Containing exceptions to the first Article of the Covenant really and constantly through the Grace of God endeavor in our several places and callings the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government against our common Enemies The Reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best reformed Churches And shall endeavor to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church-Government Directory for Worship and Catechizing That we and our posterity after us may as Brethren live in Faith and Love and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us II. That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavor the extirpation of Popery Prelacy that is Church-Government by Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy Superstition Heresie Schisme Profaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness lest we pertake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues and that the Lord may be one and his Name one in the three Kingdoms III. We shall with the same sincerity reallity and constancy in our several Vocations endeavor with our estates and lives mutually to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms that the world may bear witness with our Consciences of our Loyalty and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish His Majesties just power and greatness IV. We shall also with all faithfulness endeavrr the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants or evil Instruments by hindring the Reformation of Religion dividing the King from His people or one of the Kingdoms from another or making any faction or parties amongst the people contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publick trial and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the supream Judicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient V. And whereas the happiness of a blessed Peace between these Kingdoms denied in former times to our progenitors is by the good providence of God granted unto us and hath been lately concluded and setled by both Parliaments we shall each one of us according to our place and interest endeavor that they may remaine conjoyned in a firm Peace and Vnion to all posterity And that Justice may be done upon the wilful opposers thereof in manner expressed in the precedent Articles VI. We shall also according to our places and callings in this common cause of Religion Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof and shall not suffer our selves directly or indirectly by whatsoever combination perswasion or terror to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed Vnion and Conjunction whether to make defection to the contrary part or to give our selves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in this cause which so much concerneth the glory of God the good of the Kingdoms and the honour of the King but shall all the dayes of our lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all lets and impediments whatsoever and what we are not able our selves to suppresse or overcome we shall reveal and make known that it may be timely prevented or removed All which we shall do as in the sight of God When I consider the matter of these several promises to have been propounded by a Parliament on advice had with an Assembly of Grave Learned and Judicions Divines who were to discover sin and make men to discerne between good and evil I cannot but retain a strong conjecture that it is all good and lawful And when I consider His late Majesties dissatisfaction expressed in His Contemplations to be more in respect of the manner than the matter my conjecture is much confirmed And when I observe His most Sacred Majesty at His late Coronation to have by Solemn Oath testified His allowance and approbation of the Solemn League and Covenant and by His Royal Declaration from Dumfirmling to have professed That on mature deliberation and being fully satisfied of the lawfulnesse and equity of the Solemn League and Covenant and every the Articles thereof Himself had sworn it and conjureth all his Subjects to lay aside their opposition to it Loyalty leads my conjecture unto a conclusion For such serious scrutiny by so sage and conscientious persons and that under the afflicting hand of that God who will not be mocked could not but have described the sinfulnesse of the matter if it be found But when I weigh the particulars promised and find them to be the Preservation of Religion and Reformation wherein it is corrupted and removal of what is thereunto obstructive as to the religious part of it and the preservation of the Kings Prerogative and peoples liberty and Nations unity and removal of the enemies thereof as to the civil part of it my conclusion is established and I find it so farre from unlawful that it binds us not to any thing which in the nature of it is not on us a positive duty though not bound by this most Sacred Bond and so farre is this Covenant from a repugnancie to our baptismal Covenant as our Dr. hath suggested in his * Page 12. Analysis that as I have in my * Page 22. Analepsis noted It is no hard matter to resolve it into the three heads of our baptismal promise taught by our Church For if I must believe the Articles of the Creed I must preserve sound Doctrine and reform to my power what is corrupt If I must keep Gods Commandments I must pursue pure worship and Religion towards God and Loyalty Love and unity towards men And if I must renounce the Divel and all his works I must extirpate Popery and Papal Prelacy Superstition Heresie Schisme will all incendiaries and evil instruments hinderers of Reformation And now I shall pray Dr. Gauden will shew us wherein this Covenant is so vastly different from the Covenant made in Baptisme Yet I shall consider once more the matter of the Covenant by those Rules which resolve the matter of an Oath unlawful and if it be therein chargeable I shall consent to the discharge of this Holy Bond. An Oath is in reference to the matter of it determined unlawful when it is unnecessary and about trifles and that is the prophaning of an Oath yet will
Ingenuity for to him All things might be lawful but were not expedient was a Rule but their Reasons might restrain these learned men and they are five in number 1. They had by subscribing the 39. Articles testified their approbation of that government 2. Received orders from their hands 3. Petitioned the continuance thereof 4. Htld their Livelyhood under such titles and in the exercise of that Government or some part thereof 5. Had sworn as Members of such societies to preserve the immunities liberties and profits of the same Vnto all which I shall say very briefly 1 It is worth their enquity whether they subscribed the 39. Articles judiciously and judicially and so gave their approbation to this Government we grant that in the 39. Articles commonly published there is one viz. the 36. which relateth to the Book of Consecration of Bishops and Arch-bishops c. But that it affirmeth that Book to contain in it nothing contrary to the Word of God I find not in either the Latine or English Copy of these Articles which I have seen these learned men sure read these Articles with the Parliaments Remonstrance before mentioned and so misread them both but suppose the Article had so affirmed it had laid no bar to the alteration or extirpation of this Government for it might be as indeed all our Stattues do suggest a meer Political Civil constitution and so though an Adiaphoron not contrary any more than consonant to the Word of God and alterable at the pleasure of Englands Parliaments and then Sir with whatever judgment these Gentlemen subscribed this Article I am sure there is not much in pleading it as a Bar to the duty enjoyned by Parliament Yet I must confess I am not satisfied that the Books of ordering Priests and Deacons and Consecration of Bishops and Archbishops did contain in them nothing contrary to the Word of God for I not believe nor is it evident to me by Holy Scripture or ancient Authors that from the Apostles times there hath been these orders of Ministers in Christs Church Bishops Priests and Deacons for I find no Priests in the new Testament and conceive Presbyters and Bishops to be no more than different denominations of the same order and make not different orders any more than Pastours Teachers Stewards Angels Stars and the like and if there were these orders yet it is I think contrary to the Word of God to add a fourth Arch-bishops and if they be not an order how come they to have the same consecration with Bishops a contended for order of the Ministry and how come Bishops to swear unto them obedience neither the one nor the other is common to a gradual preheminence the Speaker of the Parliament or Lord Chief Justice hath no such like Solemnity I question whether the word will allow an Ordination to some part of the Ministry and give Authority to apply one Sacrament or Seal of the Covenant and not the other nor am I clear the Deacons Office doth at all consist in Ministry of Word and Baptism and assistance at the Communion the Scripture specially points them to the poor and to serve Tables I question whether mute service in a publick solemn Assembly be not contrary to the Word of God where all as well prayer as preaching ought to tend to Edification I question whether a Magisterial and Authoritative giving the Holy Ghost peculiar to Christ who did it in reality be not contrary to the Word of God or according to the words of the Article Superstitious and ungodly And whether Ministers swearing Caronical obedience to the Bishop or Bishops to the Arch-bishops be not plainly Papal and ungodly If these learned men considered and were convinced of the consonancy of these and the like things with the Word I hope they subscribed this Article judiciously yet I must enquire how judicially I imagine the Satute of Queen Elizabeth will nos be produced as their warrant for subscription to this Article for the Articles thereby enjoyned 13. Eliz. 13. do only concern the confession of the true Christian Faith and Doctrine of the Sacraments and this particle only is exclusive to Discipline and Government which by the whole current of our Laws are concluded to be Political in their nature only Ecclesiastical ratione objecti at the pleasure of the Magistrate and therefore could not be made an Article of the true Christian Faith I hope such as leave this Article out of their Creed shall not be shut out of the Christian Church Now Sir were there any force in this exception to the Covenant I would advise that subscription to be taken into second thoughts yet it is as ponderous as the next They received Orders from their hands and should ill requite them for laying their hands on them to lay to their hands to root them up and cannot tell for what That they should root them up who had laid their hands on them was not required they might continue Men Ministers it is like better Christians and more painful Preachers when they were not Bishops I hope Prelates and Prelacy were not inseparable that the one must be ruined in the removal of the other and our question is of the thing not person in which degradation was the worst they could do them who had they been affected with the dream of Richard Havering Arch-bishop of Dublin The Annals of Ireland in Cambd. Britan pag. 169. That a certain Monster heavier than the whole World stood eminently aloft upon his breast from the weight whereof he chose rather to be delivered than alone to have all the goods of the World when he waked he thought this was nothing but the Bishoprick of Dublin and so forthwith renounced it Or had they enjoyed the Spirit of Antoninus Elected Arch-bishop of Florence who refused on fear of hazarding his salvation to accept it and when thundred into it by the counsel of his friends frowns of the Magistrates and the Popes Bull kept only eight persons no stately furniture in his house no Coach and Horses and kept his usual method of devotion in his Family saying They should do him a special favour to thrust him fram his Bishoprick wherein he continued with very great Regret They would acknowledge a kindness done unto them and yet were it an unkindness these Gentlemen were acquitted from the ingratitude they have petitioned their continuance and were not able to withstand the pleasure of their Superiors on whose pleasure their whole enjoyments did depend nor had they been without Parallel if not a plea of Justice For the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England Rochester excepted in the time of Henry the eighth had voluntarily without the command of the King or Parliament sworn to root up the Pope the Apex of this Episcopacy from whom they had received their Palls Properties Power Foxe his Acts and Monuments p. 564. 565 566 567. I had almost said Papacy Their third Reason I pass as an
Subsectio quarta The Master Scholars and other Officers and Members of the University of Oxford in their Apology for not taking the Covenant urge their Reasons against the same as unlawful not in the matter it self simply considered but by accident in respect of some circumstances attending themselves and discapacitating them unto the Act and they offer their exceptions unto the Articles severally and distinctly Unto the first Article they except against the Preservation of the Reformed Religion of the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Oxford Reasons Sect. 3. pag. 4. and Worship Discipline and Government and then against the Reformation of England in those particulars Unto the first they tell us 1 Except They are not satisfied how they can in judgment swear to endeavour to preserve the Religion of another Kingdom To which I answer in General it is but reason they suspend the Act untill they can swear in judgment though such as have rashly in ignorance prophaned the Oath by swearing it must in sence of its Sacred Obligation inform their judgments that they may performe it and not cast it off but what hindreth their judgment in this required Act They urge four obstructive reasons As First As it did not conc rn them to have very much 1 Reason of this exception so they profess they had very little understanding thereof In which reason it is to be noted 1. They had some understanding of the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of Scotland and that little might so farre enlighten their judgment as lawfully to swear the preservation thereof I presume many Citizens have little and but general notion of the Liberties they swear to preserve yet are judged to swear in judgment 2. I wonder an Vniversity and Protestant Vniversity conversing in all Books and I must imagine meeting with the two Books of the Discipline of the Church of Scotland their Confession of Faith and Form of Worship entertaining Schoolmen and Bishops thence fled by reason of the same and openly oppugning and disputing against the same should profess they had thereof little understanding but it may be they minded not to study these things 3. Some understanding in the Religion of another Kingdom was necessary to them as Christians and Protestants by vertue of the Communion of the Church and some as an Vniversity and Protestant School of Learning where the true Religion of the Reformed Churches was to be defended duobts dissolved and errors oppugned and contradicted and some was necessary to them as Subjects required to swear the preservation thereof for the injunction could not but provoke an enquiry after the matter to be preserved I wonder therefore how these men could profess it did not concern them to have much who if I mistake not ought to know as much as all the Nation besides but from what they know they adde the next Reason viz. In three of the four specified particulars viz. Worship 2 Reason of this exception Discipline and Government it is much worse and in the fourth that of Doctrine not at all better than our own to be reformed I wonder Sir what account of the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of Scotland was by the occurrences of those unhappy times brought unto the knowledge of the University of Oxford I hope they were more wise and just than to take it from Mr. John Maxwel pretended Bishop of Ross a man excommunicated by the Church and censured by the State of that Kingdom a professed Enemy and enraged Delinquent cursing his very Judges whom I find about that time at Oxford writing his Issachars Burden a most railing reproachful discovery of the Discipline of the Church of Scotland and the rather for that the heat of expectation and ostentation of many in reference to that book was cooled by a providential fire which seiz'd on the Printing-House and burned the Copies ready to be published the next day as Mr. Baylie in his Vindication of the Government of that Church which these Gentlmen might have met with doth testifie Yet Sir had these men of reading regarded what more sober and impartial men have said and written they would have had another Character of this Church I may not mind them of the Apology to the Doctors of Oxford in the time of King James preferring the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of Scotland before that of England or of their Philadelphian purity Bright man on Apocalyps 3. who did not only keep the Doctrine of Salvation pure and free from corruption but doth also deliver it in writing and exercise in practice that sincere manner of government whereby men are made pertakers of Salvation mentioned by Mr. Brightman our Countreyman they will possibly tell us these were Seperatists to whom Scotland is no friend or Puritans Yet methinks * Magnum hoc Dei munus quod una religionem puram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doctrinae viz. retinendae vinculum in Scotiam intulistis Sic obsecro obtesto haec duo simul rebinet ut uno amisso alterum diu permanere non posse semper memineritis Beza Epist 79. Beza may call for a little audience and respect from this Learned Assembly and he told us long since This is the great gift of God that you have brought into Scotland together pure Religion and good order which is the bond to hold fast the Doctrine and I heartily pray and beseech you for Gods sake hold fast these two together and alwayes remember that if one be lost the other cannot long remain And no less venerable I presume is the Corpus Confession the Harmony of Confessions of all the reformed Churches and yet therein they have an account of the Church of Scotland which might render it more acceptable and worthy to be preserved For thus it is reported by the Collector who much rejoyced in the providence that brought their Confession into his hand * Est illud ecclesiae Scoticanae privilegium rarum prae multis in quo etiam Nomen apud exteros suit celebre quod circiter aut nos plus minus 54. sine Schismate nedum Haeresi unitatem cum puritate doctrinae prevaverit retinuerit hujus unitatis adminiculum ex Dei misericordia maximum fuit quod paulatim cum doctrina Christi Apostolorum Disciplina sicut ex verbo Dei praescripta est una suit recepta quam proxime fieri potuit secundum eam totum ecclesiae regimen fuit administratum Dâ—t Dominus Deus pro immensa sua bonitate Regiae Majestati omnibusque Ecclesiarum gubernatoribus ut ex Dei verbo illam unitatem Doctrinae puritatem perpetuo conservat Corpus Confess p. 6. It is the rare priviledge of the Church of Scotlaod before many in which respect her name is famous even among strangers that about the space of fifty and four years without Schisme yea or Heresie she hath holden fast unity with
the Preachers defended even in the University from censure for them nay these were Printed in several Books of the same Authors licensed and allowed by the Archbishop and his Chaplains and many of them asserted in the visitation Articles of some Bishops and yet were not established in the Church of England As in Doctrine so in worship many corruptions were innovated and exercised As Bowing at the Name of Jesus The turning Communion-Tables into Altars or Altarwise and Railing them in furnishing them with Candlesticks and Tapers Tying the Gospel the blessing and other parts of the publick service to that place enclosed and bowing to these Altars The making Crucifixes and Canopies pictures of God Christ the Holy Ghost Virgin Mary and other Saints in our Church-windows Consecration of Churches Fonts Bells and the like All which and many such were first innovated to the Chappel at Lambeth and ferried over to White-hall and so transmitted to all Cathedral and almost all Parish Churches and yet were not established by Law though enforced by the corruption of Discipline in the Visitation Articles of Bishop Wren Bishop Mountague Bishop Peircy Bishop Lindsey and Bishop Skinner and others in their several Diocesses and by the silencing suspension excommunication and imprisonment and High Commission vexation of Mr. Chauncey Vicar and Mr. Parker an Inhabitant of Ware Mr. Burros of Colchester and many others Nor was Government any more pure if we consider how it was exercised in the High Commission and Star-Chamber with all rigor cruelty and injustice and in Visitations Citations Probate of VVills Letters of Administration and Excommunication in the name and under the Seal of the Bishops themselves never authorized thereunto All which were evidently needful to be reformed as having been so publickly exercised and potently defended and might well enforce a covenanted endeavor to reform Religion in the Kingdom of England I well know Sir that the change of Religion makes a great sound in the world especially if established I cannot be insensible of the noise made by it against our first Reformation and must expect the Eccho to follow all after acts and degrees thereof for all changes are scandalous and many very dangerous If therefore these Masters and Scholars of Oxford could rationally conceive the Covenant to bind them to endeavor a change of Religion in the substance matter and essential parts and form thereof then I must confess their exception is very important for we cannot deny that our Bishops Martyrs and Learned Divines have by Suffering and Writing testified it to have been agreeable to the Word of God And that to resolve that into the power and pleasure of a Parliament who may direct and authorize the profession but not prescribe the matter or form were to make it a Parliamentary Religion and the change thereof must needs condemn our Laws and the punishment of Papists not joyning with us as unjust and so justifie Papist and Separatist the one in his recusancy and the other in his separation But Sir when I consider the Religion of Scotland to be preserved as the concomitant and provocation the VVord of God to be the Rule and the best reformed Churches professing the same substantial Religion though differing in administration and order propounded as the pattern I see not how right reason can render any such sence of it and the rather for that Reformation not alteration of Religion is the formal act which presupposeth the continuation of the subject about which it is conversant But Sir if they as they needs must by Religion understand the order and annexed Ceremonies appendant to Religion whether established as was the Cross in Baptism holinesse of dayes and order of the Liturgy and the like or only exercised and enforced by Prelates power and countenance as the corruptions before mentioned then we must say their exception is of no weight not the reason any thing worth for this change can be no such scandal as is conceived for we deny them to have been testified by our Bishops Martyrs and learned men by any Sufferings or Writings untill of late by the persons and such like before mentioned as agreeable to the Word of God and must put them to the proof of it we think we are able to produce Tindal Latimer Hooper Ridley Farrar and many other Martyrs by laying down their Bishopricks and other contests and sufferings to have testified against them and Mr. Cartwright Baines and many Devonshire Cornwal and Lincolnshire Ministers and others ever since the Reformation by Writing Petition Remonstrance Apology and Sufferings to have testified against not only the corruptions exercised against which our Jewel Fulk Whitaker Archbishop Parker Dr. Ward Dr. Brownrigge Dr. Bancroft and all sound and learned Divines not devoted to return to Rome have written but even the very Order and Ceremonies established as being not agreeable to the Word of God And if these learned Gentlemen had pleased to observe the Visitation and high Commission proceedings they might have found Prynn Burton Bastwick Layton Workman Langley Hind Nichols Ball and many others known learned men who were silenced suspended imprisoned stigmatized and in much Sufferings testified these appendants to our Religion whether established or exercised to be no way agreeable to the Word of God and I know not whom they can ment on as a Martyr for them unless it be Lawde the late Archbishop the grand Innovator of our Church 2. If therefore our Religion be by Papists or Prelates reproached as a Parliamentary Religion we will rejoyce in our reproach and bless God we had a Parliament that had zeal to improve their power about those things that were properly subject thereunto 3. Nor can this Reformation justifie the recusancy of the Papists because these things never became a Reason for their recusancy further than they occasioned their obduracy by assuring their hopes of Englands return to them Nor the Separation of the Separatists for that the corruptions established were never made such essential parts of worship as to make a sufficient ground for separation Witness Cartwrights defence of the Church service The Masters and Scholars of Oxford cannot have been so little observant as not to know that the sober zealous Non-conformists who groaned under the burden of these corruptions and for this Reformation were grieved by and greatly contended against the * Mr. Geree his Vindiciae ecclesiae Anglicanae shewing necessity of reformation not Separation And Mr. Balls two Books against Mr. Cann Separation as that which was without sufficient ground yet like Jesus Christ their Master kept Communion with a Church whose Doctrine and Worship was very much in need of Reformation and taught men so to do granting There was something in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church of England not agreeable to the Word of God and yet not enough to lay a ground for separation 4. Much less doth this endeavor judge the Law against and punishment of Papists as unjust which
Throne of Christ as things tending towards Superstition and Schisme and the worst things in the Church of Scotland which called for Reformation rather than Preservation Lastly the Hazard of their estates doth seem indeed to be their great stumbling block in their way to the Covenant All Clerks are by the Lawes yet in force required to give their assent unto what by this Covenant is required to be reformed and that on pain of losing their Benefice Which Sir we shall admit though it would admit a dispute in reference to many if not all the particulars mentioned yet how should this demurre to the taking of the Covenant Because the Law requires our assent it will not therefore follow they need not reformation nor it is not lawful for us to endeavour their reformation Many men have assented to the Law who could never give the assent required by the Law and by suffering shewed that the Law is their burden binding them to suffer whilst it requireth what they in truth and good Conscience cannot yield But must good men continue under this burden and take no care to ease themselves Is it a sin for men to covenant in their places to endeavour the removal of a burdensom Law Or might not the Reformation covenanted be so endeavoured Nay Sir on the consideration of the whole Reason can such endeavour be any wrong to mens consciences reputation or estate and then there is no strength in this 2d Reason of Oxford against the covenanting such an endeavour But we proceed to their 3d. Reason of this Exception The third Reason on which the Masters 3d. Reason of this exception Scholars c. of Oxford stand dissatisfied concerning the Covenant or Reformation of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government is indeed the most weighty and considerable if but clearly proved and it is Their manifest danger of perjury the Covenant in this point seeming directly contrary to the former Solemn Protestation I presume they mean that of May 5. 1641. which they had sworn neither for hope or fear or other respect ever to relinquish or the Oath of Supremacy which according to the Laws of this Realm and the Statutes of this University they had sworn Unto this Reason I easily grant that contradictory Oaths do run the soul on manifest perjury and if the first were lawful the last must needs be sinful neither to be sworn at first nor obliging at last if it be sworn 2. But the contradiction must be manifest and clear not seeming and conjectural which may spring by passion and prejudice to the fancy of such as are willing to suppose it as all things look yellow to Jaundies eyes and is not in reality such to impartial Readers It seems this contradiction between this Covenant and those Oaths was to the men of Oxford but seeming though to their best understandings in their then capacity I presume and it must pass into a certainty before it discharge the bond to such as are under it though seeming so to be might suspend the act of them to whom it so seemed 3. But let us see wherein seems this contradiction It is well if it amount not to as much as the Scotch Notions before specified which seemed to tend to Superstition and Schisme First then of the contradiction to their protestation which I imagine can be no other but that of May 5. 1641. and so far as it concernes Religion runneth thus I A. B. do in the presence of Almighty God vow and protest to maintain and defend as farre as lawfully I may with my life power and estate the true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the doctrine of the Church of England against all Popery and Popish Innovations within this Realm contrary to the same Doctrine The Solemn League and Covenant in the Article under consideration runneth thus That we shall sincerely really and constantly through the grace of God endeavor in our several places and callings the Reformation of Religion in the Kingdom of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and example of the best reformed Churches Contraria contrariis juxta opposita magis elucescunt Let any impartial eye reade these two Oaths thus opposed and shew me wherein seeme the contradiction to lie They may indeed seem different in their sound and manner of expression but Oxford well knoweth that all diversa are not opposita all difference amounts not to a contradiction diversa opposita aeque dissentanea sunt sed non aeque dissentiunt they differ indeed but not with the same difference I wish that on second thoughts they will please to tell us whether the difference be Re or Ratione only the same thing being protested in the first though not in the same words and after the manner which was covenanted in the last But they specifie the contradiction viz. The Doctrine they vowed to maintain by the name of the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England they took to be the same now to be reformed and altered But Sir were they not in taking it so to be much mistaken The Covenant binds to Reforme Doctrine in the Kingdom of England was there no such Doctrine openly divulged in the Court Sermons and Printed books of Mountague Reive Heylen Dowe Cozens Pocklington and others before mentioned In Mountague Apello ad Caesarem originum Ecclesiasticorum 2 parts Anti-diatribae Pocklingtons Sunday no Sabbath Altare Christianum Heylens Coal from the Altar History of the Sabbath Sales his introduction to a devout life Shelfords five Treatises Dowe against Mr. Burton Cozens his houres of Prayer and many other licensed books publickly sold in the Kingdom and in the Visitation Articles of Bishop Mountague Bishop Peirce and Bishop Wren on which many good men were vexed which was distinct and different if I may not say expresly contrary to the Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England And did not these need Reformation And is it not the duty of every good Subject and Protestant in maintenance of this Religion to endeavor a Reformation alteration and total expunction of such Doctrine and so to Covenant And then Sir where is the contradiction In this sense the Protestation and Covenant do plainly coincidere and agree in one and the same thing But Sir let us allow them their sence That the Doctrine protested to be maintained is the same covenanted to be reformed Are Maintenance and Reformation incompetible is there not a possbility of some adjuncts unto the substance of the Doctrine of the Church of England expressing the true Reformed Protestant Religion and seperable without the destruction thereof Or may not the Doctrine of the Church of England be reformed as to the scant general dubious and difficult manner of expression and yet the matter thereof be maintained and defended Are those Articles which concern the Government of the Church and Consecration of the Bishops
Word of God should say De specie It is the sign of a true that is a pure Church best Reformed because the erecting of the Throne of Christ doth it not tend more to provoke Reformation of Churches truly constituted but not compleated than to stirre up Schism For they do ot nor ever did deny communion with Churches herein defective and under male-administration of Discipline and Government Subsectio quinta We see Sir very little ground to stumble at the preservation of the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of Scotland let us try the strength of their exceptions against the endeavor of the Reformation of these in the Kingdom of England And to this they tell us They are not satisfied how they can swear to endeavour the Reformation of Religion in Doctrine Oxford exceptions to Reformation of England Worship Discipline and Government which without making a change therein cannot be done For this they urge three grounds or reasons which seem to be of weight The first whereof 1 Reason for this exception is Without giving manifest scandal to the Papist and Seperatist By Yielding the cause which our godly Bishops and Martyrs and all our learned Divines ever since the Reformation have both by their Writings and Sufferings maintained who have justified against them both the Religion established in the Church of England to be agreeable to the Word of God 2. Justifying the Papists reproach and scorne We know not where to stay what is our Religion and that it is a Parliamentary Religion 3. A tacite acknowledgement that there is something both in Doctrine and Worship whereunto their conformity hath been required not agreeable to the Word of God and so justifying the recusancy of the one and separation of the other 4. An implyed Confession that the laws and punishments of Papists for not joyning in that form of Worship which our selves as well as they do not approve of were unjust A very fair and specious exception To which Sir I say 1. That it is well Scandal is at length become an Argument of any force Had it been regarded when rightly pleaded by the Nonconformists enemies to separation as well as Popery there might not have been a Solemn League and Covenant to constrain its plea in a case wherein under correction it seems to have lost its force For if Sir we have through ignorance practised or wilfulness persisted in any sinful Superstitious course concerning which we have been admonished by some and declined by others and yet being armed with power did constrain a compliance with us so that a Recession from the same must be our shame and their scandal to whom we would not hearken I hope we must not for fear thereof go on in sin and refuse so much as to endeavour a Reformation If in this case scandal had been of any force how or when had Protestant Religion been effected by such who had burned for Hereticks all that were but suspected of inclining to it Were not the Papists then as much and more scandaâ—ized as now Is Scandal of any more force in the following degrees of Reformation than in the first act thereof Though it is a stop to sin and stay of violence in imposing things indifferent must it be of any strength to barre duty in the endeavors of Reformation I believe Sir professors of Physick and Chirurgery will not consent ill humors to go unpurged or festred incurable members uncut off because some will be scandalized that their advice was not sooner minded and others at the past real and now-seeming cruelty acted by the present change 2. It is to me strange to see Papists and Separatists conjoyned as objects of the same scandal I am sure the reason and ground must be directly contrary Continuance of corruption to the one and Removal thereof to the other the Separatist is offended that there were so many Popish Ceremonies retained and that so long when by him too rigidly resisted The Papist that there were so few and likely to be gone so soon But I presume they are supposed in aliquo tertio convenire to agree in some other capacity The things are now to be Reformed for non-observance of which they were both afflicted and then Sir 3. The Scandal seems to be a meer fancy springing from a fallacy in these words The Religion established in the Church of England which these serious Casuists with reverence may I note it do to me seem sophistically to understand in a sence different from the words of the Covenant which are these The Reformation of Religion in the Kingdom of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government It must therefore be observed that Religion as it denoteth the matter sabstantial parts and essential form of divine Worship is different from the Circumstances Ord r and Ceremonies annexed thereunto and only as appendants thereof deemed Religious which are conversant about and separable from Religion liable to alteration as the prudence of men doth direct and none but ignorant Idiots will deem the change of them a charge of Religion for these are different in the Reformed Churches whom yet I hope the Universitie of Oxford will own to be of the same Protestant Religion with the Church of England agreeing in the same faith though not subscribing the same formal individual Articles administring the same worship though not in the same order and with the same Ceremonies Again Sir we must distinguish between what is established and what is exercised in the Kingdom of England Though we do not justifie nay believe a necessity of Reformation in many particulars in the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government established yet we know in all these particulars many gross and absurd corruptions brought in and continued by a strong hand were exercised in the Kingdom of England and that in reference to all these particulars 1. For Doctrine as that auricular confession and pennance was necessary and profitable for Christian men and in Christs Church That Christians must have Altars and bow to them as towards Gods mercy-seat and the place of Christ his real presence on earth That Jesus Christ and his passion are offered up as a Sacrifice in the Sacrament of the Altar That Crucifixes Images and Pictures of Christ God and Saints may be lawfully and profitably used and set up in Churches That the Pope or Papacy is not Antichrist That there are Canonical houres of prayer which ought to be observed That Churches Altars Chalices and Church-yards ought to be consecrated That men had free-will of themselves to believe and repent That men might totally and finally fall from grace That Sunday is no Sabbath That Bishops have a Superiority of Order and Jurisdiction above other Ministers and that by Divine Right Nor can there be a true Church where there are not such Bishops These and many such like it is well known were publickly preached by Mountague Cozens Pocklington Shelford Dowe Reeves Adams and others and
never had these pieces of Religion for their ground or reason You see Sir that the first ground of these learned mens dissatisfaction as to the covenanted endeavor of Reformation of Religion in England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government is clearly groundless supposing a change and suggesting a scandal not to be rupposed Let us try the strength of their second reason for this exception And that is They could not covenant this Reformation without wrong to themselves 2 Reason for this exception their consciences reputation and estates in bearing false witness against themselves and sundry other wayes swearing to endeavor to reform that as corrupt and vitious which they had by their personal subscription approved as agreeable to the Word of God and for which they had not been condemned of their own hearts nor convinced by their brethren that therein they did amiss 2. Which they are in conscience perswaded were not against the Word of God as they stand established by law 3. Which they believe to be in sundry respects much better more agreeable to the Word of God and pactice of the Catholick Church than that to be preserved in Scotland 4. To which all Clerks admitted to any Benefice are required to assent To these reasons Sir I should have answered 1. Credit is indeed a matter of concerment and Reputation is to be regarded and our Estate by all just prudent meanes duely preserved but they are not equivalent to the purity of Gospel administrations nor must be admitted barres to duy or stays from the endeavour of a necessary Reformation when called for 2. We are at a loss to understand their terms the establishment by Law is not expressed in the Covenant and many corruptions we have noted were exercised not established The endeavour of a Reformation of them though not them only was and is required and it is very doubtful how or where to find and prove an establishment by law to which they so much cleave yet I hope the defect in proof thereof will be no just demurre to the endeavour of a Reformation of what is really vitious and corrupt whether established or only exercised We must also entreat a comment on these words the practice of the Catholick Church It is well known that Rome doth engross and monopolize this Epithite nor can the Worship Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England admit it to be predicated of any so well as that for all reformed Churches do in their practice differ and I presume it will be hard to prove the agreement of the Primitive Churches in these particulars which were first derived from Apostate Rome and have ever since continued as the dregs of their Catholick practices not more to the grief of the Reformed Churches abroad and Non-conformists at home then joy and exultation of the Children of that Church as a plain evidence of their continued possession and encouragement to expect and endeavor a full recovery of England into her bosom But as to their Argument 3 The Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government might be vitious and corrupt notwithstanding their apprehension and assent to the contrary or the subscription of others required by the Law We well know that the Reformation of the Church in England was begun on more * Henry the 8th his discontent at the Pope Political than pious principles which did easily consent to a retaining of what was justly discharged in other Rerormed Churches embracing the administration of the Gospel in its simplicity for the sake of its naked self might consist with those Publick ends which did provoke it and Policy being the principle predominant in the first hath strugled against piety unto this last act and is not yet mastered and I presume the Scholars and Masters of Oxford will not plead an immunity from policy passion and prejudice when they are to pass judgment against their credits reputation and estates as in the case of this Covenant they apprehend they were to do and that these prirciples will provoke us to yield our own and exact from others an assent to things as agreeable to the Word of God which in themselves are vitious and corrupt no serious man or Christian can or will deny It is wel if we find this Reason stated under a more cautious vigilant and pious frame of spirit 4. But I must confess I wonder not so much to hear these Gentlemen to profess They had by their personal subscription approved the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of England as agreeable to the Word of God which might be an act of rashness an effect of ignorance an event of some distressed condition or distemper of mind fear of losing or hope of gaining preferment as to hear them say That this was enjoyned by law to them and all that were admitted to benefices That the Doctrine of the Church was to be assented unto I grant is by Law established but the assent to Worship Discipline and Government I observe not to be enjoyned by any full and formal Law I find indeed something relating to Discipline in the ordering of Deacons and Priests Bishops and Archbishops and the Churches power about traditions and Rites or Ceremonies inserted into the 39. Articles but how or by what Law they are established 13. Eliz 12. I know not The Statute requiring Ministers assent doth not specifie the Articles particulary and the general Note whereby to know them laid down in the Statute is this Articles of Religion which ONLY concern the Confession of the true Christian Faith and Doctrine of the Sacraments This particle ONLY is in my judgment exclusive to Discipline and Government and how these came into the Articles I know not only I find the Epistle to His late Majesty before the * A Book supposed to have be on written by Mr. William Frynn Quench-Coal to charge corruption and forgery to have been acted about these Articles and earnestly implores justice against the Forgers and Obtruders thereof and untill the Legality of the Canons of 1603. and sence thereof be clearly asserted and fully vindicated from the * Necessity for Reformation p. 56 57 58 59. exceptions which are urged against them we must be at a loss for their establishment for if the King had not authority by vertue of the Statute pretended or the matter of them be repugnant to standing Statutes as is suggested the establishment of Worship Discipline and Government by law must abide very doubtful but the University of Oxford might make a Law unto themselves to which these Gentlemen might refer But 5. Whether established or exercised I think it very strange to see these learned men on serious thoughts to profess their own hearts did not condemn them nor had their brethren convinced their judgements they had done amiss by their personal subscription to approve the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of England to be agreeable to the Word of GOD but
and Archbishops of the essence and formality of the true Reformed Protestant Religion Will not the assertion thereof tend more to Schism than Scotlands supposed making their Discipline and Government the mark of a true Church As denying the Reformed Churches beyond the Sea to have attained to the true Reformed Protestant Religion which yet they handed over to us But what reason had these Gentlemen of Oxford to understand the Doctrine of the Church of England in such a latitude when the sence of it is limited by them who were then known to be Legislators and a power sufficient to prescribe an Oath unto which themselves subjected and were the best expositors thereof viz. the House of Commons who thus declared Whereas some doubts have been raised concerning the meaning of these words The true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England against all Popery and Popish innovations within this Realm contrary to the same Doctrine This House doth declare that by these words was and is meant only the publick Doctrine professed in the said Church so far as it is opposite to Popery and Popish innovations And that the said words are not to be extended to the maintaining of any form of Worship Discipline and Government nor of any the Rites and Ceremonies of the said Church of England By which these Gentlemen might have understood 1. The Realm and Church of England were two different Subjects the one professing Doctrine in the other wherein also there was Doctrine tending to Popery and Popish Innovation 2. There were in the Doctrines professed by the Church of England some adjuncts of Rites Ceremonies Government or some special order of Worship which might need Reformation and were not view'd to be maintained So that according to this sence of them who prescribed both there is more of consistency than contradiction between the Protestation and Solemn League and Covenant So that the manifest perjury they feared hath not so much as a seeming ground And as for the supposed contradiction of this Branch of the Covenant unto the Oath of Supremacy it will on examination vanish as an apparition a thing which so seemed but cannot be so proved For if they will not hiss me out of their Schools I will grant them their Proposition in the Oath and assumption in the Statute by them quoted and yet find a way to avoid the conclusion because a meer non sequitur on their premises and this if they will have the Argument logically resolved by denying the consequence of their major Proposition for I will grant unto them that the Oath of Supremacy doth bind us to our power to assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Preheminences and Authorities granted and belonging to the Kings Highness his heirs and successors or united and annexed unto the Imperial Crown of this Realm And assume with them That the King had the whole power and Authority for Reformation Order and Correction of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms c. and yet deny the sequel viz. That we may not endeavour in our places and callings to reform Religion For the defence of the Kings power is no way repugnant with the duty of our particular capacity I hope a Minister may by his preaching or a Divine by his disputation in the Schools endeavour the correction and Reformation of Error and Heresie Schism or Superstition and yet not intrench on his Majesties Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and so interfer with their Oath of Supremacy Yea in reference to judicial and authoritative Correction and Reformation which we will suppose can only be done by the King mens endeavor may be in their places and callings by Counsel Proposal Remonstrance Petition Supplication and the like to procure His Majesties consent and authority to reform Religion in the Kingdom of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government and then Sir where is the Contradiction Yet Sir if I were to dispute with a single though Senior Sophister of Oxford I would deny both Propositions the major as to its sequel or consequence as before and the assumption as that which the Statute doth not prove viz. The whole power of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction for Correction and Reformation is annexed to the King and Imperial Crown of this Realm For the power by that Statute is special and particular not general and universal as themselves have cited it is viz. such Jurisdictions Priviledges Superiorities and Preheminences Spiritual or Ecclesiastical as by any c. and as the Statute proceeds Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power or authority hath heretofore been or may lawfully be exercised or used for Visitation of any Ecclesiastical State or Persons and for Reformation c. So that the power given to the King is such a powor as Bishops Cardinals or Popes had used not such as Parliaments who ever retained a Jurisdicton in themselves over both Church and Crown enjoyed and exercised This power was purely executive not Legislative over persons and particular Societies not over the Kingdom and whole Realm I presume the Gentlemen of Oxford were not ignoront of the power and Legislative Authority which the Parliaments of England ever held over their Bishops and the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical estate of this Land tying them in all their administrations of Discipline and Government to the Customs and Statutes of this Realme as they may read at large in the Statute of the Submission of the Clergy 25. Hen. 8.19 wherein they confess many of their Canons and Constitutions be repugnant to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm whereby they did not only Restrain the exorbitancies and from time to time Reform the abuses of the Church but also extend the Prerogative and Jurisdiction of the King as in that Statute 1 Elizab. and Limit Restrain and Repeal it as in the case of this individual specifical power granted in the words of the Statute quoted by the Statute 17 Caroli entituled An Act for repeal of a branch of a Statute 10 Elizab. concerning Commissioners for causes Ecclesiastical which clause repealed is part of this very recited Paragraph and immediately annexed unto and dependent on this very grant of power and authority Nor are these Masters and Scholars of Oxford insensible that there is a vast difference between Executive and Legislative power and authority and that as no Ecclesiastical persons did ever enjoy however the Pope and his Bishops did contend for it so no King of England did ever pretend or lay claim unto the Legislative power further than allowed by Act of Parliaments who were ever Dictators of a general Reformation in the Land Church and Kingdom as at this time in the Reformation covenanted Nor can they be ignorant that it is very bad Logick from such Jurisdictions and Specifical Executive Authority to infer that the whole power of Reformation is so in the King that the Parliament may not propose or the people covenant in their places and callings to endeavor a Reformation
capacity may run and read it if he know any thing of the late Hierarchy in this Church Dr. Gauden hath appeared no less willing to suppose and suggest the same Ambiguities in his Analysis to which I have before Answered in my Analepsis and he that hath but half an eye cannot but see that the very and whole frame of Government by Arch-deacons Prebends Chapters Deans Bishops and Arch-bishops whereby all Government which belongs to Presbyters in Common was engrossed by a few pretended Ministers to Cathedral Churches and a Superiority of Office and Order above Presbyters not ordained by God or consented to by themselves was exercised is utterly to be abolished the which is so clearly expressed that it can admit of no evasive Salvoes The next Ambiguity is imagined by the Masters and Scholars of Oxford to be in the fourth Article in the word Malignants The Fourth Ambiguity charged on the Covenant and they enquire who are to be accounted Malignants as if it were left in its latitude to be understood by every mans private fancy whilst it is expressely limited and explained in the Article it self such as have been or shall be Malignants by hindring Reformation of Religion dividing the King from his people or one Kingdom from another so that the Malignity predicated is described and specified by the formality of it but those learned men know not how farre the hindring Reformation of Religion may be extended To which I say it matters not unto the discovery of a Malignant for they will not deny both these to admit majus and minus if Reformation be hindred it is Malignity which is in degree more or less according to the measure of that obstruction which is made Again they know not what are meant by the Supream Judicatories of both Kingdoms sure they will not pretend to ignorance in the signification they know well what a Judicatory is and wherein Supream almost every Englishman knoweth the sence of these Roman terms I believe their doubt was which be the Supream Judicatories and the words can be construed no otherwise than to mean those to which the other Courts of Judgement are subject and from which there is no appeal if they please to ask Lawyers I presume they will tell them it is the Parliament yet this is not necessary to be known to the expounding of the words of the Covenant These are Oxford Reasons sect 6. p. 17 18. Sir the ambiguous terms which in the judgment of these learned men are of a dark and doubtful construction whether really and in themselves let rational men judge others they do stick at but profess the use men have made thereof doth occasion it they well know false glosses male interpretations and a strained sence may by wicked men be put on the plainest text yet it doth not lose its genuine and proper signification especially in an Oath wherein some men are willing to wrest it with rigour beyond its scope others to writh themselves out of its just obligation I shall be free to tell them that no Rules of right Reason will justifie the rigorous sence put on the third Article in the Case of the King by Mr. Challoner though in a speech in Parliament nor the Laxe sence put on the second Article in the Case of Prelacy by Dr. John Gauden though unto the Loosing of St. Peters bonds nor will the words of the Covenant warrant the one or the other But such ambiguities are made according to mens wills minds fancies and lusts not found in the words which are clear and plain to every common capacity These supposed ambiguities are not more visible to have been imagined without any real ground in the words of the Covenant than the suggested contradictions in it self the learned men of Oxford do charge the Covenant to be an Oath in which one part is contradictory to another but with Reverence may I tell them one part is confined to their breasts or to such to whom they shew it Oxford Reasons sect 6. p. 16. for it goeth not abroad with the Covenant as will appear in the very naming of their supposed suggested contradictions which are these 1. To preserve as it is without change 1. Contradiction charged on the Covenant and yet to reform and alter and not to preserve one and the same Reformed Religion In what Articles of the Covenant this contradiction lieth they do not tell us nor can I see it the Reformed Religion in Scotland is to be preserved and Reformation of Religion in England endeavored Are these opposites and contraries were there not Doctrins Worship Discipline and Government in England which were no part of the Reformed Religion and cannot these be altered and abolished whilst that is preserved where then is the contradiction 2. Absolutely and without exception to preserve 2 Contradiction charged on the Covenant and yet upon supposition to extirpate the self-same thing viz. the present Religion of the Church of Scotland I want Sir their eyes to read this contradiction the first part to preserve is legible in the Covenant but to extirpate the present Religion in the Church of Scotland I read not Oh but they tell us it is on a supposition but I suppose that supposition must be expressed in plain terms in the Covenant to make a contradictory part thereof The Extirpation covenanted relates to Popery Prelacy Errour Heresie Schisme c. which of those can we suppose the present Religion of Scotland to be they will bring good Compurgators for every of them I know the University did suppose * Reason sect 4 p. 4. there were some things in the Church of Scotland which to their thinking did tend to schism and superstition yet they dare not charge it do but suppose it and that not to be but tend toward superstition and schism and they do not affirm them neither to be the Religion of Scotland such supposed extirpation may suppose a contradiction justly deserving to be charged to be a suppositum non supponendum Their next Contradiction is as clear a supposition as this 3. Contradiction charged on the Covenant to reform Church-Government in England and Ireland according to the Word of God and yet to extirpate that we are perswaded is according to the Word of God here it is visible the contradiction is between the Covenant and their perswasion not one part against another part of it self how well-grounded their perswasion is we have before enquired I shall therefore only tell them it is not fair play to beg the question and on their own perswasion to arraign the Covenant as an Oath contradictory to it self yet The next is of the very same nature 4. Contradiction charged on the Covenant to extirpate heresie schismes and prophaneness and yet to extirpate the Government we conceive the want of which is the chief cause of all evils and the restoring and continuance of which the proper and effectual remedy Sure
of Covenanting The particle Such seems to carry it to the quality of the Covenant in respect of the matter covenanted which afterward is particularly and in its proper place excepted against But the words of the Covenant suggested by this exception to be false do relate unto the act of covenanting as we have now at last for the preservation of our Religion determined to enter into a not such a mutual and Solemn League and Covenant And the place of this exception is in the beginning of their exceptions unto the Preface which may be said to be no part of the Covenant and therefore admits not an exception to the quality of such a Covenant Moreover the next exception puts it out of doubt that these words relate to the act of Covenanting in which they profess they finde not in our Histories any footsteps of a sworn Covenant on any occasion whatsoever So that it seems to be the Act of covenanting by Oath which they cannot conceive to be a lawful proper and probable means to preserve Religion from ruine Surely then Sir the weather was very misty about Oxford and made their minds very muddy that they could not conceive entring into Covenants and Solemn Leagues dictated by the light of nature and directed by the Law of God pursued and practised by all Nations and by Israel in the cases of their Religion as the utmost of humane policy and highest of security to their priviledges endangered as a method detecting concealed enmity debarring fraud expressing affection engaging conscience and animating resolution to be a lawful proper and probable meanes of security If it be good and safe as to our Civil I hope it is no less probable in our Religious concernments If Sir I had been to deale with one single student I must have told him That he started this exception more like a Sophistical Disputant than a conscientious Dubitant Fourthly They could not believe the entring into this Covenant to be according to the commendable practice of these Kingdoms 4th Exception in the Oxford Reasons or the example of Gods people in other Nations for that they found not the least footstep in our Histories of a sworne Covenant ever entred into by the people of this Kingdom upon any occasion whatsoever nor could they readily remember any commendable example of the like done in any other Nation but are rather told by the Defenders of the Covenant that the world never saw the like before Whither Sir Answer will not prejudice carry men I cannot but wonder to finde the Masters Students c. of Oxford so much unacquainted with Histories as neither to finde in our own or other Histories a commendable example of Entring into Covenant I may not mind them of the Covenant made by the Nobles and people of Scotland among themselves and with Queen Elizabeth of England under and against the Papal might executed by the then Queen Regent nor of the Netherlands confederacy and Covenant These will not seem commendable in their sight now though so judged when England became their protection and encouraged nay defended them in them Let me therefore enquire whether they knew Israel to have been Gods people of another Nation and that they entered into Covenant in the time of the Judges in the dayes of Joash Josiah Hezekiak and Nehemiah in times of danger and defection in their Civil and Religious concernments And was their practice commendable 2. Did our Gentlemen of Oxford never finde any footsteps in our Histories concerning the Barons of Stamford Anno 1225. assembled not only without but against the Kings consent and covenanted each with other to demand the restitution of their Liberties whereupon a Parliament was holden at Northampton to give them satisfaction And again did they never finde in our Histories how in Anno 1258. they Assembled at Oxford agreed on Articles viz. The confirmation of the Charter de Foresta 2. The establishing of a Lord Chief Justice who might judge them by Law 3. The driving Aliens and Strangers out of England and the like and that they confederated by Oath and gave their hands and mutual faith one to the other Matth. Paris Hist Aug. p. 940 941 952 653. that they would not desist to prosecute their purpose for loss of money or Lands nor love nor hate no nor yet for life of them or theirs till they had cleared England of Strangers and procured laudable Laws And under this Covenant they brought the Kings Brother Richard King of Romans and Earle of Cornwall and caused him to sweare upon the Holy Gospels this formal Covenant Hear all men that I Richard Earle of Cornwal swear upon the Holy Gosples to be faithful and forward with you to Reforme the Kingdom of England hitherto by the counsel of wicked men so much deformed and I will be an effectual coadjutor to expell the Rebels and troublers out of the same Both these our Histories say were in the time and without the consent of King Henry the 3d. Not to trouble our Reader with the like in the time of King John King Richard the 2d and other Princes I must desire the Gentlemen of Oxford to tell us whether these were not people of England and these be not visible foot-marks of some Covenant of the people of England on some occasion And if they shall question whether they be commendable examples let them please to observe the commendable Epethite our Historian gives upon the last of these Covenanters calling them Angliae Republicae Zelatores But the defenders of the Covenant told them that the world never saw the like before I but they did not tell them that there are no footsteps of any Covenant made on any occasion whatsoever And if they had were the Masters and Students in Oxford resolved into such an implicite Faith as to believe an Enemy But I wonder these Masters of Reason had so little Reason as to conclude a general from the concession of a special Their Margent explaineth the concession of the defenders of the Covenant in these termes Such an Oath for matter persons and other circumstances the like hath not been in any Age or Oath we reade of in Sacred or humane Stories Know they not that there is a vast difference between the general form of an Oath or Covenant and those special Qualifications which may circumstance it and that a dissimilitude in the last will not conclude that there never was a Sworn Covenant on any occasion but sit verbum sat sapienti Thus Sir notwithstanding these learned Suggestions of the falsehood of the Preface and in it of the assertory part of the Covenant it yet continueth lawful because true and is our encouragement and assurance that the promissory part will be answerable For as in rational conclusions so I hope in Religious resolutions we shall find à veris vera sequuntur Subsectio Tertia The promissory part of the Covenant is in these six Articles I. THat we shall sincerely