Princes maintain'd by our Reformers yet even herein there is difference Considerable difference Our Reformers as much as they were inclined to Rebel against Kings did yet maintain that they held their Crowns immediately of God Iohn Knox in his Sermon preached on the 19 th of August 1565 and afterwards published hath this plain position That it is neither birth Influence of Stars ELECTION OF PEOPLE Force of Arms nor finally whatsoever can be comprehended under the Power of nature that maketh the distinction between the Superiour Power and the Inferior or that doth Establish the Royal Throne of Kings But it is the only and perfect Ordinance of God who willeth his Terror Power and Majesty in a part to shine in the Thrones of Kings and in the Faces of Iudges c. Neither was this only his private sentiment The 24 th Article of the Confession of Faith compiled by our Reformers and Ratified by Act of Parliament is every whit as plain and Decretory For there They Profess to believe that Empires Kingdoms Dominions and Cities are Distincted and Ordained by God That the Powers and Authorities therein are Gods Holy Ordinance That Persons placed in Authority are to be Loved Honoured Feared and holden in most Reverend Estimation because they are Gods Lieutenants in whose Session God sits as Iudge to whom by God is given the Sword c. That therefore whosoever deny unto Kings their Aid Counsel or Comfort while they vigilantly travel in the executing of their Office they deny their help support and Counsel to God who by the presence of his Lieutenant craveth it of them So it was professed by our Reformers How this principle could consist with their practices is none of my present concerns That is no more than to shew how our Presbyterian Brethren have deserted them in this matter Now Our Presbyterian Brethren make Kings as such not Gods but the Peoples creatures by consequence not Gods but the Peoples Lieutenants The People sets them on their Thrones They have their Power from the People They are the Peoples Trustees They are accountable to the People So that whosoever denys his Aid Counsel or Comfort to them while they vigilantly travel in executing their Office in true Logick can be said to deny them only to the People Even here then there is this great difference our Reformers maintain'd one good principle in Relation to Soveraign Powers Our present Presbyterians have even rejected that one good principle 'T is true indeed our Reformers seem to have been inconsequential in substituting Rebellious practices in the retinue of ane Orthodox principle And our Presbyterian Brethren seem to be consequential in having their principle and their practice of a piece But doth this mend the matter Nothing as I take it for all ends here That our Reformers believed Right tho they practiced Wrong But our Presbyterian Brethren are altogether Wrong They neither believe nor practice Right Thus I say it had been no difficult task to have instanced in many more of our Presbyterian Innovations But the taste I have given I think is sufficient for my purpose For laying together so many undeniable Innovations so many palpable and notorious Recessions from the principles and practices of our Reformers as I have adduced and these in so weighty and important matters as the Doctrine Worship Discipline Government and Rights of the Church I may fairly leave it to the world to judge if our Brethren have just reason to insist so much upon the principles of our Reformation or to entitle themselves as on all occasions they are so sollicitous and forward to do the only Real and Genuine Successors of our Reformers Neither is this all that may justly pinch them They have not only Receded from our Scottish Reformers but from all other Reformed Churches What Reformed Church in Christendom maintains all the Articles of the Westminster Confession What Reformed Church requires the profession of so many Articles not mainly for Peace and Vnity but as a Test of Orthodoxy What Reformed Church except our Kirk maintains the Divine Institution of Parity among the Pastors of the Church so as to make all kind of Prelacy simply unlawful What Reformed Church except the Scottish wants a Liturgy What Party in Europe that assumes the name of a National Church Condemns Liturgies set Forms of Prayer c. as Vnlawful except Scottish Presbyterians What Transmarine Reformed Church that is not Lutheran Condemns the Communion of the Church of England What Reformed Church maintains the Divine institution and the Indispensible Necessity of Ruling Elders in contradistinction to Pastors What Reformed Church maintains the Divine institution and the unalienable Right of Popular Elections of Pastors What Reformed Church ever offered to maintain that the Government of the Church by Bishops or a publick Liturgy or want of Ruling Elders distinct from Pastors or choosing Pastors otherwise than by the voices of the People or using some innocent and unforbidden Ceremonies as circumstances or Appendages of Divine worship or observing some days besides Sundays were sufficient grounds for breaking the Peace of a Church and dividing her Unity and setting up Altar against Altar What Reformed Church was ever Bound by her Rules and Canons to require of all such as she admitted to the participation of the Lords Supper the Subscription of such terms as are contained in the Solemn League and Covenant What Reformed Church doth not satisfy her self with the Profession of the Faith contain'd in the Apostles Creed at Baptism What Reformed Church requires the Profession of such a vast such a numberless number of Articles and Propositions as are contained in the Westminster Confession and the larger and shorter Catechisms of all those whom they receive into the Catholick Church What is this less than to make all these Propositions Necessary terms of their Communion And how impossible is it at this Rate ever to think of a Catholick Communion among Christians Is not this needlessly and by consequence very Criminally and Vnchristianly to lay a Fund for unavoidable unextinguishable and everlasting Schisms Neither yet is this all the Misery For Considering the Measures our Brethren steer by there is little ground to hope that they shall ever turn weary of Innovating The first Brood of Presbyterians the old Melvilians inverted as I have told almost the whole Scheme of our Reformers The next Birth the thirty-eight-men made innumerable Recessions from their Progenitors the Melvilians The present Production have forsaken most of the Measures of the thirty-eight-men And what hopes of their fixing When shall it be proper for them to say we have done innovating Hitherto we have innovated but we will innovate no farther How dreadful a thing is it for men to give loose Reins to the Spirit of Innovation But I shall not pursue this farther I know the temper of our Brethren 't is but too too probable they may impute it to Malice or Revenge or ane imbittered Spirit to some ill
that it was a contrivance of the wicked and envious Papists thereby to Ruine the Church of England Doth he not suppose all these as unundoubted Truths I say Or rather doth he not positively or expresly assert them And now if Separation from the Church of England and condemning her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion can consist with these principles and suppositions or if he who reasons on these suppositions and from these principles can be deem'd at the same time to have been for the Vnlawfulness of the Communion of the Church of England I must confess I know not what it is to collect mens sentiments from their Principles and Reasonings Whoso pleases may find more of Knox's sentiments to this purpose in his Exhortation to England for the speedy receiving of Christs Gospel Dated from Geneva Ianuary 12. 1559. For there he calls England happy In that God by the power of his verity of late years i. e. in King Edward's time had broken and destroyed the intolerable yoke of her spiritual Captivity and brought her forth as it had been from the bottom of Hell and from the Thraldom of Satan in which she had been holden blinded by Idolatry and Superstition to the fellowship of his Angels and the possession of that rich Inheritance prepared to his Dearest Children with Christ Iesus his Son And a little after he says of the Church of England that in that same King Edward's days she was a Delectable Garden planted by the Lords own hand And in his Letter to Secretary Cecil from Diep April 10 1559. he tells him He expects that same favour from him which it becometh one Member of Christs Body to have for another And in his Letter to Q. Elizabeth from Edenburgh 28 Iuly 1559. He renders thanks unfeignedly to God That it hath pleased him of his eternal Goodness to exalt her Head to the Manifestation of his Glory and the Extirpation of Idolatry Is this like the Clamour which has been ordinary with our Presbyterians about the Idolatry of the Church of England And in the conclusion of that Letter he prays that the Spirit of the Lord Iesus may so rule her in all her Actions and Enterprizes that in her God may be Glorified his Kirk Edified and she as a lively Member of the same may be ane Example of Virtue and Godliness of Life to all others Are these like the sayings of one who in the mean time judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Unlawful Communion 'T is true indeed Iohn Knox was displeased with some things in the English Liturgy He thought she had some Modes and Ceremonies there which were scandalous as symbolizing too much with the Papists and it cannot be denied that he disturbed the peace of the English Church at Francfort But if I mistake not he did so not that he thought the terms of her Communion truly sinful but that he judged his own or rather the Genevian Model purer For 't is reasonable to think he proceeded on the same principles and was of the same sentiments with his Master Calvin And nothing can be clearer than that Calvin did not condemn the things scrupled at as impious or unlawful but as not agreeable to his Standard of Purity as appears from the Citation on the Margin and might easily be made appear more fully if one were put to it but 't is needless now considering that all I aim at is that it cannot be inferred from what Knox did at Francfort That he judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Vnlawful Communion tho I must confess in making these stirs he proceeded not according to the true Catholick Principles of Christian Communion But enough of him at present To proceed As our Reformers thus generally looke upon the Church of England as a true Church and her Communion as a Lawful Communion so after our Reformation was established those of the Church of England had the same sentiments of the Church of Scotland The Ambassadors who at any time for many years came from England to the Scottish Court made no scruple to live in the Communion of the Church of Scotland and joyn in her publick Worship Thus the Earl of Bedford who came to assist at the Solemnization of the Princes afterwards K. Iames the Sixth's Baptism Anno 1566. went daily to Sermon i. e. by a Synecdoche very familiar in Scotland to the publick Worship Neither did I ever observe the least intimation in any monument of these times I have seen of these two Churches having opposite Communions till many years after the Reformation But I have insisted long enough on this Consideration The sum whereof is briefly this Our Reformers so far as can appear from their private sentiments and practices lookt upon the Church of England as a true Christian Church They lived in her Communion when they had occasion to be within her Bounds not one of them condemned her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion not one of them set up Conventicles in England when they were there nor erected separate Churches c. From all which it seems to follow at least very probably That they reformed generally upon the same Principles intirely upon the same as to Church Communion The reason why I have insisted so long on this argument is that it smooths the way for the next which is 2. That our Reformers in their publick deeds openly and solemnly profest that they were of one Religion one Communion with the Church of England This as I take it is a point of considerable importance and therefore I shall endeavour to set it at least in a competent Light 1. Then Unity of Religion and by good Consequence I think Oneness of Communion between the Scottish and the English Protestants was the great Argument insisted on by the Scots in their Addresses to England for Assistance to turn out the French and establish the Reformation in Scotland Anno 1559 And it was one of the main Grounds on which all that great Revolution was transacted that year and the next viz. 1560. Take the account as I have it from that which is commonly called Knox his History When the Lords of the Congregation found it would be necessary for them to implore foreign Assistance for driving out the French then the great Obstacles to the Reformation They resolved in the first place to apply to England and the Reason given for this Resolution was That ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION Or if ye please take it in the Authors own words We thought good to seek aid and support of all Christian Princes against her the Queen Regents Tyranny in case we should be more sharply persued AND BECAUSE THAT ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION and lay next unto us it was thought expedient first to prove them c. It was rational enough to try there first indeed considering what I have already observed concerning Queen Elizabeth And Tryed it was and
THE Fundamental Charter OF Presbytery As it hath been lately Established IN THE Kingdom of SCOTLAND Examin'd and Disprov'd By the History Records and Publick Transactions of our Nation Together with a PREFACE Wherein the Vindicator of the Kirk is freely put in mind of his Habitual Infirmities LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Paul's Church-yard 1695. THE PREFACE THis Article which I have now examined was no sooner Established in our Scottish Claim of Right than I turn'd serious to satisfy my self about it I thought it concern'd me as a Scottish man to understand as well as I could That which made such a Figure in the Original Contract between King and People I thought I was no less concern'd as a Christian to be Resolv'd about its Merits I perceiv'd it might readily affect my practice And tho I abhor as heartily as any man all breaking of the Churches peace for Rattles or Nutshels Yet I could not but reckon of it as a matter of Conscience to me to Endeavour to be sure that I built neither my Faith nor my Obedience in a matter of such Consequence as I take the Government of the Church to be on a Deceitful bottom Perhaps I was bound to be inquisitive by some other Reduplications not needful to be Named I had not spent much Application about it when I was satisfied and thought I had Ground to hope the Wisdom of the Nation after more Deliberate Researches might find it Reasonable either to Restore to the Church Her Ancient and Iust Government or settle the New One on some at least more Specious Basis. But I was Disappointed For Three Sessions of Parliament are now over And the Article is so far from being either Retracted or Corrected that on the Contrary It hath been still insisted on and Deem'd sufficient to support very weighty Superstructures Each Session hath Erected some new thing or other upon it This with the importunity of some Friends at last Determin'd me to Enquire more fully and minutely into the value of the Article And the Work hath swell'd to such a bulk as you see I confess I cannot Apologize sufficiently for my adventuring to Expose such ane ill Composure to the publick view Especially Considering how Nice and Critical if not Picq't and Humorsome an Age we live in I ever thought that much of the Beauty as well as of the Vtility of Books lay in Good Method and a distinct Range of Thoughts And I cannot promise that I have observed That so punctually as Clearer Heads might have done I have less Reason to be Confident of the Stile 'T is hard for most Scottish men to arrive at any tolerable Degree of English Purity Our greatest Caution cannot prevent the Stealing of our own Words and Idioms into our Pens and their dropping thence into our writings All things considered I have as little Reason to think I have Guarded or could Guard against them as any Scottish man For not only have mine opportunities all my life been none of the best But for finding Materials for the following Papers I was obliged to Read so many Books written in Right Broad Scotch and take so many Citations from them that 't is little to be wondered if my Book abounds with Scotticisms I thought my self bound to be faithful in my Citations and I can promise I have been that I could not Reason from the Authority of these Citations without using the Terms and Phrases which are in them This no doubt makes the Scotticisms Numerous And I shall not deny that my familiar acquaintance with these Books together with the prejudices of Education Custom and Constant Converse in the plain Scottish Dialect may have occasioned many more Neither shall I be over Confident that where I have adventured to Reason any point I have done it to every mans Conviction I may have been as other men apt to impose on my self and think I have advanced just propositions and drawn fair Consequences when I have not done it No doubt most men have such a Kindness for themselves as too commonly inclines them to applaud their own thoughts and judge their own Reasonings Just and Solid when they are but Coarse enough And others may very easily discover where the mistake lies Yet this I can say for my self I have done what I could to Guard against all such prejudice and partial Byass Sensible of these infirmities I intreat the Readers favourable and benign Censures This I can tell him ingenuously If I could have done better I should not have Grudgâ—d him the pleasure of it But perchance that which I am more concern'd to account for is what Assistances I had for what I have advanced in the following Sheets And here I must Confess I had not all the Advantages I could have wished Such are my present Circumstances That I could not Rationally propose to my self to have Access to the publick Records either of Church or State And no doubt in this I was at a Considerable loss For he who Transcribes from Authentick Records Doth it more Securely than he who has things only from Second hands Yet I don't think this Disadvantage was such as should have intirely Discouraged me from the Attempt I have made For some of my Authors had Access to the publick Registers And I am apt to believe there was not much to be found there Relating to the Controversies I have managed which they have not published So that tho 't is possible I might have been better yet I cannot think I was ill provided of Helps I cannot think any of my Presbyterian Brethren can be provided much better The principal Authors from which I have collected my Materials are these Buchanan's History published at Frankfort Anno 1594 Ieslie's History at Edenburgh 1675. King Iames the Sixth's Works in English at London 1616. Archbishop Spotswood's History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland at London Anno 1655. His Refutatio Libelli c. Lond. An. 1620. The True History of the Church of Scotland c. said to be written by Mr. David Calderwood published An. 1678. Mr. Petrie's History of the Catholick Church c. Tom. 2. printed at the Hague Anno 1â—62 Sir Iames Melvil's Memoirs The Old Scottish Liturgy The Lord Herbert's History of the Life of King Henry 8. Doctor Heylin and Doctor Burnet's Histories of the Reformation of the Church of England Calvin's Epistles printed at Geneva Anno 1617. Beza's Epistles till the year 1573. Acts and Monuments by Fox c. I have likewise considered our printed Acts of Parliaments The printed Acts of the General Assemblies from the year 1638. And as many Pamphlets as I could find Relating to the Matters on which I insist 'T is needless to Name them here You may find them named as Occasion required in my Book There are two Books which I must insist on a little One is A Manuscript Copy of the Acts of our Scottish Assemblies from
generally is against using the Lords Prayer the only Prayer I can find of Divine Institution in the New Testament as to the MATTER FRAME COMPOSURE and MODE of it Consider 3. that our Author would be very angry and complain of horrid injustice done him if you should charge him with Quakerism or praying by immediate inspiration For who so great enemies to Quakers as Scottish Presbyterians Consider 4. if his Arguments can consist any better with Extemporary Prayers which are not immediately inspired and by consequence cannot be of Divine Institution as to MATTER FRAME COMPOSURE and MODE than with Set-forms which are not of Divine Institution as to MATTER FRAME COMPOSURE and MODE Consider 5. in consequence of these if we can have any publick Prayers at all And then consider 6. and lastly if our Author when he wrote this Section had his zeal tempered with common sense and if he was not knuckle-deep in right Mysterious Theology But as good follows For 4. Never man spoke more profound Mysteries than he hath done on all occasions in his surprizing accounts of the Church of Scotland He tells us of a Popish Church of Scotland since the Reformation and a Protestant Church of Scotland He tells us 1 Vind. Answ. to Quest. 1. § 10. Presbyterians do not say that the Law made by the Reforming Parliament Anno 1576 took from them the Popish Bishops the Authority they had over the Popish Church but it is Manifest that after this Law they had no Legal Title to Rule the Protestant Church This same for once is pleasant enough The Reforming Parliament while it defined the Church of Scotland and it defined it so as to make it but one as is evident from Act. 6. which I have transcribed word for word in my Book allowed of two Churches of Scotland two National Churches in one Nation But this is not all He hath also subdivided the Protestant Church of Scotland into two Churches of Scotland The Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Episcopal Church of Scotland He insists very frequently on the Presbyterian Church of Scotland Thus in his Preface to his First Vind. of his Church of Scotland in great seriousness he tells the world that that which is determined concerning all them that will live Godly in Christ Iesus that they must suffer persecution is and has long been the lot of the PRESBYTERIAN Church of Scotland And in his Preface to his 2 Vind. § 7. I have in a former paper pleaded for the PRESBYTERIAN Church of Scotland against ane Adversary c. And in Answer to the Hist. Relat. of the Gen. Ass. § 12. his Adversary had said that General Assembly was as insufficient to represent the Church of Scotland as that of Trent was to represent the Catholick Church And G. R. readily replys but he cannot deny that it represented the PRESBYTERIAN Church and was all that could be had of a PRESBYTERIAN Assembly He is as frank at allowing ane Episcopal Church of Scotland Thus in True Represent of Presb. Governm in Answ. to OB. 10. The Ministers that entered by and under Prelacy neither had nor have any Right to be Rulers in the PRESBYTERIAN Church Whatever they might have in ANOTHER Governing Church i. e. the Episcopal Church that the State set up in the Nation c. And more expressly in Answ. to the Hist. Relat. of the Gen. Ass. 1690. § 3. Again says he tho' we own them the Prelatick Presbyters as Lawful Ministers yet we cannot own them as Ministers of the PRESBYTERIAN Church They may have a Right to Govern the EPISCOPAL Church to which they had betaken themselves and left the PRESBYTERIAN yet that they have a Right to Rule the PRESBYTERIAN Church we deny By this time I think the Reader has got enough of Scottish National Churches and their distinct Governours and Governments The Popish Clergy even since the Reformation was established by Law have Right to Rule the Popish National Church of Scotland The Protestant Episcopal Clergy have Right to Rule the Protestant Episcopal National Church of Scotland The Protestant Presbyterian Ministers have only Right to Rule the Protestant Presbyterian National Church of Scotland By the way May not one wish that he and his party had stood here For if the Episcopal Clergy have Right to Rule the Episcopal Churh and if it was only Right to Rule the Presbyterian Church which they had not why was their own Right to Rule themselves taken from them Are not the Presbyterians unrighteous in taking from them all Right to Rule when they have Right to Rule the Episcopal Church of Scotland But this as I said only by the way That which I am mainly concern'd for at present is that the Reader may consider if there is not a goodly parcel of goodly sense in these profound Meditations Yet better follows After all this laborious clearing of marches between Scottish National Churches particularly the Episcopal and Presbyterian National Churches of Scotland He tells you for all that they are but one Church of Scotland But in such Depth of Mystery as perchance can scarcely be parallell'd Take the worthy speculation in his own words True Rep. ad OB. 10. Let it be further Considered says he that tho' we are not willing so to widen the difference between us and the Prelatick party as to look on them and our selves as two distinct Churches Yet it is evident that their Clergy and we are two different Representatives and two different Governing Bodies of the Church of Scotland And that they who are Members of the one cannot at their pleasure go over to the other unless they be received by them Well! Has he now Retracted his making them two Churches You may judge of that by what follows in the very next words For thus he goes on These things thus laid down let us hear what is objected against this Course the Course the Presbyterians were pursuing with Might and Main when he wrote this Book viz. That the Government of the Church might primâ instantiâ be put in the hands of the known sound Presbyterian Ministers c. First this is to set up Prelacy among Ministers even while it is so much decryed That a few should have Rule of the Church and the rest excluded Answ. It is not Prelacy but a making distinction between Ministers of one Society and those of another Tho' they be Ministers they are not Ministers of the Presbyterian Church They have departed from it we have Continued in the good old way that they and we professed for who can doubt that all the Scottish Prelatists were once Presbyterians It is not then unreasonable that if they will return to that SOCIETY they should be admitted by it c. Now What can be plainer than it is hence that they must be still two Churches He makes them in express terms twice over two distinct SOCIETIES He makes one of these Societies the Presbyterian Church Of necessity therefore the
Mers Winram for Fife the Laird of Dun for Angus and Merns Willock for Glasgow and Carsewell for Argyle and the Isles These are all who are reckoned up by Knox and Spotswood And Spotswood adds With this small Number was the Plantation of the Church at first undertaken And can we think tho all these had been Presbyters duly ordained That they were the only men who carried on the Scottish Reformation Farther yet 4. Petrie tells us that the First General Assembly which was holden in Dec. 1560 consisted of 44 persons and I find exactly 44 Names Recorded in my Mss. Extract of the Acts of the General Assembly's as the Names of the Members of that Assembly But of all these 44 there were not above Nine at most who were called Ministers so that at least more than Thirty were but Lay-Brethren according to the then way of Reckoning probably they were generally such if you speak in the Dialect and reckon by the Measures of the Catholick Church in all Ages In short 5. There is nothing more evident to any who considers the Histories of these times than that they were generally Laymen who promoted our Violent and Disordered Reformation as Spotswood justly calls it And 't is Reasonable to think the Sense of this was One Argument which prevailed with our Reformers to Declare against the Antient Catholick and Apostolick Ceremony of Imposition of Hands in Ordinations as is to be seen in the 4 th Head of the First Book of Discipline and as is generally acknowledged Thus I think I have sufficiently deduced Matters as to my First Enquiry It had been easy to have insisted longer on it but I had no inclination for it considering that there is a kind of Piety in Dispatch when the longer one insists on a subject of this Nature he must still the more Expose the Failures of our Reformation and the Weaknesses of our Reformers Proceed we now to The Second Enquiry Whether our Scottish Reformers whatever their Characters were were of the present Presbyterian principles Whether they were for the Divine Institution of Parity and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy amongst the Pastors of the Church THis Enquiry if I mistake not is pretty far in the interests of the main Question For the Article as I am apt to take it aims at this That our Reformation was carried on with such a Dislike to Prelacy or the Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters as made Prelacy or such a Superiority ever since a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation c. But if this is the Sense of the Article what else is it Than that our Reformers were Presbyterian But whether or not This was truly intended as 't is truly very hard to know what was intended in the Article This is Certain this Enquiry is material and pertinent And if it faces not the Article Directly Undoubâ—edly iâ— doth it by fair Consequence 'T is as certain our Presbyterian Brethren use with confidence enough to assert that our Reformers were of their Principles This is One of the Main Arguments by which they endeavour on all occasions to influence the Populace and Gain Proselytes to their Party And therefore I shall endeavour to go as near to the bottom of this Matter as I can and set it in its due Light And I hope It shall appear to be competently Done to all who shall attentively and impartially weigh the following Deduction And I. Let it be considered That while our Reformation was on the Wheel and for some years after its publick Establishment there was no such Controversy agitated in Europe as this concerning The Divine Institution of Parity or Imparity amongst the Pastors of the Church The Popes pretended universal Headship was Called in Question indeed And Called in Question it was run down with all imaginable Reason some years before the Settlement of our Reformation That Controversie was One of the First which were accurately ventilated by the Patrons of Reformation And it was very natural that it should have been so considering what stress was laid upon it by the Pontificians 'T is likewise true That the Corruptions of the Ecclesiastical Estate were Enquired into in most Provinces every where where the Truth began to Dawn and the Reformation was Encouraged And it was not to be imagined but in such Scrutinies Bishops would be taken notice of for their general Defection from the Antient Rules and Measures of the Episcopal Office and the vast Dissimilitude between them and those of the same Order in the primitive times both as to the Discharge of their Trust and their Way of Living And who doubts but in these things the Popish Bishops were too generally culpable 'T is farther true That some Countries when they reformed Religion and separated from the Church of Rome did set up New Models of Government in the Churches they erected as they thought their civil Constitutions could best bear them And having once set them up what wonder if they did what they could to justify them and maintain their Lawfulness Thus for instance Mr. Calvin erected a Model of the Democratical Size at Geneva because that State had then cast it self into a Democracy And the Protestants in France partly for Conveniency partly in imitation of Calvins Platform fell upon a method of governing their Churches without Bishops And so it fared with some other Churches as in Switzerland c. while in the mean time other Churches thought it enough for them to Reform the Doctrine and Worship without altering the Ancient form of Government But then 'T is as evident as any thing in History that all this while from the first Dawnings of the Reformation I mean till some years after the publick Establishment of our Reformation That there was no such Controversie insisted on by Protestants either in their Debates with the Papists or with one another as that about the Divine and Vnalterable Institution of parity or imparity amongst the Pastors of the Church And I dare confidently challenge my Presbyterian Brethren to produce any One Protestant Confession of Faith for their side of the Question Nay more I dare challenge them to instance in any One Protestant Divine of Note who in these times maintained their side of the Controversy who maintain'd the Vnlawfulness of Imparity amongst Christian Pastors before Theodore Beza did it if he did it Sure I am They cannot without the greatest impudence pretend that Mr. Calvin the only Transmarine Divine I can find consulted by our Reformers about matters relating to our Reformation was of their Principles For whoso shall be pleased to consuâ—t his Commentaries on the New Testament particularly on 1 Cor. 11.2 Or some Chapters in the beginning of his 4 th Book of Institutions Or his Book about the Necessity of Reforming the Church Or his Epistles particularly his Epistle directed to the Protector of England dated Octob. 22. 1548. Or to Cranmer Archbishop of
of England e. g. Friar Alexander Seaton when he was forced to flee in King Iames the 5th's time went to England and became the Duke of Suffolk's Chaplain and died in that service Alexander Aless was in great favour with King Henry and called the King's Schollar He was a Member of the English Convocation and disputed against Stokesly Bishop of London and maintain'd there were but two Sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist Anno 1536 or 37 And he it was that first turn'd the English Liturgy into Latin for Bucer's use Anno 1549 as both Heylin and Burnet in their Histories of the English Reformation tell us Iohn Fife and one M' Dowdal stayed as long in England as Aless did And 't is not to be doubted that they were of the same principles Iohn M' Bee during his abode in England was liberally entertained by Nicol. Saxton Bishop of Salisbury who made much account of him which is no argument I think that he was a Presbyterian Sir Iohn Borthwick was charged with Heresie Anno 1640 for maintaining That the Heresies commonly called the Heresies of England and their New Liturgy was Commendable and to be embraced of all Christians And That the Church of Scotland ought to be govern'd after the manner of the Church of England i. e. under the King and not the Pope as Supreme Governor Friar Thomas Guillam the first publick Preacher of the Reformed Religion in Scotland He by whose Sermons Iohn Knox got the first lively impressions of the Truth This Guillam I say after Arran the Regent Apostatized withdrew and went into England and we hear no more of him From which 't is reasonable to conclude That he kept the Common Course with the other Reformers there Iohn Rough was the Regents other Chaplain while he was Protestant He likewise fled to England tho sometime after Guillam He preached some years in the Towns of Carlisle Berwick and Newcastle and was afterwards provided to a Benefice by the Archbishop of York where he lived till the Death of King Edward When Mary's Persecution turn'd warm he fled and lived some time in Freesland He came to London about some business Anno 1557. was apprehended and brought before Bonner Questioned if he had preached any since he came to England Answered he had preached none But in some places where godly people were Assembled He had read the Prayers of the Communion Book set forth in the Reign of King Ed. VI. Question'd again what his Judgment was of that Book Answered He approved it as agreeing in all points with the word of God And so suffered Martyrdom I think this man was neither for Parity nor against Liturgies But to proceed The excellent Mr. Wishart as he had spent some time in England as was told before so it seems he returned to Scotland of English I am confident not of Presbyterian Principles For he was not only for the Lawfulness of Private Communion as appeared by his practice but Knox gives us fair intimations that he ministred it by a Set-form I know King Edward's Liturgy was not then composed But it is not to be imagined That the Reformers in England in Wishart's time administred the Sacrament without a Set-form The Extemporary Spirit was not then in vogue And why else could Sir Iohn Borthwick have been charged with the Great Heresy of Commending the English Liturgy However I shall not be peremptory because I have not the opportunity of enquiring at present what Forms the English Reformers had then All I shall say is if they had a Liturgy 't is very probable Wishart used it For as Knox tells us when he celebrated the Eucharist before his Execution After he had blessed the Bread and Wine he took the Bread and Brake it and gave to every one of it bidding each of them Remember that Christ had died for them and feed on it spiritually so taking the Cup he bade them Remember that Christs Blood was shed for them c. So Knox word for word which account I think seems fairly to intimate that Wishart used a Form but if he did what other could it be than such as he had learned in England I have accounted already how Iohn Willock and William Harlaw had served in the English Church before they came to Scotland I might perhaps make a fuller Collection But what needs more Even Knox himself lived in Communion with the Church of England all the time he was in that Kingdom He went not there to keep Conventicles to erect Altar against Altar to gather Churches out of the Church of England to set up separate and schismatical Churches as some of our present Parity-men have sometimes done No he preached in the publick Churches and in subordination to the Bishops and he preached before King Edward himself as he himself tell us in his Admonition to the Professors of the Truth in England which it is very improbable he would have been allowed to have done if he had Condemned the Communion of the Church of England as it was then established For who knows not that in King Edwards time all Schism and Non-Conformity were sufficiently discouraged And through that whole Admonition he still speaks of himself as One of the Ministers of the Church of England Nay If it be Reasonable to Collect mens Sentiments from their Reasonings I am sure in that same Admonition I have enough for my purpose For he reasons upon suppositions and from Principles which clearly condemned Separation from the Church of England as then established For when he gives his thoughts of that fatal Discord which happened between the two great men Somerset and the Admiral as I take it He discourses thus God compelled my tongue says he openly to declare That the Devil and his Ministers the Papists Intended only the Subversion of Gods true Religion by that Mortal Hatred amongst those who ought to have been most assuredly Knit together by Christian Charity And especially that the wicked and envious Papists by that ungodly Breach of Charity diligently minded the overthrow of him Somerset that to his own Destruction procured the Death of his innocent friend and Brother All this trouble was devised by the Devil and his instruments to stop and lett Christ's Disciples and their poor Boat i. e. the Church What can be more plain I say than that Knox here proceeds on suppositions and reasons from Principles which condemned Separation from the Church of England as then established Doth he not suppose that the Church of England as then established was Christ's Boat his Church And that the Sons of the Church of England were Christ's Disciples Doth he not suppose that these two Brothers as Sons of the Church of England ought to have been assuredly knit together by Christian Charity That the Breach between them was ane ungodly Breach of that Charity by which Members of that same Church ought to have been assuredly knit together And
than the Reformers of other Churches In consequence of this I have further shewed that from all the monuments of these times I have seen not so much as One of our Reformers can be adduced as asserting the Presbyterian side of this Controversie Lastly I have I think made it evident that our Reformers went very much upon the same Principles on which the English Reformers went who still continued Episcopacy unquestionably on many Principles of great weight and importance as to the Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church which staid in direct opposition and contradiction to the Principles of our present Presbyterians And now let any judicious and impartial person lay these things together and then let him ingenuously determine whether it be not highly incredible that our Reformers were for the divine institution and indispensible Right of Parity and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy which is the Principle at least the Profession of our present Presbyterians Yet after all this I must tell my Reader that I have insisted on these things so much as I have done principally for smoothing the way for the Evidences I am yet to produce for the certainty of my side of the Second Enquiry And I am content that these things I have already discoursed should pass for no more than Rational Presumptions till I have tried if more strength can be added to them and they can be rendered more cogent and concluding by a succession of plain positive direct and formal proofs of my Assertion And to engage my Readers attention I dare adventure to promise him that to as high a degree as the nature of the thing is capable of at least can reasonably bear And so without further address I thus proceed Before our Reformation was established by Law our Reformers addressed to the Government by several Petitions that Religion and the Church might be reformed I shall take notice of Three all pertinent to my purpose One of them is no where that I have seen set down at length the other two are in Knox his History That which is no where set down at length is to be seen abridged in Buchdâ—aâ— Lesly and Spotswood but with some little variation For Buchanan has given that Article which I am at present concerned aboutâ— according to his way in general terms Thus Vt Ministrorum Electio juxtà antiquam Ecclesiae consuetudinem penes populum esset Spotswood has translated Buchanan's words faithfully enough in this matter as he doth in many other things but Lesly gives it a little more distinctly thus Vt EPISCOPI deinceps PASTORES illi Dominorum ac Nobilium cujuscunque DIOICESIS hi PAROCHORVM assensione ac voluntate ad BENEFICIA cooptentur That this Petition thus abridged by these three Historians was a Petition different from that which we have published at length in Knox seems unquestionable for that which is in Knox has not one syllable about the Election of Ministers and beside Buchanan fairly insinuates that there was another distinct from that which he had abridged tho not much different For thus he discourses Papani Edinburgi ad eadem FERE postulata quaeper Nobilitatem ad eam Reginam proregem sunt delata PENE paribus usi sunt Responsis Now if it had been the same Petition why would he have said ad eadem FERE postulata and PENE paribus Responsis This I take notice of that my Presbyterian Brethren may not have occasion to â—avil at the Article as it is in Lesly as if it were not genuine because it is not in the Petition recorded by Knox and from him most imperfectly abridged by Calderwood their two great and authentick Historians For as for Mr. Petrie he was so wise as not to trouble himself with either of these Petitions perceiving belike that neither of them was favourable to his beloved Parity To proceed now with the Article as it is in Lesly If he has set it down faithfully I think we have a fair account of the sentiments of our Reformers concerning Mother Parity so very fair that he who runs may read it The Question then is whither Lesly has faithfully transmitted this Article to us And for the affirmative I offer these Reasons 1. There 's no reason to doubt of his integrity in this matter he was a zealous Papist and a Bishop to boot And it is evident as he was either of these it was not his interest to make our Reformers such friends to Episcopacy if they were not such really For if they had not made that Distinction between Bishops and Presbyters if they had professed the Divine Right of Parity he had had good ground for accusing them of receding from the undoubted principles and universal practice of the Catholick Church in all times and in all places in a point of so great weight and consequence in the Government of the Church Ane occasion which one of his Zeal for his party would not probably have neglected to take hold of far less would he have lied so palpably to save the Reputation of his Adversaries 2. As he had no temptation to falsify in this matter so he had all other Qualifications of a credible Witness He lived in these times he himself was a Clergy man then probably he was a Member of that same Convocation to which the Petition was offered and I think no man will doubt of his Abilities to comprehend such a matter Indeed 3. If he forged this Article he was ridiculously impudent at Forging for as he did it without any imaginable necessity without any shadow of a degree of subserviency to his Cause so he put himself upon a necessity of forging more even a good long Answer which he says was return'd to that Article by the Convocation viz. That it was not reasonable they should alter the Method of Electing Bishops and Presbyters prescribed by the Canon Law especially in the time of the Queens Nonage Her Prerogative was interested in the matter She with the Popes Consent had power to nominate the Prelates and to take that Power out of her hands without her Consent or before she came to perfect Age was notoriously as well as undutifully to invade her Royalty Ane Answer indeed exactly fitted for the Article as he hath transmitted it But the truth is 4. That he neither forged the Article nor the Convocations Answer to it we have further undoubted Evidence for I have seen ane Old Manuscript Scottish History which I can produce if I am put to it which exactly agrees with Lesly as to the Article for thus it hath it The Election of the Bishops and Kirkmen to pass by the Temporal Lords and People of their Diocesses and Parishes And Buchanan upon the matter gives that same account of the Convocations Answer affirming that As to the Election of Ministers they answered That such Matters were to be regulated by the Canon Law or the Decrees of the Council of Trent
Negative because they would not oppose c. I think Mr. Petrie were he alive would have enough to do to prove that that was the Reason they were determin'd by What Had the whole Church quate all their pretensions they insisted on so much on every Occasion Had they now given over their Claim to the Revenues of the Church Shall I declare my poor opinion in this matter I am apt to believe that it was one of the great Arguments insisted on by the Three Episcopalian Collocutors at that time That if Episcopacy should be concluded unlawful and by consequence overturned the Patrimony of the Church would undoubtedly go to wreck The hungry Courtiers would presently possess themselves of the Revenues belonging to the Bishops Sure I am as things then stood there was all the Reason in the world for insisting on this Argument But to pass this Petrie it seems was not content with giving the quite contrary of that which in all probability was the true Reason at least one of the true Reasons for not overturning Episcopary at that time But he behoved to add something more Extravagant He behoved to add That the Affirmatives in the aforesaid conclusions took away the pretended Office of Episcopacy What might he not have said after this It seems that in this Authors opinion all is one thing to assert the Lawfulness of ane Office and thereupon to continue it and to take it away But perhaps I may be blamed for taking so much notice of ane angry mans Excesses For no doubt it was anger that such conclusions should have been made that hurtied him upon such Extravagances and therefore I shall leave him and return to my threed By what I have told it may be easy to judge how cold the first Entertainment was which Parity got when it was proposed to the General Assembly and so much the more if it be further considered that by this same Assembly some 8 or 9 Articles were ordered to be presented to My Lord Regents Grace whereof the First as I find it in the MS. and in Petrie himself tho' neither so fully nor so fairly was this Imprimis for planting and preaching the word thro' the whole Realm It is Desired that so many Ministers as may be had who are yet unplaced may be received as well in the Countrey to relieve the charge of them who have many Kirks as otherwise throughout the whole Realm with Superintendents or Commissioners within these Bonnds where Bishops are not and to help such Bishops as have too great Charges And that Livings be appointed to the aforesaid Persons and also payment to them who have travelled before as Commissioners in the years of God 1573. and 1574. and so forth in time coming without which the travels of such Men will cease This I say is the First of many Articles ordered by this Assembly for the Regent From which it is Evident not only that Mr. Melvils Project made little or no progress at this time but also that the Assembly continued firm and stedfast in the same very intentions and of the same very Principles which had prevailed in former Assemblies viz. to stop the uniting of Churches to multiply the number of persons cloathed with Prelatick power To continue that power in the Church and by all means to secure her Patrimony and guard against and Exclude all alienations of it Melvil and his Partisans thus successless in their first attempt but withal once engaged and resolved not to give over began it seems against the next Assembly to reflect on what they had done and perceive that they had mistaken their measures And indeed it was a little precipitantly done at the very first to state the Question simply and absolutely upon the Lawfulness or Vnlawfulness of Episcopacy in the General as they had stated it It was a new Question which had never been stated in the Church of Scotland before And it could not but be surprizing to the greatest part of the Assembly Thus to call in Question the Lawfulness of ane Office which had been so early so universally so usefully so incontestedly received by the Catholick Church This was a point of great importance For to Declare that Office Vnlawful what was it else than to condemn all these Churches in the primitive times which had own'd it and flourish't under it What else than to condemn the Scottish Reformation and Reformers who had never Question'd it but on the contrary had proceeded all alongst on principles which clearly supposed its Lawfulness if not its Necessity Nay was it not to condemn particularly all these General Assemblies which immediately before had so much Authorized and confirm'd it Besides as hath been already observed to Declare Episcopacy Vnlawful was unavoidably to stifle all these projects they had been so industriously forming for recovering the Churches Patrimony And not only so but to expose it more and more to be devoured by the voracious Laity It was Plain it could no sooner be declared Vnlawful than it behoved to be parted with and turn out the Bishops once and what would become of the Bishopricks Nay to turn them out what was it else than to undo the whole Agreement at Leith which was the greatest security the Church then had for her Patrimony For these and the like reasons I say laying aside the impiety and insisting only on the imprudence of the Melvilian Project it was no doubt precipitantly done at the very first to make that the State of the Question And it was no wonder if the Assembly was unanimous in agreeing to the conclusions which had been laid before them by the six Collocutors Nay it was no wonder if Melvil and his Party sensible of their errour and willing to cover it the best way they could yielded for that time to the other Three who had so visibly the advantage of them at least in the point of the Churches interest And therefore At the next Assembly which was holden at Edenburgh April 24. 1576. they altered the State of the Question as Spotswood observes and made it this Whether Bishops as they were then in Scotland had their Function warranted by the word of God But even thus stated at that time it avail'd them nothing For as it is in the MS. The whole Assembly for the most part after Reasoning and long Disputation upon every Article of the Brethrens viz. the six Collocutors opinion and advice resolutely approved and affirmed the same and every Article thereof as the same was given in by them And then the Articles are Repeated Calderwood and Petrie do both shuffle over the state of the Question but upon the matter they give the same account of the Assembly's Resolution However I thought fit to take it in the words of the MS. the very stile importing that they are the most Authentick And in this Resolution we may observe these three things 1. That whatever the Melvilian Party might then be They
forced to return to England Mr. Henry Kellegrew succeeding in his stead in Scotland that this Killegrew at a private meeting told himself plainly that he was come to Scotland with a Commission contrary to his inclinations which was to encourage Faction c. Thus practiced Queen Elizabeth and such were her Arts and influences in Scotland before she had the opportunity of improving the Presbyterian humour to her purposes And can it be imagined she would not encourage it when once it got sooting Certainly she understood it better than so The Sect had set up a Presbytery at Wandsworth in Surrey in the year 1572 four years before Morton made this Proposition seven years before a Presbytery was so much as heard of in Scotland No doubt she knew the Spirit well enough and how apt and well suited it was for keeping a State in disorder and trouble Nay I have heard from knowing Persons that to this very day the Treasury Books of England if I remember right sure I am some English record or other bear the Names of such Scottish Noblemen and Ministers as were that Queens Pensioners and what allowances they got for their Services in fostering and cherishing seditions and confusions in their Native Countrey From this sample I think it is easy to collect at least that it is highly probable that Queen Elizabeth was very willing that the Presbyterian humour should be encouraged in Scotland Let us try 2. If Morton depended so much on her as may make it credible that he was subservient to her Designs in this Politick And here the work is easy For he was her very Creature he stood by her and he stood for her Randolf and he were still in one bottom The whole Countrey was abused by Randolf and Morton Morton and Randolf contrived the Parliament 1571. Mentioned before When Lennox the Regent was killed Randolf was earnest to have Morton succeed him Randolf had no Credit but with Morton Killegrew told Sir James Melvil at the Private Meeting mentioned before That the Queen of England and her Council built their course neither on the late Regent Lennox nor the present Mar but intirely on the Earl of Morton as only true to their interests Morton after Mar's death was made Regent England helping it with all their Might And again in that same page Sir Iames tells that those who were in the Castle of Edenburgh and stood for Queen Mary's Title were so sensible of all this that when Morton sent the same Sir Iames to propose ane accommodation to them He found it very hard to bring on ane Agreement between them and Morton for the evil opinion that was then conceived of him and the hurtful marks they supposed by proofs and appearances that he would shoot at being by Nature Covetous and too great with England And to make all this plainer yet Sir Iames tells us that Morton entertaind a Secret Grudge against his Pupil the Young King He was ever jealous that the King would be his Ruine And England gave greater Assistances to Morton than to any former Regents for they believed he aim'd at the same mark with themselves viz. to intricate the Kings affairs out of old jealousies between the Stuarts and the Douglases Now Let all these things be laid together and then let the judicious consider if it is not more than probable That as England had a main hand in the advancement of our Reformation so it was not wanting to contribute for the encouragement of Presbytery also and that Morton playing England's game which was so much interwâ—â—eâ— with his own made this ill favoured Proposition to this Gen. Ass. But however this was â—lâ—â—her he had such a Plot or not It is cleaâ— that his making this proposition had all the effects he could have projected by being on such a Plot. For No sooner had he made this Proposition than it was greedily entertain'd It Answered the Melvilian wishes and it was easy for them to find colourable Topicks for obtaining the consent of the rest of the Assembly For most part of them were ready to acknowledge that there were Defects and things to be mended in the Agreement at Leith And it had been received by the General Assembly in August 1572. for ane Interim only The revising of that Agreement might end some Controversies and the Regent having made this Proposition it was not to be doubted but he would Ratify what they should Unanimously agree to c. These and the like Arguments I say might 't is clear some Arguments did prevail with the Assembly to entertain the Proposition For A commission was forthwith drawn to nineteen or twenty Persons to Compose a Second Book of Discipline a step by which at that time the Presbyterian got a wonderful advantage over the other Party For not only were Melvil and Lawson the two first Rate Presbyterians nominated amongst these Commissioners But they had their business much prâ—meditated They had spent much thinking about it and it is not to be doubted they had Mr. Beza bespoken to provide them with all the Assistance he and his Colleagues at Geneva could afford them Whereas the rest were Generally very ignorant in Controversies of that Nature They had all alongst before that imployed themselves mainly in the Popish Controversies and had not troubled their heads much about the Niceties of Government They had taken the Ancient Government so far at least as it subsisted by imparity upon trust as they found it had been Practiced in all ages of the Church perceiving a great deal of Order and Beauty in it and nothing that naturally tended to have a bad influence on either the principles or the life of serious Christianity And with that they were satisfied Indeed even the best of them seem to have had very little skill in the true fountains whence the solid subsistence of the Episcopal Order was to be derived The Scriptures I mean not as Glossed by the Private Spirit of every Modern Novelist but as interpreted and understood by the First ages as sensed by the constant and universal practice of Genuine Primitive and Catholick Antiquity This charge of Ignorance in the Controversies about the Government of the Church which I have brought against the Scottish Clergy in these times will certainly leave a blot upon my self if I cannot prove it But if I can prove it it is clear it is of considerable importance in the present disquisition and helps much for coming by a just comprehension to understand how Presbytery was introduced into Scotland And therefore I must again beg my Readers patience till I adduce some evidences for it And First The truth of this charge may be obviously collected from the whole train of their proceedings and management about the Government of the Church from the very first Establishment of the Reformation For however they Established a Government which clearly subsisted by imparity as I
have fully proven and which was all I still aim'd at yet it is easy to Discover they were very far from keeping Closely by the Principles and Measures of the primitive constitution of Church Government This is so very apparent to any who Reads the Histories of these times and is so visible in the Deduction I have made that I shall insist no longer on it Secondly The truth of my charge may further appear from the Instance of Adamson advanced this year 1576 to the Archbishoprick of St. Andrews That Nature had furnished him with a good stock and he was a smart Man and cultivated beyond the ordinary Size by many parts of good Literature is not denyed by the Presbyterian Historians themselves They never attempt to represent him as a Fool or a Dunce tho' they are very eager to have him a Man of Tricks and Latitude Now this Prelates ignorance in true Antiquity is Remarkably visible in his subscribing to these Propositions Anno 1580 if we may believe Calderwood The Power and Authority of all Pastors is equal and alike great amongst themselves The Name Bishop is Relative to the Flock and not to the Eldership For he is Bishop of his Flock and not of other Pastors or fellow Elders As for the Preheminence that one beareth over the rest it is the Invention of Man and not the Institution of Holy Writ That the ordaining and appointing of Pastors which is also called the laying on of hands appertaineth not to one Bishop only so being Lawful Election pass before but to those of the same Province or Presbytery and with the like Iurisdiction and Authority Minister at their Kirks That in the Council of Nice for eschewing of private ordaining of Ministers it was statuted that no Pastor should be appointed without the consent of him who dwelt or remained in the Chief and Principal City of the Province which they called the Metropolitan City That after in the latter Councils it was statuted that things might proceed more solemnly and with greater Authority that the laying on of hands upon Pastors after Lawful Election should be by the Metropolitan or Bishop of the Chief and principal Town the rest of the Bishops of the Province voting thereto In which thing there was no other Prerogative but only that of the Town which for that cause was thought most meet both for the conveening of the Council and Ordaining of Pastors with common Consent and Authority That the Estate of the Church was corrupt when the name Bishop which before was common to the rest of the Pastors of the Province began without the Authority of Gods Word and ancient Custome of the Kirk to be attributed to one That the power of appointing and ordaining Ministers and Ruling of Kirks with the whole procuration of Ecclesiastical Discipline was now only devolved to one Metropolitan The other Pastors no ways challenging their Right and Privilege therein of very slothfulness on the one part And the Devil on the other going about craftily to lay the ground of the Papistical Supremacy From these and such other Propositions sign'd by him at that time it may be judged I say if this Prelate did not bewray a very profound ignorance in true Ecclesiastical Antiquity Ane Arrant Presbyterian could not have said could not have wished more Indeed 't is more than probable as perchance may appear by and by that these Propositions were taken out either formally or by collection of Mr. Beza's Book De Triplici Episcopatu Now if Adamson was so little seen in such matters what may we judge of the rest But this is not all For Thirdly There cannot be a greater Evidence of the deplorable unskilfulness of the Clergy in these times in the ancient records of the Church than their suffering Melvil and his Party to obtrude upon them The Second Book of Discipline A split new Democratical Systeme a very Farce of Novelties never heard of before in the Christian Church For instance What else is the confounding of the Offices of Bishops and Presbyters The making Doctors or Professors of Divinity in Colledges and Vniversities a distinct Office and of Divine Institution The setting up of Lay-Elders as Governours of the Church Jure Divino Making them Iudges of mens Qualifications to be admitted to the Sacrament Visiters of the Sick c. Making the Colleges of Presbyters in Cities in the primitive times Lay Eldership Prohibiting Appeals from Scottish General Assemblies to any Iudge Civil or Ecclesiastick and by consequence to Oecumenick Councils Are not these Ancient and Catholick Assertions What footsteps of these things in true Antiquity How easy had it been for men skilled in the Constitution Government and Discipline of the Primitive Church to have laid open to the Conviction of all sober Men the novelty the vanity the inexpediency the impoliticalness the uncatholicalness of most if not all of these Propositions If any further doubt could remain concerning the little skill the Clergy of Scotland in these times had in these matters it might be further Demonstated Fourthly from this plain matter of Fact viz. that that Second Book of Discipline in many points is taken word for word from Mr. Beza's Answers to the Questions proposed to him by The Lord Glamis then Chancellor of Scotland A fair Evidence that our Clergy at that time have not been very well seen in Ecclesiastical Politicks Otherwise it is not to be thought they would have been so imposed on by a single stranger Divine who visibly aimed at the propagation of the Scheme which by chance had got footing in the Church where he lived His Tractate De Triplici Episcopatu written of purpose for the advancement of Presbyterianism in Scotland carries visibly in its whole train that its design was to draw our Clergy from off the Ancient Polity of the Church and his Answers to the Six Questions proposed to him as I said by Glanus contain'd the New Scheme he advised them to Now let us taste a little of his skill in the Constitution and Government of the Ancient Church or if you please of his accounts of her Policy I take his Book as I find it amongst Saravia's works He is Positive for the Divine Right of Ruling Elders He affirms that Bishops arrogated to themselves the power of Ordination without Gods allowance That the Chief foundation of all Ecclesiastical Functions is Popular Election That this Election and not Ordination or Imposition of hands makes Pastors or Bishops That Imposition of hands does no more than put them in possession of their Ministry in the exercise of it as I take it the power whereof they have from that Election That by consequence 't is more proper to say that the Fathers of the Church are Created by the Holy Ghost and the suffrages of their Children than by the Bishops That Saint Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians in which he expressly writes against and condemns the
the late Revolution should be lookt upon as undone and that the settlement of the Church should again depend upon a new free unclogg'd unprelimited unover awed Meeting of Estates I am very much perswaded that a plain candid impartial and ingenuous Resolution of these few Questions might go very far in the Decision of this present Controversie And yet after all this labour spent about it I must confess I do not reckon it was in true value worth threeteen sentences As perchance may appear in part within a little And so I proceed to The Fifth Enquiry Whither supposing the Affirmatives in the proceeding Enquiries had been true they would have been of sufficient force to infer the Conclusion advanced in the Articles viz. that Prelacy c. ought to be Abolished THe Affirmatives are these two 1. That Prelacy was a great and Insupportable Grievance c. 2. That this Church was Reformed by Presbyters The purpose of this Enquiry is to try if these were good Reasons for the Abolition of Prelacy without further Address I think they were not Not the First viz. Prelacy's being a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People Sure I am 1. Our Presbyterian Brethren had not this way of Reasoning from our Reformers For I remember Iohn Knox in his Letter to the Queen Regent of Scotland rejected it with sufficient appearances of Keenness and Contempt He called it a Fetch of the Devils to blind Peoples eyes with such a Sophism To make them look on that Religion as most perfect which the Multitude by wrong custom have embraced or to insinuate that it is impossible that that Religion should be false which so long time so many Councils and so great a Multitude of men have Authorized and confirmed c. For says he if the opinion of the Multitude ought always to be preferred then did God injury to the Original world For they were all of one mind to wit conjured against God except Noah and his family And I have shewed already that the Body of our Reformers in all their Petitions for Reformation made the word of God the Practices of the Apostles the Catholick Sentiments and Principles of the Primitive Church c. and not the inclinations of the People the Rule of Reformation Nay 2. G. R. himself is not pleased with this Standard He not only tells the world That Presbyterians wished and endeavoured that that Phrase might not have been used as it was But he ridicules it in his first Vindication in Answer to the tenth Question thoâ— he made himself ridiculous by doing it as he did it The Matter is this The Author of the ten Questions finding that this Topick of the inclinations of the People was insisted on in the Article as ane Argument for Abolishing Prelacy undertook to Demonstrate that tho' it were a good Argument it would not be found to conclude as the Formers of the Article intended Aiming unquestionably at no more than that it was not true that Prelacy was such a great and insupportable Grievance c. and to make good his undertaking He formed his Demonstration as I have already accounted Now hear G. R. It is a new Topick says he not often used before that such a way of Religion is best because c. This his Discourse will equally prove that Popery is preferable to Protestantism For in France Italy Spain c. not the Multitude only but all the Churchmen c. are of that way Thus I say G. R. ridiculed the Argument tho' he most ridiculously fancied he was ridiculing his Adversary who never dream'd that it was a good Argument But could have been as ready to ridicule it as another However I must confess G. R. did indeed treat the Argument justly For 3. Supposing the Argument good I cannot see how any Church could ever have Reformed from Popery For I think when Luther began in Germany or Mr. Patrick Hamilton in Scotland or Zuinglius or Oecolompadius or Calvin c. in their respective Countreys and Churches they had the inclinations of the People generally against them Nay if I mistake not our Saviour and his Apostles found it so too when they at first undertook to propagate our Holy Religion and perchance tho' the Christian Religion is now Generally Professed in most Nations in Europe some of them might be soon Rid of it if this Standard were allowed to take place I have heard of some who have not been well pleased with Saint Paul for having the word Bishop so frequently in his Language and I remember to have been told that one not ane Vnlearn'd one in a Conference being prest with a Testimony of Irenaeus's in his 3 Cap. 3 Lib. Adversus Her for ane uninterrupted Succession of Bishops in the Church of Rome from the Apostles times at first denyed confidently that any such thing was to be found in Irenaeus and when the Book was produced and he was convinced by ane ocular Demonstration that Irenaeus had the Testimony which was alleged he delivered himself to this purpose I see it is there Brother but would to God it had not been there Now had these People who were thus offended with St. Paul and Irenaeus been at the writing of their Books is it probable we should have had them with their Imprimatur as we have them Indeed for my part I shall never consent that the Bible especially the New Testament be Reformed according to some Peoples inclinations For if that should be allowed I should be very much affraid there would be strange cutting and carving I should be very much affraid that the Doctrine of self-preservation should justle out the Doctrine of the Cross That Might should find more favour than Right that the Force and Power should possess themselves of the places of the Faith and Patience of the Saints and that beside many other places we might soon see our last of at least the first seven verses of the 13 th Chapter to the Romans I shall only add one thing more which G. R.'s naming of France gave me occasion to think on It is that the French King and his Ministers as much as some People talk of their Abilities must for all that be but of the ordinary Size of Mankind For if they had been as wise and thinking men as some of their Neighbours they might have easily stopt all the mouths that were opened against them some years ago for their Persecuting the Protestants in that Kingdom For if they had but narrated in ane Edict that the Religion of the Hugonots was and had still been a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to their Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People ever since it was Professed amongst them their work was done I believe G. R. himself would not have called the Truth of the Proposition in Question How easy were it to
Majesty to suppress such as fight against his Glory Albeit that both NATURE and GODS MOST PERFECT ORDINANCE REPUGNE to such Regiment More plainly to speak If Queen Elizabeth shall Confess that the EXTRAORDINARY DISPENSATION of Gods great Mercy makes that LAWFUL unto HER which both NATURE and GODS LAW do DENY unto all Women Then shall none in England be more willing to maintain her Lawful Authority than I shall be But if GODS WONDROUS WORK set aside She ground as God forbid the justness of her Title upon Consuetude Laws and Ordinances of Men then I am assured that as such foolish presumption doth highly offend Gods Supreme Majesty so I greatly fear that her Ingratitude shall not long lack punishment This was pretty fair but it was not enough He thought it proper to write to that Queen her self and give her a Dish of that same Doctrine His Letter is dated at Edenburg Iuly 29. 1559. In which having told her He never intended by his Book to assert any thing that might be prejudicial to her Iust Regiment providing she were no◠found Unfaithful to God he bespeaks her thus Ingrate you will be found in the presence of his Throne if you transfer the Glory of that Honour in which you now stand to any other thing than the DISPENSATION of his Mercy which ONLY maketh that Lawful to your Majesty which NATURE and LAW denyeth to all Women to command and bear Rule over Men In Conscience I am compelled to say that neither the consent of People the Process of time nor Multitude of Men can Establish a Law which God shall approve but whatsoever he approveth by his Eternal word that shall be approved and stay constantly firm And whatsoever he Condemneth shall be Condemned tho' all Men on Earth should travel for the justification of the same And therefore Madam The only way to retain and keep the Benefits of God abundantly of late days poured upon you and your Realm is unfeignedly to render unto God to his Mercy and undeserved Grace the whole Glory of all this your Exaltation Forget your BIRTH and all TITLE which thereupon doth hang It pertaineth to you to ground the JUSTICE of your Authority not on that LAW which from year to year doth change but upon the ETERNAL PROVIDENCE of him who CONTRARY to the ORDINARY course of NATURE and without your deserving hath exalted your Head If thus in Gods presence you humble your self I will with Tongue and Pen justify your Authority and Regiment as the Holy Ghost hath justified the same in Deborah that Blessed Mother in Israel But if you neglect as God forbid these things and shall begin to Brag of your Birth and to Build your Authority and your Regiment upon your own Law flatter you who so listeth your Felicity shall be short c. Let Contentious People put what Glosses they please on Bishop Overal's Convocation Book sure I am here is the Providential Right so plainly taught that no Glosses can obscure it Here it is maintain'd in plain terms and Resolutely in opposition to all the Laws not only of Men but of God and Nature Thus I have given a taste of such principles as the Prelatists in Scotland profess they disown tho' maintain'd by our Reformers It had been easy to have instanced in many more But these may be sufficient for my purpose which was not in the least to throw dirt on our Reformers to whom I am as willing as any man to pay a due reverence but to stop the mouth of impertinent clamour and 〈◊〉 the world have occasion to consider if it is such a scandalous thing to think otherwise than our Reformers thought as our Brethren endeavour on all occasions to perswade the populace For these principles of our Reformers which I have mentioned in Relation to Civil Governments are the principles in which we have most forsaken them And let the world judge which set of principles has most of Scandal in it Let the world judge I say whither their principles or ours participate most of the Faith the Patience the Self-denyal c. of Christians Whither principles have least of the love of the world and most of the image of Christ in them Whither principles have greatest affinity with the principles and practices of the Apostles and their immediate successors in the most afflicted and by consequence the most incorrupted times of Christianity Whither principles have a more natural tendency towards the security of Governments and the peace of Societies and seem most effectual for advancing the power of Godliness and propagating the Profession and the life of Christianity I further subjoyn these two things 1. I challenge our Presbyterian Brethren to convict us of the Scandal of receding from our Reformers in any one principle which they maintain'd in Common with the Primitive Church the Universal Church of Christ before she was tainted with the Corruptions of Popery And if we have not done it as I am Confident our Brethren shall never be able to prove we have our receding from our Reformers as I take it ought to be no prejudice against us I think the Authority of the Catholick Church in the days of her indisputed Purity and Orthodoxy ought in all Reason to be deem'd preferable to the Authority of our Reformers especially considering that they themselves professed to own the Sentiments of the Primitive Church as a part at least of the Complexe Rule of Reformation as I have already proved 2. I challenge our Presbyterian Brethren to instance in so much as one principle in which we have Deserted our Reformers wherein our Deserting them can by any Reasonable by any Colourable construction be interpreted ane approach towards Popery I think no Man who understands any thing of the Popish Controversies can readily allow himself the Impudence to say that to dislike Tumultuary Reformations and deposing Sovereign Princes and subverting Civil Governments c. upon the score of Religion is to be for Popery Or that the Doctrine of Submission to Civil Authority the Doctrine of Passive Obedience or Non-resistance or which I take to be much about one in the present case the Doctrine of the Cross are Popish Doctrines Or that to Condemn the Traiterous Distinction between the Person and the Authority of the Civil Magistrate as it is commonly made use of by some People and as it is Condemned by the Laws of both Kingdoms is to turn either Papistical or Iesuitical Let our Brethren if they can Purge their own Doctrines in these matters of all Consanguinity with Popery And now after all this 3. I would desire my Readers to remember that this Artifice of Prejudicating against principles because different from or inconsistent with the principles of our Reformers is none of our Contrivance Our Presbyterian Brethren not we were the First who set on foot this Popular tho' very pitiful way of Arguing By all the Analogies then of equitable and just Reasoning they ought to
within the Church is dissolved which is not for the most part till much of the day is spent indeed cannot readily be considering what work there is of it The Congregation dissolved there is a little breathing time Then the Bell rings again and the work is renewed Some other Brother than the Parish Minister mounts the Pulpit in the Church in the afternoon and Preaches a Thanksgiving Sermon and the rest are as busy in the Church yard as ever And then on Moondays morning the Preaching work is fallen to a fresh and pursued vigorously one Preaching in the Church another in the Church yard as formerly I am sure I am just in all this Account I could prove it by many instances if it were needful but I shall only name two Thus Last year when this Sacrament was Celebrated at St. Cuthberts where the renown'd Mr. David Williamsone Exercises on the three dayes viz. Saturday Sunday and Moonday in the Church and Church-yard there were no fewer than 12 or 13 formal Sermons besides all the Incidental Harrangues and all the Exhortations at the Tables c. And when the Sacrament was given in the New Church in the Canon-gate in September or the beginning of October 1692 there was much about the same number I my self overheard parts of some three or four which were Preached in the Church-yard And that which made me have the deeper impressions of the unaccountableness of this their Method was that all who were in the Church-yard on Sunday at least and four times as many might that day have had room enough in the Churches of Edenburgh which were at no great distance But it seems the solemnity of Church-yard Sermons is now become necessary on such occasions I have narrated nothing in this strange account I say but what is Notorious Matter of Fact All this Parade they have ordinarily even in the Countrey and tho' there are but some scores or at most but some hundreds to Communicate yet the Communion is not Solemn enough there 's a Cloud upon the Ministers reputation something or other is wrong if there are not some thousands of Spectators I doubt not when strangers Read this account they will think it a very surprizing one And no wonder for not to insist how much they have receded not only from the Rules and Practices of our Reformers but even from the Determinations of their own General Assembly 1645 not only receded from them but almost in every particular run quite Counter to them not to insist on what occasions may be given to much scandal and many wickednesses by such indigested disorderly confused and mixt Convocations For who knows not that hundreds generally strangers to one another who have no sense of no concern for no care about serious Religion may meet on such occasions for Novelty for Curiosity for Intrigues not to be named for a thousand such sinister ends Not to insist on these things I say tho' they are of no small consequence What a vast difference is there between such Communions and the Orderly and Devout Communions of the Primitive Church What would the Ancient Lights and Guides of the Christian Church who would suffer none to stay in the Church but such as were to Participate say if they saw such promiscuous Routs assembled and mostly for no other end than making a Spectacle of such a Venerable Mystery Is not such unaccountable Parade much liker to the Popish Processions than the Devout Performances of the purer times of Genuine Christianity How impossible were it at this rate to Celebrate the Sacrament once a Month in every Parish Church How much more impossible to restore it to its due and proper frequency How far is this from looking on this Holy Sacrament as ane ordinary tho' a very signal part of Divine worship Or rather is it not to make a Prodigie of this Divine Mystery Certainly when People observe how seldome and withal with what strange Pomp with what ordinarily impracticable solemnity such ane holy ordinance is gone about it cannot but work differently upon their different dispositions It stands fair to be a Scare-crow to the weak Christian He dares not approach where there is so much frightening Address It stands as fair for being a scandal to the strong and understanding Christian when he sees so much vain shew so much needless ostentation so much odd external tricking about it And the Hypocrite can hardly wish any thing more useful for him For who should doubt of his being a Saint when he approaches amidst so much solemnity Besides Every body may easily see what is aim'd at by all this It is as they think a proper Method for catching the Populace It is to make them admire the Devotion the Religion the Abilities of the Party How Glorious and August are their Communions What singular preparations have they How many Powerful Prayers How many Soul-searching Sermons Who can compare with them for fervour and zeal for Graces and Gifts for special marks of Gods peculiar favour and assistance Must not their way be Gods way Must not those of their way be the true the only People of God! I ask God and my Presbyterian Brethren pardon if this is not at the bottom of the Matter But if it is I wish they would consider from what principles it proceeds How easy is it to discern in such Arts and Methods the clear Symptomes the lively Signatures of a Schismatical temper How easy to perceive the plain features of Faction and the Lineaments of a preposterous Fondness to have their way and party had in Admiration How easy were it more fully to expose such dangerous and dreadful Methods But I am affraid I have digressed too much already There is 8. Another very considerable instance of their Deserting the principles of our Reformers in the Matter of this Sacrament Such ane instance as may make another strange Figure when seriously considered Our Reformers having once Established the Confession of Faith as the Standard for this National Church required no more for qualifying private Persons for the Sacrament of the Eucharist than that they could say the Lords Prayer the Articles of the Belief and the summ of the Law and understand the use and Vertue of this Holy Sacrament So it is expressly delivered in the ninth Head of the First Book of Discipline Supposing the Person free from scandal this was certainly a Genuine Measure and agreeable to the Rules and Principles of Catholick Vnity For However expedient it may be upon some Emergent Occasions or Necessities to require suitable Obligations of Office-bearers in the Church yet no man I think who loves Christian Simplicity and Vnity but will acknowledge 't is proper and prudent to make the terms of Communion as Catholick and Comprehensive as Christs institutions will allow them to be made Now not to insist on our Brethrens separating from the Communion of those who keep by the terms of Communion required by our Reformers
Schism which then prevailed there as foreseeing that Episcopacy might readily be deem'd a remedy against so great ane evil joyn'd Soâ—thenes with himself in the Inscription of the Epistle that by his own example he might teach how much that Princeliness was to be avoided in Ecclesiastical Conventions seeing the Apostles themselves who are owned to have been next to Christ first in order and supreme in degree did yet Exercise their power by the Rules of Parity Who will not at first sight think this a pretty odd fetch But to go on he further affirms That Episcopacy is so far from being a proper remedy against Schism that it has produced many Grievous Schisms which had never been but for that Humane Invention That the Papacy was the fruit of Episcopacy That the Council of Nice by making that Canon about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Ancient customes should continue c cleared the way for the Roman Papacy which was then advancing apace And founded a Throne for that Whore that sits upon the seven Mountains That the Primitive Churches were in a flourishing condition so long as their Governours continued to Act in Parity And had not yeilded to Prelacy And yet he had granted before That humane Episcopacy as he calls it was in vogue in Ignatius his time c. So that I think they could not flourish much having so short a time to flourish in These fewâ— of many such learned Propositions I have collected out of that Book which was so successful at that time in furthering and advancing the Presbyterian Principles in Scotland And could they be a learned Clergy Could they be great Masters at Antiquity and Ecclesiastical History who swallowed down these Propositions or were imposed on by the Book that contain'd them 'T is true this Book came not to Scotland till the end of the year 1577 or the beginning of 1578. But I thought it pardonable to anticipate so far as now to give this account of it considering how proper it was for my present purpose We shall have occasion to take further notice of it afterward Thus I think I have made it appear how advantageous Morton's Proposition was to the Presbyterian party They had occasion by it to fall upon forming a New Scheme of Church Governmet and Polity They were as well prepared as they could be for such a nick and they had a set of people to deal with who might easily be worsted in these Controversies However it seems the common principles of Politicks which God and Nature have made if not inseparable parts at least ordinary concomitants of sound and solid reason did sometimes make their appearances amongst them For that there have been Disputations and Contests and that some at least of the many propositions contained in the Second Book of Discipline have been debated and tossed is evident from the many Conferences were about it and the long time was spent before it was perfected and got its finishing stroke from a General Assembly as we shall find in our progress Proceed we now in our deduction Tho' the Presbyterian Faction had gain'd this advantage in the Assembly 1576 that they had allowance to draw a new Scheme of Polity to which they could not but apply themselves very chearfully yet it seems they were so much humbled by the Repulses they had got as to the main Question viz. the Lawfulness of Episcopacy that they thought it not expedient to try the next Assembly with it directly as they had done unsuccessfully twice before But to wait a little till their party should be stronger and in the mean time to content themselves with such indirect blows as they could conveniently give it such I say their deliberations seem to have been at the next Assembly which was holden at Edenburgh Octob 24. 1576. For not so much as one word in that Assembly concerning the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of Prelacy either Simply and in it self Or Complexely as then in use in Scotland 'T is true Certain â—reâ—hren says the MS. some Brethren says Calderwood some says Petrie without Question the Melvilians proposed that now that Mr. Patrick Adamson was nominated for the Archbishoprick of St. Andrews He might be tryed as to his sufficiency for such a station according to ane Act made in March 1575. But it seems the major part of the Assembly have not been for it for it was not done as we shall find afterward Nay another Act was fairly dispenced with by this Assembly in favour of Boyd Archbishop of Glasgow For being required to give his answer if he would take the Charge of a particular Flock according to the Act made in April before He Answered That he had entered to his Bishoprick according to the Agreement at Leith which was to stand in force during the Kings Minority or till a Parliament should determine otherwise That he had given his Oath to the Kings Majesty in things appertaining to his Highness That he was affraid he might incur the Guilt of Perjury and be called in question by the King for changing a member of state if he should change any thing belonging to the Order Manner Priviledges or Power of his Bishoprick That therefore he could not bind himself to a particular Flock nor prejudge the power of Iurisdiction which he had received with his Bishoprick c. Thus he answered I say and the Assembly at that time satisfied themselves so far with this answer that they pressed him no further but referred the matter to the next Assembly as even both Calderwood and Petrie acknowledge A fair evidence that in this Assembly the Presbyterian party was the weaker However One indirect step they gain'd in this Assembly also By the First Book of Discipline Hedd 9. It was appointed that the Country Ministers and Readers should meet upon a certain day of the week in such Towns within six miles distance as had Schools and to which there was repair of Learned men to exercise themselves in the Interpretation of Scripture in imitation of the practice in use among the Corinthians mentioned 1 Cor. 14.29 These Meetings it seems had been much neglected and disfrequented in most places It was therefore enacted by this Assembly That all Ministers within eight miles c. should resort to the place of exercise each day of exercise c. This I say was useful for the Presbyterian designs For these Meetings were afterwards turn'd into Presbyteries as we shall find when we come to the year 1579. And so 't is very like the motion for reviving them was made by those of the Faction For no man can deny that they have still had enough of Draught in their Politicks The next Assembly was holden April 1. Anno 1577. No direct progress made now neither as to the main Question And only these indirect ones 1. The Archbishop of Glasgow was obliged to take the charge of a particular Flock if we