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<DATE>2012-12-14</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120815.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">d739</STC>
<STC T="T">e1040_9</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99866918</BIBNO>
<VID>119206</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A DECLARATION OF THE Presbiterians; Concerning His Maie&s;ties Royal Per&s;on, And the Government of the CHURCH of ENGLAND. WITH Several Propo&s;itions touching the So|lemn League and Covenant, and the &s;etting up of Bi&s;hops.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON: Printed for</HI> T. Dacres, 1660.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>A DECLARATION OF THE Presbyterians, CONCERNING His Maje&s;ties Royal Per&s;on, and the Government of the Church of ENGLAND.</HEAD>
<P>_WHereas there hath aro&s;e &s;everal Di&s;putes touch|ing the great and weighty Concern of the Di&s;|cipline of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> upon the &s;ence and &s;olution of the Solemn League and Covenant, &s;o far as it relates to the Govern|ment of the Church by Epi&s;copacie: And whereas the &s;ence and very Letter of the Covenant is clear again&s;t the unju&s;t and Anti-chri&s;tian frame of Government; &s;o are they
<PB N="2" REF="3">not again&s;t the ab&s;olute extirpation of Prelacie; but it is the abu&s;e, not the thing; the adjuncts, hot the &s;ubiect; the defects and exce&s;&s;es, not its Fabrick, is covenanted again&s;t; but that they are willing to become in&s;trumental, to cement the &s;ad differences in the Church; de&s;iring all &s;uch who have adhered thereto to produce tho&s;e clear, pregnant, and con&s;tant beams of right rea&s;on, and true Religion, which &s;hineth in the brightne&s;s and &s;tability of Divine and humane Laws, which may be the Pillars of this truth, firm &s;upports of duty, &s;ure bounds of obedience, and &s;afe repo&s;e of Con&s;cience in this point; greatly darkned by the many di&s;|putes of Bi&s;hops and <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">re&s;byters, Papi&s;ts and Prote&s;tants: nay by the po&s;&s;itive a&s;&s;ertions of both Papi&s;ts and Prote|&s;tant Divines, and determinations of Schoolmen, who have concluded Bi&s;hops and Pre&s;byters to be Mini&s;ters <HI>eju&s;|dem ordinis,</HI> equal in Office and Authority, and in this ve|ry ca&s;e of Government.</P>
<P>And we doubt not, but all on the contrary &s;hall finde every con&s;cientious Covenanter enjoy the comfort of his accompli&s;hed Oath, when <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">n his place he hath &s;ea&s;onably advi&s;ed, humbly petition|ed, and lawful<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y endeavoured, to remove Eng|lands old Hierachy; and to re&s;tore &s;uch an Epi&s;|copacy, to be exerci&s;ed by the Officers of the Church in common and good order, as is neare&s;t the Scripture, primitive practice and per&s;wa&s;ion of &s;ober, grave, pious, and learned men, &s;uch as was the late Primate of Armah; but if either his mo&s;t &s;acred Maje&s;ty, or any other in Authority fail in the exerci&s;e of their capacity to effect the ends of the
<PB N="5" REF="3">Covenant, we hope it &s;hall be no offence to mourn for their iniquity, and the iniquity of the Land; nor will it be incon&s;i&s;tent to that humble &s;ubmi&s;&s;i|on, a<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">ive or p<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ive, we confe<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">s we all owe unto his mo&s;t &s;acred Maje&s;ty: what ever &s;hall be the e|&s;tabli&s;hment in the Church (though never &s;o cor|rupt, yet) while&s;t con&s;i&s;tent with Salvation, though it may occa&s;ion to my &s;uffering, and a &s;u&s;|pence of my Mini&s;try, by Gods grace it &s;hall not effect in me, or &s;uch on whom I have an influence, Schi&s;m from the Church, or re&s;i&s;tance of his Maje|&s;ties ju&s;t Right and Authority; for whom as we have not &s;uffered the l<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;t, &s;o if God &s;hould &s;o farre leave him (which God forbid) we are ready by him to &s;uffer the utmo&s;t, in adherence to the So|lemn League and Covenant, until it be di&s;covered a band of iniquity, a &s;nare and gin for Schi&s;m and Sedition to act by, to the di&s;honour of God, and reproach of reformed Religion: Yet we cannot but mo&s;t heartily pray for the hone&s;t and ingenu|ous reformation of Epi&s;copacy beyond the for|mer defective or exce&s;&s;ive con&s;titution or execu|tion of it; which I doubt not will &s;atisfie the ex|pectations of all that Covenanted.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="4">
<P> We confe&s;s every con&s;ciencious Covenanter ow|eth his Ju&s;tice and Duty;</P>
<P N="1">1. To God, to approve, love, de&s;ire, and u&s;e what is good, not being within his own power, and ex|cluded by his Oath or Covenant; may, and mu&s;t, are things very indifferent.</P>
<P N="2">2. To obey the King as chief Governour of Church and State enjoyning things lawful and ho|ne&s;t (&s;o not covenanted again&s;t) though not the very be&s;t.</P>
<P N="3">3. To pitty the Bi&s;hops and Fathers of the Church who have been there too injurious, or inju|riou&s;ly u&s;ed, and pull down all proud Prelates, and paternal Authority over Presbyters, which abu&s;e their Brethren, and deba&s;e their Mini&s;try becau&s;e in a Black Coat.</P>
<P N="4">4. To encourage Mini&s;ters, and endeavour the re&s;cue of them from dividing Factions, and popu|lar in&s;olencies which have befallen them for want of the King, and Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Order, but may be enjoyed without a Bi&s;hop advanced in power a|bove his Brethren.</P>
<P N="5">5. Love to the Church, in indeavouring its uni|ty, peace, and pro&s;perity in the ruine of Prelacy and E&s;tabli&s;hmens of an Epi&s;copacy and over-&s;ight duly con&s;tituted and carefully executed.</P>
<P N="6"><PB N="5" REF="4"> 6. Care to his own &s;oul, inward and eternall peace, not to be couzened by glones, courted by Rhetorical flouri&s;hes, no<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">udgelled out of his Co|venant by mo&s;t bitter &s;ufferings, but to <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">leave unto it with care, con&s;tancy, and diligence, and take heed of all &s;ophi&s;tical &s;olutions, and &s;ubtle reconciliati|ons, which endeavour to baffle the Covenant, and break in pieces the very power of Religious Bonds. And we can not but further declare, That Covenant-breaking is &s;o direful a God-provoking &s;inne, that we tremble to think of Englands lea&s;t tendency to it; whatever men fancie to them&s;elves of the Cove|nant being the Rock of his late Maje&s;ties &s;hip|wrack, it is vi&s;ible that the violation of it hath been the de&s;truction of our late U&s;urpers, who laid it a|&s;ide that they might leap into the Chair of State; and it cannot be denied to have been the chiefe and onely means of his Maje&s;ties mo&s;t ju&s;t and honou|rable Re&s;titution; and an adherencie to it (We doubt not) will prove the e&s;tabli&s;hment of his Roy|all Throne.</P>
<P>And to the end, that the Cau&s;e of the Covenant may be pleaded, We de&s;ire it may be weighed in the ballance of Rea&s;on and Religion, while&s;t we are re&s;olved to approve our &s;elves no le&s;&s;e zealous in
<PB N="6" REF="5">the Religious than he hath appeared in the Politi|cal or Civil part of the Solemn League and Cove|nant; and make it his care to giue God the things that are Gods, as Cae&s;ar the things that are Cae&s;ars.</P>
<P>And &s;o</P>
<CLOSER>God &s;ave the <HI>KING.</HI></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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</TEXT>
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