found successful For Secretary Cecil no sooner heard of their intention than he sent them word That their Enterprize misliked not the English Council Upon the sight of this great Ministers Letter which brought them so comfortable news they instantly return'd ane Answer Knox has it word for word I shall only take ane Abstract of what is proper for my present purpose In short then They perceive their Messenger Master Kircaldie of Grange hath found Cecil ane unfeigned favourer of Christ's true Religion As touching the Assurance of a perpetual Amity to stand betwixt the two Realms as no earthly thing is more desired by them so they crave of God to be made the Instruments by which the Unnatural Debate which hath so long continued between the Nations may be composed To the Praise of Gods Name and the Comfort of the Faithful in both Realms If the English Wisdom can foresee and devise how the same may be brought to pass they may perswade themselves not only of the Scottish Consent and Assistance but of their Constancy as Men can promise to their lives end And of Charge and Commandment to be left by them to their posterity that the Amity between the Nations IN GOD contracted and begun may be by them kept inviolate for Ever Their Confederacy Amity and League shall not be like the pactions made by worldly men for worldly profit but as they Require it FOR GODS CAUSE so they will call upon his Name for the Observation of it As this their Confederacy requires Secresy so they doubt not the English Wisdom will communicate it only to such as they know to be favourers of such A GODLY CONJUNCTION And in their opinion it would much help if the Preachers both in perswasion and in publick prayers as theirs in Scotland do would commend the same unto the people And thus after their most humble Commendation to the Queen's Majesty whose Reign they wish may be prosperous and long to the Glory of God and Comfort of his Church they heartily commit him to the Protection of the Omnipotent Given at Edenburgh Iuly 17. Anno 1559. Before I proceed further I must tell my Reader that all our Historians are extreamly defective as to this great Transaction between Scotland and England I am now accounting for None of them neither Buchanan nor Lesly nor Spotswood hath this Letter except Knox and he calls it the first Letter to Sir William Cecil from the Lords of the Congregation which imports there were more as no doubt there were many and yet he hath not so much as a second Besides I find by Knox Buchanan and Spotswood that in November 1559 Secretary Maitland was sent by the Lords of the Congregation to treat with the Queen of England I find likewise that he managed the matter so and brought it to such maturity that immediately upon his return the League between the Queen of England and the Scottish Lords was transacted and finished and yet I can no where find what Commission he had nor what Instructions how he manag'd his business nor upon what terms the Queen of England and He came to an Agreement and several other such lamentable defects I find so that it is not possible for me to give so exact a Deduction of such ane important Matter as were to be wished Tho I doubt not if it had been clearly and fully deduced it might have brought great Light to many things about our Reformation which now so far as I know are buried in Obscurity Any man may readily imagine how sensible one that would perform my present task must needs be of so great a disadvantage However when we cannot have what we would we must satisfy our selves the best way we can And so I return to my purpose which tho I cannot dispatch so punctually as might be desired yet I hope to do it sufficiently and to the satisfaction of all sober tho not nicely critical Enquirers To go on then By the aforementioned Letter you see The Lords of the Congregation referr'd it to the Wisdom of the English Council to foresee and devise the Means and Assurances they are the very words of the Letter how ane effectual Confederacy might be made between them for Gods Cause Now let us reason a little upon the common principles of prudence where Matter of Fact is so defective What was more natural for the English Council to Require than that now that the English Reformation was perfected and legally established and the Scottish was only in forming the Scots should engage to transcribe the English Copy and establish their Reformation upon that same foot i. e. receive the Doctrine Worship Rites and Government of the Church of England so that there might be no difference between the two Churches but both might be of the same Constitution so far as the necessary distinction of the two States would allow The point in Agitation was a Confederacy in opposition to Popery and for the security of the Reformed Religion in both Kingdoms It was obvious therefore to foresee that it would be the stronger and every way the better suited to that great End if both Churches stood on one bottom For who sees not that Different Constitutions are apt to be attended with Different Customs which in process of time may introduce Different Sentiments and Inclinations Who sees not that the smallest Differences are apt to create jealousies divisions cross-interests And that there 's nothing more necessary than Vniformity for preserving Vnity Besides Queen Elizabeth was peculiarly concerned to crave this There 's nothing more necessary to support a State especially a Monarchy than Vnity of Religion It was for the Support of her State the Security of her Monarchy that she was to enter into this Confederacy She was affraid of the Queen of Scotland's pretensions to the Crown of England For this cause she was confederating with the Queen of Scotland's Subjects that she might have them of her side It was her concern therefore to have them as much secured to her interests as possibly she could they were then at a great Bay without her succour and had referred it to her and her Council to foresee and devise the terms on which she would grant it And now laying all these things together what was more natural I say than that she should demand that they should be of the same Religion and their Church of the same Constitution with the Church of England This politick was so very obvious that 't is not to be imagined she and her wise Council could overlook it And tho it had been no where upon Record that she craved it yet the common sense of mankind would stand for its Credibility what shall we say then if we find it recorded by ane Historian whose Honesty is not to be questioned in this matter And such ane one we have even Buchanan himself tho he misplaces it and narrates it a long time after it
can it be imagined that Henry who was so serious with the King of Scots was at no pains at all with his Subjects with the Nobility and Gentry with such as might had influence either at the Court or in the Country No certainly as may be evident if we consider 4. That when in the year 1540 or 1541 Henry was earnest for a Congress with Iames to try no doubt if meeting face to face and personal and familiar Converse and Conference might prevail with him All our Scottish Protestants were mighty zealous that the Interview might take effect and both time and place which was York might be punctually observed Is not this a Demonstration that they understood Henry's project and approved his designs and that they were in the same Bottom with him in pursuance of a Reformation 'T is true Iames followed other Counsels and disappointed the Interview and therefore Henry turn'd angry and raised War against him But then 't is as true that Iames found his Subjects so backward as I shewed and was so unsuccessful in the management of that War that he contracted Melancholy and soon after died Add to this 5. That after Iames's Death Henry persisted in his Concern to advance the Reformation in Scotland as well as in England To this end He was careful that those of the Scottish Nobility and Gentry who were taken Prisoners at Solway-moss might be lodged with such persons as could instruct them in the Reforming Principles And so soon as he heard that Iames was dead and had left a Daughter some few days old yet Heiress of the Crown He dispatched them for Scotland to promote his interests in the Matter of the Match he was zealous to have made betwixt his Son Prince Edward and our Infant Soveraign Indeed they were as diligent as he could have desired They got it carried in Parliament and that they did it from a prospect of carrying on the Reformation of Religion by that conjunction cannot be doubted if we may believe Dr. Burnet in his Abridgment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England For there he not only tells That Cassils had got these seeds of Knowledge at Lambeth under Cranmer ' s influences which produced afterwards a Great Harvest in Scotland But also That the other Prisoners were instructed to such a degree that they came to have very different thoughts of the Changes that had been made in England from what the Scottish Clergy had possessed them with who had encouraged their King to engage in the War by the assurance of Victory since he fought against ane Heretical Prince c. And a little after They were sent home and went away much pleased both with the Splendor of the Kings Court and with the way of Religion which they had seen in England And that we have reason to believe this Author in this matter is evident because he is justified herein by all our Historians especially Buchanan as my appear by the sequel Here was Success of the English influences Seven of the Supreme Order i. e. Noblemen and 24 of inferior Quality considerable Gentlemen all enlightned in England for so Buchanan numbers them And here by the way it will not be amiss to consider the strength of the Protestant Party in Scotland when in this Parliament wherein the Match by the influence of the English Converts was agreed to They were so strong that they carried the Regency for the Earl of Arran prompted thereto chiefly by the perswasion they had of his affection to the Reformation as is evident from the consentient Accounts of Buchanan Knox and Spotswood They carried it for the Match with England in opposition to all the Popish Party as I have just now represented Nay which is more because more immediately concerning the Reformation of Religion they procured ane Act to be made That it should be Lawful to every Man to take the Benefit of the Translation which they then had of the Bible and other Treatises containing wholsome Doctrine c. Indeed at that time the Reformation was so far advanced That the Regent kept his two Protestant Chaplains Guillam and Rough both Church of England men as we shall hear who preached publickly to the Court and declaim'd boldly against the Roman Corruptions So far advanced that it stood fair within a short space to have got the publick establishment if Arran the Regent to keep the Popes Cover on his Title to the Succession wherein without it there were a Couple of sad Chasms and for other worldly ends had not play'd the Iade by renouncing his Profession and returning to the Popes Obedience Observe further by the way That this first Parliament of Queen Mary's was holden in her name and by her Authority upon the 13th of March 1542 3 as is clear not only from our Historians but the printed Acts of Parliament and she was not crowned till the 20th of August thereafter if we may believe both Lesly and Buchanan And yet there was not so much as the least objection made then against the Legality of the Parliament no such thing was thought on So that 't is no new nor illegal thing for Scottish Monarchs to hold Parliaments before their Coronations But this as I said by the way Such was the strength of the Reforming Party then and this strength under God advanced so far principally by English influences And all this will appear more convincing still when it is considered in the 6th place That all alongst the Popish Clergy were very sensible of it and very much offended with it and were at all imaginable pains to disappoint it and oppose it Thus When Henry sent the Bishop of St. Davids as we have heard Anno 1535. to treat with Iames about Reforming the Clergy were in a dreadful pother how to keep off the Interview and used all imaginable Arguments with the King to disswade him from listening to it Telling him it would ruine Religion and that would ruine his Soul his State his Kingdom c. Nay The Pope himself was extreamly solicitous how to prevent so great a mischief as he deem'd it For as Lesly tells us His Holiness finding that Henry had cast off his Yoke and fearing lest Iames should transcribe his Uncles Copy sent his Legates to Scotland to confirm him in the Faith and fortify him against Henry's impressions And Buchanan says He allowed him the Tenths of all the Benefices within the Kingdom for three years time to keep him right Again When Henry Anno 1540. insisted the second time for ane Interview the Clergy were in a whole Sea of troubles They used all arts and tried all Methods to impede it At last they sell upon the true Knack and a true Demonstration of their Concern seeing it was a Knack that lookt so unkindly on their Pockets which was to promise him Money largely no less than 30000 Crowns yearly says Buchanan Knox
THE Fundamental Charter OF Presbytery As it hath been lately Established IN THE Kingdom of SCOTLAND Examin'd and Disprov'd By the History Records and Publick Transactions of our Nation Together with a PREFACE Wherein the Vindicator of the Kirk is freely put in mind of his Habitual Infirmities LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West End of St. Paul's Church-yard 1695. THE PREFACE THis Article which I have now examined was no sooner Established in our Scottish Claim of Right than I turn'd serious to satisfy my self about it I thought it concern'd me as a Scottish man to understand as well as I could That which made such a Figure in the Original Contract between King and People I thought I was no less concern'd as a Christian to be Resolv'd about its Merits I perceiv'd it might readily affect my practice And tho I abhor as heartily as any man all breaking of the Churches peace for Rattles or Nutshels Yet I could not but reckon of it as a matter of Conscience to me to Endeavour to be sure that I built neither my Faith nor my Obedience in a matter of such Consequence as I take the Government of the Church to be on a Deceitful bottom Perhaps I was bound to be inquisitive by some other Reduplications not needful to be Named I had not spent much Application about it when I was satisfied and thought I had Ground to hope the Wisdom of the Nation after more Deliberate Researches might find it Reasonable either to Restore to the Church Her Ancient and Iust Government or settle the New One on some at least more Specious Basis. But I was Disappointed For Three Sessions of Parliament are now over And the Article is so far from being either Retracted or Corrected that on the Contrary It hath been still insisted on and Deem'd sufficient to support very weighty Superstructures Each Session hath Erected some new thing or other upon it This with the importunity of some Friends at last Determin'd me to Enquire more fully and minutely into the value of the Article And the Work hath swell'd to such a bulk as you see I confess I cannot Apologize sufficiently for my adventuring to Expose such ane ill Composure to the publick view Especially Considering how Nice and Critical if not Picq't and Humorsome an Age we live in I ever thought that much of the Beauty as well as of the Vtility of Books lay in Good Method and a distinct Range of Thoughts And I cannot promise that I have observed That so punctually as Clearer Heads might have done I have less Reason to be Confident of the Stile 'T is hard for most Scottish men to arrive at any tolerable Degree of English Purity Our greatest Caution cannot prevent the Stealing of our own Words and Idioms into our Pens and their dropping thence into our writings All things considered I have as little Reason to think I have Guarded or could Guard against them as any Scottish man For not only have mine opportunities all my life been none of the best But for finding Materials for the following Papers I was obliged to Read so many Books written in Right Broad Scotch and take so many Citations from them that 't is little to be wondered if my Book abounds with Scotticisms I thought my self bound to be faithful in my Citations and I can promise I have been that I could not Reason from the Authority of these Citations without using the Terms and Phrases which are in them This no doubt makes the Scotticisms Numerous And I shall not deny that my familiar acquaintance with these Books together with the prejudices of Education Custom and Constant Converse in the plain Scottish Dialect may have occasioned many more Neither shall I be over Confident that where I have adventured to Reason any point I have done it to every mans Conviction I may have been as other men apt to impose on my self and think I have advanced just propositions and drawn fair Consequences when I have not done it No doubt most men have such a Kindness for themselves as too commonly inclines them to applaud their own thoughts and judge their own Reasonings Just and Solid when they are but Coarse enough And others may very easily discover where the mistake lies Yet this I can say for my self I have done what I could to Guard against all such prejudice and partial Byass Sensible of these infirmities I intreat the Readers favourable and benign Censures This I can tell him ingenuously If I could have done better I should not have Grudgâ—d him the pleasure of it But perchance that which I am more concern'd to account for is what Assistances I had for what I have advanced in the following Sheets And here I must Confess I had not all the Advantages I could have wished Such are my present Circumstances That I could not Rationally propose to my self to have Access to the publick Records either of Church or State And no doubt in this I was at a Considerable loss For he who Transcribes from Authentick Records Doth it more Securely than he who has things only from Second hands Yet I don't think this Disadvantage was such as should have intirely Discouraged me from the Attempt I have made For some of my Authors had Access to the publick Registers And I am apt to believe there was not much to be found there Relating to the Controversies I have managed which they have not published So that tho 't is possible I might have been better yet I cannot think I was ill provided of Helps I cannot think any of my Presbyterian Brethren can be provided much better The principal Authors from which I have collected my Materials are these Buchanan's History published at Frankfort Anno 1594 Ieslie's History at Edenburgh 1675. King Iames the Sixth's Works in English at London 1616. Archbishop Spotswood's History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland at London Anno 1655. His Refutatio Libelli c. Lond. An. 1620. The True History of the Church of Scotland c. said to be written by Mr. David Calderwood published An. 1678. Mr. Petrie's History of the Catholick Church c. Tom. 2. printed at the Hague Anno 1â—62 Sir Iames Melvil's Memoirs The Old Scottish Liturgy The Lord Herbert's History of the Life of King Henry 8. Doctor Heylin and Doctor Burnet's Histories of the Reformation of the Church of England Calvin's Epistles printed at Geneva Anno 1617. Beza's Epistles till the year 1573. Acts and Monuments by Fox c. I have likewise considered our printed Acts of Parliaments The printed Acts of the General Assemblies from the year 1638. And as many Pamphlets as I could find Relating to the Matters on which I insist 'T is needless to Name them here You may find them named as Occasion required in my Book There are two Books which I must insist on a little One is A Manuscript Copy of the Acts of our Scottish Assemblies from
the year 1560 till the year 1616. Our Presbyterian Brethren may be ready to reject its Authority if it Militates against them I give My Reader therefore this brief account of it It was transcribed in the year 1638. when the National Covenant was in a flourishing state For I find at the end of it the Transcriber's Name and his Designation written with the same hand by which the whole M S. is written And he says He began to transcribe upon the 15th day of Ianuary 1638. and compleated his work on the 23d of April that same year He was such a Reader as we have commonly in Scotland in Country Parishes It is not to be imagined it was transcribed then for serving the Interests of Episcopacy For as Petrie and the Presbyterians generally affirm The Prelates and Prelatists dreaded nothing more in those days than that the Old Registers of the Kirk should come abroad And it was about that time that Mr. Petrie got his Copy from which he published so many Acts of our Old General Assemblies Nor is it to be doubted but that as several Copies then were so particularly that which I have perused was transcribed for the Ends of the Good Old Cause This I am sure of the Covenant as required then to be subscribed by the Green Tables is set down at full length in the Manuscript Besides The Stile and Language testify that there is no Reason to doubt That the Acts of Assemblies which it contains have been transcribed word for word at first from the Authentick Records And if Calderwood's or Petrie's Accounts of these Acts deserve any Credit My M S. cannot be rejected for it hath all they have published and for the most part in the same Terms except where these Authors have altered the Language sometimes to make it more fashionable and intelligible sometimes to serve their Cause and the Concerns of their Party It hath Chasms also and Defects where they say Leaves have been torn from the Original Registers And I have not adduced many Acts from it which either one or both these Authors have not likewise mentioned in their Histories Calderwood has indeed concealed very many having intended it seems to publish nothing but what made for him tho I think even in that his Iudgment hath not sufficiently kept pace with his Inclinations Nay His Supplement which he hath subjoyn'd to his History as well as the History it self is lame by his own Acknowledgment For these are the very first words of it I have in the preceeding History only inserted such Acts Articles and Answers to Questions as belonged to the Scope of the History and Form of Church Government Some few excepted touching Corruptions in the Worship of God or the Office and Calling of Ministers But because there are other Acts and Articles necessary to be known I have SELECTED such as are of greatest Vse passing by such as were TEMPORARY or concerned only TEMPORARY OFFICES c. Here is a clear Confession that he has not given us all the Acts of Assemblies Nay that he has not given all such as concerned Temporary Offices and amongst these we shall find him in the following Sheets more confidently than warrantably reckoning Superintendency and the Episcopacy which was agreed to at Leith Anno 1572. I have mentioned these things that the World may see it cannot be reasonable for our Presbyterian Brethren to insist on either Calderwood's Authority or Ingenuity against my Mss. How ingenuous or impartial he has been you may have opportunity to guess before you have got through the ensuing Papers Petrie hath indeed given us a great many more of the Acts of General Assemblies than Calderwood hath done as may appear to any who attends to the Margin of my Book But he also had the Good Cause to serve and therefore has corrupted some things and concealed other things as I have made appear However he has the far greater part of what I have transcribed from the Mss. Spotswood hath fewer than either of the two Presbyterian Historians yet some he hath which I find also in the MS. and which they have both omitted In short I have taken but very few from it which are not to be found in some One or More of these Historians Neither have I adduced so much as One from it nor is One in it which is not highly agreeable to the State and Circumstances of the Church and the Genius of the times for which it mentions them So that Upon the whole matter I see no reason to doubt of its being a faithful Transcript And I think I may justly say of it as Optatus said of another MS. upon the like occasion Vetustas Membranarum testimonium perhibet c. optat Milev lib. 1. f. 7. edit Paris 1569 It hath all the Marks of Antiquity and Integrity that it pretends to and there 's nothing about it that renders it suspicious The other Book which I said required some farther consideration is The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland containing five Books c. Commmonly attributed to Iohn Knox by our Presbyterian Brethren That which I have to say about it is chiefly That Mr. Knox was not the Author of it A. B. Spotswood hath proven this by Demonstration in his History pag. 267. his Demonstration is That the Author whoever he was talking of one of our Martyrs remitteth the Reader for a farther Declaration of his Sufferings to the Acts and Monuments of Mr. Fox which came not to light till some twelve years after Knox's Death Mr. Patrick Hamilton was the Martyr and the Reference is to be seen pag. 4. of that History I am now considering Besides this I have observed a great many more infallible proofs that Knox was not the Author I shall only instance in some 3 or 4. Thus Pag. 447. The Author having set down a Copy of the Letter sent by the Church of Scotland to the Church of England of which more by and by Tells how the English Nonconformists wrote to Beza and Beza to Grindal Bishop of London which Letter of Beza's to Grindal he says is the Eight in order amongst Beza's Epistles And in that same page he mentions another of Beza's Letters to Grindal calling it the Twelfth in Number Now 't is certain Beza's Epistles were not published till the year 1573. i. e. after Knox's Death It may be observed also that he adds farther in that same page That The sincerer sort of the Ministery in England had not yet assaulted the Iurisdiction and Church Government which they did not till the year 1572. at which time they published their first and second Admonitions to the Parliament but only had excepted against Superstitious Apparel and some other faults in the Service Book From which besides that 't is Evident Knox could not be the Author we may Learn from the Authors Confession whoever he was That the Controversies about Parity and Imparity c. were not so early in
Britain as our Presbyterian Brethren are earnest to have the present Generation believe Again Pag. 449 The Author Narrating how Henry Queen Mary's Husband c was buried Adds in Confirmation of his own Veracity Thus. If there had been any Solemn Burial Buchanan had wanted Wit to Relate otherwise Seeing there would have been so many Witnesses to testify the Contrary Therefore the Contriver of the late History of Queen Mary wanted Policy here to convey a Lie Thus I say the Author vouches Buchanans Authority And it must be Buchanans History that he Refers to For there 's not a Syllable about Henry's Burial to be found in any of his other writings Now Not to insist on the incredibleness of Knox's running for Shelter to Buchanans Authority concerning a matter of Fact so remarkable in its self and which happened in his own time in that very City in which he lived and was Minister Not to insist on this I say Buchanan himself in his Dedication of his History to King Iames 6th Clearly decides the matter He tells his Majesty there were two Considerations which chiefly put him upon writing his History First He perceived his Majesty had Read and Understood the Histories of almost all other Nations And it was incongruous and unaccountable that he who was so well acquainted with Foreign Affairs should be a Stranger to the History of his own Kingdom Secondly He was intrusted with the Kings Education He could not attend his Majesty in that important Office by Reason of his Old Age and Multiplying infirmities He applyed himself therefore to write his History thereby to Compense the Defects of his Non-Attendance c. And from both Reasons it is evident that Knox was Dead before Buchannan applyed himself to the writing of his History For Knox dyed Anno 1572. K. Iames was then but Six years of Age And is it Credible that at that Age he had Read and got by heart the Histories of almost all other Nations Indeed Buchanan survived Knox by ten years And for a good many of them was able to wait and actually waited on the King So that 't is clear 't was towards the end of his days and after Knox's Death that he applyed himself to his History And 't is very well known it was never published till the year 1582. But this is not all The Author of that which is called Knox's History adduces Buchanan's Authority for Convelling the Credit of the Contriver of the Late History of Queen Mary which was written I cannot tell how long after Buchanan was Dead as well as Knox. Further Pag. 306. The Author discourses thus The Books of Discipline have been of late so often published that we shall forbear to print them at this time Now there were never more than two Books of Discipline and the Second was not so much as projected till the year 1576 i. e. 4 years after Knox had departed this life Once more Pag. 286. We read thus Some in France after the sudden Death of Francis the Second and calling to mind the Death of Charles the Ninth in Blood and the Slaughter of Henry the Second did Remark the Tragical ends of these three Princes who had persecuted Gods Servants so cruelly And indeed the following Kings of France unto this day have found this true by their unfortunate and unexpected Ends. Now Charles the Ninth died not till the 30th of May Anno 1574. i. e. 18 Months after Knox. The following Kings of France who made the Vnfortunate and unexpected Ends were Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth Henry the Third was not Murthered till the year 1589. Henry the Fourth not till May 1610. The former 17 the latter 38 years after the Death of Knox. From this Taste it is clear that that History at least as we now have it was not written by Knox. All that can be said with any Shadow of probability is that Knox provided some Materials for it But Granting this how shall we be able to separate that which is Spurious in it from that which is Genuine All I can say is this 'T is plain to every one that Reads it That he has been a thorough-paced Presbyterian who framed it as we have it By Consequence its Authority is stark naught for any thing in it that favours Presbytery or bespatters Prelacy And if it ought to have any credit at all it is only where the Controversies about Church Government are no ways interested or where it mentions any thing that may be improven to the Advantages of Episcopacy just as the Testimonies of Adversaries are useful for the interests of the opposite party and not an Aâ—e farther So that I had reason if any Man can have it to insist on its Authority as I have frequently done But no Presbyterian can in equity either plead or be allowed the same priviledge I could give the Reader a surfeit of instances which cannot but appear to any considering person to be plain and notorious Presbyterian corruptions in it But I shall only represent One as being of considerable importance in the Controversie which I have managed in my Second Enquiry and by that the Reader may make a Judgment of the Authors Candor and Integrity in other things The English Non-conformists zealous to be rid of the Vestments and some other Forms and Ceremonies retained by the Church of England which they reckoned to be scandalous impositions wrote earnestly as is known to several Reformed Churches and Protestant Divines beseeching them to interpose with the Church of England for an ease of these burdens It seems they wrote to some in Scotland also probably to Mr. Knox He was of their acquaintance and they could not but be secure enough of his inclinations considering how warm he had been about these matters at Francfort However it was the Church of Scotland did actually interpose The General Assembly met at Edenburgh Decem. 27. Anno 1566 ordered Iohn Knox to draw a Letter to the English Clergy in favour of those Non-conformists This Letter was subscribed and sent Now consider the Tricks of the Author of the History attributed to Knox. The Inscription of the Letter as it is in Spotswood Petrie and the Manuscript Copy of the Acts of the General Assembly's is this The Superintendents Ministers and Commissioners of the Church within the Realm of Scotland To their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors of England who have renounced the Roman Antichrist and do profess with them the Lord Iesus in sincerity wish the increase of the Holy Spirit Thus I say Spotswoâ—d hath it pag. 198. And the MS. and Petrie Tom. 2. p. 348. have it in the same words only where Spotswood hath wish they have desire which makes no material Difference But the spurious Knox has it thus pag. 445. The Superintendents with other Ministers and Commissioners of the Church of God in the Kingdom of Scotland To their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors of Gods Church in England who profess with us
in Scotland the Truth of Iesus Christ. Now consider if there are not Material Differences between these two Inscriptions By the Inscription as it is in Spotswood Petrie and the MS. the Dignity and Superiority of the Scottish Superintendenâ—s above the rest of the Clergy is clearly preserved By the other account it is sadly obscured and they are made at least very much to stand on a level with other Ministers c. By the Inscription as in Spotswood c. The Sentiments Our Scottish Clergy had then about the English Reformation and Constitution are very plain genuine and charitable They were satisfied that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church of England had Renounced the Roman Antichrist and that they professed the Lord Iesus in SINCERITY And they had for them suitably the Christian and Brotherly Charity which the Orthodox and Sincere Christians of one Church ought to have for the Orthodox and Sincere Christians of another Church They wished or desired to them The Increase of the Holy Spirit How highly this was agreeable to the sentiments of the then Protestants in Scotland I have made fully appear in the Discussion of my Second Enquiry But To the Pseudo-Knox it seems it lookt highly scandalous to own That the Bishops and Pastors of England had Renounced the Roman Antichrist or that they professed the Lord Jesus in sincerity How could these things be said so long as they retained Antichrists Hierarchy or had so many Romish Mixtures And therefore to wish them the increase of the Holy Spirit was too bold a prayer It was founded on a false hypothesis It supposed they had the Holy Spirit already How suitable is all this to the Presbyterian temper and principles And by consequence is it not evident that these alterations were not the effects of negligence or inadvertencie but of the true Spirit of the party But this is not all In the body of the Letter as recorded by the Pseudo Knox there are several other Corruptions I shall only point at one but it is a considerable one The General Assembly which sent the Letter after a Digression concerning the care that ought to be had of tender Consciences c. Resume their main purpose thus We return to our former humble supplication which is that our Brethren who amongst you refuse these Romish Rags may find of you who are the PRELATS such favour as our Head and Master commandeth every one of his members to shew to another So it is not only in the MS. Spotswood and Petrie word for word but also in a virulent Presbyterian Pamphlet called Scotidromus directed to all Noble Scots and kind Catholicks zealous for the Romish Religion written Anno 1638 to cast dirt at that time upon Episcopacy and render it odious to the People which Pamphlet I have by me in Manuscript But The Supposititious Knox has it thus Now again we return to our former Request which is that the Brethren among you who refuse the Romish Rags may find of you not the PRELATES but who VSE and VRGE them such favour c How unfit was it for the world to know that a Scottish General Assembly had own'd the Bishops of England as PRELATES It was scandalous no doubt to the Godly It was expedient therefore to falsify a little and foist in more useful Epithets to call them not PRELATES but USERS and URGERS of the Ceremonies I have insisted the longer on this Book because our Presbyterian Brethren are so earnest to have the world believe that it was written by Knox Particularly G. R. in his First Vindication c. in Answer to Quest. 1. § 8. where too observe by the way how extravagantly that Author blunders His words are Anno 1559. The Protestant Ministers and People held a General Assembly at St. Johnstown saith Knox Hist. Lib. 2. p. 137. Now there is not so much as one syllable of a General Assembly in the Text. Upon the Margin indeed there are these words The first Assembly at St. Johnstown But no Presbyterian I think unless he is one of G. R.'s kind will be so impudent as to say that all that 's on the Margin of that Book was written by Knox. And that Meeting which was then at Perth was nothing like that Court which we call a General Assembly But enough of this To conclude tho' I am firmly perswaded that Knox was not the Author of this History yet because it passes commonly under his name I have still cited it so on my Margin The Edition I have used is that in 4 to published at Edenburg Anno 1644. The other Treatises attributed to Knox and I know no Reason to doubt their being his from which I have cited any thing are in ane Appendix to the History I have not made it my work to cite Acts of Parliaments and represent the favourable countenance Episcopacy hath had from the State so much as to consider the sentiments of our Reformers and those who succeeded them in their Ecclesiastical capacity partly because the Acts of Parliament have been diligently collected before Particularly whoso pleases may see a goodly train of them from the year 1560 till the year 16â—7 in the Large Declaration pag. 333 c. Partly because our Presbyterian Brethren are in use to insist more on the Books of Discipline and the Acts of General Assemblies c. than on Acts of Parliaments One advantage amongst many disadvantages I think I have it is that the Authors I have most frequently cited were Presbyterians by consequence Authors whose Testimony 's can least be called in Question by my Presbyterian Brethren I do not pretend to have exhausted the subjects I have insisted on Any Reader may easily perceive I have been at a loss as to several things in History Perchance I have sometimes started some things New and which have not been observed before I wish I may have given occasion to those who are fitter and better furnished with helps for such Enquiries to consider if they can bring more light to our History In the mean time I think I have said enough to convince the Reader that our Presbyterian Brethren have not reason to be so confident as commonly they are for their side of the Controversies I have managed Yet after all this I am not secure but that they will endeavour to have my Book Answered for all Books most be Answered that militate against them and they can still find some G. R. or other who has zeal and confidence enough for such attempts Upon the supposition therefore that I must have ane answer I do for once become ane earnest suiter to my Presbyterian Brethren that they would imploy some Person of ordinary sense and discretion to Answer me and not their common Vindicator of their Kirk G. R. for I have got enough of him and I incline not to have any more meddling with him Whoso reads the following papers I think may find such a sample of him such a
swatch pardon the word if it is not English of both his Historical and his Argumentative Skill a talent he bewails much the want of in his Adversaries as may make it appear just and reasonable for any man to decline him But lest he is not represented there so fully as he ought to be so fully as may justify my declining of him I shall be at some farther pains here to give the Reader a fuller prospect of him To delineate him minutely might perchance be too laborious for me and too tedious and loathsome to my Reader I shall restrict my self therefore to his four Cardinal Virtues his Learning his Iudgment his Civility and his Modesty Or because we are Scottishmen to give them their plain Scotch names his Ignorance his Non-sence his Ill-nature and his Impudence Perhaps I shall not be able to reduce every individual instance to its proper Species 'T is very hard to do that in matters which have such affinity one with another as there is between Ignorance and Non-sence or between Ill-nature and Impudence But this I dare promise if I cannot keep by the Nice Laws of Categories I shall be careful to keep by the Strict Laws of Iustice I shall entitle him to nothing that is not truely his own So much for Preface come we next to the Purpose And in the 1. Place I am apt to think since ever writing was a Trade there was never Author furnished with a richer stock of unquestionable Ignorance for it To insist on all the Evidences of this would swell this Preface to a Bulk beyond the Book I omit therefore his making Presbyterian Ruling Elders as contradistinct from Teaching Elders of Divine Institution his making the SENIORES sometimes mentioned by the Fathers such Ruling Elders and his laying stress on the old blunder about St. Ambrose's testimony to that purpose vide True Represent of Presbyterian Government prop. 3. These I omit because not peculiar to him I omit even that which for any thing I know may be peculiar to him viz. That his Ruling Elders are called Bishops and that their necessary Qualifications are set down at length in Scrip. e. g. 1 Tim. 3.2 and Tit. 1.6 ibid. Prop. 3.4 I omit his Learn'd affirmative that Patronages were not brought into the Church till the 7 th or 8 th Centurie or Later And that they came in amongst the latest Antichristian Corruptions and Vsurpations ibid. Answ. to Object 9 th I omit all such Assertions as these that the most and most Eminent of the Prelatists acknowledge that by our Saviours appointment and according to the practice of the first and best Ages of the Church she ought to be and was Governed in Common by Ministers Acting in Parity ibid. Prop. 12. That Diocesan Episcopacy was not settled in St. Cyprian 's time Rational Defence of Nonconformity c. p. 157 That Diocesan Episcopacy prevailed not for the first three Centuries and that it was not generally in the 4 th Centurie ibid. 158. That the Bishop S. Cyprian all alongst speaks of was a Presbyterian Moderator ibid. 179. That Cyprian Austine Athanasius c. were only such Moderators ibid. 175 176 177 178. I omit his insisting on the Authority of the Decretal Epistles attributed to Pope Anacletus as if they were Genuine ibid. 202. And that great Evidence of his skill in the affairs of the Protestant Churches viz. That Episcopacy is not to be seen in any one of them Except England ibid. p. 10. Nay I omit his nimble and learned Gloss he has put on St. Ierom's Toto Orbe Decretum c. viz. That this Remedy of Schism in many places began then i. e. in St. Ierom's time to be thought on and that it was no wonder that this Corruption began then to creep in it being then about the end of the fourth Centurie when Jerome wrote c. ibid. 170. Neither shall I insist on his famous Exposition of St. Ierom's Quid facit Episcopus c. because it has been sufficiently exposed already in the Historical Relation of the General Ass. 1690. Nor on his making Plutarch Simonides Chrysostom c. Every Graecian speak Latin when he had the confidence to cite them These and 50 more such surprising Arguments of our Authors singular learning I shall pass over And shall insist only a little on two or three instances which to my taste seem superlatively pleasant And 1. In that profound Book which he calls a Rational Defence of Nonconformity c. in Answer to D. Stillingfleet's Vnreasonableness of the separation from the Church of England pag. 172. He hath Glossed St. Chrysostom yet more ridiculously than he did St. Ierom. The passage as it is in Chrysostom is sufficiently famous and known to all who have enquired into Antiquity about the Government of the Church The Learned Father having Discoursed concerning the Office and Duties of a Bishop Hom. 10. on 1 Tim. 3. and proceeding by the Apostles Method to Discourse next of Deacons Hom. II. started this difficulty How came the Apostle to prescribe no Rules about Presbyters And he solved it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Paul says he did not insist about Presbyters because there 's no great difference between them and Bishops Presbyters as well as Bishops have received Power to Teach and Govern the Church And the Rules he gave to Bishops are also proper for Presbyters For Bishops excel Presbyters only by the Power of Ordination and by this alone they are reckoned to have more Power than Presbyters Vide Edit Savil. Tom. 4. p. 289. Now 't is plain to the most ordinary attention That in the Holy Father's Dialect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Power of conferring Orders just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify the Powers of Teaching and Governing Consider now the Critical Skill of G. R. Bellarmine had adduced this Testimony it seems to shew that there was a Disparity in point of Power between Bishops and Presbyters and had put it in Latin thus Inter Episcopum atque Presbyterum interest fere nihil quippe Presbyteris Ecclesiae cura permissa est quae de Episcopis dicuntur ea etiam Presbyteris congruunt Sola quippe Ordinatione Superiores illi sunt So G. R. has it I know not if he has transcribed it faithfully 'T is not his custom to do so Nor have I Bellarmine at hand to compare them Sure I am the Translation doth not fully answer the Original But however that is go we forward with our Learned Author These are his words What he Bellarmine alledgeth out of this citation that a Bishop may Ordain not a Presbyter the Learned Fathers expression will not bear For Ordination must signify either the Ordination the Bishop and Presbyter have whereby they are put in their Office to be different which he doth not alledge Or that the difference between them was only in Order or Precedency not in Power or Authority Or that it
produced crouds of Mysteries But such Mysteries as plain speaking people commonly call Non-sense It were Non-sense indeed to insist on all instances of this nature which beautify his writings Such as his pretty position That all Ceremonies of Gods worship are worship themselves Animadv on D. Still Iren. p. 30. His pleasant Fetch about Ceremonies that stand in the place of the Competentes or Catechumeni Rational Defence c. p. 72. His Judicious Conclusion That the Affirmative part of the Second Commandment is that we ought to worship God in the way prescribed in his Word ibid. 125. His sublime notion about the Vnity of the Church in the Case of the Lutherans ibid. 148. We shut not out the Lutheran Churches says he from all possibility of Vnion with them We can have Vnion with them as Sister Churches But we cannot partake in their instituted parts of worship His surprizing proposition viz. That the two Governments Presbytery and Monarchy of Church and State have suted one another many ages since the Nation was Protestant 2 Vind. § 11. p. 14. It were to Vie with him for his own Talent I say to insist on all these and many more such which are to be found in his Matchless writings I shall therefore mention only three or four of his most Elaborate Mysteries And 1. Our Judicious Author wrote Animadversions on Doctor Stillingfleet's â—renicum and you may judge of the Metal of the whole by this one Specimen which you have not far from the beginning D. Still p. 2. had laid down this Foundation that difference of opinion about a point and probable Arguments brought on both sides by wise and able men if it be not a matter of necessity to salvation gives men ground to think that a final decision of the matter in Controversie was never intended as a necessary means for the Peace and Unity of the Church Against this position G. R. Reasons thus p. 5. If any things not necessary to Salvation be so Necessary to be clearly revealed that we are to look upon them as not Christs Truth if there remain a Controversie about them managed with specious Arguments on both sides among wise and able men much more things necessary to Salvation must be thus clearly revealed so that there is no truth in them if they be so Controverted but the consequent is most false and absurd Ergo c. Let the Reader try his skill on this Mystery and fathom the depth of it if he can 2. The next Mystery I thought to have insisted on is that grand one about the Decrees of God 2 Vind. p. 66. viz. That God has a Decree that 's Praeteritum as ane Act of Soveraignty and a Decree that 's Praedamnatum as ane Act of Iustice. But I am told this has been sufficiently represented already And therefore I shall say no more about it but this that there is no Reason to think it was a Typograhical Error For after it was thus Printed in Scotland it was Reprinted in England without Alteration or Correction So that there 's all the Reason in the world to impute it to the Author But if so was he not at best a Mysterious Theologue But 3. The next I shall produce tho' not sounding so directly towards blasphemy is every whit as good Mystery The Story is this Doctor Stillingfleet in his Vnreasonableness of the Separation from the Church of England forbore to sustain the Lawfulness of Liturgies c. Because Doctor Falk'ner had done it so well before But our Author had made some Collections on the subject Ration Defen c. p. 222. And it was pity they should be stifled And therefore they behoved to be published I am not to insist on every thing that is Mysterious in that Learned Disquisition on the subject of Liturgies with which he has blest the Island One thing shall suffice In his burning zeal against Liturgies or Set forms he advances this proposition among many others That it is Vnlawful to worship God by a frame of service that is not warranted in the word both as to its Matter and Manner pag. 226. Sect. 8. This I prove says he 1. From Christs Condemning the Traditions of men as vain worship Matt. 15.9 They taught these Traditions i. e. saith Lucas Brugensis in Locum they followed them and taught others to follow them The same Author calleth these Mens Traditions that are so of men that they are not of God or are devised by man ibid. So also Vatablus Erasmus Maldonate Tirinus Piscator Calvin and Chemnitius say Here is meant whatever is brought into Religion without the word Now it is Manifest that a frame of Divine service not warranted in the word falleth under this General Head Thus you have all these Gentlemen Lucas Brugensis Vatablus Erasmus c. tho' some of them were Papists some of them Lutherans and not one of them but own'd and used Liturgies strong against Liturgies if not directly at least by plain consequence But our Author proceeds Secondly The Lord condemneth all worship offered up to him that he hath not Commanded Jer. 7.31 turn to the Text and try if it is not pertinently adduced Where not being commanded but devised by men is made the ground on which that practice tho' otherwise evil also is Condemned And Jeroboam 's Frame and way of service is Condemned because Devised Heb. Created of his own heart 1 Kings 12.33 Thirdly Even Reason teacheth that God ought to chuse how he will be honoured or worshiped by his Creatures He best knoweth what will please him And his Soveraignty in all things must especially appear in this that himself is so nearly concerned in This is a principle so rooted in nature that among the Heathens they that contrived their Liturgies or ways of worship behoved to pretend Revelation from their Gods to guide them in this It was never heard of among the more Religious Heathens that Religion or the manner of worshipping their Gods was enjoyned only by Mans Authority and divised only by him Yea in the so much magnified Rosary of the Virgin Mary It is alledged that Saint Dominicus had it revealed by the Virgin her self that this Form of service was most acceptable to her And it is added That she was fittest to chuse what way she would be worshipped I hope they the Papists and such as symbolize with them those of the Church of England in ordering of the worship of God will give us leave to say the same of her Blessed Son Fourthly For the Matter of worship I think it will not be Questioned whither that must be appointed by God or not But even the FRAME COMPOSVRE and MODE of Divine worship should have Divine warrant otherwise it is not acceptable to God c. Now Not to make much needless work Consider 1. our Authors great business was to prove the Unlawfulness of Liturgies or Set-forms of Prayers c. in the publick worship Consider 2. that he as his Sect
other must be the Episcopal Church And is not this unavoidably to make two Churches Yet neither is this the true yolk of the Mystery as I take it That lyes here That the Episcopal Clergy and the Presbyterian Clergy are two different Representatives two different Governing Bodies of the one Church of Scotland I remember our Author in his Rational Defence of Non-Conformity c. Exercised Dr. Stillingfleet to purpose for talking of something which he thought lookt like two Convocations in England viz. the Vpper and the Lower Houses He seems above says G. R. to make such Convocations and so there must be either two Churches of England and why not as well as three of Scotland Or the one Church of England must be Biceps and so a Monster Thus our Author there p. 195. I say and it seems he was mindful of it when he wrote his True Representation of Presbyt Governm For he was careful indeed to avoid the making of his one Church of Scotland Biceps and made it something else But what thing Your pardon for that I have neither Latin nor English name for it I thought once indeed on Bicorpor But I found it could not do For he makes not his one Church two Bodies What then I told you already I can find no name for it But if I have any Idea of this his one Church she is such a thing as this A Body Govern'd by two different Governing Bodies without ane Head That she is a Body I think cannot be Controverted for all Churches are commonly own'd to be Bodies That she is Govern'd by two different Governing Bodies is clear from the Text For thus it runs We will not so widen the difference between us and the Prelatical partie as to look on our selves and them as two distinct Churches Yet it is evident that their Clergy and we are two different Representatives and two different Governing Bodies of the Church of Scotland That she is Govern'd by these two different Governing Bodies without ane Head is likewise evident for there is not so much as one syllable about ane Head in the Text And there 's all the Reason in the world for it For besides the difficulty of joyning one Head conveniently with two Bodies to what purpose ane Head for her when she is so well stored of Governing Bodies Are they not received maxims that Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate and Deus natura nihil faciunt frustra The Definition then is unquestionable Well! Perhaps the Reader may be curious to know how G. R. came by this super-fine Idea of a Church I have had my conjectures about it And the most probable that offered was this No doubt he is wondrously well acquainted with Plato otherwise how could he have made the singular discovery that Socinians and Stoicks were Platonists Now Plato Conviv p. 322. Edit Lugd. 1590. as I remember has a pretty story about a certain Species of Rational Animals which were early in the world and which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if you would say Man-woman or so This Creature had two Faces two Noses four Hands c. in a word it was a round Body which contained both Sexes in it Man and Woman as it were united by their backs It was a vigourous sturdy kind of Animal and Iupiter turn'd afraid of it and therefore to weaken it and make it more toward and subdueable he took ane Ax or some such sharp instrument and clave it from top to bottom in the very middle as if you should cleave ane egg into two equal halves And then being as you know a nimble Mountebank he drew together the skin on each back in a trice and applyed some Soveraign Medecines and both backs were made sound immediately and the divided parts of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man and Woman and having the felicity to look one another in the face they fell in Love with one another And this was the Original of Love and Courting and Marriage and all that Now I say The most probable conjecture I can make of the way how G. R. came by his surprizing Idea of the one Church with the two different Governing Bodies is that when he Read this story in Plato it made a deep impression on his imagination and he labouring to out do Plato at nimbleness of design and invention fell upon this stranger and more surprizing Notion of a Church But however this was I think our Author had Reason to say Animad on Iren. p. 51. That a Church is a singular Society and of another nature than other Societies and therefore she ought to have a singular Government For sure I am he has given the one Church of Scotland a Government which is singular enough One thing is certain At this rate she wants not Government nor Governours And of all the Churches in the world she is likest to have the best Canons and the justest Measures prescribed to her For if the one Governing Body prescribes wrong the other must readily prescribe right For never were two Governing Bodies of one Society in greater likelyhood of contradicting one another 'T is true the Governed Body may be sometimes puzled about its obedience and reduced to a state of Hesitation about the opposite prescriptions whither of them it should follow But that 's but a small matter Our Authors invention is not yet so far decayed but that I can promise for him if he pleases he shall as easily extricate it out of that difficulty as he can give ane intelligible account of this his one Church with the two different Governing Bodies Only one thing thing more I add Our Learned Author tells us in his Preface to this his Book in which he has this Mystery that it was a work not undertaken at first of his own private motion and that before it was published it passed ane Examen Rigorosum of not a few Brethren Now if he spake truth here as I am apt to believe he did not the world may judge of the accuracy of some mens Rigorosa Examina And so much for a Taste of our Authors second Cardinal Virtue Proceed we now to III. The third which tho' it looks as like Ill-nature as ever egg was like another in complyance with our Authors generous inclinations I am content should pass under the name of his Excessive Civility I allow it this name I say because our Author himself hath so Dubb'd it For thus he tells us 2 Vind. Pref. § 6. I have treated the Adversaries I deal with as Brethren Desiring rather to EXCEED than come short in CIVILITY and fair dealing with them Never was Author more plentifully furnished with this Ingenuous Quality than G. R. Take a Specimen of it from his Second Vindication c. Edit Eden Anno 1691 And consider with what Excess of Civility he treats his Adversaries
ashamed to tell lies in the face of the Sun 171 He had so inured himself to the foulest lies and calumnies that he could hardly speak or write truth 175 He was a Reviler 182 A railing Scribbler who Censur'd and Condemned all Presbyterians without wit or discretion 114 In short He was a snarling curr 191 and a spirit of lying had possest him 192 Thus I think I have given a Taste of our Authors excessive Civilâ—ties to the Adversaries he Answered in his Second Vindication What a formidable Author had he been if he had suffered himself to have Treated his Antagonists with such just not to say excessive severities as they deserved What Authors have these been to whom such Treatment was nothing else than excessive Civility So strangers might think who were not acquainted with G. R.'s nature His nature I say for indeed it seems to be natural to him to exceed thus in Civility towards all the Authors he ever dealt with at least so far as I can learn by such of his Books as I have had the luck to be Edified withal Thus In his Preface to his first Vindication he discharges thus against the Author of the Ten Questions c. Now when their the Prelatists hands are tyed that they can no more afflict her his Presbyterian Church of Scotland their Tongues and Pens are let loose to tear her without mercy by the most virulent invectives and the most horrid lies and calumnies that their wit can invent And in Answ. to Quest. 4. § 2. He adorns him with the honourable Title of Controversal Scribbler And the first words of his Answer to the 6 th Quest. are singularly complemental It may be observed from this Authors conduct says he in his Pamphlet what it is to be fleshed in bold averring of what all the world knoweth to be manifest untruths some by boldness and frequency in telling lies have come at last to believe them as truths c. I have also seen two Books written by him against D. Stillingfleet One against his Irenicum another against his Vnreasonableness of the Separation c. In both G. R. is excessively Civil to the Dr. after his wonted manner In his Preface to Animad on Iren. he says the Dr. exposed himself between principle and preferment In the Book he calls him ane Abettor of Scepticism p. 5 For the most part he doth nothing but magno conatu nihil agere 18 He evidently Contradicts himself and G.R. wonders to meet with Contradictions so often in so Learn'd ane Author 22 Contradictions are no Rarities in him 27 It was impudently said by the Doctor that our Saviour kept the Feast of the Dedication 124 His propositions are such Reflections on Scrip. that any but a Papist may be ashamed of 132 These and twenty more such Regular Civilities he pays him He is more Civil to him yet in his Learned Answer to the Doctors Vnreasonableness of the Separation c. The Doctor wrote unexpected incoherencies p. 4 Used wonderful considence 9 Ieer'd the zeal and warmth of Devotion 16 was blinded with passion 20 a Taunter 21 Advanced fallacious if not false History 41 Would have things so and so in despight of History 50 Woe to the world if such false and partial History carries the Day 52 Just the same upon the matter with his woe to posterity if the lying stories which some have printed and with bold impudence avouched pass with them for Authentick Histories Pref. to 2 Vind. § 1. So that the Readers of that Vindication need not be much amused with such Cant It follows of Course with our Author But to go on with his Civilities to Dr. Still the Doctor used Ratiocinations that would better become Pharisees 68 Asserted things so rashly and falsely that G. R. had no name for such Assertions 69 His prejudices darkned his understanding 85 He made a mad exposition of the Second Commandment 125 Stretched and forced Scripture 126 Spake things beyond comprehension 148 Made unbecoming Reflections on the word of God 189 Vsed sorry shifts c. 204 Outfaced plain Light 206 Wearied not of writing beside the purpose 210 Advanced Conceits unworthy of a Divine and only fit for Simon Magus 214 He did not Act the part of a Disputant or a Casuist but of somewhat else our Author thought shame to name 275 These and God knows how many more such wonderful Civilities he payed the Doctor Particularly two for which no doubt G. R. stretcht his invention D. Still had said something concerning the English Ceremonies 't is no great matter what it was and G. R. Replys wittily p. 55 This is so indigested a notion that it doth not well become the Learning of Doctor Stillingfleet tho' it be good enough for some to rant with over a pot of Ale How many good glasses of Forty-nine alias good Sack has our Author got for this Again the Doctor had said that the Cross in Baptism was a Ceremony of admitting one into the Church of England But I doubt says G. R. it will prove but a Mouse brought forth by the long labour and hard throes of a Mountain Was not this a pure Flight a lofty Paraphrase on Parturiunt Montes Thus we have seen a sample of his excessive Civilities to such single persons as had the Honour to be his Adversaries What a pity had it been if such Civilities had been only dispenced to half a dozen of Individuals Our Author no doubt was sensible of this and therefore he has even thought fit when he had occasion to extend them to whole Churches particularly the Episcopal Church of Scotland and the Church of England Indeed The whole Body of the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland have got a large share of his Civilities Take this Specimen only from his Second Vindication c. Presbyterians are all Iacob's and Prelatists Esau's Pref. § 1. Presbyterians the seed of the Woman Prelatists the seed of the Serpent ibid. The Prelatists are a spiteful and clamorous sort of men § 5. Men enraged by being deprived of the opportunity they had to persecute their Neighbours Book p. 1 Their course is Diametrically opposite to Moderation p. 2 They are men of mean spirits and Mercenary souls 4 Vnfaithful men 17 Men who use Vnmanly as well as Vnchristian shifts 25 Most of them who were put out i. e. thrust from their habitations and the exercise of their Ministery since the beginning of the late Revolution were put out by their own Consciences 36 Arminians 60 Socinians 61 The contempt of the Ministery came from the Atheism and debauches of the Clergy 64 Their immoral men may be counted by hundreds 65 They are generally liars 70 Men who exposed the Nation to the reproach of Barbarity 24 Men of a restless temper embittered in their spirits by what inconveniency they are fallen into from the ease and dominion over their Brethren which they lately had 84 Men justly loathsome and a burden to the People 99 Instead
of feeding their Flocks they worried them 103 Inciters to and Abettors of Persecution 126 A Faction that indulged debauched men in their immoralities 166 Hundreds of their party guilty of gross immoralities for one Presbyterian 166 Their debauchery tempts people to count all Religion a sham 173 Generally favourers of Popery passim Men who are wiser than to comply with the present Establishment of the Church from which 't is like they would have been excluded for their immoralities or errors 5 And God knows how frequently he makes them generally Ignorant or Erroneous or Scandalous or Supinely Negligent This I think may serve for a Tryal of his excessive Civilities to the Scottish Clergy Well! But is he as Civil to the Church of England Take a Proof from his Rational Defence c. Those of the Church of England seem wiser than Christ and his Apostles from whom they do manifestly and confessedly differ in the things Controverted between them and the Nonconformists p. 71 They are either strangers to England or strangely byassed who see not cause to complain of the Ignorance Idleness and Vicious Conversation of the English Clergy 40 'T is the spirit of the party still to Create trouble to the Church 63 They are ane imperious Superstitious Clergy that will be Lords over Gods inheritance in despight of the Apostle 80 And how often doth he call them Liars Misrepresenters Calumniators c. vid p. 66 274.275 276 c. I shall only mention one instance of the English Episcopal Knavery which G. R. resents very highly You may see it pag. 276. I have met with another instance says he of Episcopal ingenuity for exposing the Presbyterians among the Foreign Churches It is in a Letter of the famous Bochart dated Nov. 2. 1â—80 in Answer to a Letter from Doctor Morley wherein the Doctor representeth the Presbyterian principles in three positions whereof the third is a GROSS CALUMNY The position is Reges posse vi armis a subditis cogi in ordinem si se praebeant immorigeros De Soliis Deturbari in Carcerem Conjici Sisti in jus per Carnificem denique capite plecti i. e. That Presbyterians maintain that Subjects may call their Soveraigns to ane account by Force of Arms and if they are stubborn incorrigible Soveraigns they may cast them in Prison Iudge them Sentence them and order the Hangman to give them a cast of his craft And now kind Reader judge impartially was not this a Gross Calumny What impudent lying Rogues must these English Prelates and Prelatists have been who so Grossly Calumniated such Eminently Loyal Subjects such True Friends to Monarchy such unquestionable Passâ—ve-obedience and Non-resistance-men But return we to our Author One thing may be pleaded in his behalf It is that this his Rational Defence c. as he says himself was written about the time that K. I. came to the Throne i. e. some four years before the late Revolution and at that time it was excuseable in him to tell his mind freely about the English Clergy Because he was then a Non-conformist in England and suffering under their Yoke But now that Presbytery is Established in Scotland and he has got a Post there in which he can live to purpose his temper is become a little sweetned and he will not any more be ane Enemy to the English Clergy Nay has he not published so much lately in his Second Vindication True He has More he seems to have promised at least professed so much not only for himself but for his whole party He has told the world in his Answer to the first of the Four Letters § 12. That Scottish Presbyterians are far from interposing in the Church of Englands affairs that they are not bound by the Covenant to Reform England but to concur when Lawfully called to advance Reformation That 't is far from their Thoughts to go beyond that Boundary That they wish their Reformation but leave the management of it to themselves And in his Answer to the Case of the Afflicted Clergy c. § 1. he goes a farther length The Author had said That the Church of England should bethink themselves how to quench the flames in Scotland c. And G. R.'s Answers Thus they sow discord among Brethren and animate England to concern themselves in the affairs of our Church when we do not meddle in their Matters Here you see he owns the English Clergy for no less than his Brethren Are they not Cock-sure now that they shall never have more of his excessive Civilities Well! I cannot tell what may be but I can tell something of what hath already been This same Loving Brother to the Church of England published his Rational Defence c. Anno 1689 i. e. since the beginning of the late Revolution And it is evident his Preface was written since likewise For therein he Discourses Rhetorically How God by the late Revolution hath made us like them that dream and done exceeding abundantly for us above what we could think out-done our Faith as was foretold Luk. 18.8 Now In that same Preface he owns he published his Book then because he thought it a fit Season and it seem'd allowable if not necessary that each party should put in their Claim and give the best Reasons they could for their pretensions Which how it consisted with designs for the peace of the Church of England let herself consider This I am sure of if his excessive Civilities could be helpful for unhinging her she got them in that Preface with a witness Take this for a Taste He not only exhorts his Readers to purge the Church of England of bad Men ane Ignorant Scandalous Heady and unsober Ministery But he farther Discourses thus God will not be at peace with the Church while such are countenanced and good men cannot with any satisfaction behold such scandals to Religion and such effectual Instruments of the ruine of Souls continued in the Church while some effectual course is not taken to remove them The Church is like to have little peace either with God or in her self Let all then contribute their endeavours to have the unsavoury salt cast out if this piece of Reformation be endeavoured all ranks must put hand to it The People by discovering such where they are And not calling nor countenancing them when they want a guide to their Souls And Magistrates by endeavouring the Regulating of such Laws as do in any wise open the door to such men to enter And again Church Reformation must also truely be endeavoured by us if we would have Church peace It is no token for good when sinful evils images of jealousie which provoke the Lord to jealousie such as Episcopacy the Liturgy Ceremonies Holy-days c. are in the Church and yet all agree in these ways none lament them nor reprove them nor take care to keep their Garments clean from the Corruptions of the time c. Now that all this is directly
intended against the Church of England is evident from the whole Contexture of that Preface By this time the Reader I think has got enough of G. R.'s excessive Civilities to all Persons and Churches he has been pleased to take notice of Proceed we now to the last of his Cardinal Virtues viz. IV. His singular Modesty And here a vast field opens for except the aforesaid three there is scarcely another of his Qualities good or bad that makes any considerable appearance But so it is that generally the greater lights obscure the lesser Nay such ane Awkward Quality is this in our Author that one would think It has been at feud with it self and had designs for obscuring its own Lustre For you no sooner have found ane instance which you may be apt to apprehend is the very brightest Impudence than instantly another casts up twenty times more splendid and before you have got through them all you are at a loss again and you cannot tell which was the most surprizing But I shall only give a Specimen of this Vertue as I have done of the rest 1. Then the blot of impudence might have been charged upon him tho' he had said no more than what he has said concerning the Prelatical Scribblers Pref. to 1 Vind. viz. That they used a piece of cunning in spreading their Books in England only where the things contained in them could not be known nor examined but there was never one of them to be found in a Booksellers shop in Scotland where most Readers could have discovered the falshood of their Allegations And his Brother Mr. Meldrum in his Letter subjoyn'd to G. R.'s Second Vindication insists on the same ingenious Speculation And yet both of them could not but know very well that these Prelatick Scribblers might have attempted to have pull'd a Star from the firmament as plausibly as to have got any thing that made against the Presbyterians printed in Scotland One thing I can assure G. R. of his True Representation of Presbyterian Government had not seen the light many days when a Licence was sought for publishing ane Answer to it But it could not be obtain'd And how many innocent Pamphlets have been seized by the Government since the beginning of the late Revolution Did not both these Gentlemen know this sufficiently And was it not Impudence in them especially in G. R. considering the Post he had to publish such a Calumny as that it was the Conscience of the falshoods were in them that made his Adversaries publish their Books in England 2. Another instance of his Impudence might be his so frequent insisting on the Loyalty of his party Believe him and no men can be more Loyal than Scottish Presbyterians Nothing but malice can make any think that Presbytery is ane enemy to Monarchy 1 Vind. ad Quest. 2. § 2. Our Obedience to Magistrates in all their Lawful Commands and our peaceful sufferings of unjust violence are notour to all that can behold us with ane unprejudiced eye True Rep. ad Ob. 1. None maintain more Loyal principles towards Kings than Presbyterians do ibid. ad Ob. 2. They always abhorred Rebellion 2 Vind. p. 63 Yea it is manifest it is not their principle to bargain with their Kings about Allegiance ibid. p. 99 Our principles are known that we owe Loyalty and have payed it even to ane Idolatrous King i. e. K. J. ibid. p. 115 Who can deny now that Presbyterians are true Passive-obedience and Non-resistance men Or rather who knows not that this is Bantering the Common sense of all Britain 3. There 's no less Impudence in the large Encomiums he makes on the Harmlesness and Innocence of his party 'T is true and 't is much he acknowledges sometimes They are men They have infirmities They have been guilty of Excesses c. But try him to the bottom and you shall never find him descending below these Generals You shall not find him acknowledging that any particular instance wherein they exceeded was not very excusable Thus he cannot endure to hear that they were ever Persecutors or Rebels Not Persecutors for if they had been Persecutors 't is not to be doubted that the Prelatists had felt it But what have they ever felt Hear him in his Pref. to 1 Vind. It may be thought strange that the men with whom we have to do should make such Tragical out-cries about their sufferings when it may be made appear that in the late times when Presbyterians suffered from their hands any one of many who may be instanced suffered more hardships and Barbarous Cruelty than all of them have endured I must confess these men who suffered so have suffered to purpose For I think it was pretty severe for one man to suffer the deprivation of 5 or 600 livelihoods and have 5 or 600 families perchance 4 or 5000 persons to maintain on nothing I know not how far our Authors skill in Algebra may reach but I think in this he was hard enough for Common sense But this is not all Hear him again in that same Vind. ad Quest. 3. § 1. All unbyassed men who know and have observed the way of the one and the other while they Alternatively had the Ascendant will say that the little finger of the meanest Prelate and his underlings was heavier than the loyns of the greatest Assembly of the Presbyterian Church What Sir no not the Ass. 1645 nor 1648 nor 1649 excepted And 2 Vind. p. 23. The sufferings of the Prelatists are but flea-bites in comparison of the bloody lashes that others suffered And p. 45. Their sufferings are but scratches of pins c. And you know even the tenderest nurses such as our Presbyterians are to Prelatists cannot constantly preserve their dearest nurselings from such accidents Who can say now that ever Presbyterians were Persecutors Believe him and they were as little Rebels Episcopacy indeed raised a Tumult in K. C. Ists time which ended in its own ruine 1 Vind. ad Quest. 2. § 3. And yet in Answer to that same Question § 5. 'T is true they the Prelatists raised no Tumults For if there is a difference between raising Tumults and raising no Tumults yet it is certain that they are only Abstracts which raise them and Concrets do not raise them Well! were the Concrets the Episcopalians innocent of Tumultuating Consider what follows They did what they could to raise a war for continuing on the necks of the People that Yoke that they had wreathed on them and did effectually draw on a bloody war c. But what did the Presbyterians on that occasion Why How far were they from being Rebels For thus saith our Author 2 Vind. p. 140 These things whatever the Presbyterians did were done by the Body of the Nation met in the most orderly representative that the time and case could permit And I deny not that they were EXTRAORDINARY ACTINGS Nothing in these times like Perjury or Treachery or Treason or
We meddle not with their Titles and Revenues says he These are the Magistrates Gifts and do not cross Christ's institution whatever inconvenience may be in them 2. As to the Plea of the Vsurpation or Intrusion of the Prelatists D. Still had alledged that the Dissenters pleaded That most of the present Ministers of the Church of England were Vsurpers and that from such the People might lawfully separate We deny both parts of the Assertion says G. R. p. 115 116. Whatever Usurpation some of them may be guilty of we know most of them have the Tacite at least consent of the People a post facto and therefore however they may be guilty of Intrusion in their Entry in their continuing in their places they are no Usurpers Neither do we own it to be lawful to separate from Every Minister that is ane Usurper Meerly on the Account of his Vsurpation And he discourses the point copiously as the curious Reader may find ibid. Neither is he less positive about the 3. Thing which in his Scottish Management of the Plea he insists on as the Great Reason of the former viz. The Popular Call For D Still had adduced D. Owen as asserting that the depriving of the People of the Right to choose their own Pastors was a just Ground of Separation And G. R. answers If Doctor Owen hath done so Let it pass for a part of the Independent Iudgment which was a mistake of that Eminent Servant of God Others are not of that Mind And a little after The People by the Laws of the Gospel have the Right of Election of their own Pastors But it doth not follow that they ought not to bear with being hindered the Exercise of this Right for the sake of Peace and Vnity And p. 151. Depriving the People of their Right of chusing their own Church Officers is also Matter of Complaint but we must bear it rather than separate for that from a Church And pag. 197. when he came to assert that Right of the People He told he did Not make the Depriving of the People of that Power a Cause of Separation Nay Not once but very frequently he lays the whole stress of the English Separation Upon the sinful terms of Communion as he calls them imposed by the Church of England Let the Church purge her Offices of humane Inventions Let her lay aside the the Liturgy the Cross in Baptism Kneeling at the Receiving of the Eucharist and Holy-days c. and he and all his Party shall joyn with her chearfully Vide p. 24 81 106 107 109 120 133 144 151 c. Now Let any Man even of his own Sect reconcile these things Let him shew why Episcopacy Vsurpation and Depriving the People of their Right to choose their own Pastors should be so every way sufficient Grounds for Separating from the Church of Scotland and so no ways sufficient grounds for separating from the Church of England What could move the Man to venture upon such lumpish bulkish Contradictions For my part I cannot guess at another Motive than that which I have frequently mentioned viz. The present Argument In England he had some other things to bear the Burden but no other thing in Scotland and it was necessary for his Vindicatorship to justify the Separation And therefore what could not do it in England behoved to do it in Scotland But perhaps he may endeavour to extricate himself by running for shelter to the Old Scottish Plea of the Covenant For Is not Prelacy abjur'd in Scotland Is not the Oath of God upon Presbyterians nay on all the Nation not to own Prelacy Are not all the Prelatists perjur'd c. And now may not the Presbyterians separate lawfully He seems indeed to betake himself to this Plea in his Answer to the Historical Relation of the General Assembly § 20. p. 189. The setting up of Episcopacy says he was more sinful in this Nation Scotland than it could be elsewhere because of the Oath of God that the Nation is under against it Not in latter times only but in the times of King James the Sixth who caused the whole Nation swear the Shorter Confession of Faith called the National Covenant where it is abjured Now Not to insist on shewing that upon the supposition all this were true it militates only against Episcopacy It could conclude it only but neither the Vsurpation nor the Depriving the People of their Right c. to be a sufficient Ground for the Separation Nor yet to insist on the notorious falshood of the supposition viz. That Episcopacy was abjured in King Iames the Sixths time Not to insist on these things I say If he himself is strong enough for himself himself will not suffer himself to make the Abjuration of Episcopacy in Scotland a sufficient Ground for separating from the Episcopal Church of Scotland For in the 40th page of his Rational Defence c. Attempting to shew a Difference between complying with the Church of England at the Reformation and complying with her Now he opens thus I might here alledge the Obligation of the National Covenant that we are under as they were not to whom the Doctor would make our Case parallel i. e. those who lived at the Reformation Tho I never thought that that Bond made any Sins or Duties that were not such Antecedently Now Not to insist on the Pleasantness of pretending that he might insist on a Topick in which he instantly acknowledges there is no Force If Oaths and Covenants make no Duties nor Sins which were not such Antecedently I would fain understand how the National Covenant or whatever Covenant has been in Scotland could make Episcopacy a sufficient Ground for Separating from the Church of Scotland if it was not a sufficient Ground for such Separation Antecedently to these Covenants Thus he himself hath cut off himself from all hopes of escaping by the Covenant Indeed there is no possibility of Escape left him It is not in the power of Nature to rescue one who is so plunged over Head and Ears in such a Sink of Contradictions What hath been said might be sufficient in all Conscience for representing his own Vnnatural Unmercifulness towards himself For what can be more Vnmercifully done to one than to demonstrate him to all the world to be a Manifest Lier And who can be a more manifest Lier than he who upon every turn vomits Contradictions Yet this is not all perhaps it is not the worst There is such an Intimate Relation between himself and his Books written by himself That I think 't is reasonable to say that whosoever treats his Books with any Degrees of Impudence is every whit as Impudent towards himself Now it is not possible that Ranker more Mercyless or more Impudent injury can be done to any thing than himself hath done to his Second Vindication of his Church of Scotland At least to near three parts of four of it To it so far as it Answers The
Mers Winram for Fife the Laird of Dun for Angus and Merns Willock for Glasgow and Carsewell for Argyle and the Isles These are all who are reckoned up by Knox and Spotswood And Spotswood adds With this small Number was the Plantation of the Church at first undertaken And can we think tho all these had been Presbyters duly ordained That they were the only men who carried on the Scottish Reformation Farther yet 4. Petrie tells us that the First General Assembly which was holden in Dec. 1560 consisted of 44 persons and I find exactly 44 Names Recorded in my Mss. Extract of the Acts of the General Assembly's as the Names of the Members of that Assembly But of all these 44 there were not above Nine at most who were called Ministers so that at least more than Thirty were but Lay-Brethren according to the then way of Reckoning probably they were generally such if you speak in the Dialect and reckon by the Measures of the Catholick Church in all Ages In short 5. There is nothing more evident to any who considers the Histories of these times than that they were generally Laymen who promoted our Violent and Disordered Reformation as Spotswood justly calls it And 't is Reasonable to think the Sense of this was One Argument which prevailed with our Reformers to Declare against the Antient Catholick and Apostolick Ceremony of Imposition of Hands in Ordinations as is to be seen in the 4 th Head of the First Book of Discipline and as is generally acknowledged Thus I think I have sufficiently deduced Matters as to my First Enquiry It had been easy to have insisted longer on it but I had no inclination for it considering that there is a kind of Piety in Dispatch when the longer one insists on a subject of this Nature he must still the more Expose the Failures of our Reformation and the Weaknesses of our Reformers Proceed we now to The Second Enquiry Whether our Scottish Reformers whatever their Characters were were of the present Presbyterian principles Whether they were for the Divine Institution of Parity and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy amongst the Pastors of the Church THis Enquiry if I mistake not is pretty far in the interests of the main Question For the Article as I am apt to take it aims at this That our Reformation was carried on with such a Dislike to Prelacy or the Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters as made Prelacy or such a Superiority ever since a great and insupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation c. But if this is the Sense of the Article what else is it Than that our Reformers were Presbyterian But whether or not This was truly intended as 't is truly very hard to know what was intended in the Article This is Certain this Enquiry is material and pertinent And if it faces not the Article Directly Undoubâ—edly iâ— doth it by fair Consequence 'T is as certain our Presbyterian Brethren use with confidence enough to assert that our Reformers were of their Principles This is One of the Main Arguments by which they endeavour on all occasions to influence the Populace and Gain Proselytes to their Party And therefore I shall endeavour to go as near to the bottom of this Matter as I can and set it in its due Light And I hope It shall appear to be competently Done to all who shall attentively and impartially weigh the following Deduction And I. Let it be considered That while our Reformation was on the Wheel and for some years after its publick Establishment there was no such Controversy agitated in Europe as this concerning The Divine Institution of Parity or Imparity amongst the Pastors of the Church The Popes pretended universal Headship was Called in Question indeed And Called in Question it was run down with all imaginable Reason some years before the Settlement of our Reformation That Controversie was One of the First which were accurately ventilated by the Patrons of Reformation And it was very natural that it should have been so considering what stress was laid upon it by the Pontificians 'T is likewise true That the Corruptions of the Ecclesiastical Estate were Enquired into in most Provinces every where where the Truth began to Dawn and the Reformation was Encouraged And it was not to be imagined but in such Scrutinies Bishops would be taken notice of for their general Defection from the Antient Rules and Measures of the Episcopal Office and the vast Dissimilitude between them and those of the same Order in the primitive times both as to the Discharge of their Trust and their Way of Living And who doubts but in these things the Popish Bishops were too generally culpable 'T is farther true That some Countries when they reformed Religion and separated from the Church of Rome did set up New Models of Government in the Churches they erected as they thought their civil Constitutions could best bear them And having once set them up what wonder if they did what they could to justify them and maintain their Lawfulness Thus for instance Mr. Calvin erected a Model of the Democratical Size at Geneva because that State had then cast it self into a Democracy And the Protestants in France partly for Conveniency partly in imitation of Calvins Platform fell upon a method of governing their Churches without Bishops And so it fared with some other Churches as in Switzerland c. while in the mean time other Churches thought it enough for them to Reform the Doctrine and Worship without altering the Ancient form of Government But then 'T is as evident as any thing in History that all this while from the first Dawnings of the Reformation I mean till some years after the publick Establishment of our Reformation That there was no such Controversie insisted on by Protestants either in their Debates with the Papists or with one another as that about the Divine and Vnalterable Institution of parity or imparity amongst the Pastors of the Church And I dare confidently challenge my Presbyterian Brethren to produce any One Protestant Confession of Faith for their side of the Question Nay more I dare challenge them to instance in any One Protestant Divine of Note who in these times maintained their side of the Controversy who maintain'd the Vnlawfulness of Imparity amongst Christian Pastors before Theodore Beza did it if he did it Sure I am They cannot without the greatest impudence pretend that Mr. Calvin the only Transmarine Divine I can find consulted by our Reformers about matters relating to our Reformation was of their Principles For whoso shall be pleased to consuâ—t his Commentaries on the New Testament particularly on 1 Cor. 11.2 Or some Chapters in the beginning of his 4 th Book of Institutions Or his Book about the Necessity of Reforming the Church Or his Epistles particularly his Epistle directed to the Protector of England dated Octob. 22. 1548. Or to Cranmer Archbishop of
Petrie adds He was now Archbishop Rector of the Vniversity and Provost of the New College of St. Andrews From this I say it is plain That Knox did not resent Douglas his advancement from any opinion of the Vnlawfulness of Episcopacy for no such word so much as once mutter'd by him but from a perswasion he had that no one man was fit for such a Multitude of Offices And I shall readily grant that Knox was not for Largo Diocesses such as St. Andrews was then as we shall learn by and by tho I am afraid little to the comfort of my Presbyterian Brethren But I have not yet dispatched the whole Argument 'T is said He refused to inaugurate the Bishop Be it so but may not the grounds I have laid down already make it reasonable for him to have done so tho he had no quarrel with imparity What ane Argument is this Iohn Knox a Presbyter refused to consecrate a Bishop Ergo he was a Presbyterian This is upon the supposition that Calderwood and Mr. Petrie have told us true Matter of Fact And yet I must confess I see not the probability of its being true That Knox was desired to inaugurate him For how is it imaginable that he would be desired to perform that Office when there was a Bishop and a Superintendent at hand to do it and who actually did it as both Authors acknowledge But that is not all There is another Argument insisted on by both Authors viz. That Mr. Iohn Ruther-foord Provost of the Old College alledged that Mr. Knox 's repining proceeded from Male-Contentment And Knox purged himself next Sunday saying I have refused a greater Bishoprick than ever it was which I might have had with the favour of greater men than he hath his I did and do Repine for Discharge of my Conscience Now what more is there in all this than That Knox his Conscience would not have allowed him to take a Bishoprick with so much prejudice to the Rights of the Church for any mans feud or favour as he suspected Douglas had done in compliance with the Earl of Morton Can the world see any thing here that lookt like the Divine Right of Parity But Calderwood has yet a more wonderful Argument to prove Mr. Knox one of his party Mr. Beza forsooth being informed by Mr. Knox as appeareth of the Intention of the Court to introduce Bishops wrote a Letter to him wherein he told him That as Bishops brought in the Papacy so false Bishops the Relicks of Popery would bring in Epicurism to the world and therefore prayed him that Episcopacy might never be re-admitted into Scotland c. Petrie indeed mentions the same Letter but he had not the courage it seems to say that it appeared to have been occasioned by a Letter of Knox's to Beza concerning the intentions of the Court to introduce Episcopacy Indeed no such thing appeareth from any sentence phrase or syllable in all Mr. Beza's Letter How it came to appear to Mr. Calderwood whether by some certain or uncertain Manuscript I know not but however it was make the supposition That Knox did write so to Beza where is the consequence of the Argument And if he wrote not and 't is impossible to make it appear from Mr. Beza's Letter that he did Why was Calderwood at such pains to give the world a citation out of Beza's Letter against Episcopacy was that a good proof that Knox was Presbyterian that Beza sent him such a Letter The truth is if any thing can be collected from that Letter concerning Knox's sentiments it seems rather that he was for Prelacy For Beza seems clearly to import that Knox needed to be caution'd against it For thus he writes One thing I would have you my dear Knox and your Brethren to advert to as being very obvious it is That as Bishops brought forth the Papacy c. But if Knox needed this Commonitory I think 't is no great Argument that he was Presbyterian so much at least as Beza would have had him But to do Mr. Calderwood justice he seems to have laid no great stress on this Argument and so I leave it So much for the Arguments insisted on to prove that Mr. Knox was for Parity I come now to the Arguments which incline me to think he was not When we are enquiring after ones sentiments about a point in controversie It is not reasonable to build much on far fetcht consequences or refine upon incidental sayings which may be very frequently the Results of Negligence or Inadvertency It is not proper to fasten on indirect propositions or snatch at this or that indeliberated phrase or expression which might have dropt unwarily from his tongue or pen. Following such measures we may easily strain mens words beyond their meaning and make them speak Nonsense or innumerable Contradictions when we have a mind for it The solid measure is to weigh a mans deliberate and serious thoughts if any where he has exprest them To consider his Reasonings when he treated directly on the controverted Subjects or any thing that stands so nearly related to it that one cannot readily discourse the one without reflecting on the other To trace him through his life if the controverted point is Relative to Practice and try what was his Behaviour when he had occasion to declare his mind concerning the matter in question This as I take it is the true Rule Now allowing this Rule to take place I am very much mistaken if Knox shall be found to have been for the Divine Institution of Parity and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy Had he been so perswaded how seasonable had it been for him to have spoken out so much when he was brought before King Edwards Council The question was then put to him Whether he thought that no Christian might serve in the Ecclesiastical Ministration according to the Rites and Laws of the Realm of England Here was a proper opportunity for him to have declared himself against Prelacy if he had been really against it How natural had it been for a sincere Parity man on that occasion to have told that Council That no Christian could theâ— serve with a safe Conscience as a Pastor of the Church of England because according to the Laws of that Realm he behoved to serve as a Member of ane Vnlawful Hierarchy yet he answered nothing but that No Minister in England had Authority to separate the Lepers from the whole which was a Chief Part of his Office Plainly founding all the Vnlawfulness of being a Pastor of the Church of England not on the Vnlawfulness of the Hierarchy which he spoke nor one word about but on the Kings Retaining in his own hands the Chief Power of Ecclesiastical Discipline as it is known he did When was it more opportune for him to have expressed these sentiments if he had had them than when he was at Frankfort Yet not one word of the Divine Right of
dated from Geneva Ianuary 12 Ann. 1559. Amongst many other Reformations He is for Reforming their Bishopricks indeed But how By abolishing them Nothing like it How then Take it in his own words Let no man be charged in preaching of Christ Iesus above that a man may do I mean That your Bishopricks be so Divided that of every one as they are nâ—w for the most part may be made ten And so in every City and Great Town there may be placed a Godly Learned Man with so many joined with him for preaching and instruction as shall be thought sufficient for the Bounds committed to their Charge So he And let our Parity-men if they can give this Testimony a Gloss favourable to their side of the Question without destroying the text The Truth is this Testimony is so very nicking that I am apt to apprehend it might have been for its sake That this whole Tractate was left out of the Folio-Edition of Knox's Works printed at London Anno 1641. However the Inquisition it seems has not been so strict at Edenburgh for there it escap'd the Index Expurgatorius And yet tho it had not the Good Cause had not been one whit the Securer For Knox's practice would have sufficiently determined the matter For Did not he compile the First Book of Discipline And is not Imparity fairly Established there Did not he write and bear the Letter sent by the Superintendents Ministers and Commissioners of the Church within the Realm of Scotland to their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors in England Anno 1566 Did not he in that same Title of that same Letter acknowledge that these Brethren Bishops and Pastors of England had renounced the Roman Antichrist and professed the Lord Iesus in sincerity And doth not the Letter all alongst allow of the Episcopal Power and Authority of these English Bishops Did not he publickly and solemnly admit Mr. Iohn Spotswood to the Superintendency of Lothian Anno 1561 Did not he Concur at the Coronation of King Iames the Sixth with a Bishop and two Superintendents Anno 1567 Was not he some time a Commissioner for Visitation as they were then called i. e. a Temporary Bishop And did not he then Act in a Degree of Superiority above the Rest of his Brethren within the bounds of his Commission Did not he sit and vote and concur in many General Assemblies where Acts were made for performing Canonical Obedience to Superintendents In fine doth not Spotswood tell us That he was far from the Dotages wherein some that would have been thought his followers did afterwards fall That never man was more obedient to Church Authority than be That he was always urging the Obedience of Ministers to their Superintendents for which he caused diverse Acts to be made in the Assemblies of the Church And That he shewed himself severe to the Transgressors I have insisted the longer on this instance of Knox because he made a Singular Figure amongst our Reformers Besides having so fully evinced that he whom our Brethren value so much was no Divine-Right-of-Parity-Man I think it may readily pass for credible that neither were any of the rest of our Reformers of that opinion And now to bring home all this to my main purpose if not so much as one of our Reformers no not Knox himself was for the Divine Right of Parity I think it may amount to an undeniable evidence at least to a strong Presumption That they were not of the present Presbyterian Principles and all this will appear still farther unquestionable when it is considered in the IV. place How much reason there is to believe That our Reformers proceeded generally on the same principles with the Reformers of England where the Government of the Church by imparity was continued without the least opposition This is a Consideration which I am afraid may not relish well with the Inclinations of my Presbyterian Brethren yet withal may be of considerable weight with unprejudiced people and bring light to several things about our Reformation which even those who have read our Histories and Monuments may have passed over inadvertently And therefore I shall take leave to insist upon it somewhat fully And I shall proceed by these steps 1. I shall endeavour to represent how our Reformation under God was principally Cherished and Encouraged by English influences 2. I shall endeavour to represent how in Correspondence to these Influences our Reformers were generally of the same mind with the Church of England in several momentous instances relating to Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church wherein our present Presbyterian Principles stand in direct opposition and contradiction to her If I can make these two things appear I think I shall make a Considerable Advance towards the Determination of the Second Enquiry 1. I say our Reformation under God was Cherished and Encouraged principally by English influences That Scotland barring foreign influences is Naturally dispos'd for receiving English impressions cannot but be obvious to common sense We not only live in the same Island separated from all other Neighbourhood we not only breath the same air and speak the same language and observe the same customs and have all the opportunities of Reciprocating all the Offices which can result from daily Commerces and familiar acquaintances and easy Correspondences and Matrimonial Conjunctions and innumerable other such Endearing Relations and Allectives to Mutual Kindness but also Scotland is the lesser England the larger Scotland the more barren England the more fertile Scotland the poorer England the richer Scotland the more penurious of people England the more populous Scotland every way the weaker England every way the stronger Kingdom and by consequence Scotland every way the more apt to receive and England every way the more apt to give impressions And Nature in this is fully justified by Experience For what Scottish man knows not that when the late Revolution was a carrying on as England cast the Copy to Scotland so it was used and prest as one of the most popular and influential Topicks to perswade the Scots to follow the Copy That England had done it and why should Scotland follow a separate Course Was not England a powerful and a wise Nation what Defence could Scotland make for it self if England should invade it And how was it to be imagined that England would not invade Scotland if Scotland did not follow England's Measures So that to stand by K. I. when England had rejected him what was it else than to expose the Nation to unavoidable Ruine Who knows not I say that this was one of the most prest because one of the most plausible Arguments in the beginning of the late Revolution And who sees not that the Force of the Argument lay in Scotland's obnoxiousness to England's impressions Let no true hearted Scottish man imagine 'T is in my thought to dishonour my Native Country I have said no more than all
the world knows to be true and what cannot be denied If we could contend with them for Virtue and Integrity for Honour and Gallantry for Civility and Loyalty for Glories that are truely manly 'T were for the Credit of our Nation And it were our own fault if we were inferiour to them in such Competitions But 't is Arrant Vanity to contend with them for Wealth or Strength or Multitude Now to bring this home to my purpose God had so ordered in his wife Providence that for many Ages before Scotland had not been so free of foreign influence as a little before and all the time our Church was a reforming The French were the only foreign Influences which were wont to find Entertainment in Scotland And in those times the French had treated us very basely and dishonourably I shall deduce the matter with all convenient brevity King Henry the Eighth of England had resolved upon a War with France Anno 1512. The French King perceiving this applyed to Iames the Fourth of Scotland his old Confederate to engage him in ane Alliance against Henry His Application was successful a private League was made betwixt them in November that year Two of the Articles were That if England should invade Scotland France should wage War with all its might against England Scotland should do the like if England invaded France And neither of the two should take Truce with England without the other gave his Consent and were comprehended therein if he pleased In pursuance of this League Iames raised a potent Army invaded England incurred the Popes Displeasure to the very Sentence of Excommunication fought the fatal Battle of Flowdon Sept. 9. 1513 Lost his Life and the Flower of all the Scottish Nobility and Gentry and left behind him Iames the Fifth ane Infant exposed with his whole State to the not very tender Mercies of King Henry Here was serving the French interests with a witness Well! How did Lewis requite this The next year he patcht up a Peace with Henry without comprehending Scotland without Respect to his Faith and Promise without Pity to those who were reduced to such Extremities on his account If this was not what can be called Disobliging But this was not all The Scots reduced to these difficulties and sensible that it was not possible for the Nation to subsist under ane infant King without a Regent became humble Suppliants to the French King that he would send them Iohn Duke of Albany then in the French Service a Man of great Abilities and next by Blood to the Scottish Crown that he might be their Governour during their Kings Minority But Henry's Threats for a long time prevailed more with the French King than Scotlands Necessities or his Obligations to it For Albany came not to Scotland till May 1515. so that for near two years thro the French Coldness and Indifferency towards Scottish affairs the Kingdom had no setled Government The War brake out again betwixt France and England Anno ..... and a new Peace was concluded Anno 1518. And Albany our Scottish Regent was present in person when it was concluded but the English Obstinacy not to comprehend Scotland was more effectual with Francis the First who had then got upon the Throne than all the Intercessions of Albany or the Merits of our Nation Nay if we may believe Herbert It was one of the main Articles of that Treaty that Albany should not return to Scotland Nor did he return till Octob. 1521. And returning then Henry reckoned it a Main Breach of Treaty nay and plain Perjury in Francis that he gave way to it Thus were we treated then by France Let us now consider if Henry was at any pains all this while to make ane Interest in Scotland And if we may believe the unanimous voice of our own Historians or my Lord Herbert in the History of his Life never was man more earnest for any thing than he in that pursuit and he had brave occasions for it For not only were the Scots highly and justly irritated by the degenerous and undervaluing slights France had put upon them as I have just now made appear But Henry had surprized them with ane Unexpected and Unaccustomed Generosity after the Battel of Flowdon He had not pursued his Victory but had listned gently to their Addresses for Peace and told them that tho he might yet he would not take advantage of their circumstances He would treat them frankly if they were for Peace so was he if for War they should have it A Response so full of true Honour and Gallantry as could not but work on their affections Besides His Sister Margaret the Queen of Scots a Lady of rare Endowments was all alongst working to his hand and making a Party for him Iames the 4 th by his Testament before he went to Flowdon had nominated her Governess of the Realm during her Widowhood This gave her once the principal hand in affairs 'T is true she was young and lively and married within a year after the King's Death and so lost her Title to the Regency But then she married the Earl of Angus the choice of all the Scottish Nobility and one who was in great Repute with all Ranks of People so that however her Marriage annulled her Title it did not so much weaken her Interest but that she had still a great Party in the Nation So great That tho Albany was advanced to the Regency she was for the most part able to over-ballance him in point of power and following In short Such was Henry's and his Sisters influence That all the time Albany was Regent the Nation was divided into two Factions The one French headed by Albany the other English headed by the Queen Dowager and hers was generally the more prevalent so much that tho Albany was perhaps one of the bravest Gentlemen that ever was honoured with the Scottish Regency he was never able to prosecute to purpose any project he undertook for the French Service Thus Anno 1522. He raised ane Army to invade England But with what success Why The Scottish Nobility waited upon him to the Border indeed but they would go no further They told him plainly they would hazard lives and fortunes in defence of their Country but it was another thing to invade England And Lesly plainly attributes all this Refractoriness in these Nobles to the Queens influence Nay 't is evident from the same Lesly that the Baseness and Ingratitude of the French in the forementioned Treaties was one of the principal Arguments that moved them to such Backwardness And Albany was sensible of it and therefore went to France and told the French King so much and asked a swinging Army of Frenchmen five thousand Horse and ten thousand Foot with such a force he promised to Act something against England but from the Scots by themselves nothing was
calls them 50000 out of their Benefices besides a vast sum which might arise out of the confiscated Estates of Hereticks 50000 Crowns was a good round summ in those days in Scotland Further How were they alarm'd what fears were they under what shapes did they turn themselves in what tricks did they play when the Match betwixt Edward and Mary spoken of before was in Agitation The Cardinal forged a Will in the Kings Name nominating himself the principal of four Conjunct Regents for managing the Government during the Queen's Minority intending thereby to secure the Popish interests and prevent the coming of the Nobility from England who he knew would lay out themselves with all their Might to oppose him being his Enemies upon the account of Religion and advance the Designs of England This not succeeding for the forgery was manifest His next Care was that all the Popish Party should tumultuate bawl and clamour confound and disturb the Parliament all they could which indeed was done so successfully that nothing could be done to purpose till he was committed to Custody Neither did this put an end to these practices of the Party but so soon as the Parliament having concluded the Match was over and he set at Liberty with the Queen Dowagers advice who was all over French and Papist He convenes the Clergy represents to them the impossibility of their standing the certain Ruine of the Catholick Religion every thing that could be frightful to them unless that Confederacy with England were broken obliges them therefore to tax themselves and raise great Sums of Money for Bribing some of the Nobility that were not proof against its Charms and Beauties And to use all their Rhetorick with others to the same purpose And lastly it was concluded in that Religious Meeting That the Match and Alliance should be preacht against from the Pulpits and that all possible pains should be taken to excite the Populace to Tumults and Rabbles and treat the English Ambassador with all affronting Tricks and Rudenesses In short the Faction never gave over till they had cajol'd the weak Regent into ane Abjuration of Protestancy as was told before and reconciled him to the French which then in Scotland was all one with the Popish Interest Nay His Holiness himself again interrested himself in this juncture as Lesly tells us sending Petrus Franciscus Contarenus Patriarch of Venice his Legate into Scotland to treat with the Regent and the Nobility in the Popes Name and promise them large assistances against the English if they would break the Contract of Marriage betwixt Edward and Mary which had so fatal ane aspect towards the Catholick Religion By this Taste 't is easy to discern how much the Popish Party were perswaded of the great influence England had on Scotland in order to a Reformation of Religion And laying all together that hath been said 't is as easy to perceive they wanted not reason for such a perswasion Having thus given a brief Deduction of the State of our Reformation in King Henry's time and made it apparent that it was much encouraged and quickened by English Influences then I think I need not insist much on the succeeding Reigns Briefly then 7. As Edward the Sixth had the same reasons for interesting himself in our Scottish affairs which his Father Henry had before him so we find his Counsels were suited accordingly No sooner was Henry dead and Somerset warm'd in his Protectoral Chair than the Demands about the Match were renewed And being rejected by the Popish Party here who had our weak Regent at their Beck and were then the governing Party the Matter ended in a Bloody War Somerset raised a great Army and entered Scotland But before it came to fighting he sent a Letter to the Scots written in such ane obliging stile and containing so kind and so fair so equitable propositions That the Regent advis'd by some Papists about him thought fit not to publish it to his Army but to give out that it tended to quite contrary purposes than it really contained That it contain'd Threats that the English were come to carry off the Queen by force and Ruine and Enslave the Nation c. Dreading no doubt that if he had dealt candidly and shewed the Letter to such men of interest in the Nation as were there it would have taken so with them that they would have laid aside thoughts of Fighting Indeed this was no groundless jealousie the matter was above-board For as Buchanan tells us In the next Convention of Estates which was holden shortly after that fatal Battel of Pinkie those who were for the Reformation being of the same Religion with England were zealous for the English Alliance and against sending the Queen into France and that they were the Papists only who were for sending her thither 8. When Edward died and his Sister Mary ascended the Throne a heavy Cloud indeed did hang over both Nations and threatned a dreadful storm to the Reformation of Religion Mary according to her surly humour fell to downright Persecution in England And our Q. Dowager having shouldered out Arran and possest herself of the Scottish Regency in her subtle way was as zealous to maintain the Superstitions of Popery using less Cruelty indeed than Mary but more policy and to the same purposes And now the purgation of Christianity seem'd to be brought to a lamentable stand in both Kingdoms and the hopes of those to be quite dasht who were breathing for the profession of that Holy Religion in its purity Yet God in his kind providence did otherwise dispose of things and made that a means to advance Religion amongst us which men thought should have utterly extinguisht it For some of those who fled from Mary's persecution in England taking their Refuge into this Kingdom did not only help to keep the light which had begun to shine but made the Sun to break up more clear than before as Spotswood hath it from Knox. For then came into Scotland William Harlaw Iohn Willock Iohn Knox c. of whom more hereafter Thus we were still deriving more light and heat from England 9. Mary died and Elizabeth succeeded in November 1588. our Queen was then in France It was morally impossible to recover her thence The English influences which in Henry and Edwards time had cherished our Reformation except so far as God sent us Harlaw Willock and Knox by his special providence as I told just now were quite cut off all the time of Mary's Government Our Reformers therefore to make the best of a bad hand were earnest to be amongst the foremost Courtiers with the Queen Regent They were ready to serve her design with all possible frankness particularly they were amongst the most forward for carrying on the Match with the Dauphine of France and voted chearfully that he should have the Matrimonial Crown conferred upon him after the solemnization of the Marriage In
consequence of this their frankness the Earl of Argyle and the Prior of St. Andrews two first-rate Protestants were the persons nominated to pass into France to honour the Dauphine with that complement And they undertook it cordially But in the very instant almost they were informed that Mary of England was dead and Elizabeth on the Throne and withal professing Protestancy This altered their whole Scheme They presently considered The English Influences so long stopt in their Courses might now begin to Drop again And there were hopes of Assistance from that Female Soveraign So these two Lords no doubt with the advice of the rest of the fraternity gave over thoughts of their French Voyage The Dauphine might purchase a Crown for himself or wait till his Father dyed if he could not do better They resolved to carry him no Matrimonial Crowns from Scotland Indeed their hopes of Assistance from England to carry on the Reformation of Religion were better grounded then than ever For Upon the Death of Queen Mary of England by French advice our Queen as Next Heir to that Crown had assumed the English Titles 'T is not to be thought Elizabeth lik'd this well and resolving to continue Queen of England she had no reason For who knows not that her Title was Questionable But our Queens Descent was Vncontroverted What wonder then if Elizabeth thought herself concerned to secure herself as well as she could And what more feasible and proper way for her security than to have the Affections and by consequence the Power of Scotland on her side And what measure so natural for obtaining that as to cherish the Reformation of Religion in Scotland and weaken the Popish and by consequence the French interests there and get the Rule of that Kingdom put in the hands of Protestants The politick was obviously solid all the work was to set it a going But that difficulty was soon over for no sooner did she employ some private instruments to try the Scottish pulses than they smelt the matter and relisht it immediately The least intimation that she was so inclined was to them as a spark of fire amongst Gun-powder it kindled them in a thought They addrest her quickly beg'd her protection and plighted their Faith that they would depend upon her and stand by her and to the outmost of their power secure her interests if she would grant them suitable assistances Thus the bargain was readily agreed to on both sides and both perform'd their parts successfully For who knows not that our Reformation was carried on by Elizabeths Auspices by English Arms and Counsels and Money in the year 1560 And who knows not that by the Treaty at Leith in Iuly that same year after the French were expelled Scotland when our Reformers by her help had got the upper hand her Crown was secured as far as the Scottish Protestants could secure it Who knows not I say that it was one of the Articles of that Treaty That the Queen of Scotland and King of France should not thereafter usurp the Titles of England and Ireland and should delete the Arms of England and Ireland out of their Scutchions and whole Houshold-stuff By this time I think it may competently appear how much our Scottish Reformation under God depended on English influences But I have two things more to add 10. Then It is considerable that some of our Chief Luminaries of those who had a principal hand in preaching and planting the Gospel in Purity among us had drunk in these principles in England and brought them thence to Scotland with them Thus the excellent Martyr Mr. George Wishart of whom in part before as Spotswood tells us had spent his time in Cambridge and return'd to his own Country to promote the Truth in it Anno 1544. And Mr. Iohn Spotswood that worthy man who was so long Superintendent of Lothian after our Reformation was one of Cranmers Disciples as you may see in the beginning of the Life of Archbishop Spotswood his Son and also in his History And Iohn Willock and William Harlaw had both lived in England before they preacht in Scotland as I have already accounted and perhaps a strict Enquiry might discover some others 11. and lastly On the other hand except so far as Iohn Knox was Calvinist and a Lover of the Forms of Geneva for which perhaps I shall account hereafter none of our Historians give so much as one particular instance of a Scottish Reformer who had his Education in any other foreign Church except Mr. Patrick Hamilton who I think cannot be proven to have been a Presbyterian and tho it could be done it could amount to no more than the Authority of a very young man considering he was but 23 years of age when he died Neither do they mention any Foreigner who came here to Scotland to assist us in our Reformation Lesly indeed says that the Scottish Protestants sent Letters and Messengers to Germany to call thence Sacramentarian Ministers as being very dexterous at fostering Sedition and subverting Religion but no other Historian says so and he himself says not that ever any such came to Scotland Thus I think I have accounted competently for the first thing proposed viz. That our Reformation under God was principally Cherished and Encouraged by English Influences I proceed to the 2. Which was That in Correspondence to these Influences our Reformers were generally of the same Mind with the Church of England in several momentous instances relating to the Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church wherein our present Presbyterian principles stand in direct opposition and contradiction to her That our Reformers agreed with those of the Church of England in the Common Articles of the Christian Faith in their Creed was never called in Question But it is not my present purpose to consider the sentiments of our Reformers in relation to the Church as it is a Sect but as it is a Society neither shall I be curious to amuse many particulars I shall content my self with two or three of considerable weight and importance And 1. Our Reformers generally or rather unanimously lookt on the Church of England as a Church so well constituted that her Communion was a Lawful Communion For this we have two as good Evidences as the nature of the thing is capable of viz. The constant and uniform practice of our Reformers joining in the Communion of the Church of England when they had occasion as those of the Church of England did with the Church of Scotland and their open profession in their publick deeds that they thought it Lawful 1. I say it was the constant practice of our Reformers to joyn in the Communion of the Church of England when they had occasion as those of the Church of England did with the Church of Scotland Thus we find all such of our Reformers as in times of Persecution fled into England still joyning with the Church
of England e. g. Friar Alexander Seaton when he was forced to flee in King Iames the 5th's time went to England and became the Duke of Suffolk's Chaplain and died in that service Alexander Aless was in great favour with King Henry and called the King's Schollar He was a Member of the English Convocation and disputed against Stokesly Bishop of London and maintain'd there were but two Sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist Anno 1536 or 37 And he it was that first turn'd the English Liturgy into Latin for Bucer's use Anno 1549 as both Heylin and Burnet in their Histories of the English Reformation tell us Iohn Fife and one M' Dowdal stayed as long in England as Aless did And 't is not to be doubted that they were of the same principles Iohn M' Bee during his abode in England was liberally entertained by Nicol. Saxton Bishop of Salisbury who made much account of him which is no argument I think that he was a Presbyterian Sir Iohn Borthwick was charged with Heresie Anno 1640 for maintaining That the Heresies commonly called the Heresies of England and their New Liturgy was Commendable and to be embraced of all Christians And That the Church of Scotland ought to be govern'd after the manner of the Church of England i. e. under the King and not the Pope as Supreme Governor Friar Thomas Guillam the first publick Preacher of the Reformed Religion in Scotland He by whose Sermons Iohn Knox got the first lively impressions of the Truth This Guillam I say after Arran the Regent Apostatized withdrew and went into England and we hear no more of him From which 't is reasonable to conclude That he kept the Common Course with the other Reformers there Iohn Rough was the Regents other Chaplain while he was Protestant He likewise fled to England tho sometime after Guillam He preached some years in the Towns of Carlisle Berwick and Newcastle and was afterwards provided to a Benefice by the Archbishop of York where he lived till the Death of King Edward When Mary's Persecution turn'd warm he fled and lived some time in Freesland He came to London about some business Anno 1557. was apprehended and brought before Bonner Questioned if he had preached any since he came to England Answered he had preached none But in some places where godly people were Assembled He had read the Prayers of the Communion Book set forth in the Reign of King Ed. VI. Question'd again what his Judgment was of that Book Answered He approved it as agreeing in all points with the word of God And so suffered Martyrdom I think this man was neither for Parity nor against Liturgies But to proceed The excellent Mr. Wishart as he had spent some time in England as was told before so it seems he returned to Scotland of English I am confident not of Presbyterian Principles For he was not only for the Lawfulness of Private Communion as appeared by his practice but Knox gives us fair intimations that he ministred it by a Set-form I know King Edward's Liturgy was not then composed But it is not to be imagined That the Reformers in England in Wishart's time administred the Sacrament without a Set-form The Extemporary Spirit was not then in vogue And why else could Sir Iohn Borthwick have been charged with the Great Heresy of Commending the English Liturgy However I shall not be peremptory because I have not the opportunity of enquiring at present what Forms the English Reformers had then All I shall say is if they had a Liturgy 't is very probable Wishart used it For as Knox tells us when he celebrated the Eucharist before his Execution After he had blessed the Bread and Wine he took the Bread and Brake it and gave to every one of it bidding each of them Remember that Christ had died for them and feed on it spiritually so taking the Cup he bade them Remember that Christs Blood was shed for them c. So Knox word for word which account I think seems fairly to intimate that Wishart used a Form but if he did what other could it be than such as he had learned in England I have accounted already how Iohn Willock and William Harlaw had served in the English Church before they came to Scotland I might perhaps make a fuller Collection But what needs more Even Knox himself lived in Communion with the Church of England all the time he was in that Kingdom He went not there to keep Conventicles to erect Altar against Altar to gather Churches out of the Church of England to set up separate and schismatical Churches as some of our present Parity-men have sometimes done No he preached in the publick Churches and in subordination to the Bishops and he preached before King Edward himself as he himself tell us in his Admonition to the Professors of the Truth in England which it is very improbable he would have been allowed to have done if he had Condemned the Communion of the Church of England as it was then established For who knows not that in King Edwards time all Schism and Non-Conformity were sufficiently discouraged And through that whole Admonition he still speaks of himself as One of the Ministers of the Church of England Nay If it be Reasonable to Collect mens Sentiments from their Reasonings I am sure in that same Admonition I have enough for my purpose For he reasons upon suppositions and from Principles which clearly condemned Separation from the Church of England as then established For when he gives his thoughts of that fatal Discord which happened between the two great men Somerset and the Admiral as I take it He discourses thus God compelled my tongue says he openly to declare That the Devil and his Ministers the Papists Intended only the Subversion of Gods true Religion by that Mortal Hatred amongst those who ought to have been most assuredly Knit together by Christian Charity And especially that the wicked and envious Papists by that ungodly Breach of Charity diligently minded the overthrow of him Somerset that to his own Destruction procured the Death of his innocent friend and Brother All this trouble was devised by the Devil and his instruments to stop and lett Christ's Disciples and their poor Boat i. e. the Church What can be more plain I say than that Knox here proceeds on suppositions and reasons from Principles which condemned Separation from the Church of England as then established Doth he not suppose that the Church of England as then established was Christ's Boat his Church And that the Sons of the Church of England were Christ's Disciples Doth he not suppose that these two Brothers as Sons of the Church of England ought to have been assuredly knit together by Christian Charity That the Breach between them was ane ungodly Breach of that Charity by which Members of that same Church ought to have been assuredly knit together And
that it was a contrivance of the wicked and envious Papists thereby to Ruine the Church of England Doth he not suppose all these as unundoubted Truths I say Or rather doth he not positively or expresly assert them And now if Separation from the Church of England and condemning her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion can consist with these principles and suppositions or if he who reasons on these suppositions and from these principles can be deem'd at the same time to have been for the Vnlawfulness of the Communion of the Church of England I must confess I know not what it is to collect mens sentiments from their Principles and Reasonings Whoso pleases may find more of Knox's sentiments to this purpose in his Exhortation to England for the speedy receiving of Christs Gospel Dated from Geneva Ianuary 12. 1559. For there he calls England happy In that God by the power of his verity of late years i. e. in King Edward's time had broken and destroyed the intolerable yoke of her spiritual Captivity and brought her forth as it had been from the bottom of Hell and from the Thraldom of Satan in which she had been holden blinded by Idolatry and Superstition to the fellowship of his Angels and the possession of that rich Inheritance prepared to his Dearest Children with Christ Iesus his Son And a little after he says of the Church of England that in that same King Edward's days she was a Delectable Garden planted by the Lords own hand And in his Letter to Secretary Cecil from Diep April 10 1559. he tells him He expects that same favour from him which it becometh one Member of Christs Body to have for another And in his Letter to Q. Elizabeth from Edenburgh 28 Iuly 1559. He renders thanks unfeignedly to God That it hath pleased him of his eternal Goodness to exalt her Head to the Manifestation of his Glory and the Extirpation of Idolatry Is this like the Clamour which has been ordinary with our Presbyterians about the Idolatry of the Church of England And in the conclusion of that Letter he prays that the Spirit of the Lord Iesus may so rule her in all her Actions and Enterprizes that in her God may be Glorified his Kirk Edified and she as a lively Member of the same may be ane Example of Virtue and Godliness of Life to all others Are these like the sayings of one who in the mean time judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Unlawful Communion 'T is true indeed Iohn Knox was displeased with some things in the English Liturgy He thought she had some Modes and Ceremonies there which were scandalous as symbolizing too much with the Papists and it cannot be denied that he disturbed the peace of the English Church at Francfort But if I mistake not he did so not that he thought the terms of her Communion truly sinful but that he judged his own or rather the Genevian Model purer For 't is reasonable to think he proceeded on the same principles and was of the same sentiments with his Master Calvin And nothing can be clearer than that Calvin did not condemn the things scrupled at as impious or unlawful but as not agreeable to his Standard of Purity as appears from the Citation on the Margin and might easily be made appear more fully if one were put to it but 't is needless now considering that all I aim at is that it cannot be inferred from what Knox did at Francfort That he judged the Communion of the Church of England ane Vnlawful Communion tho I must confess in making these stirs he proceeded not according to the true Catholick Principles of Christian Communion But enough of him at present To proceed As our Reformers thus generally looke upon the Church of England as a true Church and her Communion as a Lawful Communion so after our Reformation was established those of the Church of England had the same sentiments of the Church of Scotland The Ambassadors who at any time for many years came from England to the Scottish Court made no scruple to live in the Communion of the Church of Scotland and joyn in her publick Worship Thus the Earl of Bedford who came to assist at the Solemnization of the Princes afterwards K. Iames the Sixth's Baptism Anno 1566. went daily to Sermon i. e. by a Synecdoche very familiar in Scotland to the publick Worship Neither did I ever observe the least intimation in any monument of these times I have seen of these two Churches having opposite Communions till many years after the Reformation But I have insisted long enough on this Consideration The sum whereof is briefly this Our Reformers so far as can appear from their private sentiments and practices lookt upon the Church of England as a true Christian Church They lived in her Communion when they had occasion to be within her Bounds not one of them condemned her Communion as ane Vnlawful Communion not one of them set up Conventicles in England when they were there nor erected separate Churches c. From all which it seems to follow at least very probably That they reformed generally upon the same Principles intirely upon the same as to Church Communion The reason why I have insisted so long on this argument is that it smooths the way for the next which is 2. That our Reformers in their publick deeds openly and solemnly profest that they were of one Religion one Communion with the Church of England This as I take it is a point of considerable importance and therefore I shall endeavour to set it at least in a competent Light 1. Then Unity of Religion and by good Consequence I think Oneness of Communion between the Scottish and the English Protestants was the great Argument insisted on by the Scots in their Addresses to England for Assistance to turn out the French and establish the Reformation in Scotland Anno 1559 And it was one of the main Grounds on which all that great Revolution was transacted that year and the next viz. 1560. Take the account as I have it from that which is commonly called Knox his History When the Lords of the Congregation found it would be necessary for them to implore foreign Assistance for driving out the French then the great Obstacles to the Reformation They resolved in the first place to apply to England and the Reason given for this Resolution was That ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION Or if ye please take it in the Authors own words We thought good to seek aid and support of all Christian Princes against her the Queen Regents Tyranny in case we should be more sharply persued AND BECAUSE THAT ENGLAND WAS OF THE SAME RELIGION and lay next unto us it was thought expedient first to prove them c. It was rational enough to try there first indeed considering what I have already observed concerning Queen Elizabeth And Tryed it was and
was done and as it were only by the by The occasion on which he records this is when in the year 1569. the tenth year after this Confederacy between the Scots and the English was concerted as I take it the Earl of Murray then Regent had gone to the Northern parts of the Kingdom to settle matters there Accounts were brought to him of the Duke of Norfolk's Conspiracy which was so well compacted and so deep laid that it was judged morally impossible to disappoint it and Murray's friends were earnest with him to retreat in time and disengage himself of the opposite party with whom he had hitherto sided and so when Buchanan comes to give the History of this juncture he to find a just rise for his Narration returns no less than ten years backward discoursing thus The State of English affairs oblige me to look back a little because in these times the interests of both Kingdoms were so twisted that the concerns of the one cannot be represented without the other The Scots some years before being delivered from the Gallican Slavery by the English assistance had subscribed to the Religious Worship and Rites of the Church of England and that surprizing change in Affairs seem'd to promise to Britain quietness and rest from all intestine Commotions and Factions c. Here you see the thing is plainly and undeniably asserted Yet so careless to say no worse have all our Historians been that not one of them mentions it but he and he does no more than mention it and to this minute we are generally in the dark when how by whom and with what Solemnities it was done Buchanan's words would seem to import that it was done after that our Deliverance as he calls it was accomplisht But not one word of it in the Treaty concluded at Leith and proclaim'd Iuly 8th 1560. which succeeded immediately upon the back of that Deliverance not one word of it I say in that Treaty as it is ether in Buchanan Knox or Spotswood or any other Historian I have had occasion to see neither have we any other publick Transaction or Deed that mentions it I find it told by several Historians that the Earls of Morton and Glencarne were sent to England after that our Deliverance to return thanks to Queen Elizabeth for her assistance 'T is possible it might have been done then for as Spotswood has it After the Professors heard of the cold Entertainment that Sir Iames Sandilands who went to France to give ane account of the Treaty had got at that Court their minds were greatly troubled for they were seasible of their own weakness and doubtful of Support from England if France should again invade because of the Loss the English had received in the late Expedition Neither says he had the Earls of Morton and Glencarne who upon breaking up of the Parliament were sent into England to render thanks to the Queen and to entreat the Continuance of her Favour given any advertisement of their acceptance If upon this occasion Commission was sent to these two Earls to subscribe in name of the rest of the Protestants to such ane Vnion in Religion it exactly answers Buchanan's Account but no such thing is so much as insinuated to have been done on that occasion For my part I humbly offer it to be considered whither it is not possible that Buchanan intended not to lay any such stress upon the word LIBERATI as thereby to import that it was after the Accomplishment of our Deliverance that the Scots subscribed But bringing in the whole matter occasionally where he mentions it and intending to dispatch it in as few words as he could he did not stand nicely upon the wording of it And if t is holds the most Rational and Natural Account will be that Secretary Maitland and Sir Robert Melvil who were sent by the Scottish Lords in the beginning of November 1559. to implore the Queen of England's Assistance were impowered to agree in name of the whole body to this Union of Religion if it should be demanded That the Secretary had power to treat and agree to and sign Articles is certain for amongst the Instructions given to the Commissioners for concluding the Treaty at Berwick dated at Glasgow Feb. 10. 1559 66. I find this as one Item If it shall be desired of you to confirm for us and in our Name the things past and granted by our former Commissioner the young Laird of Lethington ye shall in all points for us and in our Name confirm the same so far as it shall make either for the WELL and CONJUNCTION of the two Realms or this PRESENT CAUSE or yet for the security of our part for fulfilling of the same This I say is one of the Articles of these instructions from which it is evident that Lethington had signed Articles in England tho we are no where told what they were And may it not pass for a probable conjecture that that concerning Vnity in Religious Worship and Ceremonies was one of them But whensoever or by whomsoever it was done is not the Critical Hinge of the Controversie We have Buchanan's word for it that it was done and I hope my Presbyterian Brethren will not hastily reject his Authority especially considering that his Veracity in this matter is so much assisted and made credible by the strain of the Letter directed to Secretary Cecil on which we have already insisted Neither is this all For 2. The publick Thanksgiving and Prayers made with great Solemnity in St. Giles's Church in Edenburgh after the Pacification at Leith in Iuly 1560 amount to no less than a fair Demonstration of ane intire Vnion between the two Nations as to Church Matters and Religion for on that occasion it was thus addressed to Almighty God with the common Consent and as a publick Deed of our Scottish Reformers Seeing that nothing is more odious in thy presence O Lord than is Ingratitude and Violation of ane Oath and Covenant made in thy Name and seeing thou hast made our Confederates in England the Instruments by whom we are now set at this Liberty and to whom in thy Name we have promised mutual Faith again Let us never fall to that Vnkindness O Lord that either we declare our selves unthankful unto them or Prophaners of thy holy Name Confound thou the Counsel of those that go about to break THAT MOST GOGLY LEAGUE CONTRACTED IN THY NAME And retain thou us so firmly together by the power of thy holy Spirit That Satan have never power to set us again at Variance nor Discord Give us thy Grace to live in that Christian Charity which thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ hath so earnestly commanded to all the Members of his Body that other Nations provoked by our Example may set aside all Ungodly War Contention and Strife and study to live in Tranquillity and Peace as it becometh the Sheep of thy pasture and the People that
dayly look for our final Deliverance by the coming again of our Lord Iesus c. Thus it was prayed I say in great Solemnity at that time and every Petition is a Confirmation of Buchanan's Fidelity and my Assertion Further yet 3. In the Old Scottish Liturgy compiled in these times and afterwards used publickly in all the Churches There is a Thanksgiving unto God after our Deliverance from the Tyranny of the Frenchmen with Prayers made for the Continuance of the Peace betwixt the Realms of Scotland and England wherein we have these Petitions offered Grant unto us O Lord that with such Reverence we may remember thy Benefits received that after this in our Default we never enter into Hostility against the Realm and Nation of England Suffer us never O Lord to fall to that Ingratitude and detestable Vnthankfulness that we should seek the Destruction and Death of those whom thou hast made instruments to Deliver us from the Tyranny of Merciless Strangers Dissipate thou the Counsels of such as Deceitfully travel to stir the hearts of the inhabitants of either Realm against the other Let their malicious practices be their own confusion and grant thou of thy Mercy that Love Concord and Tranquillity may continue and increase amongst the Inhabitants of this Isle even to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by whose glorious Gospel thou of thy Mercy dost CALL US BOTH TO UNITY PEACE AND CHRISTIAN CONCORD the full PERFECTION whereof we shall possess in the fullness of thy Kingdom c. Here is a set of Demonstrations to the same purpose also And now let any man lay all these things together The Letter to Cecil The Confederacy betwixt Scotland and England Buchanan's Testimony and these Thanksgivings and Prayers and then let him judge impartially whither or not there is reason to believe that in those days there was a good Agreement between the Scottish and English Protestants as to Religion and Church Matters Thus I think I have sufficiently cleared that our Reformers Generally if not Vnanimously lookt upon the Church of England as so well constituted that they acknowledged her Communion to be a Lawful Communion But before I proceed to other things I must try if I can make any more advantage of what has been said And I reason thus Was there not here truely and really a Confederacy ane Oath A Solemn League and Covenant betwixt the Scottish and the English Protestants Were not these English Protestants then united in that Society which at that time was and ever since hath been called The Church of England And was not the Church of England of that same very constitution then that it was of in King Charles the First his time for example Anno 1642 But if so then I ask again was not this Solemn League and Covenant made thus by our Reformers with their Brethren in England as much designed for the Security the Defence the Maintainance of the Church of England as then by Law established as for the Establishment of our Reformation Did not our Reformers promise Mutual Faith to the English as well as the English promised to them Would it have been consistent with the mutual bonds and obligations of this Confederacy this Solemn League and Covenant for the Scottish Reformers to have raised ane Army at that time against Queen Elizabeth to invade her Dominions in order to ruine the Church of England I cannot imagine any sober person can grudge to grant me this much also But if this be granted then I ask in the third place Did not that Solemn League and Covenant made by our Reformers with those of the Church of England run in a direct opposition to the Solemn League and Covenant made by our Scottish Presbyterians with a Factious Party in England for destroying the Church of England in King Charles the First 's time Nay did not our Scottish Presbyterians in that King's time by entering into that Solemn League and Covenant directly and effrontedly break through the Charge and Commandment which our Reformers left to their Posterity That the Amity betwixt the Nations in God contracted and begun might by them be kept inviolate for ever Nay further yet did not our Reformers solemnly pray against those who made the Solemn League and Covenant in the days of King Charles the First Did they not address to God that he would dissipate their Counsels and let their Malicious Practices be their own Confusion And now let the world judge what rational pretences these Presbyterians in that Holy Martyrs time and by consequence our present Presbyterians can make for their being the only true and genuine Successors of our First Reformers Expecting solid and serious Answers to these Questions I shall now advance in the prosecution of my main undertaking on this Head which was to shew how our Reformers agreed with the Church of England in several momentous matters Relative to the Constitution and Communion the Government and Polity of the Church c. But because I have insisted so long on this general one which I have just now taken leave of I shall only instance in two or three more and dispatch them as speedily as I can 2. Then it is evident and undeniable that our Scottish Protestants for some years used the Liturgy of the Church of England in their publick Devotions Indeed The very first publick step towards our Reformation made by the Lords of the Congregation was to appoint this Liturgy to be used It was ordered upon the third day of December 1557. as both Knox and Calderwood have it Take the Ordinance in Knox his words The Lords and Barons professing Christ Iesus conveened frequently in Councel in the which these Heads were concluded First It is thought expedient advised and ordained That in all Parishes of this Realm the Common Prayer be read weekly on Sunday and other Festival days publickly in the Parish Churches with the Lessons of the Old and New Testament conformable to the Book of Common Prayers And if the Curates of the Parishes be qualified that they read the same And if they be not or if they refuse that the most qualified in the Parish use and read the same c. Spotswood and Petrie give the same account But such is the Genius of Mr. Calderwood that you are to expect few things which may make against the Presbyterian Interest candidly and sincerely represented by him For instance in his overly account of this matter he quite omits the mention of other Holy days besides Sundays These consistent Testimonies of all those four Historians are so full and plain a Demonstration of the Matter of Fact that I cannot foresee so much as one Objection that can be made or one Evasion that can be thought on unless it be That it is not said by any of them that it was the Book of the Common Prayers of the Church of England But this difficulty is soon removed For 1. It was either the Book
of the Common Prayers of the Church of England or the Genevian Liturgy For we no where read of a Third ever pretended to have been used in those times in Scotland Now that it was not the Liturgy of Geneva is plain for besides that it is utterly incredible that there could have been so many Copies of the Genevian Form in the vulgar Language then in Scotland as might serve so many Parish Churches Nay that 't is highly probable there was not so much as one Besides this I say in the Genevian Form which was afterwards used in Scotland there is no Order for no footstep of the observation of other Holy-days besides Sunday Neither is there any Order in it for Reading of Lessons of the Old and New Testament except in the Treatise of Fasting which was not compiled till the year 1565. There indeed Lessons are appointed such and such Psalms and such and such Histories in the Old but not so much as one Tittle of the New Testament In all the rest of the Book a deep Silence about Lessons than which there cannot be a clearer Demonstration that the Book appointed to be used in December 1557 was not that of Geneva Indeed 2. None of our Presbyterian Historians neither Petrie nor Calderwood have the confidence to pretend nay to insinuate the possibility of its being the Common Order of Geneva which 't is very probable they would have done if they had had the smallest hopes of making it feasible On the contrary Calderwood seems fairly to acknowledge that it was the English Liturgy but then this acknowledgement lies at such a distance from the year 1557. that no doubt he thought himself pretty secure that few Readers would reflect upon it as ane acknowledgment he doth not make it till he comes to the year 1623 when he had occasion to tell how the use of the English Liturgy was brought into the New Colledge of St. Andrews Take it in his own words Upon the 15 th of January Master Robert Howie Principal of the New College of St. Andrews Doctor Wedderburn and Doctor Melvin were directed by a Letter from Doctor Young in the Kings Name to use the English Liturgy Morning and Evening in the New College where all the Students were present at Morning and Evening Prayers Which was presently put in execution notwithstanding they wanted the warrant of any General Assembly or of any CONTINVED PRACTICE OF THE FORM in time by-past since the Reformation Where you see he lays the stress of his Argument against it on its nor having had a continued Practice since the Reformation which is a clear concession that at the Reformation it was in practice tho that practice was not continued But whither he acknowledged this or not is no great matter we have sufficient Evidence for the point in hand without it For 3. Buchanan's Testimony which was adduced before about the Scots subscriving to the Worship and Rites of the Church of England is unexceptionable And yet it is not all For 4. The Order as you see it appointed by the Lords of the Congregation Decem. 3d 1557. is That the Book there authorised be used in all Churches from that very date but we find by the First Book of Discipline That the Order of Geneva was only coming in to be used then in some of the Churches i. e. 1560. And it had nothing like a public Establishment till the General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Dec. 25 1652. For then and not till then It was concluded that ane Vniform Order should be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments Solemnization of Marriages and Burial of the Dead according to the Kirk of Geneva So it is in the Mss. and so Petrie hath it But Nature works again with Calderwood For he has no more but this It was ordained that ane Vniform Order be kept in the Ministration of the Sacraments according to the Book of Geneva Omitting Marriage and the Burial of the Dead Marriage I believe to bear the other Company for the Burial of the Dead was the Dead Flee Why The Book of Geneva allowed of Funeral Sermons as he himself acknowledgeth A mighty Superstition in the opinion of Prerbyterians so that it would have been offensive to the sincerer sort as he commonly calls those of his own Gang and inconsistent with the Exigences of the Good Cause to have let the world know that A General Assembly had ratified the Order of that Book about Burials and thereby had justified the Superstition of Funeral Sermons Nay 5. It seems this Act of the General Assembly Decem. 1562. has not been strong enough for turning out the English Liturgy and introducing the form of Geneva For if we may believe Calderwood himself The General Assembly holden at Edenburgh Decem. 25. 1564. found themselves concerned to make another Act ordaining Every Minister Exhorter and Reader to have one of the Psalm books lately printed at Edenburgh and use the Order contained therein in Prayers Marriage and Administration of the Sacraments Where observe further that Prayers not mentioned in the Act 1562. are now put in from which it may be probably conjectured that as much as Knox was against the English Liturgy he found many difficulties to get it laid aside so many that it has not only been used by some few or many I cannot tell in the Ministration of the Sacraments c. after the Act 1562. But the Clergy have not found themselves obliged to forbear the use of it in the publick prayers so that it was needful in this Assembly 1564 to make a New Act restricting them both as to Prayers and other Ministrations to the Order of Geneva And if this holds we have the English Liturgy at least seven Years in continued practice in Scotland But it is enough for my main purpose that it was once universally in use which I think cannot be denied by any who impartially considers what hath been said And now 6. May not I adduce one Testimony more 'T is true it is of a latter date But it is very plain and positive and what I have adduced already is security enough for its Credibility It is the Testimony of the Compilers of our Scottish Liturgy which made the great Stir in the year 1637. And was made one of the main pretences for the first Eruptions of that execrable Rebellion which ensued The Compilers of that Liturgy I say in their Preface to it tell us That it was then known that diverse years after the Reformation we had no other Order for Common Prayer but the English Liturgy A Third Principle wherein our Reformers agreed with the Church of England and which stands in direct contradiction to the Principles of our Presbyterians is that they own'd the Church had a great Dependance on the State That it belong'd to the Civil Magistrate to reform the Church That People might appeal from the Church to the Civil Magistrate c. I
am not now to enter into the Controversie concerning the Dependence or Independence of the Church upon the State that falls not within the compass of my present Undertaking Neither will I say that our Presbyterians are in the wrong as to the true substantial Matter agitated in that Controversie All I am concerned for at present is that in these times those of the Church of England own'd a great Dependence of the Church upon the State and that our Reformers agreed with them in that Principle and I think I may make short work of it For That that was the Principle of the Church of England in these times I think no man can readily deny who knows any thing about her at and a good many years after her Reformation All my business is to shew that our Reformers were of that same Principle And I think that shall be easily made to appear For As to the Civil Magistrates power to reform the Church what can be more clear than the Petition presented to the Queen Regent in November 1558 There our Reformers tell her Majesty that Knowing no Order placed in this Realm but her Majesty and her grave Council set to amend as well the Disorder Ecclesiastical as the Defaults in the Temporal Regiment they do most humbly prostrate themselves before her Feet asking Iustice and her Gracious Help against such as falsely traduced and accused them as Hereticks and Schismaticks c. In which Address we have these two things very clear and evident 1. That they own'd that the Civil Magistrate had power to amend Ecclesiastical Disorders as well as Temporal 2. That in consequence of this they applied to the Civil Magistrate for protection against the pursuits of the Church And in their Protestation given in to the Parliament about that same time They most humbly beseech the sacred Authority to think of them as faithful and obedient Subjects and take them into its Protection keeping that Indifferency which becometh Gods Lieutenants to use towards those who in his Name do call for Defence against Cruel Oppressors c. Meaning the then Church-men Indeed None clearer for this than Knox himself as is to be seen fully in his Appellation from the cruel and most unjust Sentence pronounced against him by the False Bishops and Clergy of Scotland as he himself names it For there He lays down and endeavours to prove this Assertion That it is lawful to Gods prophets and to Preachers of Christ Iesus to appeal from the Sentence and Iudgment of the visible Church to the Knowledge of the temporal Magistrate who by Gods Law is bound to hear their Causes and to defend them from Tyranny And in that same Appellation he largerly asserts and maintains the Dependance of the Church upon the State The Ordering and Reformation of Religion with the instruction of Subjects he says doth appertain especially to the Civil Magistrate For why Moses had great power in the Matters of Religion God revealed nothing particularly to Aaron the Church-man but commanded him to depend from the Mouth of Moses the Civil Magistrate Moses was impowered to separate Aaron and his Sons for the Priesthood Aaron and his Sons were subject to Moses Moses was so far preferred to Aaron that the one commanded the other obeyed The Kings of Israel were commanded to read the Book of the Law all the days of their Lives not only for their own private Edification but for the publick preservation of Religion so David Solomon Asa Iehosophat Hezekiah Iosiah understood it and interested themselves in the Matters of the Church accordingly From which it is evident saith he That the Reformation of Religion in all points together with the Punishment of false Teachers doth appertain to the power of the Civil Magistrate For what God required of them his justice must require of others having the like Charge and Authority what he did approve in them he cannot but approve in all others who with like Zeal and Sincerity do enterprize to purge the Lords Temple and Sanctuary Thus Knox I say in that Appellation I do not concern my self with the truth or falshood of his positions neither am I to justify or condemn his Arguments All I am to make of it is to ask my Presbyterian Brethren whither these Principles of Knox's suit well with declining the Civil Magistrate as ane incompetent Iudge in Ecclesiastical matters with refusing to appear before him prima instantia for the tryal of Doctrines preacht in the Pulpit with the famous distinction of the Kings having power about Church matters Cumulative but not Privative c. I am affraid it shall be hard enough to reconcile them I shall only instance in one principle more which seems to have been common to our and the English Reformers but it is one of very weighty consequence and importance to my main design It is Fourthly That Excellent Rule of Reformation viz. That it be done according to the word of God interpreted by the Monuments and Writings of the Primitive Church That antient solid approven Rule That Rule so much commended by that excellent Writer Vincentius Lirinensis That Rule which the common sense of mankind cannot but justify when it is considered soberly and seriously without partiality or prejudice A Rule indeed which had the Reformers of the several Churches followed unitedly and conscientiously in those times when the Churches in the Western parts of Europe were a Reforming we had not had so many different Faiths so many different Modes of Worship so many different Governments and Disciplines as Alas this day divide the Protestant Churches and by consequence weaken the Protestant Interest A Rule which had the pretenders to Reformed Religion in Scotland still stood by we had not possibly had so many horrid Rebellions so many unchristian Divisions so many unaccountable Revolutions both in Church and State as to our sad Experience have in the Result so unhing'd all the Principles of natural justice and honesty and disabled nay eaten out the principles of Christianity amongst us that now we are not disposed so much for any thing as downright Atheism But were our Reformers indeed for this Rule That shall be demonstrated by and by when we shall have occasion to bring it in again as naturally to which opportunity I now refer it in the mean time let us briefly sum up all that hath been hitherto said and try to what it amounts I have I think made it appear that while our Reformation was a carrying on and when it was established Anno 156â— there was no such Controversie agitated in the Churches as that concerning the indispensible necessity of Presbytery and the Vnlawfulness of Prelacy concerning the Divine Right of Parity or the Vnallowableness of imparity amongst the Governors of the Church I have said enough to make it credible that our Scottish Reformers had no peculiar occasions opportunities provocations abilities for falling on that Controversie or determining of it more
on the most abominable courses who hath not observed who hath not seen that Men have sold Religion Honour Conscience Loyalty Faith Friendship every thing that 's sacred for Money Now by making this proposition He projected a very fair opportunity for gratifying this his predomining appetite He had so anxiously coveted the Emoluments of the Arch-Bishoprick of St. Andrews in the year 1571 as Sir Iames Melvil tells us in his Memoirs that meeting with a repulse he forsook the Court and was so much discontented that he would not return to it till Randolf the English Ambassadour perswaded Lennox then Regent to give it to him Promising that the Queen of England should recompence it to him with greater advantage How much of that Bishoprick he had continued still to possess after the Agreement at Leith and Douglass's advancement to that Arch-Bishoprick I cannot tell But it is not to be doubted whatever it was it sharpened his stomack for more of the Churches Revenues and now the juncture made wonderfully for him For as he had found by experience and many Acts of Assemblies c. That the Church careful of her interests and watchful over her Patrimony was no ways inclined to sit still and suffer her self to be cheated and plundered according to his hungry inclinations but was making and like to continue to make vigorous opposition to all such sacrilegious purposes so long as she continued united and settled on the foot on which she then stood So he found that now Contention was arising within her own Bowels and a Party was appearing zealous for innovations and her peace and unanimity were like to be broken and divided and what more proper for him in these circumstances than to lay the reins on their necks and cast a further bone of Contention amongst them He knew full well what it was to fish in troubled waters as Sir Iames Melvil observes of him and so 't is more than probable he would not neglect such ane opportunity still so much the more if it be considered 3. That whatever professions he might have made in former times of good affection to Episcopal Government yet there is little reason to think that his Conscience was interested in the matter For besides that covetous selfish subtle men such as he was use not to allow themselves to stand too precisely upon all the Dictates of a Nice and tender Conscience The Divine Right of Episcopacy the true fund for making it matter of Conscience in these times was not much asserted or thought on That was not till several years afterwards when the Controversies about the Government of the Church came to be sifted more narrowly It is commonly acknowledged that the main Argument which prevailed with him to appear for Episcopacy was its aptitude for being part of a fund for a good Correspondence with England Spotswood tells us that one of the Injunctions which he got when he was made Regent was That he should be careful to entertain the Amity contracted with the Queen of England And Calderwood saith thus expressly of him His great intention was to bring in conformity with England in the Church Government without which he thought he could not Govern the Countrey to his Fantasie or that Agreement could stand long between the two Countreys And again He pressed his own injunctions and Conformity with England Now this being the great motive that made him so much inclined at any time for Episcopal Government It is to be considered 4. That however prevalent this might be with him when first he was advanced to the Regency civil Dissentions raging then and the Party of which he was the Head being unable to subsist unless supported by England Yet now that all these Dissentions were ended and the Countrey quieted and things brought to some appearance of a durable settlement His Dependance on England might prompt him to alter his scheme and incline him to give scope to the Presbyterian wild-fire in Scotland To set this presumption in its due light Two things are to be a little further enquired into 1. If it is probable that Queen Elizabeth was willing that the Presbyterian humor should be Encouraged in Scotland 2. If Morton depended so much on her as to make it feasible that he might be subservient to her Designs in this Politick As for the First this is certain it was still one of Queen Elizabeth's great cares to Encourage confusions in Scotland She knew her own Title was Questionable as I have observed before and tho' that had not been yet without Question the Scottish blood had the next best Title to the English Crown and as 't is Natural to most People to worship the rising Sun especially when he looks Bright and Glorious when he has no Clouds about him I mean the Apparent Heir of a Throne when he is in a prosperous and flourishing condition So 't is as Natural for the Regnant Prince to be jealous of him Therefore I say Queen Elizabeth for her own security did still what she could to Kindle wildfire in Scotland and keep it burning when it was Kindled Thus in the year 1560. She assisted the Scottish subjects against their Native Soveraign her jealoused Competitrix both with Men and Money as I have told before And Anno 1565. She countenanced the Scottish Lords who began to raise tumults about the Scottish Queens Marriage with the Lord Darnley She furnisht them with money and harbour'd them when they were forced to flee for it And how long did She foment our Civil wars after they brake out Anno 1567 What dubious Responses did She give all the time She Vmpir'd it between the Queen of Scotland and those who appeared for her Son And is it not very well known that She had ane hand in the Road of Ruthven 1582 and in all our Scottish seditions Generally Sir Iames Melvil in his Memoirs gives us enough of her Practices that way He lived in these times and was acquainted with intrigues and he tells us That Randolf came with Lennox when he came to Scotland to be Regent after Murray's death to stay here as English Resident That this Randolf's great imployment was to foster discords and increase Divisions among the Scots particularly That he used Craft with the Ministers offering Gold to such of them as he thought could be prevail'd with to accept his offer 'T is true he adds But such as were honest refused his gifts But this says not that none took them and who knows but the most Fiery might have been foremost at receiving It hath been so since Even when it was the Price of the best blood in Britain But to go on Sir Iames tells further that Morton and Randolf contrived the Plot of keeping the Parliament at Stirling 1571. to forefault all the Queens Lords thereby to Crush all hopes of Agreement That he was so much hated in Scotland for being such ane Incendiary that he was
dwell longer on this subject But I am affraid I have noticed it too much already To conclude then What is this Standard else than the Fundamental principle of Hobbism that Holy Scheme for Brutalizing Mankind and making Religion Reason Revelation every thing that aims at making men Manly to yeild unto at least to depend on the Frisks of Flesh and Blood or which is all one Arrant sense and ungovernable Passion And so I leave it But is the Second Reason any better If this Church had been Reformed by Presbyters would that have been a good Argument for Abolishing Prelacy Who sees not that it is much about the same Size with the former Indeed I am apt to think had the several Churches in the world erected their Governments by this Rule we should have had some pretty odd Constitutions Thus the Church collected of old amongst the Indians by Frumentius and Aedesius should have been Govern'd still by Laicks For Frumentius and Aedesius were no more than Laicks when they first converted them Thus all Xaverius's Converts and their Successors should have been always Govern'd by Iesuits For 't is past Controversie Xaverius was a Iesuit Thus the Churches of Iberia and Moravia should have been Govern'd by Women For if we may believe Historians the Gospel got first footing in these parts by the Ministery of Females Indeed if the Argument has any strength at all it seems stronger for these Constitutions than for Presbytery in Scotland inasmuch as it is more to Convert Infidels than only to Reform a Church which tho' Corrupt is allowed to be Christian. Nay which is more and worse more contrary to the Inclinations of Scotch Presbyterians and worse for Scotch Presbytery By this way of Reasoning Episcopacy ought still hitherto to have continued and hereafter to continue the Government of the Church of England Because that Church was Reformed by her Bishops But if so what can be said for the Solemn League and Covenant How shall we defend our Forty-three-men and all the Covenanting work of Reformation in that Glorious Period And if it must continue there what constant Perils must our Kirk needs be in especially so long as both Kingdoms are under one Monarch What I have said I think might be enough in all Conscience for this Fifth Enquiry But because it is obvious to the most overly Observation that the Framers of the Article have not been so much concerned for the strength and solidity of the Reasons they choosed for supporting their Conclusion as for their Colour and Aptitude to catch the vulgar and influence the populace and because our Presbyterian Brethren have of a long time been and still are in use to make zealous Declamations and huge noises about Succession to our Reformers Because the clamour on all occasions that those who stand for Episcopacy have so much forsaken the principles and maximes of the Reformation that they Pay our Reformers so little Respect and Deference That they have Secret Grudges at the Reformation That they would willingly return to Popery And what not Whereas they themselves have a Mighty Veneration for those who Reformed the Church of Scotland They are their only true and Genuine Successors They are the only Men who stand on the foot of the Reformation the only sincere and heart-Protestants the only Real Enemies to Antichrist c. For these Reasons I say I shall beg the Readers patience till I have discoursed this point a little farther And to deal frankly and plainly In the first place I own those of the Episcopal perswasion in Scotland do not think themselves bound to maintain all the principles or embrace all the sentiments or justify all the Practices of our Reformers 'T is true I speak only from my self I have no Commission from other men to tell their sentiments Yet I think the Generality of my Fathers and Brethren will not be offended tho' I speak in the Plural number and take them into the reckoning And therefore I think I may safely say Tho we think our Reformers considering their Education and all their disadvantages were very considerable men and made very considerable progress in Reforming the Church yet we do not believe they had ane immediate allowance from Heaven for all they said or did We believe they were not endued with the Gifts of infallibility inerrability or impeccability We believe and they believed so themselves that they had no Commission no Authority to Establish new Articles of Faith or make new Conditions of Salvation We believe they had no Power pretended to none for receding from the Original and immovable Standard of Christian Religion In consequence of this We believe and are confident that where they missed and being Fallible it was very possible for them to do it of Conformity to that Standard we are at Liberty to think otherwise than they thought to Profess otherwise than they professed We are not bound to follow them To instance in a few of many things We own we cannot allow of the principle of Popular Reformations as it was asserted and practised by our Reformers We own indeed 't is not only Lawful but Necessary for every Man to Reform himself both as to Principles and Practice when there is Corruption in either And that not only without but against publick Authority whither Civil or Ecclesiastical Farther we own 't is not only Lawful but plain and Indispensible Duty in the Governours of the Church to Reform her Acting in their own Sphere even against humane Laws in direct opposition to a thousand Acts of a thousand Parliaments I say Acting and keeping within their own Sphere i. e. so far as their Spiritual Power can go but no farther Keeping within these their own bounds they may and should condemn Heresies purge the publick worship of Corruptions continue a Succession of Orthodox Pastors c. In a word do every thing which is needful to be done for putting and preserving the Church committed to their Care in that State of Orthodoxy Purity and Vnity which Iesus Christ from whom they have their Commission and to whom they must be Answerable has Required by his holy Institution But we cannot allow them to move Excentrically to turn Exorbitant to stir without their own Vortex We cannot allow them to use any other than Spiritual means or to make any other than Spiritual Defences We think they should still perform all dutiful submission to the Civil Powers Never Resist by Material Arms never absolve subjects from their Allegiance to their Civil Sovereign Never Preach the Damnable Doctrine of Deposing Kings for Heresie never attempt to make those whom they should make good Christians bad Subjects But to teach them the great and fundamental Doctrine of the Cross and Exemplify it to them in their Practice when they are Called to it This we Profess And we do not think it Popery But our Reformers taught a quite different Doctrine Their Doctrine was that it belong'd to the Rabble to
endure the Tryal of their own Test. And this brings me to Enquire whither they have stuck so precisely by the principles of our Reformers that they are in Bona Fide to insist on such a Topick And I think they will not be found to be so if I can make it appear that they have Notoriously deserted the principles of our Reformers I. In the Faith II. In the Worship III. In the Discipline And IV. In the Government of the Church I. I say they have forsaken our Reformers as to the Faith of the Church Our Reformers digested a Confession of Faith Anno 1560. They got it Ratifyed in Parliament that same year It was again Ratifyed Anno 1567. and in many subsequent Parliaments It continued still to be the publick Authorized Standard of the Faith of this National Church for more than eighty years Our Reformers design'd it to be a perpetual and unalterable Standard of the Faith of this National Church for ever When the Barons and Ministers gave in their Petition to the Parliament for ane Establishment of the Reformation Anno 1560. They were called upon and Commandment given unto them to draw into plain and several Heads the sum of that Doctrine which they would maintain and would desire the Parliament to Establish as wholesome true and only necessary to be believed and to be received within the Realm And they willingly accepted the Command and within four days presented the Confession which was Ratified and that its Establishment might pass with the greater solemnity and formality of Law The Earl Marshal protested that it might never be altered Yet now Our Presbyterian Brethren have set up a quite different Standard of Faith namely the Westminster Confession and have got it now Ratifyed by this current Parliament Anno 1690. it was never before Ratified by Act of Parliament I call it a quite different Standard of Faith Indeed whosoever diligently compares both Confessions shall readily find it such He shall not only find many things kept out of the Westminster Confession which are in the Confession of our Reformers and many things put in the Westminster Confession which were not in the Confession of our Reformers and many things nicely minutely precisely and peremptorily determined and that in the most Mysterious matters in the Westminster Confession which our Reformers thought fit as was indeed proper to express in very General and Accommodable Terms But he shall meet with not a few plain evident and irreconcileable Contradictions And now by this present Parliament in its Last Session particularly upon the twelfth day of Iune Anno 1693 it is statuted and ordained That no Person be admitted or continued for hereafter to be a Minister or Preacher within this Church unless he subscribe the Westminster Confession declaring it to be the Confession of his Faith and that he owns the Doctrine therein contained to be the true Doctrine to which he will constantly adhere And by unavoidable consequence he is bound to subscribe to and own God knows how many propositions not only not required nor professed by our Reformers but directly contrary to their Faith and principles And now let the world judge if our Presbyterian Brethren are the Successors of our Reformers in point of Faith II. They have forsaken them yet more in the point of Worship and here a vast field opens For to this head I reduce artificially or inartificially is no great matter if I adduce nothing but wherein our Brethren have deserted our Reformers the publick Prayers the publick Praises the publick Preaching of the word the administration of the Sacraments c. with all their Ceremonies Solemnities and Circumstances c. Generally whatever uses to be comprehended in Liturgies 1. In the General our Reformers were far from Condemning Liturgies or Set-Forms in the publick Offices of the Church There 's nothing more plain than that they preferred publick Composures to these that were private Composures digested by the publick Spirit of the Church to Composures digested by the private Spirit of particular Ministers and Premeditated and well digested Composures tho' performed by private persons to the too frequently Rash indigested incomposed performances of the Extemporary Gift They preferred Offices which were the productions of grave sedate well pondered thoughts to Offices which were mostly the productions of Animal Heat and warmth of Fancy Iohn Knox himself one who had as much Fire in his temper and was as much inclined to have given scope to the Extemporary Spirit I am apt to think as any of our Reformers had even a set form of Grace or Thanksgiving after meat he had a set-form of Prayer for the publick after Sermon and he had set-forms of Prayers read every day in his Family In conformity to this principle ouâ— Reformers for seven years together used the Liturgy of the Church of England as I have fully proven When by the importunity and perswasions of Iohn Knox principally I am sure if not only they resolved to part with the English Liturgy they continued still as far as ever from Condemning Liturgies They did not lay it aside to take up none They choosed another to succeed it they choosed that which went then generally under the name of the Order of Geneva or the Book of Common Order Since under the name of Knox's Liturgie or the Old Scottish Liturgie This Liturgie continued in use not only all the time the Government of the Church subsisted by Imparity after the Reformation But even for many Decads of years after the Presbyterian Spirit and Party turn'd prevalent It was so universally received and used and in so good esteem that when it was moved by some in the Assembly holden at Burnt-Island in March Anno 1601. That there were sundry Prayers in it which were not convenient for these times and a change was desirable the Assembly rejected the motion and Thought good that the Prayers already contained in the Book should neither be altered nor deleted But if any Brother would have any other Prayers added as more proper for the times they should first present them to be tryed and allowed by the General Assembly Here indeed was caution and concern about the publick worship worthy of a General Assembly Nay The First-Rate Presbyterians themselves used the Book as punctually as any other People When Mr. Robert Bruce of whose zeal for the good cause no Man I think can doubt was relegated to Innerness Anno 1605. He remained there four years Teaching every Sabbath before noon and every Wednesday And exercised at the Reading of the Prayers every other night And Master Iohn Strimgeour another prime Champion for the cause when he appeared before the High Commission March 1. Anno 1620 and was challenged for not putting in practice the five Articles of Perth Particularly for not Ministering the Eucharist to the People on their knees answered there is no warrantable form directed or approven by the Kirk besides that
which is extant in Print before the Psalm Book i. e. the old Liturgy according to which as I have always done so now I Minister that Sacrament In short It continued to be in use even after the beginning of the Horrid Revolution in the days of King Charles the First and many old People yet alive remember well to have seen it used indifferently both by Presbyterians and Prelatists But it is not so now Our Modern Presbyterians do not only Condemn the Liturgie of the Church of England used as I say by our Reformers calling it a Dry lifeless service a spiritless powerless service ane unwarrantable service ane ill-mumbled mass a farce of Popish Dregs and Reliques a Rag of Romish Superstition and Idolatry and God knows how many ill things But they Generally Condemn all Liturgies all set-forms of publick worship and devotion They will admit of none All to them are alike odious and intolerable Herein I think there is a palpable Recession from the principles of our Reformers about the publick and solemn worship of the Church and that in a most weighty and material instance But this is not all They have not only deserted our Reformers and Condemn'd them as to Forms But they have made very considerable and important Recessions from them as to the matter both in the substance and circumstances of Liturgical Offices and here I must descend to particulars 1. Then our present Presbyterians observe no Forms in their publick Prayers either before or after Sermon For the most part they observe no Rules They Pray by no Standard Nay they do not stick by their own Directory All must be Extemporary work and the newer the odder the more surprizing both as to matter and manner the better If any Brother has not that fire in his temper that heat in his blood that warmth in his Animal-spirits that sprightlyness and fervour in his fancy or that readiness of elocution c. If he wants any one or two of these many Graces which must concur for accomplishing one with the ready Gift and shall adventure to digest his thought and provide himself with a Premeditated Form of his own making He shall be concerned likewise to be so wise and wary as to provide himself either with a variety of such Forms or many disguises for his one form or he shall run the hazard of the success of his Ministery and his Reputation to boot He is a Gone-man if the Zealots of the gang smell it out that he prayed by Premiditation Fore-thought Prayers are little less Criminal than fore-thought Felony He wants the spirit and deserves to be ranked amongst the Anti-Christian Crue of Formalists Nay so much are they against set-forms that 't is Popery for any thing I know to say the Lords Prayer Our Reformers never met for publick worship but they used it once or oftner And they used it as in obedience to our Saviours Commandment Take for a taste these instances which I have collected from the old Liturgy The Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Church appointed to be said after Sermon is Concluded thus In whose name we make our humble petitions unto thee even as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another Prayer to be said after Sermon has the Lords Prayer in the very bosom of it The Prayer to be used when God threatens his Iudgements concludes thus Praying unto thee with all humility and submission of minds as we are taught and commanded to Pray saying Our Father c. The Prayer to be used in time of Affliction thus Our only Saviour and Mediator in whose name we Pray unto thee as we are taught saying Our Father c. The Prayer at the Admission of a Superintendent or a Minister thus Of whom the perpetual increase of thy Grace we crave as by thee our Lord King and only Bishop we are taught to Pray Our Father c. The Prayer for the Obstinate in the order for Excommunication thus These thy Graces O Heavenly Father and farther as thou knowest to be expedient for us and for thy Church Vniversal we call for unto thee even as we are taught by our Lord and Master Christ Iesus saying Our Father c. The last Prayer before Excommunication thus This we ask of thee O Heavenly Father in the boldness of our Head and Mediator Iesus Christ praying as he hath taught us Our Father c. The Confession of sins c. in time of publick Easts thus We flee to the obedience and perfect Iustice of Iesus Christ our only Mediator Praying as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. The Prayer of Consecration in Baptism thus May be brought as a lively Member of his Body unto the full fruition of thy joys in the Heavens where thy Son our Saviour Christ Reigneth world without end In whose name we Pray as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. So many of the Prayers used by our Reformers were concluded with the Lords Prayer And it is obvious to any body that sometimes 3 or 4 of them were to be said at one Assembly And still when the Lords Prayer is brought in you see 't is plainly in Obedience to our Saviours Command from which 't is clear our Reformers lookt on the using it as not only Lawful but Necessary Our present Presbyterians will not only not use it but they Condemn and writ against the using of it Indeed They have not retained so much as one Form except that of Blessed use by Saint Paul 2 Cor. 13.14 This indeed they commonly say tho' I am not sure they say it in the Form of a Blessing before the Dissolution of the Assembly But why they have kept this and rejected all other Forms or how they can reconcile the retaining of this with the rejection of all other Forms I confess I am not able to tell Let themselves answer for that as well as for retaining set-forms of Praise while they Condemn set forms of Prayer 2. Our Reformers in their publick Assemblies never omitted to make a solemn and publick Confession of their Faith by rehearsing that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed It was said after the Prayer for the whole Estate of Christs Chruch and it was introduced thus Almighty and Everliving God vouchsafe we beseech thee to grant us perfect continuance in thy lively Faith augmenting the same in us dayly till we grow to the full measure of our perfection in Christ whereof we make our Confession saying I believe in God the Father c. Herein they are intirely deserted by our present Presbyterians also 3. The Preaching of the word may be performed two ways By the publick Reading of the Scriptures and by Sermons c. founded on the Scriptures Our present Presbyterians in both these have Receded from our Reâ—â—â—mers 1. As for the Reading of the Scriptures our Reformers delivered themselves thus in the
this purpose I shall only instance in a few Thus The eight Act Parl. 1. Iac. 6. holden in Decemb. 1567 appoints the Coronation Oath to be sworn by the King And it is one of the Articles of that Oath That he shall Rule the People committed to his Charge according to the loveable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm no wise repugnant to the word of the Eternal God Now I think this Parliament made no Question but that the Fundamental Law of the Constitution of Parliaments was one of these Loveable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm no wise repugnant to the word of the Eternal God Indeed The 24 th Act of that same Parliament is this word for word Our Soveraign Lord with advice and consent of his Regent and the three Estates of Parliament has Ratified and Ratifies all Civil Priviledges granted and given by our Soveraign Lords Predecessors to the Spiritual Estate of this Realm in all points after the form and tenor thereof Than which there cannot be a more Authentick Commentary for finding the true sense and meaning of the Coronation Oath in Relation to our present purpose I shall only adduce two more but they are such two as are as good as two thousand The 130 th Act Parl. 8. Iac. 6. Anno 1584 is this word for word The Kings Majesty considering the Honour and the Authority of his Supreme Court of Parliament continued past all memory of Man unto these days as constitute upon the free votes of the three Estates of this Ancient Kingdom By whom the same under God has ever been upholden Rebellious and Traiterous Subjects punished the good and faithful preserved and maintained and the Laws and Acts of Parliament by which all men are Govern'd made and Established and finding the Power Dignity and Authority of the said Court of Parliament of late years called in some doubt at least some such as Mr. Andrew Melvil c. curiously travelling to have introduced some Innovations thereanent His Majesties firm will and mind always being as it is yet that the Honour Authority and Dignity of his saids three Estates shall stand and continue in their own integrity according to the Ancient and Loveable custome by-gone without any alteration or diminution THEREFORE it is Statuted and Ordained by our Soveraign Lord and his said three Estates in this present Parliament that none of his Leiges and Subjects presume or take upon hand to impugne the Dignity and the Authority of the said three Estates or to seek or procure the Innovation or Diminution of the Power and Authority of the same three Estates or any of them in time coming under the pain of Treason Here I think the necessity of the three Estates whereof the Ecclesiastical was ever reckoned the first is asserted pretty fairly Neither is this Act so far as I know formally repealed by any subsequent Act And whosoever knows any thing of the History of these times cannot but know that it was to crush the Designs set on foot then by some for innovating about the Spiritual Estate that this Act was formed The other which I promised is Act 2. Parl. 18. Iac. 6. holden Anno 1606. Intituled Act anent the Restitution of the Estate of Bishops In the Preamble of which Act we are told That of late during his Majesties young years and unsetled Estate the Ancient and FUNDAMENTAL Policy consisting in the Maintainance of the THREE ESTATES of Parliament has been greatly impaired and almost subverted Specially by the Indirect Abolishing of the Estate of Bishops by the Act of Annexation of the Temporality of Benefices to the Crown That the said Estate of Bishops is Necessary Estate of the Parliament c. Such were the Sentiments of these times So Essential was the Ecclesiastical Estate deem'd in the Constitution of Scottish Parliaments And no wonder For no man can doubt but it was as early as positively as incontestedly as fundamentally and unalterably in the constitution as either the Estate of Nobles or the Estate of Burrows There is no Question I think about the Burrows As for the Estate of Nobles 't is certain all Barons were still reckoned of the Nobless The lesser Barons in Ancient times were still reckoned a part of the Second never a distinct Estate of Parliament and they must quit all pretensions to be of the Nobless when they set up for a distinct Estate Setting up for such they are no more of the Nobility than the Burrows And then If two Estates can vote out one and make a Parliament without it If they can split one into two and so make up the three Estates Why may not one split it self as well into three Why may not the two parts of the splitted Estate joyn together and vote out the Estate of Burrows Why may not the Nobility of the First Magnitude joyn with the Burrows to vote out the smaller Barons Why may not the smaller Barons and the Burrows vote out the greater Nobility After two have voted out one why may not one the more numerous vote out the other the less numerous When the Parliament is reduced to one Estate why may not that one divide and one half vote out the other And then subdivide and vote out till the whole Parliament shall consist of the Commissioner for Rutherglen or the Laird of or the Earl of Crawford Nay why may not that one vote cut himself and leave the King without a Parliament What a dangerous thing is it to shake Foundations How doth it unhinge all things How plainly doth it pave the way for that which our Brethren pretend to abhor so much viz. a Despotick Power ane Absolute and unlimited Monarchy But enough of this To conclude this point there 's nothing more notorious than that the Spiritual Estate was still judged Fundamental in the Constitution of Parliaments was still called to Parliaments did still Sit Deliberate and Vote in Parliaments till the year 1640 that it was turned out by the then Presbyterians And our present Presbyterians following their footsteps have not only freely parted with but forwardly rejected that Ancient and valuable Right of the Church Nay they have not only rejected it but they declaim constantly against it as a Limb of Antichrist and what not And have they not herein manifestly Deserted the undoubted principles and sentiments of our Reformers It had been easy to have ennumerated a great many more of their notorious Recessions from the principles of the Reformation e. g. I might have insisted on their Deserting the principles and practices of our Reformers about the Constitution of General Assemblies about Communion with the Church of England about the Civil Magistrates Power in Church Matters justly or unjustly is not the present Question and many more things of considerable importance Nay which at first sight may seem a little strange as much as they may seem to have swallowed down the principles of Rebellion and Arm'd Resistances against Lawful Soveraign
Princes maintain'd by our Reformers yet even herein there is difference Considerable difference Our Reformers as much as they were inclined to Rebel against Kings did yet maintain that they held their Crowns immediately of God Iohn Knox in his Sermon preached on the 19 th of August 1565 and afterwards published hath this plain position That it is neither birth Influence of Stars ELECTION OF PEOPLE Force of Arms nor finally whatsoever can be comprehended under the Power of nature that maketh the distinction between the Superiour Power and the Inferior or that doth Establish the Royal Throne of Kings But it is the only and perfect Ordinance of God who willeth his Terror Power and Majesty in a part to shine in the Thrones of Kings and in the Faces of Iudges c. Neither was this only his private sentiment The 24 th Article of the Confession of Faith compiled by our Reformers and Ratified by Act of Parliament is every whit as plain and Decretory For there They Profess to believe that Empires Kingdoms Dominions and Cities are Distincted and Ordained by God That the Powers and Authorities therein are Gods Holy Ordinance That Persons placed in Authority are to be Loved Honoured Feared and holden in most Reverend Estimation because they are Gods Lieutenants in whose Session God sits as Iudge to whom by God is given the Sword c. That therefore whosoever deny unto Kings their Aid Counsel or Comfort while they vigilantly travel in the executing of their Office they deny their help support and Counsel to God who by the presence of his Lieutenant craveth it of them So it was professed by our Reformers How this principle could consist with their practices is none of my present concerns That is no more than to shew how our Presbyterian Brethren have deserted them in this matter Now Our Presbyterian Brethren make Kings as such not Gods but the Peoples creatures by consequence not Gods but the Peoples Lieutenants The People sets them on their Thrones They have their Power from the People They are the Peoples Trustees They are accountable to the People So that whosoever denys his Aid Counsel or Comfort to them while they vigilantly travel in executing their Office in true Logick can be said to deny them only to the People Even here then there is this great difference our Reformers maintain'd one good principle in Relation to Soveraign Powers Our present Presbyterians have even rejected that one good principle 'T is true indeed our Reformers seem to have been inconsequential in substituting Rebellious practices in the retinue of ane Orthodox principle And our Presbyterian Brethren seem to be consequential in having their principle and their practice of a piece But doth this mend the matter Nothing as I take it for all ends here That our Reformers believed Right tho they practiced Wrong But our Presbyterian Brethren are altogether Wrong They neither believe nor practice Right Thus I say it had been no difficult task to have instanced in many more of our Presbyterian Innovations But the taste I have given I think is sufficient for my purpose For laying together so many undeniable Innovations so many palpable and notorious Recessions from the principles and practices of our Reformers as I have adduced and these in so weighty and important matters as the Doctrine Worship Discipline Government and Rights of the Church I may fairly leave it to the world to judge if our Brethren have just reason to insist so much upon the principles of our Reformation or to entitle themselves as on all occasions they are so sollicitous and forward to do the only Real and Genuine Successors of our Reformers Neither is this all that may justly pinch them They have not only Receded from our Scottish Reformers but from all other Reformed Churches What Reformed Church in Christendom maintains all the Articles of the Westminster Confession What Reformed Church requires the profession of so many Articles not mainly for Peace and Vnity but as a Test of Orthodoxy What Reformed Church except our Kirk maintains the Divine Institution of Parity among the Pastors of the Church so as to make all kind of Prelacy simply unlawful What Reformed Church except the Scottish wants a Liturgy What Party in Europe that assumes the name of a National Church Condemns Liturgies set Forms of Prayer c. as Vnlawful except Scottish Presbyterians What Transmarine Reformed Church that is not Lutheran Condemns the Communion of the Church of England What Reformed Church maintains the Divine institution and the Indispensible Necessity of Ruling Elders in contradistinction to Pastors What Reformed Church maintains the Divine institution and the unalienable Right of Popular Elections of Pastors What Reformed Church ever offered to maintain that the Government of the Church by Bishops or a publick Liturgy or want of Ruling Elders distinct from Pastors or choosing Pastors otherwise than by the voices of the People or using some innocent and unforbidden Ceremonies as circumstances or Appendages of Divine worship or observing some days besides Sundays were sufficient grounds for breaking the Peace of a Church and dividing her Unity and setting up Altar against Altar What Reformed Church was ever Bound by her Rules and Canons to require of all such as she admitted to the participation of the Lords Supper the Subscription of such terms as are contained in the Solemn League and Covenant What Reformed Church doth not satisfy her self with the Profession of the Faith contain'd in the Apostles Creed at Baptism What Reformed Church requires the Profession of such a vast such a numberless number of Articles and Propositions as are contained in the Westminster Confession and the larger and shorter Catechisms of all those whom they receive into the Catholick Church What is this less than to make all these Propositions Necessary terms of their Communion And how impossible is it at this Rate ever to think of a Catholick Communion among Christians Is not this needlessly and by consequence very Criminally and Vnchristianly to lay a Fund for unavoidable unextinguishable and everlasting Schisms Neither yet is this all the Misery For Considering the Measures our Brethren steer by there is little ground to hope that they shall ever turn weary of Innovating The first Brood of Presbyterians the old Melvilians inverted as I have told almost the whole Scheme of our Reformers The next Birth the thirty-eight-men made innumerable Recessions from their Progenitors the Melvilians The present Production have forsaken most of the Measures of the thirty-eight-men And what hopes of their fixing When shall it be proper for them to say we have done innovating Hitherto we have innovated but we will innovate no farther How dreadful a thing is it for men to give loose Reins to the Spirit of Innovation But I shall not pursue this farther I know the temper of our Brethren 't is but too too probable they may impute it to Malice or Revenge or ane imbittered Spirit to some ill