and Authority in the defence and preservation of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms But if his Majesty or any having or pretending power and commission from him shall invade this Kingdom upon pretext of establishing him in the exercise of his Royal Power as it will be an high provocatâ—on against God to be accessory or assisting thereto so wâ—ll it be a necessary duty to resist and oppose the same We know that many are so forgetful of the Oaâ—h of God and ignorant and careless of the Interest of Jesus Christ and the Gospel and doth so little tender that which concerns his Kingdom and the Priviledges thereof and doth so much dote upon absolute and Arbitrary Government for gaining their own ends and so much malign the Instruments of the work of Reformation that they would admit his Majesty to the exercise of his Royal Power upon any terms whatsoever though with never so much prejudice to Religion and the Liberties of these Kingdoms would think it quarrel enough to make War upon all those who for conscience sake cannot condescend thereto but we desire all these who fear the Lord and mind to keep their Covenant impartially to consider these things which follows First That as Magistrates and their power is ordained of GOD so are they in the exercise thereof not to walk according to their own will but according to the Law of Equity and Righteousness as being the Ministers of of God for the safety of his People Therefore a boundlesse and illimited power is to be acknowledged in no King nor Magistrate neither is our King to be admitted to the exercise of his power as long as he refuses to walk in the Administration of the same according to this rule and the established Laws of the kingdom that his Subjects may live under him a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty 2. There is a mutuall obligation and stipulation betwixt the King and his People as both of them are tyed to God so each of them are tyed one to another for the performance of mutuall and reciprocal duties according to this it is statute and ordained in the eighth Act of the first Parliament of King James the sixth That all Kings Princes or Magistrates whatsomever holding their place which hereafter shall happen in any time to Reign and bear rule over this Realm at the time of their Coronation and receit of their Princely Authority make their faithfull promise by Oath in the presence of the eternall God that during the whole course of their lives they shall serve the eternal God to the utmost of their power according as he hath required in his most holy Word contained in the old new Testament and according to the same Word shall maintain the true Religion of Christ Iesus the preaching of his most holy Word and due and right Administration of his Sacraments now received and preached within this Realm and shall abolish and gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same and shall rule the people committed to their charge according to the will and command of God revealed in his Word and according to the lovable Laws and constitutions received within this Realm and shall procure to the utmost of their power to the Kirk of God and whole Christian People true and perfect peace in all time coming and that Justice and Equity be kept to all creatures without exception which Oath was sworn first by King Iames the 6 and afterwards by King Charles at his coronation and is inserted in our National Covenant which was approven by the King who lately reigned As long therefore as his Majesty who now reigns refuses to hearken to the just and necessary desires of State and Kirk propounded to his Majesty for the security of Religion and safety of his People and to engage and oblige himself for the performance of his duty to his people It is consonant to Scripture and Reason and the Laws of the kingdom that they should refuse to admit him to the exercise of his Government untill he give satisfaction in these things 3. In the League and Covenant which hath been so solemnly sworn and renewed by this kingdom the duty of defending and preserving the Kings Majesties Person and Authority is joyned with and subordinate unto the duty of preserving and defending the true Religion and Liberties of the kingdoms And therefore his Majesty standing in opposition to the just and necessary publick desires concerning Religion and Liberties it were a manifest breach of covenant and a preferring of the Kings interest to the interest of Jesus Christ to bring him to the exercise of his Royall power which he walking in a contrary way and being compassed about with Malignant counsels cannot but imploy unto the prejudice and ruin of both 4. Was not an arbitrary Government and unlimited power the fountain of most of all the corruptions both in Kirk and State And was it not for restraint of this and for their own just defence against Tyranny and unjust Violence which ordinarily is the fruit and effect of such a power that the Lords people did joyn in covenant and have been at the expence of so much blood pains and treasure these yeers past And if his Majesty should be admitted to the exercise of his Government before satisfaction given were it not to put in his hand that arbitrary power which we have upon just and necessary grounds been so long withstanding and so to abandon our former principles and betray out Cause 5. The King being averse from the work of Reformation and the Instruments thereof and compassed about with Malignant and disaffected men whom he hearkens unto as his most faithfull Counsellers and looks upon as his best and most Loyall Subjects We leave to all indifferent men to judge whether his Majesty being admitted to the exercise of his power before satisfaction given would not by such counsels endeavour an overturning of the things which God hath wrought amongst us and labour to draw publick administrations concerning Religion and the Liberties of the Subject unto that course and channel in which they did run under Prelacy and before the work of Reformation Which we have the more cause to fear because his Royall Father did so often declare that he conceived himself bound to imploy all the power that God should put in his hands to the utmost for these ends and that he adheres as yet to his Fathers principles and walks in his way and hath made a peace with the Irish Rebels by which is granted unto them the full liberty of Popery 6. It is no strange nor new thing for Kingdoms to preserve Religion and themselves from ruine by putting restraint upon the exercise of the power and Government of those who have refused to grant those things that were necessary for the good of Religion and the Peoples safety there have been many Precedents of it in this and other Nations of old and of late
upon these and other important considerations It shall bee the wisedom of every one who dwells in the Land to take heed of such a temptation and snare that they be not accessary to any such designs or endeavours as they would not bring upon themselves and upon their families the guilt of all the detriment that will undoubtedly follow thereupon to Religion and the Covenant and of all the miseries and calamities that it will bring upon his Majesties Person and throne and upon these Kingdoms such a thing would in all appearance be the undermining and shaking if not the overthrowing and destroying of the work of Reformation and therefore whosoever attempt the same oppose themselves to the cause of God and will at last dash against the Rock of the Lords power which hath broken in pieces many high and lofty ones since the beginning of this Work in these Kingdoms and it is unto us a sure Word of promise That whosoever shall associate themselves or toke counsell together or gird themselves against God and his Work shall be broken in pieces It is not only joyning in Arms with the Malignant partie that all these who would keep their integrity has need to beware of but also subtill devices and designes that are promoted by fair pretexts and perswasions to draw men to dispence at least with some part of these necessary desires that are propounded to his Majestie for securing of Religion after many turnings and devises the foundation of the Unlawfull Engagement was at last laid by his Majesties Concessions of the date the yeer 1648. wherein though many things seemed to be granted yet that was denied without which Religion and the Union betwixt the Kingdoms could not have been secured and it is probable that such a way may be assayed again and prosecuted with very much cunning and skill to deceive and insnare the simple It doth therefore concern all ranks and conditions of persons to be the more warie and circumspect especially in that which concerns the Nationall Covenant and the solemn League and Covenant that before his Majestie be admitted to the exercise of his Royall Power that by and after the Oath of Coronation he shall assure and declare by his Solemn Oath under his hand and seal his allowance of the Nationall Covenant and of the Solemn League and Covenant and obligation to prosecute the ends thereof in his Station and Calling and that he shall for himself and successors consent and agree to Acts of Parliament injoyning the solemn League and Covenant and fully establishing Presbyteriall Government the Direâ—tory of Worship the Confession of Faith and Catechisme as they are approvea by the Generall Assembly of this Kirk and Parliament of this Kingdom in all his Majesties Dominions and that he shall observe these in his own practise and familie and that he shall never made opposition to any of these nor endeavour any change thereof Albeit the League and Covenant be despised by that prevailing party in England and the work of Uniformity thorow the retardments and obstructions that have come in the way be almost forgotten by these Kingdome yet the obligation of that Covenant is perpetuall and all the duties contained therein are constantly to be minded and prosecuted by every one of us and our posterity according to their place and stations and therefore we are no lesse zealously to endeavour that his Majestie may Establish and swear and subscribe the same then if it were unanimously regarded and stuck unto by all the Kingdom of England his Majeste swearing and subscribing the league and Covenant will much contribute for the Security of Religion his Majesties happiness and the Peace of his Kingdoms As it is incumbent to all who live in this Kirk and Kingdom to bee watchfull and circumspect so it concernes these of the High and Honorable Court of Parliament and their Committees in a special way to see to their dutie and to be straight and resolute in the performance of the same Their former proceedings is unto us a sufficient evidence and ground of hope that they will not be wanting in any necessary testimonie of duty and Loyaltie that they owe to the King by using all just and seasonable established upon his Thrones And we trust that upon the other hand the sense of their Obligation to God and his Oath that is upon them will make them constantly to adhere to their former principles and resolutions and desires concerning Religion and the Covenant that reall satisfaction may be had there anent before the King be put in exercise of his power and that they wil carefully provide for the safety of the Kingdom both in regard of intestine dangers and in regard of invasion from without It is not long since they together with the rest of the Land made solemn publike Confession of Compliance with Malignants carnall confidence following of it self interests and hearkning to the Counsels of flesh and blood and did in a special way engage themselves to comply and seek themselves and their own things no more to abandon the counsels of their own hearts and not to rely upon the Arm of flesh and to purge Judicatories and Armies from prophane and scandalous Persons And God forbid that they should so soon forget or neglect so necessary duties and fall again unto so great and grievous transgressions We trust that they will seek the things of Christ and not their own things that they will hearken to his Word and not walk in the imaginations of their own hearts that they will relie upon the Arm of the Lord and not upon the arm of flesh that they will be warie and circumspect in discerning the dispositions and affections of those whom they put in trust and that seeing this Kindom hath so much smarted and been so often deceived by compliance with Malignants that they will carefully avoid this snare of those who were upon the former Unlawful Engagement and be tender in bringing in of such And we cannot but exhort them in the Name of the Lord to take notice of the Oppression of the People and Commons in the Land by the lawlesse exactions of Land-Lords Collectors and Souldiers We doe not justifie the murmurings and grudgings of those who preferring the things of the world to the Gospel and things of Jesus Christ repine at necessarie burthens without which it is not possible that the Land can be secured from invasion without and insurrection within or the Cause and People of God defended from enemies It is the duty of every one who hath taken the Covenant willingly and with a cheerful minde to bestow their meanes and their pains as they shall be called thereunto in an orderly way yet should these to whom God hath committed the Government take care that they be not nedlesly burthened and that none grind their faces by oppression not only by making of Laws against the same but by searching out of the cause of the poor and by executing
A REMONSTRANCE AND DECLARATION OF THE Generall Assembly OF THE Church of Scotland CONCERNING Present and Imminent Dangers and concerning Duties relating thereto EDINBVRGH Printed by Evan Tyler Printer to the Kings most excellent Majesty 1649. And Re-printed at London for Robert Bostock dwelling at the sign of the Kings-head in Pauls Church-yard 1649. Edinburgh 27. July 1649. Sess 27. A seasonable and necessary Warning and Declaration concerning Present and Imminent Dangers and concerning Duties relating thereto from the General Assembly of this Kirk unto all the Members thereof THe Lord who chooses Jerusalem in a furnace of Affliction hath been pleased since the beginning of the work of Reformation in this Land to exercise his People with many tryals All that desired to keep a good conscience were not long ago under many heavy and sad pressures from the insolency and oppression of a prevailing party of dis-affected and Malignant men who under a pretext of bringing the King to a condition of Honor Freedom and Safety did carry on an unlawful Engagement against the Kingdom of England and if the Lord had not been merciful unto his People they were like either to have been banished out of the Land or to have bin kept in a perpetual bondage in their consciences persons and estates But he whose Messengers those men had mocked and whose Word they had despised did bring them down suddenly in a day and restored liberty and peace unto his people a mercy and deliverance which as it ought to be remembred with thankfulness and praise so may it engage our hearts not to faint in troubles and straits that do yet abide us but to trust in the name of the Lord who both can and will deliver us still out of all our afflictions Albeit we do now enjoy many rich and precious blessings wherein we have reason to be comforted and to rejoyce yet it were to shut our eyes if we should not see our selvs involved in threatned with many and great dangers at home and from abroad It is matter of exceeding great sorrow to think upon the ignorance and profanity the impenitency and security that abounds still in the Land notwithstanding all the gracious dispensation of the Gospel and means of grace in such purity and plenty that none of the Nations round about us can boast of the like and of all the long-suffering patience of the Lord and of all his sharp rods wherewith he hath afflicted us from year to year and of all the mercies and deliverances wherewith he hath visited us and of our late solemn confession of sins andengagement unto duties sealed with the renewing of the Covenant and the Oath of God Which some men have so far already forgotten as to return with the dog to the vomit and with the sow to the puddle and many signs of inconstancy and levity do appear among all sorts and ranks of persons who seem to want nothing but a suitable tentation to draw them away from their stedfastness Our Army is not yet sufficiently purged but there be still in it Malignant and scandalous men whose fidelity and constancy as it is much to be doubted so is the wrath of the Lord to be feared upon their proceedings and undertakings without a speedy and effectual remedy That prevailing party of Sectaries in England who have broken the Covenant and despised the Oath of God corrupted the Truth subverted the sundamental Government by King and Parliament and taken away the Kings life look upon us with an evill eye as upon those who stand in the way of their monstrous and new-fangled devices in Religion and Government and though there were no cause to fear any thing from that party but the Gangrene and infection of those many damnable and abominable errors which have taken hold on them yet our vicinity unto and dayly commerce with that Nation may justly make us afraid that the Lord may give up many in this Land unto a spirit of delusion to beleeve lyes because they have not received the love of the Truth Neither is the Malignant party so far broken and brought low as that they have abandoned all hopes of carrying on their former designs against the Covenant and work of Reformation beside many of them in this Kingdom who are as Foxes tyed in chains keeping their evil nature and waiting an opportunity to break their cords and again to prey upon the Lords people There be standing Armies in Ireland under the command of the Marquess of Ormond the Lord Inchiqueen the Lord of Airds and George Munroe who forgetting all the horrible cruelty that was exercised by the Irish Rebels upon many thousands of the English and Scottish Nations in that Land have entred into a Peace and Association with them that they may the more easily carry on the old designs of the Popish Prelatical and Malignant party and the Lord of Airds and George Monroe have by treachery and oppression brought the Province of Vlster and Garisons therein under their power and command and have redacted our Country-men and such as adhere unto the Covenant and cause of God in that Province unto many miseries and straits and are like to banish the Ministers of the Gospel and to overturn these fair beginnings of the work of God which were unto many a branch of hope that the Lord meant to make Ireland a pleasant Land But which is more grievous unto us then all these our King Notwithstanding of the Lords hand against his Fathers opposition to the work of God and of the many sad and doleful consequences that followed thereupon in reference to Religion and his Subjects and Person and Government doth hearken unto the counsels of these who were Authors of these miseries unto his Royal Father and to his Kingdoms by which it hath come to pass that his Majesty hath hitherto refused to grant the just and necessary desires of this Kirk and Kingdom which were tendred unto him from the Commissioners of both for securing of Religion the Liberties of the Subject his Majesties Government and the Peace of the Kingdom And it is much to be feared that those wicked Counsellors may so far prevail upon him in his tender years as to engage him in a war for overturning if it be possible of the work of God and bearing down all those in the three Kingdoms that adhere thereto which if he shall do cannot but bring great wrath from the Lord upon himself and his throne and must be the cause of many new and great miseries and calamities to these lands It concerns a Nation thus sinful and loaden with iniquity and involved in so many difficulties and dangers by timous repentance and unfained humiliation to draw neer to God and to wrestle with him in Prayer and supplication that our sin may be pardoned and our iniquity done away and that he would establish the Land in the love of the Truth and inable every one in their station to do their duty boldly