter of great stumbling to all the Protestant Churches so could it not but be an high provocation against him who is a jealous God visiting the sins of the Fathers upon the Children And albeit his Majesty might extenuate his former Carriages and Actions in following of the advice and walking in the way of those who are opposite to the Covenant and to the work of God and might excuse his delaying to give satisfaction to the just and necessary Desires of the Kirk and Kingdom of Scotland from his education and age and evil Counsel and Company and from the strange insolent proceedings of Sectaries against his Royal Father and in reference to Religion and the ancient Government of the Kingdom of England to which he hath the undoubted Right of Succession yet knowing that he hath to do with God he doth ingeniously acknowledge all his own sins and all the sins of his Father House craving pardon and hoping for mercy and reconciliation through the blood of Jesus Christ And as he doth value the constant Addresses that were made by his People to the Throne of Grace on his behalf when he stood in opposition to the Work of God as a singular Testimony of long-suffering patience and mercy upon the Lords part and loyalty upon theirs so doth he hope and shall take it as one of the greatest tokens of their love and affection to him and to his Government That they will continue in Prayer and Supplication to God for him That the Lord who spared and preserved him to this day notwithstanding of all his own guiltiness may be at peace with him and give him to fear the Lord his God and to serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing minde all the days of his life ANSVVER THe first Testimony of the good of the New Counsels into whose hands the Scots King hath cast himself is The Repentance towards God which they advise him to make in reference to his own Sins and Sins of his Fathers House A matter in it self truly praise-worthy and the consequence whereof in the words wherein it is express'd doth in no small measure reach to the Acknowledgement of the just Hand of God upon his Father and Mother in the Banishing of the one and taking away the life of the other by the hand of Justice putting it into the hearts of those here that remained faithful to their Trust in Parliament to cause his Blood to be poured forth by whose personal Actings Authority and Commissions so much of the Blood of the Lords People hath been shed in the Three Nations as this Declaration it self acknowledges and for which therefore we have reason to bless God and admire his Providence That out of the mouth of the Son there hath in the sight of the whole World been brought forth such a Justification of the Sentence passed and Executed upon the Father But as to

the manner of Declaring this his Repentance that is to say with the Qualifications therein allowed of whereby under the pretence of a dutiful Son He may still retain in Memory his Fathers Actions of Tyranny for his Patern and through the high Estimation of his Mother have his Ears still open to her Councels as often as she can convey them to him And as sensible as he must be of his own and his Fathers Enmity and Opposition against the Lords People in the Three Nations yet he must still be encouraged to persist in the same against those that are truly the Lords People under the pretence of Sectaries These are such Inconsistencies and Haltings in so serious a Work that as it is justly to be feared that God will not be well pleased therewith so neither will it have its expected effect amongst men who with ease may see through the deceit and lameness of it and will with greater abhorrency be aware of them and their Designs that strive to cover themselves with Webs that will not prove Garments but whose Nakedness doth still appear §. 3. ANd his Majesty having upon full perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles thereof now Sworn and Subscribed the National Covenant of the Kingdom of Scotland and the Solemn League and Covenant of the Three Kingdoms of Scotland England and Ireland Doth Declare That he hath not Sworn and Subscribed these Covenants and entred into the Oath of God with his People upon any sinister Intention and crooked Design for attaining his own Ends but so far as Humane Weakness will permit in the truth and sincerity of his heart And that he is firmly Resolved in the Lords strength to adhere thereto and to prosecute to the utmost of his power all the Ends thereof in his Station and Calling really constantly and sincerely all the days of his life In order to which he doth in the first place Profess and Declare That he will have no Enemies but the Enemies of the Covenant and that he will have no Friends but the Friends of the Covenant And therefore as he doth now detest and abhor all Popery Superstition and Idolatry together with Prelacy and all Errors Heresie Schism and Prophaneness and resolves not to tolerate much less allow any of these in any part of his Majesties Dominions but to oppose himself thereto and to endeavor the Externation thereof to the utmost of his power so doth he as a Christian Exhort and as a King Require That all such of his Subjects who have stood in Opposition to the Solemn League and Covenant and Work of Reformation upon a pretence of Kingly Interest or any other pretext whatsoever to lay down their Enmity against the Cause and People of God and to cease to prefer the Interest of Man to the Interest of God which hath been one of those things which hath occasioned many Troubles and Calamities in these Kingdoms and being insisted into will be so far from Establishing of the Kings Throne that it will prove an Idol of Jealousie to provoke unto wrath him who is King of kings and Lord of lords The King shall always esteem them best Servants and most Loyal Subjects who serve him and seek his Greatness in a right line of subordination unto God Giving unto God the things that are Gods and unto Cesar the things that are Cesars And Resolveth not to love or countenance any who have so little Conscience and Piety as to follow his Interests with a prejudice to the Gospel and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which he looks not upon as a duty but as flattery and driving of Self-Designs under a pretence of maintaining Royal Authority and Greatness Secondly His Majesty being convinced in Conscience of the exceeding great Sinfulness and Unlawfulness of that Treaty and Peace made with the Bloody Irish Rebels who treacherously shed the Blood of so many of his faithful and Loyal Subjects in Ireland and of allowing unto them the Liberty of the Popish Religion for the which he doth from his heart desire to be deeply humbled before the Lord And likewise considering how many Breaches have been upon their part Doth Declare the same to be void and that his Majesty is absolved therefrom being truly sorry that he should have sought unto so unlawful Help for Restoring of him to his Throne and resolving for the time to come rather to choose Affliction then Sin Thirdly As his Majesty did in the late Treaty with his people in this Kingdom agree to recal and annul all Commissions against any of his Subjects who did adhere to the Covenant and Monarchical Government in any of his Kingdoms So doth he now Declare That by Commissionating of some persons by Sea against the people of England he did not intend Damage or Injury to his opprest and harmless Subjects in that Kingdom who follow their Trade of Merchandize in their lawful Callings but onely the opposing and suppressing of those who had Usurped the Government and not onely bar him from his just Right but also Exercise an Arbitrary Power over his people in those things which concern their Persons Consciences and Estates And as since his coming into Scotland he hath given no Commissions against any of his Subjects in England or Ireland so he doth hereby Assure and Declare That he will give none to their prejudice or damage and whatever shall be the Wrongs of these Usurpers That he will be so far from avenging these upon any who are free thereof by interrupting or stopping the liberty of Trade and Merchandize or otherwise That he will seek their good and to the utmost imploy his Royal Power That they may be protected and defended against the unjust Violence of all men whatsoever And albeit his Majesty desires to construct well of the Intentions of those in reference to his Majesty who have been active in Councel or Arms against the Covenant yet being convinced that it doth conduce for the Honor of God the good of his Cause and his own Honor and Happiness and for the Peace and Safety of these Kingdoms That such be not employed in places of Power and Trust He doth Declare That he will not employ nor give Commissions to any such until they have not onely taken or renewed the Covenant but also have given sufficient Evidences of their Integrity Carriage and Affection to the Work of Reformation and shall be declared capable of Trust by the Parliament of either Kingdom respective And His Majesty upon the same grounds doth hereby recal all Commissions given to any such persons conceiving all such persons will so much tender a good Understanding betwixt him and his Subjects and the setling and preserving a firm Peace in these Kingdoms That they will not grudge nor repine at his Majesties Resolutions and Proceedings herein much less upon discontent act any thing in a divided way unto the raising of New Troubles especially since upon their pious and good deportment

the Commonwealth of England But when Sin doth not prosper it is no wonder if it be bewailed and if it lose its power it is no marvel if it lose also its credit even with the best Friends to it It is fit Popery and the Bloody Rebellion of Ireland should be renounced and the Scots King Absolved from any further hand in it considering the many Breaches or rather Failings on their parts now that through the Blessing of God upon the Sectarian Army in that Nation as they call them the Rebels have been disinabled to keep themselves in Power and maintain his Interest there which we have good reason to believe is yet a greater Affliction to him in his sober thoughts then he findes it to be Sin For as we are credibly informed Ormond and Inchiquin were very lately departing out of Ireland and giving up all there but by very fresh Directions and Commands from the Scots King out of Scotland they are Required to stay and promote his Interest there In pursuance of which the said Ormond is as busie as ever giving out Commissions amongst the Irish whether as Friends to the Covenant or no we shall leave the World to judge The third and last Effect of the Scots Kings full perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of the Covenant is His Recalling all Commissions formerly given for infesting the Seas with Pyracies and Depraedations and Resolutions for the future to employ none in such Power and Trust until they have renewed the Covenant and be declared capable of such Trust by the Parliament as more at large is afore-recited in the clause it self It is to be observed as little Justice and Necessity as the Scots pretend there was of sending our Army into Scotland That here is now acknowledged by their King for himself and them also That the Scots have treated and concluded with their King on the behalf of the People of England and Ireland as well as Scotland and have taken upon them we presume by vertue of the Covenant to Interest themselves in the highest Degree in the Laws and Liberties of England and have laid the Ground-work of a New War to be carried on principally by themselves in this Nation Declaring for such as adhere to the Covenant and Monarchical Government and against such as without Opposition to the Covenant are for this Common-wealth as it is now Established without King or House of Lords And yet have the confidence to Appeal to God how innocent they are of giving us any cause to send an Army into Scotland in our Defence and to keep off this deep designed War from our own Doors as long at least as God shall enable us thereunto Will not God judge such under-hand Dealing as this We are assured he will as he hath begun already of late most wonderfully and seasonably to do And he that thus brings it to light out of their own mouthes gives us hope That in his due time he will return it with Shame and Loss upon their own heads who have adventured on such bold Undertakings to which they were never called but are most perfectly unconcerned any further then they are drawn and inticed thereunto by inordinate lusting after the Conquest of this Nation and Establishing themselves in the Wealth and Power thereof But to make all fair and smooth to those that are apt to be deluded and mis-led and to engage them in a New War against their Native Countrey their New Converted King declares That by Commissionating persons at Sea to commit Pyracy and Depraedations for the interruption of Trade He intends no Damage nor Injury to his harmless oppressed Subjects but onely to his Enemies which now are none but those that are Enemies to the Covenant and Monarchical Government And that he resolves to imploy none in such Trust until they have renewed the Covenant and been declared capable of that Trust by Parliament and therefore doth in words recal all Commissions given to any such persons But when all this is done how are the former Evils committed at Sea to the interruption and destruction of Trade remedied by this or the parties injured repaired When War was acted by Duke Hamilton upon the Lives and Estates of this Nation and none therein were employed but such as took the Covenant and were declared fit for that Trust by the Parliament of Scotland who commanded that Invasion Were the Evils of War less upon the English or the Crime less in those that acted them Do such Resolutions as these vary the state of the War and of the Cause or do they onely change the Method and Circumstances of moving and proceeding to the same end We hope it is too late now to mis-lead any of the well-affected with Blindes of this nature by which they have once been cozened before and whereby they may assure themselves they shall be deceived a second time if the Cavaliers and purely Royal Party do but lay hold of the expedient offered to them which is by a faigned pious and good Deportment to make themselves capable of a Regress into their former Employments upon the cheap Terms of swallowing down the Covenant and the obtaining the Approbation of as full and free a Parliament as that which Authorized the Invasion of this Nation by Duke Hamilton And full who knows not what such a Declaration as this signifies to those that have Commissions to Rob and Spoil and perhaps better understand Charls Stuarts Intentions that granted them then those that put him upon holding forth this Dissimulation as if they were recalled §. 4. ANd as his Majesty hath given satisfaction to the just and necessary Desires of the Kirk and Kingdom of Scotland so doth he hereby assure and declare That he is no less willing and desirous to give satisfaction to the just and necessary Desires of his good Subjects in England and Ireland and in token thereof if the Houses of Parliament of England sitting in Freedom shall think fit to present unto him the Propositions of Peace agreed upon by both Kingdoms he will not onely accord to the same and such alterations thereanent as the Houses of Parliament in regard of the Constitution of Affairs and the good of his Majesty and his Kingdoms shall judge necessary but do what is further necessary for prosecuting the ends of the Solemn League and Covenant especially in those things which concern the Reformation of the Church of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government That not onely the Directory of Worship the Confession of Faith and Catechism but also the Propositions and Directory for Church-Government accorded upon by the Synod of Divines at Westminster may be setled and that the Church of England may enjoy the full Liberty and Freedom of all Assemblies and Power of Kirk-Censures and of all the Ordinances of Jesus Christ according to the Rule of his own Word And that whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven may be

diligently done for the House of the God of Heaven and whatever heretofore hath been the suggestions of some to him to render his Majesty jealous of his Parliament and of the Servants of God Yet is he hath declared that in Scotland he will hearken to their Counsel and follow their Advice in those things that concern that Kingdom and Kirk So doth he also declare his firm Resolution to manage the Government of the Kingdom of England by the Advice of his Parliament consisting of an House of Lords and of an House of Commons there and in those things that concern Religion to prefer the Counsels of the Ministers of the Gospel to all other Counsels whatsoever And that all the world may see how much he tenders the safety of his People and how precious their blood is in his sight and how desirous he is to recover his Crown and Government in England by peaceable means as he doth esteem the service of those who first engaged in the Covenant and have since that time faithfully followed the ends thereof to be Duty to God and Loyalty to him so is he willing in regard of others who have been involved in these late Commotions in England against Religion and Government to pass an Act of Oblivion excepting onely some few in that Nation who have been chief obstructers of the work of Reformation and chief Authors of the change of the Government and of the Murther of his Royal Father Provided That these who are to have the benefit of this Act lay down Arms and return unto the obedience of their lawful Soveraign ANSVVER THe Treaty that was touched upon in the former Paragraph made between the kingdom of Scotland and their King in reference to England and Ireland is here at large and in the particulars of it set down it will be needless to repeat them In the whole Frame of which we dare boldly affirm There are those Grounds laid of inslaving this Nation to the Scots and especially to the power of their Clergy That no Parliament that hath ever yet sate in England have had the least drop of true English blood in them but would disdain and abhor to be thus imposed upon by the Scotish Nation And are these the hopes that are given to this Nation of having two Houses of Parliament sitting in Freedom when what they must desire and what they must have must be prepared and agreed for them by a Forraign Nation Will the Parliament be more the Parliament of England when two Houses shall be brought upon the Stage again with a King at the Head of them by the power of a Scotish Army enforcing this upon the Nation then when the Parliament is in actual possession of such Power and Freedom as through the blessing of God upon their endeavors they are able by Law to exclude both King and House of Lords the known opposers of the Peoples Freedom out of their National Counsels and by the force God hath enabled them with to preserve the common Peace and Safety of the whole under the Government of a Commonwealth and Free-State It is too late now to think that the People have no better discernment of their own true Interest then to be ●atched with any satisfaction that can be offered and given by a King if he himself with his power must come in at the end of it Nor will the great promises of what he will do in the Cause of God and Work of Reformation under that pretence to let in upon us the return again of Tyranny much work upon the pious and judicious among us who want not the full and free enjoyments of their consciences in this kinde in a voluntary way under this Government without being beholding to the Concessions of a King nay we may truly say That since the change of Government in this Nation there have been more Laws made and means used for the propagating the Gospel and the power of godliness and encouraging the true Professors thereof and more done for the extirpation of Prophaneness and open Wickedness then hath been during the whole time of the Reigns of Kings over this Nation And as to the King of Scotland's declaring his firm Resolution to manage the Government of England by the Advice of his Parliament consisting of a House of Lords and of a House of Commons and in those things that concern Religion to prefer the Counsel of the Ministers of the Gospel before all Counsels whatsoever We trust it shall never be in his nor in the Kingdom of Scotlands power to impose either himself or his Creatures the House of Lords upon the Supreme Authority and National Counsel of the Free-born People of England who if they once become corrupted in that which is the Fountain of their Liberties their own Representatives in Parliament assembled which with thus much cost hazard are set up in some measure already in their Primitive and Original Purity and are going on every day more and more to the compleating thereof must expect nothing but the flowings forth of Tyranny and Mischief upon them in and by their very Laws and that which should be the chief and onely remedy against all their evils would by this means become the greatest cause and author of them Nor would this at all be mended or helped by the Clause which is put in That in those things which concern Religion he will prefer the Counsels of the Ministers of the Gospel before all Counsels whatsoever and so by undenyable consequence before the Parliament it self for we have learned by experience That there is hardly any Debate had in Parliament but the subject-matter of it in some sense or other may be brought under the concernment of Religion and by that means all the Laws must be or not be as the Clergy will approve or not approve of them A practice so inconsistent with the Fundamental Priviledges and Freedom of Parliament and the Peoples good that it hath always been exploded and resisted by all Assertors of English Freedom and whenever any visible Attempts have been made to promote such a Design as too often have been since the sitting of this Parliament the Parliaments have highly Resented it and frequently adjudged it High Treason looking at it as that which Introduces a Forraign Jurisdiction and makes way for the setting up again a Popish Supremacy changed in Name onely Touching the Act of Oblivion offered It is no doubt the effect of a great desire the King of Scots hath to receive that which he pretends unto in the Government of England An Acknowledgement of his Power to dispense such Favors But in the mean time we must observe who it is that makes this Offer A Traytor to the Parliament and People of England and who by his past Actings against them hath rendred himself obnoxious to their severest Censures from which we hold him no way Absolved by Assumption or Declaration of a Scotish Kingship He who by Law and his