did suffer any thing For these others were settled in Churches by an Indulgence granted by the King Against which Indulgence all the Sufferers like true Presbyterians gave their Testimony calling it a meer brat of Erastianism What Government could tolerate such Ministers as John Deckson whom I named before who in a Sermon Preached by him in the Parish of Gallashiels declar'd That it was all one to Sacrifice to Devils as to pay Cess to King Charles The Author of the Review of the History of Indulgence one of the Sober sort of Presbyterians tells Page 610. the same of a Preacher of his Acquaintance I shall say no more of their Sentiments concerning Government but only referr the Readers to their Printed Acts of General Assemblies and to those Covenants which themselves have Printed often Subscribed and Sworn and which are now again for the benefit of Strangers published in that Excellent Vindication of King Charles II. his Happy Government in Scotland by Sir George Mac Kenze in which it's Evident that they plainly renounce Monarchy and all Power but that of the Covenanted Kirk As to their Disposition to live peaceably I appeal not only to their Principles vented in these Covenants and Acts of their general Assemblies but also to the many private Murthers and open Rebellions which they have been guilty of under every Reign since their first entry into Britain Even in our own Days since 1666 they have raised no less than Three formidable Rebellions besides many lesser Insurrections and Tumults wherein many Christians have suffered With what Violence did they flee to Arms and persecute all who were not of their Party upon the occasion of the late Revolution when if it had not been for their indiscreet and fiery Zeal this Kingdom might have been happily united to England But what ever Advantage such an Union might have brought to the Church and State yet because it seemed to have no good Aspect to the covenanted cause therefore the motion of it though offered was industriously stifled and that Opportunity which we can hardly hope to recover quite lost Nay under the present Government for which they in the beginning pretended to be so zealous 't is well known over all the Kingdom that they were last Year contriving by force without any regard to Authority to have the Solemn League renewed and imposed after the old manner upon all Men Women and Children and in order to this good end many Thousands of them at Field meetings in the West conveened after their ordinary way with Bibles and Musquets Psalm-Books and rusty Swords and subscrbed a new Association for raising of Men Horse and Arms to advance the Old Cause repurge the holy Kirk and make a thorow Reformation in the Land But I shall take occasion by and by to give you some later and more evident Instances of their Neglect and Contempt of their present Governors In the next place survey them in their Learning and you shall find that it lies only in the study of some Anti-Arminian Metaphysicks and in the practical Divinity they pretend to draw from the Heads of Election and Reprobation whereby they preach Men out of their Wits and very often into Despair and Self-murder It 's generally known that Joseph Brodie Preacher in Forress in the time of the late Presbytery did in the presence of a very Learned and Eminent Person take occasion in the Pulpit to speak of a poor Man who was then in such a desperate Condition that it was judg'd necessary to bind up his Hands lest otherwise he should cut his own Throat as he continually threatned of this desperate Wretch the pious Preacher above-named pronounced thus Sirs this is the best Man in my Parish would to God ye were all like him he does truely fear Reprobation which most of you are not aware of There is a common printed Pamphlet compos'd and publish'd by a Presbyterian Preacher concerning one Bessie Clarkson a Woman that lived at Lanark who was three Years in despair or to speak in their Cant under Exercise Whosoever reads that Pamphlet will find that the poor Woman's Distemper proceeded only form their indiscreet Preaching representing God as a sower severe and unmerciful Being It is known in the Shire of Teviotdale that Mr. William Veach murder'd the Bodies as well as Souls of two or three Persons with one Sermon For preaching in the Town of Jedburgh to a great Congregation he said There are Tow thousand of you here to day but I am sure Fourscore of you will not he saved upon which Three of his ignorant Hearers being in Despair dispatched themselves soon after And lately in Edenburgh Mr. James Kirkton the Everlasting Comedian of their Party one of their famous Preachers in that City praying publickly for a poor Woman much troubled in Spirit said A wholesome Disease good Lord a wholesome Disease Lord for the Soul Alas said he few in the Land are troubled with this Disease Lord grant that she may have many fellows in this Disease Not only do they make their People distracted with such desperate Doctrine as this but moreover they incourage them in direct Impieties Mr. Selkirk preaching at Musselburgh expressed himself thus God seed no Sin in his Chosen Now Sirs be you guilty of Murder Adultery Bestiality or any other gross Sin if you be of the Election of Grace there is no fear of you for God sees no Sin in his Chosen covenanted People And this is consonant to an expression of Mr. Samuel Rutherford's printed Letters Hellfulls of Sins cannot separate is from Christ In the Parish of Mr. Macmath Minister of Leswade some of those who were lately the most active in persecuting and driving him form his Residence even after he had the Privy Councils Protection and a Guard assign'd him for his Defence have since suffer'd violent deaths two of them prevented the Hangman's pains by becoming their own Murtherers When the Earl of Lauderdale and Sir George Mackenzie dyed last year much about one time the party who pretend to unriddle all the most secret Causes of God's Providence called their Deaths a visible Judgment for their being Enemies to the good Cause altho' it be well known that both these honourable Persons dyed of a natural Death in a good age being both of them worn out with their great diligence in their King and Country's Service perhaps indeed their days were shortened by seeing such Firebrands able again to force themselves into the Church as had before ruin'd both it and the State and were the Scandal of Christianity as well as Disgrace of their Nation But when these abovenamed Self-Murtherers of the Parish of Leswade had divided Judas's death betwixt them the one hanging himself the other ripping up his own Belly till all his Bowels gushed out The Presbyterian Preacher in that Parish holding forth next Sunday was so ready of Invention as to find Arguments from thence for the Confirmation of the good Cause Ab Sirs says
appear in person at it It is to you that the Nation owes her miraculous deliverance from the Idolatries of the Creed Lords-Prayer and Gloria Patri It 's your Lp. that hath rescued us from the Superstitions of observing Christmass Easter and Whitsunday and from all the Popish fopperies of Cassocks close sleev'd Gowns and Girdles It 's your Lp. that enriched Their Majesties Treasure with the Revenues of fourteen fat Bishops and with admirable expedition have voided more than half of the Churches of the Kingdom and advanced such a set of Preachers as it is certain never flourished in any period of the Church of Scotland under any of their Majesties Predecessors and now that some malignant Lords have been brought into the Council again your Lp. hath retir'd from it bravely scorning to sit at the same Board with the Opposers of the Cause My L. tho' the times have been reeling and dangerous yet your Lp. has by extraordinary management put your self beyond the greatest reach and Malice of Fortune for you have indeed deserved well of all Parties K. James is obliged to thank you for the real Service you have done him and K. William for your good Will to serve His Majesty The Presbyterian Clergy own their good Livings to you and the Episcopal Divines are bound to you for advancing them to the Honour of being Confessors The stubborn Highlanders owe all their Composition-money to your Lp and the West Country Rabble were highly enriched by your Lp's Countenauce and Protection You scorn that malignant way of making your Palace a Cooks Shop for Strangers but tho' your Commons be short yet it 's well known that your Graces are long at least after Dinner the full length of a Curates Sermon and that is three quarters of an hour There is one thing more that your Lordship is most remarkable for and that is your daily practice of Family Duty it 's well known that there have been more new Creatures begotten in your Lp's Family than in any other we have yet heard of and in this matter such is your great Goodness and Humility that you condescend often to allow to some of your Servants the Paternal Honour that 's known to be due to your Lp. But all these and many more such like extraordinary Qualifications which the World admire in your Lordship are nothing to those Supernatural Gifts and Graces which are so evident in all your Actions that you often take God to witness that you never make one step without the special Assistance and Direction of the Holy Ghost My L. these and other Reasons that I now omit since I hope this shall not be the last Address of this nature makes me bold to give your Lp. this trouble and humbly to beg your Protection to what you so much value and that you would but once at least grant the Petition of My L. Your Lp's most Obedient and most Obliged Servant Jacob Curate SECT 1. The true Character of the Presbyterian Pastors and People in Scotland OUR Blessed Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount bids us beware of false Teachers and tells us That by their Fruits we may know them Such Fruits are not open and publick Scandals for then the simple Multitude that measure Religion by the Sound and not by the Sense could not so easily be deluded by them It must be acknowledged that the End of Preaching should be the Edification of the Hearers the Design of it being to perswade Men to Piety towards God and Charity towards one another and to draw the Image of God upon the Souls of Men. But it will appear from what follows That the Scotch Presbyterians Sermons have no such tendency for the Preachers themselves who would have the world believe that they only are the Powerful and Soul-refreshing Gospellers have not been industrious to draw the likeness of God upon the Hearts of their Hearers but meerly to impress their own Image there that is they labour'd not to make good Christians but rigid Prebyterians That I may not be thought to assert this without ground for I would not slander the Devil I shall first give you the true Character of the Presbyterian Pastors and People 2. I shall say before you some remarkable passages taken out of their own Printed Books to confirm this Character 3. Some special Notes written from their own Mouths as they preach'd them under the happy Reign of K. Charles II and since the late Revolution Lastly I shall give you some taste of that Extemporary Gibberish which they use instead of Prayer and for which they have justled out not only all the Liturgies of the Pure and Primitive Church but even the Lord's Prayer it self because it is an evident Argument and Pattern for Christians praying in a set Form and in all this I shall say nothing but what I know to be true and what I am ready to make appear to be so upon a fair and free tryal if that may be had where Presbyterians Rule In the first Place then I am to give you the true Character of Presbyterian Pastors and People I shall begin with the People for they are truly the Guides and their Pastors must follow them whom they pretend to Conduct For the Preachers of the new Gospel knowing that their trade hath no old nor sure Foundation they are forced to flee to this new and unaccountable Notion that the Calling and Constituting of Ministers is in the Power of the Mob Now the World knows by too long and sad Experience that their Mobile is not led by Reason nor Religion but by Fancy and Imagination so that we may be sure when the Election of Ministers is put in their hands they will chuse none but such as will readily sooth and indulge them in their most extravagant and mad Humors What Ministers can be expected from the choice of a People void of common Sense and guided by irregular Passions who torture the Scripture making it speak the Language of their deluded Imaginations They will tell you that ye ought to fight the Battels of the Lord because the Scripture says in the Epistle to the Hebrews Without shedding of Blood there is no Remission They are generally Covetous and Deceitful and the Preaching they are bred with hath no tendency to work them into the contrary Virtues They call Peace Love Charity and Justice not Gospel but dry Morality only I had once very great difficulty to convince one of them that it was a Sin for him to cheat and impose upon his Neighbour in matters of Trade by concealing the faults of his Goods from the Buyer He ask'd my Reason I told him Because he would not wish one to deal so with himself That is said he again but Morality for if I shall believe in Christ I shall be saved I ask'd him Was not this Christ's saying Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you that do you unto others Yes he said that was good but
that Christ because of the hardness of the Jews Hearts spake very much Morality with his Gospel The poor man spoke as he was taught and bred in the Conventicles for it will be very long e're they hear a Sermon upon Just Dealing or Restitution of ill-gotten Goods and who knows not that despising of Dominions speaking evil of Dignities and rising in Arms against the Lord 's Anointed is with them but fighting the Battels of the Lord. One George Flint in the Parish of Smalholm in the Shire of Teviotdate was look'd upon as a very great Saint among them and yet out of Zeal against the Government he kept a Dog whom he named Charles after the King and a Cat which he named Katherine after the Queen and another Dog whom he named Gideon after the Minister of the Parish They are a People that will not Swear in common Discourse for a World yet they never scruple before a Judge any Perjury that may seem to advance the Cause nor stand in their ordinary dealings to cheat for a penny nay Murther it self becomes a Virtue when the work of the Covenant seems to require it and the new Gospel which they Profess is so far from condemning Lying Cheating Murther and Rebellion when committed to fulfil the Ends of the Solemn League that many of these whom they reckon Martyrs have at their Execution gloried in these Crimes as the sure Evidences of their Salvation Morality being thus discountenanced by the generality of that Party the poor People are thereby lock'd up in a Cell of Ignorance This did clearly appear when the Laws in the former Government discharg'd Conventicles the people being brought thereby home to the Churches When the Ministers began to Catechise them in the Principles of the Christian Religion they found them grosly Ignorant for when they were desired to repeat the Creed Lord's-Prayer and Ten Commandments they told they were above these childish Ordinances for if they believed in Christ they were certainly well And yet these Ignorants would Adventure to pray Ex tempore and in their Families to Lecture on the most mysterious Chapters of Ezekiel Daniel or the Revelation A grave and good Minister told me that upon a certain occasion he desired a very zealous She-Saint to repeat the Creed And that she return'd this Answer I know not what ye mean by the Creed Did not your Father says the Minister promise to bring you up in that Faith Indeed did he not said she for I thank my Saviour that Superstition was not in my Father's time What then was in your Father's time said the Minister It was said she the holy Covenant which you have put away Whether was it the Covenant of Works or Grace said the Minister Covenant of Works said she that is handy Labour It was the Covenent of Grace which was made with Adam and which all of you have put away At Night she went home and a number of the sighing Fraternity flock'd after pretending to hear her pray Their Family Exercise being ended she told them the Conference that pass'd betwixt the Curate and her and they all concluded she had the better and that she was certainly more than match for the ablest Curate in that Country Generally their Conventicles produced very many Bastards and the Excuses they made for that was Where Sin abounds the Grace of God superabounds There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Sometimes this The Lambs of Christ may sport together To the pure all things are pure Nay generally they are of Opinion That a Man is never a true Saint till he have a sound fall such as that of David's with Bathsheba The following Narration of a well known Truth shall serve for Instance A party of King Charles II. his Guards being sent to apprehend Mr. Dav. Williamson one of the most Eminent of their Ministers now in Edenburgh for the frequent Rebellion and Treason he preached then at Field Meetings and the party having surrounded the House where he was a Zealous Lady Mistress of the House being very Solicitous to conceal him rose in all haste from her Bed where she left her Daughter of about Eighteen Years of Age and having dress'd up the Holy Man's Head with some of her own Night Cloaths she wittily advis'd him to take her place in the warm Bed with her Girl to which he modestly and readly consented And knowing well how to employ his time especially upon such and extraordinary Call to propagate the Image of the Party while the Mother to divert the Troopers enquiry was treating them with strong drink in the Parlour he to express his gratitude applies himself with extraordinary Kindness to the Daughter who finding him like to prove a very useful Man in his Generation told her Mother she would have him for her Husband to which the Mother though otherwise unwilling yet for concealing the Scandal out of Love to the Cause consented when the mystery of the Iniquity was wholly disclosed to her This whole Story is as well known in Scotland as that the Covenant was begun and carried on by Rebellion and Oppression Nor was the Actor who is at this day one of the chief Props of the cause more admired for his extraordinary diligence and courage in this Matter than for his excellent Invention in finding a passage of St. Paul's to prove that the Scandal of this was very consistent with the state of a person truly Regenerate Verily I do not said he deny but that with St. Paul I have a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity into the Law of Sin which is in my Members Now according to the Gloss which that whole Party puts upon this Scripture saying That St. Paul here speaks of himself and does not personate an Unregenerate Man this Defence of Williamson's must be allowed to be good as also that the height of Carnality is consistent with the greatest Grace Even so the Hereticks in St. Peter's Days wrested some things hard to be understood in St. Paul's Epistles to their own Destruction There was among them a married Woman near Edenburgh who had paid several Fines for not going to Church yet scrupled not to commit Adultery with one of the Earl of Marr's Regiment and the Fellow himself that was Guilty told out of detestation to their damnable Hypocrisie that the vile Woman had the confidence in time of her Abomination to say to him O you that are in Marr 's Regiment but you be pretty able Men but yet ye art great Covenant Breakers alas few or none of you are Godly There are very many Instances of this Nature but I shall only add one more which was old me by a Gentleman of good Reputation and Credit who himself confessed to me with regret that in the heat of his Youth he had been guilty of the Sin of Fornication with a Gentlewoman of that Holy Sect he says that being with her
whom as all the Neighbourhead knows he preserved from being Hanged when he well deserved it And now tho' the said Parson Monro has visibly baffled all the Articles of his Lybel to the disgrace of his ungrateful Accuser and of those Preachers who openly prompted him to this Villany yet they daily molest and disquiet him because of his constant adherence to the Sacred Order of Episcopacy which is the greatest Fault his Judges can accuse him of except that of his possessing a good Living and that his Parts and Piety darken the whole Presbytery of which his Parishoners being fully convinced Love him so well that they resolve cost what it may they will not part with him as their Minister and have therefore to the great mortification of the Presbytery there joyntly signified so much to them under their hands The other particular instance of this Nature shall be that of one Ronaldson a Tenant in the Parish of Cranston whom the Orthodox Minister there Mr. Burnet by his Intercession with Persons of Quality preserved from having his Goods confiscated and Person Banished after Ronaldson by his signal Disobedience to the Law had exposed himself to that Sentence This kindness Ronaldson then looked on as so great and surprising That he often and openly professed he knew not how to be thankful enough for it he and his Family constantly kept the Church thereafter and upon every occasion acknowledged the Minister's singular favour with all the Signs of sincere gratitude But yet upon the new light of the late Revolution he appeared the most open and avowed Enemy that the Minister had The Minister justly surprised with this challenged his many promises of continuing grateful To whom Ronaldson gravely replyed that the Thanks of his Preservation was not due to him but only to God who oft-times said he stirs up ill Men to befriend his own People This change was wrought upon the Man and this answer put in his Mouth as himself sometimes owns and professes by frequent Conferences with their Preachers who in their private Discourses and publick Sermons have assured him that he is not to look to the Instrument but to the Cause of his Preservation I shall shut up this head concerning the Persecution they pretended to have suffered with a remarkable note of a Sermon preached lately by Mr. Daniel Douglass one of their great * Mufties Now Sirs says he I will be even plain with you and perhaps e'en more plain than pleasant Sirs I 'le tell you now Sirs its ordinary for us to cry out that we were persecuted under Episcopacy but we are yet living Sirs and why were we not Hanged as well as others were beloved It is e'en because we thought they did cast away their Lives needlesly and that we would not venture our Lives for such matters as they ventured their Lives for I knew to meet with kindness both from the Church-men and the States-men And particularly I knew that the Clerks of Council and Session would take nothing from us but there are no such Clerks now For there is one Gibbie Eliot Sirs that has no Charity nor Discretion for if we were all made up of Dollars he would swallow us up pray God Sirs to keep our Purses from that false lown Eliot Ingenuity is a thing they are not concerned about for that 's but a Branch of dry Morality below Men so full of Grace some young Men among them that have had the Advantage of being abroad are more affable and in their Conferences with Men of Sence they ordinarily exclaim against the peevish sowr and unconversable Temper of Scotch Presbyterians but yet these same Sparks of the Cause sing to a quite contrary Tune when they are in a collective or representative body I have read of a certain Monk who being wearied of the Cloyster aimed at a vacant Dignity the possession whereof he knew would set him free For this end he applied himself to every one of his Acquaintances that had a Suffrage in the Election and from every singular and individual Person he received very fair and satisfying promises bet yet he found himself still disappointed when they met together in Assemblies for the Election whereupon he invites most or all of them upon a set Day to Dine and be merry with him They that were invited knew that he was not in condition to make any competent Provision for so many Guests Wherefore according to the usual Custom of that Fraternity they sent each of them some material or other proper to make up the Feast some sent Flesh some Fish of divers Kinds some sent Butter some Cheese some Wine and others Oyl All which he boyled in one Kettle together and his Guests being conveen'd he caused serve up that Hotch-potch in several large Dishes to them so that every Dish as they tasted it equally disgusted them Where upon they asked what manner of Victuals it was He said it was just such as themselves had sent all well boyled in a large Kettle together That say they is the worst Meat in the World when thus jumbled together but very good when every thing is dressed by it self Just so are ye to me says the Monk you are very fair and kind when single and one by one But I can find nothing worse than you when you are all together The Presbyterians resemble the Monks in this as in many other things for take them singly and they generally condemn the Methods and Proceedings of their Brethren as rigid and severe but take the same Men met together in a Presbytery Synod or Assembly and the whole Body is the most unpalatable and most unsavory Hotch-potch in the World And now to hasten to a close of this Section Strangers may justly wonder that Men of such Temper and Qualification as ye have now heard the Pretbyterian Preachers to be should have any followers But this will not seem so strange to such as confider what Multitudes of the Rabble crowd after Jack Bowels in his Drunken Fits Women and Children are ordinarily led by noise and shew tho' it were but of Hobby-Horses and Rattles And indeed the Presbyterian Preachers are only flocked after by such a Herd some out of a blind Zeal and Itch after novelty and change some again loving to Fish in the troubled Waters of such Confusions as are inseparable from Presbytery hoping thereby â—o mend their broken Fortunes And to palliate their want of Sence and greater Faults by a pretence to strict Religion Others frequent them for sport and diversion as Men of little Sence and less business run after Stage-Players and Rope-dancers Sometimes ago these Preachers were conversant only with Shepherds and a few silly Women laden with divers Lusts whose hot Zeal had no knowledge to guide it the Preachers then indeed admired themselves for Persons of great Gifts and Learning because of the esteem that these ignorant Creatures had for them but now that they are brought to Act in publick and
Religion and a clear breach of the Covenants By this Toleration the Papists are encouraged and encreased in Numbers the whole Nation overflow'd with their Hellish Locusts and all places fill'd with Priests and Jesuits yea the Executive Power of the Government is put in the Hands of the Romanists Watever Liberty this may be to some Consciences it 's none to the Tender it 's only a Toleration which is always of Evil for that which is good cannot be tolerated under the Notion of Good but countenanced and incouraged as such therefore this reflects upon our Religion when a Toleration is accepted which implies such a Reproach and the annexed Indemnity and Pardon tacitely condemns the Profession thereof as a Fault or Crime which no Christian can bear with or homologate by Acceptance whatever some Addressers particularly the Presbyterians at London have blasphemously alledged that God is hereby restored to his Empire over the Conscience Moreover says he true Presbyterians can never closs themselves among them that are hereby indulged viz. Archbishops and Bishops all the Prelatical and Malignant Crew all Quakers and Papists reaching also all Idolatry Blasphemy Heresie and Truth making the Professors of Christ Partners with Antichrist's Vassals Such a Toleration is contrary to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament it 's like Julian the Apostate's Toleration designing to root out Chirstianity it 's contrary to the Confession of Faith and therefore to accept this Toleration is inconsistent with the Principles of the Church of Scotland National and Solemn Leagues and Covenants and Solemn Acknowledgments of Sins and Engagements to Duties in all which we are bound to Extirpate Popery and Prelacy as inconsistent with the whole Tract of our former Contendings and particularly with the Testimony of the Synod of Fiâ—e and other Brethren against Cromwel ' s vast Toleration and Liberty of Conscience The worst of all is says he that it 's further declared in that Toleration that nothing must be preached or taught which may any way tend to alienate the Hearts of the People from the King or his Government here is the Price at which they ought to purchase their Freedom a sad Bargain to buy Liberty and sell Truth But who can be faithful but he must think it his Duty to alienate the Hearts of the People from such an Enemy to Christ What Watchman must not see it his indispensable Duty to preach so that the People may hate the Whore and this Pimp of Hers It cannot be but very stumbling to see the Ministers of Scotland purchasing à Liberty to themselves at the rate of burying and betraying the Cause into Bondage and thus to be laid by from all Opposition to Antichrist's Design in such a season The World will be tempted to think that they are not governed by Principles but their own Interest and that it was not the late overturning of Religion and Liberty that offended them for if that Arbitrary Power had been but exerted in their favours tho' with the same prejudice to the Cause of Christ they would have complied with it as they do now Mr. Rule in his late Book is highly offended with the Author of the case of the afflicted Clergy for saying That the Presbyterians Addressed and Thanked K. James for this Toleration in a fawning and flattering manner and yet our honest Presbyterian Author deals more roundly with them Pag. 173. his words are these The Addresses made thereupon were with a strain of Fulsome and Blasphemous Flatteries to the Dishonour of God the Reproach of the Cause the Betraying of the Church the Detriment of the Nation and the exposing themselves to the Contempt of all Again says he Pag 176 177 178. The Address it self is of such a dress as makes the things addressed for to be odious and the Addressers to forefault the Respect and merit the Indignation of all that are friends to the Protestant and Presbyterian Cause Nothing could have been more cross to the real desires of the true Presbyterians than this newly start-up Opinion that Interest has led them to espouse There is nothing here sounds like the old Presbyterian strain neither was there ever an Address of this Stile seen before from Presbyterians It would have looked far more Presbyterian like to have sent a Protestation against the now openly desâ—gn'd Introduction of Popery and Subversion of all Laws and Liberties which they are Covenanted to maintain or at least an Address in the usual Language of the Presbyterians who used always to speak of the Covenants and work of Reformation but here never a word of these but of Loyalty to His Excellent to His Gracious and to His Sacred Majesty of Loyalty not to be questioned an entire Loyalty in Doctrine a resolved Loyalty in Practice and a fervent Loyalty in Prayers All that they are sollicitous about is not for the Prerogatives of their Master or the Liberties of the Church but lest their Loyalty be question'd that they be otherwise represented all that they beseech for is Not that the Cause of Christ be not wronged or Antichrist introduced by this Liberty but that those who promote any Disloyal Principles and Practices may be looked upon as none of theirs and all the hopes they have 〈…〉 great perswasions of His Majesty's Justice and Goodness Here is a Lawless Unrestrained Loyalty to a Tyrant claiming and absolute Power to be obeyed without reserve not only professed but solicitously sought to be the Principle of Presbyterians whereas it is the Principle of Atheistical Hobes This is not the Presbyterian Loyalty to the King according to the Restrictions in the Covenants but Erastian Loyalty to a Tyrant in his overturning Religion Laws and Liberties and in protecting and incouraging all Iniquity This Loyalty in Doctrine will be found Disloyalty to Christ in a sinful and shameful silence that wrong is done to him This Loyalty in Practice is a plain betraying of Religion and Liberty and lying by from all opposition to the destroyer of both And this Loyalty in Prayers for all Blessings ever to attend His Person and Government will be found inconsistent with the Zeal of Christians and the cries of the Elect unto God for Vengeance upon the Supporters of Antichrist nor consonant to Presbyterian Prayers in reference to Popish Tyrants it were much more suitable for them to pray That God which hath caused his Name to dwell in his Church may destroy all Kings that shall put to their Hands to alter and destroy the House of God Ezra 6. 12. Page 178. 179. This Address is so stuffed with sneaking Flatteries that it would more become Sycophants and Court Parasites than Ministers of the Gospel Nothing but a Rhapsody of Flatteries justifying all his Claim to Absoluteness and engaging to Demean themselves so as that he may find cause to enlarge rather than to diminish his Favours which can be no other way but in assisting him to destroy Religion and Liberty O what an indelible
as it did formerly in King Charles the First 's time when one of the Bishops began to read the Common-Prayer which she called Popery Pag. 28. Is it not as lawful for the Scots Presbyterians to pray against the English Hierarchy as Antichristian As for the English Clergy and Prelates too to Plot drink and plead in their Sessions at the Devil against the Scots Presbyterie And I believe they would pray against it also but that they have not a Form for it To suppose that the banihing the Prelatical Scots Clergy was not encouraged by Authority is Ignorance and Sawciness for it 's plain Authority in Scotland has done what was proper for a Civil Government to do viz. They have declared the Hierarchy Antihumane that is contrary to the peoples Inclination and I suppose are so good natur'd to wish their Neighbours were rid of it too and so much the rather that they have so often found and do still find them imposing Sawcy Intrigues against the Kingdom of Scotland wherein if they persist it may perhaps and let them blame themselves for it prove as fatal to them as it did in the days of Dr. Laud. Well here 's a severe and open threatning England then look to it The Scots Presbyterians are sworn in their Holy Covenant to reform Britain and Ireland though it be by Club Law and let them but have Power according to their Will and they will soon visit you once more for all your Goods Pag. 29. The Bishops are generally found to be against that which is for the Nations good and howsoever the late opposition which they made to the late King may be magnified they seem quickly to have repented of it But supposing they had continued stedfast yet whatever good Nature might have done I am sure Justice would not have awarded them any thanks which will appear undeniably true if we consider among many other things which he instances how most of the Bishops opposed the reversing of the Judgment of Perjury given against Dr. Oates who did the Nation more service than Seven Idolized Stars so many of whom are now turned dark Lanthorns Nor can it ever be forgot how many of the inferior Clergy following the Conduct of their Tripple-headed Guide advanced the Interest of the Tripple-Crown and some of them topping ones too at the hour of death grated with their slavish nonsensical Doctrine of Resistance upon the Consciences of the Noble Hero's and Darlings of the People the Lord Russel and Duke of Monmouth upon the very Scaffolds and if the contrary Doctrine be damnable as they alledged then I am sure their Church hath been guilty of damnable Practices since This is the Charity that the New Gospel Professors have to the Church of England which the whole Christian World besides them doth so justly honour and esteem upon the account of their Government Worship Doctrine and Practice which their Phanatical Neighbours so maliciously censure and blaspheme Well but say they the Church of England is still labouring under much Romish Superstition and Idolatry and which is worse she is Papaprelatical nay she is Archipapaprelatical and that 's Antihumane in the New Gospel phrase But I hope they will be kind at least to their Brethren of the Presbyterian Church beyond Sea Are not the Dutch and French Presbyterians Is not the Mother Church of Geneva throughly reformed No no they have never set up the Solemn League and Covenant for their Standard Or to speak in the Authors own words pag. 27. They are strangers to the power of Godliness because not knowing how to pray without they must have recourse to a Form which is as unreasonable and unnatural an imposition upon the Strong especially on Ministers as would be the imposing of Crutches upon the adult and able part of Mankind who can walk better without them Well Christ prescribed a Form of Prayer to his Disciples the first and all the succeeding Ages of the Church thought it not only convenient but necessary to use Forms in Publick Worship but alas the Disciples themselves and all preceding Christians are but weak unable Infants in respect of the adult strong and covenanted Professors of the new Gospel in the West of Scotland The next famous Author is Mr. Rule who calls himself a Doctor of Medicine for they never pretended to have any in Divinity in his Second Vindication of the Kirk of Scotland he says pag. 113. That it is an unfair injurious and false Imputation to charge the severity of the Stile of this Author upon the Presbyterians who he says disown that Stile it being written by a Cameronian while they stood at a distance from the sober Presbyterians however those whom he calls Sober Presbyterians have never yet by any publick deed condemned that Book nor any other of the Barbarities of these unsober Cameronian Presbyterians but have on the contrary received them into their Communion without the least acknowledgment of any such Crimes and Dr. Rule that I may not offend him calls them the Zealous Party and represents them as pretty gentle in that they made it their work only to deprive and not to Murther the Episcopal Ministers pag. 125. Altho' the Doctor knows that Instances can be given of some Ministers that were even Murthered by that Zealous Party not long ago and himself owns in the beginning of his Post-script that five Men and six Women Presbyterians came to the House of William Ferguson Minister of Kilpatrick and because he would not alter his manner of Praying and come out of his House as they had charged him they therefore invaded his House tore off his Cloaths and beat him on the Head and Legs which lookt but too like a design to Murther him Several other things of this Nature were so notorious that his ridiculous way of disguising when he cannot deny them must needs satisfie the World of the certain truth of the Accounts that have been given by the Eye-witnesses and Sufferers in that Persecution Upon which Consideration Mr. Pitcarne a better Writer and as it appears a much honester Man declined the vindicating of these late Proceedings of the Presbyterians not that he did not like the Presbyterian Cause for he is through-paced that way but because after he had examined the matters of Fact for several Months as he had been enjoyned by the Fraternity he found it impossible to speak any thing in their Vindication but what the greatest part of Scotland would know to be notoriously false wherefore as Dr. Rule himself informs us Preface to his Second Vindication parag 5 7. in the end of the same Book Pag. 190. When this Affair was committed to him after many Months he returned the Papers to be answered without any Reply to them But passing this I wonder that the Worthy Doctor should in his late Book now cited exactly imitate that severe Stile which he and his Sober Party pretend to disown but perhaps he sees not this
come Sirrah stand there at my left hand thou and the Devil shall together even now There is nothing more ordinary among the Generality of their Preachers than to tell that Christ did not set his foot in Scotland this eight and twenty years or this I brought a stranger to you now and a very great stranger indeed this many a year would you know who it is it is Christ Sirs hadd him fast then for if once he get out of Scotland again it 's like he 'l never return It is very well known in Perthshire that one of their Rabbies Preaching a◠St. Johnstone or thereabout a little before the Battel of Killich ankie upon these words Resist the Devil and he will slie from you he begins very gravely after this manner Humph my beloved you are all here the day even for the fashions cause but wo◠ye who is amongst you the day even the meikle horned Devil tho you cannot see him yet I do I see him Sirs by the eye of faith but you 'l say now that we have him here what shall we do with him Sirs Humph what way will ye destroy him some of you will say we will hang him ha ha my beloved there are not so many tows in all the Parish as hung him besides he 's as light as a feather What then will ye do with him for he will not hang. Then some of you will say we will drown him Humph my beloved there is too much cork in his Arse he 's as souple as an Eel he will not sink Others of you will say we will burn him Na na Sirs ye may scald your selves but ye cannot burn him for all the fire in Hell could never yet singe a hair on his tail Now Sirs you cannot find a way among you all to kill him but I will find it what way will this be Sirs we shall even shoot him Wherewith shall we shoot him We shall shoot him with the Bible Now Sirs I shall shoot him presently so presenting the Bible as Soldiers do their Musquet he crys out Touff Touff Touff Now he is shot there lies the foul thief as dead as a Haron Some Eye-witnesses report of another that was to give the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper such as they can give and having got into the Pulpit he looks about him and says Sirs I miss somebody here to day I miss Christ here the day but he promised to be here the day I think he will be as good as his word however I will go out and see if he be coming he at this went out of the Pulpit and staying out some little time he comes in and tells them Now Sirs Christ is coming I saw him on his white Horse coming to you Now what entertainment will you give him I will tell you Sirs Will ye get among you all but one Pint of Faith a Gill of Grace and a Mutchkine of Sanctification and this will make a good morning draught for him In the Mers there was a Communion given lately and as it is ordinary there is a Discourse for every Table one of the Preachers that 's most cried up for his Eloquence said You that are Wives ye will be saying ordinarily when ye meet Cummer have ye spun your Yarn yet But alas I fear there are few of you that have spun a Wedding-garment for Christ the day But Christ will be among you and see who is his well busked Bride he 'l say to them that have not on their Wedding-garment Is that nasty Slut there my Bride shame and lack fall that Bride Go nasty Slut sway'd away to Hell It is ordinary among some Plebeians in the South of Scotland to go about from door to door upon New-years Eve crying Hagmane a corrupted word from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Holy Month. John Dickson holding forth against this Custom once in a Sermon at Kelso says Sirs do ye know what Hagmane signifies It is the Devil be in the house that 's the meaning of its Hebrew Original Another time he told his Hearers what an Idolatrous Church the English Church is for lay two Eggs in a Dish and the one is not so like the other as the Church of Rome and the Church of England are to one another I know a Minister that went purposely to hear this man and declared upon his real truth that he held out a nonsensick rhapsody for an hour and an half time on the third of Matth. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased All the Graces of the Spirit said he are mysterious faith is a mystery there is a faith that is not saving but that 's no mystery I believe if I should ask any of you whether or no ye believe the words that I read to you you will all say Humf we all believe that Sirs the Devil does more and yet he is not saved nor like to be in haste This is a passage of our Saviour's Transmigration Sirs says he It tells how our blessed Saviour was reform'd like an Angel of Light when his Disciples saw that Glorious sight they were all like a Country man that had never tasted outlandish wine before the wine runs up into his head and makes him dizzie so the Disciples were dizzie the 17. v. They knew not what they said t that is they were dizzie From the words we learn this note of Doctrine That Christ he is lovely O he is lovely O he is lovely First as he is the Son of God 8. Prov. v. 15. By me Kings reign and princes decree justice That is lovely Christ hath authority over all the Kings of the world The Great Turk can do nothing without him The meikle Deel and the black Pape can do nothing without him There were a pack of Deels limbs a year or two ago here and they thought forsooth all would be their own and now lovely Christ in his Providential Providence is like to disappoint them all and who kens but they 'l come begging Pease and Pottage at ours doors yet Christ is lovely as he is Mediator cut him all in pieces from head to foot every bit of him is lovely They 'l tell you now the young Prince is banished Britain but I 'le tell you of a young Prince that has been banished Britain these 28 years by the incoming of the perjur'd Prelates and drunken Curates lovely Christ is that young Prince and now he is like to come back again to get his Crown O take him now now when he is coming with a whip in his hand to scourge out the cursed Curates c. This was preached in the Parish of Smallum in Teviotdale and the effect of this Preaching followed the next Sabbath for the rabble came and pulled the Minister out of his Pulpit in the time of his Sermon One Mr. Thomas Ramsay in Mordington within the Shire of Berwick said in a Sermon upon the
cry of their Feet I will run the ways of thy Commandments that is the cry of the Feet And the cry of the Eye They looked on him and were lightened that 's the cry of the Eye If we would go to Heaven we must not only cry with our Mouth but likewise with out Hands Feet and Eyes The same Mr. Arskine said in another Sermon What Sirs if the Devil should come with a Drum at his side saying Hoyes hoyes hoyes who will go to Hell with me boys who will go to Hell with me The Jacobines would answer We 'll all go we 'll all go Mr. James Kirkton preaching on Jezabel said That well-favoured Whore what became of her Sirs she fell over a Window Arse over Head and her black bottom was discovered you may all guess what the Beholders saw beloved a black sight you may be sure One Mr. Mair a Presbyterian Preacher Son to Mr. John Mair the Episcopal Minister in Towch being desired by the Father to preach for him the Son said He would or could not preach in their Churches because they were polluted but was content to preach in a Fire-house This was provided for him and the Company whereof his Father was one being convened he said I will tell you a sad truth Sirs You have been driven to Hell in a Coach this eight and twenty years and that old Stock my Father pointing to him has been the Coachman Mr. Kirkton in October last preaching on Hymns and Spiritual Songs told the People There be four kinds of Songs Profane Songs Malignant Allowable and Spiritual Songs Profane Songs My Mother sent me to the Well she had better gone her self for what I got I dare not tell but kind Robin loves me Malignant Songs such as He ho Gillichrankie and the King enjoys his own again against which I have not much to say 3ly Allowable Songs like Once I lay with another man's Wife Ye may be allowed Sirs to sing this but I do not say that ye are allowed to do this for that 's a great deal of danger indeed Lastly Spiritual Songs which are the Psalms of David but the Godless Prelates add to these Glory to the Father the wrost of all I have yet spoken of The same Kirkton in March the year before that in a Sermon upon Come into me all ye that are heavy and weary laden expressed himself thus Christ invites none to him but those that have a great burthen of Sins upon their back ay but beloved ye little ken what Christ is to day what Crafts-man do you think him now is there none of you all can tell me that Sirs truly then I must e'en tell you would you ken it now in a word then he 's a tell you would you ken it about to day Have ye any broken Hearts to mend bring them to me and I 'll soder them that is give them Rest beloved for that 's the words of my Text. Mr. Arskin in January last holding forth in the Tron Church concerning Noah's Ark said that the Wolf and the Lamb lodged most peaceably together in it and what do you think was the reason of this Beloved you may think it was a strange thing and so indeed it was Sirs but it was done to fufil that Prophecy of Isaiah Sirs The Wolf and the Lamb shall lye down together there 's a plain reason now for it Sirs On Sunday in January last immediately after the King had recommended to the General Assembly a Formula upon the Subscribing whereof by the Episcopal Presbyters he desired they might be re-admitted to the publick Exercise of the Ministry I heard one Mr. Webster a noted professor of the New Gospel lecturing upon Psal 15 On the 1st Verse he said That none but God could answer the Psalmist's Question there and therefore said he it does not belong to any Earthly King Prince or Potentate to determine who should be Officers in God's House or to prescribe Terms of Communion to his Kirk On the 2d Verse he said That it was necessary for God's People to walk uprightly that is said he never to betray the Cause of Christ's Kirk for sear of great Men Our way is God's own way and sure to stand stiff to that is the best way to please God and even great Men at the long run On the 3d Verse he appealed to the Consciences of his Hearers If Scots Presbyterians were not a holy harmless innocent sincere modest and moderate People and whatever is said to the contrary but Lybels Lies and Slanders On the 4th Verse he said That the Prelates Curates and Malignant Counsellors are the vile persons spoke of there and whom all the fear God are bound to contemn and despise especially said he because they have sworn to the hurt of the Kirk in taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy the Test and the Oath of Canonical Obedience and now think to expiate all this by subscribing a bare foolish Formula because King William forsooth has sent it to us as if the Presbyterians ought to admit or allow any Form but the Covenant About that same time I mean in January last Mr. Fraser of Bray at Edenburgh at the new Kirk pretending to preach upon this Text of the Revelation There was joy in Heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and his Angels Michael and his Angels why no good Christian can doubt but by this we are to understand Christ and this Kirk and by the Dragon and his Angels is plainly meant the Prelates and Curates You see from this then Sirs betwixt whom this War and this Fighting was in Heaven and since they fight in Heaven for this Cause of the Kirk why should not we fight for it also upon Earth What needs our Kirk be affraid of Kings they are but men but we have Christ to fight for us and we are his his Angels and must fight with him till we destroy the Dragon Prelates and their Curate Angels Ah Sirs ye read says he that this Dragon's Tail swept down a third part of the Stars of Heaven I have a sad thing to tell you now Sirs Alas this Dragon's Tail has swept the North of Scotland for few or none of Christ Ministers are to be found there The same Frazer of Bray preaching at a Conventicle in the beginning of King James his Reign began his Discourse thus I am come here to preach this day Sirs in spite of the Curates and in spite of the Prelates their Masters and in spite of the King their Master and in spite of the Hector of France his Master and in spite of the Pope of Rome that 's both their Master and in spite of the Divil that 's all their Master SECT IV. Containing some few Expressions of the Presbyterian Prayers MR. James Kirkton said once in his Prayers O Lord restore our banished King Lord restore our banished King do not mistake my meaning Lord it is not K. James whom thou