AN HISTORICAL RELATION Of the Late General Assembly Held at EDINBURGH From Octob. 16. to Nov. 13. In the Year 1690. IN A LETTER From a PERSON in EDINBURGH To his Friend in LONDON LICENSED April the 20th 1691. LONDON Printed for J. Hindmarsh at the Golden-Ball in Cornhill near the Royal-Exchange MDCXCI A LETTER FROM EDINBVRGH TO ONE in LONDON c. SIR I Received yours and do not think it strange that those of England are so desirous to know the Acts and Proceedings of our General Assembly in Scotland for not only Curiosity but Interest may prompt them thereto I will readily serve you in this Matter and intended though you had not required it to have given you an Account of it that you might have Occasion of gratifying your worthy Friends and Acquaintance It 's true I was not Eye-Witness of what past for you know my Circumstances would not allow that and the Brethren as they call themselves endeavoured to keep out all that were not of their own party or who might tell Tales forbidding the Keepers of the door to admit any without a leaden Ticket in the shape of a Heart which was the Pass given them which was not so easily obtain'd except for their particular Friends and if any of the Episcopal Party were discovered there was a Cry presently Conformists are here and the Officers were sent to thrust them out However notwithstanding of this strictness there were always two or three discreet and intelligent Persons of my Acquaintance present at every Session from whom I have what I write to you And I assure you that you may trust the Ingenuity and Faithfulness of the Relation But before I come to the Assembly it self there be some things previous to it which you ought to be informed of A General Assembly in Scotland you know is much of the same Nature with the Convocation in England or a National Council and of no less Authority here Nay our Presbyterians exalt the Authority of their Assemblies aboue that of King or Parliament and there be some standing Acts of their Assemblies against Acts of Parliament and which discharge Obedience to them Whereupon our Presbyterians being not content with what the Parliament had done for them nor thinking their Authority sufficient for setting up their Government they required a General Assembly by whose Authority which with them is supreme and next to that of Jesus Christ their Government might be firmly established and all their Actings and Proceedings ratified and approved by it Yet they knew that a free Assembly of the Clergy and Laity throughout the Kingdom would rather defeat than advance their Designs therefore they consider'd how they might prevent that by some Method which would exclude all who were not well affected to their Interest or zealous for the Good Old Cause In order hereunto they prevailed with the Parliament to lodge the whole Government and Management of Church Affairs in the hands of those few Old Preachers who went off when Episcopacy was reestablished An. 1661. and such as should be admitted and approved by them When these Ministers off the Episcopal Perswasion who had complied with the present Civil Government heard this they thought themselves injured and therefore addressed to the Parliament to be admitted to a share of the Government or at least not to be absolutely subjected to them who were their stated and professed Enemies This they claimed as due to them not only upon the account of their being Lawful Ministers of the Gospel but also upon the account of the publick Faith which promised them Protection upon their compliance with the Civil Government Notwithstanding which their Petition was disdainfully rejected and the Act continued as before in favour only of the above-mentioned Presbyterian Preachers By which means all the present Episcopal Clergy and such of the Laity as favoured their Interest and had complyed with them were rendred incapable of bearing any Office in the Kirk and of Sitting and Voting in their Meetings This the Episcopal Party justly complained of and said That though Episcopacy was abolished merely upon an unjust and false Pretence that that Government exercised Tyranny over the Church yet now a real Presbyterian Tyranny was established that instead of Fourteen Bishops Sixty were set up who would Lord it over their Brethren more imperiously than they either did or pretended to do and that Presbyters were subjected to them who own'd themselves to be no more than Presbyters which had no Precedent in the Catholick Church but also they who could not be denyed to be Lawful Ministers were excluded from any share of the Discipline and Government of the Church which was contrary to the very Principles and Tenets of the Presbyterians themselves who make every private Minister to be invested with the Authority of ruling as well as of teaching and who affirm it unlawful for any Minister to part with that Right and who therefore were wont to exclaim against Bishops because they seemed to usurp it wholly to themselves All the Excuse made for this was That they could no otherwise make their Government sure and that the Episcopal Party deserved to be thus treated for their Apostacy in betraying and renouncing the true Rights and Interests of the Church by complying with Episcopacy Hence it was inferr'd that Presbyterians do juggle both with God and Man For whereas they would have the World believe that their Model of Government and Forms of Discipline are so much of Divine Right that they can submit to no Terms of Composition with Men about them so when it makes for their Interest they can without any scruple introduce essential Alterations thereof For Parity which they make the Institution of Christ was now taken away and out of the pretended exigence of the Church nine hundred Ministers were suspended from one half of that Power given them by Christ which at other times is said to be so essential to them that they cannot be Ministers of the Gospel without it Shortly after the passing that Act of Parliament for setting up the Presbyterian Government and committing the Care and Management thereof to these few surviving Presbyterian Ministers who had not complied with Episcopacy there was a Meeting at Edinburgh of Presbyterian Ministers and Lay-Elders to advise about the Affairs of the Kirk and to lay down Methods how a General Assembly should be call'd and constituted because as I have observed one could not be had according to their minds after the old manner and standing Rules of General Assemblies By Virtue of the Act of Parliament none had the Right to meddle with the Government and Affairs of the Church but such Ministers as had been removed by the restoration of Episcopacy and certainly these men were greatly overseen when they parted with that Privilege and admitted others to share with them before they had setled the Church according to their minds For by these means they were overpower'd and outvoted and forced to yield to
Fast is Urged out of fear of Gods wrath and after that is subjoyned the highest perils from them which some said was like the Proclamations of one Borthwiâ—k sometimes a Bayliff in this City which were wont to be under the pain of death and fourty Pound besides The mentioning of these printed Acts brings to my Memory a passage of the Printer Some in hopes of getting gain thereby Petitioned the Ass for the gift of publishing their Acts. Mrs. Anderson claim'd the priviledge by vertue of a gift from the King to print all publick Acts and Proclamations and withall she might have deserved such a savour from them having ever heretofore Favoured their Party and allowed them the use of her Press for publishing their Pamphlets and even such as durst not be well avowed But either because they would have a Printer of their own distinct from the Kings or that they would not shew kindness to her who had accession to the guilt of the late Reigns by printing their sinfull Acts and Proclamations for one or both these Reasons they denied her the Favour and bestowed it on George Mosman who represented in his Petition that he was not only always a true friend to their Interest but also a sufferer for the Cause And it 's true he was ever Whig enough but what his Sufferings were it is not well known seeing he ever lived peaceably at Edenburgh and had the freedome of a good trade whereby he is become Fat every way Other men lose by their Sufferings but they gain by theirs even in this life So Mr. Johnston died two Thousand pound Sterling rich who was not worth forty or fifty pound when he left his charge Tho' Mrs. Anderson was repulsed by the Ass yet she would not give over but next tried her Interest with the Councill that at least she might have the printing of those Acts which had the Civil Sanction added to them they being comprehended within her gift Crawford who thinks all the Acts of the Presbyterians should be like the Laws of the Medes and Persians stood up for Mosman others pleaded Mrs. Andersons right it not being in the power of the Councill far less of the Ass to take away their right and property or any part of it But one said smartly that the Case should be stated not betwixt Mrs. Anderson and Mosman but betwixt the King and the Ass whether the King should yield to the Ass or the Ass to the King My Lord Crawford thought the first no absurdity and offered to produce instances of it in former times But the rest of the Councellors thought they were obliged in Civility to prefer the King and so Mrs Anderson carried it I believe I may have wearied you with the length of my Letter I crave pardon only to add two or three particulars more and I shall close The first was their appointing an answer to be made to the printed accounts of the persecution of the Episcopal Clergy in this Kingdom At the generall meeting it was laid on Mr. Meldrum who declin'd it Then it was recommended to Mr. Alexander Pitcairine who did nothing in it He excused himself before the Ass in that he knew not the matters of fact and the true Information was not sent him The Ass ordered him again to go on in it and appointed Mr Gilbert Rule and some others to assist him in the work and required all the members to furnish them with Instructions proper for it Mr. Meldrum in a Sermon before the Ass offered to Justify the barbarities of the Rabble and the ill usage which the Episcopal Clergy met with alledging that their errors vices and scandals deserve no better at the peoples hands But what Justification defence will be made by those who are appointed to do it in name of the Ass I do not know but this I am confident that they will never prove any material circumstance in matter of fact to be false A Second particular I am to make you acquainted with is an Act for taking off the sentence of deposition which was pronounced against some Ministers especially those of the Remonstrators party anno 1660 I told you before that it had been proposed at the General meeting but was then laid aside by reason of the mistakes that were like to arise among the Brethren about it Now the Moderator who was mainly concerned in the business finding himself a little better stated made an overture of it to the Ass the day it was dissolved and to obtain it the more easily he brought it in by way of a surprize Brethren said he you may remember there were once some unhappy differences among us which some carried so high as to proceed to inflict the sentence of deposition upon some on that account now I think it sit before we part that this sentence be revoked that as we are all one mans bairns so we may be all alike stated Mr. Gilbert Rule replied that he judged it better to bury these matters in oblivion that they could not pass a generall Act for reponing these men without re-examining their processes which was no ways fit perhaps they would not be found all alike for some might be deposed for Scandall and other Crimes and not only for these unhappy heats and differences The Moderator answered him Brother there is no need of condescending or particulars and I believe they will be found all alike and that they are all very honest men that are concerned So he named Mr. Wier and some others and among the rest himself in the third person saying There is one Mr. Hugh Kennedy whom I warrant you ken all well enough To conclude the Act passed the sentence of deposition lying upon these persons was made void and they declared to be true and lawfull Ministers And herein truly the Moderators wit fail'd him for instead of righting himself which he designed he raised objections against himself which otherwise would have been forgotten and by this Act brought an indelible tash both upon his own publick Ministry these two three years and also upon the present Ass in that the Moderator and many of its members were both legally and Canonically incapable Now that they hear this they pretend that the sentence was taken off formerly and that the Ass only ratifyed and confirmed what was formerly done in these mens favour and that it was usuall to ratify in the first Generall Ass the Acts of inferiour Judicatories But as they cannot instance the time nor the meeting in which these persons were reponed so they never had any proper or avowed meeting for such a business till the Indulgence granted by King James and we never heard it so much as proposed before in any of their avowed meetings till the last general one as was already declared and either the sentence lying upon these persons was valid or not If it was not then what needed such a Solemn annulling of it by an Act of the Generall Ass
I must not omit Mr. Gabr. Cunninghame presiding one day in the absence of the ordinary Moderator he asked the Commissioner what should be the next time of their Meeting but whether it was out of Forgetfulness that he did so or not he corrected himself in his Prayer For he began with an acknowledgment of Christ Jesus being supreme Head and Governour of the Church and then said these Words Thou knowest O Lord that when we own any other it is only for Decency sake The next day they met and only heard the King's Letter read and appointed some Persons to draw up an Answer We expected to have seen both in Print as is usual but neither of them has been as yet published because as is supposed there was something in the King's Letter a little checking which they would not have every one to know viz. That he favoured their Government because he was made to understand it was most agreeable to the Inclinations of the People that he would have them very moderate in their Proceedings and do nothing which might displease their neighbour Church This last did not go down well with them for it troubled them to be made in any ways accountable to a Church which in all their Discourses they exclaimed against as superstitious and idolatrous and into which they are designing to introduce their glorious Reformation Neither was the first very acceptable for if the Inclinations of the People were the Motive of setting up Presbyterian Government when it should as it very easily might be represented that the Inclinations of the People were against Presbytery and the Spirit and ractice P of the present Presbyterians his Majesty might be moved to remove this and set up another Government Therefore in their Answer they asserted that their Government was not only suteable to the Inclinations of the People but also most agreeable to the Word of God and that this might not be looked upon merely as the Flourish of an Epistle they design'd to back it with the Authority of an Act which should declare their Government both of Divine Right and also the true Legal Government of this Church which they pretended had never suffered any Alteration except in time of Usurpation Tyranny and great Oppression But the Commissioner apprehending the Consequences of such an Act thought it not fit to let the same pass without Advice from Court and therefore desired a Copy of it to send to the King his Master who it seems did not approve of it For it never more appeared here at which the Brethren have not a little murmured And if it had passed as it would not have contributed much to the Establishment of their Government it being the Act of so inconsiderable an Assembly so it would only have discovered their Ignorance Falshood and Impudence For it is clear from our Histories as was declared in a late Discourse that Presbytery heretofore was never setled but in times of Rebellion and what Enemies our Scottish Presbyterians have been always to Kings and how much they were wont to encourage Rebellion King James VI. has from his Experience fully and plainly declared in his Basilicon Doron where he cautions his Son against them as the most barbarous treacherous and perfidious sort of People who are less to be trusted than the thieving Borderers or the wildest uncivilized Highlanders The Argument also which Sir James Montgomery of Skelmorly used for Presbytery in the Parliament shews how much it favours Monarchy and Kingly Power which was this That it was the Peoples only Security against the Encroachment of Kings and a proper Curb to restrain their Insolence and Extravagancy And indeed when they are encouraged they so restrain them as to make them signify nothing as appears by their Behaviour to King James VI. before he went to England and what they did to King Charles I. whom they persecuted and pursued to Death As to the Moderation which his Majesty required of them they promised with a solemn Attestation that they would shew all the Moderation that his Majesty could expect which when considered was not a very great Obligation on them for if the King understand them aright his Expectation will be very small Moderation being very rarely to be found among Presbyterians It being an old Custom of general Assemblies to ease the Ministers of the Place where they meet from preaching they ordered this day who should preach the following Sunday and when they were appointing Preachers for the rest of the Churches and Meeting-Houses in Edinburgh one stood up and said It was fit to send Ministers to the Conformists Kirks too But the Moderator perceiving the Commissioner displeased at the Proposal replyed That they sought none of their Help and they should get as little The first that preached in the High Church before the Commissioner was Mr. Geo. Meldrum whose Text was Philip. 4. Ver. 5. The Sermon was framed to please the various Humours of Men and to recommend himself to Persons of different Tempers for the general Drift of it seemed to be for Moderation which both the Court and all good discreet People called for yet he caution'd it with such Restrictions and Exceptions as that he might justifie himself with the more rigid and prevent their jealousies and suspicions of him He who preached the Sunday following if my Memory fail not was one Hamilton who was somewhat singular in his reckoning the Years during which we of this Nation have been deprived of the Gospel for whereas the rest of the Presbyterians reckon but 28. viz. from the Restauration of the Royal Family and Episcopacy he ran ten Years farther backward and made it 38. leaving People to guess his reason and when the Matter was enquired into it was found that he dated the want of the Gospel from the Year 1652. because since that time they never had a General Assembly and then too they were not suffered to sit for the English Governor here raised them because they had no Warrant from Cromwel and carried them out surrounded with Guards to Bruntsfield-Links where he dismissed them with a severe threatening if any three of them should be found together It would be tedious to give you a particular account of all the Sermons which were preached here in the time of the Assembly but in general I assure you they were very nauseating to all rational Persons for except one or two preached by Mr. Carstairs and Mr. Robert Wyllie they were either miserably flat and dull or else full of bitter Zeal against the Episcopal Party Instead of the Doctrins and Duties of Christianity the excellency and divine Institution of their Government was the subject of their Discourses and when they happened on any necessary or weighty Point of Religion they treated them in such a manner as if they had design'd to burlesque Religion and render it ridiculous which gave a great advantage to atheistical and profane Men So it is observed that Religion doth
seeing there was so much babble in their printed consequently more deliberate discourses An acquaintance of yours hath made a rare Collection of notes of their Sermons both printed and unprinted To which I refer you for instances to prove the truth of what I have been saying The last Sermon that was published came forth the first week of the Ass The Author is one Mr. James Clark who preached in the meeting house at Dumbar It was a Sermon ad Clerum preached as was said at the deposing of the Parson of Old-Hamstocks which being an extraordinary occasion something better then ordinary was expected but there never appeared a more silly and empty discourse nor is it possible that you can conceive so meanly of it as it deserves It was even far below Mr. Andrew Gray's Sermons The very Presbyterians whose gust craves no fine things were ashamed of it My Lord Czawford to excuse it laid the blame on the Printer and complained of him at the Councill Table for offering to publish it without a License alledging also that it was without the Authors consent and that the Copy was an imperfect uncorrect one which some ignorant or malicious person had taken from the Authors Mouth But when the Printer was examined he produced an Authentick copy from the Author himself and declared that he revised the sheets as they came from the Press so the Printer was free of the faults that were in it and they could be only charged on Mr. Clark who it 's believed shew'd all the learning and eloquence he was Master of But it is fit now we return to the Ass and give you an account of what acts they pass'd for regulating the discipline of the Church for the future The first of this kinde and the first also of any other that passed in the Ass was an Act against marriages without publick proclamations as also against the private administration of the two Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper Mr. Gilbert Rule press'd that the Sacrament of Baptisme might not at all be administred but in publick and after Sermon and called the private administration not only Superstitious but also Sorcerie and Charming and said further that the same was contrary to Scripture and Antiquity Mr Kirkton took him up briskly and said that was disputable that he could buckle him or any man upon that point but would not debate it now He added that by their rigorous imposition of indifferent things he had lost five men of considerable note the last week And concluded tho there were a thousand acts against it he would rather Baptize in private then suffer the Children to go to the Curates Some Highland Ministers crayed that they might not be lyable to that act because it was impossible to bring all the Children of their parishes to the Kirks by reason of the vast distance some of their people lived at from them but whether they intend to give a dispensation was not expressed The Moderator to excuse their own practises heretofore said there was a distinction both of times and places for said he in times of Persecution I think an honest Minister riding on the way may go into a mans house Baptize a Bairn and come out and take his horse again Tho' while they were under restraint they made no Scruple of baptizing privately the children of those of their own perswasion yet now they refuse to baptize any except in publick nor will they do it but when there is a Sermon and they are so strict upon the point that they suffer the children to dye rather then slacken their rigour In the Country the benefit of Baptisme can be only had on Sundays because then only there is preaching and if Children cannot live so long they must take their hazard of departing without that sign and Seal of their Salvation I know a Parish where two or three persons importuned the Minister to baptize their Children publickly or privately as he pleased but he peremptorily refused to do it on a week-day tho' they who intended to have been present at the baptisme would have made a competent number for an ordinary Country Sermon and before Sunday two of the Children dyed we had lately in this City a more notable instance of the stiffness of their humour in this particular A Certain Citizen designed to have his child baptized on a week day at the ordinary time of Sermon he with the Gossips came in time enough to the Church but because the child was brought in about the close of the Sermon neither Mr. Kennedy who preached nor Mr. Erskine the Minister of the parish could be prevailed with to administer the Sacrament to the Infant but they caused it to be carried home again without baptism The people generally take this very ill and are very much displeased with the Presbyterian Ministers on this account Wherefore to Justify themselves they frequently preach against the necessity of Baptism and to talk of it as if it were an ordinance neither necessary nor much to be regarded and do account the esteem and value which is ordinarily put upon it and earnest desires the people have after it to be the dregs and reliques of Popery among us When a child was brought to Mr. Kirkton he took occasion to shew the Superstition of that Ceremony and said to the People you think it necessary to have your Children Baptized but I tell you said he I know a good Godly Minister who lived till he was fourscore that was never Baptized all his life time In the next place they renewed an Act of a Generall Assembly appointing Pedagogues Chaplains Preachers and Students to take and subscribe the Confession of faith and further they Commissionated some to draw up a list of all these acts of Assemblies which were fit to to be observed and put in use wherein they acted very cunningly for tho' it be well known that they receive all the acts of Assemblies as if they were Scripture and pay no less regard to them yet because some of these incroach upon the power of the Civil Magistrate Therefore to prevent the Jealousies of the King they would not make a generall Act ratifying and approving them in Cumulo nor yet would they condemn or censure any of them But they enforced such as were proper and suitable to the present state of affairs and waved the declaration of their sentiments concerning the rest Fourthly because the Ass could not sit so long as was necessary to determine all particulars and to give rules and measures for the setling of the Church in this juncture nor was it sit it should do it Therefore they resolved to chuse a Committee who might sit after the dissolution of the Ass who should have full and Supream Power to Act in all things that related to the Church It 's said that this overture was first made by the Moderate men who thought by this means to reduce affairs to a better temper then the
Minister at Peebles which the state of the Church could then admit of viz. Designation and Appointment of the Patron with the Consent and Concurrence of the Heritors Elders and by far the greatest and most substantial part of the People and wanting only the formality of an Induction or Institution in regard there was no Legal Ecclesiastical Judicatory then in being to confer it on him continued in the free and peaceable Exercise of his Ministry until the sixteenth of February 1690 when some violent Interruption being offered unto him by a Company of Unruly People as he was coming to the Church on the Lord's Day in the Morning the Heritors Elders and People as aforesaid were so much concerned that by an express Obligation subscribed under their Hands they declare their Resolution to adhere to the said Mr. Knoks as their Minister And Commissioned some of their Number to pursue that high Riot before the Most Honourable Lords of their Majesties Privy Council Upon whose Complaint and Application the Lords of Council finding Mr. Knox to have good Right to serve the Cure at the Church of Peebles did justly punish the Author of the Tumult and oblige the Magistrates of Peebles to take such care of the Peace that there might be no Interruption offered to him for the Future and thereafter he enjoyed his Ministry comfortably and peaceably until the Presbytery having as would seem by all their posterior Acts resolved to Thrust him out and obtrude another on the Parish did by their Act of the 24th of July last at Kirkurd without ever examining his Right and Title or giving him any Citation Proceeding upon a false Supposition as if he had possest himself wrongously of the Church required him to forbear Preaching till he should be allowed by them The Extract of which Act being delivered to him by the present Provost of Peebles most unseasonably upon the Lord's Day thereafter just as he was going to the Pulpit he taking it as the Act plainly bears to be only a Temporary restraint till such time as he should apply himself to the Presbytery for their Allowance did patiently and pleasantly obey it taking his seat among the Auditors while the Provost fetcht a Minister from the Meeting-House to Preach in the Church who after Sermons by an Order as he said from the Presbytery surprized the Parish by declaring the Church to be vacant for the supply of which pretended Vacancy the said Presbytery sent Mr. Robert Eliot one of their own Number upon the 24th of August being the Lord's Day to Preach and hold a Meeting for the calling of one Mr. William Veatch Which Meeting being called after Sermons the Heritors either by themselves or their Proxies together with all the ordinary Elders of the Parish and the generality of the whole People Compeered and Protested against the calling of Mr. Veatch appealing from the Presbytery to the next Provincial or General Assembly that should happen to be promising to give in the double of their Protestation and Appeal with the Reasons thereof to the Presbytery the first Day of their Meeting whereupon they took Instruments The said Mr. Robert Elliot in a strange and unbecoming Heat and Transport insolently presuming to take Instruments against them in the Name of Jesus Christ and without any regard to their Protestation he with his Associates proceeded to Nominate so many pretended Commissioners to go the next day with Mr. William Russel who was sent by the Presbytery and in the Name of the Parish of Peebles to offer a pretended Call to the said Mr. Veatch among which Commissioners the notorious Villain Beatty who occasioned the former Tumult was one who for his horrid Prophanation of the Lord's Day and villanous Attempt thereupon against Mr. Knox had been lately and deservedly punished by the Privy Council to which Call albeit only signed by Cardronno who has but small Interest in the Parish and two or three mean Heritors who have but two Aikers of Ground a piece almost Mr. Veatch cordially imbracing came and presented it to the Presbytery of Peebles at and within the Chappel thereof upon the 〈◊〉 day of September following The which day and place the Heritors c. by themselves and their Proxies compeared and gave in their Protestation and Appeal in Writing with the most grave and weighty reasons thereof viz. That the Church could not be reputed vacant Mr. Knox who had beside Possession a good Right and Title thereto and to whom they were firmly resolved to adhere not being either Deposed or Deprived but only Inhibited for a time by the Act of the Presbytery and his Right not examined and discussed either by the Presbytery or any other competent Judicatory And suppose the Church had been vacant as it was not Yet the said pretended Call of Mr. Veatches was ipso facto void and null in regard of several essential Defects and Informalities of it such as the Call had not been made in a Regular way by a publick meeting of Heritors Elders and Town Council but by private subscriptions which the Magistrates of Peebles by menaces and promises had secretly collected from a multitude of Persons legally uncapable of any vote in the Election Some of them having no interest at all in the Parish That there were none of the Elders consenting thereunto and of a multitude of considerable Heritors in the Parish only two or three petty and obscure ones consented All which reasons are more fully exprest in the Appeal whereupon they took Instruments but the whole Presbytery except an Old Grave Man who dissented all along taking no notice thereof nor to vouchsafe in the least any Answer thereto accepted of and sustained the aforesaid pretended Call exhibited unto them in favours of Mr. Veatch Ordering an Edict to be serv'd for him the next Lord's Day which Edict being returned to the Presbytery upon the 17th of September and called at the Chappel door compeared again the Heritors Elders c. and Declared their Adherence to their former Protestation and Appeal with the whole Reasons thereof and subjoyning some more pregnant Reasons thereto viz. That the said Mr. Veatch was a person utterly unknown to them and that they ought not to be constrained with an implicite Faith to intrust the care of their Souls to a Man of whom they had no competent knowledge Yea that he was a Stranger to the Presbytery it self and that they had never been at the pains to hear him Preach that they might judge of his Qualifications for so eminent a place that the little Tryal the Parish had of him in two or three Sermons they were in their private Judgement of Discretion not well pleased with his way of Preaching for several Grave and Weighty Exceptions which they had ready to produce That for the prospect of a more lucrative place he had by indirect methods got himself loosed from other Calls that he might force himself in upon the Parish of Peebles And finally
People who are in War or Danger by Infidel or Popish adversaries in Europe or America And in particular that the Lord would be Gracious to Ireland and sanctifie to his People there both their distress and deliverance and perfect what concerneth them that he would convert the Natives there to the Truth and reduce that Land to Peace and appoint Salvation for Walls and Bullwarks to Brittain For all these Causes and Reasons The General Assembly hath appointed the Second Thursday of January next to be Observed in all the Congregations of the Church and Nation as a day of Solemn Fasting and Humiliation and Prayer Beseeching and Obtesting all both Pastors and People of all Ranks to be sincere and serious in Humilitation and Supplication and universal Reformation as they would wish to find mercy of the Lord and have deserved wrath averted and would obtain the Blessing of the Lord upon themselves and Posterity after them and that the Lord may delight in us and our Land may be as Married to him And Ordains all Ministers either in Kirks or Meeting houses to read this present Act publickly from the Pulpit a Sabbath or two before the said Day of Humiliation and that the several Presbyteries take care that it be carefully Observed in their respective bounds And where in regard of Vacancies the Day hereby appointed cannot be observed the Assembly appoints the said Humiliation to be kept some other Day with the first convenient opportunity And appoints the Commission for Visitation to apply to the Council for their Civil Sanction to the Observation thereof Extracted out of the Records of Assembly by JO. SPALLING Cls. Syn. National A PROCLAMATION Anent a Solemn National Fast and Humiliation WILLIAM and MARY by the Grace of God King and Queen of Great Britain France and Ireland Defenders of the Faith To Macers of our Privy Council or Messengers at Arms our Sheriffs in that part Conjunctly and severally specially constitute Greeting Forasmuch as the General Assembly of this Church by their Act of the date the twelfth day of November instant hath appointed a Solemn National Fast and Humiliation to be Observed in all the Kirks and Meeting-Houses of this Our Antient Kingdom and appointed their Commission for Visitation to apply to the Lords of Our Privy Council for Our Civil Sanction to be interposed thereto And they having Applyed accordingly Therefore We with Advice of the Lords of our Privy Council Do hereby Command and Enjoyn That the said Solemn Fast and Humiliation be Religiously observed by all Persons throughout this Kingdom both in Kirks and Meeting-Houses at the Dyets and in the manner as by the above-mentioned Act of Assembly hereto prefixed is appointed And that the same be read by all the Ministers in manner therein mentioned And to the end that so Pious and necessary a Duty may be punctually performed and Our Pleasure in the Premisses fully known Our Will is herefore and We Charge you straitly and Command that incontinent these Our Letters seen ye pass to the Mercat-Cross of Edinburgh and the remanent Mercat-Crosses of the Head-Burghs of the several Shires and Stewartries within this Kingdom and in Our Name and Authority make Publication of the Premises that none may pretend ignorance And we do Ordain Our Solicitor to dispatch Copies hereof to the Sheriffs of the several Shires and Stewarts of the Stewartries or their Deputs or Clerks to be by them Published at the Mercat-Crosses of the Head-Burghs upon receipt thereof and immediately sent to the several Ministers both in Kirks and Meeting-Houses to the effect they may read and intimat the same from their Pulpits and may seriously exhort all Persons to a sincere and devout observance thereof as they Regard the Favour and Blessings of the Almighty God the Safety and Preservation of both Church and State and would avoid the Wrath of God upon themselves and their Posterity and as they will be answerable at their peril And Ordains these Presents to be Printed with the said Act of Assembly and these Presents to be Published in manner foresaid Given under Our Signet at Edinburgh the twenty first day of November And of Our Reign the second year 1690. Per actum Dominorum Sti. Concilii GILB ELIOT Cls. Sti. Concilii God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY Edinburgh Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson Printer to the King and Queens most Excellent Majesties 1690. FINIS * Except the Contributions of the Sisters which were something to one who knew no other ways how to live * At thâ— end of this Leâ—ter vidâ— Informâ—tion givâ— in by Mâ— Heriot â—â— the Privâ— Council * This Exposition of the Fathers Words you may find in the 169 p. of his pretended Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Vnreasonableness of Separation †Coliness * Ten or Twelve of which are said in a Morning one after another * That is to turn all the Episcopal Clergy out of the Church Vide the first Paper ‖ Vid. second Paper Vide the last Paper