68 The LIFE of the Part III. S. 298. At lait, thoughthe Teft was carried by the Majority, yet thofe, that were againfr it, with others; prevailed to, make fogreat an alteration of h, as made it quite another thing, and turned it to the greateft difadvantage of the Bithops, and the greateft accommodation of the Canfe of the Nonconformiffs, of any thing that this Parliament bath done For they reduced it to thefe words, cf a Declaration and an Oath. [" I A. B. do declare That it is not lawful, on any pretence whatfoever, "to take Arms against the King; And that I do abhor that Traiterous Pofition, " of taking Arms, by His Authorttty, against His Perfon, or againft thofe that " are Commiffioned by him according to Law, in time of Rebellion andWar, in " afling in purfuanceof filch Commilfion. [ " I A..8.- doSwear, that I will not endeavour an Alteration of the Prote- " Rant Religion now eftablilhed by Law in the Church of Estland : nor will I endeavour any Alteration in the Government of this Kingdom in Church or " State, as itis byLaw Eltablilhed. S. 299. This Declaration and Oath thus altered, was fuch as the Nonconfor- migs would have taken, if it had been offeredthem in ftead of the Oxford-Oath, the Subfcription for Uniformity, the Corporation and Veftry Declaration : But the Kingdom muffbe Twelve years rackt to Diftraftion, and iSoo Minigersfor- bidden to Preach'Chrifes Gofpel, upon pain of ,utter ruin and Cities and Corpo- rations all New-Modelled and Changed, by other kind of Oaths and Covenants; and when the Lords find the like obtruded on themfelves, they reje&it as into- lerable : And when it pag, they got in this Provifo, That it fhould be no hin- derance to their Free-Speaking and Voting in the Parliament: Many worthy Minters have bolt their Lives by Imprifonments, and many Hundred their Maintenance and Liberty, and that opportunity to ferve God in their Callings, which was much of the comfort of their Lives, and moftly for refuting what the Lords themfelves at lag refute, with filch another Declaration. But though Experience teachfome that will no otherwife learn ; it is fad with the World, when their Rulers mug learn 'to Govern them at fo dear a rate ; and Coun- treys, Cities, Churches, and the Souls of Men, mug pay fo dear for, their Gover nouns Experience. §. 3oo. The following Explication will tell you , That there is nothing in this Oath andDeclaration tobe refuted. i. [ I do declare That it is not law- ful ] can mean no more, but that [ I think fo] and not that I pretend to In- fallible certainly therein. 2. E To take Arms againjt the Kind.] That is, either againfc his Formal Authority, as King? or againit His Perfon ( Life, or Liberty) or again ti any of His Rights and Dignity: And doubtlefs the Perfon of the K ing is inviolable, and fo are His Authority and Rights ; not only by the Laws, butby the very Conititutionof the Kingdom : For every Common-wealth being elfentially conitituted of the Pars Imperaras, and parsfuklita materially, the Uni- on of thefe is the Form of it, and the Difiblution is the l e.rih of it: AndHo- gility is Difunion and Difiblution. Therefore no Head or Soveraign bath power to deftroy, or fight againft his Kingdom, nor any Common-wealth or Kingdom againft their King or Soveraign Rulers: anlefs in any cafe the Law of Nature and Nat ns, which is above all Humane Pofitive Laws, Ihould make the diffolu- tion of the Kepublick to become a Duty, (As ifTome Republick fhould cart off the Effential Principles of Society.) ByLaw, neither King nor Kingdom may deftroy or hurt eachother : For the Governing Laws fuppofe their Union (as the Conftitution, and the Common good, with the dueWelfare of the Soveraign, is theend of Government, which none have power againit. But it mutt be noted, that the words are [aga:nf the King] andnot [ againfi the King's Will; ] for if his Will be againft his Welfare, his Kingdom, or his Laws, though that Willbe Ggnified by his Commiffioners, the Declaration difdaimeth not the refitting offilch a Will by Arms. And if these be any that affert, that the King's Authority giveth them right' to take up Arms ( againft his Perfon, or Lawful Cónnmsflions A ] it muff needs be a Faith and Traiterous Aftertion: For if his Perfoa may be Hoftilely fought a- gáinft, the Common-wealth may be diffolved, which the Law cannot fuppofe; for
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=