ANSVVER.

THe Dispensations of Divine Providence are indeed merciful, by which Princes or Governors are at any time really recovered out of the snare of evil Counsel; yet when this is done by the violence of an absolute Necessity, 'tis seldom real or lasting, and then the Mercy in it is but little to the People, who will taste the bitter fruit of such dissimulations when it is too late. It seems that the King of Scotland can now profess to the world, he hath been in the snare of evil Counsel, whilest he entertained any doubts or dif­fidence of the loyalty of his People of Scotland, and stood at a distance from them and their Cause, and was unconvinced of the righteousness of it, and did not joyn in one Covenant with them, nor cast him­self and his Interests wholly upon God; and in all matters Civil follow the advice of his Parliament; and in all matters Ecclesiastick, the General Assem­bly, or the Commissioners thereof: We do not deny [Page 10]but his former Counsels, as well as himself, have suffer­ed a great change, through the merciful Dispensation of Divine Providence to this Commonwealth, pro­spering so wonderfully our Armies in Ireland, as to ex­clude him and his Interest in a great measure from thence, and preserving this Nation in Peace within it self, to prevent any footing to be given to him here, whereby he was reduced to the course he hath now taken, to say what the Parliament and Kirk of Scot­land shall put into his mouth, and tell him is fit for him and his Affairs to declare, or else to lose all: And if Scotland do esteem it so great a mercy, to have him reduced to this pure necessity of casting himself into their Arms; We know to whom, under God, they owe the Obligation; a Blessing which we confess we do not envy them, and which (were we secured never to be partaker of with them, or by their means) we should not hinder them from the free and full enjoyment of; Having by fad experience found what it is to have a King, though never so well beset in appearance with good men about him, or to trust to his Repentances and Promises, Oaths or Declarations, how fair soever in shew, and how strong soever laid down in words. As to the Evil of the Counsel, out of which its said, He is recovered by this change: We say, That if the future Resolutions mentioned in this Declaration, be the evidences whereby we are to judge of the goodness of the new Counsel, we cannot but take notice, That they do onely vary the means, but not the end, which still is evil, to wit, The enslaving the three Nations; and do change the Instruments, but not the Cause (as is before, and shall further be made evident) and [Page 11]therefore we must be excused, if we judge that their yong King is yet in as great a snare of evil Counsel as ever, and thereupon endeavor what in us lies, to keep this Nation from falling under the bad effects thereof.

ANSVVER.

THe first Testimony of the good of the New Counsels, into whose hands the Scots King hath cast himself, is, The Repentance towards God which they advise him to make, in reference to his own Sins, and Sins of his Fathers House; A matter in it self truly praise-worthy; and the consequence whereof, in the words wherein it is express'd, doth in no small measure reach to the Acknowledgement of the just Hand of God upon his Father and Mother, in the Ba­nishing of the one, and taking away the life of the other by the hand of Justice; putting it into the hearts of those here, that remained faithful to their Trust in Parliament, to cause his Blood to be poured [Page 13]forth, by whose personal Actings, Authority and Commissions, so much of the Blood of the Lords People hath been shed in the Three Nations (as this Declaration it self acknowledges) and for which therefore we have reason to bless God, and admire his Providence, That out of the mouth of the Son, there hath, in the sight of the whole World, been brought forth such a Justification of the Sentence passed and Executed upon the Father.

But as to the manner of Declaring this his Repen­tance, that is to say, with the Qualifications therein allowed of; whereby, under the pretence of a dutiful Son, He may still retain in Memory his Fathers Actions of Tyranny for his Patern; and, through the high Estimation of his Mother, have his Ears still open to her Councels, as often as she can convey them to him: And as sensible as he must be of his own and his Fa­thers Enmity and Opposition against the Lords People in the Three Nations, yet he must still be encouraged to persist in the same against those that are truly the Lords People, under the pretence of Sectaries. These are such Inconsistencies and Haltings in so serious a Work, that as it is justly to be feared, that God will not be well pleased therewith; so neither will it have its ex­pected effect amongst men, who with ease may see through the deceit and lameness of it, and will with greater abhorrency be aware of them and their De­signs, that strive to cover themselves with Webs, that will not prove Garments, but whose Nakedness doth still appear.

ANSWER.

IT is somewhat early days for him, who (by reason of his education and age, and the Councel and Company hitherto about him) could not be much furthered into the sight of the Justice and Equity of what is contained in the Covenants mentioned, pre­sently, that is to say, in the space of almost four and twenty hours, to grow up into the full perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of those Covenants, and to be able to declare, That he hath not sworn nor subscribed them upon any sinister intention and crooked Design, for attaining his own ends; and with so fix'd a Resolution to persist therein really, constantly and sincerely all the days of his [Page 18]life; when as the Commissioners of the General As­sembly, in their Declaration dated the thirteenth of August, do say, That there may be just Grounds of stumbling from his refusing to emit this Declaration; and do tell him in so many words, that They will not own him nor his Interest, otherwise then with a sub­ordination to God, and in so far as he owns and pro­secutes the Cause of God, and disclaims his and his Fathers opposition to the Work of God, and to the Govenant, and all the Enemies thereof: And not­withstanding all, he still persists in his Refufal, with­drawing to Dunfermlyn, whether the Marquess of Ar­gyle and Earl of Lothian are sent after to press him to Subscribe; and in the mean time, overtures are made under-hand to our Army, as if things might yet be made up in a fair way, and their King and they were not likely to agree: And on the fifteenth of August, a Remonstrance and Supplication of the Officers of the Scots Army, by way seconding the foresaid Declaration of the Committee of Estates, and Com­missioners of the General Assembly, was presented to, and approved of by the Committee of Estates: And on the sixteenth of the said August, the Declaration so earnestly pressed upon him, or rather forcibly ex­torted from him, is subscribed and emited by him: And now in a moment, what a blessed and hopeful change is wrought upon this yong King? how hearty is he become to the Cause of God, and the work of Reformation? and how readily doth he swallow down these bitter Pills which are prepared for and urged upon him, as necessary to effect that desperate cure under which his Affairs lie? But who sees not [Page 19]the gross Hypocrisie of this whole Transaction, and the sandy and rotten foundation of all the Resolutions flowing hereupon? as first, He that on the fifteenth of August hugg'd all his Malignant and Popish Party in his bosom, and lodged them in the secret Reserves of his favor and love as his best Friends, can now on the sixteenth (the day following) from a fulness of perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of the Covenant, renounce and discard them in the sight of God and the world, and vow ne­ver to have any more to do with them, as old Sin­ners, unless they by his example turn to be as good Converts as himself, and be able to personate and act the same part; and so by vertue of the very Covenant it self, eat out and undermine those who conscienti­ously and honestly intend the ends of it: The sad ex­perience whereof, was as well seen in the managing the whole business of Duke Hamiltons Invasion, as in many of the then Members in both Houses, who never shewed more zeal for the Covenant, then when they found that thereby they could suppress and beat down the truly godly and honest Party, as Sectaries, and Enemies to Monarchical Government, and buoy up the sinking and lost Reputations of the most engaged Royalists and rotten hearted Apostates, under pee­tence that they were turned Friends to the work of Reformation, and for upholding the Church Inte­rest: And if in this sense the Scots King will have no Enemies, but the Enemies of the Covenant, nor no Friends, but the Friends of the Covenant, he makes but little change; for he hath the same Friends and Enemies that he had before, with this onely difference, [Page 20]That by his and his Parties becoming in appearance friends to the Covenant for a while, they have the opportunity at the last to make use of this Engine; better to undermine and oppose the true ends of the Covenant, then by a flat opposition to it, and to ob­tain a Crown, what Dissimulation is not thought lawful by Politicians? though a larger measure then what is held forth in this Declaration, cannot easily be instanced in; And which therefore we doubt not but God, who is the Searcher of the Hearts, and Tryer of the Reyns, will proceed further to discover in the face of the Sun, and more severely judge in this new King of Scots and his House, then if he had dealt plainly with God and Man, and held himself forth in his own colours: The little time which he hath been upon the Stage, having sufficiently laid him open what he is, A true Inheritor of his Fathers Principles and Counsels, wherein he may be traced all along; and even in this last Action, wherein he hath trod in the steps of his Father, as well as other his Predecessors, who when ever they found themselves in Scotland beset with the power of the Kirk and State, did subscribe and emit whatever was pressed upon them, though they resolved to break all that ever was so done by them upon the first occasion.

And as a second Deduction from his full perswa­sion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of the Covenants, He Declares his convi­ction in conscience of the exceeding great Sinfulness and Unlawfulness of that Treaty and Peace made with the Bloody Irish Rebels, and of allowing to them the liberty of the Popish Religion; and that he is re­solved, [Page 21]for time to come, rather to choose Affliction then Sin. It seems very much to be doubted, if the Irish Bishop of Clogher, armed with a Commis­sion from Ormond, Charls Stuart's pretended Lieu­tenant of Ireland, had with his Army of Irish Popish Rebels, founded upon a pure Popish Accompt, suc­ceeded and prevailed against our Army in Ulster under Sir Charls Coot, Whether then that which is now con­fessed, and resolved against as Sinful and Unlawful, would have been so acknowledged, or thought wis­dom, perhaps, so to have been, by the Kirk of Scotland it self; considering that the said Bishop offered very fair Quarter to all of the Scots Nation, that were for Monarchical Government; and the Scots Clergy in those parts had about the same time stirr'd up the peo­ple in our Quarters to Mutiny and Rebellion (inso­much that Sir Charls Coot was necessitated to secure their persons) as if they had done it on purpose to pre­pare the way to usher in the Infal upon our Quarters, to destroy our Forces, by that Irish Army, who pitch­ed their Opposition chiefly against such as they call'd Sectaries, being indeed such as declared for the Par­liament of the Commonwealth of England. But when Sin doth not prosper, it is no wonder if it be be­wailed; and if it lose its power, it is no marvel if it lose also its credit, even with the best Friends to it. It is fit Popery, and the Bloody Rebellion of Ireland, should be renounced, and the Scots King Absolved from any further hand in it (considering the many Breaches, or rather Failings on their parts) now that through the Blessing of God upon the Sectarian Army in that Nation, as they call them, the Rebels [Page 22]have been disinabled to keep themselves in Power, and maintain his Interest there; which we have good reason to believe is yet a greater Affliction to him, in his sober thoughts, then he findes it to be Sin: For, as we are credibly informed, Ormond and Inchiquin were very lately departing out of Ireland, and giving up all there; but by very fresh Directions and Com­mands from the Scots King out of Scotland, they are Required to stay, and promote his Interest there: In pursuance of which, the said Ormond is as busie as ever, giving out Commissions amongst the Irish, whether as Friends to the Covenant or no, we shall leave the World to judge.

The third and last Effect of the Scots Kings full perswasion of the Justice and Equity of all the Heads and Articles of the Covenant, is, His Recalling all Commissions formerly given for infesting the Seas with Pyracies and Depraedations; and Resolutions for the future, to employ none in such Power and Trust, until they have renewed the Covenant, and be declared capable of such Trust by the Parliament, as more at large is afore-recited in the clause it self. It is to be observed (as little Justice and Necessity as the Scots pretend there was of sending our Army into Scot­land) That here is now acknowledged by their King, for himself and them also, That the Scots have treat­ed and concluded with their King, on the behalf of the People of England and Ireland, as well as Scotland, and have taken upon them (we presume, by vertue of the Covenant) to Interest themselves, in the highest Degree, in the Laws and Liberties of England, and have laid the Ground-work of a New War, to be car­ried [Page 23]on principally by themselves in this Nation, De­claring for such as adhere to the Covenant and Mo­narchical Government, and against such as (without Opposition to the Covenant) are for this Common­wealth, as it is now Established, without King or House of Lords; And yet have the confidence to Appeal to God, how innocent they are of giving us any cause to send an Army into Scotland, in our De­fence, and to keep off this deep designed War from our own Doors, as long, at least, as God shall enable us thereunto. Will not God judge such under-hand Dealing as this? We are assured he will; as he hath begun already of late most wonderfully and season­ably to do: And he that thus brings it to light out of their own mouthes, gives us hope, That in his due time he will return it with Shame and Loss upon their own heads, who have adventured on such bold Under­takings, to which they were never called, but are most perfectly unconcerned, any further then they are drawn and inticed thereunto by inordinate lusting after the Conquest of this Nation, and Establishing themselves in the Wealth and Power thereof.

But to make all fair and smooth to those that are apt to be deluded and mis-led, and to engage them in a New War against their Native Countrey, their New Converted King declares, That by Commissio­nating persons at Sea to commit Pyracy and Deprae­dations, for the interruption of Trade, He intends no Damage nor Injury to his harmless & oppressed Sub­jects, but onely to his Enemies; which now are none, but those that are Enemies to the Covenant and Mo­narchical Government: And that he resolves to im­ploy [Page 24]none in such Trust, until they have renewed the Covenant, and been declared capable of that Trust by Parliament; and therefore doth in words recal all Commissions given to any such persons: But when all this is done, how are the former Evils committed at Sea, to the interruption and destruction of Trade, remedied by this, or the parties injured, repaired? When War was acted by Duke Hamilton, upon the Lives and Estates of this Nation, and none therein were employed, but such as took the Covenant, and were declared fit for that Trust by the Parliament of Scotland, who commanded that Invasion, Were the Evils of War less upon the English, or the Crime less in those that acted them? Do such Resolutions as these vary the state of the War, and of the Cause, or do they onely change the Method and Circumstances of moving and proceeding to the same end? We hope it is too late now, to mis-lead any of the well-affected with Blindes of this nature, by which they have once been cozened before, and whereby they may assure themselves they shall be deceived a second time, if the Cavaliers, and purely Royal Party, do but lay hold of the expedient offered to them, which is, by a (faigned) pious and good Deportment, to make themselves capable of a Regress into their for­mer Employments, upon the cheap Terms of swal­lowing down the Covenant, and the obtaining the Approbation of as full and free a Parliament, as that which Authorized the Invasion of this Nation by Duke Hamilton. And full, who knows not what such a Declaration as this signifies, to those that have Commissions to Rob and Spoil, and perhaps better [Page 25]understand Charls Stuarts Intentions that granted them, then those that put him upon holding forth this Dissimulation, as if they were recalled.

ANSVVER.

THe Treaty that was touched upon in the former Paragraph, made between the kingdom of Scotland and their King, in reference to England and Ireland, is here at large, and in the particulars of it, set down; it will be needless to repeat them: In the whole Frame of which, we dare boldly affirm, There are those Grounds laid of inslaving this Nation to the Scots, and especially to the power of their Clergy, That no Parliament that hath ever yet sate in England, & have had the least drop of true English blood in them, but would disdain and abhor to be thus imposed upon by the Scotish Nation: And are these the hopes that are given to this Nation, of having two Houses of Parli­ament sitting in Freedom, when what they must desire, and what they must have, must be prepared and agreed for them by a Forraign Nation? Will the Parliament be more the Parliament of England, when two Houses shall be brought upon the Stage again with a King at the Head of them, by the power of a Scotish Army en­forcing this upon the Nation, then when the Parliament is in actual possession of such Power and Freedom, as through the blessing of God upon their endeavors, they are able by Law to exclude both King and House of Lords (the known opposers of the Peoples Free­dom) out of their National Counsels, and by the force God hath enabled them with, to preserve the common Peace and Safety of the whole, under the Government of a Commonwealth and Free-State? It is too late now to think that the People have no bet­ter discernment of their own true Interest, then to be [Page 28] [...]atched with any satisfaction that can be offered and given by a King, if he himself with his power must come in at the end of it: Nor will the great promi­ses of what he will do in the Cause of God and Work of Reformation (under that pretence to let in upon us the return again of Tyranny) much work upon the pious and judicious among us, who want not the full and free enjoyments of their consciences in this kinde, in a voluntary way under this Government, without being beholding to the Concessions of a King: nay, we may truly say, That since the change of Government in this Nation, there have been more Laws made, and means used for the propagating the Gospel and the power of godliness, and encouraging the true Professors thereof; and more done for the extirpation of Prophaneness and open Wickedness, then hath been during the whole time of the Reigns of Kings over this Nation.

And as to the King of Scotland's declaring his firm Resolution to manage the Government of England by the Advice of his Parliament, consisting of a House of Lords and of a House of Commons; and in those things that concern Religion, to prefer the Counsel of the Ministers of the Gospel, before all Counsels whatsoever; We trust it shall never be in his, nor in the Kingdom of Scotlands power, to impose either himself or his Creatures, the House of Lords, upon the Supreme Authority and National Counsel of the Free­born People of England; who, if they once become corrupted in that which is the Fountain of their Li­berties, their own Representatives in Parliament assem­bled (which with thus much cost & hazard are set up in [Page 29]some measure already in their Primitive and Original Purity, and are going on every day more and more to the compleating thereof) must expect nothing but the flowings forth of Tyranny and Mischief upon them, in and by their very Laws; and that which should be the chief and onely remedy against all their evils, would by this means become the greatest cause and author of them: Nor would this at all be mended or helped by the Clause which is put in, That in those things which concern Religion, he will prefer the Counsels of the Ministers of the Gospel before all Counsels whatsoever, and so by undenyable conse­quence before the Parliament it self; for we have learn­ed by experience, That there is hardly any Debate had in Parliament, but the subject-matter of it, in some sense or other, may be brought under the concernment of Religion, and by that means, all the Laws must be or not be, as the Clergy will approve or not approve of them; A practice so inconsistent with the Fundamental Priviledges and Freedom of Parliament, and the Peoples good, that it hath always been exploded and resisted by all Assertors of English Freedom; and whenever any visible Attempts have been made to promote such a Design (as too often have been since the sitting of this Parliament) the Parliaments have highly Resented it, and frequently adjudged it High Treason, looking at it, as that which Introduces a Forraign Jurisdiction, and makes way for the setting up again a Popish Supremacy, changed in Name onely.

Touching the Act of Oblivion offered; It is no doubt, the effect of a great desire the King of Scots [Page 30]hath to receive that which he pretends unto, in the Government of England, An Acknowledgement of his Power to dispense such Favors: But in the mean time we must observe, who it is that makes this Offer, A Traytor to the Parliament and People of England, and who by his past Actings against them, hath ren­dred himself obnoxious to their severest Censures, from which we hold him no way Absolved by Assum­ption or Declaration of a Scotish Kingship.

He who by Law and his Guilt stands incapable of the meanest Priviledge amongst us, Doth he think himself qualified to Exercise the Greatest? Shall the Malefactor be presumed to have Power to give Par­don to his Judge? Or do the Scots or their King ima­gine, under pretence of an Act of Oblivion, to se­duce England to receive their Laws from Scotland? The Obstructers of real Reformation we are as much against, as he or they can pretend to be, as by our Acts and Actions appears; Amongst which, we reckon it not the least, That that Grand Enemy to Re­formation, the Father of the now Declarer, after his long and Bloody progress made in Destruction and Devastation of the Innocent people in the Three Na­tions (the Guilt whereof upon him, being a Truth so apparant, as both Himself and Son, and our now Ene­mies of Scotland, have been forced to acknowledge) hath been by Our Authority Tryed, Adjudged and Executed, for his notorious Treasons, Tyrannies and Murthers; whereof, whatever the Interpretation be given by the Son of that Murtherer, or other his Par­tizans, Old or New Malignants, late Apostates, or de­testable Neutrals, who stile the Act of Justice, Mur­ther [Page 31](with like Truth and Reason, as those who call Good, Evil, and Evil, Good; Light, Darkness, and Darkness, Light) We, for our parts, bless God for that opportunity put into our hands, of offering that Sacrifice to Divine Justice, towards vindication and cleansing of our Land from that Blood, wherewith, by that Murtherer and his party, it was so miserably defiled. And as we have been obliged in a faithful and conscientious discharge of that Power and Trust committed to us by God, and the People of this Na­tion, to Avenge that Innocent Blood upon the Head of that Tyrant, and some others, the chief Authots and Actors under him in shedding thereof: So for the seduced Multitude, and those who in simplicity have been misguided by them, to act to their own and Countreys ruine, We have, in the view of all, expres­sed our tenderness and forbearance towards them. And being invested with the Authority of the Nation (whose Representative we are) in that behalf, as to such mis-led persons, The Parliament of England thinks fit further to declare, That as they have already long since had it in their thoughts, and for that purpose have under consideration, An Act of general Par­don (in the progress whereof they have been interrupt­ed, by the renewed Endeavors of Charls Stuart, and his Adherents, to disturb the Peace of this Common­wealth, and hinder its Settlement) they will with all convenient speed apply themselves to the passing of such an Act; And in the mean time do expect from all persons living under the Protection of this Com­monwealth, That they make not themselves any way Ayders or Abettors of the said Charls Stuart, in his [Page 32]Pretences to the Government of this Nation, under what fair and specious shews soever, upon the penal­ties in the Laws in that behalf provided.

ANSWER.

THe Parliament of England, and also their Army, having so fully declared the Justice, Necessity and Ends of undertaking the present Expedition into Scotland; and having also put it in a way how those Declarations from the Committee of Estates, and Commission of the Kirk, in Answer thereunto, shall have their invalidity detected (as some of them al­ready in part have been) It will be needless to say any thing further on this subject in this place.

ANSWER.

THat which was first in Design and lurking at the bottom, is now last brought forth into open view to be put into practice: Until the Scots King had thus washed himself clean with his verbal Repentances, had pretended a full perswasion of the Justice and E­quity of all the Articles and Heads of the Covenant, [Page 35]and a casting of himself wholly upon the Advice of Parliaments, & Assemblies of Divines, in all Civil and Ecclesiastical matters in both Nations; He would have spoiled his own Affairs, and weakned the hands of all that should have joyned with him, to have en­gaged in a new War against England, who have smart­ed and suffered too much already by the old; but now, after the Landscip of such Wonders as these is drawn forth into a piece of paper, and the state of the Cause and of the War would seem to be changed, What doth all this tend to, and what is the use that is to be made of it? Surely no other then that, which if all these things had been left undone, was his and the Scots proper Interest before, upon their old Accompt; that is to say, To stir up all Parties and Interests capa­ble of his or their seducements, to take the first oppor­tunity to embroyl this Nation afresh in blood, that they might come in as Conquerors, and so make it, as much as in them lies, the saddest spectacle of ruine and misery that can be imagined; for what can be like an over-running of the Nation by a Scotish Army, with their King in the Head of them, be their pretences what they will? And therefore, since it is so apparant what is the end and Design of this Declaration, It will become all true Englishmen to be more awakened then ever, to watch against, and resist to the last man, so pernicious and deep laid a Design, whereby at one blow to cut off and disappoint all that hath been fought for so many years together, and subject them­selves to the power of a Forraign Nation, against whom God hath been pleased to give so wonderful a Testimony by the late signal Victory near Dunbar, the third of September, One thousand six hundred and [Page 36]fifty, upon Solemn Appeals made by both parties to Almighty God: And as it shall be our parts to omit no good means that God hath put into our hands, to prevent any Insurrections or Disturbances of the pub­lique Peace and Safety, by what hand soever carryed on; so we do hold it our duty further to Declare, That whosoever shall be found (in pursuance of this De­claration of Charls Stuart the Scots King) promoting the Interest of him the said Charls Stuart, or any way engaging in the prosecution of the wicked Designs therein contained, They shall be proceeded against with much more severity then Delinquents in the for­mer Wars, as to the judgement of Parliament shall be thought meet.