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<DATE>2013-12-10</DATE>
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<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch Z131010.apex.</ITEM>
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<VID>160315</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>E. M.</HI> A long impri&s;oned Malignant, HIS HUMBLE SVBMISSION TO THE COVENANT and DIRECTORY: With &s;ome Rea&s;ons and Grounds of u&s;e to &s;ettle and &s;atifie tender Con&s;ciences. PRESENTED IN A Petition to the Right Honoura|ble the LORDS a&s;&s;embled in Parliament, in <HI>Whit&s;un-week,</HI> in the Year, 1647.</P>
<Q><BIBL>Eurip.</BIBL>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.</P></Q>
<P>Printed in the Yeare, 1647.</P>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Right Honorable the Lords a&s;&s;embled in the high Court of Parliament, The humble Petition of <HI>E. M.</HI> Pri&s;oner in the Right Honourable the Lord <HI>Peters</HI> Hou&s;e in <HI>Alder&s;gate-&s;treet.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER>Sheweth,</OPENER>
<P>THat whereas your Lord&s;hips humble Petitio|ner (upon Remon&s;trance of his ca&s;e, that hee hath been the&s;e five years Pri&s;oner to this Ho|nourable Hou&s;e, in which time having &s;uffe|red the often Plunder of his goods, to the very clothes on his backe, and Seque&s;tration from any benefit of livelihood or maintenance, and being unmarried, is thereby excluded from plea to &s;o much as any fifth part) did thereupon prefer his humble Petition, that your Lord&s;hips would be plea&s;ed, either to allow him &s;ome nece&s;&s;ary &s;u&s;tenance out of his owne E&s;tate, or &s;uch liberty (upon Baile to appeare before this Ho|nourable Hou&s;e upon any terme to be limited by your Lord&s;hips) whereby he might be enabled to &s;eeke, and find &s;ome end of his extreame mi&s;erie, either by &s;ome poore hone&s;t life, or death: In an&s;wer to which Peti|tion, your Lord&s;hips were plea&s;ed to returne, that for maintenance out of his owne E&s;tate, it was not in your Honourable power to allow it; and for liberty upon Baile, your Lord&s;hips were ready to grant it, but only upon condition of his taking the Covenant be|fore-hand.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="2">
<P>Hereupon your Lord&s;hips humble Petitioner makes reque&s;t, fir&s;t of all that he may pre&s;ent to your Honourable Remem|brance, that there was a Convocation of this Church repre&s;en|tative &s;ummoned, and called by the &s;ame Authority, together with this pre&s;ent Parliament now &s;itting, and that the Mem|bers of that Convocation (by the Statute of 8. <HI>Hen.</HI> 6.) are to enjoy the &s;ame immunities (as touching their Per&s;ons and per|&s;onall Attendants) from impri&s;onment, that any Peeres in the Hou&s;e of Lords, or Members of the Hou&s;e of Commons (for them&s;elves and theirs) doe challenge to that effect: May it then plea&s;e your Lord&s;hips to give your humble Petitioner leave to pre&s;ent to your honourable Notice, that him&s;elfe is actually at this time a Member of that Convocation; how&s;o|ever he &s;hall not in&s;i&s;t any further upon this, then your Lord|&s;hips plea&s;e, but &s;ubmits both this, and the law, and Statute it &s;elfe to your honourable arbitrement and plea&s;ures, how far it is to be regarded or &s;uper&s;eded; and craves onely leave of your Lord&s;hips, that he may without offence expre&s;&s;e his &s;en&s;e and minde in certain con&s;iderations upon the &s;ole condition where|on his liberty and livelihood at this pre&s;ent depends.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, he findes this Covenant (for many intrin&s;ecall in|ordinations in the &s;ame, which by divers learned men have been worthily and weightily pre&s;&s;ed, and may further be amplified and noted, as your Petitioner is ready to declare, when&s;oever by your Honours he &s;hall be thereunto required) &s;o oppo&s;ite to his Religion, Faith, and all his duties to God and man, that daily he doth humbly be&s;eech Almighty God to &s;trengthen him with grace, that he may endure and embrace any extremity of torture, or death, rather then in any &s;en&s;e of his own or others, take, or &s;eeme to have taken that, which for ought he can any wayes informe him&s;elfe (and other meanes of information in this long and &s;trict durance he can have none) mu&s;t needs run him into a de&s;perate hazzard of all the good he can hope for in this or any other world.</P>
<P N="2">2 Next, he de&s;ires to pre&s;ent to your honourable con&s;idera|tions, that tho&s;e Recu&s;ants in this Kingdom, who profe&s;&s;e them|&s;elves of the Communion of the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> are very &s;el|dome (if at all) pre&s;&s;ed or urged by any Hou&s;e or Committee
<PB N="3" REF="3"> (to their great commendation be it ever mentioned) to that Covenant; upon &s;uppo&s;ition, that they are &s;o farre hone&s;t and true to their owne &s;oules and con&s;ciences, that they will never &s;weare that which is incon&s;i&s;tible with their Faith. May it then plea&s;e your Lord&s;hips to con&s;ider, that the Church of <HI>England,</HI> as it &s;tood e&s;tabli&s;hed by divine and humane Lawes, and &s;till &s;tands (to all tho&s;e men upon who&s;e con&s;ciences <HI>Lawes</HI> have any obligation) wherein your humble Petitioner was made a Mem|ber of Chri&s;t, &amp; hath received &s;uch &s;en&s;ible impre&s;&s;ions of Gods grace, as obliges him to per&s;everance therin again&s;t all the temp|tations of the World, the Fle&s;h, or the Devill. May it plea&s;e your Honors to con&s;ider, &amp; a&s;&s;uredly to beleve, that this our Church of Chri&s;t may by Gods Grace breed &amp; nouri&s;h men every whit as hone&s;t and true to their &s;oules and con&s;ciences, and as con|&s;tant to their Faith and Principles, as your Lord&s;hips conceive the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> doth, (where notwith&s;tanding Di&s;pen&s;ati|ons and mentall Re&s;ervations, we are &s;ure we may &s;ay without offence to any man, are more impetrable and allowable then with us;) And therefore may it plea&s;e your Lord&s;hips to vouch|&s;afe that Chri&s;tian men of this our Church (wherein your very Lord&s;hips have held and profe&s;&s;ed Communion) may finde &s;o much credit and countenance from your Honours, as tho&s;e of the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> daily doe; and may be thought po&s;&s;ibly &s;o farre true and fa&s;t to their Principles and Faith, that they can|not admit their &s;oules into a Sacrament and Covenant, wholly de&s;tructive to their Religion, and indeed more individually and immediately penned, meant, and intended by the Authors of it again&s;t their Church, Doctrine and Government, then again&s;t the Church of <HI>Rome;</HI> there being no mention therein of any &s;ingular thing proper to the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> but either com|mon to us with them, or proper to us alone.</P>
<P N="3">3. May it likewi&s;e plea&s;e your Honours to con&s;ider, that all our late Parliaments in <HI>England</HI> (and, mo&s;t of all, this wherein your <HI>Honours</HI> are now &s;itting) have profe&s;&s;ed alwayes great &s;e|verity, and made &s;trict inqui&s;ition again&s;t all men that &s;hould intend, practice, or endeavour by word, or writing, any alte|ration of Religion, or Innovation in Doctrine or Wor&s;hip, as a capitall offence: (and indeed what phanta&s;ie can be more de|rogatory
<PB N="4" REF="3"> and contrary to all Chri&s;tian Religion, then that men &s;hould be of any Religion that in the&s;e la&s;t days is to be &s;et up?) wherefore when your Petitioner daily &s;ees and con&s;iders men that endeavour, profe&s;&s;e, Print, and practice Innovations and Alterations in the Church, Doctrine, Wor&s;hip, and Govern|ment, in the very Creed, in the 39. Articles of our Confe&s;&s;ion, in all the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Canons, Muniments, Ceremonies, Sa|craments, and in the whole &s;ub&s;tance of Religion, the Publike Service of God, and Liturgy of the Church, &s;ealed in the blood of &s;o many Martyrs, and &s;etled by the &s;anction of &s;o many Par|liaments: And when he &s;ees &s;uch men goe about every where, not onely with indemnity, and without que&s;tion, but al&s;o re|warded with Preferments, Immunities, Priviledges, for their Apo&s;tacie from that Faith which they have &s;o often &s;ub&s;cribed, preached, practi&s;ed, and whereunto before God, Angels, and men, they have plighted their troth: When he &s;ees againe men con&s;tant to their Religion, and to their Foundation, per&s;ecuted and brought to nought (him&s;elfe e&s;pecially) not onely with to|tall and finall Seque&s;tration, but al&s;o with a de&s;tinie of perpetu|all Impri&s;onment, without all nece&s;&s;aries, even to famine, unles he will for &s;weare and renounce that his Religion (to which if he were not by his owne inclination, education, breeding (but chiefly by the feare of God) obliged, yet the &s;evere proceedings of all Parliaments (this e&s;pecially) again&s;t the introducers of Innovations in Religion, were &s;ufficient to keep him, and awe him, or any man el&s;e to his Rule and Conformity: When hee &s;ees &s;uch a time of Jubilee and Indulgence on the one &s;ide, and when hee beholds &s;uch a time of hot per&s;ecution on the other &s;ide: he cannot entertaine a more honourable opinion of your Lord&s;hips, then to conceive, that your Lord&s;hips in a zealous prudence (as <HI>Jehu</HI> once &s;erved <HI>Baals</HI> Prophets) have a de&s;ire to &s;ift and winnow this populous Kingdome, and by &s;uch a &s;ee|ming di&s;tribution of rewards and puni&s;hments, do intend only to find out, and to root out all tho&s;e wor&s;hippers of <HI>Baal,</HI> tho&s;e fal&s;e, hypocriticall, adulterate pretenders to a Religion, who manife&s;tly give &s;entence upon them&s;elves, that either they have all this while formerly (notwith&s;tanding all their &s;ub&s;criptions, Oathes and Profe&s;&s;ions) lived, and gone in a wrong way, or el&s;e
<PB N="5" REF="4"> that they will now &s;wear them&s;elves into a wrong way for their advantage: Neither can your Petitioner any wayes beleeve, that it can po&s;&s;ibly be your Lord&s;hips will, &amp; Honorable plea&s;ure, that either he or any con&s;tant Chri&s;tian (who cannot but abho|minate &s;uch hypocri&s;ie, fal&s;e dealing, and Merchandi&s;e in Reli|gion) &s;hould by perjury &s;eem to be what he is not.</P>
<P N="4">4. Be&s;ides, may it plea&s;e your Lord&s;hips, to give your Peti|tioner leave to mention that too, which your Honours know and under&s;tand be&s;t of all; that there is a great deale of diffe|rence between Chri&s;tian and Pagan Allegeance: Pagan Allege|ance is a vertue actuated out of the habit of prudence and Mo|rall goodne&s;&s;e, acceptable to God, and mo&s;t commonly rewar|ded with the temporall goods only, and benefits of this life, but cannot of it &s;elfe alone preferre a man any higher.</P>
<P>Chri&s;tian Allegeance is a vertue incorporate in the other good workes of a Chri&s;tian Faith, wrought out of the &s;upernaturall principles of Gods Grace and Word. A pagan may be loyall to his King, becau&s;e the rule of Prudence and Moral vertue pre|&s;cribes him &s;o to be. A Chri&s;tian mu&s;t be loyall to his King a|bove all men, becau&s;e the Word of God (above all rules of Mo|ral prudence) commands him &s;o to be: And &s;o it comes to pa&s;&s;e that Chri&s;tian Allegeance i&s;&s;uing from the &s;upernaturall pow|ers of Gods Word, Spirit and Grace, is an act and work of Faith in Chri&s;t, and efficatious to preferre the Subject to a &s;upernatu|rall happine&s;&s;e in life eternall. Now your Petitioner being obli|ged by Sacrament no le&s;&s;e then 14. &s;everall times to this Chri|&s;tian Allegeance and profe&s;&s;ion of his Kings Supremacie overall per&s;ons in <HI>England</HI> what&s;oever, or how&s;oever; and having like|wi&s;e as often declared upon Sacrament of Oath, that he doth not beleeve that any Di&s;pen&s;ator in the world (no not the Pope him|&s;elf, the greate&s;t pretender that way that he ever yet heard of) is able to free, or ab&s;olve him from that obligation: Now this Co|venant quite di&s;&s;olving that Bond of Chri&s;tian Allegeance, and obliging him cleane contrary wayes, though he will not judge, much le&s;&s;e condemne other men; yet if he &s;hould take it, all circum&s;tances con&s;idered, he could not but judge and condemn him&s;elf apo&s;tatiz'd from his Chri&s;tian Allegeance, which is a great part of that Chri&s;tian Faith, in which he hath hitherto lived, and wherin he de&s;ires God to grant him &s;trength and grace to dye.</P>
<P N="5"><PB N="6" REF="4">5. Moreover, may it plea&s;e your Lord&s;hips &s;eriou&s;ly to con|&s;ider, how dete&s;table to all po&s;terity the memory of tho&s;e Gun|powder Traytors is, who took the Covenant to extirpate our Religion, root and branch, by taking away our King, Queene, Prince, Royall i&s;&s;ue, Lords, Commons, Arch-Bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops, Deanes, Deanes and Chapters&punc; Arch-Deacons, all the re&s;t of our Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Hierarchy, and all per&s;ons in whom our Religion was con&s;erved: There was nothing in the per&s;ons de&s;tined to de&s;truction, (neither Blood Nobility, nor any other Malignan|cie) offen&s;ive to the Covenanters and Con&s;pirators, but the Doctrine, Wor&s;hip, and Government of this Church; and that only of this Church, not that of <HI>Scotland, Geneva,</HI> or any to be &s;et up, for tho&s;e were not in any being here at that time, but pro|hibited, and pro&s;cribed by the &s;ame Lawes and penalties, wher|by that of the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> was eff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ned; and our whole Na|tion by a &s;olemn Decree hath devoted already to God Almigh|tie the perpetuation of the 5. of <HI>November,</HI> throughout all Ge|nerations, to an Anniver&s;ary Thank&s;giving for that his pre&s;er|vation of this Doctrine, Wor&s;hip and Government in the&s;e ble&s;|&s;ed per&s;ons, without who&s;e con&s;ervation, Po&s;terity had never come to &s;ee this light; and in this Thank&s;giving all men of this Church for the&s;e 42 yeares have ingaged their &s;oules to Al|mighty God, either cordially, or at lea&s;t hypocritically (your humble Petitioner for his part profe&s;&s;eth cordially) with what face or heart then can he po&s;&s;ibly &s;weare to the extirpation of that Religion, for the pre&s;ervation whereof before men &amp; An|gels, he hath &s;o often given God hearty thankes?</P>
<P>Or with what devotion can he ever againe upon the 5. of <HI>No|vember</HI> enter into Gods Hou&s;e, to give God thankes and prai&s;e for the pre&s;ervation of that Religion, which God &s;ees him en|tred into a Covenant to extirpate? Nay, your humble Petiti|oner appeales only to your Honourable Lord&s;hips, whether the blood of our fore-Fathers and Ance&s;tors, &s;hed, and ready to be &s;hed in Martyrdome, for the Profe&s;&s;ion and maintenance of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> Faith, Wor&s;hip, and Government (and not that of <HI>Scotland,</HI> or <HI>Geneva</HI>) would not cry to Heaven for vengeance again&s;t their Po&s;teritie, that &s;hould now ju&s;tifie their Per&s;ecu|tors, and &s;weare them&s;elves into the Office to extirpate all,
<PB N="7" REF="5"> without any exception of King, or Parent, if addicted to that Religion, for which they &s;o readily laid down their lives? And whether the blood of tho&s;e Gun-powder Con&s;pirators can bee &s;ilent again&s;t the&s;e men that enter into Covenant now adayes to extirpate that Religion, for the attempting whereof, the mouthes of the new Confederates even to this day give &s;entence upon tho&s;e Gun-powder Covenanters, that they ju&s;tly de&s;erved tho&s;e &s;hamefull deaths and executions, which by legall judge|ments came upon them? Your Lord&s;hips Petitioner is there|fore confident, that in your Honourable and Noble Bloods there cannot be any de&s;ire, that either he, or any true Chri&s;tian Eng|li&s;hman &s;hould give the world an in&s;tance of &s;uch degenerous unworthine&s;&s;e.</P>
<P N="6">6. La&s;t of all, &s;eeing that your Lord&s;hips humble Petitioner after the lo&s;&s;e of all in this world, at your Honourable plea&s;ure hath pa&s;&s;ed the probation of 5. yeares in 6. Gaoles, by land and by water, with plunders, Seque&s;trations, nece&s;&s;ities, want of all meanes and &s;upport, &s;ave (that onely which at this ble&s;&s;ed time we &s;olemnly celebrate) the mi&s;&s;ion of God the Comforter into the hearts of faithfull Chri&s;tians; (the publike commemo|ration of that too by the con&s;equence of this Covenant (&s;hould your Petitioner take it) he mu&s;t &s;weare for ever hereafter to a|bandon;) and &s;eeing that all the&s;e Sufferings have not been of force to impugne that grace of God, by which only (and not by any &s;trength or ability of his own) he profe&s;&s;es him&s;elfe to out|&s;tand.</P>
<P><HI>May it therefore plea&s;e your Honours, that this 5. yeares pro|bation of extremities, may &s;uffice to give your Lord&s;hips indu|bitable &s;atisfaction, that your humble Petitioner cannot by any meanes of life, or death, bee moved to enter into this Cove|nant; and therefore that your Honors would be plea&s;ed to thinke of any other cour&s;e for the expiation of your Lord&s;hips di&s;plea&s;ure upon him, rather then to order him to perpetual impri&s;onment, even to death, and that by want and Famine too, only for the pre&s;ervation of that Faith, in which he hath with un&s;peakable comfort engaged his Soule to Almighty God.</HI></P>
<CLOSER>And Your Petitioner &s;hall pray, &amp;c.</CLOSER>
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