Acts of Parliament Ninthly It is Lawful for Subjects to make a Covenant and Combination Without the King and to enter into a Bond of Mutual Defence Against the King and all Persons whatsoever tho' against several Acts of Parliament Tenthly It is Lawful for themselves sitting in an Assembly to Indict a New Assembly without the King's Consent Eleventhly If Subjects be convented before the King and Council for any Misdemeanour they may Appeal from the King and Council to the next General Assembly and Parliament if they think either the Glory of God or the Good of the Church concern'd in the Matter in Question Twelfthly They do not desire the King to Indict a General Assembly as needing his Authority but rather for his Honour and for the Countenance of their Proceedings Alledging that if the Prince shall omit to do his Duty the People from whom he had his Power Originally may Resume it Thirteenthly If the King's Voice shall be deny'd to any thing tho' never so Vnjust and Illegal that shall be carry'd by the Major part of the Assembly his Majesty is bound Jure Divino to enforce Obedience to to those Acts and the Counsellors or Judges refusing to Execute shall be Excommunicate and depriv'd of their Places and Estates Fourteenthly An Assembly may Abrogate Acts of Parliament and discharge the Subject from Obeying them if they any way reflect upon the Business of the Church Fifteenthly The Protestation of the Subjects against Laws Establish'd either before the Judges of the People or the People themselves who are born to be Judg'd doth void all Obedience to those Laws without ever bringing of them to be discuss'd before a Competent Judge Sixteenthly The Major part of the People may do any thing they say which they Themselves conceive Conducing to the Glory of God and the Good of the Church any Laws to the Contrary notwithstanding These Positions you will find in his Majesties Large Declaration concerning the Tumults in Scotland pag. 407. et Deinceps We shall now see how the Counterpart of this Confederacy behav'd it self in England And shew you the Doctrine and Principles of the Faction in the very Infancy of the Rebellion as appears out of their own Acts. See Husband 's Exact Collections Printed in London 1643. The Positions of the English-Covenanters and First In Case of the King's Authority AFter that the Faction had Extorted from his Late Majesty such Concessions as never any Prince granted before Himself And when they had Defam'd his Government and his Person and Poyson'd his People with Contemptuous and Scandalous Libels Upon March 2. 1641. They began to Vnmask and to discover to the World that their Design was not to Reform but to Govern and upon Pretence of Fearing an Invasion from Abroad took the Power of the Militia into their Own Hands at Home Resolving upon the Question p. 96. That the Kingdom be forthwith put into a Posture of Defence by the Authority of Both Houses This Vote was seconded by Another of March 15. pag. 112. That in Case of Extreme Danger and of his Majesties Refusal to give them the Power of the Militia the Ordinance agreed on by Both Houses for the Militia doth Oblige the People and ought to be Obey'd by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom His Majesty insisting upon the Illegality of This Proceeding Both Houses pass'd this following Vote March 16. That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament which is the Supreme Court of Judicature in the Kingdom shall Declare what the Law of the Land is to have This not only Question'd and Controverted but Contradicted and a Command that it should not be Obey'd is a High Breach of the Privilege of Parliament pag. 114. Finding themselves Pinch'd upon this Point they fly to a Distinction betwixt the Letter and the Equity of all Laws pag. 150. There is say they in Laws an Equitable and a Literal Sense His Majesty is Entrusted by Law with the Militia but 't is for the Good and Preservation of the Republique against Foreign Invasions or Domestique Rebellions not that the Parliament would by Law Entrust the King with the Malitia against Themselves or the Common-wealth that Entrust Them to provide for their Weal not for their Woe So that upon Certain Appearance â—or Grounded Suspicion that the Letter of the Law shall be emprov'd against the Equity of it the Commander going against its Equity discharges the Commanded from Obedience to the Letter The Pretence of Defending the Government is now Advanc'd to the Reforming of it Apr. 9. 1642. The Lords and Commons do Declare That they intend a Due and Necessary Reformation of the Government and Liturgy of the Church pag. 135. Having already by Violence Encroach'd upon the Militia as against a Foreign Power the First Considerable Use that they make of it is to Employ it against his Majesties Authority and Person Before Hull and Pass'd Two Votes Apr. 28. in Justification of the Action Resolved c. That his Majesties declaring of Sir John Hotham Traytour being a Member of the House of Commons is a High Breach of the Privilege of Parliament And That without Process of Law it is against the Liberty of the Subject and against the Law of the Land Nay they Vote it May 17. To be against the Law of the Land and the Liberty of the Subject his Majesties Commanding of Skippon to attend him at York and The very Removing of the Term to York from Westminster sitting the Parliament they Vote to be Illegal and Order the Lord Keeper notwithstanding his Majesties Command not to Issue out any Writs or Seal any Proclamation for that Adjournment May 20. They Order also the Putting of all the Magazines in England and Wales into the Hands of Persons well Affected to the Parliament pag. 194. They find themselves now in Condition to Threaten the King and the Kingdom with Open War And pass upon the Question these Three following Votes First That it appears That the King Seduc'd by Wicked Counsel intends to make War against the Parliament who in all their Consultations and Actions have propos'd no other End unto themselves but the Care of his Kingdoms and the Performance of all Duty and Loyalty to his Person Secondly That whensoever the King maketh War upon the Parliament it is a Breach of the Trust reposed in Him by his People Contrary to his Oath and tending to the Dissolution of his Government Thirdly That whosoever shall Serve or Assist him in such Wars are Traytors by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom c. And Persuant to these Votes July 12. they Resolve That an Army shall be forthwith Rais'd for the Safety of the King's Person Defence of Both Houses of Parliament and of Those who have Obey'd their Orders and Commands and preserving of the True Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom pag. 457. All these Votes and Declarations they cause with all Solemnity to be Printed and Publish'd but at the
for her Self and Family she would have a Mass in Private But the Preachers decrying that Toleration in their Pulpits produced a Dangerous Tumult against the Freedom of her own Chappel After several Riots and Open Rebellions which were still promoted and seconded by the Presbytery In July 1564. the Queen was Marri'd to the Lord Dainly And June 19. 1566. brought to bed of a Son afterward James VI. in the Castle of Edinburgh In 1567. they sent the Queen Prisoner to Lochlevin and pass'd an Act of Assembly for the Securing and Disposing of the Person of the Infant-Prince with Direction to move the Queen to a Resignation of her Government and the Appointing of a Regent during his Minority which by Force and Menaces her Majesty was compell'd to do and her Renunciation and Commission Publish'd at the Market-Cross at Edinburgh the Prince being Crown'd and Anointed King in the Church of Striveling the Third day after the Publication being July 29. On the 20th of August the Earl of Murray was Elected Regent King James being as yet but Thirteen Months old At the Beginning of the Spring in 1568. the Queen made her Escape and was convey'd to Hamilton where several Lords meeting in Council her Resignation was declar'd Void as Extorted by Fear and Proclamation issu'd against the Rebels that had Usurped her Authority The Dispute in short was brought to a Battle May 13. the Queens Army Defeated and She her self fled into England for Protection where the Faction never left the Persute of her till they brought her to the Scaffold But here you 'l say there was a Foreign Interest and Popery in the Case If That were All how came it that they handled the Young King at as Course a rate every jot as they had treated his Mother tho' their Natural Prince and afterward the Celebrated Champion of the Protestant Cause The Government of Scotland had been Administer'd by Four Regents when upon the Earl of Morton's desire to be Discharg'd of his Regency the King not twelve years old as yet accepted of it and his Acceptation thereof was Proclaim'd at Edinburgh March 12. 1577. where the Regent himself was Assisting As an Earnest of the Respect they bare to his Majesties Authority Andrew Melvil presented a Form of Church Government to the Parliament at Striveling in 1578. which they referr'd to certain Commissioners who agreed to such General Heads as did not touch the Authority of the King nor prejudg the Liberty of the State But this did not content Them so that they resolv'd to put their Conclusions in Practice the next Assembly without staying for a Ratification Spotswood's Hist. Fol. 302. In Glasgow the next Spring the Ministers put the Magistrates of the City upon Demolishing the Cathedral but the Tradesmen Interpos'd and Defended it In 1582. Montgomery was Process'd for Preaching at Glasgow The King by his Warrant commanded the Assembly to desist which the Moderatour peremptorily refus'd and thereupon the Officer pull'd him from his Seat and Clap'd him up in the Tolbuyth for which they Decreed him to be Excommunicate tho' the King himself earnestly perswaded them to the Contrary After this Contempt of the Kings Authority they made a Violent Seizure of his Person and carri'd him Prisoner to the Castle of Ruthen where they kept him Close Nine Months forcing him by a Writing under his hand to command the Duke of Lenox to Depart the Kingdom and Imposing upon him what Servants they pleas'd under pretence of Zeal to Religion and Care of his Person They did also Petition the next General Assembly at Edinburgh to give their sence of the Action Who made themselves Judges and did so highly approve of it that they appointed all Ministers to recommend the Actors of it as good Christians and Patriots pretending that there was no other way to preserve their Religion and Freedoms And yet this Duke dy'd soon after in France of the Reformed Communion For the Countenance of this Proceeding they force the King being but Seventeen years of Age to emit a Proclamation commanding all those that had Levy'd any Forces upon Pretence of his Restraint to Disband within Six hours upon Pain of Death and Declaring that he was at Liberty and had only his Friends about him In the Summer following under Colour of Viewing the Castle of St. Andrews It was contriv'd that the Gates should be shut upon his Followers and so he deliver'd himself from his Guard It would be but the same thing over again to Enumerate the Repeated Usurpations of their Government and the Contumacy of their Ministers their Rebellious Practises at Striveling Glasgow c. and that Horrid Outrage against the Octavians in Edinburgh Decemb. 17. 1596. When the King appoints a Feast they Indict a Fast the Council Orders the Ministers of Edinburgh to give Thanks for his Majesties Deliverance from Gowry's Conspiracy Their Answer was That they were not acquainted with the Business And when it was urg'd that they were only to affect the People with the Sence of his Majesties having scap'd a great Danger they Reply'd That nothing should be Vtter'd in the Pulpit but That whereof the Truth was known Nay they would not so much as pray for the Kings Mother when her Death was Resolv'd upon tho' the very Form was prescrib'd in the most Innocent Terms Imaginable viz. That it might please God to Illuminate her with the Light of his Truth and save her from the apparent Danger wherein she was cast And This would have been the Issue too of the English Project under Queen Elizabeth as appears by the Insolence of their Demands and the Virulence of their Writings if the Conspiracy had not been nipp'd in the Bud. The Scottish Insurrection in 1637. was only their Old Method Reviv'd Of which in a few Words Out of the Kings Declaration upon That Subject Upon occasion of a Seditious Uproar at Edinburgh Octob. 18. 1637. his Late Majesty order'd the Discharge of all such Meetings upon Pain of Death And his Proclamation being Publish'd at Sterling Lithgow and Edinburgh was encounter'd with a Protestation against it at the same Times and Places and with the same Solemnity as if they had been Both by the same Authority Immediately upon this Affront the Protestors erect Publique Tables of Council for Ordering the Affairs of the Kingdom without the Consent of the King and in Contempt of his Majesty and Council At These Tables having First agreed upon their Covenant they conclude upon Certain Propositions of Instruction to the Party No Answer must be made to State-Questions without Advice All Proclamations to be Protested against and to take nothing for Satisfaction Less than their Whole Demand This way of Anti-Protesting they made use of from first to last Upon his Majesties Proclamation for Dissolving the Assembly at Glasgow 1638. they did not only Protest and Refuse to Depart but Cited the Kings Council that Sign'd the Proclamation to appear before the King and Parliament In
of the Kirk presses the Two Houses to a Speedy Establishment of the Presbytery And here again no Mention of his Majesty But what 's the Sum now of these Propositions that stand in Competition with the Kings Freedome Life and Dignity First Only the Justifying and Confirming of all they had done Secondly The giving away of the Militia of England and Ireland for Twenty Years with Power to Raise Men and Money Thirdly His Majesty must Swear and Sign the Covenant Impose it upon the Three Kingdomes Abolish Episcopacy and settle Religion as Both Houses shall Agree Fourthly All Honours since 1642. must be made Null and Void No Peers admitted in Parliament for the Future but by Consent of the Two Houses Fifthly All Great Places and Offices of Honour in England and Ireland to be Dispos'd of by Consent of Parliament and in Fine his Majesty must deliver to Death Beggery and Scorn all that ever Serv'd him Thus was this Glorious Prince Betray'd and Sold according to the COVENANT Here 's the True English of it and the Divinity of that Moloch to which this Nation has offer'd up so many Noble Sacrifices Are not our Fundamental Laws Persons Consciences and Estates Secure and Happy under the Care and Wing of such Blessed Guardians How meanly have we Prostituted the Reverence of the Land and of the Government to the Lusts of these Imperious Shameless Ravishers Take Notice here of some of the Kirks following Resolves upon the Main Point in Question First That the Kings Taking of the Scotch Covenant and Passing Some of the Propositions does not Warrant Scotland to Assist him against England Secondly That upon bare Taking the National Covenant they may not Receive him Thirdly That the Clause in the Covenant for Defence of the Kings Person is to be understood In Defence and Safety of the Kingdom Fourthly That his Majesty shall Execute no Power in Scotland without satisfying every Point Fifthly That Refusing the Propositions he shall be dispos'd of according to the Covenant and the Treaties Nor would the Two Houses Probably have Us'd him any better if he had gone to Them For upon his First withdrawing himself they Voted it Treason and Death without Mercy for any Man to Harbour and Conceal the Kings Person upon a Supposition that his Majesty was then in London This was the 4th of May and on the 6th the Commons Voted him to Warwick Castle which was Unvoted again upon the 9th and in June they Voted the Kings going to the Scots a Design to prolongue the War Let me not appear to Confound the Faction of Scotland with the Nation for no Country affords greater Instances of Integrity and Honour Nay I have heard it from good Authority that the Kings going into Scotland which he most earnestly desir'd was carry'd in the Negative only by Two Voyces His Majesty is now under the Care of his New Governours and a Prisoner to the Covenanters at Holdenby where he desir'd only Two of his Chaplains that had not taken the Covenant and Then a Common-Prayer Book for his own Private Use but Neither could be Granted him At the Isle of Wight the same Faction had the handling of him again where they still Treated his Majesty much at the same Rate And they Us'd his Royal Successour not much better in 1650. When to Auspicate the Project for the Recovery of his Crown in the very Dependence of a Treaty at Breda with him upon the Instigation of the Kirk they Murther'd the Brave and Generous Montross with the most horrid Circumstances of Malice Imaginable And how they Us'd the King himself afterward at his Coming among them I am not willing to mention Nay when the Time appointed by Gods Providence was come for the Restoring of the King the Presbyterian Ministers in London Publish'd a kind of Squinting Gratulation upon That Occasion as if Popery were coming in with his Majesty for Company And the same Party upon the Re-Admission of the Secluded Members press'd upon the House of Commons these Two following Votes for the Justification of the Rebellion in 1641. and in order to the Exclusion of the Royal Party from the next Choice 1. I do Acknowledge and Declare that the War undertaken by Both Houses of Parliament in their Defence against the Forces rais'd in the Name of the Late King was Just and Lawful and that Magistracy and Ministry are the Ordinances of God 2. Resolv'd that All and Every Person who have Advised or Voluntarily Aided Abetted Assisted in any War against the Parliament since the First day of Jan. 1641. His or Their Sons unless He or They have since manifested their Good Affections to This Parliament shall be Vncapable to be Elected to serve as Members of the next Parliament So that as their Feud against Kings is Implacable their Aversion likewise to all those that Love their Prince descends from Generation to Generation How Inconsistent Presbytery is with Monarchy is sufficiently manifest But they 'l say for themselves that Kings may be Misled and that it is not the Form of Government that is Grievous to Them but the Male-Administration of it To which it may be Reply'd That All Governours under what Form soever are to Them Alike where they themselves are not Vppermost And that the Reformation of Personal Failings will not do their Business without the Total Subversion of all those wholesome and Profitable Laws that stand in the Way of their Discipline It being their Custome to Reproach Princes and their Ministers for straining the Prerogative while they Themselves at the same time Usurp over Kings Parliaments and People And Trample under their Feet All that is Sacred in Society and Government Princes 't is true may have their Errours and their Passions but what have the Innocent Laws done Are They Popishly Affected too But where ever Presbytery reigns there can be no Law but their own Will Did they not in Scotland Damn Bishops as Anti-Christian and Deprive Ecclesiastiques of their Voyces in Parliament Convention and Council notwithstanding Three Acts of Parliament that is to say of 1584. 1597. and 1606. expresly to the Contrary And did they not pronounce the Acts of the Assemblies of Glasgow and Perth to be Void and Illegal tho' Enacted as Municipal Laws Ask them now says his Late Majesty Large Declaration Pag. 416. by what Authority they do these things expresly against Acts of Parliament Acts of Council and Acts of General Assemblies They Answer that Those Acts of Assembly were unduely Obtain'd and that now they have Rescinded them For Acts of Parliament and Acts of Council they Express great Wonder that any man should Question their Authority over-Them For if Christ be above the King Christs Council must likewise be Supreme Parliaments being only the Council of the Kingdom And for the Kings Privy Council and Judges they must submit to the Councellours and Judges under Christ who is the King of Kings Nor is
according to the Oraculous sence of them that Impos'd it that betwixt their Consciences their Safeties and Estates they were in a great streight He that Considers the Solemn and the Awful Circumstances that accompani'd the taking of these Engagements the lifting up of the Eyes and Hands the Attesting of Almighty God the Invocations of the Great Name of the Lord and their Appeals to the Searcher of all Hearts and Compares their Actings with their Protestations will find them perhaps the most Impious and Extravagant Contradiction in Nature And That 's the thing next to be Observ'd in a View of the Fabrique they Rais'd upon this Goodly Foundation After this Hypocrisie in the very Frame of their Project there was but little of Good Faith to be expected in the Menage of it And all their Covenants under Colour of Reforming the Government were both in Construction and in Effect but so many Othes for the Abjuring of it and the setting up of a more Blasphemous Oracle in the Name of Christ Jesus than ever was silenc'd at his taking Flesh upon him by his Holy Power I call their Covenants Oracles as well in respect of the Inspiration as of the Imposture But we shall better understand them by Tracing their Motions from One Usurpation to Another By Letters from Sterling of March 10. 1556. Knox was invited from Geneva with This Assurance That the Faithful in Scotland were ready to jeopard their Lives and Goods for the setting forward of the Glory of God as he would permit These Letters came to his Hand in May. And in September following with the Privity and Encouragement of Calvin he left Geneva and Octob. 24. arriv'd at Diepe with Intent to Embarque for Scotland where he met with other Letters disswading his Return See his History of Scotland Fol. 107. The Faction was now ready to give up the Cause and had undoubtedly so done but for Knox his Letter to some of the Nobility upon That Occasion which re-Confirm'd them in their Resolutions Your Brethren says he are Oppress'd Fol. 109. and you ought to Hazzard your own Lives be it against Kings or Emperours for their Deliverance So that here was Violence Intended you see in the very first Proposition By the Instigation of this Letter they enter'd into their first Covenant at Edinburgh in Decemb. 1557. Fol. 110. and Immediately after the Subscribing of it they Order'd the Common Prayer of England to be read weekly on Sunday and other Festival Days in all the Parish-Churches of That Kingdom with the Lessons of the Old and New Testament Conformed to the Book of Common Prayers Fol. 111. Soon after This they Petition'd the Queen and Council for the Use of the Common Prayer in the Vulgar Tongue which was granted them with an Exception only to Edinbourgh and Leith for fear of Tumults And upon the Neck of this Petition follows a Protestation deliver'd in Parliament 1558. against all Acts of Parliament for the Punishing of Heretiques the Removal of all Prelates and their Officers from any Place of Judgment Fol. 133. Foretelling by way of Menace that if Abuses should chance to be Violently Reform'd the Government may thank it self From Protesting they Gather'd themselves Together at St. Johnston the Town Declaring for them Hereupon the Preachers were Summon'd to appear at Sterling May 10. 1559. And on the Other side The Brethren Concluded that the Gentlemen of Every Country should Accompany their Preachers to the Day and Place appointed that is to St. Johnson where they had their First Assembly Upon this Contempt the Ministers were Proclaim'd Traytours and the Multitude fell to the Demolishing and Rifling of Religious Houses where they found great Booty and so they Proceeded to the fortifying of themselves and calling in of their Friends to their Assistance Maintaining their Ground by Force notwithstanding A Proclamation for all of them to avoid the Town under the Pain of Treason Which Place soon after was Deliver'd up upon Composition From the Pretence of Defending themselves in St. Johnston they Advanc'd shortly after to the Assaulting of it and so the Burning of Scone the Seizing of the Minting-Irons for the Coyning of their Plate And then from Monasteries and Abbies they went forward to the Defacing and Pillaging of Cathedrals Parochial Churches and there were few Chancels that scap'd them In their Answer to the Queens Proclamation of Aug. 28. 1559. they Rise from matter of Religion to matter of State Knox Hist. of Scotland Fol. 174. And in Direct Terms Fol. 179. They Affirm that it appertaineth to the Nobility and also to the Barons and People to bridle the Rage and Fury of misled Princes which was only a Prologue to the Formal and Solemn Deposal of the Queen Regent at Edinburgh Octob. 24. 1559. that ensu'd After This they emplor'd Aid from England under Colour of Maintaining their Ancient Liberties And the Treaty was sign'd at Berwick by the Commissioners of Both Nations Feb. 27. 1559. By these Persecutions they brought the Queen Regent to her Grave And upon her Death a Peace was Concluded the Armies to Disband and the French and English Succours to return Home In Decemb. 1560. Francis the Second of France departed this Life leaving the Queen of Scots an Unfortunate Widdow Poor and Helpless They were now out of Fear of France and there was no Danger from England in regard of the Queen of Scots Pretensions to That Crown so that they resolv'd now to play their Own Game And their First Act was the Abolishing of the Common-Prayer in a Convention at Edinburgh which they had formerly Embrac'd and Confirm'd by a Solemn Decree and Subscription And the Presenting of a Church-Government of Knox's own Contrivance and not much differing from the Geneva-Model to a Convention of the Estates under the Title of The Confession of the Faith and Doctrine believed and Professed by the Protestants of Scotland The States took Time to consider of the Form of Polity but pass'd an Act however for the Demolishing of Cloysters and Abby-Churches Whereupon says Spotswood in his Church-History Fol. 175. there ensu'd a Pitiful Vastation of Churches and Church-Buildings No Difference was made but all the Churches either Defaced or Pull'd to the Ground The Holy Vessels and whatsoever else Men could make Gain of as Timber Lead and Bells were put to Sale The very Sepulchers of the Dead were not spar'd The Registers of the Church and Libraries cast into the Fire And All This colour'd with the Warrant of Publique Authority Take Notice here that after the Convention was Dissolv'd their Book of Polity was Subscrib'd notwithstanding the Postponing of the Question And we shall see now that they treated the Queen her Self no better than they had done the Queen Regent Upon this Nice Juncture of Affairs the Queen was Invited Home And Aug. 20. 1561. She arrived at Leith declaring upon her Entrance That there should no Alteration be made in the Present State of Religion only