you to be Slaves in their Plantations that fill'd your Pulpits with Buff-Coats and your Churches with Horses and did not they turn all your own Arguments against you that you had us'd against Episcopacy for as you said the Bishops should not have Revenues so they said your Ministers should not have Stipends as you contended that Lawn Sleeves were Popish they contended that Gowns were so too they in Enimity to Ceremony would cover their heads at Prayer as you did in Churches and by the same Rule that you taught that Subjects might Reform Kings they concluded against you that they might Execute them I shall likewise refer to your consideration that it is the Duty of every good Subject to obey the Laws of that Nation wherein he lives since they must either obey the Magistrate or overturn him and a Schism does breed so much Un-christian Heat and so many Civil Wars that no pious or reasonable Man should Engage in it except he be necessarly Obliged to separate from the the Church as absolutely Anti-christian But so it is that the Differences betwixt our Episcopacy and Presbytery which have occasioned all these dangerous Disorders are founded upon no express Text of Scripture else Forraign Churches would not acknowledge ours to be a True Church as they universally do nor had the Fathers of the Primitive Church owned a Government which stood in direct opposition to the Word of God And it seems strange that God Almighty should have designed to express a thing in Scripture as necessary for Salvation and yet we who are obliged to obey the same should not be able to find it out It is also very fit to be considered by you that the Reason why Monarchy has always preferred Episcopacy to Presbyterian Government proceeds not only from an aversion to Presbytery as neither Establisht by Scripture us'd in the Primitive Church nor recommended by the Holy Fathers but because it has been observed that your Government being founded on Equality amongst Presbyters resembles more a Common-wealth and that you have always in this Isle Reformed without the Monarchs approbation if not against it and so have Interwoven with your Religion Principles opposit to Monarchical Government resolving to ballance Establisht Authority with pretences of Religion from which necessity has at last forced many of you to oppose all Government And it is still observable that whatever opposes the Government of the Countrey where we live must at last end in Anarchy and Confusion Those great Idolizers of Parliaments in speaking so much against our last shew that they care no more for Parliaments then they do for Kings and think them only Infallible when they are such as themselves For where was there ever a Parliament so unanimous as ourswas in the matter of the Succession not one Man having proponed any one Argument against it And what a Villanous thing is it to assert that the Test is a Popish Contrivance when in it we Swear expresly to own the Protestant Religion and breed up our Children in it And that without all mental Reservations or Equivocations And to shew how well contriv'd that Oath is in opposition to Popery Not one Papist in all our Kingdom has taken the Test. What more could his Majesties Commissioner have done to show his willingness to have honest and loyal Protestants enjoy their own Religion And who after this should believe these lying Authors Who would Impose upon the World that as a mark of Popery which is the strongest Bulwark imaginable against it And though we make not the Protestant Religion the Instrument of Cruelty the Stirrup of preferment a Cloak for all manner Knavery and a Trumpet of Rebellion nor admire avowed Atheists nor pay Salaries to such as deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ if they be usefull to other Hypocritical designes as some do yet our Nation has reason to suspect such as will have them passe for Popishly inclined as if all Duty when it pleases not them were Popery for in our Chief City and it's Suburbs we have not 14 Popish Families in the whole Diocess of S. Andrews the far largest of Scotland we have not three and there are not 60. upon a sworn Report to be found in the Diocess of Aberdeen which is the most suspected of all others These wise States-men who think insolently that they though privat men may reform our Laws as well as their own Religion we appeal still to that Parliamentary Insallibility which they here deny And therefore we justly contemn these Pamphlets which inveigh against the 25 Act of the third Session of His Majesties first Parliament whereby the Estates of this Kingdom oblidge themselves to send 22000 Men into any part of His Majesties Dominions wherever His Authority Honour or Greatness may be concerned which was certainly their duty for if they defend it only at home their defense may prove useless both to themselves and Him and since he is our King every where we should assist Him every where And that the King may call his Subjects even without his own Territory is clear by all Lawyers and amongst whom I shall only cite Castallio de Imperatore quest 159. Where the question is expresly treated and this decided from the Law of Nations Nor need any honest Subject fear our assisting their King and Traitors should be terrified But in all this we were much Loyaler then that Peer of England who when our Rebellion rose in 1679 affirmed that His Majesty could not send down Forces into Scotland without consent of Parliament because by the Treaty of Rippon it was declar'd that the Subjects of one Kingdom should not in vade the other without the consent of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms which Treaty is Rescinded with us and we believe England will not think that a mutual Treaty can stand when one side is free nor consider we Parliaments as the Arbiters of Peace and War that being the Kings incommunicable Prerogative but this shews why our Acts are rail'd at and what Loyal Men they are who do it As also since all lawfull Parliaments have ever since the Reformation both Here and in England made very severe Laws against non Communicants or Schismaticks either no respect is to be had to those Parliaments or these Laws are Just and fit ard why the Laws should have been so severe to them in Queen Elizabeths Reign before they had rebelled and should now remit their severity when by frequent rebellions and extravagant Sermons Books and Assemblies they have incorporated so many dreadful principles inconsistant with all Government into the bodie of their Divinity I see not and shall be glad to be informed and if it be pretended that their numbers having infinitly increased since that time should prevail with a wise Magistrat to lessen his severity we conclude just the contrary especially since we find that an exact and firm though moderat execution of the Law is abler to lessen their fury then an indulgence there
A VINDICATION OF His Majesties GOVERNMENT IUDICATURES IN SCOTLAND From some Aspersions thrown on them by scandalous Pamphlets and News-books and especially with Relation to the late Earl of Argiles Process EDINBURGH Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson Printer to His most Sacred Majesty Anno DOM. 1683. A Vindication of His Majesties Government and Judicatures in SCOTLAND c. ALL wise and sober Men in Scotland do with a just mixture of pity and contempt Read those infamous Pamphlets wherein this Kingdom is so maliciously traduced by some in our Neighbour-Nation and when they consider that the Licentiousness of the Press does so much weaken all Government corrupt all Intelligence and blast so unavoidably the Reputation of the best and most Innocent They conclude justly that to deny their King the necessary priviledge and prerogative of restraining the Press were to refuse to the Master of a Ship the power to prevent its Leaking To deny the Magistrat the power of punishing these who corrupt the Springs and Fountains of a City And to refuse to the Master of a Family the Power of Chastising his Servants when they rail at one another I am very desirous also to be informed how the King can by the Priviledge and Prerogative of His Crown have the absolute power of making Peace and War Calling and Dissolving of Parliaments and a Negative Voice in them and yet should be denyed the far less priviledge of restraining the Press Especially after so many proofs of its having been so dangerous and Seditious How the Magistrats of the meanest Hanse-Town should enjoy this priviledge and yet that it should be deny'd to the King of Great-Britain Or how he should have the power to punish Lybels and yet should want the power of stopping them it being both much safer and easier to prevent then to punish Nor can I dissemble that our Nation has found the happy Effects of discharging all Printing without Licence by an express Statute whereby we find the publick Government and every privat Mans Reputation most happily secured Whilst on the other hand It is very observable that that Peer who told it was not yet time to restrain the Press in England has liv'd to see a famous Library of Libels and Pasquills against himself for the Conviction of this Age and the Information of those who shall succeed us We glory also in the justice of our Law that has by a special Statute Ordained all such to be severely punished who by Word or Writ Devise Utter or publish any false slanderous or reproachful Speeches or Writs against the State People or Countrey of England or to the Dishonour of any Privy Councellour thereof and therefore we hope that so wise and just a Nation as England which punishes those who injure a privat Peer will not suffer them to go unpunished who rail at a Nation that is obliged to hazard their Lives and Fortuns for their preservation Unhappy Liberty which consists in the priviledge of doing ill and which serves for nothing but to make the Authors be contemn'd for want of Breeding and despis'd for want of Sense Nor does this Crime want a sufficient punishment since it has convinced us that the Enemies of the Monarchy are such liars and so malicious that they deserve neither to be believed nor followed and how can any amongst us believe these in Matters of Right who every day lie so scandalously in Matters of Fact Upon this Ground I confidently believe that no honest man will think we in Scotland have owned his Royal Highness because England had an aversion for him as a late Pamphlet has maliciously asserted for as their worthy Peers did wisely reject the Bill of Exclusion so our Predecessours were obliged to this by so many Oaths and through a Series of so many Ages and GOD had so severely punished us in the last Age for having joyned with our Rebellious Neighbours against our Native Prince that we had been the greatest Fools and Rogues upon Earth to have Relaps'd so soon into the fame Errors and especially in following the Example and Advice of those very Rebels or their impenitent Heirs who had in ten years Exercised that Arbitrary Government over us against which themselves had Exclaimed and to a hight that we had never known and as it is very well known that every honest Man in Scotland rejoyces when they hear of the prosperity of the Royal Family in England and esteem highly and love passionatly all such as have or do contribute to it an Union in Principles being stronger then that of the Kingdoms So Scotland being the less powerful Nation what can they gain in the contest Or why should they envy that which is their greatest Security as well as Honour The delivering of the best of Kings at Newcastle was no more a National Act in us than the Murdering him after a Mock-Tryal was a National Act in the Kingdom of England Rebels in both committed those Crymes whilst honest Men suffer'd with him and for him and it is undenyable that the honest Party of Scotland were at that time fighting under the Great Montrose against that pretended Parliament which Voted his Delivery and that even our Rebellious Countrey-men delivered him only up to such of our Neighbour Nation as did Swear upon Oath that they should preserve Him and His Crowns and when they found that these Sectarians neither regarded their Oath nor their King they rais'd an Army immediatly to Expiat their Cryme Nor wanted ever our Nation an Army even under the Usurpers to appear for the Monarchy and from us and Encourag'd by us went that Army that Restor'd our present King Let then no honest Man remember those National Errors except either in his Prayers when he Interceeds with GOD For diverting the Curse which those Crimes deserve Or in Judicatures when such are to be punish'd as would lead us back into those Confusions But why the Authors of these Pamphlets should condemn the very Actions which they so very faithfully Copy seems very wonderful as it does how our Fanatick Countrey-men should wish success to those who Rail at their Nation and their Principles Open then your Eyes my dear Countrey-men and let not your own Fanaticism nor their Cheats perswade you that such as endeavour to lessen and asperse the Monarchy in our Neighbour Nation will be ever Faithful to you who are sworn even in your Covenant to maintain it in this to you who opposed them in the last War in their grand Designs for a Common-wealth and the Extirpation of the Scottish Race to you who think that Presbytery jure divino which they laugh at and never use it as an useful Government in the Church though they do some times as an useful Tool to Rebellion in the State and to you whom they cheated so far and opprest so dreadfully in the late Rebellion that they know you cannot trust them Was it the Church of England or Sectarians that Sold
being now very few who go not to Church and almost all repenting that they went not sooner and I desire to know from these Authors if their Partie in England thinks that the true way of using Papists or if the Presbyterians allowed that way of arguing when they prevail'd and was it not that lenity which drew on the last Rebellion and our Slavery A short view of our Laws made on that Subject with the occasion of them will best clear this point In the last Rebellion defensive Armes and that the people had power to Depose or Suspend Kings were the great foundation and in defence whereof several Books have been lately written and therefore these were declared Treason and it is admir'd how any can be called good Subjects who maintain them The Parliament did see that the not going to Church occasioned much Atheism and Ignorance and that the hearing such as were not Authorized was a certain inlet to all Sedition and Herisie since every man might preach what he pleased and therefore they discharg'd House Conventicles and declar'd that meetings in the Fields were formall Rebellion since Rebellion is only a rising in Armes without and contrary to the Command of Authority and that sometimes there would be gathered together several thousands of people in Armes who might joyn when they pleased and from a Conjunction meerly of those proceeded the Rebellions 1666. and 1679. and they punished these with moderat Fynes far below the guilt And how dare men be so dissingenuous as to own themselves the only Protestants and yet to inveigh against Statutes made to hinder Jesuites Socinians and others to pervert the people as we certainly know they did for many years together at those meetings and how could this be prevented since the poor commens know not what is Orthodox And since they were perswaded not to ask who was to Preach least they should be oblidged to Witnesse against him and as the dangers on the onehand were great so on the other they were desired to go to that Church which the greatest and soberest of their own Ministers did and do still frequent Some Ministers fearing that their hearers might be led as Witnesses against them infused in them a dangerous and ridiculous principle that no man was oblidged to depone when he was called to be a Witness and that no man was oblig'd to Depone when the being at such illegal Meetings was referred to his Oath and this was called the accusing of ones self whereas all Laws under Heaven oblige a man to be a Witness else no Crime could be prov'd And if this were allowed we might have as many Masses as we pleas'd and when any thing is referred to a mans Oath he does not accuse himself for the Fiskal accuses him and do not all Nations prove Injuries and Misdemeanours by the Oaths of the Committers if these are not to be capitally punished And therefore the Parliament was forced to make a Statute obliging them to Depone as VVitnesses I need not tell the dreadful Equivocations lately invented to secure Rebels as when a Witness Depones he saw a Hilt and a Scabbart but yet knows not if there was a Sword The Pia fraus of Ignoramus Iuries and a hundreth other Cheats rather to be lamented then related And which tended to unhing all Property as well as Religion if God and zealous Magistrates had not prevented it And yet the opposing these which is a Duty must be represented as a Crime for deluding ignorant people The Parliament then having for the necessary Defense of the Kingdom by reiterated Laws commanded those things to be put to Execution Laws which did not only at first seem to be just but were thereafter upon experience found to be so Are not they promoters of Arbitrary Government who think that the Judges and Magistrats of the Nation should dispense with such Laws And whoever thinks he may dispense with the Law must certainly think that he is ty'd by no Law and that is to be truly Arbitrary And it is most observable that these who are Enemies to His Majesties Government and His Servants are of all men alive most guilty of that Arbiltariness which they would fix upon others It cannot be imagin'd that the King will contemn the Laws since they are his own Creatures as well as His Support whereas such as oppose Him or Rebell against Him must first trample under foot the Laws by which the King is Secur'd and by which they are to be punish't and it is not the Masters but Robbers who break the Fences 2ly Are not these honest and good Countrey-men who think it cruelty to punish such as did take up Arms twice in an open Rebellion and who own all the Cruelties that were committed in the late Civil Wars who burn publickly the Acts of Parliament and who joyn with Murderers 3ly Albeit those Crymes be very attrocious horrid in themselves and dreadful in the preparative inconsistent with humane Society and a Scandal to Religion Yet have not His Majesties Judicatures offered Remissions to all such as have been accus'd providing they would disown those Rebellious Principles so that such as dy are the Martyrs of their own Crymes and justifie their Judges even whilst they are Exclaiming against them And as no Government under Heaven did ever shew so many Instances of Clemency offering Indemnities when there was no necessity for them Renewing and Pressing those Indemnities when they were twice or thrice slighted and Remissions when all those gentle Offers were contemn'd so has any man dy'd amongst us by malicious Juries or false Witnesses 4ly Has not the Privy Council in their Fyning such as were guilty proceeded with such moderation that albeit for many years the Laws were absolutely contemned after many Reiterations by the Parliament and Proclamations from the Council pressing Obedience to them Yet they have Ordered Execution to be Suspended as for bypast times to all such as would Obey for the Future And I must beg leave to Observe that it has been upon an exact Review found that the Rebellious Parliament 1647. did Impose more by way of Fyne in one day than the Privy Council has done since His Majesties happy Restauration Such as differ'd from their Government Intreated for those Pardons which are now refus'd And it would have been then thought very ridiculous to offer a man his Life who had been in Arms for the King upon his offering to live peaceably 5ly If the Differences amongst us upon which all those Rebellions were founded were Matterial and did proceed from Conscience somewhat might be said to lessen though not to justifie the Guilt for Conscience should neither be a Cryme nor a defence for Crymes Yet what can now be said When all men willingly go to Church which certainly they would not do if their Conscience did not allow them And it being now clear that the former contempt of the Law proceeded from Humor and not from Conscience who can blame