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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85184	The league illegal. Wherein the late Solemn League and Covenant is seriously examined, scholastically and solidly confuted: for the right informing of weak and tender consciences, and the undeceiving of the erroneous. Written long since in prison, by Daniel Featley D.D. and never until now made known to the world. Published by John Faireclough, vulgò Featley, chaplain to the Kings most Excellent Majesty.	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.; Featley, John, 1605?-1666.; England and Wales. Sovereign (1625-1649 : Charles I)	1660 (1660)	Wing F591; Thomason E1040_8; ESTC R199	47,903	77

in the Atheism Blasphemy Epicurism and Liberty of those looser times But Undè hoc repentè commentum Whence arose this suddain fury Whence sprang this Epidemical Madness Apostacy and Ruine Perditio tua ex te ô Israel saith God by his Prophet O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self And most true it is for as in general our crying sins pulled down the Vengeance and justifyed the Revenger so there was something in particular of Covetousness Ambition and cunning Malice which contrived and managed our Civil Wars but cannot justifie the Contrivers Not to touch upon those State affairs which were meerly such it may well become us now as Christians in the pleasant bowres of our quiet solitude to sit down and re-view that pretence of Divinity and regulating of our Consciences which plotted and fomented our Rebellion and put a glosse upon our Insurrections To this purpose we finde in the Preface to the Covenant That the Noblemen Barons Knights Gentlemen Citizens Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland called to minde the treacherous and bloudy Plots Conspiracies Attempts and Practices of the enemies of God against the true Religion and Professors thereof c. especially in these three Kingdoms c. and how much their Rage Power and Presumptions were of late and at that time increased and exercised But who were these enemies Papists 't is granted But were these the only enemies Suppose they were which yet cannot be yielded how must they be suppressed By a National and Solemn League and Covenant for thus we were taught by our Neighbour Nation I need not therefore enquire Who composed our Covenant or By what Authority it was Imposed and pressed Let it suffice that This Covenant was concluded to be the way and the only way to advance the glory of God and the Kingdom of Christ the honour and happiness of the King and his Posterity and the true publick Liberty Safety and Peace of these Kingdoms Here were indeed specious Pretences and fair hopes as full of confidence as the simple people could be hugged and dandled with Virgo formosa supernè But did the Physick work as the Physicians promised and the Patients expected Did it produce any of those saving effects which the grave Dictators assured us it would Surely no It may well therefore now become us their Patients who suffered many things of many Physicians and spent all that we had and were nothing bettered but rather grew worse to enter into a serious consultation about that which they contrived to be the Methodus medendi and since it pretends to Divinity to enquire whether it were indeed either lawful or proper If we truly desire a Sober Judicious and Solid Resolution I presume that the ensuing Book will answer our doubts and inform our Consciences I confesse that this Book might have slept still in private and should not have grown publick especially at this time if the spirit of contradiction were not now so prevalent and malice so industrious The troublers of our Israel enter upon the stage again and furious men whom nothing will satisfie joyn in a new and lawless Corporation and send up their Burgesses upon the errand of scurrilous and factious Libelling Is this their Divinity to be thus unthankful Malè collata malè debentur faith the quaint and Divine Philosopher Hath our God of peace so lately beaten our Swords into Plough-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks and must we go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a Smith to reduce them into weapons again Hath he not once again sent us a King in mercy and fitted an incomparable head to the shoulders of our Kingdoms Are not our Scorpion scourges gently removed our Sequestrations taken off our Religion restored our good old Lawes revived and our propriety and just liberty recovered and enjoyed Do we not seem to be blessed with a well-grounded hope that both King and People Church and Common-wealth will peaceably repose and solace themselves in those glorious and mutuall tyes of a righteous Government and a dutiful Obedience a Religion pure and undefiled and such Love and Loyalty as may never be interrupted What meaneth then this bleating and lowing of these sheep and oxen and the hideous braying of unclean beasts in our Christian ears Must our Musick stop upon a fret and our Harmonie be disturbed by such harsh and unwelcome discords Are we already sick of our ease and weary of our mercies Will Jeshurun kick as soon as ever he waxeth fat Alas alas the moth endeavours to eat into our Garments again and the canker into our purest Gold We daily see how these discontents of ungrateful and irreligious Spirits endeavour to blast our fairest hopes by disturbing our Peace and renewing our contentions The ambitious are discontented and want promotion the malitious are troubled and want revenge The needy sufferers are impatient and want preferment the heretical are vexed and fear a Curb and the schismatical are unquiet and suspect a settlement Too many forget the miseries of war too few are thankfull for peace and truth and the full soul loaths the honey-combe That foolish fowl which saved the Capitol hath moulted her sicker quils and the unwise turn them into gaping penns to scrible sedition I have therefore awaked this book that it may tell the deluded world how unsafely we formerly credited the croaking of such Egyptian Frogs and hope that are-view of our former contentions grounded upon the Covenant will make us repent and be Wise Deliberandum est diù quod statuendum est semel saith Seneca We should seriously consider before we certainly decree and with good advice should make war Those that sowed in our tears by their hasty Covenanting may thank themselves if they reap not in our joy If their League was Illegal and made their grapes so sowre certainly to revive it except in their sorrow is the way to continue their teeth on edge Juravit David temerè saith the Father sed non implevit Jurationem majore pietate David was a grievous sinner when he became so rash a swearer but he shewed more piety when he broke his Oath Although some few do seek our disturbance and those none of the best yet we see and rejoyce that many Learned and Conscientious Covenanters retract their Errours Some there are whose judgements are convinced by the syllogisme of Conscience some who are calmed by the gentleness of Remission and some also who are reclaimed by the Royal care and indulgent tenderness of our most gracious Soveraign who maketh the Children of the Bond-woman Heirs with those of the Free-woman I presume that I need not to commend the ensuing Book to any of these unless to confirm them in their conversion by strength of Arguments that as their repentance is visible so their resolves may be constant But I greatly suspect the inflexibility and pertinacious obstinacy of some few of our dissenting

sorts in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland by the Providence of God living under one King and being of one Reformed Religion having before our eyes the glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the honour and happiness of the Kings Majesty and His Posterity and the true publick Liberty Safety and Peace of the Kingdoms wherein every one private condition is included and calling to mind the treacherous and bloudy Plots Conspiracies Attempts and practises of the Enemies of God against the true Religion and professors thereof in all places especially in these three Kingdoms ever since the Reformation of Religion and how much their rage power and presumption are of late and at this time increased and exercised whereof the deplorable estate of the Charch and Kingdom of Ireland the distressed estate of the Church and Kingdom of England and the dangerous estate of the Church and Kingdom of Scotland are present and publick Testimonies We have now at last after other means of supplication Remonstrance Protestations and Sufferings for the preservation of our selves and our Religion from utter ruin and destruction according to the commendable practise of these Kingdoms in former times and the Example of Gods People in other Nations after mature deliberation resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and solemn League and Covenant wherein we all subscribe and each one of us for himself with our hands lifted up to the most High God do swear I. THat we shall sincerely really and constantly through the Grace of God endeavour in our several places and callings the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government against our common Enemies The Reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best reformed Churches And shall endevour to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church-Government Directory for Worship and Catechizing That we and our posterity after us may as Brethren live in Faith and Love and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us II. That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of Popery Prelacy that is Church-Government by Archbishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy Superstition Heresie Schisme Profaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godliness lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues and that the Lord may be one and his Name one in the three Kingdoms III. We shall with the same sincerity reality and constancy in our several Vocations endeavour with our estates and lives mutually to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms that the world may bear witness with our Consciences of our Loyalty and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish His Majesties just power and greatness IV. We shall also with all faithfulness endevour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants or evill Instruments by hindring the Reformation of Religion dividing the King from his people or one of the Kingdoms from another or making any faction or parties amongst the people contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publick triall and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the supream Judicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient V. And whereas the happiness of a blessed Peace betweene these Kingdoms denied in former times to our progenitors is by the good providence of God granted unto us and hath been lately concluded and setled by both Parliaments we shall each one of us according to our place and interest endeavor that they may remain conjoyned in a firm Peace and Union to all posterity And that Justice may be done upon the wilful opposers thereof in mannr expressed in the precedent Articles VI We shall also according to our places and callings in this common cause of Religion Liberty and Peace of the Kingdoms assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof and shall not suffer our selves directly or indirectly by whatsoever combination perswasion or terror to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed Union and Conjunction whether to make defection to the contrary part or to give our selves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in this cause which so much concerneth the glory of God the good of the Kingdoms and the honor of the King but shall all the dayes of our lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all lets and impediments whatsoever and what we are not able our selves to suppress or overcome we shall reveal and make known that it may be timely prevented or removed All which we shall do as in the sight of God And because these Kingdoms are guilty of many sins and provocations against God and his Son Jesus Christ as is too manifest by our present distresses and dangers the fruits thereof We professe and declare before God and the world our unfained desire to be humbled for our own sins and for the sins of these Kingdoms especially that we have not as we ought valued the inestimable benefit of the Gospel that we have not laboured for the purity and power thereof and that we have not endeavoured to receive Christ in our hearts nor to walk worthy of him in our lives which are the causes of other sins and transgressions so much abounding amongst us And our true and unfained purpose desire and endeavour for our selves and all others under our power and charge both in publick and in private in all duties we owe to God and man to amend our lives and each one to go before another in the example of a reall Reformation that the Lord may turn away his wrath and heavy indignation and establish these Churches and Kingdoms in truth and peace And this Covenant we make in the presence of Almighty God the searcher of all hearts with a true intention to perform the same as we shall answer at that great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed Most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by his holy Spirit for this end and to blesse our desires and proceedings with such successe as may be deliverance and safety to his people and encouragement to other Christian Churches groaning under or in danger of the

State nor anxiously to enquire into the reason which moved the first contrivers and projectors of this League to set it on foot at this present and presse it with all earnestness I am perswaded that none will denie that their main scope and aime therein was to engage our brethren of Scotland in the present quarrell for pulling down Episcopacie and setting up the Presbyterie and by this National and solemne league to strengthen their partie and foment this unnaturall war which hath already drained the wealth of the Kingdome and is like to draw out the life-blood also Nemo tenetur divinare say the Canonists neither will I take upon me the office of a Prophet to foretell the Catastrophe of these Tragedies Yet sure I am this Queen of all Islands never received such prejudiced and wrong nor ever was so near the brink of destructions when she drew in forain Forces to defend her self against homebred Enemies and I pray God we experimentally interpret not the mysterie of Pharaohs dream concerning the lean kine which eat up the fat and yet were never a whit the fatter If there be a decree of Heaven that these two Nations shall be drowned one in anothers blood for the crimsons sins of both not yet repented of yet let not us draw this most fearfull judgement upon both Kingdomes by the cord of an oath But to argue syllogistically No Subjects living under a Christian Prince who is a professor of the true Religion and a Defender of the orthodox faith may enter into a publick and solemne covenant for the reformation of religion without the consent much lesse against the expresse command of their Soveraign For such disobedience and sleighting of their King cannot stand with the duty we ow him of fear and loyalty injoyned Prov. 24. 21. My son fear the Lord and the King Eccles. 8. 2. I advise thee to take heed to the mouth of the King and to the word of the oath of God Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation V. 4. If thou do evil fear for he beareth not the sword in vain Prov. 16. 14. The wrath of the King is the messenger of death Prov. 19. 12. The Kings wrath is like the roaring of a Lion 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme v. 17. Fear God honour the King Nor with the prayers of the Church made for him that we may serve honour and humbly obey him in God and for God Nor with the principles of right Reason for the King is the supreme head of the Church and Common-wealth under Christ and all his Subjects conjunctim in Parliament or divisim are but Members of the same Body politick and how should the members enter into a covenant or frame and devise it without the head But the King is so far from yielding his royall assent to this Covenant that he strictly forbids it and that under the pain of Treasonin his Proclamation printed at Oxford Ergo we may not enter into this Covenant nor entangle our consciences with this new Oath This Covenant we make with God and in all things especially the things appertaining to God we must obey God rather then man We have the Kings vertua consent l thereunto for though he be not present in person at the Parliament nor hath given his royall assent under his hand yet this Parliament is called and continued by his authority and his consent is vertually contained in the Votes of both Houses It is a ruled case in Divinity That we must obey God rather then man when God commandeth one thing and man another but when the commands of God and of his Vicegerent upon earth clash not one against another St. Bernards doctrine is most true We must obey him as God who is in the place of God in those things which are not against God When St. Peter and St. John returned this answer to the Councell the Councell forbad that which God commanded God commanded the Apostles to preach Christs resurrection and the Assembly of Priests and Elders forbad them This is not the Covenanters case for where doth God command the English to sweare to preserve the Scotch Discipline and Liturgie which they themselves have often varied Or to abjure Episcopacie which was the only government of the Church for more then 1500 years and under whose shade Christian Religion most flourished and the Church stretched forth her branches to the Rivers and her boughs to the ends of the earth Where doth the Scripture warrant much less command the association of two Kingdomes and joyntly taking up armes in the quarrell of the Gospell and defending and propagating religion by the sword The calling of the Parliament by the Kings authority doth not conclude his assent to all the Ordinances of both the Houses for if it were so why did this Parliament after they had voted the Militia and the extirpation of Prelacie and Pluralities send to his Majesty and humbly intreat his royall assent nay why in all Parliaments since the first even till this day after both Houses had past bills did still the Lords and Commons lay them at his Majesties feet beseeching him in humblest manner to take them up and signe them with his royall hand and if he liked them his answer hath been Le Roy vieut if he distasted them Le Roy s'avisera Did the calling of a Parliament in the Kings name and by his authority vertually include or conclude his Royall assent to all the Acts King Richard the 2d had given his consent to his own deposing for that Parliament wherein he was deposed was called in his name and by his Authority 4. No Covenant especially publike and solemn between two Nations for reformation of Religion may be taken without warrant from Gods word for in every such Covenant God is a partie and his consent must be both had and known which cannot be but from his word Beside this Covenant is bound with an Oath which is an Act of Religion and cultus latriae that is a part of divine worship and if it be not commanded by God it is forbidden in Scripture under the name of will-worship Moreover that golden rule of the Apostle applyed by by him to the use of things indifferent stretcheth also to this case of conscience Whatsoever Oath we take or Covenant we enter into not perswaded in Conscience that we have good ground for what we doe in scripture is sinne to us But this Covenant hath no warrant for it in holy Scripture for from the Alpha of Genesis to the Omega of the Apocalypse there is no vola nor vestigium of such a Covenant as this Ergo this Covenant must not be taken by any who desire to walk exactly before God according to the

precise rule of his word There is warrant in Gods word both for the matter of this Covenant and the form and manner of taking the oath For the matter we have a pattern of a Covenant taken for the reformation of the false and preservation of the true worship of God and the uniting of Kingdoms in the truth thus reformed 1 Sam. 18. 3. 4. 2 Kings 23. 5. 2 Chr. 25. 8. 9. 2 Chro. 30. Ezra 10. 2. And for the form and manner of taking it by lifting up the hand we have a precedent Apoc. 10. 50. None of these instances are ad Rhombum all those Covenants were made against idolatrie and other sins expresly forbidden by the law of God but this Covenant is against Prelacie and such a form of worship practised in the Church of England as hath been justified by the word of God and unanswerable arguments drawn from Scripture by Whitgift and Hooker in their answer to Cartwright C●vell to Barrow and Browne Burges to Ames and Ball to Can and many others In all those Covenants the King had the main stroak but in this none at all 1. For the Covenant mentioned 1 Sam. 18. 3 4 it comes not home to our case for that was a private Covenant between two intimate friends for the safety of both their lives sought after by a bloudy Tyrant this is a National Covenant between two Kingdoms for the Reforming Religion and setling Peace that was made by the true King appointed by God and anointed before this by Samuel against him who indeed held the Crown but was rejected by God himself this is a Covenant made by Subjects against the Commands of a most gracious Prince 2. For the Covenant mentioned 2 King 23. 5. the text saith King Josiah made this Covenant that they should walk after the Lord and keep his Commandements and his Testimonies and his Statutes with all their heart c. And that he put down the Chemarims c. There the King makes a Covenant and reforms a Church and not the People here the People enter into a Covenant without the King and they take upon them against his command to Reform or rather Deform the Church by overthrowing the Hierarchy and abolishing Episcopacy Chius ad Choum these things agree as well as Harp and Harrow 3. For the Covenant mentioned 2 Chr. 15. 8 9. King Asa gathered all Judah and Benjamin together to Jerusalem where they offered to the Lord of the spoyles and made this Covenant and in performance of this Oath or Covenant v. 16. he deposed Maacah his mother from her Regency because she had made an Idoll in a grove and Asa brake down her Idoll and stampt it and burned it at the brook Kidron 4. For the example of Israel 2 Chron. 30. who in the dayes of Hezekiah though they were under another King yet joyned with the men of Judah in keeping the Passover it yeilds no support at all to their tottering cause For 1. They entred not into any solemn League with the men of Judah though for the present they joyned with them in a Religious duty commanded by the Law 2. What they did they were invited to do by King Hezekiah whereas the Scotch are not invited to this League with the English by the King 3. The King of Asshur forbad not the Israelites to joyn with their Brethren of Judah in keeping the Passover but the King forbids any of his Subjects to enter into this Covenant 4 The King who Reigned over the Israelites was an Idolater but our King is a worshiper of the true God And albeit in some case and quarrel the worshipers of the true God may joyn with their Brethren of the same Religion in another Kingdom in a Defensive League though the King being an Idolater should forbid it yet it follows not that they may do so without the consent and against the command of a Christian Prince who is a professor of the true Religion Lastly The Israelites besides the invitation of King Hezekiah to keep a solemn Passeover with the Jews had the express command of God himself whereas neither English nor Scotch have any command from God expresly or implicitly to enter into this League for the Defence of the Protestant Religion against Papist without the King the King himself undertaking and that by most solemn Oathes and Protestations to defend the same 5. For the Covenant mentioned Ezra 10. 3. that was meerly to remove a Scandal from the Jews and to fulfil the express command of God for putting away strange wives set down in the Law of Moses in which case no man doubteth but a Covenant may be made not only without but against the commandement of a Prince Yet here the Jews besides the command of Nehemiah the Viceroy had the approbation of the Prince for making this Covenant for the King of Persia at this time favoured the Jews and contributed largely to the reedifying of the Temple and gave order to Ezra the Priest to adorn the house of God and perform all things in his service according to the Law Ezra 7. 10. The last example Rev. 10. 5. is least to our present purpose for the Angel there made no Covenant but only sware by the living God that time should be no more It is true he lifted up his hand yet that no way helpeth the Covenanters cause for that might be a fit gesture in an Angel menacing a fatal doom to the world and the outdating of all time which yet may not be thought so fit a gesture for men entring into a holy League for the preservation of two Kingdoms If they can as the Angel did stand upon the earth and the sea at the same time let them also further imitate the Angel in lifting up their hands to heaven when they make their Covenant Howsoever for the gesture we will not contend with them I think it fitter in taking this Oath then after the usuall manner to lay the hand upon the Bible for this Oath and Covenant hath no ground or foundation at all in that book and the lifting up of the hand very well expresseth the purport of this Covenant which is a lifting up of their hands against the Lords anointed and his Church yet under pretence of defence of the Kings person never so much endangered as by their Armies and of Religion never so profaned as by their Reformadoes and of the liberties of Subjects never so much infringed as by arbitrary votes Before we take this Oath of reformation we must desire a reformation of the Oath for it is full of ambiguities and contradictions whence I thus frame a fifth argument 5. No ambiguous Oath ought to be taken or Covenant signed for here one of Pythagoras golden Precepts taketh place Loquere cum lumine all Ambiguities Equivocations or mental reservations especially in Leagues and Oathes are abominated by all Protestants He that sweareth ambiguously sweareth not in simplicity of heart nor can

Brethren whom peradventure nothing will content but an illimited Power to Lord it in their Parishes and assisted with their Confederates to make their Consistories as well the Benches for secular Cases as the Tribunals for Ecclesiastical and all under a notion of The Power of the Keyes To these in particular if such there are I do friendly recommend this following work hoping that when they feel the force of Argument in their strong convictions they will not be ashamed to confess their mistakes and study to be quiet The Author of this Book was known to be a burning and a shining light untill malice and mischief shut him up in a Prison and put out his Lamp His Speech in the Assembly against this Covenant was at that time so distasted that his impatient and too zealous Brethren suffered him not to render those his Reasons in defence of Episcopacy which are added to this Work When they therefore hastened to swear the League he retired to his house to grieve and to pray Y from that time forward he was neither secure in his study nor safe in his house It was his seeming sin that he so freely delivered his conscience and his punishment was Plundring Sequestring Imprisonment and Death While he continued a Prisoner he composed this Book at the request of a friend and the importunity of his Letter wherewith it begins I suppose that none will gain-say the observation of the Father Conflictatio in adversis probatio est veritatis He was not ashamed of his chain because he endured those pressures as a faithful Son of that true Church whereof Cassiod in Psal. 1. saith Novit Ecclesia beneficia Domini triumphat de suis cladibus afflictione semper augetur sanguine martyrum irrigatur tristitiâ magis erigitur angustiâ dilatatur fletibus pascitur jejuniis reficitur indè potius crescit undè mundus deficit Let the judicious and impartial Reader censure it as he pleaseth I shall end this Introduction with the words of Horace Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his utere mecum TO My Reverend and much esteemed Friend D. F. SIR THE Winde is stormy and the Sea troubled and we are to cut a way through a narrow passage between two dangerous Rocks wherein if we steer not warily and evenly it cannot be avoided but we shall make shipwrack on the one side or on the other on the one side of Loyalty and a good Conscience on the other of Liberty and our Estate In this case to whom should we rather have recourse then to an antient and skilful Pilot who hath sounded the depths of Theological Controversies and heretofore hazarded his life to save others from drowning in the Sea of Errors Moreover none in my judgement so fit to resolve a Case of Conscience and that of greatest importance as a faithful Minister of the Gospel who hath suffered for Conscience I pray Sir be not shie of your best advice for if we miscarry through want of your Direction all your excuses will prove unexcusable before God What though you have resolved to conceal your self and you lie hid at this present in the dark Yet like a Chrysolite or Carbuncle glowing with Divine fire you shine the brighter I intreat you therefore of all loves to cast a careful eye upon the late Covenant and in the sieve of the refined judgements of the subtilest Casuists to sift it to the bran and send the result of your thoughts upon it to Your Ancient And true affectionate Friend E. G. From London this 12. of February 1643. TO My Noble and much Honored Friend E. G. Worthy Sir IN this tempestuous season like that in Rome when as Livie relateth it rained bloud for many dayes the best counsell I can give is That you and all who are like you from whose Prayers offered up with strong cryes heaven suffereth violence would cry aloud with the Disciples when the ship was covered with waves Save us Master we perish that so he being awaked by our watchful devotion may rebuke the winds and the Seas and restore unto us our former calm and Halcyonian dayes For particular directions how to steer your course between the Rocks you mention upon which you are in danger to split either your Conscience if you enter into this New Covenant or your Estate if you enter not into it you cannot expect them from me For though I have for many years studied the Compass of Gods word yet I am no Pilot. I have ever lived under the hatches and never sate at helm in Church or Common-wealth And if I should take upon me the office of a Steerman and you following my advice should miscary and be dasht in pieces or sunk in your fortunes in stead of thanks from you I were like to receive curses from your family and posterity Yea but I am say you a dispenser of the mysteries of salvation and it is required of a Steward that he be found faithful and I have suffered already for the testimony of a good Conscience and therefore ought not for any fear or terrour conceal my judgement or stifle the truth I cannot deny my function neither will I betray my innocency neither am I afraid of any thing so much herein as this That if you make me your Casuist your case will be soon like mine and by gaining the truth you will be a loser But I check my self in these thoughts with the words of our Saviour What will it advantage a man to win the whole world and lose his own soul What will it avail the master of a Ship to save his whole fraight if he lose that pretious pearl which the rich Merchant sold all that he had to buy This peerless pearl no plunderer can rob us of this affordeth me a comfortable light in the thickest darkness of melancholy thoughts Save for this I account my self nothing worth at all No carbuncle as your love overpriseth me but a dead coal now resolving into ashes and as I lie hid in the dark so I desire from this obscure state to steal into heaven and in the mean while Ita vivere ut nemo me vixisse sentiat so to passe through these angry and working seas that none may discern the print of my Keel Notwithstanding because you charge me so deeply by all the ties of Christian charity which is the bond of perfection I will freely open my self concerning the Engagement of our Conscience in the New Covenant and return you not so much a punctual as a poignant resolution Yours to serve you in the Lord D. F. THE COVENANT Which caused these Scruples of Conscience Here followeth A Solemn League and Covenant for Reformation and defence of Religion the honour and happiness of the King and the Peace and Safety of the three Kingdoms England Scotland and Ireland WE Noblemen Barons Knights Gentlemen Citizens Burgesses Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all