his Subjects and that the World may see I speak not here at random be pleased to consider these two Scriptures First the 14 Chap. of the first Book of Samuel Secondly the 12 chapter of the first Book of the Kings To this I add the 20 Chap. of the second Book of the Chron. 16. verse Now whosoever shall ponder and seriously consider these three places will find three Kings of the Lawfulness of whose coming to their Crowns I know none that doubt all three resisted by their Subjects the first in offering to perform a rash and sinful Oath the second for offering sinfully to oppress his people The third for dipping too far in the Matters of God for which he had no Commission Now with Submission to the more Judicious I humbly conceive the Ground of the Equity of this Resistance lyes here That Kings and Subjects are under a Twofold Relation one to another First in respect of the Almighty GOD who is the Only Absolute Sovereign and Great Lord both he and they are Fellow-Subjects and with him in sinning against the Laws of This Our Great Master none of his Fellow-Subjects dare under the pain of Eternal Damnation in the least symbolize but on the contrary adhering to our Allegiance to Our Great Liege Lord we are bound by Our Allegiance in our Stations to resist every thing offered to His Dishonour by whomsoever I hope this Truth is clear to any that knows that the Laws of GOD are equally binding upon Kings and Subjects The second Relation is That whereby the King under GOD is King and to Rule the People for GOD's Glory and the Good of the Kingdom and to be a Terror to Evil Doers and an Encourager to Well Doers in which Relation the People are his Subjects Now there is none of my Perswasion but are willing to give Caesar his due that is to obey all his Lawfull Commands and yeild him all Encouragement imaginable he Ruling in the Fear of GOD the People for GOD's Glory and his and their own Good But if a King shaking off all Fear of GOD will enter in Open Hostility against Heaven and force his People by Open Hostility to share with him in these Abominations I again say the People are obliged in pursuance of their Allegiance to their Supream Lord not only to refuse Obedience to this His Depute but also to resist him in pursuance of this his War against the Great LORD I hope I shall need to say nothing for clearing of this to any that knows that there is a GOD whose Holy Nature entitles Him to Absolute Sovereignty and to Whom Subjection is due from that His Blessed Nature and Natively our Subjection is due to Him for not only our Being but our Well-being Upon the other hand the King's Power the Government it self in general being of GOD yet the Application of it to this or that Person to this or that Modell of Government either by Election or Succession is of Man according to that Be subject to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake I say the case standing thus not only in pursuance of our Allegiance to our Great and Absolute Sovereign are we obliged to resist what is offered and carryed on to His Dishonour and this least we should partake of other Men's Sins but also the People who have conferred that power being Violented in all things that are precious to them and the Government appointed of GOD degenerating into Tyranny may Recall the power given and not only resist but turn out such a Tyrant for whose Tyranny he had no commission from them I hope none who will grant the Sixth Command Thou shalt not Kill to be Binding will refuse this The Reason is here he is beyond all doubt as guilty of Murder who impowers to do the same as he who actually does it Now I hope the case standing thus all Impartial Readers will see how unjustly we are condemned for owning the Lawfulness of Defensive Arms which I shall endeavour to make yet more clear in my Application of these Scriptures above cited and my Answer to what I heard from our Antagonists on this Head And first As to the People's resisting of Saul it being an Act of Loyalty to their Supream Sovereign in hindering his Depute to perform a Rash and Sinful Oath I wonder with what confidence that Man if he be one or rather Monstrous Jesuitical Atheist Bishop Paterson could say to my Glorified Brother John Wilson whose Murder is yet recent That he doubted if they did right in so doing Sure I am the Justice Clerk will not say so who has granted that the Almighty GOD is Supream and consequently that Subjects dare not without Sin suffer any thing to be done to His dishonour that is in their Power to hinder and that to Swear a Rash Oath obliging to Murder is of this Nature I hope I shall not need to prove And Secondly As to that of Rehoboam that Tyrannical Wretch shaking off all Fear of GOD and rejecting the Council of the Old Men to his own Ruine that the Subjects were in their Duty in casting him off I hope none will refuse who knows what Interest the People have in making of Kings and that none needs to be ignorant of who will be pleased to read the 17 Chapter of Deuteronomy from the 14th Verse to the End As also that the People are bound in their Stations to oppose the Tyranny of their Princes least they may share with them in their Judgments Tyranny and Oppression being a palpable Violation of the Laws of Our Blessed and Supream Lawgiver Thirdly As to that of Vzziah that he becoming strong and lifted up in meddling beyond his Sphere with the matters of GOD is given for the Ground of the Resistance he met with And sure in our case our King has yet been more strong and more lifted up I fear to his Destruction in so far as the former did only offer to perform some Office that was only peculiar to the Priests but never offered to overturn the Worship of GOD of his own Appointment and to introduce an other diametrically opposite to the Revealed Will of GOD as it is in our case Now I say our King having out done Vzziah in his affronted Rebellion against Heaven who can blame the People if in standing to their own defence they Endeavour to assert that our Bessed God is absolute Soveraign and Master and that nothing Commanded nor imposed expresly contrary to his will which we still hold to be our Supream Law can be binding upon them this will be yet more clear as what we Asserted a little above that Kings and Subjects are but Subjects to the Supream Majesty if you consider that after he is thrust out of the Temple he is put in a several House upon the account of his Leprosie that which was likewise done to the meanest Subject he had in the like case and what if the Ministery in the Church of
where he has his Warrand from the Magistrates medling further in Church Affairs than to see what is ordered by the God of Heaven exactly done to the Glory of the God of Heaven which I look upon as a Power Circa sacra and not in sacris Sure I am all that have any thing of the Exercise of their Reason will say he was bound to me in these But whatever his Sentiments be in these Matters I am confident that our blessed Lord and Master in this Commission to his Ministers to Preach and Baptize gave them Commission also to exercise Discipline and Government since the one cannot consist without the other and that aâ— to the Obedience to this Commission they are lyable to Answer to none even in their visible Estate But our blessed Lord Jesus Christ their and our blessed Lord and Master and Head anent which the Magistrates Power is only Cumulative not Privative For further clearing of this I hope Sir William Paterson will not refuse it that our blessed Lord was Head of that Church whereof Judas was a Member and if so his fancy of Christ's being only the Head of the Invisible Church will be found a meer Chimera For I doubt nothing to averr that under our blessed Lord and Master in his Visible Church there is no other Power granted to any Mortals but to his Ministers of his own Appointment whom he has cloathed with a Ministerial Power conjunctly under him to act in his Affairs as they shall answer to him their only Head and though amongst these his Ministers thus by him impowered there may and ought to be a Superiority of Order for Decency yet amongst them we find no Warrand in all the Word of God for a Superiority of Jurisdiction as is practised among the Prelatical Party who have to this Abomination added that other of the Renouncing of Christ to be their Head and with the same Breath to the astonishment of all that have the least impression of a Deity have sworn the contrary in their Test Now my Lords of Justiciary and you the Assizers here Sworn I hope no Man who hath any thing left of the Exercise of his reason will deny that you were bound in Conscience if you know there is any such thing and in all Law Equity and reason to have given me Satisfaction not only as to what I have hinted at by way of Defence for my self but also to have satisfied me with a Satisfactory Answer to what is standing on record lest by our Country Man Mr. Rutherfoord a very Eminent Light in his time and one much Countenanced of the Lord in his Books called Lex Rex due Right of Presbytery and his Peaceable Plea as also in that Book Entitled Jus divinum ministerij Evangelici Writen by our Faithfull and very Reverend and Dearly Beloved Brethren the Ministers of London and as Eminently worthy and Reverend Mr. George Gillespie his Assertion of Church Government with his Aarons Rod as also in the Apologie writen by the two Reverend and Worthy Divines Mr. Hugh Smith and Mr. Alexander Jamison and in the Apologetical Relation Naphtali Jus Populi and several others in all which you will find these Principles and Practices I have Asserted owned and offered my self in the strength of my Blessed Lord to Defend whether in my Principle or Additionall Declarations and Testimonies fully Solidly and Satisfactorily to all Unbyassed and unprejudicate Persons asserted Proven Vindicated and clearly made out from the word of God which I yet assert to be the Supream Law the Law of Nature and the Law of Nations sound reason and solid Sense and since it is so which all the World must grant and you especially who refuse me Satisfaction hereanent by your either Total silence or if speaking any thing at all against these things what you have said is either Blasphemy or Nonsense I say the whole Unbyassed World would acknowledge and firmly assent you were bound to give satisfaction as to these things especially considering any Answer has been given to any of these has been the burning of some of these Books by the hands of a Hangman in a Fire a very sorry Answer indeed but however of a peice with the rest of your sightings against the Almighty And how durst you for your Souls offer to Fire such Books to solidly diâ—gested by such preciously Worthy and Eminent Authors If it had not been to shew your despite to the Spirit of GOD and shew that you will still go on in Rebellion against Heaven and who knows not that the burners of Books founded on the Word of GOD have more than enough of Inclination to burn that Holy and Blessed Word it self And indeed I think it not strange to see Men posting hard to Rome as you are doing to vent your Inclinations that way since it is not a few Years since many of your sharpest Friars found you to be Men of the same Kidney with the Anti-Christ himself that Whore who sits upon the Head of many Waters whose Judgment lingers not And if any beside a Fire has been offered against any of these it has been by others so cleanly wiped off that these Books stands still in Vigour and so do all my Assertions and Principles for any thing I have seen or heard to the contrary Now I leave it to all the impartial in the World to judge what Affront is here offered to the Almighty in cutting off one of his Creatures To our King in cutting off one of his Subjects Who to this Hour never heard a Challenge for Disloyalty if it were not from such as makes Loyalty Disloyalty Sin Duty which Challenge I very chearfully bear being sufficiently perswaded of the unjustness thereof and to Nature in cutting off of their fellow Creatures and all this without so much as a Hearing of what he had to say for himself or any thing of an Answer to any of those who has sufficiently Vindicated all these Principles and Practices for whith he was upon the Pannal and yet in this matter are these poor Men more guilty in this respect that they refuse the Pannal the benefite of such Defences as he had very good ground to believe should have been offered by the Almighty himself conform to his Promise of giving in that Hour whatsoever should be necessary for any of his in my Case I mean standing before Rulers and great Men to bear Testimony to the Truth I say I being helped of my Blessed LORD to Act Faith on His Promise and finding my Blessed LORD and Master present by his Spirit to have performed the same and I having intimated so much to them as you may see above How durst these dispisers of GOD refuse me the benefite of these Defences if this be not to declare open Hostility against Heaven I know not what is and since it is so as I can with confidence assert it was and the very enemies themselves if they had not been dangerously hardened
Concerned might be put down off the Scaffold then he with a Smilling Countenance turns to the People and gives them all a Cowngie as he did when he went first up the Scaffold and turns to his Father who was also upon the Scaffold with him and Embracing him very Chearfully he gave several Kisses and Rounded some of his last Advises to him and so parted with him saying LORD be with you my Dear Father And then turned to his Brother who was also by him upon the Scaffold and after the same manner Embracing him Kissing so parted with him with Words to the same purpose that he had to his Father with an Exhortation that he should amend his Life and forbear his Idle Company But especially his ways with several others of that Nature telling him the Hazard thereof and encouraging him if he would follow his last Advices Then he turns to two Gentlemen which were also with him and after the same manner Embraced Saluted and parted with them and then he gave another Bow to the whole Multitude and so went up the Ladder and turning his Face to the North East he Cryed out saying I am come here to surprised nor terrified with Death or the manner of it And here I do declare would not Exchange my Lot with what the greatest King Prince or Emperor Enjoyments could afford me and what I Speak once I say it again I lay dowâ— my Life willingly and Chearfully for Christ and his truth Blessing him that evâ—â— I had a Life to lay it down for him yea I am now no more Troubled with or for Death then if I were to ly down in the Finest Bed that the Earth could afford with thâ— most Dear and Intimate Friend that the World could allow me and here I do Declare that I do Heartily and freely forgive all Men whatsoever they have done tâ— or against me and Prayes that the LORD would forgive them I forgive them that sentenced me to die here first and last and I forgive all that apprehended mâ— first and last or was any way accessory thereto and I forgive all that has broâ—ghâ— me here and are guarding me here and I forgive this Poor Man pointing with hiâ— hand behind him to the Hangman who is to be my Executioner Now I desire you all especially you who pretend to be righteous Study to be Sincere in the Way oâ— GOD and in working out of your Salvation for there are many who pretends to be Godly thâ—t know little of the Life and Power thereof therefore I entreat youâ— labour to know what is the Power and Life of Godliness for there are many if noâ— the most part who pretends to be righteous that knows least of it I say be noâ— satisfied with the Shell but labour for the Kernel and Marrow of Religion Now my Friends Remember I tell you here upon the Ladder and as a Dying Man steping out of Time to Eternity that notwithstanding all the Dark Clouds that has been and now are yet there are a thicker and darker coming and it is not far off yea it is at hand But I say Trust in GOD Trust in GOD and he will not disappoint you I say Trust in GOD whatever Afflictions befall you yet Trust in GOD and give him Credite At the hearing of these Words the Bailie calls to Beat the Drums and so they were Beat a little at which he looked down to the Bailie and said what Sir do ye Beat Drums because I desire the People to trust in GOD and the Drums were silenced Then he Cryed out again trust in GOD and ye shall be born through if once ye get in him and keep in him Then he said I will Sing a part of the twenty fifth Psalm from the sixteen Verse to the close for it has been many a time very sweet to me and so I will sing it as my last Song in Time I shall be immediatly where my Heart shall be so Tuned pointing with his Hand to his Breast that I shall never be able to stop the Melody and Harmony thereof then having Sung these Verses he Prayed in which among other things he had this Expression Lord take a Course with thine Enemies and these of them whom thou has a Purpose of Love to Lord bring them in and let them see the evil of their ways and these that are thine incorrigible Enemies make the Wheels of thy Chariots go over their Backs And now Lord leave me not and leave not thine to the evil of the Enemies hasten and return to thine Heritage that's now in reproach turn to thy Church and People for thy Glorious Names sake thou knowest I dare say before thee and in thy sight that I preferred thy Work and Interest to my very Life which I as I am a Rational Creature is as sweet to me as another Mans is Yet I durst not purchase at any Rate to the prejudice of thy Truth and so I lay it down freely and willingly So having called his Father to him a word with you Sir and so having spoken what he had to say to him he again took his Leave of him delivering him a Book to be given to another so parted with him And he perceiving his Brother who was on the Ladder with him trembling he said to him Smyling and Clapping him on the Cheek what Sir are you Trembiing for what Sir are you afraid do you perceive any thing like fear in me And so his Brother puts his Nâ—pkin on his 〈◊〉 and it being Tyed and his Brother offering to pull it over his Face he putting away his Hand with his said let alone I will draw it down my self so he put his Hâ—nds into his Pocket and takes out the Cover of his Bible and putting the same therein he gave it to his Brother Charging him straitly to give it to his Sister Then he looked round about him saying farewell all my Friends in CHRIST pointing with his Hand to some that he knew both in Windows and on the Street to one fixing his Eyes upon him he said my Dear Billie the Lord be with you the Lord be with you and having fixed himself upon a Step of the Ladder said I Remember a Passage of Abraham who was Commanded to Sacrifice his Son Isacc he having in Obedience to the Command brought his Son to offer him up a Sacrifice Reared up an Altar and Isaac says to him here is the Altar and there is the Wood but where is the Sacrifice and then he said Pointing to the Gibbet here is the Altar and then Pointing to the Ladder on which he Sat said here is the Wood and then he said laying his Hands on his Breast and Blessed be GOD here is a free will offering and I will give it willingly and Chearfuly yea I can say it here even upon the Brink of Eternity that these several Years I have Preferred the Glory of GOD the wellfare and Prosperity of the Work â—nd Interest of Christ and his People to my own Private and Particular Interest and I might have Shuned such a Death as this but GOD knows I durst not do it And now I know yea I am firmly perswaded That my Dear Lord even my Exalted and Glorified Lord Jesus Christ will carry me safely throw this Dark Valley and Saddow of Death and will receive my Soul immedatly after I go off this Ladder unto Glory where I shall ever be with him Then he said again crying with a Loud Voice now when I can Hardly get Speaking for the Rope about my Neck Farewell all Freinds and followers of Christ again I say Farewell and Adiew all Earthly Enjoyments and so having given the Hangman a Sign when he would be ready he Prayed alitle within himself and when he had done he gave the Sign and at the giving thereof he drew the Napkin over his Face and Cryed out Farewell all Friends in Christ into thy Hands O Lord do I Commit my Soul So he was Turned over And so ends the Life of this Faithful and now Glorified Martyr for Christ And to GOD the Father Son and Bessed Spirit be Eternal Praise and Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS
easily be found Now my Lords if my Second Principle be sound as I hope your Lordships are perswaded it is for all you have said to the contrary I hope yoâ—r Lordships will find your concerned to satisfie me as to these e're you proceed to the Execution of this your Unparalleled Sentence As to the Second I think I shall need to be at less pains about it in respect not only your Lordships But I suspect the greater part if not all the Assizers have Sworn as to the same in your Test That it is Blasphemy for Man or Angel to presume to Intrude into the headship of the Church as being only peculiar to my Blessed Lord and Master Jesus Christ But for Confirmation I desire you to consider these Scriptures First the first Chapter of the Ephesians 22.23 Verses And he hath put all things under his Feet and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fullness of him that filleth all in all Isa 9. Chapter 6 7. Verses And the Second Psalm Now that any Law made against these express Scriptures is null with the consideration foresaid of your own Confession and the Consent of the greater part if not the whole so farr as I know Reformed Churches would seem to be sufficiently warranted The Third As to that of the Test that it is null will easily appear at the first reading thereof to any that will be so daring as to aver that to swear Nonsence and Contradictions is no Sin That it is Nonsence to swear to defend the Protestant Religion against Presbyterians and a Contradiction too I must assert ay and while you condescend upon a Protestant Church who have expunged us out of their Number except that Abominable Perjured Prelatical Party whom I cannot nor I trust in GOD ever shall own for any other thing than Emissaries from Hell sent through Rome for the Confounding of the Christian World And if to swear the King to be Head of the Church and with the same Breath that is horrid Blasphemy so to do if it be not a Contradiction I know not what is For confirmation hereof Let the Unfreeness of the Parliaments be considered and I hope none who love our Lord Jesus Christ will doubt that I had good ground to assert what I have through His Grace asserted and I bless His Name thereof I am no ways ashamed And if the Enemies will sure I am they must grant that they were all bound in Conscience Law Equity and Reason to have told so much which they nor none of them had the Confidence to do The Application I leave to the Impartial Reader The Third thing I have in task is to defend these Assertions following to wit That I own the Hamiltoun Declaration and when we were invaded or Assaulted by any person whatsoevr in the Exercise of our Reformed Religion and Worship upon that account we were obliged to stand to our own Defence That I own the Lawfulness of Field-Conventicles and our being in Arms to defend our in case of being Molested and that I my self was ever ready to Own and Defend my Brethren in Arms when invaded as said is And declaring that the Invasions made against the Lord's people at Pentland and Bothwell they being then in the Exercise of their Religion was service done to the Devil and the resistance made by them in their own Defence was Service done to GOD. Now the sume of all these Assertions is that it is the Duty of Protestant Reformed Churches to stand to the Defence of their Reformation and Religion Especially with this consideration that with their Religion they are also assaulted as to their Privileges as in the freedom of Parliaments and many other paarticulars which if time would allow I could enumerate Considering especially That this Church and Kingdom are obliged so to do by a most solemn Oath made to the ever living GOD they their Kings their Princes and Nobles and the whole Body of the Realm and that this Oath stands still unviolate as you may see above The case thus stated I hope our Adversaries will not deny that if the Turk or any Foreign Enemy should invade us and in his Declaration shew That he would not lay down his Arms till we should Renounce our Reformed Religion and quite with all our Civil Priviledges I hope none in his Right Wits will refuse that it were our Duty Man and Mother-Son from the highest to the lowest to draw to Arms in our own Self-defence But it is like some will say That though we were bound so to do against Foreigners yet we may not do so against our Lawful Princes To this I Answer First They are divided among themselves here Some granting that in some cases even their own Lawful Princes may be resisted and the Arms of Innocent Self-defence made use of against them Others say No! But whatever they say or think either this Position shall stand to the World's End That there was never a Power given of God to any Mortal to rugg and destroy the Souls of the Subjects and to ruine them in their Civil Interests or otherways there was never a Power given of GOD to any Mortal to enact iniquity by a Law and to force Obedience to these iniquious Laws by Fire and Sword as it is in our case And if any Monarch or any pretending Commission from him should arrogate a Power to do so the Subject beyond all contraversie is called to stand to his own Defence and vindicate the honour of his Great Supream Master seeing he is violented to the Denyal of Alledgeance to him by his pretended Depute or Servant I suppose this will not be refused by any that believes that there is a GOD. And for my self I think he who comes out with Armed force to compel me to sin should be in the self same way served as he who should with Violence come to drive me quick into Hell and I suppose the greatest of the pretended Loyalists amongst us if they heard and believed the Screichings of the Damned Souls there and saw no other way of escaping but either over or through their Soveraign they would vent are upon either rather than be driven into it And to say any Soveraign how Lawful so ever otherwise has such a power is to contradict that Scripture Kings are given to be a Terror to evil doers and encouragers of well doers If it be said these things should be in a civil manner Represented or Arms be taken I shall readily grant this but why were these Ministers and Gentlemen taken and incarcerate who were endeavouring thus And why was there an Act of Parliament if I may call it so made Dicharging any of the Subjects to meet and Consult in order to this And indeed I think he should be extruded the Society of Mankind who would make this assertion that our otherwise Lawful Prince may lawfully do any of these things abovementioned to