so hanging nor after the same cause And that ye take no fee as long as ye shall be Justice nor Robes of any man great or small but of the King himself And that you give none advice or counsell to no man great or small in no case where the King is party And in case that any of what estate or condition they be come before you in your Sessions with force and arms or otherwise against the Peace or against the forme of the Statute thereof made to disturbe execution of the Common-law or to menace the people that they may not pursue the Law that ye do their bodies to be arrested and put in prison And in case they be such that ye may not arrest them that ye certifie the King of their names and of their misprision hastily so that thereof he may ordain a coâ—â—venable remedy And that ye by your self nor by other privily nor apertly maintain any plea or quarrel hanging in the Kings Court or elsewhere in the Country And that ye deny to no man common right by the Kings Letters nor none other mans nor for none other cause and in case any letters come to you contrary to the Law that ye do nothing by such Letters but certifie the King thereof and go forth to do the Law notwithstanding the same Letters And that ye shall do and procure the profit of the King and of the Crown with all things where ye may reasonably do the same And in case ye be from henceforth found in default in any of the points aforesaid ye shall be at the Kings Will of Body Lands and Goods thereof to be done as shall please him as God you help and all Saints Anno 18 E. 3. Stat. 4. The next Oath is that of Supremacy made and prescribed to be taken by all Judges Justices Sheriffs Maiors Recorders Civil and Ecclesiastical Officers Barresters Benchers Graduates Ministers Attornies whatsoever and all Members of the Commons House before they ought to fit or vote therein by the Statutes of 1 Eliz. cap. 1. 5 Eliz. cap. 1. 17 Car. cap. 7. I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my Conscience That the Kings Highness is the only Supream Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal and that no forein Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and therefore I do utterly renounce all forein Jurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highness his Heirs and lawfull Successors and to my Power shall assist and defend all Iurisdictions Privileges Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this Book 5. The 5th Oath of equal Latitude and Extent as the former of Supremacy is that of Allegiance prescribed by the Statutes of 3 Jacobi cap. 4. 7 Jac. c. 6. 17 Car. c. 7 tending only to the Declaration of such Duty as every true and well-affected Subject not only by Bond of Allegiance but also by the Commandement of Almighty God ought to bear to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors which Oath such as are infected with Popish Superstition do oppugn with many false and unsound Arguments the just defence whereof his Majesty King James hath heretofore undertaken worthily performed to the great contentment of all his loving Subjects notwithstanding the gainsayings of all contentious Adversaries And to shew how greatly his Loyal Subjects did approve the said Oath they prostrated themselves at his Majesties feet beseeching his Majesty that it might be enacted that the same Oath may be administred to all his Subjects The words whereof are these I A. B. do truly and sincerely acknowledge professe testifie and declare in my Conscience before God and the world That our Soveraign Lord King CHARLES is lawfull and rightfull King of this Realm and of all other his Majesties Dominions and Countries And that the Pope neither of himself nor by any of the Church or See of Rome or by any other means with any other hath any power or authority to depose the King or to dispose of any of his Majesties Kingdomes or Dominions or to authorize any forein Prince to invade oâ— annoy him or his Countries or to discharge any of his Majesties Subjects of their Allegiance and Obedience to his Majesty or to give licence or leave to any of them to bear Arms raise tumult or to offer any violence or hurt to his Majesties Royal Person State or Government or to any of his Majesties Subjects within his Majesties Dominions Also I do swear from my heart that notwithstanding any Declaration or sentence of Excommunication or deprivation made or granted by the Pope or his Successors or by any Authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his See against the said King his Heirs or Successors or any absolution of the said Subjects from their obedience I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or Declaration or otherwise and will do my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto his Majesty his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know or hear of to be against him or any of them And I do further swear That I do from my heart abhor detest and abjure as impious and heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes which be excommunicated by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do believe and in Conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any person whatsoever hath power to absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledge by good and full Authority to be lawfully administred unto me and do renounce all Pardons and Dispensations to the contrary And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear according to the expresse words by me spoken and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words without any equivocation or mental evasion or secret reservation whatsoever And I do make this Recognition and Acknowledgement heartily willingly and truly upon the true Faith of a Christian So help me God 6. To these Oaths I shall subjoyn the c Protestation made and taken in pursuance of these Oaths by all the Well-affected Members of the Lords and Commons House the last long Parliament and voluntarily taken by all the best affected
Religion dividing the King from his people or one of the Kingdoms from another making any Faction or parties amongst the people contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publike trial and receive condigne punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the Supreme Judicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or other 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 indeavour that they may remain conjoyned in a firm peace and union to all posteritie And that Justice may be done upon the willfull 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 Kingdoms 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 union 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 concexneth 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 opposition and promote the same according to our power against all Lets and Impediments whatsoever and what we are not able our selves to suppress or overcome we shall reveal and make known that it may be timely prevented or removed All which we shall doe as in the sight of God And because these Kingdoms are guilty of many sins and provocations against God and his Son Jesus Christ as is too manifest by our present distresses and dangers the fruits thereof we professe and declare before God and the World our unfeined desire to be humbled for our own sins and for the sins of these Kingdoms especially that we have not as we ought valued the inestimable benefit of the Gospel that we have not laboured for the purity and power thereof that we have not endeavoured to receive Christ in our hearts nor to walk worthy of him in our lives which are the causes of other sins and Transgressions so much abounding amongst us And our true and unfeigned purpose desire and indeauour for our selves and all others under our power and charge both in publique and private in all duties we owe to God and man to amend our lives and each one to go before another in the example of a real Reformation that the Lord may turn away his wrath and indignation and establish these Churches and Kingdomes in truth and peace And this Covenant we make in the presence of Almighty God the Searcher of all hearts with a true intention to perform the same as we shall answer at that great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed Most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by his Holy Spirit for this end and to bless our desires and proceedings with such success as may be deliverance and safety to his people and encouragement to other Christian Churches groaning under or in danger of the yoke of Antichristian tyranny to joyn in the same or like Association and Covenant to the glory of God the enlargement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the peace and Tranquility of Christian Kingdoms and Commonwealths Subscribed by William Lenthal Speaker Sir Henry Vane junior and most now sitting Yet notwithstanding all these most solemn sacred legal Oaths this Protestation Solemn League and Covenant sweetly according with and ratifying each other the remaining Fragment of the Commons House sitting under the power of the Army not only violated them all in the Highest degree by their proceedings against the late King his Heirs and Successors to the Imperial Crown the Royal posterity Kingship Kingdom Lords House and their secluded fellow Members but also took upon them to suppress and set aside these Oathes yea to brand and stigmatize them for Vnlawfull Oathes to absolve themselves with all others from them and to set up an Ingagement of their own framing in diametrical Opposition against all and every of them imposed on all the three Nations with strictest severity by their New Knack of 6. September 1649. disabling all Freemen of this Nation to sue in any Court of Justice whatsoever or to enjoy any Civil Ecclesiastical or Military Office benefice augmentation trust or degree of Learning in the Vniversities or Innes of Court and debarring all Lawyers Attornies from their practice by a new kinde of Praemunire who should not take and subscribe this Engagement which the whole House of Commons having not the least legal Power to g administer any usual Oath to Witnesses or any person whatsoever in any case or Age had neither Authority nor Power to impose upon the Nation were it consonant to the precedent Oaths Protestation Covenant much less then the Vnparliamentary Conventicle sitting after the Kings beheading the Lords and Majority of the Commons forcible seclusion and the h Parliaments actual dissolution thereby when diametrically repugnant to all these legal Oaths and to the Petition of Right it self 3 Caroli complaining providing against the future administring of any Oath not warrantable by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm in precise Terms and whether this Engagement be not such let all Lawyers Divines and consciencious Englishmen resolve I do declare and promise That I will be true and faithfull to the Common-wealth of England as it is now established without a King or House of Lords All the Officers Souldiers of the Army and Garrisons through England and Ireland were the first men who subscribed it and returned their Subscriptions in Parchment-Rolls to their Journey-men and Creatures at Westminster who thereupon thought themselves and their Government though founded upon Bloud Treachery Perjury as lasting and perpetual as if it had been founded on a Rock and the sincerest Principles of Piety Justice Righteousness and general publick National consent But those very first Engagers to them when they had done their Drudgery and oppressed the Nation with doubled and trebled Taxes to support their bloody wars by Land and Sea against their Protestant King and Brethren of Scotland the Netherlands on the 20th of April 1653. i sodenly turned them out of Doors and power with force and highest contempt as persons wholy perverting the ends of Parliament oppressing the people making Gain the main of their Business and utterly impossible in that corrupt estate in the judgements of the most moderate men to come the instruments of our long desired Establishment And then setting up a
1. 5. c. 9. 8 32. Ps. 25. 13. Isay 34. 5. c. 44. 3. c. 59. 21. c. 61. 8 9. c. 62. 22. Mal. 2. 4 to 15. c. 4. 6. Acts 2. 39. c. 3. 25. c. 7. 5 45. c. 13. 23. Rom. 4. 13 16. c. 9. 7 8. c. 11. 1 2 27. Gal. 3. 16. to the end Heb. 8. 6 to 11. c. 11. 18. c. 13. 20. Lu. 1. 72 73. Rev. 12. 17. Levit. 26. 9 15 25 42 44. 2 Kings 17. 15 to 41. Psal. 44. 17 18. Ps. 78. 10. 38. Ps. 89. 3. 4 5 34 35. Ps. 103. 17. 18. Ps. 105. 8 10. Ps. 111. 5 9. Isay 24. 5. c 42. 6. c. 49. 8. c. 54. 3. Jer. 11. 2 to 12. c. 22. 9. c. 31. 31. 32 33. c. 29. 10. to 20. c. 33. 20. 21. c. 50. 5. Ezech. 16. 60. 62. c. 37. 28 29. c. 44. 4. Hos. 8. 1. Heb. 6. 16. 17. Therefore mens Oaths Covenants to Kings and their Posterity must likewise bind in succession and perpetuity 2ly Because Gods Oath and Covenant made to David and to his House Royal Seed and Posterity touching their succession in the Royal Throne of Iudah was hereditary successive extending to all his Issue and Posterity and though many of them were wicked rebellious yet this did not cause or provoke God to dethrone or disinherit them or infringe his Oath and Covenant to David 2 Sam. 3. 12. to the end c. 22. 51. 1 Kings 2. 33. Psal. 89. 2 3 33 to 38. Ps. 132. 11 12 13. Ps. 18. 50. Jer. 33. 17 19 20 21. 1 Chron. 28. 4 to 10. Jer. 17. 24 24 25 26. 1 Kings 11. 12. 13 36 39. 2 Kings 8. 9. 2 Chron. 21. 5 6 7. 2 Chron. 23. 3 c. Jer. 23. 4 5. Zezh 9. 9. John 13. 13 15. Lu. 1. 32 33. Therefore much more where Oaths Covenants are made by Subjects to their Hereditary Kings and their Posterity they must remain inviolable and not be abrogated by their transgressions 3ly Because the Oath which Joseph took of his Brethren the children of Israel to carry up his Bones out of Aegypt into Canaan when God should bring them out of Aegypt Gen. 50. 24 25. though not made precisely for them and their Posterity was reputed by Moses and them to be obligatorie to their seed as if made by them even in point of Conscience as is evident by Exod. 13. 19. And Moses took the Bones of Ioseph with him though driven out of Egypt by Pharoah for he had straitly sworn to the Children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones hence with you Which bones of his they by vertue of this Oath notwithstanding Pharoahs pursuit after them carryed along with them through the red Sea and through the wildernesse forty years and through the Land of Canaan till they had quite conquered it notwithstanding all their wars Iosh. 24. 32. near 500 years after this Oath first made If then Moses Ioshua and all the Israelites held themselves thus conscienciously obliged by the Oath of their deceased Ancestors above four hundred years before to carry up Iosephs dead bones out of Aegypt notwithstanding all Objections of hast and danger from Pharoah and his Host their forty years wandring in the wildernesse their wars in Canaan and meanesse of the matter in relation to their publick safety no wayes concerned in it Then much more must our Ancestors and our own particular reiterated Oaths in precise terms to our Kings their Heirs and Successors which so much concern our publick Government Peace Settlement Safety Prosperity engage our whole Kingdom and three Nations to a consciencious observation of them to the uttermost of their power 4ly Because Davids Oath to Saul and Jonathan extended to their seed 1 Sam. 24. 21 22. Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my Fathers House And David swore unto Saul 1 Sam. 20. 14 to 18 42. And Jonathan said to David thou shalt not only while I yet live shew me the kindnesse of the Lord that I die not but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindnesse from my House for ever no not when the Lord hath cut off the Enemies of David every one from the face of the Earth So Jonathan made a Covenant WITH THE HOUSE OF DAVID And Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved him And Ionathan said to David go in peace for as much as We have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord saying the Lord be beeween thee and me and between thy Seed and my Seed for ever How conscienciously David observed these Oaths after the deaths of Saul and Ionathan is apparent not only by his love favor and affection to Mephibosheth for Jonathans sake whom he restored to all that was Saule made him eat continually at his Table 2 Sam. 9. 1. c. and by his slaying of Baanah and Rechab for murdering Ishbosheth Sauls son his Competitor when they brought his head unto him expecting a great reward 2 Sam. 4. But more especially by his sparing Mephibosheth the Son of Jonathan the son of Saul because of the Lords Oath that was between them between David and Jonathan extending to their seed and posteritie when the Gibeonites demanded 7. of the sons of Saul to be delivered up to them 2 Sam. 21. 5 6 7. 5. Because Esther 9. 27 28 31. The * Iews ordained and took upon them and upon their séed and upon all such as joyned themselves unto them so as it should not fail that they would keep these two dayes of Purim according to their writing and according to their appointed time every year as those in the Parliament of 3 Jac. c. 1. and their Posteritie have observed the 5 of November annually ever since and that those dayes should be remembred and kept throughout every Generation every Family every Province and every City and that those dayes of Purim should not fail from among the Iews nor the memorial of them perish from their séed which they decreed for themselves and for their seed If the whole Nation of the Jewes by an Ordinance and Decree might thus binde their seed posterity to observe the daies of Purim for ever With like reason they might by an Oath Covenant oblige themselves and their posterities for ever to their hereditarie Kings their heirs and posterities for ever And so may we and all other Nations by the like Acts Decrees and the forecited Oathes as is clearly resolved declared enacted by the Statutes of 25 H. 8. c. 22. 26 H. 8. c. ◠28 H. 8. c. 3. 35 H. 8. c. 1. 1 Eliz. c. 1. 3. 5 Eliz. c. 1. 1 Jac. c. 1. 3 Jac. c 4. 7 Jac. c. 6. 6ly Because the president of the Rechabites who upon the command of their Father Ionadab the son of Rechab That neither they nor their Sons for ever should
them What shall I doe for you and Wherewith shall I make the Attonement that ye may blesse the Inheritance of the Lord And they said unto the King The man that consumed us and devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel let seven of his sons be delivered unto us and we will hang them up in Gibeah of Saul which the Lord did chuse which being accordingly done after that God was intreated for the Land and removed the famine 2 Sam. 1. 1. to 15. Here we have an Oath and Covenant binding the Israelites their Governours Heirs and posterity in perpetuitie to the Gibeonites and their posteritie which I shall parallel with our forementioned Oaths Protestation Covenant to our hereditarie Kings their heirs and successors to prove them more obliging to us and our posterities than this Oath League of the Israelites to the Gibeonites in regard of these observable circumstances particulars not hitherto insisted on by any which I beseech God in mercie to set home effectually upon all our hearts spirits consciences both for our information reformation settlement and avoiding Gods avenging justice on us and our posterities for our transcendent perjuries breach of Oathes and Covenants to our Soveraigns 1. This Oath and Covenant with the Gibeonites Embassadors was procured by meer fraud circumvention misinformation and apparent falshood arising meerly from those to whom it was made and sworn yet it obliged the Israelites and their posteritie to the Gibeonites and their progenie in perpetuitie But the forementioned Oathes together with the Protestation and Solemn League and Covenant were made without any fraud circumvention misinformation or false suggestion upon grounds of loyaltie dutie justice prudence christianitie Religion and State-policie voluntarily propounded by the makers takers of them and ratified in full Parliaments Therefore they must needs be farre more valid obligatory to the whole English Nation and their posterities than this Oath Covenant to the Gibeonites 2. This League and Oath was made very sodenly rashly unadvisedly without any advice with God and the whole Congregation or examining debating the truth of the Gibeonites suggestion yet it bound them when once made But our Oathes Protestation League Covenant were all made enacted enjoyned upon long and serious debate mature deliberation in several successive Parliaments Therefore ours must be much more obliging than theirs 3ly This League Oath was made only by the Princes of Israel without the Congregations privitie assent or advice who were discontented with and murmured against them for it yet it obliged both the Princes people and their posterities But our Oathes Protestation League and Covenant were made not only by all our Princes Nobles Peers but likewise by the whole House of Commons in full Parliaments and assented to by the whole English Nation both in and out of Parliament the * Commons being the original movers promoters contrivers of all or most of them Therefore they must be much more obligatorie to us and our poâ—eriâ—ies than theirs 4ly Their League Oath was never ratified by any publique Law or decree of the whole Congregation and people of Israel in any publike Convention but only by Ioshua and the Princes alone yet they bound the whole Nation Ours have been approved ratified established perpetuated by sundry successive Acts Ordinances Votes of Parliament from time to time continuing still in their full legal force Therefore much more valid and binding to us and our posterities than theirs 5ly That Oath League was taken sworn only by the Princes themselves not by the Congregation and people of Israel yet they were all obliged by them Our Oaths Protestation League Covenant have been sworn taken not only by all our Princes Nobles Officers of State Iustices but likewise by all or most of the Commons people of the Land from time to time both in and out of Parliament Therefore much more obliging to us and ours than theirs 6ly This Oath League of theirs to the Gibeonites was never taken and entred into for ought appears but once and that sodeinly without any subsequent renovation or ratification But our Oathes Protestation League Covenant have been swore taken again and again by all Members of Parliament Officers of State Iustices Graduates Lawyers Ministers most Souldiers and others upon sundry emergent occasions both in and out of Parliament Therefore much more obligatory to us and our posterities then theirs 7ly This Oath League for ought wee read was not made explicitly in precise terms with the Gibeonites their heirs and posteritie for ever but only indefinitely with the Gibeonites then in being whose lives they spared as the words import yet because they were a People State Citie Body politick having a permanent succession it virtually and intentionally in their own and Gods account too extended not only to the Gibeonites then living but to their succeeding issues in Sauls time near 400 years after and all succeeding Generations as q perpetual National Leagues use to do But our Oaths League Covenant in direct terms extend not only to our Kings to whom they were first made and sworn but likewise to their heirs successors and Royal Posterity for ever see 1 Jac. c. 1. 3. Jac. c. 4. 7 Jac. c. 6. 1 Eliz. c. 1. 3. Therefore they must needs be more binding to us our Heirs and Posterities in present and succeeding Generations than their to the Gibeonites 8ly Their League Oath was only with foreign Pagans Strangers who became their mere slaves and bondmen in perpetuitie and had not the least power jurisdiction over them yet it bound them to strict observation Ours are made sworn to our own Christian natural Kings Princes Soveraigns of our own flesh bloud Nation to whom we are natural borne Subjects and owe all dutifull allegiance by the Laws of God Nature Nations Therefore much more obliging to and most religiously to be kept by us and our posterities after us than theirs 9ly Which is most considerable this their Oath League was made with such an idolatrous remnant of the Ammonites as God himself by express precepts had commanded the Israelites to make no League nor Covenant with upon any terms but utterly to destroy with the edge of the sword without mercie without saving any of them alive Exod. 23. 32. c. 24. 12. 13. Deutr. 7. 1 2 3 c. c. 20. 16 17 18. Psal. 106. 34. 35. yet notwithstanding having once entred into a League with and sworn to them in the name of the Lord that they should live though by their own fraud circumvention and misinformation God was so jealous of his own name honour glory so unwilling that his own people should perjuriously treacherously perfidiously break their Oathe Covenant sworn in his name r being the highest the most sacred inviolable Obligations securities that can be betweene God and men man and man Nation and Nation that he would rather have his positive judicial Law which Å¿ some conceive to
have a tacit condition in it violated and dispensed within this case it being not simplie evil in its own nature to spare the Gibeonites upon their submission but onlie a prohibited evil by particular Precepts than his Name prophaned dishonoured Religious Oaths wittinglie infringed and perjurie committed by his own people against his moral Law Precept being sinful scandalous in their own nature and of dangerous consequence to all Posteritie if admitted approved to encourage them to commit perjurie and violate all lawfull Oaths Covenants in succeeding Ages to the scandal of Religion and prejudice of Mankind Wherefore this Oath League though against these judicial Precepts not only firmly bound the Princes who made them and all the Congregation in that Age but King Saul himself and all the Israelites in succession four hundred years after Of which we have another President of Joshuaes and the Israelites care to perform their Spies Oaths made to Rahab and sworn unto her by the Lord to save her her Parents Kindred and Family alive though Canaanites devoted by God to destruction Iosh. 2. 1 to 24. compared with c. 6. 21 22 23. Heb. 11. 31. But our Oaths Protestation League Covenant were all made not to or with Amorites or Canaanites particularly deuoted by God to the Sword Slaughter and utter extirpation without any Truce or League of Peace but to and with our own hereditary lawfull Christian Kings their Heirs Posterities and Successors whose Persons Lives Crowns Rights and Royal Authoritie we are all expresly obliged commanded by God himself to defend protect with our own lives fortunes estates to the uttermost of our Powers against all Attempts Treasons Conspiracies Traytors and Invasions whatsoever yea precisely prohibited to offer the least violence injury to their Persons Lives and Regal Authority in thought word or deed Prov. 24. 20 21. Eccles. 8. 2 c. 10. 10. 1 Sam. 24. 3 to 20. c. 26. 8 to 12. 2 Sam. 1. 12 c. c. 4. 10 11 2 Sam. 18 3 c 21 17 Estch 2. 21. 12. 23. c. 6. 2 Rom 13. 1 2. 3. 1 Pet. 2 12. 13 17. Tit. 3. 1 1 Tim 2. 2. 3. John 18 36. Therefore our Oaths League Covenant are much more obliging and conscienciouslie to be observed by us and our Posterities for ever than theirs to the Gibeonites as the only ready way to our peace and settlement 10ly This League of theirs to the Gibeonites was ratified only with one single Oath yet it bound both them and their Posterity but ours to our Kings their Heirs and Successors is ratified with seven successive Oaths Protestations Covenants here recited besides sundry others of like nature taken by our Ancestors in former Ages which I pretermit Therefore much more strong indissoluble obliging to us and our posterities than theirs If a threefold cord be not easily broken Eccles. 4. 12. much more then a sevenfold Oath successively renued should not easily or quicklie be broken but remain inviolable to all posteritie 11. The violation of this Oath League to the Gibeonites by Saul and the Israelites near 400 years after its first making when perchance quite forgotten by them or conceived to be unbinding to them as gotten by surprise as not made or taken by themselves personal to the Gibeonites and Israelites then living when first made or at least expired and grown quite out of date by so long a tract of time was reputed by God himself a great sinne perjury in them and exemplarie punished by God with three years famine on the whole Land though Saul and the Israelites then living never took this Oath nor made that League themselves but onlie their Ancestors so long time before their births Therefore our violations of the forecited Oaths Protestation League Covenant so freshlie made taken sworn subscribed with hands lifted up to Heaven successivelie one after another by whole Parliaments the generalitie of our Nation and not onlie by our deceased Ancestors but by our selves in person and so oft reiterated yet infringed by us time after time in the highest degree most needs be a more detestable damnable Perjurie crime in the eyes of God than theirs and draw a more long-lasting famine and other sorer judgements of God upon our particular Persons * Families Nation than that breach of their Oath and League with the Gibeonites brought down on them 12ly That Oath League continued in force to bind the Israelites both to observation and punishment when violated by King Saul and them after the whole frame of their Government was quite changed from a Principality or Common-wealth as most of our present Grandees would have it into a Kingship and Kingdom by the earnest unanimous desire consent of all the Elders of Israel the generality of the people and by Gods own approbation as is evident by the 1 Sam. c. 8 to c. 13. Josh. 9. 2 Sam. 21. compared together Therefore our Oath Protestation League Covanant forecited must by like reason consequence much more oblige our whole Nation in present and future to our Kings their Heirs and Successors notwithstanding all late violent forcible illegal Alterations Revolutions of our Governments and Governours against the Votes of both Houses of Parliament the desires of the generality of our three Nations since our Laws admit no Interregnum nor Disseisin of the Crown Kingship Kingdom as the Statutes of Praerogativa Regis 1 Iacobi ch. 1. Cooks 7 Rep. f. 10. and u other Lawbooks resolve And so our violations of them must be more perjurious sinfull and exemplarily punishable than theirs 13. This Oath League with the Gibeonites was violated by King Saul only out of zaeel to the Children of Israel Iudah who it seems solicited him thereunto for their own self-ends or advantage yet this was no sufficient excuse nor justification thereof in Gods esteem being punished with exemplarie justice on his posterity and a three years famine upon all the Land Therefore the violation of all our precedent Oaths Protestations Covenants by the Army-Officers confederate Members and their Adherents against the Votes of both Houses the dehortations of our Ministers and desires of our three whole Kingdoms must needs 〈◊〉 a far more detestable crime and be avenged with a more heavy punishment both on them and us than theirs was heretofore 14. This breach of Oath Covenant notwithstanding all circumstances which might extenuate it was most exemplary punished though not on Saul the chief Offendor during his life yet upon seven of his Sons and Family after his death in King Davids Reign 35 years after this Offence committed and upon the whole Nation by a three years famine though it was never infringed but only by one single Act in slaying some of the Gibeonites posterity and not re-violated by any other subsequent slaughter of them Therfore though many of the grand Infringers of the precedent Oaths Protestation Covenant may perchance scape scot-free for a time in their own persons and die without exemplary justice inflicted on them
not the blood of our beheaded King the disinheriting of his Heir and Successor the abjuration of Kingship it self the House of Lord the subvertion of all the Rights Freedoms Privileges of Parliament by those in late and present power against all the premised Oaths Protestations Solemn League and Covenant sworn by them in the name presence of God himself and the Lord Jesus Christ with hands laid on the Evangelists and listed up to Heaven and then subscribed for a perpetual Memorial cry aloud to God and Christ for the like avenging Justice from Heaven against the perjurious Infringers of them in a far higher degre than Vladislaus was guilty of if spread and held up before them by the disinherited King and Lords No doubt it will in Gods due time if not speedily really and deeply bewailed repented of by a plenarie satisfaction and restitution And cause God to shake out every man and his Posterity too from his House and from his labour and empty him and his of all present honours and enjoyments as Nehemiah shaked and emptied his lap that performeth not these Oaths Protestation League Covenant to which he and all the Congregation have said Amen Neh. 5. 12 13. Since the e very Pagan Graecians and Romanes insinuated as much in the Ceremonies of their sacred Oaths wherein they prayed That if they did not faithfully observe them without guile that Jove and the other Gods would smite and slay them as they did the lamb they then sacrificed to them and that they might be cast out and perish like the stone they threw out of their hands when they swore the Religion of an Oath being so great amongst the very Heathens that they thought all human Society abolished with its violation and those persons unworthy to live or breath amongst men who durst presume to infringe it though to their losse and prejudice And shall they not condemn us Christians and those most refined Saints of this Age who like the perfidious Atheistecal f Carthagenians Thessalonians and Parthians regard neither God nor Altars nor Covenants nor Oaths no farther than they serve their turnes to cheat and circumvent men to whom profit is more sacred than Faith or Oaths No doubt they will Ezech. 17. 18 19 20 21. Seeing he despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant when lo he had given his hand and hath done all these things he shall not escape Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD As I live surely mine Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant which he hath broken even it will I recompence upon his own head And I will spread my net upon him and he shall be taken in my Snare And I will bring him to Babilon and will plead with him there for his Trespasses that he hath trespassed against me And all his Fugitives with all his Bands shall fall by the sword and they that remain shall be scattered towards all Windes and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it FINIS ERRATA P. 13. l. 6. 1647. r. 1657. p. 16. l. 6. Justification r. Prevarication p. 18. l. 2. Meetings r. Mutinies Margin P. 23. l. 7. r. Sacramenti a Bracton l. 3. Tract. 2. c. 1. Britton c. 12. Lambardi Archaion LL. Edwardi Confessoris Lex 35. Spelmanni Glossarum p. 267 268. Cook 7 Repâ— Calvins case 1 Instit. f. 64 65 67 68. Tottles Magna Charta f. 164. Kitt f. 46. Exact Collection p. 370. Joh. Seldeni ad Eadmerum Notae p. 190 191. * See Gratian Caus. 22. â—u 5. De forma fidelitatis b Tottles Magna Charta f. 166. Iuramentum Majorum Ballivorum c Tottles Magna Charta f. 165 157. Claus. 35 E. 1. dors 7. Kitchin f. 46. 47. d 18 E. 3. stat 4. 20 E. 3. c. 1 2. Claus. 20 â— E. 1. pars 1. do s 13. 3 R. 2. Rot. Parl. n. 38 39 40 41. Rastall Iustices 2 Rot. Parl. 25 E. 3. n. 10. Cooks 3 Instit. p. 145. c See Exact Collection p. 278 296 337 340 342 361 367 491 498 522 523 666 770 828 839. * And have they not been so more since and now then ever before * As since and now by doubled illegal Taxes Excises High Courts of Justice Arbitrary Junctoes and their new Knacks * New quite sold and consumed * Have they not since that in 1648. and now again effected it f A Collection of Ordinances p 327 359 390 399 404 416 420 to 428. 458 459. 606. 690. 702. 751. 768 769. 798. 802 803. 806 807 808 878 879 889. Quaere whether this be not violated in every branch in the highest degree g Exact Collelection p. 769. Exact Abridgement of the Records in the Tower p. 157. 176. 454. See Oath in the Table h See my True and perfect Narrative p. 22 to 40. 92. i The true state of the case of the Common-wealth p. 9 11. ‖ Juramenta illicita jurari et jurata servari non debent Gratian Causa 22. qu. 4. throughout i St. Aug. de Verbis Apostoli Serm. 30. Gratian Caus. 22. qu. 1 2 5. Grotius de Jure Belli Pacis l. 2. c. 13. Jusjurandum habetur apud omnes ultimum atque firmissimum fidei mutuae veracitatis pignus Procopius Persiâ— corum l. 2. Ultima fides inter homines tum Gâ—aâ—cos tum Barbaro quam nulla delebit aetas est ea quam per jurata pacta sponseres adhâ—bet Deos. Dionys Hallicarnast Antiqu. Rom. Nullum Vinculum ad adstringendam fidem majores nestâ—i Juramento arctius esse voluerunt Ciceâ—â— Offic. l. 1. k S. Augustin Gratian Grotius ibidem Caelius Rhodiginus Lectionum Antiq. l. 21. c 15 * Qui perjurare compellit et qui compellitur utrique sunt perjuri homicidae Dominus quia praecepit Miles quia plus Dominum quam Deum animam suam dilexit Gratian Causa 12. qu. 5. Augustin Serm. 30. de verbis Apostoli * See vegetius de Re Militari 1. 2. Alexander ab Alexandero Genial Dierum l. 1. c. 21. l 6 c. 23. Calvini Lexicon Juridicum Tit. Juramentum Militare Fr. Connanus l. 5. c. 3. Grotius de Jure Belli l. 1. c. 2. * See Levit. 23. 41. * Littleson Firzh Brook Ash Tit. Warranty Covenant Obligation Condition Tenure m prov. 24. 20. 21. Rom. 13. 3. 4 5 6. 1 Tim 2. 2 3. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 14. n my True perfect Narrative p. 95. * Jesus pacem quam dederat revocandam non censuit quia firmata erat Sacramenti Religione ne dum alienam perfidiam arguit suam fidem solveret Ambrosius de Officiis l. 3. c. 10. * Archbishop vshers Annal. Vet. Testamenti Anno 2553. 2983. 2986. * See 7 Jac. c. 6. 17 Car. c. 7. here p. 7. q 1 Kings 15. 19. Cook 4 Instit. c. 26. p. 155 156. 4 II. 5. Rot. Parl. n. 24. â— E. 4. 2. See Br. Fith Tit. Corporation Abbie Cooks 1 Instit. f. 2. 94. 102 150. Grotius de Jute