to an evil designing Party who are always like the Salamander in the Fire and love to fish in muddy Waters acting both in different Elements for the same Ends or Discouragement to the good Party whose different Opinions about Circumstances ought not to divide them in the main I shall first state it as my Hypothesis as many Learned moderate Divines under both Governments do that Church Government whether it be this or that is a Matter indifferent There being no Platform of Government left in the Church either by Christ or his Apostles or their Disciples further than appointing Bishops in every Church which word in the common acceptation in the Originals and Translations by both Parties is understood to be Overseers without mentioning any Preheminence to them over their Brethren these being Presbyters and their Deacons and Elders So that Church Government in this case would seem to be left indifferent and every Nation or People link'd together in one Body or Society in their own Civil Government whether Monarchical Democratical Aristocratal c. have it left in their Option being free from Engagements either to the one or the other to settle that Church Government which the major part of that People or Society judges most suitable to the Word of God and the general Inclination and Genius of the People This being granted in the general In the next place let us consider That when that Nation in particular as generally all Europe were enslaved to the Romish Bondage there was no other and could no other Government be but Prelacy suitable to that of their Universal Bishops whose Vassals they as well as all other Prelats were as they called them who assume to themselves always the Title of Head of the Church and Christ's Vicars upon Earth which all those of the reformed Protestant Religion Episcopal or Presbyterial look upon as Blasphemous And therefore the Pope is called by them all Antichrist and no doubt he is But when that Peoples Eyes came to be opened to see clearly the Fundamental Errors which that Church maintained for several Ages and the many Cheats Villanies and Wickedness committed by that Clergy in general They began to be reformed in their Lives and Manners by the indefatigable pains and labour of some few Presbyters who suffered several kinds of Martyrdoms and other Cruelties therefore by the Popish Clergy And the Romish Clergies barbarous Cruelties in those times towards those valiant Champions in Christ's Cause did at last animate the People to prosecute a General Reformation in that Nation and their Reformation being by Presbyters It seems gave the rise there to that denomination of Presbyterian And the Romish Clergies Cheatry and wickedness in their Lives and Conversation and Cruelty towards those Reformers and those of the Reformed Religion occasioned the Peoples general hatred at the very Order of Bishops And besides that the bulk of the Scots Clergies Opinion being That a well Constitute Presbyterian Government is both more agreeable to the Word of God and general Inclination and Genius of the People than any other And though Superintendants were appointed there at the beginning of the Reformation the generality of the People not being as yet well Reformed the Reformers that they might prevail the more readily in moderation with the generality of the People especially considering the nearer they came to the last Settlement being Governed in Civil Matters by a Popish King Regent and Queen in the Infancy of their Reformation the easier the work appeared to be yet the Presbyterian was the first Established Government being fully settled in the Year 1592. by a general Meeting of the Estates and Confirmed by Parliament and continued so till the Year 1606. after that King James came to the Imperial Crown of England when he endeavoured to make an Union between the two Nations setled an Episcopal Government there though contrary to the Inclinations of the People and Clergy in general Expecting thereby to Unite them as well in Trade as in Church Government And the hopes of an Union in Trade and other things beneficial to Scotland moved many of those who were Presbyterially inclined to go beyond their Inclinations and Opinion alongst with that Settlement for present But that Settlement by Bishops in Scotland being all it seems that the then English Clergy and others designed and in which Settlement many Eminent Men of that Kingdom were too precipitant to their regret afterwards when they could not help it that being done the Union was blown up though I am of opinion as are many Eminent Men of both Nations and Well-wishers to the present Government That neither England or Scotland can ever be truly Happy till there be an Union in Parliaments as well as in Trade For though England be more opulent and powerful by Sea and otherwise by reason of their Trade yet when England has a Powerful Enemy in the Front Scotland might prove as dangerous if not a fatal Back-door to England and it 's not to be doubted if there were an Union but the Product and Export of Scotland to other Foreign Countries at present might be of equal Gain to England to what Scotland might expect by an Union in Trade from England which could be made appear to a demonstration But this not being hujus loci I hope to be excused for this Digression from the thing proposed there being some sympathy between the one and others Interest and to come to the point in hand when there is any Revolution in the State of that Kingdom as of late and they are so happy as to have a King and Governours that design nothing more than the Tranquillity and Happiness of the People the People eagerly in their Reformation desire to Establish that Church Government which their Clergy and People in general are of Opinion is most consonant to the Word of God and their own Inclination And to make it clear that the first Reformers were not at all for establishing the Order of Bishops Mr. Knox being in Exile in England by reason of the Clergies great Persecution in King James the Fifth's time in Scotland King Edward the Sixth having a great esteem for Mr. Knox he proffer'd him a Bishoprick in England but he thanked that good King heartily and refused it And a long time after that Kingdom was turned to the Christian Faith they had no Bishops nor does any of our own or Foreign Historians assert that there was any that had the title of Bishop in that Church before Paladius in the fifth Century nor was this Paladius either a Diocesian or Provincial Bishop Adrian in the ninth Century being the first Diocesian nor was there any Archbishop Primate or Metropolitan to consecrate Diocesian Bishops till the Year 1436. That Patrick Graham was made Archbishop of St. Andrews and yet 1200 years before this there was a Church in Scotland ruled by Monks and Presbyters and not to mention many other Eminent Men that treat upon that subject
of undoubted Credit I Cite only Fordon Lib. 3. Cap. 8. Ante Paladii adventum habebant Scoti fidei Doctores de Sacramentorum administratores Presbyteros solummodo vel monachos ritus sequentes Ecclesiae primaevae And Beda Baronius and all others confirm that Paladius was the first that was called Bishop in that Kingdom Attamen Sâ—â—â—l Christiani primaâ—â—i saith another so that long before there was any Order of Prelatical Bishops allowed in Scotland even after Paladius time there was a Church there and tho Foreign and Domestick Authors favouring Prelacy write upon this Subject and name many Bishops to have been in Scotland before and after Paladius yet none of these Authors dare have the Confidence to say that these Bishops had any medling in State Affairs till that Nation was enslaved to the Church of Rome and even when that was the Kings and Church of Scotland in general would never own the Pope so much or subject themselves to him as other Princes and Churches did Look but the 43 Cap. p. 6 th K. Ja. 3.39 Cap. Par. 4. K. Ja. 4 th 85 Cap. Par. 11. K. Ja. 3 d. 4 Cap. Par. 1. K. Ja. 4.119 Cap. Par. 7. K. Ja. 5 th c. which were but Confirmations of K. Ja. 1 st Acts Cap. 13. Parl. 1 st Cap. 14. c. And there and elsewhere much more you will find to prove how little respect our Kings had to the Pope's Thunders in the time of Scotland's greatest Devotion to Rome And a King who would rule Wisely and to the general Satisfaction of the People in which case they can and will serve him faithfully will give Liberty of Conscience to his People in innocent or indifferent Matters which are perhaps Matters indifferent to himself and no good Man dare not but attribute the Epithetes of a Heroick Mind as well as of a calm well disposed Spirit to our present Gracious King and Queen who condescend Indulgently to any thing may make their People happy so far as they are rightly informed and I am hopeful will verify Seneca's Saying in time Mens regnum bona possidet Besides That the Constitutions of Bishops in Scotland and England are not the same thing and in their dependance have not the equivalent Power or Influence in their Publick and Private managements in relation to the State for in England the Laws there seem to secure Bishops so in their Offices and Benefices when Ordained and Consecrated that though they should not go along with the Court in disagreeable things without a new Law or ranversing the old in a Parliamentary way they cannot be put from their Benefices though they should be suspended from their Offices But in Scotland that Order depended so intirely upon Court Favour that the Governours could and actually have without any Supervenient Law or Statute turned out Bishops Tam ab officio quà m à beneficio of which there could be many Instances given but the Matter of Fact being so well known we need not trouble the Reader with them here But certain it is That the difference of these two Constitutions is an encouragement to the one to own what is good and is a bait to the other to maintain even more dangerous things than the Doctrine of Non-resistance it self if required And to make a Parallel between the English and Scots Bishops in many things but particularly in their Practices would be but a reproach to our Nation to render in Publick were it not that it clearly appears in Matters of Fact whether it be the fault in the Constitution of Scots Bishops or the Bishops own natural temper That the old Scots Proverb holds true That Lordships changes Manners For be they habit and repute never so good and moderate Men when only in the state of Ministers yet when once Bishops or Prelats for the most part they become like that Emperor who was very good till he became Emperor and had Power to do Evil whose Answer upon a Question of the alteration of his different temper and practices is well known to all versant in History and there was one of the Popes who proved to be of the same temper also But now to come to give an account of some particular practices of their late Bishops in Scotland in the last two Reigns which generally created an irreconcileable hatred in mens Minds to the Order it self though Church Government were a Matter indifferent to Clergymen and Laicks and the first step was That when the General Assembly of Divines in Scotland who were not only very active to Crown King Charles the Second at Scoon in 1650. but also great Instruments to restore him to the Imperial Crown in the Year 1660. and that the Presbyterian Government was confirmed Act 16. Par. 1. Ch. 2 d. They looking upon Mr. James Sharp as one of the most violent Presbyterians in the English time of great Credit with the Presbyterian Clergy and of no less fame for his almost violent Zeal that way which all the Presbyterian party there solemnly Swearing to stand by the Church of Scotland as it was then Established in a Presbyterial Government was intrusted by them in the Year 1661. as their Commissioner to the King to have that Government continued But the Promise and fair Prospect of an Archbishoprick prevailed with his Judgment and gave him a new light for which he was tainted with that Epithet of the Betrayer of the Church of Scotland and his Brethren who being a politick Man failed not to contrive and with other Politicians in the State and Laxer Clergy who looked for Benefices to concert the new Establishment of the Order of Bishops in its full extent after the Form almost of the old Popish Order and abolishing the Presbyterian Government in the Year 1662. It was no doubt a failure in some of the Presbyterian Ministers then many of which were great Eminent and Loyal Men though refusing Benefices from the late King to desert their Churches and Vocations in the Publick Assemblies until they had been forced from them as no doubt they would have been without Compliance But certain it is That when some of them left their Charges and others were forced to quit the same immediately thereafter by imposing new Engagements to that Government contrary to their former Solemn Oaths and Vows though it be much my opinion that no Oaths ought to be imposed in point of Government except that of Allegiance to the King in his Political Government of the Church as well as in the Civil State Because good Men need not to be loaded with Oaths and evil Men will never keep Oaths when they find opportunity to break them to any earthly Advantage which others Imbraced for love of the Benefices and the Ministers that either quit or were put from their Charges were not only restrained from Preaching and Praying in any Publick Meetings to their Congregations or privately in their Houses though they expected nothing for their Labours by Imposition
for his Liberty and Toleration to Papists Quakers and all other Sects of which they were hindred before by the Episcopal Clergy their procurement and they no doubt had reason to thank the late King or any for the Liberty it self having by it received a glimps of the Gospel by their freedom to Preach it though they desponded of its long continuance but expected a greater Persecution thereafter which they Preached to their Hearers and no doubt their Prophetick Sentences had been fulfilled had not God in his Mercy prevented it by preparing a fit and glorious Instrument to preserve his People from the designed overflowing deluge of Popery and Slavery And what good Protestant would not thank a Turk or Pagan nay the Pope himself for Life Liberty and Freedom of the Reformed Religion much more a Native Prince especially considering what is before related about a 26 Years Oppression or Persecution from those called the Regular Clergy then and by their instigation for from that Clergy they could expect no good Tidings for some of them had the Impudence to say in Pulpit That Rome should have it e're Jack Presbyter should have it this is a Matter of Fact for who would not rather receive a favour in the acceptance innocent from a professed Enemy than be oppressed or cruelly used by a counterfeit false Friend or unnatural Relation judge ye And whether these Proceedings against those poor Protestants does not too much imitate the Romish Clergy and Missionaries imposition on Magistrates and Governors to be their Executioners let any indifferent man judge So that any impartial unbyassed person indued with common Sense and Reason considering what is said which is but a Specimen of a System that could be written on this unpleasant Subject to any good Protestant were it not to vindicate the generality of the Nation unjustly aspersed of purpose to make the Government unfavourable to Strangers who know no better may conclude that this persecuted People as well as the generality of the Scotch Nation have reason not to continue the Order of Bishops there for if the practices of particular Bishops in Scotland were rendred publick none would tax or reproach that Kingdom with violence inhumanity persecution or rashness in their present management of Church Affairs especially considering how great Instruments most of the Episcopal Clergy have been of late by their connivance forwardness or contrivance to encourage the Ministers of the late Government to encroach so much upon the Religion Laws Liberties and Properties of the Protestant Subjects we shall only instance two So ex ungue Leonem The first is of their Behaviour in the Parliament 1686. when there was no less Design than to rescind the Penal Laws fram'd and enacted against Papists Seminary Priests and Jesuits Hearers and Sayers of Mass ad terrorem to hinder the Growth of Popery in that Nation which was the only legal Bulwark and Security of the Protestant Religion these all the Bishops excepting three concurred to remove by removing of which Laws all persons lax in their Principles or Evil-designing Men would be left loose and at their full liberty to act in the Matters of Religion as they pleased and in which case a prevailing Party might easily impose whatever they pleased the Power being in their hand and the Prerogatives screwed up above the highest Note in the Scale of Musick But God who did not design to destroy that Nation meerly by his Providence as the Execution of his Eternal Decrees wonderfully prevented all those Hellish Designs beyond Humane Expectation and disappointed the Actors The next was that when all rational foreseeing Men had a jealousie of a Popish Contrivance to impose a Prince of Wales to deprive the lawful Heirs of their rightful Succession and Men having searched more narrowly into the Affair they were fully convinc'd in their Minds of a Popish imposture the whole Bishops of Scotland when in the mean time they could see no less than the Persecution of their honest Brethren in England for Religious Matters they some of them no doubt for worldly Interest whither that would drive them God knows and others in Compliance for fear of Suspension from or loss of their Offices and Benefices did make the most solemn though the most unreasonable unchristian Address and disagreeable to the pretended Character that ever was upon the Birth of a supposed Prince of Wales and what Expressions are in that Address so generally known cannot but be nauseous to any good Protestant to rehearse in which they called that Prince The Darling of Heaven c. But to come in the next place to the late Procedure of the Convention their Committees during their Adjournments and the Parliament now sitting in relation to Church Affairs I shall give an impartial Account of the particulars so much as is needful And first When the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland that were here in January last 1689. did give their Advice to the then Prince of Orange now our Gracious King what Methods to take in relation to the Settlement of the Scotch Nation then in great Confusion having no Government by reason of the late King's desertion of the Government The King did follow their Advice and albeit that some alledged a general Proclamation to be published in ordinary times and accustomary places for calling the ensuing general Meeting of the Estates would be the best Method to call them together for Reasons neither fit nor necessary to be inserted here yet His Majesty to a general Satisfaction did take very knowing Mens Advice to dispatch his Circular Letters which he did by vertue of the Trust they reposed in Him and the Advice given by the Gentry and Nobility of Scotland to such as had right to represent the Nation in a general Meeting not omitting the then Bishops their Order being as then Established by a standing Law which His Majesty would not Transgress And when those Representatives of the Nation did meet freely frequently and fully in a general Meeting by virtue of our now Gracious King's Warrant before explained had the Bisshops then behaved themselves as became persons of their Profession pretended Honour Character if they thought not the Call sufficiently warrantable they ought either not to present themselves at that general Meeting or when they did appear by vertue of that general Warrant they might have Protested and deserted the Meeting as in their Opinion not legal before it were constituted so by the general Meeting it self Otherwise to have complyed fully upon their Meeting and not only to have acknowledged their Faults Errors and Mismanagements in the late Government but also to have gone on honestly and vigorously with the other Estates in Prosecution of the good Designs of their meeting First By concurring to heal the Breaches made in the Hedges of Religion and removing the Encroachments made upon its Laws Secondly By restoring the wholsom Laws Liberties Properties of the Estates their Fellow-Subjects so much
encroached upon by Popish Emissaries and any other wickedly designing Party in any of the later Reigns but contrary to this being it seems conscious to themselves of some guilt they did all bandy together not only with those that were too active to carry on the Mischief in the later Governments but also with a new designing Party who had no Principles not only to vindicate all the Evils that were done in the late Government but also to bring the Nation under more Slavery than ever the particulars thereof are too generally known And considering their Profession by their Actions Contraria juxta se posita clariùs elucescunt I will not be too opinionative to assert That the generality of people in that Nation or the major part of this Great and Wise Council of the Nation did incline to continue the Establishment of that Hierarchy they finding it in a manner very improbable if not altogether impossible considering all that is said and much more might be said to reconcile the Ignorance Debauchery and persecuting humour of the most part of the Prelatical Party in Scotland with the singular exemplary strict and orderly lives and conversations of the Presbyterian Clergy and most of their Adherents But sure I am that Clergy's former and later Behaviour were the Reasons that induc'd that great and wise meeting of the Estates so suddenly to tender that Order of Bishops as a Grievance of the Nation to His Majesty in their Preliminaries in order to be abolished in the next Parliament now Sitting and to vindicate that Nation the general meeting of the Estates and the present Parliament from all Aspersions which are industriously spread abroad loading them with a Persecution of the Episcopal Ministry there Take this for truth of which no intelligent Man in Britain can be ignorant That the first Act the Estates made was to secure their own Sitting The second material to our purpose was their declaring themselves a free Estate and a legal Meeting and declaring that they would not separate but continue to sit by frequent meetings till they had restored and secured their Religion Laws Liberties and Properties as well as that of their fellow Subjects so much encroached upon and till they had Established the Government of the Church and State. Both which Acts the Bishops Voted in and approved of And this being done with several other things establishing the Legality of the Meeting c. too tedious to rehearse here being intended but an Abbreviat Who would think that the Reverend Protestant Fathers of the Church of Scotland would have stood in the way of any proposition that might tend to the Security of the Protestant Reformed Religion restoring the wholsom Laws and securing the Liberties and Properties of the Subject Yet with the next breath they were not only for continuing profess'd Papists in chief Commands of strong Fortresses and in the Army expecting their greater Security that way as it seems they had reason considering their former Deportment and the then present circumstances of the Nation but were also for recalling home the late King which they alledged they looked upon to be the only way to secure Religion to give the standing Laws their lustre no doubt there is something understood there latuit anguis in herba and to secure the Liberty and Property of the people these were their very Expressâ—ons But as I doubt not that there is any good Christian but is heartily grieved for the Bigottry of the latâ— Kâ—ng's Religion his Evil Council and Mismanagement of Affairs in State and Church and Encroachments up â—n all that was dear unto us which brought him to his low Estate much more Brittish Inhabitants and mâ—st of alâ— tâ—e Sâ—otâ—h Proâ—eâ—â—ants who can endure no Government â—ut a Monarchical whose Love to that Governmâ—nt is such that they did always undergo great burthens and did peaceably forbear many Faults and Infirmities in several of their Kings for many Ages as unquestionable good Historians make appear Yet to give a Call to the late King in his and our present circumstances to return with a French Irish and other cruel Popish Crew were either to make him more miserable who could not but be utterly destroyed in the Attempt or the Protestants in Britain most miserable by reducing of them all to Popery and Slavery or to the French most Unchristian Cruelty and untolerable heavy yoke and our foreign Protestant Allies and their Confederates though of different Religions more uneasie if not in hazard to be destroyed by the French Ambition and Slavery which is more untolerable beyond doubt than that of the Turks and Tartars his dear Confederates but it seems our Bishops when they desired to recall a Popish King did not mind or rather did not value the verity of Claudian's Remarque in case the late King did return with the least favour of a reeling populace Componitur Orbis Regis ad exemplum And a little after Mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus And who doubts but that if the late King returned by force the fate of all those of the Reformed Religion if real Protestants whether Episcopal or Presbyterial would be sudden in the Execution and if invited home were his promises never so fair and specious the same fate would no doubt befall them in a short time And the Mobile is not always to be trusted for a Bulwark in every Exigence But to the next Matter of Fact. Upon the day of April the Estates having fully considered that it would be dangerous to have the Government longer unsetled and having upon good grounds too tedious to relate here resolved to declare the Crown vacant and the late King James's Right c. forfaulted the Bishops not only urged frivolous Arguments but also voted against it Notwithstanding their chearful voting affirmativè to the former Acts. And there being an Act ordaining the Clergy not to pray for the late King James c. as King and Prince their Right being forfaulted and the Crown declared vacant the Bishops all removed without any compulsion except 2 or 3 who were the most moderate and one of those being desired at the rising of the Meeting to say Prayers he that he might not omit his pretended Allegiance to King James in his Prayers omitted to say Prayer in common Form or extempore but only repeated the Lord's Prayer desiring it seems to give offence to none But a person present alledged That several persons used to conclude their Prayers with the Lord's Prayer and so did that Bishop for he suspected it should be his last Prayer in that place At the next Sitting of the Estates it was moved That Considering the Bishops behaviour in the later Governments their behaviour in that general Meeting where notwithstanding their being present and voting in several Acts Affirmativè which they contraveen'd contrary to their profession their Order should be declared a Grievance to the Nation which motion being remitted to the Consideration of the Grand
certain it is that their Presbyterian Brethren when they labour'd under the greatest Poverty and Affliction in the World by the Scots Episcopal or Regular Clergy call them what you please their immediate procurement none of them pitied their Distress or relieved them in their Wants in the name of Disciples when it must be confess'd they were sheltered and connived at not only in England and Ireland but caressed abroad in Holland and elsewhere though there is good reason to believe that these Ministers and other Presbyterians both pity these called lately the Regular Clergy for their Miscarriages and pray for their Reformation Which God grant But I conclude this Point with a good Church of England Man's Saying That the Bishops of England were like the Kings of Judah and the Bishops of Scotland like the Kings of Israel for that there were several good Bishops in England but never one good Bishop in Scotland And though this be a general Rule or Maxim of the Scots Bishops yet no general Rule wants its Exceptions there being some few Eminent Men of that Order in Scotland who disssented from and disapproved of their violent Procedures and inhumane and unchristian-like Practice But this was Rara avis in hisce terris And I sum up all with a Saying of a great Father in the Church That whoever is of a persecuting Spirit whatever he profess outwardly is of the Devil which made Persius in the like case in his Satyrs make that Imprecation to Tyrants in general or Persecutors which is the same thing upon the matter both being Tyrants Summe parens divum saevos punire Tyrannos Haund alia ratione velis c. And tho Tyrants or Persecutors may have a time allotted them to diffuse their venom to the terror or affliction of others yet they will meet with their Correction or Judgments here or hereafter when the oppressed and afflicted shall be released And now being that the Order of Prelatical Bishops is abolished in Scotland by an Act of Parliament It is not once to be supposed that any other Government can be Established there in the Church but a Presbyterian The model thereof I submit interim to the Consideration and the final and unanimous Resolution of a Just and Wise King who favoured the Peoples general Inclination and this Wise Loyal and free Parliament And to make it evident to all unbyassed Men that it is not only the general Inclination of the People to have the Presbyterian Government established But also That that Kingdom can never be in Peace without the Establishment of it Though I might urge many yet I only offer two undeniable proofs First There being 32 Shires or Counties and two Stewartries comprehending the whole Body of the Nation that send their Commissioners or Representatives to Parliaments and all general Meetings of the Estates or Conventions of these 34 Districts or Divisions of the Kingdom there are 17 of them entirely Presbyterians So that where you will find one there Episcopally inclined you 'll find 150 Presbyterians And the other 17 Divisions where there is one Episcopally inclined there are two Presbyterians Secondly Make but a Calculation of the valued Rent of Scotland computing it to be less or more or computed argumentandi causa to be Three Millions and you will find the Presbyterian Heritors whether of the Nobility or Gentry to be Pâ—oprietors and Possessors of Two Millions and more So that those that are Episcopally inclined cannot have a Third of that Kingdom and as for the Citizens or Burgesses and Commonalty of Scotland they are all generally inclined to the Presbyterian Government except Papists and some remote wild and barbarous Highlanders who have not a true notion of a Deity acknowledge neither King nor Superiour but the Chief of their Tribe and have little Subsistence but by Rapin and Plunder and who ought to be subdued and reduced by force and Garrisons placed amongst them without which they can never be kept in order or obliged to serve the Precepts of Law or Gospel All which is true and can be made appear to a Demonstration FINIS