Declaration Concerning the Late Tumults in Scotland, Floating text 5
For God and the King.
WE Noblemen, Barons, Ministers, Burrowes, appointed to attend his Majesties answer to our humble Petition and complaint, and to preferre new grievances, and to do what else may lawfully conduce to our humble desires; That whereupon the 23. of September last, wee presented a Supplication to your Lordships, and another upon the 18. of October last, and also a new Bill relative to the former upon the 19. of December last, and did therein humbly remonstrate our just exceptions against the Service Book, and Book of Canons; and also against the Arch-bishops and Bishops of this Kingdome, as the contrivers, maintainers, and urgers thereof, and against their sitting as our Judges untill the cause be decided; earnestly supplicating withall to bee freed and delivered from these and all other innovations of that kinde, introduced against the laudable Lawes of this Kingdome; as that of the High Commission, and other evils particularly mentioned, and generally contained in our foresaid supplications and complaints, and that this our partie delinquent against our Religion and Lawes may be taken order with, and these pressing grievances may be taken order with and redressed according to the Lawes of this Kingdome, as by our said supplications and complaints more largely doth appeare: With the which on the 19. of December last, we gave in a Declinator against the Arch-bishops and Bishops as our parties, who by consequence could not be our Judges; wherupon your Lordships declared by your Act at Dalkeith the said 19. of December, that you would present our Petitions to his Majesties Royall consideration, and that without prejudice of the Declinator given in by us the said supplicants; wherupon we should be heard at place and time convenient, And in the meane time should receive no prejudice, as the said Act in it selfe beareth. And whereas we your Lordships supplicants with a great deale of patience, and hope also, grounded on sundry promises, were expecting an answere to these our humble desires, and having learned that upon some directions of His Majesties anent our supplications and complaint unto your Lordships of the Secret Councell, your Lordships admits to the consulting and judging anent our supplications, and His Majesties answere thereunto, the Archbishops and Bishops our direct parties, contrarie to our Declinator first propounded at Dalkeith, and now renewed at Sterling; and *It is not so: for the Councell never promised that the Bishops should be removed from the Table, but onelyonly that they would make Us acquainted with their Petition.contrarie to your Lordships Act aforesaid at Dalkeith, and contrarie to our Religion, and Lawes, and humble supplications. Therefore lest our silence be prejudiciall to this so important a cause, as concernes Gods glorie and worship, our Religion, Salvation, the Lawes and Liberties of this Kingdome, or derogatorie to the former supplications and complaints, or unanswerable to the trust of our Commission; out of our bound dutie to our God, our King and native Countrey, we are forced to take instruments in Notaries hands, of your Lordships refusall to admit our Declinator, or remove these our Parties, and to protest in manner following: First, That we may have our immediate recourse to our sacred Soveraign, to present our grievances, and in a legall way to prosecute the same before the ordinarie competent Judges, Civill or Ecclesiasticall, without any offence offered by us, or taken by your Lordships. Secondly, VVe protest that the said Archbishops and Bishops, our Parties complained upon, cannot be reputed or esteemed lawfull Judges to fit in any Judicatorie in this Kingdome, Civill or Ecclesiasticall, upon any of the supplicants, untill after lawfull tryall judicially they purge themselves of such crimes as we have already laid to their charge, offering to prove the same whensoever His Sacred Majestie shall please to give us audience. Thirdly, VVe protest that no Act nor Proclamation to follow thereupon, past, or to be past in Councell or out of Councell, in presence of the Archbishops and Bishops, whom we have already declined to be our Judges, shall any wayes be prejudiciall to us the supplicants, our persons, estates, lawfull meetings, proceedings, or pursuits. Fourthly, VVe protest that neither we nor any whose heart the Lord moveth to joine with us in these our supplications against the foresaid Innovations, shall incurre any danger, in life, lands, or any Politicall or Ecclesiasticall paines, for not observing such Acts, Bookes, Canons, Rites, Judicatories, Proclamations, introduced without or against the Acts of Generall Assemblies, or Acts of Parliament, the Statutes of this Kingdome; But that it shall be lawfull to us or them to use our selves in matters of Religion of the externall worship of God and Policie of the Church, according to the word of God, and laudable Constitutions of this Church and Kingdome, conforme to His Majesties Declaration the ninth of December last. Fifthly, seeing by the legall and submisse way of our former supplications, all who takes these Innovations to heart, have been kept calme and carried themselves in a quiet manner, in hope of redresse; VVe protest that if any inconvenience shall happen to fall out (which we pray the Lord to prevent) upon the pressing of any of the foresaid Innovations or evils, specially or generally contained in our former supplications and complaints, and upon your Lordships refusall to take order thereanent, the same be not imputed to us, who most humbly seeks all things to be reformed by an Order. Sixthly, we protest that these our requests, proceeding from conscience and a due respect to His Majesties honour, doe tend to no other end, but to the preservation of the true reformed Religion, the lawes and liberties of this His Majesties most ancient Kingdome, and satisfaction of our most humble desires contained in our supplication and complaint, according to his Majesties accustomed goodnesse and justice, from which we doe certainely expect that His Sacred Majestie will provide and grant such remedie to our just petitions and complaints, as may be expected from so gracious a King toward most loyall and dutifull subjects, calling for redresse of so pressing grievances, and praying to God that his Majestie may long and prosperously reigne over us.
AGainst which Protestation We shall now say nothing, because it is contained & repeated in another larger Protestation of theirs, which shall be inserted hereafter, and there it shall receive a full answer: OnelyOnly We desire the Reader to observe these two things in it; First, the iniquitie and injustice of their demanding some of our Bishops to be removed from our Councell, nay, and (which We think never was heard before) their protesting against all Acts to be done and passed in our Councell at which any of them shall be present, alledging, that this their Protestation against them, and Declinator of them, maketh them to be parties, and so they cannot be Judges; and withall they require them first to be removed, and then promise they will make proofe of such crimes against them as shall declare the justice of their removall; which is all one as to intreat them first to condemn a man, and then to trie him: And if a Protestation against their sitting in Councell, and a Declinator of Our Councells authoritie (neither of them admitted by our Councell) shall make some Councellours to be parties, and invalidate all Acts of Councell so long as these Councellours whom they have fancied to be parties sit there; how their last pretended generall Assembly, against which there were so many Protestations made both by the Bishops and others, and which by all these Protesters was declined as Judge, because the members of it had all made themselves parties, can be counted a lawfull generall Assembly, or the members of it lawfull Judges, We leave it to themselves to reconcile: And if they should say, that these Protestations and Declinators against the Assembly were repelled by the Assembly, who was the sole Judge of them, let them remember, that their Protestation against the Bishops, and their Declinator against Our Councels authoritie, if they should not eject them, were both of them, likewise repelled and rejected by Our Councell, who was the onelyonly true Judge of them, their last pretended Assembly being no true but onelyonly a pretended Judge of the others, after the Assembly was dissolved by Our authoritie. And secondly, We shall desire the Reader to observe, that their demands in this Protestation are very farre short of those which are made by them in their succeeding Protestations, which swell with farre more bold and insolent demands then this doth, although this be bold and insolent enough: But it is an usuall course with the heads of all Rebellions, to draw in that partie, by whose power they intend to make good their wicked plots, with small things at the first, concealing from them the depth of their intentions, untill they have engaged them so farre, as they can make them beleeve that there is no safety in retreating, when their crimes are past hope of pardon.
And now after this their first Protestation, begun the most unnaturall, causlesse, and horrible Rebellion that this or perhaps any other age in the world hath been acquainted with: For now these Protesters begin to invest themselves with the supreme Ensignes and Markes of Majestie and Soveraigntie, by erecting publike Tables of advice and Councell, for ordering the affaires of the Kingdome, without Our authoritie, and in contempt of Us and Our Councell established by Us there, and by entring into a Covenant and most wicked Band and combination against all that shall oppose them, not excepting Our owne Person, directly against the law of God, the law of Nations, and the municipall lawes of that Our Kingdome: So that after this their Protestation, they perfected that which they had before begun confusedly, and as it were in a ruder draught: For then, contrarie to Our expresse commandement and authoritie expressed in Our last Proclamations, and repeated unto them by Our Councell, they did erect a great number of Tables (as they called them) in Edinburgh▪ Foure principall, One of the Nobilitie, another of the Gentrie, a third of the Burroughes, a fourth of Ministers; and the Gentrie had manie subordinate Tables, according to their severall Shires: These severall Tables did consult of what they thought fit to bee propounded at the generall Table, which consisteth of severall Commissioners chosen from the other foure Tables; and what they of the generall Table resolved on, was to be put in practice with a blinde and Jesuiticall obedience: A rare and unheard forme of Government in a Kingdome whose Government ever was Monarchicall, and which they themselves still say continueth to be so: Sure these meetings by wise men have been accounted rather Stables of unruly horses, broken loose and pulling downe all they can reach, then Tables for the consultations of wise and rationall men. Now the first dung which from these Stables was throwne upon the face of Authoritie and Government, was that lewd Covenant, and seditious Band annexed unto it, which We here subjoine, because We are confident that by the verie recitall and perusall of it, every religious and wise man may run and read that sentence of condemnation which it carrieth in its owne front.