give notice of it to the Parliament with assurance of their affection and faithfulnesse Upon this the Scots are cryed up to be Parliaments Army by some and the Parliament to be for the Scots Then jealousies must be raised against the Scots That they would never remove nor go home This reproach is raised and spred abroad by the adversaries of Church and State and received by the simpler ones otherwayes well-meaning and well-disposed men So the Scots to take away all kinde of suspicion repaire home peaceably Then the King must follow them home to try conclusions First He essayeth again if the Scots Army could be corrupted for his designe But he loseth his pains Next He goeth on and being in Scotland he tryeth if he can make sure the chief opposers of the great designe as of some also who had not served him according to the trust he had given them therein This Plot also faileth By this time the Irish break forth in Rebellion burning and spoiling the Countrey and slaying the English Protestants there amongst them The Villains give out That they have nothing to say against the Scots their old Friends Brethren and neer Neighbours but against the Adherents to that wicked Parliament of England so displeasing to the good King This they did hoping that by these fair words and not doing harm at first to the Scots amongst them to make the Scots be quiet whom they knew would be very soon in readinesse to fall upon them if the King and Parliament of England would allow and desire it The Scots make offer of their Service unto the King while he is amongst them for repressing the Rebellion in Ireland He waves the businesse and puts it off with that he could do nothing without the Parliament of England and so he cometh to the Parliament where till he was constrained he said little or nothing of the Rebels at last he is made to make a Declaration against them and then course must be taken for repressing them The Scots continue to offer their assistance but with shifts they were put off by the Court and by some corrupt men fiding with the Court for a long time At last the Scots send an Army into Ireland willing to do their best but not being furnished with necessaries for the prosecution of the Service nor supplied in their wants they could not go on so earnestly and with such heartinesse as they themselves wished so after divers of them had starved and perished for want some return back to their own Countrey yet they leave there a considerable body under the conduct of Major Generall Monro which number had absolutely starved if it had not been supplied from Scotland who although it was not able to provide for that Army in such a proportion as was needfull for a more earnest pursuance of the Service yet they kept them alive and encouraged them to go still on with the Work and although that Army there hath not done all what was expected of them yea not so much perchance as some men conceive they might have done yet one thing is acknowledged by all That this Army hath kept alive the Protestant-businesses in that Kingdom for without it the cessation and compliance with the Rebels had gone on through the whole Countrey unto the prejudice of the Common Cause and to the damage of these Kingdoms for the English Army sent thither being corrupted and drawn hither by the King the Protestant-Indwellers in Ireland had complyed being inclined to the Court for the most part But to return unto England The King having left London resolves to make War against the Parliament and being at Windsor he causeth to gather together some men to try what he could do in the businesse but he seeing his few gathered men to be dispersed by the Countrey finds for such an undertaking he must have a help from beyond Seas to this effect he sends the Queen unto Holland and he finds that he must go further off from London So after her departing he goeth to York where he sets afoot and lays all the devises he can to make War against the Parliament The Scots hearing of this presently send Commissioners to deal with him and to desire him to leave off the designe of making Civill War in England while the Protestants were thus massacred in Ireland He obstinatly rejects their remonstrance and sends them back not suffering them to come any further according to their order and mind which was to repair unto the Houses of Parliament and to deal with them for the taking away all mistakes betwixt the King and them The King having essayed all he could in York-shire to little purpose at last cometh Southward to Nottingham where seeing his bad successe in his undertaking he sends to the Parliament for agreement The businesse is slighted at least not so earnestly laid hold on as the Scots had done at far lesse ouverture by some chiefly who since have made known that they had more their own particular to heart then the publike good So the King continuing his designe of War with the few men he had then goes Westward where he gets more men and so with open force carrieth on the War The Winter following the Scots seeing the pursuance of the service of Ireland slacked yea in a kinde neglected and things come to a great hight in England with the losse of much blood already and spoile of a part of the Countrey resolve to send once again unto the King then at Oxford the same Commissioners that were sent to him at York with one or two more from the Church and State The King being moved for a passe to them refuseth it for a time but at last he grants it as they desired which was to repair freely to and fro betwixt him and the Parliament as the occasion should require Upon which the Scots Commissioners come to Oxford and tell their message to the King who slighteth them and useth them coldly and corsely After their abode for divers moneths to no purpose they give notice to those who had sent them that they could do no good with the King not so much as to have liberty to go unto the Parliament yea not to converse with the Commissioners from the Parliament then at Oxford At last they are sent for to go home The King not being willing at that time to give such an open occasion unto the Scots as to make them rise then in Arms sends their Commissiones home with generall and ambiguous words and tels them that if they would be quiet he would ere it were long have reason of the Parliament of England but if they should stir he would be put to it So they go home and give accompt of their voyage The K. perceiving partly by the Commissioners partly by his spies from the Countrey that since he would not be moved to agree with the Parliament the Scots were inclining to side with the Parliament in case of need
slakely this duty hath been performed the great losses and wofull sufferings of that poor Countrey can now tell of which inconveniencies and evils they had been free at least to this present if they had not joyned with their Friends in England I know it will be said When the Enemy had done with England his designe was with all his power to go into Scotland But human reason tells you That it is wisdom to put off an evil if we can for a time for he that hath time hath life as it is commonly said and the mean while God will provide some means or other to return the evil from his people And so human Policy would have taught the Scots to look to themselves and be quiet but their zeal to the Cause of God could not suffer them and for it they have undergone all this hardship who can and will deliver them in his appointed time And if those for whom they undergo this Service do not requite faithfully their kindnesse God will by some means or others not forget but recompense them according to the sincerity of their intentions But if any of the Scots as I doubt not but there be some who had or have some by-ends in this Work God will punish them for it and shew their vanity for mixing their own interest with his Service who requires the whole of man which is so known to the Enemy of God and of his people that he cares not what good a man do providing he can nourish in him any little evil being sure to catch him at last if he do continue in it Then the Brethren of England are bound not onely by reason to make the Scots no worse then they have found them that is then they were before their late conjunction for it stands against the Laws of all human Society and partnership that one party being preserved from totall ruine and reaping a seen benefit by the Society through the hazard and great losses of the other party not to make the party at least in the same condition he was before the Society far more is it against Justice to see the party undone and perish for us above all if we can afford him help or comfort least of all to rejoyce and make our own advantages of his losses who hath lost himself for us If the thing be so among particular Societies of men Why not so betwixt State and State who are nothing else but a Congregation of lesser Societies And if Justice is to be done by the lesser Why is not the greater far more tyed to it For the most part particular men are either punished or cried out upon as cheaters if they cozen or deceive their fellows And shall States escape free not onely from censure but be thought wise and prudent men for their deceits And shall circumvening in publike affaires be not onely not thought evil but esteemed as a vertue Hence cunning deceitfull man is called Politick and deceit is called Policy To such hight of wickednesse are we now come that vice must go under the name of vertue for Policy is the honest just and prudent carriage of publike affaires and not deceit and guile in them If it were onely to give sin a term lessening the shame of the crime it were to be born withall as for example to call stealing robbing and spoiling plundering as now adayes we do But to call vice vertue is intolerable Next We may see if this stands with the Treaty by this sole instance which is here inserted as it is in the first article And in case that notwithstanding the monethly sum of Thirty thousand pounds payed as aforesaid the States of Scotland shall have just cause to demand further satisfaction of their Brethren of England when the Peace of both Kingdoms is setled for their pains hazards and charges they have undergone they shall have due recompense made unto them by the Kingdom of England Now if the Scots for their pains hazards and charges be not payed of their monethly allowance How is the Treaty observed But the necessity of the times may excuse if there be not a full payment when there is willingnesse to perform if there were capacity But to give reproaches and injuries with threatning and to send men home with shame and without satisfaction who have done and undergone so much for thy good and to save thee from perdition is doubtlesse far from gratitude I pray thee What is it and how far is it from recompense Not to allow men to run home and quench the fire in their own house left having devoured the one it should destroy the other which it would do if it were not quenched in time Yea so long as the fire was but burning in one end of the house in respect of the ingagement it was in a manner little regarded but when it came to shake the very foundations of the building and deface it quite then it was full time to look to it And yet it cannot be approved by some because forsooth There was not a formall warning given as in decency was fit yet it was done with such order as could be expected upon such a nick of time But here it may be said What needs all this to speak of the Treaty Hath ever been any Treaty made betwixt two Nations or States but each have made their best advantage of it and ordinarily the Southern Nation hath been too cunning for the Northern as may be seen in all the Treaties betwixt Spaine and France Spaine hath outcunning'd France and so in the Treaties betwixt France and England France hath over-reached England and so of such others for the most part But as the Southern Nation hath over-reached the Northern by slight and cunning so the Northern oftentimes hath surpast by Field-action the other The reason of this is from the constitution of the body in the Northern people vile domineerers whereby they are inclined to do things rather by a strong hand then otherwise In the Southern people melancholy reigneth whereby they are inclined unto devises to compasse things with lesse force and hazard for where there is most wisdom there is least hazard The more North or South that a people be the more or lesse they have the one of the other But since the Treaty betwixt the Parliament of England and the State of Scotland runs upon other principles to wit of Religion this human over-reaching cunning or surprising is not and ought not to have any place but all is to be guided by conscience according to equity before God and as weare sworn to in our Covenant Wherefore now let us see how this agrees with the Covenant whereby we are all solemnly sworn to promote and advance the setling of a through Reformation in the Church according to the Word of God and the example of the best Reformed Neighbour Churches and if these reproaches injuries and hard usage of the Scots who have contribute so much to bring
so underhand and secretly he sets a Plot afoot to give them work so at home that they should not think of going abroad The Commissioners are hardly arrived but there breaks out an undertaking by Malignants in the South part of Scotland under the favour of the Garrison of Carlile then in the Enemies hands and the Papists in the North part of England but by Gods blessing the businesse is quashed and order is taken for the securing of the Countrey from all intestine insurrections and forrain invasions withall to be in readinesse to help their Friends in England at a call So the Sommer goeth on in which the Kings party prevaileth so far that they master all England some few places reserved except the associated Counties about London and these in a very tottering condition with a great dejection of spirit Upon this exigence the major part of the Houses of Parliament thinks it fit time to desire the aid of the Scots they in all appearence being the onely men they could call to for help First By reason of their common interest in the Cause of Religion and Liberty with the people of England Next In respect of their neernesse and Neighbourhood Thirdly In respect of their bound duty to requite according to power the favours their Fathers formerly and they themselves lately had received from the good people of England in their own troubles Divers in both Houses were against the sending to the Scots chosing rather to undergo the extremity then to be beholding to their Friends After divers debates and delays at last it is resolved upon to send Commissioners into Scotland None of the Peers could be perswaded to go The Commons send their Commissioners Members of their House with power from the Peers to transact and agree for both Houses with the Scots by whom they are welcomed with heartinesse as they had been for a long time expected with devotion They come to treat and in a word The Scots tell the English Commissioners That since they desire their aid and help in opposing the Common Enemy in this Common Cause of Religion the subversion and change whereof is mainly intended by the Enemy all other things being but subservient to this designe as the Houses of Parliament did well and wisely declare in that Declaration they set forth when they were to take Arms for the Cause it were very fit that there should be a solemn Oath and Covenant drawn up and taken by both Nations to be stedfast to the Cause of Religion and settle it against all heresies and errours tyranny and confusion And so much the rather did the Scots move this that they had been told by the King ofter then once and by divers of high rank yea all the papers written by the Court against the Parliament did tell over and over again that the Parliament did not intend a setled Reformation in the Church notwithstanding that they had called a Synod The English Commissioners did reply unto the Scots That they could not but acknowledge that the thing was fit to be done yet they had not the power to do it by their Commission Upon this the English Commissioners send hither to the Parliam for that purpose As some of the said Commissioners did say this in simplenesse and sincerity of heart Others did what they could to delay and wave the Covenant if it were possible for they had no liking to it as we have seen since yet it was no time to reject the Scots so just desire So the Scots send Commissioners to the Parliament who together with some deputed from the Parliament draw up the Covenant and it is solemnly taken One of those who went unto Scotland from the Synod followed thither the Scots Commissioners and did what he could to obstruct the drawing up of the Covenant and to wave the taking of it yet he was constrained to take it with others of that mind for it was then not season to appear otherwayes The Covenant is no sooner taken but the Court changeth its language of the Parliaments intending nothing but Schisms and Sects and tels us That hereafter the King will have a care of tender consciences which was since he could not hinder the making and taking of the Covenant by both Kingdoms at least he will do his best to hinder divers particular men from taking it and from studying to keep it as that which is the most contrary to his designe The Scots Commissioners send the Covenant into Scotland where it is generally taken and thereafter according to agreement the Scots come into England for the help of their Brethren but it was the deep of the Winter to wit January before they could be ready So in frost and snow they come as far as Tyne finding but small opposition by men to that place their main enemies were evil weather and want being come to Tyne they find an Enemy with a Body of Horse and Foot exceeding them in number namely in Horse Master of all behind him to Trente except Hull and of all the Countrey about and strong holds After divers encounters and skirmishes the Scots passe the River in spite of the Enemy whom they make retire before them and also keep together and weary him so with hot Service and constant alarms that divers of his men fell sick with toiling and lying without in so hard a season At one encounter neer Durham they made 7 or 8 hundred fall to the ground of the Enemy his men Then they take Hartlepoole and other places upon the Sea from whence they had all their provisions from Scotland for a good while till at last some are sent to them from the South namely from the Citie As they were thus pressing the Enemy Sir Thomas Fairfax issueth out from Hull whereinto he had retired himself for a while being constrained to leave the Field assisted by Sir John Meldrum and fals upon Selby which he takes with valour and successe Upon the news hereof the Enemy runs to York the Scots follow upon the heels and take some of his men and baggage Presently the Lord Fairfax his Forces haveing come after his Son upon this successe and the Scots Forces joyn together neer York The Enemy fearing to be inclosed sends a party of his Horse Southward which is followed by a joint party of the Scots Fairfax his men as far as Trente then the followers return and resolution is taken to besiege York but the Scots having left some of their men in divers places that they had reduced had not men enough to besiege the Citie and keep the Fields in the Enemies Countrey notwithstanding the addition of Fairfax his Forces Wherefore they wrote to the Earl of Manchester to come and help with his Forces which he did willingly with all speed he could Then some there were who were against the joyning of Manchester and his Forces with the Scots and Fairfax as there had been lately some who would have them to go home
this Kingdom to such a posture do not proroge the compassing the same end let God and the World judge And then Are not these things flatly against the third article of the Covenant whereby we are all sworn to defend one another in this Common Cause which how do we perform when we deny assistance to our Brethren in distresse and will not allow them to help their own selves yea we rejoyce at our Brethrens sufferings Are we not bound also by the fourth article not onely to stop and remove any thing which may or might give any wayes occasion of mistake and consequently of division betwixt the two Nations Yea we are sworn to discover those who endeavour any such action and so according to Oath I here declare That it is those incendiaries and factious ones who contrary the ends expressed in the Covenant phancy to set up their evil opinions and invent all means they can to hinder the setling of Government in the Church and consequently as appears by all symptoms to bring Anarchie in the State promising to set down a Seraphin-Modell of a Church which they after so long forbearance will not nor cannot agree among themselves to set down onely they are resolved to stop the setling of the Church-government according as aforesaid to the end that all heresie errour licence libertinisme and corruption may creep in the House of God this is their main drift after their own interest Then Is not the dealing of these factious men with the Scots against the fifth article of the Covenant wherein we are all sworn not onely to keep a good correspondency betwixt the two Nations but also to keep a fair Union for ever Here these factious men will say That the Scots deserve to be thus dealt withall for not doing more Service then they have done this Sommer and not following the desire of the Parliament To which is answered First Let it be seen what the Scots have done and if that which they have done be not as much important to the Common Cause as any thing done elsewhere by any Then If they have not done more let it be seen where the fault lieth whether in them that would not do or in others who have stopped them from doing by hindering them to be furnished and provided for further action More Let it be seen whether or no it were not out of good reason and not by chance that they have not instantly followed the course they were desired to do and whether or no it had been better for the Service of the Common Cause to have so far complied with the designes pressed by those who either would not or did not see and foresee what is most advantagious for the Common Cause or whether or no there was a set Plot to undo the Scots Army Then The Scots are accused To lie heavily upon the Countreys where they come and that they have done many things against the Liberty and Right of the Subject of England I answer As for their burdening or wronging the Subject in the least kinde it is not their intention being come in into England for the relief and righting of the Subject from the oppression and injury of the Common Enemy and if any Souldiers or Officers of theirs have exceeded in any kinde upon just tryall of their faults they are to suffer and to be punished for it besides all things taken by wrong are to be restored and reparation is to be made to the full by the judgement of honest and understanding men upon the place to the end that all mistakes may be taken away and the Union kept betwixt the two Nations in spite of faction and malice against upright men Further Let it be known how the Scots are payed and how they offer to repay ten for one for any thing taken by extortion if they could have the half pay that others have employed in the same Service For this the Scots have frequently sollicited If the Committees of York-shire set a work by some secret Enemy had not gone so high and published at every Parish-Church their orders against the Scots as the Prelats did in former times with their bloody thunder-bolts of excommunication and if they had remembred in whose hands the Liberties and Rights were when the Scots came in to help or where their Committees were then sitting and how far their orders had been obeyed then they might have thought whether or no they had ever had a Parliament given to authorize them if it had not been for the Scots and the Parliament being assembled whether or no sitting this day Till these factious men did rise who besturre themselves so much now of late it was said ordinarily for any Reformation obtained either in Church or State and for stopping any evil to the Publike or to any private men Gara mercy good Scot As this is now forgotten by divers private men to their shame and discredit so these factious men would have it to be out of memory by the Publike but they strive in vain for neither Parliament nor People Synod nor Church will ever nor can forget what they owe to the Scots for the good they enjoy at this present and hope to enjoy hereafter in Gods Mercy Then It is reproached to the Scots to their great grief That they pursue too rigidly the setling of the Church which may be done at leasure when other things are ended and must be performed with ripe consideration for fear of mistake And That they presse too much for Peace when it is apparent none can be made but by the overthrow of the malignant party As also That they stand so much for Royaltie when God knows the King deserveth but little at their hands they being the men he hath the greatest splen against and whom he haâ—es most as he declares himself by all his expressions To all this they answer First That they are obliged in the first place to see the House of the Lord setled and then to look to temporall things for this they have not onely Law and reason to begin at God but also example First out of the sacred History where we see that all true Reformers of the State of Israel and Judah did begin at the Reformation of the House of God Then we see the same in the Ecclesiasticall History practised by the Ancients And of late Hath not the same been done in our Neighbour-Countreys yea in our own by our Fathers And is it not full time after so long and so tedious a debate since it is agreed upon how what it should be by the full consent of Divines assembled for that purpose except of some few of a private spirit for self-conceit and by-interest who having nothing to answer unto the demonstration of the Truth and the reasons for it made known unto them yet with obstinacy do oppose the setling of the Church and so way is given if not countenance to all kinde of heresie errour and blasphemy
the Reformation to be thus retarded and stopped by these Sons of dissention to this day As in this we adore the good Providence of God yet we cannot but accuse our selves of manifold sins whereby we are thus kept back from the enjoying of a through and setled Reformation The Independents do here instance Why doth the Synod deal so rigidly with them as not to comply with them Now let God and the World judge Whether or no so Reverend and learned an Assembly called and met together by Authority of the Magistrate to give out the Platform of a true and through Reformation according to the Word of God and conform to the purest primitive time and the best Reformed Neighbour-Churches having the Word of God for their Rule and Warrant with the example of the purest Antiquity and of the best Reformed Churches now adayes and that not onely by practise of their setled Discipline and Doctrine but also their sentiments and advices concerning the points in dispute with the Independents with the judgement of the learnedst Orthodox men in this part of the World it be fit that the Synod should lay aside the Truth of God and the good of the Church and yeeld to the phantasie and conceit of self-witted and by-ended men who make Religion a cloke to their ambition and avarice by faction troubling both Church and State Then a great stickler of the Independents moves the Houses of Parliament for a toleration for those of his holy Society Fraternity and adherents to have Liberty of conscience in the transmarin Plantations thinking by these means to make a step for the same Liberty at home This cunning of the Independents is so easily to be seen as white threed upon black cloth But how the Magistrate can condiscend to it I know not True it is the Magistrate at his entry finding men in a Countrey professing erroneous Doctrine and Discipline may forbear to presse or trouble them for their errour so the Magistrate in Judah and Israel did not presse the Canaanites for their errours yet did he not suffer them to dogmatize and openly commit Idolatry to the dishonour of God and to the withdrawing of men from the Truth but to authorize men in their errour he cannot do it in duty to God nor in good will towards man for self-Worship of God is far lesse to be allowed by the Magistrate then dishonouring of parents stealing and adultery c. The reason is The first reflects immediately upon God who will be worshipped according to his Rule which is set down in his Word and not according to the phancies of self-conceited men Otherwise in vain God had established Rules according to which he would be served in spirit and not justly had he punished Nations for transgressing his Rule Then the Independents plead for not troubling their consciences It hath been the observation of many remarking men That there was never time nor place when and where the name of conscience hath been so much used for a covert to carriage of things both in Church and State as now adayes and amongst us And if judicious men will seriously consider the conscience this day in every mans mouth they shall find it to be but little more then a sâ—lâ—-conceit misled by wilfull ignorance in some men but for the most part by worldly interest of ambition and avarice For if you take conscience in a right notion to speak homely and plainly of it in this place without subtilizing it is a knowledge of the soul with God of our carriage towards him and towards man Now Whether this carriage of ours be right or no we are to judge of it First and principally By the Rule of Gods Word Next and consequently By right reason and human Laws subservient to the Rule of God simply and purely without by-respects and meerly for the glory of God and for the good of man Now Let those who have conscience and the tendernesse thereof so much in their mouths cast up their accounts Whether or no they do set before their eyes the glory of God and the good of man according to the Rule of God and to right reason or Laws of man subservient to this set Rule without any by-respect of worldly ambition and avarice Further Have not the Independents endeavoured severall times to dissolve at least to adjurn the Synod Yea of late they went so far on as to move it in the House of Peers but the motion was rejected although they had made a good party for the businesse by the wisdom of the House and praise to that Noble Lord Roberts who first answered At this time The Independents do what they can to make a quarrell betwixt the Parliament with the people of England and the Scots since they conceive that they would find but small opposition in their designe if the Scots were not in their way This they tell in their particular discourses freely and perform really so far as they are able So first The Scots underhand must be stopped from all conveniency for their Army and from every thing to go on with the Service in this Common Cause Next The Scots Army must be pressed Southward on this side of Trente to undo it by want of provisions Then The main Committees of the Countrey must be forbid to supply the Scots with any thing yea caused underhand to obtain an Order from higher power to furnish the Scots with little or nothing at all In the mean time The Scots must be cryed out upon as idle and lasie not minding the publike Work and as being burthensome to the people Yea more They must be grievously complained on as taking exorbitantly from the people and men must be perswaded induced and forced to come unto the Parliament with complaints against the Scots without reason and equity and further contrary to agreement for by stipulation it was accorded That no complaint should be made unto the Parliament against the Scots till the businesse were tried by the Committee of both Kingdoms residing upon the place and thereafter if satisfaction and reparation had not been granted the recourse was to be had unto the Parliament Witnesse this seventh Proposition and the Answer unto it which I have thought fit to insert in this place following that every one may see the truth of things The seventh Proposition We do approve that for the preventing of Complaints to be made unto the Parliament of England against the Scottish Army That the Committee of both Kingdoms residing with the Scottish Army be desired to endeavour the redresse of them upon the place and for the preventing of many inconveniencies which otherwise may ensue That it may be intimated unto all such as may be concerned therein that they first addresse themselves to the Committee of both Kingdoms upon the place for reparation of any injuries done to them before they make any complaints to the Parliament and that no complaint be heard here but in such cases