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
the year 1560 till the year 1616. Our Presbyterian Brethren may be ready to reject its Authority if it Militates against them I give My Reader therefore this brief account of it It was transcribed in the year 1638. when the National Covenant was in a flourishing state For I find at the end of it the Transcriber's Name and his Designation written with the same hand by which the whole M S. is written And he says He began to transcribe upon the 15th day of Ianuary 1638. and compleated his work on the 23d of April that same year He was such a Reader as we have commonly in Scotland in Country Parishes It is not to be imagined it was transcribed then for serving the Interests of Episcopacy For as Petrie and the Presbyterians generally affirm The Prelates and Prelatists dreaded nothing more in those days than that the Old Registers of the Kirk should come abroad And it was about that time that Mr. Petrie got his Copy from which he published so many Acts of our Old General Assemblies Nor is it to be doubted but that as several Copies then were so particularly that which I have perused was transcribed for the Ends of the Good Old Cause This I am sure of the Covenant as required then to be subscribed by the Green Tables is set down at full length in the Manuscript Besides The Stile and Language testify that there is no Reason to doubt That the Acts of Assemblies which it contains have been transcribed word for word at first from the Authentick Records And if Calderwood's or Petrie's Accounts of these Acts deserve any Credit My M S. cannot be rejected for it hath all they have published and for the most part in the same Terms except where these Authors have altered the Language sometimes to make it more fashionable and intelligible sometimes to serve their Cause and the Concerns of their Party It hath Chasms also and Defects where they say Leaves have been torn from the Original Registers And I have not adduced many Acts from it which either one or both these Authors have not likewise mentioned in their Histories Calderwood has indeed concealed very many having intended it seems to publish nothing but what made for him tho I think even in that his Iudgment hath not sufficiently kept pace with his Inclinations Nay His Supplement which he hath subjoyn'd to his History as well as the History it self is lame by his own Acknowledgment For these are the very first words of it I have in the preceeding History only inserted such Acts Articles and Answers to Questions as belonged to the Scope of the History and Form of Church Government Some few excepted touching Corruptions in the Worship of God or the Office and Calling of Ministers But because there are other Acts and Articles necessary to be known I have SELECTED such as are of greatest Vse passing by such as were TEMPORARY or concerned only TEMPORARY OFFICES c. Here is a clear Confession that he has not given us all the Acts of Assemblies Nay that he has not given all such as concerned Temporary Offices and amongst these we shall find him in the following Sheets more confidently than warrantably reckoning Superintendency and the Episcopacy which was agreed to at Leith Anno 1572. I have mentioned these things that the World may see it cannot be reasonable for our Presbyterian Brethren to insist on either Calderwood's Authority or Ingenuity against my Mss. How ingenuous or impartial he has been you may have opportunity to guess before you have got through the ensuing Papers Petrie hath indeed given us a great many more of the Acts of General Assemblies than Calderwood hath done as may appear to any who attends to the Margin of my Book But he also had the Good Cause to serve and therefore has corrupted some things and concealed other things as I have made appear However he has the far greater part of what I have transcribed from the Mss. Spotswood hath fewer than either of the two Presbyterian Historians yet some he hath which I find also in the MS. and which they have both omitted In short I have taken but very few from it which are not to be found in some One or More of these Historians Neither have I adduced so much as One from it nor is One in it which is not highly agreeable to the State and Circumstances of the Church and the Genius of the times for which it mentions them So that Upon the whole matter I see no reason to doubt of its being a faithful Transcript And I think I may justly say of it as Optatus said of another MS. upon the like occasion Vetustas Membranarum testimonium perhibet c. optat Milev lib. 1. f. 7. edit Paris 1569 It hath all the Marks of Antiquity and Integrity that it pretends to and there 's nothing about it that renders it suspicious The other Book which I said required some farther consideration is The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland containing five Books c. Commmonly attributed to Iohn Knox by our Presbyterian Brethren That which I have to say about it is chiefly That Mr. Knox was not the Author of it A. B. Spotswood hath proven this by Demonstration in his History pag. 267. his Demonstration is That the Author whoever he was talking of one of our Martyrs remitteth the Reader for a farther Declaration of his Sufferings to the Acts and Monuments of Mr. Fox which came not to light till some twelve years after Knox's Death Mr. Patrick Hamilton was the Martyr and the Reference is to be seen pag. 4. of that History I am now considering Besides this I have observed a great many more infallible proofs that Knox was not the Author I shall only instance in some 3 or 4. Thus Pag. 447. The Author having set down a Copy of the Letter sent by the Church of Scotland to the Church of England of which more by and by Tells how the English Nonconformists wrote to Beza and Beza to Grindal Bishop of London which Letter of Beza's to Grindal he says is the Eight in order amongst Beza's Epistles And in that same page he mentions another of Beza's Letters to Grindal calling it the Twelfth in Number Now 't is certain Beza's Epistles were not published till the year 1573. i. e. after Knox's Death It may be observed also that he adds farther in that same page That The sincerer sort of the Ministery in England had not yet assaulted the Iurisdiction and Church Government which they did not till the year 1572. at which time they published their first and second Admonitions to the Parliament but only had excepted against Superstitious Apparel and some other faults in the Service Book From which besides that 't is Evident Knox could not be the Author we may Learn from the Authors Confession whoever he was That the Controversies about Parity and Imparity c. were not so early in
the work was set a going Amongst the first things done in this Ass it was enacted That Bishops and all others bearing Ecclesiastical Function should be called by their own names or Brethren in all time coming No more Lord Bishops and it was but consequential to the great Argument which was then and ever since hath been in the mouths of all the party The Lords of the Gentiles c. Matt. 20.25 Luke 22.25 This was a step worthy of Mr. Andrew's Humility which was not like other mens Humility's consisting in Humbling themselves but of a new species of its own consisting in Humbling of his Superiours Indeed after this he still treated his own Ordinary the Archbishop of Glasgow in publick according to this Canon Tho' when he was at his Graces table where he got better entertainment than his own Commons for he was then in the College of Glasgow he could give him all his Titles of Dignity and Honour But Another more important Act was made by this Assembly Take it word for word from Calderwood who agrees exactly with both the MS. and Pet. Forasmuch as there is great corruption in the State of Bishops as they are presently set up in this Realm whereunto the Assembly would provide some stay in time coming so far as they may to the effect that farther corruption may be bridled The Assembly hath concluded that no Bishop shall be Elected or Admitted before the next General Assembly Discharging all Ministers and Chapters to proceed any ways to the Election of the said Bishops in the mean time under the pain of perpetual Deprivation And that this matter be proponed first in the next Assembly to be consulted what farther Order shall be taken therein Here was ground gain'd indeed However this was but preparatory still Nothing yet concluded concerning the Vnlawfulness of the Office It was consistent with this Act that Episcopacy should have continued its corruptions being removed Neither are we as yet told what these corruptions were It seems even the Presbyterians themselves tho' in a fair condition now to be the prevailing party had not yet agreed about them Indeed another Assembly must be over before we can come by them Leaving them therefore till we come at them proceed we with this present Assembly Another Fast was appointed by it The Nation it seems was not yet sufficiently diposed for Presbytery Rubs and difficulties were still cast in the way and the good cause was deplorably retarded So 't is fairly imported in the Act for this Fast The corruption of all Estates Coldness in a great part of the Professors That God would put it in the Kings heart and the hearts of the Estates of Parliament to Establish such a Policy and Discipline in the Kirk as is craved in the word of God c. These are amongst the prime Reasons in the narrative of this Act for Fasting Indeed all this time the Book of Discipline was only in forming It had not yet got the Assemblies Approbation The next General Assembly met at Stirling Iune 11. this same year about six weeks or so after the Dissolution of the former But the Parliament was to sit and it was needful the Assembly should sit before to order Ecclesiastick business for it And now it seems there was little struggling For the Assembly all in one voice as it is in MS. Calderwood and Petrie concluded That the Act of the last Assembly discharging the Election of Bishops c. should be extended to all time coming And here Petrie stops But the MS. and Calderwood add ay and while the corruptions of the Estate of Bishops be all utterly taken away And they ordained That all Bishops already Elected should submit themselves to the Gen. Ass. Concerning the Reformation of the Corruptions of that Estate of Bishops in their Persons Which if they refused to do after Admonition that they should be proceeded against to Excommunication This Ass. met as I said on the 11 th of Iune and indeed it seems the weather has been warm enough Yet neither now did they adventure again upon the Main Question nor ennumerate the Corruptions of the Estate of Bishops By this Assembly a Commission was also granted to certain Persons to attend the Parliament and Petition that the Book of Discipline might be Ratified Tho' all the Articles were not as yet agreed to A pretty Odd overture to desire the Parliament to Ratify what they themselves had not perfectly Concerted The next Assembly met at Edenburgh Octob. 24. of that same year 1578. And it was but reasonable to have three Assemblies in six Months when the Church was so big with Presbytery And now the Corruptions so frequently talk't of before were ennumerated and the Bishops were required to Reform them in their Persons They were required 1. To be Ministers or Pastors of one Flock 2. To usurp no Criminal Iurisdiction 3. Not to vote in Parliament in Name of the Kirk without Commission from the General Assembly 4. Not to take up for maintaining their Ambition and Riotousness the Emoluments of the Kirk which ought to sustain many Pastors the Schools and the Poor But to be content with reasonable livings according to their Office 5. Not to claim the Titles of Temporal Lords nor usurp Civil Iurisdiction whereby they might be Abstracted from their Office 6. Not to Empire it over particular Elderships but be subject to the same So the MS. Calderwood and Petrie have it tho' Spotswood has the word Presbyteries Which I take notice of because the unwary Reader when he reads Presbyteries in Spotswood may take them for these Ecclesiastical Judicatories which now are so denominated whereas there were none such as yet in the Nation 7. Not to usurp the Power of the Pastors says the MS. nor take upon them to visit any Bounds not committed to them by the Church 8. And lastly If any more Corruptions should afterward be found in the Estate of Bishops to consent to have them Reformed These were the Corruptions and particularly at that same very time the two Archbishops were required to Reform them in their Persons What Adamson Archbishop of St. Andrews did or said on this occasion I know not But it seems he submitted not For I find him again required to do it by the next Assembly And that it was particularly laid to his charge that he had opposed the Ratification of the Book in Parliament But Boyd Archbishop of Glasgow did certainly behave at this Assembly like a Person of great worth and a Man of Courage suitable to his Character giving a brave and resolute Answer You may see it in Spot Cald. and Pet. I have not leisure to transcribe it But it pleased not the now too much Presbyterian Assembly and no wonder for he spake truely like a Bishop The next Assembly was holden at Edenburgh in Iuly Anno 1579. The King sent a Letter to them whereby he signified his dislike of their