Edinburgh ordered Dr. Monro upon the 25th of August within two or three days after to give up to the Clerk of the Committee a Copy of his Dictates The Doctor told them what the Themes were upon which he had his publick Praelections viz. De Deitate Christi De ejusdem Sacrificio De adventu Messiae De natura ortu progressu Religionis Christianae c. And so they needed not be Inquisitive after them for they were not likely to find in them those Opinions that they were most zealous against But withal he added that he himself wrote a very ill hand that the Papers that lay by him were in many places blotted and interlined But he promised where ever he could find a Copy among the Students he would deliver it up to their view For the Copy they wrote was more just than any he had in his keeping for in the very time of the Publick Praelection he did Add Change and Alter as he saw convenient This did not satisfie but one of their number pleaded that he should give up his Dictates immediately and that the Apology he made was a Shift and downright contempt of the Committee I think it was Hume of Polwart that reasoned thus with some degrees of warmth against the Doctor The Doctor was content to undeceive them as far as was possible and therefore he desired they might name some of their own number to examine his Dictates and that he would wait upon them and read the Dictates to them himself since he presumed none else could read them so well It seems they found this overture reasonable for after that offer made by the Doctor he heard not one word more of the Dictates they never inquired after them However the Doctor procured a legible Copy of his Dictates De Sacrificio Christi from one of the Students and gave it to the Clerks that they might give it to whom they pleased It fell out that when they were speaking very hotly about the Doctor 's Dictates that he told them himself that for one year he had changed his publick Dictates into Chatechetio Conferences The reason was this That he perceived that it was not possible to order any publick Lesson equal to the Capacity and Advantage of all the Students for some of them being but so very young that they were but Learning their Latine and Greek Others of them being advanced so near the Degree of Masters of Art most part of the Youth within the Colledge could not be thought capable to understand Theological Controversies which were the ordinary Theams of such Publick Praelections Therefore the Doctor advised with some of the Masters what way the publick Lecture upon the Wednesdays might be made Universally useful to all the Students within the Colledge And the result was that he told the Students he would not put them that Year to the toil of writing any but ordered them to convene frequently on the Wednesdays and he would explain to them the Apostolick Creed one Article after another viva voce this he did for that year The Students were better satisfied much more edified and less wearied than when they were obliged to Write for now they came to the School freely of their own accord without constraint whereas formerly they neither writ what was Dictated nor were all the Masters able to drive them to the publick Hall when they had strained their Authority to the greatest height And perhaps some of them who were most concerned then to magnifie every shaddow of an Objection against the Doctor have found by their proper experience that the publick Dictates are no more regarded than their Character This then was the Doctor 's fault that he changed a publick Lesson that served no end but that of Form and useless Solemnity into a profitable useful and serious Exercise By his imployment he was obliged to teach the Youth the first Principles of Christian Religion what more proper method could he devise than go through the Articles of the Apostolick Creed and explain them partly from Scripture partly from the assistance of Natural Reason partly from the Universal Tradition of the Church and partly from such Concessions of Pagan Authors as might either illustrate or confirm what was believed among the Christians This was the method he took But was the Doctor obliged by any Statute in the House never to vary the former Custom of Praelections No that is neither pretended nor alledged wherein then was he to be blamed that he taught his own Scholars in the manner he judged most proper for their Edification perhaps when Elias comes he 'll tell us where the fault lay and not till then shall we ever know Let me ask one question and so I 'll leave this Argument Did all the Doctor 's Predecessours so Superstitiously observe this way of Dictating without change or alteration of the Method No for the truly Learned and Pious Dr. Lighton Bishop of Dumblain when he was Principal of the Colledge of Edinburgh did never oblige them to write one word from his Mouth But instead of those Dictates recommended to them viva voce the most excellent truths of the Christian Religion in the most unimitable strains of Piety and Eloquence And Mr. Adamson his Predecessour did Catechise as you may see by the Printed Copy of his Catechism nor is there any restraint upon the Principal of the Colledge either from Statute or Custom why he may not change his Method as oft as he sees convenient Yet to make a mighty muster of Arguments against the Doctor his Catechetick Conference must be made a part of his Crime I think one Mr. Law had the honour of making this discovery but I am not very sure of it Report And that it appears by the publick Registers of the Magistrand Laureation that whereas in the Year 1663 till the Year 1687 the Magistrands were always sworn to continue in the Verity and Purity of the Gospel or in the Christian Religion reformed according to the Purity of the Gospel yet in the Year 1687 and 1688 when Dr. Monro was Principal he takes the Magistrands obliged only to persevere in the Blank Christian Religion and this Blank is found three several times in the Book viz. At two publick Laureations and a private one and the Doctor having laid the blame on the Bibliothecarius his negligence and craving the Bibliothecarius might be examined thereupon He being accordingly Sworn and examined Depones that what he wrote in the Magistrand Book was either by direction of the Primar or of one of the Regents and in presence of the Faculty or of a Quorum of them and that what he did write in the said Book was always read over in presence of the Masters and Scholars And particularly the Alteration of the Promise made at the Graduation in the Year 1687. As also the Committee considering that at the two last Laureations in the Year 1689 and 1690 neither Oath nor Promise was required at
three several times in the Book viz. at two Publick Laureations and a private one and the Doctor having laid the blame on the Bibliothecarius his negligence and craving the Bibliothecarius might be Examined thereupon He being accordingly Sworn and Examined Depones that what he wrote in the Magistrand Books was either by direction of the Primar or of one of the Regents and in Presence of a Faculty or of a Quorum of them and that what he did write was alwaies Read over in the Presence of the Masters and the Scholars and particularly the alteration of the Promise made at the Graduation in the year 1687 as also the Committee considering that at the two last Laureations in the year 1689 and 1690 neither Oath nor Promise was required at the Graduation It is therefore the Opinion of the Committee That Doctor Alexander MONRO Principal of the Colledge of Edinburgh be Deprived of his Office as Primar there and that the said Office be Declared vacant There is a Letter Written by the said Doctor and Directed to the late Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews Dated Jan. 5. 1689. owned and acknowledged by the Doctor to be his hand write the Consideration whereof is Remitted to the Commission The Sentence of Deprivation against Dr. Monro At Edinburgh September 25 1690. THE Lords and others of the Commission appointed by Act of Parliament for Visitation of Universities Colledges and Schools having this day heard and considered the above written Report of the Committee of the Colledge of Edinburgh anent Doctor Monro Primar of the Colledge of Edinburgh Deposition and other Instructions produced and also Doctor Monro being ask'd if he was presently willing to Swear the Oath of Allegiance to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary and to Sign the same with the Assurance and the Confession of Faith which formerly he had offered to Sign before the said Committee and if he would Declare his willingness to submit himself to the present Church Government as now Establish'd The said Doctor Monro did Judicially in Presence of the said Commission refuse to Sign the said Confession of Faith and to take the said other Engagements required to be done by the said Act of Parliament And also did Judicially acknowledge his written Answers produced before the Committee and did Confess he caused remove the Pictures of the Reformers out of the Library Therefore the said Commission approves of the foresaid Committees Report and finds the same sufficiently Verified and Proven And hereby Deprives the said Doctor Alexander Monro of his Place as Primar of the said Colledge of Edinburgh and Declares the said place Vacant Sic Subscribitur Crafurd P. A Review of the above-mentioned Report of the Committee appointed to Visit the Colledge of Edinburgh concerning Doctor Monro The Report THE Committee Considering that Doctor Monro Principal of the Colledge of Edinburgh did Judicially Refuse to comply with the Qualifications Required by the Act appointing the Visitation of Colledges except as to the Subscribing the Confession of Faith Review First It cannot be denied but that the Doctor did once and again deliberately plainly and openly refuse to comply with the New Test appointed by the late Act of Parliament for Masters of Universities but then it is necessary for Strangers to know what this Test is and then they will see upon what Design it was invented and why it was Imposed upon Masters of Universities and not upon the whole Clergy of the Nation First All Masters of Universities were required to Sign the Westminster Confession of Faith in every Article and to hold every Article de fide without any Limitation Explication Restriction or Latitude When the Doctor gave in his Answers to the Committee he was that Afternoon asked if he would comply with the Act of Parliament he told them he had considered the Act of Parliament and he could not comply with it For said he it is needless to insist on particulars though I should agree to it in some Instances I cannot comply with it in its full Extent and in our Language this is molum ex quolibet defectu bonum ex integra causa thus he answered once so he had Reason to expect they would never give him any trouble about this Question But the Committee upon the 〈…〉 day of August would needs ask him again whether he would Sign the Westminister Confession of Faith The Doctor thought this question was asked to satisfie their private Curiosity not at all with regard to the Report they were to make to the General Commission since he positively told them before that he would not comply with the New Test therefore he yielded so far to their importunity as to tell them he had no great scruples against the Confession of Faith and that if the Westminster Confession of Faith was imposed as Vinculum Unitatis Ecclesiasticae and nothing else required he might be induced to comply with it very chearfully he was then removed and in the Interval of his absence before he was called again one of the Ministers desired that no more Questions should be asked for in Case said he He should comply with the other particulars of the Test where are we then I had this from a Person of Honour who was present a Member of the Visitation But as long as the Test stood as now it stands Mr. Kennedy if he be the Man needed not be so much afraid of the Doctor 's Compliance This Confession as to the Confession of Faith is by their Sentence made to contradict his publick refusal to Sign it before the Commission as if every Article of that Book should be received as Infallible Truth was it not enough that he was content to Sign the Confession of Faith with that Freedome and latitude the Protestant Churches used to impose Confessions upon their Members But the Earl of Crawford Praeses of the General Commission asked the Doctor when he was sisted before them whether he would Sign the Westminister Confession of Faith without Restriction Limitation Explication or any Reserve whatsoever To this the Doctor Answered plainly and resolutely he would not nor are Confessions thus imposed in any Protestant Church upon Earth they look upon them as Secondary Rules and consequently to be Examined by the Word of God And the most Accurate Humane Composures may afterwards be found in some one Instance or other to have swerved from the Infallible and Original Rule of Faith but the Presbyterian Severity may appear in this that they Read the Scriptures with design to defend their own Dictates whereas others Read all Dictates with an Eye to the Holy Scriptures The Doctor was content to Defend and Assert upon all occasions all these Articles in that Book that were Uniformly Received in all Protestant Churches Nay more he was content never openly and contentiously to Dispute against any of the Doctrines contained in that Book so as to advance Faction or Parties But to Sign the Confession of Faith in all
set in the front to make up the Muster and for no other end since he dares no more appear to make good this than the other triffling particulars Was it my Swearing the Oath of the Test once and again or my recommending to the Scholars the first Year I came here such Books as I judged most proper to Discover and confute the Superstitions of the Roman Church Had it not been far easier for the Libeller who hath no regard to Truth or Probability to have cast into this Paper more odious Crimes But I was in France and therefore behoved to be a Papist and this is enough for this triffling Lybeller I am very sure none of the Papists ever thought me one The second Article is a Confirmation of the first Mr. Burnet was suspect of Popery when he came here and I did all I could to get Scholars to his Class particularly I spoke to Bailey Grahame for his Son and the Chancellour thanked me for the Care I took of Mr. Burnets Concern and such as he was The then Magistrates of Edinburgh several of the Learned Colledge of Physicians and all the Professors of this University will bear me Witness that I left no stone unturned to keep Mr. Burnet out of this Colledge And yet the Libeller hath the Honesty to accuse me that Mr. Burnet was suspect of Popery Was this my fault or was it truly a fault in Mr. Burnet that he was Suspect of Popery The Lord Archbishop of Glascow and Sir Thomas Kennedy then Protest will vindicate me in this particular For it is very well known how much I opposed Mr. Burnet's entry here a Gentleman of known Parts and Integrety one of the Professors of Philosophy in the old Colledge of St. Andrews was the Man I wished to fill up the vacance that happened by the Death of Mr. Lidderdale but Mr. Burnet being once thrust in upon us more by the Duke of Gordon than the Earl of Perth what could I do with him My care of this House obliged me to make him as useful as I could He lay under the Suspicion of being Popish but I knew this to be a Calumny and if I had not endeavoured to get him some Scholars we should have wanted one entire Class in the Colledge This is the true Reason why I spoke to Bailzie Grahame to send his Son to Mr. Burnet and procured an Act of the Faculty for I could make none as the Libeller impertinently suggests that such as were Mr. Lidderdale's Scholars the preceeding Year should be taught for that Year in no other Class but Mr. Burnet's who succeeded to his charge This was no Arbitrary stretch of mine but a just defence of the Current and usual Customes of the House for Mr. Burnet having the second Class could expect none else but the Students that were taught in Mr. Lidderdale's Class the preceeding year but it is added I did all this because I favoured Popery and the Chancellour thanked me for it But this is a down right Lye for I never Entertain'd the Chancellour with Discourses of Mr. Burnet besides for any thing I know the Chancellour had no value for him III. The next is that formidable one of Reading the English Service in my Family in that Interval when there was no National Church Government here But the Libeller forgets that this quite frustrates his first attempt They must be odd kind of Papists that Read the Service of the Church of England upon the 5th of November But the Libeller adds that the Book of Common Prayer was never allowed here since the Reformation does he mean that the Service of the Protestant Church of England was used here before the Reformation but to let this go the Book of Common Prayer was Read in many Families in Scotland ever since the Restitution of King Charles II. and Publickly Read in the Abbey of Hollyrood-house in the Reign of King Charles the First and I hope the Tolleration by King James did not Exclude the English Prayers But upon Enquiry it will be found that they were the first Prayers that were Read in Scotland after the Reformation for Buchannan tells us expresly as you see in the Margin And Buchanans Testimony is the more Remarkable that the Confession of Faith was Ratified in Parliament that very year so that we have not only the private Practice of a few great Reformers Wisheart and several others to justifie the English Liturgy but also the Solemn Concession of the whole Nation who thought their Confession then Ratified had in it nothing contradictory to or inconsistent with the Book of Common Prayer Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England And such as plead for their Separation from the Church of England from the Practices of the first Reformers here go upon an unpardonable Mistake in our History But the plain Matter of Fact is this when I left off Preaching in the High Church I advised with some of my Brethren and the Result was that we should Read the Book of Common Prayer and Preach within our Familes per vices since most of them were acquainted somewhat with the Liturgy of the Church of England Neither did we think when Quakers and all Sects were Tolerated that we should be blamed for Reading those Prayers within our private Families which we prefer to all other Forms now used in the Christian Church Neither had we any design to Proselite the People to any thing they had no mind to else I might have Read the Liturgy in one of the Publick Schools within the Colledge And it must not be said we were afraid to venture upon the Publick Exercise of it because of the Rabble for during the Session of the Colledge it is very well known in the City that the Mobile durst not presume to give us the least Disturbance However the Matter succeeded beyond what we proposed or looked for we Preached to the People upon the Sundays they came by hundreds more than we had room for and very many became acquainted with the Liturgy of the Church of England and perceived by their own Experience there was neither Popery nor Superstition in it and when the Libeller knows it better he will forbear his Violence and Foolish Cavilling But your Lordships will not think I make all this Apology as if I were diffident of the intrinsick Excellency of Common Prayer or that I had done something that needs an Excuse for I look upon the Church of England as the true Pillar and Centre of the Reformation and if Her Enemies should lay Her in the Dust which God forbid there is no other Bulwark in Britain to stop or retard the Progress of either Popery or Enthusiasme And I wonder Men should retain so much bitterness against the Church of England valued and Admired by all Foreign Churches and whose Liturgie as it is the most Serious and Comprehensive so it is the most agreeable to the Primitive Forms
VI. The next Crime is I removed some Pictures of the first Reformers for a day or two out of their place in the Library and that I was challenged for this by the Magistrates To this I answer That the Magistrates never challenged me for it for they knew well enough there was no hazard of my running away with them But I gave the true and satisfactory Answer to this Article to Sir John Hall Provost of Edinburgh upon Wednesday last and it needs not be made Publick unless he please And I am not very sollicitous whether ever the Libeller be satisfied about it I hope the Nobility and Gentry who sit here will VII The next is that I presented on Eucharistick Poem Composed by Mr. Cuninghame upon the Birth of the Prince of Wales to my Lord Chancellour with my own hand Where the Libeller had the word Eucharistic I know not it is his misfortune that some of his darling expressions discover him more frequently than he 's aware It seems he had read upon the Frontispiece of the Poem Tetrastic and he stumbled as near as he could by setting down Eucharistic but by what Propriety of Speech he knew not I am sure the Bonefires Illuminations Glasses and Wine flung over the Cross were all of them as Eucharistic as the Poem and the Town of Edinburgh should answer this not I Nay the Council of Scotland Complemented the King on this occasion Yet it may be the Libeller had some other design by chusing some word near the Eucharist that Mr. Cuninghame and I might be thought to advance the Doctrine of Transubstantiation But that I gave the Poem to the Chancellour beginning Trino nate diâ— is acknowledged by me VIII The next is a Horrid and Impious Curse against my self when I threatned one of the Scholars My Lords I did look for some such Accusation for it is not usual for the Presbyterians to load Men of a different Opinion from them with ordinary escapes They must represent them as abominable and as Sinners of the first rate for all that are not of their way can have no fairer quarter yet I could not easily guess who should first invent this prodigious Calumny a Lye so notorious that it could not come out of the Mouth of an ordinary Sinner The Story of this Scholar and the true Original of the Slander is this In the beginning of Nov. 1688. I found that Robert Brown the Plunderer who was then Mr. Kennedy's Servant had been for a good while practising upon some of the Students to enter into Tumults break all Order and Discipline and to burn publickly some mock Effigies of the Pope This certainly would have ruined the Peace and Order of our Society many bad Consequences did frequently attend it Not only were the Students debauched from their Books but their Lives exposed every moment to hazard by the Tumults Besides that our Colledge had felt the bad effects of it some years before Upon the account of this and some other notorious Villanies I procured Robert Brown to be imprisoned however at the same time I gave him a piece of Money to serve him that night upon the marrow I pleaded he might be set at Liberty upon his promise of amendment which was done accordingly but the Villain grew worse and worse till at last he became Captain of the Rabble and in requital of my forbearance towards him he writes and fixes a Placade upon the Colledge Gate threatning to kill the Regents ordering me to Râ—cant my Sermon against the Tumults and charging me with all the Blood-shed at the Abbey This Placade is still in my keeping Notwithstanding of all this I forbore to extrude him upon plausible Considerations at the intreaty of some and still he went on in his wicked Course and all the Robberies committed upon poor People were laid at our doors as if our Scholars were to be blamed for his Extravagancies At last he committed an Out-rage which might have hanged a hundred There was a Woman in my Lord President 's House whom this Brown caressed and frequented and she had a quarrel with another Maid-servant who was Popish immediately Brown is imployed by his Godly Mistress to banish the Popish Maid from the House He willingly undertook the Service gathered his Troop and entered the House my Lady being in Child-Bed and my Lord President himself at London Brown thus invading the Lord President 's House my Lady was almost frighted to Death and we that were Masters of the Colledge thought our selves so disgraced that the House of our Great and Learned Patron should be thus rifled in his absence by one of our Scholars when his Lady was lying in And when we thought that my Lord President could not but be highly offended to hear that we had thus requited him for many favours he had done to this University I confess I could no longer forbear I went to the Class where Brown was and called him to the upper Gallery and gave him all his most proper names and threatned him if he did not immediately beg my Lady Lockart's pardon I would break his Bones all those big words I said to him and the day thereafter extruded him with the usual swore Upon which he frequently swore he would be revenged and told the under Janitor Robert Henderson that he had bought a pair of Pistols to shoot me one might have served I beg Your Lordships Pardon for this tedious and unpleasant story for none else but Robert Bown or some of his Associates would ever have accused me of such an Impious Curse And when the Libeller will be ingenuous which I do not expect he must confess the Original of this impudent Slander to be just as I have related it and let him consult as much as he pleases Brown for more materials to make up a Libel for I assure him I think my self disgrac'd if he or any of his Accomplices speak good of me XI The next is That I ordinarily neglect the Worship of God in my Family Sometimes I am accused for having too many Prayers in my Family and now that I ordinarily neglect Prayers for 〈◊〉 guess by the Worship of God he only means that part of it But this is a common place and all of the Episcopal Perswasion must be represented as Atheists and Scandalous void of all Devotion and Piety But very few of any Sense or Quality will believe this impertinent Slander either in the Country or the City of Edinburgh where we are known therefore I thought it not worth any answer X. The next is I Baptized upon Sunday last Mr. James Scot his Child without acquainting the Minister of the West-Kirk When Mr. Patrick Hepburn who is the Lawful Minister there tho' he be of the Episcopal Persuasion as yet is neither Censured nor Deposed will find fault with what I have done I shall indeavour to make amends but I need not fear any trouble this way since I had his
Informers were not of their Gang nor had any liking to their Cause and therefore they took no notice of the Charge which is as follows Information against Mr. Massie THere being a Commission granted by Their Majesties and Estates of Parliament to some Noblemen Gentlemen and Ministers for Visiting the Universities of this Kingdom the said Visitors are earnestly desired to Consider and Examine the Behaviour and Management of Mr. Andrew Massie Regent in the Colledge of Edinburgh who these several years has been an useless and unfit Master of the said University 1. The Visitors are desired to consider Mr. Massie's base and indirect ways to procure Scholars to himself which is thus While he was a Regent in old Aberdeen during the whole Vacance he used to Travel up and down the Country and where ever he heard there were any young Boys without any Introduction he would impudently address himself to their Parents and Friends and assure them that the Boys were fit for the Colledge albeit very often they did not understand a word of Latin and if any of their Parents or Friends did object to him their Children not being qualified he did promise to make up the same by extraordinary pains and care by himself which he never did yet being the most superficial and unconcerned Master that ever was in an University as will appear afterwards When he came to the Colledge of Edinburgh and found that way not so practicable here his method was and is to spread confidently abroad that none of the Courses were necessary which preceeded that which he taught for the time so that he never fail'd to have Semies Bauchelours and Magistrands who were never at any Colledge before and he admitted them to be Scholars without offering them to be examined by the Principal or Masters And this he did so frequently that there was a publick Process intended against him in Anno. 1684. And as this is not our and known to the whole University so the same can be proven by particular Witnesses 2. The Visitors are desired to consider his way and manner of Teaching his Scholars which is so trifling and superficial that there can be no excuse given for it For 1. He never explains his Notes but unconcernedly reads them shortly over without ever making any Digression or Commenting upon them so as to make his Scholars to understand them 2. There are many in his Class at whom he will not ask one question in the whole year nor once examine them 3. He takes no notice of the Absents since many of them will be absent for some weeks and yet he never misses nor calls for them neither does he fine or punish them for their absence and the effect of this the time he taught his last course was that the trafficking Priests and Jesuits did debauch more of his Scholars then of all the other Students in Scotland beside 4. He takes as little notice and care of his Scholars when present for albeit his Class be numerous yet there will not be eight or ten taking notice of what is said or dictated while the rest in his presence are talking tossing and fighting together in the School And an effect of this is that there is more expence for mending the Glass Windows of his School than of all the other Schools besides 5. He gives very ill attendance for all along and particularly the last Session of the Colledge he never entered the Colledge till half an hour after eight in the Morning and near eleven in the Forenoon and this was so well known to his Scholars who did not expect him sooner that it made them either stay from the Colledge altogether or so disturb it that it was hardly possible for other Masters to keep their Meetings at these times 6. He has very few Meetings with his Scholars on the Lords day and takes no care that the Scholars attend since of seventy or eighty of which his Class may consist there will not be above eight or ten present 7. He altogether neglects the Office of Hebdomader which was the most useful attendance in the Colledge for preventing of Tumults in so much that the Scholars did ordinarily brag that Massie's Week was near and that then they should be reveng'd of one another 3. The Visitors are desired to examine his care anent the Library which should be very dear to all the Masters and yet Mr. Massie took no care to make his Scholars pay their dues at their Matriculation and Laureation and particularly this last three years there were to the number of 58 of his Scholars whom he would not bring to Matriculation notwithstanding he was desired thereto by the Principal and the Catalogue of these Scholars Names the Biblothecar can exhibit to the Visitors if required 2. It is evident by the Journal Books of the Library that in the Year 1680 or 1681 there was taken out of the Money belonging to the Library Twenty Pounds Sterling or thereby for uses unknown to any of the present Masters for which Mr. Massey gave his Ticket and which Ticket without paying the Money he did again take up from Mr. Robert Henderson the Biblothecar or his Father who can give the best account of these Affairs and his other Dealings anent the Library 4. The Visitors are desired to consider what he Teaches or rather what is contained in his Notes which for the gross of them he Copies from those of Mr. John Strachan who was a Regent when he entered to the Colledge of Aberdeen and afterward turned Jesuit and they will find in the questions wherein there is occasion of differing from others that his Doctrine is either such as tends to Scepticism and uncertainty of all things or such as inclines to Atheisme As when he asserts that a Creature may Create its own self and that even as the principal and efficient Cause Or such as favours Popish Transubstantiation as his Doctrine concerning the Bilocation of Bodies or such as favours Arminianism as his Doctrine de Scientia media or such as inclines to Superstition and the Diabolick Art as the Doctrine of Judiciary Astrology and particularly de Genituris which contrare to the Example of all Christian Schools he inlarges upon and Exemplifies or such as is pure incomprehensible Non-sence as when he says the Diagonal of a Square is not really longer than the side and for his publick Appearances his maintaining of Theses in the common School on the Saturdays amounts to no more than giving of the Jesuits answers to evident truths viz. That the contrair is the opinion of some Doctors and consequently probable and may be safely followed and on the last Saturday of March last in the hearing of all the Masters and some of the English Gentlemen who were accidentally present he stuck not to say in express words That Deus non justè punit peccatores And always at these publick Disputes he falls out in such passions when any thing is reasonably urged
at Bathwel Bridge Anno 1679. Granted them such an ample Indulgence as even to Enjoy Ecclesiastical Benefices only upon the Condition of but Living Peaceably for which they were to find Surety under Penalty of about 330 Pound Ster Those few who Embraced the King's Goodness in this were Declaimed against by the whole Faction as Deserters of God and his Cause and a Book was Printed and Published that same year by the Approbation of the whole Party as the Author says to prove that to engage in or observe such a Condition is Inconvenient Scandalous and Sinful They pretended the State could neither make Peace nor War without the Interposal of the Kirk for it fell under their Consideration as a Case of Conscience Act and Declaration against the Act of Parliament July 28. Anno 1648. * Sine Auctore vero propositi Libelli nullocrimine locum habere debent nam pessimi exempli nec nostri saeculi est Trajan Plinio Ep. 98. inter Ep. Plin. Cicil 2d * So both the Civil and the Scots Law require * A Ruling Elder is a Scripture word but the thing signified by it in the Presbyterian Language is not to be met with in the Scriptures a late Invention obtruded upon the World Witness Mr. Black Vide Spotswood J. F. * Their own Phrase for no less distinction must be made between them and those that differ from them than that which is between good Christians and unbaptized Heathens * Mr. Rules now Primaâ—◠〈◊〉 of the Colledge at Edinburgh being supposed to have the best hand among them for disguising Truth is appointed for that work by the General Assembly as appears by one of their unprinted Acts to that purpose And now that he is engaged in the Work I would advise him to write in Latine for his Reculiarities in that Language may tempt some People to read it otherwise his Book may be Buried under the same deserved Contempt and Obscurity which was the fate of his trifling Pamphlets against some Doctors of the Church of England which no body designs either to Read or Answer no more than he himself or any of his Party believes what he asserts concerning the Church of Scotland in his last Squib against Episcopacy * Now Possess'd of the Principal 's place * That is Meetings for Teaching their Scholars * Donations * Lord Duudie * Graduation * This Mr. Reid was Examined with all severily and diligence but still in private threatned and cajoll'd but the Man being of more Honesty then Fear told them what he knew and that rather incensed their Envy than satisfied their Design * This Article was let fall for after all their Industry they could saynothing upon the Head no Report made of it to the Commission of the General Visitation * Auditum admissi risum teâ—neaâ—is amici * Ja. Martin We shall hear more of this in the Report of the Committee where its Impertinencies will be more particularly Examined * XIX Book An. 1567. Regnante Jacobs Sexto Scotiante aliquot Annos Anglorum auxiliise servitute Gallica liberati Religionis cultui ritibus cum Anglis communibus subscripserunt See Spotswood also beginning of the 3d Book This Answer to the 3d Article of the Doctor 's Libel did exasperate the Presbyterians to the highest degree and they to whom it was recommended to view and examine his Answers thought they discovered strange consequences in this But some of the Nobility who were present when this was toss'd would not suffer such Fooleries as were then objected to be inserted in their Report partly that the Presbyterians might not be exposed partly that they might not be Witnesses to such palpable Impertinencies and partly that none might say the Ministers to whom the Government was committed were such Fools as to flie in the face of the Church of England in this juncture This Article was let fall and no Report made of it to the General Commission What Esteem the most Learned and best Natur'd Divines in Foreign Churches had of the Church of England its Learning Piety Constitution and Primitive Order may be gathered from hundreds of Authentick Testimonies I will only here insert one from the Venerable Du Moline it is in his 3d Epistle to Bishop Andrews inter opuscula quaedam posthuma Episcopi Wint. Egone malè vellem ordini vestro de quo nunquam â—â—cutus sum sine honore ut pote qui sciò Instaurationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae Eversâ—â—nem Papismâ— post Deum Reges deberi praecipuè Episcoporum Doctrinae industâ—iae Quorum etiam nonnulli Martyriâ— Coronati Sangnine suo subscripserunt Evangelio Qâ—rum habemu scripta meminimus gesta ac zelum nulla ex parte inserio em zelâ— praestantissâ—â—norum Dei servo um quos vel Gallia vel Germania tulit Hoc qui negat oppoâ—tet vel sit improbè vecors vel Dei Gloriae invidus vel cerebrosa soliditate stupens caliget in clara luce Hanc igitur suspicionem a me amotam volo maximè cum videam Calvinum ipsum Bezaâ— quos solent quidam suae pervicaceae obtendere mustas scripsisse Epistolas ad Praesules Angliae eosque affari ut fideles Dei servos bene meritos de Ecclesia Nec sum usque adeo oris duri ut velim adversus illa veteris Ecclesiae lumina Ignatium Polycarpum Cyprianum Augustinum Chrysostomum Basilium Gregorios Nissenuni Nazianzenum Episcopos ferre sententiam ut adversus Hoâ—ines vitio creatos vel usurpatores muneris illiciti plus semper apud me poterit veneranda illa primorum saeculorum antiquitas quam Novella cujusquam Iustitutio Desigillatio Epistolarum crimen falsi We shall hear more of this Letter in the Report of the Committee * An Order from the Publick to Imprison Elian. Spart in vita Severi Sed triumphum respuit ne videretur de civili triumphare victoria We bear no more of this Article Since of Orkneâ— a Person who for his great Learning Piety and Prudence all good Men justly esteem * Which among the Scots signifie such writs as oblige any Man to secure the Peace under the pain of Imprisonment * Second I believe Mr. Rule now that he hath had the Government of that House in his hand for some time will not think the extravagance of some Boys a sufficient reason to deprive the Principal eâ—se he must expect the next Visitation may conclude he has lost the Spirit of Government It is not difficult to guess his Informer nor his inveterate prejudice against those Professours Difficile Satyrum scribere This is the Objection they insisted most upoâ— and the whole Story of it is related in the Animadversions upon the Report of the Committee in the following Pages No report made of this Article to the General Commission of the Visitation * Vpon Munday 10 Dec. 1688 where there were 36 either killed or wounded No Report of this Article no Witnesses examined no not Brown himself after all their industry with him in private This part of his Answer was directed to Sir John Hail a Man so little obliged to the Vniversities that the Masters could not reasonably look for any kindness from him Too inconsiderable a Man to be any further chastised H. F. We shall hear more of this in the Report of the Committee Heads of Agreement by the Vnited Ministers Head 8 of a Confession of Faith Vide Acts of the General Assemb 1646. Rinâ—eit A Presbyterian Minister * This word in the Phanatick Language signifies the Vindication of one from Calumny and Slander Tho' the Doctor did this by order yet he needed no order for it it being in his power to remove and set up Pictures or any other Furniture as he pleased * Publick Registers This Declaration contradicts the Report in three Material Instances * i.e. Reputed So much the greater shame a Method was taken not allowed by any Act of Parliament and contrary to the common Forms of Justice over all Nations to receive Libels and to conceal the Informer and when those Scurrilous Papers had in them the Nature Design and Materials of a defamatory Libel then to pretend there were no Libels given against them because my Lord Crawford was pleased to call the Libels Informations and is it Consistent with Reason to receive Informations or Libels before Solemn Courts of Judicatory and still to conceal the Informer a Practice so infamous that as it never had a precedent in that Nation So I hope Posterity shall never imitate it Lib. 4. Cap. 17. Sect. 7. Of this many instances may be given in the time of the late troubles though it be a part of the constant nourishment of Christ's Family upon Earth till he return to Judge the quick and the dead Nor could it be reasonably thought he came there to be examin'd by such Pedagogues * Old Fellows