Garments and Orders Ceremonies Gestures be rooted out from amongstus Trouble they will bring upon us for the time to come if they be not now cut off Pag. 36. As to the KING and his PARTY what a sad thing is it my Brethren to see our King in the head of an Army of Babylonians refusing as it were to be called the King of England Scotland Ireland and chusing rather to be called the King of Babylon Those that made their Peace with the King at Oxford were Judases of England and it were just with God to give them their Portion with Judas Here follows next their Opinion of the COVENANT The walls of Jerico have fall'n flat before it the Dagon of the Bishops Service-Book brake its neck before this Ark of the Covenant Prelacy and Prerogative have bow'd down and given up the Ghost at its feet Take the Covenant and you take Babilon the Towers of Babilon and her Seaven Hills shall move It is the Shiboleth to distinguish Ephramites from Gileadites Pag. 27. Not only is that Covenant which God hath made wiâ—h Us founded upon the Blood of Christ but that also which we make with God Pag. 33. See now the TENDERNESS of these men of tender Consciences Whensoever you shall behold the hand of God in the fall of Babilon say True here is a Babilonish Priest crying 〈◊〉 alas alas my Living I have Wife and Children to maintain Ay but all this is to perform the Judgement of the Lord. Pag. 13. Though as Little ones they call for pity yet as Babilonish they call for Justice even to Blood pag. 11. We are now entring upon the State of the WAR wherein you will finde in the first place who sounded the Trumpet to it To you of the Honourable House Up for the Matter belongs to you We even all the GODLY MINISTERS of the Country will be with you The First Enginiers that batter'd this great Wall of Babilon who were they but the poorer and meaner sort of People that at the First joyn'd with the Ministers to raise the Building of Reformation Here is an Extraordinary appearance of so many Ministers to encourage you in this Cause that you may see how real the Godly Ministry in England is unto this Cause This was upon calling in the Scots And again If I had as many Lives as I have hairs on my head I would be willing to Sacrifice all those Lives for this Cause Ibid. You shall read Numb 10. that there were two Silver Trumpets and as there were Priests appointed for the Convocation of their Assemblies so there were Priests to sound the Silver Trumpets to proclaim the War And Deut. 20. When the Children of Israel would go out to War the Sons of Levi one of the Priests was to make a Speech to encourage them Nor were they less cruel and fierce in the Prosecution of the War then they were forward in Promoting it In vain shall you in your Fasts with Joshua lie on your faces unless you lay your Achans â—n their Backs In vain are the High Praises of God in your Moâ—hs without a Two edged Sword in your hand Pag. 31. The Bâ—od that Ahab spar'd in Benhadad stuck as deep and as heavily on him as that which he spilt in Naboth The Lord is pursuing you if you execute not Vengeance on them betimes Pag. 48. Why should life be farther granted to them whose very lifâ— brings death to all about them pag. 50. Cursed be he that with-h ldoth his Sword from blood that spares when God saith strike c. pag. And let it not be now pretended that this War was not Levy'd against the King for they both disclaim his Authority and even the opposing of him on expresse terms It is lawfull says Dr. Downing of Hackney in a Sermon to the Artillery Men for defence of Religion and Reformation of the Church to take up Arms against the King It is commendable says Calamy to sight for peace and Reformation against the Kings Command And Case again Why come not in the Scottish Army against the King If the Devil can but once get a Prophet to leave Gods service for the Kings he hath taken a Blew already and is ready for as deep a Black as Hell can give him pa. 28. But what do they say all this time to his AUTHORITY The Parliament whom the People chuse are the Great and only Conservators of the peoples Liberties pag. 2. They are the chief Magistrates pag. 38. All those that fought under the Kings Banner against this Parliament fought themselves into slavery and did endeavour by all bloudy and Treacherous ways to subvert Religion and Liberties pag. 9. The Lords and Commons are as Masters of the House pag. 22. The Parliament of the Common-wealth of England without the King 1651 were the Supreme Authority of this Nation The Houses are not only requisite to the Acting of this Power of making Laws but Coordinate with his Majesty in the very Power of Acting pag 42. The Reall Sovereignty here in England was says Baxter in King Lords and Commons pag. 72. And those that conclude that the Parliament being Subjects may not take up Arms against the King and that it is Rebellion to resist him their grounds are sandy and their Superstructure false pag. 459. 460. The next Point is their Animating the MURTHER of the KING Do Justice to the Greatest Sauls Sons are not spar'd no nor may Agag or Benhadad tho' themselves Kings Zimri and Cozbi tho Princes of the people must be pursu'd into their Tents This is the way to Consecrate your selves to God pag. 16. The Execution of Judgment is the Lords word and they shall be cursed that do it negligently And cursed shall they be that keep back their Sword in this Cause You know the story of Gods Message unto Ahab for letting Benhadad go upon Composition pag. 26. But you shall now hear the MURTHER of his Sacred Majesty press'd more particularly in these Words Think not to save your selves by an unrighteous saving of them who are the Lords and the Peoples known Enemies you may not imagine to obtain the favour of those against whom you will not do Justice For certainly if you act not like Gods in this particular against men truly obnoxious to Justice they will be like Devils against you Observe that place 1 Kings 22. 31. compared with Cap. 20. It is said in Chap. 20. that the King of Syria came against Israel and by the mighty power of God he and his Army were overthrown and the King was taken Prisoner Now the mind of God was which he then discover'd only by that present Providence that Justice should have been executed upon him but it was not Whereupon the Prophet comes with ashes upon his face and waited for the King of Israel in the way where he should return and as the King passed
some of the Aldermen Protested against them as having no thought of either shuting out the Mayor or making the Committee so absolute as they found the two Houses had done Whereupon it was mov'd that the Houses might be Petition'd to reverse the Order But that being carryed in the Negative Ven produces another Order for the adding of Skippon to the Committee for the Militia which was carry'd without much Difficulty The Court of Aldermen reflecting upon the Indignities cast upon the Mayor and Government of the City Petition'd the House apart from the Commons that the Mayor and Sheriffs might be nominated of the Committee but to no purpose For they knew Sir Richard Gourny was a person of two much Honour and Loyalty to comply with their Designes After this Repulse several of the most Eminent Citizens both for Worth and Estates Petition'd the Two Houses in their own Names for the Removall of That Scandal but there was no relief to be had and they were barbarously treated for their pains over and above Sir George Benyon to his Honour as the framer and chief Promoter of that most reasonable Petition was fin'd 3000l Disfranchiz'd in the City never to bear Office in the Kingdom to be Committed for two year to Colchester Goal and at the end of the Term to give security for his good Behaviour Methinks the bare Recital of This Inhumane Insolence should turn the Bloud of every honest Citizen This Committee was now becom the masters of the Militia they remov'd Sir Richard Gourny and put Pennington into his place they make Ordinances to pass for Laws and Rebellion to be a point of Conscience they persecute the Orthodox Clergy Oppress their Fellow Citizens and the whole Nation and where they have not Credit to borrow they make use of their Power to Take away living upon the Spoil without any regard to the Laws either of God or Man And to shew the world that as the Faction had subverted the Government of the City so they intended to perpetuate the slavery See as follows Vicesimo Octavo Februarii 1648. An Act of the Commons of England in Parliament Assembled For Removing Obstructions in the Proceedings of the Common-Council of the City of London THe Commons of England in Parliament assembled do Enact and Ordain and be it Enacted and Ordained by the Authority aforesaid that in all times to come the Lord Mayor of the said City of London so often and at such time as any 10. or more of the Common-Council-men do by Writing under their hands request or desire him thereunto shall summon assemble and hold a Common-Council and if at any time being so required or desired he shall fail therein then the ten persons or more making such request or desire shall have Power and are hereby Authorized by Writing under their hand to summon or cause to be summoned to the said Council the Members belonging thereunto in as ample manner as the Lord Mayor himself usually hath done and that the Members appearing upon the same Summons being of the Number of 40. or more shall become a Common-Council And that each Officer whose duty it shall be to warn in and Summon the Members of the said Councill shall perform the same from time to time upon the Warrant or Command of ten persons or more so authorized as aforesaid And it is further Enacted and Ordained by the authority aforesaid that in every Common-Council hereafter to be assembled the Lord Mayor of the said City for the time being or in his absence such Locum tenens as he shall appoint and in default thereof the Eldest Alderman present if any be and for want of such Alderman or in case of his neglect or refusal therein then any other person Member of the said Council whom the Commons present in the said Council shall chuse shall be from time to time President or Chairman of the said Council and shall cause and suffer all things offered to or proposed in the said Council to be fairly and orderly debated Put to the Question Voted and Determined in and by the same Council as the Major part of the Members present in the said Council shall desire or think â—it and in every Vote which shall pass and in the other Proceedings of the said Council neither the Lord Major nor Aldermen joynt or Separate shall have any negative or distinct Voice or Vote otherwise then with and among and as part of the rest of the Members of the said Council and in the same manner as the other Members have and that the absence and withdrawing of the Lord Major or Aldermen from the said Council shall not stop or prejudice the proceedings of the said Council And that every Common-Council which shall be held in the City of London shall sit vnd continue so long as the Major part of the Council shall think sit and shall not be dissolved or adjourned but by and according to the Order or Consent of the Major part of the same Council And that all the Votes and Acts of the said Common-Council which was held 13 January last after the departure of the Lord Mayor from the same Council and also all Votes and acts of every Common Council hereafter to be held shall be from time to time duly registred as the Votes and Acts of the said Council have used to be done in time past And be it further Eâ—cted and Ordained by the Authority aforesaid that every Officer which shall sit in the said Council shall be from time to time chosen by the said Council and shall have such reasonable allowance or Salary for his pains and service therein as the Council shall think fit And that every such Officer shall attend the said Common-Council and that all Acts and Records and Register Books belonging to the said City shall be extant to be perused â—od searched into by every Citizen of the said City in the presence of the Officer who shall have the Charge of keeping thereof who is hereby required to attend for the same purpose Hen. Scobel Cler. Parliament Take notice that the Vote of Common-Council in the Act above-recited of Jan. 13. 1648. when the Lord Mayor went off and dismissed the Court was a Treasonous Vote for the speedy bringing of the King to Justice You have here the State of the New-Model'd Government of the City and effectually of the whole Nation together with the Methods of Hypocrisy and State that brought us into that miserable Condition And what were they but Canting Sermons Popular Petitions Tumults Associations Impostures and Disaffected Common-Councils We have likewise set forth how these Advantages were gain'd with their Natural Tendency to the Mischiefs they produc'd And who were they that promoted and brought all these Calamities upon us but men of desperate Fortunes and Principles Male-contents broken Tradesmen Coblers Thimble-makers Dray-men Ostlers and a world of this sort of People whose Names are every where up and down
Faction Gain'd And those Pedantique Levites that brought so many dreadfull Judgments upon this Nation themselves were by the Credulous Tumultuary Rabble cry'd up and Idolized as the very Moses's that stood in the Gap to avert them Having by this means render'd the Government Odious and given some credit to the Schism their next Instruction was to make Proclamation of the Numbers the quality and the sobriety of the Persons aggriev'd to possesse the one side with a confidence and the other with an apprehension of their strength Thousands of Souls ready to Famish they cry for want of the Bread of Life How many Insufficient negligent and scandalous Pastors How many Congregations destitute of able Faithfull Teachers Preaching in season and out of season and labouring in the Word Alas they dare not consent to any Addition to or Diminution of Christs Worship or to the Use of the Inventions of Men in Gods Service They desire only the Freedom that Christ and his Apostles have left unto the Churches and to serve God according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches abroad This is the Case of Thousands of the upright of the Land Let it be understood that the Press all this while kept pace with the Pulpit only now and then there started out a Party upon the Forelorn to make Discoveries and try the Temper of the Government Some scap'd and others were taken and censur'd as Leighton Burton Prin and Bastwick who only shewed themselves inconsiderately before their Friends were ready to Second them We shall see now how they changed their stile with their Condition and how their boldness encreased with their Interest Their grievances at first were only a dark and a doubtfull Prospect of Popery and Popish Innovations afar off and an anxiety of thought for the calamities that were coming upon Gods People through the corruptions of the Times But success opening their Eyes they are coming now to discover more and more Popery nearer hand They find the Church-men to be Popishly affected the Liturgy to be no other then an English Mass-Book the Hierarchy it self and all the Courts and Officers depending upon it to be directly Anti-Christian They charge his Majesty to be Popishly affected and all that will not renounce him to be either flat Papists or Worse imposing Protestations Covenants Engagements of Confederacy against both King and Church and Oaths of Abjuration as the Tests of a Loyall Protestant passing an Anathema upon any man that interposes betwixt their malice and their Soveraign They prostitute the Sacred Function for Mony they suck the blood of Widdows and of Orphans By violence taking possession of Eighty five Livings at one clap out of Ninety seaven within the Walls of London exposing so many Reverend and Loyal Divines with their Families to the wide World to beg their Bread They Preach the People into Murther Sacriledge and Rebellion they pursue a most gracious Prince to the Scaffold they animate the Regicides calling that Execrable Villany an Act of Publick Justice and Entitling the Holy Ghost to the Treason If this General recital of the Rise and Progress of their Actings be true the Reader has here before him the Issue and the drift of their pretended Scruples the Exposition of their Protestations Covenants and Designs wherein it cannot but be observ'd how their Consciences widen'd with their Interests And this may serve to satisfy any man whither People are then a going when they come to tread in the same steps But however for a further support to the credit of this Memorial we shall now subjoyn some undeniable Evidences of the whole matter out of their Own words and Writings where we shall finde Mr. Hookers saying made good in the Preface to his Ecclesiastieal Polity What other sequel says he can any wise man imagine but this that having First resolved that attempts for Discipline without Superi ours are Lawfull it will fellow in the next place to be disputed what may be attempted against Superiours But now to our Proofs which we shall give you from Point to Point and from the very â—abbies of the Schism First As to the CHURCH Gods people says Burton lie under Bondage of Conscience in point of Liturgy 2dly In bondage of Conscience under Ceremonies 3dly Of Conscience under Discipline 4ly Of Conscience under Government How the Presence and Preaching of Christ did scorch and blast those Cathedrall Priests that Unhallowed Generation of Scribes and Phariees Prelacy and Prelaticall Clergy Priests and Jesuits Ceremonys and Service-Book Star-Chamber and High Commission-Court were mighty Impediments in the way of Reformation The Scots were necessitated to take up Arms for their just Defence against Anti-Christ and the Popish Priests Now to the LITURGY The Service of the Church of England is now so dressed that if a Pope should come and see it he would Claim it as his own And again what credit is this to our Church to have such a Form of Publique Worship as Papists may without offence Joyn with us in This we have from the Smâ—ymnuans themselves E. Cal. and Stephen Marshall being part of the Club. Now says Bishop Hall If the Devil confess Christ to be the Son of God shall I disclaim the Truth because it passeth through a damned mouth And what did they give us in exchange for this Form of Publique worship but a Directory without either the Decalogue or a Creed in 't Let not the pretence of Peace and Unity cool your Fervour or make you spare to oppose your selves unto those Idle and Idolized Ceremonies against which we dispute Their next fling is at the HIERARCHY it self The â—lastring or palliating of these Rotten Members Bishops will be a greater dishonour to the Nation and Church then their cutting off and the Personall Acts of these Sons of Belial being connived at become National sins The Roman Emperors wasted the Saints in Ten several Persecutions but all these were nothing in Comparison of this destroyer All their Loyns are not so heavy as the little finger of Antichrist The Prelacy of England which we swore to extirpate was that very same Fabrick and mode of Ecclesiasticall Regiment that is in the Antichristian World And again As thy Sword Prelacy hath made many Women Childlesse many a faithfull Minister Peoplelesse so thy Mother Papacy shall be made Childlesse among Harlots your Diocesses Bishoplesse and your Sees Lordlesse Pag. 51. Carry on the work still leave not a Ragg that belongs to Popery Lay not a bit of the Lords building with any thing that belongs to Anti-Christ but away with it Root and Branch Head and Tail till you can say now is Christ set upon his Throne Were they not English Prelates that conspired to sell their Brethren into Romish slavery 'T is not partial Reformation and Execution of Justice upon some Offenders will afford us help except those in Authority extirpate all Achans with Babylonish
forc'd him away from his Palace when yet they had the confidence to charge his Sacred Majesty with making War upon his Parliament But this would not yet do their business till they got Possession of the Militia which at length they did the Presses and the Pulpits all this while giving life and credit to their Proceedings Upon the tuning of mens minds for Innovations by making them sick of the present state of things the People were easily prevail'd upon to Petition for what they so much wish'd for and desir'd and this was the second step toward the Tyranny and Slavery that ensu'd upon it The Rude people says his Late Majesty in his Reflexions upon TUMULTS are taught first to Petition then to Protest then to Dictate and at last to Command The Faction made use of Petitions as common House-breakers do of screws they got in by little and little and without much noise and so Risled the Government Or they did rather like the counterfeit Glasiers that took down the Glasse at Noonday under colour of mending the Windows and then Robb'd the House To make a right Judgment upon a Popular Petition we should first consider the matter of it Secondly the wording of it Thirdly the manner of Promoting it Fourthly the Probable intent of it And Lastly we should do well to consult History and Experience to see what effects such Petitions have commonly produced As to the Subject-Matter of Popular Petitions it is either for publique concernment or private Generall or particular That is to say concerning the whole Body of the People or only some part of it It is either within the Petitioners Cognizance and Understanding or it is not It varies according to the Circumstances of Times Occasions and Parties and it often falls out especially where it treats of Reformation that the one half of it is a Petition and the other a Libell The Case of that is purely Private or Particular cannot properly be call'd Popular and so not to our purpose There are likewise Mixt Cases of Publick and Private as in the Calamities of War Pestilence Fires Inudations and the like where Numerous Subscriptions are matter of Attestation rather then Clamour on the behalf of such and such Known and Particular Sufferers Now there is a great heed to be given to the Petitions of men both that Understand what it is they ask and whom the Law has made Competent Judges of it But where the Question is the Redresse of Grievances in matter of State the Complaining part of the Petition makes it only a more Artificiall Scandall Besides the dangerous boldness of Intermeddling in points which they neither have any thing to do withall nor one jot Understand Such as the Petition of the Rabble in and about London in 1640. against Episcopacy Root and Branch the Porters Petition in 1641. about the Militia being told that it was only a Petition to Prohibit Watermen from carrying of Burthens That of the Stanford School-boys which their Masters made them Subscribe against Bishops Or the Scottish Petition in 1637. of Men Women Children and Servants in those very terms against the Service-Book These few instances may suffice to show the folly and worse of peoples stickllng for they know not what Next to the Matter of the Petition we should consider the wording of it For he that asks he knows not what may ask any thing in the World for ought he knows And it is not the humility of the Stile that can justify the publishing of a Reproach upon the Prince Did not Jacob take Amasa by the Beard with the Right hand to kiss him and yet at the same time strike him under the Fifth Rib that he dy'd It is no Breach of Charity when a Multitude are drawn into a Petition blindly to sollicite the Interests of Other men to take all ambiguities and Equivocalls in the worst sense And then the Manner of promoting these Petitions goes a great way It was a common practice in the Late Times for the confiding Members of several Countries to draw up Petitions to themselves and Lodg them in the hands of severall of their Factious Country-men here in the City to gather Subscriptions Where and how they plea'd in the Name of their respective Countiee Their Seditious Preachers says the Late King and Agents are by them and their speciall and particular Directions sent into the several Counties to infuse Fears and Jealousies into the minds of our Good Subjects with â—itions ready drawn by Them for the People to Sign which were yet many times by them changed three or four times before the delivery upon accidents or occurrences of either or both Houses And when many of our poor deceived People of our severall Counties have come to the City of London with a Petition so framed altered and Signed as aforesaid that Petition hath been Suppress'd and a New one ready drawn hath been put into their hands after their coming to Town insomuch as few of the Company have known what they â—tition'd for and hath been by them presented to One or Both our Houses of Parliamant as that of Bedfordsh and Buckinghamsh Witnesse those Petitions and amongst the rest that of Harfordshire which took notice of matter agreed on or dissented from the night before the delivery Which was hardly time enough to get so many thousand hands and to travel to London on that Errand These were not the Petitions of the Subscribers but of those that set them on who did in effect but Petition the People to Petition them again and that which was taken and imposed as the sense of the Nation was only the Project and Dictate of the Caball Only with the Porters they thought they had sign'd a Petition against the Watermen and it prov'd to be against the Government so innocent were the greater part of the Petitioners Now as to the Intent of those Petitions since we cannot enter into the hearts of men we are allow'd to judge of the Tree by the Fruit. And we must distinguish too betwixt the Intention of the Dictatours and that of the Subscribers the Former Contriving with an Ill Intention that which the Latter Executed with a Good One. Let the Matter of the Petition be never so fair yet as was said before if it be a business out of the Petitioners sphere and capacity either to Meddle in or to understand it is a suspitious way of Proceeding Such were the Confederate Petitions of England and Scotland for a Parliament in 1641. which were but a Prologue to the Opening of the Subsequent Confederacy against the Government When the Petitions that follow'd sufficiently expounded the meaning of the Former They Petition'd against Ecclesiastical Courts Ceremonies Scandalous Ministers Bishops Votes in Parliament and Episcopacy it self against evil Councellors Monopolies Corruptions of State Courts of Oppression and Innumerable Grievances Were they not gratify'd in all this and did not those very Concessions make
Heel with the Proposall of an Association pretending the Practice of 27. Eliz. for their Warrant It would be endless to run through all the Leagues Covenants Bonds Protestations Engagements Oaeths c. of the Late times and as needless to set forth the Histories of the Miseries they brought upon us after so many Narratives and Discourses already Published upon that Subject So that our Business shall be rather to discover the Imposture of those Practises then to dilate upon the Story All Popular Leagues without the Authority of the Supream Magistrate are to be lookt upon as Conspiracies but when they come once to bear up in Defiance of it the Case is little better then a State of Actual Rebellion The Pretence of the Late Engagements was only to assert and Compass the Ends of the foregoing Petitions And it was the Master-piece of the Faction to keep the Vulgar in the dark by disguiâ—ing the Drift and the Scope both of the One and the Other It was by this following train of thoughts that the Multitude in 1641. were Egg'd on into the foulest crimes and the Heaviest calamities Imaginable The Lord bless us say they we are all running into the French Government and Popery the Courtiers and Prelates will be the Undoing of us all the King is a good man enough of himself if he had but Good people about him but he 's so damnably led away by Popish Councells I would to God he would but call a Parliament and harken to their advice But why should we not press him toâ—t and ferret out all these Caterpillers from about him 'T is true the King can do no wrong but his Ministers may and yet the King is bound by the Law as well as We. Had not we better get hands to a Petition and joyn to stand by one another as One Man for the preservation of our Liberties and Religion then stand gaping with our fingers in our Mouth till all is lost Little did these people Imagine all this while that Death was in the Pot and that instead of the way to Peace and happiness they were then in the High-Road to Destruction And This they might easily enough have discover'd if they had but diligently considerâ—d the Opinions and Professions of the Heads of these Covenanters and Subscribâ—rs among which there was not one man of a hundred that was not a known and a vowâ—d Enemy both to Courch and State But they plung'd themselves like Curtius into the Gulph as Devotes for the mistaken preservation of their Countrey But the delusion will better appear by applying only Common Reason to the Imposture it self And first let us consider their Protestation of May 1641. I A. B. do in the presence of Almighty God promise vow and protest to maintain and defend as far as lawfully I may with my Life Power and Estate the True Reformed Protestant Religion exprest in the Doctrine of the Church of England against all Popery and Popish Innovations within this Realm contrary to the same Doctrine and according to the Duty of my Allegiance to his Majestyes Royall Person Honour and Estate as also the Power and Priviledges of Parliament the lawfull Rights and Liberties of the Subjects c. Now as the whole Pretext was plansible so the saving clause in it as far as lawfully I may made it go down without much seruple The Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. which was the Bond of the Confederacy of the Two Nations had the same salve in it too and the very same specious pretences for the Protestant Religion the Honour of the King the Priviledges of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subject only enlarged to the setting up of the Scottish Diseipline and Government the Exâ—irpation of Prelacy and Popery and the bringing of Delinquents to punishment So that from the maintaining of the Government they are now come to the Dissolving of it and from the Defence of their own Rights and Liberties they are advanced to the Invaâ—ng of other peoples We might reflect upon a world of Soloecisms Illegalities Contradictions and Defects both in the Givers and Takers of this Protestation and Covenant As the Nullity of any Engagement entered into Contrary to Law the altering of the Gouernment without the consent of his Majesty in Parliament The perjurious Fraud of Swearing in One sence in opposition to the Known Intent of the Imposer in another beside the Inconsistence of these Vows with Themselves and the Contradictions they bear to One another Wherefore we shall rather detect the Cheat in the Thing it self and the wonderfull Rashness of the Undertakers then play the Casuist upon the Question Take the Protestation as it runs with that Qualifying Clause in it as far as lawfully I may and there is hardly any thing more in it then what a man is oblig'd to do without it So that without some Mystery in the bottom the thing appears in it self to be wholly Idle and Impertinent and not answerable to the solemnity of making it a National Duty And then the Imposition was in it self an Usurpation of Soveraign Power The Covenant I must confess was Ranker having an Auxiliary Army of about 20000 Scotts to second it But was ever any thing in appearance more harmless Loyall or Conscientious then this Protestation and if the fellow of it were now in agitation how would the Town Ring of any Church of England-Man for a disguised Papist that should refuse to take it And yet what ensu'd upon the peoples joyning in this officious piece of misguided Zeal and Duty When they were once In there was no longer any regard had to the Grammar or Literal Construction of it but to the List of those that took it as the Discriminating Test of the Party They that contriv'd it did like wise Expound it and every man was bound implicitly to believe That only to be Lawfull which they told him was so without being allowed the liberty of Judging of his own Actions He that looks into the Records of that Revolution will finde the Contributions Subscriptions Loans Levies and briefly the highest violences of the War the boldest attempts upon the Honour and Person of the King the Priviledges of Parliament and the Property of the Subject to be charg'd at the soot of the account upon the Tye of the Solemn League and Protestation and every man bound upon the forfeiture of his Life Liberty and Estate to observe it in their sence Over and above the Iniquity of these Oaths how Ridiculous is it for every Paltry Fellow to swear to the doing of he knows not what and the maintaining of the Priviledges of Parliament which no man living understands We shall conclude this Point with the words of the Late King Consâ—derations by way of Solemn Leagues and Covenants are the Common Road us'd in all Factious and Powerfull Perâ—urbations of State or Church And our Covenanters did but write after the Copy of the