the Covenant from the nature of the thing doth include a Condition Now the King the Church of England the Church of Scotland nor the Parliaments of either Kingdom never gave any consent or Civil sanction to the Covenant but on the contrary have abolish'd all Laws made as illegall and unjust whereby we were bound to the keeping of it So that the Covenant doth not bind us nor our consciences to the observing of it otherwise no Laws could be altered by the Legislative Power The Unfeigned Assent and Consent of all Ministers I A.B. do here declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book intituled The Book of Common-prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the Use of the Church of England together with the Psalter or Psalms of David Pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the form or manner of Making Ordaining or Consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons By the Parliament of England 1662. A Declaration or Acknowledgment to be Subscribed unto I A. B. do declare that it is not Lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhorr that traiterous Position of taking Arms by His Authority against His Person or against those that are Commissionated by him and that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is now by Law established And I do declare that I do hold there lies no Obligation upon me or any other person from the Oath commonly called The Solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State And that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By the Parliament of Scotland 1662. A Declaration to be subscribed unto I A. B. do declare that it is unlawful for any to take up Arms against His Majesty or to enter in Leagues and Covenants without His Majesty And that all the late Acts of Committees and the two late Oathes called the Solemn League and Covenant and National Covenant are unlawful and no ways binding on any By the Parliament of Scotland Edinburgh Septemb. 5. 1662. A Declaration I Declare that I do judge it unlawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or other pretence whatsoever to enter into Leagues and Covenants or to take up Arms against the King or those Commissionated by Him And that all these Gatherings Convocations Petitions Protestations and erecting and keeping Council-Tables that were used in the beginning and for carrying on of the late Troubles were Unlawful and Seditious And particularly that these Oaths whereof the one was commonly called The National Covenant as it was sworn and explained in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty eight and thereafter and the other entituled A Solemn League and Covenant were and are in themselves Unlawful Oathes and were taken by and imposed upon the Subjects of this Kingdom against the Fundamental Laws and Liberties of the same And that there lieth no Obligation upon me or any of the Subjects from the said Oathes or either of them to endeavour any change or alteration of the Government either in Church or State as it is now established by the Laws of the Kingdom 4. Incendiaries Malignants Because there are such expressions in the Covenant as are not to be found in any Oath that hath been taken in the Kingdom and for that the Laws of the Land are left out and not so much as once named 5. All Scripture-Covenanting from the Alpha unto the Omega thereof were commanded or chiefly acted by the Kings or the Chief Rulers and not one of the Covenants by the Elders of the People against or without the consent of the King 6. The Covenant is against Custome Usage Judicial Records and Acts of Parliament the King's Declarations and Proclamation and against all the Customs and Usages of all Nations in the world themselves being Judges and therefore ought not so much as to have been intended much less sworn unto Mr. Nye Such an Oath as for Matter Persons and other Circumstances the like hath not been in any Age or Oath we read of in Sacred or Human Story Iid. We are entring now upon a work of the greatest moment and concernment that ever was undertaken by any of Us or any of our Fore-fathers before us or our neighbouring Nations about us Henderson The Reformed Churches the Low-Countries our Noble and Christian Progenitors entred not into such a Solemn League and Covenant whence have we this Covenant then The dangers and pressures of the Kingdom of Scotland growing to greater extremity such as were entrusted with the Publick affairs of the Kingdom were necessitated to call a Convention of the Estates for considering of the present affairs And Commissioners were sent from both Houses of Parliament not from the King to consider with the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland without the King what then Their consultations did in the end bring forth this Covenant When the Reformed Churches shall hear of this so neither the King nor the Reformed Churches were consulted with in this matter How then Salt-marsh The Covenant is a Divine Engine the godly have found out This is the first time the Sun saw such a confederation and therefore there should be as much Art used in preserving the Spirits of people as there was Art used in raising them up to this Height Coleman This is a new thing and not done in our Land before Ask your Fathers consult with the Aged of your times whether ever such a thing were done in their days or in the days of their fathers before them 7. 1643. 1641. The Covenant is diametrically opposite to the Protestation taken not long before wherein we have sworn That to our Power and as far as Lawfully we may we will oppose and by all good ways and means endeavour to bring to condign punishment all such as shall either by Force Plots Conspiracies or otherwise do any thing contrary to the true Reformed Protestant Religion established or against His Majesty's Royal Person Honor or Estate c. which was taken in Lawful things besides the Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy which were taken Lawfully and in Lawfull things long before and so made all contrary Oathes unlawful to be afterwards either taken or kept St. Jerom. Now lay your hands upon your hearts consider and take the counsel of St. Jerom unto Ruffinus Never blush man to change thy opinion of the Covenant for neither you or I or any person living are of so great Authority as to be asham'd to confess they have erred Pym. As it is a crime odious in the nature of it to endeavour the alteration of the Government of the State so it is odious
manifest by which things alone I might easily be Convinced of the Equity of an established Government and the Iniquity of them that did and do oppose it who knowingly so horribly did Violate God's own Laws which here I use as an Argument for my own lawfull and just Defence especially when I consider that the first Opposing of established Government was but the beginning of Evils which gave scope to Bloody Seditions And therefore by this my contending for the established Government with Subjection and Obedience to the King is that I may go the right way to meet Peace that I may be clear from the Blood of all men pure then peaceable From whence I inferr that it is better to Contend against you who have preferred your own Humors and Opinions before the Commandments of God and the King than to be at Peace with you You who have occasioned dangerous Schisms Seditions and Bloody warrs by which you clearly Evidence and Justifie the Authority of a Law in Church and State Under which Law had we acquiesced we had not been wrapped in such evil snares but by our Obedience removed much Evil and prevented the shedding of much Blood besides the good we might have done to others others whose Consciences by strange Doctrine and unparalleld Practice have been made Bold Erring Presuming Secure if not Seared who under a pretence of good Meaning attempted Unlawfull nay Sinfull nay Damnable actions which cannot be Justified or Excused For if a good meaning did or could justifie or excuse evil actions then they who killed the Apostles might be justified and excused because in so doing they thought they did God good Service How farr any of ye that have been Leaders in the Church of God through your good meaning if I may so say have been or are from Soul ruinating Scandal though ye might not intend any such thing let your own Consciences and the fearfull Effects of the late Warr give in Evidence for Conviction as it doth clearly manifest the danger of yielding to the first beginnings of Evil as also the danger of opposing established Government and teaching others so to do by Doctrine or Example Ye could not swallow Gnats of Ceremonies but Camells of Blood went down O Bellua Multorum Capitum These these things we should lay to Heart and be humbled for 〈◊〉 great Provocations and Defections from our Covenant made in Baptism our Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy for the breach of less Oaths than these we find the Romans branded from the time of the third Punick Warr our opposing of the established Government of the Church of England our loss of the Practice of Piety and this with all our Hearts and according to all our Powers to endeavour to help the wounded Church of Christ the cause of our Religion which suffers much at home and much abroad by our strange Doctrines Opinions and more strange Actions and this with the loss of our Credits and all that is dear unto us endeavouring all of us in our Places and Callings for the time to come to keep the Commandments of God and the King without declining unto the right hand or the left that so the Evils felt or feared for our former Disobedience and Rebellion may be removed and prevented and our Persons find acceptance with God through the only Merits and Mediation of our Great High Priest the Lord Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament to whom be Honour and Glory ascribed of us and all the Churches of God now and for evermore Scriptures whereby the fore-going Reasons are inforced Gen. 13.8 And Abraham said unto Lot Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee and between my Herd-men and thy Herd-men for we be Brethren Gen. 47.22 Only the Land of the Priests bought he not for the Priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them wherefore they sold not their Lands ver 26. And Joseph made it a Law over the Land of Egypt unto this day that Pharaoh should have the Fifth part except the Land of the Priests only which became not Pharaohs Ex. 20.13 Thou shalt not kill Numb 8.14 Thus thou shalt separate the Levites from among the children of Israel and the Levites shall be mine ver 16. For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel ver 18. For I have taken the Levites for all the first-born of the children of Israel ver 19. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel 26.9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them ver 10. And he hath brought thee near to him and all thy brâ—thren the sons of Levi with the and seek ye the Priesthood also Deut. 17.15 Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse ver 18. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites 23.21 When thou shalt Vow a Vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not slack to pay it for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and it would be sin in thee Josh 1.17 According as we hearkned unto Moses in all things so will we hearken unto thee 6.19 But all the Silver and Gold and Vessels of Brass and Iron are consecrated unto the Lord they shall come into the Treasury of the Lord. Judg. 17.26 In those days there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes 1 Sam. 15.17 And Samuel said When thou wast little in thine own sight wast thou not made the Head of all the Tribes of Israel and the Lord annointed thee King over Israel 16.9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by and he said Neither hath the Lord chosen thee 24.6 And he said unto his men The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lord 's Annointed to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the Lord 's Annointed 2 Sam. 5. And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said unto them Blessed be ye of the Lord that ye have shewed this kindness unto your Lord even unto Saul and have buried him ver 6. And now the Lord shew kindness and truth unto you and I also will requite you this kindness because ye have done this thing 1 King 7.51 So was ended all the work that King Solomon made for the House of the Lord 2 Chron. 15.8 9. And Solomon brought
which he hath polluted by Perjury let him have no Communion with Christian men nor Portion with the Just but let him be Condemned with the Devil and his Angels eternally together with his Complices that they may be tied in the Bonds of Damnation which were joyned in the Society of Sedition Con. 4.5.6.10 Can. 74. VVhosoever of us or of all the People through all Spain shall go about by any means of Conspiracy or Practice to violate the Oath of his Fidelity which he hath taken for the preservation of his Country or of the King 's Life or who shall attempt to lay violent hands upon the King or to deprive him of his Kingly power or by Tyrannical presumption Usurp the Soveraignty of the Kingdom let him be Accursed in the sight of God the Father and of his Angels and let him be made and declared a Stranger from the Catholique Church which he hath prophaned with his Perjury The Oath of Supremacy I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the King's Highness is the onely Supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness's Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal and that no Forein Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Forein Jurisdiction Powers Superiorities and Authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King's Highness his Heirs and Lawful Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Privileges Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the King's Highness his Heirs and Successors or United and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this Book The Oath of Allegiance I A. B. do truly and sincerely acknowledge profess testifie and declare in my conscience before God and the World that our Soveraign Lord King CHARLS is Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm and of all other his Majesty 's Dominions and Countries and that the Pope neither of himself nor by any Authority of the Church or Sea of Rome or by any other means with any other hath any Power or Authority to Depose the King or to dispose any of his Majesty 's Kingdoms or Dominions or to authorize any Forein Prince to invade or annoy him or his Countries or to discharge any of his Subjects of their Allegiance and Obedience to his Majesty or to give License or Leave to any of them to bear Arms raise Tumult or to offer any violence or hurt to his Majesty 's Royal Person State or Government or to any of his Majesty 's Subjects within his Majesty 's Dominions Also I do swear from my heart that notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of Excommunication or Deprivation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his Succestors or by any Authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his Sea against the said King his Heirs or Successors or any Absolution of the said Subjects from their Obedience I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against Him his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or Declaration or otherwise and will do my best indeavour to disclose and make known unto his Majesty his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know or hear of to be against Him or any of them And I do further swear that I do from my heart abhor detest and abjure as Impious and Heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes which be Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do believe and in conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any Person what soever hath power to Absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledge by good and full Authority to be Lawfully ministred unto me and do renounce all Pardons and Dispensations to the contrary And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear according to these express words by me spoken and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words without any Equivocation or mental Evasion or secret Reservation whatsoever And I do make this Recognition and Acknowledgment heartily willingly and truly upon the Faith of a Christian So help me God Two things in special are to be observed in this Oath 1. That the King receiveth his Authority onely from God and hath no Superior to punish or chastize him but God alone 2. That the Bond of Subjects in Obedience to his Sacred Majesty is inviolable and cannot be dissolved Bracton 20. years Chief Justice in the time of King Henry 3. There are under the King Free-men and Servants are Subject unto his Power as also whatsoever is under him and he himself is Subject to no Man but only unto God and no Man may presume Judicially to Examine his doings much less to Oppose them by Force and Violence St. Ambr. Kings are not bound unto Law because Kings are Free from the Bond of Crimes and are not called unto Punishment by any Law being Safe by the Power of Command Anonymus The people manifest the King to be their King but do not give unto him the right unto his Kingdome which is of the Lord's appointment By me Kings Reign The outward Unction not enferring upon Kings their Authority but used as a sign of Soveraignty So that the People making a King is not by giving him the Right of his Kingdome but by putting Him into the Possession of his Kingdome to Reign over them Succession and Lawfull Conquest are but Titles whereby Princes receive their Authority they are not the Original and Immediate fountain of their Authority Tertull. Inde illis est porestas unde spiritus Thence have Princes their Power whence their Spirit Irenaeus Cujus jussu nascuntur homines ejus jussu constituuntur Principes By God's Appointment By whose Appointment they are born Men by his Appointment are they made Princes God only makes them Kings and God only can unmake them and deject them from their Thrones King James's Royal assent to Church-Government We of our Princely inclination and Royal care for the maintenance of the present Estate and Government of the Church of England by the Laws of this our Realm now Setled and Established having diligently with great contentment and comfort read and consiâ—ered of all these their Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions agreed upon as is before Expressed and finding the same such as We
are perswaded will be very profitable not only to Our Clergy but to the Whole Church of this Our Kingdome and to all the true Members of it if they be well observed Have therefore for Us Our Heirs and Lawfull Successors of Our especial Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion Given and by these presents do Give Our Royal assent according to the form of the said Statute or Act of Parliament aforesaid to all and every of the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions and to all and every thing in them contained as they are before Written And furthermore We do not only by Our said Prerogative Royal and Supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical Ratifie Confirm and Establish by these Our Letters Patents the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions aforesaid but do likewise Propound Publish and straightly Enjoyn and Command by Our said Authority and by these Our Letters Patents the same to be diligently Observed Executed and Equally kept by all Our Loving Subjects of this Our Kingdome both within the Province of Canterbury and York in all points wherein they do or may concern every or any of them according to this Our Will and Pleasure hereby signified and expressed and that likewise for the better Observation of them Every Minister by what Name or Title soever he be called shall in the Parish-Church or Chapel where he hath Charge Read all the said Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions once every Year upon some Sundays or Holidays in the afternoon before Divine Service dividing the same in such Sort as that the one half may be Read one day and the other another day the Book of the said Canons to be provided at the Charge of the Parish betwixt this and the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord God next ensuing straightly Charging and Commanding all Arch-Bishops Bishops and all other that Exercise any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within this Realm every man in his place to see and procure so asmuch as in them lieth all and every of the same Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions to be in all points duely observed not sparing to execute the Penalties in them severally mentioned upon any that shall wittingly or wilfully Break or Neglect to observe the same as they Tender the Honour of God the Peace of the Church the Tranquillity of the Kingdome and their Duties and Service to Us their King and Soveraign In witness c. By the King A Proclamation Declaring that the Proceedings of his Majestie 's Ecclesiastical Courts and Ministers are according to the Laws of the Realm WHereas in some of the Libellous Books and Pamphlets lately published the most Reverend Fathers in God the Lord's Arch-Bishops and Bishops of this Realm are said to have Usurped upon his Majestie 's Prerogative Royal and to have Proceeded in the High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm it was Ordered by his Majestie 's High-Court of Star-Chamber the Twelfth day of June last that the Opinion of the two Lords Chief Justices the Lord Chief Baron and the rest of the Judges and Barons should be had and Certified in those particulars viz. Whether Processes may not issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the Name of the Bishops Whether a Patent under the great Seal be necessary for the keeping of the Ecclesiastical Courts and enabling Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And whether Citations ought to be in the King's Name and under his Seal of Arms and the like for Institutions and Inductions to Benefices and Correction of Ecclesiastical offences Whether Bishops Arch-Deacons and other Ecclesiastical Persons may or ought to keep any Visitation at any time unless they have express Commission or Patent under the great Seal of England to do it and that as his Majestie 's Visitors only and in his Name and Right alone Whereupon his Majestie 's said Judges having taken the same into their serious Considerations did Unanimously concurr and agree in Opinion and the first day of July past Certified under their hands as followeth That Processes may issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the Name of the Bishops and that a Patent under the Great Seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said Ecclesiastical Courts or for enabling of Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church and that it is not necessary that Summons Citations or other Processes Ecclesiastical in the said Courts or Institutions or Inductions to Benefices or Correction of Ecclesiastical offences by Censure in those Courts be in the King's Name or with the Style of the King or under the King's Seal or that their Seals of Office have in them the King's Arms and that the Stature of Primo Edwardi Sexti cap. 2. which Enacted the contrary is not now in Force And that the Bishops Arch-Deacons and other Ecclesiastical Persons may keep their Visitations as usually they have done without Commission under the Great Seal of England so to do which Opinion and Resolutions being Declared under the Hands of all his Majestie 's said Judges and so Certified into his Court of Star-Chamber were there Recorded and it was by that Court further ordered the Fourth day of the said Moneth of July that the said Certificate should be Enrolled in all other his Majestie 's Courts at Westminster and in the High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts for the satisfaction of all men That the proceedings in the High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts are agreeable to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm And his Royal Majesty hath thought fit with advice of his Council that a Publick Declaration of these the Opinions and Resolutions of his Reverend and Learned Judges being agreeable to the Judgement and Resolutions of former times should be made Known to all His Subjects as well to Vindicate the Legal proceedings of His Ecclesiastical Courts and Ministers from the unjust and scandalous Imputation of Invading or Entrenching on His Royal Prerogative as to settle the Minds and stop the Mouths of all unquiet Spirits that for the future they presume not to Censure His Ecclesiastical Courts or Ministers in these their Just and Warrantable proceedings And hereof His Majesty admonisheth all His Subjects to take Warning as they shall answer the contrary at their Perils Given at the Court at Lyndhurst the eighteenth day of August in the thirteenth year of His Majesty's Reign 1637. God save the King Primo Julii 1637. The Judges Certificate concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction May it please your Lordships ACcording to your Lordships Order made in His Majesty's Court of Star-chamber the Twelfth of May last we have taken consideration of the Particulars wherein our Opinione are required by the said Order and we have all agreed That Processes may issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the Name of the Bishops and that a Patent under the Great Seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said Ecclesiastical Courts or
in the judgment of the Law To alter the setled frame and constitution of the Government is Treason in any State Cicero Aut undique Religionem tolle aut usquequaque conserva Either take away Religion clean or preserve it in all points whole and sound Bracton l. 1. c. 8. The material Sword is put into the hands of the King by Almighty God lib. 2. c. 24. By the material Sword is meant Power and Right to look to the defence and preservation of the Kingdom and it is no less than Treason to enter into any Association or Confederacy without the King's Consent or against His Will By the KING His Majesty's Proclamation forbidding the tendring or taking the late Vow or Covenant c. WHereas We have lately seen a Vow or Covenant pretended to be taken by some Members of both Houses of Parliament whereby after the taking notice of a Popish and Traiterous Plot for the subversion of the True Reformed Religion and the Liberties of the Subject and to surprise the Cities of London and Westminster They do promise and covenant according to their utmost power to assist the Forces pretended to be raised and continued by both Houses of Parliament against the Forces raised by Us and to assist all other persons that shall take the said Oath which Oath as the same hath been taken without the least colour or ground the Contrivers thereof well knowing that there is no Popish Army within this Kingdom that We are so far from giving countenance to that Religion that We have always given and always offered Our consent to any Act for the suppression of Popery and the growth thereof and that the Army raised by Us is in truth for the necessary defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion established by Law the Liberty and Property of the Subject and Our Own Just Rights according to Law All which being setled and submitted to or such a free and peaceable Convention in Parliament being provided for that the same might be setled We have offered and are still ready to Disband Our Armies and as the said Oath was devised onely to prevent peace and to pre-ingage the Votes of the Members of both Houses directly contrary to the Freedom and Liberty of Parliament and to ingage them and Our good Subjects in the maintenance of this horrid and odious Rebellion so it is directly contrary as well to their natural Duty as to the Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy established by Law which obliges them to bear to Us Truth and Faith of life Members and Earthly Honor and to defend Us to the utmost of their powers against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against Our Person Our Crown and Dignity and to do their best Endeavours to disclose and make known to Us all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which shall be against Us and to their power to assist and defend all Jurisdictions Privileges Preheminences and Authority belonging to Us or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And whereas We are informed that some desperate seditious persons do endeavour to perswade and seduce others of Our good Subjects to take the said Oath thereby to ingage them and this Kingdom into a continuance of these miserable and bloody distempers We do therefore out of Grace and compassion to Our people and that they may not by any craft or violence suffer themselves to be seduced against their Duty and Conscience warn them of their natural Allegiance and their Obligations by Oathes lawfully administred to them and with them to remember the great Blessings of God in Peace and Plenty which the whole Kingdom hath received whilst that Dâ—ty and those Oathes were carefully observed and the unspeakable miseries and calamities they have suffered in the breaking and violating thereof And we do streightly charge and command Our loving Subjects of what degree and quality soever upon their Allegiance that they presume not to take the said Seditious and Traiterous Vow or Covenant which indeavours to withdraw them from their Natural Allegiance which they owe unto Us and to which they are or ought to be sworn and are bound by the Laws of the Land albeit they are not sworn and engages them in Acts of High Treason by the express Letter of the Statute of the twenty fifth year of King Edward the Third And We do likewise hereby forbid and inhibit all Our Subjects to impose administer or tender the said Oath or Covenant And if notwithstanding this Our Gracious Proclamation any person shall presume to impose tender or take the said Vow or Covenant We shall proceed against him or them with all severity according to the known Laws of the Land Given at Our Court at Oxford the one and twentieth day of June in the nineteenth year of Our Reign God save the King Antiqua fert animus-dicere From his Majesty's command and because our Government hath been and stands established by Kingly power which power I am not to question but perform what is commanded for the King ruleth absolutely and commandeth his people at his pleasure as the World and all things contained therein are tied in subjection unto the will of the Highest King Because the Statutes and Acts of Parliament which banished Popery out of this Kingdom did establish our Church-Government with the Ceremonies as Lawful and if we through weakness or perversness make Lawful things to be Unlawful Baxter that will not excuse us in our disobedience our error is our sin and one sin will not excuse another sin Because the King as God's Vicegerent is bound to maintain and advance the true Religion so far forth as the light of Nature can manifest it or Divine Revelation doth make it known unto Him yea a Christian King is a Law-giver above the Ecclesiastical Law-makers for with Him is Wisdom Power Righteousness Meekness Justice and Judgment Therefore we ought to acquiesce in the unanimous Votes of the King's Majesty The Honorable Houses of Parliament And the Venerable Convocation and all Powers and Interests ought to be fully satisfi'd whether in the decision of Controversies in Religion making Ecclesiastical Canons c. or any the like Ecclesiastical matters because they are the conjunct Votes of all the concerned The General Assembly in Parliament is the Common-Council of the Realm called together by the King for advice in matters concerning the whole Realm of which Assembly Lambard some be Counsellors by birth as the Barons by Succession as the Bishops by Election as Knights and Burgesses the King as the Head to give life The Barony consisting of Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commonalty made up of the Knights and Burgesses be as the Body to deliberate confer and conclude So that forasmuch as every man from the highest to the lowest is there either in person or procuration therefore of right reason every man is said to be bound by that which doth pass from such an Assembly
appellat quia Ceremoniarum ad eos Religionumque cura tutela pertinet The Spirit of God doth very often call Kings and Princes Priests because the cust dy and care of Ceremonies and of Religion belongs to them Bilson Kings and Princes before Christ subverted Idolls Reformed Religion in their Realms by their Princely Power and Zeal Stat. 25. Hen. 8. It was Enacted by Parliament That no Canons or Constitutions should be made by the Bishops c. and by them Promulgated without the King's Command Records of Convocation The Clergy were forced to give up their Power of Executing any old Canons of the Church without the King's consent had before Heylins History All former Constitutions Provincial and Synodal though hitherto in force by the Authority of the whole Western Church Stat. 25. Hen. 8. were Committed to the Arbitriment of the King and of sixteen Lay persons and sixteen of the Clergy appointed by the King to be Approved or Rejected by them according as they conceived them Consistent with or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative as Head of the Church or to the Laws of God c. Stat. 26. Hen. 8. Authority was allowed to the King to Repress and Correct all such Errors Heresies Abuses and Enormities whatsoever they were which by any manner of spiritual Jurisdiction might Lawfully be repressed c. any thing to the contrary notwithstanding Ibid. All manner of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical was by Parliament acknowledged to belong to the King as Head of the Church So that no Bishop had any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction but by under and from the King Stat. 37. Hen. 8. c. 17. Supreme Power of dispensing with any Ecclesiastical Constitutions is ascribed to the King and Parliament as recognized Supreme Head of the Church Stat. 25. Hen. 8. c. 21. and the Arch-bishop made the King 's Delegate so that in Case he should refuse two other Bishops might be named to Grant such Dispensations And after all the King and His Court of Chancery are made the last Judge what things in such Dispensations are repugnant to Scriptures and what not Stat. 37. Hen. 8. Though the King did not Personally himself Exercise the Power of the Keys yet this Right He claimed that no Clergy man being a Member of the English Church should Exercise it in His Dominions in any Cause or over any Person without the Leave and Appointment of Him the Supreme Head Nor any refuse to Exercise it whensoever He should require Stat. 32. It was Enacted that whosoever should teach contrary to the Determinations which were set forth by the King Hen. 8. c. 26. should be Deemed and Treated as a Heretick Stat. 2.5.6 E. 6. An Act is made in which the King and Parliament Authorize Bishops c. by Vertue of their Act to take Informations concerning the not using the Form of Common-prayer then prescribed and to Punish the same by Excommunication c. Confirmed by 1 Eliz. cap. 1. 5 Eliz. cap. 1. 23 Eliz. cap. 1. Because in doubtfull matters the resolution of the Major part must be obeyed Now it hath been resolved by many Kings and Princes that our Government is not repugnant to the Word of God from whose Judgment there is no appeal but only to God by Prayer Because Schism did grow out of and arise from Presbyterian Government in the purest time which caused the Churches then to out it and to establish Episcopacy as the best Antidote against Schism and for the Restauration and Maintenance of the Churches Peace which was by Succession from the Apostles if not of Divine Institution The Apostles of Christ ordained Bishops in the Church Bullinger 5. Ser. Now it seems a desperate course to use Presbyterian Government as a soveraign Antidote in our time Lloyds prim Epis which had the effect of Poison upon the Churches in the Apostles time Because Contention is a deadly Enemy to Charity and Holy-living Now the refusing of Subscription and Obedience to Church-Government must needs kindle Contentions and why will you thus Contend seeing that the Government by Bishops is the Government of Christ and what better Government can we expect from Man A Government most of the Godly have Conformed to Baxter Most of the Godly able Ministers of England since the Reformation have Judged Episcopacy Lawfull or most Fit and most of them did Subscribe and Conform to Episcopal Government as a thing not contrary to the Word of God but as instituted by the Apostles to which all or the most of the Ancient Fathers do agree so that it is very Evident that it is very Consistent with a Godly Life to Judge Episcopacy lawfull and fit or else so many hundred of Learned and Godly men would not have been of that mind Because they ought to be under the Obedience of all Laws Ecclesiastical and Civil which that Prince commands under whom they Live Division in Government makes Division in a Kingdome and a Kingdome divided cannot stand Omne regnum in se divisum desolabitur Because the Grandest opposers of the Government of the Church of England have ever been of Unconstant principles though Violently zealous in opposing Indifferent things Which if simply Unlawfull they were sin why then do they not contend against them as sinfull but as formerly they did so now they can dispense with them under their own Cure in the Person of another and Subscribe themselves if they might be Dispensed with as to a Compliance in their own Persons which by the Act they are Enjoyned Nor do we find any great Opposition in the time of the Reign of our Immortal Queen Elizabeth untill Her Majesty Commanded Her Bishops and Her Bishops by Her Authority Commanded due Obedience to the Government of the Church which doth manifest it was not nor is not Conscience that doth raise this Opposition against them as if Unlawfull but as not Convenient for them that have been and still are Braindistempered opposers of them Because no Persons for the reason of inconveniency ought to reject what Publick Authority hath allowed Sith that it is apparent that the Composers of our Divine Service-book made choice of the best things out of the most Ancient Liturgies of the Churches which Flourished long before the Birth of Antichrist Because it hath not been manifested unto the Church of England by any Irrefragable positions that the Government of the Church is Unlawfull or the Ceremonies thereof Impure for which impurity the Church should lay aside the Practice of them being Warranted by the Word of God or not Dissonant from it And that they are Unlawfull hath not nor cannot be Proved though Disallowed by some whose Approbation makes nor the Government of the Church of England ever a whit the more Lawfull though Consented unto by them Because we have the Truths of Doctrine Christian Ordinances and a Holy People of the Church of England exercising themselves in the Holy Duties
them And although the Pope have corrupted the sound Doctrine defiled the Sacraments and uses Ceremonies for the most part blasphemous and Superstitions yet we have the sound Doctrine and wholesome use of the Sacraments with Ceremonies according to the rule serving unto Order Comeliness and Edification Because without Ceremonies which hurt not Faith and Charity we shall never have any setled peace and therefore men should study what will be the issue of untempered Zeal or rather Passion in opposing our Government of the Church as unlawful and to take heed lest they raise up dust with their own feet to blind their own sight Because the departure from Custom is unsafe and full of hazard and an Innovation is scarce effected without dislike opposition and danger if not ruine Tacitus All changes in Government commonly do cheat them most at last who at first most desire them Homil. against Rebellion Though not onely great multitudes of the rude Commons but sometimes also men of Wit Nobility and Authority have moved Rebellion against their lawful Princes though they should pretend sundry causes as the Redress of the Common-wealth or Reformation of Religion though they have made a great shew of Holy meaning by beginning their Rebellion with a counterfeit Service of God and by displaying and bearing about divers Ensigns and Banners which are acceptable unto the rude ignorant common people great multitudes of whom by such false pretences and shews they do deceive and draw unto them yet were the multitudes of the Rebels never so huge and great the Captains never so noble politick and witty the pretences feigned never so good and holy yet the overthrow of all Rebells of what number state or condition soever they were or what colour or cause soever they pretended is and ever hath been such that God doth thereby shew that he alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for which the Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes If the King proceed not in His Government according unto Law and Right there is no Legal Remedy to be had against Him Bracton i. e. A. All that we have to do is that we do Petition Him for Relief and Remedy Because no man is to call the King's acts into question much less to go about to annull and void them by force and violence Anonymus There is no inferior Magistrate of what sort soever but as he is a publick person in respect of those that are beneath him so he is a but private person disabled utterly to resist his Soveraign or bear defensive Arms against him as well as any other of the common people For inferior Magistrates be no Magistrates at all as they relate unto the King the Genus summum in the scale of Government and therefore of no more Authority to resist the King or call the People unto Arms than the meanest Subject Plutarch It is resolved by Plutarch that it is contrary both to positive Laws and the Law of Nature for any Subject to lift up his hand against the Person of his Soveraign Cal. Instit l. 3. c. 10. Any private person whatsoever who shall lift up his hand against his Soveraign though a very Tyrant is for the same condemned by the voice of God Because the setling of Religion is to be looked upon as causal not as consequent to the peace and prosperity of the Kingdom All things require Order much more Government Now that there is order and settlement may appear from the purpose of our Church Rogers which is best known by the Doctrine which she doth profess the Doctoine by the thirty nine Articles established by Act of Parliament the Articles by the words whereby they are expressed and other purpose than the publick Doctrine doth minister and other Doctrine than in the said Articles is contained our Church neither hath nor holdeth and other sense they cannot yield than their words do impart and therefore the Sense the same the Articles the same the Doctrine the same and the purpose and intention of our Church still one and the same because her Doctrine and Articles for number words syllables and Letters and every way be the same And why an alteration and unsetling the foundation of our Church built upon the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and his Apostles Because violent censuring of the Doctrine of the Church the Government the Ceremonies thereof and spiteful contemning our Governors will never alter the Doctrine remove the Ceremonies or unsettle our Governors but make all the faster Because human Ceremonies improperly or respectively are and may be called parts of God's Worship although in them the Kingdom of God standeth not Because our Lord Jesus Christ hath left nothing absolutely to the will of his Officers but hath determined all things necessary unto Salvation and left ambulatory Rites to the Church's liberty under general rules which being imposed by lawful Authority become respectively necessary Because the same things which are originally and naturally grounded on human considerations when they come to be applied to Sacred actions for the comeliness thereof in that use are made Sacred in respect of the ends to which they serve Because all Ecclesiastical Orders and Constitutions serving to the external ordering of Religious actions although they are called Civil as made by men in opposition to Divine Institutions which properly bind the Conscience yet improperly or respectively they do also bind the Conscience Because the Church doth not hold that the Laws thereof do properly bind the Conscience or that Simple obedience is due unto them as unto the immediate Worship or Commands of God Because the Ceremonies of our Church be neither imposed or observed with Superstition or opinion of Necessity in themselves or of Worship as though we placed Religion in them much less with the Popish conceits of Merit or Efficacy Because our Ceremonies become necessary not by the particular Commandment of Man but by the general Commandment of God For notwithstanding they remain Indifferent in themselves and before God and so to be used with a free Conscience without placing any Religion in them yet am I bound to obey them as necessary by the General Commandment of God Not as Necessary in themselves but as being Indifferent and yet as necessary for the avoiding of Scandal or Contempt as well as for Concord sake Because our Ceremonies are necessary in their use Ministers are maintained Obedience is shewed to the King and his Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil Peace is in the Church of Christ free Preaching and Passage of the Gospel which are of great Necessity Because the Vestments used make not any man Godly or Wicked and although they were Inconvenient not being Unlawfull rather to be yielded to than refused for the Flock sake and Publick peace of the Church From the Moral Signification of our Ceremonies nothing is urged that
in the things which David his father had dedicated even the Silver and the Gold and the Vessels did he put among the Treasures of the House of the Lord 2 King 23.5 2 Chron. 19.6 And he said to the Judges Take heed what ye do for ye judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the Judgment Ezr. 12.7 Artaxerxes King of Kings unto Ezra the Priest ver 13. I make a Decree ver 21. And I even I Artaxerxes the King do make a Decree ver 26. And whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the Law of the King let judgment be executed speedily upon him whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment ch 8.36 And they delivered the King ' s Commissions unto the King 's Lieutenants and to the Governors on this side the River and they furthered the people and the House of God Ps 82.6 I have said ye are Gods and all of you are children of the most High 47.9 The Princes of the people are gathered together even the people of the God of Abraham For the Shields of the earth belong unto God he is greatly exalted 51.4 Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight 88.20 I have found David my servant with my Holy Oyl have I annointed him Prov. 8.15 By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice ver 16. By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth 24.21 My son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Eccles 8.12 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth that there be just men unto whom it hapneth according to the work of the wicked again there be wicked men to whom it hapneth according to the work of the righteous I said that this also is vanity 1.1 The words of the Preacher the son of David King of Jerusalem 10.17 Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness ver 20. Curse not the King no not in thy thoughts and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter Jer. 33.20 Thus saith the Lord If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night and that there should not be day and night in their season ver 21. Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant that he should not have a Son to Reign upon his Throne and with the Levites the Priests my Ministers Dan. 2.27 Thou O King art a King of Kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom power and strength and glory Dan. 3.9 They spake and said to the King Nebuchadnezzar O King live for ever ver 10. Thou O King hast made a Decree c. 6.26 I make a Decree that in every Dominion of my Kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God and stedfast for ever and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even unto the end Mal. 3.7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine Ordinances and have not kept them Return unto me and I will return unto you saith the Lord of Hosts but ye said Wherein shall we return ver 8. Will a man rob God yet ye have robbed me but ye say Wherein have we robbed thee in Tithes and Offerings ver 9. Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole Nation ver 10. Bring ye all the Tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now therewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open you the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it ver 12. And all Nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delightsome Land saith the Lord of Hosts Mat. 5.19 Whosoever shall break one of these least commandements and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven 26.52 Then said Jesus unto him Put up again thy sword into his place For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword Mar. 6.27 And immediately the King sent an Executioner and commanded his head to be brought and he went and beheaded him in the prison 15.2 And Pilate asked him Art thou the King of the Jews And he answering said unto him Thou sayest it ver 15. And so Pilate willing to content the people released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified 23.12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together for before they were at enmity between themselves Joh. 19.15 But they cried out Away with him away with him crucifie him Pilate saith unto them Shall I crucifie your King The chief Priests answered We have no King but Caesar Io. 16.2 They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time commeth that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service Acts 1.10 And while they looked stedfastly toward Heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white Apparel ver 20. For it is written in the Book of Psalms Let his Habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein And his Bishoprick let another take 3.1 Now Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of Prayer being the Ninth hour 4. ver 25 26 27 28. 29 30 31 32. Acts 8.14 Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John v. 15. who when they were come down Prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost v. 17. Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost Acts 10.9 Peter went up upon the House-top to pray about the Sixth hour ver 15. What God hath cleansed that call not thou common 15.22 Then it pleased the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas ver 23. And wrote Letters by them after this manner The Apostles and Elders c. 20.30 Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Rom. 12.3 For I say through the Grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than