is meet for the safety of Mens Health that none practise Physick but a Licensed Physician And until there be a greater want of Divines or Physicians than now there is it is pitty that such as are not Licensed should be permitted The Third part of Conformity begins p. 208. concerning the Renunciation of the Covenant whereof he treats § 11. and 12. Ministers saith he must onely subscribe that there is no Obligation on me or any other person from the Oath c. to endeavour any change or alteration of Government in the Church to which he adds the Oxford Oath That we will never endeavour any alteration And the Articles for Prelacy the Ordination promise and Oath of Canonical Obedience Against all which he Objects that even those Non-conformists that are for the lawfulness yea the need and desireableness of Bishops and Arch-bishops are unsatisfied in these things That some Hundred of Parishes are without any particular appropriate Bishops and consequently are without the Discipline of such Bishops and so are no Churches but only parts of a Diocesan Church that the Bishops have more work than they can do and the Keys are to be exercised by Lay-men Answ I have already shewed Mr. Baxters judgment of Bishops and Lay-Chancellours and shall only add that the Laws which Impower the Ministry with the Exercise of Discipline are so full and exact that if each Minister did faithfully perform his duty there would be no need to complain for want of work or of authority to do it effectually Every Minister is to admonish his Parishioners not to delay the Baptism of their Children whereby they are entred into a Covenant with God and by their Sureties ingaged to Faith Repentance and new Obedience as soon as they come to years of Discretion they are to be instructed out of the Church Catechism every Sunday which Catechism Mr. Baxter himself commends to be better for its Method than most others Then upon their knowledg of the Principles of Religion and owning their Baptismal Vows whereof the Minister is to take cognizance and certify to the Bishop they are to be Confirmed and none but such are to be admitted Communicants and none but Communicants to be admitted as Godfathers c. The Minister ought both publickly and privately to admonish such as are scandalous and to deny them the Communion until they manifest their Repentance which is a kind of Excommunication He is constantly to Celebrate publick Worship to Preach the Word of God and Administer the Holy Sacraments frequently to visit his Parishioners that he may know the State of his Flock to instruct the Ignorant rebuke the Wicked incourage the Good to visit the Sick absolve the Penitent and to strengthen them by the Word of God and the Comforts of the Holy Sacrament against the fear of death If these things were duly done as they might and ought to be there would be no cause to complain either that the Bishop hath too much or the Pastor too little work the fault is not in the Laws or Constitution of Government but in the want of due Execution To omit the many impertinencies in the 12. § there are Three things only on which he grounds his Plea for the Covenant The First is p. 214. Whether when Charles the II. had though injuriously been drawn to take the Covenant it doth not oblige those that took it afterward and whether the King having taken it no one person be bound by it p. 143. Answ Mr. Baxter leads me by this Question to consider how His Majesty was dealt with by the Scots in this matter how they tortured him with various temptations of hopes and fears and so affronted him with many horrible Reproaches of his own Sins as well as of the Sins of His Father and Grandfather that he often attempted to leave them what Provocations he met with in private may be guessed at by their publick Actions The Thursday before the Coronation was set apart as a Solemn day of Humiliation throughout the Land for the Sins of the Royal Family Robert Douglas in the Coronation Sermon told the King That His Grandfather King James remembred not the kindness of them who had held the Crown upon his Head yea he persecuted faithfull Ministers he never rested till he had undone Presbyterial Government and Kirk Assemblies setting up Bishops and bringing in Ceremonies In a word he laid the foundation whereupon his Son our late King did build much mischief in Religion all the days of his Life 73. P. 52. He tells the King to his Face That a King abusing his Power to the overthrow of Religion Laws and Liberties which are the fundamentals of that Covenant may be controlled and opposed And if he set himself to overthrow all these by Arms they who have power as the Estates of the Land may and ought I suppose by obligation of the Covenant to resist by Arms because he doth by that opposition break the very Bonds and overthrow the Essentials of this Contract and Covenant This may serve says he to justify the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in a Hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Laws and Liberties Thus was the Kings Crown lined with Thorns and he had Gall and Vinegar given him to drink instead of the Royal Unction which that prophane Scot thus derides p. 34. The Bishops behoved to perform this Rite and the King behoved to be Sworn to them But now by the Blessing of God Popery and Prelacy are removed let the anointing of Kings with Oyl go to the door with them and let them never come in again If the King ought by the Laws of the Kingdom to have been Sworn to the Bishops this may make void the Obligation of the Covenant for the Coronation Oath is a right of the Subject and concerns their interest and security and the King as Heir to the Crown is obliged to that Oath and if any subsequent Oath may violate that in one particular it may also in others and then farewel to Magna Charta the priviledges of Parliament and Liberty of the Subject See more in the Review of the grand Case p. 139. 140. P. 92. He tells the King That God in his Righteous judgments suffereth Subjects to conspire and rebel against their Princes because they rebel against the Covenant made with God and adds I may say freely that a chief cause of the Judgment upon the Kings House hath been the Grandfathers breach of Covenant with God and the Fathers following steps in opposing the work of God and his Kirk within these Kingdoms and probably too many do still think they may rebel again in Defence of the Covenant But I argue from the manner of the Kings taking the Covenant as it is related p. 75. c. that the King is not obliged by it to make any alteration in the Government of our Church for thus it is related That the National Covenant and the
a rate as is the return of these to have the Soul-burd'ning Anti-christian Yoaks reimposed on us And if any such there be I am sure their desire is no part of their godliness From this Mans principles one hath observed That whoever are of this perswasion do wish this King on the Scaffold too provided that would free them from our Episcopacy and think it lawful to Rebel again and destroy as many Families more to shake off that Yoak Again Mr. Jenkins in his Conscientious questions concerning submission to the then present power 1651. Asks whether the stupendious Providences of God manifested in the destruction of the late King and his adherents in so many pitcht Battles and in the Nations Universal forsaking of Charles Stuart God hath not as plainly removed the Government from Charles Stuart and bestowed it on others as ever he removed and bestowed any Government by any Providence in any age And whether a refusal to yield obedience and Subjection to this present Government be not a refusal to acquiesce in the wise and righteous providence of God and a flat breach of the Fifth Commandment See his Petition And now I cannot but wonder why Mr. Baxter should move this question who that Juncto of Presbyters was c. Unless he took as much pleasure and glory as others do shame and sorrow in the repetition It is a sad Observation which some have made That not one of the Regicides manifested his Repentance for that impious Act for which they were Executed The Lord give all guilty persons more Grace Mr. Bagshaw says that Mr. Baxter was guilty of stirring up and fomenting the War as any one whatsoever p. 1. And my Lord of Worcester says that he had done what he could to make this King odious to his people p. 2. Of his Answer and that he Sowed the Seeds of Schisme and Sedition and blew the Trumpet of Rebellion among them at Kidderminster p. 4. And adds I my self have heard him at a conference in the Savoy maintaining such a position as was destructive to the Legislative power both in God and Man and produced the Assertion under his hand and when Mr. Baxter reported that the Bishop had defamed him to prevent that report the Bishop collected some of his Political Theses or Maxims of Government the repetition of a few whereof will be too many He tells us the War was begun in their streets before the King and Parliament had any Armies p. 457. of H. Common-wealth He confesseth that he was one that blew the Coales of our unhappy Divisions and that if he had been for the King he had incurred the danger of condemnation H. Common-wealth p. 485. And should I do otherwise I should be guilty of Treason or disloyalty against the Soveraign Power of the Land He holds that the Soveraignty is divided between King and Parliament and that the King invading the other part they may lawfully defend their own by War and the Subject lawfully assist them yea though the Power of the Militia be expresly given to the King The Law supposing that the Militia is given the King against enemies not against the Common-wealth Thes 358. he saith its true that now that the Parliament hath declared where the Soveraign Power is he should acknowledge it and submit to it where he supposeth that the King oweth his Soveraignty to the Parliament and if they should again challenge it to themselves he would rather obey them than the King Bishop of Worcesters Letter p. 8. 9. And this appears clearly by what followeth p. 486. That having often searched into his heart whether he did lawfully engage in the War or not and lawfully incourage so many Thousands to it the Issue was he could not see that he was mistaken in the main cause nor dares he repent of it nor forbear doing the same if it were to do again in the same state of things though the Power of the Militia be given to the King He tells us indeed says the Bishop that if he could be convinced that he had sinned in this matter that he would as gladly make a publick Recantation as he would eat or drink which seeing he hath not yet done it is evident he is still of the same mind and consequently would upon the same occasion do the same things viz. fight and encourage as many Thousands as he could to fight against the King for any thing that calls it self or which he is pleased to call a full and free Parliament As likewise that he would own and submit to any Usurper of the Soveraignty as set up by God although he came to it by the Murder of his Master and by trampling upon the Parliament Lastly that he would hinder as much as possibly he could the restoring of the rightful Heir to the Crown And now whether a Man of this Judgment and of these affections ought to be permitted to Preach or no let any Man but himself Judge And may we not reasonably think that those Men did approve of that Hellish Fact who did post factum tell the World of his Tyranny and Male-administration of Government and inclination to Popery And applauded the grand Regicide as one that did piously prudently and faithfully to his immortal honor exercise the Government I conclude this with the words of a worthy Person who Printed a view of the Life and Reign of King Charles the First even when the Faction was in Power p. 94. The Presbyterians carried on the Tragedy from the beginning to the end from the bringing in the Scots to the beginning of the War from thence till they brought him Prisoner to Holmby House and then quarrelled with the Independents for taking the work out of their hands and Robbing them of the long expected fruit of their Plots and Practices The Independents confessed they had put Charles Stuart to death but that the King had been murthered long before by the Presbyterians who had deprived him of his Crown Sword and Scepter of his Sword by wresting from him the Militia of his Scepter divesting him of his power of calling Parliaments they deprived him of his natural Liberty as a Man of the Society of his Wife and Children and attendance of Servants and of all those comforts which might make his Life valuable so that there was nothing left for the Independents to do but to put an end to those Calamities into which this miserable Man had been so accursedly plunged by the Presbyterians And so much for the Juncto of Presbyters that dethron'd the King The main Battalia being thus discomfited the little reserves will be more easily defeated Mr. Baxt. Was it they that Petitioned and protested against it Answ Who ever Petitioned or protested against the proceedings against the King until the Army took him out of the Parliaments power and was he not dethron'd before that time afterward perhaps some of them did as the Hiena that hath destroyed a Man and gorged himself weep and
howl over the Carcass because he could not devour him wholly Mr. Baxt. Whether it was not an Episcopal Parliament forty to one if not an hundred that began the War against the King Answ With what face can one that pretends to Truth say this when it is so notoriously known that till by a prevailing Faction in that Parliament the Bishops and the Loyal and Episcopal party were forced away nothing could be done against the King Mr. Baxt. Whether the General and Commanders of the Army Twenty to one were not Conformists Answ They had been such indeed but when they began the War they neither feared God nor honoured the King but made the Reformation of Religion the pretence of the War which as the Covenant shews was the abollishing of Bishops Liturgy c. Mr. Baxt. Whether the Major Generals in the Countries were not almost all Episcopal Conformists The Earl of Stamford was over your Country Answ Stamford I knew and one Baxter his Engineer but that he was either a Major General or a Conformist I never heard The first Major General that I knew in these parts was Desborough after that the Kingdom was Cantonized and I believe the Turkish Bashaws were as much Conformists as any of them Mr. Baxt. Whether the Admiral and Sea-Captains were not almost all Episcopal Conformists as Heylen distinguisheth them of Arch-Bishop Abbots mind disliking Arminianisme Monoplys c. Answ I suppose the Admiral and his Officers had well studied the points of Arminianisme when as Mr. Baxter that fought against them wrote for them in the judgment of his Brethren and as I have heard that Dr. Hammond said of him he was an Arminian too though he did not know it Mr. Baxt. Whether the Episcopal Gentry did not more of them take the Engagement and many Episcopal Ministers more than the Presbyterians Answ The King was dethroned before the engagement was imposed and if you drove any of the Episcopal party into that Snare I hope that as Peter for denying his Master they have repented of it and so are pardoned I wish I could say so much of the Covenanters Mr. Baxt. Whether the Arch-bishop of York were not the Parliaments Major-General Answ That he was a Traitor if he took any such Commission is no doubt and when among the Twelve there was one that sold his Master 't is not strange if there were one of Twenty four Bishops that betrayed his Liege Prince it was pitty that any Apostate Clergy-man should have an higer Office in that Army than Mr. Baxter but I think you did them more service as an Adjutant General than he as a Major General Mr. Baxt. Whether if this Parliament which made the Act for Uniformity and Conventicles should quarrel with the King it would prove them to be Presbyterians and Non-conformists Answ This is that which I know too many did expect and I hope they will never live to see it but if it should have happened I would say they had as much contradicted their principles and falsified their ingagements as Mr. Baxter had done almost Mr. Baxt. Whether the Presbyterian Ministers of London and Lancashire did not write more against the Regicides and Usurpers and declare against them than all the Conformists or as much Answ What they did against the Regicides was long after the King was dethron'd and so is not pertinent to the question yet I have somewhere read that the London Ministers about 59. in number as I remember in an endeavour to vindicate themselves from the Blood of the Royal Martyr Printed 1678. did say thus The woful miscarriages of the King himself which we cannot but acknowledge to be very many and great in his Government have cost the Three Kingdoms so dear and cast him down from his excellency into a horrid pit of misery beyond example This was a Repentance somewhat like that of Judas when he had irrecoverably ruined his Lord and Master but he could not wash his hands from that innocent Blood Mr. Baxt. And the Long Parliament was forced and most of them cast out before the King could be destroyed Answ But not before the King was Actually dethroned and it was about Twelve Moneths before they were forced off by the Army that they Voted their Non-addresses Mr. Baxt. And when they were restored it made way for his Restoration Answ Surely they could not do it on your principles which assert that the King may be deposed nor are the Subjects afterward to trouble themselves for his Restoration nor is the injured Prince himself to seek his resettlement if the Common-wealth may prosper without him and so he is obliged to resign his Government and thus the people being free from any Obedience to him may chose another King or if not a Common-wealth may be pitcht on And had it been left to the Presbyterians to bring in the King on their Articles he had not been admitted to this day Mr. Baxt. And Sir Thomas Allen Lord Mayor and the City of London inviting General Monck from the Rump into the City and joyning with him was the very day that turned the Scales for the King Not forgetting that Mr. Baxter Preached to the Parliament as he often tells us the day before the King was Voted home Answ Sir Thomas Allen and the City did their duty Nobly and Worthily but what turned the Scales against the Rump that you reflect so upon that Rump which while it had a better name and a little more power though then its nakedness appeared sufficiently you prayed for it in these words May the Parliament be holy and this ascertained from Generation to Generation by such a necessary regulation of Elections as I have hereafter described and that all those that by wickedness have forfeited their Liberties may neither choose nor be chosen p. 14. 15. And again That they were sworn and sworn and sworn again to be faithful to and to defend them and that they were the best Governors in all the World and such as it is forbidden Subjects to oppose upon pain of Damnation So that I conclude whoever restored this King for which let God have all the praise I still affirm it was a Juncto of Presbyters that dethroned his Royal Father This may suffice concerning the third and fourth part of the Accusation of destroying the King and disloyal principles The Fifth That they are plotting a Rebellion to which Mr. Baxter forgat to make any defence Only he thought it his duty to give this account of their principles as far as they are known to him Where First he seems rather to defend than disclaim his Political Aphorisms though he desires the Book may be taken as Non scriptus This will not satisfie If he be of another Judgment now he ought to have undeceived his party by confuting those dangerous principles whereas he rather continueth to practise them still But what I Judge undeniable saith Mr. Baxter I here declare Now let the Reader go on
sole Command and disposition thereof is and by the Laws of England ever was the undoubted right of His Majesty and that both or either of the Houses of Parliament cannot nor ought to pretend to the same c. How then did the controversie between the Bishops and Conformists begin the War when the dispute of the Militia did it In truth there were as Wilson in his History of King James confesseth Regians and Republicans and the dispute in several Parliaments was between the Prerogative and Priviledges and as Mr. Baxter says where other Parliaments ended that of 40. began And is it not strange that there should be so few Non-conformists in 41. and 42. and yet in 43. when the Covenant was brought in all the Parliament and Assembly and Officers in any Court in the Army and in the Navy should generally take the Covenant for that was made the Test of all such as should be intrusted and we hear of very few that refused and I think there is no great difference between a Covenanter and a Presbyterian who still cry up the Scottish Discipline as the very Scepter and Kingdom of Jesus Christ to which all Kings and Scepters must bow or break The Third Accusation is the death of the King of which Mr. Baxter says that he proved in times of Usurpation that the Presbyterians detested it and that it was done by a Proud Conquering Army Answ Who rose that Army and carried on that War wherein the King perished it was not the last stroak given by the Independents that felled that Royal Oak there were many repeated blows at the very Root of Majestie given by others which cut all the Ligaments of his Power and Authority in sunder chopt off all the Branches his two great Ministers as Mr. Baxter calls them the whole Order of Bishops His power of the Militia Forts Garrisons and Navy and exposed the declining trunk to the fury of a Rascal party whom themselves had Armed to the Kings ruine I shall freely give you my thoughts of it in an answer to another writing of Mr. Baxters where he seeks more at large to excuse the Presbyterians from this horrid Crime Mr. Baxter says were it not for entring upon an unpleasing and unprofitable task I would ask you who that Juncto of Presbyterians was that dethron'd the King Answ The question I confess is very unpleasing for Infandum renovare jubes Baxtere dolorem Yet because it may be profitable to know the truth I say that the dethroning so good a King was a fact of an unparalled nature to which the Sins of the whole Nation contributed as well as yours and mine and whereof we ought still to repent and beg pardon notwithstanding the Act of Oblivion Yet there was a Select Juncto that had a more immediate influence into it and you ask me who they were though I believe you know them better than my self I will tell you my thoughts freely First they were the Men whom Mr. Baxter Canonizeth for Saints in his Everlasting Rest p. 83. in my Edition viz. Brook and Prin and Hambden and White c. For I suppose you could have named many more of your own Coat as precious Saints as they of whom you say with an Asseveration Surely they are now Members of a more knowing unerring well-ordered right-aiming self-denying unanimous honourable Triumphant Senate than this from whence they were taken or ever Parliament will be But what if they are gone to another place than what your Everlasting Rest intended have you not made a scurvy Reflection on your long beloved Parliament and some Men do fear they were never admitted into Gods everlasting rest because you that fancied them there were ashamed to continue them in yours being left out in your latter Editions Secondly I say it was that Juncto who procured great numbers of factious and tumultuous people in a rude and illegal way to affright the Loyal and most considerable part of the Parliament from their duties and trust reposed in them by God and Man such were the Kings Majesty and the Prince the Loyal Nobles the Bishops and chosen Gentry posting them up as Malignants and exposing them to the fury of the Rabble of which tumults one of your Saints Mr. Pym by name said God forbid that the House of Commons should dishearten their people to obtain their just desires in such a way Exact Collect p. 531. Mr. Baxter p. 474. of the Holy Common-wealth makes this Objection The tumults at Westminster drove him away to which he answereth Only by displeasing him not by indangering or meddling with him and another eminent Man of Mr. Baxters acquaintance in his Jehovah Jireth p. 65. says the Apprentices and Porters were stimulated and stirred up by Gods Providence Thousands of them to Petition the Parliament for speedy redress Whereas the Five Members and their favourers had inraged the multitude not so much to Petition the Parliament as to affront the King Thirdly It was that Juncto who against His Majesties Crown and Dignity against the known Laws and his express Proclamation to the contrary did contrive and impose under heavy penalties the Solemn League and Covenant upon the Nation whereby they did justify the Rebellion and avow the maintenance of it against the King and his Forces And having first vowed with their Lives and Estates to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament they add and to preserve the Kings Majesties Person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom Which experience sheweth they no more intended though it be here put in as it was in Essex's Commission than it was in Fairfax's where as I am informed they left it out and if they meant as they speak they had no great care of his person having actually deprived him of his Authority And besides that limitation they preserve the Kings Person in defence of the true Religion Covenanted to introduce another Religion in Doctrin and Worship in opposition to that which was established by Law and resolutely defended by his Majesty and to root out Episcopacy which as he had sworn to support so had it been a great prop to the Throne and therefore his Majesty declared concerning the 19. Propositions that he could not consent unto them without violating his Conscience and a total extirpation of that Government whose Rights they had a mind to invade and which was necessary to the well being of His Majesty as by many Arguments in the Chapter concerning Church Government it appears This certainly was one of the keenest Instruments that hewed down the Throne For the Speech without Doors defending Mr. Challoners Speech within Doors tells the Parliament that they are bound by their Covenant for bringing evil Instruments to Condigne Punishment to destroy the King and his Posterity and that they cannot justifie the taking away of Strafford's and Canterbury's Lives for Delinquency while they suffered the chief Delinquent to go
from these words until he come to the period where he says As I have here described the Judgment of such Non-conformists as I have Conversed with I do desire those that seek our blood and ruine by the false accusation of Rebellious principles to tell me if they can what body or party of Men on Earth have more sound and Loyal principles of Government and Obedience And if any person can extract any such principles within all that period I will say he hath turn'd Mr. Baxter's Whetstone into the Philosophers Stone He says indeed we are all bound if it be possible and as much as in us lyeth to live peaceably and follow peace with all men But how have they followed this principle We have he saith many years beg'd for peace of those that should have been the Preachers and wifest promoters of peace and cannot yet obtain it nor quiet them that call for fire and sword not knowing what spirit they are of This is the Presbyterian way of Petitioning for Peace to rail against their Superiours charging them with persecution fire and sword and asserting that there can be no peace until the Laws for Conformity be all reversed the Bishops Authority and the Kings too in Ecclesiastical affairs taken away the Liturgy exchanged for Mr. Baxters new Directory as he hath at large declared in the first part and such a desolation as this they call peace solitudinem volunt pacem vocant He says the Declaration about Ecclesiastical affairs telleth us that the King would have given the people peace Answ And there were a sort of men whom the King for peace sake desired to read only so much of the Liturgy as was beyond exception and they would not did not these tell the World they would have no peace but victory So true it is as Mr. Baxter says with unpeaceble Clergy-men no Plea no Petition no not of the King himself could prevail but the things that have been are and the Confusions of our age come from the same causes and sorts of men as the Confusions in former ages did for which we need not go to Mr. Baxters Church History the Men and methods of 41. and 42. are well nigh revived They told His Majesty in their second Paper for Peace That if he would grant their desires it would revive their Hearts to daily and earnest Prayers for his Prosperity But what if he deny them Then p. 12. it astonisheth us to foresee what doleful effects our Divisions would produce which we will not so much as mention in particular lest our words should be misunderstood And it is obvious enough to whom they would apply that passage p. 117. of their reply to the Exceptions As Basil said to Valens the Emperour that would have him pray for the Life of his Son If thou wilt receive the true Faith thy Son shall live which when the Emperour refused he said the Will of the Lord be done So we say to you if you will put on Charity and promote peace God will honor you but if you will do contrary the Will of the Lord be done with your honors Amen say I Let them fall into the hands of God who is still exceeding gracious to them and not into the hands of such cruel men who have War in their Hearts while they Petition for Peace And will Mr. Baxter still demand what party of Men on Earth have more Loyal Principles Our English Papists who as Mr. Baxter grants adhered to the King would be offended if I should say they that fought against the King were more Loyal than they who with Lives and Fortunes fought for him dares he compare with the Church of England who lived and died and rose again with their King to the great regret and envy of those Men I will not say only that the Primitive Christians but even the Old Greeks and Romans had better Principles than any you practise by and will rise up in Judgment against such a Generation How vainly do you inquire what Hottoman or Bodin have written Consider the Precepts of our great Lord and the Practice of the Primitive Christians for the first 600. years and how night the true Members of the Church of England followed those Principles and Examples for Twenty years together and how far the Presbyterians Acted contrary to them and then convince the World whether the party you Boast of or these were most Loyal But Mr. Baxter demands Must this Age answer for their Fathers deeds what is all this to the present Non-conformists Answ If they follow the deeds of their Fathers we cannot deny them the reputation of being their Children who without controversie begat and Nurtured them And though I have not the opportunity to ask those Noble Lords and Gentlemen whom Mr. Baxter names concerning the Conformity of their Fathers yet I can give you their Sense and the Opinion of the whole Nation concerning the behaviour of their Children who have as great a mind to begin a second War And take it in the best English Dialect i. e. in the Acts of Parliament And first in the Act against Conventicles 16. Car. 2di N. 2. For providing of further and more speedy remedies against the growing and dangerous practice of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of tender Consciences do at their meetings contrive insurrections as late experience hath shewn c. And in the Oxford Act they say of those that Preach in unlawful Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under colour or pretence of the Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom have settled themselves in divers Corporations of this Kingdom three or more in a place thereby taking opportunity to distill the poysonous principles of Schisms and Rebellion into the hearts of His Majesties Subjects to the great danger of the Church and Kingdom c. Now how little difference there is between such Seditious tumults and meetings the late Rebellion in Scotland doth demonstrate where the chief Masters of those Assemblies Preached an Evangelium Armatum and having in cold Blood barbarously murthered the most Reverend Arch-Bishop drew many Thousands into the Field and would have done the like by the King himself had he been in their power as by their Declarations we may guess I do not accuse their Brethren of England of Rebellion the Parliament says their actions tend to it and that is Tantamount to a Plot. Sedition and tumults open and professed disobedience to the Laws adhering to a Rebellious Covenant refusing the Tests of Obedience which require only the disclaiming of Rebellious Principles and Practices Preaching and Printing what is actually Seditious and tends directly to Rebellion and all this when our Parliament hath declared that there is an horrid Plot on foot for the destroying of the King and established Religion to the latter whereof you are avowed Enemies this may draw at least a suspition on you that you are in the Plot whether