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<DATE>2010-02-05</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>A BROTHERLY EXHORTATION FROM THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF <HI>SCOTLAND,</HI> To their BRETHREN in ENGLAND.</P>
<P><HI>EDINBURGH,</HI> Printed by EVAN TYLER, Printer to the Kings mo&s;t Excellent MAjESTIE, 1649.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
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<OPENER><DATELINE>Edinburgh <DATE>6. Aug. 1649.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<HEAD>A Brotherly Exhortation from the General A&s;&s;embly of the Church of<HI>Scotland,</HI> to their Brethren in <HI>England.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe many and great obligations which lie upon us in re|ference to our Brethren in <HI>England,</HI> who hold fa&s;t their integrity, and adhere to the Solemn League and Cove|nant, together with the de&s;ire which we have to te&s;tifie our Sympathie with them in their afflictions, and to pre&s;erve &s;o far as in us lieth that fellow&s;hip and corre&s;pondence that hath been entertained betwixt the Church of <HI>Scotland</HI> and <HI>England</HI> the&s;e years pa&s;t, do call upon us and con&s;train us not to be &s;i|lent in this day of their trouble and di&s;tre&s;s.</P>
<P>Albeit the Lord (who hath his fire in <HI>Zion,</HI> and his furnace in <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI>) hath now for a long time pa&s;t, afflicted the&s;e Kingdoms with many and &s;harp rods, and that his wrath &s;eems not yet to be turned away, but his hand &s;tretched out &s;till; yet in all this, it becomes us who live in the&s;e Lands to &s;top our mouthes, neither can any impute iniquity to the mo&s;t High.</P>
<P>It is rather a wonder, that any mercy &s;hould be continued, and that <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland</HI> are not cut off from being Nati|ons, &s;eeing the back-&s;lidings and provocations of both has been &s;o many and &s;o gro&s;s; Although the Solemn League and Covenant was &s;worne and &s;ub&s;cribed by both, yet have ma|ny in both de&s;pi&s;ed the Oath of GOD, as appears by the late unlawfull Engagement again&s;t the Kingdom of <HI>England,</HI> contrived and carried on by a prevailing party of Malignants
<PB N="3" REF="2"><!-- PDF PAGE 7 -->in this Land, and by the proceedings of the Sectaries in <HI>Eng|land,</HI> in reference to Religion and Government.</P>
<P>We &s;hall not in&s;i&s;t upon what hath been the condition and carriage of the Lords People in this Land in reference to the late unlawfull Engagement: As we de&s;ire to magnifie the power and loving kindne&s;&s;e of the Lord, who enabled all the Judicatures of this Church, and a con&s;iderable part of the Parliament, and the body of the Land, to di&s;&s;ent from, and bear Te&s;timony again&s;t the &s;ame, which made the Hou&s;e of Commons in their Letter directed to the la&s;t Gene|ral A&s;&s;embly or their Commi&s;&s;ioners, to declare, that that Engagement could not be looked on as a National breach; So we look upon it as a wonder of his Wi&s;dom and Mercy, that he hath di&s;po&s;ed and directed the &s;ame for the furtherance of his Work in our hand, and purging his Hou&s;e among&s;t us. All this cometh forth from the Lord of Ho&s;ts, who is wonder|full in Coun&s;ell, and Excellent in Working. Neither was it the lea&s;t part of the Lords goodne&s;&s;e to us, in that day of our &s;trait that we were led in a plain path, and kept from comply|ance with Sectaries on the one hand, no le&s;s then with Ma|lignants on the other. We have obtained this mercy to be &s;ted|fa&s;t to our old principles, in bearing free and faithfull Te&s;ti|mony again&s;t their proceedings, both in reference to Tolerati|on and Government, and the taking away of the Kings life.</P>
<P>And as the danger and judgement which threatens the Au|thors and Abettors of the&s;e things, doth affect our Spirits with horrour, and maketh us de&s;ire that it may be given to them of God to repent: So we &s;hould conceive our &s;elves void of Chri&s;tian affection and compa&s;sion toward tho&s;e in <HI>England,</HI> who &s;uffer for the truth and Cau&s;e of God, if we were not very &s;en&s;ible of all their pre&s;ent troubles and calami|ties. It is no &s;mall grief to us, that the Go&s;pel and Govern|ment of <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> are &s;o de&s;pi&s;ed in that Land, that faithfull Preachers are per&s;ecuted and cryed down, that Toleration is
<PB N="4" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 8 -->e&s;tabli&s;hed by pretext of Law, and maintained by Military power, and that the Covenant is aboli&s;hed and buried in obli|vion. All which proceedings, cannot but be looked upon as directly contrary to the Oath of God lying upon us, and therefore cannot e&s;chew his Wrath when he &s;hall come in Judgement, <HI>to be a &s;wift witne&s;&s;e again&s;t tho&s;e that &s;wear fal&s;ly by his Name.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e things are the more grievous to us, becau&s;e (be&s;ide many other wofull evils brought forth by them) they have in|terrupted the building of the Lords Hou&s;e in <HI>England;</HI> the foundation whereof was laid by Oath and Covenant with the mo&s;t High God, and followed for &s;ome years with many De|clarations and Prote&s;tations of Faithfull adhering thereto, and with great expen&s;e of blood and Trea&s;ure: Which things were to all the godly in the&s;e Nations a branch of hope, that the Lord would bring to perfection the Work of Uniformity (&s;o far advanced in all the parts thereof) in the&s;e three Kingdoms.</P>
<P>But the great ob&s;tructions and &s;ad interruptions that have been made therein, by the &s;trange and unexpected practi&s;es of many now in place and power in <HI>England,</HI> are to all the wel|affected in both Kingdoms, and in all the Churches abroad, the matter of their &s;orrow and humiliation. And it there be any place left for admonition, we Warn &s;uch as have forgotten the Covenant, and de&s;pi&s;ed the Oath of God, and turned a&s;ide to lies and errour, to con&s;ider whence they are fallen, and to re|pent. Pro&s;perity and &s;ucce&s;s for a time are no warrantable evidences of a good Cau&s;e, nor &s;ufficient guards again&s;t the wrath of God; It is no good u&s;e of the Lords mercy for &s;uch men under pretext of Liberty to make both them&s;elves and others &s;laves to corruption, &amp; to make all men both in Church and State like the fi&s;hes of the Sea, o<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> the creeping things that have no Ruler over them. Are the&s;e things according to the Word of God, and the pattern of the be&s;t Reformed Chur|ches? Or is that the endeavour to bring the three Kingdoms
<PB N="5" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 8 -->to the neare&s;t uniformity that may be in Doctrine, Wor&s;hip, Government, and Di&s;cipline; Or is that the maintaining of the union betwixt the three Kingdomes, when the &s;traite&s;t bond thereof is utterly di&s;&s;olved and quite taken away, and the fundamentall Government by King and Parliament wholly overturned? The ju&s;t God who is of pure eyes beholds the&s;e things, and &s;hall with no le&s;&s;e &s;ury and indignation break the horn of the&s;e men, then he hath broken the power, and brought down the pride of Malignants before them, if repentance pre|vent not.</P>
<P>Amid&s;t tho&s;e fears and griefes, it is unto us matter of rejoy|cing, that there be many in <HI>England</HI> who mourn for all the&s;e abominations, and labour to keep their garments pure by re|fu&s;ing to comply with that cour&s;e of back&s;liding, and by bea|ring te&s;timony again&s;t the &s;ame. And we hope the expectati|on of &s;uch, &s;hall not be di&s;appointed, but that the Lord will open to them a doore of hope for carrying on of his work, and making the lying &s;pirit to pa&s;&s;e out of that land.</P>
<P>And albeit many think no otherwi&s;e of the Covenant and work of Reformation, then as a mean to further their own ends; yet we are confident, that none who holds fa&s;t their in|tegrity, have &s;o learned Chri&s;t, but are carefull to make con|&s;cience of the oath of God lying on them; And we are &s;ure (whatever be the ba&s;e thoughts and expre&s;&s;ions of back &s;liders from the Covenant) it wants not many to owne it in the&s;e Kingdomes, who (being called thereto) would &s;eale the &s;ame with their blood.</P>
<P>Although there were none in the one Kingdome who did adhere to the Covenant, yet thereby were not the other King|dome nor any per&s;on in either of them ab&s;olved from the bond thereof, &s;ince in it we have not only &s;worne by the Lord, but al&s;o covenanted with him. It is not the failing of one or more that can ab&s;olve others from their duty or tye to him; Be&s;ides, the duties therein contained, being in them&s;elves law|full,
<PB N="6" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 9 -->and the grounds of our tye thereunto moral, though others doe forget their duty, yet doth not their defection free us from that obligation which lyes upon us by the Covenant in our places and &s;tations. And the Covenant being intended and en|tred into by the&s;e Kingdoms, as one of the be&s;t means of &s;ted|fa&s;tne&s;&s;e, for guarding again&s;t declining times; It were &s;trange to &s;ay that the back &s;liding of any &s;hould ab&s;olve others from the tye thereof, e&s;pecially &s;eeing our engagement therein is not only nationall, but al&s;o per&s;onall, every one with uplifted hands &s;wearing by him&s;elfe, as it is evident by the tennor of the Covenant.</P>
<P>From the&s;e and other important rea&s;ons, it may appear that all the&s;e Kingdomes joyning together to aboli&s;h that oath by law, yet could they not di&s;pen&s;e therewith; Much le&s;&s;e can any one of them, or any part in either of them doe the &s;ame. The di&s;pen&s;ing with oathes hath hitherto been abhorred as Anti|chri&s;tian, and never practi&s;ed and avowed by any, but by that man of &s;in; therefore tho&s;e who take the &s;ame upon them, as they joyn with him in his &s;in, &s;o mu&s;t they expect to partake of his plagues.</P>
<P>As we &s;hall ever (God willing) be mindfull of our duty to the faithfull that adhere to the Covenant in <HI>England,</HI> having them alwayes in our hearts before the Lord, &s;o we de&s;ire to be refre&s;hed with their &s;inglene&s;&s;e and boldne&s;&s;e in the cau&s;e of God, according to their places. This is the time of their triall, and the houre of tentation among them; ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall they be who &s;hall be found following the Lamb, and &s;hall not be a&s;ha|med of his te&s;timony. We know in &s;uch dark houres, many are drawne away with the multitude, when the Lord will a|gain purge and make white; And we doubt not but many &s;uch are in <HI>England,</HI> whom the bold and clear preaching of Chri&s;t may reclaim; Much therefore lieth upon the Wath-men at this time, that their Trumpet may give a certain and di&s;tinct &s;ound, warning and exhorting every one, as tho&s;e that mu&s;t give ac|count;
<PB N="7" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 9 -->And ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall tho&s;e &s;ervants be, who &s;hall be found faithfull in their Lords hou&s;e, di&s;tributing to his hou&s;hold what is meet for this &s;ea&s;on, and can &s;ay they are free of the blood of all men, having &s;hewen them the whole Coun&s;ell of God, being in nothing terrified of the threats of their adver&s;aries; And ble&s;&s;ed and happy &s;hall that people be, that walk in the light holden forth by them, and &s;taye upon the Lord in this dark time, harkning to the voyce of his &s;ervants, and walking in the light of his word, and not in the &s;parks of their owne kindlings, which will end in &s;orrow. How inexcu&s;able will <HI>England</HI> be, having &s;o foulie revolted again&s;t &s;o many faire te|&s;timonies, which the Lord Chri&s;t hath entred as Prote&s;tations to pre&s;erve his right, in the&s;e ends of the earth long &s;ince given unto him for his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and of late confirmed by Solemne Covenant. Chri&s;ts right to the&s;e Kingdomes is &s;uer then that he &s;hould be pleaded out of it by pretended liberty of Con&s;ci|ence, and his begun po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion is more pretious to him, then to be &s;atisfied with a di&s;honourable toleration. All that yet we have &s;een, doth not weaken our confidence of the Lords glori|fying the hou&s;e of his glory in the&s;e lands, and of his &s;onnes taking unto him his great power, and raigning in the beauty and power of his Ordinances in this I&s;land. His name is won|derfull, and &s;o al&s;o are his works, we ought not therefore to &s;quare them according to our line, but leave them to him who hath the government laid upon his &s;houlder, all who&s;e wayes are judgement, and who&s;e ruling the&s;e Kingdomes had never yet rea&s;on to decline. It is good for us to be &s;tedfa&s;t in our du|ty, and therein quietly to wait and hope for the &s;alvation of God. The word of promi&s;e is &s;ure, (and hath an appointed time) that he that will come &s;hall come and will not tarry. There is none hath cau&s;e to di&s;tru&s;t the Lords word to his peo|ple; It hath often to our experience been tryed in the fire, and hath ever come forth with a more glorious lu&s;tre. Let not therefore the&s;e that &s;uffer in <HI>England</HI> ca&s;t away their confidence,</P>
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