Opinion of things or because they would not Condemn these necessitated risings in Arms to be Rebellion and a Sin against God which they were forced to declare by terrible menacings of Death making their Arbitrary Laws to reach the Heart Thoughts and inward Sentiments of the Mind as well as outward Actions Whereupon this became a Criminal Question robbing many of their Lives Was the rising at Bothwell-bridge Rebellion and a Sin against God And this Was the killing of the Bishop of St Andrews horrid Murther Which if any answered negatively or did not answer affirmatively they were cruelly Condemned to Death The Ministry then also were generally insnared with that Bonded Indulgence the pretended benefit of that forementioned Indemnity For when a Proclamation was emitted inveighing bitterly against Field-Meetings and absolutely introducing all such for the future under highest pain but granting Liberty to Preach in Houses upon the Terms of a Cautionany Bond given for their living peaceably Yet excluding all these Ministers who were suspected to have been at the late Rebellion and all those who shall afterwards be admitted by Non-Conform Ministers And certifying that if ever they shall be at any Field-Conventicle the said Indemnity shall not be useful to such Transgressours any manner of way And requiring security that none under the colour of this favour continue to Preach Rebellion Though there seems to be enough in the Proclamation it self to have scared them from this scandalous snare Yet a Meeting of Ministers at Edinburgh made up of Indulged avowed Applauders of the Indulgence or underhand Approvers and favourers of the same and some of them old Publick Resolutioners assuming to themselves the name of a General Assembly voted for the acceptance of it And so formerly transacted and bargained upon base dishonest and dishonourable Terms with the Usurper by consenting and compacting with the People to give that Bond wherein the People upon an humble Petition to the Counsel obtaining their Indulged Minister do bind and oblige that he shall live peaceably And in order thereto to present him before his Majesty's Privy Council when they shall be called so to do And in case of failure in not presenting him to be liable to the Sum of 6000 Merks Whereby they Condemned themselves of former unpeaceableness Many embraced this new Bastard Indulgence that had not the benefit of the former Brat of the same Mother the Supremacy and far more consented to it without a Witness and most of all did some way homolegate it in Preaching under the Sconce of it Declining the many reiterated and urgent Calls of the zealous Lovers of Christ to come out and maintain the Testimony of the Gospel in the open Fields for the honour of their Master and the freedom of their Ministry Whereupon as many poor People were tumbled and jumbled into many confusions so that they were so bewildered and bemisted in doubts and debates that they knew not what to do and were tempted to question the Cause formerly so fervently contended for against all opposition than so simply abandoned by those that seemed sometimes valiant for it when they saw them consulting more their onw ease than the Concerns of their Masters Glory or the necessity of the poor People Hungering for the Gospel so the more zealous and faithful after several Addresses Calls and Invitations to Ministers finding themselves deserted by them judged themselves under a necessity to discountenance many of them whom formerly they followed with pleasure and to resolve upon a persuit and prosecution of Duty of the Day without them and to provide themselves with faithful Ministers who would not shun for all hazards to declare the whole Counsel of God And accordingly the Lord sent them first Mr. Richard Cameron with whom after serious solicitation his Brethren denied their Concurrence and then Mr. Donald Cargill who with a zeal and boldness becoming Christs Ambassadours maintained and prosecuted the Testimony against all the Indignities done to their Master and wrongs to the Cause both by the encroachments of Adversaries and Defections of their declining Brethren And now the Lords Inheritance was again revived But as Christ was then displaying his Beauty to his poor despised and persecuted People the Duke of York came to Scotland who did receive him in great Pomp and Pride Against which the forementioned faithful Witnesses of Christ did find themselves obliged to testifie their just resentment and to protest against his succeeding to the Crown in their Declaration published at Sanquhair Iune 22. 1680. Wherein also they disown Charles Stuart as having any Right Title or Interest in the Crown of Scotland or Government thereof because of his breath of Covenant and Vsurpation on Christs Prerogatives c. And declare a War with him and all the Men of these Practices homologating the Testimony at Rutherglen and disclaiming that Declaration at Hamiltown This Action was generally Condemned by the Body of lurking Ministers both for the matter of it and the unseasonableness of it and its apparent unfeasiblness being done by a handful so inconsiderable for number strength or significancy But tho' it is not the prudence of the management but the justness of the Action that I would have vindicated from Obloquies yet it wanted nothing but success to justifie both in the Conviction of many that made much outcry against it In these dangerous Circumstances their difficulties and discouragements dayly encreased by their Enemies vigilancy their enviers Treachery and their own inadvertency some of their number falling into the hands of them that sought their lives For two of the most eminent and faithful Witnesses of Christ Mr. Donald Cargill and Henry Hall were surprized at Queens Ferrie Mr. Cargill escaped at that time but the other endeavouring to resist the Enemies was Murdered by them And with him they got a draught of a Covenant declaring their present purposes and future Resolutions The Tenor whereof was an Engagement To free the Church of God of the Corruption of Prelacy on the one hand and the Thraldom of Erastianism on the other To persevere in the Doctrin of the Reformed Churches especially that of Scotland and in the Presbyterian Government exercised in Sessions Presbyteries Synods and General Assemblies as a distinct Government from the Civil and distinctly to be exercised not after a Carnal manner by plurality of Votes or Authority of a single Person but according to the word of God making and carrying the sentence To execute Righteous Iudgement impartially according to the Word and degree of Offence upon the Committers of these things especially to wit Blasphemy c. Oppression and Malignancy c. To reject the present Rulers as the only speedy way of relaxation from the Wrath of God lying on the Land Therefore easily solving the Objectious 1. of our Ancestors obliging the Nation to this Race and Line that they did not buy their Liberty with our Thraldom nor could they bind their Children to any thing so much to their
out of zeal against the Sectarians the Executioners of that extraordinary Act of Justice yet it was more for the Manner than for the matter and more for the Motives and Ends of it than for the Grounds of it that they opposed themselves to it and resented it For they acknowledged and remonstrated to himself the Truth of all these things upon which that Sentence and Execution of Justice was founded And when the unlawful Engagement was on foot to Rescue him they opposed it with all their might Shewing in their Answers to the Estates that Year 1648 and Declarations and Remonstrances the sinfulness and destructiveness of that Engagement that it was a breach of the Commandments of God and of all the Articles of the Covenant Declaring with all Iuly ult they would never consent to the King's Restitution to the exercise of his Power till security should be had By Solemn Oath under his Hand and Seal that he shall for himself and Successors give his assent to all Acts and Bills for enjoyning Presbyterial Government and never make opposition to it nor endeavour any change thereof July ult 1648. Sess. 21. By which it appears they were not so stupidly loyal as some would make them Yet there was too much of this Plague of the Kings-evil even among good Men For after the Death of Charles the First in the Year 1649. they began to think of joyning once more with the Malignants and taking into their Bosoms these Serpents which had formerly stung them to Death There was indeed at that time a Party faithful for God who considering the many Breaches of the Solemn League and Covenant and particularly by the late Engagement against England did so Travel that they procured the Covenant to be renewed with the Solemn Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties which was universally Subscribed and sworn through all the Land wherein also they regret this tampering with Malignants Whereupon they subdued their Adversaries at Sterling and in the North they did also give Warning concerning the Young King that notwithstanding of the Lords Hand against his Father yet he hearkens to the Councils of those who were Authors of these Miseries to his Father by which it hath coâ—e to pass that he hath hitherto refused to grant the just and necessary desires of the Church and Kingdom for securing of Religion and Liberty And it is much to be feared that these wicked Counsellors may so far prevail upon him as to engage him in a War for overturning the Work of God and bearing down all those in the three Kingdoms that adhere thereto Which if he shall do cannot but bring great Wrath from the Lord upon himself and Thâ—one and must be the cause of many new and great Miseries and Calamities to these Lands And whereas many would have admitted his Majesty to the Exercise of his Royal Power upon any Terms whatsoever the Assembly declares That in the League and Covenant the duty of defending and preserving the King is subordinate to the duty of preserving Religion and Liberty And therefore he standing in opposition to the publick desires of the People for their security it were a manifest breach of Covenant and a preferring the Kings Interest to the Interest of Iesus Christ to bring him to the Exercise of his Power And therefore if his Majesty or any having or pretending Power and Commission from him shall invade this Kingdom upon pretext of establishing him in the Exercise of his Royal Power as it will be an high Provocation against God to be accessary or assisting thereto so it will be a necessary Duty to resist and oppose the same July 27. 1649. Sess. 27. And when the bringing home of the King came to be voted in the Assembly there was one faithful Witness Mr. Adam Kae Minister in Gallaway protested against it But notwithstanding of these Convictions Warning yea and Discoveries of the Kings Malignancy They sent Commissioners and concluded a Treaty with him at Breda During which Treaty the Commissions which he had sent to Montrose and his Complices were brought to the Committee of Estates discovering what sort of King they were treating with Whereupon the Estates concluded to break off the Treaty and recal their Commissioners To which intent they sent an Express with Letters to Breda which falling into the hands of Libbertone was by him without the knowledge of the other Commissioners delivered unto the King Who then sound it his interest to dissemble And so sending for the Commissioners he made â— flattering Speech to them shewing that now after serious deliberation he was resolved to comply with all their Proposals Whereupon the Commissioners dispatch the Post back with Letters full of praise and joy for the satisfaction they had received The Estates being over-swayed more with respect to their own Credit which they thought should be impeached if they should retract their own Plenipotentiary Instructions to conclude the Treaty upon the Kings assent to their Conditions than to their reclamant Consciences they resolved to bring home the King Yet they thought to mend the matter by binding him with all Cords and putting him to all most explicite Engagements before he should receive the Imperial Crown Well upon these Terms home he comes And before he set his Foot on British Ground he takes the Covenant And the Commission of the General Assembly precluded his Admittance to the Crown if he should refuse the then required satisfaction before his Coronation by their Act at the West-Kirk Aug. 13. 1650. Which is this The Commission of the General Assembly considering that there may be just Ground of stumbling from the Kings Majesties refusing to subscribe and excite the Declaration offered to him by the Committee of Estates and the Commission of the General Assembly concerning his former Carriage and Resolutions for the future in Reference to the Cause of God and the Enemies and Friends thereof doth therefore declare That this Kirk and Kingdom doth not own or espouse any Malignant Party or Quarrel or Interest but that they fight meerly upon their former Grounds and Principles and in the defence of the Cause of God and of the Kingdom as they have done these twelve Years past And therefore as they disclaim all the Sin and Guilt of the King and of his House so they will not own him not his Interest otherwise than with a Subordination to God and so far as he owns and Prosecutes the Cause of God and disclaims his and his Fathers Opposition to the Work of God and to the Covenant and likewise all the Enemies thereofâ— And that they will with convenient speed take into Consideration the Papers lately sent unto them by Oliver Cromwell and vindicate themselves from all the falshoods contained therein especially in these things wherein the quarrel betwixt us and that Party is mis-stated as if we owned the late Kings Proceedings and were resolved to Prosecute and Maintain His Present Majesties Interest before and without
retreating from the pursuit they judged it most safe in that extremity for some time not to separate Which resolution coming abroad to the Ears of others of their Brethren determined them incontinently to come to their assistance considering their own liableness to the same common danger upon the account of their endeavours of that nature to defend themselves bâ—ing of the same judgment for maintaining of the same Cause to which they were bound by the same Covenants This was the Rise and Occasion of that appearance at Bothwel-Bridge which the Lord did in his Holy Soveraignty confound for former Defections by the means of Division which broke that little Army among themselves before they were broken by the Enemy They continued together in amiable and amicable Peace for the space of 8 or 9 days while they endeavoured to put out and keep out every wicked thing from amongst them and adhered to the Rutherglen Testimony and that short Declaration at Glascow confirming it Representing their present Purposes and Endeavours were only in vindication and defence of the Reformed Religion as they stood obliged thereto by the National and Solemn League and Covenant and the Solemn Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties declaring against Popery Prelacy Erastianism and all things depending thereupon Intending hereby to comprehend the Defection of the Indulgence to witness against which all unanimously agreed Until the Army encreasing the Defenders and Daubers of that Defection some Ministers and others came in who broke all The occasion of the Breach was first when an Overture was offered to set times apart for Humiliation for the Publick Sins of the Land and accordingly the complying with abjured Erastianism by the acceptance of the ensnaring Indulgence was condescended upon among the rest of the grounds of Fasting and Humiliation The Sticklers for the Indulgence refused the Overture upon Politick Considerations for fear of offending the Indulged Ministers and Gentlemen and provoking them to withdraw their Assistance And next whereas the Cause was stated before according to the Covenants in the Rutherglen Testimony and Glascow Declaration wherein the King's Interest was waved These Dividers drew up another large Paper called the Hamiltown Declaration wherein they assert the Kings Interest according to the Third Article of the Solemn League and Covenant Against which the best affected contended and protested they could not in Conscience put in his interest into the state of the quarrel being now in stated opposition to Christ's Interests and inconsistent with the meaning of the Covenant and the Practices of the Covenanters and their own Testimonies while now he could not be declared for as being in the defence of Religion and Liberty when he had so palpably overturned and ruined the work of Reformation and oppressed such as adhered thereunto and had burnt the Covenant c. Whereby he had loosed the People from all obligation to him from it Yet that contrary Faction prevailed so far as to get it published in the name of all whereby the Cause was perverted and betrayed And so in the Holy All-over-ruling Providence of God that poor handful was signally discountenanced of God deprived of all Conduct divested of all Protection and laid open to the Raging Sword the just punishment of all such tamperings with the Enemies of God and espousing their Interest About 300 were killed in the Fields and 1000 and upwards taken Prisoners stripped and carried to Edinburgh and there sentenced with Banishment and sent away for America and by the way a few excepted perished in Shipwreck and two faithful and painful Ministers and Witnesses of Christ Mr. Iohn Kidd and Mr. Iohn King received the Crown of Martyrdom sealing their Testimony with their Blood and many others after them for the same Cause After this fearful and fatal stroak at Bothwell the Universality of the Children of the Church of Scotland which before espoused her Testimony was partly drawn by Craft and partly by Cruelty from a Conjunction with their Brethren in prosecuting the same either into an open defection to the contrary side or into a detestable indifferency and neutrality in the Cause of God For first of all the Duke of Monmouth procured the emission of a pretended Indemnity attended with a Bond of Peace for its Companion wherein that Insurrection was acknowledged to be Rebellion and ane Obligation never to rise in Arms against the King or any Commissionate by him and to live peaceably c. Which were dreadful Snars fairded over with curious words and cozening names of living peaceably c. This course of defection carried away many at that time And from that time since the taking that Bond of peaceable living there hath been an Universal preferring of Peace to Truth and Ease to Duty And the Generality have been left to swallow all Oaths and Bonds imposed since many Ministers refusing to give their advice when required and requested thereunto and some not being ashamed to perswade the People to take them But then they not only raised more Forces to exhaust the strength and substance of the already wasted Country and laid on and continued from one Term to another that wicked Exaction and cruel Oppression of the Cess for the same declared ends of suppressing and banishing what remained of the Gospel and imposed Localites for maintaining the Souldiers imployed in those Designs for refusing which many Families were Pillaged Plundered and quite Impoverished besides the beating and abusing them But also they went on unweariedly with pressing the Bonds of Peace and dragging them like Dogs to the Prisons that would not subscribe them and for taking up in their Porteous Rolls the Names of all that were suspected to have been at Bothwell Insurrection which they gathered by the Informations of Sycophants and reputed them Convict if being summoned they did not appear and forced others to Swear Super Inquirendis and delate upon Oath whom they did either see or heard that they were in Arms or went to Meetings and such as refused suffered Bonds of Banishment Yea having made it Criminal to reset harbour correspond or converse with those whom they declared Rebels they thereupon imprisoned fined and ruined vast numbers for having seen or spoken with some of them or because they did not discover or apprehend them when they fancied they might for which many Gentlemen and others were Indicted and imprisoned and some Arraigned and Condemned to Death For these Causes the Country was Harrassed and destroyed by four extraordinary Circuit Courts successively going about with their numerous Train whereby many were grievously oppressed and with their Oppressions tempted with many Impositions of Conscience-debauching Oaths and Bonds to compear when called and to keep the Church and to refrain from going to Meetings c. and by these tentations involved in Complyances and Defections And not only were they Condemned to Death for being actually in Arms or any overt Act of Transgressing their wicked Laws but even for their extorted