people, and to
comprehend them under these names of wicked, of malignant, of enemies as
may appear in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, and that more
especially in our days, that name hath been appropriated to such who have
declared themselves, in their words or actions, to be haters of godliness
and the power thereof, and his people, or have arisen to the height of
actual opposition against these, we cannot be blamed for using such a name
still, for distinction's sake. We proceed to some reasons.

I. The constant and continued proceedings of the General Assembly and
their commissioners for many years past unto this day.

There is not almost any of their warnings, declarations, or remonstrances,
which doth not assert this, and warn against it, and that not only before
the king's homecoming and taking of the covenant, but also since that
time, as is evident by the Declaration emitted by the commission in July
last,(325) the Declaration of the Assembly itself, a little after,(326) by
the Declaration emitted at Stirling since the defeat at Dunbar,(327) the
Causes of the Fast upon that defeat,(328) the Remonstrance to the king at
Perth after his escape, together with the Remonstrance given in by them to
the parliament,(329) all which do clearly hold forth this truth.

II. Take Christ's rule, "By their fruits ye shall know them." There is a
great party in the land that adhere to malignant principles, bring forth
malignant fruits, and tread malignant paths, as may appear in these
instances. 1. A great many of these who have been formerly engaged in such
courses, and under church censures, did lately conjoin together and rise
in arms, and drew away the king(330) from the public councils of the
kingdom, and refused to lay down arms till they got conditions agreeable
to their mind; which course of theirs was justly declared by the
commission to carry upon it the stamp of malignancy in an eminent way. 2.
The seeking to promote and establish an arbitrary power in the person of
the king, as it hath been still the endeavour of the malignant party, so
it hath been always taken by the kirk of Scotland as one of their
characters; and that there is a party now in Scotland who still hold that
principle, and drive this design of arbitrary power, is evident. First,
because these same men, who were lately in arms, did not only take up arms
upon the king's simple warrant, and without the knowledge, and contrary to
the mind of the