sistorii_. He will have it thoroughly pled and judged betwixt
his kingdom and the kingdoms of the earth. And seeing he has begun to
conquer, he will prevail over all that stand in his way, whether pope,
king or parliament, that will claim any part of his headship, supreme
prerogative, and monarchy over his own church.

Sir, some may think you have had a design in abstaining so long from
asserting the divine right of church government, now to come in with it
truly. Sir, I look upon this check, as a good providence for your great
sparing and abstaining in that point, and must bear witness to many
passages of God's good hand in it, in not suffering us to make a stand
of our desires concerning religion, either in Scotland or here, albeit
we have often set down _mensura voti_ to ourselves; but he has as often
moved us step after step to trace back our defections, and make the last
innovations a besom to sweep out the former, and the king refused to be
a mean to engage in a covenant with himself and others, and so has drawn
us, against our wills, and beyond our desires, to perform our duty, and
to give a testimony to his truth, that much of God and divine wisdom and
design, and little of man and his politic projects, might be seen in the
beginning, progress and continuance of the whole work, by this good hand
of God: And for this end I hope these queries are brought to your hand
at this time.

Sir, your serving the parliament a while, I am confident, has been and
will be still, not that they may serve you, but for to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ; and that parliament will glory more in their subordination
and subservience to him, than in the empire and command over the world.

Sir, we may hear much of the breach of privilege, and of the covenant,
in relation to civil rights. Let us remember in the covenant the three
orders in the title and preface, three main duties in the body, and the
three effects in the close. The covenant begins with the advancement,
and ends with the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ, as the
substantials and over-word of the whole.

The first article of the seven is Christ, an article like _dies
Dominica_ in the week, all the rest are _in Domino_, and subordinate
thereunto: And all laws contrary to the will of Christ are acknowledged
to be void in his kingdom, and so they should, with far greater reason
than the constable's orders against the ordinance of parliament are void
in law. But, Sir, Christ