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A57865
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A vindication of the Church of Scotland being an answer to five pamphlets, the titles of which are set down after the preface / by the author of the former vindication in answer to ten questions.
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Rule, Gilbert, 1629?-1701.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing R2232; ESTC R22719
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77,003
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86
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it on April 28. where as it was enacted on the 13 about twelve a Clock and came to the hands of the Ministers at Edinburgh late on Saturday or on Sabbath morning Some as he was told and we know many things were told him which were not true not till they were in the Pulpit This he thinketh absurd because the Bishops in England would not enjoyn their Clergy to read Proclamations Fide implicita and because the Parliament of England gave the Clergy there sever'dl Months to consider the like Case He might know that tho' the English Bishops be admired for advantage by him and his Party yet their practice need not be a Standard to the Scoth Council And that the Parliament of England thought they had reason for what they did And the Council of Scotland thought the same of what they did The case tho' of moment was plain enough neither was it a Surprize to any of those Men for the thing was long in Deliberation and known to be so before it was enacted Few in the Nation if any there were who were not then at a point whether they would own King William or adhere to King James Except such as were resolved to do either as it might more serve their Ends. What is said of the Peoples going out of the New Church when the Clerk read the Proclamation after the Blessing is not to be wondered at for after the Blessing People use not to stay And it is like it was design'd to be read to the Walls by uttering the Blessing before reading of it The Ministers example in not reading it himself it is like did influence such as used to hear Men of his stamp And of such was that Congregation then made up § 18. We now enter upon the Execution that was done by this Proclamation which this Epistle doth lay heavy load on the Council for Far less reproaching of the Justice of the Nation would have cost a Man his Neck in the former Reign The first instance he bringeth is of Doctor Strachan late Professour of Divinity in the Colledge of Edinburgh who when accused for not Reading and Praying as enjoyned pleaded that in the Claim of Right it was found that none can be King or Queen of Scotland till they take the Coronation Oath And that K. James had forfeited his right to the Crown by Acting as King without it That the State had only named William and Mary but neither the Crown was yet offered to them nor they accepted it nor had they taken ehe Coronation Oath and he wish others were deprived who used the same defence and added that they were willing to pray for King William and Queen Mary as soon as they had accepted and had taken the Oath An answer to this might more be expected from some Statesman who knoweth the reason that the Council were determined by in this matter It is known that the exercise of the Government had been long before tendered to the Prince and that his Highness had accepted and exercised it That the Estates sat by his Authority that the Nations Representative had then owned him as their King and therefore it was a contempt of the Authority of the Nation for any Man to refuse to own him when called to do so Further it is a material mistake of the words of the Claim of Right Which doth not say None can be King or Queen but that none can Exercise the Legal Power till thay have taken the Coronation Oath It is certain that on the Death of a King his Rightful Successor is King and may be Prayed for as such and such Praying may be injoyned even before taking of the Oath The same may be said of One chosen and proclaimed by the Supreme Authority of the Nation which is the Case now in hand That these Men promised to Pray for K. William afterward is false and the Committee deprived none who were willing so to engage The petulant liberty that he taketh to disparage the Council that was nominated by the King after he had accepted of the Government I remark but insist not on He now in the end of pag 32 Returneth to the Rabble his misrepresentation of things in General I stay not on he is secure he cannot be refuted but by denying the truth of them But his particular accounts of these things I shall examine The first Instance that he giveth is of Mr. Mc Math Minister of Leswade On whom one night as he was going from Edinburgh to his own House 4 Fellows fell Pierced him with Bodkins and Auls so that he had ten or twelve Wounds in his Belly filled his Mouth till they had almost Choaked him with Horse-Dung and left him in that sad condition If one should consider the Ineredibility of this Story it might save the labour of a Refutation or evincing the falshood of it He hath not told us who these four Fellows were nor whisher they were Presbyterians or not must all the Robberies and Assassinations that are committed on the high way by unknown Persons be charged on the Presbyterians Such Insinuations will better evince the Spiteful humour of our Adversaries then the disorderliness of Men of our way Next is it probable that a Man should have 10 or 12 wounds in the Belly with Auls or Bodkins and none of them Pierce the Peritoneum which would readily prove mortal And yet Mr. Mc Math neither was sick nor died nor was any Indisposition visible on him next day but what was the effect of his being Drunk overnight which all that knew him do Affirm was very Customary to him I wish our Author had told us who ever saw these Wounds or the Scars of them It is attested by his Neighbours as followeth We under subscribers declare that we came of purpose to see Mr. Mc Math's pretended Wounds The Gate being shut we went to the House of Mr. Robert Trotter his Precentor who going to him returned with this answer that he freed the whole Parish and knew not who they were that injured him At Lasweed December 6. 1690. James Currie Adam Alexander Gawin Hunter James Simson I declare that I saw Mr. John Mc Math betwixt six and seven a Clock in the Morning following that Night wherein he pretendeth that injury was done to him at his own Gate as he used to be witness my Subscription at Lasweed December 6. 1690. Andrew Finlawson For this Andrew Finlawson was challenged by Mr. Mc Math Which he also testifyeth under his hand Also James Simson declareth under his hand that he saw Mr. Mc Math on the Street 2 or 3 Days after he was said to be Wounded And that People going on the Road from Edinburgh told him that they saw Mr. Mc Math Drunk that Night as he came from Edinburgh Likewise we have it under the Hand of John Young Merchand in Fisherraw that at the time when it was said that Mr. Mc Math was Wounded he went to see him being his
of his two Gentlemen as I am not willing to name Had he heard the Apostle Paul who determined to know nothing among the People but Christ and him Crucified The same Sarcasm had been thrown at his head Another Argument to prove his point is a Statesman who had a hand in the late revolution did affirm that he thought the Episcopal party the greater and the better part of the Nation Ans. 1. We are not obliged to believe this on the bare affirmation of a Person who hath written so many falshoods in so few sheets And we cannot enquire into the truth of what he sayeth unless he had told the Statemans Name which he hath more prudently then honestly concealed 2. It is not unlikely that there might be Statesmen one or more who might have a hand in the late Revolution without any regard to Religion who being disappointed in their Designs might change their thoughts about the constitution of State and shew spight enough against the Church However it is but the Opinion of one man whose Person and the Credibility of what he sayeth and his capacity to judge we are ignorant of § 7. He frameth and answereth an Objection Why then was this Article put in the Claim of Right concerning the inclinations of the People This he imputeth to the bad constitution of the Convention through the negligence of the Episcopal Party and the vigilance of the Presbyterians To the Members many of them deserting the Convention and such like All which was answered before I cannot shun to take notice that he designeth his party The Loyal and Episcopal Party No man will doubt but he meaneth Loyalty to King James which confirmeth what I have often said that the present constitution of the State and that of the Church must stand or fall together He concludeth his Letter with the greatest and most comprehensive Lie that is in it all Viz. That there is nothing but Truth in it Of which I hope the Reader is by this time capable to judge To his Letter he addeth two Postscripts In the first of them he telleth us that The Presbyterians cast many Reflections on the Church of England But names but one of them That her Clergy have deserted their former Principles of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance I wish the English cast no more groundless Reflections on us Truly it seemeth so to us and tho' some have endeavoured to clear them in this I am one of these who are not cleared by any thing they have said on that head however tho' we talk of these things we leave our Brethren of England to stand or fall to their own Master and do not meddle in their Affairs as we think they should not concern themselves with ours He saith It is our Common talk that King William loveth Episcopacy as ill in England as in Scotland We cannot answer for all that is talked but wise men among us do not meddle with judging the hearts of other men far less of Kings which are deep The Act of Council December 24 1689. Which he setteth down at length can answer for it self And giveth good reason for what it appointeth His second Postscript containeth a Story which he seemeth to be very fond of he could not let it pass after he had finished his Sheet It is That a Presbyterian Minister in Edinburgh confessed to a Gentleman that within half a year last past the Presbyterian Party had lost 40000 And that they were not inclined that Patronages should be taken away in that Session of Parliament least by Popular Elections all Ministers should be chosen either Cameronians or Episcopal Answ. This also we have on his single Testimony And his concealing the Ministers and Gentlemens Names is not I presume out of tenderness to any of us but that we might not enquire into it I converse with all the Ministers of Edinburgh and I never heard any thing of that kind from any of them But and if one man had such a Melancholy apprehension his mistake is not probative For hindering the taking away of Patronages at that time it was so far from that that the Presbyterians laid-out themselves to the outmost to get it done and obtained it and I never met with one man among them who was against its being then done What he saith that there is as little Religion in the Western shires of Scotland as in any part of Christendom is so notoriously false as I did not think the worst of Scots men had been capable of this Assertion Except them who know not what Religion is or who hate any thing that hath the appearance of it Fourth Letter IN this Letter I find a Repetition of many things said in the former Letters and already refuted which I shall pass over in silence It is not Inferiour to any of the rest in abominable Lies and Reproaches Such as That no History can parallel the Tragical Disasters the Clergy hath met with That their Judges plainly and openly avow that they do not intend their Obedience but their ruine The most bitter Invectives can be invented fill up his few pages Such as That the Protestant Religion is now no more than every mans Fantastick humour new Models of Governments and a Liberty to pull down the things that are most Ancient and most Sacred These things are not to be refuted more than the words of a mad man or of one raving in a Feaver He saith Some were deprived meerly for not reading the Proclamation for the Fast Which is an abominable falshood Tho' such disobedience to the State deserved a check It is as false that any such Reflection as he mentioneth was cast on the Episcopal Clergy by the Narrative of the Proclamation as any who readeth it may see And the Nonsense imputed to it is most falsely and most wickedly asserted and yet without cunning malice For it doth not tell what it was In a word this Letter holdeth all in general and so is unexaminable except one passage of which anon and is full of virulent Reproaches and so void of any thing that is Argumentative that it is impossible for any man to answer it except his Talent for Railing and his Conscience to say what he will true or false be equal to that of this Gentlemans Wherefore I shall pass it with a few Remarks I might refute all that he saith as it deserveth to be treated by writing on the Margine of every Page Lies and Calumnies He telleth us page 65. That the Presbyterian Party are not considerable And will prove it by daring the West Country people to reduce the Highlanders He may know what one Regiment of them did toward it at Dunkell And many wish that they were Authorized to attempt it He talketh idly when he speaketh of The Supremacy of the Kirk They never pretended to any Power but what God hath given them to Govern their own Members in things that belong to the Soul and by means that reach