by force and fraud and by the yeeldings of these that should have ventured their All in withstanding its Introduction the Introducers of it were enabled and encouraged at their own leasure and pleasure without control to break down the Carved work of our Reformation and the Walls and Hedges and Legal Bul warks of Righteous Laws and Solemn Covenants that fenced it with the Axe of an Act Rescissory Some gave all the Countenance and Submission then required by Law to the Intrusion of Prelats and their Curats by frequenting their Churches Others thought it their duty to stand at a distance and venture upon the hazard of disobedience in a Testimony against that sin When again they advanced the blasphemous Supremacy to its hight exauctorating Christ Jesus of being only Head King and Lawgiver to His Church and declaring it to be a mortal Kings inherent right to be Co-partner with Christ in that His incommunicable Prerogative And by the usurped Power thereof presuming they had now totally finally overcome Christs Ministers and intending to flatter whom they could not hector out of their duty of contending against their Usurpations Obtruded a sort of a Liberty to some of them to Preach under the Notion of an Indulgence but such as flowed from stood upon and was modified by the Supremacy Some embraced this others opposed and witnessed against it Lastly when by wicked Oaths Tests and Bonds imposed to debauch Consciences which some inclined to comply with or connive at Others thought it necessary to testify against a passage was prepared for the introduction of Popery And a gap was opened for it by the late Popish Toleration Some thought it fit to purchase the opportunity and Liberty of Preaching by addressing for and embracing of it Others durst not have any thing to do with it Nor forbear a Testimony against it These Usurpations with the defections flowing therefrom in Complyance therewith while they stood as stumbling blocks and snares and as we conceived as Idoles of jealousie in the entry of the House of the Lord So that we thought we could not have access unto the Sanctuary without being interprered to give some respect or acknowledgement or subjection directly or indirectly to those Idols and Incroachments so dishonourable to the LORD and offensive to our Consciences did scar and deter us from Communion with many Godly Reverend and Honoured Ministers of this Church so Indulged and Tolerated in these Circumstances and obliged us to continue our Testimony against them in an abstracted way when the Church was in that broken state deprived of the remedy of Church Judicatories whereunto we might apply in which case we alwayes held there should be no separation without previous Application to them and before their Judicial Sentence And ween the case was so circumstantiate that we judged their Ministry in the then exercise thereof at that time in the place where they Preached under the Authority of the Indulgence and Toleration could not be countenanced or concurred with by us without participating of the guilt of submitting to and symbolizing with Mens sinful Encroachments Yet we never owned a Positive or Active Total or Stated Separation from the Church of Scotland Or the Ministry thereof Nor did we form separate Churches under another Government or Ministry distinct from or independent upon the Presbyterial Church of Scotland thô with this we were branded Only for the time we avouched a Negative Passive Conditional Abstraction from these Ministers in the circumstances above specified Not because only we thought these were the Personal Sins of the Ministers for we alwayes declared our abhorrrance of that notion so deservedly exploded by the learned Divines of this Church that the Personal Sins of Fellow Worshippers Ministers or Professors did pollute the Ordinances or made Communion with them therein sinful but because we had reason to fear they should be our Sins as well as theirs if as they had given the submission to these foresaid Usurpations required of them by Law so we should give the submission to them required of us by Law by joyning This was the case and cause of our Divisions until the Lord was pleased in our greatest extremity by sending over King William as a renowned Instrument in His Hand to rescue us from Popery and Slavery to remember this broken and bruised Church and to give us a reviving in our Bondage with a high Hand and in a surprizing manner and to remove our Yokes under which we groaned in a measure surpassing our expectations By which Emergencies of Providence in such a manner removing causes of our Divisions we could not but encourage our selves in the Hope that the effects should also be in time removed And that He that healed our bruises from the yokes of long oppressing Enemies might also lend His Hand and Help to heal our Breaches of Divisions with our dissentient Friends and Brethren which we expected to obtain if ever Presbyterian Government and Ecclesiastick Assemblies in that beautiful Order should be established again in this Land which we longed for even for the recovery of Vnion as well as for other Advantages In this Encouragement and Expectation after some litle endeavours used in the opportunity of that Interregnum to demolish and destroy the Popish Monuments of Idolatry and to purge the Churches of the West-Country of the Episcopal Curats we emitted an Apology at Douglas The Tenour whereof here follows An Apology of the General Meeting of the United Societies of some Presbyterians Dissenting from and Protesting against the Toleration for their Rising and Continuing in Armes in the present Juncture THE various Clamours and Constructions made of our Rising in Armes at the time and the reproaches of Disorders fastned thereupon thô in it self innocent and never intended by us for the offence of any but such as all Zealous Protestants and good Patriots will owne to be Enemies of GOD and of all Mankind and such as we are under indispensible obligations in our Places and Stations to endeavour to suppress and extirpate Yet because it is our present unhappiness to have all our Actions misconstrued and censured under the most odious and invidious Character that the Malice of some can put upon them Do seem to require for the vindication of our Testimony for the Cause of Christ Exoneration of our selves and removing any Jealousies or Suspicions which through misinformation or prejudice any may conceive of us That before we dismiss We Declare to all concerned That it is not by any Contrivance of ours that we have either gathered or continued in defensive Armes hitherto but have been drawn and called to it by a special surprise of astonishing Providence For thô indeed in the sense of the indispensible and indisputable necessity and expediency of giving some active Testimony against Popery and of the duty of throwing down the Monuments of Idolatry formerly erected and lately more and more encouraged under the Patrociny Protection of this Popish
the LORD because the foundation of the House of the LORD was laid Tet some of them that had seen the first House wept with a loud voice so that the People could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of weeping So at this time we are called to rejoice with thanksgiving for we should indeed be very ungrate and unworthy if we did not acknowledge with Praise and Admiration the Mercy of God which endureth for ever manifested magnified in the progress of this Work hitherto That at the time appointed of God the least expected by us at the time of our greatest extremity and our Enemies greatest insolency the Lord hath been pleased in Sovereign Mercy instead of overtaking us with judgements threatned for our sins and without waiting on our Repentance and Preparations by turning unto Him to prevent and surprize us not only with an outward enlargement of Rest and Peace without prejudice to Truth in a way wherein we are not beholden to the ensnaring favours of his Enemies but with such a reviving in our bondage in the midst of Wrath remembering Mercy brought about by the repression of Tyranny suppression of Popery and depression of Prelacy as that we have yet a Nail in His Holy Place to set up the House of our GOD Yea the Altar also is set again upon His Bases and the daily burnt Offerings are offered by number according to the custom and the foundation of the Temple is laid again When the Doctrine of this Church is asserted and the Confession of Faith formerly received is read voted approven and established by Parliament and even several controverted Truths formerly much condemned and obscured under a load of many Calumnies are now justified and vindicated The Worship and Ordinances of Christ are administred in great Purity Plenty and Peace The Government of Christs Institution by Kirk Sessions Presbiteries Synods and General Assemblies so long born down is at length restored to what it was Anno 1592. And all Acts Laws contrary or prejudicial unto inconsistent with or derrogatory from Presbyterial Government are rescinded with this honour that it is declared by Act of Parliament that this is the Government most agreeable to the Word of GOD and most conducible to the advancement of true Piety and Godliness and establishment of Peace and Tranquillity within this Realm And the Discipline retrieved to such a fond of Freedom that all Ecclesiastick Courts may without restraint or being accountable to any Exotick Vsurped Power in the Magistrate assert all the Authority and exerce the Power wherewith Christ hath entrusted them Which power if duely and diligently improved and put in execution may through the Blessing of GOD contribute very much to the reducing Order the redress of many Disorders in this Church And now also the causes of our Disunion Division in times of defection being in a great measure removed when ErastianVsurpations are abrogated the Churches intrinsick Power redintegrated and the Corruptions introduced by Complyances so far abdicated and antiquated that they are not in the constitution of the Church and do not continue to be the scandal and snare of the times We hope and expect a Remedy may be found for the Breaches and Divisions that we thought incurable and Vnion and communion in the Lord may be attained But thô for these things we be called to rejoice yet we are no less obliged to mourn when we observe this House of the Lord so unlike the former wanting many things the former had and pestered with many things the former wanted As at the building of the second House after the Captivity of Babylon they that had seen the first House wept with a loud voice when they observed its Constitution and Structure so far short of the former for Order and Beauty and wanting some glorious Prerogatives the other had as the Urim and Thummim the Fire from Heaven the Ark of the Testimony c. So they that have seen our former Reformation in its Integrity before the late Deformation can hardly refrain from weeping at the sight of the sad disproportion between this and the former In the former as the constitution was calculate in the nearest conformity to the Divine Pattern so the Builders had always a care to pull down what was to be demolished before they established what was to stand and to purge away the rubbish from the Foundation before they promoved the Superstructure Accordingly when Prelacy was reintroduced at several times the first thing they did when they recovered their power was alwayes to exert it in condemnation of that Corruption and of these Assemblies and Meetings that promoved abetted favoured or complied And when the Erastran Supremacy began to encroach upon the Churches Liberties and to bring the Ministry into Bondage they did not think it enough to wrestle against it by Personal witnessings but by the good Hand of GOD upon their Endeavours never ceased until it was condemned by Acts of Assembly They proceeded also with great earnestness and vigilance to purge the Church of corrupt and scandalous Ministers sadly regrateing afterwards when they saw the effects of the continuance of some of that Character in the Ministrie that they had not done more in that purging work But now after all the Rubbish and Filth brought into the House of GOD by the Invasions and Vsurpations of the Enemies and Defections of Friends when now Opportunity and Capacity is given to Rebuild and Beautifie the House of the LORD and to Repair the Desolations thereof the present building is so far advanced without pulling down and purging away the Rubbish and condemning these corruptions and defections in complyance with them or confessing and forsaking them as our Fathers used to do Now these courses have 〈◊〉 rather left us than we have foresaken And the Lords returning in Providence without our returning to Him by Repentance hath made any Reformation yet attained while these Defections are neither confessed in humiliations nor condemned in Judicatories And the Prelatical Clergy after all the evil they have done and bitter fruits they have produced are yet kept in many places and like to continue as a Seminary and Nurserie of a corrupt Ministrie As long as all this Rubbish stands there can be little hope either of Purity or Stability in the Superstructure In former Reformations also the Advancement used to be Progressive beginning where the former Reformation stopt and going forward after they had got removed what obstructed it But now the motion is Retrograde going as far back as that in 1592. missing many Excellent steps of Reformation attained after that to 1649. In former Reformations our worthy Ancestors used to begin with Renovation of the National Covenants Acknowledgements of the Breaches thereof which hitherto hath been neglected to the great grief of many It is also matter of Lamentation to reflect that in former Reformations tho the Adversaries troubled the Builders and hired
privatively by withholding other necessary Instructions and Warnings Murdering their Souls 6. Because they were and are upon all these Accounts Scandalous and the Objects of the Churches Censure And thô through the iniquity of the times their deserved Censure hitherto hath not been inflicted yet they stand upon the matter convict by clear Scripture Grounds and by the standing Acts and judicial Decision of this Church in her Supreme Judicatories 7. Because this hearing and sumitting to them was required as a Badge Test and Evidence of Due Acknowledgement of and hearty Compylance with Erastianism and Prelacy or His Majesties Government Ecclesiastick Act. Parl. 1. Char. 2. July 10. 1663. which made it a case of Confession to withstand it 8. Because by our Covenants we are obliged to stand at a distance from such courses of Defection and to extirpate them yet in contradiction hereunto we were commanded by the Rescinders of the Covenants to bear the Prelatick Curats as a Badge of our yeilding to the rescinding of the Govenants 9. Because this Course was Offensive and Stumbling both in hardening those that complyed with Prelacy and weakening the Hands of those that opposed it and inferred a condemning of their Sufferings upon this Head Especially 10. When Communion with them was so stated that therein was not only a Case of Controversie among the Godly in which alwayes Abstinence is the surest side nor only in the judgement of many a Case of Confession which is alwayes dangerous to contradict and condemn but undenyably a Case of Competition between the true Church of Scotland her Ministers and Professors owning and adhering to her Holy Establishments claiming a Divine Right to their Offices and Priviledges contending for the Churches Reformation and a Schismatical Party setting up a new Church in a new Order under a new Head robbing them of their Offices and Priviledges and overturning the Reformation We must presume to Plead also That Enquiry be made unto the Heinous and Heaven-daring Affront done to the Holiness of GOD in the horrid Violations of our Holy Covenants National and Solemn League not only how the Popish Prelatical and Malignant Party have broken them enacted the Breaches of them by Law Burnt them and endeavoured to Bury them by making it a Capital Crime to owne their Obligation and by bringing in and substituting in their room Conscience ensnaring Anti-covenants Oaths Bonds and Engagements renouncing the former and obliging to Courses contradictory thereunto But that it may be considered how many wayes Ministers and Professors in this time of tentation and tribulation have been guilty of breach of these holy Covenants particularly by consenting unto subscribing swearing and taking any of the new multiplied mischievously contrived captiously conceived and Tyrannically imposed Oaths Tests or Bonds in matters of Religion since the overturning of the Covenanted Reformation and establishment of Prelacy and by perswading People to take them and forbearing a necessary warning of the danger of them and leaving People in the dark to determine themselves in the midst of these snares All which we Plead and Protest against as sinful and scandalous 1 Because all of them did infer import and imply a sinful unitive conjunction Incorporation Association and Confederacy with the People of these Abominations that were promoting a course of Apostasie from GOD. 2 Because all of them were incapable of the Qualifications required in Sacred Engagements to be taken in Truth Righteousness and Judgement 3 Because all of them in the sense of the Imposers interpreted by their Acts and Actings were condemnatory of and contradictory unto the Covenants some part of the Covenanted Reformation 4 Because by the Ancient Acts of Assembly all publick Oaths imposed by the Malignant Party without consent of the Church are condemned July 28. 1648. Ante merid Sess 18. And Those Ministers are Ordained to be Censured who subscribe any Bonds or take any Oaths not approven by the General Assembly or by their Counsel Countenance or Approbation make themselves accessary to the taking of such Bonds and Oaths In like manner we dare not forbear to Cry and Crave that it may be considered what wrongs Christ hath received from the Erastian and Antichristian Usurpation of the Supremacy encroaching upon the Prerogative of the Lord Jesus Christ his incommunicable Headship and Kingship as Mediator giving to a Man a Magisterial and Architectonick power to alter and innovate Authorise and Exauctorate allow or restrain and dispose of the Government and Governours of the Church according to his pleasure invading the liberties of the Gospel Church introducing a civil Dominion upon her Government contrare to its nature being only a Ministerial-Stewardship distinct from the Civil Government in its Nature Causes Ends Officers and Actings and giving to the Magistrate the power of the keyes without and against Christs Donation and Authority even the Dogmatick Critick and Diatactick Decisive Suffrage and Power in Causes Ecclesiastick which Christ hath intrusted to the Church Representatives and denying to the Church the Exercise of these Keyes and Powers without the Magistrates warrand and Indulgence We crave also that it may be inquired into how far this encroachment hath been connived at submitted unto complyed with homologate strengthened and established by receiving and accepting without consent of the Church yea against the express dissent and testimony of some faithfull Ministers to the contrare the Indulgences anno 1669 and 1679 And by the silence of others not witnessing against the same and others censuring the Faithful for discovering the sinfulness thereof Which we Remonstrate upon these grounds complexly considered 1 Because as the contrivance and end of the grant thereof was to advance and establish the Supremacy to engage Presbyterians either to co-operate towards the settling and strengthening thereof or to surcease from opposing the peaceable possession of the Granters Vsurpation and to extort from them at least an indirect Recognizance of acknowledged Subordination in Ministerial Exercises to his usurped power in a way which would he best acquiesced in To suppress the Preaching and Propagation of the Gospel in persecuted Meetins in houses and fields so necessary at that time and to divide and increase differences and animosities among Presbyterians by insinuating upon these called the more Moderate to commend the Indulger his Clemency while other Non-Conformists adhering to interdicted duties were justly complaining of the Effects of his Severity And as the woful effects of it strengthening the Supremacy weakening the hands of these that witnessed against it extinguishing Zeal and increasing many divisions did correspond with these wretched designs So these could not be counteracted but very much strengthened and promotted by the Acceptance of the Indulgence which in its own nature was so palpably subservient thereto even thô there had been a Testimonie against these designs and ends yet when the means adapted to these ends were complied with it was rendered irrite and contra factam 2 Because as the Supremacie received