in the Reign of a Protestant King they preached against Popery as imminent and at hand they in the Reign of a Popish King were guilty for the most part of shameful silence yea when one of their number more faithful than the rest viz. Doctor Hardy in a Sermon at Edenborough which he preached at their Provincial Assembly had Exhorted them to take heed that the Indulgence to Proustant Dissenters might not be an Engine for bringing Popery into the Kingdom and when for the preaching of this Sermon he was Arraigned for his Life none of all his Brethren nor any of the Laity except the good Mr. R. B d Merchant in Edenborough would shew him any Friendship But on the contrary they did openly condemn his doing his Duty as indiscreet Zeal And certainly he had suffered as the worst of Malefactors had it not been for the Episcopal Advocates that pleaded for him and the Episcopal Judges that acquitted him and took all his danger upon themselves Wherefore the impartial Resolution to the present Question is this That the Scotch Presbyterians were Compliers with the late Designs for taking away the legal Restraints against Papists QUESTION IX Whether Scottish Presbytery in the Church be consistent with the Legal Monarchy in that Kingdom 1. AS the Solemn League is the Canon and the Acts of their General Assemblies the Interpreters of the Principles of Scottish Presbytery so on the other hand the Acts of Parliament of that Kingdom are the only Interpreters of the Rights of their Monarchy Wherefore the Question here proposed resolveth unto this Whether the Scotch Presbyterians in their Assembly Acts which are founded upon the Covenant make any Enchroachment upon the Royal Prerogatives of that Crown which are asserted by their Acts of Parliament unrepealed 2. To chuse Persons qualified by Law to be Officers of State Councellors and Iudges is one Prerogative acknowledged to be inherent in the Kings of Scotland but the Principles of their Presbytery make this to be the Prerogative of the Kirk as appears by the 4th Article of the Covenant wherein they swear to endeavour with all faithfulness the discovery of all such as have been or shall be evil Instruments by making any Parties contrary to that Covenant that they may be brought to publick Tryal and receive condign punishment This is farther declared in their Answer to the pretended Committee of Estates by which Answer they propose as a safe Rule in this case that the Duties of the Second Table as well as of the First namely the Duties between King and Subject Masters and Servants being contained in and to be taught and cleared from the Word of God are a subject of Ministerial Doctrine and in difficult cases a subject of cognizance and judgment to the Assemblies of the Kirk Now what cases are difficult in which King and Subjects are the Parties the Kirk must judge and be as Infallible in Scotland as in Rome 3. Another Perogative of the King of Scotland is declared his power of Calling and Dissolving Parliaments by himself and making of Laws with their Advice and Councel And this Prerogative in all its Branches is usurped upon by the Principles of Presbytery As for his power of calling Parliaments by himself either Presbyterian Kirk-men are not Subjects of the Scottish King or else by their acknowledgement of this Royal Prerogative his Letters Patents directed to them may command their Assembling about Ecclesiastical Affairs as well as the other Estates to convene for Matters Civil But should they once grant that the power of their Assembling flows immediately from the King their Soveraign and not immediately from Christ then should they by Laws of consequence be obliged to confess that Christ gives them no Warrant to Assemble without Warrant from their King But this the Presbyterian Kirk cannot grant to the State because thereby their Covenant should become an unlawful bond of Treason and the most of their Assembly Acts null and void since first that Oath was sworn and thereafter the most of those Acts were pass'd without yea and contrary to the express Will and Pleasure of their King 4. Then the Kings Power to Dissolve Parliaments by himself is another Branch of his Royal Prerogative But this is likewise Usurped upon by the Principles of Presbytery for as much as the Second Article of the Covenant bindeth to preserve the Priviledges of Parliament with the preservation of which Priviledges the General Assembly declares the Kings negative Voice inconsistent Now if the King have no Negative Voice in a Parliament that enjoys its Priviledges then any thing concluded by the Majority of such a Parliament may pass into a formal Act though the King should deny his concurrence and by consequence without the Royal Assent they might make a Law for continuing their Session as long as they please by vertue of which Law the Royal Authority could not Dissolve them according to these Covenanting Principles 5. In the Third place the power of making Laws is Usurped from King and Parliament by the Principles of Presbyterians For in the last Article of their Covenant they swear that they shall all the Days of their lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all opposition letts and impediments whatsoever and in conscience of this part of their Oath the Kirk Assembly Men pass'd an Act declarative against an Act of Parliament and Committee of Estates dated in June the same year and in general against all others made in the common cause without consent of the Church 6. A Third Prerogative Royal in the Crown of Scotland is that of making Leagues and Conventions of the Subjects Now that cannot consist with the Principles which flow from that Covenant which was entred into by the Assembly of the Subjects without the King and more particularly is it Invaded by those Principles by which they emitted an Act declaring against the bond subscribed by the Scotch Lords at Oxford and inflicting the highest Ecclesiastical Censures against any who subscribed or framed or were accessary to the Execution of the same 7. The making Peace and War with Foreign Princes is another Branch of this Prerogative of the Crown of Scotland acknowledged to be in the King But this also according to the Principles of Presbytery is Usurped upon by that Kirk for she in the Explication of the Sixth Article of the Covenant already mention'd in the Fourth number concerning the Third Question declares her self in her solemn and seasonable warning to all her Children of the Covenant after this manner Whosoever he be that will not according to publick Order and Appointment adventure his Person or send out those that are under his power or pay the Contributions imposed for the maintenance of the Forces must be taken for an Enemy Malignant and Covenant-breaker and so involved both into the displeasure of God and censures of the Kirk 8. Now the King's Power to chuse Officers of State
Counsellours and Iudges qualified by Law to Call and Dissolve Parliaments by himself and make Laws with their Advice to make Leagues and Conventions of the Subjects and to make Peace and War being all Prerogatives Royal of the Crown of Scotland asserted by Acts of Parliament unrepealed and all these being so notoriously Usurped upon by the Presbyterian Kirk the impartial Resolution of the Question is this That this Scottish Presbytery in the Church is Not Consistent with legal Monarchy in that Kingdom QUESTION X. Whether Scottish Presbytery be agreeable to the general Inclination of that People 1. AFter it hath been Demonstrated that the Principles of Scotch Presbytery are inconsistent with that Monarchy to say that Presbyterian Church-Government were agreeable to the mind of the Representatives of that People in the current Parliament might be constructed the capital Crime of LEISING MAKING to his Majesty against his Supreme Judicature And therefore this Question hath Reference to the People whom they represent and resolveth into this Whether the generality of the Scottish Nation would be glad to accept of Presbytery instead of the Episcopacy lately abolished 2. For the clearer resolution of the Question thus stated that Kingdom may be distinguished into the Laity and Clergy and the Laity distinguished into the Nobility Gentry and Commons And the Clergy again into the Bishops and subordinate Pastors after whom we may consider the Universities and Colledges of Learning 3. As for the Nobility Since that Honourable Estate of the Kingdom have by birth their Peerage in Parliament beside that it were Scandalum magnatum to say that they inclin'd to that Church Government which is not consistent with their Monarchy it were also a Scandalum Christianorum to say that those Men of Honour and Conscience who a very few excepted swore in the Test against all Fanatical Principles and renounced all Covenant-Obligations do incline to Presbytery And it 's well known that there never were in Scotland above a dozen of Peers so much Presbyterian as to refuse the Declaration against the Covenant-Principles the taking of which qualified them to sit in Parliament 4. Again for the Scottish Gentry it 's certain that not One of Forty in all Scotland but has taken the Test and Four years ago not Fifty in all Scotland out of the West did upon the Indulgence forsake their Churches to frequent Meeting-Houses And it cannot be supposed of any who have so generous Blood in their Veins that they should have so little Honour or Conscience as to Incline to that Church Government which usurps the Priviledge of entring into Covenants and Leagues and Convening in Assemblies for Treating Consulting and Determining in matters Ecclesiastical without the Royal Command or express License Which is a Practice contradicting the Promissory part of that Oath of the Test. 5. Then for the Commons it is certain that the generality of them as well as the richest and most sensible part live in Cities and Market Towns now all such Burgesses who were either worthy to be of the Common Council of the Towns they lived in or were able to follow any ingenuous Trade were obliged to take the Test before they could be qualified to elect Burgesses for Parliament and therefore according to their Sense and Conscience of an Oath they cannot but have an aversion against Presbytery yea their loud Cries and Rivers of Tears at the Farewel-Sermons of their Episcopal-Pastors for whom they would have pluckt out their right Eyes in all other parts of Scotland but the Western Shires heighteneth the probability that they are not in love with Presbytery 6. Then for the Clergy since they all have owned Episcopal Ordination sworn the Oaths of Allegiance Supremacy and the Test it cannot be suspected of any of them without a blemish of their Integrity or Constancy that they should be inclin'd to Presbyterian Government And if Twenty of a Thousand are Trimmers betwixt the Bishop and the Presbyterian Moderator yet sure those Twenty added to all the Field-Preachers and Meeting-housekeepers will not make up the number of a fifth part of the Episcopal Clergy No doubt they will say that what they want in the number they have in the worth of their Ministers But how far we may believe them in their setting value upon themselves may partly appear from the consideration of their late Commissioners to this Court for doubtless for the managing of their Cause they made choice of the fittest Men they had as for all other Abilities so especially for soundness in the Principles of Presbytery also of the greatest moderation and yet one of the Three Mr. W son before he got his First Wife was a malignant Lecturer under Bishops and so continued till his first disappointment of getting his Rectors Place made him desert his own with Indignation and that made him an enemy to Episcopacy Another of them Mr. K dy was before the restitution of Bishops deprived by his Presbyterian Brethren to use their own Words as near as I can remember as a Firebrand of Hell to inflame the Church on Earth The Third is so famous that I never heard of him till he came in this Character 7. Then in all the Four Universities it is certain that not Four Masters Head or Fellow incline to Presbytery and the Colledges of Justice and Physick at Edenborough were so averse from it that the generality of them were ready last Summer to take Arms in defence of their Episcopal Ministers Wherefore since neither the most part of the Scotch Noblemen Gentry or Commons Clergy Universities or Colleges are for Presbytery or in Honour or Conscience can be we conclude That Scottish Presbytery is not agreeable to the mind of that People FINIS The CONTENTS Quest. 1. Concerning the time of the first settlement of Presbytery in Scotland pag. â— Quest. 2. Concerning the manner of the settlement 〈◊〉 Presbytery in Scotland in the Reigns of K. Ja. Vâ— and Charles I. pag. â— Quest. 3. Concerning the Principles of Scottish Presbytery in reference to Dissenters pag. â— Quest. 4. Concerning the Separation of Scotch Presbyterians from the Episcopal Church since the Year 1662. p. â— Quest. 5. Concerning the Penal Laws against Scotch Presbyterians since the Year 1663. pag. â—â— Quest. 6. Concerning the Carriage of the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland towards Dissenters pag. â—â— Quest. 7. Concerning the Carriage of the Episcopal Church of Scotland in reference to the Penal Law against Papists pag. â—â— Quest. 8. Concerning the Carriage of Scotch Presbyterians in reference to the Penal Laws against Papists pag. 23. Quest. 9. Concerning the Principles of Scottish Presbytry in referenee to the power of the King pag. 25. Quest. 10. Concerning the mind of the people in Scotland in reference to the Presbyterian Government in the Church pag. 28. FINIS K. Iames 6. Parl. 1. Act. 2 3 8. Spotswood's 3 Book Spotswood Book 3. p. 152. Book 6. p. 289. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. p. â—8 Lond. Ed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. Spotswood 6 Book K. Charles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 17 Chap. August 30. 1639. Aug 1639. Aug. 1643. May 1644. Aâ—g 164◠〈…〉 An. 1661. Aug. 1647. Feb. 1645. K. Ch. 2. Parl. 1. Act. 7 9 10. K. Ch. 2. Parl. 1. Sess. 2. Act. 1. K. Ch. 2. Parl. 1. Sess. 3. Act. 2. K. Ch. 2 Parl. 2. Ses. 2. Act. 4. K. Ch. 2. Parl. 2. Ses. 2. Act. 5. K. Ch. 2. Parl. 1. Act. 2. Aug. 1648. K. Ch. II. Part. 1. Act. 3. Iuly 1648. Iuly 28. 1648. Iune 3. 1644. K. Ch. 2. Part. 1. Act. 5. Feb. 12. 1645.
Christian Faith agreeable to the Word of God and amiently received in the Churches of Christ This their acknowledgment of its Antiquity and Scripture Purity must force any Scotch Presbyterian to grant that there is no more sin in saying the Apostles Creed publickly in the Church tho' there be no precept for saying it than there is in sprinkling water upon the Baptized Infant 6. Now laying all these considerations together that the purity in Doctrine which Presbyterian Synods confess and the purity of Publick Worship doing nothing which the Directory forbids could be as well retained in the Episcopal Church of Scotland these 27 years as in any Presbyterian Kirk or Meeting-House And that no Confession of any Reformed Church asserts the Divine Right of their Presbytery as before defined And that the Covevenant abjures not the Epis opacy likewise defin'd but on the contrary it was petiâ—ioned for by the English Covenanters I say laying all these things together the impartial Resolution of the present Question is this That between the year 1662 and the year 1689 Presbyterian Separatists were guilty of sinful Separation QUESTION V. Whether the Penal Laws against Scotch Presbyterians had any thing of Persecution in them 1. IT cannot be denied but there may be a party in a Kingdom of well meaning men truly Pious and Peaceable who yet for some Non-Conformity to the Church-Establishment may have too severe Laws Enacted against them by the Execution of which they may suffer for Conscience Sake so that the question here proposed plainly resolves into this Whether the Penal Laws against Scotch Presbyterians had any thing in them which cannot be justified in Christian Policy as necessary at those times in which they were Enacted for the Preservation of true Religion and Publick Peace in the Church and State Or whether they were the uncharitable effects of a peevish resentment inconsistent with good Nature or Christianity 2. Forasmuch as it had pleased Almighty God to compassionate the Troubles and Confusions of Scotland by returning King Charles the 2d to the exercise of that Royal Government under which and its excellent Constitution that Kingdom had for many Ages enjoyed so much Happiness Peace and Plenty The Noble Lord the Earl of Middleton being for his unshaken Loyalty honoured with his Majesties High Commission the Administration of the Oath of Allegiance to all the Members of Parliament was the first thing enacted by the States thereof 3. In Conscience of their Oaths of Allegiance to maintain and defend the Sovereign Power and Authority of the Kings Majesty and in consideration of the sad consequences that do accompany any encroachments upon or diminution thereof they from their senâ—e of humble Duty wholy applyed themselves in this Session to Establish such wholesome Laws as might by acknowledgment of his Majesties Prerogatives prove Salves to cure the State from the Diseases of Anarchy and Confusion which had before in the Usurpation seized her Vitals 4. But all this time of the Parliaments sole application to matters of State in this first Session the Presbyterian Clergy did not neglect to do all they could for a Parliamentary Confirmation of their Ecclesiastical Government 5. First the Synod of Edenburgh applyed themselves to a Person of great Interest with his Majesties Commissioner that his Grace might be intreated to procure from his Royal Master instructions to give them Presbytery without Bishops and they promised that they should themselves Enact never to meet without his Majesties Commissioner who should call and dissolve them at his pleasure Which Act of theirs they promised to get ratified by the first General Assembly 6. And when they found this Address of theirs to be without any success they sall upon another method and send a Clergyman whose name because of his Memory for his Piety and School Learning I shall not mention with this threatning that if the Estates in Parliament consirm'd not their Presbytery they should have the People let loose upon them 7. In that first Session of the Parliament already mentioned the King with the Advice of the Estates therein Convened had before forbid the renewing of the Solemn League and Covenant and by several Acts annulled all the pretended Conventions of the preceeding Rebellion but this imperious Address from the Ministers gave them a new sensible occasion to be perswaded that all the late Disorders and Exorbitances in the Church incroachments upon the Prerogative and Right of the Crown and Usurpations upon the Authority of Parliaments and the prejudice done to the Liberty of the Subject were the Natural Effects of the Invasion made upon the Episcopal Government and therefore upon deliberation of twenty Months they past an Act of its Restitution in the beginning of the second Session of that Parliament 8. This Act of Restitution of Bishops had this effect in reference to the Scottish Clergy Whoever among them were disappointed in their hopes of Preferment or were Lovers of Ease from the burthensome Service in the Church or else impatient to be made subordinate to those with whom they so lately had been upon a Level forsook their Ministry but they lived quietly at their respective habitations and in Personal Conformity to the Church Establisht Others again and of them not a few were sensible that the Established Episcopacy being obliged to exercise their Jurisdiction in a Synod with the ballance of Assisting Presbyters was the only Church Government which could be obtained of the State and which was not abjur'd in the Solemn League and therefore did keep their Charges and were willing to own Canonical Obedience to their Diocesan Bishops 9. This Example of Christian submission to Authority given by the generality of Presbyterian Ministers of both sorts gain'd the Laity of that Perswasion to a Pious and Sober observance of the Publick Worship so that at that time nothing was wanting to render that National Church happy without Protestant Dissenters but a competent number of Godly Learned and Grave Men to fill up the vacant places of those who for any of the Motives before mentioned had left their charges and till that deplorable want especially in the West the Separation from the regular Meetings for Divine Service was so little observable that before June 1663 the wisdom of that Nation had by no Act provided against it 10. It is true that the libellous Sermons and Books of some wicked Men which were written to justify the Murder of Charles the I. and the Banishment of Charles the II. the renovation of the Covenant the necessity of taking up Arms to promote its Ends and the sinfulness of complyance with the legal Settlement in Church or State did now alarm that Parliament 11. They considered how seditious and of how dangerous example and consequence Seperation from the rugular Church might prove for the future And therefore for security of the State from the confusions they had so lately smarted under they were forced to enact a Penal Law against it
importing That every Person having an Inheritance should pay the fourth part of his yearly Estate every Yeoman Tenant or Farmer the fourth part of his free moveables after the payment of their Dues to their Master and that every Burgess should lose all the Priviledges within the Borough and the fourth part of his moveables 12. But notwithstanding this Penal Law the contagion of those Books and Sermons which poisoned so many with Principles of Separation from the established Church produced the renovation of the Covenant contrary to the Authority of the King and Parliament and that again was followed by an open Rebellion of the Western parts known by the name of Pentlin Hills in the Year 1666 defeated by the King's Army so that they were out of capacity of resisting However the King in his Royal Clemency at the Address of some States-men gave them indulgence to convene in Meeting-Houses for Divine Worship and they made this good use of his Mercy as that by them the incumbent Ministers whose Characters would have secured them any where but in the West of Scotland had their Houses in the night time invaded their Persons assaulted wounded and pursued for their Lives Then indeed that merciful Prince with advice of his Estates in Parliament having a just indignation of such horrid and unchristian Villanies thought fit to brand the same with a signal mark of displeasure And this Act of the Date Aug. 1670. is the first that punisheth with Death and confiscation of Goods 13. It is true indeed the King and his Estates of Parliament filled with indignation at the scandalous sin which procured this former Penal Law and understanding from thence that the specious pretences of Religion were altogether false and taken up by seditious Persons They immediately pass'd another Act against Conventicles the Preamble of which last Act declares That such Meetings were the ordinary Seminaries of Rebellion as well as Separation that they tended to the alienating the Hearts of the Subjects from their Duty and Obedience they owe to his Majesty and the Publick Laws and by consequence to the reproach of the Authority of the King and Parliament as well as the prejudice of Gods publick Worship and the scandal of the Reformed Relâ—gion And therefore they were obliged in reason of State as well as for the Peace of the Church to make the Penalty of this Law fall heavy upon the Transgressors thereof 14 And the Penalties therein contained as nigh as I can value Scottish Mony by the current Coin in England are these following That every Minister preaching at a Conventicle should be imprisoned till he find surety for 275 l. that he should not do the like thereafter or else oblige himself by Bond to remove out of the Kingdom and never to return without his Majesties leave that every one of any Inheritance should pay the fourth part of his yearly Estate that every Servant should pay the fourth part of his yearly Wages that every Farmer should pay Forty Shillings and every Tenant under them Twenty 12. Further His Majesty understanding that divers disaffected Persons had been so maliciously wicked and disloyal as to convocate his Subjects to open Meetings in the Fields and considering that those Meetings were the rendezvous of Rebellion and tending in a high measure to the disturbance of the publick Peace declares that those who in Arms did convocate in Field Conventicles should be punishable by Death and confiscation of Goods and that those present at them should be punished in double the respective Fines appointed against House-Meetings This Act is dated Aug. the 30th 1670. 13. These acts against Separation in Meeting-houses or in the Fields were appointed to endure only for the space of three years unless his Majesty should think fit to continue them longer wherefore his Majesty considering that they had not received due Obedience and that the execution thereof had not been so prosecuted as by the Tenor of the same is prescribed found it necessary with the advise of his Estates in Parliament in Sept. 1672. that they should remain in force for other three Years to come 14. These are the Penal Laws in Scotland against the Presbyterians made by divers free Parliaments against their sinful Separation from the Church to frequent Meeting-houses or Field-Conventicles upon mature consideration of the inconsistency of it with Religion towards God Affection to the Laws Loyalty to the King or Study of the publick Peace of the State And three Rebellions in 23 years from the year 1663 to the year 1686 have justifyed the Justice and Wisdom of these Parliaments But none ever suffered for meer Separation but in purse and never any was punished that way but such as came to Church to save their Money notwithstanding all their pretended scruples of Conscience Wherefore unless we derogate from the Authority of King and Parliament justify Rebellion and prefer private Humour to publick Peace the impartial Resolution of the present Question is this That the Penal Laws against the Scotch Presbyterians had nothing of Persecution in them QUESTION VI. Whether the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland from the Year 1662 to the Year 1686 shewed any thing of the Spirit of Persecution against Presbyterians 1. NOtwithstanding that the Presbyterians are pleas'd to say they were dragoon'd by the Bishops and Episcopal Clergy alluding to that way of Conversion in France which indeed was procur'd by an Address of the Assembly of the Clergy of that Kingdom yet this is a palpable Injustice and Calumny For certain it is that all these twenty four years never produced one Address of the Presbyterial Diocesan Provincial or National Assembly of the Established Church of Scotland either beseeching the High Court of Parliament or the Lords of the Privy Council to make or execute Laws against Protestant Dissenters Wherefore notwithstanding all the passionate Exhortations in private and the publick Sermons in the Church concerning the guiltiness of Schism and the necessity of Union among Protestants against their common Adversaries the Inferiour Clergy there cannot be possibly charged with the Spirit of Persecution against Presbyterians Nay upon the contrary our Clergy were so averse from giving obedience to the Act that enjoyned them to present written Lists of the Dissenters in their respective Parishes and so very inflexible to the Publick Order for their Judicial informing upon Oath against Separatists that the Judges competent and Officers of State chid them in Publick for disaffection to the Royal Government so that under that Imputation they had nothing but their Innocency to support them in the Spirit of Meekness and Charity to their sworn Enemies 2. Again it were a great Injustice to the Lords Spiritual the Bishops to charge any of them as having been the first movers of those Penal Laws against Separation but since the repeated Rebellions of Forty Years past convinced all Mankind of the necessity of those Laws for the security of Religion and the Peace of
the State the Bishops consenting or even advising to those Laws is so far from inferring their having a Persecuting Spirit that on the contrary their doing otherwise had demonstrated them to be Enemies to the Commonwealth in all its concerns both Sacred and Civil 3. But withal it cannot but be acknowledged by any one that considers things calmly that none of those Bishops had it ever in their power to shew acts of Compassion towards deluded Separatists of whatever quality but he chearfully did it in relieving their Necessities or mitigating the execution of the Penalties by Law enjoin'd To make a proof of this by enumerating particular Acts of Charity which Presbyterians to this day alive will acknowledge would make the Resolution of this Question swell Four times bigger than all the Four Letters concerning the present Persecution of their Clergy therefore I shall forbear it 4. Now since Private Exhortations and Publick Sermons against Schism and recommending Union were all the appearances made by that Inferiour Clergy against Separatists and since all the Bishops in Parliament advis'd to no Penal Laws against Separation but such as were justified to the World by a Threefold Rebellion to be necessary in Policy as well as Religion for the common good of the State as well as Church I say after all the impartial Resolution of the present Question is this That the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland from the year 1662 to the year 1686 shewed nothing of the Spirit of Persecution against Presbyterians QUESTION VII Whether the Episcopal Church of Scotland were Compliers with the Designs for taking away the Penal Laws against the Papists 1. FOr the clearer resolution of this Question let us distinguish betwixt the Scottish Episcopal Church diffused through all the Laity of that Kingdom and that Church again under the more restrained notion of Representative comprehending the Clergy and let us likewise distinguish the Clergy unto the Lords Spiritual the Bishops and the subordinate Ministers and Pastors that so without partiality every one of these Societies of Protestants may be considered in reference to the matter of fact in question 2. And to begin with their Episcopal Church Diffusive The Two Estates of Barons great and less and Burgesses fully represent them in Parliamentary Assemblies the free and full Parliament convened An. 1685. consisted of such Men as had all of them sworn in the Test against the Covenant-Principles of Presbytery This Episcopal Parliament so resolutely own'd themselves to be averse from taking away these Legal Restraints upon Papists that the Vote about repealing those Penal Laws came never further than the Lords of the Articles All this the Episcopal Church Diffusive did with the apparent hazard of displeasing the Prince who was then so zealous for an extensive Liberty to Papists that for the disappointment which he found therein from that Parliament he chose to turn out of his Service some who had been the most faithful to him both in Civil and Military Affairs 3. Again for the Church Representative of Scotland the most malicious Enemies to the Episcopal Order asperse but two of fourteen Bishops for their complyance to these designs and it is as well known that two of the twelve were depriv'd 4. Then as for the inferior Clergy they were constantly faithful in Preaching against the Doctrines of the Roman Church notwithstanding the necessity they were under of reading the Law against LEESING MAKING every quarter of the year to affright them into silence they as often as they preached remembred in their Publick Prayers the persecuted Protestants in France notwithstanding all that was done to stifle and disparage the belief of the Persecution nay in none of their Synodical Sermons was the eminent danger from the busie Jesuites and other Papists forgotten nor in any Sermon the miserable Fopperies of Popery omitted even before his Majesties own Commissioner whether in the Cathedral Church at Edenborough or the Chappel Royal at Holy-Rood-House And in the Synod of April 1685 when the Bishops could not be with them by reason of the approaching Parliament they drew up their Remonstrances against Popery and like dutiful Sons and Zealous Protestants shewed their ready concurrence with the Bishops in that day of Tryal And it 's certain that to their Interest with the Country it is chiefly to be attributed that the Penal Laws against Papists were not then repealed 5. All this they did not with connivance of the Court but with apparent hazard of its heaviest displeasure executed in the censuring of some suspension of others and deposition of others who were all patient and chearful Confessors for that Holy Religion which they Professed and Taught in season and out of season Wherefore the impartial Resolution to the present Question is this That neither the Episcopal Church Diffusive nor Representative the Clergy whether Superior or Inferior were Compliers with the Designs for taking away the Penal Laws against Papists QUESTION VIII Whether the Scottish Presbyterians were Complyers with the Designs for taking away the Penal Laws against Papists IN satisfying this Question let us take the same method which we took to satisfie the former And to begin with the Laity of the Presbyterian Perswasion none of these were ignorant that the Convening of the Parliament in 1685 was to obtain of them a free admission of Papists into all places of Trust King Iames his Principles for Liberty of Conscience fill'd up all his Declarations for Indulgence within his Kingdoms none of the Presbyterians were unacquainted that he had sent an Ambassador to the Pope and that the Pope had his Nuncio at Whitehall none of them believed that the English Court in those circumstances would do any thing relating to Religion but what was agreeable to the measures of the Conclave none of them were ignorant that Papists call all Protestants Hereticks and that they damn all Hereticks to Hell and that King Iames oft declared that Presbyterians could not be Loyal and that he could never so much forget the Murder of his Royal Father of ever Blessed Memory as to trust them himself There was none of them but knew that every Zealous Papist believes the Roman Church Infallible and that Infallibility is inconsistent with Liberty of Conscience And therefore all the Presbyterian Laity were doubtless conscious that the Indulgence given to them by a Popish King assented unto by the Pope's Nuncio conformable to the Sense of the Roman Conclave could never be intended for the Ease of Protestant Dissenters but with design of making Papists share in the Blessing and that by this step Papists got into Power might apply it to the overthrow of the Reformation was doubtless obvious to every Presbyterian And therefore the acceptance of and thanksgiving for such an Indulgence was a gross complyance with the designs for Popery tending to the destruction of the Protestant Religion 2. All this Charge lies equally heavy upon the Ministers of that Perswasion with these aggravating circumstances that whereas