Ecclesiastical within the Kingdom of Scotland was asserted by the first Act of the Second Parliament began at Edinburgh Octob. 19. 1669. The Kirk-Ministers have ever since rail'd against this Act above all the rest saying that Jesus Christ is quite exauctorat and unkinged by it that it hath overthrown his Prerogative Royal and made the King Supreme in the house of Christ. That the Three Estates have thereby Blasphemously declared that they have no King but Caesar that it is most expresly contrary to the 2d Psalm and that by subjecting all Ecclesiastical matters to the Imperial Scepter they have given a sinful mortal power to King it over the house of God Insomuch that Iesus Christ hath neither name nor thing of Kingly power left him by this Cursed Act by which all power Ecclesiastick is declared to be the intrinsick and inherent Prerogative of the Crown In particular the Author of the Poor Mans Cup c. saith that he admires the Patience of God that the Nation wherein such a wickedness was decreed hath not before this Perished from under heaven and saith that the Question is put by the Governours to the followers of Christ in the fields with greater contempt than Pilate put it What is Iesus than your King And then he crys Oh noble Cause Oh who would not rejoyce to enter the List of contradiction with these his enemies and have once an opportunity to say Yes he is a King and will be a King when you are gone and will prove himself higher than the Kings of the Earth by rescinding your Supremacy that Idol of his jealousie and indignation and object of his revenge Nay he saith that it is a pure perfect and unparallel'd contradiction to the Doxology of the Lords Prayer and that never any thing was so like it in Sence and Sound as what is Recorded by the Holy Ghost of the King of Babylon Isa. 14. 13 14. I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North I will ascend above the heighths of the Clouds I will be like the most High Supremacy and every thing Original upon and derivate from it 3ly I can but make mention of that honorable and noble practise that this Land was priviledged with viz. that after both defections the Lord put it in the heart of Christs Church and State to renew those Covenants again with the National and Solemn League and Covenants together with an acknowledgment of sin and an engagement to Duty and that in the close of that year which performance was attended with so much of the z So he Blasphemously calls a National Fascination to Rebellion and Schism Lords power and presence that it was like a Resurrection from the Dead to all that were Witnesses thereof both Speakers and Hearers that many were forced to Cry out The joy of the Lord is our strength God of a truth is here 4ly I dare not but add this in the case wherein I now stand viz. I dare not but add my Concurrence with and Adherence to all these publick Testimonies Protestations and Declarations that have been owned evinced and remitted by all the Presbyterian Ministers and Professors that appeared against the publick resolutions for taking in the Malignant Party into Judicatories and Armies as also I joyn my Cordial adherence to and with them that protested against the 2 general Assemblies at Saint Andrews who endeavored to approve what the Commission had done in the year 1650. and 1651. in reference to the intrusting of the Malignant Party which as was said by these protesting worthies laid the foundation of all that has come or may come upon us I hope this will not offend any 5ly I am bound in Conscience in the next place to testifie my dislike and abhorrence of that horrid cruel barbarous unheard of and unparalleld Deportment and practice of that 1 This is the 15th Act of the First Parliament begun at Edinburgh Ian. 1. 1661. whereby all the pretended Parliaments from 1640. to the end of 1648. and by consequence the Established Presbyterian Government were all rescinded and Annulled and they also rail as much against it as against the Act of Supremacy and burnt them like two Idols both together Act Recissory wherewith as at one Lash by an Act of that Precipitate Parliament they endeavored to Rescind Annul and Repel all those great and glorious things that the 2 So he Blaspemously calls a strong hand of Rebellion strong hand of the Lord had done in Scotland for more than 20 years bygone over the belly of so much opposition and standing contradiction of proclaimed and avowed Adversaries upon all hands yea I proclaim my abhorrence of all the Confusion 3 He means the Blood first of those who were Executed soon after his Majesties Restauration as of Wariston Guthrie c 2ly of those who were Executed for the Rebellion at Pentland-Hills 1666 who in Naphtali and Ius populi vindicatum are called Worthies precious Saints and Martyrs c. and lastly the Blood of Mitchel who suffered for attempting the Murder of the late Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews since effected by them whom the Author of the Poor Mans Cup hath Canonized for a Saint and Martyr in this Parallel with Samson which I shall set down in his own words pag. 35. First Samson was a Rackel and Rough handed Saint ready to Pelt the Philistines on all occasions yet Secondly the Holy Ghost for all the faults that followed him hath Recorded his name and Enrolled him in the number even while the names of many others are left out of those Eminent Worthies Heb. 11. And so he hath made the name of Mr. Mitchell Savory 〈◊〉 â—s he took many Testimonies from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his appearances to the Cause so he owned him in the end and honoured him to die Witnessing a good Confession which will be on Record to Posterity Thirdly as Samson did more mischief to the enemies of the people of God at his death than in all his life for when they sent for him to make themselves merry at a sight of his misery the Lord helped him to spoil their Sport So I judge it is beyond question with every Sober man that Mr. Mitchells death hath done more hurt to its Contrivers and furious drivers than ever his life could have done even though he had shot again and hit that unhallowed Mark c. Blood murder Fineing Confineing Imprisonments Stigmatizing with other unexpressible Cruelties that has issued 〈◊〉 that Cursed Generation there â—9 years by gone and moreover I leave my Testimony against all other Confusions Imprisonments and Blood that is or may be intended against these in the Land who design to 4 He means from Idolatrous revolting from God into the Episcopal Church which is not the house of Christ as they Sacrilegiously teach keep their garments clean whether in
the Reformation of our Families or Persons or the Reformation of the whole Church in general As also to the Causes of 11 A Seditious and Blasphemous Book so called which was burnt in Scotland by the hand of the common Hangman See Poormans Cup pag. 19. Gods wrath the rejecting of which is to be feared to be one of the greatest causes of Gods wrath this day against the Land I do also bear Witness and Testimony to the Protestation given in against the Controverted Assemblies in the publick Resolvings for bringing in the 12 So he calls the Loyal and Episcopal Party Malignant Party into places of Power and Trust contrary to our solemn Engagements and Obligations to God Also I adhere to our 13 See Note 13. on the first Speech Confessions of Faith larger and shorter Catechisms I witness my Testimony against Popery which is so greatly increased yea so much Countenanced and professed openly The Scottish Oath of Allegiance by many and that without the least I For Testification of my faithful Obedience to my most Gracious Sovereign Charles King of Great Britain c. Affirm Testify and Declare by this my solemn Oath that I acknowledge my said Sovereign onely Supream Governor of this Kingdom over all Persons and in all Causes and that no Foreign Prince Power State or Person Civil or Ecclesiastick hath any Jurisdiction Power or Superiority over the same and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Foreign Power Jurisdictions and Authorities and shall at my utmost power Defend Assist and Maintain his Majesties Jurisdiction foresaid against all †Contra omnes mortales deadly and shall never decline his Majesties Power and Jurisdiction as I shall answer to God punishment I bear witness also against the Antichristian Prelacy now Established by Law contrary to our Vows to Almighty God And against the Rescinding of our solemn Oaths and Engagements as a thing that calls for Divine Vengeance And against all Oaths and Bonds contrary to our Covenant and Engagements especially that Oath of 14 So the Presbyterian Jesuit calls the Scottish Oath of Allegiance This is the Form of it and let the Protestant World judge if it be an Oath That calls for the Vengeance of God Supremacy the 15 See Note w on the first Speech Declaration against our Covenant and that Bond called the 16 That is The Bond for keeping the Peace whereby the Taker obligeth himself only to live Peaceably and not to rise in Arms against the King This Bond was tendered to the Rebels taken in the Battel at Pentland-hills and refused by many of them who were Hanged and are since reckoned among the Martyrs of the Cause It was likewise tendered to the late Rebels who were taken after the Battel of Bothwel-Bridge but about 300. of them refused it and are since Transported but five more especially who were accomplices with the Murderers of the late Archbishop of St. Andrews and who would not confess that the Killing of him was a Sin or Murder when they were asked in both Terms by Authority if it were so were Sentenced to be Hanged in Chains at Magus the place where that Execrable Murder was committed Was it ever heard in any other Christian Nation That any men refused to dye by the hand of the Executioner rather than engage not to rise in Arms against their lawful Sovereign The Christians under the Turks would not dye Martyrs if they Suffered upon that Principle Lord Jesu pity the madness and delusion of this People Amen Amen Bond of Peace and that 17 This is the Form of it and let the World judge whether it deserveth the name of horrid or no horrid Bond so frequently imposed against the Meetings of his People in Fields and Houses intended for the down bearing of the Gospel and Interest of our Lord and The Form of the BOND Master with all other Bonds publick or private contrary to our I underscribing do faithfully bind and oblige me That I my Wife Bairns and Servants respectively sâ—â—ll no ways be present at any Conventicles and disorderly Meetings in time coming but shall live orderly in Obedience to the Law under the Penalties contained in the Acts of Parliament made there-anent As also I bind and â—blige me That my whole Tenants and Cotters respectively their Wives Bairns and Servants shall likewise refrain and abstain from the said Conventicles and other illegal Meetings not authorized by Law and that they shall live orderly in Obedience to the Law And further That I nor they shall Recept Supply or Commune with forfeited Persons intercommuned Ministers or Vagrant Preachers but shall do our utmost Endeavour to Apprehend their Persons And in case my said Tenants Cotters and their foresaids shall Contraveâ—â— I shall take or apprehend any Person or Persons guilty thereof and present them to the Judge Ordinar that they may be Fined or Imprisoned therefore as is provided in the Acts of Parliament made thereanent Otherwise I shall remove them and their Families from my ground and if I shall fail herein I shall be liable to such Penalties as the said Delinquents have incurred by the Laws consenting to the Registration hereof in the Books of his Majesties Privy-Council or Books of any other Judges Competent that Letters and Executorials may be direct hereupon in Form as Effeirs and Constitutes my Procurators Obligations and Covenants to God also against all such that Connive at or Complie with or Strengthen the hands of this Prelatical Malignant and Persecuting Party As also against all Errors Schisms and Heresies contrary to our Engagements to God especially against that Ruining and Soul-deluding Evil or rather This is the Tenor of that Bond which the Fanaticks railed so much against and lest the force of it should be Eluded the Privy-Council †Rav. Rediv. page 50 Enacted That every Heritor who should receive into his Lands or Service any Tenants or Servants of any other Heritor without a Certificate from him or the Minister of the Parish where they lived That they lived orderly as to the matter of Conventicles should be subject to such Fines as the Privy Council should think fit to inflict to punish them for their Crime and repair the damage that should accrue to the Heritor or Master whose Tenants or Servants they did receive While the Feuds were kept up in Scotland it was usual for the King to bind the Chief for the Peaceable behaviour of the whole Tribe or Clan and because the Heritors or Landlords of that Countrey have such a despotical power over their Tenants it hath been the immemorial practice of the King Privy-Council and Parliament upon occasion to bind Landlords of all qualities for the peaceable demeanour of their Tenants and to give them Power and Warrant to take Bonds from them or upon their refusal to remove them from their possessions if they were Rack-renters but if they had Leases to denounce
revile and hate those who Execute our Laws upon the latter though their Principles are as incompatible with the Government and call the Church-Protestants Papists or say they are Popishly affected when you hear them like good Subjects rejoyce at the news of their Defeats or express their satisfaction that they Suffered as the nature of their Crimes deserved I say Their Principles are as incompatible with Who under the Mask and Vizard of Religion seek to Sâ—bvert all Monardâ—â—al and Civil Government King Ch 〈…〉 his lesser Declaration 1640. p. 3. Government and the common Security that every man ought to have in Human Societies and that they would be extirpated out of any Protestant Government of the World as the Jesuits were once out of France and many other Popish Countreys but Ours and Yours and yet when a Parcel of them a Year ago were sent on Ship-board into the Thames in order to be Transported according to Law you made as great a stir about it with the King and his Secretary for this Kingdom as if they had been the most Innocent and Orthodox-Protestants in the World Had they been Jesuited Papists we should all have rejoyced but had they been so many of either Churches Communion especially of those whom you invidiously call High-flown Church-men though in Charity I believe you would have been sorry for them yet I doubt if you would have taken half that pains to prevent their Transportation have given them half so much Money or upon their account have cryed out Tyranny half so much In like manner when the Highlanders about two years since were brought down under the Conduct of their Chiefs into those Shires where at least five parts in six are of this Jesuitical Sect What Tragical outcries did you make at London though if the Papists should have kept such frequent and numerous Field-Conventicles in the Popish Shires of England at a time when the Kings Standing Forces were not able to dissipate the tenth part of them you would have thought it both lawful expedient and laudable to have sent Thousands of People from Protestant Shires to Quarter among them for a little while till other expedients could have been found You know very well that the first Discoverer of the Horrid Popish Plot hath declared to all the World That Jesuits were sent into Scotland about the same time that they began to Field-Conventicle to encourage them to Rebel and disturb the Ministery of the Duke of Lauderdale and yet you are so confident as to contradict him in this particular reporting in favour of our Jesuited Presbyterians That there was no need for such a Force to over-rule them but that they were brought upon them purposely to provoke them to Rebel I must also remind you of the innumerable Lyes you dispersed I cannot believe you rais'd them of the Devastations Murders Robberies Rapes c. committed by the Highlanders among those Presbyterian Jesuits though there were as few and as small disorders committed by them as ever was by the like number not only of Soldiers but Men. For they are not Barbarians as you Styled them unless it be in the same sence that the Greeks and Romans called all other People Barbarous that spoke not their Languages and wore not the Pall and Gown No I assure you they are a very Civil Generous and Governable People who committed not half so many nor so great disorders in that expedition as the Soldiers who were levied about the same time in England did about the places where they lay Did any of them do such a Barbarous action not to mention others as that of Captain upon Sir Robert Viners Daughter if they did let it be published but if they did not then I beseech you be not accessory to such lying Stories again But the Loyal Highlanders were from the beginning Malls to the Covenant and Covenanters and this is the true ground why our Presbyterians in the first place and you by contagion from them in the second hate and defame them so much For the very same reason you are directed by them to Calumniate the great name of his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale The Church is supported upon and our Pestilent Sectarians crush'd under his Ministery and therefore you Conspire to represent him as a Tyrant Papist and what not Though some of the most Considerable among you know him to be a man of great Moderation and Piety and one who abominates Popery from his heart I think fit also to mind you of the Misrepresentations which you made of the Archbishops Murder endeavouring to lay it elsewhere than at the door of that Phanatical Party who brought his Grace as the Jesuits have done greater men to Ehuds Dagger and Gideons Sword I have made a True Narrative of it and of the Jesuitical Principles upon which it was Committed on purpose that you seeing of what manner of Faith and Spirit this direful Sect are may Befriend them no longer but shew your selves sincere Protestants in abhorring the worst part of Popery in them aswel as in Papists properly so called Furthermore I cannot but tell you that I am very much offended at the spiteful manner after which you have Treated the Church and her Clergy ever since the Discovery of the Popish-Plot I have seen the Narratives of your Essex and Leicester-shire Elections and have read the Books which your Rabbies have lately put out and comparing them with other Phanatical shall I call them or Popish Libels methinks I find little of the Ancient Puritan Spirit among you but that you have deviated ten times further from their Principles than the Divines in Celeusma are falsly represented to have deviated from the Doctrines of the Church Nay to deal plainly with you you seem to have much of the Covenanting Spirit among you and if you stop not in time I am afraid that as many Acts of Parliament must be made in your Countrey for the protection of the Clergy as have been made in ours What are you not ashamed to Assault the Church on one side while the Papists Storm her on the other A Church of all the Reformed most hated by the Papists and whose Clergy alone hath done much more against Popery than the Divines of all Reformed Communions in the World And yet you are not ashamed to misrepresent this very Clergy to the people for Papists or Papishly affected a Clergy whose Writings all Foreign Protestant Divines study English on purpose to understand and which at this day praised be God for it can produce more Great men than the Greek and Latin Churches put together in the most flourishing Century could ever shew at a time But this is not to act like Protestants but Papists or whatsoever else you will call those who endeavour to ruine the Fortress of the Protestant Cause And truly while some of your leading Dissenters openly avow that they are neither Presbyterians nor Independents c. Nor of any other known name do they
Jesuit he pretends to Suffer upon a Religious account though he really suffer'd as a Disturber of the Government and as a Traitor and Rebel to the King He suffer'd not for Preaching but for Preaching in arms and among armed-men who assembled themselves on Stated days every week against the Law and defended their Assemblies by force of Arms. Or if he suffer'd for Preaching it was not for Preaching Christ and the Gospel but for Preaching up Rebellion which is contrary to both For Preaching against the Established Government and the Laws For railing in their Preaching against the King and his Counsellors telling the people that he was guilty of Perjury and had no right to Govern and that they endeavoured to drive Christ out of the Kingdom Lastly for Preaching up the Covenant and the Presbyterian Government of which they assert the same things as Priests and Jesuits do of the Pope and this is the main thing for which I must lay down my tabernacle this day viz. that I did Preach Christ and the Gospel in several places of this Nation for which I bless him as I can that ever such a poor and obscure person as I am should be thus priviledged by him for mentionmaking of his grace as I was able 3ly Give me leave to add this word further that though there be great appearances of spreading and Preaching this glorious Gospel yet I fear there is a snare at the bottom and poyson in the dish which may gender and be productive of not only greater scarcity of honest Preachers and Preaching but a real Famine of the Word this I say is my fear and I hope God will keep his o i. e. The Kirk-Ministers and people from seeking or accepting of any indulgence from the King For to Preach by leave and permission from the King is to grant that Ministers depend on the Secular power for the actual exercise of their Ministery and supposeth that they may receive limitations and restrictions from the Magistrate which is utterly inconsistent with that independent Authority which they derive immediately from the King in Sion and destructive of his Supremacy Kingdom Crown and Scepter as may plainly be seen from Mr. Browns Jesuitical Letter Printed at the end of these two Speeches and the Apology Servants and people from fomenting any thing to the detriment of the Gospel I am afraid that the Lord is beginning to multiply his stripes upon this land We have walked p i. e. Several times contrary to him in setting up Episcopacy Seven times contrary to him and therefore we may lay our account unless repentance prevent it that he will walk seven times contrary to us there is more and more ground to fear that there is a q Well threatned Sword bathed in heaven a glittering Sword sharpened and furbished against thee O guilty and Harlot Scotland let this Land consider how neutral and indifferent we are grown in the r i. e. In the matter of the Covenant matters of God even like Ephraim long ago a Cake not turned which is upon the matter Contrary to and inconsistent with our Solemnly sworn Covenant next how far are we fallen from our s viz. Our love for the Presbyterian Discipline first Love How far are we degenerate from that noble Vine into which the Lord did once Plant us How lamentable it is How far we have gone the way to t viz. Episcopacy Egypt drinking the waters of Sihor Again What a woful Spirit of bitterness is predominating in this Land and in this Age u viz. The indulged Ministers against the Field-Preachers such as Welsh Kid King Cameron c. and the Field-Preachers against the indulged Ministers who hold that as long as they are not subjected to the Bishops it is not against their Solemn League and Covenant nor inconsistent with the Ministerial Authority nor destructive to Christs Soverainity to accept of a limited indulgence from the State And therefore they were content to be obliged not to Preach without their Parishes not to Baptize Children of other Parishes nor to engage Parents at the Baptism of their Children to bring them up according to the Solemn League and Covenant nor to Preach against the Government of the Church or State and to observe the 29th of May. c. Ephraim vexing Judah and Judah Ephraim Manasseh Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseth the growing doggedness of this temper almost amongst all portends terrible things from the Lord against this Land 4ly Reformation according to our sworn Covenants is neither designed nor practised What means all this deformation that is come to pass in these days instead of the Contrary How many of us have been Pulling down that which we have been building up how many of us call good evil and evil good disowning and dissavouching that which sometime we judged our honour to testifie for and avouch 5ly A Publick Spirit in contending for God and his matters in substance and Circumstances according to our vows and obligations is much amissing amongst us at this day Further I am pressed in Conscience to make mention of all those great and glorious things that God hath done in Scotland since the year 1640. and 1641. the aboundant measure of his Spirit that was poured out upon his servants and people and the renewing of that National Covenant twice in that year and once in the year following the Blessed efficacy that the Gospel had at that time in all the Corners of the Land the great things that followed upon it which while improven made our Land most desirable w The Solemn League and Covenant is the Alpha and Omega of the Kirk-Doctrines and Cause Hence they commonly call it the Holy League and Covenant as both the Pope and Jesuits called its Prototype the League of the Papists in France and as the Pope compared the Duke of Guise to Judas Maccabaeus and the Jesuits to Gideon Davila lib. 9. So the Kirk-Preachers taught that the Lords who began the Design of the Covenant acted like the Jewish Worthys in promoting of it and were moved and directed so to do by the secret motions of the Spirit of God In the beginning of the Covenant they set up one Mrs. Mitchelson a Ministers Daughter for a Prophetess who pretended to be Inspired with a Spirit of Divination and she said that it was revealed to her by God that their Covenant was approved by him and ratified in heaven and Mr. Henry Rollock a Covenanting-Minister being desired to pray with her answered he durst not because it would not be good manners in him to speak while his Master Christ was Speaking in her and yet at length she openly confessed that she was an Impostor and that the Ministers told her in private what she should speak The Author of Naphtali pag. 240. brings in Mr. Hugh Mackell a Rebel-Preacher saying Whatever indignity is done to the Solemn League and Covenant I esteem it no less than doing despite to
before them and craving their pardon that he had accepted of it as †The Epistle Dedicatory to Bishops Halls Episcopacy Graham Bishop of Orkney did his forsaking of his Negative power by a contract with his Presbyters and committing all Church-Affairs to their sole management not to mention the remitting of their Canonical Oath would have been as Sacrilegious a concession as a Bishop quatenus such could make He had thereby virtually reduced himself into a Presbyter which the Primitive Church did abhor as †Can. 29. Concil Chalced Math. Blastar Cap. 28. in E. Sacrilege and would undoubtedly have deprived and Excommunicated if not Anathematised any Bishop that durst have been so perfidious to the Apostolick cause But yet though beyond all example he cut the very Nerves of Episcopal Jurisdiction in these Articles of Accomodation the Nonconform Ministers scornfully rejected them and wrote against them in a book intituled The Case of Accomodation c. Printed in 4 o 1671. the Godly and 17 There is not one Learned man among them unless he be a Priest for so custom emphatically calls the Romish Presbyters or a Jesuit in Masquerade Learned that are of another judgment I judge it fit likewise in this case to leave my Testimony 18 Last Summer was Twelve-month the Convention of Estates gave his Majesty a Five-months Tax or 30000l Sterling a year for five years successively to maintain a Regiment of Foot and 3 Companies of Dragoons and 3 Troops of Horse for suppressing of the Field-Conventicles This Act was like to be such a Blow to the Cause made up of Faction and Schism that it was vigorously opposed under some colour or other by an insignificant contrary Party who were not the Sixth part of the House And as soon as it was passed the Field-Preachers who had told the people before that the Convention would come to nothing fell immediately to Preach against the Five-months Tax telling them that it was given by the enemies of Christ to drive him out of the Kingdom and that it would be as great a sin to pay it as it was to Judas to betray Christ. Nay they told them that this was the day of Christs enemies and the power of darkness and the very Nick of temptation which God permitted to trie whether they would have Christ for their King or no and charged them as they would answer it before them at the great day not to forsake him contrary to their Holy Covenant by sinfully complying with such an Antichristian Act. Their people upon this were so affrighted that many of them rather than pay the Cess will suffer distreint and in particular the Earl of Dundonalds chief servant fell perfectly distracted by trouble of Conscience for having assisted his Lord at Renscot in laying the Cess upon that Shire And the very same Sanctified Ruffians who murdered the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews in Fife had several days before laid wait for the Collectors of this Tax against the stent taxation cess that hath been so unjustly imposed so irrelevantly founded and vigorously caried on by the late Convention of Estates and meerly upon no other account imaginable but to make a final extirpation 19 i. e. of Christ as King in Sion of the Covenant of the Presbyterian Government that Pattern in the Mount of Christ his Gospel and Ordinances out of the Land and how lamentable it is to consider how many Professors did willingly pay it and were most forward for others to do the same In the next place though to many I die desired yet I know not to a few my death is not desired and it s the rejoycing of my heart that I die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath loved me and given himself for me and in the Faith of the Apostles and Prophets and in the Faith that there is not a name under Heaven by which men can be Saved but by the name of Jesus and in the Faith of the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Kirk of Scotland as it is now Established according to the Word of God Confessions of Faith Catechisms larger and shorter like as I leave my Testimony against Popery Perjury Prophanity Prelacy Heresie and every thing contrary to sound Doctrine In the close as a dying Person and as one who hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be Faithful I would humbly leave it on the Godly Ministers to be faithful for their Lord and Master and not to hold their peace in such a day when so many ways are taken for injuring him his Name nay his Sanctuary Ordinances Crown and Kingdom 20 Well threatned false Prophet I hope there will be found a Party in this Land that will contend for him and his matters upon all hazards and as faithfulness is called for in Ministers so Professors would concern themselves that they countenance not nor abate any thing that is inconsistent with their former principles and practices I have a word to add further that God is calling persons to repentance and to do their 21 To assert the Covenant first Works O that Scotland were a mourning Land And O that Reformation were our practice according as we are Sworn in the Covenant Again Christians of grace and experience would study more stability and straightness in this day when so many are turning to the right hand and so many to the left 22 Consider how Blasphemously he applies this Scripture He that endures to the end shall be saved he hath appointed a Kingdom for such as continue with him in his temptations Next as ever ye would expect to have the Form of the house of God shewed you in all the Laws thereof goings 23. Of the Presbyterian Government Discipline out thereof and comings in thereof then think it no shame for you for all that hath been done sitting down on this side Jordan is like to be our bane Oh when shall we get out and run after him with all our hearts and never rest till he return I commend my Wife and poor young ones to the care and Faithfulness of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God that hath led me to this day and who is the God of my Salvation be their God and my God their Father and my Father I am also hopeful that Christian Friends and Relations will not be unmindful of them when I am gone Lastly I bear my Testimony to the Cross of Christ and Bless him that ever he counted me worthy to appear for him in such a Lot as this Glory to him that ever I heard of him and that ever he fell upon such a method of dealing with me as this And therefore let none that loves Christ and his righteous Cause be offended at me and as I lived in the Faith of this that the three 24 Married to God by the Solemn League Covenant See more in Notes upon W. Kingdoms are married Lands
Men. He saith also That the Pople are more Excellent and Greater than the King and have as much Power over him as he hath over any one of them and that when he is called to be Judged by them a less is cited by the greater and that if he will not come to be Judged they may kill him like a Night-Thief any way and That he ought to be compelled by Force of Arms. Napht. pag. 71. saith in the words of Mr. Robert Duglass who Preached at his Majesties Coronation in Scotland That Breach of Covenant and Rebellion against God was an old continued Sin in the Kings House which God had always severely Punished If therefore the King should not acknowledge Jesus Christ King of Sion who is above him but Break the Covenant Gods Controversy against the Kings Family would be carried on to the Weakning if not Overthrowing of it Sam. Rutherford the Author of Lex Rex saith That the King is no King then a Tyrant but Covenanting-ways and Conditionally and that by the Covenant the People have a Civil Claim against him and may Punish him in Courts set up by themselves and may resume what Power be hath for he is but their Subject and Vassal And page 178. calls Mariana his Elder Brother whom even Gavan the Jesuit in his dying Speech seemed to Condemn an approved Author Knox in his History of Reformation pages 392 393. saith That Subjects may not only Lawfully Oppose themselves to their Kings whensoever they do any thing which oppugnes Gods Command but that they may also Execute Judgment upon them according to Gods Law So that if the King be a Murderer Idolater Adulterer c. he shall Suffer according to Gods Law not as a King but as an Offender and Lex Rex saith That the Sanhedrim ought and should have put David 〈◊〉 Death And page 77 and 78. Knox also saith That it is not Birthright nor 〈…〉 of Blood that makes a King to reign lawfully over a People Professing Christ 〈…〉 Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth then Subjects are freed from their Oath of Obedience and may rise up against him in Arms. And one Mr. Goodman one of Knoxes Companions in his Book of Obedience as Philanax Anglicus cites him page 50. saith these words It is a Duty incumbent on all People severely to prosecute all Idolaters none to be excepted neither King nor Queen nor Emperor This is Gods Commandment to the People That in case of such a Defection they Seize upon their Princes that would seduce them from God and carry them away to the Gallows and hang them up Napht. in his Preface saith That if the King after the Example of Antichristian or Pagan Nations will institute and appoint Needless Vain Superstitious Burdensome Rites no man needs denounce but rather fear the Personal Doom Executed upon Saul and Uzza for Usurping the Priests Office And page 150 he saith That through the manifest and notorious Perversion of the great Ends of Society and Government the bond thereof being Dissolved the Persons one or more thus liberated from it do relapse into their Prâ—â—eve Liberty and Privilege and accordingly as the Similitude of their Case and Exigence of their Cause do require may upon the very same Principles again joyn and associate for their better Defence and Preservation as they did at first enter into Societies Mr. Robert Blair when he was Regent in the Colledge of Glascow taught his Scholars That Monarchy was an unlawful Government for which he was Preferred at St. Andrews Mr. Calderwood in his Altare Damascenum did not only say in general That in all Kings naturally there was an hatred to Christ but in particular called King James A most infense Enemy to the Purity of Religion and yet Mr. Baily in his Answer to Issachars Burden page 65 says That this man was of greater Worth than all the Prelates that Scotland ever bred put them altogether Conformable to these Principles a Caball of the first Covenanting Lords wrote a Treasonable Letter to the French King some say To crave his Aid against their own Natural Sovereign Charles the First The Letter was Subscribed by Rothes Montross Lesly Marre Montgomery Loudonne and Forrester but by Gods good Providence and the Abhorrence which another Lord shew'd to Subscribe it it was laid aside and never so much as Addressed Au Roy tres Christien although as I have heard The Earl of Trequaire who shewed the King the Original folded it up and wrote upon it Au Roy. I have heard That Montross was the Penner of it which I therefore observe to shew how dangerous these Kirk-Jesuits are in the State since they Perverted not only the Common People but so many of the great Nobility and those who were men of the greatest Parts See Sir Richard Bakers Chron. page 507. and in page 536. he saith That the Irish Rebels to justifie their Rebellion alledged That they Rebelled against the Tyrannical Government that was over them after the Example of Scotland which had got great Privileges by that Course As if they had declared in the words of this Traitor That they had no Design against his Majesties Person and Just Government but had always Studied to be Loyal in the Lord. Government but I always studied to be Loyal to lawful Authority in the Lord I thank God my heart doth not condemn me of any Disloyalty I have been Loyal and I recommend it to all to be Obedient to higher Powers in u He means according to the Covenant and as far as the King should favour the Presbyterian Government and submit his Scepter to the Scepter of Christ. Otherwise to Obey him would be a Sin for then he would go out of his Line and Order so as to Command contrary to God and then the Subjects not Obeying him is not Disobedience to the Magistrate but Obedience to God who in this case becomes their immediate Superior and if the People do not thus Resist the Magistrate they Sin against God and their own Souls These are the words in the Second Reason of the Covenanters Instructions for Defensive Arms Printed 1638. So Napht. pag. 157. saith That Disobeying the Powers when they act in the right Line of Subordination is indeed Rebellion and as the Sin of Witchcraft but to Resist and Rise up against Persons abusing Sacred Authority and Rebelling against God the Supream is to Adhere to God as our Liege-Lord and to Vindicate our Selves and his Abused Ordinance from Wickedness and Tyranny and page 151. Explaining these words of the Covenant In our several Places and Callings he saith That every man in his Station is thereby bound to promote the Covenant not by all lawful but by all possible means and if any in higher Place would Seduce their Inferiours into Apostacy then it is their Duty to Resist such Wickedness and Violence and their Calling to endeavour either the Reformation or Removal of those who prove so Contrary and Destructive
are obliged by our Religion not to Worship Daemons nor approach their Altars which are polluted with Blood Thou hast Commanded us to Sacrifice or every Tenth Man of us shall be put to Death Know assuredly that we are all Christians who as to our Bodies are thy Subjects but not as to our Souls which now look up to the Founder of our Religion Christ. Afterwards Exuperius the Standard-Bearer spoke unto them thus You see Fellow-Soldiers I bear the Eagle the Sign of Secular War but it is not to these Arms that I desire to provoke you nor in War of this nature That I would have you shew your Valour but in another way of Combating by which and not by your Swords you shall win the Kingdom of Heaven He left also this Message to be sent to the Emperor That Desperation which made all other men Valiant in Dangers could not prevail with them to use their Arms against his Majesty who had refused to Resist with their Swords in their hands because they had rather Die than get an unlawful Victory and perish in Innocency than Survive in Sin All which shews First That Passive Obedience is no Chimaera but a real Notion Secondly That it is the indispensible Duty of all Christians when they are Persecuted by Authority and Thirdly That it is so far from justifying Rebellion as the Author of Behem foolishly Asserts That it is the only Doctrine which can keep Subjects who are really Persecuted and Oppressed or phansie themselves to be so from Rebelling against their Sovereign and therefore the Popish and Presbyterian Jesuits who love to have it in their Power to trouble the Government of Christian Monarchs declare it to be as great a Sin as active Obedience to their unlawful Commands And now when all Sects whereof some are not Chistians with great confidence call themselves Protestants upon the account of their Opposition No Orthodon Protestants who deny the Doctrine of Passive Obedience whether real or pretended to Popery I freely declare That none of them are or ought to be esteemed so in a strict and Orthodox sence but such as Profess the Doctrine of Passive Obedience as strictly as it was both Professed and Practised in the Primitive Catholick Church Nay furthermore seeing there are some common Maxims of Christian Divinity which were always professed by the Church Universal for undoubted Truths although they are not set down expressly neither in the Scriptures nor in the Apostles Creed and the truth of which were never questioned but by some few Hereticks who had no proportion to the rest I also assert That no Man nor Society of Men how Antipapistical soever they may be ought to be looked upon as Orthodox Protestants unless they profess these common Notions of Christianity without the Belief and Profession of which none could be counted Orthodox Christians in the Primitive Catholick Church These common Principles wherein all Christian Churches agreed are these That the Scriptures are the Word of God That there are Three distinct Persons in the holy Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and that these Three †That Infant are to be Baptized are one God That Christ is both God and Man in the same Person That the Lords-Day or First Day of every Week ought to be kept Holy That a Solemn Yearly Commemoration of the Passion Resurrection and Ascention of our Lord and of the Descent of the Holy Ghost ought to be Observed and that the Church Universal is to be Governed by Bishops above and distinct from Presbyters There never was any Church from the Apostles and downwards for above Fourteen hundred Years which did not consent to the Truth of These and some other Doctrines and look upon them as the common Notions of the Christian Religion delivered down from its first Original with the Articles of Christian Faith And therefore as no Arrian Photinian Sabbatarian or Aerian how Opposite soever they were to the Jews and Heathens the common Enemies of Christianity were admitted for truly Catholick or Orthodox Christians in the Primitive times but were Condemned and Anathematized for Hereticks The true not on of Protestancy so now no Society of Antiscripturists Antitrinitarians Socinians Antidominicans for I will not call them Antisabbatarians Antipaedobaptists Antiepiscoparians of what Denomination soever and likewise no Society of men professing the Observation of the Apostolical Holy-days to be Superstitious and Idolatrous how opposite soever they pretend to be to the common Enemie of the Reformed Churches ought not to be considered as Orthodox Protestants who by that name are understood to Protest against the Errors Innovations Corruptions and Usurpations of the Romish but not against the Common Doctrines of the Primitive Catholick Church the Lord. And that I Preached at Field-Meetings which is the other ground of my Sentence I am so far from acknowledging that the Gospel Preached that way is a Rendezvouzing in Rebellion as it is so termed that I bless the Lord that ever counted me worthy to be Witness of such Meetings which have been wonderfully Countenanced and owned not only to the x The Delusion of many Thousands as their numerous Field-Meetings do shew Conviction but even to the Conversion of many Thousands yea I do y I observed before That the Covenant-Preachers are apt to speak mighty things of their Party So Naphtali speaking of the Covenanted-Army which rebelled at Pentland-Hills 1666. saith That there hath not been in Britain such another Company of men joyned in Arms for the Covenant and Cause of God for sound Judgment true Piety Integrity of Heart Fervent Zeal undaunted Courage c. Whereas they were for the most part Crack-Brained men of broken Fortunes and such as had been processed for Fornications and Adulteries as all those who went to Christs Standard out of the Parishes of Kilmarnock and Phimus were known to be being in all Twenty Persons And if any man will take the pains to enquire into their Morals they will find this Sect to be one of the wickedest People not only for Treason Schism and Rebellion but for Sensual Sins and Abominations that ever professed the name of Christ. They use all manner of Care and Secrecy to Conceal their Wickedness but yet so many undeniable Stories of their Privy Pranks are come to Light as make them the Scandal of the Christian name Lysimach Nicanor First Edition page 79. Tells us of one Andrew Lesly who forsook Ireland to come and take the Covenant after which he immediately left his own Wife to live with a Whore the Daughter of an holy Sister at Edinburgh who Blasphemously said That her Child was fallen into an holy Fornication with a Brother not out of Lust but Love and therefore resolved That she should not Confess it lest the Gospel should be Scandalized and that it was better to fall into the hands of God by False-Swearing than to fall into the hands of men by Confessing the Fact which appeared
great Blessing of Indulgence but â—â—â—n after some day of that or the very next Week she killed him when he was Drunk with his own Sword with which he had often threatned to kill her Aunt his late Lady who was a great lover of the English Church She was since Arraigned and Condemn for the horrid Murder and told the Court she was Married to his Lordship who for that purpose she said promised her to get a Dispensation from the Pope Ravil Rediv. also saith That almost all who are Executed for Witchcraft come from this holy People as they call themselves Most certain it is That the Five Witches which bewitched Sir George Maxwell of Nether-Pollock to Death and the Four which bewitched Robert Hamilton of Barnes were all Presbyterians who dyed owning that Party and disowning and bearing Testimony against the Bishops and Curates and against the Belief the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments calling them Popish Trash at the Stake when they were ready to be Burnt They were discovered by one Jannet Duglass who pretends to have the Second Sight but is believed to have a Familiar Spirit And it is Observable That both Sir George and the Laird of Barnes both Zealous Covenanters consulted with her for the recovery of their health In the beginning of November last a Discovery was made of a great number of Witches in Burrowstoness a Port on the Forth where the Fanaticks think themselves most Safe and where they usually land the Arms which they buy in Foreign Countreys for the Service of the Cause Five of them all Conventiclers have freely confessed and the chief of them one Vicar was a most Zealous and Celebrate Professor and the greatest Convener of the People to Conventicles that was in all the Countrey I could say a great deal more of their other ungodly Practices but I protest I am weary with Raking in this Dunghill and had not said thus much but for the same reason as some of the Primitive Fathers set forth the Practices of the filthy Gnosticks to let the World see what a wicked Sect they are And therefore I dare assert with as much confidence and more reason than this Rebel and his Brother Kid asserted the contrary That if ever there were a Sect of Christians That were not the People of God and in whom his Soul took no Pleasure then these Rebellious Covenanters are such assert that if the Lord hath any purer Church and People in this Land it has been in and among these Meetings in Fields and z I am glad of this occasion to tell the Reader That they used to meet Armed in the Houses as well as in the Fields Nay it hath been a common Stratagem among them to fill Houses with Armed men and then to give it out That there were Conventicles kept in them That so they might have an opportunity to Murder the Officers Civil or Military that were sent to seize them Thus Mr. George Balfour since one of the Murderers of the Archbishop of St. Andrews having got together a company of Armed Ruffians in an House near St. Andrews served Captain Karstairs and Mr. Garret the latter of which after many Shots and Stabs they left for dead upon the ground Thus likewise about January last they served the Town-Major of Edinburgh as the Papists served Sir Edmondbury Godfrey in London For having filled an House in Edinburgh with Armed men they sent a Messenger to the Major to Advertise him of a Conventicle there who according to his Duty having taken about Three or Four Assistants with him went to the House to seize them according to Law As soon as he knocked at the Door he was let in and was conducted to a Room where he saw no body till he was surprized with Armed men who rushed in upon them at two Doors and Shot at them and then fell upon them with Swords and Durkes one of the Assistants was Shot dead through the Back they Slashed and Stabbed the Major in several places and dragged him out of doors where they left him for dead Houses so much now despised by some and Persecuted by others That I Preached up Rebellion and Rising in Arms against Authority I bless the Lord my Conscience doth not condemn me in this it being never my Design if I could have Preached Christ and Salvation through his name That was my Work and herein have I walked according to the Light and Rule of the Word of God and as it did become though one of the meanest a 1 Not a Minister but an Usurper of the Ministery First As Ordained by Presbyters whom all †See Can. 19. Concil Sard. Can. 4. Cont. Constantinopol 1. Antiquity never believed to have more power to Ordain a Presbyter than for Deacons to Ordain a Deacon or Presbyter or for a College of Laymen to Ordain both This is a certain truth and if any ingenuous man desire to be satisfied in this point which implies the necessity of Episcopal Orders let him read a Book Intituled A brief Account of ancient Church-Government c. It is a full Answer to Blundell and all the Presbyterian Writers and was Printed in 4 o for John Crook at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1662. Secondly as being Ordained by Schismatical Presbyters whose Ordinations had they had the same power to Ordain as Bishops have would by the Sacred Canons have been †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invalid upon the account of Schism and Sedition and the Presbyters Ordained by them in such a Factious and Undutiful manner would have been deposed by the Laws of the Catholick Church And if the Rebellious Presbyters the Fathers and Grandfathers of these now living who undertook to Ordain were not guilty of Schism in the highest manner then the notion of Schism is a Chimaera and there was never such a thing in the Catholick Church For they Assembled together without their Bishops cited them to compear before them and declared their Office to be Antichristian and their Jurisdiction an Usurpation over the Church Lastly They abjured them and brought the People to do the same in the Solemn League and Covenant and Invaded their Office and Jurisdiction and their Successors these Ministers falsly so called still persevere to do the same Thou art not then a Minister Thou blind Guide but as a great Minister of State and the Bulwark of the two Churches told his Majesty when he was petitioned for thy life an Usurper of the Ministery a Rebel a Traitor a Deceiver of the People who must answer for the blood of a Thousand poor Wretches who perished in the Rebellion at Bothwel-Bridge Minister of the Gospel I have been looked on by some and misrepresented by 2 Called the Indulged Ministers See Note u on the first Speech and Section the fifth of the Apology others that I have been of a Divisive and Factious humor and one that stirred up Division in the Church but I am hopeful that