of the Common Prayers of the Church of England or the Genevian Liturgy For we no where read of a Third ever pretended to have been used in those times in Scotland Now that it was not the Liturgy of Geneva is plain for besides that it is utterly incredible that there could have been so many Copies of the Genevian Form in the vulgar Language then in Scotland as might serve so many Parish Churches Nay that 't is highly probable there was not so much as one Besides this I say in the Genevian Form which was afterwards used in Scotland there is no Order for no footstep of the observation of other Holy-days besides Sunday Neither is there any Order in it for Reading of Lessons of the Old and New Testament except in the Treatise of Fasting which was not compiled till the year 1565. There indeed Lessons are appointed such and such Psalms and such and such Histories in the Old but not so much as one Tittle of the New Testament In all the rest of the Book a deep Silence about Lessons than which there cannot be a clearer Demonstration that the Book appointed to be used in December 1557 was not that of Geneva Indeed 2. None of our Presbyterian Historians neither Petrie nor Calderwood have the confidence to pretend nay to insinuate the possibility of its being the Common Order of Geneva which 't is very probable they would have done if they had had the smallest hopes of making it feasible On the contrary Calderwood seems fairly to acknowledge that it was the English Liturgy but then this acknowledgement lies at such a distance from the year 1557. that no doubt he thought himself pretty secure that few Readers would reflect upon it as ane acknowledgment he doth not make it till he comes to the year 1623 when he had occasion to tell how the use of the English Liturgy was brought into the New Colledge of St. Andrews Take it in his own words Upon the 15 th of January Master Robert Howie Principal of the New College of St. Andrews Doctor Wedderburn and Doctor Melvin were directed by a Letter from Doctor Young in the Kings Name to use the English Liturgy Morning and Evening in the New College where all the Students were present at Morning and Evening Prayers Which was presently put in execution notwithstanding they wanted the warrant of any General Assembly or of any CONTINVED PRACTICE OF THE FORM in time by-past since the Reformation Where you see he lays the stress of his Argument against it on its nor having had a continued Practice since the Reformation which is a clear concession that at the Reformation it was in practice tho that practice was not continued But whither he acknowledged this or not is no great matter we have sufficient Evidence for the point in hand without it For 3. Buchanan's Testimony which was adduced before about the Scots subscriving to the Worship and Rites of the Church of England is unexceptionable And yet it is not all For 4. The Order as you see it appointed by the Lords of the Congregation Decem. 3d 1557. is That the Book there authorised be used in all Churches from that very date but we find by the First Book of Discipline That the Order of Geneva was only coming in to be used then in some of the Churches i. e. 1560. And it had nothing like a public Establishment till the General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Dec. 25 1652. For then and not till then It was concluded that ane Vniform Order should be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments Solemnization of Marriages and Burial of the Dead according to the Kirk of Geneva So it is in the Mss. and so Petrie hath it But Nature works again with Calderwood For he has no more but this It was ordained that ane Vniform Order be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments according to the Book of Geneva Omitting Marriage and the Burial of the Dead Marriage I believe to bear the other Company for the Burial of the Dead was the Dead Flee Why The Book of Geneva allowed of Funeral Sermons as he himself acknowledgeth A mighty Superstition in the opinion of Prerbyterians so that it would have been offensive to the sincerer sort as he commonly calls those of his own Gang and inconsistent with the Exigences of the Good Cause to have let the world know that A General Assembly had ratified the Order of that Book about Burials and thereby had justified the Superstition of Funeral Sermons Nay 5. It seems this Act of the General Assembly Decem. 1562. has not been strong enough for turning out the English Liturgy and introducing the form of Geneva For if we may believe Calderwood himself The General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Decem. 25. 1564. found themselves concerned to make another Act ordaining Every Minister Exhorter and Reader to have one of the Psalm books lately printed at Edenburgh and use the Order contained therein in Prayers Marriage and Administration of the Sacraments Where observe further that Prayers not mentioned in the Act 1562. are now put in from which it may be probably conjectured that as much as Knox was against the English Liturgy he found many difficulties to get it laid aside so many that it has not only been used by some few or many I cannot tell in the Ministration of the Sacraments c. after the Act 1562. But the Clergy have not found themselves obliged to forbear the use of it in the publick prayers so that it was needful in this Assembly 1564 to make a New Act restricting them both as to Prayers and other Ministrations to the Order of Geneva And if this holds we have the English Liturgy at least seven Years in continued practice in Scotland But it is enough for my main purpose that it was once universally in use which I think cannot be denied by any who impartially considers what hath been said And now 6. May not I adduce one Testimony more 'T is true it is of a latter date But it is very plain and positive and what I have adduced already is security enough for its Credibility It is the Testimony of the Compilers of our Scottish Liturgy which made the great Stir in the year 1637. And was made one of the main pretences for the first Eruptions of that execrable Rebellion which ensued The Compilers of that Liturgy I say in their Preface to it tell us That it was then known that diverse years after the Reformation we had no other Order for Common Prayer but the English Liturgy A Third Principle wherein our Reformers agreed with the Church of England and which stands in direct contradiction to the Principles of our Presbyterians is that they own'd the Church had a great Dependance on the State That it belong'd to the Civil Magistrate to reform the Church That People might appeal from the Church to the Civil Magistrate c. I
dayly look for our final Deliverance by the coming again of our Lord Iesus c. Thus it was prayed I say in great Solemnity at that time and every Petition is a Confirmation of Buchanan's Fidelity and my Assertion Further yet 3. In the Old Scottish Liturgy compiled in these times and afterwards used publickly in all the Churches There is a Thanksgiving unto God after our Deliverance from the Tyranny of the Frenchmen with Prayers made for the Continuance of the Peace betwixt the Realms of Scotland and England wherein we have these Petitions offered Grant unto us O Lord that with such Reverence we may remember thy Benefits received that after this in our Default we never enter into Hostility against the Realm and Nation of England Suffer us never O Lord to fall to that Ingratitude and detestable Vnthankfulness that we should seek the Destruction and Death of those whom thou hast made instruments to Deliver us from the Tyranny of Merciless Strangers Dissipate thou the Counsels of such as Deceitfully travel to stir the hearts of the inhabitants of either Realm against the other Let their malicious practices be their own confusion and grant thou of thy Mercy that Love Concord and Tranquillity may continue and increase amongst the Inhabitants of this Isle even to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by whose glorious Gospel thou of thy Mercy dost CALL US BOTH TO UNITY PEACE AND CHRISTIAN CONCORD the full PERFECTION whereof we shall possess in the fullness of thy Kingdom c. Here is a set of Demonstrations to the same purpose also And now let any man lay all these things together The Letter to Cecil The Confederacy betwixt Scotland and England Buchanan's Testimony and these Thanksgivings and Prayers and then let him judge impartially whither or not there is reason to believe that in those days there was a good Agreement between the Scottish and English Protestants as to Religion and Church Matters Thus I think I have sufficiently cleared that our Reformers Generally if not Vnanimously lookt upon the Church of England as so well constituted that they acknowledged her Communion to be a Lawful Communion But before I proceed to other things I must try if I can make any more advantage of what has been said And I reason thus Was there not here truely and really a Confederacy ane Oath A Solemn League and Covenant betwixt the Scottish and the English Protestants Were not these English Protestants then united in that Society which at that time was and ever since hath been called The Church of England And was not the Church of England of that same very constitution then that it was of in King Charles the First his time for example Anno 1642 But if so then I ask again was not this Solemn League and Covenant made thus by our Reformers with their Brethren in England as much designed for the Security the Defence the Maintainance of the Church of England as then by Law established as for the Establishment of our Reformation Did not our Reformers promise Mutual Faith to the English as well as the English promised to them Would it have been consistent with the mutual bonds and obligations of this Confederacy this Solemn League and Covenant for the Scottish Reformers to have raised ane Army at that time against Queen Elizabeth to invade her Dominions in order to ruine the Church of England I cannot imagine any sober person can grudge to grant me this much also But if this be granted then I ask in the third place Did not that Solemn League and Covenant made by our Reformers with those of the Church of England run in a direct opposition to the Solemn League and Covenant made by our Scottish Presbyterians with a Factious Party in England for destroying the Church of England in King Charles the First 's time Nay did not our Scottish Presbyterians in that King's time by entering into that Solemn League and Covenant directly and effrontedly break through the Charge and Commandment which our Reformers left to their Posterity That the Amity betwixt the Nations in God contracted and begun might by them be kept inviolate for ever Nay further yet did not our Reformers solemnly pray against those who made the Solemn League and Covenant in the days of King Charles the First Did they not address to God that he would dissipate their Counsels and let their Malicious Practices be their own Confusion And now let the world judge what rational pretences these Presbyterians in that Holy Martyrs time and by consequence our present Presbyterians can make for their being the only true and genuine Successors of our First Reformers Expecting solid and serious Answers to these Questions I shall now advance in the prosecution of my main undertaking on this Head which was to shew how our Reformers agreed with the Church of England in several momentous matters Relative to the Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church c. But because I have insisted so long on this general one which I have just now taken leave of I shall only instance in two or three more and dispatch them as speedily as I can 2. Then it is evident and undeniable that our Scottish Protestants for some years used the Liturgy of the Church of England in their publick Devotions Indeed The very first publick step towards our Reformation made by the Lords of the Congregation was to appoint this Liturgy to be used It was ordered upon the third day of December 1557. as both Knox and Calderwood have it Take the Ordinance in Knox his words The Lords and Barons professing Christ Iesus conveened frequently in Councel in the which these Heads were concluded First It is thought expedient advised and ordained That in all Parishes of this Realm the Common Prayer be read weekly on Sunday and other Festival days publickly in the Parish Churches with the Lessons of the Old and New Testament conformable to the Book of Common Prayers And if the Curates of the Parishes be qualified that they read the same And if they be not or if they refuse that the most qualified in the Parish use and read the same c. Spotswood and Petrie give the same account But such is the Genius of Mr. Calderwood that you are to expect few things which may make against the Presbyterian Interest candidly and sincerely represented by him For instance in his overly account of this matter he quite omits the mention of other Holy days besides Sundays These consistent Testimonies of all those four Historians are so full and plain a Demonstration of the Matter of Fact that I cannot foresee so much as one Objection that can be made or one Evasion that can be thought on unless it be That it is not said by any of them that it was the Book of the Common Prayers of the Church of England But this difficulty is soon removed For 1. It was either the Book
THE Fundamental Charter OF Presbytery As it hath been lately Established IN THE Kingdom of SCOTLAND Examin'd and Disprov'd By the History Records and Publick Transactions of our Nation Together with a PREFACE Wherein the Vindicator of the Kirk is freely put in mind of his Habitual Infirmities LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Paul's Church-yard 1695. THE PREFACE THis Article which I have now examined was no sooner Established in our Scottish Claim of Right than I turn'd serious to satisfy my self about it I thought it concern'd me as a Scottish man to understand as well as I could That which made such a Figure in the Original Contract between King and People I thought I was no less concern'd as a Christian to be Resolv'd about its Merits I perceiv'd it might readily affect my practice And tho I abhor as heartily as any man all breaking of the Churches peace for Rattles or Nutshels Yet I could not but reckon of it as a matter of Conscience to me to Endeavour to be sure that I built neither my Faith nor my Obedience in a matter of such Consequence as I take the Government of the Church to be on a Deceitful bottom Perhaps I was bound to be inquisitive by some other Reduplications not needful to be Named I had not spent much Application about it when I was satisfied and thought I had Ground to hope the Wisdom of the Nation after more Deliberate Researches might find it Reasonable either to Restore to the Church Her Ancient and Iust Government or settle the New One on some at least more Specious Basis. But I was Disappointed For Three Sessions of Parliament are now over And the Article is so far from being either Retracted or Corrected that on the Contrary It hath been still insisted on and Deem'd sufficient to support very weighty Superstructures Each Session hath Erected some new thing or other upon it This with the importunity of some Friends at last Determin'd me to Enquire more fully and minutely into the value of the Article And the Work hath swell'd to such a bulk as you see I confess I cannot Apologize sufficiently for my adventuring to Expose such ane ill Composure to the publick view Especially Considering how Nice and Critical if not Picq't and Humorsome an Age we live in I ever thought that much of the Beauty as well as of the Vtility of Books lay in Good Method and a distinct Range of Thoughts And I cannot promise that I have observed That so punctually as Clearer Heads might have done I have less Reason to be Confident of the Stile 'T is hard for most Scottish men to arrive at any tolerable Degree of English Purity Our greatest Caution cannot prevent the Stealing of our own Words and Idioms into our Pens and their dropping thence into our writings All things considered I have as little Reason to think I have Guarded or could Guard against them as any Scottish man For not only have mine opportunities all my life been none of the best But for finding Materials for the following Papers I was obliged to Read so many Books written in Right Broad Scotch and take so many Citations from them that 't is little to be wondered if my Book abounds with Scotticisms I thought my self bound to be faithful in my Citations and I can promise I have been that I could not Reason from the Authority of these Citations without using the Terms and Phrases which are in them This no doubt makes the Scotticisms Numerous And I shall not deny that my familiar acquaintance with these Books together with the prejudices of Education Custom and Constant Converse in the plain Scottish Dialect may have occasioned many more Neither shall I be over Confident that where I have adventured to Reason any point I have done it to every mans Conviction I may have been as other men apt to impose on my self and think I have advanced just propositions and drawn fair Consequences when I have not done it No doubt most men have such a Kindness for themselves as too commonly inclines them to applaud their own thoughts and judge their own Reasonings Just and Solid when they are but Coarse enough And others may very easily discover where the mistake lies Yet this I can say for my self I have done what I could to Guard against all such prejudice and partial Byass Sensible of these infirmities I intreat the Readers favourable and benign Censures This I can tell him ingenuously If I could have done better I should not have Grudgâ—d him the pleasure of it But perchance that which I am more concern'd to account for is what Assistances I had for what I have advanced in the following Sheets And here I must Confess I had not all the Advantages I could have wished Such are my present Circumstances That I could not Rationally propose to my self to have Access to the publick Records either of Church or State And no doubt in this I was at a Considerable loss For he who Transcribes from Authentick Records Doth it more Securely than he who has things only from Second hands Yet I don't think this Disadvantage was such as should have intirely Discouraged me from the Attempt I have made For some of my Authors had Access to the publick Registers And I am apt to believe there was not much to be found there Relating to the Controversies I have managed which they have not published So that tho 't is possible I might have been better yet I cannot think I was ill provided of Helps I cannot think any of my Presbyterian Brethren can be provided much better The principal Authors from which I have collected my Materials are these Buchanan's History published at Frankfort Anno 1594 Ieslie's History at Edenburgh 1675. King Iames the Sixth's Works in English at London 1616. Archbishop Spotswood's History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland at London Anno 1655. His Refutatio Libelli c. Lond. An. 1620. The True History of the Church of Scotland c. said to be written by Mr. David Calderwood published An. 1678. Mr. Petrie's History of the Catholick Church c. Tom. 2. printed at the Hague Anno 1â—62 Sir Iames Melvil's Memoirs The Old Scottish Liturgy The Lord Herbert's History of the Life of King Henry 8. Doctor Heylin and Doctor Burnet's Histories of the Reformation of the Church of England Calvin's Epistles printed at Geneva Anno 1617. Beza's Epistles till the year 1573. Acts and Monuments by Fox c. I have likewise considered our printed Acts of Parliaments The printed Acts of the General Assemblies from the year 1638. And as many Pamphlets as I could find Relating to the Matters on which I insist 'T is needless to Name them here You may find them named as Occasion required in my Book There are two Books which I must insist on a little One is A Manuscript Copy of the Acts of our Scottish Assemblies from
ashamed to tell lies in the face of the Sun 171 He had so inured himself to the foulest lies and calumnies that he could hardly speak or write truth 175 He was a Reviler 182 A railing Scribbler who Censur'd and Condemned all Presbyterians without wit or discretion 114 In short He was a snarling curr 191 and a spirit of lying had possest him 192 Thus I think I have given a Taste of our Authors excessive Civilâ—ties to the Adversaries he Answered in his Second Vindication What a formidable Author had he been if he had suffered himself to have Treated his Antagonists with such just not to say excessive severities as they deserved What Authors have these been to whom such Treatment was nothing else than excessive Civility So strangers might think who were not acquainted with G. R.'s nature His nature I say for indeed it seems to be natural to him to exceed thus in Civility towards all the Authors he ever dealt with at least so far as I can learn by such of his Books as I have had the luck to be Edified withal Thus In his Preface to his first Vindication he discharges thus against the Author of the Ten Questions c. Now when their the Prelatists hands are tyed that they can no more afflict her his Presbyterian Church of Scotland their Tongues and Pens are let loose to tear her without mercy by the most virulent invectives and the most horrid lies and calumnies that their wit can invent And in Answ. to Quest. 4. § 2. He adorns him with the honourable Title of Controversal Scribbler And the first words of his Answer to the 6 th Quest. are singularly complemental It may be observed from this Authors conduct says he in his Pamphlet what it is to be fleshed in bold averring of what all the world knoweth to be manifest untruths some by boldness and frequency in telling lies have come at last to believe them as truths c. I have also seen two Books written by him against D. Stillingfleet One against his Irenicum another against his Vnreasonableness of the Separation c. In both G. R. is excessively Civil to the Dr. after his wonted manner In his Preface to Animad on Iren. he says the Dr. exposed himself between principle and preferment In the Book he calls him ane Abettor of Scepticism p. 5 For the most part he doth nothing but magno conatu nihil agere 18 He evidently Contradicts himself and G.R. wonders to meet with Contradictions so often in so Learn'd ane Author 22 Contradictions are no Rarities in him 27 It was impudently said by the Doctor that our Saviour kept the Feast of the Dedication 124 His propositions are such Reflections on Scrip. that any but a Papist may be ashamed of 132 These and twenty more such Regular Civilities he pays him He is more Civil to him yet in his Learned Answer to the Doctors Vnreasonableness of the Separation c. The Doctor wrote unexpected incoherencies p. 4 Used wonderful considence 9 Ieer'd the zeal and warmth of Devotion 16 was blinded with passion 20 a Taunter 21 Advanced fallacious if not false History 41 Would have things so and so in despight of History 50 Woe to the world if such false and partial History carries the Day 52 Just the same upon the matter with his woe to posterity if the lying stories which some have printed and with bold impudence avouched pass with them for Authentick Histories Pref. to 2 Vind. § 1. So that the Readers of that Vindication need not be much amused with such Cant It follows of Course with our Author But to go on with his Civilities to Dr. Still the Doctor used Ratiocinations that would better become Pharisees 68 Asserted things so rashly and falsely that G. R. had no name for such Assertions 69 His prejudices darkned his understanding 85 He made a mad exposition of the Second Commandment 125 Stretched and forced Scripture 126 Spake things beyond comprehension 148 Made unbecoming Reflections on the word of God 189 Vsed sorry shifts c. 204 Outfaced plain Light 206 Wearied not of writing beside the purpose 210 Advanced Conceits unworthy of a Divine and only fit for Simon Magus 214 He did not Act the part of a Disputant or a Casuist but of somewhat else our Author thought shame to name 275 These and God knows how many more such wonderful Civilities he payed the Doctor Particularly two for which no doubt G. R. stretcht his invention D. Still had said something concerning the English Ceremonies 't is no great matter what it was and G. R. Replys wittily p. 55 This is so indigested a notion that it doth not well become the Learning of Doctor Stillingfleet tho' it be good enough for some to rant with over a pot of Ale How many good glasses of Forty-nine alias good Sack has our Author got for this Again the Doctor had said that the Cross in Baptism was a Ceremony of admitting one into the Church of England But I doubt says G. R. it will prove but a Mouse brought forth by the long labour and hard throes of a Mountain Was not this a pure Flight a lofty Paraphrase on Parturiunt Montes Thus we have seen a sample of his excessive Civilities to such single persons as had the Honour to be his Adversaries What a pity had it been if such Civilities had been only dispenced to half a dozen of Individuals Our Author no doubt was sensible of this and therefore he has even thought fit when he had occasion to extend them to whole Churches particularly the Episcopal Church of Scotland and the Church of England Indeed The whole Body of the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland have got a large share of his Civilities Take this Specimen only from his Second Vindication c. Presbyterians are all Iacob's and Prelatists Esau's Pref. § 1. Presbyterians the seed of the Woman Prelatists the seed of the Serpent ibid. The Prelatists are a spiteful and clamorous sort of men § 5. Men enraged by being deprived of the opportunity they had to persecute their Neighbours Book p. 1 Their course is Diametrically opposite to Moderation p. 2 They are men of mean spirits and Mercenary souls 4 Vnfaithful men 17 Men who use Vnmanly as well as Vnchristian shifts 25 Most of them who were put out i. e. thrust from their habitations and the exercise of their Ministery since the beginning of the late Revolution were put out by their own Consciences 36 Arminians 60 Socinians 61 The contempt of the Ministery came from the Atheism and debauches of the Clergy 64 Their immoral men may be counted by hundreds 65 They are generally liars 70 Men who exposed the Nation to the reproach of Barbarity 24 Men of a restless temper embittered in their spirits by what inconveniency they are fallen into from the ease and dominion over their Brethren which they lately had 84 Men justly loathsome and a burden to the People 99 Instead
5. Neither will it be found of any force to say that Buchanan has not the Article nor Spotswood whose interest it was to have had it if such a thing had been considering his Principles and what was one of his principal designs in writing his History This is of no force I say for 1st as for Buchanan it is evident from the whole tract of his History That he aim'd principally at Matters of State bringing in Church Matters only by the by as we say so that it is no wonder if he did not record them accurately and with all the preciseness of Nicety And yet even as he summs up the Petition he has something in it which plainly imports the Petitioners had no thought to interrupt the Continuation of Imparity for thus he puts the last Article If by the Negligence of former times ignorant or wicked men had been advanced to Ecclesiastical Dignities they might be removed and others substituted in their Offices In which words 't is plain that as there had been HONORES Ecclesiastical Dignities and MINISTERIA different Offices amongst the Clergy before so now there was nothing like petitioning for abrogating any of them But that these Dignities might be better bestowed and these Offices better provided The Dignities and Offices were to continue no Change to be made but of the Dignitaries and Officers 2. As for Spotswood as I grant it had been very proper for his purpose to have taken notice of the Article as it is in Lesly so that he took no notice of it is no argument that Lesly was in the wrong for besides that there is no colour of reason for discrediting one Historians accounts because another is silent about them the truth is whosoever reads Spotswoods History and compares it with the rest of our Histories will find a very great many such Defects And we shall have a very clear as well as a very considerable instance by and by when we come to the next Petition In the mean time let me add another irrefragable Evidence so I think of Leslies integrity as to this Article It is 6. That when our Reformers had carried the day and so came to establish the Government of the Church they exactly reduced to practice that which they had petitioned for in the Article in the Election of Superintendents as is clear both from the First Book of Discipline and the Form of Electing Superintendents as it is to be seen both in the Old Scottish Liturgy and in Knox his History In the Fifth Head of the First Book of Discipline it was appointed That the Council should nominate the Superintendents or give Commission to men of best Knowledge and who had the fear of God to do it the Gentlemen and Burgesses of Towns within the Diocesses being always made privy to the Election And In the Order for Electing Superintendents as 't is both in the Old Liturgy and Knox's History we are told that the Council having given charge and power to the Churches of Lothian to choose Master John Spotswood Superintendent sufficient warning was made by publick Edict to the Churches of Edenburgh Linlithgow Sterling Trenent Hadingtown and Dumbar as also to Earls Lords Barons Gentlemen or others that had or might claim to have Voice in Election to be present c. This was done in the beginning of the year 1561. Now Lay these two things together and what is the Result what else than giving power to the Nobility and Gentry of the Diocess to elect their Bishop according to the Article as Lesly hath it in his Breviate of the Petition Thus we have found Lesly honest and his account just and genuine and thereby as I take it this proposition fairly demonstrated that our Reformers were so far from being Presbyterian so far from being for the divine institution and indispensable right of Parity that on the contrary they were clear for Imparity for Episcopacy But this is not all The Second Petition which I mentioned and which is set down in full form in Knox's History tho it doth not name Bishops is every whit as plain and decretory that the sentiments of our Reformers were no ways inimicous to Prelacy if I may make use of a word made fashionable by a Nobleman of the fashion But on the contrary that they were plainly for it This I take to be so fully and fairly exprest in the fifth and last Article of that Petition that I will here transcribe it word for word Lastly we require most humbly that the wicked slanderous and detestable Life of Prelates and of the State Ecclesiastical may be reformed that the people by them have not occasion as of many days they have had to contemn their Ministery and the preaching whereof they should be Messengers And if thâ—â— suspect that we rather envy their Honours or covet their Riches and Possessions than zealously desire their Amendment and Salvation we are content that not only the Rules and Precepts of the New Testament but also THE WRITINGS of the ANCIENT FATHERS and the GODLY and APPROVED LAWS of JUSTINIAN the EMPEROR decide the Controversie betwixt us and them And if it shall be found that either malevolently or ignorantly we ask more than these fore-named have required and continually do require of able and true Ministers in Christs Church we refuse not Correction as your Majesty with right Iudgment shall think meet But if all the fore-named shall condemn THAT which we condemn and approved THAT which we require then we most earnestly beseech your Majesty that notwithstanding the long Custom which they have had to live at their lust they be compelled either to desist from Ecclesiastical Administration or to discharge their Duties as becometh True Ministers So that the GRAVE and GODLY FACE of the PRIMITIVE CHVRCH being REDVCED Ignorance may be expelled true Doctrine and good Manners may once again appear in the Church of this Realm Here our Reformers lay down a complexe Rule according to which they crave the Church and the Ecclesiastical State may be Reformed This complexe Rule is made up of the Rules and Precepts of the New Testament the Writings of the Antient Fathers and the Godly and Approved Laws of the Emperor JUSTINIAN This is that solid orthodox proper and adequate Rule of Reformation which I mentioned before as Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule and the Rule wherein our Reformers agreed with the English Reformers By this Rule our Reformers are content that all the Controversies betwixt them and the Papists be deâ—ided they refuse not Correction if they ask more than this Rule requires they condemn no more than this Rule condemns This Rule approves all they are asking In short they require no more than that according to this Rule the grave and godly Face of the Primitive Church may be restored as it was in JUSTINIAN's time Let the Ecclesiastical State be reduced to that Frame and Constitution and the Clergy live and rule and discharge their
have once transcribed already from his Exhortation to England for the speedy embracing of Christs Gospel Let no man be charged in preaching of Christ Iesus says he above that which a man may do I mean that your Bishopricks be so divided that of every one as they are now for the most part may be made ten and so in every City and great Town there may be placed a godly learned Man with so many joyned with him for preaching and instruction as shall be thought sufficient for the bounds commited to their Charge Than which testimony it is not possible to find a better Comment upon that period of the First Book of Discipline penned also by Knox himself which is the subject of our present Controversie and it agrees exactly with my Gloss For from this Testimony it is clear that he was for a great number of Bishops and little Diocesses and that in a Church sufficiently provided with Ministers the Bishop should not be obliged to travel from place to place for preaching but might stay at the Chief City or Town of his Diocess What I have said might be sufficient for preferring Mine to the Presbyterian Gloss But I have more to say For 3. This sense of the period accords exactly with the whole tenour of the First Book of Discipline in which there 's not another syllable the most partial Reader can say favours the mistaken Conceipt about the Temporariness of Superintendency but much to the contrary Thus In the Head of the Election of Superintendents the very first words are Such is the present Necessity that the Examination and Admission of Superintendents cannot be so strict as afterwards it must Clearly importing that as Necessity forced them to establish a small number at first so also to take them as they could have them but that a stricter accuracy in their tryal would be needful when the number of qualified men should increase which runs quite counter to the whole design of the Presbyterian Gloss. Again If so many able men cannot be found at present as Necessity requireth it is better that these Provinces wait till God provide than that men unable to edify and govern the Church be suddenly placed in the Charge c. Another Demonstration why at that time they established so few Superintendents Again If any Superintendent shall depart this life or happen to be deposed Rules are laid down for supplying the Vacancy But to what purpose if Superintendency was to be of so short continuance Farther yet After the Church shall be established and three years are past no man shall be called to the Office of a Superintendent who hath not two years at least given a proof of his faithful Labours in the Ministery of some Church What could more plainly import that the Office was to be durable Once more When this Book of Discipline comes to the business of the Vniversities it supposes that Superintendents and Colleges were to be of equal continuance for the Superintendent was still to be at the choosing and installment of Principals and Rectors and the Moneys collected for upholding the Fabrick were to be counted yearly upon the 15th day of November in the presence of the Superintendent of the bounds and imployed with his advice c. Neither is this all yet For 4. The Form and Order of the Election of the Superintendent to be found both in Knox's History and the Old Scottish Liturgy is every way as patt for the continuance of the Office as the First Book of Discipline For the first thing we meet with there as I have already observed is The Necssity of Ministers and Superintendents oâ— Oversecrs without any Exception or Speciality about the one more than the other And as our Reformers had petitioned the Government for the Establishment of a Method to be observed in the Election of Bishops and Presbyters without any intimations of the Temporariness of either Office as we have shewed before so here we find it put in practice as hath likewise before been observed without so much as one syllable favouring the Presbyterian side of the present Controversie but on the contrary all alongst for mine Thus The People are asked If they will obey and honour him as Christs Minister and comfort and assist him in every thing pertaining to his Charge And their Answer is They will and they promise him such Obedience as becometh Sheep to give unto their Pastor not so long as the present Necessity forceth or the present Exigence requireth but so long as he remaineth faithful in his Charge In short the Order or Form for admitting a Superintendent and a Parish Minister was all one and there was nothing in it importing the one Office to be temporary more than the other And however Calderwood thought fit to affirm That Superintendents were not then established as of Divine Institution yet in all this Form the divine Institution of their Office is as much to be found as the divine Institution of Ordinary Ministers The People as we had it just now were asked if they would obey him as Christs Minister And he himself was asked If he knew that the Excellency of this Office to the which GOD CALLED HIM did require that his Conversation should be irreprehensible And again it was asked the People Will ye not acknowledge this your Brother for the Minister of Christ Jesus Your Overseer and Pastor Will ye not maintain and comfort him in his Ministry and Watching over you against all such as wickedly would rebel against God and HIS HOLY ORDINANCE And in the Prayer after his Instalment we have this petition Send unto this our Brother whom IN THY NAME we have charged with THE CHIEF CARE of thy Church within the bounds of Lothian c. Thus our Reformers thought of Superintendency when they composed this Form Now if they lookt upon it as Gods Ordinance c. with what reason can it be said they design'd it meerly to be temporary and for the then Necessities of the Church I think it will be hard to prove that it was the Divinity of these times that men might dispense with divine Institutions but of this more afterwards In the mean time proceed we to a further and indeed ane irrefragable Topick for confirming my side of the present Controversie and that is 5. That as the First Book of Discipline and the Form of admitting Superintendents do both fairly import that our Reformers intended nothing less than the Temporariness of Superintendents so 't is as clear from a vast number of Acts of General Assemblies Most of these Acts I have already adduced for shewing the Disparities between Superintendents and Ordinary Ministers when they are seriously considered will be found uncontrovertibly to this purpose But there are many more for example consider these following The Assembly May 27 1561. addressed to the Council That special and certain provision might be made for the Maintenance of the
First Book of Discipline Head 9. We think necessary that every Church have a Bible in English and that the People conveen to hear the Scriptures Read and Interpreted that by frequent Reading and Hearing the gross ignorance of the People may be removed And we judge it most expedient that the Scriptures be read in order that is that some one Book of the Old and New Testament be begun and followed forth to the end For a good many years after the Reformation there was ane order of men called Readers who supplyed the want of Ministers in many Parishes Their Office was to Read the Scriptures and the Common Prayers The Scriptures continued to be Read in Churches for more than eighty years after the Reformation In many Parishes the old Bibles are still extant from which the Scriptures were Read Even the Directory it self introduced not before the year 1645. appointed the Scriptures to be Read publickly in Churches one Chapter out of each Testament at least every Sunday before Sermon as being part of the publick worship of God and one meanâ— Sanctified by him for the Edifying of his People Yet now what a Scandal would it be to have the Scriptures Read in the Presbyterian Churches The last days Sermons taken from the mouth of the powerful Preacher by the inspired singers of Godly George or Gracious Barbara in some Churches of no mean Note have been Deem'd more Edifying than the Divine Oracles The Scriptures must not be touched but by the Man of God who can interpret them And he must Read no more than he is just then to interpret What shall I say Let Protestant Divines Cant as they please about the Perspicuity of the Scriptures 't is a dangerous thing to have them Read publickly without Orthodox Glosses to keep them close and true to the principles of the Godly And who knows but it might be expedient to wrap them up again in the unknown tongue But enough of this 2. As for Sermons c. The First Book of Discipline gives us the sentiment of our Reformers thus The Sunday in all Towns must precisely be observed before and after noon before noon the word must be Preached Sacraments Administred c. After noon the Catechism must be taught and the young Children examined thereupon in audience of all the People This continued the manner of the Church of Scotland for full twenty years after the Reformation For I find no mention of afternoons Sermons till the year 1580 that it was enacted by that same General Assembly which Condemned Episcopacy That all Pastors or Ministers should Diligently travel with their Flocks to conveen unto Sermon after noon on Sunday Both they that are in Landward and in Burgh as they will answer unto God The whole Kingdom knows Lectures before the forenoons Sermon were not introduced till the days of the Covenant and Directory Yet now a mighty stress is laid upon them and I my self have been told that they were one good Reason for forsaking the Episcopal Communion where they were not used and going over to the Presbyterians where they were to be had I am not to condemn a diligent instruction of the People But to speak freely I am very much perswaded the Method of our Reformers in having but one Sermon and Catechising after noon was every way as effectual for Instructing the People in the substantial knowledge of our Holy Religion and pressing the practice of it as any method has been in use since Much more might be said on this subject But from what I have said 't is plain there is a great Dissimilitude between our Modern Presbyterian and our Reformers even in this point and that is enough for my purpose 4. They have as little stuck by the Pattern of our Reformers in the Office of Praise Our Reformers beside the Psalms of David had and used several other Hymns in Metre They had the Ten Commandments the Lords Prayer the Creed Veni Creator the humble suit of a sinner the Lamentation of a sinner the Complaint of a sinner the Magnificat the Nunc Dimittis c. They never used to conclude their Psalms without some Christian Doxology The Gloria Patri was most generally used In the old Psalm Book it is turn'd into all the different kinds of Measures into which the Psalms of David are put that it might still succeed in the conclusion without changing the Tune It was so generally used that as Doctor Burnet in his Second Conference tells us even a Presbyterian General took it in very ill part when it begun to be disused Yet now nothing in use with our present Presbyterians but the Psalms of David and these too for the most part without Discrimination The Gloria Patri recovered from Desuetude at the last Restitution of Episcopacy and generally used in the Episcopal Assemblies these thirty years past was a Mighty Scandal to them So great that even such as came to Church hang'd their Heads and sate silent generally when it came to that part of the Office Having mentioned Doctor Burnet's Conferences I will transcribe his whole Period because some other things than the Gloria Patri are concerned in it When some Designers says he for popularity in the Western Parts of that Kirk did begin to disuse the Lord Prayer in worship and the singing the conclusion or Doxologie after the Psalm and the Ministers kneeling for Private Devotion when he entered the Pulpit the General Assembly took this in very ill part And in the Letter they wrote to the Presbyteries complained sadly of a Spirit of Innovation was beginning to get into the Kirk and to throw these Laudible practices out of it mentioning the three I named which are commanded still to be practiced and such as refused Obedience are appointed to be conferred with in order to the giving of them satisfaction And if they continued untractable the Presbyteries were to proceed against them as they should be answerable to the next General Assembly Thus he and this Letter he said he could produce Authentically Attested I doubt not he found it amongst his Uncle Waristown's Papers who was Scribe to the Rampant Assemblies from the year 1638 and downward I wish the Doctor had been at pains to have published more of them If he had imployed himself that way I am apt to think he had done his Native Countrey better service than he has done her Sister Kingdom by publishing Pastoral Letters to be used he knows how But even from what he has given us We may see how much the disusing of the Lords Prayer and the Doxologie is a late Innovation as well as a Recession from the Pattern of our Reformers And as for the decent and Laudable custom of kneeling for private Devotion used by the Minister when he entered the Pulpit It may be reckoned 5. Another Presbyterian late Recession It is certain it was used by our Reformers It is as certain it continued in use till
after both Covenants were sworn The National I mean and the Solemn League and Covenant It was not turn'd Authoritatively I intend no more than the Equivocal Authority which Schismatical Assemblies pretend to into disuse till the General Assembly 1645. Even then it was not Condemned as either superstitious or indecent It was laid aside only in complyance with the English Presbyterians By that Assembly a Committee was appointed to give their opinion about keeping a greater Vniformity in this Kirk in the practice and observation of the Directory in some points of publick worship And the fourth Article to which they Agreed was this word for word It is also the Iudgment of the Committee that the Ministers bowing in the Pulpit tho' a Lawful Custome in this Kirk be hereafter laid aside for satisfaction of the desires of the Reverend Divines in the Synod of England and Vniformity with that Kirk so much endeared to us And then followeth the Assembly's approbation of all the Articles digested by the Committee Here 't is evident this Assembly own'd it to be a Lawful Custome A former Assembly called it Laudible And yet it is Scandalous if not Superstitions to our present Presbyterians Let me add as ane Appendage to this 6. Another in my opinion very decent and commendable Custome which obtain'd in Scotland generally till the latter times of Presbytery This when People entered the Church they commonly uncovered their Heads as entering into the House of God And generally they put up a short Prayer to God some kneeling some standing as their conveniency allowed them deeming it very becoming to do so when they came thus into the place of Gods special presence and his publick worship This custom was so universal that the vestiges of it may be even yet observed amongst old People educated before the Donatism of the Covenant who continue to retain it Now adays 't is plain Superstition to a Presbyterian not to enter the Church with his Head covered Mas Iohn himself doth it as mannerly as the coursest Cobbler in the Parish In he steps uncovers not till in the Pulpit claps streight on his Breech and within a little falls to work as the Spirit moves him All the Congregation must sit close in the time of Prayer Clap on their Bonnets in the time of Sermon c. This is the way and it brings me in mind of ane observe ane old Gentleman has frequently repeated to me which was that he found it impossible to perform Divine worship without Ceremonies For said he the Presbyterians themselves who pretend to be against all Ceremonies seem even to Superstition precise in observing the Ceremonies of the Breech c. But Thus I have represented in some instances how our Presbyterian Brethren have deserted our Reformers in the ordinary stated parts of publick worship I proceed now to the Sacraments 7. Then our Reformers had not only a set form for Administring the Sacrament of Baptism But beside the Father of the Child they allowed of Sureties or Sponsors This is plain from the conclusion of the discourse concerning the nature and necessity of Baptism in the Old Liturgy For the Minister there addressed to the Father and the Sponsors thus Finally to the intent that we may be assured that you the Father and the Sureties consent to the performance hereof of the conditions mentioned before Declare here before the Face of this Congregation the sum of the Faith wherein you believe and will instruct this Child After this there is this Rubrick Then the Father or in his absence the God-Father shall rehearse the Articles of his Faith which done the Minister expoundeth the same as followeth That which followeth is a large explanation of the Apostles Creed c. Thus it was appointed in the old Liturgie and thus it was practiced Universally for some scores of years But our Modern Presbyterians do not only abhor all Set-forms as I have said but to name Sponsors or Godfathers to them is to incur the Scandal of Popery The Apostles Creed is no agreeable Standard of the Christian Faith into which one is initiated by Baptism They cannot endure to hear of it in this Office Whoso presents a Child to them to be Baptized must promise to bring up the Child in the Faith as it is contained in the Westminster Confession and the larger and shorter Catechisms This they Require Generally Not a few Require that the Child be educated in the Faith of the Solemn League and Covenant 7. About the Sacrament of the Lords Supper I find many considerable alterations Take these for a Taste 1. It was Administred by our Reformers by a set-set-form contained in the Old Liturgie It continued to be so Administred for more than 60 years by Presbyterians themselves as I have observed already in the instance of Scrimgeour 2. As for the frequency of this most Christian Office The First Book of Discipline Head 9th Determined thus Four times in the year we think sufficient for Administration of the Lords Table Albeit we deny not but every Church for Reasonable causes may change the time and Minister the same oftner The General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Decemb. 25. 1562 Ordained the Communion to be Ministred four times in the year in Burghs and twice in Landward The First Rubrick in the Office for the Lords Supper in the Old Liturgy intimates it was oftner administred for thus it runs Vpon the day that the Lords Supper is Ministred which commonly is used once a Month or as often as the Congregation shall think expedient c. 3. Our Reformers had no preparation Sermons on the Saturndays immediately before the Adminstration of the Sacrament No vestige of any such Sermons in the Old Liturgy nor in the Acts of the Old Assemblies nor in any of our Histories It is plain such Sermons were not required by the Authority of any even Presbyterian Assembly till the year 1645. Then indeed amongst the Articles prepared by the Committee mentioned before I find this the seventh Branch of the Third Article which was about the Lords Supper That there be one Sermon of Preparation delivered in the ordinary place of publick worship upon the day immediately preceeding And it is clear from the stile of these Articles that this was new and had not been practiced at least generally before 4. Our Reformers thought as little on Thanksgiving Sermons on the immediately succeeding Moondays Indeed such were not required no not by that Innovating Assembly 1645. All it has about Thanksgiving Sermons is in the 8 th Branch of the aforesaid Article which is this That before the serving of the Tables there be only one Sermon delivered to those who are to Communicate and that in the Kirk where the service is to be performed And that in the same Kirk there be one Sermon of Thanksgiving after the Communion is ended 5. No Vestige of Assistant Ministers at the Administration of this Sacrament in the practice of
They came not up it seems to the full Measures of Rigiditie which the Spirit of the Assembly required For whoso pleases to turn over in the Register to the 31 st of Ianuary 1648 9 shall find that the Commission of the Kirk the Authentick Vehicle of the publick Spirit of the Kirk during the Interval between Assemblies wrote a Letter to the Presbytery Requiring greater accuracy in the Tryal of Malignants and admitting People to the Renovation of the Covenant prohibiting Kirk-Sessions to meddle in such Matters and Ordering all to be done by the Presbyteries themselves Except very difficult Cases which were to be referr'd to the Commission of the Kirk And to secure this side also let him turn over to the Acts of the General Assembly Anno 1649 and he shall find First Act Intituled Approbation of the proceedings of the Commissioners of the General Assembly by which Act that Assembly Acted by that same Spirit with the former found that the Commissioners appointed Anno 1648. had been zealous diligent and faithful in the discharge of the trust committed to them and therefore did unanimously Approve and Ratify the whole Proceedings Acts and Conclusions of the said Commission Appointing Mr. John Bell Moderator pro tempore to return them hearty thanks in the name of the Assembly for their great pains travel and fidelity If it be said farther that our present Presbyterians require not now that condition of taking the Covenant of those they admit to the Sacrament I reply 1. do not the Cameronians who in all true Logick are to be reputed the Truest Presbyterians observe it punctually 2. How can our present Regnant Presbyterians justify their Omission of it By their own principles the Act binds them for it stands as yet unrepealed by any subsequent General Assembly By the common principles of Reason they are bound either to obey that Act or Reprobate the Assembly which made it This I am sure of they can neither plead the Dissuetude of that Act nor any Peculiarity in the Reason of it for their neglecting it more than many other Acts which they own still to be in vigour But I am affraid my Reader has too much of this Thus I have shewed in part how much our Presbyterian Brethren have Deserted the Rules and Rites of our Reformers about the Sacraments proceed we now to other Liturgical Offices 8. Then our Reformers not only appointed a form for the Celebration of Marriage to be seen in the Old Liturgy but in that Form some things agree word for word with the English Form Particularly the charge to the Persons to be Marryed to Declare if they know any impediment c. A Solemn Blessing was also appointed to be pronounced on the Married Persons and after that the 128 Psalm to be sung c. Besides it was expressly appointed by the First Book of Discipline that Marriages should be only Solemnized on Sunday in the forenoon after Sermon Cap. 9. And this was so Universally observed that the Introduction of Marrying on other days is remarkable For it was proposed to the General Assembly holden at Edenburg Iuly 7. Anno 1579 as a doubt whither it was Lawful to Marry on week days a sufficient number being present and joyning Preaching thereunto and the General Assembly Resolved It was Lawful But Our present Presbyterians if I mistake not make it rather a Doubt whither it be Lawful to Marry on Sunday Sure I am it is inconsistent with their principles to do it by a Form As sure I am tho' they were for a Form they could not well digest the Form of our Reformers which smell'd so rankly of the English Corruptions I know not if they use solemnly to Bless the Married Pair If they do it not I know they have Deserted their own Second Book of Discipline I think they will not deny but the singing of the 128 Psalm in the Church immediately after the Persons are Married is out of fashion with them 9. They have also forsaken our Reformers in the Burial of the Dead 'T is true indeed the First Book of Discipline seems to be against Funeral Sermons neither doth it frankly allow of Reading suitable portions of Scripture and singing Psalms at Burials Yet it was far from Condemning these Offices We are not so precise in this say the Compilers but that we are content that particular Churches with Consent of the Minister do that which they shall find most fitting as they will Answer to God and the Assembly of the Vniversal Church within this Realm But the Old Liturgy which was Authorized by two General Assemblies which the First Book of Discipline could never pretend to has not only a Form for visiting the Sick not observed I am sure by our present Presbyterians but expressly allows of Funeral Sermons These are its very words about Burial The Corps shall be Reverently brought to the Grave accompanyed with the Congregation without any further Ceremonies which being Buried the Minister if he be present and required goeth to the Church if it be not too far off and maketh some Comfortable Exhortation to the People touching Death and the Resurrection Then Blesseth the People and dismisseth them To our present Presbyterians Funeral Sermons are as the worshipping of Reliques They are every whit as ill as Praying for the Dead and the Doctrine of Purgatory One thing more I shall take notice of in the Old Liturgy It is 10. The Form and Order of the Election of the Superintendent which may serve in Election of all other Ministers I shall not repeat what I have already observed as to this point concerning our Presbyterians Condemning the Office of Superintendents and their forsaking our Reformers as to the Ceremony of imposition of hands in Ordinations a point wherein our Reformers I confess were somewhat unaccountable That which I take notice of now is that that Form continued at least for sixty years to be used in Ordinations Particularly it was in use even with the Parity men Anno 1618 as is evident from Calderwood and it was insisted on by them then as a Form which was to be reputed so venerable and of such weight that any Recession from it was ane intollerable innovation And yet I refer it to our present Presbyterians themselves if they can say that they have not intirely Deserted it Because the Designation of the Person to be Ordained is Prior in order of nature to his Ordination I shall add as ane Appendage to this Head the Discrepance between our Reformers and our present Presbyterians about Patronages and Popular Elections of Ministers Our present Presbyterians every body knows are zealous for the Divine Right of Popular Elections The Power of Choosing their own Ministers The Persons who are to have the charge of their Souls is a Priviledge which Christ by his Testament hath Bequeathed to his People It is his Legacy to them ane unalienable part of their Spiritual Property It cannot be
endure the Tryal of their own Test. And this brings me to Enquire whither they have stuck so precisely by the principles of our Reformers that they are in Bona Fide to insist on such a Topick And I think they will not be found to be so if I can make it appear that they have Notoriously deserted the principles of our Reformers I. In the Faith II. In the Worship III. In the Discipline And IV. In the Government of the Church I. I say they have forsaken our Reformers as to the Faith of the Church Our Reformers digested a Confession of Faith Anno 1560. They got it Ratifyed in Parliament that same year It was again Ratifyed Anno 1567. and in many subsequent Parliaments It continued still to be the publick Authorized Standard of the Faith of this National Church for more than eighty years Our Reformers design'd it to be a perpetual and unalterable Standard of the Faith of this National Church for ever When the Barons and Ministers gave in their Petition to the Parliament for ane Establishment of the Reformation Anno 1560. They were called upon and Commandment given unto them to draw into plain and several Heads the sum of that Doctrine which they would maintain and would desire the Parliament to Establish as wholesome true and only necessary to be believed and to be received within the Realm And they willingly accepted the Command and within four days presented the Confession which was Ratified and that its Establishment might pass with the greater solemnity and formality of Law The Earl Marshal protested that it might never be altered Yet now Our Presbyterian Brethren have set up a quite different Standard of Faith namely the Westminster Confession and have got it now Ratifyed by this current Parliament Anno 1690. it was never before Ratified by Act of Parliament I call it a quite different Standard of Faith Indeed whosoever diligently compares both Confessions shall readily find it such He shall not only find many things kept out of the Westminster Confession which are in the Confession of our Reformers and many things put in the Westminster Confession which were not in the Confession of our Reformers and many things nicely minutely precisely and peremptorily determined and that in the most Mysterious matters in the Westminster Confession which our Reformers thought fit as was indeed proper to express in very General and Accommodable Terms But he shall meet with not a few plain evident and irreconcileable Contradictions And now by this present Parliament in its Last Session particularly upon the twelfth day of Iune Anno 1693 it is statuted and ordained That no Person be admitted or continued for hereafter to be a Minister or Preacher within this Church unless he subscribe the Westminster Confession declaring it to be the Confession of his Faith and that he owns the Doctrine therein contained to be the true Doctrine to which he will constantly adhere And by unavoidable consequence he is bound to subscribe to and own God knows how many propositions not only not required nor professed by our Reformers but directly contrary to their Faith and principles And now let the world judge if our Presbyterian Brethren are the Successors of our Reformers in point of Faith II. They have forsaken them yet more in the point of Worship and here a vast field opens For to this head I reduce artificially or inartificially is no great matter if I adduce nothing but wherein our Brethren have deserted our Reformers the publick Prayers the publick Praises the publick Preaching of the word the administration of the Sacraments c. with all their Ceremonies Solemnities and Circumstances c. Generally whatever uses to be comprehended in Liturgies 1. In the General our Reformers were far from Condemning Liturgies or Set-Forms in the publick Offices of the Church There 's nothing more plain than that they preferred publick Composures to these that were private Composures digested by the publick Spirit of the Church to Composures digested by the private Spirit of particular Ministers and Premeditated and well digested Composures tho' performed by private persons to the too frequently Rash indigested incomposed performances of the Extemporary Gift They preferred Offices which were the productions of grave sedate well pondered thoughts to Offices which were mostly the productions of Animal Heat and warmth of Fancy Iohn Knox himself one who had as much Fire in his temper and was as much inclined to have given scope to the Extemporary Spirit I am apt to think as any of our Reformers had even a set form of Grace or Thanksgiving after meat he had a set-form of Prayer for the publick after Sermon and he had set-forms of Prayers read every day in his Family In conformity to this principle ouâ— Reformers for seven years together used the Liturgy of the Church of England as I have fully proven When by the importunity and perswasions of Iohn Knox principally I am sure if not only they resolved to part with the English Liturgy they continued still as far as ever from Condemning Liturgies They did not lay it aside to take up none They choosed another to succeed it they choosed that which went then generally under the name of the Order of Geneva or the Book of Common Order Since under the name of Knox's Liturgie or the Old Scottish Liturgie This Liturgie continued in use not only all the time the Government of the Church subsisted by Imparity after the Reformation But even for many Decads of years after the Presbyterian Spirit and Party turn'd prevalent It was so universally received and used and in so good esteem that when it was moved by some in the Assembly holden at Burnt-Island in March Anno 1601. That there were sundry Prayers in it which were not convenient for these times and a change was desirable the Assembly rejected the motion and Thought good that the Prayers already contained in the Book should neither be altered nor deleted But if any Brother would have any other Prayers added as more proper for the times they should first present them to be tryed and allowed by the General Assembly Here indeed was caution and concern about the publick worship worthy of a General Assembly Nay The First-Rate Presbyterians themselves used the Book as punctually as any other People When Mr. Robert Bruce of whose zeal for the good cause no Man I think can doubt was relegated to Innerness Anno 1605. He remained there four years Teaching every Sabbath before noon and every Wednesday And exercised at the Reading of the Prayers every other night And Master Iohn Strimgeour another prime Champion for the cause when he appeared before the High Commission March 1. Anno 1620 and was challenged for not putting in practice the five Articles of Perth Particularly for not Ministering the Eucharist to the People on their knees answered there is no warrantable form directed or approven by the Kirk besides that
which is extant in Print before the Psalm Book i. e. the old Liturgy according to which as I have always done so now I Minister that Sacrament In short It continued to be in use even after the beginning of the Horrid Revolution in the days of King Charles the First and many old People yet alive remember well to have seen it used indifferently both by Presbyterians and Prelatists But it is not so now Our Modern Presbyterians do not only Condemn the Liturgie of the Church of England used as I say by our Reformers calling it a Dry lifeless service a spiritless powerless service ane unwarrantable service ane ill-mumbled mass a farce of Popish Dregs and Reliques a Rag of Romish Superstition and Idolatry and God knows how many ill things But they Generally Condemn all Liturgies all set-forms of publick worship and devotion They will admit of none All to them are alike odious and intolerable Herein I think there is a palpable Recession from the principles of our Reformers about the publick and solemn worship of the Church and that in a most weighty and material instance But this is not all They have not only deserted our Reformers and Condemn'd them as to Forms But they have made very considerable and important Recessions from them as to the matter both in the substance and circumstances of Liturgical Offices and here I must descend to particulars 1. Then our present Presbyterians observe no Forms in their publick Prayers either before or after Sermon For the most part they observe no Rules They Pray by no Standard Nay they do not stick by their own Directory All must be Extemporary work and the newer the odder the more surprizing both as to matter and manner the better If any Brother has not that fire in his temper that heat in his blood that warmth in his Animal-spirits that sprightlyness and fervour in his fancy or that readiness of elocution c. If he wants any one or two of these many Graces which must concur for accomplishing one with the ready Gift and shall adventure to digest his thought and provide himself with a Premeditated Form of his own making He shall be concerned likewise to be so wise and wary as to provide himself either with a variety of such Forms or many disguises for his one form or he shall run the hazard of the success of his Ministery and his Reputation to boot He is a Gone-man if the Zealots of the gang smell it out that he prayed by Premiditation Fore-thought Prayers are little less Criminal than fore-thought Felony He wants the spirit and deserves to be ranked amongst the Anti-Christian Crue of Formalists Nay so much are they against set-forms that 't is Popery for any thing I know to say the Lords Prayer Our Reformers never met for publick worship but they used it once or oftner And they used it as in obedience to our Saviours Commandment Take for a taste these instances which I have collected from the old Liturgy The Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Church appointed to be said after Sermon is Concluded thus In whose name we make our humble petitions unto thee even as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another Prayer to be said after Sermon has the Lords Prayer in the very bosom of it The Prayer to be used when God threatens his Iudgements concludes thus Praying unto thee with all humility and submission of minds as we are taught and commanded to Pray saying Our Father c. The Prayer to be used in time of Affliction thus Our only Saviour and Mediator in whose name we Pray unto thee as we are taught saying Our Father c. The Prayer at the Admission of a Superintendent or a Minister thus Of whom the perpetual increase of thy Grace we crave as by thee our Lord King and only Bishop we are taught to Pray Our Father c. The Prayer for the Obstinate in the order for Excommunication thus These thy Graces O Heavenly Father and farther as thou knowest to be expedient for us and for thy Church Vniversal we call for unto thee even as we are taught by our Lord and Master Christ Iesus saying Our Father c. The last Prayer before Excommunication thus This we ask of thee O Heavenly Father in the boldness of our Head and Mediator Iesus Christ praying as he hath taught us Our Father c. The Confession of sins c. in time of publick Easts thus We flee to the obedience and perfect Iustice of Iesus Christ our only Mediator Praying as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. The Prayer of Consecration in Baptism thus May be brought as a lively Member of his Body unto the full fruition of thy joys in the Heavens where thy Son our Saviour Christ Reigneth world without end In whose name we Pray as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. So many of the Prayers used by our Reformers were concluded with the Lords Prayer And it is obvious to any body that sometimes 3 or 4 of them were to be said at one Assembly And still when the Lords Prayer is brought in you see 't is plainly in Obedience to our Saviours Command from which 't is clear our Reformers lookt on the using it as not only Lawful but Necessary Our present Presbyterians will not only not use it but they Condemn and writ against the using of it Indeed They have not retained so much as one Form except that of Blessed use by Saint Paul 2 Cor. 13.14 This indeed they commonly say tho' I am not sure they say it in the Form of a Blessing before the Dissolution of the Assembly But why they have kept this and rejected all other Forms or how they can reconcile the retaining of this with the rejection of all other Forms I confess I am not able to tell Let themselves answer for that as well as for retaining set-forms of Praise while they Condemn set forms of Prayer 2. Our Reformers in their publick Assemblies never omitted to make a solemn and publick Confession of their Faith by rehearsing that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed It was said after the Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Chruch and it was introduced thus Almighty and Everliving God vouchsafe we beseech thee to grant us perfect continuance in thy lively Faith augmenting the same in us dayly till we grow to the full measure of our perfection in Christ whereof we make our Confession saying I believe in God the Father c. Herein they are intirely deserted by our present Presbyterians also 3. The Preaching of the word may be performed two ways By the publick Reading of the Scriptures and by Sermons c. founded on the Scriptures Our present Presbyterians in both these have Receded from our Reâ—â—â—mers 1. As for the Reading of the Scriptures our Reformers delivered themselves thus in the
taken from them without a Direct crossing of Christs institution and the horrid sin of Robbing his People of their indisputable Priviledge Patronages are ane Intollerable Grievance and Yoak of Bondage on the Church They have been always the cause of Pestering the Church with a bad Ministery They came in amongst the latest Anti-Christian Corruptions and Vsurpations c. This is their Doctrine tho' 't is obious to all the world they put strange Comments on it by their Practice Well! What were the sentiments of our Reformers in this Matter The First Book of Discipline indeed affirms Head 4. That it appertaineth to the People and to every several Congregation to Elect their own Minister But it has not so much as one syllable of the Divine institution of such a Priviledge On the contrary in that same very breath it adds and in case they be found negligent therein the space of 40 days the Superintendent with his Council may present a Man c. If this Man after tryal is found qualified and the Church can justly reprehend nothing in his Life Doctrine or Utterance then We judge say our Reformers the Church which before was destitute unreasonable if they refuse him whom the Church doth offer And that they should be compelled by the Censure of the Council and Church to receive the Person appointed and approved by the Iudgment of the Godly and Learned unless that the same Church hath presented a Man better or as well Qualified to Examination before that the aforesaid tryal was taken of the Person presented by the Council of the whole Church As for Example the Council of the Church presents a Man unto a Church to be their Minister not knowing that they are otherwise provided In the mean time the Church hath another sufficient in their judgement for that charge whom they present to the Learned Ministers and next Reformed Church to be examined In this case the presentation of the People to whom he should be appointed Pastor must be preferred to the presentation of the Council or greater Church unless the Person presented by the inferiour Church be judged unable for the Regiment by the Learned For this is always to be avoided that no man be intruded or thrust in upon any Congregation But this Liberty with all care must be reserved for every several Church to have their voices and suffrages in Election of their Ministers Yet we do not call that violent intrusion when the Council of the Church in the fear of God regarding only the salvation of the People offereth unto them a man sufficient to instruct them whom they shall not be forced to admit before just Examination So that Book Add to this this consideration That at that time the Popish Clergy were in possession of all the Benefices the Reformed Clergy had not then so much as the prospect of the Thirds which I have discoursed of before These things laid together 't is obvious to perceive 1. That it was only from Prudential Considerations our Reformers were inclined to give the People so much Power at that time It was much for the Conveniency of the Ministers who were to live by the Benevolence of the Parish c. They did not grant them this Power as of Divine Right No such thing so much as once insinuated as I have said 'T was plainly nothing but a Liberty And no injury no violence was done to a Parish even in these circumstances of the Church when the Council of the Church gave them a Minister without their own Election 'T is as plain 2. that so far as can be collected from the whole Period above our Reformers the Compilers of the Book I mean abstracting from the then circumstances of the Church were more inclined that the Election of Ministers should be in the hands of the Clergy than of the People Which I am much inclined to think was not only then but a long time after the prevailing sentiment And all the world sees I am sure it was a sentiment utterly inconsistent with the opinion of the Divine Right of Popular Elections I have been at pains to set the First Book of Discipline thus in its due light that our Brethren may not complain it was neglected not that my Cause required it For that Book was never Law either Civil or Ecclesiastical and so I might fairly have omitted it Let us try next what were truly the publick and Authoritative sentiments of our Reformers The first which I find of that nature is the sentiment of the General Assembly holden in September 1565. The General Assembly holden in Iune immediately before had complained that some vacant Benefices had been bestowed by the Queen on some Noblemen and Barons The Queen answered She thought it not Reasonable to deprive her of the Patronages belonging to her And this General Assembly in September answer thus Our mind is not that her Majesty or any other Person should be defrauded of their just Patronages but we mean whensoever her Majesty or any other Patron do present any Person unto a Benefice that the Person presented should be tryed and examined by the judgement of Learned Men of the Church Such as are for the present the Superintendents And as the presentation of the Benefice belongs to the Patron so the Collation by Law and Reason belongeth to the Church Agreeably we find by the 7 Act 1 Parl. Iac. 6. Anno 1567. The Parliament holden by Murray Regent It was enacted in pursuance no doubt of the Agreement between the Nobility and Barons and the Clergy in the General Assembly holden in Iuly that year That the Patron should present a qualified Person within six Months to the Superintendent of these parts where the Benefice lyes c. And by the Agreement at Leith Anno 1572 the Right of Patronages was reserved to the Respective Patrons And by the General Assembly holden in March 1574 it was enacted that collations upon presentations to Benefices should not be given without consent of three qualified Ministers c. The General Assembly in August that same year supplicated the Regent that Bishops might be presented to vacant Bishopricks as I have observed before By the General Assembly holden in October 1578 It was enacted that presentations to benefices be directed to the Commissioners of the Countreys where the Benefice lyes 'T is true indeed the Second Book of Discipline Cap. 12. § 10. Condemns Patronages as having no ground in the word of God as contrary to the same and as contrary to the Liberty of Election of Pastors and that which ought not to have place in the Light of Reformation But then 't is as true 1. That that same General Assembly holden in April 1581 which first Ratified this Second Book of Discipline Statuted and Ordained That Laick Patronages should remain whole unjoynted and undivided unless with consent of the Patron So that let them who can reconcile the Acts of this Presbyterian
Assembly For to my skill which I confess is not very great it seems as we use to say to have both burnt and blown Patronages blown them by this Act and burnt them by Ratifying the Book which Condemn'd them But whatever is of this that which I observe 2. is far more considerable For tho' the Book Condemned Patronages yet our Presbyterian Brethren of the Modern Cut have no great advantage by it for it had nothing less in its prospect than to Condemn them for making way for Popular Elections Indeed it gave no countenance to such Elections far less did it suppose or assert them to be of Divine Right This is its Determination in the 9 th § of that 12. Cap. The Liberty of Electing Persons to Ecclesiastical Functions observed without interruptions so long as the Church was not corrupted by Anti-Christ we desire to be restored and retained within this Realm So as none be intruded upon any Congregation either by the Prince or any other inferior Person WITHOUT LAWFUL ELECTION and THE ASSENT OF THE PEOPLE over whom the Person is placed according to the Practice of the Apostolick and Primitive Church Now 1. considering that it was the common talk of the Presbyterians of these times that Antichristian Corruptions began to pester the Church so soon as Episcopacy was introduced It is clear that that which they call the Vninterrupted Practice of the Church must have descended according to themselves but for a very few years and I shall own my self their humble servant if our present Presbyterians shall prove that Popular Elections were in Vniversal uninterrupted Practice during that interval of their own making the interval I mean which they make between the Apostles times and the first Introduction of Episcopacy Indeed 2. the Book plainly distinguishes between LAWFUL ELECTION and THE ASSENT OF THE PEOPLE and all the world knows they are naturally distinguishable and whosoever knows any thing of the Monuments of these Primitive times knows they were actually distinguished and that all the Peoples Priviledge was to ASSENT not to ELECT They were not in use of Electing if I mistake not till towards the end of the third Century So that if we can believe the Compilers of the Book if they were for restoring the Primitive Practice 't is easy to understand that they meant no such thing as to restore Popular Elections Especially if 3. it be considered that we have one very Authentick Explication of this 9 th Article of the 12. Cap. of the Second Book of Discipline handed down to us by Calderwood himself The story is this King Iames the Sixth continually vext with the Turbulency of the Presbyterian temper caused publish 55 Questions and proposed them to be sifted thinking that clear and distinct Resolutions of them might contribute much for ending many Controversies agitated in those times between the Kirk and the Crown They were published in February or Ianuary 159◠They are to be seen both in Spotswoods and Calderwoods Histories I am only concerned at present for the third Question which was this Is not the Consent of the most part of the Flock and also of the Patrons necessary in the Election of Pastors Now Calderwood says that there were Brethren delegated from every Presbytery of Fife who met at St. Andrews upon the 21. of February and having tossed the Kings Questions sundrie days gave Answers to every one of them particularly to the third this was their Answer The Election of Pastors should be made by those who are Pastors and Doctors Lawfully called and who can try the Gifts necessarily belonging to Pastors by the word of God And to such as are so chosen the Flock and Patron should give their Consent and Protection Now this I say is a very Authentick Explication of the words of the Book for these Delegates Meeting at St. Andrews it is not to be doubted but Mr. Andrew Melvil at that time principal of the New College was with them probably they met in that City that he might be with them for sure I am it was not otherwise the most convenient place of the County for their Meeting And having him with them they had one than whom none on earth was capable of giving a more Authentick Sense of the words of the Book It were very easy to adduce more Acts of General Assemblies to this purpose But I am affraid I have insisted too much on this subject already In short then the Groundless Fancy of the Divine Right of Popular Elections is more properly ane Independent than a Presbyterian principle The English Presbyterians of the Provincial Assembly of London wrote zealously against it in their Ius Divinum Ministerii Evangelici It is truly inconsistent with the Old Presbyterian Scheme It obtain'd not generally amongst our Scottish Presbyterians till some years after 1638. It was not adopted into their Scheme till the General Assembly 1649. Patronages were never taken away by Act of Parliament till of late i. e in the year 1690. 'T is true G. R. in his True Rrepresentation of Presbyterian Government says they were taken away by Law meaning no doubt by the Act of the pretended Parliament Anno 1649. But he had just as much Reason for calling that Rout a Parliament or its Acts Laws as he had for making the suppressing of Popular Elections of Ministers a just Cause for separating from the Communion of a Church Thus I have insisted on the Recessions of our present Presbyterian Brethren from the sentiments of our Reformers about the publick worship of the Church and some of its Appendages Perchance I have done it too tediously if so I shall endeavour to dispatch what remains more curtly III. They have also Deserted our Reformers in the Discipline of the Church The particulars are too numerous to be insisted on Let any man compare the two Books of Discipline The First compiled by our Reformers Anno 1560 The Second by the Presbyterians of the first Edition and Ratified by Act of the General Assembly holden in April 1581 and he shall find no scarcity of differences He shall find Alterations Innovations Oppositions Contradictions c. Let him compare the Acts of Assemblies after the year 1580 with the Acts of Assemblies before and he shall find many more Indeed Our present Presbyterians have made not a few notorious Recessions from the Second The Presbyterian Book of Discipline To instance in a few The Third Chapter of the Second Book of Discipline is thus Intituled How the Persons that bear Ecclesiastical Function are admitted to their Offices This Chap. treats of such Persons in the general The particular Orders of Pastors Doctors Elders c. are particularly treated of in subsequent Chapter◠This Third Chapter treating thus of Ecclesiastical Officers in the general makes two things necessary to the outward call Election and Ordination § 6. It defines ordination to be the separation and sanctifying of the Person appointed by God and his