been so kept off Field action All which hath not onely done prejudice to the publike Service but hath brought things to great hazard yea almost to the undoing of all But God in his mercy hath turned the balance no thank to your remissenesse wherein God sheweth although men will not do what they ought and can do for his Service upon I cannot tell what consideration he will do the work of men by no men When I think on John Knox and George Buchanan how freely they spoke and writ at all times and upon all occasions when the Church and State were concerned without fear of any man or Assembly whatsoever having nothing before their eyes but the glory of God and the good of his people They were weak and infirm men as we are all but their stout zeal to the publike was admirable and is ever to be remembred by us not onely to their praise but also to spur us up to imitate them in this heroike vertue For me I value the zeal and stoutnesse of these two Champions of the Truth more than all their other vertues howsoever eminent they were But you will say It is now another age and consequently another way of carriage of things is required It is true we live now in another age which is worse than that of these men Wherefore we must then strive with greater zeal and vertue to oppose the wickednesse of this time For although by a prudentiall preventing and declining by clear-seeing men many plots and devises of the wicked may be for a time shunned Yet there is no way to make the wicked leave or weary of resisting and oppressing goodnesse but by a vigorous and stout opposing of them Besides although the Cards be new we play with all yet it is the same very Game that our Fathers had in Scotland and our Neighbours had lately in our dayes in France Where and when nothing did prevaile or do good unto the Cause but resolution and zeal in carrying on the things not onely against the Common Enemy but also against the false Friends and they that walked then any other way betrayed the Cause and purchased unto themselves the title of silly inconsiderable men of whatsoever rank or degree they were To say nothing of the judgement of God that fell upon them and to this day hangs upon them and theirs I shun examples in this case for I love to reprove faults and spare mens persons Moreover since the Malignants every where are so busie running to and fro like so many Bees with great care and heat and so bold to forge and invent lyes by word and writing to abuse the World and so wrong treacherously the publike Service Why should not then faithfull men be diligent and stout in all freedom to make known the truth of things for the confirming of the well-affected and for stopping of the mouth of the wicked and so consequently for the better carrying on of the work now in hand Now being thus friendly and freely admonished by one who wisheth well to the Common Cause you now serve with his whole heart and unto your selves in particular in so far as you are faithfull and earnest zealous and stout in this Cause of God and his people laying aside all humane prudence which is not subservient to zeal and stoutnesse as well as to faithfulnesse and earnestnesse I hope you will take care to minde this slip by giving unto the publike a true and free relation of all things from time to time as the occasion shall require and in your meetings about Church and State to be stout and free for the advancing of the publike Service to the glory of God to the good of his people and to the contentment and satisfaction of well-affected men in despite of malignancy In the interim till you perform this duty give me leave in this place plainly and homely to put unto the view of the World the relation of some things of speciall note hardly well known to many at least taken notice of but by a few concerning the carriage of the Scots ever since the very first beginning of these unhappy troubles to this day the knowledge whereof will do good I am sure to the publike Service and will help to right in some measure men both faithfull and constant in the Work Yea the commemoration of these things although known I am perswaded will give content to all honest and well-meaning men unto whom the publike good is dearer than the interest of any particular man whatsoever with whom they ought to go along no further than the particular man goeth on with the publike of Church and State laying aside all other relation As for other men I value them no more than the open declared enemies who preferre the pleasure of one abused Prince under pretext of obligation they have to him unto the good of Church and State And thus I begin The Common Enemy having designe to bring these Dominions under spirituall and temporall slavery all things disposed for his ends according to his mind thinks fit for his purpose to begin this great work in Scotland promising unto himself to find least opposition there for reasons which hitherto by Gods mercy hath deceived him The Scots being pressed to receive the corrupt Liturgy to say nothing in this place of what was before put upon them fairly decline it by iterate supplications and humble remonstrances unto the King But nothing will do the turn they must receive the Prelats Master-Peece and Romes essay the Nove-Antic-Service-Book either by fair play or foul The Scots on the other side constant to their principles refuse to receive the Book for which they are published by the Prelats and the Court to be refractaries and rude fellows without God or Religion Which gave occasion to the Scots to make known not onely unto their own people at home but to all men abroad namely to their Brethren of England by a publike Declaration their condition how they were wronged the equity of their Cause their lawfull proceedings and their good intentions by this means their friends good will is confirmed unto them and their enemies designe in some measure is broken who did intend by lyes to steal from them the good affection of their friends Next The Scots being constrained to have recourse to the Sword for their just defence all other means tryed failing were back-bitten as mutinous taking Arms for poverty with intention to cast off the just Authority of their Native and lawfull Prince and to invade England for the spoile thereof To these most pernicious calumnies the Scots replyeth by another Declaration particularly addressed unto England whereby they made known the absolute necessity of their taking up Arms with their honest intentions therein All which they made good thereafter in due time by reall performance For so soon as they had occasion to shew their respect to the King they did it with all readinesse and submission and when they
as is fit and convenient for the repressing of his folly lest he think himself wise and so go on in his evil course to the dishonour of God the Father of truth and to the prejudice of both Church and State who are to be directed by the truth Surely if ever at any time the lye and calumny of the fool for so I call the calumniator how cunningly soever he lyeth is to be repressed with a fit answer it is at this time when there lieth so much at the stake in both Kingdoms as Religion and Libertie with whatsoever else is or ought to be dear unto men Now then to answer unto the calumnies of those Malignants to make the simple truth known to all is absolutely necessary at this occasion to the end that not onely the lyer may find his craft to be folly but also his wicked intent to be disappointed which is no lesse then a breach betwixt the two Nations and hath been such from the beginning and consequently the ruine of both now so united and joyned in the common interest of Church and State that they must sink or swim together for if they should once devide as the one doubtlesse will be presently undone so the end of the other will not be far off Wherefore he that doth any evil office to raise or increase jealousie betwixt them under whatsoever pretext is worse then any open Enemy and what he intends to the publike will come upon himself that is ruine with disgrace But me thinks I hear you whom I blame for silence in so necessary a case and so needfull a time say We have not been wanting in this very thing you find fault with For we have constantly and diligently communicated all things of any moment freely and ingeniously in all truth and simplenesse of heart to some chief leading men our particular good friends upon whom we have relyed from our first hither-coming in all things concerning us and our Countrey-men employed in the service to the end that they should convey the truth of businesse as in discretion they thought fit and did see cause for the publike good and for the right of us their friends to the Houses and from thence to the publike To this I answer You have mistaken the right way Sirs for you should have made your addresses to the whole Parliament or at least to the Committee appointed by the Parliament to hear you consult with you in a word to deal or treat with you of all things wherein you and they are jointly concerned and not suffer your selves to be engrossed by some few howsoever they be Prime men and what do you know if by thus suffering your selves to be as it were led by them hath not increased their credit For men may say that they have reason to follow those by whom you of so much reputation of wisdom and resolution are guided c. Further should not you have thought that particular men howsoever they serve the publike have ordinarily particular ends of ambition and avarice which the publike cannot have And although those your friends be free of these distempers yet you are not assured of their constancy unto you for many things fall out betwixt man and man which makes them not onely fall from intimacy of one with another but makes them adverse and opposite one to another oftentimes And although your friends be free of this infirmity Are you wise men to relie upon others for doing the things you should do your selves without a Procure He that trusteth another to do a thing fitting for himself to do must expect to have the thing done if at all done neither so timely nor so well at least not so soon nor so to his mind as is it falleth out often of extraordinary occasions and occurrences there is no certain rule Next I know you will say We have acquainted the Houses of Parliament to the full with the truth of all things by cut severall papers given unto them at divers times upon divers occasions and we have made known unto the Synode what concerneth Church businesses and so we think we have done enough in this But give me leave Sirs under favour herein also you are hugely mistaken you do well to communicate freely and carefully unto the Houses of Parliament all things and to acquaint them with your proceedings wherein they have common interest with you for the publike service of Church and State in these Dominions I hope they do so with you at least they ought to do it for the common good of both otherwayes the work wherein both Kingdoms are so ingaged and you both are employed will go but slowly and limpingly on Yet this is not enough for first the main passages of publike things done and the chief reasons of the doing thereof are to be made known to the whole Church and State since the whole hath the chief interest in things common to all although you are to communicate your counsels deliberations and conclusions of things to be done for fear of miscarriage onely to the Trustees of Church and State as your selves are Yet I say again what is de facto concerning all must be made known to all for the Trustees of the State and Church are not Lords of them as Kings and Popes pretend to be but servants as they avouch themselves set on work by them for the good of both upon trust which if they betray they are double Traitors First they falsifie their truth to the State and Church whereof they are Members and Children and unto whom they owe all under God Next they betray the trust imposed upon them for the good and benefit of both Church and State Yea the Houses of Parliament themselves shew you the way how to carry your selves in this very particular for they not onely for the satisfaction of the whole Kingdom cause publish the things done by those whom they as Trustees have employed to carry on the service of the publike in the Fields but also they publish unto the Kingdom Declarations of their honest intentions and fair proceedings with Votes and Ordinances for the good of Church and State And I am sure the Trustees of your Nation for your Church and State have done so from the beginning in your particular troubles and that not onely to your own Countrey but also to your neighbour which hath done no harme neither to the advancement of your affaires at home nor to your reputation abroad Although the Houses of Parliament rest satisfied in themselves of the honesty of your proceedings Yet this giveth but small satisfaction unto the Kingdom Yea when you send in your papers to the Houses it may happen that divers Members are absent at the time and so remain as ignorant of your affaires as before the in-giving of the papers for the Houses are so taken up with other thoughts and businesses that they cannot acquaint the absents with your own affaires yea some who are
doing Evil then to an Army above two hundred miles distant who notwithstanding their willingnesse and readinesse to march according to their calling Southward could get neither draughts nor absolutely necessary provisions for a march in such a proportion as was thought very reasonable The truth of this may appear what troubles Generall Lesley found at Rippon to get provisions and draughts and how he went to York to that effect but to very small purpose Let things be tryed and no longer thus carried in hugger-mugger to the prejudice of the publike Service We have heard how that and upon what occasion some of those who had been so intimate with the Scots Commissioners leave them neglect them and oppose them in their proceedings so far as they can in a smooth-way above board to say nothing of what is done under-hand So in this place you shall take notice how that on the other side there be divers of those who formerly had cared so little for the Scots that they neither favoured their in-coming nor thereafter had assisted them so willingly in their honest faithful endeavour for the advancement of the publike Service now at last bethinking themselves of their own error and how that without reason they had been jealous of the Scots they begin to go along with them more freely and earnestly in the publike Work then they had done heretofore which the Scots minding mainly the furthering of the Service of the Common Cause take kindly at their hands and welcome the expressions of their good affection to the Service with respective civilitie wishing from their heart that those who are now withdrawn from them would return unto their wonted correspondence in sincere and brotherly unanimity for carrying on the heavy and tedious Work now lying upon them all Upon this there is great murmuring against the Scots that they had quite left off honest and well-affected men and taken semi-Malignants by the hand who not onely had been slack and backward in the pursuance of the publike Service but adverse unto themselves in particular To all this the Scots do declare truely that as when they came hither at first they took no interest in any man more then they judged him in all appearance to interest himself heartily without by-ends in the Common Cause and as yet they do the same resolved to continue so unto the end constant to their first principles and if any men have withdrawn themselves from them not willing to go constantly along with them in this necessary course they are sorry for those of whose constancy they were in a kind assured and they declare to the World that they neither gave nor intend to give any just distaste in their particular to any But if men will snuff because they are not humeured in all things who can help it The Scots did think at their coming in to have nothing a do with children and women who must be humeured but with set and staid rationall men without any by-respects or private Fancies wholly constants to the Cause both of Church and State as we are all sworn by the Solemn Oath of the Nationall Covenant As for those who having cast off their former mistakes now go along with them more earnestly then formerly in the businesses they cannot but welcome them as all those who put to their helping-hand heartily in the least kinde to the great Work of God and of his people howsoever their carriage have been towards their persons for the publike they having no spleen nor grudge at any forget whatsoever hath been amisse towards them praying God to forgive that his Work may be carried on more cheerfully and unanimously and they are likewise disposed and enclined towards those who have left them off to go along with them so freely and so brotherly as at the first they will imbrace them cheerfully in carrying on the businesses of Church State with them This they declare not to captive men by cunning insinuation as factious ones do but to invite all men fairly to go on with the Work of Church and State according to the Covenant as they hope a blessing from Heaven if they be zealous and faithfull without equivocation and may expect judgement if they either faint or be not sincere Of this enough for this time Yet there is one thing I cannot passe and it is this There be hardly any divisions among these of this side of which the blame is not laid upon the Scots as if they had not had their jealousies one of another and grudges one against another by reason of particular interest and private opinion before the Scots did join with them when it is well known that the Scots assistance faithfull in the Counsell and active in the Field is not onely usefull and necessary for the opposing and repressing of the Common Enemy but also for keeping together those who otherwayes in a likelyhood would fall asunder and so the publike Service suffer at which the Enemy aimes Then I adde that the Enemy howsoever low he seems to be at this instant desires to have no better Game then that the Scots would retire and withdraw their helping hand from the Service for he that of nothing made a party so great as to carry all before it till he was repressed by the Scots would raise up his party again But in despite of the devil and all opposition whether clandestin or open the Scots will stand firm and faithfull for the carrying on of the Work of God and of his people After a certain time the States of both Kingdoms resolved to try yet again if they could reclaime and recall upon any reasonable terms the abused and misled Prince from his evil courses of undoing thē people and himself cause draw up certain Propositions by Common Counsell of both Nations which they send by Commissioners of both States to the King in whom they find nothing but shifts and delays So they return without effectuating any thing A while thereafter the infortunate Prince intending to make the simpler sort beleeve that he was defirous at last of a reall agreement sends hither Commissioners of whose honest meaning the people did least doubt but in the end they were found to be cajeolors to draw things towards a Treaty unto which the Scots declared themselves to be inclined the main businesses of Church and State being secured as willing to try all means possible upon all occasion to take up the differences in a fair way to save further effusion of Christian and Brothers blood and further ruine of those Countreys For this the Scots are cried out upon as evil men by inconsiderate persons set on by Malignants notwithstanding the Treaty goe's on but to small purpose the Kings Commissioners feeling the pulse of the Parliaments Commissioners did promise unto themselves upon what ground they know best or at least should know that they could carry all things to their mind if it were not for the rude and