in the Word of God and their appearing thus in Arms was conformable to the Practice of the Ancient Church of Scotland From this House the Minister was carried Prisoner to Kilmarnock and in his Journey thither there was a Gentleman the Laird of Bridgehouse who having come to meet him took the courage to tell the Party that their appearing in Arms and abusing the Clergy in this Hostile manner were but insolent outrages against all the Law of the Nation and that they would do well to remit their Illegal forwardness together with their pretended grievances unto the Parliament that was now very quickly to be assembled by the care and affection that his Highness the Prince had of all the Subjects of this Kingdom They answered him To stand off and forbear giving Rules to them for they would take none from him nor any Man and that they would not adhere to the Prince of Orange nor the Law of the Kingdom any further than the Solemn League and Covenant was fulfilled and prosecuted by both By this time they were come near the Town and they commanded the Minister to pluck off his Hat which he obeyed yet at the same breath they threatned to throw him in the River And coming to the Bridge they met the whole Body of the aforesaid Party returning from the Mercat place where they had caused the Church Officer to deliver up the Keys of the Church And they discharged by way of Proclamation the Minister whom in an opprobrious manner they called Curate of Kilmarnock from all intromission with the Benefice and Casuality of the Church or the least exercise of the Ministerial Function Assoon as they saw Mr. Bell and understood that he was the Parson of the Parish he could see nothing in their Faces but the most insulting joy nor find in thâ—ir discourses but the most reproaching Language that ever the greatest Criminal in the World was treated with After a long Consultation amongst themselves one of their chief Commanders came and asked him if he had a Book of Common Prayer the Minister desired to know of him why he asked the Question He answered That sure be could not want that Book since he was educated at Oxford and trained up to all the Superstition and Idolatry of the Church of England The Minister told him perhaps he had half a dozen of Common Prayer Books he commanded him to produce one of them for that would do their business From this place they carried him back to his House and there compelled him to deliver unto their hands the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England after this they led him as a Prisoner bare headed betwixt four Foiles of Musketeers through a great part of the Town unto the Market-place where the whole Party was drawn up in Battallia Which appeared to be about the number of two hundred well Armed with fire Lock Muskets of a very large size most of them had also a pair of Pistols but all of them one In Kilmarnock after the fashion of most Mercat places in Scotland there is a Cross erected unto which one goes up by steps on all sides after the form of a broad Stare-case with which it is invironed It was on the uppermost step that these rude Guards placed the Minister two of them on the same step one on both hands and so on every step as you go down from the Cross they ranged themselves before him After this they called for Fire which was brought then one of their Commanders made a Speech to the People that were gathered together in great numbers from the Town and Country He told them That they were come there to make the Curate of the place a Spectacle of Ignominy and that they were obliged so to do by virtue of the Solemn League and Covenant in Obedience unto which they were to declare here their abhorrency of Prelacy and to make Declaration of their firm intentions and designs to fulfill all the ends of that Oath The propagation of the Discipline of the Government of the Church of Scotland as it is express'd and contained in the foresaid Solemn League and Covenant And all this they attempted to do not by virtue of any Civil Power nor Ecclesiastical Power but by the Military Power and the Power of the posture they were now in These are the very words of this Speech After this another of their Commanders taking the Book of Common Prayer reading the Title Page of it and extending his voice very high he told the People That in pursuance of the forementioned League and Covenant they were now to burn publickly this Book of Common Prayer which is so full of Superstition and Idolatry and then throwing it into the Fire blowing the Coals with a pair of Bellows after that catching it from amidst the flames they fixed it on the Spear of a Pike and thence lifting it up on high far above the top of the Cross. Which Elevation was attended with Shouts and Acclamations down with Prelacy Idolatry and Superstition of the Churches of England and Scotland After all these indignities and impudent reproaches offered to the most reformed and best constituted Churches in the World they turned themselves to the Minister again and rudely in a very menacing manner asking him if he was an Episcopal Prelate's Man and of the Communion of the Churches of England and Scotland he answered he was and did there confess it to the whole World Then they tore his Gown one of the Guard first cutting up the Skirt of it with his Sword and throwing it amongst their feet telling him It was the Garment of the Whore of Babylon One of them bid him promise never to Preach nor Exercise the Office of a Minister any more but he refused telling them that such a Promise lay not within the compass of his own will and could not be extorted by force and that tho they should tear his Body as they had done his Gown they would never be able to reach his Conscience Well well says he do it at your Peril the Minister answer'd that he would do it at his Peril And so they gave over troubling him any more only asking what he had to say to them he told them he was extremely sorry to see Protestants so ingratefully exasperated against the best Protestant Church in the World that had done such Eminent Service to our Common Religion and Interest against Popery And withal praying God to forgive them and not to lay these things to their Charge So the Minister was dismissed they telling him he was an ignorant and obdured Curate and Malignant This is a true Copy of that Account of those indignities and affronts that were done unto me Robert Bell by the Presbyterians now in Arms in Scotland Glasgow Ian. 8. 1689. Robert Bell Disorders and Outrages done upon the Persons and Families of Ministers within the Presbytery of Hamiltown upon 27 and 28 days of Dec. 1688. IMprimis Mr.
take and subscribe the same And ordains the Moderator of the respective Presbyteries to return the said Oath so taken and subscribed to the Clerks of Privy Council betwixt and the first of October next and orduins the first Diet of Meeting of the several Provincial Assemblies of this Kingdom to be upon the second Tuesday of October next at the ordinary places where the Synâ—ds and Provincial Assemblies were in use to meet And ordains the Church-Sessions to be elâ—cted and chosen both in Burgh and Landward at the ordinary times and after the ordinary manner Tho King William desired the Presbyterians to pass this Act for the Settlement of their Government in the Church yet because it seemed to restrain them from controling the State when they pleased as they had been always wont to do when in power for sometimes the Parliament and General Assembly flatly contradicted one another as in the year 1674. when King Charles â— was kept Prisoner at the Isle of Wight the Convention of Estates voted that an Army should be sent as it was under the Command of Duke Hamilton to relieve His Majesty but the General Assembly pass'd an Act at the same time flatly contradicting that and accordingly after the King's Forces were defeated by the Rebels in England the Kirk to show their absolute Supremacy in the State forced the Nobily and Gentry who were Officers under the Duke to make their Repentance before the Congregations publickly in Sackcloth I say because this Act seemed to restrain them from meddling in State Affairs as they had been wont to do leaving them no power in the State and the King some power in the Church as that they could not call a General Assembly without acquainting him with the necessity of it therefore this Act was rejected with great Contempt and Indignation and the Presbyterian Minister who was then in Quality of a Chaplain in the Parliament said that they would rather than admit of such a Mangled Mungril Presbytery beg back the Bishops again and that it was Nonsence not to allow the Clergy to impose other Oaths as well as that of Allegiance The Conclusion SOme may perhaps think it an unkindness done to the Nation of Scotland thus to expose the publick Acts of the Kingdom which were never ridiculous or afraid of the light but only when some Men Govâ—rned who are indeed the far least and most inconsiderable part of the People otherways why should they so violently now oppose the Dissolving of this Parliament and the Calling of a new one since it is certain that the Humour of the Nation cannot be so well known by a thin Convâ—ntion which was called in an extraordinary Hurry in a great Confusion and Fermentation of the People and which proceeded with equal Heat and Precipitancy Others may think that by publishing the Names as is here done of some few of these good Men who have suffered they shall be thereby dangerously exposed to the Fury and Violence of these Zealots whose greatest Mercy is Cruelâ—y Indeed there is too much Ground for this Conjecture But our Enemies have put us upon this Necessity for the late account that was given in some Letters of the present Persecution of the Church in Scotland tho it was exactly true in all the Matters of Fact relating to that Persecution yet in England where these things are not so well known some Men being ashamed of these Barbarities to which they gave all the Life they could at such a distâ—nce have industriously represented by their Tongues and Pens that account as altogether False and Fabulous altho even themselves are but too well satisfied that it contains sad Truths Their Mercurius Reformatus as he stiles himself wanting Advertisements and good News from Ireland to fill up his Weekly Papers stuffs two or three of them with Reflections on that former account of our Persecution First He doubts the Matters of Fact are not true and it 's something strange that one who has conversed so intimately with and been most of his Life bred up amongst Scotch Fanaticks should so much question their natural and customary Practices Secondly He imputes all the Mischief if says he there has been any wholly to the Rabble and wonders that any part of it should be charged upon the Godly Patriots to whom the Government of that Kingdom is now intrusted But now if the Matters of Fact so fully attâ—sted in this Book and the publick Acts so faithfully transcribed do not satisfie him and those few whom he may have led into these his willful Mistakes they must be allowed to doubt on till one come from the Dead to inform them if even that can perswade them to believe But Thirdly which shows that he is indeed but a new Observator he seems to grant what he would deny for acknowledging the Persecution he says That it was occasioned by the Severities wherewith the â—piscopal Party had treated the Presbyterians in the by-gone Reigns as if their new Gospel could adopt Revenge into a vertue and as if all the Punishments inflicted upon Rebels by the State for its own Security were to be charged only upon the Church and revenged now upon the Clergy the poor helpless Prelates and their Curates Fourthly He 's confident that the whole Book is but a malicious Design to Bespatter the present Government if the Government be bespattered when the true account of their open Proceedings is fairly published to the World then the faultlyes originally in that Government not in the Historian It 's a strange Severity in any Government not to suffer Men to groan under Burthens because it imposed them and to knock Men in the Head for but clattering those Chains wherewith the Government Fetters them Fifthly He quarrels at the Stile of the Letters for the Authors he says do no where express any thing of duty or Allegiance to the present Governours but according to Mercurius's own Principles of Policy there 's time enough for that when they find themselves according to the Articles of the pretended Original Contract and many fair promises secured in their Religion Liberties and Properties for now it 's a received Axiom it seems that Protection and Allegiance are reciprocal Again He 's offended at the Sharpness and Severity which he discovers in the Expressions then he runs out in many Rhetorical Commendations by way of new reformed Observation upon Moderation and recommends it from the great Example of a famous Roman Catholick Prince whereas at another turn he will not allow either Popish Prince or People to be capable of the least Moderation meerly because they are Papists It 's hard to think why this Gentleman should be so much offended with the Stile of those Letter's it 's not I hope for the Scoticisms in them for that 's a Fault that neither he nor we can so easily help in our Writing perhaps he 's angry that he as a Scotch Doctor was not entrusted to purge out their sharp Humour before
they were allowed to take the open Air in England When the new Observator upon March 26. last published my Lord Crasurd's Letter dated Edinburgh March 16. 1690. he might have observed that in that Letter my Lord fairly owns that the Council did at the same time that they proceeded against Ministers for not praying for King William take probation of Crimes of another nature also against them tho the Cognisance of them did no way belong to the Council these are the very words of the Letter for if this be true the Proceedings of the Council against the Ministers must be acknowledged not to have been fair and legal for the Observator himself who once pretended to an inferior kind of Practice in the Scots Law knows I hope so much as that no Court ought to hear probation of Crimes whereof they have not the Cognizance nay the best of Men may be abused by such Proceedings for if the Court be not competent the Defendants cannot be admitted to object against the Insufficiency of the Probation and so the worst things may be proved against the most innocent People But of all them that have written or spoken against the Account given in those Lettert we owe the most Thanks to one downright true thorough-paced Presbyterian who writes a Pamphlet against it called A Brief and true Account of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland occasioned by the Episcopalians since the year 1660. The Book is indeed worth the reading because in it the Author has fairly pulled off that Mask which others more Cunning but less Honest love to act under I shall not here hazard the turning of the Readers Stomach by repeating any of these his most fulsâ—me Expressions which he liberally strows in every Page of his Book only this I must say That it 's not possible for a Devil to bring more Railing and false Aâ—cusations against the Brethren than this pure Presbyterian does against our Clergy and States-men he has learned it seems of his Friend Matchiavel to calumniate boldly hoping that if he throw a great deal of Dirt some of it may stick but his Mallce is too large to be confin'd to Scotland and therefore he opens foully against the Church of England too for he says That Dr. Oates a modest Man like himself did the Nation more Service than the seven Idolized Stars so many of whom are now turned Dark-lanthorns Neither must the Complying Bishops escape his Fury for of them he says That as they have the Dishonour of being the Mother of that Helâ—ish Monster Possive Obedience they have also the Ignominy of being the Murtherirs of it having new basely cut its Threat as Harlots use sometimes to do with their spurious Breed Then as for the English Clergy in general he says That let their Hyperbolical Pretentions to Zeal for Religion and Loyalty be what it will yet if the King put forth his hand and touch them they will Curse him to his face and rather than part with on inch of Superstition or a Swinish Lust will as the Party have always done lay a Confideracy with Hell and Rome as times past and present do evidence beyond Contradiction from the Reformation to this day In another place he says That their dayly Prayers are that God would pull down the Antichristian Hierarchy also in England and why says he may we not do it as well as the English Prelates and Clergy Plot Drink and plead against the Scotch Presbytery Then he soretells the Downfall of the Church of England Notwithstanding their Sessions as he speaks at the Devil to prevent it and for the fulfilling of this his fatal Prephecy he declares War against them and bids them blame themselves for it if another Invasion from Scotland prove as fatal to them now as it did in Bishop Laud's time and that the Godly Women will with their Folding-stools once mere arm against them as they did in King Charles I. time This is a true Specimen of the Love and Charity that the Scotch Presbyterians have to the Church of England and it 's but a little part of that Fire and Slaughter which our Author breaths out against them Further yet he condemns all the orderly Churches in 〈◊〉 for says he All those who use Set Forms of Prayer are Strangers to the Power of Godliness So that neither the Presbyterians themselves in Holland nor in France no nor in Geneva must escape the Lash of our Scotch Reformers until they be purified according to the Pattern in the Mount the Covenant Standard But that I may not rake any longer in this Dunghill our Author is as far from Truth in the Points of History he relates as his manner of Expression is from the Spirit of Meekness and Charity and his whole Discourse is as inconsistent with that as his beloved Doctrine of Resistance is with the Thirteenth Chapter to the Romans and that they who shall please next to draw their Pens against us who are already sufficiâ—ntly persecuted by their hands may find some Matter as well as Words to fill their Weekly Papers I shall take leave of them in some few plain Queries First Considering the Great Charity which the Scotch Presbyterians have for the Church of England as you have heard and their Intention of visiting them again which the Author has threatned as they did in the year 39. when Plate Jewels Money Houshold-goods Cattle and all Moveables were declared Malignants and they grew witty in their Zeal and told they came for all their Goods And considering that they are more Numerous now than they were then and if they be establish'd by Law will be much more Formidable because all will be forc'd to joyn with them or suffer their utmost Persecution for they have declared Toleration to be Aâ—tichristian And considering that their Solemn League and Covenant obliges them to root out Episcopacy in England and Ireland and never to desist till they have effected it I say considering these things and what they have formerly done upon the same Principles Query whether the Settling Presbytery in Scotland be reconcilable to the Securing Episcopacy in England 2ly Whether even King William can secure himself in the Monarchy against those who formerly refused to Dissolve at the King's Command in the Assembly of Glasgow in the year 38. who preach'd the Subjects into a furious Rebellion and to the delivering up the King his Grandfather to be murdered who by Act of their General Assembly in 48. declared his Negative Voice inconsistent with the Liberty of the Subject and who since himself was made King have risen twice in Arms once to the number of some Thousands who threw out the Episcopal Ministers by their own Authority which our Author says was Deservedly enough Beating Wounding and Tormenting them Another time a more formidable number in a hostile manner made an Address to the Council telling them That they would not lay down their Arms