sorts in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland by the Providence of God living under one King and being of one Reformed Religion having before our eyes the glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the honour and happiness of the Kings Majesty and His Posterity and the true publick Liberty Safety and Peace of the Kingdoms wherein every one private condition is included and calling to mind the treacherous and bloudy Plots Conspiracies Attempts and practises of the Enemies of God against the true Religion and professors thereof in all places especially in these three Kingdoms ever since the Reformation of Religion and how much their rage power and presumption are of late and at this time increased and exercised whereof the deplorable estate of the Charch and Kingdom of Ireland the distressed estate of the Church and Kingdom of England and the dangerous estate of the Church and Kingdom of Scotland are present and publick Testimonies We have now at last after other means of supplication Remonstrance Protestations and Sufferings for the preservation of our selves and our Religion from utter ruin and destruction according to the commendable practise of these Kingdoms in former times and the Example of Gods People in other Nations after mature deliberation resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and solemn League and Covenant wherein we all subscribe and each one of us for himself with our hands lifted up to the most High God do swear I. THat we shall sincerely really and constantly through the Grace of God endeavour in our several places and callings the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government against our common Enemies The Reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best reformed Churches And shall endevour to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church-Government Directory for Worship and Catechizing That we and our posterity after us may as Brethren live in Faith and Love and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us II. That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of Popery Prelacy that is Church-Government by Archbishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy Superstition Heresie Schisme Profaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues and that the Lord may be one and his Name one in the three Kingdoms III. We shall with the same sincerity reality and constancy in our several Vocations endeavour with our estates and lives mutually to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms that the world may bear witness with our Consciences of our Loyalty and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish His Majesties just power and greatness IV. We shall also with all faithfulness endevour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants or evill Instruments by hindring the Reformation of Religion dividing the King from his people or one of the Kingdoms from another or making any faction or parties amongst the people contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publick triall and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the supream Judicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient V. And whereas the happiness of a blessed Peace betweene these Kingdoms denied in former times to our progenitors is by the good providence of God granted unto us and hath been lately concluded and setled by both Parliaments we shall each one of us according to our place and interest endeavor that they may remain conjoyned in a firm Peace and Union to all posterity And that Justice may be done upon the wilful opposers thereof in mannr 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 concerneth the glory of God the good of the Kingdoms and the honor of the King but shall all the dayes of our lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all lets and impediments whatsoever and what we are not able our selves to suppress or overcome we shall reveal and make known that it may be timely prevented or removed All which we shall do as in the sight of God 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 unfained 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 and 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 unfained purpose desire and endeavour for our selves and all others under our power and charge both in publick and in 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 reall Reformation that the Lord may turn away his wrath and heavy indignation and establish these Churches and Kingdoms 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 blesse our desires and proceedings with such successe 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 tranquillity of Christian Kingdoms and Common-wealths The two first clauses of the Covenant as they were offered to the Assembly licensed and entred into the Hall book according to Order September 4. 1643. and Printed at London for Philip Lane 1. THat we shall all and each one of us sincerely readily and constantly through the Grace of God endeavour in our several places and callings the preservation of the true Reformed Protestant Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the word of God and the reformation of Religion in the Church of England this Explication to be at the end of the Covenant as far as we do or shall in our consciences conceive to be according to the Word of God according to the same holy Word the Example of the last Reformed Churches and as may bring the Church of God in both Nations to the neerest conjunction and Uniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church-government Directory for Worship and Catechizing that we and our Posterity after us may as Brethren live in Faith and Love 2. That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresie Schisme and Profaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness in both Nations lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be endangered to receive of their plagues that the Lord may be one and his Name one in both Kingdoms To which first printed copy the Doctors Speech delivered in the Assembly relateth pag. 48. The two clauses of the Covenant as they were altered and Printed by Order of the House of COMMONS 1. THat we shall sincerely really and constantly through the Grace of God endeavour in our several places and callings the preservation of the reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government against our common enemies the Reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best Reformed Churches and shall endeavour to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdoms to the nearest Conjunction and Uniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church Government Directory for Worship and Catechizing that we and our Posterity after us may as Brethren live in Faith and Love and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us 2. That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of Popery Prelacy that is Church Government by Archbishops Bishops their Chancellours Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on the Hierarchie Superstition Heresie Schism Profaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues and that the Lord may be one and his Name one in the three Kingdoms THE League Illegall Quest WHether is this Covenant so grounded upon holy Scriptures and so conformable to the Laws of the Land yet in force and so consonant to former Oathes and Protestations that a religious Christian and Loyall Subject may without scruple of Conscience and danger of ensnaring his soul enter into it I answer Negatively Answ And although I had more then once made a Covenant with my self Rebus sic stantibus or rather jacentibus never to question this Covenant which the authority of both Houses and Piety and Learning of the Assembly of Divines hath commended as the Soveraign Remedy of all the Maladies of the times yet because my conscience tels me that it hath not approbation from the Three that bear record in heaven I dare not conceal those Reasons which at the first made me doubt of the lawfulness of it and in the end put it out of doubt The reasons propounding the naked truth without any clothing of art or ornament of Rhetorick are these Audi non phalerata sed fortia Not to take advantage of preposterous order in setting down the parts of this Covenant wherein he that runneth may read a double Solecism For in it the Church of Scotland precedeth the Church of England and the Liberties of the Subject are set before the Royal Prerogative and Imperial Dignity of the Prince Surely such a sacred and venerable Evidence of fidelity is a publick Covenant made by two Nations and signed by the Name of the great Jehovah that in it both matter and method phrase and order ought to be maturely advised on and not only every period and line but every word and syllable therein to be exactly scan'd before the conscience of millions of men be charged with it If we cannot brook or keep our hands from tearing a List Catalogue or Register wherein they who are many degrees below us are yet ranked above us and named before us can his Majesty take it well at our hands that we should accept of a Covenant hand over head wherein the members are set above the head and his Soveraign Majesty sleighted and that not only by misplacing his person but limiting and restraining the preservation of his Person and Authority to the defence of the true Religion and maintenance of the Liberties of the Kingdoms What is this but to indent with our Soveraign and capitulate with our head as Ochan sometimes did with the Emperor Frederick Defende me gladio ego defendam te argumentis Defend me with thy Sword and I will defend thee with my Pen If his Majesty will defend our Faith we will bear faith to him if he will keep safe our Pendants we will safeguard his Crown Which limitation I except at not that I doubt but that there is and ought to be a mutual tie between King and Subject and that if he either desert the true Faith or infringe the Laws and just liberties of his Subjects for which he pawned his Faith at his Coronation God will call him to an account for it but this doth not discharge us of our Allegiance to him Though he keep not touch with us yet we may not break with him for he is as Tertullian gives him his true dimensions according to the golden reed of the Sanctuary Solo Deo minor caeteris omnibus major and consequently questionable for his breach of faith before none but God Alas what a fickle estate and lamentable condition were princes in if upon pretence that they defend not that Religion which the people believe to be true or maintain not those Liberties which they challenge as their birthright their royall Crownes may be exposed to rapine and their sacred persons to violence Not to dive into the depths of
keep his Oath sincerely and intirely But in this Covenant and Oath there are many Ambiguities For what is meant in the first clause by common enemies Either the world the flesh and the Divel which indeed are as it were sworn enemies to all true Religion or Papists or Independents who are both enemies to the Discipline and Government of the Scotch Church In the second clause what is meant by Church government by Archbishops Bishops c either all government by Bishops or the present Government only with the late Innovations and abuses thereof If all government by Bishops then in taking this Oath we condemn not only the perpetual Government of the Church from the Apostles time till the reformation of Religion in the dayes of Hen. 8. but also the reformed Churches in England Ireland Denmark Swethland Poland Saxonie and other parts of Germany where either they have Archbishops and Bishops or tantmount Intendents and Superintendents If the present government only with innovations and abuses let them explain what are the innovations and abuses we swear against else we cannot swear in judgement What is meant by Hierarchy the word signifieth holy Government being derived from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} holy and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} rule or government And is it fit crudely without any glosse to forswear all holy Government In the third clause what is meant by defending the Kings person in the defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms Is it a limitation or not If it be no limitation what doth it there There ought to be no idle and if I may so speak hang-by words in an Oath for the Wiseman teacheth us when we speak to God our words must be few If it be a limitation how doth this Covenant agree with the Oathes of Supremacy and Allegiance by which we are absolutely bound to defend the Kings person royal Dignities and Prerogatives of the Crown without any if or of restriction or qualification In the fourth clause what is meant by Malignants or evill instruments a word never used till of late in any Statute Law or Ordinance and never so much abused as at this day In the sixth clause how far extend these words I will assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and persuance thereof Doth it reach to giving battle to the King Sequestring Estates plundering houses and trampling all Laws under foot and to the justifying all the outrages committed in the maintaining and pursuing this League If not why is it not circumscribed with that limitation in the first Protestation By all good and lawful means or so far as lawfully I may There being so many Amphibologies Ambiguities and riddles in this Oath we must have some Oedipus of the Synod to read and clearly expound them before we can safely engage our conscience by Oath to perform them No Covenant may be made or Oath taken which implyeth in it contradictions for in such an Oath or Covenant we play fast and loose say and unsay and overthrow the nature of an Oath and take Gods name in vain The Schools and ancient Doctors constantly maintain that it exceedeth even Divine Omnipotency to reconcile Contradictions which are amongst those many things St. Augustine speaketh of which God therefore cannot do because he is Omnipotent But there are apparent contradictions in this Covenant and Gordian knots which cannot be untied For First It is said in the Preface that the Noblemen Barons c. enter into this Covenant according to the commendable practice of these Kingdoms in former times and yet Mr. Nye in his Speech published by special order of the House upon the very day the Covenant was read and sworn unto and subscribed by the Honorable House of Commons and Reverend Assembly of Divines Sept. 25. saith p. 12. That such an Oath for matter persons and other circumstances hath not been in any age or oath we read of in sacred or humane stories And Mr. Coleman in his Sermon commanded to be printed by the Commons of the House of Parliament Sept. ult. 1643. p. 18. Ask your Fathers consult with the aged of our times whether ever such a thing were done in their dayes or in the dayes of their Fathers before them And in his Epistle Dedicatory An Oath if vain makes the Land to mourn an Oath if weighty makes it rejoyce This is a new thing and not done in our Land before and I hope will have a new effect not seen by our people before We are to swear in the first branch That we will really and constantly endeavour the preservation of the reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government and yet in the same branch we swear to endeavour to bring the Churches of God in these three Kingdoms of which Scotland is one to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in form of Church Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best reformed Churches But this cannot be done if Scotland be preserved in her present Directory for Worship Discipline and Government for the Government in the Church of England Ireland Denmark Swethland Poland Saxony and in all the Churches of the East not subject to the Pope is Episcopal and that is proved to be most conformable to the Word of God by the writings of Bilson Downham Armagh never yet answered by any We swear in the same branch That we will endeavour to reform the Doctrine of the Church of England according to Gods Word and yet preserve the reformed Religion in Scotland in Doctrine whereas the Doctrine of the Church of England and Scotland is all one as appears by the Confession of the one and Articles of the other All the difference between the Church of England and Scotland is concerning Discipline and Liturgie not Doctrine as it is distinguished from them We swear in the second branch That we will endeavour the extirpation of Prelacy and Schisms whereas Prelacy hath been ever and is the special if not only means to extirpate Schisme If Prelacy be taken away saith St. Jerome ad Luc. and the preeminencie of one Presbyter above another tot Schismata erunt quot Sacerdotes That is to extirpate Church-government by Archbishops Bishops c. and yet in the third branch we swear to preserve the rights and priviledges of the Parliament and liberties of the Kingdoms among which liberties of the Kingdom of England and priviledges of the Parliament are the contents of Magna Charta and Petition of Right in which the Government of Archbishops and Bishops and the rights and priviledges of the Church are comprised In the third branch we swear to preserve and defend his Majesties Person and Authority without any diminution of his just power and greatness and yet in the sixth Article we swear to assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in
only Scripture but even Nature teacheth every man That it is an unrighteous thing if not impious and sacrilegious to disanul abrogate and overthrow the last Wils and Testaments of all the Founders of and Benefactors to Bishopricks Deanaries and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and to alienate their revenues to another end then they intended especially those lands being dedicated to God and that for the maintenance of his true worship and not any superstitious end It is an unjust thing to thrust out a world of men without any crime or legal forfeiture out of their dignities preferments and Estates whereof they and their predecessors have been legally possessed time out of mind I appeal to their own consciences whether a man might lawfully swear to endeavour the extirpation of all the Judges of the Kings Bench and Common Pleas Barons of the Exchequer Serjeants at Law Counsellours Barrestors and Atturneys or of all Maiors Sheriffs Aldermen Common-councel men Masters and Wardens of Companies Sword bearers Officers and Beadles I am sure such an Oath were Votum devovendum and faedus faedum not only an illegall but a detestible and execrable Oath Obj. And what can they alleadg to difference this from such a one If they say Lord Bishops Deans Arch-deacons c. are no where mentioned in Scripture no more is there of Lord Maiors or Lord chief Barons c. Answ Yea but Magistrates and Judges are named though not with such honorable titles So are Bishops and Deacons and there is as great a necessity of Ecclesiastical Magistrates as civill of order in the Church as in the City and State of some preferments and encouragements for Clergy men and Civilians as for Common Lawyers As this Oath cannot be taken in righteousness so neither in judgement for who can judiciously swear to preserve the Doctrine Discipline and Worship of a Nation which he knoweth not How can he swear in truth that he will indeavour to Reform the Doctrine of the Church of England according to Gods Word which he knoweth and hath acknowledged in his former Protestation and subscribed to the Articles of Religion to be as it is conformable there-unto But these reasons have been touched before and the Readers stomachis like to loath Cramben his coctam No Oath ought to be taken or Covenant entred into which is repugnant to the just and wholesome Laws of the Kingdom now in force For to take such an Oath is to swear to sin and consequently to sin in swearing unless they can make disobedience to the Laws of the land no sin But this Covenant is repugnant to many Laws of England namely all those Statutes and Acts of Parliament whereby Episcopal Government and Ecclesiastical Courts are established and regulated To this Argument it is answered by those who have a hand in pulling down that sacred order that hath laid holy hands upon them That the Acts of Parliament are not like the Laws of Medes and Persians that cannot be altered and in particular that all the former Acts passed in favour of Episcopacy are vertually repealed by that Ordinance of both Houses wherein it is resolved That Episcopal Government shall be cut off root and branch Reply 1 But neither is this answer any way satisfactory nor better then their former For first The resolution to make an Act is not the enacting a Law Many things may fall out between such a Resolution and the Execution thereof in which interim they who take this New Oath may absolutely forswear themselves in breaking the Oath of Canonical obedience to Bishops yet in being Though both Houses should concur to make such an Act for the utter abolishing of Episcopacy yet till the Royal Assent were gained thereunto such an Ordinance could never be improved to an Act of Parliament much lesse of force to Repeal many former Acts For as neither the King with the Commons without the Peers nor the King and Peers without the Commons so neither the Peers and Commons without the King can Make or Repeal any Act made by the Three Estates For that which is Established by Authority must be abrogated by equal Authority and the concurrence of the Three Estates in their Votes is that golden tripos out of which we are to hear the Soveraign and authentical Oracles of the Law Contrary Oaths and Protestations may not be taken for they destroy one the other and he that taketh them is like the Satyre in the Poet who out of the same mouth bloweth hot and cold Can the fountain saith St. James out of the same place send out sweet and bitter waters But this new Covenant and Protestation is contrary to that which was taken by both Houses and all the Subjects of this Kingdom May 5. 1641. For in that we swear to maintain the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject and no man doubteth but Bishops Deans c. are Subjects and their liberties and priviledges are expresly mentioned both in Charta Magna and the Petition of Right But in this we abjure all Prelacy that is Government by Archbishops Bishops Deans c. No man ought to sollicit much lesse inforce upon penalties any of the Clergy to take an Oath contrary to the Oaths they have formerly taken both in their ordination and institution and induction into their Benefices namely the Oath of Canonical obedience to their Bishops and of the Defence and Maintenance of the Priviledges of their Sees But such is the Oath comprised in this New Covenant Therefore it can in no wise be taken at least by any Clergy and Beneficed men As for these Clergy men who pretend that they above all others cannot Covenant to extirpate that Government because they have as they say taken an Oath to obey the Bishops in licitis honestis they can tell if they please that they that have sworn obedience to the Laws of the Land are not thereby prohibited from indeavouring by all lawful means the abolition of those Laws when they prove inconvenient and mischievous And if yet there should any Oath be found into which any Ministers or others have entered not warranted by the Laws of God and the Land in this case they must teach themselves and others to call for Repentance not pertinacy in them Reply 1 No man absolutely sweareth obedience to the Laws of the Land actively for then every disobedience to the Laws of the Land should be perjury but actively or passively that is either to do that which is commanded by the Law or patiently to submit to the penalty thereof Which Oath notwithstanding any Member of Parliament may move for the abrogation of such a Law I grant that notwithstanding any ingagement by former Oath a Member of the Parliament may move to have a Bill preferred for the abolition of a Law in case it hath proved inconvenient and mischievous But such are not the Laws by which Episcopacy is estabished and spiritual Courts regulated All the
charitutes patria complectitur But this Covenant is many wayes derogatory to the honour of England For the Church of Scotland is not only set before the Church of England in it but is also propounded as a pattern of a Church intirely reformed not only in Doctrine but in Discipline also and Worship and therefore to be preserved in all three But the Church of England as an imperfect draught of a Church defective in all and consequently to be reformed in all according to Gods Word and the pattern of other reformed Churches whereas in truth the Church of England as it was reformed before the Church of Scotland so it was more exactly and perfectly Reformed priùs tempore dic honore And no marvel sith the Church of England was reformed by the authority of the Prince and the wisdom of the State but the Church of Scotland by the zeal of private men The Church of England was reformed not only in Dâ—ctrine but also in Discipline and Liturgy conformably to the ancient and best Churches whereas the Church of Stotland though it imbraced Apostolical doctrine yet it had not the exercise of Apostolical discipline since the Reformation till King James of blessed memory restored Episcopal Government there where they before writing after the copie set by Calvin they had set up the Presbytery or government by Lay Elders unknown to any Elder age of the Church But howsoever the glory of the English Church of late hath been eclipsed in the eyes of many yet by the testimonies of the best Reformed Churches beyond the Seas in the Reign of Qu Elizabeth and King James it may appear that she shined among all the Golden Candlesticks set in the Western and Northern parts of Christendom velut interâ—ignes Luna minores She supported all other Reformed Churches and the Church of Scotland by name as their own Chronicles relate And howsoever some thing hath been questioned in the Discipline and Liturgie of the Church of England by the Scholars of Aerius the Heretick opposing all Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Liturgie yet the doctrine of the Church of England hath been alwayes kept sarta tecta and held sound and Orthodox by all that carryed the name of Protestants and the Articles of Religion together with the Apology of Bishop Jewell wherein the whole Doctrine of the Church of England is comprised are inserted into the harmony of Protestant Confessions and approved by the suffrage of all Orthodox Churches To swear therefore to endeavour the reforming of the Church of England in Doctrine according to the Word of God is either to swear actum agere to do that which is done already and so to swear vainly or to swear to pervert it it being straight already which is to swear impiously No solemn Covenant especially confirmed by millions of Oaths between two Kingdomes ought to be made without necessary and urgent occasion for otherwise in such a solemn and publick manner to call God as it were from heaven to attest with us would be a taking of his Name in vain Such Covenanting is like the casting the holy anchor among the Athenians and the creating a Dictator among the Romans never to be acted or attempted but in some great exigent of state to preserve it from imminent ruine and destruction But there is no such necessity at this time of engaging both Kingdoms and locking them fast in such a League for the Popish party is at a lower ebb now in England then it hath been heretofore and his Majesty hath bound himself by many Oaths even signed with the blood of his Redeemer at the holy Communion to maintain the Protestant Religion and not only to enliven the Acts formerly made against Seminary Priests Jesuits and Popish Recusants but also to give his royall Assent to any such further Acts as the wisdom of the Parliament and State should offer unto him for the advancement of the Protestant and suppressing of the Romish Religion And as for the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject there needs no entring into this New League for their ratification and confirmation For they are sufficiently established by former Acts of Parliament unrepealed and by the late Protestation generally made by all the Subjects of this Kingdom May 5. 1641. The Reasons alleadged in the preface of the Covenant have scarce any colour of truth and not so much as a shadow of necessity Reas. 1 The first is That other means of Supplications Remonstrances Protestations c. have proved uneffectual and therefore no remedy for a desperate cure but this uniting of minds and swords with the strongest tie of a National Covenant Answ Whereunto I answer That to all those Supplications Remonstrances and Protestations his Majesty hath given gracious answers and hath often heretofore and of late offered honorable conditions of Peace which have been refused Reas. 2 The second is That for the preservation of themselves and their Religion from utter ruine and destruction they were constrained to make this League Answ Whereunto I answer That Religion and the Church are in danger of ruine and destruction as well by the Anabaptists Brownists and other Sectaries who take this Covenant and have grown most insolent upon this new League as by the Papists and that the greatest fear of utterly ruining and destroying this Kingdom is from the continuance of this Civill and unnatural War which is fomented by it Reas. 3 The third is The commendable practise of these Kingdoms in former times Answ In this reason they plead Obsignatis tabulis they avouch that which never hath been nor can be produced and the contrary hath been proved before Reas. 4 The last reason is The example of Gods people in other Nations Whom they mean by these other Nations is expressed in the exhortation to the taking of this Solemn League and Covenant p. 5. namely the Netherlands and Rochellers But as he in Plato's Dialogue said Exemplum ô holpes eget exemplo so we may say of these these are examples without example late practises in our age and memory without any Precedent in former ages and the best times of the Church Neither yet are they parallel to this For the King of Spain against whom the Netherlands and the French King against whom the Rochellers entred into a League Defensive and Offensive with us were persecuters of the true Protestant Religion and oppressors of their known Liberty whereas our gracious Soveraign is a Professor of the Gospell and a Defender of the Orthodox Protestant Faith and a maintainer of the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of Subjects as appeareth by his Royal Assent to the Petition of Right Every one that sweareth must have an eye to the conditions of a sacred Oath set down by the Prophet Jerem. 4. 2. He must swear in truth judgement and righteousness in truth not falsly in judgement not rashly in righteousness not wickedly But no man can take this Oath in righteousness for not
Possumus quod jure possumus we can do no more then lawfully we may If Episcopal Government must be overthrown it must be done in a lawful way not by Popular Tumults but by a Bill passed in Parliament and that to be tendered to his Majesty for his Royal Assent And how such a Bill can be pressed upon his Majesty who hath taken an Oath * at his Coronation to preserve Bishops in their Legal Rights I must learn from our great Masters of the Law For by the Gospel all inducements to sin are sin and solicitations to perjury are tainted with that guilt neither is there any power upon earth to dispence with the breach of Oaths lawfully taken 15. If we desire that this Church of England should flourish like the Garden of Eden we must have an eye to the nurseries of good Learning and Religion the two Universities which will never be furnished with choice plants if there be no Prefeâ—ments and Incouragements to the Students there who for the far greater part bend their studies to the Queen of all Professions Divinity which will make but a slow progresse if Bishopricks Deanries Archdeaconries and Prebendaries and all other Ecclesiastical dignities which like silver spurs prick on the industry of those who consecrate their Labours and endeavours to the glorifying of God in imploying their talent in the Ministery of the Gospel be taken away What sails are to a Ship that are affections to the soul which if they be not filled with the hope of some rewards and deserved preferments as a prosperous gale of wind our sacred studies and endeavours will soon be calmed for * honos alit artes omnesque incenduntur studio gloriae jacentque ea semper quae apud quosque improbantur Honor nourisheth Arts and all men are inflamed with desire of Glory and those Professions fall and decay which are in no esteem with most men And if there are places both of great Profit Honor and Power propounded to States-men and those that are learned in the Law like rich Prizes to those that prove Masteries shall the professors of the Divine Law be had in lesse esteem then the Students and Practicers in the Municipal And shall that Profession only be barred from entring into the Temple of honour which directeth all men to the Temple of Virtue and hath best right to honour by the Promise of God Honorantes me honorabo those that honor me I will honor because they most honour God in every action of their function which immediately tendeth to his glory They will say That Episcopal Government hath proved inconvenient and prejudicial to the State and therefore the Hierarchy is to be cut down root and branch Of this argument we may say as Cicero doth of Cato his exceptions against * Murena Set aside the Authority of the Objectors the Objection hath very little weight in it For it is liable to many and just exceptions and admitteth of divers Replyes First it is said That Episcopal Government is inconvenient and mischievous and prejudicial to the State but it was never proved to be so Secondly Admit some good proof could be brought of it yet if Episcopacy be of Divine Institution as hath been proved it must not be therefore rooted out but the Luxurious stems of it pruned and those additions to the first institution from whence these inconveniences have grown ought to be retrenched Thirdly If Episcopacy hath proved inconvenient and mischievous in this age which was most * beneficial and profitable in all former ages the fault may be in the Maladies of the Patient not in the method of Cure This age is to be Reformed not Episcopacy Abrogated that the Liberty and looseness of these times will not brook the Sacred bands of Episcopal Discipline is rather a proof of the integrity thereof then a true argument of any malignity in it to the State without which no effectual †means or course can be taken either for the suppressing Schismaticks or the continuation of a lawful and undenyable succession in the Ministery 16. Lastly Though some of late think they have brought gold and silver and precious stones to build the house of God by producing some stuff out of Antiquity to prove the Ordination of Presbyters by meer Presbyters yet being put to the test it proves meer trash for there can be no instance brought out of Scripture of any Ordination without Imposition of Apostolical or Episcopal hands neither hath prime Antiquity ever approved of meer Presbyters laying hands one upon another but in Orthodoxal Councels revoked cassated and disannulled all such Ordinations as we may read in the Apologies of * Athanasius and elsewhere What shall I need to add more save the testimony of all Christians of what denomination soever under the Cope of heaven save only the Mushrom Sect of Brownists sprung up the other night all who have given their name to Christ and acknowledge and have some dependence on either the Patriarch of Constantinople in the East or of Rome in the West or of Muscovia in the North or of Alexandria in the South together with the Cophtie Maronites Abissones and Chineses not only admit of Episcopal Government and most willingly submit to it but never had or at this day have any other Neither is this or can it be denyed by our Aerians but they tell us that these are Christians at large who hold many Errors and Superstitions with the Fundamentâ—ls of Christian Doctrin their Churches are like oare not cleansed from earth like gold not purged from dross like threshed wheat not fanned from the chaffe like meal not sifted from the bran like wine not drawn off the lees we are say they upon a Reformation and the new Covenant engageth us to endeavour the Reformation of the Church of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and according to the example of the best Reformed Churches The best Reformed which are they whether the remainders of the Waldenses and Albigenses in Piemont and the parts adjoyning or of the Taborites in Bohemia or of the Lutherans in Germany or those that are called after the name of Calvin in France and else where First for the Waldenses the fore-runners of Luther as he himself confesseth they had Bishops who Ordained their Pastours a Catalogue whereof we may see in the History of the Waldenses first written in French and after translated into English by a learned Herald Secondly for the Luther an Churches they have Prelates governing them under the titles of Archbishops and Bishops in Poland Denmark and Swâ—thland but under the name of Super intendents Intendents in Germany and as for their judgement in the point it is expresly fet down in the * Apology of the Augustane Confession in these words We have often protested our earnest desires to conserve the discipline of degrees in the Church by Bishops
in the Atheism Blasphemy Epicurism and Liberty of those looser times But Undè hoc repentè commentum Whence arose this suddain fury Whence sprang this Epidemical Madness Apostacy and Ruine Perditio tua ex te ô Israel saith God by his Prophet O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self And most true it is for as in general our crying sins pulled down the Vengeance and justifyed the Revenger so there was something in particular of Covetousness Ambition and cunning Malice which contrived and managed our Civil Wars but cannot justifie the Contrivers Not to touch upon those State affairs which were meerly such it may well become us now as Christians in the pleasant bowres of our quiet solitude to sit down and re-view that pretence of Divinity and regulating of our Consciences which plotted and fomented our Rebellion and put a glosse upon our Insurrections To this purpose we finde in the Preface to the Covenant That the Noblemen Barons Knights Gentlemen Citizens Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland called to minde the treacherous and bloudy Plots Conspiracies Attempts and Practices of the enemies of God against the true Religion and Professors thereof c. especially in these three Kingdoms c. and how much their Rage Power and Presumptions were of late and at that time increased and exercised But who were these enemies Papists 't is granted But were these the only enemies Suppose they were which yet cannot be yielded how must they be suppressed By a National and Solemn League and Covenant for thus we were taught by our Neighbour Nation I need not therefore enquire Who composed our Covenant or By what Authority it was Imposed and pressed Let it suffice that This Covenant was concluded to be the way and the only way to advance the glory of God and the Kingdom of Christ the honour and happiness of the King and his Posterity and the true publick Liberty Safety and Peace of these Kingdoms Here were indeed specious Pretences and fair hopes as full of confidence as the simple people could be hugged and dandled with Virgo formosa supernè But did the Physick work as the Physicians promised and the Patients expected Did it produce any of those saving effects which the grave Dictators assured us it would Surely no It may well therefore now become us their Patients who suffered many things of many Physicians and spent all that we had and were nothing bettered but rather grew worse to enter into a serious consultation about that which they contrived to be the Methodus medendi and since it pretends to Divinity to enquire whether it were indeed either lawful or proper If we truly desire a Sober Judicious and Solid Resolution I presume that the ensuing Book will answer our doubts and inform our Consciences I confesse that this Book might have slept still in private and should not have grown publick especially at this time if the spirit of contradiction were not now so prevalent and malice so industrious The troublers of our Israel enter upon the stage again and furious men whom nothing will satisfie joyn in a new and lawless Corporation and send up their Burgesses upon the errand of scurrilous and factious Libelling Is this their Divinity to be thus unthankful Malè collata malè debentur faith the quaint and Divine Philosopher Hath our God of peace so lately beaten our Swords into Plough-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks and must we go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a Smith to reduce them into weapons again Hath he not once again sent us a King in mercy and fitted an incomparable head to the shoulders of our Kingdoms Are not our Scorpion scourges gently removed our Sequestrations taken off our Religion restored our good old Lawes revived and our propriety and just liberty recovered and enjoyed Do we not seem to be blessed with a well-grounded hope that both King and People Church and Common-wealth will peaceably repose and solace themselves in those glorious and mutuall tyes of a righteous Government and a dutiful Obedience a Religion pure and undefiled and such Love and Loyalty as may never be interrupted What meaneth then this bleating and lowing of these sheep and oxen and the hideous braying of unclean beasts in our Christian ears Must our Musick stop upon a fret and our Harmonie be disturbed by such harsh and unwelcome discords Are we already sick of our ease and weary of our mercies Will Jeshurun kick as soon as ever he waxeth fat Alas alas the moth endeavours to eat into our Garments again and the canker into our purest Gold We daily see how these discontents of ungrateful and irreligious Spirits endeavour to blast our fairest hopes by disturbing our Peace and renewing our contentions The ambitious are discontented and want promotion the malitious are troubled and want revenge The needy sufferers are impatient and want preferment the heretical are vexed and fear a Curb and the schismatical are unquiet and suspect a settlement Too many forget the miseries of war too few are thankfull for peace and truth and the full soul loaths the honey-combe That foolish fowl which saved the Capitol hath moulted her sicker quils and the unwise turn them into gaping penns to scrible sedition I have therefore awaked this book that it may tell the deluded world how unsafely we formerly credited the croaking of such Egyptian Frogs and hope that are-view of our former contentions grounded upon the Covenant will make us repent and be Wise Deliberandum est diù quod statuendum est semel saith Seneca We should seriously consider before we certainly decree and with good advice should make war Those that sowed in our tears by their hasty Covenanting may thank themselves if they reap not in our joy If their League was Illegal and made their grapes so sowre certainly to revive it except in their sorrow is the way to continue their teeth on edge Juravit David temerè saith the Father sed non implevit Jurationem majore pietate David was a grievous sinner when he became so rash a swearer but he shewed more piety when he broke his Oath Although some few do seek our disturbance and those none of the best yet we see and rejoyce that many Learned and Conscientious Covenanters retract their Errours Some there are whose judgements are convinced by the syllogisme of Conscience some who are calmed by the gentleness of Remission and some also who are reclaimed by the Royal care and indulgent tenderness of our most gracious Soveraign who maketh the Children of the Bond-woman Heirs with those of the Free-woman I presume that I need not to commend the ensuing Book to any of these unless to confirm them in their conversion by strength of Arguments that as their repentance is visible so their resolves may be constant But I greatly suspect the inflexibility and pertinacious obstinacy of some few of our dissenting
State nor anxiously to enquire into the reason which moved the first contrivers and projectors of this League to set it on foot at this present and presse it with all earnestness I am perswaded that none will denie that their main scope and aime therein was to engage our brethren of Scotland in the present quarrell for pulling down Episcopacie and setting up the Presbyterie and by this National and solemne league to strengthen their partie and foment this unnaturall war which hath already drained the wealth of the Kingdome and is like to draw out the life-blood also Nemo tenetur divinare say the Canonists neither will I take upon me the office of a Prophet to foretell the Catastrophe of these Tragedies Yet sure I am this Queen of all Islands never received such prejudiced and wrong nor ever was so near the brink of destructions when she drew in forain Forces to defend her self against homebred Enemies and I pray God we experimentally interpret not the mysterie of Pharaohs dream concerning the lean kine which eat up the fat and yet were never a whit the fatter If there be a decree of Heaven that these two Nations shall be drowned one in anothers blood for the crimsons sins of both not yet repented of yet let not us draw this most fearfull judgement upon both Kingdomes by the cord of an oath But to argue syllogistically No Subjects living under a Christian Prince who is a professor of the true Religion and a Defender of the orthodox faith may enter into a publick and solemne covenant for the reformation of religion without the consent much lesse against the expresse command of their Soveraign For such disobedience and sleighting of their King cannot stand with the duty we ow him of fear and loyalty injoyned Prov. 24. 21. My son fear the Lord and the King Eccles. 8. 2. I advise thee to take heed to the mouth of the King and to the word of the oath of God Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation V. 4. If thou do evil fear for he beareth not the sword in vain Prov. 16. 14. The wrath of the King is the messenger of death Prov. 19. 12. The Kings wrath is like the roaring of a Lion 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme v. 17. Fear God honour the King Nor with the prayers of the Church made for him that we may serve honour and humbly obey him in God and for God Nor with the principles of right Reason for the King is the supreme head of the Church and Common-wealth under Christ and all his Subjects conjunctim in Parliament or divisim are but Members of the same Body politick and how should the members enter into a covenant or frame and devise it without the head But the King is so far from yielding his royall assent to this Covenant that he strictly forbids it and that under the pain of Treasonin his Proclamation printed at Oxford Ergo we may not enter into this Covenant nor entangle our consciences with this new Oath This Covenant we make with God and in all things especially the things appertaining to God we must obey God rather then man We have the Kings vertua consent l thereunto for though he be not present in person at the Parliament nor hath given his royall assent under his hand yet this Parliament is called and continued by his authority and his consent is vertually contained in the Votes of both Houses It is a ruled case in Divinity That we must obey God rather then man when God commandeth one thing and man another but when the commands of God and of his Vicegerent upon earth clash not one against another St. Bernards doctrine is most true We must obey him as God who is in the place of God in those things which are not against God When St. Peter and St. John returned this answer to the Councell the Councell forbad that which God commanded God commanded the Apostles to preach Christs resurrection and the Assembly of Priests and Elders forbad them This is not the Covenanters case for where doth God command the English to sweare to preserve the Scotch Discipline and Liturgie which they themselves have often varied Or to abjure Episcopacie which was the only government of the Church for more then 1500 years and under whose shade Christian Religion most flourished and the Church stretched forth her branches to the Rivers and her boughs to the ends of the earth Where doth the Scripture warrant much less command the association of two Kingdomes and joyntly taking up armes in the quarrell of the Gospell and defending and propagating religion by the sword The calling of the Parliament by the Kings authority doth not conclude his assent to all the Ordinances of both the Houses for if it were so why did this Parliament after they had voted the Militia and the extirpation of Prelacie and Pluralities send to his Majesty and humbly intreat his royall assent nay why in all Parliaments since the first even till this day after both Houses had past bills did still the Lords and Commons lay them at his Majesties feet beseeching him in humblest manner to take them up and signe them with his royall hand and if he liked them his answer hath been Le Roy vieut if he distasted them Le Roy s'avisera Did the calling of a Parliament in the Kings name and by his authority vertually include or conclude his Royall assent to all the Acts King Richard the 2d had given his consent to his own deposing for that Parliament wherein he was deposed was called in his name and by his Authority 4. No Covenant especially publike and solemn between two Nations for reformation of Religion may be taken without warrant from Gods word for in every such Covenant God is a partie and his consent must be both had and known which cannot be but from his word Beside this Covenant is bound with an Oath which is an Act of Religion and cultus latriae that is a part of divine worship and if it be not commanded by God it is forbidden in Scripture under the name of will-worship Moreover that golden rule of the Apostle applyed by by him to the use of things indifferent stretcheth also to this case of conscience Whatsoever Oath we take or Covenant we enter into not perswaded in Conscience that we have good ground for what we doe in scripture is sinne to us But this Covenant hath no warrant for it in holy Scripture for from the Alpha of Genesis to the Omega of the Apocalypse there is no vola nor vestigium of such a Covenant as this Ergo this Covenant must not be taken by any who desire to walk exactly before God according to the
precise rule of his word There is warrant in Gods word both for the matter of this Covenant and the form and manner of taking the oath For the matter we have a pattern of a Covenant taken for the reformation of the false and preservation of the true worship of God and the uniting of Kingdoms in the truth thus reformed 1 Sam. 18. 3. 4. 2 Kings 23. 5. 2 Chr. 25. 8. 9. 2 Chro. 30. Ezra 10. 2. And for the form and manner of taking it by lifting up the hand we have a precedent Apoc. 10. 50. None of these instances are ad Rhombum all those Covenants were made against idolatrie and other sins expresly forbidden by the law of God but this Covenant is against Prelacie and such a form of worship practised in the Church of England as hath been justified by the word of God and unanswerable arguments drawn from Scripture by Whitgift and Hooker in their answer to Cartwright Câ—vell to Barrow and Browne Burges to Ames and Ball to Can and many others In all those Covenants the King had the main stroak but in this none at all 1. For the Covenant mentioned 1 Sam. 18. 3 4 it comes not home to our case for that was a private Covenant between two intimate friends for the safety of both their lives sought after by a bloudy Tyrant this is a National Covenant between two Kingdoms for the Reforming Religion and setling Peace that was made by the true King appointed by God and anointed before this by Samuel against him who indeed held the Crown but was rejected by God himself this is a Covenant made by Subjects against the Commands of a most gracious Prince 2. For the Covenant mentioned 2 King 23. 5. the text saith King Josiah made this Covenant that they should walk after the Lord and keep his Commandements and his Testimonies and his Statutes with all their heart c. And that he put down the Chemarims c. There the King makes a Covenant and reforms a Church and not the People here the People enter into a Covenant without the King and they take upon them against his command to Reform or rather Deform the Church by overthrowing the Hierarchy and abolishing Episcopacy Chius ad Choum these things agree as well as Harp and Harrow 3. For the Covenant mentioned 2 Chr. 15. 8 9. King Asa gathered all Judah and Benjamin together to Jerusalem where they offered to the Lord of the spoyles and made this Covenant and in performance of this Oath or Covenant v. 16. he deposed Maacah his mother from her Regency because she had made an Idoll in a grove and Asa brake down her Idoll and stampt it and burned it at the brook Kidron 4. For the example of Israel 2 Chron. 30. who in the dayes of Hezekiah though they were under another King yet joyned with the men of Judah in keeping the Passover it yeilds no support at all to their tottering cause For 1. They entred not into any solemn League with the men of Judah though for the present they joyned with them in a Religious duty commanded by the Law 2. What they did they were invited to do by King Hezekiah whereas the Scotch are not invited to this League with the English by the King 3. The King of Asshur forbad not the Israelites to joyn with their Brethren of Judah in keeping the Passover but the King forbids any of his Subjects to enter into this Covenant 4 The King who Reigned over the Israelites was an Idolater but our King is a worshiper of the true God And albeit in some case and quarrel the worshipers of the true God may joyn with their Brethren of the same Religion in another Kingdom in a Defensive League though the King being an Idolater should forbid it yet it follows not that they may do so without the consent and against the command of a Christian Prince who is a professor of the true Religion Lastly The Israelites besides the invitation of King Hezekiah to keep a solemn Passeover with the Jews had the express command of God himself whereas neither English nor Scotch have any command from God expresly or implicitly to enter into this League for the Defence of the Protestant Religion against Papist without the King the King himself undertaking and that by most solemn Oathes and Protestations to defend the same 5. For the Covenant mentioned Ezra 10. 3. that was meerly to remove a Scandal from the Jews and to fulfil the express command of God for putting away strange wives set down in the Law of Moses in which case no man doubteth but a Covenant may be made not only without but against the commandement of a Prince Yet here the Jews besides the command of Nehemiah the Viceroy had the approbation of the Prince for making this Covenant for the King of Persia at this time favoured the Jews and contributed largely to the reedifying of the Temple and gave order to Ezra the Priest to adorn the house of God and perform all things in his service according to the Law Ezra 7. 10. The last example Rev. 10. 5. is least to our present purpose for the Angel there made no Covenant but only sware by the living God that time should be no more It is true he lifted up his hand yet that no way helpeth the Covenanters cause for that might be a fit gesture in an Angel menacing a fatal doom to the world and the outdating of all time which yet may not be thought so fit a gesture for men entring into a holy League for the preservation of two Kingdoms If they can as the Angel did stand upon the earth and the sea at the same time let them also further imitate the Angel in lifting up their hands to heaven when they make their Covenant Howsoever for the gesture we will not contend with them I think it fitter in taking this Oath then after the usuall manner to lay the hand upon the Bible for this Oath and Covenant hath no ground or foundation at all in that book and the lifting up of the hand very well expresseth the purport of this Covenant which is a lifting up of their hands against the Lords anointed and his Church yet under pretence of defence of the Kings person never so much endangered as by their Armies and of Religion never so profaned as by their Reformadoes and of the liberties of Subjects never so much infringed as by arbitrary votes Before we take this Oath of reformation we must desire a reformation of the Oath for it is full of ambiguities and contradictions whence I thus frame a fifth argument 5. No ambiguous Oath ought to be taken or Covenant signed for here one of Pythagoras golden Precepts taketh place Loquere cum lumine all Ambiguities Equivocations or mental reservations especially in Leagues and Oathes are abominated by all Protestants He that sweareth ambiguously sweareth not in simplicity of heart nor can
Nay * Luther himself who of all men most bitterly inveighed against the Antichristian Hierarchy yet puts water into his wine adding Let no man hereby conceive that I speak any thing against the state of Bishops but only against Romish Wolves and Tyrants Neither are the Lutherans of another minde at this day witness their every-way accomplished †Gerard None of us saith he affirmeth That there is no difference between a Bishop or Presbyter or Priest but we acknowledge a difference of Degrees for good Order sake and to preserve Concord in the Church Here me-thinks I see the Smectimnuans bend their brows and answer with some indignation What have we to do with Lutherans who have Images in their Churches and Auricular confession and maintain Consubstantiation and Ubiquity and intercision of grace and many other Errors We are of Calvin and hold with the Doctrine and Discipline of Geneva which hath no allay at all of Error and Superstition but is like the pure Angel-gold Here though I might as many have done crave leave to put in a Legal Exception against the authority of Calvin and Beza in matter of Discipline because they had a hand in thrusting out the Bishop of Geneva and the Lay Presbyterian Government was the issue of their brain and we know it is natural for Parents to dote upon their own Children and accompt them far fairer and more beautiful then indeed they are yet such was the ingenuity of those worthy Reformers and such is the evidence and strength of Truth that in this point concerning the Abolition of Episcopacy in the Church of England I dare chuse them as Umpires First let * Calvin speak in his exquisite Treatise concerning the Necessity of Reforming the Church the most proper place if any were clearly to deliver his judgement in this Controversie where having â—ipt up the abuses of the Romish Hierarchy in the end thus he resolves Let them shew us such an Hierarchy in which the Bishops may have such preheminency that yet they refuse not themselves to be subject to Christ that they depend upon him as the only Head and refer all to him and so embrace brotherly society that they are knit together by no other means then his truth and I will confess they deserve any curse if there be any who will not observe such an Hierarchy with reverence and greatest obedience After him let us hear †Bezae in that very Book which he wrote against Saravia a Prebend of Canterbury concerning different Degrees in the Clergy but saith he if the Reformed Churches of England remain still supported with the authority of their Archbishops and Bishops as it hath come to passe in our memory that they have had men of that rank not only famous Martyrs but most excellent Doctors and Pastours which happiness I for my part wish that they may continually enjoy c. Surely he that so highly extolled our Bishops and wished that that Order might like the tree in the Poet continually bring forth such golden boughs and fruit would not readily swear to endeavour the utter Extirpation thereof THE END BY THE KING His Majesties Proclamation forbidding the Tendring or Taking of the late Vow or Covenant devised by some Members of both Houses to Engage His Majesties good Subjects in the Maintenance of this odious Rebellion WHEREAS We have lately seen a Vow or Covenant pretended to be taken by some Members of both Houses of Parliament whereby after the taking notice of a Popish and Traiterous Plot for the subversion of the true Reformed Prote stant Religion and the Liberty of the Subiect and to surprize the Cities of London and Westminstr They do promise and covenant according to their utmost power to assist the Forces pretended to be raised and continued by both Houses of Parliament against the Forces raised by Vs and to assist all other persons that shall take the said Oath in what they shall do in pursuance thereof which Oath as the same hath been taken without the least colour or ground the Contrivers thereof well knowing that there is no popish Army within this Kingdom that We are so far from giving countenance to that Religion that We have alwayes given and alwayes offered Our consent to any Act for the suppression of Popery and the growth thereof and that the Army raised by Vs is in truth for the necessary defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion established by Law the Liberty and Property of the Subiect and Our own Iust Rights according to Law all which being setled and submitted to or such a free and peaceable Convention in Parliament being provided for that the same might be setled We have offered and are still ready to Disband our Armies and as the said Oath was devised only to prevent Peace and to pre-engage the Votes of the Members of both Houses directly contrary to the Freedom and Liberty of Parliament and to engage them and Our good Subiects in the maintenance of this horrid and odious Rebellion so it is directly contrary as well to their natural Duty as to the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy established by Law which obliges them to bear to Vs Truth and Faith of Life Members and Earthly Honour and to defend Vs to the utmost of their powers against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against Our Person Our Crown and Dignity and to do their best endeavours to disclose and make known to Vs all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which shall be against Vs and to their power to assist and defend all Iurisdictions Priviledges Preheminences and Authority belonging to Vs or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And whereas We are informed that some desperate seditious persons do endeavour to perswade and seduce others of Our good Subiects to take the saith Oath thereby to engage them and this Kingdom into a continuanee of these miserable and bloudy distempers We do therefore out of Grace and Compassion to our people and that they may not by any craft or violence suffer themselves to be seduced against their Duty and Conscience warn them of their natural Allegiance and their Obligations by Oaths lawfully administred to them and wish them to remember the great Blessings of God in peace and plenty which the whole Kingdom hath received whilst that Duty and those Oaths were carefully observed and the unspeakable miseries and calamities they have suffered in the breaking and violation thereof And we do straitly Charge and Command Our loving Subiects of what degree and quality soever upon their Allegiance that they presume not to take the said Seditious and Traiterous Vow or Covenant which endeavours to withdraw them from their natural Allegiance which they owe unto Vs and to which they are or ought to be sworn and are bound by the known Laws of the Land albeit they are not sworn and engages them in Acts of High Treason by the express letter of