in the Possession and Exercise of their Ministry Whereby saith he all who were formerly thrust from their Churches are intirely excluded from the Protection of the Government Let any unbyassed person judge whether what he affirmeth or the contradictory of it be proved by this passage of the Declaration It is evident that the very Design and Strain of it was to protect these in Churches who were the Episcopalians from further progress of that disturbance from some hot and irregular Persons which some of their Brethren had met with And it was but reasonable that the Presbyterians who then had the Meeting-Houses should share in the same Favour That they who were put out by the Rabble in the Interregnum which did now terminate were not by this Proclamation restored can in no sense be construed either to justify what was done or encourage to do the like Other men have learned Logick that teacheth them to infer the contrary viz. A tacite blaming of what was done and express forbidding the like in time to come That the Presbyterians Preaching in Meetings was directly contrary to Law is false They had the Authority of King and Council And while the Act of Supremacy was in force as it then was the Parliament had given the King Power to do in the external Policy of the Kirk what he thought fit And therefore he had Power by the Act of Parliament to give Liberty to Dissenters And it is contrary to the avowed Principles of his Party who not only promoted this Act that screwed up the Supremacy to the height but pleaded always till it crossed their Interest for the King 's absolute and dispensing Power In confirmation of this he citeth another Proclamation August 6. 1689. Restoring such Conformists as had been thrust out by violence after April 13. Can any Man hence infer that the former Proclamation gave Liberty to put out Ministers by Violence And not rather that it condemneth what had been done that way And yet the man hath the Brow to value himself upon this as a full and concludent proof Are ye satisfied now saith he No Sir and I think none else can be satisfied with this Inference whose Wit is not a Wool-gathering But ' ex super abundante we shall yet have more proof It is from a passage in an Address to the King of the greatest part of the Members of Parliament complaining of the want of Ministers in the West where most had been put out by the Rabble I shall not trouble the Reader with observing the silly Quibbles that he strains at upon some passages of this Address But to shew how unconsequential this proof is 1. This Address was no deed of the Parliament or of the Presbyterian Party but of a few 2. There is nothing in that Address that either approveth of the disorderly way of putting out of those men or incourageth to go on in so doing What he citeth is meerly matter of Fact related that the West was desolate that is in great want of Ministers can any rational man think that it thence followeth that they who said so do approve of the manner of putting them out what ever thoughts they may have of the inconvenience of restoring them of which in its due place We must take farther notice of the Superfoetation of this Authors invention to prove his point The Council on Christmas Eve 1689. Our Author is a great Observer of days which it is like the Council had no respect to discharged all Inferiour Judicatories within the Kingdom to give Decreets for the Stipend 1689 to these Ministers who were out of Possession on April 13. reserving the Determination of that Case to the Parliament Who but our Author could thence infer that they approved of the Summer way of putting out those Ministers nothing doth thence follow but that the Parliament might judge of the conveniency of reponing them On this occasion he dilateth on the Misery of those Suffering Ministers and putteth the question Can any History shew a President for their Case Was ever Christian Minister so treated in a Christian Kingdom To these his questions I answer Affirmative viz. The Presbyterian Ministers anno 1662 were worse treated when upwards of 300 of them were put out and no allowance given them at all And yet worse when afterward it was enacted that none of them should live within six Miles of his former Parish not within six Miles of a Corporation So that it was hard for not a few of them to find a Habitation where they Lawfully might be in the Nation But all of them were driven with their poor Families from their Habitations from among their Friends and Acquaintances who might shew them Mercy in their Distress to seek shelter among Strangers And this was done in the beginning of Winter when it was hard to remove a Family But comparing their Sufferings that they make such outcry about with ours which we bare patiently we may observe that some are so tender of their Worldly Accommodations and ease that they will complain more of the scratch of a Pin than others will do of a deep Wound by a Sword § 17. We have page 30. An evidence how resolute this Gentleman is to be unsatisfied with whatever is or shall be done either by the State or by the Church as they are now established For when the Act of the Estates dischargeth any Injury to be offered to any Minister now in Possession of his Church he quarrelled at this Restriction and putteth a N. B. to it They behaving themselves as becometh under the present Government Did ever any Government allow protection to any on other terms Yea it is not usual under any Government to give a Pass to any to travel on the Road without Let or Molestation without this express restriction But what followeth is one of the highest efforts of Malice blinding the mind and depraving the apprehension of things Which is that giving them protection on their good behaviour is to enjoyn the Rabble to fall on them if they should not read the Proclamation and pray for King William and Queen Mary And the Man hath the brow to say That no Man without doing Violence to his own Sense could put a better Construction upon it but I perswade my self that unbyassed Men will judge that no Man without doing Violence both to his Reason and Conscience can put such a Sense on it as our Author doth For the Council did what in them lay to hinder all disorders of the Rabble The State more than the Church or Ministers the King the Council and Parliament are still Adversaries that this Hero will cope with The Council required the Ministers of Edinburgh to read and obey the Proclamation on April 14. Being the Lords day after the forenoons Sermon Which required praying for King William and Queen Mary by Name And all the Ministers besouth Tay to do the same on April 21. and these be North Tay to do
A VINDICATION OF THE Church of SCOTLAND BEING AN ANSWER TO Five Pamphlets The Titles of which are set down after the Preface By the Author of the former Vindication in Answer to the Ten QUESTIONS Licensed and Entered according to Order Psal. 31 18. Let the lying Lips be put to Silence which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuosly against the Righteous Psal. 55.3 They cast Iniquity upon me and in wrath they hate me Psal. 63.11 But the mouth of them that speak Lies shall be stopped Gregor Lib. 18. Moral Nonnunquam pejus est mendacium meditari quam loqui Nam loqui plerumque precipitationis est meditari vero Studiosae pravitarie Augustin contra Parmen L. 4. Quisquis vel quod porest corrigit vel quod non potest Corrigere salvo pacis vinculo excludit vel quod salvo pacis vinculo excludere non potest equitate improbat is pacificus est Printed at Edingburgh and Reprinted at London for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns near Mercers-Chappel in Cheap-side 1691. The PREFACE THe Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland have been manifold and of long continuance Jacob and Esau have been long strugling in her womb many Changes have gone over her sometimes the one Party prevailing and sometimes the other If there were no more at bottom of this strife then is pretended there might be some hope of Peace If not by Oneness in Opinion and practice yet by yeilding so far as Conscience can allow and mutual forbearance in that wherein we cannot unite But the Enmity between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent as it began with the World it self so it is like to have no more early Exit I am sure Lying Railing and malicious Reproaches instead of Argumentive Confutations are not conducive to peace This Conduct cannot convince them that are otherwise minded nor can it render that way Lovely for the sake of which it is used to one who is influenced either by Religion or Reason But it tendeth to render the Cause that is so managed Suspicious yea to disparage and Blacken a good Cause in the Eyes of the Sober and rational part of Mankind It is a bad Cause that must be so supported and a worse Soul that will use such a weapon Yea men of a good temper will not listen to such Discourses but abhor them Nor will they auribus aliquem calumniari as Simonides speaketh It hath been an old stratagem of Satan to disparage Truth or the right wayes of God either by misrepresenting or disguising the Opinions of them who own them or drawing strange and absurd Consequences from what they hold Or imputing that to them that they never said nor thought Or by raising and venting Calumnies against the Persons and Actions of them whom they would expose Thus did the Heathens against the Jews and against the the Christians For the former enough to this purpose may be seen in Joseph contra Apion lib. 1.2 And the Antient Histories of the Church are full of the Latter And the Apologies of Tertullian and others were occasioned by them It was also the way of Papists against Protestants Yea our Lord in days of his flesh suffered the same and the very footsteps of these Enemies of Truth do these Authors tread with whom I have now to do As will appear in our progress It is a woeful work for men to employ their Wit in and their time about The Devil hath his Name from this practice not only in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also in the Syriack N. T one that feedeth on Calumnies It is strange that Veracity is become as much a stranger among Protestants as among Jesuits Heathens would be ashamed of such Intemperance of the Tongue as some Divines use and that in Debates about Religious things It is Unmanly as well as UnChristian to tell a Lye tho' for never so good a Cause or on never so good a design Plutarch de Liber Educand Mentirienim servile est Et dignum apud omnes Homines odio ac ne mediocribus quidem servis ignoscendum Is it any wonder that we hesitate about some things related by Antient Historians when so much false History is with such effronted Boldness written about the things that we all know and about which we could be proper Witnesses and could Swear them to be Lyes before a Judge Or that we can have little perswasion of what we Read or hear about remote Nations When things acted among our selves are so falsly represented Woe to Posterity if the Lying Stories that some have Printed and with bold Impudence avouched pass with them for Authentick Histories Not only the Writings of Jesuits but these of some discontented Prelatists are able to turn the succeeding Ages into absolute Scepticisme about all the Transactions of former times Sect. 2. Our Opposities in the Debate that I now manage have not only loaded as with reproach without just cause given for their obloquie and clamours But they have shewed their aversion from Peace with us And that by the methods unbecoming men of Candor and Integrity as well as Lovers of Peace We are not ignorant of the measures that were the result of deep consults both in this Nation and at London when open Spire and Malice was not able to effect what they designed that the several Parishes should address the King for their Ministers to be continued with them even while it was evident that many of them regarded not the Civil Authority of the Nation now setled and others by the Leudness of Conversation made themselves unworthy to be in the Holy Function of the Ministry and when this attempt did not succeed it was concerted at London and advice about it written by Dr. Canaries to Mr. Lesk to be communicated to the rest of the Party That they should yeild seigned Obedience to the Presbyterians at present because their other Methods could not take at that time In pursuance of this addvice two adresses were prepared for the Commission of the General Assembly in which as little Wit as Candor appeared It was evident by them that the Addressers did not intend nor desire to be received into a share of the Government with Presbyterians And these Papers were so ill contrived that it was visible to all that no blame could reflect on the Presbyterians by refusiing to admit them on the terms that they proposed For their Lesson was conned for them One of them was offered to the Commission of the Assembly that was for the South part of Scotland by Mr. Alexander Less the 17. day of July 1691. In his own Name and of several others in the North. He was told by the Commission That they could not receive nor consider his Address because he and they in whose Name he made application to the Commission lived in the North and that the Commission had no Power from the Assembly to meddle with any Affairs in that part of the
of Dr. Scot's Message and Instructions from the Deputies of seven Presbyteries where it is pleasant to see what pains he is at to apologize to the Church of England for that odious Name and how the good Party so he calleth us Ironice contradicted all the Accounts that they gave of things If the Doctor 's History of things was of the same strain with what this Author giveth us I hope the Reader will not wonder that he met with Contradiction On this Application the Prince's Declaration came out though not so full as the Doctor would have had it That he procured the Declaration the Author dreameth The necessity of the thing required it That two contending Parties should be restrained from mutual Injuries in an Inter-regnum and time of Confusion was very suitable to that great Prince's Wisdom and Justice As also that Dr. Scot and his Party got not all their Will was but Reason The Presbyterians Disobedience to the Prince's Declaration he proveth by three Instances The first is The Tumult at Glasgow the true Account of which I have already referred to another place The Second is Mr. Little of Trailslat about to repossess his Pulpit was assaulted by Women who tore his Coat and Shirt off him and had done so with his Breeches but that he pleaded with them from their Modesty I have often said that we can no ways be accountable for what was done by the Rabble they were none of ours and little less unfriendly to us than to his Party which is particularly attested concerning them who did so use Mr. Little of Tinal or Trailslat His Third Instance He quoteth some Men and Women calling the Prince's Declaration a Sham and that they knew His Highness's Resolutions If he had pleased to tell us who said so we could have enquired into the Truth of what he alledgeth and have judged by the Quality of the Persons what weight is to be laid on their Words If we should be at the pains to print all that the Scum of his Party saith we might write Volumes of Matter that would make them black enough but withal it might make us ridiculous to the World But that this Author should lay such stress on the Talk of Women whom no body knoweth who they were as thence to fancy that they now have a Discovery of the Intrigue of Presbyterians is no great Argument of his deep Judgment He next telleth of an Intrigue in the Prince's Declaration for even His Highness nor now when he is our Sovereign cannot escape the Lash of these Mens Tongues and Pens in commanding all to lay down Arms save the Garrisons and the Town Company of Edinburgh It seems it grieves this Man that King James's Forces must be disbanded for I suppose he will not quarrel with disarming any of the Presbyterians But surely here was no Intrigue but a plain Design that the two striving Parties should not fall on each other in a War commenced by Authority But that which piqueth him is that by this means the College of Justice were forced to lay down their Arms which he will have to be taken up by the Authority of the Magistrates of Edinburgh and in defence of the Ministers of that City on whom he alledgeth that the People resolved to fall In answer to all this I shall not derogate from the praises of that Honourable Society of Lawyers and Men about the Law which he is pleased to give them But 1. It was not the Colledge of Justice but some of them who took Arms some of the chief of them gave no countenance to that Action 2. It is known that the members of that Society as then constituted were greatly opposite to the Revolution in the Civil state that then was in fieri and therefore the disbanding of them seemed to be necessary for the peaceable conclusion of that matter 3. Whether the Arming of the Colledge of Justice was by Authority of the Magistrates of ' Edinburgh I shall not determine But the Magistrates as then Constituted were all opposite to the Prince of Orange and therefore it was no wonder that any Force raised by them should be by him disbanded 4. That there was a design to fall on the Ministers of Edinburgh or that the Colledge of Justice armed in their defence is affirmed on no ground and without any truth It was rather on the same design on which the Viscount of Dundee had gathered Forces into the Town of which above and it was for opposing of them and not assaulting the Ministers of Edinburgh that the Western Rabble as he is pleased to call them came to Edinburgh viz. To defend the Convention of Estates against the Force that might have hindred their sitting and Acting That the Colledge of Justice were quarrelled tho' yet no punishment nor other effect followed on it for their taking Arms without Law was no wonder That the Western Rabble as he calleth them were not quarrelled is as little wonder For the one was a party of men that should have known the Law better than the other the one did continue in Arms till they were forced to disband Which the other did not § 14. Our Authors next Essay p. 23 is according to his strain and temper to nullifie the Convention of Estates as being unduly constituted and consequentially that all that they did is of no force Which is at one Blow to dethrone Their present Majesties and to unsettle the present Establishment To what other purpose can his remarks tend of the absence of so many of the Nobility the scruples of the best and most Judicious of the Gentry of the Nation had about it how thin the meetings of the smaller Burghs in many Shires were at the Election How Industrious the Presbyterians were to get all Elected of their own gang what methods were taken to impose on the simpler Members what partiality was used about controverted Elections I have seen a time when talking at this rate and by so doing striking at the root of the Government would have cost one a more severe Reprimand then is a Paper refutation but we have the advantage by this passage that the Clamours against Presbyterians have the same Authors and Grounds with these against the Government of the State which I hope will make them to be otherwise understood then if they had taken the Presbyterian Church alone for their Party After some Historical remarks on the Convention which I insist not on he saith that the Rabble which had thrust out the Ministers were thanked by the Convention tho' not under that reduplication Tho' this is no effort of his spite against the Church but against the State yet I cannot but observe his Malice in it for we deny that they were the Men that put out the Ministers and the thanks they had was for their zeal in defending the Convention from that opposite rabble I mean the 2000 men that the Viscount of Dundee and others had gathered together at
it on April 28. where as it was enacted on the 13 about twelve a Clock and came to the hands of the Ministers at Edinburgh late on Saturday or on Sabbath morning Some as he was told and we know many things were told him which were not true not till they were in the Pulpit This he thinketh absurd because the Bishops in England would not enjoyn their Clergy to read Proclamations Fide implicita and because the Parliament of England gave the Clergy there sever'dl Months to consider the like Case He might know that tho' the English Bishops be admired for advantage by him and his Party yet their practice need not be a Standard to the Scoth Council And that the Parliament of England thought they had reason for what they did And the Council of Scotland thought the same of what they did The case tho' of moment was plain enough neither was it a Surprize to any of those Men for the thing was long in Deliberation and known to be so before it was enacted Few in the Nation if any there were who were not then at a point whether they would own King William or adhere to King James Except such as were resolved to do either as it might more serve their Ends. What is said of the Peoples going out of the New Church when the Clerk read the Proclamation after the Blessing is not to be wondered at for after the Blessing People use not to stay And it is like it was design'd to be read to the Walls by uttering the Blessing before reading of it The Ministers example in not reading it himself it is like did influence such as used to hear Men of his stamp And of such was that Congregation then made up § 18. We now enter upon the Execution that was done by this Proclamation which this Epistle doth lay heavy load on the Council for Far less reproaching of the Justice of the Nation would have cost a Man his Neck in the former Reign The first instance he bringeth is of Doctor Strachan late Professour of Divinity in the Colledge of Edinburgh who when accused for not Reading and Praying as enjoyned pleaded that in the Claim of Right it was found that none can be King or Queen of Scotland till they take the Coronation Oath And that K. James had forfeited his right to the Crown by Acting as King without it That the State had only named William and Mary but neither the Crown was yet offered to them nor they accepted it nor had they taken ehe Coronation Oath and he wish others were deprived who used the same defence and added that they were willing to pray for King William and Queen Mary as soon as they had accepted and had taken the Oath An answer to this might more be expected from some Statesman who knoweth the reason that the Council were determined by in this matter It is known that the exercise of the Government had been long before tendered to the Prince and that his Highness had accepted and exercised it That the Estates sat by his Authority that the Nations Representative had then owned him as their King and therefore it was a contempt of the Authority of the Nation for any Man to refuse to own him when called to do so Further it is a material mistake of the words of the Claim of Right Which doth not say None can be King or Queen but that none can Exercise the Legal Power till thay have taken the Coronation Oath It is certain that on the Death of a King his Rightful Successor is King and may be Prayed for as such and such Praying may be injoyned even before taking of the Oath The same may be said of One chosen and proclaimed by the Supreme Authority of the Nation which is the Case now in hand That these Men promised to Pray for K. William afterward is false and the Committee deprived none who were willing so to engage The petulant liberty that he taketh to disparage the Council that was nominated by the King after he had accepted of the Government I remark but insist not on He now in the end of pag 32 Returneth to the Rabble his misrepresentation of things in General I stay not on he is secure he cannot be refuted but by denying the truth of them But his particular accounts of these things I shall examine The first Instance that he giveth is of Mr. Mc Math Minister of Leswade On whom one night as he was going from Edinburgh to his own House 4 Fellows fell Pierced him with Bodkins and Auls so that he had ten or twelve Wounds in his Belly filled his Mouth till they had almost Choaked him with Horse-Dung and left him in that sad condition If one should consider the Ineredibility of this Story it might save the labour of a Refutation or evincing the falshood of it He hath not told us who these four Fellows were nor whisher they were Presbyterians or not must all the Robberies and Assassinations that are committed on the high way by unknown Persons be charged on the Presbyterians Such Insinuations will better evince the Spiteful humour of our Adversaries then the disorderliness of Men of our way Next is it probable that a Man should have 10 or 12 wounds in the Belly with Auls or Bodkins and none of them Pierce the Peritoneum which would readily prove mortal And yet Mr. Mc Math neither was sick nor died nor was any Indisposition visible on him next day but what was the effect of his being Drunk overnight which all that knew him do Affirm was very Customary to him I wish our Author had told us who ever saw these Wounds or the Scars of them It is attested by his Neighbours as followeth We under subscribers declare that we came of purpose to see Mr. Mc Math's pretended Wounds The Gate being shut we went to the House of Mr. Robert Trotter his Precentor who going to him returned with this answer that he freed the whole Parish and knew not who they were that injured him At Lasweed December 6. 1690. James Currie Adam Alexander Gawin Hunter James Simson I declare that I saw Mr. John Mc Math betwixt six and seven a Clock in the Morning following that Night wherein he pretendeth that injury was done to him at his own Gate as he used to be witness my Subscription at Lasweed December 6. 1690. Andrew Finlawson For this Andrew Finlawson was challenged by Mr. Mc Math Which he also testifyeth under his hand Also James Simson declareth under his hand that he saw Mr. Mc Math on the Street 2 or 3 Days after he was said to be Wounded And that People going on the Road from Edinburgh told him that they saw Mr. Mc Math Drunk that Night as he came from Edinburgh Likewise we have it under the Hand of John Young Merchand in Fisherraw that at the time when it was said that Mr. Mc Math was Wounded he went to see him being his
for the Instrument of our great Deliverance and as our King This we are not ashamed of Let him and his Complices gnash their Teeth at it He saith We Miscall the Bishops which is false We gave them no Names of Reproach but relate the Hurt that they have done in this Church which we are able to make appear The first thing that he reproveth in the Petitionary part of the Address is Our desire that this poor Oppressed Church may be freed from such Oppressours and Oppressions And what harm is in this do not they complain of Oppression which yet it may and I hope shall be made appear that their Sufferings were not once to be compared to ours We press no mans Consciences as they did nor force them to compliance by Prisons Finings Banishment and yet greater Severities He next Narrateth our desire of Setling the Church in the Hands of Presbyterians his Note is This is nothing like Prelacy Why doth he wonder at that Had it been a wise observation for shewing the absurdity of their Attempts for Setling Prelacy This is nothing like Presbytery But yet a greater Absurdity he observeth in our Address viz. That we Petition That the Church established may be allowed to purge out insufficient negligent scandalous and erroneous Ministers His strong Argument against this is in a Parenthesis And what Apostle saith he if ye give them a Presbyterian Jury shall not come within the compass of one of these four Such ignorant Malice is not to be answered but despised We esteem all the Apostles except his Predecessor Judas Iscariot as much as he or his party can do And we know that not only the Apostles but some who have complyed with Episcopacy may and have escaped all these four even by a Presbyterian Judicature But I am weary of such trisling He afterwards falleth more heavily on these four Qualifications of Ministers in p. 44. where we shall attend him being obliged to follow this his interrupted Method § 21. He now page 36. Re-entreth the Lists with the Council as the great Persecuters of the Clergy He complaineth of the undue transmitting of the Proclamations to the Ministers who were to give Obedience to it alledging That there came but six Copies of it to Fife His Voucher for this is he is credibly told it But we have already found that he hath been told a great many Lies and that credibly enough too for a Man of his large Credulity which is as receptive when ill is spoken of Presbyterians as that of any Papists with respect to the Legends If these Proclamations were not so dispersed as was fit it was not to be wondered at For many of the Servants of the late Government were still in place with whom the Ministers concerned might have correspondence That they might not see such Papers in time But this can best be answered when we come to particulars Then he narrates the Councils proceeding in the Indictments and Interrogatories putting all in the most odious and ridiculous dress that he can devise which yet he can fix no blame upon Only his uncivil Reflection on the Earl of Crawford is like the spirit of this Author That Noble Earl is Master of so much Sense and Reason as that he could not ask whether they mentioned in Prayer the Sirname of the King and Queen Tho' I know such an Expression might have inadvertently dropt from a person no ways contemptible as that which is a word of course That they were Censured for neglecting thus to Pray what wonder is it seeing the Law expresly required it And is it to be thought strange that the Law should require this when it was notour how disaffected most of these Men were and how openly they owned King James's Interest Was it ever heard of that any Government allowed Persons to hold Publick Places who would not own the Government under which they lived The former Government took the Lives of such as shewed the least scruple in this matter so far was it from allowing publick Places or Benefices to any such Next he complaineth that they were put out for not Reading and Praying as enjoyned If either the Proclamation was sent to them or it came to their Hand or if they had knowledge of it And here we have an Instance of Mr. Guild Minister at Northberwick who had Prayed but not Read and he telleth us of half a dozen more such Instances but we must not know them lest we examine them What to think of his hidden Instances I know not but Mr. Guild was not deprived simply for not Reading at the time appointed but because he declared before the Council that he was not free to Read it afterward This is Attested by the Records of the Council He bringeth Instances of them who had Read and Prayed but not on the Precise day who were deprived Mr. Hay Minister at Kinneucher our Author or the Printer mistaketh the Name of the place Mr. Hunter at Sterling Mr. Young at Monyvaird Mr. Aird at Torryburn This is strange prevarication Mr. Hay was deprived for not Reading and Praying and for Praying for the late King James and for Reflecting upon the Estates witness the Records of Council which say that all this was fully proved Mr. Young confessed before the Council he did not Pray in the Terms of the Proclamation till the Sabbath after he was cited to appear before the Council Mr. Aird was deprived for Praying for King James as our Natural Prince and Praying that God would send back with a Hook in his Jaws that Tyrant that had come to Invade these Lands meaning King William all this proved and that of Mr. Young and Recorded in the Books of Council For Mr. Hunter I find nothing of him in the Records but the Reader will easily judge by what is already said how far our Authors Assertion is to be believed in such a matter That it was not asked them whether they would obey for time to come is not strange in Civil Courts amendment useth not to aâ—tone Crimes committed Therefore his story of the Magistrates of Perth desiring of my Lord Crawford that their Minister might be reponed is wholly Impertinent Beside the Authors most uncivil Treatment of that Noble Earl saying he turned Hussie which is far from both the Natural Temper and Civil deportment towards all that his Lordship is Commended for by all who know him and do not hate him as this man seemeth to do by taking all occasions and seeking them to quarrel with his Lordships actings What he after imputeth to my Lord that he said to a Minister it was enough to deprive him that he Prayed not for the King as is directed 1 Tim. 2.1 2. Was no Derogation if it was exprest as is Alledged from the Authority of that Scripture for when the Apostle requireth us to Pray for Kings and the Law requires us to Pray for this King and not for his Competitor The one of these do not