three several times in the Book viz. at two Publick Laureations and a private one and the Doctor having laid the blame on the Bibliothecarius his negligence and craving the Bibliothecarius might be Examined thereupon He being accordingly Sworn and Examined Depones that what he wrote in the Magistrand Books was either by direction of the Primar or of one of the Regents and in Presence of a Faculty or of a Quorum of them and that what he did write was alwaies Read over in the Presence of the Masters and the Scholars and particularly the alteration of the Promise made at the Graduation in the year 1687 as also the Committee considering that at the two last Laureations in the year 1689 and 1690 neither Oath nor Promise was required at the Graduation It is therefore the Opinion of the Committee That Doctor Alexander MONRO Principal of the Colledge of Edinburgh be Deprived of his Office as Primar there and that the said Office be Declared vacant There is a Letter Written by the said Doctor and Directed to the late Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews Dated Jan. 5. 1689. owned and acknowledged by the Doctor to be his hand write the Consideration whereof is Remitted to the Commission The Sentence of Deprivation against Dr. Monro At Edinburgh September 25 1690. THE Lords and others of the Commission appointed by Act of Parliament for Visitation of Universities Colledges and Schools having this day heard and considered the above written Report of the Committee of the Colledge of Edinburgh anent Doctor Monro Primar of the Colledge of Edinburgh Deposition and other Instructions produced and also Doctor Monro being ask'd if he was presently willing to Swear the Oath of Allegiance to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary and to Sign the same with the Assurance and the Confession of Faith which formerly he had offered to Sign before the said Committee and if he would Declare his willingness to submit himself to the present Church Government as now Establish'd The said Doctor Monro did Judicially in Presence of the said Commission refuse to Sign the said Confession of Faith and to take the said other Engagements required to be done by the said Act of Parliament And also did Judicially acknowledge his written Answers produced before the Committee and did Confess he caused remove the Pictures of the Reformers out of the Library Therefore the said Commission approves of the foresaid Committees Report and finds the same sufficiently Verified and Proven And hereby Deprives the said Doctor Alexander Monro of his Place as Primar of the said Colledge of Edinburgh and Declares the said place Vacant Sic Subscribitur Crafurd P. A Review of the above-mentioned Report of the Committee appointed to Visit the Colledge of Edinburgh concerning Doctor Monro The Report THE Committee Considering that Doctor Monro Principal of the Colledge of Edinburgh did Judicially Refuse to comply with the Qualifications Required by the Act appointing the Visitation of Colledges except as to the Subscribing the Confession of Faith Review First It cannot be denied but that the Doctor did once and again deliberately plainly and openly refuse to comply with the New Test appointed by the late Act of Parliament for Masters of Universities but then it is necessary for Strangers to know what this Test is and then they will see upon what Design it was invented and why it was Imposed upon Masters of Universities and not upon the whole Clergy of the Nation First All Masters of Universities were required to Sign the Westminster Confession of Faith in every Article and to hold every Article de fide without any Limitation Explication Restriction or Latitude When the Doctor gave in his Answers to the Committee he was that Afternoon asked if he would comply with the Act of Parliament he told them he had considered the Act of Parliament and he could not comply with it For said he it is needless to insist on particulars though I should agree to it in some Instances I cannot comply with it in its full Extent and in our Language this is molum ex quolibet defectu bonum ex integra causa thus he answered once so he had Reason to expect they would never give him any trouble about this Question But the Committee upon the 〈…〉 day of August would needs ask him again whether he would Sign the Westminister Confession of Faith The Doctor thought this question was asked to satisfie their private Curiosity not at all with regard to the Report they were to make to the General Commission since he positively told them before that he would not comply with the New Test therefore he yielded so far to their importunity as to tell them he had no great scruples against the Confession of Faith and that if the Westminster Confession of Faith was imposed as Vinculum Unitatis Ecclesiasticae and nothing else required he might be induced to comply with it very chearfully he was then removed and in the Interval of his absence before he was called again one of the Ministers desired that no more Questions should be asked for in Case said he He should comply with the other particulars of the Test where are we then I had this from a Person of Honour who was present a Member of the Visitation But as long as the Test stood as now it stands Mr. Kennedy if he be the Man needed not be so much afraid of the Doctor 's Compliance This Confession as to the Confession of Faith is by their Sentence made to contradict his publick refusal to Sign it before the Commission as if every Article of that Book should be received as Infallible Truth was it not enough that he was content to Sign the Confession of Faith with that Freedome and latitude the Protestant Churches used to impose Confessions upon their Members But the Earl of Crawford Praeses of the General Commission asked the Doctor when he was sisted before them whether he would Sign the Westminister Confession of Faith without Restriction Limitation Explication or any Reserve whatsoever To this the Doctor Answered plainly and resolutely he would not nor are Confessions thus imposed in any Protestant Church upon Earth they look upon them as Secondary Rules and consequently to be Examined by the Word of God And the most Accurate Humane Composures may afterwards be found in some one Instance or other to have swerved from the Infallible and Original Rule of Faith but the Presbyterian Severity may appear in this that they Read the Scriptures with design to defend their own Dictates whereas others Read all Dictates with an Eye to the Holy Scriptures The Doctor was content to Defend and Assert upon all occasions all these Articles in that Book that were Uniformly Received in all Protestant Churches Nay more he was content never openly and contentiously to Dispute against any of the Doctrines contained in that Book so as to advance Faction or Parties But to Sign the Confession of Faith in all
People but indeed the weapons of their warfare are only known to be mighty because they are felt to be Carnal Two Arguments I find lately insisted upon by some Patrons of that Party to prove that the general Inclination of that Kingdom is for Presbytery They are to be seen in P. 32. of a late Pamphlet Entituled A further Vindication c. The first is That the Bishops durst never venture upon the Calling of a National Synod even in that Period that Episcopacy stood by Law lest some of the Clergy might assault the very Order of Bishops tho' most of them had received Orders from their own hands To this I answer That if the Author of this Pamphlet is is perswaded That the most part of the Episcopal Clergy are for Presbytery why then does he not influence the Presbyterians to receive them into the Government especially since he acknowledges that the Ministers cannot lawfully part with their share of Ecclesiastical Power to any other The Factions in the State rather than the Inclinations of the Clergy was the Reason why the Bishops did not call a National Synod And if the Author thinks that the Scotish Clergy are for Presbytery how inexcusable is it in the Presbyterians to Prosecute them so violently when they have nothing to object against them but that they complyed with Episcopacy since the first Covenanters were as liable to this Accusations as any of the present Clergy His next Argument is That there was a Necessity to maintain an Army to Suppress the Insurrections of the Western Shires when the Government was Episcopal This is rather a threatning than an Argument and we know very well that since ever that Sect thrust up its Head above the Ground they were troublesome to Authority and will continue so as long as there is any matter for FACTION and REVENGE to work upon for they Preach to their People that they may advance their own way whether the Prince will or will not But I leave it to the Author to judge what the Consequences should be if the Episcopal Clergy who are now so cruelly trampled upon by their Insolence and Injustice should Preach to the People of their Communion the same very Doctrines that are Propagated by the Covenantors if they Preached up Assassinations and Rebellions as their Enemies do I suppose a more considerable Army would be necessary for it is certain that the People that adhere to the Episcopal Clergy can fight much better than the Western Covenanters and 2000 Men can keep these Shires very quiet at any time But in stead of those lame Topicks which he fancies Demonstrations I think a better expedient were to put it to the Poll of the whole Nation which I know the Presbyterians will never be for The Author is much mistaken if he thinks that the Plurality of the Scots Clergy are Presbyterians though they are content to joyn with Presbyterians in Church Judicatories in all those Duties that are uncontroverted His Book is rather an Advice to the Presbyterians than an Apology for them For as long as the Constitution is such as that it may be wrested it 's certain they will use it not for Edification but Destruction and the question in our present Circumstances is not what belongs to the Civil and what to the Ecclesiastical Power but what the Presbyterians have formerly done what they do now what 's likely they will do hereafter upon their own Principles and whether or not they can ever be perswaded to profess their Repentance for what they have done The Author indeed deserves thanks that he offers them a more moderate Scheme and that he acknowledges their former Extravagancies but in all the Book I see no proper Remedy for our present Confusions and the truth is there are many of his thoughts very just yet the true Remedy is not to offer Advice but to pull out the Teeth of our Oppressors and then and not till then every Man may sit under his own Fig-tree However I intend this Author no Unkindness who I think understands the World very well and much better than he does some places of St. Paul's Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles Which I have no mind to examine fully in this Preface Only let him be advis'd not to alledge for Presbytery that place of St. Paul to the Corinthians The Spirits of the Prophets are subject unto the Prophets For tho' this Text should be chang'd unto all shapes and figures it can yield nothing to his purpose for it lignifies no more than that the Prophets inspired by God were lest in the Exercise and Possession of their Reason when they uttered their Prophesies and this distinguished them from the Exstaticks and Enthusiasts who were possesed by Devils and delivered their Oracular Responses in Fury and Transport For the other mistake of the Apostolick Character Pag. 4. It is no more than what is ordinarily said in all Presbyterian Systems but when he Examines it a little more accurately he will find by this especial Character which he appropriates to the Apostles and by which he distinguishes the Apostles from other Ministers that the Seventy Disciples are as much Apostles as the Twelve I hope the Author of that Pamphlet will Pardon this Digression His Book may be examined more seasonably in another Treatise When ever he perswades the Brethren of his way to act like reasonable Men they will meet with less opposition and he himself will deserve the just Commendations of Prudence and Modesty They have hitherto gloried in their Extemporary Prayers I love not at any rate to play with things Sacred I know that Men in Private and in their Closets ought not be tied to Words or Forms that are prescribed for if we can fix our Attention on God himself and the things agreeable to his Will and suitable to our Necessities we need not words if we have but strong and fervent Desires for all things are naked and open to the Eyes of him with whom we have to do but when we go into the House of God it 's long since Solomon advis'd to go with reverence for he is in Heaven and we are upon Earth our words should not only be few but very well weighed and apt to beget in the Hearers an awful sence of his Presence and of the inconceivable distance between him and the Workmanship of his hands Therefore the Wisdom of the Christian Church thought fit in all Ages to put words in the Mouths of her Children when they approach the most High God in his House of Prayer for it is very odd that we dare come into his House with less Preparation than we do when we address to any of our considerable Neighbours yet with the saddest regret it must be acknowledged that the Presbyterians of late have to the Disgrace of Christian Religion and of the Solemnity of its Worship changed the Devotion of the Christian Church into incoherent Rapsodies and Fopperies I am confident not to
mention the Blasphemies for Twenty two Years and the New of Montross his Armies with which they were wont to run their Glasses if their Prayers but since the late Revolution within the City of Edinburgh and the Places next Adjacent to it were but Printed and exposed to Publick View all the Protestant Churches would abhor their way as the ready means to introduce and strengthen Atheism and Irreligion among the People The Pulpit Blasphemies that have lately been belched out against Heaven in this Nation cannot be related without Horrour and Indignation Nor was God ever so much dishonoured by the Vanities of the Pagan Idolatry as by the pretended Inspiration of our new Reformers every little trifling occurrence that 's suggested to their Fancy or casually tumbles in their Memory is immediately cramb'd into their Prayers But I have digressed too far now then to return to my particular Theme The Visitors put themselves indeed to extraordinary toll in examining the Masters of the Colledge of Edinburgh And yet the Particulars they insisted upon were such as they themselves knew neither to be material nor possible to be proved They could not but think that the most remarkable steps they made in this Affair would readily come to light and yet they were not so wise as to temper their Proceedings with the least Discretion so difficult a thing it is to hide what has got the Ascendant over all their Passions A Calmer Method and Temperament would have served the Design of their Government to better purposes If their Discipline may be called a Government that 't every where attended with so many Complaints so much Confusion and Anarchy But I am not to teach them how to strengthen and propagate their Party for none can deny them the two principal Supporters of Faction and Schism Impudence and Industry They may think this Language something course and severe but it is hard to change the Propriety of words If we must speak of them and of their actings the keenest Satyrs come short of their Oppressions and Falshoods They had the Confidence at London to deny that some of the People of Aberdene had their Ears nail'd to the Pillory lately at Edinburgh because they testified their respect to their own Episcopal Ministers and would not suffer the Inquisitors to deprive them of the Blessing of their Doctrine and Presence As also they deny boldly That the Ministers in the West were drove out by the Rabble which they hounded out or that any Ministers were deprived in Scotland who were willing to Comply with the State They might have even as well said that the Sun has not shined in that Kingdom since the Covenant was abandoned by it for these other things they assert are as universally known to be false as that is There is no fear that ever their Party shall prevail where Men retain the love of Liberty and Humanity for tho' that poor Nation be at present run down by the most Arbitrary and licentious Practices of the Kirk yet the Common concern of Liberty Morality and Society may awaken Men at length to fix and again to Establish something that may become the civilized part of Mankind and upon which the Superstructure of Religion may be happily raised When our Feaver is abated and the Nation calmly considers its true Interest and Advantage It 's not to be thought that they will suffer an inconsiderable Company of Pedants to continue Dictators either to the Church or the Universities In their late Books they promise to disprove the just but lame account given to the World of the Cruelties and Oppressions the Episcopal Clergy hath met with in the Western Shires of Scotland But this amounts to no more than that they are resolved to employ some of their Emissaries to make contrary Stories and to varnish them over with all the little shifts and artificial Disguises they can invent when their Barbarities are already known over the greatest part of Christendom and when the Reform'd Churches are all ashamed of them and scandalized by them If the Gentry and Nobility who were Commissionated to Visit the Universities had come alone without their Chaplains the Masters had not met with so much rudeness for there are but very few of them so deeply sowred with the leaven of Presbytery And if some may have forgot their Character it is because they have nothing to recommend them but the implicit Faith they pay to the Consistory And now I have nothing more in order to the following Memoirs to advertise the Reader of but only that the Method of them is Natural Easie and Distinct For first the Author sets down the unsubscribed Libel as it was prepared and given in to the Court and to which the Masters were made to Answer upon the first hearing of it without the least delay Secondly The Answers made by particular Masters to those Libels Thirdly In their own very words is set down the Report of the Committee to the Commission concerning the Masters Fourthly The Animadversions on that their Report And now to conclude this Preface let not the Reader forget That tho' Hundreds of Witnesses have been Summoned and Examined against those Masters whose Trials are hereafter related yet nothing was proved of the least Consequence against any of them only such things as they avowedly owned themselves and for which they were rather to be commended than reproved I heartily pray God the Nation may enjoy more Peace Religion Order and Unity than can reasonably be expected from its present Model of Presbytery and that our Country be no more imposed upon by such open and bare-faced Injustice and Oppression under the Pretence of Reformation Presbyterian Inquisition AS It was Practised by the Visitors of the Colledge at Edinburgh in Their Proceedings against some of the Masters there in August and September 1690. THE Act of Parliament for Visitation of Universities Colledges and Schools passes the Vote of the House July 4. 1690. And by the said Act the Visitours were appointed to meet at Edinburgh the 23d of July for the first Dyer that they might divide themselves into several Committees and lay down common Rules for Regulating the manner of Trying the several Universities within the Nation according to the Instructions and Injunctions then agreed upon as you may see more at length in the Act it self Accordingly a sufficient Quorum of them met upon the 23d of July 1690. and divided themselves into several Committees as follows For the University of St. Andrews Earl Crawford Earl Morton Earl Cassels Earl Kintâ—â— Master of Burley Sir Thomas Burnet Sir Francis Montgomery Mr. James Melvil Laird of Balconie Laird of Nungtown Laird of Meggins Mr. Henry Rymer Mr. William Tullidaff Mr. David Blair Mr. James M'gill Mr. James Rymer For the University of Glascow Duke Hamilton E. Argile V. Stairs L. Carmichael Sir George Campbel Sir Robert St. Clare Sir John Maxwell Laird of Craiggenns John Anderson of Dowhill Mr. James Smalleâ— Laird
set in the front to make up the Muster and for no other end since he dares no more appear to make good this than the other triffling particulars Was it my Swearing the Oath of the Test once and again or my recommending to the Scholars the first Year I came here such Books as I judged most proper to Discover and confute the Superstitions of the Roman Church Had it not been far easier for the Libeller who hath no regard to Truth or Probability to have cast into this Paper more odious Crimes But I was in France and therefore behoved to be a Papist and this is enough for this triffling Lybeller I am very sure none of the Papists ever thought me one The second Article is a Confirmation of the first Mr. Burnet was suspect of Popery when he came here and I did all I could to get Scholars to his Class particularly I spoke to Bailey Grahame for his Son and the Chancellour thanked me for the Care I took of Mr. Burnets Concern and such as he was The then Magistrates of Edinburgh several of the Learned Colledge of Physicians and all the Professors of this University will bear me Witness that I left no stone unturned to keep Mr. Burnet out of this Colledge And yet the Libeller hath the Honesty to accuse me that Mr. Burnet was suspect of Popery Was this my fault or was it truly a fault in Mr. Burnet that he was Suspect of Popery The Lord Archbishop of Glascow and Sir Thomas Kennedy then Protest will vindicate me in this particular For it is very well known how much I opposed Mr. Burnet's entry here a Gentleman of known Parts and Integrety one of the Professors of Philosophy in the old Colledge of St. Andrews was the Man I wished to fill up the vacance that happened by the Death of Mr. Lidderdale but Mr. Burnet being once thrust in upon us more by the Duke of Gordon than the Earl of Perth what could I do with him My care of this House obliged me to make him as useful as I could He lay under the Suspicion of being Popish but I knew this to be a Calumny and if I had not endeavoured to get him some Scholars we should have wanted one entire Class in the Colledge This is the true Reason why I spoke to Bailzie Grahame to send his Son to Mr. Burnet and procured an Act of the Faculty for I could make none as the Libeller impertinently suggests that such as were Mr. Lidderdale's Scholars the preceeding Year should be taught for that Year in no other Class but Mr. Burnet's who succeeded to his charge This was no Arbitrary stretch of mine but a just defence of the Current and usual Customes of the House for Mr. Burnet having the second Class could expect none else but the Students that were taught in Mr. Lidderdale's Class the preceeding year but it is added I did all this because I favoured Popery and the Chancellour thanked me for it But this is a down right Lye for I never Entertain'd the Chancellour with Discourses of Mr. Burnet besides for any thing I know the Chancellour had no value for him III. The next is that formidable one of Reading the English Service in my Family in that Interval when there was no National Church Government here But the Libeller forgets that this quite frustrates his first attempt They must be odd kind of Papists that Read the Service of the Church of England upon the 5th of November But the Libeller adds that the Book of Common Prayer was never allowed here since the Reformation does he mean that the Service of the Protestant Church of England was used here before the Reformation but to let this go the Book of Common Prayer was Read in many Families in Scotland ever since the Restitution of King Charles II. and Publickly Read in the Abbey of Hollyrood-house in the Reign of King Charles the First and I hope the Tolleration by King James did not Exclude the English Prayers But upon Enquiry it will be found that they were the first Prayers that were Read in Scotland after the Reformation for Buchannan tells us expresly as you see in the Margin And Buchanans Testimony is the more Remarkable that the Confession of Faith was Ratified in Parliament that very year so that we have not only the private Practice of a few great Reformers Wisheart and several others to justifie the English Liturgy but also the Solemn Concession of the whole Nation who thought their Confession then Ratified had in it nothing contradictory to or inconsistent with the Book of Common Prayer Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England And such as plead for their Separation from the Church of England from the Practices of the first Reformers here go upon an unpardonable Mistake in our History But the plain Matter of Fact is this when I left off Preaching in the High Church I advised with some of my Brethren and the Result was that we should Read the Book of Common Prayer and Preach within our Familes per vices since most of them were acquainted somewhat with the Liturgy of the Church of England Neither did we think when Quakers and all Sects were Tolerated that we should be blamed for Reading those Prayers within our private Families which we prefer to all other Forms now used in the Christian Church Neither had we any design to Proselite the People to any thing they had no mind to else I might have Read the Liturgy in one of the Publick Schools within the Colledge And it must not be said we were afraid to venture upon the Publick Exercise of it because of the Rabble for during the Session of the Colledge it is very well known in the City that the Mobile durst not presume to give us the least Disturbance However the Matter succeeded beyond what we proposed or looked for we Preached to the People upon the Sundays they came by hundreds more than we had room for and very many became acquainted with the Liturgy of the Church of England and perceived by their own Experience there was neither Popery nor Superstition in it and when the Libeller knows it better he will forbear his Violence and Foolish Cavilling But your Lordships will not think I make all this Apology as if I were diffident of the intrinsick Excellency of Common Prayer or that I had done something that needs an Excuse for I look upon the Church of England as the true Pillar and Centre of the Reformation and if Her Enemies should lay Her in the Dust which God forbid there is no other Bulwark in Britain to stop or retard the Progress of either Popery or Enthusiasme And I wonder Men should retain so much bitterness against the Church of England valued and Admired by all Foreign Churches and whose Liturgie as it is the most Serious and Comprehensive so it is the most agreeable to the Primitive Forms