in Scotland the Truth of Iesus Christ. Now consider if there are not Material Differences between these two Inscriptions By the Inscription as it is in Spotswood Petrie and the MS. the Dignity and Superiority of the Scottish Superintendenâ—s above the rest of the Clergy is clearly preserved By the other account it is sadly obscured and they are made at least very much to stand on a level with other Ministers c. By the Inscription as in Spotswood c. The Sentiments Our Scottish Clergy had then about the English Reformation and Constitution are very plain genuine and charitable They were satisfied that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church of England had Renounced the Roman Antichrist and that they professed the Lord Iesus in SINCERITY And they had for them suitably the Christian and Brotherly Charity which the Orthodox and Sincere Christians of one Church ought to have for the Orthodox and Sincere Christians of another Church They wished or desired to them The Increase of the Holy Spirit How highly this was agreeable to the sentiments of the then Protestants in Scotland I have made fully appear in the Discussion of my Second Enquiry But To the Pseudo-Knox it seems it lookt highly scandalous to own That the Bishops and Pastors of England had Renounced the Roman Antichrist or that they professed the Lord Jesus in sincerity How could these things be said so long as they retained Antichrists Hierarchy or had so many Romish Mixtures And therefore to wish them the increase of the Holy Spirit was too bold a prayer It was founded on a false hypothesis It supposed they had the Holy Spirit already How suitable is all this to the Presbyterian temper and principles And by consequence is it not evident that these alterations were not the effects of negligence or inadvertencie but of the true Spirit of the party But this is not all In the body of the Letter as recorded by the Pseudo Knox there are several other Corruptions I shall only point at one but it is a considerable one The General Assembly which sent the Letter after a Digression concerning the care that ought to be had of tender Consciences c. Resume their main purpose thus We return to our former humble supplication which is that our Brethren who amongst you refuse these Romish Rags may find of you who are the PRELATS such favour as our Head and Master commandeth every one of his members to shew to another So it is not only in the MS. Spotswood and Petrie word for word but also in a virulent Presbyterian Pamphlet called Scotidromus directed to all Noble Scots and kind Catholicks zealous for the Romish Religion written Anno 1638 to cast dirt at that time upon Episcopacy and render it odious to the People which Pamphlet I have by me in Manuscript But The Supposititious Knox has it thus Now again we return to our former Request which is that the Brethren among you who refuse the Romish Rags may find of you not the PRELATES but who VSE and VRGE them such favour c How unfit was it for the world to know that a Scottish General Assembly had own'd the Bishops of England as PRELATES It was scandalous no doubt to the Godly It was expedient therefore to falsify a little and foist in more useful Epithets to call them not PRELATES but USERS and URGERS of the Ceremonies I have insisted the longer on this Book because our Presbyterian Brethren are so earnest to have the world believe that it was written by Knox Particularly G. R. in his First Vindication c. in Answer to Quest. 1. § 8. where too observe by the way how extravagantly that Author blunders His words are Anno 1559. The Protestant Ministers and People held a General Assembly at St. Johnstown saith Knox Hist. Lib. 2. p. 137. Now there is not so much as one syllable of a General Assembly in the Text. Upon the Margin indeed there are these words The first Assembly at St. Johnstown But no Presbyterian I think unless he is one of G. R.'s kind will be so impudent as to say that all that 's on the Margin of that Book was written by Knox. And that Meeting which was then at Perth was nothing like that Court which we call a General Assembly But enough of this To conclude tho' I am firmly perswaded that Knox was not the Author of this History yet because it passes commonly under his name I have still cited it so on my Margin The Edition I have used is that in 4 to published at Edenburg Anno 1644. The other Treatises attributed to Knox and I know no Reason to doubt their being his from which I have cited any thing are in ane Appendix to the History I have not made it my work to cite Acts of Parliaments and represent the favourable countenance Episcopacy hath had from the State so much as to consider the sentiments of our Reformers and those who succeeded them in their Ecclesiastical capacity partly because the Acts of Parliament have been diligently collected before Particularly whoso pleases may see a goodly train of them from the year 1560 till the year 16â—7 in the Large Declaration pag. 333 c. Partly because our Presbyterian Brethren are in use to insist more on the Books of Discipline and the Acts of General Assemblies c. than on Acts of Parliaments One advantage amongst many disadvantages I think I have it is that the Authors I have most frequently cited were Presbyterians by consequence Authors whose Testimony 's can least be called in Question by my Presbyterian Brethren I do not pretend to have exhausted the subjects I have insisted on Any Reader may easily perceive I have been at a loss as to several things in History Perchance I have sometimes started some things New and which have not been observed before I wish I may have given occasion to those who are fitter and better furnished with helps for such Enquiries to consider if they can bring more light to our History In the mean time I think I have said enough to convince the Reader that our Presbyterian Brethren have not reason to be so confident as commonly they are for their side of the Controversies I have managed Yet after all this I am not secure but that they will endeavour to have my Book Answered for all Books most be Answered that militate against them and they can still find some G. R. or other who has zeal and confidence enough for such attempts Upon the supposition therefore that I must have ane answer I do for once become ane earnest suiter to my Presbyterian Brethren that they would imploy some Person of ordinary sense and discretion to Answer me and not their common Vindicator of their Kirk G. R. for I have got enough of him and I incline not to have any more meddling with him Whoso reads the following papers I think may find such a sample of him such a
within the Church is dissolved which is not for the most part till much of the day is spent indeed cannot readily be considering what work there is of it The Congregation dissolved there is a little breathing time Then the Bell rings again and the work is renewed Some other Brother than the Parish Minister mounts the Pulpit in the Church in the afternoon and Preaches a Thanksgiving Sermon and the rest are as busy in the Church yard as ever And then on Moondays morning the Preaching work is fallen to a fresh and pursued vigorously one Preaching in the Church another in the Church yard as formerly I am sure I am just in all this Account I could prove it by many instances if it were needful but I shall only name two Thus Last year when this Sacrament was Celebrated at St. Cuthberts where the renown'd Mr. David Williamsone Exercises on the three dayes viz. Saturday Sunday and Moonday in the Church and Church-yard there were no fewer than 12 or 13 formal Sermons besides all the Incidental Harrangues and all the Exhortations at the Tables c. And when the Sacrament was given in the New Church in the Canon-gate in September or the beginning of October 1692 there was much about the same number I my self overheard parts of some three or four which were Preached in the Church-yard And that which made me have the deeper impressions of the unaccountableness of this their Method was that all who were in the Church-yard on Sunday at least and four times as many might that day have had room enough in the Churches of Edenburgh which were at no great distance But it seems the solemnity of Church-yard Sermons is now become necessary on such occasions I have narrated nothing in this strange account I say but what is Notorious Matter of Fact All this Parade they have ordinarily even in the Countrey and tho' there are but some scores or at most but some hundreds to Communicate yet the Communion is not Solemn enough there 's a Cloud upon the Ministers reputation something or other is wrong if there are not some thousands of Spectators I doubt not when strangers Read this account they will think it a very surprizing one And no wonder for not to insist how much they have receded not only from the Rules and Practices of our Reformers but even from the Determinations of their own General Assembly 1645 not only receded from them but almost in every particular run quite Counter to them not to insist on what occasions may be given to much scandal and many wickednesses by such indigested disorderly confused and mixt Convocations For who knows not that hundreds generally strangers to one another who have no sense of no concern for no care about serious Religion may meet on such occasions for Novelty for Curiosity for Intrigues not to be named for a thousand such sinister ends Not to insist on these things I say tho' they are of no small consequence What a vast difference is there between such Communions and the Orderly and Devout Communions of the Primitive Church What would the Ancient Lights and Guides of the Christian Church who would suffer none to stay in the Church but such as were to Participate say if they saw such promiscuous Routs assembled and mostly for no other end than making a Spectacle of such a Venerable Mystery Is not such unaccountable Parade much liker to the Popish Processions than the Devout Performances of the purer times of Genuine Christianity How impossible were it at this rate to Celebrate the Sacrament once a Month in every Parish Church How much more impossible to restore it to its due and proper frequency How far is this from looking on this Holy Sacrament as ane ordinary tho' a very signal part of Divine worship Or rather is it not to make a Prodigie of this Divine Mystery Certainly when People observe how seldome and withal with what strange Pomp with what ordinarily impracticable solemnity such ane holy ordinance is gone about it cannot but work differently upon their different dispositions It stands fair to be a Scare-crow to the weak Christian He dares not approach where there is so much frightening Address It stands as fair for being a scandal to the strong and understanding Christian when he sees so much vain shew so much needless ostentation so much odd external tricking about it And the Hypocrite can hardly wish any thing more useful for him For who should doubt of his being a Saint when he approaches amidst so much solemnity Besides Every body may easily see what is aim'd at by all this It is as they think a proper Method for catching the Populace It is to make them admire the Devotion the Religion the Abilities of the Party How Glorious and August are their Communions What singular preparations have they How many Powerful Prayers How many Soul-searching Sermons Who can compare with them for fervour and zeal for Graces and Gifts for special marks of Gods peculiar favour and assistance Must not their way be Gods way Must not those of their way be the true the only People of God! I ask God and my Presbyterian Brethren pardon if this is not at the bottom of the Matter But if it is I wish they would consider from what principles it proceeds How easy is it to discern in such Arts and Methods the clear Symptomes the lively Signatures of a Schismatical temper How easy to perceive the plain features of Faction and the Lineaments of a preposterous Fondness to have their way and party had in Admiration How easy were it more fully to expose such dangerous and dreadful Methods But I am affraid I have digressed too much already There is 8. Another very considerable instance of their Deserting the principles of our Reformers in the Matter of this Sacrament Such ane instance as may make another strange Figure when seriously considered Our Reformers having once Established the Confession of Faith as the Standard for this National Church required no more for qualifying private Persons for the Sacrament of the Eucharist than that they could say the Lords Prayer the Articles of the Belief and the summ of the Law and understand the use and Vertue of this Holy Sacrament So it is expressly delivered in the ninth Head of the First Book of Discipline Supposing the Person free from scandal this was certainly a Genuine Measure and agreeable to the Rules and Principles of Catholick Vnity For However expedient it may be upon some Emergent Occasions or Necessities to require suitable Obligations of Office-bearers in the Church yet no man I think who loves Christian Simplicity and Vnity but will acknowledge 't is proper and prudent to make the terms of Communion as Catholick and Comprehensive as Christs institutions will allow them to be made Now not to insist on our Brethrens separating from the Communion of those who keep by the terms of Communion required by our Reformers
thing or another that I have pursued this matter so far But if they shall I pray God forgive them for they are injurious to me The principle which prompted me to represent these things was truly that of Fraternal Correption My main Design was to soften not irritate them not to exasperate them but to bring them to a more Manageable and Considering temper For I can and do sincerely protest that it is daily the earnest desire of my Soul that all men may be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth I wish all Men Christians and I wish all Christians Christians Indeed In a special manner I wish our Presbyterian Brethren and we may yet be so much Honoured and blessed of God that in the sincerity of Brotherly kindness we may be all Vnited in one Holy Communion I wish we may all earnestly contend with all Christian forbearance fellow-feeling and Charity as becometh the members of the one Church whereof Christ Iesus is the Head to have the poor divided desolated Church of Scotland restored to that Peace Purity and Unity That Order Government and Stability which our Blessed Master hath instituted and commanded May Almighty God inspire us all with the Spirit of his Son that our hearts being purified by ane Humble and a Lively Faith the Faith that worketh by Love and our Lives Reformed according to the Laws and great purposes of our Holy Religion we may be all unanimously and dutifully disposed for so Great so Glorious so Desireable a Mercy And with this I end this Fifth Enquiry And now I think I have competently answered the ends of my undertaking which was to Examine this Article of our new Claim of Right and try its firmness and solidity I think I have comprized in these five Enquiries every thing that is material in it considered either in it self or as it supports the great alterations have been lately made in the Church of Scotland It might have been more narrowly sifted and sifted more narrowly it might have been found lyable to many more exceptions For instance 1. It may seem somewhat surprizing that such ane Article should have been put into a Scottish Claim of Right That it should have been made so seemingly Fundamental at least in the Constitution of the Scottish Monarchy which is so famous and has been so much renowned for its Antiquity Was ever such ane Article in a Scottish Claim of Right before No Man I think will say it was in the Original Contract made with Fergus the First if any Original Contract was made with him for if he was he was advanced to the Throne 330 years before our Saviours Birth if we may believe our Historians And I think it was not ane Article in the Original Contract then that the Christian Church should be so or so Governed Few men I think will say it was part of the Original Contract made with any Scottish King before the Reformation No man can produce any such Article in any Original Contract made with King Iames the Sixth King Charles the First or King Charles the Second unless it was the Solemn League and Covenant or the Act of the West Kirk It cannot be said that it was in any Original Contract made with King Iames the Seventh for all the Nation knows it was Declared by the Meeting of Estates that he forfeited his Right to the Crown for having made no Original Contracts These are all the real or pretended Kings we have had since the Reformation till the late Revolution Is not this Article therefore a New Fundamental added to the Constitution of the Ancient Scottish Monarchy This is all upon the supposition that it is truly a part of our new Claim of Right Tho' indeed 2. It may be made a Question whither it can be justly called a part of the Claim of Right It is very possible for one thing to be in another without being part of that other And one would think this Article lookt very unlike a part of a Claim of Right It seems not to run in the stile that is proper for Claims of Right 'T is certain it runs not in the stile of the rest of the Articles All the rest of the Articles tell us either what is contrary to Law or what are the undoubted Rights of the People This Article imports nothing like either the one or the other It only Declares Prelacy to be a Grievance c. This doth not say that it was contrary to Law For Laws themselves may be and actually were Declared to be Grievances by the Meeting of Estates in another paper And the Articles Declaring that Prelacy ought to be Abolished is ane Argument that it subsisted by Law and it was abolished as subsisting by Law for the Act which abolished it Repealed the Laws by which it subsisted Neither is Prelacy declared by the Article to be contrary to the Rights but only to the Inclinations of the People and I think it requires no Depth of Metaphysical precision to distinguish between Rights and Inclinations Indeed it seems obvious to any body that this Article had had its situation more properly and naturally amongst the Grievances which were digested in another paper and therefore I say being only praeternaturally and by apparent force thrust into the Claim of Right it may be made a Question whither its being so there be enough to make it part of the Claim of Right Or whither its nature should not be regarded rather than its post And it should be constructed to have no more weight than if it had been Regularly ranked in its own Category But such Questions are too hard for me and more proper for Lawyers to determine Neither shall I meddle 3. With many other obvious difficulties which must necessarily result from this Article being made truly a part of the Original Contract between King and People Such as its making the settlement of the Crown to depend not on Right of Inheritance or Proximity of Blood or any such Ancient Legal Solid Hereditary Title but on the every day changeable Inclinations of the People for these are the main fund of the Article and by the supposition the Article is intrinsecal and fundamental to the present settlement This I say and many more such which might be easily named seems a very considerable difficulty that might be urged on such a supposition But I shall not insist on them Farther 4. Besides all these Awkward exceptions whither it is or is not a part of the Claim of Right the stile of it might deserve to be considered Particularly that Phrase of Prelacy's being a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to the Nation 'T is true I have in my Third Enquiry guessed at its meaning But I do sincerely acknowledge it was but guessing and even yet I can do no more but guess about it Doth it not at first sight appear a little too big and swelling Is it not hard to find for it