is not for evill doing that I now suffer although I be charged with Rebellion against the Kings Authority yet 1 declare before God and you all that in all this matter I never intended to wrong his Majestie 's just Power and greatness but for conscience sake did respect Authority as the Ordinance of God appointed for the punishment of evill doers and that I wish his Ma all welfare both in this life and the world to come and that it may be his happiness to consider his Obligations to God and Perform the same that so it may be well with him and his Posterity to many generations and I pray God make him a friend to His Cause and the truly Godly who own the same though falsly called Phanaticks or turbulent persons I declare I have such persuasion of the Interest of Religion Reformed and sworn unto in the Covenant that I dare venture not only to lay down my own life but if every hair of my head were a man they should all be put to venture for this cause I would not have the world to stumble at the Cause because of my death after this manner for I rejoyce greatly in it and I desire every good Christian as they tender their own souls that they would grip fast lay hold on and cleave to Jesus Christ and His way My coming out at this time I say was not against his Majesty but for the Covenant which is now troden under foot my intention was for the Cause of Christ I take God to witness it was nothing else I came out for and for that I am free to lay down my life I bless God I am much encouraged in this and not at all afraid to die for so good and clear a Cause and I hope He will bring me thorow all my difficulties in this dark shadow of death I hope I have the peace of a good conscience and have had some glimpses from Jesus Christ of His countenance and reconciled Face since I came into this prison for which I desire to bless His Name with all my soul heart and spirit And I rejoyce that He hes made use of me to suffer for His Cause And I think it too litle not only to lay down my body but if it were possible even my very soul at the stake for that Cause and for Jesus Christ my good and kind Master who hath loved me and given Himself for me I give the Lord thanks that I had some of His Presence since I came into this condition and again I say I am much encouraged and not afraid to die and bless Him that I die not as a murtherer or evill door or Rebel to Authority but for such a cause as this O that it were the happiness of my Nation of England once to subiect themselves unto the sweet yoke of Christs Reformed Government under which this Nation of Scotland hath enjoyed so much of the Power and life of the Gospel by a faithful Ministry according to the Covenant sworn by them both And now my dear Friends in Christ and fellow-Covenanters though I be a stranger in this Land being an English-man but trifted by providence in the prosecution of my calling to have my residence for a time here in Scotland which I look upon as a singulare evidence of God's special love to me though I be a stranger I say to many of you yet I must be bold as a dying friend to beseech you by the mercy of God and by your appearance before Jesus Christ when we shall have to do with none but Him as our Judge that ye be faithfull and stedfast in the Cause of God and Covenant which ye have sworn with hands lifted up to the most high God which no Power on earth can loose you from and that ye keep you from snares unto the contrary and not suffer your selves to fall into a detestable Neutrality and Indifferency in that Cause of God And especially that ye keep your selves free of any Engagements by word or write that may wrong your Oath of the Covenant I commit my Wife and Children to His care who careth for them that put their trust in Him before the Sons of men not doubting but they shall be eyed with goodwil and favor by the Godly after I am gone And now I render up my Spirit to Him who gave it me and for whose sake I now lay down my life To this God my Covenanted God be glory blessing and praise for now and ever Amen That this is my mind and Testimony which I leave behind me I witness by my ordinary subscription R. SHIELDS The Testimony of HUMPREY COLHOUNE At his Death in Edinburgh Decemb 22. 1666. Dear Friends and Spectators I am come here this Day to this Place to die this Death for crimes for which I thank God my Conscience doth not condemn me My crime as is alleaged is for Disloyalty against the King's Majesty Yet I thank God that my appearing lately with the Lord's People was from my sense of my obligation in the Covenant and the sense of the wrongs done in the Land and the crying oppressions committed therein This was the end of my appearing for the Lord against His enemies to bear witness against the same The which obligation of the Oath of God I judge that none on earth can loose the Conscience from I bless the Lord again and again I die for this Oath and Covenant And I thank God also that I have by the great mercy of the Almighty God in Christ Jesus obtained mercy and forgiveness for all my transgressions both against the first and second Table of the Law And that through that Ocean of grace which is in the Lord Jesus Christ I believe that I am justified and sanctified and believe now to be glorified with Him by that blessed blood of His which hath purchased this Salvation to me through faith in the same made application of according to the good Covenant of grace He hath performed this out of his vvonderfull and incomparable free-grace And this is my joy and exceeding great rejoycing and consolation and all my salvation for vvhich I am Grace's debtor throughout all Eternity I die vvith this my Testimony my adherence to the National Covenant to the Solemn League and Covenant to the Work of Reformation a great length carried on and now overthrown most sinfully by ungodly Men vvho have established their Apostacy by Law which no just Power on earth could ever do Also I adhere to the Presbyterial Government the Confession of Faith Cathechisms Larger and Shorter And to the Solemn Acknovvledgement of the Church of Scotland And Publick Testimonies thereof against the sins of the time This day I rejoyce that He hath counted me vvorthy to lay dovvn my life for Him as one that beareth vvitness against the breach of all the Sacred Oaths and Ties that were established in this Land yea by the just Laws both of God and Man which never could
Election of the People Act. 6.3 4 5. Trial 1. Tim. 3 10. laying on of the hands of the Presbytery 1 Tim. 4.14 and they must be Fixed to particular flocks Tit. 1.5 How distinct are these and all other Directions given to Church-Officers for Regulation thereof from the directions given to the civill Magistrat for Regulation of the Commonwealth And the Church Officers not the civil Magistrat are Commended or Discommended according as they faithfully or unfaithfully Exerce this Power and follow these Directions So the Angel of the Church of Ephesus which I hope none will say was the Magistrat is commended for Trying them which said they were Apostles and were not Revel 2.2 It was not the Emperor Senat c. that tryed these false Apostles as of late the Parliament Council High Commission ejected many Hundreds of faithful Ministers without Trial The Angels of the Churches of Pergamus and Thyatira are discommended for tollerating false Doctrin and Corrupt Practice v. 14.15.20 so is the Church of Corinth blamed for not timeous Excommunicating of the Incestuous Person 1 Cor. 5. For the like Ommissions which are reproved in these Angels I know them who now deserve a sharper censure sed quod defertur non aufertur From all which as the Formal Specifical Difference betwixt the Power and Government of Church and Common wealth is aboundantly evident So Jesus Christ Himself not the civil Magistrat is the Author Fountain of Church-Power and Government Then which there can be nothing more clear to them who do not wilfully shut their own eyes or whom the God of this world hath not blinded For besids that Himself telleth us that He hath receaved all Power and Judgement from the Father Mat. 28. ver 18. Iohn 5.22 and Iohn beareth him that Testimony Iohn 3.35 And who should derive Power to others but He who receaved it for that end Let us consider his Name and Relation to the Church In what Relation he standeth to the Common-wealth or civil Magistrat I do not here iâ—quire but the Apostle tells us that Heâ— and not the civil Magistrat is Head of the Church Ephes 1.22 and 5 13. as such he doth not only Mystically communicat inward Grace to the members but Occonomically derive Power and Direction for the Outward Regulation of the whole body How then can the Magistrat be Head of the Church or supream Governor in all causes Ecclesiastical Must the Church have two Heads or a Head above a Head Why may not a Church Officer or Officers as well claim with the Pope to be Head of the Common-wealth Will they shew us a Warrant from Scripture or Reason for the one which will not as strongly plead for the other Well then let Christ be still Head of the Church And as such Ye will find Him and not the civil Magistrat Instituting all Church-Ordinances for Administration of Word and Sacraments Mat. 28 19. 1 Cor. 11 23. for Excommunication and Absolution Matt. 18 17 18. and all other Acts of Government and Disciplin Ye will find Him and not the civil Magistrat Instituting Church-Offices He it is who gave Ephes 4 11. and sett in the Church 1 Cor. 12 v. 28. Apostles Prophets Evangelists Teachers c. And who is he that dare alter by addition or diminution Ye will find Him and not the civil Magistrat Authorizing these Officers to Exerce the Several Acts of the Power of Order and Jurisdiction Mat. 28 19 Ye will find Him not the civil Magistrat Furnishing these Church-Officers with Gifts and Graces for their work as none goeth here upon their own Expences so can any Magistrat breath the Holy Ghost as Christ did upon his Apostles Ioh. 20.22 In His Name and not in name of the Magistrate must they performe all Church-Acts they must Assemble Mat. 18 20. Baptise Mat. 28 19. Excommunicat 1 Cor. 5 ver 4. and do all in His Name He and not the Magistrat maketh Lawes Absolutely and Primarily oblieging to the Church and Church-Officers and therefore is He called the Lawgiver Isai 33 22. Iam. 4 12 He and not the civil Magistrat will call Church-Rulers to their final Accompt An Accompt they must give Hebr. 13 17. to whom but to Him that gave them Commission and is Iudge Isai 33 22 And in recognition of all this the Apostle Paul acknowledgeth that the Lord Jesus and not the civil Magistrat Giveth Ministerial Power and Authority 2 Cor. 10 8. and 2 Cor. 13 10 And because of this they are called the Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4 1. and Ambassaders for Christ 2 Cor. 5 20. and not of or for the Magistrat as now the King termeth the Prelats Our Bishops His Servants they are therefore should not be Pleasers of Man nor of the Magistrat Gal. 1 10. as they ought to be if he gave them Commission If the Magistrat as such be Head of the Church and Fountain of Church Power and Government I would gladly know how or whence the Apostles their Successors and others in the Ministery had power to Teach or Govern the Church when there was no Christian Magistrat to derive Power to them Or whether they had any Power at all or were but Usurpers Or what the Church shall do for Power when the Magistrat is Heathen Antichristian or a Woman Child a Fooll a Tyrant or Heretick c. Shall the Church all this time want a Head Or shall the Body of Christ have a Pagan-Head Shall a Woman who must not speak in the Church be Head of the Church shall a child or Idiot who cannot Govern themselves have the External Regulation of the Church Or shall Cruell Tyrants who oppress or destroy the Common-wealth and Bodies of men have the Regulation of the Church of the Souls of men We may then go to the Pope the Turk the wild Indian-Infidels and Savages for a Head to the Church before She want for whatâ—ver belongeth to one man as a Magistrat belongeth to all Magistrats But we will hold us content with the Head Iesus Christ which the Father hath given us Now from this that Church-Power and Government are thus distinct from the Civil and that Jesus Christ and not the Magistrat is Author and Fountain thereof it evidently followeth that it is not Subordinat to the Magitrat It is true that the Magistrat hath much Power Objectively Ecclesiasticall and that Church Officers as Subjects are subject to him yet Ecclesiastical Power it-self is not Properly Subordinat to the Civil This will the more appear not only because it is not Derived from the Magistrat as the Head or Fountain thereof nor is Exerced in his Name but also if we consider that Proper Subordination is only in things flowing from the same Fountain and of the same Nature whereas civill and Eccesiasticall Powers are neither from the same Immediat Fountain if the one be from Iehovah Essentially considered and as great Lord Creator and Gubernator of the World the
and Kingdome as Gods undoubted truth grounded only upon his written Word The other cause was for maintaining the Kings Majesty His Person and Estate the true worship of GOD and the Kings authority being so straitly joined as that they had the same Friends and common enemies and did stand and fall together And finally being convinced in our mindes and confessing with our mouthes that the present and succeeding generations in this Land are bound to keep the foresaid nationall Oath Subscription inviolable Wee Noblemen Barons Gentlemen Burgesses Ministers Commons under subscribing considering divers times before especially at this time the danger of the true reformed Religion of the Kings honour and of the publick peace of the Kingdome By the manifold innovations and evills generally conteined and particularly mentioned in our late supplications complaints and protestations Do hereby professe and before God his Angels and the World solemnly declare That with our whole hearts we agree resolve all the dayes of our life constantly to adhere unto and to defend the foresaid true Religion and forbearing the practice of all novations already introduced in the matters of the worship of GOD or approbation of the corruptions of the publicke Government of the Kirk or civil places and power of Kirk-men till they be tryed allowed in free assemblies and in Parliaments to labour by all meanes lawful to recover the purity and liberty of the Gospel as it was stablished and professed before the foresaid Novations and because after due examination we plainely perceave and undoubtedly believe that the Innovations and evils contained in our Supplications Complaints and Protestations have no warrant of the Word of God are contrary to the Articles of the Foresaid Confessions to the intention and meaning of the blessed reformers of Religion in this Land to the above written Acts of Parliament do sensibly tend to the re-establishing of the Popish Religion and Tyranny and to the subversion and ruine of the true Reformed Religion and of our Liberties Lawes and Estates We also declare that the Foresaid Confessions are to be interpreted and ought to be understood of the Foresaid novations and evils no lesse then if every one of them had been expressed in the Foresaid confessions and that we are obliged to detest abhorre them amongst other particular heads of Papistry abjured therein And therefore from the knowledge and consciences of our duety to God to our King and Countrey without any wordly respect or inducement so farre as humane infirmity will suffer wishing a further measure of the grace of God for this effect We promise and sweare by the Great Name of the Lord our GOD to continue in the Profession and Obedience of the Foresaid Religion That we shall defend the same and resist all these contrary errours and corruptions according to our vocation and to the uttermost of that power that GOD hath put in our hands all the dayes of our life and in like manner with the same heart we declare before GOD and Men That we have no intention nor desire to attempt any thing that may turne to the dishonour of GOD or to the diminution of the Kings greatnesse and authority But on the contrary we promise and sweare that we shall to the uttermost of our power with our meanes and lives stand to the defence of our dread Soveraigne the Kings Majesty his Person and Authority in the defence and preservation of the foresaid true Religion Liberties and Lawes of the Kingdome As also to the mutual defence and assistance every one of us of another in the same cause of maintaining the true Religion and his Majesty's Authority with our best counsel our bodies meanes and whole power against all sorts of persons whatsoever So that whatsoever shall be done to the least of us for that cause shall be taken as done to us all in genearal and to every one of us in particular And that we shall neither directly nor indirectly suffer our selves to be divided or withdrawn by whatsoever suggestion allurement or terrour from this blessed loyall Conjunction nor shall cast in any let or impediment that may stay or hinder any such resolution as by common consent shall be found to conduce for so good ends But on the contrary shall by all lawful meanes labour to further and promove the same and if any such dangerous divisive motion be made to us by Word or Writ We and every one of us shall either suppresse it or if need be shall incontinent make the same known that it may be timeously obviated neither do we fear the foul aspersions of rebellion combination or what else our adversaries from their craft and malice would put upon us seing what we do is so well warranted and ariseth from an unfeined desire to maintaine the true worship of God the Majesty of our King and peace of the Kingdome for the common happinesse of our selves and the posterity And because we cannot look for a blessing from God upon our proceedings except with our Profession and Subscription we joine such a life conversation as beseemeth Christians who have renewed their Covenant with God We therefore faithfully promise for our selves our followers and all other under us both in publick in our particular families and personal carriage to endeavour to keep our selves within the bounds of Christian liberty and to be good examples to others of all Godlinesse Sobernesse and Righteousnesse and of every duety we owe to God and Man And that this our Union and Conjunction may be observed without violation we call the living GOD the Searcher of our Hearts to witness who knoweth this to be our sincere Desire and unfained Resolution as we shall answere to JESUS CHRIST in the great day and under the pain of Gods everlasting wrath and of infamy and losse of all honour and respect in this World Most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by his holy Spirit for this end and to blesse our desires and proceedings with a happy successe that Religion and Righteousnesse may flourish in the Land to the glory of GOD the honour of King and peace and comfort of us all In witnesse whereof we have subscribed with our hands all the premisses c. The Article of this Covenant which was at the first Subscription referred to the determination of the General Assembly being determined and thereby the 5 Articles of Perth the Government of the Kirk by Bishops the Civill places and Power of Kirkment upon the reasons and grounds contained in the Acts of the General Assembly declared to be unlawful within this Kirk we subscribe according to the determination foresaid A Solemn League and Covenant For Reformation and Defence of Religion The Honour and Happiness of the King and the Peace and Safety of the three Kingdoms of Scotland England and Ireland WE Noblemen Barons Knights Gentlemen Citizens Burgesses Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts in the Kingdoms
owned it and stood to it but did account themselves so much the more obliged to their own Preservation and esteemed the same so much the more endeared to them that the seâ—ing forth of the Glory of God in the maintainance of the blessed Gospel and the propagation and continuance thereof seemed so necessarily to depend thereon which endeavours they did also further extend in the bowels and bonds of brotherly affection in Christ Jesus unto the same duty of defence Assistence to all his members And in effect if their Principles and Practices be well considered it will appear that as when God called them to suffering they loved not their lives unto Death that they might witness a good confession so when they attained to any Probability of Acting they thought themselves indispensibly obliged upon their uttermost hazard to defend the Gospel which they had receaved and to suppress all Superstition and Idolatry contrary therto although the motive of Self-defence had not been conjoined And it will also appear that the Necessity of Convocations and Combinations though not only without but even against Authority Yet being in order to such necessary and just Ends did suffiriently warrand them befor God and all men from the breach of any Law or Act then standing against the same wherewith they might have been charged For verification hereof though the whole course of our Reformation be an unquestionable evidence yet let the instance of their first Appearance be observed wherein both the Motives Actors and all other circumstances do more clearly and beyond all cavillation hold out that only the Love and Zeal of God in the same Spirit in which they had so constantly suffered did stir them up from the pure and vive sense of their indispensible duty and certaine Priviledge against all opposition whatsomever to own and set themselves for the Defence of the Gospel and the true Ministers thereof The passage is thus In or about the Year 1555 the Queen by the instigation of the Prelats perceaving the increase of the Protestants and fearing some inward distraction during the wars then with England if Shee should fall upon a more rigorous and general course did cause all the Preachers to be summoned whereupon the body and generality of the whole Protestants resolved to keep the Dyet But the Bishops apprehending the hazard did procure that they should be commanded instantly to the borders Nevertheless God had so provided that upon the same day the West-land Quarter returned from it which consisting of many faithful men so soon as they understood the matter they repaired to the Queen and plainly in the hearing of the Prelates did charge them with the cruel device intended and certified Her ' of their resolution both to oppose it and defend their Brethren to their uttermost and ceased not until that She was moved to discharge the citation Thereafter in the Year 1557. they entered into a Covenant of constant mutual Defence of the Gospel their Ministers and themselves against all their adversaries in these words VVe perceiving how Sathan in his members the Antichrists of our time cruelly do rage seeking to overthrow and destroy the Gospel of Christ and his Congregation ought according to our bounden duty to strive in our Masters Cause even unto the death being certaine of the Victorie in him The which our duty being well considered VVe do promise before the Majesty of God and his Congregation That we by his grace shal with all diligence continually apply our whole power substance and our very lives to maintain set forward and establish the most blessed VVord of God and his Congregation And shall labour according to our power to have faithfull Ministers truly and purely to minister Christs Gospel and Sacraments to his people VVe shal maintain them nourish them and defend them the whole Congregation of Christ and every Member thereof according to our whole powers and waging of our lives against Sathan and all wicked power that doth intend Tyrranny or trouble against the foresaid Congregation Vnto the which holy VVord and Congregation we de joyne us and so do forsake and renounce the Congregation of Sathan with all the superstitious abomination and idolatry thereof And moreover shall declare our selves manifest enemies therto by this our faithful promise before God testified to this Congregation by our Subscription at these Presents At Edinburgh the third Day of December Anno 1557. God called to witness Like as in the Year 1559. being again necessitated to assemble for and stand to the defence of the Gospel and themselves at Perth they renewed and enlarged the same engagement according to the good hand and Spirit of God upon his Servants in these words At Perth the last day of May the Year of God 1559. Yeares the Congregations of the VVest Countrey with the Congregations of Fife Perth Dundie Angus Merns and Monross being conveened in the town of Perth in the Name of Iesus Christ for setting forth of his glory understanding nothing more necessary for the same then to keep a constant amity unity and fellowship together according as they are commanded by God are confederate and become bounden and obliged in the presence of God to concurre assist together in doing all things required of God in his Scripture that may be to his glory And at their whole powers to destroy and put away all things that doth dishonour to his name so that God may be truly and purely worshipped And in case that any trouble be intended aganst the said Congregation or any part or member thereof the whole Congregation shall concurre assist and conveen together to the defence of the same Congregation or person troubled And shall not spare Labours goods Substance Bodies and Lives in maintaining the liberty of the whole Congregation and every member thereof against whatsoever person shall intend the said trouble for cause of Religion or any other cause depending thereupon or lay to their charge under pretence thereof although it happen to be coloured with any other outward cause And again in the Moneth of August the same Year after having sustained and valiantly resisted a second assault both of the wicked Prelats and of their other violent adversaries by a third band Oath they added a further caution to their former engagements to the effect that in so just and holy a cause they might never by force or fraud be thereafter fainted or divided And lastly in April Anno 15â—0 they ingaged themselves in a fourth bond in these words VVe whose names are underwritten have promised and oblidged our selves faithfully in the presence of God and by these presents do promise that we together in Generall and every one of us in special by himself with our bodies goods and friends and all that we can doe shall set forward the Reformation of Religion according to Gods VVord and procure by all means possible that the Truth of Gods VVord my haue free passage within this realme with
single person of the Kings Commissioner Certainly as in the multitude of Councellers there is safety so on the other hand no King on earth can rule by such an deputation who may not as lawfully alienate his Crown Which devices are all the inventions of these wicked Prelates who knowing that if the King should either hear see or act but by such ears eyes hands as they do assigne unto him their affairs could not long prosper do by such exorbitancies endeavour the establishment of their own Tyranny The 6. thing that occurs is not only the keeping up of a Military Force to the intolerable burden and slavery of this free Nation in so far as the ordinary and civil manner of Legal Execution specially for Fines and Ecclesiastical Delinquencies is now committed to and managed by Military Force and Violence and thereby the manner of exacting often times rendered more hard and insupportable then the exaction it self but also that for satisfying the restless jealousies and endless fears of the evil consciences of these Apostate Prelates more and greater forces under the vain pretence of Forraign fears which both the then condition and posture of these Wars the dis-proportion of the Forces themselves and the disposal of such as before were leavyed did clearly redargue have been leavyed and are kept on foot for maintaining whereof the Publick Revenues are mis-applyed the Fines when by the Kings favour long delayed at length exacted and expended new Taxations imposed far exceeding the quantity of any formerly required and at length the old Assessment the great grievance of the late Usurpation of new superadded and the poor Country and body of the Land in it's greatest poverty subjected unto oppressed and harrassed by more injurious extortions then ever the Conquering sword of an Forraign Enemy did heretofore or can probably license And all these things clearly intended and carryed on for no other end then the support of this wicked Prelacy and it 's cruel Bondage and Spiritual Tyranny We need not mention for an aggravation of these violences that these Forces were leavyed by the immediate procurement of the Perfidious Prelates without the advice of the King's Council ever from the beginning what ever may be the present exaltation of Prerogative reputed to be one with the King and who both by Place and Interest are therein indispensibly concerned seing it is not the least of the iniquities and calamities of these times that the poor Nation and it's greatest Concernments are by them so basely abandoned But this we must take notice of that though our Adversaries by reason of the disastrous Events that lately have happened do now boast of a most special Providence and fore-sight in all these oppressions yet it would be more just and rational on their part to acknowledge that as oppression doth even make a wise man mad so to see a free Nation by the Perfidy and Insolent Domineering of a few up-start Prelates and the violence of their wicked and slavish Favourites reduced to the condition of a most insupportable and unnatural Conquest both was is and ever will be a most just cause and provocation to all ingenuous Spirits and true Patriots to undertake the asserting of their own Liberty upon the greatest hazard Having thus truly and fully represented the exaltation of Prerogative and Prelacy over and above all things Divine and Humane Sacred or Profane we shall briefly adde the bitter and cruel fruits and effects of this sinful and woful Conspiracy 1. As the Laws above mentioned enacted for the overthrow of Presbytery and the Restauration of this accursed Prelacy specially in so far as concerns the Ministry were and are such as did inevitably infer either a sinfull complyance with that Perjury and Apostacy whereby they were framed or the endurance of the pains and sufferings thereto subjoyned so almost the whole faithful Ministers are thereby first and last not only deprived of their benefices and livelyhood ejected out of their respective Parishes and by imminent visible force incapacitated from the exercise of their Ministry but some of them are Banished others Confined and the remnant reduced to such straits fears and uncertainties as we have before represented Then might we have seen the shepherds smitten and their flocks scattered our teachers removed into corners and the Lords Vineyard and Sanctuary laid most desolate so that in some whole Countreyes and Provinces no preaching was to be heard nor could the Lords day be otherwise known then by the sorrowfull remembrance of these blessed enjoyments whereof now we are deprived Oh! though we had not the zeal courage of our Ancestors to have set our selves for the defence of the Gospel and the maintenance of the Lords Ministers and Ordinances of which we were so perfidiously and violently spoiled yet that at least we had remembered by Prayer and Supplication to God in the dayes of our afflictions and of our miseries all the pleasant things that we had in the dayes of old 2. As this Antichristian spirit did at the first discover it selfe in that height and rage of Prophanity and all Excess which suddenly overspread the Land and did very powerfully and evidently usher in the Restitution of Prelats so the same hath been ever since by them not only tolerated but greatly countenanced and encouraged We do not here mention their gross and wicked Toleration of Popery whereby in thir few years it hath increased to a greater hight then ever it attained at any time in this Land since the Reformation that though it hath doth appear in that daring confidence as in its avowed idolatrous Masses and seminary Priests amongst us to contemn and despise these ancient and standing Laws whereby such things are often and severely prohibited under the pain of death yet to this day never one hath been publickly questioned and charged upon that account The thing mostly to be noticed is that the only grievance and eyesore of Prelates is Conscience and any measure of Tenderness therein Thence is it that the most innocent and peaceable Forbearance in not bearing Curates and the like have been persecute with all rigor whereas Adulteries Blasphemies Swearing and Drunkenness are so far from being punished or restrained that the Committers thereof are now only the persons most in fashion and favour yea it hath been known and can be instanced that persons conveened and questioned as disaffected have either upon the discovery or information of their Profanity and dissoluteness been instantly and freely dismissed Oh that men and Christians do so litle remember our Lords own rule to judge and discern false prophets by their fruits whereby he hath expresly said that we shall know them and that men are so far blinded and bewitched as not to see the mighty working of Sathan in this Mystery of Iniquity endeavouring under a meer shaddow and pretence of Formality to root out the Power and Life of Religion and Conscience and to reduce this poor Church
after publication without any assurance of Indemnity offered and lastly commanding the whole Subjects to be assisting to the Lieutenant General and being required by him or others in Authority to rise in Arms and assist with all their Power under the Pain of Rebellion A Proclamation so full of fury and madness not only rendering such as were in Arms desperate without hope except in the cruel mercy of the wicked Prelates But also engaging all without distinction either Actively to concur to the destroying of these poor innocent and afflicted People or els to prepare themselves for suffering the same pains and punishment that it may justly be wondered at that even the single motive of this Proclamation did not procure to these Galloway-men a greater concourse But that poor hand-full being come towards the West and some hundreds there whom partly the like pressures and fears of worse but most of all the sense and remembrance of the indispensible obligation of the Holy Covenant for mutual sympathy and defence and our uttermost endeavours all the dayes of our lives to prosecute the great and blessed Ends therof did thereto determine having in the sincerity and simplicity of their hearts joined themselves to that company most harmlesly and inoffensively without the least violence or exaction done to any they march through the Countrey until they come to Lanerk Where upon the consideration of the Lord's wrath imminent upon the whole Land by reason of breach of Covenant and the many horrid Sins thereon ensuing and the apprehension of His holy displeasure yet continuing whereof by many visible and afflicting signs and tokens they were most sadly convinced as men reduced to the last extremity and in great distress after the example of Nehemiah and the Iewes Neh. chap. 9 10. in the like case they resolve and do renew the Solemn League and Covenant That at least by this Action they might bear Testimony both to the oppressed Cause and Truth of God and their own innocency From Lanerk upon the 26 of November they march to Bathgaâ—e and the morrow thereafter to Colington a place about two miles distant from Edinburgh That same night Lieut. Gen. Dalzel coming to Calder there is a Cessation agreed to betwixt them for that night and until upon the morrow their grievances and Petition might be presented to the Council which they for that effect send to Dalzel to be by him transmitted But as notwithstanding of this Cessation and though the same was timously signified to the Bishop as President of the Council yet the Countrey-troops leavyed about Edinburgh were not restrained from making an in-fall upon their Quarters where they rested securely upon the trust of the Cessation so upon the morrow before almost they were aware and without giving up the Cessation agreed to Dalzel finding a nearer way doth almost surprize them Whereupon they endeavour to march off but finding the Enemy so near they are constrained to stand to prepare for that Conflict upon the South of Pentland-hils Wherein the Lient General 's forces and theirs being engaged the very time and hour that the Gentle-man sent by Dalzel to the Council was presenting his letters and the West-land mens Grievances these poor men not exceeding eight or nine hundreds and extremly weakened and spent by sore travail and watching and mostly by their fasting and great abstinence are according to the Holy Wise and determinate Counsel of God a litle after sun-set routed and dissipated The number of the slain on both sides were reckoned about 40 and upwards of the Westland men and 4 or 5 of the Generals Forces The number of the prisoners was greater amounting in all to 130 and upward But because the threed of this story hath precipitated our Narration to this fatal period the observations following will supply what is ommitted 1. That these men who rose in the West were not only for the most part persons of known and very exemplar integrity piety and zeal for God and all of them severally and jointly so far from base and turbulent designes that they cannot be supponed by any who know them to have been Ambitious of either Rule or Riches but also did with the same straightness and sincerity in all parts declare that their only Motives were the rigor of extreme Necessity which constrained them to the defence of Religion and Liberty and the Conscience of that indispensible duty vve all owe to God one to another in the bond of the Holy Covenant and in the innocency of a most harmless deportment did fully conform themselves to these professions so that it may truly be affirmed that a company of more sincere upright and harmless men did never in any age appear in such a posture Which as it doth eminently appear in their sparing and civil usage of Sir Iames Turner and their great abstinence and moderation in all places not only from Plunder and such insolencies but even from the necessary means of Subsistence so it is a truth so certain that all their enemies save a few profane Curates who spare no lies whereby they may vent their malice must and do acknowledge it 2. That as in many places there were many found who joined themselves to the Lieut. General 's Forces to assist against and suppress that faithfull afflicted company so the Militia of Edinburgh by order from the Secret Council to the Town-Council and from the Town-Council to the several Captains who did administrate it to their respective Companies did in opposition to the same persons take the following Oath viz. I shal be true and faithfull to the King and shall defend his Authority and maintain the same against this Insurrection and Rebellion and any other that shall happen with the hazard of my life and fortune And the two Shires of Middle and East Lauthians did arm very readily against them But whether this Insurrection was in Rebellion against the King or whether this Conjuration and these Practices were not a manifest Conspiracy and horrid Rebellion against the great God a few reflections on what we have premised shall hereafter clear 3. That as only the force of Necessity from the rigor of their persecutions and the cutting off of all liberty to Petition or hope of Redress did compel the West-land men to this course so upon the first appearance and most slender insinuation of liberty to Represent Grievances to these in Authority they very wilingly and readily embraced the opportunity and signified to the Council that the only evill under which the Land perisheth is the Erecting of this wicked and tyrannous Prelacy contrary to the Holy Covenant and the cruel oppression both in Body Conscience of all that desire to continue Faithfull therein but how they were abused in this offer and Transaction we have before related 4. That though the wicked Prelats for the greater exaltation of their pride and triumph both over God and his Cause have boldly affirmed that these men were by
ordained Neither can this inference appear unwarranted or hard unto any who will impartially consider that though the same qualification doth in the like maner affect and define all duties whatsoever which we owe either to God or our Countrey yet it were most absurd thence to infer that if these more eminently intrusted should either turn directly Apostates and enemies to the Christian Faith or adversaries and destroyers of the Common-wealth the people of an inferior degree might not step forward to occupy the places and assert the Interests which these wicked men had so traiterously forfaulted and deserted All which must necessarily be granted if it be but rightly considered that as Order and the Observance thereof is only a mean subordinate to and intended for the Glory of God and the good of the people so must all the Regulation and Determination thereof be only admitted in so far as it is Conducible and no wayes to render it Destructive or Repugnant to these great Ends of its appointment From all which we clearly conclude that thir words in the Covenant of Places and Callings are no more Restrictive in the cases above mentioned then a General 's command to his souldiours entering in battel being thus qualifyed doth impede the necessity of Succession in case of the vacancy of any charge either through death or desertion requisit for the obtaining of the proposed end of Victory but that they are in effect specially the antecedent and subjoined words sincerely really and constantly all the dayes of our life being considered rather Exegetick and Ampliative 8. That whatsoever Laws Covenants and Engagements were standing and binding unto us before this late fearful Apostacy and Defection they are still in the sight of God and in the Consciences of all that fear His Name and mind his Glory the rather more strong and obligeing then in the least infringed or dissolved It being impossible that such Sacred Oaths so solemnly sworn unto the most High and such Righteous Laws by vertue thereof statuted and enacted for the carrying on and establishment of the Work of God thereby intended should be Ambulatory and Mutable at the pleasure of men specially of such who without regard of God Conscience Honor or Honesty have in the very pride and power of Wickedness not only broken the Lords bands casten away His cords and violently under the pretext of abused Authority overturned his whole Work but done despite against the same both by ignominious Burning and Blaspheming of the Lords holy Covenant And this Position Rescissory we oppose unto their great Act Rescissory and to all Acts and practices of the like nature antecedent thereto or dependent thereupon Being fully perswaded that though now they appear unequally ballanced yet the Lord shall declare from heaven His Righteousness and laugh at His enemies Acts and Devises and have them all in derision 9. That though we do heartily approve their 〈◊〉 veneration and just esteem of lawfull Authority the great and excellent Ordinance of God who to prevent all prejudice that it may incur and inconvenience that may ensue thereon do so far transmit this respect to the person therewith vested as to hold for a Maxime but indeed equally against Religion Reason and Experience that the King doeth no wrong And though we are perswaded that the true rise and cause of the sin and calamity under which we lye is from the malice perjury flattery and violence of that Antichristian spirit ruling in the apostat Prelates and therefore would willingly cloath our selves even in the sight of man with that ample Allowance and full Authority whereby the King did once approve the holy Covenant and countenance the Lords Work as if the same did yet stand as it ought not retracted or repeal'd Yet seing our late Parliament by their second Act Session second have reprobated and discharged all pretences of Authority in this kind notwithstanding that the same hath been and may be most necessary in many cases for the preserving of the Kingdom salving of State-inconveniences we do therefore rather subsist on the former grounds and turn our complaint and prayer unto God who is the great King over all looking for His appearance and waiting for His salvation 10. That the Glory of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ the Defence and Maintenance of the blessed Gospel and it 's precious Ministry and Ordinances are Duties Concernments infinitly more important then the defence and preservation of our Lives Liberties and the Common-wealth against the most barbarous and horrid violences and injuries that can be imagined Like-as the violation and destruction of all these is so evidently designed and wickedly practised by this late and present Apostacy that a clearer ground and cause of Self-defence and Reformation cannot possibly be supposed so that to condescend to answer the peevish clamours of these Neutral and careless men who say what needeth all this noise for the extrinsick and arbitrary forms of Government and modes of VVorship both with and without which Religion and Righteousness have equally flourished and prospered where to shut our eyes from beholding the Glory and Grace of God that in this Land hath so visibly appeared in and been advanced by this great Ordinance of PRESBYTERY by Himself for that end appointed and also from the observing of these deludges of Profanity Wickedness Superstition and Violence which the Devill by his great engine of PRELACY hath alwayes and in all Churches caused and procured 11. That as such was the State Condition and Engagements of this Church and Kingdom at the time of the King's return and before the re-erecting of this Prelacy that all and every one of the Nation were most strictly obliged sincerely really and constantly to have resisted and opposed this wicked Defection to the last drop of their blood so the sinfull complyance of many and wofull fainting and withdrawing of others might indeed incapacitat such as remain faithful from the best but neither could nor can dis-engage them from their utmost endeavours From these grounds and what hath been formerly represented the argument of the Indictment of Treason above-mentioned viz. That all Convocations and Risings in Arms or Subjects entering in Leagues without or against the Kings Authority are treasonable But such was the late Rising and renewing of the Covenant Therefore c. May be easily and clearly answered that all such Risings and entering into Leagues as are not warranded and commanded by the Superior Law and Authority of God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords which by our own express Acts and Statutes are acknowledged and are not founded upon the Fundamental Right and necessarily intended for the preservation of Religion and Righteousness the great and principal End of all Laws and Governments according whereunto our Laws have also by posterior Statutes been expresly interpreted are indeed treasonable But such the late Rising was not but on the contrary was more clearly approven by these grounds then
yoke of PRELACY which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear which is Destructive to all our true Interests Religious and Civill As ye would not involve your selves in the guilt and plagues of Perjury and Breach of Covenant And as you tender the good of your own Names Persons Estates Families and Liberties as well as of your immortal Souls And as ye would partake of the good of God's chosen and of our joyes when ye come so near Eternity as we are We shall say no more but as we were not afraid to take our lives in our hands so we are not afraid to lay them down in this Cause And as we are not ashamed of Christ because of His cross so we would not have you offended in Christ nor discouraged because of us For we bear you record that we would not exchange lots with our Adversaries nor redeem our Lives Liberties and Fortunes at the price of Perjury and breach of Covenant And further we are assured though this be the daâ— of Iacob's trouble that yet the Lord when He hath accomplished the Triall of His own and filled up the cup of His Adversaries He will awake for judgement plead His own Cause avenge the quarrel of His Covenant make inquiry for blood vindicate His People break the arm of the wicked and establish the just For to Him belongeth judgement and vengeance And though our eyes shall not see it yet we believe that the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing under His wings that He will revive His Work repair the breaches build the old wastes and raise up the desolations Yea the Lord will judge His people repent Himself for His servants when their power is gone and there is none shut up or left And therefore Rejoyce O ye Nations with His People For He will avenge the blood of His servants and will render vengeance to His adversaries and He will be merciful to His Land and People So let thy Enemies perish O Lord but let them that love Him be as the Sun when He goeth forth in His might Sic subscribitur Iohn MeCulloch of Barholm And. Arnot Iohn Gordon of Knockbrex Robert Gordon his Brother Iohn Ross Iohn Schields Iames Hamilton Iohn Parker in Bosby Christopher Strang. Gawin Hamilton Another Testimony which was also left by such of the Former ten Persons as were in the same Chamber with Thomas Paterson Merchant in Glasgow who being in like manner Indited but dying of his Wounds before Sentence did communicate the same to his friends with his Assent thereunto MEn and Brethren being condemned by our Rulers as Traitors lest we should seem to many to suffer as evill doers In the first place we bless and praise the Lord our God who hath made us the unworthiest of all men Worthy to be faithfull to Him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and in simplicity and godly Sincerity singly to mind his glory and who also maketh the cross of Christ though by men superscribed with Treason our sweet consolation and his own joy our strength 2. We declare in the presence of the same God before whom we are now ready to appear that we did not intend to Rebell against the King and his just Authority Whom as we acknowledg for our Lawful Soveraign so we do earnestly pray in his behalf that God would open his eyes and Convert his heart that he may remember his Vowes made unto God relieve this oppressed Kirk and long reign and flourish in righteousness 3. We declare that perceaving the Holy Covenants of our God broken the Work of the Lord overturned the Gospel and Kingdome of Jesus Christ despised and trampled upon his pure Ordinances corrupted his faithful and our soul-refreshing Ministers cast out and the Land filled with Perjury and Profanity and like to be hurried back to that gulf of Ignorance Superstition and Confusion whence the Lord did so gloriously deliver us And finding our selves not only Spoiled of our most precious blessings and most dear enjoyments but urged and compelled by cruel Violence and Barbarous Persecution to wicked Apostacy from our Holy Covenants and to Rebellion against our God And all this done by no other hand then the wicked and perjured Prelats And for no other ends whatever they may pretend then the satisfying of their own vile lusts and establishing their so often abjured Antichristian Tyranny over both Souls and Bodies of Men And lastly finding former Petitions condemned as Seditious and our private complaints when but muttered insolently rejected We did in the fear and Zeal of our God and by the warrant of his Holy Word according to the first and most Innocent instinct of pure Nature and the Practice of all People and Persons in the like case And after the Example of all the oppressed Kirks of Jesus Christ and of our Noble Ancestors take the Sword of Necessary Self-defence from the rage and fury of these wicked violent Men until we might make our heavy Grievances known to his Majesty and obtain from his Justice a satisfying remedy We will not now mention our particular Sufferings nor the sighes and groans of poor wasted Galloway which though very heavy from the hand of man are all to light for Jesus Christ Nor are we willing to reflect upon these grievous and bitter Lawes and Edicts by which they seem to be warranted Only we know that God is Righteous whose Lawes and judgments are Superior and above all the Lawes and Actions of men And to him who will judge righteously We intirly Commit our Cause which is none other then the Reviving of the Work of God and Renewing of his Covenant Which though it pleased the Holy and Wise God not to favour with Success in the field and though by men it be made our Condemnation yet it is our Righteousness Innocency and Confidence in his sight And all praise and thanks be unto our God who not only kept us stedfast in his Covenant and made us Willing and Ready to adventure our Lives for His Name but hath also accepted and dignifyed our Offer with this publick Appearance Where in his own glorious presence before whom we shall instantly appear and before our often Sworn and once Zealous and tender Brethren in the same Cause and in midst of Thee O Edinburgh once famous for the Glory and Zeal of God and of this Covenant we may give and Seal this our Testimony with our blood We therefore the unworthiest of all the Faithful do in the Spirit of God and Glory Testify and Seal with our Blood and Lives that both the National Covenant and Solemne League and Covenant are in Themselves Holy Just and True and perpetually Binding containing no other thing then our Indispensable Obligations to all Duties of Religion and Righteousness according to the revealed Will of God which no Authority nor Power of Man is or ever shall be able to disannul And that our blessed Reformations both from Popery
all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ MY LORD for whom I now suffer the loss of all things that I may win Him and be found in Him and that I may not only know the fellowship of His sufferings but the power of His resurrection and attain unto the resurrection of the dead And as for yow my dear Friends as I pray for you that the God of all grace who hath called us unto His eternall glory by Christ Jesus after ye have suffered a while may make yow perfect stablish strengthen and settle yow so I recommend to you the same truth that you be not soon shaken in mind but that ye hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering And as you have receaved the Lord so walk in Him Warning and obtesting you by all manner of obligations and by the hope and joy of that crown which I wait for that ye keep your selves unspotted with the abominable courses and practices of these times whereunto ye may be tempted by the extremity of suffering and particularly that ye beware of unlawfull Oaths and Declarations against the Cause and Covenant of God that ye have no complyance with nor give consent unto this Prelacy which ye have abjured And that you be afraid and aware of Popery which by Connivance doth so visibly abound and dayly increase But by fighting the good fight and keeping of the faith you may finish your course as I do in the assurance of the crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge hath laid up and shall give unto me and not to me only but to all them that love His appearance ALEXANDER ROBERTSON The Testimony of JOHN NILSON of Corsack who died at Edinburgh Dec. 14. 1666. BEing made a spectacle to the World to Angels and to Men I found it necessary for vindication of the Truth of my self for undeceaving of some encouraging of others to leave this line behind me which with my innocent blood may speak when I am gone I am condemned I shall not say how unjustly as a Rebell against Man but the Lord God of Gods He knoweth all Israel shall know that it is not for Rebellion against God but for endeavouring to recover the blessed work of Reformation and particularly for endeavouring to extirpate Prelacy which hath been the cause of so much sin and suffering within this Land and for renewing of the Covenant from the obligation whereof seing I made my Vow and Promise to the Lord neither I my self nor any humane Authority can absolve me And if any account this Rebellion I do plainly confess that after the way which they call Heresy I worship the God of my fathers Although the insupportable oppression under which I and many others did groan were enough to justify our Preserving and Defending of our selves by Armes yet know that the Cause was not Ours but the Lord's for we suffered all our grievous Oppressions not for evill-doing but because we could not in conscience acknowledge comply with and obey Prelacy and submit unto the Ministery of Ignorant Light and Profane men who were irregularly and violently thurst upon us Neither did we only or mainly designe our civil Liberties but the Liberty of the Gospel the Extirpation of Prelacy the Restauration of our faithful Pastors the Suppression of Profanity Promoving of Piety the saving of ourselves from unjust violence untill we had presented our Grievances and Desires And in a word the Recovering of the once glorious but now ruined Work of Reformation in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Nationall Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant to which I declare my adherence and through grace shall seal the same with my blood My Advocate drew up a Supplication for me wherein was acknowledged that I had been with the Rebels but let none offend thereat for â— do hereby declare that I was so far from accounting that course Rebellion that I judged and still do judge it was my duty to joyn therein and my honor to suffer therefore Otherwise I should have counted my self accessary to the blood of the Lord's People which is shed And cannot but regret that others of the Lord's People when they heard of us did not come forth with speed to help the Lord against the Mighty much more let all mourn that not only many have appeared as Enemies but also conjured themselves against the Lord the same Covenant which they so solemnly sware And as for the Petition it self I knew not that expression was in it Being conscious to my self of so much weakness so many hainous sins which predomine in me of unfruitfulness under the Gospel and unsutable walking thereto I confess my self the vilest of sinners and desire to mourn for the same and pray that the Lord for Christ's sake may freely forgive me as I have forgiven them that have wronged me and hope through the righteousness of Jesus Christ to obtain the same And I do exhort all and every one of my friends to more holiness Prayer and stedfastness alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord And above all things to detest shun that wicked Declaration against the Covenant the apparant temptation of the time and the very mark of Antichristian Prelacy All that I have is but little but if I had many Worlds I would lay them all down as now I do my life for Christ and His Cause nothing doubting but the Lord will abundantly provide for my Wife and my six Children whom I commit to the Lord's care and recommend to the Kindness and Prayers of the faithful And do lay an express charge on my Wife that she shew all my Children that I have bound them all to the Covenant for which now I lay down my life and that She lay it upon them as my last command that they adhere to every Article thereof The Work and People of God are brought very low It may be because they were not ripe for a deliverance And for the greater triall and filling up of the cup of the Adversaries Or because there was litle or less prayer then should have been amongst these who appeared at this time that the Lord hath made this late breach But dear Friends be not therefore tempted to call in question the Work of Reformation or to think the worse of Christ and His Cause because of sufferings Nor be discouraged because these few who took their lives in their hands fell before the Adversary For as sufferings are often sweetned by the Spirit of God and Glory that resteth upon the sufferers and afterward bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby So the Lord will arise in due time and have mercy upon Zion and plead the cause which is his own And this Testimony as I am this day to seal with my blood so I subscribe with my hand JOHN NILSON OF CORSACK The Testimony
of GEORGE CRAWFORD Yeoman who died at Edinburgh Decemb. 14. 1666 SEing I am to die after this manner I lay before yow this Testimony which I avow before God and leave behind me to the World That which moved me to come along with these men was their persuasion and my desire to help them which with a safe conscience I could not well refuse who being tyrannically opprest by the Prelats and their dependants and upholders and seing no other way was left to be taken took up Armes for their own defence And if this be Rebellion I leave it to the great God the supream Judge to decern For in my weak judgement I found it warrantable from the Word of God and without prejudice of the King's Authority whom I pray God to direct and guide in the right wayes of the Lord and to make him prosper therein so that he may be surely set in his Kingdom having Him whom no enemy can resist to defend him seeing there was nothing intended by us against his or any others just and lawful Authority But that which was my principall and chief design was giving my poor assistance to the rooting out of Prelats Prelacy and all such as are come into God's vine-yard without the Master's commission these Hirelings who came not in at the true door Iesus Christ but have climbed up some other way as thieves and robbers whose voice the sheep know not All which is too sadly confirmed by the dreadfull and horrid sins that are risen in the Land and the curses and plagues that have followed thereupon that so by taking away these the abuses which proceed from them and the sad consequences which follow their standing falling with them the Covenant of God might be re-established and true Pastors that were silenced might be set at liberty their mouths opened and they themselves put to the keeping of their flocks and all other such persons who were banished or any other vvay under suffering relieved And I do adhere to the vvay of Church-Government svvorn to in the Covenant vvhich I think and assert to be conform to God's Word vvhich vvith His Spirit directing is the only Patern and judge in all controversies and hovvever our endeavours at this time have not been successful it is of the Lord vvho vvill come in his own time for He can do as well with few as vvith many but it is like the cup of the Adversaries is not full And who knoweth but the Lord God of hosts vvill hiss for the bee of Egypt and the fly of Assyria vvho vvill be more cruel and blood-thirsty then vve vvere to avenge the quarrel of His ovvn People and to make vvay for the establishing of His ovvn Cause I say no more but as I vvas vvilling to hazard my life for this Cause so I am ready to lay it down at my Master's feet seing He calls for it And I pray the Almighty to send His Spirit of Consolation promised by His Son to His ovvn people to strengthen them and bear them through till the appointed time of the Lord 's coming with Deliverance for He will come for His own Cause and for His peoples sake and will not tarry The last Speech and Testimony of M R HEW M C KAILE Preacher of the Gospel and Probationer for the Ministry at his death in Edinburgh Decemb. 22. 1666. BEing by a great surprisal of Providence thus staged before the World in a matter of so universall concernment to all that fear God and desire to be stedfast in his Covenant I could not forbear to leave behind me this standing Testimony concerning the Occasion and Uses thereof for the Glory of God for the Vindication of my Profession from the aspersions cast thereon by Men and the Edification of these by my death to whom I had devoted my Life in the work of the Ministery I have esteemed the Government of this Church by Presbytery to be among the chief of the Ordinances of Jesus Christ which by his blood he hes purchased and ascended up on high to bestovv as a gift upon it as being the very Gospell-Ministery in it's Simplicity and Purity from the Inventions of Men and so the Mean by which other Ordinances are administred and the most fundamental Truths made effectual in the hearts of his People and therefore that it ought with that same carefulness to be contended for Experience both of the having and wanting of it hath given it this Epistle of Commendation so as it may be both known and read of all men Which is also true of the solemne Engagements of the Nation thereto by the Nationall Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant which I have esteemed in their Rise Renewing pregnant performances of that promise Isaiah 44.5 where it is evident that where Church Reformations come to any maturity they arrive at this degree of saying I am the Lords subscribing with the hand unto the Lord. So was it in the dayes of the Reforming Kings of Iudah and after the Restauration from the Captivity in the dayes of Nehemiah This same promise did the Lord Jesus make Yea Amen to us when he redeemed us from spirituall Babilon which is so much the greater evidence that these were the very Motions of Gods Spirit in our first Reformers that they were expressly designed against the greatest motions of the Spirit of Darkness in Antichrist and his supposts and against the greatest confirmations that ever these Abominations attained by the decrees of the Council of Trent and that bloody Bond called the Holy League And therefore whatever indignity is done unto these Covenants I do esteeme to be no less then doing despite unto the spirit of Grace in his most eminent Exerting of himself but especially Declaring against the same as flowing from a Spirit of Sedition and Rebellion to be a Sin of the same nature with theirs who ascribed Christ his casting out of Devils to Beelzebub and that with this aggravation that these Scribes and Pharisees came never the length of prefessing Christ and submiting themselves to Him and his wayes Buâ— we are condemned to death upon the account of this Covenant for adhereing to the dueties therein sworn to by such as once did as much themselves as we have done and some of them more then some of us Which considerations have moved me to great feares of Gods wrath against the Land according to the curse that we are bound under if we should break that Covenant in the fear of it many times to pour out my soul before the Lord as soon as I heard of a Party up in Armes in behalf of the Covenant all other door being shut whereby the redress of the manifest violations of it might be obtained and these by manifest unheard of violence obtruded upon others to go along with them being bound by that Covenant against detestable Indifferency and Neutrality in this matter to esteem every injury done to any ingaged in
VVorld had been but fevv so his VVords at that time should not be many He spoke to the People the speech and Testimony vvhich he had before vvritten and subscribed Having done speaking to the People who heard him with great attention he sung a part of the 31 Psal and then prayed with such povver and fervency as forced many to vveep bitterly Having ended he gives his cloak and hat from him And vvhen he turnned himself and took hold of the Ladder to go up he said vvith an audible voice I care no more to go up this Ladder and over it then if I were going home to my Fathers House And as he went up hearing a great noise amongst the People he called dovvn to his fellovv-sufferers saying Friends and Fellow-sufferers be not affraid every step of this Ladder is a degree nearer Heaven Then having seated himself thereon he said I do partly believe that the Nobles Counsellors and Rulers of the Land would have used some mitigation of this punishment had they not been instigated by the Prelates so our blood lyes principally at the Prelats door But this is my comfort now that I know my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my skin worms destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I see God vvhom I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold pointing to his eyes and not another though my reins be consumed in me And novv I do vvillingly lay dovvn my life for the Truth and Cause of God the Covenants and VVork of Reformation vvhich vvere once counted the Glory of this Nation And it is for endeavouring to defend this and to extirpate that bitter root of Prelacy that I embrace this rope the Executioner putting the rope about his ncek Then hearing the People weep he said Your vvork is not to vveep but to pray that vve may be honourably born through and blessed be the Lord that supports me Novv as I have been beholden to the prayers and kindness of many since my imprisonment and sentence So I hope you vvill not be vvanting to me novv in this last step of my journey that I may vvitness a good Confession And that you may knovv the ground of my encouragement in this VVork and vvhat my hope is I vvill read to you the last Chapter of the Bible And having read it he said Here you see the Glory that is to be revealed upon me a pure river of vvater of life and so forth read the place vvhere the Throne of God is and the Lamb is in it vvhere his Servants serve Him and see His face and His Name is in their foreheads and the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever and here you see my access to my Glory and revvard Let him that is a thirst come and vvhosoever vvill let him take of the vvater of life freely And here you see also my vvelcome the Spirit and the Bride say Come Then he said I have one vvord more to say to my Friends looking dovvn to the Scaffold vvhere are you You need neither lament me nor be ashamed of me in this condition for I may make use of that expression of Christs I go to your Father and my Father to your God and my God to your King and my King to the blessed Apostles and Martyrs and to the City of the Living God the heavenly Ierusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born and to God the Iudge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant And so I bid you all farevvell For God vvill be more comfortable to you then I could be And he vvill also novv be more refreshing to me then you can be farevvel farevvel in the Lord. Then the Napkin being put on his face he prayed a space vvithin himself after vvhich he put up the cloath from his face vvith his ovvn hand and said he had one vvord more to say and that vvas to shevv them the comfort he had in his Death saying I hope you perceaved no alteration or discouragement in my countenance and carriage and as it may be your vvonder so I profess it is a vvonder to my self and I vvill tell yovv the reason of it Besides the justness of my Cause this is my comfort vvhich vvas said of Lazarus vvhen he dyed that the Angels did carry his soul into Abraham's Bosom so that as there is a great solemnity here of a confluence of People a Scaffold a Gallovvs and People looking out at vvindovvs so is there greater more solemn preparation in Heaven of Angels to carry my soul to Christ's bosom Again this is my comfort that it is to come in Christ's hands and He vvill present it blameless and faultless to the Father and then shall I be ever vvith the Lord. And novv I leave of to speak any more to creatures and turn my speech to thee O Lord and novv I begin my entercourse vvith God vvhich shall never be broken off Farewel Father and Mother Friends and Relations Farevvel the VVorld and all Delights Farevvell meat and drink Farevvel Sun Moon and Stars VVelcome God and Father VVelcome svveet Lord Iesus the Mediator of the nevv Covenant VVelcome blessed Spirit of Grace and God of all consolation VVelcome Glory VVelcome Eternal Life VVelcome Death Then he desired the Executioner not to turn him over untill he should put over his ovvn shoulders himself vvhich after praying a little vvithin himself he did saying O Lord into thy hands I commit my Spirit for thou hast redeemed my Soul Lord God of truth Thus in the 26 Year of his age he died as he lived in the Lord. FINIS Some Instances of the Sufferings of Galloway and Ntthisdale BEcause in the former Deduction mention is made of a Paper containing some of the Sufferings of Galloway and Nithisdale it is not inconvenient for more Particular Information to subjoyn a few instances out of the same Paper And first at three several inroads which the Souldiers have made into that Countrey in the Years 1663 1665 and 1666. they exacted from the People there for adhereing to their old faithful Ministers and not submitting to the Ministry of those whom the Prelates violently obtruded upon them the Summes of Money underwritten viz. Â Lib. S. d. From 49 Families in the Parish of Carsphairn 4864 17 0 From 43 Families in the Parish of Dalray 9577 16 8 From 49 Families in Balmaclelland 6430 10 0 From 9 Families in Balmacghie 425 11 8 From 2 or 3 Families in Tungland 166 12 0 From some poor Persons in Tuynham 81 4 0 From 20 Families in Borg 2026 17 4 From 9 poor Families in Girton 525 10 4 From some poor Families in Anwith 733 6 4 From 34 inconsiderable Families in Kirkpatrick-Durham 2235 6 0 From some few Fam. in Kirkmabrek
towards God and true Loâ—alty and during the King's Exile did retain a more faithful remembrance of his Interest according to the Covenants then many other places of the Kingdom be of all other Shires within the same in recompense thereof rewarded with the Titles of disaffected persons Rebells men of pernicious and disloyal principles and spoiled of their goods Whence should these who being spoiled of all Armes first by the English and then by the Council since the King's return be presumed to have concealed Armes What ground is there to suggest unto the World the transportation of Armes from Enemies Must every man who will not throw away for nothing his Horse and Armes which he hath purchased by his money be therefore a seditious and disaffected person and accordingly proceeded against with all rigor If none within these Shires must keep a horse exceeding the value above-mentioned how impossible is it to labour much of the ground How are covetous wretches in hope of gaining horse without Payment and the half of the Fines for concealed Armes animated to give in invidious Informations against the owners and many poor well meaning people tempted to redeem their beasts at the rate of Perjury and breach of Covenant What an absurd thing is it to punish men otherwayes innocent only for not accepting or deserting publick trust whereunto they neither have access nor can continue in without formal and express Perjury How irrational and unjust is it to command under a penalty Parishioners to do that which may be impossible yea without the compass of their knowledge such as opposing but much more apprehending and presenting surprizers wherewith I pray you shall these who must deliver up all their Armes reserving not so much as a sword defend themselves or any other man against violence and surprizall We read in our History of a Law whereby for repressing of Theft men were not to shut their doors in the night and satisfaction was ensured to the owner for any thing that should be stoln from him whereupon a Countrey-man alleaging his goods to be stoln obtained payment but being found thereafter that himself had hid them he was hanged for a reward to himself and example to others Now what if some of these covetous and malicious Men should for who can rationally promise and secure but that they who have done worse may also thus abstract or cause abstract their own goods what if the Lord should immediatly smit them for offering strange fire or thieves and robers should fall upon them or evil Spirits in humane shape should haunt or hurt them must Innocent people upon their invidious false alleagance be therefore punished As if the Parishioners of Carphaâ—â— should pay for Mckinney's silver plate which his own servant stole from him Ah Scotland which the Lord planted a noble vine wholly a right seed how are thow turned into a degenerate plant of a Strange Vine Where is now the Spirit of the Fathers that as if thy inhabitants were neither Christians Men nor Patriots Religion the Land Ourselves and the Posterity in Bodies Consciences and Estats should be thus emancipated to the Interest Lust and Designe of 14 Prelats and their Hirelings whom the Lords sparing is a greater wonder then if he should convert them into Pillars of salt for their Apostacy O Backslideâ— Scotland remember from whence thow art fallen Repent and Do the First works or else he will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestcik out of his place except thow Repent FINIS