Ratifications thereof and this we crave to be Recorded in your Register for the Vindication of Truth and exoneration of our Consciences The Lord give you wisdom in all things and powre out upon you a spirit of Healing the backslidings of the Land of building up our Breaches We rest Your Wisdoms loving Brethren and Servants in Christ Subscribed and sent from Pearth to Dundee to which place the Assembly was Adjourned from S. Andrews upon the 21. July 1651. by M. Alexander Dunlap William Sumervell John Mauld James Donaldson John Veatch John Hammilton in Carmichael Alexander Barterem Ministers and William Brown of Dolphington a Ruling Elder POSTSCRIPT WHEN the Printer had cast off the former Sheets there appeared here a scurrilous Pamphlet intituled an Answer to the Scots Presbyterian Eloquence in three parts If you would have a Character of the Author you must read the Book and perhaps by so doing you may meet with something that is extraordinary and which cannot so easily fall under words he appears with all the storm and Thunder that passion and rage can furnish him with he breaths nothing but violence and indignation and blusters with so much fury that at first view you may perceive him as great a Separatist from good nature and modesty as he is from the Christian Church and her Worship He divides his Pamphlet into three parts In the first he complains of cruel Laws made against the Presbyterians in the former Reigns In the second he meddles with the Author of the Scots Presbyterian Eloquence In the third he assaults the Sermons and Lives of the Bishops and Clergy As to the first King Charles II. and our subordinate Governors made no Laws against the Presbyterians in Scotland but what they were forc'd to make in their own defence when the King was restor'd to his hereditary right and the Nations deliver'd from their Egyptian bondage the Parliament being call'd they enacted such Laws as were absolutely necessary for preserving their Liberty and sundamental Constitution and because they had so sadly smarted under their cruel Taskmasters the Covenanters in the late Civil Wars they took care in the first place by gentle Laws both the reclaim the deluded and secure their own safety The frequent attempts and insurrections of the Presbyterians afterwards oblig'd them to make more severe Laws nor did ever any man in that Period suffer capital punishment but for high Treason against the King and State If their errors and delusions were purely speculative and did not upon all turns prompt them to overturn the Government and grasp the Sovereignty they might live in Scotland in all peace and tranquility as other Dissenters did But when the whole Scheme of their Religion as far as they differ from the Episcopal party is nothing in it self but ungovernable humor and Rebellion and when their insolence became so intolerable that they proclaim'd open War against the King in his own Dominions and preach'd to their Hearers that they ought to kill his Servants and that he had no right to the Crown because he broke the Covenant what Apology needs there be made against the unreasonable clamours of such desperate Incendiaries especially when their cruelties towards the Episcopal Church both Clergy and Laity after the Year 1637. were unparallel'd in History as they were diabolical in their nature And their Oath of the Covenant impos'd upon all ranks and degrees of persons within the Nation and Children at the Schools not excepted with greater tyranny malice and violence than the Fathers of the Inquisition ever practised VVhat was it then that the King was to be blam'd for and his Ministers of State VVhy they would not acknowledg that the King had lost his right to the Crown they defended his calm and obedient Subjects from the hands of these religious Harpyes who would needs persuade the Nation that there was no Sin so much to be dreaded as any the least transgression of the solemn League and Covenant The King and his Ministers of State might more plausibly be accus'd of cruelty if they had made severe Laws against the consequences of Presbyterian Opinions rather than against the open and avowed efforts of treachery and Rebellion Prudence and caution might arm them against the first but self-defence the Laws of nature and Nations their own honour and safety must needs prompt them to the second In short you will meet with nothing in the first part of this Pamphlet but an ill contriv'd abstract of the Hind let loose and you know that the Episcopalians took care to compendise that Book and publish it of new that all men might see the principles practices and humors of that Sect whom they oppose nor can there be a better defence of King Charles the seconds Government than the Hind let loose if duly consider'd and upon the whole matter I will only say this that if the Ministers of State under King Charles II. in Scotland have done nothing against the Presbyterians but what all wise great and good Men have done in the like cases then the Clamours of this party against their Ministry are rather an honour to than an accusation against their proceedings For as long as there are any Records of publick transactions preserv'd in our Nation the Rebellions under King Charles I. and II. and the principles by which they have been maintain'd and the Artifices made use of to delude the people unto misery and Enthusiasm can never be forgotten and if there was no other Book extant but the Acts of their General Assemblies they sufficiently vindicate King Charles II and his Ministers of State from any shadow of cruelty and rigor But all this and much more is made evident by the Learned and Loyal Advocate in his short and accurate Defence of King Charles the 2ds Government where he attacks and baffles by Reason Law and the customs of Nations the little cavils and exceptions started against the administrations of that wise and peaceable Monarch A Book which shall never be answered I do not mean that they shall not write against it but that it is unanswerable and they may as wisely run a tilt against a Rock as endeavour to shake any part of its main design The reasonings of it are so clear the historical retorsions so undeniable and the villanies of their factions and combinations so transparent that to meddle with that Book will more and more discover their folly as well as renew their correction and the publisher of it thinks still he has done the Nation good service and he is the more confirmed in his Opinion that he perceives that the little and hidden Nurslings of Presbytery are galled by it It is a Lye that Sir George Mackenzie pretended he would not publish it tho he would not allow a Copy surreptitiously procured to come abroad without his immediate orders and directions and when he saw it convenient he recommended it to his Friend to publish it
AN APOLOGY FOR THE Clergy of Scotland Chiefly oppos'd to the Censures Calumnies and Accusations OF A LATE Presbyterian Vindicator In a LETTER to a FRIEND WHEREIN His Vanity Partiality and Sophistry are modestly Reproved And the Legal Establishment of Episcopacy in that Kingdom from the Beginning of the Reformation is made evident from History and the Records of Parliament Together with A POSTSCRIPT relating to a Scandalous Pamphlet Intituled An Answer to the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Quibus ego non sum tantum honorom habiturus ut ad ea quae dixerint certo loco aut singulatim unicuique respondeam Sic breviter quoniam non consulto sed casu in eorum mentionem incidi quasi praeteriens satisfaciam universis M. T. C Orat. in Q. Caecilium Imprimatur Sept. 24. 1692. Edmund Bohun LONDON Printed for Jos Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1693. THE CONTENTS A Short Introduction Page 1 2 The Division p. 2 The first Plea discuss'd and the Cameronians prov'd not only to be Presbyterians but the only true Presbyterians p. 2 3 4 5 The Villanies committed to be the result of an Uniform Combination and wicked Principles and not the transient efforts of Passion p. 6 7 8 9 10 The second Plea of an Interregnum expos'd p. 10 The third Plea that the People were injur'd by the Clergy disprov'd p. 11 12 13 The fourth Plea from the Immoralities of the Clergy Confuted and Retorted p. 14 15 16 The fifth Plea against the Clergy from their want of Popular Election unreasonable in it self and retorted upon the Adversary p. 16 17 The sixth Plea that the Clergy peevishly and rigorously pressed Conformity examin'd ibid. The seventh Plea against the Clergy that they are Heterodox found to be vain foolish and frivolous p. 18 The eighth Plea that they are Enemies to K. William and Q. Mary considered p. 19 The ninth that they Preached Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience This Doctrine proved to be still reasonable and Christian p. 20 The tenth Plea against the Clergy that the Episcopal Church is remiss in Censuring scandalous Delinquents bassled and rejected p. 22 The second General Head a Modest Censure of the Vindicator taken from his own Book p. 23 First His avowed Partiality and Injustice ibid. Secondly His peremptory and Enthusiastick pretences to a Jus Divinum p. 24 Thirdly His rudeness and vanity p. 25 Fourthly His Tergiversations and Lying p. 26 Fifthly His illnatured and uncharitable Insinuations p. 27 28 29 30 31 The third General Head His Theological Reasonings c. p. 38 First Of the Observation of Christmas and the Festivities of the Church p. 39 40 41 42 Secondly His Notion of Schism p. 43 44 45 46 Thirdly His Censure of the Clergy for Preaching Morality p. 47 48 49 50 Fourthly Nis Notion of Calvinism and his way of explaining and defending it p. 51 52 Fifthly His pretences to Antiquity and the History of the Culdees p. 53 54 55 Sixthly His Clamour against Ceremonies of human Institution p. 56 The fourth General Head wherein the Legal Establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland is proved from the Records of Parliament p. 60 61 62 63 64 The Conclusion in several instances from the foresaid History p. 66 The Protestation in the year 1651. against the General Assembly p. 79 Postscript Relating to a Scandalous Pamphlet Entituled An Answer to the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence p. 85 86 c. AN APOLOGY FOR THE Clergy of Scotland c. SIR YOUR Friendship for me I look upon as a great Honor and I value my self upon it and the sincerity wherewith I endeavour to serve you prompts me more to undertake what you command than any sense I can have of my own Skill or Ability and rather than oblige you to continue your importunities I send you here my thoughts of that Book you ordered me to Read I undertook it with great aversion partly because such scurrilous Contentions are very Unchristian in the first Original scandalous in their Consequences and very unedifying to the Christian Church Partly Because I think the late Presbyterian Barbarities and Cruelties towards the Episcopal Clergy in Scotland are sufficiently known all Europe over and therefore I was unwilling to undergo the Penance of reading a Book that provoked me in every other Line unto the undecencies of Passion It lay by me six months without ever opening it until I was over-powered by your Commands Though in the mean time I must tell you that you never imposed a severer Task upon me I have no inclination to Read such Books no more than I have to drink off a Potion of Physick every day to my Breakfast besides there are some men with whose Genius I am not well acquainted who cannot be silenced because they have made lies their Refuge The Truth it self if at any time it happen'd to be on their side doth not please them unless it be dressed up in all the Colours of Falshood and stript of its natural Beauty and Simplicity who like Solomon's Whore when they have but newly committed their Abominations defie all mankind to charge them with the least Transgression Men who Arm themselves with all degrees of Confidence to run down the clearest Truths that truly represent or seem to disparage the Faction in which they are engaged If that Book of which you desire my Thoughts were particularly answered such a Reply could not but swell to a prodigious Bulk because to clear the Matter of Fact in so many particular Cases obliges men to turn over all the Pamphlets to which his Book is related I did indeed once Read his Book that he Entitles his Second Vindication and I hope I shall never be so destitute of good Books though at present I have very few as to peruse it a second time However I will briefly give you my thoughts of it and since the Book has no method I may be allowed to put the Reflections I make upon it in any order I please In the first place I will examine his General Apologies by which he thinks to ward off the blame of the barbarous Rabblings of the Clergy from his Party Secondly From the Book it self I 'll give you a natural Character of the Author Thirdly I will shortly consider his Theological Reasonings that occasionally falls under his consideration when he pleads for the Innocence of Presbyterians And lastly I will consider the truth of that ordinary Objection that the Presbyterians manage against the Episcopal Church of Scotland when they alledge that Presbyterian Government was established in that Church from the beginning of the Reformation And first I take notice that all along he seem to disown the Cameronians as Presbyterians or as men not of their Communion At other times he acknowledges they are zealous godly men and if he proves that the Barbarities committed upon the Clergy were not committed by sober and intelligent Presbyterians he thinks the Presbyterians are sufficiently vindicated
God ordinarily gives to such as are at the Helm of Government another Spirit than that he bestowes upon private men their care must extend far and near we must not upon all occasions publish our Comments upon their actions far less ought we to fly to Arms when our Caprice is not satisfied nor when the Dreams and Delusims of our particular Sect are discouraged For If men may run to Arms upon every occasion the Political World should quickly tumble into the Original Chaos Whatever Parties then there are that oppose the Doctrine of Non-Resistance thus stated are Enemies to all Government and when they themselves are invested with Power and Authority their Practice bâ—â—â—â—â—â— their former Notions and exposes sufficiently their Chimerical Ideas and whatever branches there may be of this Controversie it must be agreed to on all hands that the Scots Presbyterians were Rebels under Charles I. and Charles II. in all the Formalities of Rebellion The Vindicator himself thinks that the Authority of the Nation in the Convention or Parliament may take away the Legal Right that belongs to the Clergy Had not the Clergy as good right to their by-past Stipends as any man had to his private Estate So it seems that in some cases the Convention may invade the Property of private men especially the Property of the Episcopal Clergy and this is no other stretch of Arbitrary Power than what was practised formerly against the Lieges in the warmest weather of the Covenant when private men were compelled to lend their mony to Levy an Army against the King yet since it was to advance the Covenant there was nothing Arbitrary in it and though it was open Robbery and never practised by any of our Kings yet we were forced to stoop to Ruin and Poverty because the Covenanters said that this was our Liberty and Property So they that clamour most against Arbitrary Power practise it most when they dare venture Another Imputation whereby the Presbyterians endeavour to fully the Reputation of the Episcopal Clergy is this that the kindness that any have for Episcopacy proceeds from the Espiscopal Clergy's indulging men in their sins and immoralities And this is the old story and contains nothing but their inveterate spite and malice What is it that the Episcopal Church teaches that indulges men in their sins What Doctrine is it that 's publickly owned or taught by the Episcopal Church that has the least tendency to the breach of any of Gods Commandments How long shall these Sons of Strife continue in their Impudence Though this Accusation be as senseless as it is indesinite yet upon this occasion they ordinarily magnifie their discipline as the most Sovereign Remedy against the immoralities of the Age much after the same manner that Montebanks do when they set off their Drugs with vehement and zealous Harrangues and if you have the patience for a quarter of an hour you 'll hear all that they can say Whereas a grave experienced Physitian will make no such promises but he 'll calmly consider the present temper of your Body the Causes of your Disease and proportion his Applications to your strength and other Circumstances without noise or Ostentation I know no effect that ever the Presbyterian Discipline had towards Reforming the World unless you reckon that the murthering of Bastard Children was of that Nature It cannot be denyed but that the Presbyterian Ministers use long Discourses to the Whores that sit on the Stool of Repentance but they cannot name three of them that ever mounted that Publick Seat but they became Prostitutes and when once they made Shipwrack of their Modesty one may guess what followed And their publick appearance in this manner made them impudent This is all the Reformation I know that their Discipline most eminently promotes its true indeed there was a very remakable Step towards the Reformation made by Sir John Hall and his Associates the first year of the Revolution when the Wells were locked up and none could have fresh Water upon Sunday yet as much Wine and Brandy was allowed as one was pleased to call for But if by their Discipline they mean that endless and pragmatick inquisition into all Actions it is as impracticable as it is burthensome and though it be a natural step to advance their Supremacy yet it is attended with so much confusion and animosities that neither true Religion nor Liberty can endure it It is pleasant to hear them declaim against the Tyranny of Papal Power and yet meddle with all that ever he medled with We know what Profanations of the Name of God were occasioned by this Discipline in the year 1648. when the best of the Nobility and Gentry and others were made to profess their Repentance for the Lawful Engagement I do not plead against Ecclesiastical Discipline for it is absolutely necessary to the order and Preservation of the Church as it is a Society founded by our Lord and Saviour But this new fantastick and apish imitation of strictness is inconsistent with reason as it is indeed destructive to true and regular Devotion The Vindicator uses to refer his Readers to other Books I cannot condemn that practise therefore I wish him to Read Bishop Bramhall's Treatise of the new Discipline There is nothing more desireable than to see the Antient Discipline revived and all men ought to Pray that God would direct our Ecclesiastical Governours to restore the Primitive Discipline so as the most negligent may be awakened directed and encouraged to repent and testifie his Repentance by the most unfeigned mortification and Charity Thus I have run over some of the General Heads that are scattered up and down his Vindication and given you freely but very briefly my Opinion of them The next thing I undertook for your satisfaction was to enquire into the Spirit and Genius of the Author by the Characters that appear of him in his Vindication Not that I conclude him habitually such for perhaps the paroxysms of his Indignation are over but this I may conclude that when this Book was written he was overdriven with his passion I do not immediately conclude him to be of the Seed of the Serpent nor of the Race of Esau nor a Villain nor the Successor of Judas Iscariot nor a Rabshakeh Though he opposes the Apostolical Government of Episcopacy he is not of my Opinion but I do not think he deserves any Censure on that account that he is not of my Persuasion His Adversaries cannot drive him to a greater absurdity than if he be made to vent his Passion in personal Reflections and therefore I shall endeavour to six nothing upon his person but what naturally follows from his own words I charge him therefore in the first place with open and avowed Partiality He rejects the Testimony of any man that is not of his Party so he rejects the Testimony of John Gibson one of the Magistrates of Glasgow because says he
Apostles to meet at Jerusalem And in the same Book it is said again Timotheus autem Ephesiorum Episcopus ordinatus a Beato Paulo that is to say Timothy the Bishop was appointed by S. Paul to meet at Ephesus Again Polycarpus Joannis Apostoli discipulus ab eo Smyrnae Episcopus ordinatus totius Asiae princeps fuit I need add no more testimonies to make this Critical observation more ridiculous and I defic all that ever looked into the Presbyterian Books to find any thing so palpably ignorant and foolish as this exposition of that passage in S. Hierom except it be the Vindicators Notion of decretum praedamnatum which I shall examine before I end this Letter and yet I do not remember that ever I read any Man more proud and supercilious but Ignorance and Pride go ordinarily together I shall not contend with him about this nonsensical Whimsey I wish with all my heart he had writ a Book in Quarto of such Expositions of the most difficult places in the Fathers and I dare assure him such Books would be read by the Youth in the Universities with far greater Delight than his Vindication of the Kirk of Scotland And I have a far greater Opinion of the knowledge of most of his Brethren than to think that there are two of them in the Nation except it be Mr. Russel and Mr. Gourlay that can agree with him in this Exposition the reason why I mention it here is not to dispute with him any farther concerning it but to give you an Instance of his insufferable Pride and Vanity that he resents the least Contradiction to his Nonsence with so much bitterness and indignation Another Instance to the same purpose we have again p. 183. The Author of the History of the General Assembly said That such as were thrust into Universities and Colleges by the Presbyterian Faction were short of their Predecessors This nettles the Vindicator who if his sufficiencies be such as he fancies should have slighted it And therefore he compares the men of his way with their Predecessors I suppose he must mean such as are lately promoted into the Seminaries of Learning if the Vindicator means Mr. Rules Predecessors in the College of Edenburgh that are already dead He is extravagantly impertinent If he mean the Masters lately ejected I assure him they never compared themselves nor their Sufficiencies with any dead nor alive the more any man knows the less he thinks of it and though Knowledge in it self be very valuable yet such Thrasonical Boastings of it are very opposite to the nature of it It may be the Vindicator thinks that the ejected Masters wrote so advantageously of themselves but if that be his mistake I dare assure him they had no hand in any History of the Assembly or of any affairs relating to it And if such as love these Masters speak kindly of them when they are expelled by a prevailing Faction he need not take it ill far less is there any necessity to run them down with such loud and saucy Comparisons He instances in four particulars wherein he thinks the present Masters may compare with their Predecessors viz. The Knowledge of Books useful Learning Prudence to direct the Studies of the Youth Grammar and the knowledge of the learned Languages If it be so it is still so much the better but it is very difficult for any man that was intirely a stranger to his Predecessors to know what Books they recommended or were themselves acquainted with But the Author mentioning casually Mr. Gilbert Rule 's want of Latin brought the Vindicator into this lofty strain of Comparisons no doubt it was to let the World see how well he understood the Roman Authors that he cites Plutarch and Simonides in Latin but a little Latin may go very far if it be dexterously managed and it may be worth his while to consider the direction Buchanan gave the Franciscans But if he would be entreated to put on a more chearful humour I would tell him freely my opinion on the whole matter and that is that a man may be learned and judicious and know a great many excellent Books and reason closely and yet not speak the Latin readily so that there is no necessity to appear buffy and out of humour tho it were said that he did not speak Latin purely and fluently that accomplishment depends upon long practice and upon all Revolutions and sometimes without them the publick Schools have their Factions and some are ready to censure what is not justly censureable and this might occasion the Boys to be a little more severe than perhaps was allowable when this Rabbi spoke something instead of Latin that was neither Latin nor Scotch But I must tell him withal what I heard from eye and ear Witnesses in and this I have more credible Attestations than any of the Testimonies the Vindicator brings to disparage the Clergy That the said Mr. Rule did publickly in his Prelections in plenis Academiae comiti is say That one that did so and so as the Church of England did was guiltus Idolatriae nor have I this from the younger Boys of that House but from such as need not be named and cannot reasonably be suspected of lying And I must tell Mr. Rule tho such an unhappy Trip would vilifie him amongst the Students yet it never lessens him in my Opinion because ones Imagination may be so fix'd upon the thing that he forgets what Language he ought to speak But I will tell you of another thing that I think was yet worse At a publick Commencement apprehending that a Gentleman who was disputing against the Praeses did bear too hard upon him He got up very gravely and spoke to the Praeses thus Domine Praeses require illum ut proponat Argumentum categorice It is true that require illum is Latin for if I remember right it may be met with in Eunuch Terent. But in a sense vastly different from what was intended by Mr. Rule For the sense intended by Mr. Rule no doubt was that the Praeses would oblige the Opponent to be more methodical and if that be the meaning it could not be more unhappily exprest for requirere aliquem in true Latin signifies to search for one again and again to see where he may be found I shall give you one Instance more It is this Mr. Rule finding that one of the Students in a Harrangue advanced some things that were unagreeable to him and favourable to some of the Masters that were lately ejected He got up and offered to silence the Youth and said That ille diolamat contra starum Regni He meant no doubt the late Convontion and Parliament and any thing against them in the old Latin was contra Ordines Regni how this ought to be express'd after the Reformation I know not I can make no Apology for keeping you so long to such Importinencies but
Festivals of the Church The publick Seasons of Devotion are the Catechism of the People It is true when there is no day fixt for the Uniform Celebration of such a Mystery it may be remembred by some but it is not credible that all the People will remember it but when the day is fixt we cannot forget it and from our Infancy we are easily trained in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and in the simplicity of Christian Religion free from Jewish Superstition touch not taste not handle not with which all our Sectaries are unhappily Leavened as well as from giddiness and Enthusiasm The next thing that I mention is his Accusation against the Episcopal Church that they were guilty of Schism For He tells us that he knows no Schism but such as was caused by his Opposites and this is pleasant enough There is a Company of men lately started up in the Christian Church and if the Universal Church does not immediatly strike Sail to their Novelties all must be concluded Schismaticks By our Baptismal Vowes we are obliged to preserve the Unity of the Catholick Church we are Members of that visible Body that worship the true God through Jesus Christ and consequently we are obliged to worship God in Unity and in Society nor can we separate from any sound part of the Catholick Church that does not require unlawful Conditions of Communion and such as are forbidden by that God whom we Worship Upon this Hypothesis I think it impossible for the Presbyterians of Scotland to defend themselves against the Charge of Schism in its most rigorous and formal Notion First Because they separate from all Churches Ancient and Modern there is not now a Church upon Earth with whom they think they may Communicate without fear of being polluted The Protestants of France observe the Festivals of the Church as also the Protestants of Geneve and Swisserland and the Calvinists in Germany do the same As for the Lutherans of Germany Denmark and Sweedland we dare not so much as once name them they have all of them Liturgies and Festivals and Organs and Divine Hymns distinct from the Psalms of David As for the Socinians of Poland though they agree in some things with them yet they would no doubt refuse their Communion They must refuse upon their Principles the Communion of the Grecian Church and all the Subdivisions of it and they cannot joyn with the Papists nor yet with the Church of England And their Consciences could not endure to Communicate with the Episcopal Church of Scotland that was against their Covenants and their Obligations as if a man could disingage himself from what he is obliged to by the Common Ties of Christianity and the Vows of Baptism by any Bond or posterior Obligation of his own But if there be no visible Church with which they can Communicate they are certainly cut off from the visible Communion of Saints over the Habitable World and this Pharisaical singularity is so much the more hateful that it is abhorred by all Protestant Churches and if the Vindicator will Read Durellus only he will easily see how opposite this peevishness is to the Sentiments and Practice of all Reformed Churches It is acknowledged by all sober men that to joyn with or abet Schismaticks makes one guilty of Schism and therefore the Presbyterians can by no means require the Members of the Episcopal Church to joyn with them who have wilfully and furiously cut themselves off from the whole Body of Christians but there is lately found out a wise Distinction to save them from this blow they can have occasional Communion with other Churches tho they cannot have a sixt Communion with them Before I consider this Distinction let me inform you that the Ringleaders of the former Presbyterians in Scotland never made use of any such Distinction they themselves reasoned against Separation upon such frivolous pretences as are now alledged by their Successors but the Presbyterians have borrowed this Distinction from English Dissenters And the former Presbyterians did never separate from the Publick Worship under the Episcopal Constitution nor did the latter Presbyterians after the Restoration dream of it until the year 1664. that some of the Western Bigots as had fled to Holland thought that the Faction could not be supported unless People were taught that they were obliged to leave the Communion of the Episcopal Church intirely And accordingly in Ann. 1664. there appeared a Seditious Pamphlet in Octavo Entituled The Apologetical Relation of the Church of Scotland And it is impossible for any Presbyterian to name any one Book or Treatise before this Pamphlet that justified the Separation of Presbyterians from the Publick Reformed Worship under the Episcopal Constitution in the Church of Scotland It is a long time since I Read this Book and therefore I cannot give a particular account of it though I remember that the Author when he comes to that Conclusion that the People were not to hear the Curates he speaks with diffidence and hesitation and in some one place or other of that Dispute he softens this wild and extravagant Paradox by some restrictions and limitations That they were not to hear them always nor constantly but that they ought so far to separate as to keep the Party from being swallowed up in the Communion of the Church Accordingly their first Essays of Schism were but faint and timorous they were not in the beginning so well armed against the Remorse of their own Consciences for this was a Novelty and they did not venture upon it with that boldness and assurance that afterward appear'd to that degree that our Governors were forced to make severe Laws against their Field Meetings which were justly termed by our Law the Rendezvouze of Rebellion And though the Bigots in the West had advanced this Paradox yet the Presbyterians of greatest Note and Learning took no notice of it but kept the Communion of the Church after the Restoration of Episcopacy as punctually as any Church-malt And it is very observable that all the Presbyterian Ministers in Scotland made use of the Christian Forms of the Lords Prayer Creed and Doxology until Olivers Army invaded Scotland and the Independent Chaplains in that Army thought their own Dispensation was above that of Geneva Upon this such of the Presbyterians as would recommend themselves to the Usurper and such as had his Ear forbore those Forms in the Publick Worship and by degrees they fell into desitetude for it was not Creditable to be out of the Fashion and yet they have the Confidence to justifie their Separation from the Episcopal Church partly because such such Christian Forms are retained in the Publick Worship And though they dispute against the use of Forms yet they pronounce the Apostolick Benediction after Sermon as others do except some few who love rather to Paraphrase it than keep to its Original simplicity The unhappy temper of Schismaticks
themselves in an affair of this nature when they had no certain Records by which they might transmit the knowledge of former times to Posterity No tradition of that Antiquity can be preserved without writing why then do they obtrude this fabulous Story since it cannot be received by any known rules of Credibility we have no vestige of it from any Author that lived near those times The Vindicator uses to refer us in some Instances to his own little Books I do him a greater kindness when I refer him to the Learned Du Launoy and from several Treatises and reasonings of his which now I have not at command he may learn by what Rules to distinguish fabulous Accounts from true and solid History and not only from him but from hundreds if they do but argue from principles of common sense and the acknowledg'd rules of Logick Indeed the Presbyterians might have given us some of the Acts of their Assemblies in that ancient Period and the rules of Discipline as well as obtrude upon us this Romantick Account And if I dare interpose my Opinion I think that the late illiterate Monks advanc'd this Fable to gratifie the Pope's design of exempting the religious Orders from Episcopal Jurisdiction by which Engine the Bishops were kept low and the Reformation hindred and the religious Orders encouraged to check their Authority in all places This is so known that it needs neither proof nor illustration and this Fiction of the Culdees governing a Church without the authority of a Bishop invented in the days of Barbarism and Superstition seems naturally calculated to advance this Design and to depress the Episcopal Jurisdiction For the Monks that propagated this Story were more conversant in little Legends than the Writings of the Ancients And hardly is there any thing more opposite to the Universal Testimony and simplicity of those Ages than this Monkish Fable of Presbyterian Government towards the end of the Second Century or the beginnings of the Third when all the known Records of the Christian Church unanimously declare for the Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon and the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles It is not possible to preserve the memory of the greatest men the greatest Conquests or the most remarkable Actions unless they are timeously committed to writing Unwritten Tradition goes but a short way and is not able to support it self with any certainty for any number of years Is it likely that the Scotish Church had any other Ecclesiastical Government than what was received in the Christian Church when they were converted to the Faith and is it not very sad that there are no parallel Instances of any other Church from abroad By whom were they Converted And is it not reasonable to think that such as were instrumental in their Conversion would plant the Ecclesiastical Government amongst them that they were acquainted with themselves And are there any footsteps of such a Government amongst the more polite and learned Nations who because they had the Advantages of learning might sooner transmit to Posterity the Knowledge of their Ecclesiastical Affairs And let me ask the Presbyterians if they had all the Testimonies of the Ancients in favours of their parity and that we only had the Authority of some fabulous Monks in some remote Corner of the World to support our Hierarchy and that in an Age of shameful Ignorance and Darkness when they imposed upon mankind and multiplyed their visionary Legends I ask how the Vindicator would treat us if we appeared with our Culdees against the undoubted Records of the Fathers the Universal Suffrages of Councels the Succession of the famous Sees and the glorious Cloud of Witnesses that by their Zeal and Sufferings enlightened the World I think he would treat us very huffingly and let us hear more than once his oft repeated and beloved Metaphor of the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the woman Would not he tell us of our bold and silly pretences to Antiquity However when the Vindicator names good Authors foreign or domestick in the third fourth fifth sixth or seventh Century and this is more than by the Rules of Credibility or History we need yield to him then it is time to consider his Testimonies Let him Read Blondel again and see whether that great Antiquary can name any Ancient Writer to uphold this Monastick Dream But if I should grant that there had been some Priests in Scotland before there were Bishops in it there is nothing in that Concession to favor Presbytery for they had their Mission and Ordination from Bishops in other places to whom they might give an account of their Travels and Success and this was ordinary before Nations were Converted But when they received the Faith all Ecclesiastical Officers were then encouraged to continue amongst them and this is it that we confidently affirm that where there are any Records of Nations and Countries Converted to the Faith there do we meet with the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon over the whole Christian Church The Primitive Confessors and Martyrs Travailed the World over to gain Proselytes to Christianity some Bishops some Presbyters some Deacons some Lay-men but wherever there was any considerable number of Converts then they became an Organical Church and had Bishops and Presbyters Constituted until their sound went unto all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world He runs down the Author of the History of the General Assembly as one not acquainted with the Actings of Grace in the Soul because forsooth he had not spoke with reverence enough of Mr. Gray's Sermons in that Page cited on the Margin The Vindicator discovers much of his own creeping Genius when he discourses of the Act of their Assembly against the private Administration of Baptism nor is it possible to pursue him in such a Wilderness of little impertinencies Their pretended Assembly would have done better if they had left the Administration of Baptism to the discretion of Ministers in all places it is certainly much to be wished that Baptism be Administred with all publick Solemnity when there is not an apparent necessity to recede from so laudable a Custom but to make Discourses to the People on particular Texts of Scripture at the Administration of Baptism is a thing in it self altogether new and unnecessary If the nature use and design of it be seriously explained there needs no more And to think a Sermon in the modern and usual Notion necessary is as great Superstition as that of theirs who fancy that the effects of it follow ex opere operato which Phrase is very little understood by the People and perhaps others who should teach the People do not throughly understand it neither Next I shall take notice of what we are told by the Vindicator Pag. 174. That the Presbyterians could not comply with Human Ceremonies with a good Conscience in the
Worship of God It is true the Vindicator hath not in this place any Discourse to prove this unlawful but I take notice of it as one of the Theological hints that are interspersed in his Defamatory Libel But may not Ceremonies of Human Appointment if they decently and gravely express our Affections be used in the Worship of God Did not Solomon advise us to look to our Feet when we come into the house of God and the same Ceremony was practised under the Patriarchal Dispensation viz. That of putting off our Shoes when we approach the Holy Place as Moses was enjoyned by God himself because the place he stood upon was holy ground and this was an Advertisement that he ought to do what was ordinarily done by all the Eastern Nations when he approached the place of Gods peculiar Residence And pray Was it not a significant Ceremony expressive of their Reverence and adoration In like manner Sackcloth and Ashes did amongst all Nations signifie grief and sorrow therefore in their Humiliations they were used to express their Remorse and Contritions The Presbyterians fix upon a word and pronounce it with disdain and contempt they repeat it with Indignation and then their zealous Disciples when they hear that word pronounced presently let fly their thoughts to some monstrous thing or other that is not at all signified by that word yet the Idea of some such ugly thing sticks to their Imagination for no other reason but that Mas John frown'd when he heard that word pronounced What other reason can we give why the word significant Ceremony should disturb their Imaginations Why may not we express our Thoughts Passions and Affections by Ceremonies as well as by words Since both are innocent and both serve the same design But the Covenanters themselves used significant Ceremonies when they imposed the Covenant he that Swore was to lift up his right hand bare you are to take notice that it was the Right and not the Left and it was lifted up and not otherwise extended It was bare and not covered and was not this a significant Ceremony of Human Institution In the Worship of God nature taught Mankind to approach God with all the decent Marks of Distance and Adoration and they that declaim most against Ceremonies do practice them frequently only they do this more awkwardly and with a figure becoming their singularity but this will never convince the Intelligent part of Mankind that they are either wiser or better than any of their Neighbours True Religion obliges us to comply with the innocent decencies of Mankind and to affect nothing that 's extraordinary or singular Our Saviour left us this Example he eat and drank with Publicans and Sinners and affected no Customs different from the Jews If the Ceremonies be practised by the Nation amongst whom we live if they decently express our Reverence or our Humiliation I see no reason why they may not be used in the Service of God as well as words especially when they are commanded by our lawful Superiours as necessary Instruments of Publick Order and Uniformity nor can they change their Nature by being commanded for such and such Ceremonies are in their Nature indifferent yet some one or other must be used and which of them we shall use may very well be determined by our lawful Superiors Sitting for any thing I know was never looked upon as a Posture of Reverence yet the Presbyterians in Scotland for the most part fit all of them in time of Publick Prayer what they signifie by it I know not I am sure not that which becomes Prayer and the Worship of the most High God We look upon the decent Ceremonies of the Church as Appendages or Expressions but not constituent parts of Worship as is foolishly and peevishly alledged by our Adversaries and I may put the Vindicator in mind that the reason why some of the Clergy in Scotland Read the Book of Common-Prayer is not what he suggests according to his wonted Candor and Ingenuity but rather an open avowing of their Principles when it was visible to the World there was no possibility of uniting with the Presbyterians Another thing I take notice of is to be met with Pag. 196 197. The Author of that Epistle that is subjoyned to the Vindicators Book tells us to the reproach of our Bishops that some of them upon the Restoration of the Government submitted to reordination to the great scandal not only of this but other Reformed Churches I know none were scandalized at it but such as were resolved to pick quarrels with every thing that the Bishops would do It was no scandal to the Foreign Churches or the French Divines All of them the greatest men among them are reordained when they come to England and they chearfully submit to it And this was never condemned by any Publick Act of the Gallican Church nor by none of their Eminent Divines The Church of England does not absolutely condemn their Ordinations in France but rather waves the debate but she is determined to preserve an unquestionable succession of Priests within her own Bounds As to the Matter of Fact narrated in Mr. Meldrum's Letter I know nothing of it and therefore I ought to say no more than I know He tells us that he subscribed a Paper and that the Paper was drawn out of the Archbishops Letter by a Friend of his and that now he repents for Subscribing this Paper and that though he was in great Friendship afterwards with Bishop Scougal and did what others in that Interval did yet he thinks that by all this he paid no formal Canonical Obedience From all which I observe that it is a very happy thing to live in or near an University as Mr. Meldrum did Distinctions are very useful things one had better carry a good bundle of them about him than all your famous Elixirs and Essences one may pay material Canonical Obedience but it is dangerous to pay it formally the great mischief is in the formality of paying it but for my part I have sworn Canonical Obedience formally and I have paid it materially and shall never decline my Bishops Spiritual Authority when ever there is occasion and I think all the Presbyters of that National Church are as much obliged to obey their Spiritual Governours notwithstanding of all that past in favors of the opposite Faction since the Revolution And now I think it high time to go forward to the fourth Particular that I promised viz. To let you see the several Periods of Episcopacy and Presbytery in the Church of Scotland since the Reformation And I am the more confident to give you satisfaction because I had the happiness to peruse a Manuscript written by a person of great honour and true Learning relating to this very affair and it is of so much the greater weight and Authority that it is not only founded on our best Historians but on the authentick Records of Parliament and
and it might have been printed a good while before he died if the publisher had not been diverted by many little Occurrences But let nor this Scribler or any of his party blame Sir George Mackenzie that their Covenants were added to the Treatise lately mentioned this is solely to be imputed to the Publisher and he needs no Apology for the doing of it since they are undeniable monuments of their incurable stubbornness and Rebellion and the reasonings in the Treatise it self are frequently related to and illustrated by those wicked Papers I mean the Bonds and Covenants of that restless Faction But to end this Paragraph you may tell this Accuser that the original Copy written by Mr. Andrew Johastone then Amanuensis to Sir George Mackenzie is full in the Publishers hands The Scribler unwarily does us a great deal of honour when he tells the World that the practices of Presbyterians under the Reign of King Charles II. were prosecuted and opposed by such as the Duke of Queensberry Marquis of Athol Earl of Linlithgow Viscount of Tarbat Lieutenant General Drummond and Sir George Mackenzie If he understood the Laws of Consequence he might easily see that Men of their Quality Sense and Interest are too great a weight in the opposite Scale and since we have just reason to glory in their parts honour and integrity it is very odd that he should be so foolish as to own that we are favour'd by persons of their merit and vertue 'T is pleasant to see with what rudeness and vanity this little Man assaults the memory of Sir George Mackenzie so have I seen sometimes when a generous Falcon drops dead to the ground the Kites the Crows and the Jackdaws gather about him and solemnize a Jubilee and yet even when he lies dead they dare not touch one of his feathers He may remember the Fable that when the Lion was expiring the Ass amongst other Beasts kick'd him and insulted over him I do not mean by this that Sir George Mackenzie if he were alive would have taken notice of his bawling or buffoonry but to let him see that he is as void of generosity and honour as he is of common sense and modesty In this first Part he appears very uneasie that the Episcopal Party are not Persecuted to the utmost and upbraids us ever and anon with the Lenity that we meet with under the present Government and again must needs persuade the World that our Principles of Passive Obedience are more dangerous to the present Government than the Principles of the Covenant were to the former But if there be no more in the case than Passive Obedience I think the Government needs not be afraid and if the Episcopal Party are not so violently Persecuted now if they do not feel those loads of Misery that they groaned under from the year 1638. to 1649 when the Covenanted Zealots were uppermost this is not at all to be imputed to the Lenity of Presbyterians but to the restraints that are laid upon them by the opposite Biass of the Nobility and Gentry and because their most terrible Weapon of Excommunication is blunted the Civil Penalties that formerly did attend it being taken away this is the true Reason why they do not Prosecute their Antagonists with Excommunications because such Censures now have no force so that notwithstanding of all his Panegyricks in commendation of their Meekness we look upon them still as Tygers Chained not altered in their Nature but much more galled and irritated by their restraint If the Scotch Episcopal Party has any favour in England or in Scotland they ought to thank God for it and his Instruments whom he directs and employs to preserve them I hope 't is visible to the World with what Industry and Application and by what Engines and Means Presbyterians are resolved to destroy them In the Second Part of his Pamphlet he falls foul upon the Author of the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence in which Scuffle I am not at all concerned I think the Author of that Collection was to blame that he did not more particularly relate the times when the persons by whom and places where such Stuff was Preached and perhaps he has been unwary as to some Stories which need Confirmation but since there is such variety and multitude of true Stories of that Nature nothing should be advanc'd to their disadvantage that is not duly attested As for the Inconsistencies charged upon the Author of the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence they are not worth your while to consider them nor have I any inclination to examine them nor am I concerned to offer my mediation between them only let me inform you that the Book of which I send you the General History contains not one good Consequence from the beginning to the end I have heard that the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence has been much talked off and therefore I take the liberty to acquaint you with the Reasons that induce me to believe that there was no injury done the Scotch Presbyterians in the publishing of that Book First Because the Printed Accounts cited from their Books are equal to the unprinted relations of their Sermons and Prayers Mr. Rutherford's Letters alone have in them many coarse and abusive Metaphors and Applications that are mean and loathsome and though I do not at all in this Letter meddle with his design and meaning yet I think it but a modest Censure to say that there was in those Letters more Popularity than Piety I know the Party do magnifie him highly and it is no part of my business to lessen their Opinion of him yet I must tell you that in the esteem of all impartial Men he must fall below the Character they bestow upon him He had Read Dr. Twisse and others of his Opinion and if any Learning appear in his Books it is but some of the Metaphysicks he had borrowed from Dr. Twisse as Dr. Owen in his Treatise De Justitiâ Vindicativâ assures us And he was so plunged in these Metaphysical Whimsies that none can make Sense of what he wrote Let his Patrons consider that Chapter in his Exercitationes Apologeticae pro Divinâ Gratiâ wherein he pretends to answer that Argument Quod unusquisque tenetur credere and then tell me if they can boast of his Perspicuity and Solidity Of the same Stamp are his Metaphysical Dissertations annexed to his Book De Providentia de Ente Possibili if I had the Book by me I think I could give you Divertisement I know very well what our Adversaries will say viz. that I do not understand him and I must sincerely acknowledge they are in the right of it But Secondly The most blasphemous Stories in the Book called the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence can be proved by the best and most undeniable Evidence viz. That of Mr. Urquhart's concerning the Lords Prayer that of Mr. Kirkton's concerning the Holy Ghost and that he believed Abraham run out of the Land
the Presbyterians and though no part of the Story be within any possible degrees of Truth yet the Reader may see how the Libeller Vapours as if he had the best and clearest Evidence And since the Doctor has lived eighteen or nineteen years beyond the reach of Calumny blameless to the Conviction of his Enemies how foolish and how impious is it to accuse him As for his being Popish he has given an account of that in the Preface to his Sermon Printed at London 1686 but that he was a Jesuit is a Lye for he was never of any Order in that Church and his Zeal against Popery did sufficiently appear and all that know him know his Innocence as to all the malicious Slanders invented against him The following Paragraph pag. 72. mentions Mr. Monro commonly called Doctor Monro I am sufficiently acquainted with the Doctor and he says so little of him that I may be allowed to examine it particularly First He 's commonly called Dr. Monro and the meaning of this is one of two either a Fanatick Squeamishness that will not allow the Title of Doctor to any Clergy Man or an insinuation that he was not graduated Doctor in the University If the first be intended 't is but a piece of Quakerism the 4th day of the Week commonly called Wednesday If the second be meant he was not called Doctor until the Month of February 1682 when he received his Degree in the Theological Schools of the New College at St. Andrews from the Learned Doctor Comri then Vice Chancellour of the University Our Libeller adds that he is a mighty Agent for the Party If he has any qualities to recommend him that of a good Agent is none of them And again he is represented to be one of the Episcopal Pamphleteers I do not know what he means by this unless he charges him with publishing the Presbyterian Inquisition It may be he was the Author of that Narrative which he is ready to justifie if ever he is fairly tryed excepting still some Marginal Notes relating to Mr. Rule to which he had no accession and this Pamphlet contains so many steps of Presbyterian Knavery and disingenuity that if he please he may let it alone But the saddest blow against the Doctor is this that it is well known that he Rode for several years in the Pope's Guards but I ask to whom is this known To the Presbyterians only who know all secrets and discover Plots in the World of the Moon But I must tell you that for the time the Doctor was abroad he was never out of France and the Confines of it nor nearer to Rome than about four hundred and eighty Italian Miles It were more easie for this Accuser to have Copyed the former Libel contained in the Presbyterian Inquisition than thus to trust to his own invention Mr. Gray comes next if he mean Mr. James Gray Minister of Kelso he is remarkable for his Modesty Learning Veracity and Piety and he is Charactered in an opposite Style by such as neither know him nor the vertuos that recommend him to his Brethren Mr. George Henry Minister of Corstorphen is a Man of Gravity and Prudence and his other qualifications are undeniable and he is not capable of any such extravagance of Passion as this common Accuser charges him with Mr. Alexander Ramsay Minister of the Old Kirk of Edinburgh was driven from his Residence in the West by the Covenanted Zealots and lived since in the Eye of the Nation beloved of all that know him whether we consider his blamless Life or Ministerial Sufficiencies Dr. Annan Dean of Edinburgh was known all Scotland over and there was scarcely ever a more innocent Man in Britain and he needs no Apology Now 't is pleasant enough to observe that in all this List he hath not named the Author of Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence nor the Publisher I have given you a short account of such as I know for such as I am not acquainted with I have no reason to believe this Libeller For if they were never so guilty they must have other Accusers than Men of such Prostitute Consciences His Civility to the Church of England alone makes it appear how little he is to be regarded He begins his Book with a Lye in the Title Page that it might be all of a piece As for any Shadows of Argument that are here and there scattered if they be of any weight they shall be considered when the other Pamphlets that are threatned by the Party are made publick Farewel FINIS Vide Optatum Milevit The Confederacies against the Government were then called Societies in the West of Scotland Dr. S Jusque datum sceleri Vid. Kings large Manifesto * Who of the old Presbyterians ever Preached against the use of the Lords Prayer or Doxology Letters of a Dissenter to the truly Learned Dr. Burscough Pag. 35. Edenburgh Edition Crimine ab uno disie omnes The very next Lords day one of their Ministers in the Meeting-House belonging to the Tron Church Parish December 17. thanked God for this Glorious Reformation I instance him not to exclude others but because I can prove it Non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti * Bochart Phaleg Edit 3. Lugd. Batav pag. 989. Cavendum igitur ne Scyllae fugâ in hanc Charybdim incidamus neve rigor nimius plusquam Vatinianum in Episcopos odium eo imprudentes adigat ut Veteri Ecclesie dicam scribamus al ejus communione ipsi nos arceamus A quibus Extremis Gallicanas Ecclesias semper abhorruisse libri à Gallis scripti palam indicant Nostrorum perpetua praxis Idem ibid. Interim Episcopale regimen esse antiquissimum paulo post Apostolos per Universam Ecclesiam magno cum fructu obtinuisse est mihi compertissimum Bishop Lighton The Presbyterians in England libelled all kind of Crimes against the Clergy before the Rump Parliament and one of them was deprived for drunkenness who was so abstemious that he never drank any thing in his life but Milk and Water John Ep. Vid. pag. 52. and pag. 87. * His own word Vid. Letters of the Persecution Damasus and Urcisinus at Rome Videtiam Ammianum Marcelinum Wherever they dare venture they have no regard to the popular Call as lately appeared at Leith the unanimous popular Election of Mr. George Gray was refused and one Wishart a Presbyterian thrust upon them Vid. Presbyterian Inquisition of the College of Edenburgh Acts 17. Page 24. Edinb Edit Page ibid. Edinb Edit For they fancy the Covenant to be the tenure by which any King may hold his Crown * And therefore K. William having not taken the Covenant and being in League with bigot Papists and still Protecting the Church of England and its Hierarchy should be Excommunicated upon Presbyterian Principles as at Sanghair lately it was reasoned and determined the 10th of August Nunquamne reponam Vexatus toties Vitia