of the Kirk presses the Two Houses to a Speedy Establishment of the Presbytery And here again no Mention of his Majesty But what 's the Sum now of these Propositions that stand in Competition with the Kings Freedome Life and Dignity First Only the Justifying and Confirming of all they had done Secondly The giving away of the Militia of England and Ireland for Twenty Years with Power to Raise Men and Money Thirdly His Majesty must Swear and Sign the Covenant Impose it upon the Three Kingdomes Abolish Episcopacy and settle Religion as Both Houses shall Agree Fourthly All Honours since 1642. must be made Null and Void No Peers admitted in Parliament for the Future but by Consent of the Two Houses Fifthly All Great Places and Offices of Honour in England and Ireland to be Dispos'd of by Consent of Parliament and in Fine his Majesty must deliver to Death Beggery and Scorn all that ever Serv'd him Thus was this Glorious Prince Betray'd and Sold according to the COVENANT Here 's the True English of it and the Divinity of that Moloch to which this Nation has offer'd up so many Noble Sacrifices Are not our Fundamental Laws Persons Consciences and Estates Secure and Happy under the Care and Wing of such Blessed Guardians How meanly have we Prostituted the Reverence of the Land and of the Government to the Lusts of these Imperious Shameless Ravishers Take Notice here of some of the Kirks following Resolves upon the Main Point in Question First That the Kings Taking of the Scotch Covenant and Passing Some of the Propositions does not Warrant Scotland to Assist him against England Secondly That upon bare Taking the National Covenant they may not Receive him Thirdly That the Clause in the Covenant for Defence of the Kings Person is to be understood In Defence and Safety of the Kingdom Fourthly That his Majesty shall Execute no Power in Scotland without satisfying every Point Fifthly That Refusing the Propositions he shall be dispos'd of according to the Covenant and the Treaties Nor would the Two Houses Probably have Us'd him any better if he had gone to Them For upon his First withdrawing himself they Voted it Treason and Death without Mercy for any Man to Harbour and Conceal the Kings Person upon a Supposition that his Majesty was then in London This was the 4th of May and on the 6th the Commons Voted him to Warwick Castle which was Unvoted again upon the 9th and in June they Voted the Kings going to the Scots a Design to prolongue the War Let me not appear to Confound the Faction of Scotland with the Nation for no Country affords greater Instances of Integrity and Honour Nay I have heard it from good Authority that the Kings going into Scotland which he most earnestly desir'd was carry'd in the Negative only by Two Voyces His Majesty is now under the Care of his New Governours and a Prisoner to the Covenanters at Holdenby where he desir'd only Two of his Chaplains that had not taken the Covenant and Then a Common-Prayer Book for his own Private Use but Neither could be Granted him At the Isle of Wight the same Faction had the handling of him again where they still Treated his Majesty much at the same Rate And they Us'd his Royal Successour not much better in 1650. When to Auspicate the Project for the Recovery of his Crown in the very Dependence of a Treaty at Breda with him upon the Instigation of the Kirk they Murther'd the Brave and Generous Montross with the most horrid Circumstances of Malice Imaginable And how they Us'd the King himself afterward at his Coming among them I am not willing to mention Nay when the Time appointed by Gods Providence was come for the Restoring of the King the Presbyterian Ministers in London Publish'd a kind of Squinting Gratulation upon That Occasion as if Popery were coming in with his Majesty for Company And the same Party upon the Re-Admission of the Secluded Members press'd upon the House of Commons these Two following Votes for the Justification of the Rebellion in 1641. and in order to the Exclusion of the Royal Party from the next Choice 1. I do Acknowledge and Declare that the War undertaken by Both Houses of Parliament in their Defence against the Forces rais'd in the Name of the Late King was Just and Lawful and that Magistracy and Ministry are the Ordinances of God 2. Resolv'd that All and Every Person who have Advised or Voluntarily Aided Abetted Assisted in any War against the Parliament since the First day of Jan. 1641. His or Their Sons unless He or They have since manifested their Good Affections to This Parliament shall be Vncapable to be Elected to serve as Members of the next Parliament So that as their Feud against Kings is Implacable their Aversion likewise to all those that Love their Prince descends from Generation to Generation How Inconsistent Presbytery is with Monarchy is sufficiently manifest But they 'l say for themselves that Kings may be Misled and that it is not the Form of Government that is Grievous to Them but the Male-Administration of it To which it may be Reply'd That All Governours under what Form soever are to Them Alike where they themselves are not Vppermost And that the Reformation of Personal Failings will not do their Business without the Total Subversion of all those wholesome and Profitable Laws that stand in the Way of their Discipline It being their Custome to Reproach Princes and their Ministers for straining the Prerogative while they Themselves at the same time Usurp over Kings Parliaments and People And Trample under their Feet All that is Sacred in Society and Government Princes 't is true may have their Errours and their Passions but what have the Innocent Laws done Are They Popishly Affected too But where ever Presbytery reigns there can be no Law but their own Will Did they not in Scotland Damn Bishops as Anti-Christian and Deprive Ecclesiastiques of their Voyces in Parliament Convention and Council notwithstanding Three Acts of Parliament that is to say of 1584. 1597. and 1606. expresly to the Contrary And did they not pronounce the Acts of the Assemblies of Glasgow and Perth to be Void and Illegal tho' Enacted as Municipal Laws Ask them now says his Late Majesty Large Declaration Pag. 416. by what Authority they do these things expresly against Acts of Parliament Acts of Council and Acts of General Assemblies They Answer that Those Acts of Assembly were unduely Obtain'd and that now they have Rescinded them For Acts of Parliament and Acts of Council they Express great Wonder that any man should Question their Authority over-Them For if Christ be above the King Christs Council must likewise be Supreme Parliaments being only the Council of the Kingdom And for the Kings Privy Council and Judges they must submit to the Councellours and Judges under Christ who is the King of Kings Nor is
all Governments The King in his Declaration before-Mention'd Fol. 404. among other of their Vnchristian Extravagances takes Notice of their Refusal to Pray for Sir William Nesbett upon his Death-bed because he had not Subscrib'd the Covenant and that they did Formally bar non-Covenanters from the Communion in Express terms with Blasphemers and Adulterers refusing Baptism in the Churches of Ministers that had not taken the Covenant even to Children that were born in the same Parish The Unchristian Rigour of this Discipline is such says the Authour of Toleration Discuss'd Pag. 334. that It Crucifies weak Consciences with Needless Infinite and Incurable Scruples that Haunt Dog and Torment us in the most Necessary and Ordinary Actions of Humane Life At the Church at the Table at the Market at Home and Abroad At all Times in all Places and upon all Occasions in our Thoughts Words and Deeds As to Excess in Eating It is Censurable either in the Quantity or in the Quality So that in the first place the Eldership is to provide one Common Gage for the Stomachs of the Whole Parish for fear of a Mouthful too much And in the Second Place It is made a matter of Salvation or Damnation whether a man Eats Beef or Venison And so for Excess in APPAREL one Inch more than to cover your Shame is a Superfluity and One Peny more in the Pound than the Allowance of the Presbytery is made as much a mans Soul is Worth It is the same thing for VAIN WORDS A Nurse shall not dare to still her Child but with a Psalm and you must not presume so much as to ask What a Clock it is without a Text to prove that the Question tends to Edification Nay they have drawn CHIDING within the Compass of Ecclesiastical Censure So that Masters shall not reprove their Servants nor Parents their Children without Leave of the Eldership And they have taken in BRAWLING too and made every Billingsgate Quarrel a Subject of Consistorial Cognizance Vnder LEWD CUSTOMES are Censur'd all sorts of Publique Sports Exercises and Recreations that have been long in Vse as having their Original from the Times of Paganism or Popery As Comedies Interludes Wrastlings Foot-Ball-Play May-Games Whitson-Ales Morrice-Dances Bear-Batings c. All GAMES that bring Loss are also Prohibited as Tennis Bowls Billyards c. And so are UNCOMELY GESTURES So that a man may be given to the Devil for Lolling upon his Elbow or Sitting upon his Back-side before the Deacon of the Parish Nay our very THOUGHTS are Censurable and 't is enough to be suspected He that sues to recover a Debt shall be suspected of Avarice and he that refuses to Crouch like the Ass under the Burthen shall be suspected of Pride To pass now from their Rigours to their Scruples There goes a Story of some of them that made it a Matter of Religion to Piss a Bed and Ride Hobby-Horses because it is said Except you become as little Children you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But Bancroft in his Holy Discipline Pag. 368. tells you of those that made Hawking and Hunting and Womens laying out of Hair to be Cases of Conscience and Walker consults Field particularly whether it be in any respect Tolerable for Women that profess Religion and the Reformation to wear Doublets Little Hats with Feathers Great Gowns after the French and Outlandish Fashion Great Ruffs and Hair either Curl'd or Frizl'd or set out upon Wyres c. And Cholmlye desires to be resolv'd whether the strict Prohibition of not Kindling of fire on the Sabboth be of the substance of the Moral Precept Among all these Scruples I find no Difficulty made in the Cases of Dethroning Kings Demolishing Churches Killing and taking Possession c. But to conclude with the Treatise aforesaid From the Triple-Crown'd Consistory that Lords it over Souls Bodies and Estates over Kings Nobles and Commons over Laws Magistrates and all Sorts and Ranks of Men and Interests That Turns Gospel into Law Communities into Deserts Men into Beasts Good LORD DELIVER VS THE END Covenanting is the Method of the Party Al Leagues without Authority are Seditious The Pretended Ends of the Covenant The steps by which the Holy Discipline Advanc'd into a Direct Rebellion They persecuted the Queen Regent into her Grave The Daughter had no better Quarter than the Mother They treated King James as ill as they had done his Mother The Conspiracy under Queen Elizabeth was nipp'd in the Bud. The Scotch Rebellion of 1637. The Rise Method and Progress of it They Levy Arms against the King for the Glory of God The Practises of the Scotch and English compar'd The Usurpations of the Two Houses The Rigours of the Covenant The Kirk Betray'd and Sold the King in his Distress Lowdon's Second Speech at a Conference Oct. 6. 1646. Answer to the Vote of Sept. 24. 1646. * Lowdon's Speech to his Majesty 1646. The Covenanters Barbarous Propositions to his Late Majesty The Two Houses as bad as the Scotch It was the Faction of Scotland not the Nation that Ruin'd the King Their dealing with the King at Holdenby Their Rigour at the Isle of Wight and the Horrid Murther of Montross The Covenanters Justifie the Murther of the Late King upon the Restauration of This. Presbytery is Inconsistent with any other Government The Presbyterians Will is their Law The Tyranny of the Pretended Parliament in 1641. The Tyranny Cruelty and Profaneness of the English Covenanters They Disposed of our Estates and Persons at Pleasure Their Scandalous and Uncharitable Censures The Scottish General Table was the Pattern of the English Close Committee Their Private Instructions The Medly of their Assembly The General Assembly is but the Embryo of a Common-wealth Presbyterial Tyranny Excess in Eating Censurable In Apparel Vain Words Chiding Lewd Customes Rediculous Scruples
Parliament In This their Protestation his Majesty observes Eleaven Nullities and that In One Hour they made Void Six General Assemblies tho' Two of them Wholly and the Other Four in Part were Ratifi'd by Acts of Parliament In Another Hour they Damn'd all the Arminian Tenets without Defining what they were In Another Hour they Depriv'd One Arch-Bishop and Two Bishops And in One hour more they Abolish'd Episcopacy Deposing Four Bishops barely upon a Libel read in the Pulpit without Examining any One Witness against them and only for the Crime of Obeying Parliaments and General Assemblies All This they do as having the Cognition of Ecclesiastical Matters They Arm the Subject Block up and Force the Kings Forts and Castles Intercept Victuals and Ammunition for their Relief Tax the People Levy Soldiers against the King Issue out Warrants to Sheriffs for Commissioners of Parliament and when they are Ask'd why they do these things 'T is for the Good of the Church they say the Glory of God and the Preservation of Religion Kings Declaration pag. 415. These are the men that bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles in Links of Iron according to the very Letter And you shall now see that the English Covenanters are as good Text-Proof as their Brethren Take Notice here That my Observations are restrain'd simply to the Actings of the Presbyterians without Imputing any thing to Them that was done by the Influence of the Independents It appears from what is already said that The Name of God was the Prologue to Both Rebellions The Form and Doctrine of the English League the very Translation of the Scottish It rests now to shew that the English Practices are so likewise and how far they have put their Seditious Positions in Execution What was the English way of Remonstrating and Declaring but the Scottish Mode of Protesting The General Assembly declines the Kings Authority in the Case of Treason and so did the House of Commons in the Case of their Members The Kirk refus'd to pray for the Queen and our Mock-Parliament made it Penal to Pray for the King And they both of them took upon themselves to Convene Assemblies Impose Othes and Subscriptions by their own Power To Banish the Kings Servants and Scandalize his Ministers And with a Scottish Grace the English Faction tells the King in Answer to one of his Declaration That his Suggestion is as False as the Father of Lies can Invent. As they agreed in the Intent of the Reformation So did they also in the Manner of it They Alarm'd the City of London at Midnight that the King was coming with his Papists to fire the Town and burn the Citizens in their Beds the Common Pretences of Scotland And after the Scottish Methode too they Rifled Winchester-Church in 1642. Burnt the Communion-Table in an Ale-House brake open several Leaden Chests wherein the Bodyes of some of the Saxon Kings were Deposited Casting the Dust into the Air and throwing the Bones of them at the Windows Hacking with their Swords the Crown that was there upon the very Statue of the King With the same Barbarity they proceeded at Chichester where they Pickt out the Eyes of Edw. VI. his Picture saying that all this was long of his Book of Common Prayer At Canterbury and Rochester they did the Like and turn'd the Church of St. Paul both into a Stable and an Ale-House It might serve in one word for all to say That they have put all their Positions before spoken of in Practice The Two Houses by their own Authority set up Ordinances for Laws settl'd the Militia stil'd themselves the Supreme Judicature of the Kingdome Chang'd the Whole Frame of the Government Punish'd those as Traytours that serv'd the King Seiz'd the Kings Forts Towns Magazines and Revenues Rais'd an Army against him Impos'd Taxes Excise Customes took away Episcopacy and the Common-Prayer and settled the Directory Proclaim'd Fasts spoil'd the King of his Authority made him a Prisoner under Colour of taking him into Protection and then for a Sum of Money with Judas betray'd their Master to be Crucifi'd All this and More was not only the Effect of the Covenant but the very Drift and Meaning of it as appears by the Artificial Emprovement of it to all their Purposes being the very Test of the Faction No man was allow'd to Practice the Law No man Admitted into the Ministry that had not taken it and it was Impos'd under a Penalty upon the Whole Nation And Then After the Taking of it it was made Death for any man to return to his Allegiance and all the Deserters of the Conspiracy that were murther'd under a Form of Justice were put to Death for Breach of Covenant When the late King May 1646. in his Distress apply'd himself to the Scotch and they receiv'd him as into Protection his Friends were kept from him at Newcastle by as strict an Order as afterwards at Holdenby But they Formaliz'd the Matter however how Base a thing it would be for Scotland to Deliver up their King and how Inconsistent with the Duty of their Covenant and how Dishonourable to the Army to whom in his Extreme Danger he had Recourse for Safety The Scotch Commissioners also Aggravating the Matter If it be Contrary say they to the Law and Common Practice of Nations to deliver up the meanest Subject fled to them tho' it be for the greatest Crimes How much more would the World abroad Condemn our Army for a Base Dishonourable Act if they should deliver up their Head and Soveraign having cast himself into their Hands to be Dispos'd of at the Arbitrament of another Nation Nay says the Chancellour I shall desire that the Word of Disposing of the Kings Person may be rightly understood for to Dispose of the Kings Person as Both Houses or Both Kingdoms shall think fit may in some sence be to Depose or worse But alas these Difficulties only stuck till the Price was agreed upon How Stiff they were till the Bargain was Struck and after That how Flat and Supple For Then he tells his Majesty plainly If he refuses the Propositions Both Kingdoms will be Constrain'd for their Mutual Safety to agree and settle Religion and Peace without him And he is told afterward by the Pretended Declaration of the Kingdome of Scotland of Jan. 16. 1646. that by reason of his Refusal there would be a Joynt Course taken by Both Kingdoms concerning the Disposal of his Person And Then a little After with respect had to the Safety and Preservation of his Royal Person In the Preservation and Defence of the True Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms According to the COVENANT c. On Feb. 12. They Exhort their Covenanted Brethren the Assembly at Westminster to hold fast their Solemn League and Covenant to Entertain a Brotherhood and Vnity between the Nations but not a Syllable of the King And again Jan. 18. the General Assembly
it all that they assume to themselves an Arbitrary Rule but whoever refuses Subscription and Obedience to their Acts and Decrees stands Excommunicate without Mercy And Then if he persist follows Out-Lawry Forfeiture of his Goods his Revenue for Life Letters of Caption for the Seizing of his Person and Close Commitment as a Traytour If he does not yet Appear they take out Letters of Intercommuning making it Treason to Receive or hold any Correspondence with him This is Executed by a Warrant to the Civil Judge from a Commissioner of the Presbytery and upon his Refusal to see the Sentence put in Execution he himself incurrs the same Danger And the same Tyranny was Exercis'd by the Two Houses upon the English Government Whose Orders were Impos'd upon the Nation for Laws and Obedience requir'd to them under Pain of Life Liberty or Estate at Pleasure What a Mockery is it now to talk of Religion Kings Parliaments or Laws where the Dictates of Mechaniques shall Over-rule the Articles of the Apostolique Faith and the Vote of a Seditious Conventicle Dissolve the Order and Authority of a Legal and Establish'd Government The Tyranny of the Presbytery over the Consciences Lives Liberties and Estates of the People ALtho' These Vsurpations upon the King and the Government it self do Naturally Presuppose and Imply an Oppression upon the Subject It will not be amiss yet more particularly to Expose the Inevitable and the Scandalous Slavery of living under That Dominion as well in regard of their Vnlimited Power as of their Inherent Cruelty and Rigour In the Matter of Conscience Life Liberty and Estate Enough is said already in the very Case of their Covenants wherein without any respect to the Lawfulness of the Thing or the Conscience of the Person it was Sequestration and Emprisonment to Refuse them even where it was the Hazzard of Damnation to Take them and being once Engag'd 't was Death to Repent The History of Scotland abounds with Instances upon This Subject but I shall rather bring my Observations Home to the Covenanters of our Own Age and Nation The Early Plunders of Sir John Lucas Sir William Boteler The Lady Rivers with other Persons of Eminent Condition both Lay-men and Divines are to be read at large with the Inhumane Insolences that were Acted upon their Persons and Relations in Mercurius Rusticus but the Out-rages that follow'd were so Great and so Many that These are hardly worth the Mentioning and the Other would be too Tedious to Recite for the Whole Story of the Rebellion was carry'd on with Rapine and Bloud How many Noble-mens Houses were turn'd to Prisons without the Masters knowing either his Accuser or his Offence Several Gentlemen of Quality put on Ship-board and half smother'd in the Heat of the Year where they contracted Diseases and by an Arbitrary Power were to have been Transported nobody knew whither Others were Sold for Slaves into Plantations Near 100 Ministers were brought out of the West and Clapp'd up in Lambeth-house where almost all of them were Destroy'd by a Pestilential Feaver Nay so Profane was their Barbarity that upon Sunday the 5th of March 1642. Dr. Featly Preaching that day at Lambeth-house order was given to dissolve the Congregation and the Reformers took with them some great Guns to do the Work At which time some Mischief was done and there had been more but for a Gentleman who is at present an Eminent Person in the City who snacht away the Linstock just as they were going to give fire upon the Congregation into the Quire of the Chappel This I have upon the Credit of a Man of Worth and Value I could tell you of a Minister in Covent-Garden that refus'd Christian Burial to the Body of a Gentleman that was Quarter'd for his Loyalty One that made it a Moot-Point upon an Anniversary Fast whether or no the Kings Death were a Murther And These People were as well the Masters of our Estates as of our Persons See Scobell's Collection of Acts and Ordinances by their own Power taking upon them to Sequester Delinquents Borrow Money upon the Publique Faith gathering of Other Peoples Rents and Debts Levying of Money Raising of Horse Assessing at Pleasure Sequestring Church and Crown-Lands Gulling the People with Irish Adventures Laying new Imposts Authorizing the Breaking Open of Locks and Examining upon Othe for Discovery of Delinquents Money and Goods Raising Continuing and Enlarging several Excises Borrowing Money for the Scots Taxing the Whole Nation Appropriating the Profits of Tonnage and Poundage to themselves Compounding for Wardships Beside their Impositions of a Weekly Meal their Monthly Assessments and other Impositions upon the People to an Incredible Value and without any Colour of Law As there is no Freedom either of Conscience Person or Estate under their Boundless Dominion so there 's no living under them with either Peace or Reputation If a Man and a Woman Live in such a manner of Conversation that it is Possible for them to be Lewd together in Private the Presbytery shall take it for granted that they are so and without any Evidence require them publiquely the next Lords day perhaps before the Congregation to discharge themselves upon Othe that they are Innocent Which if they do and that they purge themselves of the suspected Crime they shall yet be forc'd to do open Penance for their Misbehaviour But if two Persons shall be Presented under a Suspicion of Incontinence and that being Conven'd and Examin'd there shall appear any strong Presumptions that they are so tho' there be no Proof in the Case they shall yet be made Close Prisoners to feed on Bread and Water and no body to come at them to try if either by Proof or Confession any thing can be made out against them by the next Court-day If not they are Dismiss'd but upon Condition that if ever they be seen together again unless in the Church or in the Market it shall be taken pro Confesso that they are Guilty There was a Husband that confessed to his Wife some Faults that he had committed and She out of Zeal told a Presbyterian Minister the Story for which the Minister very fairly Convented him and made him do Publique Penance This Practice has Parted many Men and their Wives and stirr'd up Feuds never to be Reconcil'd Nay a man shall not Sue for a Debt upon a Bond or a Landlord for his Rent but the Presbytery shall take the Judgment of it to Themselves as a Course Scandalous to the Profession where any of their own Gang is Concern'd They must have an Oar in every Boat In Scotland they interpos'd in the Business of Salt-Pans Salmon-Fishing Fairs and Markets and fell heavily upon some Scottish Merchants in Edinburgh for carrying Wheat to Spain in a time of Dearth But the Trade of Wax thither was Unpardonable as not only feeding Gods Enemies but maintaining their Idolatry To say nothing of the Absurdity in their Constitution