settle a Reformation among them God forbid that I should be one of those ingrate children mentioned and cryed out on by this Author It is farre from my thought or purpose to deny or to diminish the kindnesse of our brethren whose help was desired and was seasonable but let us understand our selves and how the matter stands betwixt these two Kingdomes We are indebted to Scotland I wish an even reckning and long friendship but I am not yet of opinion we owe our selves to them and if the Author of the Manifest be consulted you shall find an intimation of some other Obligations then meere kindnesse unto us As for instance pag. 24. It is said that the Scots when they began to interesse themselves in this businesse they could not in Conscience and honesty sit quiet any longer and neither say nor doe but I take no advantage of this we are beholding to men for doing what in conscience and honesty they are bound though they should hurt themselves more in violating Conscience and honour then in suffering us to be violated To this you shall find a more externall ground added pag. 28. viz. Now the State of Scotland seeing the common Enemy come to that height that nothing will satisfie him but totall subversion of Church and State inthese Dominions onely they perhaps might be kept for the last though in intention they had been the first judge it not enough for their interest in the common cause to keepe an Army in Ireland but to bee upon their Guard at home and to help their Brethren in England with the Sword since all other meanes so often tryed were disappointed by the malice of the Enemies And this resolution is said to have been taken before Commissioners were sent from England to desire their assistance Pag. 30. So that you may observe the Enemy was a common Enemy the Cause a common Cause the danger to these Dominions the Scots like to suffer as deep though not so soone if they had sate still But give me leave paulo altius repetere and to consider the ancient mutuall tyes and later friendships betwixt these Kingdomes which may be a good meanes to continue and confirme their present correspondence So long as these Kingdomes were under divers especially popish Princes their condition was like that of Israel 2. Chron. 15. 3. when it was without a true God without a teaching Priest and without Law At which time there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the Inhabitants of the Countries and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City The mutuall spoyles and losses of these neighbour Kingdomes being well considered by that wise Prince Henry the seventh he layes a probable foundation of conjunction in giving his eldest Daughter to the King of Scots whose posterity upon the failing of the issue of his Sonne Henry the eight might inherit both Kingdomes which hath since come to passe In the time of Edward the sixt it was thought fit by that Prince whose wisdome and vertue was beyond his yeares and his Councell to make the conjunction more sure and therefore agreed with the Kingdom of Scotland for a Match betwixt this young King and the Daughter of Iames the fifth afterward Queen of France and Scotland But the Polititians of those times in Scotland chose rather to marry their young Princesse to France then England it may be forecasting upon the faile of issue in Henry the eights children that it would be more for their advantage to have a Scottish-man or a French-man King of England then an English-man of Scotland though if I may speake it without offence I think they might have had more comfort in that young Prince Edward 6. had God continued his life and reigne then England hath had of the two Kings they have had from Scotland of whom Truths Manifest sayes That there hath been more Christian bloud shed in these latter yeares under the end of King Iames his and King Charles his Reignes by their Commissions Approbations Connivences and not forbidding what at home and what abroad all which upon the matter they might have stopped if it had been their pleasure then were in the time of the ten Romane Persecutions But although the English had received some dis-ingagement by the non-performance of that Match which was aggravated on both parts by a Fight at Musselborough field yet when the Scots were sore troubled and their Religion Liberty indangered by the said Queene returned from France into Scotland who called the French in to her assistance against her native Subjects the renowned Queene Elizabeth and her prudent Councell though this Kingdome had continuall warre with Spaine yet feared not to provoke the French by affording seasonable helpe to her distressed Neighbours sending to their reliefe 6000 men which were maintained at the charge of the Kingdome of England Which was then thankfully and justly called to minde by the Kingdome of Scotland when this last treaty was to be made So that if we breake off here the kindnesse rests not on our part But I shall as gladly proceed to repeate the good turnes done to this Kingdome as by it and rejoyce in the mutuall obligation And that I may not breake in too suddenly upon the late affaires of these Kingdomes give me leave as a manuduction thereto to give a briefe touch of the Method of Reformation in this Island and but a word for the body of the Story may be had elswhere It pleased God at the bringing of this Island out of Popery to honour Scotland with a more full departure from Romish Idolatry and Superstition for though England wholly renounced their Doctrine yet some dregges of discipline and superstitious Ceremonies remained The Scots had indeed some advantages that wee had not Their Queene was obnoxious their young King in his nonage they had some Nobles and Ministers zealous and well affected so that through Gods blessing they obtained a Reformation in that point though not with so little difficulty as should give them ground to expect it should be done here on a suddaine But as for England in Queene Elizabeths time shee had so much trouble for Holland with Spaine and in Ireland that her Councell thought not fit to adventure upon the trouble of an alteration in this point which they foresaw and wee finde to be great And besides many of our Reformers being Bishops could not so well understand the convenience of their own abolishment In King Iames his time though wee might have expected to have been better in regard he came from a reformed Kingdome yet it was far worse with us for he came with an innate bitternesse against Puritanes which was fomented by our English Bishops so that he became a great Persecutor of unconformity And according to the Proverb Seldome comes a better since the Reigne of this King especially since the preferment of the late Archbishop of Canterbury
received Ammunition in good proportion at Newcastle with a particular respect to their march had no considerable occasion to spend it betwixt that and Hereford The second charge is more particular against some Members of the Committee of both Kingdomes who withdrew that so for want of a full Committee Order could not be given for the dispose of some Horse to strengthen the siege which default occasioned the raising of it Sure that man who hindred the continuance of the siege if without greater disadvantage it might be done was as little a friend to the publick Service as to the Scottish Army and it had been well he were named And did not I barre recrimination I could tell you when there hath been no Committee for regulating the Scots Army for the space of three moneths and more for want of Commissioners from Scotland But as for the possibility of sending Horse from the siege at Bristoll he that knowes the very hard duty that Sir Thomas Fairfaxes Horse had there and the great danger in regard of the Enemy in the West and withall considers the great importance of that service both in regard of gaining the City and preserving the Army I beleeve will consent with the Truth rather then the Manifest But I will make a faire motion that all the disputes concerning the carriage of the businesse of Hereford might be ended in that happy Act of oblivion which was done by the vigilance and dexterity of Collonel Morgan and Birch and the gallant adventure of the Lieutenant who surprised the Guard the City is taken and we have all reason to be satisfyed Pag. 111. Upon occasion of the sad newes from Scotland which the Author acknowledges was heartily resented as by divers well affected so especially by the Houses of Parliament who appointed a publick Fast on that behalfe some reproches are cast upon the Independents who are also said to have leaped for joy of the infortune of the Scots It 's answered that revilings need no answer As for what is laid to the charge of Independents because sometimes the Army under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax goes under that notion I must not conceale how earnestly the chiefe Officers of that Army were affected with the ill tydings from Scotland and how heartily they expressed it in a most affectionate Letter sent from the Generall Lieutenant Generall Crumwell and other Commanders which I am confident they will make good in actions if the necessity of that Kingdome should ever so require for they are not so voyd neither of charity nor gratitude as this Author pretends I know no Kingdome that England is behind hand with in reall kindnesse I hope they will not begin with Scotland As for the objection made pag. 112. concerning Lieutenant Generall Lefleyes going into Scotland upon notice of the ill condition of affaires there given by the Chancellor he can best answer it that made it I thinke he wanted respect to the good of both Nations who expressed any unwillingnesse to the reliefe of that Kingdome in such necessity but I cannot but take notice of what is said pag. 114. of the cold comfort yielded by this Kingdome to their Neighbours when things were made knowne To which it is returned that the Parliament of England waited onely for the desires of Scotland to be made knowne to them in that behalfe but the Scots were farre more shye in asking help then the English in affording it We had Commissioners then at Barwick witnesses of their condition to whom indeed some Noble-men and Gentlemen of Scotland made a Proposition for sending for Collonel Poyntz and Rosseter to come to their reliefe and that the Forces about Hereford might march for supplying and securing the Northerne Counties and opposing the attempts of the Enemy there which our Commissioners not having power in speedily represented to those that had by a paper from the Scots Lords as a memoriall of their desires therein for the Scots were no Committees and the next day after upon receipt of Letters from David Lesley there at Bawtry a Nobleman and a Gentleman of that Kingdome and of the Committee were sent to our Commissioners and in the name of the rest receded from their desires in the fore-mentioned paper which put our Commissioners upon a contradiction of their former Intelligence represented to the Parliament and though it was propounded by some of our Commissioners in that time of so great necessity that a considerable number of Scottish Forces might be drawn out of the Towns and Castles in the North of England besides the Towne of Barwick which might be able to make up a competent strength to oppose the Enemy yet that advise was not approved of by the Scots So that it easily appeares where the ground either of delayes or denyals of help were As for the Parliament they readily yielded to the march of the Scots Army Northward for the reliefe of their owne Kingdome notwithstanding their engagements in the South which was as much as was or could be desired So that I suppose the severe intermination that the setting the promise of a small help at the rate was then offered will be blamed by Posterity when it shall be recorded what Scotland hath done and undergone for their Brethren and what thanks the Scots have for their paines might have been left out notwithstanding the particulars which said to be spared till another occasion Pag. 116. I find an unfitting parallel betwixt Cardinall Richelieu and the English Parliament for though the Parliament be not named yet those who are carefull of the English Armies are which must needes be they who are made to agree in this point of Politick unjustice to set men on worke and purposely deny them necessaries that through their miscarriage others might be advanced Certainly though that Cardinall must needs be acknowledged a man of eminent parts and policy of which he hath left a monument that yet stands yet after that this Author had branded him with pride Ambition Tyranny and Atheisme which are no Cardinal vertues me thinkes he might have used more Brotherly kindnesse to the Parliament of England then to make such an unworthy reflection But as for the wants of the Scottish Army if enough have not been already said let me adde this the way not to want in England is to worke and I am confident that had they done the proportion of worke that other Armies have done they would have had the same proportion of wages and if others had done no more they had got as little This page is closed with an injust though not unusuall bitternesse against the once Governour of Bristoll whose returne to sit in Parliament is said to be matter of astonishment to the world The world is wide sir and so are you But why so angry me thinks the taking the City so considerable might have softned your spirit We use to grace solemne occasions with some Acts of favour why not the taking of
Bristoll with receiving Mr. Fiennes especially the retaking of the Towne affording an Argument à majore ad minùs What is the quarrell the Gentleman had before surrendred it for which he was sentenced by a Councell of Warre As for the Councell of Warre I beleeve they were guided by honour and Conscience in what they did And by vertue of the Article obliging the Governour of a Towne to hold out to extremity condemned the Gentleman The Generall remitting the summum jus concurred not for execution of the sentence the gentleman lives and does well may he long do so he hath left the Camp he followes the Counsell a worke sutable to his parts acknowledged by this Author to be fit for a Senate You complaine of his friends for putting him upon an imployment of which you say he was not capable but are you free from blame to deny him an imployment for which you acknowledge him so well fitted he never was engaged neither in Counsell nor in Armes against this Cause as some who are to be found in other Counsells or Armies but parciùs ista I adde but this the Gentleman hath received some wrong by this charge but the Parliament more it being an injust reflection upon their Wisdome and Priviledge that they should be taxed for dealing with their owne Members as they thinke best for the publick good of the Kingdome As for that passage of Souldiers bawling in the fields Coblers pratling in Tubs in stead of preaching Ne saevi magne Saeerdos Quam scit uterque libens censebo exerceat artem Pag. 122. He proceeds to exagitation of a piece of a Letter written from Lieutenant Generall Cromwell upon the taking of Bristoll First he wonders the latter part of the Letter now published by him was suppressed by that Authority that printed the other part It is no wonder that the Parliament intending to recommend to the people matter of thanksgiving should not with-hold that part of the Letter wherein there were some passages tending rather to doubtfull disputation then undoubted gratulation which I conceive was the reason of it It is a greater wonder to me that this Author should so confidently print it when the Parliament had forbid it As for the expressions of the Letter recited and animadverted I hold not my selfe obliged to say any thing I am no mans Champion but an Advocate to the truth and a servant not as I am like to be taxed a Parazite to the Parlialiament but if I were minded to call the Letter and the Annotations upon it to a review it were easie to find as may irregularities in the notes as the Author of the Manifest doth in the Text From hence the Manifest finds an easie passage to the Independents aggravating their ill Pag. 127. extenuating their good service Pag. 128. I am loath to leave so ill a relish in the minds or mouthes of the Readers as to repeate the imputations but take them as they are Men that serue themselves into imployment engage the Pamphleteers to set forth lyes and tales for them causers of disturbances blasphemies heresies violation of the Covenant underminers factious guilty of a malicious plot bringers of confusion into the Church and consequently Anarchy into the State men that doe all for by-ends that joyne with others as the Papists with Malignants for their own Interests Tantaene animis coelestibus irae To this I answer in the words of the Apostle Iames My beloved brethren let every man be swift to heare slow to speake slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousnesse of God I cannot conceive how they that are singly Independents that is men dissenting from other Governments in the constitution and ordering of a Congregation should deserve so much bitternesse First they desire a liberty of collecting their members from severall Parishes and would have an union of hearts rather then a neighbourhood of houses to make up a Congregation It cannot be denied but that this would produce many inconveniences which no doubt will be remonstrated but me thinkes if it be not tolerable for its consequents it should be pardonable for its grounds arising from a desire of all possible puritie in an Assembly Wee shall all be in this point Independent in our desires and endeavours and must be constrained to set up a Congregation within a Parish when wee debarre one halfe from the Sacrament and admit the other which is like to be the case in many places Secondly they defire a liberty to ordaine their own Officers This is the practice of Presbyterians also for all Officers but Pastors To their admission also the reasonable consent of the people is allowed and the approbation which gives life to the Ordination Thirdly they desire a freedome from the Presbyteries and Synods An association of Churches me thinks they should not deny a necessitie of Synods they allow the difference is whether the acts of such meetings should be by way of advice or authority whether the meetings should be setled or occasionall for reconciling these let us consider the one would have State-meetings the other upon emergencies both agree they should be as ost as necessity is and no oftner in case it be oftner it is as nothing to that Congregation which hath no reference thither As for that of advice and authoritie I have read a position in Voetius the Professor of Theology at Utretcht a very learned man and a Presbyterian to this purpose Potestas Ecclesiae est directiva non jurisdictiva It is to be found in a disputation de unione regimine Ecclesiarum wherein are many things that sound to moderation but this difference I beleeve will finde more dispute in notion then opposition in action I should wave both the debates of jus divinum in Presbyteries and the authority of Assemblies and remit things to the practice If the dictates or rather directions of a Presbytery or Synod be agreeable to the Word of God and publique Peace and edification I should embrace them were the Authority of a Synod never so little were they repugnant to these rules and ends either in themselves or my apprehension which yet I should strive to get informed with all diligence and humility I must be spared were their authority never so great The next and indeed the last thing of moment is the London-Petition which this Author approves and prints and contests with the Parliament about the receiving Petitions in generall and this in particular But this Gentleman and I are of so different tempers that I shall not take so much liberty to dispute on the behalfe of the Parliaments Priviledge and practice in this particular as he doth against it They best know their own Priviledges and how to maintaine them This I know that there is no better way to preserve the peoples liberty then by keeping inviolate the Parliaments Priviledge If there be a necessity of Rulers for the conservation of Liberty as there is there is an equall necessitie of preserving the authority of those Rulers especially employing their endeavours for publique good as the Parliament doth The Petition was well framed for the substance of it and is granted for the maine if the Parliament thought it too binding and particular and judged better to grant the thing then receive the Petition who need find fault when they that Petition are gainers and they that grant are no losers As for the Citie of London their deserts are such of this Cause and Kingdome that I am confident no reasonable thing much lesse religious will be denied them and I am as confident they will aske no other They understand the need and use the Parliament have had and have of them and they also apprehend the neare relation and dependance they have upon the Parliament and may easily foresee the fractions would arise in so great a multitude did not the countenance and Authoritie of Parliament restraine Their mutuall advantage depends upon their agreement which whosoever goes about to interrupt let them be divided in Iacob and scattered in Israel For a close let me take that passage of the Manifest concerning the endeavour of the enemy to divide the Nations and his own hopes to which I adde mine that they shall not prevaile Certainly our endeavour should be to prevent the fulfilling of theirs especially in a thing so important to Religion and the good of these Kingdomes The scrupulous thoughts of offence made me sometimes to forbeare this answer which yet I have endeavoured so to order as not to give any offence if it be taken I shall be sorry yet glad that it is not given It may possibly breed me some disquiet but why should I purchase my own peace with the losse of truth If I have incurred one trouble I am sure I have avoided another which was to me a great one sc. to see the obligations of this Kingdome aggravated their ingratitude recorded the Parliament affronted the Commissioners abused the people deceived these are things I have endeavoured to right forgive me this wrong I will trouble you no more unlesse this Author continue in a resolution of a fuller discourse as he intimates in the end of his Manifest which I desire might be forborne For if there be no remedy we shall also find a Reserve FINIS Postscript WHereas it may be said that this labour might have bin spared in regard of the Censure adjudged by Parliament to Truths Manifest I answer that there is as much difference betwixt a Censure and an Answer as betwixt the offence in writing the Booke and the hurt done by spreading it The Parliament have taken just notice of the fault but have not thereby prevented the mischiefe for since the Author was call'd in question the book hath been studiously dispersed and as I beleeve reprinted and hath found some Readers so confident as to say that the book was censured because it could not be answered the contrary of which doth now appeare Pag. 23. Pag. 29. Rom. 15. 20. Jam. 1. 19 20.