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<DATE>2010-08-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Susie Lorand</NAME>
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<P>A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Engagement: OR, The Northern Sub&s;cribers Plea oppo&s;ed to their di&s;&s;enting Neighbors importune Animo|&s;ities again&s;t Engaging to be true and faithful, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Tending to beget a calm Compliance in all the Con&s;ciencious Lovers of Truth and Peace.</P>
<P>Laid together by <HI>N. W.</HI> a friend to the COMMON-WEALTH.</P>
<Q><P>Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil; but to the Coun&s;ellors of Peace, is joy, <BIBL><HI>Prov. 12.20.</HI></BIBL></P></Q>
<Q><P>Where envying and &s;trife is, there is confu&s;ion, and every evil work, <BIBL><HI>Jam. 3.16.</HI></BIBL></P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">. <BIBL><HI>Nazian: Orat. 12.</HI></BIBL></P></Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>Francis Tyton,</HI> dwelling at the Three Daggers in Fleet&s;treet, neer the Temple. 1650.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="discourse">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Engagement: OR, The Northern Sub&s;cribers Plea, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_WHen the glorious God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 34.21.</NOTE> who&s;e eyes are upon the hearts and ways of the &s;ons of men, (looking through their purpo&s;es) &s;trikes off the Chariot wheels of their beloved intere&s;ts, as incompatible with his grand de&s;ign in the World: When he di&s;comfits their hopes, and ca&s;ts a damp upon their expectations, 'tis u&s;ual for them to &s;it down in mo|ro&s;ity and peevi&s;hne&s;s of &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 19.4. Jonas 4.8.</NOTE> and think they do well to be angry, even unto death. This unhappy temper hath robbed us of the agency and u&s;efulne&s;s of many hopeful in&s;truments, in the&s;e days of great temptation, when a man hath been more precious then fine Gold, yea, a man then the golden wedg of Ophir.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;aiah 13.12.</NOTE> But as this frame of &s;pirit and demeanor, is always very importune, and misbecoming tho&s;e who are called out to the &s;ervice of Providence, &s;o e&s;pecially in times of &s;ad di&s;compo&s;ure, &s;uch as ours at pre&s;ent are. Now the ribs of <HI>Jacob</HI> hang loo&s;ely, and da&s;h one again&s;t another, and <HI>Englands</HI> children are
<PB N="4" REF="3">
even &s;tragling as Hinds that finde no pa&s;ture. Now our breach is great, like the Sea, and gapes &s;till, widening for our enemies; tho&s;e that get be|hinde the hedg,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 22.30.</NOTE> are not where God looks for them. He that is &s;o fond of his gourd, that though de&s;truction upon de&s;truction be cried, and the whole Land &s;poiled,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam 4 3:</NOTE> yet will by no means let it go; is cruel, like the O&s;trienes in the Wilderne&s;s, and wor&s;e then the Sea-Mon&s;ters, which draw out the bre&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Chry|&s;o&s;t.</HI> I&s;ai. 59.16. and 51.18. Micah 7.4.</NOTE> and give &s;uck to their young ones. Chri&s;tians, as they are the greate&s;t lovers of God, &s;o they are full of bowels, beyond all other men, and tender of their mutual welfare. Truly, the Lord may very well wonder, &s;eeing &s;o few interce&s;&s;ors, &s;o few that come with balm in their hands, and ligatures for our wounds, yea, that &s;o many of the be&s;t (in account) among&s;t us, are rather as bryars, and of the mo&s;t upright, &s;harper then a thorn hedg, raking in our wounds like enemies, and with|out pity widening our breaches, although the rent be even at the caul of the heart.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.1.</NOTE>That we may not therefore become inexcu&s;able, doing the &s;ame things, or render our &s;elves altogether un&s;erviceable in our age and places, though we can do little for the help of the Lord, till it &s;hall &s;eem good unto him to lay us a&s;ide, (although our intere&s;ts be not &s;uited more then many other mens, who fling away in di&s;content, nor our &s;pirits &s;atisfied, but in waiting the good plea&s;ure of the Lord,) we judg it our duty, to &s;tand up with tho&s;e few heads and &s;tayes of our Tribes, kept together by Gods providence in this &s;trait of time for our &s;upport, and to engage with them for the &s;trengthening of their hands, till the Lord hath accom|pli&s;hed his great work,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;aiah 51.16. P&s;al. 94.13, 15.</NOTE> planting the Heavens, and laying the foundations of the Earth among&s;t us; till he give us re&s;t from the days of adver&s;ity, and &s;till the enemy, and the avenger; till judgment return unto righte|ou&s;ne&s;s, and all the upright in heart follow it; till he throughly plead our cau&s;e, and roll away our reproach; till he ordain peace in our borders, making our walls &s;alvation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;aiah 60.18.</NOTE> and our gates prai&s;e.</P>
<P>And that in &s;o doing, we may acquit our &s;elves from the imputations, both of time-&s;erving, and blinde-obedience, (nothing being good, but what is rationally good) we &s;hall,</P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="1"> 1. Lay down, and clear tho&s;e con&s;ciencious grounds which have led us on to this duty, and,</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="2"> 2. Make an&s;wer, <HI>ex abundanti,</HI> to tho&s;e &s;erious &s;cruples which we perceive to &s;tick upon many men, as ob&s;tructors of their ready conjuncti|on with us in this bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> As to the fir&s;t of the&s;e, it hath continually faln upon our thoughts, whether any men (living under &s;uch di&s;pen&s;ations of providence) may
<PB N="5" REF="3">
di&s;oblige them&s;elves from acknowledging, at lea&s;t in &s;ome &s;ort, tho&s;e powers in being over them (whether lawful or pretended) and not draw upon their heads the guilt of all that di&s;mal confu&s;ion which would (like the breaking out of water) unavoidably follow the total<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Chry&s;.</NOTE> di&s;&s;olution of Government among&s;t them? e&s;pecially in a Nation wherein the con|te&s;t about Prerogative has been the &s;harpe&s;t Plea that ever it was ac|qainted with, and in which the fiery &s;pirit of ab&s;olute domination hath found more Abettors then could be imagined among&s;t a people that hated not the name and thing of liberty and property. And though &s;ome men happily, who&s;e judgments and activity have been again&s;t us in this grand quarrel, may conceive them&s;elves exempt from any &s;uch charge, yet whether we who have fought again&s;t tyranny &s;hould not be acce&s;&s;ory to Anarchy and deeply concerned in its woful con&s;equents, &s;hould we di&s;own that Authority over us (though not &s;o full and formal as we might wi&s;h it were) we have ever been held in great doubt? we never coveted to have the enemies thanks for doing his work; yea, we have been very fearful le&s;t the Laws &s;hould cry out again&s;t us as lawle&s;s, and every ruined family &s;hould charge its undoing upon our &s;cores. If men be Wolves one to another under the &s;traighte&s;t re&s;trictions of Magi&s;tra|cy, what will they be when left to their own lawes? the be&s;t lot we our &s;elves can look for in &s;uch a cau&s;e, is but the Gyants curte&s;ie, to be devour|ed la&s;t; nay con&s;idering that &s;pirit in mo&s;t people lu&s;ting to revenge, we may look to be devoured fir&s;t.</P>
<P>As to tho&s;e preten&s;ions which other men make to power and rule over us, we found them but &s;hadows, or at be&s;t but dilute and wa&s;hie &s;upports to a &s;inking Common-wealth; we can expect no <HI>operation</HI> of that which is not in <HI>being,</HI> let the title or right to power be never &s;o high|ly pretended; neither were we ever throughly per&s;waded that Govern|ment was any mans<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>See the Te|nure of Kings,</HI> &amp;c. I. M. Princeps &egrave; Se|natu oritu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">, Se|natus &egrave; vobis. O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ho. in Tac. ad praetorianos<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> freehold, or that many men might not &s;erve provi|dence in the admini&s;tration of right to a Nation, and the promoving its welfare as well as any one, were his blood of never &s;o high a colour, or his Grandeur never &s;o pompous and Maje&s;tick.</P>
<P>Hence we fell to a debate, whether we had not already, yea, whether <MILESTONE N="2"> mo&s;t men had not <HI>interpretativ&egrave;</HI> owned the Powers in Being? <HI>viz.</HI> by &s;ubmitting their ca&s;es to tryal in that cour&s;e of law which fetcheth its for|mality and original from them, and is di&s;pen&s;ed by their &s;ub&s;titutes and inferior Officers? and tho&s;e of us who are Lawyers, whether by pleading at the Bar and owning their Judges as proprietors of the Bench, we did not own tho&s;e who Commi&s;&s;ioned them? yea, whether all of us in pay|ing them tribute, have not &s;et our &s;eal to their Authority, and its lawful|ne&s;s?
<PB N="6" REF="4">
if we have gone this mile with them, how &s;hould we refu&s;e to go the other mile too, even to give them honor and fear, as well as tribute? <HI>Rom.</HI> 13.7. <HI>Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute, cu&s;tome to whom cu&s;tome, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor be longeth;</HI> if nothing had belonged to them, we &s;hould have given them-nothing; real acknowledgments always, in the &s;en&s;e of wi&s;e men, over|weighing verbal di&s;ownings.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, tho&s;e of us who are Mini&s;ters found our &s;elves &s;urprized, by our own prayers for them, as men po&s;&s;e&s;t of power, to give them homage; by our making reque&s;t to God that they might u&s;e their talents well, we found this included, that they had their talents from God; we have own|ed them in their declarations, days of thank&s;giving and humiliation, and we think it but &s;training at a gnat, if we &s;hould refu&s;e to &s;et our hands to engage with them, who have had our tongues, yea &s;ure, and our<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Peccant qui d &s;&s;idium cordis &amp; linguae faci|unt, &amp;c. Pic. Mirand Ep.</NOTE> hearts likewi&s;e at their commands and di&s;po&s;all as to &s;uch duties.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> Hence, reflecting upon our wayes, we fell to a more deliberate and &s;trict &s;crutiny, whether all this were well done and ju&s;tifiable, yea or no? being &s;olemnly put upon it at the in&s;tance of our own con&s;ciences (that we might be both void of offence towards God, and towards men) and by the confident and ill-boding pre&s;umptions of many knowing and con&s;i|derable per&s;ons again&s;t the pre&s;ent Authority,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 24.19.</NOTE> decrying its lawfulne&s;s, and in their di&s;cour&s;es taking it as for granted, that no con&s;cientious man could own the Parliament as now con&s;tituted, or its power. We thought &s;ure their rea&s;ons are <GAP DESC="foreign">, very ponderous, which di&s;oblige them from that vi&s;ible Authority over us; but all that we could gather from them fell very much below our expectations, and being weighed in the ballance, proved far too light for what might be laid again&s;t it. Our con|&s;ciences &s;ugge&s;ting ready, and (as we thought) full an&s;wers to their mo&s;t material and weighty alledgments, and finding our &s;elves able to &s;et rea&s;on again&s;t rea&s;on; yea, had it becomed us, confidence again&s;t confidence (meeting with per&s;wa&s;ions to a complyance and clo&s;ure with the Parliament, &s;tronger then any per&s;wa&s;ions to di&s;union) we thought it not be&s;t to take up with <HI>vox populi,</HI> being an in&s;ufficient warrant for any mans refu&s;al, to co-engage or fall in with the Authority, but diligent|ly to &s;earch whether we ought to go forward or backward; and the more we enquired into the minde of God concerning us, the more we found this duty, for which we plead, cleared up to our con&s;ciences. Now the principal Arguments offering them&s;elves to us for this purpo&s;e, and prevailing above us, were the&s;e.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="7" REF="4">1. <HI>The Being of the&s;e pre&s;ent powers over us from God, which we found <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Argum."> thus made out unto us.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. All con&s;titutions have their making and marring, their &s;tanding and falling from God: frames of Government indeed are re&s;olved by him into the peoples * will,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 17.14.</NOTE> as the next and immediat cau&s;e of their &s;pecification or formality, and what kinde of Government they will for their own good, the Lord &s;ets his Seal upon it, as owning and approving it; this is clear in that tran&s;lation of Government from the Judges in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and the &s;etting up of Kingly Power in the per&s;on of <HI>Saul,</HI> 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 8.9, 10, 12. <HI>Chapters;</HI> But that here is <GAP DESC="foreign"> the hand of God in the VVills of men, in the&s;e ca&s;es, appears from his appropriating &s;uch changes to him&s;elf, both as to per&s;ons, and things, <HI>Ezek,</HI> 21.27. <HI>Zachar.</HI> 11.10, 14. <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 13.11.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 18.4.</NOTE> <HI>Act.</HI> 13.10, 21, 22. The Policies of Nations are &s;ome of Gods VVorks upon the wheeles, which he orders and frames as &s;eemeth good to him&s;elf; man is the in&s;trument and &s;ubject in all changes, but the being, or not being of them mu&s;t be re&s;olved into Gods VVill, as the Supream and Primordial cau&s;e. He doth according to his VVill in the Army of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, and none can &s;tay his hand, or &s;ay unto him, <HI>What do&s;t thou? Dan.</HI> 4.35.</P>
<P><HI>But here men put in with a full cry, We de&s;ired not,</HI><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."><HI>or willed this change of Government, this new Frame or Modell &s;uperinduced over us, nor yet can we content our &s;elves with it.</HI></P>
<P>To this we An&s;wer, &s;ome men de&s;ired it, others did not; <MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> in this ca&s;e the pre|vailing, not the wor&s;ted, or overborn party may lay claim to the &s;ignature of Divine approbation, or at lea&s;t to the concurrence of Gods<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Clem. Alex. Admonit. ad Gentes.</NOTE> ab&s;olute Will, without which no purpo&s;es, and by which all purpo&s;es are brought to pa&s;s and e&s;tabli&s;hed, <HI>P&s;a.</HI> 33.11, 12. This is &s;een in <HI>Rehoboams</HI> rejection, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 12.15.24. The Text tells us, that the cau&s;e and the thing was from God. Again, when the people were divided about the choice of a King, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 16.21, 22. the prevailing party were owned in their choice, God never manife&s;ting any di&s;like of it, nor ever reproving <HI>Omry</HI> or his Succe&s;&s;ors for u&s;urpation. And if this hold good in the choice of a Go|vernor, why may it not in the choice of a Government? and then &s;urely that is of God, which by his Providence is &s;uperinduced over us, though its &s;uperinduction be never &s;o much &s;tomack't by the &s;urly wills of many, of mo&s;t men.</P>
<P N="2">2. That place of Scripture, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13.1. (among&s;t many others) is very full and pregnant to prove the Being of our pre&s;ent Powers from God,
<PB N="8" REF="5">
Not only Magi&s;tracy in common is his Ordinance, as King and Soveraign of the whole Earth, but the &s;pecifical Powers that<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> be, likewi&s;e are by the Ordination of God, as the fir&s;t and chief cau&s;e of all Beings. The word here rendred, <HI>Ordained,</HI> we conceive to be of great force for the legiti|mating our powers, it being often u&s;ed to &s;ignifie events and appoint|ments flowing from the eternal efficacious Decree of God, as <HI>Act.</HI> 13.48.22.10, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> in which God cannot be a Spectator onely, or a permitter, but mu&s;t needs lay to his hand as a powerful VVorker, yea, in an eminent and &s;ignal manner too (this we &s;hall evidence he hath done in our Ca&s;e by and by) for if the permi&s;&s;ion of God (which extends it &s;elf to evil, &s;in, or privative defects, be not without his<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Circa quod|cunque e&s;t Dei permi&s;&s;io circa idem etiam e&s;t actualis voli|tio. <HI>Th. de Bradward.</HI></NOTE> volition, then &s;urely tho&s;e futuritions, or po&s;itive events determined by him, and welplea&s;ing to him, come not to pa&s;s without his &s;pecial efficiency; this Doctrine &s;ome of us have taken in from the Schools, and in whatever Series of events God manife&s;ts this his &s;pecial concurrence or appearing, that cau&s;e he owns; hence it may be &s;aid of our change, the thing is of God, and tho&s;e Powers in being over us ordained of him, yea, by his &s;pecial appoint|ment, &s;peciall procurement, and we hope out of &s;pecial grace and favor.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> <HI>But the Word,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&s;ay &s;ome, &s;ignifie lawful powers, a power of right, contradi&s;tingui&s;hed to</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a power of might.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> To this we An&s;wer, VVhat men mean by a power of Right, or how far they will extend it, we do not very well know; we conceive our pre|&s;ent Powers may fall within that compa&s;s; but as for the word, it &s;ignifies any power; the devil hath no lawful power to give, and yet this word is u&s;ed for that power over the Kingdoms of the world which he offered un|to Chri&s;t, <HI>Luke</HI> 4.6. what &s;hall we think of <HI>Pilates</HI> power to crucifie the Lord of Life? <HI>Joh.</HI> 19.10. Here the word is u&s;ed again: was that a law|ful power? Secondly, we cannot ea&s;ily under&s;tand how any powers &s;hould take the denomination of lawful or unlawful, from their Form, Con&s;titution, or Mould; for then onely &s;ome one frame of Government would be lawful (as it is in Go&s;pel Di&s;cipline) and all other unlawful; but rather from the efflux of peoples wils, into the Being of &s;uch Powers over them, or from their agency in commanding things lawful or un|lawful under God. Tho&s;e that command unlawful things, in &s;uch exor|bitances (&s;werving from the Rule of their Office) they retain no &s;tamp of<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Malus prin|ceps, non e&s;t princeps, quem|admodum &s;pi|ritus impurus qui inva&s;it cor|pus hominis, non e&s;t animus. <HI>Era&s;.</HI></NOTE> Authority or Power on them at all: For upon this account, we are di&s;obliged from con&s;ciencious obedience in &s;uch ca&s;es, becau&s;e there men act as di&s;rob'd of Magi&s;tracy, God never giving any man Com|mi&s;&s;ion to do evil. He is the Mini&s;ter of God to thee for good, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13.4. 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.14.</P>
<P><PB N="9" REF="5"><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> <HI>Kingly power is by this Plea proved a lawful power, and a power ordained of God; why then was the King re&s;i&s;ted, rejected, and that Government laid a&s;ide?</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> To this we &s;ay, 1. That Kingly power with its ju&s;t limits and bound|aries, was a lawful power among&s;t us, and ordained of God, and is &s;o where ever it is lawfully exerci&s;ed. Kings are lawful powers, but not exclu&s;ively: The Kings of <HI>England</HI> were &s;o, the States of <HI>Holland</HI> are &s;o, &s;o are the Emperors, Princes, and Cantons of <HI>Germany,</HI> the Senate and Capi of <HI>Venice,</HI> the great Dukes of <HI>Mu&s;covy,</HI> the Vaivods of <HI>Tran|&s;ilvania,</HI> and the Parliaments of <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Why that Government is laid a&s;ide, the Parliament hath given mo&s;t unbya&s;&s;ed men very good &s;atisfaction, both for the equity and nece&s;&s;ity of it, in their Declaration of <HI>March</HI> 17. 1648. publi&s;hed in &s;everal Languages, unto which we refer the Objectors.</P>
<P N="3">3. The King was rejected upon the matter of his Charge;<NOTE PLACE="marg">See the Kings Ca&s;e.</NOTE> re&s;i&s;ted becau&s;e of his illegal commands and u&s;urpations upon Liberties, and<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">If a Villain work on Sun|day by his Lords com|mand, he &s;hall be free. Sir <HI>H. Spillman, Concil.</HI></NOTE> Con&s;ciences: Neither was the King (though a lawful power) the &s;ole power among&s;t us, no, nor the Soveraign power neither, if Mr. <HI>Prynne</HI> be not mi&s;taken (who intitles &s;everal Volumns of his, <HI>The Soveraign Power of Parliaments and Kingdoms,</HI>) and that learned <HI>Scotchman</HI> in his <HI>Lex, Rex,</HI> (oppo&s;ed to all Prerogative and Royal Advocates) overthrowing and exauctorating the Pleas of <HI>Maxwel, Barclay, Grotius, Spalaten&s;is,</HI> the Doctors of <HI>Aberdeen,</HI> Dr. <HI>Fern, E. Simmons, &amp;c.</HI> tending to a&s;&s;ert the Royal Prerogative of Chri&s;tian Kings.</P>
<P>We conceive all powers, as to their form, are lawful, yet all change|able. The Royal Scepter was lawful, though not everla&s;ting; the laying it a&s;ide, &s;peaks not its ab&s;olute illegality, but its temporal inexpediency. And we wi&s;h that Parliaments in their pre&s;ent Con&s;titution, may not be &s;o long liv'd, as the <HI>Norman</HI> Scepter, if they be le&s;s expedient; we judg them both lawful powers, but neither irre&s;i&s;tible, nor unchange|able.</P>
<P N="4">4. The Lord by his Providence hath largely commented upon tho&s;e Texts, which confirm the lawfulne&s;s of our powers in Being, yea, their very con&s;titution as from him.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Grotius</HI> of the truth of Chri&s;tian Re|ligion, <HI>l.</HI> 1. <HI>&s;ect.</HI> 11.</NOTE> <Q>Where it plea&s;eth God to change the form of Government; tho&s;e men whom he u&s;eth as in&s;truments for the effecting of that matter, as being determined for him: Suppo&s;e they be like to <HI>Cyrus, Alexander,</HI> or <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> the Dictator, to them all things, even tho&s;e which are above the reach of mans prudence, do &s;ucceed more beyond their de&s;ires and wi&s;hes, then the diver&s;ity of
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humane ca&s;ualties ordinarily doth permit, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> They are the words of <HI>H. Grotius,</HI> a man not very Orthodox touching Magi&s;tracy neither, and remarkable under this head, by all tho&s;e who have taken notice of the gracious conduct of Providence towards, and the Lords pre&s;ence with tho&s;e who have been in&s;truments in his hands, for effecting this change of Government among&s;t us: And truly, he that con&s;iders the works done in our days, pondering them well, and yet confe&s;&s;eth not <HI>Digitum Dei, h&icirc;c &amp; h&icirc;c,</HI> the Arm of the Almighty made bare for us, we cannot but think he is more deeply baptized into the &s;pirit of Athei&s;m, then the <HI>Egyptian</HI> &s;orcerers which with&s;tood <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> were, <HI>Exod.</HI> 8.19. If the fall|ing of a Sparrow to the ground, though worth but half a farthing, hath &s;omething of providence in it, much more, tho&s;e wonderful appearings of God antecedent, concomitant, and &s;ub&s;equent to our change of Go|vernment.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 97.5.</NOTE> Have not <HI>the hills melted like wax at the pre&s;ence of the Lord, at the pre&s;ence of the Lord of the whole Earth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">See the Lord Generals Let|ter from <HI>Ire|land. Decemb.</HI> 1649. I&s;ai. 26.11.</NOTE> God will &s;urely cur&s;e that man and his hou&s;e, who &s;aith it was an arm of fle&s;h that did what was done in <HI>England,</HI> as making way for this change, or what hath been done in <HI>Ireland</HI> &s;ince. Tho&s;e who will not &s;ee when the Lords hand is lifted up, <HI>they &s;hall &s;ee, and be a&s;hamed, &amp;c.</HI> The Almighties &s;moothing that rough|ne&s;s, and becalming tho&s;e tumultuous ragings of peoples &s;pirits, by the greatne&s;s of his arm,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 15 16.</NOTE> making them as &s;till as a &s;tone, ju&s;t upon this change. His breaking their powerful con&s;piracies, and di&s;&s;ipating tho&s;e numerous bodies (&s;pirited with influence from the Royal Head) before this change, and his preventing tho&s;e hideous confu&s;ions, and garments rolling in blood, which by the Catholike out cry of the vulgar, and the ominous pre&s;ages of &s;ome graver heads, threatned to attend this change. All the&s;e ioyntly pondered (together with his uninterrupted goodne&s;s to|wards us ever &s;ince) make up an evidence of Gods &s;ignal owning that power in Being over us, which is the product of the&s;e wonders. If Pro|vidence can &s;peak any thing of his minde, or ever did in any age of the world:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 19.2.</NOTE> If the Lords workings be not dumb &s;hews; if there be any language in them, it is that of <HI>Shemaiah,</HI> to all that would lift up them|&s;elves again&s;t our pre&s;ent Authority,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 12.24.</NOTE> <HI>Return every man to his hou&s;e, for this thing is from the Lord;</HI> not from him onely as an over&s;eer of things doing, and an orderer of things done for his glory, but as an efficatious worker in producing this very change, according as he u&s;eth to &s;hew him&s;elf in all tho&s;e events, and tho&s;e onely which are of &s;pecial com|placency to him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;aiah 23.9.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord of ho&s;ts hath purpo&s;ed to &s;tain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the Earth:</HI> Surely, this word is come to the birth (we beleeve, and therefore we &s;peak.)
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The anointed of the Lord will certainly make Monarchy and Monarchs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 2.9, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> the pre&s;ent pride and glory of many Nations, as infamous as ever they have been famous. If Kings be not wi&s;e; if they &s;erve him not with fear; if they &s;et them&s;elves again&s;t the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 21.24.</NOTE> and comply not with his intere&s;t in the world; if they bring not their glory and honor to the New <HI>Jeru|&s;alem;</HI> he will pour &s;hameful &s;puing upon their glory, yea, though they bear them&s;elves up in their port and pride,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;aiah 60.15.</NOTE> as <HI>Behemoth</HI> in the waters of <HI>Jordan;</HI> he will da&s;h their Scepters in pieces like a potters ve&s;&s;el, and make them bow to the &s;oles of their feet, whom he hath promi&s;ed to make an eternal Excellency, even the Saints of the mo&s;t high God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 7.28. Heb. 12.28.</NOTE> who &s;hall receive a Kingdom which cannot be &s;haken. The zeal of the Lord of ho&s;ts will perform this.</P>
<P>Having thus cleered our fir&s;t Argument, as the main foundation upon which we build our obedience, being of mo&s;t powerful and direct influ|ence upon our con&s;ciences. From this holding Plea, we pa&s;s to a &s;econd Argument.</P>
<P><HI>The mutual relation of Protection and Allegiance (every benefit re|quiring <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Argum."> &s;ome duty) pre&s;&s;eth us to a cheerful owning the Parliament, and to a re-alliance with them, as our actual Protectors in &s;ub&s;cribing to be true and faithful, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>This Argument is hinted in the Act for Sub&s;cription,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Act. Jan.</HI> 2. 1649.</NOTE> and not without &s;pecial rea&s;on, con&s;idering how ready men are to forget them&s;elves, and to trip up the heels of &s;uch as &s;upport them. We need not labor in &s;pe|cifying or aggravating the benefits of Protection, they being of &s;o ob|vious a &s;en&s;e to all, who prize Religion, Life, Liberty, or Property: And we under&s;tand not what duties an&s;wer the nature, and claim of &s;uch benefits. If a thankful owning of tho&s;e per&s;ons and powers, through who&s;e hands they are di&s;penced to us, and a cheerful &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to them be denied. If we give not that which God requires, will our offering be accepted? and wherewith &s;hall we make an atonement for our ingra|titude?</P>
<P><HI>Here again many interpo&s;e, as not willing to be thought undutiful; we <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Object."> can cheerfully &s;ubmit to the Authority, &s;ay they, And that out of Con&s;ci|ence in things lawful, but to acknowledg and approve of them as lawful powers, we cannot.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> There may be wi&s;dom (which we &s;ee not) or rather policy in this;
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but to our &s;en&s;e, the objectors &s;eem rather nice then wi&s;e. We never knew how to divide the hair, or di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt a con&s;cientious &s;ubjection to any powers over us, and an owning them, as full and lawful powers ordained of God. Con&s;cientious &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion con&s;ignifies a con&s;cientious owning the powers, and pre&s;umes or implies their lawfulne&s;s; other|wi&s;e Con&s;cience would not interpo&s;e &s;o far: All the tribute of duty which Con&s;cience exacts, being paid as to God, will be ill performed, if we pay them in to a wrong hand. The ca&s;e indeed is changed, when a man &s;ubmits upon another account then Con&s;cience, as from Policy, Fear, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But Con&s;cientious obedience hath no &s;uch flaw in it, as a mental re&s;ervation of &s;o &s;trange and implicatory a purport as this, I obey out of Con&s;cience, and yet I judg the powers &s;o unlawful, as that their commands have no influence upon my Con&s;cience at all.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Object."><HI>Others &s;ay, Their &s;elf-&s;eeking and oppre&s;&s;ion make us we cannot own them &s;o heartily, as otherwi&s;e we might.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> 1. Many cry out again&s;t &s;elf-&s;eeking, who love them&s;elves and their intere&s;ts, as impatiently as any Member of the Councel of State what|&s;oever, can do his; and thou&s;ands among&s;ts us make a noi&s;e about op|pre&s;&s;ion, who pay them not a groat a quarter; yea, our <HI>quondam</HI> Publi|cans exclaim heavily, Burdens! Burdens!</P>
<Q>Dic mihi &s;i fueris tu leo, qualis eris?</Q>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.6.</NOTE>But, <HI>Do ye thus requite the Lord, O fooli&s;h people and unwi&s;e?</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Tho&s;e men rather &s;ought them&s;elves, who &s;ought the Kings favor, and tackt about to his intere&s;t, who would plead his cau&s;e rather then not ki&s;s his hand; as that man who blu&s;hed not to aver, That the Kings Conce&s;&s;ions were the large&s;t, the &s;afe&s;t, and the beneficialle&s;t, that ever were granted by any King to his Subjects &s;ince the Creation. Did they &s;eek them&s;elves, who to the apparent jeopardy of them and their po&s;te|rities, dur&s;t take &s;uch a Lion by the beard as they did? Neither have they yet divided his inheritance by line among&s;t them, nor voted an everla&s;t|ing Parliament (as many <HI>ad invidiam,</HI> &s;ugge&s;t) to make their hou&s;es great, or them&s;elves Princes over us. But to proceed.</P>
<P>We &s;hall mention but one Argument more, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Argum."><HI>We know not how to approve our hearts before God, if we &s;hould put our &s;elves out of a capacity of &s;erving his Providence, while he offers us oppor|tunity thereunto, as we &s;hould do by refu&s;ing this Engagement. Now every man almo&s;t cries out,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 3.6, 7.</NOTE> <HI>Let me not meddle, make me not a ruler to this peo|ple,
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let not this breach be under my hand. We think it mo&s;t &s;ea&s;onable &s;tand|ing up in the gap (as our callings may require) and offering our &s;ervices to the God of our lives and comforts. This we have &s;poken to already, in the be|ginning of our Plea: And truly, we are much pre&s;&s;ed in our &s;pirits, and cannot but wait upon the Lord, going forwards while he leads us. When</HI> I&s;rael <HI>&s;ate &s;till, they were ever hankering after</HI> Egypt, <HI>therefore &s;aid the Lord &s;ometime unto</HI> Mo&s;es, Speak to the people that they go forward. <HI>And that which many call Back-&s;liding, we doubt not to take for Progre&s;&s;ion. If God leads a people beyond their</HI> non-ultra, <HI>or the limits of their own pre|fixt thoughts, or expectations, they u&s;ually grutch him their company.</HI> I&s;rael <HI>would go willingly out of</HI> Egypt, <HI>the place of their bondage; but when they met with any &s;taggering difficulties, or amuzing providences in their jour|neys, they fell to chiding with God, and would needs be returning to their old task-ma&s;ters &s;ervice again. It is a true &s;aying,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Multi ad per|fectionem per|venirent, ni&s;i jam &s;e perve|ni&s;&s;e credorent. <HI>Fab.</HI></NOTE> <Q>Many men might have attained perfection; but for their too early dreams, that they were already perfect.</Q> <HI>Tho&s;e (and they not a few) who made it their ultimate end, To e&s;tabli&s;h the Kings Throne in Righteou&s;ne&s;s, proclaiming and declaring this, together with their loyalty, to the world, as their prime &s;cope, when they were convinced that the Lord would not have it &s;o, &s;it down as &s;ullen as the Prophet, when God would not verifie his Declaration concerning</HI> Nineveh:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jon. 4.</NOTE> <HI>But becau&s;e we cannot do this thing, &s;hall we therefore do nothing? We fear this Plea will not be accepted before God: That which we conceive good, is not done; therefore we have laid our&s;elves a&s;ide, and refu&s;ed to do any thing for his &s;ervice, in order to the Publike Good. We never heard of any &s;uch per&s;wa&s;ion coming from the Lord that called you.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.8.</NOTE></P>
<P>To this we hear men &s;ay, They lay not them&s;elves a&s;ide, but the Parlia|ment doth it, by urging upon them an Engagement (as the condition of their &s;ervice, and activity for the Publike Good) which they cannot <HI>&s;alva con&s;cienti&acirc;,</HI> &s;ubmit to, and that chiefly upon this ground, becau&s;e it pre|&s;umes their con&s;ent to the change of Government, and an approbation of tho&s;e things which have been done in order to it.</P>
<P>But, under favor, we conceive this con&s;equence is not of nece&s;&s;ary Connexion with the Antecedent, and therefore we may be &s;o bold with it, as to deny it.</P>
<P N="1">1. We pre&s;ume that the Parliament and Army might do &s;ome things in order to this change, which them&s;elves hold onely ju&s;tifiable upon the Plea of nece&s;&s;ity, and not ab&s;olutely to be approved: Some of the Parliaments Declarations, and of the Armies Papers witne&s;s this.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="14" REF="8">3. Can tho&s;e who &s;ubmitted to the <HI>Norman</HI> yoke, be interpreted to ap|prove all that the Conqueror did in order to the va&s;&s;alizing them, and bringing them to his own terms?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. liber. Lu&s;itaniae. li <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> Can we think that the Dukes of <HI>Bragance</HI> who &s;ware Allegiance to the Spaniard (u&s;urping Lord&s;hip over him a|gain&s;t all the peoples con&s;ent) did by that act approve what the King of Spain did in order to his &s;ubver&s;ion? Surely no. Thus we think <HI>(mutatis mutandis)</HI> that our &s;ub&s;cribing to the pre&s;ent Authority, concludes nei|ther our approbation of what hath been done in order to the change of Government, no nor the change it &s;elf: it tyes our hands indeed from &s;ubverting the e&s;tabli&s;hment in <HI>e&s;&s;e,</HI> and to be &s;ubject; and powers (in our thoughts) irregularly and di&s;orderly changed may be lawfully and con&s;cientiou&s;ly &s;ub&s;cribed unto and owned as powers ordained of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ma&s;ter <HI>Dury</HI> in his con&s;id. of the pre&s;ent engag.</NOTE> It is the per&s;wa&s;ion of a good Chri&s;tian, and one of no mean name, That it doth not belong to us to judg definitively of the Rights which the &s;upream powers over us in the world pretend to have unto their places. And it is our per&s;wa&s;ion, that neither Gods commands touching &s;ubjection, nor the Parliaments Acts for &s;ub&s;cription, puts the &s;ubmitting con&s;cience either upon the approbation or non-approbation of the e|quity or iniquity of this change of Government wrought among&s;t, but onely upon the con&s;cientious acknowledging the powers over us in their pre&s;ent con&s;titution, as the onely vi&s;ible Authority by the Ordinance of God. But</P>
<P N="3">3. Suppo&s;ing the con&s;equence good, that &s;ub&s;cription drew with it a con&s;ent to the change of Government, and an approbation of what was done in order to it, we conceive that both of the&s;e, without any injury offered to con&s;cience, may be approved; The Parliaments foremention|ed declaration renders the former approvable to us,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>March</HI> 17, 1648.</NOTE> and as to the main things done in order to this change, we &s;hall &s;peak our thoughts in parti|cular. They appear to be the&s;e,</P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="1"> 1. The Parliaments declaring the Original of all lawful power to be in the people: in which (as we under&s;tand it) little el&s;e is declared then this, that forms of Government are humane ordinances, or creatures (according to that of the Apo&s;tle, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.13.) to exclude the claim to a &s;acred and unalterable prerogative in any per&s;ons or powers what&s;o|ever; This we finde no great rea&s;on to boggle at.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Secondly their laying a&s;ide the Hou&s;e of Lords, which in effect they had done &s;even yeers before, <HI>viz.</HI> in declaring to their Lord&s;hips, that if they refu&s;ed to joyn with them in &s;ettling the Militia, the Commons would proceed to do it without them; that was then judged a &s;afe and whol|&s;ome Re&s;olve: and why might it not take place now after all the experi|ences
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had of delays and Negatives (in matters of highe&s;t moment) from the Lords, yea of their direct thwarting the common &s;en&s;e of the King|dome in Parliament? <Q>For it is unrea&s;onable to conceive,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Sect.</HI> 39.</NOTE> that it &s;hould be a matter of &s;in, or unlawfull for a Kingdome to make provi&s;ion for it &s;elf and its own good, unle&s;s &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;mall party among&s;t them, who prefer their own undue per&s;onal intere&s;ts before the publike intere&s;ts and welfare of the Nation, &s;hould con&s;ent and joyn with them therein.</Q> This put the Parliament upon a nece&s;&s;ity of aboli&s;hng the Hou&s;e of Lords, as may appear in their declaration <HI>March</HI> 17. 1648. And this we conceive need &s;tick as little upon us.</P>
<P N="3">3. Their bringing the King to a tryal, &s;entencing him, and taking him <MILESTONE N="3"> away from the mid&s;t of us: If the King was a Delinquent and an im|placable one, <HI>fiat ju&s;titia, ruat calum.</HI> That the people have no right to judg him, though he was &s;o, as it is our di&s;&s;enting neighbors Plea, &s;o it was the Plea of that prerogative Secretary <HI>Lethington</HI> again&s;t <HI>Knox</HI> (a man Orthodox and con&s;cientious) <Q>God (&s;aith <HI>Knox</HI>) is the univer&s;al judg as well unto the King as to the people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;tory of the reformation of <HI>Scotland. lib</HI> 4.</NOTE> &s;o that what his word commands to be puni&s;hed in the one, is not to be ab&s;olved in the other. We agree in that (&s;aid <HI>Lethington</HI>) but the people may not execute Gods judgments, but mu&s;t leave it unto him&s;elf, who will either puni&s;h it by death, by war, by impri&s;onment, or by &s;ome other kinde of his plagues. I know (&s;aith <HI>Knox</HI>) the la&s;t part of the rea&s;on to be true; but for the fir&s;t, that the people, yea or a part of the people, may not execute Gods judgments again&s;t their King, being an offendor, I am a&s;&s;ured ye have no other warrant, except your own imaginations, and the opinion of &s;uch as more fear to offend their Princes then God.</Q> This we know, that God is no accepter of per&s;ons, and that blood, upon whom&s;oever it lyes, cryeth &s;o loud in the ears of the Almighty, that he has &s;trictly com|manded men to take no &s;atisfaction for the life of any murtherer. Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 35 30, 31, 33.</NOTE> what if we had no Law, rule, or pre&s;ident to go by for the puni&s;hing of Princes, in any civil Record, &s;hall not ju&s;tice therefore be done? mu&s;t the law of God be enfeebled and fall to the ground for want of an hu|mane ordinance to back and enforce it? Judg, we pray you, may this be? but we are fearful of &s;welling our paper beyond the bulk of a brief Plea; this al&s;o, we conceive, may be approved by men hone&s;t and con|&s;cientious.</P>
<P>But the great matter is yet behind, the grand que&s;tion or <GAP DESC="foreign"> is not what a people may do of this nature, being free from all bonds &amp; obliga|tions, but what they may do who lye under Covenants and Engagements to maintain &s;uch and &s;uch a Government, or &s;uch and &s;uch governors in
<PB N="16" REF="9">
their power and Soveraignty? Here, &s;ay our di&s;&s;enting neighbors, the water &s;ticks, as to our pre&s;ent ca&s;e; and in particular they cry out amain of the contrariety and utter incon&s;i&s;tency of the Covenant and Oath of Allegeance with this pre&s;ent Engagement; this leads us therefore to the &s;econd thing propounded in the beginning of our Plea, <HI>viz.</HI> that we &s;hould make an&s;wer to, and remove tho&s;e &s;erious objections which way|lay many con&s;cientious men, &s;o that the cannot come up to the &s;ub&s;crip|tion.</P>
<P>We &s;hall take leave here to lay down two or three preparatory Rules touching the obligatory power of Covenants in general, which may be-friend us in this our following e&s;&s;ay, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="1"> 1. Rule, All Covenants binding unto &s;in are <HI>ip&s;o facto,</HI> voyd, becau&s;e the matter of a Covenant (being an e&s;&s;ential part of it) is <HI>res licita,</HI> and for want of that due matter any Covenant fals to pieces; as that vow which ties any man to a condition that is impo&s;&s;ible &s;ignifies nothing, upon this this account,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 6.23. Acts 23 14. 1 Sam. 25 22.</NOTE> becau&s;e a man cannot keep it <HI>de facto;</HI> &s;o that vow or Cove|nant by which one is put upon any thing unlawful, &s;ignifies as little, becau&s;e a man cannot performe it <HI>de jure.</HI> The &s;in is in making &s;uch Covenants, not in breaking them, a man overtaken with any &s;uch Oaths, needs no ab&s;olution, they fall a&s;under of them&s;elves.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="2"> 2. Rule, That Covenant may be lawfully entered into, which (the &s;tate of things and per&s;ons being changed) may not be kept without &s;in. Put the ca&s;e I have engaged my &s;elf to this woman never to marry any other but her; after a while this woman fals di&s;tracted, mi&s;cheifs all &s;he can come nigh, is fit for no place but <HI>Bedlam,</HI> where now &s;he lies bound in chains, and &s;o is like to do while her dying day; but I mu&s;t either marry or burn: am I now (notwith&s;tanding my engagement to her) free for another woman, or no? We conceive con&s;cience would give in its ver|dict, Yes.</P>
<P N="3"><MILESTONE N="3"> 3. Rule, When any men by a promi&s;&s;ory Oath engage them&s;elves to &s;ome duty or performance for the benefit and advantage of another; if he (in who&s;e behalf the promi&s;e is made) &s;hall take away that foundati|on upon which the promi&s;e was built, the Covenantiers are become free, 1 <HI>King.</HI> 1.52. <HI>&amp;</HI> 2.23, 24 37, 38, 42, 43. there the ca&s;e is cleared. Sup|po&s;e any people by covenant pay unto their Prince, as their publike &s;hield or Protector, &s;uch and &s;uch Annual Sub&s;idies. This Prince, regardle&s;s of his duty, is to the people as a wall broken down, he pro&s;titutes their &s;afety to bruiti&s;h de&s;troyers, their liberties to encroachments, their trade and goods to Piracies and Harra&s;ings: They become &s;en&s;ible of the de|falcation of their properties, and the debauchment of the publike in|tere&s;t,
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and deny him the encovenanted tribute; the Prince &s;ues them up|on an action of debt, and (though prerogative be the foreman of the Jury) the people are acquitted and ju&s;tified.</P>
<P>What are Kings but va&s;&s;als to the State? who if they turn tyrants,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lex, Rex.</HI> p. 404. in An|&s;wer to an Objection of <HI>Ami&s;aeus.</HI></NOTE> fall from their Rights, Is Ma&s;ter <HI>Rutherfords</HI> que&s;tion in his di&s;pute for the ju&s;t prerogative of King and people.</P>
<P>The&s;e Rules we finde very u&s;eful for the de&s;crupling, and di&s;ob|liging our con&s;ciences of tho&s;e ties in the objection, and being of very ea&s;ie and obvious application, we &s;hall pa&s;s to more particular Salvo's.</P>
<P N="1">1. To the Covenant, and to that clau&s;e in it for pre&s;erving the Kings <MILESTONE N="1"> per&s;on, we an&s;wer, it is conditional; and that article for bringing all De|linquents to condign puni&s;hment, is po&s;itive and ab&s;olute: for if this li|mitation, in the pre&s;ervation of Religion, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> be not a condition, then either the&s;e two articles mentioned contradict one another (and &s;o the Covenant ties us to impo&s;&s;ibilities) or el&s;e the King was no Delinquent. If the former, then the Covenant, as to both tho&s;e articles is null. If the latter, why did the A&s;&s;embly of the Church of <HI>Scotland,</HI> in a declaration &s;ent to the King, charge him with being guilty of &s;hedding the blood of many thou&s;ands of his be&s;t &s;ubjects? <Q>Yea, why did their Commi&s;|&s;ioners (concurring with the Hou&s;es of Parliament,<NOTE PLACE="marg">See the Parl. Declarat. of <HI>March.</HI> 4. 1647.</NOTE> in their an&s;wer of the thirteenth of <HI>January</HI> to the Kings letter of <HI>December</HI> 1645.) a|mong&s;t other things, make it their fir&s;t and chief rea&s;on why they could not con&s;ent to the Kings coming to <HI>London;</HI> and to a Per&s;onal Treaty de&s;ired by Him, untill &s;atisfaction and &s;ecurity were given to both his Kingdoms, becau&s;e &s;o much blood of his good &s;ubjects had been &s;hed in this war by his commands, and his Commi&s;&s;ions.</Q> Here we &s;ee the Parliament and <HI>Scotch</HI> Commi&s;&s;ioners charging the King with deep Delinquency, how comes it to be expiated in 1048? Or &s;hall we think it was a groundle&s;s charge? Is it fit to &s;trike Princes for equity? Nay, &s;ure we &s;hould prejudg their wi&s;dome and integrity too much, in &s;aying &s;o; they tell us how he became guilty, <HI>viz.</HI> The blood being &s;hed by his com|mands and Commi&s;&s;ions, he &s;hed it; for the Author is more guilty then the<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Semper is di+citur facere cui praemini|&s;tratur. <HI>Tertul.</HI></NOTE> <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Opera magis pertinent ad imperantem, quam ad exe|qu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ntem.</NOTE> Actor. The Prophet <HI>Nathan</HI> tels <HI>David</HI> that he &s;hed the blood of <HI>&V;riah,</HI> 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 12.9. though <HI>&V;riah</HI> was &s;lain by the &s;word of the chil|dren of <HI>Ammon,</HI> and not by <HI>Davids</HI> Commi&s;&s;ion neither, but by his indirect procurement; but the Kings Commi&s;&s;ions to kill, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> at the bar of ju&s;tice abundantly te&s;tified his palpable guilt and Delinquency There|fore we conceive (to avoid a manife&s;t contradiction in our &s;olemn Co|venant) that clau&s;e mu&s;t needs be acknowledged conditional, which
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concerned the Kings per&s;on, (for as touching his power, the di&s;pute is not &s;o hot, though by the Covenant the one be as &s;acred as the other.) The<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">The rea&s;ons of the pre&s;ent Judgment, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> p. 27.</NOTE> <HI>Oxford</HI> Convocation &s;aw this condition clearly enough from the <HI>Parliaments</HI> Declarations in an&s;wer to the <HI>Scotti&s;h</HI> Papers, and therefore were deterr d, as they &s;ay, from taking the Covenant; Nay, the<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Royal Pour|traicture.</NOTE> King him&s;elf (if men may believe it) upon the Covenant tells us, that the clau&s;e in the Covenant referring to his per&s;on was of a <HI>Dangerous limitation;</HI> how could that be, if the Covenant, according to the letter of it might not be kept, and yet the Kings per&s;on endangered? And &s;urely if by any Covenant we had unwarily tied our &s;elves to priviledg his per&s;on, &s;o as thereby to overthrow the u&s;e or end of<NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">See <HI>Junius Brut.</HI> p. 84.</NOTE> Magi&s;tracy among&s;t us, that Co|venant could not be binding, becau&s;e &s;inful; God will have no man lift up above his<NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. Naz. Orat. <HI>27.</HI></NOTE> Ordinance, but this is done by &s;etting up an unaccountable Magi&s;trate, Covenanting to priviledg his per&s;on ab&s;olutely, or without limitation, which mu&s;t needs give him liberty to play<NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Quilibet impune facere, hoc &s;cilicet re|gium e&s;t. <HI>Salu&s;t.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Rex,</HI> and to make what God ordains for peoples good, to become a &s;nare to them, and their chief endamagement; no &s;uch di&s;commode in the world, as a man that may do what his li&s;t, and his life notwith&s;tanding mu&s;t be accounted the choi&s;e&s;t trea&s;on that can be; well then, if the Kings pre&s;ervation was conditional, we mu&s;t leave it to the determination of tho&s;e who are cho|&s;en to Judg and conclude what is con&s;i&s;tent with our liberties, and what not, whether the things mainly Covenanted for, or the condition could have been obtained and pre&s;erved with the pre&s;ervation of this Kings per&s;on, yea, or no; if not, the ca&s;e is<NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Enuntiatio hypothetica, &s;i conditio &s;it im|po&s;&s;ibilis, aequi|valet negativae. <HI>Fr. Burgers. loq.</HI></NOTE> clear; and truly we cannot but think as the <HI>Parliament</HI> and <HI>Kirk</HI> of <HI>Scotland</HI> thought, <HI>viz.</HI> That the Kings Conce&s;&s;ions were un&s;atisfactory, yea, de&s;tructive to Religion, and the Nations &s;afety, and that he &s;hould be ever kept on treating (be|ing thereby &s;et in ballance with the whole Nation, and) with the ad|vantage of creating everla&s;ting war and trouble, to the ruine of all hone&s;t people, e&s;pecially being a man guilty of mo&s;t enormous crimes, and of an implacable &s;pirit, we thought our Covenant never bound us to.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="2"> 2. Whereas divers among&s;t us will needs bring Monarchy within the compa&s;s of the Covenant, and conceive them&s;elves bound thereby to maintain Kingly Government (&s;ure 'tis a Gourd they are very fond of) we cannot &s;ee how they can po&s;&s;ibly hedge this in, there being no menti|on made of Kingly Government, or the Kings po&s;terity at all in it; his ju&s;t Rights, and power there &s;poken of and Covenanted for, were his per|&s;onal Rights and Power, as may appear by the la&s;t Clau&s;e of that Ar|ticle; We have no thoughts of dimini&s;hing his Maje&s;ties ju&s;t power and greatne&s;s: all which was to &s;tand or fall with performance, or non-per|formance
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of that grand condition in the Pre&s;ervation of, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> touching this condition the <HI>Scots</HI> &s;peak very well (though in the extent of the Co|venant we conceive them mi&s;taken) in their Declaration of <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> la&s;t, containing the grounds why they could not admit the late Kings Son to the exerci&s;e of Royal Power over them. <Q>The duty of defending and pre|&s;erving the Kings Maje&s;ties Per&s;on and Authority (&s;ay they) is joyned with, and &s;ubordinate unto the duty of pre&s;erving and defending the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms, and therefore his Ma|je&s;ty &s;tanding in oppo&s;ition to the ju&s;t and nece&s;&s;ary publike de&s;ires con|cerning Religion and Liberties, it were a manife&s;t breach of Cove|nant, and a preferring of the Kings Intere&s;t to the Intere&s;t of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to bring him to the exerci&s;e of his Royal Power, which he walking in a contrary way, and being compa&s;&s;ed about with Malig|nant Coun&s;els, cannot but employ to the prejudice and ruine of both.</Q></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."><HI>But the Declaration of the Hou&s;es of April,</HI> 1646. <HI>and other Declarati|ons abundantly cleer the extent of the Covenant to Kingly Government, and bear witne&s;s to their meaning in it.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> 1. We conceive not our &s;elves bound by the Covenant to maintain any thing be&s;ides the letter of it, and the mo&s;t obvious &s;en&s;e; 'tis wholly be&s;ide the purpo&s;e and unrea&s;onable to fa&s;ten any po&s;tnate or occa&s;ional Declarations upon mens con&s;ciences in this ca&s;e, &s;ince what the Parlia|ment did without, or be&s;ide the Covenant, neither reacheth us, nor comes within our compa&s;s to &s;can or pa&s;s verdict on, the Covenant pointing or referring us to no &s;uch con&s;iderations.</P>
<P N="2">2. The &s;ame unalterable tenor of politick admini&s;trations cannot &s;uit the various exigency of a Nations Affairs; what the Parliament there|fore declared at one time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Declaration of <HI>March</HI> 17. 1648. p. 21. <HI>Ames: de Con&s;c. l.</HI> 5. <HI>c.</HI> 25. <HI>Ibidem.</HI></NOTE> they might &s;ee nece&s;&s;ary cau&s;e for altering at another, and did, as appears by that Declaration, where An&s;wer is made to this pre&s;ent Objection; the Intention or Obligation of a Law or a Promi&s;e, ought not to be extended beyond the rea&s;on or foundation of it, &s;o that the Rea&s;on or ground cea&s;ing, the Obligation mu&s;t needs cea&s;e too, as it doth likewi&s;e upon this account, <HI>viz.</HI> if the &s;tate of things and per&s;ons be &s;o changed, as that in the judgment of wi&s;e men, tho&s;e who promi&s;ed or declared ought, cannot be thought to have willed the including &s;uch or &s;uch an event in the promi&s;e: Now this event in the <HI>Parliaments</HI> Ca&s;e was the Kings implacability and inexorablene&s;s, after &s;even addre&s;&s;es made unto him, and the &s;trong inclinations of the
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Hou&s;e of Lords to his beloved Intere&s;t, neither of which events the <HI>Par|liament</HI> can be judged to have included in their former Declarations, <HI>viz.</HI> that they &s;hould re&s;olve thereby, and declare to maintain the Govern|ment in that manner, let the King or Lords do what they plea&s;ed, or carry them&s;elves as they li&s;ted.</P>
<P N="3"><MILESTONE N="3"> 3. And la&s;tly, as to tho&s;e breaches of <HI>Parliament Priviledges,</HI> (which we Covenanted to pre&s;erve) by forcing the Hou&s;e, excluding the mem|bers, <HI>&amp;c</HI> we have this to &s;ay.</P>
<P N="1">1. This Engagement concludes not our approbation, nor wraps us up in the guilt of any mi&s;cariages infringing the Covenant, if any &s;uch were committed, neither doth our Covenant binde us to any things impo&s;&s;ible, what&s;oever irregularity have been charged upon the Army (of this kinde) in our places and callings we could neither prevent nor can remedy.</P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg">See that De|claration, <HI>Feb.</HI> 17. 1648. <HI>Page</HI> 12, 13.</NOTE>2. We hear of no Covenantiers in <HI>Scotland,</HI> who &s;cruple their &s;ub|mitting to that power in Being over them, nor their owning it, though tho&s;e who now govern affairs there, were brought in by a greater force then ever our Parliament groaned under; another Parliament being there called, while the former was by adjournment continued. And the im|pri&s;oning &s;ome of our Parliament Members, is alleadged by the Army to be (among&s;t other things) for Confederacies and Corre&s;pondencies with that party in <HI>Scotland,</HI> which our Brethren there found them&s;elves nece&s;|&s;itated to trample under foot; yet no man &s;aith unto them, why do you &s;o? This makes us think that Parliament-priviledges may be &s;ometimes looked at, as Formalities, rather then &s;acred and indi&s;pen&s;able Rights, <HI>viz.</HI> When the greater number of Parliament men &s;et them&s;elves in a way of utter ruining, rather then of building up and e&s;tabli&s;hing a Na|tion on the &s;ure Foundations of Peace and Righteou&s;ne&s;s.</P>
<P>Thus we leave what hath been &s;aid to the Con&s;ciences of tho&s;e men who &s;et the Covenant as a partition wall betwixt them&s;elves and the Engagement: We come now to the oath of Allegeance, and &s;hall draw out our &s;en&s;e touching that, as briefly as may be.</P>
<P N="1">1. The ground of that Oath we conceive to be our actuall protection, and not meerly the Kings obligation to protect us (as &s;ome would have it) for mi&s;erable is that people like to be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">See the <HI>Oxford</HI> Rea&s;ons, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Rom. 13.4.</NOTE> who&s;e welfare is no otherwi&s;e provided for then thus; Kings having got a knack to di&s;oblige them|&s;elves of their duty towards their &s;ubjects when they li&s;t. Men do not &s;wear Allegeance to Magi&s;trates, as dropping from heaven over them (like poor Earthlings, created meerly to bear up their trains) but as Mini&s;ters ordained and cho&s;en for their &s;ervice and good. We ever thought, that the Stipulations betwixt a Prince and people were<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Junius Bru|tus, p. <HI>97,</HI> &amp;c. Ames. Med. de Jurament. &amp; de Con&s;c. l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI></NOTE> mutu|al,
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and always held it a &s;afe rule, That if he who promi&s;eth mutually, will not perform what he promi&s;eth, our Obligation is not binding. But how well the late King performed his part, we &s;hall have rea&s;on to remem|ber. Again, the formal Cau&s;e of a promi&s;&s;ory Oath cea&s;ing, the Obli|gation it &s;elf cea&s;eth; but the formal Cau&s;e (as we &s;aid) of Allegeance, a Protection: This needs no proof, the Arguments again&s;t it being <HI>non</HI>-&s;uited over and over in the Court of Rea&s;on and Truth; therefore, we conceive our &s;elves loo&s;ed from Allegeance according to that Oath, its correlate and foundation being taken away. Thus the <HI>Portugals</HI> plead in our ca&s;e. The Kings of <HI>Ca&s;tile,</HI> &s;ay they,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;tor. Liberat. Lucit. l. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> Though admitted the Kings of <HI>Portugal,</HI> yet may be rejected.</P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e they have not kept tho&s;e Covenants which they were &s;worn to, at their entrance on the Crown, <HI>cap.</HI> 3.</P>
<P N="2">2. By rea&s;on of their male-admini&s;tration of Government, to the de&s;truction of the Common-wealth, without hope of remedy, <HI>cap.</HI> 4.</P>
<P N="3">3. By rea&s;on of their tyranny, <HI>cap.</HI> 5.</P>
<P N="4">4. By the Law of nature, which enables a people to defend them&s;elves again&s;t all &s;uch as &s;eek their ruine and extinction, <HI>cap.</HI> 7.</P>
<P N="5">5. Neither did they conceive their Oath of Allegeance hindered this.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Praeclaro faci|nori non ob&s;ti|tit juramentum prae&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">itum regi Ca&s;tellano, l. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> Did we not cut our own throats? and were we not acce&s;&s;ory to our own undoing, if by the &s;ervile aba&s;ing our &s;elves to a tyrants will, we &s;hould give him the advantage of ruining us? This were a palpable yielding up that which mo&s;t Kings reach out their hands for, Even that we are made for them, and not they for us, and for our good.</P>
<P N="2">2. When we &s;wear homage and obedience to our Lord and Superior, who afterwards cea&s;eth to be our Lord and Superior, the<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Quum au|fertur ratio formalis jura|menti juramen|tum ce&s;&s;at ra|tione even<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">us, qui ca&s;us e&s;t eorum qui ju|rarunt &s;e obe|dituros Domi|no aut Principi alicui, qui po&s;tea ce&s;&s;at e&s;&s;e talis. <HI>Am<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters"> de Con&s;c. l 4. c. 22.</HI></NOTE> Obligation cea&s;eth. This Rule <HI>Hender&s;on</HI> makes u&s;e of in his fir&s;t Paper to the King at <HI>Newca&s;tle,</HI> and will be irrefragable by all the Rea&s;on in the world. Can this Oath therefore binde us, now our Superior is not? (However taken away, by might or right, <HI>cavent actor.</HI>) Well, but we hear many &s;ay, The King cannot die; it is to be &s;uppo&s;ed, they mean it of a death in Law, not a natural death; and then, being our Law is called the Soul of Rea&s;on, it would be known, what Rea&s;on can be given of that maxime? Surely, a King dethroned, is dead in Law; and this may per&s;wade plain men to que&s;tion the univer&s;al, and holding verity of it. If he may die as King, we doubt not but his per&s;on may die; but a King laid a&s;ide, or dead, dies as King, otherwi&s;e there could be no &s;uch thing as an <HI>Inter|regnum,</HI> of which we read frequently in all Chronicles. Again we ever thought, that a Kings Coronation was his actual inve&s;titure with
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Power, or his Con&s;titution as King; and &s;ure it will be accepted, and excu&s;e us; if when we hear of any &s;uch King among&s;t us, we grutch him not our Allegeance; if we &s;wear Homage to the Kings Succe&s;&s;ors, they mu&s;t either &s;ucceed him before we can perform it, or el&s;e our Oath ties us to his Children, or Heirs while he lives, as well and fully, as when he is dead. If any of the late Kings Children do <HI>de facto</HI> &s;ucceed him, as King, or Heir, his Power, we &s;hall be their Liege people; but for a Suc|ce&s;&s;ion <HI>de jure,</HI> as we are made no judges of any &s;uch thing, &s;o we know not what it means: We &s;wear Allegeance not to Kingly power, as we con|ceive, but to our Royal Protectors, and he that is not actually our Liege Lord, we cannot be termed his Liege Subjects; for Relations &s;tand and fall together. We know little of the my&s;teries in Law, for the greate&s;t part of us; neither do we conceive it nece&s;&s;ary (for the approving our hearts unto God) that we apply our &s;elves to the &s;earch of them. If there be any thing hid in the Laws which prejudiceth our Rights and Ju&s;t Liberty, as this Maxime, That the King cannot die (according as it u&s;eth to be urged) &s;eems to do; we &s;hall thank the Parliament for call|ing us to &s;ub&s;cribe, if our &s;ub&s;cription may work its abolition. But if men, when they &s;ay, The King cannot die, mean this, <HI>viz.</HI> That that Legi&s;lative, or Executive Power, Fundamental to a Nations Being, can|not die; we are ready to ki&s;s their lips, and grant it true. Thus that power which the <HI>Spaniard</HI> had by Law in the <HI>Netherlands,</HI> &s;till lives in the States of tho&s;e United Provinces, though he be rejected; and thus the <HI>Kings</HI> power lives in our pre&s;ent <HI>Parliament,</HI> el&s;e we were all but dead men.</P>
<P>Having thus cleared our grounds for &s;ub&s;cription, and &s;hewed its con|&s;i&s;tencie with tho&s;e &s;acred ties which fall not a&s;under of them&s;elves. We &s;hall conclude with a reque&s;t to our di&s;&s;enting neighbors, that they would not confidently, or magi&s;terially &s;leight what is capable of their &s;erious con&s;ideration in this our plea, Men that &s;tudy an impartial &s;earch of truth and con&s;cientious &s;atisfaction in the crowd of different per&s;wa|&s;ions, mu&s;t not be re&s;olved to maintain any<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> Non e&s;t pudor ad meliora tran&s;ire. <HI>Am|bro&s;.</HI></NOTE> Hypothe&s;is of their own, however their under&s;tandings have been educated. He that gratifies his affection at &s;o high a rate, as to make it umpire in any conte&s;t, cheapens the Jewel of truth &s;o faintly, as if he intended not to buy it, and ba&s;ely pro&s;titutes the &s;overaignty of his Judgment. We cannot weigh things by affection and rea&s;on too, divers weights are an abomination to the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 20.23.</NOTE> and a fal&s;e ballance is not good; a few grains of affection will overpoize many drams of rea&s;on, and we are all apt to overween our ha|bituated
<PB N="23" REF="12">
per&s;wa&s;ions, and to &s;et them up as the fir&s;t, &s;econd, and third ar|gument again&s;t contrariety in Judgment to us, however bottomed, we are apt to think them, yea, and call them impregnable, and invincible; as <HI>Montanus,</HI> overvaluing his two poor pari&s;hes in <HI>A&s;ia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb. Eccle&s;. hi&s;t. li. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Pepu&s;a</HI> and <HI>Ty|mium,</HI> called them <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI> Hence commonly ari&s;eth that confidence, which makes men dictators rather then di&s;puters, and is no competent te&s;timony of truth, being but like a wager, which according to the pro|verb, Is a fools argument. Two Franci&s;can Fryars would needs be burnt at a &s;take, to prove <HI>Savanarola</HI> an Heretick;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. de Comm. li. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> and a Jacobine Fryar offers him&s;elf to the flames, to prove he was no Heretick: yet the&s;e premi&s;es were not demon&s;trative; or of power to e&s;pou&s;e the judgment of any impartiall &s;eeker to the conclu&s;ion they inferred. <HI>Savanarola</HI> might hold the truth notwith&s;tanding that argument the Franci&s;cans brought again&s;t him; and an error notwith&s;tanding the Jacobines confidence, <HI>videtur quod &s;ic,</HI> and <HI>videtur quod non &s;ic,</HI> had better becomed them both. Truly this is the temper of many di&s;&s;enters among&s;t us, as to the engagement, they will &s;eem rather to offer them&s;elves to an outlary, bani&s;hment, im|pri&s;onment, and what not (out of prepo&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion and prejudice) then &s;hew any face of rea&s;on at all to prove the unlawfulne&s;s of &s;ub&s;cribing to the pre&s;ent Authority. Others that have their con&s;cientious rea&s;ons are as &s;hie of propounding them, as if tho&s;e who differ from them were not men to be argued with, as denying &s;ome common principle, that carries its evidence in it &s;elf. It is not here<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> Athan.</NOTE> undertaken, but e&s;&s;ay'd, to per|&s;wade their con&s;ciences; and briefly to lay down &s;ome of tho&s;e grounds on which our engagement with the Parliament out of con&s;cience is built, that it may not be pre&s;umed or concluded (as commonly it u&s;eth to be) that there is little con&s;cience in any, &s;aving in tho&s;e who put them&s;elves on the &s;uffering &s;ide.</P>
<P>We &s;hall not apologize much in the behalf of this our Plea, onely thus, we live far from the &s;cene of action and information, and have little ac|quaintance with great mens &s;pirits and tempers (being of the &s;maller peo|ple) we know not how this controver&s;ie is digno&s;c't and &s;cand, or what <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">hapes it puts on among&s;t tho&s;e larger heads, and men of greatned expe|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">iences, by rea&s;on of their higher callings, relations, and imployments, who <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">appily (as 'tis &s;aid of <HI>Berengarius</HI>) may know all things knowable: we have &s;earch't onely to finde out duties, and mu&s;t be excu&s;ed (as igno|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ant of their &s;everal Pleas) if we touch not upon all mens <HI>gravamina,</HI> or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ho&s;e &s;cruples which make them contrary in per&s;wa&s;ion and action to us. Yea, if &s;ometimes we &s;trike unwittingly be&s;ides the nail, if we be le&s;s ex|act
<PB N="24" REF="13">
or full in our Salvo's then the nature of &s;uch a bu&s;ine&s;s may require. Yea, if happily we mi&s;take in any thing of moment, we &s;peak but our own &s;en&s;e, which at &s;o great a di&s;tance, from <HI>Authentique</HI> informers, may be ea&s;ily deceived. <HI>Sed non pigebit nos &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">oubi hae&s;itamus, quaerere; nec pude|bit nos &s;icubi erramus n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters"> corrigare.</HI> Augu&s;t. De Trinit. Li. 1. cap. 1.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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