due administration of Sacraments and all things depending upon the said VVord that we shall each one with another all of us effectually concurre joine in one take hold one plain part for the and recovery of our ancient freedome Liberties that we way be ruled by the Lawes and Custome of the Countrey Again that we shall tender the common Cause as if it were the Cause of every one of us in particular And that the Causes of every one of us now joyned together being lawfull and honest shall be all our Cause in Generall And that he that is enemy to the Cause foresaid shall be Enemy to us all in so far Wee have superadded these instances as wee might have done two or three more to the first proposed because of their great resemblance since there can be nothing more manifest then that the same Provocations the same Spirit the same Principles and the same Design did most uniformly influence all these Transactions Now seeing that both the Occasion Actors Aime and End of the first Action and especially the observable Providence of God that without all contrivance of man did over-rule it do clearly purge it of any intended Rebellion or other wickedness Certainly to affirm that all these things were nevertheless acted in by a Rebellious Spirit must be a sinn at least next unto that of high despit and Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and Spirit of grace by whose power alone this blessed work was effectuated Neither durst the Arch-Prelat himself though our Arch-Adversary in this our present cause and though he knew that the same doth infallibly either stand or fall upon the same principles and grounds with these cases now under consideration proceed any further in his censure of these courses and practices then to disprove them as Violent and Disorderly There is one thing further which is also before touched that the instances above adduced especially the first both for the Meanness of it's Actors the unpremeditated plainness of its Manner and the singlness and purity of its End doth most evidently make out viz that as these men of God by their small and improbable appearance did as much witness their unfained love of the Truth and zeal of his Glory in the manifest contempt and hazard of their lives and fortuns As when under the dispensation and call of another providence they did patiently and cheerfully upon the same motives lay down their lives and suffer the loss of all things So the end of their undertaking was not only their own just and necessary Defence which in such an apparent danger might rather seem to be abandoned then intended but above all things the Maintainance Defence of that blessed Evangel which was dearer to them then all other interests whatsoever Wee know our great adversaries who for the gain and pleasours of this life what then would they not do for the preservation of life it self have often renounced and would again renounce all Conscience Alleagance and Truth and who by their detestable Flatterv in denying the lawfulness of Self-defence although in effect Self be their only Idol pretending a fained affection illimited submission without reserve do only court the Powers for the advanceing of these interests which they seem to relinquish as the revolutions of the World have frequently declared their practises in prejudice of both Religion and Royalty and have often resolved both their practises and principles into that one Devilish position the first yea only fixed rule of their Religion Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will be give for his life These we say are not curious to enquire in this distinction Yet seeing they leave nothing unessayed whereby to promote their design and therefore do often cavil from such advantages as the work of God afterwards obtained and particularly the Concurrence of the Peers and Primores Regni and from the defect thereof in the first appearances would infer the unlawfulness of rhe same especially in order to the design of Reformation Therefore wee further add with these noble worthies that as it cannot be denied 1. That the right Priviledge of Self-defence is not only founded in but is the very first instinct of pure Nature and spring of all motion and action 2. That it was competent to and exercised by every individual before that either Society or Government were known 3. That it was so far from being surrendred or suppressed by the erecting of these that it was is the great End motive for which all voluntary Societies and Policies were introduced and are continued 4. That it is a principal rule of Righteousness whereunto that great command of love to our neightbour by the Law of God by our Lord himself is resolved whereby it is interpreted so it doth infallibly follow that the same right and Priviledge is yet competent to all men whither Separatly or Jointly and needeth no other prerequisit but that of intollerable and inevitable injury which for a man to suffer under pretext of the good of the Common-wealth would be for the delusion of an emptie name only for the lust of others really to deprive himself of his whole share and interest therein and is compleated for exercise by such a Probable Capacity as may encourage the Asseâ—ters thereof to undertake it And as for that other and more noble design of the Maintainance and Reformation of Religion waving the question and Debate Whether the same can or ought to be by force maintained Which may appear sufficiently determined to rationall men by the very contrary Practises of it's adversaries who not only by force do fight aginst it but most irreligiously usurpe and detort it 's own weapons viz the precepts of our Lord for patience and meeknes under a dispensation of suffering to the persuasion of a stupid submission and casting away the opportunity of Desence and Acting that without controll they may work it's overthrow And supposing with all men that force is not a proper argument of persuasion and that Religion neither can nor ought to be thereby propagated Yet are we in conscience persuaded that the grounds follouwing evidently held out in the records of these times are beyond contradiction 1. That Religion the highest concernment of Gods glory and of mans happiness both temporall and eternall is the most important dear and precious of all interests 2. That to be violented in this which cannot be without an unjust force either or mens Persons or Goods is the most wicked and insupportable of all injuries 3. That the propelling by force of such injuries was the justest cause and quarrell that men in their Primaeve Liberty could be engaged in 4. That as for the security of this Interest and no wayes to make an absolut surrender thereof to the arbitriment of any men were mostly induced to the appointing of Governours so the glory of God which is the end of all things but herein is most especially concerned was
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
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
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
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