never be justified And as for the Rebellions he charges us with under King Charles the First let any body peruse Rushworth's Collections or even Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle and tho all the Truth be not written there it will be easy to perceive that the Innovations made upon the Church of Scotland and the Invasions on the Liberties of England were the cause of that Prince's Misfortunes who was misled by a Popish Wife and misinformed by Popish and Prelatical Ministers to his Ruine That unfortunate King put one Affront on our Nation mentioned by Sir Richard Baker that was enough of it self to have made them shake off his Government viz. the demanding of the Crown of Scotland to be brought hither for him to be crowned with which argued such a Degeneracy of Spirit and so much of an alienated Mind from his Native Country that 〈◊〉 a wonder how ever Scots-Men should have own'd him afterwards the greatest Monarch that ever sat upon the English Throne would have gone as far as Scoon and thank'd us too to have had the Honour of it and for a Scots-Man so far to undervalue his native Country as to demand the poor and almost the only remaining Badg of their Honour Antiquity and Independency to be brought into another Nation Quis talia fando temperet a Ne quid aspersus dicam Certainly nothing but an exuberant Loyalty and Esteem for their natural Prince whom doubtless they considered as over-ruled by pernicious Counsel could ever have made that Kingdom put up the Affront And therefore when he persisted to oppress and persecute them upon the account of their Consciences it was no wonder that they re-assum'd the Spirit of their Ancestors and let him know that the Kings of Scotland were never allowed an Arbitrary Power nor did ever any of them usurp it but it prov'd fatal to them or theirs Nor never was the Nation so much degenerate but since the Reign of our Protestant Prelacy who were the Creatures and Supporters of Tyranny for in the times of Popery we had more Grandees than we have now that could tell how to put the Bell about the Cat 's Neck on occasion as Archbald Douglas Earl of Angus did to King Iames the Third but since the Union of the Crowns the fall of our Grandees and the Combination of the English and Scots Mitres Scots-Men durst never say their Head was their own but when they had the Sword in their Hand except it be under this present Government And therefore the Nation of Scotland is mightily obliged to Prelacy Ibid. He charges the Presbyterians with Enthusiasm Our Prelatâ—sts are of late become as fond of this Expression as is the Cuckow of his known Note and I can imagine no other reason why than because they are so accustomed to swallow their Liquor that as the Lecher pleases himself with Baudy Stories so do they with the very word Enthusiasm which is but a Greek Term signiâ—ying pouring in and in this sense I 'll maintain it that it 's more proper to be applied to our Drunken Prelatists than in any manner to us I always understood Enthusiasts to be a sort of Persons who pretended to other Revelations than the written Word for their Rule such as our Quakers and the old German Anabaptists or absit verbo invidia our Prelatists who build more upon the uncertain and superstitious Writings ascribed to some of the Fathers than on the Writings of the Apostles who are the Grandfathers or on the Rationale of a Durandus or the Poetical Whims of any Church Devoto for their unscriptural Ceremonies than on Diviâ—e Revelation which orders us to worship God as he commands and not as we think good in our own Eyes Then seeing the Presbytérians do plead for a strict Conformity to the Scripture as the Rule of Faith and Manners and that our Prelatists admit of By-Rules for which no Reason can be assigned but the Capricio of some fanciful Bigot or corrupted Father let the World judg which Party is most chargeable with Enthusiasm Ibid. He says That the Acts of our General Assemblies do sufficiently vindicate Charles the Second and his Ministers of State from any shadow of Rigour or Cruelty It were easy to answer the Doctor in his own Coin that the knavish Address of the Scots Bishops against the Prince of Orange their opposing him in Parliament and the Barbarities committed upon the Presbyterians by the Prelatists as above related are sufficient to vindicate us from any shadow of Rigour or Cruelty which must by all Men who have not forfeited Sense and Reason be allowed more than a sufficient Answer But further the Doctor would have done well to have cited those Acts and then a more particular Answer could have been given However I 'le guess at his meaning and suppose them to be such as declared against imploying Malignants in Places of Power and Trust which was the Opinion of those called Remonstrators And if so pray good Doctor why is this more culpable than your Church-of England Test which excludes all Dissenters from Places of Power and Trust and that also against his Majesty's Desire in his Speech to the Parliament wherein he did rationally insinuate that the taking off of the same would unite his Subjects in his Service against the Common Enemy If the Copy was bad why does the Church of England follow it Or do you not think that we had as much reason to keep out Prelatists from Places of Power and Trust as you have to keep out Presbyterians Nay I do verily believe there is no true English-man or Protestant who does not see the Mischief which happens daily by the continuance of this Test which obliges his Majesty to make use of such as do betray him continually And whether the Scots Presbyterians were mistaken in their Conjectures that our Prelatists when admitted into Trust would betray our Religion and Liberties let the late Revolution and the Causes of it testify Or if there was any such Act made or intended by any Assembly of the Church of Scotland as disown'd Charles Stuart the Head of the Malignants because of his breach of Covenant and designs to enslave the Nation it must 〈◊〉 be own'd that they were too clear-sighted and that the Church of England do the same in relation to K. Iames who had as good a Right to the Crown according to the Prelatical Principles as ever his Brother had and if Passive Obedience be a true Doctrine ought as little to have been opposed as he Then supposing it true that the Remonstrators were against owning of him on the Accounts aforesaid yet seeing they were not the majority of the Presbyterians and were willing to submit to his Legal Administration swear Allegiance and live peaceably under his Governmâ—nt neither Reason nor Conscience will justify his Proceedings against the Presbyterians in general on that Account or the making of Laws on purpose to fret their Consciences and press the execution of
A CONTINUATION OF THE ANSWER TO THE Scots Presbyterian Eloquence Dedicated to the Parliament of Scotland Being a Vindication of the Acts of that August Assembly from the Clamours and Aspersions of the Scots Prelatical Clergy in their Libels printed in England With a Confutation of Dr. M 's Postscript in Answer to the former proving That it 's not the Church of England's Interest to countenance the Scots outed Clergy As also Reflections on Sir Geo. Mackenzy's Defence of Charles the Second's Government in Scotland And Instances on Record of Sir George's Subornation against Sir Hugh and Sir George Campbel and the Laird of Blackwood Presbyterian Gentlemen Together with the Acts of the Scots General Assembly and present Parliament compared with the Acts of Parliament in the two last Reigns against the Presbyterians By VVILL LAICK London Printed in the Year 1693. TO THE STATES of SCOTLAND in Parliament Assembled Most Noble Patriots I Presume but with that profound Respect which is due to such an August Assembly humbly to implore your Protection to this rude and indigested yet real Effort of true Love to my Country and to you Worthy Patriots in particular whom all honest-hearted Scotsmen look upon as the Healers of our Breaches and Restorers of our Paths to dwell in And therefore it is not possible for any Man who has a drop of true Scots Blood in his Veins to hear your Authority impugned and your Wisdom called in Question without resenting it to the utmost of his Ability And if according to the common Opinion of some of our Neighbours Sâ—otorum ingenia sint praefervida an Affront of that Nature is enough to make them boil over Hence it is that in a former Endeavour I could not forbear to besprinkle Scotico aceto some degenerate Monsters of our Country who exposed to contempt as much as in them lay whatever Scotsmen account dear in things Civil and Sacred Had it been only a particular Party or some such pack'd Clubs as disgraced the Name of Parliaments in former Reigns and enacted such Laws as their present Majesties with your Advice have declared to be impious had it I say been thus the Matter might have been the more easily digested but to have a lawful and a freely elected Parliament of Scotland charged in a Neighbouring Kingdom with a deliberate and malicious Lie in an Act so unanimously resolv'd on and duly canvas'd as was that of your Assembly concerning the Nation 's being first reformed by Presbyters and that therefore Presbyterian Government is most sutable to the Inclinations of our People I say to have a Lie of that Nature charged upon you is a Piece of Impudence that none but the Party culpable could be guilty of And yet as if they had a mind to exhaust all the Treasure of the bottomless Pit at once and to bankrupt the Malice and Falshood of Hell for ever after they go on to charge you further with lodging the Government of the Church in the Hands of such blasphemous ignorant and immoral Beasts as Asrica never produced the like and to aggravate your Guilt would make our Neighbouring Nation believe that at the â—ame time you have turn'd out such a Generation of Ministers as the Primitive Church would have been proud of for their Sanctity and adorâ—d for their Learning Thus those common Incendiaries in their printed Libels treat the Parliament of Scotland which for the Antiquity of its Standing and fulness of its Power gives place to none in Europe But it is not to be wondred at most Noble Patriots that that Party should treat you thus seeing they hate your being any otherwise than to serve as their Drudges and devour the best and most industrious Part of the Subjects by which both you and that Ancient Kingdom which you represent were well-nigh entomb'd in Oblivion and Disgrace It was that Party who changed a well-limited and regular Monarchy into an absolute and uncontroulable Tyranny that durst arrogate a Power to cass and annul your firmest Laws and treat you with Contempt as perfect Slaves It was that Party who robbed Christ of his Prerogatives Royal to be Jewels in the Crowns of their Absolute Monarchs It was that Party which robbed the People of their Consciences to bring them to an absolute dependance on the Prelatical Mitres And not only deprived you of the Property of your Houses but denied you a safe Retreat into your own Hearts It was that Party who rendred K. Iames the Sixth so much a Prelatical Bigot as to the disturbance both of Church and State and contrary to his Oath to obtrude Bishops upon the Nation and persecute the sincerest Protestants while at the same time he indulged the Papists and in fine had such an aversion for his Native Country that instead of seeing it once in three Years for administring Justice according to his Promise he never came to it but once after his Succession to the Crown of England and instead of favouring his Church of Scotland which he pretended once so much to admire he persecuted those who declin'd a Conformity with the Church of England It was that Party who influenced Charles the First though a Native of Scotland to put such an intolerable Affront upon the Nation as to demand their Crown to be sent to England and afterwards to invade us with a formidable Army designing an absolute Conquest and in an unnatural manner to subject that Nation to his newly acquired Crown which his Ancestors did so much disdain that they maintain'd 300 Years War upon that Head with no small Glory And how the Faction prevail'd with Charles the Second to requite our Nation for making themselves a Field of Blood in Defence of his Title is so fresh that it needs not be recapitulated and it is yet much more recent how well K. Iames the Seventh rewarded us for owning his Right of Succession when England had in a manner spued him out by the Bill of Exclusion he I say rewarded us by publishing such despotical Proclamations as with an unparallel'd audacity declared us Slaves to the perpetual Infamy of that Generation of Scotsmen who were so tamely bereft of their Liberty which our Noble Progenitors maintained against Romans Picts Britains Danes Saxons Normans and English for twenty preceeding Ages So that I say considering how the Prelatical Faction inâ—luenced those four Monarchs to treat our Nation though they derived their Being and Honour from it and were otherwise in many respects tantorum haud quaquam indigni avorum The Resolve of your August Assembly that Prelacy was an insupportable Grievance to that Kingdom deserves to be engraven in Pillars of Corinthian Brass and that all Scotsmen as no doubt many thousands will should not only wheâ— their Pens but their Swords in defence of it It is that Party who in this Reign impugn your Authority by procuring Letters from Court to command such things to the Assembly as by Law they are not
others the Military Power of the City was lodg'd in those who had surrendred her Charter and dipp'd their Hands in the Blood of my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney Alderman Cornish c. and contributed to the Arbitrary Methods of the late Reigns And because this is but one half of the Parliament let 's look into the higher House and there you will find that according to the opinion of none of the least Church-of England-Men when the Act pass'd for depriving the Nonjurant Bishops it was look'd upon as a fatal Blow to the Church of England So that in plain terms the Jacobite Party is what that Faction means by the Church of England And as a Commentary upon the Text let 's but consider the main Engine which they have made use of to quash the Discovery of all Plots against the Government and we shall find that it was by giving out those Discoveries as the Efforts of Republicans and Dislenters against the Church of England and if we look nearer home and consider how it comes to pass that such Men are advanced to the highest Places in the Scots Government who were the Contrivers Enacters and bloody Executioners of those Laws which your August Assembly hath declared to be impious we shall find it to be done by the Interest of that Party in the Church of England If we consider further whence it is that those who betray'd our Army murder'd our People and plotted the Destruction of your Convention escape unpunish'd you will fin'd it to be by the Procurement of the aforesaid Party Now all these things being considered it will easily appear whether it be your Interest to oblige this Church or not Or if we take her according to the general Acceptation of Bishops and Ceremonies the Vote of your August Assembly concerning Prelacy your Act establishing Presbytery as most agreeable to the Word of God and the Opposition made to the Ceremonies by our Country in Charles the First 's time will speedily determine the case And it will yet appear less reasonable to oblige that Church so taken if we consider that those of her own Communion and the best of them too look upon both Bishops and Ceremonies to be indifferent and not of Divine Institution as may be seen by the Writings of Mr. Hickeringil Counsellor Stephens and Stillingfleet's Irenicum So that in effect the best of the Church-of England-Communion are embark'd in the same Bottom with your selves and the common Enemies of both call them Presbyterians as well as you and treated them accordingly in the late Reigns So that from that worthy part of the Church of England who are Men of good Lives and keep firm to the Doctrine of their Church you need fear no Opposition for to do them Justice they are as zealous for the Protestant Religion as any and never join'd in persecuting their Brethren of a different Opinion To what they pretend of supplying the vacant Churches may speedily be replied The Assembly hath declared their Willingness to employ such of them as are Godly and Orthodox And as for others the good old way of our Church in the Reformation when Ministers were scarcer than now of appointing Men to preach by turns to those vacant Congregations till they can be otherwise supplied is the much safer and better Expedient than to entrust such Men with the Charge of other Peoples Souls who have discovered so little care of their own and whom in your Wisdom you objected against as the great and insupportable Grievance of the Nation Nor have you any such Encouragement from their former Success to imploy them again and if it shall seem good in your Eyes to go on as you begun and encourage a Reformation such of our Country-men as are abroad will be the sooner prevail'd with to come home and others to prosecute their Studies to adapt them for the Ministry and fill up the Vacancies for it cannot be hid from your Illustrious Assembly that the intrusting the chief Enemies of the Presbyterians in the Government is a great Discouragement to all that wish well to our Church or Countryâ— and administers but too just cause of Suspicion that we must either be imbroil'd in a Civil War or return to our former Bondage which nothing but your Care with his Majesty's Assistance and God's Blessing is able to prevent Your Honours may perhaps be inclin'd to think that there is too much Gall in my Pen against our Prelatical Clergy but such of your Number as have been lately at London cannot but know what an Odium they have endeavoured to bring upon the Country in general and your August Assembly in particular insinuating That you are neither the True nor full Representatives of the Nation and but a meer surreptitious Faction got together by the Opportunity of tumâ—ltuous Times and that you neither acted from a Principle of Honour nor Conscience but did only what you thought would be pleasing to the Prince of Orange And hence they have used their utmost Endeavours to have you Dissolv'd by the Interest of the high-slown Prelatical English Courtiers to whom they represent you in the blackest Colours which their Malice or Wit can invent And not only so but they make use of your Name as the Turkish Slaves do those of their Barbarous Masters from whom they have escaped to move those of the Church-of England-Communion to open their Purses pretending that you have turn'd them out in a barbarous and illegal manner or that they have had such and such Indignities and Affronts put upon them And thus they beg from one Clergy-man to another and spend what they get at Taverns and Ale-houses or sitting up whole Nights at Cards particularly at Mills in Westminster or Hutchinsons in the Hay-Market and when their Stock is spent renew the begging Trade or else troop about the Country and with their stol'n Sermons or railing Invectives against the Government of Scotland both in Church and State insinuate themselves into the Adorers of Bishops and Ceremonies for the latter of which though they exclaim'd against them at Home they profess themselves to be mighty Zealots Abroad and thus they disseminate their Poison in our Neighbouring Nation by their lying Tongues and blasphemous Pamphlets So that hence your August Assembly may have a sufficient view whether it be safe to reintroduce such Men into the Church who have given up themselves to all manner of Villanies and are become Devotoes to those unscriptural Ceremonies which occasion'd the fatal War in Charleâ—â— the First 's Time and have moreover evidenced such Levity and Unsted fastness both in imbracing rejecting them at Home since the Revolution that it 's visible they are not acted by Principle but Interest and that their Interest has been always contrary to what your August Assembly hath now espoused both as to Policy and Religion is so evident that whoever casts but an Eye upon the History ever since they were obtruded upon the Nation may soon
Enemies to the present Government and French Incendiaries or at least such a Crew as would sacriâ—ice all that is dear to us as Men and Christians to their own private Resentments 1. It is very well known and too lately transacted to be forgotten that the States of Scotland in their Claim of Right did demand the Abolition of Prelacy as contrary to the Inclination of the Generality of the People on which Condition amongst others their Majesties accepted that Crown and in pursuance of their Promise have by Act of Parliament abolished Prelacy since and established Presbytery in Scotland as most agreeable to the World of God as well as the Peoples Inclinations Then if their Majesties should be prevailed upon which blessed be God there is no cause to fear to act contrary to their solemn Oaths and the Claim of Right they must needs see that the People of Scotland would have ground enough to plead a Breach of the Original Contract nor could the Church of England for shame condemn them seeing they made use of the same Plea in their Convention and Parliament against King Iames. And in the next place let them but consider that upon the same ground this or any other King may as well break with them and invade the Constitution of their Church which by the Coronation-Oath they have bound him to maintain And whether Charles the Second after he was by them perswaded to break his Oath to the Presbyterians in Scotland made any greater Conscience of maintaining the Civil and Religious Liberties of England Iâ— appeal to themselves And therefore seeing by that excessive Power which they gave their Kings in things sacred meerly to destroy the Presbyterians they found at last that they had put a Rod in their Hands to whip themselves I think they should be cautious how they play that Game over again I do not write this as having any suspicion that their Majesties are so weak as to be prevailed upon to alter the Church-Government in Scotland but meerly to let the World see that they who sollicite them to it are their greatest Enemies and design to shake their Throne and that it is not the Church of England's Interest to countenance our Scots Prelatisâ—â— nor to importune their Majesties on that Head If what is already said be not enough I would earnestly intreat all sober Church-of England-Men to consider what were the Consequences of their meddling in our Affairs and incensing King Charles the First against the Presbyterians in favour of our Runnagate Prelates and their Hirelings And seeing like Causes may have the like Effects they would do well to beware It is not unknown that Scotland is a distinct Nation and ought to be govern'd by their own Laws and Councils and therefore it must needs be an Invasion of the Rights of Scotland for English Ministers of State and Prelates to meddle or give Counsel in Scotish Affairs when not call'd to it And I cannot but think that all reasonable Men will easily grant that the Parliament and General Assembly of the Church of Scotland are better Judges of what is expedient for that Nation than a few English Ministers of State or Prelates and that both of them have reason to reject what Directions or Injunctions come from such a Mint And I would put it to the Consciences of all judicious Church-of England-Men how they would take it if the King were in Scotland that any of the Dissenting Ministers who are really injured as those who preached at St. Hellin and Hiâ—ley Chappels in Lancashire or the whole of them because denied a Comprehension should â—ly thither and by their Interest with Scots Presbyterian Ministers of State and Preachers importune his Majesty to have the Constitution of the Church of England overturned and proâ—ure Orders to have such and such Ministers planted in Churches tho they refuse to satisfy the Law I say in such a case I appeal to their own Consciences how they would take it whether they would reckon themselves obliged to obey or if they would not complain that their Rights were invaded and demand Satisfaction of such Ministers of State c. as Incendiaries and Disâ—â—â—bers of the Harmony between King and Subjects I believe verily they would and that not without good reason tho I am sure the case is much stronger on our side still for the Dissenting Ministers of England are all of them Loyal to his Majesty willing to swear Allegiance and pray for him but so are not our Scots Prelatists And besides his Majesty is really the Head and Fountain of all Power in the Church of England who have not only their Temporal Baronies and Honours from him but are nominated to their Bishopricks by him but so it is not in Scotland where he hath divested himself of the Supremacy and neither bestows Lands nor Honours upon Church-Men Then the case being so the Golden Rule which commands us to do as we would be done by should oblige English-Men not to meddle with our Church no more than they would have us to meddle with theirs and if the Parliament of Scotland do pass over what of that Nature is already done it 's not to be supposed that the Red Rampant Lion is become so much a Calf as not to roar sometime or other and make the fattest and proudest of the Beasts in the Field to tremble as ersâ— of old but I hope and pray that God will avert both the Cause and the Effect The English Bishops did not gain so much by the the last Bellum Episcopale against us that they need to be fond of another and we doubt not to find as much Justice from the Parliament of England now as we found then and have no reason to doubt but King William would be as ready as Charles the First to deliver up his Ministers to the Law if it should be made appear against them that they have been meddling too much in our Affairs I know that our Scots Prelatists possess the Church of England that we think our selves obliged to endeavour the Extirpation of their Hierarchy and upon that account prevail with them to endeavour our Subversion But I would earnestly beg all moderate Men to weigh the following Answers 1. That the reason of entring into that solemn League and Covenant was the Fury which the English Prelates evidenced at that time against the Church of Scotland having excommunicated the same in all the Churches in England forced a Service-Book upon us more exceptionable than their own and in Conjunction with Papists enabled Charles the First to raise 30000 Men against us when the Parliament of England refus'd to concur with him insomuch that that Expedition was called the Bishops War But blessed be God his present Majesty is far from any such Attempt and the English Bishops the chief of them at least are Men of more Moderation So that there is no such cause for us to endeavour the Overthrow of their Hierarchy 2. That the
it and after they had got this Assurance once they were not satisâ—ied but dunn'd his Majesty as if he had been their Debtor for a Repetition of his Promises till he took notice of it and told them he was very willing to lay hold on every opportunity of renewing his Assurance to maintain the Church of England or words to that Effect So that it is evident beyond Exception that Prelacy is afraid when they see Popery touch'd and that they are jealous that our Dread Soveraign whom God has raised to break the Horns of the Antichristian Carpenters should also prove the Bane of the Pope's Journey-men the Prelates and hence it is that they behold his Majesty's glorious Success with Jealousy which all the rest of the Protestant World looks upon with Joy So that their Convocation when assembled were very loth to give his Majesty Thanks and when they did could hardly be brought to thank him for what he had done for the Protestant Interest in general but only for playing the Bugbear to frighten away K. Iames who began to bring in their elder Brethren the Papists to be sharers of the Fat with themselves and lest we should doubt what this Church of England is which they are so mightily tender of they informed us in an Address of Thanks to the King for the Care he had taken of the Church of England in the Alteration which was then made in the Lieutenancy of London and that was for putting in some of the Bloody Juries and those who had betrayed the Charter of the City and were the Tools to promote Tyranny Now this being matter of Fact and undeniable the moderate Church-of England-Men see what they must expect if that Faction get the Ascendant once more it 's not their Agreement in Government and Ceremonies that will give them a true Title to be Sons of the Church Gibellins they are and as Gibellins they must die The Murder of my Lord Russel Alderman Cornish and many others are sad Proofs of what I assert and seeing the moderate Church-of England-Men and the Presbyterians of Scotland were fellow-Sufferers in the late Reigns now that we have Men advanced to the highest Dignity of the Church whose Repute for Moderation did not a little contribute towards it methinks it is but what their Brethren in Scotland might expect that they should be so far from countenancing our runnagate Episcopal Clergy in their malicious Clamours at Court that they ought to oppose them especially considering that they were such Implements as the late Reigns found very subservient to their Designs of bringing Slavery upon us under which they themselves smarted either in Person or Sympathy And now that I am upon it I cannot but take notice with regret that notwithstanding of the almost indispensable necâ—ssity of it the sober Church-of England-Men in their Ecclesiastical Capacity have never given any publick conjunct Testimony against the Tyranny of the last Reigns nor those of their Communion who were Abettors of it and at this day labour to re-introduce it Let them think what they will their Silence in this Affair is no small incouragement to the Jacobite Party who have hitherto baffled the discovery of all their Plots under a pretence of Zeal for the Church which together with the ill Example of the Nonjurant Bishops and Clergy hath been of more use to the French King than an Army of 60000 Men From this Source it is that his Majesty's Affairs meet with so many Rubs his Friends are so far from being rewarded that they are endangered and discouraged and yet our moderate Ecclesiasticks have never made open and conjunct Protestation against it It was the Saying of the God of Truth That the Children of this Generation are wiser than the Children of Light and our Times furnish us with many sad Instances of its undeniable Verity Did not the Pulpits in the late Reigns thunder against all Attempts of recovering our Liberties either in the Parliament or in the Field Did not the Church concur with her Excommunications to render Dissenters uncapable of so much as chusing or giving Votes for a sober Church-of England-Man who would stand by the Liberties of his Country to represent them in Parliament Did not some of their Bishops press the Execution of their Penal Laws against Dissenters to keep them under Hatches for that very reason And did not the Clergy spend their consecrated Lungs in bellowing out Presbyterian Plots to drown the Popish ones And yet now they don't excommunicate their Jacobites notwithstanding of their Conventicles and distinct Form of Worship their clubbing to chuse Enemies to the Government to represent them in Parliament even those who were violent Enemies to the Abdication as Sir R. S. c. who was chosen by by the University of C ge Nor do the Pulpits now sound with Jacobite Plots in this Reign as they did with Presbyterian and Whiggish Plots in the late Reigns which together with the tenderness that hath been shewed towards their Nonjurant Bishops and Clergy and the Opposition they make to abjuring the late K. Iames are sufficient Evidences that it is his Majesty's Interest to keep up the Presbyterians in Scotland as a Ballance lest the Scale turn on the side of K. Iames or his pretended Son And as for our Scots Episcopalians their Loyalty was sufficiently discovered after the Defeat of the French by Sea for none were so industrious as they to lessen our Victory when God had given it us Nor was their Carriage less remarkable for disaffection upon the taking of Namur the first News from Steenkirk and when the Intelligence came that Charleroy was besieged which so elevated the Spirits of Dr. M the Apologist and Sheelds the Jacobite Parson lately in Newgate for a Conventicle that they were overheard to salute one another in the Park with no less Titles than that of My Lord Bishop of such and such a Place so big were they with hopes of the French Conquests Pag. 86. Our Author not having time enough to recover himself â—rom the Undecencies of his Passion continues his Nonsense and tells you very gravely That if the Presbyterian Delusions did not upon all Turns prompt them to overturn the Government they might live in Scotland in all Peace as other Dissenters did I suppose our Author to be speaking of the Time past and if so then he should have said might have lived And whether this Blunder of Grammar in his own Mother-Tongue be not as unpardonable in him as are the Blunders in Latin which he falsly chargeth upon Mr. Rule let any Man judg and that he meant of the Time past needs no other Demonstration than to consider that the Presbyterians do and can live at Peace in Scotland now without being obliged to the Prelatists But Nonsense is one of our Author's least Indecencies of Passion for they who know him inform me that in his Heat he cannot forbear Swearing notwithstanding of his Doctoral Scarf And it can
be convinc'd of it Or by a shorter view if they please but to read the Grievances which you desired to be redressed by their present Majesties of which the Bishops and Clergy were for the most part Contriâ—ers Promoters and Actors And we may the better be satisfied what those Men who now sollicite for a Share in the Government of the Church do chiefly aim at both as to that and the State if we do but consider that their principal Converse is with the Jacobites in England and that the chiefest of their Friends are none of the best Williamites in Scotland It 's not unlike that your Honours may be accosted with this amongst other Arguments that admitting those Men to a share of Church-Government will gratify the King to whom you are so much obliged which of it self is an impeachment of your Wisdom for none can so well know the Interest of Scotland as a free chosen Parliament who are consequently fittest to give the King Advice And seeing the Interest of all good Kings and their People is one and the same that ought to be most grateful to the King which is so to the People and what that is you have already declared It is obvious to those that know our History that ever since the Reformation the Church of Scotland hath claim'd a Right of Calling and Adjourning her own Assemblies pro re nata and what dismal Consequences the Invasion of that Privilege hath been attended with to those Kings and Grandees who have attempted it is so well known that it cannot easily be forgot And whether King Iames the Sixth's Curse hath not taken place upon those of his Successors who invaded the Church the Revolutions of the Crown have sufficiently witnessed and if the Hand of God hath not been remarkably seen in punishing those Great Ones who were their Tools let the Ruin of their Families from time to time declare Nor hath the Nation escap'd punishment for the Treachery of their Representatives God having been justly provok'd to give them and their Liberties to be swallowed up by those very Men whom they would needs set upon his Throne and into whose Hands they betray'd the Liberties of the Church of which your own Claim of Right is a speaking Monument and seeing there is no doubt but your August Assembly had valuable Reasons for abolishing the Supremacy it 's an Affront to your Authority to demand its Restitution It s being possess'd by the Church can bring no Damage to the Crown for Presbyterians are known to have as good if not a better Opinion of his present Majesty than any other of his Subjects and all Men of Sense must needs take it for a Proof of it that they sollicite for such good Laws in his Reign as may secure them from the danger of others And seeing our Church-men are subject to the Laws and never did refuse to assemble at the Call of their Kings and to give an Account of their Affairs it 's but equal to leave them in the Possession of that Liberty of calling Assemblies concerning their own Matters which the Church was possessed of before ever there was a Christian Magistrate if the 15th of the Acts be the Word of God And certainly he who promised that Kings should be Nursing-Fathers did never intend that they should be Step-Fathers to rob the Children of what is their due As for the Calumnies of your Church of England-Enemies it is easy to stop their Mouth with Argumentum ad Hominem their Carriage to K. Iames the Seventh proclaims their unshaken Loyalty And for your own Episcopal Party all the World knows that they and their Kings together did so tyrannize over your Bodies and Souls that you durst scarcely plead a Property in either And if the Church of England must be pleased which is the Achillean Argument used by the Party we can justly answer the peevish Lady as the young Crab did the old One I prae Mater ego sequar Let 's see how careful she will be to testify her Gratitude to his Majesty in taking off the Test and taking in Dissenters to the Church which will but just make them even with us and then and time enough then because we are the oldest Nation we may think which way to make the next Advance for as we have got the Precedency it 's but reasonable we should keep it for I know so much by my self that Scotsmen love to go but neither to be driven nor dragg'd I cannot but acquaint your Honours that since the writing of what is above the Jacobites here are mightily elevated and big with hopes of seeing you all in Confusion and the Nation in a Flame by the Designs which they give out to be on foot amongst you of lodging the Power of Calling and Dissolving Church-Assemblies in the Magistrate alone and depriving the People of the Right of chusing Ministers by which means they are so bold as to say That they hope not only to see Prelacy gradually reintroduced but their late Monarch reinthroned And that they may accomplish these Designs will insinuate themselves into both Parties and are very confident that the Result will answer their Expectation for a speedy Reestablishment of Prelacy at least these Measures as they give out being concerted with English Prelats who have form'd a Party among you for their Designs But as they have hitherto reproach'd your Proceedings there 's no doubt but this is a Calumny from the same Forge by which they would Ridicule your Authority and represent you to the World as Men of no Principle nor Solidity but such as will make your self Transgressors in building again what you have already destroy'd But may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ direct your Counsels so as to issue in the Comfort of his Church Peace of the Nation and Confusion of those your black-mouth'd Enemies who are engaged in an Interest not only distinct from but altogether destructive of yours Of which there 's no room to doubt if we consider the following Address of the Representatives of their Church which they have endeavour'd to perform on all Occasions and as they have never yet revok'd it we need not doubt but that the Party are still of the same mind The Address of the Archbishops and Bishops of Scotland to the late K. Iames upon the News of the Prince of Orange's Undertaking November the 10th 1688. Vid. Gazette Numb 2398. May it please your most Sacred Majesty WE prostrate our selves to pay our most Devote Thanks and Adoration to the Soveraign Majesty of Heaven and Earth for preserving Your Sacred Life and Person so frequently exposed to the greatest Hazards and as often delivered and You miraculously prospered with Glory and Victory in Defence of the Rights and Honour of Your Majesty's August Brother and of these Kingdoms and that by his Merciful Goodness the Ragings of the Sea and Madness of Vnreasonable Mâ—â— have been stilled and calmed And Your Majesty
Scots Presbyterians do not at all think themselves obliged by that Covenant to endeavour a forcible extirpation of the English Prelacy but in Concurrence with the Parliament of England and therefore so long as they have not their Call to the Work the English Prelacy is in no Hazard and the best way to keep so is for the Church of England to carry modestly and neither to meddle with us nor give their own Parliament occasion to make such a Vote against them as the Parliament of Scotland made against our Bishops That they were the great and insupportable Grievance of the Nation so that they have their Safety in their own Hand But if they should be so infatuated to proceed as they began in relation to the late General Assembly of the Church of Scotland or if they be such Fools as to concur to the stiâ—ling of all Plots against his Majesty as hitherto because so many of their own Communion are concerned in them let them blame themselves for what will be the unavoidable Consequences soon or late for the Church-of England Laity are too good Protestants and English-men to be always led by the Clergy or continually hood-wink'd and not discover the Plots carried on against the State under pretence of Zeal to the Church of which me-thinks the Hot-headed Clergy should take warning seeing they may easily perceive how little Ground their Passive Obedience had gain'd when the honest Church-of England Laicks found themselves in hazard by K. Iames as to their Liberties and Religion Next I would earnestly beg that they would consider how the Faction under a pretence of Zeal for the Church and against Presbytery screw'd up the Prerogative to such a height that Englishmen had very near lost their Liberty and Property It was this mistaken Zeal that threw out the Bill of Exclusion surrendred the Charters of Corporations enabled the King to pack Parliaments pick Juries and cut off whomsoever he pleased under pretence of Law It was this mistaken Zeal that brought the late Reign and all the direful Effects of it which we have already felt or are still impending upon us It was this mistaken Zeal which delay'd his present Majesty's Access to the Throne gave the Enemies opportunity to ruin Ireland raise a Rebellion in Scotland and Plot as they do still in England And shall we never be aware of it Methinks that if the Church of England compared Things past and present She might easily perceive that this intemperate Heat against Presbytery doth naturally issue in Popery and Slavery and that she has much more reason to unite for Defence of the Protestant Interest and her own Doctrinal Articles with the Church of Scotland than by espousing the Cause of a few proâ—â—igate or traiterous Clergy-men because Episcopal run her self into unavoidable Dangers Is it possible that a Harmony in Discipline should have more Power to unite distinct Interests than a Harmony in Doctrine and Agreement under one Civil Head hath to cement those who drive the same Interest It cannot be unknown to the Church of England if she believes either their Majesties Proclamations or considers the procedure of his Parliament and other Courts in Scotland that the Prelatical Party there drive at a Design to restore K. Iames. And with she yet entertain such Vipers in her Bosom as their outed Clergy and not only so but for their sakes entertain Suspicions of his Majesty and sollicite him against the Church of Scotland Can she say that we have ever made any Address to him against the Church of England and why should they be more zealous against us than we against them Does she not know that Arch-bishop Vsher and some of the greatest of her Fathers thought Episcopacy and Presbytery reconcileable and the other things in Controversy indifferent How is it then that she thinks her Differences with King Iames and the Church of Rome more reconcileable as she must needs do if she fall in with her own high-flown Tantivees and our Scots Prelatists But I hope if no Religious Considerations will prevail that the danger of their running the same Risk with us may they seeing both they and we have the same Security viz. the King 's accepting of the Crown on such and such Conditions and consenting to Acts of Parliament accordingly if he should break to one he may do the same to both and though they may think that he will not overthrow their Hierarchy because the Bishops depending on him may be useâ—ul to him in the Parliament-House yet at the same time he may as Charles the Second did invade their Civil Liberties and then their Religion nor nothing else can ever be secure I must again beg the Reader not to mistake meâ— as designing to create any Suspicion of his Majesty following such an unhallowed Pattern but meerly to set this as a Beacon before the Church of England that they may beware of being Shipwrack'd twice upon the same Rock which will be unavoidable if they should prevail wiâ—h any of their Kings to break the Original Contracts or call in K. Iames or set up any other Pretender against his present Majesty and prosper which blessed be God there 's no probability that ever they will for never was King better beloved by Subjects and let them try it when they please they 'll â—ind he has in Scotland Twenty to One firm in his Interest And whatever Noise they make to blind their own Designs of our hazard from a Republican Faction if they will assure the Nation of such Governours as are now at Helm those whom they call Republicans will as cordially submit to them as any But I foresee an Objection as to Scots Affairs That they only sollicit his Majesty to dissolve the present Parliament and call another which will restore Episcopacy and recognize his Title Answ. 1. His Majesty hath had too many Proofs of the Loyalty of Presbyterians and the Treachery of Episcopalians to venture such an Experiment or if he should and they happen to recognize his Title he can never think that they submit from Affection but meerly from Interest when they see they can do no better And in truth whatever Pretences of Loyalty they make it 's demonstrable enough that as the Country-man when the London â—Drawers baul'd out Welcome Sir laid his Hand on his Pob and said I thank you my Friend so may his Majesty when our Scots Prelatists pretend Loyalty put his Hand to his Side and say I thank you my Sword for no longer will they be his Friend than he is able to cudgel them Whereas it 's very well known that the Scots Presbyterians declared for him before Providence had determined their Crown in his Favour and have beat into the Prelatists whatever Loyalty they pretend to have Nor is it to be thought a Prince so Good and Generous as his present Majesty will ever be so ungrateful to his Friends or act so much contrary to Reason and his own
Cruelty if they made severe Laws against the Consequences of the Presbyterian Opinions We have reason to charge the King and his Ministers with Cruelty for such Laws as were made before 1666 were directly against the supposed Consequences of our Opinions or nothing for we made no opposition by Arms at that time against Charles the Second Nay it is expresly own'd Pag. 5 and 6 by Sir Geo. Mackenzie That the Laws were made against the Consequences which they pretend to charge upon our Principles But to return again P. 86. he alledges That the Presbyterians declar'd open War against the King in his own Dominions preach'd to their Hearers that they ought to kill his Servants that he had no right to the Crown because he had broken the Covenant Than which nothing can be more false It was but a small number of the Presbyterians that appeared in Arms in 1666 and they were so far from declaring War against the King that they only desired a Redress of those Grievances which the Episcopal Souldiers had committed beyond Law Nor would they have done it in Arms if it had been possible to have had access to the Council otherwise For those who appeared at Bothwel-Bridg they were so far from declaring against the King that they took his Interest into their Declaration and the Party who oppos'd it were so much diâ—relish'd that Multitudes deserted because they were concerned Nay Charles the Second was so much convinc'd that Mr. Iohn Welch and the majority of the Presbyterians were so far from disputing his Title that he granted an Indulgence immediately after the suppressing of that Insurrection and to my certain knowledg offer'd a particular Licence to the said Mr. Welch to live and preach in any part of his Dominions though our Episcopalians had formerly incens'd him so much against him that Proclamations were issued offering 500 l. to any that would bring him in dead or alive So that the Doctor has no Foundation for his Charge but the Practice of a few Cameronians one of whose Preachers excommunicated the King and about twenty of the Faction declared War against him at Sanqhuar and such a little number did afterwards pretend to dethrone him which will appear to all Men but such as our Author to be contrary to Presbyterian Principles seeing we allow not so much as Excommunication of a private Person without â—udicial Probation Admonition Suspension and the Consent of the Presbytery And by the Covenant which they reproach us with as our only Rule we swear to maintain the Privilege of Parliaments and the King 's just Powerand Greatness to which nothing can be more diametrically opposite than for a few Persons without the Consent and Commission of the whole to take upon them to exauctorate Magistrates And whatsoever this Libeller may suggest it 's known that Mr. Castares sen. Mr. Blare Mr. Iamison Mr. Rule Mr. Riddel and other grave Presbyterian Ministers fell under the Obloquy of the Cameronians for protesting publickly against the Principles which they were driven unto by the furious Tyranny of the late Reigns But if the Doctor be not yet satisfied I 'll give him Argumentum ad Hominem thus The Viscount of Dundee and his Party declared War against King William and all the Bishops of Scotland oppos'd his Title to the Crown Ergo All the Episcopalians in Scotland declared War against him and that he had no right to the Crown and therefore by their own Concession the present Government would be justified to enact as severe Laws against them as the late Government did against the Presbyterians The Premisses being undeniable the Conclusion cannot be avoided if our Author's way of arguing hold good But supposing it true that all the Presbyterians in Scotland had declared King Charles the Second to have â—orfeited his Right to the Crown because he broke the Covenant it had been no more than what the Church of England have declared against King Iames because of his breaking the Original Contract and I would desire our Gentleman to look upon the Claim of Right by both Nations and he will find that most of the Infractions upon that Contract were made by King Charles so that if this be a Crime Aethiopem albus Loripidem rectus derideat But as for that malicious Lie that any of them preach'd that his Servants ought to be killed it 's so gross that none but the Author could invent it nor any but his Party believe it for tho some of them did kill A. Bp Sharp and others who were hunting for their Lives and took the same advantage of them that they did of others it will not so much as follow that any of their Ministers preach'd this as their Duty and much less that it was so to kill the King's Servants as such Well but this Methodical Doctor who would sain perswade the World that he and his Party have engrossed all Reason and Logick to themselves comes with a Hysteron Proteron and tells you of the Presbyterians Cruelty toward the Episcopalians after the Year 1637 which mark the good-natur'd calm Expression he says were unparallell'd in History as they were diabolical in their Nature This is Scots Episcopal Veracity The Doctor thinks he is dictating to his Scholars and truly I must tell his Doctorship that if he taâ—ght them no better Philosophy than he teaches us History they had but a poor Bargain on 't But now good Doctor did you never read of the Massacres at Paris in the Valtoline and the Duke of Alva's Butchery in the Netherlands We shall not go so high as the ten Persecutions or those against the Wicklevites Waldenses c. And tell me if what Cruelties were exercised upon you about 1637 aggravate them as much as you can do in any measure come near them and if they do as I am sure they cannot I would know whether the Modest Rational and Religious Doctor be not guilty of an Immodest Irrational and Irreligious Lie And in the next place seeing we must go back to 1637 pray what did your Party then suffer answerable to the Persecution of the Presbyterians by your High Commission-Court before that time Or did your Sufferings come any thing near the horrid Cruelty which Montross with his Highlanders and the Irish Rebels who join'd him after they had massacred the Protestants in Ireland committed upon the Country in Defence of your Prelacy But further if your Party did suffer any thing at that time as it was impossible but they should when the exasperated People had taken Arms against their Invasions both of Church and State and the Quarrel came to be decided by the Sword who was to blame for it They drew it upon themselves they would not be satisfied that they had obtruded their domineering Prelacy but they must also impose a new form of Worship for opposing of which they incensed the King to raise an Army of 30000 Men to force it upon us So that here was Precedent enough
be so easily distinguished For who can tell where to find a Man that 's sometimes a Protestant sometimes a Papist turns Protestant again and from a Cadee become a Curat then Head of a College and at last leaves his Country for Schism and Disloyalty As for your Story about Spotswood you would have done well to have cited your Author for since as I told you not long ago you gave your self the Lie we have no reason to believe you Moreover it 's but very natural for a Cadee of Dunbarton's Regiment which us'd to plunder People of their Goods and make no scruple to rob Men of their good Names not to be believed For your Encomium on Arch-bishop Sharp it 's no surprizal to me his Villany was so universally known that no Man but those of his Gang will defend him and that 's no more than Whitney lately hang'd for Robbeâ—y may expect and without doubt has from his quondam Underlings As for your charging the Arch-bishop's Murder on the Presbyterian Principles 't is like your Philosophy Mr. Shields says it Ergo it's true It were a sufficient Answer to tell you another denies Ergo it's false And I tell you again and again That the Hind let loose was never the Standard of our Principles nor approved by our Party and I dare venture to say Mr. Shields will not now own every thing in it himself Nor is it his Disgrace but Honour to retract what upon second thoughts he finds will not hold And as for your Allegiance that there 's nothing worse in the Morals of the Iesuits You do well to defend your Friend but I directed you before where you might find as bad nay worse among our Scots Prelatists who gave publick Commissions to murder Men without Form of Law which is more than a sudden intemperate fit of Rage in a few Men who accidentally rencountring the Prelat who was actually pursuing them for their Liveâ— by his booted Apostles did inconsiderately deprive him of his As for what I say against the Church of England it's what many of her Sons own to be true and whether the Passive-Obedience-Men deserve any better treatment I refer to the incomparable Argument lately published by Mr. Iohnson So that if there be any Incivility to the Church of England it 's yours and not mine for I distinguish whom I mean and apply it to all in gross Pag. 101. He charges me with attaquing all our Kings since the Reformation This is unwarily argued Doctor then I perceive that according to you King William is none of our Kings for sure I am I do not attaque him But your Doctorship may please to know that I accused none of your Kings but what the Parliaments have accused before me and I think their Copy may be writ after nor do I know any reason why we should be more sparing of late than former Kings if their Male-administrations be alike and that it may be done with equal safety All Histories Sacred and Prophane abound with the wicked Lives of Kings so that this Prelatical Maxim of burying their publick Faults in Silence never yet found nor never will find encouragement from God or Man and their contrary practice flows not from Principle but Interest nor do they spare Kings more than others when they thwart that witness Heylin's Reflections upon pious K. Edward the Sixth and the Carriages of the whole Party toward K. Iames when he granted the Indulgence and to this we may add their continual Invectives and rebellious Practices against their present Majesties So that they hâ—ve forgot the somuch wrested Text which condemns speaking Evil of Dignities they being the guiltiest of all Men alive in that respect as may be demonstrated from their Clamours against all but Monarchical Government though all Powers that be are ordained of God and to which according to the Divine Command we should always chearfully submit whether to the King as Supream or other Governours Magistracy in this respect being also called the Ordinance of Man because though the Genus be determined by God yet the Species is left to the determination of Men else were it altogether unlawful for the Subjects of Republicks to own their Governours which no Man sanae mentis will affirm And herein God has evidenced his Love to Mankind that he hath bounded all sorts of Governments with one Commission which is to encourage the Good and punish Evil-doers So far may they go and no further Ibid. He says That I charge them with such as were deposed for their Immoralities as Dean Hamilton and Cockburn of St. Botâ—ens whereas I only charge them with having protected those Men from the Punishment due to their Impieties and baffling their Prosecutors So that if those Men were depos'd at last it confirms my Charge of Injustice in the Administration which punish'd Men for accusing those whose Guilt at last they themselves were forced to confess As for your Apology for Arch-bishop Paterson It is not much for your Credit to be Patron to a common Stallion whom all Scotland know to be such and Mag Paterson a common Strumpet did own before the Lords of the Session but a few Years ago that she lay both with him and his Brother and one of the greatest Ladies in Scotlaud took him in the very Act of Villany with one of the Dutchess of York's Maids of Honour upon the back-stairs of the Palace The modest Doctor pretends to be very squeamish and complains of my Obscenity alledging That none but a Devil can repeat nor none but the Author invent such Instances as are there brought against the Episcopal Cleâ—gy Good Sir to use your own Expression the paltry eruption of your Passion seems here ungovernable If he be a Devil that repeats them what is he that acts them But why must he be more a Devil that gives an account of Episcopal Debauches than he that forges prophane Stories against the Presbyterians Let any unblassed Man read the Scots Presbyteriâ—â— Eloquence and the Answer and certainly he must own That if the latter was writ by a Devil the former must be writ by a Beelzebub Your magnifying the Arch-bishop's Merit so much who was imprison'd for Disloyalty shows your disaffection to the Government Your Defence of Brown and Cant are so like a pedantick Doctor that they deserve no regard and what I write of them are so far from being my Invention oâ— as you most learnedly word it is the Exhalation of my most infectious Breath that I can bring you the Authors to avow it to their Faces Pag. 103. He says It 's pleasant to see me accuse the Church for the Sayings of the Presbyterians You own that those who preach'd such ridiculous things were guilty of Blunderings after they conformed to Episcopacy Truly Doctor if there were any greater Blunderers amongst them than your self they must have been Blunderers in Folio for I cannot think they were guilty of a more palpable Blunder than this to call