the Clerk proceeded to other Articles And after having read one Paper another far more Impertinent and ridiculous was put into his hand to heighten the Libel The Articles whereof follow Articles of Inquisition against Dr. MONRO to which he was made to Answer before the Committee upon the 27 th of August 1690. I. THAT he Renounced the Protestant Religion in a Church beyond Sea and Subscribed himself a Papist II. When Mr. Burnet the Regent being suspected to be a Popist entered to the second Class most of the Parents of the Children that were to enter to the said Class enclined to put them back to the first Class for fear of there being tainted with Popery But Dr. Monro made on Act in the Colledge That none should go back particularly Bailzie Gram's Son who had entered to the first Class was made to enter to the Second Likewise Dr. Monro went and told the Earl of Perth his Diligence and Care of Mr. Burnet whom the said Earl thanked kindly for his love to any that went under that Character III. That he set up the English Liturgy within the Gates of the Colledge a Form of Worship never allowed of in this Nation since the Reformation And tho' it were tolerated yet no Toleration allows any of different Form of Worship from the State to enjoy legal Benefices in the Church or Charge in Universities IV. The Act for Visitation of Colledges requires that none carry charge in them but such as be well affected to the Government both of Church and State But so it is that it is known by all that know Dr. Monro that he is highly disaffected to both as appears by a missive Letter written by him to the late Archbishop of St. Andrews Dated the 5th Day of January 1689. And which may also appear by his leaving the Charge of the Ministry to shun Praying for King William and Queen Mary and his rejoycing the Day that the News of Claverhouse his Victory came to Town And how much he Dislikes the present Government of the Church may appear by the bitter Persecuting of all that Persuasion to the utmost of his Power And particularly the breaking up of Mr. James Inglish his Chamber Door in the Colledge and turning him out of the same notwithstanding he had been in peaceable Possession thereof for many Years and paid Rent for it and all this betwixt terms and the said Mr. James Inglish was willing to part with the Chamber at the Term. And this be did only because the said Mr. James Inglish Preached in a Meeting-House in his own Parish being called to it by them And when the said Doctor was challenged for this He said he would suffer none of such Principles to be within the Colledge And when Mr. Gourlay was Licensed to Preach by the Presbyterians the Students of Mr. Kennedys and Mr. Cunninghame's Classes beat up his Chamber Door and Windows with Stones and pulling off his Hat Cloak and Periwig and reproaching him with Phanatick c. They forced him to remove from his Chamber which he had possessed peaceably before and when this Abuse was Complained of and the Boys Names given up to the Principal there was no redress given V. At the late Publick Laureation He sat and publickly heard the Confession of Faith after it had been approven in Parliament rediculed by Dr. Pitcairn yea the existence of God impugned without any Answer or Vindication VI. He caused take down out of the Library all the Pictures of the Protestant Reformers and when quarrelled by some of the Magistrates gave this Answer That the sight of them might not be Offensive to the Chancellor when he came to Visit the Colledge VII When Mr. Cunninghame had Composed his Eucharistick Verses on the Prince of Wales he not only approved them but Presented them to the Chancellor with his own hand VIII That the said Dr. is given sometimes to Cursing and Swearing an instance whereof is be said to one of the Scholars God Damn me if it were not for the Gown I would crush you through this Floor or to the like purpose IX That the Doctor is an ordinary Neglecter of the Worship of God in his Family X. That on Saturday last he Baptized the Child of Mr. James Scott in the Parish of the West Kirk without acquainting the Minister thereof Answer to the Articles given against Doctor Monro upon the 27th of August 1690. My Lords and Gentlemen I Return you my humble thanks for giving me a Copy of the unsubscribed Articles given in against me upon Wednesday last And by their being such I find my self under no Obligation to take notice of them Yet I make bold to intreat your Lordships Favour and Patience for some Minutes to hear a more particular answer to that Paper than that which I then gave resolving to trouble your Lordships with none of the little shifts and Niceties of form that are usual on such occasions I. That I Renoimced the Protestant Religion and Subscrib'd my self a Papist beyond Sea This is a Spiteful and Malicious Calumny for as it is Libelled it is not supposable that it can be true for any thing I know The Papists require no Subscriptions of such as go over from the Protestants to their Party If I had Inclinations to Popery when I was in France it is more than the Libeller knows and more than he will be able to prove and being now for Twenty Years past by all the Evidences by which one Man knows another of the Protestant Religion any Man will see the Impertinence of this Suspition It is not worth the while to give a particular Account of my Life but I allow them to make the Inquisition as narrow as they can And therefore if your Lordships think it worth the while Mr. Reid the present Serjeant of the Town Company who knew me all the time I was in France may be examined particularly upon this Head or upon any other thing relating to my Life and Behaviour But your Lordships will consider I hope the impertinency of this Accusation since it is not possible to be ordained a Presbyter of our Church without renouncing of Popery And our Ecclesiastical Superiors who ordained Priests and Deacons according to the Forms of the Church of England always since the Restitution took care I hope to distinguish Papists and Protestants by the most Solemn Oaths and National Tests Next let it be considered whether I endeavoured to advance the Doctrines and Designs of the roman-Roman-Church since I entered into the Ministry what good evidences for my being inclined to Popery Had I not a fair opportunity to take off the Mask some Years before the Revolution Was it any of the Sermons I Preached against Popery in the High Church of Edinburgh and in the Abby of Holyrood-house when our zealous Reformers were very quiet To all which some Hundreds of the best Quality of the Nation were Witnesses And the Libeller knows this Article is
set in the front to make up the Muster and for no other end since he dares no more appear to make good this than the other triffling particulars Was it my Swearing the Oath of the Test once and again or my recommending to the Scholars the first Year I came here such Books as I judged most proper to Discover and confute the Superstitions of the Roman Church Had it not been far easier for the Libeller who hath no regard to Truth or Probability to have cast into this Paper more odious Crimes But I was in France and therefore behoved to be a Papist and this is enough for this triffling Lybeller I am very sure none of the Papists ever thought me one The second Article is a Confirmation of the first Mr. Burnet was suspect of Popery when he came here and I did all I could to get Scholars to his Class particularly I spoke to Bailey Grahame for his Son and the Chancellour thanked me for the Care I took of Mr. Burnets Concern and such as he was The then Magistrates of Edinburgh several of the Learned Colledge of Physicians and all the Professors of this University will bear me Witness that I left no stone unturned to keep Mr. Burnet out of this Colledge And yet the Libeller hath the Honesty to accuse me that Mr. Burnet was suspect of Popery Was this my fault or was it truly a fault in Mr. Burnet that he was Suspect of Popery The Lord Archbishop of Glascow and Sir Thomas Kennedy then Protest will vindicate me in this particular For it is very well known how much I opposed Mr. Burnet's entry here a Gentleman of known Parts and Integrety one of the Professors of Philosophy in the old Colledge of St. Andrews was the Man I wished to fill up the vacance that happened by the Death of Mr. Lidderdale but Mr. Burnet being once thrust in upon us more by the Duke of Gordon than the Earl of Perth what could I do with him My care of this House obliged me to make him as useful as I could He lay under the Suspicion of being Popish but I knew this to be a Calumny and if I had not endeavoured to get him some Scholars we should have wanted one entire Class in the Colledge This is the true Reason why I spoke to Bailzie Grahame to send his Son to Mr. Burnet and procured an Act of the Faculty for I could make none as the Libeller impertinently suggests that such as were Mr. Lidderdale's Scholars the preceeding Year should be taught for that Year in no other Class but Mr. Burnet's who succeeded to his charge This was no Arbitrary stretch of mine but a just defence of the Current and usual Customes of the House for Mr. Burnet having the second Class could expect none else but the Students that were taught in Mr. Lidderdale's Class the preceeding year but it is added I did all this because I favoured Popery and the Chancellour thanked me for it But this is a down right Lye for I never Entertain'd the Chancellour with Discourses of Mr. Burnet besides for any thing I know the Chancellour had no value for him III. The next is that formidable one of Reading the English Service in my Family in that Interval when there was no National Church Government here But the Libeller forgets that this quite frustrates his first attempt They must be odd kind of Papists that Read the Service of the Church of England upon the 5th of November But the Libeller adds that the Book of Common Prayer was never allowed here since the Reformation does he mean that the Service of the Protestant Church of England was used here before the Reformation but to let this go the Book of Common Prayer was Read in many Families in Scotland ever since the Restitution of King Charles II. and Publickly Read in the Abbey of Hollyrood-house in the Reign of King Charles the First and I hope the Tolleration by King James did not Exclude the English Prayers But upon Enquiry it will be found that they were the first Prayers that were Read in Scotland after the Reformation for Buchannan tells us expresly as you see in the Margin And Buchanans Testimony is the more Remarkable that the Confession of Faith was Ratified in Parliament that very year so that we have not only the private Practice of a few great Reformers Wisheart and several others to justifie the English Liturgy but also the Solemn Concession of the whole Nation who thought their Confession then Ratified had in it nothing contradictory to or inconsistent with the Book of Common Prayer Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England And such as plead for their Separation from the Church of England from the Practices of the first Reformers here go upon an unpardonable Mistake in our History But the plain Matter of Fact is this when I left off Preaching in the High Church I advised with some of my Brethren and the Result was that we should Read the Book of Common Prayer and Preach within our Familes per vices since most of them were acquainted somewhat with the Liturgy of the Church of England Neither did we think when Quakers and all Sects were Tolerated that we should be blamed for Reading those Prayers within our private Families which we prefer to all other Forms now used in the Christian Church Neither had we any design to Proselite the People to any thing they had no mind to else I might have Read the Liturgy in one of the Publick Schools within the Colledge And it must not be said we were afraid to venture upon the Publick Exercise of it because of the Rabble for during the Session of the Colledge it is very well known in the City that the Mobile durst not presume to give us the least Disturbance However the Matter succeeded beyond what we proposed or looked for we Preached to the People upon the Sundays they came by hundreds more than we had room for and very many became acquainted with the Liturgy of the Church of England and perceived by their own Experience there was neither Popery nor Superstition in it and when the Libeller knows it better he will forbear his Violence and Foolish Cavilling But your Lordships will not think I make all this Apology as if I were diffident of the intrinsick Excellency of Common Prayer or that I had done something that needs an Excuse for I look upon the Church of England as the true Pillar and Centre of the Reformation and if Her Enemies should lay Her in the Dust which God forbid there is no other Bulwark in Britain to stop or retard the Progress of either Popery or Enthusiasme And I wonder Men should retain so much bitterness against the Church of England valued and Admired by all Foreign Churches and whose Liturgie as it is the most Serious and Comprehensive so it is the most agreeable to the Primitive Forms
more frequently whom they have deserted shamefully in many things and in his Tract De Caena Dom. after the words formerly cited by the Doctor they will meet with the following words Fatemur omnes nos cum juxta Domini institutum fide Sacramentum recipimus Substantiae corporis sanguinis Domini vere fieri participes Quomodo id fiat alii aliis melius definire clarius explicare possunt Ne vis sacro sancti hujus mysterii imminuatur cogitare debemus id fieri occulta mirabili Dei virtute Do they allow of this saying of Calvin If they do I am sure the Doctor said less than what may be deduced from them by necessary consequence if they were contentiously insisted on And how can they be so captiously querulous as to dream of Chimera's and Monsters in the Doctrine so currently taught in the most Famous Schools amongst the Protestants It may be Mr. Calvin ' s Treatise de Coena Dom. is not so easily had as his Book of Instit which I think very few of the Presbyterian Ministers want then let me entreat them to look to the following Testimony from Mr. Calvin in which he writes so Religiously and Reverently of that Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist Quanquam autem cogitando animus plus valet quam lingua exprimendo rei tamen magnitudine ille quoque vincitur obruitur itaque nihil demum restat nisi ut in ejus mysterii admirationem prorumpam cui nec mens plane cogitando nec lingua explicando par esse potest And par 10. of the same Chapter Summa sit non aliter animas nostras Carne Sanguine Christi pasci quam panis vinum corporalem vitam tuentur sustinent neque enim quadrare tanalogia signi nisi alimentum suum animae in Christo reperirent quod fieri non potest nisi nobiscum Christus vere in unum coalescat nosque reficiat carnis suae esu sanguinis potu Etsi autem incredibile videtur in tanta locorum distantia penetrare ad nos Christi carnem ut nobis sit in cibum Meminerimus quantum supra sensus omnes nostros emineat arcana Spiritus sancti virtus quam stultum sit ejus immensitatem modo nostro velle metiri Quod ergo mens nostra non comprehendit concipiat fides Spiritum vere unire quae locis disjuncta sunt c. And Paragr 32. ab initio Porro de modo si quis me interroget fateri non pudebit sublimius esse arcanum quam ut vel meo ingenio comprehendi vel enarrari verbis queat atque ut apertius dicam experiar magis quam intelligam c. Several other Testimonies might be gathered together from many other Reformed Divines but that is not the design of this Paper it is enough by one or two Authentick Testimonies to expose the silliness of such men as find fault with every body that does not follow their words as well as their Sentiments I think the learned Bishop Andrews understood the Doctrine of the Church of England sufficiently well who in his answer to Cardinal Bellarmine hath these words Dixit Christus Hoc est Corpus meum non hoc modo hoc est corpus meum Nobis autem vobiscum de objecto convenit de modo lis omnis est De hoc est fide firma tenemus quod sit de hoc modo est nempe Transubstantiato in Corpus pane de modo quofiat at sit per sive in sive cum sive sub sive trans nullum inibi verbum quia verbum nullum merito a fide procul ablegamus inter Scita Scholae ponimus inter fidei Articulos non ponimus And after he had instanced the saying of Durandus cited by the Doctor he adds Praesentiam credimus nec minus quam vos veram De modo praesentiae nil temere definimus addo nec anxie inquirimus non magis quam in Baptismo nostro quomodo abluat nos Sanguis Christi non magis quam in Christi incarnatione quomodo naturae divinae humana in eandem hypostasin uniatur Notwithstanding of all this the Doctor did not Believe Assert or Recommend the Corporal and Carnal Presence of our Saviour in the Eucharist but he lov'd to Express his Reverence of that Mystery otherways than the Presbyterians do who for the most part show so little regard unto it that in the West of Scotland their greatest Zealots did not Administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for twenty years together The next thing those sharp-sighted Inquisitors did consider in the Doctor 's Answers is that tho' he denyed his being Arminian yet he not only refused to subscribe their Confessions of Faith in the Complex but also declared he would not then give a present Answer whether or no he thought the Article about Freewill and the first Article about Justification were agreeable to the Word of God and whether he owned the same In what Sense the Doctor denyed himself to be Arminian may be seen in his Answers to the Libel of the rest take this following account When they asked him if he would Subscribe the Westminster Confession of Faith he answered that he would Subscribe no Confession composed by fallible Men but so far as it might be agreeable to the Word of God For since those Gentlemen at Westminster were not Divinely inspired their Dictates might be fairly examined and that his Subscription to any Confession did necessarily imply this reserve and limitation Then the Doctor was desired to instance those Articles in the Westminster Confession he thought not agreeable to the Word of God To this he replyed he was not obliged it was enough that he gave them this plain and positive Answer he would not Subscribe the Westminster Confession without the former Restriction For he never made it much his Business since this Visitation began especially to look so narrowly into the Presbyterian Books and for the Particular Articles about which they desired to know his Judgement it was needless for them to be so Inquisitive for if he refused any one part of what was required by the present Law he was sure to be deprived so it was not worth the while to satisfie the Curiosity of the Committee-Men in their little Punctilios Yet he promised saith the Report to give a particular Answer in writ concerning those Articles of Freewill and Justification and here they plainly Insinuate him guilty of Breach of promise it is true the Doctor did promise if the Libel had been Subscribed and owned by any Informer to return a particular Answer to all the Articles that were contained therein but to give them an account of his private Judgement in the Articles of Freewill and Justification was needless for every Man's Conscience did plainly convince him he had Free-will else he could not see how the remorse of Conscience could be understood which makes the Remembrance of our
College and to Learned Men in general but also very forward to promote the Interest of that House The original Erection whereof is owing to their Charity and they have frequently since the first Foundation augmented its Revenues Books and Curiosities And there are but few of them but retain a tender esteem of its great Worth and Advantage and the Escapes and Preposterous Dealing of some of them in this Critical Juncture is not at all to be laid to the Charge of the Body of the People who have always valued the Masters of the College as they did the Education of their Children than which nothing is of greater consequence to themselves or the Societies in which they live The Presbyterian Ministers finding the Endeavours of their Magistrates too slow to serve their ends and that they were frequently baffled in those little Skirmishes with the Masters importuned the Leading Men of the Party to procure such an Act of Parliament as might best serve their Designs against the Universities and lest the Masters should Comply with the Civil Government a New Test was so ordered that none but Presbyterians could comply with it and even such if ever they had but submitted to Episcopacy were not allowed to hold their Places but in a most precarious manner The Masters of Universities complain justly of two things First That they were obliged to take Oaths that the rest of the Clergy of the Nation were not bound to take Whereas any Legal Test should reach all or none Secondly That this Test should contain not only their Allegiance to the Civil Authority but also their hearty Submission to the Presbyterïan Government and the new Model of it in Scotland Thus the Presbyterians were very sure that if they did not thrust them out by the First they could not fail to send them Packing by the Second especially since the last Clause of the New Test obliged them to submit to Presbytery which is no lese than to give themselves up to all the Decisions of the Consistory It was not to be expected but that the Presbyterians would quickly possess themselves of the Universities since the Ecclesiastical Government was lodged in the hands of a few of them by an Heteroclite kind of Prelacy never before known in the Church Yet it may be fairly presumed that for their own Honour and Interest they should have vacated the Seminaries of Learning at least by degrees and not have pull'd them down all at once but the fiery Spirit of that Faction endures no delays Yet lest the People should find sault with their Precipitancy they were to manage their Game with some Plausible Pretences If any of the Masters were observed to have had but any Kindness for the Order and Rites of the Primitive Church or ever to have but spoke slightingly of their New Discipline such were to be Expelled the College with Disgrace cloathed first in Beast-Skins and then exposed to the Rabble Their Places and Preferments were Sacrific'd to Presbyterian Covetousness and Sacriledge and their Honour and Good Name to their Vanity Pride and Revenge It was not enough to have them removed unless it was with Ostentation and Triumph They would fain perswade the present Generation that they value the other World more than their Neighbours do but yet they never neglect any Methods right or wrong to secure the Interests of this It was not unpleasant to some Spectators to behold at what pains the Presbyterian Preachers were to patch up Libels against the Masters going from House to House from one Company to another enquiring into the most minute Actions of their former Lives Some of the Masters they were so keen against as to run back the Inquisition as far as their Childhood entertaining Persons of Quality with the Opinions and Erroneous Conceits they alledged them then to have had And besides that they had the true Art of Transforming the most laudable Practices into suspicious Designs They pretend to pry into the Secrets of their Hearts Accusing them as Reprobate and Wicked Men Popishly affected Enemies to the Godly Friends of the Idolatrous Liturgy of the Church of England and Despisers of all true Piety and Devotion for that to be sure is the Monopoly of their own gifted and select Tribe This is the Mischievous and usual effect of Bigottry it changes the Soul the luminous Part of Man into a Dungeon of Passion and Self-conceit it debases the Generous Spirit of Christianity into Servility and Superstition it blocks up all the Avenues of the Mind you may as well Preach to the River of Forth to stop it's Current as desire them to listen to calm Reasonings to weigh the Justice or Injustice of what they do against these of a different Opinion Nor is there any Sect upon Earth in whose actions the sad Effects of Prejudice and Imagination are so legible as in this last Edition of Presbytery in Scotland They complain of all Degrees of Power when it is not in their own keeping The most innocent Commands of their Lawful Superiours are insupportable Grievances and the Canons of the Universal Church are but Superstitious Encroachments upon Tender Consciences They Declaim perpetually against Arbitrary Power and yet nothing escapes their Cognizance and they only are Judges of the Punishment that every little Offence deserves nay frequently the most Commendable Actions are made Offences for there is nothing so remote from Ecclesiastical Censure but what is hooked in by them in Ordine ad Spiritualia This needs no Explication to such as have lived where their Discipline prevails when Religion and its Doctrines are made subservient to the Tyranny and Caprice of Self-designing Men it loses its Natural Beauty and Use The greatest Blessings of Heaven are by the Wickedness of Men changed into Curses and the Light of the Gospel made to Truckle under the Designs of Darkness The Passions of Pride and Revenge that it designed to Mortifie are Advanced and Encouraged but the Wisdome that is from above is first pure and then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and of good works without partiality without Hypocrisie 't is sad to consider how much the People are diverted from considering Believing and Contemplating the Pure and undisguised Design Faith and Morality of the New Testament by Fooleries and Novelties that have no Natural Tendency but to divide Christendome and corrupt the simplicity of that Faith once delivered to the Saints and instead of that Beautiful Worship by which our Ancestours in the Primitive and Purest Ages did Adore the Creator of Heaven and Earth there is now introduced a new Scenical incoherent Rapsodie and all this under the pretence of a more Illuminated State and Progress of the Reformation Just so the Donatists of old destroyed the Power of Godliness as well as the Ancient Forms and Canons of the Catholick Church under the popular pretence of Reformation By the following Sheets the Reader will clearly see
But if there was no Law for it there was none against it there was no National Church Government here then and why might not we Read the Prayers of that Church from which we derive our Ordination to the Priesthood since the Restauration of the King Charles the 2d IV. But I am as it is said highly Disaffected to the Government in the Church and State as appears by a Letter to the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews Dated January 5. 1689. Intercepted by Hamilton of Kinkell But the Libeller should remember that the Letter is of a much older Date than the present Government either in Church or State and that at that time things looked rather like a total Interregnum than any setled Government and if that Letter Written in the time of the Tumuks retain any vestiges of Fervour and Impatience your Lordships will impute that partly to the troubled State of things and partly to the hard and unchristian Oppression of the Clergy of the Western Shires And let not the word Phanatick be extended to signifie a Presbyterian further than the Presbyterians verifie the Name by their Practices For I think there may be a Presbyterian who may not deserve that Name such as have been in France and are in Holland As to that Sentence informing my Lord St. Andrews of a certain Clergy Man who had groaned under Episcopacy I had it by Mis-information I wrote it hastily and now I Retract it and am glad I have the opportunity to do so I remember when the Letter was delivered to your Lordships I was chafed into some degrees of Passion that Hamilton of Kinkell should have used me so unworthily as to break open my Letters for no Honest Man will break open other Mens Letters without Order from the Publick and then I said all the ill Offices that ever I did him was to hinder once and again Letters of Caption against him and lest I should be said to upbraid Hamilton of Kinkell with the Kindness I never did him let Mr. Alexander Monro who was then Attorney Agent for the New Colledge of St. Andrews produce the Letters I wrote him in favours of Kinkell six or seven years ago notwithstanding that he the said Mr. Alexander Monro had Orders to use Diligence against the said Kinkell and to recover what was owing by him to the New Colledge But this Gentleman's Ingratitude to Persons of greater Quality who sav'd him from the Gibbet is very well known over all the Nation A Second Instance of my being Disaffected to the Government of the State is That I dimitted my Charge in the High Church lest I might be obliged to Pray for King William and Queen Mary c. Let the Libeller consider the Paper by which I dimitted my Office in that Church and see if there be any such Reason for my Dimission inserted in that Paper I could Name other Reasons for my Dimission besides those Mention'd in that Paper but the Libeller is very confident of his Guesses without the least Evidence to found them upon and I do not believe that the Presbyterians were angry with me on that head that I left off Preaching in a Church which they were so very fond to have in their own Possession and tho' the Labeller was very well pleas'd with my Dimission then yet he can take it now by another handle when he thinks to do me harm by it but such ill-natur'd Impertinencies should not be answered The next is That I Rojoyced upon the News of my Lord Dundee His Victory This is pleasant enough for he could Name no outward sign or expression of it he thinks I Rejoiced and therefore sets it down as a ground of Accusation so my Lords it was impossible for me to shun this unless I had been Dead some time before the Victory for this Libeller names his Conjectures dark Consequences and remote Probabilities for sufficient Evidence for any thing he knew this Joy appeared no where but on the inward Theatre of my Mind but to make the Story pass why did he not name the usual and Extravagant Frolicks that attend such Mirth Where was it And with what Company Was he Invited to this Merry Meeting himself But this is no part of his Business to circumstantiate things as common Sence and Justice would require in Accusations This brings to my Mind the Legend of Mother Juliana that was said to smell Souls and at a good distance to discern whether they were in the State of Grace or under the Power of Sin I have Answered once already that it was an Impudent and Impious thing to pretend to Omniscience and that I had some Relations in Mackays Army for whom I was extraordinary solicitous The Libeller does not think I Rejoyced at the fall of my Lord Dundee I assure him of the contrary for no Gentleman Souldier Scholar or Civiliz'd Citizen will find fault with me for this I had an extraordinary value for him and such of his Enemies as retain any Generosity will acknowledge he deserved it And he should consider that the Victories obtained in a Civil War are no true cause of Joy Our Brethren Friends Acquaintances and Fellow Christians must fall to the Ground The Pagan Romans knew better things than to allow of Public shews of Triumph upon such occasion Bella geri placuit nullos habitura Triumphos But the Libeller may prove more successful in his next Attempt That I Prosecute all the Presbyterian Party to the utmost of my Power But this is like all the rest of his bold Calumnies I thank God I have no such Presbyterian temper for I never hated any Man for his Opinion unless by it he thinks himself obliged to destroy me and mine and such truly I consider as the Tyrannical Enemies of Humane Society But he would have acted his part more skillfully if he could have named some Dissenters in the Parishes of Dumfermling Kinglassie or Weems where I was once Minister that I had Prosecuted before the Secular Judge for Nonconformity which I might have easily done had I been so very sierce as the Libeller represents me having easie access to the Greatest Men of the State at that time But I give him and all his Associates open defiance upon this head not that I blame them that did otherways in Obedience to the Laws of the Nation for their extravagant tricks did frequently require and extort it from some Ministers The next Instance is that I broke open Mr. James Inglish his Chamber Door and ejected him out of the Colledge for Preaching in a Meeting House in Perth-shire But if Mr. James Inglish be a Presbyterian it is more than I know I heard that he was a Behemenist I heard his Testificate from Oxford did bear that he was much devoted to the Church of England And I know that for his habitual Lying and Slandering of his Brethren in the Presbytery of Perth he was Deposed after an
Articles and to hold every one of them to be de fide he thought not consistent with the Freedome of Universities and Schools They might have Learned to be a little more Modest from the Practice of the United Dissenters in and about London who allow any Man to be an Orthodox Christian and fit to be Received into their own Refined Communion if he hold the Doctrinal part of the 39 Articles of the Church of England But the Presbyterians tho' they have no Standard of Unity yet they are mightily Rigorous in their Impositions and it is a little odd that they should have mentioned this concerning the Confession of Faith in their Report since the Doctor once and again told them before the Committee that the Condition that Qualified Men by Law for their places in Universities was a complex thing which he could not comply with such a Rigorous Imposition was never intended by the Parliament They thought it necessary for Masters of Universities to Sign it as vinculum pacis Ecclesiasticae but the Ministers were to Comment upon the Act and extend it as was most subservient to their Design The Presbyterians are against Infallibility in the Theory but will not allow their own Dictates to be Disputed yet when this Confession first appeared they themselves did not Receive it without Restrictions and Explications But if there be so much Mischief in Impositions as sometimes they would make us believe It is in those of this kind where our Understandings are Captivate to believe the lesser Niceties and Decisions of Dogmatick Men to be de fide which with leave of the Presbyterians I reckon a far greater and more Spiritual Bondage than Bowing of my Knees when I Receive the Holy Eucharist If Men were so Wise after our endless and Foolish Disputes as not needlesly to multiply the Articles of our Faith how quickly might the Christian Church be United on its Apostolical Center of Unity and Simplicity The Papists will not part with one Barbarous word nor the Presbyterians with the least Iota of their Orthodox Stuff though they plead the Tenderness of their Consciences very loudly when they are only bid do things in their Nature indifferent to preseve External Peace and Uniformity The next Branch of this Test was The Oath of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary One great piece of Policy which the Presbyterians manage against the Episcopal Party is never to require Obedience to the Civil Authority without the mixture of some Presbyterian Test when this Severity is complained of they Clamourously Alledge that the Episcopal Party are Enemies to King William and Queen Mary and openly in the Coffee-Houses at London vent that there was none of the Clergy of Scotland met with any ill usage but merely upon the account of their Disloyalty to King William and Queen Mary upon the whole Matter I have no more at present to say but that the Presbyterians are never so much out of Humour as when they know their Opposites heartily complie with the Civil Government Then they find it a little more difficult to turn them out tho' this trouble amounts to no more than the forming of a Libel of Scandals and judging them that are Libelled by the same Men that Accuse them But the Presbyterian Hypothesis when its Consequences are duely considered allows no true Allegiance to any King upon Earth if after all there lies no Appeal from the Ecclesiastical Court to him to whom I Swear Allegiance for two Co-ordinate Supreme Powers in one State is a Contradiction and therefore whenever I am required to Swear Allegiance to the King The first thing I humbly crave is to be delivered from that Presbytery which will supersede that Allegiance upon occasion for it is not enough to tell me that the Power of the Presbyterians is Spiritual and the other is Secular for I feel their Spiritual Power meddles with all my Temporals that tho' I hear the Voice of Jacob I am oppressed by the hands of Esau And tho' it is an easie thing for them to tell me they only meddle in Ordine ad Spiritualia yet that is but a word and but a Foolish one too for by the same Logick they may cut my Throat as well as turn me out of my House and Living and both may be said to be in Ordine ad Spiritualia But every Man knows how inconsistent the Presbyterian Principles are with the Royal Prerogative of Kings And it is very hard to leave the Episcopal Clergy to their Mercy who by their Hopes of Heaven are Sworn to destroy them in the Solemn League and Covenant which is still the Standard and tho' they think it not time all of them again to Renew it yet they magnifie it on all occasions and Act exactly conform to it The next Branch of the New Test is the Certificate or Assurance which you may Read in the Act of Parliament If Allegiance Naturally imply an Affectionate and Sincere Resolution to serve the King against all others upon all occasions then some will say this additional tye of Fidelity is superfluous I am sure that many in England who will endeavour to serve the Government with all Chearfulness and Zeal could not be made to Subscribe any such Declaration as this is But let it be Remembred that when this Act passed in Parliament very few either of the Nobility or Gentry were present The Fourth Article of the Test Requires that they should submit to the Presbyterian Kirk Government for if they had complyed with the former three this was a sufficient reserve for the Presbyterian Interest every thing the Masters did or said good or bad might be turned into a Libel and they were Judges of what every Libel deserved Their Discipline is a bottomless Abyss the Masters behoved to be Tenants at will if once they submitted to their Government It was an easie thing for the Presbyterians to From Libels Nay rather it is impossible for them not to form them for so many of them desiring to be thrust into these places it was folly to expect any peaceable Possession And if there were no other reason to refuse the Test now appointed but that it required Submission to Presbytery I think any knowing and ingenuous Man might be excused for his non-compliance Now you have seen the Test in all its Branches and Strangers will be surprized to hear that there are no Oaths at present required in Scotland of any Clergy Man but only of the Masters of Universities The reason is this the Presbyterians intended speedily to plant themselves in these places and for the rest of the Clergy they doubt not quickly to dispossess them of their Livings by the Power of their Government upon such pretences as they can easily devise and suggest against them Such of the Presbyterians as entered into the Universities took the Oaths but it was thought sit to impose no Oaths upon the whole Body of the Presbyterians that the Kirk
Approbation and Ratification thereof Edinburgh Sept. 25. 1690. DOctor Strachan being Cited to Appear before the General Commission that was to Sit Sept. 25. 1690. at Nine a Clock in the Morning after a tedious Attendance of about four hours was called before them and being wearied himself he resolved to give them very little trouble for he had determined to make his Process as short as was possible for he could not Reasonably think he should meet with any Favour from that Bench especially since he knew how his Colleague Doctor Monro was Treated by them that Forenoon being no less than five or six times call'd and remov'd with no other Design than to wrest and misinterpret what he Answered for himself And having no time allowed him to clear the trifling Objections made against him great Endeavours were us'd to intangle him in his Answers therefore the Doctor took care to give them as little ground against him as was possible WHen he was call'd in before the Commission the above written Report of the Committee was once Read over to him by the Clerk My Lord Crawford enquired at him if he acknowledged the things contain'd in that Report to be true He Answered that he thought the Report as to the main Substance of it was true but having heard it but once Read over he could not peremptorily say so of all Circumstances relating to it My Lord Crawford ask'd again if he did own and adhere to that written Copy of Answers given in to the Committee in his Name To which the Doctor Replied very pertinently that if any Person would own and Subscribe the Libel given in against him to the Committee he should then Answer it particularly My Lord Crawford Praeses said there was no Libel the Act of Parliament made mention of none it was but an Information and any body might Inform The Doctor Replied it was materially a Libel what ever word they pleased to Express it by And that in Equity and Common Justice he ought to know his Accuser The Praeses replied there was no Accuser neither did the Act of Parliament appoint any and therefore he the Proeses required the Doctor to give a Positive Answer whether he owned these written Answers or not a Copy of them being offered to him to view them the Doctor Answered that he did own them and adhere to them After which the Lord Crawford asked the Doctor if he would qualifie himself according to the Act of Parliament for his place in the Colledge by swearing the Oath of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary and subscribing the Declaration of assurance the Confession of Faith at Westminster and heartily submitting to the Presbyterian Government The Doctor answered he could not with a good Conscience comply with the Legal Test so propos'd and that therefore he adhered to his former answers before the Committee whereupon he was ordered to remove and within a little while he was called again before them The former Report of the Committee was again read over to him and the Commissions Sentence of deprivation following thereupon after the reading of both the Doctor said no more but that he thanked God he received their Sentence with great peace of Conscience and Tranquility of Mind which he could not have promised to himself if he had done any thing against his convictions to avoid that blow Many of the Gentlemen and others who were permitted to be present at the reading of the Report and Sentence not having heard the Doctor 's Answers read nor known what past in the Committee might conclude upon the bare hearing of that Report drawn up by the Presbyterian Ministers that they had found him Guilty of propagating several Heterodox Opinions in the Colledge and that for such Doctrines he was deprived Yea some of the Members of the Commission it self before whom the Doctor 's written Answers were never read as he is credibly informed did entertain the same thoughts upon the hearing of such words as Reconciliation with the Church of Rome Consubstantiation Transubstantiation c. Therefore it was thought convenient to undeceive well meaning men and expose the malice of his Accusers in this particular 1st The Committee did consider his Answers to the Articles of his Libel but they do not plainly declare what it was in those Answers that they did consider we know very well they did consider his Answers and it was not possible for them to find in them either Vntruth or Impertinence it 's true they accuse him that he Preach'd Reconciliation with the Church of Rome but they thought it no part of their business to prove it no nor so much as to examine one Witness that ever heard the Doctor utter the least expression that might favourably insinuate a Syncretisme with the Roman Church so it is very odd that the Committee's consideration of his answers should be named as one ground of the Sentence which past against him before the General Commission of the Visitation 2dly They considered his answers concerning Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation c. But is it possible for a man at one and the same time to hold both those Opinions Or can a man Preach Reconciliation with the Church of Rome if he himself hold only Consubstantiation and yet recommend to the People that the Doctrine of the Romanists may be complied with who say that there is no such thing as Bread in the holy Eucharist after Consecration It seems the Libeller thinks there is no great difference between the Lutherans and the Romanists had he listned to an Impartial Monitor Lysimachus Nicanor in time of the late troubles he would have found that it is much more easie to reconcile Popery and Presbytery than the Lutherans and Romanists 3dly But the Doctor acknowledges that he had Preached Praesentiam credo modum nescio and that it had been good for the peace of Christendom the manner of our Saviour's Presence had never been so hotly disputed but kept in the words of the Ancients This is a piece of Logick that the Doctor cannot understand must he that says Praesentiam credo modum nescio necessarily believe Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation one or both I think the Church of England will not say so for it holds the Real effectual Spiritual Presence and yet denys both Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation And did not the Doctor say plainly modum nescio how then can they affirm that he had any kindness for either of those opinions since the fault of both is so plainly disowned by the Doctor He believed the Presence but the manner of the Presence he did not know But since those words in his answers praesentiam credo was so greedily laid hold on by the Presbyterian Ministers Members of that Committee that when they heard them they desired the Clerk to note that especially it will not be amiss over and above what is represented in his written answers to put those Gentlemen in mind that they should read Mr. Calvin
willful Sins so uneasie to us Next they will have the Doctor Guilty of Negligence because he did not oblige the Students to write his Dictates so often as the Visitors would have had him though the frequent returns of other Exercises much more useful made this impossible to him But this is an impertinence not worth considering and the same exception hath been sufficiently answered in the former Tryals Besides since most of the Students of Divinity are obliged once a Year to sustain publick Disputes and that the Professor is allowed but two Dyets a Week it was not convenient he should Dictate above seven or eight times a Year else he could not but hinder the Freedom and Solemnity of their publick Disputes and other Exercises Now in the last place they mention the Doctor would not qualifie himself according to Law it is certainly true that he will never prostitute his Conscience so far as to do any thing wilfully against his Convictions in a matter of so great Consequence And it might be expected by such as did not well know the Ministers that sate in that Committee that they who pretended so much to a tender Conscience would have taken more pains to inform the Doctor than presently to insert in their Report to the Commission without acquainting him what they had snatcht from his Mouth upon surprize The Presbyterians in the Year 1638 were truly more Civil and took some pains in the beginning to inform such as differ'd from them tho' their Methods afterwards became very severe But the plain Truth in this matter is that the Suspicion of being Arminian especially his Reading the Liturgy of the Church of England was it that made his Enemies implacable because that in the third Article of their Libel against him they seem to pass Sentence against him upon this very head before he was heard for say they none can Legally enjoy Benefices in the Church or Universities who differ from the Church of Scotland in her Present Establishment in Doctrine or Worship Next he was Examin'd more particularly about the English Liturgie They ask'd whether he used that Service in his Family before the Revolution To which he Answered he did tho' not so frequently yet he did not so constantly tye himself to that Form but that he used Conceived Prayer upon the hearing of this one of the Ministers said that it was not usual for such as were accustomed with that Service at any time to use extemporary Prayers neither did he think that such could pray after that manner and therefore the Doctor making use thereof was a Schismatick from the Church of which he was a Member so Saucily do they talk when they themselves are Schismaticks from the Vniversal Church yet they venture to Brand all others that differ from them with that Infamous Character they think none can Pray as they do and the plain truth is that in some Sense it 's very true for it 's very difficult to reconcile so much Boldness and Indiscretion as is observable in their Prayers either to the Fear of God or Christian Humility They then ask'd the Doctor who concurred with him in that Worship He answer'd That of late since the Church was pull'd down a great many of good Quality did frequent it At which they were greatly nettled and asked him again who had pulled down the Church To which the Doctor replied he was not obliged to give any particular answer it was evident enough that a National Church establish'd by Law was pull'd down To which one of their number said that that was pretty indeed if the pulling down of fourteen Carles was the pulling down of the Church This Gentleman should have remembred that there was many more than fourteen pull'd down by the Rabble and more since by Presbytery but out of kindness to him I shall make no particular answers to what he said in his passion He was next desired to answer positively whether he was an Arminian The Doctor answered that the Arminians were Presbyterians and he was none The same Person ask'd again what the Doctors judgment might be of the five controverted Articles To which he answer'd that he was not obliged to declare his private judgment in those controversies If they thought Arminianism a crime that deserved deprivation they might accuse him and prove it against him for he was not obliged to accuse himself At last one of the Ministers expresly required him to declare his opinion about the Doctrine of Freewill and Justification to which the Doctor replied as before Sometime before the Doctor once ask'd the Committee whether they were a Civil or Ecclesiastick Judicatory If a Civil how came the Presbyterian Ministers to sit there who clamour'd perpetually against the Bishops for being Members of Parliament since now themselves acted by a Commission from the Parliament and if Ecclesiastical he wish'd to know from whom they had their Power Thus the Doctor was tossed and wearied with their endless trifling and insidious Questions When I look back upon all the steps of Dr. Strachan ' s Tryal it brings to my mind one of the Fables we were taught when we were Boys The Wolf and the Lamb met at a Fountain as soon as the Wolf saw the Lamb he Lybelled and accused him first that he troubled the Waters for the Wolf alledged he could not drink them the Lamb answered that he could not trouble the Waters he stood much lower than the Fountain This Accusation being removed the Wolf told him that six Months ago he heard the Lamb curse him The Lamb answered that he was not six Months old so the second Accusation was as calumnious as the first Then the Wolf told him if you did not your Father did curse me There was no answering the third Article of the Libel so the Lamb was worried Reader THou hast now heard how the Presbyterian Inquisition proceeded against these two Doctors with the same Rigour and Severity they Persecuted all such as they judged to be of the Episcopal Perswasion in that Colledge and in all the Colledges of the Mother University at St. Andrews One Instance more of the Presbyterian Partiality in Judging I must not here omit and it 's this They admitted and sustained Libels against all the Masters that they thought Episcopal without the least shaddow of any Accuser or Informer when themselves also knew the Article to be most false yet if any of the Masters who were Presbyterians or who had insinuated themselves into their Favour I say any such were informed against tho' the Indictment was subscribed by Men of undoubted Reputation and contained many things that justly deserved deprivation yet the matter was huddled up without examining any one Article As in the Case of Mr. Andr. Massie against whom an Information was given in subscribed by two Gentlemen of Great Learning and Reputation the one a Doctor of Medicin the other a Master of Arts in Edinburgh but the Inquisitors knew that these
against him that the Students cannot forbear to hiss at him 5. Albeit for the time the Visitors be not troubled with an Account of his gross Hypocrisie Covetousness and the Immoralities of his Life Yet it is not amiss that they know his merits in relation to the present Established Government of Church and State it 's true he was bred Presbyterian and did take all the Oaths and lies under all the Obligations that were at those times imposed when he was bred and first entered in publick Employment from the year 1647 to the year 1660. But it 's as true that without any scruple he broke all these Bonds took the Declaration and all Oaths of course in King Charles's Reign and conformed and complied as much as any man And when he came to be Regent in the Colledge of Edinburgh he owned his dislike of the Students burning of the Pope in the year 1680 and in the year 1681 he took and swore the Oath of the Test and again in the year 1685 in the late-King James's Reign he swore the same Oath again on his bended knees before the then Bishop of Edinburgh His courting of the Popish Priests was so often and barefac'd that beside his conniving at their seducing and perverting his Scholars to the Romish Religion in the year 1687 at the publick Laureation in the common School He as a Praeses Invited and had with him in the Pulpit Father Reid as he called him a Dominican Fryar and a trafficking Papist After the Battel of Gillicrankie he went to complement a Popish Lady on the Victory And frequently this Summer he has averred that the Church of England is the best constitute Church and that the Scots Episcopal Clergy are the honestest Men in the World It 's true he will take all the Oaths that can be put to him but the Visitors would consider that he hath already broken all the Ingagements by which he was tyed to the Presbyterian interest Neither can the Government ever be secure of him since beside his practice he teaches in his Notes That Potest dari Dominium duorum in solidum in unam eandem rem per notabile aliquod tempus So that tho' he swear that King William is King de Jure yet according to his Principles King James may be so too Warrant by the Commissioners for Visiting of Universities for Citing of Parties before their Committee at Edinburgh THe Lords and others Commissioners appointed by Act of Parliament for visiting of Universities and Schools within this Kingdom do hereby require and Command Messengers to pass to the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh upon a Mercat Day betwixt ten and twelve a Clock in the forenoon and immediately thereafter to the most patent Gate of the University of Edinburgh and sicklike to pass to the Mercat Crosses of Edinburgh Haddingtoun Duns Greenlaw and Lauder Jedburgh Sclkirk Peebles Linlithgow and Stirling and thereat after open Proclamation and publick Reading of the said Act of Parliament herewith sent appointing the saids Visitors and this present Warrant to Summon Warn and Charge the Principal Professors Regents and all others Masters of the University of Edinburgh and School-Masters teaching Latin in the said Town at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh and Colledge Gate thereof and all other Schoomlasters teaching Latin within the Shires of Edinburgh Haddingtoun Berwick Roxburgh Sclkirk Peebles Linlithgow and Stirling at the Mercat-Crosses of the Head-burgs of the respective Shires within which they live upon fifteen days warning to compear before the Committee of the saids Visitors delegat by them conform to the said Act of Parliament to the effect therein specified at Edinburgh in the High-Common-Hall of the Colledge thereof the twenty Day of August next to come at ten a Clock in the forenoon to answer and satisfie the said Committee upon the points contained in the said Act of Parliament conform to the Instructions given by the saids Commissioners to them And likewise the saids Commissioners do hereby require the saids Messengers at the same time and place and in the same manner to summon and warn all the Loidges who have any thing to object against the said Principal Professors Regents Masters of the saids Universities and School Masters teaching Latin within the bounds of the said Shires to compear before the said Committee the said day and place to give in objections against the said Principal Professors Regents and others foresaid And also requiring the saids Messengers at the said time and place to make Intimations to the Magistrats of the Burghs-Royal within the saids bounds that they send in subscribed Lists of the School Masters teaching Latin within their respective Burrows Royal and to the Sheriffs of the Shires above-named that they send in Lists of such School Masters within their respective Shires out with the Burrows-Royal which subscribed Lists are to be sent to the Clerks of this Commission or their Deputs appointed for that Committee which is to meet at Edinburgh and that betwixt and the said twenty day of August next to which the saids Principal Professors Regents and others Masters are Cited as the saids Sheriffs and Magistrats will be answerable Requireing in like manner the Messengers executors of this present Warrant not only to read publickly the same and the Citation to be given therein at the said Mercat-Crosses and Colledge-Gate but also to leave Printed Copies of the said Act of Parliament and Copies of this present Warrant and of the Citation thereof affixt upon the Mercat-Crosses of the Head-burghs of the saids Shires and upon the most patent Gates of the said Colledge Requiring lastly the saids Messengers executors of these Presents to return the same with formal Executions and Indorsations thereof duly subscribed by them before subscribing Witnesses to the saids Clerks or their Deputs betwixt and the said day of the said Committees meeting at Edinburgh For doing of all which these Presents shall be their sufficient Warrant Given at Edinburgh the twenty fifth day of July One Thousand six Hundred and ninety Years And Ordains these presents to be Printed Extracted forth of the Records by me THO. BURNET Cls. Reg. FINIS ERRATA PAg. 5. line 1. for been r. but. Pag. 7. l. 23. for not only r. over and above L. 24. del but also Pag. 12. l. 14. r. in the. * Westminster Confession * As they are pleased to call all Episcopal men * Viz. Dr. Monro * Altho' the ordering of Colleges be as themselves acknowledge an inherent Prerogative of the Crown * Vid. Acts Parliament Pag. 1. 2. * Which differs vastly not only from all Presbyterians abroad but from all their own former Constitutions * Vid. Act of Parliament Sess 1. Gul. Mar. Appointing 60 Presbyterians instead of 14 Bishops to Govern the Church of Scotland by an Arbitrary Power whence there was no Appeal no not to the King himself * Viz. D. M. * When K. C. II. immediately after their Murther of Arch-Bishop Sharp and Rebellion
at Bathwel Bridge Anno 1679. Granted them such an ample Indulgence as even to Enjoy Ecclesiastical Benefices only upon the Condition of but Living Peaceably for which they were to find Surety under Penalty of about 330 Pound Ster Those few who Embraced the King's Goodness in this were Declaimed against by the whole Faction as Deserters of God and his Cause and a Book was Printed and Published that same year by the Approbation of the whole Party as the Author says to prove that to engage in or observe such a Condition is Inconvenient Scandalous and Sinful They pretended the State could neither make Peace nor War without the Interposal of the Kirk for it fell under their Consideration as a Case of Conscience Act and Declaration against the Act of Parliament July 28. Anno 1648. * Sine Auctore vero propositi Libelli nullocrimine locum habere debent nam pessimi exempli nec nostri saeculi est Trajan Plinio Ep. 98. inter Ep. Plin. Cicil 2d * So both the Civil and the Scots Law require * A Ruling Elder is a Scripture word but the thing signified by it in the Presbyterian Language is not to be met with in the Scriptures a late Invention obtruded upon the World Witness Mr. Black Vide Spotswood J. F. * Their own Phrase for no less distinction must be made between them and those that differ from them than that which is between good Christians and unbaptized Heathens * Mr. Rules now Primaâ—◠〈◊〉 of the Colledge at Edinburgh being supposed to have the best hand among them for disguising Truth is appointed for that work by the General Assembly as appears by one of their unprinted Acts to that purpose And now that he is engaged in the Work I would advise him to write in Latine for his Reculiarities in that Language may tempt some People to read it otherwise his Book may be Buried under the same deserved Contempt and Obscurity which was the fate of his trifling Pamphlets against some Doctors of the Church of England which no body designs either to Read or Answer no more than he himself or any of his Party believes what he asserts concerning the Church of Scotland in his last Squib against Episcopacy * Now Possess'd of the Principal 's place * That is Meetings for Teaching their Scholars * Donations * Lord Duudie * Graduation * This Mr. Reid was Examined with all severily and diligence but still in private threatned and cajoll'd but the Man being of more Honesty then Fear told them what he knew and that rather incensed their Envy than satisfied their Design * This Article was let fall for after all their Industry they could saynothing upon the Head no Report made of it to the Commission of the General Visitation * Auditum admissi risum teâ—neaâ—is amici * Ja. Martin We shall hear more of this in the Report of the Committee where its Impertinencies will be more particularly Examined * XIX Book An. 1567. Regnante Jacobs Sexto Scotiante aliquot Annos Anglorum auxiliise servitute Gallica liberati Religionis cultui ritibus cum Anglis communibus subscripserunt See Spotswood also beginning of the 3d Book This Answer to the 3d Article of the Doctor 's Libel did exasperate the Presbyterians to the highest degree and they to whom it was recommended to view and examine his Answers thought they discovered strange consequences in this But some of the Nobility who were present when this was toss'd would not suffer such Fooleries as were then objected to be inserted in their Report partly that the Presbyterians might not be exposed partly that they might not be Witnesses to such palpable Impertinencies and partly that none might say the Ministers to whom the Government was committed were such Fools as to flie in the face of the Church of England in this juncture This Article was let fall and no Report made of it to the General Commission What Esteem the most Learned and best Natur'd Divines in Foreign Churches had of the Church of England its Learning Piety Constitution and Primitive Order may be gathered from hundreds of Authentick Testimonies I will only here insert one from the Venerable Du Moline it is in his 3d Epistle to Bishop Andrews inter opuscula quaedam posthuma Episcopi Wint. Egone malè vellem ordini vestro de quo nunquam â—â—cutus sum sine honore ut pote qui sciò Instaurationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae Eversâ—â—nem Papismâ— post Deum Reges deberi praecipuè Episcoporum Doctrinae industâ—iae Quorum etiam nonnulli Martyriâ— Coronati Sangnine suo subscripserunt Evangelio Qâ—rum habemu scripta meminimus gesta ac zelum nulla ex parte inserio em zelâ— praestantissâ—â—norum Dei servo um quos vel Gallia vel Germania tulit Hoc qui negat oppoâ—tet vel sit improbè vecors vel Dei Gloriae invidus vel cerebrosa soliditate stupens caliget in clara luce Hanc igitur suspicionem a me amotam volo maximè cum videam Calvinum ipsum Bezaâ— quos solent quidam suae pervicaceae obtendere mustas scripsisse Epistolas ad Praesules Angliae eosque affari ut fideles Dei servos bene meritos de Ecclesia Nec sum usque adeo oris duri ut velim adversus illa veteris Ecclesiae lumina Ignatium Polycarpum Cyprianum Augustinum Chrysostomum Basilium Gregorios Nissenuni Nazianzenum Episcopos ferre sententiam ut adversus Hoâ—ines vitio creatos vel usurpatores muneris illiciti plus semper apud me poterit veneranda illa primorum saeculorum antiquitas quam Novella cujusquam Iustitutio Desigillatio Epistolarum crimen falsi We shall hear more of this Letter in the Report of the Committee * An Order from the Publick to Imprison Elian. Spart in vita Severi Sed triumphum respuit ne videretur de civili triumphare victoria We bear no more of this Article Since of Orkneâ— a Person who for his great Learning Piety and Prudence all good Men justly esteem * Which among the Scots signifie such writs as oblige any Man to secure the Peace under the pain of Imprisonment * Second I believe Mr. Rule now that he hath had the Government of that House in his hand for some time will not think the extravagance of some Boys a sufficient reason to deprive the Principal eâ—se he must expect the next Visitation may conclude he has lost the Spirit of Government It is not difficult to guess his Informer nor his inveterate prejudice against those Professours Difficile Satyrum scribere This is the Objection they insisted most upoâ— and the whole Story of it is related in the Animadversions upon the Report of the Committee in the following Pages No report made of this Article to the General Commission of the Visitation * Vpon Munday 10 Dec. 1688 where there were 36 either killed or wounded No Report of this Article no Witnesses examined no not Brown himself after all their industry with him in private This part of his Answer was directed to Sir John Hail a Man so little obliged to the Vniversities that the Masters could not reasonably look for any kindness from him Too inconsiderable a Man to be any further chastised H. F. We shall hear more of this in the Report of the Committee Heads of Agreement by the Vnited Ministers Head 8 of a Confession of Faith Vide Acts of the General Assemb 1646. Rinâ—eit A Presbyterian Minister * This word in the Phanatick Language signifies the Vindication of one from Calumny and Slander Tho' the Doctor did this by order yet he needed no order for it it being in his power to remove and set up Pictures or any other Furniture as he pleased * Publick Registers This Declaration contradicts the Report in three Material Instances * i.e. Reputed So much the greater shame a Method was taken not allowed by any Act of Parliament and contrary to the common Forms of Justice over all Nations to receive Libels and to conceal the Informer and when those Scurrilous Papers had in them the Nature Design and Materials of a defamatory Libel then to pretend there were no Libels given against them because my Lord Crawford was pleased to call the Libels Informations and is it Consistent with Reason to receive Informations or Libels before Solemn Courts of Judicatory and still to conceal the Informer a Practice so infamous that as it never had a precedent in that Nation So I hope Posterity shall never imitate it Lib. 4. Cap. 17. Sect. 7. Of this many instances may be given in the time of the late troubles though it be a part of the constant nourishment of Christ's Family upon Earth till he return to Judge the quick and the dead Nor could it be reasonably thought he came there to be examin'd by such Pedagogues * Old Fellows