A Logical Demonstration Of the Lawfulness of Subscribing the New Engagement.  
OR, Promise to be True and Faithful to the Common-Weal As it is now Established: In four ARGUMENTS.  
As a just Apology for such as have conscientiously Subscribed: And for Satisfaction of others, who may be called to Subscribe; Especially if they had formerly taken the Solemn League & Covenant.  
Jan: 30th 1649.  
LONDON, Printed by John Macock for Giles Calvert, at the black Spread-Eagle near the West end of Pauls. 1650.   

A LOGICAL DEMONSTRATION Of the Lawfulness of Subscribing the New Engagement.  
Argum. 1. THat which is our duty to do, that we may promise and engage to do, if required: But 'tis our duty to be true and faithful to the Common-weal as now established: Ergo, 'Tis lawful to promise and engage, being required.  
The first proposition will not be denied: For if it be lawful to promise to do many things, to which we are not bound till we promise, much more to do that which is a duty before we promise, as to serve God according to his Will, to obey Parents, to do Justice according to our places, &c.  
The second proposition appears by this Argument.  
To live peaceably, and to submit to necessary Impositions, and lawful Commands, is neither more nor less then to be true and faithful. But 'tis our duty to live peaceably, and to submit to necessary Impositions, and lawful Commands: Ergo,  
'Tis a duty to be true and faithful.  
The second proposition is granted plainly by the dissenting Brethren the reverend Ministers in the first part of their Answer, or first Reason, which they also promise to do.  
The truth of the first proposition, namely, That to live peaceable, and to submit to necessary Impositions, and lawful Commands, is all one with Faithfulness, appears from Scripture.  
For Submission, which is acknowledged to be due to the present Government, must come under the Apostolical Precept, Rom. 13.1. and 1 Pet. 2.13. Let every Soul be subject, and submit to every Ordinance of man. Now that Submission comprehends Fidelity in it, or under it, as is evident, Tit. 2.9, 10. Servants must be obedient to their Masters, showing all good faith, or fidelity. Fidelity is part of their obedience, or a due qualification of it: And that obedience is nothing else but submission and subjection: for 'tis the same Greek word which we translate, Rom. 13.1. and 1 Pet. 2.13. Be subject, and submit to. Therefore Obedience, Submission, Subjection, and Fidelity, is all one, and he that promises one, promises the other also.  
Argum. 2. It is lawful to promise Fidelity to the Higher Powers, or Super-eminent Authority, if they do require it.  
But the Common-weal, as now established, is the Higher Powers, or Super-eminent Authority: Ergo, 'Tis lawful to promise Fidelity to it.  
The first Proposition appears,  
First, Subjection may be promised to the Higher Powers, Rom. 13.1. Fidelity is subjection, as appears above: Ergo, Fidelity may be promised.  
Again, Whatsoever is a part of Subjection may be promised to the Higher Powers. A promise of Subjection, being required, is a part of Subjection: Ergo,  
A promise of Subjection may be made to the Higher Powers.  
The Oath of Allegiance, formerly required, was an act or token of Subjection.  
The second proposition none will deny at this present, namely, That the Common-weal, as now established, is the Higher Power, and Super-eminent Authority, as the word signifies.  
Object. This is true of Lawful Powers, namely, such as have a lawful Title, but not of an Usurped and Intruding Power, as this is supposed to be.  
Solut. It is answered; First, This is not fitly objected to the present Power, for that is not a Power by Intrusion, Invasion, or Usurpation, but Devolution. In the Wars, if the Captain be slain, the place devolves to the next Power, the Lieutenant: If all the Officers slain, some of the Common Soldiers must act as Officers for saving the rest; and yet this is no Usurpation nor Invasion. If a Ship be wracked, the goods are theirs to whose shore they do devolve, which is by a mere act of Providence, and not a design of man.  
That this War was raised in design to change the Government, there is none, who were engaged in the Covenant, date avouch, unless they will render the Parliament and themselves absolute Truytors. But we say, in the truth of the thing, God witnessing with our Consciences, That this War was defensive against a Common Enemy, whose Right and just Title it was to Rule according to Law, and for the good of his Subjects, and not to their destruction; who having desperately split himself upon the Rock of our Defensive War, and resolved to win the Horse or lose the Saddle, hath wracked the Ship of the Common-weal as much as in him lay; and in the wrack all the old Form being broken, and but a piece of a Parliament left( in which notwithstanding the life of the whole doth virtually reside) the Care of new-mending, and new-rigging the whole, doth necessary devolve to them, as the next shore where the goods of the Common-weal are by providence arrived.  
If King and Parliament had both been broken to pieces in this sad Calamity, the Care of new-molding the whole, had necessary devolved to the Heads of Families, in whom the rest are represented without any usurpation.  
Answ. 2. Secondly, If the Title of the present Government were worse then 'tis, yet it being in full possession, and the Supereminent Authority, Subjection and Fidelity were due to it.  
For the Apostle, when he commands Christians to be subject to Higher Powers, does not meddle with the Title of the person that possess those Powers. He does not say, Let them be subject, if they have a good Title; for that would have left Obedience at a mere uncertainty, opened a door of Disobedience, to such as had a mind to cavil, and would not have stopped the mouths of ignorant and foolish men( 1 Pet. 2.15, 16.) who would quickly have reproached the Gospel with this, These Christians will cloak their disobedient practices, under colour of inquiring into the Title of those that do Command.  
Joseph and Daniel, employed in great Offices of Trust under two great Tyrants, questioned not, whether they should be faithful, unless the Title were clear to them.  
Neither did the Christians, employed in services under Heathen Emperors, make scruple of their fidelity, though their titles might be none of the best.  
Ans. 3. Besides, It is to be observed, That which is Gods Institution in Government, to which Subjection hath Relation, is not the Title of the Governor, or the Form of Government, but the Place, Power, and Authority of Governing. The Title and the Form are of human Creation, 1 Pet. 2.13. The Power and Authority is of Divine Institution; 'Tis his Ordinance that Powers should be: and the Powers that are, saith the Apostle, are subordained to God, or ordained under God, as the words might be fitly translated. God himself is the Fountain and Head of all Power, and under himself he hath appointed Principalities and Powers for Government in the World.  
Servants must obey froward Masters: The froward Master is not Gods Ordinance, but the Government of the froward Master is Gods Ordinance: So if any usurp Government, and confirm their Usurpation by Conquest, their Usurpation and Conquest is not Gods Ordinance, but their Acts of Government, ordered to the right ends of Government, are Gods Ordinance, and to be obeied.  
Therefore, as when Antichrist fits in Gods Temple, I distinguish 'twixt the Ordinance of God, and the Corruption of man; That which is of God I must own, notwithstanding the usurpation of man: So must I own the Power, when I cannot own the title of him that manages the Power: And whatsoever is carried on by a lawful Power, though by an unlawful hand, I am to be subject to.  
Argum. 3. The determinations of providence are to be owned and submitted to: But that the Common-weal be established as now it is, is the determination of providence. Ergo, 'Tis to be owned and submitted to, and so fidelity promised to it if required.  
By determinations of providence is meant such acts of providence, whereby he doth finally determine a thing, before doubtful, in mans judgement.  
That the present Establishment is the determination, or the result of a determination of providence, few will deny  
It will be the clearer, if we consider, That both King and Parliament did both solemnly appeal to God for ending this controversy, either of them wishing they might so prosper, as they were sincere in their desires for Religion, Liberty of Subject, privilege of Parliament, &c. Now the Lot was cast into the Lap, but the whole disposition of it was of the Lord. There was no power on earth to appeal to. God was appealed to, what then was the Issue but a judicial determination from Heaven?  
Now when God hath judicially given sentence, ought not his sentence to be owned and conformed to?  
He doth according to his own will in the Armies of Heaven, and with the inhabitants of the earth,( Dan. 4.34, 35.) He puts down one, and sets up another, who then shall say, What dost thou? But if I say I will be faithful to him that is put down, and not to him that is set up, do I not then say, What dost thou?  
David had a good title to the Kingdom, but all men did not see it. but some took him for a Rebel: But when Saul was dead, the War ended, and a great part of the people come in; now those that would not submit, when they saw it was Gods work, by a clear determination of providence, they were accounted opposers of God, more then of David.  
So he saith, Psal. 28.5. Because they regard not the work of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.  
Upon this ground it was that Rehoboam( 2 Chron. 11.1, 2, 3, 4.) forbore to fight against Jeroboam for bringing the people back to him, because he understood it was a final determination of providence.  
And upon the like ground the Jews and others were persuaded to submit to the King of Babylon( Jer. 27.5, 6, 7, 8.) because it was now by providence to be cast on him to be the Conqueror: And although on these two examples the mind of God was revealed by prophesy; yet they prove this, That when Gods will in this kind is revealed, it is to be submitted to. And in these days we cannot expect a further revelation in such cases, then such as providence shall dictate, especially in case of immediate appeals to God.  
Argum. 4. That which we are bound to do by the late Covenant in the true sense and meaning of it, is lawful to do, unless we question the lawfulness of the Covenant. But to this Engagement, if required, we are bound to by the Covenant, rightly understood. Ergo, This Engagement is lawful.  
The second Proposition will appear thus:  
In the sixth Article of the Covenant, the common Cause in which we have stood, and for the promoting of which we covenanted, is there asserted to be Religion, the true Liberties and Peace of the Kingdoms. And in this Cause we engage to continue zealously and constantly all the days of our lives, against all opposition and combinations, according to our places and Callings, without defection to the contrary part, or neutrality.  
The contrary part, in the true sense of the Covenant, was the King, and his party, his posterity, or others, so long as they persisted in the way of opposition they were in, and came not in to us, to the preservation of this common Cause, as appears in the third Article. And the determination of difficult questions upon emergencies, how far delinquency was to be punished, was to be by the respective Judicatories of both Kingdoms, or such as they should deputy, as Artic. 4. We are therefore concluded by the Covenant to those final determinations of the Judicatory of this Kingdom, touching the Emergencies of this War, and what may be expedient from time to time to serve the ends of the Covenant, that is, the Common Cause.  
We did not covenant that, be the Issue of the War what it would, That Government in form should never be altered: That had been a presumptuous Covenant. But we did covenant to serve providence, and whatsoever events befell, yet to mind the Common Cause as long as we live.  
Seeing then the Common-weal, as it is now established, is the determination of our Judicatory( or so much of our Judicatory as was left, after the calamity of War) as the best expedient left after this storm for the ends of the Covenant, and there being no other visible means besides this that hath will and power to carry on those ends: We are doubtless bound by our Covenant to promote and further this in reference to those ends; and to oppose all coutrary Combinations that oppose those ends, and that Common Cause in which we have stood.  
Object. In the taking of the Covenant we had before our eyes the happiness of the King, and his posterity, but this tends to ruin them; And the preservation of his person and authority, but this destroys them; And the honor of the King, but this buries him in perpetual Infamy.  
Sol. The happiness of the King and his posterity was before our eyes Conjunctim, with Gods Glory, and Christs Kingdom, and the true Liberties of this Kingdom; but not divisim and separatim: We were to preserve his person Conjunctim, with Religion, and the Kingdoms Liberties; not separatim, and as a Common Enemy to these. We judged it not for his honor or happiness to give up our Common Cause into his hands, unless he came in to us.  
Object. But we declare that all the world shall bear witness with our Consciences of our loyalty, and that we had no intent to diminish his just power and greatness.  
Sol. First, We believe the Covenant itself did not savour of disloyalty, by putting the preservation of the Kings person and authority upon terms. For, as the case then stood at the making the Covenant, the King had raised War against his Parliament, endeavouring to rescend that Act especially granted by him for continuance of this Parliament, and had put his good Subjects out of his protection, put them to stand in defence of their lives and liberties, and became an open enemy, though in charity, and by way of indulgence, we were willing to think otherwise, till there was scarce any ground for charity left.  
2. That being then supposed, that there was no Act of disloyalty in making the Covenant, and putting the preservation of his person and authority upon terms, we may clearly as yet say in the words and meaning of the Covenant;  
As our Consciences did witness, that we proceeded not in that War out of any precedent design to diminish his authority and greatness, much less to wrong his person, but were constrained to those Acts that did diminish his power and greatness, out of necessity, for our own defence, dictated to us by the Parliament: So all the world may witness, and in time will witness, our Loyalty, when they understand how long we waited for his coming in, without change of Government, and that Government was not altered, till there was no visible hope left by him, or his Government, to attain the Ends of the Covenant.   

Imprimatur,  
Janu. 26. 1649. Joseph Caryl.   
FINIS.