" These terms were applied to an agreement which made those that
entered into it, if in a public station, break their oath of allegiance,
(for the covenanters were bound to overturn the ecclesiastical branch of
the constitution,) and which though it affected loyalty by professing
deference for the person of the King, yet maintained the independence
and paramount power of the parliament, and denounced the King's friends
as malignant incendiaries and evil instruments, who prevented his
reconciliation with his people. The pretext of separating the royal
person from the free exercise of his functions, was too gross to deceive
the most short-sighted. Equally palpable was the falsehood of pretending
to promote peace and unity by an instrument, which, in the form of a
religious sacrament, forbade concession, and solemnly denounced eternal
enmity to all who held different opinions. Such mockery could be
equalled only by that of the popish inquisitors, who intreat the secular
power to be merciful, even in the warrant by which they virtually
consign their victims to the flames.
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