suspending and deposing of ministers. 3. The end why this court was erected showeth further that it is in part a church judicature; for it was erected to keep the peace and order of the church, and the government thereof, by archbishops and bishops, and to punish such as presume to violate, contemn, and disobey the ecclesiastic authority. 4. That which doth put the matter yet more out of doubt is the basis or ground on which this High Commission is reared up, namely, “His Majesty's prerogative royal, in all causes and over all persons, as well ecclesiastic as civil." Now, if they look upon this court only as a civil court, having power to meddle only with civil punishments, his prerogative royal in causes civil had been a sufficient basis for this. Therefore the express mentioning of his prerogative royal in causes ecclesiastic putteth it beyond all debate that they have proper church power granted unto them, and so may immediately depose and suspend, &c. In the last place, some may object, against the arguments brought from the unlawfulness of churchmen's taking upon them civil places, and say, That though they will prove it unlawful now for ministers to take upon them such places, yet they will not prove it unlawful for any to compear before them when installed in those places, more than it can be unlawful to come before a judge who, possibly, hath come to the place by unlawful and indirect means,-that is his fault, and others are not concerned therein; so here it is the prelate's fault to take upon them these places, and private persons are not so much concerned therein. Ans. There is a vast difference betwixt the prelates in this court and other judges in other courts, though coming to these places by indirect means; for, 1. These other courts and places of judicature are unquestionably lawful, but the High Commission is not a court so unquestionably lawful. 2. Other courts are not affected in the point of lawfulness or unlawfulness by the quality of the persons, but it is otherwise here in the High Commission: the very lawfulness of the court is questioned upon the account of the prelates being members therof sine quibus non. 3. These vices, or indirect means, used by others for attaining of such or such a place in a judicature, are, for the most part, secret and not clear, and undeniable or obvious unto all; but that which is objected against the prelates is notorious to all who read the gos pel, where they are expressly discharged by Christ to meddle in such a manner with any civil place or power: and so, 4. That which is objected against the prelates is such a thing as affecteth the very person, and incapacitateth him for the place, but, in the other cases instanced, these vices affect only the manner of entry, but do not incapacitate the person a man may be one fit enough for such or such a place in a judicature as to be a judge or a justice of peace or the like, though he use indirect means to come by the place; but the prelates, as prelates (if so be they will be accounted church officers), and because they are churchmen, are incapable of such a place; and, therefore, though it will not be unlawful to acknowledge a judicature unquestionably lawful, notwithstanding of some secret corruption in the entry of him who is in possession of the place, yet it will be unlawful to acknowledge a judicature, in itself questionable (at best) whether lawful or not, when such persons are made constituent members thereof, yea, and members sine quibus non, that, by the express law of Christ, are incapable of such a place. And the acknowledging of this judicature cannot but be an approving of that corruption, because the very acknowledging of the judicature saith, that the persons who are constituent members thereof are really and legally capable of the place: as the compearing before, and acknowledging of, a court made up of mere civil persons, having power to "try, ordain, rebuke, depose or excommunicate" ministers, should be an acknowledging of civil persons having church power, contrary to the laws of the gospel. Therefore the arguments brought from the unlawfulness of churchmen taking upon them civil places are still in force. By these particulars it is abundantly clear that that High Commission court is a most sinful court, even as to its constitution; and how dangerous it is to compear before it, upon any account, without a declinature, and how it is safest to withdraw and escape the snare that is laid there for catching of unwary souls ere they be aware. See the learned Voetius, Polit. Eccles., p. 214, quest. 2, and 216, quest. 3. SECTION XX. THE DREADFULNESS OF THE SIN OF COVENANT-BREAKING, PARTICULARLY OF ABJURING THE NATIONAL COVENANT AND of the same; and that there lieth no obligation upon me, or any of the subjects, from the said oaths, 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." May not the heavens be astonished at THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT, this, and may not all the world wonder, MANIFESTED. Many sad particulars have been mentioned, which may occasion grief and sorrow unto all the people of God, yet there is one other which putteth on the copestone, and may deservedly make that land a gazing-stock and a hissing unto all nations round about, who may stand astonished, and wonder what is become of covenanted Scotland for it was not enough for the parliament to condemn the covenants, which were solemnly sworn and subscribed by parliament, and, at their command, by all ranks of people in the land, and by the king himself, as was shown in section 2, but they formed a declaration, September 5, 1662, which they ordained to be subscribed by "all officers of state, members of parliament, privy councillors, lords of session, commissioners in the exchequer, members of the college of justice, sheriffs, stewards or commissaries, their deputies and clerks, magistrates and councils of burghs, justices of peace, and their clerks, or any other who have public charge, office, and trust within the kingdom;" and, by the subscribing of this declaration, they promise as fol loweth :"I, do sincerely affirm and declare, that I judge it unlawful to subjects, upon pretence of reformation, or any other pretence whatsoever, to enter into leagues and covenants, or to take up arms against the king, or those commissioned by him, and that all these gatherings, convocations, petitions, protestations, and erecting and keeping of 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 1638, and thereafter), and the other entitled A Solemn League and Covenant, were, and are, in themselves unlawful oaths, and were taken by, and imposed upon, the subjects of this kingdom against the fundamental laws and liberties that the only qualification necessary, or qualification sine qua non of a magistrate (who should be a man fearing God, and a man of truth, &c., Exod. xviii. 21; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3; Neh. vii. 2; xiii. 13), should be perjury of the deepest dye? May it not be for a lamentation, that no other should be in a capacity to administrate justice but such as are singular for unfaithfulness? Cicero, in Offic., lib. 1, saith, "The groundwork of justice is faithfulness and truth, that is to say, constancy and truth in words and actions;" and how can such execute justice betwixt man and man, and press faithfulness in words and actions, who are ringleaders in unfaithfulness themselves? How can they press and force others to stand to their obligations and compacts when themselves have broken all bonds, and declared themselves not obliged to stand to any obligation which they have made unto the great God of heaven and earth? What justice can be expected from them who will make no conscience of their oath de fideli adminis tratione? And how can it be expected that such shall make any conscience of their oath de fideli administratione who have already declared and avowed themselves perjured and forsworn? For it is a presumption in law that qui semel malus semper malus in eodem genere. How can such be judges in a reformed land who would not be suffered to be judges amongst heathens? How can those be admitted as judges in Scotland whose oath, according to the laws and constant practice thereof, will not be admitted before any judge in a matter above ten shillings money of Scotland? But oh, how few is there found of all the magistrates in the land who have refused to subscribe this declaration! And how may this stand on record, to the perpetual infamy (the punishment assigned to perjured persons by the law of the twelve tables) of this generation, that it did both swear a covenant with God, and now hath openly and avowedly annulled, cancelled and broken the same, and thereby declared themselves to be the most infamous and perjured gene ration that ever stepped upon ground; and a generation whose oaths, let be their words and promises, are no more to be regarded than if they were all Samnites, with whom (as Livy saith, Annal., lib. 9), the Romans refused to enter in terms of peace because of their frequent treacherous actings; or Carthaginians, of whom it is said, that they were always perjured; or Cretians, who are always liars, Tit. i. 12? And what will bind such when oaths will not bind? How fitly may that of Juvenal, satire 13, be applied to this generation! Sunt in fortunæ qui jam casibus omnia ponunt, The weight on fortune some lay of each thing, But others fear lest plagues their guilt pursue,- Let God discern with what disease And how many now are regardless of all oaths, to whom that of Juvenal, satire 13, doth fitly quadrate : Ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira Deorum est. Tam facile et pronum est, superos contemnere testes. Suppose it true that divine wrath be great, But, moreover, this oath must be pressed on others besides the persons mentioned by the privy council, which hath power for this effect; and though already many (and alas, too, too many) have subscribed this declaration, and thereby abjured their former oath and engagement, and so not only have brought infamy and disgrace upon themselves, but have also heinously provoked the Lord to send a sword, which shall avenge the quarrel of his covenant, and the broad curse, which shall consume both the timber and the stones of their houses, others cannot be blamed for refusing to write after their copy, if these three things be considered: 1. How sinful and heinous a crime it is to break these covenants; 2. What dreadful judgments may be expected to follow upon the breach of covenant; and, 3. How weak the grounds are whereupon such go as cry down the lawfulness and standing force of these covenants. The first of these shall be spoken to in this section, and the rest in the following sections. The sinfulness, then, of this practice will appear, if these twelve particulars be considered and laid together: 1. There is, in the breach of these covenants, a clear breach of promise. All covenants are promises, and these covenants have in them a plain and clear promise. Now a promise is "a rational act of a man (as Aquinas saith, 22æ, quest. 38, art. 1), by which he declareth and ordereth his purposes to another," and these are of two sorts: either that which is called pollicitatio, and this (as Grotius saith, de Jur. Bel. ac Pac., lib. 2, cap. 11, sect. 3) is, when "the will doth determine itself for the time to come with a sufficient evidence, showing the necessity of persevering," and this (as he addeth) doth either oblige simply, or under a certain condition; or else such as are full and complete promises, such as promises of giving and promises of doing, and in these (as he saith, ibid, sect. 4), "beside the determination there is also a sign of voluntarily resigning the right over unto another." He further there proveth, that these promises do bind : 1. By showing from Scripture, namely, Neh. ix. 8; Heb. iv. 18; x. 23; 1 Cor. x. 13; 1 Thess. v. 14; 2 Thess. iii. 3; 2 Tim. ii. 13, how God, who is above all law, should yet do contrary to his nature if he should not keep his promises. 2. By that passage of Solomon's, Prov. vi. 1, 2, "My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth." So that promises are strong bonds, and ought to be kept. Hence that, Verba ligant homines; taurorum cornua funes, A heathen could say of a promise made to another, Vox mea facta tua est, Ovid, 2d Metamor. And heathens made much of their promises; yea, it is said of some, that they refused to swear any oath, because that would have imported that their bare word and promise was not to be rested on as security enough. Thus the Scythians (as Grotius saith, de Jure Belli ac Pac., lib. 2, cap. 13, sect. 21) refused to swear to Alexander, and told him that colendo fidem jurant, they swear by valuing their promise. So when, at Athens, a grave person came to give his oath at the altar, all the judges cried out that they would not suffer it to be done, Eo quod nollent religione videri, potius quam veritate fidem esse constrictam. Spurius Posthumus, in his speech before the senate (as Livy showeth, lib. 9), saith, that promises, no less than covenants, are religiously regarded by all, Apud quos juxta divinas religiones fides humana colitur. When C. Lucinius and L. Sextus, two tribunes, were making some overtures tending to the advantage of the people,-one whereof was, that, in payment of debts, all that which had been paid in usury should be allowed in the first place,Claudius Crassus, one of the patricians, had an oration to dissuade the people therefrom, showing them how that, by this means, all faith and trust should be banished, and, consequently, all human society should be destroyed. See Livy, lib. 6. The Romans have been famous for keeping their public faith; hence, in all their straits, the people did lend money most willingly unto the senate, not knowing how it could be better secured. See Livy, lib. 25. And therefore they honoured their public faith as a goddess, and had a solemn place appointed for her, in which place all their articles of peace and covenants were sworn, Ut ejus, qui ea violaret, sacrum diis inferis, caput esset. See Livy, hist., lib. 1, 24. Yea, so much did they esteem of their faith, that they did not think it enough not to do anything contrary thereunto, but they would not suffer others to do anything which might seem to reflect on them and their faithfulness; and therefore, as Livy showeth, lib. 28, when Hannibal had overthrown Saguntum, a city in Spain, which had befriended the Roman interest, they thought it their duty to recover that city out of the hands of Hannibal, and did so. Memorable is the story of Fabius, the dictator, mentioned by Livy, lib. 22, who, when Hannibal was wasting Italy, and had spared a piece of ground that appertained unto him, of purpose to make the report go that he had complied with him, seeing his fidelity thus in hazard to be questioned, sent his son to Rome to sell that piece of ground, and, with the money thereof, he paid what he had promised for the relief of some captives upon the public faith; and thus fidem publicam privato impendio exsolvit. When Jugurtha, king of Numidia, had killed the two grandchildren of Masanissa, that he might possess the whole kingdom, the Romans called Jugurtha to answer for this fact, and secured him in coming by their public faith, and because of the safe conduct which they had promised, they sent him away safe, notwithstanding that he had owned the wickedness done by Bomilcar his companion, and had him conveyed away quietly. See Sallust, in Jugurth. It is memorable also, that when Scipio was warring in Africa against the Carthaginians, there was a truce concluded, and the Carthaginians sent some ambassadors to Rome, to treat for a peace, and, in the meantime, Asdrubal taketh two hundred and thirty of the Roman ships, which had been driven from the fleet by storm, and when the ambassadors that came from Scipio, upon the report of this, were come to Carthage, they also were inhumanly used and hardly escaped, and, notwithstanding of all this breach of truce, and breach of the law of nations, the Romans, because of their public faith, sent away the Carthaginian ambassadors safe. See Livy, lib. 32. So was it their public faith which freed Hanno, a commander of the Carthaginian forces, notwithstanding that the Carthaginians had put Cornelius Asina, a consul, in chains,. contrary to their faith and promise. Many such instances might be given, but these may suffice to make such as call themselves Christians to blush, when they see how far they are outstripped by such as had no rule to walk by but the dim letters of nature's light. How may those religious heathens (if they may be so called, being compared with the more than heathenish Christians) have hissed Machiavel out of their common Y wealth, and banished him their society, as fitter to live among beasts, with his beastly overtures, than among men, seeing they tend, in effect, to turn men into brutes; for if no faith or promise be kept, all human society shall be broken up, and there must be no traffic, no bargaining, but men must be left at liberty to run and rove abroad, as the wild beasts of the field, to catch what they can have. Memorable is that which Buchanan, Hist., lib. 9, relateth of the borderers in Scotland, who thought so much of the breach of a promise, that they would not eat nor speak with such as broke promise, nor suffer him to come into their houses, and, for his disgrace, they stuck up a glove upon a pole or a spear, and carried it about in their public meetings. 2. There is in the breach of those covenants a clear breach of an oath. The covenants are sworn covenants, and so the breach thereof is the breach of an oath, and this is no small sin. Heathens acknowledged a great binding force in oaths: hence Cicero, de Offic., lib. 3, saith, "That an oath is a religious affirmation, and what is promised, God being witness, should be performed;" and again, "He who violateth his oath violateth his faith ;" and again, "Our forefathers would have no bond straiter than that of an oath, as the laws in the twelve tables show, and their covenants, whereby they did bind themselves, even to their enemies, and the observations of their censors, who took notice of nothing more than of people's keeping their oaths." An high account, then, have even heathens had of their oaths. Yea, Livy saith, that faithful promises are sufficient to rule a city though there were no laws nor magistrates. Memorable is the story of Regulus, who, being taken captive by the Carthaginians, having given his oath either to return to Carthage a prisoner, or procure in his place the liberation of some of the Carthaginians then prisoners at Rome, got liberty to go to Rome, and, when he came thither, it was not found honourable for the people of Rome to render back any captives, yea, himself (though he would not vote as a member of the senate, affirming, that as long as he was under the oath of the enemy he was not a free senator) dissuaded them from rendering up any captives, because such as they had among their hands were able and eminent commanders of the Carthaginian forces, and himself was but an old broken man, and altogether useless. When the senate had thus resolved, though he had many strong temptations to break his oath, as the offer of liberty to stay at home in his own country, with his own dear family, and to enjoy the honour and privileges of a member of the senate, and, upon the other hand, the thoughts of his cruel and bloody enemies, and their notoriousness in perfidy, yet, for all this, conform to his oath, he returned, and rendered himself their prisoner; and, when he did so, saith Cicero, de Offic., lib. 3, "His case was better than if he had stayed at home a perjured old captive senator." And Cicero, when he is again speaking of this same business, saith," That he could do no otherwise then, when nothing was accounted surer than an oath." And upon this account is it that this Regulus is so praised by Silius, It., as Grotius showeth, de Jure Belli ac Pac., lib. 2, cap. 13, sect. 16. Qui longum semper fama gliscente per avum, Memorable also is that passage of Pomponius, the tribune, who, when Titus (afterwards Tarquatus), son to Manlius, came in upon him early in the morning, while he was in bed, and drawing his sword, swore that he would presently kill him unless he would give his oath to let his father go free (against whom there was an action intended) having given his oath thus out of fear, resolved to keep it, and, therefore, according to his oath, he letteth Manlius go free, tantum illis temporibus jusjurandum valebat, -" oaths were in such an account in those days" (saith Cicero, ubi supra). Memorable also is the story of those whom Hannibal took captive and sent to the senate, upon oath to return unless the senate would liberate some of his commanders; and when the senate refused to do this (for they would redeem no captives, though they might do it at never so easy a rate, that their soldiers might resolve either to die or to overcome) they returned, according to their oath, and rendered themselves prisoners; but, which is most remarkable, there was one among them, who, after he had given his oath, and was coming away with the rest, returneth into the enemies camp a little, as if he had forgot some things, thinking, by this means, to |