no Sect Antient or Modern that ever broke the Peace of the Christian Church but may be more plausibly defended than the latest Edition of Presbytery in Scotland By the latest Edition they must mean as it is now established since the late Revolution in Doctrine and Discipline Now for the Doctrine of the Presbyterians it is establish'd by Act of Parliament as contained in the Westminster Confession which is granted by every one to be the same as to the Matter with the Doctrinal Articles of the Church of England Then as for their Discipline which is establish'd by the same Authority it is that of their Government by Parochial Consistories made up of the Minister and Elders Presbyteries which consist of a greater number of Ministers and Elders associated Provincial Synods which are composed of Delegates from the several Presbyteries and General Assemblies which are form'd of Commissioners from all the Presbyteries of the Kingdom Now any that have perused the Learned Arch-bishop Vsher's Treatise to reconcile Episcopacy and Presbytery or that have ever considered the Concessions made as to the Government of the Church by Charles I. in his Treaties may easily be convinc'd whether our Learned Authors were not possessed with the Spirit of Calumny and Slander even in the sense of the Moderate Episcopalians when they publish'd the Proposition above-mentioned But this will appear more evident still if we do but enumerate some of the Antient and Modern Sects who have broke the Peace of the Church To begin with the Gnosticks who were so Antient that Dr. Hammond Diss. Proem de Antichr thinks that the Apostles saw the first Authors of their Opinions and that St. Paul alludes to them in 1 Tim. 6.20 They are charg'd with denying the Godhead of Jesus Christ maintaining all manner of Impure Lusts polluting the places where they met accordingly and foasting barbarously on the Children begotten in such Impurity after they had pounded them into Mortar which they esteem'd a most religious Act as is related by Tertullian Epiphan Theodoret c. In the next place we shall name the Arians who begun about 290 and infected most of the Christian World They held Christ to be a Creature and the Holy Ghost the like rebaptiz'd the Orthodox and baptiz'd all their Disciples only from the Navel upwards as thinking the inferiour Parts unworthy of it The Donatists flourish'd in the 4 th Age and held that the Son was less than the Father and the Holy Ghost less than the Son That it was lawful to kill themselves rather than fall into the Hands of the Magistrates and to kill others who were not of the Faith The Armenians in the 6 th Age who held that Christ took not a Humane Body from the Virgin that his Body was immortal from the Minute of his Conception that there was a quaternity of Persons and that the Divinity suffered In the 11 th and 12 th the Bongâ—milit rejected the Books of Moses and aledged that God had a Humane Shape But to make haste we shall come to the German Anabaptists of the 16 th Century whose Opinions and Enthusiasms are known to every one And the Socinians who deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ c. For the Arminians I know it 's in vain to name them most of the Party being infected with their Leaven But if any Man will be at the pains to compare the Doctrine of the Church of England in her Articles and the Westminster Confession which agree in the Matter with the Sects here mentioned he may quickly be satisfi'd whether those Gentlemen may not justly be charged with a Spirit of Malice and Slander in saying That they know no Sect Antient or Modern c. but what are more plausible than Presbytery in the latest Edition They have no other Hole to creep out at but either that they knew not of those Sects or else that those Hereticks did not break the Peace of the Church and then we shall know what Judgment to make of their Learning and Ingenuity But if they insist upon the Comprehension Act let them answer what I have already said on that Head However we may quickly be satisfied that those Gentlemens Veracity and Learning are much of a-piece if we consider the amiable Character which they bestow upon the Presbyterians in the Scots Presbyterian Eloquence viz. That they are void of common Sense never scruple any Perjury before a Judg that may seem to advance their Cause That they think Murder a Vertue when the Work of the Covenant requires it That they generally discountenance Morality glory in Lying Cheating Murder and Rebellion to fulfil the Ends of the Solemn League That they look not upon a Man as endued with the Spirit of God without a loud Voice whining Tone broken and smothered Words and such canting deformity of Holiness Their Ministers they say are a proud sowre unconversible Tribe looking perfectly like Pharisees having Faces like their horrid Decrees of Reprobation are without Humanity void of common Civility Never preach Christ nor Eternity are Firebrands the Scandal of Christianity and Disgrace of the Nation Now I would fain in the first place ask our Gentlemen Whether this be not an Arraignment of the King and Parliament who have lodged the Government of the Church in such Mens Hands and established Presbytery to please such a sort of People And if this Character be true Whether King William be not the greatest of Tyrants to have establish'd such a Church by the touch of his Scepter in contrariety to such a Learned Holy and Innocent Party as the Scots Episcopalians And if this Character be not true Whether the Libellers and Bookseller be not obnoxious to the Government and guilty of seditious Designs in accusing his Majesty of having concurred to the settling of such a Church Or whether the Ministers of State in Scotland have not cause to demand Justice for this Indignity put upon their King and Parliament In the next place Who deserve most to be charg'd with Falshood Malice Slander and Forgery the Authors of the Scots Presbyterian Eloquence who charge the whole Presbyterian Party of Scotland with those odious Crimes in general or the Answerer who proves the Prelatical Persecution by Acts of their own Parliaments and their Murders by uncontroulable Instances And his Charge in general against their Clergy by the Vote of this present Parliament when a Convention That they were the great and insupportable Grievance of the Nation To which the Prelatists can oppose nothing but Sir George Mackenzie's Vindication of Charles II's Government in Scotland which the Answerer hath made appear to be a malicious Libel or else the Cause of King William's Undertaking was unjust and He and his Parliament of Scotland abominable Liars in declaring those Acts which Sir George defends to be impious And last of all I would ask those Gentlemen Whether they think that any thing which they invent or suggest against the Answerer can justly deserve any Credit
l'Assemblée des Pretres conjointement avec l'Eveque cola a duré tant qu'il n'y a en dans chaque Ville qu'une Eglise qu'une Assembleé des pretres jointe a son Eveque Mais Aussitot qu'il fut necessaire d'augmenter le Nombre des Eglises il y ent a craindre que ceux qui les governoient ne S'attribuassent aussi la qualite d'Eveques ce qui fut cause que les Eveques commencerent a s'attribuer quelque autorité sur eux P. Sim. Supplement Ch. 4. Hist. des Revenus Ecclesiastiques Now Doctor I hope you will allow Father Simon to be as well vers'd in Rabbinical Learning as your self You see that he only insinuates their Imitation of the Jews but nothing of a Divine Warrant and plainly owns that the Superiority of Bishops over Presbyters is meerly of humane Original But I must tell you further Doctor that your Argument from the High-Priest of the Jews will be more conclusive for a Pope And if this be not argued like a Gentleman of his Guard it 's however argued like one that wishes him well For your brag as to St. Ierome reconcile it to his Commentary on Titus or your own Opinion with Dr. Holland's K. Iames the 6 th's Professor at Oxford Arch-bishop Whitgift's Dr. Fulk's and others of the Church of England The first in an Act at Oxford July 9. 1608. concluded That it was contrary to the Scriptures Fathers Doctrine of the Church of England and Schoolmen to say that Episcopatus est ordo distinctus à Presbyteratu coque superior Iure Divino And in the next place Doctor as a further Answer consider That there was no standing Officer appointed in the new-testament-New-Testament-Church above a Deacon but a Presbyter And Clemens who lived in the first Century in his Epistle to the Corinthians telling them That God in the Jewish Church appointed a High Priest Priests and Levites names no other Orders of Ministry in the Christian Church but Bishops and Deacons His words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Pag. 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Note this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because Pag. 57 58 he shews that the Controversy was not about the Name but Dignity of Episcopacy because they were about deposing their godly Presbyters or Bishops But Doctor my next Attaque shall be upon your Evidence Sir William Paterson who is pleased to treat Mr. Ridpath with the genteel Terms of Villain Rascal Varlet c. though at the same time Mr. Ridpath is content to refer it to any Herald in Scotland Whether the Family whence he is descended or Sir William's be the best It can be very well instructed that the Family of Ridpath is of the same Original with the Gordons both by the Heralds Books their armorial Bearings and constant Tradition And I think there 's none will deny that the Family of Gordon is one of the eldest and greatest Families in Scotland The History of Douglas does also own that their Princely Family did not think it below them to espouse the Quarrel of that of Ridpath the best Families of the Mers as those of Swinton Cockburn c. will not disown their having been allied to them And there 's yet a Monument in Cranshaw's Church at the Head of that which was formerly the Baron of Ridpath's Seat demonstrating that one of our Kings did not think it below him to be the Guest of that Family and to honour them with his Company to Church This I have much ado to prevail with Mr. Ridpath to let pass as being of the Opinion that all such things are but Vanity and that sola Virtus nobilitat nor would he have indeed suffered it but that his malicious Enemies think it their Interest to revile and vilify him because forsooth he was a Servant though at the same time he was never Servant to any Man but in a Station becoming a Scholar and thinks it no disgrace to be so still And as for being Servant to the two Sons of one Mr. Grey it 's false he had no concern but with one of the Greys and that was as an Assistant in his Studies and that Gentleman did then and does still treat him as his Companion nor is he asham'd to own that he serves Mr. Grey now As for Dr. Cant's having found the Bond of Combination as he calls it upon Mr. R. it 's also false nor was ever the Original Bond found by any of your Party though Mr. Massey who was his Regent had a foul Copy of the Bond from Mr. Grey which must be that if there be any that is in the Council Office And if it be there he dares refer to it to prove Sir William's Falshood as to that Clause inviting Prentices and all others to join in the Association for there was never any such in it But lest Sir William or any of his Gang have corrupted it I shall by and by exhibit an attested Copy to prove what I say And it is as false that any Ring-leader of the Presbyterians or any other were concern'd in framing the Design besides the Students themselves Nor was it ever design'd as a Prologue to any Rebellion as Sir William does aver Neither has Mr. R. any reason to believe that he would have been spared could the Law have reach'd him or could they have found a Jury to have condemn'd him for the Proceedings against him on that Head were universally abhor'd by all Protestants in general those of Sir William and the Doctor 's Kidney excepted As to the Benefit which Mr. R. had by the D. of York's Clemency we shall hear anon And as to the falseness of his Answer to the D. of Rothes and other great Lords he defies Sir William to instance in one But to set this whole Matter in its true Light take this short but true Narrative of it Mr. R. having upon reading the account of the Pope burning at London moved it first himself to some of his fellow Students the Design was so laid afterwards that it could not well nor did not miscarry though the two Mr. Greys Mr. Guthry Mr. R. and others were taken up the Night before the burning of the Pope on design to prevent it and after the Business was done examined by Sir George Mackenzie the King's Advocate but Mr. R. being sufficiently possessed with the Apprehensions of the then raging Tyranny he refus'd to answer though threatned with Torture till he was perswaded thereunto by his Regent Mr. Massey who told him in a very Friendly manner by himself that my Lord Advocate only desir'd to know whether any other than the Students were concerned in the Contrivance for if it happened to be so that it was only a Project of their own the Council would pass it over as a puerile Business whereupon Mr. R. confessed that he drew the Bond and after several Questions upon that Head was discharged which
their Assertion if they should have admitted them into the Church upon such a bare-fac'd Equivocation for so the modest Gentlemen may subscribe to the Alceran as containing the Mahometan Doctrine in Turky or the Council of Trent as containing the Popish Doctrine in the Church of Rome Then certainly their Majesties and Parliament cannot be blamed if they have changed the words so far as to make the Subscriber own it as the Confession of his own Faith otherwise a Door had been opened to all Errors and Heresies whatsoever And seeing the Petitioners own that the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion as professed in Scotland is contained in the said Confession if they refuse to subscribe it as theirs it 's plain that they entertain some other than that Protestant Doctrine and if so it cannot justly be called hard Measure to exclude them from officiating as Ministers in that or any other Protestant Church seeing the Doctrine of that Confession is own'd by all except Lutherans and is every way agreeable to the Doctrine contained in the Articles of the Church of England Then as to the Oath of Allegiance and Assurance I confess there is reason enough to doubt their Sincerity if they should comply for never was there any thing conceived in Terms more express to abjure the lawfulness of resisting Kings or those commissionated by them upon any Pretence whatsoever than the Scots Declaration and Acknowledgment of the Prerogative And seeing that Doctrine was so much extoll'd and applauded and that the Party valued themselves so highly upon it I cannot conceive how they can without down-right Perjury own his present Majesty's Title except they have changed their Principles And seeing they have never by any publick Authentick Act renounced that Doctrine nor given us their Reasons why there is no great Cause to think that they will be any steadier in their Allegiance to King William than they were to King Iames and therefore Swear or not Swear there 's no Encouragement to trust them with the Conduct of Peoples Consciences But however if they refuse to swear Allegiance no Body can think the Government obliged to grant them Protection for that were but to nourish Vipers in their Bosom And if they should swear Allegiance and decline the Assurance it discovers that they act mala Fide with the Government and only watch for an Opportunity to declare against it For if they think that their present Majesties have not a Title de Iure they will never own their Right de Facto any longer than while they are not in a Capacity to rebel And at the same time such a Distinction denotes a Man of a very ill inform'd if not of a debauch'd Conscience For if their Majesties Title be not lawful it cannot be lawful for me to own it and if their Title be lawful it must needs be lawful for me to oblige my self to defend them in it against all Pretenders whatsoever So that a declining of the Latter is an infallible Demonstration of my doubting the Former And if those who call their Majesties Right in question be fit to be intrusted as Leaders of the Subjects let common Sense and Reason determine Now that the greater part of the Scots Episcopal Clergy disown their Majesties Title is evident from the Practice of all their Bishops to whom they have sworn Canonical Obedience from the practice of the most part of themselves seeing some hundreds of them were turn'd out by the Convention on that Head and by their Behaviour now seeing they universally refuse the Assurance though many of them formerly had sworn Allegiance which is in plain English no other than a granting of the Premisses and a denying the Conclusion Or according to the Example of a certain Gentleman in England granting the Abdication and denying the Vacancy And in truth their offering to swear Allegiance and declining the Assurance is much such another Trick upon the State as by their Formula they have put upon the Church they would subscribe the Confession of Faith as that of the Nation but not their own And so they would also swear that King William and Queen Mary are King and Queen of Scotland but not theirs Their Prevarication in this Affair puts it out of all doubt that their Design to be admitted into a Share of the Government of the Church was not according to the specious Pretences in their Petition but meerly to imbroil both Church and State and by our Confusion to make way for the late Kings in whom that they still design to keep an Interest is manifest by their shâ—â—â—â—ing with the Government as to the swearing Allegiance which they put off from time to time with frivolous Pretences till they see the Success of the late King's Endeavours to reinthrone himself So last Year they pretended that they would take the Oaths if they were imposed upon the Presbyterians as well as them And knowing that that could not be done without an Act of Parliament they and their Party stav'd off this Session as long as they could Which in the mean time shews that it was Humour and not Conscience which kept them from complying And now that there is an Act enjoining the Presbyterians to take the Oath and Assurance and that they conform almost universally to the Confusion of those who reproached them as Enemies to Kingly Government yet the Episcopal Clergy keep off still and not above two of them have subscribed them because the E. of L w and Viscount T t c. advised the contrary on this Pretence forsooth that their Petition was not answered at first and the Comprehension taken in hand immediately on its being tendered Which a certain Minister of State did wisely defer till the last as reasonably imagining that that Affair would create Heats and disappoint his Majesty's other Affairs which were to be treated of in Parliament So that before ever the Church-Affairs were meddled with they sent their Agents to disswade the Northern Clergy from taking the Oaths because there was no Comprehension and tho that Objection be now vacated yet they persist still in their Obstinacy So that it 's evident they have Interest at Bottom and it 's but rational to conclude that the said Managers intend to make their Court with the late King by keeping the Clergy from abjuring him or swearing Allegiance to their present Majesties But to return to our Petitioners They were so disingenuous and so little sincere in their Application that when required to attend the Committee of Security to whom they were referred by the Parliament they not only declined all Communing with them but did in contempt of their Majesties and the Parliament load the Members of the Committee with Obloquy and Reproach And as I am informed from a very good Hand resolve to continue in their Churches without qualifying themselves according to the late Act. I shall forbear insisting upon their Ingratitude to their Majesties and the Parliament till afterwards
and go on to consider the other Terms required in the Comprehension which are their observing an Uniformity of Worship according to the present Administration and applying to the General Assembly or other Church-Judicatures for admission to a Share of the Government after having qualified themselves according to the Act. Now as to the Uniformity of Worship there is nothing in difference betwixt them but the use of the Doxology or Gloria Patri which the Episcopal Party did declare that they could omit in compliance with a Law though not to satisfy the Humours of the Presbyterians So that according to their Concession and Promise that ought to be no Scruple now seeing there is a Law against it And as for their making Application to the Generall Assembly for Admission after having qualified themselves by Law they cannot decline that from any Scruple of Conscience seeing in their Petition they promise to submit to and concur with the Presbyterian Government It 's true that the Act doth also require that they shall promise neither to endeavour directly nor indirectly the Prejudice or Subversion of that Government which by their Promise just now mentioned it 's evident they can have no well-grounded Objection against for certainly if it be lawful to submit unto and concur with that Government it cannot be unlawful to promise That they will not endeavour its Subversion especially if their above-mentioned Principle of the Indifference of this or that Species of Church-Government and that there is now a Law enjoining the latter be considered Upon the whole it is plain that if the Terms of their own Petition and those of the Act of Parliament be duly weighed their refusal to comply is an unaccountable piece of Obstinacy and Ingratitude especially towards his Majesty Which I think will appear very evident if we consider 1. What a great deal of Clemency beyond any Parallel he has been graciously pleased to exert in favour of a Party who by their Bishops addressed against him and wish'd King Iames might have his Neck to trample upon when he undertook our Glorious Deliverance a Party that have hitherto generally disown'd his Title and continued in Rebellion against him till their Strength fall'd a Party who by their Calumnies in Word and Writing have endeavoured to render the Church of England jealous of him and had actually plotted in conjunction with the Irish and French Papists to overturn his Throne while at the same time they made Application to him for his Favour 2. If we consider how much he disobliged the Presbyterians the only Party on whom he could rely in Scotland to gratify the Prelatists in forbearing to punish those of their Party who had forfeited their Lives by overturning the Constitution of Government in the late Reigns and committed barbarous Murders upon their fellow-Subjects and being actually in Rebellion against himself nay and that which was more advanced some of them to the highest Places of Power and Trust while he turn'd out Presbyterians who had ventured all for him and were stedfast to him 3. If we consider that he disobliged the Presbyterians at a nick of time when he was threatned with a Foreign Invasion and Intestine Rebellion by ordering the General Assembly to admit the Episcopal Clergy on such Terms as the Parliament have thought fit to refuse and then by dissolving them for their declining it And 4. If we consider the Risk which he ran now when engaged Abroad with a formidable Enemy to hazard the Session of a Parliament so much Presbyterian as is that of Scotland chiefly to make way for the admission of the Episcopal Clergy into the Church when he could not be ignorant how tenacious of their Privileges both Civil and Religious the Presbyterians are and what good Reasons they have for an Aversion to any Comprehension of that Party who when their Turn was uppermost would never hear of comprehending them any otherwise than in Prison or a Rope But more especially when this Session might have given an Opportunity to the Parliament of Scotland of demanding Justice against such English Men as contrary to our Constitution meddle in our Affairs and support the Episcopal Clergy in their disturbing of the Church of Scotland as established by Law especially having received such an Affront as a Commission sent down by their Influence to require such Things of the General Assembly as the Parliament in their Wisdom thought fit to provide against I say all these things being considered it cannot but seem very strange that when his Majesty hath obtain'd them a Comprehension whereunto as appears by their own Petition c. as aforesaid they can have no valuable Objection that they should reject it So that to all unprejudic'd Persons this can appear no uncharitable Censure if we think that they have hitherto been bargaining with his Majesty only to gain Time till they see the Success of their late King and the French King's Efforts that they might take their Measures accordingly seeing it must needs be obvious to any who read their Petition and consider it duly together with the whole Tenor of their Practice that the Bond of Assurance to stand by his Majesty against all Pretenders whatsoever is that which choaks them most in the Terms of Comprehension Their Obstinacy will still appear more if it be considered that the Presbyterians whom they treated so cruelly in the late Reigns as to make it Death for any of their Ministers to preach for not Conforming to that which as appears by their Petition they themselves reckon indifferent should have been brought to condescend so far towards an Accommodation with them as to consent to their being admitted without a formal Renunciation of their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Episcopacy considering that the Abjuration of the Covenant was imposed upon the Presbyterians in the late Reigns and that their Conformity was expresly required as a Testimony of their owning Episcopacy and the King's Supremacy which was diametrically opposite to their Principles whereas there is nothing in this Comprehension but what the Episcopal Party have conceded in their Petition So that there being in effect no more required of the Scots Episcopal Clergy that of Submission to Presbytery excepted which they did voluntarily offer than what is required of all the Clergy of the Church of England We may easily discern whether or not the Countenance given to the Disobedience of te Scots Clergy by some here in England ought not rather to be ascribed to their Enmity to the Repose of the present Government than to their Zeal for the Church of England and I am certain that if the unanimous Sentiments of all true Williamites may have any Weight those of them who are the most Zealous Patrons for our Scots Episcopal Clergy are reckoned Heart-Enemies to King William and Queen Mary And I wish that there had been no late publick Misfortunes which may have confirm'd them in their Jealousy and I am very well assured that
the Parliament of Scotland had gone near to have branded some of those who are Tools to the said Englishmen with perpetual Infamy had it not been out of respect to his Majesty who hath honoured them with an eminent Character and might have proceeded further to have declared such Proceedings as they advis'd to in relation to the General Assembly Arbitrary and Illegal and a demand of Justice against such as advised to those Measures would have thereupon followed of Course But notwithstanding of all this favourable Procedure towards our Scots Prelatists yet their Clamour does not cease and particularly against those Ministers of State to whom his Majesty intrusted the Management of Affairs though it be Evident that if any Party be abridged by the Act it is the Presbyterians who are now obliged by Law to receive the Prelatical Clergy on such and such Terms with certification if they refuse that the Episcopal Clergy shall have their Majesties Protection So that if our murmuring Gentlemen will but evidence so much Loyalty to his Majesty as to abjure all those who pretend a right to his Crown and promise neither to molest the Government Civil nor Ecclesiastical they have it in their own Power to be secured in the execution of their Office and enjoyment of their Benefices whether the Presbyterians will or not if they cannot in thirty Days time prove them either Heterodox or Scandalous And seeing as I said before the Test to prove their Soundness in the Faith is no other for the Matter than what the Church of England imposes upon her Clergy we hope that that Venerable Society will find no cause to complain that the Terms of our Communion are too Narrow if they do but consider what our Episcopal Party have conceded whereby indeed they have abandon'd the Church-of England-Government and Discipline which I suppose will gall their Patrons more than if they had disown'd her Doctrine which it's plain they must also do if they refuse to subscribe the Confession of Faith as injoin'd by the Act. This brings me naturally to observe the Unstedfastness and hateful Prevarication of that Party both with God and Man which will appear uncontrovertably true if we consider their subscribing the Solemn League and Covenant when that was uppermost and their abjuring it again after Charles the 2 d's Restoration their swearing of the Self-contradictory Test in his Reign as also to Passive Obedience and yet their offer to swear Allegiance to their present Majesties which now again they retract Nor is their Shuffling less notorious with their own Church They were sworn to maintain Episcopacy in the late Reigns and by their pretended Zeal for it make their Interest with the Church of England in this and yet offer'd to submit to and concur with Presbytery in their Petition which now again they retract So that the Church of England have no more reason then we to put Confidence in these Men seeing as has been said its plain that they have offered to relinquish her Government and Discipline and by their refusal to sign the Confession of Faith It 's evident that they have also relinquish'd her Doctrine and whether King William have any reason to trust to their Loyalty who contrary to their Oaths and pretended Principles have offered to swear Allegiance to him when they have without any Recantation of their former Doctrine offer'd to abandon King Iames let the World Judg. But that they are not to be trusted in relation to King William appears yet more fully by their Shuffling and refusing to comply with the present Act. And I must ingenuously confess that of the two I think the bare-fac'd and stedfast Iacobite the honester Man though I am apt to be of Mr. B y the blind Parson's Mind when one told him that Mr. S the Iacobite Parson would bring an Odium upon their Party by his avowed Dissatisfaction to this Government He answered that Mr. S was a Fool and did act too much above-board but that Dr. C es would notwithstanding his Compliance with the Government be much a greater Man with King Iames than S or such as he Which was a plain Declaration that let them pretend what they will as the Motive of their Compliance with the present Government it 's by virtue of a Dispensation from the late King that they may undermine it The Scots Episcopal Innocence c. PART II. TO let the World see how little Reason our Scots Prelatical Clergy who are outed of their Benefices have to complain of the Administration of their Majesties Government in Scotland in relation to themselves I have been at the Pains and Expence to procure this following Abstract from the Records of the Committee of States and Council which doth exhibit a List of all those turn'd out during the E. of Crawford's being President And not only vindicates that noble Lord from the malicious Aspersions wherewith his Enemies traduc'd him and which they continually buzz'd in his Majesty's Ears till he was pleased to give the said Earl his desired Quietus but justifies the Moderation of the Presbyterians in general towards their most implacable Enemies For here the Reader will clearly see that their Principles as Episcopalians was never made the Test and that not one was turn'd out but such as were proven guilty of refusing to comply with the Order of the State to pray for King William and Queen Mary And herein also the Council c. proceeded with so strict a regard to Justice that they acquitted or to use their own Term assoilzed such as could not be proven guilty of Disloyalty by sufficient Evidence Although at the same time it was proven against them that they had been Persecutors of the Presbyterians as ........... number .... ... And to evince this further we find divers acquitted though accused of very heinous Crimes as at N o. 8 58 59 84 93 94 102 103 124 125 126 133 138 164 165 170 177 because the Proof was not clear But so great a Number being turn'd out as appears by the following Catalogue upon the Account of their Disloyalty it was no wonder that the Scots Episcopal Party should be concerned to find not only the Head but also the Hands and Fingers of their Prelalatical Dagon cut off for their espousing the Interest of a Popish Prince whom the Convention of States had laid aside for his Male-administration according to former Precedents And therefore for the Credit of their Cause and to wipe off that horrible Scandal they open their Throats and raise the Cry that they were turn'd out because of their adherence to the Church-of England-Discipline by which means they procured abundance of Friends in this Nation and so great Interest at Court that they though disowning their Majesties Authority are given out to be the best of the Subjects and his Majesty's real Friends brought under Obloquy and Reproach whence came those Changes amongst Counsellors and Ministers of State and those Proceedings against the General
true Scots-men do and will maintain that they ought not to meddle in our Affairs Stafford was as high once as some others are now And his Holiness Archbishop Laud who took the Title of Pontifex Maximus Aeternum Reverendissime Cancellarie and Sanctitas Vestra did as much despise the Church and Kingdom of Scotland as you and your Patrons do at this Day yet both of them were broken in pieces by falling on that Stone And as I said then I say still that the Kingdom of Scotland is not so very contemptible but that its Influence may reach those who put an Affront and Injury upon them now as well as formerly As for your false malicious and impudent Reflection Pag. 3. That I treat King William no better than other Kings It 's like the rest of your Sense and Veracity I only make a Supposition that if it should be so and so what we may justly plead and defend by the practice of the Church of England toward King Iames. Whereas I charge your Kings with direct Breach of their Trust and Subversion of the Original Contract but your Eyes were blinded with Indecencies of Passion or sitting up too late at the Tavern that you could not or would not see what I wrote yet like a devout Worshipper of Calumny you are resolved to reproach tho without either Sense or Reason as appears by your delicate Argument to maintain your Position because I say he is prevailed upon to write Letters to the General Assembly which they are not obliged in Law to comply with therefore you argue that according to my Hypothesis If he venture upon such Essays of Arbitrary Power he may in a little time forfeit his Title since he has none but such as is twisted with the Divine Right of Presbytery Pray Doctor look upon this Argument your self once more and see whether your Conclusion can naturally follow from the Premisses and compare the Hypothesis which you have laid down as mine with P. 4. of my Book which you refer to and see if you have not knavishly perverted it My Assertion is That their Majesties accepted the Crown upon this Condition among others in the Claim of Right That they should consent to the Abolition of Prelacy as contrary to the Inclination of the generality of the People And that they have since abolished it accordingly which is a fulfilling of the Contract and established Presbytery in Scotland as most agreeable to the World of God as well as the Peoples Inclinations which are the very Words of the Act of Parliament Then I suppose that if their Majesties should be prevailed upon which blessed be God there is no cause to fear to act contrary to their solemn Oath 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 have made use of the same Plea in their Convention and Parliament against King Iames. Now Doctor where can you find in these Words that I say or insinuate that he hath no Title but what is twisted with the Divine Right of Presbytery His Title is indeed twisted with an Obligation to abolish Prelacy as contrary to the Peoples Inclinations and to establish such a Government of the Church as should be found most agreeable to the same And accordingly after a Twelve-months suspence which was time enough to examine it Presbytery was settled as most agreeable to the People and ex super abundanti as also most agreeable to the Word of God Which Clause it was in his Majesty's own Power to have consented to or not for there was no such thing twisted with his Title nor did I ever assert it as you do knavishly alledg though at the same time I made it appear that according to the Church of England's Hypothesis a King may forfeit his Title by breaking the Original Contract and dispensing with the Laws for that was the Clamour of your Party against the late King though your Universities Judges and Clergy had formerly preached up his Dispensing Power Then for your Argument to fix your Malicious Reflection upon me that if he venture upon such Essays of Arbitrary Power as writing Letters to the General Assembly which they are not obliged in Law to comply with he may in a little time Forfeit c. It 's so weak that I am asham'd for Country's-sake that ever that Man should have been made Vice-Chancellor of an University who argues no better Will any Man of Sense infer that because his Majesty out of his exuberant Clemency to his sworn Enemies writes to the General Assembly to admit some of them into the Church which they are impowered to do by the Law if they please but are not obliged by the Law to do it I say will any Man of Sense think that this is such an Essay of Arbitrary Power as may hazard the forfeiture of the Crown Indeed Doctor according to the late Actings and Arguments of your Party such a Principle may be fix'd upon a certain sort of Men in the World who assoon as the King touched the Hem of their Garment and gave Liberty to Dissenters did forthwith bandy against him and expel him But you may see that all those Kings which the Presbyterians did oppose were guilty of overturning the very Foundations and yet the World must needs own that they were very tender of King Charles I's Title and Person notwithstanding of all his Male-Administrations And if your Doctorship please either to read Rushworth's Collections Whitlock's Memorials or the Bishop of Salisbury's Memoirs of the House of Hamilton you will find how Honourably the Presbyterians of Scotland acted in relation to King Charles I both in the Treaty at delivering him up complaining of the Breach of that Treaty by the Usurping Faction and protesting against his Imprisonment and Trial though you be pleas'd to the dishonour of your Native Country to assert with as much Impudence as Ignorance and Malice That we tied him Hand and Foot till others out off his Head Whereas all the World knows that the same Party who cut off his Head would be satisfied with nothing less than our Hearts Blood for espousing his Cause and that of his Son and Successor Charles II. when those who were afterwards the greatest Sticklers for your Party did at the same time abjure him as did also General Monk when he was actually bringing him in which you may see in the same Author's above-mentioned and the Life of both those Kings printed lately by Nathaniel Crouch in the Poultry In the next place Doctor I must find some Weapon-Salve for that dreadful Wound which you have given me in saying That her present Majesty is much obliged to me for alledging that the Scots Prelatists have put the Stuarts from the Throne Really Doctor I do think that the Family of Nassaw is now upon the Throne and