on the other hand If any of them be guilty to upbraid them with their faults is not the way to reform them for of all Advices those that are given to reform the Clergy should be managed most nicely and tenderly And it is to be feared that the Vindicator and his Associates are very glad when they can discover the trippings of their Adversaries If any of the Clergy be guilty of such things as are clamorously alledged by Presbyterians it is no Argument against the common Cause of the Catholick Church and the Apostolical Succession of that Hierareby of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon continued from the days of the Apostles until now And therefore he may if he will as is threatned employ the people in the West to make and gather stories to the disadvantage of the Episcopal Clergy and it is an easie thing to swell that Volumn into a prodigious Bulk if their ignorant and implacable Enemies may be believed it is not possible for them not to accuse But I think the Vindicator himself is not of so profligate a Conscience as to give Ear to such malicious Reports We have had late Instances of the Presbyterian activity against the Reputation of the Clergy no man could escape a Libel that enjoyed a comfortable Benefice Nothing could have made the Presbyterians more contemptible than this treacherous and sneaking method of Libelling when it was visible to all men that those scurrilous Papers were intended for no more than to ruin and disgrace the most innocent and deserving men And it is very odd that they could venture to blindfold the Nation by this bassled and hypocritical Sham and how comes it that the Clergy in the West are represented as Criminals when they dare not attack the Clergy in the North The reason is obvious the People in the West date their Conversion from the time that they forbear to hear the Curates and they think themselves obliged by all their ties and solemn Covenants to ruin and disparage those limbs of Antichrist But the People in the North can discover no such beauty in their Presbyterian Discipline they love and honour their own Ministers they hear them Preach the Articles of Christian Faith and true and solid Morals and so rough are those Infidels in the North that they never thought Sniveling necessary to make a great Saint They love a plain and unaffected Stile and they cannot be persuaded but that the Oracles of God may be Preached without affectation and yet with all requisite Gravity and Recollection If there be so many Libels gathered by Presbyterians it may provoke their Enemies to recriminate and if the Vindicator thinks that such scurrilous writings can serve the common cause of Religion I wish him more wisdom and sobriety I condemn all such methods in all Parties and if the thing were allowable we could tell him that many of his Associates in the Ministry are very scandalous some of them Adulterers some Fornicators some Blasphemers some whole Presbyterian Families Incestuous Sed praestat motos componere fluctus If I rejoyced in this Recrimination I were not a good Christian But it is necessary to put those Proud and Supercillous men in mind that they are but ordinary Mortals encompassed about with the same Infirmities with other men and that they should consult the Scriptures and the Fathers for Arguments rather than the Cameronian Zealots in the Western Shires and if they beat the Clergy at those Weapons they deserve to be chastised and for a conclusion to this Observation I must tell you that I know not a more unblamable Company of men upon Earth than the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland Nor do I know any five of them in the whole Nation who could not undergo the severest Examinations used in the Christian Church Preparatory to Ordination I wish that they may make a Christian use of their present Tryals and give the world a proof of that greatness of soul that qualifies men for the Priesthood that all round about them may be convinced that he that is in them is greater than he that is in the World Seneca tells us that to do good even when it is attended with infamy is noble and heroick and a greater than Seneca tells us that we must go thorough good report and bad report God will clear our Innocence as the Sun in his Meridian Elevation and I hope to the Conviction of our Enemies that in the simplicity of our souls we designed the Reformation of sinners and that we look upon our selves as Dedicated to the immediate Service of God and the sooner we retire into our own Consciences and discover the secret Springs of our present Calamity the sooner will our heavenly Father remove the marks of his Indignation There is no Argument so proper to convince the Ignorance of foolish men as by well doing and though we should not be so succesful in gaining Proselites in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation yet we fortifie the Peace and Tranqulllity of our Consciences we strengthen our selves against those things that are most terrible to Flesh and Blood we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory in the midst of all Calamities and Reproaches that are cast upon us And let not them that are yet untouched think that their Brethren upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell are greater sinners than their Neighbors I leave this and I go forward to another Topick by which he endeavours to vindicate the Presbyterians and it is this that the Clergy of the Church of Scotland did press the Consciences of the Presbyterians and that the People could not own them as their Ministers because they were obtruded upon them and not invited by Popular Elections But the Vindicator should consider that if his Argument be turn'd against his Party in the North of Scotland it may be of dangerous Consequence to the growth of Presbytery For the bresbyterians there are not likely to carry their Elections by plurality of Votes but does not he remember that severals of the Remonstrator Presbyterians have been inducted to their Churches by some Troops of English Horse in the time of the late Civil Wars yet he does not think but that the People owed all Deference and Spiritual Obedience to them and if a Pastoral Relation may be founded between a Minister and the People by Cromwells Troopers why not by King Charles the Second's Dragoons But does not the Vindicator remember that some have been obtruded on the old College of Aberdeen without the Regular and Collegiate Election by the same very force that had planted some Remonstrator Ministers and that without any Tryal or Examination when their more deserving Predecessors were most Tyrannically removed But not to trifle with the Vindicator The method of admitting Ministers in the Church of Scotland under the Episcopal Constitution is the most just and the most unexceptionable that can be devised For when the Candidate for any Ecclesiastical
themselves in an affair of this nature when they had no certain Records by which they might transmit the knowledge of former times to Posterity No tradition of that Antiquity can be preserved without writing why then do they obtrude this fabulous Story since it cannot be received by any known rules of Credibility we have no vestige of it from any Author that lived near those times The Vindicator uses to refer us in some Instances to his own little Books I do him a greater kindness when I refer him to the Learned Du Launoy and from several Treatises and reasonings of his which now I have not at command he may learn by what Rules to distinguish fabulous Accounts from true and solid History and not only from him but from hundreds if they do but argue from principles of common sense and the acknowledg'd rules of Logick Indeed the Presbyterians might have given us some of the Acts of their Assemblies in that ancient Period and the rules of Discipline as well as obtrude upon us this Romantick Account And if I dare interpose my Opinion I think that the late illiterate Monks advanc'd this Fable to gratifie the Pope's design of exempting the religious Orders from Episcopal Jurisdiction by which Engine the Bishops were kept low and the Reformation hindred and the religious Orders encouraged to check their Authority in all places This is so known that it needs neither proof nor illustration and this Fiction of the Culdees governing a Church without the authority of a Bishop invented in the days of Barbarism and Superstition seems naturally calculated to advance this Design and to depress the Episcopal Jurisdiction For the Monks that propagated this Story were more conversant in little Legends than the Writings of the Ancients And hardly is there any thing more opposite to the Universal Testimony and simplicity of those Ages than this Monkish Fable of Presbyterian Government towards the end of the Second Century or the beginnings of the Third when all the known Records of the Christian Church unanimously declare for the Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon and the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles It is not possible to preserve the memory of the greatest men the greatest Conquests or the most remarkable Actions unless they are timeously committed to writing Unwritten Tradition goes but a short way and is not able to support it self with any certainty for any number of years Is it likely that the Scotish Church had any other Ecclesiastical Government than what was received in the Christian Church when they were converted to the Faith and is it not very sad that there are no parallel Instances of any other Church from abroad By whom were they Converted And is it not reasonable to think that such as were instrumental in their Conversion would plant the Ecclesiastical Government amongst them that they were acquainted with themselves And are there any footsteps of such a Government amongst the more polite and learned Nations who because they had the Advantages of learning might sooner transmit to Posterity the Knowledge of their Ecclesiastical Affairs And let me ask the Presbyterians if they had all the Testimonies of the Ancients in favours of their parity and that we only had the Authority of some fabulous Monks in some remote Corner of the World to support our Hierarchy and that in an Age of shameful Ignorance and Darkness when they imposed upon mankind and multiplyed their visionary Legends I ask how the Vindicator would treat us if we appeared with our Culdees against the undoubted Records of the Fathers the Universal Suffrages of Councels the Succession of the famous Sees and the glorious Cloud of Witnesses that by their Zeal and Sufferings enlightened the World I think he would treat us very huffingly and let us hear more than once his oft repeated and beloved Metaphor of the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the woman Would not he tell us of our bold and silly pretences to Antiquity However when the Vindicator names good Authors foreign or domestick in the third fourth fifth sixth or seventh Century and this is more than by the Rules of Credibility or History we need yield to him then it is time to consider his Testimonies Let him Read Blondel again and see whether that great Antiquary can name any Ancient Writer to uphold this Monastick Dream But if I should grant that there had been some Priests in Scotland before there were Bishops in it there is nothing in that Concession to favor Presbytery for they had their Mission and Ordination from Bishops in other places to whom they might give an account of their Travels and Success and this was ordinary before Nations were Converted But when they received the Faith all Ecclesiastical Officers were then encouraged to continue amongst them and this is it that we confidently affirm that where there are any Records of Nations and Countries Converted to the Faith there do we meet with the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon over the whole Christian Church The Primitive Confessors and Martyrs Travailed the World over to gain Proselytes to Christianity some Bishops some Presbyters some Deacons some Lay-men but wherever there was any considerable number of Converts then they became an Organical Church and had Bishops and Presbyters Constituted until their sound went unto all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world He runs down the Author of the History of the General Assembly as one not acquainted with the Actings of Grace in the Soul because forsooth he had not spoke with reverence enough of Mr. Gray's Sermons in that Page cited on the Margin The Vindicator discovers much of his own creeping Genius when he discourses of the Act of their Assembly against the private Administration of Baptism nor is it possible to pursue him in such a Wilderness of little impertinencies Their pretended Assembly would have done better if they had left the Administration of Baptism to the discretion of Ministers in all places it is certainly much to be wished that Baptism be Administred with all publick Solemnity when there is not an apparent necessity to recede from so laudable a Custom but to make Discourses to the People on particular Texts of Scripture at the Administration of Baptism is a thing in it self altogether new and unnecessary If the nature use and design of it be seriously explained there needs no more And to think a Sermon in the modern and usual Notion necessary is as great Superstition as that of theirs who fancy that the effects of it follow ex opere operato which Phrase is very little understood by the People and perhaps others who should teach the People do not throughly understand it neither Next I shall take notice of what we are told by the Vindicator Pag. 174. That the Presbyterians could not comply with Human Ceremonies with a good Conscience in the
it is from that Manuscript that I copy the following Account for it is apparent that the Church was never governed by a Parity of Officers but by different Orders from the beginning of the Reformation And in the entry to this Narration Let us remark says my Author That none of our Martyrs did ever impugn or oppose imparity in the Church or preach or write against it you cannot name one Testimony unless you argue from their preaching against Popish Tyranny and unwarrantable exercise of Ecclesiastical Power to infer that they were for the then unheard of Parity and all who write of those Martyrs and first Reformers omit not to praise them for their dutiful submission to their Bishops and Superiours And it is very probable these Martyrs would have pseached against Ecclesiastical Tyranny as well in a Company of Arbitrary Presbyters as they did when it was lodged in one or few and that Presbyters may be Tyrants witness the Scots History from the year 1639 to 1652. At which time Cromwel tho no Friend to Episcopacy was so wearied with the Insolencies and Confusions of Presbytery that he dismist it solemnly at Barrow-Moor Let us now come to positive Evidences The very first established Reformation in Scotland was that which on the 6th of July 1560 being the third day after the pacification at Leith was concluded on betwixt the Lords and Ministers of the Congregation assisted by the Queen of Englands General and Ambassader on the one side And the Queen Regent the popish Lords and Clergy assisted by the French Ambassador on the other side in name of Francis and Mary their Sovrreigns The Protestant Lords and Clergy did meet at Edenburgh the Protestants preached in the Churches and in their Assembly they did distribute their Preachers among the Chief Towns of the Nation and did nominate five Superintendents for the Dioceses where the Bishops were popish For there are no Superintendents named then for Galloway and Argile because the Bishops of those Dioceses were Protestants By the said Treaty a Parliament was to hold in August following wherein the Confession of Faith drawn up by the Superintendents was given in to the Lords of the Articles prepared by them and Voted in Parliament where it was carried in the Affirmative In this Parliament the Bishops did sit as the first Estate The popish Bishops voted against the Confession the Protestant Bishops viz. Galloway and Argile and three Abbots voted for it The Sederunt of this Parliament is on Record with its Acts and related by Spotswood pag. 149. In January thereafter the Scottish Protestant Clergy offer a form of Church Policy one of its Heads is for Superintendents whom they name and appoint with distinct Dioceses for them and to shew that these Reformers did not treat of Superintendents as a temporary Resolution for that time only It is there said that the Election of Superintendents in aftertimes should be stricter than the present circumstances would allow and the last Head of that Policy prescribes some Conditions to be kept in future Elections of Superintendents Spotwood pag. 150 and 160 and by the book of Policy pag. 168. it is expresly ordered that Complaints against Ministers be notified to the Superintendents And the Petition presented to the Queen related by Knox Hist pag. 337. bears as the superscription of the Superintendents Ministers of the whole Church of Scotland to the Queens Majesty c. And in the year 1563. John Knox and others elected a Superintendent for Dumfries and the Letter written from the Assembly or Convention of the Scots Church at Edenburgh on the 27. of December 1566. to the Church of England bears this Superscription The Superintendents Ministers and Commissioners of the Church within the Realm of Scotland to their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors of England And at Queen Mary's first arrival in Scotland from France the Superintendents and Ministers did meet at Edenburgh in an Assembly Knox bist pag. 318. In January 1572. the Commission of the Assembly did meet at Leith under the Regents Government and did agree on seven Articles of Policy 1. That all Bishopricks which were vacant and those were only four for where popish Bishops were alive the See's were not esteemed vacant but supplied by Protestant Superintendents should be filled out of the ablest of the Ministry Secondly That spiritual Jurisdiction should be exercis'd by Bishops in their Dioceses and the sixth Article is that Ministers should receive Ordination from the Bishops and in Dioceses where no Bishops were they should receive Ordination from the Superintendents And in August thereafter the General Assembly of the Church did meet at Perth and approved of all these Articles and accordingly Mr. John Douglas Mr. James Bâ—yd Mr. James Paton and Mr. Andrew Graham were plac'd in the four vacant Bishopricks It was Mr. Andrew Melvil's misfortune that he was neglected and therefore in the year 1575. he stirr'd up one Mr. Dury to impugne the Episcopal Order and all Imparity This is the first time that this debate was toss'd in our Church and on it Church and State immediately divided and much Confusion Rapine Blood and other mischiefs did follow and then and since every firy Faction did lay hold on this Schism as a fund whereon to build all Rebellion and Treason In prosecution of this Schism Mr. Andrew and some Ministers led by him did in the year 1578. draw a Book of Policy stuffed so with the spirit of Mr. Andrew himself that it was rather a Proposal for the overthrow of all just Authority than an Establishment of a Religious Government and therefore it could never no not in these distracted furious times even when there was no King in our Israel obtain approbation from any Authority but was look'd on as a Rapsody of groundless Assertions and full of mischievous Novelties Indeed in the year 1580. an Assembly met at Dundee called by Mr. Andrew and his Associates without a shadow of any permission from the Civil Authority and they declared that the Office of a Bishop but with this restriction as it was then used had neither foundation nor warrant in the Word of God But let all serious Christians consider whether they will believe this famous Conventicle or the plain Scriptures the Doctrine of the Apostles the primitive Fathers and the Canons of all Oecomenick Counsels and the rule of Apostolick and primitive Practice and to help their choice let them take notice of the pious Design of this Assembly in casting off Bishops by the very next clause in their Act viz. That their next Assembly should consider how to dispose of the Patrimony and possessions of Bishops This was the primitive Invasion of the Kings Patronages and Regale of the Crown Then Presbyterian Disciples began to propagate their new Gospel very zealously The first was one Montgomery who at Sterling proposed that all such as spoke for the Order of Bishops should be censured but this zealous Saint did most basely
to connive a while at at their Insolence for they had preached the People into a persuasion that the King was to betray his own Crown and Kingdoms to the King of Spain And when three Noblemen were brought to Tryal before the Justice the Ministers would needs order the Process in October 1593 and to back them they stirred up multitudes of the Rabble to Arms thereby to force Justice to decide in their favour nor would they disband or abstain from coming before the Judges in armed Crowds although the King and Council did by Proclamation prohibit them If this be Presbyterian Government it must be confessed that Anno 1590 1591 1592 and 1593. Presbyters had it solely But all this time Bishops did exist by Law enjoyed their Rents and preached in their Churches if you trust not us Notice the most Authentic Records of the Kingdom By Act of Parliament 1. Jac. 6. Chap. 7. Ministers are ordered to be presented by the Patrons to the Superintendent of the Diocese Note At this time most of the Bishops were Popish which occasioned the Protestants to appoint Superintendents Anno 1572. Parl. 3. Jac. 6. Chap 45. The Government of the Church is declared to be in the Archbishops Bishops and Superintendents Note Both Bishops and Superintendents are contemporary then in the Church The like owned Chap. 46. 48. and 54. of that Parliament In the year 1573. The Authority of the Bishops is owned by the first Act of the 4. Par. Jac. 6. In the year 1578. the like by Act. 63. Parl. 5. Jac. 6. In the year 1579. the like by Act. 71. Parliam 6. Jac. 6. In the year 1581. That the Bishops did continue in the Church appears from Act 100. Parl. 7. Jac. 6. The like appears from the Acts 106 and 114 of that Parliament In the year 1584. The Bishops Authority fully owned Act. 132. Parl. 8. Jac. 6 In the year 1587. It appears that Prelacy existed then by Act 28. Parl. 11. Jac. 6. Also in that 11. Parl. It appears by the Act of Annexation that Prelacy did still exist by Law even although their Temporalties were annexed to the Crown and by the 111. Act of that 11. Parl. In the year 1591 1592 1593 and 1594. The King and Bishops could not stop the Insolence of Presbyters nor their meeting in Synods and Assemblies without any interposition of the Royal Authority but this hindered not but that the Bishops did still exist by Law and exerced some part of their Office and in all Parliaments and Conventions of Estates the Prelates did did always Sit and Vote as the first of the three Estates as the Records and Sederunts of all the Parliaments will prove In the year 1596. Leslie Bishop of Ross dying at Brussels Mr. David Lindsey was presented by the King to the Bishoprick the very next year In the year 1598. there was a Conference appointed at Falkland betwixt the Commissioners of the Assembly and some appointed by the King to meet with them where they agreed on ten Articles or Propositions of Policy for the Church relating chiefly to the Clergy's Votes in Parliament and the Elections of Bishops in the Dioceses some of these Propositions were foolish but it was thought convenient that the King should comply with those Hot Heads in some things for at that time Severals began to debate his Right of Succession to the Crown of England and so he would have all quiet at Home yet still this is evident that Bishops did then exist by Law and that altho something concerning them was debated yet their Office and Order was not In the year 1600 these forementioned Articles were appoved in the Assembly at Monross March 28 1600. and to that Assembly Mr. Dury who was the chief Tool with Mr. Melvil for parity at his death did write an Exhortation disowning his former Errors and earnestly advising them to submit to the ancient Order and to chuse good Bishops of the best of the Ministers In the year 1601. the King called an Assembly of the Church to meet at Brunt Island where many good things were Enacted both for the true Liberty of the Church and for reclaiming the Popish Nobility from their Errors which proved more effectual and pacific than all the former furious Methods which at that time were promoted by a Hot Headed Man called Davidson who by a Letter to the Assembly incited them to declare against the Kings Hypocrisie and other Errors The Assembly would have proceeded to Censure him but the King would not allow it saying it was matter of Joy that these Hot Heads were reduced to one or some few In the year 1602. the King in an Assembly at Halyrood-House did shew great Clemency to some firy Ministers whom the Assembly would have Censured as also he gave great Satisfaction to the whole Assembly and Nation by his excellent Proposals for establishing Provisions both for Bishops and Presbyters And in this Assembly of the Church was the fifth of August appointed an Anniversary Thanksgiving for the Kings Delivery from Gowry's Conspiracy Before the Diet appointed for the next General Assembly the Crown of England did fall to the King by the Death of Queen Elizabeth so there was no meeting of Church General Assemblies for a while but the few remaining Hot Headed Presbyters were very busie on the Kings removal so far and fearing the excellent Order of the English Church the great Safety and Peace of Britain depending on an intire and full Concord of the Island they were apprehensive that upon such Considerations the King would heartily promote a further Establishment of Episcopal Jurisdiction in Scotland The Presbyterians in this Juncture did busily stir up Prejudices in the People against the Church of England tho undoubtedly the best Reformed Church and greatest Bulwark against Popery And though the King for good Reasons when he went to England Adjourned the General Assembly from July 1604 to July 1605. yet these Men prevailed with Nine of the Fifty Presbyteries of Scotland to keep the Meeting notwithstanding of the Kings Prorogation where Thirteen Persons meeting did most Seditiously run into such Declarations against the Statutes and standing Laws as were by the Judicatures declared Treason and for which Severals of the Thirteen were Condemned before the Justices For they could not be persuaded either to acknowledge or revoke their seditious Pasquils but they were afterwards pardoned by the King when they confessed that the Chancellour encouraged their Meeting in July 1604. and proved it which forced the Chancellour to prove likewise that they promised to connive at his being a Papist and his Possession of what he had of the Church Lands upon Condition he should own them against Episcopacy whereupon the King said that the Presbyterians would betray the Protestant Religion in hatred to Episcopacy and the Chancellour would betray Episcopacy for greed of their Temporalties So far my Author And now from all this I infer that the first Reformers of our Religion in
Preferment receives a Presentation from the Patron he goes to the Bishop and the Bishop sends him to the Presbytery to undergoe the ordinary tryals of his Literature and Sufficiency and when the Bishop and his Presbyters with him are satisfied of his Knowledge and Learning then the Bishop serves a publick â—dict at the Church where the Candidate is to be preferred inviting all the Parishioners to come to the Cathedral Church against an appointed day to see if they have any reasonable exception against the Candidate and this is not done in a hurry but they have a competent time allowed them to gather all possible Informations concerning him from all Quarters and if they can object any thing against him that is of any weight they are heardand the Candidate is repulsed now I would gladly know what is it that the People can complain of in this Ecclesiastical Polity The Consusions of Elections that are solely left to the People are innumerable and though we had not famous and remarkable Instances in Ecclesiastical History of the bloody and tragical Effects of such popular Elections our own Country might furnish us with very many sad Experiments when the Parishoners could not compromise the affair peaceably they quickly came to Blowes and in many places to Bloodshed and Riots These were all the good effects we could discern of their popular Elections it cannot be denyed but that the method of electing the Clergy varied often and appeared under many Figures in several Ages and Countries since the first Plantations of Christianity but I dare boldly say no Christian Church came nearer the Apostolical Method and more happily avoided both Extremes than the Church of Scotland under the Episcopal Constitution But you may put the Vindicator in mind that the Presbyterians themselves never thought the Call of the People so essential a Constitution of that Pastoral Relation For there is an Act of the General Assembly ordering the Presbytery to name a Minister to such Parishes as were Malignant that is such as were of the Episcopal persuasion so this pretended popular Election if at any time it prove unserviceable to advance their Tyranny is immediately rejected For the Presbyterians do not at all believe any such inherent Right in the People to chuse their own Ministers for they think the Malignants have no Right to chuse for themselves this is the sole privilege of the Godly The Malignants are not at all to be consulted accordingly we see that though their Parliament Iudged the power of Election in the Heretors and Elders of each Parish or in the major part of them yet no Elections are allowed by the Presbyteries though never so unanimous and universal but such as are promoted by their own Factions witness Musselburgh and Tranent There is hardly any thing insisted upon by the Presbyterians more foolish and inconsistent with common honesty than this Topick from popular Elections and to say the truth the old Presbyterians never obtrude such a whimsey upon the People the Lay Patronages were not abolished in Scotland until the year 49. when the Discipline was in its Zeaith when there was no sin Preached against but Malignancy and the King Prerogative Royal was possessed by the Kirk Presbyterians in other Countries quietly submit to Lay Patrons and indeed if the Bishops take care that 〈◊〉 but pious and vertuous Men be Ordained what harm can the Church 〈◊〉 by such Presentations May not the Clergy examine such Candidates 〈◊〉 offer themselves to the Ministry accurately and narrowly 'T is certain that the most tristing and supersicial Students do most effectually recommend themselves to the People nay there are so many mean and abject Arts requisite to promote a Clergy-Man if the Hypothesis of the popular Election hold necessary that an ingenuous man cannot proslitute himself to such servile and popular methods As for the grave and retired Clergy-Man he is sure never to be preferred and if some judicious and discreet Patron does not force him out of his Solitude he is like to die amongst his Books and the Church has been served in all Ages to the best Advantages by such as least understood the Arts of Insinuation and it will continue so until the end of all things In the next place I do not see why the Vindicator should say that the Clergy pressed the Consciences of their Hearers there was nothing in our worship but the use of the Lords Prayer the Doxology and the Apostolick Creed at Baptism that they themselves objected against are not these mighty Grievances to Tender Consciences The Vindicator tells us that Presbyterians were not against the use of those Forms but they would not use them as the Prelatists did What he means by this I cannot tell but I can tell you that all the Presbyterians before the year 1638. made use of them all And that after the year 38. until Cromwell's Army invaded our Nation they never left off the using of those Catholick and Christian Forms But such of the Remonstrators as were deeply in the Interests of the Usurper then left off the use of such Forms drawing as near as was possible to the Spiritual Heights and pretended Purity of the Independents in the Army And the Christian Religion at that time in our Nation varied in its outward Figure and in their Notions about it as much as the Philosophy of the Schools and the wise Questions of Universale and Objectum Attributionis logicae The Vindicator is content to use such Forms but not as the Episcopal Church doth command it That is to say he will do nothing in Unity and Society with the Christian Church and though the Vow of Baptism oblige us as we are Members of Christs Mystical Body to preserve and support the Unity of the Christian Church yet he thinks he may leave the Communion the Church without either fear or scruple in those very things that are short Abstracts of our Faith and Symbols of our Profession And yet no People are now so violent as they in pressing Subscriptions to the Presbyterian Confession at Westminster and that without any exception restriction or explication I am of Opinion that the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland have been from their Infancy taught in and are firmly resolved to adhere to the Protestant Religion and is it not a piece of extraordinary vanity in the Presbyterians to insinuate that they themselves are the only men careful to preserve the purity of Doctrine Did not the Clergy that addressed to the pretended General Assembly plainly declare that they would subscribe the Westminster Confession as it contained the Fundamentals of Protestant Religion But this the Vindicator thinks did not sufficiently purge them from the suspicion of being Arminians There are but very few of the Clergy of Scotland that explain the Doctrine of Grace and Freewill after the method of Arminius and if any of them does not favor the Calvinian Hypothesis they are very far from propagating their
gathering true Materials Again The Vindicator tells us that they do not think K. William an Idolater though he Communicate with the Church of England yet when some of his Party mounts the Desk and declaims their Maccaronicks they positively conclude that the Church of England is idolatrous Again he does not allow that the Clergy who Address'd the Commission of the General Assembly had any measure of wit yet their Contrivances were founded on deep Consults But let me tell the Vindicator that no man or Society of men has the Monopoly of Prudence the most cautious steps may be sometimes frustrated and the wisest men may sometimes widely mistake their measure and the Hearts of all Men as well as the Hearts of Kings and Princes are in the hands of God and their motions directed by his Providence And after all let me tell the Vindicator once more that that little Contrivance and Formula of an Address blew up their pretended Assembly and let me tell him more yet tho I pretend to no acquaintance in Political things that it is very probable that those very Laws by which the Ringleaders of Presbytery thought to secure their Tyranny for ever will occasion its fall and ruin though they endeavour to support it by the Pens and Lungs of all its Associates I could name many other Inconsistencies I have no room for them every other Line is stuffed with such mean and scurrilous Railings that it is nauseous to repeat them yet I cannot but take notice of his Vanity He treats his Adversaries with scorn and contempt The Author of the History of the General Assembly he treats as a Sciolist and as a Momus and he is enraged that he should presume to write that one of the Presbyterian Doctors could not speak Latine Such an Affront was not to be endured by a man that had signalized himself so much in Controversial Feats and therefore I advise you when you meddle with the Presbyterions to make your Approaches with all possible Caution and Reverence A Presbyterian had rather be accused of Adultery Sodomy or Incest than to be thought Ignorant and this is the reason why the Author of that History is lash'd with all the severities of Satyr and the Vindicator would have forgiven him any thing rather than the least Insinuation of being ignorant Alas this was not to be be endured that one of their Leaders and who had made a remarkable Figure should be thus run down and exposed to laughter For though the Presbyterians look very demure and grave you mistake them if you think them Stoicks If you venture to say any thing that may rob them of that pleasant Imagination of their own Grandeur that lovely idea that they have of themselves and their extraordinary performances But I must tell you what occasioned his heavy displeasure against the Author of the History of the General Assembly That Author gives one Instance why he thought Mr. Gilbert Rule did not understand throughly the things that he wrote of because when he Cites the Epistle of St. Jerom to Evagrius and from thence Cites the Sentence you see in the Margine he must needs force the word ordinatio in that Epistle to signifie the Ordering of the Meetings This Exposition the Author of that History such an Infidel he is thinks a little Paradoxical if not downright Ignorance because no Ecclesiastical Writer in that or any former Age understood any such thing by that word so placed as it is in that Epistle besides there 's no mention of any meeting near that word that determin it to that signification And since this Exposition was so very odd the Author of that History did treat it and the Inventer of it very familiarly Besides others do think that it this Exposition be received it will oblige us to understand St. Jerom in many places in a Sense contrary to the Opinion of all former Ages Thus I find St. Jerom informs us that such and such a man was Ordinatus ab Apostolis Episcopus of such a place therefore the meaning must be that such a man was appointed to meet the Apostle at such a place However the Vindicator treats him as a Sciolist a Momus a poor sequacious Animal that follows such as went before him But if he had been acquainted with the penetrating Genius of Mr. Rule and others he had no doubt understood the Fathers better It is very difficult to guess what to impute this extravagant Fancy to he thought it dangerous to allow that Ordinatio did signifie the Imposition of Hands at least he wished such a power might not be granted to a Bishop and therefore he will have Ordinatio in that Epistle of St. Jerom to Evagrius to signifie the ordering of something though that thing be not named in St. Jreom and if it signifies the ordering of something as the Vindicator profoundly Reasons why not the ordering of a Meeting And if it was the ordering of a Meeting Why not the ordering of an Ecclesiastical Meeting Yet all this time it is not determined whether this ordering of the Meeting be an Authoritative appointing of the time when they should meet and what they should treat of or only presiding as Moderator amongst them when the Collective body themselves appointed the meeting Because I say this is left uncertain perhaps the Vindicator will judge it most convenient to adhere to the last If he had said that Ordinatio signified the ordering of a Dromedary it had been more to his purpose for certainly the ordering of such an Animal made not so great a distinction between a Bishop and Presbyter as the ordering of Ecclesiastical Meetings How contrary such a fancy is to the received exposition of that word will best appear when we consider other places in the works of S. Jerom where the word Ordinare is made use of and let us suppose that the word must be interpreted according to the new Critick Thus we find St. Jerom Comment 1. Epist ad Timothe Cap. 3. ab initio Primum laicos instituit de quibus optimi quique in facordotium eliguntur sic dicit quales debeant ordinari Then the meaning must be according to this late discovery that the Apostle declared such as were fit to be appointed to meet Again S. Jerom in his Comment on the Epist to Titus in those words For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou mightest ordain He hath these words Quae desunt recto tenore corrige tunc demum presbyteros poteris ordinare cum omnes in Ecclesia fuerint recti when all have been blameless in the Church then thou mayst appoint Presbyters to meet And again in his Catalogue Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum speaking of S. James the Brother of our Lord Jacobus qui appellatur frater Domini cognomento justus Post Passionem Domini statim ab Apostolis Hierosolymorum Episcopus ordinatus the meaning must be that he was appointed by the
leads them to do every thing against the Spirit and Practice of the Church and though the Canonical and Universal Methods of the Church are tempered with regard to our weakness and infirmities yet they love to fly in the Face of their Mother when she tenderly binds up their Wounds and offers her Assistance to prevent their Ruin and Danger I have almost forgot to enquire into the meaning of that distinction of occasional and fixed Communion Why may not one do that constantly since the Common Tyes of Christianity oblige him that he may do occasionally But if the meaning be that their Consciences allow them now and then to hear an Episcopal Presbyter Preach or Read though they dare not venture upon the highest Acts of Communion such as receiving of the Lords Supper at this rate they may have this occasional Communion with Papists Grecians Jews and Mahumetans for they all teach some great and common Truths which they dare not refuse But secondly It is apparent that the Scots Presbyterians are Schismaticks in the strictest Sense because by their Principles they must needs profess that if they had lived one hundred and fifty years before the first Council of Nice there was then a necessity to separate from the Unity of the Church For then all those things that they scruple at in the Publick Worship were practised by the Universal Church the Solemnities and Festivities the Publick Fasts the Altars the Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon Nay the Dignity of Metrapolitans is supposed as Ancient and Venerable by the first Council of Nice So upon the Presbyterian Hypothesis they should have been obliged if they had lived amongst the Ancients then to keep up distinct and separate Conventicles when the Purity of their Lives and the Glory of Martyrdom and Patience made them shine to the Confusion of their Enemies when their Zeal for God made them victorious over all the Powers of Darkness when by their Fastings and their Prayers they crucified the Flesh with all its Lusts and Affections when they taught the Gospel in its Majesty and Simplicity and bafled the Objection of the Pagans by their heavenly Conversation Let my Soul be with those first Christians I would chuse their Company at all adventures without the least fear of either Christmas Easter or Good Friday But thirdly The present Presbyterians must be Schismaticks by the Doctrine and Practice of their Predecessors This I have touched a little before Fourthly I desire the Presbyterians to name some Schismaticks in the Records of Ecclesiastical History that are now acknowledged by the common consent of all Churches to be Schismaticks and then I enquire what it was that made them such and if this be not agreeable to the Presbyterians more eminently than to any rank of the ancient Schismaticks I am mistaken But fifthly They themselves do not deny nor can they but that they are Schismaticks in St. Cyprian's Notion of Schism since to separate from ones own Bishop was a just and Apostolical Notion of Schism And the Presbyterians of Scotland are by so much the more inexcusable in that they have stubbornly and factiously Conspired against the Apostolical Hierarchy of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon The next thing that I remark is his Censure of the I piscopal Clergy for Preaching Morality pag. 62. and 63. He tells us that the Author of the Second Letter wrote That the Episcopal Party understand the Christian Philosophy better and that it was never understood or preached better in Scotland than under Episcopacy The Vindicator replies very wittily That he thought the Commendation of a Minister had been rather to understand Christian Divinity than Christian Philosophy But softly Sir I do not see that nice distinction between Christian Divinity and Christian Philosophy for if Philosophy be truely Christian it must be refined upon no lower Standard than the Morals that our Saviour practised and recommended and is not this Christian Divinity in it Nature and Tendency The Author of that Letter did not understand by Philosophy the lame and defective Systems of the Pagans but rather that Heavenly and Spiritual Rule delivered by our Saviour I hope he has not the Impudence to accuse the Clergy that they recommended the Pagan Morals as a perfect Rule of Life to their Hearers or that they themselves did neither believe nor exhort others to believe the Mysteries of Faith the Credenda of our Religion It may be they did fortifie some excellent Arguments among the Philosophers with Christian Motives and what the Philosophers who spoke of the Immortality of the Soul with dissidence and hesitation could not recommend but faintly the Christian Preachers did assert boldly since the Resurrection of our Saviour from the Dead was an invincible and infallible Argument not only of our Resurrection but of the Glory that shall afterwards be revealed There is nothing truly excellent among the Pagan Writers but what is in one place or other for the Matter found in the New Testament and purer Morals and greater heights than the Pagans could discern Nor can I think but that the Preachers of the Gospel may make very good use of Pagan Moralists I always thought Seneca a very excellent Book but if Seneca be Christianised as the Vindicator speaks I cannot see what fault the Vindicator can find with Seneca or Marcus Aurelius or any of our Ancient Friends For certainly Christian Morality in its true extent and latitude is nothing else but Evangelical Obedience and Holiness without which no man shall see God And I believe the Author of that Letter intended no more than that the Episcopal Clergy did plainly and seriously recommend to their Hearers the Reformation of their 〈◊〉 according to the Christian Standard And truly Sir notwithstanding the Vindicators Sarcastic Paraphrase I think this is very good Philosophy nay more I think Moral Philosophy never arrived at its true Elevation and Meridian Purity but by the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles and does the Vindicator know better Philosophy than what is taught in the Sermon upon the Mount and in the 12th to the Romans we Preach that the Wisdom which is from above is pure peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie we Preach that a man endowed with knowledge should shew out of a good Conversation his Works with meekness of Wisdom We Preach That if any seem to be religious and bridleth not his Tongue but deceiveth his own heart that this mans Religion is vain because true Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widow in their Afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from the world We Preach that the Grace of God that bringeth salvation bath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And truly Sir I think this very good Morality and
external Evidences there is no penetrating into the hearts of men they are only accessible to Omniscience to whom all things are naked and open But the Vindicator may remember that the dissenting Ministes in and about London in their late agreement require no more of any as marks of Orthodoxy than the subsoription of 36 Articles The Vindicator insinuates that though the Clergy do subscribe them yet they preach against them This is another stroke of his good Nature and Civility and he may beconvinced long e're now that the Episcopal Clergy is not so very pliable to do any thing against their Convictions in view of their worldly Interest even when he and his Party have been very active to reduce them to extraordinary straits and difficulties nay if he will oblige me to be plain I could tell him where some Ministers of that Faction were so villanously zealous against the Clergy that they did solicite Witnesses against them where they themselves or some of their intimate Brethren were Judges I am not to publish Names but I can prove this whenever it is found convenient I know the Vindicator will be very curious to know my Informers but I am not obliged to be so particular though I am resolved by Gods assistance to perform all the promises I make to him and his Associates But the next Censure that he bestows on the Clergy is of the same nature with the former The Author of the second Letter had said that there were many among the Clergy who were not inclined to be every day talking to the people of Gods decrees and absolute reprobation c. Indeed I think the Author gave a just account of the prudence and modesty of his Brethren but the Vindicator lashes him here with great severity and tells him that his discourse is impertinent for they do not require that one should talk always to the people of Decrees and Reprobations But here the Vindicator gives no great proof of his Logick For the phrase every day did not imply a Metaphysical strictness as if the Presbyterians never preach'd on any other Subject but on the absolute Decrees and Reprobation but the plain and obvious meaning is that Presbyterians did frequently and indiscreetly handle such abstruse Subjects as neither they nor the people were able to fathom And all such Phrases though they seem to imply a Logical universality must be interpreted to intend no more than that such or such a thing frequently comes to pass The next Blow is more severe and one had need to be armed Capa-pee to meet with it But if he mean as he must if he speak to the purpose that the absolute decrees of Electon and Reprobation both praeteritum as an act of Sovereignty and praedamnatum as an act of Justice are not to be held forth or taught to the people we abhor this as an unsound Doctrine and look on him as a pitiful Advocate for the Orthodoxy of the Clergy Thus the Vindicator is sufficiently revenged of his Adversary who is now more lamentably shattered than can be imagined It is not generous in the Vindicator thus to pursue his Victory is it possible that such meek and calm Saints shall thus openly expose the weakness of their Antagonists But if the Vindicator were out of his passion I would entreat him to tell me in what place of Saint Paul's Epistles does he read of a Decretum praedamnatum and what ever come of the Calvinian or Arminian Hypothesis I am afraid his Explication is both conplicated Nonsense and Blasphemy But he tells us that he understands Philosophy as well as his Neighbors pray let him tell us in which of the Schoolmen or Protestant Calvinists did he ever read of a Decretum praedamnatum praeteritio and praedamnatio may be met with but a Decretum praedamnatum is the peculiar invention of this Philosopher The Decree is the Act of God and there is no act of his can be condemned Such an unfortunate Blunder as this is was never before seen in print and yet the Vindicator must tell us that such things must be held forth to the people and in imitation of Saint Paul too Truly I think they had as good not be held forth but hid and laid up in the boundless Registers of Chimera's Non-entities and Negations I think this Deoretum praedamnatum may keep company with such ancient Gentlemen of its own kindred and Family and ought not at all to be held forth to the people And if you be acquainted with the Vindicator you may advise him to read the Calvinian Hypothesis before he venture to explain it And perhaps there are some about him who may expose his explication of the decrees as much as they do his Latin reasonings against Idolatry The next thing I take notice of is his historical Argument from the Culdees to prove that there was a Presbyterian Church in Scotland in the primitive times before Popery entred And the plain truth is this is the only thing that he says that deserves to be considered not for any weight or historical Truth that is in it but because the learned Blondel made use of it to support that imaginary Hypothesis from some Ancient Testimonies He had met with it in Buchanan's History and that learned Historian took it unwarily from his Contemporary Monks Boctius and others or such as were little removed from his own Age Blondel made use of it to serve the dissenting Interest in Britain And to the end that he might make a great muster of Testimonies he must needs erect a Presbyterian Church in Scotland towards the end of the second Century or beginning of the third If they can prove this I must confess it is of considerable weight but the great misfortune is there are no Authors now extant upon whose Testimony an affair so distant from our times can be reasonably founded None within six hundred years of that Period gives us the least evidence for it when I say six hundred years I do not mean that good Authors at the distance of seven or eight hundred years give any Evidence for it more than their Predecessors but when there is none to vouch it within that Period it is ridiculous to impose it as a piece of true History And our Vindicator tells us that tho the Presbyterian Government continue for some Ages in the Church of Scotland before they had Bishops Can he name any Church upon Earth that embrac'd the Christian Religion and yet none to write the affairs of their own time for some Ages together But if the writings of those ancient Presbyterians are lost Are there no fragments of them preserved in the writings of succeeding Ages There were no people so ignorant as the Monks for some Centuries before the Reformation and yet there was nothing that they were so ignorant in as true Ecclesiastical History And if they had been the most learned and accurate what could they help
Worship of God It is true the Vindicator hath not in this place any Discourse to prove this unlawful but I take notice of it as one of the Theological hints that are interspersed in his Defamatory Libel But may not Ceremonies of Human Appointment if they decently and gravely express our Affections be used in the Worship of God Did not Solomon advise us to look to our Feet when we come into the house of God and the same Ceremony was practised under the Patriarchal Dispensation viz. That of putting off our Shoes when we approach the Holy Place as Moses was enjoyned by God himself because the place he stood upon was holy ground and this was an Advertisement that he ought to do what was ordinarily done by all the Eastern Nations when he approached the place of Gods peculiar Residence And pray Was it not a significant Ceremony expressive of their Reverence and adoration In like manner Sackcloth and Ashes did amongst all Nations signifie grief and sorrow therefore in their Humiliations they were used to express their Remorse and Contritions The Presbyterians fix upon a word and pronounce it with disdain and contempt they repeat it with Indignation and then their zealous Disciples when they hear that word pronounced presently let fly their thoughts to some monstrous thing or other that is not at all signified by that word yet the Idea of some such ugly thing sticks to their Imagination for no other reason but that Mas John frown'd when he heard that word pronounced What other reason can we give why the word significant Ceremony should disturb their Imaginations Why may not we express our Thoughts Passions and Affections by Ceremonies as well as by words Since both are innocent and both serve the same design But the Covenanters themselves used significant Ceremonies when they imposed the Covenant he that Swore was to lift up his right hand bare you are to take notice that it was the Right and not the Left and it was lifted up and not otherwise extended It was bare and not covered and was not this a significant Ceremony of Human Institution In the Worship of God nature taught Mankind to approach God with all the decent Marks of Distance and Adoration and they that declaim most against Ceremonies do practice them frequently only they do this more awkwardly and with a figure becoming their singularity but this will never convince the Intelligent part of Mankind that they are either wiser or better than any of their Neighbours True Religion obliges us to comply with the innocent decencies of Mankind and to affect nothing that 's extraordinary or singular Our Saviour left us this Example he eat and drank with Publicans and Sinners and affected no Customs different from the Jews If the Ceremonies be practised by the Nation amongst whom we live if they decently express our Reverence or our Humiliation I see no reason why they may not be used in the Service of God as well as words especially when they are commanded by our lawful Superiours as necessary Instruments of Publick Order and Uniformity nor can they change their Nature by being commanded for such and such Ceremonies are in their Nature indifferent yet some one or other must be used and which of them we shall use may very well be determined by our lawful Superiors Sitting for any thing I know was never looked upon as a Posture of Reverence yet the Presbyterians in Scotland for the most part fit all of them in time of Publick Prayer what they signifie by it I know not I am sure not that which becomes Prayer and the Worship of the most High God We look upon the decent Ceremonies of the Church as Appendages or Expressions but not constituent parts of Worship as is foolishly and peevishly alledged by our Adversaries and I may put the Vindicator in mind that the reason why some of the Clergy in Scotland Read the Book of Common-Prayer is not what he suggests according to his wonted Candor and Ingenuity but rather an open avowing of their Principles when it was visible to the World there was no possibility of uniting with the Presbyterians Another thing I take notice of is to be met with Pag. 196 197. The Author of that Epistle that is subjoyned to the Vindicators Book tells us to the reproach of our Bishops that some of them upon the Restoration of the Government submitted to reordination to the great scandal not only of this but other Reformed Churches I know none were scandalized at it but such as were resolved to pick quarrels with every thing that the Bishops would do It was no scandal to the Foreign Churches or the French Divines All of them the greatest men among them are reordained when they come to England and they chearfully submit to it And this was never condemned by any Publick Act of the Gallican Church nor by none of their Eminent Divines The Church of England does not absolutely condemn their Ordinations in France but rather waves the debate but she is determined to preserve an unquestionable succession of Priests within her own Bounds As to the Matter of Fact narrated in Mr. Meldrum's Letter I know nothing of it and therefore I ought to say no more than I know He tells us that he subscribed a Paper and that the Paper was drawn out of the Archbishops Letter by a Friend of his and that now he repents for Subscribing this Paper and that though he was in great Friendship afterwards with Bishop Scougal and did what others in that Interval did yet he thinks that by all this he paid no formal Canonical Obedience From all which I observe that it is a very happy thing to live in or near an University as Mr. Meldrum did Distinctions are very useful things one had better carry a good bundle of them about him than all your famous Elixirs and Essences one may pay material Canonical Obedience but it is dangerous to pay it formally the great mischief is in the formality of paying it but for my part I have sworn Canonical Obedience formally and I have paid it materially and shall never decline my Bishops Spiritual Authority when ever there is occasion and I think all the Presbyters of that National Church are as much obliged to obey their Spiritual Governours notwithstanding of all that past in favors of the opposite Faction since the Revolution And now I think it high time to go forward to the fourth Particular that I promised viz. To let you see the several Periods of Episcopacy and Presbytery in the Church of Scotland since the Reformation And I am the more confident to give you satisfaction because I had the happiness to peruse a Manuscript written by a person of great honour and true Learning relating to this very affair and it is of so much the greater weight and Authority that it is not only founded on our best Historians but on the authentick Records of Parliament and
and simoniacally shortly thereafter bargain with a Nobleman that he might be made Bishop of Glasgow and then his Co-Presbyters who themselves were not so successful handled him to purpose but with such indiscretion that in pursuing him they trampled on the King and all the Civil Authority in so far that when they were called to answer for illegal Invasions on the Kings Authority they did boldly protest that tho they compeared in civility to the King yet that they did not acknowledge the King 〈◊〉 Councils Right in any Ecclesiastick matter This was on the 12th of April 1582. And shortly thereafter in one of their Assemblies holden at St. Andrews Mr. Andrew Melvil told the Master of Requests who was sent by the King to stop some of their illegal procedures that they did not meddle in Civil matters but in Ecclesiastick matters they had sufficient Authority to proceed and did so The practice on these grounds did shortly follow for on the 23d of August 1582. the King was made Prisoner by a Faction of Lords at the house of Ruthwen and on the 13th of October 1582. the Assembly of the Church at Edenburg did by an Act approve of that perduellion and declared that it was good service to God and his Chucrh And in the beginning of January 1583. two Ambassadors came from France and one from England to endeavour the Kings Liberty the Assembly ordered the Ministers to declaim against the impious Design of liberating the King and they did rail at the Ambassadors by name and stirred up the Rabble their faithful Confederates on all occasions not to suffer the Badge of the French Order to be seen on their Streets it being the mark of the Beast a badge of Antichrist and to shew their good Manners as well as their sound Doctrine the King having appointed the Magistrates of Edenburgh to entertain the Ambassadors on the 16th of February 1583. The Ministers appointed a solemn Fast on that very day and civilly preached from morning till night a matter of no great difficulty to such as preach for such ends and with so little rule cursing the Magistrates and their Company and were with difficulty kept from excommunicating them The King having delivered himself from his restraint Mr. Dury and others of the Ministry openly assert that there was no injury done to the King and Mr. Melvil declaimed frequently against the King for which he was called before the Council but he boldly declined the King and Council as Judges in prima Instantia of what 's preached in the Pulpit even tho it were high Treason and so he fled to England from whence he kindled that Conspiracy which shortly thereafter brought the Earl of Gowry and others to the Scaffold These seditious doctrines and practices moved the whole Estates of the Kingdom in the year 1584 on the 22d day of May in a Parliament at Edenburgh by a solemn Act to assert the Kings Sovereign Power over all persons and in all causes as his undoubted ancient Right and that it was Treason to decline his Authority in any matter and discharging all Assemblies Convocations and all Jurisdictions spiritual or temporal not allowed by the King and Estates and prohibiting all factions and seditious Preachings Sermons and all slanderous Speeches against the King The Ministers declaimed against this and reproached this Act of Parliament Notwithstanding of all this the King was prevail'd with to allow Mr. Melvil and his Complices to return to their Churches but no sooner had they this favour than Mr. Andrew calls an Assembly to St. Andrews it consisted of Presbyters and Laicks and one Mr. Robert Wilky a Regent Professour and Laick was chosen Moderator There in a most ridiculous manner they Cite the Archbishop of St. Andrews on twenty four hours to Compear before them and he not compearing they caused a young indiscreet Fellow called Hunter to Excommunicate him for having accession to that Act of Parliament lately mentioned he being a Member of Parliament and an Assembly meeting this very year at Edenburgh would have taken up this difference and in order thereto did Absolve the Archbishop from Excommunication yet Mr. Andrew and his adherents protested against the Assembly and declared that notwithstanding of their Absolution yet the Archbishop should be still esteemed as one delivered to Sathan until signs of true Repentance appeared And though upon all occasions they magnifie their Assemblies and their pretended parity yet when the far major number was against their humour they regarded not their plurality For in Anno 1591. when the Synod of St. Andrews had determined to constitute one Mr. Weems Minister at Leuchars Mr. Melvil and some few more viz. six were for one Mr. Walace and when the far major part would not submit to his Opinion though they pretend that the Kingdom of Christ is invaded when Bishops or Princes oppose the majority of a Synod yet Mr. Melvil and his six withdraw to another place and admitted Mr. Walace to the Ministry of Leuchars and the Synod did admit Mr. Weems But this had almost engaged the Parishioners in Blood and the scussle could not be ended until Melvil's Faction prevailed so far against the Synod that neither of the two should be Minister at that Church The Reason why I insist on this is to let them of a contrary Opinion see how justly our dislike of a parity in Church Offices is Founded and that there being no imaginable warrant for it from Scripture Apostolick Practice Primitive Fathers Councils or any well Established Christian Church and that the best plea for it seems to be the pretended parity that is alledged amongst the first Reformers in Scotland we judged it fit first to shew that there was an imparity then and always thereafter in this Church and that the design of parity was always rejected by our Kings Parliaments and the most and best of our Clergy and that the immoralities and Seditions of such as contended for parity gives us no invitation to be amongst their Successors It is true that the King in the year 1590. and 1591. and 1592. was so often brought into danger twice was he Captive and constantly in great trouble by the Seditions of Mr. Andrew Melvil and his firy complices that in the year 1592. he did consent to grant a great deal of Jurisdiction to Presbyteries Synods and General Assemblies by Act of Parliament and this of necessity to evite a threatned Rebellion and that by the advice of Chancellor Maitland who in Council advised the King to give them much of their will for that 〈◊〉 the short way to make them odious as already they were troubleseme to the Nation and then they would be turned out by all Yet there was never an Act or motion of Abolishing Episcopacy but on the contrary they continued in their Dioceses and Churches always thereafter and in the very year 1594. Cunnigham Bishop of Aberdeen did Babtize Prince Henry at Sterling but the King was forced
Scotland declaimed against the Tyranny and incroachments of the Bishop of Rome but never against the Episcopal Jurisdiction as such That Mr. Wisehart and some others of our most Eminent Reformers and Martyrs knew no other Government of the Church but Episcopacy The first being bred in the University of Cambridge and others who were his Disciples followed his Sentiments And that the first Reformers submitted to the Episcopal Jurisdiction of such of the Bishops as Preached and promoted the Protestant Doctrine Secondly That though the Episcopal Authority was frequently weakned crushed and interrupted by the Popular Insurrections and Conspiracies of Mr. Melvil's Faction yet it was never legally abolished but rather continued in the Church secured and defended by many Laws ☞ Thirdly That the Presbyterians always watched the difficult Postures of the King's Affairs and whenever they found him at a disadvantage then they made him much more uneasie by Popular Tumults and Insurrections Fourthly That the Romish Clergy never pleaded their Exemptions from the Secular Powers more violently and factiously than the Melvilian Tribe in Scotland Fifthly That Episcopacy was not Abolished in that very year wherein they pretend that Presbytery was Established but that Episcopacy in Anno 1592. was still retained in all its legal Rights Privileges and Authority It is true that the Insolence of Presbyters was not then to be resisted but by granting them great Liberties and that this Liberty was granted by the necessitous Circumstances that the King was in Sixthly That the most violent of their Faction had not then the Impudence to quarrel the Superiority of a Bishop above a Presbyter as a thing unlawful in it self but that Mr. Melvil made his approaches to the ruin of Episcopacy by plausible pretences viz. That it was abused and that it was not exercised according to its primitive designs and simplicity Seventhly I observe that Episcopacy was never legally Abolished in Scotland until the Tragical Rebellion in King Charles the First his Reign broke forth and we need not inform the World how unwilling King Charles the Martyr was to Abolish Episcopacy Eighthly That the Royal Authority never gave way to their Rebellion and Insolence when they could hinder it but sometimes they were forced to yield to grant them great Liberties to avoid the heavier Blows and Thunder Claps of their Fury Ninthly That we can have no better Evidence for any Matter of Fact than the Publick Records of Parliament Tenthly We may clearly discern that the Vindicators Book in defence of his Party is one Hypocritical Shuffle from top to bottom For if Mr. Melvil the Founder of Presbytery and his Confederates did affront the Kings Person and declined his Authority and provoked the Rabble and Excommunicated the Archbishop and was so rude to the Ambassadors of Foreign Princes and profanely appointed a Fast with no other design than to bassle the King to his Teeth Then let me ask the Vindicator why all this Apology to persuade the World that Presbyterians are not capable of such Villanies as is the Rabbling of the Clergy Nay I must tell him Presbyterians did nothing upon this last Revolution but what they Practised when they had not such opportunities to to vent their Malice And by this unquestionable History he and all others may see to how little purpose his Distinction of sober Presbyterians and Cameronians will serve him for the Cameronians have no Principles different from Presbyterians nor the Presbyterians from Cameronians nor is it possible to resute the Cameronians by Presbyterian Principles Eleventhly We may gather from the preceeding History and the constant Practice of Presbyterians that they have no Principles of Unity amongst themselves for the lesser number if more Popular than their Brethren may remonstrate with that Insolence and Fury against the plurality as to stop the whole course of Discipline as in the forementioned case of Mr. Andrew Melvil Twelsthly The Spirit of Presbytery is a Spirit of Tyranny and cannot endure to Obey and therefore such as are fully Poisoned with its Principles whenever the Decisions of the Publick contradict their own peculiar Plan and Scheme they immediately fly in the Face of that Authority they formerly pretended to support and by general words which at the bottom have no particular signification but what they please to put upon them they pick quarrels and exceptions against all their own Judicatures Governments Civil and Ecclesiastical This is visible as from many instances so from the famous Protestations of several biggorted Incendiaries against the General Assembly of the Presbyterians Anno 1651. because that General Assembly did promote the Publick Resolutions in order to the Restoring the King to the Exercise of his Government they pretend that the General Assembly was not rightly constituted that the generality of the Godly did adhere to the Protestors that the Publick Resolutioners had made defection because they were for bringing again into Places of Power and Trust such as would probably serve the King against the Rebellion then on Foot upon such pretences they decline their Supreme National Judicatory and because that Print is known but to very few of the present Generation and since it is a Monument of their Villany and Stubbornness it may be seen at the end of this Letter I have no more to add but that I wish my Skill to serve you were equal to my Zeal and Affection for I am in all sincerity Your most obedient Servant The Protestation of divers Ministers against the Proceedings of the late Commission of the Church of Scotland as also against the lawfulness of the present pretended Assembly Right Reverend HOW gracious God hath been to the Church of Scotland in giving her pure Ordinances we trust that while we live it shall be acknowledged with thanfulness by us unto the Most High of whom we desire Mercy and Grace to adhere unto the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government Established in this Land amongst the many sad Tokens of the Lords Indignation and Wrath against this Kirk the present Difference of his Servants in the Ministry is looked upon by us and we believe by all the godly in the Land as one of the greatest And as we hold it a Duty deeply to be humbled before the Lord in the Sense thereof and by all lawful and fair means within the compass of our power and station to endeavour the remedy so we do acknowledge a free General Assembly lawfully Called and rightly Constituted and proceeding with Meekness and Love in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Rule of the Word and the Acts and Constitutions of this Kirk to be amongst the first and most effectual means appointed of God for obtaining the same and for preserving Purity and advancing the power of the Work of Reformation in this Age and transmitting the same unspotted to our Posterity and to the Ages and Generations that are to come but that as the faithful Servants of Jesus Christ in his Church in